18 August 2021 Dear Companions on the Path, I hope this finds you well. There hasn’t been a Zephyr newsletter for a couple of months while many of us have gone into more internal spaces. The world around us, however, continues to swirl with events from which we cannot truly separate ourselves. COVID-19 continues to […]
1 June 2021 Dear Companions on the Path, I am grateful for your kind wishes on the occasion of my birthday. I spent the day exploring the seven classical planets with a group of Saliks and Salikas: a perfect way to mark the fifty circles I have been blessed to make around the Sun. Thanks […]
Hafiz Decker Joins the Invisible World On June 19th our dear friend Hafiz Decker left the visible world for the Invisible. Hafiz was a devoted murid and Representative who, with his wife Musawwira, served our Order with great dedication for decades. Hafiz was a gentle giant and a pillar of love and wisdom. His insights […]
New Ziraat Vice President in North America Dear Companions on the Path, I am writing to let you know that after many years of inspired and inspiring service as North American Dar as-Salam, or Vice President of Ziraat, Kainat Felicia Norton is now stepping down. By God’s grace, Kainat has seen to fruition an abundant […]
19 May 2021 Dear Companions on the Path, I will never forget the look of sorrow in my father’s eyes. “They are destroying the Palestinians’ olive trees,” he said. For him, those trees were living symbols of endurance and hope. He had seen the horrors of the Second World War, and had fought for the […]
21 April 2021 Dear Companions on the Path, Imagine a world in which the glorification of the One resounded continuously from pole to pole, offered up in innumerable languages and according to the rites of numerous sacred traditions, a planetary polyphony of praise poured forth in thanksgiving, repentance, remembrance, and communion. Imagine, likewise, all of […]
17 March 2021 Dear Companions on the Path, May this find you well. This week in Richmond the daffodils declared the arrival of spring, “tossing their heads in sprightly dance.” Soon every manner of herb will be unfurling its leaves, and the scaled and furred sleepers underground will groggily unbury themselves. It continues to be […]
10 February 2021 Dear Companions on the Path, Here in the United States, February is Black History Month. This annual observance presents Americans with an opportunity to reflect on the traditions, travails, and triumphs of the African American community. For our Sufi fellowship, it’s an opportunity to celebrate the African roots of our lineage, as […]
20 January 2021 Dear Companions, As travelers on the Sufi path, many affinities unite us. We are stirred by the spiraling melodies of spirit-rousing music. We find renewal in daily plunges into silence. We bow to the current of luminous guidance that moves through all of the world’s great wisdom traditions. But perhaps most fundamentally, […]
Race, Justice, Equity and Love Update January 18, 2021 Our beloved Murshid was well aware of the divisions caused by the perception and history of race. In the Objects of the Sufi Message, he included the goals of rooting out hatred caused by differences and distinctions, and meeting beyond the narrow national and racial boundaries. […]
