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Tasawwuf Quotes

Browse 14 quotes about Tasawwuf.

Tasawwuf Quotes

“If we don't bring others close to us then who will bring us close, If we don't shake hand first who will come forward to shake hand with us, If we don't smile at others who will smile seen us, If we are not happy seen others happy who will happily see us happy, If we don't take care of others then who will take care of us, If we don't respect others who will respect us, If we don't think of good for others who will think good of us, If we don't tell the truth then who will tell truth for us, If we don't change ourselves then who will change for us.”

“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.”

“It seems to me that apart from the aptness of the Malay language in the construction of four-lined verses with a AAAA pattern of rhyme, the influence of Ibnu’l-‘Arabi’s and ‘Iraqi’s four-line shi’r and Jami’s ruba’i, the concept of the bayt and the shi’r in Arabic and Persian prosody, the creative genius of the poet, Hamzah’s choice of the four-line shi’r composed of a single bayt could well have been influenced also by the symbolism in the Sufi doctrines.”

“The analogy of the fourfold Law Way, Truth and Gnosis in which they are compared to a house may be said to be a static one, and this is because what is aimed at here is comprehension of the concept of the absolute unity of the Way to the Truth; but the spiritual journey itself is a dynamic concept, and hence sometimes the fourfold unity of the Way to the Truth is also to a ship (kapal) whose keel is like the Law, whose planks are like the Way, whose content or merchandise is like the Truth and whose gain is like the spiritual gain of Gnosis.”

“You have read for years, and where has it got you? Your head is filled with masses of ideas and concepts, and you yearn for experience that others on the path have had. Before your true nature is understood all those ideas and concepts must melt away. No books — the only book is the manuscript of nature, the lesson is life itself. Live passionately! Who said that this path should be so serious that there is no joy in it? This is the most exciting adventure possible, and it should be enjoyed. — Hamid”