QUESTION 3
| WHAT is the union of the contingent and the necessary? |
| What are "near" and "far," "more" and "Less"? |
Answer
| THE world of how and why has three dimension | |
| Intellect controls its quantitative aspect. | |
| This is the world of Tusi and Euclid.1 | |
| The fit object of earth-measuring intellect.2 | |
| Its time and space are relative, | 5 |
| And so are its earth and sky. | |
| Draw your bow and find the target, | |
| Learn from me the secret of ascension. | |
| Do not seek the Absolute in this mundane | |
| For the Absolute is nothing but the Light of the Heavens.3 | 10 |
| Reality is beyond time and space, | |
| Don't say any more that the universe is without a limit. | |
| Its limit is internal, not external; | |
| There are no distinctions of low and high, more or less, in its internal aspect. | |
| Its internal aspect is devoid of high and low, | 15 |
| But its external aspect is liable to extension,4 | |
| Infinity is not amenable to our intellect, | |
| "One" in its hand becomes a thousand. | |
| As it is lame, it likes rest; | |
| It does not see the kernel; it therefore looks towards the shell. | 20 |
| As we divided Reality into several spheres, | |
| We made a distinction of change and rest. | |
| In non-spatial sphere intellect introduced spatial categories, | |
| Like a belt5 it girdled time round its waist. | |
| We did not look for time within the depth of our hearts, | 25 |
| And so we created months and years, nights and, days.6 | |
| Your months and years are of no value: | |
| 'Just ponder over the Qur'anic verse, "How long did you remain? "7 | |
| Reach within yourself and retire from this noisy world, | 30 |
| Throw yourself into the inner recesses of your heart. | |
| To talk of body and soul as two separate entities is wrong; | |
| To see them as two is sinful. | |
| The whole secret of the universe lies in the soul, | |
| Body is one- of its modes of expression. | |
| The bride of Reality adorned itself by the henna of form, | 35 |
| It assumed different shapes for its manifestation. | |
| Reality weaves veils for its face, | |
| For it finds delight in display. | |
| Since the West viewed body and soul as separate, | |
| It also regarded State and Religion as two. | 40 |
| The churchman only tells his beads, | |
| For he has no work of the State to perform., | |
| See deceit and artifice in state craft: | |
| It is a body without a soul, or a soul without a body. | |
| Make intellect a companion of your heart; | 45 |
| Behold, for instance, the Turkish nation. | |
| By imitation of the West, the Turks lost their individuality; | |
| They did not see any link between State and Religion.8 | |
| We looked at the One as compound of so many parts | |
| That we created numerals to count it. | 50 |
| Do you think that this ancient world is a handful of earth? | |
| It is a fleeting moment of God's activity.9 | |
| The scientists tend to adorn a dead body, | |
| They neither possess the Hand of Moses10 nor the Breath of Jesus.11 | |
| I have seen nothing of value in this type of science, | 55 |
| I have been craving for a wisdom of another sort. | |
| I believe that the world is undergoing a revolution, | |
| Its inside is alive and in convulsions. | |
| Pass beyond your numerals, | |
| Look for a while within your self and leave. | 60 |
| In a universe where a part is greater than the whole,12 | |
| The calculations of Razi and Tusi are irrelevant.13 | |
| For a while familiarise yourself with Aristotle, | |
| For another while sit in the company of Bacon.14 | |
| But then you must pass beyond their stand, | 65 |
| Don't get lost in this stage, journey on. | |
| With the aid of that intellect that deals with quantities | |
| Probe the depths of mines and oceans, | |
| Master the world of how and why, | |
| Catch the moon and pleiads from the sky. | 70 |
| But then learn wisdom of another sort, | |
| Free yourself from the snare of night and day. | |
| Your real place is beyond this mundane world, | |
| Aspire for a right that is without a left. |