The contempt of the mystic for opinion. 
117 
Sodom and that of the Levite. May be “ Allah ” is a 
slip for “ Mullah ” — a difference of only one letter. 
3.  The bowl of the pipe of the sphere of the hea-
vens ;  the tobacco is the benevolence of God :  the 
live coal His glory and desire toward man :  the wa-
ter in the bowl is the veil which prevents man be-
ing burnt up in that glory, and the purifying influ-
ence of calm upon the soul ;  the smoke is the per-
fume of the Spirit of God ;  the tube is the Influence 
(Heb. Mezla) from on high ;  the mouthpiece the 
love of one’s earthly teacher ;  (This sounds as 
though Sufi confessors shared the predilections 
and privileges of Jesuit confessors) the inhalation 
is the enlightenment of the soul ;  the exhalation 
the holy influence shed by the Sufi upon his fellow 
man — and so on. 
Mahbub was perfectly willing to explain every 
phrase in the book along these lines ;  reasonable 
people 
will 
agree 
that 
a 
single 
sample 
is 
enough.  But see the note 1 on XXXVIIIth Ghazal. 
4.  Aristu — Aristotle. Most sensible men will 
heartily agree with these sentiments.  El Qahar is 
more than mystic and sodomite ;  he is a practical 
person.  But perhaps the unusual word huqqa is a 
pun on hukm (command) and the phrase means, 
“ As long as I obey God’s law, I care nothing for phi-
losophy ! ”  A. L. 
I cannot admit that huqqa is an altogether un-
usual word ;  I think hukm rather merits the 
title.  Besides, the pun is not obvious and less to a 
Persian than an Indian at that.  Ed.