Precious Pearls — Page 17
19 The belovèd’s lane is the street where the belovèd resides and where the love-stricken seeker often raises a clamour to catch the belovèd’s attention. The look of grace is the much sought-after attention, care and thoughtfulness that one desires from one’s belovèd. The heart is considered to be the seat of the soul just as the brain is the seat of the mind and the intellect. Things that affect the soul are thus commonly described as affecting the heart. The world and its attractions stand for greed and avarice. The world itself is considered only a temporary place, while the Hereafter is the true abode that is to last for ever. The faith is likened to an ark or vessel that helps the believer to cross the floods and storms of evil in this world. The condition of the faith in the world is frequently likened to a garden , an orchard or a tree , that wilts with a decline in the peoples’ religiosity and whose greening is earnestly awaited. Likewise, hearts and populations that are devoid of spirituality are commonly referred to as desert or barren lands. Fruits received by the seeker as reward are invariably spiritual in nature, taking the form of visions, true dreams, insights and converse with God. Autumn and spring stand for the dark and bright periods for the glory of faith, while breeze and spring-breeze stand for hope, God’s mercy and His blessings. Similarly, day and night stand for periods of spiritual enlightenment and spiritual darkness. Light invariably implies the light of spirituality that illuminates not only the possessor, but also the people around. The Signs of God are the miracles and marvels that He displays to prove the truthfulness of His favoured ones. The path and the way stand for the Way of Life of a true Muslim, and also for the arduous undertakings through which the persistent seeker eventually finds God. The pain of separation from one’s belovèd is like the real pain and suffering that one feels in this world. Stooping to dust , mingling with dust or being dust, all stand for humbleness, meekness and humility that the pious use in describing themselves. To perish on the way of God is to destroy and kill one’s ego and the baser self.