Quotes & Sayings About Tasawwuf

In the realm of Greater Understanding, the workshop is dismantled after the work is finished. — 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

The would-be Sufi needs guidance precisely because books, texts, while telling you what is needed, do not tell you when. — Idries Shah

A short time in the presence of the Friends (the Sufis) is better than a hundred years' sincere, obedient dedication. — Idries Shah

Do not dwell upon whether you will put yourself into the hands of a teacher. You are always in his hands. — Idries Shah

The Prophet's character was termed tremendous because his concern was for God alone. — Imam Junayd Al-Baghdadi

He who practices Tasawwuf without learning Sacred Law corrupts his faith, while he who learns Sacred Law without practicing Tasawwuf corrupts himself.
Only he who combines the two proves true. — Malik Ibn Anas

As for the people of Tasawwuf, they affirm the love of Allah, and this is more evident among them than all other issues ... the affirmation of the love of Allah is well-known in the speech of their [old] and recent masters, just as it is affirmed in the Holy Qur'an and the Sunnah and in agreement of the ways of the early generation (Salaf) — Ibn Taymiyyah

The teaching must, of course, work with the best part of the individual, must be directed to his or her real capacity. — Idries Shah

Sufism is known by means of itself. — Idries Shah

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

Now that I have found thee, I know that in the first step I took, I moved away from thee. — Idries Shah

The Path is not to be found anywhere except in human service — Idries Shah

From it genesis twelve hundred years ago to today, Islamic philosophy (al-hikmah; al-falsafah) has been one of the major intellectual traditions within the Islamic world, and it has influenced and been influenced by many other intellectual perspectives, including Scholastic theology (kalam) and doctrinal Sufism (al-ma'rifah or al-tasawwuf al-'ilmi) and theoretical gnosis ('irfan-i nazari). — Seyyed Hossein Nasr