1.How we see God is a direct reflection of how we see ourselves. If God brings to
mind mostly fear and blame, it means there is too much fear and blame welled
inside us. If we see God as full of love and compassion, so are we.
2. The Path to the Truth is a labor of the heart, not of the head. Make your heart
your primary guide! Not your mind. Meet, challenge, and ultimately prevail over
your nafs (false ego) with your heart. Knowing your ego will lead you to
the knowledge of God.
3.You can study God through everything and everyone in the Universe, because God is
not confined in a mosque, synagogue, or church. But if you still in need of
knowing where exactly His abode is, there is only one place to look for
Him: in the heart of a true lover.
4.Each and every reader comprehends the Holy Qur’an on a different level of
tandem with the depth of his understanding. There are four levels of insight.
The first level is outer meaning and it is one that the majority of the people
are content with. Next is the inner level. Third is the inner of the inner. And
the forth is so deep it cannot be put into words and is therefore bound to
remain indescribable.
5.Intellect and love are made of different materials. Intellect ties people
in knots and risks nothing, but love dissolves all tangles and risks
everything. Intellect is always cautious and advises, ‘Beware too much
ecstasy,’ whereas love says, ‘Oh take the plunge!’ Intellect does not easily
break down, whereas love can effortlessly reduce itself to rubble. But
treasures are hidden among ruins. A broken heart hides treasures.
6.Most of the problems of the world stems from linguistic mistakes and simple
misunderstandings. Don’t ever take words at face value. When you step into the one
of love, language as we know it becomes obsolete. That which cannot be put into
words can only be grasped through silence.
7.Loneliness and solitude are two different things. When you are lonely, it is
easy to delude yourself into believing that you are on the right path. Solitude
is better for us, for it means being alone without feeling lonely. But
eventually it is best to find a person, the person who will be your mirror.
Remember, only in another person’s heart can you truly see yourself and the
presence of God within you.
8.Whatever happens in your life, no matter how troubling things might seem,
do not enter the neighbourhood of despair. Even when all doors remained closed,
God will open up a new path only for you. Be thankful! It is easy to be thankful
when all is well. A Sufi is thankful not only for what he has been given but
also for all that he has been denied.
9.Patience does not mean to passively endure. It means to be farsighted enough to trust
the end result of a process. What does patience mean? It means to look at the
thorn and see the rose, to look at the night and see the dawn. Impatience means
to be shortsighted as to not able to see the outcome. The lovers of God never
runs out of patience, for they know that time is needed for the crescent moon
to become full.
10. East, west, south, or north makes little difference. No matter what your
destination, just be sure to make every journey a journey within. If you travel
within, you’ll travel the whole world and beyond.
11. The midwife knows that when there is no pain, the way for the baby cannot be
opened and the mother cannot give birth. Likewise, for a new Self to be born,
hardship is necessary. Just as clay needs to go through intense heat to be
strong, Love can only be perfected in pain.
12.The quest of Love changes us. There is no seeker among those who search for
Love who has not matured on the way. The moment you start looking for Love, you
start to change within and without.
13.There are more fake gurus and false teachers in this world than the number of
stars in the visible universe. Don’t confuse power driven, self centered people
with true mentors. A genuine spiritual master will not divert you attention to
himself or herself and will not expect absolute obedience or utter admiration
from you, but instead will help you to appreciate and admire your inner self.
True mentors are as transparent as glass. They let the Light of God pass
through them.
14.Try not to resist the changes that comes your way. Instead let life live through
you. And do not worry that your life is turning upside down. How do yo know
that the side you are used to is better than the one to come?
15. God is busy with the completion of your work, both outwardly and inwardly. He
is fully occupied with you. Every human being is a work in progress that is
slowly but inexorably moving toward perfection. We are each an unfinished work
of art both waiting and striving to be completed. God deals with each of us
separately because humanity is a fine art of skilled penmanship where every
single dot is equally important for the entire picture.
16. It’s easy to love a perfect God, unblemished and infallible that He is. What is
far more difficult is to love fellow human beings with all their imperfactions
and defects. Remember, one can only know what one is capable is of loving.
There is no wisdom without love. Unless we learn to love God’s creation, we can
neither truly love nor truly know God.
17.Real filth is the one inside. The rest simply washes off. There is only one
type of dirt that cannot be cleansed with pure waters, and that is the stain of
hatred and bigotry contaminating the soul. You can purify your body through
abstinence and fasting, but only love will purify our heart.
18.The whole universe is contained within a single human being – you. everything that
you see around, including the things you might not be fond of and even the
people you despise or abhor, is present within you in varying degrees.
Therefore, do not look for Sheitan outside yourself either. The devil is not an
extraordinary force that attacks from without. It is an ordinary voice within.
If you get to know yourself fully, facing with honesty and hardness both your
dark and bright sides, you will arrive as a supreme form of consciousness. When
a person knows himself or herself, he or she knows God.
19. If you want to change the way others treat you, you should first change the way
you treat yourself. Unless you learn to love yourself, fully and sincerely,
there is no way you can be loved. Once you acheive that stage, however, be
thankful for every thorn that others might throw at you. It’s a sign that you
will soon be showered in roses.
20. Fret not where the road will take you. Instead concentrate on the first step.
That’s the hardest part and that’s what you are responsible for. Once you take
that step let everything do what it naturally does and the rest will follow. Do
not go with the flow. Be the flow.
21. We were all created in His image, and yet we were each created different and
unique. No two people are alike. No two hearts beat to the same rhythm. If God
had wanted everyone to be the same, He would have made it so. Therefore,
disrespecting differences and imposing your thoughts on others is tantamount to
disrespecting God’s holy scheme.
22. When a true lover of God goes into a tavern, the tavern becomes his chamber of
prayer, but when a wine bibber goes into the same chamber, it becomes his
tavern. In everything we do, it is our hearts that makes the difference, not
our outer appearences. Sufis do not judge other people on how they look or who
they are. When a Sufi stares at someone, he keeps both eyes closed and instead
opens a third eye – the eye that sees inner realm.
23. Life is a temporary loan, and this world is nothing but a sketchy imitation of
Reality. Only children would mistake a toy for the real thing. And yet human
beings either become infatuated with the toy or disrespectfully break it and
throw it aside. In this life stay away from all kinds of extremities, for they
will destroy balance.
24. The human being has a unique place among God’s creation. “I breathed into
him of My Spirit,” God says. Each and every one of us without exception is
designed to be God’s delegate on earth. Ask yourself, just how often do you
behave like a delegate, if you ever do so? Remember, it falls upon each of us
to discover the divine spirit inside and live by it.
25. Hell is here and now. So is heaven. quit worrying about hell or dreaming about
heaven, as they are both present inside this very moment. Every time we fall in
love, we ascend to heaven. every time we hate, or fight someone, we tumble
straight into the fires of hell.
26.The universe is one being. Everything and everyone is interconnected through
invisible web of stories. Whether we are aware of it or not, we are all in a
silent conversation. Do no harm. Practice compassion. And do not gossip behind
anyone’s back – not even a seemingly innocent remark! The words that come out
of our mouth do not vanish but are perpetually stored in infinite space, and
they will come back to us in due time. One man’s pain will hurt us all. One
man’s joy will make everyone happy.
27. The world is like a snowy mountain that echoes your voice. Whatever you speak,
good or evil, will somehow come back to you. Therefore, if there is someone who
harbors ill thoughts about you, saying similarly bad things about him will only
make matters worse. You will be locked in a vicious circle of malevolent
energy. Instead for forty days and nights say and think nice thing about that
person. Everything will be different at the end of forty days, because you will
be different inside.
28. The past in an interpretation. The future is an illusion. The world does not
move through time as if it were a single line, proceeding from the past to the
future. Instead time moves through and within us, in endless spirals. Eternity
does not mean infinite time, but simply timelessness. If you want to experience
eternal illumination, put the past and the future out of your mind and remain
within the present moment.
29. Destiny doesn’t mean that your life has been predetermined. Therefore, to leave
everything to fate and to not actively contribute to the music of the universe
is a sign of sheer ignorance. The music of the universe is all-pervading and it
is composed on forty different levels. Your destiny is the level where you will
play your tune. You might not change your instrument but how well to play is
entirely in your hands.
30. The true Sufi is such that even when he is unjustly accused, attacked, and
condemned from all sides, he patiently endures, uttering not a single bad word
about any of his critics. A Sufi never apportions blame. How can there be
opponents or rivals or even “others” when there is no
“self” in the first place? How can there be anyone to blame when
there is only One?
31. If you want to strengthen your faith, you will need to soften inside. For your
faith to be rock solid, your heart needs to be as soft as feather. Through an
illness, accident, loss, or fright, one way or another, we are all forced with
incidents that teach us how to become less selfish and judgmental, and more
compassionate and generous. Yet some of us learn the lesson and manage to
become milder, while others end up becoming even harsher than before. The only
way to get closer to the Truth is to expand your heart so that it will
encompass all humanity and still have room for more Love.
32. Nothing should stand between yourself and God. Not imams, priests, rabbis, or
any other custodians of moral or religious leadership. Not spiritual masters,
not even your faith. Believe in your values and your rules, but never lord them
over others. If you keep breaking other people’s hearts, whatever religious
duty you perform is no good. Stay away from all sorts of idolatry, for they
will blur your vision. Let God and only God be your guide. Learn the
Truth, my friend, but be careful not to make a fetish out of your truths.
33. While everyone in this world strives to get somewhere and becomes someone, only
to leave all behind after death, you aim for the supreme stage of nothingness.
Live this life as light and empty as the number zero. We are no different from
a pot. It is not the decorations outside but the emptiness inside that holds us
straight. Just like that, it is not what we aspire to achieve but the
consciousness of nothingness that keeps us going.
34. Submission does not mean being weak or passive. It leads to neither fatalism
nor capitulation. Just the opposite. True power resides in submission – a power
that comes from within. Those who submit to the divine essence of life will
live in unperturbed tranquility ad peace even when the whole wide world goes
through turbulence after turbulence.
35. In this world, it is not similarities or regularities that take us a step
forward, but blunt opposites. And all the opposites in the universe are present
within each and everyone if us. Therefore the believer needs to meet the
unbeliever residing within. And the nonbeliever shoud get to know the silent
faithful in him. Until the day one reaches the stage of the perfect human
being, faith is a gradual process and one that necessitates its seeming
opposite: disbelief.
36.This world is erected upon the principle of reciprocity. Neither a drop of kindness
nor a speck of evil will remain unreciprocated. Fear not the plots, deceptions,
or tricks of other people. If somebody is setting a trap, remember, so is God.
He is the biggest plotter. Not even a leaf stirs outside God’s knowledge. Simply
and fully believe in that. whatever God does, he does beautifully.
37. God is a meticulous clockmaker. So precise is His order that everything on
earth happens in its own time. Neither a minute late nor a minute early. And
for everyone without exception, the clock works accurately. For each there is a
time to love and a time to die.
38. It is never too late to ask yourself, “Am I ready to change the life I am
living? Am I ready to change within?” Even if a single day in your life is
the same as the day before, it surely is a pity. At every moment and with
each new breath, one should be renewed and renewed again. There is only one way
to be born into a new life: to die before death.
39. While the parts change, the whole always remains the same. For every thief who
departs this world, a new one is born. And every decent person who passes away
is replaced by a new one. In this way not only does nothing remain the same but
nothing ever really changes.
40. A life without love is of no account.
Don’t ask yourself what kind of love you should seek, spiritual or material,
divine or mundane, Eastern or Western…Divisions only lead to more divisions.
Love has no labels, no definitions. It is what it is, pure and simple. Love is
the water of life. And a lover is a soul of fire. The universe turns
differently when fire loves water.
From the Book “The Forty Rule of Love” by Elif Shafak- Hoping she does not sue me for posting the rules on my blog.
hippielu 