Shaikh Abul Hassan Kharaqani (963 – 1033 CE) was one of the most highly regarded Sufis of any age, coming from the region of Khorasan in Persia. The poems he left were really short sayings, transcribed by his students, as he himself, in spite of a deep knowledge of the Qur’an and the Hadith, was illiterate.

Most of us try to take something There from here,
and there is nothing here that deserves to be There.
One who is true to one’s Origin
struggles to bring That from There
which is so rare, and yet so sorely needed, here.

Rendition by Vraje Abramian