On Ablution

First wash your hands, intending to pull them away from the affairs of this world. Then wash your mouth, remembering and reciting God’s name. Wash your nose wishing to inhale the perfumes of the divine. Wash your face feeling shame, and intending to wipe from it arrogance and hypocrisy. Wash your forearms trusting God to make you do what is good. Wet the top of your head feeling humility and wash your ears wishing to hear the address of your Lord. Wash from your feet the dirt of the world so that you won’t stain the sands of Paradise. Then thank and praise the Lord, and send prayers of peace and blessings upon our Master, who brought the cannon of Islam and taught them to us. (The Tree of Being:Shajarat al-kawn. An Ode to the Perfect Man. Interpreted by Shaykh Tosun Bayrak al-Jerrahi al-Halveti. Archetype Pub. London, 2005)