The Rose-Garden of Mystery

سؤال ۹

Question 9

What is the union of the necessary and the contingent? What is the talk of near and far, of more and less?

جواب ۹

Answer 9

Hear from me a word without less or more: through nearness you have fallen far from yourself.

When being came to appear in non-being, from that came near and far, more and less.

The near is the one on whom a sprinkling of light has fallen; the far is that non-being which is far from being.

Whinfield's margin. The Midnapore MS reads که کورا for کورا.

If He makes a light from Himself reach you, He frees you from your own being.

Doubtful reading. The print reads ز خور, "from the sun"; the Lahore lithograph (1347/1928–29) reads ز خود بر تو, "from Himself upon you", the expected reading, followed in the English.

Whinfield's margin. Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads خودرا for وا.

What profit is there for you from this being and not-being, from which there is now fear and now hope?

Whinfield's margin. Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads گاهیت for گاهست.

No one who knows Him is afraid of Him: it is a child who is frightened of his own shadow.

Whinfield's margin. Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads زکس for زو; Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads دایهٔ for سایهٔ; Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads حراسد for هراسد.

No fear remains if you set out on the way: the Arab horse needs no whip.

What dread have you of the fire of hell, when your body and soul are pure of [self-]existence?

Fire makes pure gold blaze up; when there is no dross in it, what should burn?

There is nothing in your way but yourself; but take thought of your own being.

Whinfield's margin. Hammer-Purgstall (1838) omits از; Hammer-Purgstall (1838) omits خود.

If you are caught up in yourself, the whole world becomes your veil at once.

You are the lowest part in the circle of being; you are set facing the point of unity.

The determinations of the world are accidents upon you; that is why you say, like Satan, "Who is like me?"

That is why you say, "I have free will of my own: my body is the mount and my soul the rider.

They put the reins of the body in the hand of the soul; that is why they laid all obligation on me."

Do you not know that all this is fire-worship? All this bane and impudence comes from [self-]existence.

Whinfield's margin. The Midnapore MS reads ره for همه; the Midnapore MS reads شومی for شوخی ز.

What free will, O man of reason, has one whose [being] is in itself null?

Whinfield's margin. The Midnapore MS reads جاهل for عاقل; Hammer-Purgstall (1838) omits بال.

Since your being is wholly like not-being, tell me, where did your free will come from?

Doubtful reading. The first word of the second hemistich could be بگوئی or نگوئی; the Lahore lithograph (1347/1928–29) has نگوئی, "do you not say".

Whinfield's margin. Other manuscripts reads محو for همچو.

One whose being is not from himself is neither good nor bad in his own essence.

Whom have you seen in either world who found joy for a single moment without grief?

Whinfield's margin. The Midnapore MS reads جمله for هر.

Who in the end attained all [his] hope, so that he remained in a perfection for ever?

Whinfield's margin. Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads کلالی for کمالی.

The ranks endure, and the people of the ranks, under the command of the Real: "and God prevails" [Q 12:21].

Know the Real as the effective cause in every place; do not set your foot outside your own limit.

Ask of your own state what this qadar (power, decree) is, and from that learn who the people of qadar [the Qadarīs] are.

Whoever holds any doctrine other than compulsion (jabr), the Prophet said, is like the Magian.

Just as that Magian said "Yazdān" and "Ahriman", this foolish ignorant one said "we" and "I".

Doubtful reading. Whinfield's marginal note here is hard to read; the Lahore lithograph (1347/1928–29) begins the second hemistich مر این for همین.

Whinfield's margin. Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads دمن اگفت for اهرمن گفت; the Midnapore MS reads او for ما.

Attributing acts to us is a figure of speech; the attribution is in reality a game of play.

Whinfield's margin. Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads طریقت for حقیقت.

You did not exist when they created your act; they chose you for a [certain] work.

By His power, without cause, the Knower, the Truthful, by His own knowledge made an absolute decree.

Whinfield's margin. The Midnapore MS reads دارای for دانای.

Before soul and body a work was decreed and appointed for each one.

One performed seven hundred thousand years of obedience, and [wore] on his neck the collar of the curse.

Doubtful reading. Printed وگرد تن, a broken word: read وگردن طوق لعنت, "and the collar of the curse on his neck". The Lahore lithograph (1347/1928–29) has a different second hemistich: بجای آورد و کردش اهل لعنت, "and [God] made him one of the cursed"; it reads ساله, which scans, for سال.

Another, out of disobedience, saw light and purity: when he repented, he received the name of "the chosen".

Stranger still, this one, through abandoning what he was commanded, became by the Real's kindnesses one shown mercy and forgiven;

And that other became accursed through what he was forbidden. Wonderful is Your act, beyond how much, why and how!

Whinfield's margin. Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads زمنی for ز منهی.

The majesty of [His] grandeur is unconcerned; it is free of the analogies of imagination.

What was there in pre-eternity, O unworthy man, that this one became Muḥammad and that one Abū Jahl?

Doubtful reading. As printed, the second hemistich does not scan in the metre. The Lahore lithograph (1347/1928–29) reads که این یک شد محمد آن ابوجهل (ki īn yak shud Muḥammad, ān Abū-Jahl), which scans.

Whoever spoke to God of how and why has, like an idolater (one who associates partners), spoken unfittingly of His presence.

It befits Him to ask why and how; objection does not become a servant.

Lordship is wholly in grandeur; a cause is not fitting for the act of God.

Doubtful reading. As printed, the first hemistich does not scan in the metre. The Lahore lithograph (1347/1928–29) reads کبریائی است / خدائی است (ast for hast in both hemistichs), which scans.

Whinfield's margin. Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads نیست for هست.

Kindness and wrath are fitting to divinity, but servanthood lies in thanks and patience.

Whinfield's margin. Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads ش for است; the Midnapore MS reads فقر و جبر for شکر و صبر.

The nobility of the human being comes from compulsion, not from having some share of free will.

Whinfield's margin. Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads نه ز for نه.

He never had anything at all of his own; and then He questions him about good and bad.

Doubtful reading. Printed خبرش, "news of it"; the Lahore lithograph (1347/1928–29) reads چیزش, "anything of it", which also scans; Whinfield's line does not. As printed, the first hemistich does not scan in the metre. The Lahore lithograph (1347/1928–29) reads چیزش (chīzash, "anything of it", for khabarash), which scans.

Whinfield's margin. Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads نبودش for نبوده.

He has no free will, and yet he is commanded: wonderful, the poor wretch, who is at once free and compelled!

This is not injustice, for it is knowledge and justice itself; this is not oppression, for it is pure kindness and grace.

They laid obligation on you in the religious law for this reason: to acquaint you with your own essence.

Whinfield's margin. Hammer-Purgstall (1838) reads کرده for کردند.

When you become helpless before the Real's obligation, you go out of the midst [of things] all at once.

You find release from yourself entirely; you become rich in the Real, O dervish.

Go, dear soul, give your body over to the decree; consent to the divine ordainments.