Anonymous sayings of the Sufi tradition
Contents
Sayings whose attribution is not given in the archives of tariqa.fr: Sufi wisdom sometimes circulates nameless, from master to master.
Anonymous: bearing one’s brothers’ burden
One day a disciple came to see his shaykh and said to him: “Master, nowadays there are no more brothers, no true fuqara. People are no longer available for others; each one looks after himself alone.” The shaykh answered him: “O my son, if you are looking for brothers to help you carry your burden, then it is true, there are not many. But if you are looking for brothers so as to help them carry theirs, then you will find many.”
Anonymous: I forget Him who never forgets me
I have a Beloved whom I share with many. They are the righteous, and I am vile through all the stains of my garment. I forget Him who never forgets me.
Anonymous: were it not for the misfortunes of this world
Were it not for the misfortunes of this world, we would come into the other world poorer still than a man without a penny in his pocket.
Anonymous: he whose heart is dead
Men are astonishing. They weep for the one whose body is dead and do not lament over the one whose heart is dead, though that loss is the graver.
Anonymous: the true sense of complaint
There is worse than the man who boasts: the man who complains.
Anonymous
Do not sell cheap the language of the heart for that of words, nor inner vision for hearsay.
Anonymous
What makes perseverance possible on the path towards “the abode of peace” (Qur’an 6, 127), which will be inhabited on the day when “We shall call the men, each with his guide” (Qur’an 17, 71), is attachment to the knowing guide who invites to God with wisdom, a sincere and faithful counsellor. His disinterested counsel is lavished on the murid for the love of God. The guide who expects of his murid money, gratitude, or even reward in the hereafter is not fit to guide anyone, and his counsels are ineffective. God enlightens us on this subject through the commandment He gives His messenger, blessing and peace upon him: “Say to them: I ask you no reward” (Qur’an 42, 23). Such is the way of the perfect shaykh.
Anonymous
To someone who multiplied allusions to the spiritual realities before him, a master answered: “My brother, if you followed God’s commandments and His prohibitions, you would fare better.”
Anonymous
Our way suits only those whose ego has begun to cleanse itself of its heaps of refuse.
Anonymous
It is not tears that flow from my eyes; it is my soul melting drop by drop.
Anonymous
The drying up of the dhikr is the mark of exclusion.
Anonymous: the breath lost to other than the dhikr
When the faqir dies, he regrets nothing of what he leaves here below, except the breath he lost in something other than the dhikr of Allah.
Anonymous: did you not know My mercy?
A man saw Bishr al-Hafi (d. 150 H) in a dream and asked him: “When you arrived in the other world, what did the Lord say to you?” Bishr answered: “He reproached me: why did you fear Me so much on earth? Did you not know My mercy and My generosity?”
Anonymous: the prostration of the heart
“Does the heart prostrate?” “Yes! And from that prostration it never rises again.”
Anonymous: learning to pray
Someone asked a Sufi: “Teach me to pray.” “Useless,” the master answered him. “You are already nothing but a prayer.” “I don’t understand! For months I have been trying to pray to God and I can’t manage it!” “You asked me to teach you to pray. You did not speak to me of God. The permanent prayer in which you delight is directed towards your neighbours, whose opinion of you never ceases to preoccupy you. You endlessly pray to an idol of silver, because that is what you desire. And another idol, security, and still others… If you pray to so many gods, do not be surprised that there is no room in you for another prayer.”
Anonymous: take God as your friend
Take God as your friend. It is reassuring for a stranger to find an accomplice in an unknown land.
Anonymous: the hierarchical way
A beggar one day addressed a king to ask him for alms. The king said to him: “Address yourself to God!” The beggar retorted: “Done already.” The king then asked him: “And what did He answer you?” The beggar said: “He advised me to address myself to you.” The king turned to his servants and said: “At last, one who respects the hierarchical way! Give him what he needs.”
Anonymous: we do not know where to begin thanking Him
A scholar wrote to one of his brothers: “We enjoy so many divine blessings that we are unable to enumerate them, despite our very numerous sins. So we do not know where to begin in thanking Him: for having had the favour of His bounties, or for having concealed our bad deeds.”
Anonymous: many read like the donkey
Many read the way the donkey eats the melon it has trampled into the mire.