And Were Met By Wealth

Peace, one and all…

‘We sought poverty and were met by wealth.  Others sought wealth and were met by poverty’
Ibrahim ibn Adham, Attar Memorials of the Saints

Until He Prefers Giving To Taking

Peace, one and all…

‘Poverty does not come out right for anyone until he prefers giving to taking’

(Abu Hafs al-Haddad, quoted in Attar, Memorials of the Saints)

The Ranks of the Poor

Peace, one and all…

A man once asked Ma`ruf Karkhi, an early Sufi master, for counsel.  In reply he said: ‘Beware lest the Lord sees you when you are not in the ranks of the poor’
Attar Memorials of God’s Friends

What Is Poverty?

Peace, one and all…

Abu Hafs al-Haddad, an early Sufi master, was once asked, ‘What is poverty?’.  He replied thus: ‘Displaying your infirmity in the presence of the Lord Most High’
(Attar, Memorials of the Saints)

Through the Real

Peace, one and all…

‘Forgetting the self is remembering the Real.  Anyone who knows the Real through the Real is alive, and anyone who knows the Real through his self perishes’

Bayazid Bistami, as recorded in Attar’s Memorials of the Saints

The Mark of the Friends of God

Peace, one and all…

‘The mark of the friends of the mighty and glorious Lord is that their thought is concern for the Lord, their repose is with the Lord, and their occupation is in the Lord’
Bishr al-Hafi, quoted by Attar in The Memorial of the Saints

For Water is Sweet When it Flows

Peace, one and all…

‘Travel, for water is sweet when it flows, and when it settles, it stagnates’

Bishr al-Hafi, as quoted in Attar’s Memorials of the Saints

If A Good Deed Is Worthy…

Peace, one and all…

‘If a good deed is worthy, it is carried off, and you are made to forget it’

Abu Hafs al-Haddad, taken from Attar’s Memorials of the Saints

My Oceans of Forgiveness

Peace, one and all…

In his Memorials of the Saints (Tadhkirat al-Awliya), Attar includes a profound story of the early Sufi saint Ibrahim ibn Adham.  I was reading it on the train home this evening and wanted to share it here. It is set in Mecca, in the environs of the Ka’ba. May it be of benefit to all who pass by.

‘It is related the Ibrahim said: ‘At night I used to be on the lookout for a time when I would find the Ka’ba empty and free of worshippers and could pray for something I needed.  I didn’t find the opportunity until one night when a heavy rain was falling.  I went and seized the chance – it was just Ibrahim and the Ka’ba.  I performed my circumambulations and took hold of the knocker on the Ka’ba’s door and asked for immunity from sin.  I heard a voice call out, ‘You ask Me for immunity from sin?  All the people ask Me for this.  If I grant everyone immunity, what will become of My oceans of forgiveness and pardon, of my mercy and compassion?  What use will they be?’

I then said, ‘O God, forgive me my sins.’  I heard the voice say, ‘Speak to Me on behalf of the world, not on behalf of yourself.  It’s better for others to speak on your behalf’

Ask olsun,
Abdur Rahman