Idries Shah, Sufi Thought And Action Quotes

The Sufi way is through knowledge and practice, not through intellect and talk.

Materialism, attachment to things of the world, includes pride. Many religious people suffer from pride: taking pleasure or even delight in being good, or religious.

One cannot learn from someone whom one distrusts.

But one may say something and yet not be able to do it. Try, for instance, lifting yourself up by the bootstraps.

The human being, whether he realises it or not, is trusting someone or something every moment of the day.

Sufi secrets are perceived, not understood by words.

Sufis aim to refine human consciousness. This is Sufi mysticism: not mystification or magic, but a specific Path.

Form is useful, but it is secondary.

There are as many paths to Truth as there are souls of men.

Nothing can defile the Sufi, and he in fact purifies everything.” Abu-Turab al-Nakhsabi.

As with any other specialisation, teaching is a vocation, open only to those who are truly capable of discharging its functions.

The aspirant has to be guided by a mentor. The stage at which this guidance can take effect is seldom, if ever, perceptible to the learner.

Those who say ‘I am ready to learn’, or ‘I am not ready to learn’ are as often mistaken as they are correct in their surmise.

Miracles, to the Sufi, are not evidential, they are instrumental.

Eat what you desire, but dress like other people.

Continuously, in commemoration of the FriendWe drank wine, even before the creation of the vine.

Whoever knows God, does not (any longer) say “God”.

He is the completed Man who, from his completeness, performs, with his Mastership, the work of a slave.

Everyone does not know the secrets of TruthThe States of Truth are not evidential.

To Him who has sense, a sign is enoughFor the heedless, however, a thousand expositions are not enough.

The bird which has no knowledge of pure water, has his beak in salt water all year round.

Trust is needed before lessons can be learnt.

The Sufis regard systems which treat everyone alike as mechanical and degenerate.

A man must be a Solomon before his magical ring will work

A man must be a Salomon before his magical ring will work. (Hafiz)

Imagination blocks you like a bolt on a door. Burn that bar. (Rumi)

Sufis (the name for the realised individual, not the learner or follower) are reunited with objective Reality and Unity.

The clothes may vary, but the person is the same.

Sufis deny the absolute reality of time, space and physical form. These things are both relative and local. They only appear to be absolute.

People who cannot trust are themselves not trustworthy, and therefore cannot be entrusted with important things.

Inheritance and culture obscure people’s higher capacities.

Much religious teaching in the world is in reality a confused or deteriorated form, very different from its roots.

Well-meant techniques such as arbitrary self-mortification, are useless.

Humility has to precede instruction.

Saadi: Be a true renouncer, (zahid) and [you can even] ware satin.

How many friends would you have if you went from one to another asking them to conceal a dead body?

A Sufi is alive to the value of time, and is given, every moment, to what that moment demands.

Sufism, they say, is that which enables one to understand religion, irrespective of its current outward form.

The Sufis are unanimous that a Guide (Sheikh) is absolutely essential, though never available on demand: 'the Sufis are not merchants'.

If wine is the enemy of religion, I shall devour the enemy of religion.