Omid Safi Quotes

The path to God goes through that most difficult of beings, the human being

Part of the task of the Qur’an, in other words, is not to teach humanity anything new but rather to remove the dross on our hearts so that the illuminated jewel that each and every human being contains can shine again.

The hidden secret of fall: the leaves don’t actually “turn” colors. With the winter season coming, and the process of photosynthesis being without the key ingredients of warmth and sunshine, trees begin to break down chlorophyll. With the “green” gone, the other colors that have been there all along — the magical reds, golds, and oranges — begin to express themselves.

The seekers of the path of love begin with a realization that love is One, and that love flows from God through humanity and back to God. Therefore the poetry they compose also reflects this journey. In reading mystical love poetry of this tradition, it is hard to determine whether a particular poem is meant for a tender young beloved, for the writer’s husband or wife, for a spiritual teacher, for the Prophet Muhammad, or for God. The truth of the matter is that it is typically written for all of them, and all at once. This ambiguity is a trait of this mingled and mingling radical love, one that unites and unifies the lover and beloved, earth and heaven, male and female, the human and the divine.