Sufism Quotes

I have loved in life and I have been loved. I have drunk the bowl of poison from the hands of love as nectar, and have been raised above life's joy and sorrow. My heart, aflame in love, set afire every heart that came in touch with it. My heart has been rent and joined again; My heart has been broken and again made whole; My heart has been wounded and healed again; A thousand deaths my heart has died, and thanks be to love, it lives yet. I went through hell and saw there love's raging fire, and I entered heaven illumined with the light of love. I wept in love and made all weep with me; I mourned in love and pierced the hearts of men; And when my fiery glance fell on the rocks, the rocks burst forth as volcanoes. The whole world sank in the flood caused by my one tear; With my deep sigh the earth trembled, and when I cried aloud the name of my beloved, I shook the throne of God in heaven.I bowed my head low in humility, and on my knees I begged of love, Disclose to me, I pray thee, O love, thy secret. She took me gently by my arms and lifted me above the earth, and spoke softly in my ear, My dear one, thou thyself art love, art lover, and thyself art the beloved whom thou hast adored.

~ Hazrat Inayat Khan

Definitions from Mulla Do-PiazaA fool:,A man trying to be honest with the dishonest.

~ Idries Shah

In a village where everyone has only one leg, the biped will hop about more lamely than anyone else, if he knows what is good for him.

~ Idries Shah

One day we will all wear a garment which has no pockets...

~ Idries Shah

Wisdom is when you understand what, previously, at best you only knew.

~ Idries Shah

SAYING OF SHEIKH ZIAUDIN:Self-justification is worse than the original offence.

~ Idries Shah

It is not Sufism if it does not perform its function for you. A cloak is no longer a cloak if it does not keep a man warm.

~ Idries Shah

If wine is the enemy of religion, I shall devour the enemy of religion.

~ Idries Shah

The function of a nutrient is to become transmuted, not to leave unaltered traces.

~ Idries Shah

Haste is from the Devil.

~ Idries Shah

My father used to tell me that stories offer the listener a chance to escape but, more importantly, he said, they provide people with a chance to maximize their minds. Suspend ordinary constraints, allow the imagination to be freed, and we are charged with the capability of heighetned thought.Learn to use your eyes as if they are your ears, he said, and you become connected with the ancient heritage of man, a dream world for the waking mind.

~ Tahir Shah

Fettered feet in the presence of friends is better than living in a garden with strangers.

~ Idries Shah

If you really want to learn, do not be surprised if someone tries to teach you. And do not lightly reject the method.

~ Idries Shah

Most people, whatever their opinions and protestations, do not want to learn.

~ Idries Shah

One of the basic Sufi needs is to enable people to see themselves as they really are.

~ Idries Shah

The Sufi teacher’s mission is to be in the service of those who can learn.

~ Idries Shah

The teacher works in accordance with the prospects of his students and the possibility of maintaining the community of Sufis.

~ Idries Shah

The Sufis regard systems which treat everyone alike as mechanical and degenerate.

~ Idries Shah

The candle burned the moth:But soon it will vanish in its own fat.

~ Idries Shah

Yes, the world is an illusion. But Truth is always being shown there.

~ Idries Shah

If you want special illumination, look upon the human face:See clearly within laughter the Essence of Ultimate Truth.

~ Idries Shah

The question of divine knowledge is so deep that it is really known only to those who have it.

~ Idries Shah

It is your duty to do your best. It is not, however, your birth-right to prevail.

~ Idries Shah

A man must be a Solomon before his magical ring will work

~ Idries Shah

Any society which enjoins its members to adhere to both of these (politeness and truth) is a fraud.

~ Idries Shah

A man must be a Salomon before his magical ring will work. (Hafiz)

~ Idries Shah

Imagination blocks you like a bolt on a door. Burn that bar. (Rumi)

~ Idries Shah

Our objective is to achieve, by the understanding of the Origin, the Knowledge which comes through experience.

~ Idries Shah

ScrapsThe scraps from the meal of the Emir are larger than the gifts of halwa from the merchant. Timur Fazil

~ Idries Shah

As swords were designed to killThey did well to make them tongue-shaped.(Anwar-i-Suhaili)

~ Idries Shah

Superior experience and knowledge will be made available to a man or woman in exact accordance with his worth, capacity and earning of it

~ Idries Shah

We cannot hunt for love. We can only surrender and become love’s prey.

~ Kamand Kojouri

God begets love.

~ Kamand Kojouri

Man (and woman) has an infinite capacity for self-development. Equally, he has an infinite capacity for self-destruction. A human being may be clinically alive and yet, despite all appearances, spiritually dead.

~ Idries Shah

Hak cihâna tolıdur kimseler Hakk’ı bilmez / Anı sen senden iste o senden ayru olmaz.

~ Yunus Emre

They will become Godly when they will have God in their hearts.

~ Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi

Close your eyes. Meditate on your love. This is God.

~ Kamand Kojouri

He knows all my thoughts. He knows all I’ve ever done and He loves me all the same. What is our purpose, you ask. It is to love like God.

~ Kamand Kojouri

Writing poems is simply an excuse to remember You.

~ Kamand Kojouri

One sip of this wine and you will go mad with drunkenness. You will drop your masks and tear your clothes — destroying everything that separates you from the Lover. Once you taste the fruit of this vine, you will be kicked out of the city of yourself. You will forget the world. You will forget yourself. I tell you: you will become a madman who wanders the streets looking for the Lover once you drink this Wine of Love.

~ Kamand Kojouri