misharogov on Nostr: Jesus, the last prophet before Muhammad according to Koranic revelation, appears to ...

Jesus, the last prophet before Muhammad according to Koranic revelation, appears to the Sufis as the ideal ascetic and also as the pure lover of God. A homeless pilgrim, wandering without knowing where to put his head, he instructs the devout about the importance of modesty, peace, and charity, for “just as the seed does not grow but from dust, so the seed of wisdom does not grow but from a heart like dust.” It is the Jesus of the Sermon on the Mount whose image is reflected in sayings of the first generations of Sufis, and he continued to be a favorite figure in later Sufi poetry as well: he and his virgin mother become exalted symbolic figures—the woman unspoiled by worldly concern, the pure receptacle of the divine spirit, and the prophet born out of the divine command, surnamed “Spirit of God,” became models of the pure spiritual life.

— Annemarie Shimmel