293

in the individual who has not yet been liberated
from the idea of something double in himself, and
he to whom an atom of something else but that one
remains attached is reckoned, by all professors of
unity and by all perfect saints,, to be one who gives
partners to God or an infidel, and in a state of defi-
ciency.

tk It behoves thce to keep neither soul nor body,
*' And if they both remain, I do not remain ;
" As long as a hair of thec remains upon its place,
tk Know, by this one hair, thy foot remains fettered.
" As long as thou playest not at once thy life,
'' I shall consider thee as polluted and impious/'

* Why dost thou not thyself produce revelation, so that thou mayest
* always be illuminated? *

follows the translation of a passage taken from the Masnavi of the cele-
brated Jelal eddin Kumf, which passage, we may agree with Silvestre de
Sacy, admirably expresses this mystic doctrine in the form of an apo-
logue: " A man knocked at the door of his friend. The latter asked:
" 4 Who art thou, my dear?'—' It is I.'—* In this case, be off; I cannot
4* * at present receive thee; there is no place at my board for one who is
" * still raw; such a man cannot be sufficiently dressed (that is ma-
** * tured) and cured of hypocrisy, but by the fire of separation and
44 ' refusal.' The unfortunate man departed. He employed a whole
*' year in travelling, consuming himself in the flames of desire and afflic-
" tion, caused by the absence of his friend. Matured and perfected by
'* his long trial, he again approached the door of his friend and knocked
** modestly, fearful that an uncivil word might again fall from his own
«« lips. — < who is there?' was asked from the interior of the house.'—
41 ' Dear friend, it is thyself who art at the door.'—4 Because it is myself,
" enter to-day; this house can contain no other than I.' " — (Sec Notices
*t Extracts des WSS., vol. XII. pp. 430-431, note 4).
" The words between asterisks are not joined in the text to the verses: