Masnavi i Ma'navi — trans. E. H. Whinfield (abridged) (1898)

Ask them about it, or call it to mind yourself.
When sorrow seizes you, if you are wise,
You will question that sorrow-fraught moment,
Saying to it, "O sorrow, who now deniest
Thy portion of bounty given thee by the Perfect One,
Even if each moment be not to thee a glad spring,
Yet of what is thy body, like a rose-heap, a storehouse?
Thy body is a heap of roses, thy thought rosewater;
'Twere strange if rosewater ignored the rose-heap!"

NOTES:

• 1. Koran xli. 40.
• 2. Koran liii. 19, and Rodwell's note.
• 3. Koran ix. 84.
• 4. Koran liii. 3.
• 5. Koran xxvi. 88.
• 6. Cp. Nicom. Ethics, x., iv. 6.
• 7. Compare Gulshan i Raz, I. 624. Ecstatic words and states are the offspring of communion with God.

STORY VI. The Faqir and the Hidden Treasure.

Notwithstanding the clear evidence of God's bounty, engendering these spiritual states in men, philosophers and learned men, wise in their own conceit, obstinately shut their eyes to it, and look afar off for what is really close to them, so that they incur the penalty of "being branded on the nostrils," 1 adjudged against unbelievers. This is illustrated by the story of a poor Faqir who prayed to God that he might be fed without being obliged to work for his food. A divine voice came to him in his sleep and directed him to go to the house of a certain scribe and take a certain writing that he should find there. He did so, and on reading the writing found that it contained directions for finding a hidden treasure. The directions were as follows: "Go outside the city to the dome which covers the tomb of the martyr; turn your back to the tomb and your face towards Mecca, place an arrow in your bow, and where the arrow falls there dig for the treasure." But before the Faqir had time to commence the search the rumor of the writing and its contents had reached the king, who at once sent and took it away from the Faqir, and began to search for the treasure on his own account. After shooting many arrows and digging in all directions the king failed to find the treasure, and got weary of searching, and returned the writing to the Faqir. Then the Faqir tried what he could do, but failed altogether to hit the spot where the treasure was buried. At last, despairing of success by his own unaided efforts, he cast his care upon God, and implored the divine assistance. Then a voice from heaven came to him, saying, "You were directed to fix an arrow on your bow, but not to draw your bow with all your might, as you have been doing. Shoot as gently as possible, that the arrow may fall close to you, for the hidden treasure is indeed 'nearer to you than your neck-vein.' "2 Men overlook the spiritual treasures close to them, and for this reason it is that prophets have no honor in their own countries, as is illustrated by the cases of the saint Abu-'l-Hasan Khirqani and the Prophet Hud or Heber.

God rules men by alternations of hope and fear. This sad Faqir too put up his cries for aid, And bore off the ball of acceptance from the field. But at times he distrusted the efficacy of his prayers, On account of the delay in answering them. Again, hope of the mercy of the Lord Arose in his heart as an earnest of rejoicing. When he was hopeless and ceasing to pray in weariness He heard from God the word "Ascend!" God is an Abaser and an Exalter Without these two processes nothing comes into being. Behold the abasement of earth and uplifting of heaven; Without these two heaven would not revolve, O man! The abasement and exaltation of earth is otherwise, Half the year is barren, half green and verdant. The abasement and exaltation of weary time Is otherwise again, half day and half night. The abasement and exaltation of this compound body Is now health and now grievous sickness. Know all the conditions of the world are in this wise, Drought, famine, peace, war, and trials. This world flies, as it were, with these two wings; Through these all souls are homes of hope and fear; So that the world keeps trembling like leaves, In the cold and hot winds of death and resurrection. Till the jar of pure wine of our 'Isa (Unity) Shall supersede the jar of many-colored wine (plurality), For that world (of unity) is as a saltpan; Whatever enters it loses its varied hues. On the text, "Verily I am about to place a Khalifa or Vicegerent on earth" 3. Whereas the aim and will of the Merciful God Inclined to the revelation and manifestation of Himself, And one opposite cannot be shown but by its opposite, And that Unique King of kings has no opposite or peer, 4 Therefore that Lord of the heart set up a Khalifa, To serve as a mirror to reflect His own sovereignty.