Sufism
theWay of the Heart is the Mystical Path of Islam
A lifetime without Love is of no account
Love is the Water of Life
Drink it down with heart and soul!
--Rumi, Divan-i-Shams 11909
Some, though not all Sufi orders accept seekers from outside
Islam. The great Sufi mystic and poet Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207-1273
A.D.)was known to have among his followers members of all faiths.
One ecumenical Sufi order is
The Winged Heart
Sufi Order of the West. An excerpt from their site: "The Sufi Order
is not concerned with converting or saving others. Our hope is that a
person's involvement in the teachings may deepen and expand his/her
understanding of the tradition with which s/he is affiliated. The
Sufi Message does not call a person away from a belief or church; it
calls one to live it."
In The Threshold
Society, North American representative of Rumi's order the
Mevlevi, commitment to Sufism "entails a willingness to acquaint
oneself with and understand the sources and framework of the Sufi
tradition, including the Qur'an and the sayings of the Prophet. It is
not, however, required that a Mevlevi dervish embrace the religion of
Islam in its outer, sociological form."
Of course every Sufi order is open to followers of the Prophet.
* Liberal Religion Alert: The Sufi way involves accepting the
authority of a Master. While this is a time-honored tradition,
caution is recommended.
The following list of lists will get you to a wealth of Sufi
resources in a couple of jumps:
Sufi
web sites
More on the wonderful Rumi:
Mevlana
"was not only a great poet and philosopher but first and foremost he
was a mystic, a spiritually touched man. His mind and heart had
reached for heights and depths of the spiritual world. In his vision
there were two universes which coincided in Man. The inner world was
like an endless infinite ocean, which could only be felt and seen
with the eyes of the heart, while the outer world was but like the
passing foam which appears on the surface of the waves emenating from
that ocean.
"Mevlana also integrated a dualist approach in his mind: In
approaching issues pertaining to daily life he is a rationalist, but
in approaching spiritual and mystical matters he recognizes only the
mastery of the heart and emotions. According to him, the only way to
approach absolute being is through love; and God's love is
everywhere, permeating everything. If one were to love another being
in the name of God, one would find a pathway leading to the absolute.
According to him everything in the universe, every being, even matter
itself-all are but manifestations of God and exist in God and are
united in the Absolute Being. Thus Mevlana views all existence as a
united whole. In a sense, one could call his vision that of Unity
Consciousness. This vision impelled Mevlana to transcend all
differences and prejudices, and formed the basis of his immense
tolerance and of his real and deep humanism. With these
characteristics, Mevlana and his thought transcended the boundaries
of his time and thus he and his writings are still relevant and fresh
in this day and age, some 700 years after. The universality of his
thought finds its reflection in, for example, the famous verses where
he says:
Come!
Come whoever you are.
Doesn't matter if you are an unbeliever.
Doesn't matter if you have fallen a thousand times.
Come!
Come whoever you are.For this is not the door of hopelessness.
Come,
Just as you are!
"With the tens of thousands of verses he wrote, and with the depths
of spirituality he fathomed which helped him grasp qualities of
timelessness and humanistic universality, Mevlana and the sect which
was founded after him, have not only influenced the Anatolian-Turkish
civilizations but indeed have had far-reaching influences on the
intellectual and artistic life of many individuals and nations."
(from Handan's Home
Page)