Appendix VIII

Notes on Rehatsek’s Translation of the Beharistan

The Beharistan consists of eight chapters:

1. Aromatic Herbs from the Life of Shaikh Junaid, etc.— a glorification of Sufism.
2. Philosophical Ana.
3. The Blooming Realms by Wisdom.
4. The Trees of Liberality and Generosity.
5. Tender State of the Nightingale of the Garden of Love.
6. Breezes of Jocular Sallies.
7. Signing Birds of Rhyme and Parrots of Poetry.
8. Animal Fables.

We give the following as specimens of the Stories:

First Garden, pp. 14 and 15.

Story

Bayazid having been asked what the traditional and the divine law amounted to, he replied that the former is to abandon the world, and the latter to associate with the Lord. [These two laws are the Sonna and the Farz.]

Verses

O thou who concerning the law of the men of the period
Askest about the traditional and divine command;
The first is to turn the soul from the world away,
The second is to find the way of proximity to the Lord.

Story

Shebli (may his secret be sanctified) having become demented was taken to the hospital and visited by acquaintances. He asked who they were, and they replied: “Thy friends,” whereon he took up a stone and assaulted them. They all began to run away, but he exclaimed:—“O pretenders, return. Friends do not flee from friends, and do not avoid the stones of their violence.”

Verses

He is a friend, who although meeting with enmity
From his friend, only becomes more attached to him.
If he strikes him with a thousand stones of violence
The edifice of his love will only be made more firm by them.