Sheikh Abdul Aziz periodically collates themes for contemplation, which come from a variety of sources including the writings of Hazreti Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi and other Sufi masters, as well as the Hadith or sayings of the Prophet Mohammed and the Holy Qur’an. They are a focus for reflection and a source of inspiration and both spiritual and practical nourishment.

Current contemplation themes

The themes below are collated from gatherings of the Sufi Circle.

Sufi Circle 19 May 2015

How long will you steal portions of the lore of the Book, in order that your face may be coloured like an apple? (i.e. that you may honoured and venerated)
How long will you steal the words of the men of God, that you may sell them and obtain applause from the crowd?
The daubed-on colour never really made you rosy: the tied-on branch never performed the function of the fruit bearing stump (from which the dates are gathered).
At last, when the veil of death comes over you, these bits of the Book drop away from your face.
When the call comes to arise and depart, thereafter all the arts of disputation vanish.
The world of silence comes into view. Stop (talking)! Alas for him that has not a familiarity with silence within him!
Polish your heart for a day or two: make that mirror your book of meditation.

Mathnawi Book 6, vv.1281-1287

Sufi Circle 5 May 2015

Let the cooking-pot boil gradually, as a skilful cook does: the stew boiled in a mad hurry is of no use.
Was not God able to create heaven in one moment by the word “Be”? Without any doubt, He was.
Why, then, O seeker of instruction, did He extend the time for it to six days, every day being as long as a thousand years?
Wherefore is the creation of a child completed in 9 months? Because gradualness is a characteristic of the action of that King.
Why was the time for the creation of Adam forty mornings? Because He was adding perfections to that clay little by little,
Not like you, O foolish one, who have rushed forward just now: you are a child, and you have made yourself out to be an Elder.
You have run up, like a creeping gourd plant, to the top of all, but where is the spiritual warfare and combat to sustain you?
You have rested on trees and walls for support: you have climbed up like a pumpkin, O little baldhead.
If at first you mounted on a tall cypress, yet in the end you are dry and pulpless and empty.
Your green (fresh) colour soon turned yellow (faded), O pumpkin, for it was derived from rouge, it was not original (authentic).

Mathnawi Book 6, vv.1212-1221