News & Views
9 MINUTE TED TALK ON HOW TO READ THE QURAN
Lesley Hazleton explores the Koran and finds much that is quite different from what is reported in commonly cited accounts.
CAN SUFISM DEFUSE TERRORISM? Time Magazine
In recent years, the dominant image of Islam in the minds of many Westerners has been one loaded with violence and shrouded with fear. This may be the Islam of a radical fringe, but in an era of flag-burnings and suicide bombings, it is the Islam of the moment. Read more: Time Magazine
Videos
THE WAY OF THE SUFI – Mahmoud Mostafa
Since 1995, Mahmoud Mostafa has been devoted to the study and practice of Tassawuf. In the course of his development, he received teachings from Sufi shaikhs in the USA, Turkey, Syria, South Africa, and Egypt
INTERFAITH AMIGOS
Pastor Don Mackenzie, Rabbi Ted Falcon and Imam Jamal Rahman - now known as the Interfaith Amigos - started working together after 9/11. Since then, they have brought their unique blend of spiritual wisdom and
LIVING WITH THE TRUTH: CONCLUSION
WATCH Living with the Truth: Conclusion with Imam Feisal Rauf, Amina Wadud, Abdul Hayy Darr, Kabir and Camille Helminski at the Baraka Retreat, July 2012, Santa Barbara, California
BEING WILLED BY THE TRUTH – Kabir Helminski
WATCH Being Willed by the Truth - a talk by Kabir Helminski at the Baraka Retreat, July 2012, Santa Barbara, California
Articles
ISLAM AND HUMAN VALUES
Islam and Human Values by Kabir Helminski (with input from leading scholars) was written to address the urgent questions, misunderstandings, and distortions of Islam that are all too prevalent today. The need for a document like this seems to grow daily in the face of Islamophobic propaganda and extremist versions of Islam. Download the document...
BARAKA: RECONNECTING WITH OUR SPIRITUAL LEGACY
Many spiritually inclined people, and especially those from a Muslim background, face a double alienation in today’s world. On the one hand, they are alienated from the mad rush of contemporary society with its commercialization, its ugliness, its pandering to the ego, and its lack of meaning. On the other hand, they are equally alienated from various expressions of Islam that fail to inspire them.
RECOVERING THE TRANSCENDENT IN ISLAMIC SPIRITUALITY
Few people combine real life experience with spiritual insight as much as Ali Allawi. He has a deep appreciation for the spiritual education once provided by the Sufi orders and the need for reviving an effective language of spirituality. We were delighted to learn that he is also closely associated with our dear friend, Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri, and thus deeply acquainted with the path of spiritual experience. The following is an excerpt from Ali Allawi’s The Crisis of Islamic Civilization.
ISLAM AND THE NEW MILLENNIUM
T.J.Winter (Abdal Hakim Murad): an essay based on a lecture given at the Belfast Central Mosque in March 1997. “All too often they follow limited, ideological versions of Islam that are relevant only to their own cultural situation, and have no relevance to the problems of educated modern Westerners. We need to overcome this. We need to capitalise on the modern Western love of Islamic spirituality – and also of Islamic art and crafts. By doing so, we can reap a rich harvest, in sha’ Allah. . .”
LOVE IN ISLAM: A Khutbah by Mahmoud Mostafa
In this Khutbah, delivered at the very first planning session for the Baraka Institute in May of 2008, Mahmoud Mostafa reflects on the inner essence of Islam as love.
IS ISLAM A “RELIGION OF THE SWORD”?
Kabir Helminski and Hesham Hessaboula There are a number of verses in the Qur’an that appear to call for Muslims to kill non-Muslims, and these verses have been too often quoted out of context with
Talks & Podcasts
LIVING WITH THE TRUTH (HAQQ) by Robert Abdul Hayy Darr
A talk by Robert Abdul Hayy Darr at the Baraka Retreat, July 14, 2012, Santa Barbara. Listen to the talk...
WILLING AND BEING WILLED BY THE TRUTH by Kabir Helminski
A talk by Shaikh Kabir at this year’s Baraka Retreat, “Living with the Truth,” July 14, 2012, Santa Barbara. Listen to the talk...
Recorded Events
Turn your face with purity toward the primordial religion, according to the innate nature with which He has made humankind; do not allow what God has made to be corrupted. That is authentic religion, but most people do not understand. Qur’an 30:30-32