Take your secret from him, from his stations,
ascending to the high moon, to Saturn,
to the fixed stars—do not alight in their precinct—
and rise to the high degree of Aries,
and from it to the foot, the Footstool, then to
the encompassing Throne, to shapes and likenesses,
to Nature, to the pure Soul, to Intellect,
restricted by accidents and causes,
to the Cloud above which is no breath,
and from it to the Abode described by beginninglessness.
Look at the mountain firmly set upon the mountain:
it has seen Him and has neither departed nor ceased.
Were it not for the height within lowness, our faces
would not descend, seeking the seen with their eyes.
For that reason God prescribed prostration for us,
so that we witness the Real in height and in lowness.
This is our counsel, if you possess discernment:
it is a device among the finest devices.
Notes
Translator’s note: The opening pronouns leave the point of departure unspecified. “The foot, the Footstool” is compressed; qidam, “beginninglessness,” is another reading of qadam. Nafas, “breath,” also permits nafs, “soul.” “It has seen Him” in the mountain line also permits “He has seen it.”
