Volume One
A ruler arose from the same lineage as the Jew who sought to destroy the Christian religion. If you wish to know the emergence of this other ruler, read the chapter “Vessamai zatülburüc.”
He mirrored the wickedness born from the first ruler.
Know that Allah holds the first wrongdoer accountable for all such injustice and oppression.
Whoever establishes a bad custom incurs condemnation at every moment. The righteous have departed, leaving behind their beautiful ways and customs; while the wicked leave only oppression and curses. From their lineage, whoever is born until the Day of Judgment will bear that wickedness.
This sweet water and salty water are intertwined like veins. They remain separate until they mix, as whispered among the people. The sweet water—the “universal book” legacy—remains for the righteous.
Observe those who seek prophethood; their desires are sparks from the jewel of prophecy. These sparks shine and rotate in accordance with jewels. A spark goes where its origin comes from, and the ore lies.
Just as the sun moves from one constellation to another, so too does the light it casts rotate around the house. Whoever has an affinity and connection with a star rotates and circles with that star, under its influence.
Fortunate Venus desires passion, music, and love; she is inclined towards them. Those belonging to Mars, the warrior-like planet, seek conflict, slander, and hostility.
Beyond the stars are other stars, free from combustion and misfortune. They traverse the seven heavens and beyond. These stars, close yet separate, abide in the light of Allah’s illumination. The fate of those whose destiny aligns with these stars will burn away the disbelievers.
His wrath is not like that of Mars, which sometimes prevails and sometimes succumbs, changing its influence accordingly.
The dominant light is safe from deficiency and darkness. Allah’s light lies between two fingers. He scattered this light to souls; rulers have filled their skirts with it. Whoever finds this light turns his face away from anything other than Allah. Whoever lacks a garment of love has not partaken in this scattering of light. The faces of the essences are towards ashes. The nightingale’s love is laughter.
Observe the color of an orphan; seek the hue within a person—whether yellow, red, or whatever it may be. Good colors come from the fountain of purity.
The color of the ugly comes from dirty black water. The name of this refined color is “Sıbgatullah”—the dye of Allah. The scent of this foul color is Allah’s curse. What comes from the sea returns to the sea; it goes where it came from.
Like torrents rushing down a mountainside, the soul mixed with love flows back to its origin and joins it.
See how that Jewish dog devised his scheme! He erected an idol next to the fire. “Whoever worships this idol will be saved,” he said. “Those who do not prostrate themselves sit in the very center of the fire.” He did not punish the self-idol until another idol was born from the self-idol. The greatest idols are those of your own selves. For one idol is a serpent, and the other is a dragon.
The self is like a striking flint made of iron and stone; the spark is the idol’s spark. That spark is extinguished by water. But do stone and iron—the striking flint—extinguish with water? When does humankind become safe from this, and how?
Stone and iron hold fire within them; water cannot extinguish their fire nor affect it. River water extinguishes external fires. How can water enter the stone and iron?
The water of a pitcher and test is transient. But the spring’s water is always fresh and eternal.
Fire and smoke are the original elements of iron and stone. Jewish and Christian infidelity are their offspring.
An idol is hidden black water in a pitcher. Know that the self is the fountain of that very black water. That carved idol is like a black flood. The one who makes idols is a fountain on the main road. A single stone can break hundreds of pitchers, but the spring’s water continues to flow.
Breaking idols is easy, very easy. But seeing the self as easy is ignorance.
O son, if you desire the example and form of the self, read the story of the seven gates of hell. The self has a trickery at every moment; in every trickery, hundreds of Pharaohs are drowned along with those who follow Pharaoh. Flee to Allah’s Musa and to Musa! Do not spill the water of faith by acting like Pharaoh! Cling to Ahad and Ahmed, O brother, free yourself from the Abu Jahl within your soul.
That Jew brought a woman and her child before the idol as fire blazed. He took the child from his mother and threw him into the fire. The woman feared and separated her heart from faith. When she wanted to prostrate herself before the idol, the child cried out in the fire, “I have not died!”
“Mother, come! Although I appear to be in fire outwardly, I am well here; I am pleased. This fire is a veil, an illusion outwardly. But in reality, it is a grace that has emerged from the neck of truth-seekers. Mother, come, see Allah’s crisis so you may see the pleasure and sign of those who are afflicted by love.”
“Mother, truly this fire is like water, but outwardly it appears to be fire. Enter this fire and see the water that resembles fire. Enter the fire and see the secrets of Ibrahim, who finds roses and jasmine within the fire. I saw death as I was born from you; I feared separation from you greatly. But when I was born from you, I came to a pleasant realm and freed myself from a narrow prison. Now, finding this tranquility and comfort within the fire, I have begun to see the world as my mother’s womb.”
“I saw a realm in this fire where every particle contains a breath of Isa. A universe that exists outwardly… That outward world is merely composed of impermanent forms.”
“Mother, for the right of motherhood, come, enter… This fire has no fiery quality. Mother, come, enter… It is time for full fortune and glory. Mother, come, enter… Do not let your state slip away.”
“That dog’s power you have seen. Now see Allah’s grace and might. I am drawing back your foot out of pity; otherwise, I am already in a state to favor you with my joy. Come inside, call others so that the emperor has set up a table within the fire.”
“O Muslims, all enter the fire; everything besides the pleasure of religion is torment.”
“O people, come to this blessing, which has hundreds of springs, like moths!”
Thus he cried out among the congregation; and the people remained in awe of his voice.
Thereupon, women and men began throwing themselves into the fire involuntarily, without coercion, but only with the love of friends. For the beloved gives pleasure to every pain.
It happened that the attendant began to dissuade the people from entering the fire.
The face of that Jew turned black and humiliated. Thus he regretted it and his heart grieved. For the people had become more attached to faith than ever before, and more eager to sacrifice themselves.
Praise be to Allah that Satan’s trickery entangled his feet! Praise be to Allah that He saw him with a blackened face!
The disgrace of the people was smeared on the face of that ruler.
He used to tear the people’s clothes, but his own was torn; the people’s clothes remained intact.
One person twisted his mouth and mockingly called out “Ahmed,” and it remained so. He regretted it and said,