Gnostic Rumi
In Islamic and Sufi terminology, these terms translate: Gnosis: Ma’rifat (divine, experiential knowledge of God). Gnostic: ‘Ārif (the mystic knower who possesses this inner, direct vision).
“The fall of man is the result of the blinding of the ‘eye of the heart’ (chashm-i dil), which alone sees with the vision of gnosis.” — Rumi, Masnavi, Book V (scholarly rendering by William C. Chittick / R.A. Nicholson)
“Gnosis is not attained through arguments or books, but when the flame of Love blazes up and consumes everything except the Beloved.” — Rumi, Masnavi, Book V
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“The gnostic [mystic knower] transcends all relations of ‘otherness’; he sees only the One, sitting on his own roof while looking upon all roofs.” — Rumi, Masnavi, Book IV (trans. R.A. Nicholson)
“The gnostic’s prayer is not made of words or ritual forms, but of silent contemplation and the surrender of the heart. To the gnostic, the carpet of the universe is flipped open, and every breath is praise.” — Fihi Ma Fihi (Discourses of Rumi)
“That laughter remained with him as an endowment unto everlasting, like the untroubled spirit and reason of the gnostic [‘ārif]. How should the light of the moon ever become defiled, though its light strike on everything good and evil?” — Rumi, Masnavi, Book I (trans. R.A. Nicholson)
“Observing spiritual courtesy (adab) is to the gnostic what repentance is to the novice seeker.” — Rumi, Masnavi, Commentary & Prose Selections (quoting classical Sufi definitions of the ‘Ārif)
“Discursive knowledge (‘ilm*) is a burden on the body; gnosis (ma’rifat) is the lifting of the heart. Knowledge acquired by the senses is a shadow; true gnosis is the Sun itself.”*
— Rumi, Masnavi, Book I
