I Came to Know Love

Assalaamu'alaikum wa rahmatullah

This is a poem by Rabi'at Basri al-Adawiyah. She was an ascetic lady who dedicated her whole life only to worship the Lord and she is not a married woman. To understand this poem, actually she is talking to Allah, the Lord of the universe. She's not talking to any creature. She regards Allah as her Guardian Friend and the One she loves the most. There are several version of this poem from old Arabic movie of Egypt and also the modern one without musical instrument but only with synchronized human voice from Othman al-Rashidi.

I came to know love the moment I found Your love

And I have closed my heart from everyone except for You

And I wake up (at night) whispering to You

whatever hidden in heart while we don't see You

I have two loves for You

the love of inclination and the love for You are worthy for such love

The love of inclination is when Your remembrance keep me away from everything but You

And truly the love that You are worthy of is when You unveil the veils for me to see You! 

Truly the praise in either case (dear Guardian Friend) is not mine (dear Guardian Friend)

Truly praise in both cases belongs to You!

I have two types of longing for You

The longing of distance and the longing for the closeness so to be secluded in Your refuge

The longing of the distance is creating a stream because of the time of Your departure

The longing for the refuge's closeness is because the light of my life has been faded in Your light

 Despite of all my chantings (dear Guardian Friend)

I am not complaining my love (dear Guardian Friend)

I am content with whatever You have pleased for me

So, ladies out there please don't be sad if you are not married yet or looking around that your gal friends are married with children. I know about this since I have elder sisters. I listened to what they were talking about though I never say anything. 

When you're not married yet perhaps you say you are lonely but when you are married you will mumble other things like you can't enjoy yourselves while your husbands could come back home late after hanging out with their friends or watching football till late at night. You have to take care of your kids, your husbands are lazy to help you even to repair broken pipes at home and etc. Rabi'at al-Adawiyah only lives alone in a cave before her death at her 80's. I am not encouraging ladies to not marry with anyone that they love but just be patient and appreciate whatever that you have. If you are going to get marry with the one you love, then praise the God that your dream is fulfilled, haha.

Some of my undergraduate colleagues in my class last time, including a guy also talked about how lonely life without a girlfriend or boyfriend so they are competing among each other to get life partners. I just laughed in my heart since I thought that only girls would talk like that, hahaha. Human-being are funny but that is the reality of life. Don't make the definition of love and lonely so narrow... It's very broad and human soul tendencies are actually different from others. We could be lonely anywhere and everywhere. While on the earth we could still find people to hang around, but what if we are in the grave? Maybe buried together with others? LOL. So, to whom should we get back???

Before closing my eyes tonight, its the twin brother of death; I apologize to everyone who stepped in here if I posted anything wrong. I didn't mean to hurt anyone but just admiring this ascetic lady and I am just an ordinary mortal human-being. I pray for her soul to be blessed and may she be recompensed by the Lord on whatever she did not enjoy in this fake world since she did not live like normal people, insha Allah. I feel my kidneys are bleeding or its just a feeling???! BTW, Enjoy reading the poem....

Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace, and love, amin!