Baghdad. Talk with the Shadows
قال: أرق إلى حضرة أوحى
أناجيك فيها بما يكون، وأهب
لك بها سر القلم والنون
He said: To the presence of inspiration arise!
I shall whisper to thee in it what is, I
Shall bestow upon you
The mystery of pen and the Nun.¹
Ibn 'Arabi
Mirror, mirror, smoking glass,
Shadows nine from nine o'clock
Have emerged beside, I ask,
Tell me, tell me place of lock...
- Shadows nine around ask,
But not loud, aloud not!
In the Name of Word, what do
Ye conceal, O shadows, say...
- Mystery of letter Nun ن
Answered in a whisper they.
Me: So inaudibly you speak,
Like the quivering leaves in mist...
Shadows:
و أصوات وراء الباب لكن
عبارات الورى في القرب همس
And the voices behind the door, because the
Words of behind in proximity whisper be.
Al-Hallaj, Poem 4
Thou art a shadow too,
With us whisper evening this,
And we shall give riddles Who...
Me: But Who is..?
Shadows:
إلى الذي عن سُئلتُ عنه
رمزت رمزاً و لم اسمّي
To the One if asked I will be who He is,
I shall riddle a secret and call not Name of His.
Al-Hallaj, Poem 7
Me: Concealed abyss -
Which was, which is...
The shadows moveless on the wall:
"Remove the pall..."
Me:
〈وَاللَّيْلِ〉 أي: أُقسم بالليل؛
مرتبة العماء الإلهي
"And by the Night" namely "I swear by
the Night" - the level of divine darkness.
Al-Jilani
Shadows: And the dot upon the pot? ن
Me:
In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
John 1:1
Shadows: And we whisper - One Alif,
Riddle written is...
والنون الدواة التي في اللام ...
والراء للقدرة وهو القلم
And the Nun is ink-pot in the Lam which is; and...
The Ra is power, and it is pen.²
Ibn 'Arabi
But said Alif,
"The Nun and Lam are Me."
Believest thou not that I am in
the Father, and the Father in me?
John 14:10
I and the Father are one.
John 10:30
On the watch is almost ten,
Ten are shadows here; we
In the coming hour shall
Riddle by the riddle give...
To the whisper listen, letters
Are reflecting in the mirror,
Into nebula they gather,
Dissipate and disappear...
By the gridded window curtain
Doesn't cast a shadow; Pending
Question "Why?" - forgotten,
Watch is ticking, figure standing
In the midst of shadows moveless
Onward stepped, the rest are still.
Still is ray on reddish wooden
Floor, before me Sheikh with key of steel.
Sheikh: The keys we've given to this room,
But door is oaken and well sealed;
The room of letter Nun ن,
And yet the main key...
قال روزبهان: «النون»: هو الذات،
و «القلم»: الصفات
Ruzbihan said: "The Nun": it is entity,
and "The pen": attributes.
November 2022
1 Ibn 'Arabi, The Book of Nocturnal Journey
كتاب الإسرا إلى مقام الأسرى
2 Ibn 'Arabi, The Meccan Revelations, Chapter 5
الفتوحات المكية
Mansur Al-Hallaj, Diwan
ديوان الحلاج
Abd Al-Qadir Al-Jilani, The Commentary on Qur'an:
Sura "The Splitting Open", "The Pen"
تفسير الجيلاني: سورة الانشقاق، سورة القلم
Translation from Arabic
by Denis Bezmelnitsin
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