From tariqas-digest-approval@europe.std.com Mon Oct 7 22:10:11 1996
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 22:10:08 -0400 (EDT)
From: tariqas-digest-approval@europe.std.com
Reply-To: tariqas-digest@world.std.com
To: tariqas-digest@world.std.com
Subject: tariqas-digest V1 #160
tariqas-digest Thursday, 26 September 1996 Volume 01 : Number 160
----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Diane Antone <dianean@agt.net>
Date: Wed, 25 Sep 1996 08:42:30 -0600
Subject: Sheikh Nazim al Haqqani
Good morning and Salam to fellow list members,
I am new to the list, I just subscribed yesterday and
I wanted to introduce myself very briefly and ask for
some help.
My name is Ayesha, and I was blesssed to received this
name some years ago from Sheikh Nazim al Haqqani himself,
who is my guide. I am now a Canadian, but was born in
London, England, and I became a Sufi in 1988 when I first
met the Sheikh (may he live for ever).
Over the past four years while I have been in Canada
I have lost touch with sufism but have now been called
to pick up the threads and move on with my practice.
So, several questions for you kind people:
Can anyone give me any information about Sheikh Nazim
(other than what is on the internet - I already have that)
for example, about where the Sheikh is planning to be visiting
in the near future?
I would also like to buy some of his books but have been
unable to find a source - does anyone know of a mail order
source which carries Mercy Oceans and his other books?
Does anyone out there know of a certain person who I would
like to get in touch with again, his English name is Mark
Woods, and his Arabic name Abdul Ghali. He would most likely
still be in England.
Lastly, are there any list members out there who like me live
in Calgary, Alberta?
I am looking forward to an interesting mailing list .....
Peace be with everyone,
Ayesha.
------------------------------
From: pathway@dnet.net (John Womack)
Date: Wed, 25 Sep 1996 14:17:58 -0500
Subject: Questions and Answers
>The only importance lies within the questionor. Because where
>there is a quesiton, there is an answer. And when one examines the
>"reason" a question is asked, as to as many ways as one can
>peer inside oneself and attempt to find the sorce of the
>question, so one tracks ones own divinity.
>"Who shall know thyself shall know his Lord", Ibn Arabi
>
>On Wed, 25 Sep 1996, CLARENCE M CULLIMORE wrote:
>
>> Dearest Michael
>>
>> Why is it important why the question was asked? I have always been of
>> the opinion that there is no question that is inapropriate. Learning
>> comes from the finding of an answer. Often the answerer is more enriched
>> than the questioner.
>>
>> Walk in your passion
>>
>> Morning BEar
>>
Let me suggest that perhaps the question is far more important than the
answer. The question is often a seed; the answer often a sythe. And then,
why does the heart seek? Surely not for a mere answer! It seeks because
it knows.
John.
------------------------------
From: Zainuddin Ismail <sham@pacific.net.sg>
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 07:21:22 +0800 (SGT)
Subject: Re: Sheikh Nazim al Haqqani
Salam dear sister.
You can get information on Sh.Nazim by typing in "Haqqani" on any of the
search engines on the Internet.You can e-mail to mateens@sybase.com and ask
Taher Mateen Siddique for information.He is presently at St.Anne's Priory
,London and is planning to leave for Germany .As for Mercy Oceans please
e-mail yemimt@singnet.com.sg and he may give better directions.
At 08:42 9/25/96 -0600, you wrote:
>Good morning and Salam to fellow list members,
>
>I am new to the list, I just subscribed yesterday and
>I wanted to introduce myself very briefly and ask for
>some help.
>
>My name is Ayesha, and I was blesssed to received this
>name some years ago from Sheikh Nazim al Haqqani himself,
>who is my guide. I am now a Canadian, but was born in
>London, England, and I became a Sufi in 1988 when I first
>met the Sheikh (may he live for ever).
>
>Over the past four years while I have been in Canada
>I have lost touch with sufism but have now been called
>to pick up the threads and move on with my practice.
>
>So, several questions for you kind people:
>
>Can anyone give me any information about Sheikh Nazim
>(other than what is on the internet - I already have that)
>for example, about where the Sheikh is planning to be visiting
>in the near future?
>
>I would also like to buy some of his books but have been
>unable to find a source - does anyone know of a mail order
>source which carries Mercy Oceans and his other books?
>
>Does anyone out there know of a certain person who I would
>like to get in touch with again, his English name is Mark
>Woods, and his Arabic name Abdul Ghali. He would most likely
>still be in England.
>
>Lastly, are there any list members out there who like me live
>in Calgary, Alberta?
>
>I am looking forward to an interesting mailing list .....
>
>Peace be with everyone,
>
>Ayesha.
>
>
------------------------------
From: frank gaude <frank@sierra.net>
Date: Wed, 25 Sep 1996 19:03:27 -0700
Subject: Re: Sheikh Nazim al Haqqani
Hello, Ayesha!
> Lastly, are there any list members out there who like me live
> in Calgary, Alberta?
I cannot help you with any of your other questions and I don't live
anywhere near Calgary, though Banff is always in my thoughts.
One of my dear friends, a natural sufi, lives in Calgary. Her name is
Beverley Cote, email: bjcote@freenet.calgary.ab.ca
Give you a line if you find time. Thanks,
tanzen at lake tahoe california usa
------------------------------
From: frank gaude <frank@sierra.net>
Date: Wed, 25 Sep 1996 21:15:16 -0700
Subject: Re: Sheikh Nazim al Haqqani
Hello, Ayesha!
> Lastly, are there any list members out there who like me live
> in Calgary, Alberta?
I cannot help you with any of your other questions and I don't live
anywhere near Calgary, though Banff is always in my thoughts.
One of my dear friends, a natural sufi, lives in Calgary. Her name is
Beverley Cote, email: bjcote@freenet.calgary.ab.ca
Give her a line if you find time. Thanks,
tanzen at lake tahoe california usa
------------------------------
From: gmtn@mail.comet.net (Green Mountain School)
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 09:56:31 -0500
Subject: natural sufi?
oh oh now we got "natural sufis'. natural in distinction to what?
un-natural sufis?
a soupy is always a soupy (unless they are just a goofy).
no matter how you phrase it, and this phrase is just another attempt to
somehow sneak in the door, there still remains only one way to get in the
door and that is islam.
frankly speaking why don't you just give up.
A. N. Durkee
Green Mountain
------------------------------
From: ASHA101@aol.com
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 11:00:54 -0400
Subject: Re: natural sufi?
>>> there still remains only one way to get in the
door and that is islam.
frankly speaking why don't you just give up.<<<
that is a rather hurtful way of saying something!
Of course, the idea that a person had behind the term "natural sufi" may
not be something that you or i agree with but there are other ways to argue
than anger. Anger i would suggest indicates that the impression one is so
tightly holding on to is somehow distrubing one's own peace ....
not only that it can be argued, if argument is your thing, that the door TO
is islam is not necessarily the one with the word printed officially in a
brass plate and mounted upon it. Which means that many sufis who think they
know islam because they know the word haven't yet a clue and a few who have
never heard the word know it quite well and some have heard the word in a
different language .... (which is not to say that i can say i belong to a
particular sufi order unless i have been officially inititiated)
unfortunately some equate the words with the meaning which is the difference
between a child and a poet. Not that i have anything against children ... do
you?
- - Asha
------------------------------
From: frank gaude <frank@sierra.net>
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 08:41:55 -0700
Subject: Re: Limits
Hello, Imaan!
> Is this mail addressed to me or to Br habib:-)?
To you, from the core of heart.
> Which brings me to my question: how does one know that one has found
> > > one's murshid?
> >
> > By the nudges you get coming from your heart, from its core; some call
> > this core intuition, but really, it is the seat of Allah in our bodies.
>
> My heart told me someone was perhaps meant to be my murshid, but
> things went sour with him; my fault, and now I am not sure.
Yes, it's the way of false ego getting in the way of you aligning your
will, your conscious will, with your fate.
> > > Or is it that the murshid finds the mureed?
> >
> > Works both ways, you each get a nudge, from within, from above, from
> > collective Spirit of Guidance, behind which stands Allah! <smile>
> >
> Then I do not know:-) but in everything I must learn to cultivate
> patience:-)
Yes, patience and tact and tolerance, from such comes love for all
things.
> > > and I worry that I may never find my murshid...
> >
> > Believe that you are more than your body, more than your mind, even more
> > than your spirit, but believe that you are placed here to help others,
> > to be kind to others, to develop tact and tolerance for all things, all
> > peoples. Believe that Allah loves you for you are The Beloved!
> >
> this is hard to believe:_) the last part, that is:-)
Consider that your thoughts, your beliefs are really what make you what
you are. If you believe that "perfection" runs through you you are THAT
person; if you believe you are prone to defeat, then defeat comes, is.
Collectively we create our world. Humans have made our beloved planet
what it is. Do you believe?
> so there are secrets? what if I were to marry? would I be expected
> to keep things from my husband? if he were also a sufi aspirant, would he
> be similarly expected to keep things from me? I am reluctant to keep
> things from someone who is to be my mate in life...
I believe your teacher, your murshid(a), would permit whatever it is
that makes you comfortable with your husband... these secrets are about
what Jesus was pointing to when he is reported to have said: "Cast not
pearls before swine" or something to that effect.
> > He was a very pious man with wife; I
> > loved him on sight. He sent me indirectly to another beautiful man
> > teacher, a sheihk, with many powers and phenomena. But he too sent me
> > away, but to a woman this time, a woman with vast experiences of many
> > traditions.
>
> I was drawn to the man whom I think may be my murshid by another
> means. I have to this day never seen him, just corresponded with him.
> regularly.
I feel, and this is my bias, that you and your teacher have to come into
contact, physically, for each to know the other.
> Insh'Allah, I shall meet the one who is meant to guide me when
> the time is right:-)
Yes, and until that time, put your faith in the loving Lord who made
you.
> so what if we were to marry someone who is *not* a natural sufi,
> and who might not approve?
Don't worry about things of tomorrow; the things of today are
sufficient. Allah knows what you have been sent, use that to the best of
your ability, and stop worrying... think of all the blesssings and gifts
you have: give thanks, hour by hour, moment by moment.
Chin up, face the cool breeze coming from your heart, from its core, the
place of your living God, your Allah divine,
tanzen
------------------------------
From: woodsong@juno.com (Carol Woodsong)
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 12:02:37 EDT
Subject: midwife@ionet.net (Janie Young): Lunar Eclipse/Healing Meditation
- --------- Begin forwarded message ----------
Subject: Lunar Eclipse/Healing Meditation
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 10:16:14 -0500 (CDT)
Message-ID: <199609261516.KAA14749@mail.ionet.net>
My apologies if you get this more than once! Trying to get the word
spread
as widely as possible.
This evening there will be a lunar eclipse, visible to all of North
America.
A friend (Kirsten Agar) and I have decided that we are going to use the
eclipse for healing meditation and would like to ask you to join us.
Even
if you are not in North America, or if you are but the eclipse is not
visible to you because of obstructions or weather, please feel free to
join
us at the appropriate time! I will be viewing the Moon for the entire 4+
hours...feel free to join in at any time. Feel the power of sisters and
brothers everywhere uniting for healing!
If you care to join in an effort of personal and planetary healing,
please
do so! We will use the ancient symbolism of a dragon (symbol of wisdom
and
strength) eating away all negativity as the Moon is covered by the
Earth's
shadow and then bringing back all positive energy as the Moon is
uncovered
again. You can use this imagery or something else that is meaningful to
you, of course.
TIMES
CDT
Eclipse begins (shadow begins passing over the Moon)
8:12pm
Eclipse is complete (shadow completely covers the Moon)
9:18pm
Eclipse darkest (midpoint)
9:54pm
Eclipse complete ends (shadow begins moving off the Moon)
10:29pm
Eclipse ends (shadow completely leaves the Moon)
12:36am
If you are not in Central Daylight time zone, you will need to adjust
times
accordingly.
Janie Young...SDEM...mom to David 6/23/91 and wife to Mark, RN
Fort Sill Oklahoma
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Support and encourage women (including yourself!) who want to test their
abilities in nontraditional roles. Applaud women who blaze new paths.
- --------- End forwarded message ----------
------------------------------
From: Zainuddin Ismail <sham@pacific.net.sg>
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 1996 00:31:53 +0800 (SGT)
Subject: Re: natural sufi?
Sufism existed before historical Islam i.e before Muhammad s.a.wassalam.It
came with the Prophet Adam a.s. because it is the kernel of the religion
that Allah provided Adam a.s. with.It is always the kernel of any revealed
religion but reached its last form during the time of Prophet Muhammad
s.a.w.When Muslim Sufis meet mystics from other religious groups they sense
the Sufi origin of their mysticism and these other mystics should realise
that Islamic Sufism is the mainstream of which they are disconnected
pools.God sent Prophets 124,OOO of them all over the ancient world.Sufism
whatever you called it went with them.It is the way of purifying the heart
and absolute sincerity.
In Islam the four main orders recognisd by the Sunni ulama from which you
get hundreds of branches are the Chistiyya, Qadiriya , Suhrawardiyah and the
Naqshbandiya. In Shiism the name for Sufism is 'Irfan.
Sufism as Seyyed Hoessein Nasr demonstrates eloquently is the bridge between
the Sunnis and the Shiah because the Imams of the Shiah (Ithna Ashari) are
the Sufi Masters of the Sufis.
At 11:00 9/26/96 -0400, you wrote:
>>>> there still remains only one way to get in the
>door and that is islam.
>
>frankly speaking why don't you just give up.<<<
>
>that is a rather hurtful way of saying something!
> Of course, the idea that a person had behind the term "natural sufi" may
>not be something that you or i agree with but there are other ways to argue
>than anger. Anger i would suggest indicates that the impression one is so
>tightly holding on to is somehow distrubing one's own peace ....
> not only that it can be argued, if argument is your thing, that the door TO
>is islam is not necessarily the one with the word printed officially in a
>brass plate and mounted upon it. Which means that many sufis who think they
>know islam because they know the word haven't yet a clue and a few who have
>never heard the word know it quite well and some have heard the word in a
>different language .... (which is not to say that i can say i belong to a
>particular sufi order unless i have been officially inititiated)
>unfortunately some equate the words with the meaning which is the difference
>between a child and a poet. Not that i have anything against children ... do
>you?
>- Asha
>
>
------------------------------
From: Rashid <rasyed@emirates.net.ae>
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 20:30:46 +0400
Subject: Re: Sheikh Nazim al Haqqani
Diane Antone wrote:
>
> Good morning and Salam to fellow list members,
>
Wa alaikum Assalam
Dear Ayesha
> Can anyone give me any information about Sheikh Nazim
> (other than what is on the internet - I already have that)
> for example, about where the Sheikh is planning to be visiting
> in the near future?
>
As far as I know Shaikh Nazim will be in Germany next month.
You can get further information from following T. No. in USA:
+1 415 941 7916
+1 708 530 0772
> Peace be with everyone,
>
> Ayesha.
Wassalam
Rashid
- --
***********************************************************************
"YOU CAN'T BE FAITHFUL UNLESS YOU LOVE ME MORE THAN YOUR FATHER, |
YOUR SON & ALL MANKIND."(Sahih Bukhari)
|
***********************************************************************
------------------------------
From: "Michael J. Moore" <mmoore@antares.Tymnet.COM>
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 10:12:25 -0700
Subject: Re: natural sufi?
ASHA101@aol.com wrote:
>
> >>> there still remains only one way to get in the
> door and that is islam.
>
> frankly speaking why don't you just give up.<<<
>
> that is a rather hurtful way of saying something!
> Of course, the idea that a person had behind the term "natural sufi" may
> not be something that you or i agree with but there are other ways to argue
> than anger.
- -- snip --
> - Asha
Hello Asha,
Very interesting. I did not notice any anger here. I wonder what made
you think
that A.N. Durkee was angry? I took it humor with a message.
I thoutht it meant:
frankly, because he was talking to Frank ( a little pun )
speaking, because he was referring to Frank's speech
why don't you just give up, or why don't you surrender, or why don't you
accept Islam.
I especially took it as humor given that A.N. Durkee's previous lines
were
"a soupy is always a soupy (unless they are just a goofy)."
But if I am wrong, (and it wouldn't be the first time), then I would
have to agree
with you.
your 'natural physicist' ;-)
- --
- -Michael-
------------------------------
From: Well333@turbonet.com (Jacquie Weller)
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 11:42:59 +0100
Subject: Sufi Soup
I don't know if I am natural or unnatural sufi. I don't know if sufi's get
up in the morning, walk down the street, eat beans for dinner, have
breakfast under the stars, don't read newspapers, existed before the cresent
moon or after the full moon. In the Ruhaniats I am called a sufi and have
gone through initiation.
I know some words in other languages. I know some Dhikrs. I have a friend/guide.
I believe there is no reality but God and this concept when meditated on
changes everything I thought I knew and still do not really know. If I am
not a sufi then I am a lover of the Beloved inside looking out at all the
other Beloveds.
Whatever I am, I see no divisions by God only limitations by dogma.
I think it does not matter what i think as brain stuff is dilluted in the pure
stream of Allah in all around all through all in all names and non-names.
I think a tree tells me more about this than any language. Kaffea lalla
------------------------------
From: an525@lafn.org (Ivan Ickovits)
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 11:57:19 -0700
Subject: Re: natural sufi?
The debate about who or what a sufi is or isn't goes on ad infinitum.
Perhaps there is no answer to this question, but each of us in our own
ways- silsilas, heritage, training, etc. redefines the unique response to
this question in our beings.
Raqib
- --
<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>
------------------------------
From: "Michael J. Moore" <mmoore@antares.Tymnet.COM>
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 12:14:38 -0700
Subject: Will I remember?
Hello friends,
Does personality transcend death? Will I remember who I was,
who my family was, events that happened after I die? Or, will
it be like a drop of water merging with the ocean where
all recolection of life on earth is erased? What will it be like?
Is there any agreed upon Islamic understanding on this issue.
My own belief runs along the line of total forgetting but
I this is just my idea and it is pretty much worthless.
Salaams,
- --
Michael
------------------------------
From: James McCaig <jmccaig@worldweb.net>
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 19:59:27 -0400
Subject: Re: natural sufi?
At 09:56 AM 9/26/96 -0500, you wrote:
>no matter how you phrase it, and this phrase is just another attempt to
>somehow sneak in the door, there still remains only one way to get in the
>door and that is islam.
>
>frankly speaking why don't you just give up.
>
>A. N. Durkee
>Green Mountain
Ok, doggone it, I never could stand a bully.
Islam is such a beautiful Way. Too bad that self appointed experts (bigots)
turn so many away. One wonders why such a negative voice logs into this
group. Isn't Sufism about spiritual liberty and the golden rule? Why act
the bully and sully the religion which you profess to know? Shame on you.
Sufism and Islam are ways of the heart. Get out of your head, brother and
think a little with your heart. You are hurting people's feelings with your
false judgement.
There is no Islam without Sufism. There is no Sufism without Islam. They
are intertwined, yet Sufism preceded Islam by thousands of years. There is
no door, we are in Sufism (or heaven or hell) like the fish are in the
water. You could see it if you were thrown on the shore, (asked to give up)
as you would throw your current victim.
Too bad that all your knowledge of Islamic lore results in constant
criticism of seekers of love, harmony and beauty. You must have turned many
away from Islam with your shrill, yet powerful, voice.
Maharaj James McCaig | Sufi Center of Washington
Brotherhood/Sisterhood Representative | Keepers of Sufi Center Bookstore
United States | http://guess.worldweb.net/sufi
jmccaig@worldweb.net
------------------------------
From: Well333@turbonet.com (Jacquie Weller)
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 18:48:36 +0100
Subject: 3 Sufi Purposes
Something in my notes from my little sufi group in Idaho.
Three Sufi Purposes
1. To realize and spread the knowledge of Unity, the Religion of Love and
Wisdom, so that bias of faiths and beliefs may of itself fall away, the
human heart may overflow with Love, and all hatred caused by distinctions
and differences may be rooted out.
2. To discover the Light and Power latent in the Human Being, the secret of
all Religion, the power of Mysticism, and the essence of Philosophy, without
interfering with customs or beliefs.
3. To help bring the world's two opposite poles, East and West, closer
together by the interchange of thoughts and ideals, that the Universal
Family may form of itself, and Human Beings may meet one another beyond
narrow national and racial boundaries.
Kaffea lalla
------------------------------
From: woodsong@juno.com (Carol Woodsong)
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 21:16:17 EDT
Subject: Re: natural sufi?
Hello friendly beings! :)
[...]
> Isn't Sufism about spiritual liberty and the golden rule? Why
>act the bully and sully the religion which you profess to know?
Dear brother Maharaj... with all due respect, we cannot be bullied if we
choose not to be bullied. :)
>Sufism and Islam are ways of the heart. Get out of your head, brother
>and think a little with your heart. You are hurting people's feelings
>with your false judgement.
I pray that none of us 'give up', unless of course what we are giving up
is our false ego. :) Any day now, i feel that i will be 'giving up' ...
complete surrender to Allah! (I'll spare you quoting the lyrics that run
through my head at the moment! :)
>There is no Islam without Sufism. There is no Sufism without Islam.
>They are intertwined, yet Sufism preceded Islam by thousands of years.
I know very little about Islam or Sufism... but i know that i have found
kindred spirits in this Beautiful place. And i feel very blessed to have
this opportunity to be among you... to share our hearts, our feelings,
that which is important to us...
>There is no door, we are in Sufism (or heaven or hell) like the fish are
in the
>water.
And the water is LOVE... please, pray with me tonight, as the shadow
falls over the fullmoon... as negativity vanishes, and pray for Light to
descend on earth... as our hearts open .... that we all may Know Peace...
much love to all,
yondanoota
------------------------------
From: gmtn@mail.comet.net (Green Mountain School)
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 22:12:54 -0500
Subject: sufi words naturally
as-salaamu 'alaykum,
every once and a while it would seems its time for a little tough love.
oh yes words are birds and, so some some say, anything can mean anything
and nothing means what exactly what it is but...somehow i don't think its
quite like that.
words do have meaning - limited to be sure - but nonetheless a certain
level of meaning. not absolute, certainly conditioned for only Allah is
truly unconditioned and absolute - but still...nonetheless meaning.
take the word sufi.
ok lot of talk about that one but it does have a certain long understood
meaning. a very exalted meaning. avery sublime meaning. which, i must say,
is quite unlike the casual and flippant way that it is sometimes used in
this group.
it is a term that has a history as our brother said mentioning sayidina
adam, peace be upon him, who was of course the first prophet of 'islam as
every muslim and every sufi knows.
oh yes from the very beginning they have been entwined and in truth cannot
be untwined for the two cannot strictly be said to be two anymore than my
coat is two even tho it has both inner and outer sides and might even be
said to have a beginning and en end.
and certainly nuh, peace be upon him, brought it out of the flood and of
course ibrahim, peace be upon him, spread it across the deserts and musa,
peace be upon him, on the mountaintop, the rumbling, the mumbling, the
flashes of lightning and indeed da'ud, peace be upon him, did gyre and
gymbal in the valleys of darkness and light and amidst the roses of sharon
as did 'isa, peace be upon him, receive and dispense it in the flow of the
river born on the wings of the bird.
and they were all muslims and every sufi line traces back to the prophet of
the time and i bear witness that the prophet of the time is muhammad,
blessings of Allah and peace be upon him, and all sufi lines trace back to
him as they did to them, and we do not discriminate between then, peace and
blessings be upon them and all of those unknown 124,00 who in their time
and in their place bore witness to the same Truth for that is the nature of
Truth that it is One there is not being, nor could there be, in the Most
Absolute sense more than One Truth.
everything else is something else and we do not speak of orthodoxy but we
speak of orthopraxy.
you are the proof of your being.
by their signs shall you know them.
behold the mark is upon them.
the mark of the sufi is the mark of the true muslim.
it is the mark of their surrender and you can see them lay their heads on
the floor. morning, noon, afternoon, evening, night and most usually in the
darkest watches of the night you will find them, in prostration, marked,
marked, marked.
destroyed. destroyed. destroyed. no nothing. no time. no place. no space.
no me. no you. gone gone gone away. over and over again until there is no
over and no gain, no loss, no this, no that.
"for everything upon it shall be destroyed, shall pass away, shall vanish,
shall disappear, shall be finally fana and yet the Face, the Presence of
your Lord shall remain--of Terrible Might--of Sublime Glory.
'so which of the favors of your Lord will you deny?" (ar-rahman 55:26-28
english interpretation}.
muhammad, blessings of Allah and peace be upon him, brought us the perfect
way and the way to perfection. in this time, and in truth in all time.
There is no tariqah outside of his nor could there be.
he is the one who was there before anyone was there or perhaps it is better
to say he was here before adam was between the clay and the water, between
the spirit and the clay. he was the first thing that was if anything can be
said to have trul be or have being other than Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala.
at the most we are but motes in his body and by his, i mean muhammad,
blessings of Allah and peace be upon him.
and the way came from that place and lead only back to that place of the
pre-eternal witnessing of that Face, that Presence that is is was and will
be Allah.
he showed us how to do it. how to ford the stream, how to cross over
jordan, how to get home, so as to speak.
we watched him very carefully and followed in his way. this is the
practice. the witnessing, the purification, the salah, the sawm, the zakah,
the hajj, the jihad.
and if you say rumi, of if you say al-hallaj or if you say shaykh al-akbar,
may Allah sanctify their secret, you say the life of those who knew just
that and did just that from the beginning to the end.
and that is to take shining very very exalted personages not to mention all
of the pious ones, the sincere ones, the humble ones, the poor ones, the
inwardly shining outwardly invisible ones, may Allah sanctify their secret.
and all their sincere mureeeds and searchers for the way home, may Allah
reward them and bless them in this world and the last.
they all knew, they all tasted, they all witnessed, they all caused the
water to flow over their bodies in purification, they all made their salah,
they all fasted, they all gave even when they had nothing and maybe even
especially when they had nothing to those who had less them themselves not
that they ever imagined they were anybody.
they all tried to make the hajj that journey in time in space that
replicates our journey in eternity. those are the sufis.
may Allah sanctify their secret.
so when that word, with all those meanings is used to mean something else
other than that or, as i have said, the distance or proximity to that
(for at least those who know know that distance or proximity exist of
course in the conditional sense only but then everything in this dimesnion
is conditional)
you say this this you say that we say Allahu 'alim. you talk about shamans
about various other thisses and thats...fine..no problem....Allahu 'alim.
but when you talk sufi you actually mean something that is known, albeit
always imperfectly. that is why "practice" is so important.
because...well....meaning and all that Allahu 'alim but practice
well...there its pretty clear...do you or don't you lay your head down? do
you or don't you fast? do you do don't you say laa 'ilaha ila-llah
muhammdar-rasulu-llah? do you or don't you give a certain part of your
wealth away every year? do you or don't you?
pretty clear.
what you think about it. why gee thats up to you. make of it what you like.
sure of course there are certain articles of belief but none of them are to
hard to grasp.
i mean it is clear that Allah exists. and it is clear that there are angels
which is to say beings of light (i mean anyone can see that) just as there
are jinn which is to say beings make of smokeless fire (55:16) and what is
that but electricity and what is that but what is beaming these words into
your eyes as you read them, and surely people exist for after all i am one
as are you, and surely there is good and evil, and surely their is life and
death, and surely there is love and surely there is the grave, and surely
there is a questioning that takes place in the grave (after all the
egyptians and the tibetans knew that) and surely and of course there is
that intermediate world of which it is so difficult to speak, that barzaq
where the inner and the outer get turned outside in, and surely there is a
ressurection. i mean can't you feel it in your bones? and surely there is a
final judgement when everything becomes clear and even our cells speak for
surely there is a time when there are no more lies and everything is
finally clear and out in the open finally and for ever and surely there is
a hell and surely there is a paradise. it is manifestly true.
and surely all of that shall disappear and surely the Presence of Allah
shall remain.
so which of the favors of your Lord will you deny?
that is what Allah asks. not me.
if you say christian mystics, jewish mystic, buddhist mystics, hindu
mystics, taoist mystics, shaman mystics, polynesian mystics i say sure no
problem. all remains of earlier messages continuing on. and i say Allahu
'alim. its not my business. its their business and they are about it.
its all proximity and distance. they are responsible for their soul and i
am for mine.
but they don't call themselves sufi. they say this they say that. ok. no
problem.
but if you say sufi. well then that is something else again.
it has a meaning. it is a lineage, it is a way. it is known. other men and
women walked that way. they left accounts.
yes yes yes of course there were always a few in every century who were
something else who did this and that and here i mean something like the
bektashis or the beshar in india. Allahu 'alim. but even what they did they
did in a context, in a cosomolgical and metaphysical universe. again i am
not, i repeat not, talking about christian mystics, jewish mystics,
zoroastrian mystics, or even antlantean or celtic or whatever else kind of
mystics you want to talk about. alhamdulillah for all mystics everywhere in
every time.
i am talking, or writing in this case, about sufis who used that particular
word and no other word to describe themselves and there is certainly
something about that particular word and everything else that comes along
with that word that is intimately connected, entwined, shot to the marrow
with the bow and arrow of 'islam and thats the truth and you can take it or
leave it but, alhamdulillah, there it is and it my duty to remind you of
that. every now and then.
peace and best wishes in the is world, the imtermediate one and the last.
A. N. Durkee
Green Mountain
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End of tariqas-digest V1 #160
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