Sufi

A Garden Among the Flames

O Marvel,
a garden among the flames!

My heart can take on

any form:
a meadow for gazelles,
a cloister for monks,

For the idols, sacred ground,

Ka’ba for the circling pilgrim,
the tables of the Torah,
the scrolls of the Qur’ān.

I profess the religion of love;

wherever its caravan turns along the way,
that is the belief,
the faith I keep.

From Poem 11 of the Tarjuman al-ashwaq, translation by Michael A. Sells

Wild Is She, None Can Make Her His Friend

When she kills with her glances, her speech restores to life, as tho she, in giving life thereby,
were Jesus.

The smooth surface of her legs is (like) the Tora in brightness, and I follow it and tread in its
footsteps as tho’ I were Moses.
She is a bishopess, one of the daughters of Rome, unadorned: thou seest in her a radiant
Goodness.

Wild is she, none can make her his friend; she has gotten in her solitary chamber a mausoleum
for remembrance.

She has baffled everyone who is learned in our religion, every student of the Psalms of David,
every Jewish doctor, and every Christian priest.

If with a gesture she demands the Gospel, thou wouldst deem us to be priests and patriarchs
and deacons.

The day when they departed on the road, I prepared for war the armies of my patience, host
after host.

From Poem 2 of the Tarjuman al-ashwaq, translated by R. A. Nicholson

Listen, O Dearly Beloved

Listen, O dearly beloved!
I am the reality of the world, the centre of the circumference,
I am the parts and the whole.
I am the will established between Heaven and Earth,
I have created perception in you only in order to be the
object of my perception.
If then you perceive me, you perceive yourself.
But you cannot perceive me through yourself,
It is through my eyes that you see me and see yourself,
Through your eyes you cannot see me.

Dearly beloved!
I have called you so often and you have not heard me
I have shown myself to you so often and you have not
seen me.
I have made myself fragrance so often, and you have
not smelled me.
Savorous food, and you have not tasted me.
Why can you not reach me through the object you touch
Or breathe me through sweet perfumes?
Why do you not see me? Why do you not hear me?
Why? Why? Why?

This is not a poem in the Arabic, but part of a chapter from the Kitab al-Tajalliyat. However,
since it was translated in the form of a poem by Henry Corbin in Creative Imagination in the
Sufism of Ibn Arabi, it has become deservedly famous.

I am the One whom I love

by Mansur al- Hallaj

English version by Bernard Lewis

Original Language Arabic

I am the One whom I love, and the One whom I love is myself.
We are two souls incarnated in one body;
if you see me, you see Him,
if you see Him, you see us.

"For years my heart inquired of me‚"

BY HAFEZ
TRANSLATED BY DICK DAVIS
For years my heart inquired of me
                   Where Jamshid's sacred cup might be,
And what was in its own possession
                   It asked from strangers, constantly;
Begging the pearl that's slipped its shell
                   From lost souls wandering by the sea.

Last night I took my troubles to

                   The Magian sage whose keen eyes see
A hundred answers in the wine
                   Whose cup he, laughing, showed to me.
I questioned him, "When was this cup
                   That shows the world's reality

Handed to you?" He said, "The day

                   Heaven's vault of lapis lazuli
Was raised, and marvelous things took place
                   By Intellect's divine decree,
And Moses' miracles were made
                   And Sameri's apostasy."

He added then, "That friend they hanged  

                   High on the looming gallows tree—
His sin was that he spoke of things
                   Which should be pondered secretly,
The page of truth his heart enclosed
                   Was annotated publicly.

But if the Holy Ghost once more

                   Should lend his aid to us we'd see
Others perform what Jesus did—
                   Since in his heartsick anguish he
Was unaware that God was there
                   And called His name out ceaselessly."

I asked him next, "And beauties' curls

                   That tumble down so sinuously,
What is their meaning? Whence do they come?"
                   "Hafez," the sage replied to me,
"It's your distracted, lovelorn heart
                   That asks these questions constantly."

Ode 487
BY HAFEZ
TRANSLATED BY RICHARD LE GALLIENNE
With last night’s wine still singing in my head,
I sought the tavern at the break of day,
Though half the world was still asleep in bed;
The harp and flute were up and in full swing,
And a most pleasant morning sound made they;
Already was the wine-cup on the wing.
‘Reason,’ said I, ‘’t is past the time to start,
If you would reach your daily destination,
The holy city of intoxication.’  
So did I pack him off, and he depart
With a stout flask for fellow-traveller.

Left to myself, the tavern-wench I spied,

And sought to win her love by speaking fair;
Alas! she turned upon me, scornful-eyed,
And mocked my foolish hopes of winning her.
Said she, her arching eyebrows like a bow:
‘Thou mark for all the shafts of evil tongues!
Thou shalt not round my middle clasp me so,
Like my good girdle – not for all thy songs! –
So long as thou in all created things
Seest but thyself the centre and the end.
Go spread thy dainty nets for other wings –
Too high the Anca’s nest for thee, my friend.’

Then took I shelter from that stormy sea

In the good ark of wine; yet, woe is me!
Saki and comrade and minstrel all by turns,
She is of maidens the compendium
Who my poor heart in such a fashion spurns.
Self, HAFIZ, self! That thou must overcome!
Hearken the wisdom of the tavern-daughter!
Vain little baggage – well, upon my word!
Thou fairy figment made of clay and water,
As busy with thy beauty as a bird.

Well, HAFIZ, Life’s a riddle – give it up:

There is no answer to it but this cup.  

Love is reckless

Love is reckless; not reason.

Reason seeks a profit.
Love comes on strong,
consuming herself, unabashed.

Yet, in the midst of suffering,

Love proceeds like a millstone,
hard surfaced and straightforward.

Having died of self-interest,

she risks everything and asks for nothing.
Love gambles away every gift God bestows.
Without cause God gave us Being;
without cause, give it back again.

Our death is our wedding with eternity.

Our death is our wedding with eternity.

What is the secret? 'God is One.'
The sunlight splits when entering the windows of the house.
This multiplicity exists in the cluster of grapes;
It is not in the juice made from the grapes.
For he who is living in the Light of God,
The death of the carnal soul is a blessing.
Regarding him, say neither bad nor good,
For he is gone beyond the good and the bad.
Fix your eyes on God and do not talk about what is invisible,
So that he may place another look in your eyes.
It is in the vision of the physical eyes
That no invisible or secret thing exists.
But when the eye is turned toward the Light of God
What thing could remain hidden under such a Light?
Although all lights emanate from the Divine Light
Don't call all these lights 'the Light of God';
It is the eternal light which is the Light of God,
The ephemeral light is an attribute of the body and the flesh.
...Oh God who gives the grace of vision!
The bird of vision is flying towards You with the wings of desire.

Kill me, my faithful friends

by Mansur al-Hallaj

English version by Andrew Harvey

Kill me, my faithful friends,

For in my being killed is my life.

Love is that you remain standing

In front of your Beloved
When you are stripped of all your attributes;
Then His attributes become your qualities.

Between me and You, there is only me.

Take away the me, so only You remain.

Chhap Tilak Sab Cheeni Ray Mosay Naina Milaikay (x2)

Naina Milaikay, Naina Milaikay (x2)

Sab Kuch Mora Cheeni Re, Mosay Naina Milaikay

Chhap Tilak Sab Cheeni Ray Mosay Naina Milaikay

Prem Bhatee Ka Madhva Pilaikay

Pyar Ka Meetha Rasva Pilaikay

Matvali Kar Leeni Ray Mosay Naina Milaikay

Kya Se Kya Kar Leeni Ray Mosay Naina Milaikay

Chhap Tilak Sab Cheeni Ray Mosay Naina Milaikay

Naina Naina Naina Naina Milaikay (x4)

Khusrau Nijaam Kay Bal Bal Jayyiye

Khusrau Nijaam Kay Jaan Lutaiye

Mohay Suhaagan Keeni Ray Mosay Naina

Chhap Tilak Sab Cheeni Ray Mosay Naina Milaikay

Naina Milaikay, Naina Milaikay (x2)

Sab Kuch Mora Cheeni Re, Mosay Naina Milaikay

Chhap Tilak Sab Cheeni Ray Mosay Naina Milaikay

Naina Naina Naina Naina Milaikay (x4)