Sufism Quotes

As Ibn Arabi says: ‘Absolute existence is the source of all existence’.

ANDAKI:tEFFORT IS NOT EFFORT WITHOUT ZAMAN, MAKAN, IKHWAN (RIGHT TIME, RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT PEOPLE).

The sight of God in woman is the most perfect of all." Ibn Arabi.

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

You call me an unbeliever. I shall therefore call you a True Believer since a lie is best met with one of similar magnitude.

World seems like a void of silence every time footsteps are deprived of dancing shoes.

Whatever goes into a salt-mine becomes salt.

Saying of the ProphetTruthSpeaking the truth to the unjust is the best of holy wars.

Sufism is, in operation, pragmatic.

Like the bat, the Sufi is asleep to 'things of the day' - the familiar struggle for existence which the ordinary man finds all-important - and vigilant while others are asleep. In other words, he keeps awake the spiritual attention dormant in others. That 'mankind sleeps in a nightmare of unfulfillment' is a commonplace of Sufi literature

Those who say ‘I am ready to learn’, or ‘I am not ready to learn’ are as often mistaken as they are correct in their surmise.

To Him who has sense, a sign is enoughFor the heedless, however, a thousand expositions are not enough.

Understanding and knowledge are completely different sensations in the realm of Truth than they are in the realm of society.

Saying of the ProphetDistributionGod it is who gives: I am only a distributor.

Saying of the ProphetThe BequestI have nothing to leave you except my family.

Love was supposed to be the easiest path to divinity

The Sufi teacher’s mission is to be in the service of those who can learn.

To drown in treacle is just as unpleasant as to drown in mud.People today are in danger of drowning in information; but because they have been taught information is useful, they are more willing to drown than they need be.If they could handle information, they would not have to drown at all.The lightning said to the oak tree: 'Stand aside, or take what is coming to you!

Whoever is to be wise despises himself. Only the ignorant trust their own judgement.

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

Dance resides within us all. Some find it when joy conquers sorrow, others express it through celebration of movements; and then there are those... whose existence is dance,

If you want to find God, then all you need to do is love.

Practise your knowledge, for knowledge without practice is a body without life

Saying of the ProphetThe JudgeA man appointed to be a judge has been killed without a knife.

Saying of the ProphetPrivacyWhoever invades people´s privacy corrupts them.

Saying of the ProphetWomenWomen are the twin-halves of men.

Sufism is transmitted by means of the human exemplar, the teacher.

While most streams of Buddhism take a contemplative stance on passion, pleasure, and pain, Sufism encourages us to be open to our passions - to dive into the sea, to become at one with the beauty and power of the waves.

Why do people always wonder whether books are any good, without wondering whether they are themselves in a state to profit from them?

This is a day of celebration!Today, we are divorcing the pastand marrying the present.Dance,and you will find Godin every room.Today, we are divorcing resentmentand marrying forgiveness.Sing,and God will find you in every tune.Today, we are divorcing indifferenceand marrying love.Drink, and play that tambourine against your thighs.We have so much celebrating to do!

I have made You the companion of my heart.But my body is available to those who desire its company,And my body is friendly toward its guest,But the Beloved of my heart is the guest of my soul. 

Unbelief and belief are both marching on His road, while both are saying, ‘He is one and He has no associates’.

Each flies with its own kind: pigeon with pigeon, hawk with hawk.

Until you can understand illogicality, and the meaningfulness of it, shun the Sufis except for limited, precise, self-evident services.

Sufis (the name for the realised individual, not the learner or follower) are reunited with objective Reality and Unity.

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.

Trust is needed before lessons can be learnt.

Wisdom is when you understand what, previously, at best you only knew.

Three things cannot be retrieved:The arrow once sped from the bowThe word spoken in hasteThe missed opportunity. Ali, the Lion of Islam.

Dramatic. A well developed sense of the dramatic has values beyond what people usually imagine. One of these is to realise the limitations of a sense of the dramatic.

Saying of the ProphetOppressionWhen oppression exists, even the bird dies in its nest.

Truth is one, unique, single; it isindivisibly One.And its Oneness, and the knowledge ofthat oneness belongs to him; isplaced in him.Impossible, impossible; it is aloofness,estrangement, separation; he is known onlyby them.Knowledge of One is abstract; single,indivisible.To say one, and to say single is to reachthe attribute; but he, who is one, is beyondattribute.If I say "I," he sends back "I," in answerto my "I". So, "he" is for you and not forme.And if I say Unity is Oneness for hisloneliness, for his being alone, then Iplaced him increation; among things created.And if I say single One, as number one; howcan he comewithinnumber?And if I say, he is One for as theresult of being considered one, being provedOne–then Iplaced limit on him; delimitedhim.

Similitude of the heart is like that of a telephone operator between man and God.

Rumi himself once said that counterfeit gold is only to be found because there is such a thing as real gold to be copied.

Three ThingsThree things cannot be retrieved:The arrow once sped from the bowThe word spoken in hasteThe missed opportunity.(Ali the Lion, Caliph of Islam, son-in-law of Mohammed the Prophet),

The clothes may vary, but the person is the same.

Definitions from Mulla Do-PiazaAdherent:Someone who will believe anything except what he should.

Whoever has not first dug a well, should not steal a minaret.

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.

Saying of the Prophet. The Bequest: I have nothing to leave you except my family.

Sufism is that which succeeds in bringing to man the High Knowledge.

The colour of the water seems to be the colour of the glass into which it has been poured'.

The basic urge toward mysticism is never, in the unaltered man, clear enough to be recognized for what it is.

The process of learning is the process of discovering what really exists.

Not to be greedy is, paradoxically, the highest form of looking after one's true interests.

In a village where everyone has only one leg, the biped will hop about more lamely than anyone else, if he knows what is good for him.

An old fool is worse than a young one: For the young may always grow wise. (Zohair)

among roses, be a rose, among thorns, be a thorn

At His door, what is the difference between Muslim and Christian, virtuous and guilty? At his door all are seekers and He the sought.

Definitions from Mulla Do-PiazaWisdom: Something you can learn without knowing it.