Shems Friedlander > Quotes

“Spoken words are like seeds that we plant which will eventually grow into something sweet or bitter. Our actions in this life are seeds we're planning for the other life promised by Allah.”
― Shems Friedlander, When You Hear Hoofbeats Think of a Zebra

“This body is like the earth. Our bones are like mountains. Our belly is like the sea. Our flesh is like the dust and mud. The hair that grows on us is like plants, and the skin from which this hair grows is like arable land, and the area of our body where hair does not grow is akin to saline soil. Our sadness is like darkness and our laughter like sunlight. Sleep is brother to death. Our childhood is like spring, our youth like summer. Our maturity is like the autumn, our old age like the winter of life. All of our movements are like the stars moving in the sky.”
― Shems Friedlander, When You Hear Hoofbeats Think of a Zebra

“The world is a perfect design. If we can see it. If we can see ourselves and our surroundings. A vast sky held up by pillars. A carpet of earth that gives us all the food and fruit and nourishment we need to live. Animals of every species. Some that we can ride, some that we can eat, some that can help us in our work. They have specific duties.You can't tie a lion to a cart.
They have all been placed here as means for us to see our inner natures. Just because we are dressed like human beings doesn't exempt us from having animal tendencies. The mouse in us that steals a little bit from here and there. The vain peacock that grooms himself all the time. The sly fox. The stubborn donkey that closes his ear to the name of Allah. The scorpion that stings. These are all in us.”
― Shems Friedlander

“Life is a bridge. Who would build a house on a Bridge.”
― Shems Friedlander, Rumi: The Hidden Treasure

“There is no Sufism without Islam. Yet there are some who would like to suffocate the breath of Allah and the Prophet Mohammed from the work of Mevlana Jalaludddin Rumi.”
― Shems Friedlander, Rumi: The Hidden Treasure

“Do we dress with dignity, with a reflection of beauty? The entire world is wearing blue jeans and a black tee shirt. A banal sameness has covered us like wings of a black bird.
Do we dress as if we were to meet Mevlana Jalauddin? Is our house clean, prepared for the possibility of a visit from Mevlana?”
― Shems Friedlander, Rumi: The Hidden Treasure