Note 29 — HUMAN FREEDOM AND RESPONSIBILITY[18]
Syed Nawab Ali translation
It is interesting to note a parallel passage from the Masnavi of Jal al uddin Rumi, who was born in 1207 A.D. ninety-seven years after the death of Al Ghazzali:
When a master places a spade in the hand of a slave, The slave knows his meaning without being told Like this spade, our hands are our Master’s hints to us; Yea, if ye consider, they are his directions to us When ye have taken to heart His hints, Ye will shape your life in reliance on their direction; Wherefore these hints disclose His intent, Take the burden from you, and appoint your work, He that hears it make it hearable by you. He too is able to make it within your ability. Accept his command and you will be able to execute it Seek union with Him, and you will find yourselves united. Exertion is giving thanks for God’s blessings; Think ye that your fatalism gives such thanks; Giving thanks for blessings increases blessings But fatalism snatches those blessings from your hands Your fatalism is to sleep on the road; sleep not Till ye behold the gates of the King’s palace. Ah! sleep not, unreflecting fatalists, Till ye have reached that fruit-laden Tree of Life. E. Whinfield, trs, Masnavi.