Verse
This page will feature verse that fits into
the theme of this website.
Rumi on Reason
(adapted from his Fihi Ma Fihi )
M. Shahid Alam
(adapted from his Fihi Ma Fihi )
Man seeks to know God, not because he is knowable;
not reasonably, but by reasoning he knows him.
When man accepted the trust, it was reason
he acquired, to say yes to his Creator.
Man is a moth, God a candle. When his wings
wrap around the candle’s flame,
why should they not burn –
and he perish in its fire?
A moth that shuns the candle’s flame
is not a moth. A candle that does not
draw the moth, that will not
burn it to ashes – is not a candle.
Man is not man if he denies God,
if he eviscerates his urge to know him.
A god that man can know is not
God, he is man’s alter ago.
Fajr
M. Shahid Alam
He makes each day a resurrection.
Qur'an (25:47)
You wake before you rise
to memory and flight.
You wash away with water
the heavy-lidded night.
He resurrects your body
to see you in His light.
You wake and arise
to mercy and His might.
You were at first a clot.
Remember and recite.
_________________
Cook Inside
M. Shahid Alam
The sun and moon are signs of God.
Awake and read the book inside.
Listen to the river’s ancient song
and you may hear a brook inside.
You too would think the world of her,
if you, like Qays, would look inside.
When Gabriel repeated, Read!
Muhammad froze and shook inside.
Muhammad brought the idols down.
Have you since then looked inside?
Shahid, these pithy words are proof:
for ripeness you must cook inside.
