Compassion

"Nasr ibn Muhammad reports that Junayd related that there was a sheikh in Damascus called Abu Musa al-Qumasi who was a man of Futuwwah; everyone praised him. One day, the sheikh's house collapsed on top of him and his wife. When people began to dig in the ruins, they found his wife first. 'Leave me,' she said. 'Go and try to find the sheikh and save him. He was sitting in the corner over there.' They left the woman, dug where she had pointed, and found the sheik. 'Leave me,' he said. 'Go and save my wife.' Each wanted the other to be saved. This is the state of those who are together for the sake of Allah and who are friends and brothers in the name of Allah. They are in that compassionate state at all times."
Camille Helminski, The Book of Character

Joy of Heart

"Among the women who followed the Way of Love and Truth, there were some who rejoiced, and some who continuously wept. Sha'wana, a Persian, was one of those who wept. . . . She used to say, 'The eyes which are prevented from beholding the Beloved, and yet are desirous of looking upon Him, cannot be fit for that Vision without weeping.' She was not only 'blinded by tears of penitence, but dazzled by the radiant glory of the Beloved.' During her life she experienced intimate closeness with the Friend, or God.

"One of those who rejoiced was Fedha, who was also a married woman. She taught that 'joy of heart should be happiness based on what we inwardly sense; therefore we should always strive to rejoice within our heart, till everyone around us also rejoices.' "
Camille Helminski, Women of Sufism

Prayer

"There is a beautiful story of how Muhammad would sometimes take his granddaughter Umayma ... into the mosque with him and put her on his shoulders while he prayed. When the moments for prostration arrived, he would set her down beside him and then put her back on his shoulders when he rose again to standing witness in the ritual prayer."
Camille Helminski, Women of Sufism

Qualities of the Divine

"May we more and more open our hearts and eyes and ears and all our senses to the blessings of our Sustainer, as they are unfolded through the action of [the Divine] qualities, no matter what name we may choose to call that Ultimate Source of Life and Being. For, truly, we live in a deeply qualitative universe and the more we look through the lenses of these 99 qualities the more we can see, truly, the Inifinite beauties and strengths within all creation and especially with each otehr's hearts, recognizing that each person is given unique and wonderful gifts, and the more we share with each other, the more blessings we discover!"
— from the foreword by Camille Helminski to The 99 Names of God, by Daniel Thomas Dyer

Vanity

"When Bayazid Bestami (d. 874), [a] well-known master, was asked who his master was, he said it was an old woman whom he had met in the desert. This woman had called him a vain tyrant and showed him why: by requiring a lion to carry a sack of flour, he was oppressing a creature God himself had left unburdened, and by wanting recognition for such miracles, he was showing his vanity. Her words gave him spiritual guidance for some time."
Camille Helminski, Women of Sufism