| Divine Face Of Jalal ud Din Rumi |
| Mis-Guidance of the Unholy Scribe |
| Before Hazrat Usman (ra) there was a "Katib" scribe for holy Revelation, named Abdallah b. Saad b. Abi Sarah who was a devout recorder of the Revelation. He kept himself enthusiastically busy in noting down the �Revelation�. When Hazrat Muhammad (saw) would relate and explain the �Revelation�, he would immediately note it down on a page. Soon he realized himself to be enlightened by the Divine light of Revelation. His ego had elated and he no more had regarded himself an ordinary person, just a �scribe� but he assumed that he could receive the �Revelation� as well. It happened while he was recording the Ayah from Surah Al-Mominun. He had guessed the last half of a verse. He was so overpowered by the idea that he declared himself a prophet and stood in opposition of Hazrat Muhammad (saw). He was led astray by his skill of writing. Thus he was disgraced and deprived of the honor of being a scribe to Hazrat Muhammad (saw).
Reading and writing are just tools to acquire knowledge. Wisdom is gained through cognition when one acquires full understanding and application of rules and concepts governing various phenomena and discovering the inter-relationship of cause and effect among various phenomenon and not through mere listening to some words and noting them down. To acquire Divine knowledge one needs a status totally different from that of worldly knowledge and skill. |
| Notes |
| If thou have been of Divine Light�s true reflector
Would not stream out of thee such a black water Though kept burning about the issue has been his heart Unable to free from �Ajab� forgiveness he never asked His self-respect would not be injured any more His feelings of remorse had blocked at the core Though sad at heart but that was no good Death approached and his head was slewed God hath made self-respect strength for the believer Strongly tied to this knot at heart are many a leader Pride and insolence doth block the way tightly He is unable to show remorse or repent nicely �Yokes round their necks force up their heads� Not external though are these neck collars (1) �A bar in front, up and behind covered them all� One can�t see blocking his way are these walls (2) The wall is huge like a desert spread to infinity (3) Wall has been raised to follow Divine Decree Thy beloved is in between thee and beloved�s �Face� (4) Thy teacher is in between thee and his lecture, amaze! There are so many believers who are attracted to truth Egos and pride remain as chain in their feet uncouth (5) These bonds are hidden but worse than that of iron (6) �Cause with one strike of spade iron cuffs are broken Iron cuffs have the key, can be unlocked anytime The hidden locks have no key; the shackles chime |
| (1) Rumi has quoted Quran - Surah Yasin (36:8-9) "We have put yokes round their necks right up to their chins, so that their heads are forced up (and they cannot see). And We have put a bar in front of them and a bar behind them, and further, We have covered them up; so that they cannot see." (2) Pride & insolence keep human reason enslaved, tightly knotted to lower soul and unable to escape. (3) Desert a symbol of death and desolation may enact as a wall between two living towns. (4) �Face� here means real self. Working of two or more perceptual organs at a time may create conflict, because one perception may get dominance over the other. Sometimes, we concentrate on �seeing� and ears are blocked. We may get carried away with the apparent manner and style of the teacher that we forget to listen what he�s to say. The attractive aspects of a personality or a situation may captivate our attention such as �a beloved�s face� and we may overlook her temper, or other aspects of personality-the real self. |
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| Translation & Commentary by Seema Arif |
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