INTRODUCTION

Said Muhammad: — In Islam, is no monachism.¹

Nevertheless, (in 623 A.D.,² forty-five men of Makka joined themselves to as many others of Madina; took an oath of fidelity to the doctrines of the prophet (Muhammad) ; and formed a fraternity to establish community of property, and to perform daily certain religious practices by way of penitence. They took the name of Sufi, a word derived from: —

(a) (suf) wool, woolly; a hair cloth used by penitents in the early days of Islam.

(b) (sufiy) wise, pious.

(c) (sufi) woollen. (d) (safa) purity,³ (e) (safi) pure.

To the name of safi, they added the title of (fakir), because they renounced the chattels of the world and its joys.

Said Muhammad: — Al fakru fakhri, poverty is my glory.

During the life of Muhammad, Abu Bakr (the first Khalifa), and 'Ali (the fourth Khalifa, b. 599, d. 661), established (assemblies) wherein vows were made and exercises practised.

In 657 A.D., Uvais-i-Karani (d. 657) established the first religious order of the greatest austerity.

In honour of Muhammad, who, at the battle of Uhud, 625 A.D., had lost two of his teeth, he drew out his own teeth; and required his followers to do the same.

The term Sufi was first adopted by Abu Hashim, a Syrian Zahid (d. 780 A.D.); in his time was built the first takya (convent). But some say that the seed of Sufism: —

[The following list — the seed of Sufism traced through the prophets, stage by stage — was originally a two-column table whose structure was lost in OCR digitization; the surviving fragments are preserved below in their original reading order.]

was sown in the time of Adam; germed in the time of Nuh; budded in the time of Ibrahim; began to develop in the time of Musa; reached maturity in the time of Christ; produced pure wine in the time of Muhammad.

Those who loved this wine have so drunk of it as to become self-less. They exclaim: —

“ Praise be mine! greater than I, is any? The truth (God), am I: there is no other God than I.”

One of the earliest Sufis was the woman Rabi'a mentioned by Ibn Khallikan (b. 1211, d. 1282). At night, she used to go to the house-top, and to say: —

“ O God! hushed is the day's noise; with his beloved is the lover. But, Thee, I have for my lover; and alone with Thee, I joy. ”

In Volume I of his works, Sir W. Jones says: —

There is a species of Persian poetry that consists almost wholly of a mystical religious allegory, though on a transient view it seems to contain only the sentiments of a wild and voluptuous libertinism.

Admitting the danger of a poetical style in which the limits between vice and enthusiasm are so minute as to be hardly distinguishable, we must beware of censuring it severely; for an ardent grateful piety is congenial to the undepraved nature of man, whose mind, sinking under the magnitude of the subject, and struggling to record its emotions, has recourse to metaphors, extending sometimes beyond the bounds of cool reason.

Sufis believe: —

That the souls of men differ infinitely in degree but not at all in kind from the divine spirit whereof they are particles, and wherein they will ultimately be absorbed; that the spirit of God pervades the universe, ever present to His work and ever in substance; that He alone is perfect benevolence, perfect truth, perfect beauty; that love for Him is true love, ('ishk-i-hakiki), while love of other objects is illusory love ('ishk-i-majazi) ; that all the beauties of nature are faint resemblances like images in a mirror of the divine charms; that, from eternity without beginning to eternity without end, the supreme benevolence is occupied in bestowing happiness; that men can only attain it by performing their part of the primal covenant between them and the Creator; that nothing has a pure absolute existence but mind or spirit; that material substances are no more than gay pictures presented continually to our minds by the sempiternal artist; that we must beware of attachment to such phantoms and attach ourselves exclusively to God, who truly exists in us as we solely exist in Him; that we retain, even in this forlorn state of separation from our Beloved, the idea of heavenly beauty and the remembrance of our primeval vows; that sweet music, gentle breezes, fragrant flowers, perpetually renew the primary idea, refresh our fading memory, and melt us with tender affections; that we must cherish those affections, and by abstracting our souls from vanity (that is, from all but God) approximate to this essence, in our final union with which will consist our supreme beatitude.

Sprenger⁴ says: —

The mysticism of the Sufis is a hypertrophy of the religious feeling; and a monomania in which man blasphemously attempts to fathom the depths of the essence of God.

The mystics give up worldly affairs; devote themselves to austerity; and are a nuisance to the world.

This disease attacks every nation after it has passed the meridian of its grandeur.

The mysticism of: — (a) the Zeoplatonists marked the fall of Rome. (b) the Sufis marked the fall of the Khalifat. (c) the later Fathers marked the darkness of the middle ages.

Because the noblest feelings of man are morbidly exalted by this disease it has produced sublime poetry. Nothing can equal the beauty of the poems of: —

Muhyu-d-Din. Hafiz. Jalalu-d-Din-i-Rumi.

Sufism is not due to the introduction of systems of philosophy from India, or from Greece. It is the result of the development of Islam; and is well worthy of the attention of the student.

Many consider Pantheism and Sufism to be identical. The Shaikhs and Sufi poets profess: —

The most ardent, although Platonic, attachment for individuals of their own sex, remarkable for beauty or for talent, declaring that they are adoring the Creator whilst admiring His beautiful handiwork (corporeal or intellectual) ; and boasting that their love is the more pure in being unmixed with carnal sensuality, such as it must be if bestowed on individuals of the other sex.

Maulana Jalalu-d-Din-i-Rumi (b. 1207, d. 1273), says: —

Sufis profess eager desire but with no carnal affection; and circulate the cup but no material goblet.

Since in their order, all things are spiritual all is mystery within mystery.

Modern Sufis believe in the Kuran; and in an express covenant on the day of eternity without beginning (the day of Alast) between the assemblage of the souls (of men) and the supreme soul (of God), wherefrom they were detached.

In Sufism are four stages, which must be passed before man's corporeal veil can be removed; and his emancipated soul, mixed with the glorious essence, whence it has been separated but not divided: —

i (shari'at⁵)

The murid (disciple) observeth the shar' and the rites of Islam; ever beareth his shaikh in mind; in him effaceth himself through meditation; maketh him his shield against evil thoughts; and regardeth his spirit as his guardian spirit.

This is “ effacement in the shaikh.”

ii (tarikat)

The murid attaineth power; entereth Sufism; and abandoneth the observance of religious form, exchanging outward for inward worship. Without great piety, virtue, and fortitude (based on a knowledge of the dignity of the soul of man) he cannot attain this stage. The shaikh passeth the murid to the influence of the Pir (long since deceased) ; and then, in all things, the murid seeth the Pir. This is “ effacement in the Pir.”

iii (marifat⁶)

The murid hath attained to supernatural knowledge; and is, therein, equal to the angels. By the shaikh, he is led to Muhammad, whom, in all things, he seeth. This is “effacement in the Prophet.”

iv (truth)

The murid hath become joined to truth (God), whom, in all things, he seeth. This is “ effacement in God.”

Many reach the second stage; few the fourth. Some make eleven stages: —

Muwafikat. The murid beareth enmity to the Friend's enemy — the world, shaitan, imperious lust; and love for the Friend (God).

Ma'il. The murid inclineth to God; and from the heart's page, effaceth “ other than God.”

Muwanisat. The murid fleeth from all, and seeketh God.

Mawaddat. The murid engageth in submission, in lamentation, in affection, and in agitation in the heart's chamber.

Hawa. The murid keepeth the heart in austerity and in strife (against sin) ; and maketh it water (soft).

Khullat. The murid maketh all the limbs full of recollection of God; and of aught else void.

Ulfat. The murid maketh himself void of despicable qualities, and joined to laudable qualities.

Shaghf. The murid, through ardency of desire, rendeth the heart's veil; and considereth the revealing of the mystery of love for God— infidelity, save under the mastery of wajd (ecstasy).

Taym. The murid maketh himself the slave of love, and joineth himself to tajrid (outward separation), and to tafrid (inward solitude).

Walah. The murid keepeth the heart's mirror before God's glory; and becometh intoxicated with its wine.

Ishk. The murid keepeth so engaged the tongue in gikr (remembrance of God), the heart in fikr (thought of God), and the soul in mushahida (viewing God's glory)— that he considereth himself non-existent.

Some consider 'ishk to be: —

(a) effacing one's self in the essence of Absolute Unity (God).

(b) the deposit of faith (Kuran, xxxiii, 72). The following are terms used in Sufism: —

[The following glossary of Sufi terms was originally set as a two-column table pairing each term with its gloss; the column structure was lost in OCR digitization and has been reconstructed here from context and from parallel usage elsewhere in this chapter.]

Sufi — the Sufi.
'Arif — knower.
salik — traveller (to God).
talib — seeker (of God).
'ashik-i-sadik — sincere lover (of God).
ahl-i-tasawwuf — one of mysticism.
ahl-i-hal — one of (mystic) state.
ahl-i-tarikat — one of the Path (to God).
ahl-i-marifat — one of (divine) knowledge.
ahl-i-hakikat — one of truth.
ahl-i-hakk — one of God.
ahl-i-shariat — one of the shar'.
tasawwuf — Sufism.
mutasawwif — Sufistic.
'abd, 'abid — the servant (of God).

abudiyat — service.
marifat — knowledge.
tarikat — path.
jazb — attraction.
jam', wisal — union (with God).
sukunat — dwelling.
saki — cup-bearer.
makam — degree.
manzil — stage.
hal — the (mystic) state.
wajd — rapture.
shauk — desire.
zauk — delight.
muhabbat — affection.
'ishk — love.

[The following four terms for generations and grades of Muhammad's early followers were likewise part of the table; with four terms but only three surviving glosses in the source scan, the exact pairing cannot be reliably reconstructed. Both are preserved below in their original reading order.]

Terms: sahaba, tabi'in, zahidan, abidan.

Glosses: companions in the 1st generation after Muhammad; followers, 2nd generation; devotees, 3rd generation.

sahib-i-dil — one possessed of heart, a Sufi.
ahl-i-marifat — one of (divine) knowledge.
ishku-l-lah — love for God.
firak — separation (from God).
dair, takyat — the convent.
zahid — man of (dry) austerity.
ashab-i-ilm-i-zahiri — the companions of outward knowledge.
ashab-i-ilm-i-batini — companions of inward knowledge.
ishtiyak — ardour.
mast — intoxicated.
bi khud — void of self, selfless.
Pir — the founder of a religious order.
shaikh — chief of a convent.
khalifa — deputy shaikh.
nakib, murshid — spiritual guide, the shaikh.
murid — disciple.

The beginning of tasawwuf (Sufism) is iman (faith), which consists of six columns (principles): —

(1) The existence of God. (2) The unity of God. (3) The angels. (4) The prophets. (5) The day of resurrection. (6) Good and evil, through God's predestination.

The end of tasawwuf lieth in pronouncing the six principles; and in conforming thereto with the heart.

The Iman of common folk ('amm) is:—

'ilm (knowledge), which is only an imitation of “the six columns” learned from the 'ulama or from the imams. They know not why it is necessary to believe in these “ six columns nor how thereby salvation can be obtained.

Many pursue the 'ilm-i-tarikat (knowledge of the Path) and wander into error, becoming: —

ahl-i-jabri — one disbelieving freedom of will.
ahl-i-qadri — one believing in predestination.
ahl-i-mujassami — one believing only in the body.
ahl-i-mushabbiha — one believing in portraits of God.
ahl-i-mutazali — one sated (with God).

In all are seventy-three orders, whereof the true order is only one, the firkat-i-najat (the party of salvation).

Manifest is their iman (faith). Proceeding with only a lamp, they have reached the resplendent sun; at first only imitation, they have reached truth (God).

They find that the tarikat (of the darvish) and the shari'at (of Islam) agree; and that whoever is imperfect in shari'at is also imperfect in hakikat (truth).

The Kuran (lxxviii, 18) says:—

“ In the eternal life, my people will rise as monkeys, as hogs, &c, &c.”

These, in life, outwardly bore the form of man; but inwardly were brutes. From these evils, repentance before death will free one.

Give thyself to a murshid (spiritual guide) who, by his prayers, will show thee in dreams the evil parts of thy character till they shall pass away. As the lover delights in his beloved, so doth the darvish in his murshid.

The darvishes say:—
“Neither fear we hell, nor desire we heaven.”
By this, they mean:—

“O God, thou bargainest with none; for purity of heart and love for Thee, is our devotion. Be not heaven nor hell — we adore Thee.

Put us into heaven — 'tis through thy excellence; into hell,— through thy justice.”

The Sufis are divided into innumerable orders. The two original⁷ orders are:

1. (hululiya) the inspired.

This order believes that God has entered into them; and that the divine spirit entereth all who are devout.

2. (ittihadiya) the unionist. This order believes that God is joined with every enlightened being; that He is as flame, and the soul as charcoal (ready to flame); and that the soul, by union with God, becometh God.

From these two orders are derived the five following orders; — (wasiliya) the joined (to God). (fashakiya) the lovers (of God). (talkiniya) the instructed.

(zakiya) the penetrated. (wahidiya) the solitary.

For full information regarding the many orders of the safls, I refer the reader to Malcolm's History of Persia, vol. ii, Art. “ Soofies.”

The most celebrated of the Sufi teachers of Persia have been men as famed for knowledge as for devotion.

Of Ibrahim ibn Adham, they say: — That holy man turned day into night;

“ Night into day by his constant and undivided devotion to God.” Among the Sufis, the most celebrated are the poets.

The raptures of genius expatiating on an inexhaustible subject are deemed inspiration by those who believe that the soul can wander in the region of imagination, and unite with God.

Jn sweetest strains, Jalalu-d-Din Rumi (b. 1277, d. 1773) teacheth that all nature abounds with divine love such as to cause the loveliest plant to seek the loftiest object of desire.

Nuru-d-Din Abdu-r-Rahman-i-jami (b. 1414, d. 1492) breatheth ecstatic rapture in every line.

The Gulistan and the Bustan-i-Sa'di⁸ and the Divan-i-Hafiz may be called the scriptures of the Persian Sufis.

Sufi tenets are involved in mystery; for every gradation, are mysteries never revealed.

Many of the most eminent Sufis have been men of piety and of learning, whose self-denial attracted a fame they sought not; others have cloaked themselves in humility to attain greatness, and fled from observation only to attract it.

To fame and power, is no path however rugged, into which man will not enter.

Traces of Sufi doctrine exist in every country; in the theories of ancient Greece; in the modern philosophies of Europe; in the dream of the ignorant and of the learned; in the shade of ease and in the hardship of the desert.

In place of the usages of religion, Sufis adopt the wild doctrines of their teacher and embark on a sea of doubt under a murshid whom they deem superior to all other men and worthy of confidence that is only adoration.

Some deny evil, saying “Good is all that proceedeth from God.” They exclaim:— “The writer of our destiny is a fair Writer. Never wrote He that which was bad.”

All things in the world, they regard as the type and as the power of God. They see His beauty in the rose-cheek of lovely ones; His power in the impious daring of Fir'aun (Pharoah). Sahl ibn Abdu-l-lah Shustari saith: —

“ Revealed was the soul's secret when Fir'aun, declared himself to be god.”

Jalalu-d-Din (b.1207, d.1273) maketh 'Ali (the first of Sufis) say when he was wounded by an assassin: —

Lord of the land am I; yet with my body no concern have I.

Me, thou hast not struck; only an instrument of God, thou art. On God, who shall avenge himself?

Be not grieved; for to-morrow (the judgment day), thy mediator, shall I be.

Of Abdu-l-Kadir-i-Gilani (b. 1078, d. 1166) Shaikh Muhyu-d-Din 'Arabi (b. 1166, d. 1239) says: —

“ I went to our house-top and saw all the pilgrims at 'Arafat (near Makka). Descending, I told my mother that I must devote myself to God; and that I wished to proceed to Baghdad to gain ma'rifat.

Weeping, my mother took eighty dinars; gave me half (my inheritance) ; made me swear never to tell a lie; and said: —

“Go my son: to God, I give thee, not till the judgment day, shall we meet.”

At Hamadan, our Kafila was plundered by sixty horsemen.

One asking me what I had; I replied: — “Forty dinars are sewed up in my garment.”

Disbelieving me, he laughed and left. Another asked me and received the same reply.

Whilst they were dividing the spoil, the Chief called me and said: — “Boy, what property hast thou?”

I replied: —

“ I have already told two of your men that I have forty dinars sewn in a garment.” He ordered the garment to be ripped; and found the money. He said

“ How earnest thou so openly to declare what has, so carefully, been hidden? ” I replied: —

Because I will not be false to my mother, to whom I have promised never to conceal the truth. Said the Chief: —

Boy, art thou at thy age so sensible of duty to thy mother, and am I at my age insensible of my duty to God? Give me thy hand that, on it, I may swear repentance.

He did so. His followers were struck with the scene, and said “Leader in guilt, thou hast been; in virtue, be the same.”

They restored the spoil; and, on my hand, vowed repentance.

At this time, I was sixteen years of age. To those who sought him, Uvais-i-Karni said: —

“Seekest thou God? If thou dost, to me why comest thou? If thou dost not, with me, what business hast thou?”

Kazi Nuru-l-Lath-i-Shustari (d. 1610) says that Sufis are of two classes: —

(a) Mutakallim (advocate, observer) if they desire human knowledge; the usages of religion; and pursue them in the ordinary way.

(b) Sufis, if they practise austerity, and look to the inward purity of the soul.

After His prophets, God esteemeth none more than the Sufi; because his desire is (through divine grace) to raise himself from this earthly house to the heavenly; and to exchange his lowly condition for the condition of the angel.

The accomplished are: — the hukama, men of wisdom; the 'ulama, men of knowledge.

These seek truth the first by demonstration; the second by religion.

In this path to (God), are many dangers.

For false teachers and deceived seekers vainly pursue the desert vapour: and wearied return, the dupe of their own imagination.

The murshid-i-kamil va kamal (the perfect and excellent murshid) is rare. When he exists, to discover him is impossible.

Perfection, who shall discover, save he who is perfect? The jewel's price, who shall tell, save the jeweller?

Hence, many miss the Path and fall into error. Deceived by appearances, they waste life in pursuit of defect, conceiving it to be perfection.

Neither austerity nor devotion can exclude shaitan who seeketh Zahids in the garb of religion. The only tilism whereby the good can be distinguished from the bad is ma'rifat.

Said Muhammad:—

The irrational zahid, God accepteth not; By pious fools, my back hath been broken.

From alarm at persecuting tyrants, Sufis have often pretended to be of no particular faith.

Thus they confess not their religion; and to disclose the mystery thereof — is the deepest sin.

The murshid instructeth the murld how to restore the inward man: —

by purifying the spirit; by enlightening the head; by cleansing the heart; by anointing the soul. Then the murshid avereth:—

that the murid's desire shall be accomplished; that his despicable qualities shall be changed into laudable qualities; that he shall understand the revelation, the stages and the grades of exaltation till he reacheth the ineffable joy of beholding God.

If the murshid be not perfect and excellent, the murid wasteth his time.

He will end by being an impostor, or by regarding all Sufis alike and condemning them. He will seek relief in infidelity, doubting all that he hath heard or read; and regarding as fable the accounts of holy men who have reached hakikat.

The murshid is sometimes: — (a) the dupe of his own imagination. (b) the wilful deluder of his own followers.

He desireth to abolish the form of religion; alloweth no name to come between him and God, and yet desireth to come between all other men and God; destroyeth names reverenced by men in order to substitute his own name.

Without the murshid, no murid can advance; his advance is in proportion to his faith⁹ (in the murshid).

Hasan Sabah¹⁰ Shaikhu-l-Jabal (b. 1071, d. 1124) and his descendants were of the order of batiniya. They filled Persia with murders; and by their mysterious power, made monarchs tremble.

God is ever renewing all the matter and the form of the universe. Not a leaf sprouteth, not a sparrow falleth, not a thought occureth, without His impulsion.

Thus are muslims brought face to face with evil in a way that Europeans cannot realise.

God is the only real agent, though He sometimes fashioneth some (Iblis, Kabil, Nimrud, Fir'aun, Aba Jahl) to be His agents of wrath.

Equally with Musa, was Fir'aun, an agent of God's will; and he bewailed the impulsion that made him oppose Masa.

The 'Arif (the knower of ma'rifat) admiteth the ability to choose good. Not, like Iblis, doth he cast his sins upon God; but with Adam, crieth: — “O Lord, black our faces we have made.”

The 'Arif saith:—

God created all things, good and evil; but evil, is non-existence, a departure from the Only Absolute existence. In relation to God, evil is naught. If evil-passion exist not, how can there be control? If affliction exist not, how can there be patience?

The jail is the criminal's masjid making him cry to God.

The Sufi disregardeth outward forms and rites. God judgeth not as man judgeth; at the heart, He looketh.

Jalalu-d-Din-i-Rumi (vi. Prologue) saith

If with good and evil, a lover be befouled these, regard not; his aspiration, regard.

The Sufi practiseth voluntary poverty, mortification, obedience, renunciation of the world; and the precepts of the gospel as to forsaking family, position, wealth, for religion sake.

All naught, he maketh save God: and giveth life to this non-existent universe by regarding it as permeated with God's presence.

Paradise, hell, all the dogmas of religion are allegories, — the spirit whereof he alone knows.

He longeth for death; for then he returneth to God whence he emanated, and in Him findeth annihilation.

On the unity of God, he meditateth to attain spiritual perfection; and unification with God.

This union, none can without faizu-l-lah (God's grace) reach; but to those who fervently ask Him, He refuseth not aid.

The Kuran and the Hadis represent: —

(a) God as having created the world once for all, and as now removed to the highest heaven, leaving His creatures, by their own free will, according to the light given by prophets, to work out their salvation. (b) God as the being ever working in His creatures, the sun of all existence, the fulness of life, whereby all things move and exist — omnipresent, dwelling in, and communing with, each soul.

The Sufis (men of heart; men looking behind the veil; inward men) developed the Greek mysticism popularised by —

(a) Faryabi, d. 954. (b) Abu Ali Sina, d. 1037. (c) Ghazzali, d. 1112. (d) Ibn Rashid, d. 1199. and made: —

i. God to be the One, the Necessary Being, the only Reality, the Truth, the Infinite, the First Cause (source of all action, good and evil).

ii. The world of phenomena and of man —

Not being which like a mirror reflects being; and, by borrowing particles of being, rises to “contingent being” (which shares existence and non-existence).

In man, the spark of being is identical with the Infinite Being; but, while he is in a contingent being, he is weighed down and held apart from Being by “Not-being,” whence evil proceedeth.

In this state, he requires laws and creeds to restrain him. Thus “Not-being” is when wanted something, and nothing when not wanted, and so do the Sufis avoid the ill consequences of their theory.

The muslim doctrine of jabr (compulsion) driveth some to fanatical deeds; some to cry kismat; some to regard the action and the existence of the Universe as the manifestation of God's energy.

By divine illumination, man seeth the world, including man's self, to be an illusion, non-existent (and therefore evil).

He trieth to shake off this “ Not-being,” to efface himself, and to be united with the real Being, the Truth, that is, God.

The true course is to ignore self; to be passive that God may work. Then will God's light and grace enter the heart and draw man to Truth and unite him with the One.

The curl, the down, the mole, and the brow are the world now in jamal (beauty), now in jalal (terrible majesty).

The cheek and the curl are the types of mercy and of beauty; of vengeance and of majesty.

The mysteries of ecstatic vision cannot be interpreted by words, only by types and license is in the mystic states of (a) annihilation, effacement. (b) intoxication. (c) love's violence.

Only those who know these states comprehend the meaning of these words.

The curl enchaineth hearts; beareth souls to and fro; plundereth the karvans of reason; and never resteth.

With its perfume, Adam's clay became leavened. Thus, the material world.

The down is the vestibule of almightiness, a verdant growth in the spirit-world, the well-spring of life, the hidden secret, the first plural emanation, that veileth the face of unity, the world of pure spirits that are nearest to God and the decoration of souls.

The mole is the point of unity, single yet embracing all phenomena. Fixed and stable, is the point of unity; but the heart is disquieted by emotions, illumined by epiphanies and darkened by the veil of plurality in the masjid, now in the inward and now in the outward, now in the hell of lust, now in the heaven of zauk.

It is the centre, whence is drawn the circle of two worlds; and whence is Adam's heart and soul.

Unity (the mole) and the heart must be one. Which is the original, which the reflection?

Sometimes is the heart:—

sick, like His intoxicating eye; fluttering, like the curl; gleaming, like the face; dark, like the mole; a masjid of the inward, and sometimes a masjid of the outward; a hell of the inward, and sometimes a heaven of the outward.

The cheek is the theatre of divine bounty, the divine essence in respect of the manifestations of its names and qualities; the manifestation of the seven (beauteous) names (of God) ; and is as the seven verses (of the Fatiha). Know His face and down,— verily thou knowest plurality and unity.

The eye betokeneth frowns and coquetry, now holding aloof from its slave, now granting union. From it, proceed languishing intoxication, burning, plundering, and aching of heart; every corner thereof is a wine-shop.

Of His eye and lip, ask an embrace, — one saith nay; the other, yes.

The lip is the essence of being, the healing of the sick heart, the clothing of all souls. By His lip, souls are beside themselves, and compassion revealeth itself.

When, on His eye and on His lip, the world reflecteth, it giveth itself up to the worship of wine.

Beauty is Truth manifested and present; 'tis the beam of the light of spirits; 'tis the greatest of signs.¹¹

Wine, the torch and beauty, are epiphanies of Truth.

Wine is the rapture that maketh the Sufi beside himself at the manifestation of the emanation of the Beloved.

By it, this one becometh the philosopher, the traditionist, the righteous one, and the lover (of God).

By it, that one swalloweth at one draught the cup, the wine-house, the saki, and the wine-drinker; and yet open remaineth his mouth.

O ocean-heart! O mighty drinker! well done! Drunken are the air, the revolving earth, the reeling heaven, reason, the angels, the soul. Better is the intoxicated than the self-righteous.

The wine of dying to self, drink; from thyself, thyself set free.

Wine is the transport and the light of the Arif; the soul of that flashing light that in the consuming bush, Musa beheld.

The “ veil of darkness ” betokeneth dwelling in iniquity. Who is veiled knoweth his wickedness.

The “ veil of light ” betokeneth the practice of good deeds. Who is thus veiled, knoweth not his wickedness, being clouded by his self-righteousness.

Who are they that have lost their labour, and in life mistaken their aim? They who think that what they do is right (Kuran, xvii, 103.)

The tavern-haunter is one freed from self; one desolate in a desolate place (other than God, absent), headless, footless, neither the faithful nor the kafir. One who, losing both head and foot, in every strain that he heareth from the minstrel, is seized with wajd from the hidden world.

Not of these words and sound, but of precious mystery, is every note of that mystic song.

The idol is the evidence of love and of unity. Idol-worshipping is making one - in it what is evil proceedeth from other than God.

The girdle is the emblem of obedience.