She was perturbed. She thought the only thing that could protect her was her prayers. He thought that her silly superstitions and worries would fade away. She had the ability to survive any circumstance, especially when left without a choice. She had the endurance and resilience of a good human being. She wanted to start […]
Tag Archives: history
Wisdom of a Sufi Master by Sheikh Muzaffer Ozak Al-Jerrahi
Part One When people were amazed at Abraham for sacrificing a thousand rams, three hundred oxen and a hundred camels, he retorted: “There is nothing surprising about this. We are sacrificing our goods for our Lord, for whom we sacrifice our life. Life is more valuable than goods. Moreover, whose goods are we sacrificing to […]
11,600 years old temple
By Charles C. Mann Photograph by Vincent J. Musi Every now and then the dawn of civilization is reenacted on a remote hilltop in southern Turkey. The reenactors are busloads of tourists—usually Turkish, sometimes European. The buses (white, air-conditioned, equipped with televisions) blunder over the winding, indifferently paved road to the ridge and dock like […]
Falls Into His Own Trap
Qārūn was very proud of his wealth and property; it was more than he could stomach when his cousin, the venerable Moses, began calling his people to Allāh. Jealousy and envy prevented him from believing in the Prophethood of Allāh’s Converser. He went to a prostitute and said: “Listen to me. Tomorrow, Moses will be […]
When will this killing stop?
A voice speaks to Zulnoon Zulnoon said: “I was in the desert once. Trusting in God, I’d brought no sustenance – I came on forty men ahead of me, Dressed all in rags, a closed community. My heart was moved. ‘O God,’ I cried, ‘take heed, What wretched lives you make your pilgrims lead!’ ‘We […]
A Rumi Poem
Inside Dome of the Blue Mosque, Sultan Ahmad, Istanbul
“Oh, if a Tree Could Wander”
Oh, if a tree could wander and move with foot and wings!
It would not suffer the axe blows and not the pain of saws!
For would the sun not wander away in every night?
How could at ev’ry morning the world be lighted up?
And if the ocean’s water would not rise to the sky,
How would the plants be quickened by streams and gentle rain?
The drop that left its homeland, the sea, and then returned?
It found an oyster waiting and grew into a pearl.
Did Yusuf not leave his father, in grief and tears and despair?
Did he not, by such a journey, gain kingdom and fortune wide?
Did not the Prophet travel to far Madina, friend?
And there he found a new kingdom and ruled a hundred lands.
You lack a foot to travel?
Then journey into yourself!
And like a mine of rubies receive the sunbeams’ print!
Out of yourself? Such a journey will lead you to your self,
It leads to transformation of dust into pure gold!
Jalaluddin Rumi
Translated by Annemarie Schimmel
A Sufi story along with some thoughts
Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna once shared a cucumber with Ayaz, his most loyal and beloved companion. Ayaz happily ate his half of the cucumber, but when the sultan bit into his half, it was so bitter he immediately spit it out. “How could you manage to eat something so bitter? the sultan exclaimed, “it tasted […]
Maimonides
Moses ben-Maimon, called Maimonides and also known as Rambam (רמב”ם – Hebrew acronym for “Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon”), was a preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher and one of the greatest Torah scholars and physicians of the Middle Ages. Maimonides was born during what some scholars consider to be the end of the golden age of Jewish […]
Juliano Mer Khamis
The Washington Post A black flag hung Tuesday over the Freedom Theater in the Jenin refugee camp, where tearful young Palestinians mourned the sudden death of their Israeli teacher, a prominent actor and director slain a day earlier by a masked gunman in a nearby alley. Juliano Mer Khamis, the son of a Jewish mother […]
Excerpts from the book
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