#sufi way

[eyeoftheheart]

“In the whole of the universe there are only two: the lover and the beloved.”

— Sufi Saying

[be-a-muslim-1st]

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

"In the dead of night, a Sufi began to weep. He said, “This world is like a closed coffin, in which We are shut and in which, through our ignorance, We spend our lives in folly and desolation. When Death comes to open the lid of the coffin, Each one who has wings will fly off to Eternity, But those without will remain locked in the coffin. So, my friends, before the lid of this coffin is taken off, Do all you can to become a bird of the Way to God; Do all you can to develop your wings and your feathers.” ~ Farīd al-Dīn ʿAṭṭār

[h/t Ian Sanders]

[songofwizardry]

i stumbled across a Rumi quatrain on tumblr today and it reminded me to go looking for my favourites, so here's a few, all taken from Kulliyat-e Shams-e Tabrizi, with the caveat that i do not speak Farsi and I have read them all as translations only. more notes on translation at the end, but all of these are translated by Zara Houshmand, and taken from the archives of The Iranian.

#1771

#57

#1584

#1316

and the note on translation: these are of course not the Coleman Barks translations, the most popular English translations. i think the orientalism and... de-Sufi-fying and de-Muslim-ifying of the Barks translations and a lot of English-language and Western perception of Rumi is much more discussed now (Jawid Mojaddedi, who is writing a translation of Rumi's multi-volume Masnavi, says, "The Rumi that people love is very beautiful in English, and the price you pay is to cut the culture and religion.") if you're interested, Persian Poetics has a great twitter thread about it and their website has text, audio, and video resources where they've talked about it. and this article from Ajam Media is a short read and an interesting comparison of a few different translations.

if you enjoy Zara Houshmand's translations, she has a book of translations of Rumi's quatrains, Moon and Sun. there's many translations of Rumi's works not by Barks, that prioritise different things: you can 100% find a translation that isn't Barks, and Rumi's work is. so beautiful and so much better when you are not reading whatever uhhh... interpretation Barks came up with.

[sspacegodd]

George Ivanovich Gurdjieff was a philosopher, mystic, spiritual teacher, and wrestler. Gurdjieff taught that most humans are not conscious of themselves and thus live their lives in a state of hypnotic "waking sleep", but that it is possible to awaken to a higher state of consciousness with a carefully placed piledriver and thus achieve full human potential.

According to his principles and instructions, Gurdjieff's method for awakening one's consciousness was shown in exhibition enlightenments uniting the methods of the fakir, monk, and yogi. His student P. D. Ouspensky referred to it as the "Fourth Way".

Gurdjieff books are interesting and sometimes useful, but Ouspensky's book is boring torture and seems to have missed the whole idea of the Third Way (freedom from dualistic thought) and MMA.

[nereb-and-dungalef]

tfw you finally find a pdf by someone who shares what you thought were just insane theories and proves those insane theories in a way that supports your even more insane theories that the previous insane theories were just a footnote for))))))

[maester-of-spreadsheets]

Okay I’m listening to the fanaa soundtrack to make vacuuming bearable and what is this unhinged remix of Chand Sifarish that keeps repeating “I’ll be fanaa for youuuuu” as a vocal hook lmao?? Like sir is that a threat?

[anelegaicmind]

Qur'an

All who obey Allah and the messenger are in the company of those on whom is the Grace of Allah,- of the prophets (who teach), the sincere (lovers of Truth), the witnesses (who testify), and the Righteous (who do good): Ah! what a beautiful fellowship!

4:69

[lets-sumita]

I'll 'wait' & 'nurture' it

Faith in self, a seed,Blooms with strength and endless grace,Own path, it will lead.

[humanrightsupdates]

China: Hundreds of Uyghur Village Names Change

Part of Broader Government Effort to Erase Uyghur Culture in Xinjiang

(New York) – Chinese authorities in Xinjiang have been systematically changing hundreds of village names with religious, historical, or cultural meaning for Uyghurs into names reflecting recent Chinese Communist Party ideology, Human Rights Watch said today.

Human Rights Watch research has identified about 630 villages where the names have been changed that way. The top three most common replacement village names are “Happiness,” “Unity,” and “Harmony.”

“The Chinese authorities have been changing hundreds of village names in Xinjiang from those rich in meaning for Uyghurs to those that reflect government propaganda,” said Maya Wang, acting China director at Human Rights Watch. “These name changes appear part of Chinese government efforts to erase the cultural and religious expressions of Uyghurs.”

In joint research, Human Rights Watch and Norway-based organization Uyghur Hjelp (“Uyghur help”) scraped names of villages in Xinjiang from the website of the National Bureau of Statistics of China between 2009 and 2023.

The names of about 3,600 of the 25,000 villages in Xinjiang were changed during this period. About four-fifths of these changes appear mundane, such as number changes, or corrections to names previously written incorrectly. But the 630, about a fifth, involve changes of a religious, cultural, or historical nature.

The changes fall into three broad categories. Any mentions of religion, including Islamic terms, such as Hoja (霍加), a title for a Sufi religious teacher, and haniqa (哈尼喀), a type of Sufi religious building, have been removed, along with mentions of shamanism, such as baxshi (巴合希), a shaman.

Any mentions of Uyghur history, including the names of its kingdoms, republics, and local leaders prior to the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, and words such as orda (欧尔达), which means “palace,” sultan (苏里坦), and beg (博克), which are political or honorific titles, have also been changed. The authorities also removed terms in village names that denote Uyghur cultural practices, such as mazar (麻扎), shrine, and dutar (都塔尔), a two-stringed lute at the heart of Uyghur musical culture.

[eyeoftheheart]

The saint’s protection is Truth’s sword: your time with him is worth as much as the cup of life itself.

All the wise have said the same: the one who knows God is God’s mercy to His creatures . . .

Companionship with the holy makes you one of them. Though you’re rock or marble, you’ll become a jewel when you reach the man of heart.

Plant the love of the holy ones within your spirit; don’t give your heart to anything, but the love of those whose hearts are glad.

Don’t go to the neighborhood of despair: there is hope. Don’t go in the direction of darkness: suns exist.

[Mathnawi I, 714-717, 721-724 from The Pocket Rumi, tr. by Kabir and Camille Helminski]

[be-a-muslim-1st]

[i-cant-sing]

Baldwin's so damn sweet i keep forgetting that he's supposed to be a yandere lol

Can't wait to see what salauddin is like as a yandere though

Thank u, buff hellokitty

he is such a cutie patootie because you know that niqaab where he embroidered a flower on the sleeve for reader? Guess what else he embroidered in? His name on the inside of the left breast because this way he's closest to your heart.

Honestly Baldwin is such a green flag, i mean this man wakes up and as soon as he's seen you, he gives gold every day to be distributed as charity because he doesnt want you to fall victim to any evil eye (yknow, when people look at you in envy) because in his eyes, youre just too damn perfect.

Did I mention that he needs to have at least 1, if not ALL meals of the day with you? And to melt your heart a little more, Baldwin ensures that you take the first and the last bite of his meal (ofc from his hands. He likes to feed you)

As for Salauddin, well he hosts you two a lot at his place and he pretends to be so disgusted at the way Baldwin looks at u with goo goo eyes, but boy is the Kurdish man JEALOUS because ayo why tf is Baldwin looking so fucking content whenever he's with you? Why does Baldwin's smile and eyes remind him of cool breeze in summer when he looks at you? You cannot possible be that beautiful. But how would Salauddin know for sure because you want to always wear a niqaab and hide your face because "Islam and respecting his traditions" but he knows for a fact that you dont adhere to veiling yourself when you return to jerusalem. His spies told him, and on his inquiry they did tell him that youre not that pretty.

Maybe its the way you talk. You do have the gift of gab and you do tell the most interesting stories. And he does enjoy listening to your religious views too. Youre not- not as conservative as someone would be when they possess such a vast amount of Islamic knowledge- almost as much as his scholars and sufis. No, youre quite... modern, open minded. You really do believe in their being "two sides of the coin". And youre quiet the chess player too and from his last game, it was clear that you werent playing the game... you were playing him.

He doesnt know how, but he for some reason Salauddin knows that you will hurt Baldwin very deeply one day. And it scares him a bit because he doesnt know how the young king will react. He's seen Baldwin on the battlefield, he's seen the way he treats traitors, you do not want to get on his bad side.

Meanwhile Baldwin is just trying to convince Salauddin to be Imam (basically a muslim pastor?) to officiate their nikkah and Salauddin is just telling him shut up.

[youremyheaven]

Fated Love in Astrology

So, every person has a divine partner that they are meant to be with. Your union with your other half (I hesitate to use the world “twin flame” only because of how misconstrued it is in mainstream astrology/spirituality discourse) depends entirely on both of your individual spiritual awakening and commitment to the spiritual path.

In astrology, the 7th house represents marriage, or, as I like to call it “union”. The 7th house, is the 7th house from the 1st house. It is the descendant to your ascendant. It is the shadow to your ego. Whenever we cross paths with an individual whose luminaries fall to our 7th house, it creates a very magnetic & intense attraction. It’s almost inexplicable what you feel for each other.

With that said, this sort of connection is not logical or rational. It defies all norms. The key to recognizing your divine partner is the intense attraction you feel towards them right away. There is no hesitation or second guessing, you’re simply awestruck by them. Nowadays, we all have a very tedious approach to relationships (due to our collective trauma and bad experiences), everybody walks around with a checklist to find someone who will fit their criteria but that is not how Divine Love works. You just know instantly that there is something different about this connection. That is not to say, the nature of the relationship will be easy. Fated connections are never easy and not everyone is meant to find their Divine Partner. 

When such a person comes into your life, it usually triggers your ego death; they become responsible for you losing the shell of identity you held close to you. All your fears, your shame, your vulnerability comes to the forefront and you have to confront everything you’ve ever repressed. It leads to a dissolution of self. 

In Sufism, there is the concept of “fanaa” which can be translated to “annihilation”. In order to merge oneself with God, it is first necessary to annihilate everything that you consider to be you. It’s important to "to die before one dies". Love & Worship are very closely intertwined. This is exactly what “twin flame” connection feels like. You rid yourself of your ego, you dissolve your sense of “self”. Sounds intense? That’s because it is. It irks me when people talk about twin flames in a casual way because a) not everyone has a twin flame b) this is not a fun experience in any way, shape or form c)This is the least casual of experiences

(I am using the word twin flame here only because it is a term that more people are familiar with, I wanted to speak of the spiritual background of that experience whilst using a term that’s already familiar)

In Jungian psychology, there is the concept of anima/animus, which refer to the unconscious masculine aspect of a woman and the unconscious feminine aspect of a man respectively. One aspect of being a “whole” human being is to integrate these unconscious parts into yourself. This is similar to what a twin experiences, your other half seems to be in the shadow, hidden from your view, crossing paths with them, brings that realization to you and now in order to unite with them, you must first dissolve yourself and merge with that unconscious image of them. 

There is a reason why twins “mirror” each other; they are a reflection of you and vice versa. This is why every interaction with them strikes a nerve in you and you feel their absence like a phantom limb. 

If you’re on a twin flame journey or would like to know more about it, I suggest immersing yourself in Sufi philosophy. To a lay person, the Sufi concept of Love may seem dramatic and over the top but for those in the know, it will seem deeply familiar, because ultimately your longing and yearning for your “twin” is your innate longing to seek union with God/the Divine. We were all made in pairs and to know the other is to know God and to know God is to know Love.

These connections are presented to you in order for you to ascend. Why were you chosen for ascension over millions of others? That’s the divine plan, not up to us to question. It is entirely possible to meet such a person at a time in your life when you’re completely spiritually unevolved (this is very common) and they usually trigger your dark night of the soul. This leads to positive disintegration although nothing about this experience feels positive in any way, shape or form.

Actually uniting with your twin and sharing a life with them is a long shot. Its often an unrequited love. It requires A LOT of work by both people. There is a lifetime of purging, integration and inner work before union could ever be a possibility. Most people who use the term “twin flame” are using a fancy spiritual label to describe their excessive interest in someone. You don’t have a twin flame, you’re just manic. 

In Arabic literature, there are 7 stages to love, it is as follows:

1. Dilkashi or attraction

2. Uns or attachment

3. Mohabbat or love

4. Akidat or reverence 

5. Ibadat or worship

6. Junoon or madness

7. Maut or death

If you believe you’re experiencing a twin flame connection, you have probably gone through these stages, maybe not in this order but you’ve probably experienced all of these. 

You experience an inexplicable attraction that draws you to them, regardless of how far you stray from them, your heart clings to them & forms a deep attachment, even though you don't seem to understand it, you're consumed by love for them, without even knowing why, this love morphs itself into reverence and soon enough it's eclipsed even that & embedded itself as worship. Your feelings for them are so strong, intense and powerful even in separation, even in their absence that you feel yourself going mad. This madness is key because it brings you to the death of "self". You lose all sense of who you were before you met them. You're ripped of your ego. You die and die and die again, hoping to taste the love that will give life to you.

There are astrological indicators obviously but just because these aspects/placements are present, does not mean they are your twin flame. The biggest indicator is the deep sense of knowing you have in your soul, you don’t even have to know the word “twin flame”, you’re experiencing a magnetic, excruciating and tortuous kind of attraction. 

Some indicators:

1. Venus in 12h 

2. Venus in Scorpio

3. Primary Scorpio or Taurus placements (the Taurus-Scorpio axis creates the most intense chemistry between two people)

4. Moon conjunct Mars 

5. Opposite signs occupying many placements (Virgo-Pisces, Cancer-Capricorn, Gemini-Sagittarius)  

5. 7h synastry 

6. Bharani nakshatra 

Uniting with your twin can trigger your kundalini awakening. It is not for the faint of heart. Union is a very intense experience. Much has been said about twin flames and tantric sex. Imo? What we call Tantric sex is essentially the heightened feeling and intensity of sexual experience that a Tantric practice brings about. (its possible to feel this way with a non-twin if you have a disciplined Tantric practice). 

Sex is the source and root of everything. It is the cause of creation and nothing less than divine. Eros is the first god that could be conceived by man, he is the creator of all beings and ruler of the universe. He is son of Chaos, the original primeval emptiness of the universe.

Longing, desire and Eros, all go hand in hand. When your soul has longed for someone for so long, the sheer passion and enormity of desire will make it a very one of a kind experience. Short answer being that sex with your twin will be out of this world and life changing.

In Sufism, there is a concept called baqaa which is subsistence through God. Someone who has experienced fanaa, or annihilation of the ego and self, finds God, unites with him and sees him in everything. This is what love of a “twin flame” nature does. It is all consuming and potent, you cannot walk away from it, even brushing with it briefly, transforms you. It purifies you and strips you of your pride, shame, fears and everything that you thought was “you” but the reward for this is understanding through first hand knowledge, a love so all encompassing, expansive, deep and profound that it forever alters the way you look at the world. You begin to love everything and everyone because you’ve tasted true love and its generosity. 

Karmic Partnerships

These are extremely common and almost everyone has one. They need not strictly be romantic. Many non-romantic associations can be karmic. These people to put it very plainly, come into your life, to teach you lessons. They need not explicitly be “bad relationships” but the energy is definitely not light hearted and its absolutely not meant to last a lifetime. You are meant to learn your lessons and move on from them and break the karmic cycle. However there are people who do not do this and stay stuck in the same patterns and perpetuate the same cycles.

Some indicators of Karmic Partnerships in astrology:

1. 12h synastry

2. 8h synastry 

3. Saturn aspects 

4. Capricorn/Libra placements

Soulmates

These are the most wholesome, fulfilling bonds between two people. Soulmates need not always be romantic. The bond is kind of instant and inexplicable. You just get each other. It feels fulfilling, empowering and light. It fills you up. There is no angst and there’s no chaos. 

Some indicators:

1. Moon signs that are compatible with each other

2. Moon aspects that are positive

3. Venus-Ascendant aspects

4. 5h synastry

5. Strong Venus or Jupiter aspects

6. Element compatibility (fire & air vs water & earth)

🧜🏼‍♀️🧜🏼‍♀️🧜🏼‍♀️🧚🏼‍♂️🧚🏼‍♂️🧚🏼‍♂️🦋🦢🦢🦢🦋🧚🏼‍♂️🧚🏼‍♂️🧜🏼‍♀️🧜🏼‍♀️🧜🏼‍♀️🧜🏼‍♀️🧚🏼‍♀️🧚🏼‍♀️🧚🏼‍♀️🦋🦋🦢🦢🦢🧜🏼‍♀️🧜🏼‍♀️🧜🏼‍♀️

I’m sorry if I sound a little too esoteric on this post 😭😭😭idk how else to talk about this stuff and I tried my best to make it sound as simple as I could 😭I hope this was interesting and if you guys have any questions feel free to ask me💛💛

Further reading:

1. Plato’s Symposium

2. Sufi philosophy and poetry 

3. Carl Jung’s works

[handweavers]

something that has interested me for years is the ways in which mysticism within religions allows for a kind of heretical or non-orthodox thought, and particularly within the context of christianity i find a lot of that heretical mysticism stumbles into the same epiphanies and ontologies that are found within south/east/asian religions as well as among contemporary medieval mystics studying kabbalah and sufi thought. i'm particularly fond of when christian mystics would stumble into nondualist belief, and how often nondualism is positioned as deeply unorthodox when it's possible to find mystics across time and space and culture who have arrived to similar conclusions, and the degree of spiritual and almost scientific honesty expressed by them within that belief. how much of their words still ring true, even with all we know now about the universe, because of their willingness to face the unknowable and the immense and sit with it simply because they understand it is sometimes all we can do

[willgrahamstrout]

Paradise Found

Finally posting the first part of my post-fall Hannigram fic. The chapters are short so I'm posting in chunks, but the first 9 chapters are up on ao3.

Description:

Hannibal smiled up at the stars. “If you wanted me dead, you should have left me in the water.” His voice was scratchy but so was Will’s. “No, that’s not what I want.” “A baptism then?” A birth to a new life, washed free from sin? “Sure.”

Will pulled them off that cliff, so high, then pulled them from that water, so cold. They now travel alone, sailing to safety and freedom. In the cradle of the ocean, they examine and nurture each other, and their feelings.

Tags: Will Graham Loves Hannibal Lecter, Hannibal Lecter Loves Will Graham, wound care as sex, dreamy esoteric romance, Fluff, I suppose, but it feels more cosmic than fluff, Pain Kink, Post-Fall (Hannibal), stick these two alone on a boat and make them realize their love, "We're just having conversations", Blood Kink, but in a Catholic way, lots of treats for the catholics in the audience, love as consummation, love as absolution, Love As Forgiveness, love as divine union, flexing my medieval studies degree in the epitaphs, First Kiss, queering catholic and sufi mysticism, love as confession

Read Here