“The Sufis never set out to found a new religion, a mazhab or denomination. They were content to live and work within the framework of the Muslim religion, using texts from the Quran much as Christian mystics have used the Bible to illustrate their tenets.

Their aim was to purify and spiritualize Islam from within, to give it a deeper, mystical interpretation, and infuse into it a spirit of love and liberty. In the broader sense, therefore, in which the word religion is used in our time, their movement could well be called a religious one, one which did not aim at tying men down with a new set of rules but rather at setting them free from external rules and open to the movement of the spirit.. Perhaps we may say that if, in the past, Sufism’s function was to spiritualize Islam, its purpose in the future will be rather to make possible a welding of religious thought between East and West, a vital, ecumenical commingling and understanding, which will prove ultimately to be, in the truest sense, on both sides, a return to origins, to the original unity..”

Excerpts from The Persian Sufis by Cyprian Rice.

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What is Sufism ?

I have heard that the ecstasy

Of the “Wearers of wool”

Comes from finding the taste of Love.

That’s Sufism, nothing more.

Sufism is nothing but a path,

It is just this clear road, and nothing more.

What is Sufism ?

Good character and awareness of Love.

The cure for hatred and vengeance.

That’s Sufism, nothing more.

What is Sufism ?

The heart attaining tranquility

Which is the root of religion.

That’s Sufism, nothing more.

What is Sufism ?

Contemplation that travels

To the Divine throne, a far-seeing gaze.

That’s Sufism, and nothing more.

Sufism is keeping one’s distance

From imagination and supposition.

Sufism is surrendering one’s soul

To the care of the inviolability of Love.

Sufism is the path of faith

And affirmation of unity,

It is an incorruptible religion.

That’s Sufism, nothing more.

Sufism is a smooth and illuminated path,

It is the way to the most exalted Paradise.

That’s Sufism, and nothing more.

“Rumi”.

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“If invited to offer prayers in a Church, a Mosque, a Synagogue, or a Hindu Temple, the Sufi is ready to do so, knowing that all people worship the same God, the Only Being, no matter what Name they use. Yet the Sufi’s true House of Worship is the human heart, in which the Divine Beloved lives. Sufism is a religion for those who wish to learn religion from it, a philosophy for those wanting wisdom from it, a mystical path for any who would be guided by it to the unfolding of the Soul, and yet it is beyond all these things. It is the Light of Life, which is the sustenance of every soul.”

‘The teachings of Rumi’.

The soul that hasn’t received

Peace and love from God,

What a helpless and lost soul that is!

With whom are you going to be in love?

Be thankful to God that your punishment

Came from temporary side of love.

But leave the temporary love,

Because real love is God’s Love.

I merged so completely with Love, and

Was so fused, that I became Love

And Love became me.

That way, I was saved

From instigation, trials and tribulations.

Yes, with complete union,

Man becomes strange to himself.

Be a glass for the wine of Love,

In order to deserve the Beloved.

Be pure Soul,

Give your life with the Beloved’s love.

A knot cannot be untied without Love.

Love is the light of nights.

For Love, play with your Soul.

If you have fallen into grief,

In the end, with the favor of God,

Whose compassion and justice cover the arch,

You will be helped and relieved.

What do you think about Love?

You haven’t heard about Love, even from Lovers.

Love is neither a tale nor a game.

Love is such a torrent

That no one can stand in front of it.

Kings would give away their throne

For the smell of the Wine that Lovers drink

At the assembly of Heart.

Love is a light, exalted,

A secret river to be drunk,

Purified and flowing forever,

A fire burning, never extinguished.

Love goes together with suffering,

But it is the greatest.

Gamble everything for Love,

If you’re a true human being.

If not, leave this gathering.

Halfheartedness doesn’t reach into Majesty.

You set out to find God,

But then you keep stopping for long periods

At mean-spirited roadhouses!

Trust Love. Love is completely

A face and eyes turned this way, watching you.

There is nothing next to Love,

Except face and vision.

He doesn’t have a shape,

But all His work is to make shapes and forms!

Those who don’t feel this love

Pulling them like a river,

Those who don’t drink dawn

Like a cup of spring water

Or take in sunset like supper,

Those who don’t want to change,

Let them sleep!

This love is beyond the study of theology,

That old trickery and hypocrisy.

If you want to improve your mind that way,

Sleep on!

I’ve given up on my brain.

I’ve torn the cloth to shreds

And thrown it away.

If you’re not completely naked,

Wrap your beautiful robe of words

around you,

And go back to sleep!

For lovers, the only lecturer is

The beauty of the Beloved;

Their only book and lecture and lesson is:

The Face.

They are silent outwardly,

But their penetrating remembrance rises

To the high throne of their Friend.

Their only lesson is enthusiasm,

Whirling, and trembling,

Not the fine points of Jurisprudence!

Through love: Darkness becomes clear.

Through love: Bitter things become sweet.

Through love: Pain becomes the healing.

Through love: Dead becomes alive.

Love makes the sea boil like a kettle.

Love crumbles the mountain like a sand.

Love drills hundred holes in the sky.

Love trembles the earth like a quake.

Look at Love

How it tangles

With the one fallen in love.

Look at Spirit

How it fuses with earth

Giving it a new life.

Why are you so busy

With this or that or good or bad?

Pay attention to how things blend

Be like sugarcane sweet yet silent

Don’t get mixed up with bitter words.

Love is the whole thing.

We are only pieces.

Love is the sea of no end.

We are a drop of it.

Without Love, even the stars

Are eclipsed, and extinguished.

Don’t keep Love away from your Soul,

So that your good deeds may bear fruit,

And keep growing.

Fall in Love. Forget names and titles.

Leave the grains, leave the trap.

Name the stone ‘gold.’

Name sugar ‘grief and suffering.’

Reason is powerless in the expression of love.

Love alone is capable of revealing the Truth,

And being a lover.

The agony of lovers

Burns with the fire of the passion.

Lovers leave traces of where they’ve been.

The wailing of a lover’s broken heart

Is the doorway to The Beloved.

If you want to live, die in love

Die in love if you want to remain alive.

Love has opened your heart

Start walking towards Love

Your legs will get heavy and tired

Then comes a moment of feeling:

The wings you’ve grown, lifting…

“Rumi”.

“The essence of God is love and the Sufi Path is the path of love. Love is to see what is good and beautiful in everything. It is to learn from everything, to see the gifts of God and the generosity of God in everything. It is to be thankful for all of God’s bounties. This is the first step on the road to the love of God. This is just a seed of love. In time, the seed will grow and become a tree and bear fruit. Then, whoever tastes of that fruit will know what real love is. It will be different for those who have tasted to tell of it to those who have not. When you find love, you will find yourself. When you have the knowledge of love, you will then feel peace in your heart. Stop searching here and there, the Jewels are inside you. This, my friends, is the holy meaning of love.”

‘The teachings of Rumi’.

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Quick glossary of Sufi terminology

Sufism

The mystical dimension of Islam or Islamic Mysticism. Sufism teaches the relationship between Man and God on the one hand, and Man and Man on the other, and the various mystical stages of Man’s spiritual evolutions in his/her journey towards The Real in quest of everlasting union.

Sufi

A seeker, a dervish, a fakir, a qalandar, a lover, or a mystic. Sufi is the one who moves towards The Truth by means of love and devotion. Sufi believes that the only way to becoming perfect is by the purification of self.

The 4 stages of self-purification in Sufism:

1. Self becoming emptied

2. Self becoming illuminated

3. Self becoming adorned

4. Self-having-passed-away & in eternal union with The Real.

Murid: Novice student of Sufism, or the one who follows a “Pir” or a spiritual-guide.

Pir/Murshid/Shaykh: Spiritual- guide, or the Sufi teacher of traditional Sufi teacher-student relationships. Pir-0-Murshid or a spiritual-guide’s presence is an inspiration to the spiritual development, maturity, and illumination of novice student of Sufism.

Salik: A wanderer or seeker of knowledge of Sufism who may follow many different teachers, seeking personal goals, and different states or levels of Spirituality in his/her journey toward The Truth.

Suluk: The Spiritual pathway of a Salik/seeker’s inner and outer mystical journey in his/her quest for union with The Real.

Khanaqah/Zawiya/Tekke/Ribat: Meditation and prayer center for collective practice of Sufi spiritual disciplines. It’s also the traditional lodging place for wandering Sufi dervishes and fakirs.

Zikr/Zekr: The Sufi practice of repetitious remembering of God. Zikr can be performed individually or collectively through recitation and silent meditation, or by the Sufi practices of chanting, dancing, and musical instruments playing rituals as a means of prayer and remembering of The Real. Sufis’ Zikr ceremony is based on the following Quranic teaching: “Remember Me, and I shall remember You.” Quran 2:152.

Source: http://sologak1.blogspot.de