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Lucía Andrea Illanes Albornoz

Systems programmer | Systems engineer

𒄿𒉡𒄴𒅁𒊭𒄴𒇷𒅁𒁀𒊭𒆷𒁀𒌅𒀭𒈹

Delights that please the eye

Sarāʔiru l-aʕyān

ﻧﻮﻉ ﺍﻟﺸﻌﺮ: موشحة عن التصوف
ﺍﻟﺸﺎﻋﺮ: محمد بن علي بن محمد بن عربي الحاتمي الطائي الأندلسي الشهير بمحيي الدين بن عربي
منطقته: ﺍﻷﻧﺪﻟﺲ
ﻋﺼﺮ: ﻗﺮﻥ ﺍلثاني-ﺍلثالث ﻋﺸﺮ

سرائر الأعيان	لاحت على الأكوان	للناظرين
والعاشق الغيران	من ذاك في حران	يبدي الأنين

يقول والوجد	أضناه والبعد	قد حيّره
لمّا دنا البعد	لم أدر من بعد	من غيّره
وهيّم العبد	والواحد الفرد	قد خيّره

في البوح والكتمان	والسرّ والإعلان	في العالمين
أنا هو الديّان	يا عابد الأوثان	أنت الضّنين

كلّ الهوى صعب	على الذي يشكو	ذلّ الحجاب
يا من له قلب	لو أنّه يذكو	عند الشباب
قرّبه الرّبّ	لكنّه إفك	فانو المتاب

وناد يا رحمن	يا برّ يا منّان	إنّي حزين
أضناني الهجران	ولا حبيب دان	ولا معين

فنيتُ بالله	عمّا تراه العين	من كونه
في موقف الجاه	وصِحتُ أين الأين	في بينه
فقال يا ساهي	عاينتُ قطَّ عين	بعينه

أما ترى غيلان	وقيس أو من كان	في الغابرين
قالوا الهوى سلطان	إن حلّ بالإنسان	أفناه دين

كم مرّةٍ قالا	أنا الذي أهوى	من هو أنا
فلا أرى حالا	ولا أرى شكوى	إلاّ الفنا
لستُ كمن مالا	عن الّذي يهوى	بعد الجنى

ودان بالسُّلوان	هذا هو البهتان	للعارفين
سَلَوْهم ما كان	عن حضرة الرحمن	والآفِكين

دخلتُ في بستان	الأُنْسُ والقُرْبُ	كمَكْنَسه
فقام لي الريحان	يختال بالعُجْب	في سُنْدُسه
أنا هو يا إنسان	مطيِّبُ الصَّبِ	في مجلسه

جِنّان يا جِنّان	اِجْنِ من البستان	الياسمين
وحلّل الريحان	بحرمة الرحمن	للعاشقين

Type of poem: Muwaššaḥah[1] on Ṣufism/divine love
Name of poet: Muḥammad b. ʕalī b. Muḥammad b. ʕarabī al-Ḥātimī aṭ-Ṭāʔī al-Andalusī, famously known as Muḥyi d-Dīn b. ʕarabī
Region of poet: al-Andalus
Era: 12th-13th century

Delights that please the eye	appear above all worlds[2]	to eyes in staring eyes
But the lover that is jealous[3]	deprived, from this, in thirst	pain begins to rise

He says in burning passion	wore him out and the thereafter[4]	has left him speechless
When the thereafter drew near	and I can't tell far from	whom has made him jealous
And the slave's in burning thirst	while the singular, the one[5]	has let him choose

In disclosing and concealing	and secret and revealing[6]	in all the worlds that be
I am the only judge	O worshipper of idols	you are but greedy!

All that's love is hard	to whomever that complains:	the humiliation by the barrier![7]
O you that has a heart	if only you'd shone brightly	in the eyes of your companion
The lord then brings him near	but therein lies a lie:	for return[8] is all but fleeting

And he cries out: O most Merciful!	O benevolent, O giving!	O how I am in sorrow!
I languish in your absence	and no friend have I near	not a single soul

I passed from life to God	from where my eye was met	with his being
In the lofty state of dignity	where I recovered from my pain	in his union
So he[9] said then: O neglectful!	Have I truly seen an eye	with his eye?[10]

As for when you see Ġaylān[11]	and Qays[12] or whom it be	amongst the passing[13]
They said: love is a sovereign	if it falls upon a person	creed made him pass[14]

How many times they said:	I am the one that loves	the one whom that is I
And I did not see them deviate	and I saw not one complaint	that union was not theirs
I'm not like those that turned	away from him that loves	after reaping its harvest

For he[15] submits to solace	this is but defamation	to those that are familiar
They have no thought, no more	of the Majestic Merciful	and the deceivers

I turned into the garden[16]	where solace and presence[17]	were its shelter
There rose for me the myrtle	that's adorned with conceit	in its silken garment[18]
I am He[19] O human	that soothes your passion	in his company

Gardener, O gardener!	gather from the garden some	jasmine
And grant then the myrtle[20]	in the shelter of the merciful	to the lovers

[1] 404 Not Found

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[2] viz. above and prior to all potential and possible yet ultimately illusionary worlds, kinds of existence and being, universes, etc., the reality of which is fleeting and only becomes apparent and unveiled to the mystic when granted so by the Divine.

[3] viz. possessive jealousy; jealous to solely possess or be loved by solely or be possessed by solely.

[4] viz. departure of the beloved, abandonment thereby.

[5] viz. God.

[6] viz. in matters of secrets concealed, divulged, and revealed to and shared between lovers, especially when the beloved is Divine.

[7] viz. the humiliation experienced by whom is separated from their beloved by any kind of barrier, originally the physical barrier-cloth placed before or in the doorway of a house that one would be stood before, more loosely speaking: any kind of separation one imposes between one's beloved and oneself.

Taken from a short poem by b. Abī Fatn:

الموت أهون من طول الوقوف على
باب, عليّ لبوّاب عليه يد

ما لي أقيم على ذلّ الحجاب كأن
قد ملّني وطن أو ضاق بي بلد

Death is easier than all time spent standing at
the door, where over me the doorkeeper has power

Why am I stood, enduring the humiliation of the barrier, as though
my country has tired of me or my homeland became my anguish

[8] also: repentance.

[9] Instance of Iltifāt: shifting among first to, here, third person for purposes of rhetoric, congruent with the wider meaning and context of these Aġsān. The speaker is addressing himself from the perspective of his reflection (or third person, being himself) in a state of mystical excitation in and from a vision.

[10] That is to say: in union there remains separation, for the eye of the one that meets the eye of the beloved turns out to be separate from the other and thus cannot thereby truly perceive the most profound of truthful reality. The eye may see but solely from its perspective whereas the perspective of the eye that is seen is closed and cut off from the eye that is seeing. Only if the seeing eye and the eye that is seen were to meet in true union would the two disappear in perfect unity of being.
Only in direct experience of transcendent reality whereby all that remains of the self is annihilated and all senses are extinguished is union attained and mysteries are revealed.

This brings to mind Parmenídēs of Eleá:

Τὼς γένεσις μὲν ἀπέσϐεσται καὶ ἄπυστος ὄλεθρος.
Thus is becoming extinguished and passing away not to be heard of.
or alternatively:
Thus beginning has ended and ending is unknown.

[11] Abu l-Ḥāriṯ Ġaylān b. ʕuqbah b. Nuhays b. Masʕūd al-ʕadawī ar-Rubābī at-Tamīmī known as Ḏu r-Rummah ("of the frayed cord", possibly referring to a cord amulet,) who lived in the 7th-8th century and composed, inter alia, love poetry in the genres of Nasīb and Ġazal.
That is to say: one of two famous lovers and love-poets.

[12] Either or both of: 1) Qays b. al-Mulawwaḥ, who lived in the 7th century, known as Majnūn from the Arabian love story Majnūn Laylā turned Persian narrative romantic poem by Niẓāmī Ganjavī in the 12th century 2) Qays b. Ḏarīḥ, who also lived in the 7th century, known as Majnūn Lubnā from the Arabian love story Qays wa-Lubnā (Qays and Lubnā.)
That is to say: another of two famous lovers and love-poets.

[13] viz. primarily: those that have passed on or passed away, secondarily: the opposite: those that remain or have lived enough to become old, tertiarily, though usually primarily: those absent from salvation or those who remain in torment.

This first sentence asks: as for those mentioned passing away or remaining [absent from salvation or in torment]...

[14] viz. worldly, earthly love, as opposed to divine love, when taken as one's faith, creed, or religion, destroys to whom it has passed and in whom it dwells.

This second sentence answers: ...that is what has made them pass on or away or have them remain [absent from salvation or in torment] viz. destroyed them.

[15] He that does indeed turn away from those that he has loved after having reaped its harvest or tasted its fruit e.g. commenced to love and be loved and benefitted thereby to then turn away.
This may (or may not) also refer to the greater harvest of Divine vs. merely worldly love.

[16] viz. entered, entered into, entered into the affairs of, turned towards, turned into, joined with, became one with, converted to the creed of, etc.

[17] viz. the solace of intimate divine presence.

[18] A description typical of Nawriyyah/Rawḍiyyah-genre Andalusian poetry: Myrtle is perennial, spreads around, stands upright and tall, towering above many other plants, pleasantly and strongly fragrant, and it has a silken garment: glossy, shiny, smooth leaves and white flowers - hence, it is personified as being (self-)conceited: proud, arrogant, haughty, vain, pompous, boastful, self-indulgent, in love with itself, etc.

[19] viz. God.

[20] viz. and grant them long-lasting, perennial, eternal love, as myrtle is perennial - as per, from the same Nafḥu ṭ-Ṭībi min ġuṣni l-Andalusi r-Raṭīb (The Breath of Perfume from the Branch of Flourishing Al-Andalus) of Aḥmad al-Maqqārī in which this poem appears:

فسأل بعض عن معناه فقال بعض الحاضرين أراد به العذار وقال آخر إنما أشار إلى دوام العهد لأن الأزهار كلها ينقضي زمانها إلا الريحان فإنه دائم فاستحسن الشيخ هذا أو وافق عليه.

And some [of those gathered] asked as to the meaning [of the then-popular Zajal this Ḫarjah was taken from] so then some of those present said: [what is] meant by this is excuses and others said that rather [this] refers to the permanence of the promise/vow/covenant [between the lovers] because flowers all end in time except for myrtle for it is perennial and so the Šayḫ [b. ʕarabī] approved of this or agreed upon it.

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