![\"yazd](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.harvard.edu\/sulaymanibnqiddees\/files\/2016\/02\/yazd-cieling.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nTranslation:<\/strong><\/p>\n How Moses, on whom be peace, took offence at the prayer of the shepherd. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n How God rebuked Moses, on whom be peace, on account of the shepherd.<\/span><\/p>\n \n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n How the (Divine) revelation came to Moses, on whom be peace, excusing that shepherd.<\/span><\/p>\n After that, God hid in the inmost heart of Moses mysteries which cannot be spoken. Words were poured upon his heart: vision and speech were mingled together.<\/p>\n How oft did he become beside himself and how oft return to himself! How oft did he fly from eternity to everlastingness!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n -Translation by R.A. Nicholson<\/p>\n1720. Moses saw a shepherd on the way, who was saying, \u201cO God who choosest (whom Thou wilt),<\/h6>\n
Where art Thou, that I may become Thy servant and sew Thy shoes and comb Thy head? That I may wash Thy clothes and kill Thy lice and bring milk to Thee, O worshipful One; That I may kiss Thy little hand and rub Thy little foot, (and when) bedtime comes I may sweep Thy little room,<\/h6>\n
O Thou to whom all my goats be a sacrifice, O Thou in remembrance of whom are my cries of ay and ah!\u201d<\/h6>\n
1725. The shepherd was speaking foolish words in this wise. Moses said, \u201cMan, to whom is this (addressed)?\u201d<\/h6>\n
He answered, \u201cTo that One who created us; by whom this earth and sky were brought to sight.\u201d<\/h6>\n
\u201cHark!\u201d said Moses, \u201cyou have become very backsliding (depraved); indeed you have not become a Moslem, you have become an infidel.<\/h6>\n
What babble is this? what blasphemy and raving? Stuff some cotton into your mouth!<\/h6>\n
The stench of your blasphemy has made the (whole) world stinking: your blasphemy has turned the silk robe of religion into rags.<\/h6>\n
1730. Shoes and socks are fitting for you, (but) how are such things right for (One who is) a Sun?<\/h6>\n
If you do not stop your throat from (uttering) these words, a fire will come and burn up the people.<\/h6>\n
If a fire has not come, (then) what is this smoke? Why has your soul become black and your spirit rejected (by God)?<\/h6>\n
If you know that God is the Judge, how is it right for you (to indulge in) this doting talk and familiarity?<\/h6>\n
Truly, the friendship of a witless man is enmity: the high God is not in want of suchlike service.<\/h6>\n
1735. To whom are you saying this? To your paternal and maternal uncles? Are the body and (its) needs among the attributes of the Lord of glory?<\/h6>\n
(Only) he that is waxing and growing drinks milk: (only) he that has need of feet puts on shoes.<\/h6>\n
And if these words (of yours) are (meant) for His servant, of whom God said, \u2018He is I and I myself am he\u2019;<\/h6>\n
(For him) of whom He (God) said, \u2018Verily, I was sick and thou didst not visit Me,\u2019 (that is), \u2018I became ill, not he (the sick man) alone\u2019;<\/h6>\n
(For him) who has become seeing by Me and hearing by Me\u2014 this (talk of yours) is foolish nonsense even in regard to that servant.<\/h6>\n
1740. To speak irreverently to one chosen of God causes the heart (spirit) to perish and keeps the page (record) black.<\/h6>\n
If you should call a man \u2018F\u00e1tima\u2019\u2014though men and women are all of one kind\u2014<\/h6>\n
He will seek to murder you, so far as it is possible (for him), albeit he is good-natured and forbearing and quiet.<\/h6>\n
(The name) F\u00e1tima is (a term of) praise in regard to women, (but) if you address it to a man, \u2019tis (like) the blow of a spearhead.<\/h6>\n
Hand and foot are (terms of) praise in relation to us; in relation to the holiness of God they are pollution.<\/h6>\n
1745. (The words) He begat not, He was not begotten<\/em> are appropriate to Him: He is the Creator of begetter and begotten.<\/h6>\n
Birth is the attribute of everything that is (a) body: whatever is born is on this side of the river,<\/h6>\n
Because it is of (the world of) becoming and decay and (is) contemptible: it is originated and certainly requires an Originator.\u201d<\/h6>\n
He (the shepherd) said, \u201cO Moses, thou hast closed my mouth and thou hast burned my soul with repentance.\u201d<\/h6>\n
He rent his garment and heaved a sigh, and hastily turned his head towards the desert and went (his way).<\/h6>\n
1750. A revelation came to Moses from God\u2014\u201cThou hast parted My servant from Me.<\/h6>\n
Didst thou come (as a prophet) to unite, or didst thou come to sever?<\/h6>\n
So far as thou canst, do not set foot in separation: of (all) things the most hateful to Me is divorce.<\/h6>\n
I have bestowed on every one a (special) way of acting: I have given to every one a (peculiar) form of expression.<\/h6>\n
In regard to him it is (worthy of) praise, and in regard to thee it is (worthy of) blame: in regard to him honey, and in regard to thee poison.<\/h6>\n
1755. I am independent of all purity and impurity, of all slothfulness and alacrity (in worshipping Me).<\/h6>\n
I did not ordain (Divine worship) that I might make any profit; nay, but that I might do a kindness to (My) servants.<\/h6>\n
In the Hindoos the idiom of Hind (India) is praiseworthy; in the Sindians the idiom of Sind is praiseworthy.<\/h6>\n
I am not sanctified by their glorification (of Me); \u2019tis they that become sanctified and pearl-scattering (pure and radiant).<\/h6>\n
I look not at the tongue and the speech; I look at the inward (spirit) and the state (of feeling).<\/h6>\n
<\/h6>\n
1760. I gaze into the heart (to see) whether it be lowly,<\/h6>\n
though the words uttered be not lowly, Because the heart is the substance, speech (only) the accident; so the accident is subservient, the substance is the (real) object.<\/h6>\n
How much (more) of these phrases and conceptions and metaphors? I want burning, burning: become friendly with that burning!<\/h6>\n
Light up a fire of love in thy soul, burn thought and expression entirely (away)!<\/h6>\n
O Moses, they that know the conventions are of one sort,\u00a0they whose souls and spirits burn are of another sort.\u201d<\/span><\/h6>\n
1765. To lovers there is a burning (which consumes them) at every moment: tax and tithe are not (imposed) on a ruined village.<\/h6>\n
If he (the lover) speak faultily, do not call him faulty; and if he be bathed in blood, do not wash (those who are) martyrs.<\/h6>\n
For martyrs, blood is better than water: this fault (committed by him) is better than a hundred right actions (of another).<\/h6>\n
Within the Ka\u2018ba the rule of the qibla does not exist: what matter if the diver has no snow-shoes?<\/h6>\n
Do not seek guidance from the drunken: why dost thou order those whose garments are rent in pieces to mend them?<\/h6>\n
1770. The religion of Love is apart from all religions: for lovers, the (only) religion and creed is God.<\/strong><\/em><\/h6>\n
If the ruby have not a seal (graven on it), \u2019tis no harm: Love in the sea of sorrow is not sorrowful.<\/h6>\n
1775. If I should unfold (his tale) after this, \u2019tis foolishness (in me), because the explanation of this is beyond (our) understanding;<\/h6>\n
And if I should speak (thereof), \u2019twould root up (men’s) minds; and if I should write (thereof), \u2019twould shatter many pens.<\/h6>\n
When Moses heard these reproaches from God, he ran into the desert in quest of the shepherd.<\/h6>\n
He pushed on over the footprints of the bewildered man, he scattered dust from the skirt of the desert.<\/h6>\n
The footstep of a man distraught is, in truth, distinct from the footsteps of others:<\/h6>\n
1780. (At) one step, (he moves) like the rook (straight) from top to bottom (of the chessboard); (at) one step he goes crossways, like the bishop;<\/h6>\n
Now lifting his crest like a wave; now going on his belly like a fish;<\/h6>\n
Now writing (a description of) his state on some dust, like a geomancer who takes an omen by drawing lines (on earth or sand).<\/h6>\n
At last he (Moses) overtook and beheld him; the giver of glad news said, \u201cPermission has come (from God).<\/h6>\n
Do not seek any rules or method (of worship); say whatsoever your distressful heart desires.<\/h6>\n
1785. Your blasphemy is (the true) religion, and your religion is the light of the spirit: you are saved, and through you a (whole) world is in salvation.<\/h6>\n
O you who are made secure by God doeth whatso He willeth, go, loose your tongue without regard (for what you say).\u201d<\/h6>\n
He said, \u201cO Moses, I have passed beyond that: I am now bathed in (my) heart’s blood.<\/h6>\n
I have passed beyond the Lote-tree of the farthest bourn, I have gone a hundred thousand years’ journey on the other side.<\/h6>\n
Thou didst ply the lash, and my horse shied, made a bound, and passed beyond the sky.<\/h6>\n
1790. May the Divine Nature be intimate with my human nature\u2014 blessings be on thy hand and on thine arm!<\/h6>\n
Now my state is beyond telling: this which I am telling is not my (real) state.\u201d<\/h6>\n
You behold the image which is in a mirror: it is your (own) image, it is not the image of the mirror.<\/h6>\n
The breath which the flute-player puts into the flute\u2014does it belong to the flute? No, it belongs to the man (the flute-player).<\/h6>\n
Take good heed! Whether you speak praise (of God) or thanksgiving, know that it is even as the unseemly (words) of that shepherd.<\/h6>\n