Category: The Jewelled Garden

Nothing is known abut the man who made this blunt and peremptory approach to the Prophet Mohammed, but his question brought forth valuable counsel. A man came to the Prophet Continue Reading →

Dadu Dayal (1544 – 1603 CE) was a mystic and poet born in Gujarat, India, who subsequently settled in the Punjab. His life was almost co-extensive with that of the Continue Reading →

Readers may want to try the riddle in the first verse of this poem by the Indian Vaishnavite mystic and poet Namdev (1270 – 1350 CE). For more about Namdev, Continue Reading →

Among the collection of hadith, the remembered sayings of Prophet Mohammed, the following one will make many readers think of the gospel of Matthew, chapter 25, in which Jesus speaks Continue Reading →

Sant Dariya Saheb was born in Bihar, India, and spent most of his life there. There are few specific details about his life; some sources assert that he was born Continue Reading →

The death of a very spiritual person is sometimes considered to be as a wedding, as is shown by this account by Mohammed Ibn al-Arabi of one of the Sufis Continue Reading →

Akho Bhagat was a 17th c. mystic and poet of Gujarat. He worked as a goldsmith, but two incidents caused him to abandon his craft and search for spiritual truth. Continue Reading →

Lalleshwari, or Lal Ded, was a 14th c. Kashmiri mystic in the Shaivite tradition. She is still deeply loved by both Muslims and Hindus in that region. ‘Siddhanath’ is a Continue Reading →

The way this anecdote is told suggests that Rabia was ill at the time, and perhaps near the end of her life. For more about Rabia al-Adawiya, see this earlier Continue Reading →

In his recollection of various Sufis of Andalusia, Mohammed Ibn all Arabi pays special tribute to two women of the path. Here is his account of one of them, whom Continue Reading →