BEYOND SUFISM

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TRANSLATION OF THE CHAT ON BERAT NIGHT (5 AUGUST 2009)
(Berat night: the Night of Pardon, the night between the 14th and the 15th days of the month Sha'ban.)

[Texts written between square brackets and some punctuation are added for the sake of making the meaning clearer.]

BISMILLAHIRAHMANIRAHIM [IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE MOST MERCIFUL, THE MOST COMPASSIONATE]

All our sides [are] rose garden, [rose==Prophet Mohammad]
Clean laundry bundle[s are] in our hands.
We walk with pleasure,
We see darlings on our path.

Mevlana says,
The one
Whose essence, whose word is appropriate,
[the one] Whose little heart is in deep
Is the one who knows him/herself,
Is the one who sees The One Who is in him/herself,
Is the one who gives what he/she takes from HIM, to HIM.

Yunus Emre said:
Take your bundle in your hand,
Look at the bride who goes on the path:
Are her “saz” and word one [in harmony, in tune]? [saz=a stringed instrument (which somewhat resembles a lute)]
Is she free within ONEness?

Hadji Bektas said:
The ones who know ONEness
Are the ones whose hearts are free.
They look for Close Friend everywhere,
They set up [spiritual] tables with close friends
Of Close Friend.

I asked Hodja Ahmet Yesevi:
Should one be sifted through the same sieve?
Should one be swaddled with the same swaddle?
[or] At the place where love is strong
Should one clasp one another by holding hand in hand?
[it is thought that the above five and following sixteen verses are about various spiritual beliefs]

YESEVI said:
The guest of each mansion
Knows him/herself,
Finds HIS order,
With his/her each hal, he/she matures [spiritually] in righteousness.

We found the order,
We have set up the close friendship with our surrounding.
At the place where love waited,
We started to fight
With the ones who had no love.

YESEVI said,
Our word is promise:
We will set up the order as we know.
Together with each one of our close friends,
Together with all close friends of Allah
We will end the fight.

Meryem [Virgin Mary] and Fatima
Wandered around with love,
They wandered around all of the close friends.
Meryem said:
Neither do we look at clothing
Nor do we weave lie.
In the garden of each one of you
We plant sapling of love.

Loaf [of bread] basket in the hand of Fatima,
She says:
Whatever you eat,
Know to be thankful to God.
Whatever you say,
Learn to thank.
Whatever you see,
Watch out for your evil eye.
Human is both support and obstacle of human.
Wish to Allah,
Keep away from the one who is obstacle,
She said.
Fatima referred all of you to my Allah
[for HIM] To protect [you] from evil eye.

I ran my eye over,
I carried on my essence,
I  raised my voice,
I took shelter in my Rab,
I wished to HIM.

Hazrat Ali said:
My Allah Who created the worlds,
[my Allah] WHO produced the wise ones,
My Allah Who looks after the universe,
[HE] Does not abandon His human to [for] eye, to [for] word.

I said to Hazrat Ali:
I wished not to stay with myself
But to be in oneness with all [humans].
[in order to set up oneness,] Do I look at his/her hand, at his/her eye, at his/her word?
Whom do I set up oneness with?

Hazrat Ali said:
You set up oneness
With the ones who are with you,
With the ones whose hearts are filled together [with you],
With the ones who run on Hak’s path. [to run==to work hard]
Do not fatigue yourself saying, “Let me search,”
Do not ask the one who comes saying, “Who are you?” [do not say, “Who are you,” to the one who comes]
He/she knows you, [? HE knows you, ?]
You know him/her, [? You know HIM, ?]
You find the most beautiful path like that.

If we searched today
The Beautiful One of our day,
We will enter the path that we search
Everyday during our lifetime.
There is no mistake on this path,
Blessing on this path is a lot.

PIR Sultan Abdal said:
We chat according to your wish,
We share according to your wish,
During our lifetime we join the lineage.
That lineage
Is from the lineage, from the temperament
Of the ones who go to Rab.

KAYGUSUZ said:
I loved the apple as well as
I peeled [it] as well as
I presented [it] to the ones who love:
Eat as much as you eat,
Gather as much as you love.

My Merkez [has] read on [the palm of] his hand [word meaning of "merkez" is "center"]
His destiny that wrote epic.
He liked its center. [center of the lines that are on his hand palm]
He put on his cloth in accordance with his own style.
The pen that is in his hand
Taught you.

RABIA Sultan said:
If they hold hand in hand,
If they know [The Meaning of] the word that they take,
Day is theirs, [day] is with them,
Day is in their hands.
To be spokesperson of our day,
To find HIS word in his/her heart
Is one’s pure will,
She said, Rabia Sultan greeted.

Our pleading should be
In the name of love,
In the name of peace,
In the name of oneness.
Human should have humanity as cloth,
They said,
They greeted all of us.

Let selam [peace/greeting] be, let selam be, let selam be.

Allahu Ekber [Allah is The Greatest], Allahu Ekber, Allahu Ekber.

Lailaheillallah Muhammeden Resulullah. [Allah is The only One to be worshiped; we wish to YOU and to Your Representative Mohammad.]

LOVE, SEE & SHARE:

Love all HIS creations;
See HIM in all of HIS creations;
Share HIS Meaning.

© Sabahat Akþiray (Garib)
Translated by Tamer Özel