(CALLED "OF SAWEH")[26]
Al Harith, son of Hammam, related: I was aware of hardness of heart
while I sojourned at Saweh. So I betook myself to the Tradition handed
down, that its cure is by visiting the tombs. And when I had reached
the mansion of the dead, the storehouse of moldering remains, I saw
an assemblage over a grave that had been dug, and a corpse that was
being buried. So I drew aside to them, meditating on the end of man,
and calling to mind those of my people who were gone. And when they
had sepulchered the dead, and the crying of Alas! was over, an old man
stood forth on high, from a hillock, leaning on a staff. And he had
veiled his face with his cloak, and disguised his form for craftiness.
And he said: _Let those who work, work for an end like this._ Now take
thought, O yet negligent and gird yourselves, ye slothful, and look
well, ye observers. How is it with you that the burying of your fellows
grieves you not, and that the pouring in of the mold frightens you
not; that ye heed not the visitations of misfortune; that ye prepare
not for the going down to your graves; that ye are not moved to tears
at the eye that weeps; that ye take not warning at the death-message
when it is heard; that ye are not affrighted when an intimate is lost;
that ye are not saddened when the mourning assembly is gathered? One of
you follows home the dead man's bier, but his heart is set toward his
house; and he is present at the burying of his kinsman, but his thought
is of securing his portion. He leaves his loved friend with the worms,
then retires alone with his pipes and lutes. Ye have sorrowed over your
riches, if but a grain were notched away, yet have ye been forgetful
of the cutting off of your friends: and ye have been cast down at the
befalling of adversity, but have made little of the perishing of your
kindred. Ye have laughed at a funeral as ye laughed not in the hour
of dancing; ye have walked wantonly behind biers, as ye walked not
in the day that ye grasped gifts. Ye have turned from the recital of
the mourning women to the preparing of banquets; and from the anguish
of the bereaved to daintiness in feastings. Ye care not for him who
molders, and ye move not the thought of death in your mind. So that it
is as if ye were joined to Death by clientship, or had gotten security
from Time, or were confident of your own safety, or had made sure of a
peace with the Destroyer of delights. No! it is an ill thing that ye
imagine. Again, no! surely ye shall learn. Then he recited:
O thou who claimest understanding; how long, O brother of delusion,
wilt thou marshal sin and blame, and err exceeding error?
Is not the shame plain to thee? doth not hoariness warn thee? (and in
its counsel there is no doubtfulness); nor hath thy hearing become
deaf.
Is not Death calling thee? doth he not make thee hear his voice? dost
thou not fear thy passing away, so as to be wary and anxious?
How long wilt thou be bewildered in carelessness, and walk proudly in
vanity, and go eagerly to diversion, as if death were not for all?
Till when will last thy swerving, and thy delaying to mend habits that
unite in thee vices whose every sort shall be collected in thee?
If thou anger thy Master thou art not disquieted at it; but if thy
scheme be bootless thou burnest with vexation.
If the graving of the yellow one gleam to thee thou art joyful; but if
the bier pass by thee thou feignest grief, and there is no grief.
Thou resistest him who counseleth righteousness; thou art hard in
understanding; thou swervest aside: but thou followest the guiding of
him who deceiveth, who lieth, who defameth.
Thou walkest in the desire of thy soul; thou schemest after money; but
thou forgettest the darkness of the grave, and rememberest not what is
there.
But if true happiness had looked upon thee, thy own look would not
have led thee amiss; nor wouldest thou be saddened when the preaching
wipeth away griefs.
Thou shalt weep blood, not tears, when thou perceivest that no company
can protect thee in the Court of Assembling; no kinsman of mother or
father.
It is as though I could see thee when thou goest down to the vault and
divest deep; when thy kinsmen have committed thee to a place narrower
than a needle's eye.
There is the body stretched out that the worms may devour it, until
the coffin-wood is bored through and the bones molder.
And afterward there is no escape from that review of souls: since
Sirat is prepared; its bridge is stretched over the fire to every one
who cometh thither.
And how many a guide shall go astray! and how many a great one shall
be vile! and how many a learned one shall slip and say, "The business
surpasseth."
Therefore hasten, O simple one, to that by which the bitter is made
sweet; for thy life is now near to decay and thou hast not withdrawn
thyself from blame.
And rely not on fortune though it be soft, though it be gay: for so
wilt thou be found like one deceived by a viper that spitteth venom.
And lower thyself from thy loftiness; for death is meeting thee and
reaching at thy collar; and he is one who shrinketh not back when he
hath purposed.
And avoid proud turning away of the cheek if fortune have prospered
thee: bridle thy speech if it would run astray; for how happy is he
who bridleth it!
And relieve the brother of sorrow, and believe him when he speaketh
and mend thy ragged conduct; for he hath prospered who mendeth it.
And plume him whose plumage hath fallen in calamity great or small;
and sorrow not at the loss, and be not covetous in amassing.
And resist thy base nature, and accustom thy hand to liberality, and
listen not to blame for it, and keep thy hand from hoarding.
And make provision of good for thy soul, and leave that which will
bring on ill, and prepare the ship for thy journey, and dread the deep
of the sea.
Thus have I given my precepts, friends, and shown as one who showeth
clearly: and happy the man who walketh by my doctrines and maketh them
his example.
Then he drew back his sleeve from an arm strong of sinew, on which he
had fastened the splints of deceit not of fracture; presenting himself
to beg in the garb of impudence: and by it he beguiled those people
until his sleeve was brimmed and full; then he came down from the
hillock merry at the gift. Said the narrator: But I pulled him from
behind by the hem of his cloak; and he turned to me submissively, and
faced me, saluting me: and lo! it was our old Abu Zayd, in his very
self, and in all his deceit: and I said to him,
How many, Abu Zayd, will be the varieties of thy cunning to drive the
prey to thy net? and wilt thou not care who censures?
And he answered without shame and without hesitation:
Look well, and leave thy blaming; for, tell me, hast thou ever known
a time when a man would not win of the world when the game was in his
hands?
Then I said to him: Away with thee, Old Shaykh of Hell, laden with
infamy! For there is nothing like thee for the fairness of thy seeming
and the foulness of thy purpose; except silvered dung or a whited
sewer. Then we parted; and I went away to the right, and he went away
to the left; and I set myself to the quarter of the south, and he set
himself to the quarter of the north.