The Breath of the Merciful
Sunday, January 30, 2011 By Maryam
The Breath of the Merciful is understood as the cosmic dynamic that vitalizes the many in the One. It is the ever-present ‘Breathing’ that makes it possible for this infinite universe of duality to come into being while never being other than the nondual essence of the One. Seeing the nature of this dynamic gives us a chance to intuitively understand how there can simultaneously be the one indivisible essence of the Realand the endless proliferation of phenomena. This understanding, if it occurs, is not conceptual and is not simply a metaphysical nicety. ‘Getting’ the relation between the relative and the absolute is at the heart of all experiences of spiritual awakening.
This is a very interesting article about the Mysticism of Music that I invite you to read
The Shadow of your Soul
Saturday, March 20, 2010 By Maryam
Where is the shadow of your soul?
It rests silent among the chaos;
it looks for a sparkle of light to be gone;
suddenly, a myriad of joy reflects upon your soul, dismissing the echoes of terrible nights, wondering, wandering, for the perfect flower, the perfect bird, the perfect love.
The shadow awaits, in silence, until you give to your soul the delicious tears, the miracle of tasting the bitterness with joy.
Then, it goes away, waiting to return, to be sheltered in your heart’s lap, until you understand that it is what makes you desire the Light of Lights. Until you understand it is a companion you are aware of, forever in your path.
Do not ignore it, just embrace it. Like the child who has no mother, transform the sadness into laughter, into Love. Do not ignore what is giving you the Desire to attain True Love. After all, it is also a guide, a silent guide that brings you to the contrary way, the way you follow when you Love. Be always thankful to the wrong things that happen in your life, because they are the key to your inner strength. The shadow of your soul follows you, no matter what.
Maryam
‘Muslim Camp’ draws UK teens to combat extremism
Wednesday, August 12, 2009 By Maryam
More than 1,000 young Muslims attend 3-day retreat
Tahirul Qadri says saving the younger generation from radicalisation his duty
Scholar seeks to combat extremism with spirituality
COVENTRY: Like any rousing Islamic preacher, Muhammed Tahirul Qadri's voice rises to a shout and his index finger jabs as he hammers home a point.
But rather than angry calls for jihad (holy war) or a vitriolic denunciation of the West and its aggressions against Islam, Qadri's message, equally forcefully delivered, is about moderation, peace, inclusion and understanding.
Addressing a packed auditorium from a raised platform, his words beamed onto large screen behind him, more than 1,000 young followers hang on his every word, even as his lecture moves into its fourth uninterrupted hour.
"Islam is not a religion of seclusion, it is not a religion of detachment," he thunders from the dais, occasionally pausing to wipe the sweat from his brow or adjust his spectacles. "Any killer of a non-Muslim citizen, he will go to hell. Those who are committing terroristic acts from Pakistan and Afghanistan and claiming it is jihad – they do not know what jihad is. It is forbidden," he hollers, to shouts of approval from his listeners.
Qadri is a renowned scholar of Sufism, a long tradition within Islam that focuses on spirituality, emphasising peace and moderation. The author of more than 400 books on Islamic scholarship and law, Qadri travels the world delivering sermons to Sufis, while his organisation, called Minhajul Quran, has spread to 80 countries, from Greece to Fiji, since its founding in 1981.
Sufism, the Heart of Islam
Sunday, April 26, 2009 By Maryam
On the evening of April 23rd, 2009, author Sadia Dehlvi was beaming like a happy child in her Nizamuddin East drawing room. Finally, she had her first book, Sufism, The Heart of Islam, clasped tightly in her hands. Earlier in the day, Harper Collins India, Ms Dehlvi's publisher, had sent her a copy of the book hot off the press. Notwithstanding her excitement, The Delhi Walla pestered her for an interview over a cup of green tea.
Maktub مكتوب
Sunday, April 19, 2009 By Maryam
It is written.
Rumi, Sufism and The Spiritual Path
Sunday, April 19, 2009 By Maryam
“Observe the wonders as
they occur around you.
Don't claim them. Feel
the artistry moving
through and be silent... “
*****
“In your light I learn how to
love.
In your beauty,how to make
poems.
You dance inside my chest,
where no one sees you. “
~Rumi~
Glossary of Sufism 10. Tawakkul
Sunday, April 12, 2009 By Maryam
التوكل
Abandonment to God
(tawakkul)
The “abandonment to God” happens when the heart confides in God to a point that the heart only leans on God; or to be tied to God and address only to God in everything, knowing that God knows everything, and to count on what is in His hands than what is in ours. The lowest degree of “abandonment to God” is to be in the same position as when the asker is in front of the giver, alert and anxious about his interests. De medium degree is like when it happens with a child and his mother: in all circumstance, it is only towards him that she focuses her attention. And the highest degree of “abandonment to God” is to be like a corpse – dead body - in the hands of the washer of the dead.
These three degrees are, respectively, the ones of the vulgar, the ones of the elite and the ones of the chosen elite. As for the first ones, a suspicion (tuhma) comes at times to the mind. Regarding the second ones, there is no wariness (ittihaam) but they get attached to their mothers because they are in need for it. And as for the ones belonging to the third degree, there is no suspicion at all, nor “interested” attachment, because they fade to their own soul (faani ‘annafsihi) and expect at all times what God will make from them.
Translated from Glossaire du Soufisme, by Iban Agibah, edited by A. Saleh Hamdan.
For further reading:
Tawakkul. From Mission Islam
Tawakkul. From Hizmetbooks
Beauty of the Heart
Sunday, April 12, 2009 By Maryam
There is a place where words are born of silence,
A place where the whispers of the heart arise.
There is a place where voices sing your beauty,
A place where every breeath
carves your image
in my soul.
Paolo Coelho tells Syria’s Forward Magazine he is influenced by mystical Islam brewing in Syria
Sunday, April 12, 2009 By Maryam
“No doubt about it. During my journey and my encounter with Sufism, the books I had read by Paulo’s came to my mind a few times, not the stories themselves but the way he writes them. When I came back and started to use the internet to find articles about Sufism, the more I read the more I felt he has a Sufi heart and soul. And… I love that…”
Here is an article where he tells Forward Magazine how this mysticism has influenced his works.
Love’s Calligraphy
Friday, April 10, 2009 By Maryam
'Enlightened by sight'
Ahmed Darwish reviews the life of one of Egypt's most distinguished calligraphers
Calligraphy may seem to be a luxury, as it requires a skill and takes too much time, especially at a time when most of us spend our days hunched over a keyboard, the nostalgia for beautiful writing is hard to resist.
To read more click here
Where Everything Is Music (Rumi)
Wednesday, April 08, 2009 By Maryam
“Don’t worry about saving these songs!
And if one of our instruments breaks,
it does not matter.
We have fallen into the place
where everything is music.
And even if the whole world’s harp
should burn up,
there will still be hidden instruments
playing.
The strumming and the flute notes
rise into the atmosphere.
So the candle flickers
and goes out.
We have a piece of flint,
and a spark.
This singing art is sea foam.
The graceful movements
come from a pearl
somewhere on the ocean floor.
Poems reach out like kindred spindrift
and the edge of driftwood
along the beach, wanting!
They derive from a slow
and powerful root
that we can’t see.
Stop the words now!
Open the window
in the center of your chest
and let the spirits fly in and out.”
Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Thursday, April 02, 2009 By Maryam
A beautiful sufi poem by a Sufi Teacher from India:
(To read about his life, just follow this Link)
SNOW
Let Thy knowledge cover my heart
as the snow covers the ground.
Let my heart melt in Thy light
as snow before the sun.
Let my heart show the purity of snow
in the path of righteousness.
Pour on me Thy eternal life
as snow on earth.
Make my heart delighted
by the snowfall of Thy knowledge of truth.
by Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan (undated)
To read about his life, just follow this Link
Ocean of My Dreams
Tuesday, March 31, 2009 By Maryam
A fusion of poems by renowned poets expressing their love and desire for God:
Rumi, Ibn Arabi and Amjid Yaseen.
Woman
Wednesday, December 19, 2007 By Maryam
Rumi looked upon women as the most perfect example of God’s creative power on earth. In Masnavi-I Ma'navi (spiritual couplets), his monumental mystical work, Rumi calls woman, “a ray of God”. “She is not just the earthly beloved, She is creative, not created”.
“Rumi is one of those rare spiritual masters who had female disciples. This is not so common in the history of Sufism.
Rumi’s letters, teachings, advice to his son to be kind to his wife and the tenderness he showered on his own wife— show how sacred the feminine was to the poet,” points out Dr Leili Anwar-Chenderoff, Head, Iranian Languages Department, INALCO (Institut des Langues et Civilisations Orientales), Paris.
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Soul
Monday, December 10, 2007 By Maryam
