As militant Islam does its level best to discredit the religion, it's important to remember that there are other voices within the faith. One such is the Sufis, a branch of Islamic mystics who live islam [submission], iman [faith] and ishan [awareness of G-d, "to act beautifully"]. Every Saturday, therefore, we spend some time with the Sufis and their 'crazy wisdom'.
This week's installment comes from Maine resident Farishtah Saaqib: a poem caled First Awakening.
bq. It is becoming continuous,
These thoughts of God.
A sip of water.
"Thank you."
A wag of my dogs' tails.
"You have a good
sense of humor."
A breath.
"You are in me
as I am in You."
A thought of my teacher.
"He is so beautiful."
Cold air as I
breathe my practices.
"Thank you for waking me up."
As I read my Murshid's words.
"I am blessed that You
have given me eyes to see
and learn more of You."
It requires less discipline,
these thoughts.
Just as the sun rises
and then sets,
It is becoming
simply
the way it is.
"When I was in the desert," said Nasrudin one day, "I caused an entire tribe of horrible and bloodthirsty bedouins to run."
"However did you do it?"
"Easy, I just ran, and they ran after me."
— "The Exploits of the Incomparable Mulla Nasrudin" by Idries Shah
What 'is' is often not what we see.
...But with training, we can begin to sense what really is - and of course, it is this phenomenon that Saaquib is referring to.
I'll set your story up as next week's Sufi Wisdom.
Thank you for posting the poem and for your Sufi wisdom posts. It helps me keep Islam in some perspective, instead of flipping out into anger and hatred.
I'll second what she said. I missed it last week, and I'm glad to see you haven't discontinued the feature.