You are ultimate joy

by Abu al-Hasan al- Shushtari

English version by Stephen Hirtenstein
Original Language Arabic

This is the one we love -- he loves me through choice.
From all eternity he loved my essence -- in his house I dwell.

     There is nothing that can make me leave him, there being no house for another.
     Everything is manifest to me from him, be it so-called evil or good,
     All things come to me from him, whether in the mosque or in the monastery.

I am one, never two -- yet in this matter in perplexity:
from a stone water springs out before you, while within a rock the water is fire.

     I am one, he is one -- how can we ever be two?
     He is the adored, I the adorer -- from that come two opposites.
     He is the contemplated, I the contemplator -- which of us is bringing twoness?

When we two are one, it's a union that makes non-compatibility disappear,
we are hidden in this world and the next, in a place of rank and repose.

     Beware of seeking something outside -- you won't find a thing elsewhere existing.
     Not an atom can leave you -- all things are within you existing.
     You are ultimate joy: you the examiner separating good from bad, I the one being tested

Being is one: all of it is through you and in you manifesting its effects.
The gold of your essence is multileaved -- within your interior lies the standard of purity.

     You confined one, pay attention to your spirit -- you are, there is no-one other than you.
     You are he, the reality, whether still or in movement.
     You are your own secret and your own public -- there is no good but your own goodness.

Through you are manifest all these unlimitable things:
to you they will return when ordered, just as they have appeared for your sake.

     The alif is one, totally, and the letters manifest from it --
     leave behind bā' and tā' when they emerge from the essence of the alif;
     do the same with lām and yā' when they pour forth from her Being.

For you are that alif -- the letters are collected together within your being.
All the universes are within you, after having burst forth and drained away.

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You are ultimate joy