Baghdad. The Kahramana
بغداد. كهرمانة
نایبِ رَحْمان خلیفهٔ کِردگار
شهرِ بغداد است از وی چون بَهار
The knight of Rahmān, the vicar of God, -
So many Springs are from thee, the city Baghdad.
Rumi, Masnavi 1:2689
Red and grey, and grey and red, -
Sound one another change, -
Tint of sleep and feeling warm -
Sounds throb upon the wall...
I sit and listen to the play
Of tinctures red and grey...
Half crumbled arch
Seems black from silence which
Does magnetize, entice...
"Another side behind
Me, onlý in silence thou
Can enter, pass..." Without
Words she spoke. - But
Who can pass, reply, the arch...
Arch:
ما لم تخرج من كليتك
لم تدخل في حد المحبة
If out of your allness you haven't come, -
You cannot enter the sphere of love.¹
Abu Ali Al-Ruzbāri
Along the street I freely flow,
Walls on pavement shadow throw;
It rustles underneath the feet...
Into the evening's deep
The street is going slowly, yet
Got heavy shadows; every step
Recoils by noisy sound,
In semi-darkness I see Fount
Of Kahramana, glass
Seems pouring from the vessel lass.
"The keeper 'mid the shadows stray,
Himself as sable shade..."
To me the brazen maiden said...
Me: What the street is it,
O sculpture? Tell me please...
Marjana: Its name "Beyond the Verge",
Thou hast submerged
In the dusk of visions...
Me: Through the arch I've passed...
Marjana: Its name "Fanā"...
I know you know, but hark:
فالفناء هو ذهاب القلب وخروجه من هذا
العالم وتعلقه بالعلى الكبير الذي له البقاء
Fanā - it is fading of heart, and its egress
from this world, and its attachment to
the lofty and greater world, by which
the heart remains.
Abd Al-Kadir Mahmud
Me: This arch in heart?
Marjana: Only the winged spirit can
Fly between the realms,
Both when is pent in vessel, and
When is free...
فالقلبُ مكانٌ للتقليبِ بِمَا
فيه من خزائنِ الغَيْبِ
The heart is a place of circulation of that,
what it has from the treasury of unseen.
Al-Makki
Me: Is this street a fantasy?
Imagination's play maybe?
Marjana:
مَا أَنْتَ بِنِعْمَةِ رَبِّكَ بِمَجْنُونٍ
With the grace of your Lord, you are not
insane.
Qur'an 68:2
But nay...
You stray behind the veil;
All what you see - Reality, but frail...
القلب إذا انقلب صار ملكا يسمع ما
يسمع الملك يعرف ما يعرف الملك
When the heart hath transformed and become
of angel, it hears what angel hears,
it knows what angel knows.
Al-Jilani
Gross and heavy cannot fly,
Neither hear the Peri's sighs...
On this point the logic breaks,
How and Why both rive away...
You cast glance on him, and deem,
But thy deeming from him shrinks...
والجاهل نظر فيه، وانحرف.
والشَّاكُّ تحيَّرَ، وتوقّف.
والظَّانُّ تخيل، وما عرف.
Th' ignorant ponders on him, shrinks,
The doubter becomes confused, and leaves;
The deemer deems, and doesn't understand.²
Ibn 'Arabi
As if wind within, the creature new.
Me: As if in resurrected state,
But still in frame...
Marjana: We call this state "Barzah",
Although hark:
يفنى بذلك وجودهم، حتى إذا أفنى
وجودهم أوجدهم له لا لغيره، أقامهم
معه لا مع غيره، ينشئهم خلقا آخر
Thereby God melts their being, so
when He melted their being and erased,
the God forms them and raise
for Himself, not for another, and
makes them stand with Him, not with
another, thus transforms them God
into another creature.
Al-Jilani
Those who heard the Ocean's din:
Come hither, see...
I am Abyss of meanings, names;
Respond to Me, and be My wave,
By Me you will remain
As mystery within the Mystery...
Me: And they answered Him...
Marjana: And were stolen from the shore,
And were clad in mantle odd, -
Mantle of the Ocean deep...
باش، تا حسهای تو مُبْدَل شود
تا ببینیشان و مُشکل حَل شود
Proceed until thy senses changed,
And you will see them, hardship then will fade.
Rumi, Masnavi 1:1042
If you will see them in a dream, -
'Tis sign that one of them you be;
This you shall feel...
فإنه آخر موجود حساً
وأول موجود نَفْساً
The last being is sensitive,
the first being is of carnal soul.³
Ibn 'Arabi
Of carnal soul and fleshly mind -
The creature weak and blind;
Another creature - sensitive -
The spirit seeing, hearing be...
And for the last about the path:
التصوف هو أن يميتك الحق
عنك، ويحييك به
Mysticism Sufi it is when
God dissolves you from you,
and revives thee for Himself.¹
Al-Junayd
June 2020
1 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
Abd Al-Qadir Mahmud, The Studies of the Philosophy
of Religion, Sufism, and Science
دراسات في الفلسفة الدينية والصوفية والعلمية
Abu Talib Al-Makki, The Sustenance of Hearts 1
قوت القلوب في معاملة المحبوب
Abd Al-Qadir Al-Jilani, The Opening of Lordship
الفتح الرباني والفيض الرحماني
2 Ibn 'Arabi, The Book of Cleaving the Breast
with the Knowledge Arcane
كتاب شق الجيب بعلم الغيب
3 Ibn 'Arabi, The Book of Anqā of the West
كتاب عنقاء مغرب في ختم الأولياء وشمس المغرب
Translations from Arabic and Farsi
by Denis Bezmelnitsin
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