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Add others’ wit to thine and counsel still ensue; For that the course of right is not concealed from two.
One mirror shows a man his face, but, if thereto Another one he add, his nape thus can he view.
And as saith another:
Be slow to move and hasten not to match thy heart’s desire: Be merciful to all, as thou on mercy reckonest;
For no hand is there but the hand of God is over it, And no oppressor but shall be with worse than he opprest.
And yet another:
Do no oppression, whilst the power thereto is in thine hand; For still in peril of revenge the sad oppressor goes.
Thine eyes will sleep anon, what while the opprest, on wake, call down Curses upon thee, and God’s eye shuts never in repose.
Beware of drinking wine, for it is the root of all evil: it does away the reason and brings him who uses it into contempt; and how well saith the poet:
By Allah, wine shall never invade me, whilst my soul Endureth in my body and my thoughts my words control!
Not a day long will I turn me to the zephyr-freshened bowl, And for friend I’ll choose him only who of wine-bibbing is whole.
This, then,’ added Mejdeddin, ‘is my charge to thee; keep it before thine eyes, and may God stand to thee in my stead.’ Then he swooned away and kept silence awhile. When he came to himself, he besought pardon of God and making the profession of the Faith, was admitted to the mercy of the Most High. His son wept and lamented for him and made due preparation for his burial. Great and small attended him to the grave and the readers recited the Koran about his bier; nor did Ali Shar omit aught of what was due to the dead. Then they prayed over him and committed him to the earth, graving these words upon his tomb:
