Selections from al-Rihaniyyat
by Ameen al-Rihani
1 – Oh Freedom: When would you direct your face towards
the East? When would your light merge with the light of this bright moon so it
would rotate with it around the earth and enlighten the darkness of every
oppressed people?
2 – When would the religious chasms be obliterated and
sectarianism be trampled under the boots of civilization? When would we form
the organization of tolerance and build the church of forebearance?. When would
we raise and establish the school and journal of tolerance?
3 – I am the flower that bloomed out of the despair of
the Prophets. A flower that flourished and then withered and finally its buds
were scattered until the seeds of life gushed out of her heart and the winds
carried it to the four corners of the earth.
4 – The Great City is the city within whose walls the
wolf and the lamb, the tiger and the goat walk together. It is the city in
which people find refuge from those who commit falsehood against God and His
Prophets, those who are seated on the thrones of false saintliness. The Great
City is the place where knowledge, freedom, brotherhood and loyalty reign.
5 – Neither glory nor fame is my ultimate wish, neither
dominion nor greatness, nor money nor wealth. I wish to live without hating
anyone, and to love without envying anybody, to rise without looking down at
anyone. Would that my life shines but without bursting, and be like a heavenly
body, not like a rocket.
by Ameen al-Rihani
1 – Oh Freedom: When would you direct your face towards
the East? When would your light merge with the light of this bright moon so it
would rotate with it around the earth and enlighten the darkness of every
oppressed people?
2 – When would the religious chasms be obliterated and
sectarianism be trampled under the boots of civilization? When would we form
the organization of tolerance and build the church of forebearance?. When would
we raise and establish the school and journal of tolerance?
3 – I am the flower that bloomed out of the despair of
the Prophets. A flower that flourished and then withered and finally its buds
were scattered until the seeds of life gushed out of her heart and the winds
carried it to the four corners of the earth.
4 – The Great City is the city within whose walls the
wolf and the lamb, the tiger and the goat walk together. It is the city in
which people find refuge from those who commit falsehood against God and His
Prophets, those who are seated on the thrones of false saintliness. The Great
City is the place where knowledge, freedom, brotherhood and loyalty reign.
5 – Neither glory nor fame is my ultimate wish, neither
dominion nor greatness, nor money nor wealth. I wish to live without hating
anyone, and to love without envying anybody, to rise without looking down at
anyone. Would that my life shines but without bursting, and be like a heavenly
body, not like a rocket.
