Journey to Baghdad
سفر به بغداد
فمن سافر من عنده فربحه ما وجد
وذلك هو ربحه
Who is travelling with Him,
what shall find - his gain will be,
but the gain is He.¹
Ibn 'Arabi
Evening, evening, why do you
At the pond so long you look?
Your glance falling, falling slow
By the shadow grey and cold...
Water, water, what ye hide?
"Deep and silence" - was reply.
What is it in deep, do say...
- "Tigris river calling - Hey..."
What in silence, say me too...
- "Tinctures, semi-sounds..." answered El-Gölü.
Dun and blue then mingled in
Ripple, ripple; whiff of wind
Brought another handful of
Melodies and tints and thoughts...
I forgot what was the hour,
Melodies in heart got louder;
Dancing, dancing ramble I
In the park 'mid eve and night...
"Ah, then again we have to part, -
Tonight is time to journey to Baghdad..."
Awoke me dervish suddenly,
The carpet rolled on shoulder his I see...
Me: The lake the same told me...
Dervish: How well, you learned to listen, read...
But reading of the Holy Writ
Will sharpen sight of thine,
But time...
Then he unrolled the olden carpet, and
We sat, and said he then
In Farsi words, and rose carpet, flew,
As lonely, lonely mew...
The midnight spread a hand, and spake,
"Whither, feather, do ye sail?
I block thy course, the wall I am,
Reply anow, or retrace!"
I felt a shudder, thus because
The dervish looks upon
Me silently...
Midnight: The principles of Faith anow testify!
Who did Qur'an inspire, thus reply!
Me:
الرَّحْمَٰنُ
عَلَّمَ الْقُرْآنَ
Rahmān²
Taught the Qur'an.
Qur'an 55:1-2
Midnight: Well then, who is Rahmān?
Me:
وكان الرحمن جامعاً لحقائق
العالم وما يكون فيه...
وهذا الاسم الرحمن يتضمن
جميع الأسماء الحسنى
And Rahmān is all-inclusive of
the subtle realities of the world, and all
what is in it...
And this Name Rahmān includes in itself
all the Beautiful Names...³
Ibn 'Arabi
Midnight: Yet clarify!
Me:
But Almighty God is celebrated in
the holy Oracles as "Logos"; not only because He
is provider of reason and mind and wisdom, but
because He anticipated the causes of all,
solitarily in Himself, and because
He passes through all.
Dionysius the Areopagite
Inasmuch as by the effect of the power
of the Word, things are kept in being,
as also by the effect of the power
of the Word things are brought into being.
Thomas Aquinas
Midnight: Then summarize!
Me:
عيسى روح الله وكلمته
Jesus is Spirit of God, and His Word.⁴
Ibn 'Arabi
Midnight: Thou mayst your journey on!
Dervish: To the aforesaid I have a sign:
فإذا بالجملة يسلم لمن قال الحمد
لله الراحم ويسلم لمن كال الرحمن
ولهذا حق يرجع إليه
And thus it is right who saith,
"To God(Allah) the Merciful be glory!"
And right who saith, "To Rahmān..."
The truth returns to Him.⁵
Ibn 'Arabi
Instead of understanding, they -
The West and East each other blame...
The night is gone, we finally
Have reached the Tigris, and I see
Baghdad...
June 2019
1 Ibn 'Arabi, The Book of Journeys
كتاب الإسفار عن نتائج الأسفار
2 Rahmān الرحمن - The All-Compassionate
3 Ibn 'Arabi, The Book on the Majesty and the Beauty
كتاب الجلال والجمال
4 Ibn 'Arabi, The Book of Interpretations
كتاب التراجم
5 Ibn 'Arabi, The Book of the Abode of Qutb,
His Place and His State
كتاب المنزل القطب ومقاله وحاله
Dionysius the Areopagite, The Divine Names 7:4
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica I Q 34 Article 3
Translation from Arabic
by Denis Bezmelnitsin
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