With the pilgrims to Mecca: The great pilgrimage of A.H. 1319; A.D. 1902Khan, Hadji (Gazanfar Ali)
Religion
With the pilgrims to Mecca: The great pilgrimage of A.H. 1319; A.D. 1902
Khan, Hadji (Gazanfar Ali)
Mecca (Saudi Arabia); Pilgrims and pilgrimages
And thenceforward the traveller, his heart aglow with the sacred
fire of Love, tears aside the curtain of earthly passions, and wins
his way into the Kingdom of Knowledge. He has passed by slow degrees
from doubt into certainty and from darkness into light. Seeing with
clearer eyes he is now quick to discern wisdom in ignorance and in
oppression justice. Then, on ascending hopefully the ladder of Wisdom,
he rises higher and higher above the ocean of being, and enters into
closer communion with the spirit of the one he seeks. The arc of truth
becomes an almost perfect round, and he is drawn irresistibly towards
the centre, where dwells the object of his quest. After traversing the
realm of knowledge, which is the last stage of fear, the traveller
enters the first City of Union, and drinks deep from the bowl of its
spirit: and the next thing he does is to enter the chamber of the True
Beloved. As all the shine of the sea and its shade are reflected in the
heart of a single pearl, so now the infinite splendour is manifested
within the traveller’s soul. Looking round him with the eyes of Unity
he recognises his true identity in that of his host, and reads the name
of the Beloved in his own name. The circle of his aspirations will soon
be complete, for the sun of divine grace is seen to rise equally on
all creatures; and he is prepared in spirit to advance one step nearer
the end. And soon, on the breeze of godly independence, which blows
from the spirit’s flame and burns the curtain of poverty, the traveller
is borne into the City of Freedom. There he will know no sorrow, but
will pass through the gates of joy, and, though he be on the earth,
will ride the heaven of power, and quench his thirst in the wine of
love. The sixth stage on the road to immortality is that of Amazement.
Sometimes he will notice perfect poverty in riches, and sometimes
perfect wealth in poverty. His surprise will grow at every step. Each
second will bring a fresh revelation. Now he will dive into the ocean
of divine omniscience, and now be carried to the crest of omnipotence
divine.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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