In Baghdad, Dreaming of Cairo

I will no longer beat the drum of vanity under the rug out of fear and dread.  
I now raise my banner in the desert, either to surrender or to embrace the beloved.  
A throat unworthy of that wine should be severed by the sword and strike.  
An eye unworthy of its union should be blinded, for a white eye is better.  
An ear unworthy of its secret should be torn off, for it is not fit to be on the head.  
A hand unworthy of its measure should be broken by the butcher's cleaver.  
A foot that does not connect the soul to its field of narcissus is better in iron, for such a foot ultimately brings pain.  
The statement of the warrior who does not cease striving, even if he knows the abundance of God's grace, is that the purpose may be achieved from another direction and through another type of action that was not in his imagination. He knocks on the door of this path, hoping that God will provide sustenance from another door, which he had not planned for, and provides from where the servant does not expect. The servant plans, and God determines. It may be that the servant has the illusion of servitude, thinking that he will be provided from elsewhere, even though he knocks on this door. God may provide him from this very door. In short, all these doors are one house with its explanation.  
Either I will achieve my desire on this path, or when I return home from the journey.  
Perhaps my desire depends on the journey, and when I travel, I will find it at home.  
I seek the beloved diligently to know that I should not have sought.  
That companionship enters my ear so that I do not revolve around the cycles of time.  
How can I understand the secret of companionship except after long journeys?  
God spoke of companionship and sealed the heart so that the reflection comes to the heart's ear, not rejection.  
When he made journeys and gave way, then the seal was lifted from his heart.  
When the errors of that account become clear after two mistakes,  
Then he says, if I had known, I would have sought this companionship.  
That knowledge was dependent on the journey; it does not come from sharp thinking.  
Just as the way of the elder's debt was tied and dependent on the child's crying.  
A child cried bitterly, and the elder's debt was settled.  
That spiritual story was told before in the midst of the Masnavi.  
It instills fear in your heart from a place so that you have no other hope.  
It places the hope of another benefit, and that desire is given by someone else.  
O hope, locked in a hard place, that fruit comes from that high tree.  
That hope will not be fulfilled from there, but the gift will come from another place.  
Why was that hope placed in you when it was not intended to be given from that side?  
For wisdom and skill, so that your heart remains in wonder.  
So that your heart remains bewildered, O seeker, wondering where my desire will come from.  
So that you know your own weakness and ignorance, so your certainty in the unseen increases.  
Your heart remains bewildered in the destination, wondering what will grow from this hope.  
You hope for sustenance in tailoring, but you will find it in goldsmithing, which was far from your imagination.  
So why was the hope in tailoring when that sustenance was not opened from that side?  
For a rare wisdom in the knowledge of God, who wrote that decree in the past.  
Either the union with the beloved comes from this effort, or from a path outside the effort of the body.  
I do not say that the desire comes from this path; I strive to see from where it will open.  
A beheaded bird falls everywhere, wondering which way the soul will escape from the body.  
Either my desire will be fulfilled from this exit, or from another tower of the constellations.  
The story of the person who dreamed that what you seek will be fulfilled in Egypt, where there is a treasure in a certain neighborhood in a certain house. When he came to Egypt, someone said, I dreamed that there is a treasure in Baghdad in a certain neighborhood in a certain house, mentioning the name of the neighborhood and the house of this person. That person understood that the treasure was mentioned in Egypt to make him certain that it should not be sought outside his own house, but this certainty and realization could only be achieved in Egypt.  
There was an inheritance of wealth and property; he consumed it all and was left destitute and wretched.  
The inheritance itself does not last, as it separates from the unfulfilled past.  
He does not know the value of what he found, for he did not strive and labor for it.  
You do not know the value of life, O so-and-so, because God gave it to you as a free gift.  
The cash is gone, the goods are gone, and the houses remain like owls in ruins.  
He said, O Lord, you gave me sustenance, and it is gone; either give me sustenance or send death.  
When he was empty, he began to remember God, saying, O Lord, O Lord, grant me refuge.  
As the Prophet said, the believer is a mirror; in times of emptiness, he cries out.  
When he is full, he puts down his instrument; do not be full, for the touch of his hand is pleasant.  
Be empty and happy between the two fingers, for from the wine of negation, this one is intoxicated.  
The flood of tears opened from his eyes, and the tears watered the crop of religion.  
The reason for the delay in answering the prayer of the believer.  
Many a sincere one cries out in prayer so that the smoke of his sincerity rises to the heavens.  
So that the scent of the incense rises from the groans of the sinners.  
Then the angels cry out to God, O answerer of every prayer, O refuge.  
The believing servant is pleading; he knows no other refuge but You.  
You give to strangers; every seeker has hope in You.  
God commands that it is not from his humiliation; the delay in granting is his aid.  
The need brought him from heedlessness to Me; it pulled him by the hair to My alley.  
If I fulfill his need, he will turn away and become absorbed in that plaything.  
Even though he cries out with his soul, O refuge, the broken-hearted, chest-broken, let him cry.  
I enjoy his voice and his saying, O God, and his secret.  
And the one who, in pleading and argument, deceives Me in every way.  
They release parrots and nightingales from cages for their sweet voices.  
But they do not cage crows and owls; this is not mentioned in stories.  
When two come before the witness, one an old woman and the other with a beautiful chin,  
Both ask for bread; he quickly gives the old woman bread and says, take it.  
But to the other, who is beautiful in stature and face, he does not give bread but delays.  
He says, sit for a while without harm, for fresh bread is being baked at home.  
When the warm bread reaches him after toil, he says, sit, for the halva is coming.  
In this way, he keeps him waiting and secretly hunts him.  
He says, I have a matter with you for a moment; wait, O beauty of the world.  
The unfulfilled desires of the believers, whether good or bad, know for sure that it is for this reason.  
Returning to the story of the person who was shown the treasure in Egypt and his pleading from poverty to God.  
The heir consumed and became poor; he came in supplication and weeping and wailing.  
Whoever knocks on this door of mercy will not find a hundred springs in response.  
He dreamed and heard a voice saying that your wealth will appear in Egypt.  
Go to Egypt; there your affairs will be set right; he accepted the toil with hope.  
In a certain place, there is a great treasure; you must go to Egypt for it.  
Without delay, from Baghdad, O distressed one, go to Egypt, the birthplace of sugar.  
When he came from Baghdad to Egypt, his back warmed when he saw the face of Egypt.  
In hope of the promise of the voice that he would find the treasure in Egypt to relieve his distress.  
In a certain neighborhood and a certain place, there is a rare and precious treasure.  
But his provisions were almost gone; he wanted to beg from the common people.  
But shame and his ambition held him back; he began to endure patiently.  
Again, his soul throbbed from hunger; he saw no remedy but to seek sustenance.  
He said, I will go out at night softly so that in the darkness, I will not be ashamed to beg.  
Step forward and step back until a third of the night, whether I want or sleep with dry lips.  
The arrival of that person in Egypt and going out at night to beg and being caught by the watchman, and his purpose being fulfilled after much beating, and perhaps you dislike something while it is good for you, and God's statement that after hardship comes ease, and the Prophet's saying, "Tighten the crisis, it will open," and all the Quran and the revealed books in explaining this.  
Suddenly, the watchman caught him, beat him with fists and sticks until he burst.  
Coincidentally, in those dark nights, people had suffered from the harm of night thieves.  
It was a fearful and ominous night, so the watchman was seriously searching for thieves.  
Until the caliph said, cut off the hand of anyone who goes out at night, even if he is my relative.  
The king threatened and frightened the watchman, asking why they were merciful to thieves.  
Why do you believe their deceit, or why do you accept bribes from them?  
Mercy to thieves and every ill-fated hand is cruelty to the weak.  
See the general suffering, not just the specific pain of revenge.  
A bitten finger at the door to prevent harm, look at the transgression and destruction of the body.  
Coincidentally, at that time, thieves had become numerous, both seasoned and raw.  
In such a time, he saw him and beat him severely with countless blows.  
The cry and shout rose from that poor man, saying, do not hit until I tell the truth.  
He said, I give you a chance, speak, how did you come out at night to the street?  
You are not a stranger here, tell the truth, what trick are you in?  
The officials criticized the watchman, asking why thieves had become so numerous.  
The abundance is from you and your kind, show your ugly companions first.  
Otherwise, I will take all of them from you, so that every noble is safe from gold.  
He said, after many oaths, I am not a house-burner or a purse-snatcher.  
I am not a thief or an oppressor; I am a stranger to Egypt and from Baghdad.  
Explaining this news that lying is suspicion and truth is tranquility.  
He told the story of the dream and the treasure of gold, and the truth of his heart was revealed.  
The scent of truth came from his oath, his burning and incense became evident.  
The heart was calmed by the truthful words, just as a thirsty person is calmed by water.  
Except for the veiled heart, which has an ailment, it cannot distinguish between a prophet and a fool.  
Otherwise, the message from the source would strike the moon and split it.  
The moon splits, but the veiled heart does not, for it is rejected, not beloved.  
The watchman's eyes became a fountain from tears, not from dry words but from the scent of the heart.  
One word comes from hell to the lips, another from the city of the soul to the lips.  
The sea of life-giving and the sea of distress, between the two seas, this lip is a barrier.  
Like a marketplace between cities, goods come there from all directions.  
Defective goods, purse-snatching, profitable goods, like pearls.  
From this marketplace, every merchant is more discerning of the genuine and the counterfeit.  
It becomes a house of profit for him, and for the blind, a house of loss.  
Each part of the world, one by one, is a barrier to the fool and a key to the master.  
For one, it is sugar, for another, like poison; for one, it is kindness, for another, like wrath.  
Every inanimate object speaks to the prophet, the Kaaba is a witness and speechful to the pilgrim.  
The mosque is a witness to the worshipper, saying, he came to me from afar.  
For Abraham, the fire is a rose and basil, but for the Nimrodians, it is death and pain.  
We have said this many times, O Hasan, I do not tire of explaining it.  
You have eaten bread many times to ward off weakness; this is the same bread, why are you not tired of it?  
In you, hunger comes from illness, which burns indigestion and fatigue.  
Whoever has the pain of hunger in cash, renewal with each part becomes a contract.  
Pleasure is from hunger, not from new sweets, with hunger, barley bread is sweeter than sugar.  
So from lack of hunger and complete indigestion, that fatigue is not from the repetition of words.  
When from the shop and bargaining and talk, you do not tire of deceiving people.  
When from backbiting and eating the flesh of people, sixty years, you have not tired of it.  
Deceptions in hunting the roasted partridge, you have spoken well many times without fatigue.  
The alchemy that renews pains, where is the fatigue from the side where the pain arose?  
Do not sigh coldly from fatigue, seek pain and seek pain, pain, pain.  
The false cures are deceivers of pain, they are robbers and tax collectors.  
Salty water does not quench thirst, even if it seems cold and pleasant when drunk.  
But it deceives and prevents the search for sweet water, from which a hundred greens grow.  
Similarly, every counterfeit gold prevents the recognition of good gold wherever it is.  
It cuts off your feet and wings with deception, saying, I am your goal, take me, O disciple.  
It said, I will gather your pain, but it was itself the pain, it was bewildered, though it seemed victorious.  
Flee from false cures, so that your pain becomes fragrant and musk-scented.  
He said, you are not a thief or a sinner, you are a good man but foolish and naive.  
Why do you follow dreams and fantasies so much? Does your intellect not have the light of guidance?  
I have dreamed many times continuously that there is a hidden treasure in Baghdad.  
In a certain neighborhood and a certain place, it was indeed the name of this sorrowful neighborhood.  
It is in the house of so-and-so, go and seek it, the name of the house and his name, the enemy said.  
I have seen this dream many times, that there is a treasure in Baghdad, in my homeland.  
I have never moved from this imagination, you come with one dream without fatigue.  
The dream of a fool is worthy of his intellect, just as he is worthless and nothing.  
The dream of a woman is less than the dream of a man, due to the deficiency of intellect and weakness of soul.  
The dream of a fool and naive is unsalable, so what is the dream of wind from lack of intellect?  
He said to himself, the treasure is in my house, so why am I in poverty and lamentation?  
I have died begging over the treasure, for I am in heedlessness and veiled.  
From this good news, he became intoxicated, his pain vanished, he recited a hundred thousand praises without lips.  
He said, it was dependent on this beating, the water of life was in my shop.  
Go, for I struck a great blow on the loot, blindness to the illusion that I was penniless.