Perhaps no single event in the history of humanity has focused our attention as has the events of September 11th. It is not that this event represents a greater suffering than many events happening year after year on this planet. After all, millions can die and it may hardly be news. The events of September 11th are nothing less than a SIGN, a meaning to be grasped, a moment of Truth that we have yet to understand. A pointless, yet hauntingly significant horror.
The hatred, fear, and violence that we see manifesting in the world will cause us to ask many questions. What meaning shall we read in these events? What are the root causes of evil? What should our response be? Where shall we turn to find answers and guidance? Anyone who takes Islam seriously can expect to be stigmatized in the eyes of many in the prevailing society. The current situation presents us with a challenge.
Threshold Society is sponsoring a North American tour of Turkish Mevlevi semazens and musicians performing the ancient ritual of sema.
Let's begin by considering the world we live in, the society and culture that we live in; particularly in North America but more or less all over the modern world we have societies which are based on the individual. Particularly in North America and Europe but in the modern world as a whole, the individual is taken as the center of reality, the most important unit of reality. And this pervades everything. But in the modern world, meaning the world of the last few centuries for the West, this individual that is the center of reality, is in a sense an individual -- unlike the individual of traditional societies and of many eastern societies -- it's an individual cut off from the transcendent, it is a crippled individual, a separated individual and sometimes an emotionally toxic and wounded individual; and yet it's this individual that they base everything on, and that is taken as the norm of reality.
The relationship of love between us and Allah, between us and others, and between us and all of creation is essential to reaching our full potential as human beings. When we nourish our hearts with love, when we manifest Allah's love in our lives; with our families, with our friends, in our work, in our prayers, in everything that we do, the entire meaning of life changes for us and our own experience of our humanness is transformed; we become adorned with the beautiful characteristics of the Prophet.