For the Mawlid 1441/2019 Chorus: صلاة ربّي مع السلام على الحبيب سيّد الكيان Ṣalaatu rabbi ma‘ as-salaami ‘alā’l-ḥabeebi seyyidil-Kiyaani حمداً لربّي لمن يربّ كلّ الانام و قد كافان ḥamdan li rabbi li man yurabbi kullal-anaami wa qad kafaani Praise be to my Lord for the one who cares for All creatures, and has sufficed…
al-Tilimsānī: Loving you is a gilded religion
Some beautiful poems of Ibn ‘Arabi’s Maghrebi student, ‘Afīf al-Dīn al-Tilimsānī: Translation: I have, in loving you, a golden religion and a quest like it as a goal I became a slave well-pleased with what pleases you, having neither hope nor fear When the cup of your saki appears I am the first to drink…
Night
“The Night” by Henry Vaughan … There is in God, some say, A deep but dazzling darkness, as men here Say it is late and dusky, because they See not all clear. O for that night! where I in Him Might live invisible and dim!…
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: Glances of Love
Two of my favorite Nusrat classics, Tumhein Dillagi Bhool and Mast Naszron Say illuminate each other nicely: Tumhein dillagi bhool Translation (modified from Sur Street) and transliteration: Chorus: Tumhein dillagi bhool jani pare gi Tumhein dillagi bhool jani pare gi Muhabbat ki raahon mein aa kar to dekho You will have to forget about playing…
When I die—Rumi and al-Ghazali
Two of the most beautiful death-bed poems from two great Sufis. I pray to live in such a way that someone will recite these at my burial. Rumi Translation: When my bier moveth on the day of death Think not my heart is in this world. Do not weep for me and cry “woe, woe!”…
Rumi—Awake! Enter the Cave!
Translation: Awake, awake, the time has come, awake! Without union with him, forsake yourself, forsake! The heavenly decree has arrived, the healer of lovers has arrived, If you want him to visit you, become sick, become sick! Without a trace, without a doubt, he’ll make you rosy-faced He’ll pluck out the thorn from you hand,…
What is this drunkeness?
A current favorite Ghazal of Hafez, a sublime wedding of melody and meanings Translation: I known not what this drunkenness is that to us he brought and who is the Saqi and from where is this wine that he brought? What tune is this musician playing so skillfully that in the midst of his song,…
Loving TaHa is Delightful
One of my favorite poems in praise of the Prophet, from Mauritania: Translation (a bit of liberty taken to approximate the metre of the original poem): Loving TaHa is delightful…How lovely is that Great Noble! He’s the treasure of creation, and to all goodness, a doorway And he’s peace and our protection, and he’s food…
Thank God the tavern is open
One of Hafez’s most musical and delightful ghazals: Translation: Thank God the tavern door is finally open for I’ve pressed my face to its door in need The wine vats are gushing and roaring drunk And that wine here is real and not metaphorical He is all drunkenness, pride, and arrogance we are all…