"Khomeini, O Imaam!"

"Khomeini, O Imaam!"

Salaam,

I realize that our topic has been in the water for sometime now, so allow me, despite persistent controversies in the large-scale Muslim world, to relate a short reflection (or simply an "idle" musing) on a great Muslim whom you may have often heard and who still lives in the hearts of many for his sweat, tears and light.

When al-Imaam Sayyid Ayatullaah Ruhullaah Mustafavi Khomeini (may Allaahu sancify his soul) died in 1989, I was but a toddler. Years later, I saw a video of the staggering Islamic revolution that took place in 1979 in Tehran, Iran. The first to capture my attention was the presence of the great Imaam, whose silent being bespoke a somewhat immense light of love, awareness and integrity, amidst the grand echo "Khomeini, O Imaam!" by the crowd.

Imaam Khomeini was not just a cleric of the highest possible rank (in his own system), a prime example for Shi'a Muslims. It simply appears to me that Iran required his presence when she needed to lift herself back to a higher level. He was more than a hugely iconic Reviver (Mujadid) from the Ahl al-Bayt, the Family of the Holy Prophet (SAW), he was a living example of a virtuoso who could never leave us only to be replaced by his successors.

Forget about the Sunni-Shi'a divide for a while. Let us not create more rigid formations. We have done this for over a dozen centuries now. Let us solely concentrate on that which unites us, Muslims, under the banner of the Qur'an and the Sunnah (Prophetic Traditions). The idea of the Unity of Muslims is not yet deceased. On the local scale, for many, what Imaam Khomeini did was restore the Prophetic Passion to an essentially Islamic country whose soul was still smarting from the overly materialistic Pahlavi era. On the global scale, he showed the Muslim world what it was to live the saying "don't just blame the darkness, but light it up."

In my early teens, I came across Imaam Khomeini's work on Tazkiyya e Nafs (Purification of the Self). I read it with great passion. He would drift in and out of Fiqh (Jurisprudence), Mantiq (Logic), Tasawwuf (Sufism), Nahwu (Language), Tafsir (Qur'anic Exegesis), Ahadith (Sayings of the Holy Prophet SAW) and 'Irfan (Gnosis) seemingly at his own "whim", displaying the way of the self towards attaining al-Haqiqa al-Muhammadiyya (the Reality of the Prophet Muhammad SAW) as if he was painting an invisible picture and playing a hidden song at each of the station of the Salik (Seeker or Spiritual Wayfarer). I have no doubt that Imaam Khomeini was a Mystic of an exalted rank. His true station (maqam), however, in the fold of Genuine Tasawwuf and detailed Islamic Aqidah, is known only to Allaahu SWT.

His being might seem mysterious and untouchable to many. In reality, he was somewhat shy and reserved, which is but a typical character of the Prophet's prominent descendants. He had always chosen to dwell in silence rather than in the glow. Following the stream of Longing and climbing the thorny rocks of Love, he had reached a mystic state where he became a reflection of the shadow of the great Imaams and Spiritual Wayfarers before him. It is hard for any sincere Muslim to speak of the beloved man without trying to "immortalize" him in a sense. The laments of the blue silhouette of the Muslim world over his disappearance will linger beyond the decline of this worldly existence.

Here are a few poems by Imaam Khomeini that display his spiritual rank and the liquid state of his heart before his Beloved:

MASS OF THE DRUNK

In circles mystic I found not
The pleasantness I sought
In monastery was not audible
The music which love wrought

In school I did not find to read
Any book to be from the friend
In minaret it was hard to find
The voice to be of him to tend

In love of books I could not see
That veiled beauty's face
In sacred writs I could not get
The destination's trace

In idol-house my life's span
Was wholly spent in vain
In rivals' gathering I saw
Neither remedy nor pain

The lover's ring now must I join
Haply to find for solace
From the rose- garden of the beloved
A pleasing breeze or a trace

"We" and "I" are both from reason
That are used as ropes to bind
In mass of those who are drunk
Neither "I" is nor "We" to find



LOVER'S RAPTURE

Oh that heart is no heart at all
Which loves thy fair face not
Oh that wise is no wise at all
Who craves not thy beauty spot

Oh for the heart - raptured lover
Rapture's all that's in thy wine

For me save this rapture alone
What else has this life's confine

Who hath thrown me in this desert
It was love of thine, o my friend
What act now can rescue me
Nowhere seen is the desert's end

If thou art a heart - raptured lover
Put soon then thyself aside
'Twixt you and him there's none
But wall of your self- pride

If you are an traveller of lover's path
Shun prayer- carpet, cloak then
No guide's there but love alone
In love thyself soak then

If thou art real lover then
Be not mystic - pious prone
As none can enter lovers' ring
But the lovers' group alone

I wish to play with his ringleted hair
What's bad in that what's vile
One mad touch and one wild stroke
What else can give love imbecile

Get hold of my arm and set free
My soul from this robe cant
As this robe is nothing else
But the refuge of ignorant

Knowledge, mysticism leave them aside
They lead not to the wine - house
As in the place where lovers reside
Falsehood cannot find spouse



DRUNKARDS' FOLD

O for the day
That I be the dust of his way
That I give up life for him
That his true lover I stay

O for the day
That a cup soul- stirring
I get from his kind hand
And, forgetting both worlds
Be chained to his hair's strand

O for the day
That my head be at his feet
Kissing till life's time is up
And I be, till doomsday
Drunken from his cup

O for the day
That I burn like a lover
Always for him and gaze
At his sweet face
In drunkard's daze

O for the day
That I be fully drunk
In drunkard's fold
And come to know all
Its secrets untold

O for the day
That I have at bed's end
My Joseph's merriment
And if not, like Jacob
Be enamoured of his scent



LOVE'S GLANCE

O my love, my world begins
And ends at your door
If my life be spent here
I need nothing more

In tavern, mosque, monastery
And idol- temple floor
I bow down in the hope that
You would bless me and adore

Not a cure could find seminary
For my troubles nor the saint
O get me out of mess
With your glance ere I faint

O full of ego was the mystic
As far as I could  glean
O let me have your vision
So my heart remains clean

I have shunned myself's love
So do I now exist
O have your gracious look at me
This insignificat gist

They call me man of pleasure
And they name me just a lover
O my joy- shorn heart be sure
Has never worn this cover

Life of hermit have I chosen
For that veiled darling
So that with his amorous glance
This drop be sea snarling



SICKLY EYES

What charming mole thy lips have

Behold! that I am caught
Pray, what thy sickly eyes have
That sickened is my heart

I have shunn'd my self's love
Now truth is none but me
I will see the gallows also
As did Mansur see

O darling, it's thy thought's flame
That sets my heart afire
If I am now the talk of town
My name thou didst inspire

Keep the door of tavern open
For me night and day
Farewell seminary, farewell mosque
Let me go my way

It was quite ere long you know
That pietistic garment I tore
The tavern- keeper's patched dress
To find the way I wore

Lo! city's priest tortures me
With sermons vile and rot
Where art thou! do rescue me
Hearken, the spirit of sot

O what a place is idol-house
Good memories let me cherish
The tavern- keeper's magic touch

Hast made my sleep perish



SEA OF ANNIHILATION

How I long for the day
That thy lane be my home
For this joy, for this sorrow
My heart's desires roam

I wish I had in my hand
From thy locks just a knot
That would serve as a key
To my evey troubled spot

Last night without you
Was obscure heart of mine
In that house thy thought
Was the only piercing shine

All the friends in that gathering
Were drunk, senseless
And the wise like me
Was ill- fated in the mess

He who broke open prisons
Was oppressor, illiterate
About the self, universe
All clean was his slate

For the lovers all knowledge
Is nothing but a veil
He who went beyond the veil
Upon the truth could prevail

Lo the lovers out of love
In the sea of annihilation swam
And those on the shores dark
Looked ignorant and sham

I did find the spiritual world
As I fell in love with the sweet
All I read and heard before
Was false, counterfeit



GARMENT TEARING

How crave I from my love's hand
To drink a cup of wine
O with whom to share this secret
Where to take this grief of mine

I gave away my life in hope
That I could see the friend's face
'Am butterfly making rounds of lamp
'Am seed burning in fireplace

This robe dseceptive and so cant
This prayer- mat with false state
Would that I could tear them off
Right in front of tavern's gate

If friend out of love's cup
Be willing to give a small sip
This soul in my life's cloak
So happily would I give in tip

'Am old though yet can be young
Do favour with thy sweet glance
So that from this small house
Of universe I make advance



SWEET END

With wine o my love
Fill up this cup of mine
Let not my honour grow
Let not my name shine

That kind pour in cup
Which overpowers me
Which purifies the soul
Of artifice to tee

That fine blissful wine
Which sets the soul free
Which makes splendour run
Which makes glory flee

That unrespected wine
Which all the graceless drink
In which submissions drown
In which humilities sink

In rose - cheeks' sacred sanctury
In tavern come and see
From every slit I enter
The fairies welcome me

Now haply should I go
To the ring of drunken peers
With wine cleanse who minds
Of thoughts in low gears

O thou rarified air
Give mine wish and greeting
When passing other world's river
To that valley's sweeting

In goblet one I crossed
This life's road bend
Let know the monastery head
How sweet was my end

Ishq,

{Dani}

The First Station of Sufism

The First Station of Sufism

O Salik,

By Allaahu alone are secrets revealed.

Today I saw your longing-driven, wine-filled words uttered by the leaves in the morning light. I too have fallen at Love's feet as and covered myself with the secrets of the heavens. Now I also understand the tenderness that takes care of the grass in the stillness of the night.

I know you understand the ways of silence. I do have a heap of sand with me but for now it may be useless to throw it at you. May it be that you no longer long for wine-filled cups nor goblets of pure air but the essence of intoxication and purity itself. I am but a cup... To speak of me means to speak of nothingness. But my throbbing heart has something to say. Behold, the sins and pangs of separation are heavy upon me. If you would like to be comforted, seek the Fire of the Beloved's Face alone and be annihilated once and for all. This we can do together. We are but two nightingales singing in the illusory distance. Nevertheless, the echo of our song shall be filled with Love's green valley of ecstasy.

...Allaahu, Allaahu, Allaahu Haqq...

Love's music played by those unseen quivering strings, always lingers in your heart beyond the fading of the shadows of the world. Only in silence can you realize this. Be drunk with the essence of the Dawn, open yourself again and again to the Infinite, be forgetful of anything else that weighs you down, that which is not of Beauty.

Be the Image and Fragrance of Allaahu that you essentially are. Feel Love's wings, even Love's Presence, with your heart. If you could be like unto the mist-birds, you would never be estranged from Beauty. May it be that Beauty holds your heart in the enjoyment and innocence of Love like unto the enchanted bee imprisoned within a flower's petals.

Endlessly seeking Love's solace under her shadow, you are already drunk with the secrets entrusted to the poets of life's seasons. Love's whisperings and thunderings are one with your breath and voice.

In Hu's Garden it is roses that we must gather, my dear, each petal representing a Mystery. As for the trees, their blossoming is seen only when you yourself are unfolded. For this reason, perceive the Silent Presence in all their seasons. This way, see winter in summer, summer in winter; autumn in spring, spring in autumn. Befriend strangeness to the extent that it befriends you. Make Love with Silence until it enfolds you in its wings. Perceive existence as a mirror until it reflects you in itself. Then and only then will Beauty be seen by the naked eye. Then and only then will Love's unseen strings be revealed unto the heart. Then and only then will you be able to gaze at yourself as Hu's Living Proof.

We know that, as the Holy Prophet (SAW) has pointed out, to perceive that which we must gather as roses and to be drunk with their Essence, three things are necessary: Ishq (Love), 'Aql (Intelligence) and 'Ilm (Knowledge). The fruit of Ishq is Intoxication, the fruit of 'Aql is Sight and the fruit of 'Ilm is Wisdom. The fruit of all these faculties combined is that which brings us back from Multiplicity to Unity.

No one understands Wahdat al-Wujud (the Essential Unity of Existence) unless he or she is "tortured" with profound perplexity and Love's longing for herself at each of the stations of becoming. No one passes the seven valleys of existence with a dry and motionless heart and mind. But do not be afraid of being wounded by your understanding of Love, my dear. Just surrender yourself whenever you repeat Hu's Name. Just let the passing pass!


I have been struck by the flood of Love's tenderness,



Love's serpent has bitten my heart and made her bleed with longing,



O breeze! Has the time not come for you too to be silenced by Love's poison and carried away by Love's sweet melody?




What is there left for you to seek in the fire of separation?



Union with Love, Union with Love,



Send your longing home, send your longing home!



Seek Hu's Face, seek Hu's Face,



And be burnt, be burnt!




This therefore echoes the First Station of Sufism:



"O Beloved,



Neither my tongue nor my mind can describe Your Essence,



You shine on all sides of my existence without me knowing from which side You have emerged,



Therefore reveal Your Reality unto me for I openly invite my non-existence,



Steal my private moments, fill them with that which the Earth cannot sustain!



O Sweetheart, in this vessel that I am, praise Yourself by Yourself!"



By Allaahu alone are secrets hidden.

Ishq,

{Dani}

Ya Sayyidina Haqq, ya Ahmad, ya Muhammad!

Ya Sayyidina Haqq, ya Ahmad, ya Muhammad!

In the Name of Allaahu, the Reality of Love, the Source of Love



Ya Sayyidina Haqq, ya Ahmad, ya Muhammad!

O heart of mine!
Rise in Love now from your deep slumber,
Greet the Sun of Existence,
Love, Beloved, Lover of the Sweet Truth!

Roaming the silent valleys and hills of my Beloved's Sacred Heart,
I draw endless inspiration as if from the dawn of the Spring of Love's endless youth.


Have you heard how the unseen winds embrace each other above the shadowy plains of the world?
Between the trees, they fill each other's soul and know only the Living Spirit of Love as that which moves them between their awakening and slumber.


By the Reality that sustains my breath,
He is the Ultimate Pearl from the Heart of the Shoreless Sea that houses countless longings,
He is the most Fragrant Flower from the Heart of Life,
He is the Tenderness of the seasons borne from the intoxicating breeze of affection on Love's first Day.


He is the Wine Stream that teaches my heart to flow back to the Sea beyond imagination
For it says:
"I have always known you, O Prophet, since the dawn of creation.
When the heart sees that which is beyond the veils, who can deny this?"



But before his Beauty, my shyness persists,
So I hide my violet songs of Love as my heart sighs:
"How can a Beauty like you be stranded on Earth, O Mirror of Love?"


Allaahu, the Reality of Love, says:
"We are at last united by Love, That Which I am,

Doesn't your spirit see Me in the Moon of his Beauty?
Nothing can take you away from Me, for My Beloved's Reality fills all forms of Love, of Beauty, of Life."


Here I am alone, yet I am not alone.
My spirit has been given the power to conquer the blue horizon of appearances
And a thought of my Master makes my soul blend with the melting Light of Love's Essence.


This way I quench my spirit's thirst for harmony and beauty
And when his Heart speaks to mine, my voice softens and my anguish is subdued.


Does the day know that every night I sing him the song of hope?
This is a lesson of patience for the sublime hearted.


Ya Habib, ya Nur,
Ya Ahmad, Ya Muhammad!


Everytime the Tides of Love of Allaahu come,
I find ourselves caressing each other's soul,
Yet in truth, my soul is but a shadow of yours...



For you are the Breath of the Shoreless Sea,
The Tears of Paradise,
The Joy of the field of my heart that overcomes my silent sorrow and unfolds my memories.


Never hide your Beauty from me, O Beloved,
But submerge me in the Deep Sea of your Living Truth

For in the silent depths of my soul, you are the Wordless Song that lives in the seed of my heart.


I would rather be without eyesight rather than lose your Soul that dwells in my heart
For to me this is Sight and Hearing.


Who dares speak aloud the words intended for the heart only to utter in silence?
Only in my Beloved's Reality alone
Can the roar of the Sea be united with the song of the nightingale.


O Prophet, unto your pure Heart, I say:
Our song is a melody uttered by your quivering strings in the House of Love,
Our song is sung in silence alone in the domain of Intimacy,
Our song is covered with the clamor of the world,
Our song is dressed with Truth and unfolds in Truth,
Our song is hidden in my awakening,

Our song is understood only by Love.

It is Love's own song in the secret dimensions of the heart,
Such love often refuses to melt with the world but flows with the essence of the stars.


O Sweetheart, may the winds at eventide convey the whispers of your heart unto mine,
And mine unto yours:

Your Light is the Singular Beauty that attracts my soul,
And that makes me want to give and give only, and not receive,

Yet who among the sincere could refuse to receive the Light that makes his spirit blossom?

I feel your Presence of Light deep within,
By Allaahu's Mercy,
Melt me into the Shadowless Essence of your Pure Reality, O Love!

Behold, the Mystery of Love has seized my being,
How can I remain any longer when everywhere I see my Beloved only?
Nothing, nothing can hinder this annihilation by the Reality of Love,
Everywhere I turn is the place where I am not!

All this feels like a magnificent gale which unites
Both longing-driven sorrow and unsurpassable joy,
It is the Unseen which I see,
The mystic resonance which I understand,
The Silence which I hear...



In Allaahu alone do I witness and understand all this...
O Ummi, O unspeakable One!

Ya Sayyidina Haqq, ya Ahmad, ya Muhammad!

Ishq,

{Dani}

Dedicated in love with unspeakable longing and tenderness
To our Beloved Master,
Our Teacher, our Guide, our Pillar of Hope,
The Imaam of the Holy Light,
The Spirit of Loving Surrender,
The Summit of Existence,
The Light of Love on the Endless Horizon,
The Mercy unto the worlds,
'Alahazrat Rasul Allaahu Muhammad al-Musthafa (salla Allaahu 'alaihi wa salaam)

Reflect!

Reflect!

In the Name of the Beloved, Allaahu, the Existence of Love, the Presence of Love

Reflect!

Alif Laam Miim Haa

By Man and his unfoldment

By the Spirit and its bare truth

By the Soul and its perfection

Will you not reflect?

There is only Allaahu.

By the Veil and the Hour

By the Hidden and Its manifestation

By the Manifest and Its concealment

Will you not reflect?

There is only Allaahu.

By Reality as It overcomes

By shadows and their disappearance

By the Effulgence and the vanishing horizons

Will you not reflect?

There is only Allaahu.

By the Breath and its secrets

By Unity and its expansion

By Diversity and its contraction

Will you not reflect?

There is only Allaahu.

By the Point and its singularity

By the shoreless Ocean when it overflows

By Hu and boundlessness

Will you not reflect?

There is only Allaahu.

By the Power (Qudrat) and its display

By Stillness and Motion and whatever is raised above them

By Silence and its possessions

Will you not reflect?

There is only Allaahu.

By the Pen and whatever moves it

By the Design and its evolution

By the Capacity and its nourishment

Will you not reflect?

There is only Allaahu.

By the Sky and its curvature

By Beauty and its realization

By the Silhouette and its mystery

Will you not reflect?

There is only Allaahu.

By the Throne and its establishment

By the Presence and the discovery of Intimacy

By the Source and its revelation

Will you not reflect?

There is only Allaahu.

By Guidance and whatever descends with it

By the Heart when it mirrors the Whole

By the Boundary and its dissolution

Will you not reflect?

There is only Allaahu.

Allaahu alone IS.

Allaahu is Allaahu.

Reflect!

And say, from within the World of Essential Unity,

"Allaahu, Allaahu, Allaahu Haqq!
Hu is the Beginningless, the Endless,
the Infinite, without limits,

Whose absence is absolutely impossible,

Whose essence is the Real,

The Existence of Love,

The Presence of Love."

And say,
"O Love, let me know You through You!"

Ishq,

{Dani}

A Mother's Letter to Her Child

A Mother's Letter to Her Child


Image of my soul, delight of my heart, sweetness of my life,

You are like unto a seed having been dropped by the hands of Life upon this field called the Earth, breaking through its ground before the face of the sun, in all seasons. My dear, I'm sure you will grow into a great tree, its root in the heart of the Earth and its branches high in the sky. Just be yourself, don't be deafened by the world and its clamor. Rather, be drunk with your own breath, O heart of my heart!

Be original, pierce and unfold the darkness of the Infinite. One day, my daughter, ask yourself and meditate in the stillness of the night and find out whether you are a slave of yesterday or a winged soul free for tomorrow. I can tell you that many people walk unconsciously at the funeral of the era that they have created for themselves. Even now, they are drawing a rotten rope that might break anytime soon and cause them to drop into a forgotten, deep abyss. Their thoughts, sayings, quarrels, laws and compositions are often nothing but chains dragging them and they are too weak to pull the load. Life, therefore, appears weighty and bleak in them. It is as if Beauty were absent. Remember always that Beauty is weightless, like unto a flower floating on a water surface. None discovers Beauty save in his own high tides and silence.

Know the pain of being original, the intricate passions in being unique. Count not your days and nights. Rather, live in the depths of moments. Cherish those moments of singularity. Should you desire a pattern, then live a silent-bound life and, after a while, release a great storm, even only once. This way, you shall be fulfilled, and Life and Beauty shall remember you in their Heart as their Artist and Orator. Contain multitudes, even infinities, this way.

The world hasn't really changed much since its last pitiful warring era. Injustice still happens to some people who carry with them a torch in the darkness. But do not fear, my little songbird, let it suffice that you have the capability of high dreams. I assure you, there is, somewhere on the horizon, a growing and expanding field, it is forever reaching and engulfing all sensitive, intelligent souls; noble minds will gain their sympathy there. Come and tell the world who and what you are, as you know yourself. Tell them your dreams. You don't have to tell them in words, just work hard silently for your dreams. Originality wrapped in silence can sometimes feel like an oasis in the desert. A lot of people are full of self-admiration; the old ones keeping their heads in the valley of their dusty past where the ages have actually long discarded the remnants of their clothes and useless ideas; the younger ones often waste their present boasting in order to feel satisfied. People like these, though they may appear to be great shall only remind you of an ancient tribe, dressing themselves in animal skins, that vanished before leaving the cave. Therefore be a true human that takes no action save in silence and sweeps the world with Love's flame.

You are a mind of tomorrow, a mind of the future, for you live with the present and in the Reality that sustains it. We are the ones called by Life, so let's follow her with steady steps and heads held high... We are going to reach the dawn of frontiers together. Such souls are few who feel called by Life to work for something out of sheer love and passion.

You can always seek me with hours to live, my dear winged Child. Someday, you may feel like a child playing by the Ocean and building sand-towers with constancy and then destroying them with laughter. I'm always here to listen to you. While you build your sand-towers, the Ocean will bring more sand to your shore for me and when you destroy them, the Ocean shall laugh with you and I too will laugh with the same innocence.

I will always watch over you from the summits of existence.
The sky, the earth, the mountains and myself are one in the Solitude of God.
Deeper than my own depths, stronger than my own strength,
Love binds us together very strangely in existence, my dear Child.

One day, come to where I am, with a winged heart.
From up there you will see
The birth of soft whisperings upon the wind, and
The death of many worlds.

In the shadows of the world ,
I have watched all these things.
When you have watched these happenings yourself,
Forgive yourself of yourself.

Until then, my dear butterfly, until the freshness of the dawn droops in the sun, and until the heaviness of your longing for me melts away with a sweet meeting...

Until a new morning breaks free with all of Love's glory, for you and for me to see.

On the far horizon, my love, beyond which only silence enfolds us, find out where the Ocean meets the sky, where there seems to be nothing between them, between life and life, between existence and existence, where disappointments are no more. There is pure hope, there is Love. Behold something purer than that which the whole world can witness.

Love,

{Dani}

Reflections on Sufism

Reflections on Sufism

In the Name of Allaahu, the Presence of Love, the Existence of Love


O Salik,

Know that we owe our individual existences to al-Haqq alone. As I have said elsewhere and repeatedly, we exist only because the Beloved looks into Hu's Self and desires our existences. Yet do not let the outward world of forms deceive you, for Reality (al-Haqq, Hu) is neither captured within or without the mind. It is like this: Put a mirror before you. When you think you see yourself in the mirror does that mean that you're part of the mirror? Does that mean you exist within the mirror? Not really, right? Our world of forms is just like the mirror. And the essential you are looking down on it from within a state of no-time. This way, realize that perception neither takes place in being nor non-being. Reality simply IS.

***

Let us speak of the reality of the Islamic spiritual science called Tasawwuf which is better known in the Occident as Sufism. (I somehow regret it being called such, especially with the appearance of the sufix "ism"!)

Know that every genuine Sufi order traces its lineage back to the Heart of the Sweet Beloved Holy Prophet Muhammad al-Musthafa (salla Allaahu alaihi wa salaam), which in reality is a shoreless Ocean of Ma'rifat (Direct Knowledge of Reality or Gnosis), Rahmah (Mercy) and Mahabba (Love, Ishq). Actually the division of Ma'rifat, Rahmah and Mahabba isn't necessary when referring to the Light of Reality (Nur al-Haqq). The Prophet (SAW) said: "Shari'ah is my sayings, Tariqah (Tasawwuf) is my actions, and Haqiqah is my inner states." In reality, Tasawwuf (the Way of Knowing, the Way of Being) started with the Prophet (SAW) and was (generally speaking) first transmitted into the heart of the Beloved Wali of Allaahu, Hazrat Imaam 'Ali (karram Allaahu wajhahu), cousin, son-in-law and adopted son of the Prophet (SAW), of whom the Prophet (SAW) said: "I am the City of Knowledge, whosoever desires to enter it, must enter through its gate, 'Ali," and into the heart of the Mother of Sufis, Ummi al-Awliyya', Hazrat Bibi Fatima az-Zahra (radhi Allaahu anha), the Prophet's beloved daughter, wife of Hazrat 'Ali, and mother of the Sayyids and Sayyidahs, the Prophet's descendants on Earth, whom the Prophet (SAW) referred to as the Loving Fountain of Abundance (al-Kautsar) and the Center of Silence. From the heart of the Prophet (SAW) and the hearts of Hazrat 'Ali and Hazrat Fatima, Sufism branched forth. Today there are approximately 42 genuine Taruq (plural of Tariqah) on Earth. The leader of a Tariqah, called Shaykh, Mawlana or Pir, must possess the knowledge of both the outward and inward realities, that is, the manifest and hidden realities, hence combining all the three stations of Shari'ah, Tariqah and Haqiqah, and must be like an empty vessel representing the Prophet Muhammad (SAW), resounding only with al-Haqq. Because in general, it is through the Shaykh that the blessings from the Reality of the Prophet (SAW) (Muhammadan Reality, al-Haqiqat al-Muhammadiyya) flow. Always be aware of the fact that the Prophet (SAW) said: "That which Allaahu first manifest was my Light," and, "I was a Prophet when 'Adam was still (in the state) between water and earth." This sheds light on the singular status of the Prophet (SAW) as the First (and the Last) in the hierarchy of graded existences or manifestations.

So be aware, because there are "false" Sufi orders nowadays whose ways are un-Islamic. (I regret having to use the word "false".) Sufism isn't a jumble of mystical traditions, nor did it adopt the ways of the Christian mystics as many orientalists (who are often mere scholars that do not practice spirituality themselves) claim. This is indeed one of the greatest slanders perpetrated by the envious and is aimed at the annihilation of the foundation of Islaam. Tasawwuf is simply the inner reality of Islaam that leads to Maqam al-Ihsan, the Station of Excellence, the Station of Witnessing, and Being Witnessed by, Allaahu, which uniquely belongs to the Prophet (SAW), whose Reality is the Supreme Manifestation of the Greatest Name (Intrinsic Attribute) of Allaahu which is inclusive of all other Names (Attributes) of Allaahu. It leads to Fana' fi Allaahu (Disappearance into Reality, the Source of Love), also known as Fana' fi Mahbub (Disappearance into the Beloved) and Fana' fi Dzat (Disappearance into the Essence of Being), through Fana' fi Rasul (Disappearance into the Reality of the Prophet (SAW)), and is unique in its own right. To say, "Sufism started even before the advent of Islaam" is equivalent to saying, "Islaam existed even before its first manifest establishment in al-Hijaz (Arabia). In fact, all the Prophets who came before the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) had taught none other than the Singularity of Allaahu (Tauhid), i.e., Islaam," which is not a surprisingly unique statement at all in a sense. In general, the purpose of such a saying is to degrade Sufism to mere "unbranded spirituality", which however is but a vain attempt, because one really cannot speak of Sufism without Islaam and vice versa, just as one cannot speak of the sea without its depths or the sky without its atmospheric layers; the depths and layers are but hidden realities of the sea and the sky. In particular, many have attempted to rid Sufism of its Islamic reality because many of them, usually spiritually inclined Westerners, do not wish to understand the mysteries of, or deal with, what they call the "exoteric trappings" of the Islamic Shari'ah. It is true that Tasawwuf has always existed since the dawn of Man as a living spiritual science and a method of higher awareness. But again this is just another way of saying, "Islaam has always existed from the beginning of the world." However, just as the light of Islaam was perfected during the earthly time of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW), so was its kernel and spirit, i.e., Tasawwuf. Thus it is most proper to speak of Sufism in its most perfect state, in the full Muhammadan Light, otherwise it could be considered outdated, even vacuous, and highly unethical. (To put it somewhat roughly, "Let us call a spade a spade!") Islaam is the only all-encompassing, self-contained, self-consistent, self-unified Way towards the recognition of the Presence of Universal Singularity, Allaahu. It is that which integrates the material and the spiritual. In reality, graded existences and their corresponding knowledge exist only under the Veil (Hijab) spanned by the Reality of the Light of the Prophet (SAW), who is the First and the Last of the Prophets and of all existential emanations, the First Emanation of the Intrinsic Radiance of Allaahu, the Ultimate Manifestation of the Names of Allaahu. The ultimate aim of Tasawwuf is to enable the soul to gaze at the Beloved, Allaahu, in the Light of the Prophet (SAW).

As Shaykh Ibn 'Arabi (radhi Allaahu anhu) described, the Station of the Prophet (SAW) is the most excellent that its Kibla (Focus) is neither in the East nor in the West in a rigid sense, but in "between them", that which encompasses all directions. The West (where the sun sets) refers to the Station of the Prophet Moses (alaihis salaam) and its reality is the outward and its language is ritual. The East (where the sun rises) belongs to the Messiah Jesus (alaihis salaam), Al-Masih 'Isaa Ruh Allaahu, and its reality is the esoteric (inward) and its language is love-based gnosis. The blessed station of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) encompasses both the outward and the inward and its reality is Annihilation in the Reality of realities, Fana' fi al-Haqq. The Muhammadan station is also known as al-Maqam al-Mahmud (the Station of Glory or Praise). Therefore, the Prophet (SAW) said: "I have been given all realities (stations and names)." He (SAW) also said: "Salaat (foundational prayer or namaz ) is the mi'raj (ascension) of the Spritual Wayfarer (Salik)." When we begin to pray, we say "Allaahu Akbar" with intense love and utmost longing such that we realize that we are almost non-existent in the immense boundlessness and greatness of al-Haqq. In Salaat, we have to be "naked", and this is done by discarding our ego, and whatever can be considered as part of our illusory psychological or social conditioning. This naked state of the soul is referred to as "Fitrah" in Islaam. The Prophet SAW said: "Imaan (Faith) which is but Mahabba (Love) is naked and it is dressed with Taqwa (Piety)." He (SAW) also said, "The soul (ruh) returns to Allaahu, her Source, alone and unfolded."

Nowadays there are Spiritual Adepts (Pirs) in America and elsewhere claiming to be Sufis while in reality, they have adopted elements "alien" to Islaam. While some of them may be sincere though negligent to some degree, some only desire fame and fortune in this world, and many of their disciples are but puppets in their hands. This way, they abuse the essence of the terms "Sufi" and "Sufism".

Know that the proof that someone is a Sufi is the inward silence filled with nothing but love of Allaahu. Know that, in the most perfect sense, love of Allaahu is the highest, most rarified awareness of Hu's Singular Presence or Reality. As such it is sufficient that this state be witnessed by Hu alone in silence. Otherwise, in most cases, people claiming openly to be Sufis only desire to replace the sweetness and purity of the inward silence and intimacy with the Beloved, the Only Witness, with worldly recognition and selfish delight. There is no need to further "universalize" Islaam for it is already the most perfect Universal Religion. It is "ok" to speak of a universal spirituality, please by all means do that, but please do not hasten to label it "Sufism", for this might hurt others who are genuine Sufis, many of whom are high-rank Muslims in terms of spirituality and scholarship. It was the Sufis that mostly spread Islaam in the past, from Maghrib (Morocco) in the West, to India and Central Asia, to Indonesia, in the Far East.

The signs of a genuine Shaykh have been given by the Prophet (SAW) himself: "It is he whom if you gaze at him, you see my Radiance (Light), and in fact that shall remind you of Allaahu," and, "He does not love me who nullifies my sunnah (traditions)."

***

The Ocean of Kulzum which belongs to al-Haqq is deep beyond ordinary comprehension,
The winds and waves are utterly strong, disposed to sweep realities,
Yet it is the inner Silence that houses the mysteries that sustain them.

Time passes, stories come and go,
Shadows (appearances) appear and disappear,
Yet the torrents keep on intensifying.

If the Salik is weak, no doubt, he or she might be crushed on the surface of things...
Therefore have a raft, my dear, have a raft and cross this Ocean of longing.

Come, come onto this raft of Ours,
Let us set sail, but never question why we have left the anchor behind,
For we have done it on purpose, that love that knows no fear but only yearning,
May grow unceasingly.

Wujud Allaah shall be Our raft,
'Ilm Allaah (Ma'rifat) shall be Our oar,
Imaan shall be Our rudder.

It is because of Ishq (Love) alone that the Ocean shall burn in love for us to see.

Come, don the garment of Tawakkul (Sincere Surrender)
And greet the waves and winds with the penetrating echo: "Allaahu Haqq!"
For the Language of the Ocean is one: Tauhid,
Its will is but one, Iradah Allaah (the Will of al-Haqq),
And its power is but one, Qudrah Allaah (the Power of Essence).

Come, let us speak solely of Tauhid Ma'rifat and Mahabba
And gaze at the unseen with 'Ilm Yaqeen (solid certainty based on both gnosis and direct experience),
Until we are completely dissolved in Love, in Reality.

***

There's a beautiful article which I'd like to share here. It is called "Sirru al-Hubb al-Ilahi" and is quite intoxicating. It is on the website of one of the oldest Sufi orders in the Maghrib (North Africa), Tariqah Syadziliyya. Here's the link: http://www.sufimaster.org/. May Allaahu embrace their banquet of love with utmost intimacy and especially bring their new members closer and closer to annihilation!

Please remain in this way of love. Let it rain love in your heart, for it knows already what love is all about. Be unfolded at the dawn of perfection. Then, you shall see none but al-Haqq alone as Hu says in the Qur'an: "... Wherever you turn, is the Face (Presence or Sign) of Allaahu."

Ah, this is all but a game of hide and seek...

Come, let us go home, all of us.

La ilaha illa Huwa...

Ishq,

{Dani}

Appendix: Tasawwuf in a nutshell

In a nutshell, Tasawwuf, or in its original Arabic, TASHAWUF, consists of the following:

Ta = Taubah = Repentance
Sha = Shafa = Purity
Wa = Wilayat = Manifesation of the Realization of the Essence of al-Haqq in ultimate nearness with Hu
Fa = Fana' = Annihilation in the Reality, Existence, Source, Presence of Love, in the Light of Allaahu's Essential Oneness beyond interdependence, perception and causal attributes (Ahadiyya)

These terms have been eloquently explained by our Master, al-Ghawth al-'Azham Mawlana Shaykh al-Islaam 'Alahazrat Abdul Qadir al-Jailani (rahimahullaahu).

An Aphorism

An Aphorism

Allaahu, Allaahu, Allaahu Haqq....

Your greater silence has enfolded my smaller silence, my Beloved. Allow me therefore to run murmuring to the heart of Our Presence.

An Aphorism:

These days I feel like I'm imprisoned somewhat in my days and nights and I am seeking a door into larger days and nights. I accept this as life's innocent flow.

On the problems of becoming. Sometimes I think to myself, "How else shall a long-standing problem be unsealed unless it be broken?" Somewhat, at first this may sound like an eccentric form of self-indulgence. But a human being, very much alive, without originality and imagination can be likened to a butcher with dull knives and worn-out scales.

Spring and autumn are very much alive in my heart as streams of lucid summer light dances in my awakefulness, and as winter's frozen symmetry lives in my silence. Come, my dear friends, let me share my seasons and their elements with you.

What is the self but a window which is spanned by fancy and silence? If Life is the Great, Silent, Shoreless Sea that holds together constellations of pure motions and feelings, then Beauty is indeed Life's naked Child. Love is then Beauty's Wine, Life's unfettered innocence that lives in the spontaneity of the timeless Infinite.

On selflessness. Indeed, ask the fallen embers or the dust particles in the vast desert or the stars at dawn about selflessness! Ask yourselves, dear fellow travelers, about the disappearance of that-which-is-not into That-Which-Is! Yet all this is most clearly seen on the path that leads to pointlessness, which lies between your understanding and knowledge. In short, I speak of Life Naked, Unfolded, Fulfilled.

Meanwhile, the human nebula and eager chaos that I am, and the countless things that regularly pass in his mind shall remain alive. He just eats, drinks, works, plays, sleeps, and at times covers his nudity and then lets the seasons work supposedly with blameless accuracy. For such a man, complete laws and pure order are somewhat missing, and so his thoughts are not nicely assorted, his dreams are not arranged and his visions are not registered. His days are not numbered. He is not nursed with exactness nor is he governed by rules, nor is he directed by rigid reasoning, nor is he slain and buried after his own prescribed methodology. Determination, the child of unfulfilled passion, alone is his mark in existence. This way, he sees a form of intriguing hope above the horizon. In particular, today his cup is filled and he is happy sweetly. No matter how fragile or strong, Life is deep, original, and strange.

Yes, that's how I am now in the spontaneity of the timeless Infinite.

Love,

{Dani}

The Little Sufi

The Little Sufi

Dear little Sufi,

Daughter of the sun's affection and the ocean's generosity, you have whispered the words of love into my ear with your fragile beauty. I love you so very much too, my dear little butterfly.

Cry, my beloved. For, like soft whisperings, your weeping is a prayer. Your tears are too precious, too sacred for the world to value, but know that the same tears fill my heart. The seasons of your heart are mine too. I know them as my own children. Unmask your sorrow in the Presence of the Beloved and may Hu's serenity embrace you throughout the long nights of your grief. Drink the Intimacy of the Presence, which is your ultimate remedy, in silence and tranquil delight. Pour all of your self into the living Presence and let the dawning of your heart take place once again.

Leave the dumb and the blind alone, my dear butterfly, for they live in shells that enclose their understanding and they know not how to break them. Try not to scorn them back, rather pity them and pray for the expansion of their selves. Surely you know that unbreakable symmetry in the Law of Mercy.

My dear, no one can teach you how to enter the Bridal Chamber, that Invisible Temple, which is your True Home, our Home. But you know how already, O little Sufi. Hu listens not to your words save when Hu utters them in your heart and let your lips echo them. This is the prayer of the seas, this is the orchestra of the mountains and the deep forests. The infinite worlds know that Hu is their Winged Self.

Rise in love again and again. Meet me in the ether, in the stillness that devours this world's days and nights in their passing and let us moisten the Presence with our intoxicated souls. Come, let us make love. Let us unveil Love's Holy Face.

Ya Hu, Ya Haqq, Ya AllaaHu.......

I love You, O Love...

Ishq wa salaam,

{Dani}

My Song and Your Song

My Song and Your Song

In the Name of AllaaHu, the Sweetheart, the Beloved, the Dissolver of Hearts


My Song and Your Song


I have given the name “love” to my song

You’ve also given the same beautiful name to your song

If you place your hand upon my heart, it will suffice for now and eternity, my dear.

How beautiful is the world of your visions!

The heavens of my eyes have suddenly become your appearances

Oh, let the eyes of our hearts meet, if the end of time shall come,

Let the end of time come.

Everyone loves in life

But I will be loving you even after this one,

Now that I’ve found you, I realize somehow in a childish way that this worldly life is too short to love you fully,

But still the moments which the wants and desires have right upon are gathered here and now, forever.

Come Sufi come,
Fill my days with your songs,

And allow me to place you in my heart like beats

Now how can I even imagine separation,

When I have stolen you from the lines of fortune?

Like a defender, I will be loving you even after this life.

Two hearts filled with love,

My heart now has a reason to yearn

When the night is long and songless, you shall be my song

No one knows why I have to be this shy

But when I sing songs for you, my love,

Just listen and I shall go on singing.

Your honesty makes blossoms feel ashamed

Who can tell you spring is coming?

That is not important, spring is here in our heart, one heart now

Where two seas meet and annihilate each other’s yearning in love.

Ishq,

{Dani}

Stolen from Ourselves

Stolen from Ourselves

AllaaHu, AllaaHu, AllaaHu! Laa ilaha illa Huwa!

O Man, what happens when the Beloved Himself has stolen us from ourselves?

Like Rumi, unconscious, burnt, crushed, yet fully alive!

A song remains:

“When I cause oceans of songs in your heart to surface,
Just listen and be silent, really silent, as if gazing at the stars beyond our nights,
And don't be heedless of My Presence which opens with silence alone."

"O ALLAAHU, I ask You to grant me the love of You and the love of those whom You love, among the Majdubs (i.e. the ones intoxicated and annihilated in ALLAAHU) and grant me, O Beloved, the love of those actions which lead me to the love of You, and to my self-extinction in Your Reality." (The Sweet Beloved Holy Prophet Muhammad SAW)

***
Listen to the following famous story:

Hikayat al-Mahabba wa al-Suluk:

Haqiqat al-Insani (a Tale of the Sands)

A stream, from its source in far-off mountains, passing through every kind and description of countryside, at last reached the sands of the desert. Just as it had crossed every other barrier, the stream tried to cross this one, but it found that as fast as it ran into the sand, its waters disappeared.

It was convinced, however, that its destiny was to cross this desert, and yet there was no way. Now a hidden voice, coming from the desert itself, whispered: "The wind crosses the desert, and so can the stream."

The stream objected that it was dashing itself against the sand, and only getting absorbed; that the wind could fly, and this was why it could cross a desert.

"By hurtling in your own accustomed way you cannot get across. You will either disappear or become a marsh. You must allow the wind to carry you over, to your destination."
But how could this happen? "By allowing yourself to be absorbed in the wind."

This idea was not acceptable to the stream. After all, it had never been absorbed before. It did not want to lose its individuality. And, once having lost it, how was one to know that it could ever be regained?

"The wind," said the sand, "performs this function. It takes up water, carries it over the desert, and then lets it fall again. Falling as rain, the water again becomes a river."

"How can I know that this is true?"

"It is so, and if you do not believe it, you cannot become more than a quagmire, and even that could take many, many years; and it certainly is not the same as a stream."

"But can I not remain the same stream that I am today?"

"You cannot in either case remain so," the whisper said. "Your essential part is carried away and forms a stream again. You are called what you are even today because you do not know which part of you is the essential one."

When he heard this, certain echoes began to arise in the thoughts of the stream. Dimly, he remembered a state in which he--or some part of him, was it?--had been held in the arms of a wind. He also remembered--or did he?--that this was the real thing, not necessarily the obvious thing, to do.

And the stream raised his vapor into the welcoming arms of the wind, which gently and easily bore it upwards and along, letting it fall softly as soon as they reached the roof of a mountain, many, many miles away. And because he had had his doubts, the stream was able to remember and record more strongly in his mind the details of the experience. He reflected, "Yes, now I have learned my true identity."

The stream was learning. But the sands whispered: "We know, because we see it happen day after day, and because we, the sands, extend from the riverside all the way to the mountain." And that is why it is said that the way in which the Stream of Life is to continue on its journey is written in the Sands.

Ishq,

{Dani}

The Seasons of Life

The Seasons of Life

Salaam,

Beloved, do you expect to hear the plain explanation of the title of this article or the deep? I shall relate to you that which encompasses both the hidden and manifest meaning. As a start, if this world can be likened to a garden then, I would say that Allaahu SWT is the all-Merciful Gardener of the soul, Who alone fashions the soul's days and nights, Who alone regulates the coming and passing of a particular season. Hu is the Heart that contains all hearts, the Silence that submerges all silences, the Existence that pervades all existences.

For every life there are seasons, and after a season of sorrow and darkness, there comes a season of joy and radiance. In our manifest world governed by causality and relativity, the seasons of fortune and misfortune come and go. The reason why we, ordinary people, are subject to this law is that we may find paths into our greater selves, the greater Reality, after we are lost in our smaller selves, that we may be less idle and pave our roads towards the One Source of all things hidden and manifest. Troubles have many causes, external and internal, but the greatest of them all is the veil (hijab) that blocks someone's awareness from realizing nearness and intimacy with Allaahu SWT. Indeed, fortunate and blessed is he that lives in the Presence, for his is the Fountain of Abundance that springs forth from the Heart of Love and Mercy that contains all hearts. He alone who loses his way a thousand times and perhaps more shall have a home-coming.

Why does our all-Merciful Rabb inflict us with troubles sometimes? Let us liken a trouble to the Fire (Naar). For those who are forgetful of Hu: What else but fire can erase a rusty surface and melt a thing to its core, its essence? For those who are constantly aware of Hu, there too must be a test for their patience: What else but fire can erase a shining surface and melt a thing to its core, its essence? That is why our Sweet Beloved Holy Prophet said that everyone shall taste the Fire.

All this is meant for us to melt to Hu's Essence and therefore reach the Spring of Life and the Boundless Ocean, Hu's Presence. In perfect intimacy with the Beloved, nothing separates us from bliss. This is the most perfect "fortune", beyond its mere name.

Allaahu alone is the Source of Knowledge and Comprehension. With Hu are the Summits of Beauty and the Depths of Comprehension. Hu knows best.

Ishq Allaahu,

{Dani}

The Unfoldment

The Unfoldment

In the Name of Allaahu, the Reality, Existence, Presence of Love

Allaahu, Allaahu, Allaahu Haqq!

Welcome home, let us see each other through each other and behold life naked.

One early morning, as a child of the seasons, very much alive at the cradle of life's innocence, I stood on a beach contemplating the nature of existence and that which moves life in secret. There I swallowed the horizon and drank the wine of annihilation. I closed my eyes and let myself slip into the boundless realms which normally lie half-awake and half-asleep within us. And while submerged in the endless depth of the song of the Breath, and driven by the touch of that song upon my spirit, I could see the unseen and hear the unheard. Such was Beauty in its naked form, in its essence. The song had such unspeakable tenderness. Happy and sad feelings didn't really exist any longer in me; all I knew was just deep feelings. Joy and sorrow were married and no longer existed as opposites. Living in the sphere of that song and flowing with its rhythm, I couldn't help but shed joyful tears and release tearful joy. I heard life’s voice and it was like a winged hand upon my soul. This is the song with which truth, beauty, and complexity are "finished" in simplicity and harmony. When I opened my eyes, I perceived the Silent Presence more clearly than the raging waves for the Sea was in its voice.

Allow me to share the fruits of that day here, in this space of imaginations. May the words that I speak quiver in your awareness. Yet these are like unto dust particles in the vast cosmos, easily taken adrift by the wind of fancy and silenced by the Power of the Hidden Presence that sustains them. As such they cannot be compared to the Singular, Inexhaustible, Infinite Reality that pervades my being and non-being. Therefore do not perceive them as veils, but rather consume them and be consumed by them. Be drunk not with the little fragments that seemingly form the chain of Reality's continuity, but rather be drunk with the inward, indivisible Taste of existence itself.

Do not take me as a spiritual guide nor deem me a prophet. I'm still a young fruit, still clinging to the branch, and it seems that it was only yesterday that I was but a blossom conceived by the night. And it seems that it was only yesterday that the sweet melody of the Singular Presence, hidden and manifest in countless realities, woke me up and invited me to the heights of passion. Ya Allaahu, Ya Hu, Ya Haqq, Ya Salaam, Ya Ishq! My longing for You are as the wind that moves the countless waves of Our Sea. In truth, dear friends, We, the Beloved and I, are in celebration. I remain existent only because Hu looks at me from deep within Hu's Self with unspeakable tenderness.

Allow Us to simply present Our song as a song unto the sky and a riddle unto mother earth. What is there between the earth and the sky that might carry away Our song and solve Our mystery save Our own passion?

Fellow travelers, I hear your silence just as I perceive the motion of your stillness. For I am one with the Reality above stillness and motion.

Friends, you do not have to break the symmetry of silence when your hearts desire wordlessness and the Universe it spans. Simply be drunk with that which moves life in secret and stay still until the early dews of a new morning mirror new thoughts to be expressed. What are words but frozen voices that bud and blossom in your deeper selves, in your Sea? When we realize that the Sea is within us, we can always listen to each other's longing. Had I been unable to perceive your silence and stillness, I would still be in quest of the shores of your presence. Though that which is unheard may nurse and deepen our sorrow, yet the same carves the soul to form and fashion its destiny.

Know that between the shores of the oceans and the peak of the highest mountain there is a secret path which we must travel, once we become one with the wind which is older than time's witnessing of events.

And so between our knowledge and our understanding there is a secret path which one must discover before one becomes one with the Beloved, and therefore with all. When that happens, one becomes versed in the art of loving, being, and becoming. This is the essence of Tasawwuf (Sufism). The Sufis are those who perceive Love with the perfection of the Intellect and house it in the domain of surpassing emotional beauty. They are those who have disappeared into the Source and Essence of Being in the Bridal Chamber whose doors are hidden in the flow of the breath. They are those who don the garment of intense Love and Longing, who see Reality (al-Haqq) through Reality's Eye and experience Hu in Secret Intimacy. They are the honey, sugar, cream, intoxicating wine, and living streams of existence. Their way is the the Way of the Sweet Beloved Prophet Muhammad SAW, Lover, Beloved, and Love of al-Haqq 'Azza wa Jalla. Their light with which they perceive things as they really are is the Muhammadan Light, Nur Muhammad, the First Emanation of the Primordial Effulgence.

Dervishes have long realized that they are spirits though they move in bodies, my dear ones, like olive oil that burns in the dark without an apparent source, and they are flames though held in lamps. And many are the lamps but the light is but One. Nurun 'ala Nurin! Light upon Light, Allaahu SWT.

My fellow sojourners, if you were nothing but bodies, then my speaking unto you would be complete emptiness, even as the dead calling to the dead. But this is not so. All that is deathless in us is free unto the day of song and the night of reflection and can never be fettered nor housed. It is enough that you each are my breath and I am yours even as the evening wind shall not be caged nor caught.

In silence, find me with tenderness always. Who shall not allow a silent love to be celebrated? Consume my breath and run into its streams and make love with me in your hearts. This way we shall no longer be as prisoners in a Universe governed by relativity and causality. This way we shall receive life directly from the Naked Essence.

I remain non-existent in the Light of Muhammad, in the Presence of the Reality of realities.

Ishq wa salaam,

{Dani Indranu}

Poetry (4)

Poetry (4)

In the Name of AllaaHu, the Reality of Love, the Source of Love


O Love

O Beloved,

Let my heart become a planet in Your heaven.

Let me receive your whispers,

As the stars receive light from Your Hidden Face.

Fill my heart with Your love,

That my every teardrop may become a star.

In Your Ocean of Power, Beauty and Majesty,

Let my heart melt in Your Light

Annihilate me once and for all
O Sweetheart!

Let the light of love's constellations sparkle across the tears in my eyes,

As I battle to overcome the obstacles to giving vent to my nostalgy

To merge in harmony with You,

To realize my non-existence and embrace Your Existence,
O Love!

Ya Habib, Ya Mahbub, Ya Muqalab al-Qulub, Ya AllaaHu...

Ishq,

{Dani}

I Am, I Am

Never stand by my grave and weep,

For I'm not there, I don't sleep.
I'm AWAKE!

I'm a thousand winds that blow invisibly.

I'm the diamond's glint on snow,

I'm the sunlight on ripened grain,

I'm the gentle autumn rain.

I'm the soft bush of the morning light,

I'm the swift bird in flight.

I'm the running brook, the singing rivulet.

I'm the lush cedar.

I'm the deep valley, the mystery of humility.

I'm the invincible mountain, the peak of glory.

I'm the splendor of the sunset, the shattering delight.

I'm the majestic sky in solitude,

I'm the dancing aurora and cosmic rays.

I'm Beauty in all its forms.

I'm the vast Ocean, yet also its vortices and tides.

I'm the Infinitesimal, the Infinite.

I'm the very depth of Reality, the outer forms.

I'm Reality.

I'm the Truth.

I'm Pure Intelligence, I'm Pure Emotion.

I'm Wisdom, I'm Love.

I'm Light, light upon lights!

I'm "THAT".

I'm Existence.
I am, I am.

Never stand by my grave and cry,

I'm not there, I don't die, only death dies.

I'm Life and life forever lives.

I'm Eternity gazing at Itself through you, my friend.

Hence know who you are,

Who you really are deep inside,
Once and for all.

Ishq,

{Dani}


Hu

When my Beloved appears to me,
With which eye do I see Hu?
With Hu's own, not with mine,
For none sees Hu but Hu's Self!

O lover of beauty of majesty!
Polisher of the heart!
Hu is known only through Hu
Drink the potion of love
From the cup of annihilation
From the spring of mercy
From the melting of the snow of your longing
See Hu in Hu.

Fana i Allaahu
Ishq, Ishq, Ishq.
Next to love, none can stand!

Starlit skies, waves on the sand
None can stand Hu's Reality.
For there's no reality but Hu.

A gaze at the Beloved's Beauty
Is more worthy than the whole world,
It is Hu,
In Whose Reality even love surrenders.

Come back home now, O way farer!
For the Beloved is longing for you
More than you are longing for Him.

Empty yourself of yourself,
For at the door of love,
Only Hu is found.

Allaahu, Allaahu, Allaahu

Allaahu Haqq!

Ishq,

{Dani}

Poetry (3)

Poetry (3)

In the Name of AllaaHu, the Infnite Reality of Love, the Inexhaustible Source of Love


A Secret Love

"There are wild wandering Sufis
called Qalandars,
who are constantly tickled with life.

It's scandalous how they love and laugh
at any small event.

People gossip about them, and that
makes them deft in their cunning,
but really a great love-wrestling goes on
inside these wanderers, a flood of sunlight
that's drunk with the whole thing..."
- Jalal ad-Din Rumi

Finally, one last secret remains
A secret which is like a soundless echo on the endless horizon
And words are helpless to express it

But tell me, O Qalandar,
Whose poetry is it whose glow adorns the setting sun
With its sublime hands caressing the endless sky?

Whose face is it that appears at dawn over the ocean
And intoxicates even the guardians of the horizons?

Whose song is it that moves life in secret
Which the waves have adopted as their own?

Whose beauty is it which is like a faint lamp in the shoreless ocean of feelings,
Burning for reason unknown throughout the night?

Time has passed me by,
The body can't help but age,
Yet my soul is still burning,
Burning with passion
It has not healed yet
In fact, it is much worse than ever before
My soul's sorrow continues to rain upon my heart's shores
Love remains my curse

What reality is this that's flowing in my heart?
Who is inviting me?
Is it the beauty of the roses in some distant field?
Is it a girl whose sweetness conquers the shy day,
Whose hair and skin the wind always yearns to caress?
Is it a beauty that hides behind form and image?
Is it a song beyond our days?
Is it a silence beyond our nights?

O Beloved,
I'm drunk with the wine of love
How can I refuse such delight?
Come, sit with me on this longing-woven carpet of grass
Let me sip the wine of love in the presence of your reality

Where were you when I was yearning for you in isolation?
When traces of you were not found except in the dance of the leaves
And in the morning light?

When once I felt life propagating madly through my veins
I realized my life was no longer mine
It became yours when I became dimensionless,
When I befriended your silence alone in the company of suffering and insult

In those days,
Sorrow used to smile at me and I would smile back at it
My soul was wrapped, hidden in misery
While people were happy swallowing the luxuries of the world

One night, my thoughts drowned in the ocean of beauty, before your face
And I was left intoxicated
But oh, you just left my perception without saying farewell

If and only if destiny enjoins us someday
I will take your hand and put it on my chest
That your hand becomes mine
Just as my heart beat is yours

But there is no hand but your hand
And there is no destiny but union

Together we shall walk towards the heart of silence
And vanish between the shadow and the soul, unfolded

But vanishing is yours alone, just as appearance is yours
And so you alone shall remain, let me be no more

Oh, why do people call a love such as mine a disease?
Who shall remain at rest
When beauty shatters the silent hills of his heart at the dawn of his youth?

Hearts of lovers are aching, aching O Sufi,
Intense longing crowns them with pain
Their dream is to return love for love in perfect intimacy
Yet hindrances always come to them and mock their reality

What shall remind you of what true lovers are like?
Listen to the story of a pair of elk living on a barren highland
Though food is to be found no where except in the dust of the seasons,
They remain together
Listen to the story of the doves set free, soaring so freely into the sky, where freedom runs unshackled,
They will still go back to their owners
Listen to the story of the herring whose patience is unshakable,
Though throughout their lives the waves rage at them

If the full moon vanishes at dawn,
Or if the sun is late for its rise,
Then my Beloved's face shall replace their radiance
Her smile won't stop on her lips,
But it shall become the glow of the sun and the full moon combined

The sun and the full moon are in fact ashamed of their glory
Because their light cannot compare with my Beloved's light
And when she blinks, the stars either hide themselves in agony
Or disperse their reality in surrendering love

O evening wind, bring me to my Beloved
Or just mention the Beloved's name
In exchange for her enchantment
Because for me it is the same,
Whether I gaze at her or at the moon

In this place of exile, I know nothing and see nothing but your shadow
But you have allowed the fingers of imagination to unite us
We are but two candles lit from the same fire
But you alone are the fire and I am but a particle being annihilated

This endless mystery has nothing but itself to explain it,
This love met in passing,
This age old pain,
This story of separation is shared and played alongside lovers
And the same shy sweetness of reunion is sung
Again and again

Ishq Allaahu Mahbud Lillaah...

{Dani}

Poetry (2)

Poetry (2)

BismilLaah ar-Rahmaan ar-Raheem

(In the name of AllaaHu, the Reality of Love, the Source of Love)

Sufi, Oh Sufi

Like the soft whisperings of leaves in the stillness of the night

Your freedom and playfulness are a prayer

Your smile is a gift from life unto itself

Your anxiety is a story no one can end

Sufi, Oh Sufi

The child in you hides the seasons of my heart

I know her as my own child

What is there to be unmasked?

Sufi, Oh Sufi

You pour all of your self into the living presence of your Beloved

Even as the Wine-Giver pours love into the earth’s soil that she may expand in gratitude

Is there a remedy for a man who has tasted the dawning of your youth?

And who has drunk intimacy with a soul enchanted?

Sufi, Oh Sufi

Do the seas, mountains and deep forests need to be healed of their solitude?

Like the seasons, I am but a wave drunk with the Whole Ocean

How can I cure myself of that which has given me a greater thirst for life?

Sufi, Oh Sufi

The wind has written a message on the water:

“I am love’s rising and drowning”

Yet all the things you have heard of love and beauty from a heart enflamed

satisfy you not

Is there a song you would rather not hear but drink?

Sufi, Oh Sufi

You speak of pleasure with a smile and a wordlessness

Who shall say you are not a song of freedom?

Who dares say you are not the blossoming of all of beauty’s desires?

Sufi, Oh Sufi

What can I say of she that is drunk with the light and the hues of summer?

What can I say of she that cries with the leaves at the gate of autumn’s sorrowful beauty?

What can I say of she that melts with beauty and silence in winter?

What can I say of she that runs unshackled and innocent with the brooks in spring?

Sufi, Oh Sufi

Neither the superficial nor the deep

Can cage you nor take your wings

For you are life encompassing countless riddles

And seeking endless pleasure

Sufi, Oh Sufi

In drunkenness I have tried to sing you my depths with fullness of heart

How else shall life echo that which is more beautiful than pleasure?

Who is he that can make you long and wait for a world devoid of playfulness?

Sufi, Oh Sufi

Yet I speak not of emptiness and vain glories

Rather I speak of the yielding of a flower when it yields its honey to a visiting bee

I speak of the giving and the receiving of pleasure which is beyond any need

Which is ecstasy sustained at the heart of eternity

Surely you know that unbreakable symmetry in the perception and realization of infinity

Sufi, Oh Sufi

Meet me again and again in the stillness of the night

Allow me to kiss you with a kiss that silences all thoughts

When we are both winged we shall spread our wings on the horizon

And we shall move all of life in passion

Sufi, Oh Sufi

Should my being in your silence create tides that must kill your serenity

Should my whisperings fade in your ears

Should my love vanish as a rebuked stranger in your memory

Should something greater than the night’s silence enfold me in obscurity

Should you ignore me in disbelief, O friend

Just know that nothing is done in vain in the name of love

Sufi, Oh Sufi

For love is a boundlessness that never ceases to create wonder

Again and again, I shall return to you

With a longing that carries streams to the Sea and her depths

With a silence that captures your thoughts and desires

With a spirit deeper and more yielding that knows the secret of your joy and sorrow

Sufi, Oh Sufi

Ishq (Love),

{Dani}