Lesson 9: The goldsmith was poisoned and slain at God’s sign, not from carnal desire or corrupt thought

The killing of that man at the hands of the divine physician was done neither out of hope nor out of fear.

He did not kill him to please the king, nor did he do so until the Command and inspiration of God had come.

As for the boy whose throat was cut by Khidr, ordinary people cannot grasp the secret behind it.

He who receives revelation and answers from God, whatever he commands, is the absolute right and truth.

He who bestows life may also rightfully take it, for he is the divine vicegerent, and his hand is the hand of God.

Lay down your head before him like Ishmael, and surrender your life before his blade with joy and laughter.

So that your soul may remain joyful forever, like the pure soul of Ahmad (Muhammad) in unity with the One.

Lovers drink the cup of true joy only when the beloved ones slay them with their own hand.

The king did not shed that blood out of lust; so let go of your suspicion and dispute.

You imagined that he had committed impurity, but how could true purity allow any dross to pollute its clarity?

This spiritual discipline and hardship are for the sole purpose that the furnace may purge the dross from the silver.

The testing of good and bad exists so that the gold may boil, its dross rise to the surface, and be revealed.

If his act had not been by divine inspiration, he would have been a tearing hound, not a king.

He was pure of lust, greed, and passion; what he did was good, though it appeared evil to the eye.

If Khidr broke the boat in the sea, within that breaking lies a hundred rightnesses.

Even Moses’s understanding, despite all his spiritual light and excellence, remained veiled from grasping that secret; so do not attempt to fly without wings.

The goldsmith’s blood is in truth a red rose, so do not call it bloodshed or a crime; and the divine physician is intoxicated with divine Wisdom, so do not call him mad.

If shedding the blood of a Muslim had been his desire, then I would be an unbeliever were I ever to speak his name with praise.

The divine Throne trembles at the praise of a wicked man, and the devout grow suspicious upon hearing such praise.

He was a king and a deeply heedful king; he was among God’s chosen ones, His own elect.

Whoever is slain by such a king is, in fact, drawn towards good fortune and the finest of stations.

Had he (the king) not seen his (the goldsmith’s) benefit in his severity, how should that absolute Mercy have sought to act with severity?

For instance, a child trembles in fear at the practitioner’s needle, while the loving mother feels happy and relieved (knowing it is for her child’s own good and well-being).

He takes away a meagre half-life and bestows a hundred lives in return; He grants you what your imagination could never even conceive.

You measure (the works of God and His friends) by your own standard, but look closely, see how far, how very far, you have strayed from the truth.