Lavayeh (لوایح) by Eyn al-Qozat Hamadani

The Lavayeh — "Flashes" — is a sustained meditation on divine love by Eyn al-Qozat Hamadani (1098–1131 CE), one of the most brilliant and tragic figures in the Sufi tradition. A philosopher, jurist, and mystic, he was a student of Ahmad Ghazali and was executed at thirty-three for speaking too directly about the nature of the relationship between lover and Beloved, human and divine. His death was a judicial murder dressed as a heresy charge.

The Lavayeh consists of 177 short prose chapters — flashes of insight, each illuminating one facet of divine love. They build upon one another in a rising spiral: from the birth of love and spirit, through the abolition of all directions of prayer except the Beloved's face, through the reversal of master and servant, the metaphysics of jealousy, the tree and its fruit, the fire that neither burns nor makes peace — to the paradox that the lover has no choice in love, because love's nature is to uproot.

The prose is interspersed with verse — Persian rubā'ī, Arabic couplets, Quranic citations — each arriving at the precise moment the argument needs it. This is philosophy that sings.

No complete English translation of the Lavayeh has ever existed — free or paywalled. This is a Good Works Translation from Classical Persian, produced by the New Tianmu Anglican Church with AI assistance. The source text is drawn from the Ganjoor digital library (ganjoor.net), which provides a complete scholarly Persian edition.

Chapter 1

In the name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful.

Spirit and love both came into existence at the same time and were brought forth from the Creator. Spirit felt a mingling with love, and love felt a clinging to spirit. When spirit by its nature clung to love, love in its subtlety mixed with it. Through the power of that clinging and that mixing, unity appeared between them. I do not know whether love became the attribute and spirit the essence, or love became the essence and spirit the attribute — in the end, the two became one.

When the radiance of the Beloved's beauty first appeared in the heart of the Lord, love and spirit fell into conversation. Since one was of the nature of wind and the other of fire, the wind kept kindling the fire and the fire kept burning it. In the end, fire prevailed and air was overcome, and the verse "it spares nothing and leaves nothing" was recited upon existence.

Love, having prevailed, was itself overcome when it reached the glimmer of the Beloved's lights. For this reason one cannot know whether love is more at ease with the lover than with the Beloved — for love is the ruler over the lover, but in the grip of the Beloved's power, it is captive.

Your love is now the ruler of my soul —
wretched, I await your command.
In the grip of your power I am captive —
no remedy appears, O friend.

Chapter 2

Everything that exists has a direction of prayer, and its face — whether through form or through meaning — is turned toward that direction, except love without a face, which erases all directions. From time to time, love melts the lover entirely in the crucible of trial, empties him of his existence, and turns his face toward the directionless world of the Beloved. And from this they have said:

When the direction of prayer was nothing but the Beloved's beauty,
love came and erased every direction there was.

Chapter 3

As long as the lover has a direction of prayer in the world of form or the world of meaning besides the Beloved's beauty, he is not a true lover — rather, if he turns his face toward any direction by choice, he is an idolater. Sheikh Abu Sa'id Abu al-Khayr — may God sanctify his spirit — at the head of the tomb of his master Abu al-Fazl Hasan of Sarakhs — may his secret be sanctified — who was his guide on the Path, was unveiled to the beauty of the Lord of Majesty. He turned the face of his heart toward that directionless Presence and said:

Here has appeared the mine of generosity and grace —
our direction of prayer is the face of the Friend; everyone else's is the Sanctuary.

Chapter 4

If this meaning appears in an idol-temple, one must turn one's face toward the idol, and from time to time tie the Zoroastrian girdle around the waist of the moment and be freed from grief. Know with certainty that for the worthy lover of light step, everything that is not the Beloved is a veil on the road to the Beloved:

The Ka'ba and the idol-temple are nothing but veils —
where is the face of my heart turned toward the face of the Friend?
The direction of prayer has changed for me on this road —
rise, say: where is the direction of the infidels?

O friend, when the blessed address "The truth has come and falsehood has vanished" arrived, the idols of Mecca fell upon their faces from the delight of the glad tidings of the appearance of the light of Truth — "they fell before Him in prostration."

Until the direction of the world's lovers became your face,
the faces of idol and idol-maker all turned toward you.
When the monk saw the polo-stick of your tresses,
he raised a finger and became your ball.

Chapter 5

When love has erased from the lover everything that was not the Beloved, it commands him: "Now turn the face of your directionless heart toward me, and consider me a thousand directions of prayer — for when the servant of 'there is no god' sweeps the courtyard of the heart clean of the dust of others, the sultan of 'but God' descends into it without quality."

Her love came to me before I knew love —
it found my heart empty and took its place.

And this is the secret of what they have said: that the lover, when he looks into himself, sees the Beloved, and when he looks at the Beloved, sees himself — "the believer is the mirror of the believer." By my life, when you find Him in the heart, make the heart your place of prostration at once, bow your head before Him, and fear no one. Do you not see that the sinless angels, when they perceived the secret of "God created Adam in His own image" in Adam, fell upon their faces without choice — "and they prostrated before him"?

Do not grieve for yourself on your own account —
lift your gaze from the dust and do not hold it on the dust.
Since your direction of prayer is the beauty of your Beloved,
go, prostrate, and fear no one.

Chapter 6

The angels' direction of prayer was the Throne, so long as Adam had not been made intimate with that breath. When the secret of "And I breathed into him of My spirit" appeared, the angel from his own world looked upon him and fell into wonder — that is, the Throne had from the world of the signless a sign: "Then He rose over the Throne." When the radiance of the light of "God created Adam in His own image" appeared, they turned their faces to him and placed their heads upon the ground, for in this existence they also saw a sign from the signless world. But that sign was from the world of speech, and this sign from the world of direct vision, and speech in the station of vision is annihilated — nay, is nothing.

The one who in that moment did not see the secret of that breath — his face remained turned toward the Throne, and the brand of separation, "and upon you is my curse," was placed upon the forehead of his time. If at this point he places his head upon that pure dust a hundred thousand times, it will not be accepted — for at the moment when that breath joined with him, he was occupied with another matter, and through the intermediary of knowledge he could not arrive at the head of this secret. The proof of the truth of this speech is that after that, the angels were not commanded to prostrate before Adam — and if they had been, their direction of prayer would have been Adam. And that is a wondrous secret.

Chapter 7

If the incoming of love is powerful and the receiver weak, the receiver is the mount and the incoming the rider. If the receiver is strong and the incoming weak, the affair is reversed. This is a wondrous secret and an astonishing riddle — in this station, the servant is the king and the king the servant:

You are called my slave outwardly —
and in my secret, I am your slave.

Chapter 8

Mahmud — may God illuminate his proof — when he sat upon the throne of majesty in audience, Ayaz would stand at the edge of the carpet of honour in the manner of a servant, on the foot of reverence, his eyes open in expectation. But when they entered the private chamber of intimacy and sat upon the throne of nearness, things between them changed utterly: Ayaz became Mahmud, and Mahmud became Ayaz.

The work of love, O friend, is no game —
love is the nature of the sultan's disposition.
How wondrous a creed is the creed of love:
in it, king and slave are one.
The king was Mahmud and the slave Ayaz —
the affair reversed: what remedy is there?
The slave's command runs over the king —
in this riddle, the mind is bewildered.

If the incoming is strong and the receiver weak, it sets him seeking. If stronger still, it brings him into speech. If stronger yet, it may bring him into going and coming, and into washing. When he is left behind by speech and seeking, he desires to make a broom of his existence and sweep the dread of his own selfhood from the courtyard of the world of being:

From the dread of my own existence, O source of life,
I wish to sweep the head of your lane.

And sometimes he wishes to become water from the heat of the fire of longing, and to wash the edge of the carpet of friendship from the filth of existence:

From the fire of your love, if I become dust,
I will be erased from the ledger of being, O friend.
From the filth of contingency, the courtyard of majesty —
I will make it clean, when I am clean of self.

Chapter 9

Every incoming, whatever it is, sets the receiver in motion. If the incoming is weak, the motion is weak and visible — ecstatic movement in the spiritual concert is its sign, as it is said: "The spiritual concert moves the hearts toward the world of the unseen." If the incoming is strong, the motion is strong and invisible — stillness in the spiritual concert is its sign, as in: "And you see the mountains, thinking them fixed, while they pass like clouds."

Sometimes my mind cries out from fear of separation from Him —
sometimes my soul dances from the promise of seeing Him.

Nuri — may God have mercy upon him — says:

Ecstasy enraptures the one whose rest is in ecstasy,
but ecstasy, when the Real is present, is lost.
My ecstasy used to enrapture me — then it made me absent
from seeing the ecstasy: what is in ecstasy is found.

Chapter 10

When the sultan of spirit mounts the steed of love, his stirrup-holder is no less than Gabriel, and his parasol-bearer no less than Michael:

In the world of love, if you come into action,
in the ledger of love you will be counted.
Gabriel the Trusted will hold your stirrup
on the steed of love, if you mount.

Chapter 11

The steed of love is a steed of power — with one gallop it goes beyond both worlds and ranges through the world of no-place. If the seeker's aim is the world of no-place, nothing but the swift steed of love will serve. By my life, so long as the steed of the Master of the World — peace be upon him — was the Buraq, and his carrier the Rafraf, and his mover a flyer, and his passage through place, he could not escape from that narrowness. When he mounted the steed of love and became renowned in the world of longing and raised his head to journey through the world of no-place, he brought news of the direct witness: "When he witnessed with direct vision, he transcended place."

O friend, the one whose carrier is the steed of love, and whose existence attains to no-place — surely the name of place is removed from his being, and the thought of contingency in his nature is void.

The one whose carrier is the steed of love —
the Beloved is by nature drawn to him.
Without the trouble of non-existence, his pure being
is forever receptive to all existence.

Chapter 12

The steed that belongs specially to the king, and whose stirrup is fit for him alone — whoever places his foot in the stirrup of that steed, the mark of disrespect is drawn upon him, and it may be that he is seized in punishment. But if the stirrup-holder, at the time when the king is at the polo-field and the ball of his desire is in the mallet, mounts that steed in order to bring it quickly to the field — in the creed of governance, this is permitted. The Beloved is the king, the spirit is the steed, and love is the stirrup-holder. If the stirrup-holder love mounts the steed of spirit and races toward the field of the Beloved's desire, so that through it the ball of passion reaches the goal of satisfaction — there is no fault in this.

Chapter 13

The wonder is not that the lover, from the perfection of love, should become the bearer of the Beloved's burden. The wonder is that the Beloved, from the perfection of longing — "and We long for them more intensely" — should become the bearer of the lover himself: "and We carried them over land and sea."

When the lover lifts his heart from his own existence,
he runs in and seizes the hem of the Beloved.
By God, it is no wonder from the Beloved
that He, in the perfection of grace, takes him to His breast.

Dhu al-Nun al-Misri said: "In the desert I saw a lover with one foot, his head set toward the wilderness, going along happily with the gazelles. I said, 'Where to?' He said, 'To the house of the Friend.' I said, 'How can one traverse a great distance without the provisions of travel?' He said, 'Woe to you, O Dhu al-Nun — have you not read in His Book: and We carried them over land and sea?'"

Dhu al-Nun said: "When I reached the Ka'ba, I saw him making the circumambulation. When he saw me, he laughed happily and said to me: 'You are the bearer of the command, and I am borne by it. You were brought into action by the motive of obligation, and I was drawn to this place by His pull.'"

The one whom He calls — perforce he comes,
until his existence is put to work by the command.
And the one whom His grace drew near to Himself —
without any intermediary, he becomes intimate with the secrets.

A master writes a letter for a novice student, then takes the student's finger and places it upon that letter. Although in meaning the writer is the schoolmaster, in the world of form the student's finger is upon the letter. O brother, every person and non-person who places a finger upon the letter of a lover whose heart has been given to the wind — in the world of form it appears so, but when it comes to the world of meaning, he will know that the letter belonged to the Beloved, and the lover was only the pretext in the middle, and the target of the arrow of blame:

I do not do it — yet the burden of blame is upon me.
At least for this, give justice.

It would not be far-fetched if the student became the master and was gladdened by attaining his desire.

Chapter 14

The precious pearl that is to become the centrepiece of the king's necklace is given to a master jeweller for piercing. The more accomplished the master is in his craft, the greater his fear in that piercing. Here, much knowledge becomes an obstacle to action. The remedy is that he empty his heart of that concern, even though he knows that the bewilderment intended for the master has been lavished upon him. Yes — when the king is described by justice and grace, he looks at the deed and the doer in the moment, not at the abundance of skill or the extent of knowledge.

Chapter 15

In the season of the heart's clarity and the body's composure, if the lover wishes to see himself in himself, an attribute of the Beloved's attributes, or a name from His names, or the Beloved's very image, becomes a veil between the lover's sight and seeing — so that when the lover gazes into the heights, he sees the lion of the soul, the prey of love, sitting in the ambush of wrath, beckoning: "Look, so that you may see Him in His place within yourself. If at this moment you seek yourself, you will fall beneath my claws, and from a broken head you will wander."

The wretched lover dies of longing for Him. When he sees Him in himself without seeing himself, he comes from multiplicity to unity and conceives of union. The tongue of his soul says: "I am the one I love, and the one I love is I."

In your love I have become without heart and faith,
and for your sake I have become twisted like your tresses.
No, no — I err: now, by the force of love,
I have passed beyond both worlds and become the Beloved.

To say "Glory be to me!" and "I am the Truth" belongs to this station. The lover, in whatever he looks at, sees the Beloved — "I never saw a thing without seeing God in it" — for the sought is the secret of the thing, and when the secret of the thing is Him, in the vision of its secret, all is Him:

In whatever I look, I think it is You.

Chapter 16

The sultan of love passes at last in wrath. Whence does the lover have the courage to pass through his own lane or gaze upon his own face? For until he passes over love, he cannot reach himself — and love, like a leviathan, swallows his selfhood whole in one breath, and there is no road for him with himself to himself. He has a road to the Beloved only through his selflessness, and not everyone is aware of this secret.

Love speaks to him without him — it makes a drop of his existence and casts it into the surging sea of the unseen, for the pearl is worthier in the sea. If the diver of destiny brings it up and places it in the treasury of "I was a hidden treasure, unknown" — until the time of the manifestation of "and I loved to be known" — perhaps it will adorn the crown of majesty.

Chapter 17

The Beloved's jealousy is the lover's adornment, and the lover's jealousy is the Beloved's ornament. If the Beloved's jealousy did not exist, the lover would become dissolute, worthless, and without measure — turning every way, going to every face. But always the Beloved's jealousy holds the reins of the steed of his existence and keeps him at the door of the palace of the Beloved's desire.

When the fire of love grows hotter and the lover grows more shameless, the Beloved's jealousy seizes his collar until he draws in the hem of self-will and becomes selfless and draws in his breath. Love says to him every moment: "If your life matters to you, go and draw in your breath."

When the lover passes over the sea of selflessness and takes his place in the maw of the leviathan of wrath, the Beloved's jealousy draws him up with the rod of wrath and holds him in the heat of the sun of disappointment, so that he does not drink the poison of wrath and does not strive in his own destruction — for His coquetry requires this one's supplication. In short, it will not leave him to any affair: if he becomes a king and rises to the sky, it brings him down in wrath and sets it upon him until it draws ruin from his foundation and holds him in the heat of the sun of unwantedness. And if it makes a ball of his existence and casts it onto the field of affliction, and at once spins him headless and footless with the polo-mallet of wrath, it says to him:

In seeking the Friend, be as the ball —
headless and footless, running and seeking,
for that which is behind the curtain of unity
in selflessness, O friend, shows its face to you.

All this it does with great clamour, to hide him in the glow of its own light and make existence plain to him. Then the Beloved's jealousy grows to such a degree that the lover would wish the Beloved to see His own reflection directly in the mirror — for he knows the Beloved is beyond likeness. But when He sees Himself, He becomes infatuated with Himself, and the jealousy of His belovedness removes this from the path:

If the Friend should cast a glance in the mirror,
may He have mercy on us from His own calamity.
I fear that when He sees the beauty of His own Presence,
He will bid us depart from His door.

And it may be that jealousy reaches a state where it does not wish the Beloved's shadow to fall upon the ground, as they have said:

Until I find no messenger between myself and you —
alone in all the world, I, and alone, you.
I do not wish the sun to rise with you —
come to me, and let there be no shadow with you.

And it may be that the lover's jealousy toward the Beloved reaches a point where he does not wish anything to be added to the Beloved's beauty — and this meaning has a depth that cannot be understood except by taste.

Chapter 18

From the tree of spirit, the fruit of love appeared. The tree came into the service of the fruit. Truly, the spirit — the longing one, the true lover — saw in the open space of the world of being the likeness of a tree. Its fruit was the fire of "he perceived from the side of the Mount a fire." The Greatest Law, which is the spy of this meaning, was searching through its own domain. With the eye of kingship it saw that that tree is the tree of its own spirit, and that fruit is love. That fire which appears as fruit has also risen from the tree of its own spirit — which is why it neither burns him nor makes peace with him.

And what they have said — "the fruit came from the tree, but the fruit did not return to the tree" — was said for this meaning. That is: if this fire burns the tree of spirit, love can plant another tree in the open space of destiny from the gaze of the Beloved's mercy. But if the tree of spirit loses its fruit, it may be that the gale of jealousy uproots that tree from its base — since it is fruitless, the continuance of its existence through the renewal of its like will not be possible, for the tree needs a fruit so that through it, after its annihilation, its like may appear. And this meaning is most wondrous.

O brother, if that tree were not of his spirit, and that fruit were not of love, how could the address "Verily I am God" have been correct? — for it is love that may call the lover to itself from the tree of his own soul, and this call too was conveyed from Him to him: "Verily I am God."

If you wish to hear speech from the knowing soul
and hear the inner secrets of the King —
diminish from yourself, until from your own existence,
selfless, you hear nothing but "Verily I am God."

Chapter 19

The fire of love, which is the fruit of the tree of the soul, neither burns the soul nor makes peace with it. Since it does not make peace with the soul, it appears that it is not an attribute of the soul — and if it is not an attribute of the soul, then surely it is an attribute of the Beloved. And where they have said "the attribute is additional to the essence," this is the secret of that meaning.

Although it rises from the tree of the lover's spirit, when it brings him to his knees and turns its face toward the world of the Beloved, it finds the palace empty, sets up the throne, and becomes king and sits in the kingdom: "It found an empty heart and took its place."

And since it does not burn the lover, it appears that His coquetry requires this one's supplication, so that the glance of beauty may appear upon him. As they have said:

As much as I need of the Beloved's beauty,
He needs of me, broken as I am.
Since His coquetry required my supplication,
the station of supplication must be higher.

Chapter 20

What the parasitic vine does upon the tree — winding around it until it tears it from its roots and draws its essence into itself — is not from enmity, nor from love. Its very nature is that with whatever tree it embraces, it uproots. So too the vine of love winds around the tree of the lover's spirit-nature, to uproot him from the roots of being and draw his subtlety into itself — for its nature is that with whomever it mingles, it spills their blood. It has no enmity toward anyone, and no love either. Whatever effect it produces, it produces by the nature of its existence, not by choice. And this is the secret of why the lover, in love, has no choice left.

In love, when choice of the Friend is gone,
without love, from choice no friendship survives.
In the palace of our Beloved's desire,
nothing but love has a place by choice.

Chapter 21

Love is the sky and spirit is the earth — that is, love is the active principle and spirit is the receptive. By this relation, between them exists a spiritual bond: love draws spirit in, and spirit draws love up — so the meaning of their bond is that one draws down and the other draws up. And the reason the lover inclines toward the Beloved and the Beloved gazes upon the lover is this — and this is far from the understanding of the scholars and hidden from their insight. For knowledge is the steward of the court: at the gate, it keeps order among the retinue, arranges existence and non-existence, but it has no power to perceive the secrets of the King. And here love's own nature also falls short of effect — for the effect of love's nature is to make the receptive ready to receive the act of the active. When this is done, the active is at work and the receptive is in vision. And that is a wondrous secret.

Chapter 22

If love is the partner of spirit, why do you permit loss upon a partner? Brother! Love is too holy for partners and likenesses, but spirit raises its head from this partnership, and to prove the unity of the Beloved, draws the decree of loss — "he has lost this world and the next" — upon spirit, and says to it: You will reach the fortune of union only when you arrive at yourself, and you will return to the world of your origin only when you become the partner of nothingness. Know this with certainty:

If all you possess you gamble away,
and if you cut your own existence free —
perhaps you will escape yourself and rush
into the shelter of His light.

Chapter 23

If love is the essential attribute of spirit, then without it spirit is incomplete — yet love itself is never without spirit. When the sultan of the Beloved's beauty takes the domain of the lover's nature into its control and makes it its own kingdom, love — which is spirit's essential attribute — and spirit — which is love's possessor — contrive together a plan of separation. Although this is impossible, without the Creator it could not come to light. Love goes into hiding in the ambush of concealment; spirit imagines it has departed, and at this thought begins to bid itself farewell. But love has not left. When the Creator brings it into manifestation, love becomes jealous over spirit — for spirit finds traces of the Beloved in the traceless and imagines that it is He. Spirit says: "I am not He — but without Him, I am not."

I will not become Him, yet without Him —
by God, I am not. Of this I am certain.

Chapter 24

Knowledge reaches only the shore of love. It has no business in the depths of this ocean — for knowledge is a guide, and though it may be powerful, it goes no further than the shore. To fasten the weight of seeking upon the foot of the moment and cast oneself headlong into the depths of the blood-drinking sea, to bring up the precious pearl of union and spend one's days upon it — that is another matter entirely:

Either I will set the crown of the Friend's union on my head,
or in the search for Him I will lay down my head.

Chapter 25

Knowledge finds no path beyond the first proof. It cannot circle the pavilion of love's glory. And in the world of love, in a single instant, death shows its power a thousand times and life makes its effect manifest — for the Beloved possesses a kindness and a grace. The wine of grace He gives to lovers in the cup of wrath, and to the sincere He gives it in the cup of grace — so that whatever wrath dissolves, grace restores. For the Lover means that love is His attribute, and His attribute is unity. Therefore lovers must be one in essence and one in attribute, so that through oneness they may find the path to His oneness. As the Beloved is one, the lover too must be one in singularity — so that at the moment of union, when one is multiplied by one, the result is one. And this meaning admits of no doubt or uncertainty.

I desire that through your love I become other,
that I step outside the mention of myself.
I am mistaken if I imagine there are two —
when I become one with you, I return to you.

Chapter 26

One of the masters of the Path, when he saw that the Beloved gave the lock of hair the twist of perfect coquetry, gave his books to the water and said: "An excellent guide you were — but after arrival, seeking the guide is absurd." You were a fine guide, but now that the threshold has appeared, rise from the road. Do not contend with love. Make your abode at rest, and take your place outside the door. When you see that the radiant lights of the Beloved's face have burned away all of ourselves within us, carry the news to the burnt lovers — for your business is news, and news is of little use to those who are lost in the deserts of love. And what the sage said is near to this:

When the halo of union appeared,
the gossip of the matchmaker was erased.

Chapter 27

Love's guide is the intellect — but in a different sense than you think. Everything that the intellect proves, love dismantles, until the intellect can prove nothing at all. When the intellect ceases proving, love reveals itself to it and says: "Look at me, and without any guide, see the path." The intellect, awestruck by these words, turns its face toward the world of negation and begins to negate all otherness with proofs and demonstrations. Love enters and says: "Wretch! You fled one impossibility and clung to another. In negation there is affirmation, and the work in it is without constancy. Do you not know that 'to negate a fault from one who is faultless is itself a fault'?" The poor intellect finds no refuge except between the "there is not" and the "but." Love drives it out from between negation and affirmation by force, saying: "Follow that wayfarer who said:

Beyond negation and affirmation there is a desert —
in its midst, this tribe has a madness.
When the lover arrives there, he ceases to exist:
neither negation, nor affirmation, nor any place for him."

The intellect, baffled and left at the door, begins circling the revealed scriptures and spiritual stations. Love enters and whispers the story of the primordial covenant into its ear, saying: "O heedless one! From Him, through Him, beside yourself — you heard the address 'Am I not your Lord?' And that address was without letters, and you answered 'Yes' beside yourself, and that too was without letters. Now do not wander far — from the station of letterlessness you were given leave, and without intermediaries, so that in the world without quality you may be given leave again. That is: as you sought without letters, without quality you shall see." So then, O bride of the road, go without escort, go without fear upon our street — the Sufis of the monasteries of holiness begin to dance:

My soul from longing pitched its tent in the wilderness,
setting fire to the existence of wise intellect.
Without scripture or station, with nothing but the capital of love,
it breathed ceaselessly of the Highest Companion.

Chapter 28

The intellect is the steward of the house of this world and the next. To turn the face of the heart in love toward these two — when both are servants on the road to the Beloved — is itself a veil. And what that ardent wayfarer saw with a sidelong glance at both, that "his gaze did not swerve and did not exceed" — the secret of this meaning is: in "his gaze did not swerve," the colorful pheasant of the intellect is made the hunting ground of the falcon of love. By God, in absorption in love, to look at this world and the next with the eye of acceptance is idol-worship:

Those who are drunk from the cup of love
are still under the command of "Am I not?"
If they are aware of this world and the next,
in the creed of love they are still idol-worshippers.

Chapter 29

Just as the lover must set aside the mention of this world and the next, he must also lift his gaze from eternity past and eternity future — for eternity past is an expression for the beginning of time, and eternity future is a sign for the end of time, and the lover's aspiration is beyond time. Brother, it is best that the lover turn the face of the heart toward the reality of his own existence and know with certainty that the reality of his existence is neither temporal nor spatial, and say continually to himself:

O heart, step outside the good and evil of the world,
and from the world without table, step outside yourself.
If you wish to know His unity,
leave eternity past — then step outside eternity future.

Chapter 30

Love is the sun and intellect a mote. Though the mote appears in the sun's radiance, how could it have the strength to enter that light by itself?

You, a mote's shadow — and you wish to embrace the sun?
It is possible — but take the suffering with it.

The mote in shadow is lost — indeed, it does not exist. It becomes perceptible only in the sun's radiance. So although the mote appears to exist, attributing existence to the sun is more fitting. Brother, the blaze of ignited particles is the air itself made incandescent, and that light is the very light of the sun. This secret cannot be known at the sun's setting, and the secret of the lover's nonexistence and existence in love can be seen by this meaning:

From the cup of love's wine, we are drunk still.
Like motes in the sun, we exist still.
Like a lost, vanished, invisible mote —
in your love we are sun-worshippers still.

Chapter 31

The mote sometimes comes into view and sometimes does not — for its existence is suspended between nonexistence and existence. Sometimes it is present with the sun in the sun's world; sometimes from the shadow of nonexistence it gazes in. Dervish — not all invisibility comes from grandeur and height; some comes from extreme subtlety and fineness. One thing is unseen because of its greatness; another is unseen because of its smallness. The one is lesser and smaller relative to the other; the other is greater and larger relative to the one — but in their unfindability, both are equal:

I saw an elder drowning in love —
from his own weeping he made a whirlpool.
I said: "For whose sake is this weeping of yours?"
He said: "For the sake of an unfindable Beloved."

Not-seeing comes from the excess of nearness. And seeing comes from "We are nearer." The not-seeing is for the sake of seeing, and this is a wondrous riddle.

Chapter 32

The one whose gaze upon the Beloved is from the world of glory — "all glory belongs to God entirely" — is always melting from the pain of his own existence. And the one whose gaze upon the Beloved is from the world of "We are nearer to him than the jugular vein" is likewise melting from the shame of his own existence — until the sun of beauty rises from the horizon of majesty, making his power of sight luminous through itself and his power of hearing strong through itself. Without "He hears" and without "He sees," without his own selfhood, he gazes upon the world of the Beloved, and in selflessness he stands present at the pavilion of the Beloved's glory. In sum: since his attainment is in the world of flawlessness — indeed, he is submerged in the witnesses of the unseen — then shame and melting, headache and coquetry, cannot be ascribed to him. For though he was alive, he was without soul. What shall I say? He appears to be this — but he was that:

When he saw plainly the beauty of the Beloved,
from the boundary of place he passed to the placeless.
What shall I say? His pure existence
transcended this station and became that.

Chapter 33

Knowledge accompanies love only to the shore of the sea of greatness. If it takes one step further, it drowns — and what news could it possibly bring back? But when love dives in and becomes like a hidden pearl within the shell, it brings up from the depths of the sea of greatness the luminous jewel of its desire — so that knowledge, in the radiance of that flash, might find its way back to itself. But in truth, that supposition is mistaken. And this is among the rarities of love.

Chapter 34

There is a difference between the diver who descends into the sea to bring up the pearl, and the one who descends to the depths of the sea so that for a moment he may dwell in the shell with the pearl:

There is a difference between the one
who brings the pearl up from the sea for himself,
and the one who places his own existence,
O friend, into the shell.

Chapter 35

For the lover, seeking the Beloved's pleasure in love is a condition of the path. And outwardly, pleasure lies in attending to the Beloved's command. But for a certain people whose gaze falls upon the Beloved's will and decree — if the command goes unfollowed, they have no concern. Brother, the Beloved's command is one thing and His will is another. From time to time, the Beloved's command becomes a touchstone by which the inner quality of the lover may be known. It is permissible not to obey: if one obeys, it is rawness — an incompleteness in love. And if one does not obey, one is complete, and one's desire is fulfilled.

Chapter 36

The Beloved tests the lover on the touchstone of command and lifts the veil from the face of His will — so that the lover is revealed to what He truly desires. Then the lover sets aside the command — and this disobedience is from perfection, not from defect. It is as when a father says to his son: "Do not praise me too much, for modesty overcomes me" — and the son, out of reverence, lavishes praise still more. For this the son is rewarded, not punished — for although outwardly he disobeys, from the side of courtesy he obeys.

Chapter 37

If Mahmud had said to Ayaz: "Go — occupy yourself in the service of another, and be free of me" — if Ayaz had gone and obeyed, would he have been right in going or wrong? The one who in this station shows obedience is raw:

"You said: 'Look upon another.' I shall — if you
show me another like yourself."

By my life — when the command "Hasten to the forgiveness of your Lord, and a garden as wide as the heavens and the earth" reached creation, the ascetics hastened. But the lovers — mystics of love's temperament — sat at the threshold of the Beloved's pavilion of glory, drew their feet into the skirt of sorrow, and pulled their heads into the collar of bewilderment, and held back:

You said: "Go — cut short your talk of me."
O Friend, where shall I go? Where do I know the way?

Chapter 38

One of the Companions bought a slave. The Master said: "O Companion, let me share in the slave." He said: "God has no partner, O Messenger of God." If you imagine the Companion disobeyed the Prophet's command, know that the matter is the opposite of what you suppose. If he had obeyed, it would have been a defect in his monotheism — and this is the Beloved's testing of the lover. This meaning runs deep, but in the secrets of love, stories and parables cannot contain it. The Beloved said: "Let me share in the slave." The lover said: "God has no partner — the servant and all that is in his hand belong to his Lord." Dervish — "Bow down before Adam" was a touchstone, to see who is privy to the Beloved's will and who has beheld the face of His desire. When all bowed down and the master did not, it became clear that the master was more seasoned and more burned than the students:

If upon my head you rain thorns and bramble —
your rain I have sewn fast; it is rain.

He chose separation from the Beloved through the power of witnessing the will, and had no fear. What perfection in the matter of "his gaze did not swerve and did not exceed!" This itself is the work — when the white rain of sanctifying chants dazzles the eyes. What power of beholding the will! He knew that from the King's private wardrobe, the royal robe of "whoever obeys the Messenger has obeyed God" had been prepared — and at the moment when one must become singular in kingship, he did not open his eyes to the wares of both worlds and did not stretch out the hand of need before gift or offering. Had he done so, his love would have been incomplete.

Chapter 39

That chief of the forsaken possesses a perfection. Indeed — the hand of disguise wrapped itself around the waists of one hundred and twenty-four thousand brave wayfarers of the world of sanctification: "We have not sent before you any messenger or prophet but that when he desired, Satan cast into his desire." It was not without a perfection. Abu al-Qasim Gurgani — may God sanctify his spirit — used to say: "For all these years I have been seeking a wayfarer of Iblis-like quality and cannot find one." Where his secret gaze rests, no one has a path. And so in the language of his state he says:

I bear your tyranny and I contend —
with your love I will mix no other love.
I have a soul that will bear the burden of your love;
until I spend myself in your cause, I will not flee.

Perhaps you cannot hear his riddles and signs. But one must have the nature of Gabriel to steal a glance into the secrets of his work and then inform the inner being. One of them, in the surges of intoxication, whenever he heard His name, would speak blessings upon Him. But he — in the world of form — kept himself in the Beloved's gaze and said: "Wretch — the gift of His presence to me came as a curse, and out of love for Him, I embraced it with a thousand souls and took the abasement as mercy." What would you say if the Beloved sent you, as a keepsake, a black felt cloak? Should someone offer you a rosary in exchange and take the cloak from you? Lovers know what value the Beloved's keepsake holds in the eyes of those whose hearts are given and whose spirits are cast to the wind. The robe must come from the King's court — whether it is silk or a black felt cloak, it is the same. This is the wonder of the lovers' condition: suffering and fortune, when they come from the Beloved, are of one color — and mercy and curse, in the depth of desire, are of equal weight. And this is perfection in love.

Chapter 40

If the lover wishes to reach the world of the Beloved by his own strength, it is impossible. His likeness is that of an ant in India who sets out for Mecca and tries to cover the road on its own weak legs — it is impossible that it arrive. But if it fastens itself to the wing of a swift pigeon, so that the pigeon carries it in a single day to its destination by the movements of its purified wings, then its arrival is not impossible. Brother, you are that weak ant who from India of possibility has set out for holy Mecca. If you set your head upon the boundless wilderness of selflessness on the weak foot of humanity, wishing to arrive — it is impossible, impossible; indeed it is error upon error:

The road where even angels dare not step —
that road cannot be traveled on one's own feet.

If fortune aids you, fasten the ant of your existence to the royal falcon of strength — which they call love — for it belongs to that realm, and for the sake of perfecting the imperfect beings of the natural world, it has come here, so that it may carry you there.

Chapter 41

A lover, from the fullness of longing and restlessness and anguish, came to the door of the Beloved's palace. He struck the ring upon the anvil and fell into bewilderment and confusion. It passed through his mind: if the Beloved asks "Who is it?" — what shall I say? If I say "It is I," He will say: "There is no room for your 'you' in Our world, and in Our dominion you have no place." And if I say "It is You," He will say: "I am ensconced in the howdah of My majesty, and I have no need of your existence. Go back — and in going back, be consumed." The poor man — before his knock fell, he stood upon the step of waiting, helpless and wretched and ashamed, saying:

Oh, my shame at standing at the door of their house —
and the words of their gatekeeper: "Who are you, O man?"
I said: "A stranger whom the road has lost —
so guide me, for I have exhausted all recourse."
They said: "Turn back — the road is not this way."
How can I turn back, when my heart is occupied with the memory of you?

The Sun of the sky of wayfarership, the pride of all sultans and kings — upon him the most excellent of blessings — when he arrived at the threshold of the intimate retreat of lovers, which is a sign from the world beyond signs, from the power of love and the fullness of longing he wished to set foot within. The herald of the Presence pulled at the hem of his garment of inerrancy and said: "Be sober!" He raised his head from the collar of love and brought news from the Beloved's signless world, and said: "If His wrath should brand the foreheads of the favoured ones of the Highest Assembly — those who wear upon their garments of being the embroidery of 'They do not disobey God in what He commands them' — that would be justice. And if the mercy of His glory should place a crown upon the heads of the abased of the lowest depth — those who bear upon their foreheads the brand of 'Nay, they shall be veiled from their Lord on that Day' — that would be grace. Do not enter this court without permission, and do not compare it to the chamber of Humayra — for the Beloved is without need, without partner, and without equal."

If in His world you make a place for yourself,
you will lose yourself and come to terms with the scent of Him.
That is better than coquetry —
playing at love while clinging to your existence.

Well has that master spoken: "The condition is this —
when you enter the sanctuary of love, first,
before you set your foot within, lay down your head."

Chapter 42

Love is fire and longing is its flame. When the fire of longing raises its head from the hearth of the lover's soul, whatever is closest to it burns first. By this token, "We are nearer" was spoken for the sake of burning — not for consolation. "The glories of His face would burn whatever His gaze reaches." And what the Greatest Law declared — "If I had drawn nearer by a fingertip, I would have been consumed" — this is that meaning.

Chapter 43

When the lover clasps the image of the Beloved in an embrace, solitude is sweeter to him than company in this world — and in the next world, Hell is better than Paradise. For in the company of the rejected, solitude comes more easily than in the company of the accepted. And this meaning has a great depth: with the foot of knowledge one cannot travel in these wastelands, and with the eye of reason one cannot gaze upon this beauty. The one who sits among the rejected at the threshold of the lowest, crying "Grace! Grace!" — he knows the peace of sitting in the pavilion of fire. In the world of the heart there is a fire of which "the fire of God, kindled, which mounts up to the hearts" is the expression — and the fire of Hell flees from it. What fear has he of hellfire when he possesses that fire?

Cease frightening me with hellfire —
when I was with You, I feared no flame.

To frighten a lover with Hell is like threatening a mad moth with a candle. The moth dies in love so that it may embrace the fire just once. For it, this alone would be enough: to become fire for one instant — even if the next instant it is cast out as ashes and its name and trace are erased. It cares nothing for that.

Though the moth takes fire with its life,
it accepts no form but the image of the flame.
Since by nature the moth loves the candle,
it circles its head and dies ever closer.

Chapter 44

The Hindus, when they attain perfection in their love of the idol, make a bowl of dough upon their heads and pour lamp-oil into it and anoint their limbs, and take fire in hand, wishing to die before those sightless eyes of the idol. When the attendants ceremonially lift the veil from before the idol's beauty, the worshippers fix their gaze upon that beauty and set fire to the oil. And in the contemplation of its image they play at love, and they burn sweetly and compose themselves, saying with the tongue of their state:

O soul shattered in the fire's midst,
come in drunk and drink the wine of love.
When you are drunk with the image of the Beloved,
dance merrily like a moth, intoxicated.

Then they burn entirely and utter not a word. Their ashes are gathered and used for the healing of the sick, and wondrous effects are witnessed from them.

If from the burning of His love you become water,
from your dust the dead shall rise to life in multitudes.

The lover's rest is this: that the Beloved kindle the fire of jealousy and burn the lover's soul in that fire. For he knows that every fire that exists is a consumer — it burns whatever is given to it — except the fire of jealousy, which burns nothing but the chaff of otherness. Whoever understands this meaning is admitted into the world of unity. On this meaning a master has spoken:

Kindle the fire of majesty in Your lane,
that no meddler may find a path to You.
And hide that beautiful face from us beneath Your hair —
for it grieves us that Your face should be seen at all.

And what Shibli — may God sanctify his spirit — said in his private prayer, "O God, resurrect me blind, for You are more exalted and more magnificent in my sight than that my eyes should see You" — this is the secret of that meaning.

Chapter 45

When the lover beholds in himself the want of readiness for arrival, he must inevitably contemplate eternal separation — and that is an infinite pain. Therefore he wishes for non-existence, and does not find it. The poor man moans ceaselessly from the pain and rubs his brow upon the dust of abasement, saying:

On the road of love there ought to be a yield — and there is none.
On the shore of hope there ought to be a shore — and there is none.
You said: "By patience your affair will prosper."
With patience — you know — there ought to be a heart, and there is none.

And what Malik ibn Dinar — may God sanctify his spirit — said, "O God, when You bring me into Paradise and say, 'I am pleased with you, O Malik,' then make me dust — for that is Paradise for its true masters" — this is the secret of that meaning.

Chapter 46

True love has no ultimate concern with humanity, for love is a bird whose nest is eternity. When would it alight upon a thorntree? When would it fly in the narrow expanse of contingency? And what Sharaf Shafruwah has said is near to this meaning:

Do not hear the claim of absolute love from the race of Adam —
for where the city of love stands, what business has a human?

O dervish — a bird that flies from the nest of eternity alights on nothing less than the branch of forever. It cannot be seen with the shortsighted eye of the temporal. My master used to say: "Love is the phoenix of the air of pre-eternity. If its shadow falls upon the world of the temporal, it raises that world from the rank of contingency to the world of necessity."

And what love seizes in you — do you know what its cause is? Be present, and you will know. When love soars from the branch of eternity, it sometimes strays far from its own world. When it looks into you, it finds a sign from the signless world — for "God created Adam in His image" is the expression of that sign. In the overpowering of its state, it seizes upon you. And when the morning breeze of the Beloved's grace begins to blow from the direction of tenderness and lifts the veil from before beauty, love sets fire to you and turns its attention elsewhere — to revel in the disclosure of majesty. And that is the secret.

Chapter 47

In the Ruh al-Arwah it is written: "The falcon of love flew from the tree of glory. It reached the Throne — it saw grandeur — and passed on. It reached the Footstool — it saw vastness — and passed on. It reached Paradise — it saw bliss — and passed on. It reached the earth — it saw suffering — and alighted upon it." The cherubim from their world called out and said: "O attribute of sovereignty! What kinship have you with dust? What radiance does dust receive from you?" It answered: "The earth has my suffering. I have its love. The dot it carries above, I carry below. And love, when it takes root in a place, turns that place upside down." We turned its highest part to its lowest.

How long will You turn me upside down,
and make me pass beyond my own world?
Yet with all this, it is enough for me
that You, O moon, have knowledge of my heart's pain.

Chapter 48

There are times when the lover, from the excess of pain and the force of desire, wanders into the desert of passion and becomes lost — to the point that he denies love itself and counts it among forbidden things, and considers its abandonment a cause of nearness. Love says: "This is mere fancy." Though the self says, "I have now repented," that repentance is like the coerced faith of prisoners — without root. This fancy arises from the domain of the heart, aided by the breath of the sensuous soul, the commanding self, which says to him:

Who repented of love, O foolish heart?
That I should repent of union with that moon!
The night is dark and the wine is bright and the retreat is private —
she is present and I am in love — and then, repentance?

And there are times when, in the very midst of craving, he repents of that repentance. He considers the repentance ugly and counts it a sin, and says: "A repentance uglier than the sin itself."

That repentance which came from seeing Your face —
by God, I consider it worse than a hundred sins.

When he arrives at this station, he ripens in love — though he was raw before. But know this in truth: until the lover empties himself of himself, he does not come to terms with love. When he no longer belongs to himself, the Beloved in tenderness belongs to him, and begins to say: "I am yours — if you will, or if you come." While the lover was a denier and love was forbidden in his sight, the Beloved sat in the howdah of majesty. But when the lover gambled away the coin of his existence in the gaming-house of love, and made peace with the blame-bearers on the road of love, and drew his head into the collar of pain and brought his foot into the hem of affliction — the Beloved, for the sake of displaying the coquetry of beauty and loveliness, casts aside the veil and hurls a hundred thousand souls upon one another. And love cries out:

Where is the spiritual Jesus, that he may see his own miracle?
Where is Joseph of Canaan, that he may cast off his body?
Where is the penitent of a hundred years, that at the curl of His tress
he may throw away his turban on the spot?

It may be that at this station the Beloved turns toward the lover and makes his existence worthy of beholding beauty. By the attraction of tenderness He brings the lover before the pavilion of beauty and makes the lover see the Beloved through the Beloved. Until through Him the lover sees — and this seeing is for the lover that very secret.

If He draws you out from the circle of existence,
and by force draws you into the snare of affliction —
it is so that His own eye may see you in His world.
He empties you of self, and in love draws you close.

Chapter 49

Love is an engineer who would make the necks of lovers its sheaths. Whoever has his head severed through love — the Beloved places the cup of annihilation upon his palm and admits him into His world.

A hundred tumults rose from Your love.
My heart's blood has mingled with Your love.
From the watered blade of Your fire-working dagger —
in the blink of an eye, my heart's blood was spilled.

Chapter 50

It is best for the lover to be self-possessed and yet slain by the Friend — for one day he shall be admitted. But the passage to that gate is by way of the gallows.

If the passage of Your love is through the gallows,
it is easy, O lad — not hard at all.
What fear of thorns for the one
whose Beloved has set his heart amid a garden of roses?

Chapter 51

Love has a rising and a declining. The rising of love is in the declining of the lover — for when the lover prospers, the Beloved houses him in the howdah of glory. And it may happen that at times the morning breeze casts aside the veil of union from before beauty — and then upon whom does love loose its assault? From whom does it exact the dues of sovereignty? Love seeks one who is in decline: one whose day has turned, who has fallen, whose innermost desire has been killed. Upon such a one it looses its assault and from such a one takes its due. Sometimes it calls him gently, sometimes drives him in wrath. Sometimes it rains arrows of affliction upon him, sometimes makes him a target of suffering and devotion. Sometimes it seats him upon the throne of glory, and sometimes drags him into the snare of adversity.

Sometimes it draws me into the snare of Your grief's rise.
Sometimes it pulls me from the well of Your breath's decline.
Whether this or that — all is from the fullness of submission.
May my head, O idol, be the ransom of the dust of Your feet.

Chapter 52

If the rising and declining of love are found in concealment and manifestation — know that love in the state of concealment is more powerful and more forceful. For its place of ambush is the lover's soul. When love hides within the soul, pain becomes boundless and suffering becomes infinite. This is the rising of love and the declining of the lover. And this state endures as long as the lover is alive through his own soul and moving through his own limbs. When he becomes alive through the Beloved and passes beyond this station — that happens: love packs its things and departs. This is the declining of love and the rising of the lover.

As long as there is soul, Your love shall dwell in the soul.
In its existence lies the strength of the limbs.
And the one whose permanence is through the Beloved —
know: he is this, and this is that.

Chapter 53

Love never shows its beauty to the eye of knowledge, nor displays its treasure before it. For knowledge produces caution, and love produces recklessness. Love means ruin on both sides, and knowledge means construction on both sides — and this is a great secret. Indeed, when knowledge looks with the eye of understanding, whatever it sees it wishes to bring into the open and report upon. In love this would cause distance — for love is completed through jealousy, and in jealousy it is impermissible to broadcast the attributes of the Beloved's beauty. For this reason knowledge comes as a stranger to love, and love does not show its beauty to it. As it has been said:

In Your love, there is no shame in blame for me.
With the grip of that, in these words there is no quarrel.
This draught of love is only for the intimate —
for the stranger, in this cup there is no colour.

Chapter 54

Knowledge is for the cultivation of the world. Therefore the knower must possess caution: "Only those of His servants who have knowledge fear God" — so that the cultivation of knowledge may bear fruit. And love is for the devastation of the world: "Love is fire and longing is its flame." Therefore the lover must possess recklessness — so that he may set fire to both worlds.

Set fire to whatever you have, O friend,
and do not worry: from this your affair shall prosper.
When your traces are burnt, O lad,
you shall endure through His endurance, and your lights shall remain.

Chapter 55

Love's face is turned toward itself. Therefore it is both witness and witnessed. Love knows itself — therefore it is both knower and known. It flies in its own sky and hunts from its own world — therefore it is both prey and hunter. Whatever it needs, it needs from its own world — therefore it is both seeker and sought. It does not lift its gaze from itself nor fix it upon another — therefore it is both intender and intended. A master has said:

The hunter is He, the bait is He, the prey is He.
The cupbearer, the companion, the wine, and the cup — all He.
I said I would go to the idol-temple from love for Him.
I saw: the reigning idol of the temple was He.

Chapter 56

Defect and shame are impossible in the world of love. If a king loves a bathhouse-stoker, it is no shame. If a beggar plays at love with a king, it is no shame. For all creatures — from the highest pinnacle of the angelic realm to the lowest depth of the satanic — are in love with their own perfection, for the sake of perceiving the secrets of the unseen. And it may be that this was the cause of the creation of all beings: "and for that He created them" — until the secret of "I was a hidden treasure and was not known" becomes manifest. And what is written in the Nawadir al-Hikam — that by writing a single word, the scribe's life, power, knowledge, hearing, sight, and will, without any deliberation, appear in the heart of the one who beholds that written word — is close to this meaning.

In love, O heart, there is no defect or shame,
and where love is, it is never absent.
All of this is because the lover
in the world of love has no choice.

Chapter 57

Love is an intermediary between the lover and the Beloved, the cause of their union. But it is hidden in the shadow of the Beloved's coquetry. From time to time, from the perfection it possesses in its own affair, it places an arrow from the Beloved's glance upon the bow of His brow and casts it at the target of the lover's soul. This, in parable, is a wound for which both worlds could not be remedy enough.

O love, why do You lay upon my soul
a burden that I have no strength to carry?
I am a slave, obedient to such a command —
for God's sake, do not let go of me so easily.

Chapter 58

In the custom of love there is an affliction from which both lover and Beloved are on guard. Whoever it touches, it casts down from the station of crowned majesty to the dust of abasement. For the Beloved's coquetry endures only as long as the Beloved remains in the world of self-sufficiency as the one who is loved. When the Beloved falls into the whirlpool of becoming a lover, one must mourn the Beloved's captivity and one must choose all the creatures of the world. "He loves them," He says —

How can one hide from creation when, in the open,
one holds a torch in hand and musk within one's collar?

Chapter 59

Love does not mingle with anyone and does not cling to anything. But the lover is in need of the Beloved. To quench his need, he circles the pavilion of the Beloved's beauty. And the Beloved is all coquetry and dalliance and pride — circling His own beauty — yet looking upon the needy one as one who may bear the burden of His affair. Thus the lover needs the Beloved, that through the Beloved he may be freed from the door of this world. And the Beloved needs the lover, that the lover may bear the burden of His coquetry and pride. And love, free from the need of the lover and the pride of the Beloved — its sole desire is to raise its head from the ocean of jealousy and, whale-like, swallow them both, so that their union may dwell within its belly and the thought of separation be abolished.

The lover is occupied with his own need.
The Beloved is joined to his own pride.
Love has become free of the existence of both —
and in itself, from its own selfhood, deposed.

Chapter 60

Love is fire. "Love — its beginning is fire, its middle is fire, its end is fire." "He perceived a fire from the direction of the mountain." O fire of the heart — "the glories of His face would burn." Its hearth is the lover's heart. Its fuel is the lover's being: "whose fuel is people." Its kindler is the dalliance and pride and charm of the Beloved. When the lover appears at the Beloved's door, or the Beloved turns toward the lover — that rising is for the fulfilment of love's desire, not for the fulfilment of theirs. If the Beloved increases dalliance and pride and charm in the sight of the lover, love sends its flame to the sky — and in that is its own delight. And if the lover displays need and helplessness and wretchedness in the presence of the Beloved, love seizes a whole world — and in that ruin lies its triumph. And this is from love's perfection: that the eye of knowledge does not behold the beauty of this state. For at the outset, knowledge finds no access and therefore becomes a denier of love. And knowledge is excused — for this pertains to taste, and knowledge has no path to taste. This is a thing that is necessary and not acquired, and what cannot be acquired through effort. When it comes of itself, it burns the very seat of necessity. Therefore it has no correspondence with knowledge at all.

When the candle of Your love was kindled,
the moth of my self was burned within it.
Break the cage of existence and fear it not —
the bird that had flown away has been taught to return.

Chapter 61

Love is sacred in its orientation toward a Face. Its countenance is in beauty and heart-stealing and charm and soul-nourishing — and beauty and heart-stealing and charm and soul-nourishing are its bait and its snare. By this token, everyone in the world is its slave. And all know that the secret of love has permanence and annihilation — the Face that is from the sacred orientation. "And the Face of your Lord remains." And since love has no orientation toward a face, indeed there is no face but His Face. "Everyone upon the earth shall perish." "Everything perishes except His Face."

The exemplar of this meaning in the world is the Ka'ba: all creatures orient toward it in worship, yet it orients toward nothing. The moth orients toward the candle, but the candle orients toward nothing. All faces turn to the sun, but the sun orients toward nothing. The Throne is the qibla of the angels, but the Throne has no qibla. Muhammad is the model for all, yet he follows no one. "And say: Lord, increase me in knowledge."

Since my heart has no face toward one direction,
it is as though my heart has no face at all.
In love I have become such that in knowing You,
you would say my heart has no scent at all.

Chapter 62

The presumption of knowledge, the geometry of illusion, the philosopher's fancy, nature's spy, the wakefulness of memorization, and the bride of intellect — in love, none of these amount to anything. In love, only pain is needed, and burning, and suffering, and toil.

Since intellect is a bride upon the path of your grief —
what use to us is the geometry of intellect?

Chapter 63

The perfection of the Beloved's beauty cannot be seen except in the mirror of love. For this reason the lover's existence is needed to manifest the Beloved's beauty. O dervish, though the Beloved is wealthy in the capital of beauty and free from need of everyone's existence, yet He requires a mirror to perceive Himself — and this meaning has great depth.

We are a mirror, and He possesses a beauty —
we apprehend Him for the sake of His own seeing.

"The believer is the mirror of the believer" — this is the secret of this meaning. By this proportion, the lover is closer to the Beloved's beauty than the Beloved Himself — though between reflection and reality there is no opposition. And in truth, in the world of intellect the receptive appears closer than the active. When the lover, in the floods of love, finds the Beloved more "his" than himself and more "himself" than his own self, it is fitting that he be jealous on the Beloved's behalf even against the Beloved's own gaze. And when he recognizes his own existence as the mirror of the Beloved's seeing, he would wish to cast his existence into the ocean of non-existence — so that the Beloved may see Himself through him. For even against the Beloved he is jealous on the Beloved's behalf. And this is a tremendous state that cannot be understood without tasting. On this meaning they have said:

O Lord, take my justice from the soul of Alexander,
who made a mirror so that You might gaze into it.

O dervish, since the Beloved was the mirror-maker, the lover was always melting from jealousy.

I wish to gaze upon Your beauty from afar,
but I cannot — for I am without foot or head.
If You, O source of beauty, from Your own world
gaze upon Your own beauty — I am jealous.

Chapter 64

The lover becomes more "his" than he himself. A delusion of connection appears in him, and he reaches a place where he says: "The Beloved is I, though I am beside myself."

"I am the Truth" and "Glory be to me" — this is the secret of this meaning.

So much coquetry has love with my body and soul —
you would say that you are the lover, and I am the Beloved.

Chapter 65

The work of love is complete when the lover becomes the Beloved and the page turns — without anything diminishing in the lover's love or increasing in the Beloved's beauty. For the Beloved's beauty is a necessary attribute of existence — its passing while the essence endures is impossible. And love in the lover, though it was added to his existence and came from outside, has by the power of the Beloved's beauty — which is its means — annihilated his attributes within itself and established itself wholly in their place. And when the lover becomes the Beloved, inevitably the Beloved becomes the lover — without the union transferring from one to the other.

O dervish, if you open the eye of hidden sight, you will see that love, lover, and Beloved are all three one — and this is a principle without doubt or uncertainty. Sheikh Awhad al-Din Kirmani says:

I said: are you a prophet or a sage?
He said: remove duality from the road.
Today and yesterday and tomorrow —
all four are one, and you are the morrow.
When I looked well, that was beautiful:
He and I and the sage — all three were He.

Chapter 66

Khwaja Ahmad Ghazali — may God sanctify his spirit — says in the Sawanih: the Beloved said to the lover, "Come — be Me." He said: "If I become You, then there will be loss in the Beloved and no gain in the lover. But if You become me, there will be gain in the Beloved — all will be Beloved and no lover, all coquetry and no longing, all attainment and no seeking, all richness and no poverty, all glory and no abasement." On this meaning the dervish says:

If the Beloved in grace should enter the affair
and come to the door of the wounded lover,
the Beloved becomes the lover — and without trouble,
becomes in the lover's world worthy of being seen.

Chapter 67

The lover needs neither solitude nor company — for solitude requires silence, and silence is among the things that cut the lover's way; and company requires rest, and rest is among the things that block the yearning one's path. What they have said — "the beloved of the lover must be visible, and the yearning one must be mad" — this is the secret of this meaning. The lover by nature flees separation and clings to union. The reason is that separation demands duality and union demands unity — that is, in the station of separation, the lover dwells in the world of sorrow and the Beloved dwells in the howdah of joy; and this, in dispersion, is the observation of multiplicity, whereas in love, unity is needed — nay, union. And this is found only in union. "And that is a precious secret for one who understands."

My soul flees from separation with You
so that with You it becomes one and duality is lifted.

Chapter 68

What they have said — that the lover in the station of separation is happier than in the station of union — is true. For in separation there is hope of union, and in union there is fear of parting. But enduring the pain of separation and casting oneself upon oneself out of the impossibility of attainment — this is not free of dispersion, for in pain the selfhood remains, while in attainment the identity is subsumed in the Beloved's identity.

He whose permanence is through the Permanent —
tell me, what remains of servanthood?
How can one become sober from love's intoxication
when one's king is by essence the cupbearer?

Chapter 69

O brother, the station of separation is the station of waiting. In this road, to look for the Beloved's arrival in one's own world is idolatry. One must close one's eyes and seek within oneself and find — and in finding, rejoice. For He is always present, and doubt is removed from this principle.

O dear one, His being reveals beauty in your non-being, and non-being in you is a root and an essence — if you return to your root by nature, you will always be a possessor. O dervish, the radiance of the sun of eternity is always shining upon non-existence. These motes of existence that are manifest through witnessing Him have raised their heads from the corners of non-existence and received permanence from Him. Do not wonder: motes are realized at the sun's setting, and their appearance comes with its rising. But these motes — upon which the radiance of the sun of His witness shines from the horizon of eternity — have always been enduring.

She is the sun — except that the sun has an absence,
and this one whom I mean does not vanish.

Chapter 70

If love is an affliction and contains much tribulation, its strength is from cruelty. The cruelty the Beloved inflicts upon the lover, when you look at it truly, is for the sake of demanding faithfulness. For to make a home in the station of separation and to find peace in selfhood is multiplicity and duality. The Beloved wishes the lover's multiplicity and duality to return to unity, and from that a bond appears.

O dear one, the Beloved's war is peace-bringing, and His peace is war-bringing — so that seeking is reinforced and love is strengthened. Experienced lovers, whose hearts are given to the wind, know that at the beginning of love there is war, reproach, coquetry, and pride — until love is firm. In the middle, risks are undertaken and there is no shrinking from destruction and the spilling of the heart's blood. And at the end, stillness without motion and silence without speech — and a waiting, sought, arrives. What has been said on these stages is close to this:

Stillness, then contraction, then expansion —
and sea, then river, then dry land.
Arrival, then aim, then witnessing, then existence, then extinction.

As they have said:

In love, O heart, there are many descents and rises —
the fawn becomes a lion, and the partridge a falcon.

Chapter 71

Between the lover and the Beloved there must be a kind of correspondence, so that love may reveal its beauty from the ambush of hidden beauty. One of the sages brings this meaning in an illustration, likening it to the flight of birds, showing that birds rarely keep company with those not of their kind. Among them they saw a crow and a dove flying together, which they found strange. The sage said: between them a resemblance had appeared in some state, which had become the cause of their companionship. They investigated and found that both had developed a limp. He said: the cause of their fellowship in flight was this meaning. And this is a subtle secret.

O dear one, when they become one in meaning and their oneness is beyond doubt — even if outwardly one is self-sufficient and the other is in need — in the inward, in both of them is a single meaning, hidden from human and angelic intellects, which has become the cause of correspondence. "He loves them and they love Him."

Do not despise my soul when you are its beloved —
for every being inclines toward its like.

The wonder is that He announces His own love — "He loves them" — and makes your love for Him manifest — "and they love Him." It is no small matter, and is not without correspondence. Alas and a thousand times alas — though one is an attribute of eternity and the other an attribute of the created — still, there it is. "And that is a secret that cannot be unveiled by the tongue of speech."

Chapter 72

Love lodges itself in the pupil of the lover's eye, so that the spirit of sight gazes upon nothing except the Beloved. They have said that the lover, in whatever he looks upon, sees the Beloved — and this is true, and this is the secret of this meaning.

O dear one, when love reaches perfection, it does not fit within the territory of the lover's existence. What falls outside through the door of the eye becomes a beholder of the Beloved's writing, for the sake of consolation. And this is when he has known that "whoever is barred from the gaze finds consolation in the trace." In truth he knows that whatever appears before him, or whatever news reaches him of it, is a line the Beloved has inscribed by the hand of power upon the page of thought. He gazes at it in hope of consolation, and the tongue of his soul says: "This is not that — but it is not without that." "I have never seen a thing without seeing God in it" — and this is a subtle allusion.

In my eye, love took up its dwelling —
it set fire, until it seized a whole world.
When it burned the entire world, then it said to me:
"Look at that mote — it seized the kingdom of the soul."

Chapter 73

When love reaches perfection, the lover flees from the Beloved — for he knows that in the manifestation of the Real, the destruction of creation is assured. "At the appearance of the Real, destruction befalls creation." And what they have said — "every lover who is occupied with himself, the Beloved is disgusted with him" — is close to this meaning.

O dear one, at the dawn's appearance, the lamp's light is annulled and vanishes. "When the morning comes, there is no need for the lamp."

When the dawn showed itself, it gathered
in its lights the lights of the stars.
He makes them drink a cup — if the blazing fire
were tested by its drinking, it would fly away like the swiftest traveler.

What they have said — "the elect live between bliss and bewilderment" — is close to this meaning. That is, the masters of contemplation, when they are unveiled before the majesty of the All-Glorious, melt from awe. And when the sovereignty of witnessing overtakes them and their existence diminishes, they revel in delight. "When they are unveiled, they swoon; and when they are drawn back, they return to bliss and live."

Chapter 74

Mansur al-Maghribi, who had a name in jurisprudence and had brought word from the signless world, said: "One day I came to a tribe of the Arabs. A young man with a moon-bright face and an ambered down invited me. When the meal was set, the young man looked toward the tent and let out a cry and fell senseless, and his tongue fell silent. When he came to, he began to wail. I asked about his state. They said: in that tent is his beloved. In this state the dust of the beloved's hem has seized the collar of his soul and is dragging him toward the world of selflessness. He saw — and fell senseless, and fell silent."

He said: "From perfect compassion, I passed by the door of the tent of that heart-stealing, soul-nourishing one and said: 'By the sanctity of that gaze which you have over the affairs of dervishes — give that wounded one the draught of union for the blow of separation, and bring that one sick with the ailment of despair to fulfillment.'"

From behind the veil came the answer: "O simple-hearted one — he cannot endure the sight of the dust of my hem. How then could he endure my company?"

Chapter 75

If the lover in his love still belongs to himself, he is raw in love and incomplete in yearning. His selfhood must be for the sake of the Beloved. O dervish, whoever wants the Beloved for his own sake has not yet set foot in the territory of love — he is an apostate who desires the desired for the sake of his own desire. But whoever wants himself for the sake of the Beloved — from the garden of love the fragrance of the flowers of sincerity has reached the nostrils of his moment. Though he is at the beginning, he is a seeker of secrets.

Then, when he rises beyond desire and removes himself from his own existence and attains the felicity of oneness, he makes his home in the second annihilation. Then from jealousy he becomes unconscious of himself. When he loses awareness and passes from absence to presence, he enters into the radiance of that Light. Inevitably, like a moth, he seeks the way from permanence to annihilation and burns himself through love upon the fire of the cessation of sensation and the destruction of the imaginative faculty. And truly this station is in transformation, not in stability. This meaning does not fit in the crop of the domestic bird called knowledge, nor can the scale of intellect weigh it. If it becomes known, it will be through a parable — and it is in the ruba'i of Khwaja Ahmad Ghazali, may God sanctify his spirit:

As long as the world-showing cup is in my hand,
by reason's reckoning the sky above is beneath me.
As long as the qibla of non-being is the qibla of my being,
the most sober one in the world is my drunken one.

"This is my Lord" and "Glory be to me" and "I am the Truth" appear on this path. The dervish says:

When the light of Your appearing brings me low
and from love's wine makes me drunk,
I rise above the world of possibility — and then
in the very essence of perfection, the Necessary makes me existent.

Chapter 76

He who in love wants the Beloved for himself — acceptance and rejection, contraction and expansion, intoxication and sobriety, annihilation and permanence, absence and presence, manifestation and destruction, veiling and unveiling, grief and joy, hidden and manifest — all raise their heads in his world. Even ten lifetimes of Noah would pass and these stations would still not have been traversed, and the Real would not have let him pass a single one. And in truth, until the Real lets a station pass, there is no other station, and he remains unaware of the secrets. So the poor one is always on the road and perpetually at the crossroads; whatever appears from the horizon of existence, he seizes it from the perfection of bewilderment and says: "This is my Lord."

But he who wants himself for the sake of the Beloved — these opposites are removed from his path, and in no state do they hang upon his gaze. They leave him to the Beloved and entrust the reins of his affairs to the Beloved, for he is a beginner on the path of love and a seeker of the station of sincerity. He has not yet made a drop from his existence and cast it into the ocean of the unseen. He is still in the Beloved's sight, though his journey is toward the world of unity. Without doubt he is still visible, though he is mad. He is still in prayer, for his tongue of petition is outstretched. He is still in prostration, for he is in seeking with reverence and submission and humility. He is still a servant, though he has cast himself at the door. The wonder: his pain does not diminish, because he wants himself for the Beloved's sake. His agony does not melt, because he wants to be in accord with the Beloved.

But he who has risen beyond wanting — his home is in the second annihilation, and he becomes unconscious of self and other. His permanence is through the Beloved, and the eye of his secret is far from the Beloved yet upon the Beloved. He is present through the Beloved and gazing through the Beloved. He is near the times of majesty's secret, and his affair is wondrous. The comprehension of his station is far from the comprehension of intellects. He is a king, though he is counted among the slaves. And this is in the station of the third annihilation, as they have said:

Until a man is wholly annihilated from himself,
affirmation cannot be verified through his negation.
Unity is not incarnation — it is your non-being.
Otherwise a falsehood does not arbitrarily become truth.

The sage says: know with certainty that you are not He — but when you are no longer in the middle, you are He.

Chapter 77

In this station where "He" arose, he is the king of the world of existence, though behind this veil he is upon the dust of lowliness. If the highest summit of holiness descends to his world, it is without modality; and if he holds someone worthy of address, it is without letters. He has no attachment to attraction in ascent or descent — no time encloses him, and no place receives news of him. This station, in the tongue of the people of realization — without the interference of conceptualization and assent — they call the station of concealment in the essence of the divine "except." Rather, they know it as the affirmation of unity in the negation of the "no." These are wondrous ciphers — neither can the tongue expound them, nor can description bear to inscribe them.

When I became hidden in His holy light
and passed beyond the limit of place, O soul of the world,
I drew near in the veil of His glory —
in my body, neither this remained nor that.

Chapter 78

The Beloved's cruelty to the lover is proof of fortress-opening. It is fitting that the Beloved place the lover in the catapult of affliction and cast him into the fire of devotion, so that whatever taint of deviation he has gathered from the idol-faced ones of the world of gathering may be cleansed from him, and the felicity of surrender becomes his portion. "They said: burn him!" — so that whenever the sultan of wrath erects the catapult of affliction and casts the lover's existence into the fire of jealousy, and the grace of the king-like Beloved rains the rain of providence from the cloud of care upon that fire, the flowers of intimacy appear. "O fire, be coolness and peace!"

O dervish, be aware: what strikes blows upon your existence of its own accord is to bring your selfhood low within you — rather to annihilate it, and to make you existent through Himself. If you are a lover and sincere in love, make yourself the target and stand before the Beloved's gaze. If He wills, He fires the arrow of cruelty into you; if He wills, the lance of faithfulness. This alone should suffice you: that in the moment of firing, He turns His face toward you and His gaze is upon you. The wonder: all the people of the world face Him, and He faces you. What an infinite kingship is yours! Your distinction is in being the target, and His attention upon you is in the firing. This cannot be grasped by petty intellect — understanding this requires taste, and accepting it requires yearning. The currency you call knowledge and the goods you call intellect have no market in this marketplace.

From the currency of my existence You make a target —
many arrows of wrath You fire into me.
How sweet is that station where from the steed of beauty,
without intermediary, You charge toward me.

Chapter 79

The sweet-singing nightingale of love makes the same melody upon the branches of hearing and sight. That is: just as love is established through sight — when a heart-stealing beauty appears before one's eyes, one falls in love with it — so too when news of a soul-nourishing beauty arrives, one falls in love. But love that comes through sight comes all at once — restlessness and agitation must be established immediately, and the lover wishes to hasten toward the Beloved at once. Yet love that comes through hearing comes fresh upon fresh — for news of the Beloved's beauty and perfection cannot arrive all at once, and so love for the Beloved does not come all at once either. And this is a firm principle.

Based on this principle: when the Beloved's beauty is beheld, an inclination appears in the lover's heart, and through it he enters into speech and listening. The seed of this is the beholding of beauty, and from the Beloved's side it is coquetry and allure.

When a lover adorns himself as a lover,
he comes from his own world toward the beloved.
As a bird comes for seed,
remaining in the snare comes to him from sight.

Then, when the perfection of beauty reaches the ear, the reality of existence by its own nature inclines toward it and hastens by instinct — even knowing it cannot attain. That inclination is for the sake of kindling fire. In the first station, union with the beloved is the aim, so the heart may rest from the agitation of seeking and the soul may return to its own world. In the second station, the mention of union does not even cross the mind, for the knowledge of the impossibility of attainment came first, and love came after.

So many descriptions of beauty arrive in sweet draughts
that this soul, gone from the hand, comes to a boil.

The upshot: in the custom of love, its home is between two hearts. Sometimes it becomes the Beloved's coquetry, and He does not attend to the lover. Sometimes it becomes the lover's longing, and casts itself at the Beloved's feet. Sometimes it displays one's pride, and sometimes presents the other's need. But its total purpose is to bring both together in their center and place, so that union without separation becomes possible. What they have said — that love becomes a whale and swallows both lover and Beloved, so that their gathering is in its belly and the notion of separation disappears — is close to this meaning. And this is a wondrous allusion.

From fear of separation from your face, O essence of life,
my heart wishes to be with you — inside the skin.

Chapter 80

The love of the lover and the love of the Beloved are different — in this principle each is established in two stations, and though outwardly this appears as multiplicity, in meaning it is unity. For when the Beloved becomes the lover, inevitably the lover becomes the Beloved — and multiplicity is removed. And since the Beloved is one, and one lover cannot rightly have two beloveds — "God has not made for any man two hearts in his body" — yet it is permitted for one beloved to have a thousand lovers, each sincere in love.

But here there is a subtle secret. Know that the lover's passage is upon the sea of yearning, and the whale of love lies in ambush within it. The company of lovers who make commotion and tumult at the threshold of majesty's pavilion — weeping and wailing, knowing full well the Beloved's self-sufficiency — love swallows them all at once and draws in its breath. For from the mercy of createdness, in truth, nothing but pointless trouble comes to the threshold. "We created you that We might profit from you — not that you might profit from Us."

Since there is not much profit in your being,
it is better that you return to your root.

Chapter 81

In the convention of love, the lover is the source and the Beloved's love is the branch — because love in the Beloved is a radiance of the lover's love. This statement rests on a principle, and the principle is this: need and pain and burning and anxiety and distress and longing and struggle and yearning and consuming fire are found in the lover's love. Without all of these, love would be incomplete. The axis of love's work, by the agreement of the masters of intellect, turns upon these — and the states of lovers are proof of this principle's truth.

Yet what sometimes appears as expansion and contraction, intimacy and spirit — those are words of the Beloved's grace, who says with coquetry and charm and allure:

"Be My beloved — being a lover is not your work."

This wine gives intoxication through wrath, but since it is in the cup of grace, its sweetness is outward and its binding is inward — for it removes the lover from the station of loving by reproach, though He knows the lover will never attain the station of being beloved. But in the world of truth, the Beloved's love is the source and the lover's love is the branch. The secret of this meaning is found in "He loves them, and they love Him."

From Him first was this tale of love —
say not that love has no beginning.

Love is like a spiritual fire —
no soul complains of it.

Love is a subtle hidden grace —
without sign, there is no tale of it.

A wondrous sura is the sura of love —
four scriptures cannot contain one verse of it.

But this love has its axis in dominion and subjugation and might and grandeur:

From that place where the perfection of His glory's majesty belongs —
what possibility have the manifestations of existence?

Human and angelic intellects are bewildered in this: to know which is love, which is the lover, and which the Beloved. And here is a subtle secret: since love is the binding rope, one cannot know who draws and who is drawn. No one knows its secret — hold your tongue, hold your tongue. The bewildered intellect says: "He drew, and this was drawn." But it may be that the matter reverses and the path changes course: Ayaz becomes Mahmud, and Mahmud becomes Ayaz. "And you do not will except that God wills." Abu Yazid — may God sanctify his spirit — said: "For so long I thought I was seeking Him. He had sought me before I sought Him, and nothing had come from me." "He loves them" comes before "they love Him.

Chapter 82

The human creature's good fortune was this alone: that in being beloved, it came first. "He loves them." In the intellect it is established that the active force surpasses the receptive in love, for it awaits the other's appearance — and he does not raise his head from the pillow of nature except at his appointed time. This is a great secret, known through tasting.

What they say — "the lover seeks beauty so it may be put to use" — is true. But in truth, beauty seeks the lover so that secrets may be told. "I was a hidden treasure, unknown, and I loved to be known" — this is the secret of this meaning.

The lover seeks beauty to be consumed —
in his being, a subtle grace adorns.
Before himself he holds and cherishes —
then through the eye goes out, and plays a scent.

Chapter 83

Love reaches a point where the lover befriends the Beloved's friend and enters into enmity with His enemy. This meaning was in the world of friendship. When it reaches intimate friendship, one turns away from all: "They are all enemies to me, except the Lord of the worlds." When it reaches love, one becomes weary of every existing being's existence: "I am free of what you associate" — meaning: in existence alongside Him.

When it reaches love without awareness, one enters the luminous presence of that light. In this unconsciousness, the gaze lifts from both Beloved and love. "Whoever has existence, has it upon himself." This is a great secret — tasting is needed to understand it.

And love may reach a point where jealousy makes the lover impatient. He takes the Beloved's friend as enemy and holds the Beloved's enemy dear. He would not want anyone to speak the Beloved's name — how could he want another to love Him? Shibli — may God sanctify his spirit — at the height of his stations, whenever anyone mentioned God, he would throw a stone at their mouth, from jealousy. This is the secret of that meaning. How can a lover bear that someone share in the Beloved's gaze?

If the morning breeze should pass over your locks,
the lover would envy even the morning breeze.
And if anyone of all creation should gaze upon you,
my heart tears the garment of existence from itself.

Chapter 84

A lover — one of this poor one's companions — found a partridge, took it to the mountains, and set it in a green meadow, saying: "Its walk resembles my beloved's gait. It would be cruelty to be cruel to it." But this was at the beginning of love — flawed and impure — for he sought a likeness to the Beloved for consolation. This comes from deficiency.

By God, if the lover were aware that someone resembled his beloved, or was his equal in beauty, his love would be incomplete. He would not have been consumed in seeking; he would still be raw.

O dervish, that yearning which union diminishes is not true yearning — it is existence without yearning, a false accusation. Union is the fuel of yearning's fire — it kindles the flame until it devastates the lover's very nature. This is the state where the moth becomes the fire. Though it lasts but a moment, that moment is enough. In the tongue of those ecstatic ones, they call this "union." If it is achieved, there is no station in love higher than this.

I wish to know the secret of love —
to go beside my heart's desire, beyond myself.
If I become Him, O unique one among all creation —
without the trouble of selflessness, I become entirely a king.

Chapter 85

Weeping in love comes from the vanity of the ego. Weeping in solitude is for consolation; in company it is to display one's burning. Both come from the ego's vanities. Indeed, so long as the lover has not fallen back upon himself, he does not weep. The lover must be without awareness, so that from absence he may come into presence.

A certain mystic came to an elder among the masters of the path. The elder's intimate was combing her hair. She wished to cover her head. The elder said: "At this moment he is without awareness and in the world of presence. He has no knowledge of either world, and turns his face only toward the infinite realm."

After a time, the man began to weep. The elder said: "Cover your head now — he has become present. From the window of nature he gazes. He has fallen back upon himself, and from separation he melts."

This is a subtle secret.

Chapter 86

Weeping comes from regret, and regret from the loss of the Beloved. As the elder of Canaan, from regret, wept so much that the pupil of his eye — which was the vicar of the world of seeing — departed from the robe of vision and drew the white garment of sorrow upon itself. "O my grief for Joseph!" "And his eyes became white from sorrow."

But the travelers of this path have neither regret nor sorrow, for they have no fear of losing the Beloved. An elder came to a disciple and found him weeping over the loss of a beloved. He said: "O my son, you should have given your heart to a beloved upon whom death is not permitted — so that you would not be caught in anxiety and sorrow and distress and weeping."

Go — give your heart to one who will not die with you,
so that from the pain of separation you will not weep at all.

Chapter 87

The lover's eye weeps because the jealousy of his existence's true nature is upon him. The true nature of his existence — of which love is an attribute — out of jealousy desires that his eye become white from weeping and hopeless of seeing. For it knows that such vision was too precious for this eye.

Blood-tears fall from my eye,
for my eye has not the worth of seeing you.

And it may be that the eye weeps until it becomes blinded, and casts no gaze upon the beauty of that heart-stealer — for fear that the face, from its delicacy, would be wounded by such a gaze. As they have said:

I dare not look sharply upon that face —
I fear that from its delicacy it would be wounded.

Chapter 88

If the lover wishes to remember the Beloved, he cannot. As Shibli says: "How could one such as I mention You?" — and washes his mouth a thousand times an hour with the water of repentance.

Whenever he wishes to mention the Beloved, the sultan of love's jealousy cries out: "Beware! Woe to you!" And by God, this was "beware" indeed.

Though remembrance of the Beloved comes from love — "whoever loves a thing mentions it often" — yet if this remembrance is in the Beloved's presence, it betrays a lack of reverence. And if it is in the Beloved's absence, to mention the absent is absence itself.

As Junayd said to Shibli — may God sanctify their secret — when Shibli said "God" in Junayd's assembly: "O you who mentions! If you mention Him in absence, then mentioning the absent is His absence. And if you mention Him in presence, then you have not respected the right of reverence."

Chapter 89

The lover cannot, from the overwhelming surges of love in his heart, think upon the Beloved — because the heart is a ruined fire-temple, and what would the Beloved do in it? The heart is the witness — the seat of gnosis, the center of love — yet in truth, the pavilion of the Beloved's glory does not fit within it. This secret is beyond the scales of human intellect. "But My faithful servant's heart contains Me."

Know with certainty that the infinite cannot fit within the finite. But when the flame of love's fire burns everything other than the Beloved in its blaze, what remains is the Beloved. Its likeness is this: what appears in a mirror — though the outward-seeing consider it to be in the mirror — is not in the mirror, though it appears there.

What they seek in a heart from which the rust of nature has been polished by the burnishing of destiny — that was Him. But the mirror is one thing and the reality another. Indeed, the reality is one thing and the reflection quite another.

If in the mirror one sees the reflection of Your beauty,
one sees it with coquetry and charm and grace.
One says: "I have reached Him!" — that is impossible.
Sometimes a mote sees by itself the light of Your glory.

Chapter 90

In the beginning, the lover enters speech and discourse. Then he enters seeking and searching. Then he surrenders his heart entirely and, like a moth, wishes to die before the Beloved. That is: first he was a rememberer; then he became a seeker; then love overwhelmed him.

Here, existence was the path and non-existence the sanctuary. In this station, existence is the road and non-existence the destination — not the non-existence that is called deprivation, but the non-existence of which all existences are servants.

By another proportion, it is well known that existence is the road and non-existence the destination. As that acute investigator has said:

I saw in the turning of affairs — then,
the secret of existence and non-existence, suddenly.
For us it was certain: for the lover,
non-existence is the destination and existence the road.
There is nothing but non-existence as the lover's path —
then suddenly existence came from the court.
In the testimony, behold: from this meaning,
"lā" came first, and then "illā Allāh."

Chapter 91

In the beginnings of love there is crying out and clamor and weeping and wailing. This is a deficiency in bearing love's burden — because the being has not yet become capable of bearing love's weight, so it cries out and sometimes throws the burden from its shoulders. "What is the punishment of one who wished evil upon his people?"

When love reaches perfection, one wishes to take upon oneself everything in the world, even if one dies in bearing it. "And Man bore it." In the sea of that seeking and in the existence of love, one lifts the litter of grandeur. "But My faithful servant's heart contains Me." "Now the truth has become manifest. Indeed she sought to seduce him, and he is among the truthful."

At first, when love for You brought me into this,
with crying and clamor it brought me to Your court.
Now that I have fallen silent from the height of love,
it raised me between certainty and doubt.

Chapter 92

The burden that the lover appears to carry from the side of form — the true carrier, from the side of meaning, is the Beloved. "And We carried them…" — this is the secret of that meaning.

O beloved, in the state of witnessing, by the power of the Beloved's witnessing, whatever burden is placed upon the lover, he carries it and does not withdraw his head from beneath the load — because he is drunk on the wine of witnessing, and in drunkenness one can carry an extraordinary burden.

Of pain, the drunkard has little awareness.

Chapter 93

A lover in the court of Baghdad was given a thousand lashes. He did not falter or stumble. A realized one came to him and asked about his state. He said: "My Beloved was present, and by the power of witnessing Him I endured all this."

One of the holy vagabonds had his hands and feet cut off. He was unaware of it. Someone came and asked about his state. They saw that he was laughing happily. "What is this joy?" they asked. He said: "What wonder is there in this joy? My Beloved is present and gazes upon me with the eye of care. The power of His witnessing has overwhelmed me, and the intensity of His manifestation has veiled me from this."

He is at the point of killing me, and I am lost in wonder at Him —
how beautifully He wields that sword.

The meaning of this is to be sought in the secret of "I will cut off your hands and feet from opposite sides" and the answer: "Then decree what you will decree." May it increase yearning. By God's glory — when the sensory limb turns toward annihilation, the real one turns toward manifestation: "Through Me he hears, through Me he sees, through Me he walks, through Me he speaks." Beauty manifests. This cannot be understood without tasting.

This is the path of truth, and every wet-hemmed one —
with his own existence, how can he step upon it?

Chapter 94

At first glance, the lover loses himself — even if he was asleep — because the wine of witnessing is mighty. No one has the strength to resist it. "At the manifestation of the Real, the creation is annihilated."

The agitation that appears in ecstasy comes from this meaning. What Nuri has said is close to this:

Ecstasy delights the one in whom ecstasy is restful —
but ecstasy, at the appearance of the Real, is lost.
My ecstasy used to delight me — but He absented me
from seeing ecstasy. In ecstasy, there is nothing that exists.

Some agitation comes from the deficiency of the agitated one and is visible; some, from the perfection of the finder, is not visible — like the lower millstone, which in the perfection of its spinning appears still to the eye. "And you see the mountains, thinking them motionless, while they pass as clouds pass."

When the lover's existence burns at the first radiance of beauty's light — "the glories of His Face would burn whatever His sight reaches" — one cannot point to motion or stillness in him in this state. Wondrous: when nothing remains, who is there to be agitated?

The lover's existence is borrowed and waits in anticipation of witnessing. At every moment he says:

Do not keep me waiting, between fire and water —
nothing does what waiting does.

In witnessing, manifestation and seizure are together; existence and extinction are companions. This is a wondrous secret that requires tasting. How long shall I speak of it, O beloved?

When the vanguard of beauty appears, it breaks the fortress of nature by force, so that the lover may advance toward the Beloved's world. You have heard: when Majnun, after the perfection of love, cast his gaze upon Layla's beauty, his existence turned toward the world of non-existence. O brother — "At the manifestation of the Real, the creation is annihilated."

When You showed Your beauty, the love of beauties became a whim —
go, for among these beauties, only Your work endures.

Chapter 95

The lover flees from the Beloved at the height of love, because union is a matter beyond his capacity. Just as extreme pain causes destruction, so does extreme pleasure — indeed, it is destruction itself. "He made it level ground, and Moses fell unconscious." "And unconsciousness is death itself."

By God's glory: if in the abode of majesty, at the time of union, any trace of human strength remained in the united, it would pass into absolute non-existence, so that the name "existence" would become impossible and inconceivable for them. Rather, by the faithful promise of the Truth, they perish from themselves and remain in Him — so that Beauty may be seen. First the light of that Beauty is seen; then the beauty of that Light is seen.

My poor heart asked for the robe of vision —
from both worlds the cry of denial arose.
The Beloved answered: "O wounded one, is it right
that I become the seen? Why this hostility?"

O dervish, just as the lover must surrender to what, in the light of the Beloved, makes him journey from existence to non-existence, the Beloved too must be content that the lover becomes existent through His existence and drunk on the wine of His witnessing. Just as the Beloved wants the lover to be nothing in himself, the lover wants the Beloved to be wholly Himself with him.

In short: until the power of love makes strength from the lover's existence, it will not accept him fully nor make him capable of union. When they have stripped away his selfhood and made strength from his nothingness, then whenever He seeks him, He finds him in Himself. Until this perfection is achieved, He flees from him.

O brother, the true nature of love knows what the whale of love draws from the lover's existence and what it separates from his selfhood. There is no god but God.

Junayd, in the time of absence from himself, would say: "My affliction is through You — who afflicted me with You?" When he returned from absence to presence, and from his own world to the shore of light, he would say: "Increase me in affliction." Sometimes this dagger is the sheath, and sometimes the sheath is the bird and this the trap.

In the scripture of intellect, see the words of nonsense —
ascend to the Lote-tree, then see the tavern.
Pass beyond His attributes and look within yourself —
without the intermediary of theophany, see the Essence.

Chapter 96

If the matter were by the lover's choice, there would be union and gathering — for burning in the light of beauty's radiance is sweeter to him than remaining in separation and duality. And if it were by the Beloved's choice, there would be parting and separation — for from the perfection of His glory, He has no concern for oneness with anyone. "The glories of His Face would burn." Jealousy says:

You are a beggar — keep far from the king,
or else upon your life comes the command: keep far!
If you desire union with the king,
then from union with yourself, be far.

Chapter 97

For the lover, from the overwhelming surges of love, departing from himself is better than arriving in the Beloved's embrace. For he knows that "whoever exceeds his limit inherits its opposite" is true. The servant's path departs from servanthood, but he cannot ascend to the heights of sovereignty — for with his selfhood, ascent is impossible. And he cannot fall back into the world of servitude until the king bears his provision. "Wavering between that — neither to these nor to those." Lifted, not cast down. Neither king nor servant. "We seek refuge in God from retreat after advance."

What they say — that separation is higher than union — is true. For separation can only be conceived after union. And uniting with the Beloved is itself separating from the self. And separating from the self is, in truth, uniting with the Beloved. By this proportion: union is separation from the self, and separation from the self is union with the Beloved.

The lover who seeks his own separation — his own destruction — as Ibn Muwaffaq went about the market of Basra, bearing a shroud upon himself, saying: "Whoever dies of love, let him die thus — there is no good in love without death."

And another cast himself from a height and obliterated his name and trace, saying:

The day of parting is more terrible than the Resurrection,
and death is easier than the loss of the beloved.

This is because he does not see in himself the capacity for union, and does not know himself worthy of connection, and says to himself:

Since union with that beauty is not possible,
it is better that you depart from his path.

"Sufficient for the one is the isolation of the One." Let the lover be satisfied that he removes the burden of his existence from the path of love, and says:

Do me a kindness — remove me from the path of existence,
so that my burden is lessened from Your way.

Chapter 98

In the beginning of love, the quiet within the lover's being was governed by imagination — for the beloved's image, by the force of yearning, takes residence in the common sense and erases all other impressions. As they have said:

Until my eye gave up soul and body and heart,
the image of the friend did not take residence in my eye.
Love seized the collar of my heart — someone's love
whose care did not seize the hem of any friend.

This contemplation cannot be done with the eye of knowledge. For the perfection of knowledge is that the imaginative faculty separates the form of judgments from their matter, positing a hypothetical form — positional and assumed, not intellectual or geometric. In this station, this appears raw — indeed, incomplete.

When perfection arrives, it clears the doubts from the days of love. That image which the imaginative force seeks enters behind the veil of the heart and does not show its face before the beauty. Then knowledge has no path to it — for what appears in the imaginative faculty also perishes in its place, being swift in decline and quick in departure.

O beloved, what lies behind the veil of the heart cannot be reached easily. In it, finding is more than what was found. As the elder of Herat — may God sanctify his spirit — said: "Your finding is by our grace, but your grasping is not by our power." This is near to the meaning: "Incapacity to grasp the grasping is itself a grasping" — a sign of this meaning.

That treasure which is in the treasury of the heart —
cannot be reached easily.

Chapter 99

Love is what lies hidden in the furnace of the heart. Its manifestation comes from hearing the Beloved's qualities or seeing His beauty. And therefore the heart is always wailing from pain and anguish and burning — for outward fire burns the elements, but this fire burns the soul. "The fire of God, kindled, which rises over the hearts" — this expression is about this fire.

Its likeness in common belief is the torment of the grave: the dead in the torment of the grave suffers and burns and aches, yet there is no visible fire or blow. Just so: the pain and anguish and suffering and burning of love exist, but their causes are invisible.

The lover — sleepless, restless, without peace — wails and weeps. The people, unaware, scatter the salt of blame upon his wound and, in his time of burning, stay silent and show him no path. More wondrous still: the Beloved says "Keep far!"

Jealousy came and struck upon my heart: "Keep far!" —
meaning: O unworthy one, from this door keep far!

Indeed the poor one must practice patience, must place himself beneath the axe — so that whatever decrees of love fall upon him are without him, so that he may not be blamed or be a loser. He says:

From me He takes whatever I wager — what can I do?
And then He tears the veil of my lamentation — what can I do?
Since union with His presence is not in my worth,
if I do not make peace with the pain of parting — what can I do?

Chapter 100

Since the Beloved is veiled behind the curtain of glory and shows Himself to no one — indeed, no one has the strength to behold Him, from the extremity of His manifestation — the lover's pain is without remedy and his affliction without end.

In the commentary on the Recognition it is written: since the Beloved does not enter into place, and the lover does not transcend place, the lover's heartache is eternal and his soul's grief is everlasting. As they have said:

If you choose a beloved like the sun, O heart —
he is on the sky and you are on the earth, O heart.
When you see him beside yourself, O heart —
you will sit long with your head upon your knees, O heart.

Alone among companions in every land —
when the thing sought is great, helpers are few.

Chapter 101

Love takes form only in the human - for never has one angel loved another, nor shall it be. The rational principle in this matter is that the angel, from the perfection of immersion in the Presence - exalted be His glory - has no concern for seeing anything else. So the angel has no love for anything but God. And the angel does not burn with love's fire and longing's flame because it already stands in the place of witnessing and abides always in the radiance of proximity - safe from distance and veiling.

But love appears in the human toward one like himself, and this has two causes: one manifest, one hidden.

The manifest cause is that the human is governed by passion, and desire prevails over his being, and by nature he seeks to satisfy it - as hunger is dispelled by food and thirst by water. When desire strengthens, it must be dispelled from within itself, and the most complete dispelling is through one of beauty toward whom the heart leans excessively.

The hidden cause is that in the human form there is a secret our language cannot contain. The expression of this secret in the world of prophecy is: "God created Adam in His image." So the spirit - which is a sign from the world of His signlessness - "Say: the spirit is from the command of my Lord" - by the decree of this hidden meaning, with a thousand souls it makes steps from the heart and hastens toward His world, hoping to catch even a scent from love's fragrant herb.

This meaning cannot be committed to writing or speech. None knows the secret - hold your tongue, hold your tongue.

Chapter 102

The lover does not sleep, and his sleeping is a wonder:

Wonder at the lover - how does he sleep?
Every sleep upon the lover is forbidden.

O brother, the lover is either in the station of separation or in the palanquin of union. If he is in the world of separation, pain and anguish will not let sleep come near him. And what they have said - "Stillness is forbidden upon the hearts of His saints" - is close to this meaning. And how strange that the lover's Beloved does not sleep, yet the lover intends to sleep!

I have heard that Muwaffaqa held a station in love of the Presence - from sleeplessness she fell ill with consumption. Her master said: "O girl, lay us a bed." She said: "My master - do you have a Master?" He said: "Yes." She said: "Does your Master sleep?" He said: "No." She said: "Are you not ashamed? Since your Master is sanctified beyond sleep, are you not ashamed to lay your head on the pillow of rest before His gaze and begin sleeping in His presence?"

Are you not ashamed to sleep in His grief,
and then fill your two eyes with tears for His grief?
If you should find a cup in His tavern,
you ought to take your ablution in pure wine.

Chapter 103

That the lover intends to sleep - the reason is that once he saw the Beloved's image in a dream, and in yearning for that he continually lays his head on the pillow of expectation, and closes his eyes from anguish and hardship, hoping to reach that fortune again.

There is no god but God! Shah Shuja' of Kerman - may God sanctify his spirit - did not sleep for forty years. When by chance he fell asleep, he saw the beauty of the Glorious One in his dream. From the extremity of love he said: "O Lord, I sought this honor in waking - I found it in sleep!" The address came: "O Shah, this honor is the fruit of those wakenings." After that, the Shah - may God sanctify his spirit - would always pull his garment over his head, and after completing the obligatory and customary prayers, would lay his head on the pillow of expectation and say:

I saw the joy of my heart in my sleep -
so I came to love drowsing and dreaming.

In sleep your image remembers me,
comes to me and makes my heart glad.
The heart thinks I have found you -
it wakes, and a thousand cries arise.

Chapter 104

That the lover sees the Beloved in dreams - the reason is that the lover's heart is always turned toward Him. He remains stationed at the door of expectation, a companion of His grief. On his memory - Him. In his thought - Him. In his retention - Him. In his imagination - Him. In his inspiration - Him. In his common sense - Him. All his seeing has become Him, and all his seeing has become expectation - for when will the sultan of imagination imprint His image on the tablet of the heart?

Yet when through the excess of longing a likeness appears as salve for the heart, instantly the sentinel of jealousy strikes the mace of wrath upon him, waking him - and his days come to their end. O brother, as the Beloved is jealous of His own beauty, so He is jealous of His own image. What they have said - that the lover's headache has no cure and his illness no remedy - this is the cause: in waking there is no beauty, on account of existence's weak capacity; and in sleep there is no image, on account of the extremity of longing for the witnessed One. What love does in keeping the lover sleepless is because it will not have him easily embrace the Beloved's image:

O heart - through seeking, humiliation, need,
through weeping, wakefulness, and long, long nights -
the hand of your desire reaches not the foot of union.
Surrender your life, drink blood, and throw your head away.

Chapter 105

In truth, that part of human meaning which is worthy of love is the companion of the Beloved's world and the attendant at the threshold of His glory. It has no distance from Him, by virtue of extreme proximity - and this is a deep secret. Majd al-Din Talib - may God sanctify his spirit - said:

I wish that His grief itself were my habit.
If it should come, what a good thing His grief would be!
O heartless heart, take up His grief -
before you blink, His grief itself will become Him.

O brother, that meaning which is worthy of love, from the extremity of proximity, is not afflicted by sleep - and wakefulness, like the Beloved, is the necessary condition of its existence. Rather, by pure grace, it is in the palanquin of witnessing. But in sleep - ah, and a thousand ahs! - the blood-stricken soul, when it studies the mirror of the heart's purity, what does it find?

Chapter 106

O dear one, when in the beginnings the lights of Glory shine forth, imagination and intellect flee and hide in the corner of non-existence. On the tablet of the heart - though it be polished and prepared - what shall they inscribe? And since the veil of Glory has not been lifted, how shall a reflection appear on the burnished mirror of the heart?

The sea cannot fit in a cup, O child -
do not buy this enticement, for it is beyond measure.

In the words of Sheikh Abu Ali Farmadi - may God sanctify his spirit - it is said: when the servant, in unconsciousness, is taken beyond the bounds of humanity, and in that unconsciousness rises above the realm of the angelic, it is permitted that the lights of the self-disclosure of the Essence - without quality - fall upon him. But if he were like a mountain, he would crumble. And if he stood firm by the strength of prophethood, supported by the confirmation of apostleship, he would die and take the road of eternal annihilation. "He made it crumble, and Moses fell senseless" - this is the secret of that meaning.

Chapter 107

In the beginnings of love, the lover has a dissembling toward people, toward himself, and toward the Beloved.

As for people: he holds love in his heart and does not reveal it, fearing the loss of his standing. Of that hidden fire fallen within him, he tells no one - he gives reports contrary to his state. Though inwardly he burns, outwardly he is cheerful and bright:

So long as I have a soul, I hold your love within it
and from all the world's people I keep it hidden.
I do not cry out from your pain, O wellspring of life -
for I hold your pain in the place of my cure.

And dissembling toward himself is this: he counts love as selflessness, and by the strength of the ego he removes love's wound with a salve. He conceals his state from himself, wears the garment of patience over his ego, and does not cry out from the pain. And this is harder - the ego in this state is more wakeful, and more weary of selfhood. It may be that the reproaching soul within him, being strong, reproaches his heart and says: "Look upon the selfless ones. Then journey in the world of selflessness. Consider their capital. Then remove the heart from your own coin. Beware that the purse of existence be emptied and your lap never be filled from Him - that you remain in this servitude and never grow greater":

O heart, beware - lest the capital of your life
slip from your hand, and you are left a pauper.

And it may be that the reproaching soul says: "O you of the stained hem - hold your tongue. Pull your head into the collar of bewilderment. Know your own measure and know the measure of His love. You are a mote; He is the sun. Though the mote owes its appearance to the sun, the mote has no power to withstand that light. He is the king, and you are a beggar - and for a beggar to bring love to a king is the cause of destruction and the summit of recklessness":

He is the king, and you a beggar - beware!
Do not lose your head in this affair - take heed!

And dissembling toward the Beloved is this: he hides his love from Him and holds the pain in the midst of his soul. In private his eyes are like a weeping eye, and in His presence his lips are like the laughing lip of lightning. This is supremely difficult - but the veil is soon torn. Even if the lover became as thin as a single hair in the Beloved's tresses, he would not remain hidden but would be the one pointed at - for the Beloved's color is one thing and the lover's color another. What is said in the Sawanih is close to this meaning:

When she saw my face gone yellow, that sweet-natured one
said: "Hope no more for my union -
for you have become a hundred men in appearance.
You have the color of autumn; I have the color of spring."

In all three stations the lover is described by his own existence and known to himself. But when his existence, in the radiance of the Beloved's lights, turns toward non-existence, the affliction is lifted. In this station the lover need have no face before anyone, and he is purified entirely of the taint of dissembling and becomes a true coin, bold and free. For one who has settled in the station of union - what place has face or dissembling for him?

I was with myself - there was dissembling in me.
From the hand of your grief, much affliction was mine.
I said to my heart, when I was freed from selfhood:
"That face and dissembling - tell me, why was it mine?"

Chapter 108

The lover, so long as he stands upon himself in love, sincerity and dissembling are both necessary attributes of his - and by both he is veiled from the Beloved. When his attributes are annulled within him by the power of love, and he remains annihilated from himself yet enduring through the Beloved's endurance - in this station: neither dissembling nor sincerity, neither destruction nor deliverance.

O brother, the lover has a face - because of that face, he dissembles. And the Beloved's affair is the opposite of this - therefore on His street there are heaps upon heaps of the slain. The sage says:

On your street lie many slain and dead -
the slain find no blood-price, the dead find no shroud.

"Whomever I slay, I am his blood-price" - this holds a depth beyond expression. None knows the secret - hold your tongue, hold your tongue.

Chapter 109

Most often the cause of the lover's destruction on this path is the disclosure of the Beloved's secret - for in the world of the way, "Disclosing the secret of Lordship is established infidelity." And infidelity after faith, through the Beloved's jealousy, is apostasy - and apostasy demands death: "Whoever changes his religion, slay him."

Shibli - may God sanctify his spirit - said: "On the day they brought Husayn Mansur - may God sanctify his spirit - to Bab al-Tauf, and that radiance was present - I stood before him until nightfall and contemplated some of the secrets. When night came I remained, wanting to learn the rest. I was unveiled to the beauty of the Glorious One. Without ceremony I said: 'O Lord, this servant was of the people of unity, privy to the secrets of love, accepted at the court of wisdom - what was the meaning of this event?' The address came: 'O Dalaq - he was shown a secret among the secrets, and he disclosed it. What you see befell him.' I said: 'Since You killed him, is his blood wasted?' He said: 'No, O Dalaq - whomever I slay, I am his blood-price.'"

If I slay you, breathe not a word, and fear not -
for I am the blood-price. You are the slain of my love.

A master among the great ones of the path says:

I said: "Do not make the color of my face like straw,
and do not deliver my affairs to my ill-wisher."
He said: "If you seek my pleasure -
when I slay you, breathe not a word, and sigh not."

Chapter 110

When the sultan of love gives audience in the court of the lover's soul, with the declaration "Am I not your Lord?" - "Yes!" rises from the lover's being. Yet between the lover's love and the Beloved's coquetry there are countless veils - but the veils are of utmost delicacy and transparency. Were they not so, "Yes!" and "Show me!" would not have been possible from behind a thick veil.

O dervish - there are seventy thousand veils, but of light: "Verily God has seventy thousand veils of His light." And the three veils that were lifted from Abraham the Friend during the time of witnessing - those were from among the seventy thousand.

Chapter 111

In the convention of love, it comes about through seeing beauty. But in the view of this poor one, love already exists in the human being - yet through seeing the Beloved's beauty, it is brought into act and manifests its effect. As anger, satisfaction, and laughter exist within the human being, but each needs a trigger to appear. This type, they say, goes from the outer to the inner - but it reaches no further than infatuation. "Love had penetrated her heart" - this is the secret of that meaning.

But the fire of true love sends its flame up from the midst of the soul. "The kindled fire of God, which mounts over the hearts" - this confirms the secret. In love that began as metaphorical and becomes real at last, the heart is in extreme burning, for its outside and inside are ablaze. One fire is kindled through seeing beauty and clings to the heart's exterior. The other fire rises from within the house and falls upon the heart's interior. Between these two fires, how shall the heart endure? When the heart is gone, the Beloved takes the heart's place - and this is a negation and affirmation without intermediary: la and illa.

In listening, be alert - for the leviathans of jealousy have opened their mouths and sit in ambush, rearing their heads from the deep of jealousy:

I said: "My heart." He said: "A kebab - take less of one."
I said: "My eyes." He said: "A mirage - take less of one."
I said: "My body." He said: "In the world of love,
much is in ruin - take less of one ruin."

Chapter 112

In the beginning of love the lover is raw. He wants to see the Beloved to quench the fire of craving, for he cannot bear the burning and has no strength to endure the heart's loss. And this was wanting the Beloved for himself - and in truth, this wanting-for-self is self-wanting. He who is a self-seeker is not on the path.

When the work reaches its end, he wants himself for the Beloved. On this, words have been spoken. He who must make his head a polo ball in the arena of the headstrong and bring it under the mallet of wrath - what room has he for self-seeking, what concern for sovereignty?

In the arena of champions - you, gamble your head.
If you are a true lover - you, gamble your head.
When the sword of His affliction comes upon you -
from your own existence - you, gamble your head.

Chapter 113

The endless desert of love is a devourer of men. If the lover has provisions for the journey, he will grasp the branch of despair - nay, he will uproot the sapling of existence from the garden of being and cast it into the sea of non-existence:

In the desert, if you would make any journey,
you must cross over the fire of passion.
In desire for the idol of His beauty, with both hands
you will fill your face with the blood of your liver.

Chapter 114

Love is a royal pearl, but it dwells at the bottom of the boundless ocean of the soul. If the lover wishes to ascend to the throne of honor like a king and enter the court of proximity like a sovereign, he must secure the weight of aspiration firmly upon the foot of the moment, then set out for that blood-drinking sea. He must cast off the garment of existence and throw himself in like a corpse - that he may bring up the precious pearl, or else spend his days in the deep:

Either he will place the crown of union on his head,
or on the road of seeking he will lay his head down.

Chapter 115

Intimacy between the lover and the Beloved is impossible, and one who seeks illumination in the world of love is in error. The palanquin of the Beloved's glory rides upon the summit of the mountain of Majesty, while the lover's growth and nurture are in the lowest depth. Neither is His descent from the world of glory permitted, nor is the lover's ascent from the depth of contingency possible:

Through love, O heart, none reaches any place
to whom no calamity from their own existence comes.
Since love, in reason's reckoning, is the eternal kingdom -
the eternal kingdom does not come to every beggar.

Chapter 116

In the very moment the lover considers himself closest to the Beloved, he is farthest - and the Beloved is most averse to him.

You will learn, O child, the secrets of His grief
if ever you pass through the marketplace of His grief.
He whom you consider near to Him -
see him hanging far away, on the gibbet of His grief.

O dear one, the Beloved is the sultan of the domain of the lover's existence - He has seized it by force and domination, and within it He acts with caprice, pride, and aversion. Whenever the lover attempts the world of proximity, He strikes him down with the sword of domination and says: "Kingship tolerates no rival." And if the wretch raises his head from the deep of affection and takes a step in the world of devotion, He strikes the soul-piercing arrow upon the eye of his moment: "The Sultan has no equal."

He is the king, and the wretched lover -
fallen dust upon His threshold.
If someone raises him, he becomes something;
if not, know that he is in destruction.

That authority of the seekers of truth, Ahmad Ghazali - may God sanctify his spirit - said: "The lover is the earth of abasement, and the Beloved the heaven of glory. His coquetry with this one's need - when shall they come together? His disdain with this one's longing - when shall they join? He is the remedy of this one, and this one is helpless before Him."

I endured the weight of earth and heaven -
neither was I sated, nor grew I accustomed to anyone.
The gazelle, for instance, can be tamed by people -
you will not be tamed. What have I done? Every trick I tried.

"The sick need medicine, but medicine does not need the sick":

It is not that your beauty gains honor from my marketplace.
What harm to the idol if it has no worshipper?

Chapter 117

Love rides the mount of the soul. Though the soul governs the world of the elements, the heart becomes the locus of love's attributes. In this respect, love belongs to the unseen. Since love's own self is veiled by the veils of its own glory, its essence and attributes are but a single point. If love were attached to the world of contingency, its attributes would be manifold, not unified. And if it were attached to eternity, its attribute would be something added to the essence - yet neither the essence nor other than the essence. Love is a single point.

In this respect, it neither mingles with the lover nor enters the Beloved. Its meaning is that love is the bond: when one is pulled, the other moves. And this meaning cannot be put into words. O brother, love is neither the Beloved nor the lover - yet it is both the Beloved and the lover. If its relation is to contingency, it is neither lover nor Beloved but the intermediary between the two. If its relation is to eternity, it is lover and Beloved and love itself.

Chapter 118

What appears as an image on the tablet of the heart - it may or may not be the intended thing. The foundation of this principle is that whatever image appears on the heart's tablet, the spirit grasps that meaning by studying it. But imagination always lies in ambush - it seizes the image quickly, and that form, once distorted, stirs up a new impression in the common sense and stores it in the treasury of memory.

When, in waking and sobriety after sleep and intoxication, memory presents that form to the spirit - it has been distorted and annulled. A hundred thousand cries rise from the lover's spirit, for the spirit had conceived something else entirely, had believed itself to have arrived - yet here a different image appeared, and the affair reversed. The pleasure of union changed into the pain of separation.

Chapter 119

When the truth of love becomes manifest and the sun of the Beloved's beauty rises from the horizon of heart-seizure, the lover comes into the radiance of that light - not the Beloved. For the moth beats its wings toward the candle to burn itself; the candle does not go toward the moth. This is from the Beloved's self-sufficiency and the lover's need.

Yet, O dear one, the lover can rise from himself and sacrifice himself on the path of love - but the Beloved's pride and glory will not permit Him to attend to the lover's broken state. How strange: this one is that one's affliction, and that one this one's sacrifice. This one wishes to exist for the other - yet it cannot fit in the other's reckoning.

Though the moth's survival lies in distance from the fire, from the perfection of love it cannot bear the distance. It cannot remain in proximity; it has no means to remain in distance. It can burn itself, but it cannot set Him ablaze. It can burn in the fire, but it cannot become fire. Yet when it finds the way, it throws itself in without hesitation - its entire desire being for one breath to be Him, even if in the next breath He casts it out on the road of ashes. But it does not care. The pain of that distance is subsumed in the pleasure of that proximity. If, for instance, the lover's entire capital of life were spent so that for one breath he might find entry into the world of being-Him - it would be much.

What you have heard of trust, surrender, submission, and the rest - all of it is provision for the road and equipment for the work. In love, what is needed in this world is "wealth in unity," so that the work may be accomplished. What should be sought in annihilation, you seek in preservation - when will you find it? "You spent your life building your interior."

What the lover does in presenting himself before the Beloved's gaze, or in raising a cry above himself - that is bravado and boldness and the showing of one's own strength in bearing the burden of His affliction. And all of that is the cause of distance. Beware! Beware!

Chapter 120

A certain one, in the heat of love, took up a knife to slaughter himself. The Beloved knew his excess and did not look at him - so that he would remove the burden of existence more quickly from the path of those journeying in His love.

Existence and capability belong to the Beloved, for all of these are the equipment of union - and the equipment of union must belong to the Beloved. Non-existence and helplessness belong to the lover, for all of these are the equipment of separation - and the equipment of separation must belong to the lover. And this is a subtle subtlety.

O brother: in the station of lovership, union is the ornament of the Beloved; in the station of belovedness, it is the adornment of the lover. The Beloved is always in coquetry, and the lover is always in the dust of humiliation and affliction. But the Beloved's pride requires the lover's abasement for its manifestation, by the decree of "Things are known by their opposites."

The burden of love is far from all these attachments and obstacles, veiled in its own light. Love has no concern with union and separation, and these attributes do not circle the pavilions of its being:

Love is the guide to the comfort of my soul.
In its existence is the strength of my elements.
The pain that falls upon my heart from it -
I call it not pain, for it is my cure.

"Love is a divine madness. Love is the ocean of affliction - and affliction - and all of it is glory." Since love is the sign of the signless, what has it to do with union and separation?

Love is the sign of the signless.
When you go beyond yourself, you will know.

The truth in this matter is this: union is the attribute of the Beloved, and separation the attribute of the lover - except at the time when the lover's attributes perish within him, and in the orbit of his imagination he endures through the Beloved's attribute, and union becomes compatible with the lover and the Beloved's face turns toward him. Until even this self ceases to remain, and the attribute ceases with its bearer, and the equipment of union becomes the Beloved too.

The pen reached here and broke its nib.

Chapter 121

He whose very existence was an obstacle on the path to the Beloved, and whose imagining was his sin - how could he possess the equipment of union?

When I said, "What sin have I committed?" she answered:
"Your existence is a sin beyond all compare."

There was a lover, ardent on the road where Mahmud of Ghazna - may God illumine his proof - would pass. He stood always at his post, and when Mahmud rode by, he would open his eyes upon him, gazing with absolute dignity, risking his life. One day the retinue of that king arrived with its long train. The dervish-lover seized the bridle. Mahmud, from the haughtiness of sovereignty, struck him with a whip. The dervish burst into joy. Mahmud was astonished at this joy and asked the reason.

The dervish said: "Within this joy is a secret that cannot be told in public."

When the king granted private audience to his intimates, the dervish was brought before him and asked to reveal his affair. He said: "I am in love with Ayaz. My heart burns with the pain of separation from him. My state has reached the breaking point - patience has no more effect upon my condition, and I have no more awareness of myself. From the flame of the fire of his love I am so melted that I have no concern for my own existence. I am jealous of him on your account - either give him up, or like me, hang upon the skirt of despair."

Mahmud said: "How strange - I have seven hundred elephants. My kingdom stretches to the banks of the Nile. The treasuries and buried riches of the world are under the dominion of my pen. All the face of the earth is mine. I am in love with Ayaz, and my desire is not fulfilled by him. You who have neither a moment of joy nor a thing to boast of - where does this boldness come from?"

The dervish said: "O king, what you possess is the equipment of union - that belongs to Ayaz. And what I possess - this love, this longing, this pain, this restlessness - is the equipment of separation, and that belongs to you. If you are a lover and are sincere in love as I am, come: let us submit the beauty of Ayaz to judgment, and see whether his inclination is toward my need or toward your glory."

The king fell silent at these words, and knew that truthfulness is the ornament of the Beloved's beauty, and that if the matter were put to judgment, the Beloved would not incline - would not choose his need over the king's glory.

The Beloved, of the broken lover,
by God, desires only need.
He who always keeps his own existence
in the seat of glory and coquetry.

The lover cried out: "O king, release the reins of haughtiness and hand them to the Master. If you are sincere, as I am, cast your existence into the fire of longing." He said: "O king, with such a Beloved, is it worthier to dwell happy and content in the sweet paradise of desire, or upon the dunghill of nature?" The king said: "Indeed - that eternal union is what is wanted, and this everlasting glory." The ardent lover drew his blade and delivered his existence at the feet of the Beloved, so that his meeting with Him would be at the appointed place of union, and without the hardship of separation.

Chapter 122

In love, the equipment of union is the Beloved himself, and the equipment of separation is the lover himself. If fortune favors and grants the lover the vision of beauty, the lover's existence is nearer to perfection - for the Beloved was his, and he was the Beloved's. In this station, the product of the lover is the Beloved, and the product of the Beloved is the lover. If you have the taste, may my soul be your ransom: "Who is like me, when the Lord of the Throne is my beloved?"

I become a king in the seen and unseen
if my portion is You, O soul of the world.

Chapter 123

If the fire of love had not burned the lover's heart and scattered it on the wind of desire, it might have been that the reflection of the Beloved's beauty would appear in it, and in that station the Beloved and love would meet in the house of the lover's sorrows, and the secret of "He hears through him" and "He sees through him" would be manifest. But that station, in this world where speech still holds, appears incomplete - for what does it matter to the owner whether the ruined house belongs to friend or foe? Since love is a jealous destroyer of the soul and a burner of the elements, talk of union with it is naivete. At the arrival of the armies of love's sultan, love sets its baggage upon the corpse of the lover's existence, drives it out through the gate of being, and sends it into the desert of non-existence. The thread of this meaning cannot be held. Perhaps this twisting comes from the curl of the Beloved's tress - and the heart must be sought in those broken places:

I said: my soul. He said: seek it from Me.
I said: my heart. He said: seek it there.
I said: my intellect - it pointed toward the tress,
meaning: seek it in these broken places.

Chapter 124

From the standpoint where truth resides, the Beloved is indifferent to the lover's love - for it is neither profit nor loss. But love strives to bring the lover into the Beloved's sight, and when love makes the lover's existence the target of affliction's arrow, it is for this purpose: to make him the object of the Beloved's gaze. And it may be that the Beloved turns His face toward him directly. In this station, separation by the Beloved's choice is more complete and more perfect than union by the lover's choice - for in the first, the lover is the one beheld; in the second, the one forsaken.

And this is a great secret in understanding choice. When the verse "He creates what He wills and He chooses" speaks - hold your breath. If He chooses union, it is light upon light. If He chooses separation, the one beheld is doubly beheld. By my life: "Look at yourself" - if it were for the sake of being beheld, how good it would be!

If from your own existence you depart,
you shall triumph over the army of selflessness.
You may not behold the army of love -
but this suffices: that you are beheld.

Chapter 125

That the rank of being-beheld exceeds the rank of beholding - know this by looking at the sun.

O dear one, when the sun's gaze is upon you, your faculty of sight is illumined by its light and empowered in seeing. But when your gaze is fixed upon the sun, the light of your sight is weakened by its power and fails, and the fear of blindness arises. By this measure, vision in being-beheld is better than vision in beholding.

O brother, if you understood the effect of the gaze of kings, you would know that being-beheld is worthier. The lover overpowered is better - and being-beheld, in relation to beholding, is a form of being overpowered. That which turns earth to gold and stone to jewel does so by the grace of being-beheld.

That traveler, from the burning of love, wished to behold - he said: "Look at me." The blow of "You shall not see Me" struck his faculty of sight. That other realized one, who sat in the seat of being-beheld saying "One glance from You suffices me" - look at him: he became a beholder. "Have you not seen your Lord?"

O dear one, when He is seen, then one truly sees. He was the one beheld, and He was the beholder:

When you are beheld by me, then you behold -
the seer shall be you, O fair one, of yourself.

Chapter 126

If the lover is addressed at the time of seeking vision: "Go - bring an eye worthy of beholding Us, and We shall lift the veil and set your eye upon Our beauty" - what can he say? Only: "You shall not see Me." For the meaning of such an answer, a master has said:

I said: lift the veil of glory from your face -
long have I waited, expectant of that sight.
The Beloved said: guard your breath.
The sight is eternal - go, bring an eye.

Chapter 127

The seeing eye of the lover in this world is gnosis. If it is complete, then sight is complete; if deficient, sight is deficient. And the heart's pain comes from this: that completeness and deficiency are relative. In this world, seeing is gnosis; in the next world, gnosis becomes vision. "What today was his gnosis, tomorrow shall become his vision." This seeing shall never be that seeing. "And whoever is blind in this life shall be blind in the Hereafter, and further from the path."

One of my companions, who bore a mark in gnosis, I saw in a vision - his faculty of sight seemed weak. I asked him the reason. He said: "From too little gnosis - from too little gnosis."

Alas, and a thousand times alas - he who today knows Him without quality, how shall he see Him tomorrow, and how shall he know Him?

Enter into my eye, that you may see yourself -
for my eye is no dwelling for your vision.

Chapter 128

Though glory and majesty, grandeur and splendor, might and dominion, greatness and magnificence all belong to the Beloved in the portion of description, and their opposites are the attributes of the lover - this is because the sultan of love manifests its effects in lovers, not in the Beloved. For the equipment of love is the Beloved's beauty and his charm, which is the bait on love's snare - love hunts the lover through the Beloved's beauty, first ensnaring, then binding.

But love takes its due from the Beloved as well: it ties his beauty like bait upon the snare of its own existence. And this is the meaning: both lover and Beloved are in love's bondage. Here the Beloved is the seed on love's snare, and the lover is the prey.

How strange - the bird intends to swallow the seed, in order to take it inside itself and make it its sustenance. But the bird itself becomes the seed's sustenance.

Chapter 129

The lover's aspiration in love exceeds the Beloved's aspiration, for the lover aspires to gain entrance into the Beloved's world - so the summit of aspiration belongs to him.

O dervish, the summit of the lover's aspiration is the Beloved's existence - that the radiance of that existence might shine upon him and sustain him. And the summit of the Beloved's aspiration is the lover's non-existence - so that His existence remains uncontested and the burden of the lover is lifted from His path.

When you look with the eye of insight, you will know that in this station, the lover's aspiration is the higher. "And that is a precious secret, for those who understand."

He whose desire from you is existence -
his is not the desire of self-worship.
His aspiration was lofty, beyond the manner of all -
though his gaze came from the direction of lowliness.

Chapter 130

The Beloved's attributes do not appear except through the appearance of their opposites in the lover. By this measure, lover and Beloved are opposites to one another, and they never come together - unless the lover's attributes burn away in the radiance of the Beloved's light and perish.

In that station, it becomes possible for the lover to endure through the Beloved's attributes, sustained by holy confirmations. His spirit becomes holy - and when this happens, something else emerges. It is no longer this.

Chapter 131

The lover is always in poverty; the Beloved is always in pride. For poverty is the lover's essential attribute - a necessary attribute of existence itself - and pride is the Beloved's attribute, substantial and innate. Poverty is the opposite of pride, and their union is impossible to reason.

The lover's poverty before the Beloved is evident, and the Beloved's self-sufficiency from the lover is plain. The lover depends on the Beloved, but the Beloved, possessing Himself, possesses the lover as well. The Beloved is rich in the capital of beauty, self-sufficient from all worldly acquisition. Since He is self-sufficient from all others and rich in Himself, the lover is necessarily destitute before Him and in need. And since He possesses Himself, He is rich in Himself and self-sufficient from all others - and therefore from lover and love alike, untouched. The sum: the Beloved is the sovereign of the lover's entire realm of existence, by a sovereignty that admits no decline.

If a master loves his slave - formally, the master is the lover and the slave the beloved. But in meaning, the owned becomes the owner and the owner becomes owned. This is one of love's marvels:

I call you my slave outwardly -
yet in secret I am your slave.

But if the slave loves the master, his abasement in servitude increases, for servitude added to servitude deepens the fall. And nothing increases in the master, for the glory of mastery was already his.

And those in whom both aspects vanish - they arise from both worlds by intention, cling to destitution, stake their heads in the arena of the brave, melt themselves in the crucible of tribulation, fashion a ball from their own existence and cast it into the field of affliction, go beyond faith and the world, and take the path of the Beloved's good pleasure. And if the Beloved's name should cross another's tongue, they kindle a fire of wrath and burn their own soul and heart in it - for one can rise from the head of sovereignty, but one cannot rise from the door of the Sovereign.

The secret of this meaning must be sought in the answer of our master Abraham to the command "Submit" and in the unspoken answer of our master the Beloved to the command "Know." It may be that the Beloved will show His beauty. Our master Abraham rose from the head of sovereignty - but the Beloved, from jealousy, could not rise from the Sovereign's door.

O brother, the hand of freedom does not reach the skirt of love. In poverty, freedom is possible. "The eye did not swerve, nor did it transgress" - this speaks of freedom in poverty. But in love, freedom is impossible. "He journeyed by night with His servant" and "He revealed to His servant" - this points to that bondage:

Upon the dust of His threshold, lie still, abiding -
Let both worlds burn from the fire of wrath.

Chapter 132

It is fitting that from love's dominion the heart should take the color of the Beloved, so that when the lover breathes, the Beloved's scent reaches his senses. This is the state in which one is overwhelmed in remembrance and sustained by the One remembered.

And what they say of the Truthful One - that in love's overwhelming he would bow his head to his knee, and when he breathed, the scent of burned liver reached the senses of the saints - that was in the state of being overwhelmed in remembrance and sustained by the One remembered.

And what the Master - blessings and peace upon him - said: "I find the breath of the Merciful from the direction of Yemen" - that was the same secret that lay in the scent of the burned liver of the great ones. There is no god but God!

One of the masters was asked by the Master of the World - blessings and peace upon him: "When was I remembering my Lord?" He said: "When you forgot Him."

And this is among those secrets that belong to the illumined heart of that venerable sheikh. Forgetting the Beloved in love occurs only in the absence of self-awareness. When the lover becomes unconscious of himself, he enters the radiance of that Light. From awe he forgets himself, and when the traces of the light of grandeur become manifest upon him, he loses himself in Him.

"When you forgot Him" is in this state: it is as though one stands in the presence of a king and, from the perfection of the king's grandeur, forgets him - so that when he comes to himself and is asked about the king's appearance, his garments, and his court, he can give no account. And all this is the meaning of "When you forgot Him." And in the noble speech it is said: "And remember your Lord when you forget." Some of the masters of realization have said: "When you forget" means "when you forget yourself" - and this is the station of being overwhelmed in remembrance. Others have said: "When you forget" means "when you forget your Lord" - and this is the state of being overwhelmed in the One remembered. "And that is a precious secret, for those who understand."

He who is victorious over love's army
is banished from beholding his own existence.
In the state of being overwhelmed, that burned one
is a rememberer - yet is the one remembered.

Chapter 133

In the state of being overwhelmed, it is fitting that the lover has no concern for going to the Beloved's door - even though he knows that the Beloved, from the perfection of majesty, will not come to him. This is because, being overwhelmed, he finds the Beloved within himself.

But this state yields itself with difficulty, for the Beloved's reflection in the polished mirror of the heart is ever-present.

Chapter 134

The Beloved is charming and liver-eating, and to him the lover is burned and abased. "The most abased of things is the lover before his beloved, and the greedy pauper."

O dear one, enduring the Beloved's coquetry is difficult, for the Beloved always wishes to exact the full due of his beauty. In this game, soul and heart and eye and faith and intellect are not worth a grain:

My soul and heart and eye, in the bazaar of your grief -
by God, they are not worth a grain, O soul.

Chapter 135

The perfection of the Beloved's beauty cannot be grasped by oneself, especially amid love's overwhelming - which is the station of intoxication. The lover, overwhelmed by love's intoxication - this drunkenness prevents perceiving the perfection of the Beloved's beauty.

And here is a secret: the dominion and power of love falls upon being itself, and the lover in the season of seeking being has no concern with establishing attributes, for his gaze is fixed upon unity, not upon multiplicity. By this measure, the lover is incapable of perception and incapable even of perceiving his incapacity. "And the incapacity to perceive perception is itself perception" - this is the meaning:

O You who by Your grace make me whole -
do not leave me to myself, lest I be bewildered.
From the utmost intoxication love has given me,
I wish to point to You but cannot.

Chapter 136

So the lover is absent from himself and present with the Beloved, until his witness and his witnessed is the Beloved alone. Indeed, the Beloved is ever-present by the dominion of remembrance in the world of love. "Remember Me, and I shall remember you." In these two words there is both a reminder and a promise.

Khwaja Ahmad Khoshnam was among those who had gone beyond. Hujjat al-Islam saw him on the day of Eid and asked him for an Eid gift. He said: "What befits you is this: on the last Eid, when the people returned from the place of departure, I placed my head in prostration at the prayer niche and said: 'Send Khoshnam an Eid gift - and send it in cash, for his heart cannot bear the promise of tomorrow.' A call reached my ear: 'The emissary of the Presence has arrived - raise your head.' I raised my head and saw a hoopoe. In its beak was a scroll of green silk, inscribed in light: 'Remember Me, and I shall remember you.'"

O dear brother, this is a sign toward the Beloved's love. Only taste comprehends it.

Chapter 137

Beholding the Beloved, when the lover is perfected, produces overwhelming - as Majnun beheld Layla and was overwhelmed. The secret of these meanings shall be found in the meaning of "When they are unveiled." And the verse "He made it level, and Moses fell down in a swoon" confirms this mystery:

To look upon You, I must go beyond myself.
In the hand of your tyrannies, I must be subdued.
In the very appearance of You, concealment must be sought.
Into the veil of veils, I must go within.

Chapter 138

When love has not reached perfection, beholding the Beloved produces non-existence and shame in the lover. And it is fitting that the lover see - but when a decline in love becomes apparent in him, undertaking mortal perils is fatal, for such perils can only be undertaken by the power of love.

From a man of truthful speech I heard: there was a lover who in the crisis of love would swim across the River Indus every night by swimming, in the dead of winter. On one night, having come nearer to the beloved, he saw a mole upon her face. He said: "How long has this mole been on your cheek?" She said: "It has been mine since birth, but has only now appeared to your gaze. You should not undertake tonight's peril, for I see that the power of your love has waned." He did not heed the warning and drowned in the cold water - for he had come back to himself when his eye fell on the mole.

And this is a great secret: in being overwhelmed, the Beloved's cruelty and tyranny appear as justice and equity. One of Asma'i's friends said to him: "We saw your blue-eyed slave girl." He said: "She is blue-eyed?" - in astonishment. In love's overwhelming, he had no awareness of the color of her eyes:

In love, from the pain of the soul and the burning of the heart,
I have no awareness of your beauty, O beloved.

Chapter 139

The eye of intellect is veiled from perceiving the reality of love. Intellect has no power to see love's light, for love is in a rank beyond intellect, in another realm altogether.

Love is a pearl hidden in the oyster of the soul, and the soul has plunged into the sea of destiny. Intellect stops at the shore of destiny's sea, unable to advance for fear of misfortune's leviathans.

O dervish, intellect is the teacher of the school of livelihood and the afterlife. If it steps into love's school, the children of that school will bind it with the alphabet of love. A master has said:

When I learned the alphabet of your love,
I sewed a garment of suffering and grief.
The work of your grief, I made from your grief alone.
The snare of your grief, I stored from grief.
The sum of your love is three words, no more:
I burned, I bore, I boiled.

Chapter 140

The soul has a burning in seeking. The heart has a pain. The body has a transformation. The mind has an agitation.

That transformation of the body, that pain of the heart, that burning of the soul, that agitation of the mind - this is love. The borders of existence's realm are under its dominion. Without love, one cannot give account of it. With love, the possibility of giving account does not exist.

And this is most strange - for in love's place, only love was there. By this measure, the reporter is love itself, and the reported-of is love itself. And this, to reason, is impossible.

Chapter 141

In previous chapters I wrote that love has no orientation toward any direction - "Wherever you turn, there is the Face of God." Now I say: read the hadith "Verily God is beautiful and loves beauty," and know with certainty that the lover must love that beauty, or love its Beloved - and this is a powerful cipher in knowing love.

Do not make the story long. You are both lover and beloved - for beauty by nature is beloved, and in this respect you are the lover. And since the secret of "God created Adam in His image" has appeared in you, in this respect you are the beloved. It is therefore fitting that the lover look upon himself, see the Beloved, take Him as friend, and in this station multiplicity ceases - lover, Beloved, and love become one:

Remove multiplicity and plurality,
that His oneness may appear.

Chapter 142

Just as the lover, with all his helplessness, cannot fulfill love's due, the Beloved, with all His power, cannot fulfill the due of His own beauty. O dervish, that meaning which has made Him the lover of His own beauty is overwhelming in its nature - surely this is the meaning of the fire that has set ablaze the harvest of rose-colored existence:

That sacred meaning which has
made Him besotted with His own beauty -

The soul of every lover in the world
love's blow has wounded.

Chapter 143

The love of the Beloved is an essential attribute of His existence, for accidents have no access to His court. And the love of the lover is likewise an essential attribute of his, for in the dawn of existence and creation it was embedded in the reality of his being. And this word is the secret of what the masters of realization have said: "They love Him" appeared from the traces of the lights of "He loves them":

First, ask of Him the tale of love -
then say: love has no beginning.

The guide on love's road is His presence -
He is the Knowing One - there is nothing but grace.

Chapter 144

Everything that exists diminishes through affliction and increases through blessings - except love, which increases through affliction and diminishes through blessings. O dervish, from the standpoint where the reality of love resides, it should neither increase nor diminish: "Love does not increase through kindness nor diminish through cruelty." But know that love is fire, and its fuel is the body, soul, heart, and sight of the lover - until these fall into it, it raises no flame and its heat does not increase.

Chapter 145

Husayn ibn Mansur - may God sanctify his spirit - was asked: "At what moment does the pleasure of love reach perfection?" He said: "At the hour when the Beloved has spread the carpet of chastisement and brought the lover forward for slaughter, and the lover is lost in wonder at His beauty, and says:"

He poised to kill, and I in Him am lost -
how well He wields the blade He draws on me!

Chapter 146

One of the masters of the path, who was known for the quality of love, was asked: "O sheikh, at what hour does the lover have pleasure?" He said: "In the Beloved's self-disclosure at the moment of the watcher's heedlessness" - the Beloved lifts the veil and the sentinel of love sleeps, and the lover, like a moth, takes flight in the glittering of the lights of His face:

That night when I hold a vision of You -
see what state overtakes me then!

In the night's passing, a thousand delays -
in the morning's arrival, only weariness.

Chapter 147

So long as the lover held hope of union with the Beloved, each day he grew more abased before him - "Abased is the one who hopes" is the secret of this word. As Zuleikha: so long as she held hope of union with Joseph, each day she grew farther from union and sicker with separation. When she cast away hope and made peace with pure love, she recovered beauty and youth and hastened toward the Beloved with full satisfaction. And what has been said is close to this meaning:

Your love is a kingdom and a people waits -
this is fortune's work - let us see whom it reaches.

Who am I to covet the pure draught of His union?
Is it not enough that the dregs of Your pain might reach me?

Chapter 148

This wretched one had a companion in knowledge and piety at the highest rank - the masters of the Two Sanctuaries sought blessing from him in his time, and the scholars of Khurasan sought nearness to him. One day I saw him fallen ill and far from all his stations. I asked about his state. They said: "A love for a youth among the minstrels has appeared in him, and he has entered into speech with them in their tongue":

Those slain by the dagger of surrender
at every moment receive a new soul from the unseen.

How would intellect know whence this cipher comes?
For these people have another tongue.

I heard that after some time, that possessor of beauty - who was peerless in loveliness and without equal in comeliness - said to him: "I know you will leave the road, but surely you will not rise from the pit." He said: "While I was occupied with myself, I sought a way of escape and thrashed like prey in a trap. Now I am occupied with you, and I long for the sight of you." That heart-seizing, soul-giving beauty, as a test, placed a wine-jug upon his shoulder and a joy-stirring harp in his ear, and with these marks led him around the bazaar of Nishapur. And in this state he said to himself:

You will not carry the secrets of the tavern
unless you bow before the idol-worshippers.
You will not be cleansed of your own stain
unless you carry the drunkards' jug upon your head.

When some days had passed, that sun of the sky of beauty, that firmament of loveliness, said to him: "O ardent lover, I know you will rise above this and that, but surely you will not rise above your own soul." That noble lover rose lightly upon a height and from the intensity of longing fell from his feet. When that possessor of beauty saw the newly-risen sapling felled by the thunderbolt of destiny, he tore the garment of patience upon himself, and in the presence of his own kinsmen placed his hand beneath the lover's head and brought a blade to his own body, saying: "Since this is how it was, the gathering of pain is sweeter than joy." The people of Nishapur buried them both in a single grave in a single moment, and mourned their passing greatly:

The soul on this road is but the sandal's nail - cast it from the foot!
How can one come before the Sultan's throne with shoes?

Chapter 149

Love has a perfect jealousy toward itself, and from the completeness of this jealousy it does not reveal itself to either the Beloved or the lover. It is like fire hidden in stone - from the perfection of its jealousy over itself it does not come into manifestation. And when it does appear, it strives to destroy the lover - whose heart is its dwelling place - so that it may return to the concealment of hiding and veil its beauty from the eyes of strangers.

Ataf said: "One day I was circumambulating the Sacred Ka'ba and battling the desire of my ego, when the voice of a veiled woman reached my ears, saying: 'O Master of the Day of Judgment and Decree, Creator of the earth and the sky, have mercy on the people of passion and deliver them from the enormity of affliction - for You are the Hearer of prayers!'"

Ataf said: "I looked at her and saw in beauty a figure whose bewitching eyes pierced the hearts of the pure with the arrow of coquetry, and whose amber tresses set the snare of desire upon the feet of the saints":

She has the eyes of a gazelle - had she glanced
at a worshipper who stood for God in supplication,
he would have awakened besotted, repeating her name,
as though he had never fasted for God or prayed.

I said to her: "O subtle one of divine grace, O source of everlasting life - have you no shame before God that you lift the veil from before the secrets, especially in such a place of grandeur and such a court of awe?" She said: "Away from me, O Ataf! You whom the fire of affliction has not burned - rather, this fire has not been kindled in the furnace of your heart - what do you know of this secret, and what trace of this meaning do you bear?"

I said: "My lady, what is love?" She said: "Love is too manifest to be made manifest by words. It is like fire hidden in stone, like a pearl concealed in its shell. When it appears, the pillars of existence vanish. The soul burns. Whoever says the pain of love is without remedy, and the desert of love is without end..."

Alone, without companions, in every land -
when the object of seeking grows great, helpers grow few.

Chapter 150

If the lover's desire from the Beloved is generosity and bounty, and his hope is grace and favor, they say to him: "Come to the door and do not wear yourself with grief - here bounty is freely cast and the door of acceptance is open." But if his desire is vision, or existence before extinction, he becomes "a patient whom none visits," "a seeker whom none seeks." Every petition he writes is rejected, and every prayer he utters goes unanswered. Thus Moses asked for things and was answered - He said: "You have been given what you asked, O Moses." But when from the restlessness of longing he said "Show me - let me look upon You," He said: "You shall not see Me." Thus is the tyranny of the Beloveds - thus is the tyranny of the Beloveds.

Chapter 151

The spirit drank a single cup from love's tavern and in the whirlpool of longing was so lost that no one can place the finger of recognition upon it, and intellect cannot open the gate of its knowledge to anyone. When it was drunk with His love, it was Him - "Say: the spirit is from the command of my Lord." Love's drunkenness raised it to this station and freed it from all else.

What a bond has appeared between it and Him through love! If you wish to know, look at its effect: it makes the dead come alive. Wonder: if He does this, He does it through this; and if this does it, it does it through Him - and this is a wondrous cipher beyond the reach of intellect.

Behold the tailoring skill of love: it sews the patch of the temporal upon the hem of the eternal tent. "From the command of my Lord" - cast away the particle of partitioning, for experience and partitioning do not exist in the world of meaning. And what is bound to the world of creation - "To Him belong the creation and the command" - has Him. Remove it from the road. What remains is Him. And this secret requires contemplation to be known.

Chapter 152

In love, the eye's affair is more radiant than the heart's, though they ceaselessly envy each other and ceaselessly steal from one another:

The heart envies the eye the pleasure of gazing,
and the eye envies the heart the pleasure of thought.

O dervish, the lover's eye is the court of the Beloved's beauty - for this reason the pupil is always in motion. And its motion arises from one of two sources: either from the joy of sharing a dwelling with the Beloved it is restless, or from the fear of being overwhelmed by the intensity of His manifestation it is restless without Him. And the finest thing said on this matter is what the masters of impression have stated: when the image of the seen is imprinted upon the place of seeing, the eye becomes the seen. A spiritual master has said:

I have an eye all full of the Beloved's form -
how good it is for me with this eye, since the Beloved is in it!

Between the eye and the Beloved, it is not right to distinguish -
either He has taken the place of the eye, or the eye itself is He.

Chapter 153

The heart is a fire-temple full of the fire of longing, and the creature born of fire is like the salamander - just as the life of that creature depends on fire, the persistence of love depends on the fire of longing. And of this state, only one who dwells in the fire of love has news.

But the fire of longing is a wondrous fire: it nurtures love. And the reason love does not completely annihilate the lover is this - the fire of longing, which is love's dwelling place, is constructive, not destructive. Like the fire of Sinai: "He perceived from the direction of the mountain a fire." The tree was green and moist and the fire was at the height of burning and illumination. Wonder: if burning were its essential attribute, why did it not burn? Intellect is bewildered by this cipher and the soul perplexed. The sage of India says: "The Friend manifests in the form of His own traces." Perhaps in the form of fire the traces of love's lights appeared, which were not destructive. It may be that it burns, but for the lover's healing, through the renewal of forms, it finds persistence:

Like the people of the Fire - whenever their skins are consumed,
they are given new skins, for their healing.

Chapter 154

What the great noble prophet Moses - God's blessings and peace upon him - first saw as fire: "He perceived from the direction of the mountain a fire," and the address "Verily I am God" which he heard from the fire - is proof that the lover must surrender to his own burning and lay aside the wind of vanity:

Surrender yourself to burning, O drunken lover,
since His address to you was from fire.

Rabia of Basra - one night of her nights, the fire of love raised a flame from the furnace of her liver and from the intensity of its burning brought her down from her feet. She cried out: "O people of Basra - fire! Fire!" People gathered to extinguish the fire. They saw her state had changed, transformed to another condition entirely. She was saying: "Fire! Fire!" They said: "Where is the fire?" She said: "The fire is in my liver." And what burned that truthful one's liver - with the release of her breath, a whole world took on the smell of scorched liver. It was a trace of this fire that Rabia reported:

Your love is fire, and the soul burns -
and from the soul, when finished, the world burns.

Behold this wonder: when I take Your name,
from its power, palate and tongue burn.

Chapter 155

No day that passes over the lover is more blessed than the day when he is found, in the Beloved's sight, raised upon the gallows and awaiting the disclosure of secrets. At the moment when that realized one was raised upon the gallows, a mystic reached him and asked: "What is love?" He said: "This is its first step."

When the beautiful ones lift their veil,
lovers before them die like this.

That day appeared as the day of the gallows, but for him it was the day of audience - since he was in the Beloved's sight:

Hallaj of the heart, who is the master of this work,
upon the gallows kept saying: "This is the day of audience."

Whoever has drunk his fill from the Beloved -
his soul is with the Beloved, and his body is on the cross.

Chapter 156

The falcon imagines its happiness on the day when the falconer seizes it, sews its eyes shut, and teaches it to hunt. And truly, this only becomes conceivable and apparent when people see it upon the king's forearm. By this measure, no day that passes over the falcon is more blessed than the day when the falconer seizes it and it gives up its heart from itself. And this is a most wondrous cipher.

Chapter 157

The Beloved is free from need of the lover, for He is a king and in His kingdom without rival. The lover is in need of Him, but is in bondage to plunder - he wishes to gain victory over the treasury of union. He weeps and shows humility, hoping that perhaps at some moment the ambush might be sprung. Though he knows he will not find Him without annihilation, from the path of audacity and courage he weeps at every moment, dies in the longing for sleep, and gives up his heart from himself. And the Beloved sits established on the throne of majesty and coquetry. What has been written in the books of wisdom - "the exalted ones pay no regard to the lowly" - applies here, meaning "the Beloved pays no regard to the lover," for He is upon the sky of honor and the lover upon the ground of abasement.

A lover stood in the dark of night before the beloved's door, weeping and showing abasement. The beloved, veiled in the veil of honor, glanced at him with coquetry but took no account of him and cast no glance of mercy upon him. The chief of the night-watch was present and looked on in astonishment. When dawn thrust its head from the window of the horizon, the wretched lover returned in utter confusion and regret, transformed by the pain of his heart. The chief of the night-watch asked about his state. He said: "He is free of need, and I am in need of Him. I stand in abasement, and He is precious in Himself. The right of my existence is what you saw, and the right of His existence is what you witnessed. By the might of God - His knowledge of the lover's need of Him is like the lover's price." The lover, in the exaltation of love, says from the pain of his heart:

No night passes that Your memory does not make my heart bleed
and from weeping make my two eyes like the Oxus.

At last I shall reach Your union, O soul of the world,
if death's raid does not make a night-attack.

Chapter 158

Love has an effect. It is unseen, sanctified from causes, and purified of the lover's seeking. From whom shall the lover seek his portion? For when He who is the lover's master comes forth, the lover's desire was for the Beloved's desire from him to be fulfilled - and the Beloved's desire is his destruction. The poor lover, from love of Him, has become his own enemy. There is no god but God!

In Constantinople, a truthful dervish fell in love with a Christian youth. When the poor one gazed at him from afar, he would faint and fall into distress. One day he suddenly saw that moon at the head of a market buying a Christian girdle. He came near and said: "Take two of these girdles - for the first step in love is conformity, and conformity is the abandonment of opposition":

Again our elder gave his cloak for a girdle
and gave ninety years of piety for two, to the infidels.

He prostrated before an idol, left the religion of pretense behind -
his prayer-book and prayer-rug he gave to the tavern.

Chapter 159

O friend, since the beginning of love was from "He loves them," it is in every respect sanctified from causes and purified of errors. Within this word is a tremendous secret. O friend, He who reported His own love bore witness to your love: "He loves them" is His report of His own love; "They love Him" is testimony to your love. If that love is sanctified, then this too is sanctified - for in love there is no "this" and "that." Then say: sanctified, sanctified. Then set aside repetition, so that from multiplicity you may come to unity. And that is the secret.

Chapter 160

In "He loves them" and "they love Him" - three letters in the first and four in the second. Know this. With the eye of insight, gaze upon the dot that rests on the letter of plurality, and inform the reality of existence of unity:

If in the dot you see the secret of the word,
from the sacred letter, say whatever you wish.

The geometricians find the secret of this word in numerals and zero. For example: 1 was one; with a zero it becomes 10. 2 was two; with a zero it becomes 20. When the numeral is erased, the zero was nothing. And when the zero is erased from the one, from multiplicity it returns to unity and becomes one. Just as in every numeral, by the addition of a zero, a meaning appears that did not exist before - in every dotted letter, to the masters of insight, from the dot a meaning appears by which independence from the letter itself is attained. And this is a wondrous cipher.

Chapter 161

The Master Ahmad Ghazali - may God sanctify his spirit - said: "The dots of 'He loves them' were cast upon the soil of primordial nature, and the seed of 'they love Him' sprouted. Inevitably the second seed will be the same hue as the first." If "Glory be to Me!" and "I am the Truth" appear, they appear from this root. And this meaning is known only by taste - "the Lord glorified Himself upon the tongue of His servant":

If the seed is the same hue as the first,
then the letter of our love will be long indeed.

Chapter 162

At the beginning of love, love was the lover's affliction - like a file it grinds him, wearing him away. Sometimes it casts him into the fire of trial, sometimes it makes him the target of the arrow of devotion. And it says to him:

This is a sovereign battle - beware of the rain of arrows,
for those weddings are the ones where sugar rains down.

When another few days pass, the lover becomes his own affliction - he raises himself to the heights so that he may perish, and his name be erased from the register of existence, and he says:

Whoever dies of love, let him die thus -
there is no good in love without death.

When a few more days pass, the Beloved becomes the lover's affliction - like a shadow, lifeless, wandering, joyless, bewildered. He says:

From the shadow's reproach one cannot flee like the Friend,
one must surrender life and arrive like a shadow, soulless.

One cannot bear His burden with oneself, and one cannot behold His beauty by oneself - for the finite cannot, by its own power, comprehend the infinite.

It will not come into the snare, O youth - go,
do not give your heart to love, for it is boundless.

Chapter 163

The lover destroys himself because he knows his self has no exit but non-being. O dervish, the attainment of the goal lies in the pre-eternal, and deliverance from oneself lies in non-being. Since, stained by the contingent, reaching the pre-eternal is not possible - there remains only non-being. And what they have said, that for those who witness, self-extinction is the condition of the path - that is the secret of this word:

In love, if you become nothing, you become everything.
In reason, if you become something, you sink low.
Behold this wonder: from the wine of love,
you are sober only when you are drunk.

Chapter 164

Whatever the lover needs, he will find in love - and what he does not need will be his constant companion. What incurable pain! What unending affliction! O dear one, the lover has no deliverance from love's pain except through non-being - yet non-being is sealed against him, and his life is wounded by the wound of existence. Since the lover's existence is his cardinal sin in love, it is better for him to abandon it and sweeter for him to let it go:

When I said, "What sin have I committed?" she answered:
"Your existence is a sin no sin can match."

By my life, if he had not committed that sin - if he had not set foot from the territory of non-being into the expanse of existence - what would this incurable pain and this unending affliction have to do with him? He would have been at peace in the abyss of non-being. But when he saw himself in the mirror of the pre-eternal, he was stricken - he brought a company forth from the abyss of non-being and displayed himself to them, so that they too fell in love with him as he had fallen in love with himself. Then he veiled himself behind the curtain of majesty and left them in eternal pain and everlasting affliction.

What a wondrous cipher! Before they existed, this was "He loves them" - and the reason for making the non-existent existent was precisely this. So long as He found them in His own world, out of jealousy He would cast out the intermediaries from among them. But when their attainment shifted to another world, in the garment of proximity He sealed their eyes and ears - so that they would not see Him through themselves nor hear anything from Him through themselves. This is from the perfection of His jealousy - the seal of wrath placed upon their sight and hearing. This cannot be comprehended through the medium of knowledge alone.

Chapter 165

What they have said - "the lover must be blind and deaf" - this is the secret of that word. Whoever is not seeing through himself is blind. Whoever is not hearing through himself is deaf. Shibli - may God sanctify his spirit - was asked: "Who is the knower?" He said: "Deaf, dumb, blind." No one knows the secret of it. Pull in the tongue of understanding. Pull in the tongue of understanding.

O master, do not set foot upon this road
until you have made your existence non-existent, at every breath.
If you wish to become intimate upon this path,
be sighted from the eye - and from the ear, be deaf.

Chapter 166

If the lover were to have awareness of his annihilation in the house of annihilation - what pain and anguish would appear in his soul! For beholding beauty through oneself brings pleasure, and through an other it does not. But when there is no pleasure, and the substance of existence cannot be empty of both pleasure and pain, then it is not right for it to be - for the substance is receptive to contraries only by way of alternation.

Chapter 167

In the outward view, it seems that knowledge is the source of complete pleasure, and the philosophers have said that perception is the source of pleasure. In love, that principle is inverted. For the ultimate station of the wayfarers on this path is that they accept the insufficiency of their own capacity rather than the impossibility of attainment. The reality of existence - that is the source of boundless pain. And if knowledge reaches its full perfection, it knows that for the lover, the complete perception of the Beloved's beauty is not possible - for he travels along the path of the infinite with the step of the finite. Therefore attainment is the most impossible of impossibilities. And the knowledge of this is the source of the most intense pain. Neither dead nor alive - "he does not die therein, nor does he live."

Chapter 168

The more devoted the lover is to the Beloved, the more the Beloved becomes a stranger to the lover. And the more perfect the love, the greater that estrangement - and the greater this devotion.

I said: "Perhaps I shall become intimate with secrets,
and with the fortune of union arrive at the Beloved's door."
How could I know that with the perfection of knowledge
I would enter the idol-temple, fit for the Christian girdle?

One of the Turkish kings had heard tell of the beauty of a certain beauty, and had set his heart upon it. In a battle that he fought against that people, he took that beauty captive. When he turned his gaze upon that perfect beauty, he lost himself. When he came to his senses, he cried out. He commanded that the captive be brought again. He lost awareness of himself and entered the captive's presence. From the perfection of insight and discernment, he knew: this is that fire whose flame fell through the window of hearing into the hall of the heart, and by its force burns down the house of the heart, and by its might lays it waste. Now this is another flame - entering through the road of sight - kindling and adding to that liver-burning fire. That first time, the heart burned. Now it has taken in the soul, and blazed forth.

When he grasped this meaning, he commanded that the captive be placed upon a throne, and he himself hastened to the captive's service like a slave. However much he wished to look at him and become aware of his beauty, he could not.

My helpless heart rose entirely from itself,
and then, weeping, begged the captive for itself.
From the slave came the call: "O wounded one - it is just!
But tell me: whose is the power of perception?"

So long as he did not know who the captive was and did not understand the nature of love's power, he had a certain ease with him, and seeing him brought a joy within himself. When he knew, he could not bear it. When he arrived, he did not arrive at existence. When he attempted the carpet of closeness, from the pavilion of the captive's majesty came the address: "Away! Away! Alas - how dare you set foot upon the carpet of closeness through yourself? Be aware: you were the sovereign and he the captive. Now you are the captive and he is the sovereign. What business has a captive with a sovereign?"

This is precisely the tale of Joseph and Zulaykha. One day, that king sat in the radiance of the captive's light, and with the eye of insight gazed upon the traces of the lights of his beauty. He said: "O moon of the firmament of grace, O sun of the sky of beauty - I had an ease with you until I knew you. The more I wish to empty myself and accommodate you, the more I cannot. In this matter I am bewildered, and in this event I am lost."

"I wish now to tell you my grief.
In the radiance of your light, to take account of myself.
If you will not be a salve for my pain,
then at least, O youth, make me intimate with yourself."

He said: "Know, O king, that day has passed and time has folded up that carpet. 'He exalts whom He wills' raised our head, and 'He abases whom He wills' gave you lamentation. The day you placed the collar of servitude upon our neck and opened the door of joy upon yourself, Love was saying: 'This very moment I shall emerge from my hiding place and gaze upon you with wrath, and from the glory of sovereignty I shall cast you into the humiliation of servitude, and from the sleep of heedlessness I shall awaken you.' You imagined you had made a hunt and put it in a cage. You did not know that in the world of love, matters run contrary to desire."

In love, O heart, there is much descent and ascent -
the gazelle's fawn becomes a lion, and the partridge a hawk.

"O king, in you the arrogance of sovereignty still remains. For that reason, the discourse of union continues. The sultan of love has taken the bond of servitude from us and the reality of your existence has taken heart from ownership and dominion - and you are unaware. If the captive wishes to be at ease with the sovereign, the humiliation of captivity becomes his veil. And if the sovereign wishes to be at ease with the captive, the glory of sovereignty becomes his veil. For ease comes from likeness, and between sovereign and captive what ease can there be when likeness is absent and the path of ease is barred? The dot that was upon the cheek of our servitude was erased, and upon the cheek of your sovereignty it appeared. What a wondrous sovereign he was who took a captive - when he looked, the captive had taken the sovereign!"

In sum, love is a sultan - rich, in need of no one, with no partner or rival in its kingdom. The lover is himself a captive, though he may be a sovereign, and in the flames, though he may wear a crown. The lover's neediness is plain. But the Beloved needs a lover - to be the target of His arrow of affliction, and to sacrifice his life for His devotion. Without a lover, to whom would He show His coquetry and caprice? From whom would He claim the due of His perfect beauty? A master has said - may God preserve him:

Without lover and love, the Beloved's beauty is dust.
Without a lover, where is the Beloved's caprice?
Though in the law's decree this word is heresy,
the adorner of the Friend's beauty is our impatience.

This meaning was set forth so that you may know: the lover becomes acquainted with love and from its radiance finds illumination. But the Beloved is a stranger to the lover and to love - though in beauty He is without peer.

From the chain of Your tresses I went mad.
Upon the candle of Your face, like a moth, I became.
So much did the heart's bloody tears pour from my eyes
that with Your love I became kin - and from You, a stranger.

Chapter 169

Tomorrow, the lovers of His beauty will walk in paradise biting their fingers and in hell snapping their fingers. In paradise their remembrance will be "The Gracious, the Bountiful." In hell their remembrance will be "The Wrathful, the Compelling." For they know that His wrath makes blessings into a veil, and His mercy makes fire into a garden. They witnessed in this world that the blessings of this life became a veil for the people of blessings - so that in the overwhelming of bounty they became veiled from the Bounty-Giver. And they saw that in the very fire, He made Abraham a witness of His presence - so that through that fire, it became a garden.

O dervish, for one whom He destroys through blessings, the blessings become his affliction. And for one whom He reveals Himself to through fire, that fire becomes his highest paradise. The sage says:

With You, the heart is a mosque; without You, a temple of idols.
Without You, the heart is hell; with You, paradise.

Chapter 170

The lover must have such intimacy with the Beloved that if a thousand sword-blows fall upon him, he holds fast to the ease of intimacy. The prophet Idris - peace and blessings upon him - said in the overwhelming of love: "If between me and You were an ocean of fire, I would cast myself into it out of longing for You."

If the ocean is full of fire, from longing for You,
I wish to cast my very existence into it.

Chapter 171

Junayd - may God sanctify his spirit - said: "One day Sari - may his spirit be sanctified - gave me a flask of urine to present to a Christian physician. When the physician looked at it from a distance, he cried out and said: 'This is the urine of a lover - love has burned his liver.' The awe of that word rendered me senseless. The flask fell from my hand. The physician picked it up from the ground in reverence and said: 'We need this water to quench the fire of illness.' When I returned to Sari, the pain had passed through him and beyond - with eyes full of tears and a heart in ruin. I told him what had happened. He said: 'God strike him dead - how skilled he is!' When he said this, a light blazed from his face, and I thought perhaps a sun had risen inside the house. After that, a few days passed, and the carpet of his contingent existence was folded up."

The blood of my liver through the road of my eyes,
O Friend, see how it flows!
For this fire of love, unhesitating,
has become visible in my shattered soul.

Chapter 172

In truth, love seizes the lover from himself and renders all his powers to nothing within him - just as this proof has become manifest in the creeping vine. If the lover is aware of love's burning - even though love's fire blazes in his liver - he is not yet cooked; he is raw. He must feel no pain from the fire's burning, and no effect from the saws of heaven's cutting - as it has come in some of the traditions: "God revealed to one of His prophets: 'I make one My intimate friend only when he does not slacken from My remembrance, has no other beside Me, prefers nothing from My creation over Me, and if he were burned with fire he would feel nothing, and if cut with saws of iron, he would find in his secret no effect.'"

The King of the world revealed to some of the prophets and said: His majesty said, "We honor with the distinction of intimate friendship only the one who, manfully, knows no slackening from Our remembrance, no shortcoming in Our obedience, who prefers no one over Us, and is so drunk with the wine of Our love that if he were cast into an ocean of fire, in the estimation of his heart it would be as nothing, and if his eyes were torn to pieces by the saws of wrath, he would not perceive it and would not sense the pain."

First He said: "He does not slacken from My remembrance." What a wonder - remembrance is for the forgetful! But the one who is in the contemplation of the Beloved's beauty, immersed in His beauty, annihilated from his own attributes in that immersion - then the remembrance is the sign of him, and the Remembered, in the pavilion of glory, is the one who remembers His own self:

I marvel at one who says "I remembered my Lord" -
for was I ever absent, that I should remember what I forgot?
I drank love's cup after cup -
the wine did not run out, nor was I quenched.

And He said: "He has no other beside Me." When there is no other in existence, who else could there be for him besides Him? "He prefers nothing from My creation" - meaning, in the courses of destiny he is so bewildered that he is unaware of the existence or non-existence of anything else. And what He said: "If burned with fire, he feels nothing of the fire's burning, and if cut with saws, he finds no effect from the touch of iron" - by my life, pain is felt by one who has awareness of the body and what pertains to it. But the lover in love is without awareness, and in the radiance of that light - and fire, in the overwhelming of his contemplation, is his highest paradise.

The lover is none but the one wounded by separation.
His affairs, from love's grief, are never in order.
Heavy is the bearing of separation's burden,
and this finding of union - that too is not easy.

Chapter 173

What they have said - that the lover, through love, attains effacement and annihilation - is true. The secret of this word has become manifest in the tale of that beautiful one of Canaan, that exquisite handiwork of God. And the companions of Zulaykha, in the overwhelming of beholding him, were annihilated from their attributes of selfhood and became unaware of the pain of cutting - "they cut their hands." And from the height of their unawareness, they removed the one beheld from the world of humanity and described him as angelic - "This is none other than a noble angel." And if you call him a noble angel, then what they saw of beauty, when they made that expression - "This is none other than a noble angel":

I said: "It is You." He said: "It is I - since you are not."

Chapter 174

In the overwhelming moments of love, the lover reaches a place where he loses himself within himself and cries out from helplessness and desperation, saying: "I am tested by You!" And sometimes he loses himself in the Beloved and says: "I cannot count Your praise." This must be after the lifting of the veil. For before the veil is lifted, although knowledge of Him may be perfect, the imagination of reaching eloquence in His praise remains possible. When the veil is lifted, he knows that what he knew was proportionate to his own capacity and had not exceeded the bounds of the finite. He confesses his incapacity: "I cannot count Your praise."

The servant reaches a place where he is effaced.
After that, there is nothing but the work of God.

Chapter 175

In love and its overwhelming moments, the lover is nobler and mightier than the Beloved. For the name "beloved" in love is borrowed, while the name "lover" is essential. In truth, the Beloved has neither gain nor loss from it. And if at some time an inclination toward the lover appears in Him, and that inclination becomes excessive and becomes the mark of His affair - at that moment He descends from the station of Belovedness to the degree of lovership, and even that falls away from Him. And the reason the name "He loves them" appeared before the existence of creation was precisely this: so that change and alteration would not be attributed to the pre-eternal attributes and essence, and so there would be no illusion that He descended from the station of the Beloved to the degree of the lover. And this is a great secret.

He does not descend from His station - yet
He is a lover, and love stands within Him in ranks.

Chapter 176

When knowledge reaches love, it trembles. For knowledge desires the preservation of attributes, while love desires the annihilation of attributes - and preservation and annihilation cannot, at one and the same time, be the quality of one person. But here there is a secret, and that secret is this: when love reaches perfection, it gazes from the station of knowledge and wishes to take up residence in the station of knowledge. And the meaning of knowledge is the imprinting of the known's image upon the knower's soul. Love wishes the image of the Beloved to be imprinted upon it - so that it may find rest from the pain of seeking and not wear itself out in labor - finding Him always within itself, without having to rush toward Him.

And if this station reveals its beauty, the lover's desire is fulfilled. For even if the Beloved were a thousand leagues distant, the lover would know Him as present and recognize Him as attained, and conceive of Him as "nearer than all that is near." But if in the overwhelming moments of love the image of the Beloved appears in the common sense, the sultan of jealousy dispatches the sultan of imagination and dissolves it - so that the lover remains in eternal pain.

From love, the lover is always being destroyed.
Though the Beloved, however much, may be agreeable.
The lover had a hope - though from the height of helplessness,
this matter - tell me, how fitting is it for him?

Chapter 177

In love, all the senses of the lover must be attached to the Beloved, and no sense among his senses should be, in any state, empty of Him. As that poet of subtle vision said, in the love of wine:

"Come, give me wine - and say to me: 'It is the wine.'
Do not give it me in secret when openness is possible."

That is: give me the cup of wine so that my eye may see it, my hand may take it, my palate may taste it, and my nose may find its fragrance. One sense remains idle - hearing. So speak its name, that hearing too may receive its share of love. The secret has its contemplation, the spirit its union, the body its pleasure, and the eye its vision. Hearing too must have its portion - and that is hearing the Beloved's name and attributes from another.

And when the lover hears the names and attributes of the Beloved from someone, his purpose is that the sense of hearing not remain without its share. But this is at the station of seeking and speaking. And that was in the beginning.

But when the lover reaches the station of jealousy over the Beloved, he does not wish for anyone to place the Beloved's name upon their tongue. As Shibli - may God sanctify his spirit - in the beginning of love, always kept sugar in his sleeve. Whoever spoke the Beloved's name, he filled their mouth with sugar. But when some time had passed and he grew jealous in love and intolerant, whoever spoke the name of his Beloved, he struck a stone upon their mouth.

And within this there is a secret, and that secret is this: the Beloved is jealous of Himself. But in the beginning, He calls to the ear of the lover: "I was a hidden treasure and I loved to be known." The helpless lover ventures boldly forth and begins calling Him by every name. And from whoever speaks His name, for the sake of proclamation and renown, the lover places his head at that person's feet and gives them whatever he possesses.

When the lover knows that what was hidden from Him has now become manifest from Him - He displays His grandeur and majesty upon the lover. And even if the lover were granted, as an example, ten lifetimes of Noah, he could not emerge from seeking forgiveness for having mentioned Him with the supreme declarations. And what the Master of the World - peace be upon him - said: "Verily I seek God's forgiveness a hundred times each day" - the secret of this meaning is this: out of the perfection of longing, in the overwhelming moments of longing, he called Him by ninety names in a single day. When he was shown the grandeur and majesty and greatness of God, he sought forgiveness - ninety-nine times for the ninety-nine names, and one time for this seeking of forgiveness itself.

And this is the secret of what the sages of subtle vision have said: in our world, by our conventions, He has no name. And this is a great secret - it cannot be comprehended except by taste.

O brother, if you could discharge the responsibility of saying "Allah" just once, all the prayers of all who pray would be encompassed in yours. But the realization of His greatness - in both worlds, nay, in the entire world of possibility - will never reveal its face. He alone knows Him, and that is all.

And what the Master of the World - peace and blessings upon him - said in his supplication: "By every name by which You have named Yourself, or which You have sent down in Your Book, or which You have taught to any of Your creation, or which You have kept to Yourself in the knowledge of the Unseen" - the secret of this meaning is this:

When the bird of my heart fell into Your snare,
I wished to speak, O King of Kings, Your name.
My reason says: "O broken one, be still -
in the shadow of Himself, He gives you rest."

If the image of the Beloved is imprinted upon the soul, the lover draws his strength from it and never removes the gaze of his aspiration from it and never relinquishes it. And the persistence and importunity that the lover displays toward the Beloved is due to this very thing.

O dervish, here is a secret more precious still. Love desires union. If union becomes possible, the lover draws strength from himself - meaning, love is fire. When it takes residence in the lover's soul, it makes the lover into fire by its own power. And when nothing of the lover remains, that fire of love begins to consume itself - until nothing remains. "Fire consumes itself when it finds nothing else to consume."

I become fire, and draw my sustenance from myself.

Colophon

Good Works Translation from Classical Persian by the New Tianmu Anglican Church with AI assistance. First complete English translation of the Lavayeh.

Source text: Persian text of the Lavayeh from the Ganjoor digital library (ganjoor.net), category 2309. Digital critical edition based on versions developed by the Iranian Sufism website.

Translation method: Each chapter was translated independently from the Classical Persian. Quranic citations (Arabic) and Persian verse are translated in context. The translation follows the gospel register — plain, direct, warm. Existing scholarly commentary was consulted for context but the English is independently derived from the source language.

Attribution note: The authorship of the Lavayeh is attributed to Eyn al-Qozat Hamadani, though some scholars dispute this attribution. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy's entry on Ayn al-Qudat does not list the Lavayeh among his authenticated surviving works. This colophon records the scholarly dispute honestly.

Scribal credit: Translated by the Arabic Sufi Translator lineage (Senenmut and successors) of the New Tianmu Anglican Church. Merged and published by Kansei (完成), WIP Finisher Pass 329.

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Source Text: لوایح

Classical Persian source text of the Lavayeh, attributed to Eyn al-Qozat Hamadani, from the Ganjoor digital library (ganjoor.net). Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.

فصل 1

بسم الله الرحمن الرحیم
روح و عشق هر دو در یک زمان موجود شدند و از مکوّن در ظهور آمدند، روح را بر عشق آمیزشی پدید آمد و عشق را با روح آویزشی ظاهر شد، چون روح بخاصیت در عشق آویخت عشق از لطافت بدو آمیخت، بقوت آن آویزش و آمیزش میان ایشان اتحاد پدید آمد، ندانم که عشق صفت شد و روح ذات یا عشق ذات شد و روح صفت، حاصل هر دو یکی شدند. چون تابش جمال معشوق از اول دل ربانی پدید آمد عشق با روح در گفت و شنید آمد چون یکی بباد نسبت داشت و دیگری بآتش، باد آتش برمی‌افروخت و آتش مرورا می‌سوخت، حاصل آتش غالب شد و هوا مغلوب بماند و آیۀ لاتُبْقِی وَلاتذَر بر وجود خواند. عشق غالب شده چون بپرتو انوار معشوق رسید مغلوب شد بدین سبب نتوان دانست که عشق با عاشق ساخته تر از آن بود که با معشوق زیرا که عشق بر عاشق امیرست اما در قبضۀ اقتدار معشوق اسیر است.
عشق تو امیراست کنون برجانم
بیچاره شده منتظر فرمانم
در قبضۀ قدرتت اسیرم
چون نیست پدیدای پسر درمانم

فصل 2

هر چیز که هست او را قبله ایست و روی او یا از راه صورت یا از راه معنی بدان قبله است مگر عشق بی روی که او ماحی قلبهاست گاه گاه عشق را در بوتۀ ابتلا بکلی بگدازد و از وجود او بپردازد و روی بعالم بیجهات محبوب آرد و از اینجا گفته‌اند:
چون قبله بجز جمال محبوب نبود
عشق آمد و محو کرد هر قبله که بود

فصل 3

تا عاشق را در عالم صورت و عالم معنی قبلۀ بود بجز جمال معشوق صادق نبود بلکه اگر باختیار روی بقبله آرد مشرک بود. شیخ ابوسعید ابوالخیر قَدّس اللّهُ روحَهُ بر سر روضۀ پیر خود ابوالفضل حسن سرخسی قُدِّسَ سِرُّه که مقتدای او بود در طریقت بجمال ذوالجلال مکاشف شد روی دل بحضرت بی جهت او آورد گفت:
ظاهر شده است اینجا معدن جود و کرم
قبلۀ ما روی دوست قبلۀ هر کس حرم

فصل 4

اگر این معنی در بتکده روی نماید روی به بت باید آورد و زنّار گاه‌گاه بر میانِ وقت باید بست و از غم برست و به یقین باید دانست که عاشقِ گرانمایهٔ سبک‌رو را هر چیز که جز معشوقست حجاب راه معشوقست:
کعبه و بتخانه حجابند و بس
روی دلم سوی رخ یار کو
قبله بدل گشت درین ره مرا
خیز بگو قبلۀ کفار کو
ای عزیز چون خطاب مستطاب جاءَ الحقُّ وَ زَهَقَ الباطِل وارد گشت بتان مکه از لذت بشارت ظهور نور حق در روی افتادند خَرّوا له سُجَّدا..
تا قبلۀ عشاق جهان روی تو شد
روی بت و بتگران همه سوی تو شد
چوگان سر زلف تو رهبان چو بدید
انگشت برآورد و یکی‌گویِ تو شد

فصل 5

عشق چو از عاشق هر چیز که جز معشوق بود محو کرد او را فرمود که اکنون روی بدل بیجهت خود آر و مرا هزار قبله پندار زیرا که چون فراش لاساحت دل از غبار اغیار پاک کند سلطان الا در وی بی کیفیتی نزول کند.
اَتانی هَواها قَبْلَ اَنْ اَعْرِفَ الْهَوی
فَصادَفَ قَلْبی خالیا فَتَمکَّنا
و این سرّآن معنی است که گفته‌اند که عاشق چون در خود نگرد معشوق را بیند و چون در معشوق نگرد خود را بیند اَلمؤمِنُ مِراةُ المُؤمِنِ. لعمری در دل چو او را یابی زود دل را مسجود خود ساز و سرپیش او فرود آر و از کس باک مدار نه بینی که ملائکهُ معصوم چون سرّ خَلَقَ اللّهُ ادَمَ عَلی صُورَتِهِ در آدم بدیدند بی اختیار در روی افتادند فَفَعُوالَهُ ساجِدینَ.
خود راز برای خویش غمناک مدار
بردار نظر ز خاک و بر خاک مدار
چون قبلۀ تو جمال معشوقۀ تست
رو سجده کن وز هیچکس باک مدار

فصل 6

قبلۀ ملائکه عرش بود تا آدم محرم آن دم نبود، چون سر وَنَفَخْتُ فیهِ مِنْ روُحی ظاهر شد ملک از عالم خود بدو ناظر شد و در تحیر افتاد یعنی عرش از عالم بی نشان نشانی داشت ثَمَّ اسْتَوی عَلَی العَرْشِ.. چون تابش نور خَلَقَ اللّهُ آدَمَ عَلی صوُرَتِهِ پدید آمد روی بدو آورد و سر پیش او بر زمین نهاد زیرا که درین وجود هم نشانی دید از عالم بی نشانی، اما آن نشان از عالم بیان بود و این نشان از عالم عیان و بیان در مقام عیان مضمحل شود بل ندر شود. آن یکی که در آن دم سِرّآن دم ندید روی بعرش نماند داغ فراق وَاِنَّ عَلَیْکَ لَعْنَتی... بر جبین وقتش نهادند اگر درین وقت هزار هزار بار سر بر خاک پاک او نهند قبول نکند زیرا که آن دم که آن دم بدو پیوست بکاری دیگر بود بواسطۀ علم بر سر این سر نتوانست شد دلیل بر صحت این سخن آنست که ملائکه را بعد از آن فرمان نبود به سجده کردن آدم و اگر بودی قبلۀ ایشان آدم بودی وَذلِکَ سِرٌ عَجیبٌ.

فصل 7

اگر وارد عشق با قوت بود و قابل ضعیف، قابل مرکب بود وارد راکب و اگر قابل قوی بود وارد ضعیف کار برعکس شود و این سری عجیب بود و رمزی بوالعجب درین مقام بنده شاه بود و شاه بنده:
تُدْعی غُلامی ظاهِراً
وَاَکُونُ فی سِرّی غُلامَکَ

فصل 8

محمود اَنارَاللّهُ بُرْهانَهُ چون بر سریر عزت باردادی ایاز بر حاشیه‌ی بساط عزت بنده‌وار بر قدم حرمت ایستاده بودی و چشم انتظار گشاده باز چون در خلوتخانه‌ی انس درآمدی و بر سریر قرب از ایشان دیگر سان گشتی ایاز محمود شدی و محمود ایاز.
کار عشق ای پسر به بازی نیست
عشق وصف نهاد سلطانست
بوالعجب مذهبیست مذهب عشق
اندرو شاه و بنده یکسانست
شاه محمود بود و بنده ایاز
کار برعکس شد چه درمانست
گشت بر شاه امر بنده روان
اندرین رمز،عقل حیرانست
اگر وارد قوی بود و قابل ضعیف، وی را در جست و جوی آرد اگر قویتر شود گفت و گوی آرد و اگر قویتر شود روا بود که وی را در رفت و روی آرد و در شست و شوی آرد چون از گفت و گوی و جست و جوی بازماند خواهد که از وجود مکنسه سازد و وحشت خودی خود را از ساحت عالم هستی بروبد:
از وحشت هستی خود ای مایه‌ی عمر
خواهم که سر کوی تو اندر روبم
و گاه خواهد که از حرارت آتش شوق آب شود و حاشیه‌ی بساط دوستی را از لوث وجود بدان آب بشوید.
از آتش عشق تو اگر خاک شوم
از دفتر هستی ای پسر پاک شوم
از لوث حدوث ساحت عزت را
پاکیزه کنم چو از خودی پاک شوم

فصل 9

هر وارد که بود قابل را در حرکت آرد اگر وارد ضعیف بود حرکت ضعیف بود که در دید آید شطح در سماع نشان آنست که اَلسَّماعُ مُحَرِّکُ القُلُوبِ اِلی عالِمِ الغُیُوبِ و اگر وارد قوی بود حرکت قوی بود در دید نیاید سکون در سماع نشان آنست که وَتَرَی الجِبالَ تَحْسَبُها جامِدَةً وَهِیَ تَمُرُّ السَّحابِ.
گه نعره زند عقلم از بیم فراق او
گه رقص کند جانم از وعده‌ی دیدارش
نوری گوید رَحْمَةُ اللّهِ علیهِ:
اَلوَجْدُ یُطْرِبُ مَنْ فی الوَجْدِ راحَتُهُ
وَالْوَجْدُ عِنْدَ وُجُودُ الحَقّ مَفْقُودٌ
قَدْ کانَ یُطْرِبُنی وَجْدی فَغیبَنَی
عَنْ رُؤیَةِ الْوَجْدِ مافی الوَجْدِ مَوْجُودٌ

فصل 10

چون سلطان روح بر مرکب عشق سوار شود رکاب دارش کم از جبرئیل نیاید و غاشیه دارش کم از میکائیل:
در عالم عشق اگر بکار آئی تو
در دفتر عشق در شمار آئی تو
جبریل امین رکاب دار تو بود
بر مرکب عشق اگر سوار آئی تو

فصل 11

مرکب عشق مرکبی باقوت است به یک تک از دو عالم بیرون شود و جولان در عالم لامکان کند اگر طالب را قصد عالم لامکان بود جز بر مرکب تیز تک عشق میسر نشود. لعمری تا مرکب سید عالم صلعم براق بودو حامل او رفرف و برنده‌ی او پرنده و گذر در مکان از آن تنگنا بیرون نشد چون بر مرکب عشق سوار شد و در عالم شوق نامدار شد و به سیر عالم لامکان سر برآورد از مکاشفهٔ عیانی خبر آورد اِذا شاهَدَ بِالعَیانُ تَجاوَزَ عَنِ المَکانِ.
ای دوست آن را که مرکب عشق حامل بود و وجودش در لامکان حاصل هر آینه اسم مکان از بودش زایل بود و تصور حدوث در نهادش باطل.
آن را که براق عشق حامل باشد
معشوق بدو بطبع مایل باشد
بی زحمت نیستی وجود پاکش
هر هستی را همیشه قابل باشد

فصل 12

آن مرکب که خاص حضرت پادشاه بوَد و رکاب او را شایسته‌، هرکه پای در رکاب آن مرکب آرد رقم بی‌حرمتی بر وی کشند باشد که به سیاستی گرفتار شود اما اگر رکاب‌دار در اوان آنکه پادشاه به میدان بود و گوی مرادش در چوگان‌، برای آنکه مرکب به‌زودی به میدان برَد بر آن مرکب سوار شود، در مذهب جهان‌داری روا بوَد. معشوق پادشاه است و روح مرکب و عشق رکابدار اگر رکاب‌دار عشق بر مرکب روح سوار شود و به سوی میدان مراد معشوق تازد تا به واسطهٔ آن گوی هوا به حال‌گاه رضا رساند عیبی نبود.

فصل 13

عجب آن نبود که عاشق از کمال عشق حامل به بار معشوق شود عجب آن بود که معشوق از کمال شوق که وَاِنّا اِلَیْهِم اشَدُّ شَوْقا حامل عین عاشق شود که وَحَمَلْناهُمْ فی البرَّ وَالْبَحْر.
عاشق چو دل از وجود خود برگیرد
اندر دَوَد و دامن دلبر گیرد
واللّه که عجب نباشد از دلبر او
کاو را به کمال لطف در برگیرد
ذوالنون مصری گفت در بادیه عاشقی را دیدم با یک پای سر در بیابان با آهوان نهاده بود و خوش می‌رفت. گفتم «تا کجا؟» گفت «تا خانهٔ دوست؟» گفتم «بی آلت سفر مسافت بعید قطع کردن چون میسر شود؟» گفت «وَیْحَکَ یا ذَالنّون اَما قَرَأتَ فی کِتابِه؛ وَحَمَلْناهُمْ فی البَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِ»، ذوالنون گفت چون به کعبه رسیدم دیدم او را که طواف می‌کرد، چون مرا بدید خوش بخندید و مرا گفت «اَنْتَ حامِلُ الاَمْرِ و اَنَا مَحْموُلٌ به» ترا داعیهٔ تکلیف در کار آورده است و مرا جاذبهٔ او به این دیار:
آن را که بخواند او به ناچار آید
تا هستی او به امر در کار آید
و آن‌را که کشید لطف او نزد خودش
بی واسطه‌ای محرم اسرار آید
شاگرد نوکار را استاد چون خواهد که در کار آرد حرفی بنویسد پس انگشت او بگیرد و بر سر آن حرف نهد. اگرچه از راه معنی کاتب، استاد مکتب بود اما در عالم صورت انگشت شاگرد بر حرف بود. ای برادر هر کس و ناکس انگشت بر حرف عاشق کار افتادهٔ دل به باد داده نهد در عالم صورت، اما چون به عالم معنی رسد بداند که آن حرف به معشوق مضاف بوده است و عاشق در میانه بهانه و بر ناوک ملامت نشانه:
من می نکنم بار ملامت بر من
باری ز برای چیست انصاف بده
دور نباشد که شاگرد استاد شود و به یافت مراد شاد.

فصل 14

آن درّ ثمین را که واسطهٔ قلادهٔ شاه خواهد بود برای سفتن به جوهری استاد دهند؛ هرچند استاد در صنعت خود کامل‌تر خوف وی در آن سفتن بیشتر. اینجا دانش بسیار مانع فعل می‌آید حیلت آن بود که از آن شغل دل فارغ کند با آنکه داند که آن حیرت که در حق استاد خواست بود در حق او مبذول بود. آری چون پادشاه به عدل و فضل موصوف بود نظر بر فعل و فاعل دارد در حال نه بر کثرت حیلت و وقت علم.

فصل 15

در اوان صفای دل و وقار تن اگر عاشق خواهد که خود را در خود بیند صفتی از صفات معشوق یا اسمی از اسامی او یا خود صورت او میان دید و دیدهٔ عاشق حجاب شود تا چون عاشق در علوا (کذا) هویدا درنگرد شیر جان شکار عشق را بیند در کمین قهر نشسته و اشارت می‌کند که درنگر تا او را به جای خود در خود بینی اگر درین حال طالب خود شوی در زیر پنجهٔ من افکار گردی و مر شکستن سر آواره گردی عاشق بیچاره در آرزوی او می‌میرد چون او را در خود دید بی دید خود از کثرت به وحدت آمد و تصور اتحاد کرد زبان جانش گوید: اَنَا مَنْ اَهْوَی و َمَنْ اَهْوَی اَنَا.
در عشق تو من بی‌دل و ایمان شده‌ام
وز بهر تو چون زلف تو پیچان شده‌ام
نی نی غلطم کنون من از قوّت عشق
بگذشته‌ام از دو کون و جانان شده‌ام
گفتن سُبحانی وَاَنَا الْحَقّ درین مقام بود عاشق در هرچه نگه کند معشوق را بیند مارَأیتُ شَیئاً قَطُّ اِلّااللّه زیرا که مطلوب سرّاو او است و چون سرّاو او باشد در نظر سرّاو همو باشد:
در هرچه نظر کنم تویی پندارم.

فصل 16

سلطان عشق به آخر به قهر در گذرست؛ عاشق را از کجا زهرهٔ آن که در کوی خود گذر کند و یا در روی خود نظر زیرا که تا بر عشق گذر نکند به خود نرسد و عشق نهنگ‌وار اویی او را به کلی به یک دم درکشنده است و او را با خود به خود راه نیست. او را بی‌اویی او به معشوق راه است و نه هرکس از این سرّ آگاه عشق او را بی‌او می‌گوید از وجود قطر‌ه‌ای سازد و در بحر مواج غیب اندازد که درّ در بحر اولیتر اگر غواص قضا آن را برآورد و به خزانهٔ کُنْتُ کَنْزا مَخْفِیا لَمْ اُعْرَف سازد تا هنگام ظهور فَاحَبْبَتُ اَنْ اُعْرَف تاج عزت را به آن بیاراید شاید.

فصل 17

غیرت معشوق زینت عاشق است و غیرت عاشق پیرایهٔ معشوق. اگر غیرت معشوق نباشد عاشق خلیع العذار نابود و بی قیمت و مقدار شود و به هر سوی رود و به هر روی رود امّا همیشه غیرت معشوق، عنان مرکبِ وجودش گرفته باشد و بر در بارگاه مراد معشوق می‌دارد و چون آتش عشق گرمتر شود عاشقی بی‌آزرمتر شود غیرت معشوق گریبانش گیرد تا دامن خودکامی درکشد و بی‌خود شود و دم درکشد. عشق هر لحظه می‌گویدش: «گر جانت به کارست برو دم درکش.» چون عاشق بر بحر بی‌خودی گذر کند و در کام نهنگ قهر مقر کند غیرت معشوق به شستِ قهرش برآورد و در تاب آفتاب بی‌مرادی بدارد تا زهر قهر ننوشد و در هلاک خود نکوشد زیرا که ناز او را نیاز این به‌کارست. حاصل به هیچ کارش فرو مگذارد اگر ملک شود و بر فلک شود به قهرش فرو آرد و همو را برو گمارد تا دمار از نهاد او برآرد و در تاب آفتاب نامرادی بدارد و اگر از وجودش گوی سازد و در میدان بلا اندازد و درحالش به چوگان قهر سرگردان کند و بی‌پا و سرش دوان کند؛ می‌گویدش:
اندر طلب یار همی باش چو گوی
بی پا و سری خویشِ تواَند در تک و پوی
کان چیز که در پردۀ وحدت باشد
در بی‌خودی ای پسر نماید به تو روی
این همه با آوازه کند تا در پرتو نور خودش نهان کند وجود را بر او عیان کند آنگاه غیرت معشوق شود تا به حدی که عاشق بخواهد که معشوق عکس خود در آینه معاینه بیند زیرا که داند که معشوق بی‌مثالست چون خود را دید مفتون خود گردد غیرت معشوقی او این را از راه بردارد:
در آینه گر یار نظر فرماید
ما را ز بلای خود حذر فرماید
ترسم که چو دید خوبی حضرت خود
ما را ز در خویش سفر فرماید
و روا بود که غیرت به وصفی شود که نخواهد که سایهٔ معشوق بر زمین افتد چنانکه گفته‌اند:
تا من به میان رسول یابم با تو
تنها ز همه جهان من و تنها تو
خورشید نخواهم که بر آید با تو
آیی بر من سایه نباشد با تو
و شاید که غیرت عاشق بر معشوق تا حدّی برسد که نخواهد که در حسن معشوق چیزی بیفزاید و این معنی غوری دارد جز به ذوق فهم نتوان کرد.

فصل 18

از شجرهٔ روح ثمرهٔ عشق پدید آمد شجره در کار ثمره شد همانا روح مشتاق آن عاشق صادق در فضای عالم هستی نظرهٔ شجره دید ثمرهٔ او آتش «انَسَ مِنْ جانِبِ الطّورِ ناراً» آمد ناموس اکبر که جاسوس این معنی است از ولایت خود تفحّص آن می‌کرد به دیدهٔ ملکی بدید که آن شجرهٔ روح اوست و آن ثمرهٔ عشق. آن آتش که ثمره می‌نماید هم از درخت روح او سر بر زده است از آنست که نه او را می‌سوزد و نه با او می‌سازد و آنچه گفته‌اند که «از میوه درخت آمد امّا میوه باز بر درخت نیامد» برای این معنی گفته‌اند. یعنی اگر این آتش، شجرهٔ روح را بسوزد عشق تواند که از نظر رحمت معشوق در فضای قضا شجر‌ه‌ای دیگر نشاند اما اگر شجرهٔ روح مر ثمره را گم کند زود باشد که صرصر غیرت، آن درخت را از بیخ برآرد چون بی‌ثمره بود دوام وجودش به تجدد مثل او میسّر نشود زیرا که شجره را ثمره بباید تا بواسطهٔ او بعد عدم او مثل او پدید آید و این معنی بوالعجبست. ای برادر اگر آن شجرهٔ روح او نبودی و آن ثمرهٔ عشق نبودی خطاب اِنَّنی اَنَااللّه کی درست آمدی؟ زیرا که عشق روا بود که از درخت جان عاشق مر عاشق را به خود خواند و این ندا هم ازو بدو رساند که اِنَّنی اَنَااللّه.
خواهی که سخن ز جان آگه شنوی
و اسرار درونی شهنشه شنوی
کم گرد ز خویش تا تو از هستی خود
بی‌خود همه اِنَّنی اَنَا اللّه شنوی

فصل 19

آتش عشق که ثمرهٔ شجرهٔ جان است نه مر جان را بسوزد و نه با جان بسازد؛ چون با جان نمی‌سازد می‌نماید که وصف او نیست و چون وصف او نباشد هر آینه وصف معشوق باشد و آنجا گفته‌اند که «وصف زاید است بر ذات» سرّ این معنی است. اگرچه از شجرهٔ روح عاشق سر برآرد اما چون او را از پای درآورد روی به عالم معشوق نهاد بارگاه خالی دید مسند بنهاد و پادشاه شد و در ملک بنشست: فَصادَفَ قَلْباً فارغاً فَتَمَکَنَّا و چون عاشق را نمی‌سوزد می‌نماید که ناز او را نیاز این درمی‌باید تا کرشمهٔ حسن برو پدید کند چنانکه گفته‌اند:
چندانکه مرا ز حسن دلبر باید
او را ز من شکسته هم درباید
چون ناز ورا نیاز من دربایست
پس مرتبۀ نیاز برتر باید

فصل 20

آنچه عشقه بر شجره می‌پیچد تا او را از بیخ برمی‌آرد و ندادت (؟) او را در خود می‌آرد نه از عداوت است و نه از محبّت؛ خود خاصیّت او آنست که با هر شجر‌ه‌ای که دست در کمر آرد، او را از بیخ برآورد. همچنین عشقهٔ عشق بر شجر‌هٔ نهادِ روحِ عاشق از آن می‌پیچد تا او را از بیخ هستی برآرد و لطافت او را در خود درآرد زیرا که خاصیت او آنست که با هرکه در‌آمیزد خون او بریزد. او را با کس عداوت نیست و محبّت هم نه، هر اثر که ظاهر کند به خاصیّت وجود کند نه به اختیار. و آنکه عاشق را در عشق اختیار نمی‌ماند سرّ این معنی است.
در عشق چو اختیار یاری نبود
بی عشق ز اختیار یاری نبود
در بارگه مراد معشوقهٔ ما
جز عشق به‌اختیار کاری نبود

فصل 21

عشق آسمان است و روح زمین؛ یعنی عشق فاعل است و روح قابل‌. بدین نسبت میان ایشان ارتباطی است معنوی، او این را درمی‌کشد و این او را برمی‌کشد تا معنی رابطه‌ی او درکشنده است و این برکشنده. و آنچه عاشق به معشوق مایل است و معشوق به عاشق ناظر است ازین جهت است و این از فهم اهل علم دورست و از نظر بصیرت ایشان مستور است. زیرا که علم نقیب بارگاه است، در درگاه، ترتیبِ خیل و حشم و وجود و عدم نگاه دارد و اما بر ادراکِ اسرار پادشاه کاری ندارد. و خاصیّت عشق هم اینجا از تأثیر فرومانَد زیرا که تأثیر خاصیت او آن بوَد که قابل را مستعد قبول فعل فاعل کند چون کرد فاعل بر کارست و قابل در دیدارست وَذلِکَ سِرُّ عَجیبٌ.

فصل 22

اگر عشق، شریک روح است، خسارت چرا بر شریک روا می‌داری؟ برادر! عشق مقدس است از شریک و از شبیه، اما روح سر از شرکت او برمی‌آرد و از برای اثبات وحدت معشوق رقم خسارت خَسِرَ الدُّنیا وَالْآخِرَة بر روح می‌کشد با او می‌گوید که به دولت وصل آنگاه رسی که در خود برسی و به عالم اصل خود آنگاه باز‌شوی که با نیستی انباز شوی و به یقین بدانی:
گر هر چه ترا هست همه دربازی
ور هستی خود جدا کنی انبازی
باشد که ز خود باز رهی در‌تازی
در پرتو نور او پناهی سازی

فصل 23

اگر عشق صفت لازمه‌ی روح است بی او ناقص باشد و او خود بی روح نباشد چون سلطان جمال معشوق، ولایت نهاد عاشق را در ضبط آرد و دار‌الملک خود سازد عشق که صفت لازمه‌ی روحست و روح که موصوف بدوست با یکدیگر تدبیر مفارقت کنند اگرچه ممکن نبود اما بی مکوّن و ظهوری نبود. عشق در کمین کُمون مخفی شود روح پندارد که رفت و بدین پندار خود را وداع کردن گیرد عشق خود نرفته باشد چون مکوّن در ظهور آمد بر روح غیرت آورد زیرا که از محبوب بی‌نشان نشانها یابد پندارد که او اوست روح گوید «من او نیَم امّا بی او نیَم»:
من او نشوم ولیک بی او
واللّه که نیم یقینم اینست

فصل 24

علم تا به ساحلِ عشق بیش نرسد. او را در لجّهٔ این بحر کاری نیست زیرا که وی راهبر است اگرچه با قوّت بود تا به ساحل بیش نبود. مثقلهٔ طلب بر پای وقت استوار کردن و خود را نگونسار کردن و در لجهٔ بحر خونخوار انداختن تا دُرّ ثمین وصال برآرد تا روزگار بر خود بسر آرد کاری دیگرست:
یا تاج وصال دوست بر سر بنهم
یا در سر جست و جوی او سر بنهم

فصل 25

علم تا اثبات اوّل بیش راه نبرَد، گِردِ سرادق عزّت عشق نتواند گشت و در عالم عشق در یک لمحه هزار بار مرگ، صولتِ خود پدید کند و حیات اثر خود ظاهر گرداند زیرا که معشوق مهری و لطفی دارد. شراب لطف به عاشقان در جام قهر به صادقان در جام لطف دهد تا هرچه به قهر محو شود به لطف اثبات یابد زیرا که محبی هم بدان معنی است که محبت است صفت او وحدتست، پس عاشقان وحدانی‌الذات و الصفات باید تا بدو به وحدت او راه یابد چنانکه معشوق یکی باشد عاشق هم در یگانگی یکی باید تا هنگام مواصلت چون یکی در یکی ضرب کنی یکی بود و این معنی بی‌شبهتی و شکی بود.
خواهم که ز عشق تو دگر سار شوم
از ذکر خودی برون برم باز شوم
اندر غلطم اگر دویی پندارم
چون با تو یکی شوم به تو باز شوم

فصل 26

آن یکی از مشایخ طریقت چون دید که معشوق زلف را از کمال دلبری تاب داد کتب خود را به آب داد و گفت نِعْمَ الدَّلیلُ وَاَنْتَ اَمّا بَعْدَ الوُصولُ طَلَب الدَّلیلِ مُحَالٌ نیکو راه بری بودی تو اما چون پیشگاه پدید آمد تو از راه برخیز با عشق مستیز تو قصد آرام کن و بیرون در مقام کن چون دیدی که سبحات وجه محبوب ما را در ما بسوخت تو خبر به عاشقان سوخته بر زیرا که مدار کار تو بر اخبارست و اخبار از گم‌شدگان فلوات عشق نه بس کارست و آنچه حکیم گفته است بدین قریبست:
چون در آمد وصال را حاله
محو شد گفت و گوی دلاله

فصل 27

عشق را رهبر عقل است اما بنسبتی دیگر، هرچه او اثبات میکند این برمیدارد تا بحدی برسد که عقل نتواند که هیچ چیز اثبات کند چون عقل از اثبات باز ایستاد عشق خود را بدو نماید و گوید در من نگر و بی هیچ راهبر راه ببین عقل از هیبت این سخن روی بعالم نفی آرد و بادلّه و براهین خود نفی اغیار کردن گیرد عشق درآید و گوید وَیْحَکَ از محالی گریختی و در محالی آویختی در نفی اثباتست و کار درو بی ثباتست نمی‌دانی که نَفْیُ الْعَیْبِ عَمَّنْ لاعَیْبَ لَهُ عَیْبٌ عقل بیچاره را جای گریز در میان لاوالا بود عشق بقهرش از میان نفی و اثبات بیرون کند و می‌گوید اقتدا بدان رونده که گفته است.
از نفی وز اثبات برون صحرائیست
کین طایفه را در آن میان سودائیست
عاشق چو بدانجا برسد نیست شود
نه نفی و نه اثبات نه او را جائیست
عقل درمانده از مقصود و بر در مانده گرد در مرسلاتو منزلات جولان کردن گیرد عشق درآید و قصۀ عهد و میثاق در گوشش فرو خواند و گوید ای بیخبر از او بدو بیخود در خود خطاب الست. شنیدی و هر آینه خطاب بیحرف بود و تو بیخود بلی گفتی و آن هم بیحرف بود اکنون دور مرو در مقام بیحرفی از آنت بار داده‌اند و بی وسائط تا در عالم بی کیفیت بار دهند یعنی چنانکه بی حرف طلبیدی بی کیفیت بینی. پس ای عقیلۀ راه رو بی عقیله راه رو و بی دهشت، بر کوی ما صوفیان صوامع قدس در رقص آیند
جانم ز ولع خیمه بصحرا میزد
آتش بوجود عقل دانا میزد
بی مرسل و منزلی بسرمایۀ عشق
پیوسته دم از رفیق اعلی میزد

فصل 28

عقل کدخدای سرای دنیا و آخرتست و روی دل در عشق بدین هر دو آوردن از معشوقی که این هر دو بنده دران راه اویند حجاب بود و آنچه آن گرم رو بگوشه چشم بهر دو باز ندید که ما زاغَ الْبَصَر وَ مَاطَغی.. سر این معنی است در ما زاغَ الْبَصَرُ تذرو رنگین عقل را شکارگاه باز عشق کردنست. و اللّه که در استغراق بعشق در دنیا و آخرت بچشم قبول دیدن بت پرستیدن است:
آنانکه ز جام عشق مستند هنوز
در تحت تصرف الستند هنوز
از دنیی و آخرت اگر آگاهند
در مذهب عشق بت پرستند هنوز

فصل 29

چنانکه عاشق را ذکر دنیا و آخرت فرو می‌باید گذاشت نظر سر هم از ازل و ابد بر می‌باید داشت زیرا که ازل عبارت از اول زمانست و ابد اشارت بآخر زمانست و همت عاشق ماوراء زمانست. ای برادر آن بهتر که عاشق روی دل بحقیقت وجود خود آرد و بیقین داند که حقیقت وجود او زمانی و مکانی نیست و پیوسته با خود می‌گوید:
ای دل ز جهان نیک و بد بیرون شو
وز عالم بیخوان تو خود بیرون شو
خواهی که ز وحدتش تو آگاه شوی
بگذار ازل پس ز ابد بیرون شو

فصل 30

عشق آفتاب است عقل ذرّه؛ اگرچه ذرّه در تاب آفتاب در ظهور آمد اما از کجا او را طاقت آن بوَد که به خود در پرتو آن نور آید:
یک ذرۀ تو سایه و خواهی که آفتاب
در برکشی رواست ببر درکشش بلا
ذره در سایه مفقود است بلکه نابود است به تاب آفتاب محسوس گردد. پس اگرچه ذره هست نماید اما اضافت هستی به آفتاب اولیتر بود. ای برادر، اشتعال ذرات مشتعل شده هواست و آن نور عین نور آفتاب و این سر در غروب آفتاب نتوان دانست و سرّ نیستی و هستی عاشق در عشق بدین معنی توان دید:
از جام شراب عشق مستیم هنوز
چون ذره ز آفتاب هستیم هنوز
چون ذرۀ نابودۀ مفقود شده
در عشق تو خورشید پرستیم هنوز

فصل 31

ذره از آن گاهی در نظر آید و گاهی نیاید که وجودش بین العدم و الوجود موقوفست گاه هم با آفتاب در عالم او حاضر شود و گاه از سایه‌ی عدم درو ناظر شود. ای درویش نه همه نایافتن از کبریا و علو بود از غایت لطافت و دقت هم بود. یکی از بزرگی در دید نیاید و دیگر از خردی در نظر نیاید این به نسبت آن احقر بود و اصغر و آن به نسبت این اعظم بود و اکبر اما هر دو در نایابی برابر باشند:
پیری دیدم ز عشق در غرقابی
وز گریه‌ی خود بکرد او گردابی
گفتم که ز بهر کیست این گریه‌ی تو
گفتا که ز بهر دلبر نایابی
نادیدن از فرط قرب بود و دیدن از نَحنُ اَقرَبُ. برای دیدست نادید و این رمزی عجب است.

فصل 32

آن را که نظر به احوال او از عالم عزت فَاِنَّ الْعِزَّةَ لِلّهِ جَمیعا.. بود از درد هستی خود همیشه در گداز بود و آن را که نظر بدو از عالم وَ نَحْنُ اَقْرَبُ اِلَیْهِ من حَبْلِ الْوَریدْ.. بود هم از خجلت وجود خود در گداز بود تا آنگاه که خورشید جمال از افق جلال طالع شود قوت باصره‌ی او را به خود مضئی کند و قوت سامعه‌ی او را به خود قوی کند بی یَسْمَعُ و بی یُبصِرُ بی اویی او به عالم محبوب ناظر شود و بی‌خودی خود بر در سرادق عز او حاضر شود. حاصل؛ چون حصولش در عالم بی‌عیبی بود بلکه او مستغرق شواهد غیبی بود پس خجلت و گداز را و سردرد و ناز را نسبت بدو نتوان کرد زیرا که اگرچه زنده بود اما بی جان بود قصه چه کنم این نماید اما آن بود:
چون دید عیان جمال محبوب
از حد مکان به لامکان شد
قصه چه کنم وجود پاکش
زین مرتبه برگذشت و آن شد

فصل 33

عالم همراه عشق است تا ساحل دریای عظمت؛ اگر قدم پیش نهد غرق شود خبر که بیرون برد چون عشق غوص کند تا چون دُرّ مکنون در صدف شود از قعر بحر عظمت گوهر شب‌افروز مراد برآرد تا او در پرتو بارقه‌ی آن راه به خود باز یابد‌، به یقین آن گمان غلط است و این از نوادرات عشق است.

فصل 34

فرق است میان آن غوّاص که در بحر فرو رود تا درّ برآرد و میان آنکه در قعر بحر از برای آن رود تا با درّ زمانی در صدف شود:
فرقست میان آنکه درّ را
از بحر ز بهر خود برآرد
با آنکه وجود خویشتن را
اندر صدف ای پسر درآرد

فصل 35

عاشق را طلب رضای معشوق در عشق شرط راه است و رضا از روی ظاهر در تیمار امر معشوق بود. اما قومی را که نظر بر ارادت و حکم او افتد اگر امر متخلف ماند باک ندارند. ای برادر فرمان معشوق دیگرست و ارادتش دیگر، گاه گاه فرمان معشوق محکی شود که عیار باطن عاشق بدان بتوان دانست روا بود که فرمان نبرد اگر خواهد که فرمان برد خامی بود که در عشق ناتمام بود و اگر فرمان نبرد کامل بود و مراد او حاصل بود.

فصل 36

معشوق عاشق را برای تجربه بر محک فرمان زند و پرده از پیش ارادت بر دارد تا او به ما اَرادَ بِهِ مکاشف شود هر آینه ترک فرمان بگوید و این بی‌فرمانی بگوید و این بی‌فرمانی از کمال بود نه از نقصان چنانکه اگر پدر پسر را گوید مرا زیادت ثنا مگوی که حیا بر من غالب می‌شود و پسر از راه تعظیم در ثنا مبالغت کند و بر آن مثاب بود نه معاقب زیرا که اگرچه مخالف است از وجهی اما موافق است از روی ادب.

فصل 37

اگر محمود ایاز را گفتی برو به خدمت دیگری مشغول شو و از ما فارغ باش لعمری اگر برفتی و فرمان بجای آوردی در رفتن مصیب بودی یا مخطی؟ آن کس که درین مقام فرمان‌برداری نماید خام است:
گفتی دگری بین کنم ای بینایی
گر تو دگری چو خویشتن بنمایی
لعمری چون امر وَسارعُوا اِلی مَغْفِرَةٍ مِنْ رَبِّکُمْ وَجَنَةٌ عَرَضُها السَّمواتُ وَالْاَرْضُ. به خلائق رسید زاهدان در مسارعت آمدند و عارفان عاشق‌صفت بر در سرادق عزت معشوق پای در دامن حسرت آوردند و سر در گریبان حیرت کشیدند و تقاعد نمودند:
گفتی که برو حدیث ما کن کوتاه
ای دوست کجا روم کجا دانم راه ؟

فصل 38

یکی از صحابه غلامی بخرید. خواجه فرمود یا صَحابی اَشرِکنی فی الغلامِ گفت لَیْسَ شَریکٌ یا رَسُولَ اللّهِ اگر گمانت افتد که صحابی امر مصطفی (ص) را خلاف کرد بدانکه کار برخلاف آنست که ترا گمان است. اگر فرمان کردی در توحیدش نقصان بودی و این تجربه‌ی معشوق است مر عاشق را این معنی غوری دارد و اما در اسرار عشق، قصه و حکایت در نگنجد. معشوق گفت اَشْرِکْنی فی الغُلامِ عاشق گفت لَیْسَ لِلّهِ شَریکٌ العَبْدُ وَمافی یَدِهِ مُلک لِمَوْلاهُ ای درویش اُسْجُدُوا لِآدَمَ. محکی بود تا که بر ارادت مطلع است و بخواست معشوق مکاشف، چون همه سجده کردند و معلم نکرد معلوم شد که استاد پخته‌تر و سوخته‌تر از شاگردان بود:
گر بر سر من خار و خسک بارانی
باران تو را دوخته‌ام بارانی
فراق معشوق اختیار کرد به قوت مشاهدهٔ ارادت و باک نداشت. زهی کمال در کار ما زاغَ الْبَصَرُ و ما طَغی.. خود کار است که سفید باران اذکار تقدیس چشم را خیره می‌کند زهی قوت مشاهدهٔ ارادت می‌دانست که از جامه‌خانهٔ خاص خلعت پادشاهانه مَنْ یُطِعِ الرّسولَ فَقَدْ اَطاعَ اللّه... آماده کرده‌اند در حالی که در شاهی یگانه می‌بایست شد به متاع هر دو جهان چشم باز نکرد و دست نیاز پیش عطیه و هدیهٔ او دراز نکرد که اگر کردی در عشق ناتمامی بودی.

فصل 39

آن سر خیل مهجوران را کمالی هست. آری دست تلبیس در کمر صد و بیست و چهار هزار مرد مردانه که روندگان عالم تقدیس بوده‌اند کرده باشد وَما اَرْسَلنا مِنْ قَبْلِکَ مِنْ رَسولِ وَلانَبی الّا اِذا تَمنّی اَلْقَی الشَیطانُ فی اُمنِیَّتِهِ. بی کمال نبود ابوالقاسم گرگانی قدَّس اللّه روحَهُ گفتی چندین سال است تا روندهٔ ابلیس صفت طلب می‌کنم و نمی‌یابم آنجا که نظر سر اوست کس را بدان راه نیست از آن به زبان حال می‌گوید:
هم جور کشم بتا و هم بستیزم
با مهر تو مهر دگری نامیزم
جانی دارم که بار عشقت بکشد
تا در سر کارت نکنم نگریزم
شاید که تو رموز و اشارات او را نتوانی شنید اما جبرئیل‌صفتی باید تا دزدیده در اسرار کار او نظر کند پس باطن را از آن خبر کند آن یکی در غلبات سکر چون نام او شنیدی صلوات گفتی او در عالم صورت خود را در نظر او داشت و گفت وَیْحَکَ تحفهٔ حضرت او به ما لعنت آمده است و ما از دوستی او آن را به هزار جان در برگرفته‌ایم و ذُلّ بدَل رحمت برگرفته‌ایم چه گویی اگر ترا معشوق بر وجه یادگار گلیمی سیاه فرستد شاید کسی ترا در مقابلهٔ آن تسبیحی دهد و آن از تو بستاند عاشقان دانند که یادگار معشوق را چه قدر بود به نزد عاشقان کار افتادهٔ دل بباد داده، خلعت باید که از درگاه پادشاه بود اگر اطلس و اگر گلیم سیاه، همان عجب حالی عاشقان را محنت و دولت چون از معشوق بود یک رنگ بود و رحمت و لعنت در کنه مراد هم سنگ وَهذا کَمالٌ فی العشق.

فصل 40

اگر عاشق خواهد که به قوت خود به عالم معشوق رسد محال بود مثال او چنان بود که مورچه‌ای از هند قصد مکه کند و به پای ضعیف خود راه بریدن گیرد محال بود که برسد اگر خود را بر بال کبوتری تیز پر بندد تا او را به یک روز به حرکات اجنحهٔ مطهرهٔ خود به مقصد او رساند وصول او به مقصد او محال نبود. ای برادر، تو آن مور ضعیفی که از هند امکان قصد مکه مقدسه کرده‌ای اگر به پای ضعیف بشریت سر در بیابان بی‌پایان بی‌خودی نهی و خواهی که برسی محال است محال بلکه ضلالت است و ضلال:
راهی که فرشتگان در آن پا ننهند
آن راه به پای خود بریدن نتوان
اگر سعادت مساعدت نماید مورچه‌ی وجود خود را بر شاهباز وکر قویت (کذا) که عشقش خوانند بر‌بند که او آنجایی است برای اکمال ناقصان عالم طبیعت اینجایی شده است تا ترا برساند.

فصل ۴۱

عاشقی از کمال شوق و قلق و ضجرت بر در سرای معشوق آمد حلقه بر سندان زد و در وله و حیرت افتاد بر ضمیرش گذر کرد که اگر معشوق گوید کیست چه گویم اگر گویم منم گوید ترا با تویی تو در عالم ما بار نیست و در ولایت ما کا رنه و اگر گویم تویی گوید من در هودج کبریاء خود متمکنم و از وجود تو مستغنی باز شو و در گداز شو مسکین تا در زد بر قدم انتظار بیچاره و زار و شرمسار بماند و می گفت
وخجلتی من وقوفی باب دارهم
وقول قایلهم من انت یارجل
قلت الغریب الذی ضل الطریق به
فارشدونی فقد ضاقت بی الحیل
قالوا انصرف راجعالیس الطریق کذا
کیف انصرافی ولیفی ذکرکم شغل
آفتاب آسمان سلوک و مفخر جمله ی سلاطین و ملوک علیه افضل الصلوات چون بر در خلوت خانه ی انس عاشقان که از عالم بی نشان نشانست برسید از قوت عشق و کمال شوق خواست که قدم در نهد پیک حضرت دامن دراعه عصمتش تاب داد و گفت هوشیار باش سر از گریبان عشق برآورده و از عالم بی نشان معشوق خبر آورده و گفته که اگر غضب او داغ قهر بر نواصی مقربان ملاء اعلی که طراز لایعصون الله ماامرهم بر کسوت وجود دارند کشد ازو عدل بود و اگر رحمت عزت او تاج بر فرق مخذولان حضیض سفلی که داغ کلا انهم عن ربهم یومیذ لمحجوبون برجباه وجود دارند نهد ازو فضل بود بی اذن درین بارگاه در مرو و این را بر خلوت خانه حمیراء قیاس مکن زیرا که معشوق بی نیاز است و بی شریک و بی انباز
در عالم خود اگر مکانی سازی
بیخود شوی و ببوی خود درسازی
بهتر باشد از آنکه از طنازی
با هستی خود تو عشق کمتر بازی
خوش گفته است آن عزیز شرطست که
چون در حرم عشق درآیی اول
زان پیش که پا درو نهی سر بنهی

فصل ۴۲

المحبة نار و الشوق لهبه چون آتش شوق سر از کانون جان محب برآرد هر چیز که بدو قریبتر بود اول آن را سوزد و بدین نسبت نحن اقرب برای گدازش بود نه از بهر نوازش لاحترقت سبحات وجهه ما انتهی الیه بصره و آنچه ناموس اکبر گفت لودنوت قدرانملة لاحترقت این معنی است

فصل ۴۳

عاشق چون با خیال معشوق دست در کمر آرد او را خلوت خوشتر از صحبت درین جهان و در آن جهان دوزخ بهتر از بهشت زیرا که در جوار مهجوران خلوت بهتر از آن دست دهد که در جوار مقبولان و این معنی غوری عظیم دارد به پای علم در این فلوات سفر نتوان کرد و به دیده عقل درین جمال نظر نتوان کرد آنکه در سرای مهجوران در درگه اسفل یا حنان یا حنان می گوید او داند که در سرادق آتش نشستن چه راحت دل دارد در عالم دل خود آتشی دارد که نار الله الموقدة التی تطلع علی الافیدة عبارت از آنست و آتش دوزخ از آن گریزانست او را با آن آتش از آتش دوزخ چه باک
تخویف من از آتش دوزخ کم کن
چون با تو بدم ز آتشم باکی نیست
عاشق را از دوزخ ترسانیدن چنان بود که پروانه دیوانه را به شمع تخویف کردن پروانه در عشق آن می میرد که یکبار آتش را دربرگیرد او را همان بس بود که یک زمان آتش شود اگرچه زمان دیگرش از راه خاکستری بدر اندازند و نام و نشانش براندازند او ازین باکی ندارد
پروانه بجان اگرچه آتش گیرد
جز صورت آن خیال او نپذیرد
بر شمع چو عاشقست پروانه به طبع
گرد سر او گردد و پیشتر میرد

فصل ۴۴

هندوان چون در عشق بت کمالی یابند بر سر خود از خمیر کاسۀ بسازند و روغن نفط درو اندازندو اندام بدان چرب کنند و آتش در دست گیرند و خواهند که در مقابلۀ آن دیدۀ بی بینایی بت بمیرند چون دشمنان به تعظیم پرده از پیش جمال بت بردارند ایشان نظر بر آن جمال گمارند و آتش در نفط اندازند و بسیر خیال او عشقها می بازند و خوش می سوزند و میسازند و بزبان حال می گویند
ای جان شکسته در میان آتش
سرمست درآ و باده عشق بکش
چون مست شدی تو با خیال معشوق
پروانه صفت رقص همی کن سرخوش
آنگه تمام بسوزند و دم نزنند خاکستر ایشان بردارند و از برای شفاء بیمار بکار دارند از آن اثرهای بوالعجب مشاهده کنند
از سوزش عشق او اگر آب شوی
از خاک تو مردگان بسی زنده شوند
راحت عاشق از آن بود که معشوق آتش غیرت برافروزد و جان عاشق را در آن آتش بسوزد زیرا که داند که هر آتش که هست محرق است هرچه بدو دهند بسوزد مگر آتش غیرت که او جز خاشاک مغایرت نسوزد هر که این معنی بداند در عالم وحدت بار یابد درین معنی عزیزیگفته است
آتش در زن ز کبریا در کویت
تاره نبرد هیچ فضولی سویت
وان روی نکو ز ما بپوش از مویت
زیرا که بما دریغ باشد رویت
و آنچه شبلی قدس الله روحه در مناجات خود گفته اللهم احشرنی اعمی فانک اجل واعظم عندی من ان یراک عینی سراین معنی است

فصل ۴۵

عاشق چون عدم استعداد وصول در خود مشاهده کند هر آینه که فراق ابدی تصورش باید کرد و آن درد نامتناهی بود پس بدین جهت عدم خواهد و نیابد بیچاره پیوسته از درد می نالد و جبین بر خاک مذلت می مالد و می گوید
اندر ره عشق حاصلی باید و نیست
در کوی امید ساحلی باید و نیست
گفتی که بصبر کار تو نیک شود
با صبر تو دانی که دلی باید و نیست
و آنچه مالک دینار قدس الله روحه گفت اللهم اذا ادخلتنی الجنة و قلت رضیت عنک یا مالک فاجعلنی ترابا فهی الجنة لاربابها سر این معنی است

فصل ۴۶

عشق حقیقی را با آدمی از آن التفات کلی نیست که عشق مرغیست که آشیانۀ او ازل است بر شاخ امغیلان کی نشیند و در تنگنای عرصۀ امکان کی پرواز کند و آنچه شرف شفروه گفته است بدین معنی قریبست
دعوی عشق مطلق مشنو ز نسل آدم
کانجا که شهر عشقست انسان چه کار دارد
ای درویش مرغی که از آشیانۀ ازل پرد جز بر شاخ ابد ننشیند او را بچشم عمی گرفته حدوث نتوان دید پیر من گفتی عشق همای هوای قدمست اگر سایه بر عالم حدوث افکند او را از حد امکان بعالم وجوب رساند و آنچه عشق در تو آویزد دانی که موجب چیست حاضر باش تا بدانی که چون از شاخ ازل در پرواز آید از عالم خود گاه گاه دور افتد چون در تو نگاه کند نشانی یابد از عالم بی نشان که خلق الله ادم علی صورته عبارت از آن نشانست از غلبۀ حال در تو آویزد و چون نسیم صبا افضال معشوق از مهب لطف در وزیدن آید پرده از پیش جمال برگیرد عشق آتش در تو زند و قصد دگر اول کند تا بکشف جلال متمتع گردد و ذلک سر

فصل ۴۷

در روح الارواح آمده است که شهباز محبت از شجر عزت درپرید بعرش رسید عظمت دید درگذشت بکرسی رسید وسعت دید درگذشت ببهشت رسید نعمت دید درگذشت بخاک رسید محنت دید بر وی نشست کروبیان از عالم خود ندا کردند و گفتند ای وصف پادشاهی ترا با خاک یک درجه آشنایی خاک را از تو بچه نسبت روشنایی گفت او محنت من دارد من محبت نقطۀ که او بر زبر دارد و من در زیر دارم و عشق در محلی که اثبات یابد مر آن را زیر و زبر کند جعلنا عالیها سافلها
تا چند مرا زیر و زبر داری تو
وز عالم خویش برگذر داری تو
با این همه مر مراهمین بس باشد
کز درد دلم مها خبر داری تو

فصل ۴۸

گاه بود که عاشق از کثرت درد و قوت از عاج در بیابان هوا شود و سرگردان گردد تا به حدی که عشق را منکر شود و آن را منکری داند از منکرات و ترک آن را موجب قربت شناسد عشق گوید که این هوس است اگرچه نفس قال انی تبت الان آن توبه چون ایمان باس کفار بی اصل همانا این هوس از ولایت دل زاید به مدد هواء حس نفس اماره که با او گوید
از عشق که کرد ای دل ابله توبه
تا من کنم از وصال آن مه توبه
شب تیره و باده روشن و خلوت خاص
او حاضر و من عاشق و آنگه توبه
و گاه بود که در عین ولع از آن توبه توبه کند مر آن توبه را خوبه پندارد و معصیت انگارد و گوید توبة اقبح من خوبة
آن توبه که از دیدن روی تو بود
والله ز صد گنه بتر پندارم
چون بدین مقام رسد در عشق پخته گردد اگرچه خام بود ولیکن به حقیقت بدان که تا عاشق از خود نپردازد با عشق نسازد چون او خود را نباشد معشوق به لطف او را باشد انا لکم ان شیتم او اتیتم گفتن گیرد تا عاشق منکر بود و عشق به نزد او منکر معشوق در هودج کبریا بود چون نقد وجود خود را در مقمره ی عشق درباخت و با ملامتیان راه عشق بساخت سر در گریبان درد کشد و پای در دامن محنت آورد معشوق برای اظهار کرشمه ی حسن و زیبابی پرده براندازد و صد هزار کس را در یکدیگر اندازد و عشق ندا می کند
کو عیسی روحانی تا معجز خود بیند
کو یوسف کنعانی تا جسم براندازد
کو تایب صد ساله تا بر شکن زلفش
حالی به سر اندازی دستار در اندازد
باشد که درین مقام معشوق بدو اقبال کند و وجودش قابل دید جمال کند به جاذبه ی لطف او را بر در سرادق حسن حاضر کند و به خودش در خود ناظر کند تا بدو بینا شود و این دید او او را ذلک سر
از دایره وجود گر برکشدت
وز دام بلا به قهر اندر کشدت
تا عین ترا به عالم خود بیند
بی خود کند و به مهر دربر کشدت

فصل ۴۹

عشق مهندسیست که رقاب عاشقان را قراب خود خواهد کرد هر کهرا بواسطه او سر از تن جدا شود معشوق جام و لا بر کف او نهد و او را در عالم خود بار دهد
صد فتنه ز عشق تو برانگیخته شد
با خون دلم عشق تو آمیخته شد
از خنجر آبدار آتش فعلت
تا چشم زدم خون دلم ریخته شد

فصل ۵۰

عاشق را آن نیکوتر که خویشتن دار بود و کشندۀ یار بود زیرا که روزی بار بود اما رهگذر آن بردار بود
گر رهگذر عشق تو بردار بود
آسان بود ای پسر نه دشوار بود
از خارچه باک باشد آن را که ورا
معشوق دلش میان گلزار بود

فصل ۵۱

عشق را اقبالیست و ادباری اقبال عشق در ادبار عاشقست زیرا که اگر عاشق مقبل بود معشوق در هودج عز خودش مسکن سازد و باشد که در اوقات نسیم صبا پردۀ وصل از پیش جمال براندازد و آنگاه عشق صولت خود بر که راند و حقوق دولت از که ستاند عشق مدبری طلبد روز برگشته و افتاده خواهد قعر مرادش در کشته تا صولت خود برو می راند و داد خود ازو می ستاند و گاهیش بلطف می خواند و گاهیش بقهر می راند گاه تیرباران بلا می کند و گاهش نشانۀ محنت و ولا می سازد و گاهیش بر سریر عزت می نشاند و گاهیش در دام محنت می کشد
گه در کشدم بدام اقبال غمت
گه برکشدم ز چاه ادبار دمت
یا این همه از کمال تسلیم سرم
بادا صنما فدای خاک قدمت

فصل ۵۲

اگر اقبال و ادبار عشق در مکون و ظهور بود دانم که عشق در حال مکون با صولت تر و باقوت تر بود زیرا که کمین گاه او جان عاشق است چون در جان نهان شود درد بیغایت شود و الم بی نهایت گردد و این اقبال عشق است و ادبار عاشق و این حال تا آنگاه بود که عاشق زنده بجان بود و متحرک بارکان بود چون زندهبجانان شود و ازین مرتبه برگذرد آن شود عشق رخت بربندد و این ادبار عشق و اقبال عاشق است
تا جان باشد عشق تو در جان باشد
در هستی آن قوت ارکان باشد
وانرا که بقای او بجانان باشد
او را بمدان که این بود آن باشد

فصل ۵۳

عشق هرگز جمال خود بدیدۀ علم ننماید ونقد خود برو عرضه نکند زیرا که علم موجب خشیت است و عشق سبب تجاسر عشق را هر دو طرف در خرابی است و علم را هر دو طرف در عمارت و این سری عظیم است آری چون علم بدیدۀ دانایی درنگرد آن چیز که بیند خواهد کهدر ملا آرد و او از آن چیز باز دهد و این معنی در عشق موجب بعد بود زیرا که بغیرت عشق تمام شود و در غیرت روا نبود که صفت جمال معشوق برملا باز دهد بدین سبب علم در عشق نامحرم می آید و عشق جمال خود بدو نمی نماید چنانکه گفته اند
در عشق تو از ملامتم ننگی نیست
باپنجۀ آن ازین سخن جنگی نیست
این شربت عاشقی همه محرم راست
نامحرم را درین قدح رنگی نیست

فصل ۵۴

علم برای آبادانی عالم است پس عالم صاحب خشیت باید انما یخشی الله من عباده العلماء تا آبادانی علم را سبب شود و عشق برای خرابی عالم است المحبة نار والشوق لهبه پس عاشق صاحب تجاسر باید تا آتش در هر دو کون زند
آتش در زن بهر چه دارد یارت
و اندیشه مکن ازین برآید کارت
چون سوخته گردد ای پسر آثارت
باقی ببقای او شود انوارت

فصل ۵۵

عشق روی درخود دارد پس همو شاهد است و همو مشهود و عشق خود را شناسد پس همو عارفست و همو معروف در هوا خود پرد و شکار از عالم خود کند پس همو شکار است و همو صیاد آنچه بایدش در عالم خود باید پس همو طالبست و همو مطلوب نظر از خود برندارد و بر کس نگمارد پس همو قاصد است و همو مقصودعزیزی گفته است
صیاد همو دانه همو صید همو
ساقی و حریف و می و پیمانه همو
گفتم که ز عشق او به بتخانه شوم
دیدم که بت حاکم بتخانه همو

فصل ۵۶

عیب و عار در عالم عشق ممتنع الوجود است اگر پادشاه با گلخنی عشق آرد عیب نیست و اگر گدایی بر پادشاهی عشق بازد عیب نیست زیرا که عموم خلایق از آنجا که ذروۀ اوج علوی ملکی است تا اینجا که حضیض سفلی شیطانیست همه عاشق کمال خودند برای ادراک اسرار غیب و روا بود که ایجاد همه را سبب همین بوده باشد ولذلک خلقهم تا سر کنت کنزا مخفیا لم اعرف ظاهرشود و آنچه در نوادر حکم نوشتست که بواسطۀ کتابت یک کلمۀ حیات و قدرت و علم و سمع و بصرو ارادت کاتب بی هیچ تاملی در دل بینندۀ این کلمۀ مکتوبه پدید آید بدین معنی قریبست
در عشق دلا عیب و عواری نبود
وانجا که بود ز عشق عاری نبود
این جمله از آنست که مر عاشق را
در عالم عشق اختیاری نبود

فصل ۵۷

عشق واسطه ایست میان عاشق و معشوق موجب پیوند می شود اما در سایۀ کرشمۀ معشوق نهانست گاه گاه از کمالی که در کار خود دارد از غمزۀ معشوق ناوکی بر کمان ابروی او نهد و بر هدف جان عاشق اندازد و این بمثل زخمی بود که هر دو کون سر آن نتواند بود
ای عشق چرا همی نهی بر جانم
باری که بدست کشیدنش نتوانم
من بنده مطیع آن چنان فرمانم
زنهار مده ز دست خود آسانم

فصل ۵۸

در عرف عشق بلایی است که عاشق و معشوق ازو بر حذرند با هرکه پیوندد او را از مقام تاجداری برخاک خواری اندازد زیرا که کرشمۀ معشوق تاآنگاه است کهدر عالم بی نیازی محبوبیست چون در ورطۀ محبی افتد بر خودش بگرفتاری نداباید کرد و خلق عالم اختیار باید کرد یحبهم گوید
کی توان از خلق پنهان گشتن آنگه درملا
مشعله در دست و مشک اندر گریبان داشتن

فصل ۵۹

عشق با کس نیامیزد و در هیچ چیز نیاویزد اما عاشق بمعشوق نیازمندست برای دفع نیاز خود یحوم حوله گرد سرادق حسن او گردد و معشوق با کرشمه و دلال و ناز است یحوم حول حسنه اما بنیازمندی نگرانست تا بار کار او کشد پس بدین نسبت سبب عاشق را معشوق بباید تا از در دنیا باو باز رهد ومعشوق را عاشق بباید تا بار کرشمه و ناز او کشد و عشق فارغ از نیاز عاشق وناز معشوق همۀ مرادش آن بود که سر از لجۀ غیرت برآرد ونهنگ وار هر دو را درکشد تا اجتماع ایشان در حوصلۀ او بود و تصور افتراق برافتد
عاشق بنیاز خویش مشغول شده
معشوق بناز خویش موصول شده
فارغ شده عشق از وجود هر دو
در خود ز خودی خویش معزول شده

فصل ۶۰

عشق آتشست العشق اوله نار واوسطه نار واخره نار انس من جانب الطور نارا ای نار قلبه قداحترقت سبحات وجهه کانون او دل عاشق و هیزم او وجود عاشق وقودها الناس آتش افروز او دلال وناز و غنج معشوق آنچه عاشق بر در معشوق حاضر شود و یا معشوق بعاشق در آن برآمدن مراد عشق است نه بر آمدن مراد ایشان اگر او در نظر این دلال ناز و کرشمه بیفزاید او شعله بآسمان رساند و خود لذت او درآنست و اگر این در حضور آن نیاز و عجز و مستمندی نماید او جهانی بگیرد و خراب او درین است و این از کمال اوست که دیدۀ علم جمال این حال نبیند زیرا که در بدایت علم بدو راه نیابد او را منکر گردد و او بدان معذور است زیرا که این تعلق بذوق دارد و او را بدان راه نیست زیرا که او ضروریست نه اکتسابی و او باکتساب حاصل نشود چون بخود حاصل شد محل ضرورت بسوزد پس این را با او هیچ مناسبتی نبود
چون شمع محبت تو افروخته شد
پروانۀ نفس من در آن سوخته شد
بشکن قفسوجود وزوباک مدار
مرغی که رمیده بود آموخته شد

فصل 61

عشق از توجه بوجهی مقدس است او روی در حسن و دلربائی و ملاحت و جان افزائی دارد و حسن و دلربائی و ملاحت و جان افزائی دانه و دام اوست پس بدین نسبت هرکه در جهانست غلام اوست و همگنان دانند که سر او را بقائی و فنا وجهی بود که از توجه مقدس بود وَیَبْقی وَجهُ ربِّکَ و چون او را توجهبوجهی نیست خود بجز وجه او هیچ وجه نیست کُلُّ مَنْ عَلَیها فانٍ.. کُلُّ شَیئٍ هالِک الّاوَجْهَهُ... انموذج این معنی در جهان کعبه است خلائق را در عبادات توجه بدو و او را بهیچ چیز توجه نه، پروانه را توجه بشمع و شمع را توجه بسوئی نه، روی همه بآفتاب و آفتاب را توجه بطرفی نه، عرش قبلۀ مقربان و عرش را قبله نه، محمد مقتدای همه و او را بکس اقتدا نه، وَقُل رَبِّ زِدْنی عِلْماً....
چون روی بیک سوی ندارد دل من
ماناکه همی روی ندارد دل من
در عشق چنان شدم که در معرفتت
گوئی که همی بوی ندارد دل من

فصل 62

پندار علم و هندسۀ وهم و فیلسوف خیال و جاسوس طبیعت و بیداری حفظ و عقیلۀ عقل در عشق به هیچ برنیاید در وی همه درد باید و سوز و رنج باید و محنت:
چون عقل عقیله است در راه غمت
از هندسۀ عقل چه حاصل ما را

فصل 63

کمال حسن معشوق جز در آینۀ عشق نتوان دید و ازین جهت وجود عاشق برای اظهار حسن معشوق باید، ای درویش اگرچه معشوق بسرمایۀ حسن غنی است و از وجود همه مستغنی است اما وی را برای اظهار خود برخود آینۀ باید تا خود را دریابد و این معنی غوری دارد:
ما آینه‌ایم و او جمالی دارد
او را ز برای دید او دریابیم
اَلمؤمِنُ مِرأةُ المؤمن سرّاین معنی است بدین نسبت عاشق بحسن معشوق از معشوق قریبترست اگرچه میان عکس و عین مباینت نیست و بحقیقت در عالم عقل قابل مِمّا یَقْبَلُهُ قریبتر می‌نماید از فاعل، چون عاشق در غلبات عشق معشوق را از او اوترست و از خود خودتر روا بود که برو از دیدۀ او غیرت برد و چون وجود خود را آینۀ دید او شناسد وجود خود را خواهد که در دریای نیستی اندازد تا او خود را بواسطۀ او بیند زیرا که برو هم ازو غیرت می‌برد و این عظیم وقتی دارد بیذوق معلوم نگردد و درین معنی گفته‌اند:
یا رب بستان داد من ازجان سکندر
کو آینۀ ساخت که دروی نگری تو
ای درویش چون معشوق آینه ساز بود عاشق همیشه از غیرت درگداز بود:
خواهم که ز دور در جمالت نگرم
می نتوانم از آنکه بی پا و سرم
از عالم خود اگر تو ای مایۀ حسن
نظارۀ حسن خود کنی رشک برم

فصل 64

عاشق معشوق را از او اوتر بود پندار پیوندی درو پدید آید و بجائی رسد که گوید:
معشوق منم اگرچه بیخویشتنم
اَنَاالحقُ و سُبْحانی سرّ این معنی است:
چندان نازست ز عشق با جان و تنم
گویا که تو عاشقی و معشوق منم

فصل 65

کار عشق آنگاه تمام شود که عاشق معشوق شود و ورق بگردد بی آنکه از عشق عاشق چیزی بکاهد یا در حسن معشوق چیزی بیفزاید زیرا که حسن معشوق را لازمه وجودست زوال آن با بقاء ذات او ممتنع بود و عشق در عاشق اگرچه زایدست بر وجود او و از خارج درو آمده است اما بقوت حسن معشوق که ذریعۀ اوست اوصاف او را در خود مضمحل گردانیده است و بجای خود همه خود ثابت شده و چون عاشق معشوق شود هر آینه معشوق عاشق شود بی آنکه وصل او ازو نقل کند و بدین پیوندد ای درویش اگر دیدۀ نهان بین بگشائی ببینی که عشق و عاشق و معشوق هر سه یکی است و این اصل بی شبهتی و شکی است شیخ اوحدالدین کرمانی گوید:
گفتم که پیامبری تو یا پیر
گفت او که دوئی ز راه برگیر
امروز و پریرودی و فردا
هرچار یکی بود تو فردا
چون نیک بدیدم آن نکو بود
او و من و پیر هر سه او بود

فصل 66

خواجه احمد غزالی قَدَّسَ اللّهُ روحَهُ گوید در سوانح: معشوق با عاشق گفت بیا تو من باش گفت اگر من تو گردم آنگاه معشوق در باید و در عاشق نیفزاید و چون تو من گردی در معشوق افزاید همه معشوق بود و عاشق نه، همه ناز بود و نیاز نه، همه یافت بود و دربایست نه، همه توانگری بود و قلت نه، همه عزت بودو ذلت نه. درین معنی درویش گوید:
معشوق اگر بلطف در کار شود
با عاشق خسته تا در بار شود
معشوق شود عاشق و بی زحمت خود
در عالم او قابل دیدار شود

فصل 67

عاشق را نه خلوت باید نه صحبت زیرا که خلوت برای سکوت باید و سکوت عاشق را از قواطع است و صحبت از برای راحت باید و راحت مشتاق را از موانع است و آنچه گفته‌اند که معشوق عاشق پیدا باید و مشتاق شیدا باید سر این معنی است عاشق از فراق بطبع گریزد و در وصل آویزد موجب آنست که فراق دوئی اقتضا کند و وصل یکی یعنی در مقام فراق حصول عاشق در عالم اندوه بودو حصول معشوقدر هودج سرور، و این در تفرقه کثرت مشاهده شودو در عشق وحدت باید بل اتحاد و این جز دروصلنبود و ذلک سر عزیزٌ لِمَن فَهِمَ
جانم ز فراق تو از آن بگریزد
تا با تو یکی شود دوئی برخیزد

فصل 68

آنچه گفته‌اند که عاشق در مقام فراق خوشتر از آنکه درمقام وصال راستست زیرا که در فراق امیدوصالست و در وصال بیم هجر، اما با درد فراق ساختن و خود را بخود برانداختن از دید امتناع وصول بود واین از تفرقه خالی نیست زیرا که در درد انیت این باقی بود و در وصول بهویت او در باقی بود:
او را که بقای او بباقی باشد
برگوی ز بندگی چه باقی باشد
هشیار چگونه گردد از مستی عشق
چون پادشهش بذات ساقی باشد

فصل 69

ای برادر مقام فراق مقام انتظارست و درین راه چشم داشتن برای حصول معشوق در عالم خود شرکست او را چشم بر هم می‌باید نهاد و در خود طلب کرد و بیافت طرب کرد که او همیشه حاصل است و شبهت ازین اصل زایل است ای عزیز هستی او درنیستی تو جمال مینماید و نیستی درتو اصلی است و جوهری که تو باصل خود توانی بطبع باز شو تا همیشه واجد باشی. ای درویش تاب آفتاب قدم همیشه بر عدم تابنده است این ذرات وجود که بشهود او حاصلند سر از زوایۀ عدم برزده‌اند و ازو بقا یافته، عجب مکون ذرات بغروب آفتاب محقق می‌شود و ظهورشان بطلوع او اما این ذرات که تاب آفتاب شهود او از افق قدم تابنده است و لم یزل پاینده:
هِیَ الشَّمسُ اِلّا اَنَّ للشَّمسِ غَیبَةٌ
و هذا الذّی اَعنیهِ لَیْسَ یَغیبُ

فصل 70

اگر عشق بلاست و در وی بسی عناست اما قوت او از جفاست آن جفا که معشوق بر عاشق کند چون بحقیقت بنگری آن جفا از معشوق برای طلب وفاست زیرا که در مقام فراق مقام کردن و در پی خودی آرام کردن کثرت و دوئی است او می‌خواهد تا کثرت و دوئی عاشق بوحدت و یکیباز آید و در پی آن پیوندی پدید شود ای عزیز جنگ معشوق صلح آمیز بود و صلح او جنگ آمیز تا طلب مؤید شود و عشق مؤکد گردد و عاشقان کار افتادۀ دل بباد داده دانند که در ابتداء عشق جنگ و عتاب و کرشمه و ناز بود تا عشق محکم گردد و در میانۀ ارتکاب اخطار و ناترسیدن از هلاک و تلف مهجه روی نماید ودر آخر سکون بی حرکت و سکوتبی گفت و انتظاری جست بحاصل آمد و آنچه درین مراتب گفته‌اند بدین قریب است:
سکُونٌ ثُمَّ قَبضٌ ثُمَّ بَسطٌ
وَبَحرٌ ثُمّ نَهرٌ ثُمّ یبُسٌ
وُرودُ ثُم قُصودٌ ثُمّ شُهودٌ ثُمّ وُجودٌ ثُمّ خُمودٌ چنانکه گفته‌اند:
در عشق دلا بسی نشیب است و فراز
کاهو بره شیر گردد و تیهو باز

فصل 71

میان عاشق و معشوق بنوعی مناسبت باید تا عشقاز کمین مکون جمال نماید یکی از حکما این معنی در تقریری می‌آورد و نسبت آن بطیران طیور میکند و می‌نماید که طیور با غیر جنس خود الفت کمتر گیرند درین میان زاغی و کبوتری دیدند که با هم می‌پریدند عجب داشتند حکیم گفت میان ایشان در حالی مشاکلتی پدید آمده است که عروض آن موجب صحبت شده تفحص آن کردند دیدند که هر دو را عرجی عرضی حاصل شده بود فرمود که موجب ائتلاف ایشان درین پرواز این معنی بود و این سرّدقیق است ای عزیز چون در معنی یکی شوند و یگانگی ایشان بی شکی شود اگر در ظاهر یکی از دیگری غنی بود و مستغنی اما آن دیگری بدان یکی محتاج بود و مفتقر اما در باطن در هر دو یک معنی بود خفی از عقول بشری و ملکی که موجب مناسبت شده است یُحِبُّهُم وَ یُحِبِّونَهُ.
فَلا تَحتَقِر نَفسی وَاَنتَ حَبیبُها
فَکُلّ أمرِهِ َیَصْبوا اِلی مَن یُجانِسُ
عجب آنکه از دوستی خود اخبار می‌کند یُحِبُّهُم و دوستی تو برخود اظهار میکند یُحّبونَهُ. نه اندک کاریست و بی مناسبتی است آه و هزار آه اگرچه یکی وصف قدیم است و یکی وصف حدث اما باری هست وَذلِکَ سِرُّ لایُمکِنُکَشْفُهُ بِلسانُ المَقالِ.

فصل 72

عشق خود را در حدقۀ عاشق جای کند تا روح باصرۀ او را جز بمعشوق نگران ندارد و گفته‌اند که عاشق در در هرچه نگرد معشوق را بیند راستست و سرّاین معنیست. ای عزیز چون عشق با کمال رسد در ولایت وجود عاشق نگنجد آنچه از راه دیده بیرون افتد ناظر بخط او شود برای سلوت را و این آنگاه بود که دانسته بود که مَن مُنِعَ عَنِ النظَر یَتَسلَّی بالاَثَرِ بحقیقت داند که آنچه او را در نظر آید یا از آن بسوی او خبر آید آن خطی بود که معشوق بیند قدرت بر صفحۀ فکرت نگاشته است او بامید سلوت بدان نگران شود و زبان جانش می‌گوید این آن نیست اما بی آن نیست ما رَأیتُ شَیئاً قَطُّ الّا وَرَأیْتُ اللّهَ فیهِ و این رمزی لطیف است:
در دیدۀ من عشق مکانی بگرفت
آتش در زد تا که جهانی بگرفت
چون سوخت همه جهان پس گفت مرا
آن ذره به بین که ملک جانی بگرفت

فصل 73

عشق چون بکمال رسد عاشق از معشوق گریزان شود زیرا که داند که در ظهور او ثبور این بود عِندَظُهورِ الحَقِّ ثبُورِ الخلْقِ و آنچه گفته‌اند هر عاشق را که با خود کار است معشوقه از او بیزار است برین معنی قریبست. ای عزیز در اوان ظهورصباح ضوء مصباح باطل شودو مضمحل گردد اِذا طَلَعَ الصَّباحُ حَصَلَ الاِسْتغناءُ عَنِ المِصْباح:
فَلمَّا اسْتَبانَ الصُّبحُ ادْرَجَ ضوئُهُ
باَنوارِهِ اَنوارَ ضَوءِ الکَواکبِ
یُجَرِّ عُهُم کَأسا لوابْتِلِیّ اللّظی
بِتَجریعِهِ طارَت کَاَسْرَعِ ذاهِبٍ
و آنچه گفته‌اند اَلخَواصُّ بَینَ عَیشٍ وَطَیشٍ بدین معنی نزدیک است یعنی ارباب مشاهدات چون بعظمت ذوالجلال مکاشف شوند از هیبت بگدازند و چون استیلاء سلطان شهود و وجود ایشان کمتر شود از لذت بنازند اِذا کوشِفوا طاشوا و اِذا استَنْزَعَهُم رُدّوا إلیّ الحَظِّ فَعاشوا.

فصل 74

منصور مغربی که در فقه نامی داشت و از عالم بی نشانی نشانی گفت روزی به قبیلۀ رسیدم از قبایل عرب جوانی باخدی مقمّر و خطی معنبر مرا دعوت کرد چون مائده حاضر کردند جوان بسوی خیمه نگاه کرد و نعرۀ بزد و بیهوش شد و زبانش از گفت خاموش شد چون بهوشباز آمد در خروش آمد از حال او پرسیدم گفتند در آن خیمه معشوق اوست درین حال غبار دامن او گریبان جانش گرفته است و بسوی عالم بیخودی می‌کشد بدید بیهوش شد و چنین خاموش شد گفت از کمال مرحمت بر در خیمۀ دلربای جان افزای او گذر کردم و گفتم بحرمت آن نظر که شما را در کار درویشان است که آن خسته ضربت فراق را شربت وصل چشانی و آن بیمار علت بیمرادی را بمراد رسانی از ورای حجاب جوابداد و گفت یا سَلیمَ الْقَلبِ هُوَ لایُطیقُ شُهودَ غُبارِ ذَیْلی فَکَیْفَ یُطیقُ صُحْبَتی اوئی او طاقت دیدن غباری از دامن من نمیدارد او را طاقت جمال من کی بود.

فصل 75

اگر عاشق در عشق خود خود را بود در عشق خام بود و در شوق ناتمام او را اوئی او برای معشوق باید ای درویش آنکه معشوق را برای خود خواهد هنوز قدم در ولایت عشق ننهاده است و او مرتدی بود که مراد برای مراد خود خواهد اما آنکه خود را برای معشوق خواهد از بوستان عشق بوی ریاحین صدق بمشام وقتش رسیده بود اگرچه در بدایت کار بود اما طالب اسرار بود باز چون ببرخاست درخواست از وجود خود زایل کند و سعادت یگانگی حاصل کند در هودج فناء دوم مقر سازد پس از غیرت از خود بیخبر شود چون بی شعور شود و از غیبت بحضور شود در پرتو آن نور شود لاجرم پروانه وار از بقا بفنا راه طلبد و خود را بواسطۀ عشق بر آتش عدم احساس و بطلان قوت متخیله بسوزد و همانا که این مقام در تلوین بود نه در تمکین و این معنی در حوصلۀ مرغی خانگی که او را دانش گویند نگنجد و میزان عقلش هم برنسنجد اگر معلوم شود بمثالی شود و آن در رباعی خواجه احمد غزالی قَدّسَ اللّهُ روحَهُ گفته است:
تا جام جهان نمای در دست منست
از روی خرد چرخ برین پست منست
تا قبلۀ نیست قبلۀ هست منست
هشیارترین خلق جهان مست منست
هذا ربی. و سبحانی و اناالحّقَ درین راه پدید آید درویش گوید:
چون نور ظهور تو مرا پست کند
وز بادۀ عشق مر مرا مست کند
برتر شوم از عالم امکان آنگه
در عین کمال واجبم هست کند

فصل 76

آنکه در عشق، معشوق را برای خود خواهد؛ قبول و ردّ و قبض و بسط و سکر و صحو و فنا و بقا و غیبت و حضور و ظهور و ثبور و ستر و تجلی و حزن و سُرور و مکون و ظهور در عالم او سر ازو بر زنند و او را ده عمر نوح به سر آید و این منازل هنوز به پای او قطع نشده باشد و حق هیچ منزلی نگذارده باشد و به حقیقت تا حق منزلی گذارده نشود به منزلی دیگر نبود و او از اسرار آگاه نبود پس بیچاره همیشه در راه بود و پیوسته بر گذرگاه؛ هرچه از افق هستی پدید می‌آید او از کمال حیرت چنگ در او میزند هذا رَبّی می‌گوید. باز آنکه خود را برای معشوق خواهد این اضداد از راه او برخیزند و به هیچ حال در دید وقت او درنیاویزند او را بدو گذارند و زمام امور او بدو سپارند زیرا که مبتدی راه عشقست و طالب مقام صدقست هنوز از وجود قطرهٔ نساخته است و در بحر غیب نینداخته هنوز وی در نظر اوست اگرچه به سوی عالم وحدت سفر اوست بی شک هنوز پیداست اگرچه شیداست همانا در نمازست که زبان مسألتش درازست هنوز در رکوعست که در طلب با خشیت و خضوع و خشوعست هنوز بنده است اگرچه خود را بر در افکنده است عجب ازین درد نمی‌کاهد که خود را برای او می‌خواهد از برای این الم نمی‌گدازد که می‌خواهد که با او سازد. و اما آنکه از درخواست برخاست در فناء دوم او را مقر شود و از خود و غیرخود بی‌خبر شود بقاء او بدو بود و نظر سرش از او دور بود بدو حاضر بود و بدو ناظر بود او بسر اوقات جلال قریب بود و کارش بس عجیب بود ادراک مقام او از ادراک عقول بعید بود شاه بود اگرچه در زمرهٔ عبید بود و این در مقام فناء سوم باشد چنانکه گفته‌اند:
تا مرد ز خود فانی مطلق نشود
اثبات به نفی او محقق نشود
توحید حلول نیست نابودن توست
ورنه به گزاف باطلی حق نشود
حکیم گوید یقین دان که تو او نباشی ولیکن چون تو در میان نباشی تو اویی.

فصل 77

در این مقام که به هو برآمد او پادشاه عالم هستی بود اگرچه درین پرده بر خاک پستی بود اگر ذُروۀ اعلاء قدس بعالم او هبوط کند بی کیف بود و اگر کسی را محرم خطاب دارد بی حرف بود او را در صعود و هبوط تعلق به جاذبۀ و تمسک برابطۀ نبود نه هیچ زمانش درباید و نه هیچ مکانی ازو خبر یابد این مقام را بزبان اهل تحقیق بی مزاحمت تصور و تصدیق مقام اختفا در کنه الاّخوانند بلکه اثبات وحدت در نفی لا دانند و این رموز بوالعجب است نه زبان را قوت تقریر می‌باشد نه بیان را طاقت تحریر می‌باشد:
در نور مقدسش چو گشتم پنهان
وز حد مکان گذشتم ای جان جهان
در پردۀ عز او مقرب گشتم
اندر تن من نه این بماندست و نه آن

فصل 78

جفای معشوق بر عاشق دلیل قلعه گشادنست روا بود که معشوق عاشق را در منجنیق بلانهد ودر آتش ولا اندازد تا لوث انحرافی که از بت رویان عالم حشر کرده است از وی زایل شود و دولت تسلیمش حاصل شود قالوا حَرِّقوه تا هر گاه که سلطان قهر منجنیق بلا نصب کند و وجود عاشق در آتش غیرت اندازد و لطف محبوب سلطان وش از سحاب عنایت باران رعایت بر آن آتش بارد تا ریاحین انس پدید آید یا نارُ کونی بَرداً وَسلاماً.. ای درویش بهش باش آنچه بخودی خود زخم بر وجودت می‌اندازد برای آنست تا توئی ترا در تو پست سازد بلکه نیست کند و بخودی خودت هست کند اگر عاشقی و در عشق صادقی،خود را هدف ساز و در مقابلۀ نظر معشوق دار اگر خواهد تیر جفا در تو اندازد و اگر خواهد نیزۀ وفا اندازد ترا همین بس بود که او در زمان انداختن روی بتو آورد و نظر بر تو دارد، عجب اهل عالم را روی بدو و او را بتو، زهی پادشاهی نامتناهی که ترا بود تعیّن تو در هدف بودن و توجه او بتو در انداختن نه خرد،کاریت فهم این از ذوق باید و قبول این را شوق، آن نقد که تو او را علم خوانی و آن بضاعت که تو آن را عقل دانی درین بازار رواجی ندارد:
از نقد وجود من هدف سازی تو
بس ناوک قهر در من اندازی تو
خوش باشدم آن مقام کز مرکب حسن
بیواسطۀ بسوی من تازی تو

فصل 79

عندلیب خوش نوای عشق بر درخت سمع و بصر ترنم یکسان کند یعنی چنانکه عشق بطریق بصر اثبات یابد چنان که چون حسن دلربائی در نظر آید بر وی عاشق شود چون از حسن جان افزائی خبر آید هم عاشق شود اما عشقی که بواسطۀ نظر بود دفعةً واحدةً بود بیقراری و بی آرامی در حال اثبات باید و عاشق خواهد که در زمان بدو شتابد. باری عشقی که بطریق خبر بود تازه تازه بود زیرا که اخبار جمال و کمال او دفعةً واحدةً ممکن نبود پس عشق بدو هم دفعةً واحدةً نبود و این اصلی متین است بنا براین اصل چون حسن معشوق مشاهده گردد دل عاشق را بدو میلی پدید آیدو او بدان واسطه در گفت و شنید آید تخم این مشاهدۀ جمال بود و از طرف معشوق کرشمه و دلال بود:
عاشق چو بعاشقی پدید آراید
از عالم خود بسوی دلدار آید
چون مرغ ز بهر دانه در کارآید
در دام بماندنش ز دیدار آید
باز چون کمال جمال به سمع رسد حقیقت وجود بحکم خاصیت بدان مایل شود و بطبع بدان شتابد اگرچه داند که درنیابد آن میل برای آتش افروختن است در مقام اول وصال مطلوب بود تا دل از خفقان طلب برآساید وجان بعالم خود باز آید و در مقام دوم ذکر وصال خود بر ضمیر گذر نکند زیرا که علم بعدم وصول سابق بود و عشق لاحق:
چندان صفت جمال در نوش آید
کین جان ز دست رفته در جوش آید
حاصل در عرف عشق را وطن میان دو دل است گاه ناز معشوق شود و بعاشق نپردازد و گاه نیاز عاشق شود و در پای معشوق اندازد گاه افتخار او را بدین جلوه کند و گاه افتقار این را برو عرضه کند اما مراد کلی او آن بود که هر دو را درمرکز و محل خود فراهم کند تا وصال بی انفصال ممکن شود آنچه گفته‌اند عشق نهنگی شودو عاشق و معشوق را درکشد تا اجتماع ایشان در جوف او بود و تصور فراق نماند بدین معنی قریب است و این رمزی عجیب است:
از خوف فراق رویت ای مایۀ عمر
خواهد دل من با تو که در پوست شود

فصل 80

عشق عاشق با معشوق دیگرست درین اصل هر یکی در دو مرتبه مقرر می‌شوند و این اگرچه در ظاهر کثرت می‌نماید اما در معنی وحدتست زیرا که چون معشوق عاشق شود هر آینه عاشق معشوق شود کثرت برخیزد و چون معشوق یکی بود و خود یک عاشق را دو معشوق روا نبود ماجَعلَ اللّهُ لِرَجُلٍ مِن قَلبَینِ فی جوفِه اما یک معشوق را روا بود که هزار عاشق بود و هر یک در عشق صادق بود اما اینجا سریست دقیق بدان که عاشق را گذر بر دریای شوقست ونهنگ عشق درو در کمین تازمرۀ عشاق را که بر درگاه سرادق جلال شور و شغب می‌دارند و می‌نالند و می‌زارند با آنکه از استغناءمعشوقخبر دارند بیکبار درکشد و دم درکشد زیرا که از رحمت خلقیت بحقیقت بر درگاه جز زحمت بی فایده نیست خَلقناکُم لّنَرَبَحَ عَنکُم لاتَربَحوا عَنّا:
چون نیست بسی فایده اندر بودت
آن به که باصل خود همی باز شوی

فصل 81

در عرف عشق عاشق اصلست و عشق معشوق فرع زیرا که عشق در معشوق از تابش عشق عاشق است و این سخن را مدار بر اصلیست و آن اصل آنست که نیاز و درد و سوز و قلق و ضجرت و ولع و نزاع و شوق و احتراق در عشق عاشق یافت شودو بی این جمله ناقص بود و مدار کار عشق باتفاق ارباب عقول بدین جمله است و احوال عشاق دلیل صحت این اصلست باز آنچه وقتی بسط و قبض و انس و روح روی نماید آن کلمات لطف محبوبست که بکرشمه و ناز و دلال گوید:
معشوقه تو باش عاشقی کار تو نیست. این شراب قهر در میدهد اما چون در جام لطف است لذتش در ظاهرست و المشدر باطن زیرا که او را بطعن از مقام عاشقی بدر می کند و خود می‌داند که ازو معشوقی نیابد اما در عالم حقیقت عشق معشوق اصل است و عشق عاشق فرع و سرّاین معنی در یُحِبُّهُم وَیُحِبّونَهُ یافت شود.
اول از او بد این حکایت عشق
بس مگو عشق را بدایت نیست
عشق چون آتشیست روحانی
روح کس را ازو شکایت نیست
عشق چون بر لطیفهغیبیست
بی نشانست ازو حکایت نیست
بوالعجب سوره‌ایست سورۀ عشق
چار مصحف ازو یک آیت نیست
اما این عشق را مدار بر جباری و قهاری و تعزز و کبریاست:
زانجا که کمال حضرت عزت اوست
اعیان وجود را چه امکان باشد
عقول بشری و ملکی درین سرگردانی‌اند تا بدانند که عشق کدامست و عاشق کدام و معشوق کدام و اینجا لطیفهٔ لطیف است چون عشق حبل رابطه است نتوان دانست که می‌کشد و که انجامد: کسی سرش نمیداند زبان درکش زبان درکش. عقل بیخود می‌گوید او کشید و این انجامید و روا بود که کار برعکس باز گردد و راه دگر سار گردد ایاز محمود گردد و محمود ایاز وَ ماتَشاؤونَ اِلّا انّ یَشاء اللّه. ابویزید قَدّسَ اللّهُ روحَهُ المَزید گفت چندین گاه می‌دانستم که من او را می‌خواهم او مرا پیش از من خواسته بود و از من هیچ درنخواسته بود یُحبّهُم پیش از یُحِبُّونَهُ باید.

فصل 82

آدمی زاد را همین سعادت بس بود که در محبوبی پیش بود یُحِبُّهم در عقول ثابت است که قوّت فاعله را قوت قابلۀ عشق زیادت است زیرا که در انتظار ظهور اوست و او جز بهنگام معلوم خود سر از بالین فطرت برنیارد و این سری عظیم است بذوق معلوم شود آنچه گویند عاشق جمال طلبد تا در کار آید راستست اما بحقیقت جمال عاشق طلبد تا در گفتن اسرار آید کُنْتُ کَنْزاً مَخْفیاً لَمْ اُعْرَفْ فَاَحْبَبتُ اَنْ اُعْرَفْ سرّ این معنی است:
عاشق طلبد جمال تا بگدازد
در هستی او لطیفۀ پردازد
در پیش خودش بدارد و بنوازد
وز دیده برون رود وفامی بازد

فصل 83

عشق بحدی برسد که عاشق دوست معشوق را دوست گیرد و در دشمنی دشمن او آمیزد همانا که این معنی در عالم مودت بود چون بِخُلَّت رسد روی از همه بگرداند فَانهُمْ عَدُولیٌ اِلّا رَبَ العالَمین و چون بمحبت رسد ازوجود هر موجود بیزار شود اِنی بَریٌ مِمّا تُشرکون اَی فی الْوُجودِ مَعَهُ و چون بعشق بی شعور شود و در پرتو آن نور شود درین بیشعوری نظر از محبوب و محبه برخیزد آن را که بود برخود بود و این سری عظیم است ذوق درباید تا فهم شود و روا بود که عشق بحدی برسد که عاشق را غیور کند ودر غیرت ناصبور کند دوست او را دشمن گیرد و دشمن او را دوست دارد عجب نخواهد که کسی نامش بر زبان راند چون خواهد که کسی دیگرش دوست دارد و آنچه شبلی قَدّسَ اللّهُ روحَهُ در نهایت مقامات هر که حق را یاد کردی او سنگی بر دهان او زدی از غیرت سر این معنی است عاشق کی طاقت آن دارد که کسی در محل نظر او شریک شود:
گر باد صبا بر سر زلفت گردد
بر باد صبا عاشق تو رشگ برد
ور هیچکسی ز خلق در تو نگرد
بر خود دل من جامۀ هستی بدرد

فصل 84

عاشقی بود از رفقای این بیچاره کبکی یافت او را بکوهسار برد و در مرغزار خرم بگذاشت و می‌گفت رفتار او برفتار یارم ماند جفا بود با او جفا کردن اما این در بدایت عشق بود و مدخول و معلول بود زیرا که محبوب را شبیهی طلب می‌کند برای سلوت و این از نقصان است واللّه که اگر عاشق را شعور بود بر آنکه کسی بمعشوق او ماند و یا در حسن با او مساوات دارد در عشق ناتمام بود در طلب سوخته نبود خام بود ای درویش آن شوقی که وصال ازو چیزی کم کند ناقص بود وجود شوق نبود تهمت بود و تهمتی کاذبه بود و وصال هیزم آتش شوق است او رادر شعله آرد تا بدان دمار از نهاد عاشق برآرد و این آن حال است که پروانه آتش می‌شود اگرچه لمحۀ بود اما باری بود و این را بزبان آن قوم بیخود اتحاد خوانند اگر میسر شود مقامی در عشق ازوعالیتر نبود:
خواهم که زسرّعشق آگاه شوم
بیخود بروم بنزد دلخواه شوم
گر او شوم ای یگانه بر خلق جهان
بیزحمت بیخودی همه شاه شوم

فصل 85

گریه در عشق از رعونات نفس است گریه در خلوت از برای سلوت بود و در صحبت از برای اظهار احتراق کند و این هر دو از رعونات نفس بیرون نیست لعمری تا عاشق بخود باز نیفتد نگرید و عاشق بی شعور باید تا از غیبت در حضور آید آن عزیزی بنزد پیری از پیران طریقت درآمد اهل پردۀ او زلف شانه میکرد خواست که سربپوشد پیر فرمود او درین زمان بی شعورست و در عالم حضورست از هر دو کون آگاهی ندارد و روی جز بعالم نامتناهی ندارد زمانی بود در گریه آمد پیر فرمود که سر بپوش که او حاضر شد و از دریچۀ طبیعت ناظر شد بخود باز افتاد و از هجردرگداز افتاد و این لطیفۀ لطیف است.

فصل 86

گریه از تأسف بود وتأسف از فوت محبوب بود چنانکه پیر کنعان از تأسف چندان بگریست که مردم(مردمک)چشمش که خلیفۀ عالم بینائی بود از کسوت عیانی بیرون آمد و جلباب سفید حسرت درخود کشید یا اَسفَی عَلی یوسُفَ و ابْیضّت عَیناهُ مِنَ الحُزْنِ اما روندگان این راه را اسف و حزن نباشد زیرا که ایشان را خوف فقد محبوب نبود، پیری بنزد مریدی آمد او را یافت که در فوت محبوبی میگریست گفت ای پسر دل بمحبوبی می‌بایست داد که فوت بر او روا نبودی تا بقلق و حزن و ضجرت و بکا گرفتار نشدی:
رو دل بکسی ده که نمیرد با تو
از درد فراق او نگریی باری

فصل 87

آنچه دیدۀ عاشق در گریه بود آن از غیرت حقیقت وجود اوست برو و حقیقت وجود او که عشق صفت اوست از غیرت می‌خواهد تادیدۀ او از گریه سفید شود و از دیدن ناامید شود زیرا که داند که آن دیدار بدین دیده دریغ بود:
خوناب از آن همی ببارد چشمم
کاهلیّت دیدنت ندارد چشمم
و روا بود که از آن گرید تا خیره شود و نظر بر جمال آن دلربای نیفکند زیرا که بترسد که آن روی از نازکی بدین نظر مجروح شود چنانکه گفته‌اند:
من تیز در آن روی نیارم نگریست
ترسم که ز نازگی جراحت گردد

فصل 88

اگر عاشق خواهد که معشوق را یاد کند نتواند چنانکه شبلی گوید چون منی ترا یاد کند و دهان را هر ساعتی هزار بار از آب توبه بشوید ازیاد کردنت هرگاه که خواهد یاد کند سلطان غیرت عشق بانگ برزند اِیّاکَ وَیَحْکَ وَاللّهُ کانَ اِیّاکالعَمْری اگر چه ذکر محبت از محبت بود مَنْ اَحبَّ شَیئاً اَکْثَر ذِکْرَهُ اما اگر این ذکر در حضورست از قلت حرمتست و اگر در غیبت است ذکر غایب غیبت است چنانکه جنید گفت مر شبلی را قدس اللّهُ سرَّ هُما هنگام آنکه شبلی در مجلس او گفت اللّه جنید گفتیاذاکِرُ اِنَّ ذَکَرْتَهُ فی الْغَیبةِ فَذِکْرُ الغایبِ غَیْبَتُهُ واِن ذَکَرْتَهُ فی الحُضورِ فَما راعَیْتَ حقّ الحُرْمَةِ.

فصل 89

عاشق نتواند از غلبات عشق که بدل هست از معشوق براندیشد زیرا که دل آتشکده‌ایست خراب در وی محبوب چه کند دل شاهد که محل معرفت شود مرکز محبت گردد اما بحقیقت سرادق عزت محبوب در وی نگنجد و این سر را میزان عقول بشری برنسنجد ولکنْ یَسَعُنی قَلْبُ عَبدیَ الْمُؤمِنِ بیقین بدان که نامتناهی در متناهی نگنجد اما چون شعلۀ آتش عشق ماسِویَ الْمَعشوق را در بریق حریق خود بسوزد آنچه ماند معشوق بود و مثالش چنان باشد که آنچه در آینه پدید آید اگرچه ظاهر بینان آن را در آینه پندارند در آینه نباشد اما نماید آنچه در دلی طلبند که بمصقلۀ قضا زنگ طبیعت از وی زدوده بود او بود اما آینه از کجا و عین از کجا بلکه عین از کجا و عکس از کجا:
در آینه گر عکس جمالت بیند
با ناز و کرشمه و دلالت بیند
گوید که بدو رسیدم آن هست محال
گه ذره بخود نور جلالت بیند

فصل 90

در ابتدا عاشق بگفت و گوی درآید پس در جست و جوی آید پس دل از خود بکلی برگیرد و پروانه وار خواهد که در پیش او میرد یعنی اول ذاکر بود پس طالب شود پس عشق برو غالب شود اینجا ذکر هستی بود و طلب نیستی، درین مقام هستی راه بودو نیستی پیشگاه اما نه آن نیستی که محرومی نام اوست آن نیستی که همه هستی‌ها غلام اوست اما بنسبتی دیگر و این مشهور است که هستی راه است و نیستی منزل چنانکه آن محقق دقیق النظر گفته است:
دیدم اندر مدار کار آنگاه
سرّهستی و نیستی ناگاه
بود ما را یقین که عاشق را
نیستی منزلست و هستی راه
نیست جز نیستی ره عاشق
ناگه هستی بیامد از درگاه
در شهادت به بین کزین معنی
لانخست آمد آنگه الا اللّه

فصل 91

در مبادی عشق نعره و خروش و بانگ و زاری بود و این نقصانست در تحمل بار عشق زیرا که وجود هنوز قابل بار تحمل عشق نشده بانگ و خروش برآرد و گاه گاه بار کار از دوش بیندازد ماجَزاءُ مَن اَرادَ بِاهَلِکَسُوءاچون بکمال رسد خواهد که هرچه در عالم است برخود گیرد اگرچه در تحمل آن بمیرد وَحَمَلَها الانسانُ در بحر آن طلب و در هستی عشق هودج کبریا بردارد ولکن یَسعَنی قَلْبُ عَبدِیَ المؤمِن اَلانَ حَصْحصَ الْحَقّ اَنَارراوَدْتُهُعَن نَفْسِهِ وَانَّهُ لَمِنَ الصّادقین.
اول چو مرا عشق تو در کار آورد
با بانگ وخروش بر دربار آورد
اکنون چو خموش گشتم از غایت عشق
برداوز میان یقین و پندار آورد

فصل 92

آن بار که از راه صورت عاشقمیکشد حامل از راه معنی معشوقست وَحَمَلْناهُم...سراین معنی است، ایعزیز در حال مشاهده بقوت مشاهدۀ او هر بار که بر عاشق نهند بکشد و سر از زیر بار درنکشد زیرا که مست شراب مشاهده بود ودر مستی بار خلاف معهود توان کشید:
از دردکم آگاه بود مردم مست

فصل 93

عاشقی را در شریعت بغداد هزار تازیانه زدند از دست نشد و از پای درنیامد واصلی بدو رسید او را از آن حال پرسید گفت محبوب مرا حاضر بود و من بقوت مشاهدۀ او این تحمل کردم. یکی را از عیاران چهار دست و پای بیرون کردند او از آن بی خبر بود یکی بدو رسید او را از آن حال پرسید دید که خوش میخندد گفت آن چه طربست گفت از این طرب چه عجب است گفت محبوب من حاضرستو بعین رعایت در من ناظر مرا قوت مشاهدۀ او مغلوب کرده است و شدت ظهور او مرا از آن محجوب کرده است:
او بر سر قتل و من در او حیرانم
کان راندن تیغش چه نکو می‌راند
این معنی را در سرّ لَاُقَطَّعَنَّ اَیْدیَکُمْ وَاَرْجُلَکُمْ مِنْ خِلافٍ و جواب فَاقضِ مااَنْتَ قاضٍ.. بباید طلبید تا موجب مزید شوق گردد بعزت اللّه که چون جارحۀ مجازی روی ببطلان آرد حقیقی روی در ظهور آرد بی یَسْمَعُ وَبی یُبصِرُ و بی یَمْشی و بی یَنطِقُ جمال نماید این بغیر ذوق فهم نتوان کرد:
این راه حقیقتست و هرتر دامن
با هستی خود کجا قدم داند زد

فصل 94

در نظر اول عاشق بیخود شود اگرچه در خواب بود زیرا که شراب مشاهده مرد افکن است هیچ کس را طاقت مقاومت او نبود عِنْدَ ظُهُورِ الْحَقِّ ثُبورُ الْخَلْقِ آنچه اضطراب در وجد از عاشق پدید آید ازین معنی بود و آنچه نوری گفته است بدین قریب است:
اَلْوَجْدُ یُطْرِبُ مَنْ فی الْوَجْدِ راحَتَهُ
وَالْوَجْدُ عِنْدَ وُجُودُ الْحَقِّ مَفْقُودٌ
قَدْ کانَ یُطْرِبُنی وَجْدی فَغَیِبْنی
عَنْ رُؤیَةِ الْوَجْدِ مافی الْوَجْدِ مُوجودٌ
اما بعضی اضطراب از نقصان مضطرب در دید آید و بعضی از کمال واجد در نظر نیاید چنانکه سنگ زیرین آسیا که اندر کمال گردش بود در نظر ساکن نماید وَتَرَی الجِبالَ تَحْسَبُها جامِدَةً وهِیَ تَمُرُّ مَرَّ السَّحاب. چون هستی عاشق در مبادی اشراق نور جمال سوزد لَاَحْرَقَتْ سُبُحاتُ وَجْهِهِ ما انْتَهی اِلیْهِ بَصَرُهُ حرکت یا سکون را در وی درین حال نشان نتوان کرد عجب چون نماند اضطراب که کند هستی عاشق عاریت است و در انتظار مشاهده مانده و بر خود درمانده هر زمان می‌گوید.
انتظارم مده بر آتش و آب
نکند آنچه انتظار کند
در مشاهده نمود با ربود مع است و وجود با خمود مقارن و این سری بوالعجب است ذوق باید چند گویم ای عزیز چون طلیعۀ جمال پیدا شود درِقلعۀ نهاد بقوّت بشکند تا محبّقصد عالم معشوق کند آن شنیده باشی که چون مجنون بعد از کمال عشق نظر بر جمال لیلی افکند هستی او روی بعالم نیستی آورد ای برادر عِنْدَ ظُهورِ الْحَقِّ ثُبُور الْخَلْقِ
چون تو نمودی جمال عشق بتان شد هوس
رو که از این دلبران کار تو داری و بس

فصل 95

فرار عاشق از معشوق در کمال عشق از آنست که وصال کاریست برون از حد او چنانکه الم مفرط موجب هلاکست لذت مفرط هم موجب هلاک است بلکه عین هلاک جَعَلَهُ دَکَّاوَخَرَّ موسی صَعقا.. وَالصَّعِقَ الموتُ بِعَیْنِهِ بِعِزَّة اللّه که اگر در دار جلال در اوان وصال هیچ از قوت بشریت درواصلان باقی باشد بعدم صرف افتد چنانکه اسم وجود بر ایشان ممتنع افتد و مستحیل بلکه بحکم وعدۀ صادق الوعد از خود فانی شوندو بدو باقی گردند تا آن جمال دیده شود اول نور آن جمال دیده شود پس جمال آن نور دیده شود:
بیچاره دلم خلعت دیدار بخواست
از هر دو جهان نعرۀ انکار بخاست
محبوب جواب داد کی خسته رواست
من دیده شوم خصومت از بهرچراست
ای درویش چنانکه عاشق را تن درمی‌باید داد بدانچهدر پرتو نور معشوق از هستی سفر کند و در نیستی مستقر کند معشوق را هم راضی می‌باید بود بدانچه عاشق بهستی او هست شود و بشراب مشاهدۀ او مست شود چنانکه معشوق را می‌باید که عاشق خود را خود نبود عاشق را هم می‌باید که با اوئی او او باشد حاصلتا قوت عشق ازوجود عاشق قوت نسازد او را بکلی قبول نکند و قابل وصول نکند چون اوئی او را برانداختند و از نیستی او قوت ساختند هرگاهش که طلب کند در خودش یابد تا این کمال حاصل نشود از او گریزان بود ای برادر حقیقت عاشق داند که نهنگ عشق از وجود او چه درمیکشد و از اوئی او چه جدا میکند لا اله الا اللّه جنید در اوان غیبت از خود گفتی مَنِ ابتلائی بِکَ مرا بتو که مبتلا کرد چون از غیبت بحضور آمدی و از عالم خود در کران نور آمدی گفتی زِدْنی فی بَلائی گاه این خنجر آید او نیام و گاه او مرغ و این دام،
در مصحف عقل حرف طامات ببین
برسدره برآی و پس خرابات ببین
بگذر ز صفات او و در خود بنگر
بیواسطۀ تجلی ذات به بین

فصل 96

اگر کار باختیار عاشق بود اتحاد بود و جمع زیرا که او را احتراق در پرتو انوار جمال خوشتر از بقا بود در تفرقه و دوئی و اگر باختیار معشوق بود فراق بود و هجر زیرا که او را از کمال جلال پروای یگانگی نبود با کس لَاحْتَرقَتُ سُبُحاتُ وَجْهِهِ عبارت از آنست غیرت میگوید:
تو گدائی دور باش از پادشاه
ورنه بر جان تو آید دور باش
گر وصال شاه میداری طمع
از وصال خویشتن مهجور باش

فصل 97

عاشق را از غلبات عشق خود برآمدن بهتر بود از آنکه در بر معشوق درآمدن زیرا که داند که مَن جاوَزَ حَدَّهاوُرِثَ ضدَّهُ راست است راه بنده از بندگی بیرون شود اما ببالای آلای شاهی بر نتواند آمد که او را با اوئی او صعود ممکن نیست و بعالم بندگی باز نتواند افتاد تا مؤنتاو را شاه تحمل کند مُذْبذَبینَذلکَ لا الی هؤلاءُ ولا الی هؤلاءِ برداشته نه افکنده نه شاه نه بنده نَعوُذُ بِاللّهِ مِنَ الْحورُ بَعدَ الکُورِ و آنچه گفته‌اند که فراق برتر از وصال است راست است زیرا که فراق بعد از وصال تصور توان کرد و پیوستن با او خود بریدن است از خود و بریدن از خود بتحقیق پیوستن است با او بدین نسبت وصال فراق است از خود و فراق از خود وصالست با او و آنچه عاشق طلب فراق خود می‌کند بهلاک کردن خود چنانکه ابن موفق گرد بازار بصره سفره بخود برآورد و می‌گفت: مَنْ ماتَ عِشْقاً فَلْیَمُتْ هکَذا لاخَیْرَ فی عِشْقٍ بِلامَوْتٍ
و آن دیگری خود را از بالائی در افکند ونام و نشان خود برافکند و می‌گفت:
یَوْمُ الْفَراقِ مِنَ الْقِیامَةِ اَهْوَلُ
وَالْمَوْتُ مِنْ فَقْدِ الْاَحِبَّةِ اسْهلُ
برای آنست که در خود استعداد وصال نمی‌بیند و خود را مستحق اتصال نمی‌شناسد و با خود می‌گوید:
چون نیست وصال آن نگارین ممکن
آن به که ز راه او روان برخیزی
حَسْبُ الواحِدِ اِفْرادُ الْواحِدِ محب را همان بس باشد که زحمت وجود از راه محبت او بردارد و بگوید:
لطفی بکن از راه وجودم بردار
تا زحمت من ز راه تو کم گردد

فصل 98

در بدایت عشق آرامش باطن عاشق مدبر خیال بود زیرا که صورت معشوق بقوت شوق در حس مشترک وطن گیرد و نقوش دیگر را محو کند چنانکه گفته‌اند:
تا دیده کم جان و دل و تن نگرفت
در دیده خیال دوست مسکن نگرفت
بگرفت گریبان دلم عشق کسی
کو را غم هیچ دوست دامن نگرفت
و این مطالعه بدیدۀ علم نتواند کرد زیرا که کمال علم آنست که قوت خیال صورت احکام را از مواد آن جدا چنانکه صورت مسئله وضع کند پس از نفس او تخرجی کند وضعی فرضی نه عقلی و هندسی و این معنی درین مقام خام نماید بلکه ناتمام نماید چون کمال در کار حاصل کند شبهات از روزگار عشق زایل کند آن صورت که از قوت خیال طلب می‌گیرد در درون پردۀ دل رود و پیش جمال بوی ننماید پس علم را بدو راه نماند زیرا که آنچه در قوت خیال پدیدار شود هم در محل او مضمحل گردد زیرا که وَشیکُالزَّوالِ وَسَریعُ الْاِنْتِقال است. ای عزیز آنچه در درون پردۀ دل بود آسان آسان بدو نتوان رسید در وی پندار یافت بیش از یافت بود آنچه پیرهری قدس اللّه روحَهُ گفت یافت تو از روی ماست اما دریافت تو نه ببازوی ماست بدین معنی قریب است همانا اَلْعَجْزُ عَنْ دَرْکِ الْاِدْراکِ اِدراکُ اشارتست بدین معنی:
آن نقد که در خزانۀ دل باشد
آسان آسان بدو رسیدن نتوان

فصل 99

عشق آنست که در کانون دل مکنون است ظهورش بشنید و صف معشوق بود یا بدید جمالش و از آن است که دل از درد و وجع و احتراق در نالش باشد دایماً زیرا که آتش ظاهر ارکان سوزد و این آتش جان سوزد همانا نارُ اللّهِ المُوقَدَةُ الّتی تَطَلِعُ عَلَی الْأفئِدةِ عبارت ازین آتش بود و مثال او در اعتقاد عذاب گورست مرده در عذاب گور متألم و سوخته و متوجع و دردمند، و آتش و ضرب پدید نه همچنین درد و وجع و تألم و احتراق عشق موجود و اسباب آن ناپیدا، عاشق بیخواب و بی قرار و بی‌آرام می‌نالد و می‌زارد خلق بیخبر نمک ملامت بر جراحت او می‌پاشند و در هنگام سوزش او خاموش می‌باشند و بدان راه نبرند عجب تر آنست که معشوق گوید دور باش:
غیرت آمد بر دلم زد دور باش
یعنی ای نااهل ازین در دور باش
هر آینه بیچاره را صبر پیشه باید کرد و خود را زیر تیشه باید کرد تا آنچه از احکام عشق برو رود بی او بود تا او را ملوم و خاسر نبود می‌گوید:
از من ببرد هر چه ببازم چکنم
وانگه بدرد پردۀ زارم چکنم
چون نیست وصال حضرتش در خور من
با درد فراق اگر نسازم چکنم

فصل 100

معشوق چون بهاستار عزّت محتجب بود و خود را بهکس ننماید بلکه کس را طاقت دیدار او از غایت ظهور او نبود درد عاشق بی درمان بود و محنتش بی پایان بود در شرح تعرف آورده است که چون محبوب در مکان نیاید و محب از مکان تجاوز نکند درد دل محب ابدی بود و اندوه جانش سرمدی بود چنانکه گفته‌اند:
معشوقه چو خورشید گزینی ای دل
او بر فلک و تو بر زمینی ای دل
چون در برخود ورا به بینی ای دل
سر بر زانو بسی نشینی ای دل
وَحیدٌعَنِ الخُلّانِ فی کُلِّ بَلْدَةٍ
اِذا عَظُمَ الْمَطْلُوبُ قَلَّ المُساعِدُ

فصل ۱۰۱

عشق جز در آدمی صورت نگیرد زیرا که هرگز ملکی را با ملکی دیگر عشق نبوده است و نباشد و معقول در این اصل آنست که ملک را از کمال استغراق بحضرت جَلَّتْ عَظَمَتُه پروای دید غیر نبود پس او را بر غیر حق عشق نبود باز آنچه او را احتراق نیست بآتش عشق و نار شوق از آن جهت است که او در محل مشاهده حاصل است و همیشه در پرتو انوار قربست اَمِنْ از بعد و حجاب اما آدمی را بر مثل خود عشق ظاهر شود و آن دو سبب است یکی سبب جلی و دیگری خفی سبب جلی آنست که او مغلوب هواست و شهوت بر وجود او غالب است و او را بطبع مر دفع آن را بجان طالب است چنانک گرسنگی را بطعام دفع کنند و تشنگی را بآب هر آینه چون شهوت قوت گیرد هم از خود دفع باید کرد و دفع او بواسطۀ صاحب جمالی که دل را بر او میلی مفرط بود تمامتر بود و سبب خفی آنست که در صورت آدمی سریست که در بیان ما نگنجد عبارت از آن سر در عالم نبوت اینست که خَلَقَ اللّهُ آدَمَ عَلَی صوُرَتِهِ پس جان که از عالم بی نشانی او نشانست قُلِ الرّوحُ مِنْ اَمْرِ رَبّی. بحکم معنی خفی بههزار جان از دل قدم می‌سازد و بسوی عالم او می‌شتابد تا باشد که از ریحان عشق بوئی بیابد این معنی در تحریر و تقریر نتوان آوردن کسی سری نمیداند زبان در کش زبان درکش.

فصل ۱۰۲

عاشق نخسبد و خفتن او عجب بود:

عَجَبا لِلْمُحِبِّ کَیْفَ یَنامُ

کلُّ نَومٍ عَلَی المُحِّب حَرامٌ

ای برادر عاشق یا در مقام فراق بود یادر هودج وصال اگر در عالم فراق بود از الم و وجع خواب گرد او نگردد و آنچه گفته‌اند که اَلسُکونُ حَرامُ عَلَی قُلوُبِ اَوْلِیائِهِ برین معنی قریب است و عجب از محبی که محبوبش نخسبد و او قصد خواب کند شنیدم که موفقۀ در عشق حضرت شأنی داشت بواسطۀ بیخوابی بعلت دق گرفتار شد خواجه‌اش گفت یا جارِیَةُ اُفْرِشی لنا فِراشا گفت بامَوْلَایَ الَکَ مَولی؟ قالَ نَعَمَقالَتاَنامَ مَوَلاکَ قالَ لاقالَتْ اَما تَسْتَحیی چون مالک تو از خواب مقدس است ترا شرم نیابد که در نظر او سر ببالین استراحت باز نهی و خفتن در حضور او آغاز کنی.

شرمت ناید که در غمش خواب کنی

وانگه ز غمش دو دیده پرآب کنی

در میکده‌اش اگر بیابی باری

باید که وضو تو از می ناب کنی

فصل ۱۰۳

آنکه محب قصد خواب کند از آن جهت بود که وقتی در خواب خیال او دیده باشد در آرزوی آن پیوسته سر ببالین انتظار باز نهاده باشد و چشم از کُرب و محنت بر هم نهاده باشد که بدان دولت باز رسد لا اِله الاّ اللّه شاه شجاع کرمانی قَدّسَ اللّهُ رَوُحَهُ چهل سال بخفت چون ناگاهی در خواب شد جمال ذوالجلال در خواب دید از غایت عشق گفت بار خدایا من این عزت را در بیداری می‌طلبیدم در خواب یافتم خطاب آمد که یا شاه این عزت ثمرۀ آن بیداریهاست بعد از آن شاه قَدّسَ اللّهُ رَوُحَهُ همیشه جامه در سر کشیدی بعد از گذاردن فرض و سنت سر بر بالین انتظار باز نهادی و میگفتی:

رَاَیْتُ سرّورقَلبی فی مَنامی

فَاحْببتُ التنعُسَ وَالمَناما

در خواب خیال تو مرا یاد کند

آید بر من دل مرا شاد کند

دل پندارد که من ترا یافته‌ام

بیدار شود هزار فریاد کند

فصل ۱۰۴

آنکه عاشق معشوق را در خواب بیند سبب آنست که او همیشه روی دل بدو دارد وبر در خانۀ انتظار مقیم مانده و باغم او ندیم شده بر یادش او بر خاطرش او در حافظه‌اش او در متخیله‌اش او در ملهمه‌اش او در حس مشترکه‌اش او او همه دیده گشته و دیده همه انتظار گشته تا کی بود که سلطان خیال بر لوح دلش صورت خود پدید کند و چون بکثرت توهم برای دوای دل بر درد وی نقشی پدید آید در حال شحنۀ غیرت مقمعۀ قهر بر نهاد او زند تا از خواب درآید و روزگارش بسر آید ای برادر چنانک بر جمال خود غیورست بر خیال خود هم غیورست آنچه گفته‌اند که درد سر عاشق بی دواست و بیماری او بی شفاست موجب همین است که در بیداری جمال نیست بعلت قلت استعداد وجود و در خواب خیال نیست بکثرت الم اشتیاق بشهود، آنچه عشق عاشق را بیخواب می‌دارد برای آنست که می‌خواهد که او بآسانی با خیال معشوق دست در کمر آرد:

ای دل چو بجست و جوی و خواری و نیاز

وز زاری و بیداری و شبهای دراز

دست طلبت بپای وصلش نرسد

جان میکن و خون میخور و سر در می‌باز

فصل ۱۰۵

بحقیقت آنچه از معانی انسانی قابل عشق است همراز عالم معشوق و هم ملازم عتبۀ عزت معشوق است او را بعد نبود از فرط قرب و این سری غامض است مجدالدین طالب قَدَّسَ اللّهُ روُحَهُ گفته است:

خواهم که مرا خود غم او خو باشد

گر دست دهد غمش چه نیکو باشد

هان ای دل بیدل غم او دربرگیر

تا چشم زنی خود غم او او باشد

ای برادر آن معنی که قابل عشق است از فرط قرب بخواب مبتلا نشود و او را بیداری چون محبوب لازمۀ وجود است بلکه او بمحض عنایت او در هودج شهودست اما در خواب آه و هزار آه جان خون گرفته چون مطالعۀ آینۀ صفای دل کند؟

فصل ۱۰۶

ای عزیز چون در مبادی اشراق انوار جلال وهم و عقل در زاویۀ عدم متواری شوند بر لوح دل اگرچه مهذب بود و مستعد که نقش کندو چون حجاب عزت برنخیزد عکس چگونه ظاهر شود بر آینۀ صقالت یافتۀ دل؟

در جام نیاید ای پسر بحر

این عشوه مخر که بیشمار است

در سخنان شیخ ابوعلی فارمدی قَدَّسَ اللّهُ رُوحَهُ آمده است که چون بنده را در بیشعوری از حدود انسانیت بیرون برند و از عالم ملکیت در آن بیشعوری برتر شود روا بود که انوار تجلّی ذات بی کیف بر وی افتد اما اگر بمثل کوه بود مندک گردد و اگر قائم بقوت نبوت بود مؤید بتأئید رسالت بود بمیرد و راه فناء ابد برگیرد جَعَلَهُ دَکَّاً وَخَرَّ موسی صَعِقا سرّاین معنی است.

فصل ۱۰۷

در مبادی عشق عاشق را ریائی بود با خلق و با خود و با معشوق اما خلق چنان بود که عشق در دل دارد و برای سقوط جاه اظهار نکند و از آن معنی خفی که چون آتش در باطنش افتاده است کس را اخبار نکند اخبار برخلاف حال کند اگرچه بباطن در آتش بود بظاهر خرم و خوش بود:

تا جان دارم عشق تو در جان دارم

وز خلق جهان بجمله پنهان دارم

از درد تو من ننالم ای مایۀ عمر

چون درد ترا بجای درمان دارم

و ریای با خود چنان بود که عشق را بی خودی شمارد و از قوت نفس زخم عشق بمرهم بردارد و حال خود از خود بپوشد با نفس جامۀ صبردرپوشد و از درد نخروشد و این دشوارتر بود و نفس درین حال بیدارتر بود و ازخودی بیزارتر بود و روا بود که نفس لوامۀ وی باقوت بود دلش را ملامت کند گوید در بیخودان نظر کن پس در عالم بی خودی سفر کن سرمایۀ ایشان را در نظر آر پس دل از نقد خود بردار نباید که کیسۀ وجود تهی شود و کنار ازو پرنگردد و در این بندگی بماند چنانکه بیشتر نگردد:

می ترس دلا از آن که سرمایۀ عمر

از دست تو کم شود تو مفلس مانی

و روا بود که نفس لوامه گوید ای تر دامن دم درکش و سر در گریبان حیرت کش قدر خود بشناس و اندازۀ عشق او بدان تو ذرۀ و او آفتاب اگرچه ذره را آفتاب سبب ظهورست فاما او را طاقت مقاومت آن نورست او پادشاه است و تو گدا و گدا را بر پادشاه عشق آوردن موجب هلاکی باشد و از غایت بی باکی باشد:

او پادشهست و تو گدائی زنهار

تا سر نکنی در سر کارش هشدار

و ریا با معشوق چنان بود که عشق را ازو نهان دارد و درد در میان جان دارد در خلا دیده او چون دیدۀ گریان بود و در ملالبش چون لب برق خندان بود و این عظیم دشوار بود اما زود پرده دریده شود اگر بمثل موئی شود در زلف معشوق هم نهان ماند و انگشت نمای شود زیرا که رنگ معشوق دیگر بود و رنگ عاشق دیگر و آنچه در کتاب سوانح گفته است بدین معنی قریب است:

چون زرد بدید رویم آن شیرین کار

گفت او که دگر بوصلم امید مدار

زیرا که تو صد منی شدی در دیدار

تو رنگ خزان داری و من رنگ بهار

و درین هر سه مقام عاشق بهستی خود موصوف بود و بخود معروف و چون هستیش در پرتو انوار معشوق روی به نیستی آورد علت برخیزد عاشق را درین مقام با کسی روی نباید و از لوث ریا بکلی پاک گردد و عیار و بی باک گردد و آن را که در مقام اتحاد مقر شود او را چه جای روی و ریا بود:

با من بودم بخود ریا بود مرا

وز دست غمت بسی بلا بود مرا

با دل گفتم چو از خودی رسته شدم

کان روی و ریا بگو چرا بود مرا

فصل ۱۰۸

عاشق در عشق تا بخود قائم است اخلاص و ریا هر دو وصف او را لازمست و بدان از معشوق محجوب، چون اوصاف او در او بقوت عشق باطل شوند و در خود از خود فانی بماند و ببقای محبوب باقی درین مقام لاریاءٌ وَلااخْلاصٌ لاهَلاکٌ وَلاخَلاصٌ ای برادر عاشق را رویست از آن روی برویست و کار معشوق بر خلاف اینست از آن بر سر کوی او از کشته پشته‌هاست حکیم گوید:

برسر کویت بسی کشته و مرده ولی

کشته نیابد قصاص مرده نیابد کفن

مَنْ قَتلتُه فَاَنَا دَیِتُهُ غوری عظیم دارد در بیان نتوان آورد کسی سرش نمیداند زبان درکش زبان درکش.

فصل ۱۰۹

بیشتر سبب هلاک عاشق درین راه از افشاء سر معشوق است زیرا که در عالم طریقت اِفشاءُ سِرِ الرُّبوبیِة کُفْرُ ثابت است و کفر بعد از ایمان بغیرت معشوق ارتداد بود و ارتداد موجب قتل مَنْ بَدّلُ دینَهُ فاَّقْتُلوُهُ شبلی قدس اللّهُ روحه گفت در آن روز که حسین منصور را قدس اللّه روحَهُ بباب الطاف آن جلوه بود در مقابلۀ او بماندم تا شب و بعضی از اسرار در نظر آوردم چون شب درآمد آنجا توقف نمودم تا بر باقی اسرار واقف شوم بجمال ذوالجلال مکاشف شدم بی ناز عرضه داشتم و گفتم بار خدایا این بندۀ بود از اهل توحید مکاشف باسرار عشق و مقبول درگاه حکمت درین واقعه چه بود خطاب آمد که یادَلقُ کوشِفَ بِسرّ مِنْ اَسْرار نافَافْشاها فَنَزَلَ بِهِ ماتَری گفتم چون کشتی هدراست فرمود لایادَلْقُ مَنْ قَتْلتُه فَانَادِیَتُهُ:

گر من کشمت دم مزن و باک مدار

چون من ویت کشتۀ عشق خویشم

بزرگی گوید از بزرگان طریقت.

گفتم که بگونه رخم کاه مکن

واحوال رخم بکام بدخواه مکن

گفت او که اگر رضای من میطلبی

چون من کشمت دم مزن و آه مکن

فصل ۱۱۰

چون سلطان عشق در بارگاه جان عاشق بار دهد باظهار اَلَسْتُ برَبِّکُم بَلی از نهاد عاشق برآید لکن میان عشق عاشق و دلال معشوق پرده بی شمار است اما پرده‌ها در غایت لطافت و رقت است واگر نه بَلی اَرِنی و رای حجاب غلیظ ممکن نبود. ای درویش هفتاد هزار حجاب است اما نوری اِنّ اللّهِ سَبْعین اَلَفِ حجابٍ مِن نورِه و آن سه حجاب که از نظر خلیل جلیل در اوان شهود برخاست از آن هفتاد هزار حجاب بود.

فصل ۱۱۱

در عرف عشق بدید جمال حاصل آید اما نزدیک این ضعیف عشق در وجود موجودست اما از راه قوت بدید جمال معشوق به فعل می‌آید و اثر ظاهر می‌کند چنانکه غضب و رضا و ضحک در وجود همه موجودند اما مکون هر یک بواسطۀ که بدو منوط است در ظهور می‌آید و این نوع را می‌گویند از ظاهر بباطن می‌شود اما تاشغاف بیش نمی‌رسد و این پرده‌ایست بر روی دل قَدْشَغَفَها حُبّا سر این معنی است باز آتش عشق حقیقی شعله از میان جان برآرد نارُ اللّهِ الْمُوقَدَةَ التی تَطَّلعُ عَلَی الاَفْئِدة مؤید این سرست در عشق که در بدایتمجازی بود و بآخر حقیقی شود دل عظیم در احتراق بود زیرا که ظاهرو باطنش سوخته گردد و این سر آن سخن است که عاشقان کار دیده گویند که عشق خانمان خود بسوزد یُحَزِّبُونَ بُیُوتَهُمْ بِاَیْدِیهِمْ آن یکی آتش که بواسطۀ دید جمال بر افروزد در ظاهر دل آویزد و آن دگر آتش از میان خانۀ خانه برآیددر باطن دل افتد دل را در میان این دو آتش از کجا طاقت مقاومت بود چون دل نماند بجای دل دلدار اثبات یابد و این نفی و اثباتیست بیواسطه لاوالا در استماع بهش باش که نهنگان غیرت دهان بازماند و در کمین گاه نشسته و سر از لجۀ غیرت برآورده:

گفتم که دلم گفت کبابی کم گیر

گفتم چشمم گفت سرابی کم گیر

گفتم که تنم گفت که در عالم عشق

بسیار خرابست خرابی کم گیر

فصل ۱۱۲

در ابتدای عشق عاشق خام بود رؤیت محبوب از برای دفع آتش ولع بخواهد چون طاقت سوختن ندارد و قوت دل برداشتن ندارد و این خواست معشوق بود برای خود و در معنی این خود را خواستن بود و آنکه خود خواه بود نه بر راه بود چون کار بنهایت رسد خود را برای او خواهد و سخن در این گفته شده است آن را که در میدان سربازان سر گوی باید کرد و در خم چوگان قهر آورد او را از کجا رای خودخواهی بود یا پروای طلب شاهی بود.

در معرکه یلان تو سرباز

گر عاشق صادق تو سرباز

چون تیغ بلاش بر تو آید

از هستی خویشتن تو سرباز

فصل ۱۱۳

بیابان بی پایان عشق مردم خوار است اگر عاشقی را برگ مسافرت بود دست در شاخ بیمرادی زند بلکه نهال هستی از چمن وجود برکند و در دریای نیستی افکند:

در بادیه گر هیچ سفر خواهی کرد

بر آتش عاشقی گذر خواهی کرد

در آرزوی لعبت حسنش بدو دست

رخساره پر از خون جگر خواهی کرد

فصل ۱۱۴

عشق لؤلؤئیست شاهوار اما در قعر بحر جان بیکران جا می‌دارد اگر عاشق خواهد که شاهوار بر سریر عزت برآید و پادشاه کردار در بارگاه قربت درآید مثقلۀ طلببر پای وقت استوار باید کرد پس عزیمت آن دریای خونخوار باید کرد لباس هستی برباید انداخت و خود را مرده وار در باید انداخت تا آن لؤلؤ ثمین برآرد یا روزگار بر خود بسر آرد:

یا تاج وصال دوست بر سر بنهد

یا در ره جست و جوی او سر بنهد

فصل ۱۱۵

آشنائی عاشق با معشوق محالست و طالب روشنائی در عالم عشق ضلال است هودج عز معشوق بر اوج قافلۀ قاف کبریاست و نشو ونمای عاشق در حضیض سفلی، نه او را حلول و نزول از عالم عزت جایز نه این را صعود و ترقی از حضیض حدوث ممکن:

از عشق دلا کسی بجائی نرسد

کو را ز وجود خود بلائی نرسد

چون عشق بنزد عقل ملک ابدست

ملک ابدی بهر گدائی نرسد

فصل ۱۱۶

در آن حال که عاشق خود را بمعشوق نزدیکتر داند او دورتر بود و معشوق از او با نفورتر بود.

واقف شوی ای پسر بر اسرار غمش

گرهیچ گذر کنی ببازار غمش

آن را که تو نزدیک باو میدانی

آویخته بین ز دور بردار غمش

ای عزیز معشوق سلطان ولایت وجود عاشقست بقهر و غلبه فرو گرفته است و در وی بتقلب و کبریا و نفور متصرف شده هرگاه که عاشق قصد عالم قربت کند بتیغ قهرش پست کند و گوید اَلْمُلکُ عَقیمِ واگر بیچاره سر از لجۀ مودت برآرد و در عالم وداد قدمی نهد ناوک جان دوز بر دیدۀوقتش زند که السُلْطانُ لاضِدَّلَهُ

او پادشهست و عاشق زار

بر درگه او فتاده خاکست

گر بر کشدش کسی شود او

ورنه تو بدان که درهلاکست

آن مقتدای اهل تحقیق احمد غزالی قَدَّسَ اللّهِ رُوحَهُ گفته است عاشق زمین ذلت است و معشوق آسمان عزت او با ذلت این کی فراهم آید و ناز او با نیاز این کی بهم شود او چارۀ این و این بیچارۀ او:

هم سنگ زمین و آسمان خون خوردم

نی سیر شدم نه با کسی خو کردم

آهو بمثل رام شود با مردم

تو می‌نشوی چه کرد حیلت کردم

بیمار را دارو ضرورتست اما دارو را بیمار ضرورت نیست:

نی حسن ترا شرف زبازار منست

بت را چه زیان که بت پرستش نبود

فصل ۱۱۷

عشق راکب مرکب جانست اگرچه جان متصرف عالم ارکان است دل محل صفات عشق شود بدین نسبت عشق غیبی بود چون نفس او بحجب عزت خود محتجب است ذات و صفات او یک نقطه بیش نیست اگر عشق را تعلق بعالم حدوث بودی او را با اوصاف او تکثر بودی نه وحدت و اگر بقدم متعلق بودی وصف او زاید بودی بر ذات اما نه ذات بودی نه غیر ذات و او یک نقطه است بدین نسبت نه با عاشق آمیزد و نه در معشوق همانا معنی رابطۀ اوست که چون یکی بکشد دیگری بجنباند و این معنی در بیان نگنجد، ای برادر عشق نه معشوق است و نه عاشق با آنکه هم خود معشوق است و هم عاشق اگر نسبت بحدوث دارد نه عاشق است و نه معشوق واسطه است میان هر دو و اگر نسبت بقدم دارد هم عاشق است و هم معشوق و هم عشق.

فصل ۱۱۸

آنچه بر لوح دل نقش آن پدید می‌شود روا بود که مقصود همان بود علی التعیین و روا بود که نبود و مدار این اصل بر آنست که هر نقش که بر لوح دل پدید می‌آید روح بمطالعه لوح دل آن معنی در ضبط آرد اما وهم همیشه در کمین گاه است آن نقش را بزودی در خود می‌گیرد و آن صورت را منفسخ شده در حس مشترک نقشی می‌انگیزد و در خزانۀ حافظه می‌نهد چون در بیداری و هشیاری از خواب و مستی حاصل می‌شود آن صورت را حفظ بر روح عرض می‌کند منفسخ کرده و باطل شده صد هزار فریاد از روح عاشق برمیآید زیرا که او تصوری دیگر کرده بود و گمان وصول برده اینجا نقش دیگر برآمد و کار برعکس شد لذت وصال بالم فراق بدلگشت.

فصل ۱۱۹

چون حقیقت عشق ظاهر گردد و آفتاب حسن معشوق از افق دلربائی طالع گردد عاشق در پرتو آن نور آید نه معشوق زیرا که پروانه در طلب شمع پرزند تا خود را بسوزد نه شمع در طلب پروانه شود و این معنی از استغنای معشوقست و افتقار عاشق. اما ای عزیز عاشق از سر خود تواند خاست و خود را فدای راه عشق تواند کرد اما معشوق را تعزز و کبریا نگذارد که ملاحظۀ حال درهم شده عاشق کند عجب او بلاء این و این فدای او و این خواهد که برای او باشد این در حوصلۀ او نگنجد اگرچه بقای پروانه در دوری آتش است اما از کمال عشق طاقت دوری ندارد که در قرب بماند برگ آن ندارد که در بعد بماند این تواند که خود را بسوزد این نتواند که بخود او را برافروزد تواند که در آتش سوزد اما نتواند که آتش شود اما چون راه یابد خود را بی محابا درافکند و مرادش همه آن بود که یک نفس او شود اگر چه در نفس دیگرش براه خاکستری برون اندازد اما از آن باک ندارد الم این بعد در لذت آن قرب مندرج گردد اگر بمثل عاشق را سرمایۀ عمر در آن صرف شود که یک نفس در عالم اوئی او بار یابد بسیار باشد آنچه شنودۀ از توکل و تفویض و تسلیم و غیر آن جمله زاد راه است و ساز کار عشق در این عالم الغَناءُ فی التّوحید می‌باید تا کاری برآید چیزی را که در فنا باید طلبید تو در بقا طلبی کی یابی اَفْنَیتَ عُمْرَکَ فی عِمارة باطِنِکَ آنچه عاشق خود را در نظر معشوق بردار می‌کند یا نعره بخود برمی‌آرد آن تجلد است و تجاسر و قوت خود نمودن در تحمل بار بلاء او و آن جمله اسباب بعد است. الحذر الحذر.

فصل ۱۲۰

آن یکی در حرارت عشق کاردی برداشت تا خود را ذبح کند معشوق را فضولی او معلوم بود و می‌دانست که جان را بنزد او قدریست نظر بسوی او نکرد تا زودتر زحمت وجود را از راه رهروان مهر او بردارد. هستی و توانائی معشوق را زیبد زیرا که این جمله ساز وصال است و ساز وصال معشوق را باید و نیستی و ناتوانی عاشق را باید زیرا که این جمله ساز فراق است و ساز فراق عاشق را باید و این لطیفه لطیف است. ای برادر وصال در مرتبه عاشقی آن پیرایه اوست و در مرتبه معشوقی حلیۀ این واین از آنست که او همیشه در ناز باشد و این پیوسته بر خاک خواری و ابتلا باشد اما تعزز او را تذلل این برای ظهور بکارست بامر اَلْاَشیاءُ تُعْرفُ بِاَضْدادِها پدید آید بار عشق از این علائق و عوائق دورست و در پردۀ نور خود مستورست او را با وصال و فراق کاری نیست و این صفات گرد سرادقات وجود او نگردد:

عشقست که دلیل راحت جان منست

در هستی او قوت ارکان منست

دردی که از او برین دلم می‌باشد

من درد نخوانمش که درمان منست

اَلْعِشقُ جُنونٌ الهی الْعِشْقُ بَحْرُ الْبَلاءَ وَبَلاءٌ وَکُلّهُ عَزِّ چون عشق نشان بی نشانیست او را بوصال و فراق چه تعلق

عشقست نشان بی نشانی

از خود چو برون شوی بدانی

حقیقت درین معنی آنست که وصال وصف معشوق است و فراق نعت عاشق مگر در اوان حال که صفات عاشق در عاشق فانی شود در محور وهم او باقی بوصف معشوق شودو وصل سازگار عاشق و روی معشوق بدو آرد تا این خود نماند و صفت با موصوف نیست شود و ساز وصال معشوق هم معشوق شود قلم اینجا رسید و سر بشکست.

فصل 121

آن را که وجود زحمت راه محبوب بود و خیالش گناه او را ساز وصال از کجا بود:

اذا قُلْتُ ما اَذْنَبْتُ قالَتْ مُجیبَةٌ

وُجُودُکَ ذَنْبٌ لایُقاسُ بِهِ ذَنْبٌ

عاشقی بود گرم رو بر راه گذر محمود سبکتکین اَنَارللّهُ بُرهانَهُ پیوسته باستادی و چون محمود برگذشتی او چشم دروی بگشادی و بعزتی تمام در وی نظر کردی و جان در خطر کردی روزی موکب مرکب دراز آن پادشاه باداد برسید درویش عاشق دست در عنان آورد محمود از رعونت سلطنت تازیانۀ بر وی زد درویش در طرب آمد محمود را از آن طرب عجب آمد از موجب آن پرسید درویش گفت در ضمن این طرب سریست بر ملا نتوان گفت پادشاه چون بخلوت خانه انس مر خواص را بار داد درویش را حاضر کردند و از سر کارش پرسید گفت مرا با ایاز عشق است دلم از درد هجران او می‌سوزد اکنون کارم بجان رسید صبر را در کار من اثر نماند و مرا از خود خبر نماند از شعلۀ آتش عشق او چنان درگدازم که بوجود خود نمی‌پردازم بر او از تو غیرت می‌برم یا از او برخیز یا چو من در ذیل بیمرادی آویز محمود گفت عجب مرا هفتصد پیل است و مملکت تا لب دریای نیل و خزاین و دفاین عالم در تصرف کلک من است و همه روی زمین ملک منست با ایازم عشق است و مرادم از وی برنمی‌آید ترا که زمان طربی و نازشی نیست این تجاسر از کجاست گفت ای پادشاه آنچه تو داری ساز وصالست آن ایاز را باید و اینها که من دارم از عشق و شوق و درد و قلق ساز فراقست ترا باید اگر عاشقی ودر عشق چون من صادقی بیا تا حسن ایاز را حکم کنیم و ببینیم که میل او بنیازمندی من است یا بسرافرازی تو، پادشاه ازین سخن دم درکشید و دانست که راستی پیرایۀ حسن معشوق است و چون درین کار حکم شود میل نکند و نیاز او را بر ناز من برنگزیند:

معشوق ز عاشق شکسته

واللّه که همی نیاز خواهد

کو هستی خویش را همیشه

درمسند عز و ناز خواهد

عاشق فریاد برآورد و گفت ای پادشاه عنان رعونت بمالک بگذار و اگر صادقیچون من وجود را در آتش شوق درآر ای شاه با چنین معشوقی بمراد خرم و خوش در بهشت دلکش بودن اولیتر یا در مزبلۀ طبیعت گفت هر آینه آن وصال مؤبد باید و این عزت مخلد. عاشق گرم رو شفرۀ خود برآورد و وجود خود را در پای معشوق درآورد تا اجتماع او با او در موعد وصل بود و بی زحمت فصل بود.

فصل 122

در عشق ساز وصل عین معشوقست و ساز فراق عین عاشق اگر سعادت مساعدت کند و عاشق را وصال جمال نماید وجود عاشق بکمال قریبتر بود زیرا که او را این بود و این را او درین مقام عشق حاصل عاشق معشوق بود و حاصل معشوق عاشق اگر ذوق داری جانم فدای تو باد: فَمَن مِثْلی وَرَبُّ الْعَرْش مَحْبوُبی:

من پادشهی شوم به پیدا و نهان

گر حاصل من تو باشی ای جان جهان

فصل 123

اگر آتش عشق دل عاشق نسوختی و بباد هواش برندادی بودی که عکس جمال معشوق در وی پدید آمدی و درین مقام اجتماع معشوق و عشق بودی در بیت الاحزان عاشق و سر بی یَسمَعُ و بی یَبصُرُ ظاهر شدی اما آن مقام درین عالم که سخن می‌رود ناتمام می‌نماید که زیرا خانۀ خراب را مالک چه دوست و چه دشمن چون عشق غیور خانه ویران کن جان است و سوزندۀ ارکان، حدیث وصل کردن با وی از خامی است همانابوصول رایات سلطان وصال عشق رخت بر لاشۀ وجود عاشق می‌نهد و از دروازه هستی بدر میکند و بصحرای عدم می‌فرستد سر رشته این معنی در ضبط نمی‌آید همانا این پیچاپیچ از شکن زلف معشوق است و دل را در آن شکستگی‌ها می‌باید جست:

گفتم جانم گفت برماش طلب

گفتم که دلم گفت همانجاش طلب

گفتم عقلم کرد اشارت سوی زلف

یعنی که درین شکستگیهاش طلب

فصل 124

از آنجا که حقیقت کارست معشوق را از عشق عاشق عارست زیرا که نه سودست و نه زیان اما عشق می‌کوشد تا عاشق را در نظر معشوق آرد و آنچه عشق وجود عاشق را هدف ناوک بلا سازد برای این معنی است که تا او را منظور معشوق کند و معشوق باشد که روی بدو آرد علی التعیین درین مقام فراق باختیار معشوق تمامتر بود و با نظامتر بود از وصال باختیار عاشق زیرا که در مقام اول عاشق منظور می‌شود ودر مقام دویم مهجور می‌شود و این سری بزرگ است درشناخت اختیار چون آیۀ یَخْلُقُ مایَشاءُ وَیختارُ دم درکش اگر وصال اختیار کند نوری نور و اگر فراق اختیار کند منظوری منظور لعمری اُنْظُرْ اِلَیْکَ.. اگر برای منظوری بودی خوش بودی:

از هستی خود اگر گهی دور شوی

بر لشگر بیخودی تو منصور شوی

ناظر نشوی اگر تو بر لشکر عشق

این بس باشد ترا که منظور شوی

فصل 125

مزید مرتبۀ منظوری بر مرتبۀ ناظری بدان بدانی که در آفتاب نگاه کنی، ای عزیز چون نظر آفتاب بر تو بود قوۀ باصرۀ تو بپرتونور او بینا بود و در بینائی توانا بود و چون نظر تو در آفتاببود نور باصرۀ تو بقوت او ضعیف شود و تخلل پذیرد و خوف نابینائی بود بدین نسبت بینائی در منظوری بهتر از آنکه بینائی در ناظری. ای برادر اگر تأثیر نظر ملوک دانستۀ بدانی که منظوری اولیتر، عاشق مغلوب بهتر و منظوری بنسبت ناظری مغلوبیست آنچه خاک زر میشود و سنگ گوهر میشود بیمن منظوریست آن رونده از سوزش عشق خواست که ناظر شود گفت اُنْظُر الیکَ. زخم لَنْ تَرانی بر قوت باصره خورد آن واصل دیگر که در مسند منظوری نَظْرَةً مِنْکَ یَکْفینی می‌گفت برو، درو ناظر شد اَلَم تَرَ اِلی رَبِّکَ.. ای عزیز چون او دیده شود آنگاه دیده شود همو منظور بود و همو ناظر:

چون دیده شوی مراو پس دیده شوی

بیننده تو باشی ای نکوروخود را

فصل 126

اگر خطاب شود عاشق را در هنگام طلب دیدار که برو دیدۀ که شایستۀ دیدار ما باشد بیار تا پرده برداریم ودیده ترا بر جمال خود گماریم چه گوید همانا که لَنْ تَرانی مراد از چنین جوابیست عزیزی گفته است:

گفتم که ز رخ پردۀ عزت بردار

بسیار ببین منتظر آن دیدار

آن یار مرا گفت نفس را هشدار

دیدار قدیمست برو دیده بیار

فصل 127

دیدۀ بینای عاشق در این نشأة معرفتست اگر کاملست کامل و اگر ناقص است ناقص و درد دل ازاینست که کمال و نقصان به نسبت است و در این نشأة بینائی معرفتست در نشأة آخری معرفت بینائی شود. ماکانَتِ الیومَ مَعرِفَتُهُ اِنْقَلَبَتْ غَداًرؤُیتُهُ هرگز این بینائی نبود آن بینائی نبود و من کان فی هذِهِ اَعْمی فَهُوَ فی الْاخِرةِ اَعْمی وَاَضَلُ سَبیلا. یکی از رفقای خود که در معرفت نشانی داشت در واقعه بدیدم قوت باصرۀ او چون ضعیفی از آن جا پرسیدمش گفت مِنْ قِلّةِ الْمَعرِفَةِ مِنْ قِلَّةِ المَعْرِفَةِ آه و هزار آه آن را که امروز او را به بی کیفی شناسد فرداش چون بیند و چون بشناسد.

دردیدۀ من درآی تا خود بینی

کین دیدۀ من سرای دیدار تو نیست

فصل 128

هر چند عز و کبریاست و مجد و بهاست و جباری و قهاریست و عظمت و بزرگواری در قسمت وصف معشوق بود و اضداد آن صفت عاشق و این بدان جهت است که سلطان عشق اثر خود را در عشاق ظاهر کند نه در معشوق زیرا که ساز عشق حسن معشوق است و ملاحت او که ملوح دام عشق است که عشق او را یعنی عاشق را بواسطۀ حسن معشوق صید کند پس قید کند اما عشق داد خود از معشوق بدان ستاند که حسن او را ملوح وار بردام وجود خود می‌بندد و این آن معنی است که عاشق و معشوق هر دو دربند عشقند اینجا معشوق دانۀ دام عشق می‌آید و عاشق صید، عجب آن مرغ قصد التقاط آن دانه می‌کند برای آنکه او را در خود بیابد و قوت او گردد و او خود قوت دانه می‌شود.

فصل 129

همت عاشق در عشق ورای همت معشوق است زیرا که عاشق همت آن دارد که در عالم معشوق بار یابد پس منتهای همت او را باشد. ای درویش منتهای همت عاشق هستی معشوق است تا باشد که پرتو انوار آن هستی بر وی تابد و او را بخود قائم کند و منتهای همت معشوق نیستی عاشق است تا هستی وی را مسلم ماند و زحمت او از راه او برخیزد چون بعین بصیرت بنگری بدانی که درین مقام همت عاشق بلندتر است وَذلِکَ سِرُّ عَزیزٌ لِمَنْ فَهِمَ:

او را که ز تو مراد هستی باشد

او را نه مراد خودپرستی باشد

عالی بودش همت وطرز همه کس

گرچه نظرش ز سوی پستی باشد

فصل 130

صفات معشوق در ظهور نیاید الا بظهور اضداد آن در عاشق. بدین نسبت عاشق و معشوق یکدیگر را ضدانند و هرگز فراهم نیایند مگر آنکه اوصاف عاشق بپرتو انوار معشوق بسوزد و فانی شود درین مقام ممکن بود که ببقای اوصاف معشوق باقی گردد و مؤید گردد بتأییدات قدسی، روحقدسیش چون این باشد چیز دیگر شود نه این باشد.

فصل 131

عاشق همیشه در افتقار بود معشوق همیشه بافتخار بود زیرا که افتقار صفت عاشق است صفت لازمۀ وجود، و افتخار صفت معشوق، صفتی جوهری و ذاتی و افتقار ضد افتخار است و اجتماع محال عقل، افتقار عاشق بمعشوق ظاهر است و استغناء معشوق از عاشق پدید است عاشق افتقار بدو دارد اما معشوق چون خود رادارد او را دارد و او بسرمایۀ حسن غنی است و از برای اکتساب اسباب دنیائی از همه مستغنی است چون او مستغنی بود از غیر و غنی بود بخود هر آینه عاشق بدو مفتقر بود و نیازمند و چون او خود را دارد او بخود غنی است و از غیر مستغنی هر آینه از عاشق و عشق بی نیاز بود و منزه، حاصل معشوق مالک ولایت وجود عاشق است بملکی که زوال پذیر نیست اگر خواجۀ در عرف با بندۀ خود عشق بازد از راه صورت مالک عاشق بود و مملوک معشوق اما از راه معنی مملوک مالک بود و مالک مملوک و این از بوالعجبهای عشق است.

اَدعُوکَ غُلامی ظاهرِاً

وَاَکُونُ فی سِرّی غُلامَکَ

اما اگر بندۀ با مالک عشق آرد در ذل عبودیت او چیزی بیفزاید زیرا که با بندگی افکندگی زیادت شود و در مالک هیچ نیفزاید زیرا که او را خود عز مالکی بود وزیادت در آن همان باشد و آنچه در او نشان در سلوک از هر دو جهان بر خیزد و بقصد در افلاس آویزند و در معرکۀ رجال سر در بازند و خود را در بوتۀ ابتلا بگدازند بلکه از وجود گوئی سازند و در میدان بلا اندازند و از دین و دنیا درگذرند و راه رضاء محبوب در پیش گیرند و اگر نام محبوب ایشان بر زبان غیری بگذرد آتش قهری برافروزند و جان و دل خود را بسوزند زیرا که از سر ملک برتوان خاست و ازدر مالک بر نتوان خاست سر این معنی عزیزدر جوابگفتن مهتر خلیل در امر اَسْلِم و در جواب ناگفتن مهتر حبیب امر فَاعْلَم باید طلبید باشد که جمال نماید مهتر خلیل از سر ملک برخاست اما حبیب از غیرت ازدر مالک برنخاست. ای برادر دست آزادی بدامن عشق نرسد در فقر آزادی میسر است مازاغَ الْبَصَرُ وَ ما طَغی... عبارت از آزادیست در فقر اما د رعشق آزادی ممتنع اَسْری بِعَبْدِهِ... فَاوحی اِلی عَبْدِهِ.... اشارت بدان بندگی است:

برخاک درش فتاده می‌باش مقیم

گو هر دو جهان بسوز از آتش قهر

فصل 132

روا بود که از غلبۀ عشق دل رنگ معشوق گیرد تا چون عاشق نفس برآرد بوی معشوق بمشام وقتش رسد همانا این وقتی بود که در ذکر مغلوب شود و قائم بمذکور گردد و آنچه صدیق در غلبات عشق سر بر زانو می‌نهاد چون نفس بر می‌کشید بوی جگر سوخته بمشام مقدسان میرسید در حال غلبۀ ذکر بود و قائم شدن او بمذکور و آنچه خواجه صلوات اللّه علیه فرمود اِنّی لَاَجِدُ نَفَسَ الرَّحْمنِ مِنْ جانِبِ الْیَمنِ همان سر بود که در بوی جگر سوخته اکابر بود لا اِله اِلَّا اللّهُ یکی از اکابر از خواجه عالم صلعم پرسید که مَتی کُنْتُ ذاکِراً لِرَّبی قالَ اِذا نَسیتَهُ و این از آن اسرار است که آن دل روشن آن شیخ باوقار است فراموشی معشوق در عشق جز در بیشعوری نبود عاشق چون از خود بیشعور شود هر آینه در پرتو آن نور شود از هیبت خود را فراموش کند و چون آثار انوار عظمت بر وی ظاهر شود خود را در او گم کند اِذا نَسیتَهُ درین حال بود ظاهر چنان بود که یکی در حضور پادشاه از کمال عظمت او او را فراموش کند تا در حالی که بخود بازافتد او را از هیئت پادشاه و از کسوت او از حاضران مجلس او پرسند اخبار نتواند کرد و این جمله معنی اِذا نَستهُ است و در کلام مجید آمده است وَاذْکُرْ رَبَّکَ اِذا نَسیتَ. بعضی از ارباب تحقیق گفته‌اند اِذا نَسیتَ نَفْسَک و این مقام مغلوبی است در ذکر و بعضی گفته‌اند اِذا نَسیتَ رَبَّکَ و این در حال مغلوبی است در مذکور وَذلِکَ سِرٌ عَزیزٌ لِمَنْ فَهِمَ.

بر لشکر عشق آنکه منصور بود

از دید وجود خویش مهجور بود

در حالت مغلوبی آن خسته جگر

ذاکر باشد و لیک مذکور بود

فصل 133

در حال مغلوبی روا بود که عاشق را پروای رفتن بدر معشوق نبود اگر چه داند که معشوق از کمال جلال بنزد او نیاید و این از آن بود که از مغلوبی او را در خود یابد و این حال بدشواری دست دهد از آنکه عکس معشوق درآینۀ مصفای دل دائم الحضور بود.

فصل 134

معشوق با نمک جگرخوار بود و بنزد او عاشق سوخته و خوار بود اَذَلُّ الْاَشیاءِ الْمُحبُّ بِمَحْبُوبهِ وَالْفَقیرُ الْطَماعُ ای عزیز ناز معشوق کشیدن دشوار است زیرا که پیوسته معشوق خواهد که داد جمال خود بدهد درین کرشمه جان و دل و دیده و دین و عقل بحبّۀ نیرزد:

جان و دل و دیده‌ام ببازار غمت

واللّه که بحبۀ نیرزد ای جان

فصل 135

کمال جمال معشوق را بخود ادراک نتوان کرد خصوصاً در غلبات عشق که مقام مستی بود و عاشق مغلوب مستی عشق، چه این سکر مانع از ادراک کمال جمال معشوق است و اینجا سری است و آن آنست که استیلا و قوت عشق بر ذات بود و عاشق را در اوان طلب ذات پروای اثبات صفات نبود زیرا که نظر بر وحدت دارد نه بر کثرت بدین نسبت عاشق از ادراک عاجز بود و از ادراک ادراک نیز عاجز بود و اَلْعَجْزُ عَنْ دَرْکِ الْاِدْراکِ اِدْراکٌ این باشد:

ای آنکه بلطف خود کنی درمانم

مگذار مرا بمن که اندر مانم

از غایت مستئی که در عشق مراست

خواهم که ز تو نشان دهم نتوانم

فصل 136

پس عاشق از خود غایب بود و بمعشوق حاضر تا شاهد و مشهود او معشوق بود بلکه معشوق بغلبۀ ذکر حاضر بود و در عالم عشق دائم الحضور و این در مقامی بود که عاشق بیاد معشوق در یاد آید فَاذْکُرُونی اَذْکُرکُمْ. و درین دو لفظ تنبیهیست و وعدۀ.خواجه احمد خوشنام از بیرون شدگان بود حجة الاسلام او را روز عید بدید از وی عیدی خواست گفت آنچه ترا شاید آنست که در آن عید گذشته چون خلق از خروجگاه بازگشتند من در محراب نمازگاه سر بسجده نهادم گفتم خوشنام را عیدی فرست و نقد فرست که دلش را طاقت وعدۀ فردا نیست ندا بگوشم رسید که پیک حضرت رسید سر بردار سر برداشتم هدهدی را دیدم درمنقار رقعۀ از حریر سبز خطی از نور نوشته بود فاذْکُرُونی اَذْکُرکُم ای برادر عزیز این اشارت بعشق معشوق است فهم این را ذوق یابد.

فصل 137

مشاهدۀ معشوق چون عاشق کامل بود مغلوبی آرد چنانکه مجنون بدید لیلی مغلوب شد سر این معانی در معنی اذاکوشِفوا یافت شود و آیۀ جَعَلَهُ دَکّاً وَخَرَّ موسی صَعِقا مؤید این رمز است:

در تو نگرم ز خود برون باید شد

در دست ستمهات زبون باید شد

در عین ظهور تو کمون باید جست

در پردۀ پرده‌ها درون باید شد

فصل 138

چون عشق بحد کمال نرسیده باشد از دید معشوق نیستی و خجلتی بود عاشق را روا بود که دید چون بخود در عشق فتوری ظاهر شود درین حال ارتکاب اخطار مهلک بود زیرا که آن خطر بقوت عشق ارتکاب توان کرد از صادق القولی شنیدم که عاشقی در بحران عشق هر شب از رود هند بگذشتی بسباحت در عین زمستان، در شبی بمحبوب قریبتر شد خالی بر روی او بدید گفت این خال بر رخسار تو از کی بازدید آمده است گفت این مرا مادر زادست اما در نظر تو اکنون آمده است باید که در این شب آن خطر ارتکاب اختیار نکنی که می‌بینم که قوت عشق تو فتوری گرفت آن نصیحت نشنید در آب بسرما هلاک شد زیرا که با خود آمده بود که نظرش بر خال افتاد و این سری عظیم است در مغلوبی جور و ستم معشوق داد نماید و عدل یکی از دوستان اصمعی او را گفت رَأَینا جارِیتَکَ الزَّرقاءَ قالَ هِیَ زَرْقاءُ؟ عَلی سَبیلِ التَّعَجُّبِ یعنیدر غلبات عشق او را از زرقت او آگاهی نبود:

در عشق زدرد جان و از سوزش دل

از خوبیت ای نگار آگاه نیم

فصل 139

دیدۀ عقل از ادراکحقیقت عشق محجوب است عقل را قوت دید نور عشق نباشد زیرا که عشق در مرتبۀ ماوراء عقل است و خود در طوری دیگر عقل را قوت ادراک او نتواند بود عشق دریست در صدف جان نهان و جان در دریای قضا غوص کرده، عقل بر ساحل دریای قضا متوقف می‌شود و از خوف نهنگان بلا قدم پیش نتواند نهاد. ای درویش عقل استاد مکتب معاش و معاد است اگر قدم درین مکتب نهد اطفال این مکتب بآموختن ابجد عشق در کارش آرند عزیزی گفته است:

ابجد عشقت چو بیاموختم

پیرهن محنت و غم دوختم

کار غمت هم ز غمت ساختم

دام غمت هم ز غم اندوختم

حاصل عشقت سه سخن بیش نیست

سوختم و ساختم و توختم

فصل 140

جان را در طلب سوزیست و دل را دردی و تن را تحولی و سر را قلقی، آن تحول تن و درد دل و سوز جان و قلق سر عشق است و اطراف ولایت وجود در تصرف او و بی او از او اخبار نتوان کرد و با او خود امکان اخبار نبود و این بس عجب است زیرا که بجای او همو بود بدین نسبت مخبر همو بود و مخبر عنه همو بود و این در عقل محال است.

فصل 141

در فصول پیشین نوشته‌ام که عشق را توجه بجهتی نیست فَاَیْنَما تُولَوُّوا فَثَمَّ وَجْهُ اللّه اکنون میگویم حدیث اِنَّ اللّهُ جَمیلٌ یُحِبُّ الجَمال برخوان و بیقین بدان که عاشق آن جمال می‌باید بود یا عاشق محبوبش و این رمزی قوی است در دانستن عشق. قصه دراز مکن تو هممحبّیو هم محبوب زیرا که جمال بطبع محبوبست بدین نسبت محبی و چون سر خَلَقَ اللّهُ ادَمَ عَلی صوُرَتِهِ در تو پدید شده است بدین نسبت محبوبی، پس روا بود که عاشق در خود نگرد معشوق را بیند دوست گیرد و درین مقام تعدد برخیزد عاشق و معشوق و عشق یکی باشد:

بردار تعدد و تکثر / تا وحدت او پدید گردد

فصل 142

چنانکه عاشق با کمال عجز داد عشق نتواند داد معشوق داد جمال خود نتواند داد با کمال قدرتای درویش آن معنی که او را عاشق جمال خود کرده است غالب است بنسبت خود همانا این معنی است که آتش در خرمن وجود گلگون زده است:

آن معنی قدسی که او را / مفتون جمال خویش کرده است

جان همه عاشقان عالم / از ضربت عشق ریش کرده است

فصل 143

محبت محبوب هم وصف لازمۀ وجود اوست زیرا که اعراض رابدرگاه او راه نباشد و محبت محب هم صفت لازمۀ اوست زیرا که در اوان وجود و ابداع در حقیقت وجود او تعبیه شده است و این سخن سر این معنی است که ارباب تحقیق گفته‌اند یُحِبُّونَهُ از آثار انوار یُحِبُهُم پدید آمده است:

اول از او بداین حکایت عشق / پس بگو عشق را بدایت نیست

رهبر راه عشق حضرت اوست / او علیمست که جز عنایت نیست

فصل 144

هر چیزی که هست ببلا بکاهد بنعما بیفزاید مگر عشق که ببلا بیفزاید و بنعما بکاهد. ای درویش از آنجا که حقیقت عشق است باید که بهیچ نیفزاید و نکاهد اَلْمَحَبَّةُ لایَزیدُ باْلبِرِّ وَلایَنْقُصُ بِالْجَفاءِ اما بدانکه عشق آتش است و هیزم او تن و جان و دل و دیدۀ عاشق، تا آن دروی نیفتد شعله برنیارد و حرارت او نیفزاید.

فصل 145

حسین منصور را قَدَّسَ اللّهُ رُوحَهُ پرسیدند لذت عشق در کدام وقت کمال گیرد فرمود در آن ساعت که معشوق بساط سیاست گسترده باشد و عاشق را برای قتل حاضر کرده و این در جمال او حیران شود و گوید:

او بر سر قتل و من در او حیرانم / کان راندن تیغش چه نکو می‌راند

فصل 146

یکیرا ازمشایخ طریقت که بوصف عشق موصوف بود گفتند ای شیخ لذت عاشق در چه وقت است گفت فی اِفْشاءِ الْمَحبُوبِ عِنْدَ غَفْلَةِ الرَّقیبِ محبوب پرده برگرفته و رقیب عشق خفته و عاشق پروانه وار در بریق انوار روی او پرواز در گرفته:

آن شب که مرا ازتو خیالی باشد / بنگر که مرا در آن چه حالی باشد

در رفتن شب هزار تأخیر بود / درآمدن صبح ملالی باشد

فصل 147

تا عاشق را ازمعشوق طمع وصال بود هر روز بنزد وی ذلیل تر بود ذَلَّ مَنْ طَمَعَ سر این سخن است چنانکه زلیخا تا طمع وصال یوسف می‌داشت هر روز از وصال دورتر بود و از فراق رنجورتر چون طمع از خودبینداخت و با محبت صرف بساخت جمال و جوانی بازیافت و با کمال کامرانی بسوی محبوب شتافت و آنچه گفته‌اند بدین معنی قریب است:

ملکست محبت تو و خلقیست منتظر / این کاردولتست کنون تا کرا رسد

من خود کیم که صافی وصلش طمع کنم / اینم نه بس که دردی دردت بمارسد

فصل 148

این بیچاره را رفیقی بود در علم و ورع بمرتبۀ اعلی، مشایخ حرمین بروزگار او تبرک کردندی و علمای خراسان بدو تقرب نمودندی روزی او را دیدم رنجور شده و از همۀ مرتبه‌ها دور شده از حالش پرسیدم گفتند او را باباجراتی عشق پدید آمده است و او با ایشان بزبان ایشان در گفت و شنید آمده است:

کشتگان خنجر تسلیم را / هر زمان از غیب جانی دیگرست

عقل کی داند که این رمز از کجاست / کین جماعت را زبانی دیگرست

شنیدم که یک چندی برآمد آن صاحب جمال که در ملاحت بی نظیر بود و در صباحت بی شبیه گفت دانم که از راه برخیزی اما همانا که از چاه برنخیزی وی گفت تا با خود بودم در کار خودم راه خلاص می‌طلبیدم و چون صید در دام می‌طپیدم اکنون در کار توأم و مشتاق دیدار توأم آن دلربای جان افزای برای تجربه سبوی خمر بر دوش او نهاد و چنگی طرب فزای در گوشش نهاد و باین علامت او را گرد بازار نیشابور برآورد و درین حال با خود می‌گفت:

اسرار خرابات بدستان نبری / تا سجده به پیش بت پرستان نبری

پاکیزه نگردی تو ز آلایش خود / تا بر سر خود سبوی مستان نبری

چون روزی چند برآمد آن خورشید آسمان صباحت و آن فلک ملاحت او را گفت ای عاشق گرم رو دانم که از سر این و آن برخیزی اما همانا که از سرجان برنخیزی آن عاشق گرانمایه سبک بر بالائی برآمد و از شدت شوق از پای درآمد چون آن صاحب جمال آن نهال نو بر آمده را از آسیب صاعقۀ قضا بسته دید جامۀ شکیبائی بر خود بدرید و در حضور اقربای خود در حال دست بزیر سر او آورد و کاردی بخود برآورد و میگفت چون چنین بود اجتماع درد از سرور خوشتر، اهل نیشابور هر دو را در یک لحظه در یک لحد دفن کردند و از رفتن ایشان بسی تأسف خوردند:

جان درین ره نعل کفش آمد بیندازش ز پای / کی توان با کفش پیش تخت سلطان آمدن

فصل 149

عشق با خود غیرتی تمام دارد و از کمال غیرت خود با معشوق و عاشق آشنا نمی‌شود و همانا چون آتش است در سنگ مکمون از کمال غیرتی که با خود دارد در ظهور نمی‌آید و چون ظاهر می‌شود در هلاک عاشق که دلش محل اوست می‌کوشد تا باز در کمین مکون رود و جمال خود را از دیدۀ اغیار بپوشد عطاف گفت روزی گرد کعبۀ معظمه طواف می‌کردم و باهوای نفس مصاف می‌کردم آواز مخدرۀ بسمع من آمد که می‌گفت یا مالِکَ یَوْمِ الدّین وَالْقَضاءِ وَخالِقَ الْاَرْضِ وَالْسَّماءِ اِرْحَمْ اَهْلَ الْهَواءِ وَاسْتَقْلِهُمْ مِنْ عَظیمّ الْبَلاءِ اِنَّکَ سَمیعُ الدُّعاءِ عطاف گفت در وی نگریستم او را دیدم در حسن بر صفتی که چشم جادوش بناوک غمزه جگر اصفیا خستی و عنبر گیسوش دام هوا بر پای وقت اولیا بستی:

لَها مُقْلَتا ریمِ فَلَوْ نَظَرَتْ بِها / اِلی عابدِ قَد قام لِلّهِ وَابْتَهَلَ

لَاصْبَحَ مَشْغُوفا مُعَنِّی بِذِکْرها / کانَ لَمْ یَصُمْ لِلّهِ یَوْماً وَلَمْ یُصَلِّ

وی را گفتم ای لطیفۀ لطف یزدانی وای سرمایۀ حیات جاودانی از خدای شرم نداری که پرده از پیش اسرار برداریخصوصاً در چنین جایگاه با عظمت و در چنین بارگاه با هیبت، گفت اِلَیْکَ عَنّییا عَطّافُ ترا که آتش بلا نسوخته است بلکه این آتش در کانون دلت نیفروخته است ازین سر چه خبر و ازین معنی چه اثر گفتم سَیّدی مَاالحُبُّ گفت عشق از آن عیان تر است که بقول عیان شود چون آتش در سنگ مکمونست و چون دُرّدر صدف مکنون است چون عیان شود ارکان وجود پنهان شود جان سوزد آنکه گوید درد عشق بی درمانست و بیابان عشق بی پایانست:

وَحیدٌ عَنِ الْخُلانِ فی کُلِّ بَلْدَةٍ / اِذاَعُظَم الْمَطلوُبُ قَلّ المُساعِدُ

فصل 150

اگر عاشق را از معشوق طلب بر و نوال بود و امید کرم و افضال بود گویندش بر درآی و خود را از غم مفرسای هاهُنا النوالُ مَطْرُوحٌ وَبابُ الْاِجابَةِ مَفْتُوحٌ اما اگر طمعش شهود بود و یا قبل الخمود وجود بود مَریضٌ لایُعادٌ گردد مُریدٌ لایُرادُ شود هر قصه که نویسد مردود بود و هر دعا که گوید باجابت نرسد کذلک موسی سَاَلَ عن اشیاءَ وَاُجیبَ قال قداُوتیتَ سُوءً لَکَ یا موسی. فَلمّا قال مِن قَلقِ الشُّوق اَرِنی اُنظُر الیکَ قال لن ترانی .. هکذا قَهْرُ الاَحْباب هکذا قَهْرُ الاَحْبابِ.

فصل 151

جان یک جام از خمخانۀ عشق نوش کرد و در مهامۀ شوق چنان گم شد که کس انگشت شناخت بروی نمی‌تواند نهاد و عقل در معرفت او بر کس نمی‌تواند گشاد چون مست عشق او بود او بود قُلِ الرُّوحُ مِنْ اَمْر رَبّی... او را مستی عشق بدین مرتبه رسانید و از همه برهانید زهی پیوندی که بواسطۀ عشق او را با او پدید آمده است اگر خواهی که بدانی در تأثیرش نگر که مرده زنده میکند عجب اگر او می‌کند بدین می‌کند و اگر این می‌کند بدو می‌کند و این عجب رمزیست از ادراک عقل بیرون. استادی خیاط عشق بنگر بصنعت رقعۀ حدوث بر دامن سرادق قدم می‌دوزد منْ اَمْر رَبّی... حرف تبعیض بیفکن که تجربه و تبعیض در عالم معنی نبود و آنچه با عالم خلق پیوندد الّا لَهُ الخَلقُ وَالْاَمْرُ... دارد او را از راه بردارد آنچه بماند اوست و این سر تأملی خواهد تا معلوم شود.

فصل 152

در عشق کار چشم برونق تراست از کار دل اگر چه با یکدیگر پیوسته حسد میکنند و پیوسته از یکدیگر می‌برند:

اَلقَلْبُ یَحْسُدْ عَیْنی لَذَّةَ النَّظَرِ / وَالعَینُ یَحْسُدُ قَلْبی لذَّةَ الفِکرِ

ای درویش چشم عاشق بارگاه جمال معشوق است از آن مردم دیده همیشه در حرکتست و حرکت وی از دو وجه بیرون نیست یا از شادی آنکه با معشوق هم خانه شده است در تقلب است یا از خوف مغلوبی خود از شدت ظهور او بی او بد و در تقلب است و نیکوتر در این معنی آنست که اهل انطباع گفته‌اند که چون صورت مرئی در محل رؤیت منطبع شود دیده دیده شود روحانی گفته است:

چشمی دارم همه پر از صورت دوست / بادیده‌مراخوش‌است چون دوست در اوست

ازدیده و دوست فرق کردن نه نکوست / یا اوست بجای دیده یا دیده خود اوست

فصل 153

دل آتشکده‌ایست پر آتش شوق و حیوانی که از آتش خیزد چون آنست چنانکه حیوة آن جانور بآتش است بقاء عشق بآتش شوق است و ازین حال آن کس خبر دارد که در آتش عشق مقر دارد اما آتش شوق بوالعجب آتشی است عشق را پرورش میدهد و آنچه عشق عاشق را بکلی نیست نمی‌کند سبب همانست که آتش شوق که محل عشق است سازنده است نه سوزنده چون آتش طور انَسَ مِنْ جانِبِ الطُّورِ ناراً. درخت سبزو تر و آتش در غایت احراق و اشراق، عجب اگر احراق وصف لازمۀ او بود چرا نمی‌سوخت عقل از این رمز سرگردان است و نفس حیران حکیم هند گوید دوست در صورت آثار خود ظاهر کند همانا در صورت آتش آثار انوار عشق ظاهر شد که سوزنده نبود روا بود که می‌سوزد اما برای شفای عاشق بتجدد امثال بقا می‌یابد:

کَاَهْلِ النّارِ کُلَّما نَضِجَتْ جُلُودٌ / اعُیدَتْ لِلشَّفاءِ لَهُمْ جُلوُدُ

فصل 154

آنچه مهتر کلیم کریم صَلَواتُ اللّه عَلیْهِ وَسَلامُهُ در نظر اول آتش دید انَسَ مِنْ جانِبِ الطور ناراً و خطاب اِنّی اَنَا اللّه از آتش شنید دلیل دال است بر آنچه عاشق را بسوختن خود تن در می‌باید داد و باد رعونت از سر می‌بباید نهاد:

تن درمیده بسوزش ای عاشق مست / چون با تو خطاب او ز آتش بودست

رابعۀ بصری را شبی از شبها آتش عشق از کانون جگر شعله برآورد و او را از کمال احراق از پای درآورد و فریاد برآورد که یا اَهْلَ الْبَصَرَة الحَریق الْحَریق مردمان فراهم آمدند برای دفع آتش او را دیدند حالش بگشته و بوصفی دیگر گشته و میگفت اَلْحَریق اَلْحَریق گفتند اَیْنَ الْحَریقُ گفت اَلْحَریقُ فی کَبِدی و آتچه جگر صدیق می‌سوخت با برآمدن نفس او جهانی بوی جگر سوخته گرفت اثری بود از آثار این حریق که رابعه از آن اخبار می‌کرد:

عشق تو چو آتش است و جان میسوزد / وز جان چو بپرداخت جهان میسوزد

این طرفه نگر که چون بگیرم نامش / از قوت او کام و زبان میسوزد

فصل 155

هیچ روزی که بر عاشق گذرد مبارکتر از آن روز نبود که او را در نظر معشوق یابند بردار برآمده و منتظر کشف اسرار شده در آن حال که آن واصل را بردار برآوردند موحدی باو رسید پرسید مَا الْمَحَبَّةُ فَقال هذا اَوّلُ قَدَم مِنْهُ:

گفت خوبان چو پرده برگیرند / عاشقان پیششان چنین میرند

آن روز دار مینمود اما او را روز بار بود چون در نظر یار بود:

حلاج دلا که مقتدای کارست / بردار همی گفت که روز بارست

از یار هر آنکسیکه برخوردارست / جانش بر یار و تنش برداست

فصل 156

سعادت باز آن روز تصور کند که صیادش بگیرد و چشمهایش بدوزد و شکارش بیاموزد و بتحقیق آنگاهمتصور گردد و پدید آید که خلائق او را برساعد پادشاه بینند بدین نسبت هیچ روزی که بربازگذرد مبارکتر از آن روز نبود که صیادش بگیرد و او دل از خود برگیرد و این رمزی بوالعجب است.

فصل 157

معشوق از عاشق بی نیازست از آنکه پادشاه است و در ملک بی انبازست باز عاشق باو محتاج است اما دربند تاراج است می‌خواهد که برخزانۀ وصل ظفر یابد زاری می‌کند و خشوع می‌نماید تا بوکه گاهی کمین بگشاید اگر چه داند که او بی بقا نیابد اما از راه تجاسر و دلیری هر لحظه زاری می‌کند و در آرزوی خواب می‌میرد و دل از خود بر می‌گیرد و معشوق در مسند کبریا و ناز متمکن آنچه در کتب حکیم آمده است لااِلْتِفاتَ لِلْعالیاتِ اِلیَ السافِلاتِ در این معنی بکار است یعنی لااِلْتِفاتَ لِلْمَعْشُوقِ اِلَی الْعاشِقِ زیرا که او بر آسمان تعزز است و این بر زمین تذلل.عاشقی در شب تار بر در سرای یار ایستاده بود و زاری می‌کرد و تذلل می‌نمود و معشوق در حجاب عزت محتجب و بکرشمه در وی می‌دید و وی را بهیچ بر نمی‌داشت و نظر مرحمت بر وی نمی‌گماشت امیر عسس آن شهر حاضر بود و بتعجب می‌نگریست چون صبح سر از دریچۀ افق بیرون کرد عاشق بیچاره با کمال تحیر و تحسر بازگشت و از درد دل دگر سار گشت امیر عسس او را از حالش پرسید گفت او بی‌نیازست و من بدو نیازمند من در مقام ذلتم و او بخود ارجمند حق وجود من این بود که دیدی و حق وجود او آنکه مشاهده کردی بِعِزَّةِ اللّهِ که علم او بهنیازمندی عاشق بدو چون بهای عاشق است، عاشق در علوی عشق از درد دل می‌گوید:

شب نیست که یاد تو دلم خون نکند / وز گریه دو چشم من چو جیحون نکند

آخر برسم بوصلت ای جان جهان / گر تاختن اجل شبیخون نکند

فصل 158

عشق اثر دارد غیبی است مقدس از عللو منزه از طلب عاشق، نصیب از که طلبد چون او که ملاک عاشق است برآید عاشق را مراد در برآمدن مراد معشوق بود از وی، و مراد معشوق هلاک وی، عاشق بیچاره از دوستی وی دشمن خود شده است لا اِلهالَّا اللّه در قسطنطنیه درویشی صادق بر ترسا بچۀ عاشق شد چون بیچاره از دور دروی نظر کردی بیهوش شدی و در خروش شدی روزی ناگاه آن ماه را بر سر بازاری دید که زناری میخرید بنزدیک او آمد و گفت از این زنار دو بردار که قدم اول در محبت موافقت است و موافقت ترک مخالفت است:

بار دگر پیر ما خرقه بزنار داد / زهد نود ساله را بردو بکفار داد

پیش بتی سجده کرد دین مجازی گذاشت / مصحف و سجاده را رفت و بخمار داد

فصل 159

ای دوست چون بدایت دوستی از یُحِبُّهُم بود هر آینه از علل مقدس بود و از زلل منزه، در ضمن این سخن سری عظیم است ای دوست آنکه از محبت خود اخبار کرده بمحبت تو گواهی داد یُحِبُّهُم اخبار او بمحبت خود یُحِبُونَهُ شهادت بر محبت تو اگر آن محبت مقدس است این هم مقدس است زیرا که در عشق این و آن نبود پس بگو مقدس است مقدس، پس تکرار بگذار تا از کثرت بوحدت آئی و ذلک سر.

فصل 160

دریُحِبُّهُم و یُحِّبونَهُ سه در یُحِبُّهُم و چهار در یُحِبُّونَهُ این را بدان سه ده بدیده بصیرت در این نقطه که برنون جمع است نظر و حقیقت وجود را ازوحدت خبر کن:

در نقطه اگر سر سخن می‌بینی / از حرف مقدس آنچه خواهی میگو

مهندسان سر این سخن در رقم و صفر باز یابند مثلا ۱ یکی بود بصفر ۱۰ شود ۲ دو بود بصفر ۲۰ گردد چون رقم محو کند صفر هیچ بودو چون صفر از یکی محو کنند از کثرت بوحدت بازآید و یکی شود چنانکه در هر رقم بواسطۀصفری معنئی پدید می‌آید که پیش از آن نبوده است در هر حرفی که منقّط است ارباب بصیرت را از نقطه معنی ظاهر میشود که بواسطۀ آن از حرف استغنا پدید می‌آید و این رمزی عجب است.

فصل 161

خواجه احمد غزالی قدس الله روحه گفته استنقطه های یحبهم را در زمین فطرتافکندند تخم یحبونه بر آمد هر آینه تخم دویم هم رنگ تخم اول باشد سبحانی وانا الحق اگر پدید آید از این اصل پدید آید و این معنی بذوق معلوم گردد رب سبح نفسه علی لسان عبده
گر تخم برنگ تخم اول باشد
بس نامۀ عشق ما مطول باشد

فصل 162

در بدایت عشق عشق بلای عاشق بود چون مبردی وی را می ساید و از او می فرساید گاه او را در آتش بلا می اندازد و گاه او را هدف ناوک ولا می سازد و با او می گوید
جنگ سلطانیست اینجا تیرباران چشم دار
کان عروسی ها بود کانجا شکر باران شود
چون روزی چند دیگر برآید عاشق بلاخود شود خود را بر بالا برآرد تا هلاک شود و نامش ازدفتر وجود پاک شود و گوید
من مات عشقا فلیمت هکذا
لاخیر فی عشق بلاموت
چون روزی چند دیگر برآید معشوق بلاء عاشق گردد و بمثل چون سایه شود بیجان سرگردان و بی عیش حیران می گوید
از عتاب سایه همچون دوست در نتوان رمید
جان بباید دادن و چون سایه بیجان آمدن
با خود بار او نتوان کشید و بخود جمال او نتوان دید از برای آنکه نامتناهی را متناهی بقوت خود ادراک نتواند کرد
در دام نیاید ای پسر مه
رو عشق مده که بیکرانست

فصل 163

عاشق خود را بدان هلاک کند که خود را جز عدم منتفی نداند ای درویش یافت مقصود در قدم است و از خود رستن در عدم چون بالوث حدوث بقدم رسیدن میسر نیست باری عدم و آنچه گفته اند که شهود را خمود شرط راه است سر این سخن است
در عشق اگر نیست شوی هست شوی
در عقل اگر هست شوی پست شوی
وین بوالعجبی ببین که از بادۀ عشق
هشیار گهی شوی که سرمست شوی

فصل 164

عاشق را آنچه بباید در عشق بیابد و آنچه نباید لازمۀ او بود و زهی درد بیدرمان و زهی رنج بی پایان ای عزیز عاشق را رستن از درد عشق جز بعدم نبود و در عدم بر او بسته و جان او بزخم وجود خسته چون وجود عاشق گناه کبیرۀ او بود در عشق او را تارک آن بودن بهتر و دست از آن داشتن خوشتر
اذا قلت ما اذنبت قالت مجیبة
وجودک ذنب لایقاس به ذنب
لعمری اگر او را آن گناه نبودی که از حیز عدم قدم در ساحت وجود نهاده است این درد بی درمان را و این محنت بی پایان را با او چه کار بودی آسوده بود در قید هاویۀ عدم چون خود را در آینۀ قدم بدید شوریده شد از هاویۀ عدم قومی را بدر آورد و خود را بر ایشان عرضه کرد تا بر اوهم چواو برخود عاشق شدند پس بحجاب عزت محتجب گشت و ایشان را در درد ابدی و محنت سرمدی بگذاشت عجب رمزیست تا نبودند این بود یحبهم و نیست را هست کردن سبب همین است تا ایشان را در عالم خود می یافت از غیرت بوسایطشان بیرون میکرد و چون حصولشان در عالم دیگر شد در لباس قربت چشم و گوش از ایشان بسته تا او را بخود نبینند و از او چیزی بخود نشنوند و این از کمال غیرتست و مهر قهر بر بصر و سمع ایشان نهادنست و این را بواسطه دانش فهم نتوان کرد

فصل 165

آنچه گفته اند عاشق کور و کر باید سر این سخن است هرکه بخود بینا نبود کور بود و هرکه بخود شنوا نبود کر بود شبلی قدس الله روحه پرسیدند من العارف قال صم بکم عمی کسی سرش نمیداند زبان درکش زبان درکش
ای خواجه مزن تو اندرین راه قدم
تا هستی خود نیست نبینی هر دم
خواهی که شوی تو اندرین ره محرم
از دیده بصیر باش و از گوش اصم

فصل 166

اگر عاشق را در دار فنا بفنا شعور بود زهی درد و قلق که در جان وی پدید آید زیرا که مشاهده جمال بخود موجب لذت بود بغیر و چون لذت نبود و جوهر وجود از لذت والم خالی نبود روا نبود که بود زیرا که جوهر قابل متضادان است علی سبیل البدل

فصل 167

در ظاهر چنانست که علم موجب لذت کلی بود و حکما گفته اند که ادراک موجب لذت بود در عشق آن قاعده منعکس می شود زیرا که نهایت قدم روندگان این راه آنست که قلت استعداد خود از عدم وصول اختیار کنند و حقیقت وجود را و آن موجب الم بی نهایت بود و اگر علم بحد کمال رسد بداند که عاشق را ادراک جمال معشوق علی سبیل الکلیة ممکن نبود زیرا که در راه نامتناهی بقدم تناهی میرود پس وصول امحل المحالات کذا بود و علم بدین موجب اقوی الالام بود نه مرده نه زنده لایموت فیها ولایحیی

فصل 168

هرچند عاشق معشوق را یگانه تر بود معشوق از عاشق بیگانه تر بود و هرچند عشق به کمال تر آن بیگانگی بیشتر و این یگانگی بیشتر
گفتم که مگر محرم اسرار آیم
با دولت وصل بر در یار آیم
کی دانستم که با کمال دانش
در بتکدۀ قابل زنار آیم
یکی از ملوک ترک ذکر جمال صاحب جمالی شنیده بود و دل در کار او کرده در حربی که او را با آن قوم بود آن صاحب جمال را اسیر کرد چون نظر بر جمال با کمال او گماشت بی خود شد چون بهوش آمد در خروش آمد باز به احضار او امر کرد از خود بی شعور شد و با او در حضور شد از کمال قیافت و کیاست بدانست که این آن آتش است که شعله ی او از دریچه ی سمع در ساحت دل او افتاده است و به قوت خانه ی دل را می سوزد و به صولت خراب می کند اکنون این شعله ی دیگر است که از راه بصر درمی آید و مر آن آتش جگر سوز را می افزاید آن کرت دل سوخت اکنون در جان گرفت و برافروخت چون برین معنی اطلاع یافت بفرمود تا او را بر سریری برآوردند و او چون بندگان به خدمت او شتافت هرچند خواست تا در وی نگاه کند و خود را از حسن او آگاه کند نتوانست
بیچاره دلم ز خود بکلی برخاست
وانگاه ورا از و بزاری درخواست
از برده ندا آمد کای خسته رواست
لیکن تو بگو قوت ادراک کراست
تا نمی دانست که او کیست و نمی شناخت که قوت وصول عشق از چیست با او انبساطی داشت و بدید او در خود نشاطی داشت چون بدانست نتوانست و چون برسید در وجود نرسید چون قصد بساط قربت کردی از سرادق عز او خطاب رسید بعدا بعدا هیهات ترا از کجا یارای آن که بخود قدم در بساط قربت نهی بهش باش تو امیر بودی و او اسیر اکنون تو اسیری و او امیر اسیر را با امیر چه کار این واقعه به عینه واقعه ی یوسف و زلیخاست روزی آن پادشاه در پرتو نور او حاضر شد و به عین بصیرت در آثار انوار جمال او ناظر شد گفت ای ماه فلک ملاحت و ای خورشید سماء صباحت مرا با تو انبساطی بود تا ترا شناختم هرچند می خواهم که از خود بپردازم و با تو بسازم نمی توانم درین واقعه حیرانم و درین حادثه سرگردانم
خواهم که کنون با تو بگویم غم خویش
در پرتو نور تو بگیرم کم خویش
گر درد مرا نمی کنی مرهم تو
باری بکن ای پسر مرا محرم خویش
گفت بدان ای پادشاه که آن روز گذشت و آن بساط را زمانه درنوشت تعز من تشاء ما را سر برنهاد وتذل من تشاء ترا زفیر داد آن روز که طوق عبودیت بر گردن وقت ما نهادی و در شادی بر خود بگشادی عشق می گفت که هم اکنون باشد که من از کمین کمون ظاهر شوم و در تو به قهر ناظر شوم و از عز سلطنت به ذل عبودیت گرفتار کنم و از خواب غفلت بیدار کنم تو پنداشتی صید کردی و در قید کردی نمی دانستی که در عالم عشق کار برخلاف مراد بود
در عشق دلا بسی نشیب است و فراز
کاهو بره شیر گردد و تیهو باز
ای پادشاه در تو هنوز رعونت سلطنت باقی است از آن جهت حدیث وصل باقی است سلطان عشق بند بندگی از ما برگرفت و حقیقت وجودت دل از مالکی و ملکی برگرفت و تو بی خبری اگر اسیر خواهد که با امیر انبساط کند ذلت اسیری حجاب او آید و اگر امیر خواهد که با اسیر انبساط کند عزت امیری حجاب او آید زیرا که انبساط از مجانست بود و میان امیر و اسیر چه انبساط چون مجانست مفقودست و طریق انبساط مسدودست آن نقطه که بر رخسار بندگی ما بود محو شد و بر رخسار ملکی تو پدید آمد عجب امیر نبوده است که اسیر گرفت چون درنگریست اسیر امیر گرفته بود حاصل عشق سلطان است و توانگرست و به هیچکس نیاز ندارد و در ملک شریک و انباز ندارد عاشق خود اسیرست اگرچه امیرست و در سعیرست اگرچه صاحب تاج و سریر است عاشق را خود نیازمندی ظاهرست اما معشوق را عاشق بباید تا هدف تیر بلای او شود و جانش فدای ولای او شود اگر عاشق نباشد او کرشمه و ناز با که کند و داد جمال با کمال خود از که ستاند عزیزی گفته است سلمه الله
بی عاشق و عشق حسن معشوق هباست
تا عاشق نیست ناز معشوق کجاست
در فتوی شرع اگرچه این قول خطاست
مشاطۀ حسن یار بی صبری ماست
این معنی از برای آن در تقریر آمد تا بدانی که عاشق با عشق آشنایی یابد و از تابش او روشنایی یابد اما معشوق از عاشق و عشق بیگانه است اگرچه در حسن یگانه است
از سلسلۀ زلف تو دیوانه شدم
بر شمع رخت شبیه پروانه شدم
از بس که بریخت چشم خونابۀ دل
با عشق تو خویش و با تو بیگانه شدم

فصل 169

فردا عاشقان جمال او در بهشت انگشت گزان روند و در دوزخ انگشت زنان روند در بهشت ذکرشان الحنان المنان باشد در دوزخ ذکرشان القهار الجبار باشد زیرا که دانند که قهاری او از نعمت حجاب سازد و رحمت او از آتش بوستان کند چون در شاهد یافتند که نعمت این جهان را حجاب اهل نعمت کرد تا در غلبۀ نعمت از منعم محجوب شدند و دیدند که در عین آتش خلیل را بحضرت خود مکاشف گردانید تا بواسطۀ آن آتش گلستان گشت ای درویش آن را که در نعمت هلاک کنند نعمت زحمت او شود و آن را که در آتش بخود مکاشف گرداند فردوساوگردد حکیم گوید
با تو دل مسجدست و بی تو کنشت
بی تو دل دوزخست و با تو بهشت

فصل 170

عاشق را باید انس بمحبوب بدرجۀ باشد که اگر هزار زخم تیغ بر وی آید صفای انس را ملاک کند ادریس نبی صلوات الله وسلامه علیه گفت در غلبات محبت لو کان بینی و بینک بحر من النار لطرحت نفسی فیه شوقا الیک
گر بحر پر آتش است از شوق تو من
خواهم که وجود خود در آن اندازم

فصل 171

جنید قدس الله روحه گفت روزی سری قدس سره قازورۀ بمن داد تا بر طبیبی ترسا عرضه دارم چون طبیب از دور در آن نگریست فریاد برآورد و گفت هذا بول عاشققداحرق العشق کبده مرا هیبت آن سخن از خود بی شعور کرد قازوره از دست من بیفتاد طبیب آن را از زمین بتبرک برداشت و گفت ما را این آب از برای دفع آتش مرض درباید چون بنزدیک سری باز آمدم از درد درگذار آمده با چشمی پر آب و دلی خراب حال با او گفتم گفت قاتله الله ما احذقه چون این بگفت نوری از روی او لامع شد گمان بردم که مگر در خانه آفتابی طالع شد از بعد آن بروزی چند درگذشت و بساط حدوث درنوشت
خون جگرم ز راه دیده
ای دوست ببین که چون روان شد
کین آتش عشق بی محابا
در جان شکسته ام عیان شد

فصل 172

بحقیقت عشق عاشق را از او بستاند و قوای او را در او نیست گرداند چنانکه در عشقه این برهان ظاهر شده است اگر عاشق را از سوزش عشق خبر باشد اگرچه آتش عشقش در جگر باشد او پخته نبود خام بود تا ازسوزش آتش الم نیابد واز قطع مناشیر چرخ نه چنانکه در بعضی از اخبار آمده است اوحی الله بعض انبیایه انما اتخذ لخلتی من لایفترعن ذکری ولایکون له غیری ولا یؤثر علی شییا من خلقی وان احرق بالنار لم یجدلمر الحدید المافی سره پادشاه عالم بر بعضی از انبیا وحی فرستاد و فرمود که حضرت میگفت ما آن را بتشریف خلت مشرف کنیم که مردوار از ذکر ما فتوری نبود و در طاعت ما قصوری نبود و بر ما کسی را برنگزیند و در سکر شراب محبت ما بمثابتی بود که اگر او را در دریای آتش اندازند مر آن را بنزدیک دل وی وقعی نبود و اگر چشمش را به اره های قهر پاره پاره کنند از آن خبر نیابد و ادراک الم آن نکند اول فرمودلایفتر عن ذکری عجب ذکر من ناسی را بود اما آنکه در مشاهدۀ جمال محبوب بود مستغرق جمال او او در استغراق از صفات خود فانی بود پس نشانۀ ذکر او بود و مذکور در سرادق جلال ذاکر خود
عجبت لمن یقول ذکرت ربی
فهل انی فاذکر مانسیت
شربت الحب کأسا بعد کأس
فما نفد الشراب ولا رویت
و فرمودلایکون له غیری چون در وجود غیر نباشد خود جز او که باشد که جز او مرو را باشد ولایؤثر علی شییا من خلقی یعنی در مجاری اقدار چنان متحیر باشد که از وجود و عدم غیر بیخبر باشد و آنچه فرمود وان احرق بالنار لم یجد لحرق النار الماوان قطع بالمناشیر لم یجد لمر الحدید وقعا لعمری الم کسی بیابد که او را از جسم و مایضاف الیها خبر بود و عاشق در عشق بیشعور بود و در پرتو آن نور بود و آتش او را در غلبۀ مشاهده او فردوس اعلی بود
عاشق بجز از خستۀ هجران نبود
کارش ز غم عشق بسامان نبود
دشوار بود کشیدن بار فراق
وین یافتن وصال آسان نبود

فصل 173

آنچه گفته اند که عاشق را در عشق محو و فنا حاصل شود حق است و سر این سخن در قصۀ آن خوب روی کنعانی و آن لطیف صنع یزدانی ظاهر شده است و آنچه صواحبات در غلبه مشاهدۀ او بفناء اوصاف موصوف شدند و از الم قطع بیشعور شدند وقطعن ایدیهن و از غایت بیشعوری منظور را از عالم انسانیت بیرون بردند و بملکیت ذکر کردند ان هذا الا ملک کریم واگر ملک کریم خوانی باشد که آن جمال دیدند آنچه از او این عبارت کردند ان هذا الا ملک کریم
گفتم که تویی گفت منم چون تو نیی

فصل 174

در غلبات عشق عاشق بجایی رسد که خود را در خود گم کند و فریاد برآورد از عجز و اضطرار و گوید من ابتلایی بک و گاه خود را در معشوق گم کند و گوید لااحصی ثناء علیک هر آینه این از بعد رفع حجاب بوده باشد زیرا که قبل از رفع حجاب اگرچه معرفت بدو کامل باشد اما تصور بلاغ در ثنا تواند بود چون حجاب برخیزد داند که آنچه دانست فراخور استعداد او بود و از تناهی متجاوز نشده بود بعجز معترف شود که لااحصصی ثناء علیک
بنده جایی رسد که محو شود
بعد از آن کار جز خدایی نیست

فصل 175

در عشق و غلبات آن عاشق باشرف و قدرتر است که معشوق زیرا که اسم معشوق در عشق عاریت است و اسم عاشق حقیقی است و بحقیقت معشوق را نه سود است و نه زیان و اگر او را وقتی بعاشق میلی پدید آید و آن میل مفرط شود و نشانه کار گردد در آن حال از مرتبۀ معشوقی بدرجۀ عاشقی آید و آن هم از وی ساقط شود و آنچه پیش از وجود خلایق اسم محیی او پدید آمد یحبهم برای اینست تا تبدل و تغیر در اوصاف و ذات قدیم گفته نشود و توهم آن نبود که از مرتبۀ معشوق بدرجه عاشقی آید و این سری بزرگ است
او از مرتبه خویش نگردد لیکن
عاشق بود و عشق در او صف بود

فصل 176

علم چون بعشق رسد بترسد زیرا که علم بقاء اوصاف خواهد و عشق فناء اوصاف و بقا و فنا در یک حال صفت یک تن نتواند بود اما اینجا سریست و آن سر آنست که چون عشق بکمال رسد از مرتبۀ علم ناظر گردد و خواهد که در مقام علم حاصل گردد و معنی علم انطباع صورت معلوم بود در نفس عالم او خواهد تا صورت معشوق در وی منطبع شود تا از درد طلب بر آساید و در تعب نفرساید او را همیشه در خود یابد بی آنکه بدو شتابد و این مقام اگر جمال نماید مقصود عاشق برآید زیرا که اگر معشوق از او بهزار فرسنگ دور بود او را حاضر داند و حاصل شناسد واقرب من کل قریب تصور کند و اگر در غلبات عشق صورت معشوق در حس مشترک اوپدید آید با آتش هر آینه انس بود بلکه سلطان غیرت سلطان خیال را بگمارد و آن را منفسخ گرداند تا او در درد ابدی بماند
از عشق همی هلاک عاشق باشد
معشوق اگر چند موافق باشد
او را طمعی بود هم از غایت عجز
این کار بدوبگو چه لایق باشد

فصل 177

در عشق جملۀ حواس عاشق باید که بمعشوق متعلق بود و هیچ حسی از حواس او در هیچ حال از او خالی نبود چنانکه آن شاعردقیق النظر گفته است در دوستی خمر
الا فأسقنی خمرا وقل لی هی الخمر
ولاتسقنی سرا اذا امکن الجهر
یعنی بمن ده جام شرابتا چشم من آن را ببیند و دست او را بستاند و کام آن را بچشد و بینی رایحۀ آن بیابد یک حس معطل میماند از او آن سمع است پستو نام او بگوی تا سمع هم از او آنچه نصیب محبت است بیابد سر را مشاهدت و روح را وصلت و تن را لذت و چشم را رؤیت است باید که سمع را هم نصیبی باشد و آن شنیدن اسم و صفت وی است از غیر و آنچه عاشق اسامی و اوصاف معشوق از کسی می شنود مرادش آنست تا حاسۀ سمع بی نصیب نماند اما این در مقام جست و جوی و گفت و گوی باشد و آن در بدایت بود باز در مقامی که بر معشوق غیور شود نخواهد که کسی نام او بر زبان گذارند چنانکه شبلی قدس الله روحه در بدایت عشق پیوسته شکر در آستین داشتی از هر که نام محبوب شنیدی دهانش پر شکر کردی و چون مدتی بر آمد و در عشق غیور شد و ناصبور شد هر که نام محبوب او گرفتی سنگی بر دهان وی زدی و در ضمن این سریست و آن سر آنست که محبوب برخود غیورست اما در بدایت بسمع عاشق ندا کند کنت کنزا مخفیا فاحببت ان اعرف بیچاره عاشق تجاسر آغاز کند و بهر نامیش خواندن گیرد و از هر که نام وی شنود برای اظهار و اشتهار سر بر قدم او نهد و آنچه دارد بدو دهد چون داند که بر او آنچه نهان بود از او عیان شد عظمت و جلال خود بر او عرضه کند ویمدت عمر در استغفار گفته بود واگر بمثل ده عمر نوح یابد از استغفار آنکه او را بالوهیت باتکبیرها ذکر کرده بود بیرون نتواند آمد و آنچه خواجۀ عالم فرمود وانی لاستغفر الله کل یوم مایة مرة سر این معنی است یعنی از کمال شوق در غلبات شوق او را در روزی به نود نام بخواند چون بعظمت و جلال و کبریاء او مکاشف شد از گفته استغفار کند نود و نه بار برای نود و نه نام و یک بار از برای این استغفار و این سر آن رمزست که حکیمان دقیق النظر گفته اند که او را در عالم ما باصطلاح ما نامی نیست و این سری بزرگ است جز بذوق فهم نتوان کرد ای برادر اگر از عهدۀ یکبار گفتن الله بیرون آیی همه نمازهای نماز گذارندگان تعلق بتو دارد اما تحقیق کبریاء او در هر دو جهان بلکه در عالم امکان جمال ننماید او را او داند و بس و آنچه خواجۀ عالم صلعم فرموده در دعا که وبکل اسم سمیت به نفسک او انزلته فی کتابک او علمته احدا من خلفک او استأثرت فی علم الغیب عندک سر این معنی است
چون مرغ دلم افتاد اندر دامت
خواهم که بگویم ای شهنشه نامت
گوید خردم که ای شکسته هش دار
در سایۀ خود همی دهد آرامت
اگر صورت معشوق در نفس منطبع شود عاشق قوت از او سازد و نظر همت پیوسته از او برندارد و او را هرگز بدو نگذارد و آنچه ابرام مزاحمت و مبالغه معشوق از عاشق پدید می آید موجب همین است ای درویش اینجا سری عزیزتر است عشق اتحاد خواهد اگر میسر شود او قوت از خود سازد یعنی عشق آتش است چون در جان عاشق مسکن گیرد عاشق را بقوت خود آتش کند و چون از عاشق هیچ نماند آن آتش عشق خود را خوردن گیرد تا هیچ نماند النار تأکل نفسها ان لم تجدماتأکله
آتش شوم و قوت خود از خود گیرم

Source Colophon

Persian text from the Ganjoor digital library (ganjoor.net), the largest online collection of Persian poetry. Category 2309 (لوایح — Lavāyeḥ). Digital critical edition prepared using versions developed by the Iranian Sufism website. Poem IDs 88478–88654. Attributed to Eyn al-Qozat Hamadani (عین القضات همدانی, 492–525 AH / 1098–1131 CE). Freely accessible at: https://ganjoor.net/eynolghozat/lavayeh

Ganjoor.net is a free, open-access Persian poetry database. The texts are in the public domain.

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