This Good Works Translation is made from the 1888 Arabic printed text of Kitab Bilawhar wa-Budhasaf fi al-mawa'iz wa-al-amthal al-hikmiyah. This passage gives Bilawhar's answer to Budasaf's question about whether the prophets bring the speech of God and his angels.

Translation

Budasaf said, "Tell me about what the prophets and messengers, peace be upon them, bring. Since you have claimed that it is not the speech of people, nor by their opinion, is it the speech of God, mighty and exalted, and the speech of his angels, peace be upon them?"

Bilawhar said, "We have seen that when people want to make some beasts and birds understand what they want in bringing them forward and holding them back, making them stop and making them move, bringing them near and turning them away, they do not find beasts and birds able to bear their speech, which is their speech and their language among themselves and among people. So they set down for them rebuking, clicking, and whistling sounds by which they can get what they need from them, since they know that they cannot endure their speech and do not bear it except in that way.

"So too people are unable to bear the speech of God, mighty and exalted, and the speech of his angels in its reality, subtlety, inmost essence, and condition. They have no capacity for it, and that is too narrow for them. Therefore the sounds by which they exchange wisdom among themselves, by tongues of flesh and blood, are like the rebuking and clicking sounds by which beasts hear from people. Wisdom has preserved that speech as something conveyed to them: what God, mighty and exalted, wished to make known to them through the tongues of the prophets, which are likened to the clicking, whistling, and rebuking sounds by which beasts hear from people.

"That does not prevent the meanings of wisdom stored within those sounds from being the wisdom of God, mighty and exalted, and what he wished to make known to them of his pleasure and his wrath. Speech is made noble by its nobility, great by its greatness, and mighty by its might. The sound is a body and dwelling place for wisdom, and wisdom is a soul and a spirit for the sound.

"If human bodies are honored, feared, and made noble, it is because of the spirit that is in them. So too the rightness of speech is made noble and honored because of the wisdom in it. Speech with wisdom is high in rank, lofty in degree, overpowering in authority, effective in judgment, and its command passes over the one in the right and the one in falsehood, over truth and falsehood. It is the just judge in this world and the true witness in the hereafter. It commands and forbids; it overturns and restrains falsehood.

"Falsehood has no firmness before those who seek wisdom, nor can it stand before wisdom, just as darkness cannot stand before the sun and night cannot stand against the ray and light of the sun. People have no capacity to reach the encompassing knowledge of wisdom, just as they have no capacity to penetrate the depths of the speech of wisdom except by what gives life to their hearts and eyes. So they receive from the ray of the sun what gives life to their sight, and by it they find the way to their needs; but they receive from the ray of wisdom what gives life to their hearts, and by it they find the way to the kingdom of the heavens and the earths.

"That hidden, unseen kingdom is the direction of the witness. It is like abundant springs, whose surface is visible and whose storehouse is hidden; like shining stars that do not come to an end, and no thirsty person comes upon their secret. Renunciation of the world and desire for the hereafter are greater and nobler than all of that. It is the key of precious treasuries, the gate of high dwellings, and the mirror of lofty rank.

"It is the spring of life: whoever drinks from it will never die. It is the medicine of diseases: whoever is given drink from it will never become ill. When a garment is woven from it for one who is not worthy of it, it comes out only upon them; and when someone wears it for whom it was not woven, it reveals his nakedness and strips him bare.

"It is the light that clears away the darkness lying over wisdom. It is the proof for everything, and it has no need of any proof outside itself."

Colophon

This Good Works Translation was made from the Arabic text of Kitab Bilawhar wa-Budhasaf fi al-mawa'iz wa-al-amthal al-hikmiyah, al-Matba' al-Safdari, 1888. The English body is newly written from the Arabic source.

Source Colophon

Primary source witness: Google Books volume vYacAQAACAAJ, Kitab Bilawhar wa-Budhasaf fi al-mawa'iz wa-al-amthal al-hikmiyah, al-Matba' al-Safdari, 1888, original from Harvard.

Translated passage: Bilawhar's answer about divine speech, prophetic language, and wisdom as light and proof, printed Arabic pages 63-66. The translated passage begins inside page 63, after the bird-called-Qadim parable, and ends inside page 66, before Budasaf asks why all people do not benefit from wisdom.

Public source: https://books.google.com/books?id=vYacAQAACAAJ

Source Text

Arabic Text

قال بوداسف ارايت ما ياتي به الانبياء
والرسل عليهم السلام اذ زعمت انه ليس كلام الناس
ولا برايهم افهو كلام الله عز وجل وكلام ملائكته
عليهم السلام قال بلوهر انا راينا الناس اذا ارادوا
ان يفهموا بعض الدواب والطيور ما يريدون من
تقديمها وتاخيرها ووقوفها وسيرها واقبالها و
ادبارها لم يجدوا الدواب والطيور تحتمل كلامهم الذي
هو كلامهم ولغتهم بينهم وبين الناس فوضعوا لها من
الزجر والنقير والصفير ما يبلغون به حاجتهم منها
وعرفوا انها لا تطيق كلامهم ولا تحمله الا كذلك كذلك
الناس يعجزون عن ان يحملوا كلام الله عز وجل وكلام
ملائكته على حقيقته ولطافته وكنهه وحاله لا طاقة له
وضيق ذلك فصار ما تراجعوا به بينهم من الاصوات
التي سمعوا بها الحكمة بالسنة اللحم والدم كصوت الزجر
والنقير الذي سمعت به الدواب من الناس حفظته عنهم
الحكمة مؤديا اليهم وهي ما اراد الله عز وجل ان يعرفهم من
بالسنة النبيين المشبهة بصوت النقير والصفير
والزجر الذي سمعت به الدواب من الناس لا تمنع ذلك
معاني الحكمة المختزنة في تلك الاصوات من ان كانت
من حكمة الله عز وجل وما اراد ان يعرفهم من رضوانه
وسخطه فشرف الكلام لشرفها وعظم لعظمها وعز لعزها
وكان الصوت للحكمة جسدا ومسكنا والحكمة للصوت
نفسا وروحا ولو كان اجساد البشر تكرم وتهاب وتشرف
لكان الروح التي فيها فكذلك صواب الكلام يشرف ويكرم
للحكمة التي فيه فالكلام بالحكمة عالي المنزلة رفيع الدرجة
قاهر السلطان نافذ الحكم جائز الامر على المحق والمبطل
والحق والمبطل وهو القاضي العادل في الدنيا والشاهد
المحق في الآخرة وهو يامر وينهى وهو ينقض وكاظمة
للباطل ولا ثبات له قدام طلاب الحكمة ولا ان يقوم
امام الحكمة كما لا يستطيع الظلام يثبت قدام الشمس
ولا يستطيع الليل ان يقوم لشعاع الشمس وضوءها
ولا طاقة للبشر ان يبلغوا احاطة معرفة الحكمة كما لا
طاقة لهم ان ينفذوا اغوار كلام الحكمة الا بما تحيى
به قلوبهم وعيونهم كما ينالون من شعاع الشمس ما
تحيى به ابصارهم فيستدلون به على حوايجهم ولكنهم
ينالون من شعاع الحكمة ما تحيى به قلوبهم ويستدلون
على ملكوت السموات والارضين فالملك ذلك المحجوب
الغايب وجهة الشاهد وهو كالعيون الغزيرة الظاهرة
مساحتها المكنون مخزنها كالنجوم الزاهرة التي لا تنتهي
ظمآن لا يقع على سرها والزهد في الدنيا والرغبة في الآخرة
هو اعظم واشرف من ذلك كله وهو مفتاح الخزائن
النفيسة وباب المنازل العالية ومراة الدرجة الرفيعة
وهي عين الحيوة التي من شرب منها لم يمت ابدا ودواء
الاسقام الذي من سقي بها لم يسقم ابدا فاذا انسج
بها غير اهلها لم تخرج الا فيهم واذا لبسها من لم تنسج
له ابدت عورته وتعرته هي النور التي تجلو الحكم ظلمة
عليها وهي البرهان على كل شئ ولا حاجة لها الى برهان
غيرها فيها