sun arose, and who spent lavishly and sought
after curious things in the world and what is therein created? Where is
the lord of the swarthy squadron and the yellow standard? Where is he who
ruled Zawra,(44) and where he who wrought injustice in [Damascus] the
spacious? Where are they at whose bounty treasures were afraid, at whose
openhandedness and generosity the ocean was dismayed? Where is he whose
arm was stretched forth in rebelliousness, whose heart turned away from
the Merciful One? Where is he who used to make choice of pleasures and
cull the fruits of desires? Where are the dames of the bridal chambers,
and the possessors of beauty? Where are their waving branches and their
spreading boughs, their lofty palaces and trellised gardens? Where is the
smoothness of the expanses thereof and the softness of their breezes, the
rippling of their waters and the murmur of their winds, the cooing of
their doves and the rustling of their trees? Where are their laughing
hearts and their smiling teeth? Woe unto them! They have descended to the
abyss and become companions to the pebbles; today no mention is heard of
them nor any sound; nothing is known of them nor any hint. Will the people
dispute it while they behold it? Will they deny it when they know it? I
know not in what valley they wander erringly: do they not see that they
depart and return not? How long will they be famous in the low countries
and in the high, descend and ascend? 'Is not the time yet come to those
who believe for their hearts to become humble for the remembrance of
God?'(45) Well is it with that one who hath said or shall say, 'Yea, O
Lord, the time is ripe and hath come,' and who severeth himself from all
that is. Alas! naught is reaped but what is sown, and naught is taken but
what is laid up, save by the grace of God and His favor. Hath the earth
conceived Him whom the veils of glory prevent not from ascending into the
Kingdom of His Lord, the Mighty, the Supreme? Have We any good works
whereby defects shall be removed or which shall bring Us near unto the
Lord of causes? We ask God to deal with Us according to His grace, not His
justice, and to make Us of those who turn toward Him and sever themselves
from all beside Him.

"O King, I have seen in the way of God what no eye hath seen and no ear
hath heard. Friends have disclaimed Me; ways are straitened unto Me; the
pool of safety is dried up; the plain of ease is [scorched] yellow. How
many calam