It is related from Ibrahim Ethem; he was sitting by the seashore, that Sultan of souls, setting about to mend his cloak. Suddenly, an emir arrived there. The emir was among the Shaykh’s servants. He recognized the Shaykh and immediately prostrated. Seeing the Shaykh mending his cloak, he was astonished. His form had changed, and so had his character! The emir thought to himself, “How has such a mighty sovereignty been abandoned, and this poverty chosen? What a strange thing! To lose the kingship of seven climates in order to mend his own cloak like the poor.”
The Shaykh understood his thought. The Shaykh enters hearts with hope and fear; the secrets of the world are not hidden from him. O, those without capital, protect your hearts in the presence of heart-possessors! With the people of the body, adab is only outward behavior. For Allah has concealed things from them. But with the people of the heart, adab is an inner transaction. It belongs to the interior. For their hearts understand hidden things.
What strange deed are you doing? You go to the blind, desiring a position, and sit by the gate, observing reverence and adab. With the sighted, you abandon adab. Therefore, you have become fuel for the fire of desire! Since you lack understanding, you are deprived of the light of guidance. Polish your face for the blind, adorn yourself.
In the presence of the sighted, smear dirt on your face, and then preen with this foul state! The Shaykh immediately threw his needle into the sea and called out in a majestic voice for the needle. Tens of thousands of Allah fish emerged from the sea, each holding a golden needle in its mouth, saying, “O Shaykh, take Allah’s needles!” Ibrahim Ethem turned his face to the emir and said, “Emir, is the sovereignty of the heart better, or such a commonplace sovereignty?”
This is only an outward sign, nothing but a trick. If you enter the inner realm, you will see twenty times more than this. They bring a branch from the garden to the city. But how can they carry the garden and orchard there? Especially if that sky is like a garden with only one leaf. Even if that realm is an emanation, a reality, then this world is like its husk. You cannot step towards that garden. Smell more fragrance so your coldness disappears!
In this way, that fragrance will draw out your soul and be the light of your eyes. Yaqub’s son, Yusuf, said about this fragrance, “Take my shirt and carry it to my father’s face.” Ahmad always said in his sermons, “My eye is enlightened in prayer.” They are united in the five senses.
Because all five originate from a single essence. If one of these five senses becomes strong, the others also become strong; one acts as a saki to each other. The sight of the eye enhances the ability to speak. Love in the eye brings truthfulness. Truthfulness is the alertness of every sense, so that the senses become friendly.
In spiritual training, if one sense breaks its bond, all the other senses change at once. If one sense perceives things that cannot be grasped by the outward senses, then all the senses are revealed with matters of the unseen. Just as a sheep walks away from the flock and jumps over the stream, the other sheep jump over in turn, one after another.
You too, drive your sense-sheep, spread them in Allah’s writing, graze them there. Let them eat roses and August lilies, let them find their way to the gardens of truth. May all the other senses reach paradise, so that each sense acts as a prophet for the senses. The senses speak secrets to your sense, without a tongue, without lips, even beyond truth, beyond metaphor.
For this truth you speak can be interpreted in countless ways. This delusion also gives birth to dreams. But the truth belonging to the manifest world cannot be interpreted in any way. When every sense becomes a servant of your sense, even the spheres cannot separate from you. If there were a dispute over who owns a saman (a piece of straw), it would belong to whoever the wheat belongs to. (Because the saman belongs to the owner of the wheat.) The sphere is a husk, and the soul’s light is within it. This is visible; that is invisible. Do not let your foot slip, do not sway, come to yourself!
The body is outward, and the soul is hidden. The body is like a garment, and the soul is like a hand. Reason is more hidden than the soul. The sense must quickly grasp the soul.
For example, if you see a movement, you understand that it is moving; but is it intelligent? You do not know that. It begins with measured movements, just as copper turns into gold through chemistry; it arranges its movements with knowledge, so you can tell from those related, orderly movements that it has reason.
The soul that receives revelation is even more hidden than reason. For it is of the unseen, belonging to the realm of the unseen. Ahmad’s reason was not hidden from anyone; everyone knew he possessed reason and perfection. But no one could comprehend the soul of revelation. There are things suitable for the soul of revelation, but reason cannot grasp them. For that soul is very exalted.
Reason sometimes looks at that soul’s actions as madness, sometimes as bewilderment. Because understanding it is dependent on being like it. Musa was astonished by ordinary matters according to Khidr; when Musa saw them, he became confused. Those things seemed contrary to Musa. For Musa does not possess that state. Even Musa’s reason cannot reach the unseen.
Then, O noble person, what is the reason of a mouse if it can reach these matters! Knowledge of imitation is for sale; this knowledgeable one finds customers and beautifully sells his knowledge.
But the knowledge of truth has Allah as its customer. This knower’s market always thrives, always shines. He sits down with a rapturous expression, closing his mouth. But the customer is Allah. The angels are customers for Adam’s lesson; neither jinn nor fairies are privy to that lesson. Adam’s lesson is to give names to everything. Come now, tell Allah’s secrets from hair to hair.
The shortsighted, constantly changing, colored and lacking caution, I called him a mouse, because his place, his home is the earth. The mouse also lives on the earth; he knows his ways, his traces, but he knows those underground, he has bored and riddled the earth. Like a mouse, the ego crumbles into crumbs. Allah has given even the mouse an amount of reason. For the Exalted God does not give anyone anything more than what is necessary.
If the world did not need the earth, the Lord of the worlds would not have created it. This trembling earth would not have been created by Allah unless it was in need of mountains. Nor would He have brought seven heavens into existence from nothing if there were no need for them. The sun, moon and stars appeared only because of necessity.
So, need is the binding force (that draws things from non-existence into the realm of existence). Allah’s favor appears in proportion to the need. Go on, increase your needs so that the sea of generosity overflows from Allah’s grace. These poor people who beg on this path, present their needs to the people. The blind, crippled, sick and afflicted show their ailments in order to stir up the compassion of the people. “O people, give bread.” Do they say, “I have a storehouse, I have property, I have a table?”
The mole does not need eyes for eating and drinking. That is why Allah created it eyeless. The mole can live quite well without eyes. Even in the fresh earth, what need has he of eyes? He only comes out of the ground to steal; he doesn’t do anything else. If Allah purifies him from this theft, he will take wing and fly up to the heavens like a bird.
In Allah’s rose garden, hundreds of nağmes (melodies) emerge like nightingales every moment. “O remover of ugly qualities, O transformer of hell into paradise, You bestow light on a piece of fat, give hearing ability to a bone; O generous Allah! But what relation does that have with the body?”
Karama (divine grace) is like a river, and the soul is like flowing water. That river flows, but you say it’s stopping. It rushes along, but you think it isn’t moving at all. If the water doesn’t go from earth to earth, if the water doesn’t flow, what are those weeds, those scraps that appear on top? Your scraps are forms of thought. New, new thoughts come to your mind every moment. The face of the river is not free from beautiful and unpleasant debris. These shells floating above so much water are the shells of fruits from the garden.
Seek out the inside of those shells in the water. For the water boils from the garden, it comes from the garden. If you don’t see the flow of Ab-i Hayat (water of life), then the branches, leaves and debris on the river will quickly be swept away. When this grace manifests intensely, grief does not come to the hearts of those who are not knowledgeable, nor does sorrow amuse those hearts. Just as a river becomes full and flows very quickly, no debris plays on top of it!
Someone criticized another saying, “Bad man, he is not on the right path. He drinks wine, he is hypocritical and filthy.” Another said to him, “Observe adab. It is inappropriate to have such suspicions about the elders. Let his pure stream be muddied. How far he is from him and his qualities!”
Do not slander like this to those who are worthy. This is nothing but your imagination, turn away! Such a thing would not happen; if it did, O bird flying in the earth, what harm does filth do to the bahr-i muhted (ocean of generosity)? It’s not two testaments or a small pool. How can a little dirt muddy or pollute it? Fire did no harm to Ibrahim. Let him who is Nemrut say to him: “Fear the fire!” The ego is Nemrut, and reason is Khalil. The soul is in the midst of the matter. A guide is needed for the traveler; one who is reaching the destination does not need a guide.
If that one who has attained union were to offer proof, so that those still struggling might understand, he would bring it. Like a father says “Ti, ti” to his small child, even if he measures and evaluates the world with his reason.
If the Master said,