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

But from envy and malice conceal their knowledge,
And incline themselves to say, "We know them not."
So when God says in one place "knows them,"
In another He says, "None knows them beside me."
For in truth they are hid under God's overshadowing, 3
And none but God knows them by actual experience.
Therefore take this declaration with its context,
Remembering how you know and do not know Noah.

NOTES:

• 1. There is a Hadis, "Think on God's mercies, and not on His essence."
• 2. Koran viii. 17. Said of the sand cast into the eyes of the men of Mecca at Beder.
• 3. See Gulshan i Raz, I. 354, where the commentator says the allusion is to Moses at Mount Sinai. Koran vii. 139.

STORY XVII. The Vakil of the Prince of Bokhara.

The Prince of Bokhara had a Vakil who, through fear of punishment for an offence he had committed, ran away and remained concealed in Kuhistan and the desert for the space of ten years. At the end of that time, being unable to endure absence from his lord and his home any longer, he determined to return to Bokhara and throw himself at his lord's feet, and endure whatever punishment his lord might be pleased to inflict upon him. His friends did all they could to dissuade him, assuring him that the Prince's wrath was still hot against him, and that if he appeared at Bokhara he would be put to death, or at least imprisoned for the rest of his life. He replied, "O advisers, be silent, for the force of the love which is drawing me to Bokhara is stronger than the force of prudent counsels. When love pulls one way all the wisdom of Abu Hanifa and Ash-Shafi'i is impotent to withstand it. If it shall please my lord to slay me, I will yield up my life without reluctance, for this life of estrangement from him which I am now leading is the same as death, and release from it will be eternal happiness. I will return to Bokhara and throw myself at my lord's feet, and say to him, 'Deal with me as thou wilt, for I can no longer bear absence from thee, and life or death at thy hands is all the same to me!'" Accordingly, he journeyed back to Bokhara, counting the very toils and discomforts of the road sweet and delightful, because they were steps in his homeward course. When he reached Bokhara his friends and relations all warned him not to show himself, as the Prince was still mindful of his offence and bent on punishing him; but he replied to them as to his other advisers, that he was utterly regardless of his life, and was resolved to commit himself to his lord's good pleasure. He then went to the court and threw himself at his lord's feet and swooned away. The Prince, seeing the strong affection borne to him by his repentant servant, conceived a similar affection towards him, and descended from his throne and graciously raised him from the ground, and pardoned his offence. Thus it is that eternal life is gained by utter abandonment of one's own life. When God appears to His ardent lover the lover is absorbed in Him, and not so much as a hair of the lover remains. True lovers are as shadows, and when the sun shines in glory the shadows vanish away. He is a true lover of God to whom God says, "I am thine, and thou art mine!" In the course of this story, which is narrated at great length, are introduced anecdotes of a lover and his mistress, of the Virgin Mary being visited by the "Blessed Spirit" or Angel Gabriel, 1 of the fatal mosque, of Galen's devotion to carnal learning, of Satan's treachery to the men of Mecca at the battle of Bedr, 2 and of Solomon and the gnat. There also occur comments on various texts, and a curious comparison of the trials and wholesome afflictions of the righteous to the boiling of potherbs in a saucepan by the cook. The reply of the lover when asked by his mistress which city of all those he had seen was most pleasing in his sight.

A damsel said to her lover, "O fond youth, You have visited many cities in your travels; Which of those cities seems most delightful to you?" He made answer, "The city wherein my love dwells. In whatever nook my queen alights, Though it be as the eye of a needle, 'tis a wide plain; Wherever her Yusuf-like face shines as a moon, Though it be the bottom of a well, 'tis Paradise. With thee, my love, hell itself were heaven, With thee a prison would be a rose-garden. With thee hell would be a mansion of delight, Without thee lilies and roses would be as flames of fire!" The answer of the Vakil to those who advised him not to court death by yielding himself up to his lord. He said, "I am a drawer of water; water attracts me, Even though I know water may be my death. No drawer of water flees from water, Even though it may cause him a hundred deaths. Though it may make my hand and belly dropsical, My love for water will never be lessened. I should say, when they asked me about my belly, 'Would that the ocean might flow into it!' Though the bottle of my belly were burst with water, And though I should die, my death would be acceptable. Wheresoever I see one seeking water, I envy him, And cry, 'Would I were in his place!' My hand is a tabor and my belly a drum, Like the rose I beat the drum of love of water. Like the earth or like a fetus I devour blood, Since I became a lover this is my occupation. If that 'Faithful Spirit' should shed my blood, I would drink it up drop by drop like the earth. At night I boil on the fire like a cooking-pot, From morn till eve I drink blood like the sand. It repents me that I planned a stratagem, And that I fled from before his wrath. Tell him to sate his wrath on my poor life, He is the 'Feast of Sacrifice,' and I his loving cow. 3