The Invocations of Sheikh ‘Abdullah Ansari of Herat (1939) (1st ed)

S$92.00

The Invocations of Sheikh ‘Abdullah Ansari of Herat (1939) (1st ed)

S$92.00

Title: The Invocation of Sheikh ‘Abdullah Ansari of Herat

Author: Khwaja Abdullah Ansari, Mahatma Gandhi (intro), Sardar Sir Jogendra Singh (trans)

Publisher: John Murray, 1939. First and only edition. Scarce. The Persian Mystics series.

Condition: Hardcover, cloth, with dust jacket. In very good condition for its age: some wear around the boards, edgewear, but good. Dust jacket has closed tears on folds, but still pretty good.

 

Hazrat Shaikh Abu Ismaïl Abdullah al-Herawi al-Ansari or Khajah Abdullah Ansari of Herat (1006–1088) (Persian: خواجه عبدالله انصاری‎‎) also known as Pir-i Herat (پیر هرات) (sage of Herat) was a famous Persian Sufi who lived in the 11th century in Herat (then Khorasan, now Herat province, Afghanistan). One of the outstanding figures in Khorasan in the 5th/11th century: commentator of the Qu’ran, traditionist, polemicist, and spiritual master, known for his oratory and poetic talents in Arabic and Persian.

– from wikipedia.

Excerpt:

If thou canst walk on water
Thou art no better than a straw.
If thou canst fly in air
Thou art no better than a fly.

Conquer thy heart
That thou mayest become somebody.

One man spends seventy years in learning
And fails to kindle the light.
Another, all his life learns nothing
But hears one word
And is consumed by that word.

On this path argument is of no avail ;
Seek, and thou mayest find the truth.

Helpless in childhood.
Intoxicated in youth,
And decrepit in old age;

Then, O helpless one, when couldst thou
Worship God?