The Mystic
Favorite Answer
You really must read "Wine of the Mystic : The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam : A Spiritual Interpretation" by Paramahansa Yogananda.
This is the best interpretation I have read of Rubaiyat and despite the debate, Omar Khayyam most definitely was a Sufi. In the book, we are made aware of deep symbolic meanings that were previously unknown to us.
All major religions have a mystic branch associated with them (Sufism for Islam; Yoga for Hinduism; Kabbalah for Judaism).
After reading Paramahansa's book, we realise that spiritual laws are the same, no matter which religion we choose.
remy
Start by reading al Ghazali's books, especially "the salvation from perdition". It is a good start on Sufism and Ghazali was a genius in his time.
kloneme
The Sahabah were people of zikr and knowledge and their purpose of life was Dawa.
After them, Dawa became secondary and then slowly some Muslims gravitated toward ilm and others gravitated toward Zikr.
Both lines went to their extremes since they lost the objective with which we have been sent.
Our personal worship(zikr) and knowledge(ilm) are tools to be used to spread the message of Deen.
Dawah combines the ILM and ZIKR together again like Sahabah did.
Both are incomplete without the other therefore.......... they must be combined !
.
Anonymous
The 14th century Sufi poet Hafez wrote volumes of beautiful verse on love, god, and life. His poem on the death of his wife still makes me cry.
Anonymous
Look up Kabir and Rumi.
Wikipedia doesn't mention Shamsi Tabriz. He's important, too.