A Muslim Convert Once Before

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh Muswlih ad-Din Abu Muhammad Sa’adi ibn ‘Abdullah ash-Shirazi ( q.s. ) wrote: “I sit on the throne of the heart; That is the style of my poverty! I am dust on my Beloved’s Path; That is my Elevated state! No need to visit the mosque for me; Your eyebrow is a prayer arch for me. Sa’di, why this pilgrim’s garb? Why, indeed, this ritual of haj ? Look at my Beloved’s Face; That is the true worshipper’s place!”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh  Muswlih ad-Din   Abu Muhammad Sa’adi ibn ‘Abdullah ash-Shirazi ( q.s. ) wrote, “Someone said to a moth, ‘Go, you contemptible creature, and make friendship with one worthy of yourself.  Go where you see the path of hope.  How different is your love from that of the candle!  You are not a salamander — hover not around the fire, for bravery is necessary before combat.  It is not compatible with reason that you should acknowledge as a friend one whom you know to be your enemy.’   ‘What does it matter if I burn?’ the moth replied.  ‘I have love in my heart, and this flame is as a flower to me.  Not of my own accord do I throw myself into the fire; the chain of her love is upon my neck.  Who is it that finds fault with my friendship of my friend?  I am content to be slain at her feet.  I burn because she is dear to me, and because my destruction may affect her.’”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh  Muswlih ad-Din   Abu Muhammad Sa’adi ibn ‘Abdullah ash-Shirazi ( q.s. ) wrote:   “The sons of Adam are limbs of each other, Having been Created of one essence. When the calamity of time affects one limb, The other limbs cannot remain at rest. If you have no sympathy for the troubles of others, You are unworthy to be called human.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh  Muswlih ad-Din   Abu Muhammad Sa’adi ibn ‘Abdullah ash-Shirazi ( q.s. ) wrote, in al-Bustan :   “On Judgement Day, When the bazaar of Paradise will be arrayed, Rank will be assigned in accordance with one’s deeds. If you should take a goodly stock of virtues, In proportion will be your profit; If you were to be bankrupt, you will be ashamed. If fifty years of your life have passed, Esteem as a precious boon the few that yet remain. While still you have the power of speech, Close not your lips, like the dead, from the praise of God.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh  Muswlih ad-Din   Abu Muhammad Sa’adi ibn ‘Abdullah ash-Shirazi ( q.s. ) said, “A pious man saw a wrestler full of wrath and foaming at the mouth.  He asked, ‘What is the matter with this fellow?’   A bystander said, ‘Someone has insulted him.’   He remarked, ‘This base wretch is able to lift a tonne of stones, and has not the power to bear one word?’”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh  Muswlih ad-Din   Abu Muhammad Sa’adi ibn ‘Abdullah ash-Shirazi ( q.s. ) said, “Roam abroad in the world, and take your fill of its enjoyments before the day shall come when you must quit it for good.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh  Muswlih ad-Din  Abu Muhammad Sa’adi ibn ‘Abdullah ash-Shirazi ( q.s. ) said:   “He who is intoxicated with wine, Will be sober again in the course of the night; But he who is intoxicated by the Cup Bearer, Will not recover his senses until the Day of Judgement.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh  Muswlih ad-Din   Abu Muhammad Sa’adi ibn ‘Abdullah ash-Shirazi ( q.s. ) said:   “If He Injures you, bear it, Because Pardon will purify you from sin. O brother, as the end is dust, Be dust before you are turned into dust.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh  Muswlih ad-Din   Abu Muhammad Sa’adi ibn ‘Abdullah ash-Shirazi ( q.s. ) said, “Have you not witnessed man’s agony when his teeth are being pulled out?   Consider his suffering when his precious life is taken from his flesh.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh  Muswlih ad-Din   Abu Muhammad Sa’adi ibn ‘Abdullah ash-Shirazi ( q.s. ) said, “Do not let a turban and a beard deceive you: a turban is made of cotton; a beard is dry grass.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh  Muswlih ad-Din   Abu Muhammad Sa’adi ibn ‘Abdullah ash-Shirazi ( q.s. ) prayed, “O Lord, what kind of fountain is Your Love, of which I sipped but one drop, and wept rivers.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh  Muswlih ad-Din   Abu Muhammad Sa’adi ibn ‘Abdullah ash-Shirazi ( q.s. ) said, “I am a dreamer who is mute, and the people are deaf.   I am unable to say, and they are unable to hear.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh  Muswlih ad-Din   Abu Muhammad Sa’adi ibn ‘Abdullah ash-Shirazi ( q.s. ) wrote, “The Path is service of others; not prayer beads and dervish robes.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Shaykh Muswlih ad-Din Abu Muhammad Sa’adi ibn ‘Abdullah ash-Shirazi ( q.s. ) said:   “To break the five fingers of a poor man is sin. Let him be afraid who spares not the fallen, Because if he falls, no one will take his hand. Whoever sows bad seed and expects good fruit, Has cudgeled his brains for naught, And begotten vain imaginations. Extract the cotton from your ears, And administer justice to your people. If you fail to do so, there is a Day of Retribution.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Shaykh Muswlih ad-Din Abu Muhammad Sa’adi ibn ‘Abdullah ash-Shirazi ( q.s. ) wrote, in “The Gulistan of Sa’adi”:   “O bird of the morning, learn love from the moth, Because it burnt, lost its life, and found no voice. These pretenders are ignorantly in search of Him, Because he who obtained knowledge has not returned.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh Muswlih ad-Din Abu Muhammad Sa’adi ibn ‘Abdullah ash-Shirazi ( q.s. ) said, “No one throws stones at the barren tree.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Shaykh Muswlih ad-Din Abu Muhammad Sa’adi ibn ‘Abdullah ash-Shirazi ( q.s. ) wrote, about Layla and Majnun:   “If the leaves on the trees ringing this glade, Had heard what I heard of the glade’s story, They would have lamented it with me.   Dear friends, Say to this man who does not seem to care, ‘Love has not yet wounded you, and so You cannot know the agony that overflows Majnun’s heart.’   When you do, we will share our tales. Until then, there is no point to talk of bees, With someone who has never felt their sting. Until we live the same experience, Words will show you only its empty shell.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Shaykh Muswlih ad-Din Abu Muhammad Sa’adi ibn ‘Abdullah ash-Shirazi ( q.s. ) wrote, “Deep in the sea, there are riches beyond your imagination.   But if you seek safety, that is at the shore.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ It is written in the Bustan , of Shaykh Muswlih ad-Din Abu Muhammad Sa’adi ibn ‘Abdullah ash-Shirazi ( q.s. ), that a wise youth from a noble family landed at a seaport of Turkey, and his baggage was deposited in a masjid .  One day, the imam said to him, “Sweep away the dust and rubbish from the masjid .”  Immediately, the young man went away, and no one saw him there again.  Thus, the elders and followers supposed that he had no care to serve.   The next day, a servant of the masjid met him on the road and said, “You acted wrongly in your stubborn judgement.  Do you not know, O conceited youth, that men are dignified by service?”   Sorrowfully, the youth began to weep. “O soul-cherishing and heart-illuminating friend!” he answered; “I saw no dirt or rubbish in that holy place but my own corrupt self.  Therefore, I retraced my steps, for a masjid is better off cleansed from such.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ The poet, Shaykh Muswlih ad-Din Abu Muhammad Sa’adi ibn ‘Abdullah ash-Shirazi ( q.s. ) said, “When Jesus was in school, he used to tell the boys what their fathers were doing; and he would say to a boy, ‘Go home, for your people have been eating such and such and have prepared such and such for you and they are eating such and such.’  So, the boy would go home to his people and would cry until they gave him that thing.   Then they would ask him, ‘Who told you about this?’   And he would say, ‘Jesus.’   So, they shut away their boys from him and said, ‘Do not play with this magician.’  So, they gathered them in a house, and Jesus came looking for them.  Then they said, ‘They are not here.’   He asked them, ‘Then what is in this house?’   They replied, ‘Swine.’   He said, ‘Let them be swine.’  So, when they opened the door for them, they were swine.  That spread among the people, and ...