Dearest all,
Every year we include Mother’s Day as an AQRT Holy Day.
Sha’ban 1, 1437 / May 8, 2016 — Mother’s Day is celebrated the second Sunday in May. On this day we celebrate all our mothers, wives of our prophets, mothers of our Pirs, and all the important ladies in Islam. We have to give what is due to them. Mention them in your celebration name by name, person by person, then do a Fatiha.
Happy Mother’s Day!
Ya Wadud Ya Salaam Ya Jami Ya Nafi
(Love, Peace, Togetherness, Betterment)
Do not worry , O Khushal!
No matter how wretched you are
You are only flesh and blood
And not some heavenly seraph.
We are delighted to welcome Sami ur Rahman who has flown in from Pakistan to present his new translations of the national poet of Afghanistan – Khushal Khan Khattak. A contemporary of Bulleh Shah, he likewise rejected caste and clerical edicts. Part warrior poet who led the Pashtun struggles against emperor Aurangzeb, part mystic, part scholar, he produced ghazals, rubaiyat, and verse treatises on the body and falconry.
Sami ur Rahman (journalist, translator, lover of mystic poetry and theoretical physics), hails from the same obscure village as the 17th century Khushal, and has published two books of translations. He will be reading in Pashtu, Farsi and English, and will include Rumi in Farsi and English.
In the other half we have original poetry from guest Jane Silk who studied Islamic and Sufi philosophy at Kings College and SOAS and then deepened her academic experience with a spiritual awakening in Isfahan. She took to a form of meditation-writing at night, covering her wall with scores of jottings. This outpouring is sometimes described in farsi as ‘taravoosh zehniyat’ – a ‘dripping of the mind’.
As always we keep our floor open to contributions of original poetry or music from our audience.
Ending with a Sufi zikr- a traditional meditation of remembrance with chanting, movement, breathing, and music, which closes with prayers for humanity and the planet.
Please note: the Sufi zikr at approximately 9pm is FREE and you are welcome to come only for the zikr.
‘Rubaiyat’: New Translations and New Poetry, and Zikr
Poetry Cafe
22 Betterton St, Covent Garden WCH2 9BX
Saturday 7th May 2016
7pm to 9:45pm
£8 on the door
“An exploding horizon of Wings.
We cascade down sheering radiance, our faces burnt from the limitless sun, to receive a boy of ten in oversized Rambo T-shirt playing with other hazel-eyed children outside a white-walled house, and together dance with him to death.”
From ‘The Book of Naseeb’
This event features a specially curated performance from ‘The Book of Naseeb’. Musicians and reader, Michael McLellan and Khaled Hakim (electric violin and loops, frame-drums and voice) weave excerpts from a poetic text which imagines the life of a petty criminal as written by his Recording Angels. This work-in-progress which draws on both modernist and Quranic language forms the centre of our evening.
We have two more guest readings of spiritual writing-in-progress: Jane Silk’s open meditations draw on initial studies in Islamic and Sufi thought and then spiritual awakening in Isfahan; Michael McLellan has been distilling spiritual experience and practice into a writing seeking its own form.
As always we keep our floor open to contributions of original poetry or music from our audience.
Ending with a Sufi zikr- a traditional meditation of remembrance with chanting, movement, breathing, and music, which closes with prayers for humanity and the planet.
Event details
Saturday, 2nd April 2016
Poetry Cafe
22 Betterton St, Covent Garden, London, WCH2 9BX
7pm to 9:45pm
Please note: the Sufi zikr at approximately 8.45pm is FREE and you are welcome to come only for the zikr.
£8 on the door (includes copy of opening chapter of ‘The Book of Naseeb’)
Excerpt from a talk by Shaykh Taner Ansari:
All humans have nafs (ego), brain and a line to God. We have to find the correct way. Allah is Rahman (The Most Merciful) and Rahim (The Most Compassionate), so He helps us find the right course by logic, by contemplating, deduction and induction.
The first thing is this: you have to accept it – there is a God, but it’s not you. Our job is to find our essence through contemplation. Islam is acknowledgment of the fact that there is a God, and don’t try to be God yourself. You have to accept that there are rules and regulations. You have to be in sync with this.
Do we have any will power? Yes, if we didn’t have any will power, Allah wouldn’t have created us. Why? Because Allah wants to be chosen scientifically with our own free will, with no force. If Allah wanted to force (people to believe), everybody would believe.
Making the choice of choosing Allah has to be the beginning of your life. Everything has to be based on this. This is the truth and this is what we have to make peace with. Islam is making peace with Allah’s decrees and Allah’s systems. This is physics. If you think you have power too, show it to me. I am not going to ask you to make a galaxy. I am going to ask you not to eat, and don’t go to the bathroom. If you think you have power, do this.
One of the rules of being a Sufi is that you have to be on the lookout for Allah’s signs. Listen to my advice. Surrender and learn the easy way. My students have to be conscious of what they are doing. Each action has to be willing (voluntary and conscious). I don’t want you to do habitual actions – habitual actions is the killer of all faiths. Mean what you say each time.
“Sufis live and let live. They learn and they learn. They enjoy life, and they help others enjoy life. They give space for others to live their own experiences. Sufis do not judge, they help. They do not stress people, they give relief!”
Shaykh Taner Ansari
Ansari Qadiri Rifai Sufi Order - UK 