Maghrebi - Sufi poem

At the moment we saw your sun, we left all particles of dust behind us
On account of that Essence we left all attributes behind us.

All the world is but a stage, displaying the signs of Being
So we have left the search of these signs behind us.

Do not talk to us about revelations and miracles
As we have left such talk behind us.

Do not boast about your many mystic states and stations
As we have left these states and stations behind us.

We have escaped from the Sufi centres, monasteries and convents
As we have been liberated from litanies and we left time behind us.

We have fled from school, lessons and discourses
As we have left obscurities, doubts and questions behind us.

And the ka’ba, the idol temple, the Christian cincture and the cross
And the wine shop and the lane to the tavern of ruin, we have left it all behind us.

We spent some time as an ascetic in our retreat
But even the seven heavens, seen in true dreams, we have left it all behind us.

We saw it all in our sleep and in our imagination,
So like true men, this sleep and imagination, we left it all behind us.

O, shaykh! If this is all you have realised in the field of perfection,
Then rest at ease, as this perfection, we left it all behind us.

All of this is nothing more than difficulties on our path;
These difficulties, thanks to God, we left it all behind us.

We in our search of lights, yes, even the most oriental of all lights:
Maghrebi, the ‘glittering star’, and the ‘niche’, we left it all behind us.

~~~

 

 Maghrebi, a Sufi of the 14th century, who expressed in poetical terms what Ibn al-‘Arabi taught in his many books, recited the following poem for his murshed Isma’il Sisi. He was delighted by the poem and praised his disciple for composing it. The Persian text comes from A Critical Edition of the Divan of Muhammad Shirin Maghribi; ed. By Leonard Lewisohn; Tehran and London; ghazal 122; pp. 253-4.