8. Hermeneutics (The Garden)
Windowless revolving turquoise dome: why
is it sometimes a garden, sometimes a wilderness?
First house Ive ever heard of half-desert
half-rosebed, blossoming when you turn your back
on the wasteland. And a black globe
hangs suspended in the middle of the livingroom -
look: no wires. Whos the magician?
A better trick than King Solomons Throne?
Earth - a great tablecloth spread with delicacies
out there on the veranda. When they ask you
to join the feast, think for a moment:
do you deserve it? What about it?
O you whose back is bent like an umbrella.
Look: that eye-in-the-sky, staring,
staring at the earth, looking for the
secret mine-full of jewels, reaching out
with four hands ( Spring, Summer, Winter, Fall).
The jewel is dug out and planted
in another mine: mans body. A pale germ.
Give it colour then - dont be a weakling.
A rubys valued by its >water, man
by his speech. Your body is precious
only because its the shell for this pearl,
this Wisdom, this divine Spirit.
Give spirit to your jewel, for the spiritless
have no mercy from God when the
shell is split open. Wake up! beware
lest you leave this world as you entered it,
hungry, thirsty, naked. Dont buy
before you look at the label. The Divine Law
is Gods grain-garden. His plantation of trees,
some tended by His hand - but others
by Satan. Traveller, if you hunger for
these rare fruits, ask the gardeners permission
(a great and virtuous man) before you come in:
choose the apple, the quince; avoid
the brambles, dont be deceived by tall trees
which bear no fruit. The parrot and owl
are both birds, but one graces the courts
of kings, the other perches in ruins.
Black smokes may rise high as clouds
but gives no rain, not every child
whose father calls him Noah owns an ark
to ride out the Flood. The Messenger
is Lord and master of this house,
commander of humankind, herald of God.
The Messengers child is the gardener,
who protects you from oppressors as the harden
is protected from noxious insects. Just because
apples have worms doesnt mean the farmer
turns the orchards over to pests, any more
than youd surrender your new house
to the mice. A mouse stays in its hole
and travels the wainscotting - what does it know
of the parlour and the porch? No more
than the fool knows of religion. The fool
can mount the pulpit but that doesnt
make him equal to the Sage: the crow
can kick the nightingale out of the garden
but that doesnt mean that it can sing.
Wisdom comes from man, not from a pulpit;
light comes from the sun, not from some
distant star. The Quran is Gods battlefield -
come you knights, ride forth to the lists;
its easy enough to read the Book -
the hard thing is its hermeneutic sense;
if youre not a cow, dont eat chaff with grain
(so said Salman); dont eat the shell with the nut.
It would be libel to say the Prophet didnt know
the meaning of Gods Word - and no one
but the Prophets Family has power
over it now. The rod turned into a snake
in the hands of Moses and Moses alone.
A parrot can talk, but not understand
what it says - so with your reading
of the Quran! Parrots gabble, profitless
absurd, unproven. . . noise. They say
the Prophet died without appointing
a successor. Fools! Prophethood is the
dominion of God, not Rome or China;
what king would turn his empire
over to a stranger? Go, read the
Book of Kings and see for yourself!
Would any Muslim leave his wealth
to a stranger when his daughter,
his son-in-law and his grandchildren were all
still alive? Do you think the Messenger
would act contrary to the Word of the Lord,
the Judge, the Glorious? What crudities!
What are you saying, you around whose brows
the fumes of rebellion smoulder|?
Youll realise its all babble on that Day
when you have to chew stones and weep.
Regret is no use tomorrow if you have not
repented today. Sorrow will not help
the old man who fled from school
as a child. He who spends the summer
drowsing in the shade will not sleep
from hunger through winters nights.
Grief is useless if the patient falls ill
in Iraq, when the remedy is in Badakhshan!
Do you think the Sultan will accept
>Im sorry from the convicted thief?
The Prophets descendant sits in the place
of his ancestor, and the tip of his crown
brushes against Saturns sphere
He is the Chosen one of God - why
do you rave on? There, there where
the Prohet sat at the Divine command
he sits today. Your choice is not
Gods choice - do you know better
than the Creator, the Judge Himself?
Old man, God will not accept
your sacrifice of a dog - even a fat one!
The Prophets son is a sacrifice for you -
find your way by his wisdom to the Garden.
He is the Solomon of the Age; flee
to his gate, escape from your demons.
O Lord of Adams children, your kingdom
like Solomons. Your wisdom like Luqmans,
in the Garden of the Divine Law, March
appears from your justice, April
from your generosity. Religion is
adorned by you, the world made beautiful,
wisdom refreshed, heresy defeated.
When I proclaim your name from
the pulpit on Friday, roses spring up
from your blessing. When your servant
speaks your name - MUSTANSIR BILLAH -
the vale of Yamgan fills with dancing stars.
Your enemies are consumed like foam
in the moonlight. O you title of the Book
of Happiness. Your humble servant
is hounded by enemies only because
he is a guest at your gate. O PROOF
of Yamgan, let your words pierce the hearts
and souls of these villains. If Khorasnas soil
rejected you, be of good cheer - Gods pleasure
is richer than the soil of Khorasan.
Compose your odes on praise of the Wisdom
of the Family, as did the eulogists of old.
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