The Way of the Lover: the Religion of Love
I follow the religion of Love;
Whatever way Love’s camels take,
That is my religion and my faith
Ibn al-‘Arabi
Sufis are divine lovers and the great Sufi masters like Ibn al-‘Arabi and Rumi are beacons lighting the way for all travellers on the path of love. This path begins at the heart and ends at the heart.
But the ways of God are strange and so are the ways of man (which is only fitting if you consider that Sufis believe man was made in the image of God), and so this pathway to love and the divine may not always be simple or clear.
In the old days, for example, in the city of Gangowah, India, there was a Sufi master called Shaikh Mohammad Sadiq. He had a disciple by the name of Sheikh Jamal who could not concentrate when engaged in Sufi practices. His mind always wandered. When he was instructed by his Shaikh to perform a very difficult Sufi practice in complete isolation for forty days, he hesitantly confessed his problem to his spiritual master. The Shaikh asked, “What do you love most in this world?”
The disciple’s answer was unusual: “I love my black buffalo with long horns”. The master thought for a while and said, “It is fine; this problem can be solved. When you do this practice and invoke the name of God, concentrate solely on your beloved buffalo.”
Sheikh Jamal went into a small room and started his practice. After forty days, the door of that small meditation room was opened and the Shaikh called for his disciple to come out. But Sheikh Jamal cried out from inside, “Oh master, I cannot come out because big horns have grown on my head!” The master then forcefully