Quotes & Sayings About Sufism
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Top Sufism Quotes
Exercise power by means of kindness, and you may be causing more damage than you could by cruelty. Neither approach is correct. — Idries Shah
We view Sufism not as an ideology that molds people to the right way of belief or action, but as an art or science that can exert a beneficial influence on individuals and societies, in accordance with the needs of those individuals and societies ... Sufi study and development gives one capacities one did not have before. — 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
The skilled artisan uses the same iron to make a horseshoe
As he does for a polished mirror for the King. — Idries Shah
When you feel least interested in following the Way which you have entered, this may be the time when it is most appropriate for you. — Idries Shah
There is no wisdom where there is no common sense: it cannot under those conditions find any expression. — Idries Shah
He is the completed Man who, from his completeness, performs, with his Mastership, the work of a slave. — Idries Shah
Laziness is always your fault. It is the sign that a man has persevered in uselessness for too long. — Idries Shah
Helping others
I order you to assist any oppressed person, whether he is a Moslem or not. — Idries Shah
Most of the supposedly Sufi organizations, exercises and "orders" are in fact only of archaeological interest. — Idries Shah
Opportunity's precious, and time is a sword. — 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
THE HEAVENS
To the mallet of the Highest Mind
The heavens are the smallest possible ball.
(Akhlaq-i-Mohsini) — Idries Shah
Neither imagine that you are false, nor lash yourself, for both may be forms of self-indulgence. — Idries Shah
The automatism of man is overcome, in the words of Dhun'Nun, by aiming for 'being as you were, where you were, before you were'. — Idries Shah
Study the assumptions behind your actions. Then study the assumptions behind your assumptions. — Idries Shah
The great poet Hafiz says that you should dye your prayer-carpet with wine if your teacher tells you to do so. — Idries Shah
Eat what you desire, but dress like other people. — Idries Shah
Definitions from Mulla Do-Piaza
Emotionalist:
A man or woman who thinks he has experienced the divine. — Idries Shah
The impatient man is his own enemy; he slams the door on his own progress. — 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
Sufism is, in operation, pragmatic. — Idries Shah
Have the nature of a dervish: then wear a stylish cap. — Idries Shah
SENTENCES OF THE KHAJAGAN
GURGANI:
The teacher and the taught together produce the teaching. — Idries Shah
When you get a principle on which everyone is agreed, you get the beginning of complacency and deterioration. — Idries Shah
Why did I do such-and-such a thing?' is all very well. But what about 'How otherwise could I have done it? — Idries Shah
Question 3: Why should a person study Sufism?
Answer: Because he was created to study it; it is his next step. — Idries Shah
Trying to force something is the best way to stop it happening. — Idries Shah
Sufism is therefore not 'Do as I say and not as I do', or even 'Do as I do', but 'Experience and you will know'. — Idries Shah
The Book of Wisdom. Simab said: 'I shall sell the Book of Wisdom for a hundred gold pieces, and some people will say that it is cheap.' Yunus Marmar said to him: 'And I shall give away the key to understanding it, and almost none shall take it, even free of charge. — Idries Shah
One of the great Sufis said: 'A saint is a saint unless he knows that he is one. — Idries Shah
You must improve yourself on a higher level if you are to be able to help people, and not just weep over them. — Idries Shah
Patience is bitter, but bears a sweet fruit. — 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
You will never reach Mecca, because you are on the road to Samarkand — Idries Shah
The sufis believe that they can experience something more complete. — Idries Shah
When people believe that the form is more important than the Truth, they will not find truth, but will stay with form. — Idries Shah
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
If you are covetous, you are a prisoner: If you are greedy, you will never be filled. — Idries Shah
Even if false gold makes a man happy:
At the mint it will be identified. — Idries Shah
Man (as he imagines himself to be), in general, is a possibility, not a fact. — Idries Shah
None meets harm who knows his capacity. — Idries Shah
The Apparent is the Bridge to the Real — Idries Shah
A stolen kiss is not easily returned. — Idries Shah
I see You, Every time I look into Buddha's eyes. I give myself to You. Every time I alter one of Your 1,000s names. Honestly & fully I love You. Through Christ and Maria, Shiva and Shakti, Krishna and Radha, With every day that passes and every breath I take. I enter gratitude for receiving Your Love. Obeying Your Laws of Truthfulness and Ahimsa, Weaving Prana With hearts and souls of Gaia. Through mysticism, shamanism, sufism, and ecstatic meditations. I yearn to touch You, to feel You, to be You. Within this amazing Journey of Awareness of Your Consciousness. — Natasa Nuit Pantovic
If you want to be a calligrapher, write, and write, and write. — Idries Shah
To send a kiss by messenger. — Idries Shah
Deep in the sea are riches beyond compare. But if you seek safety, it is on the shore. — Idries Shah
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
The feeling cannot be described in words, it's mystical; I am changing. Perhaps the soul needed silence so that it can shout to hear the echo from the walls of my heart. It did heard something, Sufism! — Dr. S.U.A.H Syed
The main problem is that most commentators are accustomed to thinking of spiritual schools as 'systems', which are more or less alike, and which depend upon dogma and ritual: and especially upon repetition and the application of continual and standardised pressures upon their followers.
The Sufi way, except in degenerate forms which are not to be classified as Sufic, is entirely different from this. — Idries Shah
The totality of life cannot be understood, so runs Sufi teaching, if it is studied only through the methods which we use in everyday living. — Idries Shah
Definitions from Mulla Do-Piaza
Drugs: Source of the mystical experience of the ignorant. — Idries Shah
God said to him [Eblis], 'You have become proud.' He replied, 'If I had been with you but a moment my pride would have been justified; I have been with you for centuries. — Mansur Al-Hallaj
Worry is a cloud which rains destruction. — Idries Shah
Definitions from Mulla Do-Piaza
Wisdom: Something you can learn without knowing it. — Idries Shah
Definitions from Mulla Do-Piaza
Penitent: Someone who has been made incapable of enjoying himself. — Idries Shah
Premature independence is the daughter of conceit. — Idries Shah
The practice of the Sufis is too sublime to have a formal beginning, — Idries Shah
Remember the proverb: 'A sign is enough for the alert, but a thousand counsels are not enough for the negligent. — Idries Shah
Saying of the Prophet
Truth
Speaking the truth to the unjust is the best of holy wars. — Idries Shah
He that is purified by love is pure; and he that is absorbed in the Beloved and hath abandoned all else is a Sufi.
Sirdar Ikbal Ali Shah. — Idries Shah
To say "yes" to the Sufi way is to say "no" to imagined escapes. — Idries Shah
One cannot learn from someone whom one distrusts. — Idries Shah
The institution of teachership is there for this reason, that the learner must learn how to learn. — 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
A man must be a Salomon before his magical ring will work — Idries Shah
Why do people always wonder whether books are any good, without wondering whether they are themselves in a state to profit from them? — Idries Shah
It is necessary to note," says Rumi, "that opposite things work together, even though nominally opposed" (Fihi Ma Fihi). — Idries Shah
Has it not occurred to you that, conversely, other people do not have your difficulties because they do not react as you do to what happens? — 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
Whoever might perfume a scorpion
Will not thereby escape its sting. Bahaudin Naqshband — Idries Shah
The union of the mind and intuition which brings about illumination, and the development which the Sufis seek, is based upon love. — Idries Shah
The major barrier to understanding is wishful thinking and following that which pleases one. — Idries Shah
Everything man needs is in the world. — Idries Shah
Saying of the Prophet
Sleep
Sleep is the brother of death. — Idries Shah
Salute to the Thief. Junaid of Baghdad was passing the scene of a public hanging, where a thief was on the scaffold. Junaid bowed towards the criminal. Someone asked him: 'What did you do that?' Junaid said: 'I was bowing before his single-mindedness. For his aim, that man has given his life. — Idries Shah
The Sufi must be able to alternate his thought between the relative and the Absolute, the approximate and the Real. — Idries Shah
Debating whether one trusts or not is a sign that one does not want to trust at all, and therefore is still incapable of it. — Idries Shah
And Rumi tells us, 'Soul receives from soul that knowledge, therefore not by book nor from tongue'. — Idries Shah
Not to be greedy is, paradoxically, the highest form of looking after one's true interests. — Idries Shah
The parallels to modern physics [with mysticism] appear not only in the Vedas of Hinduism, in the I Ching, or in the Buddhist sutras, but also in the fragments of Heraclitus, in the Sufism of Ibn Arabi, or in the teachings of the Yaqui sorcerer Don Juan. — Fritjof Capra
Our thoughts have prepared for us the
happiness or unhappiness we experience. — Hazrat Inayat Khan
Anybody or anything may stand between you and knowledge if you are unfit for it. — Idries Shah
Much smoke has been seen, and caused great fear of fire - even when no fire ensued. — Idries Shah
THE BIRD AND THE WATER
A bird which has not heard of fresh water
Dips his beak in salt-water year after year.
(Anwar-i-Suhaili) — Idries Shah
Learning how to learn involves examining assumptions. Mulla Nasrudin tales very often fulfil this funcition. — Idries Shah
The aspirant has to be guided by a mentor. The stage at which this guidance can take effect is seldom, if ever, perceptible to the learner. — Idries Shah
To bind one free man with love is better than to release a thousand slaves. — Idries Shah