wisdom of the east the persian mystics

8/8/2019 Wisdom of the East the Persian Mystics

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A^ISDOM OF THE EAST

JALALU'D-DIN RUM!

BY F. HADLAND DAVISAUTHOR OF " IN THE VALLEY OF STARSTHERE IS A TOWER OF SILENCE*'

LONDONJOHNMURRAY, LBEMARLE TRE


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ALL RIGHTS


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TO

A. T. K.THIS LITTLE BOOK OF EASTERN WISDOM

IS LOVINGLY INSCRIBED


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" OUR JOURNEY s TO THE ROSE-GARDEN OF UNION "jALA.LU'D-DfN


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PREFACE

I DESIREo hank r.R.A.Nicholsonoris kind and generouspermission to useselections from his Dlvani Shamsi Tabriz, andalso his publishers, the CambridgePress. I amdeeply indebted to Mr. E. H. Whinfield forallowing me to use quotations from his renderingof the Masnavi (Triibner's Oriental Series). Ialso cordially thank Mr. John Hastie for givingme permission to quote a few passages rom thelate Rev. ProfessorHastie's " Festival of Spring "(James Maclehose and Sons, Glasgow). Thepoems quoted from this volume are entitled:"Thy Rose," "I saw the Winter weaving,"" Love sounds the Music of the Spheres," " TheSouls Love-moved," and " The Beloved All inAll." All the other translations from the lyricalpoetry of Jalalu'd-Din Rumi are by Mr. R. A.Nicholson. To these gentlemen, and to those

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8 PREFACEI have left unnamed, I tender my warmest thanksfor their help, sympathy, and interest in myattempt to " popularise the wisest of the PersianStiffs."

F. HADLANB DAVIS.LONDON,

January 22, 1907.


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CONTENTSPAGE

INTRODUCTION 11I. ORIGIN OF SUFHSM. . . . .11II. THE EARLY SUFIS . . . . .14

III. THE NATURE OF SUFIISM . . -20IV. THE INFLUENCEOF SUFIISM . . -27V. ANALYSISOF THE EELIGION OF LOVE . .31

THE LIFE AND WOEK OF JALALU'D-DIN KtiMf 34I. LIFE . , . . -34

II. SHAMSI TABRIZ . . . . -36III. THE STORIES OF AL-AFLAKI AND THE DEATHOFJALALU'D-DIN UM! . " " 38IV. THE NATURE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF JALALU'D-

DIN KUMI'S POETRY . . . -40SELECTIONS FBOM THE " DIVANI SHAMSI TABEIZ " 44SELECTIONSFROM THE "MASNAVI" . . 68APPENDIX : A NOTE ON PEESIAN POETEY . 101


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EDITOBIAL NOTETEEobjectof the Editors of this series s a verydefinite one. They desire above all things that,in their humble way, these books shall be theambassadorsf good-will and understandingbetween East and West-the old world ofThought and the new of Action. In this en-deavour, and in their own sphere, they are butfollowers of the highest example in the land.They are confident that a deeper knowledge ofthe great ideals and lofty philosophy of Orientalthought may help to a revival of that true spiritof Charity which neither despises nor fears thenation of another creed and colour.

L. CRANMEK-BYNGKS. A. KAPADIA,NOBTHBROOK SOCIETY,21, CBOMWBLLROAD,

KENSINGTON, S.W.


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INTRODUCTION

I. THE ORIGIN OF SurasMA HONG the Mohammedans Sufiism, or PersianJ-JL. mysticism, is known as tasawwuf. Theword Sufi is derived from suf, meaning ccwool."When a little Persian sect at the end of theeighth century A.D. broke away from theorthodox Muslim religion, and struck out on

an independent path, they ignored costly robesand worldly ostentation, and clad themselves ina white wool garment. Hence they were knownas " wool wearers," or Sufis.Prof. Edward G. Browne * gives four theoriesin regard to the origin of Sufiism, viz. : (1) Eso-t&ric Doctrine of the Prophet. (2) Reaction ofthe Aryan mind against a Semitic religion. (3)Neo-Platonist influence. (4) Independent origin.Neither of the four theories altogether satisfiesthe learned professor, and very certain it is

* A Literary History of Persia, vol. i.XI


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12 NEO-PLATONISMthat the last-mentioned theory is of very littleaccount. Prof. Browne seems in favour of a." spontaneous growth " existing in various forms,under various names throughout the civilisedworld; but after all this is not very tangibleevidence. Moreover, we must bear in mind thatthe Neo-Platonist philosophers paid a visit tothe Persian court in the sixth century A.D.,and founded a school there in the reign of Nushir-wan. It is highly probable, therefore, that theseseven philosophers, forced to leave their homesthrough the tyranny of Justinian, who forbadethe teaching of philosophy at Athens, shouldhave had considerable influence upon a few ofthe more thoughtful Persians. We shall nowfind that this theory is borne out by internalevidence.Let us briefly study the tenets of Neo-Platon-ism. The Neo-Platonists believed in the SupremeGood as the Source of all things. Self-existent,it generated from itself. Creation was thereflection of its own Being. Nature, therefore,was permeated with God. Matter was essenti-ally non-existent, a temporary and ever-movingshadow for the embodiment of the Divine. TheNeo-Platonists believed that by ecstasy andcontemplation of the All-Good, man would riseto that Source from whence he came. Thesepoints bear directly upon the Sufi teaching.They form a broad outline of the tenets of


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NEO-PLATONISM AND SUFIISM 13Sufiism. The Sufis, from temperamental andother causes, elaborated these ideas, gave thema rich and beautiful setting, and, what is all-important, built about them one of the mostinteresting phases of mystical poetry the worldhas ever known, and this particular phase maybe said to date from the twelfth century A.D.Thus, I think, it will be readily admitted thatthe Sufis certainly owed something to the ISTeo-Platonists. The cry for the Beloved was in theirhearts before the Greek philosophers came ; butNeo-Platonisna appealed to their Oriental minds.It was a stepping-stone across the river of theirparticular spiritual tendencies, and they trodthereon, and proceeded to lay down otherstones across the stream. I have pointed outthe similarities between this particular Greekand Persian belief. There was, however, onevery important difference. The Neo-Platonist'sconceptionof God was purely abstract, the Sufi'sessentially personal, as far as the early Sufiswere concerned. We shall consider other in-fluenceswhich were brought to bear upon Sufiisma little later on. There is a very great differencebetween the early Sufiism and the elaborateadditions that followed as an evolutionarymatter of course.In brief, then, Neo-Platonismwas the doctrineof Ecstasy. A quotation from the letter ofPlotinus to Flaccus on Ecstasy will still further


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14 THE EARLY SUFISshow the similarities between this Greek andPersian teaching :" The wise man recognises the idea of theGood within him. This he develops by with-drawal into the Holy Place of Ms own soul. Hewho does not understand how the soul containsthe Beautiful within itself, seeks to realisebeauty without, by laborious production. Hisaim should ather be to concentrateand simplify,and so to expandhis being ; instead of going outinto the Manifold, to forsake it for the One,and so to float upwards towards the DivineFount of Being whose stream flows withinhim."TWs s Sufiism n prose. The Sufis turned thesame conception into poetry.

II. THE EARLY STJFIS.ABU HASHIM (ob. 150 A.H.) was the first to bearthe name of Sufi, while Dhul-Nun-al-Misri(245 A.H.) may be said to have given Sufiism itspermanent shape. Rabi'a, of Basra, was thefirst woman to join the sect, and her saintlinessand wisesayingshave beenpreservedby Faridu'd-Din 'Attar. One day a great sickness ell uponRabi'a, and on being asked the reason for itshe replied : " I dwelt upon the joys of Paradiseand therefore my Beloved has chastened me."


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RABI'A 15Rabi'a did not believe in earthly marriage. Herremark on the subject is given as follows : " Thebonds of wedlock have descended pon me. Iam not my own, but my Lord's, and must not beunfaithful to Him." 'Attar also informs usthat when Rabi'a was asked if she hated thedevil, she replied: " My love to God leavesme no time to hate him." Rabi'a was a womanof much independence of thought, ethical ratherthan metaphysical in her remarks, and stronglyopposed to outward ceremonials. She is saidto have died at Jerusalem, 753 A.D. It was atRamla, in Palestine, that a Christian noblemanbuilt a convent (Khangah) for the Sufis. Thusin the early days the sect defied their Prophet'scondemnation of monkery by building an abodefor members of the order. The Sufis werestrongly opposed to the idea of free-will ordistinct and self-existent personality apart fromthe Beloved. The orthodox Muslim's idea wasprecisely the reverse. The Sufis have alwaysmade the Koran their text-book. With infinitelicence they ingeniously quote therefrom, andstill more ingeniously add their own explanationswhen necessary. No doubt there were politicalreasons for adopting this method of concealingheterodox ideas under the cloak of orthodoxy.We shall see, however, as the sect grew andstill further broadened its views, that theseclever compromises did not prevent the appear-


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16 BAYAZIDance of martyrs among their number in thefuture.By the end of the secondcentury of the Hijirathe Sufis were a much-respected eligious order.In the following century Quietism had not onlychanged to Pantheism, but Pantheism hadkindled a belief that Beloved and lover wereidentical. The step was inevitable and at thisjuncture it was that Sufiism became essentiallymystical, and it became more mystical as yearsadvanced. About this time, viz., the beginningof the third century A.H., we come across twointeresting Sufis who seem to have been theprime movers n this new development,by name]Bayazid and Mansur al-Hallaj.Concerning the saint Bayazid an interestingstory is told in the Fourth Book of the Masnavi.The saint surprised his disciples one day bysaying: " Lo, I myself am God Almighty,There is no God beside me; worship me ! "The disciples, hinking their Master was besidehimself, told him, when the strange ecstasyhadpassed, what he had said. Bayazid promptlyreplied: " If I do so again straightway slayme ! " His disciplesaccordingly sharpened heirknives. Once more Bayazid cried out: " Withinmy vesture is naught but God, whether you seekHim on earth or heaven." The disciples,horror-struck at his remarks, straightway plunged theirknives into Bayazid's body. But their blades


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MANSUR AL-HALLAJ 17

were turned back against their own throats,so that they died. He explained to the fewdisciples, who had not struck him, that theecstasy he had been experiencing annihilatedself, " His form is vanished, he is a mere mirror."The disciples who had struck him saw their ownfaces in that mirror and so wounded themselves,and not Bayazid, whose soul had left the mirrorof his body and was one with the Beloved,Perhaps the life of Mansur al-Hallaj is evenmore interesting. Whether he was a mereadventurer or genuine exponent of Sufiism isstill open to controversy among modern Sufis.It will be perfectly safe to describe him as eithera saint or a vagabond. He was possibly bothextremes to suit the necessities of a very excitingand eventful career. He was born in the closeof the ninth century A.D., and was said toperform many miracles,such as raising the deadto life, and drawing gold and flowers rom theair. According to his own belief he could writeverses equal to those of the Koran. He wentone better than the " superman " theory, how-ever, and called himself God, and his disciplesafter the various prophets. Akbar was calledGod, but deification in this case did not soundfrom his own trumpet; it sounded from thetrumpet of an enthusiastic poet: " See Akbarand you see God." Al-Hallaj visited Indiafor the purpose of studying magic, and there-

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18 MANSUR AL-HALLAJsaw he celebratedopeTrick, on that occasionperformedy a woman, point of considerableinterest.* This mystic-adventurer rote forty-six books, and certainly gained considerableinfluence over the lower classes by his manysignsand wonders. He is said to have disputedthe necessity f making a pilgrimage o Meccaby stating that by occult practices t could beperformed equally well in any room. On acertain occasion,however, we cannot help butadmireAl-Hallafs wit and aptitude. One dayhe stretchedorth an empty hand and producedfrom the air an apple,which he asserted e hadplucked from Paradise. One of his witnessesdisputed his assertion, because this particularapple was maggot-eaten, and therefore not ofDivine origin. Al-Hallaj at once replied: " Itis because it hath come forth from the Mansionof Eternity to the Abode of Decay: there-fore to its heart hath corruption found itsway!"Al-Hallaj, on account of his various hereticalteachings, was imprisoned and subjected to allmanner of cruelties. Bravely he went forthto the place of crucifixion. For four days hewas nailed on a cross on both sides of the Tigris.From these ortures he was finally released. Tenyears later he was executed, telling his disciples

* " Among the Adepts and Mystics of Hindostan." TheOccult Review, December, 1905.


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TWO EAKLY MYSTICS 19

he would return to them in thirty days, andexultantly reciting poetry, he cried: " FromHis own cup He bade me sup, for such s hospi-tality ! " A comment of his on Sufiisnt*-a veryironical one-was : " That which is mine, forby God I never distinguished for a momentbetween pleasure and pain! " Yet anothercharacteristic saying of his was: " The wayto God is two steps: one step out of this worldand one step out of the next world, and lo !you are there with the Lord ! " Whatever werethe faults of Al-Hallaj, and they were many,at least it may be said of him that he was a braveman. With all his fanaticism, his absurd indis-cretion and love of conjuring, he left muchbehind of permanent value to the Sufis. TheGovernment, in those days, did all in its powerto restrain the publicity of his books ; but alight that was never for a moment set undera bushel cannot be hid; the very attempt toobliterate it is in itself the cause for a keenerand more persistent search.In the fifth century of the Hijira we may noteAbu~l-Khair as the first to give Sufiism politicsignificance, and Iman Ghazali as the first togive it a metaphysical basis. At this time wefind in Sufi books many terms borrowed fromthe Neo-Platonists. Books on ethics, as wellas poetry, now became impregnated with Sufiideas.


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20 THE NATURE OF SUFIISMIII. THE NATURE OF STJFIISM

The Stiffs are folk who have preferred God to everything,so hat Godhaspreferredhem o everything.-DOT'L-Nuisr.*IN the Islam faith there are eight Paradisesarrangedone within the other in ascendingstages. The .highest s called " The GardenofEden." All are lovely gardens ull of luxuriantflowers and trees, amid which gleam the domesand minarets of gorgeous palaces, rich withprecious stones, where the departed are feastedand entertained by beautiful houris. All theParadises are watered by rivers, such as theKevser, the Tesniin, and the Selsebil. The greatTuba tree grows in the highest Paradise itsbranches fall into the seven other gardens.fThis brief description will be sufficient to showthe nature of the Muslim heaven. That it was aglorified creation of the earth in eight degrees sevident. It was sensuous rather than meta-physical. The five worlds of the Sufis are :

1. The " Plane of the Absolute Invisible."2. The "Relatively Invisible."3. The "World of Similitudes."

* For further extracts from Sufi writers see A HistoricalEnquiry concerning he Origin and Developmentof Sufiism,By R. A. Mcholson. The Journal of the Royal AsiaticSociety, March, 1906.| SeeHistory of OttomanPoetry by E. G. W. Gibb, vol. i. '


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THE FIVE PLANES 214. The " Visible World" (or the plane of"Form, Generation and Corruption").5. The " World of Man.5'

These Five Planes are often regarded as Three :the " Invisible,5' the " Intermediate/' and the" Visible," or yet again as simply the " Visible 9>and " Invisible.53 Above the ccPlane of theAbsolute Invisible" is an infinity which wemight, perhaps,comparewith Dante's " SpacelessEmpyrean." The Sufis regarded the existenceof the soul as pre-natal. Moreover that the fullperception of Earthly Beauty was the remem-brance of that Supreme Beauty in the Spiritualworld. The body was the veil; but by ecstasy(Hal) the soul could behold the Divine Mysteries.As Avicenna, in his poem on the soul, has written:

Lo, it was hurledMidst the sign-postsand ruined abodes f this desolateworld.It weeps,when t thinks of its homeand the peacet possessed,With tears welling forth from its eyes without pausing or rest,And with plaintive mourning it broodeth like one bereftO'er such trace of its home as the fourfold winds have left.Creation was regarded as the output of theAll-Beautiful. The visible world and all thereinwas a reflection of the Divine, an ever-changingscene full of the Spirit of God. The followingbeautiful poem of Jami, from Yusuf-u-Zulaykhd,will illustrate the Sufi's conceptionof the Beloved


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22 JAMIand His significanceand relationship to Hisworld of lovers :

No mirror to reflect Its loveliness,Nor comb to touch Its locks ; the morning breezeNe'esr stirred Its tresses; no coUyriumLent lustre to Its eyes; no rosy cheeksO'ershadowed y dark curls like hyacinth,Nor peach-like down were there. . . .To Itself it sang of loveIn wordlessmeasure. By Itself it castThe die of love. ...One gleam fell from It on the Universe ?And on the angels, and this single rayDazzled the angels, ill their senseswhirledLike the revolving sky. In diverse formaEach mirror showed it forth, and everywhereIts praise was chanted in new harmonies.The spirits who explore the depthsOf boundless seas, wherein the heavens swimLike some small boat, cried with one mighty voice," Praise to the Lord of all the universe ! "His beauty everywhere doth show itself,And through the forms of earthly beauties shinesObscured as through a veil. . . .Where'er thou seest a veil,Beneath that veil He hides. Whatever heartDoth yield to love, He charms it. In His loveThe heart hath life. Longing for Him, the soulHath victory. *

Man was, therefore, a part of God, because hewas a fragment of the Whole ; or, better still, he* Translation by Professor B. O. Browno.


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HAFIZ 23was a divine emanation.* The Sufi recognisedthis fact, and his supreme desire was to bereunited with the Beloved. His difficulty, how-ever, was to bear in mind that his worship shouldever be of God, and not of God's many beautifulforms. Love came into his heart, and he en-deavoured to recognise that earthly objects,however dear and beautiful they might be,were but lanterns where God's Light shon&through. Here it must be readily admittedthat Sufiism often fails. The Sufi poets weremuch given to excessive audations of physicalbeauty, and we often find, with all the tolerationand ingenuity we can bring to bear, that some ofHafiz's lines are no more spiritual than Anacreon's,to whom he has been compared. We have anumber of Sufi words with a strictly Sufi mean-ing ; but it would not be wise to strain theanalogy of earthly love too far and say thateverything that Hafiz wrote was spiritual. TheSufi poets, for the most part, wrote about theLove of God in the terms applied to their beautifulwomen, for the simple reason that no one canwrite the celestial language and be understoodat the same time. Is it to be wondered at thatthe Sufis, still remembering their old love-songs,their old earthly delights in womendear o them,

* Compare the Alexandrian doctrine of Emanations.Also J&mi's Law&ifi. Translated by E. H. Whinfieldza Muhammad Kazvlnl.


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24 THE MEANING OP SUFI WORDSshould find it difficult not to apply such names,such ideas even in their love of the One Beloved ?Take those expressionsiterally and many ofthem are sensuous,but consider them as brave,strong strivings, fraught with much spiritualfervour, after God, and you at once annihilateprejudiceand comevery nearunderstandinghemeaningof Sufiism. We need not fly to Mrs.Grundy and seek shelter under her hypocriticalwing when some really devout and sincere Suficalls God " the Eternal Darling " or sings aboutthe Beloved's curls. In studying Sufiism fromSufi poetry we must always remember thatEastern poetry is essentially erotic in expression,but just as essentially symbolic in meaning.We must also bear n mind-and this point musthave had its influence upon Sufiism-that theMuslim's reward for having lived a good life,according to the teaching of Mohammed, wasthat he should enjoy an eternal liason withlovely tour is.It may be questioned hat if the earthly objectof Love was a mere passing shadow of God,the man who loved that object was equallyinsignificant. And again, how can God be theAll-One when, according to the Sufi thesis,He divided Himself into creation? The partis not equal to the whole. These questionsareeasily nswered. hestarsshinen thesky,and on the bosomof the seawithout diminution.


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THE VOICE OF LOVE 25Let the sea pass away, and the star-shadowspass away too ; but the stars are still there.So when the world shall passaway it will only bethe fading of innumerable shadows we callHumanity. God will still be there, and weshall still be there because we came alone fromHim. There was a Voice that sounded in menand women, in mountains and in seas, in thebeasts of the jungle and the swinging of thestars. It was the Voice of Love, the greatbeckoning in the Hereafter to which all thingsmust go. That Voice to the Sufi was God callingHis lovers into one chamber, one mighty love-feast. Jami has expressed he finality of Lovein the following lines :

Gaze, till Gazing out of GazingGrew to BEING Her I gaze on,She and I no more, but in OneUndivided Being blended.All that is not One must everSuffer with the Wound of Absence;And whoever in Love's CityEnters, finds but Room for One,And but in ONENESS Union.

The Rev. Professor W. R. Inge, in ChristianMysticism, has brought a good deal of adversecriticism to bearupon SMistn. He remarks: "TheSufis, or Mohammedan Mystics, use erotic languagevery freely, and appear, like true Asiastics, tohave attempted to give a sacramental r symbolic


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26 ADVERSE CRITICISMcharacter o the indulgence f their passions."The same writer accusesEmerson of " playingwith pantheisticMysticism f the Oriental ype,"and goeson to comparehim with the PersianSufis on account of his self-deification. Thiscritic, in his desire to defame the Sufis, statesthat they are among the most shocking andblasphemous f the mystics, because hey believethat state is presentwith them even in theirearthly life. This, however, is no teaching ofthe Sufis, and, rightly considered,we cannot evenexcept the sayings of Bayazid already referredto, because ere he undoubtedly deniesall claimto human personality, admitting God only.$eZ/-deifications no teaching of the Sufis. Asthe Buddhist's belief in Nirvana was a state onlyto be reached by degrees,after much strivingand severe discipline, so was the fusion of theBeloved and His lover a belief and a beautifulhope far out on the spiritual horizon. HadjKhan, in his interesting book With the Pilgrimsto Mecca, briefly touches upon this sect andmentions." sevenstages in the spiritual growthof the Sufi, and not an arrogant proclamationof Deity and man being coequal n the earthlyexistence. The gradually ascendingscale of theSufi's heaven s another point in favour of thisargument. "For the love that thou would'stfind demands the sacrifice of self to the end that ,heartm.d,y e filled with the passion,o stand


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THE INFLUENCE OF SUFITSM 27within the Holy of Holies, in which alone themysteries of the True Beloved can be revealedunto thee." The averageSufi was a poet. Allthat was beautiful was God to him. He triedto be nearer he Beautiful every day, and thushis soul swept on from flower to flower,higherand higher, until he was absorbed into theDivine.We have now seen hat Sufiism s essentiallya religion of Love without a creed or dogma.No merciless hells leap up in the Sufi's beliefs.He has no one vay theory for the Life beyond :" The ways of God are as the number of the soulsof men." There is splendid, magnificent broad-mindedness in this Sufi remark. This un-sectarian teaching should be applied to everyreligion. It would tend to sweeten and deepenthe thoughts of men, who would forget the pettynon-essentials f creedsand dogmas, ost in theperception of the All-Beautiful.

IV. THE INFLUENCE OF SUFIISMThis love here forms the centre which expands on all

sides and into all regions. -HEGEL.ALTHOUGH Jal&lu'd-Din Rumi lived for fiftyyears in a Turkish city he scarcelyever used anyTurkish words ; but nevertheless his influenceon Turkish poetry was very considerable.The


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28 INFLUENCE IN TURKEY AND INDIATurkishpoetsof that day poured forth innumer-able " spiritual couplets" of a mystical nature.Indeed nearly all the Ottoman poets were eitherSufis or men who wrote after the manner of thePersian Sufis. Jalal's son, Sultan Valad, wrotein Turkish the following concerning liis father :

Wot ye well Mevlana"s of saints the Pole ;Whatsoever hing he 8ciyeth,do in whole.All his words are mercies from the Heavenly King;Such hat blind folks' eyeswere opened, did they sing.The Sufi influenceon Turkish poetry, many yearsafter JalaFs death, gradually weakened as timewent on, and their poetry became less mystical.The French were probably responsible for thischange to a certain extent.Then, again, Sufiism influenced the poetryof India ; but in this case there was influence onboth sides, and the Sufis probably borrowedsomeof the Buddhistic ideas, especially in regardto their later conception of Divine absorption*The following remark of Abu Bahu al-Shiblicertainly points to the belief that the Sufisinculcated certain ideas from the Vedanta Philo-sophy :-" Tasawwuf is control of the facultiesand observance f the breaths."Sufi poetry has greatly influenced Westernthought. Many of the German mystics wroteas the Sufi poets had written before them. Par-ticularly might be mentionedEokhart, Tauler


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THE GERMAN MYSTICS 29and Suso. Concerning he last mentioned I mayquote the following passage o demonstrate mymeaning : " Earthly friends must needs endureto be distinct and separate from those whomthey love; but Thou, 0 fathomless sweetnessof all true love, meltest into the heart of Thybeloved, and pourest Thyself fully into theessence f his soul, that nothing of Thee remainsoutside, but Thou art joined and united mostlovingly with Thy beloved." There was rap-turous language both with the Persian andGerman mystics. The great difference betweenthem was that the German mystics, for the mostpart, were ascetics, the Persians were not. Thenagain in the nineteenth century Hegel was loudin his prais.e of Jalalu'd-Din Rumi, calling hima great thinker as well as a great poet, but some-how he seems to put Jalal's Pantheism first,Ms Mysticism second. Surely this was puttingthe cart before the horse ? *To trace the scope of the influence of Sufithought in England would be extremely inte-resting, but the limits of this little book will notadmit of our doing so. The influence was at firstamong the few ; but optimistic lovers of theEast believe that Oriental thought is dailybecoming of more interest to Western minds.The student knows that Edward FitzGerald'srendering of Omar Khayyam was anything buta faithful translation; that EtzOerald shook


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30 OMAR KHAYYAM

up Omar'swords like so many dice and set themto the music of wine, roses, and pessimism. TheOm&r Khayyam Club read FitzGerald, but notOmar Khayyam, and in consequence they havefallen into the error of associating Omar withBacchus. But, nevertheless,we must be grate-ful to KtzGerald. He has given us a great poem,and stirred, let us hope, many of his countlessreaders to a more faithful study of Persianpoetry. The indefatigable Dr. Johnson haswritten the following on the Persian poet,who is the subject of our present volume:" He makes plain to the Pilgrim the secrets ofthe Way of Unity, and unveils the Mysteriesof the Path of Eternal Truth." Concerningour modern poets I have quoted elsewhere afew lines of Mr. Arthur Symons on a dancingdervish. Many of the late Thomas LakeHarris's poems are of a Sufi nature. In Mr.Stephen Phillip's beautiful poem " Marpessa,"the following lines are full of Sufi mysticism:

For they,Seeking hat perfect face beyond the world,Approach n vision earthly semblances,And touch, and at the shadows lee away.It is interesting to note that at least one cele-brated Englishman adopted the Sufi teaching. Irefer to Sir Richard Burton.* The Sufis believed

* Life of Sir Richard Burton. 2 vola. By Thomas Wright.


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THE RELIGION OP LOVE 31

heart and soul in the beautiful lines of Cameons,the poet for whom Burton had so great an affec-tion :Do what thy manhood bids thee do, from none but selfexpect applause.He noblest lives and noblest dies who makes and keeps hisself-made laws.All other life is living death, a world where none butphantoms dwell;A breath, a wind, a sound, a voice, a tinkling of the camel-bell.

V. ANALYSIS OF THE RELIGIOK OF LOVEPut away the tale of love that travellers tell ;Do thou serve God with all thy might.' RtTMf.

SUFIISM, then, is the religion of Love. LafcadioHearn tells us, in his inimitable way, that earthlylove is brought about by the memories of in-numerable loves in the past, a host of thephantoms of you seeking in your momentaryego the joy of Love over again. Schopenhauer,with much pride, quotesRochefoucauldas havingsaid that "love may be compared to a ghostsince it is something we talk about but havenever seen." Precisely ; but this is no antago-nistic statement, as Schopenhauer supposed.Rather than belittling the beauty of Love, it isan unconsciousdefence of a very great truth.


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32 THE NATURE OF LOVELove can only be compared with Love. Thereis nothingelse o comparet with. No one hasseen Love, because no one has seen God. Alittle child plays at funerals and tenderly buriesa dead butterfly, not because it understandsthemysteryof Death,but becauseove promptedthe action. And so we love without knowingthe why and the wherefore. Scientists havealready proved that first love is not controlledby either of the individuals loving ; that it isbut the expressionof thousands of tendenciesin past lives. That Love can be ever personal,ever limited to the individual, is unthinkable.We must recognise some day that those countlesstendencies, those strivings after men and womenseeming to hold our souls' affinities, were but themomentary finding of God in His creatures. Wedo not love a woman merely because she is pretty,possessesa pleasing mannerism. We love herbecause,n an ndescribableway, she sings a songwe alone can fully understand, a voice that liftsup our soul and makes it strong. We followthat Invisible Figure from land to land, fromheart to heart, from Death into Life, on and on.When Love loves Love for its own sake, whenthe self is dead, we shall meet Him. We shallfind the Beloved to be the Perfection, the realisa-tion of that strong desire that made us lose our-selves in others. The more we lose ourselvesin God the more we find Him. Men and women


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THE DIVINE ESSENCE 33love and die. But Love is a Divine Essenceworking through and through innumerable livesfor its own eternal glory. Personality is limitedonly to the finite world-perhaps a phase ortwo beyond the grave. Even that is the sum-total of countless so-called personalities in thepast. We love instinctively. If it was whollyphysical then it dies with the death of the object.If it was infinitely more than that, if it was thelove of Goodness and Purity and the Beautifulit lives on for ever. But these things live noteternally in humanity. They are parts of thatall-pervading Essence-the Love Divine. LoveGod's light in men and women, and not thelanterns through which It shines, for humanbodies must turn to dust; human memories,human desires, fade away. But the love of theAll-Good, All-Beautiful remains, and when suchis found in earthly love it is God finding Himselfin you, and you in Him. That is the supremeteaching of Sufiism, the religion of Love,


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THE LIFE AND WORK OFJALALU'D-DIN RUMI

I. LIFETAIALU'D-DIN RUMI was born at BalkhtJ on September0th,1207, .D.,or accord-ing to Mohammedan eckoning, in 604 A.H. Hisfather, Bahau~3d-Din, was a man of much learning,but gave offence to the reigning king by anattack on that monarch's innovations. Another

account disputes this in the place of jealousyon the part of the king. Whatever the cause,however,Bahau-'d-Din left Balkh, together withhis family, and settled at Mshapur. It washere that the celebrated Sufi, Earidu-d Din'Attar, presented young Jalalu'd-Din-Rumi withhis Asmrnama* and informed his father thatthe child would someday becomeamous through-out the world. After the destruction of Balkhthe family went to Qonia,t an old Roman province,where the poet acquired his name Rumi, or

* Book of Mysteries. f Iconium.34


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JALAL ON MUSIC AND DANCE 35" the Roman." Young Jalal must have beena child prodigy if we are to believe he manywonderful stories of his early days. At sixyears of age he is said to have seen visions,taught his playmates philosophy, and performedmany marvellous feats, such as flying into thecelestial regions. On the death of his fatherJalal took the professorial chair. He alsofounded an order of Dervishes known as Maulavis,where he authorised music and religious dance.When asked why he introduced singing and danceat a funeral, such practice being contrary tocustom, Jalal replied: "When the humanspirit, after years of imprisonment in the cageand dungeon of the body, is at length set free,and wings its flight to the Source whence itcame, is not this an occasion for rejoicings, .thanks, and dancing ? " Jalal was an indomit-able optimist. In his sayings, and still morein his poetry, we find an almost untrammelledecstasy. The religious dances, known as BizaKuli, may in some way account for JalaFaoccasional lack of care displayed in his poetry,and also for the outbursts not far removed frominsanity. We are informed by Daulat Shah that" There was a pillar in the Maulavf s house,andwhen he was drowned in the ocean of Love heused to take hold of that pillar and set himselfturning round it." It was while turning roundthe pillar that he not infrequentlydictatedmuch


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36 THE POET'S MARRIAGEof his poetry. As Mr. Arthur Symons hassung:

I turn until my sense,Dizzied with waves of air,Spins to a point intense,

And spires and centres there.*We can well imagine Jalal writing the followingunder the conditions just mentioned :Come! Come! Thou art the Soul, the Soul so dear,revolving !Come! Come! Thou art the Cedar, the Cedar's Spear,revolving !Oh, come! The well of Light up-bubbling springs ;And Morning Stars exult, in Gladness heer, revolving ! " f

In 1226 A.B. Jalal was married at Lerendato Gevher (Pearl). She bore two sons and diedearly in life. Jalal married again and his secondwife survived him.II. SHAMSI TABRIZ

A WORD ustnowbe saidabout ShamsiTabriz,an intimate friend of Jalal. We have sufficientevidenceo prove that ShamsiTabriz, JalaPs* The Pool of the World.f TheFestivalof Spring, translated by the Kev. Prof.William Hastie.


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SHAMSI TABRIZ 37now de guerre,was an actual person, and not amythical creation on the part of the poet. Thismysterious being, who flitted across JalaTs lifeso tragically, seems o have had great personalinfluence over the poet, who went with him intosolitary places and there discussed profoundmysteries. The scholars of Jalal looked uponthe whole affair as an unworthy infatuation onthe part of their Master, and on the part ofShams a shameful seduction. Their protestsbrought about the flight of Shams, who fledto Tabriz. But it was only a momentary separa-tion. Jalal followed this strange figure andbrought him back again. Most of his lighterpoetry was composed during this separation.Another disturbance, however, caused the de-parture of Shams to Damascus. We then haveno clear record of him. Various legends existin regard to the death of this mysterious person.It may be safely stated, however, that Shamsmet with a violent death, the exact nature ofwhich it is impossible to say definitely.This strange union is by no means unique inthe history of the world's literature. The union,however, in this particular case, is extremelydifficult to rightly fathom. We may reasonablyinfer that Jalal's intense poetic temperamentbecame fascinated by the dogmatic and powerfulShams. The very treatment of this friendship,both in the Lyrical Poems, and in the Masnavi,


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38 THE STORIES OF AL-AFLAKIis Sufi. The two following quotations, frommany that might be cited, will prove sufficientto illustrate this point:

The face of ShamsiDin, Tabriz's glory, is the sunIn whose track the cloud-like hearts are moving.O ShamsiTabriz, beauty and glory of the horizons,Whatkingbut is a beggar f theewith heart and soul ?

III. THE STOBIES OF AL-AFLAE! AND THEDEATH OF JALALTI'D-DIN RUMI.*THE historian al-Aflaki, in his collection of anec-dotes calledMenaqibu3L 'Arifin,f gives a numberof stories relating to the miracles and wise sayingsof Jalal. Many of thesemiraculousperformanceswere followed by the conversion of those whowitnessed hem. A marvel or a wise saying ofJalal was generally accompaniedby music anddance,which remindsus of the jubilations of theIndian gods after Rama's victories over hisenemies. These stories, interesting enough inthemselves,can scarcely b.e credited to such alearnedmanas Jalal undoubtedlywas. Accord-ing to tradition he spoke o frogs and fishes,raised the dead to life, and at the same time

* SeeThe Mamavi. Translated by Sir James W. Kedhouse.t " The Acts of the Adepts,"


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JALAL'S LOVE OF CHILDREN 39very ignominiously lost his temper when adisciple who said, after having received JalaPsinstructions: " God willing." After all, thesignificance of Jalal lies not in these ratherlamentable fairy tales, but in the fruit of hiswork. Jalal, like the Lord Buddha, sufferedconsiderably from the addition of fabulous talesand fancies of no real moment to his teachings.Al-Aflaki tells a pretty story concerning thetenderness of Jalal for little children. As thepoet passed by some children, they left theirplay and ran to him and bowed. Jalal bowed inresponse. One little boy, some distance off,seeing the honour bestowed upon his playmates,cried to Jalal: " Wait for me until I come ! "And Jalal waited and bowed to the little child.This story is worth far more than juggler'stricks.

Jalalu'd-Din Bumi died at Qonia in 1273 A.B.,praising God and leaving to the world a vaststore of spiritual knowledge and many wiseinstructions to his son, Bahau-'d-Din Valad.It is very gratifying to note that at the deathof Jalal his mourners were of all creeds. AChristian was asked why he wept over a Muslimgrave, and he replied : " We esteem him as theMoses, the David, the Jesus of our time; andwe are his disciples, his adherents." This wasindeed a splendid and worthy tribute to thememory of so great a


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40 JALALU'D-DIN BUMI'S POETRYI hope havealready emonstratedhat thevery natureof Sufi poetry s entirely acking increedor dogma,and certainly the great singerof the Masnavihas eft in his songsa wealth ofthe wonder of Divine Love.

IV, THE NATUREANDSIGNIFICANCEOF JALALTJ'D-RTJMI'S POETRYThe Lyrical. We have already noted the

acceptance f the Asrarnama. Among the otherliterary influences, according to Mr. Nicholson,we may note the poems of Sana I, Sa'di, andNizam!. The fact that Jalal's poetry some-times faintly resembles Omar Khayyam's is tooslight to be of any value. Mr. Nicholson veryably sums up the nature of the Masnavi andDivan respectively : " The one is a majesticriver, calm and deep, meandering hrough manya rich and varied landscape o the immeasurableocean; the other a foaming torrent that leapsand plunges in the ethereal solitude of the hillss"The poetry of Jalal is not of equal merit. Hiswork seldomf ever has the technical polish ofJam! There s too much of it ; too much pro-ducedn the belief hat all his poetrywas nspired.He is fond of harping on certain words, and asfar as the translations are concerned he has little


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FIERCENESS AND TENDERNESS 41sense of humour.* There was certainly roomfor a touch of humour in the poet's descriptionof Iblis receiving from God a gift of beautifulwomen whereby to tempt mankind; but Jalalentirely ignores it. These weaknesses are almostlost n the strength and purity and yrical grandeurof many of JalaPspoems. He carriesus alongon a torrent of heavenly music. The rhythmicswing of his wonderful dance is soul-stirring.We seem to move exultantly, ecstatically, tothe sound of the poet's singing, far behind thesilver stars into the Presence of the Beloved.With what reverence, with what a glow ofsimile and subtle suggestion he describes theBeauty of the Beloved! With what exquisitepassion he foretells the Eternal Union! Thenthere is a lull in this fierce spiritual song, andJalal sings, ever so gently and with an infinitetenderness, about human tears being turnedinto " rain-clouds." He sings about the meetingof two friends in Paradise, with the oft-repeatedrefrain, " Thou and I." There seems in thispoem an indescribable and almost patheticplay on the idea of human friendship and theDivine Friendship, a yearning tenderness forthat human shadow, passing shadow thoughit be. Jalal appears to have the power of

* Prof. C. E. Wilson informs me that Jall certainlyhad a very fair sense of humour, and that in the originalthere is often a clever and witty play on words.


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42 THE "MASNAVI"producing almost orchestral effects in his musicof the Spheres. There is that terrific touch ofWagner about his poetry, and in those suggestiveWagner-pauseshere is a tendernessof expressionmore touching, more truly great than the loudtriumphant notes. Jalal has truly said : " Ourjourney is to the Rose-Gardenof Union." Hesang about the Divine Rose-Garden but he didnot forget to sing about the roses that fade andthe human hearts that ache. We seem to seeJalal ever bowing to the little child in all hiswonderful singing.

The Masnavi.-Jalal is said to have beenforty-three years engaged in writing the Masnavi.Often whole nights were spent in its composition,Jalal reciting and his friend Hasam copying itdown and sometimes singing portions of theverse in his beautiful voice. At the completionof the first book Hasam's wife died, and twoyears elapsed before the work was continued.The Masnavi is full of profound mysteries, andis a most important book in the study of Sufiism-mysteries which must, for the most part, be leftto the discernment of the reader. Jalal him-self has said that great Love is silent. It isin Silence that we shall come to understandthe supreme Mystery of Love that has no com-parison. The key-note to the Masnavi may befound in the Prologue to the first book. Thepoet here sings of the soul's longing to be united


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THE KEY-NOTE TO THE "MASNAVI" 43with the Beloved. The fact that he, and allother Sufi poets, use as an analogy the lovebetween man and woman renders the spiritualmeaning extremely vague. We have, however,already considered this point in the introduction,and it needsno further explanation. The Masnavihas all the pantheistic beauty of the Psalms,the music of the hills, the colour and scent ofroses, the swaying of forests ; but it has con-siderably more than that. These things of scentand form and colour are the Mirror of the Be-loved; these earthy loves the journey downthe valley into the Rose-Gardenwhere the rosesnever fade, and where Love is.


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SELECTIONS FROM THE "DIVANISHAMSI TABRIZ"

" I AM SILENT "

I am silent. SpeakThou, O Soul of Soul of Soul,From desire of whose Face every atom grewarticulate.A CEY TO THE BELOVED

Yestereve I delivered to a star tidings for thee :" Present," I said, " my service to that moon-like form."I bowed, I said : " Bear that service to the sunWho maketh hard rocks gold by his burning."I bared my breast, I showed t the wounds :" Give news of me," I said, " to the Belovedwhose drink is blood."I rocked to and fro that the child, my heart,might become still;A child sleepswhen one sways the cradle.

44


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REMEMBER GOD AND FORGET SELF 45Give my heart-babe milk, relieve us from itsweeping,0 Thou that helpest every moment a hundredhelpless like me.The heart's home, first to last, is Thy City ofUnion :How long wilt Thou keep in exile this heartforlorn ?

REMEMBER GOD AND FORGET SELF

0 spirit, make thy head in search and seekinglike the water of a stream,And 0 reason, to gain Eternal Life tread ever-lastingly the way of Death.Keep God in remembrance ill self is forgotten,That thou may be lost in the Called, withoutdistraction of caller and call.THE PRINCE OF THE FAIR "

A garden-may its rose be in flower to Resurrec-tion !An idol-may the two worlds be scattered o'erhis beauty !The Prince of the Fair goes proudly forth to thechase at morning ;May our hearts fall a prey to the arrow of Hisglance !


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46 "MY BODY IS LIKE THE MOON"From His eye what messagesare passing con-tinually to mine !May my eyes be gladdened and filled withintoxication by His Message !

" MY BODY IS LIKE THE MOON "

My body is like the moon which is melting forLove,My heart like Zuhra's * lute-may its stringsbe broken !Look not on the moon's waning nor on Zuhra'sbroken state :Behold the sweetness of his affection-may itwax a thousandfold 1

MOBTALITY AND IMMORTALITY

What a Bride is in the soul! By the reflectionof Her faceMay the world be freshened and coloured likethe hands of the newly married ! |Look not on the fleshy cheek which corruptsand decays,Look .on the spiritual cheek-may it be sweetand agreeable !

* The celestial Venus, and leader of the starry choirsto music. See B. A. Nicholson's note in Selected Poems fromthe Dtvani Shamsi Tabriz.\ A design traced in henna.


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THE DIVINE CONSOLER 47The dark body resemblesa raven, and the body'sworld winter ;0 in spite of these two unpleasants may therebe Eternal Spring !

THE BELOVED THE DIVIKE CONSOLES0 Thou who art my soul's comfort in the seasonof sorrow,0 Thou who art my spirit's treasure in thebitterness of dearth !That which the imagination has not conceived,that which the understanding has not seen,Visited my soul from Thee ; hence in worshipI turn toward Thee.By Thy grace I keep ixed on Eternity my amorous

gaze,Except, 0 King, the pomps that perish lead meastray.The favour of that one, who brings glad tidingsof Thee,Even without Thy summons, is sweeter in mineear than songs.If a never-ceasingbounty should offer kingdoms,If a hidden treasure should set before me all

that is,I would bend down my soul, I would lay my facein the dust,


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48 THE SOUL OF THE WORLDI would say, " Of all these the love of such anOne for me ! "

THOU ART THE SOUL OF THE WORLD

Eternal Life, methinks, is the time of Union,Because Time, for me, hath no place There.Life is the vessels, Union the clear draught inthem ;Without Thee what does the pain of the vesselsavail me ?I had twenty thousand desires ere this ;In passion or Him not even (care of) my safetyremained.By the help of His grace I am become safe,becauseThe unseen King saith to me, " Thou art the

soul of the world*"" THE VOICE OF LOVE "

Every moment the voice of Love is coming fromleft and right.We are bound for heaven : who has a mind tosight-seeing ?We have been in heaven, we have been friendsof the angels ;Thither, Sire, et us return, for that is our country.


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THE MOON-SOUL AND THE SEA 53I went to the idol-temple, o the ancientpagoda No trace was visible there.I went to the mountains of Herat and Candahar I looked ; He was not in that hill-and-dale.I gazed into my own heart ;There I saw Him ; He was nowhere else.

GOB ONLY

" None but God has contemplated the beauty ofGod."This eye and that lamp are two lights, eachindividual,When they came together, no one distinguishedthem.

THE HOOK-SOUL AND THE SEA

At morning-tidea moonappearedn the sky,And descended from the sky and gazed on me.Like a falcon which snatches a bird at the timeof hunting,That moon snatched me up and coursed overthe sky.When I looked at myself, I saw myself no more,Because n that moon my body becameby graceeven as soul.


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54 LIFE IN DEATHWhen I travelled in soul, I saw naught save the

moon,Till the secret of the Eternal Theophany wasrevealed.The nine spheresof heaven were all merged inthat moon,The vesselof my being was completely hidden inthe sea.The seabroke into waves,and again Wisdom roseAnd cast abroad a voice ; so it happened andthus it befell.Foamed the sea, and at every foam-fleckSomething took figure and something was bodiedforth.Every foam-fleck of body, which received a signfrom that sea,Melted straightway and turned to spirit in thisOcean,

LIFE IN DEATH

When my bier moveth on the day of Death,Think not my heart is in this world.Do not weep in the devil's snare : that is woe.When thou seestmy hearse,cry not " Parted,parted! "Union and meeting are mine in that hour.If thou commitme to the grave,say not " Fare-well, farewell! "


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THE DIVINE FRIEND 55For the grave is a curtain hiding the communionof Paradise,After beholding descent, consider resurrection ;Why should setting be injurious to the sun andmoon ?To thee it seemsa setting, but 'tis a rising ;Tho' the vault seems a prison, 'tis the releaseof the soul.

" * " " "Shut thy mouth on this side and open t beyond,For in placeless ir will be thy triumphal song.

THE WHOLE AND THE PART

Beware ! do not keep, in a circle of reprobates,Thine eye shut like a bud, thy mouth open likethe rose.The world resemblesa mirror : thy Love is theperfect image :0 people, who has ever seena part greater thanthe whole ?THE DIVINE FRIEND

Look on me, for thou art my companion inthe graveOn the night when thou shalt pass from shopand dwelling.


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66 ASPIRATIONThou shalt hear my hail in the hollow of thetomb : it shall become known to theeThat thou wast never concealed from mine eye.I am as reason and intellect within thy bosomAt the time of joy and gladness,at the time ofsorrow and distress.

" . " "In the hour when the intellectual lamp is lighted,What a pean goes up from the dead men in thetombs !ASPIRATION

Haste, haste ! for we too, 0 soul, are comingFrom this world of severance to that world ofUnion.0 how long shall we, like children, in the earthlysphereFill our lap with dust and stones and sherds ?Let us give up the earth and fly heavenwards,Let us flee from childhood to the banquet ofmen.Behold how the earthly frame has entrappedthee!Bend the sack and raise thy head clear.

" I WILL CHEBISH THE SOUL "

" I am a painter, a maker of pictures everymoment I shape a beauteous form,And then n Thy presence melt them all away.


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LOVE 57I call up a hundredhantomsnd ndue hemwith a spirit;When behold hy phantom, cast hem n thefire."Lo ! I will cherish the soul, because it has aperfume of Thee.Every drop of blood which proceedsrom meis saying to Thy dust:" I am one colour with Thy love, I am a partnerof Thy affection."In the house of water and clay this heart isdesolate without Thee ;O Beloved, enter the house,or I will leave t.

" THIS is LOVE "

This is Love : to fly heavenward,To rend, every instant, a hundred veils.The first moment, to renounce Life :The last step, to feel without feet.To regard this world as invisible,Not to seewhat appears o one's self." O heart," I said, " may it bless theeTo have entered the circle of lovers,To look beyond the range of the eye,To penetrate the windings of the bosom !Whencedid this breath come o thee, 0 my soul,Whence this throbbing, 0 my heart ?"


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58 THE DIVINE JOURNEYTHE JOURNEY TO THE BELOVED

0 lovers, 0 lovers, it is time to abandon theworld :The drum of departure reachesmy spiritual earfrom heaven.

Behold, the driver has risen and made ready hisfiles of camels,And begged us to acquit him of blame : why,0 travellers, are you asleep ?These sounds before and behind are the din ofdeparture and of the camel-bells ;With each moment a soul and spirit is settingoff into the Void.

From these inverted candles, from these blueawningsThere has come forth a wondrous people, thatthe mysteries may be revealed.A heavy slumber fell upon thee from the circlingspheres :Alas, for this life so light, beware of this slumberso heavy !0 soul, seek the Beloved, 0 friend, seek theFriend,0 watchman, be wakeful: it behoves not awatchman to sleep.

THE DAY OF RESURRECTIONOn every side is clamour and tumult, in everystreet are candles and torches,


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THE RETURN OF THE BELOVED 59For to-night the teeming world gives birth to theWorld Everlasting.Thou wert dust and art spirit, thou wert ignorantand art wise.He who has led thee thus far will lead thee

further also.How pleasant are the pains He makes thee sufferwhile He gently draws thee to Himself !THE RETURN OF THE BELOVED

Always at night returns the Beloved : do noteat opium to-night ;Close your mouth against food, that you maytaste the sweetness of the mouth.Lb, the cup-bearer is no tyrant, and in his as-sembly there is a circle :Come into the circle, be seated; how long willyou regard the revolution (of Time) ?

" " " " "Why, when God's earth is so wide, have youfallen asleep in a prison ?Avoid entangled thoughts, that you may seethe explanation of Paradise.Refrain from speaking, hat you may win speech

hereafter.Abandon life and the world, that you may beholdthe Life of the world.


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60 THE DIVINE UNIONTHE CALL OF THE BELOVED

Every morning a voice comes to thee fromheaven :" When thou lay'st the dust of the way, thoiiwin'st thy way to the goal."On the road to the Ka'ba of Union, lo, in everythorn-bushAre thousands slain of desire who manfullyyielded up their lives.Thousands sank wounded on this path, to whomthere came notA breath of the fragrance of Union, a token fromthe neighbourhood of the Friend.

" THE BANQUET OF UNION "

In memory of the banquet of Union, in yearningfor His beautyThey are fallen bewildered by the wine Thouknowest.How sweet, in the hope of Him, on the thresholdof His Abode,For the sake of seeing His face, to bring nightround to day!Illumine thy bodily sensesby the Light of thesoul:

" * " " "Look not in the world for bliss and fortune,since thou wilt not find them ;


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GOD'S LIKENESS 65And the spring found earth in mourning, allnaked, lone, and bare.I heard Time's loom a-whirring that wove theSun's dim Veil; . .I saw a worm a-weaving n Life-threads .its ownlair.I saw the Great was Smallest, and saw theSmallest Great;For God had set His likeness on all the thingsthat were.

" LOVE SOUNDS THE MUSIC OF THE SPHEBES "

O, soul, if thou, too, wouldst be free,Then love the Love that shuts thee in.'Tis Love that twisteth every snare ;'Tis Love that snaps the bond of sin;Love sounds the Music of the Spheres;Love echoes hrough Earth's harshestdin,

The world is God's pure mirror clear,To eyes when free from clouds within.With Love's own eyes the Mirror view,And there see God to self akin." THE SOULS LOVE-MOVED "

The souls love-moved are circling on,Like streams to their great Ocean King.5


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66 THE BELOVED ALL IN ALLThou art the Sun of all men's thoughts;

Thy kisses are the flowers of spring.The .dawn is pale from yearning Love ;The moon in tears is sorrowing.Thou art the Rose, and deep for Thee,In sighs, the nightingales still sing.THE BELOVED ALL IK ALL

My Soul sendsup to Heaven each night the cryof Love !God's starry Beauty draws with might the cryof Love !Bright sun and moon each morn dance in my

Heart at Dawn :And waking me at daylight, excite the cry ofLove !On every meadow glancing, I see God's sun-beams play;And all Creation's wonders excite the cry ofLove !" " " "I, All in All becoming,now clear see God in All;And up from Union yearning, takes flight thecry of Love!

" THOTT AND i "

Happy the moment when we are seated in thePalace, thou and I,


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THE DEVIL 79That face which s bright as the forenoon un--To disfigure t werea grievous in.'Twere paganism to mar such a face as thine !The moon tself would weep o losesight of it!Knowest thou not the beauty of thine own face ?Quit this temper that leads thee to war withthyself !It is the claws of thine own foolish thoughtsThat in spite wound the face of thy quiet soul.Know such thoughts to be claws fraught withpoison.Which score deepwounds on the face of thy souLTHE DEVIL MAKES USE OF THE BEAUTY OF WOMEN

Thus spake cursed Iblis to the Almighty," I want a mighty trap to catch human gamewithal! "God gave him gold and silver and troops andhorses,Saying, "You can catch my creatures withthese.5'Iblis said, " Bravo ! " but at the same time hunghis lip,And frowned sourly like a bitter orange.Then God offered gold and jewels from precious

minesTo that laggard in the faith,Saying, Take heseother traps,O cursedone."


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80 THE BEAUTY Otf WOMENBut Iblis said, " Give me more, 0 blessed De-fender."God gave him succulent and sweet and costlywines,And also store of silken garments.But Iblis said, " 0 Lord, I want more aids thanthese,In order to bind men in my twisted rope.So firmly that Thy adorers, who are valiant men,May not, man-like, break my bonds asunder."When at last God showed him the beauty of

women,Which bereaves men of reason and self-control,Then Iblis clapped his hands and began to dance,Saying, " Give me these I shall quickly prevailwith these ! " *" LOVERS AND BELOVED HAVE BOTH PERISHED "Lovers and beloved have both perished;And not themselves only, but their love as well.'Tis God alone who agitates these nonentities,Making one nonentity fall in love with another.

* The meaning of this poem is strictly allegorical. Wemust not infer that the All-Good would be a party to theevil designsof the Devil. No material gifts, howeverseduc-tive, could succeed n stamping out the Divinein His creatures.


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SELF-AGGRANDISEMENT 81In the heart that is no heart envy comes to a

head,Thus Being troubles nonentity.*" O ASTGKELS,BRING HIM BACK TO ME **

u O angels,bring him back to me.Since the eyesof his heart were set on Hope,Without care for consequence I set him free,And draw the pen through the record of Hissins ! "

SELF-AGGRANDISEMENT AND VAINGLORYNO PART OF LOVE

A lover was once admitted to the presenceof his mistress, but, instead of embracing her,he pulled out a paper of sonnetsand read themto her, describing her perfections and charmsand his own love towards her at length. Hismistress said to him, " You are now in mypresence,and these lovers* sighs and invocationsare a waste of time. It is not the part of a truelover to wastehis time in this way. It shows thatI am not the real object of your affection, but

* At first sight there seems to be Omarian pessimismin this poem. In reality it signifies that all Love is One,which shines through the ever-vanishing lanterns of theworld.


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82 LOVE NEEDS NO MEDIATORthat what you really love is your own effusionsand ecstaticraptures. I see,as t were, the waterwhich I have onged or beforeme, andyet youwithhold it, I ani, as it were, in Bulgaria, andthe object of your love is in Cathay. One whois really loved is the single object of her lover,the Alpha and Omega of his desires. As foryou, you are wrapped up in your own amorousraptures, depending on the varying states ofyour own feelings, nstead of being wrappedup in me."

" I AM THINE, AND THOU ART MINE ! "Eternal Life is gained by utter abandonmentof one's own life. When God appears to Hisardent lover the lover is absorbed in Him, andnot so much as a hair of the lover remains.

True lovers are as shadows, and when the sunshines in glory the shadowsvanish away. Heis a true lover to God to whom God says, " I amthine, and thou art Mine! "

LOVE NEEDS NO MEDIATORWhen one has attained Union with God hehas no need of intermediaries. Prophets and

apostles are needed as links to connect ordinaryman with God, but he who hears the " innervoice " within him has no need to listen to out-


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EARTHLY FORMS 83ward words, even of apostles. Although thatintercession is himself dwelling in God, yet mystate is higher and more lovely than his. Thoughhe is God's agent, yet I dosire not his intercessionto save me from evil sent me by God, for evilat God's hand seems to me good. What seemsmercy and kindness to the vulgar seems wrathand vengeance o God-intoxicated saints.

HUMANITY THE REFLECTION OF THE BELOVEDParrots are taught to speak without understand-ing the words. The method is to place a mirrorbetween the parrot and the trainer. The trainer,hidden by the mirror, utters the words, and the

parrot, seeing his own reflection in the mirror,fancies another parrot is speaking, and imitatesall that is said by the trainer behind the mirror.So God uses prophets and saints as mirrorswhereby to instruct men, viz., the bodies ofthese saints and prophets ; and men, when theyhear the words proceeding from these mirrors,are utterly ignorant that they are really beingspoken by " Universal Reason " or the " Wordof God " behind the mirror of the saints,

Earthly forms are only shadowsof the Sun ofTruth-a cradle for babes, but too small to holdtjb.osewho have grown to spiritual manhood.


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84 THE BEATIFIC VISION"THE BEATIFICVISION OF ETEBNAL TKTJTH"The end and object of all negation is to attainto subsequent affirmation, as the negation inthe creed, " There is no God," finds its comple-ment and purpose in the affirmation " butGod." Just so the purpose of negation of selfis to clear the way for the apprehensionof thefact that there is no existence but the One.

The intoxication of Life and its pleasures andoccupations veils the Truth from men's eyes,and they ought to pass on to the spiritual in-toxication which makes men beside themselvesand lifts them to the beatific vision of eternalTruth.

THE WINE EVERLASTING0 babbler, while thy soul is drunk with meredate wine,Thy spirit hath not tasted the genuine grapes.For the token of thy having seen that divine

LightIs this, to withdraw thyself from the house ofpride.BE LOST IN THE BEAUTY OF THE BELOVED

When those Egyptian women sacrificed theirreason,They penetratedhe mansionof Joseph'sove ;


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THE KINGDOM THAT ENDURES NOT 85The Cup-bearerof Life bore away their reason,They were filled with wisdom of the world with-out end.Joseph's beauty was only an offshoot of God'sbeauty :Be lost, then, in God's beauty more than those

women." WHAT BAB HAS TOLD YOU FALSELY "

What ear has told you falsely eye will tell truly.Then ear, too, will acquire the properties of aneye;Your ears, now worthless as wool, will becomegems;Yea, your whole body will become a mirror,It will be as an eye of a bright gem in yourbosom.First the hearing of the ear enablesyou to formideas,

Then these deas guide you to the Beloved.Strive, then, to increase the number of theseideas,That they may guide you, like Majnun, to theBeloved."

THERE IS A PLACE OF REFUGE"

Yea, 0 sleeping heart, know the kingdom thatendures notFor ever and ever is only a mere dream.


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86 THE UNBELIEVERI marvel how long you will indulge in vainillusion,Winch has seizedyou by the throat like a heads-man.Know that even in this world there is a place ofrefuge;Hearken not to the unbeliever who denies it.His argument s this : he says again and again," If there were aught beyond this life we shouldsee it."But if the child see not the state of reason,Does the man of reason therefore forsake

reason ?And if the man of reason sees not the state of

Love,Is the blessedmoon of Love thereby eclipsed?THE LOVER'S CRY TO THE BELOVED

" My back is broken by the conflict of mythoughts ;0 Beloved One, come and stroke my head inmercy !The palm of Thy hand on my head gives merest,Thy hand is a sign of Thy bounteous rovi-dence.Bemovenot Thy shadowrom my head,I am afflicted, afflicted, afflicted!


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THE DIVINE FOUNT 87Sleephasdesertedmy eyesThrough my longing for Thee, O Envy of cy-presses !

" " "O take my life, Thou art the Source of Life IFor apart from Thee I am wearied of my life*I am a lover well versed in lovers' madness,I am weary of learning and sense."

SOBBOW TUBBED TO JOY

" He who extracts the rose from the thornCan also turn this winter into spring.He who exalts the heads of the cypressesIs able also out of sadness o bring joy."

THE GIFTS OP THE BELOVEDWhere will you find one more liberal than God ?He buys the worthless rubbish which is yourwealth,He pays you the Light that illumines your heart.He accepts these frozen and lifeless bodies of

yours,And gives you a Kingdom beyond what youdream of,He takes a few drops of your tears,And gives you the Divine Fount sweeter tb.ausugar,


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88 "THOU AKT HIDDEN"He takes your sighs raught with grief andsadness,And for each sigh gives rank in heaven asinterest.In return for the sigh-wind that raised tear-clouds,God gave Abraham the title of " Father of theFaithful."

Thou art hidden from us, though the heavensare filledWith Thy Light, which is brighter than sunand moon!Thou art hidden, yet revealest our hiddensecrets !Thou art the Source that causes our rivers to

flow.Thou ar.t hidden n Thy essence, ut seenby Thybounties.Thou art like the water, and we like the mill-stone.Thou art like the wind, and we like the dust;The wind is unseen, ut the dust is seenby all.Thou art the Spring,and we the sweetgreengarden;Spring s not seen,hough ts gifts are seen.Thou art as the Soul, we as hand and foot ;Soul instructs hand and foot to hold and take.


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"EXERT YOURSELVES" 89Thou art as Reason,we ike the tongue 'Tis reason hat teacheshe tongue o speak.Thou art as Joy, and we are aughing The laughter is the consequencef the joy.Our every motion every moment testifies,For it proves the presence f the EverlastingGod.

" cTrust in God,yet tie the camel'seg.3Hear the adage, cThe worker is the friend ofGod; 'Through, trust in Providence neglect not to usemeans. ^Go, O Fatalists, practise trust with self-exertion,Exert yourself to attain your objects, bit by bit.In order to succeed, strive and exert yourselves ;If you strive not for your objects, ye are ools."THE WISDOM OF THE WEAK

" O friends, God has given me inspiration.Oftentimes strong counsel is suggested o theweak.The wit taught by God to the beeIs withheld from the lion and the wild ass.It fills its cells with liquid sweets,For God opens he door of this knowledge o it.


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90 WHITE NIGHTSThe skill taught by God to the silkwormIs a learning beyond the reach of the elephant.The earthly Adam was taught of God names,So that his glory reached the seventh heaven.He laid low the name and fame of the angels,Yet blind indeed are they whom God doomsto doubt! "

WHITE NIGHTS

Every night Thou freest our spirits from, the bodyAnd its snare,making them pure as rased tablets.Every night spirits are released from this cage,And set free, neither lording it nor lorded over.At night prisoners are unaware of their prison,At night kings are unaware of their majesty.

The kingly soul lays waste the body,And after its destruction he builds it anew.Happy the soul who for love of GodHas lavished family, wealth, and goods !-Has destroyed its house to find the HiddenTreasure,And with that Treasure has rebuilt it in faireisort;Has dammed up the stream and cleansed thechannel,And then turned a fresh stream into the channel


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SAINT AND HYPOCRITE 91SAINT AXV HYPOCEITB

Watch the face of each one, regard it well,It may be by serving hou wilt recogniseTruth'sface.As there are many demons with men's faces,It is wrong to join hand with every one.When the fowler sounds his decoy whistle,That the birds may be beguiled by that snare,The birds hear that call simulating a bird's call,And, descending from the air, find net and knife.So vile hypocrites steal the language of Dervishes,In order to beguile the simple with their trickery.The works of the righteous are light and heat,The works of the evil treachery and shamelessness.They make stuffed lions to scare the simple,They give the title of Muhammad to false Musai-lima.But Musailima retained the name of " Liar,"And Muhammad hat of " Sublimest of beings."That wine of God (the righteous) yields a perfumeof musk ;Other wine (the evil) is reserved or penaltiesand pains.

HABSHNESS AND ADOKATION

Let me then, I say, make complaintOf the severity of that Fickle Fair One.


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92 THE GLORY OP "THE JUSTI cry, and my criessound sweet in His ear;He requires rom the two worlds cries and groans.How shall I not wail under His chasteninghand?How shall I not be in the number of those be-witched by Him ?How shall I be other than night without Hisday?Without the vision of His face that illumes the

day?His bitters are very sweets to my soul,I am enamoured of my own grief and pain,For it makes me well-pleasing to my peerlessKing.I use he dust of my grief as salve for my eyes,That my eyes, ike seas,may team with pearls.

THE DIVINE ABSORPTION

Do me justice, 0 Thou who art the glory of thejust,Who art the throne, and I the lintel of Thydoor!But, in sober truth, where are throne and door-way ?Where are " We " and " I " ? There where ourBeloved is !0 Thou,whoart exempt rom " Us " and " Me,"Whopervadesthe spirits of all menandwomen


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THE DIVINE ABSORPTION 93When man and woman becomeone, Thou artthat One !When their union s dissolved,o ! Thouabidest!Thou hast made these " Us " and " Me " for this

purpose,To wit, to play chesswith them by Thyself.When Thou shalt become neentity with "Us "and " You,"Then wilt Thou show true affection for theselovers.When these " We " and " Ye " shall aU becomeOne Soul,Then they will be lost and absorbed iu the" Beloved."LOVE MORE THAN SOBBOW AKD JOY

Come then, O Lord!Who art exalted above description and explana-tion !Is it possible or the bodily eye to beholdThee ?Can mind of man conceive Thy frowns and Thysmiles ?Are hearts, when bewitched by Thy smiles andfrowns,In a fit state to see the vision of Thyself ?When our hearts are bewitched by Thy smilesand frowns,Can we gain Life from these two alternatingstates ?


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94 THE GARDEN OF LOVEThe fertile garden of Love, as it is boundless,Contains other fruits besides joy and sorrow.The true lover is exalted above these two states,He is fresh and green independently of autumnor spring !Pay tithe on Thy beauty, 0 Beauteous One Tell forth the tale of the Beloved, every whit!

" THE HEAET OF THE HABPER "

The heart of the harper was emancipated.Like a soul he was freed from weeping andrejoicing,His old life died, and he was regenerated.Amazement fell upon him at that moment,For he was exalted above earth and heaven,An uplifting of the heart surpassingall uplifting.I cannot describe it; if you can, say on !Ecstasy and words beyond all ecstatic words ;-Immersion n the glory of the Lord of glory !Immersion wherefrom was no extrication,-As it were dentification with the Very Ocean

" WHE1S OTGHT RETTTBNS "

Whennight returnsand tis the time of the sky'slevee,The stars that were hidden come forth to theirwork.


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SEPARATION 65The people of the world lie unconscious,With veils "drawn over their faces, and asleep But when the morn shall burst forth and the sunariseEvery creature will raise ts head from its couch To the unconscious God will restore consciousness They will stand in rings as slaves with rings in

ears ;Dancing and clapping hands with songs ofpraise,Singing with joy, " Our Lord hath restored usto life! '

SEPARATION

Nothing is bitterer than severance rom Thee,Without Thy shelter there is naught but per-plexity.Our worldly goods rob us of our heavenly goods,Our body rends the garment of our soul.Our hands,as t were, prey on our feet;Without reliance on Thee how can we live ?

" GOD'S LIGHT "

5Tis God's Light that illumines the senses'ight,That is the meaningof " Light upon light."The senses' ight draws us earthwards,God's Light calls us heavenwards.


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96 LOVE'S LIGHT" LOVE CASTS ITS OWN LIGHT

"

When love of God kindles a flame in the inwardman,He burns, and is freed from effects.He lias no need of signs to assure him of Love,

For Love casts its own Light up to heaven." THE BELIEVEB'S HEAET "

The Prophet said that God has declared," I am not contained in aught above or below,I am not contained in earth or sky, or evenIn highest heaven. .Know this for a surety, Obeloved!Yet am I contained in the believer's heart!If ye seek Me> search in such hearts ! "

No sicknessworse han fancying thyself perfectCan infect thy soul, 0 arrogant misguided one !Shedmany tears of blood from eyesand heart,That this self-satisfactionmay be driven out.The fate of Iblis lay in saying, " I am better than,He,"And this same weakness urks in the souls of allcreatures.


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TRUE KNOWLEDGE9^ 97

The knowledge which is not of Him is a burden ;Knowledge which comes not immediately fromHimEndures no longer than the rouge of the tire-* woman.Nevertheless, if you bear this burden in a rightspirit'Twill be removed, and you will obtain joy.See you bear not that burden out of vainglory,Then you will behold a store of True Knowledgewithin.When you mount the steed of this True Know-

ledge,Straightway the burden will fall from yourback.

How long wilt thou dwell on words and super-ficialities ?A burning heart is what I want; consort withburning !Kindle in thy heart the flame of Love,And burn up utterly thoughts and fine ex-pressions.0 Moses the lovers of fair/ites are one class,They whose hearts and souls burn with Loveanother.

7


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98 A MOTHER'S CHILDRENA MOTHER WHOSE CHILDREN WBBE IK THHBELOVED'S KEEPING

A woman bore many children in succession,but none of them lived beyond the age of threeor four months. In great distress she cried toGod, and then beheld in a vision the beautifulgardens of Paradise, and many fair mansionstherein, and upon one of these mansions she readher own name inscribed. And a voice fromheaven informed her that God would acceptthe sorrows she had endured in lieu of her bloodshed in holy war, as, owing to her sex, she wasunable to go out to battle like the men. Onlooking again, the woman beheld in Paradiseall the children she had lost, and she cried, " 0Lord ! they were lost to me, but safe with Thee ! "

THE OPTIMISTIC ROSE

In this tale there is a warning for thee, 0 Soul,That thou mayest acquiesce in God's ordinances,And be wary and not doubt God's benevolence,When sudden misfortune befalls thee.Let othersgrow pale from fear of ill fortune,Do thou smile ike the roseat loss and gain ;For the rose, hough ts petals be torn asunder,Still smiles on, and it is never cast down.


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THE TRUE MOSQUE 99THE TBTJE MOSQUE

Foolsaud andmagnifyhemosque,While they strive to oppress oly menof heart.But the former is mere form, the latter spiritand truth.The only true mosques that in the hearts ofsaints.The mosque that is built in the hearts of thesaintsIs the place of worship of all, for God dwellsthere.So ong as the hearts of the saints are not afflicted,God never destroys the nation.

IGNORANCE "

Blood is impure, yet its stain is removed bywater;But that impurity of ignorance is more lasting,Seeing hat without the blessedwater of GodIt is not banished from the man who is subject

to it.0 that thou wouldst turn thy face to thy ownprayers,

And say, " Ah ! my prayers are as defectiveas my being ;0 requite me good for evil! "


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100 ALL RELIGIONS ARE ONEA PBAYER

" Pray n this wiseand allay your difficulties c Give us good in the houseof our present world,And give us good n the house of our next world.Make our path pleasant as a garden,And be Thou, 0 Holy One, our goal ! ' "ALL BELIGIONS ABE ONE

In the adorations and benedictions of righteousmenThe praises of all the prophets are kneaded to-gether.All their praises are mingled into one stream,All the vessels are emptied into one ewer.Because He that is praised is, in fact, only One.In this respect all religionsare only one religion.Because all praises are directed towards God's

These various forms and figures are borrowedfrom it.


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A NOTE ON PERSIAN POETRYNIZAMI'S DISCOURSE ON POETRY

IH Nizaml's The Chahdr Magdla (" Four Dis-courses ), translated by Professor Edward G.Browne, we find the Second Discourse devotedto " The Nature of Poetry, and the Utility of theSkilful Poet." In this interesting DiscourseNizaml very amiably discusses the trainingrequired to becomea poet of enduring fame, andintersperses these remarks with a number ofanecdotes, which in the main are examples of theadvantages derived from poetic improvisationsgiven at opportune moments before kings whenwine has gone round two or three times. Nlzamlsums up the nature of poetry in the followingwords : ccPoetry is that art whereby the poetarranges maginary propositions and adapts thedeductions, with the result that he can make alittle thing appear great and a great thing small,or cause good to appear in the garb of evil andevil in the garb of good." Nizaml denouncesthe habit of giving money to old poets. Heremarks: " For one so ignoble as not to have

101


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i02 APPENDIXdiscovered n fifty years that what he writes isbad, when will he discover it ? " On the otherhand Nizami favours the young poet with hopefultalent, and generouslyemarks hat " it is properto patronisehim, a duty to take careof him, andan obligation to maintain him." The minorpoetsof to-day have not these glowing advan-tages !The most ingenious example of a poetic im-provisation in this Discourse is, perhaps3 onegiven by Rudagi in connection with the pro-tracted stay of Amir Nasr b. Ahmad in Herat.Pour years the Amir camped with his army inthis town, with its twenty different varieties ofgrape and beautiful narcissus. " He preferredHerat to the Garden of Eden." But at lengththe Amir's captains and courtiers grew weary ofbeing absent so long from Bukhara, where theylonged to see their wives and children again.They offered Rudagi, the poet, five thousanddinars if he could persuade the Amir to quitHerat and return to Bukhara. Rudagi, at anopportune moment, took up his harp and sangthe following song to the Amir:

The sands of Oxus, toilsome though they be,Beneath my feet were soft as silk to me.Glad at the friend's return, the Oxus deepUp to our girths n laughingwavesshall leap.Long ive Bukhara Be thou of goodcheerJoyous towards thee hasteth our Amir!


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APPENDIX 103The Moon's the Prince,Bukhara s the sky;0 sky, the Moon shall light thee by and bye 1Bukhara is the mead, the Cypresshe;Receive at last, 0 Mead, thy Cypress-tree!

This particular Amir seems to have been fond offlattery, and he found the daintily turned songof Budagi more acceptable to his vanity thaneven the beauty of Herat. He accordingly tookhis departure immediately the song had con-cluded, and, in his absent-mindedness,orgot toput on his boots, which were carried by anattendant who rode in hot pursuit.Poetry in those days was evidently a remunera-tive pursuit. Nizami tells us that Khidr Khanalways had in readiness four trays of gold." These hie used to dispense by the handful" tothe successful poets. Though the royal favourtowards the poets was extremely bountiful,Persian poets were not always particularlycourteous the one to the other. Nizami tellsan amusing story of a minor poet named Bashidi.At the king's command the Poet-Laureate wasasked to express his opinion of Bashidi's poetry.The Poet-Laureate accordingly remarked: " Hisverse is extremely good and chaste and correct,but it wants spice." The king afterwards re-peated these words to Bashidi and bade himcompose a fitting rejoinder. Bashidi composedthe following verse:


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104 APPENDIXYou stigmatise my verse as "wanting spice,"And possibly,my friend, you may be right.My verse is honey-flavoured,sugar-sweet,And spice with such could scarcelycausedelight.Spice s for you, you blackguard, not for me,For beans and turnips is the stuff you write !

This was not kind; but Rashidi received allfour baskets of gold that day !The technical study of prosody was institutedby Khalil ibn i Ahmad i Bicri. He is said tohave discovered this science by listening to therythmic beats of the fuller's mallets upon hisclothes. This story is mentioned in Saifi'sTreatise on Prosody.lMuch of Persian poetry is conventional, andthe demarcation in style, due to the variousphases of Persian history, is not as pronouncedas might be expected. The Persian poets notonly conservatively followed old metres, but oldsimiles, old subjects as well. It was with wordsthey were most concerned, and not with ideas.The Lover's Companion of Sharafu'd-DinBami is sufficient to prove this. The bookcontains a very large number of similes on thevarious parts of the body. This was intended tobe a vade mecum o the writer of erotic poetry.Professor Brown defends this conservatism and


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APPENDIX 105language from the vulgarisation whichtriumph of an untrained, untrammelled, andunconventional genius of the barbaric-degeneratetype tends to produce in our own and otherEuropean tongues."

Printed by Hazell^ Watson & Viney Lt?., London and Aylesbury.


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THE WISDOM OF THE EASTSERIES

Edited by L CRANMER-BYNG nd Dr. S. A. KAPADIA

THE SERIES AND ITS PURPOSETHEobjectf he ditorsfhiseriess veryefinitenehey desire above all things that, in their humble way, thesebooks shall be the ambassadors f good-will and understandingbetween East and West-the old world of Thought and the new ofAction. In this endeavour, and in their own sphere, they are butfollowers of the highest example in the land. They are confidentthat a deeper knowledge of the great ideals and lofty philosophy ofOriental thought may help to a revival of that true spirit of Charitywhich neither despisesnor fears the nations of another creed andcolour.

NEW VOLUMES.In the Press

TAOIST TEACHINGS. From the Mystical Philosophyof LeihTzu. Translated by LIONEL GILES, M.A. z\- net.INDIAN

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THE PATH OF LIGHT. Rendered for the first time intoEnglishrom the Bodhi-charyavataraf ^anti-Deva.A Manual fMaha-YanaBuddhism. By L. D. Barnett, M.A., Litt.D. 2/- net.LEGENDS OF INDIAN BUDDHISM. Translated from

" L'Introduction a THistoire du Buddhisme Indian " of Eugene Burnouf,with an Introduction by WINIFRED STEPHENS. s*I-net.THE WAY OF THE BUDDHA. Selections from the Buddhisttexts, together with the original Pali, -with Introduction by HERBERTBAYNES, M.R.A.S. a/- net.

IRANIAN (Persian, Pelevi, Zend, etc.)THE RUBA'IYAT OF HAFIZ. Translated with Introduction

by SYED ABDUL MAJID, LL.D. Rendered into English Verse byL. CRANMER-BYNG. i/- net.THE SPLENDOUR OF GOD, Being Extracts from the SacredWritings of the Bahais. With Introduction by ERICHAMMOND. 2/-net.THE TEACHINGS OF ZOROASTER, and the Philosophyof

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