Seeking

Khwaja ‘Abdullah Ansari said in his intimate conversations with God: I’m drunk from You freeing me from wine and cup.I’m Your bird free from grain and being hunted.What I desire from the Ka’aba and idols is You!Otherwise, I seek nothing from these two. Talab [seeking] has as its root T-L-B and is connected to these meanings: seeking, researching, asking something from someone, pursuing, being far away, not being present, claiming, soliciting, desiring, having a liking for or sympathy for something [Maurice Gloton: Une Approche du Coran par la Grammaire et le Lexique; p. 523]. Serge de Laugier de Beaureceuil, the most important connaisseur of the life and teachings of Khwaja ‘Abdullah Ansari, states in his Chemin de Dieu, p. 249-250…

Diwaan-e-Mo’in: Ghazal 10

Toraa mikhaaham ay delbar ke binam To’i maqsud-e-man dar har ke binam O Beloved! It is You I wish to see. I desire only You in all that I see. Maraa chasm az baraaye didan-e-tost To rokh na-nomaayaim pas-e-dar ke binam My eyes are only there in order to see You. If You don’t show Your face to me, what else can I see? Jamaal-e-saaqi-ye-man minomaayad Be-meraat-e-mai o saaghar ke binam The beauty of my cupbearer appears everywhere: In the mirror of the wine, in the goblet and in all that I see. Chonaanat dida am az dida-ye-del Ke na-shenaasam be-chasm-e-sar ke binam That manifestation of You which I’ve seen with the eyes of my heart, Cannot be understood by…

The one good hour

There was once a hard-hearted moneylender who always charged his debtors usurious interest. To collect a debt from a poor farmer, he went one day to the farmer’s village and told him roughly: “The time has come to pay me. Give me the money I lent you, plus all the interest”. The sum was so large, when the unfair interest was added, that the farmer could not possibly pay it. “Reduce the interest,” he said. “It is unjust and far too much. Reduce it to a normal charge and then I can repay you”. To this argument the moneylender turned a deaf ear. Compassion and pity were things that had no place in his avaricious life. “I see you will…

Diwaan-e-Mo’in: Ghazal 4

Here is a ghazal from the Diwaan-e-Mo’in (Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library, Patna): Delaa ba-halqa-ye-rendaan-e-bazm-e-‘eshq dar aa Ke jor’a ze sharaab-e-baqaa dehand toraa O my heart, enter the circle of the drunken lovers, So that they may give you a draught of the wine of immortality. Biyaa wa har do jahaan raa beshash-dar andar na Dar in qemaar beyak daaw har che hast dar aa Come and put both worlds at stake in a gambling game. Offer all there is in one move of this game. Agar baqaa’ talabi auwalat fanaa baayad Ke taa fanaa nashawi rah namibari ba baqaa’ If you search for eternal life you need to annihilate your self first, Because you’ll not find the way to…

Diwaan-e-Mo’in: Ghazal 7

Aateshi afrukht ‘eshq o jesm o jaan-e-man ba-sukht Goftam aahi bar kasham kaam o zabaan-e-man ba-sukht Love has set on fire my body and soul, they are burning! I’ve brought out a sigh: it has burnt up both my mouth and tongue. Aatesh-e-dozagh nadarad taabesh-e-suz-e-feraaq Aah az in aatesh ke paida o nehaan-e-man ba-sukht The fire of hell is not so intense as the heat of the fire of separation. This fire caused so much pain: it has burnt up both my body and soul. Naar-e-dozagh gar che suzad posthaaye ‘aasiyaan Aatesh-e-hejraanash maghz-e-ostokhwaan-e-man ba-sukht While the fire of hell may burn the skin of the sinners, The fire of separation from Him has burnt up the marrow of my bones….

The Egyptian Elder

Just suppose you are able to make an interview with shaykh ‘Abd al-Wahhâb ash-Sha’râni. What would you ask him? Perhaps some of your questions are similar to the ones as given below: Q: Can you tell us something about yourself? A: My birth took place in Egypt in 1493 C.E. in a village in the province of Qalyubiyya. One of my ancestors, Musâ Abu ‘Emrân, was the son of the sultan of Tlemcen, and was a disciple of the famous Sufi shaykh Abu Madyan. This shaykh ordered him to settle with his family in 1307 C.E. I went to Cairo to study Islamic sciences, but soon afterwards I have been initiated into Sufism by several shaykhs among which I like…

The works of shaykh Ibn al-‘Arabi [part 7]

Laila Khalifa in her Ibn Arabi – L’initiation à la futuwwa; published by Albouraq, dealing with the teachings of the shaykh concerning futuwwa, also gives a deep commentary on the shaykh’s concept of the path of blame. He does not treat it as a historical movement, but exposes the doctrine and the station of the malamiyya: “They have reached the highest station among the friends of God, that of proximity (qurba), after which prophecy comes. They are the masters of the people on the path of God. The Prophet, the master of the world, is one of them.” The malamiyya are in this world to help others without being recognized. Their goal is to remain unknown and they are not…

Iblis

People say that when Iblis was cursed, he was so excited and overcome by the intensity of his joy that he filled the whole world by himself. Some asked him: ‘How can you act this way seeing that you have been driven from the Divine Presence?’ He replied: ‘By this robe of honour the Beloved has singled me out; neither an angel who has been brought near, wears it, nor a prophet who has been sent forth’.

The works of shaykh Ibn al-‘Arabi [part 9]

Sa’diyya Shaikh has translated a number of poems wherein shaykh Ibn al-‘Arabi tells that he has transmitted a khirqa to a female murid, like Dunya, Siti al-’Aysh, de daughter of Zaki al-Din, Zumurrud, Jamilah, Safari, Fatima, Safiyya and other women (Sufi Narratives of Intimacy – Ibn ‘Arabi, Gender and Sexuality; pp. 102, 137-138, and 229-231). Here is an example: When you, the ultimate point of my pain,And you, the best of people in meaning and form,Adopted my good qualitiesAnd you, the best of people in meaning and form,And her qualities had already possessed my heart,And if you wanted to verify thatIn itself it would be a piece of news.From the most illumined of garmentsI wrapped her in the raiment of…

The Fruits of Heaven and Earth

Thratara, a young woman, approached the dervish ‘Abdullah and sought his interpretation of a dream that had intrigued her. This is what she recounted when ‘Abdullah kindly received her: “In my dream, I met an old woman seated beside a fruit tree. Astonishingly, she declared that her name bore a close resemblance to mine. Instead of telling her name, the old woman uttered, ‘Consult dervish ‘Abdullah to unravel the significance of this fruit-laden tree.’”  Dervish ‘Abdullah requested Thratara, “If you wouldn’t mind, then, please share more details about the tree. What was its hue?” Thratara responded to dervish ‘Abdullah’s question with much enthusiasm. “Its colour was distinct from monotonous shades of grey while lacking the stark duality of black and…