Different Burdens for the Saints, the Saintly and the Donkeys

148. Faith is a Flower

Faith is a flower of a Jasmine Tree in the Garden of Love,

The Garden is set in the Valley of Certainty,

In which flows a river sprung from the Blessed Fountain.

The Valley is encircled by four hills named Amity, Charity, Patience and Fidelity.

And above them all, rain clouds carrying teardrops of musk drift from the Mercy Ocean.

My beloved Maulana! Your perfume lingers still, and I wonder;

What did you see when you gazed out the window that morning, and cried?

.......................................

What lingering thoughts troubled me that day when I wrote the prose? But the thoughts, or rather memories, that troubled me were not my own. It were that of a young apprentice in the company of a Grandmaster of a Sufi Order. On that occasion, the Grandmaster (Maulana) was minding his own, standing in a quite corner of the house, looking out of a drab little window. The young mureed saw him and was surprised to see the Maulana's eyes swimming in tears, before one pearly fell unannounced across his cheek.

He never asked the Maulana why he was crying. But he later recalled the story to me, and I wrote the above prose - Whoever knows what inspires the tears of Saints? Perhaps it is better not to know. For undoubtedly, we are all blessed to bear our own burdens, and for me, I am quite happy to bear the burden for donkeys. For I do not wish to carry the world on my shoulders.

May God protect and exalt the spiritual stations of the Saints and the saintly.

And God bless you, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way