FAQR
O slaves of
material things, what is Faqr ?–
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a penetrating
insight and a living heart.
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Faqr
is to sit in judgment over one’s own work,
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and to envelop
oneself round the words there is no deity.
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Faqr
is conquering Khaibar and living on barley meal,
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kings and
nobles are tied to its saddle-straps.
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Faqr
is ardour, ecstasy and submission to the will of God.
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It belongs
really to Mustafa; we are only its trustees.
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Faqr
makes a nightly assault on the angelic hosts,
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and on the
hidden forces of Nature;
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it transforms
you into a different man,
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and turns you
from a piece of glass to a diamond.
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Its whole
equipment is derived from the Great Qur’an.
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a dervish
cannot be contained in a blanket.
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Although he
speaks very little in the assembly of people,
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yet this
little enlivens a hundred assemblies.
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It gives to
the wingless the ambition to fly,
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and the
majesty of a falcon to a gnat.
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When a
faqir falls out with kings,
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the throne
trembles before the mat’s majesty.
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He sets the
whole town in tumult through his madness,
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and frees the
people from tyranny and oppression.
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He does not
settle but in places
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where a falcon
runs away from before a dove.
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His heart’s
power flows from ecstasy and sobriety.
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his slogan
before the king is no kings.
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It is through
his dust that our fire glows and burns,
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the flame
trembles before the meanest particles of his dust.
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No nation
suffers defeat in the battle of life
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as long as it
has a single dervish.
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Our honour is
due to his lordly contentment,
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our yearning
is due to his carefree zeal.
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Look at
yourself in this mirror,
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that God may
bestow on you clear authority.
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The essence of
faith lies in the graciousness of Faqr;
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the might of
faith flows from its highmindedness.
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The King of
the Faith said to the Muslims:
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“The whole
earth is my mosque.”
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seek
protection from the revolution of the nine heavens,
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that the
Muslim’s mosque remains in the hands of others.
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The person of
pure faith tries hard
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to take back
the mosque of his beloved Lord.
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O you who talk
of renunciation of this world, don’t talk of it,
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renunciation
of this world lies in conquering it.
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To be its
rider is to free oneself from its bondage:
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it is to rise
above the status of water und clay.
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This world of
water and clay is the Muslim’s quarry,
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would you
advise a falcon to give up its prey?
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I am unable to
understand
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why a falcon
should flee from the skies.
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Alas! for a
falcon that does not follow its nature,
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that recoils
from inflicting pain on little birds,
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that remains
confined to its nest, afflicted and depressed,
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and does not
wing the azure expanse of the skies.
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The Qur’anic
Faqr is a critical examination of Existence:
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it is not mere
rebeck-playing, intoxication, dancing and singing.
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What is a
believer’s Faqr? It is conquering of dimensions,
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the slave
acquires attributes of the Lord through it.
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The Faqr
of an unbeliever is flight to the wilderness,
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the Faqr
of a believer makes land and sea tremble
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life for the
former is solitude in caves and mountains,
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life for the
latter flows from a glorious death;
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the former is
seeking God through renunciation of flesh,
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the latter is
whetting one’s khudi on the stone of God,
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the former is
killing and burning out of khudi,
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the latter is
to illumine the khudi like a lamp.
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When Faqr
becomes naked under the Sun,
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the Sun and
the Moon tremble through its fear.
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Naked Faqr
is the warmth of Badr and Hunain,
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it is the
sound of Husain’s takbir.
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When Faqr
lost its zest for nakedness,
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the Muslims
lost their might (jalal).
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Alas! for us
and for this ancient world!
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neither you
nor I possess the sword of negation.
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O young man,
free your heart of the other-than-God,
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and barter
away this ancient world.
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How long can
you live careless of the plight of your faith?
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O Muslim, this
kind of life is as good as death.
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The man of
faith renews himself;
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he does not
look at himself except in the light of God;
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he measures
himself by the standard set by Mustafa,
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and thus
succeeds in creating a new world.
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Woe to a
nation that has fallen so low
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that it gives
birth to kings and lords but not to a single dervish.
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Do not ask me
to tell you its story, for how
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can I describe
what is indescribable?
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Tears choke my
throat;
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it is better
if this commotion remains within the heart.
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The Muslim of
this land has lost all hope in himself,
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for a long
time he has not seen a true man of God,
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hence he has
grown
sceptical
about the strength of his faith,
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and has
started waylaying his own caravan.
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For three
centuries the Ummah has been wretched and helpless,
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it lives on
without an inner (spiritual) fire and ecstasy.
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Lowly in
thought, mean of nature, vulgar in taste,
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its teachers
and religious preceptors are devoid of
fervour;
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its low
thoughts have made it wretched,
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and lack of
unity has made it sick of itself.
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As he (the
Muslim) is not aware of his true station,
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the zeal for
revolution has died in his heart.
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For lack of
contact with a man of knowledge, he has become
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feeble and
dejected, and incapable of accepting truth.
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He is a slave
who has been rejected by his Lord,
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who has grown
poor, indigent and absolutely careless.
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He has no
wealth which may be snatched away by a king,
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nor has he any
(spiritual) light that may be taken away by a Satan.
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His religious
leader is a disciple of the Frankish lord,
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though he
boasts of the station of Bayazid.
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He says:
Bondage gives
splendour
to religion,
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and life
consists in being devoid of khudi.
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He looked upon
the enemy’s political control as a mercy;
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danced in
adoration round the Church and died.
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O you who are
devoid of spiritual zest and anguish,
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do you know
what this age of ours has done to us ?
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This age has
estranged us from ourselves
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and cut us
asunder from the beauty of Mustafa.
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Since love for
Mustafa departed from the breast,
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the mirror
lost its natural lustre.
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You did not
understand the real character of this age,
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and have lost
the wager in the very first move.
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Since your
mind got involved in its vortex,
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no live desire
appeared in your heart.
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Subject
yourself to examination and do not forget yourself;
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be forgetful
of the other-than-yourself for a while.
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Why do you
give in to fear, doubt and melancholy?
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Realise your
position in this. country.
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This garden
(country) has many tall trees,
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therefore do
not make your nest on a low branch.
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O man unaware
of yourself you have a song in your throat,
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recognise your
true stock and do not fly with crows.
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Give yourself
the keenness of a sword,
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and then hand
yourself over to Destiny.
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You have
within you an irresistible storm,
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before which a
lofty mountain is but straw.
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The grandeur
of the storm lies in restlessness;
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for it to rest
for a moment is to die.
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I am neither a
theologian nor a jurist with an analytical mind,
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nor am I
acquainted with the intricacies of Faqr.
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For all my
keen insight into the ways of faith, I am slow-footed ;
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all my work is
incomplete and what to me
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appears mature
is unripe,
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but God has
given me a heart full of living passion
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and thus
enabled me to unravel one knot out of a hundred.
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“Take your
share of my fire and ardour,
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there may not
come after me as a faqir like me.”
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