Trees

Trees

“I think that I shall never see

A poem as lovely as a tree

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest

Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,

And lifts her leafy arms to pray,

A tree that may in summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain,

Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.

by Joyce Kilmer

Where Do You Think You Will Be?

I am sitting on a mountain.

I am casting shadows into the sky.

I did not invite it but the sun has come

And is now playing tag with my feet.

I am whispering to clouds today,

“Watch out for my shoulders,”

For I wish no harm

To all my soft friends.

Where do you think you will Be

When God reveals Himself

Inside of you?

I was so glad to hear

That every pillow in this world

Will become stuffed with

My soul and beard.

I am sitting on a mountain range.

I am a precious body of living water

Offered to the earth

From Light’s own hands.

Why ever talk of miracles

When you are destined to become

Infinite love.

Still, the Final Grace was left:

For all of existence and Hafiz to blend

And to find that I am every pillow

Offering comfort

To each mind and

Foot.

In a Handful of God

Poetry reveals that there is no empty space.

When your truth forsakes its shyness,
When your fears surrender to your strengths,
You will begin to experience

That all existence
Is a teeming sea of infinite life.

In a handful of ocean water
You could not count all the finely tuned
Musicians

Who are acting stoned
For very intelligent and sane reasons

And of course are becoming extremely sweet
And wild.

In a handful of the sky and earth,
In a handful of God,

We cannot count
All the ecstatic lovers who are dancing there
Behind the mysterious veil.

True art reveals there is no void
Or darkness.

There is no loneliness to the clear-eyed mystic
In this luminous, brimming
Playful world.

The Rose

What Allah said to the Rose

And caused it to laugh in full blown beauty,

He said to my heart

And made it a hundred times more beautiful.

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.

The Agony and Ecstasy of Divine Discontent - The Moods of Rumi

The Agony and Ecstasy of Divine Discontent:
The Moods of Rumi

In the orchard and rose garden

I long to see your face.

In the taste of Sweetness

I long to kiss your lips.

In the shadows of passion

I long for your love.

Oh! Supreme Lover!

Let me leave aside my worries.

The flowers are blooming
with the exultation of your Spirit.

By Allah!

I long to escape the prison of my ego

and lose myself
in the mountains and the desert.

These sad and lonely people tire me.

I long to revel in the drunken frenzy of your love
and feel the strength of Rustam in my hands.

I’m sick of mortal kings.

I long to see your light.

With lamps in hand
the sheiks and mullahs roam
the dark alleys of these towns
not finding what they seek.

You are the Essence of the Essence,

The intoxication of Love.

I long to sing your praises
but stand mute
with the agony of wishing in my heart.

Carrying God

No one can keep us from carrying God

Wherever we go.

No one can rob His Name

From our heart as we try to relinquish our fears

And at last stand -- Victorious.

We do not have to leave him in the mosque

Or church alone at night;

We do not have to be jealous of tales of saints

Or glorious masts, those intoxicated souls

Who can make outrageous love with the Friend.

We do not have to be envious of our spirits’ ability

Which can sometimes touch God in a dream.

Our yearning eyes, our warm-needing bodies,

Can all be drenched in contentment

And Light.

No one anywhere can keep us

From carrying the Beloved wherever we go.

No one can rob His precious Name

From the rhythm of my heart --

Steps and breath.

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?

Old Sweet Beggar - Hafiz

This

Path to God

Made me such an old sweet beggar.

I was starving until one night

My love tricked God Himself

To fall into my bowl.

Now Hafiz is infinitely rich,

But all I ever want to do

Is keep emptying out

My emerald filled

Pockets

Upon

This tear stained.

World.

A Tree Knelt In Praise

A Tree Knelt In Praise

I know that I shall never see
A poem that bows quite like our tree
A tree who like us loved to pray
In adoration every day

A tree who humbly knelt in praise
To God and never chose to raise
Itself above the other trees
Instead remained as if on knees

A tree who gave our scholars shade
And never asked that it be paid
A tree whose needles never hurt
But gently fell upon the dirt

A tree whose worth cannot be told
Or ever lent or bought with gold
A tree who showed us all its height
With God by bowing with delight

It taught us all to clearly see
A Garden lies beneath a tree
And then it showed us with a sigh
That trees, like us, must also die

In an age of folly, play and mirth
A tree has died with brow on earth

-Hamza Yusuf / March 2005

Spring's Gift - Sheikh Hamza Yusuf

Spring's Gift

I envy the sand that met his feet

I’m jealous of honey he tasted sweet

Of birds that hovered above his head

Of spiders who spun their sacred web

To save him from his enemies

I envy clouds formed from the seas

That gave him cover from the heat

Of a sun whose light could not compete

With his, whose face did shine so bright

That all was clear in blinding night

I envy sightless trees that gazed

Upon his form completely dazed

Not knowing if the sun had risen

But felt themselves in unison

With those who prayed, and fasted too

Simply because he told them to

With truth and kindness, charity

From God who gave such clarity

His mercy comes in one He sent

To mold our hearts more heaven bent

I envy all there at his side

Who watched the turning of the tide

As truth prevailed and falsehood fled

And hope restored life to the dead

Men and Women through him found grace

To seek together God’s noble face

I envy the cup that gave him drink

His thoughts that helped us all to think

To be one thought that passed his mind

Inspiring him to act so kind

For me this world is not one jot

If I could simply be a thought

From him to God throughout the ages

As revelation came in stages

I pity all who think it odd

To hear him say there is one God

Or he was sent by God to men

To hone their spirits’ acumen

It’s pride that blinds us from the sight

That helps good men to see his light

He taught us all to be God’s slaves

And he will be the one who saves

Humanity from sinful pride

Muhammad has God on his side

So on this day be blessed and sing

For he was born to grace our Spring

With lilies, flowers, life’s rebirth

In a dome of green like his on earth

The Inner Consciousness

The inner consciousness

Of the saint

Is the true mosque

Where all should worship,

God lives there.

Spirit sees nothing to Criticise

The fault is in the blamer

Spirit sees nothing to criticise

In a Handful of God

In a Handful of God



Poetry reveals that there is no empty space.

When your truth forsakes its shyness,
When your fears surrender to your strengths,
You will begin to experience

That all existence
Is a teeming sea of infinite life.

In a handful of ocean water
You could not count all the finely tuned
Musicians

Who are acting stoned
For very intelligent and sane reasons

And of course are becoming extremely sweet
And wild.

In a handful of the sky and earth,
In a handful of God,

We cannot count
All the ecstatic lovers who are dancing there
Behind the mysterious veil.

True art reveals there is no void
Or darkness.

There is no loneliness to the clear-eyed mystic
In this luminous, brimming
Playful world.

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.

Imam Shaf'i's poem

ولما قسـا قلبي وضـاقت مذاهبي
جعلت الرجـاء مني لعفوك سلمــا
تعاظمني ذنبـي فلمـا قرنتــه
بعفوك ربي كان عـفوك أعظمــا
فما زلتَ ذا عفو عن الذنب لم تزل
تـجـود وتعـفو منة وتكرمـــا
فلولاك لـم يصمـد لإبلـيس عابد
فكيف وقد أغوى صفيك أدما
فيا ليت شعــري هل أصير لجنة
أهنـــا؟ وأمـا للسعير فأندما
فإن تنتـقـم مني فلست بآسي
ولو أدخلت روحي بجــرم جهنمـا
فإن تعف عني تعف عـن متمرد
ظلوم غشــوم قاسي القلب مجرما
ويذكر أيام مضت من شبابه
وما كان فيها بالجهالة أجرما
يقيم إذا ما الليل مد ضلامه
على نفسه من شدة الخوف مأتما
يقول حبيبي أنت سؤلي وغايتي
كفى بك للراجين سؤلا و مغنما
الست الذي غذيتني و هديتني
ولازلت منانا علي ومنعما
عسى من له الإحسان يغفر زلتي
ويستر أوزاري وما قد تقدما

When my heart hardened and my ways narrowed
My hope of your forgiveness toward you was my approach
I greatened my sin, yet when i compare it with your forgiveness
My Lord your forgiveness was greater
Yet, you forgive sins and still
Generously and gracefully bestow and forgive
Were it not You, none worshiper withstand against Satan
How and he already has lured Your chosen Adam
Alas! Would i be lead to paradise then I am a fortunate
Or a remorse to hell I am lead
Indeed not despaired if You avenged me
Or into the core of hell You brought my soul
And if you forgive me, a mutinous You forgive...
A wrongful unfair pitiless criminal...
He remembers the past youth days
And what crimes of ignorance were committed
Then, when the dark spread out
Fearfully he mourns himself
Saying my beloved you are my request and wish
Sufficient You are for the hopeful to ask and gain
Were not you who fed me and guided me?!
And still, You give me generously and bless me
May You, Whom my charity to Him, forgive me faults,
Pardon my sins and what came before

Fire and Garden

In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful and Compassionate

Fire and Garden

When the fire of rage screams madly its din,
consuming its fuel of angry chagrin
and tempts you to drink from the poison of sin
then gaze at the Fire and the Garden within.

Feel how revenge and contempt fan its flame,
how it explodes and then spits out its shame,
how choking its smoke, how burning its blame,
how scorching its sneer as it plays Satan’s game.

Then surrender prostrate and feel how its coal
sputters, then whispers, then gives up its goal.
Its ashes turn green as you hear them extol
praises and hymns from the depths of your soul.

Gratitude, too, as it sings like a bird,
praises and worships for what He conferred
of blessings untold, of favors unheard,
of freedom from fire wherein it interred.

Contentment and joy and Almighty Power
nourish and cool what fires devour,
like rivers of milk, like merciful shower,
turn fragrant its ashes with beautiful flower.

Orchards of love drink rain from the sky
Shady and lush, expansive and high.
Gone are the tight-fisted tantrums of “my”.
Beginningless Beauty extinguishes “I”.

The Fire of Hell is kindled by you
within you, without you, around you, and through.
You light it in This Life, then it blazes anew
forever in Next Life, for you let it brew.

Surrender your nafs, for eternity pine.
Water your flower and tend to your vine.
Your worshipful heart will joyfully shine
with pleasure on earth, then pleasure divine.

– Hamza Karamali, November 5, 2009

The Dunya

And nobody said it was going to be easy,

Who said it won't make you cry?

Did somebody tell you that you wouldn't trip, slip or fall?

Tell me, who made you think it isn't hard?

That your heart wouldn't be broken?

Mistreated?

Abused?

Tired?

Used?

Who told you it was going to be easy..?,

That you weren't going to make mistakes?

That you wouldn't fail?

Why do you keep saying you don't need me?

And I don't need you?

Who told you, you have to be alone?

That this burden, you have to carry on your own?

Test after test?

Trial after trial?

No sign of the end?

Is that what you’re waiting for?

Who said you wouldn't grow old?

That your health would always hold?

What made you think that he was yours?

And not a gift from Him?

What made you think you were perfect?

Well, who told you there couldn't be change?

Why do you keep remembering your old ways?

Didn't He show you the road to take?

And reminded you about him who wants you to go astray?

But He gave you tauba? An open way?

Why don't you take it?

Who told you it was going to be easy?

Give me their name!

Our worlds are so different.

But yet we are the same.

Didn’t they tell you, you're just a traveller?

That you have to cross this bridge?

That the other side is nothing like this my friend?

It is eternal bliss.

Didn’t they tell you about the drink that you'll sip? (inshaAllah)

By the Prophet's (s) hands?

That you'll be united with your loved ones, as happy as can be?

That you can invite them to your tea party?

Didn't they remind you, His Mercy overcomes His Wrath?

That no one is more Generous than He?

Didn't they describe to you the Gardens so green?

Where you'll sit and rest so peacefully?

Did they not tell you to think big and just try your best?

To keep going even when things seems dark?

Did they not guide you to make your intentions sincere?

To be genuine and honest, and to trust in He.

Did they not tell you, anything is possible?

Dreams can come true?

What you seek is what you will find?

So think positively.

Think good of He.

Nobody said it’s going to be easy.

But be patient my friend.

Don’t look down, look ahead.

And be for He.

Science and Faith

Once Science said to Faith:

"My eye can see all that is in this world;
The Entire world is within my net.
I am only concerned with material things,
What have I to do with spiritual matters?
I can strike a thousand melodies,
And openly proclaim all the secrets that I learn."

Faith said:

"With your magic even the waves in the sea are set ablaze,
You can pollute the atmosphere with foul, poisonous gases.
When you associated with me, you were light,
When you broke off from me, your light became fire.
You were of Divine origin,
But you have been caught in the clutches of Shaytan.
Come, make this wasteland a garden once again.
Borrow from me a little of my ecstasy,
And in the world set up a paradise.
From the day of creation we have been associates,
We are the low and high tunes of the same melody."

Imam Ghazali's Last

It is related that Imam Ghazali (RA) woke up one early morning and as usual offered his prayers and then asked his younger brother, Ahmad Ghazali to bring his white shroud, kissed it, stretched himself full length and saying "Lord, I obey willingly", breathed his last. And underneath his head rest they found the following verses

Say to my friends, when they look upon me, dead

Weeping for me and mourning me in sorrow

Do not believe that this corpse you see is myself

In the name of God, I tell you, it is not I,

I am a spirit, and this is naught but flesh

It was my abode and my garment for a time.

I am a treasure, by a talisman kept hid,

Fashioned of dust, which served me as a shrine,

I am a pearl, which has left it's shell deserted,

I am a bird, and this body was my cage

Whence I have now floron forth and it is left as a token

Praise to God, who hath now set me free

And prepared for me my place in the highest of the heaven,

Until today I was dead, though alive in your midst.

Now I live in truth, with the grave - clothes discarded.

Today I hold converse with the saints above,

With no veil between, I see God face to face.

I look upon "Loh-i-Mahfuz" and there in I read

Whatever was and is and all that is to be.

Let my house fall in ruins, lay my cage in the ground,

Cast away the talisman, it is a token, no more

Lay aside my cloak, it was but my outer garment.

Place them all in the grave, let them be forgotten,

I have passed on my way and you are left behind

Your place of abode was no deweling place for me.

Think not that death is death, nay, it is life,

A life that surpasses all we could dream of here,

While in this world, here we are granted sleep,

Death is but sleep, sleep that shall be prolonged

Be not frightened when death draweth night,

It is but the departure for this blessed home

Think of the mercy and love of your Lord,

Give thanks for His Grace and come without fear.

What I am now, even so shall you be

For I know that you are even as I am

The souls of all men come forth from God

The bodies of all are compounded alike

Good and evil, alike it was ours

I give you now a message of good cheer

May God's peace and joy for evermore be yours.