“This is a great and precious gift; but if the poet remains content with his gift, if he persists in worshipping the beauty in nature without going on to make himself capable, through selflessness, of apprehending Beauty as it is in the divine Ground, then he is only an idolater.” — Aldous Huxley
“The real basis of their poetry is a loftily inculcated ethical system, which recognises in purity of heart, charity, self-renunciation, and bridling of the passions, the necessary conditions of eternal happiness.” — Reynold Nicholson
“Wonder,
A garden among the flames!
My heart can take on any form:
A meadow for gazelles,
A cloister for monks,
For the idols, sacred ground,
Ka’ba for the circling pilgrim,
The tables of the Torah,
The scrolls of the Qur’an.
My creed is Love;
Wherever its caravan turns along the way,
That is my belief,
My faith.” — Ibn ʿArabī
“I met a woman
once and asked her where love had led her.
'Fool, there’s no destination to arrive at.
Loved one and lover and love are infinite.'" — Farīd ud-Dīn ʿAṭṭār
"Nothing could enter it but the sincere act" — Muhammad al-Niffarī