One Strong Brushstroke Down

From Chapter 28: A NEW SECTION
Book I, Verses 1489-1546
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Satan said, "You led me astray," hiding his actions like a worldly demon.  
Adam said, "We wronged ourselves," not unaware of God's actions like us.  
In sin, he hid himself out of respect, thus taking the blame upon himself.  
After repentance, God said, "O Adam, was it not I who created that sin and trial in you?"  
"Was it not my decree and destiny?" Why did you hide it at the time of excuse?  
Adam replied, "I feared and did not leave respect." God said, "I also preserved your respect."  
Whoever brings respect will receive respect; whoever brings sugar will taste sweetness.  
The good things are for the good people; make your beloved happy, offend and see.  
O heart, bring an example to distinguish between compulsion and choice.  
A hand that trembles from shaking, and one that you shake from its place.  
Recognize both movements as created by God, but do not compare this with that.  
From the regret of shaking it, when have you seen the trembling one regretful?  
This is a discussion of intellect, what intellect is that cunning one, unless the weak find a way there.  
The discussion of the soul is in another place; the wine of the soul has another essence.  
When the discussion is intellectual, this life was in secret with Abu al-Hakam.  
When life moved from intellect to soul, Abu al-Hakam became Abu al-Jahl in its judgment.  
Towards sense and intellect, he is complete, though in relation to the soul, he is ignorant.  
The discussion of intellect and sense is to know the effect or cause; the discussion of the soul is either wonder or amazement.  
The light of the soul has come, O seeker, leaving behind the necessary, the contingent, and the negating.  
For the sight whose light is shining, it is free from the need for a cane as proof.  
Interpretation: "And He is with you wherever you are."  
Once again, we have come to the story; when did we ever leave that story?  
If we come in ignorance, that is His prison; if we come in knowledge, that is His palace.  
If we come in sleep, we are His intoxicated ones; if we come in wakefulness, we are in His hands.  
If we cry, we are His deceitful cloud; if we laugh, we are His lightning at that moment.  
If in anger and war, it is a reflection of His wrath; if in peace and apology, it is a reflection of His love.  
Who are we in this twisted world? Like His 'alif,' what do we have? Nothing at all.  
The question of the Roman messenger to Umar about the reason for the spirits' affliction with this water and clay of bodies.  
He said, "O Umar, what was the wisdom and secret of imprisoning that pure one in this murky place?"  
The pure water has been hidden in clay; the pure soul has been bound to bodies.  
He said, "You are making a profound inquiry, binding meaning with words."  
You have imprisoned the free meaning, binding memory with words.  
You have done this for the sake of benefit, while you yourself are veiled from benefit.  
He who has given birth to benefit, how can he not see what has been shown to us?  
There are hundreds of thousands of benefits, and each one is a mere fraction before that one.  
That moment of your speech, which is part by part, became a benefit; why is the whole empty?  
You who are a part, your work is with benefit; then why do you criticize the whole?  
If the word has no benefit, do not speak; if it has, seek gratitude and thanks.  
Gratitude to God is the necklace of every neck, not argument and frowning.  
If frowning is gratitude and nothing else, then like vinegar, no one calls it sugar.  
If vinegar needs a way into the liver, tell it to become oxymel from sugar.  
Meaning in poetry is only with error, like a sling, it is not in control.  
In meaning: "He who wishes to sit with God, let him sit with the people of Sufism."  
That messenger lost himself from these few cups; neither the message nor the memory remained with him.  
He became enraptured in the power of God; that messenger reached here and became a king.  
When the flood came to the sea, it became the ocean; when the seed came to the field, it became the crop.  
When bread became associated with the human, the dead bread became alive and aware.  
When wax and wood were sacrificed to the fire, their dark nature became light.  
When the kohl stone entered the eyes, it became sight and became a watchman there.  
Blessed is the man who has escaped from himself and joined the living existence.  
Woe to the living who sat with the dead; he became dead, and life fled from him.  
When you fled into the Quran of truth, you mingled with the souls of the prophets.  
The Quran is the states of the prophets, the fish of the pure ocean of grandeur.  
If you read and do not accept the Quran, consider the prophets and saints as your guides.  
If you accept, when you read the stories, your soul's bird will feel confined in the cage.  
The bird that is imprisoned in the cage does not seek escape from ignorance.  
The souls that have escaped from the cages are the worthy guiding prophets.  
From outside, their voice comes from religion, saying, "This is the way to escape for you."

Barks Interpretation

When Adam said, We have done this terrible thing