IN THE NAME OF GOD THE COMPASSIONATE, THE MERCIFUL.
Oh thou* from whose name spring all other names,Kings at thy door are suppliant as I at theirs—When once the impulse of zeal for thee was felt,No foot remained shod, no head remained crowned.
Emperor of the world! with this unprofitable soul of mine which has become the abode of demons and wild beasts,* in what way can I conceive thy praises, and with this worn and foolish tongue of mine, which has become as it were food for cats and dogs, how can I chant thy eulogy.
How can the miserable dust proclaim the Unity of God.How in this state of defilement praise the Divine Being.
Moreover, the foot of search limps feebly in this unknown road, because of my constant anxiety and habitual fear, while in this limitless desert, my stammering tongue finds the sphere of speech always contracted.
That which my soul knows is but secondary,* what my tongue speaks are but particles—(and therefore unintelligible).
How can I know thee in my soul or express thee with my tongue.
This seems best, that I should restrain my pen from travelling 2. in this valley, and having hidden the head of bewilderment in the cloke* of meditation on men and regions* should open the eye of my understanding to the knowledge of Thy all-perfect works and unfading kingdom, and proceeding, through the vicissitudes of affairs of created beings, to the Unity of thy exalted personality, should end with the world of proclaiming and confessing the Unity of God,* so that I may see with the eye of certainty—nay more that I may recognize that
In thy excellence there is no room for duality,*
Thou and thy majesty make up the universe.
and I have moistened my lips with the pure water of the praise of that chieftain whose name is “praised”* whose end is lauded; Lord of the promised fountain,* and of the praise which is on every tongue* (may the blessing and peace of God be upon him and his family) because the mantle of the honour of eternal and everlasting empire lies gracefully upon his noble figure, and the proclamation* and stamp of undiminishing power and glorious sovereignty of right belongs to his exalted name.
The monarch of Arabia of whom the world is a manifestation,
The Lord of the earth, whose servant he is, swears by his name.
He was the near neighbour of the Truth for this reason had no shadow*
To the end that no one should place a foot on (the shadow of) his head—
Countless* praises and eulogies on the elect family and the truth-perceiving companions of the Prophet, especially upon the rightly-guided Khalífahs* (may the favour of God be on them all) who, for the elevation of the standard of religion and the promulgation of the word of evident truth* risked their lives and laid down their heads as a ransom, and thus cleared the thorns of infidelity and the undergrowth of heresy from the plain of the kingdom of the sacred law.*
After the praise of God and of the Lord the protector of the divine missive (may the blessing of God be upon him, his family and his companions, a blessing safe from all termination), we have to declare that the science of History is essentially a 3 lofty science and an elegant branch of learning, because it is the fountain-head of the learning of the experienced, and the source of the experience of the learned and discriminating, and the writers of stories and biographies from the time of Adam to this present time in which we live, have completed reliable compositions and comprehensive works, and have proved the excellence thereof by proofs and demonstrations, but it must not be supposed that the reading and study of this science—as certain lukewarm religionists, and the party of doubt and dissent, shortsighted as they are, are wont to affirm—has been or will be a cause of wandering from the straight path of the illustrious law of Muḥammad (may the blessing and peace of God be upon him and his family), or become the entry into and way of ascent to the fountainheads of scepticism, and drinking places of defilement of the licentious and heretical, and those who have gone astray; because for a body of men who in the very essence of their constitution are devoid of any share in religious principle, the reading of the eternal word which is the key of evident happiness and “a healing and a mercy for the worlds,”* becomes a cause of misery and everlasting loss “and if they are not guided by it they say— “this is an antiquated lie.”*
If this is the case with the Qurán* what chance has History?
“When any man has lost his hearing through melancholia,*
He cannot participate in the music of David and its harmony.”
But I address my words to those who are endowed with the qualities of sound intellect and brilliancy of genius, and natural equity—not to those who are not led by the sacred law and who deny all principle, fundamental or derivative,* because such men are not worthy of this discourse, nor are they within the pale of the wise, and discreet, and understanding, and how can one absolutely refuse to admit a science which is one-seventh of the 4. seven sections* upon which the foundation of the establishment of Faith and Certainty is laid.
“And all that we relate to thee of the tidings of the prophets with which we have established your hearts”* tells us of this, and a large body of the learned expositors of the traditions and commentators on the Qurán, as for example Imám Bukhárí* and Qáẓí Baiẓáwí* up to our own times have occupied themselves in writing about this heart-enthralling science, and their words and practice have become an authority for the nations both East and West, in spite of the diversity of their origins and the distinction of their various degrees. While on the other hand an insignificant band of innovators and inventors who with the disgraceful partisanship of greedy mindedness and importunate desires, and shortsightedness as regards both outward and inward qualities, have placed their feet in the valley of audacity, and have introduced interpolations and errors into true and memorable histories, and having abandoned recognised constructions* and explanations, and interpretations of obvious nature, and estimating the conflicts and discussions of the noble companions and mighty followers (of the Prophet) by their own condition, attributed them to mutual contradiction and hatred, and to rivalry in the splendour and amount of their property and family, and having seduced simple minded people of elementary belief, have led them, by their own error and by attributing error to others, to Gehenna, the house of perdition.
“When the crow* becomes leader of a tribe, he will surely lead them along the path of destruction.”
And if the eye of a man be instilled with the collyrium of the Divine guidance, and illuminated by the light of truth, and guarded from every calamity which happens in the world of existence and evil, he passes to the Unity of the Creator, the Ancient of days, the Glorious, freed from the stain of innovation, and purified from the blemish of change and alteration. And when I look carefully, I see that the world is itself an ancient archetype which has neither head nor root, its pages are a confused record, and in each page there is a list of the affairs of a section of 5. mankind who have had the reins of the management of affairs entrusted to their hands.