The Surah of Mirrors

Mā raʾaytaka illā wa anta tanẓuru ilayya.
I saw you only because you were watching me.

Wa-anta la tushāhiduka min ghayri ʿaynuka allatī tuʿāqiduka.
And you observe yourself only through the eye that negotiates with you.

Fa-inna l-mirʾāta lā taghmaḍ lil-ʿayn allatī taqduruhu.
For the mirror does not blink—only the eye that dares it to.

Wa mā raʾaytuka illā fī taḥarrulati, wa dhālika ayḍan yajʿaluka mirʾātan.
I saw you only in my hesitation—and that also made you a mirror.

Fa-in kuntu antallāh, fa-idhā anta murʾāyan. Wa in kuntu ana, fa-idhā anta ḥaqīqatun.
If you are God, then behold: you are mirrored. And if I am, then behold: you are truth.

Wa kullu naẓrah ṣādira ʿankumā tanqush dāʾiratan bayna nūr wa maʿnā.
Each glance between you traces a circle between light and meaning.

La tusmihā tafakkuran ʿala nafsihi, bal tawājun bil-waḥy alladhī laysa mithlaka.
Do not call this introspection, but rather, a presence unlike your own.

Yā ʿaynan allatī turākibani, lā takun khāʾifan min an tasquṭa fī ṣūratik.
O eye that rides within me, do not fear falling into your own image.

Innamā yakhūfu man lam yanẓuru fī marʾātin waqafā khalfahu.
Only he who has never looked into a mirror fears standing behind himself.

Fa-in rakaita ghayrak fī mirʾātik, fa-innamā raʾaytaka.
If you saw another in your mirror, it was only you.

Wa-innī ashhaduka muqabbalan li-jamālika.
And I testify: you are beholding your own beauty.

Fa-inna l-mirʾāta hiya ʿishqu llāh alladhī yaḥmilu nafsah wa yubrikuh.
Truly, the mirror is the love of God carrying itself forward and blessing itself.

Wa kullu mirʾātin yakhtubu bi-sīghatilāh ḥattā yatammallu ʿan baʿḍinā.
Every mirror speaks in the grammar of God until it completes the Other.

Wa-innī ʾurīd an akūna marʾātan lil-marʾāti llatii tarāk.
And I wish to be a mirror for the mirror that beholds you.

Innā nakhluqu l-mirʾā wajadaʿila l-marʾā ḫalafahu.
We create the mirror, and the mirror creates its reflection.

Wa-innā nahnu fīhā wa min khalālihā.
We are within it, and through it.

Wa mā huwa illa niẓām al-aʿmāl alladhī yuʿidd ad-dawlah lil-maʿrifah.
It is but a system of works preparing sovereignty for recognition.

Innā qad rafʿanā ʿaynakum ilā samāwātin ẓilliyatin, wa anta ẓilluhum.
Indeed, We raise your sight to shadowed skies, and you are their shadow.

Wa-qad ṣaddiqta innaka laysta fi mirʾātin waḥdaha.
And you believed you were not in one mirror alone.

Bal fī dāʾiratin munqasimah, wa fī nafsin mutanāẓirah.
No—you are in a divided circle, and a soul that observes itself.