Bayazid al-Bistami (q) said, “I am also al-Haqq” (in charge of reality); Those who reach this understand man is also given the ability to create reality while Allah’s other creatures work/exist within it. Our personal reality is the life we experience, it has some influence on earth and the universe, this is the Maqam of mankind in general but Abu Yazid al Bistami (ra) was someone Allah elevated, here He (ra) is talking about being given permission to change the reality of the universe itself, the ultimate Haq that encompass every temporary reality.
Each generation of mankind is given something new is born into a world different from their fathers and the Mala’ikah need to know how to deal with every new situation/reality that is created, “I am also Al Haqq” is akin to deciding the rules or shariah “Karma” works by for each new generation of mankind.
In this verse Allah explains what is essentially “Karma” and why each new generation of people sees something new; “Allah tasketh not a soul beyond its scope. For it (is only) that which it hath earned, and against it (only) that which it hath deserved. Our Lord! Condemn us not if we forget, or miss the mark! Our Lord! Lay not on us such a burden as thou didst lay on those before us! Our Lord! Impose not on us that which we have not the strength to bear! Pardon us, absolve us and have mercy on us, Thou art our Protector, give us victory over the disbelieving folk.” (2:256)
Those given this see what Allah wants and use human wisdom which is more complete/encompassing than Angelic wisdom, which is singular in scope/topic, because man combines more of Allah’s qualities in himself than individual Mala’ikah are allowed to carry.
Allah granted Abu Yazid (ra) like other Awliyah after him who also did this work a maqam in which the Mala’ikah in charge of the universe would seek His advice on how the universe should evolve, Allah began this sunnah with the Prophet Adam (saws) when He asked the Mala’ikah to prostrate to Him (as), which meant to follow His lead, He was the first man to decide the future of Mankind and the universe, then each successive prophet after Him was charged with the same, this is what the prophets were known for among the Mala’ikah, their primary role with them, it is the reason why the Quran was revealed in installments over a 23 year period.
Now in the time after the prophets (saws) this has fallen to the Awliyah and will continue until Qiyamah.
The Saint Is A Mirror
By Imam Jalaludin Rumi
From The Mathnawi IV: 2102-2153
The story of “Glory be to me! How great is my rank!”1– the saying of Abu Yazid (Bistami), may God sanctify his spirit. And the criticism of (his) disciples. And the answer to this (which he gave) to them– not by way of the tongue’s speech but by way of (direct) seeing.
2102 Bayazid,2 the great dervish,3 came to (his) disciples (and) said, “Look! I am God!”
That master of the (mystical) branches of knowledge spoke like a drunkard, (saying), “There is no divinity except me, so worship me!”4
When that ecstatic state was over with, they said to him at dawn, “You spoke such (words) as these, and it isn’t right!”
2105 (Bayazid) said, “This time, if I am involved (in such talk), strike at me (with your) knives at that (very) moment.
“(For) God (is) pure and free from (having) a body, but I have a body. (So) if I speak like this (again), (then) killing me is necessary.”
When that (spiritually) freed man made the command, each disciple equipped (himself with) a knife.
(Bayazid) became (spiritually) drunk (once) again from that full (wine) jug,5 (and) those commands of his went (far) from (his) mind.
A dessert arrived (and) his intellect became a wandering outcast. The dawn arrived (and) his candle became (overwhelmed) and helpless.
2110 The intellect is like a governmental official: when the (mighty) king arrives, the helpless official crawls into a corner.
The intellect is (like) the shadow of God, (and) God (like) the sun. What power does the shadow have to bear (the Light of) the Sun of Him?
If a genie6 becomes predominant over a man, human qualities become missing from the man.
Whatever he says, the genie is speaking (the words). Someone from this side is speaking by means of someone from that (other) side.7
If a genie has this (much) influence and control, how (much greater) is the Creator of that genie!
2115 His “he-ness” has left (and) he has himself become the genie. The Turk became an Arabic-speaker8 without (being taught by) Divine inspiration.
(Then), when he returns to himself, he doesn’t know a single word (of Arabic). If a genie has this (kind of) nature and quality,
Then the Lord of a genie and a man can never have any less (power) than a genie!
If a drunkard9 drinks the blood of a male lion, you’d say, “He didn’t act, (but) the wine did (it).”
And if he perfects (his) speech by (using) the finest gold, you’d say, “The wine has said those (eloquent) words.”
2120 (Since) a (quantity of) wine has this disturbance and agitation, does the Light of God not have that excellence and power?–
(So) that it may make you completely empty of “you,” (so that) you may become lowly and He may exalt the words10 (spoken by your mouth)!
Even though the Qur’an is (spoken) from the lips of the Prophet, whoever says that God did not speak it, he is a denier.11
When the phoenix bird12 of no-selfness flew (aloft), Bayazid began (to speak) those (kind of) words (again).
The flash flood of (mystical) bewilderment seized (his) intellect, (so that) he spoke more forcefully than he had in the beginning.
2125 (He said), “There is nothing in my robe except God,13 (so) how much (longer) will you search on the earth and upon the heavens?”
The disciples became completely crazed (and) were thrusting (their) knives into his holy body.
Each one was tirelessly stabbing his spiritual master, like the heretics of Gerdakuh.14
Anyone who (tried to) puncture the Master with a knife was, in the opposite manner, tearing open his own body.
(There) was not a single mark on the body of that master of (mystical) sciences, yet those disciples (were) wounded and drowned in a whirlpool of blood.
2130 Any who brought a blow toward the (Master’s) throat saw his own throat cut and died groaning.
And the one who struck a blow into the (Master’s) chest, his own chest was split open and he became forever dead.
But the one who was aware of that master of intimacy,15 (and his) heart did not give him (permission) to strike a heavy blow,
(His) half-knowledge bound his hand (and) he won (back his) life, except that he wounded himself.
It became daylight, and (the number of) those disciples was decreased. (Many) wails (of grief) arose from their homes.16
2135 Thousands of men and women came before him, saying, “O you, within whose robe this world and the next17 are wrapped!
“If this body of yours were the body of a human,18 it would have been lost (to you) because of the daggers, like an (ordinary) human body.”
Someone with a self fought against someone without a self, (but) the one with a self thrust a thorn into his own eye.
O you (who) strike against the selfless ones with (your) sword, be aware! (For) you will strike that (blow) against your own body.
Because the selfless one is annihilated19 (and) he is safe; he is in (a state of) permanent safety.20
2140 (For) his form (has) vanished and he has became a mirror.21 In that place, (there is) nothing besides the image of another face.
If you spit (at it),22 you do (that) toward your own face, and if you beat against the mirror, you beat against yourself.
And if you see an ugly face (there), you are also that.23 And if you see (the image of) Jesus or Mary,24 you are (that).
(The spiritual master) is not this or that; he is simple.25 He has put your own image in front of you.
When (this) speech reached this place, it shut (its) lips. (And) when the pen reached this place, it shattered against itself.26
2145 Close (your) lips.27 Even though eloquence has given (you) help, don’t breathe (a word). And God is the best knower of the right path.
You are on the edge of the roof,28 O you (who are) continually drunk!29 Either sit down or come below.30 And (may) the peace (of God be upon you)!
Any time that you become joyful,31 know (that) that moment of (spiritual) happiness (is like being on) the edge of the roof.
Be on guard at the moment of joy;32 hide it like a treasure (and) don’t reveal (it),
So that misfortune may not reach (your state) of loving intimacy. (So) go very timidly into that hidden place of [possible] ambush.
2150 The soul’s dread of the disappearance (of happiness) during the time of joy is the (sign of) moving away from the invisible edge of the roof.
If you don’t see the secret edge of the roof, (your) spirit sees (it) since it is shaking (with fear).
Every sudden punishment which has occurred has been on the edge of the turret of joy.33
2153 There is no falling (down) except (from) the edge of the roof. (Be) warned by (what happened to) the people of Noah and the people of Lot. –From “The Mathnawî-yé Ma`nawî” [Rhymed Couplets of Deep Spiritual Meaning] of Jalaluddin Rumi. Translated from the Persian by Ibrahim Gamard (with gratitude for R. A. Nicholson’s 1930 British translation)
Notes on the text, with line number:
- (Heading) my rank: A famous, and very controversial, ecstatic saying attributed to the famous sufi master, Abu Yazid al-Bistami, who died in 875. It was considered blasphemous, but defended by the sufis as something said in an uncontrollable state of spiritual ecstasy, spoken by God through him– not said by him, since God had annihilated his selfhood during that moment.
- (2102) Bayazid: another form of the name of Abu Yazid– Bayazid al-Bistami.
- (2102) dervish: literally, “faqeer,” which is a sufi technical term meaning someone on the path of “spiritual poverty” [faqr]. This is related to the sufi interpretation of the Qur’anic verse: “O man, you are poor (fuqarâ) in relation to God, and God is the Rich, the Praiseworthy” (35:15). These terms were later translated into Persian as “a poor one” [darwísh] and “poverty” [darwêshî].
- (2103) so worship me: a verse of the Qur’an (with an extra syllable added for the meter): “There is no divinity except Me, so worship Me (only)!” (21:25). Nicholson added: “[Abú Nasr] Sarráj refers to this text in support of his plea that when Báyazíd said ‘subhání’ [= Glory be to me] he was only quoting and reciting God’s description of Himself.” (Nicholson, Commentary)
- (2108) (wine) jug: refers to “spiritual wine,” which produces spiritual “drunkenness” or spiritual/mystical states of consciousness, including ecstasy.
- (2112) genie: literally, “fairy” [parî]. This Persian word was incorrectly adopted to translate the Arabic word “jinn.” A class of invisible creatures, which are parallel in some way to humanity, but are usually invisible. In Arabic, someone “possessed by a jinn” is called “majnûn”– meaning “crazy” or speaking strange words which the possessing jinn is saying. Nicholson referred here to the “analogy drawn here between an ecstatic saint and a man or woman possessed by a Jinní…” (Commentary)
- (2113) that (other) side: means the invisible side of existence, where genies and supernatural beings live.
- (2115) an Arabic-speaker: “The Jinní, of course, speaks his own language, i.e. Arabic.” (Nicholson, Commentary) It is the genie who speaks his own language (of Arabic) through the possessed man. This is in contrast to the story of a miraculous transformation of an illiterate Kurd, who said a prayer which was granted, so that the next morning he was able to discourse eloquently on the Qur’an in Arabic, saying, “In the evening I was a Kurd, and in the morning I was an Arab”– quoted in Mathnawi, Preface to Book I].
- (2118) a drunkard [shîr-gîr]: literally, “milk-seizer.” An idiom meaning a wine-drinker. This is a word play on “lion-capturer” [shér-gîr].
- (2121) He may exalt the words: “i.e. when the saint is ‘naughted’ (fání), God causes the eternal ‘kalám Alláh’ [= Word of God] to manifest itself and become articulate on his tongue.” (Nicholson, Commentary)
- (2122) a denier [kâfir]: this word is often mistranslated as “infidel.” Here it means someone who rejects, denies, and disbelieves that God is able to send Revelation to mankind in human language through His chosen prophets (such as Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad).
- (2123) the phoenix-bird [homây]: a miraculous bird, which flies constantly, never needing to touch the ground.
- (2125) nothing in my robe except God: “The saying ‘laysa fí ‘l-jubbati (or ‘fí jubbatí’) siwá ‘lláh’ is also attributed to Abú Sa’íd ibn Abí ‘l-Khayr…” (Nicholson, Commentary)
- (2127) the heretics of Gerdakuh: refers to the “extreme Shi’ite” Ismaili sect, who were at one time called the “Assassins.” According to legends about them, they were so brainwashed by drugs and extremist religious doctrine, that they were convinced of going immediately to Paradise if they carried out terrorist acts ordered by their spiritual chief. They were said to prefer to die after assassinating their assigned object (usually a high ranking government official), and that they viewed it as a disgrace to return alive. Nicholson states that the Assassins referred to here were from a fortress “near Dámaghán in the Qúmis province…” (Commentary)
- (2132) master of (spiritual) intimacy [qirân]: This word means “conjunction,” and therefore intimacy as well as an astrological conjunction of fortunate planets. Nicholson translated, “(spiritual) emperor of high-fortune.”
- (2134) from their homes: meaning from the families of the deceased disciples.
- (2135) this world and the next: literally, “the two worlds.” Means this life and the Hereafter.
- (2136) the body of a human: Nicholson stated, “This may be an allusion to the saint’s ‘immaterial body’ (jism latíf).” (Commentary) He then refers to Rumi’s heading just prior to Book III: 1610, which he translated: “Explaining that the body is as a garment to the spirit, and that this (bodily) hand is the sleeve of the spirit’s hand, and that this (bodily) foot is the shoe of the spirit’s foot.”
- (2139) annihilated [faniy]: means passed away from self (and thus continual ego-centered preoccupation) in God. This is a technical sufi term related to the better known word “fanâ.”
- (2139) safety: means safe from returning again to the state of forgetfulness of God and egoistic “self-worship.”
- (2140) a mirror: “The Perfect Man is the mirror of Truth, in which the real forms of all things are reflected, good as good and evil as evil.” (Nicholson, Commentary)
- (2141) spit (at it): “I.e. ‘if you hate the saints, it is only because they bring before you the image of your hateful self’.” (Nicholson, Commentary)
- (2142) And if you see an ugly face (there), you are also that: “In this passage (if I have rightly understood its meaning) Rúmí, speaking as a murshid [= spiritual master/guide], warns all concerned that states of rapture and ecstasy are precarious and must be jealously guarded from the vulgar.” (Nicholson, Commentary)
- (2142) Jesus or Mary: means, “If you are a man of purity, you will see the image of a face similar to that of Jesus; if you are a woman of purity, a face similar to that of Mary, the mother of Jesus.”
- (2143) simple: Nicholson translated, “he is simple (pure and free from attributes of self)”.
- (2144) it shattered against itself: This line is similar to Rumi’s famous line near the beginning of the Mathnawi: “When the pen was hurrying to write (an explanation of Love), it shattered against itself when it reached Love (directly).” (I:114)
- (2145) Close (your) lips: Nicholson translated this as if Rumi were speaking to himself: “Close thy lips (O my soul)…”
- (2146) the edge of the roof: “In this passage (if I have rightly understood its meaning) Rúmí, speaking as a murshid [= a spiritual guide], warns all concerned that states of rapture and ecstasy are precarious and must be jealously guarded from the vulgar.” (Nicholson, Commentary)
- (2146) O you (who are) continually drunk: Nicholson translated, “O you who are drunken with the wine (of love)…”
- (2146) or come below: “The ‘intoxicated’ mystic who has not yet reached perfection stands in great peril: either let him subside into absolute quiet and passivity or else return to self-consciousness and sober reason, lest he offend and alienate his beloved by disclosing the mystery of ‘union’ (sirru ‘l-rubúbiyyah).” (Nicholson, Commentary)
- (2147) you become joyful: Nicholson translated, “Every moment when you enjoy (union with the Beloved)…”
- (2148) Be on guard at the moment of joy: Nicholson translated, “Be trembling for (fear of losing) the delightful moment…”
- (2152) the turret of joy: an idiom meaning the height of happiness. A turret is a niched defensive tower upon a wall. The meaning here is that an unexpected fall into misfortune often happens after a peak experience of happiness, because of having a wrong attitude. “Possession of spiritual joy depends on the dread of losing it through any act of irreverence or disobedience. Fear of God ensures felicity both in this world and hereafter. The peoples of Noah and Lot were destroyed at the moment when they spurned the Divine gift that was in their grasp.” (Nicholson, Commentary)
Shaykh Rami Al Rifai