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 […]
Tag Archives: Turkey
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 […]
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 […]
The Love of God
Seek, and you shall find. As you study all religions, to find their interpretation of spirituality, you will discover the divine touch in each. The more places you look, the better your understanding will be. I don’t care what religion you come from! I think that all religions do good, and all of them have good and bad people in them.
Painting by Iman Maleki
Every religion has people who understand it’s teaching, and people who imagine themselves wise, and who are wise. I chose the Sufi Islamic path because I believe it is the easiest and most direct form of getting to know oneself without intermediaries; certainly, it is my path. I care that you really know yourself. This is the greatest gift, and you can only give it to yourself.
We each have the divine spark placed in us. It is our responsibility to make the connection, to awaken to the light, to open our eyes to the light within us, and to live in accordance to the divine light once discovered.
All religions join in a unity. It is the love of God. It is the proclamation from the very depth of the seekers heart for God. It seeks God’s reality and divinity.
All consciously awakening people seek to know themselves, to better themselves, and in removing the veils from ourselves, we find our light within.
Yilmaz Alimoglu
Copyright © Yilmaz Alimoglu 2010-2015
Mystical Poems of Rumi
Moroccon Desert
Tonight is a night of union for the stars and of scattering,
scattering, since a bride is coming from the skies, consisting of a full moon.
Venus cannot contain herself for charming melodies, like the
nightingale which becomes intoxicated with the rose in spring-time.
See how the polestar is ogling Leo;
behold what dust Pisces is stirring up drom the deep!
Jupiter has galloped his steed against ancient Saturn, saying
“Take back your youth and go, bring good tidings!”
Mars’ hand, which was full of blood from the handle of his
sword, has become as life-giving as the sun, the exalted in works.
Since Aquarius has come full of that water of life, the dry
cluster of Virgo is raining pearls from him.
The Pleiades full of goodness fears not Libra and being
broken; how should Aries flee away in fright from its mother?
When from the moon the arrow of a glance struck the heart
of Sagittarius, he took to night-faring in passion for her, like Scorpio.
On such a festival, go, sacrifice Taurus, else you are crooked of
gait in the mud like Cancer.
This sky is the astrolabe, and the reality is Love;
whatever we say of this, attend to the meaning.
Shamsi-Tabriz, on that dawn when you shine, the dark night
is transformed to bright day by your moonlike face.
“Mystical Poems of Rumi“A.J. Arberry
The University of Chicago Press, 1968
Rumi: Stay Close, My Heart
Stay close, my heart, to the one who knows your ways;
Come into the shade of the tree that allays has fresh flowers.
Don’t stroll idly through the bazaar of the perfume-markers:
Stay in the shop of the sugar-seller.
If you don’t find true balance, anyone can deceive you;
Anyone can trick out of a thing of straw,
And make you take it for gold
Don’t squat with a bowl before every boiling pot;
In each pot on the fire you find very different things.
Not all sugarcanes have sugar, not all abysses a peak;
Not all eyes possess vision, not every sea is full of pearls.
O nightingale, with your voice of dark honey! Go on lamenting!
Only your drunken ecstasy can pierce the rock’s hard heart!
Surrender yourself, and if you cannot be welcomes by the Friend,
Know that you are rebelling inwardly like a thread
That doesn’t want to go through the needle’s eye!
The awakened heart is a lamp; protect it by the him of your robe!
Hurry and get out of this wind, for the weather is bad.
And when you’ve left this storm, you will come to a fountain;
You’ll find a Friend there who will always nourish your soul.
And with your soul always green, you’ll grow into a tall tree
Flowering always with sweet light-fruit, whose growth is interior.
Translated by Andrew Harvey
Rumi Poem: A Thief In The Night
A THIEF IN THE NIGHT Suddenly (yet somehow unexpected) he arrived the guest… the heart trembling “Who’s there?” and soul responding “The Moon…” came into the house and we lunatics ran into the street stared up looking for the moon. Then-inside the house- he cried out “Here I am!” and we beyond earshot running around […]
A Superb Eastern Musician:Erkan Ogur
Erkan Ogur, a composer, he has influenced many musicians with his compositions combining the sounds of Turkish folk music, classical music with the ancient traditional music. Erkan Oğur, or Erkan Ogur in the West, (born 1954) is a Turkish musician. A pioneer of fretless guitars, he invented the first fretless classical guitar in 1976. He […]
Muzaffer Ozak: The essence of God is love and the Sufi path is a path of love
BIOGRAPHY Muzaffer Ozak Hz. was born in Istanbul in 1916. (d.1985) He was educated by a succession of wise and learned who instructed him in all branches of the Islamic tradition. He became Muezzin and eventually Imam to many of the mosques of Istanbul. He later retired from the office of Imam and preached the […]
Fuzuli: Poem on Layla and Majnun
Majnun the King of the Land of Desire. Unique in all ages and beauty is Layla, For Majnun the poets still pluck at the lyre. The sapling of Sorrow’s green Meadow is Layla, Majnun ever faithful her love to inspire. The Moon in the sky ruling heaven is Layla, Majnun but the sport of the […]
Excerpts from the book
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