A Muslim Convert Once Before

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   The following is my answer to a Quora question: “ What do modern day Muslims think of Islamic wine poetry?   Many of the most influential poets, especially in the Persian tradition, such as Shaykh Abu Nuwas al-Hasan ibn Hani ‘Abd al-Awwal asw-Swabaḥ al-Hakami ( q.s. ), and Khwaja Shams ad-Din Muhammad Hafizh ash-Shirazi ( q.s. ), wrote wine poems.   How is this reconciled with the prohibition of alcohol in modern Islam? ”   The wine and intoxication in Sufi poetry are metaphors.   These poems are full of literary devices, and are not referring to actual wine and intoxication.   This is what happens when people read great works of literature, especially translations, without understanding the nuances of language.   Drinking the wine of love, for example, refers to the opening of spiritual states, and recognising the Divine.   This intoxication refers to the intoxication of extreme love of Allah ( s.w.t. )...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Khwaja Shams ad-Din Muhammad Hafizh ash-Shirazi ( q.s. ) said, “In the morning, when I began to wake, it happened again.  That feeling that You, Beloved, had Stood over me all night, Keeping Watch.  That feeling that as soon as I began to stir, You Put Your Lips on my forehead, and Lit a holy lamp in my heart.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Khwaja Shams ad-Din Muhammad Hafizh ash-Shirazi ( q.s. ) said:   “Know the true nature of your Beloved. In His Loving Eyes, your every thought, Word and movement is always, Always beautiful.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Khwaja Shams ad-Din Muhammad Hafizh ash-Shirazi ( q.s. ) said:   “I wish I could show you, When you are lonely, or in the darkness, The astonishing light, Of your own being!”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Khwaja Shams ad-Din Muhammad Hafizh ash-Shirazi ( q.s. ) said: “I swear all sadness will have fled, Once you trust in God, to Give your daily bread.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Khwaja Shams ad-Din Muhammad Hafizh ash-Shirazi ( q.s. ) said, “The majesty of love lies far beyond the reach of intellect; only one who has his life up his sleeve dares kiss the threshold of love.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Khwaja Shams ad-Din Muhammad Hafizh ash-Shirazi ( q.s. ) said, “If your patience is like that of Noah ( a.s. ) in the sadness of the storm, affliction will leave you, and the hopes of a thousand years will be fulfilled.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Khwaja Shams ad-Din Muhammad Hafizh ash-Shirazi ( q.s. ) wrote:   “All your pain, worry, sorrow; Will someday apologise and confess; They were a great lie.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Khwaja Shams ad-Din Muhammad Hafizh ash-Shirazi ( q.s. ) said: “One whose heart becomes alive with love never dies. It is love that has made us immortal.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Khwaja Shams ad-Din Muhammad Hafizh ash-Shirazi ( q.s. ) said, “For I have learned that every heart will get what it prays for the most.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Khwaja Shams ad-Din Muhammad Hafizh ash-Shirazi ( q.s. ) said, “Wealth does not elevate a wealthy man.   An ass who wears a satin saddle cloth is still an ass.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Khwaja Shams ad-Din Muhammad Hafizh ash-Shirazi ( q.s. ) wrote:   “Leave the familiar for a while. Let your senses and bodies stretch out Like a welcomed season Onto the meadow and shores and hills. Open up to the Roof. Make a new watermark on your excitement And love. Like a blooming night flower, Bestow your vital fragrance of happiness And giving Upon our intimate assembly. Change rooms in your mind for a day. All the hemispheres in existence Lie beside an equator In your heart. Greet Yourself In your thousand other forms As you mount the hidden tide and travel Back home. All the hemispheres in heaven Are sitting around a fire Chatting While stitching themselves together Into the Great Circle inside of You.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Khwaja Shams ad-Din Muhammad Hafizh ash-Shirazi ( q.s. ) said, “Your love should never be offered to the mouth of a stranger; only to someone who has the valour and daring to cut off pieces of their soul with knife, then weave them into a blanket to protect you.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Khwaja Shams ad-Din Muhammad Hafizh ash-Shirazi ( q.s. ) prayed, “O Master, You are so Gracious.  After all these years, You still Remember who I am: the one who wears the dust of Your door like a crown.  Tell me, who taught You to be so generous to Your slaves?  O holy bird, bless this path I am on for I am new to this traveling; it is a long way I gave to go.  O morning breeze, take my prayers to the Master, and tell Him that each day I am on my knees at dawn.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Khwaja Shams ad-Din Muhammad Hafizh ash-Shirazi ( q.s. ) said, “Hell is in the here and now.  So is heaven.  Quit worrying about hell or dreaming about heaven, as they are both present inside this very moment.  Every time we fall in love, we ascend to Heaven.  Every time we hate, envy or fight someone, we tumble straight into the fires of hell.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Khwaja Shams ad-Din Muhammad Hafizh ash-Shirazi ( q.s. ) said, “If your patience is like that of Noah in the sadness of the storm, affliction will leave you and the hopes of a thousand years will be fulfilled.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Khwaja Shams ad-Din Muhammad Hafizh ash-Shirazi ( q.s .) said, “If you knew the end of your story, nothing on any page, not one of your dramas, could bother you as much.”