إلهي ارحم حالي

‎⁨طاب لي - الفرقة الهاشمية للإنشاد⁩

Yaseen Andrewsen singing a poem written by Amhest D. Tyseen.

Poem originally published in The Islamic World, 1897.

Text of the poem as found in "The Convert's Passion: An Anthology of Islamic Poetry from Late Victorian and Edwardian Britain" compiled by Brent D. Singleton is below:

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On Immortality


Who'll bring the dead to life,
The grave's dark prison burst?
Why, He that on the dead
Conferred their life at first.

'Tis strange that fleeting souls
Again today should wake,
But no less strange that here
They once their sojourn make.

Behold the human form
With strength and skill bedight,
Endowed with mind and will,
With hearing, speech and sight.

'Tis God's o'errulling power
Has caused with wondrous care
These mortal frames to grow
Of water, earth and air.

Then cannot God preserve
Alive the soul He gave,
And bear it safely through
The crisis of the grave?

Oh, yes, our spirits draw
Their essence from on high,
Of heavenly nature wrought,
To noble e'er to die.


(Amherst D. Tyssen)

On Immortality (written by Amherst D. Tyssen)

ربّنا الله - المنشد محمد صقر

Maher Zain - Waheshna Ya Rasoolallah

Lord Is Watching - Native Deen (Voice Only!)

Ustaz 'AbdulHakeem al Marawi | Hasbi Rabbi

Rhamzan - Omo Mi (My Child)

A studio recording from the album 'The Muhammadan Ode', produced by Manaqib Productions and sung by Manaqib Nashids

MANAQIB - Qasida Muhammadiya (verses za to 'ayn)

This recording is the third one in my #iPhoneStudio series, and the very first one in which live drumming is recorded with the singing.  Just like the previous one, this was recorded on an iPhone 5 placed about 12 inches away from me. The *only* postproduction that I've done on this is a fade-in and a fade-out.  Everything else here is intact from the original raw audio.

It was recorded at the most recent weekly "Circle Of Light" gathering of remembrance and reflection at SeekersHub Toronto [http://SeekersHub.org].

"Jalla man qad sawwarak" is a classical Levantian devotional piece, sung in the "Bayati" mode, with what's to the Western ear, an unusual 7/8 beat (referred to in Arabic music as "dawar Hindi").  Personally, I *really* enjoy singing in this beat and in this mode.  Singing a piece with both of these together, is something else.

The English translation of the Arabic lines was done by Sidi Amjad Tarsin (Muslim Chaplain at The University of Toronto), and proofread by Sidi Ghuydar Bashmaf, a gifted singer of Islamic devotional songs, and Shaykh Faraz Rabbani, a scholar of Islamic law, Executive Director of SeekersHub Global, and someone whom I regard as my best friend.

I've added lines in Urdu and English to this piece.  The lines in Urdu are from two separate poets: the first two are from Muhammad Zahuri, and the last two are from Syed Iqbal Azîm.

The first two lines in English, are an attempt at conveying the translation of the famous couplet by the Prophet's Companion, Sayyidna Hassan ibn Thabit, while remaining within the meter of the song:
“More beautiful than you, my eye has never seen,
And more perfect than you, no woman ever gave birth to;
You were created free from any flaw whatsoever,
As though you were created just the way you wanted”.  
[Diwan Hassan ibn Thabit]

The last two lines came to me as part of a larger poem, while attending an event in Toronto where two eminent scholars were talking about the Prophet, May God bless him and give him peace, always and eternally.


ARABIC:

Glorious is He, Who's fashioned you, A radiant full moon, out of water and clay.
And He enabled in your appearance, A joy for all those who behold it.

Be gentle and merciful to your lover, Who has melted in the heat of his painful groans.
I ask God to protect you, From the eyes of the envious.

O my Beloved I ask you by the Prophet, Put an end to this fondness,
What has befallen me is enough, Of your barring and delaying.

My mind is captivated in your love, And my heart is drawn to you,
And your love, O my master, A joy for all those who behold it!

URDU:

I send salutations to the daybreaks and the evenings of the Prophet's mosque
O Prophet, I send salutations to the ones who serve your servants.

It's not at all possible to describe your character with this tongue of mine,
O emperor of the masses, O crowned one of the emissaries.

ENGLISH:

No eye has seen such beauty as thine, no dame has born such a one so fine
You're created free of flaw, as if by your own design

More generous theres never been, more beautiful was never seen
I surrender at your doorstep, all my dunya and my deen

© Translation Copyright Nader Khan 2013, All Rights Reserved