Just suppose you are able to make an interview with Amir Khusraw (1253-1325). What would you ask him? Perhaps some of your questions are similar to the ones as given below: Q: Can you tell us how you started as a poet? A: One day my teacher Khwaja Asaduddin was asked to write a letter for Khwaja Asil. My humble self and my respected teacher, together with the inkpot and the pen-case, reached the house of Khwaja Asil. My teacher then said to him: ‘This small boy, my pupil, soars high to the very stars in his poetic skills. Let him recite a verse or two’. I then recited some verses in a tremulous and modulated accent, so that my…
Category: Sufi interviews
The Helper of the Religion
Just suppose you are able to make an interview with Mulla Nasreddin. What would you ask him? Perhaps some of your questions are similar to the ones as given below: Q: Many countries claim you to be their citizen. In different countries like Iran and Turkey the local people say that your grave can be found. Are you a world citizen avant la lettre? A: Moi? After quitting Bokhara I have repaired first to Istanbul. Then I have disturbed the peace successively in Baghdad, Medina, Beirut and Basra, I caused pandemonium in Damascus, then dropped in at Cairo, where I held the office of chief judge of the city. I will not tell you whom I judged and how I…
The Cherisher of the Poor
Just suppose you are able to make an interview with Khwaja Mo’inuddin Chishti, who is also known as Gharib Nawaz, the Cherisher of the Poor. What would you ask him? Perhaps some of your questions are similar to the ones as given below: Q: Can you tell us how you started on the spiritual path? A: After the death of my father – I was hardly 15 years old – I inherited a grinding stone and a garden. These formed my source of livelihood. From a very early age I liked the company of dervishes and I always offered them great respect. My meeting with Hazrat Ibrahim Qanduzi was a turning point in my life. It so happened that one…
The Sun of Tabriz
Just suppose you are able to make an interview with Hazrat Shams-e Tabrizi.. What would you ask him? Perhaps some of your questions are similar to the ones as given below: Q: You are so famous that you really need no introduction. Your name Shams means ‘sun’… A: When someone is born in the sun itself, from birth he opens his eyes to the sun and becomes accustomed to it. They tell him: ‘Speak of the moon, speak of Mercury”. How can I speak of them? Does the sun even know that there is a moon in the world? Q: Can you tell us something about your relationship with Mawlana Rumi? A: When I came to Mawlana, the first stipulation…
The Red Falcon of the King
Just suppose you are able to make an interview with Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar. What would you ask him? Perhaps some of your questions are similar to the ones as given below: Q: Can you tell us something about yourself? A: Yes! Q: Please do so! A: My name is Usman Marwandi. This implies that I hail from Marwand near Tabriz. I left it in what you call the thirteenth century. Q: Why are you called Lal Shahbaz? A: Lal Shabbaz means the red falcon of the king. I have had one longing, i.e. to return to my Beloved. It so happens that a falcon always wishes to return to the hand of the king. I have always put on…