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66          THE  TAIUUMAN  AL-ASHWAQ  (X,  Xl)

           become  His  slave ? ’  When a man  realizes God  in  the  sense
           of ‘ I am  His hearing and  His sight  this station justifies the
           attribution to him of whatever is attributed to God.
             2.    He  says,  ‘ I  am  like  a  mirror  to  thee,  and  in  those
           qualities  with  which  I  am  invested  thou  beholdest  thyself,
           not me, but  thou  beholdest  them  in  my human  nature whidi
           has received this investiture.’
             This  is  the  vision  of  God  in  created  things,  which  in  the
           opinion  of  some  is  more  exalted  than  the  vision  of  created
           things in God.

                                        XI
           1.  0   doves  that  haunt  the  ar&lc  and  hAn  trees,  have  pitj’ !
                  Do  not  double  my  woes  by  your  lamentation !
           2.  Have  pity !  Do  not  reveal,  by  wailing  and weeping, my
                  hidden  desires  and  my  secret  sorrows !
           3.  I  respond  to her, at  eve  and  morn, with  the  plaintive  cry
                  of  a  longing  man  and  the  moan  of  an  impassioned
                  lover.
           4.  The  spirits  faced  one  another  in  the  thicket  of,  ghadd
                  trees  and  bent  their branches towards me, and it (the
                  bending)  annihilated  m e;
           5.  And  they  brought  me  divers  sorts  of  tormenting  desire
                  and  passion  and  untried  affliction.
           6.  Who will give  me  sure  promise  of  Jam'  and  al-Muhassab
                  of Mind ?  Who of Dhat al-Athl ?  Who of Na'mdn ?
           7.  They encompass  my heart  moment  after  moment, for  the
             8.  Even  as  the  best  of  mankind  encompassed  the  Ka'ba,
                  sake  of  love  and  anguish, and  kiss  my  pillars,

                  which  the  evidence  of  Reason  proclaims  to  be
                  imperfect,
           9.  And  kissed  stones  therein,  although  he  was  a  Natiq
                  (prophet).'  And  what  is  the  rank  of  the  Temple  in
                  comparison  with  the  dignity  of  Man ?

             *  In  the  Ismd'iH  system  Muhammad,  regarded  as  an  incarnation  of
           Univ'ersal Reason,  is the Natiq of tlie  sixth  proj)hetic  cj'cle.  See  Professor
           Browne’s Literary History of Persia,  i,  408 seq.
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