(c. AD 1349–1406; c. AH 750–809)
Muhammad Shirin Maghribi, a native of Tabriz, was called Maghribi because he travelled in the Mahgrib, a region in North Africa.
A follower of a sheikh in the line of Mohyuddin Ibn ‘Arabi, Maghribi’s poetry reflects the idea of the unity of all religions, and the message is one of love and beauty as a reflection of the Creator’s image. He is perhaps one of the most pantheistic of all the poets included here.
When the Sun of your face shone,
The atoms of the two worlds came to life.
When that Sun cast its shadow far and wide
From that shadow all things emerged alive.
Each atom shone like the Sun
From the light that your bright face bestowed.
Each atom exists because of the Sun
And the Sun is manifest through each atom.
The sea of existence threw up waves
And the waves were hurled towards the shore;
The waves sank and rose up again
In myriad, alluring and delightful forms.
Like violets, meanings sprang up,
Like the down on a beautiful face;
Then blossomed the anemones of Truth.
A thousand tall cypresses appeared.
What were these but the essence of the wave?
What was the wave? The essence of the sea.
Each part that is, is a part of the Whole
And the Whole is nothing but its parts.
What are parts? The Whole manifested.
What are things? The shadow of names.
What are names? The Sun revealed;
The Sun of the Beauty of the Supreme;
What is the shore? It’s Contingent Being,
Which is the Book of God most high.
O Maghribi, stop this talk;
Do not reveal the secret of the Worlds!
O You who gave life to the world
With Your life-enhancing face!
You whose face is reflected
In the mirror of the universe!
When the Beloved
Looked into the mirror
It was by itself enamoured.
Each moment Your face looks
At its own Beauty.
To its own eye
It appears in alluring forms.
It looks thus through lovers’ eyes,
So as to witness its own Beauty in idols.
To see itself, Your face created a mirror;
That mirror it called Adam and Eve.
Its own Beauty through Adam’s eyes it saw;
Because of this he became a Mirror for all the Names.
O You who have created light with Your Beauty
And who have seen Your face in Your own eyes!
Since You are the seer and the seen,
There is none else but You,
Then why this tumult and this worldly strife?
O Maghribi, the skies are full of excitement
When the King of Beauty pitches His tent in the desert.
O Centre and Pivot of Being, and Circumference of Bounty,
O Fixed as the Pole, and Fickle as the Sphere!
If I send greetings to Thee, Thou art the greeting.
And if I invoke blessings on Thee, Thou art the blessing!
How can any one give Thee to Thyself? Tell me now,
O Thou who art Thine own alms-giver and Thine own alms!
O Most Comprehensive of Manifestations, and Most Perfect in Manifestation,
O Gulf of gulfs, and O Combiner of diversities!
O Most Beauteous of the beautiful, and O most Fair of the fair,
O most Gracious of the graceful, O most Subtle of subtleties!
Thou art at once both the Bane and the Balm, both Sorrow and Joy,
Both Lock and Key, both Prison and Deliverance!
Thou art both the Treasure and the Talisman, both Body and Soul,
Both Name and Named, both Essence and Attribute!
Thou art both Western (Maghribi) and West, both Eastern and East,
Alike Throne, and Carpet, and Element, and Heavens, and Space!
E. G. Browne
Do not ask of madrasah or monastery!
Pass by tradition and do not ask about the right Way.
Adopt poverty and selflessness and be happy;
Forget the past and look to the future!
When you escape the prison of this body
Ask only of the king and his court;
From the people who practise poverty
Ask about its grace and taste.
Ask not the ones who are slaves to wealth
And rank and waste…
When you staked your head in all sincerity,
Do not ask for your cap, if they have stolen it.
My state, O Friend, is not hidden from you.
Do not ask for witnesses about me!
The sin of his existence is to be immersed in You.
Apart from this sin, do not ask him of any other;
Maghribi has come full of apology, O Friend.
Overlook his sin and show Your grace to him.
We’ve left behind
The madrasah, the temple and monastery
And sat down with our Beloved in the street
Of the Master.
We’ve thrown away the prayer mat
And the rosary;
In service of the Christian child
We’ve put on the girdle.
On wine-house benches we’ve torn up our priestly robe;
In the tavern of drinkers we’ve broken our vows of piety!
We have abandoned counting the rosary beads
And escaped from the snare of virtue, piety and abstinence!
In this quarter we annihilated our existence.
When we became Nothing, we were Everything.
Not from us the meaning of Wisdom and Learning.
O Learned man, we are Lovers who are drunk!
Thank God that we have abandoned worship of the Self;
We are totally free and worship only the wine!
We are drunk and wild and yearning for wine!
Our friend is he who is drunk and ruined.
Maghribi has moved his baggage from this gathering;
He was a barrier in our path – we’re free!
You are a drop, speak not of the ocean.
You are an atom, speak not of the mighty Sun.
You are of today, speak of today;
Speak not of yesterday or tomorrow.
Since you know not of earth and sky
Talk no more of above or below.
Since you do not have musical talent,
Speak not of tune or tone.
Go beyond No and Yes, my son;
Speak not of bearing witness
With La or Illa,1 my son.
If they ask you to sacrifice yourself
Go and give it up, and do not speak;
Till you understand who ‘I’ and ‘We’ are,
Be quiet; speak not of ‘We’ and ‘I’.
Unless, like Adam, you know the true Names
Do not speak about the sacred Names.
He who is the essence of Everything,
He asked Maghribi not to speak of Things.
O end of every beginning,
O beginning of every end,
O manifest of every hidden,
O hidden of all revealed!
The light of Your beauty
In every believer’s eye does shine;
The sign of Your anger
In every denier’s heart we find.
You thank him and he is You,
Himself giver and receiver,
Himself the gift and the thanking.
None but You, the worshipped;
None but You, the worshipper;
None but You, the witness;
None but You, the speaker.
When the Saqi gave Maghribi the wine
Of eternal life
He was annihilated and eternal.
He was non-existent and existent!
Each way I turned
I turned to You;
Each place I reached
Was the path to You.
Each place of worship
I entered to pray,
I saw the arch of Your brow
In every arch and every doorway.
I saw the face of worldly beauty
But I saw it in the mirror of Your face.
In the manifest and the hidden,
In the ideal and the real,
All have looked and only to You.
Don’t ask about Maghribi.
He is by madness struck –
By those dark lashes of Yours!