Here’s a quote I read recently that I absolutely fell in love with. It’s from the book In the Mystic Footsteps of Saints, by the Naqshbandi Sufi, Shaykh Nazim Adil Al-Haqqani.
“Don’t worry about bringing people “in line” but rather concern yourself with making sure that your own practices are becoming a means for attaining inner peace and are not becoming an end in themselves. If your practice brings you inner peace and wisdom others will emulate those practices voluntarily.”
Where can you find Shaykhs who are well-known around the world, with this kind of thinking, nowadays? Answer? Sadly, not many. Or maybe I just haven’t come across them yet.
Shaykh Nazim is a breath of fresh air. I’m glad I discovered him and his beautiful insights. Yay to Sufi mystics who speak the language of love.
SudaneseThinker
SudaneseThinker
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Is it possible for someone with inner peace and wisdom to be well known around the world? Wouldn’t fame destroy that peace, and any desire for such fame indicate a lack of wisdom.
The wise man is known only to his friends.
“If your practice brings you inner peace and wisdom others will emulate those practices voluntarily” Unbelievably simple. I remember telling a Jehova’s Witness once, ‘ no need to bother innocent people, just be together in the name of the Most High, and your light will attract those who God calls for’ He must’ve understood, ‘ cause he never came back.
This looks very interesting but when I went to Amazon I could only find Volume 2. Is that where the quote derives or from Volume 1.
Izayak ya ibn el ‘am?
Actually such words that brings joy to the soul is found among all the sufi masters, also in our time. Nazim al-Haqqani (May Allah preserve him) is no exeption.
However, i believe that many people who do not share our traditionalist values would not find them all as appealing as Sheikh Nazim. This is because Sheikh Nazim excells in Tasawwuf and is mainly concerned with it, while other sufi sheikhs are also fuqahaa and are as such more famous for their works in fiqh and issuing fatwas.
I would recommend you to listen to the speeches of Al-Habib Ali al-Jifri. Besides being an erudite shafi’i faqih, he is also a student as well as a teacher of sufism, and his lectures in Sufism are gold! Try it.
Nuh Ha-Mim Kellers lectures in Tasawwuf are also priceless, but they are harder to find online. His fiqh-works and refutations of the salafis seem to dominate online.
Don Cox,
Sheikh Nazim al-Haqqani is the grand sheikh of the Naqshbandi-Haqqani sufi order, and is actually world famous.
Also, it should be noted in this context that the quote of Sheikh Nazim here is in line with the ancient sufi principle:
“A Sufi is harsh on himself but lenient on others”.
In Islamic law, this has meant that the sufis were among the most austere and strict when applying the laws on themselves - while accepting everyone around them to take more lenient opinions.
For example, our master of the Shadhili Tariqa, Sheikh Nuh Ha-Mim (May Allah preserve him) does not permit photographies to be taken of him. This is because there is a _small_ minority opinion that photographies are Taswir (drawing), and thus sinful. There is virtually no photos of Sheikh Nuh around at all. On the same time, Sheikh Nuh does not enjoin others to do the same. To my knowledge, he conveys only the majority and relied-upon opinion, namely, that photography is permitted, to his students.
http://www.alhabibali.com/ar/books/view_article/19/
This is an article by our young shaikh Al-Habib Ali Al-Jifri (May Allah preserve him). It is entitled “Tahaarat al-Qalb”, meaning something not far from “Purity of the Heart”. It is worth a read.
Drima, when you read this, then please send me an email on the adress i’ve filled. I have something to tell you.
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