IN THE NAME OF ALLAH MOST GRACIOUS MOST MERCIFUL MY DEAR FRIENDS, I would like to thank you so much for your participation on opendemocracy and for providing me ith the opportunity to give my opinion on diverse topiocs and convey the real image of islam.I have no gift to offer to you but these poems, hoping that you will enjoy them. There has long been a great tradition of spiritual poetry in the world of Islam. From the time of the Blessed Prophet Muhammad, when his companions used to recite poetry with his approval, until our present day, Muslims have sought to discover the truth of the maxim, "In some poetry there is wisdom." (Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. taken from http://www.islamicedfoundation.com/poetry/jrumi.htm Love's Call At every instant and from every side, resounds the call of Love: We are going to sky, who wants to come with us? We have gone to heaven, we have been the friends of the angels, And now we will go back there, for there is our country. We are higher than heaven, more noble than the angels: Why not go beyond them? Our goal is the Supreme Majesty. What has the fine pearl to do with the world of dust? Why have you come down here? Take your baggage back. What is this place? Luck is with us, to us is the sacrifice! Like the birds of the sea, men come from the ocean--the ocean of the soul. Like the birds of the sea, men come from the ocean--the ocean of the soul. How could this bird, born from that sea, make his dwelling here? No, we are the pearls from the bosom of the sea, it is there that we dwell: Otherwise how could the wave succeed to the wave that comes from the soul? The wave named 'Am I not your Lord' has come, it has broken the vessel of the body; And when the vessel is broken, the vision comes back, and the union with Him. Allah I tried to find Him on the Christian cross, but He was not there; I went to the Temple of the Hindus and to the old pagodas, but I could not find a trace of Him anywhere. I searched on the mountains and in the valleys but neither in the heights nor in the depths was I able to find Him. I went to the Ka'bah in Mecca, but He was not there either. I questioned the scholars and philosophers but He was beyond their understanding. I then looked into my heart and it was there where He dwelled that I saw Him; He was nowhere else to be found. The Rose What Allah said to the Rose And caused it to laugh in full blown beauty, He said to my heart And made it a hundred times more beautiful. Greatest Need is You Your hope in my heart is the rarest treasure Your Name on my tongue is the sweetest word My choicest hours Are the hours I spend with You -- O Allah, I can't live in this world Without remembering You-- How can I endure the next world Without seeing Your face? I am a stranger in Your country And lonely among Your worshippers: This is the substance of my complaint. Dream Fable I saw myself in a wide green garden, more beautiful than I could begin to understand. In this garden was a young girl. I said to her, "How wonderful this place is!" "Would you like to see a place even more wonderful than this?" she asked. "Oh yes," I answered. Then taking me by the hand, she led me on until we came to a magnificent palace, like nothing that was ever seen by human eyes. The young girl knocked on the door, and someone opened it. Immediately both of us were flooded with light. Only Allah knows the inner meaning of the maidens we saw living there. Each one carried in her hand a serving-tray filled with light. The young girl asked the maidens where they were going, and they answered her, "We are looking for someone who was drowned in the sea, and so became a martyr. She never slept at night, not one wink! We are going to rub funeral spices on her body." "Then rub some on my friend here," the young girl said. "Once upon a time," said the maidens, "part of this spice and the fragrance of it clung to her body -- but then she shied away." Quickly the young girl let go of my hand, turned, and said to me: "Your prayers are your light; Your devotion is your strength; Sleep is the enemy of both. Your life is the only opportunity that life can give you. If you ignore it, if you waste it, You will only turn to dust." Then the young girl disappeared. Reality In love, nothing exists between heart and heart. Speech is born out of longing, True description from the real taste. The one who tastes, knows; the one who explains, lies. How can you describe the true form of Something In whose presence you are blotted out? And in whose being you still exist? And who lives as a sign for your journey? My Beloved My peace, O my brothers and sisters, is my solitude, And my Beloved is with me always, For His love I can find no substitute, And His love is the test for me among mortal beings, Whenever His Beauty I may contemplate, He is my "mihrab", towards Him is my "qiblah" If I die of love, before completing satisfaction, Alas, for my anxiety in the world, alas for my distress, O Healer (of souls) the heart feeds upon its desire, The striving after union with Thee has healed my soul, O my Joy and my Life abidingly, You were the source of my life and from Thee also came my ecstasy. I have separated myself from all created beings, My hope is for union with Thee, for that is the goal of my desire.