The Flawless Human Being

Turkish Sufi Master Ahmet Kayhan
An Impossible Task
“I have been asked to describe the late Sufi Master, Ahmet Kayhan. This leaves me in something of a quandary. I, who am rarely at a loss for words, am this time muted into agonizing silence–agonizing because, as I tell the truth, I shall strain people’s credulity and may [...]

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A New Book: The Hilyat Abdal of Ibn Arabi (ra)

I was reminded by a comment by Michael Tiernan on the previous post on the Discipline of the Abdal about my intention to do a post on this valuable book on the basic discipline of the Sufi path. I attended Stephen Hirtenstein’s talk on the book recently at Oxford and have just finished reading the [...]

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The Spiritual Discipline of the Abdal

” O you who desire the spiritual abodes of the Substitutes (Abdal),
without aspiring to the requsite actions,
Do not hanker after them in vain, for you cannot be one of
them without emulating their spiritual states.
Silence your heart, seclude yourself from all that brings you
down to other than the Beloved Master,
Be wakeful and hunger. Thus shall you [...]

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The Spy of the Heart

Came across this rather interesting website which reveals yet again how sufi teachings are still touching hearts even in the most troubled of circumstances. The Spy of the Heart is a book by Robert Abdul Hayy Darr about his encounter with sufi teachings in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“Between 1985 and 1990 I travelled in and out [...]

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Mawlana Thanawi (ra) on Chishti Sufism

Mawlana Ashraf Ali Thanawi (ra) is one of those scholars that either inspires great devotion or great aversion in people familiar with the sectarian disputes of twentieth century scholars in the Indo-Pakistani subcontinent. Despite his fame as an ultra-conservative scholar he was also a practicing sufi belonging to the Chishti tariqa. His works on sufism [...]

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The Wisdom of Sufi Songs/Poetry

Shaykh Muhammad al-Yakoubi, a well known contemporary scholar and sufi shaykh of the Shadhili tariqa on the wisdom of sufi songs. His comments sum up the the purpose of sama in its various forms too: these are means to instil “meanings” in hearts and not ends or “rituals” in their own right.
[...]

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Sacrifice Your Intellect

Sacrifice your intellect in love for the Friend:
for anyway, intellects come from where He is.
The spiritually intelligent have sent their intellects back to Him:
only the fool remains where the Beloved is not.
If from bewilderment, this intellect of yours flies out of your head,
every tip of your hair will become a new knowing.
In the presence of [...]

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Manqabat of Hz Khawaja Sahib by Murli Qawwal

This a manqabat (poem in praise of a wali) of Sultan ul Hind Khawaja Moeen-ud-Din Chishti (ra) sung by Murli Qawwal and Sons from Lucknow, India.

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Eid Khutbah by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf

An Eid Khutbah that is relevant! May God bless and protect this man. He has been the means of much good here in the West.

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Don’t Think Too Much!

Don’t think.
Don’t get lost in your thoughts.
Your thoughts are a veil on the face of the Moon.
That Moon is your heart,
and those thoughts cover your heart.
So let them go.
Just let them fall into the water.
Hz Mawlana Rumi (ra).

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