The Second Journey to Baghdad
سفر دوم به بغداد
فلا يزال السفر أبداً في العالم العلوي
والسفلي والحقائق الإلهية
The journey never ceases in the lofty
and lower world, and in the divine realities.¹
Ibn 'Arabi
In the laying clouds doubt,
Or maybé the feeling of
Departure... But although
I hear the whispering of fog...
Upon the yellow sand the tracks
Of words dissolved in gauze...
Who shall read these remnants wet?
Who shall read in smoke the verse?
"O the piece of music, flute -
I am, I can be empty, hollow;
Sound in me, within, and shew
What is hid in marrow..."
- I am river's shimmer calm,
I can ease the heart, and balm...
Before mine eyes the Tigris deep,
The piece of shimmer thine I hold, -
The words of verse are plainly seen
As rainy drops upon
The glass... And thus a lark
Is trilling from nowhere too,
"Baghdad, Baghdad..."
"The time of parting, ah, but you
My vesture take! This mantle black,
For thou hast the task fulfilled,
And put waystones upon the track."
Said to me breeze familiar, it
The echo triple did repeat...
Me: Thank you, master, for this gift!
Dervish: But nay, the gift it not,
It is deserved... The God
Is Giver...
أخرج لهم الألقاب والخلع
والإمارة على الخلق
He doth bestow upon them the Titles,
Mantles, and Lordship over creatures.
Al-Jilani
A man can receive nothing, except
it have been given him from heaven.
John 3:27
I am His servant, what to me
He whispers - I submit...
القوم عملوا بما سمعوا فقربهم العمل
إلى الحق عز وجل الذي عملوا له
The men of mysteries do what they hear,
and their deeds, which they make for the sake
of God, majestic is He, bring them nearer
to Him.
Al-Jilani
But who are we?
The fishes, fishes in the Sea...
Without Sea we cannot be;
Wherever wave us carry, we
To the stream give thoroughly
Ourselves, for better knows the Sea
what for us good it be...
But ah...
Henceforth thou - one of us,
But who are we?
We are the ones in shadow hid...
To define us why you try,
Stole all the definitions Brine...
چون بِمُردی تو ز اَوْصافِ بَشَر
بَحْرِ اَسرارَت نَهَد بر فَرقِ سَر
As thou hast died to the features of man,
The mysterious Sea will place thee on His head.
Rumi, Masnavi 2:2848
So many claim to be the fishes-moons,
But where are proofs..?
How can the ghostly boat be seen? -
By names he doth reveal and speech...
For it is all not his, but Sea's...
ولكن يذهب منه ما تعلق بالخلق،
ويبقى منه ما تعلق بالحق
The features of creature in him fade,
but the features of God in him remain.²
Ibn 'Arabi
Upon the shore wayfarer sate,
Upon the shore of lake of cane...
Only the coldness lake reflect;
"The time is late, and vesture wet,
Astray I gone alone among
The fog, ah would I have a garb
Not drenched..." Wayfarer thought...
- But I may offer coat...
Responded night...
"Thou art so kind!"
On having dressed, wayfarer looked
At his reflection, but saw gloom...
وتواجد المريد لتنفيس الكرب،
واجتهاد العابد رغبة في القرب،
وقصد العارف الحكيم بهمته الوصول،
وإنما يتجلى الحق لمن انمحى رسمه،
وزال عنه اسمه
From the grief a seeker sighs,
And a servant toils for proximity;
For the union desires by ardour wise scholar;
But in him, whose outlines faded, and name
disappeared, - in him God manifests...³
Ibn 'Arabi
Although hark! The rain began...
The hills in mist are wan,
And mute... And you
Shall never back perhaps...
I read this in the shadows wet;
Farewell... or máybe? But
This "maybe" fading in the far...
Ah, take a seat
Upon my carpet of Tabriz,
We now depart...
June 2020
Abd Al-Qadir Al-Jilani, The Opening of Lordship
الفتح الرباني والفيض الرحماني
1 Ibn 'Arabi, The Book of Journeys
كتاب الإسفار عن نتائج الأسفار
2 Ibn 'Arabi, The Book of Anqā of the West
كتاب عنقاء مغرب في ختم الأولياء وشمس المغرب
3 Ibn 'Arabi, The Book of the Mantle of Abdāl
كتاب حلية الأبدال
Translations from Arabic and Farsi
by Denis Bezmelnitsin
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