My God one among the thousands of faults that ensnare the history of our life is the error we fall into when deciding how much backwardness is contained in our progress how much failure is contained in our success how much destruction is contained in our improvement how pressing is the darkness contained in our awakening how enormous is the backwardness contained in our advancement and how much war is contained in our call for peace. My God in our eyes so full of arrogance ever greater grows the confusion of what is to be left behind and what embraced what is of the heights and what of the depths
Emha Ainun Nadjib. 99 untuk Tuhanku [99 For My God], Pustaka Bandung 1983.
My God
I entrust myself
to the heart
I make ready a life
for the vibration
there nobility of thought
is but the final
the tenderest blessing
of all prayer
My God
in this my small cell
on this tattered mat
as I behold the wooden shelf
books
buildings of an overcast civilization
having battled beneath the deceptive sun
I lay aside my thoughts
I lift up my heart
and wash
in Your hands.
Emha Ainun Nadjib. 99 untuk Tuhanku [99 For My God], Pustaka Bandung 1983
My God
Extinguish not the fire
with a bare foot
rather allow me to cross it.
My God
be pleased to permit me
in a world of fire
to attempt to divine
the boundary line
between vicious devils
with the source of the drizzling rain.
My God
I beseech you remain alert
within my soul
spray forth the fire
which I may soak in my blood
and so shown forth may be
Your victory.
My God
make of me
part of that fire
which burns up the sun
revolving
opening the dawn of day.
My God
before the arrival of my day
leadeth me
to be able to divine
which is the false flame
and which the fire true.
Padi
Emha Ainun Nadjib. 99 untuk Tuhanku [99 For My God], Pustaka Bandung 1983
The image is “The seal of Sultan Ahmad Tajuddin Halim Syah of Kedah. The Arabic inscription reads: al-‘azīz dhū al-mulk al-qadīr al-ghālib ghayr al-maghlūb al-sultān khalīfat Allāh ‘alā dā’īrah Kedah wa-huwa al-Sultan Ahmad Tajuddin Halim Syah ibn al-Sultan Abdullah Mukarram Syah sanat 1219, ‘The mighty one, possessor of the kingdom, the powerful one, the conquering [yet] unconquered one, the sultan [who is the] vicegerent of God over the territory of Kedah, and he is Sultan Ahmad Tajuddin Halim Syah, son of Sultan Abdullah Mukarram Syah, the year 1219 (1804/5)’. The seal is stamped on a letter from the Sultan to the Governor-General of Bengal, [Lord Minto], 26 Rabiulakhir 1226 (20 May 1811), pleading for protection against the Siamese. British Library, MSS Eur.D.742/1, f.3.” http://blogs.bl.uk/asian-and-african/2014/02/malay-ballad-from-kedah-the-naval-battle-for-phuket.html
