Wajh Jameelah

I swear, since seeing your face,

the whole world is fraud and fantasy

The garden is bewildered as to what is leaf

or blossom. The distracted birds

can't distinguish the birdseed from the snare.

A house of love with no limits,

a presence more beautiful than Venus or the moon,

a beauty whose image fills the mirror of the heart.

-- Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī

You know you're in love when you start seeking out Rumi's poetry solely because nothing else quite describes what you're feeling. Rumi went all in when writing of his Beloved, and the poem that I found perfectly describes how I felt upon seeing those pictures recently. You've sent me three or four of them in the last two weeks, all of which show a face that is so pretty that light appears to shine from it. By the way, in Islam, nur, refers to the light that God himself puts inside of believers, and it is especially visible by those who may be in a state of darkness or simply in a state where there is less nur. Thus, when the believer is around, the effect can be like a lighthouse to the person witnessing this light.

Now, I have studied Sunni and Shia Islam much more than I have studied Sufi Islam, but I am familiar enough to know that in this poem, Rumi was referring to the face of God, or, Allah, if you will. This term is referred to as "wajh Allah" and it doesn't mean the actual face of God, as much as it refers to the reality of God. The wajh that I'm referring to however, is the literal face face of my beloved, Jameelah.

I do not mean to offend, and indeed I make no apology for my correlation; you have your religion and I have mine. I have studied her face daily for nine years now, and I know it as well as any muezzin knows the adhan or any hafiz knows the quran. It is the loveliest face that exists and that is very much so an undebatable reality.