Dear friend,
Your heart is a polished mirror. You must wipe
it clean of the veil of dust which has gathered upon it, because it is destined
to reflect the light of divine secrets.
When the light from Allah
(Who) is the light of the heavens and
the earth … begins to shine upon the regions of your heart, the lamp of the
heart will be lit. The lamp of the heart is
in a glass, the glass is as it were a brightly shining star… Then within
that heart, the lightning-shaft of divine discoveries strikes. This
lightning-shaft will emanate from the thunderclouds of meaning neither of the East nor of the West, lit
from a blessed olive tree … and throw light upon the tree of discovery, so
pure, so transparent that it sheds light
though fire does not touch it. Then the lamp of wisdom is lit by itself.
How can it remain unlit when the light of Allah’s secrets shines over it?
If only the light of divine secrets shines upon it, the night
sky of secrets is lit with thousands of stars… and by the stars (you) find (your) way… It is not the stars that guide us but the
divine light. For Allah has … decked the
lower heaven with beauty (in) the
stars. If only the lamp of divine secrets be kindled in your inner self the
rest will come, either all at once or little by little. Some you already know,
some we will tell you here. Read, listen, try to understand. The dark skies of
unconsciousness will be lit by divine presense and the peace and beauty of the
full moon, which will rise from horizon shedding light upon light, ever rising in the sky, passing through its
appointed stages as Allah has … ordained
for it mansions, until it shines in glory in the center of the sky, dispersing
the darkness of heedlessness. (I swear) by
the night when it is still… By the glorious morning light… your night of
unconsciousness will see the brightness of the day. Then you will inhale the
perfume of remembrance and repent in the
early hours of the morning of unconsciousness and regret your life spent in
sleep. You will hear the songs of the morning nightingales and you will hear
them say
They
were In the habit of sleeping but little by night, and in the hours of early
dawn they (were found) praying for
forgiveness.
Allah
guides to His light whom He pleases.
Then you will see from the horizon of Divine Reason the sun
of inner knowledge rising. It is your private sun, for you are the one whom
Allah guides and are on the right path
and not the one He leaves in error, And
you will understand the secret that
It
is not given to the sun to catch up with the moon, nor can the night outstrip
the day. Each swims along in (its appointed) orbit.
Finally, the knot will be untied in accordance with the parables which Allah sets forth for men,
and Allah is the Knower of all things, and the veils will lift and shells
will shatter, revealing the fine beneath the coarse; the truth will uncover her
face.
All this will begin when the mirror of your heart is
cleansed. The light of the divine secrets will fall upon it if you are willing
and ask for Him, from Him, with Him.
