depressing is the man who loves a female and takes her for a spouse

part One

depressing is the man who loves a female and takes her for a spouse, pouring at her toes the sweat of his pores and skinand the blood of his body and the life of his coronary heart, and setting in her arms the fruit of his toil and the revenue of his diligence; for whilst he slowly wakes up, he finds that the coronary heart, which he endeavoured to shop for, is given freely and in sincerity to every other guy for the leisure of its hidden secrets and techniques and inner most love. depressing is the girl who arises from the inattentiveness and restlessness of youngsters and finds herself in the home of a man showering her with his glittering gold and valuable presents and according her all the honours and beauty of lavish amusement however unable to meet her soul with the heavenly wine which God pours from the eyes of a man into the heart of a female.

I knew Rashid Bey Namaan given that i used to be a teenager; he become a Lebanese, born and reared inside the city of Beyrouth. Being a member of an antique and rich own family which preserved the way of life and glory of his ancestry, Rashid changed into fond of citing incidents that dealt specially with the the Aristocracy of his forefathers. In his routinelife he accompanied their ideals and customs which, at that time, prevailed within the center East.

Rashid Bey Namaan was generous and true-hearted, but like among the Syrians, appeared handiest at the superficial matters in place of reality. He never hearkened to the dictates of his heart, however busied himself in obeying the voices of his environment. He amused himself with shimmering objects that blinded his eyes and coronary heart to lifestyles’s secrets and techniques; his soul was diverted faraway from an information of the law of nature, and to a transient self-gratification. He was one of these guys who hastened to admit their love or disgust to the humans, then regretted their impulsiveness while it become too late for recall. and then disgrace and mock took place them, instead of pardon or sanction.

these are the characteristics that caused Rashid Bey Namaan to marry Rose Hanie some distance earlier than her soul embraced his soul in the shadow of the real love that makes union a paradise.

After some years of absence, I lower back to the city of Beyrouth. As I went to go to Rashid Bey Namaan, i discovered him faded and thin. On his face one may want to see the spectre of sour sadness; his sorrowful eyes bespoke his beaten heartand melancholy soul. i used to be curious to locate the motive for his depressing plight; but, I did no longer hesitate to invite for explanation and said, “What have become of you, Rashid? where is the radiant smile and the satisfiedcountenance that observed you for the reason that formative years? Has demise taken faraway from you a pricey buddy? Or have the black nights stolen from you the gold you've got collected at some point of the white days? within the call of friendship, inform me what's inflicting this disappointment of heart and weakness of frame?”

He looked at me ruefully, as if I had revived to him some secluded pics of stunning days. With a distressed and faltering voice he responded, “whilst someone loses a pal, he consoles himself with the various other pals about him, and if he loses his gold, he meditates for some time and casts misfortune from his mind, mainly when he reveals himself wholesome and nonetheless laden with ambition. but when a person loses the benefit of his heart, where can he discover comfort, and with what can he update it? What mind can grasp it? when loss of life strikes nearby, you will go through. however whilst the day and the night bypass, you may feel the easy touch of the tender fingers of lifestyles; then you'll smile and have fun.

“future comes , bringing challenge; she stares at you with terrible eyes and clutches you at the throat with sharp handsand hurls you to the floor and tramples upon you with ironclad feet; then she laughs and walks away, however later regrets her movements and asks you thru precise fortune to forgive her. She stretches her silky hand and lifts you high and sings to you the track of hope and reasons you to lose your cares. She creates in you a brand new zest for self belief and ambition. in case your lot in existence is a lovely bird which you love dearly, you gladly feed to him the seeds of your inner self, and make your coronary heart his cage and your soul his nest. however at the same time as you are affectionately admiring him and searching upon him with the eyes of love, he escapes out of your arms and flies very high; then he descends and enters into any other cage and in no way comes again to you. What can you do? in which can you find staying power and condolence? how will you revive your hopes and goals? What electricity can nonetheless your turbulent heart?”

Having uttered these phrases with a choking voice and struggling spirit, Rashid Bey Namaan stood shaking like a reed among the north and south wind. He prolonged his fingers as though to grasp something together with his bent fingersand damage it. His wrinkled face turned into furious, his eyes grew large as he stared some moments, and it appeared to him as if he noticed a demon performing from non-lifestyles to take him away; then he fixed his eyes on mine and his lookunexpectedly changed; his anger turned into converted into eager suffering and misery, and he cried out announcing, “it is the woman whom I rescued from between the deathly paws of poverty; I opened my coffers to her and made her envied by using all girls for the beautiful raiment and treasured gem stones and astounding carriages drawn through spiritedhorses; the girl whom my coronary heart has cherished and at whose feet I poured affection; the female, to whom i was a true buddy, honest accomplice and a loyal husband; The female who betrayed me and departed me for some other manto percentage with him destitution and partake his evil bread, kneaded with shame and mixed with disgrace. The female I cherished; the lovely fowl whom I fed, and to whom I made my coronary heart a cage and my soul a nest, has escaped from my arms and entered into some other cage; that natural angel, who resided within the paradise of my affection and love, now seems to me as a horrible demon, descended into the darkness to go through for her sin and reason me to go through on the earth for her crime.”

He concealed his face along with his palms as if wanting to guard himself from himself, and have become silent for a moment. Then he sighed and said, “this is all i will inform you; please do now not ask whatever further. Do now not make a crying voice of my calamity, but permit it instead be mute misfortune; possibly it will develop in silence and deaden me away in order that I may additionally relaxation at ultimate with peace”.

I rose with tears in my eyes and mercy in my heart, and silently bade him good-bye; my words had no energy to console his wounded coronary heart, and my information had no torch to illuminate his gloomy self.

component two
some days thereafter I met Madame Rose Hanie for the first time, in a negative hovel, surrounded with the aid of plantsand trees. She had heard of me via Rashid Bey Namaan, the man whose coronary heart she had crushed and stamped upon and left underneath the terrible hoofs of lifestyles. As I looked at her beautiful vibrant eyes, and heard her sincerevoice, I said to myself, “Can this be the sordid lady? Can this clear face cover an ugly soul and a criminal heart? is this the unfaithful wife? is this the girl of whom i've spoken evil and imagined as a serpent disguised within the form of a stunningchook?” Then I whispered again to myself saying, “Is it this stunning face that made Rashid Bey Namaan miserable? Haven’t we heard that obvious beauty is the purpose of many hidden distresses and deep struggling? isn't the lovelymoon, that conjures up the poets, the equal moon that angers the silence of the sea with a terrible roar?”

As we seated ourselves, Madame Rose Hanie appeared to have heard and read my mind and desired now not to lengthenmy doubts. She leaned her lovely head upon her arms and with a voice sweeter than the sound of the lyre, she said, “i'venever met you, however I heard the echoes of your mind and dreams from the mouths of the people, and they convincedme that you are merciful and feature know-how for the oppressed girl – the female whose coronary heart’s secrets you have observed and whose affections you have got recognised. permit me to show to you the overall contents of my heartso that you may know that Rose Hanie in no way was an unfaithful girl.

“i used to be scarcely eighteen years of age while fate led me to Rashid Bey Namaan, who turned into then forty years antique. He fell in love with me, according to what the humans say, and took me for a wife and placed me in his awesomedomestic, putting at my disposal clothes and treasured gems. He exhibited me as a odd rarity at the houses of his friendsand family; he smiled with triumph whilst he noticed his contemporaries looking at me with wonder and admiration; he lifted his chin excessive with delight while he heard the ladies talk of me with reward and affection. however never couldhe hear the whispers, ‘is that this the spouse of Rashid Bey Namaan, or his followed daughter?’ And any other one commenting, ‘If he had married at the proper age, his first born might had been older than Rose Hanie.’

“All that occurred before my lifestyles had wakened from the deep swoon of youth, and before God infected my heartwith the torch of love, and earlier than the growth of the seeds of my affections. sure, all this transpired during the time while i assumed that real happiness got here thru lovely clothes and mind-blowing mansions. when I awakened from the slumber of childhood, I felt the flames of sacred fireplace burning in my coronary heart, and a religious hunger gnawing at my soul, making it suffer. when I opened my eyes, i found my wings transferring to the proper and left, seeking to ascend into the spacious firmament of affection, however shivering and losing underneath the gusts of the shackles of legal guidelines that bound my frame to a person earlier than I knew the authentic meaning of that law. I felt all these thingsand knew that a girl’s happiness does now not come thru guy’s glory and honour, nor through his generosity and affection, however through love that unites each in their hearts and affections, making them one member of lifestyles’s frame and one word upon the lips of God. when fact showed herself to me, i found myself imprisoned by way of regulation inside themansion of Rashid Bey Namaan, like a thief stealing his bread and hiding inside the dark and pleasant corners of the night time. I knew that every hour spent with him was a horrible lie written upon my forehead with letters of fireplace earlier than heaven and earth. I couldn't give him my love and affection in reward for his generosity and sincerity. I tried in useless to love him, however love is a energy that makes our hearts, yet our hearts can't make that energy. I prayed and prayed inside the silence of the night time earlier than God to create within the depths of my coronary heart a spiritualattachment that might deliver me in the direction of the man who have been chosen for me as a associate thru lifestyles.

“My prayers were now not granted, due to the fact Love descends upon our souls via the need of God and not by means ofthe call for or the plea of the person. accordingly I remained for 2 years within the home of that man, envying the birds of the sphere their freedom even as my friends envied me my painful chains of gold. i used to be like a girl who's torn from her only toddler; like a lamenting coronary heart, existing with out attachment; like an innocent victim of the severity of human regulation. i used to be near dying from religious thirst and hunger.

“One darkish day, as I seemed at the back of the heavy skies, I noticed a mild light pouring from the eyes of a person who turned into strolling forlornly at the path of existence; I closed my eyes to that mild and said to myself, ‘Oh, my soul, darkness of the grave is thy lot, do now not be grasping for the mild.’ Then I heard a beautiful melody from heaven that revived my wounded heart with its purity, however I closed my ears and said, ‘Oh, my soul, the cry of the abyss is thy lot, do now not be greedy for heavenly songs.’ I closed my eyes again so I couldn't see, and shut my ears so I could not listen, however my closed eyes nonetheless saw that mild light, and my ears nevertheless heard that divine sound. i used to befearful for the primary time and felt just like the beggar who found a valuable jewel near the Emir’s palace and couldn'tpick it up attributable to worry, or leave it because of poverty. I cried – a cry of a thirsty soul who sees a brook surrounded by wild beasts, and falls upon the floor waiting and looking fearfully.”

Then she turned her eyes far from me as if she remembered the beyond that made her ashamed to face me, but she persevered, “those folks who go to again to eternity earlier than they flavor the sweetness of real existence are not ableto recognize the which means of a female’s suffering. specifically when she devotes her soul to a person she loves with the aid of the need of God, and her body to some other whom she caresses by using the enforcement of earthly regulation. it's far a tragedy written with the blood of the girl’s blood and tears which the person reads with ridicule due to the fact he can not understand it; yet, if he does understand, his laughter will develop into scorn and blasphemy that act like fire upon her coronary heart. it's miles a drama enacted by means of the black nights upon the degree of a woman’s soul, whose frame is tied up into a person, known to her as husband, ere she perceives God’s which means of marriage. She reveals her soul soaring approximately the person whom she adores with the aid of all organizations of natural and actual love and beauty. it is a terrible suffering that commenced with the lifestyles of weak spot in a lady and the commencement of strength in a man. it's going to no longer stop until the times of slavery and superiority of the strongover the vulnerable are abolished. it's far a horrible war between the corrupt regulation of humanity and the sacred affections and holy reason of the coronary heart. In this sort of battlefield i used to be lying the day gone by, however I gathered the remnants of my strength, and unchained my irons of cowardice, and untied my wings from the swaddles of weakness and arose into the spacious sky of love and freedom.

“nowadays i'm one with the person i like; he and i sprang out as one torch from the hand of God earlier than the beginning of the arena. there is no energy underneath the solar that could take my happiness from me, because itemanated from embraced spirits, engulfed through knowledge, radiated through Love, and guarded by heaven.”



She checked out me as if she desired to penetrate my heart together with her eyes so that it will discover the influence of her words upon me, and to hear the echo of her voice from inside me; but I remained silent and she persisted. Her voice became complete of bitterness of reminiscence and beauty of sincerity and freedom while she stated, “The people will tell you that Rose Hanie is an heretic and untrue woman who followed her desires by means of leaving the man who elated her into him and made her the elegance of his home. they will let you know that she is an adulteress and prostitute who destroyed together with her filthy hands the wreath of a sacred marriage and replaced it with a besmirched union woven of the thorns of hell. She took off the garment of distinctive feature and put on the cloak of sin and shame. they may let you know more than that, due to the fact the ghosts of their fathers are nonetheless residing in their bodies. they may be just like the abandoned caves of the mountains that echo voices whose meanings are not understood. They neither understand the law of God, nor understand the authentic purpose of veritable faith, nor distinguish between a sinner and an innocent. They look most effective at the floor of items without knowing their secrets and techniques. They skip their verdicts with ignorance, and choose with blindness, making the criminal and the innocent, the good and the horrific, identical. Woe to people who prosecute and judge the people….

“In God’s eyes i used to be unfaithful and an adulteress only at the same time as at the house of Rashid Bey Namaan, due to the fact he made me his wife in step with the customs and traditions and by way of the pressure of haste, before heaven had made him mine in conformity with the religious regulation of affection and Affection. i used to be a sinner inside theeyes of God and myself when I ate his bread and presented him my frame in praise for his generosity. Now i'm natural and clean due to the fact the law of love has freed me and made me honourable and trustworthy. I ceased promoting my frame for refuge and my days for garments. yes, i used to be an adulteress and a crook when the human beings viewedme as the maximum honourable and trustworthy wife; today i'm natural and noble in spirit, but of their opinion i'mpolluted, for they decide the soul by means of the final results of the frame and degree the spirit by the usual of be counted.”

Then she appeared thru the window and talked about along with her right hand in the direction of the metropolis as though she had visible the ghost of corruption and the shadow of shame amongst its stunning buildings. She statedpityingly, “take a look at those majestic mansions and sublime palaces in which hypocrisy resides; in those edifices and among their superbly adorned partitions resides Treason beside Putridity; under the ceiling painted with melted gold lives Falsehood beside Pretension. observe those suitable houses that represent happiness, glory and domination; they may be naught but caverns of misery and distress. they're plastered graves wherein Treason of the weak woman hides in the back of her kohled eyes and crimsoned lips; of their corners selfishness exists, and the animality of guy through his gold and silver guidelines splendid.

“If the ones excessive and impregnable buildings scented the door of hatred, deceit and corruption, they might have cracked and fallen. The negative villager seems upon the ones residences with tearful eyes, but when he reveals that the hearts of the occupants are empty of that natural love that exists within the coronary heart of his wife and fills its area, he's going to smile and cross returned to his fields contented.”

and then she took keep of my hand and led me to the side of the window and stated, “Come, i can display you the unveiled secrets and techniques of those humans whose route I refused to observe. take a look at that palace with large columns. In it lives a rich guy who inherited his gold from his father. After having led a life of dirt and putrefaction, he married a woman approximately whom he knew not anything besides that her father became one of the Sultan’s dignitaries. As soon as the marriage ride was over he became disgusted and commenced associations with ladies who promote their bodies for portions of silver. His wife turned into left on my own in that palace like an empty bottle left through a drunkard. She cried and suffered for the primary time; then she found out that her tears have been greater treasured than her degenerate husband. Now she is busying herself within the love and devotion of a young guy upon whom she showers her joyous hours, and into whose coronary heart she pours her sincere love and affection.

“allow me take you currently to that splendid domestic surrounded through lovely gardens. it's far the home of a personwho comes from a noble own family which ruled the united states for many generations, however whose standards, wealth, and prestige have declined because of their indulgence in mad spending and slothfulness. a few years ago this man married an unpleasant however rich girl. After he received her fortune, he ignored her absolutely and starteddevoting himself to an appealing younger female. His spouse nowadays is devoting her time to curling her hair, portrayher lips and perfuming her body. She wears the most luxurious clothes and hopes that a few young guy will smile and come to visit her, but it's miles all in useless, for she cannot prevail except in receiving a grin from her unsightly self within the reflect.

“observe that large manor, encircled with the marble statuary; it's far the house of a lovely woman who possesses unusual character. whilst her first husband died, she inherited all his cash and estate; then she selected a man with a vulnerable mind and feeble frame and became his wife to shield herself from the evil tongues, and to apply him as a protect for her abominations. She is now among her admirers like a bee that sucks the sweetest and most delicious plant life.

That lovely home subsequent to it turned into built with the aid of the finest architect within the province; it belongs to a grasping and widespread man who devotes all of his time to collecting gold and grinding the faces of the negative. He has a spouse of supernatural beauty, physical and spiritually, however she is like the rest, a victim of early marriage. Her father devoted a criminal offense by means of giving her away to a person before she attained information age, puttingon her neck the heavy yoke of corrupt marriage. She is skinny and light now, and can't locate an outlet for her imprisoned affection. She is sinking slowly and craving for loss of life to unfastened her from the mesh of slavery and supply her from a person who spends his life amassing gold and cursing the hour he married a barren lady who could not deliver him a child to hold on his name and inherit his cash.

In that domestic most of the orchards lives an excellent poet; he married an ignorant female who ridicules his works due to the fact she can not understand them, and laughs at his conduct due to the fact she can't regulate herself to his chicway of existence. That poet located freedom from despair in his love for a married woman who appreciates his intelligence and conjures up him by kindling in his heart the torch of affections, and revealing to him the most lovely and everlastingsayings by her attraction and beauty.”

Silence prevailed for a few moments, and Madame Hanie seated herself on a sofa by means of the window as though her soul were tired of roaming those quarters. Then she slowly persevered, “these are the residences wherein I refused to stay; those are the graves wherein I, too, changed into spiritually buried. those people from whom i have freed myself are those who end up attracted by using the frame and repelled with the aid of the spirit, and who understand naught of affection and beauty. The only mediator between them and God is God’s pity for their lack of information of the regulation of God. I can't decide, for i used to be certainly one of them, but I sympathize with all my coronary heart. I do now not hate them, however I hate their surrender to weak spot and falsehood. i've stated all this stuff to reveal you the reality of the people from whom i've escaped towards their will. i was trying to explain to you the life of humans who talkeach evil against me because i have lost their friendship and ultimately gained my personal. I emerged from their darkishdungeon and directed my eyes towards the mild where sincerity, reality and justice succeed. they've exiled me now from their society and i'm pleased, due to the fact humanity does now not exile besides the one whose noble spirit rebels towards despotism and oppression. He who does not opt for exile to slavery isn't free by any degree of freedom, truth and duty.

“the day past i used to be like a tray containing all forms of palatable meals, and Rashid Bey Namaan never approached me until he felt a need for that food; yet each of our souls remained far other than us like humble, dignified servants. i have tried to reconcile myself to what humans call misfortune, but my spirit refused to spend all its existence kneeling with me before a horrible idol erected by way of the darkish a while and referred to as regulation. I saved my chains untilI heard Love calling me and noticed my spirit making ready to embark. Then I broke them and walked out from Rashid Bey Namaan’s domestic like a bird free of his iron cage and leaving at the back of me all the gems, clothes and servants. I came to live with my beloved, for I knew that what i used to be doing turned into sincere. Heaven does not want me to weep and suffer. usually at night time I prayed for dawn to return and whilst dawn came, I prayed for the day to be over. God does not need me to steer a miserable lifestyles, for He positioned within the depths of my heart a preference for happiness; His glory rests inside the happiness of my heart.

“this is my tale and this is my protest earlier than heaven and earth; that is what I sing and repeat while humans are lasttheir ears for worry of hearing me and main their spirits into rise up that could crumble the foundation in their quavering society.

“that is the hard pathway i have carved until I reached the mountain top of my happiness. Now if death involves take me away, I will be more than willing to offer myself earlier than the splendid Throne of Heaven without fear or shame. i amgeared up for the day of judgment and my heart is white as the snow. i have obeyed the will of God in everything i'vecarried out and observed the decision of my heart at the same time as being attentive to the angelic voice of heaven. this is my drama which the people of Beyrouth call ‘A curse upon the lips of life,’ and ‘An disorder inside the frame of society.’ however in the future love will arouse their hearts like the sun rays that bring on the vegetation even from contaminatedearth. someday the wayfarers will stop with the aid of my grave and greet the earth that enfolds my body and say, ‘herelies Rose Hanie who freed herself from the slavery of decayed human laws so that you can observe God’s regulation of natural love. She grew to become her face closer to the sun so she could no longer see the shadow of her body amongstthe skulls and thorns.’”

The door opened and a man entered. His eyes had been shining with magic rays and upon his lips appeared a healthfulsmile. Madame Hanie rose, took the younger man’s arm and added him to me, then gave him my name with flattering phrases. I knew that he was the only for whose sake she denied the complete international and violated all earthly lawsand customs.

As we sat down, silence controlled. every one folks became engrossed in deep notion. One minute worthy of silence and recognize had exceeded once I looked at the couple sitting facet through facet. I saw something I had in no way visiblebefore, and realized instantly the that means of Madame Hanie’s story. I comprehended the secret of her protest in opposition to the society which persecutes people who insurrection in opposition to confining legal guidelines and customs before figuring out the purpose for the insurrection. I noticed one heavenly spirit before me, composed of stunning and united folks, within the midst of which stood the god of love stretching his wings over them to protect them from evil tongues. i found a entire information emanating from smiling faces, illuminated via sincerity and surrounded with the aid of distinctive feature. For the primary time in my existence i discovered the phantom of happiness standingamong a person and a woman, cursed by means of religion and hostile through the regulation. I rose and bade them good-bye and left that poor hovel which Affection had erected as an altar to love and know-how. I walked beyond the homes which Madame Hanie mentioned to me. As I reached the stop of these quarters I remembered Rashid Bey Namaan and reflected his miserable plight and stated to myself, “he's oppressed; will heaven ever concentrate to him if he complains about Madame Hanie? Had that woman finished wrong while she left him and accompanied the liberty of her heart? Or did he dedicate a crime by using subduing her heart into love? Which of the two is the oppressed and that is the oppressor? who's the criminal and who is the harmless?”

Then I resumed speakme to myself after some moments of deep questioning. “in many instances deception had tempted girl to leave her husband and follow wealth, because her love for riches and beautiful raiment blinds her and leads her into disgrace. become Madame Hanie deceitful when she left her wealthy husband’s palace for a terrible guy’s hut? usually lack of understanding kills a woman’s honour and revives her ardour; she grows tired and leaves her husband, induced through her dreams, and follows a man to whom she lowers herself. was Madame Hanie an ignorant ladyfollowing her physical dreams whilst she declared publicly her independence and joined her cherished young guy? She may want to have satisfied herself secretly while at her husband’s domestic, for lots guys had been inclined to be the slaves of her splendor and martyrs of her love. Madame Hanie turned into a miserable woman. She sought besthappiness, located it, and embraced it. this is the very fact which society disrespects.” Then I whispered thru the ether and inquired of myself, “Is it permissible for a female to buy her happiness with her husband’s misery?” And my soul delivered, “Is it lawful for a man to enslave his wife’s affection when he realizes he's going to by no means own it?”

I continued on foot and Madame Hanie’s voice turned into nonetheless sounding in my ears after I reached the extremeend of the metropolis. The sun turned into disappearing and silence dominated the fields and prairies whilst the birds commenced making a song their nighttime prayers. I stood there meditating, and then I sighed and said, “earlier than the throne of Freedom, the bushes have fun with the frolicsome breeze and revel in the rays of the sun and the beams of the moon. thru the ears of Freedom these birds whisper and round Freedom they flutter to the tune of the brooks. for the duration of the sky of Freedom these vegetation breathe their perfume and before Freedom’s eyes they smile whilst day comes.

“the entirety lives on earth in line with the law of nature, and from that law emerges the honour and joy of liberty; but guyis denied this fortune, due to the fact he set for the God-given soul a confined and earthly law of his own. He made for himself strict rules. guy built a narrow and painful jail in which he secluded his affections and desires. He dug out a deep grave in which he buried his heart and its reason. If an character, through the dictates of his soul, proclaims his withdrawal from society and violates the law, his fellowmen will say he's a rebellion worth of exile, or an notoriouscreature worth most effective of execution. Will guy continue to be a slave of self-confinement until the quit of the world? Or will he be freed by way of the passing of time and live within the Spirit for the Spirit? Will guy insist upon staring downward and backward at the earth? Or will he flip his eyes toward the sun so he'll now not see the shadow of his bodyamong the skulls and thorns?”