Jesus became a companion to a fool. When the fool saw some dead bones on the road, he said, “Teach me that exalted name you recite to revive the dead, so that I too may do a good deed and give life to these bones by reciting that name.”
Jesus said: “Be silent! This is not a matter for your words! The breath of the one who utters it must be purer and clearer than the rains, and its possessor must be more perceptive than the angels. Adam burned and was purified for ages, and became trustworthy for the treasury of the heavens. You have taken a staff in your right hand, but where is your hand, and where is the hand of Moses?” The fool replied, “If I am not capable of secrets, then you recite that name over these bones.”
A Sufi (sofi) set out on a journey and, after wandering, spent a night as a guest in a Sufi lodge (tekke). He had an animal, which he tied up in the stable. He himself sat at the head of the hall with his friends and entered into contemplation (murāqaba). In contemplation, the presence of the Beloved becomes like a ledger before a man (one attains the spiritual presence of Allah, and all realities are read in that presence). The Sufi’s ledger is not a scribble made from the writing of letters. Rather, it is a heart (qalb) as white and pure as snow. The scholar’s provision and capital are works produced by the pen. What is the Sufi’s provision and capital? Footprints!
The Sufi is like a hunter who, in pursuit of prey, sees and follows the footprints of a gazelle. For a while, the gazelle’s footprints are useful. After that, in fact, the musk scent in the air shows the way. If he gives thanks (shukr) for these traces and this tracking and continues on the path, in the end, because of that stepping and journeying, he attains his desire. Smelling the musk and traveling one stage is better than tracking footprints for a hundred stages and wandering a hundred stages. The heart (qalb), which is the rising place of the moonlight, is the secret of “the doors have been opened” for the gnostics (ʿārifūn).
It is a wall to you, but a door to them. It is a stone to you, but a pearl to the saints (ʿazīz). What you see clearly in the mirror, the elder (pīr) sees even earlier in a piece of brick. Those who are elders are such that, before this world existed, their souls were in the ocean of generosity. Before falling into this body, they passed through many lifetimes, they gathered fruits before sowing! They came to life before form and image, they pierced pearls before the sea was split!
When Allah consulted with the angels about creating the world and Adam, their souls were immersed up to their throats in the ocean of power. When the angels tried to prevent this, they would secretly whistle at the angels and mock them.
Before the foot of the Universal Soul (nafs-i kull) was bound, they knew the form of everything that would be created. They saw Saturn before the heavens, bread before the grains; they were filled with thought without intellect or heart, and triumphed without army or battle. That clear understanding, compared to them, is mere thinking. Otherwise, for those who are far from this secret, it is vision itself. Thinking pertains to the past and the future. When one is freed from both, the difficulty is resolved.
“The spirit (ruh) sees wine in the grape, existence in non-existence.” They too saw everything that would fall into modality (kayfiyya) without modality, and distinguished the door from the solid before the mine. They drank wines before the grape was created, and became intoxicated with love. In the heat of July, they see winter; in the sunlight, they see shade.
They behold wine in the heart of the grape, and all existence in utter non-existence. The sky wears this brocaded robe in their gatherings of spiritual intoxication only by their generosity. If you see two of them together, know that they are both one and six hundred thousand! Their numbers are like waves. Outwardly, the wind increases them. The sun of the people’s souls, the one who is ashamed in the bodies that resemble windows, is in doubt.
Multiplicity belongs to the animal soul (rūḥ-i ḥaywānī), but the human spirit (rūḥ-i insānī) is one. Since the Truth (al-Ḥaqq) has shed His light upon them, the light of the Truth never departs. O companion, leave off weariness for a while, and let me tell you of the single beauty mark of that beautiful one. His beauty cannot be described; what are the two worlds? Only the reflection of the beauty mark on His face! When I begin to describe His beautiful beauty mark, words want to tear and rend my body. I live content like an ant in this threshing floor, even carrying loads beyond my own size and capacity.
Would that beautiful one, whom even the light envies, leave me so that I may speak the secrets that must be said and are obligatory? The sea foams, is covered with foam, pushes the foam forward. Then it draws back its foam, opens up, and reveals itself.
Now listen, what prevented me from telling the inner aspect of the story? The listener’s heart went elsewhere. He remembered the state of that Sufi guest. He was immersed up to his throat in that love. Therefore, I must leave this discourse and begin with that, to describe the state, to tell that story. But, O noble one, do not think the Sufi is a Sufi of mere form! How long will you, like children, be obsessed with walnuts and grapes?
My son, our bodies are walnut and grape. If you are mature, pass beyond both! If you do not, Allah’s grace and generosity will make you pass through the nine heavens. Now listen to the outward aspect of the story, but be sure to separate the grain from the chaff!
When the dhikr (remembrance of God) and murāqaba (contemplation), ecstasy and longing of those Sufis who seek pleasure and tranquility came to an end, they brought food to the guest. At that moment, the guest remembered his animal and said to the servant, “Go to the stable and give the animal straw and barley.” The servant said, “Lā ḥawla… What excessive words! This has always been my job.” The Sufi said, “First, soak the barley.
Because the donkey is old, its teeth are not strong,” he said. The servant replied, “Lā ḥawla! O noble one, why do you say this? Everyone learns the rules of this service from me.” The Sufi said, “First, remove its saddle and apply medicine to its back.” The servant replied, “Lā ḥawla! O wise one, I have seen hundreds of guests like you; all left us satisfied.”
“The guest is our soul, he is of us,” he said. When the Sufi said, “Give it water, but let it be lukewarm,” the servant replied, “Lā ḥawla! Now you are embarrassing me.” The Sufi said, “Mix a little straw with the barley.” The servant replied, “Lā ḥawla! Enough of these words.” The Sufi said, “Sweep its place, leave no stones or dirt. If it is wet, sprinkle some dry earth.”
The servant replied, “Lā ḥawla, my father, lā ḥawla! When you send a competent person to do a job, say little!” He said, “Sweep, leave no stones or dirt. If it is wet, sprinkle some dry earth.” The servant replied, “Lā ḥawla, my father, lā ḥawla! When you send a competent person to do a job, say little!” The Sufi said, “Groom the donkey’s back.”
The servant replied, “Lā ḥawla! Father, be ashamed now!” Saying this, he tightly wrapped his skirt around his waist. “Look, I’m going, I’ll bring barley and straw first,” he said. He went, but the stable did not even cross his mind. He only deceived the Sufi. He went to a few companions, began to laugh at the Sufi’s words and mock him.
Since the Sufi had been traveling for a long time, he closed his eyes and began to dream: his donkey had been attacked by a wolf. The wolf was tearing at its back and thigh. He woke up and said, “Lā ḥawla! What a strange, nonsensical dream. Where is that compassionate servant?”
He dozed off again. This time, he saw his donkey falling into a well or a pit while walking on the road. He saw all kinds of bad dreams. In his dream, he sometimes recited Sūrat al-Fātiḥa, sometimes Sūrat al-Qāriʿa. “What can be done? The friends have left. All the doors are closed,” he said. Again, “Didn’t that servant eat salt and bread with us?
What did I do to him but kindness, what did I say but gentle words? On the contrary, why did he become hostile to me? Every enmity has a cause. Otherwise, being of the same kind makes a person loyal,” he said. Then again, “Did the generous Adam ever do any harm to Iblis?”
What did man do to the snake or the scorpion that they always want to bite and kill man? The wolf’s nature is predatory. This envy, too, is ultimately innate,” he said. Then again, “To fall into such bad suspicion is a mistake. Why do I harbor such suspicion about my brother?” he would say. Then he would say, “To fall into such suspicion is also a kind of precaution. Can one succeed without doubt?” The Sufi was in anxiety. As for the donkey, it was in such a state that may the enemies’ punishment be like this!
The poor donkey, amidst stones and dirt, its saddle turned upside down, its halter broken. Having died from walking the road, all night it was without feed, sometimes in agony, sometimes at the point of death. All night it muttered, “O Lord, I have given up on barley, even less than a handful of straw would suffice.” With the tongue of its state, it said, “O shaykhs, have mercy, I am suffering at the hands of this crude and ill-mannered servant.” Only a bird flying on land, if caught in a flood, would feel and suffer the torment that donkey endured!
At last, the wretched donkey lay on its side from hunger until dawn. When it was day, the servant came and immediately straightened its saddle and struck its back. Like donkey drivers, he beat it with a stick several times. Whatever could be expected from that dog of a servant, he did to the donkey. The donkey, from the severity of the beating, jumped up and stood. It had no tongue to express its state!
When the Sufi mounted the donkey and set out, the donkey began to fall on its face at every moment. People began to lift it up each time it fell. Everyone thought it was sick. One twisted its ear, another checked its palate for wounds, another looked for a stone in its hoof, another saw its eye as cloudy. They said to the Sufi, “O Shaykh, what is this state? Did you not say yesterday, thank God, this donkey is strong?” The Sufi said, “A donkey that eats ‘lā ḥawla’ at night can only go like this. The donkey’s provision at night is ‘lā ḥawla’; if it recites tasbīḥ (glorification) at night, it will prostrate by day.”
Most people are man-eaters. Do not trust too much in their greetings! All their hearts are houses of Satan. Do not heed the words of the human Satan! Whoever is deceived by the ‘lā ḥawla’ from the mouth of his Satan will fall on his head in battle like that donkey. Whoever follows the Satanic ways in this world, if he is deceived by the respect and affection of an enemy with the face of a friend, will, like that donkey, become weak and dazed, and on the path of Islam, on the Bridge of Sirat, will fall headlong.
Do not listen to the wiles of a bad companion; see the earth as full of traps, do not walk with confidence. Look at Satan, who recites hundreds of thousands of ‘lā ḥawla’; O Adam, see Iblis, see how he hides in the snake! To skin the hide of a friend, like a butcher, he addresses you as “O soul, O beloved.” In this way, he wants to skin your hide. Woe to the one who tastes the opium of the enemies! Like a butcher, he puts your foot on the block to make you cry and moan and spill your blood. Hunt your prey yourself like lions. And beware the flattery of strangers!
Know the respect and consideration of base people to be like the respect and consideration of that servant. Loneliness is better than the wiles of those who are not truly human. Do not build your house on the land of others; mind your own business, not that of strangers! Who is the stranger? Your earthly body. Your falling into sorrow and grief is because of it.
As long as you give the body fatty and sweet things, you will not see your essence and reality grow strong. Even if you place the body among musks, on the day of death its foul smell will appear. Do not apply musk to the body, but to the heart (qalb). What is musk? The name of Allah, the Lord of Majesty. The hypocrite applies musk to the body, but plunges his spirit (ruh) to the very bottom of the furnace. If the name of Allah is on your tongue but not in your soul, because of faithless thoughts, foul odors!
His dhikr (remembrance) is like the greenery that grows in the furnace, like the rose and iris that grow where people relieve themselves. That greenery is borrowed there. The place of that rose is where people sit and enjoy themselves. Pure things belong to the pure; impure things to the impure… Come to your senses! Do not hold a grudge against those who lose their way because of hatred. For their graves will be dug next to those who hold grudges.
The root of hatred is hell. Your hatred is a part of that whole, and the enemy of your religion. Since you are a part of hell, be wise, the part settles with its whole. O renowned one! If you are a part of paradise, your delight is eternal like paradise. Bitterness is always mixed with bitterness. How can false words reach the Truth (al-Ḥaqq)?
Brother, you are nothing but that thought, that spirit (ruh). As for your remaining existence, you are nothing but bone and skin. If your thought, your spiritual being, is a rose, you are a rose garden; if a thorn, you are fit for the furnace. If you are rosewater, you are applied to the head and sprinkled on the sheep; if you are like urine, you are cast out.
Look at the trays of the perfume sellers; each kind is placed next to its own kind. They mix kinds with their own kind, and from this harmony comes a beauty, an adornment. But if a lentil is mixed among sugar, they separate them one by one. The trays are broken, souls are spilled, and the good and bad are mixed together.
Allah sent down books and prophets so that these grains would be separated and placed on trays. Before the prophets came, all appeared as one. Believer, disbeliever, Muslim, Jew—outwardly all were one. In the world, counterfeit coins and genuine coins circulated together. For the world was entirely night, and we were like travelers by night. When the sun of the prophets rose, it said, “O mixture, depart! O pure, come near!”
The eye can distinguish color; it can tell ruby from stone. The eye knows pearl from trash. That is why chaff pricks the eye. These counterfeiters are in love with the day. For the day is a mirror for the gold, so that the jeweler and money-changer may distinguish it. Since the day shows the red and yellow faces, Allah called the Day of Judgment ‘the Day’. In reality, the day is the secret of the saints (awliyāʾ). The day, compared to their moons, is like a shadow. Know that the day is the reflection of the secret of the friend of Allah; the evening, which covers the eye, is the opposite of his concealment of faults.
For this reason, Allah said, “By the morning brightness (wa’l-ḍuḥā)” (Qur’an 93:1). “Wa’l-ḍuḥā” is the light of Mustafa’s (the Prophet’s) heart. They say Allah loves the time of forenoon; this is because the forenoon is its opposite. Otherwise, it is a mistake to swear by what is perishable. Even so, is it fitting for what is perishable to enter the word of Allah?
Khalil (Abraham) said, “I do not love those that set” (Qur’an 6:76). If Khalil says so, how could the Exalted Allah desire or love what is perishable? The meaning of “wa’l-layl” (by the night) is again Mustafa’s concealment of faults, his body belonging to the earth. The sun of this forenoon rose from the sky and said to the body, which is like the night, “Your Lord has not forsaken you” (Qur’an 93:3). From the very trial itself came union; the words “nor is He displeased” (Qur’an 93:3) arose from that sweetness. In essence, every word is a sign of a state (ḥāl). The state is like the hand, the word like the tool.
The tool of the goldsmith, in the hands of the shoemaker, becomes like a seed sown in the field. In the hands of the farmer, the shoemaker’s tool is like straw before a dog, or bones before a donkey. The word “anā’l-Ḥaqq” (I am the Truth) in the mouth of Mansur was light; the word “anā’Llāh” (I am God) in the mouth of Pharaoh was a lie! The staff in the hand of Moses bore witness to his truthfulness, but in the hand of the magician it was of no use. For this reason, Jesus did not teach his companion the exalted name of the One God (tawhid). For he would not know, and would find fault with the tool. Strike stone against earth—does fire ever come forth? The hand and the tool are like stone and iron. There must be a pair for fire to arise. The One who has no pair, no tool, is Allah alone. There may be doubt in numbers, but there is no doubt in Allah.
Those who say two, those who say three, those who say more, all agree when it comes to one. When the squint is gone, all unite; those who said two or three also say one. If you are a ball in His field, if you say He is one, do not stop, circle around the playing field! If the ball is played by the blow of the king’s hand, it attains perfection.
O squint-eyed one, listen to these things with the ear of the soul, give medicine to your eye through the ear! Pure words do not settle in hearts (qalb) far from reality (ḥaqīqa), they go to the source of light. Just as a crooked shoe fits a crooked foot, so too the spells and tales of Satan suit hearts that are not upright. Repeat wisdom as much as you wish; if you are not worthy, wisdom is as far from you as ever! Write it, memorize it, speak of it, recite it! O stubborn one, it will turn its face from you, hide, break its bonds and flee. But if you do not read, yet the knowledge of reality (ḥaqīqa) sees that you are burning and yearning, it will become like a tamed bird in your hand. Just as a peacock is not found in a peasant’s house, the knowledge of reality is not the property of every novice.