In the name of God, the All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful.
Chapter 72: On Pilgrimage and Its Secrets
Pilgrimage is a divine obligation upon people
since the covenant of our father, called the forgetful.
It is imposed upon us, yet we do not carry it out.
An obligation must be cast upon the head.
If you enter consecration by stripping yourselves
of every state, in hardship and destitution,
its state calls you in every station
of the rites both naked and clothed.
In it is the answer to the All-Merciful from near at hand,
with the attribute of a servant of the divine presence and of Elias.
In it are acts of worship, fasting and maintaining ties,
prayer, and the ruling of generosity and severity.
In circumambulation are meanings resembled only
by the hesitation of the Lord of jinn and people.
Notes
Translator’s note TN2855-1: The opening poem connects pilgrimage’s rites with inner states. “A servant of the divine presence” renders ʿabd ladunnī, whose wording is left distinct from the following name Elias.
