and guides the way” [33:4].
Chapter Two Hundred and Fifty-Four: On Gnosis of Veiling, Which Is What Veils You from What Annihilates You
By God, curtains and canopies are lowered
only for that in which eyes delight.
It may be from fear of contemplating them,
or what nature and weariness require.
If you consider the lessons contained
within their lowering, purposes and creeds arise.
Without the veils concealing their cherished ones,
I would have no purpose within them nor hope.
By God, curtains and canopies are let down
only for a tremendous matter, immense in consequence.
(Veiling, Causes, and Mercy)
Veiling is the covering of engendered existence and stopping with customs and works’ results. We have told you causes are divine veils that can be lifted only through themselves. Their very lifting is their lowering, and their
Notes
Translator’s note TN5556-1: The poem’s al-milal is read as “creeds”; the same unvocalized form also permits malal, “weariness,” which occurs nearby and is developed later in the prose. The curtains and their cherished ones have not been assigned a new named referent.
