The Tarjuman al-Ashwaq: Translation and Commentary: XXXVI
The Tarjuman al-Ashwaq, by Ibn al-Arabi, tr. Reynold A. Nicholson, [1911]
1. O earth of the Highland, mayst thou be a blessed highland! May the rain-clouds water thee abundantly with shower on shower!
2. And may he who has greeted thee for fifty years greet thee once and twice and then once again!
3. I crossed every desert and wilderness to meet her, riding on the big-humped she-camel and the old dromedary,
4. Until the lightning shone from the direction of al-Ghaḍá, and its coming in the night has increased the passion that I felt before.
1. 'O earth of the Highland,' i.e. the understanding in the corporeal world.
'The rain-clouds', i.e. Divine Knowledge.
2. 'He who has greeted thee,' i.e. the Truth, which bestows spiritual gifts.
3. 'I crossed every desert and wilderness,' i.e. I suffered austerities and mortifications of the flesh.
'The big-humped she-camel,' i.e. the religious law.
'The old dromedary,' i.e. the matured and experienced mind.
4. 'The lightning,' i.e. the luminous radiance of the most inaccessible veil of the Divine glory.
'Al-Ghaḍá,' phenomenal existence.
'Coming in the night,' i.e. in the darkness of the phenomenal world.