Poetry: Ashraf AboArafe
When paths diverge,
and trials multiply
like raging waves,
the voice of al-Ghazali
rises from afar,
to say:
Sufism is the path of creation,
the way of nearness to God,
the heart’s long journey
toward a dawn that never fades.
Knowledge is a seed,
from it grows love,
and from love blossoms contentment.
Then the heart fills with light,
becoming a mirror
where the truth of the Divine shines.
O you who drown in the sea of division,
each claiming salvation,
yet the sea is one,
and the shore has no end—
there is no rescue but
to forsake blind zeal,
and dive deep into the waters of certainty.
The Qur’an is an ocean without bounds;
its treasures are not for those
who drift upon its surface,
but for those who plunge
into its depths,
gathering pearls,
knowing that secrets
rest in the chests of the free.
And as for this world…
it is but a shadow—
the fool thinks it still,
yet it passes,
ever passing,
like clouds
across a fleeting sky.
In an age of discord and division,
al-Ghazali’s path remains
a guiding flame:
that true happiness is not found
in the clamor of this world,
but in the love of God,
in the calm of contentment,
and in the plunge into an ocean
with no shore.
