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64 THE TARJCMAN AL-ASHWAQ (IX)
perfume, and a ringdove flapped her wings and a twig
put forth leaves.
4. They pitched the red tents between rivulets (creeping) like
serpents, amongst which were seated
5. Friendly damsels, bright of countenance, rising like the
.suns, large-eyed, noble, of generous race, and limber.

C(JMMENTARY
1. ‘Al-Abraqan,’ i.e. two manifestations of the Essence, one
in the unseen and one in the visijble Avorld.
‘ Flashes of lightning,’ referring to the variety of forms in
the latter manifestation.
‘ Peals of thunder,’ i.e. the Divine converse
Avhich followed the manifestation. This is a Mosaic ecstasy
for Moses first saw the fire and afterwards
heard God speak. The mention of thunder also signifies tliat
God’s speech was a rebuke.
2. ‘ Their clouds,’ i.e. the ecstasies (J h ^ ') Avhich bring
forth the Divine sciences.
‘ On every meadow,’ i.e. the heart of man together with
the Divine sciences wliich it holds.
‘ On every quivering branch,’ i.e. the straight movement
Avliich is the growth of man i'LAi),
as God .says that He created Adam after His own image ; and
from this station it ‘ bends’, i.e. inclines towards thee that it
may instruct thee.
3. He says, ‘ The valleys of the Divine sciences were
sweet scents of the Divine sciences.’
flooded, and the Avorld of breaths
|Jb) diffused the

‘ A ringdove,’ i.e. the Universal Soul together with the
effect it produces upon tlie Partial Soul, Avhich appears in
the form of the Universal in so far as it possesses the two
faculties of knowledge and action.
‘ A twig,’ i.e. that with which the branches are clothed.
He refers to the verse ‘ Take your becoming vesture at every
mosque ’ (Kor. vii, 29), i.e. the everlasting vesture of God,
which consists in the various kinds of Divine science and gnosis.