The glare of Western sciences could not confuse my vision,
For the dust of Medinah and Najaf is the collyrium of my eyes.

[ Khaira na kar saka mujhe jalwa e danish e Farang
Surma hai meri aankh ka khaak e Madina o Najaf]

Hazrat Allama Iqbal


The benefits that Islam came to preserve

Imam Shatibi explains in his al-Mawafaqat [that] the primary benefits that Islam came to preserve and secure are those relating to the next life. As for worldly benefits, they are of primary consideration only when they are a means to ensure next-worldly good, and otherwise they are of secondary importance.


More Iqbal...

Ajmi khum hai to kya, mai to Hijazi hai miri
Naghma hindi hai to kya, lai to Hijazi hai miri

If my drunkenness is non-Arab so what--my wine is Hijazi
If my song is Indian so what--my tune is Hijazi!


Shaikh Abd al Qadir al Jilani on Love:

When asked about love [mahabba], the Shaikh (may Allah be well pleased with him) said: "It is a disturbance [tashwish] that affects the heart. It is inspired by the Beloved [Mahbub], by contrast with Whom this world comes to be like the ring of a seal, or a funeral wake. Love is an intoxication that has no corresponding sobriety. It is total devotion to the Beloved, in every respect, both in private and in public, with a self-effacing predilection. It is a natural impulse, not an affectation.

"Love is blindness to everything other than Beloved, due to solicitude for Him. It is also blindness to the Beloved Himself, due to a profound respect for Him. It is therefore total blindness. Lovers [muhibbun] are too drunk to get sober, except through direct vision of the Beloved. They are too sick to be cured, except by the sight of the One they seek. They are too distressed to be consoled, except by their Master [Mawla]. They can find no refuge, except in the remembrance of Him. They do not respond to anyone, except to His summoner.

"As Majnun [the crazy lover of] Layla put it:

My relatives all blame me for loving Layla:

my brother, my cousins, my aunt...."

(The rest of the verses are well known, so there is no need to spell them out here.)


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