12. Yusuf

Return to your father and say, " O our father! Surely thy son has stolen. " When Jacob became distracted and distraught in separation from Joseph, helpless in his pain with- out remedy, he wanted to make the remembrance of that dear one a balm for his wound and to be passionate with someone linked to Joseph. He made Benjamin his reminder and sympathizer, for he had drunk water from the same drinking place as Joseph and had been nurtured on the same lap. The heart of the passionate man always inclines toward someone who has a link or some sort of similarity with the object of passion. Do you not see that Majnūn of Banī ʿāmir went out to the desert hunting for a gazelle? He saw that its eyes and neck were like those of Laylā. He was passing his hands over its neck, kissing its eyes, and saying, " Your eyes are her eyes, your neck is her neck! " When Jacob fastened his heart to Benjamin and when a part of him came to rest in him, the venomous sickle was once again drawn from the sheath of time and Benjamin was separated from his father. Then the name of thief was thrown on him, and this added trial to his trial-salt was sprinkled on his wound and the burn was once again burned. Just as fire wants to kindle burnt rags, so also the pain of separation wants to settle down with a burnt heart. Whenever pain steps forth from this heart of mine another pain takes its place in the breast. I become the companion of every pain for fire flares up when it reaches the burnt. Whenever Jacob saw Benjamin, he was consoled by him, for " He who is prevented from gazing is consoled by a trace. " 4 Then, when he was held back from Benjamin, the burning reached the utmost limit and he moaned at the pain in his heart. With the tongue of longing he said,

" Oh, my grief for Joseph! " And his eyes turned white because of the sorrow that he was suppressing. Revelation came from the Compeller of all engendered beings: " O Jacob! You grieve so much for him, but you do not grieve for what you are missing of Me by being busy with grief for him! " O Jacob, how long this sorrow and regret at separation from Joseph? How long will you suffer grief and coldly sigh? Do you not suffer grief that you are held back from Me while busy with him? " With two kiblahs you can't walk straight on the road of tawḤīd- either the Friend's approval, or your own caprice. [DS 488] " O Jacob! Be careful not to pass Joseph's name over your tongue any more, or I will remove your name from the register of the prophets. " The Pir of the Tariqah said, " Jacob's remembrance of Joseph was the seed of heartache, and Joseph's remembrance of Jacob was the seed of ease. Since Jacob had all that rebuke for remem- bering Joseph, everything other than remembering God is loss. It is said that remembering the Friend is like the spirit. Look more carefully: remembering the Friend is the spirit itself! " When Jacob saw the harshness of the Real's rebuke, he no longer mentioned Joseph's name. Then the mercy and gentleness of the Exalted Threshold gave this command to Gabriel: " O Ga- briel, go to Jacob and remind him of Joseph. " Gabriel came and mentioned Joseph's name. Jacob sighed. Revelation came from the Real: " O Jacob, I know what is beneath your moaning. By My exaltedness, were he dead, I would resurrect him because of the beauty of your loyalty. " And his eyes turned white because of the sorrow that he was suppressing. Abū ʿAlī al-Daqqāq said, " Jacob wept because of a created thing, so his eyesight went. David wept more than Jacob, but his eyesight did not go, because his weeping was for the sake of his Lord. " Weeping for the Real is of two sorts: weeping from the eyes and weeping from the heart. Weeping from the eyes is the weeping of repenters in fear of God; they weep at seeing their own disobedience.