Baraka Blue: Love & Light

Peace, one and all…

Hu Dost!  This is truly beautiful, and a fine start to Ramadan.  May all who pass by be blessed.  May all who pass by be given all that this prayer asks the Beloved for…

The Whispered Prayers of Imam Zayn al-Abidin 1

Peace, one and all…

 The Whispered Prayer of the Repenters: Imam Zayn al-Abidin
(God sanctify his noble soul)

Online Text Version

Merhaba Ramadan!

Peace, one and all…

Welcome O Month of Fasting!  Welcome O Month of Mercy!  Welcome O Bright Moon of Ramadan!  Welcome, welcome, welcome…

Here are some beautiful ilahis to enjoy, as a welcome song for this blessed month.  May all who pass by be blessed with God’s mercy.

Bismillah

Merhaba

Gönül Ayinesin Sufi

Ya Mevlana

Sem-i Ruhuna

Chaap Tilak: Jafar Husein Khan Badayuni

Ma’as salama,
Abdur Rahman

Whatever this Strange World is…

Peace, one and all…

So many words have been spoken.
So many voices, saying so many things:

‘This world is a prison,’ some say,
whilst others proclaim its every fleeting pleasure.

Whatever this strange world is,
it is surely His.

Its light and its shade, its night and its day
belong to that heart-stealing Love-thief.

Woman and man, spirit and flesh:
He is the resolution of every opposite.

The wine is His,
aye! and every wine glass too!

Why damage the vessels of one so generous?
Why live as such an ill-mannered guest?

Abdur Rahman, 14th July 2011

Jamiroquai

Peace, one and all…

Here are some songs of another favourite band of mine, Jamiroquai.  Good music, good lyrics, good vibes.  Enjoy and may all you do this day be blessed.

Stillness in Time

Too Young to Die

Space Cowboy

Virtual Insanity

Blow Your Mind

Didgin’ Out

Ma’as salama,
Abdur Rahman

57th Minute of the 23rd Hour!

Peace, one and all…

Here are some positive vibes from Galliano, one of my all-time favourite bands.  The music is beautiful and the words are true.  Enjoy, and may all that you do this day be blessed with every goodness.

57th Minute of the 23rd Hour

Welcome to the Story (Peace Go With You Mix)

Golden Flower (featuring Omar)

Prince of Peace

Ma’as salama,
Abdur Rahman

The Curtains Rise

Peace, one and all…

 

The curtains rise.
A hush falls over the audience,
as love’s great performance
begins anew once more.

We wear so many faces,
as we act out
the script of our lives
in this theatre of manifestation.

Each role we play
draws out some new quality,
coming to us through
the heart’s great portal of light.

The deeper truth beneath these acts of ours
begins to proclaim itself at last:
we ourselves are the theatre;
we are masks over the Beloved’s bright face.

Abdur Rahman, 3rd May 2011

Remembrance

Peace, one and all…

With the approach of Ramadan, I wanted to share some texts on remembrance, as an aid to contemplation.  They are drawn from the Quran, the Hadith and sacred poetry.  During this Ramadan, I hope to share and explore texts from Hz. Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani’s Secret of Secrets, insha Allah.

Quran

‘So remember Me, I shall remember you.  And be grateful to Me and do not deny Me’ (2:152)

‘Verily in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest!’ (13:28)

Hadith

The Prophet (alaihi al-salatu wa al-salam) relates:

‘God, ever mighty and majestic is He, says: “I am present in My servant’s thought of Me, and I am with him when he remembers Me.  If he remembers Me in his self, I remember him in My Self, and if he mentions M in an assembly, I mention him in a better assembly than that.  If he approaches Me by a hand’s breadth, I draw near to him by an arm’s length; and if he draws near to Me by an arm’s length, I draw near to him by a fathom.  If he comes to Me walking, I come to him running’

The Prophet (alaihi al-salatu wa al-salam) said:

‘He who remembers His Lord and he who does not are like the living and the dead’ (Bukhari)

And elsewhere, he (alaihi al-salatu wa al-salam) said:

‘The house in which Allah is remembered and the one in which Allah is not remembered are like the living and the dead’ (Muslim)

The Prophet (alaihi al-salatu wa al-salam) said:

‘Whenever people assemble together to remember Allah, just seeking His pleasure, a caller calls from heaven, ‘Stand up!  You have been forgiven.  Your sins have been changed into pious acts’. (Ahmad ibn Hanbal)

Sayings of the Awliya

Awn ibn Abdullah said:

‘Remembrance (dhikr) gatherings are a cure for hearts’

Selections from the writings of Hz. Mevlana:

‎’A lover never seeks without being sought by his
beloved.
When the lightning bolt of love has pierced this heart,
be assured that there is love in that heart.
When the love of God grows in your heart, beyond any
doubt God loves you’
(Masnavi 3.4393-4396)

‘Never be without the remembrance of God, for His remembrance provides the bird of the spirit with strength, feathers and wings’ (Fihi ma Fihi 175)

‘Separation from God is like a well;
Remembrance of Him is the rope’
(Divan-i Shams-i Tabriz 19325)

May our hearts all find rest in remembrance of God, the Source and Sustainer of All Being.

Ma’as salama,
Abdur Rahman

When the Sun Arrives

Peace, one and all…

Subtle degrees
of domination and servitude
are what you know as love

but love is different
it arrives complete
just there
like the moon in the window

like the sun
of neither east nor west
nor of anyplace

when the sun arrives
east and west arrive

desire only that
of which you have no hope
seek only that
of which you have no clue

love is the sea of not being
and there intellect drowns

this is not the Oxus River
or some little creek
this is the shoreless sea;
here swimming ends
always in drowning

a journey to the sea
is horses and fodder and contrivance

but at land’s end
the footsteps vanish

you lift up your robe
so as not to wet the hem:
come! drown in this sea
a thousand times

the moon passes over
the ocean of nonbeing

droplets of spray tear loose
and fall back on the cresting waves

a million galaxies
are a little scum
on that shoreless sea
(Mevlana, trans. Daniel Liebert)

Shaykh Fadlallah Haeri: Commentary on the Verse of Light

Peace, one and all…

I wanted to share a wonderful series of lectures I recently discovered on You Tube, by Shaykh Fadlallah Haeri.  They are a commentary on the beautiful Verse of Light:

Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The example of His light is like a niche within which is a lamp, the lamp is within glass, the glass as if it were a pearly [white] star lit from [the oil of] a blessed olive tree, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil would almost glow even if untouched by fire. Light upon light. Allah guides to His light whom He wills. And Allah presents examples for the people, and Allah is Knowing of all things. (24:35)

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Ma’as salama,
Abdur Rahman

Fullness and Effervescence

Peace, one and all…

‘What was ‘a hidden treasure’ burst in fullness
and made the earth more brilliant than the heavens.

What was ’a hidden treasure’ effervesced
and dressed the earth a sultan swathed in satin’
(Masnavi 1. 2875-2876)

And When I Love Him…

Peace, one and all…

The Messenger of God, may God give him blessings and peace, said:

God, ever blessed and exalted is He, says: “Whoever treats a friend of Mine as an enemy, on him I declare war.  My servant  draws near to Me by nothing dearer to Me than that which I have established as a duty for him.  And My servant does not cease to approach Me through supererogatory acts until I love him.  And when I love him, I become his hearing with  which he hears, his sight with which he sees, his hand with which he grasps, and his foot with which he walks.  And if he asks Me [for something], I give it to him. If he seeks refuge with Me, I place him under My protection.  In nothing do I hesitate so much as I hesitate [to take] the soul of a believer.  He has a horror of death, and I have a horror of hurting him”

 Reported by al-Bukhari, according to Abu Hurayra.

Here is a beautiful ney solo to accompany these words.  May we all know the beauty of such love.

Sufi Music: Omar Faruk Tekbilek

Peace, one and all…

Here are some beautiful examples of traditional Sufi music, courtesy of Omar Faruk Tekbilek.  Enjoy and may all who pass be blessed with goodness.

 

Who Are You?

Peace, one and all…

Did you open your eyes here
with the fragrance of a distant garden
lingering in your nostrils?
And, incognito as a stranger here,
have you been seeking your way home?

Sometimes this yearning burns so fiercely
that a form resplendent on the altar
would melt and puddle in its heat.
No loss.  A form intended only as a wondow,
if not transparent, merely hooks us.

Our friendship is a covenant of opening,
to help each other perceive the garden
of this dying world unfolding all around us
and to bring forth the gardener hidden within,
as the word lies hidden in the breath.

Chris Hoffman, Sufi Journal

Take Love’s Chalice and On You Go

Peace, one and all…

Take Love’s chalice and on you go
just choose this as your love and go
Be limpid wine, pure as spirit
unblurred by vinestalk scum, and flow
One glance at him’s worth scores of lives
strike a bargain, sell your soul and go
Such a body: argent, fluid, fine!
pay the silver, close your purse, and go
Let the whole world weep for you!  So what?
look up at his smiling globe and go.
If they call you hypocrite, poseur
Say, ‘So I am, and ten times worse,’ and go
Thumb your nose at people, rub it in
suck the sugar from his lips and go -
‘The moon is mine, the rest is yours
I need neither hearth nor home,’ you go
Who is that moon?
Lord of Tabriz, it’s Shams, the Sun!
Step into his regal shade
Let’s go!

Mevlana, Ghazal 2179, trans. F D Lewis

After La Ilaha…

Peace, one and all…

 

What is fear,
if not of the hiding
of Your bright face;
and what is love,
if not of You,
in each new moment and place?

What is life,
if not lived
in Your shade;
and what is death,
if not in You,
and Your eternal embrace?

What joy, Beloved,
what wondrous release!
That after la ilaha
comes illa Allah:
Your hand over mine,
Your breath within my chest.

Abdur Rahman, 6th July 2011

The Pomegranate’s Laugh

Peace, one and all…

‘The pomegranate’s laugh delights the garden
and human company will make you human.

You may be stone, or you may be of marble,
but when you meet the heart-strong you’re a jewel.

Implant the pure one’s love within your soul,
and keep your heart for love of the sweet-hearted.

Do not go down the hopeless track – there’s hope.
Do not go to the darkness – there are suns.

The heart will lead you to the heart-strong way,
the body to the gaol of earth and water.

Go on and feed your heart from friendly hearts;
go find your fortune with the fortunate’
(Masnavi 1.725-731)

The Garden of Oneness

Peace, one and all…

‘Prepare a dish of fiery hearts and tears -
the garden’s made to bloom by sun and clouds’
(Masnavi 1.1657)

Related Posts:

• A Poem and a Prayer
• Of Leaves, Balance and Overwhelming Mercy
• In the Hand of His Working
• An Unexpected Sohbet
• A Link in the Chain

Ma’as salama,
Abdur Rahman