100 Quotes About Sufi

Whatever happens in your life, no matter how troubling things might seem, do not enter the neighbourhood of despair. Even when all doors remain closed, God wil open up a new path only for you. Be thankful! It is easy to be thankful when all is well. A Sufi is thankful not only for what he has been given but also for all that has been denied. Elif Shafak

We are here in a wood of little beeches: And the leaves are like black lace Against a sky of nacre. One bough of clear promise Across the moon. It is in this wise that God speaketh unto me. He layeth hands of healing upon my flesh, Stilling it in an eternal peace, Until my soul reaches out myriad and infinite hands Toward him, And is eased of its hunger. And I know that this passes: This implacable fury and torment of men, As a thing insensate and vain: And the stillness hath said unto me, Over the tumult of sounds and shaken flame, Out of the terrible beauty of wrath, I alone am eternal. One bough of clear promise Across the moon . Frederic Manning

A craftsman pulled a reed from the reedbed, cut holes in it, and called it a human being. Since then, it's been wailing a tender agonyof parting, never mentioning the skillthat gave it life as a flute Jalaluddin Rumi

When no one is looking, I swallow deserts and cloudsand chew on mountainsknowing they are sweet bones! When no one is lookingand I want to kiss God, I just lift my own hand to my mouth. Unknown

There came one and knocked at the door of the Beloved.And a voice answered and said, 'Who is there?' The lover replied, 'It is I.''Go hence, ' returned the voice;'there is no room within for thee and me.' Then came the lover a second time and knocked and again the voice demanded, ' Who is there?' He answered, 'It is thou.'' Enter, ' said the voice, 'for I am within. Jalaluddin Rumi

They will become Godly when they will have God in their hearts. Unknown

One sip of this wine and you will go mad with drunkenness. You will drop your masks and tear your clothes – destroying everything that separates you from the Lover. Once you taste the fruit of this vine, you will be kicked out of the city of yourself. You will forget the world. You will forget yourself. I tell you: you will become a madman who wanders the streets looking for the Lover once you drink this Wine of Love. Kamand Kojouri

Not a believer in the mosque am I, Nor a disbeliever with his rites am I.I am not the pure amongst the impure, I am neither Moses nor Pharaoh.Bulleh, I know not who I am. Not in the holy books am I, Nor do I dwell in bhang or wine, Nor do I live in a drunken haze, Nor in sleep or waking known. Bulleh, I know not who I am. Not in happiness or in sorrow am I found. I am neither pure nor mired in filthy ground. Not of water nor of land, Nor am I in air or fire to be found. Bulleh, I know not who I am. Not an Arab nor Lahori, Not a Hindi or Nagouri, Nor a Muslim or Peshawari, Not a Buddhist or a Christian.Bulleh, I know not who I am. Secrets of religion have I not unravelled, I am not of Eve and Adam.Neither still nor moving on, I have not chosen my own name! Bulleh, I know not who I am. From first to last, I searched myself. None other did I succeed in knowing. Not some great thinker am I.Who is standing in my shoes, alone? Bulleh, I know not who I am. Bulleh Shah

The first time I heard you laugh, I only wanted to say funny things so you would always be laughing. You know what happens to chocolate when you leave it out in the sun? I’m that unfortunate chocolate and you, you are the laughing sun. For this reason, I am offering myself to you not as a martyr or some selfless fool, but as a self-indulgent moth who actively pursues the light without much fear for the flame. The moth who revels in the heat and declares: Burn me. . Kamand Kojouri

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! Kamand Kojouri

Put down your glass, it is time to dance. If you want to get drunk all you need is to drink love. Put down your pipe and do away with these childish toys. If you want to get high all you need is to breathe love. Now, can I have this dance? Kamand Kojouri

You must be more alive than life. You must see darkness danceand hear silence sing. You must be more awake than lightfor we aren’t born sleepingand we shouldn’t live sleeping. Only then will death’s slumberbecome sweet. Kamand Kojouri

But what else are secrets for if not discovery? That is their nature. Only time stands between a mystery and its rightful master. Usman T. Malik

Learning how to learn involves examining assumptions. Mulla Nasrudin tales very often fulfil this funcition. Idries Shah

Show a man too many camels' bones, or show them to him too often, and he will not be able to recognize a camel when he comes across a live one. Idries Shah

It is axiomatic that the attempt to become a Sufi through a desire for personal power as normally understood will not succeed. Idries Shah

Study the assumptions behind your actions. Then study the assumptions behind your assumptions. Idries Shah

The institution of teachership is there for this reason, that the learner must learn how to learn. Idries Shah

The Sufis, ' runs the saying, 'understand with their hearts what the most learned scholars cannot understand with their minds 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

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.  Rabia AlAdawiyya

Virtually all organisations known to you work largely by means of your greed. Idries Shah

There can be no spirituality, according to the Sufi masters, without psychology, psychological insight and sociological balance. Idries Shah

Sufis are those who have expunged from their minds the human tendencies of envy and enmity. Idries Shah

RemedyYour medicine is in you, and you do not observe it. Your ailment is from yourself, and you do not register it. Hazrat Ali Idries Shah

Do we find ourself or does our self get demolished? Donna Goddard

When Fortune knocks, open the door, ' they say. But why should one make fortune knock, by keeping the door shut? Idries Shah

The dance had distilled her and she had become one with the essence of all that is. Holly Lynn Payne

Real generosity is anonymous to the extent that a man should be prepared even to be considered ungenerous rather than explain it to others. Idries Shah

They say: 'Seek wisdom while you have the strength, or you may lose the strength without gaining wisdom. Idries Shah

The person that you feel yourself to be, according to the Sufis, is a false person, which has no true reality. Idries Shah

He who knows himself, knows his Lord' means, among other things, that self-deception prevents knowledge. Idries Shah

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

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

Do not try to be humble: learn humility. Idries Shah

If your desire for 'good' is based on greed, it is not good, but greed. Idries Shah

To copy a virtue in another is more copying than it is virtue. Try to learn what that virtue is based upon. Idries Shah

If you seek a teacher, try to become a real student. If you want to be a student, try to find a real teacher. Idries Shah

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

The man who knows must discharge a function. The one who does not, cannot arrogate one to himself; he can only try to do so. Idries Shah

You have come a long way, and you do not know it. You have a long way to go, and you do know what that means. Idries Shah

Please, not again what you studied, how long you spent at it, how many books you wrote, what people thought of you - but: what did you learn? Idries Shah

One cannot learn from someone whom one distrusts. Idries Shah

The Sufis are unanimous that a Guide (Sheikh) is absolutely essential, though never available on demand: 'the Sufis are not merchants'. 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

116. "I have heard that on the day the world was born, the bird of love was released to fly. It searched all the three worldsbut could not find a fit resting place. So it turned and entered the inmost heart, favoured it and never flew elsewhere. The three worlds asked it then, ' Why are you attached to the human heart?'' Suffering, " it replied, "is the only hope for humans. Where there is sorrow, there I dwell.' Where there is grief in the world, love has its dwelling. Unknown

He had found riches beyond worldly imagination. He had found the never ending well of love. Soroosh Shahrivar

We are highly susceptible to self destruction when we aren’t doing what we really want with our lives. James Dillehay

Ultimately though, we are not responsible for another's happiness. The unhappy person almost always suffers from self-inflicted pain. James Dillehay

The intelligence of the heart bypasses the intellect in the head which works on assumptions and requires a lot of thinking and confusion and makes a person tired and weak. But, the heart intelligence is not only direct and to the point, it also gives you energy, vitality and strength. James Dillehay

If you don't know how to take care of your own needs, when you try to give to others, you are giving from a bankrupt account. James Dillehay

My life is on loan, like money borrowed from a bank. God is the lender, and He retains the right to call in the loan any time. Though I am responsible for taking care of it, I do not own this life; it is borrowed. Why should I fear its loss or the loss of anything else in this world when I must surrender it all anyway? James Dillehay

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

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

Love is an involuntary gift that manifests unplanned. Unknown

An educated man believing in a this-that vile sky-god rewarding him-her, but punishing your enemies with hell and fire, is uneducated. Fakeer Ishavardas

Only the search for truth is valid, the desire for wisdom the motive. The method is assimilation, not study. 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

The secret of Sufism is that it has no secret at all'. Idries Shah

No practice exists in isolation. Idries Shah

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

Exercise power by means of kindness, and you may be causing more damage than you could by cruelty. Neither approach is correct. Idries Shah

Materialism, attachment to things of the world, includes pride. Many religious people suffer from pride: taking pleasure or even delight in being good, or religious. Idries Shah

The most complete gift of God is a life based on knowledge. Unknown

The true saint goes in and out amongst the people and eats and sleeps with them and buys and sells in the market and marries and takes part in social intercourse, and never forgets God for a single moment. Shaikh AbuSaeed AbilKheir

Saying of the ProphetMonkishnessNo monkery in Islam. Idries Shah

Then Gai told me about the famous cup of the heart, which I should now begin to empty. The Sufis compare our spiritual heart, the seat of God within us, with a cup into which the love of God flows. This cup, however, needs to be emptied before it can be filled with Divine love. This emptying is a long process that requires courage, strength of character, determination, and, above all, sincerity. It is a process of reining in and eventually extinguishing the ego, of letting go of material needs, bad and unhealthy habits and emotional attachments in order to make room for God. Sufis often likened it to the process of dying and being born again. ‘Die before you die’ is a famous Sufi saying. This was the essence of every spiritual path, Gai told me. Kristiane Backer

The Sufi Islam practiced in northern India is quite different from the Shi'a Islam practiced in Lebannon, which in turn is different from the Sunni Islam practiced in Pakistan. Even within a single branch of Islam there are customs and practices that vary by region and across time. Thus, the Islam of seventh-century Arabia is different from the Wahhabism that exists today in Saudi Arabia. Deepa Kumar