Ismaili.NET - Heritage F.I.E.L.D.

You've washed your face with Zam-Zam water,

made your pilgrimage like a man, escaped all sorrow,

worked hard for forty years - given away very little,

true, but taken very little - etc., etc. But

how many times have you sold plain linen

and charged the price of silk? If you wish

to purify yourself at last from sin, forget

the business world - does a slave of vinegar and salt

ease the pain of a wound? More and less of

measure and balance - these things are not washed away

by the water of Zam-Zam. You might hide

your connivance even from yourself, but not

from God. Your unlawful fortune came to you

as id on a breeze - a breeze will puff it away.

Wake up! Recite a chapter from the Qur an

and breathe it into your body and soul.

The devil s cheated you, sold you a felt rug

for the price of a silk carpet. You say

you re enjoying yourself, but from where I stand

your festivity looks like a funeral. Lost

in a salt desert, you imagine it an orchard.

Don t pay your way to Mecca with

a pickpocket s silver - don t mingle honey

with poison. You are human, my son,

and must repent of your sins, like Adam.

If the sun of your sins burns your eyes, take refuge

under the shady roof of repentance.

If you want to dwell in the pasture of mercy

graze today in the field of knowledge,

tomorrow in that of action. Moisten the seed

of action with knowledge - the seed

does not grow by itself. Look: a stout rope

hangs down from the Seventh Sphere -

you ll never see it with your darkened eyes

and shadowy heart. Go, take hold of it,

lift yourself up from this aimless caravan,

this shepherdless flock. The rope stands

for one who is the embodiment of wisdom

- no one sees knowledge except in him.

My heart knows - he is God s Trustee,

guardian of the Qur anic wisdom and the realm

of Jamshid. On Judgement Day only those

will be honoured who have been honoured by him.

He soars above all men in wisdom, and men

can raise themselves by his lofty precepts.

The world would be a fair price to pay

for him - he is the celebrated gem, the world

his bezel ring. As for me, he has appointed me

shepherd over a flock - and I shall not

wander away in search of another.

Do you thirst? Of you re sober enough

I ll show you a way to a sweet sea.

And if you listen to my advice, I ll see you

pulled out of the well, raised to the spheres.