Sharpen Yourself

بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ 


أَخَذْتَ بِأَعْضَادِهِمْ إِذْ وَنُوا

وَخَلَّفَكَ الْجُهْدُ إِذْ أَسْرَعُوا 

وَأَصْبَحْتَ تَهْدِي وَلاَ تَهْتَدِي

وتُسْمِعُ وَعْظًا وَلاَ تَسْمَعُ

فَيَا حَجَرَ الشَّحْذِ حَتَّى مَتَى

تَسُنُّ الْحَدِيدَ وَلاَ تَقْطَعُ

Meaning: 

You help them in their state of weakness 
Your endeavours hold you back while they speed ahead of you 

You rise up to the role of one who guides, yet not of one who heeds
 You sermonise but hearken not 

O whetstone, till when
shall you whet iron, but will not cut?

Language:

Arabic


Transliteration:


akhadhat bi a'dhadihim idh wanu
wa khalfaka aljuhdu idh asra'u
wa asbahat tahdi wala tahtadi
wa tusmi'u wa'dhan wala tasma'u 
fa ya hajar alshahdhu hatta mata
tasunnu alhadeedu wa la taqta'u



 Video/Audio:




Brief Explanation:

We must learn, practice and internalize before we preach to others. As a master of miracles and allusions (ṣāḥib al-karāmāt wa’l-ishārāt), Ahmad Ghazali delivered an apt message to his brother which triggered a transformation in his life.

Background:

The final straw which caused Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali to break the bonds with this world came one day when his brother Ahmad Ghazali entered while he was preaching and recited the above lines.  The younger, lesser known brother is himself an influential Sufi Shaykh. He is well respected in the Sufi circles as a scholar of the exoteric sciences (ʿālim) as well as a scholar of esoteric sciences (ārif). His treatise Sawāniḥ (Inspirations) is one of the earliest extant treatises on Sufism.  He is one of the earliest scholars with a highly nuanced approach towards Love, following a very unique methodology.  



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