Jabez L. Van Cleef

The Tawasin of Mansur Al-hallaj, in Verse: a Mystical Treatise on Knowing God, & Invitation to the Dance Jabez L. Van Cleef

Here a medieval Muslim mystic records his living meditation on becoming one with God, where he likens himself to a moth leaping into flame: In that bright instant, wings aflame, Reduced to fragments of his name, The moth-ash shows his body's form Where no mark will distinguish him. Rumi wrote three centuries later on Al-Hallaj's words, 'I am God,': "People imagine that it is a presumptive claim, whereas I find it is really a presumptive claim to say 'I am the slave of God'; for, 'I am God' is an expression of great humility. The man who says 'I am the slave of God' affirms two existences, his own and God's; but he that says, 'I am God,' has made himself non-existent and has given himself up, and says 'I am God,' that is, 'I am naught, He is all; there is no being but God's.' This is the extreme of humility and self-abasement."