The Caliph Ma’mun had a dream wherein he was inside the Ka’aba. He urinated at two of the corners inside of it and later on he did the same outside of it at the two other corners. He felt ashamed of this dream, but still wanted to know its meaning. He told one of his servants to go to the famous Ibn Sirin and tell him the dream while pretending it was a dream of the servant. Ibn Sirin, however, made it clear that it had to be a dream of a member of the family of the caliph who had to come himself and tell the dream. When Ma’mun came and told his dream, Ibn Sirin told him that…
When a man comes to see you
A book on Sufism that I’ve edited came out several months ago and I put a copy thereof in the mailbox of a friend, who had made 2 of the photo’s that were used in the book. A week later I found out that he was not at home as I received a letter from Bokhara in Uzbekistan. He had travelled to this place (he told me when he came to visit me) in order to go to Qasr-e-Arefin, where you can find the tomb of shaykh Bahauddin Naqshband. You may know of the Khwajagan, the ‘Masters’, one of them being the murshid of Khwaja Abu Ishaq Shami Chishti, the founder of the Chishti order. Several centuries later Bahauddin Naqshband…
Mystical Marriage
Nekah-ye-ma’nawi oftaad dar din Jehaan raa nafs-e-kolli daad kaabin A mystical marriage was celebrated in religion. The Universal Soul gave the earth as a dowry. I have visited Lahore in Pakistan a number of times. During one of these visits I went to Shaikh Muhammad Ashraf, one of the local publishers to buy some books. I noticed another customer whose pile of books was as large as mine and we started to talk. During a meal together I found out that he belonged to a Pakistani Sufi order. I told him that I had bought The Secret Rose Garden of shaykh Mahmud Shabistari. The above quote is from this book which has become one of my favourite Sufi books. As…
Mawlana Jami
Who can be seen in the appearance of water and earth except You? Who is concealed inside the heart and soul except You? You said: ‘Purify your heart from all others except Me’. O Soul of the world, who is there in both worlds except You? در صورت آب وگل عیان غیر توکیست در خلوت جان و دل نهان غیر تو کیست گفتی که ز غیر من بپرداز دلت ای جان و جهان در دو جهان غیر تو کیست ∞ O you who’ve turned into the direction of loyalty Why have you turned the shell into the veil of the kernel? It’s not wise that your heart runs after this and that: With a single heart, one Friend is enough…
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…
Sufi Poetry: Spring
Spring 1 It is the 21st of March. Spring has started! The Kashf-al-Asrar or ‘Unveiling of Secrets’ is a Persian book attributed to Khwaja Mo’inuddin Chishti: The life of a human being knows four seasons, just like the world knows four seasons. The days of childhood are therefore the summer. The years of youth are the harvest of spring. The time that passes passively is autumn And the years of old age are the harvest of autumn. Spring 2 You can find his in the Masnavi: Behold the garden of the heart, green and moist and fresh, full of rosebuds and cypresses and jasmines; Boughs hidden by the multitude of leaves, vast plain and high palace hidden by the multitude…
In the darkness I was given the water of life
Sa’di has written: “I have travelled in many lands, I have visited many peoples and plucked an ear of corn from every cornfield, for it is better to go barefoot than to wear tight boots, better to endure the hardships of travel than to stay at home… And I would add: with every returning spring one needs must choose a new love – for last year’s calendar, my friend, is of no use today!” Sufis have travelled a lot. For them travelling is a spiritual practice. Here is an account of such a travel. A Chishti shaykh made a travel and arrived in the house of one of his mureeds. A small ceremony was taking place starting with the recitation…
Training of the heart
Shaykh Nasiruddin Chiragh of Delhi told his mureeds clearly and firmly that the entire structure of spiritual discipline was based on the proper training of the heart. The qibla (focus-point) of the heart is God. The heart is the amir (ruler) of the body. When it turns away from its focus-point, the body also moves away from its focus-point. The anwar (divine lights) first descend on the soul and then they are transmitted to the body, which is subordinate to the heart. When the heart is moved, the body is also moved. Hal (spiritual state) is the result of the purity of action. Hal is transitory and is not permanent. If it becomes so it becomes a maqam (station).
A Lighthouse
A lighthouse is an inspiring symbol. It points to the bestowal of light. It offers guidance and safety to the seafarer. Yusuf ibn ash-Shaykh has been fascinated by the lighthouse of Alexandria. According to some legends the lighthouse was more than 650 meters high; that its marble cladding was so bright that a tailor could thread a needle by its light at midnight; that its beacon could be seen as far as Istanbul; or that it cost 23 tons of silver to build – almost twice the cost of the Parthenon in Athens. Yusuf ibn ash-Shaykh’s Kitab Alif Ba (= the Book of the letter A and B) is more factual. Because of his description the lighthouse of the city…
Combs
There has been someone who manufactured combs and who had his workshop in the street wherein you could also find his guild. His name was ‘Abd al-‘Aziz (the slave of the Almighty) and he always could be seen in his jallaba, the long dress with the hood and wide sleeves, and a litham, a veil which covered his somewhat severe facial expressions. The material he used for his combs, he derived from the skull of oxes. He bought them from several butchers. He dried the skulls at a rented place, he removed the horns, opened them along their length and straightened them above a fire. The last act, of course, had to be done in a very careful way, as…