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THE TARJU.MAN AL-ASHWAQ (X X IX )

Old heirlooms/ i.e. knowledge demonstrated by pi’oofs
derived from another.
‘ New gifts,’ i.e. knowledge of which the proof is bestowed
by God and occurs to one’s own mind as the result of .sound
reflection.
8. ‘ Covering their faces for shame,’ i.e. they are ashamed
to reveal themselves to those whose hearts are eenerallv
occupied with something other than God, viz. the ordinary
believers de.seribed in Kor. ix, 103.
9. ' Teeth like pearls,’ i.e*the sciences of Divine majesty.
10. ‘ Experienced in the wfirs,’ etc., i.e. able to distinguisli
the real from the phenomenal in the similitudes presented to
the eye.
11. ‘ From their bosoms,’ i.e. from the Divine attributes.
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‘ New moons,’ i.e. a manifestation in the horizon ( a:\
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‘ Which surtbr no eclipse,’ i.e. they are not subject to any
natural lust that veils them from the Divine Ideas.
13. ‘ A slender girl,’ i.e. the single, subtle, and essential
knowledge of God.
14f. ‘ She established the hanhony of union,’ i.e. this
knowledge concentrated me upon myself and united me
with my Lord,
‘ Arab,’ i.e. it caused me to know myself fi’om myself.
‘ Foreign,’ i.e. it caused me to know myself from God,
because the Divine knowledge is synthetic and does
not admit of analysis except by means of comparison; and
use the latter term in order to convey to tlie reader’s
since comparison is imijossible, therefore analysis is impossible^
whence it follows that synthesis also is impossible, and I only

intelligence a meaning that is not to be apprehended save
by immediate feeling and intuition.
‘ Forget,’ i.e. his knowledge and himself.
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1.5. ‘ A dazzling levin,’ i.e. a manifestation of the Essence
in the state of beauty and joy.
16. ‘ 0 my comrades’ : he means his understanding and
his faith.