The One-minutes Sufi-II.pmd - Jaico Publishing House

INTRODUCTION 3there will die of thirst.” So, although there are manyways to the truth, it is important to follow a path toits completion. We can pluck flowers from othertraditions as long as we are not jumping back andforth from one path to another.Considering a Broader Aspect of SufismAlthough Sufism traditionally has its origin in Islam,it has influenced many thinkers and philosophers.Idries Shah, in his book The Sufis, has outlined pastSufi influence on St. Francis of Assisi, theTroubadours, St. Augustine, the Rosicrucians,Maimonides, the Jewish Kabbalah, and a host ofother medieval and modern religious movements.Sufism is thus a bridge between east and west.Jalaludin Rumi, the 12th-century Sufi master,describes a Sufi in his poem:What is the solution, O Moslems: for I do notknow myself. Neither Christian, Jew,Zoroastrian or Moslem am I;I am not an easterner or a westerner, or ofland or sea;Not of nature or of heaven; not of India,China, Bulgaria, Saqsin.Not of the Iraqs, nor of the land of Khorasan.My place is placelessness; my sign is of nosign.