And inevitably he was quite beside himself. He tore his heart away from himself and from the world; he cast dust upon his head and went into mourning. For some time he had neither sleep nor rest; love had made him restless, and he lamented without restraint. “Lord,” said he, “does night, then, never give way to day for me, or does the lamp of the firmament no longer burn? I have spent many nights in abstinence, and no one could tell what I have endured. I no longer had the strength to burn like the candle; no water remained in my liver save the blood of my heart. I have been drained, like the candle, by melting and burning; I am burned in the night and drained in the day. I was assailed all night; I remained steeped in blood from head to foot. A hundred attacks struck me at every moment during the night; but I know not when the day will come on which I shall succumb. Whoever suffered such anguish for a single night would have his heart consumed forever. I remained in the greatest torments, day and night. This night has been a fatal day for me. The unhappy event I was destined to suffer one day took place this very night. Lord! There must be no day after this night; the lamp of the firmament must never burn again. O God! What is this thing that this night foretells? Will it be the Day of Resurrection? Has the lamp of the firmament been put out by my sighs, or has it hidden itself, out of jealousy for the beauty of the object of my love? This night is as long and as black as her hair; but for this, I should have died a hundred times, deprived of seeing her face. I burn in this night through the madness of my love; I have not the strength to endure its agitation; but what is my life, that I should spend it describing my affliction and lamenting what I suffer? Where is my patience, that I might draw my feet beneath the hem of my robe, or, like spiritual men, take up the intoxicating cup of wine? Where is my fortune, if it does not fulfil my desire and come to my aid in loving this young girl? Where is my reason, that I may make use of knowledge, or employ my judgment with skill? Where is my hand, that I may lay the dust of the road upon my head, while I raise it up from beneath the dust and blood? Where is my foot, that it may seek the street of my beloved? Where is my eye, that I may see her face once more? Where is my beloved, to give me her heart when she sees me in such distress? Where is she, to take me by the hand? Where is the day, that during its course I may utter cries and groans? Where is intelligence, that I may make it an instrument of wisdom? My reason, my patience, and my beloved have vanished. What is this love, what is this pain, what is this thing?”
All the shaikh’s friends, concerned for him, gathered that night because of his lamentations. One of them said to him: “O shaikh, rise, and drive away the temptation that besets you. Perform the ritual ablution (pusl) to cleanse yourself of this temptation.” The shaikh replied: “Know, O impatient one, that this night I have performed a hundred ablutions with the blood of my heart.”
Another said to him: “Where is your rosary? For how could you possibly conduct yourself well without a rosary?” He replied: “I have cast my rosary from my hand, so that I might gird myself with the Christian zunnâr.”
Another said to him again: “O holy old man! If you have sinned, repent without delay.” The shaikh replied: “I am now repenting of having followed the positive law; I wish to leave the absurd position in which I was.”
Another said to him: “Where is your rosary? For how could you possibly conduct yourself well without a rosary?” He replied: “I have cast my rosary from my hand, so that I might gird myself with the Christian zunnâr.”
Another said to him again: “O holy old man! If you have sinned, repent without delay.” The shaikh replied: “I am now repenting of having followed the positive law; I wish to leave the absurd position in which I was.”
Another said to him: “O thou who knowest the secrets! Awake and rise for prayer.” He said: “Where is the mihrab of my friend’s face, that henceforth I may have no care but to perform namâz there?”
Another said to him: “How long wilt thou continue this discourse? Rise, and go in secret to worship God.” The schaïkh said: “If my idol were here, it would indeed be fitting for me to worship before it.”
Another said to him: “Dost thou then feel no repentance? Hast thou then no attachment to Islam?” He said: “No one repents more than I do of not having been in love until now.”
Another said to him: “A devil has barred thy way and unexpectedly pierced thy heart with the arrow of frustration.” He replied: “Tell the devil who bars my way to attack me at once, if he must, nimbly and swiftly.”
Another said to him: “How long wilt thou continue this discourse? Rise, and go in secret to worship God.” The schaïkh said: “If my idol were here, it would indeed be fitting for me to worship before it.”
Another said to him: “Dost thou then feel no repentance? Hast thou then no attachment to Islam?” He said: “No one repents more than I do of not having been in love until now.”
Another said to him: “A devil has barred thy way and unexpectedly pierced thy heart with the arrow of frustration.” He replied: “Tell the devil who bars my way to attack me at once, if he must, nimbly and swiftly.”
Another said to him, “Whoever is intelligent will tell thee, though thou art our leader, that thou hast gone astray.” He said, “I trouble myself little about what may be said, and I am not ashamed of my conduct. With a stone I have shattered the vial of hypocrisy.”
Another said to him, “Thy old friends are grieved on thy account, and their hearts are split in two.” He said, “Since the young Christian woman’s heart is content, my own heart is heedless of all else.”
Another said to him, “Come to an agreement with us, who are thy true friends, so that thou mayest return this night in our company to the caaba.” He said, “If there be no caaba, there is the church. In the caaba I am in possession of my reason, but in the church I am drunk.”
Another said to him, “Thy old friends are grieved on thy account, and their hearts are split in two.” He said, “Since the young Christian woman’s heart is content, my own heart is heedless of all else.”
Another said to him, “Come to an agreement with us, who are thy true friends, so that thou mayest return this night in our company to the caaba.” He said, “If there be no caaba, there is the church. In the caaba I am in possession of my reason, but in the church I am drunk.”
Another said to him, “Resolve at once to set out; go and recollect yourself in the sacred harem of Mecca, and there ask God’s forgiveness.” He replied, “I wish to ask forgiveness with my head laid upon the threshold of that fair one’s door. So leave me in peace.”
Another said to him, “Hell lies in your path; yet it can always be avoided by keeping watch over oneself.” He said, “Hell may well lie in my path, but one of my sighs alone feeds the fire of the seven hells.”
Another said to him, “Return to better thoughts in the hope of Paradise, and repent of your evil conduct.” He replied, “Since I have a friend with a heavenly face, the road to Paradise lies within my reach, should I wish to arrive there.”
Another said to him, “Hell lies in your path; yet it can always be avoided by keeping watch over oneself.” He said, “Hell may well lie in my path, but one of my sighs alone feeds the fire of the seven hells.”
Another said to him, “Return to better thoughts in the hope of Paradise, and repent of your evil conduct.” He replied, “Since I have a friend with a heavenly face, the road to Paradise lies within my reach, should I wish to arrive there.”
Another said to him, “Fear God, and render Him the honour due unto Him.” He said, “This fire that God has cast into my heart I cannot remove from my neck.”
Another said to him, “Renounce this dangerous object, return to the faith, and be a believer.” He said, “Seek nothing else from me but infidelity. Ask not for faith of one who has become an infidel.”
As the words of the sheikh’s friends had no effect upon him, they resolved to keep silence, seeing that all their efforts had been in vain. Floods of blood stirred within their hearts and at last flowed forth.
Another said to him, “Renounce this dangerous object, return to the faith, and be a believer.” He said, “Seek nothing else from me but infidelity. Ask not for faith of one who has become an infidel.”
As the words of the sheikh’s friends had no effect upon him, they resolved to keep silence, seeing that all their efforts had been in vain. Floods of blood stirred within their hearts and at last flowed forth.
At last, on the morrow, when the Turk of day, armed with his golden shield, severed the head of the sable night with his sabre, and the world, full of deceit, was plunged into an ocean of light flowing from the source of the sun, the schaïkh, formerly so withdrawn from the world, but now the plaything of his beloved, went wandering in her street with the dogs. He sat in meditation upon the dust of that street, his heart in disarray, like the tresses adorning the face of his beautiful beloved, moonlike in her loveliness. For nearly a month, day and night, he waited patiently in her street, hoping to behold the sun of her face. At last he fell ill, deprived as he was of seeing her who had enslaved his heart; yet he did not lift his head from the threshold of her door. The dust of the street of that idol was his bed, and the step before her door his pillow. When the beautiful Christian woman saw that he did not leave her street, she understood that he was in love with her. She disguised herself and said to him: “O schaïkh! why art thou so troubled? How is it that one so abstinent as thou art is intoxicated with the wine of polytheism and comes to sit in the street of the Christians? If the schaïkh adores me, madness will possess him for ever.”
The shaikh said to her: “It is because you saw me weak that you stole my heart, which already belonged to me no longer. Either give me back my heart, or yield to my love. Consider my supplication, and do not act with prudery; leave aside coquetry and pride, and pay heed to me, who am a father and an unhappy lover. O my beauty! since my love is earnest, either sever my head, or bring yours to my embraces. I am ready to sacrifice my life for you, if you ask it; for if you wished, you would restore this life to me by the touch of your lips. O you whose lips and locks of hair offer both advantage and disadvantage at once! To possess you is my purpose and…”
“O foolish old man!” replied the young Christian woman. “Are you not ashamed to use camphor and prepare your shroud? Blush with shame. Since your breath is cold, do not seek intimacy with me. You have grown old; do not think of playing with your heart. Attend now to your shroud; that will be better than attending to me. At the advanced age you have reached, confine yourself to animal life. You cannot inspire love; so be gone. How could you attain sovereignty when you cannot find bread to satisfy your hunger?”
“O foolish old man!” replied the young Christian woman. “Are you not ashamed to use camphor and prepare your shroud? Blush with shame. Since your breath is cold, do not seek intimacy with me. You have grown old; do not think of playing with your heart. Attend now to your shroud; that will be better than attending to me. At the advanced age you have reached, confine yourself to animal life. You cannot inspire love; so be gone. How could you attain sovereignty when you cannot find bread to satisfy your hunger?”
The shaikh replied: “You might say a thousand other things, yet your love alone would always occupy my thoughts. What does it matter whether one is young or old when one loves? Love produces its effect upon every heart it touches.”
The young girl said: “If you are steadfast in your purpose, you must absolutely wash your hands of Islam, for the love of one who is not identical with his friend is nothing but colour and scent.”
The shaikh said: “I will do all that you tell me, and passively carry out whatever you command me. Thou whose body is white as silver, I am Thy slave; put about my neck, to make my slavery known, a ring of Thy hair.”
The young girl said: “If you are a man of action, you must resolve to do four things; namely: prostrate yourself before idols, burn the Koran, drink wine, and close your eyes to positive religion.”
The young girl said: “If you are steadfast in your purpose, you must absolutely wash your hands of Islam, for the love of one who is not identical with his friend is nothing but colour and scent.”
The shaikh said: “I will do all that you tell me, and passively carry out whatever you command me. Thou whose body is white as silver, I am Thy slave; put about my neck, to make my slavery known, a ring of Thy hair.”
The young girl said: “If you are a man of action, you must resolve to do four things; namely: prostrate yourself before idols, burn the Koran, drink wine, and close your eyes to positive religion.”
The schaikh said: “I consent to drink wine, but I will not accept the three other conditions. I can drink wine for the sake of thy beauty, but I cannot bring myself to do the three other things.”
She said: “Rise, then, and come drink wine; when thou hast drunk wine, thou wilt feel the emotion that will make thee accept the other conditions.”
So they led the schaikh to the temple of the magi, and his disciples hastened thither. The schaikh beheld there a gathering entirely new to him, a banquet whose host was distinguished by incomparable beauty. Then the fire of love made the water of his works disappear, and the locks of hair of the young Christian woman he loved swept away his merits. He retained neither his reason nor his good sense; he sighed silently in that place. He accepted a cup of wine from his beloved’s hand, drank it, and withdrew his heart from his duties.
She said: “Rise, then, and come drink wine; when thou hast drunk wine, thou wilt feel the emotion that will make thee accept the other conditions.”
So they led the schaikh to the temple of the magi, and his disciples hastened thither. The schaikh beheld there a gathering entirely new to him, a banquet whose host was distinguished by incomparable beauty. Then the fire of love made the water of his works disappear, and the locks of hair of the young Christian woman he loved swept away his merits. He retained neither his reason nor his good sense; he sighed silently in that place. He accepted a cup of wine from his beloved’s hand, drank it, and withdrew his heart from his duties.
The wine and the love of his friend acted upon the shaikh at the same time. What am I saying! The love he felt for that moon increased without measure. Indeed, when the shaikh saw that beauty with her graceful mouth, and gazed upon her laughing ruby lips, like the two valves of a box, the fire of love seized his heart, and a river of blood flowed towards his eyelashes. He asked for more wine and drank it; he put a curl of his beloved’s hair to his ear as a sign of bondage. He recalled the works, more than a hundred in number, that he had read or written himself on religion, and the Quran, which he knew so well by heart; but when the wine passed from the cup into his stomach, his spiritual understanding faded, and nothing remained to him but vain pretension. All that he knew vanished from his mind as the wine took effect; his reason departed like the wind. The wine entirely washed from the tablet of his consciousness the spiritual understanding he had possessed before. The love of that beauty made him anxious, and all that had occupied him until then vanished from him.
When the shaikh was drunk, his love became violent, and his soul was agitated like the Ocean. Being in his intoxication, cup in hand, he looked upon this idol and suddenly lost all self-command; he let his heart slip from his hand, and, stirred by the wine, he wished to lay his hand upon the neck of the fair Christian.
The young girl said to him: “Thou art not a man of action; thou hast only pretensions in love; thou knowest not the mysterious meaning of things. The normal state cannot be allied with love, but infidelity is favourable to it. If thy foot is firm in love, thou possessest the path to my twisted curls. Set foot upon infidelity, represented by my tangled curls; follow the road of my hair, and from this moment thou mayest lay thy hand upon my neck; but if thou wilt not follow this path, rise and begone; take thy staff and the mantle of the faquir.”
The young girl said to him: “Thou art not a man of action; thou hast only pretensions in love; thou knowest not the mysterious meaning of things. The normal state cannot be allied with love, but infidelity is favourable to it. If thy foot is firm in love, thou possessest the path to my twisted curls. Set foot upon infidelity, represented by my tangled curls; follow the road of my hair, and from this moment thou mayest lay thy hand upon my neck; but if thou wilt not follow this path, rise and begone; take thy staff and the mantle of the faquir.”
At these words, the enamoured schaïkh was utterly overcome, and submitted heedlessly to destiny. Before the schaïkh became intoxicated, he had already lost all sense of his existence; but when intoxication took hold of him, his mind and reason wholly escaped him. He never came to himself again, and saw himself given over to disgrace; he shamelessly became a Christian. The old wine he drank had an extraordinary effect upon him; it turned the schaïkh’s head and made him uncertain as the compass. His wine was old, and his love young. With his mistress present, how could patience be possible? In this ecstatic state, the schaïkh became intoxicated; and how could he not have been beside himself, being drunk and in love?
“O moon-faced one!” said he, “I am powerless; tell me what Thou wilt of me, who have lost my heart. If, while I had my reason, I did not become an idolater, I burned the Koran before the idol when I was drunk.”
“O moon-faced one!” said he, “I am powerless; tell me what Thou wilt of me, who have lost my heart. If, while I had my reason, I did not become an idolater, I burned the Koran before the idol when I was drunk.”
The young Christian woman replied to him: “Thou art now my man; may a good sleep restore Thy strength, for Thou art worthy of me. Thou wert formerly raw in love, but now that Thou hast gained experience, Thou art cooked; farewell!”
When the Christians heard the news that the schaïkh in question had embraced their faith, they carried him into their church while he was still drunk, and told him to gird himself with the zunnâr. Indeed, the schaïkh girded his loins with this belt; he cast his frock into the fire, and gave himself over to the practices of the Christian religion.
When the Christians heard the news that the schaïkh in question had embraced their faith, they carried him into their church while he was still drunk, and told him to gird himself with the zunnâr. Indeed, the schaïkh girded his loins with this belt; he cast his frock into the fire, and gave himself over to the practices of the Christian religion.
He freed his heart from Islam, and remembered neither the Kaaba nor the rank of shaikh. After a few years of true faith, the new wine of which mention has been made once more washed his face (to remove all that pertained to positive religion). Then he said: “Apostasy has made me its target; the love I felt for the young Christian woman has had its effect. I shall henceforth do all that she tells me, and go even farther than I have gone so far; for I did not worship idols in a day of reason, but only when I was plunged in drunkenness.” He added: “O charming young girl! What remains to be done? All that you commanded has been accomplished. What is there still to perform? I have drunk wine, I have worshipped idols with love; no one has ever done what love has made me do. Will anyone ever be as mad with love as I, and will a shaikh such as I be as disgraced as I am? I have walked backwards for nearly fifty years; but at last the ocean of mystery stirred its waves in my heart. An atom of love sprang swiftly from the place where it lay hidden, and carried me at once to the edge of the plank of existence. Love has already done much, and will doubtless do still more; it has made, and will yet make, of a frock… Love knows how to read upon the walls of the Kaaba; love knows the secret of the mystery that makes one lose one’s reason. I have renounced everything; but tell me now how you will be able to become one with me. When the foundations of the edifice of union with you had been laid, all that I did, I did in the hope of this union. I desired union, I sought friendship, I burned with vexation at finding myself in…”
The young Christian woman said again: “O old man! slave of love, I am a person of consequence, and thou art but a faquir; but know, ignorant man that thou art, that I need money and gold; can thy pretension succeed without money? Since thou hast no gold, take thy head and go. Remain alone like the sun, swift in its course; bravely take patience and be a man.”
The schaikh said to her: “O charming woman, with the stature of a cypress and a bosom of silver! Thou truly urge me to a fine thing! I have no one but thee, O charming idol! So withdraw thy hand from the discourse thou art holding. Every moment thou repulsest me in a different manner, and thus castest me into despair. For thee I have borne everything; for thy sake I have done all that I could do. In the path of thy love, everything has vanished for me: infidelity and Islam, loss and gain. What agitation thou hast cast me into while I awaited thee! And yet thou hast not given me the rest I thought I should enjoy! All my friends have withdrawn from me; they have become enemies of my life. Thou art thus, and they are thus; what shall I do? O thou who hast the life-giving nature of the Messiah! I would rather be with thee in hell than without thee in paradise.”
The schaikh said to her: “O charming woman, with the stature of a cypress and a bosom of silver! Thou truly urge me to a fine thing! I have no one but thee, O charming idol! So withdraw thy hand from the discourse thou art holding. Every moment thou repulsest me in a different manner, and thus castest me into despair. For thee I have borne everything; for thy sake I have done all that I could do. In the path of thy love, everything has vanished for me: infidelity and Islam, loss and gain. What agitation thou hast cast me into while I awaited thee! And yet thou hast not given me the rest I thought I should enjoy! All my friends have withdrawn from me; they have become enemies of my life. Thou art thus, and they are thus; what shall I do? O thou who hast the life-giving nature of the Messiah! I would rather be with thee in hell than without thee in paradise.”
At last, when the schaïkh had become the young Christian woman’s servant, the heart of that fair one at length felt the flame of love for him; but she said to him (to test him yet again): “For my dowry, then, O imperfect man! go and tend my swine for a whole year; and afterwards we shall spend our lives together in joy or in sorrow.”
The schaïkh did not turn his head away from his fair one’s command; for had he turned it away, he would not have found what he sought. Thus this schaïkh of the Caaba, this holy and great personage, resigned himself to tending swine for a year.
In the nature of each of us there are a hundred swine: one must become a swine or take the zunnâr. O thou who art nothing! thou thinkest that this danger was something to be feared by the schaïkh, and that is all. But this danger lies within each of us; it rears its head when one enters upon the path of spiritualism. If thou knowest not thine own swine, thou art excused, since thou art no man of the spiritual path. As for thee, man of action, when thou settest foot upon this path, thou beholdest at once a hundred thousand idols and a hundred thousand swine. Drive out the swine, and burn the idol in the desolate plain of love; otherwise, like this schaïkh, be dishonoured by love.
The schaïkh did not turn his head away from his fair one’s command; for had he turned it away, he would not have found what he sought. Thus this schaïkh of the Caaba, this holy and great personage, resigned himself to tending swine for a year.
In the nature of each of us there are a hundred swine: one must become a swine or take the zunnâr. O thou who art nothing! thou thinkest that this danger was something to be feared by the schaïkh, and that is all. But this danger lies within each of us; it rears its head when one enters upon the path of spiritualism. If thou knowest not thine own swine, thou art excused, since thou art no man of the spiritual path. As for thee, man of action, when thou settest foot upon this path, thou beholdest at once a hundred thousand idols and a hundred thousand swine. Drive out the swine, and burn the idol in the desolate plain of love; otherwise, like this schaïkh, be dishonoured by love.
At last, when the shaikh had become a Christian, the news spread throughout Greece. His companions were disconcerted and utterly distressed. When they learned of his resolve, they renounced his friendship. All fled from his disgrace and cast dust upon their heads, in the grief they felt at it. Nevertheless, one of his friends hurried to the assembly where the shaikh was, and appeared before him: “O Thou who neglectest thine own religious interests! Let us return today to the Caaba. Give us thy commands, and tell us thy secret in this matter, or else we shall all become Christians like thee, and become the mihrab of ignominy. We do not wish thee to be the only apostate; we too shall take up the Christian zunnâr. Otherwise, rather than see thee in the state to which thou hast brought thyself, we shall depart from this land without thee; we shall pray in the Caaba, so as not to see what we see.”
The shaikh replied: “My soul is full of sorrow; go swiftly wherever your desire leads you. As for me, the church is now my abode, and the young Christian woman, the happiness of my life. Do you know why you are free? It is because you have not found yourselves in the same circumstances as I. Had you found yourselves for a single instant in the same situation, I would now have companions in my sorrows of love. Return, then, O my dear friends, to the Caaba; for as for me, I know not what may yet come to pass. If I am asked to explain my conduct, I shall speak the truth. Where is (they will say, for example) he whose foot has failed him and whose head has turned?” I shall answer: “He remained with his eyes full of blood and his mouth full of poison; he remained in the mouths of the dragons of violence. No infidel in the world would ever consent to do what this proud Muslim did through the working of fate. From afar he saw the face of a Christian woman, and impatiently cast aside reason, religion, and his station as a shaikh. The young Christian woman cast the curls of her hair like a noose around his neck, and delivered him up to the tongues of all creatures. If anyone rebukes me on this account, tell him that many others also fall along this path. In this road, indeed, which has neither beginning nor end, can anyone by chance be safe from treachery and danger?”
He spoke, and turned his face away from his friends; then he returned to the swine to tend them. Many of his friends wept because of the grief they felt for him, and gazed at him from afar for a long while. At last they set out again towards the Caaba, their minds consumed with anxiety and their bodies exhausted by fatigue. Their schaïkh had remained alone in Greece; he had cast his religion to the winds and become a Christian. His disciples, ashamed and astonished, each remained concealed in a corner.
Now, there was in the Kaaba a friend of the Shaikh who, in his ardour, had washed his hands of all things. He was clear-sighted and on the right path, and no one knew the Shaikh better than he. It happened that, when the Shaikh set out from the Kaaba on his journey, this friend was not present; and when the latter returned to his home, he no longer found the Shaikh in his retreat. He asked the saint’s disciples for news of him, and they told him all that had happened: how a heavy branch of a tree had wounded his breast through the operation of destiny, and what misfortune had befallen him through the workings of fate. “The hair of a young infidel,” they told him, “has bound him with one of its strands, and from a hundred sides has barred his way to Islam. At present he plays at love with ringlets and freckles; he has burned his frock, and his condition has become altogether strange. He has wholly withdrawn his hand from obedience to the precepts of religion, and now he tends swine. Given over today to a mad love, his body girt with a zunnār, he is irresolute; yet, though the Shaikh has staked his soul on the path of religion, his infidelity cannot be judged incurable.”
When the disciple had heard this tale, he was so astonished that his face turned yellow as gold, and he began to lament bitterly. Yet he said to his companions: “O you who weep! In fidelity there is no distinction between man and woman. To succour an unfortunate friend, there is sometimes not a single person among a hundred thousand who can be of help to him on a given day. Since you were the schâïkh’s true friends, why did you not help him? Be ashamed of such conduct, and help him out of his distressing plight: treat him with justice and fidelity.
“Since this schâïkh has laid his hand upon the zunnâr, we must all gird our loins; we ought not to have parted from him, but, on the contrary, all to have become Christians. In acting as you did, you did not render him any helpful assistance; rather, you acted with hypocrisy. Whoever would come to his friend’s aid must remain his friend, even if he be an infidel. It is in misfortune that one can know who is devoted to you; for in happiness one has thousands of friends. When the schâïkh fell into the crocodile’s jaws, all fled far from him, lest they lose their reputation and honour; yet the edifice of love is often founded upon infamy. If one recoils from this mysterious phenomenon, one is inexperienced.”
“Since this schâïkh has laid his hand upon the zunnâr, we must all gird our loins; we ought not to have parted from him, but, on the contrary, all to have become Christians. In acting as you did, you did not render him any helpful assistance; rather, you acted with hypocrisy. Whoever would come to his friend’s aid must remain his friend, even if he be an infidel. It is in misfortune that one can know who is devoted to you; for in happiness one has thousands of friends. When the schâïkh fell into the crocodile’s jaws, all fled far from him, lest they lose their reputation and honour; yet the edifice of love is often founded upon infamy. If one recoils from this mysterious phenomenon, one is inexperienced.”
All the disciples of the schâïkh said: “What thou sayest, we have often said before; we had indeed formed the design of passing our lives with him, in joy or in sorrow. We would have wished to reject the true religion and embrace idolatry; but this schâïkh, in whose learned experience we ought to have trusted, expressed the desire that we should return one after another. It was because the schâïkh found our assistance of no use that he sent us away promptly. Thus did we return at his command: this is what happened; we make no secret of it.”
The faithful disciple replied: “If you wished to act in this matter with zeal, you should have gone and knocked at the door of God, and placed yourselves before Him in prayer. As you complained to God of the misfortune we deplore, each of you should have recited a different prayer, so that, seeing you in distress, God might have restored the schâïkh to you without delay. Why withdraw from the door of God, if you wished to watch over your schâïkh with care?”
The faithful disciple replied: “If you wished to act in this matter with zeal, you should have gone and knocked at the door of God, and placed yourselves before Him in prayer. As you complained to God of the misfortune we deplore, each of you should have recited a different prayer, so that, seeing you in distress, God might have restored the schâïkh to you without delay. Why withdraw from the door of God, if you wished to watch over your schâïkh with care?”
When the disciples had heard this discourse, none of them dared raise his head, so great was his confusion. But he said to them: “Of what use is shame at this moment? When we are able to act, we shall rise up promptly; we shall be assiduous at the court of God, and we shall abase ourselves to the dust, on account of the schaikh’s crime. We shall all clothe ourselves in the garb of suppliants, and at last we shall reach our schaikh.” They therefore all went from Arabia to Greece, and remained secretly at prayer, day and night. Each of the schaikh’s innumerable disciples was at God’s door, now supplicating, now lamenting. They acted thus for forty days and forty nights, without turning their heads aside. During these forty nights they neither ate nor slept; during these forty days they tasted neither bread nor water. Through the supplications of this company of sincere men, a distressing agitation was felt in Heaven; the angels and saints, clad in green on the heights and in the valleys of Heaven, all donned garments of mourning. At last, the arrow of prayer reached its mark.
The devoted disciple who had stirred up his companions, and held the foremost rank among them, was in ecstasy in his solitary cell. At dawn, a musk-scented breeze arose, and the world was unveiled to his mind. He saw Muhammad arrive like a moon, with two black locks of hair falling upon His breast. The shadow of God was the sun of His countenance; the soul of a hundred worlds was bound to each of His hairs. He walked gracefully and smiled; whoever saw Him was lost in Him. When this disciple saw the Prophet, he rose at once, saying: “O Messenger of God, come to my aid! Thou art the guide of creatures; our schaïkh has lost his way—show him the path, I beseech Thee, in the name of God!”
Muhammad said to him: “O thou whose vision is truly exalted! Go, and know that I have delivered thy shaikh from his bonds. Thy pure intention has been rewarded, for thou didst not cease until thou hadst brought about the shaikh’s conversion. Between the shaikh and God, the Truth, there had long lain a grain of black dust. Today I have removed this dust from his path, and have no longer left him amid darkness. I have poured the dew of the ocean of supplication, and it has spread over his being. This dust has today withdrawn from the path; repentance has taken place, and sin has been effaced. Know with absolute certainty that the faults of a hundred worlds vanish from the path through the vapour of a moment’s repentance. When the ocean of benevolence stirs its waves, it effaces the faults of men and women.”
The disciple was seized with amazement at the joy he felt; he uttered a cry that moved the heavens. He told all his companions of this circumstance, and, having informed them of the great news, he resolved to set out again. He went with his friends, weeping and running, to the place where the schaikh was tending a herd of swine. They saw the schaikh transformed as if into fire, enchanted amid the tumult he felt. He had cast the Christian bell from his mouth and torn his girdle. He had at once thrown off the cap of drunkenness and renounced Christianity.
When the shaikh saw his friends from afar, he perceived that he was in darkness! In shame, he tore his garment, and with his feeble hand cast dust upon his head. He shed tears of blood like rain; at one moment he gave himself over to despair and wished to withdraw his hands from his sweet life. At another, the veil of the firmament was set aflame by his sighs; at another, through the effect of his grief, his blood was scorched within his body. Wisdom and divine secrets, the Coran, prophecies—all that had been wholly washed from his mind—all returned to his memory at once, and at the same time he was delivered from his madness and misery. When he considered his state, he prostrated himself and wept; his eye, bloodied by his tears, thus resembled the rose, and in shame he was drenched in sweat.
When his companions saw that their schaikh was in the throes of
Then the schaikh, after giving himself over to a wild joy, found himself in an indescribable state of confusion, and all went before him, offering themselves in sacrifice out of gratitude. They said to the schaikh: “Reveal the secret without a veil; the cloud has withdrawn from before thy sun. Infidelity has left the path, and faith has settled there. The idolater of Greece has become a worshipper of God. The ocean of acceptance suddenly stirred its waves, for the Prophet has interceded for thee. Now is the hour of gratitude: express thy thankfulness to God; why be in mourning? Thanks be to God that, in this ocean of pitch, He has traced a path as visible as the sun! He Who knows how to make what is black shine knows also how to grant contrition for so many sins; that is to say, the fire of repentance, which, when it blazes, burns all that must be burned.” In short, it was decided that they should set out at once. The schaikh performed his ablutions, put on his frock again, and departed with his companions for the Hedjaz.
Then the schaikh, after giving himself over to a wild joy, found himself in an indescribable state of confusion, and all went before him, offering themselves in sacrifice out of gratitude. They said to the schaikh: “Reveal the secret without a veil; the cloud has withdrawn from before thy sun. Infidelity has left the path, and faith has settled there. The idolater of Greece has become a worshipper of God. The ocean of acceptance suddenly stirred its waves, for the Prophet has interceded for thee. Now is the hour of gratitude: express thy thankfulness to God; why be in mourning? Thanks be to God that, in this ocean of pitch, He has traced a path as visible as the sun! He Who knows how to make what is black shine knows also how to grant contrition for so many sins; that is to say, the fire of repentance, which, when it blazes, burns all that must be burned.” In short, it was decided that they should set out at once. The schaikh performed his ablutions, put on his frock again, and departed with his companions for the Hedjaz.
Meanwhile, the young Christian girl saw in a dream the sun descend beside her and make her hear these words: “Follow thy shaikh, adopt his doctrine, be his dust. Thou who hast defiled him, be pure as he now is. Since he came frankly into thy path, in thy turn truly take his path. Thou hast torn him from his path; enter into his. Since he is upon the true path, follow the same road. Thou hast plundered his faith like a highway robber; now follow the same road, and at last acknowledge the truth, after neglecting for so long to see it.”
When the young Christian woman awoke from her sleep, a light like the sun illumined her mind. An astonishing emotion arose in her heart and made her impatient in her quest. Fire fell upon her intoxicated soul; her hand seized her heart, and her heart fell from her hand. She did not know what fruit her turmoil would produce within her. Yet the young Christian woman had no confidant when these events took place. She saw that she was a solitary creature amid these extraordinary things, a creature lacking guidance for her path. Her tongue therefore had to remain silent, and ignorance was her lot. Indeed, wondrous thing! Amid joy and pleasure, the schaïkh slipped away from her like rain; the young Christian woman ran out, crying aloud and tearing her garments; she ran amid the blood, her head covered with dust. With a heart full of grief and a helpless body, she pursued the schaïkh and his disciples. She was drenched in sweat as a cloud in water; she had let her heart slip from her hand, and she went in pursuit of the schaïkh. She did not know by which side of the plain and the desert she ought to pass; she lamented greatly, weak and distressed as she was, and, rubbing her face against the ground again and again, she said with a groan, addressing the schaïkh: “God, Creator! I am a woman disgusted with everything. A follower, like thee, of the boundless path of spiritualism, I have trodden this path with my feet. Strike me not, then, for I struck without knowledge. Still the ocean of Thy fury; I have erred through ignorance, cover my faults. Do not bring to light the evil I have done. I have embraced the true religion; therefore do not regard me as without religion.”
Meanwhile, an inward voice taught the shaikh what was happening: “This young girl,” it said to him, “has forsaken infidelity; she has learned of the existence of our sacred temple, and has entered our path. Return, therefore, to this fair one; henceforth thou mayest be alone with thine idol without sin.”
Then the shaikh at once retraced his steps like the wind, and when the news had immediately spread among his disciples, they all said to him: “What, then, is the final result of thy conduct? What have thy repentance and all thy wanderings availed thee? Once more thou givest thyself up to love; thou forsakest penance and renouncest prayer.” But the shaikh told them the story of the young girl; he told them all
that he had heard, and declared to them that he renounced life. Then he and his disciples retraced their steps until they reached the place where the fair Christian was. But they found her lying on the ground, her face yellow as gold, her hair soiled with the dust of the road, her feet bare, and her pretty garments torn: she looked like a corpse.
Then the shaikh at once retraced his steps like the wind, and when the news had immediately spread among his disciples, they all said to him: “What, then, is the final result of thy conduct? What have thy repentance and all thy wanderings availed thee? Once more thou givest thyself up to love; thou forsakest penance and renouncest prayer.” But the shaikh told them the story of the young girl; he told them all
that he had heard, and declared to them that he renounced life. Then he and his disciples retraced their steps until they reached the place where the fair Christian was. But they found her lying on the ground, her face yellow as gold, her hair soiled with the dust of the road, her feet bare, and her pretty garments torn: she looked like a corpse.
When this charming moon beheld her schaïkh, she fell into a swoon from the wound her heart had suffered, and sank into the sleep of unconsciousness. At this sight, tears flowed down the schaïkh’s face; and when the fair Christian could turn her eyes towards the schaïkh, she shed tears like the dew of spring. She saw that the schaïkh was faithful to his promises, and threw herself at his hands and feet. She said: “My soul is consumed with shame that I feel on Thy account; but now I can no longer speak behind the veil of secrecy; lift this veil, that I may be instructed, and show me Islam, that I may be upon the true path.”
The schaïkh therefore made the young Christian acquainted with Islam, and the news spread among his friends. When this pretty idol was numbered among the faithful, they shed abundant tears of joy; at last, when this fair one, worthy of adoration, had found the true path, she at once found the taste of faith in her heart; but her impatient heart gave itself up to sorrow, finding no consolation.
The schaïkh therefore made the young Christian acquainted with Islam, and the news spread among his friends. When this pretty idol was numbered among the faithful, they shed abundant tears of joy; at last, when this fair one, worthy of adoration, had found the true path, she at once found the taste of faith in her heart; but her impatient heart gave itself up to sorrow, finding no consolation.
“‘O schaïkh!’ she cried, ‘my strength is spent; I could not bear absence! I am leaving this dusty, bewildering world. Farewell, schaïkh San’aân, farewell! I can say no more; I confess my weakness; forgive me, and do not oppose me.’
Thus spoke that moon, and shook loose the hand of her life; she had but half a life, and sacrificed it for her lover. Her sun hid beneath the clouds, her gentle soul was parted from her body. What a pity! She was a drop of water in this illusory ocean, and returned to the true ocean.
We all leave the world like the wind; she has gone, and we too shall go. Such things have often happened upon the path of love; he knows it who knows love. All that is said concerning the spiritual path is possible; there are mercy and despair, deception and security. The sensual soul cannot hear these secrets; misfortune cannot wrest the ball from the mallet of happiness. These things must be heard with the ear of the spirit and the heart, not with that of the body. The heart’s struggle with the sensual soul is terrible at every moment; lament, for the sorrow is great.
Thus spoke that moon, and shook loose the hand of her life; she had but half a life, and sacrificed it for her lover. Her sun hid beneath the clouds, her gentle soul was parted from her body. What a pity! She was a drop of water in this illusory ocean, and returned to the true ocean.
We all leave the world like the wind; she has gone, and we too shall go. Such things have often happened upon the path of love; he knows it who knows love. All that is said concerning the spiritual path is possible; there are mercy and despair, deception and security. The sensual soul cannot hear these secrets; misfortune cannot wrest the ball from the mallet of happiness. These things must be heard with the ear of the spirit and the heart, not with that of the body. The heart’s struggle with the sensual soul is terrible at every moment; lament, for the sorrow is great.