Whoso sees my glory in the forbidden circle cries out to me for vision. Whoso wields the second circle thinks I’m the Divine Scholar. Whoso reaches the third supposes I’m secure. Whoso reaches the circle of truth forgets me & vanishes from my sight. “There is no refuge; that day your resting place is for your Lord. Man will be informed of what he set forth & deferred.” Man takes to tales & makes off for refuge. He fears the sparks. He’s blind & blinded.
I once encountered a bird among the flock of winged Sufis. He denied my glory, though he continued to fly. He asked me about purity; I told him “Cut your wings with the shears of annihilation, or else don't follow me.” He said: “I fly with these wings.” I replied: “Alas; ‘there’s nothing like Him, the All Seeing & Hearing.’” This Sufi stopped, one day, upon the sea of understanding, & drowned. This is the image of that sea:
I saw my lord with my eye’s heart;
I asked “who are you?” He said “you.”
But “where” from you is nowhere
And there’s no where regarding you;
You are that which touches everywhere
as far as nowhere, so where are you?
Delusion holds no dream of you,
& only Where knows where you are.
The first point is from the circle of Thoughts; understanding of one of them is true. The second point is false. He drew near loftily, then returned toweringly. He drew near seeking, then returned overjoyed. He kept far from his direction & he drew near to his Lord. He stayed (bata) at his heart & drew near to his Lord.
He was absent when he saw me. He wasn’t absent. How was he present while not present? How did he look without looking?
He startled, so he recognized. He recognized, so he startled. He witnessed, so he was witnessed. He arrived, so he was divided. He arrived at his desire, so he was divided from his inner heart; “the heart didn’t forge what it saw.” Allah concealed him, so He drew him near. He entrusted him, so He purified him. He made him thirst, so He fed him. He purified him, so He chose him. He called him, so He invited him. He afflicted him, so He healed him. He shielded him, so He made him saddle.
There stretched “bow length,” when he repented & reached his aim. He was called, so he answered. He saw, so he went absent. He drank, so he was sated. He drew near, so he startled. He parted from cities, helpers, secrets, look, visions, & traces: “your friend didn’t stray.” He didn’t weaken & didn’t tire. His eye didn’t weaken from Where, or tire from When. “Your friend didn’t stray” in our dwelling or our conduct. “Your friend didn’t stray” in the garden of remembrance (dhikr), before our view. “He didn’t err” in the wandering of thought; he was mindful of the True in breaths & blinks, & thankful to Him for trials & gifts. “There’s nothing but revelation revealed” from Light to Light.
Overturn speech & absent yourself from delusions. Raise your feet above man & creature. Separate His Order & orders. Be infatuated with infatuation. Rise, so you may fly between mountains & fields -- the mountains of understanding & the fields of peace – & see what lies therein. The fast ends at the Sacred (Forbidden) House. So he drew near, as if he drew near to the meaning. Then he quarantined himself, like a feeble one unlike the feeble. He went from the station of correction to the station of discipline; from the station of discipline to the station of nearness. He drew near seeking so he returned fleeing. He drew near calling, so he returned crying out. He drew near answering & returned near. He drew near witnessing & returned watching. “There were two bow lengths.” He hit “Where” with the arrow of “Between.” He established “two bows” to verify “Where,” or make it absent. The Source drew near through the Source’s source.
The Strange Master, al-Hussain ibn Mansur al-Hallaj (may God be merciful to him) said:
I don’t think our words will be understood except to him who’s reached the second bow – the one below the tablet.
It contains many letters that aren’t Arabic, except one: Meem – the letter signifying the Last Name (Muhammad): this is the string of the first bow.
[He who rules the second bow is the Kingdom & the first bow. Sovereignty acts omnipotently. The second bow is the Sovereignity of the Kingdom. Sovereignity is an attribute of the two bows; it contains a specific revelation where the arrow points to Nothingness. The arrow is the two bows.]
Who lights the defect, Allah said of him: his clarity of speech is in the meaning of nearing. The True bestowed the meaning of the truth; it doesn’t belong to the mode of Creation. Nearing is an exact circle. Truth is true of truths, in the particle of particulars: in past testimonies; in the lover’s description of longing; in the cut off vision of those bound to the saddles of insolence; in the persistence of misfortune & the revelation of particulars; in the enunciation of deliverance; in the path of the select; in the nearing of he who is broad for understanding of its importance, which is the observed, transmitted, & prophetic tradition.
Of this matter that was safeguarded & protected in a hidden book, the Master Yathrib (peace be unto him) said:
As was mentioned in a “written & visible book” on the meaning of the conference of birds: He “moved us” until “there stood two bow lengths,” because the Source shoots. So lover, understand – if you’ve so far understood – the Almighty doesn’t address any but kin – & kin from kin, & kin of kin; He is Him who has no master or disciple, who has no choice or preference, who has no caution, who has no attire, who has no through, & who has no from; what’s in Him in Him. He’s in Him, no in him’s in Him; He’s a desert in a desert & a sign in a sign. His meanings are public, and His meaning is His hope. His hopes are far. His path is hard. His name is glorious. His symbol is singular. His knowledge is His indefiniteness. His indefiniteness is His truth. His value is His deed. His name is His path. His naming is his fire. Desire is His attribute. Moral law is His character. The suns are his courtyard. The souls are his portico. The familiarized are his animal. The effacement is His glory. The teachers are His witness. The bride is His garden. The effacement is His edifice. His lords are my refuge. His principles are my gift. Their desire is my question. His helpers are my way station. His sorrows are my mishap... His saying is “Be.” So one supposes. What's below Him angers Him. By Allah is the only success.
al Hallaj
