Neyshabur. The Hidden Path
نیشابور. راه مستور
On this path nobody goes -
Into riddle bound path;
Only shrubs among the stones -
Questions unreplied, unasked...
Gone astray the lane on mount, -
In the snow has gone astray...
Or perhaps, all what around
Gone astray except this lane...
"I am anagram on paper white
Written in white ink...
Who the key to me will find?
In the cries of birds - the key..."
Someone said, a hand it wrote...
Someone rolled this lane as thread;
On the summit some, unknown,
In the cot a man I met...
Scholar: Welcome friend! We have the water,
For a long it been forgotten,
Would you like to taste?
Me: Thank you, master, yes...
Scholar:
قال الله تعالى فى قصة موسى مع الخضر، عليهما السلام:
هل أتبعك على أن تعلمنى مما علمت رشداً. قال الإمام:
لما أراد صحبة الخضر، حفظ شرط الأدب؛ فاستأذن أولا
فى الصحبة، ثم شرط عليه الخضر أن لا يعارضه فى شىء
ولا يعترض عليه فى حكم، ثم لما خالفه موسى عليه السلام
تجاوز عنه المرة الأولى والثانية، فلما صار إلى الثالثة،
والثلاث آخر حد القلة وأول حد الكثرة، سامه للفرقة؛ فقال:
هذا فراق بينى وبينك.
Told God, exalted is He, in the story about
Moses and Al-Khadir, peace be upon them:
[Moses:] "May I follow thee that you will teach me
of what thou hast been taught of way?"
The master said: When Moses wanted to accompany
Al-Khadir, he observed the rules of Adab¹:
At first, he asked the permission to join him.
Al-Khadir in his turn, set the condition for Moses -
not to contradict him in anything, nor to oppose
his judgements. When Moses, peace be upon him,
disagreed with him, Al-Khadir forgave him,
then the second time again forgave.
When it came to the third, and the third
is the last limit of smallness and the first
of multitude, he bade farewell on saying,
"'Tis parting between me and thee!"
Related by Al-Qushayri
Adab - the lesson first, it is
Reverence, obeyance, fear...
تا ادب‌هاشان به جاگَه ناوری
از رسالتشان چگونه بر خوری؟
Unless with reverence and Adab you act,
What mysteries from them do you expect?
Rumi, Masnavi 3:3607
We are the midnight mirrors, by
The hidden rill we sit...
At us is looking night,
And nightly speech we speak...
لأن الجوابَ بعدَ السؤالِ كالفرْضِ
بمنزلةِ ردِّ السلام
Because the answer after the question
is like obligation of returning the greeting "Peace."
Al-Makki
But if ye mistreat the moon -
Then ah, adieu, adieu...
January 2021
1 Adáb أدب - ethics, manners, culture, right conduct.
Abu Al-Qāsim Al-Qushayri, The Epistle on Sufism
الرسالة القشيرية
Abu Talib Al-Makki, The Sustenance of Hearts 1
قوت القلوب في معاملة المحبوب
Translations from Arabic and Farsi
by Denis Bezmelnitsin
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