1916.] Quatrains of Abu Sa'id bin AbVl Khair. 195 



TRANSLATION 



1. 



Come back to Me ; come back to Me, whoever thou art, come 



back to Me ; 

 Unbeliever, or magian or worshipper of idols ; come back 



to Me. 

 This Court of Mine is not the Court of Despair ; 

 Though thou hast broken thy vows a hundred times, come 



back to Me. 



To all religious forms the Sufi, like every mys- 

 tic, was indifferent. Sincerity of worship Abu 

 Sa'id held to be of more value than adherence to 

 any particular creed. " The ways to God," he 

 said, 4 ' are countless as the atoms." The demands 

 of strict orthodoxy were indeed regarded as a posi- 

 tive snare. The author of the Majdlis-ul-Ushshaq 

 (The Assemblies of Lovers) a book of memoirs of 

 famous "lovers" written in a.d. 1502 quotes one 

 'Ain-ul-Qaza of Hamadan as declaring that he 

 will destroy his religion, and take love in its 



place : . 



J4 j ^Jt^O ^ C) y^ 3 f>j J2JT 



{ J t xj ^ ^A^ ^.Isu ^xj 



burn 



And, quit of them, to love for Thee will turn. 



2. 



Pass, morning breeze, through Her garden 

 And tell that adorable Marjoram ■ 

 To guide Her steps towards me, for a space, 

 And honour this desolate abode of my heart. 



3. 



Said I : • O Beloved, tulip-faced One, Possessor of my heart, 

 Show Thy face to me in my dreams, but once.' 

 Said He : ' Thou goest to sleep without Me and then 

 Thinkest thou mayest see Me in thy dreams ? ' 



L Compare the Divan-i-Shams-i-Tabriz xxvi. 5, where the Beloved is 

 referred to as a 4 Cyprus.' 



