Sufism: an Inquiry - Vol18.3

Vol.18N.3 an inquiry

Compassion The Signs of a Quest A Year for Transformation Love & Zikr

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Sufism: An Inquiry Vol XVIII, No. 3

If you ask me, what do I recommend?

Leave everything, but follow the path

towards the Beloved

- Hafiz

Sufism: An Inquiry Vol XVIII, No. 3

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Steve Uzzell photography

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Publisher: International Association of Sufism a nonprofit corporation.

Editor-in-Chief: Seyyed Ali Kianfar, Ph.D. Executive Editor: Nahid Angha, Ph.D. Journal Board: Matthew Davis, Ph.D., Munir Hedges, Elizabeth Miller, Ph.D., Sarah Hastings Mullin, Ph.D., Hamed Ross, Taher Roybal.

Photography:

Susan W. Lambert

www.SusanWLambert.com

Steve Uzzell

www.SteveUzzell.com

Inside Cover Photo: Steve Uzzell

The various articles in SUFISM: an inquiry represent the individual views of their authors.

SUFISM: an inquiry does not imply any gender bias by the use of feminine or masculine terms, nouns and/or pronouns.

SUFISM: an inquiry is a quarterly journal (ISSN: 0898-3380) published by the International Association of Sufism.

Address all correspondence regarding editorials and advertising to: SUFISM, P.O. Box 2382, San Rafael, California 94912 Phone: (415) 472-6959 email ias@ias.org All material Copyright Š 2017 by International Association of Sufism.

All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication (including art) may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher.

The publication is published by the International Association of Sufism, a California nonprofit corporation.

The publication of any article, essay, story, or other material herein constitutes neither an endorsement of, agreement with, or validation of the contents of the author’s views expressed therein.

Although the Publisher has made all reasonable efforts in its editing of such material to verify its accuracy, the Publisher takes no responsibility for any inaccurate or tortious statement by the author set forth therein.

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editors’ desk

09. A Letter from the Desk of the Editor

Shah Nazar Seyyed Ali Kianfar, Ph.D.

15. Principles of Sufism: Compassion

Nahid Angha, Ph.D.

17. Essential Practices: Vud Nahid Angha, Ph.D.

21. Selected Teachings: Foundation vs. short lived Hazrat Moulana Shah Maghsoud

history, inquiry & science 39. Beautiful Names

Sheikha Azima Lila Forest

43. The Feminine Archetype

Sharon G. Mijares, Ph.D.

45. Mercy, Compassion, Love & the root of Adab

Matthew E. Davis, Ph.D.

75. 99 Most Beautiful Names: Al-Wadud

Sarah Hastings Mullin, Ph.D.

reports

29. 2019 Songs of the Soul

Leili First

33. Sufi Women: Women’s Leadership

honoring Linda Graham

53. Psychology

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Katherine Preston

Sufism: An Inquiry Vol XVIII, No. 3

healing and the world 31. Women’s Wisdom in Action

Service Appreciation Grant: 2019 Honorees

49. Ecological Healing Imperatives

Saleh Arthur Scott

51. Accessing Transformative Balance

Arife Ellen Hammerle, Ph.D.

67. UN Report

poetry

23. Only love purifies your cloak...

Rumi - 13th Century

35. What kind of heart may proclaim: I am the Truth?

Shabistari - 14th Century

57. My God, I Cannot Pray Without You David Katz, M.D.

sufi biography

61. Annual Community Award

honoring 40 Days Team

63. Abu Habib Raee

Mah Talat Etemad-Moghadam Angha

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Letter from the Editor

The Signs of a Quest Shah Nazar Seyyed Ali Kianfar, Ph.D.

Does it not make sense that spiritual self-development as a pursuit stands at the apex of human endeavor? Does not one’s spiritual condition ultimately have the longest enduring and greatest impact on one’s wellbeing of all the concerns and goals one might consider? For some, the idea of spirituality has sadly been discredited and they do not entertain it as a legitimate aspect of reality. To such individuals, the two questions just posed will be answered in the negative and they need bother no more with questions touching on the subject of spirituality. But to anyone who does entertain interest in the possibility of a spiritual dimension of their being, the answer to the two questions just posed must be, “yes.” If there is such a spiritual dimension to who I am, then that dimension will endure beyond my physical being and I do not want my spiritual existence to suffer in a poor condition. I want my spiritual wellbeing to prosper and flourish.

Nothing is, nor will be, more important to me than doing what I can to assure that result for myself.

Taking our cue from this understanding, we now treat the subject of spirituality with a serious practicality that is determined to be sensible, honest, and accountable in our efforts at spiritual self-development.

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A first step in this direction is acknowledging that in our culture we are not very accustomed to treating our spirituality with this honest accountability that looks at whether the approach we are taking makes any sense or not. That is, if we surveyed a large number of spiritually inclined people how they tend to their spiritual self-development and wellbeing, many would answer that they pray. But the fact is that our culture often encourages us to pray in the same unhealthy and unproductive way it often encourages us to eat. How often, after all, do you eat, not because you are actually hungry, but only because it is meal time? We confront the same dynamic when it comes to our prayers. How often do we pray because we are actually hungry to be in the presence of God? How often do we pray simply because it is time for prayer or time for bed?

When you have a real hunger to pray, then you have a spiritual quest. But when you are simply following a schedule, your prayers are nothing more than a habit or addiction. A real spiritual hunger and quest focuses your awareness and bring your entire being into unity with your goal, which is to be in the presence of God. How else can we describe prayer than as a desire to reach in and make contact with God? How can we

make contact with God if we do not come into God’s presence? Understanding this, it becomes all too clear that praying out of habit or addiction completely lacks the concentrated awareness required to achieve prayer’s goal. We realize that nothing that is habitual or an addiction can qualify as actual prayer. Simply put, to claim we are praying when we are not hungry to pray means we are lying to ourselves.

Therefore, if you feel that your spiritual condition is important to you, the right place to begin is to understand that you should like to sit for meditation. You cannot meditate from a sense of duty. The call for prayer should be from your heart, not from the minaret. And that call can happen at any time of the day and anywhere. You can be in a crowd. You don’t necessarily have to be at home near your prayer rug. The call arises from beyond our time. But when you get that call, that is the time for meditation. Believers, in the words of the Qur’an, “[are] those whom neither commerce nor sale distracts from the remembrance of Allah and performance of prayer and giving of zakah.”

(Qur’an 24:37) Sufis speak of three groups of people when it comes to hearing the call of the heart that is the defin-

ing characteristic of a spiritual quest. The first group of people is very close to the center, source, or root of being. They are the people of zekr (remembering God) and witnessing of the divine light. They are in charge to teach. Their nature does not allow them to become distracted by the dynamics that draw the individual into a sense of self defined by the surface physicality of things. This group remains free of the resulting limitations that become habit and addiction.

The second group is in the middle, which is to say, a little further out from that center point of their being. The heart of an individual in this second group is aware. It knows its hunger to be at the presence of God, to witness divine light. These individuals search for knowledge. Their lives are a quest for spiritual experience. They are the true followers of the first group.

The souls of this second group are nourished by the teachings of the first group. The guidance of the first group is pure water for their thirst.

Then the third group is composed of those people who are satisfied with what life has given them on the surface, the group who does not credit their spiritual condition as very important. They don’t have much of a quest to penetrate more deeply. Life is entertain-

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ment and business, not an inward quest to discover one’s complete being.

An individual considering spirituality must look inside him or herself to evaluate which of these three groups best describes the level of his or her attunement. Do you hear any call for prayer within yourself? There is no point in approaching spirituality with anything but honesty and sensible accountability.

If you hear the call for prayer from the minaret in the mosque, then you are praying out of a sense of duty and compulsion. That is not bad. But your expectation for what you get out of your life and your spirituality should be based on your understanding of the degree to which you do or do not have this inward calling or quest. When you find yourself called to your prayer from the minaret of your heart, your heart become your mosque, the place to prostrate your sense of self (sujud), to come closer to the presence of the unity of God, which cannot coincide with a sense of separate individuality. Such a call to prostration before God at the center of your being is the quest on which you can intelligently set your expectations for successful spiritual selfdevelopment. Only through such hunger to come into the presence of God through prostration of a limited sense of individuality can one achieve selfexperience, witnessing, wisdom and knowledge of the eternal spiritual reality of one’s own and all Being. Thus, not only does one’s spiritual condition depend upon the presence of a quest, but such a quest is defined by an ambition that, as we observed at the outset, stands at the apex of all human endeavor.

There are many examples from history of individuals who had deep spiritual quests. What made Buddha and Ibrahim Adham leave their palaces?

What drove Jesus into the desert or Mohammad up to the Mount Nur? We have to be honest with ourselves and honor the ambition that defines our pursuit of spiritual self-development with a pure hunger, untainted by a mistaken sense of duty or misleading habit or addiction. How we can identify, uncover and purify the hunger within our hearts?

To come into the presence of God is an important question for those who entertain interest in the possibility of a spiritual dimension of their being.

Can practice make it possible for the quest to arise within an individual’s heart even if he or she cannot with certainty identify such a quest at present?

The answer is that every honest intention and

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right action belongs to and draws the individual toward the reality of Being. But the journey to the reality of Being by this route requires serious selfdiscipline, self-restraint, and purification, which, however, should not be confused with mortification or abuse of one’s physical system. Islam prohibits mortification. The self-discipline, self-restraint, and purification of which we speak only comes where there is a genuine quest. While such a quest may awaken within your heart out of an interest in the possibility of a spiritual reality, it is also important to be able to honestly acknowledge that a possibility is not a quest until it becomes a quest. And for so long as there is not a quest, the distracted nature of the individual’s activity and being will prevent his or her journey to the spiritual reality of Being.

Thus, if there is a quest, there is a quest; and if there is not, there is not. There need not be any judgment about this, right or wrong. Sufism is for those people who have a quest. It is not something you can do as a freelancer. The freelancer will not receive anything for his or her time. Mysticism doesn’t work that way. Mysticism requires a quest.

The difference between the people who have a quest and the people who do not have a quest can be illuminated by our relationship to knowledge.

There is a tremendous amount of information available to us in our physical lives. But for some, all this information falls short. There still is something missing. You reject it as inadequate and conclude that, for all the information you have collected, you remain fundamentally ignorant about your self, the source of being, the meaning and purpose of existence. You do not have any real answers. As a result, you cast aside this type of information, which up to now, you have been collecting, realizing that this information will never answer questions for which you now demand of yourself an answer. You recognize this information you have been collecting does not really come from yourself and does not really belong to you, nor does it satisfy your most fundamental need to understand life, not from information, but from experience. Other people may be focused on such information, which may be picked up without experience, but not you. You want something more. You ask, “Is there any way I can satisfy myself? I am hungry. I am thirsty.” This is the beginning of the vibration of love, which is the secret to learning how to prostrate your sense of individuality to come into the presence of the unity of Being that is God. continued on page 13...

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The quest of the lover is this dissolving of self where all to the lover is the beloved and only the beloved remains. As the Sufi poet, Rumi so beautifully wrote: Leave your Jealousy, O lover! Go mad, go mad!

Come forth into the flame, become a butterfly!

Make yourself a stranger and ruin your own home; then come with athe lovers and share a home with them!

Go and purify your heart like all hearts seven times of all hatreds, Then come and become a cupbearer of love!

You must become all soul to be deserving of the Beloved; if you go towards the drunk you must become all drunken!

The earrings of the beauties are whispering with that lovely face; if you seek that ear and that face, you must become a pearl

With the same insistence on honesty and sensible accountability, we must understand the nature of love and distinguish from it the misguided ideas of our culture.

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If we look closely, we see that people constantly manipulate themselves about love, pretending to be head-over-heals, but all too quickly proving themselves unswervingly committed to serving their sense of their individual selfhood above all else. Being a lover cannot be faked. You cannot even practice being a lover. Instead, being a lover is an inner quality that is beyond the calculations of the mind and is in fact an expression of the soul.

The Holy Books proclaim that the quality of the lover stands out far above all other qualities characterizing human beings. The reason the lover is so distinguished is that generally human beings wrap themselves in so many layers of ideas and attachments that do not belong to them that the human being’s soul is no longer free. Such imprisoned souls have a very different journey than does the lover. Only the love of the lover actually burns away all the individual’s layers and wrappings, revealing and freeing the soul, uniting the lover with his or her beloved.

The nature of the soul is to be free and united with existence. But the soul becomes attached to layer after layer of attachment and identification as we learn to navigate the physical world. It is a very painful reality to a heart aware of its hunger to come into the presence of God. Imagine a person sentenced to a prison cell for a long, long, time.

This is a fate and condition that inspires deep agony. This is the soul imprisoned beneath layers and layers of attachments to things that do not belong to its essence. Perhaps holding this image of agony in front of yourself will create an energy within you: I don’t want to be in pain! Nothing is more important than that I free my soul. This angst is the sign of love and the beginning of your quest.

As a wise person, you should think about the future consequences of your actions before you commit them. What prevents wisdom from being present? Emotion. And emotion is the product of the images and information collected by the mind. It is mistaken to think that love is this kind of emotion. Love is a vibration of deep attraction, of a need to experience unity with something based on one’s deepest nature. It is not based on superficially collected information. Wisdom and love are companions. If the emotions you feel do not serve your most important quest to free your soul, then they cannot be called love, because they are not the companion of wisdom. This is the honest and sensible accountability that the pursuit of spiritual self-development requires.

Looking more deeply in practical terms at the aspects of your spirituality and religion helps you remove a cloud that is covering your real identity.

You begin to see the signs of your quest and you see also the false substitutes that have stopped you from looking more deeply. The more you look at your life and pursuit of spirituality with this honest appraisal, the more you will uncover your true nature. Perhaps, as you uncover more and more of your true nature, you will find there and witness true love rising within you from the fountain of your soul.

Shah Nazar Seyyed Ali Kianfar, Ph.D., the Editor in Chief of the journal, is the CoDirector of the International Association of Sufism. He is an acclaimed Sufi Master with students around the world, an international lecturer and the author of numerous books including An Introduction to Religion.

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Nahid Angha, Ph.D.

At the heart of every religion, taught by its very first teachers, is appreciation, compassion, honor, understanding, wisdom and knowledge in serving the Divine, serving humanity, and honoring all creation as a sign of appreciation for Divine’s blessings; regardless of human limitations, and serving as fundamental keys. Compassion plays an important role in understanding not only the Divine presence, but also recognizing and appreciating life as a blessing. Life is a very calculated gift given by this eternal and most beautiful Being to every element of the seen and the unseen Nature; and compassion embodies appreciation, knowledge, and wisdom, among other things, in receiving and serving.

The sources of religious knowledge in Islam are the Qur’an and the hadith (sayings of the Prophet of Islam), and every chapter of the

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Qur’an begins with this phrase: In the name of God, most al rahman (merciful), most al rahim (compassionate). Al rahman (merciful) and al rahim (compassionate) both are reflections from the same meaning rahmat (mercy). However, there is a slight difference between the two.

According to the hadith of the Prophet: God has created the creation simply because: He was a hidden treasure and He loved to be known so He created the creation so He would be known (by and through His creation). In this act of creation, or giving life to created forms, the parable continues with God breathing into the essence of Adam from His own soul and spirit,1 so the essence manifests itself in forms. Receiving such breath reflects two messages: there is divinity within every aspect of creation, and discovering this divinity is a first step towards understanding the divine unity – a proclamation in almost every

Principles of Sufism

monotheistic religion. In the act of creation, God’s mercy will include all and every aspect of the creation since His rahmat (mercy) embraces all that which is created, and He, nonetheless, remains the hidden treasure at the heart of every created form.

His mercy also includes the creation of the human being. According to the Qur’anic verses: God created human from a clot of congealed blood, and taught human what he did not know, opened his heart and removed his burden.2 He also confirms by every aspect of His creation that He is merciful: by the sun and its glory, by the moon that reflects the ray of sun, by the day and night and by the earth and all its expansion, the vegetations, the living things, the water and everything that embodies all creation, so forth, and by the soul given to all, He is merciful.3 It is the al rahim (the most compassionate) that created

the human, with all abundances in his life, then which one of the blessings and favors of your God can you deny? This defines the compassion of God; and the answer to this question defines one’s level of knowledge and understanding.

For a human being “not denying the divine favors” is to understand these favors and appreciate such blessings.

God’s mercy embraces all creation; and His compassion is reserved for those who understand and purify; those who appreciate the blessings of the creation; those who do not corrupt those blessings; those who give from what they have been given, whether it is knowledge, enlightenment, wisdom, or material wealth; those who serve and remain respectful to all creation; these are the ones who receive God’s compassion, and they are the ones who give and devote from what they have received.

A reference to Qur’an: “Surely I am going to create a mortal from dust: So when I have made him complete and breathed into him of My spirit […].” (Qur’an: 38:71-72).

2 It is important to note that “Adam” and the “human being” are not identical in the Qur’anic verses mentioned above; these two terms do not represent the same meaning.

3 Referring to passages from Qur’an Sura 55, Sura 74 and Sura 91.

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Essential Practices Along the Spiritual Path

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Vud

{Love}

Love is that strong magnetic power that connects all the particles of the universe together. The basic principles, the beginning, the end, and the discovery of what is secret, are all founded on the pillar of eshgh. Creation and all its creatures are the outcome of love. Love is the bond that binds the book of creation together.

Throughout the world of Sufism, love is the eternal theme which Sufis in all eras have gracefully glorified in delicate poetry. After all, it is love that purifies, concentrates, brings beauty, and makes the pillars of the universe strong. To the Sufi, God is love, Prophet is love, Religion is love, From the smallest grain of sand to the

highest heavens, All are wrapped in love.

Existence is based on love and as existence has levels and stages, so does love. At every stage and level love has a different manifestation, each with its own beauty.

Love is rebellious in nature; it will not rest until it robs the lover of his being, unless it receives the guardianship and companionship of the intellect and wisdom…

A salek cultivates the seed of love in his heart through his eagerness for knowledge; he thus steps into the field of exploration, connecting his life to the magnetic power of love radiating from the heart of the Master, and reflecting the Divine love…

Only those whose hearts are truly alive are able to pass the boundaries of love. In its highest form, pure love is reserved to those who

by Nahid Angha, Ph.D.

have perfected themselves by passing through the successive stages of perfection. In its final perfection, love does not allow for any distance between the self and the Beloved; the “I” loses significance. Such love brings the devotee to the final stage of dissolving where nothing remains of the seeker but the Beloved…

But this final dissolving is not to be quickly found: It is said that patience will not cure love, but that the impatient will not survive love.

Love may be divided into two general levels; the beginner experiences the level of striving, while the pure possess the level of witnessing.

The beginnings of spiritual love are fraught with the pain of heavy burdens and suffering of the heart, while the pure attain the wealth of witnessing the Beloved and the enjoyments of Divine Unity. Sheikh Ahmad Ja’am writes that love is the blessing of God, and like a wild bird that will only build its nest in a special place, so also love will not reside just anyplace, or make friends with just anyone. Love resembles guidance, cognition and wisdom, in that God gives these only to whomever He desires…

Divine love will not rest until it purifies the salek from all impurities that he may carry with himself on the path of spirituality. When such a light falls upon the being of lover, it illuminates and through illumination the salek steps out of the darkness of ignorance. Then, from the midst of such purification, and the destruction of all of the dross of the material world, there arises a [Hu]man, a perfect insan (human being). Desires no longer attract him, as he has been purified by love… like the dew drops that vanish with the rising sun. The heat of love is to the shortcomings of the lover like the rays of the sun to the dew. continued on following page...

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{Love & Zikr} It has been written that the people of zekr have four levels: some are in the level of desires, some are in the level of servitude, and others are in the level of love. The fourth level is that of Ascension. The spirit of the spiritual traveler will not ascend until he is in this stage.

In the first level, the salek is apparently in solitude. He performs the zekr only through words, while the heart is yet busied by other things. During the second level, as the salek performs the zekr he tries to be present in his heart, but on occasion his heart strays elsewhere, yet he persists and studies hard to keep his heart present at all times. Most of the people of the zekr may be placed in this level.

At the third level, the zekr by itself covers and fills the whole heart and the performer remembers his zekr always. He prefers to remain in the solitude of his heart,

rather than busying himself with matters that do not have spiritual value. This is the stage of closeness, and only a few reach this level. The closeness reflects the salek’s growing understanding of Divinity. In this stage, the zekr, that is the remembrance of the Beloved, fills the heart; during the fourth stage the Beloved fills the heart of the Sufi. And of course there is a difference between the one who only knows the name of the Beloved and the one who is united with the Beloved‌ When someone speaks, he is on the level of desire; when his wish is surpassed, the level is called devotion. When devotion waxes strong, it is called affection, and extreme affection is called love. When the spiritual passenger of Divine love comes to your heart, honor it. Empty the house of your heart for this love, since love will tolerate no rival.

from: (1991) Principles of Sufism. San Rafael: IAS Publications. 67-74

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Selected Teachings

Deep secrets of existence are discovered through the mixture of hidden and apparent agents, and man learns the principles of eternity through following such a path. In the heavens of God, birds fly with the same hidden and apparent wings. When the short-lived attachments of a human being rise to their highest level, they but cover celestial events from his eyes. Desires blinker the sight of the heart, and elegantly garland ignorance for human perception.

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Thoughts which do not strengthen the foundation of inner happiness and fortune are worthless to human beings, and any knowledge which cannot erect a firm pillar for character is vain and corrupt...

It is only the true man who keeps his vital essence safe away from imaginary motivations of humanity.

[And] the pure ones receive reality without the means of learning traditions.

Selected Teachings

Translated by Dr. Nahid Angha (1991) Psalms of Gods Avaz-e-Khodayan. San Rafael, CA: IAS Publciations.

Hazrat Moulana Shah Maghsoud Sadegh Angha

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Rhythms of the Heart: Rumi

Maulana Jalalluddin Balkhi (Rumi) 13th century Persian Poet

Only love purifies your cloak, Defeats your ill will and desires.

I say to you—rejoice, rejoice! Oh love, You the healer of all pains.

The handful of clay rises to the heavens Mountains are brought to the feasts Love becomes the life of Tur The mountain drunken, Moses rejoicing.

If you who hear will listen too, find harmony with my songs, I, like the reed, shall sing to you of songs of love and secrets.

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Translations by Nahid Angha, Ph.D.

(2007). Ecstasy:; The World of Sufi Poetry and Prayer. San Rafael, CA: International Association of Sufism Publications.

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IAS PUBLICATIONS

Sufi Wisdom: The Collected Words of Sufi Master Nahid Angha Compiled by Arife Ellen Hammerle, Ph.D. Second Printing

Stations of the Sufi Path: The One Hundred Fields (Sad Maydan) of Abdullah Ansari of Herat

by Nahid Angha, Ph.D. Archetype Publishing

Caravan: Biographies from the Sufism Symposia 1994-2014 Introduction by Nahid Angha, Ph.D.

Illumination of the Names: Meditation by Sufi Masters on the Ninety-Nine Beautiful Names of God Introduction from the Teachings of Sufi Master Shah Nazar Seyyed Ali Kianfar Compiled by Glenn Pascall

Seasons of the Soul: The Spoken Wisdom of Shah Nazar Seyyed Ali Kianfar Compiled by Glenn Pascall & Saana Joy Carey, Ph.D.

Inspirations on The Holy Qur’an

Dr. Nahid Angha and Shah Nazar Seyyed Dr. Ali Kianfar, students of Moulana Shah Maghsoud, 20th Century Persian Sufi Master, are Sufi scholars and masters, with many publications. They cofounded the International Association of Sufism in 1983, to introduce and provide practical applications of Sufism, the mysticism of Islam, and open a line of communication amongst Sufi masters and scholars from around the world.

To bring the wisdom of Islam to the general public, Dr. Kianfar offered exegesis on Qur’anic text through a series of classes entitled: Love and Wisdom through the Qur’an and Hadiths. His teachings and the students’ reflections are compiled in this book: Inspirations on the Holy Qur’an. Dr. Kianfar emphasized the importance of studying this text as a manual for humanity and as a reflection for a reader on his/her divine essence and of spiritual development. He emphasizes that the key to understanding the Qur’an is in how profoundly and reflectively one studies the teachings provided in the Book: the teachings that become a trusted guide for the practitioner who moves towards the stations of selfunderstanding and spiritual awakening.

International Association of Sufism IAS. PO Box 2382, San Rafael, California 94912, USA

ISBN: 0-918437-20-4

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Inspirations on The Holy Qur’an

Inspirations on The Holy Qur’an Introduction by Shah Nazar Seyyed Ali Kianfar

Introduction by Shah Nazar Seyyed Ali Kianfar

A Collection of Essays by Sherri Brown • Sarah Hastings Mullin • Munir Hedges Katherine Preston • Amelia Amineh Pryor Bryan Rich • Hamed Blake Ross

Institute for Sufi Studies Classes

Sufi Gatherings, Uwaiysi School Bi-monthly

Novato, CA

S M W H S

MEDITATION GROUPS

READING AND STUDY GROUPS

Sufi Meditation & The Journey Reading Group Every other Sunday, 10:00 – 11:30 am 14 Commercial Blvd. Suite 101, Novato, CA Call in advance: Dr. Arife Hammerle, (415) 389-6448

Amir al-Momenin Imam Ali (a.s.)

First Sundays monthly, 1:00 – 2:30 pm Novato, CA Contact Sheikh Salman Baruti

40 Days: Alchemy of Tranquility Every other Sunday evening San Mateo, CA Contact Katherine Preston Meditation for Mothers Second Mondays monthly, 11:30 am - 12:30 pm 14 Commercial Blvd. Suite 101, Novato, CA Pre-reg. required. Contact Dr. Amineh Pryor, (415) 4382-7834 Alchemy of Heart Sufi Meditation Program Last Mondays monthly, 4:30 – 5:30 pm 616 Throckmorton Ave., Mill Valley, CA 94941 Call in advance: Dr. Arife Hammerle, (415) 389-6448 Sacred Meditation Circle for Women in Santa Rosa First Wednesdays monthly, 11:00 am Santa Rosa, CA Contact Halima Haymaker, (707) 953-2013

Stations of the Sufi Path Third Wednesdays monthly, 7:00 – 8:00 pm San Francisco location, CA. Contact Dr. Amineh Pryor, (415) 4382-7834 Illumination of the Names Monthly on Wednesdays, 7:00 – 8:30 pm Novato, CA Contact Dr. Leili First

Heart-based Meditation Thursday evenings, 7:00 – 8:00 pm San Francisco, CA Contact Dr. Amineh Pryor, (415) 4382-7834 Sufi New Student Gathering Every other Saturday & by Appointment 14 Commercial Blvd. Suite 101, Novato, CA Contact Safa Ali Newman, (415) 499-1115

Seasons of Transformation One Saturday a month 14 Commercial Blvd. Suite 101, Novato, CA Contact Saleh Arthur Scott, (510) 318-0688 Adab: Conduct and the Expanse of Human Life One Saturday a month 14 Commercial Blvd. Suite 101, Novato, CA Contact Matthew Davis, (415) 496-5544

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IAS PUBLICATIONS

Human Self Volume 1: Body

by Shah Nazar Seyyed Ali Kianfar, et.al.

Human Self VOLUME I : BODY Shah Nazar Ali Kianfar

with Mary Toth Granick, M.Ed., MS Arife Ellen Hammerle, Ph.D. Amineh Amelia Pryor, Ph.D. Katherine Preston, MA

series

Reflections

by Arife Ellen Hammerle, Ph.D.

The Book of Self

by Sarah Hastings Mullin, Ph.D.

THE

LIGHT of the

HEART

The Light of the Heart: An Introduction to the Principles and Practics of Sufism As taught by Sufi Masters Nahid Angha, Ph.D. and Shah Nazar Seyyed Ali Kianfar, Ph.D.

by Halima Joann Haymaker

HALIMA JOANN HAYMAKER

Sufism: Self, Path and Guide

by Amineh Amelia Pryor, Ph.D.

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Report

2019 Songs of the Soul Sacred Music Festival 2019 was held Friday, May 3, in the light, airy Mill Valley Community Center in Marin, California. The Center’s natural woods and generous use of glass made it a perfect location for the sacred songs of Kitka Trio and Taneen Sufi Music Ensemble.

Blending their rich voices acapella, the Kitka Trio, three members of Kitka, a women’s vocal ensemble, presented songs from around the world and across the ages. Kitka is especially inspired by traditional songs and vocal techniques from Eastern Europe and Eurasia. The group was founded in 1979, and has evolved into an award-winning touring ensemble.

With a wide variety of melodies and messages, Kitka’s songs at the Festival celebrated love and marriage, birth and death, work and harvest, praise and ritual. True to the meaning of “Kitka” – which is “bouquet” – they brought to the audience a masterful bouquet of sounds from the hauntingly delicate to the resoundingly energetic.

After an intermission, the fragrance of Sufi devotion, both ancient and modern, was present as Taneen Sufi Music Ensemble brought to life the longing of Sufi poets set to original music. Formed in 1996 under the guidance of Dr. Nahid Angha and Shah Nazar Seyyed Dr. Ali Kianfar, Taneen has performed at events around the world focused on peace-building, human rights, and interfaith understanding and cooperation, with music intended as an offering and a service.

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Many of the songs Taneen (meaning “divine melody”) presented at the Festival were translations by Dr. Angha of the ecstatic love poetry of great Sufi masters (including the poetry of Jalaleddin Rumi, Hafiz, Omar Khayam, and Shah Maghsoud), wrapped with sacred Sufi chant. Taneen’s mesmerizing performance transcended time and space and opened hearts throughout the room with their message of peace and light.

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2019 Honorees Ruth Natyanya, Kenya Peace Path Development Initiative is a grassroots-based initiative, operating at the village level, that began as a series of activities and led to the mobilization of 40 women from 2 villages in Kenya, to undertake economic activities. The objectives are to strengthen the role of rural women in peace-building processes and community development through networking and collaboration; and to promote the dignity of women and girls through sustainable economic empowerment activities. These objectives have made the females less vulnerable to male manipulation because poverty in the households has been linked to wide-spread women and gender based violence.

The Grant was used to help women from two villages to do farming. The group intended to plant groundnuts but ended up planting beans and maize because of weather changes. They bought 34 bags of 90kg each out of the two acres that they ploughed. This harvest was above average and a miracle considering our soil fertility. We are so excited. The women hope to sell the maize in April hoping that prices will be high by then. The women are very excited and eagerly waiting for another round of farming.

Service Appreciation Grant

women action

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Sufi Women

Ataf Awad, Galile

Ataf Awad has helped to establish the Dabbouriya Village Forum of Women committee among 15 women within a wider community of 62 active members. These women collaborate to serve as capacitor developers for other women in this small community to work on issues of social justice and equality in order to promote the status of women and realize their social, economic and political identity through educational and social activities.

The Grant has helped Ataf to take training sessions to help women in Jenin, a Palestinian city in the northern West Bank, who are facing difficult conditions given the Israeli military occupation and its impact on impoverishing their community. Trainings and workshops included stress release exercises, skills building strategies, including remaining compassionate when humiliation, for example, remains a way the border agencies are trained to treat Palestinians crossing check points; sharing wisdom to empower women.

The Women’s Wisdom: Women in Action program established in 1999 by Dr. Nahid Angha, offers an Annual Service Appreciation Grant. This grant is designed to honor and support the work of a woman or a women-led organization in rural neighborhoods.

This Grant Honors those who have shown excellence in the following areas: * Significantly improving the quality of life of women through social programs: health care, employment, and conflict resolution * Advocating to reduce poverty among women * Improving gender equality in public and/or private life * Promoting women’s and girls’ right to access education Nominations for candidates for the grant will be solicited and invited solely by the Women in Action program. All candidates must be nominated by a colleague(s) or by an individual(s) who has come to understand the work of the woman or women-led organization. Nominations are open and accepted from March 1st to March 31st each year. Winners will be announced in September of that year. A panel of volunteers review nominations. The awardees receive $500-$1,000 from the program as a grant.

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Sufi Women

Women’s Leadership with Linda Graham

by Nancy Roybal & Elizabeth Miller

Through its Women’s Wisdom, Women in Action series, SWO seeks to bring people together to learn, to grow, and to cultivate ways of living that are oriented toward respect and service, communication and understanding. On March 2, 2019, SWO hosted Linda Graham, a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT), psychotherapist, author, and teacher, who spoke on the topic of resilience.

Graham has spent more than two decades developing an integrative model for therapeutic transformation. She seeks to help people turn regrettable moments into teachable moments, to recover a sense of resilience, centeredness and wholeness, and to develop the tools and confidence for thriving and flourishing. Her newest book, Resilience: Powerful Practices for Bouncing Back from Disappointment, Difficulty, and Even Disaster, leads readers through an evidence-based trajectory of tools of somatic, emotional, relational, and reflective intelligences to face and cope

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with any adversity, recover personal strengths, and live a compassionate and courageous life.

A great number of individuals attended the event, including many therapists, as well as people interested in mental health issues. Much of Graham’s thinking, teaching and work with resilience revolves around an early experience she had about “bouncing back.” Many years ago, Graham had an office in San Francisco and was walking in Golden Gate Park deep in thought, worried about a decision she had to make and not paying attention to her surroundings. Suddenly, Graham stepped ankle deep into a sidewalk of freshly laid wet cement.

As she looked down at her feet, an immediate cascade of reactions came to her: “You klutz,” “How could you be so careless,” “You’ve ruined your shoes,” “You’ll be late for your clients,” “You’ll lose clients,” and so on. Graham paused; she was tired of beating herself up internally. Looking to deal newly with the situation, she stepped out of her shoes, and was kind to herself. She told herself she was just not paying attention. Graham realized she was dealing with inner and outer experience at the same time. Pausing allowed her to see how she could shift her attitude in ways that created an easier response to what was happening.

Graham spoke of the importance of cultivating internal responses that can help create greater flexibility in the brain, and how practices like learning to use one’s breath can lead to more skillful coping and response to circumstances that might arise. She ended her talk by stating that resilience is a foundational practice and that human beings have a choice and responsibility; resilience is innate in our brains. Graham’s book is a guidebook, full of tools and resources to help one to focus on awareness, which is a cornerstone of resilience.

Under the direction of Dr. Nahid Angha, the Sufi Women’s Organization (SWO), a humanitarian, non-political organization, held its semi-annual speakers’ luncheon/presentation program, Women’s Wisdom: Women in Action, hosting community leaders, activists, or humanitarians who have provided exemplary services.

Founded by Dr. Angha, and established under the auspices of the International Association of Sufism in 1993, SWO works to promote the well-being, advancement, education, social awareness, and fundamental rights of women and girls throughout the world. It is a forum for women of diverse backgrounds, and has been established as a nonprofit organization with the United Nations, receiving NGO/DPI status.

During its more than 25 years of service, SWO has taken active and leadership roles with global communities through interfaith organizations like Amnesty International, Habitat for Humanity, Doctors without Borders, UNICEF, and UNESCO. As examples of this work, SWO has provided educational funds and scholarships in Nigeria, Peru and Mexico; worked with the UN toward ending violence against women; provided financial support toward medical supplies, immunization and clean water for refugees in Ethiopia, and supported efforts to improve material and child healthcare for the Navajo Nation in Arizona.

Under the guidance and leadership of Dr. Angha, SWO also recently began a Women in Action Service Appreciation Grant to honor and support the work of women or women-led organizations in rural neighborhoods whose efforts help improve the lives of women through social programs, health care, employment, conflict resolution, and access to education.

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14th Century Persian Poet

from Sheikh Mahmud Shabistari’s

Translated by Dr. Nahid Angha

What kind of heart may proclaim: I am the Truth? I asked. “ I am the Truth” is discovering the secret of all secrets Who, other than Haqq, may assert such fact?

All particles of the Being, like Mansur Drunken or sober Are steadfast on Proclaiming such Truth Purify your being from all To become like Hallaj, able to declare such fact

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Come to the Secure Valley of Being To hear the voice of God from the burning bush If it is fitting for a burning bush to claim such voice Why it is not fitting for the heart of a fortunate being?

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Sacred Voices is a beautiful collection of stories, interviews, prayers, practices, and poetry, illuminating women’s wisdom and history within the Islamic and Sufi traditions…a rich tapestry that weaves these elements together with evocative art and succulent recipes, to create a truly unique record of the ancient and ongoing traditions of women on these paths.

220 pages “Drawing on ancient traditions as well as creative, modern voices, Sacred Voices presents a spirituality that is healthy and revitalizing, not only for our human communities, but also for the planet. This way could be our saving grace.”

—Neil Douglas-Klotz, author of The Sufi Book of Life “Inspiring and engaging!”

—Azima Lila Forest, author of A Journey From love to Love Available on www.mariambaker.org and on Amazon.

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2020 Campaign in Support of SB1221 Expanded Learning Enhances Student Success California Department of Education Initiative

Take Action and help VFJ reduce the “nutrition gap” in the Greater Bay Area!

Millions of children in California qualify for a reduced price lunch or a free lunch meal, however about 4 of 5 children are missing out on meals. Voices for Justice will be donating collections received to a local school that provides services to low income communities. Help Voices for Justice to keep children learning and growing by supporting meal programs. Voices for Justice (VFJ) is a department of the International Association of Sufism, a non-profit, United Nations, NGO-DPI. Donate your contribution of $50; $100; $250; $500; any amount $ to IAS: Voices for Justice: Checks payable to “Voices for Justice” or pay via Credit Card - Number:_______________________________ Expiration date:__________________ Your name:________________________________________________________________________________ Your address:______________________________________________________________________________ Phone number:_______________________________ Email:_________________________________________ Mail to: IAS/Voices for Justice: 14 Commercial Blvd., Ste. 101, Novato, California, 94949, USA International Association of Sufism is a non profit 501 c, and your contribution is tax deductible to the extend permitted by law.

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Reflections

Beautiful Names Sheikha Azima Lila Forest

Bismillah Er-Rahman Er-Rahim.

As-Salaam Aleikum.

This morning I want to share with you some of my experience and understanding that comes from working with nine of the Beautiful Names.

There are many more of them that I come to from time to time, but these are uppermost for me at this time.

Where to start? Where else but with Er-Rahman Er-Rahim? They are often translated as The Merciful, The Compassionate. Or the Compassionate, the Beneficent. One rendering in English that I came across, that I like very W is The Compassionate, The Caring. These words appear at the beginning of every sura of the Qu’ran, and one might say they are the primary qualities of our Beloved, our Source, our Destiny. The stuff the world is made of, in its True Nature. Each pair of words gives us a little bit different window into the meaning of ErRahman Er-Rahim. All of them offer to our hearts the feeling of the boundless love of Allah for us,

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for all of being. Saying them often helps us to develop lovingkindness, as the Buddhists call it, for ourselves, for other human beings, for all of being, and to remember that lovingkindness is always there for us, if we will but open ourselves to it. May this be so for all of us. Ya Fattah, May the Way be opened – but we’ll get to that later.

On to another potent pair of Beautiful Names.

Some time ago I asked my teacher Murshid Wali Ali Meyer for a practice to help develop the subtle senses. He gave me As-Sami and Al-Basir, The AllHearing, the All-Seeing, or, as Murshid Saadi Shakur Chishti offers us, in his most useful Sufi Book of Life, Awakened Hearing, Awakened Sight. I did that practice pretty much daily for two years. I found that it not only achieved the purpose for which it was given, but also makes one a better listener to others, more sensitive to the needs and feelings of others, and more aware of the world around us.

And more grateful. But more on that later.

A poem from the American poet ee cummings comes to mind with these wazifa. It evokes the beauty of this re-awakening time of Spring...

i thank You God for most this amazing day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything which is natural which is infinite which is yes (i who have died am alive again today, and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth day of life and love and wings; and of the gay great happening illimitably earth) how should tasting touching hearing seeing breathing any - lifted from the no of all nothing - human merely being doubt unimaginable You? (now the ears of my ears awake and now the eyes of my eyes are opened) Ya Sami Ya Basir.

Several years ago, I was fortunate to be able to do a 40-day khilvat or retreat, and one wazifa given to me to work with became the most powerful and useful to me. That was At-Tawwab – turning and returning. Murshid Saadi calls it “Returning to Rhythm”. I call it “Returning to Remembrance”.

In my part of the world, in the southwestern Unit-

ed States, the Navaho people have a ceremony that is called “The Beauty Way”. This ceremony is done whenever there is a need to return to hozho – which includes the qualities of love, harmony, beauty, peace, justice, kindness, respect – all the qualities that are present when everything is in right relationship with everything else. This ceremony might be done when one has recovered from an illness, or some other trauma, or when a member of the family returns from far away, or when there has been conflict or division or death.

Now I say Ya Tawwab before prayer or meditation, or when I notice that I’m out of rhythm or in forgetfulness. Allah the Beloved is everywhere – so wherever we turn there Allah Is, if we have the eyes to see and the ears to hear!

This reminds me of the turn as practiced by the Mevlevis and other tariqats or schools of Sufism descending from Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi. One way to see this practice is as a constant turning toward the Beloved – our Earth does this as it spins on its own axis and turns around the Sun, and the Moon does it as it turns around the earth.

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Rumi says: “Walk to the well.

Turn as the earth and the moon turn, Circling what they love.

Whatever circles comes from the center.”

Whatever circles comes from the center. When we turn the body, the mind, the heart towards Allah, may we remember that we come from That.

At-Tawwab also leads us to the spiral, like the spiral of DNA, the very stuff of life. A spiral path is the combined turning movement of At-Tawwab and the forward motion of Al-Fattah - which we’ll get to later. Each time around the circle, we come to the same place and yet a new place because of the forward motion of the evolution of consciousness – as we all move together in the unfolding of the Beloved. Allah says “I was a hidden treasure and I longed to be known.” As we turn – revolve - and grow – evolve - and see and hear with greater sen-

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sitivity, a little more of Allah is known through us.

Alhamdulillah!

And now we move on to my favorite wazifa, hands down. That would be Ash-Shakur. Thankfulness, Gratitude. Benedictine monk Br. David Steindl-Rast has written a beautiful little book called Gratitude, The Heart of Prayer. I have re-named that book Gratitude, the Heart of Life. I would guess that for most of us who follow this Way of Sufism, the Way is our Life, and Gratitude takes us a very long way on the path. Our American holiday of Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. What a wonderful time to gather together, to do zikr, the practice of remembrance – remembering just how blessed we are, and to give thanks together for all the gifts we have received, are receiving each moment, and shall receive in the future. Much cause for celebration.

And it’s important to give thanks not just for the obviously beautiful gifts. Consider the pearl. Its container, the oyster shell, is a rough and unlovely package. How is that pearl made? The oyster suf-

fers irritation and pain and produces from its own body such a beautiful thing. We human beings don’t always see the gift lying hidden in the middle of pain, suffering, and loss. It’s a wise person who trusts that the gift is there and says “Ya Shakur” right there in the midst of the pain and struggle.

Dare I say that Allah, in all Love, places an irritant where we are most tender and vulnerable, and produces from our pain and suffering the most beautiful pearls. to bless us and all those whose lives we touch? I dare say this is so. My life experience has taught me this.

I want to close this morning with opening. With the wazifa Al-Fattah - May the way be opened. O Opener of the Way. So often what blocks us from moving forward in our lives is some fear or attitude or belief that is embedded in our hearts. Working with Ya Fattah can help us to release that block, dissolve that fear, transform that attitude, and then, what seemed impossible is suddenly – or gradually – the path for us to take, as natural as walking.

In my Sufi Ruhaniat family, we often bless someone who is embarking on some new venture, some new phase of life, or perhaps going on a journey. We invite them into the center of our circle and say Ya Fattah! Three times, from the heart. I invite you now to join me in saying Ya Fattah three times, for our future way together, for the IAS, and the Symposia present and future, and most of all for the Radiant Heart of Sufism that joins us all together. Let us pray for the opening of hearts, ours and everyone’s, to whatever blessings that Radiant Heart might bring, for the benefit of all beings. Please stand and let us speak this blessing wholeheartedly.

Ya Fattah. Ya Fattah. Ya Fattah.

Amin.

Sheikha Azima Lila Forest is a Sheikha in the Sufi Ruhaniat International and a Unitarian Universalist minister.

In the Ruhaniat, she holds the posts of siraj (senior minister), healing conductor, SoulWork practitioner, retreat guide, and Experienced Farmer in the Ziraat concentration. Her present areas of concentration are dreamwork, Reiki healing, SoulWork, and spiritual retreat guidance. Azima has been a frequent speaker at the annual Sufism Symposium. A native of San Francisco, Azima was also a resident of Auroville in South India from 1993 to 1997; she now lives in Silver City in the mountains of southwestern New Mexico.

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The Feminine Archetype: balancing Heaven & Earth

by Sharon G. Mijares, Ph.D. Alchemy is an ancient art focused on balancing energies, leading to transformation.

These images included balancing feminine and masculine expressions. It is more important than ever to recognize the need for balance and, especially, the need for the presence of women and the feminine archetype.

Patriarchal reign has fostered an imbalance due to the dominance of the masculine archetype and masculine ideals.

The future of life on Earth is in crisis. It is time to discard outworn ideologies; to clearly understand our human past in order to create a new and healthier future. It has become obvious that this change requires the presence of the feminine and the voices of indigenous peoples who have maintained an authentic connection with the natural environment.

Sufis can support this transformation into a balanced humanity and world. The transformation has begun, and women are beginning to rise in every culture, religion and nation to bring it forth.

Practitioners of Sufism can protect and encourage this shift. In fact, the late Idries Shah believed that Sufis were naturally able to adapt to the needs and changes of any era.1 Sufis carry that mystical realization that is always present despite the particularities of a given time. Women and the feminine archetype can enable religious ideals to become realities.

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One half of the world’s human population, namely women, have been relegated to inferior positions for thousands of years. The suppression of both women and Nature began simultaneously. Nature has not been respected as a living force and women have been left out of political and religious leadership. We see the results of this imbalance throughout the world, in every land and in every religion.

This may be why many religious ideals have failed to become living realities. For example, religious ideals of reciprocity and loving one’s neighbors are found in every tradition. We refer to them as the golden rule. Overall, they have failed to make us a better humanity. Perhaps this is because the relational feminine archetype has been suppressed. Women’s relational capacity is needed to ground these ideals.

The current crises facing us all suggest that it is time to work together toward a muchneeded transformation. The archetypal feminine, a force within women as well as men, is a relational spirit that seeks to nurture life, rather than to destroy it. In that the suppression of women has caused a six-thousand-year imbalance, it is vitally important that both women and men clear themselves of patriarchal and post-colonial influences. This means recognizing all peoples in all lands as part of the divine manifestation.

Reflection

What we have done to indigenous people, we have done to our own souls. Humanity is re-awakening to its intimate relationship with plants, trees, animals, water, and all other elements and species.

Our upcoming book, The Power of the Feminine: Facing Shadow/Evoking Light (Mijares, Rafea, Sharling, Amponsem, Mallory, in press) focuses on the emergence of the feminine archetype in both women and men so that we can heal ourselves, create healthier relationships and bring spiritual unity into all life. It is the way of loving kindness demonstrated in the stories of the sacred beings who hear the cries of the world and, instead of turning away, unite compassionately with all. Women need to know and manifest their true nature for the good of all. The ultimate manifestation of the

feminine will be a far deeper love manifesting from within each woman – one that includes all children, all people and all species, as all are included in the womb and heart-space of the Goddess. This all-caring and powerful Love force can create the healing needed for the numerous imbalances and injustices before us. The compassionate and powerful feminine spirit may create a quantum opening into a new era, one in which women lead the way into authentic gender balance.

1

Idries Shah (1964), The Sufis.

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Mercy, Compassion, Love

by Matthew E. Davis, Ph.D.

Sufi’s are described as the lovers. For this reason I’m interested to learn and understand love more clearly. It has been discussed how love is the energy to make the journey of a Sufi and that love makes you more focused for practice. If I’m honest though, this scares me because love as a word has become diffused in the culture. People say, “I love this” and “I love that,” in gripping, entangling and desirous ways, so that the very meaning of the word has become lost and confused. Yet, people continue to speak as if they know what they are saying so often when they use it to feel good about themselves, or for control over their children and “loved” ones, or so that someone else will say it back to them, or in qualifying conditions like, “If you loved me… then you’d do this…,” or, “don’t forget to say I love you to your father or grandparent…”

By contrast, I came upon how Seyyedeh Dr. Angha translated in Field Seven of Abdullah Ansari’s Stations of the Sufi Path that: The power of love helps make the seeker to remain patient during adversity. This level of patience is the result of three conditions: oneness (yiktā’i) of the heart, accuracy of knowledge, and clarity of discernment (firāsat).1 The power of love helps make the seeker to remain patient during adversity. And so, is it also possible to learn about love through patience? In a reverse engineered process is it possible to discover the meaning of love through patience? Patience exists within the clarity of the body, perhaps providing some hope for making the journey.

Love by the psychology of culture leads to guilt

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and compulsions of responsibility, but according to the Prophet, there is no compulsion in religion, and if we are to have religion as the foundation for being, then there can be no compulsion in love, and no desire.

With my own mother, as she has entered into new phases of her life, there have been times such as when she broke her hip when we spent more time together in ways we hadn’t before. And while I may say I love my mother, when I reflected on love I did not have a sense for how to orient to the challenges of our time together in this way presented. Love like this felt much more like a prison. By contrast, when I looked into the mirror of patience I could find the way to conduct myself with respect and compassion. I could understand the oneness of life, I had greater discernment with my own actions, and a greater access to knowing the line of good conduct.

The value of patience seems even more true internally, when I face myself in meditation. The practice toward purification surfaces many forms of adversity in my own psychology, from which frustration too often arises. The untamed flames of love fuel this frustration when the guidance is missing - as Seyyed Dr. Kianfar has described, love without knowledge and discernment burns.2 Patience, though, provides a hearth and container for the light to be maintained. And as Habib Raee advises us to give up the desires for both this world and the other, leaving us free from the pull of anxiety when we are desiring that which we do not have.3 We must be careful, though, to avoid the challenge the mind may have with patience when it starts to serve as a form of complacency or inertia.

In Ansari’s Stations of the Sufi Path, Field Seven

Adab

on Patience leads into Field Eight, on Striving. Dr. Angha translates: “From the field of Patience the field of Striving is Generated.”

And it seems striving is the effort for growth and transformation toward the love that is Allah: for movement from the position of this moment to the position of the final destination – movement as energy and action. Still reflecting on love and patience and by which understanding I may return through practice, Dr. Kianfar has stated that: Within every action is a line of mercy.

Searching for that line is praying.

And heart is most merciful of your body.

And: “Every action has its own adab.”

Every action has a line of mercy and every action has its own adab. Can we say then that the line of mercy returns us to the source of oneness, and that adab is rooted in mercy, and patience emerges as fruit from and containing the seed of love.

Ansari, Abdullah. Stations of the Sufi Path: The one hundred fields (Sad Maydan) (Nahid Angha, Trans.). Cambridge: Archetype.

2 Shah Nazar Seyyed Dr. Ali Kianfar. Divine Love and Wisdom. Sufism: an Inquiry ,16.2, 49-50.

3 Mah Talat Etemad-Moghadam Angha. Abu Habib Raee. Sufism: an Inquiry 18.3, 59-60.

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A very unique opportunity space is limited

with Sufi Masters

Seyyedeh Dr. Nahid Angha & Shah Nazar Seyyed Dr. Ali Kianfar

Transformation 12th Annual Retreat Jan31-Feb2, 2020 www.IAS.org 47

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“The instruction was truly transformative and answered lifelong questions” - Retreat Participant

The Alchemy of Tranquility Santa Sabina Center

“I will definitely be in a more centered, stable, empathic place (mentally, emotionally, physically) so I can be of more use to my clients.”

- Retreat Participant

This weekend retreat will explore the higher reaches of human development through the lens of spirituality. Drawing on the Sufi tradition, the concept of Unity refers to the absolute essence of Being, the ultimate Reality, of which all manifestation is an expression including our own Self. The teachings and practices this weekend will provide participants with an opportunity to experience knowledge of this Unity within their own being. The retreat will include spoken presentations, experiential exercises, and dialogue, as well as music and movement practices. This retreat is for those interested in exploring their own potential transformation. It will also be of value to therapists who would like to increase their capacity to bring presence to their work.

Facilitator Bios and Program details @

www.IAS.org/programs/fortydays His Holiness, Shah Nazar Seyyed Ali Kianfar, PhD, a world-renowned Sufi Master and teacher of spiritual practice for over forty years developed the 40 Days Program, and continues to guide its public offering. Dr. Kianfar provides spiritual wisdom and deep knowledge of the psychology of the human being in ways that provide participants with the opportunity to gain full awareness of themselves, and to learn to act in ways that reduce conflict and foster love and wisdom. It is the first time that this highly spiritual practice of purification has been combined with psychological training.

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Ecological Healing Imperatives

by Saleh Arthur Scott

The world, especially the West, and led by the United States, has played Russian roulette with Mother Earth for so long that Homo Sapiens are now at about five minutes to midnight, with their very existence at stake.

According to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the year 2030 is an absolute watershed to reverse the toxic effects of petrochemicals.1 Carbon dioxide levels will be irreversible, and dystopia will be upon us. Already this summer, the highest temperatures ever have been recorded in places across the globe.

The most urgent question before us is, can we, at 5 minutes before midnight, wean ourselves from the paradigms of greed, materialism and consumerism that have become so deeply ingrained in the culture?

A profound shift in consciousness about the planet and our relationship to it absolutely needs to emerge.

This healing imperative was best expressed by Chief Seattle in 1854 when he said: Will you teach your children what we have taught

our children? That the earth is our mother?

What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the Earth.

This we know: the earth does not belong to man:

man belongs to the earth.

All things are connected, like the blood

that unites us all.

Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely

a strand in it.

Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.2 Until we realize that the planet is us and we are the planet, that it breathes and feels, we will continue to treat the Earth as a material commodity, rather than as a spiritual extension of our higher selves.

The indigenous and Sufi traditions offer powerful insights into healing self and the planet. Native awareness of the majesty and beauty of Mother Earth mirrors the central messages/poetics of the Qur’an with its emphasis on the Existential Oneness/Wholeness of Life. Being holistic, whole and complete, the universe seeks at every turn to return to its Source, to find its Center. Shah Nazar Seyyed Dr. Ali Kianfar in Seasons of the Soul writes: “Neither your problems nor your guidance come from outside,” so why are you looking there?3 The answer to the problems of the planet rest within humanity. We must clean-up our personal and collective ecology.

Throughout nature, animals, birds, insects, and plants act according to a Divine prescription encoded within their DNA. Their entire movement is to glorify the Existence by being true to their nature. Man’s nature, however, is more complicated, embedded in choice and duality. The human being’s pathway to finding the Light, and truth of Being, is fraught with distractions and pitfalls. Destiny is determined, as Indigenous express it, “by which wolf we feed, either light or darkness.” Yet deep within humanity is the yearning as Rumi put it, “to return to the Reed Bank,” and to find the spiritual path called by indigenous, the “red road.”

To capture the “Hidden Treasure” experienced in deep meditation can only come only through the intervention of a teacher/elder who guides the novice on a journey to discover his or her deeper self. In the native tradition this is promoted through Vision Quest, in the Sufi tradition, through Forty Days practice. Both embrace practices for purification, calling for cleansing of thought, getting quiet, cultivating the heart as a wisdom source, and recognizing the intrinsic Majesty and Beauty of Mother Earth as an exquisite gift of the Creator.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, “Special Report on Global Warming,” October 2018 (https://www.ipcc. ch). Ninety-one authors and review editors from 40 countries prepared the IPCC report in response to an invitation from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) when it adopted the Paris Agreement in 2015.

2 Chief Seattle, 1854 speech (see The Speech of Chief Seattle, Applewood Books) 3 Shah Nazar Seyyed Dr. Ali Kianfar (2006), Seasons of the Soul. San Rafael, CA: International Association of Sufism Publications.

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Reflection

Interconnectedness constitutes another thread that binds us, from the ant people and the two-legged, to the stars, to the mysterious cosmic web that nourishes and sustains all life. More specifically, it means that wherever you are on the web, you can have either a sacred or disastrous impact on the whole.

It is fascinating to note that everything in the universe acts simultaneously, and simultaneously is being acted upon. Quantum physics teaches that every action creates a ripple through the universe, the end and impact of which is far more subtle, powerful and profound than we recognize. This awareness should make humans more sensitive about the carbon footprint they leave on Mother Earth. The Native prescription before making a decision was to ask: What would be the consequence of this action on the 7th generation?

Interconnectedness likewise embodies the Divine principle of Reciprocity, which simply says that every action carries an effect. In Sufism, the practice of Adab, compassion, love, and service, represents the central aspiration guiding the interaction between man and the planet. Love trumps greed!

Native Americans, too, are aware of the importance of the four elements: earth, air, fire, and water to life.

Their Sweat Lodge, a purification ceremony, reminds us of humanity’s abiding connection with Mother Earth. In every inhalation/exhalation, in every second, the four elements are absorbed; without which there is no existence.

The planet cannot be healed until the dance between the masculine and feminine principle/energies have been healed as symbolized by mind/heart polarity. The feminine chalice qualities of compassion, mercy, nurturing have too often been sacrificed to the masculine blade of fear, power, control and greed, the touchstones of modernity. “Time’s Up/Me Too” movements point to a different future dance in which the planet is personalized, and viewed as the “beloved mother,” leading to reverence and respect and not exploitation.

In nature, Sister Moon/Brother Sun exquisitely play off on one another, each providing a complimentary light pointing to the Underlying Unity or Tawhid that permeates all Existence. Today’s ecological imperative demands that human beings return to the core of their existence, which is in the heart, the point where Divine and profane intersect. Only when our heart unites with the Mother Earth/Father Sky will the world become Whole and Sacred. Only then will this poetic Sufi line be fulfilled both within and without: “I saw my lord with the eye of the heart and asked who art thou and the Lord replied you.”

Saleh Arthur Kane Scott is a retired professor of History and Cultural Studies at Dominican University of California, with particular emphasis on Islam, Native American and East/South Asia. He has served on many boards, including Marin Interfaith, Marin Museum of the American Indian, International Association of Sufism, Latino Film Festival and Afghan Summit.

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Healing Practice: Balance and Transformation

Accessing Transformative Balance

by Arife Ellen Hammerle, Ph.D. Healing is established through practicing transformative balance. In order to practice transformative balance we develop the skill of concentration of our energy. Balance and inner harmony developed through concentration are fundamental aspects of our practice. Establishing balance in the moment necessitates finding the inner point of stability within the center of the heart in which there is no longer an I/you duality. Once you settle into your heart, every moment is the beginning of your practice toward balance.

To practice, we begin by gathering all of our energy into one point from the scat51

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tered dimensions of emotions and life. This begins to cultivate the practice of remaining present within the heart, which takes great concentration and focus of our energy. Balance and stability are qualities the individual cultivates in order to heal and transform.

Cultivating presence based within intention guides each of us to discover the essence of the heart as the source of wisdom.

What is your intention in your practice?

Inquire deeply within yourself. The goal of healing and transformation guides the individual to become a witness within her heart

in order to receive inspiration, healing and transformation.

It seems that every human being could be inspired by this practice, because then we can heal and transform to discover the depth of meaning in our lives. The healing and transformation practice guides our balance. This leads to healing of body, mind and spirit through deep inner wisdom. Remember to be loving, and generous with self-compassion directed toward our selves to magnify our healing transformative balance practice.

Community Healing Centers is a nonprofit counseling organization, serving our communities since 1997. Through our counseling services, trainings, and workshops we build understanding, increase insight, stabilize emotions, change dysfunctional habits and patterns, and increase creativity and productivity by restoring balance to the whole person.

CHC integrative psychotherapy, with its foundation in Sufi psychology, helps clients understand the rule of unity which shows that there is no separation between emotions, physiology, and spiritual experience and that each being is part of the greater unity with access to unchanging wisdom. Licensed psychotherapists, with many years of clinical experience and spiritual practice in the ancient wisdom of Sufism, help bridge spiritual teachings with the contemporary language and practice of psychology. They present this wisdom in a way that is accessible and very practical. This group of therapists and researchers is offering Sufi Psychotherapy to open a door for human beings to find the jewel of humanity within the heart.

CHC offers trainings and workshops at a broad range of agencies and organizations in the Bay Area and beyond, has established a training program for interns, and serves hundreds of clients. Our staff provide clinical consultation, facilitate groups, publish articles and books, offer a monthly on-line newsletter, and are available to speak on panels and give presentations.

CHC is a Continuing Education provider for therapists. Our clinical team and community affiliates offer psychological and spiritually informed services to adults, adolescents, couples, and families in our seven main and satellite locations from Novato to Palo Alto. www.communityhealingcenters.org

(415) 499-1115

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Report

Beyond Identifications

by Katherine Preston

The Sufism and Psychology (SPF) program of the International Association of Sufism (IAS) along with Community Healing Centers (CHC) hosted a workshop entitled “The Interplay of Psychology and Spirituality” to offer the community exposure to cutting edge psychological theory as well as spiritual practices for healing.

Dr. Arife Ellen Hammerle, director of CHC, opened the morning with appreciation of the founders of IAS Dr. Nahid Angha and Shah Nazar Dr. Ali Kianfar. Dr. Jamal Granick, CHC member, introduced the guest speaker Dr. Lawrence Heller. In his recent book, Healing Developmental Trauma, Dr. Heller presents the NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM).

In the morning workshop, Beyond Identification, Dr. Heller began his talk with his understanding that connection is paradoxically the deepest desire and the greatest fear for the human being and is where psychology and spirituality intersect. He emphasized that separation from old identifications and ideas of self and world are necessary in order to be available for an experience of non-duality and what he called the “vastness of being.”

At the afternoon workshop, The Roots of Healing, presenters Dr. Jamal Granick, Dr. Arife Hammerle, and Dr. Pryor addressed the interplay of psychology and spirituality from the perspective of spiritual practice. Dr. Granick built on Dr. Heller’s presentation by introducing the idea that we are called forward from our “identifications” by the larger dimension of being which is our essential nature, with which we are already always connected. Dr. Pryor presented the principle of balance as understood in Sufi psychology as a door to transformation. Experiential exercises were offered to enable participants to discover this principle within their own being. Dr. Hammerle invited participants to the direct experience of their essential nature with practices to focus on the point of connection with the source of existence within one’s heart.

The day concluded with a closing circle in which all participants came together to connect by heart expressing their experience with a word that captured the essence of the day.

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Dr. Jamal Granick

Dr. Amineh Pryor

Dr. Arife Hammerle

BEY O

S ON TI

N

DENTIFIC I A D

The Roots of Healing

the INTERPLAY of PSYCHOLOGY & SPIRITUALITY

Dr. Lawrence Heller

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The essence of the human being, regardless of gender or color, time or place, has been regarded as reverent, dignified, and respectful by teachers of humanity. Such magnificence is the gift of Being to humankind, the art of recognizing such magnificence is learned. The foundation of civilization is based on teachings and learning, and the first teacher of any human being, male or female, from any social position or illumination, is a mother. To direct the civilization to a favorable station, one has to rely on the power of a mother, providing that she knows the value of her position. A mother, in fact, is the teacher of all. Underestimating such power and strength, overlooking such magnificence is most unfortunate.

- Dr. Nahid Angha, founder

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Poetry

My God, I Cannot Pray Without You David Katz, M.D.

O God O my God, I cannot pray without You, my God. I cannot even surrender; You are the needed surrender and You are the needed prayer.

My prayer is only false starting.

My prayer is only false starting, starting without effects, starting without effects.

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O God, O my God, I cannot pray without You. My song is pleading to You, pleading for your direction, for your guidance.

My prayer is only false starting, with no effect.

O God O my God, the Solitary One within each of us, within your creations.

How can we mingle with your Love, how can we pray, without You, without You, the One who is alone?

O God O my God, You are with us, You are with us, and we are not.

We are with you, we are with You, within Your Beautiful Qualities, You—the Patience, You—the Love, You—the Justice, You—treating all Equally, You—helping and healing all.

Only You exist, only You exist, and we are not, we are not.

This is our only duty.

We are not.

Ameen.

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Susan W. Lambert photography

Love’s ocean has no shore to swim for, The only relief is to give up your life.

The moment of love’s rapture

is the moment of joy.

- Hafiz Sufism: An Inquiry Vol XVIII, No. 3

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40 Days Team 2019 Recipient of the Annual Community Award Members of the 40 Days Team are licensed psychotherapists and educators who uniquely combine decades of clinical experience with spiritual practice in the ancient wisdom of Sufism. Under the guidance of Sufi Masters Seyyedeh Dr. Nahid Angha and Shah Nazar Seyyed Dr. Ali Kianfar, the 40 Days Team facilitates the 40 Days: Alchemy of Tranquility program, which includes workshops, practice groups, individual mentoring, and annual retreats.

Across many spiritual traditions, a practice of forty days has been established and valued as a concentrated method of self-discovery, and a means of experiencing increased awareness, personal development and healing. Practitioners move step-by-step, day-byday, from a limited experience of self to a greater sense of wholeness, building the inner confidence and stability to make a journey of spiritual transformation and attain a state of tranquility and peace.

In facilitating the 40 Days Alchemy of Tranquility program, the 40 Days Team draws on guiding Sufi principles and practices, include accessing the wisdom of the heart, increasing concentration and presence, harnessing the power of the mind’s influence on personality, bringing the physical system into a state of equilibrium, and aligning intention and action.

The team works to bridge spiritual teachings with the language of contemporary psychology, and to present ancient wisdom in ways that are accessible, experiential and immediately practical.

The 40 Days Team includes Sheikh Salman Baruti, Dr. Jamal Granick, Mary Toth Granick, Dr. Arife Ellen Hammerle, Dr. Jalal Brian Heery, Rahmana Lynn Larkin, George Matchette, Salima Ginny Patton Matchette, Dr. Sarah Hastings Mullin, Katherine Preston, and Dr. Amineh Amelia Pryor. In addition to clinical work and clinical supervision with clients of all ages, and years of spiritual study and practice, members of the 40 Days Team also bring together experience and contribution in other diverse areas. They have held leadership roles in clinical social work, school-based counseling and nonprofit management, published numerous books, presented at local and international conferences, become established musicians and music therapists, achieved multiple black belts in Aikido, and supported initiatives of the International Association of Sufism, under Dr. Angha and Dr. Kianfar’s guidance and direction.

This January, the 40 Days Team will hold the 12th Annual 40 Days: Alchemy of Tranquility retreat in Northern California. The retreat will focus specifically on the topic of Transformation “and is for those who love to know more about their own self, and are interested in cultivating a practice that can lead to their own personal experience of achieving their highest potential.”

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Annual Community Award

Under the guidance of Seyyedeh Dr. Nahid Angha and Shah Nazar Seyyed Dr. Ali Kianfar, the International Association of Sufism offers its appreciation to members of the community who have shown exceptional dedication to the mission of IAS through its Community Award. The recipients of this honor continue to demonstrate a spirit of generosity, kindness and dedication.

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Sufi Biographies

Abu Habib Raee

8th Century Persia, along the Euphrates

Abu Musa Zeid Habib ibn Salim al Raee was a shepherd and received his spiritual training from two Masters: Salman Farsi and Uwaiys-i-Gharan. Hujwiri wrote in his Kash-al-Mahjub: A man came to see Habib and saw him standing and praying while a wolf was guarding his sheep. He was astounded and asked: How can a wolf guard your sheep? Habib said: Since I have been able to tame the wolf of my nafs, everything in the world is at peace with me. A wolf, whose nature is brutal, can live with my sheep in peace.

Habib Raee educated many outstanding students in his lifetime, such as Ibrahim Adham, who became a Sufi of Uwaiys-itarighat and Davoud Tase, the teacher of Maaroof Karkhi, founder of the Maroofi School, also a branch of Uwaiys-i-tarighat.

The teachings of Raee were based on purification, and denial of material desires or desires for paradise. He said: a student must free himself form all desires and so remain only an attraction toward the Divine‌ Seri Deghati said: One day Habib Raee came to my store and I gave him a donation to give to the poor. Habib Raee said: May God give you fortune. From that day the attraction of the world left my heart.

from Mah Talat Etemad-Moghadam Angha (2000). Al-Momenon The Faithful: selected biographies of Sufi Saints. San Rafeal, CA: IAS Publications.

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A journey of spiritual awakening awaits in Charles P. Gibbs’s insightful new collection of poems, Light Reading.

Always on a pilgrimage of remembrance, even during the brief time in which he tried to run away from his own understanding of God, Gibbs has learned to embrace and thrive in his spiritual understanding. Whether you are a seasoned pilgrim, have just set off on a spiritual journey of your own, or merely possess a vague feeling that something significant is missing in your life, Light Reading will support and challenge you on your own sojourn into the heart.

Charles P. Gibbs is an internationally respected spiritual leader, interfaith activist, speaker, and writer who has committed his life to serving the world through interreligious and intercultural engagement. An Episcopal priest, he served for seventeen years as the founding executive director of the United Religions Initiative, a global network of people from diverse religious and spiritual traditions united in service to the Earth community. He recently became senior partner and poet-in-residence for Catalyst for Peace.

A prolific writer, Gibbs’s published works include coauthoring Birth of a Global Community; contributing a chapter to Interfaith Dialogue and Peacebuilding; “Opening the Dream: Beyond the Limits of Otherness,” an essay publishd in Deepening the American Dream. Charles cherishes and is inspired by his family. He is blessed with dear friends and colleagues of diverse faiths from around the world.

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San Francisco Mill Valley Novato

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Instructor: Jalal Brian Heery, PhD Fifth Degree Black Belt 190 S. Whisman Rd. Bldg. B Mountain View, CA 94041 www.rvdojo.org rvdojo1@gmail.com

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United Nations: Recent News

Department of Public Information Non-Governmental Organizations

The International Association of Sufism is a non-profit organization, and a DPI/NGO associated with the United Nations. As an active human rights advocate, IAS disseminates information focused on Human Rights, Social Justice, Education, Women’s Rights offered and organized by the United Nations. For the most up to date information visit: http://ias.org/service/unitednations/

Commission on the Status of Women

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Commemoration of United Nations International Day of Older Persons in New York: #UNIDOP2019 The commemoration of the United Nations International Day of Older Persons (UNIDOP) will take place on 10 October 2019, at the ECOSOC Chamber in the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The event is organized by the NGO Committee on Ageing in New York in collaboration with DESA. Theme for the 2019 UNIDOP event: The Journey to Age Equality Official Web Site: http://bit.ly/UNIDOP2019 A UNIDOP event: “Not Every Great Idea Comes Wrapped in a Hoodie” – How Older Entrepreneurs are Helping to Shape the Tech Landscape Given the opportunities and risks of rapid technological change, which is increasingly transforming economies and societies around the world, it is vital that the contributions and potential of older entrepreneurs are not overlooked or side-lined. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) United Nations Liaison Office is organising this UNIDOP event in collaboration with DESA, AARP and the Global Coalition on Aging. The event aims to showcase examples of older entrepreneurs in tech who will share their experiences and insights.

Date: 9 October 2019 Time: 1:15 to 2:30 pm Venue: United Nations Headquarters Conference Room (tbd) A Historic First G20 Leaders’ Declaration Recognizes the Importance of Promoting a Healthy and Active Ageing Society According to UN DESA’s Population Division, G20 member countries are home to more than 70 per cent of the world’s older population. The number of persons aged 65 or over in G20 countries is expected to grow from 501 million in 2019 to 705 million in 2030, and further to about 1 billion in 2050. The number of persons aged 80 or over in G20 countries is expected to triple during that period, from 102 million in 2019 to 307 million in 2050.

In 2019, persons aged 65 or over accounted for 10 per cent of the population living in G20 countries; by 2050, they will represent more than a quarter. The share of “oldest persons” (aged 80+) in the population is increasing rapidly in G20 countries and is expected to reach 15% or more in Japan and the Republic of Korea by 2050.

To support policy makers at all levels to address population ageing, our colleagues at the Population Division released Profiles of Ageing 2019, which present a selection of key ageing indicators for the world, regions and sub-regions, development and income groups, and countries or areas, based on data from World Population Prospects 2019. The related Ten Key Findings offer an overview of aging trends across G20 Member States.

9 July 2019, UNHQ High-Level Political Forum side event on “Confronting Ageism and Empowering Older People” Confronting Ageism and Empowering Older People was discussed at a side event following the opening of the high-level political forum under the auspices of ECOSOC. The event was organized by the Stakeholder Group on Ageing and sponsored by DESA. Older persons face widespread ageism and are often excluded from Sustainable Development Goals mechanisms and locked out of development by discriminatory laws, policies and attitudes in contexts such as employment, education, health services and beyond. The event brought together a range of experts to examine how ageism and discrimination contribute to growing inequality, and how legal and policy frameworks are necessary for addressing older people’s exclusion. It aimed to bring global awareness of how older persons often face widespread ageism and may likely be excluded from Sustainable Development Goals mechanisms. This culminates in older persons being left behind due to discriminatory laws, policies and attitudes in contexts such as employment, education, health services and beyond. The event brought together a range of experts to examine how ageism and discrimination contribute to growing inequality, and how legal and policy frameworks are necessary for addressing older people’s exclusion.

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The world's longest running journal on Sufism 30 years of service toward cultivating peace and understanding in the world Since its founding in 1983, the International Association of Sufism has been proud to be a home for Sufis, spiritual seekers, and people of all kinds devoted to uplifting the quality of humanity around the globe. Over the last three decades, the IAS has been blessed with phenomenal growth and has worked hard to be a leader in a wide range of areas. Among the longest running of its traditions of service is our journal, Sufism, An Inquiry, which we first published in 1987. Since that time, Sufism, An Inquiry has been a living reflection of the dynamic energy and growing global community of Sufis and searchers who are deeply engaged in the work of the IAS. Over 60 volumes, the pages of Sufism, An Inquiry have championed women’s rights and the work of the Sufi Women Organization; published scientific inquiries ranging from the physiology of heart math to the latest findings of astronomers; shared new translations of classic works of Sufi literature previously unavailable in English; offered works by leading psychologists on human development and the spiritual path, reported on human rights and other diplomatic movements ranging from the work of the United Nations to interfaith organizations such as the United Religions Initiative; explored the cultural gifts of world religions diversely embodied around the planet; and provided insight into a wide variety of effective practices for spiritual development. As a whole, the tradition at Sufism, An Inquiry of featuring the work of great teachers, scholars and scientists from a wide variety of global perspectives, historical contexts and fields of specialization runs deep and strong throughout our journal’s history and shall continue to grow far into the future.

Since the time the IAS first began publishing Sufism, An Inquiry, the world has also gone through an amazing transformation full of new opportunities and new challenges. One notable dimension in which the world has changed completely is the world of media under the influence of the internet and high technology. Just as the IAS has been at the forefront of leadership efforts for peace, human rights and equality, religious freedom and international cooperation, critical to meeting the opportunities and challenges of our changing world, today the IAS is proud to announce that it is relaunching Sufism, An Inquiry in a new online, digital format that will make it more dynamic and more accessible than ever to a worldwide population. We look forward to developing video content, mp3 audio files, social interactivity, links to websites with related content, and a beautiful full-color layout. At the same time, we plan to offer the journal, not just online, but in print, in downloadable pdf format, and in other formats readable on e-readers.

To all our readers who have added so much to our community over these many years, we wish to extend our great appreciation for making us part of your life and we extend to you and to all our enthusiastic invitation to journey with us into this new and exciting period of growth for our journal.

We hope you will enjoy this, our inaugural issue in our new online, digital format! Let us know what you think in an email to: sufismjournal@gmail.com.

Peace to you and yours,

Sufism, An Inquiry Editorial Staff, The International Association of Sufism Sufism: An Inquiry Vol XVIII, No. 3

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“By the sky and the night visitant...

By the star of piercing brightness.

There is no soul but has a protectant over it.”

The Holy Qur’an Surah Al-Tariq

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99 Names

Allah is Infinite and Unconditional Love. “With practice the spiritual practitioner increasingly develops knowledge of the quality of love. Wrapped within the self, it is love that constantly longs to reunite with the Beloved of the soul. The Divine gives this gift to creation, allowing one to love more than any other quality.�

It was night. Warmth.

Lines and light: sparkles and veins.

In space, dusk orange glowed quiet on the horizon.

And I was pulled into-Your Love.

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In Your Grace, you gave my son. Within was promise of Father.

Ugliness burns, mirror clears, an opening.

Your honest eyes-his smile. I bow into-Your Love.

A screen appeared, You watched me. A caught animal, Your vision piercedwhite upon nothing-soft light.

This movement, Life!

Love. For the first time.

Al-Wadud the Loving

prepared from the teachings of Shah Nazar Seyyed Ali Kianfar, Ph.D.

by Sarah Hastings Mullin, Ph.D. Illumination of the Names: Meditation by Sufi Masters on the Ninety-Nine Beautiful Names of God. Shah Nazar Seyyed Dr. Ali Kianfar (2011) .

San Rafael, CA: International Association of Sufism Publications.

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