If Your Desire For 'good' Is Based

Christian Scholars Often Say That Sufi Theories Are Close To Those Of Christianity. Many Moslems Maintain That They Are Essentially Derived From Islam. The Resemblance Of Many Sufi Ideas To Those Of Several Religious And Esoteric Systems Are Sometimes Taken As Evidence Of Derivation. The Islamic Interpretation Is That Religion Is Of One Origin, Differences Being Due To Local Or Historical Causes.

There Is A Succession Of Experiences Which Together Constitute The Educational And Developmental Ripening Of The Learner, According To The Sufis. People Who Think That Each Gain Is The Goal Itself Will Freeze At Any Such Stage, And Cannot Learn Through Successive And Superseding Lessons.

If You Give What Can Be Taken, You Are Not Really Giving. Take What You Are Given, Not What You Want To Be Given. Give What Cannot Be Taken.

If You Want To Strengthen An Enemy And Make Him Exult - Hate Him.

Scholars Of The East And West Have Heroically Consecrated Their Whole Working Lives To Making Available, By Means Of Their Own Disciplines, Sufi Literary And Philosophical Material To The World At Large. In Many Cases They Have Faithfully Recorded The Sufis' Own Reiteration That The Way Of The Sufis Cannot Be Understood By Means Of The Intellect Or By Ordinary Book Learning.