Sufism Quotes

Let me also again emphasize that it is only within Islam that Sufism can be practiced. The two have never been separated from each other in their reality and in fact are inwardly one, and certainly they have never been separated for me throughout my life. ~ Seyyed Hossein Nasr

I ask about the sky, but the answer is about a rope. ~ Idries Shah

Farsi Couplet:
Agar firdaus bar roo-e zameen ast,
Hameen ast-o hameen ast-o hameen ast.


English Translation:
If there is a paradise on earth,
It is this, it is this, it is this ~ Amir Khusrau

EPITAPH OF JALALUDIN RUMI
When we are dead, seek not our tomb in the earth, but find it in the hearts of men. ~ Idries Shah

Miracles, to the Sufi, are not evidential, they are instrumental. ~ Idries Shah

It is no accident that Sufis find that they can connect most constructively with people who are well integrated into the world, as well as having higher aims, and that those who adopt a sensible attitude towards society and life as generally known can usually absorb Sufi teachings very well indeed ~ Idries Shah

Nothing cheap without reason. ~ Idries Shah

Deep in the sea are riches beyond compare. But if you seek safety, it is on the shore. ~ Idries Shah

How many friends would you have if you went from one to another asking them to conceal a dead body? ~ Idries Shah

God provides the food, men provide the cooks. ~ Idries Shah

I asked who are you ? He said I am the one, a clay potter.

I asked what is in the clay ? He said my commanded soul.

And he then said whatever and whoever the clay are made of I am the one who command the soul in it.

And I asked curiously who is he who has born to a virgin who had breath the soul in the clay? and made it fly!

He said shush!!! he is my secret! ~ Aiyaz Uddin

One of the outstanding sources of resistance to imperial power in the Muslim world came from Sufi groups. While Sufi brotherhoods are generally known for a more quietist and mystic approach to Islam, they traditionally rank among the best organized and most coherent groupings in society. They constitute ready-made organizations - social-based NGOs, if you will - for maintaining Islamic culture and practices under periods of extreme oppression and for fomenting resistance and guerrilla warfare against foreign occupation. The history of Sufi participation in dozens of liberation struggles is long and widespread across Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Sufi groups were prominent in the anti-Soviet resistance, and later against the American in Afghanistan and against US occupation forces in Iraq. ~ Graham Fuller

Saying of the Prophet
Struggle
The holy warrior is he who struggles with himself. ~ Idries Shah

Action is in fact knowledge in operation. Right action stems from right knowledge. Right knowledge is acquired through the teacher. ~ Idries Shah

Dye your hair, certainly. But what can you do for your face? ~ Idries Shah

Do not dwell upon whether you will put yourself into the hands of a teacher. You are always in his hands. ~ Idries Shah

Saadi: Be a true renouncer, (zahid) and [you can even] ware satin. ~ Idries Shah

Things which are seemingly opposed may in fact be working together ~ Idries Shah

My mother's belief in spiritual healers grew stronger after our family went through a rough patch following my father's death. Sufi saint Karimullah Shah Kadri changed our lives, and all of us converted to Sufism. But it wasn't an instantaneous decision - it took us 10 years to convert. The change in religion was like washing away the past. ~ A.R. Rahman

Definitions from Mulla Do-Piaza
Emotionalist:
A man or woman who thinks he has experienced the divine. ~ Idries Shah

Beauty

Void lay the world, in nothingness concealed,
Without a trace of light or life revealed,
Save one existence which second knew-
Unknown the pleasant words of We and You.
Then Beauty shone, from stranger glances free,
Seen of herself, with naught beside to see,
With garments pure of stain, the fairest flower
Of virgin loveliness in bridal bower.
No combing hand had smoothed a flowing tress,
No mirror shown her eyes their loveliness
No surma dust those cloudless orbs had known,
To the bright rose her cheek no bulbul flown.
No heightening hand had decked the rose with green,
No patch or spot upon that cheek was seen.
No zephyr from her brow had fliched a hair,
No eye in thought had seen the splendour there.
Her witching snares in solitude she laid,
And love's sweet game without a partner played.
But when bright Beauty reigns and knows her power
She springs indignant from her curtained bower.
She scorns seclusion and eludes the guard,
And from the window looks if doors be barred.
See how the tulip on the mountain grown
Soon as the breath of genial Spring has blown,
Bursts from the rock, impatient to display
Her nascent beauty to the eye of day.
When sudden to thy soul reflection brings
The precious meaning of mysterious things,
Thou canst not drive the thought from out thy brain;
Speak, hear thou must, for silence is suc ~ Nūr Ad-Dīn 'Abd Ar-Rahmān Jāmī

Although hundreds of friends
Have become my foes,
The friendship of One
Has given security to my soul.
Rejecting many I have embraced the One-
At last
I am He and He is me. ~ Sarmad Shaheed

In the modern world we are in a paradoxical situation; because although in theory man knows that he can extend his attention to something and then remove it, he very often does not do so. In many areas he does not look at something and then detach from it, and look at something else.
Once he has found something to interest himself in, he cannot detach himself from it efficiently, and therefore he cannot be objective. Note that, in most if not all languages, we have words like 'objectivity' which leads people to imagine that they have it, or can easily use it. That is equivalent (in reality if not in theory) to saying 'I know the word "gold", so I am rich. ~ Idries Shah

The Sufi is 'One who does not care when something is taken from him, but who does not cease to seek for what he has not. ~ Idries Shah

Saying of the Mulla Nasrudin. If I survive this life without dying, I'll be surprised. ~ Idries Shah

No effort makes a black crow into a white hawk. ~ Idries Shah

Amongst the friends of Allah (Awliya), the Qur'an is considered as a love letter from Allah, which inevitably is read continuously to remind them of their Beloved. ~ Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri

Rust through washing never became white. ~ Idries Shah

If you are 'humble', it may help you in ordinary life. If you are not, you will get nowhere in higher things. ~ Idries Shah

If you cannot laugh frequently and genuinely, you have no soul. ~ Idries Shah

The Sufis regard systems which treat everyone alike as mechanical and degenerate. ~ Idries Shah

I love Sufism as I love beautiful poetry, but it is not the answer. Sufism is like a mirage in the desert. It says to you, come and sit, relax and enjoy yourself for a while. ~ Naguib Mahfouz

Billions of stars will lose it's fuel from the brightness of the only face, the guest of your heart,
The beauty of your soul. ~ Bzam

Truth has no form. ~ Idries Shah

Disappointment cannot exist without expectation. The expected apricot is never as sweet when it reaches the mouth. ~ Idries Shah

There is a Persian proverb: 'To test that which has been tested is ignorance.' To try to test something without the means of testing is even worse. ~ Idries Shah

Study institutions may become visible when the head is more emptied of imaginings. ~ Idries Shah

I want a God that makes me twirl.' I jumped off the couch. I untucked and unbuttoned my shirt so it would flow like a robe. 'Like this. I can do this for God.' I held my hands out. I twirled and twirled and twirled. 'Look,' I said. 'Look. ~ Rabih Alameddine

There is no purpose in hammering cold iron. ~ Idries Shah

The mine is always bigger than the gem. ~ Idries Shah

The selection and following of a spiritual guide is the most important duty of a Sufi. ~ Idries Shah

All forms are limited. Some of the limitations are time, place, culture, language. ~ Idries Shah

However fast you run, or however skilfully, you can't run away from your own feet. ~ Idries Shah

He who is fortunately enlightened [the Sufi]
Knows that sophistry is from the devil and love from Adam. ~ Idries Shah

Sufism is the essence of all religions. ~ Idries Shah

Words have to die if humans are to live. ~ Idries Shah

Saying of the Prophet
Anger
You ask for a piece of advice. I tell you: 'Do not get angry.' He is strong who can withhold anger. ~ Idries Shah

Many things which are called 'secrets' are only things withheld from people until they can understand or effectively experience them. ~ Idries Shah

Sufism is, in operation, pragmatic. ~ Idries Shah

„The Prophet had a universal soul. He had an oceanic soul. One that embraced all other Souls and our masters in our tradition talk about that. They talk about the magnanimity of the Prophet. The great souledness of our Prophet. That meant that he had the ability to relate to every single human being: as they are, where they are, to feel and suffer with them if they had harm and to feel joy with them if they had good and to be intent on their well-being in all things that they did. This is an incredible capacity. And as we grow spiritually this must be one of the gauges by which growth is measured. You are able to embrace people as a whole, not just your own group, not just your own family, not just your own country, but to embrace all people. And not just the good ones but also the bad ones as well. The more that we grow spiritually, the greater this quality becomes. That's why the community that embodies that becomes a mercy to the worlds like the Prophet himself. Then that community is a mercy for everyone around it. For the trees, for the animals, for all the people no matter who they are. For the homeless, for the down-and-out, for the people that have nothing. This is the way the community got to be. It's got to be a community with open arms, a community that is here to serve and to love. That's the way the Prophet was, isn't it? The Prophet who is the greatest thing that God created in creation, the greatest of all the human beings, of all the Jin, greater than all the ~ Dr. Umar Faruq Abd Allah

I longed to teach, but I had to wait until the desire had left me before I could really do so. ~ Idries Shah

Assume that you are part-hypocrite and part heedless, and you will not be far wrong. ~ Idries Shah

Q: What is a fundamental mistake of man's?
A: To think that he is alive, when he has merely fallen asleep in life's waiting-room. ~ Idries Shah

Great men are great until they know it. Saints are holy until they know it. ~ Idries Shah

SAYING OF SHEIKH ZIAUDIN:
Self-justification is worse than the original offence. ~ Idries Shah

Man has less than he suspects of: Time, Friends, Hopes, Qualities.
Proverb ~ Idries Shah

Woman is a beam of the divine Light. She is not the being whom sensual desires takes as its object. She is Creator, it should be said. She is not a creature. Great Fatima-ul- Zehra ( Means of Fatima the Radiant, Brightest Star, Star of Venus, The Evening Star), the daughter of the Prophet, is the secret in Sufism. She is the Hujjat of Ali (JJ). In other words, she establishes the esoteric sense of his knowledge and guides those who attain to it.



Through her perfume, we breathe paradise. Though she was his daughter, the Prophet Muhammad (SAWW) called her "Um Abi'ha" (mother of her father). What mystery was the Prophet hinting at by this statement? While Fatima Zahra ( Salam -ullah – alleha ) was Muhammad's (SAWW) daughter. The spiritual Fatima Al-Batool ( the divine virgin) her house is the living Ka'ba. ~ Rumi

If ... says: 'Do not be greedy, be generous', you may inwardly interpret this in such a manner that you will develop a greed for generosity ~ Idries Shah

My interest in Sufism began when I was a college student. At the time, I was a rebellious young woman who liked to wrap several shawls of '-isms' around her shoulders: I was a leftist, feminist, nihilist, environmentalist, anarcho-pacifist…I wasn't interested in any religion and the difference between 'religiosity' and 'spirituality' was lost to me. Having spent some time of my childhood with a loving grandmother with many superstitions and beliefs, I had a sense the world was not composed of solely material things and there was more to life than I could see. But the truth is, I wasn't interested in understanding the world. I only wanted to change it. ~ Elif Shafak

The intellect is not sovereign: knowledge is. ~ Idries Shah

Humility has to precede instruction. ~ Idries Shah

Standing in Front of the Mirror of Eternity
Dressed By True Existence
Looking to Your Own Reality
In the Ocean of Oneness ~ Sheikh Nazim Al-Haqqani

Traditional Sufi wisdom teaches that we are the creation and manifestation of Infinite Love, and that every event and circumstance of our lives serves to awaken us and remind us that true happiness and security is to be found in the deepest center of ourselves where we are closest to that Infinite Love, where our true needs will be met.
~Shaikh Kabir Helminski ~ Kabir Helminski

Practise your knowledge, for knowledge without practice is a body without life ~ Idries Shah

The human being, whether he realises it or not, is trusting someone or something every moment of the day. ~ Idries Shah

A donkey eats a melon, it remains a donkey ~ Idries Shah

There is no shortage of beautiful people in this world.
What use is your beauty to me?
Your beautiful hair, your beautiful eyes
and legs? I will only speak of your beauty
if your beautiful soul shines light on it,
for I am blind to that other beauty.
What use is your hair, eyes, and legs to me
when I am the seeking the light within. ~ Kamand Kojouri

Definitions from Mulla Do-Piaza
Patience: A support for the disappointed. ~ Idries Shah

One should not pray if that prayer is vanity. ~ Idries Shah

Everything man needs is in the world. ~ Idries Shah

Most people, whatever their opinions and protestations, do not want to learn. ~ Idries Shah

Farsi Couplet:
Naala-e zanjeer-e Majnun arghanoon-e aashiqanast
Zauq-e aan andaza-e gosh-e ulul-albaab neest


English Translation:
The creaking of the chain of Majnun is the orchestra of the lovers,
To appreciate its music is quite beyond the ears of the wise. ~ Amir Khusrau

Sufism, in one definition, "is" human life. ~ Idries Shah

The skilled artisan uses the same iron to make a horseshoe
As he does for a polished mirror for the King. ~ Idries Shah

When you get a principle on which everyone is agreed, you get the beginning of complacency and deterioration. ~ Idries Shah

God said to him [Eblis], 'You have become proud.' He replied, 'If I had been with you but a moment my pride would have been justified; I have been with you for centuries. ~ Mansur Al-Hallaj

A short time in the presence of the Friends (the Sufis) is better than a hundred years' sincere, obedient dedication. ~ Idries Shah

Ignorance is the Mother of Opposition ~ Idries Shah

One day Lal shahbaz was wandering in the desert with his friend Sheikh Bhaa ud-Din Zakariya. It was winter, and evening time, so they began to build a fire to keep warm. They found some wood, but then they realised they had no fire. So Baha ud- Din suggested that Lal Shahbaz turn himself into a falcon and get fire from hell. Off he flew, but an hour later he came back empty handed. "There is no fire in hell," he reported. "Everyone who goes there brings their own fire, and their own pain, from this world. ~ William Dalrymple

Sufis aim to refine human consciousness. This is Sufi mysticism: not mystification or magic, but a specific Path. ~ Idries Shah

If the path has been laid down, why the successive appearance of different teachers? Why would anyone reinvent the wheel, if everything were as cosy and sequential as primitive longing so easily convinces us? ~ Idries Shah

They have fixed our nutrition and arranged our life-span. More than this, and ahead of this, efforts will not be productive. ~ Idries Shah

In the realm of Greater Understanding, the workshop is dismantled after the work is finished. ~ Idries Shah

If I knew what two and two were – I would say Four! ~ Idries Shah

You make me a sinner if you stop me giving you hospitality. ~ Idries Shah

I have loved in life and I have been loved.
I have drunk the bowl of poison from the hands of love as nectar,
and have been raised above life's joy and sorrow.
My heart, aflame in love, set afire every heart that came in touch with it.
My heart has been rent and joined again;
My heart has been broken and again made whole;
My heart has been wounded and healed again;
A thousand deaths my heart has died, and thanks be to love, it lives yet.
I went through hell and saw there love's raging fire,
and I entered heaven illumined with the light of love.
I wept in love and made all weep with me;
I mourned in love and pierced the hearts of men;
And when my fiery glance fell on the rocks, the rocks burst forth as volcanoes.
The whole world sank in the flood caused by my one tear;
With my deep sigh the earth trembled, and when I cried aloud the name of my beloved,
I shook the throne of God in heaven.
I bowed my head low in humility, and on my knees I begged of love,
"Disclose to me, I pray thee, O love, thy secret."
She took me gently by my arms and lifted me above the earth, and spoke softly in my ear,
"My dear one, thou thyself art love, art lover,
and thyself art the beloved whom thou hast adored. ~ Hazrat Inayat Khan

Form is useful, but it is secondary. ~ Idries Shah

Our thoughts have prepared for us the
happiness or unhappiness we experience. ~ Hazrat Inayat Khan

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

It is not Sufism if it does not perform its function for you. A cloak is no longer a cloak if it does not keep a man warm. ~ Idries Shah

The practice of the Sufis is too sublime to have a formal beginning, ~ Idries Shah

Make me drunk.
Make me drunk, Beloved.
I crave your drink.
Break these thought chains
and tear these garments.
I crave your nakedness.
I'm speaking to you.
I'm speaking to you, Beloved
Take me to the depths of your ocean.
I'm thirsting for your drink.
I have followed the scent
of your intoxicating perfume
and having arrived at this altar,
I sacrifice my body for your soul.
Oh Beloved, make me drunk.
Make me drunk! ~ Kamand Kojouri

But the world itself, as well as special attitudes, properly understood, constitute the Sufi school. ~ Idries Shah

What goes into a salt-mine becomes salt. ~ Idries Shah

To Be One With The One Is Not For Everyone ~ Syed Sharukh

Are you ignorant enough to expect horsemanship from blacksmiths? ~ Idries Shah

When a belief becomes more than an instrument, you are lost. You remain lost until you learn what 'belief' is really for. ~ Idries Shah

You have seen what Eblis the accursed has seen, when he said "I am of fire, while Adam is of clay."
Cover up the Eblis-like eye for just a moment; how long will you see just the form? How long, indeed, how long?
Alas for that eye that's blind and bruised! Within it the sun seemed like an atom
Of an Adam who had no like. He saw nothing but a lump of clay.
- Mathnawi-ye ma'nawi III 2758–9 ~ Rumi

The teacher works in accordance with the prospects of his students and the possibility of maintaining the community of Sufis. ~ Idries Shah

Knowledge. How curious that a man who closes his hand upon air so often thinks that he has a ruby within his grasp. ~ Idries Shah