Sufism Religion Quotes & Sayings

Sufism is, in fact, not a mystical system, not a religion, but a body of knowledge. — Idries Shah

Saying of the Prophet
Anger
You ask for a piece of advice. I tell you: 'Do not get angry.' He is strong who can withhold anger. — Idries Shah

If wine is the enemy of religion, I shall devour the enemy of religion. — Idries Shah

Great men are great until they know it. Saints are holy until they know it. — Idries Shah

Teaching:
One hour's teaching is better than a whole night of prayer.
Saying of the Prophet — Idries Shah

Well-meant techniques such as arbitrary self-mortification, are useless. — Idries Shah

Saying of the Prophet
Distribution
God it is who gives: I am only a distributor. — Idries Shah

One day Lal shahbaz was wandering in the desert with his friend Sheikh Bhaa ud-Din Zakariya. It was winter, and evening time, so they began to build a fire to keep warm. They found some wood, but then they realised they had no fire. So Baha ud- Din suggested that Lal Shahbaz turn himself into a falcon and get fire from hell. Off he flew, but an hour later he came back empty handed. "There is no fire in hell," he reported. "Everyone who goes there brings their own fire, and their own pain, from this world. — William Dalrymple

Saying of the Prophet
Reflection
The Faithful are mirrors, one to the other. — Idries Shah

My mother's belief in spiritual healers grew stronger after our family went through a rough patch following my father's death. Sufi saint Karimullah Shah Kadri changed our lives, and all of us converted to Sufism. But it wasn't an instantaneous decision - it took us 10 years to convert. The change in religion was like washing away the past. — A.R. Rahman

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

Whoever knows God, does not (any longer) say "God". — Idries Shah

If anybody asks what Sufism is, what kind of religion is it, the answer is that Sufism is the religion of the heart, the religion in which the thing of primary importance is to seek God in the heart of mankind. — Hazrat Inayat Khan

Helping others
I order you to assist any oppressed person, whether he is a Moslem or not. — Idries Shah

They asked Abboud of Omdurman: 'Which is better, to be young or to be old?' He said: 'To be old is to have less time before you and more mistakes behind. I leave you to decide whether this is better than the reverse. — Idries Shah

Much religious teaching in the world is in reality a confused or deteriorated form, very different from its roots. — Idries Shah

That which is capable of perceiving objective reality is, in Sufism, the human soul (ruh). — Idries Shah

Saying of the Prophet
Objects
It is your attachment to objects which make you blind and deaf. — Idries Shah

Sufism, they say, is that which enables one to understand religion, irrespective of its current outward form. — Idries Shah

Sufism is the essence of all religions. — Idries Shah

I am an idol worshipper; for I understand what idol worship means, and the idolater does not. — Idries Shah

The Sufi saying has it: God, to the bee, is something which has TWO stings! — Idries Shah

Service
I will not serve God like a labourer, in expectation of my wages.

Rabia el-Adawia. — Idries Shah

The Sufis say, "This is not a religion; it is religion — Idries Shah

Saying of the Prophet
Practice
Who are the learned? Those who put into practice what they know. — Idries Shah

Saying of the Prophet
Oppression
When oppression exists, even the bird dies in its nest. — Idries Shah

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

Angels are the powers hidden in the faculties and organs of man — Idries Shah

At His door, what is the difference between Moslem and Christian, virtuous and guilty? At his door all are seekers and He the sought. — 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

Saying of the Prophet
Tasks
Whoever makes all his tasks one task, God will help him in his other concerns. — Idries Shah

Saying of the Prophet
Some behaviour
I am like a man who has lighted a fire, and all the creeping things have rushed to burn themselves in it. — Idries Shah

Soar on to the King, the crown jewel,
And then you'll truly see
That nothing is as beautiful
As His grand Majesty. — Alexis York Lumbard

Deteriorated science is a cult, so is imitative or deteriorated Sufism. — Idries Shah

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

Three Things
Three things cannot be retrieved:
The arrow once sped from the bow
The word spoken in haste
The missed opportunity.
(Ali the Lion, Caliph of Islam, son-in-law of Mohammed the Prophet), — Idries Shah

Saying of the Prophet
The Bequest
I have nothing to leave you except my family. — Idries Shah

Saadi's dictum, in the Bostan: 'The Path is not in the rosary, the prayer-mat and the robe — Idries Shah

What has he found who has lost God?
And what has he lost who has found God? — Ibn 'Ata'illah Al-Iskandari

It was being written in the East that 'Sufism was formerly a reality without a name: now it is a name without a reality'. — Idries Shah

Saying of the Prophet
Women
Women are the twin-halves of men. — Idries Shah

A wise teacher is a keen and true student of absolute beauty and truth, and he searches everywhere for them in nature with all his heart — Sadegh M. Angha

A Sufi is alive to the value of time, and is given, every moment, to what that moment demands. — Idries Shah

Religion, for instance, cannot be accepted or rejected out of hand, until the student knows exactly what religion means. — Idries Shah

Similitude of the heart is like that of a telephone operator between man and God. — Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi

Day and Night
The night is long: do not shorten it by sleep. The day is fair: do not darken it with wrongdoing. — Idries Shah

All forms are limited. Some of the limitations are time, place, culture, language. — Idries Shah

Saying of the Prophet
Envy
Envy devours good deeds, as a fire devours fuel. — Idries Shah

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

Saying of the Prophet
The Tongue
A man slips with his tongue more than with his feet. — Idries Shah

I think that Sufism fits all over the world. The concept is not anything that fits standard Western ideas - it's always related to culture, to music, to religion. It is a dominant religion in Senegal. — Youssou N'Dour

Saying of the Prophet
Struggle
The holy warrior is he who struggles with himself. — Idries Shah

Man thinks many things. He thinks he is One. He is usually several. Until he becomes One, he cannot have a fair idea of what he is at all. — Idries Shah

Saying of the Prophet
Understanding
Speak to everyone in accordance with his degree of understanding. — Idries Shah

One of the great Sufis said: 'A saint is a saint unless he knows that he is one. — Idries Shah

Definitions from Mulla Do-Piaza
Emotionalist:
A man or woman who thinks he has experienced the divine. — Idries Shah

I am a lover, and I deal in love. Sow flowers,
So your surroundings become a garden.
Don't sow thorns; for they will prick your feet.
We are all one body,
Whoever tortures another, wounds himself. — Rahman Baba

It is no accident that Sufis find that they can connect most constructively with people who are well integrated into the world, as well as having higher aims, and that those who adopt a sensible attitude towards society and life as generally known can usually absorb Sufi teachings very well indeed — Idries Shah

Definitions from Mulla Do-Piaza
Penitent: Someone who has been made incapable of enjoying himself. — Idries Shah

Saying of the Prophet
Truth
Speaking the truth to the unjust is the best of holy wars. — Idries Shah

You call me an unbeliever. I shall therefore call you a True Believer since a lie is best met with one of similar magnitude. — Idries Shah

Inner Knowledge
You want to become wise in one lesson: First become a real human being. — Idries Shah

Saying of the Prophet
The Judge
A man appointed to be a judge has been killed without a knife. — Idries Shah

A man must be a Salomon before his magical ring will work — Idries Shah

Saying of the Prophet
Love
Do you think you love your Creator? Love your fellow-creature first. — Idries Shah

No fundamentalist undercurrent ran through the national culture before the first war. Sufism had always been the predominant Muslim sect, and Wahhabism was a foreign, wartime import. A few times a year, Arab Wahhabis came through the village in search of recruits. They promised rations, shelter, an eternity in Paradise, and, until that day of glorious martyrdom, a monthly salary of two hundred and fifty U.S. dollars. Few young men followed the monochromatic Wahhabi faith, but many were quite willing to be radicalized for a monthly salary that eclipsed what they would otherwise earn in a year. The war of independence so quickly conflated with jihad because no one cared about the self-determination of a small landlocked republic. Arab states would gladly fund a war of religion, but not one of nationalism. And in this way it didn't matter who won the war between the Feds and fundamentalists: the notion of a democratic and fully sovereign Chechnya would be crushed regardless. — Anthony Marra

Saying of the Prophet
THE PEOPLE
It is the people who are God's family.
(Muhammad the Prophet) — Idries Shah

Sufism is not a religion or a philosophy, it is neither deism nor atheism, nor is it a moral, nor a special kind of mysticism, being free from the usual religious sectarianism. If ever it could be called a religion, it would only be as a religion of love, harmony, and beauty. — Hazrat Inayat Khan

One should not pray if that prayer is vanity. — Idries Shah

The sight of God in woman is the most perfect of all. Ibn Arabi. — Idries Shah

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

Saying of the Prophet
Monkishness
No monkery in Islam. — Idries Shah

They will become Godly when they will have God in their hearts. — Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi

The power of Allah: no sound, no shape, no form. But when it manifests, none can resist it. — Idries Shah

Saying of the Prophet
Humility
Humility and courtesy are themselves a part of piety. — 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 means through which people may perceive Truth have forms; Truth has no form. — Idries Shah

Saying of the Prophet
Food
Nobody has eaten better food than that won by his own labour. — Idries Shah