Islam

Shabistari, Secret Rose Garden, The Phenomenal World

The world is an imaginary figure,
A diffused shadow of the Infinite;
One breath created the worlds of command
And all living things.
As they appear to come forth, so they appear to go.
Though there is no real coming and going.
For what is going but coming?
... All are one, both the visible and the invisible.
God most high, the Eternal One,
Creates and destroys both worlds.
... The varied forms you see are but phantoms of your fancy,
And by revolving quickly in a circle
Appear as one.

Source Shabistari, Gulshan-i Raz (Le Jardin secret des roses), trad. Florence Lederer (1920), archive.org secretrosegarden00shabiala (OCR corrigé) · Contents