1. Rabi'ah Al-Adawiyah
2. Mevlana Jalaleddin Rumi
3. Ibnu Atha'illah
4. Ibnu Arabi
5. Sheikh Muzzafer Ozak
2. Mevlana Jalaleddin Rumi
3. Ibnu Atha'illah
4. Ibnu Arabi
5. Sheikh Muzzafer Ozak
4:39 AM | 0
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Showing posts with label Poem. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Poem. Show all posts
Poem of Sheikh Muzzafer Ozak
O My Generous Master!
You created this servant of Yours and
brought him into being from a drop of water.
I do not even have the right to say I love You,
and yet I do love You. I always remember You.
I know that even my being able to remember You
is also due to Your guidance. My mentioning Your
Name of Majesty left me dizzy, bewildered, and
amazed.
Is it possible to imagine anyone in this world
loving the Divinity and not becoming intoxicated with
such affection? So great a blessing is affection that
even if its possessor should stray into the wilderness,
the fire of his love would not allow him to feel the heat of
the desert.
Should the lover fall into the fire, the heat of his
love would extinguish that fire. The fire of love would cause
the poles and glaciers to melt. If mountains and boulders were
piled upon the back of the lover, the fire of his love would
prevent his feeling the weight of the load. Affection makes a
person forget about hunger and thirst, and keeps him on the
road of love.
brought him into being from a drop of water.
I do not even have the right to say I love You,
and yet I do love You. I always remember You.
I know that even my being able to remember You
is also due to Your guidance. My mentioning Your
Name of Majesty left me dizzy, bewildered, and
amazed.
Is it possible to imagine anyone in this world
loving the Divinity and not becoming intoxicated with
such affection? So great a blessing is affection that
even if its possessor should stray into the wilderness,
the fire of his love would not allow him to feel the heat of
the desert.
Should the lover fall into the fire, the heat of his
love would extinguish that fire. The fire of love would cause
the poles and glaciers to melt. If mountains and boulders were
piled upon the back of the lover, the fire of his love would
prevent his feeling the weight of the load. Affection makes a
person forget about hunger and thirst, and keeps him on the
road of love.
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Poem of Ibnu Arabi
Allah
"The Breath of the All-Merciful has no
basis in other than the All-Merciful...
Its stopping-place is the Yaman of the creatures
and It is neither spirit nor body.
It has no limit to define It
yet It is what is (always) sought, the Sempiternal (al-matlub as-Samad)
For all the creatures are seeking It
though none of them can possess it
Unique, no one is like It
alone in the Perfection of Its description."
My Journey
I withdrew with He whom I love passionately, and there was no one but us,
for if there had been another than me, the retreat would not have been one.
When I imposed on my soul the conditions of her seclusion,
the souls of the creatures all at once became her slaves!
But if there were not in her an Other than herself,
my soul would have made a gift of herself to He who overwhelms her with His gifts.
An Ocean without Shore
I marveled at an Ocean without shore,
and at a Shore that did not have an ocean;
And at a Morning Light without darkness,
and at a Night that was without daybreak;
And then a Sphere with no locality
known to either fool or learned scholar;
And at an azure Dome raised over the earth,
circulating 'round its center -- Compulsion;
And at a rich Earth without o'er-arching vault
and no specific location, the Secret concealed . . . .
I courted a Secret which existence did not alter;
for it was asked of me: "Has Thought enchanted you?"
-- To which I replied: "I have no power over that;
I counsel you: Be patient with it while you live.
But, truly, if Thought becomes established
in my mind, the embers kindle into flame,
And everything is given up to fire
the like of which was never seen before!"
And it was said to me: "He does not pluck a flower
who calls himself with courtesy 'Freeborn'."
"He who woos the belle femme in her boudoir, love-beguiled,
will never deem the bridal-price too high!"
I gave her the dower and was given her in marriage
throughout the night until the break of Dawn --
But other than Myself I did not find. -- Rather,
that One whom I married -- may his affair be known:
For added to the Sun's measure of light
are the radiant New Moon and shining Stars;
Like Time, dispraised - though the Prophet (Blessings on him!)
had once declared of your Lord that He is Time.
Silence
There are places which offer but scant consolation
while others offer one great delight. However, make the Lord the mainstay and refuge of your soul,
wherever and however you may be.
Fire
O Marvel! a garden amidst the flames.
My heart has become capable of every form:
it is a pasture for gazelles and a convent for Christian monks,
and a temple for idols and the pilgrim's Ka'bah,
and the tables of the Torah and the book of the Qur'an.
I follow the religion of Love: whatever way Love's camels take,
that is my religion and my faith.
True Knowledge
There is no knowledge except that taken from Allah, for He alone is the Knower... the prophets, in spite of their great number and the long periods of time which separate them, had no disagreement in knowledge of Allah, since they took it from Allah.
The Invitation
Approach the dwelling place of the dear ones who have taken covenants -
may clouds of incessant rain pour upon it!
And breathe the scent of the wind over against their land, in desire that
the sweet airs may tell thee where they are.
I know that they encamped at the banded tree of Idam, where the arar plants
grow and the shih and the katam.
From: The Fabulous Gryphon ('Anqâ' Mughrib)
Since that which is true in Vision is a major part of Prophecy, we swore our belief in what such Vision confers and conveys of the Favors of the Real (Praised be He!). For I entered the House of Lights and let down the curtains and the veils, jealously protective of the harem. Then, while I was conversing intimately with the Real in His presence, the attraction of a Mighty One attracted me to him, and the Real installed me in the Station of the 'Ocean' -- the waves of which heave and overflow, one entering into another and rising aloft. And I was in a State which no one can know but he who has borne it, and no one describe but he who has seen it, as has been said:
No one knows Desire except for one who bears it,
nor fervent Longing, but he who suffers from it.
... Now, consider and contemplate, O Most-perfect Saint, a Prophet whose body had been lost, while the memorial of his Way remained in Tradition: Called up from his tomb by night, he was led forth to his Gathering, the Living one joining with the dead -- who, then, was 'gathered up,' the Lord of the House remaining in the House, which thus was filled with life!
Then [the Prophet Muhammad] requested the hand of his 'Little Fair-One' [A'ishah] from his 'Noble One' [Abû Bakr as-Siddîq], plucking her from the hand of his Friend (sadîqu-hu). He proposed for her a bridal-price (sadâq) the figure of which was unknown to me, and requested of me a testimony to that effect. So he wrote on a piece of red silk a document in shining gold, and I was the first, by his permission and command (May God bless him!), to witness his dower -- that being in his highest Stopping-place and most-manifest Station. When he had so commanded, [the Prophet's] dower was left in my care, and he entered his dwelling with his Bride, secluding himself with her, while the dower remained in my possession till the expiry of my term.
Then, when the Dawn broke for him who has two eyes, bringing together for me the Two Lights, I did not find a 'Bride' ('irs) or a 'Husband' (ba'l ) other than my own Essence, nor a dower other than my own Nature and attributes. For I was myself both the Husband and the Bride, and I married together the Intellect and the Soul. And the 'Little Fair One' became purified by her Husband, supported by the firm will of her Intellect.
I marveled at my affair -- that there was none but me! Thus, I arrived at the lifting of the veils on matters concealed: And I marveled at a Shore which has no sea for its complement to seek refuge in, and at a Sea without a shore for its waves to break upon; and at a Speaker of realities without a tongue and places of articulation, and a Silent One who ceases not to summon and show the Way to Allah; and a Sphere without location which is not known to anyone, nor does anyone not know it; and a Dome without supports, and a rich Earth which is not based on causes desecrated by being mentioned and adulterated by Thought. For its Causes are, rather, from the Presence of That which occurs not to the mind of man, nor does the attentive ear hear its report, nor eye-sight perceive it truly.
Reality
They placed the palaquins
on the finest workhorse camel mares,
and within their embroidered canopies
full moons and marbled statuettes.
They promised my heart
they'd return
but what are the promises of a soft girl
but illusions.
They beckoned goodbye,
fingertips dyed with henna,
set tears scattering
and stoked the fire.
They turned
back toward Yemen,
seeking Khawarnaq
then Sadir,
Damn it! I called
as they left.
They answered:
If you want to cry damn it,
Why settle for
a single, lonely damn?
Damn it, damn it,
Damn it all over!
Easy now,
dove of the thorn berry thicket,
her leaving
has sharpened your cry.
Your coo, dove,
stirs the lover
and inflames
the already burning,
Melts the heart,
compounds our longing
and our sigh
Death hovers
over a dove that coos.
We beg of him
a stay.
Maybe a breath
from the East wind
from Hajir
will bring us clouds of rain.
You who pasture the stars
be my drinking companion!
and you, awake-all-night lightning watcher,
my night friend!
And you who'd rather
sleep the night away
before you die
you live entombed
If you'd only loved
a bravesouled beauty
you'd have found in her what you desired
and been satisfied.
You'd be sharing with the belles
intimate drink,
speaking secrets to the sun, and to the moon
whispering nothing
"The Breath of the All-Merciful has no
basis in other than the All-Merciful...
Its stopping-place is the Yaman of the creatures
and It is neither spirit nor body.
It has no limit to define It
yet It is what is (always) sought, the Sempiternal (al-matlub as-Samad)
For all the creatures are seeking It
though none of them can possess it
Unique, no one is like It
alone in the Perfection of Its description."
My Journey
I withdrew with He whom I love passionately, and there was no one but us,
for if there had been another than me, the retreat would not have been one.
When I imposed on my soul the conditions of her seclusion,
the souls of the creatures all at once became her slaves!
But if there were not in her an Other than herself,
my soul would have made a gift of herself to He who overwhelms her with His gifts.
An Ocean without Shore
I marveled at an Ocean without shore,
and at a Shore that did not have an ocean;
And at a Morning Light without darkness,
and at a Night that was without daybreak;
And then a Sphere with no locality
known to either fool or learned scholar;
And at an azure Dome raised over the earth,
circulating 'round its center -- Compulsion;
And at a rich Earth without o'er-arching vault
and no specific location, the Secret concealed . . . .
I courted a Secret which existence did not alter;
for it was asked of me: "Has Thought enchanted you?"
-- To which I replied: "I have no power over that;
I counsel you: Be patient with it while you live.
But, truly, if Thought becomes established
in my mind, the embers kindle into flame,
And everything is given up to fire
the like of which was never seen before!"
And it was said to me: "He does not pluck a flower
who calls himself with courtesy 'Freeborn'."
"He who woos the belle femme in her boudoir, love-beguiled,
will never deem the bridal-price too high!"
I gave her the dower and was given her in marriage
throughout the night until the break of Dawn --
But other than Myself I did not find. -- Rather,
that One whom I married -- may his affair be known:
For added to the Sun's measure of light
are the radiant New Moon and shining Stars;
Like Time, dispraised - though the Prophet (Blessings on him!)
had once declared of your Lord that He is Time.
Silence
There are places which offer but scant consolation
while others offer one great delight. However, make the Lord the mainstay and refuge of your soul,
wherever and however you may be.
Fire
O Marvel! a garden amidst the flames.
My heart has become capable of every form:
it is a pasture for gazelles and a convent for Christian monks,
and a temple for idols and the pilgrim's Ka'bah,
and the tables of the Torah and the book of the Qur'an.
I follow the religion of Love: whatever way Love's camels take,
that is my religion and my faith.
True Knowledge
There is no knowledge except that taken from Allah, for He alone is the Knower... the prophets, in spite of their great number and the long periods of time which separate them, had no disagreement in knowledge of Allah, since they took it from Allah.
The Invitation
Approach the dwelling place of the dear ones who have taken covenants -
may clouds of incessant rain pour upon it!
And breathe the scent of the wind over against their land, in desire that
the sweet airs may tell thee where they are.
I know that they encamped at the banded tree of Idam, where the arar plants
grow and the shih and the katam.
From: The Fabulous Gryphon ('Anqâ' Mughrib)
Since that which is true in Vision is a major part of Prophecy, we swore our belief in what such Vision confers and conveys of the Favors of the Real (Praised be He!). For I entered the House of Lights and let down the curtains and the veils, jealously protective of the harem. Then, while I was conversing intimately with the Real in His presence, the attraction of a Mighty One attracted me to him, and the Real installed me in the Station of the 'Ocean' -- the waves of which heave and overflow, one entering into another and rising aloft. And I was in a State which no one can know but he who has borne it, and no one describe but he who has seen it, as has been said:
No one knows Desire except for one who bears it,
nor fervent Longing, but he who suffers from it.
... Now, consider and contemplate, O Most-perfect Saint, a Prophet whose body had been lost, while the memorial of his Way remained in Tradition: Called up from his tomb by night, he was led forth to his Gathering, the Living one joining with the dead -- who, then, was 'gathered up,' the Lord of the House remaining in the House, which thus was filled with life!
Then [the Prophet Muhammad] requested the hand of his 'Little Fair-One' [A'ishah] from his 'Noble One' [Abû Bakr as-Siddîq], plucking her from the hand of his Friend (sadîqu-hu). He proposed for her a bridal-price (sadâq) the figure of which was unknown to me, and requested of me a testimony to that effect. So he wrote on a piece of red silk a document in shining gold, and I was the first, by his permission and command (May God bless him!), to witness his dower -- that being in his highest Stopping-place and most-manifest Station. When he had so commanded, [the Prophet's] dower was left in my care, and he entered his dwelling with his Bride, secluding himself with her, while the dower remained in my possession till the expiry of my term.
Then, when the Dawn broke for him who has two eyes, bringing together for me the Two Lights, I did not find a 'Bride' ('irs) or a 'Husband' (ba'l ) other than my own Essence, nor a dower other than my own Nature and attributes. For I was myself both the Husband and the Bride, and I married together the Intellect and the Soul. And the 'Little Fair One' became purified by her Husband, supported by the firm will of her Intellect.
I marveled at my affair -- that there was none but me! Thus, I arrived at the lifting of the veils on matters concealed: And I marveled at a Shore which has no sea for its complement to seek refuge in, and at a Sea without a shore for its waves to break upon; and at a Speaker of realities without a tongue and places of articulation, and a Silent One who ceases not to summon and show the Way to Allah; and a Sphere without location which is not known to anyone, nor does anyone not know it; and a Dome without supports, and a rich Earth which is not based on causes desecrated by being mentioned and adulterated by Thought. For its Causes are, rather, from the Presence of That which occurs not to the mind of man, nor does the attentive ear hear its report, nor eye-sight perceive it truly.
Reality
They placed the palaquins
on the finest workhorse camel mares,
and within their embroidered canopies
full moons and marbled statuettes.
They promised my heart
they'd return
but what are the promises of a soft girl
but illusions.
They beckoned goodbye,
fingertips dyed with henna,
set tears scattering
and stoked the fire.
They turned
back toward Yemen,
seeking Khawarnaq
then Sadir,
Damn it! I called
as they left.
They answered:
If you want to cry damn it,
Why settle for
a single, lonely damn?
Damn it, damn it,
Damn it all over!
Easy now,
dove of the thorn berry thicket,
her leaving
has sharpened your cry.
Your coo, dove,
stirs the lover
and inflames
the already burning,
Melts the heart,
compounds our longing
and our sigh
Death hovers
over a dove that coos.
We beg of him
a stay.
Maybe a breath
from the East wind
from Hajir
will bring us clouds of rain.
You who pasture the stars
be my drinking companion!
and you, awake-all-night lightning watcher,
my night friend!
And you who'd rather
sleep the night away
before you die
you live entombed
If you'd only loved
a bravesouled beauty
you'd have found in her what you desired
and been satisfied.
You'd be sharing with the belles
intimate drink,
speaking secrets to the sun, and to the moon
whispering nothing
4:14 AM | 0
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Poem of Ibnu Atha'illah
How utterly amazing is someone who flees from something he cannot escape
to seek something that will not last!
“It is not the eyes that are blind,
but the hearts in the breasts are blind.”
Do not travel from phenomenal being to phenomenal being.
You will be like the donkey going around at the mill.
It travels to what is set out from.
Travel from phenomenal beings
to the Maker of Being.
“And the final end is to your Lord.”
to seek something that will not last!
“It is not the eyes that are blind,
but the hearts in the breasts are blind.”
Do not travel from phenomenal being to phenomenal being.
You will be like the donkey going around at the mill.
It travels to what is set out from.
Travel from phenomenal beings
to the Maker of Being.
“And the final end is to your Lord.”
4:07 AM | 0
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Poem of Mevlana Jalaleddin Rumi
I’m neither beautiful nor ugly
neither this nor that
I’m neither the peddler in the market
nor the nightingale
in the rose garden
Teacher give me a name so that I’ll know
what to call myself
I’m neither slave nor free neither candle
nor iron
I’ve not fallen in love with anyone
nor is anyone in love with me
Whether I’m sinful or good
sin and goodness come from another
not from me
Wherever He drags me I go
with no say in the matter
In But Not In
"It is said that after Muhammad (p) and the prophets revelation does not descend upon anyone else. Why not? In fact it does, but then it is not called 'revelation.' It is what the Prophet referred to when he said, 'The believer sees with the Light of Allah.' When the believer looks with Allah's Light, he sees all things: the first and the last, the present and the absent. For how can anything be hidden from Allah's Light? And if something is hidden, then it is not the Light of Allah. Therefore the meaning of revelation exists, even if it is not called revelation."
Souls
Your true home is the seventh stage of spiritual growth, Illiyyun,
Reached through purification and peacefulness.
There, you are still in your body,
And yet a living Master of the Essence.
Love's Call
At every instant and from every side, resounds the call of Love:
We are going to sky, who wants to come with us?
We have gone to heaven, we have been the friends of the angels,
And now we will go back there, for there is our country.
We are higher than heaven, more noble than the angels:
Why not go beyond them? Our goal is the Supreme Majesty.
What has the fine pearl to do with the world of dust?
Why have you come down here? Take your baggage back. What is this place?
Luck is with us, to us is the sacrifice!
Like the birds of the sea, men come from the ocean--the ocean of the soul.
Like the birds of the sea, men come from the ocean--the ocean of the soul.
How could this bird, born from that sea, make his dwelling here?
No, we are the pearls from the bosom of the sea, it is there that we dwell:
Otherwise how could the wave succeed to the wave that comes from the soul?
The wave named 'Am I not your Lord' has come, it has broken the vessel of the body;
And when the vessel is broken, the vision comes back, and the union with Him.
Allah
I tried to find Him on the Christian cross, but He
was not there; I went to the Temple of the
Hindus and to the old pagodas, but I could not
find a trace of Him anywhere.
I searched on the mountains and in the valleys
but neither in the heights nor in the depths was I
able to find Him. I went to the Ka'bah in Mecca,
but He was not there either.
I questioned the scholars and philosophers but
He was beyond their understanding.
I then looked into my heart and it was there
where He dwelled that I saw Him; He was
nowhere else to be found.
The Rose
What Allah said to the Rose
And caused it to laugh in full blown beauty,
He said to my heart
And made it a hundred times more beautiful.
neither this nor that
I’m neither the peddler in the market
nor the nightingale
in the rose garden
Teacher give me a name so that I’ll know
what to call myself
I’m neither slave nor free neither candle
nor iron
I’ve not fallen in love with anyone
nor is anyone in love with me
Whether I’m sinful or good
sin and goodness come from another
not from me
Wherever He drags me I go
with no say in the matter
In But Not In
"It is said that after Muhammad (p) and the prophets revelation does not descend upon anyone else. Why not? In fact it does, but then it is not called 'revelation.' It is what the Prophet referred to when he said, 'The believer sees with the Light of Allah.' When the believer looks with Allah's Light, he sees all things: the first and the last, the present and the absent. For how can anything be hidden from Allah's Light? And if something is hidden, then it is not the Light of Allah. Therefore the meaning of revelation exists, even if it is not called revelation."
Souls
Your true home is the seventh stage of spiritual growth, Illiyyun,
Reached through purification and peacefulness.
There, you are still in your body,
And yet a living Master of the Essence.
Love's Call
At every instant and from every side, resounds the call of Love:
We are going to sky, who wants to come with us?
We have gone to heaven, we have been the friends of the angels,
And now we will go back there, for there is our country.
We are higher than heaven, more noble than the angels:
Why not go beyond them? Our goal is the Supreme Majesty.
What has the fine pearl to do with the world of dust?
Why have you come down here? Take your baggage back. What is this place?
Luck is with us, to us is the sacrifice!
Like the birds of the sea, men come from the ocean--the ocean of the soul.
Like the birds of the sea, men come from the ocean--the ocean of the soul.
How could this bird, born from that sea, make his dwelling here?
No, we are the pearls from the bosom of the sea, it is there that we dwell:
Otherwise how could the wave succeed to the wave that comes from the soul?
The wave named 'Am I not your Lord' has come, it has broken the vessel of the body;
And when the vessel is broken, the vision comes back, and the union with Him.
Allah
I tried to find Him on the Christian cross, but He
was not there; I went to the Temple of the
Hindus and to the old pagodas, but I could not
find a trace of Him anywhere.
I searched on the mountains and in the valleys
but neither in the heights nor in the depths was I
able to find Him. I went to the Ka'bah in Mecca,
but He was not there either.
I questioned the scholars and philosophers but
He was beyond their understanding.
I then looked into my heart and it was there
where He dwelled that I saw Him; He was
nowhere else to be found.
The Rose
What Allah said to the Rose
And caused it to laugh in full blown beauty,
He said to my heart
And made it a hundred times more beautiful.
4:06 AM | 0
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Poem of Rabi'ah
O God, Another Night is passing away,
Another Day is rising —
Tell me that I have spent the Night well so I can be at peace,
Or that I have wasted it, so I can mourn for what is lost.
I swear that ever since the first day You brought me back to life,
The day You became my Friend,
I have not slept —
And even if You drive me from your door,
I swear again that we will never be separated.
Because You are alive in my heart.
My Greatest Need is You
Your hope in my heart is the rarest treasure
Your Name on my tongue is the sweetest word
My choicest hours
Are the hours I spend with You --
O Allah, I can't live in this world
Without remembering You--
How can I endure the next world
Without seeing Your face?
I am a stranger in Your country
And lonely among Your worshippers:
This is the substance of my complaint.
Dream Fable
I saw myself in a wide green garden, more beautiful than I could begin to understand. In this garden was a young girl. I said to her, "How wonderful this place is!"
"Would you like to see a place even more wonderful than this?" she asked.
"Oh yes," I answered. Then taking me by the hand, she led me on until we came to a magnificent palace, like nothing that was ever seen by human eyes. The young girl knocked on the door, and someone opened it. Immediately both of us were flooded with light.
Only Allah knows the inner meaning of the maidens we saw living there. Each one carried in her hand a serving-tray filled with light. The young girl asked the maidens where they were going, and they answered her, "We are looking for someone who was drowned in the sea, and so became a martyr. She never slept at night, not one wink! We are going to rub funeral spices on her body."
"Then rub some on my friend here," the young girl said.
"Once upon a time," said the maidens, "part of this spice and the fragrance of it clung to her body -- but then she shied away."
Quickly the young girl let go of my hand, turned, and said to me:
"Your prayers are your light;
Your devotion is your strength;
Sleep is the enemy of both.
Your life is the only opportunity that life can give you.
If you ignore it, if you waste it,
You will only turn to dust."
Then the young girl disappeared.
Reality
In love, nothing exists between heart and heart.
Speech is born out of longing,
True description from the real taste.
The one who tastes, knows;
the one who explains, lies.
How can you describe the true form of Something
In whose presence you are blotted out?
And in whose being you still exist?
And who lives as a sign for your journey?
My Beloved
My peace, O my brothers and sisters, is my solitude,
And my Beloved is with me always,
For His love I can find no substitute,
And His love is the test for me among mortal beings,
Whenever His Beauty I may contemplate,
He is my "mihrab", towards Him is my "qiblah"
If I die of love, before completing satisfaction,
Alas, for my anxiety in the world, alas for my distress,
O Healer (of souls) the heart feeds upon its desire,
The striving after union with Thee has healed my soul,
O my Joy and my Life abidingly,
You were the source of my life and from Thee also came my ecstasy.
I have separated myself from all created beings,
My hope is for union with Thee, for that is the goal of my desire.
Another Day is rising —
Tell me that I have spent the Night well so I can be at peace,
Or that I have wasted it, so I can mourn for what is lost.
I swear that ever since the first day You brought me back to life,
The day You became my Friend,
I have not slept —
And even if You drive me from your door,
I swear again that we will never be separated.
Because You are alive in my heart.
My Greatest Need is You
Your hope in my heart is the rarest treasure
Your Name on my tongue is the sweetest word
My choicest hours
Are the hours I spend with You --
O Allah, I can't live in this world
Without remembering You--
How can I endure the next world
Without seeing Your face?
I am a stranger in Your country
And lonely among Your worshippers:
This is the substance of my complaint.
Dream Fable
I saw myself in a wide green garden, more beautiful than I could begin to understand. In this garden was a young girl. I said to her, "How wonderful this place is!"
"Would you like to see a place even more wonderful than this?" she asked.
"Oh yes," I answered. Then taking me by the hand, she led me on until we came to a magnificent palace, like nothing that was ever seen by human eyes. The young girl knocked on the door, and someone opened it. Immediately both of us were flooded with light.
Only Allah knows the inner meaning of the maidens we saw living there. Each one carried in her hand a serving-tray filled with light. The young girl asked the maidens where they were going, and they answered her, "We are looking for someone who was drowned in the sea, and so became a martyr. She never slept at night, not one wink! We are going to rub funeral spices on her body."
"Then rub some on my friend here," the young girl said.
"Once upon a time," said the maidens, "part of this spice and the fragrance of it clung to her body -- but then she shied away."
Quickly the young girl let go of my hand, turned, and said to me:
"Your prayers are your light;
Your devotion is your strength;
Sleep is the enemy of both.
Your life is the only opportunity that life can give you.
If you ignore it, if you waste it,
You will only turn to dust."
Then the young girl disappeared.
Reality
In love, nothing exists between heart and heart.
Speech is born out of longing,
True description from the real taste.
The one who tastes, knows;
the one who explains, lies.
How can you describe the true form of Something
In whose presence you are blotted out?
And in whose being you still exist?
And who lives as a sign for your journey?
My Beloved
My peace, O my brothers and sisters, is my solitude,
And my Beloved is with me always,
For His love I can find no substitute,
And His love is the test for me among mortal beings,
Whenever His Beauty I may contemplate,
He is my "mihrab", towards Him is my "qiblah"
If I die of love, before completing satisfaction,
Alas, for my anxiety in the world, alas for my distress,
O Healer (of souls) the heart feeds upon its desire,
The striving after union with Thee has healed my soul,
O my Joy and my Life abidingly,
You were the source of my life and from Thee also came my ecstasy.
I have separated myself from all created beings,
My hope is for union with Thee, for that is the goal of my desire.
3:48 AM | 0
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