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Old Age, Grave Sins, Pilgrimages, and Sincere Repentence
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١٢٣ 123 Old Age, Grave Sins, Pilgrimages, and Sincere Repentence As for the Sheikh’s reference to his old age,405 God (praised be He!) has created gall as well as honey, a desire for the Fleeting World as well as abstemiousness from it. When an intelligent person looks at it closely he sees that life only draws him to harm and drives his body onward on its course. Even he who stays in one place is like a traveler: divine decrees never confirm him in one state. A morning smiles or an evening, but he does not abide with either for long. Day and night are like rapacious wolves, and one’s life is a herd on the move; they raid the shepherd and annihilate and destroy his grazing flock. If the Sheikh (may God enable him to tread in the paths of erudition, by letting him live!) has put his youth behind him, at least he has spent it in the pursuit of knowledge and belles-lettres and406 made his quest his most pressing habit. If these things could abide for any living person, they would cling to his precious soul. But they are merely accidental attributes and do not experience life or its extinction. If we agree in blaming this stage and are resolved to part from it, why should we regret leaving this treacherous world behind? A small palm tree comes from a large one.407 Ashāʾah means “small palm tree,” ʿawānah means “large palm tree.” When someone who has been negligent sincerely repents, his repentance leaves no transgression behind. It washes his sins just as a washerwoman washes the wool shorn from a lamb in water that has poured profusely from a cloud, even though the wool was full of filth and dirt. People wanted to rinse it, since it had been taken from the backs of white sheep, superior to all grazing flocks. Then it turned as white as camphor, the aromatic substance (kāfūr), or palm-blossom’s fresh “camphor” that discloses408 its white spathe (kāfūr is the inflorescence of the palm tree; some say it is the integument of the spathe). For pretty women after one has passed the age of seventy, a gray-haired man is like a hurrying wolf making for the white oryx cows. It is said that Abū ʿAmr ibn al-ʿAlāʾ used to dye his hair. One day he fell ill and a friend came to 35.1 35.2.1 Old age ١٢٤ 124 Y67GHI . Tû_F½ 0¾GHI `È 24=) ¥ E 7UV Z UV :=¤ Q I .¨67 å67C TUV & ' (^ =) d ef 0 * W XGHï¸F :=¤ Q I & ' ( Q I ` ° ،& GHI E UV ¹¸F !¦ TUV 24=aGHI .¨67 `÷67R Q I ½¾ A0 q 234} 9 E ~ + , - . / :=¤ Q I ¥ 0 7F½¾ 24R Q IGHI ] * . q} 9 xyz { *+ , - . / ¢Ó þ !ÿ Tî ß W Ï â׺ !t GHI ، q Ç { C 9ª^ _F _FGHĽ¾ C ~GHI [¿ !t Y ،cGH ÝÇ { 9 ~¥ 7R Q I } 9 : Tû_F [ d ef W XY * ،_F * qY *+ , - . / q!" # E z¦ T p) 0 q 234} 9 ~ 24R Q IGHI & GHI b3 E ¡ ¸ _F E á Q I & ' ( Q IGHI ، TǦGHS _F UVR Q I * & ' (¢7 Y _F *+ , - . / ،¨67 Y & ' () Q I ،UV234C } 9ª^ b4_F [ ، ®_F & ' ( Q I =a* GHI GHàa C Y ]GHI ، ®GH\ > & ' ( Q I = > E!" # C z¦ Ò Q IGHS c 9 0 xy1^ ý þ !ÿ ý þ !ÿ Y * . T C ǦC p¸ .P Þ 0 øå67 = > E ĽÀ» C  C*+ , - . / GHI ،P Þ * S 234567 =aE ½ 0¾ C` ©«¦GHI ؛C qGH 0 ø1 _F * GHI c _F * R Q I Tû ß1 E¥ 7¡ [ í D67 F Y * : q Tî ¥7å67 } 9ª^ _FÓ Ô Õ Ö¯¡ Ò Q I ) GHàaGHI C T A û C _F GH C A s t uC v GHI T C ö R Q I + , - . / } : ¹ C \Ç {GHS T¼½GÙ ، ¹ C \Ç { C ä] T[ s t uvGHI ، qGHÝ] 24' c¡ + , - . / GHI { CGHIE CV A* GH E S UVGH E é67 C = A ú Q I P R Q I C¨67C d Y _F C $ %a ë C£ A ½GÙE = > ä' ¨67 C _F0 ] A í C D67 A ¡GHI ë=K N C XÉÛ E * * öGH w 9 C C TÌ 9C z¿ t Öù] C£a C Y & b3 =K A ~ >\Ç {C C `© A O¦ * * R Q I¹. LM« { C = > * GHS$ ê Q IGHI A GHS * A * GHI : A³ E æ 9ª^ `Ì 9 ~¡ C q E GHI ، GHI ³î W X * YGH A ø *+ , - . / & ' () * j̄Ç { p¿ !t C 24= E¸F 567=GHI C 24C]GHI Tû= & ' ( Q...
