Volume One
The Prophet asked one morning, “O my pure and faithful friend, how did you spend your morning?” Zeyd replied, “As a believing servant.” The Prophet then inquired, “If the bond of faith has sprouted and blossoms have opened, where is its sign?” Zeyd said, “I spent the days without water, and I slept at night without love or yearning. Just as a javelin passes through a shield, so did I pass through the days and nights (they could not hold me back, nor did anything from them touch me).
Therefore, in my view, all Sharia laws and all religions are one. In my view, hundreds of thousands of years are like an hour. Eternity has merged with eternity. But reason cannot find its way here.” The Prophet said, “So, on that path, according to the understanding of this realm, do you have a gift that you’ve brought for those who possess intellect in this realm? Let’s see it!”
Zeyd said, “The people see the sky as I see the Throne, together with those who are around it. Before me are eight heavens and seven hells, as clear and present as a shaman’s idols. I know the people one by one, just as someone distinguishes wheat from barley in a mill.
Who is destined for Paradise? Where is the stranger? In my view, they are as obvious as a serpent and a fish.” “Some faces will be radiant on the Day of Judgment, others dark…” The secret has already been revealed. Some of this people’s faces are radiant, some are dark.
Indeed, some souls were flawed even before (coming into) this world. But their condition was hidden from the people because they were in the womb. The wretched one is wretched in the womb (but unknown). In the realm of the body, the conditions of the soul are understood from the conditions in the body.
The body is pregnant with a child like the womb. Death is birth, grief and resurrection. All the past souls in this world are waiting, “How will that blessed soul be born?” The blacks say, “He must be one of us.” The whites say, “It’s impossible…” He will be very beautiful.
When the soul of the body is born into the afterlife, there is no more dispute between white and black. If it is black, the Zanjis will take him away; if he is white, those of his own kind, the whites, will take him away. But understanding it before birth is one of the difficult matters in the realm.
Because few know what an unborn child looks like. Whoever understands this sees with the light of Allah. Such a person can also penetrate into the inner depths. The original essence of the sperm is white and beautiful. But the contrary of the soul of a white person gives color to the sperm, shaping it into its most beautiful form; the contrary of the soul of a black person drives some people into the most inferior color, the most vulgar shape.
There is no end to this saying. You still drive your horse, let us not fall behind the caravan. One day, before every group, whether you are straw or mountain, Hindu or Turk, will be revealed. A Hindu and a Turk cannot be known in the womb. But when they are born, everyone sees and understands whether they are weak or strong.
Zeyd said, “I see the people, women, men… Everyone, as if on the Day of Judgment, clear and present. Should I tell them right away? Or should I conceal it?” Mustafa bit his lip to mean silence.
Zeyd said, “O Prophet of Allah, should I tell the secret of resurrection today so that I may cause chaos in this world? Allow me to tear down the veils so that my essence and nature may shine like the sun; May the sun be eclipsed by my light…
Let me show the date palm (like fruits) and the willow tree (like those without fruit). Let me reveal the secret of resurrection, let me manifest pure gold coins with adulterated ones. Hands cut off in the color of the companions of disbelief, crimson…”
Let me show the seven holes of hypocrisy in the light of a moon that is not held or traveled. Let me display the shimmering garments of the wretched. Let me announce the drums and shifts of the prophets. Let me bring Hell, Paradise, and the Arafah between them into plain view before the eyes of the disbelievers.
Let me show how the Pool of Kawthar is overflowing… its water striking the faces of the people of Paradise. “Drink! Drink!” it calls out, and that voice reaches their ears… Let me clearly show those who are thirsty rushing around the pool.
Their shoulders rub against mine, their cries reach my ear. There before my eyes… The inhabitants of Paradise embrace each other with their desires; they visit each other’s hands, exchange kisses from their lips.
The ears of the lowly are deafened by the lamentations and wailings of longing. What I have said is only signs. I would say it more deeply but I am afraid to offend the Prophet.”
Zeyd spoke in such a drunken, ruined manner. The Prophet wrinkled his collar. He said: “Come to your senses, the horse is running too fast, pull back the reins.” The ruling that ‘Allah does not feel shame’ struck back, and shame disappeared. Your mirror has come out of its sheath. Do mirrors and scales lie?
Do mirrors and scales withhold their words so as not to offend or embarrass anyone? Even if you served mirrors and scales for hundreds of years, they would still be the most truthful and esteemed touchstones. You ask me to hide your secret, to conceal the truth; even if I begged you to show less or more, they would say to you: ‘Do not ridicule yourself, where is the mirror, where is the scale? Where is deception?’
Allah has exalted our worth so that truths may be understood through us. What value would we have without this truthfulness; how would we brighten the faces of the righteous?” But even if a revelation from Mount Sinai strikes your heart, still put a mirror in your lap!”
Zeyd said, “Allah, the eternal sun, can it fit into a seat? Things that do not exist tear and burn the seat. There is no more madness or reason before him!” The Prophet said, “Put one finger over your eye… you will see the world without the sun.
Even one finger acts as a veil. This is a sign of the sultan’s covering of shame. A single point (like a finger) covers the universe; a slip also brings about an eclipse of the sun. Silence your lips, look into the depths of the sea. Allah has subjected the sea to mankind.
Likewise, the rivers Selsebil and Zencebil are under the dominion of Allah’s servants placed in the paradise. The four rivers of Paradise are under our rule; but this is not from our power or strength… it is by Allah’s command.
These rivers are like spells obeying the commands of sorcerers; we direct them wherever we want. These two eyes, like springs that flow and are subject to the will of the heart…
The heart desires that the eyes go to poison and snakes; the heart desires to take lessons from what is seen. The heart desires to look at things seen; the heart desires to flow into hidden things. The heart desires to send the eyes to the totality; the heart desires to imprison them in the particulars.
These five senses (like the nozzles in the fountains, being subject to the fountain) are also subject to the heart in the same way. They work according to its will and according to its command. Wherever the heart points, the five senses gather their skirts and go that way.
Just as Moses’ staff is subject to Moses, so too is the foot plainly subject to the heart’s command. If the heart desires, the foot dances or begins to walk quickly while walking slowly. If the heart desires, the hand calculates with its fingers or writes a book.
The hand is under the dominion of a hidden hand. That hidden hand is inside, has stretched its skin outward, and made it its representative. If the heart desires, the hand becomes a dragon to the enemy. If the heart desires, it helps the beloved. If the heart desires, the hand is a ladle for food, a mace of thirty batman.
What does the heart tell them? What a wondrous union this is, what a hidden cause! Does the heart possess Solomon’s seal so that it may point out the ways of these five senses? The five outward senses have become easy captives of it; in the five inner senses, they are its servants.
Those seven natures are besides these. There are many more powers that cannot be expressed with words. Count them yourself. If your heart is like Solomon, then rule over jinn and devils with the ring on your finger! If you do not stray in this sovereignty, those three devils will not take the ring from your finger.
Otherwise, your name and reputation will hold the whole world. Both worlds obey your dominion just as your body does. But if the devil takes the ring in his hand, then kingship is over, fortune is dead.”
Lokman al-Hakim was serving a slave who appeared insignificant and humiliated among the other slaves. The master sent them to the vineyard to bring fruit so that he could eat comfortably and enjoy himself. Lokman was like a servant subject to those around him; his inner self was as dark as night.
The slaves ate all the fruits they gathered, greedily. They told their master, “Lokman ate.” The master frowned at Lokman, adopting a harsh demeanor. When Lokman investigated and understood the reason, he spoke to his master in an angry manner:
“Master; a treacherous servant is not a servant who gains Allah’s pleasure. O generous one! Test us all. Give us plenty of warm water. Then take me to a vast desert. You ride your horse and let us run on foot. Then you will see the wrongdoer, witness the works of Allah.”
The master became a saki for the slaves, gave them warm water. They drank it out of fear. Then he began to make them run in the meadows. The slaves were running up and down. Finally they got tired, started vomiting. They vomited all the water they had drunk and all the fruit they had eaten. Lokman’s heart also became upset, and he vomited. But from his belly came pure water.
If Lokman’s wisdom knows how to show this, what is the power of Allah’s wisdom? All secrets will be revealed and seen on the Day of Judgment. The secret you did not want to be known has been completely revealed. Just as they drank warm water, their secrets that would expose them have been fully exposed.
Stone is thrown into fire (to be tested, to soften, to melt) so the disbelievers are thrown into fire, and their torment is with fire. How many times have we spoken soft words to this heart like a stone, but it has not taken admonition.
It is fitting for the vile to be associated with the vile. Whatever spouse you wish, take him. Perish in Allah, gain his attributes! If you seek light, acquire aptitude for light; if you seek distance from Allah, see yourself, and turn away! But if you seek a way to escape this ruined prison, do not break away from love, prostrate yourself, and draw near!
There is no end to this saying. Zeyd said: “Rise up, bind Burak to the storyteller! The ability to speak reveals shame; it tears down the veils of the unseen. Allah wants many places to remain hidden. Drive away that drummer, cover the road. Do not drive your horse quickly, pull back the reins. It is better for everyone’s secrets to remain hidden, for everyone to be content with their hidden assumptions.”
Every bey, every sir, every hope and fear should be wary of Allah. This hope and fear has entered behind a veil so that everyone may nurture and grow in it. Have you torn the veil of hope and fear? Then the unseen will appear with all its splendor.
A young man saw someone fishing by a stream and assumed, “This must be Solomon.” If he is Solomon, why is he alone and hidden? If not, how is it that he so resembles Solomon?”
Solomon became a sovereign again until the doubt in his heart was gone. The demon fell from his throne and kingdom; the sword of fortune spilled the blood of that devil. He put the ring back on his finger and gathered his jinn soldiers again.
The people came to watch, and the young man who had been thinking also joined them and approached the presence. When he saw the ring on Solomon’s finger, all his thoughts and anxieties vanished.
Doubt is when a thing is hidden and concealed. This investigation is for things unseen. The worry about what is not visible grows as it grows. But when something becomes manifest, the worry disappears.
Although revealing the truth of a thing is essentially perfection and frees people from worry, the virtue of believing in the unseen is one hundred times greater than believing in the seen. Know this well and be free from doubt!