Technology of the Heart

there is treasure in your heart, it is heavy with child

2012-05-29T11:13:00.000+06:00

Every midwife knows
that not until a mother’s womb
softens from the pain of labour
will a way unfold
and the infant find that opening to be born.

Oh friend!
There is treasure in your heart,
it is heavy with child.

Listen.
All the awakened ones,
like trusted midwives are saying,
'welcome this pain.'

It opens the dark passage of Grace.

~ Rumi

# Further:
Sufi Master Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee from Golden Sufi speaks on being Pregnant with God, a term Mystics often use to indicate the state of the soul when it is attracted towards Divine Proximity, when Divine longing become very much like a new existence within, that is calling from within to acknowledge it - very much like a child, a new soul which comes into existence within a woman's body and make its presence known. What is it really mean to be pregnant with God? Here are few of his talks that might be beneficial. Click on the link to listen to the mp3 audio.

(*) Pregnant with God / Complete Talk: 33.4 mb / 1992
(*) The Inner Feminine: Her Dual Nature - Part A: 27.5 mb | Part B: 22.3 mb
(+) Substance within the Heart (43 mins) / 2008
(+) Journey back to God / Complete Talk: 71.5 mb / 2010

More of his talks can be found here.

She is a Hidden Treasure, and Her Mysteries are unveiled only to those who are hidden, and honor Her Sanctified Mysteries

2012-05-27T16:05:00.001+06:00

In the last post titled Women’s specially hidden relationship with God there has been some stimulating and thought provoking sharing from you. In the process some comments and questions have also arrived. I am grateful to all of you for sharing this post among your social networks to help the seed of ideas, inspirations and remembrance to carry forth around the sphere of minds and hearts. Indeed the blessing from the Source is inexhaustible and is bestowed upon all who participate in sharing the light. May each of your sharing be like a new candle passing on the light without diminishing its own light.

In Islam, Allah, the All Encompassing, All Compassionate Divine Essence is a Hidden Treasure, and thus hiddenness is also a key for seekers. God Who is Neither He, nor She and thus can be called as Huwa or Hiya, He or She, without ascribing any gender bias to the Divine Who is beyond any comparison. The Divine, She is a Hidden Treasure, and Her Mysteries are unveiled to those who are hidden. For this reason, the chosen and elect friends, lovers of God remain to be hidden, whether they are male or female. Since hiddenness by essence is a feminine quality, it is not a surprise that in religious / spiritual history, we find the luminous women figures as mostly hidden characters and their relationship with the Divine was of that hidden quality, private, intimate and direct.

This subject of hiddenness is a vast one that is beyond concept and easily escapes our familiar forms of perceiving and knowing. Nevertheless I am intending to write this post to address some of the questions and comments that surface around the post. Please note that here I am trying to state in as concise form as I can, so forgive the brevity. I am also quoting some related passages from the Book "The Unknow She," with acknowledge to it's author Hilary Hart, may God reward her for her lovely work.

1.
The first comment of the previous post carried few questions within:

Truly there is no such thing as coincidence. I have been contemplating on this topic a lot lately, especially Ibn Arabi's notion of women. ... Come to think of it I guess in part it is also our (women's) ability to carry a "seed" to a full term, despite the pain and agony, makes us a living proof that as human beings (both man and women) we have the capability to carry the seeds of love El Vedud has put in our hearts to a full term. It is not easy neither for women nor for men. Spiritual birth is unquestionably much more painful than the physical birth but in the end the reward is unity with God which is the ultimate treasure (May Allah grant us the privilege)

On the other hand one thing I find it difficult in Ibn Arabi's writing is if man can only truly contemplate God through unity with women does this mean the same goes for women as well? I mean how can women contemplate God in the same sense?

I like to think best way to contemplate God is through our opposite sex counterpart but then this brings up another question. What happens when unity with that person does not bring you closer to God and even damages spiritual well being? What happens than? Is divorce solely on this ground is an option? How do you balance spiritual weights of divorce on one hand and not being able to truly contemplate God with that person on the other? Any thoughts? Thanks.

To address your first question, yes, in my humble opinion, if a man can contemplate God through unity with women, the other way is also true. Please note that, I am leaving the two words “only” and “truly” here, for I believe there could well be other ways of contemplating God, path which could uniquely be ‘true’ for individuals.

The Final Prophet of God, peace and blessings to his soul, is recorded to transmitted us this truth that “Paths to God are as numerous as the children of Adam" (at turuqu ila 'Llahi ka-nufusi bani Adam). For example there have been men of God who took very different path than what is discussed here in connection to Shaykh Ibn Arabi and reached very lofty spiritual stations and the same is true for many women of God. To answer to the question as to “how can women contemplate God in the same sense”, it is through love, devotion and surrender for the earthly beloved, women may approach towards the Love, the Surrender and the Devotion to the Supreme Beloved.

One of the readers have made a very valuable comment, "a man can't truly love a woman if he is unable to perceive her already as a part of himself. So a man who loves a woman is complete." It reminds me of what the Holy Prophet Muhammad has transmitted, "that man is the best, who is best in the eye of his wife." This tells that the recognition and acceptance of a man is by his partner / wife / spouse. The love between a man and his wife and vice-versa is the immanent aspect of Divine Love because through them we co-participate in God's love and intermingles with His Love.

I remember in this connection a valuable write-up by Dara O. Shayda which may provide a better explanation of how this alchemy may be achieved. Read it here, Who Do You Really Love?

Its worth noting that for a man, it is in the opposite sex (not only in wife, but also in other women in life), particularly mother, since in Sacred Islamic Tradition, one’s mother is given exquisite honor. It is said that “paradise in under the feet of mother” which is not an ordinary statement. This is to say for a son, the straightest path to achieve the highest in the eternal life is to love the mother, to be devoted to her and finally to achieve salvation by making her well pleased. When it comes to spouse, since after a certain period we lose our parents in the womb of time, it is in the contemplation on the qualities found in the partner for man, that the quintessential feminine qualities of the Divine such as Rahma (Mercy), Hubb (Love), Surrender are seen, recognized and experienced.

Similarly for a woman, it is through the dedication, faithfulness, love, honor, devotion and surrender to the earthly beloved, her spouse or partner, she can contemplate Dedication, Faith, Love, Reverence, Devotion and Surrender to God. The task of pleasing the Supreme Beloved begins through the earthly beloved. There is a narration (via Buraida) by the Holy Prophet regarding prostration to show respect. He said, "If I would have given permission to do Sajada (falling prostrate), it would have been to a women in respect of her husband," but bowing one's head in Islam is reserved for Allah, the Divine Alone and hence giving that supreme honor is not shared with human beings. Never the less, the hadith is an indication that the highest form of reverence and devotion for a partner is to flow to the other partner for a woman.

Now coming to the most difficult and complicated of the questions:

What happens when unity with that person does not bring you closer to God and even damages spiritual well being? What happens than? Is divorce solely on this ground is an option? How do you balance spiritual weights of divorce on one hand and not being able to truly contemplate God with that person on the other? Any thoughts?

To begin to answer this question, I believe its helpful first to understand the spiritual law that we as human being experience only that which is either inside of us or that which is necessary for our evolution since we still have lessons to learn in life or in another world, still to graduate by turning away from our ego’s addiction to the lesser gods (ilaha) (or, golden calf if you like) in order to (re)turn to the Supreme Truth. There are many mystics / spiritual communicators who are fond of describing this by describing the world as a mirror (‘aarshii nagar’ in Bengali, literally means, the City of Mirror). The reason for this is that we experience, see, become conscious, get entangled with only that which is playing inside of us in that particular moment in time. Yes our mind or spirit or soul progress / evolve in time, but for any particular moment, whatever we’re experiencing, it is a reflection of our inner state / condition / reality.

Once we understand this, then we may turn towards the idea of purification. Whether it’s the metaphysical science of alchemy or the science of tasawwuf (which is basically the art of becoming pure, safa) – at the beginning, at the middle and at the end its all about getting rid of the veils and purifying one’s self. The whole drama of life, be it the alarming rate of divorce in present world or the constant psychological battle with the partner, the love and hate situation among lovers – all of these stem from the side-effect of not paying enough attention to purification. As a result even love become toxic through the tremendous amount of pollution that is brought into the energy-space of the partners, the couple.

When people have no idea about the subtle nature of ego, how it operates, who is the archenemy of man, how does it sabotage our peace and harmony by fueling our ego and sentiment, how to recognize the whisperings of the archetype enemy – it would be too much to expect to live in harmony, let alone to see God in every movement and stillness of the partner. “Wheresoever you turn you see the Face of God” becomes an impossibility since the faculty of seeing is veiled by vast distance of galaxies when our heart remains veiled by many blameworthy traits of the self still dominating inside our ego such as pride, showing off, arrogance, envy, miserliness, vengeance, ingratitude, denial of blessings, keeping heart attached to materialistic stuff, unjustifiable anger, breaking promise, pretension, hypocrisy and so forth. The sufis talk about 68 blemishes of the nafs, as a teaching tool to make one aware of one's possible enemy / impurity within.

When people fail to learn how to be in the moment, how to experience the existence as it is or when people forget the truth that love is all about lover’s becoming nothing for the sake of the beloved, that it is the super exercise of dissolving the ego for the sake of the beloved – then yes we may even become more egoistic in not seeing our faults but blaming on the partner and eventually getting into a scenario such as divorce, battle in the court, trying to kill each other and so forth. I am not generalizing the scenario here, but what I am trying to convey is the fact that we often are not ready to face the darkness of our ego-self, are not prepared to take the steep path of purification. And that is one of the main reason for trouble among partners.

If one to look from metaphysical perspective, Christ didn’t permit divorce or the question of marriage after divorce (see Matthew 5:32, 19:9). According to Jesus’ teaching, he never approves divorce, only separation, that is divorce without the right to remarry. He says in Luke 16: 18 - 'Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.' Another of his teaching of unity is this 'What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.'' (Mark 10:6-9)

Its prohibited for one who is Christ-like or who is touched by Christ consciousness. I know this is hard to accept, but that is the truth. Divorce or if we use another term for it is “separation” is the opposite of “unity” and comes from the absence of love and thus symbolizes anti-christ characteristic. Hence in Islam, which, in the evolution scheme of Divine revelations, is the successor of Christianity – do permit divorce but reminds us that is a hated thing in the eye of God. One need not to go near divorce, may God save us from such calamity, if both the partner is well educated about the ego, how it operates, the truth that love is all about dissolving the ego and where “you, not I” is the rule of the game, then only peace, tranquility, harmony and love will remain in every abode. But alas! We prefer to follow our ego and the archenemy, than embark on the path of purification.

The idea of anti-christ, from spiritual perspective means 'absence of love', 'absence of empathy' or 'absence of grace.' And this is what is manifesting all over the place around the world and one of its side-effect in the outer world is gross violation in the name of love, gross violation of the sanctity of body in the name of sex, pornography, manipulation and disregard for sanctity of family, abnormal number of divorce rate which is causing tremendous damage to the psychology of the children, the younger ones who will inherit this world and sadly it is them who are growing up in dysfunctional family, growing up by not experiencing compassion and love and respect between their parents. Divorce, to me, personally is only an outer symptom of our inner state of disunity.

Some mystics call our addiction to transcendence as an escape where people ignore the suffering of the neighbor, the homeless and enjoy an expensive trip to the holy city in the name of religious ecstasy, similarly divorce is also an escape from facing the darkness of one’s ego which is manifested in clash with the spouse and instead of facing it, working on it and accepting and dissolving the ego’s blemishes, the society tells us to take the shortcut called “divorce” and live with the ego’s darkness and continue to suffer while suffering continue to come in many forms.

This is in no way to mean in general sense. Indeed it would be an injustice to truth to paint every picture of divorce in the same manner, because in many cases there are abuse, there are violation of dignity and in that case to preserve one's peace, dignity and honor one has to walk away. Such scenarios are not something where we can contemplate on the Divine Light in the partner since it is so abusively veiled.

2.
When the male and female come together, something new can come in life, a new child born in the heart, a child that is ‘true being.’ This is the immaculate conception.

You know the basic underlying principle in our nature is harmony. So, after the male joins the female, after the East meets the West, the duality, the opposition falls away. It all dissolves. You don’t know what’s male or female anymore, they become so entwined. In consciousness, there is concord and agreement and equanimity. The struggle disappears. The union happens, you are in harmony, the isness, this state of being.
- Lynn Barron, from The Unknown She

'Everything you have ever been told about the divine is prejudiced by patriarchal distortions...
- Andrew Harvey, The Unknown She

'The transcendent and formless have become the goals, the world has been left behind. And yet for women this goes against our nature, which is to be involved, through love, in the entire process of creation.'
- Mystic Angela Fischer

When women really live the love that already exists in their lives, and accept the deep vulnerability love demands, they will be led by love in the spiritual work they need to do.
- Hilary Hart

At this point its worth reminding ourselves what one Anonymous commenter in the post commented saying, (the important point in the comment is in bold):

I do think both men and women carry female and male ENERGIES. Some men are more gentle and nurturing than women sometimes and sometimes women are more proactive and dynamic than men. I have always thought the journey to God lies within each soul. It is our job to make the masculine and feminine energies within us reconcile just as they are reconciled and one in God. If God is in us and we reconcile those energies then we are more One with God.

If we have a partner who can encourage that journey and whom we can encourage and nurture back, well that's perfect! I think an earthly beloved can inspire our growth and help it along but I do not feel it helps to depend on that beloved to complete our journey for us - that only we can do with the grace of God. If we do and then work and love and share with others, then life may become blissful. But because society labels and forces men and women into boxes and presupposed roles, I feel this whole dynamic is messed up at the moment. But I really believe we can find the way if we look to God.

3.
I am reminded of what Lynn Barron said in an interview with Hilary Hart, quoted in The Unknown She, which may further help understand that when we talk about the Divine Feminine, its not about gender or being a woman or something which is dealt solely by women. It incorporates spiritual work, recognition for any soul, and any human being regardless of gender.

Lynn said in that wonderful interview:

“The ascent is work, effort. You take one step at a time, pass through one stage after another, move closer and closer to the light. But suddenly the light becomes so bright it is black. And the descent begins. The descent is a pull. You have surrendered and it’s not up to you. You are pulled by love. You are gone. You are lost in the luminous black, the sweet silence, the dynamic, living emptiness of the Unknown She.”

... Annihilated – as the Sufis say – in the fires of divine love, Lynn has been shown a unique vision of what is possible in the evolution of human consciousness. Within her understanding, there exists a state of consciousness currently available to all humanity in a way it has never been before. This is a consciousness of oneness beyond duality, a pure and formless state of being whose essence is love. It is, as Lynn calls it, the “Unknown She.”

“When I talk about the Unknown She,” Lynn explains, ‘I am talking about a state of beyond concept, idea, or form – a timeless state. All sense duality has been dissolved. There are no biases or distinctions born of conditioning, culture, or tradition. The illusory boundaries have disappeared. You have let go of all that is confined in time and space. You have given up all ideas of individuality.

‘The Unknown She is a state of love, in which there are no intermediaries between you and the divine,’
You have sensed the subtle connection to the essence, the divine energy. You have rid yourself of any sense of separation, for nothing in the world of relative truth is real for you. This is a state of silence and emptiness. It is an active, dynamic state of radiating luminous black light. In this state of being, silence and emptiness exist in oneness. It is a pure state of being that contains itself within itself. Here God rests in action, as when God spoke, Be”

‘It’s so hard to recognize.’ She says, ‘because we want to bring it back into the old forms of this world, and what I’m saying is it isn’t there. It’s turning within, a new way to be in this world of time and space. The visible outer picture is being formed in the moment, and yet this state itself is timeless. It is a consciousness of love and being, and and conception before conception takes form. It is the formless form, it is the formless form, it is a non dimensional state of being here in ordinary reality.’

‘When you start to investigate this concept of consciousness of love in which all is contained within itself’- she explains ‘the closest thing that comes to it is Mary- if you’re within the Judeo/Christian/Islamic mystical tradition. Mary had pure consciousness; she was in a virgin state. She conceived from a pure state. In this state impregnation.conception, gestation are all self contained within the principle love.

Just because I call it ‘She’ does not mean that it is female. It isn’t a gender, it is neither masculine nor feminine, but for some reason you want to say ‘She.” It is a feeling state, and feeling is a female quality. You just feel it. You can’t think, or put thoughts around it. It stays in the formless realm. For example, you feel as if you are enveloped by presence. There is such intimacy, as if you have been embraced.

.. when you are in this state, you are in the female element. Love, the Essence. She embraces you and you embrace this feeling – the She – with you heart, so it can live inside of you as you. This feeling emanates from the source. Its is a state of pure transformative love.

This state of pure being, is the beginning of a journey that takes one to the most hidden chambers within your heart – into the beyond of the beyond. Love itself embrace you and takes you further into the mysteries of love. One enters the Unknown She, becomes Her luminous black light, and can then be guided by this light into deeper states of consciousness. The journey happens beyond ordinary consciousness, is only remembered later, when one comes back into the ordinary mind. The memories are sometimes images, but sometimes just exist as direct knowledge, as though one simply understand the meaning of one’s experience.

“Remember the Prophet said, there is a hidden treasure that wants to be known. Enter Her light and Her light will take you to the treasure. Enter this luminous blackness, and She Who is Love Itself will take you deeper and deeper into love, into the sweet honey, into golden amber streams of light.

Abide in the silence and She will come. Remember Her, so She will come. She is lost in the shadows behind many veils. Remember She, She wants to be known.

Peace She is. She wants to be known.

“The assembly is filled with fragrance at the mention of Her,
and every tongue utters Her name.” ~ Ibn Arabi / art credit

# References:
(*) The Unknown She, article by Hilary Hart

(*) The centrality of the Divine Feminine in Sufism / Laurence Galian
(+) A list of Audio Talks given by Maata Lynn Barron are available via Sufi Conference site where she touches on the Unknown She / the Divine Beloved

(+) A view interview with Sufi Lynn Barron from Global Oneness Project

(+) Fatimah, Mary and the Divine Feminine in Islam
(+) The Goddess remains the esoteric heartbeat of Islam

(♥) Blameworthy traits of the self

(♥) Shadows of the ego-self (nafs)
(B) Sufi Narratives of Intimacy: Ibn 'Arabī, Gender, and Sexuality by Sa'diyya Shaikh via Google Book

Women's specially hidden relationship with God

2012-05-24T01:21:00.003+06:00

1.
Pretext

Someone close to me but who wishes to remain hidden shared recently that she would often face this question in her mind as to why the Qur'an, when read by a woman, feels like a Book addressed exclusively to men.

This is not an unique scenario of Qur'an. In fact all the scriptures when read sensitively generally appears to address men, talk about issues of men, their problems and solutions etc., and very few verses or portion seems to address the women. Its even more glaring for earlier revelations such as the Torah and the New Testament. In the Qur'an at least we find for the first time in a major revelation which dedicate verses exclusively for women's right, their right to inherit property, right of the women in marriage, right of divorce, laws of divorce, command to give reverence to the womb that bore us etc.., in the Quran we have chapters by the title Women (Nisa), Maryam (Mother Mary) and Sheba (Queen Sheba during the time of King Solomon) something quite unusual for Old Testament or New. Same goes to Eastern Traditions of the past. Whether we look at the Biblical narratives or in the Qur'an, we find that almost all the Prophets and Messengers of God were men, the whole energy of the Bible or Qur'an seems to be male dominating. In short the Religious Text or Prime Scripture seems to carry a gender bias.

While exploring this subject on her own and introspecting, herself being a practicing and contemplative faithful person, she eventually came to this realization that women's relationship with God is very exclusive, of hidden in nature and very private, and thus it is not openly shared and discussed. This is why in the Scripture though there are a number of illuminated women figures who are even mentioned by their name, yet their stories are much hidden than exposed in full new.

And I think this is very important point we tend to overlook or forget when we try to rationalize everything. Certainly there is truth to the above mentioned realization. Let me explain why.

2.
Energy of time

Before going into the inner reasoning as to why women are often veiled from the common discourse in Scriptural narrative, first we may look from a more practical level, specially from the socioeconomic atmosphere of the times when revelations came.

If we could transport ourselves back in time, say two or three thousands years ago to a human society (any society in that matter), as far as we know from historical knowledge, women had a very different role than what we see in post-industrial world. The economic activities of women were much different, so were their roles. Women had more natural and organic place in the inner circle of activities, in the upbringing of children, motherhood, role as care giver, companion and in some occasion as wise counselor, but all of these were done behind the curtain.

On this point Mystic Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee's talk on "Feminine Consciousness & The Masculine Mind" is good to listen. (+) Click here to download the mp3.

Its quite true that religious scripture, be it Hindu Veda, Jewish Torah or Christian Bible and the secondary sources - almost all of them have serious gender bias. Not only their discourses are male gender specific, but sometime they could be found seriously antagonistic towards women. In many traditions women were seen as source of evil, medieval Europe even discussed within the excuse of theologian debate questions as to whether female had any soul or even if they did, how inferior it might be compared to men. There are serious problem found by modern scholars about how women were seen in certain ancient Hindu texts.

One aspect of this issue stems from the fact of considering women less by certain figureheads in those traditions (Peter for example was not a fan of Mary Magdalene and openly protested to Christ as found in Gnostic Gospels. Simon Peter is known to have openly said, 'women are not worthy of life.') The other aspect remains is the fact that narratives about the virtuous women are found to be so lacking when compared to male characters in religious texts.

If we dig deep into the possible reasons, one thing is very clear to understand that women's relationship in human society were quite different than today. Participation of women in society was very limited in societies thousands of years back and it was mostly men who ran every kind of activities, from economic to political, from food hunting to administrating power. The period of major religious revelations were well within that influence and thus the language of the revelation which occurred within time, had the effect of its time.

Also since history was written by almost exclusively by men, and even out of that population of common people only few were privileged to have access to reading and writing skills, it is understandable why we find very little description of the women who might have been around powerful personalities. It was not just the norm to bring into exposure those who were considered belonging to the inner streams of life.

This perspective explains why we know very little about women disciples of Jesus, even about Mother Mary the Bible is astonishingly silent. For this very reason we know so little about the Mother of Moses or wife of Abraham, mother of Ishmael. All of these women, as far as we gather from their role in history, were spiritually and otherwise very very powerful. They were almost equivalent of powerful high priestess who had direct access to the Divine Presence or with Whom God communicated through revelations. Never the less, the nature of time was such that their incidents were not widely known (since they spent their entire life in semi-seclusion, by remaining as personalities of inner circle), and even lesser transmitted.

3.
Hiddenness / disappearance in God is essentially a manifestation of feminine principle

Apart from socioeconomic or societal structural reasoning, there is another very important point we often overlook when we explore this question as to why Scriptures have less coverage on women, even in the case of specially chosen and spiritually gifted women. And the answer lies in the very nature of the feminine. The actual point is about the reality of feminine nature and her relationship with everything.

Mystic Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee gives example in his book "Love is a Fire: The Sufi's Mystical Journey Home" while describing what is masculine and what is feminine. He writes,

Everything that comes into life has two sides, a masculine and feminine quality, even love. The masculine side of love is “I love you.” Longing is the feminine side of love: “I am waiting for you. I am longing for you.” Longing is the cup waiting to be filled.

The soul is feminine before God, waiting in a state of surrender for the Beloved to come... The lover waits for her Beloved. And when He comes to us, in those moments of meeting and merging that are so intimate that one can hardly speak of them, the lover is feminine, pierced, penetrated by the tremendous bliss of His love.

A number of qualities of the pure feminine aspect include: surrender, receptivity, privacy, veiling, seclusion, to disappear. This is exactly why even the most luminous female figures in the history, their deep relationship with God are not described or talked about. They are not featured as prominently as we think from our perspective, and this is because of the hiddenness of the feminine quality.

To give specific example, we can take Khadija, the beloved wife of the Prophet who played very serious role both in the private life of the Prophet as well as to the struggle of his mission. It was Khadija who counseled and gave her strength even on the very night when Prophet received revelation and were completely baffled by the unexpected experience. It was Khadija who consoled him, spoke words of faith to him and helped him recognize the truth of his momentous experience by taking him to a very old and wise man Waraqah. This incident alone is quite symbolic. It required a woman to help recognize who he was, what his greatest role was.

Yet about Khadija and her personal devotion to God, very little is known. Similarly Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet who was known to resemble the Prophet the most than any other family members, when she was about to leave the world, her last wish was that her funeral be done in secret and her final resting place be not known to anyone. Again we face the reality of hiddenness, the complete and voluntary disappearance, literally. This is a quintessential quality of the elect who chose to hide themselves completely, and this also an act of surrender, again a feminine quality.

Interestingly enough, this not exclusive to females only. The most intimate relationship with God by God's most elect servants become veiled as they enter into higher planes of surrender. When we wish to turn out attention about the inner life of Mother Mary, her utterly devoted period in the Temple, her difficult times while she carried Jesus in her Womb - we are made disappointed because these are not divulged to public, not even through Scriptures. Similarly we know very little about Mother of Moses or the most intelligent and dear companion of Jesus Christ, Mary Magdalene. This is precisely because by the very nature of feminine quality, it becomes hidden.

This hiddenness is a testimony to the truth that human language and the landscape of mind has its limit. For the same reason, the special friends of God or awliya Allah are known to remain hidden under the cloak of God and this hiddenness is again stems from feminine quality of true surrender, complete receptivity to the Beloved, the disappearing in God. Similarly the narrative of the ascension of Prophet Muahmmad seems to stop at a point where human language cannot enter. This is again the feminine quality manifesting in disappearing in God.

It is because of this specially hidden relationship with God that women possess, that is one of the real reason why women are not featured as much as we would wish them in the Scriptures, for, they are veiled by the cloak of God, God Who is the Jealous Lover Who Wishes that His chosen beloveds be known only to Him and not to anyone other than Him (Ghairullah). ("For the Lord, is a Jealous God" - Exodus)

Inna lillahi, wa inna ilahi rajiun. Indeed we are for Allah, and to Him is the return. This belonging to the Beloved is also a quality of the feminine, and also to return to Him is disappearing into Him and through this greater reality of disappearing in God that we attain eternal life, we truly live in al-Hayy, the Ever Living Who dies not.

Cover of The Unknown She by Hilary Hart

4.
Mystical hints

To leading Sufi mystics such as Ibn Arabi, for him male and female are coupled together in a necessary cosmic unity on the level of both Creation and Gnosis. "And there is no more powerful creature in the universe than woman." And it is the resilience, the endurance of a woman from her bearing the childbirth to patiently up bringing children are all testimony to that.

To Ibn Arabi, both men and women share all the ranks of sainthood, even that of the Pole (qutb). Prophet, peace be upon him, said, "Women and men are siblings (shaqaîiq)", it would have been sufficient; that is to say, all that is rightfully a man's, in terms of stations, degrees and qualities, is also possible for whichever woman God wills.

The matter is summarised in the fact that God (haqq) can never be witnessed divested of matter. And since witnessing cannot take place except in matter, a man's witnessing of God in woman is the grandest and most complete witnessing. "God is never seen immaterially; and the vision of Him in woman is the most perfect of all." In this sense, female woman is one who completes male man in gnosis. How did Ibn 'Arabî present this idea?

It springs from contemplating the prophetic saying: "I was made to love three things of your world, women, perfume, and the freshness of the eyes [that was brought to me] in prayer." It may be deduced that the basis is man's yearning for his Lord, who is his origin, and that is why God made him love woman - for as God, the Most High, loves him who is in His image, He makes loveable to man the woman whom He extracted for him from him and who appeared in his image. When man loves woman, he desires to conjoin and unite with her, and when the act is consummated pleasure overtakes all parts of the body, and it is as if he were annihilated in her. Thus, as God is jealous for his servant, He orders him to perform a full ablution in order that he be cleansed of "other", and return to observing Him in the one in whom he has been annihilated, i.e. in woman. God has cleansed man by complete ablution because he has to witness God in woman, and that is the grandest and the most complete contemplation, because it is a witnessing of God as actor and acted-upon simultaneously.
- Shared via Ibn Arabi Society Texts

Ibn 'Arabî shows a great deal of ingenuity when he makes femaleness a cosmic principle permeating through every creature and product, sharing with maleness the act of creation in every plane. Femaleness and maleness are equal in their ontological amplitude, but they are separate in their roles and degrees of being.

Femaleness is a degree of receptivity, of acted-upon-ness, and of being effected by maleness, which is the possessor of the degree of actor and acted-upon. It is also for maleness the place for depositing, seeding, growing, bringing into being, creating[30] and manifestation. Each receptive and acted-upon and being effected is in the degree of female even if it be male; and everything which is a place for depositing, seeding, growing and creating, is in the degree of female even if it be male. Therefore, every creature in the universe is "female" on both the ontological and the gnostic levels.

He said, "We are females for what He impregnates in us Praise be to God...The degree of every acted-upon is that of a female, and there is nothing that is not acted-upon. Action is in reality divided between the actor and the acted-upon: from the side of the actor comes the power or ability, and from the side of being acted upon comes the receptivity to being empowered." - Souad Hakim, (credit)

"The paradise is under the feet of mothers."
- Sacred Tradition of Islam, Prophet Muhammad

Someone once asked the Prophet, “Among people, who is most deserving of loving kindness (birr)?” He answered, “Your mother”. The questioner asked, “After her, who?” He replied, “Your mother”. He asked “After her, who?” He said, “Your mother. Then your father.”

"The right of your mother is that you know that she carried you where none carries anyone, she gave to you that fruit of her heart that which no one gives to anyone, and she protected you with all her organs. She did not care if she went hungry as long as you ate, if she was thirsty as long as you drank, if she was naked as long as you were clothed, if she was in the sun as long as you were in the shade. She gave up sleep for your sake, she protected you from the heat and cold, in order that you might belong to her. You will not be able to show her gratitude, unless through God’s help and giving success." - ‘Ali ibn al-Husayn

- She is waiting to be recognized.
- Do you mean she wants to be recognized as a woman?
- I mean that she is waiting to be recognized as all women ... Don't you yet realize that all women are in the same position? Until the women is recognized by man she can never be completely free. Man has forgotten too much. Yet if he recognized the woman, he would free himself. He would become complete. The woman, the earth, has been waiting so patiently...
- The Last Barrier by Reshad Feild

"Happy are you that you hunger for the truth, for I will satisfy you with the bread of wisdom. Happy are you, that you knock, for I will open to you the door of life. Happy are you, that you would cast off the power of Satan, for I will lead you into the Kingdom of our Mother's angels, where the power of Satan cannot enter."

And they asked him in amazement: "Who is our Mother and which Her angels? And where is Her Kingdom?" Jesus replied: "Your Mother is in you, and you in Her."
- Jesus Christ in Essene Gospel of Peace

Though Fatima was his daughter, the Prophet Muhammad called her Umm Abi’ha (mother of her father). About Fatima, Prophet said, "The most beloved of my family to me is Fatimah. Whoever hurts Fatima, hurts me, and whoever hurts me, hurts Allah, exalted be His Majesty! Fatimah is part of me, and whoever pleases her, pleases me."

Woman is a beam of the divine Light.She is not the being whom sensual desire takes as its object.
She is a Creator, it should be said. She is not a Creature.
- Rumi, Henry Corbin

O humanity! ... revere the sacredness of the womb that bore you.
- The Quran, An-Nisa (The Woman) 4:1

# Further, Good Reads and to Explore:
* Ibn 'Arabî's Twofold Perception of Woman, Woman as Human Being and Cosmic Principle
* The role of the Divine Feminine and how it translates into women’s wisdom: Past, Present and Future
* Women of Light in Sufism | Sachiko Murata
* Woman’s Image Transformed : The Sufism of Ibn ‘Arab
* The Creative Feminine Principle in Ibn al-‘Arabi’s School of Thought
* The Lady Nizam – an Image of Love and Knowledge
* A woman with perfume and prayer speaks with Christ-Sophia by Trish Madigan (PDF)
* The Torah: A Women’s Commentary (PDF)

* The Status of Women in Islam
* Women in the Quran
* Woman and her Rights

Past posts on Feminine Principle:
+ Divine Feminine in Islam and Fatima | part 1
+ Divine Feminine in Islam and Fatima | part 2
+ Mystery of Woman | the Feminine Soul
+ Feminine Spirituality | Inspirations and Wisdom
+ Sohbet with Hilary Hart | Author of The Unknown She

Interview with Graphic Designer: Joumana Medlej

2012-05-19T00:45:00.001+06:00

Beauty, which the knower appreciates and a lover admires, is worshiped by the mystic. It is useless to try to put into words what beauty is, but if anything can explain it, it is the other word for beauty and that is harmony. It is the harmonious combination of colors, the harmonious grouping of lines, and the harmonious blending of the objects of nature that suggest to us the idea of beauty. In order to be beautiful an object must be harmonious, for in point of fact, harmony is beauty.

If there is anything in the world that makes man unconscious of himself, in other words that makes him lose his self-consciousness, if there is anything that makes man humble, that makes him surrender willingly, it is beauty. Beauty is something that conquers without a sword, that holds without hands, that is more tender then the petals of a flower and stronger then anything in the world. The Prophet has said, 'God is Beauty and He loves what is beautiful.'
~ Sufi Mystic Inayat Khan on Beauty and Harmony (credit)

The hidden harmony is stronger than the visible.

~ Greek philosopher Heraclitus

It was the beautiful and harmonious calligraphy works of Joumana Medlej that suddenly appeared when I was searching for some artwork on the internet. The exceptional beauty that Joumana's work bring with a very fresh style immediately captured my heart and I wanted to know more about the artist. Soon I discovered that Joumana Medlej is a leading Graphic Designer and Illustrator from Lebanon who not only does contemporary Arabic calligraphy but she is also a designer for video games, has publisher her own Graphic Novel and she is also an accomplish travel writer. When I was browsing her collection of calligraphic designs I noticed that most of them were accomplished by beautiful and captivating quotation from various Sufi Masters, from classical to modern mystics. That was when I was inspired to conduct a sohbet or interview with Joumana Medlej. What follows is an email interview with Joumana where she shares about her work, inspiration, calligraphy and technology. Don't forget to explore her beautiful works from the links provided at the end of this piece.

Sadiq: Please tell a little about yourself and your work.

Joumana: I'm trained as a graphic designer, with a preference for illustration in which I'm self-taught. Currently I design videogames and publish children's books, alongside more personal projects such as a comic book, art tutorials, icon sets, and of course Arabic calligraphy.

Since when you seriously started your creative career?

I've had many serious starts, really! Each in a different direction as I looked for my own thing in the creative fields. But you could say it started when I decided to study and work in a creative field, when I was 17 and chose graphic design as a major. I've always been more of an artist than a designer, but I felt it would give me the tools to be self-sufficient in any creative field necessary as I made a place for myself, and it has.

What is your most favorite source of inspiration ?

Life is altogether inspiring. There's nothing out there that can't plant the seed of an idea in me, even though I can only act on some of them. I get a lot of inspiration from my travels, from nature, from my dreams, and from unexpected and uncontrollable things such as the way a building ages and decays.

Calligrapher: Samir Sayegh

You do very interesting Arabic calligraphy. What made you interested in it? What is unique about it?

For many years now I have worked for and with master calligrapher Samir Sayegh as an assistant. Through him, by the sheer amount of hands-on work I got to do on letter forms, the "knowledge of letters" opened up to me – I use here Ibn Arabi's term ('ilm al-huruf) because nothing describes it better, as it is between art and science but it's beyond either. No other script in existence (and I have studied many, being one of my interests) behaves the way Arabic does and can be manipulated in the same way.

Early scribes of Arabic, in the early Islamic period, did not use it for functional reasons, since they relied on memorization of their sacred texts. Instead they were aware that they were giving a visual form to the words of Revelation, so they developed it along very different lines than, say, Latin. It's difficult to describe rationally how the result functions, I can do no better than call it magic – something extraordinary that unfolds before our eyes but that logic cannot explain or create.

You mentioned in an interview once how Arabic calligraphy has strong relationship with geometry. Could you please explain a bit?

Yes, Kufi in particular is intimately related to geometry since it is constructed, not traced with the hand. Each letter can be manipulated quite extensively, but contains a geometric essence that makes it recognizable, and that needs to be respected by the artist. When one works with this essence, or rather as this essence dictates, one sees geometry unfold in unpredictable ways that always fit the right way. Geometry underlies the universe, it's why it was a sacred science in the past, which is now long forgotten, but the Arabic script still has the power to plug into this matrix and sing in tune with it. This is why it speaks so powerfully to those who look at it even if they can't read a single letter.

I noticed many of you calligraphy are accompanied by quotes from well known sufi masters. How did you discover them?

Gradually in my readings along the years, and for some of them I had no idea they were Sufis until recently – it's amazing how much this path has permeated, even generated, philosophy and the arts in the Arabo-Islamic world. My mentor asserts that calligraphy is a Sufi art as the great calligraphers of the past were usually Sufis and this influenced its development. Also, take any Arabic word pertaining to spirituality, religion, or philosophy, and you can find Sufi wisdom on it. So they keep popping up and one leads to another; by now I have collected enough writings and sayings to know where to look wen I need a quote (I always look for one when I complete a piece, to accompany it.) It's a two-way process now as I get inspiration from these masters' teachings, in turn.

On Dhikr Joumana Quotes: "The perfect mystic is not an ecstatic devotee lost in contemplation of Oneness, nor a saintly recluse shunning all commerce with mankind, but “the true saint” goes in and out amongst the people and eats and sleeps with them and buys and sells in the market and marries and takes part in social intercourse, and never forgets God for a single moment." ~ Abu Said ibn Abi-l-Khayr

You create beautiful tutorials for illustration. Could please share the steps involved in a calligraphy?

Every calligrapher has his method, of course, that depends on the nature of his composition and materials. For me, it starts with cutting the paper into a square, and marking the median lines. Then I build the composition in pencil, paint it, trace the outlines, and gild it last. Sometimes I have to take these steps in a different order, if a piece presents some complexities, but that's roughly it. The very last step is varnishing, if necessary.

The Process of "Dhikr" (final form in previous image) becoming a design (see more)

Your style is very modern or contemporary. How do you achieve that with an art form which is quite traditional and for those who wish to achieve it in other fields, what is your advice for them? Is there a secret to this?

I've acquired a strong familiarity with the essence of the Kufi letters and that's what allows me to create very modern and/or personal representations of them that still feels rooted in tradition. I learned this from ustadh Sayegh, but there is no verbal or intellectual teaching involved: one has to work with them and work with them and work with them until they're second nature. The secret is immersion, there are no shortcuts. Those who wish to achieve this need to simply do it with their full passion and for a long time. As this happens naturally and effortlessly when one is truly enamored with a domain, there's no need to wonder how to achieve it, it'll just happen. Just don't think you can get results if you're not motivated enough to give yourself to it fully.

A glimpse at Joumana's workspace

Now a days a lot of artists are using technology and specially Internet, how do you see the marriage between creativity, beauty and technology?

Artists have always used technology. A couple of centuries ago, tubed paint was cutting edge technology, as earlier they had to make their own paint! So I don't see anything happening now that has not been continually happening since the early days of art. Creativity has always pounced on new techniques and materials to broaden its range of expression. What is really interesting about today however is the internet, in terms of sharing one's creativity. Never before has distance been so irrelevant, or art been so accessible to so many at no cost. That alone has helped trigger a creativity boom as ideas and how-to's are now just a click away.

I came to know that you have quite an active dream life. Do you write down your dreams? Do you incorporate message from dreams to your work, if yes, how?

Ah yes, dreams are very meaningful to me as a tool for knowing oneself, and I always write them down and take the time to understand them. A lot of my inspiration comes from my dreams (for instance recently I made a piece from the word Ramz, after dreaming that I met a Persian poet by that name), and inversely I sometimes see my work in my dreams in ways that give it a new meaning. Because dreams come from within, their guidance adds something to my work that comes from a deeper place than the solutions offered by the intellect.

Great many poets/ artists are deeply influenced by Sufi message. How much do you drink from sufi ideas? Does your comic Malaak has certain sufic ideas into it?

It's hard to quantify this because, as I'm finding out, Sufism is incredibly pervasive in our Middle-eastern cultures, and also very discreet. I can think of a few examples of people or notions that inspired me deeply and it's only years later that I discovered they were connected to Sufism. I'm pretty sure by now that all of the Near and Middle East was shaped and built by Sufism, which is a way of being in the world as much as it is a personal spirituality, and that the area is dying in terrible throes because we have lost it, and sometimes actively destroyed it. As for my comic Malaak, I have been very startled lately to find that ideas I had put into it could also be found in Sufi teachings. But then again, when I started writing it, I based my entire research about the Jinn on Ibn Arabi's writings, and that was my first encounter with him and I had no idea he had anything to do with Sufism. So from the beginning, that was there unbeknownst to me.

You have been using internet for quite some time now? You began using it since 1997? How do you view its changes and potentiality?

It's fantastic, people don't realize what a blessing it is, but they would if it happened to disappear. It's the first time in our history that we can experience humanity beyond time or space. Reaching out to someone or to a piece of info online is as easy as sending a neural signal to a part of our body to move it. Perhaps, thanks to it, future generations will have a different mindset from ours, being born in a world where everyone is connected, not separated.

Darvish Icon Set by Joumana

As a person who adore beauty in many of its form, do you have any vision of how technology will influence our life and those who are interested in transmitting realizations (be it realization of simple beauty around us or alike) or consciousness? Could you please share your ideas revolving around this.

I think that depends on how smart we are about it. Technology right now is a "weapon of mass distraction", and if we allow it to proliferate in that sense, we're on a losing ticket. Consciousness can devolve and probably is devolving as we speak. As long as people spend more time seeking entertainment than looking within, we're using technology to our disadvantage. But it doesn't have to be that way if we show a little more awareness in our lives. Also I think that anything we can build in the outer world (such as technology) is only a weaker reflection of our inner potential. If we devoted more time to developing that, maybe we'd reach a point where we look at all those advanced gadgets and laugh that we ever needed such crutches when we can fly on our own...

(All art work used here are by Joumana Medlej)

# References & more:
* Official Website of Joumana Medlej
* Calligraphy of Joumana
* Calligraphy with Sufic Themes

* Malaak: Angel of Peace / Graphic novel by Joumana Medlej (you can read it online)
* About Joumana via Malaak site
* Lebanese Comics: Malaak
* Malaak 4: Marked by Fire

* Interview: Joumana Medlej @ Marmalade Moon
* Interview: Joumana @ Lebrecord
* Artist of the Month: an interview with Joumana Medlej

* Publications by Joumana
* Encountering Samir Sayegh, Master Calligrapher
* Joumana Medlej's Page on Facebook

New Book by Henry Bayman: The Teachings of a Perfect Master: An Islamic Saint for the Third Millennium

2012-05-18T02:15:00.000+06:00

I came across Henry Bayman's writings through his third book, The Black Pearl. That was my introduction to Henry Bayman's writing who is a direct student of Master Ahmet Kayhan Dede, a remarkable Sufi Master and Saint. The Black Pearl was unlike any book I have read before, the subject matter and how it was encapsulated in that book was very unique. Even before finishing reading the book, I felt intuitively that I must have a copy of this book, so I photocopied the book in full and still have it.

The subtitle of this book read: "Spiritual Illumination in Sufism and East Asian Philosophies." At that time my serious interest on Sufism as a subject of study has just began and as I was living in Singapore, my exploration of East Asian spirituality and philosophies was on-going. So timing wise it was just too perfect when I discovered his book "The Black Pearl" at the library of National University of Singapore (NUS) circa 2005-2006. Title of the chapters (or sub-sections) of this great book can give an indication of its treasure, I'm quoting some selected ones here: Buddhahood and Prophethood, A Sufi's worship, From Nature to God, God in East Asian Culture, Nirvana in Brahman, None-self but One Self, Emptiness or GOD?, Confucius: The Exoteric Dimension etc. In short, this is a must read book for anyone interested in comparative spirituality, specially those who has appreciation for Buddhism, Zen, Tao and Confucianism. The book is a beautiful bridge of understanding between Sufism / Islam and the major Far Eastern traditions.

This is what Henry Bayman wrote in his introduction of the book:

I believe that Islamic Sufism has much in common with Buddhism, with Taoism, with Zen, and yes, even with Confucianism. At the same time, however, Sufism differs in various respects from each of these paths, to a degree that it becomes worthwhile to write a book about the subject.

At the center of the discussion is Absolute Reality: God, the Tao, Buddha-nature, the One (al-Ahad). Branching off from this are: exoteric Confucianism, which deals with morality; esoteric Taoism and Buddhism, and their combined form Zen, which deal with wisdom and mysticism; plus other traditions which are less widespread but nevertheless represent important aspects of Eastern thought.

The book description reads: "This sparkling book shows, as never before, how the highest metaphysical reaches of East Asian philosophies are scaled by contemplative Islam. Combining insightful analysis and personal reflection, Henry Bayman explores the mystical dimensions of Sufism, Buddhism, Taoism, Zen and Confucianism. He delves into the striking parallels and seemingly irreconcilable differences in their conceptions of Absolute Reality: God, the Tao, Buddha-nature, the One. Bayman shows how each system of thought can illuminate the inner meaning of the others."

So that was Black Pearl, which came out in 2005. His two other title prior to the new one, are: The Station of No Station: Open Secrets of the Sufis (2001) and The Secret of Islam: Love and Law in the Religion of Ethics (2003), both of which if you have not read, you have missed one of the best modern writer on Islam and Sufism, at least in my humble opinion. Henry Bayman is a student of Sufism and an independent scholar who has lived in Turkey for many years, studying with the Masters of Wisdom of Central Anatolia.

2.
New Book Out

Few weeks back it was a real delight to know that Henry Bayman has a new book out by the titled: "The Teachings of a Perfect Master: An Islamic Saint for the Third Millennium," published by Anqa Publishing.

In this Book the author has tried to faithfully record and convey all the teachings of his Sufi Teacher, Master Ahmet Kayhan, who was truly incomparable. May his light benefit the whole world, InshaAllah. The publisher's website mentions about this book as:

Here, for the very first time, we have at hand the entire curriculum of a Sufi saint. For more than a quarter of a century, Henry Bayman has been in close contact with the Sufi Masters of Central Anatolia. Most of that time was spent in the presence of the peerless Sufi teacher Mr. Ahmet Kayhan. Out of that association has emerged our closest glimpse yet of the famous (and hitherto mysterious) Oral Tradition of Sufism.

The author, combining the rigor of an anthropologist with the devotion of a disciple, has brought us a book that faithfully lays bare the entire range of teachings of the man who may come to be recognized as the Sufi Saint of the Age. It may well serve as the gold standard in Islamic and Sufi studies for years to come.

3.
Extract from the Book

With permission from the Author, here is an extract from the new Book. I wish the author, Henry Bayman every success, may Allah bless his work and increase the honor of Master Ahmet Kayhan's soul in the Presence of the Supreme Beloved. May this book reach to the heart of those who come to read it, may its transmission be blessed by Allah, the Mercy Bestower, the Generous Giver. Ameen.

Vision of Miraaj / Digital Art by Sadiq Alam

~ Ascension ~

As everyone knows, each and every one of the prophets has ascended to God. We are not going to explain these Ascents here in detail, but rather will summarize them briefly. There has been no prophet without ritual Prayer, nor without Ascension (miʿraj). Many of them have ascended twice.

Adam had his first Ascension when his spirit was created by God. His second Ascent occurred at the mountain of Arafat together with our mother Eve.

Idris (Enoch), in accordance with the Quranic verse – ‘We raised him to a high place’ – ascended and did not come back. Noah, at the time of the Flood associated with his name, ascended while on the ship he made by God’s command.

Abraham ascended to heaven twice: First, when he was thrown into the fire, and second, at the moment when he was about to sacrifice his beloved son Ishmael. These two are very important points.

Jonah, at the time when he was swallowed by the whale, was inspired by God Almighty with the verse: ‘There is no god but You. Glory be to You, I have been of the wrongdoers’ [21:87]. By repeating this verse, he made his Ascension in the belly of the whale.

King Solomon, the son of David, told his father he would accept prophethood on two conditions. He said to him: ‘If God Almighty grants the prophethood on both physical and spiritual grounds, I will accept it.’ God was pleased with these words of Solomon, and his request was granted. This became his Ascension, because he wanted it that way.

As for Moses, he also performed two Ascensions. In his first ascent, right after his birth his mother placed him in a basket of bulrushes and set him adrift on the Nile. His second ascent occurred on Mount Sinai [Horeb].

Jesus also had two Ascensions. In the first one, the Virgin Mary was asked: ‘How did you get pregnant?’ Jesus answered from his mother’s womb: ‘My mother’s words are the truth, heed my mother.’ His second ascent happened during the Crucifixion (his ascension was spiritual). (note: According to Islamic belief, Jesus was not crucified, but was lifted bodily out of physical space. Someone else was crucified instead, most likely Judas for his betrayal. The Master is saying that in addition, Jesus ascended to God in spirit on this occasion.)

The Ascension of the Prophet Muhammad was superior to those of the other prophets. Crossing the Seven Heavens, he performed his Ascension starting from the seventh, conversed with God, and returned with the greatest good news to his community and all mankind.

Khidr, the Hidden Green Man / Collage (not part of the Book)

~ Hidden Knowledge ~

Hidden Knowledge [ʿilm al-ladun: literally, ‘knowledge from Our side’ – esoteric or inner knowledge of things conferred by God], with the permission and order of God Almighty, fills the whole earth and the heavens. I, humble person that I am, cannot explain this here. However, we may be content to give a few ciphers.

Do all prophets possess Hidden Knowledge, or don’t they?

According to legend, after gathering his entire army, Alexander the Great, with a sign from the Esoteric, started looking for the Elixir of Life in order to achieve immortality. After a considerable amount of exploration, two soldiers set out from the camp one day to continue the search, with the understanding that they would return and report if they happened to find the Elixir.

Around noon they arrived at a river. In order to have lunch, they took out some dried fishes and proceeded to eat. When they threw the remaining skeleton of a fish into the river, an amazing thing happened. The skeleton regained life, took on flesh and appeared to them in the form of a living fish.

The one known as Khidr peeled a fish, ate its meat and, holding the skeleton from its tail, immersed it in the water. The fish immediately reconstituted, regained life and started squirming in his hand. To his friend, Elias [Elijah], he said: ‘We have found the Elixir.’ They drank from the water, and also watered their horses. Their human attributes disappeared, and sublime, divine attributes came over them.physical space. Someone else was crucified instead, most likely Judas for his betrayal. The Master is saying that in addition, Jesus ascended to God in spirit on this occasion.

This is the story. Now for the truth:
This water was a flowing water, a river. Whoever drank from this water should have become like Khidr and Elias. However, since their goal was the Elixir, only these two ascended, only they could ascend by this water.

The story goes on: The two friends returned to the army of Alexander the Great, but they did not tell Alexander about their discovery. Instead, they requested permission to leave the army and go back. Alexander did not grant their request, since he did not want his army to break ranks. In spite of their leader’s ban, however, Khidr and Elias left the army and started off. Alexander sent his army after them, and ordered their capture. However, during a close pursuit, both of them were suddenly lost from sight.

Did the earth swallow them up, or were they raised to the sky?

All the attempts of Alexander’s men to find them met with failure. So they went back, and reported to Alexander the Great. Alexander then said: ‘I overexerted myself and my army in order to achieve immortality, yet the Elixir fell to their lot. Mine was only a rebellion against the will of God.’

This brings us to Moses and Khidr [see the Quran, 18:60-82].

Moses, with the permission of God Almighty, attained a very high level in his knowledge of the Outward and Inward sciences. In spite of this, God declared: ‘Moses, you must learn Hidden Knowledge.’ Moses asked: ‘My Lord, is Hidden Knowledge beyond the Outward and Inward sciences you have given me?’ God answered: ‘O Moses, Hidden Knowledge is superior to all the other sciences. The time has now come for you to discover this. Go to the place where the two seas meet [to a designated pier on the banks of the Red Sea]. There, you will see a man of such-and-such a description. Tell him: “I have come to learn esoteric knowledge from you.”’

The man described by God was none other than Khidr. So Moses went and found Khidr, who answered to the description. After greeting him, he told him about the above order. Khidr said: ‘I was waiting for you here on God’s orders.’

They became companions, and soon boarded a ship. Although he was a great prophet, Moses was now taking orders from Khidr. While the ship was sailing on the high seas, Khidr at one point said: ‘Let’s go downstairs together.’ They went to the lowest deck of the ship. Khidr said to Moses: ‘Take this hammer and make a hole through the ship’s hull with this nail.’ Moses objected: ‘There are many people and animals on this ship.’ Khidr repeated: ‘Just be patient, make a hole.’

So Moses obeyed. Water started flowing into the ship. A short while later, they were invaded by pirates. But by this time, the water had already flooded the first deck. Upon seeing this, the pirates fled, among shouts: ‘The ship is sinking,’ and so saved themselves. On the other hand, the people on board had panicked. The captain of the ship was shouting orders: ‘What are you waiting for? Abandon ship!’ Just as they were about to do so, Moses and Khidr plugged the hole with a wooden peg. Water stopped flowing in, the water in the ship was bailed out and they all continued their voyage.

When Moses and Khidr got off the ship, they landed in another town. While they were disembarking, youngsters were playing ball just as they do today in a field adjacent to the port.

Khidr came face to face with a young man about eighteen years old. Khidr looked at him with a stern face, whereupon the young man attacked him. The friends of the young man tried to separate them from each other. Khidr struck the jugular vein on the young man’s neck, and he died immediately. Moses and Khidr escaped through the crowd in the ensuing commotion.

During evening hours they called on a town. No matter which door they knocked on, nobody would open. By then it was midnight. Moses, being human, was hungry and cold. Khidr, since he had drunk of the Elixir with the permission of God, was affected neither by hunger nor by cold.

Presently they came across a ruined wall, on the verge of falling down. Khidr said: ‘Let’s repair this wall.’
Moses: ‘What are you talking about? I’m cold and hungry. We’ve been driven from every door in this town. And now you want to repair this ruined wall!’

Khidr said: ‘Don’t argue with me, just help me do our work.’ Moses had no choice; he began to work. They repaired and restored the wall. But inwardly, Moses was getting very angry with Khidr. He made this apparent by saying: ‘What are you trying to accomplish?’

Khidr sighed, and answered him as follows: ‘Moses, you have been too impatient. You could not stand three events. Now, I am going to explain them to you.

‘We drilled a hole in the hull of the ship. You saw with your own eyes what happened next: pirates invaded the ship. They were going to rob the ship and kill us all. The ship owner’s money was honestly earned. I felt pity and saved them.

‘The young man I killed was the son of a prominent man. He was rebellious towards his parents. He also belittled the people of that town. If one day he were to rule there, he would have oppressed the people. We killed one man, and saved a hundred thousand from harm.

‘Consider now this wall. The man who built this house was a righteous man. He built this house with money earned honestly. He put the remaining money in a jug, and buried it near the wall we repaired. (Khidr pointed with his hand:) Right here, beneath this foundation.

‘The father and mother passed away, the uncle took custody of the children, and the house was ruined. The kids are still young. After they leave their uncle they will build a house on this lot, and this money will then be their share.’

Khidr continued: ‘I think you now understand the reasons for the things we did. But you were too impatient; our companionship is at an end. We must now depart.’

Khidr gave his hand to Moses, and they shook hands. Moses began to weep and wail: ‘If you leave me here now, where am I going to go? I don’t know my way back. Please don’t leave me.’ Khidr said: ‘Don’t worry. If you are wise, we will be together all the time. Give your hand to me and shut your eyes tight. Open them when I say so.’

Moses gave him his hand. Khidr said ‘close your eyes’ and ‘open them,’ in immediate succession. Moses looked around; he was in front of his house.

This, with the permission, grant and favor of God, is referred to as ‘the folding of space’ (tayy al-makan).

(credit)

[+] You may read more from the extract from here (PDF) version.

[+] Table of Content of the Book here.

[+] To order the Book: via Amazon, via Publisher's site.

On Love, Devotion and Mercy

2012-05-16T12:04:00.001+06:00

Devotion is the highest form of love.

It is possible you may love one person, and love becomes so deep that slowly slowly the very quality of love changes into devotion.

Then that person becomes only a

window for you to take a jump into

existence.

~ O.S.H.O via Osho quotes

1.
The mystic Osho unveils an open secret of our existence. This is also the unveiled mystery of why every spiritual movement is centered around a single person. It has to be so because if you look closely you will see that towards that single person unconditional love and devotion came to manifest by those who met that person, came to know or simply sat in his or her presence. There is no exception to this. Whether religious history / religious scriptures record this or not, this has always been the case.

The love for the master becomes powerful devotion and then the master or the one who is loved with single pointed love, becomes a window or a portal to greater existence. Here existence can well be written with a capital "E", Existence: signifying the Real Existence, the Sole Existence of the One Who is without a second.

"By loving a person intensely and recognizing the Divinity you achieve a certain degree of Oneness... Existence is a manifestation of Divine Power."
~ Master Choa Kok Sui, Pranic Healing Master

2.
Fall in love to rise in love

There is a Sufi story and short but powerful story. This is narrated by Maulana Jami.

A seeker went to ask a sage for guidance on the Sufi way.

The sage counseled: "If you have never trodden the path of love, go away and fall in love; then come back and see us."

What it signifies that unless we experience what is love by falling into it then we will not become receptive to certain higher teachings. Some teachings will never enter into our heart unless we're matured through love. This is so because just as love is beyond language and something of the domain of the Heart, similarly a lot of spiritual understanding are of the domain of heart alone and cannot be even begin to discussed unless someone is a wayfarer of love. And when that "falling in love" experience is gained, then the Mystics, the Guides of the Heart start to teach how to "rise in love." The who alchemy of the Sufi Path is "the art of rising in love."

Rising to One Love, to love the One Heart, the Comic Heart of the One Beloved. There is an open invitation to the Religion of Love, Love not with a sentimental meaning but as gnostic knowledge (ma‘rifa), and proximity between the Ever Present Divine and man within whom reflections of the Divine is manifest most strongly.

credit

One Love, One Heart

One love, one heart

Let's get together and feel all right

Hear the children crying (One love)

Hear the children crying (One heart)

Sayin', "Give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right."

Sayin', "Let's get together and feel all right."

Let them all pass all their dirty remarks (One love)

There is one question I'd really love to ask (One heart)

Is there a place for the hopeless sinner

Who has hurt all mankind just to save his own?

Believe me

One love, one heart

Let's get together and feel all right

As it was in the beginning (One love)

So shall it be in the end (One heart)

Alright, "Give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right."

"Let's get together and feel all right."

One more thing

Let's get together to fight this Holy Armageddon (One love)

So when the Man comes there will be no, no doom (One song)

Have pity on those whose chances grow thinner

There ain't no hiding place from the Father of Creation

Sayin', "One love, one heart

Let's get together and feel all right."

I'm pleading to mankind (One love)

Oh, Lord (One heart) Whoa.

"Give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right."

Let's get together and feel all right.

- "One Love," Bob Marley, from his album: Exodus

Lyrics Written By Bob Marley, Curtis Mayfield

4.
What is greater, mercy or love?

According to Osho's quote, devotion is the highest form of love. Love is such an unfathomable ocean that its mostly pointless to say what is highest, what is lowest, what is its true nature or form etc. To some devotion might feel the highest form and in another person's language and culture it might be that something else may feel to be the highest form of love.

Few weeks back I met a Sufi Teacher who was visiting Bangladesh from United Kingdom. During the conversation he was mentioning that mercy is greater than love. I requested him to explain.

He said surely mercy is greater than love but very few people understand this. In fact due to misunderstanding and abusing the word "love" for western mindset it is almost impossible to accept this truth. Love by nature is discriminating. One person may love this person, that means the one whom he or she loves become exclusive to him or her and other person compared to the loved ones become lesser. Love by nature can not help but become single eyed. This is fine. Nothing to blame, the reality of love is willed by the creator to be such.

But mercy, which has other words for it, Buddhists will call it, "Loving Kindness", Muslims may call it "Rahmah", Christians may call it "grace" or mercy itself, a Hindu may call something else. But in essence, this is the quality which is most universal. So universal is Mercy that in Islamic Sacred Tradition God Himself calls this the Foremost Quality. It is said that upon the Mystical Throne of the Divine it is inscribed that, "My Mercy shall precede My Wrath." Also Mercy being the most universal quality of God, a human being becomes a true human being when mercy is found in abundance in him or her.

Now to give an example for mercy, the teacher said, lets say you are driving a car and suddenly on the road you find that a bird is lying on the road, wounded. It is by mercy that swells within the heart which causes someone to rush to the bird to save its life, the deep concern that flows for it well-being flows because of mercy. It is not that you loved this bird before or at that moment, but it is a different experience that one feels. It is so spontaneous that no one even think about it at that moment.

In Islamic sacred tradition the Messenger of God is said to be sent as a "mercy to all beings" (wa ma arsalanaka illa rahmatallil 'aalameen). And as a sign of mercy, the Messenger is described as "one who is deeply concerned for the well being of others, for the suffering of others." (harisun 'alikum)

If you think logically and observe how people works, you will notice that if anyone doesnt show care and concern for others, no matter what lip service they give, no matter how much they use the phrase "I love you" or "I love my countrymen" etc. that matters very little. It is a sure sign of care, mercy and love for another person, beings or even process when someone shows genuine concern for that person, beings or things. This is very natural. If you see lacking of concern and care for others, mostly selfless concern, then you know there is mercy and love in that person.

In our time what is most lacking in many human society across the world is the lost value of mercy, for one's self, for others, for the entire humanity. That is the root cause of unhappiness inside individuals as well as sufferings, conflict, war and killing across the world.

In a well written article titled "Love in Islam: Valentine's Day" by Suhaib Webb the author reminds:

Islam enjoins the general concept of love between mankind as well. This is first and foremost done by promoting the love of God amongst our fellow man. This is manifested through our practice of the concept of “rahmah” which can be translated as love, mercy, compassion or forgiveness.

The Prophet (s) told his companions as narrated authentically in al-Targheeb (3/210):

“You don’t truly believe until you have rahmah for others.” His companions responded, “We all have rahmah.” The Prophet (s) then told them, “Verily, you don’t reach this level of faith by just having rahmah for those who are close to you, but you must have rahmah for everyone.”

In Islamic teachings it is said that in order know who has love for the Messenger, one must see whether they have love for the poor, the downtrodden, the neglected and marginal people. Same applies to Christ and any other True Human Beings. If someone claim to follow Christ, claim to follow Muhammad, a sure sign of that claim to be true is that the person who follow will have concern for the poor, the marginal, the downtrodden people. Its another kind of gold test that separate the sincere ones from the false pretenders.

May the Beloved bestow His tender Rahmah on us, help us manifest and practice it in every breath. By Allah, so be it. Ameen.

# References:
* On Love of Allah and the Prophet alayhi-s-salaam by Shaykh Nooruddeen Durkee via Youtube
* On Rahmah (Mercy) via Youtube
* Evolution of Love

Quranic Illuminations on Spiritual Heart and it's Realities

2012-05-13T00:19:00.000+06:00

IDENTITY OF THE HEART

Qalb, Joumana Medlej (credit)

About the Heart, Allah, Glorious is Hu, says in the Quran:

For surely eyes do not become blind, but it is the heart in the breasts that grow blind. - Surah Hajj, 22:46

Similarly the Prophet, may our love for him be made perfect, has said:

Indeed Allah does not look at your appearance or form, but rather Allah looks at your Heart. And while saying this with his blessed finger he pointed to his chest to indicate this is where the Heart is. (from Muslim collection of hadith)

Thus it is clear that the inner Heart or the Spiritual Heart (Metaphysical Heart) is of utmost importance. To further transmit the significance of the Heart the Prophet said, salutation of peace and blessings to him:

Let this be known, inside the body there is a piece of flesh. If it is sound, the whole body is sound and if it is spoiled, the whole body is spoiled. Beaware! Know that that piece of flesh is Qalb (heart). (from Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmizi, Abu Dawd and Nasayi)

In Meshkat Sharif it is said, “Qalb is the King of all organs.” Qalb is the Arabic word for the Heart.

Thus when the quality of the Qalb is sound, like a just ruler, its subjects also remain sound.

In the exegesis of the 35th verse of Surah Mu’minun of the Quran from the famous Book Tafsir Mareful Quran it is said:

The root of all moral action is the Heart. All good and evil are born out of the Heart.

In the exegesis of the 100th verse of Surah Aaraf of the Quran from the famous Book 'Tafsir Mareful Quran' it is said:

Heart of Man is the prime center for all his organs and all his senses. When the function of Heart is distrurbed, all his organ’s functions are also distrubed. When any subject is registered to be good by the Heart, the eyes also see that, the hear also hear that in that light of goodness and vice versa.
This is why when the Heart become corrupt, neither man can understand properly despite listening to truth, nor can he see truth depite seeing what is true.

This is why Allah speaks:

And their hearts are sealed so that they do not understand.
- Surah at-Tawbah, 9:87

Allah has sealed their hearts so that they do not know.
- Surah at-Tawhab, 9:93

We seal their hearts so they cannot hear (the Truth).
- Surah al-A’raf, 7:100

From all these above verses it is clear that if the Heart is corrupt, man can not understand or realize the truth properly. The degree of goodness or badness of Heart determines the character and action of a person. This is Heart and this is the tale of the Heart.

QURANIC ILLUMINATION ON INNER HEART AND ITS REALITIES

The Final Revelation by the Lord, the Quran which is a guidance and criteria to know truth from error provides invaluable illumination on the subject of inner heart of man and its various realities. There are more than hundred and twenty verses mentioning Heart directly by using variants of it’s name indicating multi-dimensionality of the inner Heart. Below are partial selection of verses from the Qur'an where the realities of the Inner Heart is unveiled through various Signs in the Qur'an. This is part of work in progress and Insha'Allah a complete collection with complementary sacred traditions (hadith) is hoped to be published via Technology of the Heart in near future.

1) Center of Guidance is Heart

And who faithfully believes in Allah, He guides his Heart.
- The Quran, Surah Taghabun 64, verse 11

2) Appointed place of faith is Heart

For them He has written secure faith in their Hearts, and has strengthened them with the Spirit from Himself.
- Surah Muzdalah 58, verse 22

3) To be a faithful, imaan (faith) must penetrate Heart

The deep desert dwellers say, “We believe!” Say (to them) “You have not (yet) believed; but (rather) say, ‘ We have submitted,’ for faith has not yet entered into your Hearts
- Surah Hujurat 49, verse 14

4) The place of fashioning faith is Heart

But Allah has endeared the faith to you and beautified it in your Hearts, thus making disbelief, defiance, and disobedience hateful to you.
- Surah Hujurat 49, verse 7

5) It is the Heart that attain to faith

Oh Messenger! Do not be grieved by those who vie with one another to cover over (the Truth), such as those who say with their mouths, “ We believe,” and do not believe in their Hearts.
- Surah Mayedah 05, verse 41

6) Heart must be stabilized on Imaan

.. (those) who cover up ( the truth) about Allah after having believed- excepth the one who is forced to ( do so ) and whose heart is still content with the belief – and who willingly open their hearts to disbelief, upon them is the Anger of Allah and for them great punishment (awaits)
- Surah Nahal 16, verse 106

7) Heart quivering at the deep remembrance of Allah is a sign of faith

They only are believers whose Hearts tremble with awe whenever Allah is mentioned
Surah Anfal 08, verse 2

8) Glad tidings for those who’s Heart quiver at the mentioning of Allah’s glory

And give good news th the humble- those who, when Allah is mentioned, their hearts tremble
- Surah Hajj 22, verse 34-35

9-10) Center for Taqwa (God Consciousness) is Heart

Those who lower their voices before the Messenger of Allah- they are ones whose Hearts Allah has tested for consciousness and vigilance against evil.
- Surah Hujurat 49, verse 3

That (is the order of Allah); whoever honors the symbolic (rites) of Allah does so because (in their) hearts are conscious of Allah and ward off the evil (from inside and outside themselves).
- Surah Hajj 22, verse 32

11) It is the Heart that receives tranquility in Divine Remembrance

Those who attain faith, and whose hearts find rest in the remembrance of Allah, Verily, in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest.
- Surah Ra’ad, verse 28

12) The Quran descended in the Heart of the Holy Prophet

.. Indeed Gabriel has brought this revelation upon your heart O Muhammad by the will of Allah, confirming what came before (Torah and Gospel) and good news for the faithful.
- Surah Baqara, verse 97

13) Heart of the faithful melts at Divine Remembrance

Has the time not come for those who have faith that their hearts should become humbly submissive at the remembrance of Allah and what has come down of the truth? And let them not be like those who were given the Scripture before, and a long period passed over them, so their hearts hardened; and many of them are transgressors.
- Surah Hadid, verse 16

14) It is the Heart that become sinful

.. let him who is entrusted discharge his trust [faithfully] and let him fear Allah , his Lord. And do not conceal testimony, for whoever conceals it - his heart is indeed sinful, and Allah is Knowing of what you do.
- Surah Baqara, verse 283

15) Heart become rusted with transgressing acts

When Our Verses (of the Quran) are recited to him he says: "Tales of the ancients!"
Nay! rather, what they used to do has become like rust upon their hearts.
- Surah Mutaffin, verse 13,14

The Holy Prophet, Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him has said, “Then the discriminating ability between good and not good is lost.” (Muslim, Mishkat collection)

Never, rather whatever they have accumulated (of sins) it causes rust to cover over their Heart. (Timizi, Ibn Majah, Masnad e Ahmad and Mishkat)

16) Heart is sealed

Allah has sealed upon their Heart.
- Surah Muhammad, verse 16

17) The transgressors have their Hearts sealed

Thus the Divine has sealed the hearts of the transgressors (those who disbelieve in the Oneness of the Divine and deny Him).
- Surah Yunus, verse 74

18) Arrogant and oppressors have their Hearts closed

Those who dispute concerning the signs of Allah without an authority having granted to them - [this attitude] is most hateful in the sight of Allah and of those who have faith. In such a manner Allah seals the hearts of all self-aggrandizing arrogant tyrants.
- Surah Mu’min, verse 35

19-20) Those who cover up truth have their Hearts closed

.. (due to their denial of the messengers and clear proof) Allah seas the hearts of those who cover up (the Truth).
- Surah A’raf, verse 101

So (the Divine punished them) for their breaking the covenant and their covering up of the Signs of Allah and their killing of the Prophets without right, and their saying, "Our hearts are hardened." Rather it is that Allah has sealed them for their covering up (of the Truth) so that they believe not, except for a few.
- Surah Nisa, verse 155

21) Ignorant have their Heart closed and sealed

And cretainly We have set forth for humanity in this Qur'an every (kind of) example. But if you bring those who cover up (the Truth) a Sign, they will say, "You are nothing but tricksters." In this way Allah sets the hearts of those who do not (want) to know.
- Surah Rum, verse 58, 59

22) Faculty of Realization become corrupt when Heart is closed

.. and their hearts are sealed, so they do not comprehend.
- Surah Tawbah, verse 87

23) Faculty of Knowledge become inept when Heart is closed

.. and Allah has sealed over their hearts, so they do not know.
- Surah Tawbah, verse 93

24) Faculty of Inner Hearing is disabled when Heart is closed

.. We seal their hearts so they cannot hear (the Truth).
- Surah A’raf, verse 100

25) Heart can become blind

Have they not traveled through the earth and have hearts by which to reason and ears by which to hear? For indeed, it is not eyes that are blinded, but blinded are the hearts which are within the breasts that grow blind.
- Surah Hajj, verse 46

Heart is also the faculty of inner vision. On the authority of Abu Zar, may Allah be pleased with him it is transmitted, “The Holy Prophet in the event of Ascension to Divine Presence have seen Allah with his Heart, not with the physical eyes.” (Ibn Khojaimah)

Ibn Abbas, May Allah be please with him has also described that the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him have seen Allah by his own Heart. (Muslim Hadith)

26) Hearts can become closed

Do they not contemplate deeply on the Quran, or are their Hearts closed?
- Surah Muhammad, verse 24

27) Heart is the place of anger

And He will remove anger from their Heart.

- Surah Tawbah, verse 15

Regarding anger, which is one of the blame worthy traits, the Holy Prophet, may Allah perfect our love for him, has said: “You should distance yourselves from anger because the anger of the children of Adam is like a burning coal in the Heart.” (Tirmizi, Mishkat)

The Prophet has also prayed as: “O Allah! Please remove anger from my Qalb.” (Masnad e Ahmad, Abu Yala).

28) Heart is where Sakina descends

It is He Who has sent down deep inner peace into the hearts of the believers so that they may add faith to their faith ..

- Surah Fatah, verse 4

29) Within man there is a one Heart

Allah has not placed two Hearts within man.

- Surah Ahzab, verse 4

30) To benefit from truth, a Heart capable of realization is necessary

Truly in that there is a reminder for one who has a heart or he who listens attentively and is a witness.

- Surah Qaf, verse 37

31) It is the Heart which disobey and deny

Those who do not have faith on hereafter, their Heart disobey and deny.

- Surah Nahal, verse 22

32) Heart that pay attention is a pre-requisite to enter the Garden

And the Garden shall be brought near – not far – to those who guarded themselves for Allah. (It shall be announced) “This is what you were promised - for every repentant preserver (of covenant) who is in awe of the Merciful in the unseen and comes with a contrite heart; enter it in peace. This is the Unending Day.”

- Surah Qaf, verse 31-34

33) In the assembly of Allah in the hereafter, the only benefiting will be a purified Heart

The Awesome Day when neither wealth nor children will profit anyone except him who brings to Allah a pure heart.

- Surah Shu’ara, verse 88, 89

Heart is the strongest generator of both electrical and magnetic fields

2012-05-10T13:13:00.000+06:00

1.
HEART IS THE STRONGEST ELECTRO-MAGNETIC FIELD GENERATOR IN THE BODY

The human Heart is now documented as the strongest generator of both electrical and magnetic fields in the body.

Important, because we've always been taught that the brain is where all of the action is. While the brain does have an electrical & a magnetic field, they are both relatively weak compared to the Heart. The Heart is about 100,000 times stronger electrically & up to 5,000 times stronger magnetically than the brain. Important, because the physical world - as we know it - is made of those 2 fields: electrical & magnetic fields of Energy.

Physics now tells us that if we can change either the magnetic field or the electrical field of the atom, we literally change that atom and its elements within our body and this world. The human Heart is designed to do BOTH.

~ David Math, TruSparta

2.
Sacred Teachings teach us that the Domain of Heart is Highest

Prophet Muhammad, salutation of peace and blessings to his noble soul, mentioned it about one and half thousand years ago that there is an instrument in the body which of such paramount importance that if that instrument is sound and healthy, the whole system will be sound. And when it is mentioned that the entire body or the human system will be sound, that means not only he physical body but also the psychological, emotional as well as spiritual body or the psychological health, emotional well-being as well as spiritual states will be healthy.

On another occasion the Messenger of God pointed with his blessed finger towards his heart and said, "Taqwa is here, taqwa is here, taqwa is here." Taqwa is a very comprehensive and deep term in Islam with encompass everything from Godly Consciousness, an awakened awareness of God in every moment, piety, spirituality." Taqwa, which is again and again is pointed out in the Qur'an as one of the most important spiritual quality a human being must strive to attain to. "Yaa aiyyhallazina amanu, ittaqullah," is a call repeated again and again. "O You who believe, o you who claim to have faith, o you who aspire to attain faith, attain God consciousness." And the singular place only where God consciousness can be attained is the Heart.

Even more significant is a sacred tradition of Islam where God declares, "Nothing can contain me except the Heart of the faithful."

The Sufis received the transmission from their Master Muhammad very solidly and a whole lot of their practices has to do with the heart. There is a whole science developed by the wise Sufi Masters that deals with the Heart Practice such as Dhikr, both loud and silent remembrance, making the heart receptive of inspiration, to sweep the chambers of the Heart so that only God's remembrance occur there devoid of everything else, even if for some moments in daily life, to ask for illumination in the Heart etc. The pinnacle of Islamic worship which is prostration inside prayer is the very posture where human Heart is given a higher position over the head, literally; to convey the message that the faculty of Heart must rule over the faculty of Reason or mind for a person to operate as a true human being.

The Dhikr often involves rhythmic chanting, the repetitive pronunciation of certain holy words having special vibrational quality. Now the physical heart also have a rhythmic patter, the natural pacemaker of the heart works continuously in rhythm. The rhythm of the Dhikr coinciding with the Heart's rhythm create very special effects on the being, keep the spiritual Heart alive and even enhance the work of the physical heart. There is a famous and true story about how a Taoist Master sent his students to a Sufi circle because he thought their Dhikr / Zikr is very helpful to build a better Heart.

A contemporary Sufi Shaikha / woman Teacher said, "Allah has spread the earth for us as a beautiful carpet on which to prostrate. In prostration we come nearer than near and we go nearer than that. When we rise up, ready to serve, we carry the experience of prostration within us. Then we see the face of the Beloved everywhere." (Sheikha Fariha al-Jerrahi, “The Nur Ashki Jerrahi Dervishes”)

The messenger of Allah said, "the most closest place a servant could be to his Lord when he is in sujood (prostration)."

And going a little further away from his disciples, Jesus Christ prostrated (fell with his face to the ground) and prayed... "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will."
- The New Testament, Matthew 26:39

3.
Heart and its Sacredness in Early Christian Tradition: The Sacred Heart of Christ

Early followers of Christ, salutation of peace to his Sacred Heart, the early Christians were granted a special love for the wounded heart of Christ, the Sacred Heart as it became known to Christian faith. From the time of John the Evangelist and Paul of Tarsus there has always been in the Church something like devotion to the love of God, but there is nothing to indicate that, during the first ten centuries of Christianity, any worship was rendered to the wounded Heart of Jesus. It is in the eleventh and twelfth centuries that the first indications of devotion to the Sacred Heart are found. It was in the fervent atmosphere of the Benedictine or Cistercian monasteries, in the world of Anselmian or Bernardine thought. The most significant source for the devotion to the Sacred Heart in the form it is known today was Visitandine Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647–1690), who claimed to have received visions of Jesus Christ.

In a vision revealed to Saint Margaret Christ, one of the greatest Messenger of God appeared and revealed this message on behalf of the Lord, "Behold this Heart which has loved men so much, and yet men do not want to love Me in return. Through you My divine Heart wishes to spread its love everywhere on earth."

In a letter Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque wrote, "The sacred heart of Christ is an inexhaustible fountain and its sole desire is to pour itself out into the hearts of the humble so as to free them and prepare them to lead lives according to his good pleasure.

From this divine heart three streams flow endlessly. The first is the stream of mercy for sinners; it pours into their hearts sentiments of contrition and repentance. The second is the stream of charity which helps all in need and especially aids those seeking perfection in order to find the means of surmounting their difficulties. From the third stream flow love and light for the benefit of his friends who have attained perfection; these he wishes to unite to himself so that they may share his knowledge and commandments and, in their individual ways, devote themselves wholly to advancing his glory."

4.
Love for the Perfected Master of the age is a preparation for the ascension to Divine Love

Just as in the sacred tradition of Christianity, for the true followers of Christ, the love for his Sacred Heart was a pointer and it had to be so since in the totality of Christ as a Representative Messenger who brings Message of God, the ultimate point is his Heart and that Heart even become the locus for Christians because of its being wounded for God.

In the Sacred tradition of Islam we read something breathtakingly beautiful where the Beloved God declares: "I Am with those whose Heart is broken, is wounded for My sake."

May we be among those who are honored to be in the company of God. May God be with us. Allahu Mayi.

Wai 'aalamoo inna Allaha yahoolu bayna almari wa qalbihi

... And know that Allah comes in between man and his heart ... (The Quran, 8:24)

5.

"fall prostate and draw near to Allah" (96:19)

Once we understand the value of Heart both from latest research and findings of material science as well as from ancient, timeless spiritual wisdom, its imperative that we give priority to our Heart, matters of the Heart and purify it. "Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid," taught Christ himself. "Successful will be those who comes to the Lord with a pure heart," reminds the Qur'an.

Just as Heart is the strongest generator of both electrical and magnetic fields in the human body, according to the material scientists, so it is that Heart is the strongest faculty of both love and devotion field of spiritual body of human beings, as would agree the maters of spiritual science. As above, so below.

May the Beloved help us realize the technologies of the Heart, help us internalize them and illuminate our Heart. Alam nashrah laka sadraka? By your reminder of "Have we not opened your Heart?" to our Beloved Master and by the secret of al-Fatiha, the Opening Talisman, O Allah please open our Hearts to Your Signs and to Your Face. By Your Will, so be it. Ameen.

# Further:
* Science of The Heart: Exploring the Role of the Heart in Human Performance
* Research FAQ: What is Heart Intelligence?
* Five principles of the heart | Al-Ghazali
* Poem Expanding Heart, expanding Cosmos
* Devotee's heart chakra | meditative quranic verses
* Opening of Heart, Lataif and more

Mano Chalo Nija Niketane | O heart lets return to the real abode

2012-05-08T00:44:00.000+06:00

1.
The Famous Meeting

It was the year 1881. When Sri Ramakrishna, the God intoxicated mystic of Bengal requested a young visitor by the name Naren to sing a song for him, something extra ordinary happened there. The young visitor was a sincere seeker who happen to visit him for the first time that day and who was looking for a true Master. After slight hesitation when Naren started to sing, the words of the song had such profound effect on the heart of the mystic that it immediately drowned Sri Ramakrishna in a state of absorption. Such state of absorption in Divine Contemplation, such deep ecstatic state within is known as Samadhi where the outwardly consciousness completely vanish and the person is no longer in his body, but dissolve in the contemplation of the One and the Only, losing the sense of many. The song that Swami Vivekanada sang that day was "Mano Chalo Nija Niketane" which roughly translate as, "O heart, lets return to the real abode."

This song is known to be a very favorite of both the Mater Sri Ramakrishna and his disciple Swami Vivekananda, may God bless their souls. The song was also the link through which Sri Ramakrishna recognized his successor who later to carry out tremendous responsibility and carry on the Sacred Work on behalf of his beloved Master. The song carry tremendous wisdom and beauty regarding the truth of life and its seeking of the Real. Below is an approximate translation of Mano Chalo Nija Niketane in English. The words of the song worked as a catalyst to awaken within the state for a person who is already in a very high spiritual station. You may listen to this song on Youtube at this link and may the song also illuminate you. This version is sung by famous Indian Classical singer Pundit Ajay Chakrobarti.

2.

Master & Disciple | Sri Ramakrishna & Vivekananda

Mano Chalo Nija Niketana: English Translation from Bengali

Lyrics by Ajoyoddyanath Pakrashi
Music: Traditional

Mano chalo Nija Niketane
Shangshar o bideshe, bidesheri beshe
Bhromo keno okarone?

O heart, lets return to the real abode!
Here in this foreign land, why wander aimlessly
in stranger's guise?

Bishoyo panchoko ar bhutogon

Shob tor par, keu noy apan.

Poro preme keno hoye ocheytan

Bhulicho apono jone?

Your material senses and all earthly bindings

All are strangers to you, none are really yours;

Blinded by infatuations with strangers,

why do you forget Who is truly yours?

Satto pathe mon koro arohon
Premer alo jali, chalo onukhon
Shangete shombol rakho purno dhan
Gopone rokkhi jatane
Lovo moho aji, pathe dosshugan
Pathiker kore shorbossho mochon
Paromo jatone rakhore prohori
Shama dama dui jone.

Ascend the path of Truth, O mind!
Kindle your lamp of love, always be guided by its light
As your provision for the journey, bring with you
the virtues, carefully concealed; for, like highwaymen,
Greed and delusion wait to rob traveler's wealth.
And keep beside you constantly as guards,
Tranquility of mind and self-control.

Shadhu songe name ache pathadham

Shranto hole totha hole koribe bishram

Patho vranto hole, shudhaibe path

Shei patho nibash gane.

Jodi dekho pathe, bhoyeri akar

Pranpone diyo dohair Rajar

Shey pathe Rajar probolo pratam

Shomono dore jar shashone

Companionship with the saintly being will be for you

a welcome rest-house by the road;

there rest your weary limbs awhile.

If ever you should be in doubt of the path, ask your way to him

who watches over there.

If anything along the path should frighten you,
then call upon the Name of the Lord with all your heart;

For He is the Mighty Ruler of that path,

Even ignorance and death is afraid of His command.

Mano Chalo Nija Niketane
Mano Chalo Nija Niketane

O heart, lets return to the real abode!
O heart, now lets return to the realm of the Lord.

Wa Allahu yadAAoo ila daris-salam

And Allah invites you to the abode of peace.

- The Chapter of Jonah, the Qur'an 10:25

Supermoon of 2012

2012-05-05T15:07:00.000+06:00

At night, I open the window
and ask the moon to come
and press its face against mine.

Breathe into me.
Close the language-door
and open the love-window.

The moon won't use the door tonight,
only the window.

~ Jalaluddin Rumi

1.
Please don't miss gazing at the full moon, which will be a supermoon these nights (Saturday and Sunday, 5th and 6th of May 2012). This is also coinciding with the auspicious Buddha Purnima as well, the full moon night which is marked by both the appearing (birth), enlightenment and passing (death) of Gautama Buddha. It also happens to be the Celtic celebration of Beltaine.

This weekend the moon will be nearest to the earth during this year and the moon is likely to appear 14% bigger and 30% brighter than the typical moon.The exact time when the moon will be nearest will occur this weekend during the full moon of May on Saturday, May 5, at 11:35 p.m. EDT (0335 Sunday GMT). To the casual observer, the moon also can appear full one day before and one day after the exact moment it is at its fullest.

According to reports: "Supermoon" is the nickname for a full moon that coincides with the moon's arrival at perigee - the point in its orbit that brings it closest to Earth for the month. Perigees occur because the moon's orbit around Earth is not a perfect circle. Instead, it's an ellipse in which the nearest point to Earth is about 31,000miles (50,000 kilometers) closer than the moon's farthest point (called apogee).

When the moon is in its full phase and at perigee, it can appear much brighter and slightly larger than the average full moon. Scientists call this event a "perigee moon." On Saturday, the moon will be 221,802 miles (356,955 kilometers) from Earth and should appear up to 14 percent bigger and 30 percent brighter than the typical full moon, according to NASA. The average Earth-moon distance is about 230,000 miles (384,400 km).

2.
Some are saying that this is going to be a very special time when abundant blessings will be made available. According to Pranic healers, this will be a chosen time of blessings for restoration of spiritual health. Meditation and contemplation accompanied with bodily purity, fasting if possible or sattvik food (food which is obtained without harming / causing violence to animals) is highly recommended to complement spiritual opening.

Moon has always been a subject of great mystery and symbol for mystics, people of spiritual interest and people who seek enlightenment. Almost all great religious masters one way or another honored or followed the cycle of the moon. Buddha's life has many many incidents which coincide with full moon. Prophet Muhammad, blessings and peace be with him, used to follow quite diligently the practice of full fasting during the 3 night period of full moon which Arabs called, "The brightest nights." It is said that the spiritual merit of fasting during full moon is so high that Prophet Muhammad is known to have encouraged his followers by saying, "those who fast these 3 days, its as if he has fasted the whole month."

In India tradition the lunar cycle is also considered important and there are also practices of fasting associated with certain period of the moon. Those who understand how the subtle energy moves and affect our being which is invisible, will always recommend to keep the physical body not only pure and clean but also light through fasting. Also when one fasts, the gross body is not busy churning, extracting, purifying, detoxing all the time, but rather the energy is preserved for the subtle body to move more freely or receive even more subtle forces, energies, signals or inspirations.

3.
In the cosmos, according to physicists there are four kind of forces. The strong force that binds neutrons and protons together in the cores of atoms, the weak force that cause beta decay, the gravitational force which works in great distance but intensity is very low and finally the electromagnetic force that works when there is charge present.

A force may be called "Weak Force" but its implication can be far reaching. For example: the sun would not burn without it. The weak force even though its weak but it helps transmutation of proton into neutron. Similarly gravitation force or gravity which acts between all mass in the universe. Now if you look carefully how gravity works, its very mysterious (so are in reality the other forces even from purely physics point of view) and mercy of the Creator is clearly manifest in it. If we take the earth for example, it is the gravity which enable all things, both large and small stay with the earth despite its revolving at great speed, and at the same time gravity is such that it not only attract all to earth's surface but at the same time when you pick up a pencil from the ground, its effortless for us.

The reason why the subject of these four fundamental force of nature comes because the most visible aspect of moon when its near to the earth is its gravity pull. But from purely scientific point of view, we are only able to identify the tides of the water body of earth which is most clearly affected by the moon. But spiritually speaking, what really happens otherwise in the realm of unseen, we are still to reach that knowledge. Yet it is undeniable that many great masters have taken into consideration the planetary or other heavenly body movements, specially that of the moon.

There has been some study trying to find out the exact mechanism / phenomena of the moon and spiritual real of man, but our understanding is still very crude. Only a very surface level knowledge at best we have in our hand:

From the website, Spiritual Science Research Foundation which talks about the Effect of Moon: I quote:

Effect based on gravitational pull of the moon

When the moon is full or new, the gravitational pull of the moon and sun are combined. The moon exerts a pull on the Earth on other days too, but it is not as powerful as on the days of full moon and new moon.

Suppose we were to take in a deep breath, the air sucked into our mouth is three times as much as a normal breath. Now let’s translate this analogy to the Moon and its pull on the Earth. During full moon and new moon days the whole Moon is pulling Earth and the effect is as if in the earlier analogy the Moon is taking a deep breath. We find that the circular atmosphere of three times the size of the moon is attracted from the Earth.

At the time of full Moon and new Moon days the Absolute Cosmic Elements on Earth such as the Absolute Earth, Absolute Water and Absolute Air are pulled towards the Moon. This creates a type of subtle very high-pressure belt.

The generic subtle (intangible) effect of the moon

All objects including stars, planets and satellite bodies along with their gross (tangible) attributes emanate subtle (intangible) frequencies. These physical attributes and subtle frequencies affect us in varying degrees at a physical and subtle level.

The frequencies emanating from the Moon affect the frequencies of the mental body, i.e. mind of human beings. By ‘mind’ we mean our feelings, emotions and desires. The mind consists of the conscious mind and the sub-conscious mind. Within the sub-conscious mind we have a number of impressions that are embedded that decide our basic nature and personality. We are however not aware of the thoughts or impressions in our sub-conscious mind. These impressions get collected over a number of lifetimes.

These impressions in our mind are the catalysts for all our thoughts and subsequent actions. Both the impressions and our thoughts have their own subtle frequencies.

The moon frequencies are slightly more subtle (intangible) than the subtle frequencies of our thoughts but are less subtle than the frequencies of the impressions in our mind. The moon frequencies have the capacity to make the thought frequencies from the impressions in our sub-conscious mind to surface to the conscious mind. Once in the conscious mind we become aware of them. Thus one will be influenced as per the predominant impressions in one’s mind.

Isha Foundation blog writes on Moon and Mysticism:

"The moon has a large influence on our daily life, which is why in the eastern cultures, particularly in India, we drew two kinds of calendars. For mundane affairs, we have a solar calendar. For all the other subjective aspects of our life, which is not information or a technique but a live thing, we have a lunar calendar. It has always been such that any aspect which is beyond the logical has always been connected to the moon.

As one shifts from the calculations of the logical mind to intuitive ways of looking at life, the moon becomes more important. Generally the influence of the moon is considered illogical. In the West, anything illogical got labeled as madness or insanity. In the English language, the moon is referred to as lunar. If you take a step further, you come to lunatic. But in the eastern culture, we always saw the limitations of logic. There is a logical element to you which helps you to handle the material aspect of your life. But there is a dimension beyond logic, without which the subjective dimensions can never be accessed.

Human perception is a reflection. If you see anything other than the reflection, that means you are not seeing the truth. Any perception is actually a reflection. The moon is also a reflection; you can see the moon because it reflects the sun’s light. So the deeper perceptions of life have always been symbolized with the moon. Moonlight and mysticism have been very heavily connected everywhere in the world."

3.
In the world that we live in we find many of the blessings in abundance, the exact nature of which is not understood properly. For example scientists are still wanting an exact model to describe the behavior of electricity, its nature, how it works. But we exactly don't have an accurate model to describe its reality as it is. Yet this doesn't stop us from using the benefit in all kind of usage. Similarly how our eyes and brain works in conjunction to give rise to a picture, thought, consciousness - is still studied by scientists, neuroscientists but this does not mean we stop using our eyes or brain.

Similarly traditional knowledge transmit us certain message, certain signs, tells us that it has sacredness associated with it, there are special moments when certain door of the Unseen are made wide open. We may never arrive at understanding the exact mechanisms which stays with the Creator alone Who knows the Seen and the Unseen, but that should not stop us from embracing, opening ourselves to welcome the blessings made abundant for us.

May on this night of supermoon, we are given a glimpse of our bright mind, our luminous soul, our original state. May on this auspicious time we are granted illumination to our mind, our heart and our soul for the benefit of all sentient beings. Ameen.

May Allah bless the Perfected Man, the one who has the face of a bright full moon, the resplendent pure light of God. May Allah shower abundant blessings and peace to our Master and all who follow him. May on this night of we contemplate to ascend towards the perfection of our being which and may we reach the station of praise following the footstep of the one who is abundantly praised by Allah and the entire Creation.

4.
Quranic Signs mentioning the Moon

Fala oqsimu bishshafaq
So I swear by the twilight glow

Wallayli wama wasaq
And [by] the night and what it envelops

Walqamari itha ittasaq
And the moon when it grows full-

Latarkabunna tabaqan AAan tabaq
[That] you will surely experience state after state. (the soul shall journey stage after stage.)

- The Qur'an, Surat Al-'Inshiqāq

"The Divine Being is He, who created the sun, the moon, and the stars (all) governed by laws under His commandment." - The Quran 7:54

"By the sun and its radiant brightness; By the moon as she follows him." (91:1-2)

"It is He who made sun a lamp, and moon a light and measured stages so you know number of years and count (of time)." (10:5)

"Allah is He who raised heavens without pillars that you can see; Then He established Himself on the throne; And He subjected the sun and the moon (to his law); each one runs its course for a term appointed." (13:2)

"We made night and day two signs. The sign of night we made dark and sign of day we made bright. That ye may seek bounty from your lord and ye may know number of years and count (of time)." (17:12)

"It is He who created the night and the day, and the sun and the moon, all (the celestial bodies) swim along, each in its orbit." (21:33)

"The sun and the moon follow courses exactly measured." (55:05)

"See you not Allah merges night into day and day into night; And subjected the sun and the moon (to His Law); each one runs its course for a term appointed." (31:29)

"And God has made the night for rest and sun and moon for reckoning of time. This is the decree of the Exalted, the All-knowing". - (6:96)

(credit: What the Quran says about the Moon)

Good Reads:
* 5 moon mysteries to ponder for 'supermoon' Saturday
Some of these secrets have had astronomers scratching their heads for decades
* Astrological readings of the 5th May 2012 Full Moon via Mystic Mama

Resources:
* 'Supermoon' Alert: Biggest Full Moon of 2012 Occurs This Week
* Amazing Supermoon Photos from 2011
* Place of the Hidden Moon: Erotic Mysticism in the Vaishnava-Sahajiya Order
* Astrological Chart of SuperMoon Alignment
* Google News coverage of Dazzling Supermoon

Serving at Free Clinic and Friday Sermon on Surah al-Infitar

2012-05-03T01:27:00.000+06:00

(1.)
In the Divine Proximity, the Highest Station is the Station of Humility.
You can not enter and be present near the King without lowering yourself in utmost humility, the humility that God deserves from us. Indeed He is everything and in comparison to Him, His Glory, we are nothing, and less than that even. And here on earth, the most fitting state to enter into the domain of humility is servitude, to server others, to simply becoming a servant. Servitude flows only when we're prepared to lower our wings of humility.

This is a spiritual reality: Allah humiliate them (either in this world or the next) who raise themselves in pride and arrogance. For all true Glory belongs to God alone and He alone is worthy of Majesty. Pride is His Garment, and we are the most undeserving of any pride, may Allah free us from arrogance and vain pride. On the other hand Allah raise them who lower themselves in humility. Allah increase honor for them in the present world or the next who obliterate and efface themselves in sincerer humility and devoid of selfishness / egotism. - Sufi Teachings

"… and no one will exercise humility for Allah's sake, except that Allah will raise him up".
- Saying of the Master Ahmed Mustafa, recorded in Hadith collection of Muslim

Last Friday (27th April, 2012) me, couple of good friend of ours and my wife, who is a medical doctor, we all joined to serve at a free medical clinic. The non-profit organization which organized this is called: "Development Organization for Disabled". The location of this camp was at the outskirt of our city where mostly low income people live. The living condition was not at all good. In fact because of some repair work for some weeks now the whole sewerage system is non-functional. You can only imagine the foul smell from the human and other wastes floating and mixed due to blockage of the drainage system. The living condition was simply unimaginable, but human beings are the most resilient of creatures, so we noticed people were going about their daily activities despite such incredible situation. You can see some snapshot of the place where people are walking amidst overflowing sewerage water.

Taken from: Jurain Basti, Dhaka (find this location via Google Map)

Those of us who are out of such condition can only be thankful for our comfortable situations.Thankfulness and gratitude is key to happiness and cause of further blessing from the Most Generous.

Luckily the free medical camp was setup where it was better accessible and was in relative better Hygienic condition. Those who came to receive treatment were mostly very poor people who can not afford proper medical care. My intention of going was mostly to accompany my wife as well as to observe the life of these people, challenges in their life and to seek opportunity whether Porshee Foundation can do anything for them.

With two doctors visiting patients non stop from noon to evening, the camp was a success, May Allah bless them both for their effort. More than one hundred people came, of all age, suffering from various illness and we also managed to give them not only free prescriptions but also free medicine to most of them. The man behind the arrangement is called Hafiz Miah, who himself is blind and someone who understand the suffering and pain of being handicap and challenged in a society where the priority of the less advantages are lost in whirlpool of poverty.

You can see Hafiz Miah sitting in the foreground with his shades on. Two doctors in the background are busy seeing patients and giving them treatment.

Hafiz Miah's organization for Disabled is very new and he was sharing how difficult it is to motivate others to help him. He said people would readily donate to religious organization, but not them who are trying to do good to others selflessly. People have this mindset to help only the religious organizations, mosques which already receive lots of money. In conversation I came to know that Hafiz Miah want to start training for other handicapped people to help them earn a living and towards that goal he is thinking of training of tailoring and computer eduction. I immediately thought that from Porshee Foundation we can help him buy sewing machine which are quite affordable and that can be used to train tailoring to physically handicapped people (specially those who have difficulty in mobilizing but can work sitting). I am looking forward to hand him over two sewing machine to begin with and would also like to sponsor a survey study of the local community to understand the need and scope of further work.

If you would like to join in the cause you are welcome to support our work and donate to Porshee Foundation. We not only fund to our own programs but also support other worthy causes by genuine people who follow the Sunnah of Harisun Alaikum, who are deeply concerned for (the welfare) of others, concerned for the suffering of others.

(2.)
Since it was a Friday, just after noon the call for prayer of the weekly Jumuah prayer was called and I followed one of the person who was going to the mosque for the weekly prayer. Sometime its lovely to pray at local mosque and to enjoy new vibes unique to each mosque. Friday mid-day prayer is also when the weekly sermon is delivered by the Imam of the mosque. The Imam on that day recited the 82nd chapter from the Qur'an and his entire Khutbah or sermon was explanation of its meaning.

The 82nd Surah of the Qur'an is titled as Surah al-Infitar. Its a short Surah which was revealed in Mecca. The meaning of the Surah is "The Cleaving Asunder," or "The Splitting." The Surah is a relatively short one with 19 verses and describe the Inevitable Moment of Destruction just prior to Resurrection and Judgment. Though the chapter is small, but each of the verses are very powerful and pregnant with meanings.

The first four verses calls to that Momentous Moment and give some of the cosmic events that will mark that Tremendous time prior to Resurrection. The approximate rendering in English of the Quranic verses are given below in *bold*.

In the Name of the Most Gracious, Most Merciful Lord

1. When the heavens are cleft asunder
2. and when the planets are scattered
3. And when the seas overflow their shores
4. And the graves are overturned.

And then the Surah calls upon the reality that will dawn for Man

5. Then every self shall know what it sent before it and what it left behind

As in many cases for the pattern of the Quranic revelations, these first few verses are for preparation of the most important Sign (ayah), the most powerful set of verses of the chapter comes. Here is asked a question which if understood, deserves to penetrate our inner most beings. The next three verses are then revealed as to ask a single question concerning human reality:

6. 7. 8 Yaa-ayuhal-insanu ma gharraka bi-Rabbikal karim. allazi khalaqa fa-sawwa ka fa-adalaka fii ayyi suratim ma shaa rakkabak?

Oh Man! What has deceived you concerning your Generous Lord Who created you, proportioned you and shaped you harmoniously and in form as He willed, He has assembled you?

If you have read it just once, read the above question again and again.

Oh Man! What has deceived you concerning your Generous Lord?!

This is a question which describe the most common human condition of heedlessness and total abandonment of his purpose, and indicates denial of his, her Creator Who is the Most Generous. Indeed in the womb how every human form is formed, given shape, fashioned in harmonious proportion and then delivered to the world is a perpetual miracle, imbued with deep and generous mercy of the Creator.

9. No! But you deny the Recompense.

Most of humanity live in such state as if there will be no Accountability, no Judgment, no responsibility of his, her actions, no one else to give answer to, even though generation after generation of Divine Messengers and Prophet have conveyed the message that the One Who Created us will One Day call us back to Him by Resurrecting us and our state of being, our state of doing and our deeds will be judged by the Real Judge. That will be a tremendously bewildering Day.

10. And indeed, [appointed] over you are guardians,
11. Noble and recording.
12. They know whatever you do.

13. Indeed, the righteous will be in bliss,

14. And indeed, the wicked will be in flames.
15. They will [enter to] burn therein on the Day of Recompense,
16. Nor shall they be absent from it.

17. And what will make you comprehend the Day of Recompense?
18. Really! what can make you comprehend about the (Tremendous) Day of Recompense?

19. A Day on which no soul can help another soul in any way; and [absolute] command, that Day, is [entirely] with the Divine.

(3.)
If we consult the major Tafsir or Exegesis of the Qur'an, we read in Tafsir al-Jalalayn as:

When the heaven is split open, [when it is] rent asunder, and when the stars are dispersed, [when] they expire and begin to fall, and when the seas are burst forth, released one upon the other, forming one mass of water, so that the sweet [water] mixes with the salty; and when the tombs are overturned, [when] their earth [above them] is dug up and its dead are raised (the response to idhā, ‘when’, and all that is supplemented thereto is [the following]):a soul, every soul, will know, at the time of the [occurrence of the] things mentioned, which is the Day of Resurrection, what it has sent ahead, in the way of deeds, and, what [it has], left behind, of these and did not do.

O, disbelieving, man! What has deceived you with regard to your generous Lord?, so that you have disobeyed Him, Who created you, when you were not, then made you upright, in your created form, with sound limbs, then proportioned you (read fa-‘adalak or fa-‘addalak), making you symmetrical in shape, with well-proportioned parts, so that no hand or leg is longer than the other, assembling you in whatever (mā is a relative) form He will?

No indeed! - a deterrent against letting oneself be misled by the generosity of God, exalted be He. Rather you, that is, disbelievers of Mecca, deny Judgement, requital for deeds; Yet lo! there are above you watchers, from among the angels, over your deeds, noble, in God’s sight, writers, of these [deeds], who know whatever you do, all of it. Indeed the pious, the believers who are sincere in their faith, shall be amid bliss, [in] Paradise, and indeed the profligates, the disbelievers, shall be in Hell-fire, a scorching fire, entering it, to suffer its heat, on the Day of Judgement, [the Day of] Requital, and they shall not be absent from it, [they shall not] be taken out of it. And what would show you, [what would] inform you, what the Day of Judgement is? Again, what would show you what the Day of Judgement is? — [repeated] to emphasize its enormity.

[It is] a day when no soul will be of any avail, any use, to another soul, and the [absolute] command on that day will be God’s: there will be no [power of] command for anyone other than Him thereat, in other words, none has been given the power to mediate thereupon, in contrast to [situations] in this world.

Tafsīr al-Jalālayn by: Jalāl al-Dīn al-Mahallī and Jalāl al-Dīn al-Suyūtī / Translated by : Feras Hamza

From the Tafsir Ibn Abbas:

On the authority of Ibn 'Abbas that he said regarding the interpretation of Allah's saying (When the heaven is cleft asunder): '(When the heaven is cleft asunder) by the descent of the Lord- a descent without modality- and the angels and whatever He wills of His command.

From the Sufic Tafsir of al-Tustari:

His words, Exalted is He:
[82:5] [then] a soul will know what it has sent ahead and [what it has] left behind.
That is, what it has sent forward, the good or bad, and what it left behind in the form of an evil practice that it initiated (sayyiʾa sannathā) and whatever [part of that practice] was emulated [by others afterwards].
His words, Exalted is He:

[82:6] O mankind! What has deceived you with regard to your Generous Lord?
That is, ‘What has lured you away to other than Him, and severed you from Him, in spite of His graciousness (lutf) and generosity (karam)?’

He was asked, ‘What is it that cuts the servant off [from God]?’ He replied: "The servant belongs to God, and God is there for His servant. There is nothing closer to Him than the heart of the believer, and if anything else comes into his heart, that becomes a veil (hijāb) [for him]. Whoever looks upon (nazara) God with his heart, will become distanced from all besides Him, and whoever seeks the means to [attain] His good pleasure (mardā), will be made satisfied by God through His clemency (hilm).

Furthermore, whoever surrenders his heart to God, Exalted is He, [will find that] God takes care of his bodily members so they remain in rectitude (istiqāma). Yet at the same time, their hearts’ witnessing is in proportion to how much they safeguard their bodily members."

Then he said: "Keep a check on your hearts. We are created and our Creator is with us. Do not tire in your works, for truly God watches over you wherever you are. Place your needs before Him and stand at His door. Say: ‘We are ignorant, but our Teacher (ʿālimunā) is with us. We are weak, but the One who gives us strength (muqawwiyyunā) is with us. We are helpless, but our All-Powerful One (Qādirunā) is with us.’ Truly, whoever adheres to this will find that air, space, earth and sky will become of equal consequence [to him]." (he will attain detachment from all that is in the universe.)

ʿUmar b. Wasil, a student of Sahl, said, ‘When [Sahl] would recite this verse, he [Sahl] would say: "It is ignorance that has lured me away [from You] O Lord, due to Your withdrawing Your protection from me."

His words, Mighty and Majestic is He:
[82:13] As for the righteous, they will be in bliss (naʿīm).

The bliss of the elect among His servants who are the righteous (abrār) is the encounter (liqāʾ) with Him and the witnessing (mushāhada) of Him, just as their bliss in this world was in the witnessing (mushāhada) of Him and proximity (qurb) with Him.

God knows best.

Tafsir al-Tustari by: Sahl b. 'Abd Allāh al-Tustarī / Translated by: Annabel Keeler and Ali Keeler

May Allah forgive our short-comings, cover us with His Infinite Mercy and open our heart to true reality. By Allah so be it. Ameen.

Resources:
[+] Tafsir al-Jalalayn
[+] Tafsir al-Tustari
[+] Tafsir Ibn-Abbas

Reflection from Visiting the Holy Sancturies of Mecca and Medina

2012-04-29T11:25:00.000+06:00

1.
Reading Now

Published by Islamic Book Trust

At the moment I am reading this beautiful book titled, Dawn in Madinah: A pilgrim's passage, authored by Muzaffar Iqbal, may Allah bless him. Its one of the most delightful read for me in the span of last few months. Its a spiritual diary of a man who had the call to spend the entire month of Ramadan as a retreat in one of the most blessed sanctuary of Islam, Madinah, where the Prophet established his Community of Believers and finally breathed his last as well.

Muzaffar Iqbal returned to Pakistan in 1990 after a decade-long sojourn in the West and like many repatriates, had hopes of contributing to a process of positive change in his country, in the people he loved. He was part of OIC or Organization of Islamic Conference but very soon he found how the organization is setup to fail both inside and out, he saw the corruption on part of the leadership, corruption of heart and mind. Then when he found his ideals, hopes and principals are betrayed in every aspect, on the afternoon of August in 1996 he resigned from his job at OIC. Protesting at the immoral acts of his higher officials he couldn't accept any more and walked out. It was during those time, like many at certain turning point of life, he also felt the "Dark Night of the Soul," 'felt a deep hollowness - as if .. sinking into an endless void."

At a very low point in his life when everything seemed to close upon him,when such state lasted for weeks and months and as time passed, the author became his own prisoner of suffering. Then, one day, in the stillness of the empty house, a command-like volition appeared in his mind: "Go spend a month in the Prophet's mosque in Madinah." To him it appeared from nowhere and within minutes lodged itself in the inner recess of his being with such intensity that he could not think of anything else. This idea was like a luminous spot in the pitch-black darkness.

This is the background of the book and then the author followed his inner call and finally found himself at the doorstep of the Prophet's Mosque in Medina after his visit of Kaba in Mecca. He has a gift not only in writing, but also spiritually from where he absorbed the moments beautifully and transmitted them in the pages of this wonderful book. The book is set in very contemporary time and like an important diary written during the time 1997-1998. What is unique about his style is that it is written in a very personal fashion, yet the author has successfully incorporated historical event associated with the places where he was traveling, spent time in retreat and worship. The time of the Prophet becomes alive in his description. His detailed description of the various significant areas of the Mosque of Medina is also very illuminating. For those who have never been to the Prophet's Mosque this could be a beautiful introduction and those who have already been there, this can immensely enrich and refresh their memories. In fact the Book can rekindle the fire of love to be near the memories of the Prophet and to his resting place (hujra).

From the introduction of the Book I quote: "Dawn in Madinah: A Pilgrim's Passage is a vivid account of a month long retreat in the Prophet's Mosque in Madinah. The luminous details of this sojourn in Islam's second-most sacred mosque are superimposed upon the historical events that shaped the life of the early Muslim community during its formative period. Numerous episodes from the life of the Prophet form an ever-present backdrop to its narrative which moves across time to weave together the desires, hopes, fears, and spiritual struggles of so many pilgrims present during the month of Ramadan in the Mosque, fourteen hundred and eighteen years after it was built by Prophet Muhammad and his Companions soon after their arrival in Madinah. This juxtaposition of contemporary lives with those lived fourteen centuries ago creates a tapestry in which one can find common threads of a journey toward God.

What unites the various strands of the book is the trans-historical spiritual quest of countless individuals who populate this rich narrative.."

One of the reviewer at Amazon writes: "I ordered this book after I attended a public talk given by the author. At the presentation I was struck by the high level of intelligence of the speaker as well as his ability to convey his message to all members of the audience irrespective of their intellectual level.

While reading the book, I was taken mentally and spiritually to Medina. I could feel the atmosphere that the author experienced during his time there. It was very inspiring and definitely inspired me to want to make a similar journey myself in the near future."

This review captures what I am also feeling while reading the book. It amazingly takes one mentally and spiritually to Medina, the locus of Love for every Muslim. Perhaps more from this book / this author later, God Willing.

[+] You may read selections of this book via Google Book here.

2.

I was inspired to pickup the book Dawn in Madinah particularly at the moment in time because recently I received a message from a friend and reader of Technology of the Heart who wrote while being in the Prophet's Mosque. It is an honor to be remembered in those Hearts in which remembrance of the Most High is happening, the Hearts which are loved by Allah. So the friend who was on a similar pilgrimage to the holy sanctuaries of Mecca and Medina was also inspired to share her reflection for the readers of Technology of the Heart. So I am sharing it below. May Allah bless our friend and may Allah accept her and her loved ones visit to the perfumed gardens.

A Step into Jannah ...

When this insignificant speck was sent an unexpected invitation to the 'Land of Dreams' the reality of such an honor could not be acknowledged with reciprocity worthy of such lofty invitation. Until these two unworthy feet touched the blessed earth where the King of all Kings is Most Present, only then I would know that I had arrived.... until then, it was an invitation that I had no guts to accept.

It is evidently clear that daily life clouds my dead heart and rob it from its dues. I sincerely pray for Imaan, Deep Faith that does not wax and wane like the passing moon! However, visiting Makkah Shareef, the Holy Sanctuary of Mecca, is a constant reminder, that if your heart is dead, know that the One who can give life to the dead body, can give life to the dead heart...I remained hopeful.

With my weak imaan and impure heart, I can only wish to taste the sweetness of reciting His beautiful Labbaik! Fervently hoping that He may purify and make possible for this insignificant soul to partake, in even a mustard seeds worth of pleasure derived from worshiping Him! With my heart so heavy and feeling that everything I desire is so out of reach I proceeded to submit myself to His commands. Umrah (the lesser Pilgrimage to the sanctuary of Mecca) was like a beautiful dream....One that you never ever want to wake up from. The first glance of the Kaabah Shareef was just as heart-rending as the last... May He accept and invite over and over again! Aameen, By Allah so be it.

The hustle and bustle of Makkah Shareef is now clouded even more by the sound of cranes and mountains crumbling down. The expansion the new haram is vast and extensive. The pro's and con's can be heavily weighed. The crowds are magnanimous. A thought I continuously expounded on was that Subhaan~Allah, Islam is definitely on the rise.

However, a wise woman once shared her thoughts with me regarding the numerous souls that are invited here. She said a common complaint was that you find a place to read salaah and sit there comfortably until the azaan is called out, waiting patiently to be in conversation with your Lord! However, as soon as you stand up to begin supplicating, worshipers began to fill up spaces from all around leaving you wondering how will you ever prostrate with ease. On one occasion when her anger got the better of her, she bellowed out in rage to the lady next to her that she has taken up all her space and how can she pray! The woman turned to her and smiled at her. And taught her a lesson for life. She said ' My dear sister, this is the House of Allah, I have been invited here just like how you have been invited here...When a child is conceived in the womb of a mother, who is it that expands the belly to make space for that growing child...Do not fear for lack of space for there is someone taking of it..." Subhaan~Allah!

As soon as Umrah was complete the heart automatically turns its attention to the yearning of sweet, serene, peaceful Medinah Shareef. I immediately started preparing a 'gift' for our Master Nabi Sallalaahu ~Alaihi~ Wasallam. The great gifts and prizes that Allah Subhanahu~ Wa~ Ta'ala has prepared for Nabi Sallalaahu ~Alaihi~ Wasallam have been mentioned in Surah Kauthar (108th chapter of the Quran which was a special gift to the Prophet confirming great reward from the Divine). Usually when we visit someone we take a gift and the best gift to bestow upon Nabi Sallalaahu ~Alaihi~ Wasallam is reciting Surah Kauthar, 1000 times and conferring the reward to our Master. Nabi Sallalaahu ~Alaihi~ Wasallam becomes extremely happy at this gesture of ours.

May Allah bless our Master Muhammad and send him peace and increase love for him in our hearts, connect us to his spiritual lineage and his haqaiq. By Allah, so be it. So be it. So be it. Ameen.

As one enters the city of Medina Shareef, a feeling of tranquility descends on ones soul, body and mind. It is definitely the city of peace and barakah. There is barakah everywhere and in everything. Time, food, money, sleep and the list is endless. Its a dream world where life is just perfect! When you are in Medinah Shareef and immersed in sea of people, you truly realise your insignificance. You don't even have the understanding of the value of a single durood (salutation and benediction to the Prophet) at that moment. You feel unworthy of standing anywhere and reciting durood and salaam, leave alone in front of the blessed Raudah Mubaruk of Nabi Sallalaahu ~Alaihi~ Wasallam. One pious person said : 'Take the darkness of your sins to the perfect guide'.... Sallalaahu ~Alaihi~ Wasallam.. Solace!

Its always easy presenting the good and very difficult presenting the bad. Inshaa~Allah , May Allah Subhanahu ~Wa~ Ta'ala present us our book of deeds in our right hands on that Day and may we enter Jannah with a Peaceful and beautiful Salaaam! Aameen, By Allah, so be it. This sinful soul had the opportunity of stepping into Jannah, into Paradise daily with ease and comfort and although once again the crowds are immense...I was taken from the entrance of the Masjid into Riyaadul Jannah like a wave exiting an ocean. Ya Allah! The feeling of being chosen to be on that 'spot of earth' amongst a handful of people on the entire surface of the earth is irreplaceable! You wish you could sit there forever and die there as well!

An interesting analogy that I pondered over in Madinah Shareef was that of Qiyamah, the Awesome Day of Resurrection. Everyone for themselves and each one fighting for a taste of Jannah, Paradise. A young mother hurriedly walking past towards Riyaadul Jannah literally drops her sleeping child beside me and runs off. The stark reality of that 'day', now imprinted in my mind has deposited an meager lump of imaan in this weak heart. We all desire to come back stronger than before. The intention you go with is the cornerstone of what you will come back with.

Mount Uhud, view from Jabal al-Rahmat via Flickr

Standing near Mount Uhud and enveloped in the beauty of the mountain, I placed myself on the sandy ground. I lifted a lump of sand to my mouth. I pray to my Allah..."Oh Allah! The mubaruk sands of Medinah have touched the outer part of my body"... I eat the sand and continue.... "Now that it has also touched the inner part of my body, keep me amongst those that have been safeguarded from all harm and bless me with a place in Jannah" Aameen! "Oh Allah! These very same impure eyes that are looking the moon above from the ground beneath...give them an opportunity to view this very same moon from this very same spot again" Fee-amaanillah!

Qur'aan is truth. Sunnah is truth. Hadith is truth. There is truth everywhere. If only our hearts were not blind and would allow our eyes to see.

~ Reflection by Farishta, may Allah bless you and include you among His purified and accepted ones ~

# Further:
* Secrets of the Prophetic Chamber
* Masjid Al-Nabawi
* Ziaraat of Masjid Nabwi
* Inside Prophet's Tomb Chamber
* Haramain Gallery

Yoga Sutras of Patanjali | Enlightened Aphorisms

2012-04-23T16:16:00.002+06:00

Tree of Life, Ron Barnett

Ancient religious / spiritual traditions, each of them are Technologies of the Heart, and for the Heart: the quintessential faculty of what makes human, human. In an age of sharing, we no longer can afford the luxury to look at any religious / spiritual tradition as an isolated block, instead we must cherish and share them as common wisdom heritage of humanity, as many branches of a common tree. Standing at the cross-current of great transition of our time if we still behave with outdated mode of division and sectarianism, that can only produce more suffering for the collective humanity and hinder our progress and wholesome happiness.

The tendency to create division against unity is an age old disease of humanity, a disease borne out of ignorance. This tendency is pointed out in the Scripture, again a scripture which must not be looked as belonging to this group or that, but as common wisdom manual of humanity where it is revealed:

And verily this Brotherhood of yours is a single Brotherhood, and I am your Lord and Cherisher: therefore be aware of Me. But people have cut off their affair (of unity), between them, into various sects: each party rejoices in that which is with itself. - Al-Quran: The Final Testament, chapter of the believers, 23:52-53

The message calls to recognize the unity of humanity and the Oneness of the Creator Who is the common Lord of entire creation and It's Sustainer and Provider, awareness of Whom is the Highest goal. The message also warn against the tendency of dividing truth and rejoicing in fragments, and thus creating sectarianism. This is the summed-up story of how blind religious zeal and divisionism have produced hatred in one nation for other in ages in the past and present, "each group / party / nation rejoicing in what which is with itself," forgetting that they are organically part of the same stream of revelation, light and wisdom.

Wa-inna hazihi ummatukum ummatan wahida ... Indeed the brotherhood of humanity is a single brotherhood. Thus no matter what fraction of truth we find in each group of humanity over age, no matter what part of truth is found in any religion / spiritual path, they all constitute part of the large fabric of reality. Every single religious / spiritual path contribute to the collective human journey towards its destined evolution, the great evolution which progress towards recognition and recollection of the Divine, the ultimate secret of Man.

2.
A contemporary Sufi Master, Shaykh Ebrahim Schuitema from Cape Town, South Africa importantly have made this statement:

"Binocular vision enables depth perception. Get yourself reasonably acquainted with at least one other inner tradition."

This is a very significant message for any seeker of Truth, regardless of the tradition or orientation. To my personal understanding, since people of any land or time, adopt religion of another age or land,, and because of gap in language (terminology, symbols) and culture, such adoption can have certain resistance in penetrating the core teaching and harvest it's fruits. But if people simultaneously learn and explore about his/ her own ancient spiritual / religious tradition of the land (prevailing religious / spiritual path before a new religion arrived there), he or she may find the message of prevailing ancient path as something very organically penetrating within the Heart, enabling realization at a much accelerated pace if unity is sought among messages. This happens because of binocular vision effect as mentioned by Shaykh Ebrahim. This enables depth perception through the acquiring of another inner tradition, specially that of one's own land which has a much attuned vibration and rhythm. Or in the case of a land's ancient wisdom tradition is destroyed or inaccessible, it is the esoteric dimension of the faith which can function as complementary part of the binocular vision.

3.

Patanjali: Father of Yoga

When it comes to an inner tradition of very ancient and rich origin which has survived after thousands of years, preserved with its original text: Indian ancient wisdom perhaps will score the best. One of such surviving ancient tradition, which is a gift to entire humanity is the Knowledge and Wisdom of Yoga. The best part of it is that the storehouse of Yoga has not only survived as knowledge on scrolls and pages but also as a living tradition where the knowledge is lived as wisdom.

The timeline of Yoga goes back as much as 3rd Millennium BC as far as recording system is concerned, but obviously there are real possibilities that this wisdom was revealed to humankind even before that, prior to time where recorded methods even invented. Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on the Hindu concept of divinity or Brahman.

The Sanskrit word yoga has the literal meaning of "yoke", from a root yuj meaning to join, to unite, or to attach. As a term for a system of abstract meditation or mental abstraction it was introduced by Patañjali in the 2nd century BC. Patanjali’s date is unknown, though many scholars assign him to the second century B.C.

His renowned Yoga Sutras presents, in a series of brief aphorisms, the condensed essence of the exceedingly vast and intricate science of God-union - setting forth the method of uniting the soul with the undifferentiated Spirit in such a beautiful, clear, and concise way that generations of scholars have acknowledged the Yoga Sutras as the foremost ancient work on yoga.

Patañjali is the compiler of the Yoga Sutras or Aphorisms of the Ancient Science of Union from India, an important collection of aphorisms on Yoga practice. Although the Yoga Sutras have become the most important text of Yoga, the opinion of most scholars is that Patañjali was not the creator of Yoga, which existed well before him, but merely a great expounder.

The yoga system of Patanjali is known as the Eightfold Path (Ashtanga Yoga), which leads to the final goal of God-realization. This eight-fold concept derived from the 29th Sutra of the 2nd book, and is a core characteristic of practically every Raja yoga variation taught today. These Eight folds are such that if one carefully study them, one will understand that such characteristics and teachings exists in other religion / spiritual path as well, perhaps some in more openly, some in disguise, some within subtle teachings:

The Eightfold Path of Patanjali can be summarily categorized as:

(1.) Yama (The five "abstentions / purification"): Yama deals with self constraints, self-mastery. It has the following five sub-components:
* Ahimsa (non-violence),
* Satya (Truth, non-lying),
* Asteya (non-covetousness, craving, over-desire),
* Brahmacharya (non-sensuality, non-lust, preserving sexual energy), and
* Aparigraha (non-possessiveness, not hoarding).

(2.) Niyama (The five "observances"): Niyama deals with self discipline. Niyama has the following elements within it:
* Shaucha (purity),
* Santosha (contentment),
* Tapas (austerity),
* Svadhyaya (study of Scriptures to know about God and the soul), and
* Ishvara-Pranidhana (surrender to God).

(3.) Asana: Literally means "seat", and in Patanjali's Sutras refers to the seated position used for meditation. Asana deals with physical practice, rituals.

(4.) Pranayama ( "Breath"): Prāna, breath, "āyāma", to restrain, control. Also interpreted as control of the life force. Pranayama deals with breathing sequence, mindfulness through breathing and right way of breathing as well.

(5.) Pratyahara ("Abstraction"): Withdrawal of the sense organs from external objects. Prathyahara deals with sense withdrawl, transcending sense world.

(6.) Dharana ("Concentration"): Fixing the attention on a single object. Dharana deals with concentration, higher level of awareness.

(7.) Dhyana ("Meditation"): Intense contemplation of the nature of the object of meditation. Dyhana deals with meditation.

(8.) Samadhi ("Liberation"): merging consciousness with the object of meditation. Samadahi deals with Illumination.

Known at the eightfold path it comprises self constraints, self observances, physical practices, breathing sequences, sense withdrawal, concentration, meditation-and illumination!

The Eightfold path is arranged in a hierarchy. The follower of Yoga Path aim so move from the base of the triangle to the apex - SAMADHI - or illumination.

If we use the Sufic mind to observe and analysis the Eightfold Path of Patanjali we can see clearly that everything found in Yoga, from principal and essence point of view, are found in Islam as well and by extension, must also be found in every balanced Spiritual Way. As one can observe that the eightfold path beings with purification. In Sufi terminology this is Tazkiyatan Nafs (purification of the self, alchemy of lower-self). This is what every Teacher start with when they work with his followers. For example we read in the Final Scripture where the role of a Master Apostle is described we find purification as one of the major task:

Kama arsalna feekum rasoolan minkum yatloo 'alaykum ayatina wa yuzakkeekum ... We have sent among you an Apostle from among yourselves, who recites to you Our communications and purifies you... - 2:151

After purification or Yama, comes Niyama or practices, self-discipline, daily observances which are essential to maintain purity and increase awareness of the Divine (taqwa). Those who claim that spirituality means there need not any rituals, no physical practices, rituals, they only delude themselves because human beings by nature need structure and it is the Niyama or practices which provide that valuable structure or foundation. The last element of Niyama is Ishvara-Pranidhana or surrender to God, which according to Islam is to be found at the core of every true Path, every true Religion and Yoga is no exception. The secret of spiritual happiness is here, in surrender to God.

After Niyama or Observances come Asana, which are unique to Yoga. In this aspect of Yoga is the most popular for common people, even though Asana or postures are just one aspect of Yoga. To transmit Yoga only through Asana is like teachings rituals of Catholic Mass without introducing who is Jesus or his teachings. When authentic Yoga masters teach about Asanas or Postures, they will point out that it is very important to practice the Asanas on exactly the same time to harvest the best benefit. Asanas help flow the spirit's energy by clearing obstructions, by moving those parts of the body and activating energy body and organs (chakras, subtle body) which are less used. From Sufic perspective this also provide hint for the benefit of regular prayer at appointed time as is done in Islam with very specific body postures. In fact for this reason Islamic Prayer or Salaat is called Yoga of Islam and from the standing, bowing and prostrating to the very action of rubbing the hands on face after supplication, are all found in Yogic practices as well which only confirms the fact that such practices have inherent benefit for humanity whether they are preserved in one Path or another.

Pranayama (mindful breathing), Pratyahar (withdrawal from sensory feedback) are also specialized Yogic practice and discipline which is to be learned from a Yoga master. From Sufic perspective there are certain Tariqa specific practices of Dhikr / Zikr or Recollection of the Divine which utilize deep breathing, in that very framework on loses one's self and thereby it is also another method of withdrawing from sensory feedback. The Turning of the Mevlevi is one example of Pratyahar as found in Sufic practice. Deep loud and collective Dhikr also can bring the same effect where one loses one's self.

Dharana and Dhyana are concentration and meditation, which are also necessary component of inner practice of any Spiritual Path.

Finally Samadhi is the fruit of all foregoing steps. In Hindu terminology it is called Moksha or Liberation (from bonding) and in Buddhist term this is Nirvana. In Sufic terminology this is Fana and Baqa, Annihilation or Lost in Allah, Dying in Allah to Subsist or Abide in Allah.

4.
The aphorisms of Patanjali, also known as Yoga Sutras in which the above teachings are transmitted are excellent source of inspiration and timeless wisdom.

You may read the full text here of The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, translation by BonGiovanni via Sacred-Text website by following this link: The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

Here are some highlight of Patanjali Aphorisms:

"On attaining the purity of the ultra-meditative state there is the pure flow of spiritual consciousness. Therein is the faculty of supreme wisdom. The wisdom obtained in the higher states of consciousness is different from that obtained by inference and testimony as it refers to particulars.

...there is no cure for the misery of longing, but to fix the heart upon the eternal.

The mastery of one in Union extends from the finest atomic particle to the greatest infinity.

Not being conditioned by time, God is the teacher of even the ancients.

Practice is the effort to secure steadiness.

Disease, inertia, doubt, lack of enthusiasm, laziness, sensuality, mind-wandering, missing the point, instability- these distractions of the mind are the obstacles. Pain, despair, nervousness, and disordered inspiration and expiration are co-existent with these obstacles. For the prevention of the obstacles, one truth should be practiced constantly.

Austerity, the study of sacred texts, and the dedication of action to God constitute the discipline of Mystic Union. This discipline is practised for the purpose of acquiring fixity of mind on the Lord, free from all impurities and agitations, or on One's Own Reality, and for attenuating the afflictions. The five afflictions are ignorance, egoism, attachment, aversion, and the desire to cling to life. Ignorance is the breeding place for all the others whether they are dormant or attenuated, partially overcome or fully operative.

Ignorance is taking the non-eternal for the eternal, the impure for the pure, evil for good and non-self as self. Egoism is the identification of the power that knows with the instruments of knowing. Attachment is that magnetic pattern which clusters in pleasure and pulls one towards such experience. Aversion is the magnetic pattern which clusters in misery and pushes one from such experience.

When invited by invisible beings one should be neither flattered nor satisfied, for there is yet a possibility of ignorance rising up. By self-control over single moments and their succession there is wisdom born of discrimination. From that there is recognition of two similars when that difference cannot be distinguished by class, characteristic or position. Intuition, which is the entire discriminative knowledge, relates to all objects at all times, and is without succession. Liberation is attained when there is equal purity between vitality and the indweller. "

You may read brief explanation as well as all the Sutras in another translation done by Charles Johnston via Sacred Text website as well: The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, by Charles Johnston, [1912].

Further:
[+] Download the Patanjali Yoga Sutras (English Translated, PDF)
[+] Yoga Sutras of Patanjali - Raja Yoga - Ashtanga Yoga via Swami J
[+] Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Interpretive Translation by Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati (PDF)
[+] Raja Yoga by Swami Vivekananda (PDF)

[+] Yoga in the writing of Hazrat Inayat Khan
[+] The Four Paths which lead to the Goal

SUFFICIENCY: an English Qasida by Shaykh Muhammad Harun Riedinger

2012-04-18T10:01:00.003+06:00

Digital Calligraphy inspired and adopted from Muqtar Ahmed's via Flickr

In the darkness of my night,
Your'e the one and only Light.
In the doldrums of my day,
Your Light always leads the way.

You support me, You suffice
None but You is in my Life
Anta ‘awni, anta hasbi,
Laysa li siwak

My deluge You are to me.
My refuge You are to me.
For You are my remedy,
to my every malady.

You support me, You suffice
None but You is in my Life
Anta ‘awni, anta hasbi,
Laysa li siwak

You are - the Cause of my pain,
cause my loss to be my gain.
You are Nearer yet to me,
than myself could ever be.

You support me, You suffice
None but You is in my Life
Anta ‘awni, anta hasbi,
Laysa li siwak

Your Love - is that which makes me be,
Your Light - is that which makes me see,
Your Calling - that which makes me hear,
You are - my now, You are my here.

You support me, You suffice
None but You is in my Life
Anta ‘awni, anta hasbi,
Laysa li siwak

~ Muhammad Harun Riedinger (Abu Faydan Faridi) ~

Qasida are sung in Sufi gathering and in chorus, but can also be read personally. If read collectively here is the instruction to follow: all the verses start on the down beat, the start of the beat, or the '1' of 1,2,3,4. The last verse, however, you have to start on the upbeat, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beat_%28music%29#Upbeat or the 4.5 of the last bar and double up the rhythm of the delivery of the words, but with a little practice it will fit nicely. I think this is befitting as it brings the song to a crescendo rhythmically and it meaning.

Sung to the tune of the famous Qasida of Abu Madyan 'The Adab of the Tariqa': http://youtu.be/0yNJ-QXfIP4. Contributed by Saleem Andrew McGroarty. First published and circulated at Zawiya Ebrahim Facebook Page on April 16, 2012.

Hasbun Allah wa Ni'mal Wakil: The Divine is the Sole Sufficiency and the Best Guardian

What is Qasida?

The Qasida is a form of laudatory lyric poetry that originated in Arabia. Qasida means "intention" and the genre found use as a petition to a patron. A qasida has a single presiding subject, logically developed and concluded.

The classic form of qasida maintains a single elaborate metre throughout the poem, and every line rhymes. It typically runs more than fifty lines, and some times more than a hundred. The first appearance of the qasida is contributed to the poet Imru’ al-Qays (died c. 500), as well as the general template and standards of what comprises a qasida to this day. One of the most well known qasida include the Qasida Burda ("Poem of the Mantle") by Imam al-Busiri and Ibn Arabi's classic collection "The Interpreter of Desires". The qasida migrated to the Persian culture in the 10th century, where the rhyme scheme all but disappeared and the length of the poem multiplied exponentially.

Read more on Qasida via Wikipedia.

+ Qasidah al-Burdah (Poem of the Mantle) - the most-recited and celebrated single poem in human history

(+) Zawia Ebrahim Media can be accessed here.

Notes and Introduction of Tajwidi Qur'an by Shaykh Nooruddeen Durkee

2012-04-16T20:22:00.000+06:00

And with the truth We have sent the Qur'an down, and with the truth it has descended.
- the Qur'an 17:105

Truly in that there is a reminder for one who has a heart, or he who listens attentively and is a witness (of Truth).
- the Qur'an 50:37

This is the Luminous Revelation in which there is no doubt, guidance for those who consciously guard themselves for (the sake of) Allah, those who have faith in the Knowledge of Unseen, and establish the ritual prayer (salah) and spend (on others) from what We have provided for them, and those who have faith in what has been revealed to you (Revelation of the Qur'an) and what has been revealed before you (Gospel, Torah and previous Revelation). And they have certainty in the Final World. (It is) they who have Guidance from their Lord, and ( (in reality it is) they who are successful. -The Qur'an 2:1-5

The Tajwidi Qur'an by Shaykh A. Nooruddeen Durkee is a Guide for non-Arabic readers to the Pronunciation of the Original text and to Understanding some of the Meanings revealed in The Glorious Qur'an. The presentation of the Arabic text along with it's corresponding line by line translation in English is one of the best available among all the available Quranic translations today. Also for correct pronunciation of elegant Arabic language, the method used here is excellent. The structure of the translations are such that being fully faithful to correct English structure, it is rendered in such a way that helps relate with the original Arabic much closely, which in turn helps a reader over time, to grasp individual meaning of the language up to individual words. Thus Tajwidi Qur'an is not only a guide for correct pronunciation and translation, but also to learn Arabic vocabulary. The presented of the edition is in two facing page, Arabic on right, English Transliteration and Translation on left - corresponding verse by verse. The Tajwidi Qur'an is available to order or to send as gift to anyone in the world. Please follow the link at the end of this post to know where and how.

I am sharing some highlights here from the notes and introduction of Shaykh A. Nooruddeen Durkee, may Allah bless him and grant him goodness, on the Tajwidi Qur'an which, I hope will shed light on the inspiration and aspiration behind this transliteration and translation of the Qur'an.

In the Name of Allah, The Mercy Full, Bestower of Mercy. Thanks be to Allah and Peace and Blessings be upon our liege-lord Muhammad, the Unlettered Messenger and Seal of the Prophets

By Way of Personal Note to the Original Edition of the Seventh House

I am writing this in Alexandria, Egypt, some eighteen years after disembarking in the Red Sea port of Jeddah off a long haul freight out of Detroit in the Hijri Year 1396. I had then two abiding intentions. My first intention (niyah) was, ‘inshallah, to fulfill, along with my wife, the Visit (‘umrah) to the Ancient House, and if possible to stay and perform the Pilgrimage (hajj), a month or so later.

My second intention was, by permission of Allah, to learn to recite the Qur’an.

The original command sent by Allah to His Messenger, Muhammad, blessings of Allah and peace be upon him, via the Angel Jibril, peace be upon him, was ‘Iqra, meaning Read! or Recite! The import of this was not lost on me for, after three years as a ‘new’ Muslim, it was clear to me that unless I could learn to ‘read’ I would be forever dependent on secondary sources and translations for my knowledge and understanding of ‘Islam.

Allah granted us the blessings of both the ‘umrah and the hajj and added to those blessings the use of a house in Makkah just up the hill from the Ancient House and an opportunity to study at the recently founded Arabic Language Centre in the Makkan College of Religious Law (kulliatu-sh-shariah).

Alhamdulillah. I learned the rudiments of Arabic but although I studied at the centre for three years, I was still unable to recite the Qur’an as I so deeply desired. It was not that there was a lack of teachers at the Centre but the environment was just not conducive and the teachers in the Masjid al-Haram sadly had no experience in teachings an English speaking Muslim, though there were special classes for those with mother tongues such as Bahasa, Urdu, Turkic, Malay, Farsi – the other major Islamic languages.

I was greatly aided at this time by finding a book in English by Prof. S. Muhammad Tufayl or Woking, England,which set out in an understandable manner, the exact rules for the recital (tajwid) of Qur’an. I was also blessed to find in the Indo-Pakistani book suq of Makkah, a copy of the Holy Qur’an transliterated into Roman characters by M. Abdul-Halim Eliasi or Hyderabad. It was also in Makkah that I was given a copy of Tajwidi Qur’an published in 1391 Hijri by Mawlana Dhafar ‘Iqbal of Lahore. Over the years this has proved to be a great blessing especially when used in conjunction with Dr. Muqri Husayni’s work, Sahl Tajwid (Easy Tajwid).

With these books in hand and by listening carefully to the very best readers (qari’un) on tape and radio I began slowly to teach myself step by step to recite the Qur’an in accord with the canons of tajwid.

Years passed in this way with my leaning a little here and little there but in truth I never really learned to recite correctly. I, however, persisted as I knew, on so many levels, that tajwid was vital key to true understanding. In the winter of 1410, I found myself living in the old city of Alexandria where I was working on the translation of some Shadhdhuli texts. One day I asked a friend if he knew anyone in the city who might teach us tajwid.

He did – and one soft rainy afternoon an ‘Azhari shaykh of tajwid, ‘Ustadh Mahmud M. al-‘Azazi came to our house. When he was settled with some tea he asked me to read for him and I had recited about half of Surah Ya Siiin before he stopped me.

“We must,” he said, “begin from the beginning.”

When I asked him where that was, he replied.

“The Angel Jibril, peace be upon him, taught the Prophet, blessings of Allah and peace be upon him, to read directly from his mouth to his ear; from his heart to his heart. This is the only way to learn. I read, you listen. You read, I listen and correct. You read again and again I correct until all is correct.”

I have now spent four years with the Shaykh and I have no doubt he is right.

At the same time however I often received messages and letters from friends in the West asking me for advice. They lamented that they are unable to ‘read’ and unable to find anyone to teach them.

From my own stays in the West I know that there are very few qualified teachers to be found. Although Shaykh Mahmud is without any doubt correct in saying that the teaching and learning of Qur’an is an oral transmission both at heart and in essence, nevertheless there is a need for learning aids.

One day on the train to Cairo I was inspired to begin work on producing a book for those seeking to learn tajwid, ‘Inshallah through a combination of exacting transliteration, the special calligraphy of Mawlana Dhafar ‘Iqbal’s edition of the mushaf and easily available audio tapes of the qari’un, it might be possible to at least get the basics right.

… The work of Mawlana Dhafar ‘Iqbal is of inestimable value to the non-Arabic reader seeking to learn tajwid. His graphic synthesis is a major clarification for the learner even if the calligraphy is not as elegantly proportioned as that of the Azhar edition prepared under the patronage of King Fu’ad.

I am forever grateful to Shaykh ‘Ibrahim Battawi of al-Azhar, my teacher in shari’ah, tariqah and haqiqah; a patient and consistent Guide on the Way. I also thank Ahmad al-Husayn, Muhammad Munir, Ahmad Salah of Alexandria and Seyyed Nidhamu-Din Ahmad of Lucknow for their help in corrections. Lastly I must thank my wife, Hajjah Noura, and my family, who are, after Allah, my greatest support.

~ From one who is poor before his Lord,

And constantly enriched by His Blessings:

‘Abdullah Nooruddeen Durkee ~

14 April 1994 – Alexandria – 03 Dhu-l-Hijj 1414

Shaykh Nooruddeen Durkee, may Allah bless him and grant him hayat at-tayyiba

Some Note for the First Edition of The Tajwidi Qur’an

All praise be to Allah Who Created us and revealed the Holy Qur’an, which is a source of advice, balm, light, guidance and mercy for those who have faith. Peace and blessings be upon the Seal of the Prophets, Muhammad, the best of creation, the illuminator of hearts and the mercy to all the worlds. Peace be upon the pure people of his house, his loyal companions, his sincere followers, and their followers and upon us.

The Prophet said, “The best among you are those who learn the Qur’an and teach it.” (Shahih Bukhari 6:21:545)

This first edition of the entire text of the Tajwidi Qur'an is the completion of our ongoing work of the transliteration into Latin characters and the transfer into an approximate meaning in American English of the Words of Allah contained in the Qur'an.

.. This work is not sponsored or paid for by any government or anonymous charitable society; rather it is sponsored by individuals and local Islamic groups who are interested in directly and personally aiding in this process of transliteration and explanation of the Most Generous Qur'an by their own efforts or through their own halal wealth.

If you want to help put copies of this and other editions into the hands of Muslims whose mother tongue is English, or who were educated by means of the English language and have thus lost their ability to decipher Arabic through another language (e.g. Urdu, Farsi or Othmani), or if you are interested in joining in sadaqah jariyah and assuring your self of a trust that will survive your death, then we invite you to help sponsor this process of propagating the Qur'an.

In this context please note our address at the bottom if you would like further information.

.. We have rationalized some of our methods of transliteration so that the reader will, Inshallah, find a greater over-all consistency throughout the text as well as a greater ease in reading... to convey the subtle nuances of Qur’anic orthography, and it is our hope, bi'iznillah (by permission of Allah), that we have arrived at a more faithful rendering into Latin characters of the original hand-written Arabic text.

As we mentioned in our original notes, what we are aiming for is, at best, an approximation of the meaning and sound in Arabic. Having said this, we should also immediately say that this is, of course, an utter impossibility as the only real possibility for the serious student and lover of Qur'an is to learn Arabic, and specifically with the rules of tajwid from a fully qualified teacher.

However, from the response we have gotten since we produced the first edition of the Seventh House, we know that, alhamdulillah, many people have found the work helpful in their attempts to read the Qur'an. We also know that it has proven useful in a variety of circumstances, including weekend schools, prisons, Qur'an circles (halaqat) with a mixed company of Arabic and non-Arabic readers, and by individual students.

With all of this, in heart and mind we hope that you, the reader, will find some benefit in this and we ask that, 'inshallah, you will remember us in your prayers.

Sincere thanks to all the faithful servants and lovers of the Qur'an for their active and generous help in this work.

To contact us, please write: an-Noor Educational Foundation, 536 Pantops Center No. 129, Virginia 229111, or email: sand@an-noor.net

Why another Translation and what is its Basis?

A question has been raised by the community as to why we need yet another translation of al-Qur'an.

My own understanding is that al-Quranul Karim revealed by Allah in the pure Arabic tongue (lisanul arabiyyun) to His Messenger, the Seal of the Prophets, Sayyidina Muhammad ibn 'Abdullah (s) cannot be adequately and truly translated into any other tongue or language.

For this reason I do not claim to have translated al-Quran. Rather, it is, as I clearly note in both Arabic and English, "A Guide to... Understanding some of the Meanings contained in the original Arabic text as set in early 21st Century American English."

Thus I am only presenting the reader with a guide to some - not all - of the many meanings contained in the original text. My claim is modest and I openly and gratefully acknowledge the help of my predecessors. As such this translation is close to being a compendium of shared understanding than a translation of an individual.

For the benefit of the reader I provide a list of translations I most frequently consulted. As I proceeded with my efforts I had open on my desk the following earlier attempts to convey the meaning of what Allah says in al-Quranul-Furqan.

1) Abdullah Yusuf Ali in the Sh. Muhammad Ashraf Edition, Lahore
2) Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall in the Hyderabad Edition, Deccan, Hyderabad
3) Muhammad Asad in the Dar al-Andalus Edition, Jebel Tariq - Gibraleter
4) Abu'l Qassim Publishing House in the Shaheeh International Edition, Jeddah
5) Abdalhaqq and Aisha Bewley in the Bookwork Edition, Norwich, UK

The following were not always open but I consulted them on many occasions:
6) Ahmed Ali, first edition, Princeton, USA
7) Mir Ahmad 'Ali, second edition, T.T.Q. Elmhust, USA
8) Ozek, Uzonglu, Topuzoglu and Maksutoglu, first edition, Istanbul, Turkey

[ One modern translation noticeably absent from this list is the Interpretation of the Meanings of the Noble Qur'an: An Abridged Version of at-Tabari, al-Qurtubi and Ibn Kathir with comments from Shahih al-Bukhari, summarized in One Volume by M. Hilali & M. Khan, published in K.S.A

I find it necessary to caution the reader about this translation. The brackets inserted in the text contain, not bridges to make the Arabic text clear, but heavily edited and selectively abridged commentary and tafsir. Additionally traditional sources are sometimes misquoted and contextually misrepresented; in fact it is very difficult for an unsuspecting student to read this 'interpretation' without winding up thoroughly confused as to what of this 'interpretation' is actually the Qur'an, what is ahadith, what is tafsir. This translation should be read critically and preferably, at the same time as several other translations for the sake of comparison.]

As a rule I always looked for the simplest possible word that is widely accepted in everyday usage. At all times I sought the generally agreed upon meaning of a word or term with the exception of a few words which I felt it is necessary to add to a list of untranslatable terms like Allah, as-salah, al-qur'an, az-zakat, as-sadaqah and others.

For some words I have give alternative translations such as "cover up [the Truth]" for kafara instead of more widely used "disbelieve", and in some cases I have given more than one translation in different places as in the case of dhulm, which has different meanings depending on the context in which Allah uses the word.

I have also retained the names of all the Prophets (peace be upon them all) in their original Arabic form and removed all ye's, thee's, thy's and other archaic English forms... we tried to bring the translation closer to the language of today than the more dated Pickthall text ... and whilst it is not aggressively modern ... it does reflect contemporary speech patterns.. We have tried to make the Tajwidi Qur'an more genuinely useful to the reader than the Eliasi version (of transliteration) and we of course hope that the reader agrees and benefits from our efforts.

Shaykh Nooruddeen Durkee teaching in conversation with children, via Flickr

+ > To learn more about the Tajwidi Qur'an visit this page.

+ > To learn about an appeal to contribute towards printing Tajwidi Qur'an please read this appeal here.

+ Official Website of Shaykh Nooruddeen Durkee

Afala yatadabbarunal Qur’an?

Do they not then understand the Quran?

- 4:82

Alif Laam Ra. This is a Book whose Signs are perfected and then presented in harmonious clarity, from the One Who is Perfectly Wise and All-Aware.

- 11:01

Read the Qur’an, for verily it will come on the Day of Standing as an intercessor for its companions.
- Saying of the Messenger (s)

Whosoever trade with Us, becomes a profiteer

2012-04-09T22:58:00.000+06:00

Rabee Ibn Soleman, a pure hearted Muslim described the following true account from his life:

I was traveling for Hajj. With me there was a band of travelers who were going for the Hajj or the Holy Pilgrimage to Mecca. When we reached the town of Kufa I went to the local bazaar to buy some essential goods. On the way at a deserted place I saw carcass of a donkey and a woman with torn clothes was cutting flesh from it and putting into a bag.

I thought to myself: I must follow her to check whether this woman was a meat seller and whether she is taking this meat to sell at a shop in the marketplace. Then very carefully and quietly I started following her. I found that the woman entered into a house, which seemed to be her residence. She had four daughters there. All of them had sign of extreme poverty and suffering. I saw the condition of their home to be very poor, there was hardly any furniture. As I was waiting just outside, I heard the woman in a teary voice speaking to her daughters: “Take and eat this meat and express gratitude to Allah.”

The girls started cooking the meat and in seeing this my heart was filled with grief.

Then I called out, “O servants of Allah, for the sake of Allah do not eat this meat.” (In Islam meat of dead animal is not halal, not permitted / non-kosher).

Then they asked me, “Who are you?”

I replied, “I am a wayfarer.” Then the woman asked me, “Why have you come to us? We are prisoner of our fate. For the last three years we have no one to help us. The father of these girl was a very good person. He wanted to marry these daughters to good family, but death did not give him the opportunity. He has returned to his Lord. Whatever wealth he left are finished. We know that it is not permissible to eat meat of dead animal. But we are starving for four days. That is why it has become permissible for us.”

Rabee Ibn Soleman then described, hearing their tale I started to cry and returned to my lodge to bring the Ihram (piece of clothe reserved for the holy Pilgrimage), all the goods that I had, and six hundred dirham (currency of that time). On my way I bought flour with hundred dirham, clothes with another hundred dirham and placed the remaining dirham in the flour sac.

Upon reaching their house, the woman then expressed her gratitude to me and prayed saying thus, “O Ibn Soleman, May Allah forgive all your past sins and all the sins in the future and may Allah give you place in the Paradise. And May Allah reward you with such a reward which soon to manifest before you.”

Her elder daughter prayerfully said, “May Allah give you double reward and may Allah forgive all your wrong doings.”

The second daughter said, “Whatever you have donated, may Allah give you much more than this.”

The third daughter said, “May Allah grant you that you unite with our grand father Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam on the Day of Judgment.”

And the youngest one supplicated, “O Allah! He who has been so kind to us, please speedily grant him good returning reward.”

Soleman continues, “By then the band of the Pilgrims have left for Mecca and I stayed back in Kufa, for I had no provision left for the long journey to Mecca. Then they returned after the completion of Hajj. I wanted to congratulate them and ask them for blessing. When I met the first band of Pilgrims I congratulated them and said, “May Allah accept you Hajj.” Then one of them said in wonder (for they saw him participating at the Hajj), “Were you not with us? Didn’t you yourself performed the Hajj with us? Were you not in the plain of Arafat? Did you not circumbulate with us?”

I said to myself, “This is nothing but gift from Allah!” By that time the band of pilgrims of my home town reached and I went to tell them, “May Allah accept your holy pilgrimage.” They also exclaimed in the same manner as the others, and one of them even said, “Why are you denying? Were you not with us in the Holy City of Mecca and Medina. After paying visit to the Prophet’s Tomb, while coming out of Bab e Jibriel, didn't you have this bag deposited with us because of heavy crowd, which has inscribed on it:

man amana rabah

Whosoever trade with Us, becomes a profiteer.

This is yours, please accept what belongs to you.”

Rabee Ibn Soleman later described, “I've never seen this bag before. Nevertheless because of their persistence I brought it with me at home and after the night prayer I recited my prescribed litanies. Then I contemplated on what happened!

Meanwhile I fell asleep and in my vision I was granted the good fortune to meet the Holy Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. I greeted him with greeting of peace and kissed his holy hand. He replied with a smile and said, “Ya Rabee! How many witness do I have to present to you before you will accept it's validity?

Listen! This is what happened: When you donated everything that you had to that lady who is from my blood and in doing so you postponed your desire to go to Hajj, then I made supplication for you at the Court of Allah so that you be awarded with even better gifts. Then Allah sent an angel in your exact shape and form and commanded that he perform pilgrimage every year on your behalf, until the Day of Judgment. And Allah also returned your six hundred dirham in the world with six hundred gold coins, so that you may find peace and satisfaction.”

After this the Holy Prophet pronounced this sentence, "Whosoever trade with Us, become a profiteer."

When I awoke from my dream and sleep, I found the bag is with me and there were six hundred gold coins inside it. All praise, glory, beauty, love and grace belongs to Allah.

- Translated from Shapna Jagate Priyo Nabi (s), (Beloved Prophet in the realm of Dream) by Maulana Mohammad Aminul Islam. The incident is recorded in the title, Siratunnabi ba'd aj Vesalunnabi.

2.
People whom neither commerce nor worldly transactions can divert from the Remembrance of Allah, nor from regular Prayer, nor from the practice of regular Charity: Their (only) awareness and concern is for the Awesome Day when hearts and eyes will be transformed (in a world wholly new).

That Allah may reward them according to the best of their deeds, and add even more for them out of His Grace: for Allah provides for those whom He will, without measure.

But the Unbelievers,- their deeds are like a mirage in sandy deserts, which the man parched with thirst mistakes for water; until when he comes up to it, he finds it to be nothing: But he finds Allah (ever) with him, and Allah will pay him his account: and Allah is swift in taking account.

- The Quran, Chapter of Light, verses 37-39

3.
A real believer who believes in the true reality of the hereafter will always think of those transactions, the ever lasting profit of which is gained in the eternal life, in the Kingdom of God. Alas! If we were those who have certainty in the rewards of the Hereafter, we would have become people racing to do good in this world to ripe its reward in the Kingdom. This life is the harvesting ground of the Hereafter. Faith is actualized through action. It is through engagement with sacred actions that we not only testify for our faith but also strengthen it, increase our capacity of the heart to contain greater certainty of True Reality.

Fortunately we do have plenty of opportunities to engage in such sacred actions for which perpetual blessings can be gained. One such opportunity is to support the reprinting of the Tajwidi Qur'an, one of the best contemporary translation of the Words of God made available to us and many in present time, specially for Westerners. Shaykh Nooruddeen Durkee’s transliteration/translation of the Tajwidi Qur’an has been a blessing for us all. This is a very valuable guide for non-Arabic readers to the pronunciation of the original text and to understanding some of the meanings revealed in the glorious Quran.

Tajwidi Qur'an is translated and transliterated into English from Arabic. The transliteration (based on Mesa and Hart's rules) is clear and accurate, and is found directly opposite its Arabic counterpart. The language is respectful yet contemporary and very understandable. Additions to or ‘bridges’ in the text, necessary for the sake of English reading, are clearly distinguished by brackets and contain no editorial comment.

In 1994, Shaykh Abdullah Noorudeen Durkee, may Allah bless him and grant him good health, began this work while living in Alexandria, Egypt, as an aid to non-Arabic readers of the Qur'an. After it was completed in 2000, he sent it to a select group of Arabic scholars, speakers and readers as well as to a representative cross-section of Muslim readers for further review and correction. This latter stage, coupled with careful revisions of form, layout and design, took 3 more years. It was printed and bound during Ramadan 1424-2003.

At the moment there is an appeal posted at Green Mountain School to help reprint another five thousand copies of Tajwidi Qur'an. There are some suggested ways in which anyone can contribute in this project. Click on the banner image below to learn more about how you may engage. May Allah increase our capacity to do what is good, beautiful and pleasing to Him. May each of our noble intention and action be accepted and rewarded by the Most Generous One.

Click here to learn about an opportunity to engage to contribute to printing and spreading the Quran

At times, this is how Allah set us free

2012-04-08T15:15:00.000+06:00

Allah give us gifts. But then we often become dependent on those gifts, instead of Him. When He gives us money, we depend on the money - not Him. When He gives us people, we depend on people - not Him.

When He gives us status or power, we depend on, and become distracted by these things. When Allah gives us health, we become deceived. We think we will never die.

Allah gives us gifts, but then we come to love them as we should only love Him. We take those gifts and inject them into our hearts, until they take over. Soon we cannot live without them.

Every waking moment is spent in contemplation of them, in submission and worship to them. The mind and the heart that was created by Allah, for Allah, becomes the property of someone or something else. And then the fear comes. The fear of loss begins to cripple us. The gift - that should have remained in our hands - takes over our heart, so the fear of losing it consumes us. Soon, what was once a gift becomes a weapon of torture and a prison of our own making.

How can we be freed of this?

At times, in His infinite mercy, Allah free us… by taking it away.

- Yasmin Mogahed | Official site of Yasmin Mogahed

fa iza faraghta fanswab,

wa ilaa Rabbaka farghab.

So when you are freed - ascend,

And make the Lord your exclusive object.

- The Quran, chapter 94, last two verses

Human beings appraise not the Divine with true appraisal.

and again,
They have not estimated Allah with His rightful estimate.

Indeed, Allah has Supreme Power, Exalted in Might.

- Message of the Quran (22:74)

Sufic Wisdom via Green Mountain School

it is not enough not to be judgmental

2012-04-05T22:03:00.000+06:00

Thou and only Thou Art the Real Authority of the Momentous Day of Judgment. Thou Art the Just, the Judge. - Message of the Quran

The Kingdom on that momentous Day shall be Allah's; He will judge between them; so those who believe and do good will be admitted into the Gardens of bliss. - 22:56

God does not inflict an atom's weight of injustice. On the contrary, He multiplies the reward manifold for the righteous work, and grants from Him a great recompense. - 4:40

1.
Even though the true authority of Judgment belongs to God, we human beings are prone to judging others. We are socially so conditioned to judge others (by appearance mostly) that habitually this becomes our second nature. Also perhaps because of how our physical body is. Take our eyes for example, which are designed to look outward, can see others, but can not see ourselves directly; and how our mind is, always comparing this with that. May be for this reason it is an easier tendency for us to "look at the speck that is in our brother's eye, but not to notice the log that is in our own eye?" as rightly pointed out by a World Teacher about two millennium ago. One of the great spiritual commandment is, "Do not judge so that you shall not be judged."

In his sermon on the Mount, Jesus Christ, may we be advanced towards his perfected saintly station with God, actually had lot more to say about judging others than just one sentence.

Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. (Matthew 7:1-5) (credit)

When people are religious or spiritual, even then the habit of judging others do not go away, but can even intensify if this layer of awareness is not awakened within. When it comes to religious people, in our time, we often may find them even more judgmental than average people. This is a sure sign of being far off from arriving at enlightenment and because the blameworthy trait of pride is not purified from our beings.

In the context of religious differences, question of theology which can be very serious for people who take their religions more seriously than anything else, even for them the Scripture advices to leave the differences to God to judge on the Day of Judgment and to focus on unity and harmony, rather than disunity and differences in this world. For example in a number of occasion while mentioning that people of disunity when they raises question of differences in theological understanding, the Quran again and again advices to not to get entangled in such discussion rather it reminds that "... Allah will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection concerning that over which they used to differ." (2:113) In another chapter we read, "... then finally to Me, O humanity, all shall return, and I will judge all your differences." (3:55)

"And if there should be a group among you who has believed in that with which I have been sent and a group that has not believed, then be patient until Allah judges between us. And He is the Best of judges." (7:87)

"And We did certainly give the Children of Israel the Scripture and judgement and prophethood, and We provided them with good things and preferred them over the worlds. And We gave them clear signs regarding this affair (of the Advent of the Final Prophet). And they did not differ except after true knowledge had come to them - out of jealous animosity between themselves. Indeed, your Lord will judge between them on the Day of Resurrection concerning all their differences." (45:16-17)

These and other verses of the scripture illuminate for us how important it is not to be judgmental of others, even when it comes to matter of religion and spirituality. By extension this applies to other facets of life, but alas how often people fall into the trap of judging others.

Judging others, or to take on the role of judging righteousness of people is dangerous and a mark of religious pride. In the sacred tradition of Islam this is warned against.

A man said: I swear by Allah, Allah will not forgive so-and-so. At this Allah the Almighty said: Who is he who swears by Me that I will not forgive so-and-so? Verily I have forgiven So-and-so and have nullified your own good deeds. - Hadith Qudsi, on the authority of Jundub

A similar Hadith, narrated by Abu Dawud indicates that the person referred to was a man whose previous good deeds were brought to naught after presuming to declare that Allah would not forgive someone's bad deeds.

2.
Judgment removes one from realizing oneness. Once we realize the necessity of not being judgmental and the underlying truth that judging other veils our heart from seeing the goodness of others, and hence goodness in us as well - we strive not to be judgmental. This is an inner struggle which requires vigilance over our heart and mind. And this can pose challenge to our mind since we are fighting a deep rooted habit.

Towards the ability of being non-judgmental of others, it is not enough to simply to tell ourselves 'not to be judgmental.'

Just in nature no place is allowed to be a complete vacuum, similarly our habit of the mind can not be turned off simply by negating something alone, unless something complementary and positive is supplied. This is why it is not enough not to be judgmental but to go further, which is to think of the good of others.

To think good of others is not easy, specially when we find ourselves already in the midst of judging other, or tendency of judgment within us is already in play. It is worth acknowledging the steep path of arriving at non-judgment state of mind. This is a quality of the saints.

For us, the ordinary sinners and mortals to attain that goal is quite a challenge. Our spiritual elders have always advised us to think good of others, to preserve loving-kindness towards others. This is important because we often judge silently and our mind convince us that the world is unaware of this. But as God knows our innermost of thoughts, similarly the environment in which we live-in (including people around) also perceives this on the level of subtle awareness. This is why those who judge others (even silently), others will also judge them. It happens naturally out of the law of reciprocity. This world is a world of mirror. Others will be towards us as we are towards others.

To practice good thoughts, forgiving thoughts when we see something displeasing to us, to think of the good in someone immediately after we notice something not so good is necessary to overcome judgment. Thus rather than trying to stop our judgment and force our mind for it, it is also important to replace judgment with good thoughts / good qualities of the person. Mind is of such nature that if we force something on it, the very act of forcing something will cause it to hold on it even more.

One way to best transform our habit of judgment is to immediately turn the judgment towards ourselves. Psycho-spiritually speaking, generally we notice bad things (or any quality in that matter) in other only because we have traces of that within us (there is exception to this rule as well when compassion is brought into the equation). A person will feel irritated with another person only because it triggers the very same tendency which is simply reflected in the other. One very effective way to transform judgment is this: whenever any such tendency arise within us towards someone else, we turn that judgment towards our very self. This a lovely practice of self vigilance, taking account of the self (mohaseban nafs).

For example, if I come across John and I feel irritated that he speaks too much, in that very moment when my mind whispers within that "this John is such a talker," at the very moment we look towards ourselves and using our higher consciousness that seats above the whispering mind and say to the self "I am also a big talker, I also have this habit time to time and its time to be mindful of it." If some judgment arise on someone else thinking that "he is wrong, this particular act of his is so bad," we must ask forgiveness to God for our own wrong doings, countless mistakes (as well as for him, which is even better). This is why Jesus Christ placed a lot of emphasis in his many discourses to forgive our so called "enemy" (enemy only because the mind consider them to be) because this in the long run also cleans our mind from judgment in the first place.

Even though its an art of taming the mind, re-polishing it and transforming our habit - this requires compassion for the self and must be done with care. Then slowly, God willing, we may change our habit of being judgmental to non-judgmental to others, aware of our own vices and most importantly to purify ourselves of such vices, by God's help.

Judgmental quality when directed towards other is a vice, but when we use this as a tool to create further awareness of our own faults and to put conscious effort to purify ourselves, that becomes a virtue. Every time if judgment comes and every time if we take it as an opportunity to ask forgiveness for ourselves and others, it can become very beneficial. Judgment of other divides and separates us from other, but turning the judgment to look at our own imperfection unites us with the rest in humility and help us progress in spiritual evolution.

"Whoever knows himself well, would keep himself busy reforming himself instead of talking about the faults of others...Whoever knows his Lord, would keep himself busy trying to please Him, instead of trying to please himself." - Ibn Al-Qayyim

Paintings by Khalil Gibran

3.
Leo Babauta suggest a simple method in his site, Zen Habits on how to avoid being judgmental. He calls this DUAL method for this involves 4 layer of awareness: Don't passing judgment, Understanding, Accepting, Loving. This is what he suggested:

Here’s the DUAL method:

Don’t pass judgment. If you find yourself being judgmental, stop yourself. This takes a greater awareness than we usually have, so the first step (and an important one) is to observe your thoughts for a few days, trying to notice when you’re being judgmental. This can be a difficult step. Remind yourself to observe.

Once you’re more aware, you can then stop yourself when you feel yourself being judgmental. Then move to the next step.

Understand. Instead of judging someone for what he’s done or how he looks, try instead to understand the person. Put yourself in their shoes. Try to imagine their background. If possible, talk to them. Find out their backstory. Everyone has one. If not, try to imagine the circumstances that might have led to the person acting or looking like they do.

Accept. Once you begin to understand, or at least think you kind of understand, try to accept. Accept that person for who he is, without trying to change him. Accept that he will act the way he does, without wanting him to change. The world is what it is, and as much as you try, you can only change a little bit of it. It will continue to be as it is long after you’re gone. Accept that, because otherwise, you’re in for a world of frustration.

Love. Once you’ve accepted someone for who he is, try to love him. Even if you don’t know him. Even if you’ve hated him in the past. Love him as a brother, or love her as a sister, no matter who they are, old or young, light skinned or dark, male or female, rich or poor.

What good will loving someone do? Your love will likely only be limited. But it could have an affect on two people: yourself, and possibly on the person you’ve found love for. Loving others will serve to make yourself happier. Trust me on this one. And loving others can change the lives of others, if you choose to express that love and take action on it. I can’t guarantee what will happen, but it can be life-changing. - says Zen Habit.

4.
In the site Guru's Feet, the author brings out a very important point about Judgment.

"Not being judgmental does not mean to be opinion-less, spineless, non-skeptical, not being exquisite, being indifferent to whatever. If this was the case then no discussion or analysis of reality would be able.

For example, it is not judgmental to say that "this man who committed a crime did a bad thing", it is an opinion (which can be accepted or not). However, it is judgmental to say that "this man who committed a crime is a bad man.

Judgmental is something else. Judgmental is not stating an opinion or even labeling something as "good" or "bad". It is when based on one quality of someone or something you conclude about his whole nature, about all his other qualities. You judge his wholeness based on one aspect."

Taking this point further, it can offer us even a higher level of awareness towards understanding another important spiritual message of not fragmenting the Ideal of God into many gods. From the perspective that judgement is mostly concluding about the whole nature of another being, strangely enough we human being also project judgment to God and fragment Him or Her. In spiritual evolution, it always encouraged not to limit our understanding of the Infinite Nature of the Divine through limited picture of our mind such as crude forms of idols, icons. Because in doing so we do great injustice to the Truth that Divine is Unlimited. It is like when a person may be a father to his son, a husband to his wife, a teacher in his profession, a friend to his friends, yet we only want to know that person by only one label and then limit him only to that. Even when human beings are of such nature, think how God is. It is also for this same reason, associating any partner to the Divine is a same kind of spiritual blunder. This is injustice to the Truth and judging God's qualities from our limited mind. From spiritual vantage point, for this reason polytheism is shun for this fragments God and veil our heart from realizing the Wholeness of God. A sure sign of spiritual evolution is not to see many, not to see even two, but to see only One.

5.
Do not associate [anything] with God . Indeed, association [with the Divine] is great injustice (to Truth). - Advice of Luqman the sage, as mentioned in the Quran

Photos of Sufi Shrines: Postcards from India

2012-04-04T00:25:00.001+06:00

Being drunk with divine mysteries:
In Allah's garden you gather roses.

Hazrat Mehboob-e-Elahi -- O beloved one of Allah,
How I long for the perfume
of our togetherness!

~ a poem by Hazrat Nizamuddin dedicated to Habib Allah ~
English version by Rahat Hasan with slight modification

Here rests Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia, affectionately known as Mehboob-i Elahi or "Beloved of God"

A woman praying facing the Hazrat Nizamuddin's resting place at Nizamuddin Dargah, Delhi


A Dervish fanning at the Mehfil of Sema (assembly of Sufi music), Dargah Nizamuddin, Delhi

Resting place of Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki (ra) in Mehrauli, Delhi

Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki was the first spiritual successor of Great Sufi Saint Khwaja Mu'inuddin Chishti. Bakhtiyar Kaki was born in 1173 C.E. in a town called Aush or Awash in Mawar-un-Nahar (Transoxania). He belonged to the direct lineage of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (s).

Sheikh Nur Bux has written in his book entitled"Silsila tuz'zah": "Bakhtiyar Aushi was a great devotee, mystic and friend of Allah. In private and public he was indulged in the remembrance of Allah. He was habituated to eat little, sleep little and speak little. He was a towering personality in the world of mysticism."

He had no parallel in abandoning the world and suffering poverty and hunger. Whenever someone came to him he would come back to his senses after a while and was then able to talk with him. After a very brief exchange he would show his inability to continue any longer and slipped into the same state of absorption once again.

It is stated that once in an assembly of Sama he happened to hear a verse of Hazrat Ahmad Jam with the meaning: "Those who are killed with the dagger of surrender, get a new life from the Unseen."

Hazrat Khwaja Bakhtiyar Kaki r.a. was so much absorbed in and inspired with this verse that from that day on he kept on reciting it in a state of unconsciousness and gave his life in the same state. He remained in this state of Wajd (samadhi) for 3 consecutive days and expired on the 4th day. He passed away on the 14th of Rabi-ul-Awwal of Islamic year 633 A.H. On account of his extraordinary death, Hazrat Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki is known as "Shahid-e-Mohabbat" or Martyr of Allah's Love.

The Mazaar Sharif [noble tomb] of Hazrat Khwaja Qutbuddin Bakhityar Kaki r.a. lies near Qutb Minar at old Delhi, India.

an Imam leading prayer and blessings to the saint Bakhtiar Kaki (ra)

Dargah of Hazrat Inayat Khan, Delhi

Inside one of the most serene sufi shrine

Symbol of Inayati-Chishti Sufi order, 'The winged heart' on the outside wall of Inayat Khan's tomb, Delhi

Photos by Sadiq Alam | Taken March, 2012

Mazar, Sufi Shrines: The Good, Bad and Ugly Aspects

2012-04-03T23:42:00.000+06:00

Perfumed place of Hazrat Nizamuddin (ra)

Saints are the martyrs of Allah on earth.
- Hadih of the beloved Prophet (s)

The miracles of saints are absolutely true and correct, by the acceptance of all Muslim scholars. And the Qur’an has pointed to it in different places, and the Hadith of the Prophet (s) have mentioned it, and whoever denies the miraculous power of saints are only people who are innovators (gone astray) and their followers.
- al-Mukhtasar al-Fatawa al-Masriyya by Ibn Taimiyya

1.
Sufi Shrines are known as Mazar which literally means ‘a place for visit’, ‘place of paying homage’ which usually refers to the tomb of a wali (Muslim saint), dervish (God intoxicated ones) or holy people. Mazar is also called grave, tomb or rauza. While ‘Mazar’ is an Arabic word, its equivalent Persian word is ‘Dargah’. In the India subcontinent and elsewhere, buildings are erected upon the graves of Sufis and dervishes. Usually, mosques and madrasahs are built in the vicinity of mazars. The tendency to show special respect for mazars developed among common Muslims under the influence of the Sufi tariqas. It was a custom among the Muslim followers of Sufi path to visit the graves of Sufi saints and dervishes to pray for the salvation of their souls.

Historically speaking Prophet Muhammad (s) used to visit the graveyard of Jannat-al Baqi in Medina to pray for the departed souls and the graves of his companions who were martyred in the Battle of Uhud and prayed for the salvation of the souls of the departed. His beloved daughter, Bibi Fatima (r), also used to visit the grave of Hamza (r) every Friday. It was their practice to go to the designated graves and pray for them, instead of praying for them in general from distance. According to the teachings of Prophet Muhammad remembering death is vital for living fully and preparing well for the world to come.

For the People of Reality (ahlul-haqq) death is not something to run away from, nor to deny it or to cover up with ten thousand other distractions. Death is seen as an inevitable reality for the soul to evolve to the next life, to the Kingdom, to the hereafter or the everlasting life. Thus to visit who have already gone ahead of us is helpful in becoming aware of our greater reality.

It is a common practice of pious Muslims to visit the mazars, a practice known as 'Ziarat' for the purpose of making prayer to Allah, Center of all Blessedness, for the salvation of oneself through 'Usila', 'wasila' or 'link' of the person who is at rest in the said mazar. Visiting mazar is not banned in Islam, as often some groups try to convey, but when the act of worship is directed towards the saint rather than God, that is prohibited in Islam since God alone is worthy of receiving worship. That is the significance of Prophet's instruction not to make grave of holy person a place of prostration or sajdah, therefore object of worship.

The place where dead are buried are not to be made into a place of worship. For seekers of God, the entire world is a prayer carpet, is fit for worship of God, for God is everywhere. Thus our Master, Prophet Muhammad didn't like the idea that people would turn a tomb or grave into exclusive place of worship, a tendency which was found in ancient traditions. Common people who themselves do not aspire to rise and become saintly, would take saints as lesser god and hence start to worship them. This has happened in Christianity as well as other religions of the past which makes people forget, first the fact that each soul is bestowed with the capacity to become a saint, a friend of God as well as to realize oneness with God and second, this also make them forget that it was not the communicator of the message or his human form in the past, but it is the message which has relevancy in individual life. To venerate saints in the same status as God is a grave violation of highest spiritual truth that God alone is God. Such tendency is spiritual suicide for it clouds the heart of seekers from Greater Reality of the Divine and hence hinders their progress in pursuing the Highest.

Thus mazars must be taken as what they are, not as a substitute for direct relation between creation and Creator. Real Divinity of God must not be shared by association (shirk) with any of God's creation who are of impermanent nature and it is God Who is the Real Eternal, Independent and Permanent. To associate attributes of God with any part or member of creation is one of the grave violations of spiritual truth and hence is cautioned against very severely in every Monotheistic tradition. Your God is a Jealous God, says the Old Testament and Sufis would explain that term 'Jealous' as how a beloved is jealous for his or her precious lover and wishes him or her lover to love the Beloved exclusively. God being 'Jealous God' means God is the Beloved Who wills that Divinity, Love and Reverence due to God must not be shared or given to anyone else in creation for God alone is God, 'la ilaha illa Hu'.

2.
By God's grace and opening I recently had the opportunity to visit some of the most famous Mazars in the world located in India.

The cities in India where we could visit few of such resting places of Sufi Saints were Delhi, Ajmer, Mumbai and Kozhikode (Calicut). Due to time limit the visits were mostly short, without much preparation which otherwise could have made the experiences much rich. There are few things which captured our attention (I was accompanied by my wife and we both felt the same way) which I will sum up what I felt on my visit to the Dargah and the 'good, bad and ugly' aspects of such Sufi Shrines in general. Also some lessons learned which might help those who might wish to visit any Sufi Shrines, especially in Indian Sub-continent.

Shrine of Hazrat Inayat Khan (ra), Delhi

3.
The Good

As I have mentioned in previous post that the ability of the Mazars or Dargah to attract people of all faith is its best part. I have witnessed the great attraction power of these saints, as they were bestowed this quality during their life time, so it continues even today, many hundreds and thousand of years later as well.

The Dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer, which is the most famous Sufi Shrine because of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti being the most famous saint in the Sub-Continent. Many people are attracted to his tomb, people of all faith, from all over India as well as from other parts of the world. The Dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin is another shrine that attracts plenty of people from all across. You will not only find people of diverse faith but also people of diverse economic and social positions. One can see the most poorest of the poor as well as the most rich people, politicians, film actors or head of mega business houses visiting these shrines in quest of blessing.

These shrines work as a place where faith is revitalized, devotion to God is reactivated. People who otherwise are simply too busy and distracted to turn to God even for few moments in life would come to visit at these shrines and you will find them praying to God in silent devotion. Often there are some for whom visit to Sufi Shrines provide very special spiritual awakening experience, dreams of the saints, immediate and direct blessing and prayer answered with delay. The ability of these Sufi Shrines to make God a reality, to make the after-life a reality, to make the life of a saint who utterly devoted their lives to God a reality is the best part of the Sufi Shrines.

The Bad

During our visit to the Sufi Shrines one of the things that caught our attention and saddened us was the lack of cleanliness and discipline. The mazars which receive so many donations every single day, it is very sad to see that the management people of such places are so careless when it comes to cleanliness and maintaining its logistics. We found that there is a common tendency of such mazars to become a place of merchandize, commercialization is too glaring. People are selling all sorts of things both adjacent to the mazar complex as well as, in some cases, within the mazar complex. One would find food stall to shop that sells pieces of clothes, flowers, music Cds, books etc. This certainly is a hindrance to the spiritual quality of the mazars. If such shops are to setup, then should be given space well outside the mazar and certainly not within the main complex.

The uncleanliness aspect can be attributed to the huge crowd who come to visit the saints on daily basis and also due to the fact that often food is served for free to all. But this can still be managed with better awareness, management and team work. We found even a lack of sense for the people who setup business in the mazar regarding the need to keep the place clean.

Uncleanliness of these places is a direct violation of the pristine cleanliness with which such saints have maintained themselves, their lives as well as their surroundings. The dargah of Nizamuddin at Delhi, and particularly Haji Ali in Mumbai deserves better management. Haji Ali Dargah is located at the edge of the sea and we found that the pathway that leads to the Dargah is taken up by many shopkeepers who throw the garbage directly to the sea causing pollution and bad smells. It is the same shopkeepers who are selling rose and other flowers to be taken to the tomb which is such a two faced attitude to witness. I wish I could find the management people of the Dargah (the office was closed when we visited) and wanted to request to take care of this aspect.

There is also exception to this. The Shrine of Sufi Inayat Khan in Delhi (very near to Dargah Nizamuddin) was the most clean and most serene Sufi Shrines among all the Shrines that we visited. It has a very different quality than any other Shrine, one of the most perfect places for quiet meditation. I really liked it. Inayat Khan's shrine is visited by very few Indians as compared to other ones, which is helpful to keep its environment clean.

The Ugly

One of the most troubling aspects of the Sufi Shrines of Indian Sub-continent is that you will find people who claim to be representative of the Shrines who would try to capture the visitors and would ask for money for charity, for donations. It is especially true if the visitor looks someone who is new to the Shrine, foreigners and new comers. These people have very experienced eye to identity such people and they would come with their register book to collection donation. The problem of such people is that you never know where this money is going, especially given the fact that the general condition of the mazar is not well-kept.

While visiting the main chamber where the saint is buried you will find another group of men standing inside the final boundaries of the tomb who would call people towards them and cover them with piece of cloth and bless them, and with a direct instruction to give money. This was a real turn-off for us because it was conducted in a very impolite way. To offer blessing in return of money felt like an insult and the moment you give out the money to these people, you realize that you just wasted them. It is better to buy food to some poor people than to give money to these sharks.

The most popular shrines come with the ugliest of such experience with people inside the mazar demanding money, pretending to be representative of the saint and all they do is fill their pocket. We had such painful experience both in Dargah Chishti at Ajmer as well as Dargah Nizamuddin at Delhi.

We also felt sad about the fact that in places like this one do not make any attempt (at least we didn't experience during our visits) on part of the people who claim to be descendent of the saints, representative of the Mazars to speak about the life of the saint, his teachings, spiritual discourse etc. Yes there are qawwali singing, but one can easily see how both the singers and the listeners are devoid of its inner essence (except very few) or have any understanding of what they are about.

It is said that two things never mix, desire for the Dunya (worldly materialism) and desire for God, Godliness (spirituality). Those hearts which are pre-occupied with money, materialism, luxury of the world, desire for power, fame - for such hearts it is very difficult to find room for God. The people who act as the priests of these mazars would appear to be people of Dunya, hankering after money and donations by taking advantage of faith of people who is a very grave act. I wish and hope that the true representative of these Shrines would clean such place of high spiritual value from money sharks and false priests and easy money makers and make use of such place to spread the message of unity, peace, harmony and happiness.

Dargah of Nizamuddin Awliya (ra)

4.
Shrines we visited in Chronology

Nizamuddin Awliya - Delhi
Hazrat Inayat Khan - Delhi
Hazrat Qutubuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki - Delhi

Hazrat Moinunddin Chishti - Ajmer

Haji Ali - Mumbai
Shah Makhdoom Ali Mahimi - Mumbai

C. M. Waliyullah - Calicut

May Allah bless them all and increase their spiritual rank with Allah until the Day of Final Resurrection of Souls.

Tomb of Saint Qutubuddin Bakhtiar Kaki (ra), Delhi

5.
Lessons Learned

It is better to visit these Shrines, especially if it is a very crowded one, with someone who knows the place and who can protect the new visitors from falling prey to mazar priests and money man.

It is better not to give money to mazars, instead they be given to orphanages (some attached to the mazar or nearby or elsewhere) or simply to help other people of need.

It is always better to read and know the life of the saint that one visits as well as his teachings. This help receiving the blessing from the saint.

It is better to visit these shrines at off-peak hours, specially the very popular and hence crowded ones. Such off-peak hours would be either early morning just after sunrise or very late night (provided that one takes care of one's safety etc. and be accompanied with local person). This help spending comparatively quiet times.

It would be recommended to go directly to the mosque, if there is any attached to the Shrine or near about and to offer prayer to God even before going to the mazar. This keeps the intention pure and help maintain focus or awareness of real spiritual hierarchy which always, always begins with God, after which is the Prophet / Messenger and then comes the saint in the chain of spiritual authority.

May Allah accept all our visits to the saints, may we learn to sit with the truly learned and whose heart is alive, may we learn to value those who are alive and are engaged in spreading the message than just to visit those who are buried. May we not neglect amal saleh (doing good) and may we not compromise our direct connection with God. Peace and blessings to our Beloved Master Muhammad and blessings to his spiritual successors, the saints, the sincere and truthful ones, the friends of God and lovers of the Prophet.

# Resources: Aulia-e-Hind.com is a very resourceful website to learn about the location of Sufi Shrines around the world, their history and other relevant information.

What is a Sufi Shrine, its reality and why people go there?

2012-03-15T13:39:00.001+06:00

What is a shrine?

A shrine is a place where sacred remembrance happens, whether this remembrance be of a saintly being who is resting in that place (therefore his mission, life, work and struggle are remembered), or a relic associated with some spiritual events (hence the reality of that event and its significance in our life can be reflected) or a holy person. But at the end all these remembrance ascend and are united to a single remembrance, the remembrance of God, the Only Being of Real Existence, for every other existence is of impermanent nature, are ever passing away and only the Eternal remains.

Human beings by nature are forgetful and hence it is said, becoming conscious is a lofty goal for human existence and God realization (and permanent state of consciousness pre-requisite that we go through remembrance). Wa Zikrullahi Akbar, 'And Remembrance of Allah is the highest (act)' - reminds the Final Testament.

In Sufi Way, shrines usually refer to the resting place of a person who have realized God, who is a friend of God, awliya saliheen, the sincere ones of the Beloved. But shrine could be a house dedicated to God, the Most High also. The most beloved and most frequented shrine in Islam is Kaba, located in Mecca, which is the most Ancient House (Baitul Atiq) and it is a venerated shrine among many generations of humanity because this is the first house of worship or abode of Divine remembrance. The second most important shrine is that of the tomb of the Messenger, divine peace and blessings to his soul, which is located in Medina. These two are the most frequented shines in entire human history at present, and by Gods will to remain as such in future as well.

In the Quran another shrine which is mentioned other than Kaba is the monument erected over few chosen servants of Allah who are known not by name but by their title, 'Ahsab e Kahf' or Companions of the Cave (scholars believe that they are early followers of Christ). About them it is said that they were given 'guidance after guidance' by Lord, which is to mean, they were people who received special grace. Eventually shrine or monument were erected where they were preserved by the Lord for unusual length of period as a Sign of God's Majestic Power. This mystical event is narrated in the 18th Chapter of the Quran and this mentions of a shrine to be build for their memory.

What is the essence behind shrines?

In the context of Sufi shrines which are found across the east (and now also in the west), it generally refers to a tomb of a sufi saint. Spiritually speaking, shrines or the earthly resting places of the sufi masters possess special magnetic quality. Because of their attraction, they continue to attract hundreds and millions of pilgrimage. There are certain shrines which are always visited, round the clock, every single day, every month and every year, without exception. This happens because of the lofty spiritual station of the saint who is resting in that very shrine. So much they attained that even after many hundred years of their passing away from the world they continue to distribute baraka or blessings.

Some of these famous Sufi Shrines are the resting places of Abdul Qadir Jilani (Baghdad), Muhiudddin Chishti (Ajmer) Nizamuddin Awliya (Delhi), Ibn Arabi (Damascus), Jelaluddin Rumi (Konya), Hafez (Shiraj), Shahjalal (Sylhet) and many more to name. May Allah bless their soul and preserve their Sirr.
In the Quran there is a particular verse which is very significant to understand knowledge of the unseen. It is said about the martyrs, 'Do not count as dead, those who die in the way of Allah, they are alive, but you do not percieve (the reality of their living)." Martyrs are not only martys who die in holy war in flighting but there are also martyrs of love. The Sufi saints are martyrs of love and their struggle is the exemplar struggle of conveying message of Unity, Love and Peace. Their struggle or jihad was no lesser than the jihad of the holy war. For this reason, they are called Martyrs of Love and it is them who are spiritually alive.

In truth, all of us when we die, our soul remains in an intermediate world, and because of lofty spiritual stations, the saints, the awliya saliheen are given special access to the lower realm - this world to continually transmit blessings and grace from God. The saints, the mystics or awliyas are Communicator of Truth, are Distributor of God's Love and Grace and their work in the inner world continues even when they are veiled from the world.

It is also said in the Quran "to be" with the siddiqins, which means those who are truthful, those who are the most sincere and it is these saints who are of that quality. In the Opening Surah we ask God to help us walk, to follow in the path, the footsteps of "those" who are specially blessed and they are none other than the Messengers, the Prophets and their successors, hence the Awliyas. To follow the footsteps of the saints pre-requisite that we know the saints, to know their life, their ways, their mission, their struggle and their teachings. One of the open secret of love is that the one who is loved, is remembered. It is said, "Love those who are loved by Allah." If one come to know the friends, come to love them, those who were distributor of the message of Love and Peace, then inevitably one shall be attracted to the saints, physically or in absence of that. That is the reality of people attracted to the Shrines of the Sufi Saints.

When asked Prophet said to be near those who reminds one ofGod and the friends of Allah qualufies the most for taking as companion, hence visiting them is praise worthy. Awliyas are Ayatullah or Signs of Allah, it is them who makes God a reality to people through their life, mission and teachings. They are the best transmitter and communicator of God's message. Thus to pay them visit and sending them salaams is a form of ibadat and help remembering God.

Who go to the Sufi Shrine?

We live in a time, in a world when, where religions, all of them have lost their spirit. And what happens when spirit leaves a body, we are left with the cadaver, with the corpse, the rotten and stinking corpse. That is also what we have reduced every single religion into. You name any religion and the same applies to them all. This is a worldwide phenomena. Somehow religion which was meant to unite man to God, unite man to man - have become excuse for separation, for looking down and judge others, to exclude one from another, to exercise hatred and disharmony among man and his true nature, among fellowship of humanity. But religion and spirituality once had a single goal, to unite, Yoga, to accelerate Union both on human level and between individual soul and Supreme Soul. For some signifact time we have fallen from that important goal.

If one to think of a single place where people of all race, religion and social status have permission to enter without hesitation, where no one is bothered about what they believe or what religion they are born into, where no one is stopped because of their faith, where people of all faith could come and receive blessings, grace and peace, where prayers are heard and people leave with tranquility of their being, it would not be church, it would not be mosque or temple or synagogue. Churches have now become: 'my church and your church', mosques have been made extremely unfriendly and unwelcoming for non-muslims and even for muslim women, certain hindu temple even had restrictions for non-hindus to enter and still non-hindus will hardly go there to pray or worship and within hindu community various temple are assigned to various idols, different caste and again separation of worshiper etc. Same goes for almost all organized religions.

But very interestingly if you go to any Sufi Shrine, you will find that people of all faith are there, asking blessing, praying for their individual need, respect and reverence flows equally from people of all faith for the saint, no one is asked about their faith or belief. Both men and women are found there for it is a matter of spirit and matter of love which knows no separation. If there is anything that the Sufi Shrines can teach us, despite all their problems, despite their poor management and sometime over crowded nature - it is this simple truth that religion and spirituality is meant to unite, not divide.

Personally I may have certain criticisms related to the management of these shrines, but still it is this universal and inclusive nature of the Sufi Shrines which I love the most.

What do people do when they go there?

People are of diverse nature, so are the motivations behind going to these shrines by different people. The highest motivation out of which people may visit the shrines is out of deep love for the person who is resting there. Sufis say, love those who are loved by Allah.

It is love and only love for which the shines are built in the first place, it is those who loved them the most were the first who could not bear the thought that the person whom they love - is no more. It is from this indescribable state of love that people want to give permanency to the resting place of these illuminated beings, no matter how impermanent is the nature of our existence be. It is the kind of love out of which a great companion of the Prophet, Umar cried out that "Muhammad didn't die" upon hearing the news of his passing, for this was an unfathomable thought for Umar who loved and received tremendous loving-care from Muhammad. The rule of love is different and here logic and rationality fades.

Even today those who go to the shines, many go there because they feel the pull of love. I have met one lady in the Delhi Jama Masjid the other day, may Allah bless her, who goes there because few relics of the Holy Prophet are kept there, namely one strand of hair from the beard of the Prophet, one of his shoes and one engraving of his holy feet on a stone. This lady was telling that this is the most desired place for her and whenever she get a chance she come here, so that she can see and kiss the stone with impression of the feet of the Prophet. This is love and nothing else needs to be explained. For I am sure if Prophet were alive, people of such love would not deny him but would be attracted to him, so are they even when he is not in his body, for such love is a quality of the heart and manifests in many forms, across time and space and it is through the inner state of the heart that Allah knows who is sincere and who is a pretender or simply give lip service.

So the first category of people who go to the shrines are those who are pulled by the magnetic attraction of love.

Among other categories of people would be, those who are faced with trouble in life, and they go to pray to God through the saint, through the honor of the lofty spiritual station of the awliya. It is also possible that there could be thiefs and cheaters among the people who visit. There would be merchandizers who are there for no other goal but to make profit in selling this or that. There are extremely pure soul who would go there to clean literally with a broom, to do service (seva) and there are others who might be in between the extremes. There are curious tourists who are there only to film and to add a new exotic place in their life experience. You will also come across beggars, vagabonds, ascetics as well. And there are others who sits there using the excuse of their relation with the saint to make money in a way which is questionable, forgetting that its not blood relation that will guarantee salvation on the final day of judgment but purity of heart and righteous deeds. You will find all kind of people there, but it does not matter, it shouldn't.

All it matters is your intention and the sincerity of it. If you enter there simply to send greetings of peace to the saint, know that you will be returned many folds because each of these saints were and still are of the most polite etiquette, are people of adab or spiritual courtesy. It is said that there are certain degrees of the soul, when soul reach beyond certain stages towards God realization, they are said not dead as we mean by the word 'dead' for common usage. This is validated by many Divine Informers and sages. So they are given access from the world unseen to send blessings to those who rememeber them and interceede for them as well. All intercession for other souls by any beings are with the permission of God and it is those who are chosen beloveds of Allah are recepient of such Divine permission to interceede on behalf of other souls.

Awliya or Muslim Saints are spiritual successor of Prophet Muhammad. Just as the Prophet have informed us that whosoever send greetings to his soul, they are conveyed to him and he also send return greetings to them and it is he who will be the archetypal intercessor for his community and by extention for all beings - similarly the succesor of the Prophet, the Awliyas also possess the same quality in varying degree, depending on their spiritual station with God. So the higher the station of the awliya (friend of Allah), the more capacity is given to them for sending blessings, removing difficulties and affliction from behind the veil by the permission of Allah. They are true servant of God and continue their services of distributing for those who are needy, the fuqara.

So generally depending on the intention of people, they do various actions when they go to the Shines of a Sufi Saint. Some read chapters from the Quran, send benediction to the soul of the Prophet and the merits are sent to the soul so that it may reflect back many times to those who recite or read them. Some simply make personal supplication, ask for help, blessing. Some tie knots, leave hand written letters at the shine with the hope that they be answered through the language of blessings. Some go their to give donation, charity to feed the poor or orphans, some to fulfill vows. Others may sit their in meditation and enjoy the atmosphere. Some go there to enjoy and listen to Qawwalis or special song sung there (a practice known as sama). Qawwalis are sung specially in Sufis of Chishti lineage. Qawwalis are special form of devotional singing containing subtle spiritual truths and seed for God realization. The Mevlevis would whirl at the court or hall room of the shrine. Sufis in Africa may beat drum and sing spiritual litanies etc. Any Sufi Shrine will inevitably take on and absorb the culture of the place and time.

Do the pilgrims offer prayers to the deceased or on behalf of the deceased or ...?

Ideally speaking the essential truth remains, "Only You do We worship, only You do we seek help." (Iyya kana'abudu wa iyya kanastayin). So for the soul which is mature and evolve must always realize that the only Being worthy of worship is the Divine and the Only Being Who is to be sought and asked for anything is the same One. "Let thine eyes be one" prayed and blesses Jesus so that only only One be seen. Nothing has any share of the Divine Power and Authority. This is the highest stage and station, the final frontier of realization.

Yet seeking wasila or medium to receive help is part of the reality. The Quran asks to seek wasila (medium). Even though a God relized being may realize that it is God who feeds, but at the same time he uses his own hand to put the food in his mouth. He may know that at the Heart it is God Who alone is in Action and Who Nourish and Preserve, yet he may drink milk from a cow to live and preserve his body. Same principal which applies for material world, also applies for spiritual world where illuminated beings and souls are special instrument of God who helps with the permission of God, with the Doing of the Only Doer.

The Saint or Awliya is only the visible face of the Invisible and Unseen. For human beings it is natural to connect to another human being, to love another human being and it is also logical because for the same reasons Nabi and Rasuls (Divine Informer and Messengers) were sent. There are incidents where Prophet Muhammad was requested by his companions to make du'a for his behalf and he did, and that is (one of) the permissibility or spiritual authenticity of intercession.

Though at the higher stage of soul it demands never to ask anyone else but to God, yet some people of lesser realization would ask directly to the saint and this is valid for their spiritual state and station. So one may see some people will ask directly to the saint and they are given for God's door of mercy is wide and extends to all beings, through many avenues.

A child sitting on his dinning table sees that food comes out of the kitchen. She in her small mind may think that it is the maidservant in the kitchen who provide food for all, all the time since it is the maid who always bring food out of the kitchen. But in truth it is her father who may earn (or mother in that matter) and buys the vegetables, rice, meat etc and give to the maid. The child may take the maidservant as the provider and it is true for her lesser reality and when she is hungry she might ask her for egg, milk etc. The maidservant may provide (since she is given the authority and permission from the parents to give food) and if egg or milk is finished she migh ask her master for more milk or egg and evetually it will be her who will give them to the child. The child is happy. This is also a parable for saints in their spiritual distribution. Just as the maidservant is the distributor, but it is the father of the child who earns and provide but due to lack of higher intelligence the child may not understand all the complexity of a job, earning, money, purchase in the superstore, supply chain etc., similarly it is the saints who are distributors (of God's knowledge, gnosis, faith, deen, love, grace) but real provider is God, Allahu ar-Razzaq. The real bestower is God, Allahu al-Wahhab. The real guide is God, Alllahu al-Hadi.

Those who are in the stage of child, who are seekers of beginning level, for them it is permissible to ask the saint but for those who are God realized it is not permissible even to turn to anything other than God and those who are in between, for them it is safe to send blessings to the saint and to supplicate in their presence but they must also recognize and realize that it is God Who remains to be the Real Giver.

Allah Knows the best and to Him is the final and complete knowledge. Allahu Alim.

Sadiq M. Alam
Musafir
Uttar Pradesh West, on road to Agra
14 March 2012

My thanks to S. E. for the questions which inspired this post. Allah bless you.

+ Next Post: In an upcoming post I would love to share the good, bad and ugly aspect of mazars or sufi shrines from recent visit and observations at some of the most popular sufi shrines.

Travels in India

2012-03-13T23:40:00.002+06:00

Huwa allazee yusayyirukum fee albarri wa albahri

He it is Who makes you travel by land and sea.
- The Quran 10:22

This is a quick note to update that I am traveling at the moment in India with my wife, which God willing, will be lasting till the end of this month. The cities I will be visiting are: Kolkata, Delhi, Agra, Ajmer, Jaipur, Mumbai and Calicut. I am afraid I will be irregular in updating the site during this period.

This traveling is a lovely opportunity to revisit the land which I love so much. I wish the Indian sub-continent were never divided. In this trip I am also meeting some of the friends of Technology of the Heart site for the first time. What fun when Hearts unite! Thats the best part of this trip.

India is the land of great spiritual personalities including many many Sufi Saints. Just today I visited final resting places of some of the most favorite Sufi Masters including Hazrat Inayat Khan and Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki. Last night was an opportunity to listen to qawwali at His Holiness Nizamuddin's Dargah while visiting his tomb and also that of Hazrat Amir Khusro's. May Allah be pleased with them all. I have some observations and thoughts about the good, bad and ugly side of the Sufi Shrines, but that will be later. Apart from the saints and sages, also visited some great monuments and place of historical significance.

Such trips are filled with unexpected gifts from the Unseen. For example today encountered a lady who almost forcefully guided us to a special visitation to a rarely preserved footprint on stone of Holy Prophet Muhammad and his preserved beard as well as a copy of one of the earliest Quran, hand written by His Holiness Ali, spiritual successor of the Prophet. All praise be to the Only Being for such unexpected gifts sent from behind the Veils.

The trip is also enriched by great friends of the Heart and true pilgrimages are those where one travels to friends of the Heart.

If you're in and around the cities or simply live in India I would love to hear from you and the easiest way to reach me would be to send me a text message so that we can schedule a time to chat. My temporary Indian number would be (+91) 900 7419 777.

Do you any suggestion for unusual place or people to visit in Mumbai, Jaipur, Ajmer, Calicut (Kohizkode) and Kolkata (Calcutta)?

With Wishes of Perfect Peace and Blessings,

Sadiq
Chanakyapuri, Delhi

In the Courtyard of the Beloved - a visual and aural portrait of Nizamuddin Auliya Dargah

2012-03-05T01:57:00.000+06:00

IN THE COURTYARD OF THE BELOVED is a visual and aural portrait of Nizamuddin Auliya Dargah, a Sufi shrine in New Delhi, India. Made from over 18,000 still images and ambient sounds recorded on-site,

rapid-fire bursts of kaleidoscopic imagery assemble into fractured collages where a moment expands outwards and then converges back into itself, fleshing out a three-dimensional rendering of place.

Each day, hundreds of pilgrims travel by airplane, train, car, rickshaw and foot to reach this shrine, which honors a 12th century Sufi mystic who believed in drawing close to God through renunciation of the world and service to humanity. Beginning with imagery from these journeys, the film then enters the physical space of the shrine; a unique nexus of marketplace, social space and spiritual haven, where devotees come to offer their prayers and find a moment of reflection away from the din of Delhi traffic. As the sun sets behind the dome, musicians begin the qawwali, a style of Sufi devotional music that ranges from contemplative religious elegy to raucous crescendo.

Click on the image above to play the visual montage

Made with the collaboration of Samina Quraeshi
Original tabla score by Suphala
Audio post-production by Paul Bercovitch
Produced by Sadia Shepard
Photographed and edited by Andreas Burgess

Credit: (XR) Exposure Room

About the Saint: Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia, affectionately known as Mehboob-i Elahi or "Beloved of God," was born in Badayun, India, east of Delhi. His grandparents had migrated there from Bokhara. When he was a boy of five, his father died.

As a teenager, Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia distinguished himself as a scholar, a debater, and a student of the Koran. But he increasingly was drawn to the inner life of the mystic.

When he was eighteen, Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia encountered a group of Qawwalis (Sufi singers and musicians) who introduced him to the Chishti Sufi order and the teachings of Baba Farid, and soon became a disciple of the group in Delhi.

Hazrat Nizamuddin quickly showed profound spiritual realization and was named a leader of the Chishti order. He soon decided to withdraw from the crowds of Delhi and retired with a group of followers to a small village namedee Ghiyaspur where he lived for 60 years. Nizamuddin taught that three essential elements were necessary for the Sufi dervish: Love, Wisdom, and Gnosis. (credit)

In Quest of A Friend Beyond Compare | Sohbet with Carol Sill, Author of Letters

2012-02-28T20:58:00.000+06:00

In Remembrance of the Only Being

the Womb of Great Compassion,

the Never-ending Fountain of Love

To each is a direction
to which Allah turns him, her;

Therefore fly together, towards Harmony, towards Beauty.

In separation, wheresoever you may be,
Allah will bring you Together, to Unity.

Indeed, Allah has Majestic Power
over all things.

~ Meditative Quranic verses, sign 2:148

Welcome to a new episode of our Series of Sohbet where we try to connect and converse with contemporary seekers of the Sufi Path. As indicated with the wisdom signs of the Quran, every person has a unique direction towards which God orients that person. This is why journey of each seeker is so unique, and those who are able to find their Spiritual Teacher in that seeking are specially blessed, as the uniqueness of union and merging of two human Hearts is astonishingly beautiful. Carol Sill, the author of the very unique Book titled, "Letters: Shamcher Beorse and Carol Sill, 1974-1977," is one such blessed individual. Sufia Carol Sill is the pupil of western mystic Shamcher Beorse in mid 70s, whereas Shamcher himself had been a pupil of the great Sufi, Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan in the 1920’s - the sage who brought Sufi Message to the West. Shamcher was one of Inayat Khan’s chief students, named by him as “the esoteric inner head of the Sufi Order” during and after his life. Shamcher has been described by his student as “the ideal of what a contemporary western mystic can be - an activist, an artist, a spiritual guide - working in all realms, the scientific, the literary, the political and the spiritual.” In the late 1970s, Shamcher Beorse became an important link to Inayat Khan's teachings for a group of interested Canadians.

Carol's book is a rare chronicle of intuitive guidance, sharing of soul, passage through the winding routes of Love’s progress, growth and development in the format of what Sufis call Malfuzat or Letters between a Guide and pupil. The book is 'an unfolding correspondence of the soul,' where the process of inner development is documented – in real time, through the original correspondence, for Shamcher mailed all Carol’s letters back to her, with copies of his own, asking her to publish them. Rephrasing a praise for the book it can be said that there are ways for every individuals to intense, impassioned and heightened state of being which Carol and Shamcher were able to inspire each other and arrive at. In this state, openings are created that allow flow of metaphysical communication and guidance from the Highest. Letters do more than just document this process of the heart and mind but also express a pattern for the attainability of such contact with the holy for anyone.

Its a great privilege for me to share this Sohbet with Carol here. The communication of this interview was conducted over email.

Carol and Letters: Collage by Sadiq with credit to Carol Sill for imagery

Sadiq Alam: If you are asked to write a brief "Spiritual Resume," highlighting significant milestones in your life, turning points of awakening, meeting with remarkable persons and things happening from the spiritual perspective, what would that be?

Carol Sill: In the early days, my "seeking" was stimulated by reading sacred books, poetry and the works of the mystics of all faiths. A significant dream after reading an Arberry translation of Rumi drew me further into the Sufi realms and I was inspired to look for more Sufi literature.

I recently posted about my first encounter with Inayat Khan's teachings at my blog titled My First Encounter with Inayat Khan's Teachings:

I was living in Calgary, it was the early 70′s, and I’d joined a mail-order book lending service called the Lucis Trust Library. They sent out lists of available esoteric books and you could borrow them for free. Slow process in comparison with today’s world of too much information, but the library is still functioning. In the list, along with all the Alice Bailey and other esoteric books, was a title that looked interesting with an author whose name looked “sufi” to me. In an Eastern Rose Garden by Inayat Khan. I was interested in the sufis, so took a chance.

A very worn and thick red book eventually arrived in the mail from New York. It had a beautiful prologue about the garden and the gardener, then selections of lectures. I was totally astonished at the depth of thought and simplicity of explanation. It was as if I recognized it all from before. I read and reread that book as if my life depended on it! The book had a photo in it, which I also studied each time I opened it. When the month was up and the time came to return it, I recorded some of the book so I could keep it – yes, reel to reel – I read it into the microphone.

For a moment I toyed with the idea of not returning the book. It was already very very old and had been read many times. The worn cover was falling apart, I knew it wouldn’t last. But how could I steal from an esoteric library? Bad idea. I packaged it up and mailed it back.

Pir Vilayat Khan

Then a friend found that there were more of the books, 12 of them! We set about ordering them one at a time, the hard cover Orange Volumes. How was I to know then that this would become a lifelong study, that I was to meet one of the students of Inayat Khan, Shamcher Beorse, and be initiated by him, or that I would come to meet both his sons, Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan and Pir-o-Murshid Hidayat Inayat Khan? And of course, early in the process, learning that his name “Inayat” was not pronounced INayat (like “idiot”) but inAYat. Through this contact I’ve also met and learned from so many many remarkable people. All this contact emerged from the magical weaving of circumstances and events that is the sufi culture – a remarkable reality that infuses this so-called reality with the presence of divine guidance. From that time on, my life was carried along on the current of my soul’s true destiny. My story is not unusual. Anyone looking into these teachings finds life treasures and potentials to be unfolded through time.

Discovering the Orange Volumes of Inayat Khan were a significant turning point for me, and I became drawn to and aligned within to this approach. But I still hadn't met any Sufis.

At the accidental death of my son, I was taken along with him for a time, and this was the greatest initiation. After that, I had no choice but to set foot firmly on the path, meeting first Shamcher Beorse, and then other Sufis he introduced me to, both within and without Sufi organizations. I hadn't made contact with anyone who was a developed soul that I was able to recognize on an inner level until I met Shamcher, who awakened my intuition.

In existing organizations, some connections and blessings include: contact with Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan brought me in touch with the Sufis in North America; meeting and working with Murshid Hidayat Inayat Khan took me into the beautiful depth of the esoteric Zirat activities of the Sufi Movement; and an initiation in Holland through Sheikh-ul-Masheikh Mahmood Khan. I mention these connections only because they're more public names you may recognize. But my life's path brought me to receive from extraordinary people, remarkable events and difficulties, all in the book of nature.

How did you meet your spiritual teacher and was there any particular even that sealed in your heart the recognition that he is the person?

I first met Shamcher by letter, and when I received a second letter from him I "knew" in my heart that this was no ordinary relationship, no ordinary correspondence. Although I'd read about the process, I didn't realize what that process was until I was taken into it. It was a love beyond love. I would have thoughts in my mind, whole sentences and ideas, that I would then read word for word in his letter when it arrived. I was taken into this realm we shared in vision, dream, and waking thoughts. When I wrote in my journal, it turned into a message to him, and so I was impelled to visit him in person.

When we first met, I was confused. I'd never seen him and he looked smaller, an ordinary old man. He picked me up at the ferry, with his wife Evelyn, and we drove to an all-you-can-eat buffet in a nearby shopping mall. When we parked, he looked at me directly and asked an everyday question. I saw his incredibly blue eyes, revealed almost as laser-lights, and then I "recognized" him. We had lunch at the brightly lit cafeteria, and he introduced me to his world. It was then that he told me he had been a pupil of Inayat Khan, whose books I had read so faithfully. This meeting confirmed everything I had felt: it had begun.

In one of the letter Shamcher shared that “in 1970 at a large meet in Los Angeles Pir Vilayat addressed him as “the esoteric (inner) head of the Sufi Order” and said that it was not him but it was Hazrat Inayat Khan who elevated Shamcher to that position. What was the significance of him being the esoteric head of the Sufi Order?

Shamcher told me that his inner experience had confirmed what Pir Vilayat had said. Just before Pir Vilayat announced this, Shamcher had been sitting at the back or side of the group as he often did, looking perhaps as if he were meditating, or perhaps like an older man closing his eyes and drifting off for a moment. And as he had drifted off the same thought came to him. He opened his eyes and right then Pir Vilayat spoke to the group, naming him "esoteric head of the Sufi Order". This publicly confirmed the inner link of communication between Shamcher and Pir Vilayat at that time - a link that also included the presence and activity of Hazrat Inayat Khan.

Your question opens many delicate areas of exploration and meditative query. Who or what is an"esoteric head"? Is there always an esoteric head of an order who is not seen, or only in this particular circumstance, at this particular time? And whoever is esoteric head one day or one minute, are they declared so forever, or is this a gently transforming environment subtly sensitive to all feedback and the needs of the moment? I love contemplating these ideas. One thing I do believe is that recognition of the achievement of a particular state, when acknowledged by one who knows, offers greater accesses.

While deciding to publish these precious and very delicate letters of the Heart, I am sure it occurred to you that people might misread these letters as emotional love letters, which they are not. It must have taken great courage and strength of soul to put that behind. How did you overcome the negativities?

Thank you for going to one of the main aspects of this book, and an area that can be so easily misunderstood. I had promised Shamcher I would put the letters out and so was impelled to do so. For years I hesitated, but I couldn't wait my whole lifetime. I had to revisit the letters without personal attachment or self-consciousness, and the process of publishing them burned that all away.

When they were written years ago, these letters were private, personal and intimate, revealing the burning of the heart, the opening of the whole being, a birth of the soul - all within his loving guidance and participation.This intensity is a love far greater than the usual personal love between two people, it is a love of God .The experience is not an idea about the love of God, not a concept, not within small and tidy boundaries of our minds. I think this book of letters is for those who can see and understand that.

What is love, what is devotion? Our language uses the word "love" for so many meanings, but it is all one. I don't mind if people call these love letters, for they awaken a universal resonance from the heart, like songs do.

But on another point, who is to say that a personal love between two people is not also God's great experience ?

In the realm of human experience much has changed in the last couple of decades. You've perhaps seen great changes in the spiritual landscape of West, specially in Canada where you live. How do you see the change and what challenge and priorities do we face now?

Times have changed tremendously since the days of this correspondence. We are in another age, and life is experienced with a different sensory ratio, in a very different mode of mind and heart. An intense fervor of seeking swept through those of us who were young seekers at the time of these letters; this was a normal state for so many of us. Now, many of our technologies are taking the place of telepathy as our externalized nervous system surrounds us and we live within it. We physically carry our friends and co-workers with us in constant instant contact in our social networks, and all life and events are commodified, recombined and sold back to us in an unending cycling and recycling of our own energies, interests and activities. Our perceptions are shared, privacy is gone and yet we are more isolated than ever before.

The message of the heart is more necessary in this age than ever. Informational knowledge is not what we need, it is wisdom. The good news is that there is total access to all the wise words down through the ages, and all so-called secret and esoteric practices are posted somewhere on the internet or published and available. Even the information that was considered most sacred can be accessed and downloaded, like torrents of recent movies. The next step is to make sense of all this, and to heal the heart of humanity, which has been numbed by this social transition. The immense popularity of the poetry of Rumi in so many translations speaks to this Heart. Yoga, meditation, traditional Chinese medicine, alternative healing modalities, and so much more that was considered to be kooky or unusual are now openly embraced and established. There are Sufi Centres in, or near, most cities in North America and the message of Universal Worship can be seen embedded in our cultural attitudes and approach.

Because of advances in psychology, people are wary of "the spiritual bypass" which can be seen as denial of the realities of life. Shamcher always emphasized life in the world, helping humanity through following the intuition and the Spirit of Guidance. This is a good message for these days, as we require everyone to interconnect and use the tools at hand to help us save the human experiment. The idea of seeking and of finding naturally leads to service and human fulfillment. But there is a great deal of work to do, we do need "Every Willing Hand."

Again and again in Shamcher’s letter it seems to be that he was trying to ingrain this truth upon the heart that in comparison to the Absolute Existence and from the vantage point of Divine Reality, we “as a separate unit do not exist.” You mentioned that Shamcher often said that he didn’t exist. Would you elaborate of this non-existential existence? And perhaps add your own understanding of why its important for a Sufi who is advanced to melt away in God and hence not to exist, really.

Your question is the essential one. We do not exist as separate units, this is also the message of the Diamond Sutra, it is living the meaning of "This is not my body, this is the temple of God. This is not my mind, it is the mind of God. This is not my heart, it is the altar of God. This is not my soul, it is the Soul of God."

It is the natural outcome of the zikr, and is the Divine Secret. And although we say we are seeking this Divine Annihilation -Union-Oneness, we are at the same time imagining that we will still be able to experience it, savour it, remember it. And so with this mistaken idea we go toward it, "Toward the One," to die before death. These are not concepts.

Shamcher always said he was nobody, and he really didn't exist. He also said he was "a mind on sticks." The awakened intuition functions through the surrendered self, so the Greater Self may live.

I believe that every Teacher, every Messenger has a core realization around which all his teachings revolve and generally that realization crystallizes as simple statement of truth, profoundly simple but may encapsulate the whole of realization. If you were to identify that single statement (or few statements) that capture the message of Shamcher that he attained to and was transmitting – what it, they would be?

He often quoted one of Inayat Khan's 10 Sufi Thoughts :"There is one Holy Book, the sacred manuscript of nature, which truly enlightens all readers.".

He also quoted Buddha's Last Address: "Be a lamp unto yourself."

And Inayat Khan again: "The Sufi has two points of view, his own and that of the other."

In a letter Shamcher nodded to you saying that you ‘are all set to leisurely build a beautiful organization while laughing at yourself and being blessed by those you built it for.’ I believe you did start building Sufi organization on your own continuing the Message of Hazrat Inayat Khan. What was that experience like and what is the single most advice you would like to pass to the next generation or generations to come?

In our time, like other times, the need for building community remains as a necessity. In our time when people are more and more isolated, having access to more ways to distract and cut ourselves off from each other, the need for building and sustaining community is a real need. You were encouraged by Shamcher to let organization form which shall welcome all with open heart and he emphasized what is needed is not 'organizer' but ' heart', people of heart so to speak. What is your view on the need of organization, in the context of spiritual seekers and what is your advice for new seekers (specially for Sufis in the West)?

Shamcher was very sure that there needed to be a radical change in sufi organization, that the idea of hierarchies was no longer necessary and that sometimes the heart of the ditch-digger is way above that of the head of the ashram. He transferred these approaches to me, approaches that even in these times can appear to be radical. He often said, "Who am I to initiate anyone? God can do that without my help."

For years I helped facilitate Sufi groups in Canada, and I always loved the idea of each group having autonomy. Starting out in Edmonton, we were a perfect experiment for Shamcher's way - we were inconsequential, under the radar, just a little group of Canadians in a far outpost. We did it from within, without external overarching organizational contact and instruction. Then as things grew, we became "instructed" more and more.

I truly believe that every Sufi makes a difference. In a small organization, this can work. A new person coming in has as much to offer than the old guard, and often even more. Chemically or alchemically, the whole is then catalyzed and transformed, renewed. It is not a question of gathering followers, but of creating a living and changing community. It is not even a question of building an organization, but of creating a fluid and responsive network, where each member carries the responsibility for the functioning of the whole.

We now see more models of this way of organizing, and they have come not from spiritual groups that are often very stuck in hierarchy, with separation of teacher from students, levels of acceptance and intiatory requirements, (not to mention the gathering of money to support the organization.) The models of the new fluid way of organizing come from the tech world, from bar camps and unconferences. It can work for specific Sufi events too, and I hope we will see more and more of this in the times to come.

This is the kind of organization that interests me very much. Many sufi organizations call themselves international, with centres worldwide. Some of these centres are simply individuals who have taken on that responsibility, and have put their name forward as contacts. They may feel they have "failed" if they don't have a strong and developed group to feed back into the organization. I see each one of the individuals as such a "centre" - the medieval description of God as having centres everywhere and circumference nowhere. These centres are nodes of contact and are connected innerly and seen by God's own eye. When required, they interconnect to create activities or events. When not required, they act interdependently with others seen and unseen.

Beautifully said!

In the Epilogue of the Book "Letters" you mentioned that after the passing of Shamcher in 1980, may his soul be in the highest Garden - forever in the presence of the Beloved, you realized that this relation was truly unique and it was not possible to have a similar experience with others. You also mentioned that after he left his body, you met only in intuition. Did you actively been guided by him directly from the unseen realm?

Yes it was a unique experience, because of his depth of being and awareness, and my complete readiness to receive. And now, over the years, of course I feel actively guided by him directly from the unseen realm, as others do too. Does this mean he is now a sufi saint? How he would laugh at that. When he passed he gave his body to science and left without a trace. How do you think it happened that you and I are having this disembodied conversation right now? It is the same principle, the same currents. We engage and discover just who is the Personality behind these remarkable doings, and under whatever name and form.

For anyone who is newly attracted to the fragrance of Sufi path, if he, she wants a practice to do regularly, something to prepare his, her heart to receive the Divine reflections more and more, what that simple practice would be to practice on a regular basis?

So many ways to begin practice, and study. Becoming aware of the presence of God - thinking:

This is not my body, this is the temple of God;
this is not my mind, this is the mind of God;
this is not my heart, it is the altar of God.

This devotes your experience in life - physical, mental and emotional - toward inner realization. (It also calls to God for blessing at the same time.)

~ End of Sohbet, with gratitude and blessings ~

Favorite Sayings of Shamcher
From Letters

Sufis are seekers after truth, whether they call themselves sufis or not. A sufi is accepted as such as soon as he wants to call himself so, or even if he won’t. To me, everyone in the whole wide world may be called a sufi, or, if not, then I may not be one either. A sufi may know all the jokes and tricks of a magician but he is more serious than any saint or government economist or garbage collector. And he loves them all with a love so fierce, so bitter, and so sweet that in comparison with this love, the magnitude of it, he himself disappears, and no longer exists.

You know your feeling of being lost, of no longer knowing yourself is just a sign of welcome development. For actually, you don’t exist. The prevalent idea that each person is a separate unit, a so-and-so, different from and separated from anyone else is just an illusion. All minds are connected with the Universal Mind and interconnected, and when you begin to realize this it is at first confusing. “Who am I? Where am I?” You are in everybody. That’s why many want to belong to a good friend or teacher at this time, for it is easier to see the connection with such a being than with anybody.

Truth is better than falsehood, even though falsehoods are sometimes comfortable to some - for a while at least.

Not only do your letters speak to my mind, but they also speak and shout and whisper and sigh to my heart. And my soul.

“You are vast,” you say. But as they say in Norway, “It takes one to know one.” Every human being and also every tree is vast. And she who sees that vastness is vast herself. It is in her vastness that she sees another’s.

Let this be the lesson: do the best you can and all things will be added as you need them. We speak of trust as one of our most treasured qualities. Also faith and love, forever kindled.

When a dervish says “I do not exist,” that is not affectation.

- Beorse, Shamcher (Bryn); Sill, Carol (2011-11-15). Letters: Shamcher Beorse and Carol Sill, 1974-1977, Alpha Glyph Publications

Two Friends, two Mystics, two disciples of Inayat Khan .. Sam and Shamcher

About Samuel L. Lewis or Sam, Shamcher wrote: "Where do we find this specimen called mystic? .. A transparent example completed his life among us early in 1971.. Samuel L. Lewis was a native San Franciscan and a horticulturist. Early he had an urge to find truth or. at least, find something. The theories offered him in religion and science interested him but did not satisfy him. In 1910, an Eastern mystic, Inayat Khan, a Hindu musician of the Moinuddin Chishti order of Sufis, came to San Francisco. In 1923, Sam became his pupil.

Sam is like my father, or brother, or son or, perhaps I should rather say, like myself, myself as I want to be. He knows when I am hungry and feeds me. He never argues, never criticizes or preaches. He's just there. I'm taking up my responsibilities in society again because of him, though he never told me to. He just has that confidence in me, more than I have myself.

... Suddenly Sam turned to me, "Pir-O-Murshid Inayat Khan just appeared to me telling me to share all my experiences with you."

- in Chapter 8 of Every Willing Hand by Shamcher Beorse

To receive a copy of Letters: Shamcher Beorse & Carol Sill, 1974-1977

Get a copy of the Book - click appropriate link below to order:
* Paperback edition
* Ebook, EPUB for Adobe Digital Editions Format
* Amazon Kindle Edition

Publication Date: Nov 27 2011
ISBN/EAN13: 0978170555 / 9780978170554
Page Count: 212
Binding Type: US Trade Paper,
Trim Size: 6" x 9"

More About Carol Sill:

Carol Sill has been engaged in the practical application of ancient spiritual wisdom for three decades. After founding and encouraging the development of Sufi centers in Western Canada and teaching meditation in the open tradition of Inayat Khan, she now brings this awareness to publications - connecting media, culture and consciousness. Her writings include Human Ecology: Notes on the Sacred Element Work, Documentary Print and the recent Letters: Shamcher Beorse and Carol Sill, 1974-1977. She has co-produced interactive artwork and websites, and has led various workshops and events.

Her experience and group work is informed from her Sufi study and practice, which was catalyzed and mentored by Shamcher Beorse, Pir Vilayat Khan, and Hidayat Inayat Khan. She has participated in Buddhist study and practice with Geshe Kaldan, as well as taking part in sweat lodges, dances of universal peace, zen meditation and yoga disciplines. One of the founders of Lake O’Hara Camp, an annual meditation gathering which lasted over 21 years, she also founded and encouraged development of sufi centers in Western Canada, teaching meditation in the open tradition of Inayat Khan. Ordained to perform Universal Worship, she provides services for weddings, funerals, baby blessings and house blessings.

Since the mid-90s, Carol has been actively involved in digital media. Her background includes international broadcast and non-theatric distribution, new media education and independent production. She taught for many years at Vancouver Film School New Media, developing curriculum and courses, and also taught several Writing courses at Langara College. A project which she wrote and co-produced with James K-M, Electric Living in Canada, is an overview of digital culture involving interviews with 100 digital artists and media theorists.

A graduate of trade Publishing Intensives (SFU, Banff Centre), she founded Alpha Glyph Publications, Ltd. to provide comprehensive 21st century editorial and publishing services for unique niche-market publications in print and new media. In addition to her formal education, she continues independent study in the work and methods of Marshall McLuhan, after a first introduction to this via McLuhan friend and collaborator, Barrington Nevitt.

Producer, writer, and social media consultant, Carol Sill is always seeking ways to apply the transformative power of social connectivity. Her experience in media, consciousness, culture and technology infuses her work with clients and in groups. She loves meditation, gardening, and tea culture and is a grandmother of two. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia with her husband, the artist James K-M, and can be contacted, her Facebook page is here or follow Twitter @ CarolSill.

Grateful to Amidha Porter, pupil of Shamcher for the wordings which I borrowed for the Title of this Interview, "A Friend Beyond Compare."

# Further Resources:
* Letters: Shamcher Beorse and Carol Sill
* Official Site of Carol and her Blog
* Shamcher Archive
* The Sufi Remembrance Project: Shamcher Bryn Beorse
* The Sufi Movement in Canada
* An Interview with Shamcher Bryn Beorse via Google Book, interviewed by Jelaluddin Boru, Edited by Carol Sill
* Shamcher: A Memoir of Bryn Beorse and his struggle to introduce ocean energy to the United States
by Mansur Johnson
* Shamcher/OTEC Memoir

# Previous Editions of Sohbet in the Series:
1) Amatullah J. Armstrong - In Quest of My Oasis
2) Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore - Quest in the Province of Ecstatic Exchange

3) Noor-Malika Chishti - When Dreams Begin Our Quest

4) Brenda Wentworth - Quest of a Dusty Traveler
5) Mansur Johnson - Journey of an American Sufi
6) Hilary Hart - Author of The Unknown She
7) Dominique Dubrule - Quest of Meeting the Great Artist
8) Sheikha Maryam Kabeer Faye - In Quest of the Truth that will set us free

A Symbol is an Ocean in a Drop: Shamcher

2012-02-27T11:57:00.000+06:00

1.
You expected to reach a firm concept, know it, and found you know less and less? But, that is excellent, the exactly right direction.

All "knowledge" will drop from your mind like useless toys, and you will begin to see but not with your mind though.

- Shamcher

2.
Do you know of any Sufi and Mystic who have worked through sixty-seven countries as an engineer, banker, economist, seaman, jackaroo, soldier, airman, king-maker, kidnapper of a head of state, and United Nations mission head?

Murshid Shamcher Bryn Beorse was one such rare human existence. He has studied Yoga from age eight and Sufism, with Hazrat Pir-O-Murshid Inayat Khan, from age twenty-seven and were friends with a number of world teachers in spiritual discipline. Teacher of Sufism to many, and Naval architect for the U.S. government, he brings together, in his own being, spirit and science. Shamcher had a beautiful resplendent mind of a natural mystic who could touch the essential nature of things. His lucid understanding of Signs in manifestation of creation is shared in bits in one of his writing titled, "In Every Willing Hand." Here I share some highlights from the chapter titled, A Symbol is an Ocean in a Drop.

3.
Playful Symbol of Cross

Many see the symbol of the cross as a backbone of a great tale, an object of reverence, reminding one of suffering for a mighty cause. Its earlier history was lighter, more playful: The vertical line symbolized your rapid rise, prompted by your ambition. Then a horizontal line, representing the requirements of others, of your community, challenged and often delayed your upward rise. But this broadened your scope, and you grew in a new direction. You became wider - ranging, nobler - a resurrection.

4.
Waters of Sea

Life was pictured as the waters of a sea in the ancient traditions of philosophy and religion, particularly in the Middle East. When the storms and waves of the sea of life overpowered you so you couldn't stay with it, you were said to drown. When you barely made it, you were said to swim. When your philosophical and loving attitude completely mastered the difficulties and challenges of life, you were said to walk upon the waters. To calm and harmonize the minds and emotions of oneself or others was called to still the storm. To improve the taste of the ordinary life of hard knocks and blows by a loving and compassionate attitude was called to turn the water of life into wine.

5.
Wine and Bread

In the Holy Eucharist, wine is given as a symbol of Divine Love. The wine is also thought of as the blood of God. With the wine is given bread, a symbol of Divine Knowledge. The bread is also thought of as the body of God.

He who gave up blood on a cross poured tragedy, actual drama into the philosophical symbol and impressed even those who would not have been interested in the subtle and real significance.

Before the crucifixion, as a symbol of the coming event, he gave his disciples bread to eat and wine to drink "which is my flesh and blood". He wanted to tell them that Divine Knowledge and Divine Love was his real flesh and blood - the real flesh and blood of every man rather than the physical molecules of the body.

The bread and wine also symbolizes the well-knit structure of this universe and that even such a flimsy thing as Love is more substantial than we first think, at least as substantial as wine, and that all we eat and drink and feel and think is from that same one source which we may call GOD. Now we know that love is also steam, electricity, atomic power.

Blood donors give of their physical blood for transfusion to sick fellowmen. Simultaneously, they give generous thoughts and good wishes. They receive in due time a corresponding amount of blood from the workshop of nature in their own bodies - and, so, also love, inspiration and generous thoughts in exchange for those they gave, and the latter much faster than the physical blood.

To the enthusiasts, this all points to a climax: That this whole world is held together and run by love, the vibration, bundles of love. Love? How can one explain war in Vietnam then - and riots in Detroit?

Well, the great scheme of love hasn't quite penetrated yet. Not every man is fully clear about it, not yet. God may be perfect potentially, in time, though not quite yet - if God is everything. If He is everything, then he has a few miles to go yet - through and with all of us.

6.
The Story of Jesus, The Story of all

The story of Jesus, his son, is the story of one, anyone, in the forefront. Eventually, it will be the story of all.

Some people brazenly proclaim the exclusive greatness of Jesus, the man or the God. This man himself said, "Call me not good. Only One is good, that is God!" which seems to mean that his message was not for glorifying one man. It was concerned with the Spirit embodying all men. The greatness is in the Spirit. If so, this is good news for the Spirit is always with us. It is expressed in individuals, in nature, in the whole universe, in oneself.

If Buddha seems the perfect expression of the Spirit to some, Jesus to others, how could one be pronounced greater than the other? How could the Spirit be greater than itself? Who could feel capable of comparing and judging them, thus proclaiming themselves greater than either?

Measuring the greatness of men and comparing them belongs to the world of separateness below the spirit level. In the world of the Spirit, there are no measurements, no comparisons. All are like flutes of reed through which the Spirit plays its music.

7.
The Immaculate Conception

There is breathtaking beauty in the symbol and fact of the immaculate conception. Each child is more than just flesh and blood. Before birth, the mother has been overshadowed by God's holy spirit and while the earthly father and mother provide the physical frame, God breathes into life the soul. It seems such a pity, then, that so many souls are born into festering ghettoes and can see no great promise in their physical existence. Churches have been watching this spectacle for ages with greater patience than concern.

Immaculate conception is operating not only among humans but in all the huge and tiny explosive events we call creation. Two forces were always involved: positive and negative, male and female, ying and yang, jelal and jemal. The irresistible positive and male force overshadows and fuses with the negative - the female - the jemal being, and new beings spring to life. On February 14, 1637, one such new life, mothered by Madame d'Aiguemere of France, was adjudged by three medical experts to have been born by real immaculate conception. This verdict was upheld by the Paris Supreme Court after the latter had called in several more experts.

Whatever the procedures, as the earth is made fertile by rays of the sun and as the moon takes light from the sun and gives out heat and light in its turn, so a woman takes on a ray of the Spirit along with conception and, in due time, bears a soul with a body-frame.

8.
Prayers

What are prayers? Asking favors? To some they are just that. Others live their lives in constant prayer although they want no favors, they think of nothing but giving. To such, a prayer is tuning the mind and heart to the vibrations of the Spirit. Prayer is leading one's thoughts and emotions along a certain path. Then one may wish to stop at choice points of beauty and take in the view. This is called meditation or contemplation. There is no agreed difference between these two words although some consider meditation more or less haphazard thinking as compared to the more concentrated attention which they term contemplation. Concentration these same people define as focusing your thought - on anything. When you focus on God or any religious concept, then, only, they say, do you meditate or contemplate. All three activities lift the mind and heart above the daily chores, worries, fears or grudges, and make one receptive to inspiration.

Those who study the physical aspect of thoughts and feelings - as far as they may be studied at this time (New discoveries are made almost daily and during the time it takes to have this printed and brought to the shelves, we may know vastly more. . .) - feel that prayer and contemplation affect not only he who prays but spread throughout the universe as bundles of vibrations, like all other mental and emotional activities affecting with varying strength all other minds and hearts. Many religious people always believed this and, so, prayed in the solitude of monastaries or mountain caves to help, not only themselves but others as well. This influence on others may not always have come up to the expectations of the pious and is not usually a good enough excuse for running away from the world. The urge to run away, to seek long periods of complete solitude often stems from fear or over - sensitivity. Before acting, a look at oneself and a sober evaluation may be in order. But this looking should be exercized by oneself, not by others.

The Nazarene never permitted himself long sessions of solitude. The suffering of people around him kept him in their midst. Similarly, in the Bhagavad Gita, the most popular (in the West) of the holy books of India, the Lord's advice to his disciple, Arjuna, is not to abandon his worldly duties, not to give in to his urge to quit the coming battle but - while retaining his prayerful attitude - to go in there and fight.

Life in this world with its responsibilities, wars, worries and jarring influences, was made by man, for man, for his spiritual awakening and evolution, and is not to be shunned by him who wants to know and grow. There is no progress for him in leaving this world for the luxury of solitude - except for occasional refreshments. There is no sweeter fragrance than of prayers rising from the work bench or the din of battle.

- Highlights from Chapter 7: A Symbol is an Ocean in a Drop (Every Willing Hand by Bryn Beorse).
Click here to read the chapter in full

... who am I (or anyone) to "initiate" another person? Well, say the pious, it isn't you but God who initiates him .. I was initiated by Inayat Khan. I have no objection, nor any inclination...

Actually, whenever my glance strikes another human being, or a tree, a dog, it, she, he, is initiated by me and I by him, her, it, in a whole lot holier unity than any formal words or sign.

And all this appears to be accepted heartily by Pir Vilayat, by his father Inayat Khan (who left his body in 1927) and especially by Inayat Khan’s musician son, Hidayat.

- from the Letters of Murshid Shamcher, Allah's perfect grace be with his soul

About the Book: Every Willing Hand

This work by Bryn Beorse, known to his Sufi friends as Shamcher, is remarkable. About half of it is a rather tedious, sometimes almost whining, account of his efforts to convince various important people of the merits of a plan to provide full employment for everyone who wants a job -- hence the title, Every Willing Hand. One does not learn the exact details of the plan until the Appendix. Few people, I imagine, would bother to wade through the whole thing. But if you do, about half-way through you will be rewarded withan extraordinary gem of an essay about the esoteric meaning of various religious symbols. And then one about the nature of mystical communication. And further on, a beautiful treatment of the power of love to reveal the underlying unity of all creation. And on and on, a series of stunning essays from a life-long student of Yoga and Sufism, one of whose teachers was Hazrat Pir-O-Murshid Inayat Khan, the founder of the Sufi Order of the West.

Bryn Beorse was born in Oslo in the late 1890s. An early interest in Yoga led him to become active in the Order of the Star of the East, a Theosophical organization. When Hazrat Inayat Khan came to Europe before the first World War and lectured in Norway, Beorse found himself translating for him and almost immediately became his student. His teacher gave him the name Shamcher, meaning "tongue of fire." He led an active and varied life, working in World War II as an intelligence agent behind the German lines, then as an engineer designing torpedoes. He was an early proponent of renewable energy in the form of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC), and spent his latter years leading a simple life on the beach at Malibu. Shamcher was beloved by the students of Hazrat Inayat Khan and his successor Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, many of whom regarded him as a spiritual elder brother. The essays in this book reveal a deep wisdom that comes from years of practice.

Every Willing Hand was published in 1979 in paperback by Hu Press, the publishing arm of the Sufi Order Khankah (communal house) in New York City. At the request of our spiritual guide we scanned one of the few remaining copies of the book and then cleaned up the scan by comparing it line by line with the book.

- From Transcriber's Introduction of Every Willing Hand's (web version) | Read the Book online

+ The Sufi Remembrance Project: Shamcher Bryn Beorse