Suhrawardi - Three Treatises on Mysticism.pdf - Platonic Philosophy

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falls on him for a space of ajhousand years of the time
"Verily a day with your Lord is like a thousand years" 1
and these thousand years are in the eyes of the People of
Reality
like a dawn from the East of the Divine realm in
this time he becomes a Simurgh whose note awakens the
sleepers. His residence is in the Mountain of Q&f. His note
reaches all;
but it has few hearers. 2 All are with him and the
majority are without him 3 ;
as the poet says :
"You are with us, but not ours,
You are the soul and are therefore invisible."
And his shadow is the cure for the sufferers who are
entangled
in the whirlpool of the diseases of dropsy and atrophy,
and it avails leprosy and removes various afflictions. This
Simurgh flies without moving, soars without travelling, and
comes near without traversing distance.
But know you, that all colours are in him but he is
colourless; and his nest is in the East and the West is [also]
not devoid of him. All are occupied with him and he is
free from all. All are filled with him, and he is
empty of
all. And all sciences emanate from the note of that bird.
Wonderful musical instruments like the organ and others
have been derived from the sound of that bird; as the poet
says :
"Since you have not even seen Solomon,
How can you know the "
language of birds?
His food is fire, 4 If one ties a feather out of those
feathers on his right arm and walks over fire,
one will be
1. Quran XXII, 46,
2. i.e. it is heard by a few,
3. Ot St. John I, 10-11.
4. Cf. Khaq&nl, British Museum MS. No, add 25018, foL 9a.