The bird of the soul is nested in those dregs online

A Sonnet on Scrolling

This is the tavern of ill-repute, the Sufi’s kharabat.
Cease the performance of piety, O qalandar.
Become the beggar, the outcast, the crude inebriate.
The bird of the soul is nested in those dregs online.
Lose all pretensions, wholly ignored, or seen by all
with eyes panoptic, naked before the Divine.
This cloak of Self a thousand times will rent asunder
and being poor in self-regard, you will be rich,
freed from reputation, to say what you truly mean.
You will move closer to the Absolute and seem
at home among the ruins, not knowing which is which.
All false beliefs dismantled, like faith before the fall.
Beyond the gates of holy fire lies Paradise.
Purify yourself, and then get on with life.

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Detail of “Dancing dervishes” by Kamal ud-Din Behzad (c. 1480-1490)

In Sufism, a qalandar is a wandering dervish, a mendicant seeking salvation through poverty. They have renounced all, including religious institutions. The external displays of piety, a desire to be held in good esteem, are temptations that lead to worldly attachment. All religious, moral, and social customs seem to the qalandar full of hypocrisy, so they become an outcast, choosing to live among the wretched and the wicked, to dispel themselves of any pretentions they may harbor. They often drink and gamble and debase themselves. They go to the kharabat, a tavern full of drunkards and degenerates.

The Persian poet Mahmūd Shabestarī (1288–1340) writes of the kharabatiyyan, the “tavern-haunters”

To be a haunter of kharabats is to be freed from self,
Self-regard is paganism, even if it be righteousness.
They have brought you news from the kharabat
That unification is shaking off relations.
The kharabat is of the world that has no similitude,
It is the place of lovers that reck not.
The kharabat is the nest of the bird of the soul,
The kharabat is the sanctuary that has no place…

Various kharabats exist on the internet that offer the modern qalandar relief from the hypocritical pretensions of society. Attracted by subversion and radical freedom, they seek respite from sanctimony and virtue signaling. The aim of the qalandar is ultimately purification and “perfect sincerity” (ikhlas). They desire a relationship with the Divine that’s genuine and pure. Of course the difference between participating in such things as a means of purifying oneself, and simply indulging in them, is not always clear. One may begin by seeking the former, and end up becoming trapped by the latter. The way to enlightenment is full of pitfalls, especially for the young and inexperienced. Hence the last line, that one should seek out the kharabat only as a means to an end, to “purify yourself, and then get on with life,” lest one become terminally online and stuck in the doomscroll.

This poem is part of a series of poems on social media called “The Scroll”. You can check out another poem here and here.