88 AN INTRODUCTION TO SUFI DOCTRINE

image. The peacock was seized with reverential dread
(al-haybah) and let fall drops of sweat and from these
all other beings were created. The peacock’s outspread
tail imitates the cosmic deployment of the Spirit.

Another symbol of the Spirit is to be seen in the
eagle which soars above the creatures of the earth,
observes them from on high and drops vertically on to
its prey like a flash of lightning, for it is thus that in-
tellectual intuition seizes its object.

The white dove is also an image of the Spirit by
reason of its colour, its innocence and the softness of its
flight.

At the extreme limits of the sensory world the shin-
ing nature of the stars, and the transparence and in-
corruptibility of precious stones also recall aspects of
the Universal Spirit.