Here, Sunlight offers Rumi's Ghazal (Ode) 258, in two forms -- a poetic translation from Nader Khalili, and a version by Coleman Barks:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1)
if you stay awake
for an entire night
watch out for a treasure
trying to arrive
you can keep warm
by the secret sun of the night
keeping your eyes open
for the softness of dawn
try it for tonight
challenge your sleepy eyes
do not lay your head down
wait for heavenly alms
night is the bringer of gifts
Moses went on a ten-year journey
during a single night
invited by a tree
to watch the fire and light
Mohammed too made his passage
during that holy night
when he heard the glorious voice
when he ascended to the sky
day is to make a living
night is only for love
commoners sleep fast
lovers whisper to God all night
all night long
a voice calls upon you
to wake up
in the precious hours
if you miss your chance now
when your body is left behind
your soul will lament
death is a life of no return
-- Translation by Nader Khalili: "Rumi, Fountain of Fire" Cal-Earth Press, 1994
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2)
THE VIGIL
Don't go to sleep one night.
What you most want will come to you then.
Warmed by a sun inside, you'll see wonders.
Tonight, don't put your head down.
Be tough, and strength will come.
That which adoration adores
appears at night. Those asleep
may miss it. One night Moses stayed awake
and asked, and saw a light in a tree.
Then he walked at night for ten years,
until finally he saw the whole tree
illuminated. Muhammad rode his horse
through the night sky. The day is for work.
The night for love. Don't let someone
bewitch you. Some people sleep at night.
But not lovers. They sit in the dark
and talk to God, who told David,
"Those who sleep all night every night
and claim to be connected to us, they lie."
Lovers can't sleep when they feel the privacy
of the beloved all around them. Someone
who's thirsty may sleep for a little while,
but he or she will dream of water, a full jar
beside a creek, or the spiritual water you get
from another person. All night, listen
to the conversation. Stay up.
This moment is all there is.
Death will take it away soon enough.
You'll be gone, and this earth will be left
without a sweetheart, nothing but weeds
growing inside thorns.
I'm through. Read the rest of this poem
in the dark tonight.Do I have a head? And feet?
Shams, so loved by Tabrizians, I close my lips.
I wait for you to come and open them.
-- Version by Coleman Barks: "The Essential Rumi" Harper, San Francisco, 1995.
Above two translations sent to me by my good friend Rosie(Thank You!)
Laylat Al-Qadr from ISMAILIMAIL:
لیلة القدر (Arabic) Laylat al-Qadr, (also known as Shab-e-Qadr) is significant event in Muslim history as not only did Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) receive his first revelation that culminated in the Holy Quran, but this day marks the anniversary of his Prophethood on earth. Muslims all over the world spend this night in prayers as it holds special Barakah for those in prayer.
“In the name of God, the Beneficent the Merciful
“Indeed We sent it [the Holy Quran] down on the Night of Power. What will convey to you what the Night of Power is? Better is the Night of Power than a thousand months. In that Night the angels and the Spirit descend by the permission of their Lord for every errand. Peace it is, until the break of dawn."
Quran, Chapter 97 Al-Qadr
Many interpreters of this verse in the Holy Qur’an state that thousand months is Allah’s way of defining eternal time as it cannot be described in worldly time. A single moment of enlightenment of the Noor of Allah is better than a thousand months and such a moment of recognition converts the night into a period of Spiritual glory and majesty, and every one of us should try to work towards this.
When the night of spiritual darkness is removed by the Noor of Allah, a wonderful peace and sense of security arises in the soul which lasts until this physical life ends and the glorious day of the spiritual world dawns, when everything will be on a different plane and the nights and days of this world will seem less than a dream. This is the meaning of “until the rise of dawn” and not the literal interpretation as many may construe or understand it. Surely, Allah’s realm/time span is larger.
Allah has says in the Quran: Rise to pray in the night except a little (73:1)
Allah ordered Prophet Muhammad (salwaat) to spend most of the night in worship in order that his Lord may lift him to a higher elevation. Hazrat Ali (salwaat) and others would join him for the nightly meditation (Baitul Khayal) and would be rising up in station and spirituality: Surely We will make to descend on you a weighty Word. Surely the rising by night is the firmest way to tread and the best corrective of speech. (73, 1-5).
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2008/09/23/laylat-al-qadr-the-night-of-power/
Earlier related post:
Laylat Al-Qadr-The Night of Power: Stirring and Inspiring Poetry by Jalaluddin Rumi; Whither Science and Religion? Quotes of Aga Khans and others.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/09/407laylat-al-qadr-night-of-power.html
Quotes From Blogpost Four Hundred:
"The Divine Intellect, Aql-i Kull, both transcends and informs the human intellect. It is this Intellect which enables man to strive towards two aims dictated by the faith: that he should reflect upon the environment Allah has given him and that he should know himself. It is the Light of the Intellect which distinguishes the complete human being from the human animal, and developing that intellect requires free inquiry. The man of faith, who fails to pursue intellectual search is likely to have only a limited comprehension of Allah's creation. Indeed, it is man's intellect that enables him to expand his vision of that creation"(Aga Khan IV, Aga Khan University Inauguration Speech, Karachi, Pakistan, November 11, 1985)
"The Intellect is the substance of (God's) unity and it is the one (al-wahid), both cause and caused, the act of origination (al-ibda) and the first originated being (al-mubda al-awwal); it is perfection and perfect, eternity and eternal, existence and that which exists all in a single substance"( Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani, 11th centuryFatimid Ismaili cosmologist (Kitab al-Riyad, pp. 221-222))
"God – may He be Glorified and Exalted – created Intellect ('aql) first among the spiritual entities; He drew it forth from the right of His Throne, making it proceed from His own Light. Then he commanded it to retreat, and it retreated, to advance, and it advanced; then God proclaimed: 'I created you glorious, and I gave you pre-eminence over all my creatures.'"(Imam Jafar as-Sadiq, Circa 765CE)
"The beginning of all things, their origin, their force and their prosperity, is that intellect ('aql), without which one can profit from nothing. God created it to adorn His creatures, and as a light for them. It is through intellect ('aql) that the servants recognize God is their Creator and that they themselves are created beings …It is thanks to intellect ('aql) that they can distinguish what is beautiful from what is ugly, that they realize that darkness is in ignorance and that light is in Knowledge"( Imam Jafar as-Sadiq, (al-Kulayni, Usul al-Kafi, Vol. 1, pp. 34), circa 765CE)
"Here is a relevant verse from the Noble Qur'an, cited by Nasir-i Khusraw, hujjat-i Khurasan in his Khawaan al-Ikhwaan : "It is He who created you from dust, then from a sperm drop, then from a blood clot, then He brings you forth as a child, then lets you reach your age of full strength, then lets you become old - though some of you die before - and then lets you reach the appointed term; and that haply you may find the intellect (la'allakum ta'qilun)."(Nasir Khusraw, 11th century Fatimid Ismaili cosmologist-philosopher-poet)
Easy Nash http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/blog/science_and_religion_in_islam_the_link/ http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2009/08/500blogpost-five-hundred-is-blogpost.html http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2009/03/453a-blog-constructed-within.html
In Shia Islam, intellect is a key component of faith. Intellect allows us to understand the creation of God: Aga Khan IV(2008)
The Qur'an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
The Quran tells us that signs of Allah's Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
This notion of the capacity of the human intellect to understand and to admire the creation of Allah will bring you happiness in your everyday lives: Aga Khan IV(2007)
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2006)
The Holy Qu'ran's encouragement to study nature and the physical world around us gave the original impetus to scientific enquiry among Muslims: Aga Khan IV(1985)
The first and only thing created by God was the Intellect(Aql): Prophet Muhammad(circa 632CE)
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