Umar Ibn al-Farid Egypt (1181 - 1235) Timeline Muslim / Sufi Poems by Umar Ibn al-Farid Books |
Ibn al-Farid's father was a judge and important government official in Cairo.
When he was a young man Ibn al-Farid would go on extended spiritual retreats among the oases outside of Cairo, but he eventually felt that he was not making deep enough spiritual progress. He abandoned his spiritual wanderings and entered law school.
One day Ibn al-Farid saw a greengrocer performing the ritual Muslim washing outside the door of the law school, but the man was doing them out of the prescribed order. When Ibn al-Farid tried to correct him, the man looked at him and said, "Umar! You will not be enlightened in Egypt. You will be enlightened only in Mecca..."
Umar Ibn al-Farid was stunned by this statement, seeing that this simple greengrocer was no ordinary man. But he argued that he couldn't possibly make the trip to Mecca right away. Then the man gave Ibn al-Farid a vision, in that very moment, of Mecca. Ibn al-Farid was so transfixed by this experience that he left immediately for Mecca and, in his own words, "Then as I entered it, enlightenment came to me wave after wave and never left."
Shaykh Umar Ibn al-Farid stayed many years in Mecca, but eventually returned to Cairo. He became a scholar of Muslim law, a teacher of the hadith (the traditions surrounding the sayings and life of the prophet Muhammed), and a teacher of poetry. Unlike many other respected poets of the age, Ibn al-Farid refused the patronage of wealthy governmental figures which would have required him to produce poetry for propaganda, preferring the relatively humble life of a teacher that allowed him to compose his poetry of enlightenment unhampered.
Poems by Umar Ibn al-Farid
- By her, I departed to her (from The Poem of the Sufi Way)
- Compared to my dawn (from The Poem of the Sufi Way)
- From his light (from The Poem of the Sufi Way)
- I sought her from myself (from The Poem of the Sufi Way)
- In truth, I led my prayer leader in prayer (from The Poem of the Sufi Way)
- No one speaks (from The Poem of the Sufi Way)
- Resist the calls of wrangling talk (from The Poem of the Sufi Way)
- Unveiling herself revealed (from The Poem of the Sufi Way)
- Whispering, then listening close (from The Poem of the Sufi Way)
- Yet never qualify me (from The Poem of the Sufi Way)
- Be drunk from it (from The Wine Ode (al-Khamriyah))
- In memory of the beloved (from The Wine Ode (al-Khamriyah))
- They say to me: "Do describe it (from The Wine Ode (al-Khamriyah))
Recommended Books: Umar Ibn al-Farid