“A Garden Beyond Paradise"

Jalaluddin Rumi (1207 – 1273) is a mystic within the Sufi tradition and has been called the greatest mystical poet of any age. “A Garden Beyond Paradise" is one of is works translated in English. Everything you see has its roots in the Unseen world. There is a spark of divine beauty within us all; the human beings. This write up is arranged from sources of social media for education purposes.

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

In the name of ALLAH, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

“A Garden Beyond Paradise"

Jalaluddin Rumi (1207 – 1273) is a mystic within the Sufi tradition and has been called the greatest mystical poet of any age. The general theme of Rumi’s thought is essentially union with his beloved from which/whom he has been cut off and become aloof and his longing and desire to restore it. Rumi believed passionately in the use of music, poetry and dance as a path for reaching God. Let's read the translated version of his poem “A Garden Beyond Paradise".

"Everything you see has its roots

in the Unseen world.

The forms may change,

yet the essence remains the same.

Every wondrous sight will vanish.

Every sweet word will fade.

But do not be disheartened,

The Source they come from is eternal …

Why do you weep? –

That Source is within you.

And this whole world

is springing up from it.

The Source is full.

Its waters are ever-flowing;

Don’t think it will ever run dry

This is the endless Ocean!

From the moment you came into this world

A ladder was placed in front of you

that you might escape.

From earth you became a plant,

from plant you became animal.

Afterwards you became a human being,

Endowed with knowledge, intellect, and faith.

Behold the body, born of dust-

How perfect it has become!

Why should you fear its end?

When were you ever made less by dying?

When you pass beyond this human form,

No doubt you will become an angel

And soar through the heavens!

But don’t stop there,

Even heavenly bodies grow old.

Pass again from the heavenly realm

and plunge into the vast ocean of Consciousness.

Le the drop of water that is you

become a hundred mighty seas.

But do not think that the drop alone

Becomes the Ocean –

the Ocean, too, becomes the drop!

By Jalaluddin Rumi from "God Makes the Rivers To Flow".

The following Story is taken from: "Farīd al-Dīn ʿAttār's “The Conference of the Birds” (Manṭiq al-Ṭayr), p.154

There once was a friend of God among the exalted ones.

One night, this noble man dreamed that, upon a path bright as the full moon, an angel appeared before him. The angel asked,

“Tell me, where do you intend to go?”

The saint replied,

“To the very gate of God!”

The angel said,

“You are so occupied with your work, surrounded by your possessions—and yet you wish to reach the gate of the Divine?

You hold your wealth and affairs so dear; surely, the nearness of God should be held even dearer!

How can you, so burdened by the weight of all this, hope to merge with the Light of the Truth?”

The man was stricken with grief by these words.

He let go of all that he owned—everything he possessed—keeping only a woolen cloak upon his back.

That night, the angel appeared once more in his dream and asked,

“And now, where are you bound?”

The man replied,

“To the presence of the Lord of all Worlds.”

The angel said,

“You would go there wrapped in this woolen cloak?

O knower of God, do not approach Him clothed even in this!

What need has the Lord of the Worlds for your garments and your rags?”

Upon waking, the saint threw his cloak into the fire and burned it.

That night again, the angel came to him in his dream and asked,

“O pure one, where are you going now?”

The man answered,

“To the One who brings all things into harmony.”

The angel said,

“O blessed soul, since you have sacrificed all that you possessed, there is no need for you to go anywhere.

Sit here in stillness—for now the Divine himself shall come to you.”

Renounce everything—every trace of self—and when you are purified thus,

God Himself shall come forth to meet you. ❤

The Divine Light with in Us

There is a spark of divine beauty within us all; the human beings. This is not to say, theologically speaking, that the human being is divine in essence. It is to say that within each of us, lives a spirit, lies a mirror, a reflection of divine origin. The responsibility of the dervish, the wayfarer upon the path, is to clear away the layers of dust and fossilization that covers that mirror of the heart, so that it may once again reflect the divine light.

Why is the moon held in such reverence? In Arab poetry and Islamic spirituality, the beloved face of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is likened to the full moon. And what does the moon do? It reflects the light of the sun. The moon does not generate its own light; it merely reflects it. Likewise, we do not create our own light, but we can become a mirror for the divine light that has the power to illuminate our entire life.

We can bring light to the people around us; to our family, our friends, and our environment, simply by reflecting that divine radiance. But the first step is to recognise that the light already exists within us. There is a Muhammadanﷺ potential, a Muhammadanﷺ light, a spark from divine beauty that dwells inside us. It does not matter how tangled or broken our life may seem, how many times we have fallen short, or how many times things have gone wrong in the eyes of the world?

Remember the call for the lovers: Come, come, whoever you are. Even if you have broken your vows a thousand times, come again. This way is not a path of judgment; it is a path of returning to the Divine as long as there is breath within you.

While Allah ﷻ sustains our life, He has a purpose for us all. He has a reason for our existence. In this faith, there is no room for hopelessness. How can one be hopeless when a spark of Muhammadanﷺ light dwells within the believer? We may not see it now, and we may be weary of ourselves. That is part of the journey. But know that the light within us cannot be extinguished.

Allah ﷻ says in the Qur’an: They seek to extinguish the light of Allah, but they will never succeed.

Think of the most difficult person you know, someone who challenges you deeply. Within that person too lies the spark of the Muhammadan light ﷺ. When the people of Allah ﷻ look upon others, they do not see them as they are now, but as they may become in the Divine Court.

NOTE:  The above has been arranged with the help of material available on free web net.