So it is always understood that the people on this path, are called the fuqara. Why are we called the fuqara? Because we are of the poor, we are of the underprivileged, we’re supposed to be – you might not be financially or materially poor – but you supposed to be not of the ruling...
The misfortune of any inner tradition is that it succeeds, because at its essence what an inner tradition is trying to do is something very seditious. It's trying to create the conditions where people can escape the persona which society has given to them. Any inner tradition seeks to do that.
His mercy isn’t just about what He gives, it’s not just in this affirming way. His mercy is also about what He withholds. He withholds Himself from us, because if He didn’t, we could not be. He withholds the necessary implication of that which is very small in the face of that which is overwhelmingly...
Apart from the fact that the original concept of democracy was conceived in ancient Greece, by a polytheistic society, i.e. a people plunged in ignorance and spiritual darkness (Jahiliyyah), it does not work – not even in the West!
All things that happen, happen with Him, through Him, from Him, to Him - by His Idhn, by His permission. It is not like little parcels of energy are being given out. It is like you are floating in the sea and the sea is Him and all of us are different refractions of that...
One can’t have a sense but end up recognizing that you are pickled, quite literally pickled, in blessing. The interesting thing, of course, is that most of us don’t experience it like that. Most of us don’t experience a sense of security, a sense of fulfilment as our basic condition.
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