Maḥmūd Shabistarī · d. 720/1320 or c. 740/1339–40
The Rose-Garden of Mystery
گلشن راز
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7. “I am the Truth”
۷ سؤال
Question 7
kudāmīn nuqṭa rā nuṭq ast ana l-ḥaqq
chi gūʾī harza-ʾī būd ān muzabbaq
What point is it whose utterance is "I am the Real"? What do you say: was that idle, counterfeit talk?
Whinfield's margin. Other manuscripts reads ? مزیبق for مزبق.
۷ جواب
Answer 7
ana l-ḥaqq kashf-i asrār-ast muṭlaq
ba-juz ḥaqq kīst tā gūyad ana l-ḥaqq
"I am the Real" is the unveiling of secrets, absolutely; who is there but the Real to say "I am the Real"?
hama dharrāt-i ʿālam hamchu Manṣūr
tu khvāhī mast gīrad khvāh makhmūr
All the motes of the world are like Manṣūr [al-Ḥallāj]; take them, as you will, as drunk or as hungover.
Whinfield's margin. The Midnapore MS reads گیر و for گیرد.
dar-īn tasbīḥ u tahlīl-and dāʾim
ba-dīn maʿnī hamī bāshand qāʾim
They are ever in this glorifying and saying "no god but God"; in this meaning they are always standing.
agar khvāhī ki bar tu gardad āsān
va-in min shayʾ rā yak-rah furū khvān
If you want it to become easy for you, read once "And there is no thing [but glorifies Him with praise]" [Q 17:44].
Whinfield's margin. The Midnapore MS reads گردد بر تو for بر تو گردد.
chu kardī khvīshtan rā panba kārī
tu ham Ḥallāj vār īn dam bar-ārī
When you have carded yourself like cotton, you too, like Ḥallāj [the carder], will utter this cry.
bar-āvar panba-yi pindārat az gūsh
nidā-yi vāḥidi l-qahhār bi-nyūsh
Take the cotton of supposition out of your ear; hear the call of "the One, the Overpowering" [Q 40:16].
Whinfield's margin. Hammer-Purgstall (1838) omits ال.
nidā mī āyad az ḥaqq bar davāmat
chirā gashtī tu mawqūf-i qiyāmat
The call comes to you from the Real continually; why have you come to wait for the Resurrection?
dar-ā dar vādī-yi ayman ki nāgāh
dirakhtī gūyadat innī ana llāh
Come into the blessed valley, where suddenly a tree tells you, "I, I am God" [Q 28:30].
ravā bāshad ana llāh az dirakhtī
chirā na-bvad ravā az nīk bakhtī
If "I am God" is permissible from a tree, why should it not be permissible from a fortunate man?
har ān-kas rā ki andar dil shakī nīst
yaqīn dānad ki hastī juz yakī nīst
Whoever has no doubt in his heart knows with certainty that there is no being but One.
anāniyyat buvad ḥaqq rā sazāvār
ki hū ghayb-ast u ghāʾib vahm u pindār
I-ness befits [only] the Real, for "He" is the unseen, and the absent is imagining and supposing.
Whinfield's margin. Hammer-Purgstall (1838) omits و.
janāb-i ḥaḍrat-i ḥaqq rā duʾī nīst
dar ān ḥaḍrat man u mā u tuʾī nīst
In the majesty of the presence of the Real there is no twoness; in that presence there is no "I", "we" or "you"-ness.
Doubtful reading. Printed جضرت, a misprint for حضرت, "presence", which the Lahore lithograph (1347/1928–29) reads.
Listen on Ganjoor ↗ · read by فاطمه زندی · vv. 449–455
man u mā u tu u ū hast yak chīz
ki dar vaḥdat na-bāshad hīch tamyīz
I and we and you and he are one thing, for in oneness there is no distinction at all.
har ān-k-ū khālī az chūn u chirā shud
ana l-ḥaqq andar-ū ṣawt u ṣadā shud
Whoever has become empty of "how" and "why", in him "I am the Real" becomes voice and echo.
Whinfield's margin. The Midnapore MS reads از خود چون خلا for از چون و چرا.
shavad bā vajh-i bāqī ghayr hālik
yakī gardad sulūk u sayr u sālik
Beside the abiding Face the other becomes perishing [Q 28:88, 55:27]; journeying, journey and traveller become one.
ḥulūl u ittiḥād az ghayr khīzad
valī vaḥdat hama az sayr khīzad
Indwelling and union arise from otherness; but oneness arises wholly from the journey.
taʿayyun būd k-az hastī judā shud
na ḥaqq banda na banda bā khudā shud
It was individuation that became separate from being; the Real did not become servant, nor the servant [one] with God.
Whinfield's margin. Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads ز for نه.
ḥulūl u ittiḥād īnjā muḥāl-ast
ki dar vaḥdat duʾī ʿayn-i ḍalāl-ast
Indwelling and union are impossible here, for in oneness twoness is error itself.
Whinfield's margin. Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads روی for دوئی.
vujūd-i khalq u kathrat dar numūd-ast
na har ch ān mī-numāyad ʿayn-i būd-ast
The being of creation and of multiplicity lies in appearance; not everything that appears is being itself.
تمثیل
Illustration
bi-nih āyīna andar barābar†
dar-ū bingar bibīn ān shakhṣ-i dīgar
Set a mirror opposite [you]; look into it and see that other person.
Doubtful reading. As printed, the first hemistich does not scan in the metre. The Lahore lithograph (1347/1928–29) reads آیینهٔ (āyīna-ʾī, "a mirror", with the hamza), which scans.
yakī rah bāz bīn tā chīst ān ʿaks
na īn-ast u na ān pas kīst ān ʿaks
Look once again: what is that reflection? It is neither this nor that; then who is that reflection?
chu man hastam ba-dhāt-i khvud taʿayyun
na-mī-dānam chi bāshad sāya-yi man
Since I am individuated in my own essence, I do not know what my shadow can be.
Whinfield's margin. The Midnapore MS reads ندانم تا for نمیدانم.
ʿadam bā hastī ākhir chūn shavad ḍamm
na-bāshad nūr u ẓulmat har du bā ham
How, after all, can non-being be joined with being? Light and darkness are never both together.
chu māḍī nīst mustaqbal mah u sāl
chi bāshad ghayr az-īn yak nuqṭa-yi ḥāl
Since past and future, month and year, are not, what is there but this one point of the present?
Whinfield's margin. Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads خال for حال.
yakī nuqṭa -st vahmī gashta sārī
tu ū-rā nām nihāda nahr-i jārī†
It is one point of fancy that has become flowing; you have given it the name "running river".
Doubtful reading. Printed اشت, a misprint for است; the rhyme word is printed مهر, "sun"; Whinfield's margin gives the Midnapore MS's نهر, "river", which the sense (a flowing stream) requires. the Lahore lithograph (1347/1928–29) reads نام کردی for نام نهاده. As printed, the second hemistich does not scan in the metre. The Lahore lithograph (1347/1928–29) reads نام کردی (nām kardī for nām nihāda), which scans.
Whinfield's margin. Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads وهم for وهمی; the Midnapore MS reads انرا نام کرده نهر for اورا نام نهاده مهر.
juz az man andar-īn ṣaḥrā digar nīst
bi-gū bā man ki tā ṣawt u ṣadā chīst
There is none but me in this desert; tell me, then, what is the voice and what the echo?
Whinfield's margin. The Midnapore MS reads بجز من for جز از من.
ʿaraḍ fānī-st jawhar z-ū murakkab
bi-gū kay būd yā khvud kū murakkab
Accident is perishing, and substance is compounded of it; tell me, when was it, or where is it compounded at all?
zi-ṭūl u ʿarḍ u zi-ʿumq-ast ajsām
vujūdī chūn padīd āyad zi aʿdām
Bodies are from length, breadth and depth; how does any being appear out of non-beings?
Whinfield's margin. Hammer-Purgstall (1838) omits.
az-īn jins ast aṣl-i jumla ʿālam
chu dānistī biyār īmān fa-lzam†
Of this kind is the root of the whole world; now that you know, have faith, and hold fast.
Whinfield's margin. Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads کر for چو; Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads و فالزم for فالزم.
juz az ḥaqq nīst dīgar hastī al-ḥaqq
huva l-ḥaqq gūy u-gar khvāhī ana l-ḥaqq
There is in truth no other being than the Real; say "He is the Real", or if you will, "I am the Real".
Whinfield's margin. Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads گوی تو for وگر.
numūd-i vahmī az hastī judā kun
naʾī bīgāna khvud-rā āshinā kun
Separate the fancied appearance from being; you are no stranger, make yourself a friend.
Persian: Whinfield's edition (London 1880), public domain, transcribed from the archive.org page images. Whinfield's English: 1880, public domain. Transliteration, English and glosses: AI (Claude), marked; † marks a hemistich whose reading does not scan. How this text was established.