100 Quotes About Sufism

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

The happiness of the drop is to die in the river. Unknown

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 function of a nutrient is to become transmuted, not to leave unaltered traces. Idries Shah

My father used to tell me that stories offer the listener a chance to escape but, more importantly, he said, they provide people with a chance to maximize their minds. Suspend ordinary constraints, allow the imagination to be freed, and we are charged with the capability of heighetned thought. Learn to use your eyes as if they are your ears, he said, and you become connected with the ancient heritage of man, a dream world for the waking mind. Tahir Shah

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

Any society which enjoins its members to adhere to both of these (politeness and truth) is a fraud. Idries Shah

Man (and woman) has an infinite capacity for self-development. Equally, he has an infinite capacity for self-destruction. A human being may be clinically alive and yet, despite all appearances, spiritually dead. Idries Shah

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

Reflection is the lamp of the heart. If it departs, the heart will have no light. Unknown

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

Knowledge gives nothing to a man until he gives everything to it. Idries Shah

Definitions from Mulla Do-PiazaFlattery:One of the most promising of businesses: always brisk. Idries 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

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

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 countenance Touch 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) . Unknown

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

A Drunkard accuses a Drunkard..A sot became extremely drunk - his legs And head sank listless, weighed by wine's thick dregs. A sober neighbour put him in a sack And took him homewards hoisted on his back. Another drunk went stumbling by the first, Who woke and stuck his head outside and cursed." Hey, you, you lousy dipsomaniac, " He yelled as he was borne off in the sack, " If you'd had fewer drinks, just two or three, You would be walking now as well as me. Unknown

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

Whereas Jesus demanded of the Jews the rejection of the tribalist Jahweh whom they identified with Israel, the race, the community the political state as object of worship and desire, the Sufis, born in an atmosphere of pure monotheism, demanded what Jesus of the first century A.D. would demand if he were to relive his early life again in present-day monotheistic Christendom. This does not mean that Jesus did not demand, like the Sufis, the cleansing of the soul from the personal deities it may worship besides God, but it does mean that the main weight of his teaching centered around the Jewish preoccupation with the tribe as God.""The object and deal of Sufism is, therefore, identically the same as that of the radical self-transformation of Jesus. Both aimed at the state of consciousness in which God is the sole subject, the sole determiner and the sole object of love and devotion. The tradition of both later influenced each other and succeeded in developing the same kind of preparatory disciplines leading towards the end. Finally, both referred to the final end of these processes as 'oneness' and their reference was in each case exposed to the same dangers of misunderstanding, indeed to the same misunderstanding. The oneness of Jesus was misunderstood as unity and fusion of being, and thus gave rise to the greatest materialization of an essentially spiritual union history has ever seen. The oneness of the highest Sufi state was likewise misunderstood and gave rise to the worst crime perpetrated on account of a supremely conscious misunderstanding.. The destinies of the two misunderstandings, however, were far apart. The Christian misunderstanding came to dominate the Christendom; the Muslim misunderstanding performed its bloody deed and sank away in front of the Sufi tide which overwhelmed the Muslim world. The success of Sufism in Islam was therefore the success of the Jesus' ethic, but devoid of the theological superstructures which this Christian misunderstanding had constructed concerning the oneness of Christ with God, or of men with Christ. In the Middle Ages, the intellectual disciples of Jesus were the sufis of Islam, rather than the theologians of the Council or Pope-monarchs of Christendom. Ismail R. AlFaruqi

Listen, O drop, give yourself up without regret, and in exchange gain the Ocean.Listen, O drop, bestow upon yourself this honor, and in the arms of the Sea be secure. Who indeed should be so fortunate? An Ocean wooing a drop! In God's name, in God's name, sell and buy at once! Give a drop, and take this Sea full of pearls. Jalaluddin Rumi

What is humanity? To feel pain at the sorrows of our neighbours, to feel humiliated at the humiliation of fellow-beings. Idries Shah

Definitions from Mulla Do-Piaza.Poverty: The result of marriage. Idries Shah

A man's capacity is the same as his breadth of vision. Idries Shah

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

Words, they say, are the food of minds. But, like other foods, they can do little by themselves. Idries Shah