Do not put me to shame

بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

The last three couplets of this poem of Rumi are a prayer of humility and hope that we should frequently recite:

کای خُدا، این بَنْده را رُسْوا مَکُن

 

گَر بَدَم، هَم سِرِّ مَن  پِیدا مَکُن 

O God, do not disgrace this servant.
Even if I have been at fault, do not lay bare my secret.

تُو هَمی‌دانی و شَبهایِ دِراز

 

کِه هَمی‌خوانْدَم تُرا با صَد نِیاز

You know—and those long nights know as well—
how I kept calling You with a hundred pleas. 

پیشِ خَلْق این را اَگَر خُود قَدْر نِیست

 

پیشِ تُو هَمچون چِراغ رُوشَنِیست

Despite this having no worth in the sight of people

 (Let it be) in Your sight, like a shining lamp.

 

 

 

https://ganjoor.net/moulavi/masnavi/daftar3/sh105/

Love of homeland

بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

حب وطن از ملک سلیمان خو شتر
خاروطن از سنبل وریحاں خوشتر

یوسف کہ عصر پادشاہی می کرو
می گفت گدا بودن کنعان خوشتر

Love of the homeland is better than the kingdom of Sulayman (عليه السلام) . 
The thorns of the homeland are better than hyacinths and raihan (a certain fragrant plant) 
Yousuf (عليه السلام) wept as the king of his time
Preferring being a beggar of Canaan.



There is an alternate rendering as well:

خشتِ وطن از ملکِ سلیمان خوشتر
خارِ وطن از سنبل و ریحان خوشت
یوسف کہ ملکِ مصر شاہی می کرد
می گفت گدا بودن کنعان خوشتر

A brick of the homeland is better than the kingdom of Sulayman (عليه السلام) . 
The thorns of the homeland are better than hyacinths and raihan (a certain fragrant plant) 
Despite performing the role as the king of his time,  Yusuf (عليه السلام) wept
Preferring being a beggar of Canaan. 

 

Also, the following two bayts (couplets) by the Abbasid poet Abū Tammām (أبو تمّام) are often used to convey the same meaning.

 

نَقِّل فُؤادَكَ حَيثُ شِئتَ مِنَ الهَوى

ما الحُبُّ إِلّا لِلحَبيبِ الأَوَّلِ

كَم مَنزِلٍ في الأَرضِ يَألَفُهُ الفَتى

وَحَنينُهُ أَبَداً لِأَوَّلِ مَنزِلِ

 

“Move your heart wherever you wish, from one passion to another—
love is only for the first beloved.

How many a home on earth a chivalrous youth gets used to—
yet his longing is always for the first home.”

 

 

Note:

Abd al-Qāhir al-Jurjānī (in Dalāʾil al‑Iʿjāz) cites the opening hemistich and explicitly labels it: “the kāmil (meter) of Abū Tammām” — i.e., he names Abū Tammām as the poet.

Ibn al‑Qayyim quotes them while talking about longing for one’s “first home” (reading it spiritually as yearning for the original homeland).

Four things not in your treasure

بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

Legend has it that as Shams al-Dīn Muhammad Suzani Samarqandi (سوزنی سمرقندی) was approaching the end of his time here on earth, he uttered these lines:

چَهار چِیز آوَرْدِه‌اَم،شَاهاَ، کِه دَر گَنجِ تُو نِیست

 

نِیستی وَ حَاجَت وَ  عذر وَ گُناه آوَرْدِه‌اَم

Four things, I bring O King, that your treasure-troves lack:
My nothingness, Need, Excuses and Sin- that is all I bring

 

We shall not flee

These are supposedly the words of a poem the Prophetﷺ  recited when they were surrounded by hordes of enemies around the Trench.

وَاللَّهِ لَوْلا اللَّهُ مَا اهْتَدَيْنَا
وَلا تَصَدَّقْنَا وَلا صَلَّيْنَا
فَأَنْزِلَنْ سَكِينَةً عَلَيْنَا
وَثَبِّتِ الأَقْدَامَ إِنْ لاقَيْنَا
إِنَّ الأُولَى قَدْ بَغَوْا عَلَيْنَا
إِذَا أَرَادُوا فِتْنَةً *أَبَيْنَا*
إنَّ المَلَا قدْ أَبَوْا عَلَيْنَا

 https://dorar.net/hadith/sharh/11778

By Allah had it not been for You
We would not have been guided
Nor would we have given in charity, nor prayed
So, bestow on us tranquility
And make our feet firm when we meet the enemy, 
For indeed, if they want to put us in affliction (ie want to fight against us)
We shall not flee (but withstand them)

Sharpen Yourself

بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

The final straw which caused Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali to break the bonds with this world came one day when his brother Ahmad entered while he was preaching and recited:

أَخَذْتَ بِأَعْضَادِهِمْ إِذْ وَنُوا
وَخَلَّفَكَ الْجُهْدُ إِذْ أَسْرَعُوا 

You helped them in their state of weakness 
Yet you were left behind as they sped ahead of you.

وَأَصْبَحْتَ تَهْدِي وَلاَ تَهْتَدِي
وتُسْمِعُ وَعْظًا وَلاَ تَسْمَعُ

 You took upon the role of a guide, yet you were not guided
 You preach but do not listen (to yourself).

فَيَا حَجَرَ الشَّحْذِ حَتَّى مَتَى
تَسُنُّ الْحَدِيدَ وَلاَ تَقْطَعُ

O whetstone, for how long
will you whet iron, but will not (be sharp enough to) cut?

What the Seeker Needs?

بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ

"What the seeker needs", is from the English translation of Kitab Kunh ma la budda lil- murid minhu (كنه ما لابد للمريد منه). This brief but important work by Shaykh al Akbar, Ibn ʿArabī (ابن عربي‎),  was reportedly written in Mosul in 1204 in answer to the question of what the seeker "should believe in and what he should do in the beginning, before anything else".

Translations of this work have been printed on several occasions in English for example by A. Jeffrey, and more recently by Shaykh Tosun Bayrak.

الحمد لله رب العالمين، وصلى الله على سيدنا محمد وآله وصحبه أجمعين

  

All praise and thanks are due to Allah Most High, and may His benedictions and salutations be upon His messenger, and the progeny and companions of His messenger.

.
سألت أيها المريد عن "كنه ما لا بد للمريد منه"، فأجبتك في هذه الأوراق، والله الموفق لا رب غيره

.

O disciple, you sought to know on what is required of a seeker, and I have responded in these few pages, by the leave of Allah, and there is no Lord but Him.


Translations of this work have been printed on several occasions in English for example by A. Jeffrey, and more recently by Shaykh Tosun Bayrak.