—the tears of David, Jesus wandering with the wild beasts, and Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, grappling with poverty and every form of hurt; yet you strut about in idle play and amusement?!
Alas for her abode—how bitter the sorrow! The visit lies close at hand, yet between it and us stand horrors untold. (1)
• The war is in full swing while you, unarmed, sit in the spectators’ gallery; should you so much as set foot in the stirrup, it will be only to taste defeat.
• Whoever has never stood beneath the blazing midday sun in pursuit of glory will never recline in the cool shade of honor.
Sulaymā says, “If only you would remain in our land…,” yet she does not know that I roam precisely so as not to stay. (2)
It was said to one devoted worshipper, “How long will you go on wearing yourself out?” He replied, “It is her rest that I seek.”
• O you who have been honored with the robe of faith after the robe of well-being, yet you wear them threadbare in disobeying the Creator! Do not object when they are taken from you; one who uses the Benefactor’s favor in what He hates deserves to be deprived of it.
• The brides of created things have adorned themselves before the onlookers, so that He may test who among them prefers them to the brides of the Hereafter. Whoever grasps the vast difference will choose what truly deserves preference.
When the beauties of the cosmos revealed themselves,
they approached me, saying, “Come to us.” (3)
I feigned blindness, as though I had not seen them,
for my true goal already stood before my eyes.
• The stars of the gnostics’ aspirations travel through the constellations of their resolute wills, and in that sky there is no baleful Saturn.