Lahore. The Wazir Khan Mosque
لہور. مسجد وزیر خان
"I'm a well amid the sedge
With the water hard to fetch,
On the fallen leaves I leave
The inscriptions brief..."
In the branches sang the moon.
Me: I have paper, maybe you
Leave me aught?
Moon: Find the well in hedgéd spot,
Cast in it thy leaf!
Then I felt a chilling whiff,
"From the well..." I felt as if;
And began to seek around...
"Deeper steep in letter Waw!"
Someone said in depth...
Ten o'clock it was, perhaps.
Wrapt in cloak, forth I slid...
"Where does a ranger speed?"
Called the mosque, I turned,
The massive entrance, well adorned,
I see: "Within I have
The couplet coming next..."
The rhyme I followed fast. Amid
The figures shadow greet,
"To the well I may conduct!"
So a circle in the dark
We have made, I can discern
The space, the shapes, and form...
Upon the surface opened lid,
A sombre water was in it.
- As deep I am as past...
Thy leaf of paper cast!
My paper maple leaf into
The well I gently threw...
Erelong emerged the letters red.
- Now take it back:
وقد كان رضي الله عنه يترك الخلوة في بيوت المنارة
المحروسة الكائنة بشرقيّ تونس بساحل البحر وينزل
إلى الرابطة التي في وسط المقابر بقرب المنارة من
جهة بابها وهي تعزى إلى الخضر فسألته عن ذلك
فقال: إن قلبي أجده هنالك أكثر منه في المنارة، وقد
وجدت فيها أنا أيضاً ما قاله الشيخ، وقد علم وليي
أبقاه الله أن ذلك من أجل من يعمر ذلك الموضع
He [Safi], be content with him God, used to
leave his hermitage in minaret¹, which is
situated on the seashore in the eastern
part of Tunis. He descended in place amid
the cemetery, near the minaret, from the side
of its door. This minaret is ascribed
to Khadir. I asked Safi about it, he
replied, "I found my heart in that minaret."
I also found in it, what said the sheikh.
So taught me my master, save him God, that
'tis because of him, who dwells therein.
Ibn 'Arabi
Shadow: We call that magic site -
A spot of frozen shine.
Me: You call thus why?
Shadow: Because it doth transfigure, elevate
Those who partake...
Me: A servitude of each...
Shadow: The site of power enrich:
وما كان من أماكن الصالحين الذين
فنوا عن هذه الدار وبقيت آثارهم في
أماكنهم تنفعل لها القلوب اللطيفة
As for the places of righteous ones,
who left this abode, - there remained
their traces affecting the subtle hearts.
Ibn 'Arabi
Then closed the lid in deepness, on
The square I stand alone;
The walls of mosque around...
Pir: I can prolong the topic, though:
فقد تجد قلبك في مسجد أكثر مما تجده في غيره من
المساجد، وذلك ليس للتراب ولكن لمجالسة الأتراب
أو هممهم، ومن لا يجد الفرق في وجود قلبه بين
السوق والمساجد فهو صاحب حال لا صاحب مقام
If you found thy heart in a mosque more
than in other mosques, - the reason of it
is not material, but the presence of lords,
or their energy. Who doesn't find
difference in the heart between the mart
and the mosque, - he is a man of state,
not the man of rank.
Ibn 'Arabi
Remember that the energy -
According to degree...
For star differs from star in glory.
1 Corinthians 15:41
February 2024
1 منارة - minaret, lighthouse, beacon
Ibn 'Arabi, The Meccan Revelations, Chapter 4
الفتوحات المكية
Translation from Arabic
by Denis Bezmelnitsin
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