To Be A Sufi

To be a Sufi means to yearn for Allah more than anything else

To be a Sufi means to despair of your self while having utter hope of Allah

To be a Sufi means to seek communion with the Beloved, secretly and outwardly, here, there and everywhere

To be a Sufi means to see with the eye of tawhid – to see the One behind multiplicity

To be a Sufi means to be utterly humble on the carpet of worship and strive for perfect adab in transactions

To be a Sufi means to know you possess nothing material – you’re merely a guardian

To be a Sufi means to claim no ownership of the immaterial qualities of noble character, but to see them as reflections of Divinity

To be a Sufi means that one cannot live without bathing in Allah’s pleasure and can only live by floating along the river of His baraka

To be a Sufi means to be in this world but not be owned by it

To be a Sufi means to celebrate calamities as opportunities

To be a Sufi means to accept windfalls cautiously

To be a Sufi means to love others on the same path for they are brothers in aspiration – who knows upon whom Allah bestows arrival?

To be a Sufi is to tolerate and love all others – Allah’s creation, not yours!

To be a Sufi means never to judge by outward appearance alone, or even at all

To be a Sufi means to automatically reach for Allah in constriction or expansion

To be a Sufi means to feel the overflow of Allah’s love in ease or difficulty

To be a Sufi means to know - and seek -  that meaning is expressed in form and has its due courtesy

To be a Sufi means to see through appearances – things are often not what they seem

To be a Sufi is to strive for the best in conduct, speech and transaction

To be a Sufi means to take of this world its gifts and fruits without succumbing to its temptations

To be a Sufi is to adore Beauty and to see the beautiful in what others think ugly

To be a Sufi is to leave things better than when you found them

To be a Sufi is to have a heart constantly overflowing with glorification and praise of Allah

To be a Sufi is not to see oneself but to know the self in its fujur and taqwa

To be a Sufi is to tread lightly on this earth without taking more than your allotted share

To be a Sufi is to have a whirling heart in constant contact with its Creator

To be a Sufi is to prefer others over yourself

To be a Sufi is to honour your true self

To be a Sufi is to never let the weed of idols take root in the garden of your heart

To be a Sufi is to role-play without typecasting yourself

To be a Sufi is to always make du’a your first port of call for change

To be a Sufi is to be dynamic, not static

To be a Sufi is to distinguish impulses of Divine inspiration from impulses of one’s own illusion

To be a Sufi is to be free and abandoned in heart while sober and firm in the outer

To be a Sufi is to suffer moments of forgetfulness as one suffers from the consequences of major sins

To be a Sufi is to pierce the veils of existence with the sword of insight

To be a Sufi is to overflow with compassion for creation without attachment to results or expectations

To be a Sufi is to be oblivious of one’s high qualities and achievements while painfully aware of one’s defects and failures

To be a Sufi is to know that ‘being’ a Sufi is a lie

To be a Sufi is to welcome censure and correction

To be a Sufi is to be committed in the service of Allah

To be a Sufi means to recognize your shaykh as the mirror of your higher self, your potential and not to resist his reflection

To be a Sufi is to joyfully accept your outer limitations while inwardly bathing in limitlessness

To be a Sufi is to know and accept that the world of the Unseen is vaster, broader and greater than the seen

To be a Sufi is to keep the company of Angels

To be a Sufi is to live a life of love

To be a Sufi is to live and die in grace



©Muna H. Bilgrami 2007