“Avicenna paid a visit to Abu ’l-Hasan Khurqānī and immediately plunged into a long and abstruse discussion. After a time the saint, who was an illiterate person, felt tired, so he got up and said, ‘Excuse me; I must go and mend the garden wall’; and off he went, taking a hatchet with him. As soon as he had climbed on to the top of the wall, the hatchet dropped from his hand. Avicenna ran to pick it up, but before he reached it the hatchet rose of itself and came back into the saint’s hand. Avicenna lost all his self-command, and the enthusiastic belief in Sūfism which then took possession of him continued until, at a later period of his life, he abandoned mysticism for philosophy.” I am well aware that in this chapter scanty justice has been done to a great subject. The historian of Sūfism must acknowledge, however deeply he may deplore, the fundamental position occupied by the doctrine of saintship and the tremendous influence which it has exerted in its practical results--grovelling submission to the authority of an ecstatic class of men, dependence on their favour, pilgrimage to their shrines, adoration of their relics, devotion of every mental and spiritual faculty to their service. It may be dangerous to worship God by one’s own inner light, but it is far more deadly to seek Him by the inner light of another. Vicarious holiness has no compensations. This truth is expressed by the mystical writers in many an eloquent passage, but I will content myself with quoting a few lines from the life of ʿAlāʾuddīn ʿAttār, the same saint who, as we have seen, vainly tried to hypnotise his pupil in revenge for a disrespectful trick which the latter had played on him. His biographer relates that he said, “It is more right and worthy to dwell beside God than to dwell beside God’s creatures,” and that the following verse was often on his blessed tongue: “How long will you worship at the tombs of holy men? Busy yourself with the _works_ of holy men, and you are saved!” (“_tu tā kay gūr-i mardān-rā parastī_ _bi-gird-i kār-i mardān gard u rastī._”) CHAPTER VI THE UNITIVE STATE “The story admits of being told up to this point, But what follows is hidden, and inexpressible in words. If you should speak and try a hundred ways to express it, ’Tis useless; the mystery becomes no clearer. You can ride on saddle and horse to the sea-coast, But then you must use a horse of wood (_i.e._ a boat). A horse of wood is useless on dry land, It is the special vehicle of voyagers by sea. Silence is this horse of wood, Silence is the guide and support of men at sea.”[20] [20] The _Masnavī_ of Jalāluddīn Rūmī. Abridged translation by E. H. Whinfield, p. 326.