Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Getting the idea.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

Been gettting myself into some hot water over at Blog Ladder,after posting that talk of Sheikh's.People hate the idea of monarchy it seems and get very upset when it is suggested that democracy is not such a wonderful system after all.
Anyway,it made me think a bit more deeply about both political and religious systems and the ever present difficulties of trying to institute and run them fairly and wisely,given the inherently selfish and unreliable nature of man living in his egoic self.
Some stuff started to form in a Word document..and I'm just going to bung it in with all the gripes and bad language that life with it's tests throws up.
See what you think..I've virtually given up expecting any comments...but of course .. should you feel so inclined...

Idea forming .. about poverty .. war … capitalism … etc etc ..it’s all this attachment to … well …stuff ..really … sex, power and money ..

Same old story..only true spirituality can solve the problems of the world…not political systems..
It’s about individual responsibility ..so who’s going to start then?…
Giving up what we can’t keep anyway.
Turning away from the ephemeral,the temporal to the eternal,permanent..and what is that if not our soul/spirit and God..(or whatever name you choose to call The Eternal Uncreated) ?

30th May 2005 Orgiva 08.17.Hrs.

I suppose I’m just talking to myself again.. I’m finding the computer pretty annoying .. seems to have many little foibles of it’s own since Ruben put the new hard disk in.Today Real Player doesn’t want to work.There’s a version on here which I downloaded and I’m pretty sure I didn’t uninstall it the other day when I was uninstalling everything else because of another problem..Ay! computers! What a pain in the arse they are really.
However,I’m hooked on them,just as I was hooked on alchohol and sex when younger.Time wasting really most of it..at least it doesn’t seem to move me forward either materially or spiritually.An indulgence for the nafs yet again.
I’ve become a little tired of Blogger too ..half the time it doesn’t work properly .. just lets one down..Recently it’s the ‘save draft’ feature .. Their helpful staff are pretty crap too..probably snowed under with problems..or else just sitting around on their backsides getting big fat pay cheques from Google.It certainly seems to have got worse since they took over.Maybe it’s just got too big..maybe there’s not enough financial motivation..maybe they are just an inefficient bunch..but whatever it is they are downright frustrating.
Blog Ladder is nice..but there I’m just talking talking talking,as usual..without making much headway..I feel as if I am coming to the end of my possibilities on the net now.I’ve done all the investigating I’m gonna do I reckon,on the spiritual/mystical level..I know pretty much what is available..
The only thing of any real importance that has happened recently is …. My faith has become stronger..I’m more sure than ever that I am a Muslim no matter how bad a one.It’s my religion,it’s my faith and I can’t avoid that..even if I don’t like the graphic and almost lurid descriptions of the punishment of the fire in the Koran (It does seem a bit OTT to me,which I know is a ridiculous thing to say if it is the perfect book from Allah that we believe it to be..but well..just expressing what my nafs feels.)
AVG tells me that I have an unhealed virus in the computer ..a Trojan Horse ..
It’s happened before and eventually they seem to end up in the virus vault anyway.
I don’t really need the Real Player ..just the frustration of things not going as one would like.I will have to work on this..There is a kind of dichotomy between the American attitiude of “I can and I will.” Which is all very admirable in it’s way,and the (higher? lazier?) sufi Muslim thing of recognizing that all is coming from Allah and is perfect just as it is.
Whichever way round I was only trying out Ahmad’s C.D. which he so ‘kindly’ left for me and it didn’t work on Media Player ..so what’s the difference at the end of the day?..Just the sneaking suspicion that Microsoft in it’s imperious way has ‘taken control’ and put their player as the default one without my permission which is a bit irritating.
Hey ho..another day..

The real thing is this…

from 'The book of what is essential, concerning what is indispensable for the spiritual seeker', Sheikh Al akbar Ibn Arabi, may Allah sanctify his soul & bless his secrets
You asked, O seeker, about the essential core of what the seeker must do, so I have answered you in these pages. And it is God Who brings to fulfillment-there is no Rabb but Him!
Know, O seeker-may God bring you and us to the fulfillment of willingly obeying Him, and may He cause us and you to know what pleases Him!-that (our) closeness to God is only known through His informing us of that. Now He has already done that-all thanks and praise be to God!-through His sending the Messengers and sending down the Scriptures and making clear the Paths leading to the eternal bliss. So once we have faith and hold (this) to be true, there only remains putting into practice (a) those actions regarding which one has faith, and (b) through applying the revelation in its appropriate place, with regard to what has become established in the souls of those who have faith.
[2.] Then after that, o seeker, you should have faith in the Messengers-may God's blessings be upon them-and in what they have brought (from God) and what they have informed us about Him...
Next, you should accept and acknowledge the people of this Path, with regard to all the stories that are recounted about them (i.e., their qualities and accomplishments) and with regard to everything you see from them which the (ordinary) mind and (worldly) knowledge cannot encompass.
In general, you should hold a good opinion of everyone, and your heart should be at peace with them. You should pray specially, in secret, for the people of faith. And you should serve the poor, recognizing their excellence and nobility in that they are content with your helping them, and in their bearing patiently with their discomforts and troubles and difficulties.
[3.] Among what is indispensable for the seeker is keeping silent, except for remembering/mentioning God, reciting the Noble Quran, guiding in the right way someone who's gone astray, exhorting to do what is right and forbidding what is wrong, reconciling those who are disputing, and encouraging acts of charity-indeed every form of good.
Which Ibn Arabi says much better than I and..all that’s left to do really ..is get on with it.


31st May 2005. 09.10.Hrs.

Problems with opening folders from shortcuts.. “Internet Explorer has caused an error in KERNEL.32.DLL.”

That little message pops up all the time now and I can’t access things..oh well..”Where there’s a will there’s a way..as they say.

Difficult times..but I will take them all as tests for my nafs..and all part of Allah’s perfect Justice..if He Wills.

Here’s the next bit of the ‘Idea Forming’ …

31 May.2005. Orgiva. 07.05. Hrs.

Bismi’llah arRahman arRahim, for the sake of Prophet Muhammad salallahu alayhi wa sallem and Sheikh Nazim al Haqqani,may Allah protect his secret (or make it plain for all to see?)….

Pain,tension,fear,insecurity,caused by an identification with the nafs.(egoic self)

Really all that exists is Allah, Allahu Haq, He is the Reality and has caused this illusory world to appear. He has caused also the illusion of Uthman as some separate entity to appear and given that illusion the special characteristics of self consciousness and will.
Uthman has an animal/physical nature and a spiritual nature.The more he identifies with his animal/physical nature and tries to gratify it or does things to try to validate it’s reality,the more he will suffer. The more he remembers that his nafs (egoic self) is an illusion and that the only reality is Allah,the more he will be at ease and in true happiness.La illaha ila’llah.
There is no God but Allah (there is no God but The God .. Al Lah ) God is One He is everywhere and nowhere..all is He.He is everywhere in manifestation (wherever you look there is His Face) ..and nowhere in Himself or essence except in the heart of His believer .. beyond words and description. He has no likeness. He is unique.(The Tao that can be named is not the real Tao).
Advaita Vedanta is a good route and method for recognising this same reality in Hindu terms.The recognition that the first step away from Reality or Brahman is the ‘I’ thought.As soon as we think ‘I’ we have stepped away from the unitary reality that all is Brahman because we have been fooled by the illusion that something that is manifested by Brahman/Reality/Allah .. Tao … has an independent and separate existence.
That is why we suffer.

Only one thing though, … there is a world of difference between knowing it intellectually and real-ising it.

One works at it .. one tries .. but the accomplishment is by the grace of Allah.(God)

…. And,I was going to add..(when the problems started) that…

It seems to me that the difference between the Sufi Muslim and the Advaita Vedantin,given that the above description of the human situation is true, is that the Advaita Vedantin sits in ‘The Seat of Awareness’ and there is very satisfied with having discovered his real nature .. i.e. that he is in fact Brahman .. and after that there doesn’t seem to be much more except to enjoy that state or..in the case of the guru/saint,to try to bring others to that awareness also,whereas the sufi Muslim recognises that though he now knows the Truth of the fact that there is nothing but Allah (and that it would be shirk,or associating other gods with Allah if he said any different,as Ibn Arabi has pointed out),yet … he has been created in the illusion of a separate identity with a purpose…and that purpose is to fulfill his promise on The Day of Promises,or “Am I not you Lord?”.. that he will recognise the Lord as Lord and the servant as servant,and,as servant in this manifested existence he will fulfill his purpose here in this life and dedicate it to worshipping his Lord… as Allah has said “I did not create man and djinn for anything but to worship Me.”

The true sufi sheikh (like Sheikh Nazim al Haqqani) is an example of this..as one never sees him doing anything but worshipping his Lord and serving his servants (which is a form of worship … the word ‘ibada’ or worship coming from the root ‘abd’ to serve.)

So now maybe it is appropriate to put the next bit from Ibn Arabi in.




from 'The book of what is essential, concerning what is indispensable for the spiritual seeker', Sheikh Al akbar Ibn Arabi, may Allah sanctify his soul & bless his secrets
[4.] Among what is indispensable for the seeker is searching for someone who is right for you, who will help you to attain what you are pursuing and to pursue the way leading there. For the person of faith means a great deal to his brother, [alluding to such hadith as 'the person of faith is the mirror of the person of faith', etc.] And take care to avoid the company of the person who is fundamentally opposed to your quest.
[5.] Among what is indispensable for the seeker is a master and spiritual guide -sheikh, murshid-. Now with regard to finding such a guide, inner sincerity of intention -sidq- is the very watchword of the spiritual seeker, because if the seeker is truly sincere with God, He will turn every outward 'satan' for that person into an angel guiding them directly to the good; and He will inspire in that person the awareness of what is good. For inner sincerity is the ultimate Elixir/the perfect cure, one that can only be applied to the heart of our essential being.
[6.] Among what is indispensable for the seeker is seeking out this licit source of support -literally, sustaining 'morsel' of food- since the very foundation of this Path is a licit livelihood. The pillar of this Path rests on that foundation of right livelihood: do not burden anyone, and do not accept inappropriately from anyone, but earn your own living. And always be attentively conscientious about what you acquire, and about what you say, see, hear and all your other actions.
[7.] Among what is indispensable for the seeker is eating little. For hunger brings about an increase in spiritual energy for following God, while it takes away spiritual laziness. [8.] You should properly cultivate and fill the moments of the night and the day.

Sunday, May 29, 2005

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

Though I've never been one to take sides I can't help feeling hurt and angry and sad when I read something like this;
http://www.islamicity.com/articles/Articles.asp?ref=IV0505-2702

Sea of unity.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

Silence is the sea, and speech is like the river.
The sea is seeking you: don't seek the river.
Don't turn your head away from the signs offered by the sea.

-Mathnawi [IV, 2062-2063]

Thursday, May 26, 2005

Sheikh's traditional wisdom.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

After the posts below on B.L. I just put up one of the Sheikh's talks..wondering if that might have any effect ..we'll see ....


Democracy.Monarchy.

It has been suggested that,because I do not know the history surrounding the French Revolution in detail,that maybe I have misunderstood what I have heard my Sheikh teaching for more than twenty years. I don't think that it was necessary to know those details in order to understand him and in fact it may have made it much harder to accept his teachings about democracy. We all are affected by human suffering and commiserate with our fellows when they are subjected to injustice.However the conclusions arrived at by intellect under the sway of emotion are not necessarily in agreement with traditional wisdom as taught by Sheikh Nazim. Since my last post below I came across this talk of his where,as usual,he does not mince words.I include it for those who are interested in the debate but anyone who finds it aggravating or a chore is not obliged to react.

Democracy, the Biggest Deception

We know that true, clean and honourable people are usually not accepted because the majority of people are dirty. Good people are being defeated. Since the beginning of mankind there are so many sufferings amongst people. Either they have never been given the rights which Allah ordained for them, or it has been taken away from them by force. These are the two reasons. People of Truth are not happy when people suffer. They want everyone to reach their rights. Then we will have peace. But the devils, who are establishing the kingdom of satan never want common people to have any rights. They only want it for a group of people, not for everyone. They want to be shepherds and the rest to be the flock. A shepherd may do anything he wants with the flock. The flock has no rights except to eat, drink produce new lambs and get fat for the knife of the butcher. From the beginning until now common people have no rights. Since the beginning of time mankind have been asking for their rights. Some people suffer a lot, others are satisfied. Until 1779 the governing system was monarchy. When a good person became king, emperor or sultan, the people were happy. If not, they were unhappy. Throughout the centuries mankind was always trying to get their rights. Devils come and disguise themselves as advisors, just like satan did with Adam in Paradise. But he has only had one interest all along, to take us from Paradise to hell. He has been repeating this same line with people throughout time. He convinces them that there is a new method in which everyone will be a shepherd, everyone will be governing. The flock doesn't even think whether this is possible, or not, they just follow. When this was introduced in 1779 maybe people could not understand. But now? Do they have complete empty heads? They believe in democracy! It is the biggest fraud. There is a group of people seeing that one shepherd eats everything. Then they say, "Why should it only be one person? We must form a company called democracy. Instead of having one person on the top, we must have 1000. We must cheat people and tell them that they have elections and that they are deciding." Democracy is a big company of devils. But until today people are not understanding. Electing people! What are you electing? Putting 500 people there and saying that this is power? People were hoping that this new system would give them their rights. But they quickly recognised that in the time of monarchy they had many more rights, much more mercy and many more blessings. Monarchy had one person, now it is thousands of people. The rights of the masses are diminishing from day to day but they continue to talk about human rights! These clever French people! They opened their prisons and let their criminals run their country. They killed all their good people. That was the opening. Because if you do not thank Allah, you will fall down. People were always complaining about their kings, so Allah punished them by giving them something worse. They thought they were getting good days, but it was the opposite. Since then they are removing one king after another, but still not finding what they were looking for. People continue to ask for human rights. For this purpose they have established the UN in the USA, the place of the biggest lies. They claim to defend and give human rights! Monarchies are gone and the new system democracy never gives anything. Look at Turkey for example. The Prime Minister asked me to come and break the fast with him. Those satanic people, the media, got up and asked why he wanted to invite Holy People? Are those the rights that we have? People are more and more understanding the value of having a king or a sultan. Democracy is finished! The more people ask for a monarchy, the sooner it will come. Allah is sending the news to our Grandsheiks telling us that the monarchy will be back. We are seeing that people are fed up with being cheated. Every nation is now saying that the time has come for their sultans to return. The time has come to ask pardon from them because we did not respect them. In Germany they did an opinion-poll and they found that 60 % want their Kaiser back. After the worst system has fallen, communism, which is even worse than democracy. The people of Russia also want their Tsars. Rumanians want their kings. Even the Serbs want their king back, as well as the Ottomans in Turkey.Defending Truth© by Sheikh Nazim Al-Qubrusi Al-Haqqani

More debate on B.L.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

After the post below and a few comments in reaction I then said this.


Productive debate if possible.

I don’t want to get involved in endless debates either if they only become battles of ego to prove who can win an argument ,however if they lead to expansion of horizons or coming to useful conclusions,that is another thing … I’m just observing, thinking and sincerely looking for the best, and the best I have found so far … is a system where everything makes sense within a belief that the universe/s was/were created with a purpose and a meaning … not just some great causeless accident that no-one can explain how it happened,why it happened or where it came from. I cannot be content to live in a meaningless world or universe and find it hard to believe that everything we can see with the naked eye in nature is really the result of evolution,let alone the incredibly complex symphony of what is happening at a microscopic level within the human being.If one doesn’t really believe in anything it is perhaps hard to understand the possibility of a ruler with his conscience restrained by his fear of God…much less a class of beings especially created for the role of leadership.I hope to learn from these discussions and hope I can keep my head open to learning even if my basic education in history and so on is a bit lacking.The great weakness as I see it in democracy (even if it really is what it claims to be on the surface rather than a puppet show to keep us all distracted while the real power is hidden and achieves its objectives whichever party is voted in, as I suspect) is that election by majority means election by the less educated,less informed and least appropriate.In the very interesting article posted by kitlulu the other day one can read the following … another Bush adviser explained, “Let me clue you in. We don’t care. You see, you’re outnumbered two to one by folks in the big, wide middle of America, busy working people who don’t read the New York Times or Washington Post or the LA Times.”….Perhaps that is how a president that so many people actively dislike or even hate,has been elected for a second term.
Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

Here's another bit from the discussion on Blog Ladder, where I'm being picked up on my weakness over historical dates.


Thorny Problem.

After my last post I expected a bit of reaction over the thorny problem of democratic as opposed to traditional heirarchical political systems. I wasn't sure how it would pan out,but,as usual the feed-back on B.L. stimulates the process.Once again it seems simplest to just post the comment I made in reply to a comment.Hoping the recipient doesn't mind,here it is

******* ******* *******

Thanks kit,I knew if I had a reaction from anyone on that point it would be you.I was going to say that I am open to learn and see what you suggested,but you're one step ahead already..thanks.It's a difficult point and I hope I will reach a satisfactory conclusion.My wife and I have discussed this lots of times and I haven't made a lot of headway yet.Over the years I have found the Sheikh to make points that,at the time seem downright rough and tough ,riding roughshod over details both politically and historically..but .. he always seems to turn out to be right in the end.I suppose I was a good socialist, democratic, women's lib, flexible, liberal kind of person when I first met him..but although I hope I have lost no humanity on the way..I have done a 180 deg. turn on many things.
At the end of the day no one is saying that there wasn't tremendous injustice in France before the revolution..and I don't think we can say that any political system is perfect as soon as it begins to be practiced by us,imperfect,human beings.What the Sheikh has been at pains to try to teach westerners,Europeans and now Muslims as well,is that the best system is a heirarchical one in which the people at the top are the most God-fearing ones and they look after those beneath with an awareness of their moral and social responsibility before God.What tends to happen when there are elections based more and more on materialism is that society becomes de-stabilised .. and there is lack of continuity.Most of us these days are fed on a diet of democracy from such an early age that we don't even pause to consider wether it is really the best thing..it seems so unquestionable.It is difficult to swallow but from the Sheikh's point of view,the most outstanding single event that changed the traditional heirarchy and 'Divine right of Kings' was the French revolution ... the Americans being quick to follow suit cutting themselves off from the British Crown.I got a small idea of this in the film 'The Madness of King George' in the scene where he laments the loss of America.It made me realise that to a King a land actually belongs to him .. he loves it and can care for it and it's people in a way that no elected president or prime minister ever could.I hope,as usual,that we both may learn something from this discussion.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

Two Donkeys & two Sheikhs.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

Thanks to kitlulu over on Blog Ladder for this great article on two sufi giants.

More U.S. moves & oil access.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

When you read this article it will be a lot easier to understand what all the 'low profile' movement has been around Azerbaijan recently.

Perhaps I forgot to put this on the other day ..in connection with Uzbekistan.
Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

Here's another bit that I have just hauled over here from Blog Ladder ...(This is getting time-consuming!)

So-o-o..trying to give a reply to these questions.. I’m just going to ‘dive in’.
About destiny and free will..the best and simplest way I have heard to describe what is really a total paradox when one gets to ‘nit picking’,is the following,which was communicated by my Sheikh.
Each person has a destiny that is written for him .. and it is as though he is on a boat which has a captain and it is taking him to his destination.However,within the confines of the boat he may do many things of his own free will.There are some people who are not in agreement with this situation and want to believe that they are totally free and sometimes they can be seen walking from the prow to the stern believing that they are going in the other direction because they ‘will’ it,blissfully unaware that despite their efforts the boat is taking them where the captain wills.
The other thing I want to mention is that,over the years I have learned a political view from my Sheikh which is certainly not the common current one that democracy is undoubtedly a good thing and something to measure the success of an ideology by.
His basic stance is that the French Revolution was the beginning of the downfall of the western world..because ‘the feet became the head’ as he says.In other words the social order was turned upside down when the leaders (perhaps one can say the historically or even genetically or even Divinely, destined or created or prepared people…I hesitate to pontificate here because I don’t really know either my history or a detailed account from the Sheikh) were killed and there began ‘mob rule’.
He always says there should be one head and forty feet but not forty feet trying to be the head at once..it is inefficient and also hypocritical in the sense that decision making is slowed up and in the sense that one party gets in to initiate a plan and then four years later it can all be overturned by the next party and something else initiated.Also we see time and time again the opportunism of those in power who,while making many promises during election time rarely fulfill them and spend much time and energy lining their own pockets and those of their friends knowing that they only have four years in which to milk the situation as much as possible.The Sheikh says that there is much more ‘barakah’(or blessing )in countries where they have kept respect for their Royal Families,even though they are really just puppets on a stage these days, and that, just as Prophets were created in a special way for leadership in the spiritual world,so Kings and Queens and Sultans were created for leadership in the material world.
I know this is somehow a hard one to swallow for most people these days,but I am just seeing,through this interchange on B.L. how far apart world views can become and that there is an interdependence of all the facets of a traditional Islam (as I said before,affecting the political and social structure of a real Islamic community..as well as ‘spiritual’ life) as communicated by our Sheikh.
Everywhere in the Islamic world Muslims are trying to weld together socialism with traditional Islam and,basically it just wont work..(as I may enlarge upon in future posts)..The extreme example of this can be seen in Iran where there is a so called Islamic Revolution which is a total contradiction in terms
and all of the existing ‘Ahlul Bait’ or ‘people of the house’ (i.e. family of the Prophet PBUH ) have been destroyed in order to instigate and maintain that travesty of Islam. As a little rejoinder I saw George Bernard Shaw’s definition of democracy the other day where he described it as “Everybody ruled by anybody.”

That post again.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

Now that I have calmed down a bit,here is that post again ..
24th May 2005. Orgiva.Spain.

I guess this is going to be quite hard to express clearly,so I’ve come in here to a Word document so I can take my time and neither feel under pressure from having to write ‘today’s post’ for a blog,nor feel that at any moment what I am writing may be lost through the vagaries of blogger.com or the internet.(I’ll have the document on my hard disc and copy and paste it as and when I like..assuming that the computer doesn’t let me down.)
It’s not terribly clear in terms of a cogent step by step argument,so I am just going to do what I have discovered works best with so many things..stop thinking about it and just start.
Recently I have been very upset by what I can’t help coming up against all the time as someone interested in and trying to practice,Sufism.Sufism is intimately connected with Islam historically down to the present day.What I am coming up against is the public face of Islam as percieved by and promulgated by,the press and the media,and the public reaction to it as lead by the fairly blatant anti-Islamic stance of the United States.
First I must write a few words about what Sufism is and how that too is percieved by the general public.Some,perhaps most, would say that it doesn’t really exist apart from Islam..it is certainly something that grew out of Islam but,as has often been pointed out, “ Sufism was a reality without a name and now has become a name without a reality.” It is that reality which can be seen in all religious paths who’s manifestation is normally expressed through mysticism…There is a marked similarity between the expressions of mysticism in all spiritual paths and this is what can lead people to say, “Sufism is the essence of all religions.”..I would tend to say that there is an essence of all religions which in Islam is known as Sufism.
It is extremely difficult to pin down in words a reality which is precisely beyond the dualistic field that words are normally used to express.However I think one way of indicating it is to say that those men and women who have practiced their religion/spiritual path with intensity and devotion and sincerity get to a stage where the one-pointed consciousness of their Divinity or spiritual reality pervades their dualistic consciousness and it becomes unitary. The Bhuddist becomes aware that everything is ‘emptiness’ and can say along with the first followers to understand the Buddha “Form is emptiness and emptiness is form.” The Hindu can say “Thou art That.” or “Seer,seeing and seen are one.” (In other words,everything is Brahman including oneself.) The Sufi Muslim lives the reality of the Koranic verse “Everywhere you look,there is His Face.” .. to the extent that at last there is no differentiation between Allah and himself and,as one famous Sufi,Al Hallaj,was heard to cry “Anna al Haq.” (I am the Truth.) and was executed for it by the exotericists of his time.
It seems maybe I had some taste of this reality when I was a teenager .. or at least an intellectual understanding of it … and I became sure that this unitary reality which ‘transcends’ our everday dualistic consciousness,was and is, the key to the relief from what the Buddha called ‘Dhukka’ or existential suffering.The suffering ,which as he pointed out,is common to all human beings and famously became his first Noble Truth. No: 1) “ There is Suffering.” After studying as much as I could about all the paths to ‘unlock the mystery’.. I decided that Sufism was the one for me..At the time there were many books around..which claimed to be explaining and communicating sufism but,without mentioning Islam.
This is not the place to go into the story of how I became initiated into sufism,but,suffice it to say that I eventually became convinced that there was no real sufism without Islam and duly became Muslim by repeating the Shahada ,or testimony of faith,in front of witnesses in the Albaicin in Granada by pronouncing the words “Ashadu an la illaha ila ‘llah wa ashadu anna Muhammadan Rasulallah.” Three times.Which means “I testify that there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.”
That was twenty three years ago now and, two and a half years later, after becoming Muslim with a group whose connection with real sufism was somewhat tenuous,I found a real Sufi Sheikh and made ‘bayat’ with him. This is a pledge of fealty the forerunner of which is to be found in an example between the Prophet (PBUH)* and a group of his companions.
I am not normally a politically minded person but,as Islam is a way of life known as the ‘Deen’, rather than being a religious compartment separated from everyday worldly life ,worldly life is a part of it.Islam is perhaps different from some other religions,notably Buddhism which is outright pacifist,but also Hinduism with its ‘ahimsa’ or non-hurting and Christianity with its original doctrine of ‘turn the other cheek’ (even though we have perhaps seen little of that politically and historically).
In Islam at a certain point, when there was enough of a threat from its enemies to actually put its continued survival at risk,the Divine order came for permission to take up the sword in protection of the Deen. In any other circumstances it is forbidden to hurt or to kill except if there is physical threat such as from an insect or reptile/wild animal etc.
I have been at pains elsewhere to explain the distorting influence of Wahabi teachings upon Islam,effectively destroying it from within and aided and abetted by the British and later by the Americans,and how this pernicious teaching has been spread throughout the Islamic world with the aid of the Saudi regime and petro dollars.
There are theories which strongly suggest that it is convenient to the enemies of Islam that acts of terrorism should be seen to be perpetrated so as to enable a ‘justified’ retaliation to finish off from the outside what has been perpetrated on the inside.Some of these theories even go so far as to say that the present government of America not only knew of what was going to happen to the twin towers in advance but actively aided and abetted the events including those of the plane at the Pentagon and the one which blew up in mid air after the passengers had wrested control from the hijackers.Many examples are given to back up the claims to show that the damage was not congruous with the nature of kerosene in the planes and that pieces of evidence used to incriminate the terrorists look trumped up and rather ridiculous.
There is a lawyer who is representing four hundred families of people killed in the towers who is following this line of argument that says he was at school with some of the people implicated and that even in those days they were talking about what a powerful tool of power over the American people it would be if they could find something to really frighten them.
Well,this is where I came in and began to get fired up about it all. A friend of mine, who has not that long been Muslim and eventually came to our Sheikh as a follower,but who doesn’t fully understand our Sheikh’s politics and still has some former socialist angst fuelled by experiences with the darker side of Masonsic activity,began to feed me information of the type cited above and,together with what can be seen going on in the world not only in Iraq but also recently in Afghanistan and now in Azerbaijan,lent credence to another theory about American designs on huge oil deposits around the Caspian sea and a plan to get it out through a pipeline to the Indian ocean.
The more I got involved in these theories and arguing with those that say it is all invention and try to hold up the status quo as promulgated by the mass media,the more angry and frustrated I became and..what is worse..the more a feeling of outrage at injustice began to convert into a realisation of my own and others’ impotence …in the face of the unstoppable American war machine and colonisation by democratisation and incurrence of debt.
At the boiling point of all this bubbling stew of information and outrage I bumped into another follower of my Sheikh and mentioned to him that I had been getting somewhat worked up about American foreign policy as it affects the Muslims.
“Well you shouldn’t,” he replied “ the Sheikh says it is all part of the Divine Plan,and we shouldn’t argue with what Allah has decreed…and anyway ” he added, “ the Sheikh says they (the Americans) are going to go into ten countries..not necessarily militarily.. but they are going in to do,you know, what they do.”
Somehow that simple commentary deflated the balloon of anger and frustration and feelings of outrage and impotence that had been growing inside me.Once again I could return to the real work of remembering Allah and worshipping Him Almighty as much as possible and try to accept that even though so many things are happening in the ‘big bad world out there’ as well as in my own personal story,which I do not like .. they are mainly things which ..not only can I not change but,possibly probably or definitely have a deep and superior wisdom within a Divine Plan that was prophesied 1500 years ago ..when the prophet said that in the last times Islam would have seventy three different sects and only one of them would be the correct one…and when he said that Islam “ came as a stranger and would end as a stranger” ..and in another hadith (authenticated saying) said there would come a time when it would be better for the one on a horse to get down on two feet and for the one who was standing to sit down.
This is not a defeatist attitude but ,unfortunately,wisdom in accord with the times.
That is one of the reasons why one has a sufi sheikh so that he can apply real living Islamic wisdom in the appropriate way in the right place at the right time. Thank God for sheikh Nazim and a timely encounter with one of his followers.

Lost work again..go to Blog Ladder.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

How many more times? ..Must be the third post I've lost here in the last few days..Just put a title on and lost the lot in the edit process..Don't know if anyone else is having this trouble..but I'm getting the sneaking suspicion that the numbers are getting too big for Blogger or something because it is a) terribly slow again and b) three posts have got lost while editing them,two of which are due to not being saved as draft when I went to look for a URL to make a link.. (even though I clicked on "Save as Draft") very frustrating..anyone else experiencing problems?

I'm finding that the only way now is to make and keep all the posts in Word..it's so disappointing and debilitating that I suggest anyone interested abandon Sufistuff for a while and follow the discussion in Blog Ladder.com where I have a blog called ..Sex Power and Money .. and am called Grego ... the discussion is lively and the technology,so far,reliable.

Monday, May 23, 2005

From submission to action.(Imam Ali)

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

'I am making a connection which no one has made before me: Islam is submission, and submission is certainty, and certainty is the affirmation of the truth, and affirmation of the truth is acknowledgment, and acknowledgment is performance of what is obligatory, and performance of what is obligatory is appropriate action.' Imam Ali may Allah be well pleased with him

Guardian Unlimited | Guardian daily comment | Gateway of the heart

Sunday, May 22, 2005

Return to Wisdom.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

After trying to get to the bottom of what is really going on in the political world behind all the media hype I found myself exhausted and,not much the wiser..I was happy to come across the following from Sheikh Nazim posted on a blog.I have been humbled and reminded once again of what I have been attempting while really wasting time that could have been used much more usefully in another way.

May 04, 2005
Surpassing the mind's limitations.

Grandsheikh was telling me about Ka`bul Ahbar, the most learned man among the Jews living in Hijaz in the time of the Prophet (s). Because of his great learning, Ka`b was expecting the coming of a Prophet, the Last Prophet, whose appearance he had found foretold in the Scriptures.
Ka`b's knowledge was so extensive that he had reached to the 'Station of Gabriel', but not beyond. According to Grandsheikh, knowledge is divided into two parts: one part extends from the Earth to the Station of Gabriel (as). The Sons of Adam may learn this knowledge through their intellectual efforts. The other part extends upward from the Station of Gabriel. Gabriel is the Angel who represents intelligence—and intellectual knowledge reaches up to his station; however, after that station are oceans of strange and wonderful knowledge which are all beyond the boundaries of the mind and intellect. The mind is not capable of balancing those oceans of knowledge, and when confronted with them can only say, "No further can I go, I have reached my limit."
Technologically learned people are floundering and struggling unsuccessfully to arrive at a complete understanding of the creation through empirical knowledge—they want to be able to see everything in front of their two eyes and analyze it; they want to analyze everything by means of their five senses, and anything outside of the perception of their senses is rejected. Whoso says that knowledge is limited to what the five senses can observe and does not accept any other type of knowledge, he is a fool, for you can never limit knowledge at all.
In order to prove this point, it is enough to point out that everyday in the scientific fields they work in there is progress, and all the time they are progressing from one horizon of knowledge to the next. If one were to say, "This is the last horizon," he would be foolish, for when he arrives at that first horizon there will be yet another in front of him, and so on; in fact, endless horizons may be discovered—and so it is with knowledge; endless horizons, and the only limits are in our minds. If we can surpass those limits, we will find that whenever we are tired and cannot go on any further, there will appear another horizon - oceans, endless oceans. To reach the next ocean you must discard this mind, otherwise you will have been caught and trapped by it.
People can acquire much knowledge through study and practice, and they may attain high degrees, but as long as they are bound to the mind's limitations, they can advance no further. Ka`b was a person who advanced through his mind to the Station of Gabriel but couldn't go on from there. He knew the Prophet well but delayed his acceptance of Islam until the time of Omar (r); therefore. he delayed also in reaching that spiritual knowledge.
Grandsheikh was saying about the third caliph Othman (r), that he was of a very high degree among the Sahaba and was the most modest of the Prophet's companions. He performed so many services for the Prophet, and after the Prophet's lifetime he gathered all the verses and Surahs of the Holy Qur'an into book form In spite of this, Othman (r) didn't attain the spiritual ranks attained by Abu Bakr (r) and Ali (r) because he sometimes held firmly to his own desires instead of putting them completely in line with the Prophet's. This was also one reason for his martyrdom: misfortunes befell him as a result of his not being able to totally leave his own desires behind.
Man hasn't the capacity to carry all knowledge in his mind and body, and yet he asks for more and more: this is a sign for mankind that within them there exists something which is always asking without ever becoming satiated. This 'something' is above our physical bodies and minds, a power which controls them and without which neither of them could function. Therefore, beyond any doubt, our bodies and minds are under the control of an unknown, indescribable, 'supernatural' power. That power impels man to seek more and more knowledge, endlessly; but the mind cannot keep all these knowledge, and so it says, "I can't." But still man asks for more, because there is something above our minds controlling it, and that 'something' is our soul and the indescribable power behind it. This is the meaning of the verse which says that Allah Almighty created man for the purpose of knowing Him, for His Divine Knowledge.
Every knowledge which has appeared points to the Creator and describes His attributes, but still we are asking to know who our Creator is and what His attributes are, as our souls are always thirsty to know their Lord and to approach Hun. The more we know our Lord, the more we are going to love Him, and the more we love Him, the more we will approach Him and taste of boundless bliss.
If we put a spoon of sugar in this glass of water. it will dissolve; and in like manner up to four or five spoonfuls will dissolve, but more than that it will be unable to absorb, and the sugar will fall to the bottom of the glass. Likewise, our minds have a limited capacity for absorbing knowledge—they reach their maximum, beyond which they cannot go. Our limited minds are as incapable of absorbing boundless Divine Knowledge as that little glass of water would be of absorbing all the sugar in the world. Our souls, however, have unlimited capacity for knowledge and will ever be thirsting for more. As long as the soul is imprisoned by the senses of the physical body, our mind will hold it down. The mind is the guardian over the soul and keeps it passive, inactive. The situation will remain so until you transcend the boundaries of the mind and open yourself up for the soul's activity—endless activity; but people are closed, and only the souls of Prophets and Saints are really opened up—all others are sleeping, passive, imprisoned.
How and why do our souls remain passive? You must pay close attention to this point. When we are putting the desires of our physical bodies over and above the desires of our Lord and His Prophet, there can be no activity for our souls. The reason for the passivity of the soul is that we follow the dictates of our minds, which are, in turn, striving only to please the physical body. If you are able to reject the base dictates of your mind and follow the desires of the Prophet, then soul-activity will appear little by little.
Among the Sahaba, the most active soul was the soul of Abu Bakr (r) because he never put his desires in the first place; after him came Sayyidina Ali (r) who, in like manner, attained strong soul-activity. It is incumbent upon us (Fard) to do as much as we possibly can of our Lord's desires, and it is a meritorious action (Sunna) to do as much as we can of the Prophet's desires; those who have done their utmost to fulfill this Fard and Sunna have attained the light of sainthood. Of all the souls, the brightest is that of Sayyidina Muhammad (s), after his the souls of the other Prophets, and after them, the soul of Abu Bakr As-Siddiq (r).
Therefore, the Tariqat-an-Naqshbandiyya, (as it is passed down through Abu Bakr As-Siddiq (r)), activates the souls of the murids to whatever extent the murid can bring his desires to accord with the desires of his Sheikh. So many murids have high spiritual aspiration (Himma) and they sat: "Oh my Sheikh, I am asking for himma in order that my soul be activated." The Sheikh replies: "Oh my son, I am asking service from you (Khidma). What is this service? You must be like me; when you are like me, my spiritual powers may come to you, but if we are not of the same kind of metal, the current can't pass through you: I am copper, you must not remain stone."
Once Grandsheikh told me that his Sheikh, Sheikh Sharafuddin, said to him: "Oh Abdullah Efendi, look at me and tell me what you see." Grandsheikh looked and said: "Oh my Sheikh, when I look at you, I see myself." Then Sheikh Sharafuddin said: "Now look at yourself.;' He looked at himself and saw Sheikh Sharafuddin—there was no opposition in him to prevent this from happening. Allah Almighty asked the Prophet to be with Him, and the Prophet asked the Sahaba to be with him; to be 'with him' meant for them to be as he wished for them to be. The Sheikh, also, is asking murids to be 'with him'.
from the book Ocean Mercy Hidden Treasures
Posted by kelik at 18:47 in Mercy Oceans Link Comments (0)

From my diary.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

05.40.a.m. Orgiva.

What is there left to say really? I do not exist … I will never know the whole Truth..certainly not through my mind..that’s not the way to see it … only You exist..(we’re in private now .. only You and your angels watching and listening ..only the spiritual world knowing what is happening/going on.)
Looks as though internet,and most of what I can find out about what is happening with Bush and his cronies is not reliable or definitive …
Looks as though I’m too tired to keep on trying to ‘be’ anybody ..or anything through even talking or thinking …
I’m hurting and I don’t understand..
All that matters is that my faith in You becomes real and strong …
I want and need to follow one path ..
I want and need to believe in one God ..
I must try to stick with Islam no matter how hard,and not muddle Brahman and an Impersonal Absolute into this..except to say that,that also may be part of belief in You..but at the level of essence perhaps..which is not something we can talk about..only know of..or believe in or..”live”! insha’llah.
What’s left?..Worship..and that’s the hard part .. that’s where I have to let go of wants and ego and being anybody or anything ... and that is the real work.

Saturday, May 21, 2005

Conclusions.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

Well,after spewing back the after effects of ten days swashing about on and in the net, over at Blog Ladder. I think we can say the following;
1): That there is something called Wahabism that was,aided and abetted by the British,instigated by Ibn al Wahab.
2):That this doctrine was taken up and championed by the Saudi regime and spread throughout the Islamic world using the power of oil money.
3): That oil money became intimately connected with the aims and interests of the American government.
4): That while the false,distorted and anti Islamic teachings of Whahabism were destroying Islam from the inside they could be used to manipulate the Muslims and instigate acts of terrorism which could then be used to retaliate against and destroy Islam from the outside.
5): That both the added power of control of oil and the destruction of any real Islamic coherence aids and abets the attempt to take power and control over the whole world by ... on the face of it ,America,but perhaps in reality,some far more sinister and non-geographically located group.

It is well known that there are many dubious stories about Mr Bush and his family including known activity in WWII selling arms to the Nazis and links to Saudi Arabia and the Bin Laden family..It is well known that Mr Bush is a mason as is Mr Blair and Mr Aznar in Spain...the whole world has been witness to the cozy friendships between the three and especialy the first two,and seen the results of that, wether their respective countries supported such action or not.
It is also fairly obvious that these figureheads on their own have neither the power,nor the vision nor the intelligence to organise the emerging picture of a world-wide control and power bid which we see being put in place everywhere more and more blatantly.This indicates a 'hidden hand' and,as always it is no use fighting the symptoms of a disease..one must find the true cause.
Perhaps there is just the coincidence of several interested parties..Masons,Zionists,Bankers,Arms/oil/diamond dealers,Mafia,Catholic Church? Who can say?
Perhaps there really is one main organising force ..Illuminati?..whatever..
All that remains at the moment are questions,perplexity,confusion..frustration..sometimes near despair at more examples of 'man's inhumanity to man'.

If one gets side-tracked into the details and proving the underhand and illusory nature of things that happened recently or years ago..much energy can be wasted and perhaps,few people 'educated' or convinced..If one gets involved in trying to fight directly the chances are great of seriously losing the plot and getting involved in something at least misguided if not completely off the wall and even dangerous to oneself and others.
It has been clearly prophesied that in the last times Islam would be split into seventy three groups..and that only one of them would be the correct one.(Ahle sunna wa jamat?..Naqshbandi tariqat? the people of heart? ..again,who knows?)
Islam is in shreds and tatters..there is no central organisation,no central clear teaching..little adherence to the real sunna.One piece of clear shariat as taught by Sheikh Nazim al Haqqani,is that there is no valid jihad without One Leader for all the Muslims. This makes all these localised so-called jihads,invalid or illegal by shariat since the demise of the last Ottoman sultan after the First World War.
It is also a rule in Islam that fire is only to be used by humans for heating and cooking,that killing by fire is haram (strictly forbidden)and is reserved only for Allah Himself,which,in reality makes all fire arms illegal for Muslims to use.
The only hope held out to real understanding Muslims who accept those shariat rulings,is the return of the Khalifate..which looks highly unlikely in any acceptable form,not to say impossible...or... the coming of Al Mahdi..with his spiritual power joined with the return of Jesus.
There is also a well known hadith which states that, a time would come when it would be better for the one on a horse to get down on two feet and for the one standing to sit down.
At the end of the day it looks very much as if nearly all the signs are in place not only to prove that we are in those 'last times' right now..and that there is an inevitable Nuclear Third World War just around the corner.Given these factors it would seem that the only reasonable thing to do for sincere thinking Muslims is..watch and wait.Watch the signs and wait for Mahdi..Maintain faith and as much worship as possible knowing that all of this is part of the Divine Plan..that,much as we dislike it there is nothing to else to do for now but maintain faith and worship as much possible because the punishment for mankind this time will come from man himself and will be a great cleaning in the form of fire as the last great cleaning was from God by water (the Flood).
Apart from this it is wise to get away from large cities..best to live in the countryside..very important to have a supply of water and get used to keeping a refreshed stock of food for one year to get through a war that will probably last around five months and will eventually destroy all electrical supplies and fuels for transportation.Apart from this..and the spiritual protection to be had from spiritual practices people and buildings..when even this becomes untenable,the best thing to do is try to get to live in Shams..the area surrounding Damascus..as this is the only physically safe place to be when it all kicks off.

Imminent return.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

I've had my little 'huff and puff', so now maybe I'll get back to writing something in here.Tried this morning but everything was blocked and went wrong..It's late now so..maybe tomorrow insha'llah? Anyway some conclusions have been reached and some lessons have been learned.

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Time for a pause.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

I need a pause,and the pause is this. ...When I step off the mad merry-go-round of other peoples blogs,thoughts,lives,experiences...when I walk away from the little glowing screen with it's links to sites and articles with links to more articles and sites...en fin..when I stop 'surfing'! ..then ..(now-almost).. I'm on my own .. with God ... with Allah and my conscience!
I will also say this..I don't see a lot of point in keep writing this stuff in here if no-one ever writes a comment.If there's no feed back I'm not sure who I'm writing to..I know that I get 'hits' (just look at the counter)..though I'm not sure if everybody hangs around long enough to read what I write.My stats counter should tell me ..and it probably does .. but I find it a bit confusing..some people look like they stayed up to eight hours! others 0 seconds..O.K. I'm sure one can eventually understand all the little columns and figures in there..but,the point is,I WANT FEED-BACK!.. If not..I'll just stay over with my friends on Blog Ladder and just stick a few links to other articles or,occasionally copy and paste something which I consider of some interest or relevance over here.
It's a kind of threat,albeit a rather apathetic one,from which I don't expect too much of a reaction..but there you are...
Friendly homely ramblings and comments to comments can be found at www.blogladder.com (which is also linked in the sidebar under blogrolling)and meanwhile you could take a peek at "The Larry Lyons Experience." ..a post from which/whom inspired me enough to join Blog Ladder. (also in Blogrolling in the sidebar)
I'm interested in the discussions and implications of Oneness (a ..or perhaps the most important quality/name of Allah ..well maybe after after Rahman/Rahim otherwise we'd all be lost!)..even if no-one else appears to be (judging by the lack of comments here ..or visits to my 'Oneness' blog.)
I'm intensely interested in Advaita Vedanta and it's similarities with Sufism and it's methodology (especially for very cerebral people like me) ..and it's,perhaps inherent weaknesses as a method or path for more than a small group,because of the lack of a 'Shariat' to protect it and it's followers..even if no-one else is..(judging by the lack of response every time I mention such things.)Perhaps I am not amusing or lively enough..perhaps surfers and bloggers are an apathetic,lazy bunch who can't be bothered to write in a comments box ..perhaps sufis looking for sufi stuff want pure Islamic sufism..Perhaps it's just God's way,or the universe's way,of telling me to stop surfing..stop writing in blogs ( a substitue for talking, now that I spend all my time on my own, so,logically,I've stopped that..)and just be alone with Allah ... and my conscience.

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Martin Lings Just Passed away.Rahma t Allah alayhi.

alt.muslim - your muslim news community
(See also "From Clay." in blogroll).

How to Make Dua.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.
There's some good advice about making dua from Ha Mim Keller on Muslim Nation blog..(see Blogroll in sidebar).

Monday, May 16, 2005

Conquering the ego in California.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

Here's a reference for a great article explaining about the 'greater jihad' in western terms and terminology.

Blogging feed-back.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

Blogging can become a stagnant thing if there is no feed-back.I find that the interaction with other bloggers is what stimulates lively discussion.Today I simply include an example of what can happen over at "Blog ladder."


Recognition of Unity does not imply non-action.


I am sure Debbe won't mind if I simply copy and paste this comment which I made in reply to her last post.It sparked off the essence of what has been concerning me for many years now.A concern which has become intensified in the last few years not only at a personal level,but a global one as well.

Your dad and his influence again.Do tell us more..if and when you feel inspired.The line of thought is forming in my mind.."Tradition means focus."You may know something about Rene Guenon and the 'Traditionalists'?..The general point is,that,while recognising the unity of all religions at their highest point as revealed by the experience of all mystics/avatars from all traditions..there is a high risk of dispersion or lack of effectiveness if one does not take up one of those religions.In other words,although we may see that all paths ultimately reach the same goal,we cannot therefore say that that knowledge alone is enough.It is necessary to take one of those paths in order to reach the goal as we can neither take all of them..nor will we get far if we remain satisfied with taking none and just observing from afar.Your father's generation of Christians in America and my grandfather's in England,were still vibrant with the conviction of their faith.Our generation has been opened up to spiritual influences from all around the globe and thinking and sensitive people often find it hard to remain in any one when ,at the dualistic daily practice level, this often implies 'defense of a position'..or even seems to imply the rejection of someone else's. This can make it a hard task to find a suitable path..but time is short as indicated in the passage you 'chanced' upon.Maybe it's time to look at ,through what means,can one make a contribution in thought word or deed? However this leads on to the essential question of one's purpose in life and that is another deeper and harder question... but remember..time is running out!

Sunday, May 15, 2005

Sufism and psychology.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

Here's an interesting take on sufism as it becomes part of modern parlance by way of transpersonal psychology.

Aaahh! Rumi.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

Like an Embryo
Little by little, wean yourself.
This is the gist of what I have to say.
From an embryo, whose nourishment comes in the blood,
move to an infant drinking milk,
to a child on solid food,
to a searcher after wisdom,
to a hunter of more invisible game.
Think how it is to have a conversation with an embryo.
You might say, “The world outside is vast and intricate.
There are wheat fields and mountain passes, and orchards in bloom.
At night there are millions of galaxies,
and in sunlight the beauty of friends dancing at a wedding.”
You ask the embryo why he, or she, stays cooped up in the dark with eyes closed.
Listen to the answer.
There is no “other world.”I only know what I’ve experienced.
You must be hallucinating.
Jelaluddin Rumi

Saturday, May 14, 2005

Some real sufi stuff.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

Here's that link to some real sufi stuff. (Look at chapter XIII if it seems too long.)

Anti-terrorist search engine.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

Found this on Slashdot today .. does this mean because I have mentioned 911 and Sheikh Nazim and Light of Eminence and Islam and sufism and Media Zone as well as George Bush,that we are all going to be rounded up as terrorists?
Anyway for a long time now I had assumed that some little minion in the Fed would be watching my site just because of words like Sufism and Islam and Uthman .. Is it really a coincidence that the first time I ever put anything remotely political on my blog I got an immediate comment in reply(rarely if never happened before) which was anonymous even though the writer had some very strong views..?
I found it interesting that not so long ago,our little Naqshbandi group here in Spain (not more than fifty people including children) got a message of congratulations on the Eid of Ramadan from George Bush ..Public relations exercise or just saying "We're watching you."?
Anyway I'm going to put some real 'sufi stuff ' on here today ..(Ghazzali's "Alchemy of Happiness." if I can find the link.) and just give all this dark jive a rest for a while.

"Confessions of a British spy."

Here's the link to that diary I was looking for.It helps to get the idea of what I am talking about.
Hempher.

Thursday, May 12, 2005

Sufis,Wahabis,Princes and policemen.

This gives an idea of what has happened and what can still happen around sufism in Saudi Arabia ,but it also includes a ray of hope About.com: http://www.macleans.ca/topstories/world/article.jsp?content=20050307_101334_101334 .

Sufi stuff over at About.com .

Found this through "Bloogz" search engine Sufism in Saudi Arabia, Neopagan
Abuse Rituals, Dr. Seuss and Kabbalah .. I leave it here for the link to articles on sufism .. but it's really the one above which inspired me to 'Blog this' ... inspired by a piece on Isan's site 'Light of Eminence' where the whole thing seems to be causing her some heart wrenching.

Love of Dunya /Love of Allah.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

Now it's time to leave all that nonsense behind and get on with the 'Real' business..Thanks to az of yahoo group "Maulana40" for the following ...

Maulana Sheikh Nazim delivered the following talk in response to the question 'What is the best way to draw closer to God?'
It is your soul's 'love'. Your heart is like a container. If you use that container, filling it with water, you cannot put milk in that same container. If it is full of milk, you may not put oil in it. If it is filled with oil, you cannot put in it tea. The container can only be filled with one of these.
One of the bad characteristics of our physical material body is that we have an inherent love for this life and everything on earth. Mostly people are only interested in the things provided to them in this physical world. People have fully engrossed themselves in living this life to its fullest. Their love of this life has completely filled their hearts and there's no room left for the love of God. Even though they are saying 'God is love', they are liars. God is not love, and love is not God. However, there is love for God that can make you approach to His Divine Presence.
If you start cleaning your heart from the temporal love of this life, permanent love of God will enter your heart. That permanent love will increase your spiritual power and enable you to reach to Divine Presence. If you are able to do this, you will find true and lasting benefit.

Mischievously (because I am Uthman .. as Sheikh would say) ..I'll just add that,being English ("English like goats, Germans like sheep." Sheikh said.) I can tell you that one may also put tea mixed with a little milk and sugar and it's delicious! Too much milk or sugar however,and it's ruined..and (for me) none at all and yeuch! .. Each according to his own..though I'm sure we all understand the principle of what Sheikh is saying..
Maybe Sheikh..(who has reached the goal and whose job in life is to get us there too) would no doubt say that we will never reach the goal if we loiter on the way.Others may say that they believe the way..(the milk,the sugar,the tea,) is also Allah ..but I suspect that they would be just trying to be clever..like those who try to tell others of the delights of honey without actually having tasted it themselves.

Wednesday, May 11, 2005


Connection! Posted by Hello

World's first democratic dictator. Posted by Hello

Bush's Democratic Dictatorship.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

While Sheikh Nazim strongly dislikes democracy and calls it" 'pocracy "..still one can't help feeling that the other side of the coin (when one all-too-human being gets a chance to run the show without much mediation or accountability) has serious drawbacks too.


Brought to you by FREE PRESS, on the web at www.freepress.net
Bush's war on the press
From The Nation, April 21, 2005 By Eric Alterman.
Journalists, George Bernard Shaw once said, “are unable, seemingly, to discriminate between a bicycle accident and the collapse of civilization.” How odd, given the profession’s un-equaled reputation for narcissism, that Shaw’s observation holds true even when the collapsing “civilization” is their own.Make no mistake: The Bush Administration and its ideological allies are employing every means available to undermine journalists’ ability to exercise their First Amendment function to hold power accountable. In fact, the Administration recognizes no such constitutional role for the press. White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card has insisted that the media “don’t represent the public any more than other people do…. I don’t believe you have a check-and-balance function.”Bush himself, on more than one occasion, has told reporters he does not read their work and prefers to live inside the information bubble blown by his loyal minions. Vice President Cheney feels free to kick the New York Times off his press plane, and John Ashcroft can refuse to speak with any print reporters during his Patriot-Act-a-palooza publicity tour, just to compliant local TV. As an unnamed Bush official told reporter Ron Suskind, “We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality—judiciously, as you will—we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.” For those who didn’t like it, another Bush adviser explained, “Let me clue you in. We don’t care. You see, you’re outnumbered two to one by folks in the big, wide middle of America, busy working people who don’t read the New York Times or Washington Post or the LA Times.”

The bold type is mine. A more readable complete version may be found here.

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Information or support?

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

I have had it pointed out on the forum,that redmoonrising supports Al Qaeda..they have asked me to take the URLS off their site..which is reasonable .. however by putting them on my site to read and be questioned,I don't think I am supporting them..I trust that my readers are secure enough mentally and emotionally to be able to take a look and then make cool critical judgement.
Comments please,if you are interested..(otherwise it gets very boring writing this stuff in here.)

Monday, May 09, 2005


911 Posted by Hello

More on Islam and Anglo American shenanigans.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

I've been looking for a site which I once came across,through the New Ottomans,maybe a branch of the Haqqani Naqshbandis in London(?) It was the diary of a British Agent from way back in about 1780 something ..who was first in Turkey where his tenacity for the project of infiltrating Islam to destroy it from the inside,became seriously wobbled when he got to know the Muslims and realised their beautiful sincerity..and then in Iraq/Iran(?) where he found the perfect weak willed, vain creature who he trained in readiness for installing to help bring down traditional Islam and sufi influence in the cradle of Islam,Mecca and Medina and replace it with the awful Ibn Saud Wahabi version we see extended all over the world today and which has been used so skilfully by the Americans and British to destroy Islam from within.If anyone knows the site I'm talking about I'd be grateful for the URL.
However on my roaming investigations on the net,I did come up with this site..which is a God-send of good historical background information about what is going on in the so-called Islamic world today.
http://www.redmoonrising.com/Ikhwan/BritIslam.htm ... and also this which gives some good concrete facts and information to throw real suspicion on the whole 911 business,without being mixed up with stuff like David Ike and his potty stuff.
http://www.redmoonrising.com/Ikhwan/Clash.htm

See what you think..and leave a comment (if you feel moved).

Sufism and politics.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

The debate on the forum is still going on.It is interesting how,when the internet gets interactive,it helps one to marshall one's thoughts instead of just drivelling on with self absorbed,and perhaps complacent,mental activity.

I thought the best thing to do might be just include what I wrote back to them.One of which is a little bio-pic which helped me to sum up what I'm trying to do sometimes..and funnily enough (nudge-nudge-wink-wink surprise surprise) ..was just what I had been doing some EFT for shortly before writing it.

I simply present them in their entirety for perusal and maybe,comment.

Here's the first and most inoccuous one;

Did you know there's a lawyer representing four hundred families of those who died in the towers who has a lot of concrete information about how high ups in the administration were not only informed about the incident but seems like they had a hand in it. There are sites that have strangely disappeared and experts who have suddenly completely changed their minds after showing that it was virtually impossible to make those explosions and create enough temperature to melt the steel girders with airplane fuel and that they were more in accord with the placement of explosives in strategic places in the buildings. Many things on the Pentagon plane don't add up either .. The lawyer says he was at school with these high ups and even in those days they were talking about how it would be a great tool of power over the American people if they could find some way to really frighten them. Of course most of this has been hushed up but,if you don't think he's too much of a crank,David Ike has some interesting takes on the reaction and time lag when the President was informed while at that kids school reading class.Did he know beforehand? Just wondering if all is as it seems in Blunderland.

Then came this ;


I hate to do this in one way,because it is just perhaps"stirring the pooh" but,everyone's so complacently sure that it was Muslim terrorists that did it,they've forgetten to investigate the facts.Also..it is very obvious that,despite diplomatic publicity propaganda there is a concerted effort by the U.S. to destroy the good image of Islam,especially in the U.S. itself..and..if this was a put up job..it was highly successful. here's an interesting site.

http://www.serendipity.li/wot/mslp_i.htm or ... http://www.serendipity.li/

Followed by this;


I thought that post might put the cat amongst the pidgeons a bit.I'm not convinced on way or the other..I'll just say that I have been trying (through my sufi connections) to keep an Islamic faith for over twenty years now...and..even though that is going into a softer focus for me now..at the time I was just floored by the repeated images on the telly of the planes and the towers..I was listening to B.B.C. World service here in a little country village in Andalucia when it happened and just ran to the box to see the second one happening live. It seriously wobbled my faith back then and I just dismissed the comments of one of the Spanish Muslims down here "I bet they did it themselves." .. Afterwards I started to investigate a bit about Bush and he does have some seriously dubious links to the Bin Laden family which you probably all know about (?) .. I mean for instance that Bin Laden's own brother had a fifty per cent share in one of Bush's companies..now that set me thinking.. Yeah Rufes I know what you mean about David Ike..there's some nutty stuff around reptilians and all that ..It's more a friend of mine who got me looking at his site on the net..I don't go there much ..but the way Bush just didn't react when given the news in front of a class of kids reading,looked really wierd and suspicious and more than just Presidential cool.I mean ..no reaction at all?! Those sites I put on I just came across by accident..actually I was looking for pics of 'action' on Google images for something I was doing on one of my blogs and just saw a picture of the towers taken from above and clicked on it and then saw the site with all the technical info..Then while looking for that to pop on the forum, I saw the site it came from so I put that on as well.. I haven't actually even read stuff from that site,I thought I'd just include it so people could make up their own minds. I just feel it's like the Lady Di thing..there's always the official version and then..what was really happening at government level.. which is always a lot more sinister because we never know the whole truth. People like David Ike come across as potty but at least they open your head to other possibilities than the comfortable official version where we can all get maudlin and emotional and forget to look a bit deeper. Of course having been 'inside' the muslim world a bit I started to see things from a different angle and realised that there has been a concerted effort to destroy Islam from the inside going on for quite a long time. I won't go into it all right now..but the Brits started it and they put a time scale of one hundred years to accomplish their task..The carving up of the middle east with the Balfour Declaration was the biggest blow perhaps..and the removal of the Ottoman Sultan which broke up the last Muslim Empire. Since then the Muslims have had no cohesive force due to no single leader... and that layed them open to all the infiltration and division we see amongst them now. Even the Catholics have got the Pope and we've seen recently how strong it makes them keeping respect for one leader...

Followed by this;


Quick reply is what's summed up in the words in italics in my post. "from the inside" Before I get into explaining about the whole "Wahabi" Muslim thing,let's just say that Islam has been infiltrated since the late 17 hundreds ,first by the British who managed to create the Wahabi form of Islam which took power with the Saudi family and government,and effectively destroyed Islamic spirituality,and then by the Americans (most likely in league with the British through Masons and others having material and sometimes religious interests in common). It is not only possible,but likely and in some cases traceable and provable that the C.I.A. have managed to teach the Muslims how to practice terrorism which serves the Americans to react and defame and destroy Islam.. a terrorism which the unsuspecting and duped Muslims then proudly claim as acts of their own against the capitalist monster.. You may remember ,or have read somewhere that Bin Laden actually worked for and was trained by the C.I.A.? .. Now perhaps you see what I'm driving at (despite some people who think that anyone who doesn't agree with them has no analytical capacity,and others who want to share maudlin emotions..which is part of the mass media effectiveness through repeated images and messages..and think one is hard hearted or a fanatic when one does not immediately join in.) I will look for the URL of the site that has the whole of the diary of one of the first British agents who had to infiltrate Islam first via Turkey and then through the shias in what is now Iraq. The poor guy realised how sweet and good these people were,having lived with and learned from them..but then returned to his "stiff upper lip" attitude and carried on for "King and country" to successfully dominate a weak minded candidate who was then installed to help iradicate all true spirituality and sufi influence in Saudi and replace it with the materialistic and cement-headed version of Islam which now has extended from Saudi to the whole Islamic world.It is the "official" Islam of most mosques funded by Saudi money (aided and abetted where necessary by the the American dollar) and only exposed in any way for what it really is by sufi teachings such as that of Sheikh Nazim al Haqqani of the Naqshbandi tariqat. That'll do for now..I'll look for some links.

And finally,this;

Sorry Pandora..went straight to page 2 and didn't see your question at first. I'm an Englishman from English parents..my mum's side goes back through to Welsh and my dad's in a direct line to the Irish. My dad's family were Anglican vicars for five generations but my dad left the Church when he found too much hypocricy within it and too many personal conflicts with it. When I wanted to get near it he put me off and said I must find my own way. I was intensely interested in something which now generally gets called non-duality..as I had some experiences of my own with this. After about ten years of reading everything I could get my hands on,while living down in Brighton which had a good selection of second hand and new books around my favourite subjects of spirituality,the occult,mysticism etc I decided Sufism was the best and most inclusive of the lot and decided to look for it. About that time I took a holiday in Spain for a couple of weeks and ended up staying for six months,in which time I found a sufi group in Granada (I was expecting to have to go to Turkey to find them). From them I learned that true sufism only exists within in Islam and became Muslim with them at about thirty years old and moved down here to live. It took me a couple of years to discover some funny business with them,but,undeterred I prayed and looked and found my present sufi Sheikh via a book in Charing Cross Road and a meeting in Googe Street Mosque,he's from Turkish Cyprus,and speaks enough English to have come to London every Ramadan for over twenty years to teach an international gathering. That was at Christmas 1984 and, as I said, I have been trying with more and less success to follow him ever since. There are lots of difficulties not least of all with language and culture but I have learned much from him. Now I hope I can be a bit of a bridge from inside that world to the outside where there is so much dis-information and confusion about true Islam.Hence the name ... Sufibridge. I hope that answers your question and maybe explains why I say,I'm not convinced one way or the other.I'm sure there's much more to the twin towers and a host of other things,than meets the eye,but I'm not a religious fanatic.

I think the best thing to do now would be put a link in the side bar..and anyone who's interested can follow the discussion on the forum.(see side bar).

Saturday, May 07, 2005

Everyone has the right ... to hold opinions without interference

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

Everyone has the right ... to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. — Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19

I'm not normally a man given to politics..I never thought it would solve anything..In Islam really , in theory at least,one has the perfect system because there really is no seperation between "church and state".. Perhaps one could say it is a theocracy.(?) ..Anyway..be that as it may .. I've joined a forum of people talking about things mainly from an English point of view...and some how they've got me going on the old Twin Towers and terrorism thing.
Interestingly,not long ago I was playing around with images on this blog(having just discovered the delights of Picasa and Hello) and I was doing some stuff around the Action/Philosophy debate...and peppering it liberally with images.
By "chance",while looking through 'action' pics, I came across this and today this after looking at a picture of the towers.

Friday, May 06, 2005

Points of view in a dualistic world.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

Given the position I find myself moving towards,I thought this was an interesting quote from Jung, which I have lifted from Jenny's blog "State of Mind." on Blogladder.

"Without prejudice to my own subjective convictions I should like to raise the question: Is it not thinkable that when one refrains from setting oneself up as arbiter mundi and, deliberately renouncing all subjectivism, cherishes on the contrary the belief, for instance, that God has expressed himself in many languages and appeared in divers forms and that all these statements are true - is it not thinkable, I say, that this too is a decision?"

Yep ... sure is! (tremble).

Just a moment. Posted by Hello

Thursday, May 05, 2005

Sufism was a reality without a name,now it may be becoming a name without a reality.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

Here are those "Ten Sufi Thoughts." from Sufi Order International .. I put them here for perusal and anyone may comment that feels moved to do so..Especially in the light of the contradictions that can be caused between the more traditional Islamic Sufism and this sort of more flexible/open sufism .. a good attempt to get to the spirit of the original that we see so beautifully displayed in such writers as Jalalu'din Rumi or even Ibn Arabi..
Ghazzali is the 'safe' one recommended by traditionalists as he always emphasised the necessity to remain strictly within the Islamic Shariat while recognising..(having experienced it for himself) the reality of mystical experience and "Direct Knowing".
1) There is one God, the Eternal, the Only Being; none else exists save God.2) There is one Master, the Guiding Spirit of all souls, who constantly leads all followers towards the light.3) There is one Holy Book, the sacred manuscript of nature, which truly enlightens all readers.4) There is one Religion, the unswerving progress in the right direction towards the ideal, which fulfils the life's purpose of every soul.5) There is one Law, the law of Reciprocity, which can be observed by a selfless conscience together with a sense of awakened justice.6) There is one human Brotherhood, the Brotherhood and Sisterhood which unites the children of earth indiscriminately in the Fatherhood of God.7) There is one Moral Principle, the love which springs forth from self-denial, and blooms in deeds of beneficence.8) There is one Object of Praise, the beauty which uplifts the heart of its worshipper through all aspects from the seen to the unseen.9) There is one Truth, the true knowledge of our being within and without which is the essence of all wisdom.10) There is one Path, the annihilation of the false ego in the real, which raises the mortal to immortality and in which resides all perfection.

I especially like number ten as I think it is undeniably true in all religions,and out of them!

I think Sean,whose blog I took this version from,expresses himself very well in his blog so I have included a link for him in the side bar.(His blog is called ... Sufi Stuff .. ) ... connecshuns connecshuns ..

Wednesday, May 04, 2005

The Traceless Warrior

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

Al Haq. The Truth or The Real.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

Just say this before I trot off somewhere else.

" Under whatever name and form one may worship the Absolute Reality, it is only a means for realizing It without name and form. That alone is true realization, wherein one knows oneself in relation to that Reality, attains peace and realizes one's identity with it."

Monday, May 02, 2005

Light of Eminence & Sufism

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.

She's done it again ! .....

" We shall see this more clearly if we consider what are the causes which excite love.The first cause is this, that man loves himself and the perfection of his own nature. This leads him directly to the love of God,..."

It's Al Ghazzali and it's from The Alchemy of Happiness .. and it's from Ihsan's site. That's a sufi blog .. mine's so full of personal crap ... I think I'll just slink into another more private corner of the net and let her do it...
Look at Ihsan's site not mine "Light of Eminence and sufism." ..Yep! that's it.

As I write this the thunder starts .. the rain starts to pour down .. the lightning cracks .. yes ..it's a real tropical downpour ..!
(Is it a sign?) .. I'm leaving for my other site now.

Sheikh Efendi's Words from Ihsan.

Bismi'llah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...for the sake of Prophet Muhammad saws and Sheikh Nazim may Allah protect his secret.
05.30 in the morning.There are no stars outside.The night is warm.Those foolish dogs down the road are barking hysterically at each other.Now they've stopped.Now they start again.I have experimented in the past with trying to kind of put my mind/feelings with them and project calmness.Funnily enough it often seems to work.
Here's a lovely little piece from Ihsan's site from Sheikh Efendi.

Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Adil al-HaqqaniEars Of The Heart

Knowledge comes in two ways. One is by listening from outside and using that in directing oneself on a way. But some knowledge comes from the heart, and this is more powerful in pushing one towards his target. In other words, if a command comes from outside, the ego doesn’t take care to keep it, but when it comes from yourself, it has more effect. The ego never likes to be commanded, but if it is coming from the heart, you see it as honorable.You may listen to so many lessons, but really you are waiting for that command to come from yourself. Correct and divine guidance come with the second way.

It kind of opens a whole can of worms that have been writhing inside me for some time now.I don't think Sufistuff is the place to discuss it.

Sunday, May 01, 2005

SOI : Reference Library : Ten Sufi Thoughts