Alhamdulillah we had a resonating Zikr last night and it was so nice to see old faces attending and a few new ones!
Mashallah to brother Yunus who saw Sheikh Nazim's video online about inviting people to Zikr in the London area and came down from Oxford to attend - hope you got your coach back safely. Thank you Dawud for making the trip across town again.
Zafar and Nasir! you must come more often Inshallah (also Bekir - can someone bring some yoghurt next week?) as we miss your holy presences!
Jazakhallah khayr to aunties and Yamin for bringing food - what happened to Rahil bhai and auntie?
As always jazakhallah to brother Nadeem and Naheed coming from Slough to lead the Zikr.
A few people were away this week due to travelling so inshallah numbers will beup again next week. Let's see Inshallah if we can get them as many as last week (almost 40!).
Salaams & Juma Mubarek to all
'Manwithcarpets'
Friday, 27 June 2008
Zikr - Sufi Meditation Night - 26 June 2008
Thursday, 19 June 2008
Sufi Zikr Maida Vale, London: Tonight - 19.6.08
A Special present to all attending...a picture of Sheikh Sidi Muhammad ibn Sulayman al-Jazuli al-Simlali's, author of the Dalal Al-Khayrat, Room of 14 years Seclusion..
Mashallah because of Sheikh Jouzuli's blessings, Baji Shenaz's and Brother Aslam's we had nearly 40 people attend the Zikr this evening. Jazakhallah again to Brother Rahil and Auntie for the food.
May Allah Almighty bless you all!
'Manwithcarpets'
Saturday, 14 June 2008
Sheikh Nazim sends Special Message to People of London - Part 2
Sheikh Nazim Al-Haqqani, head of the Naqshbandi Sufi Order, sends a special message to invite people of London to Spirituality and weekly Sufi Meditation (Zikr) held in Maida Vale, London UK. This is the second part in audio only.
'Manwithcarpets'
Friday, 13 June 2008
Sheikh Nazim sends Special Message to People of London
Sheikh Nazim Al-Haqqani, head of the Naqshbandi Sufi Order, sends a special message to invite people of London to Spirituality and weekly Sufi Meditation (Zikr) held in Maida Vale, London UK.
This message was recorded in Lefke, Cyprus on 11 June 2008.
The message was slightly cut (ran out of memory!) but we'll add an audio file in the next post to include the remaining recording.
We'll be posting pictures of Sheikh Nazim's dergah on the next couple of posts so watch out for those.
'Manwithcarpets'
Sunday, 8 June 2008
Sufi Zikr - Maida Vale, London 5 June 2008 (2nd Nasheed)
Salaams All
Here is the second Nasheed brother Nadeem recited on Thursday.
See you all Thursday Inshallah
'Manwithcarpets'
Friday, 6 June 2008
Friday Khutbah - Sheikh Nazim Dergah London -6 June 2008
Juma Mubarek
Juma Khutbah delivered by Sheikh Abdul Hamid at Sheikh Nazim's Dergah in London (St.Anne's Rd, London N15).
Sheikh Abdul Hamid is a mureed of Sheikh Nazim Adil Al-Haqqani - Head of the Naqshbandi Tariqah.
'Manwithcarpets'
Sufi Zikr - Maida Vale, London 5 June 2008
We were all delayed for Thursday Zikr but Jazakhalla for making the extra efforts and apologies for not being able to collect Sister Sidra' mother so please forgive us.
We were very happy to see and welcome back our hosts Baji Shenaz & Uncle Aslam after so long. Mashallah they brought a Sheikh Nazim's presence strongly and increased blessings felt by many.
But the finale after Zikr -and lovely food (Jazakhallah to Rahil, Auntie Farida and family) - was of course Brother Rahil's birthday (Happy Birthday again!) and his 2 cakes! Brother Yamin from 'Paul' generously provided the brown cake (it really was just as nice as the golf one!!)
We were also treated to hear Brother Nadeem recite two Nasheeds - which we all joined in too! OK we spoilt it a bit but after many problems accessing Nahid's video of the nasheed we managed to include it below...(anyone who cannot access it please let me know)
Because of file sizes etc the 'Salaam Alayk' nasheed is published in a separate Post after this.
Jazakhallah to everyone for making it a special Zikr!
See you all next week - inshallah we'll see Milan and sisters Sidra and Eva too.
'Manwithcarpets'
Wednesday, 4 June 2008
Love is a Stranger - Rumi Poems
Excerpts from Love is a Stranger
Poetry of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi
Translated by Kabir Helminski
The Root of the Root of Your Self
Don't go away, come near.
Don't be faithless, be faithful.
Find the antidote in the venom.
Come to the root of the root of yourself.
Molded of clay, yet kneaded
from the substance of certainty,
a guard at the Treasury of Holy Light --
come, return to the root of the root of your Self.
Once you get hold of selflessness,
You'll be dragged from your ego
and freed from many traps.
Come, return to the root of the root of your Self.
You are born from the children of God's creation,
but you have fixed your sight too low.
How can you be happy?
Come, return to the root of the root of your Self.
You were born from a ray of God's majesty
and have the blessings of a good star.
Why suffer at the hands of things that don't exist?
Come, return to the root of the root of your Self.
You are a ruby embedded in granite.
How long will you pretend it's not true?
We can see it in your eyes.
Come to the root of the root of your Self.
You came here from the presence of that fine Friend,
a little drunk, but gentle, stealing our hearts
with that look so full of fire; so,
come, return to the root of the root of your Self.
Our master and host, Shamsi Tabrizi,
has put the eternal cup before you.
Glory be to God, what a rare wine!
So come, return to the root of the root of your Self.
The Intellectual
The intellectual is always showing off;
The lover is always getting lost.
The intellectual runs away, afraid of drowning;
the whole business of love is to drown in the sea.
Intellectuals plan their repose;
lovers are ashamed to rest.
The lover is always alone, even surrounded with people;
like water and oil, he remains apart.
The man who goes to the trouble
of giving advice to a lover
gets nothing. He's mocked by passion.
Love is like musk. It attracts attention.
Love is a tree, and lovers are its shade.
Buy Me From My Words
Before now I wanted
to be paid for what I said,
but now I need you
to buy me from my words.
The idols I used to carve
charmed everyone. Now I'm drunk
on Abraham and tired of idols.
An idol with no color or scent
ended my whole career.
Find someone else for the job.
A happy madman without a thought,
I have swept the shop clean.
If something enters my mind,
I say, "Leave. You're a distraction."
Whatever is coarse and heavy, I destroy.
Who should be with Layla?
Someone who can be Majnun.
The man holding up this waving flag
actually belongs to the other side.
Yours Sajad
Love -'Love is the Wine'
Love
The essence of God is love and the Sufi path is a path of love. It is very difficult to describe love in words. It is like trying to describe honey to someone who has never tasted or even seen honey, who doesn't know what honey is.
Love is to see what is good and beautiful in everything. It is to learn from everything, to see the gifts of God and the generosity of God in everything, to see the gifts of God and the generosity of God in everything. It is to be thankful for all God's bounties.
This is the first step on the road to the love of God. This is just a seed of love. In time, the seed will grow and become a tree and bear fruit. Then, whoever tastes of that fruit will know what real love is. It will be difficult for those who have tasted to tell of it to those who did not.
Love is a special pleasurable pain. Whoever has this in their heart will know the secret. They will see that everything is Truth, and that everything leads to Truth. There is nothing but Truth. In the realization of that they will be overcome. They will sink into the sea of Truth.
Whatever you taste of love, in whatever manner, in whatever degree -- it is a tiny part of Divine Love. Love between men and women is also a part of that Divine Love. But sometimes the beloved becomes a curtain between love and realization of true love. One day that curtain will lift and then the real Beloved, the real goal will appear in all Divine glory.
What is important is to have this feeling of love in your heart in whatever form and shape. It is also important that you be loved. It is easier to love than to be the beloved. If you have been in love you will certainly reach the Beloved one day.
The gifts of God often come to you from the hands of other human beings, through God's servants. And so, Divine love also expresses itself between human beings.
The sheikhs are the pourers of the wine and the dervish is the glass. Love is the wine. By the hand of the wine pourer, the glass -- the dervish -- is filled. This is the short way. Love could be offered to one by other hands. This is the short way.
Excerpt from 'Love is the Wine'
Tales of a Sufi Master in America By Sheikh Muzaffer Ozak
yours Sajad
The essence of God is love and the Sufi path is a path of love. It is very difficult to describe love in words. It is like trying to describe honey to someone who has never tasted or even seen honey, who doesn't know what honey is.
Love is to see what is good and beautiful in everything. It is to learn from everything, to see the gifts of God and the generosity of God in everything, to see the gifts of God and the generosity of God in everything. It is to be thankful for all God's bounties.
This is the first step on the road to the love of God. This is just a seed of love. In time, the seed will grow and become a tree and bear fruit. Then, whoever tastes of that fruit will know what real love is. It will be difficult for those who have tasted to tell of it to those who did not.
Love is a special pleasurable pain. Whoever has this in their heart will know the secret. They will see that everything is Truth, and that everything leads to Truth. There is nothing but Truth. In the realization of that they will be overcome. They will sink into the sea of Truth.
Whatever you taste of love, in whatever manner, in whatever degree -- it is a tiny part of Divine Love. Love between men and women is also a part of that Divine Love. But sometimes the beloved becomes a curtain between love and realization of true love. One day that curtain will lift and then the real Beloved, the real goal will appear in all Divine glory.
What is important is to have this feeling of love in your heart in whatever form and shape. It is also important that you be loved. It is easier to love than to be the beloved. If you have been in love you will certainly reach the Beloved one day.
The gifts of God often come to you from the hands of other human beings, through God's servants. And so, Divine love also expresses itself between human beings.
The sheikhs are the pourers of the wine and the dervish is the glass. Love is the wine. By the hand of the wine pourer, the glass -- the dervish -- is filled. This is the short way. Love could be offered to one by other hands. This is the short way.
Excerpt from 'Love is the Wine'
Tales of a Sufi Master in America By Sheikh Muzaffer Ozak
yours Sajad
What Sufism Is
Sufism is a way of life in which a deeper identity is discovered and lived. This deeper identity, beyond the already known personality, is in harmony with all that exists. This deeper identity, or essential self, has abilities of awareness, action, creativity and love that are far beyond the abilities of the superficial personality. Eventually it is understood that these abilities belong to a greater life and being which we individualize in our own unique way while never being separate from it.
Sufism is less a doctrine or a belief system than an experience and way of life. It is a tradition of enlightenment that carries the essential truth forward through time. Tradition, however, must be conceived in a vital and dynamic sense. Its expression must not remain limited to the religious and cultural forms of the past. The truth of Sufism requires reformulation and fresh expression in every age.
Reformulation does not mean that Sufism will compromise its challenge to a stubbornly materialistic society. It is and will remain a critic of "worldliness" -- by which it is meant everything that causes us to be forgetful of the Divine reality. It is and must be a way out of the labyrinth of a secular, commercial culture. Most importantly, however, it is an invitation to meaningfulness and well-being.
Sufism, as we know it, developed within the cultural matrix of Islam. The Islamic revelation presented itself as the expression of the essential message brought to humanity by the prophets of all ages. The Qur'an recognizes the validity of 120,000 prophets or messengers who have come to awaken us from our selfish egoism and remind us of our spiritual nature. The Qur'an confirmed the validity of past revelations, while asserting that the original message was often distorted over the course of time.
Sufism's claim to universality is founded on the broad recognition that there is only one God, the God of all people and all true religions. Sufism understands itself to be the wisdom realized by the great prophets -- explicitly including Jesus, Moses, David, Solomon, and Abraham, among others, and implicitly including other unnamed enlightened beings of every culture.
In the Western world today diverse groups exist under the name of Sufism. On the one hand there are those who would say that no true Sufism can exist without appreciation and practice of the principles of Islam. On the other hand some groups exist that more or less ignore the Islamic roots of Sufism and take their teaching from further downstream, from "Sufis" who may or may not have had contact with specifically Islamic teachings.
We could say that there are those who accept Sufism as both form and essence, and there are others who are Sufi in essence but no in form. In my opinion, an appreciation and understanding of the Qur'an, the sayings of Muhammad, and historical Sufism is invaluable to the wayfarer on the Sufi path.
Historically, Sufism was not conceived as separate form the essence of Islam. Its teachers all traced their enlightenment through a chain of transmission going back to Muhammad. While they may have disagreed with certain interpretations of Islam, they never questioned the essential validity of the Qur'anic revelation; nor were they fundamentalists in the sense of rigidly interpreting that revelation or discrediting other faiths. Most often they represented the highest achievements within Islamic culture and were a force of tolerance and moderation.
Over fourteen centuries the broad Sufi tradition has contributed a body of literature second to none on earth. Somehow the guiding principles of the Qur'an and the heroic virtue of Muhammad and his companions provided an impetus that allowed a spirituality of love and consciousness to flourish. Those who follow the Sufi path today are the inheritors of an immense treasure of wisdom literature.
Beginning from its roots at the time of Muhammad, Sufism has organically grown like a tree with many branches. The cause of the branching has usually been the appearance of an enlightened teacher whose methods and contributions to the teaching have been enough to initiate a new line of growth. These branches generally do not see each other as rivals. A Sufi, in some cases, may be initiated into more than one branch in order to receive the grace (baraka) and knowledge of particular order.
There is little cultishness in the work of Sufis. Sufis of one order may, for instance, visit the gatherings of another order. Even the charisma of a particular teacher is always viewed from the perspective that this gift is owed entirely to God. The charisma is valuable in so far as it may bind the hearts of students to a human being who is the truth of the teaching, but many safeguards exist to remind everyone that personality worship and inordinate pride in one's affiliation are forms of idolatry, the greatest "sin."
If Sufism recognizes one central truth, it is the unity of being, that we are not separate form the Divine. The unity of being is a truth which our age is in an excellent position to appreciate -- emotionally, because of the shrinking of our world through communications and transportation, and intellectually, because of developments in modern physics. We are One: one people, one ecology, one universe, one being. If there is a single truth, worthy of the name, it is that we are all integral to the Truth, not separate. The realization of this truth has its effects on our sense of who we are, on our relationships to others and to all aspects of life. Sufism is about realizing the current of love that runs through human life, the unity behind forms.
If Sufism has a central method, it is the development of presence and love. Only presence can awaken us from our enslavement to the world and our own psychological processes. And only love, cosmic love, and comprehend the Divine. Love is the highest activation of intelligence, for without love nothing great would be accomplished, whether spiritually, artistically, socially, or scientifically.
Sufism is the attribute of those who love. The lover is someone who is purified by love, free of himself and his own qualities, and fully attentive to the Beloved. This is to say that the Sufi is not held in bondage by any quality of his own because he sees everything he is and has as belonging to the Source. Shebli said: "The Sufi sees nothing except God in the two worlds."
This book is about one aspect of Sufism -- presence -- how it can be developed and how it can be used to activate our essential human qualities. Abu Muhammad Muta'ish says: "The Sufi is he whose thought keeps pace with his foot -- i.e., he is entirely present: his soul is where his body is, and his body is where his soul is, and his soul where his foot is, and his foot where his soul is. This is the sign of presence without absence. Others say on the contrary: 'He is absent from himself but present with God.' It is not so: he is present with himself and present with God."
We live in a culture that has been described as materialistic, alienating, neurotically individualistic, narcissistic, and yet ridden with anxiety, shame, and guilt. From the Sufi point of view humanity today is suffering under the greatest tyranny, the tyranny of the ego. We "worship" innumerable false idols, but all of them are forms of the ego.
There are so many ways for the human ego to usurp even the purest spiritual values. The true Sufi is the one who makes no claims to virtue or truth but who lives a life of presence and selfless love. More important than what we believe is how we live. If certain beliefs lead to exclusiveness, self-righteousness, fanaticism, it is the vanity of the "believer" that is the problem. If the remedy increases the sickness, an even more basic remedy is called for.
The idea of "presence with love" may be the most basic remedy for the prevailing materialism, selfishness, and unconsciousness of our age. In our obsession with our false selves, in turning our backs on God, we have also lost our essential Self, our own divine spark. In forgetting God, we have forgotten ourselves. Remembering god is the beginning of remembering ourselves.by Kabir Edmund Helminski
http://www.sufism.org/books/livinex.html
yours Sajad
Sufism is less a doctrine or a belief system than an experience and way of life. It is a tradition of enlightenment that carries the essential truth forward through time. Tradition, however, must be conceived in a vital and dynamic sense. Its expression must not remain limited to the religious and cultural forms of the past. The truth of Sufism requires reformulation and fresh expression in every age.
Reformulation does not mean that Sufism will compromise its challenge to a stubbornly materialistic society. It is and will remain a critic of "worldliness" -- by which it is meant everything that causes us to be forgetful of the Divine reality. It is and must be a way out of the labyrinth of a secular, commercial culture. Most importantly, however, it is an invitation to meaningfulness and well-being.
Sufism, as we know it, developed within the cultural matrix of Islam. The Islamic revelation presented itself as the expression of the essential message brought to humanity by the prophets of all ages. The Qur'an recognizes the validity of 120,000 prophets or messengers who have come to awaken us from our selfish egoism and remind us of our spiritual nature. The Qur'an confirmed the validity of past revelations, while asserting that the original message was often distorted over the course of time.
Sufism's claim to universality is founded on the broad recognition that there is only one God, the God of all people and all true religions. Sufism understands itself to be the wisdom realized by the great prophets -- explicitly including Jesus, Moses, David, Solomon, and Abraham, among others, and implicitly including other unnamed enlightened beings of every culture.
In the Western world today diverse groups exist under the name of Sufism. On the one hand there are those who would say that no true Sufism can exist without appreciation and practice of the principles of Islam. On the other hand some groups exist that more or less ignore the Islamic roots of Sufism and take their teaching from further downstream, from "Sufis" who may or may not have had contact with specifically Islamic teachings.
We could say that there are those who accept Sufism as both form and essence, and there are others who are Sufi in essence but no in form. In my opinion, an appreciation and understanding of the Qur'an, the sayings of Muhammad, and historical Sufism is invaluable to the wayfarer on the Sufi path.
Historically, Sufism was not conceived as separate form the essence of Islam. Its teachers all traced their enlightenment through a chain of transmission going back to Muhammad. While they may have disagreed with certain interpretations of Islam, they never questioned the essential validity of the Qur'anic revelation; nor were they fundamentalists in the sense of rigidly interpreting that revelation or discrediting other faiths. Most often they represented the highest achievements within Islamic culture and were a force of tolerance and moderation.
Over fourteen centuries the broad Sufi tradition has contributed a body of literature second to none on earth. Somehow the guiding principles of the Qur'an and the heroic virtue of Muhammad and his companions provided an impetus that allowed a spirituality of love and consciousness to flourish. Those who follow the Sufi path today are the inheritors of an immense treasure of wisdom literature.
Beginning from its roots at the time of Muhammad, Sufism has organically grown like a tree with many branches. The cause of the branching has usually been the appearance of an enlightened teacher whose methods and contributions to the teaching have been enough to initiate a new line of growth. These branches generally do not see each other as rivals. A Sufi, in some cases, may be initiated into more than one branch in order to receive the grace (baraka) and knowledge of particular order.
There is little cultishness in the work of Sufis. Sufis of one order may, for instance, visit the gatherings of another order. Even the charisma of a particular teacher is always viewed from the perspective that this gift is owed entirely to God. The charisma is valuable in so far as it may bind the hearts of students to a human being who is the truth of the teaching, but many safeguards exist to remind everyone that personality worship and inordinate pride in one's affiliation are forms of idolatry, the greatest "sin."
If Sufism recognizes one central truth, it is the unity of being, that we are not separate form the Divine. The unity of being is a truth which our age is in an excellent position to appreciate -- emotionally, because of the shrinking of our world through communications and transportation, and intellectually, because of developments in modern physics. We are One: one people, one ecology, one universe, one being. If there is a single truth, worthy of the name, it is that we are all integral to the Truth, not separate. The realization of this truth has its effects on our sense of who we are, on our relationships to others and to all aspects of life. Sufism is about realizing the current of love that runs through human life, the unity behind forms.
If Sufism has a central method, it is the development of presence and love. Only presence can awaken us from our enslavement to the world and our own psychological processes. And only love, cosmic love, and comprehend the Divine. Love is the highest activation of intelligence, for without love nothing great would be accomplished, whether spiritually, artistically, socially, or scientifically.
Sufism is the attribute of those who love. The lover is someone who is purified by love, free of himself and his own qualities, and fully attentive to the Beloved. This is to say that the Sufi is not held in bondage by any quality of his own because he sees everything he is and has as belonging to the Source. Shebli said: "The Sufi sees nothing except God in the two worlds."
This book is about one aspect of Sufism -- presence -- how it can be developed and how it can be used to activate our essential human qualities. Abu Muhammad Muta'ish says: "The Sufi is he whose thought keeps pace with his foot -- i.e., he is entirely present: his soul is where his body is, and his body is where his soul is, and his soul where his foot is, and his foot where his soul is. This is the sign of presence without absence. Others say on the contrary: 'He is absent from himself but present with God.' It is not so: he is present with himself and present with God."
We live in a culture that has been described as materialistic, alienating, neurotically individualistic, narcissistic, and yet ridden with anxiety, shame, and guilt. From the Sufi point of view humanity today is suffering under the greatest tyranny, the tyranny of the ego. We "worship" innumerable false idols, but all of them are forms of the ego.
There are so many ways for the human ego to usurp even the purest spiritual values. The true Sufi is the one who makes no claims to virtue or truth but who lives a life of presence and selfless love. More important than what we believe is how we live. If certain beliefs lead to exclusiveness, self-righteousness, fanaticism, it is the vanity of the "believer" that is the problem. If the remedy increases the sickness, an even more basic remedy is called for.
The idea of "presence with love" may be the most basic remedy for the prevailing materialism, selfishness, and unconsciousness of our age. In our obsession with our false selves, in turning our backs on God, we have also lost our essential Self, our own divine spark. In forgetting God, we have forgotten ourselves. Remembering god is the beginning of remembering ourselves.by Kabir Edmund Helminski
http://www.sufism.org/books/livinex.html
yours Sajad
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