A child was weeping before his father’s coffin, striking it. “Father, where are they taking you? They will finally lay you beneath the earth. They are taking you to such a narrow, sorrowful home where there is no carpet, no mat. There is no light at night, nor a slice of bread by day. No scent of food, no trace of sustenance.
There is no welcoming gate, no path on the roof, nor even a neighbor to seek refuge with! How will the body kissed by the people reach this sorrowful abode? In that constricted place, neither beauty nor countenance remains,” he lamented. Thus, enumerating the characteristics of that home, he shed tears like blood from his eyes.
Cuha said to his father: “Father, they are taking him to our house.” His father replied to Cuha, “Don’t be foolish.” Cuha said, “Father, listen to these signs. As he counts them one by one, all of these signs are undoubtedly the signs of our home. There is no mat, no light, no food. No welcoming gate, nor interior, nor roof!”
Similarly, there are hundreds of signs belonging to people within the community, yet the heedless do not see them. The heart-house, deprived of the brilliance of the sun of majesty and lacking light, is as narrow and dark as a Jew’s soul; it is deprived of the pleasure of Allah, who bestows love. Neither the light of the sun shines upon that heart, nor does its expanse widen, nor does its gate open. It is better to dig a grave for such a heart. Now emerge from that heart-grave!
O playful and joyful soul, you are alive, a living son! Does your breath not constrict in this narrow heart-grave? You are Yusuf of the time, the sun of the sky. From this desert, from this dungeon, show your face! The Prophet Yunus was baked within the belly of a fish. The Prophet Yunus escaped this affliction only through tasbih (remembrance of Allah). Had he not performed tasbih in the fish’s belly, he would have remained imprisoned in that dungeon for eternity. Yunus was saved by performing tasbih to Allah. What is tasbih? It is a sign of the Day of alast (the day when Allah asked mankind if they would bear witness to His Oneness). If you forget the tasbih of your soul, listen to the tasbih of these fish. Whoever sees Allah belongs to Allah; whoever sees that sea is a fish.
This world is an ocean, the body is a fish, and the soul is Yunus, ashamed of the light of dawn. Yunus was saved from the fish because he performed tasbih to Allah; otherwise, he would have been digested and annihilated. This sea is full of living fish. You do not see them, but they are flying all around you. Those fish are colliding with you. Open your eyes and clearly see.
Even if you do not see the fish, at least let your ears hear their tasbih (remembrance). Patience is the tasbih of your soul. True tasbih is that patience; there is no tasbih like it. Be patient; true tasbih is that patience; there is no tasbih like it. Be patient, “Patience is the key to hardship and difficulty.” Patience is like a bridge; paradise lies on the other side. Every beautiful thing has an unsightly counterpart.
You who have a shattered heart, how can you know the pleasure of patience? How much more so the delight of enduring patience to reach that radiant Çikil! The taste of war is for the powerful man, and the man with a feminine nature only enjoys intimacy. What religion does he have other than intimacy? What dhikr (remembrance)? That thought pulls that man down to the lowest depths.
Even if he rises to the sky, do not be afraid of him. For even if his voice comes from above, his steed continues to gallop downwards! Should one fear the worlds of the poor? Those worlds are a path to obtaining sustenance.
A large man seized a boy. The boy’s face paled, fearing that this man intended harm. The man said, “Beautiful one, be assured. You will ride upon my back. Do not worry about my fearsome appearance; know that I am but a camel. Ride me as you would a camel, and guide me.”
The outward appearances and inner meanings of people are like this. They appear to be men from the outside, but inwardly they are devils! O, Adam-like man with a thick body, you resemble a drum struck by the wind’s influence on a branch. Like a drum filled with air, a fox revealed his prey because of its sound. When he saw that the drum had no soul and was full of air, he said, “Even a pig is preferable to this empty drum!” Foxes fear the sound of the drum, but an intelligent person beats it so thoroughly that one would not dare speak ill of it.