Swallow

I swallowed
some of the Beloved’s sweet wine,
and now I am ill.
My body aches,
my fever is high.
They called in the Doctor and he said,
drink this tea!
Ok, time to drink this tea.
Take these pills!
Ok, time to take these pills.
The Doctor said,
get rid of the sweet wine of his lips!
Ok, time to get rid of the doctor.

Seeking

At the end of the day, you have nothing left but your Creator. Your Creator who brought you into this world with love, and He has asked you to serve him as his beloved slave. He has guided you through awareness of Him, and what He sees best for you through your religion. Yet, we deny His religion so ungratefully, until we have nothing left for ourselves and are on the brink of insanity. Then we ask for His love, His forgiveness, and His mercy upon us. He Loves you beyond measure, beyond imagination. You are His creation, so have no fear that He will indeed take care of you and see to your wellness, but so long as you ask for it. He will give you all that you want, so long as you ask for it. He has said this in His book, and will grant it for He is all giving. What more could we ask for then a Creator, a Master such as He?Your Creator just wants you to keep asking Him for His Love and He will give it. No matter how much of His compassion you receive, if you have it to the point where you are bursting with the light of His Love, it is still as if you have taken nothing more but a drop of water from the ocean. This is how much He wants to offer us, why, why, why could we possibly not want to ask Him for what He wants to give us? We were born to serve Him, and we should die in servit. To only Him, in loyalty to Only Him. If we are so fascinated by this world of destruction and tragedy, where our happiness is short lived, could you just possibly imagine what He has in store for our Eternity? For an eternal life of joy and bliss and love. And the only thing He asks of us is our loyalty to Him, and He will give it so generously.He says, I have secrets that I am witholding from you, I know what you do not, you are my servant, and I am your Master. Understand your place, and I will tell you those secrets, I will let you in on what no one else knows. You want to know how? Through your dua, through your heart and soul, I will tell you. HE IS LOVE. There is nothing in this world that is in existence without His Love for it. Love is He, and He is Love. When you cry, noone feels your sorrow more than He, and when you laugh, no one feels your joy more than He. When you ask, no one is more willing than give than He, and when you are alone no one is nearer to you than your Lord, than your Master. Cant you see? He Loves you, He’s just waiting to hear you say it back to Him. He is just waiting for you to let Him enter your heart. Is that so much to ask?

à This process of seeking and finding the Ultimate Love is known as Tasaawuuf, a purification of the heart, of the senses, of the soul. You realize you are only alive because of your Creator, and you want to try and please him and earn His Love in every way possible, because you know that without Him, you are lost forever. This is the Only Truth, and the profound Truth. Just by purifying your Love for Him, and detaching your love of everything else, you rise above Dunya, and have the best of everything. The best of this world and the next world, the best of Love, and the best of Happiness. Seek à & You Shall Find.

Tastes of Rume

Last night
I lost my grip on reality
and welcomed insanity.

Love saw me and said,
I showed up.
Wipe your tears
and be silent.

I said, O Love
I am frightened,
but it’s not you.
Love said to me,
there is nothing that is not me.
be silent.

I will whisper secrets in your ear
just nod yes
and be silent.

A soul moon
appeared in the path of my heart.
How precious is this journey.

I said, O Love
what kind of moon is this?

Love said to me,
this is not for you to question.
be silent.

I said, O Love
what kind of face is this,
angelic, or human?

Love said to me,
this is beyond anything that you know.
Be silent.

I said, please reveal this to me
I am dying in anticipation.

Love said to me,
that is where I want you:
Always on the edge,
be silent.
You dwell in this hall of
images and illusions,
leave this house now
and be silent.

I said, O Love,
tell me this:
Does the Lord know you are
treating me this way?

Love said to me,
yes He does,
You, just be silent.

 

 

The Ocean of Love & Fear

Love rests on no foundation.
It is an endless ocean,
with no beginning or end.
Imagine,
a suspended ocean,
riding on a cushion of ancient secrets.
All souls have drowned in it,
and now dwell there.
One drop of that ocean is hope,
and the rest is fear.

 

The Joining of the Love & Beloved

By day I praised you
and never knew it.
By night I stayed with you
and never knew it.
I always thought that
I was me–but no,
I was you
and never knew it.

 

 

Your Love:

Your Love lifts my soul from the body to the sky

And you lift me up out of the two worlds

I want your sun to reach my raindrops

So your heart can raise my soul upward like a cloud.

Longing

The Loneliness of God

 

How can you know the love I have for you?
How can you know the longing I have for you?
How can you know the happiness I have for you?

If I could show you my full love,
I would have no need of you!
If I could cease my longing for you,
there would be no reason for you!

If I could give you my happiness,
there would be only I.

It’s what I want, and I am what I want.
There IS only I.

Wherefrom comes this love?
Wherefrom comes this longing?
Wherefrom comes this happiness?

Without you, none of this would be!

But there is no you, there is only I.

Therefore I have separated myself from myself
without doing that!

So that I may know and feel myself and my own love
through the love I have for you.

So that I may know and feel myself and my own longing
through the longing I have for you.

So that I may know and feel myself and my own happiness
through the happiness I have for you.

And so that you may share in my suffering and loneliness,
And know the love you have for yourself,
And know the longing you have for yourself,
And know the happiness you have for yourself,
I give you each other!

If it weren’t for my unassuagable loneliness,
there would be no you!

 

The Miracle
My first poem

 

Self was once the self-built wall
that stood between me and you.
Now it is but a warm handshake
and a welcome for seeking souls.
It serves me well, but who am I?

Self was once the wild bull, the untrained horse,
the stubborn donkey, the goat.
Now it is a gentle chariot, my well-trained camel,
the boat in which the ocean abides.
It serves me well, but who am I?

Self was once the shameless tyrant, terrorized with fear
and intimidating all in its domain.
Now it is but a pleasant greeting, an introduction,
and the giver of drink to a thirsty stranger.
It serves me well, but who am I?

Self was once the arrogant, the rude,
The unconscious and careless of humanity.
Now it is the thinly covered veil through which
the flirtatious coquette views the possibilities of ravishing
the hearts of would-be lovers.
It serves me well, but who am I?

Self was once the deceiver,
the evasive and the coward.
Now it bears the cup and pours the wine.
It serves me well, but who am I?

Self was once the cocoon, the web
of the caterpillar’s weaving in which
He trapped himself and died.
Now useful maybe as a contribution
to the nest of a passing bird.
It serves me well, but who am I?

Self was once the cruel slave master,
Doing its best to snuff the light within.
Now it is the greeter, the comforting smile.
The rapidly disappearing stagehand
before the host arrives.
It serves me well, but who am I?

Self was once all it thought itself to be.
Now it is but the illusion that others need to see.
It serves me well, but who am I?

 

 

Laylatul Habib – The Beloved Night
(the night of dhikr and presence)

 

Days before that Special night
I find myself pacing the Khan’qah floor
Beads whirling furiously in hands
that can do no more

As a patient paces nervously
in the waiting room of the Hakim
As the lover waits concertedly
At the door of his love’s dream.

Now I know why Majnun was named so
and the Nature of his Quest
For Layla was Exactly that,
The Night that he loved Best.

Friends and Lovers, from far and near
Come to Share what They hold Dear
It is so Sweet, wish you were here
Hard to believe but have no fear.

The Doors are Always open
in the Khan’qah of my Heart
But on that night must come with me
to a very special part
To hear the Sound, be Swept Away
By a very Special Love
From Heart to Heart, To and Fro,
To Here, from High Above.Please Spare this Heart the Agony
of Separation from this Love.
If I can’t be there Day by Day,
Then at that Doorstep I will Stay.

 

 

O Mortal Majnun…

O Mortal Majnun, forever in love,
What is it you ask, from Me high above?

Why, Lord, did you make me in such a strange way,
it’s almost impossible for me alone to stay?

Even though it’s only You that I love,
You are also my company, sent from above.

Does my love for you diminish or increase,
when I love your fair landscape, or tame a wild beast?

There is only You, of this I am sure,
I am profoundly grateful for this love so pure.
For such a great blessing, please show me a way
a part of my gratitude I may repay.

Be kind to all creatures, and help them along,
wherever they’re going, and sing them your song.
The praises of Me all creation doth sound,
but children need parents to show them around.

So here’s what I ask in return for my Love,
that you find a sweet lady and offer help from above.
So it is the nature of even a dove,
to find a sweet lady and offer her Love.

 

Salvation

My life spent in search of it
Only to find
That I must lose it
In order to have it.

 

                                                                                                                                             ~ Ali Ansari

Stepping Stones

Four Stepping Stones to A Healthy Mind, Body and Soul

::Iman::
(faith)

The first step in this direction means that the idea which should hold supreme in the mind and heart of a man is that God alone is his Master, Sovereign, and Deity; seeking His Pleasure is the aim of all his endeavours; and His Commands alone constitute the law of his life. This should be firm conviction, not merely cognition of the intellect, but also of the will.

The stronger and deeper this conviction, the more profound the faith will be, and it will enable man to tread the path of spiritual development with patience and steadfastness, facing all vicissitudes firmly and squarely.

::It’aat::
(obedience)

The second stage means that a man divests himself of his independence all together, and accepts subservience to God in practice after having proclaimed faith in Him as his creed. The subservience is called Islam (obedience) in the language of the Qur’an. Thus, it means that man should not only acknowledge God as his Lord and Sovereign but should actually submit before Him and fashion his entire life in obedience to his Lord

.::Taqwa::
(piety)

The third stage consists of practical manifestation of the faith in God in the mode of daily life. Taqwa (piety) also consists in desisting from everything which God has forbidden or even that which he disapproves even slightly, in a readiness to undertake all that God has commanded and in observing the distinction between lawful and unlawful, right and wrong, and good and bad universally!

::Ihsan::
(benediction)

The last and highest stage is that which signifies that man has identified his will with the Will of God and has brought it, at least as far as he is concerned, completely in tuned with the Divine Will, with the result that he has begun to like what is liked by the Lord, and abhor what is disapproved by Him.

Man should then, not only himself avoid the evils which God does not like to spread on His earth but should use all his power and energy to wipe them off the face of the earth; and he should not merely rest content with adoring himself with the virtues which God desires to flourish, but should also strive to establish and propagate them in the world even at the cost of his life. A man who reaches this state attains the highest pinnacle of spirituality and is nearest to God.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This path of spiritual development is not meant for individuals only but for the communities and nations as well. Like individuals, communities also, after passing through the various stages of spiritual elevation, may reach the ultimate stage of Ihsan ( benediction), and a state with all its administrative machinery may become Mu’min (faithful), Muslim (obedient), Muttaqi (pious) and Muhsim (beneficient).

IN fact, the ideals aimed by Islam are achieved in a perfect manner only when the whole community moves on this path and a Muttaqi and Muhsin (pious and beneficient) state comes into existence in the world.

That is the acme of civilization where virtue reigns in society and vice is subdued.