Quotes from William C. Chittick

The fall of man is the result of the blinding of the 'eye of the heart' (chashm-i dil or 'ayn al-qalb), which alone sees with the vision of gnosis.

Proper recitation of the Qur'an opens up the reader to new meanings at every reading. "When meaning repeats itself for someone who is reciting the Qur'an, he has not recited it as it should be recited. This is proof of his ignorance" (F. IV

Certainly many if not most of Sufi love poems can be read as if they were addressed to a woman. In fact, without doubt a certain number of them were inspired by a woman's beautiful features, but this did not prevent the poet from viewing her loveliness as the mirror of God's Beauty. (p. 287)

The temporal cannot know the Eternal, so to the extent that the Sufi contemplates God in his heart, God Himself is the contemplator: Ultimately, the Witness, the Witnesser, and the Witnessing are all one. (p. 288)

insanlar? insan k?lan ÅŸey, türe konulmuÅŸ özel biyolojik, toplumsal ve tarihsel s?n?rlamalar deÄŸil; onlara verilmiÅŸ Sonsuz'a ve Mutlak'a nüfuz etme olgusudur

Glory be to Him who veils Himself through His manifestation and manifests Himself through His veil!

The greatest sin is what brings about the heart's death. It dies only by not knowing God. This is what is named "ignorance.

Love is that flame which, when it blazes up, consumes everything else but the Beloved (V, 588).

Guidance," says Ibn Arabi, "is to be led to bewilderment. Then you will know that the whole affair is bewilderment, that bewilderment is agitation and movement, and movement is life. There is no rest, no death, only existence, nothing of nonexistence."55 So it continues for all eternity. In reality, it is this bewilderment that allows the Sufis to taste already in this world the never-ending bliss of paradise.

Whoever enters the Way without a guide will take a hundred years to travel a two-day journey. . . . – Rumi (p. 123)

There are no "others". What appears to be "other than God" is in fact foam upon the Ocean, forms manifesting meanings, the Hidden Treasure displaying itself outwardly, sunlight upon a wall. All multiplicity is the manifestation of Unity. (p. 304)

Already in this world the perfect Sufis live with God. They journey into the Infinite, listening to the music of God's creative command. At each moment God says "Be" and a new selfdisclosure, more glorious and perfect than the preceding, delights the eye. In the words of Iraqi, The song will never cease, nor the dance come to an end, for all eternity, because the Beloved is infinite.

The just Witness is the Beloved's Eye. (p. 292)