Abu Ben Adham

Abu Bin Adhem
Abu Bin Adham (May his tribe increase)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of piece
And saw within the moonlight in his room
Making it rich like a lily in bloom
An angel writing in a book of gold
Exceeding piece made Ben Adham bold
And to the presence in the room he said
“What writest thou?” The vision raised its head
And with a look made of all sweet accord
Answered “The names of those who love the Lord”
“And is mine one?” said Abu, “No not so”
Replied the angel. Abu spoke more low
But cheerily still, and said “I pray thee then ,
Write me as one who loves his fellow men”
The angel wrote and vanished. The next night
It came again with a great awakening light
And showed the names whom love of God had blessed
And Lo! Ben Adham’s name led all the rest
Leigh Hunt
This poem by Leigh Hunt sums up the essence of Christianity “LOVE”. “And to love his neighbor as himself is more than all offerings and sacrifices” (St. Mark 33”
Christ rated this as the second commandment in answer to one of the scribes who asked which was the first. The first being the love of God.
I remembered this poem from my school days and it had made a great impression upon me.
I strongly believe that if all men were Ben Adhams all society’s ills would have been eliminated. We wouldn’t have had wars and revolutions. We wouldn’t even have needed the police force, courts or the army.

I know people who go to church in the belief that this would exonerate them from their failure to adhere to the more stringent precepts which they neither have the inclination nor the will to follow. It is one of the easiest things in the world to go to the church or the synagogue or the mosque. But to love your neighbor as yourself is an entirely different proposition.

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