The Book of Mirdad by Mikha'il Na'ima (Quotes and Excerpts)

Select powerful quotes from the Book of Mirdad, the masterpiece of Mikhail Naimy.

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Love is the law of God.

Mikha'il Na'ima

A thunderbolt would never strike a house except that house draw it to itself. The house is as much to account for its ruin as the bolt. A bull would never gore a man except that man invites the bull to gore him. And verily that man is more to answer for his blood than is the bull.

Mikha'il Na'ima

No love is Love that subjugates the Lover.
No love is Love that feeds on flesh and blood.
No love is Love that draws a woman to a man only to breed
more women and men and thus perpetuate their bondage to the flesh.

Mikha'il Na'ima

Too vast is Man and too imponderable his nature. Too varied are his talents, and too inexhaustible his strength. Beware of those who attempt to set him boundaries. Live as if your God Himself had need of you His life to live. And so, in truth, He does.

Mikha'il Na'ima

Ask not of things to shed their veils. Unveil yourselves, and things will be unveiled.

Mikha'il Na'ima

Every stumbling block is a warning. Read the warning well, and the stumbling block shall become a beacon.

Mikha'il Na'ima

The very earth you tread; the very air you breathe, the very houses you dwell in can readily reveal to you the most minute details in the records of your lives, past, present and to come, had you but the stamina to read and the keenness to grasp the meaning.

Mikha'il Na'ima

Love is the law of God. You live that you may learn to love. You love that you may learn to live. No other lesson is required of Man. And what is it to love but for the lover to absorb forever the beloved so that the twain be one?
And whom, or what, is one to love? Is one to choose a certain leaf upon the Tree of Life and pour upon it all one’s heart? What of the branch that bears the leaf? What of the stem that holds the branch? What of the bark that shields the stem? What of the roots that feed the bark, the stem, the branches and the leaves? What of the soil embosoming the roots? What of the sun, and sea, and air that fertilize the soil?
You are the tree of Life. Beware of fractionating yourselves. Set not a fruit against a fruit, a leaf against a leaf, a bough against a bough; nor set the stem against the roots; nor set the tree against the mother- soil. That is precisely what you do when you love one part more than the rest, or to the exclusion of the rest. No love is possible except by the love of self. No self is real save the All-embracing Self. Therefore is God all Love, because he loves himself. So long as you are pained by Love, you have not found your real self, nor have you found the golden key of Love. Because you love an ephemeral self, your love is ephemeral.”
“So taught I Noah. So I teach you.”

Mikha'il Na'ima

The Book of Mirdad Info

Published: 1948

The Book of Mirdad is a mystic book written by the Lebanese author Mikha'il Na'ima.

The book is a fictional story taking place in a covenant of monks visited by the mysterious Mirdad

Read the whole book