First Volume
Salih’s she-camel appeared as a camel, yet that unjust people slaughtered it due to ignorance. They were enemies to water for the camel, so they became a grave of water and bread (perishing while filling their graves).
Allah’s she-camel drank from the river and clouds. They withheld Allah’s water from Allah, and Salih’s she-camel is like the bodies of righteous people; they are a trap for the destruction of evildoers. Indeed, the decree, “Refrain from Allah’s she-camel and her drink,” brought that entire community grief and destroyed them. Allah demanded an entire city as diyet (compensation) for the blood of a single camel.
The soul is like Salih; the body resembles the camel. The soul yearns for union, while the body is in need. Harm cannot befall a pure soul; Allah is not harmed. No one can overcome those who possess such a soul. If harm occurs, it afflicts the scab (minor ailment) rather than the pearl. Harm cannot befall a pure soul. Allah’s light is not defeated by disbelievers. The life force reached the body belonging to the earth, and evil people sought to wound it so that Allah might witness their trial; thus, it became bound and united with the body.
The one who wounds the soul does not know that this wounding wounds Allah. He is unaware that the water of this cup has mingled with river water. Allah has established a connection to a body in order to provide refuge for all creation.
No one can triumph over their hearts. Harm afflicts the scab, but not the pearl. Be a servant of Allah’s friend’s body so that you may be a companion on the path with Prophet Salih.
Prophet Salih said, “Since you have envied and done this deed, punishment will come from Allah after three days. After those three days, a calamity will come from Allah alone, which has three signs: All of your faces will change color. When you look at each other, you will see your faces in various colors. In the first few days, your faces will turn yellow like saffron; on the second day, they will redden like madder. On the third day, your faces will become completely black, after which Allah’s wrath will come and strike. If you want proof of this warning, pursue the she-camel’s calf more accurately! If you can catch it, a cure will be found for your trouble. If not, the bird of hope has flown away from afar!”
Upon hearing these words, they all began to dart after her like dogs. No one reached the calf; she disappeared into the mountains.
Like a pure soul escaping the blemish of the body, she fled to Allah, the Possessor of blessings and favors.
Salih said, “Did you see how Allah’s calamity came? Thus, the neck of hope was broken.” What is the she-camel’s calf? The heart of Prophet Salih. Attend to his remembrance, fulfill his desire. If you appease his heart, you are saved from punishment; otherwise, it will be a day of regret and despair.
Salih’s people began to look forward to punishment in that murky valley as they heard it. They saw their faces turn yellow on the first day. They began to moan with hopelessness and coldness. On the second day, everyone’s face turned red. Hope and repentance were lost. On the third day, everyone’s face became black. Prophet Salih’s decree proved true, without falsehood or argument. As they all fell into a state of despair, they lifted their feet and collapsed onto their knees.
Gabriel (the Trusted Angel) narrated this kneeling to the Prophet in the Quran with the verse “Casim.” He taught you to kneel and frightened you with this kind of kneeling—kneel before calamity arrives!
Allah’s wrath afflicted Salih’s people; that wrath and punishment destroyed that city. Salih left seclusion and went towards the city; he saw that the city was filled with smoke and fire. He could hear their cries, having been obliterated by truth, but there were no cryers in sight! He heard moans and tremors from their bones; their souls were weeping tears like fresh grains. Salih began to weep upon hearing this, lamenting for those who cried: “O people of the misguided path! I complained to Allah about you and wept.”
Allah said to me, “Be patient with their oppression; advise them. For their time is short from their demise.” I cannot advise them because of the nature of their oppression. “Advice flows from love and purity,” I said. But you have inflicted so much oppression on me that the milk of advice has frozen in my veins. Allah commanded me, “I will grant you favor and grace and apply balm to those wounds.” He purified my heart like the sky. He erased and swept away your oppressions from my heart.
He began to give advice again, bringing sweet representations and words. He added fresh milk from sugar and honey to his words, giving them sweet counsel. Those words had a poisonous effect on you, for you were from beginning to end a fountain of poison, a mine of poison, an embodiment of poison. How can I grieve when grief rolls away headlong?
O stubborn people! You are the grief. Who weeps and laments for the death of grief? Who licks his hair because of a wound on his head?
Salih turned his face to himself and said, “O cryer, they are not worthy of weeping!”
O reader of the Quran truthfully! Do not read it crookedly. How can I mourn for that unjust people? Yet tears began to flow from his eyes and heart. An inexplicable compassion arose within him. Tears flowed like rain, and he was astonished. These cataracts were from a sea of generosity and grace flowing without cause.
As he wept, his mind said, “Why do you weep? It is unbecoming to weep for that kind of people who are mocking you. What are you weeping for? Their past? The traditions they imitate and follow? Their heads, their eyes, which are like those of the Serasers? Their mouths and eyes, which are like an ant hill? Their stubbornness, their mockery, their reproaches? Give thanks; see how Allah has trapped them and destroyed them! Their hands are crooked, their feet are crooked, their eyes are crooked, their gazes are crooked, their wars are crooked, their angers are crooked…
They stumbled upon this wisdom because they followed the past and imitated those who transmitted it. They did not become free men out of concern for appearing and being heard; they became donkey carts. Allah brought servants from heaven to earth to show them hell…
The people of Hell and Paradise sit in a shop. There is a veil between them, and they do not mix with each other. The People of the Garden and the People of Purity are mixed in appearance, but there is Mount Qaf between them.
These are like gold and soil mixed in a mine. Soil and gold are mixed, but there are hundreds of plains and hundreds of inns between them! This is like a true pearl and a false pearl being guests for one night. Half the sea is as sweet as sugar, delicious, and shining like the moon; The other half is bitter like snake venom, tasteless, and black like tar.
The people of Paradise and Hell also surge up and down like the sea. The emergence of waves from a small body resembles the mixing of souls in peace and war. Waves of peace break, removing animosity from hearts. Conversely, waves of war break, overturning loves. Loves draw sweetness; they sweeten it. For the origin of loves is to lead to the right path. Wrath draws sweetness into bitterness. Can bitterness and sweetness coexist? Bitterness and sweetness are not seen with the eye. The eye that sees the outcome knows.
There are many sweets that are like sugar, but poison is hidden in that sugar. The one who has the most superior intellect and the sharpest understanding understands from the scent. The other only tastes it on his lips and teeth. Satan shouts, “Eat!” But that man rejects it, his mouth tasting the venom. Another eats it and realizes it; another eats it and ruins his body.
In one person, the effect of poison appears as the days and months pass. In another, it is revealed after death and the blowing of the trumpet. If they are given respite in the grave, they will surely torment them on the Day of Judgment.
Every plant, every sugar has a period of existence in time. It takes years for the tulip to acquire color, brilliance, and grace through the influence of the sun. Ordinary plants grow in two months. But the red rose only blooms after a year. The Most High Allah has narrated the term—that is, the duration of everything—in Surat Al-An’am. Now you have heard it; let every hair be cut!
This is otherworldly life, may you be well! Do not dispute this word, call it otherworldly life. See this word as a new soul in the fabric of old letters. Friend; hear another subtlety. This subtlety is like life, both clear and obvious, yet very subtle and hidden. There is a place where this snake venom becomes exceedingly sweet and delicious through Allah’s decrees. In one place it is poison, in another it is perfectly appropriate and in its place. It harms the soul there but heals here. The cornelian is sour in the berry; but when it comes to grapes, it turns sweet and beautiful. Then it enters a cup and becomes bitter, forbidden… How delicious it is as vinegar!
The Gnostic eats poison and it turns into honey, but the seeker eats it and his mind darkens.
Solomon said, “My Lord, grant me authority,” meaning, “Do not give this kingdom to anyone else.” Or do not bestow this grace upon anyone else. He asked for this in a way similar to envy but it is not.
Read the subtlety of *la yenbağı* from the heart. Do not know the secret of not giving this kingdom to anyone after me. Indeed, he saw hundreds of harms and dangers in that kingdom. The kingdom of the world is like a hair, full of anxiety and fear from head to toe. Anxiety about the head and fear of the soul… We cannot have an ordeal like this.
Solomon must be someone with great insight so that he may abandon these hundreds of colors, scents, and tastes. Along with his power and might, the wave of that kingdom was stifling Solomon’s breath. Because of this grief, dust and dirt settled upon him, and he felt compassion for all the world’s emperors, interceded for them, saying, “Grant me the kingdom you have given me to those who are perfect in being. Whoever you grant this kingdom with grace and bestow it upon, that is Solomon, and he is with me.”
He said, “He is not included in the decree of not giving it to anyone after me; he is with me. What does ‘he is with me’ mean? That person is without a cause, without dispute, is with me.”