Our fasting is over; it’s the feast day of spring!
O dearest guest, welcome; sorrow be gone!
All praise be to God!

O Love once forsaken,
abandoned heart be forgotten now;
your Beloved has arrived, and will forever remain.
All praise be to God!

As we waited we were longing for Spring’s sun
to renew this life of ours.
Today, Shamsuddin’s warm breath
arrived from the East.
All praise be to God!

[Ghazel, The Pocket Rumi, Camille Helminski with William Hastie]

In order to become human, we need to always be within the Divine Presence—to be aware of God, to hold Him in our hearts.
~Suleyman Dede

We welcome your reflections on this theme.

There’s still time to register for this year’s Mysterion School. Feedback from previous and returning participants:

"My gratitude to Kabir Dede and the team. The course has changed, and continues to change, the way I am in the world. Understanding continues to deepen and, I suspect, will continue to do so as long as one gives one's attention to Being and employs the mind as a tool for enquiry."

"I am so grateful for Kabir Dede (and Camille Ana for her subtle presence), facilitators, group leaders, and all who were in this class. Each group leader brought something unique, allowed me to see the beauty in such diverse expressions. Subhanallah, I prayed for a community and more learning and Allah provided something I couldn't even imagine."

~ Ita Mucharam [Jakarta, Indonesia]

I was handing Camille Ana’s beautiful inspiring book The Way of Mary to Abu Marlo, founder of Positive Dialogue Podcast series, which was originally meant as a present from Camille Ana for Prof. Mahmud Erol Kilic, ex-ambassador of Turkey for Indonesia. Ambassador Mahmud had moved back to Turkey.

It was no coincidence that this book found its way on this particular day to Abu Marlo…

The book was handed to Abu Marlo in front of Rumah Putih, where he was about to give sohbet in front of hundreds of participants. It just happened that Abu Marlo’s topic was about the spiritual meaning of Ramadan, particularly the (re-)birth of our spiritual faith. And talking about birth, of course Jesus and Mary are provide the best examples according to the Qur'an.

That is why Abu Marlo was especially surprised receiving this book at this particular moment, and shared his surprise at the beginning of his sohbet. He often pointed at the book – without yet knowing its content. Abu Marlo’s mother who accompanied him, just watched the movie Mary and was very touched. Both conveyed their salaams and gratitude to Camille Ana. It was also no coincidence that in the afternoon, I found an article from Ahmad Zainul Hamdi, Director at Indonesian Ministry of Religion, in line with this topic.
Here are some excerpts of the sohbet and the article:

"Fasting, where we are asked to postpone eating, drinking, and all physical consumption is actually Allah's way of reminding us not to continue to be prisoners of the body. By fasting, Allah reminds us that it is not only the physical body that needs food. The soul also needs food. In fact, food for the soul is much more important because the soul is actually the driver and guide of the body in living life in the world. Fasting of the soul is the real meaning of Ramadan."

"Hunger and thirst can create discomfort for the body. However, this is a tool to RESET the body and our soul to get rid of our ‘old habits,’ to create or refresh better new ways for our soul."

"But through this suffering, the nobility of the soul will be born. Like the pain of a child being weaned from its mother, that is how the pain experienced by the body due to fasting will grow the nobility of the human soul.
The painful process of achieving this greatness is an inevitability that has been outlined by Allah (SAW). There is no glory that can be obtained easily, be it glory in the world or in the hereafter. There is no wealth or power, knowledge."

"Surah Maryam 19:26 is the inspiration for our intention to fast: …if you see any human being, say: 'Verily! I have vowed a fast unto the Most Beneficent (Allah) so I shall not speak to any human being this day.'"

"The story of Mary's pain in giving birth to the Prophet Isa (alaih al-salam) was used by Rumi as a metaphor in describing the birth of the greatness of the spirit, the return of humans to the heights of their values. This body is like Mary. All humans have Jesus within them. Through fasting, we postpone giving food and drink to the body. As an entity that has been pampered by fulfilling all its desires, greed, and lust, fasting of course feels painful for the body. The body will go against the order to fast because it hurts it. Actually what hurts is the nafs falling back to its old (bad) habits. More important is fasting from bad habits (speaking, behaviour, thoughts, etc.)."

"If we can control the body (and bad habits) and force it to fast, then like Maryam, in pain it will give birth to Jesus. However, if we continue to be manipulated by the demands of the body which symbolizes the nafs, continue to over-feed it with bad habits, fulfilling all its greed, our soul will die. There was no birth of Jesus without being preceded by Mary who was in pain. The pain can also be perceived as an analogous with what Ibn Arabi called 'The Way of Suffering' to achieve Lalaitul Qadir.

The experience of the day, was a good reminder of Rumi’s wisdom:

Let the Mary of your body give birth to the Jesus of your spirit.

[Rumi, The Way of Mary, Camile Hamilton Adams Helminski]

Translation by Camille Adams Helminski

3 of 11 volumes now available.

Numerous keys are available to us to open the deeper meaning that lives within us; the words of the Holy Qur’an are such keys. Camille Adams Helminski offers a fresh English translation of the Holy Quran which conveys the principles of human ethics, encouraging us to turn again and again to realignment with our Source. Occasional transliterations of the original Arabic are also included to remind us of the beauty of the original revelation.

~ Mahmoud Mostafa [London, UK]

For years I struggled with prayer (salat). For me it was hard to keep up consistently. It seemed so mechanical to me. It wasn’t from me. I often debated in my head why any of it made sense. Sometimes I longed to feel something meaningful in my prayers. Mostly I did my prayers mindlessly, wandering through my preoccupations. I tried to read what experts had to say about prayer and why it was so essential for a Muslim to perform. I searched the works of the religious scholars but all I came across seemed stale and unconvincing to me. Sometimes I would speculate about whether any of this was really prescribed for us to do. At other times I would try to convince myself that I just had to do it. Often, I would let my prayers lapse but something seemed to always bring me back to it. Something in me persisted in thinking that there is some meaning there, something that was beyond appearances. Somehow, I imagined that the Prophet didn’t pray this way and didn’t teach us to pray this way. This thought sometimes comforted me and sometimes scared me. Was I a heretic? Was I flaunting centuries of tradition and knowledge? Was I just rationalizing? It was an on-again, off-again affair. Those were my days of ignorance.

The break came a few years ago when I came across this tradition of our Prophet (puh):

A man entered the Prophet's (puh) mosque and prayed, then he approached the Prophet (puh) to give his greetings. The Prophet (puh) returned his greeting and said to him, “Return to pray for you have not prayed.” This went on for three times. The man finally said, “By the One who sent you with the Truth, teach me how, for I cannot pray better than this.” The Prophet (puh) said, “If you rise to prayer then start by declaring God’s greatness (Takbeer). Then recite whatever comes to you of the Quran. Then bow down until you feel secure and tranquil (tatma’in) in your bowing. Then rise up until you are upright. Then prostrate until you feel secure and tranquil (tatma’in) in your prostration. Then sit up until you feel secure and tranquil (tatma’in) in your sitting. Then prostrate until you feel ssecure and tranquil (tatma’in) in your prostration. Then repeat this throughout your prayer.”*

This tradition resonated in my heart and touched me profoundly. It was a beginning for me, an opening, a new meaning that was missing for me. This tradition made it clear to me that there was indeed more to prayer than what I had been taught in my childhood and what had been reinforced during my youth. There was something more. This wasn’t anything like the rules I learned. There was flexibility here, and a very clear purpose. There was definitely an individual and inner point of reference, that of feeling tranquility. With renewed energy, I wanted to learn more. I felt a real thirst to know how the Prophet prayed. I wanted to understand what he did. It was as if a heavy veil had been removed from me. I felt liberated in some way. I felt certain that I would find the answer to my needs in the traditions of our Prophet.

And so I searched in earnest. I read and re-read about prayer. What I didn’t see before began to reveal itself more and more clearly. I started to understand. My understanding developed slowly at first. Then, years later, the blessed gift of Mawlana Jalalluddin Rumi's path was bestowed upon my heart and several things fell into place with remarkable clarity. The understanding came that the Prophet’s prayer was a practice, a way to reach union with the Truth (Haqq). It was a way for him to learn intimacy with the One. It was a method of releasing the innermost feelings of his heart. It was a means of expressing his profound love for the Merciful. Prayer was his connection and his intimate communication with the Unseen. He listened and he heard. He spoke and was received. His entire being, body and soul, were engaged in this intense, intimate, beautiful, and profound practice that he upheld daily and often. It was like a connection between a lover and his beloved that only they knew and understood. When he recited the Qur'an, he was pouring out what was in his heart. When he glorified, remembered, or supplicated he was expressing his deepest awe, love, and needs. He wasn’t repeating some canned words or formulae. He wasn’t stuck in some mindless, repetitive act. He wasn’t imitating the actions of someone else. He wasn’t mimicking somebody else’s prayers. He wasn’t reciting some memorized litanies. His prayer was none of these things. It was the work of bringing out his innermost self and the baring of his soul. I started to understand how this practice can teach me to trust, to be sincere and honest, to be humble, to listen deeply, to lose my inhibitions, to be loving, and to find tranquility.

* The word he used was tatma’in which is the same word used in the Qur'an to describe the way to tranquility of the heart: Indeed, it is by the remembrance of Allah that hearts find tranquility (13:28).

Rumi and His Friends relates anecdotes of the life of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi from those who were with him during his lifetime, and includes stories about Rumi’s father, his sons, wife and daughter, and his relationship with Shams of Tabriz and with other close companions and disciples.

The original text was written in Persian by Ahmad Aflaki, a devoted student of the grandson of Rumi and is based on the oral traditions of the early days of the founding of the Mevlevi Order. The selections included in this volume are also teaching stories that illuminate the way of the dervish.

Spiritual seekers can benefit from this glimpse into the spiritual community surrounding Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi and the wisdom that is conveyed through those interactions. Many selections also include beautiful illuminative passages from his poetry, and, in this volume, each selection is titled to assist in orienting the reader and enhancing comprehension of meaning. Rumi and His Friends welcomes us into the world of Rumi— through this volume we come to understand what life was like for Rumi and gain inspiration for the illumination of our own.

WATCH a fascinating interview about Rumi and His Friends with translator Camille Adams Helminski:

Spiritual conversation (sohbet) with Shaikh Kabir Helminski on the theme of Watchfulness:

“Muraqaba simply means to be watchful. Watchful of what? Well, ideally watchful of the heart oriented towards God. If you were with your beloved and it was something rare and special, would you be daydreaming? Or, would you just wish to be there? Imagine if we could feel about God in that way.”

Apr 6th

Join us for a monthly online meditation and sohbet with Shaikh Kabir and special guests from the Threshold community. Held on the 1st Sunday of every month at 12pm Eastern Time (5pm UK).

Zoom meeting: https://zoom.us/j/435138208
Zoom passcode: threshold

Watch last month's meeting below and see all our videos here.

The Threshold Society, rooted within the traditions of Sufism and inspired by the life and work of Mevlâna Jalâluddîn Rumi, is a non-profit educational foundation with the purpose of facilitating the experience of Divine Unity, Love, and Truth in the world. Sufism is a living tradition of human transformation through love and higher consciousness. Our fundamental framework is classical Sufism and the Qur’an as it has been understood over the centuries by the great Sufis. The Society is affiliated with the Mevlevi Order, and offers training programs, seminars and retreats around the world.

Each month we intend to highlight an article about our lineage and its principles. You can find our core articles here. We encourage our community to read and reread these regularly.

Each month we intend to highlight an article about our lineage and its principles. 

This month we offer: Mevlevi Zhikr

In order to attain the optimum coherence and beauty in our practice, we should be aware of how we perform zhikr in our tradition.

Each Mevlevi zhikr cycle begins with three elongated, singing repetitions before steady, rhythmic repetitions. We may end with one elongated repetition.

• Head movement:
La ilaha to the right – il Allah to the left. Il Allah brings the energy of the zhikr back to the heart.
Allah and Astaghfirullah: only to the left, to the heart.

• Resonance:
In the Mevlevi zhikr it is important that we are in harmony and unity. The goal is to be as one and that takes subtlety, nuance, and attention. To achieve this we need to follow the lead of the person leading the zhikr by being conscious of their volume, speed, and tone. We also need to be aware that our own voice does not rise above that of those who are near to us or the general level of the group. With practice and time this will create a more refined resonance in the group.

Read more here about the basics of practice and download the Mevlevi Zhikr.

Sep 26-29, 2025: UK Annual Retreat at The Vedanta, Lincolnshire

We’d love to hear from you — get in touch at eyeoftheheart@sufism.org

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