Sufis Quotes

“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, Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way

“Three Things
Three things cannot be retrieved:
The arrow once sped from the bow
The word spoken in haste
The missed opportunity.

(Ali the Lion, Caliph of Islam, son-in-law of Mohammed the Prophet),”
― Idries Shah, Caravan of Dreams

“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.”
― Bulleh Shah

“Q: What is a fundamental mistake of man's?
A: To think that he is alive, when he has merely fallen asleep in life's waiting-room.”
― Idries Shah, Seeker After Truth: A Handbook

“Real generosity is anonymous to the extent that a man should be prepared even to be considered ungenerous rather than explain it to others.”
― Idries Shah, Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi Way

“Deep in the sea are riches beyond compare. But if you seek safety, it is on the shore.”
― Idries Shah, The Sufis

“Sayings of the Prophet
Trust: Trust in God – but tie your camel first.”
― Idries Shah, Caravan of Dreams

“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, In Arabian Nights: A Caravan of Moroccan Dreams

“One day we will all wear a garment which has no pockets...”
― Idries Shah, The Commanding Self

“Wisdom is when you understand what, previously, at best you only knew.”
― Idries Shah, Observations

“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, Knowing How to Know : A Practical Philosophy in the Sufi Tradition

“Definitions from Mulla Do-Piaza
A fool:
A man trying to be honest with the dishonest.”
― Idries Shah, Caravan of Dreams

“The spirit is the mirror; the body is the rust.
(Divan-i-Shamsi Tabriz)”
― Idries Shah

“SAYING OF SHEIKH ZIAUDIN:
Self-justification is worse than the original offence.”
― Idries Shah, The Way of the Sufi

“If wine is the enemy of religion, I shall devour the enemy of religion.”
― Idries Shah, Sufi Thought and Action: An Anthology of Important Papers

“The mine is always bigger than the gem.”
― 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, Thinkers of the East

“The function of a nutrient is to become transmuted, not to leave unaltered traces.”
― Idries Shah, The Sufis

“Haste is from the Devil.”
― Idries Shah, Caravan of Dreams

“Saying of the Prophet. The Bequest: I have nothing to leave you except my family.”
― Idries Shah, Caravan of Dreams

“The totality of life cannot be understood, so runs Sufi teaching, if it is studied only through the methods which we use in everyday living.”
― Idries Shah, The Sufis

“As we know, bears hibernate in caves. They appear almost lifeless. This is an analog to the practices of ancient shamans, and to Sufis who practice the forty-day halvet (retreat), in which the Shaman would enter a cave, have an experience of dying, explore the spiritual realms, and then is reborn as the Initiate or Master (just as the bear is reborn each spring as it “wakes up” and leaves its cave).”
― Laurence Galian, The Sun at Midnight: The Revealed Mysteries of the Ahlul Bayt Sufis

“As for being a Sufi, I think every Iranian by birth is born one. It is in our blood.”
― Soroosh Shahrivar, Tajrish

“Love is the only nonvolatile currency in the world.”
― Abhijit Naskar, Insan Himalayanoğlu: It's Time to Defect

“Bees are a recurring symbol of the Merovingians and the humming or buzzing sound of bees is likened to supersensible “sounds” experienced by many Sufis as they enter spirit realms.”
― Laurence Galian, The Sun at Midnight: The Revealed Mysteries of the Ahlul Bayt Sufis

“Let your self be annihilated in the fire of love, For in that fire, all selves are burned away. When the self has vanished, you will see The Beloved everywhere, in every face”
― Hafiz Sherazi

“Man has less than he suspects of: time, friends, hopes, qualities.

Idries Shah - Caravan of Dreams”
― Idries Shah

“As in a harmonised group, once this ‘electronic’ link is established between people, a new person can be introduced, and as long as he or she can orientate him-or-herself correctly to the activity, what has taken many years for the group to learn can be picked up very quickly. For this to be possible it is essential to avoid hierarchies developing, because the attitude of feeling more important as a result of having been around longer makes this transmission impossible. (The Steganographer 6)”
― Oliver Hoare

“Sufis have experimented over the centuries with a variety of spiritual practices designed to crack the heart open to ecstatic experience of the divine. [...] While Muslim theologians and jurists tend to emphasize God’s transcendence and distance, Sufis emphasize God’s immanence and nearness, drifting along the way toward pantheism (“everything is God”) and monism (“everything is One.”). While other Muslims emphasize the radical qualitative distinction between God and human beings, Sufis emphasize the ways in which human beings resemble God, who is as near to them, as the Quran puts it, “as the jugular vein” (50:16). If Reality is one, then multiplicity is an illusion, and there is no real distinction between Creator and created. Because every place is equally sacred, you don’t need to go to Mecca or a mosque to find God. In fact you don’t need to travel beyond your own heart.”
― Stephen Prothero, God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World

“Saints, unknown to early Islam, became numerous in Sufism. One of the earliest was a woman, Rabia al-Adawiyya of Basra (717-801). Sold as a slave in youth, she was freed because her master saw a radiance above her head while she prayed. Refusing marriage, she lived a life of self-denial and charity. Asked if she hated Satan, she answered, "My love for God.1eaves me no room for hating Satan." Tradition ascribes to her a famous Sufi saying: "0 God! Give to Thine enemies whatever Thou hast assigned to me of this world's goods, and to Thy friends whatever Thou hast assigned to me in the life to come; for Thou Thyself art sufficient for me.”
― Will Durant, The Age of Faith