From the heartland of Islam arise poems of fiery love and peace, composed by a modern-day female poet descended from a long line of Meccan (from Mecca) scholars.
Reflecting the pulsing, indivisible bridge of the works of great Sufi mystics and poets to modern times, these spiritual pieces recall the beloved works of Rabi‘ah Al ‘Adawiyyah, Rumi and Hafiz. Drawing on a rich religious legacy and led by the Sufi tradition seeking Unity, the poems cover aspects related to spirituality and present-day challenges. The inspiring combination of the traditional and modern in these compositions will touch the inner souls and captivate the hearts of those interested in Higher Love in these turbulent times of transition and frantic search for peace.
Nimah Ismail Nawwab descended from a long line of scholars’ from Mecca, Saudi Arabia, she is an internationally published bestselling poet and photographer, active with film making, a Young Global Leader and recognized lecturer and key note speaker. She is also heavily involved with women and youth empowerment, earning the title ‘Voice for Arab Women and Youth,’ focusing on leadership, the arts and humanitarian issues she seeks to build bridges of understanding related to global peace and rapport.
Nawwab’s best-selling book and work have been featured in numerous media outlets including BBC World News, Newsweek International, MSNBC, the Japanese English Yomiuri Shimbum, GEO France, India’s Asian Age, Malaysia’s Berita Harian, Britain’s Hello magazine, as well as Arabic media. Recognized as a ‘Voice for Arab Women and Youth’, she is engaged with critical and emerging issues involving youth empowerment, leadership, the arts and family issues. She seeks to build bridges of understanding related to global peace and rapport. Nimah has been called a ‘cultural ambassadress’ based on a range of projects, interactive readings and presentations on a wide diversified range of social, professional, educational and economic subjects presented in countries across the East and West.
Her training and facilitating at forums and workshops has been conducted globally for diverse groups and for different age levels.
Nominated as the first Saudi female Young Global Leader of the Young Global Leaders Forum in affiliation with The World Economic Forum in 2006, she has actively taken part as a keynote speaker and panelist at several WEF Forums. In 2008, she obtained an executive MBA from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government in Leadership and Public Policy for the 21st Century.
Praise for Canvas of the Soul: Mystic Poems from the Heartland of Arabia
The voice of a female Saudi Arabian poet expressing her deep spiritual yearnings in Sufi- inspired poetry is indeed a rare but also precious experience amidst all the din of strife and anger that surrounds so many Muslims today. This voice recalls that Islam emphasizes not only Divine Justice but also Divine Mercy and that the Blessed Prophet reflected not only Divine Majesty (Jalal) but also Divine Beauty (Jamal), the latter possessing a female dimension that is so evident in classical Sufi poetry.
The present book is significant in that it reflects something of that classical expression of spiritual beauty in a contemporary language expressed by a female poet who hails from the land where the Blessed Prophet was born, carried out his prophetic mission and died.
–Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Professor of Islamic Studies at George Washington University and the author of numerous books including Man and Nature: the Spiritual Crisis of Modern Man Kazi Publications, 1998), Religion and the Order of Nature (Oxford, 1996) and Knowledge and the Sacred (SUNY, 1989)
Nimah Nawwab was born into the lineage of a family of scholars in Makkah. Her poems unfold the living landscapes, the horizons that hold the signs spoken of in the Qur’an, the calligraphy of the mountains dipping into the desert, the inkwell of God’s words, reflecting the signs before us into the secrets within the Book of Man.
–Shems Friedlander the author of nine books including: When You Hear Hoofbeats, Think of a Zebra Talks on Sufism and ‘Rumi and the Whirling Dervishes. Friedlander teaches visual communications, drawing, painting and photography at the American University in Cairo.
In the days of old, merchants, mystics, and travelers traveled via caravans in quest of riches from this world and the Beyond. They would stop periodically in “stations” to lighten their load, refresh their spirits, and prepare the journey ahead. In this magnificent collection of inspired and inspiring poetry, we as readers are taken along such a journey in “Canvas of the Soul.” Every poem of the remarkable poet Nimah Nawwab, who hails from the land of the House of God and carries the fragrance of the Blessed Prophet, serves as a station for readers to pause, reflect, and replenish our heart and souls. As is befitting of the poetry of the classical Sufi tradition, these poems use the richest of daily symbols to beckon us to return again and again to that majestic and celestial Home that is at once our Origin and our Destination.
–Omid Safi, Professor of Islamic Studies, University of North Carolina. Author of Memories of Muhammad: Why the Prophet Matters (2009).
Echoing the traditional Arabic devotional poetry and song of an Ibn al-Farid or Ibn al-‘Arabi, Nimah Nawwab’s heartfelt, spare, and moving English verses recreate the fire, longing, inspiration, and piercing metaphysical insight of those spiritual classics in a fresh and distinctive contemporary voice, like the intimate yearning heart of the mystic’s solitary night-vigil.
-Prof. James Morris, Department of Theology, Boston College and President of the Rumi Institute’s international advisory council. His most recent books include Knowledge of the Soul (2006); The Reflective Heart: Discovering Spiritual Intelligence in Ibn ‘Arabī’s “Meccan Illuminations” (2005); Orientations: Islamic Thought in a World Civilisation (2004); Ibn ‘Arabī: The Meccan Revelations (2002);
The pieces on offer here are brilliant and enriching, drawing deeply from their well of Sufi legacy. Nimah Nawwab presents us immediacy to the Beautiful Beyond, while refining the sensibility out of which our desires are purified. We heartily commend this volume of poems to readers/lovers everywhere.
-Daniel Skubik is a professor of law, ethics, and humanities in California Baptist University.