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Jean – Hanan Issa

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Art by Light Seed Prints

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lotetreepress

from the poem Flying by Wid Kattan in our newest p

from the poem Flying by Wid Kattan in our newest publication The Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore Ecstatic Poetry Prize 2025 - Winning Entries, Shortlist & Longlist, now available from online booksellers and to order from independent bookshops. Link in bio

rom the poem “welcome insomnia” by sarwat rumi in

rom the poem “welcome insomnia” by sarwat rumi in The Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore Ecstatic Poetry Prize 2025 - Winning Entries, Shortlist & Longlist, now available from online booksellers and to order from independent bookshops. Link in bio

from the poem “welcome insomnia” by sarwat rumi in

from the poem “welcome insomnia” by sarwat rumi in The Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore Ecstatic Poetry Prize 2025 - Winning Entries, Shortlist & Longlist, now available from online booksellers and to order from independent bookshops

from the poem “pantoum for neverending light” by s

from the poem “pantoum for neverending light” by sarwat rumi in The Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore Ecstatic Poetry Prize 2025 - Winning Entries, Shortlist & Longlist, now available from online booksellers and to order from independent bookshops. Link in bio

from the poem Legacy by Wid Kattan in The Daniel A

from the poem Legacy by Wid Kattan in The Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore Ecstatic Poetry Prize 2025 - Winning Entries, Shortlist & Longlist, now available from online booksellers and to order from independent bookshops.

from the poem Legacy by Wid Kattan in The Daniel A

from the poem Legacy by Wid Kattan in The Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore Ecstatic Poetry Prize 2025 - Winning Entries, Shortlist & Longlist, now available from online booksellers and to order from independent bookshops.

Daniel Thomas Dyer’s prize winning poem Gathered i

Daniel Thomas Dyer’s prize winning poem Gathered in our most recent publication The Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore Ecstatic Poetry Prize 2025: Winning Entries, Shortlist & Longlist. Get your copy now! Hardcover, paperback and ebook editions are now available through online booksellers and to order from independent bookshops. Link in bio.

It’s here! The hardcover, paperback and ebook edit

It’s here! The hardcover, paperback and ebook editions of The Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore Ecstatic Poetry Prize 2025 are now available through online booksellers and to order from independent bookshops. Immerse yourself in contemporary prize-winning Sufi verse that addresses the heart and mind, contemplating the human condition and the modern world and pondering timeless questions and reflections.

You can still catch the replay of the award ceremony with readings by the poets of the winning and shortlisted poems and insightful commentary by competition judges Baraka Blue, Sukina Noor and Medina Tenour Whiteman. Links in bio for our bookshop and the replay.

Alhamdulillah the competition chapbook is now avai

Alhamdulillah the competition chapbook is now available as an eBook. The paperback and hardback versions are on their way but we have had some delays with printing. The links to purchase them will be posted on the same page as the ebook once they are available (hopefully in the next week or two) inshaAllah, and we will send out an email announcing their availability (join our newsletter to make sure you get the notification - link in bio). The print versions will also be available through online booksellers iA.

The Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore Ecstatic Poetry Prize ran its inaugural competition in 2024-2025, as a joint Ecstatic Exchange and Lote Tree Press collaboration. The theme was The Ecstasy of Witnessing. Winning and highly commended poems were announced in March 2025, judged by renowned poets Sukina Noor and Baraka Blue. This book includes the winning entries, highly commended, shortlisted and longlisted entries.

Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore (1940-2016, rahimahullah) was a pioneering American Beat-turned-Sufi poet. He authored dozens of poetry collections, in his own ecstatic, thoughtful, and often witty style, fusing Romantic, Surrealist and Sufi influences. Abdal-Hayy’s oeuvre spans sonnets, ghazals, and free verse, covering themes from family, love, death and nature to Mawlid, Hajj, Ramadan, prophets and saints, and more. His poems are a deeply personal prayer and reflection on the Divine perceivable in the everyday. In 2023, the publishing company he founded, The Ecstatic Exchange, published From a Shore Beyond Water: Selected Poems of Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore. .

Cover artwork Whirling Arabesque by Lateefa Spiker

Follow on Instagram

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For the sown fields of the soul whose kernels are

For the sown fields of the soul
whose kernels are concealed
the cloud of mercy
is full of the water of Kawthar

زرع جان را كش جواهر مضمر است
ابر رحمت پر ز آب كوثر است

zar’-e jān rā kesh javāher muzmar ast
abr-e rahmat pur ze āb-e kawsar ast

sown fields of . zar’-e . زرع
the soul . jān . جان
‎را . rā . for
whose . kesh . كش
kernels/ essences . javāher . جواهر
concealed . muzmar . مضمر
are . ast. است
the cloud of . abr-e . ابر
mercy . rahmat . رحمت
full . pur . پر
of . ze . ز
water of . āb-e . آب
Kawthar . kawsar . كوثر
is. ast . است

Wash your hands Because the table and divine banqu

Wash your hands
Because the table and divine banquet from the heavens has arrived
Wash your hands and mouth
Do not eat or speak
Find those words and mouthfuls
which have arrived for the silent

‎دست بشو کز فلک مایده و خوان رسید
‎دست و دهان را بشو نه بخور و نه بگو
‎آن سخن و لقمه جو کان به خموشان رسید

dast beshu kaz falak māyede va khān rasīd
dast u dahān rā beshū nah bekhūr u nah begū
ān sukhan u lugma jū kān beh khamūshān rasīd

hand . dast . دست
wash . beshu . بشو
because . kaz . کز
the heavens . falak . فلک
heavenly banquet . māyede . مایده
and . va . و
table . khān . خوان
arrived . rasīd . رسید
hand . dast . دست
mouth . dahān . دهان
[direct object marker] rā . را
do not . nah . نه
eat . bekhūr . بخور
speak . begū . بگو
that . ān . آن
word/speech . sukhan . سخن
mouthful . lugma . لقمه
find/seek jū . جو
has . kān . کان
for . beh . به
the silent ones. khamūshān . خموشان
arrived . rasīd . رسید

When the self is in need the soul ascends on a jou

When the self is in need
the soul ascends on a journey to heaven
When the gate of the prison is broken
the soul reaches the land of the Beloved

‎نفس چو محتاج شد روح به معراج شد
‎چون در زندان شکست جان بر جانان رسید

nafs chu mohtāj shod rūh beh mi’rāj shod
chun dar-e zendān shekast jān bar-e jānān rasīd

the ego/self . nafs . نفس
when . chu . چو
in need . mohtāj . محتاج
is . shod . شد
soul/ spirit . rūh . روح
on . beh . به
ascension/ journey to heaven . mi’rāj . معراج
goes. shod . شد
when . chun . چون
the gate of . dar-e . در
the prison . zendān . زندان
is broken . shekast . شکست
the soul . jān . جان
the land of . bar-e . بر
the Beloved . jānān . جانان
arrives at/ reaches . rasīd . رسید

Patience is like a gentle cloud, wisdom raining d

Patience is like a gentle cloud,
wisdom raining down from it
Thus it was in such a month of patience
that the Qur’an came down

‎صبر چو ابریست خوش حکمت بارد از او
‎زانک چنین ماه صبر بود که قرآن رسید

sabr chu abrīst khosh hikmat bārad az u
zānke chonīn māh-e sabr būd ke qurān rasīd

patience . sabr . صبر
like . chu . چو
is a cloud . abrīst . ابریست
good/gentle . khosh . خوش
wisdom . hikmat . حکمت
rains . bārad . بارد
from . az . از
it . u . او
thus . zānke . زانک
such . chonīn . چنین
a month of . māh-e . ماه
patience . sabr . صبر
it was . būd . بود
that . keh . که
the Quran . qurān . قرآن
came/arrived . rasīd . رسید

Don’t strike the drum for sahur too much, that is

Don’t strike the drum for sahur too much, that is to say, speak little and fall silent
They will come to understand fasting
from fasting itself

سحوری کم زن ای نطق و خمش کن
ز روزه خود شوند آگاه روزه

‏sahūrī kam zan ay nutq u khamush kon ze rūze khod shavand āgāh-e rūze  
سحوری . sahūrī .
‏sahur drum (to wake people up)
کم . little . kam
زن . strike . zan
ای . meaning / that is . ay
نطق . speaking . nutq
و . and . u
خمش کن . be silent . khamush kon
ز . from . ze
روزه . fasting . rūze
خود . itself . khod
شوند . they will become . shavand
آگاه . aware of . āgāh-e
روزه . fasting . rūze

Like Yusuf, the one who endures patiently in the

Like Yusuf,
the one who endures patiently
in the well of fasting
attains the kingdom of the Egypt of love

‎چو یوسف ملک مصر عشق گیرد
‎کسی کو صبر کرد در چاه روزه
 chū yūsuf mulk-e misr-e`ishq gīrad  kasī kū sabr kard dar chāh-e rūze

like . chū . چو
Joseph . yūsuf . یوسف
kingdom of . mulk-e . ملک
Egypt of . misr-e . مصر
‘ishq . love . عشق
attains . gīrad . گیرد
the one . kasī . کسی
who . kū . کو
patience . sabr . صبر
practices . kard . کرد
in . dar . در
the well of . chāh-e . چاه
fasting . rūze - روزه

Gazing up (to see the moon) my hat fell from my he

Gazing up (to see the moon) my hat fell from my head
Intoxicated as my head was by the Sovereign of fasting

‎نظر کردم کلاه از سر بیفتاد
‎سرم را مست کرد آن شاه روزه  nazar kardam, kolāh az sar beyoftād saram ra mast kard ān shāh-e rūze 
I gazed . nazar kardam . نظر کردم
hat . kolāh . کلاه
from . az . از
head . sar . سر
fell . beyoftād . بیفتاد
my head . saram . سرم
direct object marker . rā. را
intoxicated . mast kard . مست کرد
that . ān . آن
Sovereign of . shāh-e . شاه
fasting . rūze - روزه

How wonderful the felicity, good fortune and sple

How wonderful the felicity,
good fortune and splendour of fasting is!

زهی اقبال و بخت و جاه روزه

‏ zehī iqbāl o bakht o jāh-e rūze

how excellent/wonderful is . zehī . زهی
the felicity . iqbāl. اقبال
and . o . و
good fortune . bakht . بخت
splendour/rank of . jāh-e . جاه
fasting . rūze . روزه

Follow on Instagram

lotetreepress

from the poem Flying by Wid Kattan in our newest p

from the poem Flying by Wid Kattan in our newest publication The Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore Ecstatic Poetry Prize 2025 - Winning Entries, Shortlist & Longlist, now available from online booksellers and to order from independent bookshops. Link in bio

rom the poem “welcome insomnia” by sarwat rumi in

rom the poem “welcome insomnia” by sarwat rumi in The Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore Ecstatic Poetry Prize 2025 - Winning Entries, Shortlist & Longlist, now available from online booksellers and to order from independent bookshops. Link in bio

from the poem “welcome insomnia” by sarwat rumi in

from the poem “welcome insomnia” by sarwat rumi in The Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore Ecstatic Poetry Prize 2025 - Winning Entries, Shortlist & Longlist, now available from online booksellers and to order from independent bookshops

from the poem “pantoum for neverending light” by s

from the poem “pantoum for neverending light” by sarwat rumi in The Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore Ecstatic Poetry Prize 2025 - Winning Entries, Shortlist & Longlist, now available from online booksellers and to order from independent bookshops. Link in bio

from the poem Legacy by Wid Kattan in The Daniel A

from the poem Legacy by Wid Kattan in The Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore Ecstatic Poetry Prize 2025 - Winning Entries, Shortlist & Longlist, now available from online booksellers and to order from independent bookshops.

from the poem Legacy by Wid Kattan in The Daniel A

from the poem Legacy by Wid Kattan in The Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore Ecstatic Poetry Prize 2025 - Winning Entries, Shortlist & Longlist, now available from online booksellers and to order from independent bookshops.

Daniel Thomas Dyer’s prize winning poem Gathered i

Daniel Thomas Dyer’s prize winning poem Gathered in our most recent publication The Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore Ecstatic Poetry Prize 2025: Winning Entries, Shortlist & Longlist. Get your copy now! Hardcover, paperback and ebook editions are now available through online booksellers and to order from independent bookshops. Link in bio.

It’s here! The hardcover, paperback and ebook edit

It’s here! The hardcover, paperback and ebook editions of The Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore Ecstatic Poetry Prize 2025 are now available through online booksellers and to order from independent bookshops. Immerse yourself in contemporary prize-winning Sufi verse that addresses the heart and mind, contemplating the human condition and the modern world and pondering timeless questions and reflections.

You can still catch the replay of the award ceremony with readings by the poets of the winning and shortlisted poems and insightful commentary by competition judges Baraka Blue, Sukina Noor and Medina Tenour Whiteman. Links in bio for our bookshop and the replay.

Alhamdulillah the competition chapbook is now avai

Alhamdulillah the competition chapbook is now available as an eBook. The paperback and hardback versions are on their way but we have had some delays with printing. The links to purchase them will be posted on the same page as the ebook once they are available (hopefully in the next week or two) inshaAllah, and we will send out an email announcing their availability (join our newsletter to make sure you get the notification - link in bio). The print versions will also be available through online booksellers iA.

The Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore Ecstatic Poetry Prize ran its inaugural competition in 2024-2025, as a joint Ecstatic Exchange and Lote Tree Press collaboration. The theme was The Ecstasy of Witnessing. Winning and highly commended poems were announced in March 2025, judged by renowned poets Sukina Noor and Baraka Blue. This book includes the winning entries, highly commended, shortlisted and longlisted entries.

Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore (1940-2016, rahimahullah) was a pioneering American Beat-turned-Sufi poet. He authored dozens of poetry collections, in his own ecstatic, thoughtful, and often witty style, fusing Romantic, Surrealist and Sufi influences. Abdal-Hayy’s oeuvre spans sonnets, ghazals, and free verse, covering themes from family, love, death and nature to Mawlid, Hajj, Ramadan, prophets and saints, and more. His poems are a deeply personal prayer and reflection on the Divine perceivable in the everyday. In 2023, the publishing company he founded, The Ecstatic Exchange, published From a Shore Beyond Water: Selected Poems of Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore. .

Cover artwork Whirling Arabesque by Lateefa Spiker

Follow on Instagram

lotetreesufipoetry

Instagram post 18084089137721012

Instagram post 18084089137721012

For the sown fields of the soul whose kernels are

For the sown fields of the soul
whose kernels are concealed
the cloud of mercy
is full of the water of Kawthar

زرع جان را كش جواهر مضمر است
ابر رحمت پر ز آب كوثر است

zar’-e jān rā kesh javāher muzmar ast
abr-e rahmat pur ze āb-e kawsar ast

sown fields of . zar’-e . زرع
the soul . jān . جان
‎را . rā . for
whose . kesh . كش
kernels/ essences . javāher . جواهر
concealed . muzmar . مضمر
are . ast. است
the cloud of . abr-e . ابر
mercy . rahmat . رحمت
full . pur . پر
of . ze . ز
water of . āb-e . آب
Kawthar . kawsar . كوثر
is. ast . است

Wash your hands Because the table and divine banqu

Wash your hands
Because the table and divine banquet from the heavens has arrived
Wash your hands and mouth
Do not eat or speak
Find those words and mouthfuls
which have arrived for the silent

‎دست بشو کز فلک مایده و خوان رسید
‎دست و دهان را بشو نه بخور و نه بگو
‎آن سخن و لقمه جو کان به خموشان رسید

dast beshu kaz falak māyede va khān rasīd
dast u dahān rā beshū nah bekhūr u nah begū
ān sukhan u lugma jū kān beh khamūshān rasīd

hand . dast . دست
wash . beshu . بشو
because . kaz . کز
the heavens . falak . فلک
heavenly banquet . māyede . مایده
and . va . و
table . khān . خوان
arrived . rasīd . رسید
hand . dast . دست
mouth . dahān . دهان
[direct object marker] rā . را
do not . nah . نه
eat . bekhūr . بخور
speak . begū . بگو
that . ān . آن
word/speech . sukhan . سخن
mouthful . lugma . لقمه
find/seek jū . جو
has . kān . کان
for . beh . به
the silent ones. khamūshān . خموشان
arrived . rasīd . رسید

When the self is in need the soul ascends on a jou

When the self is in need
the soul ascends on a journey to heaven
When the gate of the prison is broken
the soul reaches the land of the Beloved

‎نفس چو محتاج شد روح به معراج شد
‎چون در زندان شکست جان بر جانان رسید

nafs chu mohtāj shod rūh beh mi’rāj shod
chun dar-e zendān shekast jān bar-e jānān rasīd

the ego/self . nafs . نفس
when . chu . چو
in need . mohtāj . محتاج
is . shod . شد
soul/ spirit . rūh . روح
on . beh . به
ascension/ journey to heaven . mi’rāj . معراج
goes. shod . شد
when . chun . چون
the gate of . dar-e . در
the prison . zendān . زندان
is broken . shekast . شکست
the soul . jān . جان
the land of . bar-e . بر
the Beloved . jānān . جانان
arrives at/ reaches . rasīd . رسید

Patience is like a gentle cloud, wisdom raining d

Patience is like a gentle cloud,
wisdom raining down from it
Thus it was in such a month of patience
that the Qur’an came down

‎صبر چو ابریست خوش حکمت بارد از او
‎زانک چنین ماه صبر بود که قرآن رسید

sabr chu abrīst khosh hikmat bārad az u
zānke chonīn māh-e sabr būd ke qurān rasīd

patience . sabr . صبر
like . chu . چو
is a cloud . abrīst . ابریست
good/gentle . khosh . خوش
wisdom . hikmat . حکمت
rains . bārad . بارد
from . az . از
it . u . او
thus . zānke . زانک
such . chonīn . چنین
a month of . māh-e . ماه
patience . sabr . صبر
it was . būd . بود
that . keh . که
the Quran . qurān . قرآن
came/arrived . rasīd . رسید

Don’t strike the drum for sahur too much, that is

Don’t strike the drum for sahur too much, that is to say, speak little and fall silent
They will come to understand fasting
from fasting itself

سحوری کم زن ای نطق و خمش کن
ز روزه خود شوند آگاه روزه

‏sahūrī kam zan ay nutq u khamush kon ze rūze khod shavand āgāh-e rūze  
سحوری . sahūrī .
‏sahur drum (to wake people up)
کم . little . kam
زن . strike . zan
ای . meaning / that is . ay
نطق . speaking . nutq
و . and . u
خمش کن . be silent . khamush kon
ز . from . ze
روزه . fasting . rūze
خود . itself . khod
شوند . they will become . shavand
آگاه . aware of . āgāh-e
روزه . fasting . rūze

Like Yusuf, the one who endures patiently in the

Like Yusuf,
the one who endures patiently
in the well of fasting
attains the kingdom of the Egypt of love

‎چو یوسف ملک مصر عشق گیرد
‎کسی کو صبر کرد در چاه روزه
 chū yūsuf mulk-e misr-e`ishq gīrad  kasī kū sabr kard dar chāh-e rūze

like . chū . چو
Joseph . yūsuf . یوسف
kingdom of . mulk-e . ملک
Egypt of . misr-e . مصر
‘ishq . love . عشق
attains . gīrad . گیرد
the one . kasī . کسی
who . kū . کو
patience . sabr . صبر
practices . kard . کرد
in . dar . در
the well of . chāh-e . چاه
fasting . rūze - روزه

Gazing up (to see the moon) my hat fell from my he

Gazing up (to see the moon) my hat fell from my head
Intoxicated as my head was by the Sovereign of fasting

‎نظر کردم کلاه از سر بیفتاد
‎سرم را مست کرد آن شاه روزه  nazar kardam, kolāh az sar beyoftād saram ra mast kard ān shāh-e rūze 
I gazed . nazar kardam . نظر کردم
hat . kolāh . کلاه
from . az . از
head . sar . سر
fell . beyoftād . بیفتاد
my head . saram . سرم
direct object marker . rā. را
intoxicated . mast kard . مست کرد
that . ān . آن
Sovereign of . shāh-e . شاه
fasting . rūze - روزه

How wonderful the felicity, good fortune and sple

How wonderful the felicity,
good fortune and splendour of fasting is!

زهی اقبال و بخت و جاه روزه

‏ zehī iqbāl o bakht o jāh-e rūze

how excellent/wonderful is . zehī . زهی
the felicity . iqbāl. اقبال
and . o . و
good fortune . bakht . بخت
splendour/rank of . jāh-e . جاه
fasting . rūze . روزه

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