Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Muslim / Sufi 13th Century	About Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi Timeline (1165 - 1240)
<<Previous Poem | View All Poems by Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi | Next Poem >>
English version by Reynold A. Nicholson Original Language Arabic	My heart has become capable of every form
Commentary by Ibn Arabi and Ivan M. Granger Themes   Heart   Lover and Beloved         Recommended Books Alone with the Alone: Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn 'Arabi, by Henry Corbin Early Islamic Mysticism: Sufi, Quran, Miraj, Poetic and Theological Writings (Classics of Western Spirituality), by Michael A. Sells Ibn al-Arabi: Bezels of Wisdom (Classics of Western Spirituality), by Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi / Edited by R. W. J. Austin Ibn Arabi, by William Chittick Ibn Arabi and the Voyage of No Return, by Claude Addas More >>	My heart has become capable of every form: it is a pasture for gazelles and a convent for Christian monks, And a temple for idols, and the pilgrim's Ka'ba, and the tables of the Tora and the book of the Koran. I follow the religion of Love, whichever way his camels take. My religion and my faith is the true religion. We have a pattern in Bishr, the lover of Hind and her sister, and in Qays and Lubna, and in Mayya and Ghaylan.     -- from The Mystics of Islam, by Reynold A. Nicholson Amazon.com
<<Previous Poem | View More Poems by Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi | Next Poem >>

Commentary by Ibn Arabi and Ivan M. Granger

Commentary by Ibn Arabi

"Love, qua love, is one and the same reality to those Arab lovers and to me; but the objects of our love are different, for they loved a phenomenon, whereas I love the Real. They are a pattern to us, because God only afflicted them with love for human beings in order that He might show, by means of them, the falseness of those who pretend to love Him, and yet feel no such transport and rapture in loving Him as deprived those enamoured men of their reason, and made them unconscious of themselves."

Commentary by Ivan M. Granger

The first part of the first line really says it all:

"My heart has become capable of every form..."

Ibn 'Arabi is describing the state of formlessness, of not attempting to box in reality with your preconceived notions. Instead, immense love flows through you -- toward everything. The heart, your center, recognizes every beloved form within itself

"I follow the religion of Love, whichever way his camels take."

These are the true words of a truly awakend soul. To say anything less, to attempt to proscribe that love and limit it to only one spiritual tradition or a certain group of people, is to limit yourself and to thwart the outpouring of God.

Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2008 by Ivan M. Granger.
All other material is copyrighted by the respective authors, translators and/or publishers.