Category: The Jewelled Garden

Abdul-Qader Bedil (1642–1720 CE) was Sufi saint and an influential poet of the late Mughal period, but details about his life are ambiguous. There are conflicting claims that he was Continue Reading →

For more about the 10th c. mystic Abul Hassan Kharaqani, see this earlier post. Master said, “I begged my Creator to let me see myself as I am, and behold, Continue Reading →

These words by the 10th c. Sufi Shaikh Abul Hassan Kharaqani were not written by him; they were spoken, and preserved by those around him. For more about this influential Continue Reading →

For more about the fifteenth century Indian mystic Kabir Das, see this earlier post. Wake up, you idiot.Shake off your long sleep.Focus within, discoverThe rare wish-fulfilling jewel.You’re slept on and Continue Reading →

What we know of Rabia al Adawiyya (714? — 801 CE) comes to us from tradition, as she herself left no written works. The following anecdote comes from a book Continue Reading →

Kabir Das, or simply Kabir, was a fifteenth century Indian mystic, born and raised in a family of Muslim weavers in Varanasi. For more about him, see this earlier post. Continue Reading →

Dhul Nun al Misri (d. ca. 859 CE) was an early, very highly respected Sufi from Egypt. He travelled in Syria and Arabia, and Sahl al Tustari (the subject of Continue Reading →

We are told that Rayhana ‘the Enraptured’ was a female 8th c. mystic, but very little information is available about her. She is said to have had the following poem Continue Reading →

This selection by the mystic, scholar and poet Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi is taken from his much longer poem, The Interpreter of Desires. For more about the author, see this earlier Continue Reading →