DÖRDÜNCÜ BÂB · DÖRDÜNCÜ FASIL · Yedinci Madde
Allah’s friends' degrees, stations, miracles, and exalted states are described here.
O esteemed one! It is known that the friends of Allah have said: The saints are the sultans of hearts who wear cloaks; they are superior people who drink the wine of love and wander in sobriety.
For the blessed servants of Allah are intoxicated with the wine of divine love, and their expansive hearts are the gaze of the Most High Lord.
The saints are wealthy without wealth, sultans without drums or banners.
The saints are veiled with a covering of dignity and sit upon a bed of nearness (proximity) to Him in joy. Their exalted hearts traverse the heavens above, while their bodies are appointed to wander through this wild world.
The earth has been made a carpet for them to tread upon, and the heavens have become a canopy over them. The sun covers them with its light, and the moon illuminates them like a lamp. Their bodies and souls are of the subtle realm. Their words are in a prophetic style, their actions exhibit angelic qualities. The character of the friends of Allah reflects the dye of divine character. Their livelihood is from entrustment (tafwid) and reliance (tawakkul).
Their art is patience and forbearance. Their profession is submission and acceptance. Their pleasures lie in possessing awareness of poverty (faqr) and annihilation (fanā). They are always filled with wonder. They are steadfast in the friendship of Truth. How fortunate they are, and those who love them!
Do the world’s sultans possess even a tenth of this state and dominion?
Yet the Most High has described and announced how immense is the kingdom of the hereafter. As it is said in the Noble Quran: “Wherever you turn, you will see favor and a great kingdom” (The Human, 76/20).
**Poem:**
1. We are slaves to You, yet kings of the world.
The world became our sustenance because we are sustained by You.
2. The world, which has become a hiding place for Your presence,
We are veiled, but a covering for You.
3. Only those who seek your beauty see it, O King!
In this space, we are both canopy and banner for you.
4. We are the mirror of your beloved face, so that you may see your beauty.
5. If you desire union with Your essence,
Look into hearts with grace, for we are the joy of reunion.
6. Raise high the measure of your aspiration, O True One!
We are the form of the love of Truth, full of notes and melodies.
Regarding the miracles of the saints; Imam al-Ghazali (may Allah have mercy on him), a source of divine grace and abundance, explained it as follows:
The Most High has bestowed forty kinds of miracles upon His friends, twenty of which He gives in this world and twenty in the hereafter.
These are the miracles that occur in this world: Allah praises them, makes them worthy of respect, loves them, undertakes the organization of their affairs, takes responsibility for their sustenance, helps them, befriends them, frees them from service to the people and makes them esteemed, elevates their aspirations above the world and its people, purifies their hearts from all things, bestows upon them wisdom and guidance, grants them awe and dignity, expands their chests, makes them beloved by the hearts, blesses that which belongs to them, subjugates the four elements and the three forms derived from them to their command, gives them the keys to the treasures of the earth, makes them helpers to the needy, sick, and distressed, and accepts their prayers.
These are the miracles that occur in the hereafter: Allah facilitates death for them (the intoxication of death), establishes them in faith and knowledge, grants them ease and pleasure, makes their graves spacious and wide, protects them from trials and fear and delivers them from dangers, blesses them by being close to His exalted presence and abiding with Him, constantly bestows upon them grace and generosity, robes them in garments of bliss and crowns them, brightens their faces with purity and light, gives them tidings of what they will be safe in, deems their account books sufficient, does not question them, exempts them from the scales (mizan), makes them intercessors for sinful servants, calms down the fire of hell through their respect, enables them to pass swiftly over the Bridge (Sirat), allows them to drink from the Pool (Kawthar), bestows upon them eternal dominion, leads them to the abode of truthfulness, and shows them His blessed countenance without limitation.
O Allah! Bestow us with love for them and join us with them.
**Poem:**
1. We are intoxicated by the wine of eternity,
Devotees of the beauty of everlasting love.
2. Our teacher of love instructs us,
We are those who have forgotten action in this knowledge.
3. In form we may be light,
But in heart, steadfast as a mountain.
4. We have found the love of the Living and Sustaining One,
And with love, we too are eternal beings.
5. We are beggars of poverty and annihilation,
Yet also sultans of a boundless kingdom.
6. We have found pleasure in place of possessions and wealth,
We are drinkers of the wine of boundless love.
7. We describe this beautiful love,
Believing that we are gazals (poetic verses) singing its praise.
Here's a translation of the provided text, aiming for faithfulness and preserving meaning within a classical Islamic/Sufi context:
4. We have found the love of God, the Living and Self-Subsisting (al-Hayy al-Qayyum). Through love, we are immortals without assembly.
5. We are beggars of the kingdom of sovereignty and annihilation. Yet, we are also sovereigns of eternity's dominion.
6. Our heart’s delight replaces food and drink. We are among those who partake of the wine of love, free of charge.
7. We describe this beautiful love. As if we were praising God, we compose verses in praise.
**Notes on Translation Choices:**
* **al-Hayy al-Qayyum (الحي القيوم):** This is a significant epithet of God, signifying His eternal life and self-sufficiency. I've rendered it as "the Living and Self-Subsisting" to convey both aspects.
* **Fakr u fenā (فقر و فنا):** These terms are central to Sufi thought. *Fakr* signifies poverty or humility before God, while *fenā* refers to annihilation of the self in divine union. I've translated them as "beggars of…annihilation" to capture their combined meaning within the context.
* **Mülk (ملک):** This word means kingdom or dominion and is used here to refer to both earthly sovereignty and eternal dominion.
* **Aşk Şarabı (عشقشراب):** "Wine of love" is a common metaphor in Sufi poetry, representing the intoxicating experience of divine love.
* **Gazel İnşâd (غزل انشاء):** *Gazel* refers to a specific poetic form, and *inşa’* means to compose or construct. I've translated this as "compose verses" to convey the act of praising God through poetry.