Sayings of the masters: an anthology of Sufi wisdom
Sufi wisdom is also handed down through the saying: a brief formula that condenses an experience and lends itself to years of meditation. Week after week, tariqa.fr used to publish ‘thoughts for the day’: Qur’anic verses, hadiths and sayings of masters from every tradition. We have taken up that collection, more than five hundred sayings, grouped by author.
The masters of the path
- Sidi Hamza al-Qadiri Boutchich: the words of the guide who opened the path to the world (see also his sayings and the thematic collections on the spiritual journey and the heart, love and humility)
- Sidi al-Hajj Abbas: a few words of Sidi Hamza’s father and guide
- ’Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani: the master of Baghdad whose name the path bears
- Moulay al-’Arabi al-Darqawi: the Moroccan renewer whose lineage crosses ours
- Abu Madyan Shu’ayb: ‘the Ghazali of the Maghreb’, master of Ibn ’Arabi
- Sidi ’Ali al-’Imrani, known as al-Jamal: the saint of Fez, founder of the Jamaliyya
The classics of Sufism
- Ibn ‘Ata’ Allah al-Iskandari: the author of the Hikam, 33 sayings
- Bayazid al-Bistami: the master of ecstatic states
- Dhu’l-Nun al-Misri: one of the first masters of the ma’rifa
- Al-Harith al-Muhasibi: the master of self-examination
- Al-Hasan al-Basri and the masters of the first generation
- Abu Hamid al-Ghazali: the ‘Proof of Islam’
- Abu ’Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami: the historiographer of the Sufis
- Abu’l-Hasan al-Kharaqani: the Uwaysi master of Khorasan
- Ibn ’Ajiba: the commentator of the Hikam
- The imam ’Ali: the source of the initiatic chains
The poets of the path
- Jalal al-Din Rumi: the song of divine love
- Sultan Valad: Rumi’s son and continuator
- Sa’di of Shiraz: wisdom in parables
- ’Abd al-Rahman Jami: the polymath of Herat
The sources
- Verses of the Qur’an: the verses quoted in the thoughts for the day, with their references
- Sayings of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): the hadiths reported by Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmidhi and other collections
- Anonymous sayings: wisdom without a name
- Sayings of the masters of Sufism: ’Attar, al-Shadhili, the emir ’Abd al-Qadir, Ibn ’Arabi, Hujwiri, Ansari, Hafiz and a hundred other voices of the tradition