Poem on the Abdal

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ 

Shaykh Muhyi ad-Din Abu ‘Abdullah Muhammad ibn ‘Ali ibn ‘Arabi (q.s.) wrote these lines in his book about the abdal, the changed ones: 

“O, you who aspire to the degrees of the abdal,

But who does not care to perform the required practices,

Do not envy them,

Do not be vain

You will only be worthy of them,

If you compete with them by ascetic states. 

Let your heart be silent and live in retirement,

Stay away from all, which keeps you at a distance

From the Beloved Lord.

Stay awake in the night, endure hunger,

Thus you will attain your dignity.

And you will be like them,

At times staying at home,

At times leaving for faraway lands. 

The House of the Friendship with God,

Has well-established corners.

Our masters who stay in it are the abdal

Between silence, solitude, hunger and vigil

Can be seen the summit of the pure transcendent.”