Buddha founded his Path on the human fact of suffering. Islam give the basic situation in which we find ourselves a slightly different interpretation: man in his ordinary state of consciousness is literally asleep (“and when he dies he awakes,” as Mohammad said) He lives in a dream, whether of enjoyment or suffering – a…
Iradah A seeker starts his search for a master after he senses his own incompleteness and feels the urge to reach perfection. Upon finding a master, the seeker surrenders himself to the master’s will and becomes his disciple (morid); in this way he may pass through the stages of perfection and finally reach the tate…
The sufi is a lover of God, and like any other lover, he proves his love by constant remembrance of his Beloved. This constant attention to God has two effects: One outward and the other inward. The inward effect is that the sufi’s remembrance distances him from the domain of ‘I and you’ and joins…
Some people believe that a sufi must be without wealth. Actually, this is an incorrect view. To willfully insist upon living in poverty is itself an attachment. The sufi, though, is free from all attachment. The essential point here is that the sufis heart should have no attachment to wealth or worldly possessions. If a…
At first the fire of love was but a flickering flame. But many have come along since then to add to its intensity - Hajj Mulla Hadi Sabziwari In view of the common misunderstandings that exist today regarding Sufism, Dr. Javad Nurbakhsh decided it would be appropriate to provide some clarification of certain fundamental points.…
In Persian, the term ‘sayr wa suluk’ (‘traveling and social conduct on the Path’) -which is another term for Sufism- is composed of two words where each word can be explained separately in the following manner. First, ‘sayr’ (‘traveling’) indicates the purification of the Sufi’s inward being on the path towards spiritual perfection. It refers to the Sufi’s relationship…
