THE SUFI WAY
We are charming thieves
who steal hearts
and never fail,
because we are the friends
of the One.
The time for old preaching is over.
We aim straight
at the heart.
If the mind tries to sneak in
and take over,
we will string it up without delay.
We turn poison into medicine,
our sorrow into blessings.
All that was familiar,
our beloved ones and ourselves,
we had to leave behind.
Blessed is the poem that comes
through me but not of me,
because the sound of my own music
will drown the song of Love.
Jalaluddin Rumi
There is only One Light,
and 'you' and 'me'
are holes
in the lamp shade.
Mahmud Shabistari
The Sufis says that the Divine is the centre of the existence, and the heart is the centre through which we can contact it.
The prayer, the meditation, the breathing, the turning dance, and especially the practice of the dhikr (remembrance of God), based on the repetition of the Divine Names, are the main tools used by the Sufis in searching for a direct connection with God.
The word Sufi derives from the Arabic saf which means pure, clear, adaptable like water. It is said that the Sufi has a pure heart, which means he wants only one thing: God. Sufism is the mystic heart of all religions. It has assumed different shapes and forms over the centuries.
The dervishes exist since the humanity exists: in the tradition we say that the Prophet Adam, peace be upon him, was the first Sufi.
The Truth has continued to adopt different forms, from the mysticism of the Prophet Jesus, peace be upon him, then through the mystics of all traditions, the monks, the hermits, Saint Francis of Assisi.
It embraced its present form when the dervishes, always in search for the Truth, met the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, the last one, the seal of all the prophets, and they fell in love with him.
The sweetness of his love and the truth of his message are irresistible for the people of the heart.
(see also: www.sufiway.it)
Do not think
you are veiled
from Allah
by something
that is not Allah.
There is nothing
besides Allah.
You are veiled from Him
by the Illusion
that there is something
other than Allah.
Ahmad Ibn Ata‘ Allah
The path of Sufism is the elimination of the seventy thousand veils interposing between the individual and God, in order to be One.
The essence of God is Love and the Sufi path is a way of Love. Love is
to see what is good and beautiful in everything, in every person we meet. It is to learn from everyone and everything,
it is to recognize the gifts of God and His infinite generosity wherever we look, and to be thankful. This is the first step on the path leading to the Love of God.
Love is a pleasure and a pain, a longing, a yearning. Whoever has tasted Love, even only for a moment, in any form, has tasted God. And
knows the secret.
Let the Beauty we love
be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways
to kneel in prayers
and kiss
the Earth.
Jalaluddin Rumi
is proclaiming one‘s greatness.
It is actually total humility.
Some one who says,
"I am the servant of God"
infers two – God and himself –
whereas someone who says,
"I am God", negates himself.
He relinquishes his own existence.
"I am God" means
"I don‘t exist.
Everything is God.
Only God exists. I am nothing.
I am utter emptiness".
This is complete humility
not arrogance,
but people often misunderstand.
When someone says he is God‘s servant,
he still sees himself as a doer,
albeit in God‘s service.
He is not yet drowned
in the Ocean of God.
When he is, there will be no such thing
as 'his actions',
only movements
of water.
Jalaluddin Rumi
God said: "To reveal the secrets
of my Abundant Love,
I created a mirror
whose face is Consciousness
and whose back
is the world".
Jalaluddin Rumi
