BY C. H. A. BJERREGAARD, _Stud. Theos._ In Two Parts:—Part I, Texts; Part II, Symbols. The spirit of Sufism is best expressed in the couplet of Katobi: “Last night a nightingale sung his song, perched on a high cypress, when the rose, on hearing his plaintive warbling, shed tears in the garden, soft as the dews of heaven.” (CONTINUED.) SUFI ECSTASY. MOTTO: “Highest nature wills the capture; “Light to light!” the instinct cries; And in agonizing rapture falls the moth, and bravely dies. Think not what thou art, Believer; think but what thou mayest become For the World is thy deceiver, and the Light thy only home.” (_Palm Leaves._) ABULFAZL (A.D. 1595): O Lord, whose secrets are for ever veiled, And whose perfection knows not a beginning! End and beginning both are lost in thee; No trace of them is found in thy eternal realm. My words are lame; my tongue, a stony tract; Slow wings my foot, and wide is the expanse. Confused are my thoughts; but this is thy best praise— _In ecstacy alone I see thee face to face!_ SHEMS TEBREEZ: What advice, O Musselmans? I don’t know myself; I[54] am neither Christian nor Jew, nor am I a fire-worshipper nor Musselman. I am not from the East or West, nor am I of land or fire. I am not from the country of Iran, nor am I from the land of Khoorassan. I am neither of water nor air, nor am I of fire or earth. I am not of Adam or Eve, nor am I of the inhabitants of paradise. My place is no place, my sign is without sign: I have neither body nor soul,—what is there then? I am the soul of my Beloved.[55] When I took out my heart, the two worlds I saw as one. He is the first, He is the last, He is the manifest. He is the secret. Except Him, and that I am Him, I do not know anything else. O thou, Shems Tebreez, why this rapture in this world? _Except with rapture and enthusiastic ardour, this work cannot be effected._ ECSTASY: THE HEART AS MEDIUM. All the earth I’d wandered over, seeking still the beacon light, Never tarried in the day time, never sought repose at night; Till I heard a reverend preacher all the mystery declare, Then I looked within my bosom, and ‘twas shining brightly there. (_E. H. Palmer, Orient. Myst._) Who so knoweth himself, knoweth the Godhead.—Thy soul is the sufficient proof of the existence of the Godhead: When by reflection thou hast penetrated to that deep within, thou shalt discover there the Universal Worker of his work. (_D’Herbelot—Persian Paraphrases._) Wouldst know where I found the Supreme? One step beyond self.—Behind the veil of self shines unseen the beauty of the Beloved.—(_Aphorisms._)