Wednesday, July 4, 2012

The banishment and return of Adam and his progeny


Tomorrow, Adam will go into paradise with his children. A
cry will rise up from all the particles of paradise because of the
crowding. The angels of the World of Sovereignty will look
with wonder and say, “Is this that same man who moved out
of paradise a few days ago in poverty and indigence?”

“Adam, bringing you out of paradise was a curtain over this
business and a covering over the mysteries, for the loins of your
good fortune were the ocean of the one-hundred-twenty and
some thousand pearls of prophethood. Suffer a bit of trouble,
then in a few days, take the treasure!”

- Ahmad Samani

From Sufism A Beginner's Guide by William Chittick

Posted from this book before, but it is just this good that it deserves a re-post.

In honor of the most honorable of mankind


Any house in which you dwell
Does not need lamps
- Shibli


A thousand times do I wash my mouth with musk and rosewater
And still, to speak your name is absolute impudence
- Urfi


Love of the Prophet runs like blood in the veins of the community
- Iqbal

Translations by Annemarie Schimmel


Ecstatic verses translated by Annemarie Schimmel


Leave grammar and snytax to the people;
I study the Beloved!
Qadi Qadan of Sindh (d. 1551)

The mullahs have made me read lessons,
They have not gone beyond the alif!
- Bulleh Shah

Oh waterwheel, why do you wail?
My greif I wail, my pain I wail.
I fell in love with God my Lord.
And that is why I weep and wail.
They found me on a mountain top;
They broke my arms, they broke my limbs,
They used my wood to build this wheel:
My grief I wail, my pain I wail.
- Sultan Bahu