GULSHAN-I RÂZ

گلشن راز

The Mystic Rose Garden

SHEIKH MAHMÛD SHABISTARI

Edited by: Dr. Necati Aksu
 

QUESTION IV.

312

Of what sort is this traveller, who is this wayfarer ?

Of whom shall I say that he is the perfect man ?

ANSWER IV.

313

Again you ask ' Who is the traveller on the road ? '
It is he who is acquainted with his own origin.

314
He is a traveller who passes on with haste,
And becomes pure from self as fire from smoke.

315

Know his journey is a progress of revelation from the contingent
To the necessary, leading away from darkness and defect. 1

316

He travels back his first journey, stage after stage,
Till he attains the grade of the perfect man. 2

 

RULE I. 3

317

Know first how the perfect man is produced
From the time he is first engendered.

318

He is produced at first as inanimate matter,
Next by the added spirit he is made sentient, 4

319

And acquires the motive powers from the Almighty.
Next he is made lord of will by " The Truth."

320

In childhood opens out perception of the world,
And the temptations of the world act upon him. 5

321

When all the particular parts are ordered in him
He makes his way from these sources to general notions. 6

322

Anger is born in him, and lust of the flesh,
And from these spring avarice, gluttony, pride.

323

Evil dispositions come into operation.
He becomes worse than an animal, a demon, a brute.

324

In his descent this point is the very lowest,
For it is the point directly opposite to Unity.

325

Of actions there arises an endless plurality,
He is thus directly opposed to his beginning.

326

If he remains imprisoned in this snare,
He goes astray worse than the beasts. 7

327

But if from the spirit world there shines a light
From the attraction of grace or reflection of proof, 8

328

Then his heart has fellowship with the light of " The Truth,"
And he turns back along the road which he came.

329

From that divine attraction or certain proof
He finds his way to assured faith.

330

He arises from the seventh hell of the wicked,
He sets his face towards the seventh heaven of the righteous ;

331

Then is he clothed with the quality of repentance, 9

And is made one chosen among the children of Adam. 10

332

From evil deeds he becomes pure,
Like Idris the prophet he is caught up to heaven.

333

When he obtains release from evil habits,
He becomes thereby like Noah a saviour of his own life.

334

The power of his ' parts ' remains not in the ' Whole,'
And like " the Friend of God " he acquires trust in God. 11

335

His will is joined with the pleasure of " The Truth,"
And like Moses he enters the highest door.

336

He obtains release from his own knowledge,
And like the prophet Jesus he becomes near to God, 12

337

He gives up his existence utterly to be plundered,
And in the steps of the " Most Pure " he ascends. 13

338

But when his last point is joined to his first,
There is no entrance for angel or for prophet. 14
 

ILLUSTRATION. 15

339

The prophet is as a sun, the saint as a moon
Is set over against him in the point ' I am wiik God.'

340

Prophethood is resplendent in its own perfection,
The saintship therein is manifest and not hidden.

341

But the saintship in a saint is concealed,
Whereas in a prophet it is shown forth openly.

342

When a saint by obedience obtains fellowship,
And intimacy with the prophet in saintship ; 16

343

Then from the text ' If ye love God ' he finds entrance
To that secret chamber ' God will love you.' 17

344

In that secret chamber he is beloved,
He becomes altogether ' drawn ' 18 to " The Truth."

345

The saint is obedient as to his essence,
He is a devotee in the street of essence, 19

346

Howbeit his work is finished at the time
That his end is joined again to his beginning ? 20

347
He is a perfect man who in all perfection
Does the work of a slave 21 in spite of his lordliness.

348

Afterwards, when he has finished his course, " The Truth "
sets ou his head the crown of Khalifate. 22

349

He finds eternal life after dying to self, and again
He runs another course from his end to his beginning.

350

He makes the law his upper garment,
He makes the mystic path his inner garment.

351

But know very truth is the station of his nature,

He comprehends both infidelity and faith.

352

Being endued with fair virtues,
And famed for knowledge, devotion and piety,

353

All these in him, but he far from all these,
Overshadowed beneath the canopy of Divine Epiphanies. 23

 

ILLUSTRATION. 24

354

The kernel of an almond is utterly spoiled,
If you pluck it from its husk while it is unripe.

355

But when it grows ripe in its husk, it is good ;
If you pluck out its kernel, you break the husk.

356

The law is the husk, and the truth is the kernel,
The mystic path lies between this and that.

357

Error in the traveller's path is spoiling of the kernel,
When the kernel is ripe it is good without its husk.

358

When the knower experiences certain assurance, 25

The kernel becomes ripe, and bursts the husk.

359

His being remains not in this world,
He departs, and returns again no more.

360

Another shines as a bright sun still retaining the husk, 26

When in this state he makes another circuit.

361

From water and earth he springs up into a tree,
Whose branches are lifted up above the heavens. 27

362

The same brings forth in his turn another seed,
One yielding a hundred fold by fiat of the Almighty.

363

Like the growth of a seed into the line of a tree,
From point comes a line, and from line again a circle.

364

When the pilgrim has finished the circuit of this circle,
Then his last point is joined to his first.

365

Again he may be likened to a pair of compasses,
Ending in the same impression whence they began. 28

366

When he has finished his course to the end,

" The Truth " sets on his head the crown of Khalifate.

367

These circuits are not transmigrations of souls, for verily
They are manifested in the visions of Epiphanies, 29

368

' Verily they ash, saying, what is the end,
And the answer is the return to the beginning.' 30


RULE II. 31

369

The first appearance of prophethood was in Adam,
And its perfection was in the ' Seal of the prophets.' 32

370

Saintship lingers behind while it makes a journey,
And like a point makes another circuit in the world. 33

371

Its entirety will be seen in the ' Seal of the saints,'
In him will be completed the circuit of the world. 34

372

Individual saints are as it were his members,
For he is the whole and they are the parts.

373

Since he holds close relation to our lord,
Through him will be shown mercy most complete. 35

374

He will be the Imam of both worlds,
He will be the Khalif of the children of Adam.
 

ILLUSTRATION. 36

375

When the light of the sun is divided from the night,
You see its dawn and up-rising and full ascension.

376

Again from the circling of the revolving heavens
Declension and afternoon and sunset are seen.

377

The light of the prophet is a mighty sun, 37

Now shining in Moses, now in Adam.
378

If you read the chronicles of the world,
You will know clearly its several degrees.

379

From this sun every moment is cast a shadow,
Which is one degree in the ascension of faith.

380

The time of our lord is the meridian line, 38

For he is purified from all shadow of darkness.

381

On the meridian line he stands upright,

Casting no shadow before or behind, on the right hand or on
the left.

382

Since he stands on the ' narrow way ' " of The Truth," 39

And takes his stand on the command 'Be steadfast.' 40

383

He casts no shadow, for that involves darkness.
Hail, Light of God, shadow of Divinity !

384

His Kibla 41 is between east and west,
Because it is drowned in the midst of light.

385

When by his power Satan becomes a Musulman, 42

He will be as a shadow hidden under his feet.

386

All degrees are beneath his degree,
The existence of things of earth is from his shadow.
387

From his light his saintship is casting shadows,
The west is made equal to the east. 43

388

For every shadow cast at the beginning of his course,
Another corresponding one is cast at the ending.

389

At this present every doctor of the faith

Is as one corresponding to the prophets in prophecy. 44

390

But since a prophet is most perfect through prophethood,
He is of necessity more excellent than any saint.

391

Saintship will be all shown forth in the " Seal of the Saints ; "
The last point will be finished in the first.

392

Through him the earth will be filled with peace and faith,

Through him stones and animals will receive life. 45

393

There will remain not in the world one infidel soul,
True equity will be made manifest altogether.

394

By the secret of Unity he will attain to " The Truth,"
In him will be shown forth the face of the " Absolute." 46

1 Nuksan, ' deficiency,' ' nothingness.' In the Akhlaki Nasiri (Preface), practice is defined as "exertion in action and endeavour in conduct to the utmost of human ability, with the object of developing what lies within the compass of potentiality, up to the stage of actuality, provided that it leads from defect (nuksan) to perfection." See 'Ayun ul Masail, by Abu Nasir Al-Farabi, 4. Schmolders, Docu menta, p. 45.

2 In the last answer Mahmud spoke of ' the journey up to God,' and that ' down from God with God.' Here he mentions another journey or descent, anterior to the other two, viz. that of man's first extrusion from Unity into phenomenal plurality.

3 This rule, after shortly sketching man's ' descent ' into the world of phenomena, describes his upward 'journey to God' from the lowest point in the circle of being, up again to the highest point.

4 ' Added spirit.' Lahiji doubts whether this means the animal soul or vital principle, or the human soul. This doctrine of the three ascending grades of the soul, vegetive, animal and human, was first enunciated by Aristotle, and is repro- duced in the 'Ayun ul Masail and other works. So Dryden (Palamon and Arcite, III. sub fin.), says that man is

     " First vegetive, then feels, and reasons last,

       Rich of three souls, and lives all three to waste."

5 Here is another reproduction of the Aristotelian forms of thought. Though the senses existed in the fetus in ' potentiality,' yet it is not till the world of out- ward objects is presented to them that they come into ' actuality.'

6 When particular sensations and perceptions are acquired, reason deduces general notions from them. L.

7 Koran, Sura VII. 178. Compare " In Memoriam," 117, 7 :

     " Move upward, working out the beast,

       And let the ape and tiger die."

8 I.e. illumination, or logical demonstration. L.

9 Taubat, repentance, or returning to God, lias four stages, viz. turning (]) from unbelief, (2) from evil actions, (3) from evil habits, (4) from all but God. L.

10 See note on couplet 545.

11 I.e. he attains fana, utter effacement and annihilation of self, obliteration of all consciousness and perception of the external phenomenal world, immersion of the soul in the ocean of Divine glory. This state of fana involves the effacement of his individual power, will, knowledge and entire existence, as set forth in this and the three following couplets. L.

12 See Koran, Sura III. 40. ' He has near access to God.'

13 I.e. Muhammad.

14 Referring to the Hadis, quoted under couplet 120.

15 Saintship, waliyat, i.e. drawing near to God by effacement of self, is common to saints and prophets ; but while prophets have to preach, saints have only to obey. L.

16 As an intimate, muhrim, he obtains entrance to the haram.

17 Koran, Sura III. 29.

18 Majzub i mutlak is the appellation of the Sufi in the stage of fana.

19 Though absorbed in " The Truth " he is still obedient as regards his essence, because by obedience he attained his exaltation. L .

20 Here ' beginning ' means the state of phenomenal existence, and ' end ' the state of absorption in the Absolute. The saint first accomplishes ' the journey to God,' ending in absorption (fana) and abiding or eternal life in God (baka), and then journeys down again to bis beginning in the 'journey from God along with God,' and is conscious that he is Unity in plurality. L.

21 Servitude, obedience, 'abudiyat, is the characteristic quality of a saint. Shea's Dabistan, III. 24-1, note. In his downward journey the saint must observe and obey the positive law, notwithstanding his previous union with Allah. L.

22 I.e. the vicegerence of God on earth. Koran, Sura II. 28 : " Verily we are about to place one on earth as a Khalif."

23 I.e. He is in the state of fana, or absorption in God, like Moses at Mount Sinai. Koran, Sura VII. 130, quoted in note to couplet 194.

24 This illustration is explanatory of the distinction of law, shari'at, the Sufi course, tarikat, and truth, hakikat, all of which go to form the perfect man. L.

25 Knower, i.e. he who obtains Divine 'illumination.' L.

26 One class rest at the stage of fana, ecstatic absorption in Unity, and law has no more dominion over them. These are the " Majzub i Mutlak, Azad or Be Shara' " devotees. Another, more perfect class, pass on to the stage of ' sobriety after intoxication,' and carrying with them " The Truth," descend to phenomenal being, and in that descent fulfil all the duties of the law as an ensample to others. L.

27 " The Truth," like a kernel or seed embodied in the ' knower,' comes down as a shining light or pattern to the phenomenal world, though still retaining the husk of the law. This seed is sown in the good soil of his disciples, and springs upon them into a tree, which again is lifted up to heaven, i.e. repeats the same circuit up to Allah. L.

28 Obeying the law in his downward journey, as he did in his first upward journey. L.

29 In metempsychosis one body perishes and another succeeds it as a receptacle of the soul, but in these circuits the truth may be manifested in teacher and disciple at once. L.

30 See Koran, Sura LVII. 6 : " And unto God shall all things return." And X. 4 : " He produceth a creature, and then causeth it to return again." Compare the Proodos and Epistrophe of Proclus, the raying out and return of all existences from and to the absolute unity. Ueberweg, History of Philosophy, Eng. Trans. I. 257.

31 On the relation of prophethood to saintship,the two embodiments of truth, hakikat.

32 Muhammad.

33 When prophecy ceased with Muhammad, saintship alone remained, aud made the circuit of the world in the persons of the various saints. L.

34 Muhammad Mehdi, the twelfth Imam, who will appear at the end of the world.

35 Koran, Sura XXI. 107 : " We have not sent thee, but as a mercy to all creatures."

36 On the relation of the minor prophets to Muhammad, and the minor saints to Muhammad Mehdi. L.

37 I.e. Muhammad. He is said to be Ruh i 'azam, 'Akl i kull, ar.d hakikat i insani, that is, the first emanation from Deity ; and the minor prophets are thus emanations from him. Hence he is compared to the Sun, because ' the first thing God emitted was light.' L.

38 When the sun is on the meridian, at the time of the equinox, there are no shadows in countries near the Equator. L. Compare Dante, Purgatorio, XXX. 89.

39 Koran, Sura I. 3. The allusion is to the Sirat, or narrow bridge over hell, along which all men will have to pass on the day of judgment.

40 " Be thou steadfast therefore as thou hast been commanded." Koran, Sura XI. 114.

41 Kibla, the point to which the faithful turn in prayer, indicated by the Mihrab, or niche in mosques. See Daniel vi. 10. Lahiji says the Kibla of Moses was in the West, and that of Jesus in the East, but that of Muhammad in the centre.

42 There is a tradition, both among the Muhammadans and in the Kabbala, that Satan will become an angel of light. Compare 2 Cor. xi. 14.

43 The lesser prophets and saints are reflections from his light. The reflections during the ascent of the Sun of prophecy up to Muhammad are prophets, and those during its descent saints, who are also prophets in one sense. L.

44 Alluding to the Hadis : " The 'ulama of my faith are as the prophets of the children of Israel."

45 With this may be compared the eulogium on the prophet in the introduction of the Mantik ut Tair. See Garcin de Tassy ("Poesie Philosophique et Religieuse," p. 24). Muhammad Mehdi is Muhammad in his second coming. L.

46 Koran, Sura XXVJII. 88 : " Everything perishes except Thy face."