Month: November 2022

Rumi: Fire rains down

      Translation: If the soul of a lover spoke, fire would rain down on this world    smashing this baseless world like atoms The Sky will burst, time and space torn to shreds      A passion fills the world, Joy triumphs over death. The Sun falls short, as the inner light glows …

Amazing Ghazal of Rumi

Another great translation from Prof. Nicholas Boylston… Translation: At every breath the song of love Arrives to us from left and right We’re setting out to the celestial sphere Who has the guts to come with us? The celestial sphere was once our home We were the friends of angels there We go again to…

Rumi—It’s a lie!

Wonderful ghazal, wonderfully translated by Prof Nicholas Boylston: Translation: They say, “The king of love has no loyalty.” It’s a lie. They say, “The morning does not lead to eve.” It’s a lie. They say, “Why do you kill yourselves for the sake of love? After the annihilation of the body nothing remains.” It’s a…

Yunus Emre-The Watermill

Thanks to Serdar Kiliç for introducing me to this poem and translating it: Translation Why do you groan, O Watermill; For I’ve troubles, I groan I fell in love with the Lord; For It do I groan They found me on a mountain; My arms and wings they plucked Saw me fit for a watermill;…

Baba Zahin Shah Taji

I was recently introduced to this amazing 20th-century Urdu Sufi poet and scholar (he translated and Ibn al-‘Arabi’s Fuṣūṣ al-Hikam and Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya and al-Ḥallāj’s Kitāb al-Ṭawāsīn into Urdu) in these beautiful translations by Amer Latif from this article: Latif, Amer. “Ẕahīn Shāh Tājī’s (d. 1978) Signs of Beauty (Āyāt-i Jamāl).” Journal of Sufi Studies…