were he to get up and recuperate, and reward him were he to regain his health and recover—I am writing in a state of well-being that would be complete with being in the Sheikh’s presence, and in a state of prosperity that would be in perfect order by being honored by his noble person, his blessed mind, and his countenance.
God, the most Noble—His names be sanctified—knows that if I had yearned to meet him—may God always support him!—as a bereft mother camel yearns for her calf, or a bird with chicks for its nest, or a dove for its mate, or a gazelle for its fawn, it would have been one of those things changed by the course of nights and days, years and ages; rather, it is the yearning of the thirsty for water, the fearful for safety, the snake-bitten for recovery, the drowning for rescue, the perturbed for quiet of mind—nay the yearning of the Sheikh’s precious soul for God’s praise and glory; for I have seen how it is drawn toward these things as components are drawn toward their elements and basic principles toward their substances.3 If God grants me a fullness of life that enables me to delight in seeing the Sheikh and to hold fast on to the rope of his affection, then I shall be like the nocturnal traveler who lays down his staff, praises4 his nightly journey, and whose heart and mind are gladdened and delighted; he is like someone untouched by evil, not betrayed by an enemy, not worn away by setting out at night and returning in the morning. Perhaps God will grant me this, today or tomorrow—in Him is our trust.
2.2
وأنا أسأل الله على التَدَاني والنوى والبعاد، إمتاعَه بالفضل الذي استعلى على عاتقه وغاربه، واستولى على مَشارقه ومَغاربه، فمن مَرَّ على بحره الهيّاج، ونظر في لألاء بَدرِه الوهّاج، خليقٌ بأن يَكبُوَ قلمُه بأنامله، ويَنبُوَ طَبعُه عن رسائله، إلا أن يُلقِى إليه بالمقاليد، أو يَستَوهِبَه إقليدًا من الأقاليد، فيكون منسوبًا إليه، ومحسوبًا عليه، ونازلا في شِعبِه، وأحد أصحابه وحِزبِه، وشرارةَ ناره، وقُراضَةَ ديناره، وسَمَلَ بحره، وثَمَد غَمره. وهيهات!
ضاق فِترٌ عن مَسيرِ
ليس التكَحُّلُ في العَيْنيْن كالكَحَلِ
| خُلقوا أَسخياءَ لا متساخي | نَ وليس السخيُّ من يتساخى |
لا سيّما وأخلاقُ النفس تَلزَمُها لزومَ الألوان للأبدان، لا يَقدِر الأبيض على السواد، ولا الأسود على البياض، ولا الشجاع على الجُبن، ولا الجبان على الشجاعة، قال أبو بكر العَرْزَميّ:
| يَفِرُّ جَبانُ القومِ عن أُمّ رأسِه | ويحمي شُجاعُ القوم مَنْ لا يناسبُهْ |
| ويُرزَقُ معروفَ الجَوادِ عَدُوُّهُ | ويُحرم معروفَ البخيلِ أقاربُهْ |
| ومَن لا يكُفّ الجهْلَ عَمّن يوَدُّه | فسوف يكُفّ الجهلَ عَمّن يواثبُهْ |
I ask God, despite the need to come closer, the distance, and the remoteness, to let the Sheikh enjoy the excellence that has risen high upon his shoulders and which has conquered East and West. For if one traverses his raging sea of knowledge and considers the brilliance of his radiant full moon, one’s pen is apt to falter in one’s fingers and one’s natural talent will fail to impress itself5 on one’s epistles, unless one hands to him the keys or asks him to bestow one of the keys of his knowledge, so that one could be affiliated to him, in his debt, as someone who has come down to his mountain path, one of his associates and his party; a spark of his fire, a sliver of his gold dinar, a drop of his ocean, a puddle of his flood—Alas, how remote!
A span is too short for a journey;6
Applying kohl to the eyes is not like having coal-black eyes;7
They were created generous, not feigning to be generous:
the generous is he who does not feign generosity;8
—especially since the characteristics of the soul cleave to it like colors to bodies: white cannot turn black, nor black white. Nor can a brave man be cowardly, or a coward brave. Abū Bakr al-ʿArzamī says:
The coward among men flees, abandoning his nearest and dearest,9
while the brave among men will defend those unrelated to him.
A munificent man’s favor will be granted to his enemy,
while the favor of a miser will be denied to his relatives.
He who does not refrain from brutishness to those who love him
will refrain from brutishness toward those who assail him.
2.3
ومن أين للضَّباب صوْبُ السحاب، وللغُراب هُوِىُّ العُقاب! وكيف وقد أصبح ذِكرُه في مواسِمِ الذكر أذاناً، وعلى مَعالم الشكر لسانًا! فمَن دافع العِيان، وكابَرَ الإنْس والجان، واستَبدَّ بالإفْكِ والبُهتان، كان كمن صالَبَ بوَقاحتِه الحجر، وحاسن بقَباحتِه القمر، وهذَى وهذَر، وتعاطى فعقَر، وكان كمحموم بُلسِم فعفر، ونادى على نفسه بالنقص في البدو والحضر، وكان كما قال من يعنيه ولا يشكّ فيه :
| كناطحٍ صخْرةً يومًا لِيَفلقَها | فلم يَضِرْها وأَوْهَى قَرنَه الوعِلُ |
ورُوي أنّ رسول الله – صلّى الله عليه وسلّم، وزاده شرفاً لديه – قال: لعن الله ذا اللسانين، لعن الله كلّ شقَّارٍ، لعن الله كلّ قَتَّات.
How could a fog compare with a downpour from the clouds? How could the crow swoop like the eagle? How to compare oneself to the Sheikh, whose name, when mentioned in the sessions of recollection, has become a call to prayer, a tongue to express the landmarks of gratitude?10 He who rejects
