22 Saturday Dec 2012
Posted in Awhaduddin Kirmani, Huuu..., Ruba'iyyat, the Search
Peace, one and all…
There are no gates
which open on
Your holy Essence:
no one can know
the depths
of Your perfection.
For travellers
on the path to You
there only remains
to repeat and repeat
‘There is no god
but God’
(Awhaduddin Kirmani, Quatrains)
23 Monday Jul 2012
Peace, one and all…
Human beings climb the ladder of egotism, but in the
end everyone must fall from this ladder.
The higher you climb, the more foolish you are, for
your bones will be more badly broken.
When you die to yourself and come alive through God,
in truth you have become one with God, in absolute unity
Masnavi 4.2763-2767
03 Thursday May 2012
Peace, one and all…
You are not really a hunter, seeking Me,
instead you are My slave and lie at My feet.
You devise means to attain to My presence
but you are helpless either to leave or to seek Me.
The search for Me causes you anguish;
last night I heard your heavy sighs.
It is within My power to end your waiting,
to show you the Way and grant access.
So that you may be released from this whirlpool of time,
and may at last set foot on the treasure of union with Me,
but the sweetness and delights of the resting-place
are in proportion to the pain endured on the journey.
Only when you suffer the pangs and tribulations of exile
will you truly enjoy the homecoming.
Masnavi 3.4152-4158
03 Tuesday Apr 2012
Peace, one and all…
If you walk on the Way, the Way will be opened to you.
And if you become non-existent, you will be led to real existence.
If you become humble, you will not be contained in the universe.
And then you will be shown to yourself – without yourself.
Mevlana, Quatrain 1836
17 Saturday Mar 2012
Peace, one and all…
Some day the heart will bring you to the Seizer of Hearts,
And some day the soul will bring you to the Beloved of Souls.
Don’t give up your grasp on the hem of the robe of pain,
For one day that pain will bring you to the Remedy!
Mevlana, Quatrain 1729
10 Saturday Mar 2012
Peace, one and all…
The inner search is from You.
The blind are cured by Your gift.
Without our searching, You gave us this search.
Masnavi 1.1337-1338
15 Sunday Jan 2012
Peace, one and all…
The sunbeam fell upon the wall;
the wall received a borrowed splendour.
Why set your heart on a piece of turf,
O simple one? Seek out the Source
which shines forever.
Masnavi 2.708-709
05 Thursday Jan 2012
Peace, one and all…
Whether you are fast or slow, eventually
you will find what you are seeking.
Always devote yourself wholeheartedly to your search.
Even though you may limp or be bent double,
do not abandon your search,
but drag yourself ever towards Him.
Masnavi 3.978-980
01 Sunday Jan 2012
Peace, one and all…
‘The Prophet (alaihi al-salatu wa al-salam) said: ‘Seek knowledge even as far as China’. There is more than one kind of knowledge, however. The highest knowledge is the knowledge that helps us to realise what it means to be a human being: the purpose of being human, and our relationship with Absolute Truth, Allah’
(Shaykh Kabir Helminski, The Book of Language, p. 86)
24 Saturday Dec 2011
Posted in Awhaduddin Kirmani, Exploring Oneness, Huuu..., Returning Home, Ruba'iyyat, the Search
Peace, one and all…
All your existence
comes from another’s
being,
all your inebriation
flows from another’s
drunkeness.
Go and wrap yourself
in the robe
of meditation,
for your flesh
is the robe
of the Other.
(Awhaduddin Kirmani, Quatrains)
23 Friday Dec 2011
Peace, one and all…
Everyone heart-lost
makes his ablutions
in tears;
everyone touched
by grief
sings his own song.
No matter what
the travller thinks
he’s looking for,
if I study him deeply
I find he’s searching
for You.
(Awhaduddin Kirmani, Quatrains)
19 Monday Dec 2011
Peace, one and all…
Listen, O drop, give yourself up without regret,
and in exchange gain the Ocean.
Listen, O drop, bestow upon yourself this honour,
and in the arms of the Sea be secure.
Who indeed should be so fortunate?
An Ocean wooing a drop!
In God’s name, in God’s name, sell and buy at once!
Give a drop, and take this Sea full of pearls’
Masnavi 4.2619-2622
18 Sunday Dec 2011
Peace, one and all…
‘And Jesus answered him, ‘The first of all commandments is, hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord; And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and all thy soul, and with all thy understanding, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second commandment is like, namely this, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is no other commandment greater than these’ (Mark 12:29-31)
This is a truly beautiful passage from the Gospel of Mark. In it Jesus (alaihi al-salam) responds to a learned Rabbi’s earnest question: ‘Of all the commandments, which is the most important?’ Our beloved master’s response, that love is the greatest commandment, is beautiful and profound.
I came across this passage once again, recently, and was struck not only by its beauty, but by its deeply evocative description of love as arising in life-giving oneness. Of course, Islam understands God’s nature differently than Christianity, but the oneness I refer to is not primarily theological in that sense. Rather, as I read this passage, I am struck by how it calls us to see the Divine as being behind, and yet mysteriously within, all things. I was also struck by the way in which it bids humankind to respond with everything to God’s call.
However, before proceeding any further, it is worth pointing out that I do not intend to explain these verses, as though ‘I’ know what they ‘really’ mean. This is for two reasons. Firstly, although, as a human being, humanity’s collective spiritual heritage is mine to draw on, I do not intend to interpret this Christian scripture to anyone, much less the worldwide Christian tradition. Secondly, what do I know anyway? No, my purpose here is simply to respond, to explore the profound beauty of these wonderful verses. Anything right or true, comes from God. Only the mistakes are mine.
Our verse begins with the Shema, the quintessential expression of Jewish monotheism: ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord’ (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). Love arises first in the Divine, a Unity unto Itself. The world comes into being, and is sustained moment by moment by that love. To ‘love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and all thy soul, and with all thy understanding, and with all thy strength’ is thus to come into harmony with that overflowing Divine love. It is also to use our every faculty in pursuit of that aim. Our hearts, our souls/personalities, understandings and strengths, must all be dedicated towards the One, the Source of All.
It is, therefore, surely noteworthy that Jesus (as) begins with the heart, long perceived as the intellectual and spiritual centre of the human being. Sufi tradition understands the heart as a kind of meeting-place, in which the physical and subtle energy centres of a human being meet. The heart is also the primary entry-point of spirit, the divinely gifted source of life. Our capacity to love thus arises in the heart, and is itself a gift from God. In other words, our ability to love is given to us by the Divine; we are given everything we need to respond fully to that call.
If the heart is the centre, the ‘soul’ is the place in which our everyday notions of ourselves arise. Sufi tradition understands, broadly, that the ‘soul’ (or nafs in Arabic) is born from a kind of union between spirit (ruh) and our bodies. By soul, I am also referring to our psychological constitutions, our personalities, and our egos. This verse shows me that I can and indeed must love God in the very depths of my soul. Moreover, we are here told that our egos are capable of loving God, of becoming an active participant in our transformations. I find this profound, because it echoes the deepest registers of Sufi thought, and also because it offers a healing truth: our individualities, our workaday selves are valuable and part of a deep and noble purpose.
‘And with all thy understanding’. That Jesus (as) should mention understanding after both the heart and the soul is interesting. It is interesting because it suggests that in truth the intellect is the servant of the heart and soul. It is also interesting because it suggests that mere intellection has its own limits, when not grounded in the heart’s spiritual reality. Moreover, it contradicts the idea that spiritual growth is somehow against learning and knowledge per se. Perhaps the real point being alluded to here is that intellect must also serve. It must not master us.
‘And with all thy strength’. Not only do we possess strength, we also possess weakness – which is to say that our strength has its limitations. If, however, we can open ourselves to Divine love, we can partake of the heart’s strength, which arises in the infinite love of God. That is, if we serve in love’s cause, ‘our’ strength is enfolded by His strength. An Arabic phrase expresses this beautifully: la hawla wa la quwwata illa billah (‘there is no power or might except in God’).
‘And the second commandment is like, namely this, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is no other commandment greater than these’. By these words, Jesus (as) again draws on the deep roots of Judaism, being a re-iteration of Leviticus 19:18. Once we come into harmony with love, our path takes us beyond ourselves, out into the world. The perfection of love lies in service to others – with the understanding that service to God’s creatures is service to God Himself. To love our neighbour as ourselves means many things – ethical treatment, justice, respect, and beyond all of these a deep love for those around us, that runs beyond mere superficiality, beyond sentimentality. Moreover, from the perspective of oneness, it is God’s love that brings these relationships into existence. We are faced with the Divine regardless of the direction we look. The Quran expresses this most beautifully:
‘And to God belongs the east and the west. So wherever you turn, there is the Face of God. Indeed, God is All-Encompassing, All-Knowing’ (2:115)
May the Divine Beloved open our hearts, our souls, our minds, our bodies, and every relationship we partake of, to His overflowing grace, mercy and love.
May all that you do this day be blessed.
Wa akhiru da`wana an il hamdu lillahi rabbil alameen.
Ma’as salama,
Abdur Rahman
15 Thursday Dec 2011
Peace, one and all…
What wisdom was this, that the Object of all desire
caused me to leave my home joyously on a fool’s errand,
so that I was actually rushing to lose the way
and at each moment being taken farther from what I sought -
and then God in His beneficence made that very wandering
the means of my reaching the right road and finding wealth!
He makes losing the way a way of true faith;
He makes going astray a field for the harvest of righteousness,
so that no righteous one may be without fear
and no traitor may be without hope.
The Gracious One has put the antidote in the poison
so that they may say He is the Lord of hidden grace.
(Masnavi 6.4339-4344)
14 Wednesday Dec 2011
Peace, one and all…
God made the earth and celestial sphere
in six days of deliberate work,
even though He could bring forth a hundred earths and heavens
with the words: ‘Be, and it is’
Little by little until forty years of age
He raises the human being to completion,
although in a single moment He was able
to send fifty flying out of nothing.
Jesus by means of one prayer could make the dead spring to life:
Is the Creator of Jesus unable
to suddenly bring full-grown human beings
fold by fold into existence?
This deliberation is for the purpose of teaching you
that you must seek God slowly, without any break.
A little which moves continually
doesn’t become tainted or foul.
From this deliberation are born felicity and joy:
Deliberation is the egg,
Good luck is the fledgling that hatches.
(Masnavi 3.3500 – 3508)
08 Thursday Dec 2011
Posted in Awhaduddin Kirmani, Being human, Exploring Oneness, the Search
Peace, one and all…
My friend
no one veils you
but yourself.
No thorns
no weeds in your path
but you.
Well then
shall I reach the beloved
or not?
Between you and him
lies nothing
but yourself.
(Awhaduddin Kirmani, trans. Peter Lambourn WIlson)
07 Wednesday Dec 2011
Peace, one and all…
When destruction appears in six directions,
when all is annihilated,
your love-tamed heart will be the measure of your
worth!
Work on your love, be human while there is still time.
On the day of reckoning only this will count
(Abu Sa`id ibn Abi al-Khayr)
24 Monday Oct 2011
Peace, one and all…
‘It is related that someone said, ‘Give me counsel’. Ibrahim ibn Adham said, ‘Remember the Lord and put aside created things”
Taken from Attar’s Tadhkirat al-Awliya (Memorials of the Saints)
