My eyes see nothing without your beauty

Dedication: To lovers between material reality and the plane of imagination 

The following poem was sent to me by one of my elders the summer of 2016. The verses are from the poem by the Damascene Ottoman Sufi ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Nābulsī (d. 1731). 

Like so much medieval Arabic devotional poetry, the poem lives on in song and recitation. To my knowledge, this poem has not been previously translated in English. I have included my attempt at an original English translation beside the Arabic text below. 

The first translation is of the form of the poem as I first encountered it. Another elder pointed out that the text differs from the version she is familiar with, including the additional "wāw" added at the end of the verses for vocalization in the first text. I have translated this version as well. 

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This is the first version I received.

 My eyes see nothing without your beauty  

Without you, my mind ponders nothing else  

You fill my thoughts above all creation

By your love, I die and I am resurrected

My lord, my heart holds fast to you

I could never bear even an hour apart from you

But you left, so my solace also vanished

And upon your distance, life became wretched

Yet God is greater than that which decreed separation

Should you leave me, to whom shall I turn?

When I advised my heart patience, it rebuked me,

"No patience for me! No patience for me!  I shall not be!"

If I sleep, you are with me in my dreams

And in my waking state, it is you that I see

There is no difference between me and my imagining you

If you should vanish, so would I; And should you be present, so would I

For in reality, the two of us are one

Except that I am of the lowest and you are majestic

And I hope that perhaps your kindness would restore me

From my diminished dignity and wretchedness. 

The final inscription at the bottom of the image reads, "Pray upon him and rejoice. May prayers and peace be upon him." 

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On the other hand, here is another version of the poem written byʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Nābulsī. I have included my English translation below the Arabic text.  

From http://bit.ly/2ts88gm

My eyes see nothing other than your beauty 

Without you, my mind ponders nothing else 

You fill my thoughts above all creation

By your love, I die and I am resurrected
Oh Lord, my heart holds fast to you

I could never bear even an hour apart from you

If I sleep, You are in my dreams with me

And should I awake, it is you that I see

There is no difference between me and my vision of you

If you should vanish, so would I; And should you be present, I would be, too

For in reality, the two of us are one
Except that I am of the lowest and you are majestic
And I hope that perhaps your kindness would restore me 

For I took flight from my own dignity and became most wretched.

How perfect you are, my lord, the Master of creation

Indeed I seek, by your glory, your succor 

And I have made my means to you a master

Whom You have sent with truth to make your Way manifest 

He is the Prophet -- Muhammad -- above all of creation

Your prayers upon him shall never cease

Choctaw Nation

Dedication: To bearing witness

A family elder used to live in a very small Oklahoma town with a population of a little over 1,000 human beings - almost  40% of whom were Choctaw Nation, 54% white, 1% black, and 5% all others. He moved there to serve as a physician for a Choctaw clinic located in one of the most beautiful valleys I’ve ever seen - and have yet to see. Generous, committed, a snorter when he laughs, and the very fulfillment of the absent-minded professor trope, the doctor was loved by his patients so much that they would bring him fruits and vegetables from their gardens, including squash, peaches, and walnuts.

His family was one of two Muslim families and the only Bangladeshi family in that town. The closest masjid that held Friday congregational prayers was 1.5 hours away.  A self-assured and proud Muslim, this doctor kept a beard and regularly wore a topi; his wife, who could not speak much English at the time, wore colorful hijabs to match her colorful saris, shalwar kamises, and jilbabs. 



When their land lady, a white Baptist woman in her 90s who owned two llamas and made her own moo moos, first saw them praying, she was genuinely curious and asked after they had finished, “So … are you … Jewish?”

They said no, so she guessed again.

“Ah. So you must be...Catholic?” 

Being Jewish or Catholic was the strangest thing she could imagine. Muslim as a category of religious difference was not even on her radar -- at the time.

So she learned from her new neighbors who Muslims are. She also learned to love them until the day she died. 

On the day of the 9/11 attacks in 2001, this elder continued to see and treat his patients as usual throughout the day.  Before he went home, a Choctaw elder who was his patient approached him and said, "If any one gives you trouble, you let us know. We will protect you."

In that moment, the Choctaw elder had the wisdom - rooted in a long communal memory - to understand that this new Bangladeshi Muslim doctor did not know the kind of racial violence his patient sensed was coming.

In that moment, the doctor didn’t fully understand what his patient was saying -- until he saw the glass shards of broken beer bottles littering the path that led to the front door of his home where his pregnant wife was waiting, shaded by the most gorgeous magnolia tree I have ever seen. 

--

We bear witness to those who stood, stand, and will stand for us expecting nothing in return. Our hearts in turn stand and beat for them in prayer and remembrance; a prayer and remembrance that asks for the integrity, dignity, and courage to do the same; a prayer and remembrance that travels dimensions and penetrates the sky and earth; a prayer and remembrance that is affirmed and repeated by every angel bowing or prostrating, by every leaf and blade of grass, by every rock and grain of sand, by every conscious being in the water and on land, by every sunrise and sunset, by every moon birth and as it wanes, by every celestial body known and unknown. Amin. Amen. Let it be.

12 Ramadan 1438 / 8 June 2017

NYC Prayer Vigil for Standing Rock, November 5, 2016