Salaam Jalal
I wanted to ask about this particular section:
Summary: After the peacock saw the beautiful forms in the mirror he became shy and timid in presence of Allah and in order to show apology and humility prostrated to Allah five times.
My understanding before consulting you was that the peacock saw its own reflection in the mirror, and that its own reflection was itself a reflection of God. So effectively what the peacock saw in the mirror was a reflection of a reflection of God. So I saw this section as a parallel to the Hadith An-Nur where God looked at the Nur Muhammadi while he was in the station of shyness and the Nur Muhammadi sweated with shyness (124,000 luminous drops which became prophets and messengers).
Further above, the word Surata-Hu meant “his form”, but “his” could refer to the Nur Muhammadi or to Allah.
So is it possible that the peacock’s earthly reputation for vanity has got in the way here? In your post on Haya the Sufi manual of Kashani explains that shyness really means awe in the presence of God, a proper sense of his greatness (which would be overwhelming, I think, and cause anyone to prostrate).
My query is this: I’m wanting to present the image in the mirror as a reflection of a reflection of God and would be glad to know if you feel this is a valid understanding of this part of the text.
Salaam Shaikha
I tend to agree with you that Peacock did not see his own image, then it would be vanity which can somehow fit the agenda of Hadith, but in that stage of creation the human emotion of vanity was not created yet, so I will not accept this explanation.
As you concluded I go by the definition of Haya in Kashani and I go on saying that Peacock saw the Surat of Allah in the mirror, and here hu refers to Allah.
But Surat does not really mean shape or form, it is a better translation to use the English word Constraint e.g. Allah has constraint Himself to be merciful, generous and so on. It is the constraint of the mould that shapes something. Therefore it is better to use the word constraint than shape.
So in this mirror the peacock saw the constraints that shaped Allah’s behaviour with the creation, How He was, What His attributes were, How Allah did not behave with the creation, How He was not, What His Attributes were not.
And these constraints looked so beautiful peacock felt so shy.
Another explanation is that Surata-Hu, hu refers to Muhammad as a person and prophet and his spirituality, and again the peacock felt so timid from seeing such beauty.