Sufis are content with little in the way of worldly goods and are satisfied with the minimum of food to keep them alive; they limit themselves to the least that is necessary by way of clothing and bedding. They choose poverty rather than riches, embrace want and avoid plenty, prefer hunger to satisfaction and little to much. They renounce dignity and honour and rank, show compassion upon mankind and humility towards small and great." - Meaning and context.">
QuotesCosmos
p. 82-83
“

The Sufis are content with little in the way of worldly goods and are satisfied with the minimum of food to keep them alive; they limit themselves to the least that is necessary by way of clothing and bedding. They choose poverty rather than riches, embrace want and avoid plenty, prefer hunger to satisfaction and little to much. They renounce dignity and honour and rank, show compassion upon mankind and humility towards small and great.

— Abu Nasr as-Sarraj

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "The Sufis are content with little in the way of worldly goods and are satisfied with the minimum of food to keep them alive; they limit themselves to the least that is necessary by way of clothing and bedding. They choose poverty rather than riches, embrace want and avoid plenty, prefer hunger to satisfaction and little to much. They renounce dignity and honour and rank, show compassion upon mankind and humility towards small and great." in the context of "p. 82-83" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Abu Nasr as-Sarraj" (Quotes, The Sayings and Teachings of the Great Mystics of Islam (2004)) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app

Tags

#Abu Nasr as-Sarraj#little#satisfaction#themselves#compassion#satisfied#necessary#clothing#renounce#humility#content#worldly
Abu Nasr as-Sarraj

About Abu Nasr as-Sarraj

Abū Naṣr ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAlī al-Sarrāj (d. 988) was a Sunni sheikh and ascetic. He traveled widely in the Islamic world, having lived in cities as diverse as Cairo, Tabriz, Ramla, Baghdad, Damascus, Basra, and Nishapur. He is best known for his seminal Kitāb al-luma (Book of Light), which is considered an encyclopedia of the history of early Sufism.