Category: SUFI Journal

Silence

THE BREATH IS PRECIOUS

 
It was written in beautiful Persian calligraphy and was placed above the door of the old Tehran khaniqah. I first noticed it when I was a child: sokout dam ghanimat ast, “silence: the breath is precious.” 

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Krishna Das Interview

On Kirtan, what makes music sacred, and his inspiration from Neem Karoli Baba

An Exclusive Interview by Llew Smith and Annie Stopford.

 

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Sain Zahoor

PAKISTAN’S MYSTIC OF MUSIC

“There are people who walk the earth as if they have walked upon it for centuries. Sain Zahoor is one of them.”

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Parvathy Baul

RENOWNED BAUL SINGER SHARES HER MUSIC WITH SUFI

Parvathy Baul is a singer, painter and storyteller from West Bengal. She is both trained in the Baul order and studied visual arts at the Kala Bhavan University at Shantiniketan.

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Friendship

by Alireza Nurbakhsh

The Sufis refer to God as the Friend (dūst). This is based on the Koranic verse yuhibbuhum wa yuhibbuhunah (God loves them and they love Him, 5:45), which is interpreted by the Sufis as meaning that it is God’s love for us that gives rise to our love for Him.

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Sufi Symbolism

AND THE MYSTIC QUEST

by Lahleh Bakhtiar

The centrality of symbolism in Sufi teaching remains a consuming topic for scholars as well as practitioners. Lahleh Bakhtiar’s discourse on the subject in her book Sufi: Expressions of The Mystic Quest invokes the tapestry of Sufi symbolism as an expanding visual language, rich with ritual and hidden archetypes—an inner path to understanding.

 

(Photo Prof. Richard T. Mortel – Riyadh)

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Guides of Light

TEACHERS OF SUFI AND BUDDHIST TRADITIONS

by Yousef Daoud

The east Asian traditions and Sufism have in common the tradition of working with a guide or master. As many of the great wisdom traditions have been migrating from the East to the West since the beginning of the 20th century, to cultures that are less traditional than those of Asia and the Middle East, the ancient role of the spiritual guide or teacher is being questioned and tested.

(Photo © Himberry/Photocase.com)

 

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