Sufism Quotes - Page 7

God provides the food, men provide the cooks.

To say "yes" to the Sufi way is to say "no" to imagined escapes.

The definition of the word 'finished' is: 'This word means finished.

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

Sufism is education, in that it has a body of knowledge which it transmits to those who have not got it.

When sense has left a head, it should be called a tail.

When you feel least interested in following the Way which you have entered, this may be the time when it is most appropriate for you.

He knows all my thoughts. He knows all I’ve ever done and He loves me all the same. What is our purpose, you ask. It is to love like God.

Sufis deny the absolute reality of time, space and physical form. These things are both relative and local. They only appear to be absolute.

One of the basic Sufi needs is to enable people to see themselves as they really are.

Much smoke has been seen, and caused great fear of fire — even when no fire ensued.

You have no choice. You must leave your ego on the doorstep before you enter love.

Thou seekest Lailâ. Yet she manifesteth herself within thee.Thou deemest her to be elsewhere, but elsewhere existeth not.That is a madness, well-known to lovers. So be on your guard, for otherness is the epitome of separation.Seest thou not, how her beauty enfoldeth thee.She disappeareth only if thou refusest part of thee.Come close to me, thou sayst to her, to her who is thine All.And when she loveth thee, she leadeth thee to thyself.Bliss ineffable is the meeting with her.No one reacheth her, who knoweth not essence without form.I have dissimulated about her,After I had truly displayed her through my veil.I hid her from myself, with the garment of mine own existence,And, out of jealousy, I hid her from the envier.Dazzling beauty! Should the light of thy countenanceTouch the eyes of a blind man, he would see each particle of dust.She is adorned with every grace pertaining unto beauty.And wherever she appeareth, she is desired by those who love.(Diwân)

Do not be frightened, friend. Let us dance our way to God.

Man (as he imagines himself to be), in general, is a possibility, not a fact.

Almost every day I am reminded of Saadi's reflection that there is no senseless tyranny like that of subordinates.

The degree of necessity determines the development of organs in man… therefore increase your necessity.

If you really want to learn, do not be surprised if someone tries to teach you. And do not lightly reject the method.

Brave is the thief who carries a lamp in his hand.

Hariri says, in his Maqamat: ‘Safety is on the river’s BANK.

What you have to learn is how to find the unworldly in everything.

A donkey eats a melon, it remains a donkey

I spent all nightweaving a poem for you to wear. You look so beautifulwhen you wear my light.

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

WisdomSufian said: 'The wisdom which is invisible but which sustains is a hundred times better than the appearance of wisdom, for that has itself to be sustained.

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

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

He is the completed Man who, from his completeness, performs, with his Mastership, the work of a slave.

There are two aspects of individual harmony: the harmony between body and soul, and the harmony between individuals. All the tragedy in the world, in the individual and in the multitude, comes from lack of harmony. And harmony is the best given by producing harmony in one's own life.

No soul in the world is without a particular mission to perform and accomplish, and the misery of every soul is in not having come to understanding of the purpose for which he is born. The lifetime of confusion is always caused by souls wandering all the time away from the purpose of which they were born.Inayat Khan (1882 – 1927).

It is not enough that you look for Him.You must hunt for God each and every dayas if your life depends on it.Because it does.

It is wonderful, this whole business of tickling and kissing God every night.

Sayings of the ProphetTrust: Trust in God – but tie your camel first.

Trying to force something is the best way to stop it happening.

Definitions from Mulla Do-PiazaEmotionalist:A man or woman who thinks he has experienced the divine.

Self-mortification, far from producing liberation from material things, is far more likely to cause either an unhinged mind, delusions or a masochistic taste for more suffering, experienced, of course, as joy.

Contrary to Expectation. A wise man, the wonder of his age, taught his disciples from a seemingly inexhaustible store of wisdom. He attributed all his knowledge to a thick tome which was kept in a place of honour in his room. The sage would allow nobody to open the volume. When he died, those who had surrounded him, regarding themselves as his heirs, ran to open the book, anxious to possess what it contained. They were surprised, confused and disappointed when they found that there was writing on only one page. They became even more bewildered and then annoyed when they tried to penetrate the meaning of the phrase which met their eyes. It was: 'When you realise the difference between the container and the content, you will have knowledge.

Definitions from Mulla Do-PiazaPenitent: Someone who has been made incapable of enjoying himself.

Correct teaching brings out human excellence.

Sufism was formerly a reality without a name: now it is a name without a reality.

Abu-Yaqub al-Susi: 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.

The hearts of the noble are the graves of confidences.

We cannot hunt for love. We can only surrender and become love’s prey.

A great deal of thought is only a substitute for the thoughts that the individual would really find useful at the time.

Q: How can I help myself?A: By remembering the proverb: ‘The Path is not to be found anywhere except in human service’, from Saadi.

To live in love is my life’s purpose.

Have the nature of a dervish: then wear a stylish cap.

From my insufficiency to my perfection, and from my deviation to my equilibriumFrom my sublimity to my beauty, and from my splendor to my majestyFrom my scattering to my gathering, and from my rejection to my communionFrom my baseness to my preciousness, and from my stones to my pearlsFrom my rising to my setting, and from my days to my nightsFrom my luminosity to my darkness, and from my guidance to my strayingFrom my perigee to my apogee, and from the base of my lance to its tipFrom my waxing to my waning, and from the void of my moon to its crescentFrom my pursuit to my flight, and from my steed to my gazelleFrom my breeze to my boughs, and from my boughs to my shadeFrom my shade to my delight, and from my delight to my tormentFrom my torment to my likeness, and from my likeness to my impossibilityFrom my impossibility to my validity, and from my validity to my deficiency.I am no one in existence but myself,

Knowledge is something which you can use. Belief is something which uses you.

The existence of relative truth does not prove the non-existence of universal truth.

Forms are vehicles and instruments, and vehicles and instruments cannot be called good or bad without context.

Whoever gives knowledge to a fool loses itAnd who keeps it from the deserving does wrong.

The major barrier to understanding is wishful thinking and following that which pleases one.

It is the message, not the man, which is important to the Sufis.

And Rumi tells us, ‘Soul receives from soul that knowledge, therefore not by book nor from tongue’.

Saying of the ProphetObligation to LearnThe pursuit of knowledge is obligatory on every Muslim.

He discards a quilt for fear of bugs.

He was everyone and every living creature in one ecstatic motion.

Definitions from Mulla Do-PiazaPatience: A support for the disappointed.

Saying of the Prophet.Lies, promises, trustHe is not of mine who lies, breaks a promise or fails in his trust.