A Poem of Sufi Love from Maryam

Sometimes I write about poetry here and sometimes I write poetry myself. Today I read the following poem on the tasawwuf blog of my sister on the path, Maryam It is beautiful and with its words it captures the impossibility of capturing the Ineffable, yet we can whisper the Names of the One and the soul can hear those words of love whispered from the silence of love, breath joining breath. Please go and visit Maryam’s site for more poems and thoughts on the Sufi path.

Thank you Maryam.

This one sings the most beautiful love songs.

This one lost his voice; but he writes them.

This one weeps while he recites.

This one can’t speak a word,

so he just weeps.

The sky seems to be listening,

some stars sparkle quicker than others;

I don’t close my eyes. I just watch

The wonder of the sound of voices.

Silent voices, in the dark,

whispering countless names.

I breath in, breath out,

with a name forever in my tongue,

my lips,

my throat.

I breath Your name,

exhale Your name,

in, out,

and the effect it has on my dreams

reminds me of those songs I hear,

the weeping that conforts the heart,

and the silent voices in the dark.

I don’t get tired of saying it.

I only get surprised.

Because once more letters, numbers, sounds,

dance a perfect dance,

saying, like a secret,

that life is death, that death is life,

that mixture is balance,

that Love comes through untouchable matter.

The one who sings has retreated himself.

And the one who weeps is tired.

The one who whispers is confused now.

As for me,

I am asleep.

And your name is my breath.

Maryam

Unveiling the Garden of Love

Two well loved stories of love from the Sufi and the Hindu traditions where both serve as metaphors for the love of the Beloved

clipped from astore.amazon.com Discover the common ground shared between Islamic Sufism and Hindu Bhaktism through their literary expressions. This book examines two classic love poems-The Story of Layla Majnun (written by Nezami in the Sufi tradition) and Gita Govinda (written by Jayadeva in the Hindu tradition)-and finds common experiences of love shared between these seemingly disparate cultures.

The Secret Heart

Image via Wikipedia

I recently put this in my Facebook notes and then thought that readers here might also enjoy it. Just a few thoughts on the experience of the dissolution of the nafs (ego matrix) that is the aim of the Sufi path.

The soul dwells amidst the utmost silence of total awe and the secret heart expands in space, knowing itself, knowing the Beloved. All is abandoned. Entirely. In savage nakedness veils are torn and slip noiselessly back into the created universe. Light pierces this being and excises every remaining trace of space and time. Stars, galaxies, universes are but sparkling jewels set in the dark mystery of the Unmanifest.

‘I was a hidden Treasure and desired to be known; therefore I created that I might be known’ (Hadith Qudsi)

From the Fusus al-Hikam of Ibn ‘Arabi

Image by Ghaylam via Flickr

It is He who is revealed in every face, sought in every sign, gazed upon by every eye, worshipped in every object of worship, and pursued in the unseen and the visible. Not a single one of His creatures can fail to find Him in its primordial and original nature.

Ibn ‘Arabi, Fusus al-Hikam

The photo on the right is of the mosque which contains the tomb of Ibn ‘Arabi.

Contemporary Sufi Poetry

This is a re-posting that was originally on my other blog, The Sufi Book and Music Blog but I thought it worth posting it here too as I get more readers here and contemporary Sufi poetry is definitely worth bringing to a wider audience.

If you do a Google search on Sufi poetry the results will most likely bring up a wealth of sites with information and examples of the masters of the art. Honoured and respected poets on the Sufi path who wrote about what they experienced and ‘tasted’ on the journey of return to unity with the One. It is a journey of longing and struggle in which all things are seen as the signs of God, including our own selves. Metaphors of love are commonly used in such poetry where the lover longs for union with the Beloved. We see this in the images of the nightingale singing to the rose or the moth drawn to the flame. There are many translations from the original languages in which this poetry was written, Persian, Arabic, Turkish, Urdu, to English. Some of these translations are more like free interpretations attempting to capture the spirit of a piece for contemporary readers. For example, the thirteenth century Sufi poet/mystic Jalaluddin Rumi is one of the most widely read poets in the United States today. But what about Sufi poetry written today by contemporary students on the Sufi path?

Very little contemporary Sufi poetry is published for a mainstream readership. There appears to be little publishing interest in contemporary Sufi writing. Yet many of today’s dervishes, like Sufis of old, still feel compelled to allow words to flow and the recent phenomenon of the blog provides a structure for that expression. Try some of the following blogs for poetry from the heart written today. Just click on the titles.

Knocking from Inside

Poems from the Edge of the Continent

The Wandering Troubadour

Court of Lions

Ecstatic Exchange

Gathering of Thoughts

Drunk in the Tavern

Europahütte Predawn View

Originally uploaded by Jeff Pang

Ah, we are all drunk in this tavern
for the innkeeper keeps our cups full
with the elixir of love, Hu!

Friends from the Unseen dwell here too
and give us a nudge when our eyes
alight on the summit ahead

With the wine of love that we imbibe
we look toward the light of dawn
and mount our steeds with daring tread

On this journey of love’s desire
The Beloved burns our hearts with fire
As across ice peaks we are led

Sufi Soul: Part 5

In the final part of this documentary, William Dalrymple visits Sufi orders in Morocco where the music is very ‘loud and exuberant’. Dalrymple calls it ‘a sort of spiritual music jazz’. Here we also see many female musicians who perform healing with music. Dalrymple also visits the Fez Festival of Sacred Music where musicians of all faiths participate. Youssou N’Dour, who also performs at the festival, is interviewed and expresses his belief that Sufi music can correct the present image of Islam.

more about “Sufi Soul: Part 5“, posted with vodpod

Yunus Emre and the Dervish Path

Yunus Emre was a great Sufi poet living in Anatolia in the fourteenth century at the same time as Jalaluddin Rumi. While Rumi wrote his glorious Mathnawi in Persian, Yunus Emre sang his poems in the Turkish vernacular of Anatolia. The following poem is about starting on the Sufi path. I love the humble humour with which Yunus speaks of himself.

Whoever is given the dervish path

May his posturing cease and may he shine.

May his breath become musk and amber.

May whole cities and homelands

gather fruit from his branches.

May his leaves be healing herbs for the sick.

May much good work be done in his shadow.

And among all the poets and nightingales

in the Friends garden,

may Yunus hop like a partridge.

Sufi Soul: Part 4

This is part four of the film, Sufi Soul, and William Dalrymple goes to the Pakistani province of Sindh to visit the shrine of Shah Abdul Latif. He was a poet-saint who died in 1752 and to this day his music is played every night at his shrine using a string instrument called the dambar which Shah Abdul Latif invented himself. Dalrymple also speaks to mullahs of a more recent movement influenced by Wahhabi ideas that are anti-music and anti-Sufi. However, a musician he speaks to says that the majority of the people of Pakistan understand their faith through Sufism, through its music, through dance, and true human interaction.

more about “Sufi Soul: Part 4“, posted with vodpod

Found in Translation: How a Thirteenth Century Islamic Poet Conquered America By Ryan Croken

A very thoughtful assessment of Coleman Barks translations of the poetry of Rumi put in the context of the climate in the USA of propaganda and militarism against Muslim countries. (Which will hopefully change with Obama). Click the link below to read the full article.

clipped from www.religiondispatches.org The best-selling poet in America today could never have known that someday there would be such a thing as America. Born over eight centuries ago in what is now Afghanistan, Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī, a Sufi mystic, has traversed some rather astonishing cultural and temporal boundaries to become one of the most improbable leaders in American letters. A study of Rumi’s success, however, would not be complete without exploring the relationship between the poet and his most popular translator, Coleman Barks. Poetically, this is significant. But politically, it is momentous. Although something may have been lost in his “translations,” something more priceless has been found: in this American Rumi we have acquired a dazzlingly cogent ambassador of a slandered religion and a most unlikely cultural bridge that could not have come at a better time.

Sufi Soul: Part 2

This is the second part of the Sufi Soul documentary. There may be a short overlap with the first part. The documentary has been divided into five parts on you tube. I will post all five parts.

more about “Sufi Soul: Part 2“, posted with vodpod

Sufi Soul: Part 1

A beautiful video on Sufism, its origins and context, by the acclaimed author, William Dalrymple. It contains a description of the meaning of the sema of the whirling dervishes and focuses on the power and transformative effect of music. This is a very informative video and a treat to watch. In this first part, William Dalrymple goes to Syria and then to Konya and speaks with Mercan Dede.

more about “Sufi Soul: Part 1“, posted with vodpod

Sufi: Expressions of the Mystic Quest

"Through the Sufi themes of the descending arc of Creation, the foundation of the human soul, and its return through the ascending arc of the Quest, Laleh Bakhtiar brings to light the spiritual reality that underlies the forms and rhythms of the Islamic tradition. Her introduction is suitable for both novice and experienced readers."

I remember when I first began reading the work of Laleh Bakhtiar many years ago and how I immediately felt that connection to the author that happens when the author is writing from her own experience and practice. As the Qur’an maintains that all things are the signs of God then all of creation is a book to be read. Then we have a third ‘book’ of signs, and that is ourselves. As we read in that well known hadith that is central to the Sufi path, know yourself and you will know your Lord. This allows us to read all of creation in the way of the path and in this book, Laleh Bakhtiar looks at the forms and the rhythms of the Sufi path in their relation to the arc of descent that brought us from our primordial creation to our present lives, and the arc of ascent, which is the journey of return to our origins in God. This is the great quest of every lover who seeks union with the Beloved and Laleh Bakhtiar takes the reader through the Islamic Sufi tradition and its reflection in the architecture, poetry, music, dreams, and geometry of the Muslim world.

This is a wonderful introduction to the core concepts of Sufism and also a great pleasure for the seasoned traveller, for learning never ceases. Sufi: Expressions of the Mystic Quest is well worth reading and digesting.

Ibn ‘Arabi and Spiritual Refreshment

I can always rely on Ibn ‘Arabi for spiritual refreshment and feeling greatly in need of drinking close to the source of compassion I have been reflecting on the great Shaykh’s life and work recently. Ibn ‘Arabi is also known as the Shaykh al-Akbar, the greatest Shaykh. He was born in Al-Andalus in the mid twelfth century and lived half his life there before travelling east. He wrote prodigiously and claimed never to write anything he had not experienced personally. His influence on the development of Sufism was immense. Stephen Hirtenstein has written a biography of Ibn ‘Arabi and what I appreciate so much about this biography is the way he introduces the reader to the thought of Ibn ‘Arabi and also describes the historical context in which he lived, wrote, and pursued his spiritual path. Many scholars see Ibn ‘Arabi as being equally significant to our present day concerns alongside the work of Jalaluddin Rumi. To read this book is like stepping into the times of Ibn ‘Arabi in Al-Andalus and bathing in his spiritual wisdom. Having lived in Andalucia I often had a sense of his presence in the places he had been whether in the mosque of Cordoba, the port of Adra, or under the mulberry trees in the Alpujarran Mountains. It felt like remembering his presence in Andalucia brought a special blessing and that I had moved back several hundred years through time, or that time had become blurred and no longer relevant. One day, insh’allah, I hope to visit his tomb in Damascus.

If you would like to read more about this great Shaykh then just click on the image.

Prayer for Gaza

Mystic Saint has posted an invocation, the Hizb an-Nasr, and encourages its recitation for the people of Gaza. He says:

“Hizb an-Nasr, Orison of Divine Support is a powerful litany inspired by the illuminated heart of gnostic, master of saints, pole of his time, Shaykh Abul Hasan ash-Shadhdhuli, may Allah sanctify his Secret and connect those who love him to his station.

Shaykh A. Nooruddeen Durkee ash-Shadhdhuli, May Allah bless him and give him good health, of Shadhdhuli School, Green Mountain Branch has recommended to recite the highly meritorious Hizb an-Nasr to invoke Allah’s help, blessing and guidance for the people of Gaza and for all Palestinians. Indeed it has benefit and concealed secrets in it for those who recite it.”

If you go over to Mystic Saint at Inspirations and Creative Thoughts you can dowload the the litany. Many thanks for this, brother.