All Religions are vehicles and a path to God's Divine Presence.

Abu Yazid al-Bestami

The thing we tell of can never be found be seeking, yet only seekers find it.

Abu Yazid al-Bestami

For thirty years I sought God. But when I looked carefully I found that in reality God was the seeker and I the sought.

Abu Yazid al-Bestami

I never saw any lamp shining more brilliantly than the lamp of silence.

Abu Yazid al-Bestami

Forgetfulness of self is remembrance of God.

Abu Yazid al-Bestami

Moses desired to see God; I do not desire to see God;He desires to see me

Abu Yazid al-Bestami

All this talk and turmoil and noise and movement and desire is outside of the veil; within the veil is silence and calm and rest.

Abu Yazid al-Bestami

I desire not to desire, for my will is without value, since I am ignorant in any case. Therefore choose Thou for me what thou knowest to be best and do not put my perdition in what my autonomy and free choice prefer.

Abu Yazid al-Bestami

O God! if I worship Thee in fear of Hell, burn me in Hell; and if I worship Thee in hope of Paradise, exclude me from Paradise; but if I worship Thee for Thine own sake, withhold not thine everlasting beauty.

Rabi’ah al-Adawiyah

I seek forgiveness from Allah for the lack of my sincerity when I say I seek the forgiveness of Allah

Rabi’ah al-Adawiyah

If I repent now will God forgive me? 

No, but if God forgives you, you will repent.

Rabi’ah al-Adawiyah

Your prayers are your light; 

Your devotion is your strength;

Sleep is the enemy of both. 

Your life is the only opportunity that life can give you.

If you ignore it, if you waste it,

You will only turn to dust.

Rabi’ah al-Adawiyah

O my Lord, whatever share of this world You have bestowed on me, bestow it to my enemies, and whatever share of the next world You have for me, give it to my friends. You are enough for me.

Rabi’ah al-Adawiyah

Since no one really knows anything about God, those who think they do are just troublemakers.

Rabi’ah al-Adawiyah

I love Allah: I have no time left in which to hate the devil.

Rabi’ah al-Adawiyah

The real work is in the Heart:

Wake up your Heart! Because when the heart is completely awake,

Then it needs no Friend.

Rabi’ah al-Adawiyah

True devotion is for itself: not to desire heaven nor to fear hell.

Rabi’ah al-Adawiyah

May Allah steal from you All that steals you from Him.

Rabi’ah al-Adawiyah

Your hope in my heart is the rarest treasure 

Your Name on my tongue is the sweetest word

My choicest hours

Are the hours I spend with You -

O God, I can't live in this world

Without remembering You

Rabi’ah al-Adawiyah

Eyes are at rest, the stars are setting. 

Hushed are the stirrings of birds in their nests,

Of monsters in the ocean.

You are the Just who knows no change,

The Balance that can never swerve,

The Eternal which never passes away.

The doors of Kings are bolted now and guarded by soldiers.

Your Door is open to all who call upon You.

Each love is now alone with his beloved.

And I am alone with You.

Rabi’ah al-Adawiyah

A leading scholar of Basra visited Rabi'a al-Adawiyya while she was ill.

ting beside her pillow, the scholar spoke about how terrible the world was. In reply, Rabi`a told him: 

"You love the world very dearly. If you did not love the world, you would not mention it so much. It is always the purchaser who first disparages what he wants to buy. If you were done with the world, you would not mention it either for good or evil. As it is, you keep mentioning it because, as the proverb says, whoever loves a thing mentions it frequently."

Rabi’ah al-Adawiyah

O Lord... 

Once I wanted You so much 

I didn't even dare walk past Your house- 

And now 

I am not even worthy to be let in

Rabi’ah al-Adawiyah

How long will you keep pounding on an open door Begging for someone to open it?

Rabi’ah al-Adawiyah

How many gifts and graces You have given me! How many favors You have fed me from your hand! I look for your love in all directions, then suddenly its blessing burns in me.

Rabi’ah al-Adawiyah

Great doubt will eventually lead to great awakening.

Rabi’ah al-Adawiyah

I will not serve Allah like a laborer, in expectation of my wages.

Rabi’ah al-Adawiyah

I swear that ever since the first day You brought me back to life, 

The day You became my Friend,

I have not slept -

And even if You drive me from your door,

I swear again that we will never be separated -

Because You are alive in my heart

Rabi’ah al-Adawiyah

Stay close by the door, if you desire all beauty

And leave aside sleep, if you wish to arrive

And make of the spirit your first place of account

To the beloved, whose lights shine as from gold

All of them worship out of fear of the fire �

And consider deliverance abundant good fortune -

Or, so they may dwell in the gardens, and reach

To the meadows of paradise, and there drink from its rivers

Of gardens or fire I have no opinion

I seek no exchange for my dearest love

Rabi’ah al-Adawiyah

It is reported from the famous worshiper Rabi'ah al-Adawiyya (radiAllahu anha) that she said: "I have never heard the adhaan except that I remember the caller who will announce the Day of Resurrection, and I never see the falling snow except that I imagine the flying pages of the records of peoples deeds (on that day), and I never see swarms of locusts except that I think about the Great Gathering on the Last Day."

Rabi’ah al-Adawiyah

You know of the how, but I know of the how-less.

Rabi’ah al-Adawiyah

O Allah, 

You know that the only thing I want in this life 

Is to be obedient to Your command. 

Even the living sight of my eyes 

Is service at your court

Rabi’ah al-Adawiyah

He does not refuse sustenance to the one who speaks ill of Him. How then could He refuse sustenance to the one whose soul is over flowing with love for Him?

Rabi’ah al-Adawiyah

O Beloved of Hearts, I beseech only You. Have pity this day on those who turn to You. My Hope, my Rest, my Delight, this heart can love none other but You.

Rabi’ah al-Adawiyah

Who are we to wish for Paradise? It will be enough if Allah spares us his wrath.

Imam Abu Hanifah

When a hadeeth is found to be saheeh, then that is my madhhab.

Imam Abu Hanifah

Faith does not increase, nor does it decrease; because a diminution in it would be unbelief.

Imam Abu Hanifah

If I were you I would face my clothes, to make sure that no one runs off with them!

Imam Abu Hanifah

The body's weakness comes from illnesses, while the heart's weakness comes from sins. And just as the body does not taste the delights of food when it is ill, the heart does not taste the delights of worship when it is sinful.

Dhul-Nun al-Misri

Whatever you imagine, God is the opposite of that.

Dhul-Nun al-Misri

Patience is seeking help only from Allah.

Dhul-Nun al-Misri

He who practices Tasawwuf without learning Sacred Law corrupts his faith, while he who learns Sacred Law without practicing Tasawwuf corrupts himself. 

Only he who combines the two proves true.

Malik ibn Anas

Only that which was effective for the first of this community will be effective for the last of it

Malik ibn Anas

Knowledge is not to be taken from four types of people: a foolish person who openly acts foolish, even if he reports the most narrations; an adherent of bid'ah who calls to his desires; a person who lies, even if I don't accuse him of lying in hadith; and a righteous pious worshiper who does not accurately retain what he narrates.

Malik ibn Anas

My heart is at ease knowing that what was meant for me will never miss me, and that what misses me was never meant for me.

Imam Al Shafi`i

All humans are dead except those who have knowledge; and all those who have knowledge are asleep, except those who do good deeds; and those who do good deeds are deceived, except those who are sincere; and those who are sincere are always in a state of worry.

Imam Al Shafi`i

Knowledge is not what is memorised.

Knowledge is what benefits.

Imam Al Shafi`i

Never do I argue with a man with a desire to hear him say what is wrong, or to expose him and win victory over him. Whenever I face an opponent in debate I silently pray - O Lord, help him so that truth may flow from his heart and on his tongue, and so that if truth is on my side, he may follow me; and if truth be on his side, I may follow him.

Imam Al Shafi`i

My sin burdened me heavily. But when I measured it against Your Grace, O Lord, Your forgiveness came out greater.

Imam Al Shafi`i

To be able to thank Allah for a blessing is a blessing within itself.

Imam Al Shafi`i

I complained to Waki' about the weakness of my memorisation, 

So he instructed me to abandon disobedience;

He informed me that knowledge is a light,

And the light of Allah is not given to a sinner.

Imam Al Shafi`i

To admonish your brother in private is to advise him and improve him. But to admonish him publicly is to disgrace and shame him.

Imam Al Shafi`i

You say that you are just a body, but inside of you is something greater than the Universe.

Imam Al Shafi`i

When my heart became constricted and my paths became narrow

I took my hope in Your pardon and forgiveness as an opening and an escape

My sins seemed very great to me but when I compared them to Your forgiveness

I found Your forgiveness to be greater

Imam Al Shafi`i

Wealth remains behind on earth while ibadaah accompanies you into the grave.

Imam Al Shafi`i

Be hard on yourself, easy on others.

Imam Al Shafi`i

How strange! You seek guidance, yet you do not tread its path, surely a boat does not sail on land.

Imam Al Shafi`i

Only someone who is sincere recognizes what showing off is.

Imam Al Shafi`i

Do not vie with others in the accumulation of wealth. Vie with them in Ibadaah.

Imam Al Shafi`i

The loftiest in status are those who do not know their own status, and the most virtuous of them are those who do not know their own virtue.

Imam Al Shafi`i

Whoever is not made glorified by taqwa can find no glory.

Imam Al Shafi`i

The one who admonishes his brother secretly, he has advised sincerely and has honored him. If he does it outwardly (among others) then he has dishonored and shamed him.

Imam Al Shafi`i

There is not on the face of the earth-after the Book of Allah - a book which is more sahih than the book of Malik.

Imam Al Shafi`i

Do not praise your own faith exclusively so that you disbelieve all the rest. If you do this you will miss much good. Nay, you will miss the whole truth of the matter. God, the Omniscient and the Omnipresent, cannot be confined to any one creed, for He says in the Quran, wheresoever ye turn, there is the face of Allah. Everybody praises what he knows. His God is his own creature, and in praising it, he praises himself. Which he would not do if he were just, for his dislike is based on ignorance.

Ibn Arabi

I believe in the religion of Love, whatever direction its caravans may take, for Love is my religion and my faith.

Ibn Arabi

Beware of confining yourself to a particular belief and denying all else, for much good would elude you - indeed, the knowledge of reality would elude you. Be in yourself a matter for all forms of belief, for God is too vast and tremendous to be restricted to one belief rather than another.

Ibn Arabi

How can the heart travel to God, when it is chained by its desires?

Ibn Arabi

My heart can take on any form: 

A meadow for gazelles, 

A cloister for monks, 

For the idols, sacred ground, 

Ka'ba for the circling pilgrim, 

The tables of the Torah, 

The scrolls of the Quran. 

My creed is Love; 

Wherever its caravan turns along the way, 

That is my belief, 

My faith.

Ibn Arabi

I am in love with no other than myself, and my very separation is my union... I am my beloved and my lover; I am my knight and my maiden.

Ibn Arabi

It is He who is revealed in every face, sought in every sign, gazed upon by every eye, worshipped in every object of worship, and pursued in the unseen and the visible. Not a single one of His creatures can fail to find Him in its primordial and original nature.

Ibn Arabi

God sleeps in the rock, dreams in the plant, stirs in the animal, and awakens in man.

Ibn Arabi

There was a time, when I blamed my companion if his religion did not resemble mine. Now, however, my heart accepts every form....Love alone is my religion.

Ibn Arabi

The ignorant one does not see his ignorance as he basks in its darkness; nor does the knowledgeable one see his own knowledge, for he basks in its light

Ibn Arabi

If you find it complicated to answer someone’s question, do not answer it, for his container is already full and does not have room for the answer

Ibn Arabi

Whoever builds his faith exclusively on demonstrative proofs and deductive arguments, builds a faith on which it is impossible to rely. For he is affected by the negativities of constant objections. Certainty(al-yaqin) does not derive from the evidences of the mind but pours out from the depths of the heart.

Ibn Arabi

Your personal nature seeks its paradise.

Ibn Arabi

None but God is loved in the exist- end things. It is He who is manifest within every beloved to the eye of every lover – and there is nothing in the existent realm that is not a lover

Ibn Arabi

I follow the Way of Love,

and where Love's caravan takes its path,

there is my religion, my faith.

Ibn Arabi

My heart can be pasture for deer and a convent for monks, a temple for idols and a Kaaba for the pilgrims. It is both the tables of the Torah and the Koran. It professes the religion of Love wherever its caravans are heading. Love is my law. Love is my faith.

Ibn Arabi

My heart has become capable of every form: It is a pasture for gazelles And a monastery for Christian monks, And the pilgrim's Ka'ba, And the tablets of the Torah, And the book of the Koran. I follow the religion of Love: Whatever way love's camel takes, That is my religion, my faith.

Ibn Arabi

When you know yourself, your 'I'ness vanishes and you know that you and Allah are one and the same.

Ibn Arabi

Oh, Lord, nourish me not with love, but with the desire for love.

Ibn Arabi

You are My sight, so have faith. You are My Face, so veil yourself

Ibn Arabi

While you are alive, your worldly self is like a collector of benefits from Allah's bounties, which come to you from myriads of hands.

Ibn Arabi

Each person is oriented toward a quest for his personal invisible guide, or . . . he entrusts himself to the collective, magisterial authority as the intermediary between himself and Revelation.

Ibn Arabi

My creed is LOVE; 

Wherever its caravan turns along the way, 

That is my belief, 

My faith.

Ibn Arabi