Category: The Jewelled Garden

In this brief, beautifully crafted poem the Sephardic poet Ibn Gabirol names three things that keep the thought of God before his mind. The short list takes him from the Continue Reading →

The following is an excerpt from a letter sent by the Sufi master Ibn ‘Abbad (1332-1390) to a friend. For more about Ibn ‘Abbad, see this earlier post. There is Continue Reading →

The following poem of deep longing was written by the medieval Sephardic Jew Solomon or Shelomo Ibn Gabirol for the first day of Sukkot, one of the Jewish festivals of Continue Reading →

Sachal Sarmast was the pen-name of Abdul Wahab Farouqi (1739-1827 CE), a Sufi poet from Sindh who wrote in Urdu, Farsi, Arabic, Punjabi and several other languages.  His poems are still Continue Reading →

Here is a portion of one of Fakhruddin Iraqi’s ‘Divine Flashes,’ touching on the inherent unity of the waves and the ocean, an image that Hazrat Inayat Khan also employed. Continue Reading →

Here  is a small portion of one of the ‘Divine Flashes’ of Fakhruddin Iraqi. For more about this thirteenth century Persian mystic, see this earlier post. Iraqi’s theme of veiling and unveiling Continue Reading →

Hasidism began as a Jewish religious revival movement in what is now western Ukraine in the 18th c CE, founded by Israel Ben Eliezer, known as the Baal Shem Tov. The Continue Reading →

The following is taken from ‘Love, Longing, Intimacy and Contentment’ by Abu Hamid al-Ghazali.  It mentions Maruf al-Karkhi, who was a prominent Sufi of Baghdad in the late eighth century Continue Reading →

The Chinese wandering poet Hanshan, or Cold Mountain, wrote his poems on the rocks, trees and temple walls of the Tientai Mountains sometime in the 9th century CE.  For more Continue Reading →

Here is a brief excerpt from Umar Ibn al-Farid’s Poem of the Sufi Way.  For more about the poet, see this earlier post, and for background on the poem, please Continue Reading →