Neyshabur. The Guest from Tabriz
نیشابور. مهمان از تبریز
Olden cot, and snow around -
Round is written on the sheet...
Three have met on paper, how?
That in "maybe" deep is hid...
On the wooden table lamp,
In the shade in frame calligraphy...
Shadow hides, and light attempts
Still to understand, to read...
Ethiopian coffee, clock
Without hour hand...
On the plate a cake is brought,
Everywhere - books of eld...
Frozen beam on window, left
By the passing moon...
Nine implies the clock; the guest
Opened up his book...
Scholar: But let me introduce
You to my friend: man this -
Azeri master from Tabriz.
Lord of Tabriz: Let you be first to speak...
Scholar: Gladly:
والخَضِر ونظراؤه من العارفين، إنما هم
خزائنُ للحق، ومواضعُ لمجارى الأحكام
والقُدْرَةِ فيهم، إذ كانوا أفعالهم وحركاتهم
به ومنه، وهم أهل البلاء
Khadir and his compeers among
the scholars - they are the treasuries
of God, the vessels of His decrees
and might. Their deeds and actions are
by Him and from Him. They are
the men of suffering.
Al-Makki
How to find the moon eclipsed?
Look for the shine mystíc...
But where is it?
- Upon the mirrors standing near...
لأنه من أغمض المعلومات الوقوف
في كل زمانٍ فرد على استعداد
الشخص في ذلك الزمان
There is the knowledge most arcane
in each period of time, which reveals itself
in accordance with the readiness of man
in that period of time.¹
Ibn 'Arabi
And if the God
Will find you ready, then
His moon will find thy bark himself.
سمعت أبا عثمان المغربي يقول:
من ظن أن يفتح له شيء من
هذه الطريقة، أو يكشف له شيء
منها إلا بلزوم المجاهدة فهو في غلط
I heard Abu Uthman Al-Maghribi was saying:
Who deems that anything of this way
to be unveiled, revealed to him without travail, -
then he is in error.
Al-Qushayri
Me: Is there any hidden key?
Scholar: Every Name of Sea
Is grateful.
صَبر کُن بر کارِ خِضری بی‌‌نِفاق
تا نگوید خِضْر رو هذا فِراق‌‌ْ
Be patient with Khidr whate'er he does,
Lest he will say, "'Tis parting, ah!"
Rumi, Masnavi 1:2975
And so, the turn to speak
For my colleague...
Lord of Tabriz: Tonight for you
Some pages from my book:
الَّذِي خَلَقَكَ فَسَوَّاكَ فَعَدَلَكَ
فِي أَيِّ صُورَةٍ مَا شَاءَ رَكَّبَكَ
He Who created thee, then formed thee,
then straightened thee;
In whatever image He willed
He composed thee.
Qur'an 82:7,8
Alif - in the beginning of
Everything is God.
The square - embodiment - this world -
Place of becoming, growth -
Riddle - place of symbols, signs.
Snail in the shell - by Word a soul
Comes into being, receives a form -
From night dream into multitude...
In the shell - apparitions of names -
Innate gifts - as if not be -
Some entity...
Capacity -
Potention of the genus, gift
Of God for servitude...
Two horns of snail -
Mind and sense -
Intelligence and heart.
Obelisks to find -
Messengers of heart, and messengers of mind.
Riddle: The hand is drawing way,
Upon it moats and gates:
For every gate - a moat,
In every gate - three locks.
Three keys for it:
Exertion, patience, modesty.
Answer: The gate - degree of perfection, rank.
The moat - trial, hardship, test.
To overcome the moat -
By knowledge, patience, and creative word.
Riddle: On passing through the gate
What shall you gain?
Answer: New gate, or name...
Weariness, and sand, and broken clock -
Punishment, the loss of road.
Sin and crime -
Breaking of Image, loss of names, loss of time.
Sleeping kingdom - souls
Motionless and coarse.
Motion, going - changing, transformation, growth.
Offering to God -
Gratitude and deeds.
Riddle: There are many a place -
In each place - estate -
A ladder within it -
Some downward doth go,
And some upward. Resolve!
Answer: For each place - the way of nurture:
Earthly - lowering - base.
Heavenly - elevating - noble.
For each place - the dwellers, they
Are expression of their way.
Sign: For each mystery - manifestation.
Riddle: The clime each has
Its own chest...
Answer: For each clime -
Its own mystery,
And words concealing it.
Sign: God made a puzzle out of climes, -
Who shall resolve, who'll try?
Sign:
What is the word?
- The changer of the soul.
Alcuin
The dignity of place -
From belonging to it Names,
And sites of power.
The goal of road -
Proximity to God -
The sacred ibis - Name
Of God and Gate.
The sacred ibis - he
Unfathomable sea...
The creature new.
Riddle: Mirror, mirror, what in you?
- You...
Answer:
آن یکی را روی او شد سویِ دوست
وان یکی را رویِ او خود روی اوست
Who turned his face to the Beloved,
Lo, his face - the face of the Beloved become.
Rumi, Masnavi 1:314
Beholding the beloved -
Absorbing the qualities of the beloved.
Riddle: The pearl I am and beam,
To me, to me your prism bring!
Thy land with ray I shall bedye...
But some in me see only blight.
Answer:
Ye are the salt of the Earth.
Matthew 5:13
The Gate doth stand
Between God and men, inviting them.
The Name doth spread o'er land
The cope of heaven, thus
The land profane becomes
Heavenly -
Partakes in mysteries.
The warders of the Sleeping kingdom keep
The sleep of the dead,
"Don't wake the dead!"
Sign: God elevates
By means of Names.
The lord of sphere -
The Name who reared
The cope of heaven.
فحارت العين إلى درة
تقول إعجاباً إلى الشمس مه
فأين ولا أين في علمه
وكيف ولا كيف في حكم مه
At the pearl ye peer,
To the sun ye stunned shout, "Hush!"
"But where?" - There is no "where" in the knowledge His.
"But how?" - There is no "how" in wisdom, hush!²
Ibn 'Arabi
December 2021
Abu Talib Al-Makki, The Sustenance of Hearts 2
قوت القلوب في معاملة المحبوب
1 Ibn 'Arabi, The Seals of Wisdom
فصوص الحكم
2 Ibn 'Arabi, The Book of Nocturnal Journey
كتاب الإسرا إلى مقام الأسرى
Abu Al-Qāsim Al-Qushayri, The Epistle on Sufism
الرسالة القشيرية
Translations from Arabic and Farsi
by Denis Bezmelnitsin
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