Category: The Jewelled Garden

Muktabai was a 13th c. CE mystic and poet of Maharashtra. She is considered a saint of the Varkari movement, within the Hindu Bhakti tradition, as is her older brother, Continue Reading →

Yusuf bin Husain was a 9th c. CE Sufi, perhaps from Persia, but little is known of his life. He is said to have studied with the Egyptian Sufi Dhul-Nun. Continue Reading →

The Prophet Muhammed said : “Be mindful of God, and you will find God in front of you. Acknowledge God in ease, and God will acknowledge you in distress. And Continue Reading →

Uwais al-Qarni (594-656 CE) was an Arab devotee and contemporary of the Prophet Mohammed, but because he did not want to leave his aged mother uncared for, was never able Continue Reading →

Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin, known as Khwaja Gharib Nawaz, the ‘comforter of the poor,’ said that it should be remembered that there is no better thing before Allah than prayer. Hazrat Continue Reading →

For more about the Persian mystic and poet Saadi, see this earlier post. In his Gulistan, while discussing the ‘Manner of Dervishes,’ Saadi of Shiraz told the following. A mureed Continue Reading →

For more about the 15th c. CE mystic and poet Kabir Das, see this post. O how may I ever express that secret word?O how can I say He is Continue Reading →

For more about the Hindu mystic and scholar Adi Shankara, see this post. Who is thy wife?Who is thy son?The ways of this world are strange indeed.Whose are thou?Whence art Continue Reading →

For more about this 13th c. CE Sufi of Alexandria, see this earlier post. How utterly amazing is someone who flees from something he cannot escape     to seek something that will Continue Reading →

For more about the tenth century Eastern Orthodox mystic and priest Symeon the New Theologian, see this earlier post. The fire rises in me,     and lights up my heart.Like the sun!Like Continue Reading →