A Supplication which Occurred to Me in Persian

A Supplication which Occurred

to Me in Persian

[This supplication occurred to my heart in Persian and was therefore written as such. [^6] It was first included in my published work, Hubab.]

[^6]:The Supplication is included in the original together with an enlarged Turkish rendering, which is the basis of the translation here. (Tr.)

O my Sustainer! Heedlessly not trusting in You but in my own power and will, I cast an eye over ‘the six aspects’ searching for a cure for my ills. Alas, I could find no cure for them, and I understood I was being told: “Are your ills not sufficient as cure for you?”

In heedlessness I looked to the past on my right to find solace, but I saw that yesterday appeared as my father’s grave and past time as the vast tomb of all my forbears. It filled me with horror rather than consolation.(∗)

(∗) Belief shows that horrific vast grave to be a familiar and enlightened meeting and a gathering of friends.

Then I looked to the future on the left, but again could find no cure. For tomorrow appeared as my grave and the future as the vast tomb of my contemporaries and the forthcoming generations; it afforded a feeling not of familiarity, but of fright.(∗)

(∗) Belief and the peace of belief shows that terrible huge grave to be a feast of the Most Merciful in delightful palaces of bliss.

Since no good appeared from the left either, I looked at the present day and I saw that it resembled a bier; it was bearing my desperately struggling corpse.(∗)

(∗) Belief shows the bier to be a place of trade and a glittering guesthouse.

Thus, I could find no cure from this aspect either, so I raised my head and looked at the top of the tree of my life. But I saw that its single fruit was my corpse; it was looking down on me from the tree-top.(∗)

(∗) Belief shows the tree’s fruit to be not the corpse, but the worn-out home of my spirit, which will manifest eternal life and is destined for everlasting happiness, from which it has departed to travel among the stars.

Despairing of that aspect too, I lowered my head. I looked and saw that the dust of my bones underfoot had mixed with the dust of my first creation. It afforded no cure, but added further pain to my ills.(∗)