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Wednesday, June 29, 2011

THE PIECE OF OAK

A father handed his son a piece of smooth oak, and said to him, "This is your board. For every mistake you make, I will hammer in a nail"
By the time the boy was thirteen, the board was covered corner to corner with nails, some rusted, some shining new. The father took the board to his son and said, "For every good thing you do to fix all of these wrongs, I will take one nail out."
And it was not too long before the father took the last nail out the proudly showed his son the
clean piece of oak. Yet when son saw the board, his eyes brimmed with tears. He turned to his father and said, "But father, what about the holes?...


REFERENCE: SOUL PRINTS BY MARC GAFNI

Saturday, June 25, 2011

TWO DERVISHES

Two dervishes met on the road very early one morning. Each had a huge bale of firewood on his back. The Sultan passed and saw them. Many hours later the sultan returned near this spot and saw that the two men were still standing, shouldering their heavy loads and talking.
"Who are these men?" asked the Sultan. "They are dervishes, O Sultan," said one of his attendants, "and when they are with one another the burdens of the world disappear."

REFERENCE: WHEN YOU HEAR THE HOOFBEAT THINK OF ZEBRA
BY SHEMS FRIEDLANDER

HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE A HEART

Once a young woman asked me,
"How does it feel to be a man?"
And I replied,
"My dear,
I am not sure,"
Then she said,
"Well, aren't you a man?"

And this time I replied,

"I view gender
As a beautiful animal
That people often take for a walk on a leash
And might enter in some odd contest
To try win strange prizes.

My dear,
A better question for Hafiz
would have been,
'How does it feel to be a heart?'
For all I know is Love'
And I find my heart Infinite.
And Everywhere!"

HAFIZ

REFERENCE: I HEARD GOD LAUGHING
BY DANIEL LANDISKY

Friday, June 24, 2011

DON'T JUMP

A man came by where Hazrat Ali was working on a roof. The man asked, "Is it true that our lives are predestined and that it is written exactly when we are going to die?"
Hazrat Ali answered that this was indeed true.
The man continued, "Then why do you not jump off of the roof? You will not die now if it is not your time."
Hazrat Ali asked the man,"Are you testing God? on the contrary, it is God who created all of this to test you."

REFERENCE: WHAT ABOUT MY WOOD!
BY ES-SEYYID ES- SHAYKH TANER ANSARI

Thursday, June 23, 2011

THE APPARENT PROBLEM

A student came to his master and said, "Teacher, you taught me that if I run from honor, then honor will pursue me. Well, I have been running from honor for many years now and honor is still not pursuing me."
"The problem," replied the master, nodding sagaciously, "is clearly apparent. When you run from honor you are always looking over your shoulder to see if honor is pursuing you- so honor is confused, not quite sure which way you are going."

REFERENCE: SOUL PRINT BY MARC GAFNI

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

IT IS PRICELESS

Shibli was a pupil of the famous theosophist Junaid of Baghdad. On his conversion, he came to Junaid, saying: "They tell me that you poses the pearl of divine knowledge: either give it to me or sell it." Junaid answered, "I cannot sell it, for you have not the price there of; and if I give it to you, you will have gained it cheaply. You do not know its value. Cast yourself head long, like me, into this ocean, in order that you may win the pearl by waiting patiently."....

REFERENCE: THE MYSTICS OF ISLAM
BY A NICHOLSON

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

TRUE FOLLOWERS

At the time of the Ottoman Empire in Turkey, one of the viziers told the Sultan about a great Shiekh who lived in Anatolia. He warned the Sultan to be careful of this Sheikh, because he had hundreds of thousands of followers. And if this sheikh decided to turn against the Sultan, the whole country could be in turmoil and he could even lose throne.
The Sultan got quite concerned. He sent for the Sheikh to come to Istanbul. When they met, the sultan said, "What is this I hear, you have hundreds of thousands of dervish followers?" "No that is not so," the Sheikh answered "Well, how many do you have?" the Sultan insisted.
"I only have one and a half."
"If you only have one and a half, why is everyone telling me that you have the power to overthrow this entire country? We shall see, there's a huge field at the edge of town, and tomorrow everyone is going to meet at that field."
The Sultan sent out messengers to announce that anyone who was a follower of this great Sheikh should come to this field the next day, because the sheikh would be there.
Above the field there was a hill where the Sultan set up a huge tent. Inside the tent he put several sheep, but no one could see this.
The next day hundreds of thousands of people came to the field to see the great Sheikh. In front of the tent the sultan stood next to the Sheikh and said, "You said you didn't have many followers."
"They are not," the Sheikh said. "I only have one and a half dervishes. You'll see."
"The Sheikh has committed an indiscretion," the Sultan said, "And unless ten of the dervishes give up their life for him, his life will be taken."
There was a great rumbling in the crowd. "He is my Sheikh and teacher. Whatever I know come from him," one man came forward and said. "I will go and give my life for him."
The Sultan's men marched him up the hill, took him into the tent, and slit the throat of a sheep. Everybody saw the blood flowing out from the side of the tent, and this made them very nervous.
The Sultan declared, "Is there anyone else willing to give his life for his Sheikh?"
Silence
Then one woman stood up and said she would . They marched her up and into the tent, and again they slit the throat of another sheep. Seeing more blood, the crowd began to disperse. Soon there was no one left in the field.
The Sheikh turned to the sultan and said, "you see, I told you, I only had one and a half dervishes."
The Sultan said, "Oh, the man is your dervish, and the woman is half a dervish?"
"No, no, " the Sheikh said "The woman is my dervish, and the man is half a dervish."
Seeing the surprised expression on the sultan's face, the Sheikh explained:
"The man did not actually know that he was going to be killed when he entered the tent. But the woman knew, and she still came forward. she is my real dervish."


REFERENCE: WHEN YOU HEAR A HOOFBEAT THINK OF ZEBRA
BY SHEMS FRIEDLANDER

SAYINGS OF IBN-AL-ARABI

1. When you realize the mystery of oneness with the Divine. You will know that you are no other than Allah, and that you always been and will always be beyond every time and place. Then you will understand that all your actions are His actions and your essence is His essence and all your attributes belong to Him. The soul then understands that it does not see Allah through itself but through Allah so that it is not the soul that loves Allah but Allah who loves Himself. The soul see Allah in all beings, but only because it is Allah who is looking.



2. Allah is not limited to the way he appears to you by making Himself appropriate to your ability to receive Him. Therefore, no other creature are obliged to obey the God you worship for He appears to them in others form.



3. God removed from me my contingent dimension. Thus I attained in this non tunnel journey the inner realities of all the Names, and I saw them all returning to One subject and One Entity. The subject was that I witnessed and that Entity was my being. For my voyage was only in myself and pointed to myself and through this I came to know that I was pure "slave" without a trace of lordship in me at all.



4. All is contained in the divine breath, like the day in the morning down.


5. My existence is from you and your appearance is through me.
Yet if I had not appeared, you would not been.


6. Gnostic's cannot impart their feelings to the other men; they can only indicate them symbolically to those who have begun to experience the like.


7. When my Beloved appears,
with what eye do I see Him?
with His eye, not with mine,
For none sees Him except Himself.


8. Everything engendered in existence is Imagination-
but in fact it is Reality whoever understand this truth
has grasped the mysteries of the way.


9. God made the creatures as veils. He who knows them to be such is led back to Him, but he who takes them as real is barred from His presence.


10. I saw myself through the light that things carry in their essence- not through any extraneous light.


11. He is the seer and also that through which He sees.

Monday, June 20, 2011

THE TALE OF THE SANDS

A stream, from its source in far-off mountains, passing through every kind and description of countryside, at last reached the sands of the desert, just as it had crossed every other barrier, the stream tried to cross this one, but it found that as fast as it ran into the sand, its water disappeared.
It was convinced, however, that its destiny was to cross this desert, and yet there was no way. Now a hidden voice, coming from the desert itself, whispered: "The wind crosses the desert, and so can the stream?"
The stream objected that it was dashing itself against the sand, and only getting absorbed; that the wind could fly, and this was why it could cross a desert.
'By hurtling in your own accustomed way you cannot get across. You will either disappear or become a marsh. You must allow the wind to carry you over, to your destination.'
But how could this happen?
'By allowing yourself to be absorbed in the wind.'
This idea was not acceptable to the stream. After all, it had never been absorbed before. It did not want to lose its individuality. And, once having lost it, how was one to know that it could ever be regained?
'The wind,' said the sand, 'perform this function. It takes up water, carries it over the desert, and then lets it fall again, falling as rain, the water again becomes a river?'
'How can I know that this is true?'
'It is so, and if you do not believe it, you cannot become more than a quagmire, and even that could take many, many years; and it certainly is not the same as stream?'
'But can I not remain the same stream that I am today?'
'You cannot in either case remain so! the whisper said. 'Your essential part is carried away and forms a stream again. You are called what you are even today because you do not know which part of you is the essential one!
When he heard this, certain echoes began to arise in the thoughts of the stream. Dimly, he remembered a state in which he-or some part of him, was it?-had been held in the arms of a wind. He also remembered- or did he?- that this was the real thing, not necessarily the obvious thing, to do.
And the stream raised his vapour into the welcoming arms of the wind, which gently and easily bore it upward and along letting it fall softly as soon as they reached the roof of the mountain, many, many miles away. And because he had his doubts, the stream was able to remember and record more strongly in his mind the details of the experience. He reflected, yes, now I have learned my true Identity.'
The stream was learning.But the sand whispered: 'We know, because we see it happen day after day: and because we the sands extend from the riverside all the way to the mountain.'
And that is why it is said that the way in which the stream of life is to continue on its journey is written in the sands.

REFERENCE: TALES OF DERVISHES BY IDRRIES SHAH

Sunday, June 19, 2011

HOW TO CATCH MONKEY

Once upon a time there was a monkey who was very fond of cherries. One day he saw a delicious-looking cherry, and came down from his tree to get it. But the fruit turned out to be in clear glass bottle. After some experimentation, the monkey found that he could get hold of the cherry by putting his hand into the bottle by way of the neck. As soon as he had done so, he closed his hand over the cherry. But then he found that he could not withdraw his fist holding the cherry, because it was larger than the internal dimension of the neck.
Now all this was deliberate, because the cherry in the bottle was a trap laid by a monkey-hunter who knew how monkey think. The hunter, hearing the monkey's whimpering, came along and the monkey tried to run away. But, because his hand was as he thought, stuck in the bottle, he could not move fast enough to escape.
But, as he thought, he still had hold of the cherry. The hunter picked him up. A moment later he tapped the monkey sharply on the elbow, making him suddenly relax his hold on the fruit.
The monkey was free, but he was captured. The hunter had used the cherry and the bottle, but he still had them.

REFERENCE:TALES OF DERVASHES BY IDRIES SHAH

Saturday, June 18, 2011

A PURE RING

'One day, strange to say he told (his court sages)
'A state of distress keeps coming over me.
A desire most strange has arisen in my heart,
though I know not from what cause it arose.
Make me a pure ring of such a kind
that whatever I feel very sorrowful,
by looking at it I become glad- hearted.
and free from the clutches of sorrow that turk?'
The sages asked him to give them some time.
Those great wise men that sat down together.
They pondered and meditated at length,
spending blood, sweat and tears on the task at hand.
Finally they agreed on a firm decision-
resolved a single design for the ring.
'Make haste to inscribe this moto upon it:
"This too shall soon enough pass away."

ATTAR


REFERENCE: ATTAR THE PERSIAN SUFI TRADITION
A PURE RING

I AM FLYING A KITE

It was Timothy's twelfth birthday. He had saved up enough money to buy himself a present.
Nickels, dimes, and quarters- he went to neighborhood store, put his change on the counter, and
-wonder of wonders- had exactly the right amount to buy the big red kite on the wall behind the cash register. The happiest kid in the world, he went to Van Cort Landth Park in the Bronx and
began to fly his new kite.
There were great winds that day, and he let out some string, and a little more string, and
a little more, until the kite was so high and far away you couldn't even see it anymore. When you
looked at the boy, all you could see was a happy kid running with string in his hand.
A very respectable and rational- looking man in a business suit came upon the boy and
stoped him. "son, what are you doing?" he asked-
"What do you mean, sir?" Timothy asked. "I'm flying a kite!"
" flying a kite? what do you mean? I don't see a kite. You don't see a kite. How do you know there's a kite?" Timothy looked at a man very gravely. "I know there's a kite sir-
because I can feel the tug!"



REFERENCE:SOUL PRINT BY MARC GAFNI

Thursday, June 16, 2011

LOAVES OF BREAD

One day two holy men came to visit Rabia' hoping to get some thing to eat; they were sure that whatever food she give them would be ritually pure since it was " obtained in a lawful manner."
After they had seated themselves, a cloth containing two loaves of bread was laid before them. Eagerly they reached for the food-
But before they could get it to their mouth, a hungry beggar appeared at the door. Rabia immediately gave him both loaves of bread.
This really bothered the two holy men, but they kept it to themselves.
Pretty soon a slave-girl arrived, caring a load of freshly-baked bread.
"My mistress sent this."
Rabia counted the loaves. "I don't think so," she said.
"There are only eighteen here."
Protest, denial- whatever the girl said, Rabia would not believe her.
(what's happened was that the slave-girl had taken two loaves for herself.)
So she went away and came back with the full twenty loaves. Rabia counted them again:
"That's more like it." So Rabia served the hungry holy men with twenty loaves instead of two. They were really baffled. "Two loaves, no loaves, twenty loaves- What does it all mean?" they asked.
"As soon as I saw you." said Rabia, "I could tell you were hungry. Two little loaves of bread- how could that be enough for two holy men? Then I remembered the promise: 'You give one; I give ten!' so I gave two to beggar-"
"But when only eighteen came back, I knew that there was either something is wrong with my prayers, or that somebody had sticky fingers."

REFERENCE: DOOR KEEPER OF THE HEART
VERSIONS OF RABIA BY CHARLES UPTON

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

DEEPER THINGS AFFECT SURFACE ONES

A shopkeeper had a cask of oil, which he sealed with his ring impression after filling it full.
His assistants, however, found that they could steel oil by drilling a hole near the bottom
of the barrel and plugging it until they wanted to draw off the oil from there.
When the shopkeeper opened his cast and found that, although the top was secure,
the level has gone down. He was baffled. He ask a wiser man, who was a customer at his
shop, what this might mean.
The wise man said, 'some has been drawn off from the bottom: why don't you look
there for the source of your problem?"
'Fool!' shouted the shopkeeper: 'I am talking about the oil that is missing from the top!'


REFERENCE:THE COMMANDING SELF BY IDRIES SHAH

SAYING OF RUMI

Lift up a broken hand in prayer.
Allah's Perfect kindness is given away free
to all those who acknowledge their flows.


What are you talking about!
Having to ear a living doesn't stop you digging
from the Treasure. Don't abandon your every day life.
That's where the Treasure is hidden.


Those who acknowledge the truth see themselves in the prophet
and hear their own voice proceeding from him and smell their own
scent proceeding from him. No man denies his own self. Therefore
the Prophets says to the community "We are you and you are we.
There is no strangeness between us."


The religion of love is separate from all religions.
For lovers, the religion and creed is -God.


The soil is faithful to its trust:
What ever you have sown in it you reap the same.
But until spring time brings the touch of God,
the soil does not reveal its secrets.


Wherever I shine the lamplight of Divine breath,
There the difficulties of a whole world are resolved.
The darkness which the earthy sun did not remove,
becomes through My breath a bright morning.


Every morning, out of love for you,
this intellect become crazy, climb upon the
roof of the brain and plays the lute.


Intellect says, 'This world, this universe, has
six borders which you cannot transgress!
Love says 'There is a way, and I have gone
over it very frequently.'


Whether you love God or love a human being,
If you love enough you will come into the presence
of love itself.


Just look at your hand.
closing the fist always precedes opening it
A hand that's always closed or open
is a crippled hand.
So your heart also contracts and expands
just like a birds needs to close and open its wings to fly.


The tale of love must be heard from love itself.
For like a mirror it is both mute and expressive.


soul receive from soul that knowledge,
therefore not by book nor from tongue.
If knowledge of mysteries come after emptiness
of mind, that is illumination of heart.

Monday, June 13, 2011

THREE LIGHTS AND THREE DARKNESSES

When the first man (Adam) was complete, he was told to look over his right shoulder.
There were three lights. He asked the first light its name and where it resided.
"I am Intelligence," it answered "and I live in your head."
He asked the second light the same question.
"I am conscience, and I reside in you eyes."
He looked at the third light and had to shield his eyes from the glow.
"Who are you, and where do you live," he asked.
The light answered, "I am compassion, and I live in your heart."

On the other side of the prophet Adam stood three darknesses. He forced himself to ask
the first darkness its name.
"I am Arrogance, and I live in you head."
"This is impossible," cried Adam, "for that is where Intelligence lives."
"Only until I enter; then there is no room for Intelligence, " said the darkness.
"And who are you?" he asked, turning to the second darkness.
"My name is Insatiable Ambition, and I reside in your eyes."
"But that is where conscience lives," replied Adam.
"Not when I am there," uttered Ambition.
"And you," he asked the third darkness, "Who are you?"
"I am known as Envy, and I occupy space in your heart."
"Compassion is in my heart," said Adam.
Envy with a smile, "Compassion departs."

REFERENCE: WHEN YOU HEAR HOOFBEATS THINK OF A ZEBRA
BY SHEMS FRIEDLANDER

WHY ARE YOU RUNNING

A Zen master enters a village and sees people scarring about.
"Where are you running?" he asks.
"To make a living," they respond.
"Why are you so sure that your living is in front of you?" he probes.
"May be it's behind you and can't catch up. Do not run to make a living, be still and live.

REFERENCE: SOUL PRINTS BY MARC GAFNI

THE CONVERSATION OF THE BIRDS

There is a classical sufi story about a king who was setting out to war. He was accompanied by everything necessary, from gold to arms, from fierce warriors to military bands. No details of his enterprise had been forgotten. On the way he met a dervish, a poor and weak wanderer who was yet a wise man, reputed to know the language of birds.
The dervish told the king:
'I know the language of birds, and what they are saying about your Majesty.'
The king said:
'Are they pleased that I am set on this path, and that I am determined to succeed?'
'They are delighted, your Majesty,' said the dervish, 'for they say: "This king will ruin so many cities that we shall have abundant nesting places for the rest of the time among the fallen buildings."

REFERENCE: THE COMMANDING SELF BY IDRIES SHAH

Sunday, June 12, 2011

LETS SEE IF YOU ARE READY

There was a man who studied with a sheikh for thirty years. Then he said to the sheikh, "Now I want to go out with your permission to see if I can also teach others what I have learned from you."
The sheikh said, I'll ask you one question. If you can answer this question, I'll know that you ready. It is not a question from the Quran," he added.
"On your way back to your village" the sheikh went on, "will you pass a place where there are shepherds?"
The man said yes.
Then the sheikh asked, "As you walk by this place where there is a Shepherd with his sheep, if five of his sheepdogs attacked you, what would you do?"
The man said, "I'd pick up a stone and throw it."
And the sheikh said, "You might hit one dog, but the other four would get you."
The man said, "Well, I would take a stick and try to keep them off?"
And the sheikh said, "I say to you again that you might get one or even two, but the remainder of the dogs would certainly attack you. I can see that you are not yet ready to go out to teach others in your own village."
The man said, "O sheikh, at least tell me the answer."
The sheikh told him that if he called for the shepherd, the shepherd would come from his tent, and call each of the dogs by its name, and the dogs would turn away from the attack. "
Then the sheikh said, "In this world there are people who will attack you like those dogs, and if you try to fight them off, they will win. But if you call their owner, if you call the One who created them, then He will call them by name and will protect you."

REFERENCE: WHEN YOU HEAR HOOFBEATS THINK OF A ZEBRA
BY SHEMS FRIEDLANDER

Saturday, June 11, 2011

SCENT OF BELOVED

I was speaking one day among a group of people, and a party of non-muslim was present.
In the middle of my address they began to weep and to register emotion and ecstasy. Some one asked: What do they understand and what do they know? Only one muslim in a thousand understand this kind of talk. What did they understand, that they should weep? The Master (i-e Rumi himself) answered: It is not necessary that they should understand the form of the discourse; that which constitutes the root and principle of the discourse, that they understand. After all, everyone acknowledge the Oneness of God, that He is the creator and provider, that He controls everything that to Him all things shall return, and that it is He who punishes and forgives. When anyone hears these words, which are a description and commemoration (dhikr) of God, a universal commotion and ecstatic passion supervenes, since out of these words come the scent of their Beloved and their Quest.

RUMI

REFERENCE: THE OTHER IN THE LIGHT OF THE ONE
BY RAZA SHAH KAZMI

AYAZ AND THE KING'S PEARL

One day the king assembled his courtiers.
He handed the minister a glowing pearl.
"What would you say this is worth?"
"More gold
than a hundred donkeys could carry."
"Break it!"
"Sir, how could I waste your resources
like that?" The king presented him
with a robe of honor for his answer
and took back the pearl. He talked a while
to the assembly on various topics.
Then he put the pearl
in the Chamberlain's hand. "What would it sell for!"
"Half a kingdom, God preserve it!"
"Break it!"
"My hand could not move to do such a thing."
The king rewarded him with a robe of honor
and an increase in his salary, and so it went
with each of the fifty or sixty courtiers.

One by one, they imitated the minister
and the Chamberlain and received new wealth.

Then the pearl was given to Ayaz.

"Can you say how splendid this is?"
"It's more than I can say."
"Then break it,
this second, into tiny pieces."
Ayaz had had a dream
about this, and he'd hidden two stones in his sleeves.
He crushed the pearl to powder between them.

As Joseph at the bottom of the well listen
to the end of his story, so such listeners
understand success and UN-success as one thing.

Don't worry about forms.
If someone wants your horse,
let them have it. Horses are for
hurrying ahead of the others.


The court assembly screamed at the recklessness
to Ayaz, "How could you do that?"

"What the king says is worth more than any pearl.
I honor the king, not some colored stone."

The princes immediately fell on their knees
and put their foreheads on the ground.

Their sighs went up like a smoke cloud
asking forgiveness. The king gestured
to his executioner as though to say,
"Take out this trash."
Ayaz spang forward.
"Your mercy makes them bow like this.
Give them their lives! Let them keep hoping
for union with you. They see their forgetfulness
now, as the drunken man did when he said,
'I didn't know what I was doing,' and then
someone pointing out, 'But you invited
that forgetfulness into you. You drank it.
There was a choice!'

They know deeply now how imitation
lulled them to sleep. Don't separate yourself
from them. Look at all their heads against the floor.

Raise their faces into yours. Let them wash
in your cool washing place."
Ayaz and his speech always get to his point
and then the pen breaks. How can a saucer
contain the ocean? The drunks break their cups,
but you pour that wine!
Ayaz said, "You picked me
to crush the pearl. Don't punish the others
for my drunken obedience!
Punish them when I'm sober,
because I'll never be sober again.

Whoever bows down like they are bowing down
will not rise up in his old self again.

Like a gnat in your buttermilk,
They've become your buttermilk.

The mountains are trembling. Their map and compass
are the lines in your palm."
Husam,
I need a hundred mouths to say this,
but I only have this one!

A hundred thousand impressions from the spirit
are wanting to come through here.
I feel stunned
in this abundance, crushed and dead.

REFERENCE: THE ESSENTIAL
RUMI
BY COLEMAN BARKS

Friday, June 10, 2011

STOP CALLING ME A PREGNANT WOMAN

My master once entered a phase
That whenever I would see him
He would say

"Hafiz
How did you ever become a pregnant woman?"

And I would reply

"Dear Attar,
You must be speaking the truth,
But all what you say is a mystery to me."

Many months passed by in his blessed company
But one day I lost my patience
upon hearing that odd refrain
And blurted out,

"Stop calling me a pregnant woman?"

And Attar replied
"Someday, my sweet Hafiz,
All the nonsense in your brain will dry up
Like a stagnant pool of water
Beneath the sun,

Though if you want to know the Truth
I can say clearly see that God has made love with you
And the whole universe is germinating
inside your belly

And wonderful words,
such enlightening words
will take birth from you

And be cradled against thousands
of hearts."

HAFIZ

REFERENCE: THE GIFT
BY DANIEL LADINSKY

ONE MAN'S POISON IS ANOTHER MAN'S HONEY

Once Prophet Moses comes across a humble old shepherd in the desert. The shepherd is praying to Allah in the most informal of ways, saying how he want to pick the lice off Him, to wash His clothes, to kiss His feet and hands. The Shepperd ends his prayers with "When I think of You, all I can say Ahhhhh! Moses is appalled by this lack of reverence and exclaims, "Do you realize that you are talking to the Creator of Heaven and Earth, not to your old uncle?!" Feeling very foolish, the shepherd asks Moses if he thinks Allah will ever forgive him. At that moment, however, divine voice speaks to Moses, rebuking him saying: Moses, what to you seems wrong is right for him. One man's poison is another man's honey. Ways of worships cannot ranked as better or worse. It is all praise and it is all right. It is the worshipper who is glorified by worship- not I. I don't listen to the words. I look inside at the humility. Only that low and open emptiness is important to me.

REFERENCE: THE HEART OF ISLAM
BY TIMOTHY FREKE

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

THE SHEIKH WHO PLAYED WITH CHILDREN

A certain young man was asking around
"I need to find a wise person. I have a problem."

A bystander said, "There's no one with intelligence
in our town except that man over there
playing with the children,
the one riding the stick-horse.
He has keen, fiery insight and vast dignity
like the night sky, but he conceals it
in the madness of child's play."

The young seeker approached the children, "Dear father,
you who have become as a child, tell me a secret."

"Go away. This is not a day
for secrets."
"But please! Ride your horse this way,
just for a minute."
The sheikh play-galloped over.
"speak quickly. I can't hold this one still for long.
Whoops. Don't let him kick you.
This is a wild one!"
The young man felt he couldn't ask his serious question
in the crazy atmosphere, so he joked
"I need to get married.
Is there someone suitable on this street?"

"There are three kinds of women in the world.
Two are griefs, and one is a treasure in the world.
The first, when you marry her, is all yours.
The second is half-yours, and the third
is not yours at all.
Now get out of here,
Before this horse kicks you in the head! Easy now!"

The sheikh rode off among the children.
The young man shouted,"Tell me more about the kinds of
women!"

The sheikh, on his cane horsey, came closer,
"The virgin of your first love is all yours.
She will make you feel happy and free.A childless
widow is the second, she will be half your.The third,
who is nothing to you, is a married woman with a child.
By her first husband she had a child, and all her love
goes into that child. She will have no connection with you.
Now watch out.
Back away.
I'm going to turn this rascal around!"
He gave a loud whoop and rode back,
calling the children around him.
"One more question, Master!"
The sheikh circled,
"What is it? Quickly! That rider over there needs me.
I think I'm in love"
"What is this playing that you do?
Why do you hide your intelligence so?"
"The people here
want to put me in charge. They want me to be
judge, magistrate, and interpreter of all the texts.
The knowing I have doesn't want that. It want to enjoy
itself. I am a plantation of sugarcane, and at
the same time I'm eating the sweetness."
Knowledge that is acquired
is not like this. Those who have it worry if
audiences like it or not.
It's a bait for popularity.
Disputations knowing wants customers.
It has no soul.
Robust and energetic
before a responsive crowd, it slumps when no one is
there. The only real customer is God.
Chew quietly
your sweet sugarcane God-love, and stay
playfully childish.
Your face
will turn rosy with illumination
like the red bud flowers.

Lets the lover be disgraceful, crazy,
absent minded.Someone sober
will worry about things going badly.
Let the lover be.

All day and night, music,
a quiet, bright
reed song, if it
fades, we fade.

REFERENCE:THE ESSENTIAL RUMI
BY COLEMAN BARKS WITH JOHN MOYNE

Monday, June 6, 2011

BUT I KNOW MYSELF

A dervish came into a new town and was accosted by an unfriendly and presumptuous person:
"Go away! No one know you here!"
"Yes, but I know myself, and it would be much worse if it were the other way around."

Fariduddin Attar

REFERENCE: THE SUFI BOOK OF LIFE
BY NEIL DOUGLAS-KLOTZ

THE DEVIL AND THE WOODCUTTER

There was a man who was a woodcutter. He heard that in the next village there were people who worshiped a gum tree. And he thought, I'm going to take my ax and cut down that tree. So he put his ax on his shoulder and walked down the path toward the town with the intention of chopping down that tree. He knew that Allah is One. And they were wrong to worship that tree. Before he approached the town, a figure jumped before him and announced that he was the Devil and asked, "Where are you going?"
The woodcutter answered, "I'm going to chop down the gum tree in the next village because the people there worship it."
The Devil told him, "Look, it's not necessary. Let them do what they do. You go and do what you want to do. "
He said,"No, I insist. I have every intention to go."
The devil tried to stop him. The man punched him down and jumped on top of him and held him there. Presently the devil looked up at him and said, "Look, you've got me pinned down now. Let's make a deal. I will give you one piece of gold every single day. It will be under your pillow in the morning for the rest of your life if only you forget this task and go back home."
The man thought, every day of my life? The Devil said, "Yes. That's a promise."
He asked the Devil, "How do I know you'll keep this promise?"
"The first day that you don't find the gold, you can just take your ax, and come and chop down this tree."
He thought that seemed logical and agreed. That night he had a sleepless night wondering whether the gold would be under his pillow or not. When he awoke in the morning, there was a piece of gold. He had visions of being an extremely wealthy man. Because he thought every day one piece of gold would appear. The next night, the anticipation of the gold again prevented him from sleeping well. And when he woke, he searched under his pillow, and there was no gold. There was nothing. He looked all around thinking that it might have fallen down, but it wasn't anywhere to be found. He got very angry, picked up his ax and said, I'm going to chop that tree into bits. And he stalked off to the village. At the same spot he met the Devil again.
He said, "you tricked me so now I'm going to chop that tree. The Devil said, "Now look, let the villagers do what they want, and you go and you do-----"
And in a flash, this time the Devil was on top of him. He was weakened. As strong as he was, he couldn't move.
He looked up, and the devil said to him, "Now do you want to know why it was so easy for me to overthrow you this time? Where as yesterday, you threw me down, and were more powerful than I was."
He said, "yes."
And the Devil said to him, "Yesterday you were going to chop the tree down because of your faith in Allah. And today you were going to chop the tree down because you didn't get gold. If you desire gold, it will weaken you in this world."

REFERENCE: WHEN YOU HEAR HOOFBEATS THINK OF A ZEBRA
BY SHEMS FRIEDLANDER

Sunday, June 5, 2011

THE SINNER'S REQUEST

A man approached Moses and said to him, "you are going to the mountain to speak to Allah. I have sinned my whole life. Ask Him if I will be forgiven or punished."
Some time later, Moses came down from the mountain. The man said, "Did you ask Him?"
Moses said, "yes, I asked Him"
"What did Allah say?"
"Allah said, 'Tell my servant-"
The man interrupted, "stop I don't care if Allah send me to hell or punishes me with the greatest punishment on earth. But He has called me His servant, and if He thinks of me as His servant, then surely I am close to Him."

REFRENCE: WHEN YOU HEAR HOOFBEAT THINK OF A ZEBRA
BY SHEMS FRIEDLANDER

Saturday, June 4, 2011

THE MAN WHO WAS DIGGING HOLES

There's a story about a Sheikh who was walking with one of his murids, near a huge field. In the field there was a man who was digging holes. This man had dug two hundred holes two feet deep.
Observing this, the murid asked, "O my Sheikh, what is he doing?"
"I don't know. Let us ask him," the sheikh answered. They called him over, and asked what was the purpose of digging so many holes just two feet deep.
"I'm looking for water," the man said. The sheikh told him, "It's unlikely that you will find water by digging two hundred holes that are only two feet deep. You have a better chance of finding water if you dig one hole two hundred feet deep."

REFERENCE: WHEN YOU HEAR HOOF BEATS THINK OF A ZEBRA
BY SHEMS FRIENDLANDER

THE OATH

A man who was troubled in mind once swore that if his problems were solved he would sell his house and give all the money gained from it to the poor.
The time came when he realized that he must redeem his oath. But he did not want to give away so much money. So he thought of a way out.
He put the house on sale at one silver piece.Included with the house, however, was a cat. The price asked for this animal was ten thousand pieces of silver.
Another man bought the house and cat. The first man gave the single piece of silver to the poor, and pocketed the ten thousand for himself.
Many people's mind work like this. They resolve to follow a teaching; but they interpret their relationship with it to their own advantage. Until they overcome this tendency by special training they cannot learn at all.


REFERENCE: TALES OF THE DERVISHES BY IDRIES SHAH

Friday, June 3, 2011

UNTIL OUR SUSTAINER COMES

Mhammad (s.a.s) once clarified the nature of judgement day:
"In the future, there will be a certain community composed of immature believers. Allah will manifest itself to them an aspect other than what would they are used to and will say to them, "I am your sustainer- follow me."
"'No, we take refuge in Allah from you,' they will answer. 'we will not move from here until our sustainer comes to meet us, and we will know our sustainer instantly.'
"Allah will then return in the form they are used to and say. 'Here I am: your sustainer.' Then they will rejoice-'You are really our sustainer!'-and will follow.
"When they have reached the other side of the bridge over the fire of time and judgement then Allah will tell them.'Who ever worship me in any one of my infinite qualities should follow me confidently from their understanding of that quality.

ABID

REFERENCE:THE SUFI BOOK OF LIFE BY NEIL DOUGLAS-KLOTZ

THOSE WHO TRUST IN ALLAH HAVE NO FEAR

There was a king who was frightened to learn from his studies of astrology that a great calamity would soon befall him, so he built a room of solid rock to hide within and surrounded it with guards. When he was in it, He noticed a little chink of light that he filled in to prevent any harm reaching him. Thus he become a prisoner and died in the room.

ATTAR

REFERENCE: THE HEART OF ISLAM BY TIMOTHY FREKE

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

BRING THE MAN TO ME

A Perfect One was traveling Through the desert.
He was stretched out around the fire one night
And said to one of his close once,

"There is a slave who is not far from us.
He escaped today from a cruel master.
His hands are still bound behind his back,
His feet are also shackled.

I can see him right now praying for God's help.
Go to him.
Ride to that distant hill;
About a hundred feet up and to the right
You will find a small cave.
He is there.

Do not say a single word to him
Bring the man to me.
God requests that I personally untie his body
And press my lips to his wounds."

The disciple mounts his horse and within two hours
Arrives at the small mountain cave.

The slave sees him coming, the slave looks frightened.
The disciple, on order not to speak,
Gestures toward the sky, pantomiming:

God saw you in prayer,
please come with me,
A great MURSHID* has used his heart's divine eye
To know your whereabouts.

The slave cannot believe this story,
And begins to shout at the man and tries to run

But trips from his bindings.
The disciple becomes to subdue him.

Think of this picture as they now travel:

The million candles in the sky are lit and singing
Every particle of existence is a dancing alter
That some mysterious force worships.

The earth is a church floor whereupon
In the middle of a glorious night
Walks a slave, weeping, tied to a rope behind a horse,
With a speechless rider
Taking him toward the unknown.

Several times with all of his might the slave
Tries to break free,
Feeling he is being returned to captivity.
The rider stops, dismount-bring his eyes
Near the prisoner's eyes.

A deep kindness there communicates an unbelievable hope.
The rider motions-soon, soon you will be free.
Tears roll down from the rider's cheeks
In happiness for this man.

Anger, all this fighting and tormenting want,
MASHUQ*
God has seen you and sent a close one.

MASHUQ
God has sent your heart in prayer
And sent Hafiz.


MURSHID: Teacher (Persian)
MASHUQ:sweetheart (Persian)

HAFIZ

REFERENCE:THE GIFT POEMS BY HAFIZ
TRANSLATIONS BY DANIEL LADINSKY