Return to Konya
بازگشت به قونیه
In the air yelled the mew,
"Konya calling back the wind..."
In the river reed, "Adieu!" -
Drops reflection dim...
By the shore I saw a boat,
"Two dinars I have with me,
Angler, sell me, sell me aught!"
"What?" Responded he.
"The reflection of your boat
On the water, sell me this!"
"It's a deal!" The fisher said.
Into the reflection stepped
I then, began to flow...
Fisher: Witchery, methinks, it is,
Or the spot I chose unfit to fish...
Semi-word in semi-sound -
In my prow I am afloat,
Drifting we the river down,
The delusion, almost nought...
From my scrip the mirror smoking
I have pulled and put on board.
- I am glass enchanted, fróm me
Thou wantest what?
Me: Counsel from the lord of place.
Sheikh: Something yet unsaid on Way
For the seaman leading, hark:
وقال: قبل الملك ما أعطاه اللوح،
وقبل اللوح ما جرى به القلم،
وجرى القلم بتصريف اليمين،
وتصرف اليمين عن القدرة والقدرة
مبعوث الإرادة وترجمان القول
He said: Before the rank of angel
he won't be given the tablet.
Before the tablet thereon won't inscribe
the pen. The Hand writes from the right -
it is from the power desire awaking,
and interpretation of Word.
Ibn 'Arabi
Raven, raven, give me wings...
- From the magic well ye drink!
- Tell me, tell me, where is it?
- In retreat...
وعن المسيح: لا تجالسوا الموتى
فتَقْسُوا قلوبُكم. قيلَ: ومن الموتى؟
قال: طالِبوا الدنيا المحبُّون لها
From Jesus: Don't sit with the dead,
lest your hearts become gross!
He was asked, "But who is the dead?"
He replied, "Those loving and seeking this world."
Al-Makki
Lord: The mirrors who prepared, that
I may look by night, and cast
My reflection? Yet instead -
Only heap of riven glass...
ويقال: ما آتى الله تعالى عبداً علماً
إلا آتاه معه حِلماً وتواضعاً وحُسْنَ
خلق ورفقاً، ذلك علامة العلم النافع
'Tis said: Before giving knowledge
the God, exalted is He, gives to a servant
the modesty, mildness and kindness,
good temper. - It is the mark of
useful knowledge.
Al-Makki
Letter better which to choose
To engrave upon the ring?
In array of letters Nun ن, -
"The most enigmatic - me!"
Hint:
وَعَلَّمْنَاهُ مِنْ لَدُنَّا عِلْماً
And had taught him knowledge
from Our own.
Qur'an 18:65
And the last way-mark I put -
Runic stone before we part:
إِنَّ رَبَّكَ لَبِالْمِرْصَادِ
Verily your Lord is in the ambuscade.
Qur'an 89:14
"Ambuscade" we may describe -
It is hide...
وعن الصادق رضي الله عنه قال:
المرصاد: قنطرة على الصراط لا
يجوزها عبد بمظلمة عبد
From Al-Sādiq, be content with him God:
"Ambuscade" - the bridge on the road, -
never cross it a servant of wrongdoing.
Mohsen Feiz Kashani
Then I felt the burst of cold,
Someone said, "Be ready now!"
From the wind the mirror froze,
"We shall try thy weapon, thou
Get ready for the fight!" In front
Of me the man in mantle said.
The prayer then I uttered thus
In Arabíc, appeared in my hand
The sabre; prayer next of flame
I uttered in Farsí, unique
Appeared blade...
"Not bad although!" Smiling he
Said, and crushed asunder both
With one hit.
The Hooded one: Ha! The sword forged of the same
Material you need as my
Spear has been made
Of to endure my strike.
April 2023
Ibn 'Arabi, The Book of the Seeing
كتاب الشاهد
Abu Talib Al-Makki, The Sustenance of Hearts 2,1
قوت القلوب في معاملة المحبوب
Mohsen Feiz Kashani, The Pure Commentary on Qur'an:
Sura "The Dawn"
الصافي في تفسير القرآن: سورة الفجر
Translation from Arabic
by Denis Bezmelnitsin
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