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Muslim / Sufi
13th Century

About Fakhruddin Iraqi

Timeline (? - 1289)

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English version by
William Chittick and Peter Lamborn Wilson

Original Language
Persian/Farsi

As sunlight is attributed to the moon, so is the Beloved's form ascribed to the lover; but in truth

Commentary by
Ivan M. Granger

Themes
  Lover and Beloved
  Moon
  Water
 
 

 

Recommended Books

The Drunken Universe: An Anthology of Persian Sufi Poetry, Translated by Peter Lamborn Wilson / Translated by Nasrollah Pourjavady
Fakhruddin Iraqi: Divine Flashes (Classics of Western Spirituality) , by William Chittick / Nasr Seyyed Hossein
Love's Alchemy: Poems from the Sufi Tradition, Translated by David Fideler / Translated by Sabrineh Fideler
Poetry for the Spirit: Poems of Universal Wisdom and Beauty, Edited by Alan Jacobs

As sunlight is attributed to the moon, so is the Beloved's form ascribed to the lover; but in truth

each image painted
     on the canvas of existence
is the form
     of the artist himself.
Eternal Ocean
     spews forth new waves.
"Waves" we call them;
     but there is only the Sea.

 

 

-- from Fakhruddin Iraqi: Divine Flashes (Classics of Western Spirituality) , by William Chittick / Nasr Seyyed Hossein

Amazon.com

 

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Commentary by Ivan M. Granger

This brief poem is a beautiful metaphor illustrating how the fragmented, separated sense of existence is finally recognized as numberless expressions of the Eternal Unity.

What is he saying, first of all, when he suggests that "sunlight is attributed to the moon"? In reality, the moon has no light of its own. The light we call moonlight is actually reflected sunlight. This was understood by the Persian world, which had a fairly advanced understanding of astronomy at the time.

The moon, therefore, is often used to represent the individual awareness. The full moon, for example, is often used in sacred language to represent enlightened awareness. This is because there is literally a radiance that the mystic perceives. It is a quiet, gentle radiance upon everything, similar to moonlight on a quiet, full moon night.

Or, sometimes the moon symbolizes more broadly the material world.

What I think 'Iraqi is saying is that what we fall in love with in another person, that glimmer of light that infatuates us (the moon), is really the reflected light of the Eternal Beloved. The consciousness and life we see around us, is, like the moon, a reflection of the eternal consciousness.

He then builds on this metaphor to convey how everyone and everything is a reflection of the Divine. Thousands of paintings emerge from the hand of a single artist. We look at the surface of the ocean and see wave after wave, but that is an artificial distinction of the mind. Is a wave separate from the sea? In truth, "there is only the Sea."


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Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2008 by Ivan M. Granger.
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