How glorious this little human heart, ailing in this love and refusing to recover, though everything in this creation is offered at her feet…
When I was rid of all that was below the divine, I called myself, and I heard my Lord respond, and I knew I had left my animal qualities behind — I then honored the One who had summoned me, and obeyed, and becoming an intimate, was allowed to enter and worship in the oneness of truth.
Angels then sang my praises and I roamed pastures of beauty. A light appeared, and within it, I beheld the Abode of Truth. And by the time I reached it, of me was left nothing.
I found my Beloved where I could not find myself. In my heart I heard, “What I emptied you from, stay empty of — for I am that living, who never dies. And I will give you that life in which death has no place.”
Beloved, take me to that station where you are, and I am not.
My Lord said, “I shall forgive creatures of earth and heavens, but those who claim nearness to Me, I will not spare.” And I said, “Be it as it may, regrets — you will find none here. Let the dice fall where they may, for I shall withdraw nothing I have claimed.”
The Beloved says, “I am the road you travel, and I too am the host that receives you. When you speak, I hear. When you think, I know… When you flee from me, I am your refuge. When you seek refuge, I am your shelter. Your prayers I receive, and your hopes I fulfill… I am with you in desolation, and I am with you in your elation… Be therefore here, now, in this presence.”
Lord, I want to be with You, to appear in every creature as You. Or to sink and disappear in You without a trace. Of love a sign was given my heart, but I found no one in creation intimate enough to share it with.
Don’t be meek in this love, be kind to people. Receive the wisdom of the Prophet’s teachings, but don’t be meek in this love — for God is bold, and likes those who are bold in adoration. This path is for the bold, the drunkard and the lunatic. With God, lunacy, drunkeness and boldness works.
I do not tell you not to put in effort, but you need to remember who the doer is. You can trade only with God’s capital, and when you offer it in return, you are taken in as one returning home. In the beginning you have God only, and so it will be at the end. And in the middle, there is none else.
One who claims this place as theirs, won’t find their way there.
Traversing mountains in vain, some develop callouses on their feet. But those who are admitted first have to develop callouses on their buttocks. Many interpret The Holy Book, lovers interpret themselves.
One bewildered in this love is like unto a bird which leaves its nest in search of grain. And having found none, cannot find its way back into its nest.
Under this skin, there’s an ocean. When grace blows, and this misty intimacy awakens, it rains — and creation, from head to foot, is drenched in love. The beloved whispered this into my heart: “That self, which you seek, never had an existence to begin with. This journey is from God to God — created beings cannot embark on this. All creation can fit in Me, but I can’t find a trace of myself anywhere.”
Choose surrender and your journey home will be short. One’s heart is an ocean, and one’s tongue is the shore. One finds traces of what is in the ocean on the shore.
I blossomed and brought forth myself, like a branch brings forth flowers in the spring. I am quiet. To be in presence, and to speak, is shameful.
This pain, in the lover’s heart, is not for the sky — for it will collapse. It is not for the earth, for it will sink. And it is not for the angels, for they’ll lose forbearance and fall.
I turned into dust and an immense wind filled the seven skies with me. And I was nowhere to be found.
I do not say that there’s no hell or heaven, but know that they are phenomenons. And here, where I reside with my Beloved — there is no phenomenon.
I begged for salvation, and found it in solitude. I asked for safety, and found it in silence.
I began in this place of uttering, hearing and knowing; but once I sank in the ocean within, I was taken out of all such flea markets.
Paths to God can’t be counted. There as many roads to It as there are humans. I was shown the path of longing and told, “This is a heavy load, not everyone can bear it.”
A time will come when you will behold your heart as a flame in the ocean. A flame will appear from this wave that will burn both your body and your heart to ashes. The tree of fidelity will be nourished by these ashes. And when you partake of the fruit of it, your heart will be quenched, and you will disappear in Oneness…
When one is filled with the Almighty, from the hair on the head to the bottom of their feet, everything in them and on them gives witness to the Presence, and their very breath proclaims ‘Allah!’
The soul is like unto a bird, one of whose wings fills the west, the other the east — its feet are in this lower creation. But its head is in a place of which nothing can be said.