Niraj Shah Quotes

Reality is only as true as it is perceived. Reality does not change. How it is perceived does. ~ Murad S. Shah

You are still adrift while you still think that a means is an end. ~ Idries Shah

Generosity is also marked by doing what one says one will do. ~ Idries Shah

Definitions from Mulla Do-Piaza
Supporter: Someone who will say anything. ~ Idries Shah

Progress comes through capacity to learn, and is irresistible. ~ Idries Shah

Forms have changed through the centuries in obedience to the external world to which all forms belong. ~ Idries Shah

Whether people like it or not, my marketing thought is if you keep something in front of people for too long, they get used to it. ~ Shah Rukh Khan

During the rule of the Shah, arrogance, aggression, territorial expansion at the expense of the Arabs and attempts to harm Iraq's national sovereignty and the rights of the Arab nation were a constant pattern. Iraq and the Arab nation were regarded as a sphere of influence for the expansionist plans of Iranian interests. That policy has been followed throughout history by the State of Persia against its neighbours to the west, and as we have shown. ~ Saddam Hussein

The impatient man is his own enemy; he slams the door on his own progress. ~ Idries Shah

We may yearn for rustic detail and old-world charm, but those who have it set their minds on vinyl wallpaper, fitted carpets and all mod cons. ~ Tahir Shah

Voice in the night
A voice whispered to me last night: 'There is no such thing as a voice whispering in the night! ~ Idries Shah

Saying of the Prophet
The Judge
A man appointed to be a judge has been killed without a knife. ~ Idries Shah

She holds secrets
that would break spines
yet she carries them so well. ~ U.F. Shah

Saying of the Prophet
Accusations
Anyone reviling a brother for a sin will not himself die before committing it. ~ Idries Shah

The aspirant has to be guided by a mentor. The stage at which this guidance can take effect is seldom, if ever, perceptible to the learner. ~ Idries Shah

Information about the activities of one body of Sufis may be harmful to the potential of another. ~ Idries Shah

Three Things
Three things cannot be retrieved:
The arrow once sped from the bow
The word spoken in haste
The missed opportunity.
(Ali the Lion, Caliph of Islam, son-in-law of Mohammed the Prophet), ~ Idries Shah

I know it's very idealistic and utopian, but I believe we need to just let everyone not be judged in terms of religion, groups or nations or region. ~ Shah Rukh Khan

It is not only a matter of not caring who knows - it is also a matter of knowing who cares. ~ Idries Shah

IMPRESSIONS
Time brought a thousand impressions.
Not one of them had I seen in the mirror of the imagination.
(Anwar-i-Suhaili) ~ Idries Shah

Principles and inelastic rules are the last bastion of the primitive. Principles are guides which substitute for knowledge; rules are drawn up to guide those who do not know.
Primitive man has stayed with us for aeons, sustained by the pessimistic belief that, since knowledge is impossible, substitutes must always be employed instead. ~ Idries Shah

She could see lines choices made and choices left untouched intertwine his soul in a rich mesh of pulsating orbits. She could see the value of past intentions, the trials he had chosen to bear and the wisdom that lay concealed within the mortal body. She knew that if she spoke of this, he would not believe her. No one believes in the perfections of the soul. There always is a certain relativity to events that throws a shadow against the perfection within each one. Seeing perfection consistently becomes a forbidden luxury, or maybe a practical flaw. ~ Shradhdha. S

Imagination blocks you like a bolt on a door. Burn that bar. (Rumi) ~ Idries Shah

Definitions from Mulla Do-Piaza
A fool:
A man trying to be honest with the dishonest. ~ Idries Shah

The whole of history is the history of murderers. If you become a murderer, fame will be very easy. You can become a prime minister, you can become a president - but these are all masks. Behind them you will find very violent people, terribly violent people hiding, smiling. Those smiles are political, diplomatic. If the mask slips, you will always see Genghis Khan, Tamerlane, Nadir Shah, Napoleon, Alexander, Hitler, hiding behind. ~ Osho

Sufis are not here to satisfy a demand. They exist to share what they have got. These two things are not always the same. ~ Idries Shah

Prescribing hard work for the soft, or easy work for the hardy, is generally nonsense. What is always needed in any aim is right effort, right time, right people, right materials. ~ Idries Shah

As far as I was concerned, a little danger of head-shrinking is a small price to pay in return for a people who have remained true to an ancient code. ~ Tahir Shah

The sight of God in woman is the most perfect of all. Ibn Arabi. ~ Idries Shah

Peace and anger cannot coexist.in fact there is a high negative corelation , the higher the anger lesser the peace and lesser the anger higher the peace...Zero anger is probably bliss. ~ Ketan R Shah

Words are free, action is not. ~ Murad S. Shah

The Sufis have said: 'The importance of something is in inverse proportion to its attractiveness. ~ Idries Shah

Patience is bitter, but bears a sweet fruit. ~ Idries Shah

In America, conservative historian Francis Fukuyama wrote that the collapse of the Soviet Union marked not just the end of the Cold War, but the end of history: liberal capitalist democracy had won, no ideology could challenge it anymore, and nothing remained but a little cleanup work around the edges while all the world got on board the train headed for the only truth. …

On the other side of the planet, however, jihadists and Wahhabis were drawing very different conclusions from all these thunderous events [Iran's 1979 revolution and ouster of US presence and the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan]. In Iran, it seemed to them, Islam had brought down the Shah and driven out America. In Afghanistan, Muslims had not just beaten the Red Army but toppled the Soviet Union itself. Looking at all this, Jihadists saw a pattern they thought they recognized. The First Community had defeated the two superpowers of its day, the Byzantine and Sassanid Empires, simply by having God on its side. Modern Muslims also confronted two superpowers, and they had now brought one of them down entirely. On down, one to go was how it looked to the jihadists and the Wahabbis. History coming to an end? Hardly. As these radicals saw it, history was just getting interesting. ~ Tamim Ansary

But the minimum human duty is to serve others: it is no great attainment. ~ Idries Shah

Repeating the name of the Beloved
I have become the Beloved myself.
Whom shall I call the Beloved now? ~ Bulleh Shah

The donkey which brought you to this door must be dismissed if you want to get through it'. ~ Idries Shah

As the head of an expedition, you can't pussyfoot around being polite to everyone. You have to show your teeth once in a while; a little growling goes a long way. ~ Tahir Shah

If you will not reprove yourself,' Saadi says, 'you will not welcome reproof from another. ~ Idries Shah

Those who love you the most, let yo bend your notes ~ Paresh Shah

If you are uninterested in what I say, there's an end to it. If you like what I say, please try to understand which previous influences have made you like it. If you like some of the things I say, and dislike others, you could try to understand why. If you dislike all I say, why not try to find out what formed your attitude? ~ Idries Shah

I am a huge Bollywood fan, and my favourite actor of all time is Shah Rukh Khan. ~ Saina Nehwal

The quest for a lost city erodes your body, damaging you beyond all reason. But it is your mind that bears the heaviest toll. Listen to the doubters, the worriers and the weak, and the vaguest hope of success evaporates. ~ Tahir Shah

I`d rather sink trying to be different, than stay afloat like everyone else ~ Shah Rukh Khan