لطفا منتظر باشید ...
THE SPHERE OF MERCURY
Visitation to the
Spirits of Jamal al-Din Afghani
and Sa‘ id Halim Pasha
| A handful of dust so carried forward its task | |
| to the contemplation of its own manifestations: | |
| either I fell into the net of being and existence | |
| or existence became a prisoner in my net! | 960 |
| Have I made a chink in yon azure curtains? | |
| Am I of the skies, or are the skies of me? | |
| Either heaven has taken my heart into its breast | |
| or it is my heart that has seized heaven. | |
| Is this external then internal? What is it? | 965 |
| What manner of thing is it the eye sees? What is it? | |
| I beat my wings towards another heaven, | |
| I see another world rising before me, | |
| a world of mountains and plains, seas and dry land, | |
| a world far more ancient than our earth, | 970 |
| a world grown out of a little cloud | |
| that has never known the conquest of man— | |
| images as yet unlimned on the tablet of existence | |
| where no critic of nature has yet been born. | |
| I said to Rumi, ‘This wasteland is very fair, | 975 |
| very fair the tumult of the waters in the mountains. | |
| I find no sign here of any living thing, | |
| so whence comes the sound of the call to prayer?’ | |
| Rumi said, ‘This is the station of the saints, | |
| this heap of earth is familiar with our dust. | 980 |
| When the father of mankind departed out of Eden | |
| he dwelt in this world for one or two days; | |
| these expanses have felt the burning of his sighs, | |
| heard his lamentations in the hour of dawn. | |
| The visitors to this honourable station | 985 |
| are themselves pious men of lofty stations, | |
| pious men such as Fudail and Bu Sa‘id, | |
| true gnostics like Junaid and Ba Yazid. | |
| Rise up now, and let us pray together, | |
| devote a moment or two to burning and melting.’ | 990 |
| I went on, and saw two men engaged in prayer, | |
| the acolyte a Turk, the leader an Afghan. | |
| The Sage of Rum, in rapture continually, | |
| his face radiant with an ecstasy of joy, | |
| said, ‘The East never gave birth to two better sons— | 995 |
| the plucking of their nails unravelled our knots: | |
| Maulana Jamal, Sayyid of all Sayyids, | |
| whose eloquence gave life to stone and sherd, | |
| and passionate Halim, commander of the Turks | |
| whose thoughts matched the loftiness of his station. | 1000 |
| To offer prayer with such men is true devotion, | |
| a labour else whose hoped-for wage is Paradise. | |
| The recitation of that vigorous elder, | |
| the Chapter of the Star in that silent plain— | |
| a recital that to move Abraham to ecstasy, | 1005 |
| to enrapture the pure spirit of Gabriel; | |
| the heedful heart becomes restless in the breast, | |
| the cry ‘No god but God’ rises from the tombs; | |
| it imparts to smoke the quivering of the flame, | |
| bestows on David ardour and intoxication; | 1010 |
| at his recital every mystery was revealed, | |
| the Heavenly Archetype appeared unveiled. | |
| After prayer I rose up from my place | |
| and kissed his hand in all humility. | |
| Rumi said, ‘A mote that travels the skies, | 1015 |
| in its heart a whole world of fire and passion! | |
| Only upon himself he has opened his eyes, | |
| yielded his heart to no man, is utterly free; | |
| swiftly he paces through the expanse of Being— | |
| jestingly, I call him Zinda-Rud.’ | 1020 |
Afghani
| Zinda-Rud, tell us of our terrestrial world, |
| speak to us of our earth and sky. |
| A thing of dust, you are clear-eyed as the Holy Ones— |
| give us some tidings of the Mussulmans! |
Zinda-Rud
| In the heart of a people that once shattered the world | 1025 |
| I have seen a conflict between religion and country. | |
| The spirit is dead in the body through weakness of faith, | |
| despairs of the strength of the manifest religion; | |
| Turk, Persian, Arab intoxicated with Europe | |
| and in the throat of each the fish-hook of Europe; | 1030 |
| and East wasted by the West’s imperialism, | |
| Communism taken the lustre from religion and community. |
