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Sufism Quotes

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Sufism Quotes

“In this valley the heaven of attraction is lifted up, the world-illuminating sun of longing dawns forth and the fire of love becomes ablaze. And when the fire of love is become ablaze, the harvest of reason will be wholly consumed. At this time the traveller is unconscious, both of himself and of aught else save himself. He knows neither knowledge nor ignorance, neither doubt nor certainty; neither does he recognise the morn of guidance nor the eve of error. He avoids both infidelity and faith. Without pain this journey will never be accomplished. In this stage the lover has no thought but of the Beloved One, and seeks no shelter but the Desired One. At every moment he freely gives a hundred lives in the path of the Beloved, and at every step he throws a thousand at the feet of the Friend. A lover fears nothing, and no loss can do him harm. Love accepts not any existence, nor wishes any life; he finds life in death, and glory in shame.”

“Humanity has the power of imagination, the quwwat al-khal, as does the Omniconscious Unicity. When the Omniconscious Unicity uses this power, worlds are created. When humanity uses this power, the Omniconscious Unicity is created. In our eye, the Omniconscious Unicity sees Its eye.”

“The lover drinks and the cup-bearer pours. The lover thinks but the cup-bearer knows: love begets love. Since this wine is love, then this cup is love, then this tavern is love, then this life is love.”

“Manavad Gita, Sonnet (Song of Human) Cosmos is my koran, Brahmand is my bible. No writ is whole enough, to contain mind indivisible. All say their scripture is god-given*, it takes holiness to find humans holy. To surpass the superstition of *bhagavad, is the beginning of civilized sanctity. My holiness is in my hands, no fantasy is my authority. I'm not against faith of fiction, but it's time for human based divinity. If you need myths to sustain your holiness, it's a lot of things, but it ain't holy. Holiness of humans cares for the humans, this is my song offering to humanity.”

“Now the author will consider the third name, and perhaps the most outstanding of all: al-Dhât. This word, in Arabic, is also feminine. Allâh is Beyond the Beyond, higher than any action, manner or condition, and any thought that any being may have. This transcendence of all qualities denotes the Divine Feminine. The renowned Sûfî master Najm al-Din Kubra wrote of the Dhât as the "Mother of the divine attributes." On this makam or "level of existence", femininity corresponds to interiority and masculinity to manifestation. The ancient Celtic Druids would perform a strange rite after two people married. The Druid would go into the house in which the marriage was consummated and reappear dressed in the bride's gown. He would do this to demonstrate the balance between the masculine and feminine aspects within himself. The Druids were ancient Celtic priests, shamans and philosophers.”

“The Sufi path is marked by a number of different stages or stations (maqdm/maqdmdt) which the Sufi traveller (sdlik) passes through as he advances on the path. On his way the Sufi also experiences various psychological and emotional states (hdl/ahwdf). [...] The Sufi’s progress along the path is hindered by the machinations of the self (nafs), that is, the ego-self or what is called in the Qur’an the self that incites or exhorts to evil {al-tiafs al-ammdrah bi-al-su). In order to maintain his progress along the path to God the Sufi must be able to control the ego-self by disciplining it, and by continually blaming and abasing it.”

“Humanity's form is drawn from twenty-eight letters comprise the Arabic alphabet. Each section of the human form is represented by one of these letters. When the Murid becomes the Complete Human Being, he or she becomes the eternal mother source of the Qur'an revealed to Muhammad (Peace be upon him). The inner pilgrimage to Macca (al-Mukarramah) is accomplished when the Murid becomes the Complete Human Being.”

“What is most characteristically human is not guaranteed to us by our species or by our culture but given only in potential. A spiritual master once expressed it this way: A person must work to become human. What is most distinctly human in us is something more than the role we play in society and more than the conditioning, whether for good or bad, of our culture. It is our essential Self, which is our point of contact with Infinite Spirit. This Spirit is not to be understood as a metaphysical assertion requiring belief, but as something we can experience for ourselves. What if you, as a human being, represent the final result of a process in which this Spirit has evolved better and better reflectors of itself? If the human being is the most evolved carrier of the Creative Spirit – possessing conscious love, will, and creativity – then our humanity is the degree to which this physical and spiritual vehicle, and particularly our nervous system, can reflect or manifest Spirit. That which is most sacred in us, that which is deeper than our individual personality, is our connection to this Spirit, this Creative Power. Whereas conventional religious belief has the tendency to anthropomorphize God/Spirit, this process consists of the human being becoming qualified by the attributes of God. It could be called the „sanctification“ of the human being. Our human nature is realized through the understanding and awareness that the essential human Self is a reflection of Spirit. To become truly human is to attain a tangible awareness of Spirit, to realize oneself as a reflection of Spirit, or God. The education of the Soul is the Great Work. The beginning of this Work consists of awakening a transcending awareness...”

“This presence is like a passport to greater life. It is our connection to that Greater Being to which we belong, but which is often buried beneath mundane concerns, bodily desires, emotional disturbances, and mental distractions. Through knowledge, practice, and understanding, this presence can be awakened. Eventually, we will not be without it – whether in speaking or moving, whether in thinking or feeling. Awakening this presence is the most reliable and direct means of cultivating our essential human qualities, of activating everything that we need to meet the conditions of our lives. Presence is the point of intersection between the world of the senses and the world of the Spirit. May we never cease to discover its beauty and power.”

“In the entire vista of Malay literature—including even the Indonesian literatures—he was unique. None rivalled him in originality and poetic genius; in Malay Sufi literature none excelled the clarity and flowing simplicity of his prose which, nevertheless, reveals profound metaphysical insight in the Sufi doctrines; none exceeded him in poetry, whether it be in terms of literary output or in terms of intellectual content. He was, as I have earlier shown, the first man to set forth in systematic writing the essential aspects of the Şufi doctrines in Malay, and he not only impressed his influence upon certain historiographically important literary usages in Malay literature, but introduced as well new technical terminologies and concepts into the Malay language in general, and into Malay Sufi literature in particular, having do with theology, metaphysics and philosophy.”

“Among the sufis, one attains purity not by ritual ablution, not by faith and worship, not by deed or merit, but by direct knowledge, experience, certainty, the drunkenness of ecstatic realization. Only this intoxication truly purifies the soul, because with this "wine" one becomes lost, and finds oneself, within the heart. One loses all separative delusions, the dirt of a muffled consciousness, and attains the One. This is to wander nude in the bazaar, like a naked Qalandar. But if the bazaar is shocked, then scandal belongs to the bazaar, not the dervish. Like a drunkard, the suf loses his reputation in the world because the world has lost its reputation with him. The petty bazaar stands accused of hypocrisy; the naked man stands before God.”

“Metaphysical truth is scandalous; that is, it violates all the accepted modes of perception, all the ordinary, epistemologically neutral expectations of the sleeping soul. It tears open a curtain and reveals the occult; it unveils a beauty which is "forbidden" only because we ignore it in our stupor.”

“Not a believer in the mosque am I, Nor a disbeliever with his rites am I. I am not the pure amongst the impure, I am neither Moses nor Pharaoh. Bulleh, I know not who I am. Not in the holy books am I, Nor do I dwell in bhang or wine, Nor do I live in a drunken haze, Nor in sleep or waking known. Bulleh, I know not who I am. Not in happiness or in sorrow am I found. I am neither pure nor mired in filthy ground. Not of water nor of land, Nor am I in air or fire to be found. Bulleh, I know not who I am. Not an Arab nor Lahori, Not a Hindi or Nagouri, Nor a Muslim or Peshawari, Not a Buddhist or a Christian. Bulleh, I know not who I am. Secrets of religion have I not unravelled, I am not of Eve and Adam. Neither still nor moving on, I have not chosen my own name! Bulleh, I know not who I am. From first to last, I searched myself. None other did I succeed in knowing. Not some great thinker am I. Who is standing in my shoes, alone? Bulleh, I know not who I am.”

“I am for I think not (Sonnet 2674) Every country needs just one person to embody the best of humanity - but I couldn't wait to find those people, so I chose to be that person from every culture and every country, that's why I made these languages, these cultures, these soils, my own, no native, no foreign, it's all my own - I let their air fill my lungs, their passions permeate my veins, their tears galvanize my heart, their dreams resurrect my brain - which is why, some ask for water, some ask pani - somewhere I'm scientist, somewhere I'm sufi. I cannot explain this to your puny eurocentric analytical psyche, even to try would be like explaining neuroscience to a neanderthal - all I can say is, I am for I am not - I am for I think not - I don't live, I combust.”

“Muslim identity and thought in Nigeria derive from the Sufi brotherhoods of Qadiriyya and Tijaniyya, primarily as a result of the historical role of the Kanem-Borno and Sokoto caliphates in the spread of Islam. The Sufi orders and the Izalatul Bidi’a wa Ikhamatis Sunnah (People Committed to the Removal of Innovations in Islam; hereafter Izala) are the two dominant contemporary Muslim foci of identity. The disdain towards and fear of boko (Western education) arose from its historically close association with the colonial state and Christian missionaries. This also suited colonial educational policy well, as the British had no intention of widespread education anyway. The aim of colonial education, particularly in northern Nigeria, was to maintain the existing status quo by “imparting some literacy to the aristocratic class, to the exclusion of the commoner classes” (Tukur 1979: 866). By the 1930s, colonial education had produced a limited cadre of Western-educated elite, who were conscious of their education and were yearning to play a role in society. Mainly children of the aristocratic class, the type of education they received was “different from the traditional education in their various societies, and this by itself was enough to mark them out as a group” (Kwanashie 2002: 50). This new education enabled them to climb the social and economic ladder over and above their peers who had a different kind of education, Quranic education. This was the origin of the animosity and distrust between the traditionally educated and Western-educated elite in northern Nigeria. Though subordinate to the Europeans, these educated elite were perceived as collaborators by their Arabic-educated fellows. Thus the antagonism towards Western education continues in many northern Nigerian communities, which have defied government campaigns for school enrollment to this day.”

“However, ana al-haqq as it stands has raised a few literary questions as well and, within the tradition of mystic poetry, the attitude preserved in Hallaj's expression has given rise to mixed reactions regarding its content. It is held that it is an exaggeration of subjective experience, and ana—the personal "I"—shows leanings toward megalomania and egotism. It is the personal "I" which overshadows al-haqq, and thereby invites total attention to itself. In fact, the personal "I" absorbs al-haqq, and reaches out to the romantic cult of the egostistical sublime. In this context, the truth tends to become subjective and, therefore, relative, and in its social implications it shows the possibility of numerous diversions. Extreme individualism, in contrast to institutionalism, is also held to be related to ana al-haqq. The personal "I" is supposed to be potentionally explosive and destructive for values of the Establishment. A.J. Arberry has summed up the position by saying that Hallaj had dared to declare that his direct awareness of God was for him a clearer proof than both revelation and reason.”

“As for me, I admire above all Noble Drew's aesthetic, his unique and special blend of Afro-American, Native-American, High Magical, and Oriental symbolism and imagery - as well as his courage, his martyrdom, and his revolutionary stance against "Pharaoh." By Americanizing the prophetic spirit he injected our culture with a kind of folk Sufism. On the esoteric level, anyone who loves Love, Truth, Peace, Freedom, and Justice is a member of the "Asiatic race" and the Lost/Found Moorish Nation of North America.”

“The Nondual Nutcase (Sonnet Beyond Binary) Separatism is the hallmark of eurocentric thought, whether it's separation between the mortal and divine, or the separation between reason and theology, or between science and philosophy, or prose and poetry. Every single aspect of human consciousness touched by eurocentrism ends up divided and desecrated, losing its health-giving wholeness, which is why I never felt at home with euroschools, despite the fact that I too like everyone on the planet grew up in a westwashed education system. However, it took me over a hundred books and 2000 sonnets to wake up to the tangible realization, that the entire eurocentric paradigm is separatist, from its science to philosophy to theology to poetry. In euro schools of thought we say: keep the divine separate from the people, keep science separate from philosophy. In Naskarian we say: integration is divine by reason of poetry.”

“Life is Nonbiblical, Truth is Nonbinary (Sonnet 2349-2350) Atheism is a white european invention, outside the shortsighted gutter of eurocentrism there are people who don't need to believe in a creator to be holy, you can be sacred without being superstitious, the human world is teeming with such cultures where life is holy, duty is holy, laughter is holy, but of course your whitewashed, eurocentric little intellect cannot fathom nonduality - that's why you mustn't confuse intellect with wisdom, some of the brilliant minds are first class idiots, their binary brains have zero capacity for nuance, they confuse the backwater fiction-centric narrative of the church to be the entire lifespring of theology, so naturally, either they believe like sheep or reject like robot, because in a world of sheep and cyborgs either there is god or there is not, either you submit to blind faith or icecold logic, there is no place for heart, humanity and tolerance! Not Christ, but church doctrine was a major downgrade in theology existing hundreds and thousands of years prior, at the same time, european reductionism was a major downgrade in a wholesome life-centric understanding of truth. We need a life-centric understanding of truth, not truth-centric understanding of life - we need a human-centric realization of divine, not divine-centric realization of human.”