Author Archives: sufiways

sufism and ideology

Thoght plus emotion=belief Sufism and ideology Being based on direct experience Sufi thought resists being converted into an ideology. In ideologies, right and wrong, tolerable and intolerable, etc., become absolute categories, already known or written down. What, one wonders, would … Continue reading

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Lao Tsu and Sufism

Was Nasruddin wise or an idiot, or both or neither ?

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Putin and Nasruddin: a Question of Identity

” There is no place like home, not even home.” Adam Phillips,psychoanalyst. ” No matter where you go, there you are. “ It seems that Putin,the Russian president had a tumutuous,traumatic early life, having been raised by a “surrogate” family. … Continue reading

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The Detour A Japanese proverb : “If you are in a hurry, take a detour, ,” isogaba maware.” An obscure tappa goes: you have done a great deal of Musulmani, now become a kafir ( non believer or skeptic, or … Continue reading

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Nasruddin and the Earnestness of Being Important

by Modaser Shah Once, while traveling during his younger years, the Mullah found himself empty-handed, penniless, and unable to return home. He managed to obtain part-time employment at an inn. His job was to keep track of the number of … Continue reading

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Sufi Lives: Adhem (Sufi and the Shriner)

by Ali Hammad There was once a man within whom resided dreams, such that it was hard to tell where dreams ended and real life began, or vice versa. Life, it seemed, was a set of questions, and dreams were … Continue reading

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Nasruddin’s dialectic and the fear of freedom

  by Modaser Shah There have always been, whether in religious or secular domains, two ways of thought: the scholastic,  where thinking is limited to what has already been “decided” or determined by eminent texts or thinkers, who came before. … Continue reading

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The 84th problem

by Modaser Shah This is a story related about the Buddha, considered by some Muslim scholars in the Middle Ages as one of the myriad prophets sent by God to various nations. A farmer came to the Buddha, having heard … Continue reading

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A Unilateral Peace

by Navid Zaidi St. Catherine’s Monastery, officially Sacred Monastery of the God-Trodden Mount Sinai, is the oldest monastery in the world (est. 565 AD). It is located at the foot of Mount Sinai near the town of Saint Catherine, Egypt.  It … Continue reading

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To Teach or Not to Teach

by Tabassum Saba Many years ago a colleague helped me open my first email account. Those were the days when internet technology had just arrived to the mainstream and opening an email account was considered a great technological skill. The … Continue reading

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