New York Times<\/em>: \u00a0\u201cWho Are Sufi Muslims and Why Do Some Extremists Hate Them?\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
There are, though, one or two errors in these articles. \u00a0For example, I suspect that, when the New York Times<\/em> author wrote of Sufis that they \u201ctry to get closer to God by seeking spiritual learning known as tariqa,\u201d what she meant, instead of tariqa<\/em>\u00a0(which refers to a Sufi mystical order or brotherhood), was actually ma\u2018rifa<\/em> (a form of mystical \u201cknowing\u201d \u2014 \u201cknowledge\u201d\u00a0is what the word literally means \u2014 that is sometimes rendered in English as gnosis<\/em>).<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
***<\/strong><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Not a few\u00a0in the West \u2014 including myself \u2014 find much to admire in many forms and historical figures of Sufism. \u00a0Here is a tiny selection of quotations attributed to two great early Sufis, the woman Rabi\u2018a al-\u2018Adawiyya<\/span> or Rabi\u2018a of Basra<\/span> (ca. AD 715 to 801) and Hasan al-Basri<\/span> (AD 642 to 728), whose alleged marriage proposal to Rabi\u2018a was turned down on the grounds that her love for God left nothing over with which to love him<\/em>. \u00a0(They would have been one of the great \u201cpower couples\u201d in the history of religion and spirituality, of course, but \u2014 look at the discrepancy in their ages \u2014 such a proposal of marriage is, I think, quite unlikely to have been made.)<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Admonish the people with your actions and not with your statements.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
If you sell this life for the next, you will win both of them. If you sell the next life for this world\u00a0then you will lose both of them.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
O God! if I worship Thee in fear of Hell, burn me in Hell; and if I worship Thee in hope of Paradise, exclude me from Paradise; but if I worship Thee for Thine own sake, withhold not thine everlasting beauty.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Know that you cannot love God until you love obeying Him.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
O my Lord, whatever share of this world You have bestowed on me, bestow it to my enemies, and whatever share of the next world You have for me, give it to my friends. You are enough for me.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
You chase this world,\u00a0when it was meant as a punishment for Adam.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
You are nothing but a number of days, and, whenever a day passes away, a part of you passes away.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
I seek forgiveness from God\u00a0for my\u00a0lack of sincerity when I say I seek the forgiveness of\u00a0God.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Seek knowledge in a way that does not harm your worship, and worship in a way that does not harm your knowledge. Whoever acts without knowledge harms more than he benefits.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
I will not serve Allah like a laborer, in expectation of my wages.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
O Son of Adam! Walk on the earth with your feet as long as you wish, for it will soon be your grave. You have not ceased to subtract from your lifespan since you came from your mother\u2019s womb.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Posted from Park City, Utah<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 \u00a0 Some have written to me, wondering (in connection with the horrific recent massacre at that Egyptian mosque in the Sinai) why Islamist\u00a0terrorists would murder devout Muslims \u2014 and especially when the victims were actually gathered in a mosque for the major weekly Muslim worship service, the Friday noon prayer. \u00a0(In Arabic, Friday is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a>