Carnelian Lane was a dead end street. At the very end of the road, nestled among giant shade trees and a lovely fountain which sang its tune refreshingly, there was a very fine restaurant. As the phrase suggests, this dead end street was somewhat dead: not in the sense of…
The following account of Mawlana Jalaluddin Rumi’s first night of dhikr-e samâ’ has been adapted from the novel "The Forty Rules of Love", by Turkish author Elif Shafak. There are those who say that dancing is sacrilege. They think Allah gave us music—not only the music we make with our…
Words in the Arabic-speaking world are powerful and effective weapons. While the Qur’an is the ultimate and unique masterpiece of the Arabic Language, Arabic poetry has been a highly influential force in Arab society and has been regarded as the Diwan ul-Arab: a literary heritage of Arab life collected by…
From the Islam Image Quotes Series: Islamic Wisdom, Sayings and Quotes The truth of Muhammad’s (pbuh) message and the guidance he brought by the Way of Islam transcends all divisions and leads us back to the recognition of our Lord, the One True Reality. In this spirit of Divine Unity,…
After recognizing the benefit of the companionship of a shaykh [i] who is connected to the Prophet (pbuh) by the transmission of his Light; a noble guide who lives by both sharī’ah [ii] and Truth – for the sincere murīd [iii] who hopes to arrive at the Divine Presence; the…
In The Diwan of Shaikh Husain Ash-Shadhili Ad-Darqawi, a diwan of three languages: Arabic, Indonesian and English, the pantun Al-Qur’an stands alone in one language only: Indonesian. This eloquent pantun [i] is a poem based on the Noble Qur’an, the sunnah (prophetic tradition) and ilham (inspiration). Direct quotations from the…
The way of words is a journey from the written to the read, from the spoken to the heard. As travelers 3: writer, word, and reader (or speaker, word, and listener), we venture, en rapport, from heart to words to heart. The wonder of this adventure is that something subtle…
These wise words have been extracted in their original language, Bahasa Indonesia from The Sunday Series: Majlis Tafsir Al-Qur’an with Shaikh Husain at the Foundation of The Happy Heart Zawiyah in Parung, Indonesia. The Pantun Al-Qur'an is from ilham (inspiration). Although Shaikh Husain is originally from Malaysia and of Chinese…
One absolute of war is that it gives an excruciatingly painful birth to intimacy with the bitterness of this world. War's victims, in both the face of death and also its wake, are acutely aware of this absolute. Here is one reflection: Naught of War War of Naught Crooked! Sides…
Change the world? Sometimes looking around, witnessing the pain, the horror, I wish I could transform the world, have an impact, touch hearts. The Prophet (saw) teaches that Islam is up close and personal. What faces me is for me to know, for me to act. Whoever I touch will…