Prevod

It is also told that my master Ibrahim ibn al-Khawwas, may God have mercy on him, said: “At one time my soul urged me to set out for the lands of the unbelievers. I restrained it, but it would neither rest content nor desist. I tried to banish the thought, but it would not leave me, so I set out, crossing their lands and wandering through their provinces, with divine providence encompassing me and divine protection enfolding me. Whenever I encountered a Christian, he lowered his eyes and drew away from me, until I reached a certain city. At its gate I found a band of armed slaves carrying iron blades. When they saw me, they sprang to their feet and asked, ‘Are you a physician?’ ‘Yes,’ I replied. ‘Then answer the king’s summons,’ they said, and took me before him. He was a mighty king, handsome of face. When I entered his presence, he looked at me and asked, ‘Are you a physician?’ ‘Yes,’ I replied. He said, ‘Take him to her, but tell him the condition before he enters her chamber.’ They led me out and said, ‘The king has a daughter who is grievously ill, and her treatment has baffled the physicians. Every physician who has gone in to treat her and whose medicine has proved of no avail has been put to death by the king. Consider, then, what you would do.’ I told them, ‘The king has sent me to her, so take me in.’ They brought me to her door and knocked. At once she called from within, ‘Bring in the physician, the keeper of the wondrous secret!’ And she recited:

‘Open the door, for the physician has come! Look upon me, for I hold a wondrous secret. Among you is one who is near, yet far away; among you is one who is far away, yet near. I lived among you as a stranger, until the Truth willed that a kindred soul should comfort me. A bond of faith has brought us together, and we beheld each other, lover and beloved. He called me to this meeting, and as He called, He screened us from the reproacher and the watcher. Cease your reproaches, spare me your blame; alas for you, I shall not answer! I do not turn toward one who passes away and vanishes: my quest is for the Everlasting, who never departs.’ He continued: “An old man quickly opened the door and said, ‘Come in.’ I entered and found a room strewn with fragrant herbs of every kind, with a curtain hung across one corner. From behind it came a faint moaning, issuing from a wasted frame. I sat down opposite the curtain and was about to offer the greeting of peace when I remembered the words of the Prophet, God bless him and grant him peace: ‘Do not be the first to greet Jews or Christians with peace; and when you meet them on a road, force them to its narrowest part.’ So I held my tongue. Then she called from behind the curtain, ‘Where is the greeting of God’s oneness and sincere devotion, Khawwas?’ Astonished, I asked, ‘How did you know me?’ She replied, ‘When hearts and thoughts are pure, tongues disclose what lies hidden in the soul. Last night I asked Him to send me one of His saints, through whose hands I might find deliverance, and a voice called to me from the corners of my room: “Do not grieve; We shall send Ibrahim al-Khawwas to you.”’ I asked her, ‘What is your story?’ She said, ‘Four years ago the Manifest Truth revealed Himself to me. He has been my confidant and companion, drawing me close and keeping me company. But my people watched me suspiciously, harbored doubts about me, and called me mad. Every physician who came to me filled me with dread, and every visitor distressed me.’ I asked, ‘Who guided you to what you have attained?’ She replied, ‘His clear proofs and His shining signs. Once the path becomes clear to you, you behold both the proof and that to which it points.’” He continued: “While I was speaking with her, the old man charged with her care came in and asked her, ‘What has your physician done?’ ‘He has recognized the malady,’ she replied, ‘and found the right remedy.’” Then dawn overtook Shahrazad, and she fell silent, leaving off her permitted tale.

When it was the four hundred and seventy-eighth night

She said: “It has reached me, O fortunate king, that when the old man charged with the princess’s care came in, he asked her, ‘What has your physician done?’ She replied, ‘He has recognized the malady and found the right remedy.’” Ibrahim continued: “At this he showed me every sign of joy and delight, and treated me with kindness and gladness. He went to the king and told him, and the king urged him to honor me. I continued to visit her for seven days. Then she said, ‘Abu Ishaq, when shall we depart for the abode of Islam?’ I asked, ‘How can you leave? Who would dare attempt it?’ She replied, ‘He who brought you into my chamber and led you to me.’ ‘Well said,’ I answered. The next day we went out through the fortress gate, and by His command all eyes were veiled from us: ‘His command, when He wills a thing, is only to say to it, “Be,” and it is.’ Never have I seen anyone more steadfast than she in fasting and keeping vigil in prayer. She dwelt beside God’s Sacred House for seven years, then her appointed hour came, and the earth of Mecca became her resting place. May God shower His mercy upon her, and have mercy on the one who composed these verses:

“When they brought the physician to me, and the signs were plain in streaming tears and sickness, he drew the cloth away from my face and found beneath it only a self bereft of spirit and of body. He told them, ‘This one is beyond all cure, for love holds a secret that conjecture cannot grasp.’ They said, ‘If no one knows what ails him, and it can be defined neither in essence nor in outline, how can medicine have any effect upon him?’ ‘Leave me be, for I will not judge by conjecture.’”