Introduction
In the Name of Allah the Most
Beneficent the Most Merciful
Know that which is explained
and transcribed it is disunion
and just stories. That which is in union, is beyond words and hearing.
Love
belongs to union and partition/disunion belongs to mortals.[1] In that time
(union) no father and mother even children missing. The race between
the union
and disunion, which is concealed, has no before and no after, no
cruelty and no
happiness. In love there is no place and no positions/ranks, no carrier
and no
distinction between the steps, not infested by the hardship of
distance. No
clouds of presence and absence, no trace of ascent and no feeling of
descent.
Bazaar of reunion is flat and has no trades, no scattering due to loss,
no
thoughts of people and the face of “It will love them” had no sable
mole of “They
will love It” [2]:
If not putting on the light on your eyes
from the eyeshadow
Of My Self
How could your eyes gaze upon the
mighty court
Of My
Self [3]
But when (Beloved) wanted to
uncover the hidden seashell of
love so some (of the creation) could snatch its pearls, therefore
revealed the
worth of each individual and separated the rare and valuable from the
common
and unworthy. The Godly will and holy benevolence dictated such that
the sun of
“It will love them” to shine lustrous upon the flower of “They will
love It”
until bloomed and the creation took refuge in this refulgent sanctuary
(each
finding its own destination).
The sun of union shone upon
the world of all truth and all
meanings, until eyes appeared in the disunion gazing, (and from these
eyes)
those using the Sifaat to see within turned towards this sun staring.[4] The
bliss of this sun unveiled all curtains off all affairs and it was in
this time
It said (Koran [20:115]):
Invocations
In the name of the Lord, who
is the comfort of the souls and
Its Edict the key to unlock the victory and Its Peace the Sobuh
(morning wine)
for believers at dawn and Its Remembrance (Dhikr) the healing for the
injured
heart and Its affection the Noah’s Ark for troubled and distressed.
O! The righteous be brave on
this path and be lone and
remarkable in this bravery [6]. And be the companion of the
broken hearts [7],
commit not foolish acts and if started something carry it to completion
[8].
And do not make home in the valley
of whims and wishes and tame not the greed
and lust for your self [9]:
If you
step on the path of lust and desires
May I
inform you that you will be miserable
Ponder
what you are and where you came from
Comprehend
what you do and where you go towards
Content
Chapter 1,2: Love & Desire
Chapter
3: The Quest
Chapter 4: Sobbing
Chapter 5: Rememberance
Chapter 6: Scolding
Chapter 7: Nightly
Conversations
Language: The word
‘Ettehaad’ and “Jam-a” somewhat Farsi
usage of these Arabic words is translated into ‘union’. This means to
be united
with the Creator but it does not mean to become the Creator as one
which I read
in some inappropriate translations. The Arabic ‘Tafraq’ is used for
‘disunion’
or partition. I feel comfortable about these usages. I hope you can
contact me
with better translations.
[1] ‘Union’ is to indicate being
reunited with the Creator
and ‘disunion’ to mean separated from the Creator. Ansaari says all
things in
form of books, narrations, lectures, websites, descriptions,
imagination,
thoughts, metaphors and paradigms are only applicable to disunion. What
applies
to union cannot be put into the form of speech, hearing, reading and
etc. He
goes further carefully outlining the matters of love for the Creator
are the
latter i.e. the union without description and the matters of disunion
and their
descriptions/attributes are matters of mortals away from the Creator.
All
the concepts of parenthood, bliss, sorrow, time, before and after are
all
matters of the disunion i.e. relating to this mortal world disjoint
from the
Creator. When we were all united with the Creator, this was a matter of
the
Majesty's Love in Paradise and we were loved and therefore nothing of
worldly
attributes applied to us e.g. sorrow, temporarily happiness, time and
what not.
We did not think and emotions of anxiety or emotions of happiness are
so
temporal.
[2] This entire collection is based
upon the Koranic verse [5:54]:
I just love this verse it is
the only hope I find and the
only precious gift we have as humans. And the Scholars in mid east
discuss so
little about this verse today. Ansaari goes on and talk about this
verse non-stop
with such fluid ease and caress. My heart heals each and every time he
mentions
the two words of this verse.
Black mole in Farsi means immense facial beauty.
[3] The Arabic word ‘Kohol’ was
translated into ‘Eyeshadow’.
The Arabic word ‘Hadrat’ rarely used by Arabs mostly used by Farsi and
Urdu
speakers translated into ‘Court’. In general it means “In the noble
presence
of” for some royalty holding court to hear subjects. ‘My Self’ refers
to the
Creator. Ansaari narrates as if Allah was saying, “I beautified your
eyes by my
light so that you are able to see me, how could you behold my majesty
if your
eyes ugly and blind”. Allah beautified us to see It, read this again,
we were
beautified by Allah to see It. Wow! Tell me who can call someone ugly,
that caller
is the enemy of Allah.
[4] “Those using the Sifaat” is the
human beings. The
Creator has the Sifaat(Attribute) of ‘Basir’ which means to ‘see’ and
we are
allowed to use Its Sifaat to see as well. The Creator has the
Sifaat(Attribute)
of ‘Sami’ which means to ‘hear’ and we are allowed to use Its Sifaat to
hear as
well. Ansaari says that when were in union with the Creator, we were
collectively like a sun, shining upon this world and this time, those
who have
the eyes and vision they will see themselves (imagine, sense something
in their
own depth) in this lustrous ensemble in love with the Creator. And are
convinced the Creator shall love them in return thus that word Beloved!
[5] Each and every human being somehow
prior to their
formation into materials of this world, came to meet the Creator and a
conversation was carried out (Koran [7:172]:
But once we were born, we
simply forgot. The Sufi tries to
remember this meeting and this discussion. If you look deep within you
and if
waft above your surface shallow waters, something gnaws at your memory…
[6] Path of love is a scary and
unpredictable voyage and I
laugh when I see the Sage-wanna-be happy calm faces with nicely groomed
and
oiled beards on books and TV screens talk about serenity and calm of
this path.
These are self-help people cashing on the Sufism and other spiritual
forms of
the east. In truth, the Muslim Sufi is scared of this path of love.
Much
scared! The dangers the deceptions and false-righteous desires that can
prey on
his body and soul. The true Sufis, the past maters I know off came to
this path
reluctantly. Something happened and their heart was shattered and the
pain was so
terrific that they brave this path to run away from it all.
[7] Do you want the Beloved to be the
companion of your
heart and soul? To love you and you love It? Ansaari throughout his
writing
indicated that we must attend to the fallen in order for the Almighty
the Lofty
Beloved to attend lovingly to us. Just like there is a law of gravity
applied
to all objects of the universe, this is the “law of the loving” applied
to all
lovers. You see a broken
heart, no matter whom and why, rush to them because
amongst the smithereens you find the Beloved staring at you. I am no Sufi,
no master poet definitely not a Sheikh or some scholar and seek no
following,
all I am endowed with is the last sentence. As the colloquial Farsi
proverb
says the gift of a Dervish is a green leaf. I gave you my green leaf.
My only
prized possession.
[8] Our Sayyad (Master) Mustafa (The
Chosen), Prophet
Mohammad PBUH, who completed all he promised and paid all his debts and
no vow
he left unfulfilled taught the lovers and believers, that most loved
action
in the eyes of Allah is that which is done regularly and to completion.
Even if
it is a little bit of effort but everyday done and complete. I will
find this
Hadith at a later time INSHALLAH. For example if you wake up each dawn
for
‘Dhikr’ and you do it some days for an hour and some days you slack
away and
not do it at all, then change the strategy. Do 5 minutes each day but
each and
every day and complete the act with devotion and completeness. If you
feed the
poor, sometimes write a fat check, some month you may not be able to do
so.
Then change your strategy. Spend each week a little bit of money, be
kind and
feed them in person, be not proud and make sure there are no weeks that
you did
not perform this.
[9] ‘Taming’ means not to get used to
doing sins and
inappropriate behavior.
Background: South African Kwazulu homeless AIDS
orphan raising another orphan. Ansaari and Sanaa-ee told you the path
of love
towards Beloved is a horror infested one. Be brave lovers! When you get
scared
prance upon the dangers with your bosom wide open and strike hard with
the
saber of your love. Look upon this picture with all you have and you
shall see
the beautiful face of the Beloved, because Its Majesty is the close
companion
of the sick and the orphans.
©
2003-2002,
Dara Shayda
