Baba Kuhi of Shiraz – Only God I Saw

Baba Kuhi of Shiraz (980 – 1050) was an Iranian Sufi poet-mystic.  He traveled extensively in search of stories concerning Sufi shaikhs and their sayings, and he spent many years in retreat and prayer in a mountain cave just north of Shiraz.  Of his works, a book on Ḥallāj (a Persian mystic) called Bedāyat ḥāl al-Ḥallāj wa nehāyatohu has survived.

In the market, in the cloister–only God I saw
by Baba Kuhi of Shiraz

English version by Reynold A. Nicholson

In the market, in the cloister–only God I saw.
In the valley and on the mountain–only God I saw.
Him I have seen beside me oft in tribulation;
In favour and in fortune–only God I saw.
In prayer and fasting, in praise and contemplation,
In the religion of the Prophet–only God I saw.
Neither soul nor body, accident nor substance,
Qualities nor causes–only God I saw.
I oped mine eyes and by the light of His face around me
In all the eye discovered–only God I saw.
Like a candle I was melting in His fire:
Amidst the flames outflashing–only God I saw.
Myself with mine own eyes I saw most clearly,
But when I looked with God’s eyes–only God I saw.
I passed away into nothingness, I vanished,
And lo, I was the All-living–only God I saw.

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