7/31/2019 6.28.12 Rene Wadlow Reviews Sufi Talks by Robert Frager

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Robert FragerSufi Talks:Teachings of an American Sufi Sheikh (Wheaton, IL: Quest Books, 2012 )

Sufism focuses on the inner effects of our practice. The Sufi path, or

tariqa, means in Arabic, an unmarked path, through the desert, where the sandsshift, and there are no clear markers. Following the tariqa requires judgement

and sophistication. It also requires a guide who knows the waySufism ispractice. It is not theory or philosophy. It is practicalA sheikh can helpwith fundamental change and transformation. We can do many things for ourselves,but there are certain levels of inner transformation we just cant attain by

ourselves.

Although throughout Muslim history, there have been fakirs, wanderingdervishes who have no possessions, living on alms and not part of a Sufi order,most Sufis are structured into orders with at its head a sheikh. There isgenerally a sheikh who is head of the whole order, and local sheikhs who are headof a local community and who have a role as teacher and model for the dervishes,the members of the local community.

Robert Frager is the sheikh of a Sufi community in California, a localunit of the Halveti-Jerrahi Sufi Order which is of Turkish origin and whoseheadquarters are in Istanbul. Sufi orders have a silsilah, a recognized chaingoing back to the founder and more symbolically back to the Prophet Muhammad.

Thus Frager often cites the examples of his own teachers in the order, examplesfrom the founder Pri Nureddin al-Jerrahi in the 18th century and also hadithswhich are said to be sayings and actions of the Prophet Muhammad.

These collected talks are what are called sohhets,talks given to thelocal dervishes. They are not really sermons of the type deliveredby the imam of a mosque. Rather they are talks offering guidance, discernment,and inspiration, addressed to both the heart and mind, but with a greater

emphasis on the heart. A real dervish listens with the heart. A tremendousamount of information lies beyond the spoken words. If we listen sincerely andcompassionately, our conversations will become far deeper and more meaningfulWe

can become better instruments of God if we slow down and become more heart-centered. If we slow down, our words will come from our hearts. Our wordsusually come straight from our brains. It takes more patience and greaterawareness to speak from the heartWhen our hearts begin to open, we have greater

access to the wisdom of the heart. Then it is essential to act on our innerwisdom and insight. It is important that our outer actions are in harmony withthe inner process of heart opening and to achieve such harmony is often astruggle. Even though we know how we should behave, our old habits andtendencies still affect us at times.

Frager is a social psychologist and a professor in the Institute ofTranspersonal Psychology in Palo Alto, and some of the guidance and replies toquestions could also be those of a non-religious psychotherapist with a humanistor transpersonal orientation.Nevertheless, many of the talks are Muslim oriented and seek to explain Islamicteaching to people who are probably not Turkish-Americans and for whom much ofthe practices, the forms of politeness, initiation, and the respect to be offeredto the sheikh are foreign.

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The emphasis is on the deeper side of external rituals. This deeper side

is not esoteric but rather a deeper meaning given to common external practices.Thus the book is largely structured around threethemes: the deeper meaning of prayer, of fasting during the month of Ramadan, andthe recitation of verses from the Quran.

In Islam, there are set communal prayers and also more individual prayers,

especially dua, a form of invocation in which requests are made of God, forforgiveness, healing, or for a change of situation for themselves or others.

Likewise, there is an important chapter on the lessons of Ramadan, a lunarmonth of fasting during the day. Ramadan is a month of retreat.Our energies are more limited during the day, so we waste less energy on trivia.Our daily rhythm revolves around prayer and fasting.Although we still work and carry out our worldly duties, they seem far lessimportant this month. It is good to do less and spend more time reading Quran

and the writings of the Sufi saints and poetsThe outer form is no guarantee of

inner results. But it all begins with outer practice We can feel deeply

grateful that we can exert our individual wills toward doing what we believe Godwishes us to do. Every time we feel hunger or thirst, we should be grateful thatwe have a chance to worship God by actively submitting ourselves to somethingother than the desires of our bodies or egos. This month is a gift to us. We needto reflect on why we are fasting, how we are fasting, what part of us is

fasting.

What is most difficult to understand for those of us who are not Muslimsis the role that the Quran plays in Islam. It has some of the characteristics

of the Logos in the Gospel of John: the Word which is incarnated in Jesus. InIslam, the Word is incarnated in the Quran.

The Quran pre-exists its revelation to Muhammad. Thus Muhammad is not the

author of the Quran, and the Quran as we have it today was only compiled into asingle book after the death of Muhammad by the first Caliph on the basis of thelength of the chapters (114 suras) and not on the basis of the chronology oftheir revelation. For those like myself who do not understand the concept ofrevelation, the whole process is difficult to grasp. Yet the Quran is at theheart of Islam, and Frager makes an effort to explain its relevance. The mostsacred day of the Islamic year, the Night of Power, falls toward the end ofRamadam.

This night is the night the Holy Quran was sent down from God to the

lowest heaven that is, to the place of interface between heaven and earth. Onthis night the first revelation of the Quran was given to the Prophet

MuhammadOn this night, the Quran descended from the eternal Tablet, on whichall things are written, to the lowest of the heavens, from there it flowed downto this world for twenty-three years, to enhance Islam, teach the new Muslims,and guide Muhammad.The Prophet was the guide for the community of Islam, but he was also guidedhimself. He could not have been a guide unless he had been guidedWhat descended

on this night is far greater than we can imagine.We are blessed to celebrate the anniversary of this event. It is an event

infinite in meaning and blessings, touching all time and space.

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It contains everything.

Sufi Talks is not really a book of Islamic theology, but rather talks forthe faithful. Sufi orders take on the character of the culture in which they arefound, although there are some common traits, in particular the key role of thesheikh. It is important that there be American voices in Sufi orders, but one

should also look at orders in other cultures to understand this non-legalistcurrent of Islam.

Rene Wadlow