It is of the Purity of Wine

It is of the purity of wine which the Essence enjoys in thee;

All union outside of It  is but dispersion.

It unveils Itself transcendent with regard to all description,

Without analogy and without there being in It any relations.

As the rising sun effaces the light of the planets,

While they subsist fundamentally by it,

It is darkness without day and without twilight,

But outside Its home the flock wanders in the desert.

May the unsurpassable limits be shown to the caravan which leans towards It!

So that it remains perplexed with regard to It and does not grasp the characters.

Hidden are the paths towards It, neither contours nor wisdom will betray It.

It refuses intimacy; Its proud beauties will defend It.

A covered way, effaced and narrrow, leads towards It;

It is on one side that the illusioned traveller stops,

Like ignorance, It levels the sciences of the worlds;

In its breast, guidance and bewilderment are equal.

Never can intellect overcome purity to blend with It;

Never thought smell Its heady perfume…”

Abd al-Karim al-Jili (b.767H/1366 A.D, Jil, Baghdad)

(Excerpt from his book Al-Insan Al-Kamil, Universal Man, Translation by Angela Culme-Seymour, Suhail Academy, Lahore, 2000, p.53, Chapter Heading: Of the Unveiling – Majla – of the Essence)