Shaykh Abu’l-Hasan Kharaqani [963-1033] is an early Iranian Sufi. I have visited his dargah in the village Kharaqan in 1974. His teachings can be found in the 61st chapter of the supplement of shaykh Fariduddin Attar’s Memorial of the Friends of God. These teachings are important because he is considered to be thequtb – the spiritual axis – of his time. 1 Shaykh Abu’l-Hasan Kharaqani [d. 1034] was connected to shaykh Bayazid Bastami [d. 875] by means of an inner affiliation. He considered the shaykh from the village of Bastam as his greatest spiritual confidant. It is reported that shaykh Bayazid Bastami visited the graves of the martyrs once a year. During this trip, the master passed through Kharaqan, the…
Shah Jahan’s humility
While resting one summer’s day during the heat of the noon hour, the great Mogul king, Shah Jahan, was suddenly overcome with thirst. He clapped his hands for a servant to bring him water, but none of the palace servants happened to be nearby. Rising from his couch, he looked in the water jug that was always kept in his chamber. It was empty. “Water I must have,” said the king, “and that at once. And the only way to get it now is to go to the well and draw it up myself”. Leaving his royal chamber, he went to the well and drew up a bucket filled with fresh, cold water. But as he leaned forward to draw…
The Parrot of India
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…
Generosity
Hatim at-Tayy was known for his extreme largesse, which was so great that whenever a man of his circle found himself in dire straits, he would refer to Hatim at-Tayy as the proverbial solver of all problems. Once a man who lived rather at a great distance of Hatim’s dwelling place was sorely pressed from want of funds. For days he fretted and worried about this, while his situation steadily worsened, until one day his wife said to him: ‘Whatever we try to do to pull ourselves out of this trouble, it just gets worse. How long is this to go on? Why don’t you go now and speak to Hatim at-Tayy and ask him to help you for once?’…
A sufi tale without a name
There was once a Sufi who was approached by a youth, who said to him: ‘Why do the wise not give good advice to all so that we could all act in accordance with it, and prosper? If there are so many illuminated ones who can he al the sick, why do they not do it for everyone, so that we might banish disease from the earth?’ The Sufi said: ‘Come with me on a journey, and I will show you how matters really stand, for they are otherwise than you think.’ So the two set off on their travels. They arrived at a village where a man was trying to milk a miserable goat, but could hardly get any…
Service
In former days there was a man named Hamid. In his youth he lived in Delhi as the servant of Tughril, that same Tughril who late in life had himself crowned as king in Lukhnauti. In short, this Farid became the servant of that Tughril, and he remained in his service till one day, as he was waiting on Tughril, a form appeared to him. ‘O Hamid,’ it asked, ‘why are you waiting on this man?’ Having spoken, it disappeared. Hamid was puzzled about who this could be. Then a second time, as he was waiting on Tughril, again that form appeared and asked: ‘O master Hamid, why are you waiting on this man?’ Hamid remained perplexed. Then he saw…
Paul’s awakening
It is unusual when a father writes the biography of his son. It happened in the case of the Dutch mystic Frederik van Eeden who wrote the biography of his son Paul after his son’s death. Paul clearly was not someone with special qualities, he was unremarkable, he was quite a normal person and he even had small character mistakes. When he became ill, then he changed. The change took place slowly, but continuously. An inner purification took place, clearly visible to all. At the final moment, the moment of his death, he did not fall ‘asleep’, but there was an ‘awakening’. After his expiry Fredrik van Eeden tells something about one of his gardeners. You should know that Frederik…
Diwaan-e-Mo’in: Ghazal 25
Biyaa dar bazm-e-u adnaa yake harf ze man be-shnaw Wa zaan asraar-e-maa wahi yake tarz-e-sokhan be-shnaw Come closer to His assembly and listen to my words! Listen to my secrets and be inspired by my manner of speaking! Agar asraar-e-wahdat raa ze man baawar nami-daari To gush-e-hosh-e-khud be-koshaai o bikaam o dahan be-shnaw If you don’t believe in my words about the mysteries of existence, Open your ears and listen in complete silence to your innermost consciousness! Bar afgan nur o zolmat raa ze rah bardaar kasrat raa Pas aangah serr-e-wahdat raa to ham az khishtan be-shnaw Remove from your path all diversity and duality between darkness and light, And then also listen to what your higher self tells you…
Discerning your thoughts
Najmuddin Kubra has given a short summary of the subject of discerning one’s thoughts: The first is the thought that is from God, and the sign of that thought is that it enters the heart spontaneously, and one should not deny that thought. In reality one cannot do so, but that is the practice of beginners, that they do deny it, because the beginner has not yet distinguished it from the thoughts that come from the master. The second is the thought from the heart, and the third is the thought from the angel. These two are close to each other, yet between the thought from the heart and the thought from the angel there is a subtle difference. You…
A sufi on his deathbed
Sîdî al-‘Arbî was one of the friends of God. When he was on his deathbed he called for a certain man and his wife and he told them, pointing to a cap and a pair of black trousers: “This is a trust of God which will remain with you until your son ‘Abd al-‘Azîz will be born. You then give these clothes to him”. Some time later ‘Abd al-‘Azîz was born and when he reached puberty God inspired his mother to give him the clothes received as a trust. ‘Abd al-‘Azîz then put on his trousers as well as his cap. He then felt a great heat, so much so that tears appeared in his eyes. ‘Abd al-‘Azîz has said…