Sufi Masters

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CONTENTS: Omar Khayyami . Attar of Nishapur . Ibn El-Arabi . Saadi of Shiraz . Hakim Jami . Hakim Sanai . Jalaludim Rumi...

	* Omar Khayyami: Omar ibn Ibrahim Al-Nisaburi Khayyámi (غياث الدين ابو الفتح عمر بن ابراهيم خيام نيشابوري). Khayyám (خیام) is an Arabic word meaning "tentmaker". Seeds Like These In cell and cloister, in monastery and synagogue: Some fear heall and others dream of Paradise. But no man who really knows the secrets of his God has planted seeds like this within his heart.
	* Attar of Nishapur: One of the greatest of Sufi classical literacy masters, and an inspirer of Rumi. Attar wrote about one hundred and fourteen books, among which the most famous are the Sufic Divine Book, the Parliament of the Birds, and the Book of Counsel. The traditions of Sufism assert that Attar's work helps to maintain the social fabric and ethical standards of Islam.   Unaware   You know nothing of yourself here and in this state.    You are like the wax in the honeycomb: what does it know of fire or guttering?    Where it gets to the stage of the waxen candle and when light is emitted, then it knows.    Similarly, you will know that when you were alive you were dead, and only thought yourself alive.
	* Ibn El-Arabi: El-Arabi is one of the greatest Sufis of the Middle Ages whose life and writings are shown nowadays to have deeply penetrated the thought of East and West alike. He was known to the Arabs as 'the Greatest Sheikh', and to the Christian West as 'Doctor maximus'. He died in  the 13th century.   Straying From the Path   Whoever strays from the Sufi Code will in no way attain to anything worthwile; even though he acquires a public reputation which resounds to the heavens.
	* Saadi of Shiraz: 13th A.D. He wrote The Orchad (Bostan) and The Rose garden (Gulistan), the two great classics. These major works contain a richness of material and beauty of peotry which are almost unparalleled. Saadi was a man of no resources, and spend most of his time as a wanderer on the face of the earth.   The Unfed Dervish   When I see the poor dervish unfed My own food is pain and poison to me.
	* Hakim Jami (1414-1492): In his Alexandrian Book of Wisdom, Jami shows that the Sufi esoteric transmission link of the Asian Khajagan ('Masters') was the same as that used by Western mysttical writers. He cites as teachers in the Sufi transmission such names as Plato, Hippocrates, Pythagoras and Hermes Trismegistos.    Jami's writing and teachings in the end made him so celebrated that contemporary monarchs, from the Sultan of Turkey downwards, were constantly irritating him with offers of enormous amounts of gold and other presents, and appeals to adorn their courts. His acclaim by the public annoyed him, too, to the mystification of the populace, who could not understand that he wanted them not to adopt him as a hero but to do something about themselves.   The Teacher               The ruler is a shepherd and his flock is the people.    He has to help them and save them, not to exploit and destroy them.    Is the sheperd there for the flock, or the flock for the sheperd?
	* Hakim Sanai: The Master Sanai lived during the 11th and 12th centuries, and is reckoned as the earliest Afghan teacher to use the love-motif in Sufism. Rumi acknowledged him as one of his inspirations. The Walled garden of Truth, one of Sanai's most important works, is composed in such a manner as to give several readings for many passages. Sanai is also known for his Parliament of the Birds, which is on the surface an allegory of the human quest for higher enlightenment. His Dervish Songs represents the lyrical presentation of Sufi experience.   How and Why   The essence of truth is superior to the terminology of 'How?' or 'Why?'
	* Jalaludin Rumi, like other Sufi authors, plants his teachimgs within a framework which as effectively screens its inner meaning as displays it. This technique fulfils the functions of preventing those who are incapable of using the material on a higher level from experimenting effectively with it; allowing those who want poetry to select poetry; giving entertainment to people who want stories; stimulating the intellect in those who prize such experiences.    Rumi had the Sufi habit of excelling in literary and poetic ability beyond all his contemporaries, while constantly affirming that such an attainment was a minor one compared to Sufihood.    Rumi's major work, generally considered one of the world's greatest books, is his Mathnavi-i-Maanavi (Couplets of Inner Meaning)   The Way   The Way has been marked out. If you depart from it, you will perish. If you try to interfere with the signs on the road,  you will be an evil-doer.

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TEMPLE OF KARNAK