Sufi Lessons in Love – Live Webcast!

Salaam and Greetings of Peace:

LIVE WEBCAST POSTPONED UNTIL NOVEMBER 4TH.

Mark your calendars for Sunday, November 4^th at 8:00pm!

I will be the guest on Al Leone’s live webcast show, The Bridge of Truth. And you can even text questions during the live program to ask me :)

The theme of the show will be Sufi Lessons in Love, which is the tentative title of a book I am working on – a collection of articles and poems that explains the Sufi view of Love as the guiding principle of creation and the evolution of life towards God.

Master of the Jinn will also be discussed, so if you have any questions about the book or anything else, now is your chance to ask them live.  As the date is right before the Presidential election, please feel free to ask political questions also :)

Click Here for the link to my show page. Once there, just click on the Now Playing button on the left at showtime and follow the instructions to text your questions.

InshAllah, it will be a beneficial experience for us all :)

Ya Haqq!

Jerusalem

O Pilgrim, seek Me not
In the desert places
The ruined hills
The crumbling walls
Of ancient wailing

I am gone from
The city of violence
The streets of fear
The houses of anger
And sorrow

Look, look here!
O Pilgrim
On the Path of Love
Here is the City of David
The Temple of Solomon

Where the seeker dwells
I am
The soul’s delight
Jerusalem
Of the heart

- Irving Karchmar, Copyright ©1997

The Prophet’s Ramadan Sermon (pbuh)

Salaam and Greetings of Peace:

A Sermon on the Last Friday of Sha’ban on the Reception of the Month of Ramadan (reposted from last year).

“O People! Indeed ahead of you is the blessed month of Allah. A month of blessing, mercy and forgiveness. A month which with Allah is the best of months. Its days, the best of days, its nights, the best of nights, and its hours, the best of hours. It is the month which invites you to be the guests of Allah and invites you to be one of those near to Him. Each breath you take glorifies him; your sleep is worship, your deeds are accepted and your supplications are answered. So, ask Allah, your Lord; to give you a sound body and an enlightened heart so you may be able to fast and recite his book, for only he is unhappy who is devoid of Allah’s forgiveness during this great month. Remember the hunger and thirst of the day of Qiyamah (Judgement) with your hunger and thirst; give alms to the needy and poor, honour your old, show kindness to the young ones, maintain relations with your blood relations; guard your tongues, close your eyes to that which is not permissible for your sight, close your ears to that which is forbidden to hear, show compassion to the orphans of people, so compassion may be shown to your orphans. Repent to Allah for your sins and raise your hands in dua during these times, for they are the best of times and Allah looks towards his creatures with kindness, replying to them during the hours and granting their needs if he is asked …

“O People! Indeed your souls are dependant on your deeds, free it with Istighfar (repentance) lighten its loads by long prostrations; and know that Allah swears by his might: That there is no punishment for the one who prays and prostrates and he shall have no fear of the fire on the day when man stands before the Lord of the worlds.

“O People! One who gives Iftaar to a fasting person during this month will be like one who has freed someone and his past sins will be forgiven. Some of the people who were there then asked the Prophet (s): “Not all of us are able to invite those who are fasting?”

The Prophet replied: “Allah gives this reward even if the Iftaar (meal) is a drink of water.” “One who has good morals (Akhlaq) during this month will be able to pass the ‘Siraat’ … on the day that feet will slip … “One who covers the faults of others will benefit in that Allah will curb His anger on the day of Judgement … “As for one who honour an orphan; Allah will honour him on the day of judgement, “And for the one who spreads his kindness, Allah will spread His mercy over him on the day of Judgement. “As for the one who cuts the ties of relation; Allah will cut His mercy from him … “Who so ever performs a recommended prayer in this month Allah will keep the fire of Hell away from him … “Whoever performs an obligatory prayer Allah will reward him with seventy prayers [worth] in this month. “And who so ever prays a lot during this month will have his load lightened on the day of measure. “He who recites one verse of the Holy Quran will be given the rewards of reciting the whole Quran during other months.

“O People! Indeed during this month the doors of heaven are open, therefore ask Allah not to close them for you; The doors of hell are closed, so ask Allah to keep them closed for you. During this month Shaytan (Satan) is imprisoned so ask your Lord not to let him have power over you.”

Ya Haqq!

Tower of Babel

Sufis are bricklayers
Their bodies the bricks,
Earth, water, straw
In the proper mixture

Sufis are builders
Their edifice
The Tower of Babel
Rising ever higher

So that humanity
Speaks with one tongue
Once more, the language
Of love, infinite and eternal

- © Irving Karchmar 2012

Poetry Recital: Love Poem – Gladly Then Did the World Arise

Salaam and Greetings of Peace:

My second reading of poetry on YouTube, a recital of a Love Poem – Gladly Then Did the World Arise.  The poem is also posted below the video.

Love Poem

Gladly then did the world arise
By that one mighty word of power… Love!
From any other word quite apart
It rejoices in the willing heart
And binds the planets to their skies
And shines in You the brighter to my eyes

Night, come bring the dippers and Orion’s belt
To gird the firmament and bind us to His boundless will
That my heart, which has never felt such sentiment
May feel it then the deeper still

Give it not to chance then, nor say instead ’twas fate
That we have met in time who might have met too late
In the understanding of two hearts that may for earlier years amend
As our time flows like a river, unfelt til journeys end

– Irving Karchmar, 1986

Ya Haqq!

Master of the Jinn on Amazon – US and UK/Europe

Salaam and Greetings of Peace:

IN ENGLISH

Master of the Jinn: A Sufi Novel is now available in English as both a Paperback and EBOOK on the Amazon websites in England/UK (£8.72 and £3.20), and also Spain and Italy, France and Germany (Euro 11.66 and 3.60) :) Just CLICK on the country where you live :)

 Master of the Jinn in SPAIN – Click HERE.

Master of the Jinn in ITALY - Click HERE.

Master of the Jinn in FRANCE – Click HERE.

Master of the Jinn in GERMANY –Click HERE. 

IN SPANISH

Master of the Jinn is also available as an Ebook in the Spanish Translation in the US and England/UK…

El Maestro de los Jinn in the US – Click HERE.

El Maestro de los Jinn in the UK/Europe – Click HERE.

IN GERMAN

…and as a Paperback in the German Translation in Switzerland/Germany/Europe. Just CLICK on the title.

Meister der Jinn in Germany/Switzerland/Europe - Click HERE.

Ya Haqq!

Poetry Recital – Believe Not in Astrologers

Salaam and Greetings of Peace:

I am experimenting with reading poetry on YouTube. Here is the first attempt,  a recital of Believe Not in Astrologers.  The poem is also posted below the video.

Believe Not in Astrologers

Believe not in astrologers
Who tell fortunes by the stars
Nor in dark-eyed women in black silk robes
Who turn the Tarot cards

Believe not in the witch’s curse
Nor in sorcery of any kind
The shaman seeks to steal your purse
And the voodoo man to steal your mind

Believe not in Satanic spell
Seek not solace in the Gypsy’s ball
Planets will not the future tell
Nor black magicks one lost soul recall

Believe instead in Love, my friend
For by its harmony the world endures
Without certainty, perhaps, yet without end
As proof, the moon ensures

Believe in courage and desire
Leave the mystery in life, my love
Be gladly warmed by mortal fire
Embrace the eagle and the dove

For this I know by my heart’s blood
What we may be may not be told
Yet each of us, though born apart
May each the others heart enfold

Before this crystal truth, let each spirit, naked, stand
That human hope and laughter are bought with human tears
Yet we may walk in starlight, hand in hand
And live, and love, and have no fear 

- Irving Karchmar, 1986

Ya Haqq!

“Miracle” of the Angel

Salaam and Greetings of Peace:

Hagiographic literature is the biographical genre devoted to the lives and works of saints and holy men. Scholars of course object to this genre as an uncritical and exaggerated telling of the supposed wonders and miracles of the saints, usually written by the later disciples of their own Orders. I have always thought that the unvarnished lives of the saints did not need exaggeration, that their works of kindness and generosity and their words of insight, compassion and love were reason enough to cause us who follow after to emulate them as best we are able.

As much as the imagination wants to believe every word, I too had a problem with the supposed miracles portrayed in Attar,  Hujwiri,  Jami and the numerous biographies of saints.

And I have always considered myself a man of reason, as far as reason goes, so I do not know if I should even tell this tale, but since I had a part to play in what I can only call a miraculous event, I have asked for and received permission from the Master, Dr. Alireza Nurbakhsh, to relate it. He said that it may inspire those in search of the miraculous.

Of course, our late Master, Dr. Javad Nurbakhsh, of the Nimatullahi Sufi Order, also had no taste for the exaggerated or miraculous, or for pretense in general. Even in his own biography, Bestower of Light, there appears no mention of extraordinary powers, only the charisma and attraction of the advanced Sufi, which is a form of Divine energy working through a darvish, of which he or she is only the agent.

Perhaps the real problem is with the word “miracle” itself, which for the rational mind is either logically explainable or impossible. For those on a spiritual path, however, life itself is a miracle without compare.

In fact, in his discourse on Constancy, he quoted Abu Ali Jauzjani, who said, “Practice constancy; don’t go looking for miracles, for it is your nafs that want miracles, while God wants constancy from you.” This constancy or steadfastness means to step out of yourself and stand firm in way of God on the Path of Love.

In the hope that this true story will aid in that journey, I pray that God bears witness to the truth of what I relate, and guides us all on the straight path. Amin.

And so…

1995 – The Toronto khaniqah was purchased and a Deeg Joosh, a special Sufi gathering was announced to celebrate the new khaniqah. Darvishes from all over the US were invited. I was living in Chicago at the time, and made arrangements to fly to Toronto. Taking a taxi from the airport, I gave the address and off we went. I was not certain which house was the right address on Lawrence Avenue, and I thought we had already passed it. I had the driver turn around and stop in front of a church on the other side of the street, thinking to walk across the street and find the house. When the cab left I looked around at the neighborhood and was struck by the huge statue of what appeared to be the archangel Michael in front of the church. It was bronze, I think, at least it had the color of burnished bronze, with a large pedestal. I could just reach up and touch the large foot of the angel, who stood with great arms outstretched and massive wings half open.

How appropriate, I thought smiling, that the khaniqah is watched over by an angel. And the khaniqah itself was lovely; the first thing one noticed was that the foyer ceiling was vaulted, resembling the inside of a taj, the conical hat worn on special occasions by darvishes of service. And the Deeg Joosh was a wonderful affair. I met many new darvishes, and went home happy.

2003 - I had moved to New York in 2000, and in 2003 I took my first trip to Banbury England to take part in another Deeg Joosh, which is held there every year around the summer solstice. The Russian translation of Master of the Jinn had just been published, and I was full of my own self-importance. What happened there to deflate my ego has already been related in a story entitled Meeting the Master, which you can read HERE.

However, during the days leading up to the Deeg Joosh, I happened to be sitting in the open area besides the kitchen, talking to a young darvish I had just met who mentioned that he was from Toronto.

“Ah, Toronto, I was there for the Deeg Joosh in 1995, when it first opened,” I said. “I remember the big statue of the angel across the street in front of the church. What a great place to have a khaniqah.”

“Ha, that is actually how we found the khaniqah,” he said, and proceeded to tell the story. “Once Master had decided to buy a khaniqah in Toronto, he sent a group of us out every day looking in every neighborhood for a suitable house. It had to meet a number of criteria, including being close to public transportation, in a good, but not expensive neighborhood, and it had to have an open floor plan to allow for meetings and a possible Deeg Joosh if called for. We had a terrible time finding one. Every day we would look in different neighborhoods, and every night Master would call and ask, “Did you find a house?” We would say, “Not yet,” and he would say, “Keep looking.” This went on every day for many weeks. Each night we had to say we didn’t find anything, and each night he would tell us to keep looking.

“Finally, after five or six weeks, we dejectedly told Master that we had looked in every neighborhood in Toronto and had found nothing that was suitable for a khaniqah. He just said, “Keep looking. It is under the angel’s wings.” That was all. We just looked at each other and shrugged, but the very next day we somehow took a wrong turn and came upon a house for sale,  and of course saw this big angel statue across the street in front of a church. We called the real estate agent listed on the For Sale sign and he quickly came over show it. The house was perfect, and we immediately put down a deposit. Alhamdulillah!”

I loved this story of persistence and Master’s prescience. No one doubted Master had seen that the perfect house was waiting to be discovered. I have related another story of such ability in A Stop in the Desert, which can be read HERE. After years on the path it was rather taken for granted and not discussed among us that a spiritually advanced Sufi Master would have such a gift.

2007 - A few years later, on a visit back to Chicago, I told this story to a darvish in the Chicago khaniqah, and he looked at me in wide eyed wonder. “That is exactly what happened to me in Koln, Germany.” And he told a very similar tale, only the angel was a small stone cherub in the backyard. “We looked for weeks for a khaniqah, and after every week’s failure, Master would say ‘Keep looking.’ until finally, after many weeks, Master said, ‘Keep looking. It is under the angel’s wings.’ We found the house that is now the khaniqah the next day.”

I have related this story also, in Under the Angel’s Wings, which you can read HERE.

Both amazing stories that fill the heart with love for the Master, and even for such an esoteric concept as the grand design of the universe.

2010 - Now I happen to tell the story to Patricia, my beloved, who was initiated as a darvish a few years ago. She is very curious about the statue in Toronto, which to her as a Catholic seems out of place in front of a church.

“We can go there sometime and you can see it for yourself,” I said.

“Or, we can use Google Earth and see it right now in real time on the computer,” she says, and I love the idea. The statue’s size and magnificence has stayed with me, and I wanted to see it again.

She opened Google Earth and I gave her the address of the Toronto khaniqah, which we found after a few minutes. She panned the camera across the street and there was the church… but there was no statue. We looked all around the property, but found only a small statue of the Virgin Mary on the right side of the church.

“How weird is that!” I said. “There is no statue! Maybe they moved it.”

So I looked up the name of the church and called the listed office number. A woman answered, and I asked what happened to the big statue of the angel in front of the church.

“What statue?” she asked?

“The angel statue. It is of the Archangel Michael I think, about 20 feet high. You can’t miss it,” I chuckled. “Was it moved?”

“No, there has never been a statue like that in front of this church,” she said seriously.

“Hmm, well, I was there in 1995, so it was 15 years ago. Maybe it was before your time. How long have you worked there?”

“No sir, I have been a lay secretary here since the church opened in 1990. There has never been any statue like that in front of this church. Catholic churches never have statues of angels in front of them.”

She hung up, and I sat there with the phone in my hand and my mouth open, literally speechless. “This is crazy,” I said to Patricia. “I saw it myself. I touched it.. It was huge!”

“Well, you were a darvish and you saw what you were supposed to see,” she said.

“But other people saw it too, the darvishes that found the khaniqah, the ones who visited it for the Deeg Joosh. We talked about it for years afterwards,” I said.

“The Master said the khaniqah was under the angel’s wings. So of course the angel appeared for the darvishes. Why is that so suprising?”

She was right. I felt the strangest tingling sensation creeping up my spine, and for the first time in my life knew the feeling of awe. And I have no explanation for it to this day, except to wonder if the literature of saints and holy men were really that exaggerated after all. I know only that our late Master was the soul of loving-kindness.

Perhaps love itself is the only miracle.

God knows the truth.

Ya Haqq!

Master of the Jinn in Indonesia – Sang Raja Jin Published!

Salaam and Greetings of Peace:

Alhamdulillah! Praise God!  Sang Raja Jin, the Indonesian translation of Master of the Jinn, had been republished by Mizan Publishing, one of the largest book publishers in Indonesia.   Look for it at your local bookstore, or buy it online HERE.

Ya Haqq!

The Women in Our Lives – Happy Mother’s Day 2012 :)

Salaam and Greetings of Peace:

Everything I know of love, I’ve learned from women -  my mother, my daughter, and my wife. This is absolutely true. And more, all that I comprehend of God’s love and mercy, I have learned from their love; and even that small fraction of His infinite bounty has its root within my heart in the endless kindness and patience and endurance and generosity of these women.

My mother was the kindest, gentlest soul I have even known. I cannot think of even one instance where she considered her own needs before that of her children. I wish I could say the same for myself.

My daughter is simply remarkable. Smart and funny, tall and lovely, in whose company I take great delight. Every man should have such an honest critic :) She is a mother of two now, as is my daughter-in-law, so I will add to the list my darling granddaughters Hayley and Sophia. The pure love of children lights up the world.

And my beloved wife, who is the soul of patience with Lara and Quinn, her daughter and granddaughter, embodies all of those attributes, and many more, especially kindness and patience with my eccentricities :)

So on this Mother’s Day, here’s to the women in our lives. May we be worthy of them.

Oh the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are — chaff and grain together — certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and with the breath of kindness blow the rest away.

-George Eliot

Ya Haqq!