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WISDOM IS A GREAT GOOD
| God has declared, Wisdom is a great good; | |
| wherever you may see this good, seize it. | 1310 |
| Science gives pinions to words and sounds, | |
| bestows purest substance on things without substance; | |
| science finds a way even to heavens zenith | |
| to pluck the sight out of the suns own eye. | |
| Its transcript is the commentary of the cosmos, | 1315 |
| the fate of the cosmos hangs upon its determining; | |
| it says to the desert, Bubble up! and it bubbles, | |
| to the sea, Produce a mirage! and it produces it. | |
| Its eye beholds all the events in creation | |
| that it may see the sure foundations of creation; | 1320 |
| if it attaches its heart to God, it is prophecy, | |
| but if it is a stranger to God, it is unbelief. | |
| Science without the hearts glow is pure evil, | |
| for then its light is darkness over sea and land, | |
| its rouge renders the whole world black and blind, | 1325 |
| its springtide scatters the leaves of all being, | |
| sea, plain and mountain, quiet garden and villa | |
| are ravaged by the bombs of its aeroplanes. | |
| It is its fire that burns the heart of Europe, | |
| from it springs the joy of raiding and robbing; | 1330 |
| it turns topsy-turvy the course of the days, | |
| despoils the peoples of their capital. | |
| Its power becomes the faithful ally of Satan; | |
| light becomes fire by association with fire. | |
| To slay Satan is indeed a difficult task, | 1335 |
| since he is hidden within the depths of the heart; | |
| better is it to make him a true Mussulman, | |
| better to smite him dead with the sword of the Koran. | |
| God save us from majesty that is without beauty, | |
| God save us from separation without union! | 1340 |
| Science without love is a demonic thing, | |
| science together with love is a thing divine; | |
| science and wisdom without love are a corpse, | |
| reason is an arrow that never pierced the target. | |
| With the vision of God make the blind to see, | 1345 |
| convert Abu Lahab into an impetuous Haidar! |
Zinda-Rud
| You have displayed the foundations of the Book of God, | |
| yet is yonder world still veiled in a shroud. | |
| Why does it not strip off the veil from its face, | |
| why does it not issue yet out of our hearts? | 1350 |
| Before us lies a whole world wasting away, | |
| a nation quietly reposing in its own dust; | |
| the hearts ardour of Tartar and Kurd is vanished | |
| either the Mussulmans are dead, or the Koran is dead. |
Said
Halim Pasha
| The religion of God is more shameful than unbelief, | 1355 |
| because the mullah is a believer trading in unfaith; | |
| in our eyes this dew-drop of ours is an ocean, | |
| to his eyes our ocean is a dew-drop. | |
| At the elegant graces of that Koran-vendor | |
| I have seen the Trusty Spirit himself cry out! | 1360 |
| His heart is a stranger to what lies beyond the sky, | |
| for him the Archetype of the Book is but a fable; | |
| having no share of the wisdom of the Prophets religion, | |
| his heaven is dark, being without any star. | |
| Short of vision, blind of taste, an idle gossip, | 1365 |
| his hairsplitting arguments have fragmented the Community. | |
| Seminary and mullah, before the secrets of the Book, | |
| are as one blind from birth before the light of the sun. | |
| The infidels religion is the plotting and planning of Holy War; | |
| the mullahs religion is corruption in the Way of God. | 1370 |
| The man of God is the soul of this dimensionate world; | |
| say from me to him, who has gone into solitude, | |
| You whose thoughts are life itself to the believer, | |
| whose breaths are confirmation to the Community, | |
| having the sublime Koran by heart is your rite, | 1375 |
| your religion the publishing of the Word of God. | |
| You with whom God speaks, how long will you hang your head? | |
| Come, bring forth your hand out of your sleeve! | |
| Speak of the history of the white people, | |
| speak to the gazelle of the vastness of the desert. | 1380 |
| Your nature is illumined by the Chosen One, | |
| so declare now, where is our station? | |
| The man of God takes not Colour and scent from anyone, | |
| the man of God receives colour and scent from God; | |
| every moment there is in his body a fresh soul, | 1385 |
| every moment he has, like God, a new labour. | |
| Declare the secrets to the believer, | |
| declare the exposition of the mystery of Every day. | |
| The caravan has no halting-place but the Sanctuary, | |
| the caravan has naught but God in its heart; | |
| I do not say that its road is different | |
| it is the caravan that is different, different its regard. |
Afghani
| Have yon any acquaintance with the Traditions of the Chosen One? | |
| Gods religion came a stranger into the world. | |
| I will tell you the meaning of this virgin saying. | 1395 |
| The strangerhood of religion is not the poverty of Gods remembrancers; | |
| for the man who is truly a researcher | |
| strangerhood of religion refers to the scarceness of its verses. | |
| The strangerhood of religion every time is Of a different kind; | |
| ponder well this subtelty, if you have eyes to see. | 1400 |
| Fasten your heart again to the perspicuous Verses | |
| that you may seize a new age in your lasso. | |
| No man knows the inner secrets of the Book; | |
| Easterners and Westerners alike twist and turn this way and that. | |
| The Russians have laid down a new design; | 1405 |
| they have taken bread and water, and jettisoned religion. | |
| Behold truth, speak truth, seek only truth; | |
| speak one or two words from me to the people. |