Your favorite books on Sufism (ritual, mysticism, tradition, experience)

[Littledragon]

What would you say are the best books on Sufism?

Sweet water and light laughter
Littledragon

[Quagmire]

I haven't read any actual books on Sufism, but I'd strongly recomend the writings of the Sufi poets.

I just started reading Hafez and Kabir and I'm blown away (and I don't even like poetry).

Actually I wouldn't even call it poetry. I'd put their writings in the same catagory as the Tao Te Ching.

In fact, to me their message seems identical with Lao Tzu's except, perhaps, more elequently expressed (sorry Lao Tzu).

[aspergers_anomalous]

speaking of poetry, i recommend
'The Conference of the Birds' by Farid Ud-Din Attar.'
Soooo cute but a great spiritual message too!
On another note, 'The Alchemy of Happiness' is a useful instruction manual on the spiritual life. [by esteemed Sufi and philosopher Al-Ghazzali.]

[ayani]

i would recommend the writings of Hazrat Inayat Khan. his language is clear, simple, and beautiful.

the believer who adorns his God with all that imagination can supply, sees God as all beauty, all goodness, and as the most merciful and compassionate God, and recognizes Him as the Almighty, the Supreme Being. he sees in God the true Judge, and he expects one day to receive justice from Him. he knows that in God he will find at last the perfect love on which he can rely entirely. he sees in God the Friend to whom he can turn in sorrow and in joy. he calls Him his Lord, his Father or his Mother: and all that is good and beautiful hr recognizes as coming from God. in point of fact he makes an intelligible form of God, that being the only means by which he can see God. and the believer who has imagined God as high as his imagination permits adores Him, asks His forgiveness, looks for His help, and hopes one day to attain Him: and he feels that there is someone nearer to him that anyone else in life, whose mercy is always with him.

from Hazrat Inayat Khan's essay "The God Ideal". i have to say that this text we-awakened me to the possibility of faith, of God's existence, and religious experience. i was kind of small when i first read it, maybe twelve or thirteen, but i highly recommend it for anyone interested in Sufism, universalism, or mysticism.

[Abdullah Jari]

Originally Posted by ayani

i would recommend the writings of Hazrat Inayat Khan. his language is clear, simple, and beautiful.

the believer who adorns his God with all that imagination can supply, sees God as all beauty, all goodness, and as the most merciful and compassionate God, and recognizes Him as the Almighty, the Supreme Being. he sees in God the true Judge, and he expects one day to receive justice from Him. he knows that in God he will find at last the perfect love on which he can rely entirely. he sees in God the Friend to whom he can turn in sorrow and in joy. he calls Him his Lord, his Father or his Mother: and all that is good and beautiful hr recognizes as coming from God. in point of fact he makes an intelligible form of God, that being the only means by which he can see God. and the believer who has imagined God as high as his imagination permits adores Him, asks His forgiveness, looks for His help, and hopes one day to attain Him: and he feels that there is someone nearer to him that anyone else in life, whose mercy is always with him.

from Hazrat Inayat Khan's essay "The God Ideal". i have to say that this text we-awakened me to the possibility of faith, of God's existence, and religious experience. i was kind of small when i first read it, maybe twelve or thirteen, but i highly recommend it for anyone interested in Sufism, universalism, or mysticism.

Inayat Khan was not a sufi

[Theocan]

Barnes*&*Noble.com - Books: The Garden of Truth, by Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Hardcover

Garden of Trush: The Vision and Promise of Sufism,Islam's Mystical Tradition ~ Seyyed Hossein Nasr