Mikhail Naimy
Mikha'il Na'ima (also spelled Mikhail Naimy; Arabic: ميخائيل نعيمة) (b.1889 in Mount Sannine in modern day Lebanon, d. 1988) was a Lebanese author and poet of the New York Pen League.
He wrote 99 books, including drama, essays, poetry, criticism, short stories and biography.
Among his best known books is the Book of Mirdad, a mystical text first published in Lebanon in 1948, which was translated into English and published in London in 1962.
The mystic Osho had this to say about The Book of Mirdad. He said, "There are millions of books in the world, but 'The Book of Mirdad' stands out far above any book in existence."
Mr. Naimy was a biographer and longtime associate of Khalil Gibran, the Lebanese writer, artist, poet, and philosopher and he penned the first Biography about him (first published in Arabic) in 1934. The biography was later translated into English and reprinted in 1950.
He was fluent in three languages: English, Russian and Arabic.
ميخائيل نعيمة 1889 - 1988 مفكر عربي كبير وهو واحد من ذلك الجيل الذي قاد النهضة الفكرية والثقافية وأحدث اليقظة وقاد إلى التجديد واقتسمت له المكتبة العربية مكاناً كبيراً لما كتبه وما كتب حوله. فهو شاعر وقاص ومسرحي وناقد متفهم وكاتب مقال متبصر ومتفلسف في الحياة والنفس الانسانية وقد أهدى إلينا آثاره بالعربية والانجليزية والروسية وهي كتابات تشهد له بالامتياز وتحفظ له المنزلة السامية.
ميخائيل نعيمة ولد في بسكنتا في جبل صنّين في لبنان في شهر تشرين الأول من عام 1889 وأنهى دراسته المدرسية في مدرسة الجمعية الفلسطينية فيها، تبعها بخمس سنوات جامعية في بولتافيا الأوكرانية بين عامي 1905 و 1911 حيث تسنى له الاضطلاع على مؤلفات الأدب الروسي، ثم اكمل دراسة الحقوق في الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية (منذ كانون الأول عام 1911) وحصل على الجنسية الأمريكية. انضم إلى الرابطة القلمية التي أسسها أدباء عرب في المهجر وكان نائبا لجبران خليل جبران فيها.
عاد إلى بسكنتا عام 1932 واتسع نشاطه الأدبي . لقب بناسك الشخروب، توفي عام 1988 عن عمر يناهز المئة سنة. وتعود جذور ميخائل نعيمه إلى بلدة النعيمة في محافظة اربد في المملكة الاردنية الهاشميه وهذا ما ذكره ميخائيل النعيمه في حوار مع الكاتب الاردني والمؤرخ روكس بن زائد العزيزي.
“Love is the law of God. You live that you may learn to love. You lovethat you may learn to live. No other lesson is required of Man.You arethe tree of Life. Beware of fractionating yourselves. Set not a fruit against a fruit, a leaf against a leaf, a bough against a bough; norset the stem against the roots; nor set the tree against the mother-soil. That is precisely what you do when you love one part more thanthe rest, or to the exclusion of the rest. No love is possible exceptby the love of self. No self is real save the All-embracing Self.Therefore is God all Love, because he loves himself. So long as youare pained by Love, you have not found your real self, nor have youfound the golden key of Love. Because you love an ephemeral self, yourlove is ephemeral.”
“No love is Love that subjugates the Lover.No love is Love that feeds on flesh and blood.No love is Love that draws a woman to a man only to breedmore women and men and thus perpetuate their bondage to the flesh.”
“Too vast is Man and too imponderable his nature. Too varied are histalents, and too inexhaustible his strength. Beware of those whoattempt to set him boundaries.Live as if your God Himself had need ofyou His life to live. And so, in truth, He does.”
“Men and women yearners must realize their unity even while in theflesh; not by communion of the flesh, but by the Will to Freedom fromthe flesh and all the impediments it places in their way to perfectUnity and Holy Understanding”
“Logic is immaturity weaving its nets of gossamer wherewith it aims to catch the behemoth of knowledge. Logic is a crutch for the cripple, but a burden for the swift of foot and a greater burden still for the wise.”
“How much more infinite a sea is man? Be not so childish as to measure him from head to foot and think you have found his borders.”
“The more elaborate his labyrinths, the further from the Sun his face.”
“Ask not of things to shed their veils. Unveil yourselves, and things will be unveiled.”
“Often you shall think your road impassable, sombre and companionless. Have will and plod along; and round each curve you shall find a new companion.”
“So think as if your every thought were to be etched in fire upon the sky for all and everything to see. For so, in truth, it is.”