The Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys

Concerning this realm, there is many a tradition and many a verse, of broad or special relevancy, but two of these will suffice to serve as a light for men of mind and heart. The first is His statement: “O My Servant! Obey Me and I shall make thee like unto Myself. I say ‘Be,’ and it is, and thou shalt say ‘Be,’ and it shall be.” And the second: “O Son of Adam! Seek fellowship with none until thou hast found Me, and whenever thou shalt long for Me, thou shalt find Me close to thee.” Whatever high proofs and wondrous allusions are recounted herein, concern but a single Letter, a single Point. “Such hath been the way of God ... and no change canst thou find in the way of God.” 134

The love of Thee hath leveled down the fort of patience, The pain of Thee hath firmly barred the gate of hope as well. 110 In this realm, instruction is assuredly of no avail. The lover’s teacher is the Loved One’s beauty, His face their lesson and their only book. Learning of wonderment, of longing love their duty, Not on learned chapters and dull themes they look. The chain that binds them is His musky hair, The Cyclic Scheme, 111 to them, is but to Him a stair. 112 Here followeth a supplication to God, the Exalted, the Glorified: O Lord! O Thou Whose bounty granteth wishes! I stand before Thee, all save Thee forgetting.

On this plane, neither the reign of reason is sufficient nor the authority of self. Hence, one of the Prophets of God hath asked: “O my Lord, how shall we reach unto Thee?” And the answer came, “Leave thyself behind, and then approach Me.” These are a people who deem the lowest place to be one with the throne of glory, and to them beauty’s bower differeth not from the field of a battle fought in the cause of the Beloved. The denizens of this plane speak no words—but they gallop their chargers. They see but the inner reality of the Beloved. To them all words of sense are meaningless, and senseless words are full of meaning. They cannot tell one limb from another, one part from another. To them the mirage is the real river; to them going away is returning.

The Third Valley If the loving seekers wish to live within the precincts of the Attracting One (Majdhúb), 107 no soul may dwell on this Kingly Throne save the beauty of love. This realm is not to be pictured in words. Love shunneth this world and that world too, In him are lunacies seventy-and-two. The minstrel of love harpeth this lay: Servitude enslaveth, kingship doth betray. 108 This plane requireth pure affection and the bright stream of fellowship. In telling of these companions of the Cave He saith: “They speak not till He hath spoken; and they do His bidding.” 109

“Men whom neither merchandise nor traffic beguile from the remembrance of God....” 102 This station conferreth the true standard of knowledge, and freeth man from tests. In this realm, to search after knowledge is irrelevant, for He hath said concerning the guidance of travelers on this plane, “Fear God, and God will instruct thee.” 103 And again: “Knowledge is a light which God casteth into the heart of whomsoever He willeth.” 104 Wherefore, a man should make ready his heart that it be worthy of the descent of heavenly grace, and that the bounteous Cup-Bearer may give him to drink of the wine of bestowal from the merciful vessel. “For the like of this let the travailers travail!” 105 And now do I say, “Verily we are from God, and to Him shall we return.” 106

The Second Valley If the wayfarer’s goal be the dwelling of the Praiseworthy One (Maḥmúd), 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 Saná’í hath written: How can feeble reason encompass the Qur’án, 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!

O My eminent friend! Those who progress in mystic wayfaring are of four kinds. I shall describe them in brief, that the grades and qualities of each kind may become plain to thee. The First Valley If the travelers seek after the goal of the Intended One (maqsúd), this station appertaineth to the self—but that self which is “The Self of God standing within Him with laws.” 90

Salám! 76 O My friend! Many a hound pursueth this gazelle of the desert of oneness; many a talon claweth at this thrush of the eternal garden. Pitiless ravens do lie in wait for this bird of the heavens of God, and the huntsman of envy stalketh this deer of the meadow of love. O Shaykh! Make of thine effort a glass, perchance it may shelter this flame from the contrary winds; albeit this light doth long to be kindled in the lamp of the Lord, and to shine in the globe of the spirit. For the head raised up in the love of God will certainly fall by the sword, and the life that is kindled with longing will surely be sacrificed, and the heart which remembereth the Loved One will surely brim with blood. How well is it said:

These journeys have no visible ending in the world of time, but the severed wayfarer—if invisible confirmation descend upon him and the Guardian of the Cause assist him—may cross these seven stages in seven steps, nay rather in seven breaths, nay rather in a single breath, if God will and desire it. And this is of “His grace on such of His servants as He pleaseth.” 74

Now hast thou abandoned the drop of life and come to the sea of the Life-Bestower. This is the goal thou didst ask for; if it be God’s will, thou wilt gain it. In this city, even the veils of light are split asunder and vanish away. “His beauty hath no veiling save light, His face no covering save revelation.” 69 How strange that while the Beloved is visible as the sun, yet the heedless still hunt after tinsel and base metal. Yea, the intensity of His revelation hath covered Him, and the fullness of His shining forth hath hidden Him. Even as the sun, bright hath He shined, But alas, He hath come to the town of the blind! 70 In this Valley, the wayfarer leaveth behind him the stages of the “oneness of Being and Manifestation” 71 and reacheth a oneness that is sanctified above these two stations. Ecstasy alone can encompass this theme, not utterance nor argument;