August 23, 2008
Salaam and Greetings of Peace:
It is related that Habib Ajmi, a Sufi acquaintance of Hasan al-Basri, mispronounced a word during prayer, which caused Hasan al-Basri to move away from him and pray separately.
But in a dream that night, God told Hasan al-Basri, “Your prayer would have earned you Divine approval, and that single prayer would have equaled all the prayers you have said in your life, if you had remained in prayer with Habib Ajmi. You were disapproving of his pronunciation but ignored the purity of his heart. A contrite heart is more valuable than exact pronunciation.”
Hasan al-Basri then asked Habib Ajmi how the latter had achieved his high spiritual rank, and Habib Ajmi replied, “Brightening the heart through prayer is better than darkening paper with writing.”
- Adapted from the forthcoming book, The Other Islam: Sufism and the Road to Global Harmony, by Stephen Schwartz.
Ya Haqq!
11 Comments | 
Books & writing, Commentary, Current Affairs, Islam, Islamic Artists, Religion, Spirituality & Religion, Sufi, Sufism, Uncategorized | Tagged: Allah, book, forthcoming book, Global Harmony, God, greetings, Habib Ajmi, Hasan al-Basri, heart, paper, peace, prayer, Pronunciation, Salaam, spritiual rank, Stephen Schwartz, Sufi, Sufism, The Other Islam, writing, Ya Haqq | 
Permalink
Posted by darvish
Pronunciation
August 23, 2008Salaam and Greetings of Peace:
It is related that Habib Ajmi, a Sufi acquaintance of Hasan al-Basri, mispronounced a word during prayer, which caused Hasan al-Basri to move away from him and pray separately.
But in a dream that night, God told Hasan al-Basri, “Your prayer would have earned you Divine approval, and that single prayer would have equaled all the prayers you have said in your life, if you had remained in prayer with Habib Ajmi. You were disapproving of his pronunciation but ignored the purity of his heart. A contrite heart is more valuable than exact pronunciation.”
Hasan al-Basri then asked Habib Ajmi how the latter had achieved his high spiritual rank, and Habib Ajmi replied, “Brightening the heart through prayer is better than darkening paper with writing.”
- Adapted from the forthcoming book, The Other Islam: Sufism and the Road to Global Harmony, by Stephen Schwartz.
Ya Haqq!