Qalam of Sultan Bahu

They have read thousands of books,

They have come to be known as great scholars,

But the one word, ‘love’, they could not grasp

So helplessly they wander in delusion,

Vast is the gulf between love and intellect.

Those who have not purchased love

In the marketplace of this life, O Bahu,

will always be losers in this world and the next.

You have become an expert in counting beads;

You conduct yourself with an air of piety,

A hundred-bead rosary circles your neck,

But you have failed to count

The one bead of your heart!

When it comes to giving,

you feel strangled;

When taking,

you grab like a lion.

On the hearts that are hard like stone,

O Bahu, rainfall is a wasted offering.

The scholar is proud of his learning,

The hafiz thrives on self-promotion.

With books under their arms

They go around,

selling their honour,

Wherever they find a promising household,

they read the scripture in loud,

fervent strains for a lucrative commission.

O Bahu! They have put God’s name on sale

Just to make a living.

In this world they live spiritually bankrupt;

Stripped of all honour,

they go to the One Beyond.