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Muntakhab al-tawarikh 175: Verses by the Author .

Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh (Ranking, Lowe, Haig) 175

Language
English

Verses by the Author .

175.1

“ O thou, at the thought of whose face intimacy comes back to me, My desire cannot be borne on paper, As the lofty mountain cannot be weighed in a balance, And as the ocean cannot be measured by a water-gauge. Why should I sing your praises ? They are far beyond the pretensions of the bald style and the impotent rhetoric of me, ‘Abdu-l-Qadir ; and any attempt to comprise them therein would resemble the endeavour to imprison the sea in a jug.” Poetry. “ And what shall I say of my blessings on you ? No bird of devotion flies from me to the lote-tree of Paradise, For no bird bears in his beak a list of my blessings on thee. Why should I say anything of my desire of seeing you again ? Quatrain. O thou whose hand has been held in my two hands, Who hast hindered me from the enjoyment of health, It is impossible that I should record my desire towards thee, The strong desire that I have towards thee. Since the time when you saw fit to take your departure hence to the land where you now dwell, the interpreter of divine secrets, by which expression may be understood the root of the elements of true knowledge, gladdened me by coming to me repeatedly, both for a few days before and a few days after the festival of the new year, conveying to me the truth contained in the following couplet from the Ten Sayings of Good Tidings:— Couplet. ‘This day a tall and comely man, in his own city, Sits with his bride, rejoicing in his good fortune.’

175.2

You wrote with that pen which cherishes the poor and distils musk, “Without a doubt Badaoni excels Dawwani,” etc. I reply to these verses in the following masnavi:— O thou whose tongue is the key of the Hidden Book, Whose pure heart is an outcome of the Infallible, Thy pen hath displayed miracles, The hidden treasures of “Be, and it was.” Thou saidst, with a logic which nourishes the intelligence, “Badaoni is more pleasant than Dawwani.” Whether it be of Dawwani or of Badaoni (that thou speakest), Both subjects receive all their wealth from the treasure house of thy grace. My heart has become the mirror of thy beauty, The place where thy never-failing bounty is displayed. What wonder then if, in regarding it truly, Thou shouldst see thyself there? If these verses be mere ostentation then let this much suffice. Who am I that I should presume in answering you? I have had recourse to poetry, wherein I have loosed the tongue of deprecation, seeking forgiveness, and asking pardon for my remissness in observing the custom of writing friendly letters, a custom which is contrary to the habit and wont of the vulgar, nay, may rather be described as one of the peculiar characteristics of those who are raised above the common herd, as you yourself know well, and, regarding this letter as atonement for my fault, I count it full satisfaction of all that is past.

175.3

As for what you wrote regarding the air of the apartment of fragrant grass, and the iced water, it brought to my mind the following verse:— “Of life (is left) but that which is ice in summer heat.” And reminded me of the saying, “O company of Muslims, have pity upon him whose stock-in-trade has declined,” for it is some days since I have enjoyed that cool air and that iced water. “The wolf’s mouth is bloody, but he has not torn Yusuf,” Verse. “Let him who imagines that love is an easy matter come, and look upon my face, and from its haggardness he will understand that love is a hard matter.” His Majesty, who is near the sun in excellence, has, for some reason, and without the intervention of any person whatsoever, taken the name of me, the humblest of his slaves, on his blessed tongue, expressing some intention of bestowing on me the trusteeship of (the shrine in) the exalted region of Ajmer. Verse. Those tents have vanished from the sight of me, the watcher, Peace be on the dwellers therein, is the wish which I would have conveyed.

175.4

Nevertheless I have not been installed in the office, and it is earnest desire that the effects of this good fortune may soon emerge from the region of probabilities into that of accomplished facts. Then my heart will be independent of the water of the whirlpools of daily life and the unwholesome air of every country, and the coolness of pure truth will become my portion, so that the rubbish-heap of the world will appear to me to be no more than rubbish, and the iced water of the times a mere mirage. My wretched lot impels me to be chanting ever this mournful refrain:— Wonder of wonders that your heart is not disgusted and your soul is not sick With the putrid odours which arise from these unwholesome waters! The ambition and object of me, your well-wisher, is that you will strive to help me in all matters worldly and spiritual, so that when I go to Ajmir I may remember that the name of the place rhymes with Kashmir, inasmuch as each delightful place is the pivot of one of the two axes, or rather the two extremities, north and south, of the same axis, which extends in either direction: “A delectable city, and a forgiving God!” Just as you, in Kashmir, will be drinking the ice-water of the fount Jhalava, so shall I be moistening my tongue with the limpid water of thanks and praise to the Giver of all good things, both spiritual and bodily. Verse. To the bounteous may their bounty be pleasant, And to the poor lover that which he sips.

175.5

A counterpart of my present condition would be the revealing of that which has been disclosed to the inspired. Your servant's son has gone to Badaon, where he is employed in putting up prayers for you. May your sublime shadow never grow less ! Written in the month of Ramazan the blessed, dispensing blessings, in the year H. 1003 (May-June, 1595).” The following ode is one of the productions of the Shaikh’s pearl-scattering and jewel-dispersing pen, which he wrote to me during one of his travels.

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