Islam and Sufism an introduction

If thou desire dignity, do not, like the mean, regard thy fellows with contemptuous

The fool bought spurious coins in the hope of (it being) gold. If there were no current (genuine) coins in the world, how would it be possible to issue a false coin. Unless there be truth, how should there be falsehood? That falsehood receives brilliance from the truth.. Do not say, then, that all these utterance are false… Do not say, then, that all (this) is fantasy and error: Without truth fantasy exists not in the world. Truth is the Night of Power (Qudar) is hidden among the other nights… Not all nights are (the Night of) Power.

Expect not fro him who is possessed of worldly vanities to follow the path of religion, nor look for godliness in him who wallows in conceit.

O Thou Who art my souls comfort in the season of sorrow, O Thou Who art my spirit’s treasurer in the bitterness of death! That which the imagination hath not conceived, that which the understanding hath not seen Visiteth my soul from Thee; hence in worship I turn toward thee. By Thy Grace I keep fixed on eternity my amorous gaze, Except, O King, the pomp that parish leads me astray. The favor of him who brings glad tidings of Thee. Even without Thy summons, is sweeter in mine ear than songs. If the never-ceasing Bounty should offer kingdoms, If the Hidden Treasurer should set before me all that is, I would bow down with my soul, I would lay my face in the dust, I would cry, “Of all these the of such an One for me.”

If spiritual thought were equivalent to love of God, Outward forms of temples and prayers would not exisit.

Thou, O creature of G-d, wast created of the dust; therefore, be humble as the dust. Be not covetous, nor oppressive, nor headstrong. Thou art from the dust; be not like fire. When the terrible fire raised his head in pride, the dust prostrated itself in humility.

The prince of mankind (Mohammed SAWS) said truly that no one who has passed away from this world Feels sorrow and regret for having died; nay, but he feels a hundred regrets for having missed the opportunity, Saying to himself, “Why did I not make death my object- death which Is the storehouse of all fortunes and riches, And why, through seeing double, did I fasten my lifelong gaze upon Those phantoms that that vanished at the fated hour?” The grief of the dead is not on account of death; it is because they dwelt on the phenomenal form of existence. And never perceived that all this foam is moved and fed by the Sea. When the Sea has cast the foam-flake on the shore, go to the graveyard and behold them! Say to them, “Where is your swirling onrush now?” and hear them answer Mutely, “Ask this question of the Sea, not of us.” How should the foam fly without the wave? How should the dust rise to the zenith without the wind? Since you have seen the dust, see the Wind; since you ...

A beauty that all night long teaches love-tricks to Venus and the moon, Whose two eyes by their witchery seal up the two eyes of heaven. Look to your hearts! I, whate'er betide, O Moslems, Am so mingled with him that no heart is mingled with me. I was born of his love at the first, I gave him my heart at the last; When the fruit springs from the bough, on that bough it hangs. The tip of his curl is saying, "Ho! betake you to rope-dancing." The cheek of his candle is saying, "Where is a moth that it may burn?" For the sake of dancing on that rope, O heart, make haste, become a hoop; Cast yourself on the flame, when his candle is lit. You will never more endure without the flame, when you have known the rapture of burning; If the water of life should come to you, it would not stir you from the flame.

 O heart, haste thither, for God will shine upon you, And seem to you a sweet garden instead of a terror. He will infuse into your soul a new Soul, So as to fill you, like a goblet, with wine. Take up your abode in His Soul! Take up your abode in heaven, O bright full moon! Like the heavenly Scribe, He will open your heart's book That He may reveal mysteries unto you.

He is the first, He is the last, He is the outward, He is the inward ; I know none other except "Ya Hu" [Yahweh] and "Ya man Hu" ["O He who is"]. I am intoxicated with Love's cup, the two worlds have passed out of my ken; I have no business save carouse and revelry. If once in my life I spent a moment without you, From that time and from that hour I repent of my life. If once in this world I win a moment with you, I will trample on both worlds, I will dance in triumph for ever. O Shamsi Tabriz, I am so drunken in this world, That except of drunkenness and revelry I have no tale to tell.

"Tell me, gentle traveler, thou Who hast wandered far and wide, Seen the sweetest roses blow, And the brightest rivers glide; Say, of all thine eyes have seen, Which the fairest land has been? "Lady, shall I tell thee where Nature seems most blest and fair, Far above all climes beside?--- 'Tis where those we love abide: And that little spot is best Which the loved one's foot hath pressed. "Though it be a fairy space, Wide and spreading is the place; Though 'twere but a barren mound, 'Twould become enchanted ground. "With thee yon sandy waste would seem The margin of Al Cawthar's stream; And thou canst make a dungeon's gloom A bower where new-born roses bloom."

The end and object of all negation is to attain to subsequent affirmation, as the negation in the creed, "There is no God," finds its complement and purpose in the affirmation "but God." Just so the purpose of negation of self is to clear the way for the apprehension of the fact that there is no existence but the One. The intoxication of Life and its pleasures and occupations veils the Truth from men's eyes, and they ought to pass on to the spiritual intoxication which makes men beside themselves and lifts them to the beatific vision of eternal Truth.

Tear not thy plumage off, it can not be replaced; Disfigure not thy face in wantonness, O fair one! That face which is bright as the forenoon sun--- To disfigure it were a grievous sin. 'Twere paganism to mar such a face as thine! The moon itself would weep to lose sight of it! Knowest  thou not the beauty of thine own face? Quit this temper that leads thee to war with thyself! It is the claws of thine own foolish thoughts That in spite wound the face of thy quiet soul. Know such thoughts to be claws fraught with poison. Which score deep wounds on the face of thy soul.

The man of God is drunken without wine, The man of God is full without meat. The man of God is distraught and bewildered, The man of God has no food or sleep. The man of God is a king "neath dervish-cloak, The man of God is a treasure in a ruin. The man of God is not of air and earth, The man of God is not of fire and water. The man of God is a boundless sea, The man of God rains pearls without a cloud. The man of God has hundred moons and skies, The man of God has hundred suns. The man of God is made wise by the Truth, The man of God is not learned from book. The man of God is beyond infidelity and religion, To the man of God right and wrong are alike. The man of God has ridden away from Not-being, The man of God is gloriously attended. The man of God is concealed, Shamsi Din; The man of God do you seek and find!

The Prophet said that God has declared, "I am not contained in aught above or below, I am not contained in earth or sky, or even In highest heaven. Know this for a surety, O beloved! Yet am I  contained in the believer's heart! If ye seek Me, search in such hearts

No sickness worse than fancying thyself perfect Can infect thy soul, O arrogant, misguided one! Shed many tears of blood from eyes and heart, That this self-satisfaction may be driven out. The fate of Iblis lay in saying, "I am better than He," And this same weakness lurks in the souls of all creatures.

Whoso recognizes and confesses his own defects Is hastening in the way that leads to Perfection! But he advances not toward the Almighty Who fancies himself to be perfect.

We are (sincerely) repentant, be thou compassionate, If we repeat our mistakes, may we be accused. Although we committed sins in frivolity, Extend to us thy forgiveness

Knowledge without action is wastefulness and action without knowledge is foolishness.

Those who look for seashell will find seashells; those who open them will find pearls.

Tareeqa , is the term for an order such as Chishti, Naqshbandi, Mevlev etc; All tareeqas go a long way back and have Silsila ,  a chain, link  or lineage of shaikhs.  Shaikh (Leader) guides the group. Membership in an order is not exclusive and one can belong to more than one. There is no competition between Tareeqas . Murshid (spiritual guide) is the leader of a Tareeqa. The followers are called Mureed meaning desirous (desiring knowledge) also called Fakir (needy) or darvesh.  A Murshid of a tareeqa appoints a Khalifa who takes over after his death. Zikr ,  remembrance of Allah. Tasawwuf  is to bring Rooh, Soul in a state of purification.  Ishq e Allah ( love of God) . .  (Here is  part of  a anonymous Persian poem called What isTasawwuf* translated by Dr Allan Godlas of U.GA ).  Khaliq, Nov 2015.     What is Tasawwuf ? Good character and awareness of God. That’s all Tasawwuf is. And nothin...

To get what you love, you must first be patient with what you have.

The great do not regard themselves; look not for the godliness in a self-conceited man. Eminence does not consist in outward show and vaunting words, nor dignity in hauteur and pretension.

These are short and selective notes from a book by Dr. Afzal Iqbal " The life and Works of Jallal-Uddin- Rumi", Masnavi begins with: The reed, parted from the reed bed, complains of separation.  “Everyone who is left far from his source wishes back the time when he was united with it.” The source of all existence is Allah and to Him shall we all return. The creation of the world is an act of Allah. Allah decreed and it is. Rumi argues that until we know what a thing is not, we do not know what it is. The appearance of evil is necessary for the manifestation of good. He says there is no contradiction, no conflict, between the earthly life and the heavenly life one leads to the other. Neither is to be shunned and both are a part of unity. Life is a great gift and cannot be reduced to nothing,  by postponing the acceptance, the responsibilities and the difficulties that go with it. It is now and here that one has to wrestle with them. It is out of this turmoil that one emerges ...

Although the faith is built on 5 pillars, Yet, by God, the greatest pillar of those is fasting. But He has hidden in all the five the value of fasting, Just as the blessed Night of Night is hidden in fasting|.

Desires make slaves out of a kings and patience Makes kings out of slaves.

Half of the disbelief in Allah in the world  is caused by people who make religion look ugly due to their bad conduct and ignorance.

Al Ghazali ,Abu Hamid Mohanned Ibn Mohammed was born in 1050 and died in 1111. He was a great philosopher writers of numerous books and a great teacher of Islam. He had a great influence om Rumi and many other big names of Islam. Here is a link to a short and very informative  Interview (in 2011) of Professor Frank Griffel of Yale University talking about his book on Al Ghazali. https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=cY-u_37SNz4 .

daylight, the very fact of seeking it announces his blindness. To say in the midst of the day ‘Where is the day?’ Is to expose yourself. The way to certainty is not the way of reason. One seeks no proof in the presence of that which stands proved in front of ones eyes.

you have an eye, look with your own eye, do not look through the eye of an ignorant fool, (If) you have an ear, hearken with your own ear; why be dependent on the ears of a blockheads?

O sea of bliss, O You who have stored transcendental forms of consciousness in the heedless, You have stored a wakefulness in sleep; You have fastened dominion over the heart to the state of one who has lost his heart. You conceal riches in the lowliness of poverty; You fasten the necklace of wealth to poverty’s iron collar. Opposite is secretly concealed in opposite: fire is hidden within boiling water. A delightful garden is hidden within Nimrod's fire: income multiplies from giving and spending— so that Muhammad, the king of prosperity, has said, “O possessors of wealth, generosity is a gainful trade.” Riches were never diminished by alms-giving: in truth, acts of charity are an excellent means of increasing one's wealth.