The Second Station of the Seventeenth Word
Cry not out at misfortune, O wretch, come, trust in Allah!
For know that crying out compounds the misfortune and is a great error.
Find misfortune’s Sender, and know it is a gift within gift, and pleasure.
So leave crying out and offer thanks; like the nightingale, smile through your tears!
If you find Him not, know the world is all pain within pain, transience and loss.
So why lament at a small misfortune while upon you is a worldful of woe? Come trust in Allah!
Trust in Allah! Laugh in misfortune’s face; it too will laugh.
As it laughs, it will diminish; it will be changed and transformed.
Know, O arrogant one, happiness in this world lies in abandoning it. To know Allah is enough.
Abandon the world; all things will be for you.
To be arrogant is total loss; whatever you do, all things will oppose you.
So both states demand abandoning the world here.
Abandoning the world is to regard it as Allah’s property, with His permission, in His name.
If you want to do trade, it lies in making this fleeting life eternal.
If you seek yourself, it is both rotten and without foundation.
If you seek the world outside, the stamp of ephemerality is upon it.
This means there is no value in taking it; the goods in this market are all rotten.
So pass on; the sound goods are all lined up beyond it.
A Fruit of the Black Mulberry
The Old Said spoke this with the tongue of the New Said under the blessed mulberry tree.
The one I’m addressing isn’t Ziya Paşa, it’s those enamoured of Europe.
The one speaking isn’t my soul, it’s my heart in the name of the students of the Qur’an.
The previous words are all truth; beware, don’t lose course, don’t exceed their bounds!
Don’t heed the ideas of Europe and deviate, or they’ll make you regret it!
You see the most enlightened of them, in brilliance their standard‑bearer,
Exclaim in bewilderment: Of whom, to whom can I complain?
The Qur’an says, and I say too – I won’t hold back: I lodge my complaint with Him.
I’m not confused, like you.
I cry out to the Truth, to Allah; I don’t slip away, like you.
I shout my cause from the ground to the skies; I don’t flee, like you.
For all the Qur’an’s cause is light upon light; I don’t renege, like you.
In the Qur’an is truth and wisdom; I’ll prove it. I count as nothing hostile philosophy.
In the Criterion are diamond truths; I take them to myself, not sell them, like you.
I journey from creation to Creator; I don’t lose the way, like you.
I pass over thorny paths, I don’t tread on them, like you.
From the earth to the Throne, I offer thanks; I don’t neglect it, like you.
I look on death and the appointed hour as a friend; I am not frightened, like you.
I’ll enter the grave smiling, not trembling, like you.
I don’t see it as a monster’s mouth, a beast’s lair, descending to nothingness, like you./
It joins me with my friends; I’m not vexed at the grave, like you.
It’s the door of Mercy, gate of Light, portal of Truth; I am not discomforted by it; I won’t retreat.
Saying: In the Name of Allah, I’ll knock on it. I’ll not look behind me nor feel terror.
Saying: All Praise be to Allah!, I’ll lay down and find ease. I’ll suffer no trouble nor remain solitary.
Saying, Allah is Most Great!, I’ll hear the Call to the Resurrection and rise up,
I won’t hang back from the Great Gathering, or the Mighty Mosque. I’ll feel no distress, thanks to divine favour, the Qur’an’s light, and the effulgence of belief;/ .
Not stopping, I’ll hasten, fly, to the shade of the Most Merciful’s Throne. Allah willing, I won’t go astray, like you.