“But since the author ['Iráqí] had become the target of the tongues of ‘the vilifiers of sundry men of good repute,’ and had suffered at the Unjust aspersions on 'Iráqí hands of ‘certain ill-conditioned wanderers from the path,’ * the blindly orthodox have imposed on him the stigma of repudiation, and withdrawn from him the skirt of acceptance. This humble writer also, in view of this rejection and repudiation, abstained from preoccupying himself therewith; until the most illustrious of the ‘Brethren of Purity’ in this country, and the most glorious of the friends of constancy (may God cause him to walk in the ways of His adept servants!), whose auspicious name has been enunciated in the course of this prayer in the best form of enigma and allusion between God and His servants, requested me to collate and correct the text thereof; which request could only be met with obedience. When I entered on this business, and ran over the details of its component parts, I saw in every leaf thereof a ‘Flash’ from the lights of Truths, and perceived in every page a gust of the declaration of Divine Wisdom. The heart was attracted to the understanding of its subtleties, and the mind was troubled at the difficulty of comprehending its purport. Manuscripts of the text differed, and some of them appeared to be perverted from the path of accuracy. In certain cases of concision and passages of difficulty reference was made to the commentaries on it; but neither was any difficulty solved thereby, nor in any of them was any concise statement properly amplified. As a necessary consequence, this thought passed through a heart disposed to the understanding of subtleties, and this wish established itself in a mind regardful of the essence of truths, that, to correct its sentences and elucidate its hints, a commentary should be compiled gleaned from the sayings of the elders of the Path and leaders in the Truth, especially those two great Shaykhs Muḥyi'd-Dín Muḥammad ibnu'l-'Arabí and his disciple and pupil Ṣadru'd-Dín Muḥammad of Qúnya and their followers (may God most High sanctify their secrets!). So, in consequence of these promptings, the mind decided on undertaking this difficult task, which it brought to a conclusion, by the assistance of God's Grace, in the shortest time. And since most of the statements which are included in this commentary are of the kind which have shone forth upon the heart from the consideration of the luminous words of the text, it is proper that it should be named ‘Rays of the “Flashes,”’ and should be represented to the eyes of students by this description. It is hoped of such as regard justly, though not of scoffers characterized by obstinacy, that when they take this manual into their consideration, and devote their thoughts to its perusal, wherever they see aught of goodness and perfection they will account it the gift of God (Glory be to Him and exalted is He!), whilst wherever they find any fault or defect they will attribute it to the impotence and shortcomings of humanity; and that they will not specially make the humble author a target for the arrows of reproach, nor cast themselves into the vortex of evil-seeking and evil-saying. We ask aid from God, to whom be glory!”
This Introduction is followed by a long dissertation on various points in the philosophy of the Mystics, together with questions and answers designed to elucidate special difficulties, after which the running commentary on the text follows. The book ends with the following Perso-Arabic chronogram, in which the word tammamtuhu (<text in Arabic script omitted>, “I completed it”) gives the date of completion as 885 (A.D. 1480-81):
<text in Arabic script omitted>
The Lawá'iḥ—a word which also, like Lama'át, means “Flashes” or “Effulgences” of Light—is a mystical treatise Jámí's Lawá'iḥ in prose mixed with quatrains comprising thirty sections called “Flashes.” It has been published in fac-simile with a Preface, translation and appendices, by Mr E. H. Whinfield, who has made such valuable contributions to our knowledge of Persian mysticism, aided by that great scholar Mírzá Muḥammad ibn 'Abdu'l-Wahháb of Qazwín. This little volume, the sixteenth in the New Series of the Oriental Translation Fund, was published in 1906 under the auspices of the Royal Asiatic Society, and, since it is easily accessible to English readers, any lengthy account of it would be superfluous. One of the most beautiful things in it, in my opinion, is the prayer which follows the Exordium and precedes the Preface, and which runs as follows:
<text in Arabic script omitted>
“My God, my God! Save us from preoccupation with trifles, and
show us the realities of things as they are! Withdraw from the eyes
Jámí's prayer
for spiritual
enlightenment
of our understanding the veil of heedlessness, and show
us everything as it truly is! Display not to us Not-