Khutbah Khaos - Poetry

A Beggar

8/29/2013

A Beggar

A beggar smiled at me and offered me alms

In a dream last night, my heart sprang with delight.

His beauty and grace which shone from his tattered

Presence took me by storm until I woke at dawn.

His poverty was riches, it covered my body in silk.

In that dream I heard the beckoning sighs of lovers,

I heard soft cries of agonized joy saying: “Take this,

Dring and be complete!” I saw before me a ring

Jewelled in poverty and then it nested on my ear.

From the root of my surging soul a hundred tremors

Rose as I was taken and pinned down by the surging sea.

Then heaven groaned with bliss and made a beggar of me.

Divan 2015

Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi

Listen, O Dearly Beloved

7/29/2013

"What follows is not a poem in the Arabic, but part of a chapter from the Kitab al-Tajalliyat. However, since it was translated in the form of a poem by Henry Corbin in Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn 'Arabi, it has become deservedly famous." -Ibn 'Arabi Society

Listen, O dearly beloved!
I am the reality of the world, the centre of the circumference,
I am the parts and the whole.
I am the will established between Heaven and Earth,
I have created perception in you only in order to be the
object of my perception.
If then you perceive me, you perceive yourself.
But you cannot perceive me through yourself,
It is through my eyes that you see me and see yourself,
Through your eyes you cannot see me.

Dearly beloved!
I have called you so often and you have not heard me
I have shown myself to you so often and you have not seen me.
I have made myself fragrance so often, and you have not smelled me.
Savorous food, and you have not tasted me.
Why can you not reach me through the object you touch
Or breathe me through sweet perfumes?
Why do you not see me? Why do you not hear me?
Why? Why? Why?

Ibn 'Arabi

The Lovers Will Drink Wine

6/24/2013

The Lovers will drink wine
night and day.They will drink
until they can tear away the veils
of intellect and melt away the
layers of shame and
modesty.
When
in
L
O
V
E,
body, mind, heart and soul

Don't even exist.

Become this, fall in Love, and you will not be separated again.

Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi

A Garden Among the Flames

3/6/2013

O Marvel,
a garden among the flames!

My heart can take on
any form:
a meadow for gazelles,
a cloister for monks,

For the idols, sacred ground,
Ka'ba for the circling pilgrim,
the tables of the Torah,
the scrolls of the Qur'án.

I profess the religion of love;
wherever its caravan turns along the way,
that is the belief,
the faith I keep.

Ibn Arabi

Was that Layla's Flame?

1/8/2013

English Translation

Was that Layla's flame that shone through the veils of night upon Zusalam,
    or lightning's flash from the vales around Al-Alam and Zawra?

Have you but a sigh of dawn for me, O winds about Na'man?
     Have you but a sip to offer me, O waters of Wajra?

O driver of laden camels rolling up the wayless sands
     like a scroll of mighty writ beside the Sagebrush of Idam,

Turn aside at the guarded safeground -God be your shepherd!- and seek the way
     To yonder Lotus thicket, to the myrtle and laurel bay.

Then halt at Mount Sal and ask at the curling vale of Raqmateyn:
     Have the tamarisks grown and touched at last in the livening weep of the rain?

If you've crossed the river of Arqadi in the morn-light, I implore you
     By God, be unabashed and offer them my heartfelt "Salam"

Tell everybody this: I have left behind a heartfelt man
     Alive as a dead man, adding plague to plague through your domains.

From my heart like a burning bush there spreads a fire of more than flame.
     From my eyes the pouring tears are like a ceaseless season of rains.

For such is the lovers' law: not one limb of the mortal body
     Can ever be freed of pain when bound in love with a gazelle.

You ignoramus! You who defame and shame me for my love!
     Desist and learn. You would not blame me, had you known love as well.

My oath by the sacred union, by the ancient love and by
     That covenant's communion and all the things of times gone by:

No consolation, no replacement turned me away from loving
     For the whims of change and solace have no part in what I am.

Return the slumber to my eyes, and then perhaps I will see you
     Visit my bed in the recklessness of dream as a revenant shade.

Alas for our days at Kheyf! Had they but lasted each tenfold!
     Alas for me, alas at how the last day can never last.

If only my grief could cure me, oh if only the "oh" of my woe
     And my remorse could ever recover anything that has passed

Gazelles of the winding dell! Be kind and turn away from me
     For I have bound my gaze to look on nobody but my love

In deference to a Judge who has decreed a wondrous fatwa
     That my blood be shed in every month, the sacred and profane.

Deaf, he did not hear my plea. Dumb, he could not reply.
He is stricken blind to the plight of one who is stricken with desire.

Ibn al Farid

Original Arabic

هَلْ نارُ لَيلَى بَدَتْ لَيلاً بِذي سَلَمِ أمْ بارِقٌ لاحَ في ٱلزَّوراءِ فٱلعَلَمِ

أَرْواحَ نَعْمانَ, هَلَّا نَسْمَةٌ سَحَراً وَماءَ وَجْرةَ, هَلَّا نَهْلَة ٌ بِفَمِ

يا سائِقَ ٱلظَّعْنِ يَطْوي البِيدَ مُعْتَسِفاً طيَّ ٱلسِّجِلِّ، بِذاتِ ٱلشِّيحِ مِن إضَمِ

عُجْ بٱلحِمَى يا رَعاكَ اللَّهُ، مُعتَمِداً خَمِيلَةَ ٱلضَّالِ ذاتَ ٱلرَّنْدِ وٱلخُزُمِ

وَقِفْ بِسَلْعٍ وَسَلْ بٱلجِزْعِ هَلْ مُطِرَتْ بٱلرَّقْمَتَينِ أُثَيلَاتٌ بِمُنْسَجِمِ

نَاشَدْتُكَ اللَّهَ إنْ جُزْتَ ٱلعَقِيقَ ضُحًى فاقْرَ ٱلسَّلامَ عَلَيهِمْ، غَيرَ مُحْتَشِمِ

وقُلْ تَرَكْتُ صَرِيعاً، في دِيارِكُمُ، حَيّاً كَمَيِّتٍ يُعِيرُ ٱلسُّقْمَ للسَّقَمِ

فَمِنْ فُؤادي لَهيبٌ نابَ عنْ قَبَسٍ، وَمنْ جُفوني دَمْعٌ فاضَ كٱلدِّيَمِ

وهذهِ سنَّةُ ٱلعشَّاقِ ما عَلِقوا بِشادِنٍ، فَخَلا عُضْوٌ منَ ٱلألَمِ

يالائماً لامَني في حبِّهِمْ سَفَهاً كُفَّ ٱلمَلامَ، فلو أحبَبْتَ لمْ تَلُمِ

وحُرْمَةِ ٱلوَصْلِ، وٱلوِدِّ ٱلعتيقِ، وبٱلْـعَهْدِ ٱلوَثيقِ وما قدْ كانَ في ٱلقِدَمِ

ما حُلتُ عَنْهُمْ بِسُلْوانٍ ولابَدَلٍ ليسَ ٱلتَّبدُّلُ وٱلسُّلوانُ منْ شِيَمي

رُدُّوا ٱلرُّقادَ لِجَفْني عَلَّ طَيفَكُمُ بِمَضْجَعي زائرٌ في غَفْلَةِ ٱلحُلُمِ

آهاً لأيّامِنا بٱلخَيْفِ، لَو بَقِيَتْ عَشراً وواهاً عَلَيها كَيفَ لمْ تَدمِ

هَيهاتَ وا أسَفي لو كانَ يَنْفَعُني أوْ كانَ يُجْدِي على ما فاتَ وانَدَمي

عَنِّي إلَيكُمْ ظِباءَ ٱلمُنْحَنَى كَرَماً عَهِدْتُ طَرْفيَ لم يَنْظُرْ لِغَيرِهِمِ

طَوعاً لِقاضٍ أتى في حُكمِهِ عَجَباً، أفتى بِسَفْكِ دمي في ٱلحِلِّ وٱلحَرَمِ

أصَمُّ لَمْ يُصْغِ للشّكوَى ، وأَبْكَمُ لَم يُحِرْجواباً وَعَنْ حالِ ٱلمَشوقِ عَمِي

Umar ibn `Alī ibn al-Fārid) (1181-1235)

O My Generous Master!

12/19/2012

Sheikh Muzaffer Ozak (1916 - February 12, 1985)

You created this servant of Yours and brought him into being from a drop of water.

I do not even have the right to say I love You,
and yet I do love You. I always remember You.

I know that even my being able to remember You
is also due to Your guidance.

My mentioning Your Name of Majesty left me dizzy, bewildered, and amazed.

Is it possible to imagine anyone in this world
loving the Divinity and not becoming intoxicated with such affection?

So great a blessing is affection that even if its possessor should stray into the wilderness, the fire of his love would not allow him to feel the heat of the desert.

Should the lover fall into the fire, the heat of his
love would extinguish that fire.

The fire of love would cause the poles and glaciers to melt.

If mountains and boulders were piled upon the back of the lover, the fire of his love would prevent his feeling the weight of the load.

Affection makes a person forget about hunger and thirst, and keeps him on the road of love.

Sheikh Muzaffer Ozak

Lover of Lovers - Rabia al Adawiya

12/3/2012

Rabia al Adawiya

كأسي وخمري والنديم ثلاثة وأنا المشوقة في المحبة : رابعة
كأس المسرّة والنعيم يديرها ساقي المدام على المدى متتابعة
فإذا نظرتُ فلا أُرى إلّا له وإذا حضرتُ فلا أُرى إلّا معه
يا عاذلي! إني أحب جماله تالله ما أُذني لعذلك سامعة
كم بتّ من حرقي وفرط تعلقي أُجري عيوناً من عيوني الدامعة
لا عبرتي ترقا ولا وصلي له يبقى ولا عيني القريحة هاجعة

My cup, my poured spirit and companion are three.
I am Rabi'a the fourth, fevered and longing
For the One I belong to who waits on me.
Round the clock, round the room, in the cupbearer's hands
Goes the gratifying cup of grace and jubilee.
If I stare, none see me except by Him.
If I'm there, none see the Me as separate from our We.
O small men who rebuke me, His beauty has swept me!
By God, I block my ears to your abuse. I can see.
How many a soulburning night of surfeiting
Fixation made my head like a fountainhead weep!
The drops won't dry away, nor my oneness with Him
Abide, nor my eyes find ease of sleep.

Layla

11/13/2012

Full near I came unto where dwelleth
Layla, when I heard her call.
That voice, would I might ever hear it!
She favored me, and drew me to her,
Took me in, into her precinct,
With discourse intimate addressed me.
She sat me by her, then came closer,
Raised the cloak that hid her from me,
Made me marvel to distraction,
Bewildered me with all her beauty.
She took me and amazed me,
And hid me in her inmost self,
Until I thought that she was I,
And my life she took as ransom.
She changed me and transfigured me,
And marked me with her special sign,
Pressed me to her, put me from her,
Named me as she is named.
Having slain and crumbled me,
She steeped the fragments in her blood.
Then, after my death, she raised me:
My star shines in her firmament.
Where is my life, and where my body,
Where my willful soul? From her
The truth of these shone out to me
Secrets that had been hidden from me.
Mine eyes have never seen but her:
To naught else can they testify.
All meanings in her are comprised.
Glory be to her Creator!
Thou that beauty wouldst describe,
Here is something of her brightness
Take it from me. It is my art.
Think it not idle vanity.
My Heart lied not when it divulged
The secret of my meeting her.
If nearness unto her effaceth,
I still subsist in her substance.

Shaikh Ahmad al-Alawi (1869 - 1934)

Shaikh Ahmad Al Alawi

Del Meeravad Ze Dastam - My Heart is Slipping from my Grasp

10/10/2012

Khāja Shamsu Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Shīrāzī

Persian (Original)

Dushe diddam ke malâ-yek dar-e mey-knâne zadand; gel-e âdam be-seresht-and-o be peymâne za-dand. Jang-e haftâd-o do mellat, hame râ ozre be-neh; Chone nadid-and hqiqat, rah-e afsâne za-dand.
Âtash, Âtash! â! â!
Shokr-e izad ke miân-e man-o u solhe oftâd,
Sufian raqse-konân, sâqar-e shokrâne za-dand.
Âtash, Âtash! â! â!

Del miravad ze dastam, sâheb-delân khodâ râ;
Dard-â ke râz-e penhân, khâhade shod âshkâ râ.
Bar-khiz, bar-khiz… ey bâd-e…
Âsâyesh-e do giti tafsir-e in do harf-ast:
Bâ dustân morov’at, bâ doshman-ân modârâ.
Kashti-shekastegân-im, ey bâd-e shorte bar-khiz
Bâshad ke bâz binam, didâr-e âsna râ.
Bengar…!

Mâ be-din dar, na pey-e heshmato jâh… âmade-’im; az-bad-e hâdese, ‘injâ, be-penâh, âmade-’im. Hâfez, in kherqe-ye pashmine bi-yandâze, ke mâ az-pe-ye qâfele, bâ-’âtash-e ‘âh… âmade-’im!

English (Translation)

Last night I saw the angels beat at the door of the tavern,The clay of Adam, they shaped and into the mould, they cast it.The churches war among themselves, forgive them;When they cannot see the truth, the door of fable they beat.
Fire, Fire! Oh! Oh!
Thanks be to God, for between me and Him, peace chanced,Sufis, dancing, cast their cups of thankfulness!
Fire, Fire! Oh! Oh!

My heart falls from grasp. Come to my cry, for God’s sake;O the pain that Love’s hidden mystery should be disclosed!Arise, arise… O breeze…
To ease the pain of the world, live by these words: With friends, give kindness; with enemies, courtesy. Shipwrecked are we, O fair breeze, arise! So that, again, we may behold the face of the Beloved.
Behold…!

We, to this door, seeking neither pride nor glory... we have come.For shelter from ill-fortune, here... we have come. Hâfez, throw off your woolen kherqe [Sufi cloak], for we,from behind the caravan, with the fire of sighing “ah!”... we have come.

Hafez

Performed by Sharam Nazeri with the Dastan Ensemble

What the world is...

10/1/2012

Imam Hasan Al Basri with his slave.

The world is a vehicle for you. If you drive it, it will deliver you to your destination. If it drives you, you will be destroyed.

Imam Hasan Al Basri