"I began to compile a list that was not written down in any book, only inscribed in my Soul.
This personal list I call "The Basic Principles of the Itinerant Mystics of Islam."
To me these were as universal, dependable, and invariable as the laws of nature.
Together they constituted The Forty Rules of the Religion of LOVE,
which could be attained through LOVE and LOVE only.
And those rules said:
The Path to the Truth is a labor of the heart, not of the head. Make your heart your primary guide! Not your mind. Meet, challenge, and ultimately prevail over your nafs with your heart. Knowing your ego will lead you to the knowledge of God.
You can study God through everything and everyone in the Universe, because God is not confined in a mosque, synagogue, or church. But if you are still in need of knowing exactly where His abode is, there is only one place to look for Him: in the heart of a true lover.
Most of the problems of the world stem from linguistic mistakes and simple misunderstandings. Don't ever take words at face value. When you step into the zone of love, language as we know it becomes obsolete. That which cannot be put into words can only be grasped through silence.
Loneliness and solitude are two different things. When you are lonely, it is easy to delude yourself into believing that you are on the right path. Solitude is better for us, as it means being alone without feeling lonely. But eventually it is best to find a person, the person who will be your mirror. Remember, only in another person's heart can you truly see yourself and the presence of God within you.
Whatever happens in your life, no matter how troubling things might seem, do not enter the neigborhood of despair! Even when all doors remain closed, God will open up a new path only for you. Be thankful! It is easy to be thankful when all is well. A Sufi is thankful not only for what he has been given but also for what he has been denied.
Patience does not mean to passively endure. It means to be farsighted enough to trust the end result of a process. What does patience mean? It means to look at the thorn and see the rose, to look at the night and see the dawn. Impatience means to be so shortsighted as to not be able to see the outcome. The lovers of God never run out of patience, for they know that time is needed for the crescent moon to become full.
East, west, south or north makes little difference. No matter what your destination, just be sure to make every journey a journey within. If you travel within, you'll travel the whole wide world and beyond.
The midwife knows that when there is no pain, the way for the baby cannot be opened and the mother cannot give birth. Likewise, for a new Self to be born, hardship is necessary. Just as clay needs to go through intense heat to become strong, LOVE can only be perfected in pain.
The quest for LOVE changes us. There is no seeker among those who search for LOVE who has not matured along the way. The moment you start looking for LOVE, you start to change within and without.
THERE ARE MORE FAKE GURUS AND FALSE TEACHERS IN THIS WORLD THAN THE NUMBER OF STARS IN THE VISIBLE UNIVERSE. DON'T CONFUSE POWER-DRIVEN, SELF-CENTERED PEOPLE WITH TRUE MENTORS. A GENUINE SPIRITUAL MASTER WILL NOT DIRECT YOUR ATTENTION TO HIMSELF OR HERSELF AND WILL NOT EXPECT ABSOLUTE OBEDIENCE OR UTTER ADMIRATION FROM YOU, BUT INSTEAD WILL HELP YOU TO APPRECIATE AND ADMIRE YOUR INNER SELF. TRUE MENTORS ARE AS TRANSPARENT AS GLASS. THEY LET THE LIGHT OF GOD PASS THROUGH THEM.
Try not to resist the changes that come your way. Instead let life live through you. And do not worry that your life is turning upside down. How do you know that the side you are used to is better than the one to come?
God is busy with the completion of your work, both outwardly and inwardly. He is fully occupied with you. Every human being is a work in progress that is slowly but inexorably moving toward perfection. We are each an unfinished work of art both waiting and striving to be completed. God deals with each of us separately because humanity is a fine art of skilled penmanship where every single dot is equally important for the whole picture.
IT IS EASY TO LOVE A PERFECT GOD, UNBLEMISHED AND INFALLIBLE THAT HE IS. WHAT IS FAR MORE DIFFICULT IS TO LOVE FELLOW HUMAN BEINGS WITH ALL THEIR IMPERFECTIONS AND DEFECTS. REMEMBER, ONE CAN ONLY KNOW WHAT ONE IS CAPABLE OF LOVING. THERE IS NO WISDOM WITHOUT LOVE. UNLESS WE LEARN TO LOVE GOD'S CREATION, WE CAN NEITHER TRULY LOVE NOR TRULY KNOW GOD.
REAL FILTH IS THE ONE INSIDE. THE REST SIMPLY WASHES OFF. THERE IS ONLY ONE TYPE OF DIRT THAT CANNOT BE CLEANSED WITH PURE WATERS, AND THAT IS THE STAIN OF HATRED AND BIGOTRY CONTAMINATING THE SOUL. YOU CAN PURIFY YOUR BODY THROUGH ABSTINENCE AND FASTING, BUT ONLY LOVE WILL PURIFY YOUR HEART.
THE WHOLE UNIVERSE IS CONTAINED WITHIN A SINGLE HUMAN BEEING - YOU. EVERYTHING THAT YOU SEE AROUND, INCLUDING THE THINGS YOU MIGHT NOT BE FOND OF AND EVEN THE PEOPLE WHO DESPISE OR ABHOR, IS PRESENT WITHIN YOU IN VARYING DEGREES. THEREFORE, DO NOT LOOK FOR SHEITAN OUTSIDE OF YOURSELF. THE DEVIL IS NOT AN EXTRAORDINARY FORCE THAT ATTACKS FROM WITHOUT. IT IS AN ORDINARY VOICE WITHIN. IF YOU GET TO KNOW YOURSELF FULLY, FACING WITH HONESTY AND HARDNESS BOTH YOUR DARK AND BRIGHT SIDES, YOU WILL ARRIVE AT A SUPREME FORM OF CONSCIOUSNESS. WHEN A PERSON KNOWS HERSELF OR HIMSELF, SHE OR HE KNOWS GOD."
from Elif Shafak's The Forty Rules of LOVE: A Novel of Rumi
to bee continued...
p.s. THANK YOU, B.L.,
for beeing a true lover and the best mirror!
