The ten brothers of Joseph, to flee from famine, came from very far away to their brother. They recounted their plight with sorrow, and asked for a remedy against the severity of the year. Joseph’s face was then covered with a veil, and before him stood a cup. Joseph visibly struck the cup with his hand, and the cup gave forth a kind of groan. The ten brothers, dismayed, then loosed their tongues before Joseph and all said to him: “O Aziz! thou who knowest the truth, does anyone know what the sound coming from this cup means?” Joseph then replied: “I know it very well; but you could not bear to hear it mentioned, for it says that you once had a brother remarkable for his beauty, whose name was Joseph and who lived with you, and who surpassed you in excellence at the game of polo.”
Then Joseph struck the cup once more with his hand and said: “By the sound it makes, this cup declares that you all cast Joseph into a well, and then brought an innocent wolf!”
Joseph struck the cup again with his hand and made it give forth another sound. “This cup,” he then said, “makes it known that Joseph’s brothers cast their father into the fire of grief and sold Joseph, whose face was like the moon.
“What, then, will these infidels do today to their brother? At least fear God, you who are present!”
These people were astonished at this speech; they were in a sorry state, though they had come to ask for bread. In selling Joseph, they had at the same moment sold the world; and when they resolved to put him in a well, they all thereby shut themselves in the well of shame.
Joseph struck the cup again with his hand and made it give forth another sound. “This cup,” he then said, “makes it known that Joseph’s brothers cast their father into the fire of grief and sold Joseph, whose face was like the moon.
“What, then, will these infidels do today to their brother? At least fear God, you who are present!”
These people were astonished at this speech; they were in a sorry state, though they had come to ask for bread. In selling Joseph, they had at the same moment sold the world; and when they resolved to put him in a well, they all thereby shut themselves in the well of shame.
He is blind who hears this story and derives no profit from it. Do not regard this tale with indifference, for all this is nothing other than your own story, O ignorant one! The faults you have committed through lack of fidelity were committed because you were not enlightened by the light of knowledge. Should the cup of your life ever be struck, then your blameworthy deeds will be laid bare. Wait until you are awakened from your sleep and restrained from your evil inclinations. Wait until tomorrow, when all your injustices and sins are brought before you and counted out one by one. When you hear distinctly with your own ears the sound of this cup, I know not whether you will keep your wits and reason. O thou who hast acted like the lame ant and been caught at the bottom of a cup! How often hast thou circled, head bowed, around the cup of heaven? Cease to act thus, for it is a vessel full of blood. If thou remainest beguiled within this cup, thou wilt hear a new sound at every moment. Spread thy wings and pass onward, O thou who knowest the truth! Otherwise, thou wilt have cause to blush at the sounds of the cup.
Another bird asked the hoopoe: “To thee, who art our chief, is boldness permitted before this Majesty? If anyone possesses great boldness, he feels no fear thereafter. Since thou hast the boldness required, speak, scatter the pearls of meaning, and disclose the secrets.”
“Any person worthy of it,” replied the hoopoe, “is the mahram of the secret of the Divinity. If he displays boldness, it is rightly so, since he has constant understanding of God’s secrets. Yet how could the man who knows these secrets and understands them divulge them? What need is there for constraint and reserve when one is guided by pure love? Then a little boldness is permitted. How can the camel-driver, obliged to keep at a distance, be the confidant of the king? However bold he may be, like those who share the secret, he nevertheless remains behind in faith and spirit. How can a libertine have the courage to show boldness before the king in the army? If there is upon the spiritual path a true dervish hitherto a stranger to the things of heaven, the contentment he feels gives him a confident boldness. He who is bold through excess of love sees rab (the Lord, that is, God) in everything, and does not recognize the distinction between rab (God) and rob (syrup). In the madness caused him by the agitation of love, he will walk, driven by his very ardour, upon the water. His boldness will then be good and praiseworthy, because this man, mad with love, is like fire. But can salvation be found upon the path of fire? And yet can the madman be blamed? When madness manifestly comes upon thee, none will be able to understand all that thou sayest.”