18 quotes
This universe is a drop from the ocean of his beauty, unable from its fulness to find place in the parent bosom.
Attributed Pebbles, Pearls and Gems of the Orient (1882)
The prophets hear in their mind voices that others never perceive, as the voices of the Peris, which, although they sound out clearly, are never apprehended by our ears.
Attributed Pebbles, Pearls and Gems of the Orient (1882)
As the stranger, far distant in foreign climes, draws towards home, so the soul, from midst of this world of multiplicity, pants and soars upward to the Unity.
Attributed Pebbles, Pearls and Gems of the Orient (1882)
Ah, me! so poor, can I declare that friend, who never had another friend his like,—none, therefore, who could know his soul?
Attributed Pebbles, Pearls and Gems of the Orient (1882)
As water from the glasses is all poured into one vessel, so all the praises are mingled together. Since He that is celebrated is wholly one, all religions form but one religion.
Attributed Pebbles, Pearls and Gems of the Orient (1882)
The compass only serves to direct the prayers of those who are outside of the Caaba, whilst within it no one knows the use of it.
Attributed Pebbles, Pearls and Gems of the Orient (1882)
Seek truth from thought, not in mouldy books. Look in the sky to find the moon, not in the pool.
Attributed Pebbles, Pearls and Gems of the Orient (1882)
If this world were our abiding place, we might complain that it makes our bed so hard: But it is only our night-quarters on a journey; and who can expect home comforts?
Attributed Pebbles, Pearls and Gems of the Orient (1882)
O heart! weak follower of the weak,
That thou shouldst traverse land and sea,
In this far place that God to seek
Who long ago had come to thee!
Attributed Pebbles, Pearls and Gems of the Orient (1882)
Thou, nearer to me than I to myself.
Attributed Pebbles, Pearls and Gems of the Orient (1882)
Supreme Being soars above thought and imagination. We are lost when we would comprehend or even suspect that which he is. How vain, then, to seek words worthy of that Being! Let it suffice us to adore in reverent silence!
Attributed Pebbles, Pearls and Gems of the Orient (1882)
When rises the sun and chases the night,
What need have we then of the lamp for a light?
When the friend all beloved appears to the eye,
What want dost thou feel that the post bring him nigh?
But when the rose-time is past, and the rose-bloom gone by,
Then gladly the eye seeks the water of roses to spy.
Is the Master within to thy soul not revealed?
Well then may’st thou turn to the Volume of message unsealed.
Attributed Pebbles, Pearls and Gems of the Orient (1882)
Rabia, sick upon her bed,
By two saints was visited,
Holy Malik, Hassan wise,—
Men of mark in Moslem eyes.
Hassan says, "Whose prayer is pure
Will God's chastisements endure."
Malik, from a deeper sense,
Uttered his experience:
"He who hears his Master's voice
Will in chastisement rejoice."
Rabia saw some selfish will
In their maxims lingering still,
And replied, "O men of grace!
He who sees his Master's face,
Will not in his prayer recall
That he is chastised at all."
Attributed Pebbles, Pearls and Gems of the Orient (1882)
"Tell me, gentle traveller, thou
Who hast wandered far and wide,
Seen the sweetest roses blow
And the brightest rivers glide,—
Say, of all thine eyes have seen,
Which the fairest land has been."
"Lady, shall I tell thee where
Nature seems most blest and fair,
Far above all climes beside?—
’Tis where those we love abide;
And that little spot is best
Which the loved one’s foot hath pressed.
"Though it be a fairy space,
Wide and spreading is the place;
Though ’twere but a barren mound,
’Twould become enchanted ground.
With thee, yon sandy waste would seem
The margin of Al Cawthar's stream;
And thou canst make a dungeon’s gloom
A bower where new-born roses bloom.
Attributed Pebbles, Pearls and Gems of the Orient (1882)
The reed bewailed departed bliss and present woe: "Plucked untimely from my native banks, my heart is torn, that through me may sound the notes that charm the grave and gay. Who that hears my strains knows the secret of my bleeding heart?" Not fruitless was the pain of the reed that made it melodious. And thou, brave heart, arise. Be free of every chain, though blazing with gold. Be nobly bold. Follow the true bride of thy life, though her name be Sorrow. Let the shell perish, that the pearl may appear. Men may not know the secret of thy sad life, but through a bruised heart must be breathed the strain of love and hope which shall enrapture human souls.
Attributed Pebbles, Pearls and Gems of the Orient (1882)
I was, ere a name had been named upon earth,
Ere one trace yet existed of aught that has birth;
When the locks of the Loved One streamed forth for a sign,
And being was none save the Presence Divine.
Ere the veil of the flesh for Messiah was wrought,
To the godhead I bowed in prostration of thought.
I measured intently, I pondered with heed
(But, ah, fruitless my labor!) the cross and its creed.
To the pagod I rushed and the magian's shrine,
But my eye caught no glimpse of a glory divine.
The reins of research to the Caaba I bent,
Whither, hopefully thronging, the old and young went.
Candahár and Herát searched I wistfully through,
Nor above nor beneath came the Loved One to view.
I toiled to the summit, wild, pathless, and lone,
Of the globe-girding Kâf, but the phœnix had flown.
The seventh earth I traversed, the seventh heaven explored,
But in neither discerned I the court of the Lord.
I questioned the pen and the tablet of fate,
But they whispered not where He pavilions his state.
My vision I strained, but my God-scanning eye
No trace that to godhead belongs could descry.
But when I my glance turned within my own breast,
Lo, the vainly sought Loved One, the godhead confessed!
In the whirl of its transport my spirit was tossed,
Till each atom of separate being I lost;
And the bright sun of Tauriz, a madder than me,
Or a wilder, hath never yet seen, nor shall see.
Attributed Pebbles, Pearls and Gems of the Orient (1882)
I once journeyed long, said Dakiki, seeking the souls wherein my friend had mirrored himself,—in the drop of the: bucket to find the sea and its wealth, in the atoms, in the sunbeam, to know the great sun.
I came in my wanderings to the shore of ocean, where time and space disappeared from my thought. Seven lights I saw, whose flames lapped the heavens. Again the lights flowed together, the lights joined in one whose splendor cleft the bosom of the skies. Amazed, overcome, I sank to the ground; but when I awoke, instead of the flame, seven persons I see walking on shore. I could not trust my eyes, since; instead of seven men, seven trees come to view. Their peaks transcend the throne-dwelling of God, their roots pierce the inmost recesses of earth and the deeps.
But, wonder of wonders over all! to no eyes but mine was the vision revealed. Hundred thousands pass along there, but never one sees the trees and their fruits. A strange spell is upon their organs: they see the mote in the sunbeam, but never the sun.
I shout to them, Hither: come here, eat this fruit, living bread you shall find. They laugh at me, call me foolish, giddy, and demented. But I know I don’t dream. Yet never could I hold my senses sound, were it not that every instant the fruits refresh and inspire me.
Then of a sudden again the fruits and trees evanish, and seven persons appear before me. Seven blend in one, one flows out and divides into seven.
Attributed Pebbles, Pearls and Gems of the Orient (1882)
"Allah!" was all night long the cry of one oppressed with care,
Till softened was his heart, and sweet became his lips with prayer.
Then near the subtle tempter stole, and spake: "Fond babbler, cease!
For not an 'Here am I' has God e'er sent to give thee peace."
With sorrow sank the suppliant's soul, and all his senses fled;
But, lo! at midnight the good angel Chiser came and said:
"What ails thee now, my child, and why art thou afraid to pray?
And why thy former love dost thou repent? declare and say."
"Ah!" cries he, "never once spake God to me, 'Here am I, son.'
Cast off, methinks I am, and warned far from his gracious throne."
To whom the angel answered: "Hear the word from God I bear:
'Go tell,' he said, 'yon mourner, sunk in sorrow and despair,
Each "Lord, appear!" thy lips pronounce, contains my "Here am I!"
A special messenger I send beneath thine every sigh,
And, sleeping in thy "Come, O Lord!" there lies "Here, son!" from me.'"
Attributed Pebbles, Pearls and Gems of the Orient (1882)