Muslim Saints

"Nasîru’d-Dîn’s leading disciple, Syed Muhammad Husainî Banda Nawãz Gesûdarãz (1321-1422 A.D.), went to Gulbarga for helping the contemporary Bahmani sultan in consolidating Islamic power in the Deccan."

"An anecdote relating to Shaikh Jalalu’d-Din’s stay in Deva Mahal reads like other stock-in-trade stories and fairytales. It was related by such an authority as Gisu Daraz. According to him Shaikh Jalalu’d-Din stayed at Pandua in the house of a flower vendor. On the day of his arrival, he found each of the house members crying. On enquiry he was told there was a demon in the temple who daily ate a young man. It was the king’s duty to provide the demon with his daily food. On that day it was the turn of the young son in the family. The Shaikh requested them to send him in place of their son but they refused to accept the offer for fear of the king. The Shaikh, then followed the young man to the temple and killed the demon with a single blow from his staff. When the king accompanied by his retinue reached the temple to worship the demon they were amazed to find the demon killed and an old man dressed in black with his head covered with a blanket. The Shaikh invited them to see the fate with their god. The sight of their vanquished idol prompted them to accept Islam."

"Gnosis means the vision of God, for when the eyes of the soul is stripped of all the veils which hindered it from seeing God, then it beholds the reality of the Divine Attributes by its own inner light, which goes for beyond the light which is given to perfect faith, for gnosis belongs to a sphere quite other then that of faith. Hence, there is no distinction between love of God and knowledge of God."

"The servant does not attain to assurance of the doctrine of the Unity except by means of gnosis."

"Gnosis truly, is a light which God casts into the heart. True knowledge of God is gained when the lover comes in contact with the Beloved through secret communion with Him."

"Love leads to knowledge of the Divine mysteries and those who love abide in God and look to Him only, and He is nearer to them than all else and to them in given a vision of Him unveiled and they see Him with the eye of certainty."

"Pure love of God illuminates the soul of the lover and the mysteries of His divinity are revealed by God when the vision of the Beloved is contemplated."

"Asceticism concerns the soul for the next world. True asceticism means the thrusting out from the heart of all worldly thoughts reckoning them as vanity. It leads ultimately to friendship with God."

"Patience is a true means for reaching God. In patience the soul rejoices spiritual bliss and kinship with the Beloved. This is stage when the seeker of God heartily welcomes afflictions which appear on the way to Him"

"Patience has three stages; first, it means that the servant ceases to complain and this is the stage of repentances; second, he becomes satisfied with what is decreed, and this is the rank of the ascetic; third, he comes to love whatever his Lord does with him and this is the stage of the true friends of God."

"O Lord! Increase light within me and give me light and illuminate me."

"The saint enjoys real attachment to God when he experiences states of contentment and satisfaction."

"The gnostic (arif) attains the station of passionate love of God so that he may experience Godhead or His pure Essence."

"The seekers on the path of God are a community who are overwhelmed in the ocean of love from head to nail of the foot."

"The spiritual state of nearness of God is a sign of true saintliness. This ultimately results in the experience of love and longing for early union."

"Fear is a whip of God for the undisciplined devotee. When the fear of God enters into the heart, it turns the flask of the heart into pieces."

"The seeker's real approach to God means his preoccupation with afflictions appearing on the way to Him. Tribulations in separation from God is to be treated as a boon granted by God to His elect."

"One's friendship with God consists in being satisfied with whatever comes from God and expresses his gratitude hundred thousand time that he was remembered by Him."

"Communion with God is conferred after the dervish has become alien to all else."

"Detachment from worldly things is the most essential qualification required for a true dervish. His separation from everything, including his own self is the only way for the realization of kingship with God."

"The end of the gnostic is traceable 'when he is as he was where he was before he was.' The gnostic then has made easy effort to discharge his duty to God, and his gnosis is a realization of what God has given him; therefore he truly returns from things to God."

"God reveals the truth behind the languages of the Quran to those whom He loves and who are true Sufis."

"Renunciation (Zuhd) is a noble station and it is the basis of all spiritual progress. It is the first step on the way to God. Without renunciation one cannot hope to make progress in this respect."

"Gnosis (Marifat) is fire and faith light, gnosis is ecstasy and faith a gift. He differentiates between the believer and gnostic saying that the believer sees by the light of God and the gnostic sees by means of God Himself, and the believer has a heart, but the gnostic has no heart."

"Gnosis (Marifat) is of three kinds: The gnosis of acceptance, the gnosis of reality and the gnosis of contemplation. And in the gnosis of contemplation, understanding and learning and explanation and disputation fade away."

"The Sufis are content with little in the way of worldly goods and are satisfied with the minimum of food to keep them alive; they limit themselves to the least that is necessary by way of clothing and bedding. They choose poverty rather than riches, embrace want and avoid plenty, prefer hunger to satisfaction and little to much. They renounce dignity and honour and rank, show compassion upon mankind and humility towards small and great."

"Lovers do not reach the height of true love until one says to the other, "O Thou who art I.""

"Trust in God is the last station on the Divine Path for nothing remains to be attained through mystical efforts after having experienced spiritual satisfaction."

"Before the time of prayer comes, the servant must be in a state of preparation and his attitude must be that which is essential for prayer, namely a state of reflection and recollection, free from wandering thoughts and consideration or remembrance of anything save God alone. Those who enter in this way upon prayer with heart intent only upon God, will proceed from prayer to prayer in that same state of recollection and will remain in that state after they have ceased to pray."

"Humanity is not destroyed from men any more than blackness is destroyed from that which is black or whiteness from that which is white but that inborn qualities of humanity are converted and transformed by the all-powerful Light that is shed upon them from the Divine Realities. Those who inculcate the doctrine of Fana mean the obliteration of one's own deeds and works of devotion through the continuance of regarding God as the doer of those deeds on behalf of His devotee."

"The more inwardly pure a man is, the higher his rank and the nobler his station, so much he assiduously labors with sincere performance and a great fear (of God)."

"The qualities of saintliness are; withdrawal from the world, inclining the soul awat from it, leaving all settled bodies, keeping constantly to travel, denying the carnal soul its pleasures, purifying conduct, cleansing the conscience, dilation of breast and quality of the leadership."

"Detachment from everything is avbsolutely necessary for the saint's unification with God. The meaning of detachment is that one should be detached outwardly from accidents, and inwardly from compensation."

"Intellectual knowledge is ordinary, limited to the human faculties. It deals with the finite objects of the world of the creation of God; it is not concerned with the Creator. Gnosis (Marifat) is higher knowledge and directly deals with the Creator and the Divine Attributes. It is a gift of God."

"The only guide to God is God Himself. Inspired by a great Sufi he believed; "God made us to know Himself through Himself, and guided us to knowledge of Himself through Himself, so that the attestation of gnosis arose out of gnosis through gnosis, after he who possessed gnosis had been taught gnosis by Him who is the object of gnosis."

"The mystic never returns to his selfhood after having experienced the state of Fana."

"The doctrine of Tawhid is; "God is One, Alone, Single, Eternal, Everlasting, Knowing, Powerful, Living, Hearing, Seeing, Strong, Mighty, Majestic, Great, Generous. He is qualified with attributes wherewith he has named Himself. There is no Eternal but He, and no god beside Him; that He is neither body nor shape nor form nor person, nor element, nor accident."

"Love is of two natures; the love which is tranquil, which is found among both the elect and the common folk, and the love which is rapture, which is found only among the elect. This is road which leads direct to God."

"The more inwardly pure a man is, the higher his rank and the nobler his station, so much the more arduously he labours, with sincerer performance and a great fear of God."

"There are two kinds of sainthood. The first is nearly a departure from anmity, and in this sense is general to all believers; it is not necessary that all individual should be aware of it or realise it. The second is a sainthood of peculiar election and choice, and this is necessary for a man to be aware of and realize. When a man possesses this, he is preserved from regarding himself, and does not fall into conceit. He does not take delight in any of the pleasure of the soul. Nevertheless he will not be divinely preserved from committing smaller or greater sins; but if he falls into either, sincere repentance will be close at hand to him"

"Akis ditut narma ta khasay, Akis jandah palas nay, Akis ditut barni-nyasay, Akis tsur ay doran Lhasay."

"Arah-balan naga-rada rov Sadha ror tsuran manz Muda gharan gora Pandita ror Ruza hansa ror kuran manz."

"The universe will sustain only if the forests sustain."

"Adam akay ta byun byun war — Ak layi mukhta ta ak layi na har Tsandun ti dar, arkhor ti dar Arkhor asi na barkhurdar."

"Man is the same [but] of different qualities; One is worth a pearl, another is not worth a shell. Sandal is wood, arkhor is wood, [but] Arkhor is not of any use. 1"

"Adana archana karay no me Tas Wuni pyom tsetas greki vizi nun."

"Only the fearful one sees the fearful. It is the mother without her child who likes to see other mourning mothers."

"It is offensive that there should be seen in the outward appearance of man more humility than what is in his heart."

"God revealed to the mountain, I will speak a prophet upon one of you; so the mountains raised themselves high is pride while Mount Sinai lowered itself humbly. Then God spoke to Moses on this mountain because of its humility."

"Submit to the Truth; obey it and accept it from whoever says it, this is submissiveness."