Sufism: an inquiry - Vol19.4 by International Association of Sufism

Vol.19 N.4 an inquiry

Heart, Electromagnetism,

Science & Spirituality, Celebrating the Mystical Poetry of Sufism ®

Sufism: An Inquiry Vol XIX, No. 4

Be still, be silent, longing heart None shall listen but the one with that same ecstasy of life. – Rumi

Sufism: An Inquiry Vol XIX, No. 4

Publisher: International Association of Sufism a nonprofit corporation.

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

Susan W. Lambert Steve Uzzell www.SteveUzzell.com

The various articles in SUFISM: an inquiry represent the individual views of their authors. SUFISM: an inquiry does not imply any gender bias by use of feminine/masculine terms, nouns, 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 © 2021 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

9. A Letter from the Desk of the Editor

Shah Nazar Seyyed Ali Kianfar, Ph.D.

15. Principles of Sufism

Nahid Angha, Ph.D.

17. Essential Practices: Zekr (remembrance) Nahid Angha, Ph.D.

19. Selected Teachings:Electromagnetic Field of Knowledge Hazrat Moulana Shah Maghsoud

history, inquiry & science

27. Radiated Energy & Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity: the Network of Light Victor Sinow, M.Eng.

29. A Sufi Practice for Electromagnetic Coherence: the Dance Between Student and Teacher Saleh Arthur Kane Scott

31. Exploring Concentration, Breath & Practice with Shaila Catherine Sarah Hasting Mullin, Ph.D.

35. Kinship Consciousness

with Melissa Nelson, Ph.D. Soraya Chase Clow, Ph.D.

43. A Conversation with Ana Perez-Chisti, Ph.D. Elizabeth Miller, Ph.D.

45. Spiritual Bypass or Psychological Myopia:

How Do We Navigate Our Own Growth & Transformation? Jamal Granick, Ph.D.

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poetry

47. Mahsati Ganjavi

translated by Nahid Angha, Ph.D. with Saleh Arthur Kane Scott

49. Hazrat Moulana Shah Maghsoud

translated by Nahid Angha, Ph.D.

73. 99 Names: Al-Hayy: The Everlasting Sarah Hasting Mullin, Ph.D.

service & the world

37. Women’s Wisdom in Action Service Grant Sufi Women Organization

39. 2023 Annual Inspiration Dinner Honorees 67. United Nations

sufi biogrraphy & literature

41. Sweet Reign: Fourth Wave Feminine Principles Ana Perez-Chisti, Ph.D.

53. Sheikh Abul Hassan Kharaqani Abi Mahmod, M.D.

55. Remembering Shaykh Taner 61. Hafiz’s Little Book of Life

Erfan Mojib and Gary Gach

62. Across the Difficult with “The Point of Needlepoint” Tamam Khan

63. Forty Mystical Poems translated by Nahid Angha, Ph.D.

Compiled with Commentary by Saleh Arthur Kane Scott

64. Nirvan translated with Commentary by Nahid Angha, Ph.D. Shah Maghsoud Sadiq Angha

Sufism: An Inquiry Vol XIX, No. 4

Letter from the Editor

HEART

The heart can be likened to an eternal record of humankind, a Book that can be read. As we read in the Qur’an: The Most Gracious taught Qur’an, created insan, and taught him how to reveal” (55:1-4).

However, this eternal book only can be read by those who are aware of the knowledge of the self; those who are immersed in the knowledge of the self; those who understand that essential knowledge is the knowledge of the self and who seek knowledge within the depth of its absolute essence. This knowledge is that shines like an illuminating star at the center-point of the heart. In the Qur’an it is named that the Most Gracious, Most Merciful opened the knowledge of the Book of life, then created the human being and gave this being the capacity to know and understand.

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hidden understanding The Book of heart is a blessing bestowed by almighty God to humanity. Its understanding is available to the human being, but remains hidden unless we practice to unveil its essence. Knowledge to understand the absolute is available, and the Divine has granted the human being the ability to unveil and read the Book of heart. This corporeal body is carrying a long story and history with itself. It is a great book, and a great treasure, but we may remain unaware of it. Instead, insan (corporeal body) fell from his absolute position, forgot his truth, became mesmerized by his senses, and thought of the “reflection on the wall” as the truth of himself. We read in the Qur’an: Say: He it is Who brought you into being and made for you the ears and the eyes and the hearts: little it is that you give thanks. (67:23)

by: Shah Nazar Seyyed Ali Kianfar, Ph.D. The mystery of the heart has been wrapped within the channels of the heart and rooted in the origin of the universe, grafted with the first command, when God said, “Be.” The heart receives this command, and carries this command to its destination in the material world. The heart of a human being contains the command, yet our superficial understanding and distractions prevent us from realizing the blessing of this command. We read in the Qur’an: And certainly, [there are many who] have hearts with which they do not understand, and they have eyes with which they do not see; and they have ears with which they do not hear. They are as cattle. Nay, they are even worse; these are the heedless ones. (7:179)

Verses of the holy books are like codes, signaling messages rooted into the first command that is registered within the heart, reminding and encouraging a human being about his identity and dignity, and teaching him to take responsibility for his well-being, here and in future. Understanding the verses of the holy books should reveal the hidden treasure. Such understanding is the key, otherwise memorizing the sacred words will not lead us anywhere. Therefore, the meaning wrapped within the verses of the holy books can be heard and understood at the state of purity and the one who will recite them is but the messenger of the divine. There cannot be other ways. The Qur’an makes it clear: There are some who ‘pretend to’ listen to your recitation ‘of the Qur’an,’ but We have cast veils over their hearts–leaving them unable to comprehend it. (6:25) To access and unveil knowledge of the absolute is a personal responsibility. Longing for truth rises from the heart of any human being, and asking for guidance from the source of ultimate reality is also wrapped within the heart of a human being. Through truthful longing and self-knowledge, the star within the heart will unveil itself and welcome you for your brave effort (jahad), for your courageous success. The veils and covers will be removed, and the light of the divine will unveil itself and be revealed within the light of the self. It is here that one will find his religion, a religion that directs to the source and the essence of the Sacred.

Sufism: An Inquiry Vol XIX, No. 4

Whether you speak secretly or openly— He surely knows best what is ‘hidden’ in the heart. – Holy Qur’an 67:13

Sufism: An Inquiry Vol XIX, No. 4

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The world's longest running journal on Sufism 40 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 four 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 70 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 XIX, No. 4

Principles of Sufism

Visible and Invisible Manifestations of Electromagnetic Waves in Nature by Nahid Angha, Ph.D.

The great blue dome of the sky, the majestic cycles of the stars, the miraculous daily rising of the sun, the regular succession of the seasons, and the return of the spring–all of these phenomena give human beings a sense of the universality of the Divine, reminding us of our own place in the Divine plan. When we look at the beautiful world of nature with its magnificent designs, harmonious melodies, colorful reflections, and dimensions of time and space, sometimes we become so mesmerized by such beauty that all we see are dimensions and designs, forgetting the root that is present at the heart of a seed, hidden at the heart of nature, being nourished by the same nature, so it can open its shell, stretch out its arms towards the sunlight, rise above the dust, and bring its potentiality into actuality. It is a good practice to look up towards the sky at night and see yourself in harmony with the same cycles found in distant galaxies and the vastness of space. Nature recognizes her root, and so manifestations must discover their essence; finite needs to discover the infinite within, and it is from this discovery that potentiality is activated. Across history, human beings began to understand the forces of nature not only as a necessary means of survival, but as beautiful representations of the Divine power to be sought, loved, cherished, and respected. Nature does not have many complex laws. It is the human brain and mind that create complexities. Nothing is outside the universal rule. Reality is hidden behind the veil of nature, and nature is the surface of change concealing the essence of Being within itself. If one takes the surface of change for its essence, then one has already fallen into an error.

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The person seeking spirituality pursues a tranquility that impurities prevent. The same rule exists for a person’s environment, habitation and worship. Parallel to this is the modern subject of ecology. The pure balance which ecology demands has been a practice kept sacred by Sufis and their students. By their teachings you learn to close the door to negative energies around you. Technology has given great comfort to our lives, together with innumerable choices. Certainly, it has brought us a wealth of things, a wealth of having, but what of the wealth of being, our original inheritance of nature from the Divine? In the process of accumulating things, we have lost our identity, our harmony with nature, and the daily experience of our oneness with the Divine. And so our hopes for the future, and our concern for what is right and good, are called into question. We live longer, but we live alone. Our universe is the universe of energies, or the exchange of energies and electromagnetic waves within systems. Energies, according to their laws, manifest in different ways, and the creation of human beings is a creation of these actions and reactions and transformation of energies. Whether we use the term “creation” in the spiritual or scientific sense, both direct us toward the same goal: the essence and manifestations of the universe. The visible and invisible universe is the domain of energies and galaxies, performing their colorful and most harmonious dance towards eternity. They follow the rule of concentration and expansion. They exchange greetings and all contribute to the beings of one another. They show us the way of the universe.

Sometimes we refer to nature as our mother, as nature brings us into being, nourishes us, offers us comfort and beauty, perseverance and endurance. So it is fitting to honor our mothers. From Eve – the mother of all living, who thus brought humanity from the paradise of innocence into the world of nature to see the world in its many colors, to understand good and evil, to see light and darkness, and to become knowledgeable of the nature of all things, to any woman who sacrifices to educate herself and others both intellectually and morally – all are magnificent and irreplaceable figures in shaping our lives, cultures, and civilization. The spiritual traditions of the world have not lost hope in human beings, and they remind us, again and again, of the importance of understanding and honoring the universe from within the human heart, where hidden electromagnetic waves and energies can be known and the seed of being can be nourished and opened.

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Essential Teachings Along the Spiritual Path

Zekr

(remembrance) Nahid Angha, Ph.D.

Zekr means the remembering of the Divine, as the Almighty Lord commands: Remember Me, so that I will remember you (Qur’an 2:152)

Ye who believe, recall God and recall Him often. (Qur’an 33:41) Remembering does not mean the occasional recollection of God. Rather it means to remember and remind one’s self of His existence at all times. The Prophet Mohammad had called the hearts that remember God, the Houses of Heaven. Worship that is based on traditional customs and empty imitation is bereft of truth, for it is only a fascination of nafs and nature, and so is separated from reality. It is the heart of the believer that must become open to Being, so that it may see and hear truth until it can believe the reality of the Divine. Without such

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understanding and recognition the religion of any man is but a fantasy, since it is a belief in the image of the unknown. The heart must open itself to divine inspiration, and the zekr (remembrance) of God prepares the heart for such an opening. Indeed, the Prophet Mohammad advised his followers that the best deed is the zekr of the Lord. As a salek (seeker) travels through the successive states of advancement, so the zekr that he will be given by the teacher will also have conditions of advancement. The first state zekr that the zaker (one who remembers) must accomplish consists in remembering the Divine while putting aside all else; the next level of zekr is that the salek attempts to remain present in his heart through concentration and meditation; beyond this, the heart of the believer actually receives the Divine message and is illuminated by the light of his belief (1). While perfecting the states of zekr, the salek also must pass through the stages of zekr. Sufis have divided the states of zekr differently, and I only touch upon the basic classifications here: the stages of zekr begin with the zekr of the tongue, then follow the zekr

of the heart, and finally the zekr of the hidden. The zekr of the tongue is a verbal zekr. It is practiced through the repetition of a phrase or a word as instructed by the Master; the word or phrase carries the spiritual power of the teacher and so gives energy to the salek, aiding him in his concentration. The zekr of the heart consists in the constant practice of the zekr in the heart. A salek reaches this zekr through persistence in his verbal zekr; when the zekr of his tongue and heart become united, he is ready to commence upon his spiritual journey. The zekr of the tongue may not at times be as perfect as the zekr of the heart, when forgetfulness or fatigue occurs and the zaker (performer) forgets his zekr. But the zekr of the heart is graven with the sign of faith and loyalty, for it consists in remembering the Divine at all times. This remembrance of God, both outwardly and inwardly, is performed in the center of the heart, and as the heart transfers its knowledge to the body, it purifies the entire human being with its every beat (2).

Moulana Shah Maghsoud wrote about the zekr in the language of poetry: Zekr is life saturated by the Divine; The chest containing the Eternal Names. Zekr burns down the feather of Gabriel (3) Bringing the illumination of love to the heavens of the heart. Break the chains that trap your being, As you hear the melodies of love inspiring your heart.

from: Angha, Nahid. (1991). Principles of Sufism. San Rafael: IAS Publications. 79–81.

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Selected Teachings

The

Electromagnetic Field of Knowledge:

and a stable center within to receive/perceive The Teachings of Hazrat Shah Maghsoud Sadiq Angha

Can knowledge be truthful if there is a separation and distance between the knower and the known? Can a person understand what is within, or can he or she truly understand what is without? If what a human being knows is outside, separated from him or herself, can he or she be sure that what is being understood is truly the reality of the understood and not merely his or her definition of that which is to be understood? In other words, in seeking to understand other than that which is within, our senses and perception will play an important part in the synthesis of perception and knowledge. In the doctrines of Shah Maghsoud Sadiq Angha, knowledge that is based on actual understanding of the fact and reality of being cannot be understood through words. Words do not themselves possess a being of their own, apart from the meanings which the speaker and listener, author and reader, attach to them, and so knowledge of what is real will not

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be learned through speaking, hearing, reading, and writing. One must instead accept the depth of knowledge as knowledge is if one is knowledgeable. And one who achieves such knowledge can no more transfer it to someone else than he could transfer his own being to that of another. Anything other than the “I” is other than “I”; and the meaning of “the other” is not perceivable by “another”. Anything that an individual understands and explains is, as a matter of fact, a description that combines the individual who is making the explanation and how they perceive. To become knowledgeable, a person must meet the follow conditions: 1) Human being must find a stable inward center that is constant, an established and fixed receiver if he or she is to attune his or her being to the sublime and harmonious energies of existence to unveil the reality

Shah Maghsoud indicates that human energies are the storage of electromagnetic powers that when concentrated develop an electromagnetic system that is hādi (transmitter) to all the known waves... Knowing comes from inner striving, not from the outer limitations.

within. Sufis believe that this is achieved through purifying oneself of limitation; of anything other than the identity of the “I”– the “I” that is fixed and unchanging. 2) To become knowledgeable, according to Shah Maghsoud, one must break the limitations of finitude. A simile that illuminates this teaching is that as long as the bubble is bound to its limited form, it is not the ocean. To become the ocean, the bubble must break its limitation and finite boundary and dissolve into the ocean. Relative sight suffices to see relatively. To see and know the reality of the infinity, different sight is needed that really and infinitely sees what is behind the veils of limitations. Shah Maghsoud indicates that human energies are the storage of electromagnetic powers that when concentrated develop an electromagnetic system that is hādi (transmitter) to all the known waves. No harmonized wave is hindered in passing through this system. With such an extreme power, is there any knowledge found in our universe that

(1) Shah Maghsoud Sadiq Angha, A Meditation, (trans. with commentary) Nahid Angha (California: IAS Publications, 2023) 25.

does not pass through this system? This human system should not remain ignorant to such expanded possibility. In this world of possibilities, everything is but a composition of expanded and condensed electromagnetic waves. Therefore, there is no reason to believe that all these waves are not received by the electromagnetic system of a truly concentrated human being. That is why Sufis instruct their students in meditation and concentration of their energies and say, “When the energies of your senses gather in your heart and do not desire to turn away, you will find your self” (1). Socrates also teaches that the goal of knowledge is to become aware and know the “self” without being distracted by name, form, or limited qualities that we possess. Knowing comes from inner striving, not from the outer limitations. Shah Maghsoud teaches that a human being is not only to attune his or her heart to the sublime waves of spiritual value, but also to make his or her brain a capable and susceptible recipient in order to receive the sublime moral waves of senders who precede our perceptions and who possess clear and thoughtful minds (2).

(2) See Shah Maghsoud Sadiq Angha, Manifestations of Thought, (trans. with commentary) Nahid Angha (California: IAS Publications, 2022), Introduction.

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Intellect reasons for its findings Yet we know that reason is binding A sip from the ocean of love is the meaning A meaning unmatched within the covers of intellect’s binding Word cannot hold a meaning A cup tells not the depth of the ocean If the meaning is not unveiled by its word Then how God can be unveiled through so many words. Shah Maghsoud Sadiq Angha

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SELECTED IAS PUBLICATIONS

Inspiration: Light of Stillness Seyyed Ali Kianfar, Shah Nazar Uwaiysi Compiled by Saleh Arthur Scott

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

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.

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

ISBN: 0-918437-20-4

Inspirations on The Holy Qur’an

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.

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

Sufism: An Inquiry Vol XIX, No. 4

Seasons of Transformation Compiled by Saleh Arthur Scott

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.

Show Us the Straight Way: the intimate act of talking to God in Prayer by Halima Joann Haymaker

Sufism: Self, Path and Guide by Amineh Amelia Pryor, Ph.D.

Sufism: An Inquiry Vol XIX, No. 4

Sufism: An Inquiry Vol XIX, XX, No. No.14

Institute for Sufi Studies Classes

Sufi Gatherings, Uwaiysi Tariqat *Bi-monthly, Novato, CA or on Zoom

S T W H F S

PRACTICE AND MEDITATION GROUPS (Pacific Times)

READING AND STUDY GROUPS

Qur’an Class with Shah Nazar Seyyed Dr. Ali Kianfar Monthly on Sunday, 3:00-4:00 pm On Zoom Register: https://ias.org/ias-events/

Amir al-Momenin Imam Ali Reading Group First Sundays, monthly, 11:00 am (Pacific) On Zoom Contact Sheikh Salman Baruti, (415) 382-7834

40 Days Meditation & Book Reading Sundays, bi-monthly, 9:00am On Zoom Call in advance: Dr. Arife Hammerle, (415) 382-7834 Sufism Reading Group Third Tuesdays, 7:00-8:00 pm On Zoom Contact Dr. Amineh Pryor, (415) 382-7834 Illumination of the Names Monthly Discussion Group Monthly on Wednesday, 7:00-8:00 pm On Zoom Contact Dr. Leili First, (415) 382-7834 Peace and Love Dialogue Monthly on Thursday, 7:30-8:30 pm On Zoom Contact Dr. Sarah Hastings Mullin (415) 382-7834 Introduction to Sufism Fridays, monthly, 6:30-7:30 pm On Zoom Contact Sheikh Jamal Granick, Ph.D. (415) 382-7834

Sufi Psychology Reading and Study Group Third Friday of the month, 9:00-10:00 am On Zoom Contact Amineh Pryor, Ph.D., (415) 382-7834

Purification Group Fridays monthly, 7:30-8:30 pm On Zoom Contact Dr. Sarah Hastings Mullin (415) 382-7834 Awareness of Breath and Movement Weekly practice group, Saturdays 8:00-9:00 am On Zoom Contact Sheikh Jalal Heery, (415) 382-7834

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Sufism and Science

Radiated Energy & Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity:

the Network of Light Victor Sinow, M.Eng.

Hazrat Shah Maghsoud Angha, the great Sufi Master of the 20th Century, inspires more understanding about magnetic centers in the human body and how they are in constant cooperation with the light, energy, and knowledge of the universe. Dr. Nahid Angha, Sufi Master and scholar, provides commentary in Shah Maghsoud’s book, Manifestations of Thought: We are the children of space and time. We inherit the life’s intellect that founded the universe. We are the universe. Can we study the human being and forget his origin, the cosmic waves, and energies? Shah Maghsoud explains that the complex systems of action, reaction, and cooperation between electromagnetic forces and energies give birth to an organism. And Shah Maghsoud writes himself in the 4th Discourse of Manifestations of Thought: All [life] are the presentation of endless, eternal expanded waves of nature which form beings by expansion and accumulated vibration. These words directly echo the teachings of Sufi Master Shah Nazar Seyed Ali Kianfar who teaches about the origins of the human being as understood from the teachings of the Qur’an. He describes that in the physical dimension, all states of matter and energy are reflections of the first light, Ar Rahman. Evolution in the physical realm is simply the movement of particles and the transition of energy between forms. These states and transitions are governed by the rules of motion. He teaches that all movement in physical reality is at its core an expression of divinity, an expression of the first light. 27

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And this universal motion does not stop. The human being may perceive one’s corporeal existence as static, but in fact, as Shah Maghsoud beautifully points out: The infinite eternal leads galaxies to an endless journey, where particles rotate, and waves reflect travelling in a circular journey presenting the Absolute core of being. Thus, we come to understand that the universe is, was, and will always be awash in the light of ArRahman. That everything existing is in constant communication with that light. Light is a form of electromagnetic radiation. In the 20th century, physics has delved deeply into the nature of radiated energy and its relationship to time. These investigations have led to a revolution in the way science understands light. Two results that follow directly from Einstein’s special theory of relativity are helpful in this regard. The first is that time is irrelevant to light. As soon as light is emitted, it simply exists, everywhere, accessible to the entire universe instantaneously. Secondly, one’s concept of past, present, and future is relative to one’s frame of reference. The human being believes in time as a linear phenomenon, with cause preceding effect, but in fact the order of events on time’s arrow is only fixed by limited three-dimensional sense perceptions. As Dr. Angha writes in her commentary of Manifestations of Thought: Cause and effect may apply to the world of dimensions but have not generality or application in the abstractness of existence. When holding these two notions as true, that light does not experience time, and that the order of events (past, present, and future) is relative to one’s

frame of physical reference, then that light emitted at any one particular time exists throughout the whole of creation at all times. In this way, everything that interacts with light in this universe is connected together. Past, present, and future are one – multiplicity is at its core, unity. Quoting Great Sufi Master of the 20th century Mir Ghotbeddin in her commentary, Dr. Angha describes: Since nothing will vanish into space, thus no matter how far the light wave travels from its center, it will always be observable by suitable receivers. The same is true for our actions and deeds of goodness or wickedness, servitude or treachery, friendship, or enmity, hidden or apparent. They are carried away by the quickest wings of light into infinite space and are handed from wave to wave into eternity. Therefore the light of Ar-Rahman, the light reflected in the motion and breath of life, is broadcast and accessible to all within the infinity of creation. One cannot separate oneself from this light, that fact that sustains and nurtures existence. As Shah Maghsoud teaches: [Earth’s] electromagnetic energies have been in constant connection and relation with all the eternal energies in the existence. And the human being, who is a connecting link between the seen and unseen, is the recipient of both active and receptive energies of this infinite and eternal environment. Armed with this understanding, the goal as a spiritual practitioner is to move beyond a purely mental conception of one’s energetic connection to the universe and instead inhabit a realm of direct divine experience within self. We must directly know who we are. As Shah Maghsoud writes: Knowing is the unveiling of the essential center of knowledge inherent within every particle, including humankind. But how can we know? What process must we follow? As Dr. Angha writes in commentary: [Shah Maghsoud] indicates that if we are to understand the realms beyond our

immediate interaction with nature, we are to learn and pay more attention to the cosmic energies, electromagnetic forces, and their relationship with the human system. The focal points of such a relationship between the human and the cosmos are the magnetic centers of the human body. As Dr. Angha describes: These centers absorb energies and make them suitable for the human being. The most important one of these centers, as discovered by Shah Maghsoud, is located in the third point upper right section of the heart, and called the “locus of life.” As Shah Maghsoud teaches, it is in “direct relationship with the electromagnetic forces of the cosmos” and can: “receive and transform the electromagnetic energies of the extended universe into harmonious useful energies/materials suitable for human systems.” Thus, this point in heart acts like an antenna. When it is tuned to the right frequency, it can resonate with the beating heart of eternity. While only abstract as a concept, there is also a practical mode for attuning, polishing or cultivating one’s connection to the universe, and that is by and through meditation. As described by Dr. Angha in her commentary: When an individual learns to collect and concentrate one’s electro and magnetic energies in a point of reference (in Sufism that point of reference is the heart), one will create an atmosphere or environment of electro and magnetic energies that is open to harmonious waves only. Thus realization, discovery, inspiration, and revelation are the results of human being’s collection, concentration and focus of energies in a point of reference. In the developed practice of meditation in line with Shah Maghsoud’s teaching on magnetic centers and light the practitioner directly realizes life itself is accessible through the locus of life in the heart. And that the human being is given an incredible opportunity to unveil the intellect at the core being to witness self as a manifestation of the eternal source of life.

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Reflections

A Sufi Practice for Electromagnetic Coherence: the Dance Between Student and Teacher by Professor Saleh Arthur Scott

One of the great mysteries (gifts) on the Sufi spiritual path is the dynamic between Teacher and student, and of how it is that the two meld into one without any separation or distinction. In the garden at the home where I live, two beautiful doves often grace our presence with their spiritual elegance and otherworldliness. Looking upon them, I perceive how they capture and embody the dance between Teacher and student. By mastery of practice and electromagnetic energies, the Teacher encourages the student to remain pure and to return to the heart. This is especially characteristic of the Uwaiysi school of Sufism, which emphasizes the heart-to-heart relationship between Teacher and student, as illustrated by the relationship between Uwaiys-iGharan and the Prophet Muhammed (pbuh). Uwaiys was a seeker who lived in Yemen at the time of the Prophet. Although Uwaiys never met the Prophet by physical meeting, the Prophet knew Uwaiys by the quality of his devotion and character; so much so that the Prophet asked that after his passing his robe be given to Uwaiys. On the path of Sufism, the relationship that exists and is cultivated between hearts is grounded in cultivating and mirroring stillness and in practicing purification, letting go from the mind all that is not truly the self. Stillness and purification are essential to prepare a student’s heart to become receptive to and embrace the miracle of fitra, or unity (origin), that is known to the heart of the Teacher. This coming together of hearts is also expressed by the

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cleansing of dawn, as so beautifully scripted in the Qur’an Sura Al-Falaq, 113: Say, ‘Oh Prophet, I seek refuge in the Lord of the daybreak, from the evil of whatever He has created and the evil of the night when it grows dark, and the evil of those casting spells by blowing onto knots, and from the evil of the envier when they envy. In my experience, cleansing and transformation under the guidance of the Teacher comes in seven ascensions and involves eight goals: 1. Purifying the mind of all that is not spiritually you; 2. Continuously polishing the heart through meditation; 3. Embracing the subtle healing energy of the Teacher; 4. Surrendering/letting go of ego, or simply getting out of the way of the light, as so eloquently expressed in Prophet Muhammed’s Prayer of Light: O Allah, place within my heart light, and upon my tongue light, and within my ears light, and within my eyes light, and place behind me light, and in front of me light, and above me light, and beneath me light. O Allah, bestow upon me light.

5. Cleansing as an ongoing washing, which requires constant attention, since the mind is so busy and easily falls into distraction. One aspect of mind that is particularly dangerous is the pattern of self-talk, which consists of messages or scripts you are operating from. To offer a personal note here, struggling with cancer as I have been in recent years, I occasionally feel sorry for myself. My mind tends toward the experience of a “pity party,” rather than focusing on the miracles of my life. By the grace of Teachers, and the teachings of the Sufi path, I am reminded that I have so much to be grateful for. In this state of gratitude, all I can wonder is the question given to human beings in the Qur’an: “Which of the miracles of my Lord would [I] deny?” (Sura Ar-Rahman, 55). In my experience, living with this question at heart gives way to more learning: 6. Polishing the mind and transforming thought by which perception of self and world changes from tears to laughter. In gratitude, you become a miracle surrounded by an endless parade of miracles. From the moment you arise in the morning, to when you lie down at night, you experience one miracle after another unfolds because you are the miracle on the quest of returning to fitra and the essence and mystery of your own origin. You are unified with the hidden treasure that brought you into existence so that you can find the perfection that you are through all eternity. 7. Finding teachers who inspire you to walk the talk. What an inspiration, what a miracle and blessing! My Teachers, in their example, mentor me in how to live. Their example is edifying, transforming and uplifting. Their knowledge runs deep; it is grounded in the Qur’an and in the Uwaiysi School of Sufism that explores the centrality of heart-to-heart transformation. They center their teachings on wisdom, and especially the wisdom of Moulana Shah Maghsoud Sadiq Angha. They are exquisite lights in a world of confusion and chaos!

8. Surrendering to the great mystery, beyond all understanding. This surrender is poetry, and it’s not narrative. It’s also not a matter of deserving, as it’s gifted from all eternity. The capacity to turn toward mystery rests more in relinquishing ego and being able to laugh at oneself. It is best symbolized by the joker archetype–the only one who could laugh at the king because of having no ego investment in the outcome. The joker’s intention was always pure; and purity of intention is the gateway to oneness. This miracle in which two become one is best expressed by Rumi: I choose to love you in silence, for in silence I find no rejection. I choose to love you in loneliness, for in loneliness no one owns you but me. I choose to adore you from a distance, for distance will shield me from pain. I choose to kiss you in the wind, for the wind is gentler than my lips. I choose to hold you in my dreams, for in my dreams you have no end.

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Interview

Exploring Concentration, Breath & Practice with Shaila Catherine

Shaila Catherine is the founder of Bodhi Courses, an online Dharma classroom, and Insight Meditation South Bay, a Buddhist meditation center in Silicon Valley in California. She has been practicing meditation since 1980, accumulating more than nine years of silent retreat experience. She has taught in the United States and internationally since 1996. Shaila studied with masters in India, Thailand, and Nepal, and also with the founders of western meditation centers. In 2004, she completed a oneyear intensive meditation retreat with the focus on concentration and jhāna, and then authored Focused and Fearless: A Meditator’s Guide to

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States of Deep Joy, Calm, and Clarity (2008). From 2006–2014 Shaila practiced under the direction of Venerable Pa-Auk Sayadaw. She authored Wisdom Wide and Deep: A Practical Handbook for Mastering Jhāna and Vipassanā (2011) to help make this systematic approach to samadhi and vipassana accessible to western practitioners. Her third book, Beyond Distraction: Five Practical Ways to Focus the Mind (2022) teaches skills to overcome restless thoughts and obstructive habitual patterns. Shaila’s teachings emphasize deep samadhi, jhana, and the path of liberating insight.

Would you share some of your thoughts about and experience of deep concentration versus what we might call mindfulness practice. When people talk about mindfulness, you really have to ask more questions about what they mean. From the Abhidhamma perspective, the perspective of Buddhist psychology, mindfulness arises as a mental factor in every wholesome state. There is mindfulness in an expression of wisdom, in generosity, in an act of kindness, in an act of compassion, and in an experience of insight. In contemporary conversations, the term “mindfulness” commonly refers to being aware of the experience of the present moment without judging. That emphasis on a non-judging attitude has gotten a foothold in secular perspectives on mindfulness. But we don’t find this non-judging attitude emphasized in Buddhist traditions as much. We need discernment to understand how we are perceiving things. Are we relating to something in a way that is harmful or helpful? Is it going to lead to greater suffering, or to peace and release? Mindfulness and wisdom are developed together so that our awareness is not only tranquil, but also informed by discerning insight. When I use the term mindfulness, I’m usually speaking about practicing mindfulness of the body, feelings, and mind. Cultivating mindfulness of body, feelings and mind helps us understand the state of our own mind, and how the mind is operating in the present moment of experience. By mindfully observing our experience, we notice if hindrances are distorting our perception, if we are repeating harmful habits, or, instead, if we are cultivating useful conditions such as wise, equanimous, or compassionate connections with what we are perceiving. We could also say that concentration practice is a mindfulness practice. Concentration develops through a continuity of mindfulness. A common way to strengthen concentration is to focus our mindful attention on a fixed meditation object. We choose one meditation object and use it to steady the attention by becoming consistently mindful of it. Concentration practices can develop deeply concentrated states of mind—to the point, perhaps, of absorption in that experience.

To experience concentrated states of mind, one must let the mind become still, tranquil, and quiet, while remaining vividly alert and mindful. When most people sit down to practice mindfulness, often the mind is not quiet. Concentration calms and quiets the discursive mind. An inner silence starts to occur. To practice meditation, first we sit down, ideally in a quiet place. It doesn’t have to be perfectly silent externally. Some jungle monasteries are noisy places but are fine environments for deep meditation. Waterfalls, monsoon rain, and cicadas screech and pound throughout the night and day. People are busy with the activities of cooking, cleaning, and teaching. But oddly, even in noisy places, we were able to train the mind to avoid engagement with the activities and sounds and choose instead to immerse the mind into the meditative perception. When one’s focus is entirely concentrated on the fixed object or the breath, what is it that might happen for that person? I’m interested in a meditation technique that focuses attention on breath as the meditation object and develops into deep states of absorption called jhānas. In this approach to concentration, we focus attention on breath as it enters and exists the nostrils, not on sensations of touch, pressure, or temperature on the skin. It is a rather abstract knowing of breath that enables the mind to enter extremely stable, blissful, or peaceful states of concentration. The mind is bright and alert. Supported by the stability and clarity of concentration, the mind becomes agile, able to recognize the impermanence of things. Insight practices highlight the rapidly changing nature of perceptions. When we are not concentrated, we can’t discern how we’re experiencing the present moment. A distracted mind is distorted by assumptions and biases about how we think we should experience life, how we would like to be appearing, what we are afraid we might experience in the future, or caught up in repetitive memories about what was experienced in the past. A distracted, unconcentrated mind is lost in concepts and interpretations about life; it is not attuned to the vivid experience of the living, Sufism: An Inquiry Vol XIX, No. 4

dynamic present moment. Concentration is not a dull or disconnected state. I’m not suggesting we should avoid thinking; we need an active mind to live full, beautiful, productive lives. But it can be very beneficial to have the capacity to just let the mind rest sometimes. If people do not know how to calm their minds and experience deeply peaceful and restful states of concentration, they may seek mental relaxation in less healthy ways, perhaps by letting the mind wander off into distraction. But distracted states can easily lead to anxiety and worry—the opposite of rest. By practicing concentration, we cultivate a stable mind that has the ability to see the impermanent and empty nature of things. A deeply concentrated mind can access another level of insight that is deeper than personal patterns. With the powerful stability of a concentrated mind, we can both uproot deep habitual tendencies and see deeply into the nature of things. In that way, concentration and insight work together. Practices of concentration and insight support our ability to meet lived experience with wisdom, clarity, and ease. But most people do not take the time to cultivate concentration and mindfulness, and so their perception is distorted by habitual tendencies. For example, we could look at this glass of water that I am holding and say, “That’s a glass of water.” Well, on the surface, it is a glass of water. But we could look more carefully and identify the hydrogen and oxygen that compose the water, we could learn how they interact, and discern the differences between the ice and the liquid. We could see how the mind relates to the present experience of holding and looking at the glass of water. Is there a personal reaction of liking or not liking as I hold the glass of water? Am I constructing the idea that I possess it? Or is it seen as just elemental experience, part of nature? If I try to possess it, I may think that this water belongs to me, and that distorted perception could lead to actions to preserve or defend that glass of water as a personal possession. The thought that the glass belongs to me carries the association that having this glass will lead to my happiness. This distorted perception doesn’t recognize the water’s impermanence. It doesn’t see its nature clearly; it sees through the lens of possessive

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assumptions. But when the mind is steady and concentrated, we can see the water as nature, and allow mindfulness and wisdom to guide our experience of holding this glass of water just now. Is your experience that concentration practice supports experiencing unity, the commonality throughout everything? I would distinguish the unification of mind that occurs in the context of concentration practice from an insight into the interdependent nature of all phenomena. In the context of concentration practice, the term “unification” may simply describe the harmonious functioning of a settled and undefiled application of attention. When the mind is not distracted, resistant, or scattered, it feels as though the whole of the mind is working smoothly together. We might describe it as a wholehearted dedication to what one is being mindful of. This sense of mental unification is not equated with spiritual insights into emptiness, awareness of the interdependence of all things, understanding universal laws of conditioned phenomena, or the realization of the unconditioned. Although concentration and insight can develop together, regarding my use of the term “unity,” I prefer to keep the perceptions related to concentration and insight distinct. Supported by a whole-hearted attention that is not dispersed by distraction, the mind may immerse itself into the meditation object and remain occupied with it for a long time. This creates the rather simple sense of mental unification. In the deep states of jhāna, the mind is secluded from sensory perceptions and so still that it will not engage in reflective thinking. The mind absorbed in jhāna will not be processing sensory data and will not be thinking about what it is doing or experiencing. It’s not turning towards sensations of the body, sounds, or sights. It is not analyzing or judging the experience that is occurring. There is no desire for the next stimulus. So, it’s deeply, deeply restful, tranquil, and still. Vibrancy, stability, cohesion, spaciousness, and collectedness characterize jhāna states. The reference to a unification of mind in concentration points to qualities like these. A concentrated mind will be strong and agile. Mindfulness will be powerful. When the

mind emerges from the absorption states and turns toward perceptions of body, feelings, and mind, it will be able to know those perceptions clearly. Insight meditation highlights four classic distortions of perception: to assume that what is impermanent is permanent, what is unsatisfactory is satisfactory, what is not self is a really existing self, and what is not beautiful is intrinsically beautiful. Concentration doesn’t produce those insights; concentration produces the conditions that make the mind capable of overcoming the habitual distortions of perception. And so, concentration primes the mind to realize liberating insights. What is the role of the Teacher in this practice? The basic instructions for attaining jhānas are available in ancient and contemporary texts. Anyone can find these instructions and read about how to practice. But without a teacher who knows how to attain jhāna and how jhāna leads to liberating insight, a meditator might stop far short of their potential. Initial, but superficial, experiences often sidetrack eager beginners in jhāna practice. As soon as meditators experience something more sublime than anything experienced previously, they commonly are impressed and assume that their experience is more significant than it might actually be. They then might try to repeat it, rather than go beyond it. Or they might abandon their focus on their meditation object too soon and not stay steady long enough, or develop concentration that is deep enough, or develop the trust that is needed to let go of habitual delusions. With the support of a teacher who knows how to attain jhāna, we can learn to let the attention rest more deeply, train the mind to become clear and calm, and recognize a path that is freeing. Concentration and insight are key components of that liberating path.

There are some prerequisites that must be established to succeed in concentration and insight, but they’re not institutional requirements. You don’t have to convert to Buddhism, ordain as a monastic, or experience a secret initiation. Since the time of the Buddha, laymen and laywomen have been renowned for their attainments in concentration. These meditative states are available to anybody who has the conditions to practice deeply. It may be more difficult for lay people to seclude the mind from the sensory realm when we are bombarded by daily responsibilities and social relationships, and have many decisions to make and tasks to perform. But in the suttas, we can read about occasions when the Buddha encouraged lay practitioners to practice absorption, encouraging them to enjoy the bliss of seclusion from time to time. I feel a great sense of hope and am encouraged by the potential for lay people to go deep in their meditation because we can periodically practice in the secluded space of a meditation retreat. We can take time for solitude and silence in retreat, cultivate these profound concentration practices, and then return to our worldly activities. Gradually we strengthen concentration and explore insights in retreat conditions, and then bring that tranquility and wisdom to bear on how we live our lives. Meditation, both in retreat and through a daily practice, will support a wise and meaningful life.

Find out more about Shaila and her teachings: www.shailacatherine.com www.bodhicourses.org www.imsb.org

How would you connect the subject of “Hope” with the subject of deep concentration? Deep concentration brings profound confidence. It gives me hope knowing that these practices are available to us. They are available now thousands of years after the Buddha lived, breathed, and taught in ancient India. These meditation practices are founded upon virtue. Without virtue, the whole system crumbles. Sufism: An Inquiry Vol XIX, No. 4

Interview: Melissa Nelson, PhD we are here to be in good relation and to receive and emanate love and kindness

Kinship Consciousness Dr. Melissa Nelson is a Professor of Indigenous Sustainability in the School of Sustainability at the University of Arizona. She is the former CEO of The Cultural Conservancy, a native-led nonprofit organization whose mission is “to protect and restore Indigenous cultures, empowering them in the direct application of traditional knowledge and practices on their ancestral lands.” She was the first person of native heritage to fill the role of CEO there, a position she held for 27 years. Dr. Nelson is one of four recipients of IAS’ Humanitarian Award, which acknowledges the invaluable humanitarian work of people in and around the San Francisco Bay Area. by Soraya Chase Clow, Ph.D. Sufism: People who know you well know that you have a great deal of self-understanding and feel a strong sense of responsibility for your community. I wonder if you might share something about your heritage and how it shaped you? Nelson: From both my Native mother and Norwegian father I received a profound sense of respect and awe of the natural world. Especially from my mother’s Turtle Mountain Chippewa (Anishinaabe/Cree/Metis) heritage, there was a strong understanding that plants, animals, waters, and landscapes had intelligence and spirit that needed to be respected. This shaped my love and appreciation for forests, rivers, plants, and the responsibility human’s have to care for these places and these relatives in an honorable or sacred manner. I have always felt a call to be a protector of the Earth and to learn how different cultures interact with, care about, and create productive livelihood and community with different landscapes. As a mixed-raced woman, I felt called to learn about seeing reality from multiple perspectives and cultural lenses. As a person interested in biology and ecology, it was also a call to see things from the perspectives of all the beings in the natural world.

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Indigenous cultures don’t make such a distinction between humans and nature, and re-weaving that artificial split is one of my raison d’etres. As a child I admired Jane Goodall as a woman scientist compassionate with animals. Her example inspired me to follow my calling. Sufism: I wonder what you feel is at the heart of your own work, and what are some of the wisdom teachings from your elders and/or guides that you carry into your research and activism? Nelson: I rarely say this, but truly the heart of my work is to transform human consciousness and transform the way we live in the world, starting with myself of course, as a daily practice. The heart of my work is to honor the sacred gifts of life as much as possible. That means I need to decolonize from what I call “conquest consciousness” and restore a sense of “kinship consciousness” with the diversity of human beings and the diversity of the planet. Again, it is to re-weave humans back into the sacred fabric of life. Is that possible? It’s also to re-weave a sense of the sacred and the arts with the sciences so that we can better understand, care for, and express awe and gratitude for the gifts of life. As an Anishinaabeg woman and member of the

we learn not just from our mind, but from our hearts, bodies, and spirits.

Lynx clan, I have learned about my responsibilities to care for water and to pray to water. “Water is life,” as the truism goes. I have also learned from elders about our seventh Fire Prophecy and our seven ancestral teachings that speak to the values of love, bravery, honesty, humility, respect, truth, and wisdom. I endeavor to embody these values and teachings in my scholarly research and activism, whether that is training Indigenous graduate students in research methods, creating podcasts by talking to innovative thinkers, supporting the Indigenous landback movement with practical tips and guidance, or researching oral traditions to learn about unique environmental ethics. Sufism: For those who may not be familiar with indigenous ways of knowing and being, can you share some of the central guiding principles? Nelson: Indigenous ways of knowing and being are based on ideas of holism–we learn not just from our mind, but from our hearts, bodies, and spirits. These ways of knowing are also rooted in the idea of relational accountability, or reciprocity, an understanding that life requires a responsibility to the things that give life: air, water, fire, earth, food, family, community, etc. Indigenous ‘original

instructions’ require us to be grateful, responsible, and committed to regenerative stewardship and reverential care. Indigenous ways of knowing and being are encoded in our unique languages, worldviews, and practices based in distinct Indigenous histories, landscapes, and identities. We value ways of being that engender kinship and humor and mutual respect and solidarity. As Martin Luther King Jr. and others have said, there is no love without justice and no justice without love. This is deeply connected to my Indigenous values, as well. We must embody our values and work to be a good human being today, now, in my community and in my lands. That means giving of myself when I can for the first peoples, for those less advantaged, and for the trees and waters that need protection and restoration. This justice work today will help me be a good ancestor, not because it is a goal, but because it is the right thing to do. I believe we are here to be in good relation and to receive and emanate love and kindness; to express gratitude for the gifts of life and return those to others. Being human also means we learn and change and grow over time. To me, to be human is a gift and a mystery that is constantly revealing itself.

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2023 Annual Inspiration Dinner Honorees

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Inte

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Dinner

Dr. Melissa Nelson

On Friday, October 20, 2023, the International Association of Sufism honored two organizations on the frontlines of social change at the IAS Annual Inspiration Dinner. People from across the Bay Area came together to cultivate new connections with supporting inclusive and healthy communities around a meal prepared by the Homeward Bound Culinary Institute

Sara Moncada

The Cultural Conservancy, a Native-led organization founded in 1985 in San Francisco, works with indigenous communities throughout the Americas and the Pacific to protect and restore Indigenous cultures, empowering them in the direct application of traditional knowledge and practices on their ancestral lands. Among their various programs is “Native Foodways”, a program in which they steward land, grow traditional foods, and gather people together across generations in order to mend the circles within Native communities that have been disrupted by cultural, environmental, and economic destruction.

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Nikola Alexandre Layel Camargo Dr. Nahid Angha Dr. Melissa Nelson Sara Moncada

Layel Camargo

Shah Nazar Seyyed Dr. Ali Kianfar

Nikola Alexandre

Shelterwood is a 900-acre Indigenous, Black, and Queer-led community forest and collective of land protectors and cultural changemakers. Shelterwood is based on unceded Southern Pomo and Kashia territory, above what is now called the Russian River in Northern California. Through land stewardship, active forest restoration and wildfire risk reduction, community and cultural organizing, and the development of a community retreat center, the retreat center, the Shelterwood Collective heals interconnected ecosystems.

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SWO Report The Women’s Wisdom: Women in Action program launched its Annual Service Appreciation Grants in 2019 by awarding two grants to women and women-led organizations who provide direct service to their communities towards improving the quality of life for women, reducing poverty among women, improving gender equality, or promoting women’s and girls’ rights to access education. Sufi Women Organization was gratified to receive their reports of successful efforts, from women planting, harvesting and selling maize; establishing sewing workshops for women and their children; providing mindfulness-based stress reduction training to vulnerable women and girls; and developing skills and flexibility to respond to the needs of women in refugee camps.

Service Appreciation Grant women action

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 in the fall of each calendar years. Winners will be announced annually. A diverse panel of volunteers review nominations. The awardees receive $500-$1,000 from the program as a grant.

Some of the 2023 Grant Recipients include: Solange Aquino from Portugal (left) in support of her work to provide services for African immigrant families and children, including supporting mothers to attend literacy classes and attend classes for parenting, therapy and conflict resolution with the THEATRE Project. Umayma (center) leads efforts at Migrant Women Association Malta (MWAM), an organization that provides social support for asylum-seeking and refugee women and their families in Malta and promotes their personal empowerment and health. Peace Mothers (right) is a group of women in Sierra Leone in West Africa who are leading their communities to peace and seeking to heal the wounds of a decade-long civil war and to generate new growth and development–person by person and village by village. The SWO WWWA grant is supporting Peace Mother groups in Benduma village in Bagruwa Chiefdom Moyamba district to scale up farming initiatives and ensure food access and community health.

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Celebrating women making a difference in community, and inspiring new solutions to critical challenges, particularly in rural areas.

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Literature Review

Sweet Reign Fourth Wave Feminine Principles

Sweet Reign-Fourth Wave Feminine Principles honours the presence of the Holy Mother Gaia in Her many manifestations. The book explores the lives of eight Holy Women who had to battle with male leaders in their field in order to fulfil their soul’s purpose. The women include: • • • • • • • •

Mother Teresa of Calcutta Noor-un-nisa Inayat Khan Reverend Amanuensis Frida Waterhouse Mary Baker Eddy Hazrat Babajan Julien of Norwich Sanapia Dr. Rina Sircar

What unites these selected Holy Women culturally is the sociological marginalization of women during their historic time frame.

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I explored the inherent intuitive process that arose in these great souls and how it intersected with my intuitive process, especially how they experienced breakthroughs to serve others and became exemplars and leaders in their different communities. I include myself as the ninth Women, which draws the reader into a sympathetic discovery of themselves through four transpersonal methods of exploration: • • • •

Transcendental awareness – Looking into the essence and possible essence of experience Pairing – Seeing the world that is within me from another’s eyes Co-Presence – Mutual participation of intuitive experiences Consilience – When two sets of seemingly separate experiences leap together

I have come to understand Fourth Wave Feminine Principles as a pathway into rebuilding the presence of the Holy Mother of the World-Gaia within the intuitive centre of every living woman and man. When this centre is re-established, the access to the Holy Mother Gaia’s Divine Essence is reestablished and Her Holy relationship to Her many embodied selves become one in the world community. When this theophany or unified state is accomplished in the female and male individual, it will become clear how each woman and man will fulfil their spiritual function and the purpose of each life will be empowered.

We are a part of the Holy Mother of the WorldGaia’s great soul. We are invited here on this planet to evolve and find Her, and we are here as Her guests. The mystery of intuition that all women and men must eventually pass through comes from the initial acknowledgement that we belong to Her in all Her infinite expanded states of being; even those that feel empty of Her Divine Presence has within them Her Sacred Seed. It is within the compassionate embrace of the Holy Mother of the World-Gaia that we can see at any given time what we ourselves can understand about Her knowledge, grace and wisdom; particularly when we think we are reading about another woman’s life, we are essentially reading about our own reflection of Her Divine life that is part of us and of which we are all composed. When the initiation into the mystery of how the Divine Mother of WorldGaia opens in the body, mind and spirit, then the eschatological secrets that reveal Her reality in Divine manifestation are brought to light. She appears courageously within every generation, absorbing the horrors of ignorance that demeans who She truly is. Within Her powers of grace and fortitude, She insists on acting solely under the conditions of Love, Light and Truth. She lays down the pathway for all to return in the One Form that will remain the head of the spiritually human community and victoriously remove all burdens of limitation between the sexes. When intense ignorance, hatred and violence try to destroy Her, She remains steadfast in Her determination to reveal the spirit of assembled armies of Great Guardians, and Goddesses, Gods, Avatars and Angels. She calls them forth in familial connections as She has birthed them all through Her patience and fortitude. In Her many forms, She holds the patriarchy in her heart so they might learn the inner codes of generosity, kindness, respect and wisdom; and they too might experience the Divine Feminine in all beings and created things.

Ana Perez-Chisti, PhD, is a senior Sufi teacher and President of the Sufi Universal Fraternal Institute. She is the head of the Religious Activity for Sufi Movement International and conducts a training program in the study of Comparative World Religions, Sufi Esoteric Wisdom, Ethics, Fourth Wave Feminine Principles, Psychology, and East-West Philosophy.

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Interview

A Conversation with Ana Perez-Chisti, PhD author of Sweet Reign

What inspired the writing of your book, Sweet Reign: Fourth Wave Feminine Principles? The deep inspiration came when I wrote the love letter that I include in the book. The love letter came after a deep meditation. I realized that these great women who I write about in the book were existing on this planet and hardly anybody knows about them. There are copious writings on male teachers, male avatars, and male prophets, but I could find almost nothing that incorporated the incredible, generous kindness and loving social actions that these women contributed to the world. There is a deep imbalance in which stories are told, and whose examples are uplifted as models for our learning. That was the stimulation that moved in me–love and respect for these women’s presence on Earth and gifts to humanity really motivated this writing. And a methodology arose as I studied these women that is not just about their contributions but that helps any individual to activate their own potential. Coming to see the presence of this methodology and its implications is why I put myself in the book as the ninth woman studied. Out of the deep contemplative awareness I had as I absorbed the stories of the women included in the book, methodologies like co-pairing and consilience came through, which brought me into a mutual participation with the women I studied in which I began to unfold the story of how the sacred mother works in the world, through all of us.

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In addition, I was trained in psychology, and most of the psychological work that I studied was masculine, so when the emergence of this methodology that emphasized mutuality arose, I just had to find and navigate, through the years of writing, what were the terms that most suited the impression of the experience that I was having. I think the book needs to show an experience in order to have validity. To turn toward and focus on lived experience is very feminist writing, and not masculine writing, which so often goes to the mental realm. Sweet Reign deals with women’s experience, and the sacred and holy nature of this experience when it is oriented to seeking out service that benefits humanity in the ways the eight women studied in this book have in their lifetimes. I was inspired by the ways they changed the consciousness of humanity by their own acts of devotion. In the consciousness of these women, they don’t see separation. That absolutely brought out a mystical level of the humanity of unification, and studying their lives and examples allowed me to experience the way their service was to the Divine and to all of us; and that it isn’t necessarily an individual process. So, in fact, we read ourselves in the stories of these women, which is one of the methods–that’s what co-pairing is about, the mutual participation in learning with and from each other. When you read another story, a holy woman’s story, you’re actually reading something about yourself. The activation of strength and knowledge in each of the women is something each of us is capable of discovering and bringing forward in our own living. In this way, the book is geared to find what it is in yourself that you’re seeking and capable of finding. This creates its own methodology that is your own. This is not a book about other people, it’s a book about the transformation of consciousness through each of us. Our own evolution is the project–each of us is on a journey of finding self. That’s the story these women are giving us. And I think that’s holy. I think that’s sacred.

These women were also very bold and incredibly courageous. Without examples to follow in the societies around them, they looked inward, reflected on their own character and being, and acted as guardians of human consciousness and truth. They didn’t allow themselves to be subsumed by patriarchal doctrine that says, “You have to follow my way because that’s the only way to reach the divine essence.” That still needs to be challenged. It’s very important that we find the pathway in our own hearts that leads to the liberation of our existence here on Earth. We have to find it, and these women have much to teach us about how to move toward and stay true to that pathway. In your own life and learnin, how have you been able to cultivate self-awareness without falling into or staying in thoughts or behaviors that diminish your being? For me, it goes back to an old paradigm of distinctions and differences and the tendency to look at external vs. internal and other vs. me. I think it is when we look at mystical unification, like in the principle of Tawhid (inner unity) that we move toward a unification process that allows us to not self-denigrate. In our culture, relying on the messages of culture, I don’t think we have the tools to avoid self-denigration. Having grandchildren, I understand this process even more fully. They are very self-deprecating, and that all comes from a culture that has eliminated the wisdom tools for understanding that we were born in divine blessings. We’re moving very, very quickly into an even more competitive society that differentiates and separates. We’re really great at that. But we’re not great at bringing back to the core values and wisdom principles that bring us to the very heart of our own incarnation. Psychology helps us to look at human development in the brain over time, and to understand that there is certainly a developmental process of ego development. But most of us don’t have any codes for stilling the process of selfdepreciation, which if necessary if inner reflection is going to be able to arise. When I traveled to the Sri Aurobindo ashram and other ashrams I visited in India, one of the great teachings that they always gave to very, very young children, I think even in first grade, was meditation. Learning meditation helps one develop a calmness and stillness so that one can learn how to reflect within. When I was teaching in the university, I always asked that all the students meditate together in

class because there was a supportive environment for this practice and a basis for thinking deeply about ourselves and our living. Would you comment on your understanding of the role of the heart in personal and social transformation, and about what gives you hope at this time? It’s clear to me that the divine holy women indicate that each of us will be loved for our unique potential, and your unique potentiation of your potential. No matter what, you will be loved by the essence of this universe, so it’s not the concern of your limitation that is so important, it’s remembrance of the holy quality of your being that will always support your ability to succeed and fulfill the reason of your being. Ultimately, we are carrying human evolution further if we can carry this remembrance that we are loved and that we are truly blessed to have an incarnation to pull humanity forward into a higher essence of consciousness. That’s what the love letter is in my book, which came first before any other writing–a reminder that we are loved into infinity. This remembrance can empower our joy. It can empower willingness to serve and empower our kindness to ourselves and others. That’s at the very heart of why the holy mothers of the world are teaching us. When that gets forgotten, we go into a kind of disassociation with our experience and be lost to our own impulses and thoughts in ways that are very risky to well being, both as individuals and collectively. We begin to react to and against ourselves and each other. To come to the heart, to love, to Unity, that is the way our deeper capacities are realized. That we will always be held in the heart of the Divine gives me hope cause I know that’s real. When we start eradicating separation from the Divine in our consciousness, the results are evident. Look at our society, and everywhere around we can see the impact of this separation and the results of those who have eradicated this consciousness in themselves. The objective for us now is to bring back that hope, to be unified in the divine heart of the Holy Mother, the way I see it, and participate with her essence that gives love and kindness to humanity without pause. My prayer to the reader, and the reason this book was written, is to find courage and inspiration to enter a place in their own heart that shows how exquisite they are, and to realize the capacity in their own heart. That’s the hope behind it all. Sufism: An Inquiry Vol XIX, No. 4

Spirituality & Psychology

Spiritual Bypass or Psychological Myopia: How Do We Navigate Our Own Growth &Transformation? by Jamal Granick, PhD The field of psychology has gone through a period of flourishing in the last 30 years, since I first starting the exploring the interface between psychology (I work as a therapist) and Sufism. Historically, the Psychology world has been radically factionalized, with different theoretical schools arguing for their respective frameworks, and each developing its own jargon and methodology, to the exclusion of the others. In recent years, however, this trend has reversed and there has been an unprecedented synthesis across perspectives. This has been largely facilitated by the convergence of three areas of study: • •

•

The ubiquity of trauma in normal human experience and its centrality in creating psychological distress. Advances by in the Preston understanding of Katherine “interpersonal neurobiology” which articulates how relationships shape not only our psychological experience, but our physiology as well. The inclusion of the body as a domain of inquiry and engagement in the therapeutic process, in addition to verbal expression, leading to the development of the “somatic psychotherapies.”

Advances in the physical sciences have empirically confirmed many of the wisdom teachings of the ancient spiritual traditions, and provided a larger context for understanding human nature and potential development. This has provided a background for a more holistic understanding of psychological healing as well.

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Spiritual Bypass At the same time, the term “spiritual bypass” has become commonly used in psychological circles to describe the tendency to use affiliation with spiritual traditions, ideas, practices, and even experiences to circumvent psychological challenges, including both the ordinary problems of life, as well as the residue of psychological wounds. This view does not negate the validity of spirituality, but proposes that a premature identification with a spiritual persona can be a form of avoidance. It has also been suggested that significant, early developmental trauma can lead to dissociation, or the capacity to disconnect from embodied and emotional experience (1). From this perspective, dissociation can be a portal to accessing spiritual realms in a way that is not integrated at the level of personality. The awareness of the phenomenon of spiritual bypass, and its correlation with dissociation, has supported the movement in psychology toward the emphasis on physical experience. Terms like “grounded” and “embodied” have become very popular in psychology. This is further reinforced by the idea of “interoception,” awareness of internal sensations, as a reflection of emotional states and psychological meaning. This has provided a rich field of exploration, deepening awareness, and shifting experiential states that has dramatically enhanced the psychotherapy process. An undeniable aspect of bodily experience is that it can only be accessed in the present moment. Therefore, bringing focused awareness to the body can enable clients to move out of rumination, “analysis paralysis,” and preoccupation with the past.

At the same time, an overemphasis on the body can lead to discounting of the value of insight, understanding, and the apprehension of meaning. When the body becomes the object of identity, there is a risk of sacrificing more nuanced and elevated aspects of human nature. The privileging of body, per se, can lead to a rejection of spirit, and thereby of venerable spiritual traditions that are not informed by contemporary scientific and psychological frameworks. Pyschological Myopia I would propose that a counterpart to the danger of spiritual bypass is something I would term “psychological myopia,” the inability to see beyond theoretical formulations about the structure and functioning of the personality (2). There can be a tendency to reduce spiritual experience to psychological explanations. “Missing the forest for the trees,” psychological models that do not include an appreciation of the higher potentials of development are missing the most essential existential aspect of human nature. This can lead to a preoccupation with contents of the psyche and reinforce identification with the limitations of the personality. Mutually Supportive and Differentiated In reality, both psychological work and spiritual practice are beneficial. Rightly understood, they can be highly complementary. When there have been chronic adaptations to trauma, one’s nervous system can be so overly activated that it becomes very difficult to focus one’s attention in a sustained way, which is a prerequisite for practices like meditation. It has also been observed in spiritual communities that during periods of intense practice, such as retreats, people who carry significant psychological wounds can have dramatic, even psychotic, reactions. Working through these unresolved issues can bring balance to the organism and liberate energy that supports spiritual practice. Genuine spiritual work can both create a context and provide support for deep psychological work. Spirituality recognizes that we are more than the product of our physiology and socialization. Understanding that one’s true being is beyond “nature/nurture” offers direction for psychological work. Further, recognizing that the source of energy is infinite creates hope and motivation for healing. As one progresses in spiritual development, the center of identity shifts to this larger dimension of being, and the hold of psychological knots is loosened. Ultimately, one no longer identifies with the personality.

While psychological work and spiritual practice are complementary, it is important to differentiate them. They have compatible aims, but they are not identical. Psychology primarily focuses on remediation of experiences that have bound awareness and energy to constrictions within the personality. Spirituality focuses on transformation. While that term can be held loosely to indicate any significant change, in spiritual traditions it implies movement to an entirely different level of being. As such, there is a specific and precise trajectory that requires the diligent application of intentional effort. Psychological work and spiritual practice also have different methods. Both begin with bringing awareness to oneself, but from there they diverge. Psychotherapy is largely exploratory, investigating one’s phenomenological or direct lived experience to discover new possibilities of experience. Often, this involves deconstructing the architecture of how experience is currently held. Spirituality, on the other hand, while not ignoring one’s phenomenological experience, reaches beyond it to obtain the highest potential states available. It is understood that these are innate, but their realization requires applied intention. Spiritual development, therefore, requires the intentional cultivation of one’s being through specified practices under the guidance of a qualified teacher. Psychological work can bring one to the shores of the ocean of spirit, but it requires spiritual guidance to cross to the “other shore” (3). It is the difference between experiencing healing and walking a path. For more information, Shah Nazar Seyyed Dr. Ali Kianfar founded The Sufism and Psychology Forum (SPF) in 1993 to integrate the wisdom of Sufism with the knowledge of Western psychology and to bring people from around the world who are interested in these disciplines together in mutual understanding and inquiry.

(1) Heller, L., & LaPierre, A. (2012). Healing developmental trauma; How early trauma affects self-regulation, self-image, and the capacity for relationship, Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic. (2) It was precisely to address this issue that the Beyond Identification program was initiated by SPF in 2019. (3) In Buddhism, the maha prajna paramita refers to the great wisdom or “vehicle that reaches the other shore.”

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Poetry

Mahsati Ganjavi

A Sufi Poet of the Eleventh Century by Professor Saleh Arthur Scott, with translations by Dr. Nahid Angha Mahsati Ganjavi (1098-1159) was a Persian poet who lived in Ganjeh, Azerbaijan, Northwestern Iran. She was reportedly one of the first poets to compose ruba’iyat in her native language. She was a dervish (Sufi) and ribald poet. She knew Omar Khayyam and, like him, composed only in the ruba’i form and must be considered a master of that form. Mahsati Ganjavi wrote in a rich mystical style to convey her profound experiences of encountering the sacred. Her metaphors, both rich and deep, ran the entire poetic spectrum: affection, craving, awakening, birds, bliss, rebirth, blossoms, dawn, eternity, life, fire, garden and the beloved moon. She was a leading feminist who broke the glass ceiling in Azerbaijan and was later persecuted for her stand against the conservative court mullahs and their intolerance of the people of heart.

The ruba’i is classical Persian poem written with four lines (equivalent to a double couplet or quatrain), usually with a rhyme-scheme AABA or AAAA. It is often written with 13 syllables per line (in Farsi).

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The breeze blows in the garden, rose petals falling upon the drunkard Friend has arrived pouring wine in the cup of old friends Your fragrance consuming the perfumer’s house Your eyes bringing the wise to his knees willing to be sacrificed. * Bewilderment is best in the old tavern Whispers are best with the wine-bearer Deceit of rosary, robe, and matter of fact have no worth Only the belt of the magi is of any worth in the ruins of the winery. * Time is a fire-temple residing in my chest The universe of old is built upon my being Like the water-pot, we drink for a day Yet we are but the dust from the old friend’s site. * The oceans of tears are but my eyes Trust that the mountains did not hold is the pain of my heart Living life seeking a companion Yet my companion is but the pain of longing in my heart. * When heart becomes the ruler in the world of love It frees itself from infidelity and faith alike I was a veil hindering my way My road revealed when self moved out from hindering the way.

(1) For more information see Mahsati Ganjavi, Rubaiat, compiled by Rafael Hasinuf (Azarbaijan, Baku: Yazichi, 1985). (2) Translated by Nahid Angha, Ph. D.

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Poetry: Shah Maghsoud

No wine is as potent as the ruby-red wine of the wine-bearer, No solitude is as peaceful as the ruined house of the drunkard. The seal of separation takes the tulip to the desert, For patience does not grow in the well-tilled soil of love. The people of heart are destined for non-existence, Lovers will fall under the dagger of love. As the wick of the candle burns with fire, So is life burning by the heat of love. – Shah Maghsoud

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Love’s tenderness is woven into my body and my soul The heart has become a ruin of such longing. Wonderment within wonderment, seeking to resolve Who am I and who are You? When should this mystery be resolved. – Shah Maghsoud

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V ICES

FOR JUSTICE A Department of the International Association of Sufism

Voices for Justice, a youth organization with a multi-religious multi-cultural unified voice to advocate for children’s human rights, was established in 2006. A group of youth leaders advocating for the rights of children by providing a forum for public awareness through: education, community service, events and programs so that every child and every young adult has the opportunity to fulfill his or her highest potential.

Sufism: An Inquiry Vol XIX, No. 4

2022 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 San Francisco 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 (3), and your contribution is tax deductible to the extent permitted by law.

Sufism: An Inquiry Vol XIX, No. 4

Sufi Biography

biography of a Uwaiysi Sufi Master

Sheikh Abul Hassan Kharaqani by Abi Mahmod, MD

Sheikh Abul-Hassan Ali ibn Ahmad Kharaqani (963-1033) was a Persian Sufi master, born in Kharaqan, a village near Bastam in the state of Khurasan (north eastern Iran). He was a teacher of the prominent mystics including ‘Abdullah Ansari (d. 1089), the great mystic of Khurasan, who considered Kharaqani as one of the greatest Sufi masters of all times. Kharaqani had an ever-lasting influence on later Sufis masters, including Abul-Qasem Qushayri (d. 1072). He was visited by prominent figures of his time including Sultan Mahmud. Kharaqani was not a part of an organized lineage per se; he considered his enlightenment due to the spirit and teachings of Ba Yazi Bastami (d. 874), who died before Kharaqani was born, and was among the great Sufi mystics of Khurasan. This spiritual association is “a typical Uwaysi [that was] initiated not by a living master but by the powerful spirit of Bāyezīd Bistāni. Legends dwell on the spiritual relationship between these two men; it is said that the scent of Karaqānī reached Bāyezīd long before his spiritual disciple was born and that Karaqānī used to pray every evening in Kharaqān, then mysteriously be transported to Bistām--a distance about 1500 kilometers--pray there, and then perform the morning prayer back in his town.”1Few historians indicate that Abu’l’Abbas Qassab Amoli, the great Sufi teacher of Khurasan was Kahraqani’s Sufi master2; however, Kharaqani considered himself a disciple of Abu

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Yazid Bastami, and their relationship is one of the most fascinating stories ever told in Sufism, especially in the Uwaiysi3 mashrab. Many of Kharaqani’s teachings and saying reflect the teachings of Bastami, and many biographers “make it a point to show that his Sufi master was the ‘spirituality’ of Abū Yazīd (the socalled owaysī [also spelled Uwaiysi] relationship of a disciple to his immaterial master).”4 Kharaqani emphasizes that there are veils that stand between the seeker and God, and in order to find proximity with God one must remove these veils that include the attachments to the world, attachments to the hereafter, and attachments to one’s ego self. These veils will hinder God’s reality and prevent a seeker from seeing God.5 “Become a seeker,” Kharaqani tells Ansari, “where stands no veil between you and God and when you cry for God, God alone, nothing else but Him becomes known to you.” He teaches Ansari that seeking proximity (qurb) with God is the ultimate pursuit of a seeker, and worldly possessions and adoring oneself are veils between human and God.”6 Among Kharaqani’s saying and words of advice are:7 A knowledgeable begins his day seeking knowledge; a pious begins his day seeking piety, and Abul Hassan begins his day hoping to bring happiness to the heart of his fellow human beings.

What is the meaning of darvishi (being a Sufi), someone asked Kharaqani. He said darvishi is like an ocean nourished through the current of three rivers: piety, generosity, and freedom from all attachments. We all suffer from the same illness; and that illness is ignorance. The remedy for such illness is awareness. If your cloth catches fire, you take off the cloth and free yourself from that fire. Then why is it that you do not free yourself and your faith from the fire of jealousy, envy, selfishness, and deceit? Where did you see God?, someone asked Kharaqani. Where I did not see myself. Wise sees God through the illumination of his heart; friends of God see Him through the light of certainty; and magnanimous one sees Him through witnessing. If you think that God is in heavenly skies, then you have a long way to go; the shorter way to God is to seek Him through the light of certainty in your heart. Spiritual journey is of five: through effort; through the light of your heart; through magnanimity; through witnessing; and through dissolve and annihilation of the ego-self (nafs) into reality. 1. Annemerie Schemmel, Mystical Dimensions of Islam (North Carolina: University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 1975) 90. 2. Sheikh Abul Hassan Kharaqani, Nur-al ‘ulum, compiled and edited by Abdul Ra ‘if Haqiqat (Tehran: Intisharat-I kitabkhanih-I Behjat, 1359/1981), 103. 3. Uwaiysi mashrab refers to “an initiation not by a physically present Shaykh, but by the ‘spirituality’ or ‘spiritual presence’ (rūhāniyyat) of a deceased guide or by Khidr.” Johan G. J. Haar, “The Importance of the Spiritual Guide in the Naqshbandī Order’ in The Heritage of Sufism vol. II, ed. L. Lewisohn (Oxford: Oneworld Publications 1999) 314. 4. H. Landolt, “ABU’L-HASAN KARAQĀNĪ,” Encyclopædia Iranica, I/3, pp. 305-306; an updated version is available online at http://www. iranicaonline.org/articles/abul-hasan-karaqani-ali-b, accessed January 2022.

If you offer your nonexistence to the Source of all Being, then He offers His existence to you. People are thankful for Your blessings and I am thankful for Your being; blessing is Your being. Witnessing is when He remains and you dissolve. God has brought you to this world all innocent and all pure; do not mix impurity and ugliness to this blessing. Be steadfast in your servitude until honesty finds its way to your heart; remain honest so you become illuminated. Kharaqani died in 1033 and was buried on the hills of Kharqan,8 in Khurasan.9 His mausoleum includes a library and a room that hosts a rally of visitors, and is a place of pilgrimage. His mausoleum is also recorded as one of the National Heritages of Iran. We read his famous saying that was displayed at his khaniqah, in his mausoleum: Feed everyone who enters this house Feed them and do not ask about their faith If people are worthy enough to receive life from God They are worthy enough to receive bread from Abul Hassan’s house.10 5. Nahid Angha, 36. 6. Nahid Angha, 36. 7. See Sheikh Abul Hassan Kharaqani, Nur-al ‘ulum’s for his words of advice. 8. Sheikh Abul Hassan Kharaqani, Nur-al ‘ulum, compiled and edited by Abdul Ra ‘if Haqiqat (Tehran: Intisharat-I kitabkhanih-I Behjat, 1359/1981) 137. 9. https://www.toiran.com/en/city-shahroud/historical_sites/ Sheikh-Abu-al-Hassan-al-Kharaqani-Mausoleum/8522; https:// hipersia.com/en/news.cfm?id=1045. 10. Sheikh Abul Hassan Kharaqani, Nur-al ‘ulum, 3.

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Sufi Biography: in memoriam

Remembering Shaykh Taner Es-Seyyid Es-Shaykh Taner Mustafa Vargonen Tarsusi el Ansari er Rifai el Qadiri, the head of the Ansari Qadiri Rifai Tariqa, an international Sufi spiritual order, died on August 27, 2023, after an unexpected heart attack. He was 81. He will be deeply missed by his family, students, and the many people who knew him as a friend. Shaykh Taner was born in Tarsus, Turkey, to a devout Muslim family of seyyids (descendants of the Prophet Muhammad). He received a Bachelor’s degree in English Pedagogy from Gazi University in Ankara, Turkey, and a Bachelor’s degree in Linguistics from Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. In Michigan he helped found the Muslim Students Association of the United States and Canada. He was also a professor of English Pedagogy at Cukurova University in Adana, Turkey. As he was completing his university studies in Michigan, Shaykh Taner was initiated into the Qadiri Rifai Tariqa in Istanbul by his dear shaykh Es-Seyyid Es-Shaykh Muhyiddin Ansari, from whom he later received his ijaza, the license to teach Sufism. At the behest of Shaykh Muhyiddin, Shaykh Taner was charged to create a new Sufi order called Ansari Qadiri Rifai Tariqa (AQRT). His spiritual lineage also includes the Naqshbandi, Mevlevi, and Bektashi Sufi orders. During his life’s work of teaching Sufism, Shaykh Taner gathered numerous students around the world who became devoted followers of the Sufi path. Correspondingly, he and his wife, Es-

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Seyyida Es-Shaykha Muzeyyen Vargonen el Ansari, established centers of the Ansari Qadiri Rifai Tariqa in the United States, Canada, Mexico, South Africa, Tanzania, Mauritius, Germany, Australia, and the United Kingdom. In addition to guiding his own students and conducting congregational Sufi services, Shaykh Taner and his wife traveled the world to give talks, workshops and radio interviews on Sufism, Islam, alternative healing and sustainable living in schools and universities including Harvard, Humboldt State University, Boston University and Napa Valley College, as well as at churches, synagogues and other public forums. Shaykh Taner gave several presentations at the annual Sufi Symposium in California, and he and the AQRT were active members of Interfaith communities in California and New York. For many years he conducted weekly live internet talks on Sufism. AQRT (https://aqrtsufi.org) will continue to operate under the leadership of Shaykha Muzeyyen. Shaykh Taner wrote and published several books on Sufism and Islam, as well as translations of classic Sufi texts and the Qur’an. Posthumous publications of his works are forthcoming. In addition to his wife, Shaykh Taner is survived by his children Leyla Vargonen, Joseph (Melissa) Vargonen, Ali (Colleen) Vargonen, Ahmet (Hannah Naples) Vargonen and Metin (Jessica) Vargonen, his former wife Lizabeth Vargonen, several grandchildren, and three siblings.

Shaykh Taner Vargonen el Ansari

1941– 2023

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Remember Me, and I remember you; Be thankful, and do not pollute your thankfulness and appreciation. – Holy Qur’an 2:152

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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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Sufism: An Inquiry Vol XIX, No. 4

New Book Releases

Hafiz’s Little Book of Life is a collection of more than 250 selections from his books of poetry. The book also includes an excellent portrait of Hafiz’s life and times, translators’ notes, and an extensive glossary and bibliography. It is a wonderful introduction to the poetry of Hafiz, and an inspiration for seekers of love, spirituality, and wisdom. The book’s five themes chart a map for the soul: the state of the world and aspiration for a path to a better world; transcendence and the power of wine; love, in all its forms and phases (and gender fluidities); timeless, ancient, living wisdom; and fruition, opening the eye within the heart. It also deepens our understanding of the people of Iran today, and their cultural and historical contexts. Translators Erfan Mojib, a Persian native speaker in Tehran, and Gary Gach, a San Francisco poet, were excited to work from adaptations by filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami, who had isolated single lines of Hafiz and edited them into brief poems. Each can be savored on their own or enjoyed as units of a book-length poem. Hampton Roads Publishing ISBN: 9781642970463 $15.95 | Pages: 224 Available on Amazon

“Hafiz’s poetry aims to close the gap between mortal humans and the divine and this book opens a door to the poet’s gardens. From the first page, you are invited to settle into a sublime sanctuary and partake in enchantment until you feel the Beloved inside your beating heart and running through your veins.” – From the Foreword by Ari Honarvar, author of A Girl Called Rumi “A radical collaboration between a Persian and American, this is a breakthrough version of the most untranslatable classical Sufi poet. Gach and Mojib have carved genuine gems from Hafiz’s Persian and set them in a bezel composed of space, time, and the reader’s own openness to wisdom. This is translation as a real ‘carryingacross,’ as art not artifact. While previous translations attempted to be reenactments (like reenacting an old battle in faux costumes), this one drops the reader/listener directly into their own soul-struggle. Immerse yourself and be transformed!” – Neil Douglas-Klotz, author of The Sufi Book of Life and A Little Book of Sufi Stories

Sufism: An Inquiry Vol XIX, No. 4

“The Point of Needlepoint” Rabia once taught us: Like a needle be always engaged in the spiritual work. A house of my childhood smells of lavender and old leather books. The tall Victorian archway opens to the room where two women are talking. I wait on a bench in the hall. My grandmother, Elisabeth, speaks quietly with Rabia of Basra. Rabia calls me in. I kiss my grandmother, then sit in the armchair between the two women, both alive again. Rabia smiles. Her hair is wrapped in woven cloth. Her fingers glide across a string of wooden beads. My Grandmother is working, as she does, with French yarns and the point of the needle. Each stitch perfects the pattern in the fabric. She glances over her glasses at each of us, and back to her hand-work. The nine-foot window behind her chair illuminates the room. Rabia gestures toward her: “What an honor to meet Elisabeth, your grandmother, a woman who serves a single calling: great needlepoint artist in heavenly yarns, sewing those stories together.”

Albion-Andalus, Inc. July 25, 2023 ISBN-10 : 1953220266 $13.99 | 70 pages Available on Amazon Tamam Kahn’s poetry carries bright exuberance, as well as empathy and sorrow. Her work is inspired by the mystical Middle East, and her time in Morocco and Syria. The poems are anchored with her research on women from early Islam to today. Anecdotes from history are mixed with today’s unchosen difficulties. The reader is introduced to the remarkable Rabia of Basra (Rabi’a al-Adawiyya), eighthcentury leader on the path of Unity of Being. What would it be like to meet with her today? Across the Difficult presents tales of other famous mothers such as Eve (known as Grandmother Eve in Arabia), Hagar, Sayyida Zaynab-granddaughter of Prophet Muhammad, her niece Ruqayya, and Fatima al-Fihri, founder of the great Qarawiyyin University, who changed history with her life’s work. The brutal difficulties of living at this time in countries such as Afghanistan, Syria, Ukraine and other countries, are included in the final poems.

“Learn from her!”

Sufism: An Inquiry Vol XIX, No. 4

Forty Mystical Sufi Poems Compiled with Commentary by Saleh Arthur Kane Scott Paperback $10 Available at Amazon

“Offering my heart and my life to Your Beauty,Offering my entire being to the road ending at Your house Offering my heart because you are the owner of my heart, Offering my life because you are the core of my being Setting my heart free from You is an impossible task, Giving up my life to Your footsteps is a simple act.” – Hatif Isfahani, (Forty Mystical Sufi Poems, pg. 38)

Forty Mystical Sufi Poems : A Review Forty Mystical Sufi Poems is an elegant collaboration between Dr. Nahid Angha and Saleh Arthur Kane Scott describing the healing mystery and transformative energy of Sufi poetry. Dr. Angha, the founder of International Association of Sufism, and celebrated scholar, author and translator, likewise, has brought the poetics and wisdom of her father, Moulana Shah Maghsoud Sadiq Angha, to the West. Professor Scott has been a practicing Sufi for two decades studying under the direction of Shah Nazar Seyyed Dr. Ali Kianfar, co-founder of International Association of Sufism, who through the example of Dr. Angha became enraptured by the spiritual nuances of Sufi poetics. As he declares, Forty Mystical Sufi Poems “is itself a meditation which takes you deeper into yourself thereby releasing you from the busyness of time/space.” Forty Mystical Sufi Poems introduces the reader to the beauty, poetics, and metaphors of forty Sufis, from Bayazid Bastami to Hallaj, Khayyam to Rumi, and Shah Maghsoud Sadiq Angha to Rumi, along with their brief biographies. The number 40 was chosen because it is a sacred number pointing to the inner transformation that the seeker must undergo to return 63

Sufism: An Inquiry Vol XIX, No. 4

to the heart, the fountainhead of divine wisdom. What makes this book so rich is that it explores the deep metaphors and vocabulary of the Sufis: Drunkenness is code for falling into a deep rapture, Garden points to the beauty of Paradise, Tulip points to the ascending heart. Dr. Angha says it best when she writes, “Every color holds a meaning, every song presents a divine melody, and every word is a key to open treasure box of the heart.” These Sufi themes are beautifully expressed in the cover which portrays a mystical garden filled with exotic birds, trees, flowers pointing to the ethereal. In conclusion, Forty Mystical Sufi Poems is a must read rich in insights about identity in a world on fire. It calls the world to surrender to the Divine Feminine, to the warm embrace of the Garden of love, to the realization that what we seek was always within as beautifully express by Bayazid Bastami in these lines: “Then I looked and saw that lover and beloved are one.” What a gift!

New Book Releases

Nirvan

Shah Maghsoud Sadiq Angha Translated with Commentary by Nahid Angha Limited Edition Hard cover $195 US/$250 CAN Paperback $45 US/ $56 CAN

“...this journey is the journey of the Self/self from itself, within itself, and toward itself: the formless manifesting itself in form, through its names, through its attributes, through its words; and the formless Absolute remains as it has always been: eternal and infinite...The story of Nirvan is the story of that mystical journey.” – Nahid Angha (Commentary on Nirvan, pg. 17)

Nirvan Nirvan is an allegorical story of the celestial child, who has journeyed from the timelessness of the Absolute, to manifest in form, and claims an identity; and when the time comes he returns to his essence, in a circular journey, and will be dissolved in the Absoluteness from which he is originated. Shah Maghsoud Sadiq Angha wrote Nirvan (Tehran, 1960) as a response to Ghurbat al-gharbiyya (The Recital of the Occidental Exile) written by Sheikh Shihab ad-Din Suhrawardi (d. 1191). Nirvan is one of Shah Maghsoud’s most complex works. It includes allegories with precise meanings and is saturated with alchemical, metaphysical, and cosmological terms and numerological references. Nahid Angha offers a new translation and additional commentaries in this edition. Her first translation and commentary of Nirvan was published in 1992. From the Prologue: Imam Sadiq says that the image of the human being is the greatest evidence (hujajt) of His creation as it is a book created by the divine wisdom, inclusive of two worlds of the seen and the unseen, a straight path toward all goodness, and a bridge between heaven and hell.

You are the universe, Yet unaware of your being A treasure found without hardship Is a human being. In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious and Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, who created humanity in His own image and illuminated the hearts of the knowledgable with the light of knowledge; peace and blessings be upon the finest of humankind, Muhammad, the messenger of Allah, his people, and his family. And so I, a devoted servant of the Most Gracious, seeking mercy and generosity (rahmat) from the One and Only, the established and firm (quwati), possessor of strength (matin), honoring the friendship of the Friends of Allah (awlia Allah)... seeking help from haqq (absolute reality), thought that I should write Nirvan, another treatise to explore those allegories that lead us toward understanding those hidden treasures witnessed by this great master. May Allah grant me success in this endeavor.” (Nirvan, pgs. 3-4)

Sufism: An Inquiry Vol XIX, No. 4

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.

Sufism: An Inquiry Vol XIX, No. 4

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Sufism: An Inquiry Vol XIX, No. 4

United Nations: Recent News

The International Association of Sufism is a non-profit organization, and a NGO/ DGC 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/

Department of Public Information Non-Governmental Organizations

UN Climate Change Conference The UN Climate Change Conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, closed on 13 December 2023 with an agreement that signals the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era by laying the ground for a swift, just and equitable transition, underpinned by deep emissions cuts and scaled-up finance. Negotiators from nearly 200 countries – in the world’s first ‘global stocktake’ of the Paris Agreement – agreed to ratchet up climate action before the end of the decade, with the overarching aim of keeping global temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues The twenty-third session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues will take place inperson from 15-26 April 2024 at the UN Headquarters in New York. This session’s theme: “Enhancing Indigenous Peoples’ right to self-determination in the context of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Emphasizing the Voices of Indigenous Youth.” The UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) established the PFII in July 2000 to advise the UN system on Indigenous Peoples’ issues.

International Women’s Day This International Women’s Day, 8 March 2024, the UN Women and the United Nations celebrated under the theme DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality. Research shows: • Women make up only 22% of artificial intelligence workers globally. • A global analysis of 133 AI systems across industries found that 44.2% demonstrate gender bias. • A survey of women journalists from 125 countries found that 73 per cent had suffered online violence in the course of their work.

Sufism: An Inquiry Vol XIX, No. 4

In many areas affected by water stress, women & girls have the responsibility of fetching water. They should not carry the burden of the water crisis. In many communities, girls are tasked with collecting water for their families, which can interfere with their education & even prevent them from attending school.

Commission on the Status of Women

Sufism: An Inquiry Vol XIX, No. 4

No one is as drunken as I am. In this old tavern of wine-bearer, My robe is pledged to wine, And my books wagered in another. – Hafiz

Sufism: An Inquiry Vol XIX, No. 4

99 Names

Al-Hayy

The Ever-Living

Al-Hayy. The Ever Living. The Always Present. The Forever Lasting. The Absolutely and Perfectly Alive.The Perpetual One who exists before the beginning, at the moment of creation, and after its end. Allah’s essence embodies Infinite Potential.

Bringing a Bowl to My Teacher He told me to bring him a bowl of water. I was maybe four, five years old. I remember. They were telling me, ‘you just reach a point where there is nothing more to know’. I heard him then. Like an explosion in silence, or a silence in explosion. I laughed. He was with me. Now again, he says, ‘bring me that bowl of water’. I wonder what has taken me so long. How many times does he need to ask. It’s been these pebbles. Sometimes, divides in the earth. I lose my footing. I go backwards. I go forward. No matter what, he asks, where are you? The water is high, brimming at the edge. Every movement, a splash in each direction. I am afraid the bowl will empty. Light hovers, his image reflects, water rises again.

Sufism: An Inquiry Vol XIX, No. 4

He promises me the promise I already have, that if I accept, I will reach him. He will take everything. I will be empty. Only holding what cannot be held.

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.

prepared from the teachings of Shah Nazar Seyyed Ali Kianfar, Ph.D. by Sarah Hastings Mullin, Ph.D.

Sufism: An Inquiry Vol XIX, No. 4