Spirit Matters December 2014

Spirit Matters the newsletter for the Sufi Movement in Australia

Volume 18, Issue 3. December 2014.

His mercy is upon all, and He bestows His gifts on all, both the deserving and the undeserving.

Hazrat Inayat Khan

MEMBERSHIPS & SUBSCRIPTIONS

Membership to the Sufi Movement in Australia is open to all. If you find your-self drawn to the ideals of universal spir-itual brother-and-sisterhood, you may be

interested in becoming a member.

The Sufi Movement in Australia offers an annual Sufi summer retreat, classes in centres around Australia, and a quarterly

newsletter. In addition, members are affiliated with the International Sufi

Movement, its teachers and activities.

Annual Membership FeesSingle-$75

Family-$100

Please contact the treasurer for more details (see the back page for contact details)

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What’s in the December issue?

Contents

Spirit Matters - December 2014 - Volume 18 - Issue 3

Images on front cover and on this page from Azad Roddy Daly

3 Letter from Nuria, your National Representative4-5 Sacred Reading: Health – Hazrat Inayat Khan6-8 Universal Worship on the topic of ‘Intuition’9 Tassawuf: The essence of the path – Zubin Leonie Shore10-12 Discovering Universal Sufism – Arjuna Ben-Zion Weiss13 A weekend of kinship and practices – Zubin Leonie Shore14-17 Sufi Lessons – Nur Al-Alam18-20 Cenerentola or Cinderella: Part 3 of 3 – Nuria Daly21 Politeness Tales – Azim Smith21 The Spirit of Christ – Hazrat Inayat Khan22 Australian Sufi Summer Retreat – 20-26 March 201523 Australian Sufi Summer Retreat – 27-29 March 201524-27 Peace Day – Nuria Daly 28 Contacts

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all readers of Spirit Matters. We wish you a blessed 2015. From the Editor and Contributors of our national newsletter.

Beloved Sisters and Brothers

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Letter from Nuria, your national representative


So much has happened since the last Spirit Matters and yet, in some ways, time seems to have stood still. It has been a difficult year for many of us, both externally and internally and for me at least that has been another learning process. We had a lovely relaxing holiday in Ireland with Azad’s family and friends and then two amazing weeks in Spain. What a contrast.

My cousin, who is now 93 years old, spent about 9 months in Derry (our home town) in 1939, before he was deported to Australia on the Dunera. Yes he was one of the Dunera boys. He remembers Derry very fondly and told us how he had worked for the local milkman delivering the milk and in return he had his board and lodging there. I decided that I would make a project and take photos of Derry and the parts of the city that he would have known. In his days during the war nobody was permitted to be on the walls of the city, but I was able to photograph the city from these walls, as well as the lower deck of the Craigavon Bridge (the bridge which crosses the River Foyle) which is now open for traffic. We even took photos of the house he used to live in with the milkman, as well as my parents’ house, which he used to visit, of course. This was an interesting project for me as it took me back to my own childhood and I even visited my old Primary and High schools. When we speak the dialect or language of childhood, we have a different perception of the world and I found myself being more ‘me’ and just letting myself be. It was so easy and I found myself more open, loving and understanding as a result. Perhaps it was a letting go of having to be some particular way for other people. So this was the beginning of some insight and progress.

As you will see from the talk I gave at an Interfaith meeting, we had amazing experiences in Spain – Alhambra and Cordoba, especially of Sufism as it might have been lived all those hundreds of years ago.

Almost as soon as we returned to Melbourne, I attended the Hejirat retreat there and although still a bit jetlagged found that this new me continued to hold and I enjoyed the retreat very much. It was lovely to be back with my Sufi family again. Then the downturn happened. Azad came down with the flu and then I followed. It was a bad flu which apparently was related to swine flu. It took a long time to get over this and then my back seemed to go. I just couldn’t walk straight and without pain and this is still with me two months later. The outer and inner are so linked and I began to think that perhaps that my disillusionment and feeling of being let down by outer structures and people were affecting my inner structure – my back was just not holding me up any more. And my usual way of dealing with these sorts of things is to find a solution or a way to fix it. I tried everything from massage to osteopathy to medications (alternative and otherwise),

exercise, no exercise! It was not till I had the realisation coming from a dream, as well as talking with Sufi friends, that it was time to trust in the One – the Beloved – and let go of my will. People are human and we can be let down by them, but we should not allow this to take away from a solid faith in the love and healing that comes from the Divine presence. It is such a struggle and the ego still wants to fix things, to make them better. But now I can see that there is a very slow change and I am starting to feel less pain, and can walk a little straighter. What a lesson. Not my will but Thine!

We are currently in the process of having our virtual AGM. Our financial year is over and SMIA membership fees are due again. I am thinking that January is a good time to pay your membership. We have only 31 paid up members – and think of the work that is being done by the contribution of those few hardy souls. It is thanks to them and their fees that we are able to put these funds to good purpose.

Also next year 2015 is the year that Murshid Nawab comes to Australia to lead our summer retreat in March – see the advertisement at the end of this newsletter for details. The topic is Goodness – and that will be a very interesting thing to look at and work with. This promises to be a truly wonderful retreat, so make your arrangements now! Murshid Nawab has also agreed to lead a short weekend retreat in Sydney for those who cannot come to Melbourne to participate in the main retreat, or for newcomers who are interested in Sufism.

So I would like to wish you all a very happy and peaceful festive season and New Year.

Love, Peace and Blessings,

Nuria

Attendees of the Heijarat Retreat, Sydney, 2014.image supplied by Arjuna Weiss

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by Hazrat Inayat Khan


ALL IMAGES OF MURSHID:from stock images

Sacred Reading: Healthfrom ‘The Art of Being’, Volume VIII

Health is an orderly condition caused by the regular working of the mechanism of the physical body. The regular working of the physical body depends upon the weather, diet, the balance between action and repose, and the condition of the mind.

Many think that it is some deformity of the body, a curve in the spine or cavity in the brain that affects the mind. Few realize that very often the mind produces an irregularity in the spine or in the brain, thereby causing an illness. The ordinary point of view regards an illness as a physical disorder, which can be cured by means of material remedies. Then there is another point of view: that of people who think deeply and who say that by not taking notice of an illness, or by suggesting to oneself that one is well, one can be restored to health.

This point of view can be exaggerated: when some people claim that illness is an illusion, that it has no existence of its own. The ordinary point of view can also be exaggerated when one thinks that medicine is the only means of cure and that thought has little to do with actual illness. Both these persons, the one who looks at it from the ordinary point of view and the other who sees from a deeper point of view, will find arguments for and against their idea. Some people go as far as to say that medicine must not be touched by those who have faith, and some affirm that an illness is as real as health. It is in the absence of illness that a person can easily call pain an illusion, but when he is suffering, then it is difficult for him to call it an illusion.

The question, who is more subject to illness, a spiritual person or a material person, may be answered thus: a spiritual person who discards spiritual laws. No doubt a spiritually inclined person is supposed to have less chance of being ill, because his spirit has become harmonious through spirituality. He creates harmony and radiates it. He keeps to the realm of nature, in tune with the Infinite. Nevertheless, a spiritual person’s life in the midst of the world is like the life of a fish on land. The fish is a creature of the water. Its sustenance, its joy, its happiness are in the water. A spiritual soul is made for solitude. His joy and happiness are in solitude. A spiritual person, set in the midst of the world by destiny, feels out of place, and the ever jarring influences of those around him and the continually striking impressions which disturb his finer senses, make it more likely that he will become ill than those who push their way in the crowd of the world and are ready to be pushed away.

A spiritual soul is an old soul according to the Eastern terminology. Even a spiritually minded young person shows the nature of the aged, but at the same time spirituality is perpetual youth. A spiritual person admires

all things, appreciates all things, and enjoys all things to their fullness. Therefore, if one says that the spiritual person is like a young person, this is true also.

People have lost the conception of normal health these days when the standard of normal health is below the real conception of health. To be healthy is not only to be muscular: to be really healthy is to be able to enjoy and appreciate life fully. To be healthy means to be thoughtful; the one who can feel deeply shows the sign of health.

It is not surprising if a material person becomes ill, nor is it amazing if a spiritual person is unwell. The former becomes ill because he has lost his rhythm, the latter is ill because he could not keep to a rhythm which is not his own. Be one spiritual or material, since one has to live in the midst of the world, one shares the conditions of all those who are far and near, and one subjects oneself to the influences, desirable or undesirable, coming from all around. One cannot close one’s eyes, nor can one close one’s heart, to the impressions which continually fall upon

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Sacred Reading: Healthfrom ‘The Art of Being’, Volume VIII


IMAGE ABOVE - Dargah of Hazrat Inayat Khanfrom Talibah Lolicato

ROSE IMAGES: from Google Images

one. The best one can do is to keep a careful watch against all that comes upon one causing irregularity, inharmony and disorder, to be resigned to all one has to pass through, and to be courageous in order to overcome all that keeps one back from health and perfection.

Health is a most important subject. There is a Hindustani proverb: Health is a thousand gifts. The other interests of life should be sacrificed to health.

If the veins and tubes of the body are stopped up, this causes disease. If they are stopped up by water, it causes colds and coughs. If they are stopped up with air – that is by poisonous gases – one gets rheumatism and similar diseases. If they are stopped up by a sort of rust, there are circumstances, there are germs that cause disease, but the disease comes in proportion to the welcome one gives it.

One way is giving too much sympathy. If a child has a headache, and the mother says: ‘Oh poor child, you must lie down on your bed and I shall bring you an apple and an orange,’ the apple and the orange are brought to the headache, the bed and the sympathy are given to the headache to welcome it. If it is given such a welcome, it will make its abode there. There are some people who love themselves so much that they say, ‘Oh, poor self, what a pity it is that you should be ill, that you should suffer.’ Self-pity is a great cause of disease.

Then there is fear. If there is a dog in your street, and you show the dog that you are afraid, it will attack you. So it is with disease. I know this through my own experience. When I used to go about in India to give concerts, I used to think, ‘What will happen if I have a cold on the day of the concert? If it comes before it does not matter, but if it comes on the day of the concert, it will be terrible.’ And on the day of the concert the cold came and went into my throat. Until I learned the way of it the cold would always come. Another thought is ‘What will become of me I am

well this week, but how shall I be next week? I may be ill. I am well this year, but next year I may be ill. I must take some precautions.’

A rich lady whom I knew in Paris once wrote to me saying, ‘Murshid, I cannot come to your lecture.’ I went to see her, expecting to find her very ill. She said, ‘I cannot go out of the house or see anyone; the doctor forbade me.’ I asked, ‘Have you any pain?’ ‘No’, she answered, ‘I do not know; but the doctor told me not to go out.’ I said, ‘Is your doctor a god, is he a prophet or a messenger of God, that he has brought you a message of sickness?’

Question: Why does illness come upon us?

Answer: Illness comes because we allow it to come. We allow it either consciously or unconsciously, and it stays where it finds a welcome, sympathy, a bed prepared for it, a doctor to attend to it. Illness always comes from something bad: bad atmosphere, bad food, and bad surroundings.

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Universal Worship on the topic of IntuitionReadings from Zubin Shore


We read from the Hindu ScripturesBhagavad Gita

Intuition does not require any evidence at all; when you have intuition, you don’t have to ask about it, because you know it’s right. That knowledge helps you see things and know things as they are, and then you no longer see things incompletely and partially. (Essential Swami Rama)

Intuition is like a spherical light, with rays on all sides. Intuition is the bridge between the soul and the ego’s thoughts and sensations. If, for a sufficient length of time, one can remain unidentified with thoughts and sensations, and without being unconscious, one will know through the development of intuition the nature of the soul – a keenness of joyful being in which the thinking, thought, and thinker have become one – therein is the soul’s consciousness. The advanced student should meditate deeply until, in the lake of intuition, free from the waves of thought, the yogi can see the unruffled reflection of the moon of the soul. (Chapter II, God Talks With Arjuna)

We read from the Buddhist Scriptures:Dhammapada

The Dhammapada is clear on the principles to be discerned by insight: that all conditioned things are impermanent, that they are all unsatisfactory, that there is no self or truly existent ego entity to be found in anything whatsoever. When these truths are penetrated by direct experience, the craving, ignorance and related mental fetters maintaining bondage break asunder. With the mind made clear and steady, the disciple learns to contemplate the arising and falling away of all formations, and rises through successive stages of realization to the full attainment of Nirvana.

We read from the Zoroastrian Scriptures:The Gathas of Zarathustra,

No.56: The Just God Knows All

With Thy keen eye Thou observes and watches all, as required by justice. All we have are gifts from God, and God has made us capable of free will, with the capacity to know what we are doing when we choose. If wise when ever we fall into doubt, we shall look within, to the spirit of true Devotion or to God’s grace in the heart, and then we shall know what we have to do. God knows all the hidden

motives and aspirations, and when in this world we seem to receive less than our due we may be sure God has noted all and will restore the balance later on.

We read from the Hebrew scriptures:We are all rich, deep within. Great people receive a small fountain from that knowledge. The knowledge of the mind, the senses, and instinctual knowledge, all those resources are important, but the highest of all knowledge is intuition. According to the Old Testament, God’s knowledge is perfect. The omniscience of God is a constant underlying presupposition when it is said that God watches human’s actions, knows their acts and words, and discloses to them the future. God’s knowledge is perfect, free from all limits of space, God’s omniscience is often mentioned with God’s omnipresence. Deep within you lies the library of intuition.

We read from the Christian Scriptures:The human spirit comprises three parts, or three main functions. These are conscience, intuition and communion. Intuition is the sensing organ of the human spirit. Intuition involves a direct sensing independent of any outside influence. That knowledge which comes to us without any help from the mind, emotion or volition comes intuitively. We really ‘know’ through our intuition; our mind merely helps us to ‘understand’. The revelations of God and all the movements of the Holy Spirit are known to the believer through his intuition. A believer must therefore heed both the voice of conscience and the teaching of intuition.

We read from the Scriptures of Islam:Quran xv11 section 9, 78-81

Establish regular prayers. At the sun’s decline Till the darkness of the night, and the morning prayer and reading: for the Prayer and Reading in the morning carry their testimony. And pray in the small watches of the morning. (It would be) an additional prayer or spiritual profit. For Thee, soon will thy Lord Raise thee to a station Of Praise and Glory. Say ‘O my Lord! Let my entry be by the Gate of Truth and Honour, and likewise My exit by the Gate Of Truth and Honour. And grant me From Thy Presence an authority to aid me. And say Truth has now Arrived, and Falsehood is by its nature bound to perish.’

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Universal Worship on the topic of Insight

IMAGE ON THIS PAGE:from Azad Daly

We read from the Gayan:Put thy trust in God for support and feel God’s hidden hand working through all sources. When the soul is attuned, its every action becomes a music. In nature it is God who by the hand of man designs and carries out his intended plan. All situations of life are tests to distinguish between the real and the false. Reason is learned from the ever-changing world but knowledge comes from the essence of life. It is the exaltation of the spirit which is productive of all beauty.

Homily by Talibah Josephine Mavec Lolicato

Welcome to this Universal Worship as we contemplate the phenomenon of intuition, its nature and the means by which to nurture this capacity.

So what is intuition? Broadly speaking, it is that ability to understand something instinctively and without the need for conscious reasoning. We may speak of having a hunch, a feeling in one’s bones, a gut feeling, a sneaking suspicion or an impression. Intuition may well guide many successful people in all walks of life, dare I say that of business and science! Though to speak of this in the realms of many work places would be contrary to logical scientific requirements.

Let us at this point be courageous and ride on the wings of Rumi’s invitation: sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment. Cleverness is mere opinion, bewilderment intuition.

The Quran reminds us to establish regular prayers. The prayers gifted to us by Hazrat Inayat Khan offer the wisdom of insight that came unhindered to the Master. Khatum takes one immediately to the place and the essence of Intuition: Open our hearts, that we may hear Thy Voice, which constantly cometh from within; Disclose to us Thy Divine Light, which is hidden in our souls, that we may know and understand life better.

There are many symbols for intuitive wisdom such as Hokhmah, Shekhina, Inner Voices, the angel Gabriel and the dove. The New Testament asserts that ‘intuition is the sensing organ of the human spirit involving a direct sensing independent of any outside influence’. Jewish wisdom assures that we are all rich … deep within lies the library of intuition.

In the language of Hazrat Inayat Khan, intuition resides deep in our hearts as the Divine Light, the Spirit of Guidance, ever ready to infuse our life. Hazrat Inayat Khan says that ‘when the ears which open outwardly are closed to the outside world and focused upon the heart within, then instead of hearing all that comes from the outer life,

one begins to hear the words within … Intuition rises from the depths of the human heart’.

Intuition can be a challenging and evasive aspiration. Hazrat Inayat Khan shared this humble experience. I have learned more by my faults than by my virtues; if I had always acted aright, I could not be human. My intuition never fails me, but I fail whenever I do not listen to it (Gayan:Gamakas).

Why should it be so difficult to trust our intuition? Here is the catch – intuition vanishes at the first sign of doubt or any questioning. Hazrat Inayat Khan reminds us that as soon as Intuition springs up, reason, its competitor, rises also and says, ‘No, it is not so.’ Then there is conflict in the mind and it is hard to distinguish, because there are two feelings at the same time (IV:223). The Bhagavad Gita affirms that ‘intuition is the bridge between the soul and the ego’s thoughts and sensations’.

How can the impact of doubt be counteracted if intuition is to be valued and nurtured? Zarathustra suggests that ‘devotion asks of the Spirit immediately any doubts arise’. Rumi said of intuition ‘in disciplined silence it opens. With wandering talk it closes.’ Devotion and silent inner work free the intuitive impulse.

One may ask from where does this Divine Wisdom and knowing come from? Hazrat Inayat Khan says ‘the Spirit of Guidance may be called … the divine mind…The experience of every soul becomes the experience of the divine mind; therefore the divine mind has the knowledge of all beings. It is a storehouse of perfect wisdom’ (IX:139).

Intuition as light enters the heart space that is purified and made spacious by breath and thought. Hazrat Inayat Khan encouragingly states that as ‘one goes still deeper within, one begins to live in the soul. Inspiration, intuition, vision, revelation are natural to this person … It is the soul which begins to see. …What enables one to attain to this stage is the way of meditation under the guidance of the right teacher’ (IV).

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Universal Worship on the topic of Intuition

FLOWER IMAGE: from Azad Daly

Dhammapada speaks of meditation as ‘the mind made clear and steady’. The Bhagavad Gita suggests that ‘the advanced student should meditate deeply until thoughts dissolve into intuition’. In the Buddhist Heart of Great Wisdom Prajna Sutra, prajna is wisdom of intuition or intuitive ability. The Sutra ends with Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Svaha. A literal translation being, Gone, Gone, Totally gone, completely gone, Perfect Wisdom, So be it.

Our Sufi lineage offers initiation to individuals who wish to join companions on this path of the heart with the guidance of a teacher. A mureed is given appropriate practices that will develop their capacity for concentration and meditation. The teacher shows ‘how one can clear their path towards the light within by their own self’ (I:47). The practices may include concentration on the elements, prayer, the practice of Zikar, the chromatic Zikar, practices with the breath, wazifa, Fikar, Kasab and Shagal. Ultimately, their intention is to enable a balance of rhythm between head and heart, power and wisdom, activity and repose, thought and feeling.

Hazrat Inayat Khan tells us that a child’s ‘first tendency is to enjoy and experience all that is outside itself, and … usually gets no chance to experience what is within ... the body is equipped … with the means, by which to experience both the life outside and the life within. …We know the use of our hands and feet, which are outer parts of the physical mechanism. But there are inner and finer parts of the physical mechanism which mystics have called centres’ (IV:130) .

Pranayama is the science of breath with focus on the chakra centres. It is also known as energy centres, etheric centres of consciousness, or lataifa, the subtleties. The energy centres are the crown, the third eye, the throat, the chest, the solar plexus, the sacrum and the base of the spinal column. The aura could be an eighth chakra. Directing the breath, our conscious energy, one activates these fine centres. In the yogi tradition both posture and thought help to direct a thought in a certain direction.

Concentrating and sending breath with a thought to the subtle centres evokes sympathy and develops life. It is sympathy which opens the heart. The Sufis know this can be done with the practice of Zikr or Mantram. The

practices of Zikr, LA EL LA HA–EL ALLAH HU, or mantram such as, Ya Shafee Ya Kafee, work with vibrations on these fine centres. Hazrat Inayat Khan explains that ‘the repetition of these mystical words vibrate the centres … with that vibration a thought is held in the mind and so concentration is developed at the same time. It helps the love nature or sympathetic nature to be deepened and centralized in the person. As the love nature develops it begins to flow out, and its outflowing creates an akasha, a capacity for action on the physical plane’ (XIV).

Fikr is a concentration that swings a thought on the natural movement of the breath. As breath, Shakti, Prana is life thence the thought is given life, circulating in our blood, spinal fluids and tissue, creating the possibility for the thought to become part of our speech and action.

The ability to convey a healing thought through the breath is developed through practice in concentration and the development of breath. Hazrat Inayat Khan taught that ‘the means of receiving all intuitive knowledge from every direction of life is to be conscious of every breath’ (Biography).

The harmony of devotional songs and chants are fuelled by concentration and breath. A practice charms the soul to manifest her light as intuition, inspiration, vision and revelation.

Mastery of the breath allows one to become invigorated and this self-control creates a peaceful state of mind. When our body is in repose, our mind at rest and our heart peaceful then we open the door for intuition to flow unhindered. As a person’s inner life grows, one begins to feel the spirit of freedom in thought, speech and action. Intuition is a consequence of a person’s journey towards the depth of their being. For the person who has realised the inner life, who lives in the heart, every act is a meditation.

These reflections are sealed with the sublime invitation from Hazrat Inayat Khan: become as a drop assimilated in its origin, for one moment, all that belongs to the origin is attracted by this drop. The drop has taken its origin everything it has in life. It is newly charged and has become illumined again (IV:166).

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Tassawuf: The essence of the path

DARGAH IMAGE: Talibah LolicatoPEARL IMAGES from Google images

by Zubin Leonie Shore

If one wants to immerse themselves in the teachings of Hazrat Inayat Khan, what better place than his Dargah where staff and pilgrims pray every day? At the co-located Hazrat Inayat Khan Retreat House, an oasis in Delhi, one can focus on practices under the guidance of Murshid Nawab Pasnak, who has been conducting the eight day retreat in November for more than a decade.

In 2014 this retreat was titled ‘Tassawuf- the Essence of the Path. The principal thing in the esoteric knowledge is to distinguish between reality and individuality. What a person knows of himself is individuality: what he is generally ignorant of is reality.’

Humbly hoping to ‘follow more closely in the footsteps that lead to the eternal goal’ souls from Europe, Canada, Australia and India proceeded to strip their worldly baggage in the midst of the community of Nizamuddin Basti with its calls to prayer echoing from before dawn until after dusk each day.

Each day at about the time the sun was rising, we were drawn to the hall in our own time, or is it in God’s time? We shared breakfast and then prayed together for much of the morning. Some days an agreeable silence was required, and by mid-week there was a shift. The experience I had may be described as being in the mind, or on the surface of the heart, and wondering how to achieve the goal of being ‘in’ the heart? Slowly the practices brought the experience of being ‘in’ the heart, along with trust in God, peace and understanding; a subtle yet profound shift.

In this soft light, the group occasionally regaled each other with stories from the Sufi teachings, and stories of how the essence of the path is acknowledged and sustained in their families and communities. There were many metaphors, and one poem shared quite widely was Pearls of Knowledge from Shabistari’s The Secret Rose Garden.

In the sea of Uman, the pearl oystersRise to the surface from the lowest depths,And wait with opened mouths.Then arises from the sea a mist,Which falls again in raindropsInto the mouths of the shells(At the command of the Truth).Straightway is each closed as by a hundred bonds,And the shells sink back againInto the ocean’s depths,Bearing in their hearts the pearl drops which divers seek to find.The sea is Being, the shore the body;The mist, grace, and the rain, knowledge of the Name.Human wisdom is the diverWho holds enwrapped in his garmentA hundred pearls;The soul in a swift lightning’s flashBears to the listening ear voices and messagesFrom the shells of knowledge;Then when the husks are opened,Behold the royal shimmering pearls!

(taken from ‘The Essence of Sufism’ by John Baldock. 2004. Arcturus Publishing. London)

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Discovering Universal Sufism: A personal journeyby Arjuna Ben-Zion WeissUniversal Sufism is a universalist spiritual movement founded by Hazrat Inayat Khan while traveling throughout the West between 1910 and 1926, and based on the unity of all people and religions and the presence of spiritual guidance in all people, places and things. Hazrat Inayat Khan was himself an initiate of the Chishti, Naqshbandi, Suhrawardi, and Qadiri Sufi orders, and was instructed to bring Sufism to the West by his own teacher, Hazrat Shaykh al-Mashaykh Muhammad Abu Hashim Madani. 1

It was through the Dances of Universal Peace that I discovered Universal Sufism. I discovered the dances in the early 90s. Like so much guidance this came to me in 3s. In some ways, I grew up with Sufi influences in my background. I was born in Romania that was part of the Ottoman Empire and my dad used to tell Nasrudin stories as anecdotes. When I was teaching adult migrant English I discovered that many of the Russian students were also familiar with these stories. But in more recent years it was through the dances that I made my connection to Sufism – or was it a re-connection?

The first of the 3 came the form of Circle Dances as developed in Findhorn and as passed on by Jean Huston at the first Spirit of Learning Forum. This was in the form of a French Shepherd’s Dance that we did in a big oval with some 80 people in the ballroom of the recently renovated Queen Victoria Building. This was a Brahma Kumaris event that was the brainchild of Dawn Griggs, who did her Social Ecology masters on this topic and later published a book called The Spirit of Learning. In this circle, we held aloft imaginary candles with our arms upheld; we moved slowly and gracefully to the rhythm of a very mystical piece of French folk music.

Second of the 3 was at the Bondi Pavilion one winter Sunday afternoon. My wife, Karen, and I walked past a sign in the Seagull Room: ‘Dances of Universal Peace – All Welcome’. We walked in and participated in this magical process with this amazing woman Tomi Greentree. Later she started a regular dance group in Randwick at the School of Arts. I was hooked!

Third came the experience of the dance Haida, a Jewish traditional folk dance, as part of an Alternatives to Violence (AVP) training workshop with Elaine Dyer from New Zealand, where she was involved in both AVP and the Dances of Universal Peace. In the AVP workshops we had activities that were called Light and Livelies that were intended to lighten up the group after examining the potentially gruesome topic of violence. This third experience gave me permission to lead this dance as part of the AVP training, which was primarily a Quaker Outreach Program of non-violence training for prison inmates. I trained as a facilitator of AVP and we also presented trainings in community centres and schools.

My involvement with AVP began when my Quaker friend Jan invited me to a training. He thought I would relate to this drama-based form of experiential non-violence training. He was right. I loved it and went on to become a facilitator myself. In those days I was a Buddhist and a member of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship that had brought Thich Nhat Hanh to Australia in the International Year of Peace, 1986. We also organised the Sydney part of Joanna Macy’s tour in 1985 when she came to Australia with Pat Fleming to lead workshops on Despair and Empowerment in the Nuclear Age.

As part of the latter workshops, the Council of All Beings was born when John Seed, Joanna, Pat and myself dreamt up a ritual to allow for all beings on the planet to have a voice. I was like the dramatic advisor for the process and helped with how to stage the ritual and how to make the masks.

For me this was all part of a universal theatre that I’d been seeking for many years. It was this universal theatre that I could see in the work of the Polish theatre director, Jerzi Grotowski, and the British theatre and film director, Peter Brook. I’d seen Peter Brook’s film version of Marat Sade at least 6 times. It was written by my namesake, Peter Weiss, and performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company after spending some 6 months in a mental asylum to study the behaviour of the characters.

Then in 1980 Peter Brook brought his company to Sydney and I booked to see all his productions. The climax was his production of Conference of the Birds, a 13th century Sufi poem by Attar. Just a couple of years earlier I’d been inspired to write a book called The Buddha Nature of Theatre while working in Angus and Robertsons, a large city bookshop. In trying to understand the meaning of the words Buddha Nature, I met my yoga teacher of several years, John Cooper and my Zen teacher, Robert Aitken Roshi. As it happened my first possible retreat with Aitken Roshi coincided with Brook’s tour and I figured that the Roshi would be back next year but Peter Brook was a one off. Miraculously, on the evening of the performance of the Sufi poem, Aitken Roshi also attended the Seymour Centre theatre. Both my gurus were in the one space. Perhaps this was the Buddha Nature of Theatre as it set my life direction.

A few years later in 1985, I was to direct an opening piece for a Youth Theatre conference in the Seymour Centre and by the mid 90s I would become involved in Universal Sufism through the Dances of Universal Peace, which for me is a form of a universal theatre. After all as sacred circle folk dances they could be regarded as direct descendants of the dithyrambs in honour of the Greek God of Theatre and wilderness, Dionysus. 2

On the other hand, the fact that Peter Brook had been influenced by the Sufi poet Attar and was a

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Discovering Universal Sufism: A personal journey

IMAGE OF ARJUNA:Retrieved from Arjuna’s Blog


follower of Gurdjieff and also made a film of Gurdjieff’s autobiographical book (Meetings with Remarkable Men) may have offered a hint of my future direction. In those days I was embarking on my Zen and Yoga paths, and little did I know that the time would come when I would call Sufism a form of Middle Eastern Zen. Gurdjieff himself had studied with the Sarmoung Brotherhood, an esoteric Sufi group in Central Asia that goes right back to ancient Mesopotamia. Later he brought those teachings to the West around the same time as Hazrat Inayat Khan brought his Sufi teachings. Indeed they were both teaching in Paris around the same time in the early 20th century.

A more recent insight I had was that my desire to pursue a Universal Sufi path may have come from my growing up in a diversity of cultures, which I needed to keep separate as there were significant conflicts between some of these cultures. Negotiating these cultural differences led to my developing skills as an actor as well as deepening my understanding of the psychology of different cultures. When I was young I grew up in a home that was a mix of Romanian, Hungarian, Jewish, Austrian and at times even Australian culture and their corresponding languages. Each culture had different sets of expectations of behaviour, which as a child I had to learn in order to survive. Then when school and later university began to play a bigger part in my life, I had to learn the Anglo-Protestant culture as well as the Irish Catholic culture as these were the dominant cultures in Australia at the time.

Also the expectation of being an actor in Australia in the 50s and 60s was still to play characters from the British Isles, so I had to learn the various accents for English, Welsh, Scots and Irish people as well as those from North America. This passion for drama and acting was also part of the sales work I did at various times as a boy and as a young man. However underneath this diversity of roles and cultures and languages there was also the Australian ecology, which was deeply embedded in Aboriginal culture.

A further influence on me was that I felt I had to keep the Jewish culture under wraps in the Christian-dominated world of Australia to prevent me being a victim of anti-Semitism. My parents were Holocaust survivors so I was very conscious of the destructive nature of anti-Semitism in Europe, as much as I was conscious of the destructive nature of war, having been born just at the end of WWII. Now my acting roles made me aware of how underneath all these diverse cultural roles people were just that ‘people’. It brought our humanness into sharp focus and made me aware that underneath the diversity there was also universality. So the kind of theatre I wanted to create was one that promoted peace and was universal. This led me to a search for a universal theatre of peace which, I now realise, is exactly what the Dances of Universal Peace are.

One source of inspiration for the dances created by Samuel Lewis in the late 60s was his experience of visiting a Sufi Shrine in Fatehpur Sikri, ‘a city and a municipal board in Agra district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. The city was founded in 1569 by the Mughal emperor Akbar, and served as the capital of the Mughal Empire from 1571 to 1585.’ 3 Part of this city is built out of red sandstone, but there is a beautiful jewel built out of white marble. It is the shrine of Selim Chisti, a Sufi master who advised the Emperor Akbar well and was granted a place of honour next to the mosque. Today the city is abandoned as it ran out of water after 30 years; however, the shrine is still there and very much alive as a pilgrimage site to this great Sufi master of peace. Indeed the peace is palpable there as Karen and I found when we went there. It was one of the most peaceful places in a built environment on the planet.

It was while he was visiting this magical place that Murshid Samuel Lewis was inspired to create the Dances of Universal Peace. So the dances were the direct result of this Sufi vibration. The master’s name means ‘Selim’ peace and the Chisti lineage he represented is one that is renowned for its use of poetry and music as art of its practices of celebrating the divine presence.

For me personally I became aware of my attraction to Sufism late in life. Yoga, Buddhism and Shamanism attracted me in my earlier spiritual questing process. The attraction to yoga

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Discovering Universal Sufism: A personal journeywas to improve the health of my body, while Buddhism in its Zen form was about learning to understand my mind. My interest in Shamanism grew out of my love of nature and my interest in indigenous cultures that struck me in having such a deep understanding of nature in all her cycles, her complexities and her mysteries. Also in the 1980s some drama theorists proposed that the Shaman was the original actor. The theatre group IRAA standing for the ‘Institute of the Anthropology of the Actor’ had been involved in cultural exchanges with Dionysian rituals still practised in southern Italy, with Dervishes in Turkey, with a Mapuche Shaman in Chile, and had incorporated all these influences in their performances. It was through my work with them that I first learnt about the Dervish turning in the mid 80s.

However all these pointers to my life path were still too veiled for me to see them consciously, until my first weekend retreat of Dances of Universal Peace in the Blue Mountains. It was then the veil began to lift and I glimpsed something that really took me by surprise when we did a Universal Worship in dance. This was a practice given by Hazrat Inayat Khan in the form of a ritual where we light a candle to all the major religious traditions that he recognized at the time of his coming to the west in the early 20th century. As well we read from a text of each of these traditions on a theme that reveals the underlying unity of all the religious traditions. In the mountains dance retreat we did this by using a dance from each tradition as well as reading about each of these traditions from a book of his teachings written by his students by the title ‘The Unity of Religious Ideals’. When I heard these readings I was very moved and so I asked Shakti who was reading the passages where I could get the book. She directed me to the warden of the Quaker Hall, Hakim, who just happened to be a Sufi Sheikh and who happily gave me a copy of the book. It was that moment when the veil lifted a little more and began to see the great light of the Sufi tradition, which I then chose to pursue in ever more deepening ways over the next few years.

The argument of this wonderful book is that fundamentally all the religious traditions on the planet have the same source. This source has manifested in various forms through various teachers throughout human history. Each teacher framed the teaching in a form that would be accessible to the people of that particular time and place.

The fundamental message was that of love, harmony and beauty.

This was reflected recently for me in the very moving Bangarra Dance Theatre production of Patyegarang, which tells the story of Patyegarang, the inspirational journey of a potent Indigenous spirit alive in Australia’s past and present. As the colonial fleet arrived on Eora country in the late 18th Century, Patyegarang befriended the colony’s timekeeper, Lieutenant William Dawes, gifting him her language in an extraordinary display of trust and friendship, which now inspires our imaginations about ‘first contact’. In Dawes’ notebooks, rediscovered in 1972, are transcripts of this remarkable cultural exchange. Patyegarang’s words are a window into a rich, complex and utterly different perspective on her world, its values and its sacred meanings. Bangarra liberates Patyegarang from the library shelves, putting spirit into her heart, as a striking visionary and educator.4

This production really brought out for me the same teaching – that when we go below our surface differences of culture, language, skin colour, gender or any other differences, we can discover our underlying unity that is the result of us all being members of the human race, sharing the same basic genetic make up with a few minor variations and sharing the same planet Earth. It was very resonant with a teaching that came from an Aboriginal Elder, Uncle Max Dulummunun Harrison. When he was asked about reconciliation, my friend said that his response was that we can’t have reconciliation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people because there has never been a relationship to reconcile. However we can all reconcile with the Earth our Mother.

Once again we see that the Universal Sufi Message of Hazrat Inayat Khan has so much to teach when he invites us to read the sacred manuscript of nature, which he says is the only book that will enlighten the reader.

1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Sufism accessed 3/7/2014

2 see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dithyramb

3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatehpur_Sikri accessed 14/7/2014

4 http://bangarra.com.au/performance/patyegarang accessed 14/7/2014

Article taken from Arjuna’s Blog: http://www.socialecologysydney.net.au/?page_id=56

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A weekend of kinship and practicesby Zubin Leonie Shore

WEEKEND IMAGES: Shakti Celia GennCOONOWRIN IMAGE: Google Images

December is quite a big month on the spiritual calendar with events such as the birth of Jesus Christ, and the death of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi. It is also the birthday and passing of Murshid Sharif Jansen, beloved of many mureeds in Australia and followers of Pir-o-Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan worldwide. This year, on the full moon weekend in December, Shakti and Barbara held an inaugural weekend retreat of Sufi kinship and practice from Friday afternoon to Monday morning in their home in the Glasshouse Mountains in Queensland.

People from three strands of the Inayat Khan Sufi family came from Newcastle, Coffs Harbour, Brunswick Heads and Brisbane, and the Friday afternoon began with reunions and a bit of programming. We managed to effortlessly include, along with prayers, breathing practices, a healing service and a universal worship that gave a prospective Cheraga the opportunity to stretch her wings as candle lighter. These practices flowed around recollections, Sufi

stories, relaxing in the swimming pool, and preparing and eating food best described as Christmas come early! It was lit by the singing zikar for each of the three evenings.

The weekend of kinship and practices for seven devoted travellers provided an opportunity to focus on remembrance, in the company of Sufi companions, and as we flowed from the sacred to the secular each day. The experience certainly stimulated development in that precious ability to continue remembrance once we move from meditation to our daily tasks, and for me, heightened the potential for the experience of unity in our diversity. As the house is nestled in the landscape of the mythical Beerwah and Tibrogargan mountains, with their biggest child, Coonowrin mountain, and a smaller child, Coochin hill, we were nestled in the flow between the inner and the outer, between the house and its environment, between the individual and the group, and for each person, between their inner life and their context in that golden weekend.

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Sufi Lessons ... part 1 of 3by Nur Al-Alam

Sufi lessons1 that we can learn from the story of the Prophet Joseph (pbuh) in the Qur’an and Bible

O beloved ideal of my soul, pray show thyself to me in human guise. Let me feel Thy embrace, Beloved, in all planes of existence. My feeling heart is drawn to Thee, Lord, when Thou comest in the form of man2 - Hazrat Inayat Khan

When one thinks of this (e.g. stories of Prophets and his companions) one realizes the beauty of the human heart, this perfume which resides in the human soul3. – Hazrat Inayat Khan

In these two beautiful quotations Hazrat Inayat Khan speaks about the perfume that resides in the souls of special human beings who walked the path on this planet guiding us towards God in the example of their lives.

So to seek that perfume, I was inspired to watch the TV Series on the Prophet Yusuf/Joseph (peace be upon him – pbuh) on Youtube4. Although I have read the Qur’an many times before, the story of Prophet Joseph did not stimulate my heart, as it did this time when I watched the full story in this TV Series. These events occurred almost 4,000 years ago, but they were enlivened, retold, and re-lived in these 45 episodes with powerful images of actions and behaviours through various characters, including the ones who played the roles of the two revered prophets (Joseph – pbuh and Jacob – pbuh). It made me re-think the knowledge and wisdom of God, the most Glorious, revealed to us through His holy scriptures such as the Qur’an and Bible.

God, the most Glorious, says in the chapter of Joseph (pbuh) in the Qur’an: ‘Indeed, in [the story of] Joseph and his brothers there are messages for all who search [after truth]’. [12:7] To emphasise this further, in the last verse of the same chapter, God reminds us again: ‘Definitely, in the stories of these men there is a lesson for those who are endowed with insight (people of Hearts)’ [12:111].

As a part of the Sufi community, we belong to those who are the Seekers of Truth and also we are amongst those who claim to be on the journey to become the people of Hearts, endeavouring daily to cleanse our hearts so that we can tune into the Divine voice, hidden in our souls. As such, although I am not experienced enough to elucidate the inner meanings of various events as they occurred in the life of the two sublime Prophets (Joseph-pbuh and his father Prophet Israel – another name for Jacob- pbuh), I have attempted to list a few of the lessons that I am sharing with you all, as a reminder to myself and for the benefits of wayfarers on our Sufi path of Love, Harmony and Beauty.

List of Sufi Lessons to strengthen the pathways of the heart

In my opinion, the following is a brief list of lessons we can learn from the story of the Prophet Joseph (pbuh):

(Although not required, I assume that the readers of this article already knew about the stories of Prophet Joseph (pbuh) through the Qur’an or Bible or other sources, otherwise I would suggest viewing the TV Series. I have provided links in the end-notes below.)

1. Lessons about the human ego (nafs)5

2. Lessons about dreams and inspirations from God (ilham)

3. Lessons on the virtue of patience (Sabr)

4. Lessons on the virtue of repentance (Tawba)

5. Lessons on the virtue of forgiveness

6. Lessons from Miracles (Mu’jiza)

7. Lessons of Love

8. Lessons on the virtue of Trust

9. Lessons on the virtue of Hope

10. Lessons on the secrets of earthly affairs

Lesson 1: Lessons about the Human Ego (Nafs)

1a. How jealousy/envy corrupts the human soul; How arrogance/ egotism/ haughtiness (temptations of fame and power) blinds our soul from seeing the glory of God everywhere

In the story of the Prophet Joseph (pbuh), we see that his brothers become jealous of him being loved by his parents, specially his father, the Prophet Israel (pbuh). Joseph, being young and beautiful, and also because of his superb attractive character of nice behaviour and excellent show of knowledge and wisdom at an early age, was given extra attention and

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Sufi Lessons ... part 1 of 3care by his parents. This became a cause of envy among his brothers. Also after the death of the Prophet Isaac (pbuh), his son the Prophet Israel/Jacob (pbuh) returned to Canaan (Palestine) from Heron, and was inaugurated to the honourable position of Prophet-hood to carry out the legacy of his grandfather Prophet Abraham (pbuh). It was then that the children of the Prophet Israel (pbuh) witnessed how their father was raised to a high and honourable position in the society.

In the meantime, Prophet Joseph (pbuh) saw a beautiful dream. Here is the reference from the Qur’an:

LO! Thus spoke Joseph unto his father: ‘O my father! Behold, I saw [in a dream] eleven stars, as well as the sun and the moon: I saw them prostrate themselves before me! [Jacob] replied: ‘O my dear son! Do not relate thy dream to thy brothers lest [out of envy] they devise an evil scheme against thee; verily, Satan is man’s open foe! For, [as thou hast been shown in thy dream,] even thus will thy Sustainer elect thee, and will impart unto thee some understanding of the inner meaning of happenings, and will bestow the full measure of His blessings upon thee and upon the House of Jacob -even as, aforetime, He bestowed it in full measure upon thy forefathers Abraham and Isaac. Verily, thy Sustainer is all-knowing, wise!’ (Qur’an, 12: 4-6)

News about the Prophet Joseph’s dream, and its interpretation that he would be elected to become the next Prophet, increased the jealousy and created anger amongst his brothers. They conspired to kill Prophet Joseph (pbuh). The Qur’an depicts the following:

[Said one of them:] ‘Slay Joseph, or else drive him away to some [faraway] land, so that your father’s regard may be for you alone: and after this is done, you will be [free to repent and to live once again as] righteous people! Another of them said: ‘Do not slay Joseph, but -rather - if you must do something - cast him into the dark depths of this well, [whence] some caravan may pick him up.’ (Qur’an, 12: 9-10)

From this part of the story, we can learn ‘how jealousy/envy corrupts the human soul’. One of the egoistic characteristics of the human soul is that it gets carried away by the pull of the Earth towards its denseness, i.e. fame and glory with earthly honour and possessions.

Here is what Hazrat Inayat Khan said about human ego: ‘In the first place man’s ego, man’s self is his enemy and stands as a hindrance to his progress. Feelings such as pride, conceit, selfishness, jealousy, envy and contempt are all feelings which hurt others and which destroy one’s own life making it full of the misery which springs from that selfish personal feeling, that ego of man. The more egoistic,

the more conceited he is, the more miserable a life he has in the world, the more he makes the lives of others miserable. It seems that this ego, which in Sufi terms is called nafs, is a natural development in man’s life or heart. The more he knows of the world, the more egoistic he becomes; the more he understands and experiences the world, the more avaricious he becomes.’6

In this quotation, Pir-O-Murshid Hazrat Khan made us aware of the traps human souls may fall into. His advice can be summed up into two main warnings: (1) be careful of the five C’s (Comparing, Complaining, Condemning,

Contempt and Conceit) that pollute our hearts; and (2) try our best to refrain from those five unwanted actions if we are serious about becoming successful on the Sufi Path of Love, Harmony and Beauty.

If you watch the TV Series on the Prophet Yusuf/Joseph (pbuh), you will find how true these teachings of HIK are. ‘The more egoistic, the more conceited he is, the more miserable a life he has in the world, the more he makes the lives of others miserable’. You will find that the sons of Israel suffered enormously and led miserable lives for a long time because they were egoistic, selfish and tried to change the course of God’s plan by taking the law into their own hands, wanting to remove Joseph out of the

way so that one of them could become the Prophet and have a high position in society. The arrogance, egotism, haughtiness (temptations of fame and power) blinded their souls from seeing the glory of God everywhere. Their earthly selves might have perished 4,000 years ago, but God cited these examples for us to learn from their mistakes.

The following quote from Ibn Arabi explains the spiritual state of the children of Prophet Israel (pbuh):

‘The light of life is the light which energises the animal self (ego), but there are two other divine lights: one shines upon the path of knowledge and wisdom (light of mind), and the other shines upon the path that leads to God (light of guidance/certainty)…when light of mind and light of guidance are weakened due to heedlessness, then veils are fallen on the eye of the heart, and heart becomes sick, becomes darkened…that which puts out the light of certainty and obscures the sight of the eye of the heart, is lack of sincerity, lack of trust, faithlessness and an inability to distinguish right from wrong.’7

That’s exactly what happened to the brothers of Prophet Joseph (pbuh), who not only plotted to kill him, but also concocted a lie to their father using Joseph’s shirt with fake blood to fool him with a false story that a wolf had eaten Joseph. Thus, because of their heedlessness to the prophetic teachings from their father, and due to their

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Sufi Lessons ... part 1 of 3


‘lack of sincerity, lack of trust, faithlessness and an inability to distinguish right from wrong’, God put out the ‘light of certainty’ and ‘obscured the sight of the eye of their hearts’.

So let’s take a vow to protect our hearts from the corruption of envy and jealousy, removal of arrogance, egotism and haughtiness, and sincerely cultivate the virtue of honesty, truthfulness and acceptance i.e. embracing life on its own terms and trust that there is some good in whatever happens.

1b. How a human forgets their own enormous blessings but complains about other’s blessings

The brothers of Prophet Joseph (pbuh) forgot how blessed they were to be the children of Prophet Israel (pbuh). They had been blessed with the opportunity to learn directly from their father the prophetic teachings on the purifying of the soul, the secrets of the Divine path, the virtues to become a Perfect Human. They forgot how much love and respect hte community gave them, how much wealth and earthly glory God had blessed them with. In lieu of expressing gratitude and becoming thankful for the generous blessings and honour God had bestowed upon them, they were annoyingly envious of the beauty of young Joseph and complained about the love and attention he received from their parents. So instead of extending their own love, care and friendship to him, as older brothers, they decided to kill him. They beat him almost to death, and finally threw him into the darkness of a deep well, so that he would die by drowning there. Even when he was saved by the Caravan travellers, they sold him as a slave.

Through the re-counting and articulation of this Joseph story in the holy books of the Qur’an and the Bible, God, the most Glorious, pointed to us, as human beings, how ungrateful we are and how blinded we become with the darkness and shadow of our own ego. We forget to look into ourselves, forget to appreciate the goodness we already have, forget to see the bounty and blessings already bestowed upon us. Thus we forget God. If that happens, God says he lets us forget our own selves. Please refer to the following verse where God, the most Exalted, said, ‘and be not like those who are oblivious of God, and whom He therefore causes to be oblivious of [what is good for] their own selves: [for] it is they, who are truly depraved!’ (Qur’an, 59:19)

This is just what happened to Joseph’s brothers. Although they were the children of a Prophet (Israel), they were not immune from the corruption of their souls. They were responsible for protecting their own souls from impulses of Shaytan, the Devil. Instead of complaining about Joseph’s blessings, they should have embraced him as their tender young brother and rejoiced for his blessings. Since they fell into the traps of the Devil, their hearts were polluted and their souls were veiled from receiving the light of guidance from God and they became ‘depraved’ and wicked.

I hope we learn, by doing the practices of constant Shukr (thankfulness)8, to appreciate the enormous blessings bestowed by God upon ourselves and stop complaining about other people’s blessings. If we do complain and forget our own blessings, then remember God’s words: we’ll be made to forget ourselves, and we will be turned into ‘depraved’ and wicked souls.

1c. How our animal self/earthly self/ lower self (nafs-al- ammārah) incites us to do evil deeds (e.g. deadly sins - lusts, anger, greed, attachments, pride, greed etc)

Zuleikha, the wife of Aziz (the Chief Minister of the Egyptian King Pharaoh) had all the glories she needed. She had beauty to boast of, a castle to live in luxury and style, servants to serve her with food, massages or whatever services she desired, slaves to carry out her commands and whims, a powerful husband to give her protection, love and security, money to buy whatever her mind could think of, and honour and status in the society.

However, those precious possessions of hers were the reason for her downfall, her ego was pumped up, swollen up to the sky:

‘I obey no law, but mine

I am what I have, I am what I possess

I make my destiny, I build my world.

This is my life, I run the way I like.

I am the core of my being

My universe runs with my command.

I am the dance-insane rhythm

I dance on, with my own beat...

I do whatever my mind wants whenever…

It is none, but me, I salute.

I am the ego; I love my ego-self.

I snatch God’s pride’9

Although she had a very nice soul (she was loving and caring, appreciated the arts, music and was a practicing pagan), she was carried away by her ego. Seriously blinded by her ego, one day she invited the Prophet Joseph

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Sufi Lessons ... part 1 of 3(pbuh) into her inner chamber (secured via seven layers of protection), locked him up and commanded that he give in to her sensual lust, but Prophet Joseph (pbuh) refused and ran away. This is what Qur’an has to say about this incident:

‘And [it so happened that] she in whose house he was living [conceived a passion for him and] sought to make him yield himself unto her; and she bolted the doors and said, ‘Come thou unto me!’ [But Joseph] answered: ‘May God preserve me! Behold, goodly has my master made my stay [in this house]! Verily, to no good end come they that do [such] wrong! And, indeed, she desired him, and he desired her; [and he would have succumbed] had he not seen [in this temptation] an evidence of his Sustainer’s truth: thus [We willed it to be] in order that We might avert from him all evil and all deeds of abomination – for, behold, he was truly one of Our sincere and purified servants’. (Qur’an, 12:23-24)

Although moral values in regard right and wrong varies over time, place, communities and religions, this act of having sex forcefully was considered an evil act in all religions. Zuleikha knew that, but still her clouded and spoiled ego incited her into this shameful act.

While many millions of such evil acts occur in current days or occurred in past human history, I was wondering why on earth God, the most Holy, wanted us to know about this particular act of Zuleikha. In my opinion, it is the purity of heart that is sought by God from the wayfarers who seek His nearness. That’s why, I thought, God said, ‘had he [Joseph] not seen [in this temptation] an evidence of his Sustainer’s truth, [he would have succumbed] to her desire.’ As this verse says, if we could become the sincere and purified servants of God, then He will show us insights so that we understand life better before it happens. That’s why, I suppose, HIK taught us to pray, ‘Disclose to us Thy Divine Light, which is hidden in our souls, that we may know and understand life better10‘. Prophet Joseph (pbuh) understood the evil intention of Zuleikha well in advance, so he prayed all the time. He immediately sought God’s protection when the evil proposal was made to him. That’s why the miracle happened and he was saved.

As a wayfarer on the Sufi Path to reach the proximity of God, our hearts need to be purified and protected from the corruption of lust and similar vices by the lower self. Prophet Jospeh (pbuh) revealed a secret about the human soul (lower self) in the following Qur’anic verse: ‘And yet, I am not trying to absolve myself: for, verily, man’s inner self does incite [him] to evil, and saved are only they upon whom my Sustainer bestows His grace. Behold, my Sustainer is much forgiving, a dispenser of grace!’

As you will find, it is a built-in feature of our lower self, to incite evil to a human soul and pollute his/her heart on a constant basis (Qur’anic term for it is called Wuswasa – ‘Whispering’ into the human heart or in modern terms inner chatter box). The only way we can protect ourselves

from it is by the grace of God. Now the question is, how do we get the ‘Grace of God’? I suggest by doing the practices of Zikr, Shukar and Fikr11. In order to purify our hearts from whispering or being a chatterbox, we need these practices blended into the activities of our daily life.

So the lessons learnt from this incident of the Prophet Joseph (pbuh) and Zuleikha is that our lower self (ego) has the tendency to incite us towards evil deeds (e.g. deadly sins - lusts, anger, greed, attachments, pride, greed etc); however, God’s protection is with us all the time, should we become His sincere and purified servants. In the same way that God saved the Prophet Joseph (pbuh), He would save us as well, if we follow the path of Prophets, Sufis and Saints.

(This article will continue in the next issue of Spirit Matters.)

Endnotes

1 The reason I called this article ‘Sufi lessons’ is because true Sufis find the taste (Dhawk) in everything in life, they feel the sweetness (Halua) of life wherever they are and whatever they do. So when they watch or read about the lives of Prophets or Saints, they get that Halua (sweetness) in their characters, in their actions. The lessons mentioned here, therefore, are relevant more for Sufis than others.

2 The Dance of the Soul, Hazrat Inayat Khan, Page -124, published by Motilal Banarsidass, 2007

3 The Supplementary Papers, Human Brotherhood, Hazrat Inayat Khan, This was quoted when HIK spoke about brotherhood examples he cited from the story of Prophet and his companion. For details please refer to http://wahiduddin.net/mv2/supp/brotherhood_25.htm

4 Prophet Joseph – TV Series Episode 01, although I watched Arabic original version, here I included English Dubbing; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KN3sVaq7t3s, le Prophète Youssef (Joseph) : Episode 1; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WZer7t7YxE

5 To know more details about ‘nafs’, please refer to article in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tazkiah or read Hazrat Inayat Khan writings, Volume I - The Way of Illumination, Section III - The Soul: Whence and Whither? http://wahiduddin.net/mv2/I/I_III_1.htm

6 The Smiling Forehead, The Deeper Side of Life, Hazrat Inayat Khan, Volume 14, Part 2, http://wahiduddin.net/mv2/XIV/XIV_2_22.htm

7 On the veils which hide the angelic realm from the sight of the eye of the heart, Chapter 19, P-189, Divine Governance of the Human Kingdom, Ibn Arabi, Fons Vitae 1997 (translation – Tosun Bayrak al-Jerrahi)

8 For Thankfulness/Shukr practices, please refer to my article ‘Zikr, Shukr, Fikr : Efficacy of these very powerful Sufi practices (Part 2 of 3)’ published in http://issuu.com/euandros/docs/spirit_matters_spring_summer_2013

9 Please refer to my poetry ‘I am, I am not’ published in the newsletter Spirit_Matters, Vol 14, Issue#4, Summer 2010-11

10 Please refer to Khatm prayer in Hazrat Inayat Khan Prayer book, http://wahiduddin.net/mv2/say/gayan_gayatri.htm

11 Please refer to the three-part series article on ‘Zikr, Shukr, Fikr : Efficacy of these very powerful Sufi practices: part 1(Zikr) published in Winter 2013, Volume 17, Issue# 2, Part2 (Shukr) published in Spring/Summer 2013, Issue#3 and Part 3 (Fikr) published in Volume 18, Issue# 1, April 2014

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Cenerentola or Cinderella: Part 3 of 3

At the end of part 2, Cenerentola has just returned from the ball, where she was noticed by all as a great but unknown beauty, and had escaped the king’s servant who had been given the job to find out who she was.

‘But the King was very angry with the servant, and warned him not to miss finding out next time who this beautiful maiden was, and where she dwelt.’ It is interesting to note that the king knows that there will be another opportunity. In the quest for the Beloved there is always another opportunity when we fail, until our Beloved is found, although paradoxically I also think that sometimes opportunities are limited and we should be careful not to miss one.

‘Soon there was another feast, and again the sisters all went to it, leaving poor Zezolla at home on the kitchen hearth. Then she ran quickly to the date-tree, and repeated the spell, and instantly there appeared a number of damsels, one with a looking-glass, another with a bottle of rose-water, another with the curling-irons, another with combs, another with pins, another with dresses, and another with capes and collars. And they decked her out as glorious as the sun, and put her in a coach drawn by six white horses, and attended by footmen and pages in livery.’

Whereas before Zezolla saw herself arrayed like a queen, this time she is actually prepared and presented as a queen. We are given much detail in her preparation and presentation. There are personal servants to help her dress and prepare for the ball: it is like the outer self is being made to reflect the inner, which has been formed by constant daily practice in caring for the ‘tree’. The phrase ‘they decked her out as glorious as the sun is telling. The sun is central to the ‘religion’ of the Fairies, just as it was to those people who built the great Stone Henges which were aligned to the summer and winter solstices. It is interesting that the earliest and most complex structures were found in the Orkney Islands in far north Scotland and spread down through to places like Stonehenge and into Ireland at such as Newgrange, Howth and Dowth. Only in Sardinia does there seem to be a connection of these Henges to a matriarchal culture of the Fairies. The feasts themselves could well be the major celebrations related to the summer and winter solstices. The sun is generally connected with the masculine and the moon with the feminine. In this story there is only mention of the sun and the feminine. The symbol of the looking glass or mirror and the rose water seem to be important. As Sufis, our practice is to constantly clean and polish the mirror of the heart so that our soul-self can be reflected there. The rose symbolises perfection and completion; the mystery and heart centre of life. Rose water would thus be the fragrance of this perfection and completion which Zezolla has become.

‘No sooner did she appear in the ball-room than the hearts of the sisters were filled with amazement, and the King was overcome with love.’ The presence of such a Being would indeed amaze all who saw and experienced her and the King was overcome with love for her as his counterpart. She was his Queen and she would complete him. He recognised this but of course there was still the mystery. He did not know who she was.

‘When Zezolla went home the servant followed her again, but so that she would not be caught she threw down a handful of pearls and jewels, and the good fellow, seeing that they were not things to lose, stayed to pick them up.’

So she had time to slip away and take off her fine dress as before. So this time Zezolla ups the stakes and throws down pearls and jewels to distract the servant. Pearls are lunar and symbolise the life-giving power of the great mother; the feminine principle of the ocean, whereas jewels generally symbolise the heart, light and heat. These are the most precious feminine qualities she is casting before the King’s servant to distract him and protect herself. The feminine principle so often lures the male ego away from the true mystery which is Unity. I would say that the servant is part of the King’s ego. Zezolla is the only character in this story to be named, whereas the Prince and the King and Dove of the Fairies are archetypes and always capitalised. In ordinary life our fine clothes are put away and we live as Cenerentola does in the ashes of the hearth.

‘Meanwhile the servant had returned slowly to the King, who cried out when he saw him, “By the souls of my

by Nuria Irene Daly

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ancestors, if you do not find out who she is you shall have such a thrashing as was never before heard of, and as many kicks as you have hairs in your beard.’’’ When the servant (perhaps our small self) gets distracted, the King or Higher Self gets very angry and threatens dire and painful physical punishment. It is interesting

that the King swears by the souls of his ancestors, which means that this spiritual lineage is extremely important to him. Kicks and a thrashing would mean that we could physically sustain injuries perhaps from ‘accidents’ if we get distracted.

The next (and third feast) was held. With the sisters safely out of the house, Zezolla went to the date-tree, and ‘once again repeated the spell. In an instant she found herself splendidly arrayed and seated in a coach of gold, with ever so many servants around her, so that she looked just like a queen.’ This time the transformation happened in an instant, so we see that each time Zezolla is becoming stronger in her inner power. Note that there is no Fairy Godmother, as in the Cinderella version of the story. This is about our own evolution and growth through practice and inner work.

‘Again the sisters were beside themselves with envy; but this time when she left the ball-room, the King’s servant kept close to the coach. Zezolla, seeing that the man was ever running by her side, cried, “Coachman, drive on quickly,” and in a trice the coach set off at such a rattling pace that she lost one of her slippers, the prettiest thing that ever was seen.’ This is the point where the speed of the transition was so fast that she lost her pretty slipper. What does this really mean? Well in those days slaves and servants did not wear or have shoes, nor would their feet fit into shoes. In going

barefoot their feet would be very calloused and broad – certainly not a dainty little foot that would fit into a slipper. Shoes show us the kind of stand we have on the earth and also who we are. In past life regression hypnosis, as we transition into another ‘past’ life, we are asked to look at our feet, so that we can see who we are or were in that

lifetime. I remember seeing the curved pointy toed shoes of a court jester! So a shoe or slipper can tell much about us.

‘The servant being unable to catch the coach, which flew like a bird, picked up the slipper, and carrying it to the King told him all that happened. Whereupon the King, taking it in his hand, said, “If the basement, indeed, is so beautiful, what must the building be. You who until now were the prison of a white foot are now the fetter of an unhappy heart!”’ This time the servant was not distracted as it was more of a chase. I wonder if the slipper was flung out almost as if she wanted the King to find it, otherwise there would never have been a resolution. The King was certainly deeply attracted to Zezolla in imagining how she must be when her slipper was so pretty and dainty. Shoes are very important in presenting a picture of a person, and I know of very elegant women who would always have shoes and other accessories matching their clothes. As the King said, ‘if the basement is so beautiful then how must the rest of her be’. Outer and inner beauty reflect each other.

‘Then he made a proclamation that all the women in the country should come to a banquet, for which the most splendid provision was made of pies and pastries, and stews and ragouts, macaroni and sweetmeats – enough to feed a whole army. And when all the women were assembled, noble and ignoble, rich and poor, beautiful and ugly, the King tried the slipper on each one of the guests to see whom it should fit to a hair, and thus be able to discover by the help of the slipper the maiden of whom he was in search, but not one foot could he find to fit it. So he examined them closely whether indeed everyone was there; and the Prince confessed that he had left one daughter behind, “but,” said he, “she is always on the hearth, and is such a graceless simpleton that she is unworthy to sit and eat at your table.” But the King said, “Let her be the very first on the list, for so I will”.’

First of all the King ensures that all the maidens in the realm will come to try on the shoe by providing good and ample food for all, so that he could check the fit of the shoe perfectly, to a hair. In other words it would not do if the shoe was either too loose or too tight. Of course the slipper did not fit anyone there, as indeed it wouldn’t. Zezolla was mysterious and did not want to be found. But when the slipper did not fit any of the assembled maidens the Prince had to admit that his daughter was left behind. I find his description of her really interesting. How his perception of her could be so different from ‘reality’. ‘She is always on the hearth’ he says. Well the hearth is the interior spiritual centre – the centre of the home and of feminine dominion. It is about fire in its feminine-earth aspect. As I have already said, the great standing stones of Sardinia are similar to the standing stones or henges in Ireland and Scotland and are found nowhere else in Europe. The culture from which these derive certainly

Page 20



worshipped the light of the sun especially at the summer and winter solstices. In Sardinia this was a cult of the feminine and perhaps it was also so in the Celtic countries, where the cult of the dead centred around the hearth. Indeed the ‘accabadora’ or woman who assisted the old and infirm into death still existed up until the 1970s. To quote ‘She would attempt to induce death in a dying person by encouraging the soul to depart from the mortal body. In order to achieve this she would remove all objects of religious and personal significance from the room in which the person lay awaiting death. This supposedly enabled the spirit to more easily break free of its earthly bonds.’ This certainly indicates a mystical connection between the realms.

The Prince also says that Zezolla is a graceless simpleton who is unworthy to sit at the King’s table. By graceless perhaps he means without the airs and graces that his stepdaughters and most other young girls would be employing. I would imagine that Zezolla would be quietly going about the practices of the Dove of the Fairies and developing a deep inner personality which could be seen a simple or naïve. Most spiritual and evolved beings do seem to be very simple and unsophisticated and would not usually be found at a King’s table.

But the King understands and wills it that Zezolla be the first on the list for the next day. So the next day Zezolla arrived accompanied by her wicked sisters. ‘When the King saw her he had his suspicions, but said nothing’. So even though Zezolla was not presented as a queen, as she was at the previous feasts, there was still something in her that the King recognised and was drawn to. After the feast came the trial of the slipper, ‘which, as soon as ever it approached Zezolla’s foot, it darted on to it of its own accord like iron flies to the magnet.’ Magically the slipper finds its way back

onto Zezolla’s foot where it belonged. There could be no doubt that she was indeed the mysterious maiden.

‘Seeing this, the King ran to her and took her in his arms, and seating her under the royal canopy, he set the crown upon her head, whereupon all made their obeisance and homage to her as their queen.’ The canopy signifies royalty and sovereign power but also relates to the Sacred Tree of Enlightenment, which puts me in mind of Zezolla’s little date-tree. The crown of course also signifies sovereignty, and the highest attainment and it would have been interesting to know which kind of crown it was. It is clear that all who were there understood that the queen had been found and made their homage and obeisance to her.

In this story Zezolla is the only one who is given a name and a real identity, and it is her coronation which completes the story. It is unusual that here is no sacred marriage or conjunctio here. It is solely about the feminine spiritual evolution which can take us to the heights and to find our masculine ruling aspect. I would hazard a guess that Zezolla would at some later date become the Dove of the Fairies. I have wondered much about the meaning of the name Zezolla, but could find nothing. I wonder if the first letter Z indicates that she is a being ready for the final stage of her evolution.

‘When the wicked sisters saw this they were full of venom and rage, and, not having patience to look upon the object of their hatred, they slipped quietly away on tip-toe and went home to their mother, confessing, in spite of themselves, that “He is a madman who resists the Stars”.’

The final comment and feedback comes from the wicked step-sisters. They, like others who do not understand the inner mystical life, hate and fear it. But they also know that one cannot resist destiny or the unfolding of the soul into Unity with the Divine. The King and Queen are united to rule. They have mastery over manifested and unmanifested life – the seen and unseen Beings. I also believe that there is a destiny which rules our lives and that we are all drawn to this and live by it, whether we realise it or not.

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Politeness Talesby Azim Smith

Murshid Sharif Jansen was the National Representative of the Sufi Movement for Australia and New Zealand from 1950 till his passing in 1990. The spiritual light he held aloft inspired many current mureeds.As a Dutch citizen in Indonesia, he was a held as a POW in a Japanese war camp for over three years. Most POWs did not survive.Many years after, when on a plane flight to New Zealand, he was seated near some Japanese tourists. When they interacted, he spoke to them in Japanese. ‘Oh you speak Japanese,’ they exclaimed delightedly. ‘Have you lived there?‘‘I spent a little time there,’ he replied.As told by Mrs Minnie Jansen.

The Spirit of Christby Hazrat Inayat Khan

The belief in Christ is in the Church, the book of Christ is with the clergy, the spirit of Christ is in the illuminated soul. The spirit of Christ can be traced in Christ’s own words where he said, ‘I am Alpha and Omega,’ I am first and last. By this he meant, ‘I was before Jesus was born, and I shall be after Jesus has gone.’‘I am Christ’ means ‘I am now, and I shall be till the end.’ In this the Master identifies himself with that light of which we read in the Vedanta, and which existed thousands of years before Christ, the divine light which is recognized by the Sufis as the Spirit of Guidance, and which is also mentioned in the Quran. This light of Christ is symbolized by the lantern in the story of Aladdin, in the Thousand and One Nights. And it is this same light which the Hindu legend speaks of when it says that there exists a cobra with a light in its head, and when it searches for food it takes that light in its mouth and by its illumination it can go about in the forest. It is the light of life of all men and all beings, seen and unseen. In reality it is the essence of light.Where is this light to be found? It is to be found in the sun and in the higher intelligence; but this phenomenon of light occurs in all different forms. Even the spark that comes from the heart of the stone when it is struck represents the same light. Also the light that manifests in the blossoming of plants, in the ripening of fruit, in the light that we see on a moonlit night, and in the rising and the setting of the sun, it is all one and the same light manifesting from the unseen to the seen, yet existing in the unseen to a much greater extent than can be seen with our eyes.

From: Volume IX - The Unity of Religious Ideals. Sourced from http://wahiduddin.net/php/highlight_w.php?page=wahiduddin.net/mv2/IX/IX_25.htm&call=/cgi-bin/texis/webinator/search_rjs/context.html&query=gifts&pr=full_site&prox=page&rorder=700&rprox=1000&rdfreq=100&rwfreq=200&rlead=0&rdepth=0&sufs=2&order=r&cq=&cmd=context&id=54831a18a46

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Australian Sufi Summer Retreat

4pm Friday 20th – 2pm Thursday 26rd March 2015

‘Give us Thy great Goodness’ ‘Man is good by nature. Goodness is his real self; badness is only a cloud. …If we trust in the goodness of man, the clouds will disappear. Our very trust will disperse them.’

‘The depth of every soul is good. It is only belief in this doctrine that gives us reason for our belief in the goodness of God.’

‘There is a desire for goodness in every heart. When a person thinks of goodness, loves goodness, admires goodness, and looks for goodness in everyone in the world, that person so to speak collects good. When we recognize the goodness in any person, it is like collecting the seeds of goodness and sowing them in our hearts. But when a person looks for evil, then he can see nothing but evil in every person. In this way he grows so accustomed to it that his world becomes full of evil. He has contemplated it and looked for it and created it. … Happiness only lies in thinking or doing that which one considers beautiful. Such an act becomes a virtue or goodness. That goodness is beauty.’

Join Murshid Nawab Pasnak in this very special retreat at Amberley. Price ranges from $745 for shared room and bathroom facilities to $830 for single en-suite, depending

on accommodation. Please register by 28th January with a $100 non refundable deposit, with payment in full due 28th

February. We will send a detailed brochure on request.

Registration and Enquiries to: Nuria Daly

Tel: 03-9561 4861 [email protected]

@ Edmund Rice Centre ‘Amberley’ 7 Amberley Way

Lower Plenty VIC 3093

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Australian Sufi Summer Retreat Sydney

Friday 27th March 4PM – Sunday - 29th 4PM March 2015

‘Give us Thy Great Goodness’

‘The depth of every soul is good. It is only belief in this doctrine that gives us reason for our belief in the goodness of God.’ Hazrat Inayat Khan ‘Man is good by nature. Goodness is his real self; badness is only a cloud. …If we trust in the goodness of man, the clouds will disappear. Our very trust will disperse them.’ Hazrat Inayat Khan Join Murshid Nawab Pasnak, the International Co-ordinator and Madar-ul-Maham of the International Sufi Movement, in a very special Sydney retreat. This is an opportunity to experience the practices and teachings of Hazrat Inayat Khan. Murshid Nawab is an experienced Sufi teacher and has led summer schools and retreats over a number of years in many countries all over the world. We are very privileged to have him with us in Sydney this year. Please register with payment in full by 15th February to Commonwealth Bank, Brandon Park

Branch, Sufi Movement in Australia Inc. BSB 063 587 Account number 10251994 / Payee Reference: Your name.

Cost: $310 : includes retreat, meals, accommodation, linen and parking.

Registration and Enquiries to: Zubin 0478 679 533 [email protected]

or Hamida - 02 9387 5263 m 0420 302 739 [email protected]

At The Chevalier Resource Centre 1 Roma Ave, Kensington, Sydney NSW 2033 (Parking onsite).

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Peace Dayby Nuria Irene Daly

This is the presentation Nuria gave at the UN Day of Peace talks in Melbourne.

Welcome to this day of remembrance of Peace. Helen asked me to give this talk just after we returned from our time in Ireland and Spain. We had gone to Spain to visit the Al Hambra, in Granada, and to Cordoba to visit the Mezquita Cathedral and finally to Malaga. Helen is at present in Spain. I have recently come back from Sydney where we had our Hejirat retreat. September 10th is the anniversary of our teacher Hazrat Inayat Khan’s journey to the west and we call this Hejirat day. The topic of the retreat was ‘Intuition – the voice of God’ and it gave me the opportunity to ponder the Divine Message which has been given to many Prophets and Messengers ‘known and unknown to the world’ over the ages, usually in a time and culture where there has been chaos or great conflict and need.

In our prayer, the Salat, we say ‘Thy Light is in all forms, Thy love in all beings’.

And further on: ‘Allow us to recognise Thee in all Thy holy names and forms; As Rama, as Krishna, as Shiva, as Buddha. Let us know Thee as Abraham, as Solomon, as Zarathustra, as Moses as Jesus, as Mohamed, and in many other names and forms known and unknown to the world.’

Our teacher Hazrat Inayat Khan has brought this message of Universal Sufism to us – he came to the west in 1910 at a time before the great wars when there was indeed a great need. He said:

‘In the outer sense of the word religion is a form given to the worship of God, and law given to a community to help them to live harmoniously. In the inner sense of the word religion means a staircase, made for the soul to climb and reach that plane where truth is realized. Both these aspects of religion may be found in the words and in the soul of the prophet: his words, ‘the law’; his message, ‘the wisdom’; and his being, ‘that peace which is the seeking of every soul’.

Some weeks ago now we were in Cordoba in Spain, which we had been encouraged to visit as a Baroque cathedral had been built in the middle of a huge mosque. While there we discovered that Cordoba had been a great Roman centre with many famous thinkers coming from there – Seneca being but one. There is an old roman bridge there which was, until the 1950s the only bridge across the river into the city. We had just walked over the Puente Romano Bridge which is over 2,500 years old, to the watch tower at the end, which is now a museum. Imagine our amazement when we walked into a darkened room, where there were four life sized wax figures dressed as they would have

been dressed in their time, on the podium and as the light focussed on each figure a recording spoke the words they had written 900 years ago. As two Sufis we thought that what they said was pure Sufism and afterwards we rushed out to buy the transcripts.

Here is part of what each one said.

First of all was Averroes (1126 – 1198) which is the Latinised form of Ibn Rushd, who was a great Islamic philosopher and who is known for making the works of Aristotle known in western Europe. Latin translations of Averroes’ work led the way to the popularization of Aristotle and were responsible for the development of scholasticism in medieval Europe.

Excerpts:

You always want me to explain what Aristotle said about the knowledge of earthly things. But you never ask yourselves the ultimate questions: where do we come from? Where are we going? Creation is, above all, the goal and the meaning of life and history.

Today, as always, our philosophy would serve no purpose unless it can link these three things, which I have tried to unite in my book ‘Harmony of Science and of Religion’. Science, founded on experience and logic, to discover the causes. Wisdom, which reflects on the goals of all scientific

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Averroes

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Peace Dayresearch so as to make our life more beautiful. Revelation, that of our Koran, for it is only through revelation that we can come to know the ultimate goals of our life and history.

Women have been prescribed the same ultimate goals as men… The Koran only distinguishes between those – men and women alike – who seek to follow God’s law, and those who do not. There is no other hierarchy among human beings… But the men consider women as plants; you seek them out merely for their fruit, procreation. And you place them apart from yourselves, as servants. These are traditions of your own making. They have nothing to do with Islam.

The Prophet taught us that there is no holier cause than that of telling the truth to an unjust leader. The tyrant is the greatest slave of all. He is enslaved to his passions by his courtiers as well as to his own fears, because he himself is afraid of his people.

[The best society is] one where each woman, each child and each man has all the means to develop their God-given potential.

The next person to speak was the great Jewish philosopher Maimonides (1135 or 1138 to 1204). Maimonides was also an astronomer, one of the most prolific and influential Torah scholars and physicians of the middle ages.

Here is what he said:

When we speak of the earthly sciences, Aristotle is indeed our master, but if one goes beyond that, all these ideas appear more or less like mere conjecture.

Even though for Ibn Rushd the Holy Book is not our torah but the Koran, we are both in agreement on the relation between reason and revelation. They are both manifestations of one and the same divine truth. There is no contradiction unless one takes the Scriptures literally, forgetting their eternal meaning.

In my ‘Guide for the Perplexed’, I have given the rules for allegorical reading, which takes history into account.

Our historical problems must be resolved on the basis of eternal principles: there is no opposition between the absolute and history.

These eternal principles, which I have learned form my experience as a jurist, can be narrowed down to four, which you will find in my ‘Commentary of the Mishna’ of our Jewish tradition:

The first of these is that the individual can only develop in a healthy society, where duties come before rights.

Secondly, the aim of any society faithful to God is the development of men and not of wealth. Man progresses when he develops within himself reason to its fullest

extent: reason that is aware of its limits and its postulates. Such reason bears witness to the presence of God in man.

The third eternal principle is that man’s reason is nothing but a participation in divine reason, which surpasses us infinitely, and which can only be attained if we accept and assume biblical prophecy.

Finally, a new cycle of history only begins when a Prophet like Moses descends among the people to bring new laws to them.

Following this is Ibn’ Arabi (1165 – 1240). He is renowned by many as the ‘greatest master’ of Sufism and a genuine Sufi saint. He said:

‘This is forbidden! This is permitted!’, the jurists tell us. But never expect them to tell you ‘You are responsible for yourself.’ Learn to think things through for yourself. This is what you’re reminded to do on every page of the Koran. If one were to listen to the jurists, relations between God and man would be nothing more than those of master and slave. Faith and philosopy begin where their arid laws end.

The Koran tells us: ‘God will raise up men whom He loves and who love him.’ And also: ‘If you love God, God will love you.’

God is unity. The unity of love, the lover and the beloved. All love is a desire for union. All love, whether we are aware of it or not, is the love of God.

Maimonides

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Peace Day

There is a natural love, in which you think your aim is to satisfy merely your own desire; but in this you realize that there is something lacking. Even in physical union, where you look for ecstasis, you become aware of a sense of nostalgia and a need for something that is not you.

There is a spiritual love, in which you love the beloved just for the beloved’s sake. Here you can only live by giving yourself entirely, preferring the beloved’s joy to your own. This love teaches you self-sacrifice.

There is a divine love, the highest form of all: you love in all things the One who created you, and you love Him only for Himself, without fear of punishment nor desire for reward.

This love which you give God is a reflection of the love He gives you. You cannot identify yourself with Him, but you can act in accordance with his will, as revealed by His messenger.

The prophet Muhammad said: ‘When God loves you, He is the ear with which you hear, the eye with which you see, the foot with which you walk, the hand with which you grasp.’

God has imbued man with his spirit. As testimony to this presence of God in you, of God’s Hand that never ceases to create, your actions manifest your faith.

You make visible the invisible each time you surpass yourself.

Artist, when you express the beauty which God loves.

Lover, when you see and serve God in the one you love.

Scholar, when you uncover new truths.

Leader, when you create for each person the conditions necessary for their development.

Seeing in each being the act that created him, submitting one’s whole life to the will of one’s Creator: this is what unites men of faith.

All men are called by God. Do not despise those who, in their search, believe they have found Him in someone who is not Him.

Remember that Islam recognizes all the Prophets as messengers of the same God.

Learn to discover in every human being the Divine seed within, even if their beliefs may be unclear and even idolatrous. Orientate them towards the true Light.

As I wrote in a love poem, in my ‘Interpreter of Ardent Desires’:

‘My heart has become capable of every form:

It is a pasture for gazelles,

And a convent for Christian monks,

And a temple for idols and the pilgrim’s Kaaba,

And the tables of the Torah, and the book of the Koran.

I follow the religion of love:

Whatever way love’s camels take

That is my religion and my faith.’

And lastly, there is the lovely and wise King Alfonso X of Castile (1252 – 1284). Alphonso was a prolific poet and musician, as well as an astronomer.The Alphonsus crater on the moon is named after him.

He said:

‘Oh my Christ,

Who welcomes

Christian, Jew and Moor

Provided their faith

Is directed towards God.’

In my laws, as in my prayers, I have never fogotten that those who profess a different faith are of the same flesh and blood as us Christians:

Ibn Arabi

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Peace Day

‘As the synagogue is the house where the name of the Lord is glorified, let us ensure that no Christian has the audacity to remove anything from it nor take anything by force.’

And with respect to Muslims:

‘Let the Moors live among the Christians while preserving their own faith and not insulting ours.’

Yes, during my reign, our Thirteenth-Century Spain awoke the whole of Europe to a new Renaissance: one that was possible not against God, but with God.

These are the words of our Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan:

The Sufi message which is now being given in the Western world is the child of that mother who has been known for so many years as Sufism. It connects the two lines of the prophetic mission, the Hindu line and that of Ben Israel, in order that they may become the medium to unite in God and truth both east and west. It is the same truth, the same religion, the same ideal, which the wise of all ages have held. If there is anything different, it is only a difference of form. The Sufi message given now has adopted the form suitable for the age. It is a message without claim; and the group of workers in this message, and those who follow it, are called the Sufi Movement. Their work is to tread the spiritual path quietly, unassumingly, and to serve God and humanity. In this lies the fulfilment of the message.

As we have heard, to have a peaceful and harmonious society, we ourselves must take responsibility for ourselves and for our own evolution, so that we can find our own way to inner peace and not allow the tyrants and psychopaths to destroy our world and our spirit.

The word As-Salaam can guide us on the pathway to peace, so that we can meditate on the beginnings of the universe and the potential present before creation, and to remember the source of the deepest peace. The mysterious moment of beginning is full of that quality that is called in Arabic salaam, similar to the old Hebrew shalom and the Aramaic shlama.

Most Westerners know that these words mean ‘peace’. But it is not the ‘peace’ that is the opposite of ‘war’. Instead, ‘peace here refers to the peace and creative potential that were present at the beginning of all, and which are still present within the whole caravan of ancestors ahead of us. To a Sufi, saying Salaam should mean: ‘Remember, there was a time when none of us was here. In the greater scheme of things, what do our problems, conflicts, and offenses given and received, really matter?’ (Peace! Taken from Neil Douglas-Klotz ‘The Sufi book of Life’)

Peace be upon you all!King Alfonso X of Castile

Hazrat Inayat Khan

NATIONAL REPRESENTATIVENuria DalyPhone: 03 9561 4861Email: [email protected]

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INTERNATIONAL SUFI MOVEMENT CONTACTS

GENERAL REPRESENTATIVES24 Banstraat, 2517 GJ The Hague, NetherlandsPhone: +31 70 3657 664Email: [email protected]

GENERAL SECRETARIAT78 Anna Pulownastraat, 2518 BJ The Hague, NetherlandsPhone: +31 70 346 1594Email: [email protected]

SUFI MOVEMENT WEB SITESInternational: www.sufimovement.orgAustralia: www.smia.com.au

REGIONAL CONTACTS AND REPRESENTATIVES

ACTTalibah Josephine LolicatoPhone: 02 6297 5107Email: [email protected]

NSW – NEW ENGLANDKarim and Bahkti ParkhurstPhone: 0429 996950Email: [email protected]

NSW – SYDNEY Hamida JanicePhone: 02 9387 5263Email: [email protected]

NSW – BRUNSWICK HEADSZubin ShoreRosegardenPhone: 0478 679 533Email: [email protected]

QLD – GLASSHOUSE MOUNTAINSCelia GennPhone: 07 5494 0724Email: [email protected]

TASMANIAHabiba AubertPhone: 03 6223 6085

VICTORIA – MELBOURNENuria Daly (details above)

EDITOR, Spirit MattersSakina Kara JacobPhone: 0448 839641Email: [email protected]

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Contacts


Documents

Spirit Matters December 2014