Drunk without wine, sated without food, a king beneath a humble cloak, a treasure within a ruin, Sufism is to Islam what the heart is to the human being: its vital center, the seat of its essence. It is, in Maj-nun’s words, “the pearl hidden in the shell, the face beneath the veil.” Sufism is the secret, subtle reality concealed at the very depths... See more

What is Sufism? It is the love of Majnun for Layla. It is “numberless waves, lapping and momentarily reflecting the sun—all from the same sea,” according to the Sufi master Halki. It is the practice of “adopting every higher quality and leaving every lower quality,” in the words of the Patriarch of Sufism, Ibn Junayd (d. 910). The Sufi is “not... See more