Hidden Lantern
Read Free / Selected Poems from the Dīvāni Shamsi Tabrīz

Appendix I

Some Illustrative Passages from the Dīvān, with a List of the Historical and Autobiographical Allusions.

A. The Mystical Union of the Soul with God. Cf. Emerson: ‘There is one mind common to all individual men. Who hath access to this universal mind is a party to all that is or can be done, for this is the only sovereign agent.’

I have circled awhile with the nine Fathers[332.1] in each heaven,For years I have revolved with the stars in their signs.
I was invisible awhile, I was united with Him,I was in the kingdom of “or nearer[332.2],” I saw what I have seen.
I have my nourishment from God, like a child in the womb;Man is born once, I have been born many times[332.3].
Clothed in the mantle of corporeal limbs, I have busied myself often with affairs,And often I have rent this mantle[332.4] with my own hands.
I have passed nights with ascetics in the monastery,I have slept with infidels before the idols in the pagoda.
I am the theft of rogues[332.5], I am the pain of the sick,I am both cloud and rain, I have rained in the meadows.

(T. 257. 11a).

Never did the dust of annihilation settle on my skirt, O dervish!I have gathered a wealth of roses in the meadow and garden of eternity.
I am not of water nor fire, I am not of the froward wind;I am not moulded clay: I have mocked (transcended) them all.
O son, I am not Shamsi Tabrīz, I am the pure Light;If thou seest me, beware! Tell it not to any, that thou hast seen.

B. Traces of Neo-platonist influence. In the Introduction I have noticed the chief doctrines common to Jalālu ’ddīn and Plotinus. The resemblance is often obscured by metaphorical expression.

(a) Emanation.

’Tis a long way from soul to body, and yet soul appears in body:Regard thus the soul of the world, whereby the world is young (quickened).
Such is the material circumference[334.1] (depending) from the Person[334.2] in the Greater World,That, if the circle[334.3] (itself) were not endued with life, there would be no life in this world of ours.
To the earth and the heavens comes replenishment[334.4] from the world of Reason[334.5],For Reason is a realm luminous[334.6] and pure and pearl-scattering.
To the world of bright Reason come succours from Attribute,The Attributes of the Essence of the Creator, who is lord of “Be and it was.”

(T. 58. 9a).

(b) Emanation and Ecstasy.

The one Substance boiled, like an egg, and became the Sea[335.2];It foamed, and the foam became Earth, and from its spray arose the Sky.
In truth, a hidden army with a viewless kingContinually makes an onset, and then returns to its home.
Tho’ it be hidden from us, it moves in the world;Do not call it non-existent, tho’ it be out of sight.

(T. 162. 4a).

Every instant there is, so to speak, an arrow in the bow of the body:If it escapes from the bow, it strikes its mark.
Tho’ the shell stole a drop from the shore[336.1] and vanished,The diver that is a friend[336.2] (of God) seeks it in the sea.
Then from the spiritual world the army of Man descended,Reason was its vizier, and the Soul went forth and became king,
At last, after a while, the Soul remembered the spiritual city:The whole army turned back and entered the world of death.
‘How,’ you may ask, ‘is the coming and going of ideas?’Lo, consider the time of sleep[336.3]—it solves the difficulty.

C. The Sleep of Phenomenal Existence[336.4].

Come, move towards the Sun, for morning has arrived,Because, when the sleeper moves, sleep is banished.
Do not say, ‘I am not asleep, I am regarding the work of God’:Viewing the work is a veil over the Object of vision.
If the sleeping spirit knew itself to be asleep,Whatever it might see, it would feel neither joy nor sorrow.

(T. 32. 2).

D. The Theory of Ideas.

From thy good thoughts are born the boys of Paradise and the houris,From thy evil thoughts is born the great demon (Iblīs)[337.2].See how the secret thought of the geometrician has become a castle or a palace,See how the hidden Providence without beginning has become this mighty universe.

(T. 53. 5a).

E. The Strife of the Elements towards Unity[337.3].

All the four elements are seething in this caldron (the world),None is at rest, neither earth nor fire nor water nor air.
Now earth takes the form of grass, on account of desire,Now water becomes air, for the sake of this affinity.
By way of unity water becomes fire,Fire also becomes air in this expanse, by reason of love.
The elements wander from place to place, like a pawn,For the sake of the King’s love, not, like you, for pastime.
Go, ignorant one, for thine is a bright water (a divine principle),That the quintessence of purity (the soul) may escape from thy water and clay (thy body);
Because the water seeks the quality of quintessence,Which is nought but thy union with the sea of Light.

(T. 10. 6a).

F. Historical and Autobiographical allusions. As one might expect, these are very few. The following list, though not absolutely complete, contains the most important. I should say that in compiling it I have used only the Tabrīz edition of the Dīvān.

(a) (T. 138. 3).

Behold, how enduring is the memory and existence of Mohammed!He is firmly stablished after six hundred and fifty years[339.1].

(b) (T. 242. 8a).

It behoves me to come forth, like a rose, from the body,For my years are at sixty, and I am as ‘shīn’ and ‘sīn’ in this ‘shast[339.2].’

(c) (T. 244. 1).

Forty years did Reason plunge me in care,At three score and two I was made a prey and eschewed (worldly) meditation[339.3].

(d) (T. 255. 9a).

Unless Khāqān Urdū Khān[340.1] becomes my devoted subject,I am sovereign of the land, I will charge on (his) cavalry and camp.

(e) (T. 260. 7).

How should I boast of the Banū Ḳuḥāfa[340.2] to a Shī‘ite?How should I relate the woes of Bū Turāb (‘Alī) to a Khārijite[340.3]?

(f) (T. 355. 7).

Look thou on the God who bestows a hundred forms of creed:Why is the man of Marv a Sunnī, why is the man of Ḳum[340.4] a Shī‘ite?

Of the famous Ṣūfīs who lived before him Jalālu’ddīn mentions Manṣūr Ḥallāj and Bāyazīd frequently; also Ibn Adham (T. 28. 2a). Among the poets Niz̤āmī (T. 136. 6a), Sanā’ī (T. 175. 3a), and Ḥarīrī (T. 337. 9a). Other celebrated names are Abū Ḥanīfa and Shāfi‘ī (T. 139. 9a), Akhfash (T. 216. 3), Kisā’ī (T. 109. 7a), and Plato (T. 303. 7; 349. 9). For ‘Alī see XVI. 11, note.

In T. 93. 10 we find a proverbial expression = ‘carrying coals to Newcastle’:

How should I take a load of dates to Baṣra or bring cumin to Kirmān?

Footnotes

[332.1] See Gulshani Rāz, 227 seq.
[332.2] XVII. 10, note.
[332.3] XVIII. 2, note.
[332.4] cf. I. 15, and note.
[332.5] Prof. Bevan suggests [Persian phrase omitted], ‘the pangs of the jealous’—a very attractive emendation.
[333.1] We should expect [Persian word omitted], but cf. Mas̤navī (Būlāq Ed.) Bk I. p. 100, l. 5, where the Turkish translation reads [Persian phrase omitted].
[334.1] The region of formless matter (Not-being), in which the phenomenal world is reflected.
[334.2] Absolute Being.
[334.3] The Neo-platonists represent God as a circle, but the poet may be thinking of the centrifugal devolution by which Being is communicated (cf. Plotinus, Enneades, I. 7. 1).
[334.4] For [Persian word omitted] see VI. 12, note.
[334.5] The νοῦς of Plotinus, the λόγος of Philo.
[334.6] Cf. Enneades, III. 5. 9.
[335.1] T. has [Persian phrase omitted], where [Persian word omitted] seems to have come from the line above. The reading in the text is that of B2.
[335.2] XIX. 7.
[336.1] VIII. 5, note.
[336.2] For the double meaning of [Persian word omitted] (friend, swimmer or swimming) cf. X. 3, note.
[336.3] XXXIX. 9, note.
[336.4] Cf. XXXVI. 5.
[336.5] T. reads [Persian word omitted]. But [Persian word omitted] points to [Persian word omitted], and [Persian word omitted] occurs in the preceding couplet.
[337.1] For [Persian word omitted] by [Arabic word omitted] [Persian word omitted].
[337.2] It is well known that, according to Zoroaster, the souls of the pious after death are met by their own good thoughts, good words, and good deeds in the form of a beautiful maiden, whereas a vile and hideous woman represents to the souls of the wicked their evil thoughts, evil words, and evil deeds. This notion occurs repeatedly in Zoroastrian literature. See e.g. The Book of Arḍā Vīrāf, pp. 167 and 311.
[337.3] Cf. Mas̤navī, 290, 8 seqq.
[339.1] Either 650 A.H. or 661 A.H., according as we reckon from the Prophet’s flight (Hijra) or from his death.
[339.2] Probably the meaning is: ‘I am entangled (alluding to the shape of the letters [Arabic letters omitted]) in this net (the phenomenal world).’
[339.3] This couplet is discussed in the Introduction.
[340.1] Probably the reference is to Halākū Khān, who overthrew the Caliphate (656 A.H.). For [Persian word omitted] see Herbelot, Bibliothèque Orientale, Vol. IV. p. 296 seq.
[340.2] The mention of this tribe recalls Abū Bekr, whose father was Abū Ḳuḥāfa. As is well known, the Shī‘ites do not acknowledge the first three Caliphs.
[340.3] The original Khārijites rebelled against ‘Alī in the year 37 A.H. (Mure, Annals of the Early Caliphate, Ch. XL.). Afterwards, the name was given to a number of sects.
[340.4] Ḳum lies half-way between Teherān and Kāshān. Its inhabitants, Shī‘ites almost without exception, were regarded as desperately fanatical. See Barbier de Meynard, Dictionnaire de la Perse, p. 459.

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