Essential Sufism by James Fadiman (Editor), Robert Frager (Editor), Huston Smith (Foreword by)

From the Publisher

The first accessible and broad-ranging sourcebook of key Sufi writings, Essential Sufism draws together more than 300 stories, fables, aphorisms, short writings, and poems that reveal the heart of Islamic mysticism. Each selection has been chosen for the beauty and emotional impact that have made the work of Sufi writers such as Rumi so popular. The poets and writers chosen here – including Ibn Arabi, Al-Ghazzali, Hafiz, Attar, Koranic writers, and, of course, Rumi – will fascinate newcomers to Sufism, delight old hands, and provide a matchless overview of a mystical tradition that has touched a dozen cultures and endured for more than 1,500 years.

Coleman Barks

A treasure of jewels in the tradition of Sufi soul-work. "I really love and value this book."

Body Mind Spirit

An awesome and eminently profound compendium of spiritual wisdom.

Product Details

• Table of Contents
• Read an Excerpt

Table of Contents

Read an Excerpt

Chapter One

The Sufi is absent from himself and present withGod.

The Sufis are those who have preferred God to everything, so that God has preferred them to everything.

If you are possessed of discernment joined with knowledge, seek the company of the dervishes and become one with them.
Associate with none but them.
Love of the dervishes is the key that opens the door of Paradise.
Those who walk on the Path have no longing after fine palaces and fair gardens.
In their hearts is nothing but the pain of yearning love for God.

The Sufis do not abandon this world, nor do they hold that human appetites must be done away with. They only discipline those desires that are in discordance with the religious life and the dictates of sound reason.

They don't throw away all things of this world, nor do they go after them with a vengeance. Rather, they know the true value and function of everything upon the earth. They save as much as is necessary. They eat as much as they need to stay healthy.

They nourish their bodies and simultaneously set their hearts free. God becomes the focal point toward which their whole being leans. God becomes the object of their continual adoration and contemplation.

The thing we tell of can never be found by seeking, yet only seekers find it.

Whatever you have in your mind — forget it; whatever you have in your hand — give it; whatever is to be your fate — face it!

The Sufi acts according to whatever is most fitting to the moment.

The Sufi is he whose thought keeps pace with his foot.

He is entirely present; his soul is where his body is, and his body where his soul is, and his soul where his foot is, and his foot where his soul is.

Today I am in such a shape
That I can't differentiate
The load from the donkey.
I am in such shape today,
That I don't know which is the thorn
And which is the rose.

My Love put me in this shape today.
I don't know who is the Lover
Or who is the Beloved.

Yesterday, drunkenness led me
To the door of the Love.
But today I can't find
The door or the house.

Last year I had two wings.
Fear and hope.
Today, I don't know of wings,
Don't know how to fly,
Don't know of my lost fears.

The journey from this world to the next (to give up worldly things for spiritual things) is easy for the believer. The journey from the creatures to the Creator is hard. The journey from the self to God is very hard. And to be able to abide in God is harder still.

Although there are some differences in the way things are done in the lodges of other Sufi orders, in essence they are not very different. There is no lack of love or respect between these various orders. They do not reject each other, or criticize each other. Nor do they claim to be closer to the Truth. Sometimes it is said, "The fountain from which I drank was here, and there are many other fountains if you are thirsty."

A seeker went to ask a sage for guidance on the Sufi way. The sage counseled, "If you have never trodden the path of love, go away and fall in love; then come back and see us."

"I" and "you" are but the lattices,
In the niches of a lamp
Through which the One Light shines.
"I" and "you" are the veil
Between heaven and earth;
Lift this veil and you will see
No longer the bonds of sects and creeds.