Poets write inspired poetry, but from where do they receive this inspiration? And how to become the recipient of inspiration? A disciple of the Iranian poet Sa’ib once composed the following absurd verse: Seek for the bottleless wine from the wineless bottle! Sa’ib immediately responded with the following: Haqq râ zi dil khâlî az andîsha talab kon Seek for the Truth in the heart, which is empty of thought. Hâfiz is considered to be one of the greatest among the Sufi poets. A Chishtî pîr made it clear that this famous poet was not always considered to be a good poet: “It so happened one day that Hâfiz was ridiculed to such an extent that he could not bear it….
Thirty-six
There are 36 attestations of tawhîd in the Qur’ân. This takes place by means of a dhikr, which is in this case the tahlîl. The basic shape is well known to you: “no god but God!” This is the recitation wherein God is declared one, by negating what is other than Him and by affirming Him. O Lord! Light the eternal fire in my heart! Turn every breath into a messenger of Your compassion! 1-36: The first attestation of tawhîd can be found in Q. 2:163. It is a tawhîd by means of the Divine name ar-Rahmân: Wa ‘ilâhukum ‘ilâhuñw-wâhidå: lââ ‘ilâha illâ huwa-r-rahmânu-r-rahîm And your God is one God, no god but He, the Compassionate, the Merciful. Shaykh Ibn…
Original Nature (Fitra)
It is said that spirituality is returning to your original nature. This original nature is composed, according to some of the Sufis, of four cardinal virtues: 1. Purity 2. Humility 3. Magnanimity 4. Justice There is an intellectual way and a practical way to acquire these virtues. As for the intellectual regulation, it is required because nature obeys the intellectual faculties. The second way, the practical one has as most important thing the choosing of those attitudes, acts and things which remind the soul of the desired qualities and alert it to them. There are three main veils preventing the manifestation of one’s sound original nature: 1. The veil of nature 2. The veil of convention 3. The veil of…
A meeting near Vienna
You may know that in the Middle Ages the Turkish armies have stood in front of the gates of Vienna. A sardar of one of these armies happened to meet a European merchant just after concluding a certain battle. For some reason or other he did not kill this merchant. To his surprise it was possible for them to communicate, as the merchant was able to speak fluent Turkish. It so happened that the merchant had spent some years in Smyrna as a friend of Hodja Hasan, who was a Sufi shaykh as well as a successful merchant. This Hodja Hasan had introduced the European merchant to a dervish, Baba Tahir, who had been so kind to accept the European…
Sufism and Dreams
A gypsy came to a Sufi master as he often received a small amount in charity from him. One day the gypsy told him about his dream, about which the master was very astonished. At the same time the son of an important official came to visit the Sufi, because the parents of the boy wanted the Sufi to give the boy regularly some pocket-money. He asked the young man if he wanted to exchange his pocket-money for the dream of the gypsy. The boy accepted the offer but was not happy with it. A little later he found out what the gypsy had dreamed. The gypsy had dreamed that he would become the Grandvizier and as the boy had…
Diwaan-e-Mo’in: Ghazal 1
Here is a ghazal from the Diwaan-e-Mo’in (Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library, Patna): Robud jaan o delam raa jamaal-e-naam-e-khodaa Nawaakht teshna labaan raa zolaal-e-naam-e-khodaa My soul and my heart have been captivated by the beauty of the name of God. My thirsty lips have been comforted by the pure water of the name of God. Wesaal-e-haqq talabi hamneshin naamash baash Bebin wesaal-e-khodaa dar wesaal-e-naam-e-khodaa If you search for union with God, be a companion of His name, You’ll see that union with God is in union with the name of God. Miyaan-e-esm o mosamma chu farq nist bebin To dar tajalliye asmaa kamaal-e-naam-e-khodaa As there is no difference between the name and the Named One, You’ll see in the manifestation…
Generosity
Hatim at-Tayy was known for his extreme largesse, which was so great that whenever a man of his circle found himself in dire straits, he would refer to Hatim at-Tayy as the proverbial solver of all problems. Once a man who lived rather at a great distance of Hatim’s dwelling place was sorely pressed from want of funds. For days he fretted and worried about this, while his situation steadily worsened, until one day his wife said to him: ‘Whatever we try to do to pull ourselves out of this trouble, it just gets worse. How long is this to go on? Why don’t you go now and speak to Hatim at-Tayy and ask him to help you for once?’…
Other Sufi poets
The following string of pearls in the field of Persian Sufi poetry may be to your liking. Here are some lines of Maghrebi: Hich kasi be khishtan rah nabord be suye- u Balke be paye- u ravad har ke ravad be kuye- u No one by himself Can find the way to Him. You have to walk with His feet, Who goes to His street. The following quatrain of Sarmad is the one I like best among his poetry: Az manzab-e ‘eshq sar faraazam kardand Vaz mennat-e khalq bi niyaazam kardand Chun sham’ dar in bazm godaazam kardand Az sokhtagi mahram-e raaz kardand To the dignified station of love I was raised, And from the favours of the people I…
A pair of trousers
Mawlana Shamsuddin Mohammad Yahya was an intimate friend of Mawlana Sadruddin Nawli. Both of them used to hear quite a lot about the spiritual greatness of Hazrat Nizamuddin Awliya. They had never met him. One day, when they came to Ghiyaspur to wash their clothes, they decided to go to Nizamuddin Awliya to see what kind of dervish he was and to find how much learning and knowledge he possessed. But they felt annoyed by the type of devotion that so many people offered to Nizamuddin Awliya. They considered it to be contrary to Islam. That is why they would only say ‘Peace be with you’ according to the Islamic precepts and then sit down. As soon as Nizamuddin Awliya…
The Secret of the Path
Some people some time ago left a book at our place. It is the book of someone unknown to me, but after some time I found out that both the writer as well as his book are well known in Moroccan Sufism. It concerns shaykh ad-Dabbâgh and his book is called Golden words (Kitâb al Ibrîz). The Shaykh lived at the end of the 17 th century and in the beginning of the 18 th century. I hope to translate some parts thereof as it may also interest you. It starts now: The esoterical science The esotertical science can be compared To 99 lines written in letters of gold And the exoterical science To the hundredth line written in ink….