Excerpt from Yemen Times Newspaper ... Interview with Habib al-Jifri

Question: 

What’s your message to all the people out there who are angered by what is happening to the Muslims ???

Answer: 

It is difficult for people who are angry to listen to a message ... 
Our message is for people of understanding who live amongst the angry masses ... 
Remind people about the root of the problem … 

And the root is our turning away from Allah ... 

The enemies of truth have been allowed to overpower us because of our sins and vices ... We have to remind ourselves that with the deep pain which tightens our breasts because of the suffering of our fellow Muslims ... 

We should feel an even greater pain for those who are being sacrificed on the knife edge of sins and disobedience of Allah's commands ... 

We need to shed even more tears for the Muslims who go to bed drunk and those who fill the dance floors ... 

As long as our community feels more pained by these fatalities than it does by these sins ... It will lag behind and not progress ... 

In our golden era the community feared falling into sin more than it did being killed in a conflict ... For a Muslim to die when he stands for the truth, is martyrdom and an honour by which he can draw near to Allah ...

What is more painful to my heart ??? 
Seeing a Muslim killed inside a mosque, hit by a missile, causing him to fall as a martyr ... Or seeing a Muslim male or female betray one another or their community ... People who bear false witness ... Or take or accept bribes ... Or cheat ... Or spend the night dancing in a night club and consuming alcohol ... 

I am not trying to belittle the magnitude of the disasters we are facing ...
But we need to look at the reasons that have put us in this position ...

A woman's heart should be so lost in God ... 
That a man must seek Him in order to find her ...

Rumi ...

God made the illusion look real ...

And the real an illusion ...

He concealed the sea

And made the foam visible ...

The wind visible

And the dust manifest ...

You see the dust whirling

But how can the dust rise by itself ???

You see the foam ...
But not the ocean ...

Invoke Him with deeds ...
Not words ...

For deeds are real

And will save you in the infinite life ...

Rumi ...

This world is full of remedies ...

But you have no remedy until God opens a window for you ...

You may not be aware of the remedy just now ...

In the hour of need it will be made clear to you ...

The Prophet (PBUH) said God made a remedy for every pain ...

Split Open ... Bawa Muhaiyaddeen ...

Bawa Muhaiyaddeen said: 

We must split open the love we have for each thing in our life and examine what is inside ... 

We must open each tree ...

Fruit ... 

Flower ...

Our lives ...

Our sexual pleasures ...

Gold ...

Our wealth ...

Our houses ...

Everything we look at with our eyes and our minds ... 

If we dissect them all and look inside ... 

We will eventually realize that there is only one kind of love ... 

And that is not something we see externally ...

When we truly perceive that wonder we will exclaim: "My God" ... 

That love is "My God" that wonder ... 

That love which is at the core of everything we see is God ... 

As we dissect everything ... 

What we ultimately see is "My God"... 

This is love ... 

Whatever it may be that we want to study or examine ... 

If we cut it open ... 

What we ultimately experience is the fragrance and the light which is "My God" ...

When we split open everything seen in life ... 

Finally we recognize that one thing which permeates all lives ... 

God who appears as a ray ... 

As the point ... 

As the center of everything ... 

That point is love ... 

And when we perceive that love present within all lives ... 

We have to love that love ... 

We exclaim: 

Oh My God, this is Your creation, how wonderful ... 

This is Your fruit, how wonderful ...

When we dissect anything, we see only His wonder inside ... 

When we look at love, we see only His love ... 

When we examine wisdom, we see only His wisdom ... 

When we study beauty, we see His beauty ... 

When we analyze compassion, we see His compassion ... 

When we observe any actions, we see His actions ... 

When we see a miracle, we see Him as the miracle ... 

When we perceive radiance, it is His radiance ... 

The love we should have ...

Is the love which looks at everything through Him ...

Who Says Words With My Mouth ??? ... Rumi ...

All day I think about it ... 
Then at night I say it ...

Where did I come from ... 
And what am I supposed to be doing ???

I have no idea ...

My soul is from elsewhere ... 
I’m sure of that ...

And I intend to end up there ...

God Came To My House ... St. Francis of Assisi ...

God came to my house and asked for charity ...

And I fell on my knees and cried: 

Beloved, what may I give ???

“Just love” He said ...

“Just love” ...

Sayings of Imam Hussein bin Ali ibn Abi Talib (ra) ...

• Endure difficulties when you walk on a divine path , and resist the temptation of worldly pleasures


• Nothing is more disgraceful for old people than being slaves to their worldly desires


• One who pursues a goal through sinful ways , will ironically distance himself from that goal , and will approach what he was afraid of


• If the world is counted valuable; surely the house of God's rewards is higher and more worthy. If bodies were created for death; surely being killed with swords in the way of God is a more honorable death. If the share of daily sustenance, of each creature is provided by the Creator, surely it is not decent for man to be greedy for gaining and eating too much. If wealth is amassed for one day to be left, then why does a free man become such a miser on something he has to leave?


• If you don't believe in any religion and don't fear the Resurrection Day, at least be free in this world


• Those who worship God for the hope of gaining , they're not real worshippers ,they're merchants. Those who worship God out of fear ( of punishment ) , they're slaves. And those who worship God to be grateful towards their Creator , they are the free people , and their worship is a real one.


• One who reveals your faults to you like a mirror is your true friend, and one who flatters you and covers up your faults is your enemy


• Associating with corrupt people makes you subject to suspicion.


• Avoid doing what makes you obliged to apologize for it. True believers never do anything for which they have to apologize. Fake believers , on the contrary , keep doing wrong and say they are sorry in the aftermath


• The most merciful person is the one who forgives when he is able to revenge.


• Your best relation is the one who comes to you and helps you when you have severed relations with him


• Do not expect to be rewarded more than you deserve


• People's secrets are properties held in trust with you


• Good manner is (counted as) a worship


• O son of Adam ! Your life comprises of passing days , with each day passing , a part of you goes away for good

Lies ... Rumi ...

They say

The King of Love will turn from His lovers ... 
Lies !!!

They say 
The darkness will never turn to dawn ...
Lies !!!

They say 
Do not sacrifice your life for love's sake

When the body dies, you will die ... 
Lies !!!

They say 
The tears you shed in love are worthless

They block your eyes and hold you from the truth

Lies !!!

They say
You can go beyond the cycle of time

But your soul can travel no further
Lies !!!

People who have lost their way say

The servant can never reach God 
Lies !!!

They say

The Knower of Secrets does not tell His servants all the mysteries of the Unseen ... 
Lies !!!

They say

He does not reveal the heart's innermost secrets

He does not lift His servants up to heaven ... 
Lies !!!

They say
One who is born of Earth

Will never join the angels of heaven
Lies !!!

They say
The Sun of God does not fill this whole world

He misses a few atoms
Lies !!!

Now go to that inner stillness ...

Some say
You will not hear the voice of God there ...

Lies !!!

There is a place where words are born of silence ...

A place where the whispers of the heart arise ...

There is a place where voices sing your beauty ...

A place where every breeath carves your image in my soul ...

Rumi ...

If we come to ignorance ... That is His prison ...

And if we come to knowledge ... That is His balcony ...

If we come to sleep ... We are His drowzy drunken ones ...

And if we come to wakeful alertness ... We are in His Hands ...

If we come to weeping ... We are His cloud full of rain drops ...

And if we come to laughing ... We are His lightning in that moment ...

If we come to anger and battle ... It is a reflection of His wrath ...

And if we come to peace and pardon ... It is the reflection of His Love ...

He whose intellect overcomes his lust is higher than the angels ...
He whose lust overcomes his intelligence is less than an animal ...

The angel is free because of his knowledge ...

The beast because of his ignorance ...

Between the two remains the son of man to struggle ...

Rumi ... Mathnawi I (3605-3607)

Whatever it is you wish to marry

Go, absorb yourself in that beloved

Assume its shape and qualities

If you wish for the light, prepare yourself to receive it 

If you wish to be far from God, nourish your egoism and drive yourself away

If you wish to find a way out of this ruined prison

Don't turn your head away from the Beloved

But bow in worship and draw near

Rumi ...

If in thirst you drink water from a cup ... 

You see God in it ...

Those who are not in love with God ... 

Will see only their own faces in it ...

Rumi ...

Till the cloud weeps

How should the garden smile ???

The weeping of the cloud and the burning of the Sun 

Are the pillars of this world ...

Twist these two strands together ...

Since the searing heat of the Sun and the moisture of the clouds 

Keep the Sun of your intelligence burning bright ... 

And your eyes glistening with tears ...

Rumi ... Mathnawi ...

Love of the dead does not last 

Because the dead will not return ...

But love of the living

Is in every moment fresher than a bud ...

Both to the inward and the outward eye

Choose the love of that Living One 

Who is everlasting ...
Who offers you the wine that increases life ...

Do not say: We have no entrance to that King

Dealings with the generous are not difficult ...

Un-Invited ... By Jafar Alam ...

I look out at the dark sky

waiting for the sun to embrace this beautiful day ...

My heart beats slowly

To my souls dismay ...

Battling my nafs, trying to contain this desire ...

The desire is not of this world

But for something much Higher ...

My emptiness I cannot speak of,

It's something that I feel ...

The remedy for this

iIs closeness to The Real ...

He gave me this feeling

Filling it to the brim ...

How can I complain

When this longing is from Him ???

He does this to me often

That I may turn and come back ...

When I start to stray away

And faith is what I lack ...

Now the birds start chirping

And quickly fly by ...

Taking in what they can

Of the cold gray sky ...

I lay here hungry and cold

Trying to fill this void ...

When close to Him

I'm filled and overjoyed ...

So I lay here waiting

For I will not fight it ...

Love and death, both come

Un-Invited (c)

A Word To The Heart ... Rumi

That which God said to the rose

And caused it to laugh in full blown beauty ...

He said to my heart

And made it a hundred times more beautiful ...

Abd Allah bin Mas'ud ...

You are only guests in this world ... 

And what you own is only a borrowed trust ... 

Eventually the guest will depart ... 

And the borrowed trust must be returned to its rightful Owner ...

Choosing to Love ...

You don't choose whom you love ... 

He chooses them ... 

If you had that choice to choose; then the road would be simple ... 

Whom he puts in your life, is part of your test: 

To bear with them ... 

To accept them ...

And most of all to love them despite all that they may agitate you with ...

After all, they come from Him and they return to Him ...

Just like you did and will do ... 

And We have made some of you as a trial for others ... Will you have patience ??? 

And your Lord is Ever All-Seer - (Surah al-Furqan:20)

Rumi ...

If you never searched for truth

Come with us

And you will become a seeker ...

If you were never a musician

Come with us

And you will find your voice ...

You may posses immense wealth

Come with us

And you will become love's beggar ...

You may think yourself a master

Come with us

And love will turn you into a slave ...

If you've lost your spirit

Come with us ...

Take off your silk coverings

Put on our rough cloak

And we will bring you back to life ...

Depression is when you don't see the ocean behind the door ... 

Depression is when the planet is a vast prison ... 

You are depressed when you don't see solutions ... 

Depression is when you see yourself as a problem ... 

Depression is when self-worth vanishes ... 

Depression is when you feel useless ... 

When you see your power again ...

You are out of depression ...

Ibn Arabi ...

The movement which is the existence of the universe ...
Is the movement of love ...

The only love thats unchanging ...
Is the love of Allah ...

The Radical Middle Way Part One ... By Moez Masud

Love is difficult to fake, you can't imitate true love ...
If your love were sincere then you wouldn't disobey the one you love ...

We are given the ability to love 
By the One who gave us the ability to love ... Allah ...
Grief isn't the absence of happiness ... 
But the absence of Allah in your life, that is true grief ...
Harun Rashid said on his deathbed,
"Oh how we have been deceived by the world and what an awful abode"
(Don't worship for pleasure ... Worship for Allah ... Fulfill His rights)

Feel the value of your guidance
Say Subhnallah and experience the pleasure
Be grateful to Allah for all our blessings ... 
The love of the world must leave us ... We must remove it from ourselves.

We pray in order to get closer to Allah ...
The lost person has five traits:

1. They hate death
2. Heedless
3. They don't want to meet Allah
4. Content with being lost
5. They can't see the signs

Allah guides who He wills ...

Meet people in such a manner ... 

That if you die they should weep for you ... 

And if you live they should long for you ...

The tongue of the wiseman is behind his heart ... 

And the heart of the fool is behind his tongue ...

The people of the world are like travellers who are being carried while asleep ...

Beware of disobeying Allah in solitude ... 

For the witness is also the judge ...

The Cry Of The Soul ...

In the West we are conditioned to believe that at the beginning of every journey we should know where we are going and how to get there ... 

Caught in this conditioning, we apply it to spiritual life: 

What is the goal we seek and what are the practices that will take us there ??? 

But the real journey of the soul is not of our own choosing ... 

Nor can we find our own way ... 

We are responding to a call that will take us beyond the known into the unknown ... Beyond the world of forms into the formless ...

The spiritual journey is the most difficult undertaking ... 
It is a voluntary crucifixion in which we die to the ego ... 

Of our own accord we would never turn away from the world with its many attractions and illusions and begin this painful, lonely quest ... 

It is only because He calls us, because He attracts our attention with His love ... 
That we set out upon the path of no return ... 

Like a magnet He draws us to Him with love ... 

For, in the words of the Sufi poet Nizami: 

If the magnet were not loving ... How could it attract the iron with such longing ???

Divine Discontentment ...

In the innermost chamber of the heart we have seen His face ... 
But this is hidden from consciousness ... 

The heart speaks a language so different from that of the mind and the ego ... 
That we are not directly aware of what has happened ... 

Instead we are left with a feeling of the emptiness of our ordinary life ... 
The painful side of spiritual awakening is that the world becomes desolate ... 

We may try to improve our outer situation ...
Work harder ... 
Make money ... 
Or take a vacation ... 

But we soon find that this is no answer ... 

What is it that we really want ??? 
Why is the outer world losing its attraction ??? 

Friends and interests that used to be fulfilling can seem empty ... 
And we are left only with a discontent that we cannot satisfy ...

We long for what our heart knows to be real ... 
For love's union which is hidden beneath the surface of our lives ... 

When we are awakened to this real love we can never be satisfied by anything else ... 

This is why the world begins to lose its attraction ... 
Why we become discontented ... 

We have been given a glimpse of something else ...
The real substance of our own self ... 

Longing is both a blessing and a curse ... 

A blessing because it takes us home ... 
And a curse because of the pain it brings ... 

Nothing can satisfy us but union with God ... 


Rabi'a, who knew the deepest meaning of love's pain, expresses this in her usual straightforward way:

The source of my grief and loneliness is deep in my breast ...

This is a disease no doctor can cure ...

Only union with the Friend can cure it ...

In The Shade Of The Quran - (Sayyid Qutb)

A man's beliefs are meaningless ... 

Unless his actions and behaviour become a practical translation of those beliefs ...

When a man's conduct reflects his words, no matter how plain and ordinary these words are, people will trust him and take him seriously ... 

His words draw their power and effect from the sincerity and honesty with which they are being uttered ... 

Not from the rhetoric or eloquence in which they are delivered ... 

They assume a force of their own ...