How Do I Draw THEE, O' Love!

Tell me, O' Darling...
How do I appeal to Thee, my Love!

Rescue

Abu Ya ‘la Dailami and Ibn Asakir narrated: Abu Hurairah and Anas Ibn Malik said: Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) said: 

"Allah loves rescuing the one who needs rescue."

Thoughts Became Reality

... and lost all that glow.

O Allah, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

I Think ...

• The greatest trial of man comes not through the heavens, but through another human.
• The perfection of physics of a stand alone system does not guarantee its success, unless it is chemically balanced too.
• When you are to anchor, anchor to One who is sure to not blink on you. Otherwise, don't anchor.
• Its not on the map.  Your Rock of Gibraltar rises strongest within yourself.

The Stink Of The Rot

Life can bring you across many spineless individuals: Any form, shape, or size. But never, I repeat, NEVER try to think that you have known the extent of lowness one can reach. Some people are so blessed with the ability to surprise you each time you come across them; by stooping to a depth you couldn't believe hitherto existed!

To The Parcae

Today I treat you with the beauties I indulged in without a keep...  Lavish exquisiteness!

"To the Parcae" 

by Friedrich Hölderlin

A single summer grant me, great powers, and

a single autumn for fully ripened song

that, sated with the sweetness of my

playing, my heart may more willingly die.

The soul that, living, did not attain its divine

right cannot repose in the nether world.

But once what I am bent on, what is

holy, my poetry, is accomplished:

Be welcome then, stillness of the shadows’ world!

I shall be satisfied though my lyre will not

accompany me down there. Once I

lived like the gods, and more is not needed.

Translated from German by Walter Kaufmann

The charm knows no bounds when this haunting poem has the background sound of this gem from Bob Dylan: Lay Down Your Weary Tune 

PS:

these helped certain rediscovering of self too...

Moirai, it is. Do I claim much? ;)

Aath Pehr Ki Mazdoori

"Khuda karay tujhay ishq ho jaey!" baabay ki iss phitkaar par us nay murr kay peechay dekha.

"Ye bad-dua di hai tum nay mujhay?"

"Haan"

Wo muskuraya. "Bechara!" he thought, "Saeen loag hai na, sakht bud-dua nahi day sakta kisi ko.... "

Baba qehqaha laga kar hansa. "kha lay, kha lay... tu bhi tarass kha lay ... "Ye aj teri khoraak hai, kal kisi aur ki ho gi.

"jab iss alaoo main sulgay ga na, tab iss khoraak say taa'ib ho ga.

"Ye jo teray qadmon ki masti hai na, ye jo teri aankhon main khumaar hai, isko aik dhonkni lagni hai ishq ki, aur tera sara wajood rakh ki tarah hawa main bikharay ga.

"Zarra zarra!

"Kuch purza part nahi bachay ga ... Khud kay liay bacha rakh ye tarass!"

"Interesting! Baba seems to have had a jolt".

Perhaps his talking thoughts talked too loud for baba's ears. He seemed to have heard them again!

"Yeah, jolt! Tell me young man, what's the strongest jolt that you've had? Cocaine doesn't count!"

He seemed to jump out of his skin. This was turning into quite an experience! 

His mind asked him to take a good look at his addressee again, but his locked eyes couldn't seem to leave their red stringed captive.

"That's it. Hash, too, at times."

"Hahaha... yani Newtonian physics hi rahi teri, relativity pe nahi gaya!

"Meray bachay! ye jo isqh ki free fall hoti hai na, ye zero Gravity main hoti hai! 

"Zero G samajhta hai?"

Baabay nay aankhain band kar kay jaisay khud hi aalam-e khayal main uss free fall ka maza lia.

The finance guru's eyes never left the baba's face.

"Teri ego, mitti kay maadho ki tarah girti hai towards the object of your desire. 

"Ye hoti hai Free Fall!

"But no matter with what gravity it accelerates towards the object, it always misses the object due to tangential inertias! Yeh hoti hai zero G main free fall.

"Ishq."

Baba stopped short.

"Khuaari. Mitti paleed!"

"Yani hath kuch nahi ata? Loss-Loss?"

Ray-ban clad eyes asked.

"Na yaar!

"Dunya hi tab milti hai!

"Jab apnay cheethray urtay hain na, tab apni confinement khatam hoti hai. Tab dooee ko maut aati hai. You reach the realms of beyond... Beyond!"

"Beyond kia hai?"

"Allah!"

"Faida?" Calculators never stop working, you see.

"Faiday nuqsaan main itni jaldi parr gaya tou bik gaya tera sauda!

"Risk Management nahi parhi tu nay?

"Zaat kay khoal say niklay ga tou Aur kuch nazar aey ga

"Ye jo metamorphosis caterpillar ko butterfly banata hai na, ye tujhay bhi banda bana sakta hai. Aur jis din tu banda ban gaya, us din universe and anti-universe, both would be your domain!

"Iss pyalay ko dekh." Baabay nay raizgaari wala kaasa ulta diya. Footpath par duur tak raizgaari kay sikkay kisi government school say chhutti kay waqt niklay bachoN kay shareer hajoom ki tarah, shor machatay, bikhartay chalay gaey.

His gaze followed the rolling coins. Baabay ki aawaaz hathori ki thoak ki tarah uski sama'at say takraee:

"It's this beggar's bowl that I've the entire cosmos within. Along with the Beloved!

"How about that for "Faida"? "

Baabay nay aankhain phir say band kar leen.

"Enough", he thought and traced his steps back.

"One thing more, son..." Babay nay awaz di.

"Ishq aath pehr ki mazdoori hai...

 "Faida nuqsaan maapnay main khoTi mat karna!"

[Seven years later, part ii of this story has been uploaded as سوں تیری سوہنیاں. Do check it out. :)
If the theme interests you, another story مستاں may also be an enjoyable read. :) ]

... Thus.

If you are ingrate- behold, God has no need of you; none the less, He does not approve of ingratitude in His servants: whereas, if you show gratitude, He approves it in you.

39:7 Al Quran

D

And most certainly We shall try you all, so that. We might mark out those of you who strive hard [in Our cause] and are patient inadversity: for We shall put to a test [the truth of) all your assertions.

47:31 AlQuran

Re: Unwinding Self

Click on the link below to know where is the Aleph!

This is where I am again... in search of my Point of Origin!

On 14th August: For The Heartless, Homeless

I wrote the following lines more than a year back at Chowk.com in reply to a barge of posts that contained nothing but venom for everything green under the sun! I felt angry and hurt. 

Today, its the 14th of August - the 64th Independence Day for Pakistan and going through the reaction of many of my country men, I think it would be best to share this post here as well.

I feel the same today.

Pakistan might not be the best place to live. But so is your home. There's always a dandier place, a fancier retreat! But you don't ditch your home, or do you? You don't keep cursing it for your own short comings, or do you?

Home is where the heart is, they say. 

May be these lines address the heartless, homeless lot.

In more than one ways this is intriguingly ironic and disturbingly real that we have among us quite a bunch of low esteem self loathing pathetic individuals whose only achievement in life seems to be an over bloated hatred for anything and everything that serves them a reminder of their originality (if they have any) and roots. 

Places DO NOT make people, its people who make the places. For a place to become a hell hole, the entire burden of (dis)credit belongs to the thankless lot of parasites that are no more than leeches sucking of blood from the feeble source we call home. It is unfortunate that the ones contributing the least, suffusing their pitless bellies with foreign currencies are the flag bearers of hateful banters, which to them is their more than fair share of contribution for making this country a better place to live!

I feel disgusted at this display of utter brazenness with which they disown this land after using every possible resource on her bosom. Thankless suckling creatures that make the oldest profession on earth seem a shame in contrast to their lack of shame.

Please, by all means, keep on being blind to your mediocrity but let me assert, even if this amounts to bursting your bubble, that you DO NOT come from Mars and (unfortunately) belong to this society. There are people who come from the same society as you do and come from less previliged backgrounds than your own but they overcome difficulties and soar high. Those on the other hand, who are too small to rise higher than the complexes of their skin colour and are limited by the barriers of self hatred continue being bitter to rather justify their inadequacies by blaming others, rejecting their own people and society and acting as if they are better than all of others, and hence bearing the responsibility of passing verdicts over the future of the nation.

For their sake, I would rather wish that all such scum actually leaves this country and rescinds its citizenship. Lets see what do they find then to whine about related to their useless existences! 

Pa Ba-Jolan Chalo

aaj bazaar main pa bajolan chalo

Chashm-e-nam, jaan-e-shoreeda kafi nahin

Tohmat-e-ishq-posheeda kafi nahin

Lets grace the ball shackled in anklets today

A dewy glance, a moiling heart suffice naught

Bearing the charge for unclaimed love counts naught

aaj bazaar main pa-bajolan chalo

Lets grace the ball shackled in anklets today

Dast afshan chalo, mast-o-raqsan chalo

Khak bar sar chalo, khoon badaman chalo

Lets march chanting victory slogans. Ecstatic. Elated...

Dirt ridden, or be blood stained, even then march along

Rah takta hai sub shehr-e-janaan chalo

Hakim-e-shehr bhi, majma-e-aam bhi

To the awaiting city of my darling, my love, lets march along!

Look, there's the monarch, the subject as well

Teer-e-ilzam bhi, sang-e-dushnam bhi

Subh-e-nashaad bhi, roz-e-naakaam bhi

The sting of the pointing finger, the hurt of the hurled insult as well

There's the dull morn, the day of loss as well

Unka dum-saaz apnay siwa kaun hai

Shehr-e-janaan main ab baa-sifa kaun hai

Dast-e-qatil kay shayan raha kaun hai

Who else could be a company, but I?

In the land of beloved, is there any who still holds the turban?

who still supports the head to deserve the axe? 

Rakht-e-dil bandh lo, dil figaro chalo

Phir hameen qatl ho aain yaro chalo

On this saunter of soul, march on ye wounded of the heart 

Let again it be I to paint the gallows red!

Poet: Faiz Ahmed Faiz

Inept translation: Mine.

What A Branding

"Do you not see that I pray to try to please Him? But he who thinks that he has pleased Him has put a price on His Pleasure."

"Those who testify to my saintliness do so from their good opinion of me, while those who testify against me of my unbelief do so from zealous defense of their religion (ta`assuban li-dinihim). He who zealously defends his religion is dearer to Allah than he who has a good opinion of anyone.

"Love (mahabba) is from the seed (habba) of the heart. The seed of the heart is its pith (lubb), and the pith is the place of the subtlety (latifa). The subtlety is the place of Allah, and the place of Allah is the complete freedom (tamalluq) with Him."

"Faith and unbelief are different only in name, because in the Reality there is no belief and no unbelief. The place where they meet is the place where they are dissolved in the Essence Itself, the Reality, al-Haqiqa."

"The long-awaited revealing of a well-kept secret

is becoming clear to you.

A dawn is breaking on your darkness.

Your own heart is the veil covering the Secret.

If you had kept yourself

He would not have been revealed to you.

But when you destroy your own heart

He enters it and discloses His holy revelation.

So, guarded by this revelation,

an ever-nourishing dialogue will follow

Its verse and prose delicious to Us both."

"And already love had engraved Him in my heart with its red-hot iron of desire-what a branding!"

~ Mansur Hallaj

Truth Behind Words

"Words set you searching. They are not the objects of your quest. If that were the case, there would be no need for all this spiritual struggle and self-sacrifice. Words are like glimpsing something far away.You follow in its trail to see it better, but this doesn’t mean the trail is what you are seeking. Speech is inwardly the same—it excites you to seek the meaning, even though the words are never the reality."

Discourses of Rumi: Fihi-ma-fihi

M. O. R. E.

“O you who believe! Endure and be more patient..”.

3:200 Al Quran.

The Friend has rejected me
He has broken my heart and shut the door.
Now my desolate heart and I
will sit patiently on His doorstep
for He loves those with a broken heart. 

Rumi

Lose Yourself To It

PS: 

"Dance, when you're broken open. Dance, if you've torn the bandage off. Dance in the middle of the fighting. Dance in your blood. Dance when you're perfectly free."
— Rumi

Still?

Have you ever actually felt your heart being squeezed inside your chest?
Does it ache?
Nay... it does not ache, it throbs with pain, sorely.
The fleshy fragments tear apart and the cage of bones keeps them from splintering away...


Do you cry?


Do tears still well up in your eyes?


Or is it that they just choke up in your throat?


Do you survive?




What?


You still survive?




Really?




You must be really strong!




Okay... so tell me, have you ever loved?


What? A li'll louder please...


No, I still can't hear you....


YES, you said?


Ah!  liar! :)




I think you had said you still survive!

Needed To Be Reminded

Trust ka baar bara wazni baar hota hai.
Kabhi kisi mortal par nahi daalna chahiay!


Kaun janay, koi utha bhi sakta hai ya nahi...

I Am Drunk!

May ALL of you be blessed! 

May you be soaked, drenched, filled to core with agape!

Last year, this place thrived like never before during Ramzan. I hope it does so this Ramzan too... with more intensity (and oh-I-so-hope consistency) because once drunk, one may not want to be sober again!


As Rumi said, 

I am so drunk

I have lost the way in

and the way out.

I have lost the earth, the moon, and the sky.

Don't put another cup of wine in my hand,

pour it in my mouth,

for I have lost the way to my mouth.

May the bliss be yours!

Love.

Drown In The Beloved

My heart tells me it is distressed with Him,

but I can only laugh at such pretended injuries.

Be fair, You who are the Glory of the just.

You, Soul, free of "we" and "I,"

subtle spirit within each man and woman.

When a man and a woman become one,

that "one" is You.

And when that one is obliterated, there You are.

Where is this "we" and this "I"?

By the side of the Beloved.

You made this "we" and this "I"

in order that you might play

this game of courtship with Yourself,

that all "you's" and "I's" might become one soul

and finally drown in the Beloved.

All this is true. Come!

You who are the Creative Word: Be

You, so far beyond description.

Is it possible for the bodily eyes to see You?

Can thought comprehend Your laughter or grief?

Tell me now, can it possibly see You at all?

Such a heart has only borrowed things to live with.

The garden of love is green without limit

and yields many fruits other than sorrow or joy.

Love is beyond either condition:

without spring, without autumn, it is always fresh.

Rumi.

Mathnawi I, 1779-1794 - The Rumi Collection - Kabir Helminski