Showing that the education of the self has three stages: obedience, self‐control, and divine vicegerency
1. Obedience
Service and toil are traits of the camel,
Patience and perseverance are ways of the camel.
Noiselessly he steps along the sandy track,
He is the ship of those who voyage in the desert.
Every thicket knows the print of his foot:
He eats seldom, sleeps little, and is inured to toil.
He carries rider, baggage, and litter:
He trots on and on to the journeyʹs end,
Rejoicing in his speed,
More patient in travel than his rider,
Thou, too, do not refuse the burden of Duty:
So wilt thou enjoy the best dwelling place, which is with God.
Endeavour to obey, O heedless one!
Liberty is the fruit of compulsion.
By obedience the man of no worth is made worthy;
By disobedience his fire is turned to ashes.
Whoso would master the sun and stars,
Let him make himself a prisoner of Law!
The air becomes fragrant when it is imprisoned in the flower‐bud;
The perfume becomes musk when it is confined in the ‐navel of the muskdeer.
The star moves towards its goal
With head bowed in surrender to a law.
The grass springs up in obedience to the law of growth:
When it abandons that, it is trodden underfoot.
To burn unceasingly is the law of the tulip.
And so the blood leaps in its veins
Drops of water become a sea by the law of union,
And grains of sand become a Sahara.
Since Law makes everything strong within,
Why dost thou neglect this source of strength?
O thou that art emancipated from the old Custom,
Adorn thy feet once more with the same fine silver chain!
Do not complain of the hardness of the Law,
Do not transgress the statutes of Muhammad (PBUH)!
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