Translations by Victor Danner and Wheeler M. Thckston
Publisher: Paulist Press, New York, 1978
ISBN: 0-8091-2182-4
This volume combines two classics of Sufi literature, both short collections of brief and simple verses. As Annemarie Schimmel puts it in her preface, these works show the “immense self-control of the mystics who were able to condense their deepest feelings and their loftiest experiences in small, gemlike, perfectly polished sayings”.
Ibn’Ata’illah, mystic of thirteen-century Egypt, wrote The Book of Wisdom in charming, rhythmical Arabic, rendering the verses easy to memorize. Many Muslims throughout the Arabic-speaking world learn these veses by heart and repeat them meditatively. Ansari’s Intimate Conversations, written in eleventh century Heart in what is now Afghanistan, are similarly used for meditation throughout the Persian-speaking world, and master calligraphers have rendered these well-loved verses into exquisite works of art.
These works are deeply rooted in Islamic traditions, and employ the Sufi method by wich each word alludes to many deeper layers of meaning. Yet they have a universal and timeless quality. Despite the lapse of centuries, both texts speak with immediacy – and seemingly with simplicity – to the struggling spiritual seeker of today. Indeed, Schimmel opens her preface to this volume by describing how in a “night of despair” in 1945, in a cold and dirty railway station, she took from her pocket “a small book that had survived wartime Berlin, deportation, and internment, and had given me unending consolation during those years”. And there, with the horrors of war around her, she read once again Ansari’s Intimate Conversations.
The Book of Wisdom (Kitab al-Hikam, sometimes translated as Book of Aphorisms) is organized into 25 chapters, with the aphorisms on a given subject, such as humility, hope, or fear, collected together. Ibn’Ata’illah expresses spiritual wisdom with sparkling brevity, conveying what could be the subject of a whole discourse in a few words:
Sometimes lights come upon you and find the heart stuffed with the forms of created things; so they go back from whence they descend.
While Ibn’Ata’illah exhorts spiritual seekers to vigilance and earnest effort, ultimately his message is one of divine mercy and grace:
If you want the door of hope opened for you,
then consider what comes to you from Him;
but if you want the door of sadness opened for you,
then consider what goes to Him from you. Relying on our own efforts on the spiritual path can only lead to despair:
One of the signs of relying on one’s own deeds
Is the loss of hope when a downfall occurs.
The seekers begs from the Lord, the great Giver, yet must understand his helpless begging in the right light:
Let not yor asking be the cause of his giving,
for then your understanding of Him might diminish.
Let your asking be for the sake of showing servanthood
and fulfilling the rights of Lordship. Impatience with the pace of progress may rankle, but it must not turn to ingratitude or what the author calls ‘self-satisfaction’:
Do not deem His giving to be slow;
but rather, deem your approaching to be slow. In fact, on the path whose endpoint is annihilation of the ego and merging into the Beloved, self-satisfaction is the worst enemy:
The source of every disobedience, indifference, and passion
is self-satisfaction.
The source of every obedience, vigilance, and virtue
is dissatisfaction with one’s self. Thus, Ibn’Ata’illah gives the following sage advice:
When two matters seem confusing to you,
see wich is heavier on the ego and follow it through.
Ansari’s Intimate Conversations (Munajat, sometimes translated as Intimate Invocations) are prayers addressed to God. In addressing God Ansari’s language is intimate or even familiar. Thus he writes:
O God, Even though I am not very obedient,
still I have no one but you.
O God, You made creation gratis.
You provided sustenance gratis.
Have mercy on us gratis:
You are God , not a merchant! With utter simplicity, Ansari expresses his helplessness before the Lord:
O God, You are all. We are nothing.
You are mindful. We are heedless.
This is all that needs be said: be not strict with us.
Publisher: Paulist Press, New York, 1978
ISBN: 0-8091-2182-4
This volume combines two classics of Sufi literature, both short collections of brief and simple verses. As Annemarie Schimmel puts it in her preface, these works show the “immense self-control of the mystics who were able to condense their deepest feelings and their loftiest experiences in small, gemlike, perfectly polished sayings”.
Ibn’Ata’illah, mystic of thirteen-century Egypt, wrote The Book of Wisdom in charming, rhythmical Arabic, rendering the verses easy to memorize. Many Muslims throughout the Arabic-speaking world learn these veses by heart and repeat them meditatively. Ansari’s Intimate Conversations, written in eleventh century Heart in what is now Afghanistan, are similarly used for meditation throughout the Persian-speaking world, and master calligraphers have rendered these well-loved verses into exquisite works of art.
These works are deeply rooted in Islamic traditions, and employ the Sufi method by wich each word alludes to many deeper layers of meaning. Yet they have a universal and timeless quality. Despite the lapse of centuries, both texts speak with immediacy – and seemingly with simplicity – to the struggling spiritual seeker of today. Indeed, Schimmel opens her preface to this volume by describing how in a “night of despair” in 1945, in a cold and dirty railway station, she took from her pocket “a small book that had survived wartime Berlin, deportation, and internment, and had given me unending consolation during those years”. And there, with the horrors of war around her, she read once again Ansari’s Intimate Conversations.
The Book of Wisdom (Kitab al-Hikam, sometimes translated as Book of Aphorisms) is organized into 25 chapters, with the aphorisms on a given subject, such as humility, hope, or fear, collected together. Ibn’Ata’illah expresses spiritual wisdom with sparkling brevity, conveying what could be the subject of a whole discourse in a few words:
Sometimes lights come upon you and find the heart stuffed with the forms of created things; so they go back from whence they descend.
While Ibn’Ata’illah exhorts spiritual seekers to vigilance and earnest effort, ultimately his message is one of divine mercy and grace:
If you want the door of hope opened for you,
then consider what comes to you from Him;
but if you want the door of sadness opened for you,
then consider what goes to Him from you. Relying on our own efforts on the spiritual path can only lead to despair:
One of the signs of relying on one’s own deeds
Is the loss of hope when a downfall occurs.
The seekers begs from the Lord, the great Giver, yet must understand his helpless begging in the right light:
Let not yor asking be the cause of his giving,
for then your understanding of Him might diminish.
Let your asking be for the sake of showing servanthood
and fulfilling the rights of Lordship. Impatience with the pace of progress may rankle, but it must not turn to ingratitude or what the author calls ‘self-satisfaction’:
Do not deem His giving to be slow;
but rather, deem your approaching to be slow. In fact, on the path whose endpoint is annihilation of the ego and merging into the Beloved, self-satisfaction is the worst enemy:
The source of every disobedience, indifference, and passion
is self-satisfaction.
The source of every obedience, vigilance, and virtue
is dissatisfaction with one’s self. Thus, Ibn’Ata’illah gives the following sage advice:
When two matters seem confusing to you,
see wich is heavier on the ego and follow it through.
For, truly, nothing weighs on the ego but that wich is true.
Ansari’s Intimate Conversations (Munajat, sometimes translated as Intimate Invocations) are prayers addressed to God. In addressing God Ansari’s language is intimate or even familiar. Thus he writes:
O God, Even though I am not very obedient,
still I have no one but you.
O God, You made creation gratis.
You provided sustenance gratis.
Have mercy on us gratis:
You are God , not a merchant! With utter simplicity, Ansari expresses his helplessness before the Lord:
O God, You are all. We are nothing.
You are mindful. We are heedless.
This is all that needs be said: be not strict with us.
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