Wisdom from the Sufi Saints

by Anab Whitehouse

The Qur’an described Muhammad as just a man;

While this is true, this is like saying glass is sand.

The latter is lowly … opaque and needs to be

Subjected to fire so as to gain a degree

Of purity through which, God willing, one might see

The truth of what is visible through life’s window.

The Glass-maker took the potential of a clay

Lump, twisting and twirling it for, some say, a day

Between two fingers of Mercy as it became

A jewel of beauty through which creation came,

Via the breath of Kun, and began to proclaim

The message of how to become the mirror’s tain.

‘Die before you die’ he said was a central seed

To instill in our hearts; indeed, this was a deed

That might become a selfless plant of piety

From which fruits of love, prayer, faith and sincerity

Would burst forth as blessings for all humanity

If we’re ready to abandon hypocrisy.

He counseled us to pray without ceasing, to be

perpetually recalling Divinity …

to realize the need for deep humility

and modesty before the Lord of Majesty …

to know that the root of all prayers requires one

to renounce the world of delusion for the One.

He is reported to have said we are asleep,

And when we die we awake from the haunting, deep

Dream of life as we come to intimately know

there is no reality but God … that we owe

everything to Divinity … the One Who sows

more blessings into our lives than oceans have drops.

He has warned us that we may reflect on all things

But not on Allah’s Essence for this surely brings

Nothing but ignorance and arrogance to minds

And hearts that depart from the clearly given signs

Concerning human capacity and inclines

One toward the whispered sweet nothings of deviltry.

‘If you love your Creator, then love creation

First’ are words of value for people of stations

Simple and complex since faith’s completion will not

Take place ‘til we love one another as he taught …

belief won’t be perfected unless we have sought

sincerely for others what we wish for ourselves.

He has told us the Qur’an has an outer sense,

Yet also has levels of hidden meanings; hence,

one should not be too quick to dismiss mysteries

that may only be known by those servants who see,

by the light of God, to the depths of Being’s Sea,

And carry back to the beach-dwellers pearls of Grace.