Soul in the Likeness of Allah By Bilal Rana

The outer world is the real make-believe
The literal truth is actually the universe inside you.
Why do you obsess about guides
When the real Teacher is in you?
That true sense-ability which picks up the scent of truth
Is given to all for free!
Shatter the chains binding you to this world!
For if you have not done so in this life why would they cease to exist in the next?
Do you actually think that evil ghouls will smash them for you?
Can the dead rally the dead?
Awaken now!
For if you are fast sleep here why do think you will ever wake up?
There is no salvation which does not know paradise on earth
The real afterlife begins now.
Do you wish to know the soul?
Inside the vast ocean, lies all its creation, billions of water droplets
And yet, inside each single drop is all the deep ocean, and all the oceans of the earth.
Within a mere iota - a revolving universe, a thousand marvels
And the radiance of a hundred million stars!
Dear friend, if you want to know the truth, I will tell it to you:
The Call of the Eternally Besought that a believer hears is heard inside
What I am speaking of goes back to the earliest of species
A consciousness so timeless it cannot be eradicated
As the leaf floats on the wind so soar we on the infinite space of the Divine
The fetal soul a drop of fluid becomes a universe embarking on a endless journey.
The destination is in the experience, on the edge of the ever-unfolding scroll
Never there yet never far
From the Elusive One.
Like a nut that becomes a great oak tree so expands the soul
Though the nut is tiny, inside it is the mighty oak itself - its roots, its branches and its shade.
In each sailing vessel burns a flame which no earthly water can put out
In it lies a candle lit by the Opener of Hearts.
Whether a flicker or a flame in each and all
The luminous aura of Eternity can be found.
You are a soul-mirror reflecting the Everlasting Refuge.
You must polish it with your tears to clearly reflect some of His Brilliance
A choir sings a melody but earthly ears hear it not
Strings are harped by a hand no one can see and drums are beating an ecstatic tenor.
For one and all, but are you listening?
With every pious thought and deed
The secret inside you in a parallel world grows an otherworldly eye to behold truths, a new limb to employ to good use
If you only knew! Ah, If you only knew!
Under the penitent one’s ruffled garb, beneath his hungry stomach
Lies a luxurious feast and a silken cloak.
Many came and died searching for the door to the Irresistible
When ultimately the knob to turn was hidden in them -
No one will turn that knob for you!
The Poet, Dr. Bilal Rana resides in Lansing, Michigan