“Windows To Spirituality”
What Is Church Music? Church music is music written for performance in church, or any musical setting of ecclesiastical liturgy, or music set to words expressing propositions of a sacred nature, such as a hymn. History Early Christian music Christianity began as a small, persecuted Jewish sect. At first there was no break...
Wahdat al-Wujud (Unity of Being) What Is Wahdat al-Wujud (Unity of Being)? Does It Conform In Any Way To The Teachings Of Islam?” Wahdat al-wujud (literally, oneness or unity of being) is a teaching mostly spoken of in connection with mystics and Sufis. Although the phrase refers to a subjective...
The Diseases Of The Carnal Self Is There a prescription for the diseases of the carnal self? This consists of Five Paragraphs which contain prescriptions for truth to which the rebellious, and arrogant carnal self has to yield. First paragraph Since things exist and have been made with skill, then...
Sufism As A Lifestyle Sufism is the spiritual life of Islam (Sufism As A Lifestyle). Those who represent Islam according to the way of the Prophet and his Companions have never stepped outside this line. A tariqah is an institution that reaches the essence of religion within the framework of...
Music Therapy Music therapy is an evidence-based clinical use of musical interventions used to improve clients’ quality of life. Music therapists use music and its many facets—physical, emotional, mental, social, aesthetic, and spiritual—to help clients improve their health in cognitive, motor, emotional, communicative, social, sensory, and educational domains by using both...
What Is Music? This article covers the answer to the question: “What Is Music?” Music is an art form, and a cultural activity, whose medium is sound. General definitions of music include common elements such as pitch (which governs melody and harmony), rhythm (and its associated concepts tempo, meter, and articulation), dynamics (loudness and softness), and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture (which are sometimes termed...
Hajj The Hajj (حَجّ; “pilgrimage”) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims, and a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by all adult Muslims who are physically and financially capable of undertaking the journey,...
The Spirit And What Follows This article covers the Spirit and the Afterlife. Based on al-Milal wa’n-Nihal (“The True and False Ways of Belief and Thought”) by ash-Shahristani,[1]Tahafut al-Falasifa (“The Incoherence of the Philosophers”) by Imam al-Ghazzali,[2] Mawqif al-‘Aql wa’l-‘Ilm wa’l-‘Alam (“The Place of Reason, Science, and the Created World”) by Mustafa Sabri...
Ruh In Islam, especially Sufism, ruh (rūḥ; روح; plural arwah) is a person’s immortal, essential self — pneuma, i.e. the “spirit” or “soul“. The Quran itself does not describe ruh as the immortal self. Nevertheless, in some contexts, it animates inanimate matter. Further, it appears to be a metaphorical being, such as an angel. In one instance, ruh...
Masnavi The Masnavi, or Masnavi-ye-Ma’navi (مثنوی معنوی), also written Mathnawi, or Mathnavi, is an extensive poem written in Persian by Jalal al-Din Muhammad Balkhi also known as Rumi. The Masnavi is one of the most influential works of Sufism, commonly called “the Quran in Persian”. It has been viewed by many commentators as...
Rumi Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī (جلالالدین محمد رومی), also known as Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhī (جلالالدین محمد بلخى), Mevlânâ – Mawlānā (مولانا, “our master”), Mevlevî – Mawlawī (مولوی, “my master”), and more popularly simply as Rumi (30 September 1207 – 17 December 1273), was a 13th-century Persian poet, jurist, Islamic scholar, theologian, and Sufi mystic originally from Greater Khorasan. Rumi’s influence transcends national borders and ethnic...
Mevlevi Order The Mawlaw’īyya – Mevlevi Order (Mevlevilik or Mevleviyye, طریقت مولویه) is a Sufi order in Konya founded by the followers of Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi-Rumi, a 13th-century Persian poet, Islamic theologian and Sufi mystic. The Mevlevi are also known as the Whirling Dervishes due to their famous practice of whirling...
Naqshbandi The Naqshbandi (نقشبندی) or Naqshbandiyah (نقشبندية, Naqshbandīyah) is a major Sunni spiritual order of Sufism. It got its name from Baha-ud-Din Naqshband Bukhari and traces its spiritual lineage to the Islamic prophet Muhammad through Abu Bakr, who was father-in-law, companion, and successor of Muhammad. Some Naqshbandi masters trace their lineage...
Ni’matullāhī Order The Ni’matullāhī Order or Ne’matollāhī Order (نعمتاللهی) (also spelled as “Nimatollahi”, “Nematollahi” or “Ni’matallahi) is a Sufi order (or tariqa) originating in Iran. According to Moojan Momen, the number of Ni’matullāhī in Iran in 1980 was estimated to be between 50,000 and 350,000. Following the emigration of Javad Nurbakhsh and other dervishes after...
Qadiriyya Order The Qadiriyya (القادريه, قادریه, also transliterated Qadri, Qadriya, Kadri, Elkadri, Elkadry, Aladray, Alkadrie, Adray, Kadray, Qadiri, “Quadri” or Qadri) are members of the Qadiri tariqa (Sufi order). The tariqa got its name from Abdul Qadir Gilani (1077–1166, Jilani), who was from Gilan. The order relies strongly upon adherence to the fundamentals of Islam. The order, with its many...
Senussi Order The Senussi order (Senussi, Senusiyya, Sanussi, السنوسية), are a Muslim political-religious tariqa (Sufi order) and clan in colonial Libya and the Sudan region founded in Mecca in 1837 by the Grand Senussi (السنوسي الكبير), the Algerian Muhammad ibn Ali as-Senussi. Senussi was concerned with what it saw as both the decline of Islamic thought and spirituality...
Tijaniyyah Order The Tijaniyyah (الطريقة التجانية, Al-Ṭarīqah al-Tijāniyyah, ‘The Tijānī Path’) is a sufi tariqa (order, path) within Sunni Islam, originating in North Africa but now more widespread in West Africa, particularly in Senegal, The Gambia, Mauritania, Mali, Guinea, Niger, Chad, Ghana, Northern and South-western Nigeria and some part of Sudan....
Shadhili Order The Shadhili Tariqa (الطريقة الشاذلية) is a Sufi order of Sunni Islam founded by Abul Hasan Ali ash-Shadhili of Morocco. Followers (murids, “seekers”) of the Shadhiliya are known as Shadhilis. It has historically been of importance and influence in North Africa and Egypt with many contributions to Islamic literature. Among the figures most known for their literary and...
Suhrawardiyya Order The Suhrawardiyya (سهروردية) is a Sufi order founded by the Sufi Diya al-din Abu ‘n-Najib as-Suhrawardi (1097 – 1168 CE). It is a strictly Sunni order, guided by the Shafi`i school of Islamic law (madhhab), and, like many such orders, traces its spiritual genealogy (silsila) to Ali ibn Abi Talib through Junayd...
Muridiyya The Muridiyya order or Mouride brotherhood (murit, الطريقة المريدية aṭ-Ṭarīqat al-Murīdiyyah or simply المريدية, al-Murīdiyyah) is a large tariqa (Sufi order) most prominent in Senegal and the Gambia with headquarters in the city of Touba, Senegal, which is a holy city for the order. Adherents are called Mourides, from the Arabic word murīd (literally “one who desires”), a term used generally...
