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Wisdom and teachings of
Sufism

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I n the same way, when there is the state of extinction (fana') -- which the men of the way also call "union" (ittihad) -- the worshipper and the Worshipped, the Lord and the servant, disappear together. If there is no worshipper, there is no Worshipped; and if there is no servant, there is no Lord. For, when two terms are correlative, the disappearance of one necessarily brings about the disappearance of the other, and therefore they disappear together.

quote 3271 | Abd el-Kader
Kitab al-Mawaqif 215, p. 100,in The Spiritual Writings of 'Abd al-Kader. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1995

T he divine Reality, when it "combines" with the creatures in a strictly conceptual mode, is hidden to the eyes of the spiritually veiled, who see only the creatures. Conversely, it is the creatures that disappear in the eyes of the masters of the Unicity of contemplation(wahdat al-shuhud), for they see only God alone. Thus, both God and the creatures hide the other…

quote 3270 | Abd el-Kader
Kitab al-Mawaqif 215, p. 100,in The Spiritual Writings of 'Abd al-Kader. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1995

H is light spreads out and this operation expresses nothing other than the ordered unfolding of His attributes over the non-being. What is called "the possibles" are those things which show themselves capable of receiving that light and those which are called "the impossibles" are those which are unable to receive the light. It is to just this that the Prophet -- upon Him be Grace and Peace! -- alluded when He said, "Allah created the creatures in the darkness, then He sprinkled them with His light. Those who were touched by some of this light are on the good way; and those who failed to be touched by it are astray."

quote 3269 | Abd el-Kader
Kitab al-Mawaqif 287, p. 86,in The Spiritual Writings of 'Abd al-Kader. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1995

G od has stolen my [illusory] "I" from me and has broght me near to my [real] "I" … The colors have returned ot the pure primoridal white. The voyage has reached its end and everything other than Him has ceased to exist. All attribution, every aspect and all relation being abolished, the original state is re-established.

quote 3268 | Abd el-Kader
Kitab al-Mawaqif 7, p. 29,in The Spiritual Writings of 'Abd al-Kader. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1995

T here are two kinds of death, the death which is inevitable and common to all beings, and the death which is voluntary and particular to certain ones of them only. It is the second death which is prescribed for us in the words of the Messenger of Allah: "Die before you die." The resurrection is accomplished for him who dies this voluntary death. His affairs return to God and they are but one. He has returned to God and he sees Him through Him. As the Prophet said -- on him be Grace and Peace! -- according to a tradtion reported by Tabarani, "You will not see your Lord before being dead" and that is because, in the contemplation of this dead-resurrected one, all creatures are annihilated, and for him only one thing exists, one Reality only. Whatever will be the lot of the believers in their posthumous states is prefigured in one degree or another in this life for the initiates. The "return" of things -- considered in relation to [the diversity of] their forms -- to Allah and the end of their becoming, expresses only a change of cognitive status and not at all a modification of the reality. For him who dies and achieves the resurrection, the multiple is one, by reason of its essential unity; and the One is multiple, by reason of the multiplicity in Him of relations and aspects.

quote 3267 | Abd el-Kader
Kitab al-Mawaqif 221, pp. 51-52,in The Spiritual Writings of 'Abd al-Kader. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1995

O h, you who believe! Fear Allah, and seek a means of access to Him, and struggle on His way; perhaps you will succeed! (Koran 5:35)
Commentary: … God commands believers to practice the fear of Him. This corresponds to what is called… the "station of repentance" which is the basis of all progress on the Way and the key which permits one to arrive at the "station of realization"…

After that God says to us: "And seek a means of access to Him"… The means is a (spiritual) master whose initiatic lineage (nisba) is faultess, who has a veritable knowledge of the Way, of the deficiencies which obstruct it and the illnesses which prevent the arrival at Gnosis; and who possesses a proven science of healing, and of the temperaments and dispositions and their appropriate remedies. There is absolute unanimity among the People of Allah on the fact that, in the Way toward Gnosis, a "means of access", that is to say, a master, is indispensable. Books can in no way take the place of a master, at least from the time that supernatural inspirations (al-waridat), illuminations of theophanies (bawariq al-tajalliyyat) and spiritual events (al-waqi'at) begin. When that happens, it becomes necessary to explain to the disciple what in all that should be accepted or rejected; what is sound and what is tainted. However, at the beginning of the Way he can be satisfied with books which deal with pious behaviour and with spiritual combat in its most general sense.

"And sturggle on His Way": this is an order to do battle after having found a master. It is a matter of a special holy war (jihad), which is carried out under the command of the master and according to the rules which he prescribes. One cannot have confidence in a spiritual combat carried on in the absence of the master, except in very exceptional cases… The dispositions of beings are varied, their temperaments are very differnt one from another and something which is profitable for one can be harmful for another.

quote 3266 | Abd el-Kader
Kitab al-Mawaqif 197, pp. 49-50,in The Spiritual Writings of 'Abd al-Kader. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1995

W hoever adores Allah through the fears of the fires of hell or in order to gain Paradise, whoever invokes Him in order that his share in the goods of the world be enlarged, or so that people should turn their faces toward him in order that he be glorified, or to avoid the evil which an oppressor afflicts upon him; or further, if he has heard a hadith of the Prophet according to which he who accomplishes a certain pious work, or recites a certain invocation, will receive from God some recompense -- whoever does this, his adoration is tainted, and it will not be acceptable to God except by virtue of His grace and of His generosity…

God said, "Whoever hopes to encounter his Lord, let him do pious works and, in the adoration of his Lord, not associate any being with Him." (Koran 18:110) The things which I have mentioned are the "beings" which are associated with God. Now, God is, of all those that are associated in adoration, the One who absolutely transcends all association. That is why He prescribed to all His servants that they adore Him with a perfectly pure faith which implies the desire for no other recompense than His face…

quote 3265 | Abd el-Kader
Kitab al-Mawaqif 4, pp. 37-38,in The Spiritual Writings of 'Abd al-Kader. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1995

H e who looks with his finite eye only sees finite things -- bodies, colors or surfaces. He who looks with the eye of his hidden spirit sees the hidden things -- spiritual beings, forms of the world of the absolute Imagination, jinns -- all of which are still only created beings and therefore veils. But he who looks with his face, that is to say, his secret (sirr), sees the face which God has in each thing; for, in truth, only Allah sees Allah, only Allah knows Allah…

quote 3264 | Abd el-Kader
Kitab al-Mawaqif 149, pp. 105-107,in The Spiritual Writings of 'Abd al-Kader. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1995

T urn your face toward the sacred Mosque (Koran 2:144,149,150)
Commentary:This means: "Turn the [divine] face which is particular to you"…

This face is the secret (sirr) through which your spirit subsists… It is the source of man's being and the command [formulated in the verse] is in reality concerned with this. God … does not consider your exterior form but only your heart -- which is the "divine face" proper to each of you, and it is this "divine face" which, in you, "contains" God even though His sky and His earth cannot contain Him… He who turns (toward the sacred Mosque} with his body alone, without also turning this face, has not truly turned…

quote 3263 | Abd el-Kader
Kitab al-Mawaqif 149, pp. 105-107,in The Spiritual Writings of 'Abd al-Kader. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1995

E verything which is other than Allah is "hidden" in non-being, even if it appears to spiritually veiled beings to be endowed with existence. But the sage does not concern himself with what is non-being and does not make it the aim of his acts.

quote 3262 | Abd el-Kader
Kitab al-Mawaqif 4, p. 38,in The Spiritual Writings of 'Abd al-Kader. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1995

T urn your face toward the sacred Mosque (Koran 2:144,149,150)
Commentary: The word "sacred" means that a heart wich has not desengaged itself from the sphere of the soul and the sphere of created beings is forbidden to penetrate into this place… "Wherever you are, turn your face" [toward the sacred Mosque] means, "Wherever you are, in the accomplishment of works of worship or in the ordinary acts of life, contemplate Him -- in what you eat, in what you drink, in him or her whom you marry, always knowing that He is at once the Contemplator and the Contemplated…

quote 3261 | Abd el-Kader
Kitab al-Mawaqif 149, pp. 105, 107,in The Spiritual Writings of 'Abd al-Kader. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1995

T hen God -- may He be exalted! -- said to me, "What are you?" I replied, "I am two things, according to two different relations. With respect to You, I am the Eternal, forever and ever. I am the necessary Being who epiphanizes himself. My necessity proceeds from the necessity of Your essence and my eternity from the eternity of Your knowledge and Your attributes.

"With respect to me, I am pure non-being who has never breathed the perfume of existence, the adventitious being who remains nonexistent in his adventitiousness. I only possess being so long as I am present with You and for You. Left to myself and absent from You I am one who is not, even while he is (fa-ana mafqud mawjud)."

quote 3260 | Abd el-Kader
Kitab al-Mawaqif 30, pp. 77-78,in The Spiritual Writings of 'Abd al-Kader. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1995

T he sun symbolizes the Lord -- may He be exalted! -- just as the moon symbolizes the servant. Their "conjunction" symbolizes the degree of the "union of the union" (jam' al-jam'), which is the ultimate degree, the greatest deliverance and the supreme felicity; and consists in seeing at the same time the creation subsisting by God, and God manifesting Himself by His creation…

quote 3259 | Abd el-Kader
Kitab al-Mawaqif 320, pp. 53-55,in The Spiritual Writings of 'Abd al-Kader. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1995

A nd He is with you wherever you are … (Koran 57:4)
Commentary: … The companionship expressed by "with" is that of the Being and the non-being, for there is no Being other than Allah…

If Allah -- May He be exalted! -- was not, by His very Essence, which is the Being of all that is, "with" the creatures, we could not attribute being to any of these createres and they could not be perceived either by the senses, by the imagination, or by the intellect. It is their 'being with' which assures to creatres a relation with Being. Better yet, it is their being itself. This 'being with' embraces all things, whether they are sublime or lowly, great or small. It is through it that they subsist. He is the pure Being by which 'that which is' is. The 'being with' of Allah consists therefore in the fact that He is with us through His essence; that is, through that which we call the divine Self (huwiyya), universally present …

Indications of this divine 'being with' are contained in the following verses:

And He is witness of all things (Koran 34:47)
And Allah, behind them, encompasses them (Koran 85:20)
Wherever you turn, there is the Face of Allah (Koran 2:116)

quote 3258 | Abd el-Kader
Kitab al-Mawaqif 132, pp. 86-89,in The Spiritual Writings of 'Abd al-Kader. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1995

A llah is in Himself the non-being and the being, the inexistent and the existent. He is at the same time that which we designate by absolute non-being and by absolute being; or by relative non-being and relative being… All these designation come back to God alone, for there is nothing which we can perceive, know, write or say which is not Him.

quote 3257 | Abd el-Kader
Kitab al-Mawaqif 287, p. 85,in The Spiritual Writings of 'Abd al-Kader. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1995

T he absolutely Non-Manifested cannot be designated by any expresssion which could limit It, Separate It, or include It. In spite of this, every allusion alludes only to Him, every designation designates Him, and He is at the same time the Non-Manifested and the Manifested.

quote 3256 | Abd el-Kader
Kitab al-Mawaqif 132, p. 87,in The Spiritual Writings of 'Abd al-Kader. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press, 1995

T hy Spirit is mingled in my spirit
even as wine is mingled with pure water.
When anything touches Thee,
it touches me.
Lo, in every case Thou art I!"

quote 3153 | Hallaj
Kitab al-Tawasin, in The Mystics of Islam, by Reynold A Nicholson

I am He whom I love,
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.

quote 3152 | Hallaj
Kitab al-Tawasin, in The Mystics of Islam, by Reynold A Nicholson, 1963; p. 151

W hen my Beloved appears, With what eye do I see Him? With His eye, not with mine, For none sees Him except Himself.

quote 3151 | Ibn 'Arabi
Tarjuman al-Ashwaq, in The Mystics of Islam, translated by Reynold A Nicholson

A ll that is left
to us by tradition
is mere words.

It is up to us
to find out what they mean.

quote 3150 | Ibn 'Arabi
Tarjuman al-Ashwaq, in The Mystics of Islam, translated by Reynold A Nicholson

O Marvel! A garden amidst the flames.
My heart has become capable of every form:
it is a pasture for gazelles and a convent for Christian monks,
and a temple for idols and the pilgrim's Kaa'ba,
and the tables of the Torah and the book of the Quran.
I follow the religion of Love: whatever way Love's camels take,
that is my religion and my faith.

quote 3149 | Ibn 'Arabi
Tarjuman al-Ashwaq, in The Mystics of Islam, translated by Reynold A Nicholson

B rothers, my peace is in my aloneness.
My Beloved is alone with me there, always.
I have found nothing in all the worlds
That could match His love,
This love that harrows the sands of my desert.
If I come to die of desire
And my Beloved is still not satisfied,
I would live in eternal despair.

To abandon all that He has fashioned
And hold in the palm of my hand
Certain proof that He loves me---
That is the name and the goal of my search.

quote 3148 | Rabia al-Adawiyya
translation by Andrew Harvey and Eryk Hanut - 'Perfume of the Desert'

T he source of my suffering and loneliness is deep in my heart.
This is a disease no doctor can cure.
Only Union with the Friend can cure it.

quote 3147 | Rabia al-Adawiyya
translation by Andrew Harvey and Eryk Hanut - 'Perfume of the Desert'

I have two ways of loving You:
A selfish one
And another way that is worthy of You.
In my selfish love, I remember You and You alone.
In that other love, You lift the veil
And let me feast my eyes on Your Living Face.

quote 3146 | Rabia al-Adawiyya
Doorkeeper of the heart:versions of Rabia. Trans. Charles Upton

R abia was once asked, "How did you attain that which you have attained?"
"By often praying, 'I take refuge in You, O God, from everything that distracts me from You, and from every obstacle that prevents me from reaching You.'"

quote 3145 | Rabia al-Adawiyya
translation by Andrew Harvey and Eryk Hanut - 'Perfume of the Desert'

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