The Seeker who is Sought

Words cannot encompass your majesty

Your grand decree remains our destiny

Veils conceal from us your splendor

Unable to cherish a love so tender

Every wonder springs from your creation

All creatures owe to you adoration

Your touch makes the mundane glorious

With you, every trial becomes victorious

Outside time, you are eternal

Beyond all space, you are supernal

Without you, there is no infinity

With you, souls attain intimacy

To starving spirits, you provide

For every wanderer, you are the guide

From nothingness itself, you fashion

Unconditional is your compassion

Your disclosure is the highest heaven

Your slavery makes one sovereign

With mathematical precision, you sustain

Still, from evil, the world doesn't abstain

Your Book is the true illumination

Perpetually, it invites the deepest reflection

Your worship is man's emancipation

Your consent alone is salvation

Mysteriously, you seem yonder

Yet within us, none is closer

Revelation is immersed in divinity

Your remembrance bestows serenity

You alone are perfection

All else is mere reflection

Though unqualified, all of us are blessed

By your magnanimity, we are caressed

Across your earth, sins are widespread

Yet mercy flows from the fountainhead

Those who diminish their esteem

Attain a gnosis that is supreme

You compose many a love story

For those who transcend their glory

Before you, all things stand in contrast

Besides your face, nothing will last

The symphony of the cosmos, you direct

From noise and chaos, you protect

Behind the colors of birds is your beauty

Beneath all tribulations lies your mercy

Your Book is the sacred literature

Living through it raises our stature

He who discovers your love's treasure

Grows indifferent to every pleasure

Your bond is the purest

Your reciprocity is the surest

You ignite every awakening

You initiate every beckoning

Your dimensions transcend infinity

Even your droplet is a sea

Even Ali cannot raise your station

You are beyond all exaltation

Your will commands cosmic harmony

You manifest unity in multiplicity

Through your eyes, all things are clear

Upon your path, no destination is near

Before the sun itself has arisen

You unveil every horizon

Without you, knowledge isn't a savior

With you, even innocence finds shelter

Whether an Islamic cleric or a Christian deacon

None leaves an impression without your beacon

Your law turns one obedient

Your love makes one a servant

Love of the world is your greatest foe

The seed of restraint, only you can sow

Between the hypocrite and the noble

Your love forms a divide so subtle

Even before contrition, you pardon

Not worthy are we of your garden

You shower in plentitude

Yet reserved is our gratitude

Behind Surah Rahman, you heal

Beyond the text itself, you reveal

Even a prophet stands in need of your guidance

When the Book is silent, you are the reliance

In this journey, the path is ascending

There is no end to your unveiling

Despite eternity, your glory is unfaded

Despite Satan, your realm remains sacred

Your religion fascinates despite being ancient

It shines because its source is omniscient

The scholar and worshipper alike find ecstasy

The gnostic and intellectual serve your majesty

Your blessings are an ever-flowing river

Be it a saint or a transgressor

Even Pharaoh found you most gracious

For all creation, your heart is most spacious

The light not passing through your prism

Remains devoid of truth and wisdom

With you, a dervish dwells in a kingdom

Without you, a king is robbed of freedom

Seeking you isn't a story of intelligence

Lovers find you only through patience

When their humility, you endorse

The self discovers its divine source

Your every shore is itself an ocean

Traversed only through selfless devotion

Why does Rumi's *Masnawi* remain sublime?

Your lovers never lose their prime

In front of Shams, why did Rumi bow?

In Shams, Rumi saw your glow

Fools label your lovers as pagan

From them, your secrets are hidden

Veils upon hearts nourish suspicion

Distance from you breeds rebellion

Shallow learning makes them proud

Spiritual emptiness renders them loud

They do not know that they do not know

They seek the crop without the plough

They become the enemies of love

Your key does not descend from above

The key is neither books nor debate

But purifying oneself for a clean slate

Your gnosis is a light full of signs

It enters only the heart that shines

Beyond arguments and mental gymnastics

Outside logic, text, and academics

Was Hallaj flawed in his proclamation?

He did ascend to a lofty station

Greater gnosis might have rendered him silent

The ignorance of his peers became the serpent

What he witnessed, we cannot see

He beheld divine beauty

Within your pages, he is the hero

Because he conquered his ego

So fragrant was your breath

That over life, he chose death

Even his blood proclaimed your name

He deserved anything but blame

He tasted a drop from your ocean

Yet even that bestowed such elevation

What can we say of the Prophet's ﷺ gnosis?

It is a secret that is yours and his

Whose path's thorns are like a rose?

Above tribulations, many lovers arose

Whose love made Ghazali clean the mosque's floor?

While prestige, honor, acclaim knocked at his door

Who granted Ahmed Raza Khan genius?

His feats revolved around whose nucleus?

Who didn't let Abraham's faith burn?

Near fire, whose message did he learn?

Who wrote Joseph's beautiful story?

Sold for a penny, yet found glory

Who poured conviction in Prophet's ﷺ descendants?

Submission to whose will made them resplendent?

Who said that through His creation, He is found?

The Sufis prepared love as their only ground

Whose slaves see through divine light?

Their vision is beyond their sight

Who did Hajra trust when she ran to and fro?

From nowhere, who caused the water to flow?

Who was the source of Iqbal's candle?

Who made Wasif Ali Wasif kindle?

On every wound, who is the balm?

Despair is a sin in whose Islam?

Every thinker's lamp needs whose sun?

Every lover's heart needs whose burn?

Who is the greatest benefactor of humanity?

Who bestowed prophethood to reveal reality?

Who is true to His 99 names?

Whose glimpse turns mountains to flames?

Whose colors appear every time?

Like a rainbow dazzling in its prime

Whose power defines might?

Yet wisdom makes it right

Who is above every law?

Who is free from any flaw?

Out of nowhere, who gives bread?

Those who trust are always fed

Who fueled history's biggest revolution?

Who is the unarmed soldier's weapon?

In whose name is that sword raised?

From the strike, hatred is erased

Whose disobedience leads to global strife?

Whose magnanimity gives Satan the longest life?

Every call to prayer echoes whose glorification?

Every act of self-negation is whose affirmation?

Who enthused Muslims towards a glorious civilization?

Where dynamism and vibrancy filled every nation

From which enlightenment emerged

Where the two worlds merged

Where the seeker found the scholar

Where the scholar searched for the lover

Where libraries were as crowded as the market

Differences in thought caused no split

Why is the Muslim Ummah in a mess?

Their deeds don't manifest your Oneness

What makes the Muslim manifesto distinct?

Proximity to you is the instinct

Why are your friends willing to die?

So their space reaches your sky

What is the cause of every death?

Relinquishing of your divine breath

O God,

How can I claim praise for what I write?

You are the ink, the pen, and the sight

You are the thought and the expression

You are the melody in this composition

Even Rumi couldn't be just to you

Who am I to say that I know you?

I am the dust beneath his feet

I do not belong to that seat

Unsparingly, life taught me this much

No grace exists without your touch

There is no beginning or an end

When the subject is the Friend

All language is below your grandeur

Beyond this realm, no ode will endure

Who witnessed you unveiled?

Only the one you have hailed

He entered where none prevailed

Farther than Gabriel, he sailed

With your sight, he was crowned

In your waves, he drowned

You were the seeker who was sought

It was romance of another sort

What makes you greater than all that is said?

You alone are greater than your beloved ﷺ.

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