Blog Talk Radio Interview on Master of the Jinn

Salaam and Greetings of Peace:

Alhamdulillah! The interview went well, I think :) The very kind and gracious Sister Hadayai, of the Blog Talk Radio series Baitul Salaam, interviewed me on Wednesday, June 25^th about the Sufi path of Love and the novel Master of the Jinn, for the half hour show called Spiritually Inspired Literature.

Just click HERE to listen to the show. It will start as the page opens, after a commercial and a pause.

Note: The interview did run out before I finished reading an excerpt from Master of the Jinn, a Sufi story called The Judgment of God. If you would like to read the whole thing, click HERE.

Ya Haqq!

Waiting for God II

Salaam and Greetings of Peace:

In a previous post, I wrote that to a darvish, Waiting for God is cultivating patience, that is, waiting for God’s sake. As the Prophet (pbuh) said: “…Nobody can be given a blessing better and greater than patience.”

However, there is also another kind of waiting for God: The Sufi way of waiting for divine knowledge, for union with the Beloved. This is the most demanding and difficult of all trials of patience.

Sufi Masters of the past used to sit in the Haram, as did Dhu’l Nun the Egyptian, or in a mosque, like Imam al-Ghazali, or in the desert, like Abu Said Abi’l Khayr, to wait for the answers to be given.

Alhamdulillah! It doesn’t happen because we are worthy of it; no one is worthy of it. It doesn’t happen because we deserve it, or want it, or hope for it, or pray for it, or fast, or give up everything for it. It only happens as God wills.

“Nor shall they compass any of Hu’s knowledge except as Hu might will.” – Qur’an 2:255

Our brother Dara writes: “When I was in Makkah, each night I would see an African man who would circle the Ka’ba until dawn, asking Allah TO BE GIVEN. I was there for one year, and he circled the Ka’ba each night till dawn. He would carry the Qur’an and read slowly. The purpose of practices like Sufi Silence is to learn to wait, like a slave, to be given ‘ilm (knowledge).”

Although Union with the Beloved is never given as a reward for one’s efforts, Strive, O heart, as much as you are able. – Hafez

This is our task then, as human beings of faith: To strive and not to yield.

May Allah bless us with patience and guide us on the straight path of Love. Ameen!

Ya Haqq!

Constancy on the Sufi Path

Salaam and Greetings of Peace:

The term “constancy” is taken from the Qur’anic passage in which God tells His Prophet (pbuh): “Be constant, as you are commanded.” (11:112)

On the Sufi path, one walks with the feet of Love, and constancy, or steadfastness, provides the provisions needed to carry one forward.

Constancy means to step out of your self and stand firm with God. Feeling hurt, making excuses, getting distracted, being irresponsible, making claims, all serve to block the development of constancy or steadfastness in the darvish.

Abu Ali Jauzjani said: “Practice constancy; don’t go looking for miracles, for it’s your nafs that want miracles, while God wants only constancy from you.”

Alhamdulillah! May we stand firm, and not waver on the path of Love, meeting difficulties and afflictions with courage. If someone treats you badly, apologize to him! If someone irritates you, be thankful! If affliction visits you, consider it a necessary cure!

This is the way of the Sufi on the path of Love. 

- Adapted from Discourses on the Sufi Path by Dr. Javad Nurbakhsh.

 

Ya Haqq!