Baghdad. Tomb of Al-Junayd
بغداد. مرقد الشيخ الجنيد
Sudden breeze me woke,
Almost gone is night, although
Deep are shadows, heavy; Slow
They ramble: black and brown...
As a shade I lay on wall,
Spanned and ran commingling with
Tinctures drowsy, dun and odd,
All I have absorbed within.
To the water close I came,
But it mirror'd back, alack,
Only shadow, only shade...
Water told me, "Flow and stream..."
I did and felt the wave I am, -
Feeling, passion máybe; and
Are rolling, rolling, flowing we,
"No need in sail..." To me
Was said, and yet at last
On the shore the water brought
Leaf bewildered, dark...
Clouds pallid - melting sounds -
Sounds orange, roseate, airy...
Merry dreams and brittle rouse
Hope, and call, fortelling
Something good... Illusive moon
Does remind: Behind the seen,
Visible is hid the meaning; You
Have found the house antique -
By the sea the Gate is standing,
Stamp of eld upon it be:
The way of illumined sobriety...
Clouds whelmed me, encompassed,
Hazed my eyes, I cried, "But how
Shall I see..?" The whisper said,
"With thy heart..."
I looked within, at dim abode,
I banished temporary smoke,
And saw, although wan and blear,
A passway narrow with the stairs;
The calling whisper I did follow, found
A chamber ancient; Yet pronounced
Aught the voice, my sight released,
I see the Sheikh in chamber this...
Sheikh: Speak here in a whisper only for
It is a shrine of mighty lords:
Al-Junayd and Sari Saqatī...
Me: On heart and inspiration say...
Sheikh:
إنَّ الله خلق القلوب وجعل داخلها سره،
وخلق الأنفاس وجعل مخرجها من
داخل القلب بين سر وقلب
Created God the hearts and made
His mystery within it, and
created the breaths and made it come
from the heart, between the mystery and heart.
Al-Junayd
Restlessly the waves are rolling,
Strolling echo saying, saying
Words of wind, it dins, and blowing
Urge the billows heaving, raising...
Wave took me, I stream as water,
Scud and gust, and then another;
Verses flow themselves, I only
Listen to the breaths, but rather
Dancing quill I am on paper
'Round the burning mystic taper -
As a moth I whirl until
The verse is born, then ocean stills...
What is heart - a chamber where
Water streams... The spring of it -
In the mystery is hid...
Images appear there,
Birds come flying, disappear...
Mirror well reflects if clear...
If the heart become like stone -
It does crack - away the water flows -
Lofty essence fades...
ووضع معرفته في القلب وتوحيده
السر فما من نَفَّس يخرج إلا بإشارة
التوحيد على دلالة المعرفة في
بساطة الاضطرار إلى الربوبية
And placed the cognition of Him in the heart,
and the union with Him in the mystery.
And every breath testifies the union,
which by means of gnosis points at the lordship.
Al-Junayd
وَالسَّمَاءِ ذَاتِ الْحُبُكِ
And the skies wherein the ways.
Qur'an 51:7
Who knows ways of heaven, say...
The birds only...
Where lead these ways?
To God unique...
There are seven skies,
And there are seven climes -
Reflections of these heavens, and
Therein - all mysteries and wells...
اللَّهُ الَّذِي خَلَقَ سَبْعَ سَمَاوَاتٍ وَمِنَ الْأَرْضِ مِثْلَهُنَّ
God - Who created seven heavens
and their like of earth.
Qur'an 65:12
"When chamber for me will be done,
My Name I shall install upon
The throne on water clear, dun, -
This will be shrine of Mine, wherefrom
I will be speaking; winds
I'll raise from names I will instil
In the abode of lordship this..."
Said Lord and words by trumpet loud
Resoundéd, repeated... Hark!
And hearken on: "This lordly bowl
Will be My shadow, shady cloud...
To reveal the names I'll grant,
To fulfill My will, commands,
To learn My ways, yourself, and thus
To know Me... - From thee I ask."
المشيئة عرش أعلى لا عرض فوقه
The throne is an utmost desire,
do not wish higher.
Ibn 'Arabi
Me: Can thou shed light upon this night?
Sheikh:
قال بعضهم: العرش ظل الله والإنسان العرش
Said one of them:
The throne is a shadow of God, and the man
is the throne.
Ibn 'Arabi
The states are changing, wave by wave,
The ocean images bepaint
On every billow: feelings, visions, dreams,
Bespeaking, "Save me and imprint...
Anon as smoke I'll be dispelled
By changing wind, or fleeting wave..."
Reality is not what we
See, but what behind...
The wind of inspiration where is born?
In temple of His throne...
النْفَس ريح الله سُلطَ على
نار اللهِ التي في داخل القلب
The breath is a wind of God,
pointing at the flame of God inside the heart.
Al-Junayd
To lotus spoke the night, "Thou shall
Reveal my dreams and beauty as
Much as thou can... And how
Many can a vessel in
Itself contain of night? Although
The reply in thine ardour be...
Your strength, ability -
Is dependant on your preparedness, and yet
Remember that
'Tis God who does expand and give...
And every gift - as if a seed -
Predisposition is indeed
To thee given, it
Does require time and labour thine.
الهمة لسان السر، ومن ليس له
نطق السر ويعجز عن الظاهر
لأن كلام السر مع الرب من الربوبية،
فكيف يدخل التحريك فيه كفر
Ardour is a tongue of mystery,
who cannot thus reveal the hidden, or
unable to speak mystery, - because
the words of mystery belong
to lord only - the one of lordship, how
can the inspiration touch the one -
in whom is unbelief.
Al-Junayd
In desert dry the night I met,
His sight upon me fell and filled
My vision with His strange
Sight, I looked on water, saw unseen...
And tongue of flame and raging wind
He gave me: Take these Celtic Runes,
And set afire mire drear, graves,
Reveal the mysteries of moon...
You saw the vision - it is thine,
Accept, and negligent don't be,
For wretch'd are those who decline;
Acceptance is the key to bliss.
And finally...
For thee the last:
المكر قول بلا عمل
Fraud is a word without deed.
Sari Al-Saqatī
September 2019
Al-Junayd, The Mystery of Breaths in Sufism
الجنيد، السر في أنفاس الصوفية
by
الدكتور عبدالبارى محمد داود
أ.د جودة محمد أبو اليزيد المهدى
Ibn 'Arabi, The Book of Signs of Those of Revelation
كتاب الإعلام بإشارات أهل الإلهام
Translation from Arabic
by Denis Bezmelnitsin
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