The merchant was petrified at this announcement. Jelāl then asked
him: “Wilt thou that we this instant show him to thee?” So saying, he
placed his hand on the wall of the apartment, and told the merchant
to behold. Instantly, a doorway opened in the wall, and the merchant
thence perceived that man in Firengistān, lying down in a market-place.
At this sight he bowed down his head and rent his garments, coming away
from the saintly presence in a state of stupor. He remembered all these
incidents as facts.
Immediately commencing his preparations, he set out without delay, and
reached the city in question. He inquired for the ward he wished to
visit, and for the man whom he had offended. Him he discovered lying
down, stretched out as Jelāl had shown him. The merchant dismounted
from his beast, and made his obeisance to the prostrate Firengī
dervish, who at once addressed him thus: “What wilt thou that I do? Our
Lord Jelāl suffereth me not; or otherwise, I had a desire to make thee
see the power of God, and what I am. But now, draw near.”
The Firengī dervish then clasped the merchant to his bosom, kissed him
repeatedly on both cheeks, and then added: “Look now, that thou mayest
see my Lord and Teacher, my spiritual Master, and that thou mayest
witness a marvel.” The merchant looked. He saw the Lord Jelāl immersed
in a holy dance, chanting this hymn, and entranced with sacred music:—
“His kingdom’s vast and pure; each sort its fitting place finds
there;
Cornelian, ruby, clod, or pebble be thou on His hill.
Believe, He seeks thee; disbelieve, He’ll haply cleanse thee fair;
Be here a faithful Abū-Bekr; Firengī there; at will.”
When the merchant happily reached Qonya on his return, he gave the
salutations of the Firengī saint, and his respects, to Jelāl; and
distributed much substance among the disciples. He settled at Qonya,
and became a member of the fraternity of the Pure Lovers of God.
18.
Jelāl was one day passing by a street, where two men were quarrelling.
He stood on one side. One of the men called out to the other: “Say
what thou will; thou shalt hear from me a thousandfold for every word
thou mayest utter.”
Hereupon Jelāl stepped forward and addressed this speaker, saying: “No,
no! Whatsoever thou have to say, say it to me; and for every thousand
thou mayest say to me, thou shalt hear from me one word.”
On hearing this rebuke, the adversaries were abashed, and made their
peace with one another.
19.
One day, a very learned professor brought all his pupils to pay their
respects to Jelāl.
On their way to him, the young men agreed together to put some
questions to Jelāl on certain points of Arabic grammar, with the
design of comparing his knowledge in that science with that of their
professor, whom they looked upon as unequalled.
When they were seated, Jelāl addressed them on various fitting subjects
for a while, and thereby paved the way for the following anecdote:—