Sufi Mysticism Quotes & Sayings

It is not long before those who are obedient in service obtain command. — Saadi

If behaviors become equivalent it is possible for knowledge to become equivalent (for any two individuals). — Wasif Ali Wasif

He who has no light in his heart, what will he gain from the festival of lamps. — Wasif Ali Wasif

Farsi Couplet:
Agar firdaus bar roo-e zameen ast,
Hameen ast-o hameen ast-o hameen ast.


English Translation:
If there is a paradise on earth,
It is this, it is this, it is this — Amir Khusrau

Farsi Couplet:
Naala-e zanjeer-e Majnun arghanoon-e aashiqanast
Zauq-e aan andaza-e gosh-e ulul-albaab neest


English Translation:
The creaking of the chain of Majnun is the orchestra of the lovers,
To appreciate its music is quite beyond the ears of the wise. — Amir Khusrau

In the bosom of success lie not delights but deprivations — Wasif Ali Wasif

In reality, every reality is a veil over reality. — Wasif Ali Wasif

I don't know what to make of the Muslim mystics, especially those who have come to be known as the Sufis. What do they experience in their mystic experiences? Could they have encountered the same God we do in our Christian mysticism? — Tony Campolo

We wish to become one thing or another, rather we wish to become everything and in this pursuit of becoming everything we only end up becoming idiots. — Wasif Ali Wasif

There can only be two contexts of your life. Either you are the author of your life, or He (the Creator) is the author of your life.
People who feel that their creation is the responsibility of the Creator, find opportunities unexpectedly.
Those who feel that their lives are their own, have to fashion their own means. — Wasif Ali Wasif

Death is the protector of life and life is the process of death. — Wasif Ali Wasif

When the child is ill, the mother will know how to pray. — Wasif Ali Wasif

The world is ancient, but it has not lost its newness. — Wasif Ali Wasif

The period before the dawn of knowledge is called the age of darkness. — Wasif Ali Wasif

Investigation after declaration of submission leads astray. — Wasif Ali Wasif

In order to spend out our time (life) we sell some of this time. We work for someone, we labour. In freedom we do slavery. — Wasif Ali Wasif

Love was supposed to be the easiest path to divinity — Soroosh Shahrivar

The ocean sleeps. The ocean wakes. And the waking of the ocean is the waking of the soul. At midnight wakefulness springs from within the ocean. — Wasif Ali Wasif

Sleep is a mirror of life in which can be seen the reflection of death. — Wasif Ali Wasif

In love, there is no distinction between success and failure. If love remains then even separation is union otherwise even union is separation. — Wasif Ali Wasif

Life is not only Newton, it is also Milton. — Wasif Ali Wasif

When the eye becomes the heart, the heart becomes the eye. — Wasif Ali Wasif

Love is an involuntary gift that manifests unplanned. — Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi

Poets must be grounded in the education of the arts, drama, history, mysticism, esotericism, and philosophy. To gain knowledge and become learned of the above is easy - read. Poets should apply this knowledge to their work, so a poet will advance to the next level, to their next phase of their emotional, psychological and spiritual development, growing in years in a short space of time, in hours or months if he or she is an avid reader. This knowledge will birth work that is not meretricious but of noble parentage. — Abigail George

As long as man was in the moolight he desired to reach the moon ... there was bliss in the moonlight but the moon itself was distant. Moonlight was near but man longed for the moon ... man reached the moon but there he was without moonlight.
If one reaches the moon one does not find moonlight any longer and if one is in moonlight one does not find the moon. It is a strange fact that one is only because of the other ... one is a sign of the other yet both are forever separate. If the Beloved is the Moon, moonlight is His remembrance. When the Beloved is present His remembrance is not and when His remembrance is present the Beloved is not. Proximity to one is distance from the other, Union with one is separation from the other. Thus union is hidden in every separation and separation in every union. — Wasif Ali Wasif

The Choice of a purpose is more important than success. — Wasif Ali Wasif

This life is but a dream. A state of sleep but how unfortunate that man's eyes open only when they are about to be closed (forever). — Wasif Ali Wasif

One who has no beloved in the country can never love the country. — Wasif Ali Wasif

Sleep is the boundary between being/existence and not-being/non-existence. — Wasif Ali Wasif

Do not destroy anybody's peace. You will find peace. — Wasif Ali Wasif

Sufis aim to refine human consciousness. This is Sufi mysticism: not mystification or magic, but a specific Path. — Idries Shah

Khusrau darya prem ka, ulti wa ki dhaar,
Jo utra so doob gaya, jo dooba so paar.

English Translation.

Oh Khusrau, the river of love
Runs in strange directions.
One who jumps into it drowns,
And one who drowns, gets across. — Amir Khusrau

A man is happy who is happy with his Naseeb(allotted portion). — Wasif Ali Wasif

Farsi Couplet:
Mun tu shudam tu mun shudi,mun tun shudam tu jaan shudi
Taakas na guyad baad azeen, mun deegaram tu deegari


English Translation:
I have become you, and you me,
I am the body, you soul;
So that no one can say hereafter,
That you are someone, and me someone else. — Amir Khusrau

If a society has no moral foundations then success is a threat. Every successful person thinks everyone else is a failure, and this is the proof of failure. Conquering the world and dying empty-handed on foreign shores is a paradox of such success. — Wasif Ali Wasif