Grandeur. The knower straightway flung himself into the waves, but the
grammarian stood lost in his reasonings, which were as words that are
written on water. The knower called out to him, “Why dost thou not
follow?” The grammarian answered, “O Brother, I dare not advance. I must
needs go back again.” Then the knower cried, “Forget what thou didst read
in the books of Síbávayh and Qawlavayh, of Ibn-i-Hajíb and
Ibn-i-Málik,(96) and cross the water.”

The death of self is needed here, not rhetoric:
Be nothing, then, and walk upon the waves.(97)

Likewise is it written, “And be ye not like those who forget God, and whom
He hath therefore caused to forget their own selves. These are the wicked
doers.”(98)




The Second Valley


If the wayfarer’s goal be the dwelling of the Praiseworthy One
(Maḥmúd),(99) this is the station of primal reason which is known as the
Prophet and the Most Great Pillar.(100) Here reason signifieth the divine,
universal mind, whose sovereignty enlighteneth all created things—nor doth
it refer to every feeble brain; for it is as the wise Saná’í hath written:

How can feeble reason encompass the Qur’án,
Or the spider snare a phoenix in his web?
Wouldst thou that the mind should not entrap thee?