| Abu-Said Abil-Kheir - Muslim/Sufi - Poet

[bobby1933]

"Abu Said referred to himself as “Nobody, Son of Nobody,” to convey the mystic's sense of having completely merged or disappeared into the Divine, leaving no trace of the ego behind

Comments

[bardcat]

Yes, that's a lovely poem you reference, "Whatever road we take to You, Joy." Yes!

[amaebi]

I think it was Valerie Saiving's essay in WomanSpirit Rising that suggested that while a path of selflessness might be medicine for men in the societies we've constructed, it is likely to poison women. I think that's right. And so this strikes me funny.

Perhaps we female types are better off feeling our selves sheltered and warmed and inhabited by the divine as we go about our work.

[bobby1933]

I have to agree. And i admit to a twinge of male guilt when i read of women who "annihilate the self" to a spiritual end.

But my favorite Sufi poet is Rabia, who, pauper, slave, and female, i envy for her deep (and very early -- she is the earliest Sufi poet i know of)spirituality.

The only other female Sufi poets i know of are Mahsati Ganjavi (one of my heroes!) and Bibi Hayati who were strong women who did not mistake spirituality for domestic tranquility or for an unjust social peace built on the backs of women.

My experience with Hindu and Medieval Christian "poetesses"
is similar. Many were gutsy women who did not take shit from men just because they were men, though they usually submitted to ecclesiastical authority, just as men did.

[sabrinamari]

Thank you.