Quote

What does a lamp do? The lamp is like a horse that is running but stays put. But by virtue of being a lamp it illuminates the space around it. Therefore, the practice of purifying one's soul, of living virtuously, has tremendous impacts upon the ethics of the surrounding society.

Seyyed Hossein Nasr

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Age: 91
Born: 1933
Born: April 7
Philosopher
Professor
University Teacher
Writer
Teheran
Running
Horse
Impacts
Around
Therefore
Lamp
Doe
Virtue
Surrounding
Soul
Practice
Lamps
Like
Space
Stays
Society
Tremendous
Virtuously
Upon
Ethics
Illuminates
Living
Impact
Purifying

More quotes by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

Image
Love is loss combined with pain.
Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Image
When one talks about being like a dead corpse in the hands of a spiritual teacher it means being able to surrender one's will, specially one's nafs al ammarah, that is a part of our soul which is again a Quranic term, which commands us to evil - we must surrender that. That's what it means. It doesn't make you become part of a cog of a machine.
Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Image
Only in the West did a philosophy develop that was not only no longer the love of wisdom but went so far as to deny the category of wisdom as a legitimate form of knowledge. The result was a hatred of wisdom that should more appropriately be called ‘misosophy’ (literarily hatred of Sophia, Wisdom) rather than philosophy.
Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Image
Many people have criticized Islam for being just automatic, having no individuality, just surrendering your will to God, but we Muslims know very well that every moment of the day we have to practice the fact that to surrender one's self to God is an act of free will.
Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Image
The Prophet, peace be on him, presents all the possibilities of the human state in perfection. Now, a part of that of course is love of God.
Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Image
The love of God is not only the highest form of love, but also in reality the only love of which all other loves are but shadows
Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Image
The word Habib in Arabic means both lover and beloved. At the heart of it is that the Prophet loves God, God loves him. But God designated him to be also the founder of a new world order of a civilization of a society.
Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Image
All Muslims stand before God and they are their own priests.
Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Image
Spiritual guidance needs guidance. It's like comparing walking on the ground and mountain climbing. Once you learn how to walk, you can walk on the ground by yourself, but if you want to climb Mount Everest, you need a guide.
Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Image
People who were also traders were also men of Sufism, as we see around Java, people who were outwardly trading but were also men of very high spiritual character. Otherwise no trader would be able to convert a person from one religion to another. It was because they were men of spiritual character.
Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Image
In Islam, there is no priesthood and each person stands before God, like in the daily prayers, without an intermediary. That's in contrast to Christianity, where during the Eucharist, a priest has to officiate and the priest functions as a link - at least in Catholic Christianity - between the laity and God.
Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Image
At all costs we should avoid considering our love of God to be superior to the love of the other for GodLet us love God and leave it for Him to decide on the intensity and sincerity of our loves, as well as of our differing views of Him
Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Image
Justice is inseparable from truth in human life.
Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Image
The Quran explicitly opposes the killing of innocent people and the Prophet was always careful in doing that. If they had to fight a war, he was always on the side of peace as soon as it was possible to make peace because that's what the Quran says also.
Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Image
In the traditional Islamic world, the hierarchy of the arts was not based on whether they were fine or industrial or minor. It was based upon the effect of art on the soul of the human being.
Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Image
The Shariah has many other functions but also protects the tarqiah it protects the spiritual path.
Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Image
Yearning is inseparable from love, and since once doesn't have the object of love immediately, one has not fallen in the embrace of the beloved immediately, they are suffering. That's how they are related.
Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Image
Sufism has always had the function of purifying Islamic ethics and that fasting and tazkiya is like lighting a lamp.
Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Image
If God did not love us, we could not love him. And Sufis are those who have realized this love.
Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Image
In fact many Hindu yogis and Sufis met, they became friends, they spoke about the knowledge and love of God about all the similarities that exist. And then the simplicity of Islam, the fact these people practiced what they preached brought many, many Hindus into Islam.
Seyyed Hossein Nasr