THE subtitle of Abu Ilham’s book clarifies that it is about submitting oneself to the Supreme Being, which should be the ultimate purpose of one’s life. He writes about this by crafting short stanzas in nine sections. Ilham appeals to God to give “my submission /meaning/ To enable me to sleep on such meaning, my life.” Then he writes ninety-eight stanzas of 5-6 lines, which dwell on different aspects of submission, and seventy-seven stanzas of varied lengths-between two to twenty lines-about the wayfarer, who has embarked on the path of submission. This is followed by more than one hundred stanzas on seeds that are the focus of a person’s meditation, and many more stanzas on silence and “Womb and Tomb: The uncertainty Remains.”
Writing 246 pages of verse on issues of deep philosophical import is a formidable task. Though Ilham has completed it, his compositions do not match his enthusiasm, for most of them are incomprehensible. His Preface to the book as well as the Foreword by Nitya Chaitanya Yati do not help in making sense of what is actually being conveyed. I quote the last paragraph of Ilham’s Preface: “Let this book be a tribute to any effort to strangle (the neck of) currency and against currencying (currencyization of) the whole elements of life, nature and its wealth, changing everything into sharp objectivity of currency accumulation. Hope this book may enable to dream the reversion of subjectivity and its seeking of causes and source of life.” The fuzziness of this passage permeates the stanzas, too. One can understand the complexity of mystical writings, but they should make sense and not be “misty” and incomprehensible.
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