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
akhadhta bi-aʿḍādihim idh wanaw
wa-khallafaka l-juhdu idh asraʿū
wa-aṣbaḥta tahdī wa-lā tahtadī
wa-tusmiʿu waʿẓan wa-lā tasmaʿu
fa-yā ḥajara sh-shaḥdhi ḥattā matā
tasunnu l-ḥadīda wa-lā taqṭaʿu
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 that triggered a transformation in his life.
Background
The final straw that 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 was himself an influential Sufi Shaykh. He was well respected in Sufi circles as a scholar of the exoteric sciences (ʿālim) as well as a scholar of the esoteric sciences (ārif). His treatise Sawāniḥ (Inspirations) is one of the earliest extant treatises on Sufism. He was one of the earliest scholars with a highly nuanced approach towards Love, following a unique methodology.
True May Allah help.us to practice.
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