Books

  • Raji's Journeys with the Mirror Dede

    By Ahmet Hilmi Awakened Dreams was written in the early 1900's at the end of the Ottoman era by Ahmet Hilmi -- humorist, revolutionary, and Sufi mystic. In this allegory of the soul's transformation, a confused and dissolute young man meets a wise mentor in a cemetery and is guided through a series of revelatory experiences. Raji meets Buddha, Zoroaster, and other prophets, experiences himself in strange new worlds, and journeys through the levels of spiritual attainment. Awakened Dreams has been used a teaching tool in various Sufi traditions for the last ninety years.
  • Civilization of Paradise is both a collection of Qur’an inspired poetry and a fascinating record of intimate dialogs with a Sufi master in Damascus. Poetry, in the case of Asad Ali, is a way of life and prayer.
  • Poetry and Teaching Stories from the Mathnawi of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi

    Versions by Coleman Barks These selections from the poetry of Rumi express the courage and intensity needed to overcome our ego-imprisonment. Much of Rumi's poetry circles around the mystery of Surrender. Some of it expresses a longing and even a bewilderment, but there is also much that expresses the discipline, clarity, and integrity that true Surrender requires.
  • A Diary of a Traditional Sufi Retreat

    By Michaela Ozelsel This first-hand account of a Sufi halvet (forty day retreat) is unique because it combines an autobiographical account of a spiritual education with contemporary research from several disciplines, thus being a bridge between ancient wisdom and scientific investigation.
  • Desert Hymns

    By Dr. Assad Ali The voice of these poems is the voice of the Desert in an ardent appeal to the heart of Reality. Each of these poems is also a lesson in higher education from a loving teacher, the Desert. As Dr. Ali himself says, "These hymns have not been written to address any one of the creatures, even though they are exuberant with creatures' concerns, and their true interest is in them and in appealing to God for them. They have been written in a method similar to physical training, but as spiritual training in the world of the body and the Word."
  • Sufism, Transformation, and the Needs of Our Time

    Islam once gave birth to a great civilization that respected religious diversity, freedom of conscience, and scientific thought, and Islamic knowledge contributed to the birth of humanism in the Renaissance. Today's world is desperately in need of a spirituality that is free of dogma, based in experiences not beliefs, one that can reconcile the human and spiritual realms. In his new book, renowned spiritual teacher and Sufi sheikh Kabir Helminski, gives us a compelling interpretation of spiritual or holistic Islam that will hearten contemporary Muslims looking for a faith suited for our times, and providing non-Muslims a brilliant introduction to this rich spiritual tradition.
  • The Living Tradition of Sufi Teaching By Kabir Helminski Introduction by Mahmoud Mostafa

    New and available on Amazon, both Paperback and Kindle!

    The chapters of this book are transcriptions of talks and dialogs from within a private circle of spiritual practitioners. This collection explores subjects such as developing intention, will, awareness, awakening our capacities for love, reducing the domination of ego, honoring the masters, saints, and prophets that have gone before. As the saying goes, "The body is fed through the mouth; the soul is feed through the ear." Praise for In the House of Remembering:
    The thirty remarkable short lessons assembled here are fascinating exemplars of suhba (sohbet), the traditional Sufi process of “companionship”: i.e., the illuminating relationship of inner conversation that links the spiritual guide and each listener, awakening the soul’s unfolding remembrance of that Teacher we all share.  Reading these talks, with their smoothly unfolding mix of Sufi stories, Rumi’s poetry, illuminating personal experiences, and scriptural reminders, constantly feels like being in the presence of a modern-day Rumi.  Those pedagogical elements may be familiar to some, but here they are infused with a palpable universality, accessibility, practical focus, comprehensiveness—and above all, with a constant, assured sense of reality and immediacy—that movingly reflect a lifetime of spiritual experience, commitment, and engagement with fellow journeyers from many different religions, cultures, and pathways of realization.  Whatever their ostensible subject, each conversation here evokes a marvelous balance—and creative tension—between communion and community, meditation and active service, awareness of the timeless and immersion in the shared challenges of everyday life.  This is truly a “bedside book,” a work that will seem (and be) new and enlightening each time one opens it up…. ~Prof. James W. Morris, Boston College, author of The Reflective Heart
    These illuminating discourses, covering a wealth of themes relating to the inner life, open an accessible and refreshing window to the mature practical spirituality within the living tradition of Sufism. Rooted in the spontaneous guidance and connection of hearts that occurs in the healing and nurturing practice of Sohbet, they carry the direct, immediate and intimate voice of that quality of spoken language that is not distanced by abstraction, encumbered by complexity, or entangled in the knots of the rational mind. This is the work of an authentic teacher who helps us in sincerity and love to reflect deeply on our inner states within the concrete reality of our daily lives and by so doing to come ever closer to our longed-for awareness of Divine Unity.  ~Jeremy Henzell-Thomas, essayist and former Visiting Fellow at the Centre of Islamic Studies, University of Cambridge
  • By Shaikh Badruddin of Simawna Commentary and translation by Tosun Bayrak al-Jerrahi In Inspirations (Waridat), Shaikh Badruddin interpreted many essential concepts of Islamic theology in an original and personal way which seems strikingly meaningful today. Melamiyya, or the "path of blame," is an approach to spiritual development within Islamic Sufism that avoids the appearance of piety and challenges the self-satisfaction of the ego.
  • A Daybook of Spiritual Guidance from the Wisdom of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi

    Selected and translated by Kabir and Camille Helminski These "jewels" have been taken from Books III-VI of Rumi's masterpiece, the Mathnawi. A companion volume to the earlier Rumi: Daylight, this daybook may also be read in a turn-to-any-page approach.
  • An offering with love from Camille Hamilton Adams Helminski Designed with Matthew Helminski for Sweet Lady Press

    2025 calendar containing vibrant photographs of flowers of the month, from the garden beyond the door of Camille’s home. Each month is also accompanied by a verse from Mevlana Rumi or sacred text, lunar phases, religious holidays honored from multiple faiths, and select USA & global remembrance days. Mark your way through the year with beauty and grace.
    Whoever is sitting with friends Is in the midst of a flower garden. [Rumi, Mathnawi IV:1976]
  • The Sufi Path to Mindfulness and the Essential Self

    By Kabir Helminski Revised 25th anniversary edition Sufism is a centuries-old spiritual psychology leading to presence in life. Presence is our capacity to be whole in the moment, in alignment with our deepest wisdom. With unusual clarity, this book describes how presence is different from ordinary habits of mind, and how it can be developed. Drawing on the words of the great Sufi, Rumi, as well as traditional material and personal experience, this book integrates the wisdom of Sufism with the needs of contemporary life. Also available as an Amazon Audible audiobook, narrated by Iman Mortagy.
  • By Jalaluddin Rumi Translated by Kabir Helminski Jalaluddin Rumi, one of the greatest mystics and poets the world has ever known, said, "love is a stranger and speaks a strange language." And yet Rumi's message of spiritual love speaks directly to our hearts after more than seven hundred years. This volume contains most of the earlier The Ruins of the Heart in revised form as well as an equal amount of new translations. A quintessential collection.
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