Category: The Jewelled Garden

Ayn al-Quzat Hamadani (1098–1131 CE) was a Persian jurist, philosopher, mystic, poet and mathematician. He is ranked with Imam al-Ghazali in setting out fundamental principles of Sufism, and it is Continue Reading →

For more about the 10th c. Sufi Sheikh Abu Saeed Abil Khair, see this earlier post. The Beloved is always true.Whenever you become trueyou will find Him.When you become His Continue Reading →

Shiwu (1272–1352 CE) was a Chinese Chan monk and poet. At the age of forty, he left the monastery where he had studied, and went to live as a hermit Continue Reading →

Very little is known about Binavi Badakshani. He perhaps lived in the 13th c., and was probably from Afghanistan. An early account says that he was a Sufi initiated by Continue Reading →

Iman al-Ghazali tells this tale about an insight of Jesus. For more about the Persian philosopher and mystic Abu Hamid al-Ghazali see this earlier post. Once it happened that Jesus Continue Reading →

Abdul Karim al-Qushayri (986-1072 CE) was born into a privileged Arab family near Nishapur, in Khorosan, and, appropriate to his position, was given an education that included chivalry, weaponry and Continue Reading →

Ravidas (1450 – 1520 CE) was born near Varanasi, and was a younger contemporary of Kabir Das. Little is known for certain of his life. There is some suggestion that Continue Reading →

For more about the fifteenth century Indian weaver and mystic Kabir Das, see this earlier post. Beloved Lord,either I am crazyor this world of Yours is. The very worship You Continue Reading →

Yannai (late 5th-early 6th c. CE) lived in the Galilean region of Byzantine Palestine, and is considered the father of Jewish liturgical poetry. He was the first in that tradition Continue Reading →

Seng Ts’an (d. 606 CE) was the third Chinese patriarch of the Chan school of Buddhism, a meditative tradition that subsequently gave rise to the Japanese stream of Zen Buddhism. Continue Reading →