Topic: Arabic Poets

[Jennifer-]

Ibn Arabi (1165-1240)

Mystic, philosopher, poet, sage, Muhammad Ibn 'Arabi is one of the world's great spiritual teachers. Known as Muhyiddin (the Revivifier of Religion) and the Shaykh al-Akbar (the Greatest Master), he was born in 1165 AD into the Moorish culture of Andalusian Spain, the center of an extraordinary flourishing and cross-fertilization of Jewish, Christian and Islamic thought, through which the major scientific and philosophical works of antiquity were transmitted to Northern Europe. Ibn 'Arabi's spiritual attainments were evident from an early age, and he was renowned for his great visionary capacity as well as being a superlative teacher. He travelled extensively in the Islamic world and died in Damascus in 1240 AD.

He wrote over 350 works including the Fusûs al-Hikam , an exposition of the inner meaning of the wisdom of the prophets in the Judaic/ Christian/ Islamic line, and the Futûhât al-Makkiyya, a vast encyclopaedia of spiritual knowledge which unites and distinguishes the three strands of tradition, reason and mystical insight. In his Diwân and Tarjumân al-Ashwâq he also wrote some of the finest poetry  in the Arabic language. These extensive writings provide a beautiful exposition of the Unity of Being, the single and indivisible reality which simultaneously transcends and is manifested in all the images of the world. Ibn 'Arabi shows how Man, in perfection, is the complete image of this reality and how those who truly know their essential self, know God.

Firmly rooted in the Quran, his work is universal, accepting that each person has a unique path to the truth, which unites all paths in itself. He has profoundly influenced the development of Islam since his time, as well as significant aspects of the philosophy and literature of the West. His wisdom has much to offer us in the modern world in terms of understanding what it means to be human.

Ibn Arabi believed in the unity of all religions and taught different prophets all came with the same essential truth.

"There is no knowledge except that taken from God, for He alone is the Knower... the prophets, in spite of their great number and the long periods of time which separate them, had no disagreement in knowledge of God, since they took it from God."

- Ibn Arabi

[Jennifer-]

Wonder

Wonder,
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 Quran.

My creed is Love;
Wherever its caravan turns along the way,
That is my belief,
My faith.

- Ibn Arabi

[Jennifer-]

When My Beloved Appears

When my Beloved appears,
With what eye do I see Him?

With His eye, not with mine,
For none sees Him except Himself.

 

- Ibn Arabi

[Jennifer-]

Turmoil in your hearts
 

Were it not for
the excess of your talking
and the turmoil in your hearts,
you would see what I see
and hear what I hear!

- Ibn Arabi

[nichi]

In Memory of Those Who Melt the Soul Forever

Their spring meadows
are desolate now. Still, desire
for them lives always
in our heart, never dying.

     These are their ruins.
     These are the tears
     in memory of those
     who melt the soul forever.

I called out, following after
     love-dazed:
You so full with beauty,
     I've nothing!

     I rubbed my face in the dust,
     laid low by the fever of love.
     By the privilege of the right of desire for you
     don't shatter the heart

Of a man drowned in his words,
burned alive
in sorrow.
Nothing can save him now.

     You want a fire?
     Take it easy. This passion
     is incandescent. Touch it.
     It will light your own.


Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi

 

[Jennifer-]

Reality

 In love, nothing exists between heart and heart.
Speech is born out of longing,
True description from the real taste.
The one who tastes, knows;
the one who explains, lies.
How can you describe the true form of Something
In whose presence you are blotted out?
And in whose being you still exist?
And who lives as a sign for your journey?

- Rabia 

[Jennifer-]

Dream Fable

I saw myself in a wide green garden, more beautiful than I could begin to understand. In this garden was a young girl. I said to her, "How wonderful this place is!"

"Would you like to see a place even more wonderful than this?" she asked.

"Oh yes," I answered. Then taking me by the hand, she led me on until we came to a magnificent palace, like nothing that was ever seen by human eyes. The young girl knocked on the door, and someone opened it. Immediately both of us were flooded with light.

Only Allah knows the inner meaning of the maidens we saw living there. Each one carried in her hand a serving-tray filled with light. The young girl asked the maidens where they were going, and they answered her, "We are looking for someone who was drowned in the sea, and so became a martyr. She never slept at night, not one wink! We are going to rub funeral spices on her body."

"Then rub some on my friend here," the young girl said.

"Once upon a time," said the maidens, "part of this spice and the fragrance of it clung to her body -- but then she shied away."

Quickly the young girl let go of my hand, turned, and said to me:

"Your prayers are your light;
Your devotion is your strength;
Sleep is the enemy of both.
Your life is the only opportunity that life can give you.
If you ignore it, if you waste it,
You will only turn to dust."

Then the young girl disappeared

  -Rabia al Basri

[Jennifer-]

My Beloved

My peace, O my brothers and sisters, is my solitude,
And my Beloved is with me always,
For His love I can find no substitute,
And His love is the test for me among mortal beings,
Whenever His Beauty I may contemplate,
He is my "mihrab", towards Him is my "qiblah"
If I die of love, before completing satisfaction,
Alas, for my anxiety in the world, alas for my distress,
O Healer (of souls) the heart feeds upon its desire,
The striving after union with Thee has healed my soul,
O my Joy and my Life abidingly,
You were the source of my life and from Thee also came my ecstasy.
I have separated myself from all created beings,
My hope is for union with Thee, for that is the goal of my desire

  -Rabia al Basri

[Jennifer-]

    The movement which is the existence of the universe is the movement of love.

    Ibn 'Arabi

[Jennifer-]

Free Harbor

Many ships have asked for sanctuary
In the harbor of my eyes
I refused asylum to all of them
Your ships alone
Have the right to take refuge
In my territorial waters
Your ships alone
Have the right to sail in my blood
Without prior permission.

Suad Al Mubarak Al sabah

[Jennifer-]

Egyptian Serenade

Night has come. Let us go then, Goddess of my dreams.
The Angel of Love has called us to the glory of his altar.
Darkness stirs up hymns and songs,
Its joy pervades the water, trees and clouds.
Let us dream now, for this is our night of love.
Let us stand along the Nile,
Where moonlight, lustrous as a baby's skin,
Floods the green bank beyond its water and its shade.
Let us play as it plays, kissing the roses and the dew.
There on the hillside, grass will be our cradle,
Silence will enfold our souls, Love's nightingale will trill.

There, a sail shimmers on a sea of light,
And sways us along banks Of bright enchantment;
Night stars murmur like beautiful eyes,
While you are at my lips, and in my arms,
A sylph whose heart is throbbing.
Let us dream now, for this is our night of love.
Summer nights are dreams,
And only lovers can perceive them,
The rapture dwells within us when the wine is gone,
The glowing cup we hold still sings and sparkles.
So let us drink our fill tonight from the sweet well of passion
Let us dream now, for this is our night of love.

Ali Mahmud Taha

[Jennifer-]

A Rustic Song

When the water caresses the shade of the tree,
And the clouds court the light of the moon;
And the birds send forth their song
To re-echo between dew and blossom;
And the ringdove laments her passion,
Cooing to her love and bemoaning her fate;
And the lips of the breeze pass over the Nile,
Kissing every passing sail;
And the earth brings forth from its night,
There in its shade I take my place,
With heart distraught and saddened gaze.
I let my eyes wander through the skies,
My head downcast and sunk in thought.
Then, I see your face beneath the palm tree,
And by the river I hear your voice,
Until darkness is tired of my loneliness,
And sadness complains of boredom;
Until creation wonders at my bewilderment,
And the morningstar
Takes pity on me;
And I go on my way,
To search again in hope
For our encounter
At the longed-for hour.


Ali Mahmud Taha

[Jennifer-]

The Blind Musician

When the moon wraps the earth in silvery light,
When the wind moans or raging lightning flashes,
When dawn opens the eyes of the tender narcissi,
I weep for the Flower who weeps with unshed tears.

Beautiful Lady, show Fate the bleeding place
Where the Archer's arrow hit the mark.
Let the sunrise touch a parched star
And soak up light from the well of your sublimity.

Let Dawn's tears kiss your sunset.
Do not lose yourself in sorrow for all the days you've lost
All around you is the universe: see it with your touch.
Take the flowers in your hands, leave the throns for my soul.

When night falls and silence spreads over the valley
Take your guitar. Seek your inspiration from the sorrowing clouds,
And move the stars to pity for a star without light.
Perhaps your song will draw down rays of mercy.

When birds in their humming nests
Pierce the branches in the garden with their warbling,
The fluttering music of my thoughts comes to you,
Singns out my poems, pays tribute to your beauty.

When the dew melts on the tender leaves
And the Golden Cruet pours its fragrance into flowers' cups,
I pray the Dream-Nymphs in their magic realm
To melt their tune into your eyelids, melt the sorrow in my heart.

Ali Mahmud Taha

[Jennifer-]

From the Doorstep to Heaven

Now,
With the sad rain
Drenching my sad face,
I dream of a ladder of dust,
Collected from hunched backs
And hands clinging onto knees,
To mount to highest heaven
And discover
What becomes of our prayers and sighs.
O my beloved,
All the prayers and sighs,
All the laments and cries for help,
Springing from
Millions of lips and hearts,
Through thousands of years and centuries,
Must be gathered somewhere in heaven,
Like clouds.
And maybe
These words of mine
Are now close to those of Jesus.
So let us await the tears of heaven,
O beloved.

Muhammad Al Maghut

[Jennifer-]

Psalm 9

O rose beyond the reach of time and of the senses
O kiss enveloped in the scarves of all the winds
surprise me with one dream
that my madness will recoil from you.

Recoiling from you
In order to approach you
I discovered time.

Approaching you
in order to recoil from you
I discovered my senses.

Between approach and recoil
there is a stone the size of a dream
It does not approach
It does not recoil.

You are my country
A stone is not what I am
therefore I do not like to face the sky
nor do I die level with the ground
but I am a stranger, always a stranger.

Mahmoud Darwish