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AFGHANI’S MESSAGE TO THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE
| One thing is the goal and aim of the Koran, | 1410 |
| other the rite and ritual of the Moslem; | |
| in his heart there is no burning fire, | |
| the Chosen One is not living in his breast. | |
| The believer has not eaten the fruit of the Koran, | |
| in his cup I have seen neither wine nor beer. | |
| He broke the magic spell of Caesar and Chosroes | 1415 |
| and himself sat on the throne of empire; | |
| when the young shoot of power gathered strength, | |
| his religion took on the shape of empire, | |
| But empire changes the gaze entirely, | |
| reason, understanding, usage and way alike. | 1420 |
| You who have laid down a new plan, | |
| and disengaged your heart from the ancient system, | |
| like us Moslems you have broken | |
| the bone of imperial rule in this world. | |
| So that you may light a lamp in your heart | 1425 |
| take a warning from our past history; | |
| set your foot firm in the battle, | |
| circle no more about this Lat and Hubal. | |
| This aged world requires a nation | |
| that shall be both bearer of good tidings and warner. | 1430 |
| Return again to the peoples of the East; | |
| your ‘days’ are bound up with the ‘days’ of the East. | |
| You have kindled a new flame in the soul, | |
| your heart houses a new night and day. | |
| The rite and religion of the Franks have grown old; | 1435 |
| look no more towards that ancient cloister. | |
| You have finished now with lords; | |
| pass on from ‘no’, march onwards to ‘but’— | |
| pass on from ‘no’, if you are a true seeker, | |
| that you may take the road of living affirmation. | 1440 |
| You who desire a new world-order, | |
| have you sought for it a firm foundation? | |
| You have expunged the ancient tale chapter by chapter; | |
| illumine your thoughts from the Archetype of the Book. | |
| Who gave the black man the White Hand? | 1445 |
| Who gave the good news of no Caesar, no Chosroes? | |
| Transcend the many-coloured splendours, | |
| find yourself by abandoning Europe! | |
| If you are apprised by the Westerners’ cunning | |
| give up the wolf, take on the lion’s trade. | 1450 |
| What is wolfishness? The search for food and means; | |
| the Lion of the Lord seeks freedom and death. | |
| Without the Koran, the lion is a wolf; | |
| the poverty of the Koran is the root of empire. | |
| The poverty of the Koran is the mingling of meditation and reason— | 1455 |
| I have never seen reason perfect without meditation. | |
| Meditation? To school pleasure and passion; | |
| this is the affair of the soul, not the affair of lip and palate. | |
| From it arise the flames that burn the breast, | |
| it does not accord with your temperament yet. | 1460 |
| Martyr of the delicate beauty of reason, | |
| I will tell you of the revelations of reason! | |
| What is the Koran? Sentence of death for the master-man, | |
| succour for the slave without food and destitute. | |
| Look not for good from the money-grubbing manikin— | 1465 |
| You will not attain piety, until you expend. | |
| What pray is born of usury? Tumults! | |
| No one knows the pleasure of ‘a good loan’. | |
| Usury darkens the soul, hardens the heart like a stone, | |
| makes man a ravening beast, without fangs and claws. | 1470 |
| It is lawful to draw one’s sustenance from the soil— | |
| this is man’s ‘enjoyment’, the property of God. | |
| The believer is the trustee, God is the possessor; | |
| whatever you see other than God is perishing. | |
| God’s banner has been beaten down by kings, | 1475 |
| their entry has reduced townships to misery. | |
| Our bread and water are of one table; | |
| the progeny of Adam are as a single soul. | |
| When the Koran’s design descended into this world | |
| it shattered the images of priest and pope; | 1480 |
| I speak openly what is hidden in my heart— | |
| this is not a book, it is something other! | |
| When it has entered the soul, the soul is transformed; | |
| when the soul has been transformed, the world is changed. | |
| Like God, it is at once hidden and manifest, | 1485 |
| living and enduring, yes, and speaking. | |
| In it are the destinies of East and West— | |
| realise then the lightning-like swiftness of thought! | |
| It told the Moslem, ‘Put Your life in your hands; | |
| give whatever you possess beyond your needs.’ | 1490 |
| You have created a new law and order; | |
| consider it a little in the light of the Koran | |
| and you will understand life’s heights and depths, | |
| you will comprehend the destiny of life. | |
| Our assembly is without wine and cupbearer, | 1495 |
| yet the melodies of the Koran’s instrument are immortal; | |
| if our plectrum now strikes without effect, | |
| Heaven houses thousands of excellent strummers. | |
| God’s remembrance requires not nations, | |
| it transcends the bounds of time and space. | 1500 |
| God’s remembrance is apart from the remembrance of every remembrancer— | |
| what need has it of Greek or Syrian? | |
| If God should remove it from us | |
| He can if He will transfer it to another people. | |
| I have seen the blind conformity and opinionatedness of Moslems | 1505 |
| and every moment my soul trembles in my body; | |
| I fear for the day when it shall be denied to them. | |
| and its fire shall be kindled in quite other hearts. |
The Sage
of Rum bids Zinda-Rud intone a song
| The Sage of Rum, that man filled wholly with ecstasy and passion, | |
| I know what effect these words had on his soul; | 1510 |
| he drew from his breast a heart-rending sigh, | |
| his tears ran redder than the blood of martyrs. | |
| He, whose arrows pierced only the hearts of heroes, | |
| turned his gaze upon Afghani, and spoke: | |
| ‘The heart must throb with blood like the twilight, | 1515 |
| the hand must be thrust into the saddle-straps of God; | |
| hope moves the soul to flow like a running river, | |
| the abandonment of hope is eternal death.’ | |
| He looked at me again, and said: Zinda-Rud, | |
| with a couplet set all being afire. | 1520 |
| Our camel is weary and the load is heavy; | |
| more bitter must be the song of the caravaneer. | |
| The proving of holy men is through adversity, | |
| it is right to make the thirsty yet more athirst. | |
| Like Moses depart from the the River Nile, | 1525 |
| stride out like Abraham towards the fire. | |
| A melody of one who catches the scent of the Beloved | |
| bears a people onwards even to the Beloved’s street. |
