Rabi'a al-Adawiyya (If I worship You)

                                     O  My Lord, If I worship You From fear of Hell, burn me in Hell. O My Lord, If I worship You From hope of Paradise, bar me from its gates. But if I worship You for Yourself alone Then grace me forever the splendor of Your Face. Rabia Al-Adawiyya Iraq (717-801) One of Sufism's most revered and beloved poet-saints, Rabia was born to poor parents...

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Hazrat Owais Al-Qarni (RA)

"Sleep with the remembrance of death, and rise with the thought that you will not live long." - Hazrat Awais Al -Qarni Abu Amar Owais Bin Harb Bin al Muradi bin al Qarn [d.37H/657CE] 'alayhi al-rahmah wa'l-ridwan His name was Owais, he was known as Owais al-Qarni because he lived in a town called "Qarn" in Yemen. Hadrat Owais Qarni (Allah be pleased with him) was a very pious and noble person. Although his life was insignificant from a worldly point of view, he is renowned and honoured amongst all Muslims, Sufis in particular, for his piety, practice of zuhd (asceticism), as well as a deep love and affection for the Beloved Messenger...

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Spiritual Story by Idries Shah

Rope and the Sky A Sufi mystic stopped Nasrudin in the street. In order to test whether Nasrudin was sensitive to inner knowledge, he made a sign pointing to the sky. The Sufi meant, "There is only one truth, which covers all." Nasrudin's companion, an ordinary man, thought: "The Sufi is mad. I wonder what precautions Nasrudin will take?" Nasrudin looked in a knapsack and took out a coil of rope.This he handed to his companion. "Excellent," thought the companion, "we will bind him up if he becomes violent." The Sufi saw that Nasrudin meant: "Ordinary humanity tries to find truth by methods as unsuitable as attempting to climb...

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Maulana Shah Muhammad Abdul Aleem Siddique

Divine Harmony  By  Maulana Shah Muhammad Abdul Aleem Siddique  (1892-1954) In my old age, I have undertaken the present world tour, with all its attendant hardships, only with the mission of delivering the message of peace and goodwill to my fellow beings so that they might be able to avoid conflicts and quarrels and to live in harmony. After years of serious thinking, I have come to the conclusion that the real cause of human strife and wars consists in selfishness, on the one hand and the forgetfulness of God on the other. When people begin to act in utter self-interest, when the social obligations are forgotten,...

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A story of a pious young Man

Once there was a very handsome, pious, well educated young man, whose parents emphasized for him to get married. they had seen so many marriage proposals, and he had turned them all down. The parents thought it was becoming a little ridiculous or suspected that he may have someone else in mind. However every time the parents left the girls house, the young man would always say 'she's not the one!' The young man only wanted a girl who was religious and practicing, however one evening his mother arranged for him, to meet a girl, who was religious, and practicing. On that evening, the young man, and girl, were left to talk, and ask...

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Alchemy of the Heart

The Day on which neither wealth nor sons will be of any use, except for whoever brings to Allah a sound heart. Quran 26: 88-89   There is in the body a clump of flesh, if it becomes good, the whole body becomes good and if it becomes bad, the whole body becomes bad. And indeed it is the heart.Hadith Alchemy of the Heart  by Shaykh Muhammad Maulud Translated into English by Shaykh Hamza YusufThis is an edited transcription of the audio tapes of the course Shaykh Hamza gave based on his translation of Shaykh Muhammad Maulud's Matharatul Qulub: The Diseases of the Heart. This class took place in Hayward, California...

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