Sufi Movement
Introduction by Emily Porter
The Sufi are a religious group who co-operate in the furtherance of piety, they would follow a Shayk or a guru as a spiritual leader. The Sufi are engaged in meditation similar to the contemplative orders in Christianity and India mysticism.
The most famous of all Sufi poets was Al-Hallaj, who portrayed the tension between the Sufi movement and its concept of religion interpretation and the main stream religious official establishment.
The Sufi poetic language is rich and extravagant in symbolism and metaphor, at the same time minimising words as much as possible, while it is rich in expression of the inner feelings, the majority of the Sufi poems/verses emphasise self-neglect and condemn selfishness and greed, while the universe was the focal point of most Sufi thinking.
The Sufi’s believe they reach a state of union. During this stage they become unaware of any worldly context while they are in unity with God, sublime, beauty, love and the divine.
When Al-Hallaj said “I am the Real” it was interpreted that he was claiming he is God. In his teaching, he spoke most of the love of God, and openly referred to his divine experiences. Blasphemy was his accusation and as a result of his trial he was convicted and executed on the cross in 922 C.E.
In recent times, the Sufi poems have gained popularity and momentum and one of the books we recently came across “The Bird Revelation” by Issam Aiyad, some of his poems have been translated to English in this site. Issam Aiyad is a Lebanese poet who expresses himself through his poems in the Sufi style, and as you will see it is very obvious in “The Bird Revelation”.
On revelation
—what the bird whistled
Selected poems by Isam Ayyad
Translated by: May AL-ISSA
- What I saw is nil. What I read is void. (p5-7)
- Walk alone. Your inner light is your lead.(p11)
- What are you running after is flowing inside you. —P12
- You are your self-companion if you are the smitten; let the stricken be sleepless. —p13
- It’s only to pick the flowers stealthily.
- It’s only to neglect the guards of the temple.
- In the Sahara pray alone. All direction is a pray.
- No Sheikh. No guru. You are the one and only. —p18
- Be the core of the eye to see. Be the eye of the heart to be seen. —p19
- Be a bird. Don’t search for yourself within the valueless. —P20
- If you look but did not see you’ll never reflect and reach upon what you saw. —p21
- You are a spark, no burden is worth taking. —p.23
مختارات من صوفيات عصام عيَّاد
١
كلُّ ما قرأته
لا يعوَّل عليه
٢
قلبُكَ
سراج الرؤى
سًرّْ
وحدكَ
في
الطريق.
