A Poem for Thursday: “Mawqif of Station”

Thursday is a good day for a poem. Today’s poem comes to us by way of Adam Ahmed’s translation of Sufi poet Muhammad ibn al-Hassan an-Niffari. Thank you, Adam!

Mawqif of Station

He stopped me on my way & said to me:

I know your station’s stopped before me now; I told you to come in, so come in. And when absence overtakes you, come in.

He said: there’s no question of your station. It’s the house acquainting you with brethren of the heaven & the earth; the place through which they pass & converse with you.

He said: stop before me. So I stopped, but he, now seeing how I sought him, didn’t act,

but said: I seek to act & for you to see me act: your station’s in this vision, whereby you see ME act, like you see no one else. This place is the door to that place; this — the place of your feebleness & that– the place of your sustenance.

– al Niffari

(translated by Adam Ahmed)