THE TÁ’IYYA (ii) — vv. 200–399

(200) And I loaded her with tasks, nay, I took care that she should load herself with them, until I grew fond of my tribulation.

(201) And in correcting her I deprived her of every pleasure by removing her from her habits, and she became calm.

(202) No terror remained before her but I confronted it, so long as I beheld that my soul therein was not yet purged,

(203) And every stage that I traversed in my progress was an ‘ubúdiyya which I fulfilled through ‘ubúda.

When the soul is completely denuded of affections it is made one with God. In the first verse of the following passage the feminine pronoun, which has hitherto referred to the soul either as reproaching itself for its actions and desires or as being in passionless calm, undergoes a change of meaning, so that “she,” who stood for an individual, now denotes the Universal Self.

(204) Until then I had been enamoured of her, but when I renounced my desire, she desired me for herself and loved me,

(205) And I became a beloved, nay, one loving himself: this is not like what I said before, that my soul is my beloved.

(206) Through her I went forth from myself to her and came not back to myself: one like me does not hold the doctrine of return.

(207) And in generous pride I detached my soul from my going forth, and consented not that she should consort with me again,

(208) And I was made absent from (unconscious of) the detachment of my soul, so that in my presence (union with God) I was not pushed (disturbed) by showing any attribute (of individuality).

In a passage of high eloquence and beauty the poet endeavours to analyse his experience of the unitive state and reveal the mystery, so far as it can be expressed in a symbolic form.

(209) Lo, I will unfold the beginning of my oneness and will bring it to its end in a lowly descent from my exaltation.

(210) In unveiling herself she unveiled Being to mine eye, and I saw her with my sight in every seen thing.

(211) And when she appeared, I was brought to contemplate that in me that is hidden, and through the displaying of my secret place I found there that I was she;

(212) And my existence vanished in my contemplation and I became separated from the existence of my contemplation—effacing it, not maintaining it.

(213) And in the sobriety following my intoxication I retained the object which, during the effacement of my self-existence, I contemplated in her by whom it was revealed,

(214) So that in the sobriety after self-effacement I was none other than she, and when she unveiled herself my essence became endued with my essence.

(215) When it (my essence) is not called “two,” my attributes are hers, and since we are one, her outward aspect is mine.

(216) If she be called, ’tis I who answer, and if I am summoned, she answers the one who calls me, and cries “Labbayk!” (“At thy service!”).

(217) And if she speak, ’tis I who converse. Likewise, if I tell a story, ’tis she that tells it.

(218) The pronoun of the second person has gone out of use between us, and by its removal I am raised above the sect who separate (the One from the Many).

(219) Now if, through want of judgment, thy understanding allow not the possibility of regarding two as one and decline to affirm it,

(220) I will cause indications of it, which are hidden from thee, to demonstrate it like expressions that are clear to thee;

(221) And, since this is not the time for ambiguity, I will explain it by means of two strange illustrations, one derived from hearing and one from sight,

(222) And I will establish what I say by evidence, showing forth a parable as one who speaks the truth—for Truth is my stay

(223) The parable of a woman smitten with catalepsy, by whose mouth, whilst she is possessed by a spirit, another—not she—gives news to thee;

(224) And from words uttered on her tongue by a tongue that is not hers the evidences of the signs are shown to be true,

(225) Since it is known as a fact that the utterer of the wondrous sayings which thou heardest is another than she, though in the (material) sense she uttered them.

(226) Hadst thou been one, thou wouldst have come to feel intuitively the truth of what I said;

(227) But, didst thou but know it, thou wert devoted to secret polytheism with a soul that strayed from the guidance of the Truth;

(228) And he in whose love the unification of his beloved is not accomplished falls by his polytheism into the fire of separation from his beloved.

(229) Naught save otherness marred this high estate of thine, and if thou wilt efface thyself thy claim to have achieved it will be established indeed.

(230) Thus was I myself for a time, ere the covering was lifted. Having no clairvoyance, I still clave to dualism,

(231) Now losing (myself) and being united (with God) through contemplation, now finding (God) and being sundered (from myself) through ecstasy.

(232) My intellect, through being attached to my presence (with myself), was separating me (from God), while my deprivation (of individuality), through the enravishment of my self-existence by my absence (from myself), was uniting me (with God).

(233) I used to think that sobriety was my nadir, and that intoxication was my way of ascent to her (the Beloved), and that my self-effacement was the farthest goal I could reach;

(234) But when I cleared the film from me, I saw myself restored to consciousness, and mine eye was refreshed by the (Divine) Essence;

(235) And at the time of my second separation I was enriched by a recovery from my impoverishment (self-loss) in drunkenness, so that (now) my union (jam’) is like my unity (waḥda, individuality = tafriqa, separation).

(236) Therefore mortify thyself that thou mayst behold in thee and from thee a peace beyond what I have described—a peace born of a feeling of calm.

(237) After my self-mortification I saw that he who brought me to behold and led me to my (real) self was I; nay, that I was my own example,

(238) And that my standing (at ‘Arafat) was a standing before myself; nay, that my turning (towards the Ka’ba) was towards myself. Even so my prayer was to myself and my Ka’ba from myself.

(239) Be not, then, beguiled by thy comeliness, self-conceited, given over to the confusion of folly;

(240) And forsake the error of separation, for union will result in thy finding the right way, the way of those who vied with each other in seeking oneness (ittiḥád);

(241) And declare the absoluteness of beauty and be not moved to deem it finite by thy longing for a tinselled gaud;

(242) For the charm of every fair youth or lovely woman is lent to them from Her beauty.

(243) ’Twas She that crazed Qays, the lover of Lubná; ay, and every enamoured man, like Laylá’s Majnún or ‘Azza’s Kuthayyir.

(244) Every one of them passionately desired Her attribute (Absolute Beauty) which She clothed in the form of a beauty that shone forth in a beauty of form.

(245) And this was only because She appeared in phenomena. They supposed that these (phenomena) were other than She, whilst it was She that displayed Herself therein.

(246) She showed Herself by veiling Herself (in them), and She was hidden by the objects in which She was manifested, assuming tints of diverse hue in every appearance.

(247) At the first creation She became visible to Adam in the form of Eve before the relation of motherhood,

(248) And he loved Her, that by means of Her he might become a father and that the relation of sonship might be brought into existence through husband and wife.

(249) This was the beginning of the love of the manifestations for one another, when as yet there was no enemy to estrange them with (mutual) hate.

(250) And She ceased not to reveal and conceal Herself for some (divinely ordained) cause in every age according to the appointed times.

(251) She was appearing to Her lovers in every form of disguise in shapes of wondrous beauty,

(252) Now as Lubná, anon as Buthayna, and sometimes She was called ‘Azza, who was so dear (to Kuthayyir).

(253) They (fair women) are not other than She; no, and they never were. She hath no partner in Her beauty.

(254) Just as She showed to me Her beauty clad in the forms of others, even so in virtue of oneness (ittiḥád)

(255) Did I show myself to Her in every lover enthralled by youth or woman of rare beauty;

(256) For, although they preceded me (in time), they were not other than I in their passion, inasmuch as I was prior to them in the nights of eternity;

(257) Nor are they other than I in my passion, but I became visible in them for the sake of clothing myself in every guise,

(258) Now as Qays, anon as Kuthayyir, and sometimes I appeared as Jamíl who loved Buthayna.

(259) In them I displayed myself outwardly and veiled myself inwardly. Marvel, then, at a revelation by means of a mask!

(260) The loved women and their lovers—’tis no infirm judgment—were manifestations in which we (my Beloved and I) displayed our (attributes of) love and beauty.

(261) Every lover, I am he, and She is every lover’s beloved, and all (lovers and loved) are but the names of a vesture,

(262) Names of which I was the object in reality, and ’twas I that was made apparent to myself by means of an invisible soul.

(263) I was ever She, and She was ever I, with no difference; nay, my essence loved my essence.

(264) There was nothing in the world except myself beside me, and no thought of beside-ness occurred to my mind.

Having advanced in ittiḥád to a point where the “I” is indistinguishable from God, Ibnu ’l-Fáriḍ begins the promised sequel—“a lowly descent from my exaltation” (see v. 209). He tells how he returned from the freedom of ecstasy to the bondage of piety, how he occupied himself with works of devotion and ascetic practices. He then makes a solemn declaration that his coming back to the normal life of the mystic was not due to any selfish motive, such as fear of disrepute or hope of honour, but was dictated solely by his anxiety to protect from attack the friends whom he revered. These friends (awliyá’) were, no doubt, his spiritual masters or other Sufis intimately associated with him. What was the danger which he foresaw and in which he would not have them involved? As the following verses show, it was the charge of heresy in respect of a doctrine abominable to all Moslems—the doctrine of incarnation (ḥulúl).

(277) If I recant my words, “I am She,” or if I say—and far be it from one like me to say it!—that She became incarnate (ḥallat) in me, (then I shall deserve to die the death).

(278) I am not referring thee to anything unseen; no, nor to anything absurd which deprives me of my power (to demonstrate its truth).

(279) Since I am stablished on the Name of the Real (God) how should the false tales of error frighten me?

(280) Mark now! Gabriel, the trusted (messenger), came in the shape of Diḥya to our Prophet in the beginning of his prophetic inspiration.

(281) Tell me, was Gabriel Diḥya when he appeared in a human form to the true Guide,

(282) Whose knowledge surpassed that of those beside him inasmuch as he knew unambiguously what it was that he saw?

(283) He saw an angel sent to him with a message, while the others saw a man who was treated with respect as being the Prophet’s companion;

(284) And in the truer of the two visions I find a hint that removes my creed far from the doctrine of incarnation.

(285) In the Koran there is mention of “covering” (labs), and it cannot be denied, for I have not gone beyond the double authority of the Book and the Apostolic Traditions.

Ibnu ’l-Fáriḍ, no longer speaking in his own person but as the Logos (Mohammed) or as one merged in the Absolute, of which nothing—not even Love and Oneness—can be predicated, warns his disciple that he must not aim so high: let him fix his eyes on the glory of Love, and he will far excel those who worship God in hope or fear.

(286) I give thee knowledge. If thou desirest its unveiling, come into my way and begin to follow my law,

(287) For the fountain of Ṣaddá springs from a water whose abundant well is with me: therefore tell me not of a mirage in a wilderness!

(288) And take (thy knowledge) from a sea into which I plunged, while those of old stopped on its shore, observing reverence towards me.

(289) The text, “Meddle not with the substance of the orphan” (Kor. 6, 153), alludes symbolically to the palm of a hand that was holden when it essayed (to draw water).

(290) And except me none hath gained aught thereof, save only a youth who in constraint or ease never ceased to tread in my footprints.

(291) Stray not darkly, then, from the tracks of my journeying, and fear the blindness of preferring another to me, and go in my very path;

(292) For the valley of Her friendship, O comrade of sober heart, is in the province of my command and falls under my governance,

(293) And the realm of the high degrees of Love is mine, the realities (thereof) are my army, and all lovers are my people.

(294) Love hath passed away! Lo, I am severed from it as one who deems it a veil. Desire is below mine high estate,

(295) And I have crossed Passion’s boundary, for Love is (to me) even as Hate, and the goal that I reached in my ascension to Oneness is become my point of departure.

(296) But do thou be happy with love, for (thereby) thou hast been made a chief over the best of God’s creatures who serve Him (by devotion and piety) in every nation.

(297) Win those heights and vaunt thyself above an ascetic who was exalted by works and by a soul that purged itself (of worldly lusts);

(298) And pass beyond one heavily laden (with exoteric knowledge)—who, if his burden were lightened, would be of little weight—one charged with traditional authorities and intellectual wisdom;

(299) And take to thyself through kinship (of love) the heritage of the most sublime gnostic, who made it his care to prefer (above all else) that his aspiration should produce an effect (upon mankind);

(300) And haughtily sweep the clouds with thy skirts—the skirts of an impassioned lover which in his union (with the Beloved) trail over the top of the Milky Way!

(301) And traverse the various degrees of oneness and do not join a party that lost their lifetime in (attachment to) something besides.

(302) For its single champion is a host, while all others are but a handful who were vanquished by the most convincing of testimonies.

(303) Therefore make that which it (the term “oneness”) signifies thy means of access (to God) and live in it, or else die its captive, and follow a community which attained the primacy therein.

(304) Thou art worthier of this glory than one who strives and exerts himself in hope (of reward) and in fear (of punishment).

(305) ’Tis not marvellous that thou shouldst shake thy sides (boastfully) before him in the sweetest delight and the completest joy,

(306) Since the attributes related to it (to Oneness)—how many a man have they chosen out in obscurity! and its names—how many a one have they raised to renown!

(307) Yet thou, in the degree (of union) to which thou hast attained, art remote from me: the Pleiades have no connexion with the earth.

(308) Thou hast been brought to thy Sinai and hast reached a plane higher than thy soul had ever imagined;

(309) But this is thy limit: stop here, for wert thou to advance a step beyond it, thou wouldst be consumed by a brand of fire.

Leaving his disciple in “the intoxication of union” (sukru ’l-jam’), with an emphatic warning not to exceed the measure of his spiritual capacity, Ibnu ’l-Fáriḍ depicts from his own experience the unitive life in its perfect and final development, which is known technically as “the sobriety of union” (saḥwu ’l-jam’).

(310) My degree is of such a height that a man who has not reached it may still be deemed happy; but the state for which I am deemed happy transcends thy degree.

(311) All men are the sons of Adam, (and I am as they) save that I alone amongst my brethren have attained to the sobriety of union.

(312) My hearing is like that of Kalím (Moses) and my heart is informed (about God) by the most excellent (aḥmad) vision of an eye like that of him who is most excellent (Aḥmad = Mohammed).

(313) And my spirit is a spirit to all the spirits (of created beings); and whatsoever thou seest of beauty in the universe flows from the bounty of my nature.

(314) Leave, then, to me (and do not ascribe to any one else) the knowledge with which I alone was endowed before my appearance (in the phenomenal world), while (after my appearance) amongst created beings my friends knew me not (as I really am).

(315) Do not give me the name of “lover” (muríd) amongst them (my friends), for even he who is rapt by Her and is called Her “beloved” (murád) hath need of my protection;

(316) And let names of honour fall from me and pronounce them not, babbling foolishly, for they are but signs fashioned by one whom I made;

(317) And take back my title of “gnostic,” for according to the Koran, if thou approvest people’s calling each other names, thou wilt be loathed.

(318) The least of my followers—the virgin brides of gnosis were led home to the eye of his heart.

(319) He plucked the fruit of gnosis from a branch of perception that grew by his following me and springs from the root of my nature;

(320) So that, if he is questioned about any (spiritual) matter, he brings forth wondrous sayings which are too sublime for comprehension, nay, too subtle for the mind to conceive.

(321) And amongst them (my friends) do not call me by the epithet of “favourite” (muqarrab), which in virtue of my union (with God) I deem to be a sinful severance;

(322) For my meeting is my parting, and my nearness is my being far, and my fondness is my aversion, and my end is my beginning,

(323) Since for Her sake by whom I have disguised myself—and ’tis but myself I mean—I have cast off my name and my style and my name of honour,

(324) And have journeyed beyond where those of old stood still, and where minds perished misled by (the search after intellectual) gains.

(325) I have no attributes, for an attribute is a mark (of substance). Similarly, a name is a sign (of an object). Therefore, if thou wouldst allude to me, use metaphors or epithets.

(326) From “I am She” I mounted to where is no “to,” and I perfumed (phenomenal) existence by my returning;

(327) And (I returned) from “I am I” for the sake of an esoteric wisdom and external laws which were instituted that I might call (the people to God).

(328) The goal of my disciple who was rapt to Her (in ecstasy) and the utmost limit reached by his masters is the point to which I advanced before my turning back;

(329) And the highest peak gained by those who thought themselves foremost is the lowest level that bears the mark of my tread;

(330) And the last pinnacle of that which is beyond indication, and where is no progress upwards (but only backwards)—that is where my first footstep fell!

(331) There is nothing existent but hath knowledge of my grace, nor aught in being but utters my praise.

(332) No wonder that I lord it over all who lived before me, since I have grasped the firmest stay (which is a verse) in (the chapter of the Koran entitled) Ṭá-há.

(333) My greeting to Her is metaphorical: in reality my salutation is from me to myself.

Here Ibnu ’l-Fáriḍ inserts in praise of his Beloved an ode of fifty-two verses (336-387) in the same metre and rhyme as the rest of the Tá’iyya. Beautiful as this lyric interlude is and welcome for the relief which its warm colouring affords to imaginations fatigued by “the white radiance of eternity,” it interrupts the course of the poem and may be omitted here.

After a short passage (vv. 388-393) concerning the “railer” and the “slanderer,” whom the mystic when he regards them under the aspect of union (jam’) perceives to be really inspired by love, not by enmity, Ibnu ’l-Fáriḍ resumes his description of the unitive state at its supreme level, marked by the return from ecstasy to a new and enlarged consciousness of the One Reality which manifests itself in every form of thought and sense.

(394) And therein (in ittiḥád) are matters of which the veil was entirely raised for me by my recovery from intoxication, while they were screened from every one besides.

(395) A mystic can dispense with plain words and will understand me when I speak allusively on account of those who would trip me up.

(396) None may divulge them without making his lifeblood the forfeit, and in symbols there is a meaning that words cannot define.

(397) Now my exposition begins with the twain who sought to bring about my severance, albeit my union defies separation.

(398) Those twain are one with us (the Beloved and me) in inward union, though in outward separation we and they are counted as four.

(399) For truly I and She are one essence, while he who told tales of her and he who turned me away from her are attributes which appeared.