Listen to a story from one who knows and tells of ancient events, so that you may catch a scent from this veiled secret. A snake-catcher set out for the mountains to catch snakes with his spells. Whether the seeker goes slowly or quickly, in the end he finds what he seeks. Do not withdraw your hands from seeking. Seeking is the best guide on the road.
Even if you are lame, crippled, in a drowsy state, or even rudely, move towards it, seek it. Sometimes with words, sometimes in silence, sometimes stretching your neck here and there, try to catch the scent of that king. Jacob said to his sons, “Seek the scent of Joseph beyond all bounds.”
So too, make all your senses apt and thoroughly investigate it everywhere. Allah said, “Do not despair of the mercy of Allah, do not lose hope.” Like Jacob who lost his child, you too should walk from corner to corner. Inquire about him with your mouth. Listen in all directions and search for him!
Wherever you catch a pleasant scent, smell it. Whichever direction you sense the scent of that familiar one, walk in that direction! Wherever you see kindness from someone, keep close to that person—perhaps you will find the way to the source of that kindness, who knows! All these beauties come from a great ocean. Leave the part and turn to the whole.
The struggles of people are always for beauty, always for goodness. But is there not the provision of poverty? That is the true sign of happiness. The conflicts of people are for peace, but the trap for attaining comfort is always discomfort; comfort is reached through hardship. Every slap is for caressing. Every complaint reminds a person to be grateful (shukr).
O generous one, catch the scent of the whole from the part. O wise one, infer the opposite from its opposite! Truly, wars lead to peace. For whom did the snake-catcher seek the snake? A person seeks a snake for livelihood, for comfort; he eats grief to be rid of grief. He too was wandering the mountains in snow and winter, searching for a large snake.
Then, on a mountain, he saw a large dead snake. Its very form filled his heart with dread. While the snake-catcher was searching for a snake in that severe winter, he saw that enormous dead dragon. The snake-catcher catches snakes to astonish people. Here is the ignorance of the people for you! A human is like a mountain—how can a mountain be deceived, how can it be enamored of a snake?
Poor humankind did not know or recognize himself. He came from the station of virtue (maqām) and fell into this deficient world. Man sold himself cheaply. He was brocade, but patched himself onto a cloak and went! While hundreds of thousands of snakes and mountains were in awe of him, why did he fall into amazement and become infatuated with the snake? The snake-catcher took that dragon and came to Baghdad to astonish the people.
To earn a few coins, he dragged and pulled that dragon, as big as a tent pole. “I have brought a dead dragon. What hardships I endured to catch it,” he said. He thought the dragon was dead. But he had not paid close attention. The dragon was alive. It had frozen from the winter and cold. It was alive, but appeared dead. The world too is frozen and is thus called ‘inanimate’ (jamād). My master, jamīd means frozen.
Be patient until the sun of the Resurrection rises, and you will see the movement of the world’s body. Just as the staff in Moses’ hand became a snake, so compare the whole world to this. How does He make your existence, which is but a handful of earth, into a body? All earth must be considered as possessing knowledge and understanding. All of these are dead in relation to this world.
But in the realm of reality (ḥaqīqa), they are alive. Here they remain silent, but there they speak. When they are sent to us from the realm of reality, then the staff becomes a dragon for us. Mountains respond to the voice, flow with David, recite hymns, even iron softens in his hand like wax. The wind carries Solomon, the sea converses with Moses.
The moon understands and obeys the sign and command of Ahmad (the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him); fire becomes a rose of August for Abraham; the earth swallows and devours Qārūn like a snake; the pillar of Hannaneh becomes endowed with intellect and thought. The stone greets Ahmad; the mountain sends news to John (Yahya). All of them say to these, “We hear and see you. We are pleased and joyful with you. But we remain silent before strangers.”
But you go to an inanimate thing, you turn to it. How then can you become privy to the soul and secret of inanimate things? Go from the inanimate to the world of souls, and hear the harmony of the parts of the world! Then you will clearly hear the glorification (tasbīḥ) of lifeless things and will not fall into the delusions of interpretation. In the world of souls, there are no lamps, so you cling to interpretations to see.
“How can the purpose of glorification be literal glorification? To see these lifeless things engaged in glorification is nothing but misguidance. The truth is this: the one who sees them takes heed and glorifies Allah. They remind you to glorify Allah. Their being a proof for this glorification means that they themselves glorify.” you say.
This is the interpretation of the people of Muʿtazila. This is the work of one who does not possess the light of spiritual state (ḥāl). Unless a person leaves the senses, he is completely a stranger to the unseen world. This discourse has no end. The snake-catcher, after much hardship, dragged that snake all the way to Baghdad. That adventurous man wanted to cause a commotion in the market. He placed the snake on the bank of the Shatt (Tigris).
A tumult broke out in the city of Baghdad. “A snake-catcher has brought a dragon, a strange, never-before-seen, repulsive thing. How did he catch it?” they said. Hundreds of thousands of foolish people gathered. Out of their foolishness, they too were caught by the snake like the snake-catcher. They were waiting to see the snake. He too was waiting for all the people around to gather.
He thought, “Let the people gather well so that I may get plenty of money.” Hundreds of thousands of idle talkers gathered and formed a circle. One foot stood upon a thousand feet! In the crowd, men had no knowledge of women. The people and the notables were mixed together; it was almost a sign of the Day of Judgment. As the snake-catcher moved the rug over the snake, the people stood on tiptoe and craned their necks.
The dragon had frozen from the severe winter. It was under hundreds of rugs and cloaks. The snake-catcher had not neglected caution; he had tied it with thick ropes. But while waiting for the people to gather, quite some time had passed, and the distant sun had struck the snake. When the sun warmed it well, the cold departed from its limbs.
During that time, the dragon, which had been in a dead state, revived and began to move. When the people saw the dead snake moving, their astonishment increased a hundredfold. In their bewilderment, they all began to flee, shouting. The dragon, disturbed by the noise of the people, began to break its bonds with a crackling sound. Each rope fell away in a different direction.
It broke its ropes and slipped out from under the rug. What did they see? A hideous, repulsive dragon roaring like a lion! As they fled, people trampled each other; many were crushed underfoot and died, and hundreds of heaps of corpses formed. The snake-catcher, realizing in fear what he had brought from the mountain and plain, froze in his place.
That blind sheep awakened the wolf. The ignorant one went to Azrael (the Angel of Death) with his own feet. The dragon made a single mouthful of that fool. What is easier than shedding blood for Hajjaj? Then it wrapped itself around a pole, squeezed tightly, and in its belly, the man’s bones snapped and cracked. Your nafs (the lower self) is a dragon. How did it die?
It froze from distress, from lack of opportunity, otherwise! If what came into Pharaoh’s hands came into its hands, what would it not do! Even the river flowed at Pharaoh’s command. If such power fell into its hands, it would immediately begin to play Pharaoh, blocking the way of hundreds of Moseses, and of hundreds of Aarons!
That dragon, in the hand of poverty, becomes a poor little wolf. Because of position and wealth, a gnat grows and becomes a kite! Keep the dragon in the cold of separation; never bring it under the sun of Iraq. While the dragon is frozen, you are safe, but if it is freed and comes to itself, you will become its prey.
Defeat it so you may be safe from being defeated. Do not pity it much; it is not one to be shown kindness. When the sun of lust strikes it, that accursed one immediately begins to flap its wings and fly like a bat. Bravely draw it into battle, fight it valiantly. May Allah reward you with union with Him!
In summary, when that man brought the dragon and that dreadful thing revived in the hot weather, it caused all those calamities. Indeed, my dear, it did a hundred times more than what we have said! Do you hope to keep it calm, gentle, and loyal without giving it hardship and torment? Is this the lot of every lowly person? It takes a Moses to kill the dragon. Hundreds of thousands of people were defeated by its stratagem. They fled from their dragon, perished, and died!