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POPSYursil: Being Spiritually Ambitious Last week, I had the opportunity to discuss one popular Muslim blogger's most recent post prior to its publishing. And at the time, when he shared the idea for the post, I thought it would be one of the most important blog topics of Rabi al-Thani 1429. And after reading the post, I realized it is just how significant an issue it was. In the post, Yursil of the Mind, Body, Soul blog discusses the phenomena of 'Spiritual Ambition'. He touches on a subject that few people want to accept, let alone discuss, and that subject is spiritual rank. The spiritually elite is clearly identified as a reality in the Qur'an al-kerim and the Sunnat of the Holy Prophet (may Peace and Blessings be upon him) and his Companions (may Allah be Pleased with them) but is this a reality today. And what is spiritual rank measured by? Yursil makes his case in the segment below:
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POPSHow Do Seekers Make Spiritual Progress? I was once sitting with a few murids in the company of our shaykh, when someone asked, "How do we make spiritual progress?" In that moment our shaykh offered a gem to each one of us, he gave us an invaluable lesson when he responded saying that sohbet is the means to spiritual progress. Sohbet is a Turkish word which refers to an intimate and divinely inspired talk or exchange, our shaykh refers to the English word "association" when discussing sohbet. Therefore, "association with the shaykh" is the means to spiritual progress. On 27 Shaban 1426, our shaykh discussed what an initiate (murid) is responsible for when seeking spiritual progress:
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POPSThe Ottomans and The Yemen
The early history of the Yemen is rich and full of influences of migrations peoples from Akkad, Sumer and other ancient Mesopotamian Kingdoms. Historians have recorded these migrations as far back as the 8th century B.C.. However, the medieval period is just as rich, complex and perhaps more significant with respect to the socio-political state of the Yemen today. For example, the Mamluks captured and added Yemen to their controlled territories after the Turkmen ruler's, known as the Rasulid Sultanate, which governed from the mid 1200s to 1500s collapsed. However, when the Mamluk Governor Al-Ashraf Qansuh al-Ghawri handed over authority to the Ottoman Sultan, Selim I in 1517 the Ottomans quickly moved into to the Yemen and controlled the region for a short time until a Zaidi resistance organized. Thereafter, the Ottomans withdrew from the mountainous interior of Yemen and remained in control of the coastal perimeter in 1630. Finally, in the 1830s the Zaidi influence of the in
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POPSSultan Murat III: Uyan Ey Gözlerim Gafletten Uyan Sultan Murat III The depth and complexity of the Ottoman State can be seen in the dynamic and breath taking architecture, art and music. All of which became a staple of the culture and lifestyle of the Ottoman State. However, it should be noted that not only does this reflect the presence and lifestyle of the people but more importantly its leaders. Likewise, in today's society the international community and each nations position within that community also reflects more so upon the leaders than individual citizens.
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POPSOur Grand Shaykh, Maulana Nazim al-Haqqani Our Grand Shaykh, Sultan Awliya Shaykh Mehmet Nazim al-Hakkani is the Grand Shaykh of the Osmanli Naks-i'bendi Sufi Association. And it is difficult to put his life into words. The impact that his sohbet (association) and instruction has had on people across the world has served to renew the faith of so many Muslims as well as carefully leading an unthinkable number to witness that there is only One God and that Muhammad is the Last in a successive line of Holy Messengers bringing the Divine Message. Just as Maulana Shaykh Nazim's life is difficult to put into words it is likewise difficult to describe the effect that the authenticity and integrity of his unbroken spiritual tradition, coming directly from the Holy Prophet (may Peace and Blessings be upon him), has had on us here in America and even less-likely places around the world. By sitting in association with Shaykh Abdul Kerim Efendi, deputy to Grand Shaykh Nazim Efendi, I have witnessed something remarkable and it has enrich
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POPSNew York Times: Mainstream vs. Tradition MSA The New York Times takes a look at the every controversial Muslim Students Association (MSA). This time the hot button is gender issues. The debate that is discussed in this article is whether or not Islamic values and Sharia compliant codes of conduct should be applied to the standards of the MSA. I'm not sure if this debate can be presented in a proper manner on the New York Times which I have always found to contain a slight against Traditionalist Muslims but what can be done. The debate between the mainstream and traditional MSA is presented below.
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POPSBelieving Bloggers (Part 1): Religion on the Internet? From time to time I spend a few moments looking at trends on blogpulse. Its a habit, trending and statistics is part of what I do for a living at the hospital, so you can't blame me for being interested in what scope of internet chatter looks like in a line graph. Anyway, as I was looking through Nielsen BuzzMetrics' interesting little media tool I ran across a Blogpulse generated search called, Church vs. Mosque vs. Temple vs. Synagogue vs. Shrine vs. Cathedral. It is a general search which does an overall scan of "places of worship" that are discussed on the internet. And what I found was than according to peak average, the "church" was mentioned in, a shocking, 82% more blogposts than the "mosque" overall. And the "mosque" was mentioned in 55% more than synagogue among all blog posts from August 19, 2007 to February 6, 2008. It should be interesting to note that the highest rate of posts for each place of worship were during the the months of Holy days. The synogogues peak rate w
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POPS3 Men Charged in Mosque Burning Recently, in Nashville Tennesee three men belonging to the Christian Identity Movement - a radical group with a Eurocentric interpretation of Christianity - have been arrested by federal agents, as suspects in connection with the burning of a mosque (masjid) called the Islamic Center of Columbia. The fire completely destroyed the mosque and a number of items such as Qur'ans, etc.. The suspects - age 19, 23 and 32 - appeared in court Monday, February 11, 2008.
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POPSUpdate on Religion Around the World I've been trying to make as much use of my iPod as possible. One of the ways I've trying to accomplish this is by keeping up with current events through podcasts. This morning I ran across a very interesting podcast hosted by NPR (National Public Radio) which made mention of three new developments in religion around the globe. The first is progress concerning the headscarf ban in Turkey; the second is a look into the religious rhetoric of Mike Huckabee, a very interesting analysis of his public speeches shows only a minority understand him. And lastly, the popular British Archbishop who says, " Law Must Accommodate Muslims."
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