Dervish ‘Abdullah lay lazily in a hammock under a flowery ceiling of beautiful white wisteria above him. Enjoying the sun, he marveled at the beauty of the flowers. He was grateful for their beauty. Then he realized that maybe the flowers weren’t there just to be looked at and admired by him. This thought came into him, because he became aware of subtle movements above him. He shook his head and broke free from the pleasant hypnosis of the flowery beauty. He looked deeper, more attentively at the many flowers. Suddenly he saw a bee emerge from one flower and fly to another flower. And another bee, and another bee. The dervish saw many bees flying, buzzing, among the flowers….

Dervish ‘Abdullah is sitting in meditation by the banks of the Ganges river. He reads it like a book that tells him of the river’s nature, its hidden depths, its movements… He observes a log floating in the stream, lines and circles in the water, as well as a certain colour of the sun reflected in the Ganges. The dervish watches the leaves: some are floating placidly along and make no effort to resist the current. They are taken towards the Ocean. Other leaves are throwing themselves wildly in the turmoil and get ultimately thrown against the banks and remain there, rotting in the sun. Dervish ‘Abdullah says: “The people with inward peace don’t resist the nature of the river….

Abu Talib visited the garden of the Baghban tariqa. The shaykh asked him to count the number of rose bushes. When viewing the garden from the gate, Abu Talib could see eleven rose bushes. When moving away from the gate he suddenly discovered a rose bush not seen before, but having moved Abu Talib lost sight of one other rose bush. No matter how he moved, he always could see only eleven out of the twelve rose bushes in the garden. He learned through moving that the whole picture could not be seen from any one of his viewpoints.  

A woman recently explained that there is a difference between a labyrinth and a maze. This is what she said: “When you enter a labyrinth, there is only one way that leads to its centre. When walking it you sometimes appear to get further away from the centre, but when you continue you get step by step nearer to the centre.” This woman entered a maze together with her children. After about 45 minutes she still was wandering from one dead-end to another, while her children had already found the exit. From their standing point, they not only could see their mother but also could give her directions and guided her out of the maze. “One day” {writes Alberto Manguel…

تنور پدربزرگ خام بُدم، پخته شدم، سوختم من دیر به کاروانسرای قونیه رسیدم. به همین دلیل صبحِ فردا نزد منیر شاه رفتم. متوجه شدم که کتابی میخواند و کنجکاو بودم بدانم چه میخواند. چند ساعت بعد دوباره او را دیدم. روی نیمکتی رو به روی مسجدی که مقام حضرت شمس تبریزی در آن قرار داشت، نشسته بود. در حال خواندن همان کتاب با جلد قرمز رنگ بود. دیدار سوم در باغ مَرام قونیه اتفاق افتاد. من توصیف این باغ را از اِولیا چَلَبی خوانده بودم و به همین دلیل به آنجا رفته بودم. مردم قونیه برای لذت بردن از زیبایی باغ و آواز پرندگان به آنجا میرفتند. منیر شاه باز هم آن کتاب را میخواند. او متوجه من شد و…

خام بدم پخته شدم سوختم I was raw, I was cooked, I was burned! I arrived rather late in a caravanserai in Konya. That’s why I saw Munir Shah the next morning. I noticed him reading a book and I wondered what book he was reading. A few hours I saw him again. He was sitting on a bench opposite the mosque with the maqam of Hazrat Shamsuddin Tabrizi. He was reading the same red coloured book. The third time happened to take place in the Meram gardens of Konya. I went there because I had read the description of these gardens by Evliya Çelebi. He writes that these gardens are situated on the eastern side of the Meram Mountain….

It so happened that a seeker asked to become a student of a Sufi. “First you need to answer a certain question. If you are able to give a correct answer, you’ll be accepted as a murid after a period of one thousand and one days”. The seeker received the question and spared no effort until she found the solution. She conveyed the answer to the Sufi who said: “This is correct. You may go. Wait until one thousand and one days have passed and come back for instruction”. The seeker was overjoyed. She thanked the Sufi and asked him: “What would have happened in case I had not given the right response?” The Sufi answered: “Oh, in that case,…

Biko desired to be a spiritual guide, but he attracted no murids. That’s why he became jealous of shaykh ‘Abdullah, the local Sufi master. He tried to discredit him with a trick. When shaykh ‘Abdullah was teaching the local halqa, Biko went to this assembly with a very small bird in his hands. He intended to ask the master if the bird was dead or alive.  In case the shaykh would say that it was dead, Biko would open his hands in order to let the bird fly away. When the answer would be that the bird was alive, he’d quickly crush the bird and thus kill it. In both cases the master would give the wrong answer.  Biko, full…

A certain Sufi remarked that after his death he’d leave a letter in a certain box. When things wouldn’t be easy, then the box should be opened in order to read the letter. Then it so happened that things indeed became very difficult. That’s why the box was opened and the letter was read, stating: “Everything is gonna be all right! I’m certain you’ll find a solution!”

During the morning meditation, the cat of a certain khanegah often caused quite some disturbance. So shaykh Ahmad, the resident Sufi Pir, ordered that the cat always had to be tied up when that practice got performed..  After the death of shaykh Ahmad, the cat still got tied up during the morning meditation. When the cat died, another cat was bought in order to “properly” tie it up during the meditation. Several elaborate Sufi handbooks were written in later ages by scholarly followers of shaykh Ahmad about the symbolical meaning of tying up a cat.