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Project Gutenberg EPUB edition
Iqbal, Muhammad, Sir and Nicholson, Reynold Alleyne
Setting forth the inner meanings of the names of Ali.
Ali is the first Moslem and the King of men, 965
In Love’s eyes Ali is the treasure of the Faith.
Devotion to his family inspires me with life
So that I am as a shining pearl.
Like the narcissus, I am enraptured with gazing;
Like perfume, I am straying through his pleasure-garden. 970
If holy water gushes from my earth, he is the source;
If wine pours from my grapes, he is the cause.
I am dust, but his sun hath made me as a mirror:
Song can be seen in my breast.
From Ali’s face the Prophet drew a fair omen, 975
By his majesty the true religion is glorified.
His commandments are the strength of Islam:
All things pay allegiance to his House.
The Apostle of God gave him the name Bú Turáb;
God in the Koran called him “the Hand of Allah.” 980
Every one that is acquainted with Life’s mysteries
Knows what is the inner meaning of the names of Ali.
The dark clay, whose name is the body—
Our reason is ever bemoaning its iniquity.
On account of it our sky-reaching thought plods o’er the earth; 985
It makes our eyes blind and our ears deaf.
It hath in its hand a two-edged sword of lust:
Travellers’ hearts are broken by this brigand.
Ali, the Lion of God, subdued the body’s clay
And transmuted this dark earth to gold. 990
Murtazá, by whose sword the splendour of Truth was revealed,
Is named Bú Turáb from his conquest of the body.[76]
Man wins territory by prowess in battle,
But his brightest jewel is mastery of himself.
Whosoever in the world becomes a Bú Turáb 995
Turns back the sun from the west;[77]
Whosoever saddles tightly the steed of the body
Sits like the bezel on the seal of sovereignty:
Here the might of Khaibar is under his feet,[78]
And hereafter his hand will distribute the water of Kauthar.[79] 1000
Through self-knowledge he acts as God’s Hand,
And in virtue of being God’s Hand he reigns over all.
His person is the gate of the city of the sciences: