World Philosophical Heritage

Wisdom and teachings of
Islam

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B efore the time of Prayer comes, the servant must be in a state of preparation and his attitude must be that which is essential for prayer, namely, a state of meditation and recollection, free-from wandering thoughts and consideration or remembrance of anything save God alone. Those who enter in this way upon prayer, with heart intent only upon God, will proceed from prayer to prayer in that same state of recollection and will remain in that state after they have ceased to pray.

quote 3003 | Others Sufis Teaching
al-Sarraj, Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.159

T he disciple's attempt to purify the heart is like the person ordered to uproot a tree. However much he reflects and struggles to do so, he is unable. So he says to himself, "I'll wait until I'm more powerful and then uproot it." But the longer he waits and leaves the tree to grow, the larger and stronger it becomes while he only becomes weaker, and its uprooting becomes more difficult.

quote 3002 | Others Sufis Teaching
Abu'Uthman al-Maghribi, Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.156

W e must always be in a state of preparation. Preparation is the art of staying awake. If you are awake, then one day you may see into the real world. You cannot expect to come into that world if you walk around like a sleepwalker in a dream. You cannot wake up by reading books that tell you you are asleep. You may not even wake up just because a teacher tells you that you are asleep. You can only wake up if you want to, and so begin to work on yourself to cut away all the rubbish in order to come upon the nature of who and what you are.

quote 3001 | Others Sufis Teaching
Reshad Field, Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.154

M aturity cannot be achieved alone. There is a need for guidance and discipline. The path is unknown, the night is dark, and the road is full of danger. Dangers include preoccupation with selfishness, false visions, misinterpretations of mystical states, arrest in development, fixation in a particular state, appeal to various drugs to create false mystical experiences, and, not infrequently, overwhelming anxiety and insanity.

quote 3000 | Others Sufis Teaching
Mohammed Shafii, Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.136

S hems asked a sheikh, "What are you doing.
I am looking at the moon's reflection in this lake" replied the sheikh.
"Why don't you look directly at the sky? Are you so blind that you do not see the true object in all you contemplate?"
Shems'reply had such an effect on the sheikh that he asked Shems to accept him as his disciple.
"You do not have the strength to bear my company," replied Shems.
'The strength is within me," said the sheikh. "Please accept me.
"Then bring me a pitcher of wine, and we will drink together in the Baghdad market.'
Fearing public opinion (because alcohol is forbidden by Islam), the sheikh replied, 'I cannot do this"
Shems shouted, "You are too timid for me. You haven't the strength to be among the intimate friends of God. I seek only those who know how to reach the Truth.'

quote 2999 | Others Sufis Teaching
Shems Tabrizi, Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.132

L et the eye of your heart be opened that you may see the spirit and behold invisible things.
If you set your face toward the region where Love reigns, you will see the whole universe laid out as a rose garden. What you see, your heart will wish to have, and what your heart seeks to possess, that you will see. If you penetrate to the 'middle of each mote in the sunbeams, you will find a sun within.
Give all that you possess to Love. If your spirit is dissolved in the flames of Love, you will see that Love is the alchemy for spirit.
You will journey beyond the narrow limitations of time and place and will pass into the infinite spaces of the Divine World. What ear has not heard, that you will hear, and what no eye has seen, you shall behold. Finally, you shall be brought to that high Abode, where you will see One only, beyond the world and all worldly creatures. To that One you shall devote the love of both heart and soul until, with the eye that knows no doubt, you will see plainly that "One is and there is nothing save God alone.'

quote 2998 | Others Sufis Teaching
Ahmad Hatif, Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.123

I f love manifests itself within you, it has its origins in beauty. You are nothing but a mirror in which beauty is reflected. Because beauty and its reflection are both from that one source, it is both treasure and treasure-house.

quote 2997 | Jami
Jami, Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.121

B e the captive of Love in order that you may be truly free -free from coldness and the worship of self. Thousands have passed who were wise and learned but who were strangers to Love. No name is left to them, nothing to proclaim their fame and dignity or to relate their history in the march of time. Although you may attempt to do a hundred things in this world, only Love will give you release from the bondage of yourself.

quote 2996 | Jami
Jami, Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.115

M any sheikhs observe the following rule. When a novice joins them, they subject him to spiritual discipline for three years. He can be admitted to the Path only if he fulfills all the requirements of this discipline. The first year is devoted to service of the people, the second year to service of God, and the third year to watching over his own heart.

quote 2995 | Hujwiri
Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.218

I f you walk toward Him, He comes to you running.

quote 2994 | Muhammad
Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.228

D uring prayer, God lifts the veils and opens the gates of the invisible, so that His servant is standing in front of Him. The prayer creates a secret connection between the one praying and the One prayed to.
Prayer is a threshold at the entrance to God's reality.

quote 2991 | Muhammad
Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.204

I t is said that when you take only one step toward Him, He advances ten steps toward you. But the complete truth is that God is always with you.

quote 2990 | Muhammad
Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.199

O seeker, know that the path to Truth is within you. You are the traveler. Going happens by itself, Coming happens to you, without you. There is no arriving or leaving; nor is there any place; nor is there a contained within a container. Who is there to be with God? What is there other than God? Who seeks and finds when there is none but God?

quote 2989 | Sheikh Badruddin
Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.198

I f you wish to draw near to God, you must seek God in the hearts of others. You should speak well of all, whether present or absent. If you seek to be a light to guide others, then, like the sun, you must show the same face to all. To bring joy to a single heart is better than to build many shrines for worship, and to enslave one soul by kindness is worth more than the setting free of a thousand slaves.
The true man of God sits in the midst of his fellowmen, and rises up and cats and sleeps and buys and sells and gives and takes in the bazaars, and marries and has social intercourse with others, and yet is never for one moment forgetful of God.

quote 2988 | Abu Sa'id
Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.212

O ne day a man asked a sheikh how to reach God. “the Way to God” the sheikh replied, “are many as they are created beings. But the shortest and easiest is to serve others, not to bother others, and to make others happy.

quote 2987 | Abu Sa'id
Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.198

S acrifice your ego; nothing more.

quote 2986 | Abu Sa'id
Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.158

A dervish was sweeping the courtyard. Abu Sa'id saw him and said, "Be like the dust ball that rolls before the broom and not like the rock left behind.'
One must be like the dust, which has no will of its own but goes wherever the broom (the spiritual master) commands not like the rock, which asserts its own will and resists the direction of the guide.

quote 2985 | Abu Sa'id
Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.157

T his spirit of divine origin appears in a man as man, in beast as beast, and in plant as plant. And it appears differently even within each species, appearing in each person in a different manner in accordance with his different capacity and predisposition. The spirit neither disappears not diminishes nor changes when the body is destroyed.
The body, until its end, is in continuous transformation, whereas the spirit never changes. It cannot be identified by anything other than the body it inhabits. There is no identification without appearance; therefore, it is essential for the spirit to have a form. Yet if the spirit becomes fully identified with a specific body, it cannot return to its origin.

quote 2984 | Sheikh Badruddin
Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.111

N ot only do beings and things have spirits that in turn take the forms of beings and things, but deeds, words, thoughts, and feelings also have spirits of their own. Thus it may happen that the soul of a beautiful deed may assume the form of an angel.

quote 2983 | Sheikh Badruddin
Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.111

T ruth 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.

quote 2982 | Others Sufis Teaching
Abdul Qadir al-Jilani, Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.103

F asting is a way to save on food. Vigil and prayer is a labor for old folks. Pilgrimage is an occasion for tourism. To distribute bread in aims is something for philanthropists. Fall in love: That is doing something!

quote 2981 | Others Sufis Teaching
Ansari, Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.102

G o you, sweep out the dwelling room of your heart, prepare it to be the home of the Beloved. When you go out, He will come in. Within you, when you are free from self, He will show His beauty.

quote 2980 | Shabistari
Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.102

H appy is he who is able to escape from the lower self and feel the gentle breeze of friendship. His heart is so full of the Beloved that there is no longer room for anyone else. The Beloved flows through his every vein and nerve. Every atom of his body is filled with the Friend.
The true lovers can no longer perceive either the scent or the color of their own selves. They have no interest in anything other than the Beloved. Their heart is attached neither to throne nor crown. Greed and lust have packed their bags and left their street. If they speak, it is to the Friend. If they seek, it is from the Friend. They no longer take themselves into account, and live only for love. They, leave the raw and turn to the ripe, abandoning completely the abode of the self

quote 2979 | Jami
Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.99

I hold you in my heart.
I rock and sing you to sleep.
You are everywhere in everyone,
he holy baby in all of us,
that plays there.

The beautiful one,
born when we love,
the glowing child.

You are the meaning that blooms in the heart.

quote 2978 | Others Sufis Teaching
Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.99

D o everything you do in order to come close to your Lord in your worship and prayers. Think that each deed may be your last act, each prayer your last prostration, that you may not have another chance. If you do this, it will be another motivation for becoming heedful and also for becoming sincere and truthful.

quote 2977 | Ibn 'Arabi
Essential Sufism, by James Fadiman & Robert Frager, Harper SanFrancisco, p.159

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