Brief Summary
This video summarizes "Al-Mustafa," a story about a chosen one who returns to his homeland after a long absence. He shares wisdom with the people, addressing themes of freedom, pain, life, death, and the interconnectedness of all beings. Ultimately, he departs, merging with the mist, promising to return with deeper understanding.
- Al-Mustafa's return and initial teachings on freedom and pain.
- His dialogues with the people, addressing life, death, and the nature of existence.
- His departure and merging with the mist, symbolizing a return to the source.
Al-Mustafa's Return
Al-Mustafa, a beloved and enlightened figure, returns to his island homeland in the month of Tichrin. As his ship approaches the harbor, he expresses his joy and reflects on the island as their birthplace, a song for the sky and a riddle for the earth. He emphasizes that only their passion can carry the song and solve the riddle. He sees their journey as a return to the source, like waves returning to the sea, and stresses the importance of breaking down the barriers within themselves to achieve true freedom.
Freedom, Pain and Broken Hearts
Al-Mustafa speaks of the sea's law, stating that freedom requires becoming like the formless mist, ever seeking shape, like stars aspiring to be suns and moons. He acknowledges the pain of returning to his birthplace, comparing it to a dead soul bowing before its killers, yet he affirms his commitment to speaking out when moved by the season's hand. One of the sailors questions Al-Mustafa about the apparent contradiction of speaking of sorrow and broken hearts upon arriving at the port. Al-Mustafa responds by reaffirming his message of freedom and the necessity of embracing the formlessness of mist.
The Reunion and Reflections
The people of the island, aware of his arrival, gather to welcome him. Al-Mustafa, seeing the crowd, is reminded of their love and falls silent. He questions what he has given them, feeling like a hunter who failed to bring back prey despite being given golden arrows. He reflects on the arrows' flight, hoping they reached those in need, and acknowledges the enduring love he receives. Despite his past, he feels compelled to speak, driven by the forces of nature and inner turmoil.
The Request to Teach
The people ask Al-Mustafa to teach them, believing they can understand him because his essence is within them. He responds that he is not yet confined by understanding, still too new and raw to offer wisdom, only able to speak from his own depths. He suggests those seeking understanding should look to nature, like a flower or a pinch of red earth, as he is still a singer who will sing of the earth and their lost dreams.
Arrival and Silence
The ship docks, and Al-Mustafa stands among his people, who are filled with anticipation. A great sound rises from their hearts, shaking his solitude, but he remains silent, burdened by memories. He reflects internally that he can only open his lips to allow life's voice to emerge, hoping it will bring joy and solace.
Karima's Words and Memories
Karima, a childhood friend, speaks, noting his 12-year absence and their longing for his voice. Al-Mustafa looks at her with affection, remembering her role in his mother's passing. He responds to Karima, stating that time loses meaning when love remembers home, and that separation is merely a mental construct.
Addressing the People's Concerns
Al-Mustafa addresses the gathered people, acknowledging their struggles and seeking solace and meaning in their suffering. He speaks of life as ancient, predating beauty and truth, and as something that hums in their silences and dreams in their sleep. He says that life reigns even when they are broken, smiles when they weep, and is free even when they are chained.
The Nature of Life
Al-Mustafa explains that life is often perceived as bitter when they themselves are bitter and in darkness, and as empty when their souls wander in desolate places. He emphasizes life's depth, height, and distance, yet its nearness, with even their faintest call echoing within its being. He describes life as hidden, like their true selves, but when it speaks, all winds become words, and smiles and tears become expressions.
Silence and Departure
Al-Mustafa falls silent, leaving a deep quiet among the people, filled with an unheard song that soothes their loneliness and pain. He walks towards his mother and father's garden, where his ancestors rest. The captain of his ship urges the people to let him be, explaining that his bread is solitude and his cup is filled with the wine of memories, which he wishes to drink alone.
Solitude and Return
The people stop, except for Karima, who follows him briefly, her heart filled with sorrow for his loneliness. She returns home, weeping under an almond tree, unsure of why she cries. Al-Mustafa enters the garden, closing the door behind him, and remains there alone for 40 days and nights.
The Return and the Disciples
After 40 days, Al-Mustafa opens the door, and nine people come to meet him: three sailors from his ship and three childhood friends. One morning, his disciples gather around him, and one named Hafiz asks him about the city of Orphalese and the country where he spent the last 12 years.
Reflections on Orphalese
Al-Mustafa expresses sorrow for a country filled with beliefs but lacking true religion, that wears clothes it did not weave, eats bread it did not grow, and drinks wine not from its own grapes. He laments a country that glorifies the strong and considers the dazzling victor kind, that rejects passion in dreams but bows in waking. He criticizes a country that speaks only at funerals and boasts only when threatened, whose leader is a cunning fox, whose thinkers merely pretend, and whose art is manipulative and imitative.
More Reflections on Orphalese
Al-Mustafa continues his critique, expressing sorrow for a country that welcomes its new king with drums and farewells him with hooting, only to repeat the cycle. He mourns a land where the wise are silenced by age and the powerful are still in cradles, a country divided into fragments, each considering itself the whole nation.
Thoughts and Dreams
When asked about what is in his heart, Al-Mustafa describes how thoughts fall like snowflakes, covering the empty spaces of thinking with white silence. He explains that waking dreams are clouds blooming in the sky of the heart, and thoughts are leaves scattered by the heart's wind across hills and fields. He compares the anticipation of formless things taking shape to clouds gathering until a sacred hand shapes them into suns, moons, and stars.
The Coming of Spring
One of the disciples, Sarkis, expresses doubt that the ice of dreams and thoughts will melt away with the coming of spring. Al-Mustafa responds that when spring seeks its love in sleeping gardens and vineyards, the ice will melt and flow to the valley's river, watering the myrtle and laurel trees. Similarly, the ice in their hearts will melt when their spring arrives, and their secret will seek the river of life, which will carry it to the sea.
Melting into Song
Al-Mustafa continues, stating that when spring comes, everything will melt into song, even the stars, transforming into flowing melodies. He asks which frozen beauty will not turn into a flowing tune when the sun of his face rises, and who among them will not fill the cup of myrtle and laurel. He reminds them of their past as waves flowing without shore or identity, transformed by the breath of life into a layer of light, gathered and held aloft.
The Sea and Remembrance
Al-Mustafa explains that even if they forget their connection, the sea will always consider itself their mother and call to them. He says that even wandering in mountains and deserts, they will remember the depths of its cold heart and yearn for its great and rhythmic peace, even without understanding why. He illustrates how the sea is present in raindrops dancing on leaves, in snow falling as a blessing, in guiding animals to the river, in silver rivers connecting green lands, and in morning dew reflecting the sky.
Karima's Return
One morning, Karima appears at the garden gate, her eyes filled with longing and sadness. Al-Mustafa, seeing her desire, opens the door and welcomes her. She asks why he has distanced himself, preventing them from basking in his light, and conveys the people's longing for his wisdom and comfort.
Wisdom and Distance
Al-Mustafa tells Karima not to call him wise until everyone is considered wise, describing himself as an unripe fruit and a recent flower. He urges her not to call anyone foolish, as they are all leaves on the tree of life, which is greater than both wisdom and foolishness. He questions whether he has truly separated himself, stating that no distance is real except that which the soul cannot overcome with thought.
Overcoming Distance
Al-Mustafa explains that when the soul overcomes distance, it becomes a rhythm. He says that the distance between one and their neighbor is greater than that to a lover across seven lands and seas, because memory bridges distance, while forgetfulness creates a chasm that neither voice nor sight can cross. He speaks of a hidden path between the sea's shores and the highest mountain peak, which they must traverse to unite with the people of the earth.
Paths to Unity
Al-Mustafa continues, stating that there is a hidden path between knowledge and understanding that they must discover to unite with humanity and themselves. He describes the great distance between the giving right hand and the receiving left hand, which will remain until they see both as one. He says that only when they understand that they have nothing to give or take can they bridge this gap.
The Greatest Distance
Al-Mustafa explains that the greatest distance is between a dream and waking, and between desire and action. He mentions another path to be taken to unite with life, but refrains from revealing it, sensing their weariness. He then goes out with Karima and the nine disciples to the marketplace, where he speaks to the people, bringing joy to their hearts.
The Value of Night
Al-Mustafa tells the people that they grow while sleeping and live their lives more deeply in their dreams, giving thanks for what they receive in the night's silence. He explains that while they often see night as a time for rest, it is actually a time for seeking and finding. He says that the day gives them the power of knowledge and teaches their fingers to grasp, but the night leads them to life's treasures.
The Silence of Night
Al-Mustafa explains that the sun teaches the desire for light, but the night leads them to the stars. He says that the silence of night weaves the wedding veil over the trees of the forest and the flowers of the garden, arranges the feast, and decorates the wedding chamber, where tomorrow is born in the womb of time. He says that they too seek and find fulfillment, and even if they forget their dreams upon waking, the table of dreams remains set and the wedding chamber prepared.
The Soul and Immortality
Al-Mustafa emphasizes that they are souls, even as their bodies move, and like oil burning in the darkness, they are a flame enclosed in a lamp. He says that if they were only bodies, his standing before them and speaking would be useless, like the dead speaking to the dead. He affirms that whatever is immortal within them is free day and night, unrestrained, because it is the will of the divine.
The Breath of the Divine
Al-Mustafa describes them as the breath of the divine, like wind that cannot be caught or confined, and he too is a breath of that same breath. He then departs quickly, returning to the garden.
Addressing Ugliness
Sarkis, ever skeptical, asks about ugliness and why Al-Mustafa never speaks of it. Al-Mustafa responds sharply, questioning how one can call someone indifferent if they pass by a house without knocking, or deaf if spoken to in an incomprehensible language. He asserts that what they have not tried to attain or enter into the heart of is what they deem ugly.
The Nature of Ugliness
Al-Mustafa explains that if ugliness exists, it is the film over their eyes and the wax in their ears. He urges them not to call anything ugly except the fear that the soul feels before its own past moments.
The Fear of Time
One day, as they sit in the shadows of white poplar trees, one of the disciples expresses fear of time, which passes over them, stealing their youth. Al-Mustafa responds by asking them to pick up a handful of earth, questioning whether it contains a seed or a worm. He says that if their hand is large and patient enough, the seed can become a forest and the worm a flock of angels.
The Power of Now
Al-Mustafa reminds them that the power that transforms seeds into forests and worms into angels lies within the present moment. He explains that the seasons are merely the changing colors of their own thoughts: spring is an awakening in their chest, summer is the recognition of their own fruitfulness, autumn is the old within them lulling the child, and winter is a sleep filled with the dreams of all the other seasons.
Parasites and Interdependence
One of the disciples, Manas, points out parasitic plants clinging to a sycamore tree, accusing them of stealing light and sap. Al-Mustafa responds that they are all parasites, and those who labor to make the land fertile are no better than those who unknowingly take life from it. He questions whether a mother would return her child to the forest because it tires her, or a singer scold their song for taking their breath.
Living with Love and Goodness
Al-Mustafa explains that the answer to these questions is already present before they are asked, like dreams fulfilled before sleep. He says that they live on each other according to an ancient and timeless law, so they should live with love and goodness, seeking each other in solitude and walking on paths without personal courtyards. He emphasizes that their greatest path is their fellow human being.
The King's Feast
Al-Mustafa describes how the parasitic plants draw milk from the earth in the sweet peace of night, and the earth drinks milk from the sun's breast in its dreams. He says that the sun, like them and all things, sits with equal honor at the king's feast, where the doors are always open and the table always set.
The Interconnectedness of All Things
Al-Mustafa concludes by stating that everything lives on everything else, relying on the benevolence of the highest.
The Dewdrop and the Soul
One morning, as the first light appears, they walk in the garden, looking east in silence. Al-Mustafa says that if the glimpse of the morning sun is seen in a dewdrop, it is no less than the sun itself. He says that the shadow of life in their soul is no less than real life, and the dewdrop shows the light because it is one with the light.
Embracing Darkness
Al-Mustafa urges them to say, when darkness surrounds them, that it is merely the dawn yet to be born, and even if the suffering of night is upon them, morning will surely come. He compares them to the dewdrop that gathers its soul in God's heart.
The Value of the Present
Al-Mustafa says that if a dewdrop claims to be a dewdrop only once in a thousand years, they should tell it that the light of every year shines in its small circle.
The Storm and Solitude
One evening, a strong storm arrives, and Al-Mustafa and his nine disciples retreat inside, sitting silently by the hearth. One of the disciples laments his loneliness and the weight of time.
Embracing Loneliness
Al-Mustafa stands among them, his voice echoing like the wind, and asks what is wrong with being alone. He reminds them that they came alone and will return to the mist alone, so they should drink their cup alone and quietly. He says that autumn has given lips and cups filled with bittersweet wine, and they should drink their own cup alone, even if it contains their own blood and tears.
Gratitude for Thirst
Al-Mustafa urges them to be grateful for the thirst that life has given them, because without it, their heart would be a desolate shore without song or wave. He tells them to drink their cup alone and with joy, raising it to all who drink alone.
The Pain of Abundance
Al-Mustafa shares that he once sat with people, participating in their feasts and drinking deeply with them, but their wine never reached his head or heart, only his feet. He says that his knowledge remained dry and his heart closed, and he was only with them up to his feet, lost in the mist. He then stopped sitting with people and drinking wine at their tables.
Drinking Alone
Al-Mustafa concludes by urging them to drink their cup of sorrow alone, and when the cup of joy comes, to drink it alone as well.
The Living Stone
One day, Phardos, who is Greek, is walking in the garden when his foot strikes a stone. Angered, he calls it a dead thing and throws it away. Al-Mustafa asks why he called it dead, questioning whether he has been in the garden long enough to know that nothing is dead there.
The Harmony of All Things
Al-Mustafa explains that everything is alive, shining in the understanding of day and the glory of night. He says that Phardos and the stone are the same, differing only in the rhythm of their hearts. He says that if they descend into the depths of their soul and touch the heights of the sky, they will hear the same tune, in which the stone and the star sing together in harmony.
Patience and Understanding
Al-Mustafa tells Phardos that if his words are not understood, he should wait until the next morning. He asks if he would curse a star if he struck his head against it, just as he cursed the stone for stumbling in blindness. He says that the day will come when he will lift stones and stars like a child picking flowers, and he will know that they are all alive and fragrant.
The Nature of God
On the first day of the week, as the sound of temple bells reaches them, one of the disciples asks Al-Mustafa to explain what God is and who He truly is.
The All-Encompassing Heart
Al-Mustafa stands before them like a young tree, unafraid of wind or storm, and asks them to imagine a heart that encompasses all hearts, a love that covers all loves, a soul that surrounds every soul, a voice that gathers every voice, and a silence deeper than every silence and beyond time.
Seeking the Divine
Al-Mustafa urges them to feel within themselves the beauty that is more captivating than the most beautiful things, a song greater than the songs of the sea and forest, and a God who sits on a throne where Orion is merely his footstool and whose scepter makes the Pleiades appear as a faint glimmer.
Beyond Material Needs
Al-Mustafa tells them to seek what is not a target for their arrows or a stone cave to protect them from the seasons. He urges them to continue their search, even if his words seem like riddles or stones, so that their hearts may break and their questions may lead them to the love and understanding of the highest, whom people call God.
The Gods Around Us
Seeing their confusion, Al-Mustafa suggests they speak not of God, but of the gods who live around them, like their neighbors and brothers, the elements that move around their homes and fields.
The Heights and Distances
Al-Mustafa says that they want to fly to the clouds in their thoughts and consider it height, and they want to cross the sea and call it distance. He says that when they plant a seed in the earth, they touch an even greater height, and when they praise the beauty of the morning to their neighbor, they cross an even greater sea.
The Song of the Infinite
Al-Mustafa says that they often sing the song of the infinite God, but they do not hear it. He wishes they could hear the songs of the birds and the sound of leaves separating from branches in the wind. He reminds them that the leaves sing only when they separate from the branch.
Speaking of Each Other
Al-Mustafa urges them not to speak so easily of God, who is everything, but to speak of each other, understanding neighbor as neighbor and god as god. He asks who will feed the small child if its mother flies to the sky, and what flower-like thing can be completed if it is not touched by a bee from another flower.
The Inner Paths
Al-Mustafa says that when they are lost in their small thoughts, they seek the sky they call God. He wishes they could find the true, great paths within themselves and create those paths themselves.
The Wisdom of Understanding
Al-Mustafa tells his sailors and friends that it is wiser to speak less of the God they cannot understand and more of each other, whom they might understand. He wants them to know that they are the breath and fragrance of God, and they themselves are God in the leaf, the flower, and sometimes the fruit.
The Naked Truth
One morning, one of Al-Mustafa's childhood friends tells him that his clothes are old and he has no others, asking permission to go to the market to buy new ones. Al-Mustafa looks at the young man and tells him to give him his clothes. The young man does so, standing naked in the midday sun.
Living in the Sun
Al-Mustafa speaks with the force of a galloping horse, saying that only the naked live in the sun, only the true ride the wind, and only those who lose their way a thousand times find their true home. He says that angels are tired of the cunning, and just yesterday an angel told him that they created hell for those who shine too brightly.
The Purpose of Hell
Al-Mustafa explains that only fire can erase the glare and melt things to their true form. When he asked who would run hell, the angel replied that it is run by those who do not bow before the fire. He says that the wise angel knows the paths of humans and incomplete humans, and they are the angels who help prophets when they are caught in the trap of cunning.
The Naked and the Deep
Al-Mustafa tells his friends and sailors that only the naked live in the sun, only those without a rudder can cross the sea, and only those who are immersed in the depths of night can awaken in the light of morning. He says that only those who sleep with the roots under the ice can reach spring.
The Wisdom of Roots
Al-Mustafa explains that they are like roots, simple yet possessing the earth's wisdom. He says that they are silent, yet within them is the music of the wind in the leaves yet to be born. He says that they are weak and shapeless, yet they are the great trees that will grow, like the oak and the crooked willow that touch the sky.
The Roots and the Sky
Al-Mustafa reiterates that they are like roots, hidden between the dark soil and the moving sky. He says that he has seen them dancing in the light, but also seen them shy. He explains that all roots are shy, having hidden their hearts for so long that they no longer know what to do with them.
The Unrest of May
Al-Mustafa concludes by saying that the month of May will come, and May is a restless virgin who will become the mother of hills and plains.
Words and Beyond
One who served in the temple asks Al-Mustafa to teach them so that their words may be like his, a hymn and a fragrance for the people. Al-Mustafa responds that they will rise above their words, but their path will remain, like a rhythm and a fragrance.
The Heights and Depths of Words
Al-Mustafa explains that they will rise above their words to the height where stardust falls, and their hands will open and be filled. He says that they will sleep like a white bird in its white nest, dreaming of their tomorrow as white flowers dream of spring. He says that they will also descend below their words, seeking the lost springs where rivers begin, becoming a hidden cave that echoes the voices of the depths they cannot yet hear.
The Heart of the Earth
Al-Mustafa concludes by saying that they will descend below their words, below every voice, to the heart of the earth, where they will be alone with the one who walks on the Milky Way.
The Meaning of Being
One of the disciples asks Al-Mustafa to explain being. Al-Mustafa looks at him for a long time, then walks away and returns, saying that his parents are buried in this garden, buried by living hands, and the seeds of past days are also buried here, brought by the wind.
The Cycle of Life
Al-Mustafa explains that his mother and father will be buried here a thousand times, and the wind will bring seeds, and a thousand years later, they, he, and the flowers will meet here again, loving life, dreaming of the sky, and growing towards the sun.
Being in the Present
Al-Mustafa says that being means being wise, but not separate from fools; being strong, but not knocking down the weak; playing with children, not as a father, but as a companion who wants to learn their games; being simple and true with the elderly, sitting with them in the shade of old trees, even if they are still in the spring of their lives.
Seeking Beauty and Truth
Al-Mustafa urges them to seek a poet, even if he lives across seven rivers, and to feel peace when they reach him, asking for nothing and demanding nothing. He says to know that saints and sinners are twin brothers, born of the same merciful king, with one born before the other, so they consider him the prince.
The Pursuit of Beauty
Al-Mustafa encourages them to pursue beauty, even if it leads them to a dangerous edge, and even if it has wings and they do not, to follow it even if it flies away, because where there is no beauty, there is nothing.
The Garden Without Walls
Al-Mustafa urges them to create a garden without walls, a vineyard without a guard, and a treasure open to every passerby. He says to be looted, deceived, misled, and mocked, but still look at everyone with their great soul and smile, knowing that spring will come again to their garden, dancing in their leaves, and autumn will come, ripening their grapes.
The Open Window
Al-Mustafa says to know that if even one window is open to the east, they will never be empty, and to know that those they consider thieves, deceivers, and wrongdoers are their needy brothers. He suggests that in the eyes of the inhabitants of an invisible city, they
