Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Muslim / Sufi

13th Century

About Umar Ibn al-Farid

Timeline (1181 - 1235)

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English version by
Th. Emil Homerin

Original Language
Arabic

Whispering, then listening close (from The Poem of the Sufi Way)

Themes

Garden

Honey

Perfume

Sky

Sound

Recommended Books

	From Arab Poet to Muslim Saint: Ibn Al-Farid, His Verse, and His Shrine, by Th. Emil Homerin
	Umar Ibn al-Farid: Sufi Verses, Saintly Life, Translated by Th. Emil Homerin
	The Wine of Love and Life: Ibn Al-Farid's Al-Khamriyah and Al-Qaysari's Quest for Meaning, by Dawud Ibn Mahmud Qaysari

Whispering, then listening close
     from the vision of one
          casting away his all, instantly,
               out of an omnipotent hand.

Thus I read the knowledge of the scholars
     in a single word,
          and I reveal all the worlds to me
               with a simple glance.

I hear the many voices
     of those who pray in every tongue
          in a space of time
               shorter than a flash.

And I bring before me
     what before had been
          too far away to bear,
               in a blink of my eye.

I inhale the bouquet of gardens
     and the sweet scents clinging to the skirts
          of the four winds,
               in a simple breath.

I survey the far horizons round me
     in a momentary thought,
          and cross the seven heavens
               with a single step.

-- from Umar Ibn al-Farid: Sufi Verses, Saintly Life, Translated by Th. Emil Homerin

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Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

About Umar Ibn al-Farid

Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World