In which is described the wondrous creation of the peacock. Allah has created every kind of creature, whether living or lifeless, stationary or moving, adorning them with marvelous forms and making His subtle artistry and great power evident through unmistakable signs that compel reason to admit His existence and to submit in obedience. The diversity of birds, their shapes and forms, and the marvels of their creation stand as clear proofs of the Oneness of their Creator. These birds dwell in burrows, mountain crevices, and on high peaks, having varied plumage and forms, every type is controlled by divine power, and flutters with their wings through the wide expanses of air. When they did not yet exist, He originated their strange and beautiful outward forms, structuring their bodies atop flesh-covered joints. Among them are those whose heaviness keeps them from high flights, causing them to only soar a little above the earth. With fine power and subtle artistry, He colored these types of birds, some being dyed a single unblended color, others adorned with a distinct ring of color differing from the rest. Of all these birds, the most wondrous is the peacock, whose limbs He fashioned with the utmost balance, and whose colors He arranged in harmonious beauty. Its splendor lies in its wings, each root joined to another, and in the long tail it drags behind. When the peacock approaches its mate, it spreads its coiled tail, raising it over its head like the sail of a boat at Darin steered by a sailor. It struts with pride at its colors, dancing and displaying, and in passion mates with its female like a cockerel, driven by restless fervor. My description is based on direct observation, not secondhand reports. Some imagine, fancifully, that the peahen lays her eggs only after tasting tears shed from the eyes of the peacock, a notion no stranger than the tales told of how the crow feeds its mate to induce egg-laying. Under close scrutiny the shafts of the peacock’s feathers seem like rods of silver, their fantastic eyes like glowing orbs, their yellow like pure gold, the green emerald. If likened to the products of the earth, the peacock is the bouquet of every springtime bud; if to clothing, it is like embroidered brocade from Yemen; if to jewelry, it is like gems set in rows of silver. It walks with the haughtiness of the proud, and when admiring its plumage, it laughs at the beauty of its cloak and necklace; gazing at its legs, it cries out in self-pity, for its legs are thin and pale as the feet of barnyard birds, with spurs at their ends. Its neck is tufted with emerald feathers, slender as a decanter. The stretch from its head to belly is deep green, resembling a polished mirror draped in silk, as if wrapped in a black shawl, lit with infusions of fresh green. Above its ears a white line flashes like the stroke of a pen amid darkness. Few colors lack a trace of this white, while the peacock’s shine overwhelms all shades with the brilliance and luster of silk. It is as if the peacock is composed of scattered blossoms never watered by rain nor ripened by the summer sun. At times the peacock is stripped both of feathers and its colored robe, moulting wing after wing as twigs shed leaves, then growing back to its former color, never varying nor changing hue. If you examine a feather fiber, sometimes it seems rosy as a flower, sometimes emerald green, sometimes gold. How can depth of thought reach the nature of such a creature, or expression capture its qualities, when even its smallest part defies both imagination and description? Blessed is He who rendered minds unable to comprehend even a being so visible and well-known, and who created the limbs of creatures from the ant and gnat to the beasts of the sea and jungle, while binding them all to their mortality. This sermon also discusses Paradise: Should you contemplate its wonders with insight, your heart would shun the best pleasures and adornments of this world, enraptured by the rustling of tree leaves rooted in musk by rivers, the clusters of pearls hanging on boughs, and the emergence of fruits ready to be plucked without toil, coming to hand as one desires. Among Paradise's pavilions, guests are served pure honey and unpolluted wine. These are they who received God's generous guidance until they reached their final abode and rested from journeying. O listener! If you fix your soul on attaining these delightful visions, longing may well take your life, and drive you to quickly seek the company of the dead. May Allah, by His mercy, count you and us among those who strive earnestly to attain the station of the righteous servants. (Sharif Razi then clarifies difficult words used in this sermon, such as references to the mating of the peacock, the sail of the ship from Darin, the anatomy of the peacock, and other technical terms.)