Monday 16 April 2018

'Artful Idol' by Rumi: Translation & Commentary

TRANSLATION & COMMENTARY ON SOME VERSES FROM THE POEM 'ARTFUL IDOL' BY MEVLANA JALĀLADDIN MUHAMMAD RUMI FROM THE BOOK DĪVĀN E KABĪR ŠAMS E TABRĪZĪ [THE GREAT COLLECTION OF THE WORKS OF SHAMS OF TABRIZ].  THE DĪVĀN IS FILLED WITH POEMS EXPRESSING THE MYSTICAL STAGE OF FANĀ IN WHICH RUMI SEES SHAMS EVERYWHERE AND IN EVERYTHING.

'The Erasure of Islam From the Poetry of Rumi' by Rozina Ali.  (The New Yorker​, 5 January 2017).


My artful idol appears every moment in a new guise, steals my heart and away he goes
This friend appears at each breath in a new dress now as a frail old man and now as a robust youth [1]

Sometimes he hides his true nature in dry ringing clay diving into the reality of things
Then emerges from the depths of meaning like pieces of pottery and disappearing into the heavenly Gardens [2]

What is the truth of before or after? Or of transmigration outside of the majesty of the beloved?
When it is he who is drawn out from the scabbard like a scimitar and slays an entire generation [3]

He circuits across the earth for a few moments to pass his time
He is Jesus who ascends to the rotating dome and is heard singing hymns [4]

Now he is Noah drowning an entire age through the power of his prayer whilst himself fleeing in the ark 
Now he is Abraham the well-beloved rising from amidst the fire whose flames turn to flowers 

Now he is Joseph sending his shirt from Egypt enlightening the whole world with its colours
Then he appears as a brightness from the eyes of Jacob so he could see him once again [5]

He was Tabriz itself, he was Shams himself shining in the gardens of sacred light upon cogent things
He it was who became apparent beneath the surge of secret things and revealed himself in love [6]

[1] Every day He is in a new glory.
The Holy Quran.  Al Rahman [The Beneficent: 30.  
God is still the directing hand in all affairs: He does not sit apart, careless of mankind or of any of His creatures.  But His working shows new Splendour every day, every hour, every moment.
Abdullah Yusuf Ali.  The Holy Quran: Text, Translation & Commentary.  (Lahore, 1934, 1938).
[2] He created man from dry ringing clay like pieces of pottery.
Al Hijr [The Stoneland]: 15.
No other scripture speaks of ringing pieces of broken water storage pots of terra cotta in relation to the creation of humans nor did anyone know that they have passed through a phase of existence akin to ringing pieces of pottery. This is proof of the Quran being the complete word of God. The scientists also agree to it now and in this way Science testifies to the greatness of The Holy Quran.
                  The grammarians take Jinn to mean bacteria and Imam Raghib has derived the same meanings that anything that is invisible to the naked eye comes under the category of Jinn. The Holy Prophet also defined the Jinn in the same way in saying 'Do not wipe the private parts with bones because it is the food of the Jinn.' [Var.] When one studies the research from this perspective it is proven that bacteria are created from fire.
Hazrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad - Khalifatul Masih IV.  'Tarjumatul Quran - Surahs al-Qamr [The Moon]: 48 - al-Rahman [The Gracious]: 34', (29 September 1998).  
صَلْصَلٍۢ with the meaning of dry ringing clay.  See Al-Munjid by Abdul Hafeez Balyavi and Al-Mufradat fi Gharib al-Quran by Abul Qasim al-Hussayn bin Mufaddal bin Muhammad al-Raghib of Isfahan.
    This is the subject which could never itself have occurred to Muhammad the Holy Messenger of Allah ﷺ by any stretch of his imagination.  No mention is found in any other Divine book of the creation of humankind from ringing pieces of pottery.  But the scientists have resolved this enigma in the present age.
   Secondly before the birth of humanity the Jinn were created from blasts of fiery hot wind falling from the skies.  This aspect is also one that could never have been imagined by Muhammad the Holy Messenger of Allah ﷺ until God who is Knower of the Hidden had informed him of it.  The Jinn created from نَّارِ السَّمُومِ  [‘blasts of fire’] are the Bacteria which also resolves the enigma of where the stagnant blackish mud came from.  Moist clay does not stagnate of itself without the presence of Bacteria.
                 In the current age there are various explanations offered for the word Jinn but here one explanation for the Jinn is that Virus and Bacteria are also Jinn that came into existence as a result of the fiery radioactive rays falling from the heavens since the beginning of the cosmos.  All scientists of the current age are unanimous on this that Bacteria and Viruses exist by deriving energy from fire and as a direct consequence thereof.
              Then it makes a Prophecy about mankind that carries glorious mystical meanings and unveils the subtle secrets of creation.  Earlier books do speak of the concept of man being created from moist earth but the idea of mankind being created from dry ringing clay like pieces of pottery is one which is not mentioned by any book before 'The Holy Quran'.  It cannot be explained in detail here but the scientists know that there was a stage of creation where it was essential for the creative substances to be dry like ringing pieces of poetry.  Then the seas took in this dry element and wrapped it into its tides to embark upon a journey of the chemical progression of mankind in which it was necessary for the creation of mankind that this essential chemical not to return to its earlier form. 
Ahmad.  Introduction to the Surahs of The Noble Quran With Brief Explanatory Notes to Some Verses, (2002).
Also see pages 342 - 345 in Revelation, Rationality, Knowledge & Truth and the following chapters from the section on 'Life in the Perspective of Quranic Revelations': The JinnThe Essential Role of Clay & Photosynthesis in Evolution

[3] Referencing the two-pronged sword of the Imam Ali, cousin and son in-law of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, his fourth Caliph and the first Shia Imam.


[5] The stories of the Prophets Noah, Abraham and Joseph all appear in the Quran with relevant chapters named after them.

[6] Shams: literally the sun.  Also referencing the oft-repeated Quranic expression هُوَ ٱلَّذِى ['He it is'] for God.  Note as well the past tense in reference to Shams.

© Video: Ismaili Wisdom / Translation & text: Rehan Qayoom​.