Ismaili.NET - Heritage F.I.E.L.D.

Who forced you to go for all this

eating and running around and sleeping and waking up

and what s the good of it? If this fate

didn t tickle your palate, why

have you spent your life guzzling and snoring?

How have you become such a disaster to yourself?

Tell the truth (wise men always tell the truth):

if you yourself destined to such a fate

then you must be your own Maker!

but this is manifestly bad doctrine. No,

the truth is that God s chains are upon you

and this abode is your pasturing place.

But munching grass and chewing cud

- damn! - this is work for cows!

How then do you explain your curious love

for the pasture? Ah, gourmet of hay,

all your fear and sorrow is the fear

of decrease - which cannot be avoided.

How in this hurlyburly world do you expect

to find permanence? Becoming the Change

to the wise are signs of Annihilation.

Your state changes, the stars shift about

day gives way to night - are these

not witnesses of the world s impermanence?

My dear tourist; this earth is like

a room in a onenight hotel, your journey

towards to Abode of Eternity.

Do not forget your passing from this place -

even if the house is torn down

religion prospers. Do not debase yourself

for finally someday however late a last

you must depart this caravanserai.

Make your provision for the road

obedience to God, devotion

the coin you spend on this difficult journey.

Gird yourself in armour of godliness and wisdom

for there lurks along the path a hideous dragon.

When you reach the fork, choose the best way

for one street lead to felicity, the other to Hell.

When the Prophet himself has come to you

with promise and threats, how can you claim

that Good and Evil are written, kismet, Fate?

Why try to shift the burden of sin and sloth

on to the shoulders of Destiny? Nonesense!

If God destined you to sin

then - according to you - the sin is God s

the evil-doer is God (hideous belief!)

Even if you don t dare to draw

the logical conclusion, in fear of getting

knocked on the head. Yes, that s your doctrine

even if your tongue proclaims Him Judge

the Wisest of Men, God knows

your tongue and heart do not agree - but you

lie boldfaced to the Lord of the Universe.

The wiseman treads midway

between Fate and Freewill

the path of the learned threads between hope and fear.

Seek you the Straight Way likewise

for either extreme leads to pain and suffering.

Straight indeed is that Way in religion

approved by Intellect, the gift of God to Man.

Justice is the Cornerstone of the Cosmos

- and consider! - by what faculty is justice

distinguished from tyranny except by Reason?

If man follows the tracks of Reason

it would not be wrong to expect to see

pearls spring up in his footprints from the soil.

Reason - Wisdom - only for this

and its radiant dignity does the Lord

of the Universe applaud and deign to address

his creature Man. Wisdom is the prop

for every weakness, relief from every sorrow

comfort in every fear, balm for each ill

noble companion, bulwark in the way of the world

and in religion a trusty guide, a stout staff.

Even if the whole Universe were free

it would be in bondage - but the wiseman

even in chains would be at liberty.

The Sage! Study him well with an awakened eye

and see by contrast with what black plague

this ignorant world is afflicted.

This one tells All actions are performed

? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? (missing whilst photocopying)

submission and contentment. That one replies

All good is from God, all evil, O World

your work alone . But both parties

Agree on one thing at least, that a Great Day

is coming, a day of reward and punishment.

But if the work is not mine, how

shall be rewarded? Look: Illogic!!!

Where s the justice in chastising the innocent?

You may see it but I am nonplussed. No,

this arbitrator of your ( your in italic) judgement day

is the Drunkard of Sodom, not the Wise Being

who has built the vault of Heaven.

True wisdom could never lead us astray

in such error - then follow Wisdom s manifest Way.

Know the God of the Universe and be grateful -

these two precepts are worth more to you

than all the powers of Solomon.

Learn to be wise. Do not prattle

but speak in measure. Know that on the Last Day

these things have value, these are priceless.

The True Man is robed in Faith and virtue

- even fine silks cannot disguise

the art-less and wicked. Endeavour

to become a man by SPEECH - know

that for such a man all creatures

are but weeds and thorns. GOOD SPEECH

is to man s heart a air and water

to his body - a source of life.

Listen then O noble heart to the PROOF

for to the truly noble, his words are nobility.