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…
Mr Boulard
Mr. Boulard collected books and he did so with passion. When he expired on the 6th of May in 1825 he left about six hundred thousand books. Their sale caused a sharp decline in the price of books. For a couple of years second-hand books only got half their normal prices in Paris. Mr. Boulard has been very ill a few years before his death. It was because of his wife forbidding him to buy more books. His condition quickly deteriorated, he had to stay in bed all the time and he was very depressed. One day Mrs. Boulard opened the window in the bedroom of the patient and a little later a voice was heard of a man who…
The Test
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,…
Hazrat Baba Farid
Eat your own bare, dry bread and drink plain, cold water. Don’t tempt you mind, Farid on seeing another’s buttered bread. ∞ Give up, Farid, the deeds which bring no credit, Lest you be put to shame in the court of the Lord. ∞ Don’t slander the dust, O Farid! There is nothing to equal it. While we’re alive, it lies beneath our feet. And when we’re dead, it covers us over. ∞ Serve the Lord, Farid, Casting off the doubts of your mind, For men of God are required to be Forbearing like the trees. ∞ God says: ‘If you ennoble yourself, O man, you’ll meet Me. And on meeting Me, You’ll have eternal bliss. If you ever remain…
The works of shaykh Ibn al-‘Arabi [part 1]
Shaykh Ibn al-‘Arabi is often called Ibn ‘Arabi. This is done because of two reasons. The first one is to differentiate him from a contemporary Qadi with the name Ibn al-’Arabi. The second reason is the renown of the shaykh in Turkey, Iran and the subcontinent of Indo-Pakistan and Bangladesh, where it is more natural to leave the article al. But as his name is Ibn al-‘Arabi why not use his name? We’ve made several journeys in Europe with a Chishti pir from Ajmer. These were mystical, magical journeys, during the first of which we have been attracted by the birthplace of shaykh Ibn al-‘Arabi, while during the second we actually arrived in Murcia, Spain. This is however not the…
Sufi concept: Thursday – Prophet Moses
Shaykh Ibn al-‘Arabi tells us, that for every day there is a prophet from among the prophets, from whom descends a secret upon the heart of the verifying witness, a secret in which you takes delight during your day and by which you know something of that which requires to be known. This only happens to those who possess a heart. Day 5: Thursday If your day is Thursday, then Moses is your companion: for the covering is quite lifted away and you are addressed in the manner of an unveiling, not by any man or fire; and indeed the angel rejoiced while the devil withdrew. On Thursday it is Moses who addresses you with a secret by which you…
Initiation into the Chishti order
There are people who want to become Naqshbandi or Qadiri or Suhrawardi or… But just suppose you’d have the opportunity to be admitted into the Chishti tariqa, i.e. the order among all orders… The question then is: What should I do?” The answer is simple: Take your time to find a true teacher. Before finding this spiritual guide who may accept you into the Chishtiyya path, it is useful to prepare yourself somewhat. It is good to try to discipline your ego a little bit. Do not overdo it, because the Chishti way is a more advanced way, than only the path ascetics follow. So in case you talk too much, be more silent, in case you eat too many…
Diwaan-e-Mo’in: Ghazal 1
Here is a ghazal from the Diwaan-e-Mo’in (Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library, Patna): Robud jaan o delam raa jamaal-e-naam-e-khodaa Nawaakht teshna labaan raa zolaal-e-naam-e-khodaa My soul and my heart have been captivated by the beauty of the name of God. My thirsty lips have been comforted by the pure water of the name of God. Wesaal-e-haqq talabi hamneshin naamash baash Bebin wesaal-e-khodaa dar wesaal-e-naam-e-khodaa If you search for union with God, be a companion of His name, You’ll see that union with God is in union with the name of God. Miyaan-e-esm o mosamma chu farq nist bebin To dar tajalliye asmaa kamaal-e-naam-e-khodaa As there is no difference between the name and the Named One, You’ll see in the manifestation…
The Key to open the Door
A key [miftâh] is an instrument for opening [fath]. Keys are able to open a locked door. An opening can be considered as an unveiling: “There’s a key, an opening, and something opened”, says shaykh Ibn al-‘Arâbî. “When the opened thing is opened, that which has been veiled by it becomes manifest. So the key is your preparedness [isti’dâd] for learning and receiving knowledge, the opening is the teaching, and the opened thing is the door at which you come to a halt”. “If you don’t halt and you travel on, you’ll see with every step what you had not been seeing, and you’ll come to know what you didn’t know, and God’s bounty to you is ever magnificent [Qur’ân…
The tale of the three questions
A certain Sultan owned everything a man could wish for and still he did not know the purpose of life. The answer to three questions made his life difficult: 1. What should I do? 2. With which people should I do the things God asks me to do? 3. When should I do it? The Sultan asked the advice of all kinds of wise people, and then he was told that there was a Chishti dervish, who lived far away, and who might give him a satisfactory answer. The Sultan immediately left and after a journey of several weeks he met the dervish. The dervish was cultivating his own land. He was a simple man, but no simpleton, as he…