Page 118 - 47176

106 THE TAIUU.MAN AL-ASHWAQ (X XV III)

doctrine of some speculative theologians, wlio maintain tliat
our knowledoe of God and Gabriel’s knowlcdije of Him
and His knowledge of Himself are the same. How far is
this from the truth !
5. ‘ A flash fi'oin the licfhtnino: of that tire-stone,’ i.e. an
inanimate, phenomenal, and earthly manifestation.
9. ‘ O camel-driver,’ i.e. the voice of God calling the
aspirations to Himself.
‘ The fire,’ i.e. the fire of lov'e.
10-11. He says that his eyes'•nave been melted away by
the tears which he shed in anticipation of parting.
12. ‘ To the valley of the curving .sands,’ i.e. the station
of mercy and tenderness.
‘ My death-bed,’ because the Divine mercy causes him to
pass away in bewilderment.
13. ‘ Beside the waters of al-Ajra‘’ : because this mercy
is the result of painful self-mortification (J,

14. ‘ One dismissed,’ i.e one who has come to himself
again after contemplation, according to the tradition that
God .says, after having shown Himself to His servants in
Paradise, ‘ Send them back to their pavilions.’
16. ‘ A darkness,’ i.e. the forms in which the manifesta­
tion takes place.
‘ Take from him something,’ etc., i.e. take from him what­
ever is related to himself, and leave whatever is not related
to himself, so that only the Divine Spirit may remain in him.
of attaining the reality of that which I seek, and I grieve
21. ‘Foe I am dead of despair and anguish,’ i.e. I despair

for the time spent in a vain search for it.
‘ As though I were fixed in my place,’ i.e. I cannot
escape from my present state, inasmuch as it is without
place, quantity, and quality, being purely transcendental
sj^ ).
22. ‘ Cheating phantoms,’ i.e. the similes and images in
which God, who has no like, is presented to us by the
world of breaths Jls).