Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- Introduction
- On Generosity
- On Life
- On Time and Days
- On Gray Hair and Youth
- On The Length of a Lover’s Night
- On Love Induced Emaciation
- On Love
- On Soul-Melting Love
- On ṣūfī Love
- On the Phantom of the Beloved
- On Wine and Drinking
- On Beauty
- On Soft Skin
- On Eyes and Tears
- Carpe Diem
- On Poetry and Meaning
- On Grief
- On Awe
- On Separation
- On Jealousy
- On Homeleaving
- On Longing for First Love, First Home
- On Noble Descent
- On Transcendent Qualities
- On Death Transformed
- On Battle, Battlefields, and Swords
- On Flora, Fauna, and Nature
- On Physical Attributes
- Hyperbolic Miscellany
- Bibliography
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- Acknowledgements
- Foreword
- Introduction
- On Generosity
- On Life
- On Time and Days
- On Gray Hair and Youth
- On The Length of a Lover’s Night
- On Love Induced Emaciation
- On Love
- On Soul-Melting Love
- On ṣūfī Love
- On the Phantom of the Beloved
- On Wine and Drinking
- On Beauty
- On Soft Skin
- On Eyes and Tears
- Carpe Diem
- On Poetry and Meaning
- On Grief
- On Awe
- On Separation
- On Jealousy
- On Homeleaving
- On Longing for First Love, First Home
- On Noble Descent
- On Transcendent Qualities
- On Death Transformed
- On Battle, Battlefields, and Swords
- On Flora, Fauna, and Nature
- On Physical Attributes
- Hyperbolic Miscellany
- Bibliography
Summary
I am whom I love
and the one I love is I
We are two souls
in one body*
People have followed our example
for as long as love has been
If you see me
you have seen Him
And if you see Him
you have seen the two of us
You who wonder about our state,
were you to see us,
you could not distinguish
between us
al- Ḥusayn ibn Manṣūr al- Ḥallāj (d. 309/922)
* “Ḥalalnā” (“in one body” is from ḥulūl which in ṣūfī terminologi is union with God.
My heart is capable of every form:
a pasture for gazelles,
a cloister for monks,
a fane for idols,
a Kaʿbah for pilgrims,
the tables of the Torah
and the Qur’ān
Love is the faith I hold
wherever its mounts turn
Love is my religion
and my faith
Muḥyī al-Dīn ibn al-ʿArabī (d.638/ 1240)
Translated by R. A. Nicholson in A Literary History of the Arabs, p. 403.
His soul is my soul
and my soul is His
Whoever has seen two souls
in one body?
al-Ḥusayn ibn Manṣūr al-Ḥallāj (d. 309/922)
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- Pouring Water on TimeA Bilingual Topical Anthology of Classical Arabic Poetry, pp. 76 - 77Publisher: Gerlach PressPrint publication year: 2016
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