the path of true befriending

1.
while tracing the path
of our befriending
you said, "you are learning only too well
the language of my heart,
a few words from your lips
                 equal a thousand gifts."

i said, "as this befriending
becomes a full moon,
we are as if growing
in each other's womb.
(how strange is that!)

       come closer and look!"

that explains the secret of this strange familiarity
of each others soul language,
time after time, age after age.

while taking a break from journey
contemplating on the beauty of full moon
on the side of silk road ruins,
whisper the Bedouins:
(like that) 'let this befriending glow!
        let it flow!

may our heart songs sing in unison,
     today, tonight and
                      in every new dawn.'



2.
"I befriend you so that you might become me and I might become you."
- Shaykh Abul Hasan to his intimate companion and successor Shaykh Mursi

Shaykh Abul Abbas narrated about how he came to meet the great spiritual master of his: "When I was still a young man, I came to Tunis from Mursi. I had heard of Shaykh Ali Abul Hasan ash-Shadhdhuli from someone who suggested that we should go to meet him. I replied that I could not until I had consulted with Allah (istikhartu'llah). 

That night, while I slept, I saw in a ru'ya (true dream, vision) that I was ascending to the top of the mountain. When I reached the summit I saw there a man dressed in a green cloak. He was sitting and there was another man seated on his right and another man seated on his left. He said to me, "I have found the Khalifah of the Time (khalifatuz-zaman)." Then I awoke.

After I had completed my morning devotions, the man who had invited me to visit the Shaykh came to me. Together we walked to the Shaykh. I found him in the same form that I had seen him on the mountain in my ru'ya. I was astonished. When he saw me said, 'I have found the Khalifah of the Time. What is your name?' I told him and he replied, 'You were raised up to me ten years ago.' Shaykh Abul Hasan said to Sidi Abul Abbas, "I befriend you so that you might become me and I might become you."

He accompanied our Shaykh from that day forward and never left him nor did he ever disobey him in anything great or small and walked in the light of teachings of our Shaykh until his end in this world of appearances. May Allah hallow both their Sirr and benefit us from their teachings.

- from the Orison The School of Shadhdhuliyyah, edited by Shaykh Abdullah Nooruddeen Durkee ash-Shadhili Rahmatullah