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

When they cry out, their milk is brought to them;
God said, "Call on God;" continue crying,
So that the milk of His love may boil up. 3
Moses and the worshipper of the calf.
Moses said to one of those full of vain imaginations,
"O malevolent one, through error and heresy
You entertain a hundred doubts as to my prophethood,
Notwithstanding these proofs, and my holy character.
You have seen thousands of miracles done by me,
Yet they only multiply your doubts and cavils.
Through doubts and evil thoughts you are in a strait,
You speak despitefully of my prophethood.
I brought the host out of the Red Sea before all men,
That ye might escape the oppression of the Egyptians.
For forty years meat and drink came from heaven,
And water sprang from the rock at my prayer.
My staff became a mighty serpent in my hand,
Water became blood for my ill-conditioned enemy.
The staff became a snake, and my hand bright as the sun;
From the reflection of that light the sun became a star.
Have not these incidents, and hundreds more like them,
Banished these doubts from you, O cold-hearted one?
The calf lowed through magic,
And you bowed down to it, saying, 'Thou art my God.' 4
The golden calf lowed; but what did it say,
That the fools should feel all this devotion to it?
You have seen many more wondrous works done by me,
But where is the base man who accepts the truth?
What is it that charms vain men but vanity?
What else pleases the foolish but folly?
Because each kind is charmed by its own kind,
Does a cow ever seek the lion?
Did the wolf show love to Joseph, 5
Or only fraud upon fraud with a view to devour him?
True, if it lose his wolf-like nature it becomes a friend;
Even as the dog of the cave became a son of man. 6
When good Abu Bakr saw Muhammad,

He recognized his truth, saying, 'This one is true;'
When Abu Bakr caught the perfume of Muhammad,
He said, 'This is no false one.'
But Abu Jahl, who was not one of the sympathizers,
Saw the moon split asunder, yet believed not.
If from a sympathizer, to whom it is well known,
I withhold the truth, still 'tis not hidden from him;
But he who is ignorant and without sympathy,
However much I show him the truth, he sees it not.
The mirror of the heart must needs be polished
Before you can distinguish fair and foul therein."

NOTES:

• 1. Anwari Suhaili, i. 27.
• 2. Koran lxxvi. 21.
• 3. Koran xvii. 110.
• 4. See Koran xx. 90.
• 5. Koran xii. 17.
• 6. Koran xviii. 17.

STORY IX. The Gardener and the Three Friends.

A voice came from heaven to Moses, saying, "O Moses why didst thou not visit me when I was sick?" Moses inquired the meaning of this dark saying, and the answer was, "When one of God's saints is sick, God regards his sickness as His own; and, therefore, he who desires to hold companionship with God must not forsake the saints." 1 This is illustrated by a story of a gardener who saw three friends walking in his garden, and making free with his fruit. Knowing he could not prevail against them while they remained united, he contrived by tricks to separate them, and then proceeded to chastise them one by one. And this caused one of them to make the reflection that he had acted very foolishly in deserting his friends.

NOTES:

1. Cp. Matthew xxv. 40.

STORY X. Bayazid and the Saint.

The celebrated Sufi, Abu Yazid or Bayazid of Bastam, in Khorasan, who lived in the third century of the Flight, was once making a pilgrimage to Mecca, and visiting all the "Pillars of insight" who lived in the various towns that lay on his route. At last he discovered the "Khizr of the age" in the person of a venerable Darvesh, with whom he held the following conversation: The Sage said, "Whither are you going, O Bayazid? Where will you bring your caravan to a halt?" Bayazid replied, "At dawn I start for the Ka'ba." Quoth the Sage, "What provision for the way have you?" He answered, "I have two hundred silver dirhams; See them tied up tightly in the corner of my cloak." The Sage said, "Circumambulate me seven times; Count this better than circumambulating the Ka'ba; And as for the dirhams, give them to me, O liberal one, And know you have finished your course and obtained your wish, You have made the pilgrimage and gained the life to come, You have become pure, and that in a moment of time. Of a truth that is God which your soul sees in me, For God has chosen me to be His house. Though the Ka'ba is the house of His grace and favors, Yet my body too is the house of His secret. Since He made that house He has never entered it, But none but That Living One enters this house; When you have seen me you have seen God, And have circumambulated the veritable Ka'ba. To serve me is to worship and praise God; Think not that God is distinct from me. Open clear eyes and look upon me, That you may behold the light of God in a mortal. Tho Beloved once called the Ka'ba 'My house,' But has said to me 'O my servant' seventy times; O Bayazid, you have found the Ka'ba, You have found a hundred precious blessings." Bayazid gave heed to these deep sayings, And placed them as golden earrings in his ears. Then follow anecdotes of the Prophet paying a visit to one of his disciples who lay sick, of Shaikh Bahlol, nicknamed "The Madman," who was a favorite at the court of Harunu-'r-Rashid, and of the people of Moses. The sweet uses of adversity.