ISLAMIC MYSTICAL LITERATURE 685
THE BEGINNING OF CREATION
SPRINGS FROMAZAZITL
Then Jabir^73 stood, prayed, and said, "My Lord,
how did the high king create all these spheres
and palaces? From where did he make the spirits?
What was the origin of his creation?"^74
The revealer of knowledge—may we be blessed—
said, "The creation of these realms is hard
to fathom. Not everyone knows the way
to knowledge, and its secret's well concealed.
Jabir, in the beginning there was god,
only eternal god and nothing else,
but in the middle of five special lights
the high king shone, as told in the beginning
of this book. All the heavens and the earth
were nothing but pure clear fine spiritual air.
From five specific elements came five
lights of the farthest realms, and they contained
some 124,000 hues,
and every moment was another color.
"Those special elements were members of
the farthest dome. A hundred thousand shining
lights, candles, and lamps emerged from the depths
of the high king in that dome, moving from
nonbeing to being. As it is written, 'Questions of
the hour are but a second.'^75 No one knows
the majesty of angels, of angelic beings
and creatures. If the seas turned into ink
and trees were writing instruments, the seven
heavens were paper, and the spirits and beings
- This reference to Jabir, like some later references, may indicate the name of another student
(Jabir ibn Abdallah al-Ansari).
74- Another typical list of questions.
75- Qur'an sura 16.
