I’m neither beautiful nor ugly
neither this nor that
I’m neither the peddler in the market
nor the nightingale
in the rose garden
Teacher give me a name so that I’ll know
what to call myself
I’m neither slave nor free neither candle
nor iron
I’ve not fallen in love with anyone
nor is anyone in love with me
Whether I’m sinful or good
sin and goodness come from another
not from me
Wherever He drags me I go
with no say in the matter
(Jalaluddin Rumi)
Kill me, my faithful friends,
For in my being killed is my life.
Love is that you remain standing
In front of your Beloved
When you are stripped of all your attributes;
Then His attributes become your qualities.
Between me and You, there is only me.
Take away the me, so only You remain.
(Abu Manshur Al Hallaj)
O God, Another Night is passing away,
Another Day is rising —
Tell me that I have spent the Night well so I can be at peace,
Or that I have wasted it, so I can mourn for what is lost.
I swear that ever since the first day You brought me back to life,
The day You became my Friend,
I have not slept —
And even if You drive me from your door,
I swear again that we will never be separated.
Because You are alive in my heart.
(Rabiah Adawwiyya)
Strive to discover the mystery before life is taken from you.
If while living you fail to find yourself, to know yourself,
How will you be able to understand the secret of your existence when you die?
(Fariduddin Attar)
How can you imagine that something else veils Him
when He is the One who is manifest by everything?
How can you imagine that something else veils Him
when He is the One who is made manifest in everything?
How can you imagine that something else veils Him
when He is the One who is manifest to everything?
How can you imagine that something else veils Him
when He was the One who was Manifest before there was anything?
How can you imagine that something else veils Him
when He is more manifest than anything?
How can you imagine that something else veils Him
when He is the One with whom there is nothing else?
How can you imagine that something else veils Him
when He is the One who is nearer to you than anything?
How can you imagine that something else veils Him
when if it had not been for Him, there would not have been anything?
A marvel!
See how existence becomes manifest in non-existence!
How the in-time holds firm alongside Him whose attribute is eternal!
(Ibn Athaillah)
How utterly amazing is someone who flees from something he cannot escape
to seek something that will not last!
“It is not the eyes that are blind,
but the hearts in the breasts are blind.”
Do not travel from phenomenal being to phenomenal being.
You will be like the donkey going around at the mill.
It travels to what is set out from.
Travel from phenomenal beings
to the Maker of Being.
“And the final end is to your Lord.”
(Ibn Athaillah)
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)
