Repeat the Name of God, O Bahu,
and free yourself from the worries of life.

Sultan Bahu, translated by J.R. Puri and K.S. Khak

Those who enshrine the Lord in their hearts, O Bahu,
have both the worlds at their command.

Lovers remain completely intoxicated
in the ecstasy of their love for the Beloved.
They offer their souls to the Beloved
while still living
and thus immortalize themselves
in this life and the hereafter.

Sultan Bahu, translated by J.R. Puri and K.S. Khak

Muhammed Ibn 'Ali Ibn 'Arabi  (1165 - 1240 AD) Known as Muhyiddin (the Revivifier of Religion) and the Shaykh al-Akbar (the Greatest Master), he was born into the Moorish culture of Andalusian Spain and traveled widely throughout the Islamic countries.


O Marvel! a garden amidst the flames.
My heart has become capable of every form:
it is a pasture for gazelles and a convent for Christian monks,
and a temple for idols and the pilgrim's Kaa'ba,
and the tables of the Torah and the book of the Quran.
I follow the religion of Love: whatever way Love's camels take,
that is my religion and my faith.

ibn al-`Arabi, Tarjuman al-Ashwaq, in The Mystics of Islam, translated by Reynold A Nicholson

All that is left
to us by tradition
is mere words.

It is up to us
to find out what they mean.

ibn al-`Arabi, Tarjuman al-Ashwaq, in The Mystics of Islam, translated by Reynold A Nicholson

Were it not for
the excess of your talking
and the turmoil in your hearts,
you would see what I see
and hear what I hear!

ibn al-`Arabi, Tarjuman al-Ashwaq, in The Mystics of Islam, translated by Reynold A Nicholson

When my Beloved appears, With what eye do I see Him? With His eye, not with mine, For none sees Him except Himself.

ibn al-`Arabi, Tarjuman al-Ashwaq, in The Mystics of Islam, translated by Reynold A Nicholson

Baba Kuhi of Shiriz, a Persian dervish-poet who died in 1050 A.D.


In the market, in the cloister--only God I saw.
In the valley and on the mountain--only God I saw.
Him I have seen beside me oft in tribulation;
In favour and in fortune--only God I saw.
In prayer and fasting, in praise and contemplation,
In the religion of the Prophet--only God I saw.
Neither soul nor body, accident nor substance,
Qualities nor causes--only God I saw.
I oped mine eyes and by the light of His face around me
In all the eye discovered--only God I saw.
Like a candle I was melting in His fire:
Amidst the flames outflashing--only God I saw.
Myself with mine own eyes I saw most clearly,
But when I looked with God's eyes--only God I saw.
I passed away into nothingness, I vanished,
And lo, I was the All-living--only God I saw.

Baba Kuhi, in The Mystics of Islam, translated by Reynold A Nicholson

Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallaj known as al-Hallajq (the wool-carder), he was put to death in Baghdad for having uttered ana 'l haqq (I am the Truth):


I am He whom I love,
and He whom I love is I:
We are two spirits
dwelling in one body.
If thou seest me,
thou seest Him,
And if thou seest Him,
thou seest us both.

al-Hallaj, Kitab al-Tawasin, in The Mystics of Islam, by Reynold A Nicholson

Thy Spirit is mingled in my spirit
even as wine is mingled with pure water.
When anything touches Thee,
it touches me.
Lo, in every case Thou art I!"

al-Hallaj, Kitab al-Tawasin, in The Mystics of Islam, by Reynold A Nicholson

Hear me out, my dear friends,
Love resembles the sun.
The heart that feels no love
Is none other than stone.

What can grow on stone hearts?
Though the tongue softly starts,
Words of venom fume, rage,
And turn into war soon.

When in love, the soul burns,
Melts like wax as it churns.
Stone hearts are like winter
Dark, harsh, with all warmth gone.

Men of God's truth are an ocean,
Lovers must plunge into that sea;
The sages, too. should take a dive
To bring out the best jewelry.

We have turned into the
Wise Men To find pearls in the depths again;
Only the jeweler would know
How valuable those pearls might be.

Mohammed came to perceive God,
And saw God's truth in his selfhood.
Providence exists everywhere
So long as there are eyes to see.

Books are composed by the sages
Who put black words on white pages;
My sacred book's chapters are all
Written in hearts that love truly.

Yunus Emre