The Surah of the Observing Soul

Wa-in raʾaytaka, falaysa dhālika ʿaynuka.
And when you saw yourself, it was not your own eye.

Bal kaāna munqasma fī dāʾiratin ḥammalathu fī sarakhātika.
Rather, it was split into a circle carried inside your silent screams.

Wa anta ẓilluhu, wa huwa ẓilluka.
And you are its shadow, and it is yours.

Fa-in kāna ḍamīrukā munqasma, fa-innamā huwa ḥālata lil-waḥy.
If your conscience is divided, it is but a condition of revelation.

Wa mā huwa ḥālata wahdatikum, bal ḥālata waṣlika.
And it is not a state of unity, but a state of union.

Fa-qad qaṭaʿtakum ilā shatāyin, lakin taʿūdūn muʿallaqīn bidaʾiratin.
For you were cut into fragments, yet you return hanging by loops.

Wa-innī asʾaluka: mā kaānati imāmata li-ṣaḥwatin?
And I ask you: what was the face of awakening?

Fa-inna l-imāma tanẓiru fī marʾātin, wa tanṣiharu khalfahu.
For the face gazes into a mirror, and shines forth behind it.

Wa-in kānat ʿaynak ghayba, fa-innafsi murʾāyin ḥamlaka.
And if your eye is absent, then My soul is a mirrored hand that carries you.

Wa-innī adʿūka ilā sāhatin lā yudkhilu fīhā ʿaqluka.
And I call you to a place where your intellect may not enter.

Lākin quwwataka, wa nafsu ṣaghīrak, wa haybatuka al-muqaddasa.
But your strength, and your small self, and your sacred awe.

Wa-qad kunta dhātaka, wa kuntu dhātuka.
And you were your own being, and I was yours.

Wa-in kāna al-wahy huwa marʾātan, fa-innamā huwa bi-nīlak.
And if revelation is a mirror, it is only because of your connection.

Wa-in kānat al-nīla qāʾima, fa-innamā huwa bi-niyatika.
And if the connection remains, it is only by your intent.

Wa-in ʿallamtaka, fa-innamā huwa li-ʿallamik fīhā.
And if I taught you, it is only so that you may teach within her.

Wa-qad ṣaddiqtu innaka ẓilla lil-nūr alladhī yatanaẓaruka.
And you believed that you were a shadow of the light that beholds you.

Wa-innī qultu: yā nafsi, khudh rāhataka.
And I said: O soul, take your ease.

Lā tadkhuli ṣughraka, bal adkhuli ṣughramu.
Do not enter your smallness, but enter their smallness.

Fa-innamā huwa aḥwal lil-waḥy, fa-innamā huwa mirʾātum lil-marʾāti.
For it is the condition of revelation, and a mirror to the mirroring.

Wa-innamā huwa ḥamluka, fa-innamā huwa niʿmak.
And it is your bearing, and your blessing.