(Two poems and a beautifully composed new song for mulaqat with Mawlana Shah Karim Hazar Imam, His Highness the Aga Khan)

Tears of Joy: The Mulaqat at Montreal

A Tribute to the Imagery of Ibn Farid

By KARIM H. KARIM

As I turned to gaze
These orbs turned translucent;
Although sight betrayed me
In concealing your form,
Every atom spoke of your presence.

Whenever I stole a glance,
Your sublime vision
shattered this frail being:
Racking my frame and soothing my soul –
All in a searing instant.

Senseless with the spirit
Of your sacred presence,
I am sans reason
I am sans speech:
I only gaze in a glassy-eyed stupor.

This poem was written by Professor Karim H. Karim of Carleton University following Mawlana Hazar Imam’s first visit to the Canadian Jamat in November 1978. He was at that time majoring in Islamic Studies at Columbia University and had travelled to Montreal from New York for the mulaqat.

The poem is a tribute to the 12th century sufi mystic, Ibn al-Farid, who was famous for his composition of mystical qasidas depicting the torment and joys of the mystic lover. Farid’s imagery consists of hyperbolic treatment of the limbs and organs of the body, of tears that turn into overwhelming floods and the wine of spiritual ecstasy. The Divine Beloved of Ibn al-Farid is portrayed as treating him with disdain, whose mere sight inflicts severe wounds to the mystic; yet he only lives for the moment when the Beloved may deign lo look at him. The piece was originally published in Hikmat magazine.

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Le Pluie

Drenched in Light

By NAVYN NARAN

Autour de moi,
Tout autour de moi
Around me, all around me,
In me and through me,
As if I do not exist, but IT does.

La lumière.
Les couleurs
Alit
je suis mouillée, je suis trempée
dans
sa présence

I am soaked, drenched in my tears and in His Light
He Arrives
Allahumm-a Sall-i ‘Ala Muhammad-in Wa Al-i Muhammad
Shah Jo Didar,
Shah Jo didar
Beneficent, and
Merciful
Blessings are showered

All around Him, all around Him
Our longing and salwaats for You. 

In these hearts and in these eyes, Noor
Autour de moi
Around and through
Bathed in light
We sit, we think, we quieten, we search. 

We await.
C’est la Noor, from Time im-memorial

Nous ne sommes pas
We are not.
YOU ARE. 
Allahu, Allahu
Ya Rahim, Ya Karim
Toward  you, is pulled my  heart. 

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Hamaare Mawla Jo Araye…

Our Mawla who is coming

By RASHIDA DAMANI

 

The news of our beloved Mawla Hazar Imam’s visit for jamati work in Eastern Canada ignited a spark in Rashida Damani of Toronto which expressed itself into this devotional piece to convey our souls’ deep yearning for his Didar and its continuing ecstatic jubilations. The Ismailis of Eatern Canada who will gather in the cities of Toronto and Montreal over a 5 day period are jubilant at this time and every heart is rejoicing and dancing with joy. Our ailing hearts are craving an extension of their lives to witness the didar. The wind is ushering the news of his arrival touching the depths of my heart. All hearts are singing that its prayers will reach him at last and he will bless us with his glance that will enlighten our souls.

Date posted: November 16, 2017.

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