Teaching Freedom...

Dear Friends

When I switched from a potentially lucrative career in accounting and finance to teaching my loved ones were worried...My stock and trade suddenly changed from dry spreadsheets to the fickle human mind.

I wholeheartedly admit that my first career was not really flowing. Teaching found me and not only blessed me with a whole new cosmos but saved my sanity. I rediscovered the will to live and found that I could make a small yet tangible difference to people’s lives.

The classroom remains the theater of dreams and I love witnessing human spirits quite literally unfolding before my eyes like butterflies...Al Hum Du Lillah...In reality as teachers we are the students and regardless of subject we are teaching freedom...In Sha Allah...

Today with 5 years of further and higher education teaching under my belt I have won my first student nominated award – Inspirational Teacher of the Year 2012 / 2013...Ma Sha Allah...

As Mevlana reminds me:

‘’ Come, seek, for search is the foundation of fortune:  every success depends upon focusing the heart."

Being Human...

Dear Friends

I have been on the path for in excess of 2 decades...

Initially it was about becoming a Master and realizing sainthood. I was and remain obsessed with Sufi philosophy and history and for a long while I was a meditation junkie. I traveled extensively powered by an unquenchable desire to spread the Gospel of Pir Nur ud din.

When I got the chance to relocate to the Muslim world and become a ‘saviour’ I quit everything and not surprisingly I failed miserably and nearly got killed in the process. Personal tragedies and failed relationships mounted and I wound up in Konya where my heart was mended by the love of Mevlana.  For a long period I became disillusioned with the whole Sufi enterprise and even thought of throwing in the towel...

Now I just want to be a human being (imperfections and all)...In Sha Allah...

KEEP WALKING...

Jamming with the Swami...

Dear Friends

The early 2000’s were an intense period of personal growth and failure. In late 2005 I ended up in California and spent 3 weeks walking the streets of San Francisco, including Haigh Ashbury and the iconic Berkley campus and drinking its counterculture.  I visited most of the major places of worship and the notorious City Lights Bookshop that gave birth to the Hippie movement. It was a Hippie pilgrimage!

The highlight was private sessions with the foremost Malamati Shaykh in the Bay Area if not the USA and an audience with the resident Swami at the Sri Vivekananda Temple on 2323 Vallejo Street.  I met the Swami in the traditional Indian way and touched his feet. We spent 30 minutes chatting and requested some counsel he looked at me and said:

‘’For you Faisal. Take the name of your Lord and be Happy!”...

Get up....NEVER GIVE UP!

Fellow Saliks / Seekers of Truth,

The path to Allah is littered with obstacles designed to test our mettle and ultimately separate the men from the boys and the women from the girls. You will meet plenty of burnt out saliks and cynics and I have done my fair share of wallowing in self-doubt...HOWEVER...as Rumi reminds us:

“When you go through a hard period,
When everything seems to oppose you,
... When you feel you cannot even bear one more minute,
NEVER GIVE UP!
Because it is the time and place that the course will divert!”

THE ONLY EASY DAY WAS YESTERDAY....

Muhammadan wisdom...

It is better to make a mistake in forgiving than to make a mistake in punishing -

Prophet Muhammad (SAW)

RED SUFISM...

Dear Friends

On one level there is nothing much left to say and do in Sufism however my humble insight is RED SUFISM...

an horizontal strategy / approach to Sufism...

inspired by the life of Sufi Hallaj - the first martyr of Sufism...

specializing in self-mastery through personal discipline...

thoroughly grounded in this world but not of it... 

continuously trans-formative...

deeply political yet beyond left and right...

above all a work in progress...

POWER TO THE HEART...

Faisal

Sufi Chess...

Dear All

Rumi Sings:

We are the flute, our music is Yours;

We are the mountain echoing only You;

Pieces of chess, You marshall us in line

And move us to defeat or victory…

Perhaps the above smacks of fatalism...however, even in defeat there is victory...

Check Mate!

Faisal 

Jamming Jihad...

Friends

On the path

To surrender

There is no retreat

For freedom is discipline

And never say..NEVER

Because this is your DESTINY...

The Religion of Love...

Dear All

Recently a former student got in touch with me and to my surprise she admitted that had been praying for more than 4 years now that I would ‘see the light’ and come to Jesus Christ...

A close colleague who is a devout Hindu regularly prays for me and has hinted that I should consider re-converting as my forefathers were Ksatriyaa / Warrior caste Hindu’s...

I am reminded of the great Ibn Arabi who exquisitely remarks:

"My heart has become a receptacle of every form;
it is a pasture for gazelles and a convent for Christian monks,
and a temple for idols, and pilgrims' kaba,
and the tablets of the torah, and the book of the Koran.
I follow the religion of love, whichever way its camels take.
For this is my religion and my faith." (translated by A.E. Affifi)

Allah's challenge to Muslims...

Dear All

The recent tragedy in Boston underscores how much work is needed to protect young Muslim minds from the murderous and poisonous ideology of Islamism / Political Islam.

Muslim apologists usually blame western foreign policy or a grand Zionist scheme which feeds the Islamists and justifies there violence. Additionally the proliferation of Islamist websites that house technical manuals are also rich manure for weak minds such as the Chechen brothers who were probably ‘lone wolves’.

HOWEVER, I feel there is a grand MUSLIM CONSPIRACY....YES!!!!

We Muslims lost our ‘most favoured nation’ status a long time and it is clear that Allah will not change a nation until they change themselves.

‘’Verily, Allah will not change the condition of the people, until they change what is in themselves’’

(Surah 13: Verse 11)

Granted Muslims are beset with a myriad of socio-economic problems at the local, regional and international level which are exploited by international stakeholders however the killing fields of Syria, Iraq, and AFPAK are uniquely Muslim.

Today the Gulf Cooperation Countries are literally sitting on hundreds of billions of dollars which could be used to heal so many failed Muslim states and resolve thorny issues such as the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Allah makes it clear that during our sojourn in this world we must COMPETE AND DO GOOD DEEDS...

O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise (each other). Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of God is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And God has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things).

(Surah 49: Verse 13)

Thus ORTHOPRAXY (RIGHT CONDUCT) IS ALWAYS SUPERIOR TO ORTHODOXY (RIGHT THOUGHT)...

WAKE UP MY FELLOW MUSLIMS AND SMELL THE COFFEE...because Allah is not reliant on us to do his work and can and does change sides...

‘’Behold, ye are those invited to spend (of your substance) in the Way of God: But among you are some that are niggardly. But any who are niggardly are so at the expense of their own souls. But God is free of all wants, and it is ye that are needy. If ye turn back (from the Path), He will substitute in your stead another people; then they would not be like you!’’

(Surah 47: Verse 38)

Faisal 

What is Gnosis ?

Dear Friends

What is the elusive Maarifaat / Gnosis / Knowledge of Allah?

Is it facts and figures?

Is it a synthesis of knowledge?

Is it a vision?

Is it a dream?

Is it beyond knowledge?

Is it a state of being?

Or is it the above and more?

 

Well Allah says in the Quran:

''We shall show them Our signs in the horizons and in their own souls until it becomes clear to them that it is the truth. Is it not sufficient that your Lord is witness to all things''

(Surah Fussilat : verse 43)

 

A modern Wali / Friend of Allah sung:

To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
An eternity in an hour…

(William Blake)

 

 

Why ???

Dear Friends

This Why? Tortured Gautama...

This Why? Led Mustapha to a cave...

This Why? Caused Bhitai to taste the truth...

Decouvertes once said...

‘’It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question.’’

Letting go...

Dear All

Today is 15^th April 2013 a watershed moment occurred...

For the first time in my 37 years on this planet  I allowed myself to let go and I surrendered to Allah. No emotion. No love. Just pure being...

Mevlana Rumi reminds me that

“They are the chosen ones who have surrendered.’’

“How did you get here? Close your eyes and surrender.”

“The hurt that we embrace becomes joy.” …..
“Roar, Lion of the Heart, and tear me open!“

I celebrated by purchasing a fresh Quran, books for my wife and little girls and black seed tea...

Maktub - It is written

Maktub 

Ya leel, yaa leel, ya leel,leel, ya leel, yaaa leel,leeeel, yaaaa leel,leel... (Oh night, oh night...)
Maktub... (it is written/ foretold)
Kulli shey maktub, maktub... (Everything is written, written...)
Maktub... (it's written/ foretold)
fil Ahlam... (Written in dreams...)

Maktub fil lughat il Ahlam (Written in the language of dreams)
Maktub... ya nas (It is written, oh mankind)

Maktub... (it is written/ foretold)
Kulli shey maktub... (Everything is written...)
Maktub...yaa nas, maktub... (It is written, oh mankind, written...)

Maktub...fil lughat il Ahlam (Written in the language of dreams)
Maktub, maktub... (it's foretold...written...)
Kulli shey...maktub...fil Ahlam (Everything is... written...in dreams)
Yiftakh aleinu, yiftakh aleinu (open your eyes, open your eyes)

Oh! Sweet Humiliation...

Dear All

The harsh truth is that the practice of Sufism is a deeply selfish act especially as we steal time from friends and family attempting to inculcate spiritual virtues and taste eternity. No matter how well intended the latter is a gamble as the path is littered with challenges galore and spiritual burnouts cursing their lot. So why bother?

Well it is a CALLING...A journey that every human being will make to some extent. Furthermore, a Malamati Shaykh once told me that there is point of no return on the journey and even if you want to give up and admit defeat you continue...There have been moments when I have momentarily tasted the zenith and then violently crashed and burned. However, it is during those times of utter despair where the authentic learning takes place.

Are you fleeing from Love because of a single humiliation?
What do you know of Love except the name?
Love has a hundred forms of pride and disdain,
and is gained by a hundred means of persuasion.
Rumi

The show must go on...

2 Pitchers...Buddhism and Islam...

Friends

Very provocative :

Heat and Dust...

Dear Friends

In my humble experience the external environment and culture has an impact on the style and content of Sufism practiced so that during this process both the environment and Sufism change. Thus for example  South Asian Sufism is very different in zauq / taste in comparison to Central Asian Tasawuff where the former is hedonistic and the latter is austere yet joyful.

To get a flavour please check out the following :

Other Teachers...

Dear All

How are we supposed to react or behave when we meet pupils / saliks especially Shaykhs from other traditions? Well according to Mevlana Rumi:

“Be grateful for whoever comes, because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.”

I would go as far to even apply this to Non-Muslims as well...

"Surely those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Christians, and the Sabians, whoever believes in Allah and the Final Day and does good, they shall have their reward from their Lord, and there is no fear for them, nor shall they grieve''

(Quran 2:62)

Allah Huuuuuu! The Sain Zahur Way...

 Dear All

One of the diamonds of South Asia is Sain Zahur...

Sain  Zahur Ahmad (Urdu: سائیں ظہور‎) (born circa 1937) is a leading Sufi musician from Pakistan. He has spent most of his life singing in Sufi shrines, and didn't produce a record until 2006, when he was nominated for the BBC World Music awards based on word of mouth.He emerged as the "best BBC voice of the year 2006", Sain is not his first name but a Sindhi honorific title.

Born in the Okara district of the Sahiwal region in the province of Punjab, Pakistan, Zahur was the youngest child in a rural peasant family. He is said to have started singing at the age of five  and from that early age, he had dreamed of a hand beckoning him towards a shrine. 

He left home at the age of ten, roaming the Sufi shrines of Sindh, Punjab, making a living through singing. Zahur claims that as he was walking past a small shrine in the south Punjab town of Uch Sharif (known for its Sufi traditions), when "someone waved at me with his hand, inviting me in, and I suddenly realised that it was this hand which I saw in my dream."

Although Zahoor is illiterate he is known for his memory of song lyrics; mostly he sings compositions of the major Sufi poets, Bulleh Shah, Shah Badakhshi, Muhammad Qadiri and others...

The Sufi Challenge...

As Mevlana Rumi challenges us:


 “Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment.” 

Tera mera rishta purana...Our relationship is primordial...

Sufi Paradox...

Dear Folks

To all intents purpose Sufism is a game of hide and seek with God...The paradox is that the seeker is the sought and the sought is the seeker...

He is the First, the Last, the All-Outward, and the All-Inward. He has full knowledge of everything.

(Quran 57.3)

The question is the answer...

Humility

Title: Hor Wi Neewaan Ho – ہور وی نیواں ہو – Even More Bowed Down Be

Language: Punjabi

Poetry: Shah Hussain (1538-1599)

ہور وی نیواں ہو 

hor wi neewaan ho
even more bowed down be

فقیرا ہور وی نیواں ہو،
hor wi neewaan ho faqeera
even more bowed down be, O Faqir

اچّا سرو غرور میں
uchcha saru ghuroor men
the tall cypress, in its haughtiness

کدی نہ پھل پائے، فقیرا
kaddi na phall paae faqeera
can never bear fruit, O Faqir

فقیرا ہور وی نیواں ہو،
hor wi neewaan ho faqeera
even more bowed down be, O Faqir

پائے گا دیدار صاحب دا
paae ga deedaar saahib da
you will behold the sight of God

ہور وی نیواں ہو
hor wi neewaan ho
even more bowed down be

ہو ربّا کوئی میری دل دیاں قدراں پچھانے
ho rabba koi, mere dil deeyaan qadraan pacchaane
O God, would someone discern the ideals of my heart

میں سوالی جیہدا نئین کوئی سوال
main sawaali jehda naeen koi sawaal
I am a beggar who does not beg for anything

میں جوگن بن در در پھردیاں
main jogan ban dar dar phirdeeyaan
becoming a (female) devotee, I drift from door to door

میریاں رمزاں پچانے
meriyaan ramzaan pacchaane
fathom the mysteries in me, someone please!

چل میرے نال
chal mere naal
come along with me

چل میرے میرے میرے میرے نال
chal mere mere mere mere naal
come along with me, me, me, me

ہور وی نیواں ہو
hor wi neewaan ho
even more bowed down be

Sufi Professions...

Dear All

The Friends of God have been tailors, cobblers, teachers, perfumers, accountants, kings, politicians, scientists...but they all have one thing in common. 


Their stock and trade is love...


Bas Ishq Mohabbat apna phan...Love is my trade...

All Bound for HU! HU! LAND

Dear Friends

The late Pir Muhammed Nur ud Din (Pir Sahib) inspired me to sign up for the Sufi Path...He is the inspiration for everything Sufi in my life and I am permanently indebted to him...

Pir Sahib’s genius was that he taught his pupils to fish rather than feeding them fish...which is more satisfying yet  challenging...

I am reminded of Frank A Clarke who said:

‘’If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere’’.

All bound for Hu! Hu! Land...

Keep fishing in the rivers of life....Faisal

Quran: Sura Al-e-Imran 33 - 37 by Hamza Shakur from the movie 'Bab' Aziz: The Prince Who Contemplated His Soul'

Lo! Allah preferred Adam and Noah and the Family of Abraham and the Family of 'Imran above (all His) creatures. 3:33

They were descendants one of another. Allah is Hearer, Knower. 3:34

(Remember) when the wife of 'Imran said: My Lord! I have vowed unto Thee that which is in my belly as a consecrated (offering). Accept it from me. Lo! Thou, only Thou, art the Hearer, the Knower! 3:35

And when she was delivered she said: My Lord! Lo! I am delivered of a female - Allah knew best of what she was delivered - the male is not as the female; and lo! I have named her Mary, and lo! I crave Thy protection for her and for her offspring from Satan the outcast. 3:36

And her Lord accepted her with full acceptance and vouchsafed to her a goodly growth; and made Zachariah her guardian. Whenever Zachariah went into the sanctuary where she was, he found that she had food. He said: O Mary! Whence cometh unto thee this (food)? She answered: It is from Allah. Allah giveth without stint to whom He will. 3:37

(Translation: Pickthall)

Here is a link to the movie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMbOZaVLUYk