The marketplace always stuck out to me as a very important image in both Sufi oral histories as well as writing. It symbolized for me all the complexities of daily life. There are goods to be bought and sold and a myriad of transactions going on at every moment. In many ways the marketplace symbolizes…
Sheikh Roger Frager’s latest book Sufi Talks: Teaching of an American Sufi Sheikh is a beautifully woven tapestry that illustrates how the threads of both the spiritual aspects of life and the practical reality of our day-to-day struggles can intricately come together in a living spiritual tradition. This book is a collection of formal talks…
Talk with Dr. Yannis Toussulis Author of Sufism and the Way of Blame: Hidden Sources of a Sacred Psychology. By David Paquiot & Dr. Yannis Toussulis (Read Part 1& Part 2) _________ Murshid Mehmet Selim Bey says in your interview with him that “It is imperative that mystics of the world’s religion come together in dialogue…
Talk with Dr. Yannis Toussulis Author of Sufism and the Way of Blame: Hidden Sources of a Sacred Psychology. By David Paquiot & Dr. Yannis Toussulis (Read Part 1) _____________________ Dr. Toussulis, You said “During the Rumi craze the premises of Sufism were almost completely reversed in the interest of spiritual consumerism.” What is spiritual consumerism?…
Dr. Yannis Toussulis and I ‘sat down’ Spring 2011 for this following interview. I would like to take a moment to thank him firstly for taking time from his daily affairs to do this, and more importantly for the painstaking effort he has taken to write Sufism and the Way of Blame. I’m not alone…
ABU AL-HASAN AL-SHUSTARI: SONGS OF LOVE AND DEVOTION translated and introduced by Lourdes Maria Alvarez. New York: Paulist Press, 2009. This book review originally appeared in a modified form in Issue 81 – Summer 2011 of Sufi Magazine. There are many more great reviews and articles that appear in that issue Sufi Magazine Sufi is a semi-annual journal for…
