The commentators side by side

يقولون أى يقول طالبو طريق هذه المدامة المؤدية الى طريق المعزة والكرامه صفها للطالبين وأوضح سبيلها للراغبين اذ انت بها خبير وباوصافها بصير فقلت لهم أجل عندى علم بذلك وخبرة بما هنالك وطريق المدامة فى الاخبار بها سلامة وأما الحبيب فعليه رقيب والاخبار به ليس بقريب فان قلت كيف الفرق بين

They say, i.e. those seeking the path of this wine, which leads to the path of might and honor, say: Describe her to the seekers and make her way clear to the desirous, since you are well informed of her and discerning of her qualities. So I said to them: Yes, I have knowledge of that and experience of what is there. The path of the wine: in telling of her there is safety; but as for the Beloved, over Him is a watcher, and telling of Him is not near [at hand]. If you say: how is the distinction between

يقولون أى المحجوبون عنها الطالبون لها الراغبون فى معرفتها ظنا منهم بأنها تحصل لهم بمجرد وصفها وانطباع ذلك الوصف فى خيالهم كما تحصل لهم معرفة ما يريدون من الاكوان بانطباع صورته فى الخيال والامر الالهى أعلى من ذلك وأنزه

They say, i.e. those veiled from her, seeking her, desirous of knowing her, supposing that she will come to them merely by describing her and the impression of that description in their imagination, just as knowledge of what they want among the akwān (created beings) comes to them by the impression of its form in the imagination; but the divine matter is higher and more transcendent than that.

﴿صفها﴾

أى اذ كر لنا صفاتها التى تعلق كشفك ووجدانك بها لنعلمها فنعرفها كما عرفتها أنت

That is, mention to us her attributes to which your kashf (unveiling) and your wijdān (inner finding) have attached, that we may know them and recognize her as you have recognized her.

﴿أجل عندى باوصافها علم﴾

وقول الشيخ الامجد وحضرة القطب العارف أحمد يسائلنى عن سر ليلى رددته • بعمماء من ليلى بغير يقين يقولون خبرنا فأنت أمينها • وما أنا ان خبرتهم بأمين قلت أما طريق الشيخ الاستاذ فهى الاشارة الى المدامة التى هى طريق الحبة وسبيل المودة وذلك فى المبادئ قبل الوصول الى المنادى وأما طريق الشيخ الاستاذ الرفاعى الذى خضعت له جموع الافاعى فهى اشارة الى نفس الحبيب مع الرقيب وليس عله بسهل ولا قريب وهو الذى يشير اليه الشيخ رضى الله عنه حيث يقول فى التائية فاوقيل من تهوى وصرحت باسمها • لقيل كنى أومسه طيف جنة وعلم فى آخر البيت مبتدأ مؤخر والتنكير للتعظيم أى عندى باوصافها علم عظيم يساوى رفعة مقامها ويوازى قدر كرامها وقد خمست بيتى الشيخ ابن الرفاعى وأنا فى زاويته بدمشق فى ميدان الحصباء حيث قلت • كتمت غرام القلب حين فقدته • وان كنت فى طى الفؤاد نشرته • • ومستخبر سرا وعنه كتمته • يسائلنى عن سر ليلى رددته • بعمياء من ليلى بغيريقين • لقد جف من تلك العيون معينها • • فناليت شعرى فى البكا من يعينها • • ومن عجب أنى بسرى أصونها • يقولون خبرنا فانت أمينها • وما أنا ان خبرتهم بأمين

and the saying of the most glorious shaykh, his presence the gnostic quṭb (pole) Aḥmad: "He asks me about Laylā's secret; I turned him back / with blindness about Laylā, without certainty. / They say: Tell us, for you are her trusted one; / but I would not be trustworthy if I told them." I say: As for the path of the master Shaykh, it is allusion to the wine, which is the path of love and the way of affection, and that is in the beginnings, before arriving at the Caller. As for the path of the master Shaykh al-Rifāʿī, to whom the throngs of vipers submitted, it is an allusion to the very Beloved together with the watcher, and knowledge of Him is neither easy nor near. It is what the Shaykh (God be pleased with him) alludes to where he says in the Tāʾiyya: "And if it were said: Whom do you love? and I declared her name, / it would be said: he speaks in allusion, or a phantom of madness has touched him." ʿIlm at the end of the verse is a mubtadaʾ (subject) placed last, and the indefiniteness is for magnification, i.e. I have great knowledge of her qualities, equal to the loftiness of her station and matching the worth of her noble ones. I made a takhmīs (quintain expansion) of the two verses of Shaykh Ibn al-Rifāʿī while I was in his zāwiya in Damascus, in Maydān al-Ḥaṣbāʾ, where I said: "I concealed the heart's passion when I lost it, / though I had unfolded it in the folds of the heart; / and one asking about a secret, I concealed it from him: / he asks me about Laylā's secret; I turned him back / with blindness about Laylā, without certainty. / The spring of those eyes has dried up; / would that I knew who will help them in weeping! / And strange it is that I guard her with my secret: / they say: Tell us, for you are her trusted one; / but I would not be trustworthy if I told them."

﴿عندى﴾

باوصاف ها علم أى: بأوصاف المدامة المذكورة من حيث ظهورها لى ومعرفتى بها ووجدانى اياها ذوقا وكشفا بحسب استعدادى لقبول فيضها وتلقى مددها لا من حيث هى فى ذاتها على ما هى عليه فانها من هذه الحيثية لا يعلم بها غيرها ثم قال فى أوصافها اه

[I have knowledge] of her qualities, i.e. of the qualities of the aforementioned wine insofar as she appears to me, and [insofar as] I know her and find her by dhawq (taste) and kashf (unveiling), according to my istiʿdād (preparedness) to receive her fayḍ (outpouring) and take in her madad (replenishment); not insofar as she is in her essence as she is, for from this respect none knows her but herself. Then he said concerning her qualities: