Sheikh Khwaja Abdullah Ansari was a Persian poet and mystic born on this day May 4, 1006 in the old citadel of Herat in the Ghaznavid Empire in Afghanistan. He was known as the “Sage of Herat.”
I Came
From the un-manifest I came,
And pitched my tent, in the Forest of Material existence.
I passed through mineral and vegetable kingdoms,
Then my mental equipment carried me into the animal kingdom;
Having reached there I crossed beyond it;
Then in the crystal clear shell of human heart
I nursed the drop of self in a Pearl,
And in association with good men
Wandered round the Prayer House,
And having experienced that, crossed beyond it;
Then I took the road that leads to Him,
And became a slave at His gate;
Then the duality disappeared
And I became absorbed in Him.
-Sheikh Khwaja Abdullah Ansari, Munajat: The Intimate Invocations, Translated by A. G. Farhadi
