World of Tasawwuf
In the time of the Prophet, Tasawwuf was a reality without a name, today Tasawwuf is a name, but few know its Reality
Quotes, quatrains, couplets, etc
this page was last updated 12th May 07
BELOVED PROPHET MUHAMMAD (Peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)
AMIR AL MOMININ HADRAT ABU BAKR AS-SIDEEQ
AMIR AL MOMININ HADRAT 'UMAR AL FARUQ
AMIR AL MOMININ HADRAT UTHMAN AL GHANI
AMIR AL MOMININ HADRAT IMAM ALI
IMAM SHAFI'I ON TASAWWUF
HADRAT JUNAYD AL BAGHDADI
RABIA AL ADAWIYA
IBN MANSUR AL HALLAJ
GHAWTH AL ADHAM SHAYKH ABD'AL-QADIR AL-JILANI
SHAYKH AL AKBAR MUHIY-AD-DIN IBN ARABI
KHAWAJA MUIN AD-DIN HASAN CHISTI AJMERI
IBN ATA'ALLAH
ANECDOTES | POETRY | SUFIS & SHAYKHS | MANQULAT | SHAYKH AL ISLAM
Prophet Muhammad
The Muslim ummah is an unique ummah among the whole of mankind:
Their Land is One, their War is One, their Peace is One, their Honour is One and their Trust is One.
- Beloved Muhammad Salla Allahu 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam
[narrated by Ahmad]
Abu Bakr
'As there is no darkness in the moonlight.
So is Mustafa (Muhammad), the well wisher, bright.'
- Hadrat Abu Bakr as-Sideeq Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu
Hadrat Umar
"I looked at all friends, and did not find a better friend than safeguarding the tongue.
I thought about all dresses, but did not find a better dress than piety.
I thought about all types of wealth, but did not find a better wealth than contentment in little.
I thought of all types of good deeds, but did not find a better deed than offering good advice.
I looked at all types of sustenance, but did not find a better sustenance than patience."
Amir al Momineen Hadrat Umar Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu
HADRAT ALI
'He who is greedy is disgraced; he who discloses his hardship will always be humiliated;
he who has no control over his tongue will often have to face discomfort'.
A friend cannot be considered a friend until he is tested in three occasions:
in time of need, behind your back, and after your death.
- Hadrat Ali ibn abi Talib Radi Allahu ta'ala anhu
ALSO VISIT SAYINGS OF HADRAT ALI
Uwais al-Qarni
Sleep with the remembrance of death, and rise with the thought that you will not live long
Hadrat Uwais al-Qarni radi Allahu ta'ala anhu
Ya Ghawth
When someone
asked GHAWTH AL A'ZAM about Sufism [tasawwuf], the Shaykh (may Allah be well pleased with
him) explained:
"The Sufi is someone who makes that which the Lord of Truth wishes from him the object of his own wish. He renounces this world, so it serves him, and his allotted shares [aqsam] coincide with his needs. He achieves his purpose in this world, before the Hereafter, for his well-being is ensured by his Lord."
***
'Reflect on the work of art and you may attain to the artist'
Truth has been planted in the center of your heart, entrusted to you by God for safekeeping. It becomes manifest with true repentance and with true effort. Its beauty shines on the surface when you remember God and do the dhikr [recitation of Divine Names]. At the first stage you recite the name of God with your tongue; then, when your heart becomes alive, you recite inwardly with the heart.
Ghawth al A'zam [Essential Sufism]
Junaid
'A person is not worthy of leadership in any capacity at all if he has never memorised or recited the Qur'an on a regular basis and is not familiar with the Hadith at a recognised level. This has to be so because all knowledge for the sincere seeker is totally bound within our Noble Book and the Sunnah of our Most Beloved Prophet Salla Allahu ta'ala 'alayhi wa 'aalihi wa Sallam.'
(Hadrat Junaid al Baghdadi Radi Allahu anhu)
Khawaja
'To sit in the company of pious people is better than doing good
and to sit in the company of evil (immoral) people is worse than doing evil'
***
A sin committed does not harm an individual so much as looking down upon one's own fellow human beings.
***
Hadrat Khawaja Gharib an-Nawaz Radi Allahu anhu
Hasan al Basri
The world is three days:
As for yesterday, it has vanished, along with all that was in it.
As for tomorrow, you may never see it. As for today, it is yours, so work in it.
Imam Hassan al-Basri Rahmatallahi ta'ala alaih
Imam Shafi'i
Imam al-Shafi'i on Tasawwuf
Imam al-Shafi'i Rahmatullahi alaih said:
faqihan wa sufiyyan fa kun laysa wahidan
fa inni wa haqqillahi iyyaka ansahu
(Be both) a faqih and a sufi: do not be only one of them,
Verily, by Allah's truth, I am advising you sincerely.
[al-Shafi'i, Diwan, (Beirut and Damascus: Dar al-fikr) p. 47]
The muhaddith al-'Ajluni also relates in his book Kashf al-khafa wa muzil al-albas (1:341 #1089) that Imam Shafi'i Rahmatullahi alaih said:
Three things in this world have been made lovely to me: avoiding affectation, treating people kindly, and following the way of tasawwuf.
Ibn al-Qayyim in his Madarij al-salikin (3:128) and al-Suyuti in his Ta'yid al-haqiqa al-'aliyya (p. 15) also relate that Imam al-Shafi'i Rahmatullahi alaih said:
I accompanied the Sufis and received from them but three words: their statement that time is a sword: if you do not cut it, it cuts you; their statement that if you do not keep your ego busy with truth it will keep you busy with falsehood; their statement that deprivation is immunity.
To read the full article by Shaykh Gibril Haddad please visit http://mac.abc.se/home/onesr/f/Tasawwuf%20of%20Al-Shafii.htm#whh
Rabia al Basri
'I will not serve God like a labourer,
in expectation of my wages'
O Lord!
If I worship You from fear of Hell, cast me into Hell
If I worship You from desire for Paradise, deny me Paradise
but if I worship You for Your own sake,
then withhold not from me Your Eternal Beauty
- Rabia al-Adawiya Radi Allahu ta'ala anha
Mansur al Hallaj
Mansur al-Hallaj: Sayings
(this is the saying which apparently earned al-Hallaj his martyrdom - al Haqq also means God)
You know and are not known; You see and are not seen.
(Akhbar al-Hallaj 44, 1.4)
And now I am Yourself, Your existence is my own, and it is also my will.
(Diwan al-Hallaj)
Yet due to my little part's burden, the earth cannot sustain me.
(Akhbar al-Hallaj, 11)
I have seen my Lord with the eye of my heart, and I said: "Who are You?" He said:"You."
(Diwan al-Hallaj, M. 10)
I do not cease swimming in the seas of love, rising with the wave, then descending; now the wave sustains me, and then I sink beneath it; love bears me away where there is no longer any shore.
(Diwan al-Hallaj, M. 34)
and He whom I love is I:
We are two spirits
dwelling in one body.
If thou seest me,
thou seest Him,
And if thou seest Him,
thou seest us both.
al-Hallaj, Kitab al-Tawasin, in The Mystics of Islam, by Reynold A Nicholson
al Ghazali
Does money upset the hearts of learned men ?
He answered,
"men whose hearts are changed by money are not learned''
- Hujjat al Islam Abu Hamid al Ghazali Rahmatullahi alaih
Ibn 'Arabi
While you are alive,
your worldy self is like a collector of benefits from Allah's bounties,
which come to you from myriads of hands.
and where Love's caravan takes its path,
there is my religion, my faith."
- Ibn 'Arabi Rahmatullahi alaih
Ibn Ata'Allah.
"The lights of some people precede their dhikr, while the dhikr of some people precede their lights. There is the one who does (loud) dhikr so that his heart be illumined; and there is the one whose heart has been illumined and he does (silent) dhikr."
Ibn Ata'Allah
MISCELLANEOUS
"The sincere person is the one who hides his good deeds just like he hides his evil deeds."
by Yaqub al-Makfoof
***
Your remedy is within you,
But you do not sense it,
Your illness is from you,
But you do not perceive it.
You presume you are an insignificant entity,
But within you is enfolded
The entire universe.
Thus, you have no need to look beyond yourself
What you seek is within you,
If only you reflect!
--A Sufi Saying
***
Listen to a friend, and hear a distorted idea of yourself.
Listen to your enemy, and also hear something distorted.
Friendship is to help us survive and to strengthen us.
Opposition makes us stronger.
***
Glasses are a vehicle for the eyes,
the eyes are a vehicle for the mind,
the mind is a vehicle for insight,
and insight is a vehicle for the conscience.
The conscience is an outlet through which the spirit can observe,
and a vehicle through which it can see.
***
Amr ibn 'Uthman stated the following in his Book of Love.
Almighty God created the hearts seven thousand
years before the souls, and He kept them in the Garden
of Intimacy. He created the Secrets seven thousand years
before the hearts, and kept them in the Degree of Union.
Every day God caused the souls to receive three hundred
and sixty glances of Grace and to hear three hundred
and sixty words of Love. Every day He manifested
to the hearts three hundred and sixty delights of
Intimacy. Every day He revealed Beauty three hundred
and sixty times to the Secrets.
So they beheld every thing in the world of being, and
saw none more precious than themselves.
A vain glory and conceit manifested amongst them.
God therefore put them to the trial.
He imprisoned the Secret in the soul.
He confined the soul in the heart.
He detained the heart in the body.
Then He compounded in them reason.
God sent the Prophets with commandments.
Then every one of them set about searching for his proper station.
God commanded them to pray.
So the body went into prayer;
the heart attained Love;
the soul achieved Propinquity;
the Secret was at rest in Union.
Taken from the book: Muslim Saints and Mystics
Episodes from the Tadhkirat al-Auliya’
(Memorial of the Saints) by Farid al-Din Attar
Translated by A. J. Arberry
***
''IF words come out of the heart,
they will enter the heart,
but if they come from the tongue,
they will not pass beyond the ears''
Essential Sufism
***
"Here is the candle extinguished and
there the living lamp of the Sun!
Do mark the difference between
the one and the other! ''
Hafiz
***
Whatever you have in your mind - forget it;
Whatever you have in your hand - give it;
Whatever is to be your fate - face it!
Abu Sa'id (Essential Sufism)
***
If someone remarks:
"What an excellent man you are!"
and this pleases you more than his saying,
"What a bad man you are!"
know that you are still a bad man.
Sufyan al Thawri (Essential Sufism)
***
"For one who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends.
But for one who has failed to do so, his very mind will become his greatest enemy"
***
but it is the journey that matters in the end."
how it complains of separation ...
Robert Frager, Heart, Self & Soul, The Sufi Psychology of Growth, Balance and Harmony