Abdal Karim al Qushayri (986 – 1072 CE) was an influential scholar and Sufi in the region of Nishapur.
As if a spy from you
were watching my inclinations,
and another were watching
my gaze and tongue.
Whenever my eyes saw,
after you, any sight
displeasing to you, I thought:
They’ve seen me.
And whenever from my mouth,
there emerged, in front of you,
a word meant for another than you,
I thought: They’ve heard me,
And whenever through the secret of my heart
there passed, after you, a thought
for another than you,
they pull up on my reins.
These brothers sincere — I wearied
of their speech
and seized back from them
my gaze and tongue.
Renunciation could not console me
for their loss
until I experienced you
witnessed in every place.
Translation Michael A. Sells
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Qushayri voert de aandacht van neiging en blik, via de tong, naar het verborgen hart. De minnaar ervaart dat niets ongezien blijft.
Ook verzaking troost hem niet. De omslag komt wanneer hij de Geliefde overal gewaarwordt:
“until I experienced you
witnessed in every place.”
“Behoed je hart boven alles wat te behoeden is, want daaruit komt het voort wat je zegt en doet.”
— Spreuken 4:23
De verteller keek naar wat hij had geschreven.
“En wat ging er eigenlijk in míj om terwijl ik dit vertelde?”
Deze keer schreef hij het antwoord niet op.
P.S. Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan:
“Blessed are they who fear lest they cause another the slightest hurt by thought, word, or deed.”
— Gayan, Suras