In the begining He gilded the stars,
                                                       so  that at night the heavens might
                                                       play tric-trac.With diverse propert-
                                                       ies He endowed the net of the body
                                                       and  has  put  dust  on  the  tail  of
                                                       the  bird  of  the  soul.....

He made the ocean liquid as a sign
of   bondage, and the mountain tops
are capped with ice for fear of Him.
He  dried  up  the  bed  of   the  sea
and  from its stones  brought  forth
rubies  and   from  its  blood, musk.

                                               To  the  mountains  He has given
                                                         peaks for a dagger,  and  valleys for
                                                         a belt ; so  that  they  lift  up  their
                                                         heads in pride

Sometimes He  makes  clusters of
roses spring from the face  of  the
fire;
Sometimes  He  throws   bridges
across   the  face  of   the  waters...
                                    When He breathes on
                                   clay man is created;
                                  And from a little vapour
                                   He forms a world....

( Invocation, The Conference of the Birds.
     "MANTIQ UT-TAIR" A Sufi Fable by
                               Farid ud-Din Attar. )
 

According to the Egyptian Sufi Dhu'l-Nun (ob. A.H. 245 = A.D. 859), Divine Love
is a mystery that must not be spoken of lest it come to the ears of the vulgur. (Qushayri,173, 3 fr. foot.).
Dhul-Nun took a very important step in the development of Sufism by distinguishing
the mystic's knowledge of God (ma'rifat) from traditional or intellectual knowledge
('ilm) and by connecting the former with love of God.

           "True knowledge of God is not the knowledge that
            God is one, which is possessed by all believers ;
            nor the knowledge of Him derived from proof and
            demonstration, which belongs to Philosophers,
            rhetoricians, and theologians but it is the knowledge
            of the attributes of Divine Unity, which belongs
            to the saints of God, those who  behold  God  with
            their hearts in such wise that He reveals unto them
            what He revealeth not unto anyone else in the World"

                                                                     ( Dhul-Nun )

( Tadhkiratu'l-Awliya, 1,127,3.)

Sufi:
(Kashf Al-Mahjub, Ali B.'Uthman Al-Jullabbi AlHujweri.)

Sufi is the name which is given, and has formerly been given, to the perfect saints
and spiritaul adepts. One of the Shaikhs says: Man saffahu 'l-hubb fa-huwa sa'f
wa-man saffahu 'l-habib fa-huwa Suffiyy-un, " he that is purifies by love is pure
and he that is absorbed in the Beloved and has abandoned all else is a Sufi ."

The name has no derivation answering to etymological requirements, inasmuch as
Sufiism is too exalted to have any genus from which it might be derived; for the
derivation of one thing from another demands homogeneity (mujanasat).
All that exists is the opposite of purity (safa') and things are not derived from their
opposites. To Sufis the meaning of Sufiism is clearer than the sun and does not need
any explanation or indication.

The perfect, then, among them are called Sufi, and the inferior aspirants (taliban)
among them are called Mutasawwif; for tasawwuf belongs to the form of tafa'ul,
which implies 'taking trouble' (takalluf), and is the branch of the original root. The
difference both in meaning and in etymology is evident. Purity (safa) is a saintship with a sign and a relation (riwayat), and Sufiism (tasawwuf ) is an uncomplaining
imitation of purity (hikayat-un lil -safa bila shikayat).
Purity then is a resplendent and menifest idea, and sufiism is an imitation of that idea
Its followers in this degree are of three kinds: the Suf i, the Mutasawwif, and the mustaswif..
The Sufi is he who is dead of self and living by the truth; he has escaped from the
grip of human faculties and has really attained (to God). The Mutasawwif is he that seeks to reach this rank by means of self-mortification (mujhahadat) and in his search
rectifies his conduct in accordance the sufis example. The Mustaswif is he that makes himself like sufis for the sake of money and wealth and power and worldly advantages, but has no knowledge of these two things (purity (safa) and suffiism (tasawwuf ) ).
Therefore, Sufi is a man of union ( sahib wusul), the mutsawwif a man of principles
(sahib ussul ), and the Mustaswif a man of superfluities (sahib fudul)

Dhul-Nun the Egyptian, says: " The Sufi is he whose language, when he speaks ,
is the reality of his state, i.e. he says nothing which he is not, and when he is silent his conduct explains his state, and his state proclaims that he has cut all wordly ties;" i.e. all that he says is based on a sound principle and all that he does is pure detachment from the world (tajrid ); when he speaks his speech is entirely the Truth, and when he is silent his actions are wholly "poverty" (faqr).
 
 
 

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