Jerrahi Order of California

come , come whoever you are …

February 2, 2012
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The Story of the Cities

The Story of the Cities From Chapter three of “Heart, Self, and Soul”, by Robert Frager, P.h.D. (Sheikh Ragip Frager). 

There is a wonderful unpublished manuscript on the self that was written by a Naqshabandi sheikh who lived more than 150 years ago. The sheikh asked that it not be published until after his passing. He describes each station of the self as a city, nested one within the other. Sheikh Safer has commented that this manuscript is one of the most useful and important works in Sufism, and that all Jerrahi dervishes should read it often. The anonymous, unpublished eighteenth-century manuscript was translated several years ago from Ottoman Turkish into modern Turkish by Sheikh Safer Dal, ra, and from Turkish into English by Sheikh Tosun Bayrak. This is an abbreviated version.

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December 4, 2011
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On Retreat

The world’s major religions teach retreat as a spiritual practice. All the great spiritual teachers spent time on retreat—Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha, and many others. The Sufis’ main practice is to remain in the world, fulfilling all our duties and trying always to remember God and serve God’s creation. However, our worldly activities have to be balanced with some time away, some time in which we are not so much at the mercy of all the demands of the world. Continue Reading →