photo from Persian Heritage dot net
One of the greatest teachers of Qonya was one day giving a lecture on a terraced roof, when suddenly he heard the sound of a lute. He exclaimed: "These lutes are an innovation on the prophetic usages. They must be interdicted."Forth with, the form of Jelal appeared before him, and answered: "That must not be." On this the teacher fainted away.
When he regained his consciousness, he sought to make his peace with Jelal, by sending an apology and a recantation to him, through the medium of Jelal's son, Sultan Veled; but Jelal would not accept them. He answered: "It would be easier to convert seventy Roman bishops to Islam, than to clear away from the mind of that teacher the stains of hate, and so set him on the right road. His soul is as foul as the paper on which children practise their writing exercises."
At length, however, he allowed himself to be appeased by his son; so that he permitted the teacher, with his pupils, to constitute themselves his disciples.
Jelal one day addressed his son, saying: "Baha'u-'d-Din, dost thou wish to love thy enemy, and to be loved of him? Speak well of him, and extol his virtues. He will then be thy friend; and for this reason: In like manner as there is a road open between the heart and the tongue, so also is there a way from the tongue to the heart. The love of God may be found by bearing His comely names. God hath said: 'O My servants, take ye heed that ye often commemorate Me, so that sincerity may abound.'
The more that sincerity prevails, the more do the rays of the light of truth shine into the heart. The hotter a baker's oven is, the more bread will it bake; if cool, it will not bake at all."
The Mesnevi was "translated" in 1881 by Sir James W. Redhouse (who along with his many linguistic and inter-cultural interests and skills, negotiated a number of peace efforts)
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Love Your Enemy World Scriptures unification dot net
1 comment:
I apologize if I didn't quite post this in the right way or with the right translation. I will be most happy to correct it or to remove it, given especially that I was so assuming as to post it where the experts would see and perhaps take offense? :)
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