Kabir Helminski on the living tradition of spiritual transformation and the vision of the Baraka Institute, a non-sectarian, collaborative initiative, offering residential retreats, as well as online media and courses. Available in 3 parts.

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Elif Shafak is the most-read female author in Turkey, where she is as well known for her descriptions of backstreet Istanbul as she is for her global and multicultural perspective. Her writing is at once rooted in her politically feminist education and her deep respect for and knowledge of Sufism and Ottoman culture. In her most recent novel, The Forty Rules of Love, two powerful parallel narratives take the reader from contemporary Boston to thirteenth-century Konya, where the Sufi poet Rumi encountered his spiritual mentor, the whirling dervish known as Shams.

In this talk she emphasizes the need for us all to get beyond our limited “circle” of like-minded people. We at Baraka feel that the spiritual implications of her talk are profound.

Lesley Hazleton explores the Koran and finds much that is quite different from what is reported in commonly cited accounts.

On Monday, September 6th, Shaikh Kabir and Camille Helminski, with Mahmoud Mostafa, spoke for about 40 minutes with friends from the Baraka community.  The Night of Al Qadr was when the Prophet, may he be blessed, in utter receptive stillness received a message that would transform a large portion of humanity. Al Qadr is the singular power that offers to each soul a unique destiny and peace of heart. You can listen to a recording of that call.

Listen to track. Since the Baraka advisory board has been stressing the value of creativity and adapting traditional forms to the contemporary world, we’re offering an example of a contemporary adaptation of a traditional Turkish Ilahi. This track is from “The Garden within the Flames,” Interworld Music, Brattleboro, Vermont, 1997.

The CD can be ordered from Threshold Society.