we are in your quest, in who's quest are you?

1.
O one with a tilted cap,
fitted cup parched open

O beloved seducer,
reflection of who's
endearing ways
...... are you?

You are locked
in my heart,
and my eyes
under your feet.

We're in your quest,
in who's quest
...... are you?

You plunder my soul,
plunder my heart
and mind,
you ascend great heights.
Which bird of desire
...... are you?

Words are sealed
within the lips
of exasperated Khusro.

O sweet voiced parrot,
who's purity of song
...... are you?

- lyrics by Amir Khusro (1253 - 1325) adopted from the the song 'Kaj Kulaah' by contemporary sufi singer Shafqat Ali Khan.

[>] You may listen to this beautiful song in original Persian language (in classical Indian style of improvisation) with English recitation via Imeem. The song is from the Album called, The Tilted Cap.

[Download the song in Mp3 version]

2.

Commentary | the beautiful lyric is an example of songs written in dedication to master and guide in the sufi path. on the outset the song is a deeply devotional piece that comes from a devotee who is made so bewildered and drowned in divine love (mahabba) for the teacher that he calls the teacher as 'a beloved seducer'. sufis are known as 'thieves of the heart' who can enter one's heart silently and empty it completely of 'everything else', a preparation for the purity of God's love to completely occupy the heart.

Amir Khusro, a brilliant sufi musician here uses wonderful metaphors to express the love for his own guide and master in the spiritual path. in sufi path, the absorption in the love of the teacher (fana fi shaykh) is a pathway to the absorption or annihilation in God (fana fi Allah). thus the shaykh is the one who takes the student by the hand to God. Amir Khusro says beautifully when he asks, 'reflection of who's endearing ways are you?' to point to the fact that light carried within the breast of a true master is the reflection of the Light of God.

the song also reminds of the mysterious green man of the desert, otherwise known as Khidr. Khidr was the archetypal esoteric guide who is mentioned in Quran, appears like an Avataric figure to Prophet Moses to teach him inner realities. according to many sufis, Khidr is the timeless inner guide of subtle realities. just as Khidr is not mentioned by name in the Quran, so is the inner teacher remains without a face or form. that also points answer to the inner secret why the master of the mystics, Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, asked not to draw his face.

on inner level this song can be also be interpreted as a song addressing to God, specially where the zen koan like question from the bewildered devotee, 'we are in Your quest, in who's quest are You?' points to one of the most secret of questions for the Seeker of Truth. Man in eternal quest of God, and through divine reflection, God is also in quest of Perfected Human Being, the perfect reflection of God's Light, Insan al-Kamal.

"Faozkurooni Azkurukum"

Therefore Remember Me, I Will Remember you.
- The Quran 2:152

"God says: I AM Humanity's Secret,
and Humanity is My Secret"

- from the sacred hadith of Prophet

3.

Javad Nurbakhsh, Master of the Nimatullahi Sufi Order for over 50 years, joined the Beloved on Friday, October 10, 2008. Inna niLlahi wa inna ilaihi raji'un. Indeed we are from God and to Him is the Final Home Coming. May God bless his soul and raise his rank to those of His true lovers. Ameen.

This post is dedicated to Shaykh Javad Nurbakhsh, may God be pleased with him. Benediction of al-Fatiha to his noble soul.

Through Love, I have reached a place
Where no trace of Love remains,
Where "I" and "we"
and the painting of existence,
Have all been forgotten and left behind …

- Shaykh Javad Nurbakhsh (1928 - 2008)

The Nimatullahi Sufi order is the most wide spread Sufi Order in Iran which also has branches in Europe, Africa, U.S.A. and Australia. Dr. Nurbakhsh was born in Kerman, Iran in 1926. He attended medical school at the University of Tehran, receiving his psychiatric doctorate in 1952. Soon after the Islamic revolution in Iran, Dr. Nurbakhsh went into exile and eventually settled in the U.K. where the order maintains two Sufi Centers in London and Manchester and a Sufi Retreat in Banbury oxfordshire where he passed away at the age of 82.

Dr. Nurbakhsh was an accomplished Sufi poet and spent more than 50 years writing, editing and publishing definitive and comprehensive works on the Sufi spiritual path. A number of Americans and Europeans came to Iran and were initiated into the Nimatullahi Order. Subsequently, the first spiritual center outside Iran was founded in San Francisco in 1975. Dr. Nurbakhsh eventually established more than one hundred Sufi centers and numerous libraries and museums throughout Iran and the world.

Dr. Nurbakhsh promoted the creed of fraternity and equality of all human beings, regardless of gender, race, nationality and religion. He also advocated love and service to all humanity. He is succeeded by his son, Alireza Nurbakhsh. (credit)

# Related: Soulful Strain - Sufi exponent Shafqat Ali Khan’s draws upon Amir Khusro’s works for his new album.

. Music Albums: Sufi Songs and Sublime Sufi by Shafqat Ali Khan
. Sufi Love