What is the Way?

Someone asked, “What is the Way?” I said,
“This way is to abandon desires.”
Oh lover of the King! Know that your way is to
seek the pleasure of that Generous Lord.
When you seek the Beloved’s desire and
pleasure, seeking your own desire is forbidden.
The spirit will be totally transformed into love
for the Beloved, for the ascetic cell of the noble travelers is
Love.
His Love is not less than the top of some
mountain — His Love’s mountaintop is enough for me!
The cave where you can find the Friend is
Love — then the spirit will gain the adornment of Love’s
beauty.
Whatever purifies you is the correct road — I will
not try to define it.
Be silent and hold fast to the shaykh-Love — for
in the two worlds, he is your leader.

– Ode 374
Translation by William C. Chittick
“The Sufi Path of Love”
SUNY Press, Albany, 1983

 

Javed Taufeeq Niazi sings manqabat of Imam Hussain (as)

” O heart clasp onto the person of the Sultan of Saints

I mean, Hussain ibn Ali, the heart and soul of the Saints”.

Hz Shah Niaz BeNiaz (ra)

 

The Beautiful Names of God

 

Seek the King of Hearts

O lovers, O lovers,
heaven’s drum calls my spirit and says,
It’s time to leave this world.

Look!
The camel driver has risen,
The caravan is about to leave.
He says, “Forgive me for waking you . . . .
But why, O pilgrim, are you asleep?
Before you and behind you
the camel-bells are ringing.
It’s time to go.

With each passing moment
a soul sets off to find itself.
From the stars,
suspended like candles
from the blue vault of heaven,
wondrous souls have appeared
and the Unseen has revealed itself.

The revolving spheres have lulled you
into a deep sleep.
Beware of this floating life.
Beware of this weighty slumber.

O heart, seek the King of Hearts.
O friend, seek the Eternal Friend.

O watchman, be wakeful –
the whole city could be lost
if you fall asleep!

Tonight, amidst the shouts and din of the city,
Amidst the light of candles and torches –
Tonight this fecund world
will give birth to eternity.

You were dust and now you are spirit.
You were ignorant and now you are wise.
The one who brought you here
will bring you still further.
Your pain will become your pleasure
as He draws you near.
Don’t be afraid –
His flames are like cooling water.
To give your soul life is His sacred duty,
To break your binding chains is His only mission.

O foolish puppet, popping up from your box,
You call out to the world,
This is mine!
How long will you jump up?
If you don’t bend your neck
He will bend it for you!

You put others down
and spin a web of deception.
O imposter,
You think God is a plaything in your hand?

O donkey, you belong with the straw.
O cauldron, you deserve to be blackened!
O outcast,
you deserve to be at the bottom of a well!

“In me there’s another force
that gives rise to these harsh words.
Scalding water
is caused by fire, not water.”

I have no stone in my hand,
no argument with anyone.
I put down no one,
for I am as sweet as a bed of roses.

That Supreme Source speaks through me . . . .
It has given you a hint – that is enough.

Now let me sit here,
on the threshold of two worlds,
Lost in the eloquence of silence.

– ( Hz Mawlana Rumi) Version by Jonathan Star

 

The Two Eyes

Oh there is  many a one whose eye is awake

and whose heart is asleep: what, in truth, should be

seen by the eyes of creatures of water and clay?

(But) he that keeps his heart awake-though the eyes of his head may sleep

it (his heart) will open a hundred eyes.

…..Be awake…..be a seeker of the (illumined) heart….

But if your heart has been awakened, sleep sound: thy

(spiritual) eye is not absent from the seven (heavens) and six (directions).

Hz Mawlana Rumi (Masnavi BK 3).

 

Generosity and the nature of the Wali

We often forget how intrinsic good character is to the Sufi path. People often focus upon awrad and wazaif or their complements such as visions and spiritual experiences and forget that the true testing ground of the Sufi is his/her interaction with fellow creatures. So here are a few reminders.

” God has shaped the character of the wali’ on nothing but generosity” says a tradition sometimes described as a hadith and a saying sometimes ascribed to Sayyidna Ali (ra) informs us “Sufism is good nature, he who has the better nature is the better sufi”. Imam al-Qushayri (ra) cites a dictum describing sufism as “an open hand and a good heart”, but perhaps one the the most thought provoking sayings on this subject is from his master Ustad Abu Ali ad-Daqqaq (ra) who says, ” Sufism is a path which is only right for people with whose spirits God sweeps the dunghills”.

 

Sufi Views of Adam’s Fall

Found this excellent talk by Prof. William Chittick on the sufi understanding of Adam’s fall. I first came across this in an article called Ahmad Samani on the Myth of Adam’s Fall by Dr Chittick published a number of years ago in Sufi. It’s an illuminating talk which introduces the brilliant work of Shaykh Ahmad Samani (ra) on the Divine Names. One can only hope that Dr Chittick finds time from his other projects to translate more of Shaykh  Samani’s work. You can listen to it by going here. Thanks to Islam from Inside for making it available.

 

A Famous Rubai of Hz Sultan Bahu (RA)

This is a haunting rubai from the great Sufi saint Hz Sultan Bahu (ra). When sung the sound of the elongated HU* at the end of each line is especially moving.

Ay tan Rabb sache da hujra te pa faqeera chati, HU

na kar mintan Khawaj Khizr diyan tere andar aab hayati, HU

shawq da dewa baal hunairey matay lab peye wast karati, HU

maran tu aggay mar rehe Bahu jinnan ramz puchate , HU.

(This body of yours is the True Lord’s dwelling, so mystic look inside! HU

Don’t beg favours of Master Khizr, the water of life is within you. HU

Illuminate the darkness with the lamp of longing, then perhaps you’ll find what you’ve lost. HU

They die before they die, Bahu, those who understand the riddle of Truth. HU)

Hz Sultan Bahu (ra)

* Hu meaning He stands for the Divine Essence.

 

Shariah, Tariqah and Haqiqah

Hz Mawlana Jalaluddin Rumi (r.a.) explains the relationship between the Shariah (law), the Tariqah (way) and the Haqiqah (Truth/Reality) thus:

The Law is like a lamp: It shows the way. Without a lamp you will not be able to go forward. When you enter the path your going is the Way. And when you reach the goal, that is the Truth.

The Law may be compared to learning the theory of medicine. The Way involves avoiding certain foods and consuming certain remedies on the basis of this theory. Then the Truth is to find everlasting health and to have no need for theory or practice.

When man dies to the life of this world, the Law and the Way will be cut off from him and only the Truth will remain………The law is knowledge, theWay is works and the Truth is attainment to God.

Masnavi BK 5 (Intro)

 

The Secret of Love

Love has nothing to do with the five senses and the six directions:
its goal is only to experience the attraction exerted by the Beloved.
Afterwards, perhaps, permission will come from God:
the secrets that ought to be told will be told
with an eloquence nearer to the understanding
than these subtle confusing allusions.
The secret is partner with none but the knower of the secret:
in the skeptic’s ear the secret is no secret at all.

Masnavi BK 6 (5-8).