Jahane Rumi

if you are a man of this life
then march on this path like a man
or retire and take refuge in your house
since you’re not ready for this battle

real men drank a thousand seas and
still died of thirst
you only had a cup
yet boasted of overflowing

you claimed to reach your quest
you’ll raise all the dust
yet you’ve travelled no distance
you’ve left no mark

now humbly turn to dust
under the gallop of real men
then you’ll rise and
become a part of their journey

if you crawl for years
on the path of your quest
do not yield to grief
do not submit to distress

Rumi 

Translated by Nader Khalili

Courtesy Sunlight Ruminations

My dear brother Syed Salman Chisty from Ajmer has uploaded some great links here . He has sent video clips of Sufi Zikr (spiritual gathering) in which he participated while he was in Jeddah, Al Hijaz (of all the places, yes..); and from an international conference in Singapore on Islamic spirituality. Sufism practiced in Saudia was most intriguing for me. Such Sufi congregations with music in the puritanical Saudi Arabia where Sufi practices, entrenched elsewhere in the Muslim world, are not endorsed by the state ideology of pure Islam.

If you are not going to bed, then sit, I am going.
Tell your tale, I have told mine.
I have had enough of tales and am like a drunkard -
slumber is making me lurch and fall in every direction.
Whether asleep or awake, I am thirsty for that Friend,
the companion and mate of His Image’s form.
Like the form in a mirror I follow that Face, displaying
and concealing His Attributes.
When He laughs, I laugh, and when He becomes agitated,
so do I.

Say the rest Thyself - for the pearls of meaning I have
strung on speech’s necklace derive from Thy Ocean.

         - Rumi
             Translation by William C. Chittick

If you are not going to bed, then sit, I am going.
Tell your tale, I have told mine.
I have had enough of tales and am like a drunkard -
slumber is making me lurch and fall in every direction.
Whether asleep or awake, I am thirsty for that Friend,
the companion and mate of His Image’s form.
Like the form in a mirror I follow that Face, displaying
and concealing His Attributes.
When He laughs, I laugh, and when He becomes agitated,
so do I.

Say the rest Thyself - for the pearls of meaning I have
strung on speech’s necklace derive from Thy Ocean.

         - Rumi
             Translation by William C. Chittick

i want to leave this town
but you’ve chained me down
stolen away my heart
leaving yourself behind

now i’ve lost my way
my soul restless and head twisted
all because of those secrets
you once whispered

i only must keep
fasting my heart
to set me free
from sleepless nights

since your only advice
when you saw me in flame
was to keep burning
with you or with your thoughts

words of wisdom
came to me at last
“the beloved you’ve lost
the one you’ve been seeking outside
can only be found inside”

   — Ghazal 2582, from the Diwan-e Shams
      Translation by Nader Khalili

My friend ST was in Delhi recently. After returning to Islamabad, he sent me the following pictures of his visits to the great locality of Nizamuddin in Delhi.

Here is a side view of the mosque at Nizamuddin’s shrine

I read this here: He is best known in history for inventing the famous Farsi proverb,”Hanooz Dilli dur ast”( Delhi is still far away) which he wrote in reply to the Royal Decree issued by Sultan Ghayasuddin Tughlaq, who had ordered him to leave Delhi before his arrival from the East India where the Sultan had crushed a rebellion. Nizamuddin Auliya wrote that famous line inside the royal decree, which in itself was considered contempt to the throne, punishable by death. However, the Sultan never made it to Delhi, and died in his sleep just on the outskirts of Delhi when his castle’s roof collapsed.

Another one of the shrine. Look at the colours and variety of devotees

 

And before you see the hustle bustle of Nizamuddin, Ghalib’s lonesome tomb greets the visitors…

Check this site for some lovely renditions of Ghalib 

And, ST was wise to take a nice shot of the grave itself. Note the inscription on the top of the tombstone on the omnipresence of the Almighty - Ya Hayu, Ya Qayumu

Ghalib’s verse in English:

“When there was nothing, there was God
If nothing had been, God would have been
My very being has been my downfall
If I hadn’t been, what would it have mattered?”

translation discovered here

 Thank you ST for sharing the pictures and enabling me to undertake a virtual tour of these surreal lanes. I am reminded of Ham ko Maloom hai janat ki haqeeqat…competently translated and found here 

I know the truth about the promise of heaven
Still, it’s a nice thought to keep the heart amused.

He set the world aflame,
And laid me on the same;
A hundred tongues of fire
Lapped round my pyre.

And when the blazing tide
Engulfed me, and I sighed,
Upon my mouth in haste
His hand He placed.

(translation by A.J. Arberry)

II

MAULANA’S LAST LETTER TO SHAMS

Sometimes I wonder, sweetest love, if you
Were a mere dream in along winter night,
A dream of spring-days, and of golden light
Which sheds its rays upon a frozen heart;
A dream of wine that fills the drunken eye.

And so I wonder, sweetest love, if I
Should drink this ruby wine, or rather weep;
Each tear a bezel with your face engraved,
A rosary to memorize your name…

There are so many ways to call you back-
Yes, even if you only were a dream.

(translation by Annemarie Schimmel)

Image credit here

I am grateful to Zahid Hussein from Islamabad for introducing me to these lines. The Wahdatul Wajood (Unity of Being)school of thought in Sufism is attributed to the musings of Ibn-e-Arabi…

My heart is open to all winds:
It is a pasture for gazelles
And a home for Christian monks,
A temple for idols
The Black Stone of the
Mecca pilgrim,
The table of the Torah
And the book of the Koran.
Wherever God’s caravans turn,
The religion of love shall be my religion
And my faith.
 
(Muhammad Ibn ‘Arabi Mystic, philosopher, poet, sage Spain, 1165-1240)
A useful link is http://www.ibnarabisociety.org