A Muslim Convert Once Before

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   The 17 th Century Mawlawiyyah shaykh , Shaykh Isma’il ibn Ahmad al-Anqarawi ( q.s. ), wrote:   “Wherever we set foot, it was Your street. Whatever corner we turned, it was Your Name in the air. We said, ‘Surely there must be a road leading elsewhere?’ But every road we found, it led to You.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The following is adapted from Shaykh Shams Ira Friedlander’s “When You Hear Hoof Beats, Think of a Zebra”.   There is a special adab , proper spiritual behaviour, between shuyukh of dervish orders.  A man wanted to be a dervish.  He went to see Mawlana Baha’ ad-Din Muhammad al-Walad ( q.s. ), better known as Sulthan Walad, the son of Mawlana Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi ( q.s. ), in Konya, who was then the head of the Mawlawi Order.  Sulthan Walad ( q.s. ) said, " al-Hamdulillah , all Praise is for Allah.  Come, bring a sheep, and we will make a feast.”  The man left, and the next Thursday he was supposed to bring a sheep.  He was a thief.  That was his job, so he stole a sheep.  He threw the sheep over his shoulders, and walked up to the door of the tekke .  Sulthan Walad ( q.s. ) stopped him and said, “Wait!  That sheep cannot be cooked in our pots.  You cannot be a dervish with our ...

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The following are some quotes of the famous Sufi poet, Mawlana Jalal ad-Din Muhammad ar-Rumi ( q.s. ).  Among his writings is the famed Matsnawi .   “A person cannot live in ‘if.’”   “Be concerned with what you truly value; let the thief steal something else.”   “Conventional opinion hampers our souls.”   “You already possess the powerful mixture that will make you well — use it.”   “Appear as you are; be as you appear.”   “Each person has been made for some specific work, and the longing for that work has been put into every heart.”   “Ah!  Joyous is the soul that saw its own faults.”   “The satiated man and the hungry man do not see the same thing when they look at a loaf of bread.”   “People do not observe themselves, and thus they blame one another.”   Your mission is not to look for love, but simply to search and locate the barriers within you that have formed agai...