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A dedication to Shaykh Muhammad Ibn Al Habib, Allah sanctify his secret
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If you gaze at this world with your spirit,
You’ll see the light that shines through Him
If you pierce through the earth with your secret
There’s naught to fear or to grieve.
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When you lay in bed at night
And the dark smothered your face
A dread swelled up deep within
Then it surged up through your breast
And it choked your cries for help
Whispering: “I am your fear, loneliness”
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If you gaze at this world with your spirit,
You’ll see the light that shines through Him
If you pierce through the earth with your secret
There’s naught to fear or to grieve.
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Did you ever ask your self
Who that voice was deep inside
That would haunt your wildest dreams?
Having all the world’s desires
Many friends, intoxicating fame
But it is said: “all is in vain.”
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If you gaze at this world with your spirit,
You’ll see the light that shines through Him
If you pierce through the earth with your secret
There’s naught to fear or to grieve.
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Being poor and destitute
Not a penny to your name
And you cried cursing the skies,
Still that murmur in your heart
Told you search deep in your self
And you’ll see there’s nothing to fear
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If you gaze at this world with your spirit,
You’ll see the light that shines through Him
If you pierce through the earth with your secret
There’s naught to fear or to grieve.
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Then upon that fateful day
When you stood and faced yourself
And you turned your back from otherness
Then He raised you from yourself
Not a trace of you remained
The One Entity was all that was there
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If you gaze at this world with your spirit,
You’ll see the light that shines through Him
If you pierce through the earth with your secret
There’s naught to fear or to grieve.
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Notes:
Shaykh Muhammad Ibn Al Habib was the great Moroccan Sufi of the early twentieth century. His diwan, collection of poetry, continues to have a profound effect on Muslims across the world, may Allah bless him and sanctify his secret. This poem is a homage to one of his poems which starts, “Ruhi Tuhaddithunee…” (My spirit converses with me) and my favourite line is: “Wa idha nazarta bi ainee sirrika lum tajid, ghairal illahi fi ardihi wa samaahu” (When you look with the eye of your secret, you will find naught but God in the heavens and the earth).
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2011