One my favorite stories from the Masnavi, its dialectic is brilliant and dizzying… Translation: How Moses, on whom be peace, took offence at the prayer of the shepherd. 1720. Moses saw a shepherd on the way, who was saying, “O God who choosest (whom Thou wilt), Where art Thou, that I may become Thy servant and…
Hamza el-Din—Desse Barama
One of my favorite songs from one of my favorite artists: Translation: The world shines about me, luminous as the moon, smiling like a rose, and a sweet benediction flows through everything existing. How beautiful life is. I marvel at people who are not in love with life. You, my girl, are beautiful, and your…
Yoruba poetry in praise of Olodumare
The remarkable Mayowa Adeyemo performs a powerful poem in praise of Olodumare, the Supreme Deity. Original: Odíderé ayékòótá máa wolè máràba Odéderé ayébòútó máa wolè máràba oò ri’ báyé nwá doríto dò tó dobúépo ọmọ ò gbọ́ tí baba mo, baba ò gbó dimọ má, aya ò gbọ́ lọkọ mo gbogbo rè wá polúkúrámusu…
The River of Love
One of the most popular and beautiful verses of the wonderful Amir Khusrau… Khusrau darya prem ka, ulti wa ki dhaar, Jo utra so doob gaya, jo dooba so paar. Oh Khusrau, the river of love Runs in strange ways. One who enters it drowns, And one who drowns, gets across. it is popularly performed alongside…
Hafez and Basho
Basho A strange flower for birds and butterfliesthe autumn sky Glorious the moon . . . therefore our thanks dark clouds Come to rest our necks The first day of the year: thoughts come – and there is loneliness; the autumn dusk is here. None is travelling Here along this way but I,…
Basho on poetry
“What is important is to keep our mind high in the world of true understanding, and, returning to the world of our daily experience, to seek therein the truth of beauty. No matter what we may be doing at a given moment, we must not forget that it has a bearing upon our everlasting self…
Whoever tastes the flavour of our drink…
A well-known and oft-quoted Sufi classic by the 14th C Egyptian poet, Ibn bint Mayliq Whoever tastes the flavour of the drink of the people knows it and whoever becomes aware of it tomorrow [the Day of Resurrecton] will give his soul for it Even if he risked his spirits, and sacrificed them with every blink of the…
The end of Surah Baqarah
The final two verses of the second, and longest, Surah of the Quran are among its most beautiful and touching, as you can see and hear below http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdrAd5QiPgg (285) The Messenger believeth in that which hath been revealed unto him from his Lord and (so do) believers. Each one believeth in God and His angels…
TaHa
Wonderful calligraphy and a beautiful recitation of these verses… In the Name of God, the All-Merciful, the Compassionate TaHa We have not sent down the Quran unto you that you may be distressed, but as a reminder to him who fears A revelation from He who created the earth and the heavens on high The…
Andalusian Love songs: Shushtari and Camaron
The poems of the Andalusian Sufi, Abu’l-Hasan Shushtari (d. 1269) parallel and perhaps indirectly influenced some of my favorite Flamenco lyrics. Compare this pair of songs: Your love for me is not a fantasy However much they forbid that I love you, like a jib to the water I will resist. Only your tender love…