I am the Sun

I’m the sun is a quatrain written by imam al-Ghazzali:

If the heart doesn’t travel on the road of union with You, what to do?
If the soul doesn’t seek the union with You eagerly, what to do?
The moment the sun shines upon a mirror –
If the mirror doesn’t say, ‘I’m the sun,’ what to do?

دل گر رهء وصل تو نپوید چه کند
جان وصل ترا بجان نجوید چه کند
آن لحظه که بر آینه تابد خورشید
آیینه اناالشمس نگوید چه کند

The quatrain is in Persian, except for some words in Arabic in the final line, which are: اناالشمس. This ana’l-shams [I am the sun] has been modelled on the famous ecstatic utterance ana’l-haqq or ‘I am the Truth‘ of shaykh Mansur al-Hallaj.

These words are traditionally said to have been spoken when he knocked at the door of his master, shaykh Junayd, who asked: ‘Who is there?’ Shaykh Mansur al-Hallaj is supposed to have answered ana’l-ḥaqq.

Imam al-Ghazzali asks in the above quatrain:

What to do if the mirror [the heart] doesn’t answer the ‘who is there?’ question by saying ‘I am the sun’?