Category Archives: Blog

On matters related to Russia, I’ve certainly got my ear to the ground–quite literally, as you can see in the photograph above. Since I research and teach about the Middle East and Russia (and speak Arabic and Russian), I’ve really been keeping my ear to the ground these past few weeks–to keep up with the latest developments on Russia and Syria–especially since the situation in Syria directly impacts our life here in Lebanon. You wouldn’t believe what secrets I heard being whispered under the pavement of Palace Square in St. Petersburg. I could tell you, but then, well, you know…

There is much I would like to share today, the internet connection has been dreadful all day. Apologies in advance–I’m trying to find a way around being prevented from uploading photos, but the system seems jammed. In the meantime, thank you for your patience and understanding. I guess this is just one of the many daily challenges of living in a developing country–which has been ranked as having the slowest internet connection in the world–behind Zambia, Vanuatu, Iraq and Afghanistan. Though Lebanon recently jumped several spots in the rankings, it’s still at the bottom of the heap–and the connection remains unbearably slow. It’s a wonder that we get anything done. Since I’m unable to work online right now, I guess I’ll just have to go and swim with the turtles, and re-“connect” with nature instead…

On two separate occasions, I had the opportunity to work and do research at the shrine of the 12th century Persian Sufi Yusuf Hamadani in Turkmenistan on the Silk Road.  Like many renowned mystics, Hamadani spent the latter part of his life in seclusion–to leave the world and any attachments to it behind…

Today, considering all of the madness in the world around us, the pull to live a secluded and peaceful life in a prolonged retreat is an impulse not hard to understand.  But most Sufis still choose to abide by the command to be “in” the world, but not “of” the world–by participating in daily affairs, without being attached to them…

[The opening of the faculty of Spiritual Hearing] is the beginning of the opening of the Heart and its unveiling–good tidings from the Heavenly Stations!  It is the dawn of understanding of Divine Meanings. This hearing is sustenance for the spirit and life for the heart.  It is the Subsistence (baqa) of the Secret (sirr)…

— Yusuf al Hamadani

I marveled at an Ocean without shore,
and at a Shore that did not have an ocean;
And at a Morning Light without darkness,
and at a Night that was without daybreak;
And then a Sphere with no locality
known to either fool or learned scholar…

— Ibn Arabi

After three days of rough seas, we were finally allowed to return to the sea yesterday to swim with the turtles. Though the water was clear, the fish seemed somewhat skiddish–one moment, their silver scales would twinkle like submerged stars under the waves, and the next–they would be gone.

With the salmon sun diving under the curls of the clouds on one side, and the moon rising like a fine pearl over rolling hills on the other, I kept whipping my head from side-to-side–from beauty to beauty–since I was unable to choose between them. Left, right, left, right. East, west, east, west. Maybe, I thought, if I just float on my back–with the sea as the strange mirror between them–I can see the moon and the sun at the same time. But when that didn’t work, I decided instead to take a deep breath, and dive even deeper–to explore the murky mountains and hidden valleys lining that unknowable sea…

Come to Lebanon–well, if you’re British (but really, anyone’s welcome!). Britain has just announced that they are easing their travel warning to Lebanon, and no longer advising against non-essential travel to Lebanon to enjoy the country’s marvelous ancient ruins, crumbling Crusader castles, churches of all denominations, Ottoman mosques, restored Sufi shrines, and laid back Mediterranean lifestyle. Now that we in Lebanon don’t have to worry about the repercussions of a potential Western strike against Syria and Bashar al-Assad, the festive party mood has returned–and perhaps some tourists–and you–will too.

When I was at the shrine of Ibn Arabi in Syria, I ended up taking photographs of almost every inch of his tomb. I remember being drawn to this nook in particular–with its Arabic inscription chiseled to fit into different shapes, its alternating courses of faded stone (ablaq style), and even the damage from the weeping streaks of rainwater…but no photograph could capture the silence and stillness of his tomb, when I was almost locked inside it overnight–all by myself…

Oh lover – whosoever you are – know that the veils between you and your beloved – whosoever he might be – are nothing save your halt with things, not the things themselves; as said by the one who hasn’t tasted the flavour of realties. You have halted with things because of the shortcoming of your perception; that is, lack of penetration, expressed as the veil; and the veil is nonexistence and nonexistence is nothingness. Thus there is no veil, If the veils were true, then who got veiled from you, you should also have been veiled from him.

— Ibn al-Arabī

Since I’m currently writing an article on Mali, I’ve been remembering my time in Mali–where I had the chance to study Sufism, drumming, and dance. While going through my photos from Mali today, I found this one of a man playing a drum for some of the children in the village–who responded with wiggles and giggles–and dancing…

The Creator wants us to drum. He wants us to corrupt the world with drum, dance and chants. After all, we have already corrupted the world with power and greed…which hasn’t gotten us anywhere – now’s the time to corrupt the world with drum, dance and chants.

— Babatunde Olatunji (Nigerian musician & activist)

The movement which is the existence of the universe is the movement of love.

— Ibn ‘Arabi, Fusûs al-Hikam

As I mentioned in “Sharing the Sufis of Syria,” Ibn Arabi is considered one of the greatest mystic masters and theologians in Sufism–if not the greatest. When I went to visit his shrine in Damascus–it was filled with many women and children–some of whom you can see in the photograph above. Ibn Arabi’s shrine has long been a dynamic place of pilgrimage–with a steady stream of people (mostly Syrian) constantly coming and going to offer a prayer, and pay their respects to this great master of the heart.

I am the slave of passion and the slave of the Beloved.
The fire of passion burns my heart
And the One I love is in my mind.
Passion has seized hold of the reins of my heart
So wherever I turn my gaze
Passion is facing me.

— Ibn Arabi, On the Knowledge of the Station of Love and its Secrets

Because Ibn Arabi had at least two female teachers and wrote often about the feminine aspects of spirituality, women and girls feature prominently in his writings. One of my favorite stories of Ibn Arabi’s is found in Tarjumān al-ashwāq, in which he recalls meeting a beautiful “young girl” in Mecca who, when hearing him reciting poetry while circling the Kaaba says: “I am surprised to hear such verses from you, you who are the gnostic of your time!…What I desire is real awareness made known by non-existence, and the Path which consists of speaking truthfully.”

You are the grace raining down; the grace is you. — Rumi

As I was leaving my early morning class and enjoying the first raindrops since spring–dripping like tender taps on my head–I saw a Lebanese student pass by me wearing the shirt above…a beautiful way to start the day…

The dust of many crumbled cities settles over us like a forgetful doze,
but we are older than those cities…

Humankind is being led along an evolving course,
through this migration of intelligences,
and though we seem to be sleeping,
there is an inner wakefulness that directs the dream
and that will eventually startle us back to the truth of who we are.

— Rumi

Love is the essence of all stations and virtues…if you consider beauty and perfection to be confined to material forms and worldly things, know that you are imprisoned within the world of (corporeal) form and are deprived of observing the reality.

— Sheikh Najmuddin Kubra (d. 1220)

As I mention in my new Huffington Post article about Damascus, I’ve spent the past ten years wandering from Afghanistan to Mali–and many places in between–to visit as many Sufi shrines as possible. Many of those shrines, it turns out, were in Central Asia along the Silk Road.

Tonight, I was thinking about the shrine of Sheikh Najmuddin Kubra–the Persian founder of the Kubrawiyya Sufi Order–in Konye-Urgench in Turkmenistan. Since I had heard about him for many years before stepping on the Silk Road, I knew that I had to make my way to his shrine when I was finally living in Turkmenistan (which is one of my favorite places in the world). Sheikh Kubra is celebrated for his complex and profound treatises on spiritual visionary experiences and mystical dreams. Known as the “Pillar of the Age,” he was also reportedly referred to as the “maker of saints” because of the large number and quality of the Sufi students whom he guided.

When I teach Sufism, my students always enjoy reading the various stories produced from the Silk Road about his unfortunate death at the hands of the Mongols–a death which is still discussed, I found, by the Turkmen visiting his shrine–who think of him as a national hero…

Don’t ask anyone about Love–
ask Love about Love.
Love is a cloud that scatters pearls.

— Rumi

I took the photo above in one of the refugee camps in Beirut, when I was trying to help coordinate how we might bring more blankets and other essentials into the camp. Even though Lebanon is not much different in size from a small state like Rhode Island, it is currently hosting more Syrian refugees than any other country. Over the past few years, Lebanon has been inundated with more than 700,000 Syrian refugees–in addition to all of the Palestinian refugees who were already living here. The refugee crisis here in Lebanon gets worse each day–with more and more Syrians fleeing to the border, as resources for them are dwindling under the stress of so many people in need. What’s to be done to stop this humanitarian disaster from spiraling even more out of control?

Although there is no scientific proof of its medical value, rhino horn is highly prized in traditional Asian medicine, where it is ground into a fine powder or manufactured into tablets as a treatment for a variety of illnesses such as nosebleeds, strokes, convulsions, and fevers.
– WWF, African Rhino Poaching Crisis

Today, when I was reading that September 22nd will be World Rhino Day (#SaveTheRhino/#iam4rhinos), I remembered an adorable tiny rhino that I was fortunate to spot in the wild, while leading a spirited safari through East Africa for Columbia. Due to the devastating effects of poaching, it’s quite rare to see a rhino on safari–and even more rare still to spot a baby rhino in the wild. While we knew we were very lucky to observe this young rhino walking with its mother through the bushes of the Masai Mara–our collective silence felt tinged with as much sadness as excitement. There was no way to know if these two majestic creatures would end up beating the odds, or if they would fall victim to the death blows of the poachers, and the greed of those in faraway places–who desire their horns…