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Select a Month October 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 November 2020 August 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016

August 2021

August 30, 2021

Freedom from Food: The Gifts of a Three-Month Fast

Daliah Merzaban describes the taste of Love concealed beneath pangs of hunger “Keep your body...

April 2021

April 17, 2021

Unite with the Living

Listen to the voices of the holy in our breasts. By their hearts all...

March 2021

March 28, 2021

Prophet Muhammad and the Garbage Thrower

True power and compassion flow when validation comes from within Of the many stories relating...

January 2021

January 04, 2021

Listening to the Reed

It would be impossible to separate my heart’s awakening with my Sufi master Rumi from...

November 2020

November 22, 2020

How Awake Are We? When Waking Up is Falling Asleep

Are we asleep? Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi can really challenge us on this issue: This...

August 2020

August 01, 2020

The Spiritual Opportunity of Working on Your Own Racism

“To know love, become we.” - Mevlana Four years ago, as a journalist, I...

May 2020

May 13, 2020

All Food is Sacrifice

"You are cutting this apple with such presence,” a dear friend once observed as I...

April 2020

April 28, 2020

Ramadan, Ancestors, & The Lightness of Being

Your inner being is a sanctuary, cleanse it with the light of compassionate awareness. [Threshold...

February 2020

February 10, 2020

Whirling through life: Reflections of a female whirling dervish

Whirling is a seven-centuries old form of full-body worship emblematic of the Mevlevi tradition of...

January 2020

January 28, 2020

“God appears in the one in whom poverty is complete.”

Memories of Murshid Suleyman Dede: My first encounter with a Sufi Murshid forever changed my...

January 07, 2020

Considering Time: New Year Reflections

The movement into a new year naturally makes us reflect on the passage of time....

December 2019

December 23, 2019

A Very Muslim Christmas

This year I finally bought a Christmas jumper. I don’t know why it took me...

October 2019

October 21, 2019

How Beauty Evokes Love in Sufism

I have been fortunate during my spiritual training to have been inspired by some extraordinary...

October 09, 2019

Being in Love Together

I recently attended a retreat where a fellow seeker described the sweetness of the companionship...

September 2019

September 27, 2019

Prophet Muhammad and the Man Who Ate Too Much

Early in my time on the Sufi path, I went to visit some friends I...

August 2019

August 27, 2019

Step Back and See: Quran, Hadith, and Rumi

A human being is essentially an eye; the rest is merely flesh and skin...[1] Recently...

July 2019

July 14, 2019

Beauty as a Way of Life

There are so many manifestations of beauty in life. This has always been for me...

July 03, 2019

What if Allah is Beautiful and Loves Beauty?

What if Muslims who are in positions of religious authority acted as if Allah...

June 2019

June 15, 2019

Following Unexpressed Pain Into the Arms of Mercy

More than previous Ramadans, this year the holy month felt like a journey with my...

June 02, 2019

The expectancy of listening

Be patient and persistent in fasting: be always expecting the Food of God. For God,...

April 2019

April 21, 2019

Be Humble in Love; Be Bold in Loving

Sooner or later those who travel the path of God will encounter a series of...

March 2019

March 26, 2019

Why it’s a spiritual duty to develop the imagination

When the mirror of your heart becomes clear and pure, you'll behold images which...

March 10, 2019

The Grace of Love: Leonard Cohen and the Sufis (Part 3)

Note: This article is the third in a series of articles exploring the influence of...

December 2018

December 28, 2018

Shams and the Breaking Heart

Lately I’ve been haunted by some lines from a poem called “The Testing-Tree”: In a...

November 2018

November 06, 2018

Sufi Healing and Embracing Pain

Through the tears welling up in my eyes, I looked down at the opening and...

October 2018

October 23, 2018

Guide Us on the Straight Path

Back when I was a punk rock teenager, I learned there was a way to...

October 12, 2018

Islam: Containing Beauty and Joy

I have often wondered why the Beautiful and the Joyful do not usually appear in...

September 2018

September 26, 2018

Muhammad’s Intimacy with His Rabb

In a previous article we mentioned how the Prophet (PUH) had a deep capacity...

August 2018

August 12, 2018

Countering Islamic Extremism With Radical Love: Book Review

While reading Omid Safi’s new book, Radical Love: Teachings from the Islamic Mystical Tradition, I...

July 2018

July 22, 2018

Soul-Birds of Solomon

I was walking along the river when I spotted a crow on the railing. Cautiously,...