ong My servants,
And enter thou My paradise.(93)

This station hath many signs, unnumbered proofs. Hence it is said:
"Hereafter We will show them Our signs in the regions of the earth, and in
themselves, until it become manifest unto them that it is the truth,"(94)
and that there is no God save Him.

One must, then, read the book of his own self, rather than some treatise
on rhetoric. Wherefore He hath said, "Read thy Book: There needeth none
but thyself to make out an account against thee this day."(95)

The story is told of a mystic knower, who went on a journey with a learned
grammarian as his companion. They came to the shore of the Sea of
Grandeur. The knower straightway flung himself into the waves, but the
grammarian stood lost in his reasonings, which were as words that are
written on water. The knower called out to him, "Why dost thou not
follow?" The grammarian answered, "O Brother, I dare not advance. I must
needs go back again." Then the knower cried, "Forget what thou didst read
in the books of Sibavayh and Qawlavayh, of Ibn-i-Hajib and
Ibn-i-Malik,(96) and cross the water."

The death of self is needed here, not rhetoric:
Be nothing, then, and walk upon the waves.(97)

Likewise is it written, "And be ye not like those who forget God, and whom
He hath therefore caused to forget their own selves. These are the wicked
doers."(98)

The Second Valley

If the wayfarer's goal be the dwelling of the Praiseworthy One
(Mahmud),(99) this is the station of primal reason which is known as the
Prophet and the Most Great Pillar.(100) Here reason signifieth the divine,
universal mind, whose sovereignty enlighteneth all created things--nor doth
it refer to every feeble brain; for it is as the wise Sana'i hath written:

How can feeble reason encompass the Qur'an,
Or the spider snare a phoenix in his web?
Wouldst thou that the mind should not entrap thee?
Teach it the science of the love of God!

On this plane, the traveler meeteth with many a trial and reverse. Now is
he lifted up to heaven, now is he cast into the depths. As it hath been
said: "Now Thou drawest me to the summit of glory, again Thou castest me
into the lowest abyss." The mystery treasured in this plane is divulged in
the following holy verse from the Surih of THE CAVE:(101)

"And thou mightest have seen the sun when it arose, pass on the right of
their cave, and when it set, leave them on the left, while they were in
its s