National Representative’s Annual Report

The Sufi Movement in Australia National Representative's Report – 2021/2022

by Nuria

This last year has evolved out of COVID lockdowns to be quite different from how things were before. I do not think that we will ever return to pre-Covid times. But this has not been all negative.

Zoom has played an important part and we have achieved much by using Zoom. The beauty of it is that people can join meetings no matter where they are. Some are attending Zoom who have not been able to attend actual meetings while others all over Australia and overseas can attend these meetings.

Pir Nawab has a monthly Zoom meeting with us on the first Thursday of every month (when he is not running retreats).

Pir Nawab also leads a worldwide serai on the second Saturday of every month (when he is not running retreats).

It is lovely to feel the energy and unity of all those who are involved in these meetings. There is discussion and exchange of ideas. Real teaching is happening. From the 13th to the 15th of September, we had a really lovely Hejirat retreat with morning and evening sessions. Mornings were for prayers and confraternity and in the evenings, we had Universal Worship, healing, and a talk about Hazrat Inayat Khan’s experiences when coming to the west. The sessions were truly moving and profound and the involvement of so many mureeds with the Universal Worship and the healing practice, as well as the morning prayers. It was so inclusive. Zoom is being used in new ways that really enhance our practice.

Our newsletter Spirit Matters is evolving into an international publication – we get great feedback from people overseas, especially in Canada and the Netherlands. Such a shame that we never get feedback from within Australia! Yaqin is doing a wonderful job – each year I think it cannot get better and then it does. It would be great if more people would contribute articles.

23 of 31

Victoria

Nuria has been running Inner School meetings on Thursday evenings when Pir Nawab does not have a meeting with us. These used to be our Melbourne group Zoom meetings but have expanded so that others around Australia and overseas now join us. Often Inner Call teachings are used, but lately other topics have come up. We had a one-day winter retreat on Saturday 25th June which was a lovely day of practice and meditation. Nuria took part in an interfaith meeting at St. Michael’s church in Melbourne, where each faith leader presented a meditation practice or ritual which came from their tradition. A recording was supposed to be available but that has not happened yet. Nuria also took part in a series of talks at RMIT University given by different faith leaders. Although the numbers were very small, as RMIT was about to close again because of Covid, we have had one man who has now joined our Zoom sessions. We have started to hold zikr here again on the 3rd or 4th Sunday of the month at 2pm. Sundays work well as there is very little traffic and having it in the afternoon means that people do not have to travel after dark. We have afternoon tea and catch up, then we get into the zikr practice. It has been a wonderful experience being together again after so long. Our website has yielded a man who is very interested in Sufism and Nuria is now seeing him privately. He also joins in some of our Zoom sessions. So, the year has been fruitful and has brought about many changes. We have had a council meeting regarding the costs of the retreat (14th - 20th April 2023) as Amberley’s costs have risen steeply. We all (including Nawab) want this retreat to go ahead. It is vital that we continue to meet and practice with Pir Nawab. We are determined to keep the cost of the retreat down, so have decided that SMIA will cover costs such as Nawab's airfare, retreat stay, printing, and other overheads from our savings investment account. These costs have usually been factored into the cost of the individual retreat in the past. We want as many people to attend this retreat as possible to also keep costs down for others. Thus, we are happy to allow the payment of the retreat to be paid in instalments - even when the retreat is over. This option has already been taken up - with one Mureed making monthly payments so that she can attend. We look forward to our retreat with Pir Nawab in April 2023.

24 of 31