Category: The Jewelled Garden

Kwajah Abdullah Ansari (1006-1089 CE) was a very important Sufi in the area of present day Afghanistan, and was known as the Pir of Herat.  These verses are taken from Continue Reading →

Taj al Din Ibn Ata’Illah (1250? – 1309 CE) was born in Alexandria, Egypt, and spent most of his life there.  He was a jurist, a scholar of Hadith, or Continue Reading →

Fariduddin Attar is the pen name of Abu Hamid bin Abu Bakr Ibrahim (1145-1221 CE) who spent most of his life in Nishapur, in north-east Persia.  He was an apothecary Continue Reading →

After his prayers in his monastic cell, Don Marco, monk of St. Paul Monastery Outside the Wall (San Paolo fuori le Mura) in Rome heard these voices: On May 30th, 1980 Continue Reading →

The mystic Sarmad (d. 1661 CE) came to India from Persia, but was probably Armenian, and some say a Jew, by birth.  He came as a trader to India, there Continue Reading →

Maroof Karkhi (d. 815 CE) was born in Karkh, now the western half of Baghdad, on the banks of the Tigris.  Committed to Unity from his childhood, he was a very Continue Reading →

O, my friend: Love makes the world of creation a possibility and the ecstasy of ascension a will. Look around yourself and see a universe saturated by the fragrance of Continue Reading →

Brother Lawrence was born Nicholas Herman in 1610, in Lorraine, France.  Little is known about his early life, but he read widely and was always drawn to the spiritual realm. Continue Reading →

Khwajah Abdullah Ansari (1006-1088 CE) was a prominent Persian Sufi who lived in Khorosan, in what is now Afghanistan.  He was known as Pir-i-Herat, the sage of Herat. I address Continue Reading →

There is a prosperous and populous city where fragments of moon gleam at every turn. Each fragment holds a shard of my shattered heart. Examine everyone’s appearance closely. Among these Continue Reading →