CHAPTER V SAINTS AND MIRACLES
Project Gutenberg EPUB edition
Nicholson, Reynold Alleyne
After coming to himself on one of these occasions and learning what blasphemous language he had uttered, Bāyazīd ordered his disciples to stab him with their knives if he should offend again. Let me quote the sequel, from Mr. Whinfield’s abridged translation of the Masnavī (p. 196):
“The torrent of madness bore away his reason
And he spoke more impiously than before:
‘Within my vesture is naught but God,
Whether you seek Him on earth or in heaven.’
His disciples all became mad with horror,
And struck with their knives at his holy body.
Each one who aimed at the body of the Sheykh—
His stroke was reversed and wounded the striker.
No stroke took effect on that man of spiritual gifts,
But the disciples were wounded and drowned in blood.”
Here is the poet’s conclusion:
“Ah! you who smite with your sword him beside himself,
You smite yourself therewith. Beware!
For he that is beside himself is annihilated and safe;
Yea, he dwells in security for ever.
His form is vanished, he is a mere mirror;
Nothing is seen in him but the reflexion of another.
If you spit at it, you spit at your own face,
And if you hit that mirror, you hit yourself.
If you see an ugly face in it, ’tis your own,
And if you see a Jesus there, you are its mother Mary.
He is neither this nor that—he is void of form;
’Tis your own form which is reflected back to you.”
The life of Abu ’l-Hasan Khurqānī, another Persian Sūfī who died in 1033 A.D., gives us a complete picture of the Oriental pantheist, and exhibits the mingled arrogance and sublimity of the character as clearly as could be desired. Since the original text covers fifty pages, I can translate only a small portion of it here.
“Once the Sheykh said, ‘This night a great many persons (he mentioned the exact number) have been wounded by brigands in such-and-such a desert.’ On making inquiry, they found that his statement was perfectly true. Strange to relate, on the same night his son’s head was cut off and laid upon the threshold of his house, yet he knew nothing of it. His wife, who disbelieved in him, cried, ‘What think you of a man who can tell things which happen many leagues away, but does not know that his own son’s head has been cut off and is lying at his very door?’ ‘Yes,’ the Sheykh answered, ‘when I saw that, the veil had been lifted, but when my son was killed, it had been let down again.’”
“One day Abu ’l-Hasan Khurqānī clenched his fist and extended the little finger and said, ‘Here is the qibla,[18] if any one desires to become a Sūfī.’ These words were reported to the Grand Sheykh, who, deeming the co-existence of two qiblas an insult to the divine Unity, exclaimed, ‘Since a second qibla has appeared, I will cancel the former one.’ After that, no pilgrims were able to reach Mecca. Some perished on the way, others fell into the hands of robbers, or were prevented by various causes from accomplishing their journey. Next year a certain dervish said to the Grand Sheykh, ‘What sense is there in keeping the folk away from the House of God?’ Thereupon the Grand Sheykh made a sign, and the road became open once more. The dervish asked, ‘Whose fault is it that all these people have perished?’ The Grand Sheykh replied, ‘When elephants jostle each other, who cares if a few wretched birds are crushed to death?’”
“Some persons who were setting forth on a journey begged Khurqānī to teach them a prayer that would keep them safe from the perils of the road. He said, ‘If any misfortune should befall you, mention my name.’ This answer was not agreeable to them; they set off, however, and while travelling were attacked by brigands. One of the party mentioned the saint’s name and immediately became invisible, to the great astonishment of the brigands, who could not find either his camel or his bales of merchandise; the others lost all their clothes and goods. On returning home, they asked the Sheykh to explain the mystery. ‘We all invoked God,’ they said, ‘and without success; but the one man who invoked you vanished from before the eyes of the robbers.’ ‘You invoke God formally,’ said the Sheykh, ‘whereas I invoke Him really. Hence, if you invoke me and I then invoke God on your behalf, your prayers are granted; but it is useless for you to invoke God formally and by rote.’”
“One night, while he was praying, he heard a voice cry, ‘Ha! Abu ’l-Hasan! Dost thou wish Me to tell the people what I know of thee, that they may stone thee to death?’ ‘O Lord God,’ he replied, ‘dost Thou wish me to tell the people what I know of Thy mercy and what I perceive of Thy grace, that none of them may ever again bow to Thee in prayer?’ The voice answered, ‘Keep thy secret, and I will keep Mine.’”
“He said, ‘O God, do not send to me the Angel of Death, for I will not give up my soul to him. How should I restore it to him, from whom I did not receive it? I received my soul from Thee, and I will not give it up to any one but Thee.’”
“He said, ‘After I shall have passed away, the Angel of Death will come to one of my descendants and set about taking his soul, and will deal hardly with him. Then will I raise my hands from the tomb and shed the grace of God upon his lips.’”
“He said, ‘If I bade the empyrean move, it would obey, and if I told the sun to stop, it would cease from rolling on its course.’”
“He said, ‘I am not a devotee nor an ascetic nor a theologian nor a Sūfī. O God, Thou art One, and through Thy Oneness I am One.’”
“He said, ‘The skull of my head is the empyrean, and my feet are under the earth, and my two hands are East and West.’”
“He said, ‘If any one does not believe that I shall stand up at the Resurrection and that he shall not enter Paradise until I lead him forward, let him not come here to salute me.’”
“He said, ‘Since God brought me forth from myself, Paradise is in quest of me and Hell is in fear of me; and if Paradise and Hell were to pass by this place where I am, both would become annihilated in me, together with all the people whom they contain.’”
“He said, ‘I was lying on my back, asleep. From a corner of the Throne of God something trickled into my mouth, and I felt a sweetness in my inward being.’”
“He said, ‘If a few drops of that which is under the skin of a saint should come forth between his lips, all the creatures of heaven and earth would fall into panic.’”
“He said, ‘Through prayer the saints are able to stop the fish from swimming in the sea and to make the earth tremble, so that people think it is an earthquake.’”
Source notes
[18] The qibla is the point to which Moslems turn their faces when praying, i.e. the Kaʿba.