Sufi Wisdom

Asking good questions is half of learning.

- Prophet Muhammad(May Peace and blessing Be upon Him)

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A donkey with a load of holy books is still a donkey.

-Traditional (Essential Sufism)

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Whatever you have in your mind - forget it;
Whatever you have in your hand - give it;
Whatever is to be your fate - face it!

-Abu Sa'id

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A seeker went to ask a sage for guidance on the Sufi way.

The sage counseled,

"if you have never trodden the path of love, go away and fall in love;
then come back and see us."

-Jami

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If words come out of the heart, they will enter the heart, but if they come from the tongue, they will not pass beyond the ears.

-Al-Suhrawardi

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:: Further read- http://www.katinkahesselink.net

:: Picture. Pastel doplets by ~Katosu

Sufi Love

All human beings during their lives tend to experience love and friendship. Human love can be classified into three basic categories according to its intensity, quality and limitations. The first form of love is the friendship that is based on social conventions where two people behave in accordance with the following principle: "I for myself, you for yourself; we love each other, and we have no expectations of each other." This form of love is that of ordinary people, whose love relationships tend to be of this nature.

The second form of love is based on a more solid foundation and those who live together usually experience this kind of love: "I for you, you for me; we love each other, having mutual expectations of each other." This form of love includes profound love as well as the love found within most families, involving emotional give and take on an equal footing.

The third kind of love transcends all conventions based on mutual expectations and is based on the following principle: "I am for you, you are for whoever you choose; I accept whatever you want without any expectations whatsoever."

The Sufi's devotion to God and to the master of the Path represents this latter form of love. This third kind of love is not based upon any constraints or conditions, and the Sufi who possesses this kind of love says with contentment and submission to God: "I am satisfied with whatever You want without any expectations, and love You without any thought of reward."

The Sufi's love of God is not based upon any expectation of reward or fear of punishment, for the Sufi does not have any wishes and demands. The Sufi embraces and loves God's wrath as much as His grace, His hardheartedness as much as His fidelity.

Only a few Sufis have managed to annihilate themselves in the Beloved through the path of such love and friendship. It is about these Sufis that Rumi has said:

Everything is the Beloved,

and the lover but a veil;

The Beloved is alive,

while the lover is dead.

Thus, we see that the highest form of human love is 'Sufi Love'. Alas, it is a polo ball that only the most distinguished and perfected human beings are worthy of putting into play.

-Dr Javad Nurbakhsh(Present Master of the Nimatullahi Order)

::Picture courtesy of Somewhere Pure by *Lilyas on Deviantart::

Her Bird-Flower Self

Without sight of the root,

That flower sways in the night breeze,

Like a bird flying towards the invisible moon.

Into the night, that white flower speaks,

In bliss, I bless Her Bird-Flower Self.



©Luqman.WordsOfPearls.

Thoughts of you, Today

You taught me to be here with my full attention,
To cherish each moment as precious:
More sacred than memory
Or the dreams that tomorrow may bring.

Today
Is the milk that sustains us
And in it is a beauty and wonder
That I used to search for,
Imagining it was far yonder.

Today
Is a flower in crescendo,
Vibrant with the full colour
Of all its yesterdays.

Here and now, I am the sum total of all my days.
You have taught me the mindfulness of being
And I honour this, with gratitude and stillness:
The song of you, present in the core of me.


-Lord Buddha

Hafiz l Ghazal 42

I long to open up my heart

For my heart do my part.

My story was yesterday’s news

From rivals cannot keep apart.

On this holy night stay with me

Till the morning, do not depart.

On a night so dark as this,

My course, how can I chart?

O breath of life, help me tonight

That in the morn

I make a start. In my love for you,

I will My self and ego thwart.

Like Hafiz, being love smart;

I long to master that art.

-Hafiz Of Shiraz

A Cup full of water

''Keep pouring!'' you scream.
''The Cup is already full. It's overflowing! No more can go in!'' the reply comes.

Why try to hold water in a Cup?
Become the Ocean Itself!
But to understand this,
You have to first empty the Cup!


©Luqman.WordsOfPearls.

On Death l Kahlil Gibran

You would know the secret of death.
But how shall you find it
unless you seek it in the heart of life?

The owl whose night-bound eyes are blind
unto the day cannot unveil the mystery of light.

If you would indeed behold the spirit of death,
open your heart wide unto the body of life.

For life and death are one,
even as the river and the sea are one.

In the depth of your hopes and desires lies
your silent knowledge of the beyond;
And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow
your heart dreams of spring.

Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden
the gate to eternity.

Your fear of death is but the trembling of the shepherd
when he stands before the king
whose hand is to be laid upon him in honour.
Is the shepherd not joyful beneath his trembling,
that he shall wear the mark of the king?
Yet is he not more mindful of his trembling?

For what is it to die but to stand naked in the wind
and to melt into the sun?
And what is it to cease breathing,
but to free the breath from its restless tides,
that it may rise and expand and seek God unencumbered?

Only when you drink from the river of silence
shall you indeed sing.
And when you have reached the mountain top,
then you shall begin to climb.

And when the earth shall claim your limbs,
then shall you truly dance.

- Kahlil Gibran

Kahlil Gibran

Khalil Gibran artist, poet, writer, philosopher. He was born in today's Lebanon and spent much of his productive life in the United States.

Much of Gibran's writings deal with Christianity, mostly condemning the corrupt practices of the Eastern churches and their clergies during that era. His poetry is notable for its use of formal language, as well as insights on topics of life using spiritual terms.

One of his most notable lines of poetry in the English speaking world is from 'Sand and Foam' , which reads : 'Half of what I say is meaningless, but I say it so that the other half may reach you'. This was taken by John Lennon into the song Julia from The Beatles.

Gibran died in New York City on April 10, 1931: the cause was determined to be cirrhosis of the liver and tubercolosis. Before his death, Gibran expressed the wish that he be buried in Lebanon. This wish was fulfilled in 1932, when Mary Haskell and his sister Mariana purchased the Mar Sarkis Monastery in Lebanon.
Kahlil Gibran remains the most popular Lebanese-American writer ever.

Kahlil Gibran Memorial in Washington, DC

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I have learned silence from the talkative,
toleration from the intolerant,
and kindness from the unkind;
yet, strange, I am ungrateful to those teachers.

-Kahlil Gibran

Up at the sky

On the grass i lie, and up the sky, at the Full Moon i look.
And i forget myself.

With such grace she sits in the clouds.
In this night, her beauty outshines the Sun.
Even the stars hides behind the clouds.
How radiant her face.
WIthout lips, she gives me kisses.
Without hands, she touches me.
I wish my eyes were the Moon.
Within me, she is present. The Mystics tell me.

But on the grass i lie, and up the sky, at the Full Moon i look.
And i forget myself.


©Luqman.HiddenRealms.