A Decade in the Heart of Sufism: A Middle East Odyssey

A Decade in the Heart of Sufism: A Middle East Odyssey is a riveting story of discovery, adventure, and faith as my pursuit of the Sufi Path led me to ecstatic festivals in Egypt, to Mecca, and then to live by the side of my spiritual guide, Shaykh Nazim in Damascus, receiving teachings daily along with a small group of Western Sufi aspirants. The Shaykh welcomed us into a space of spiritual intimacy in which we felt ourselves to be his sons and daughters. Then, when political instability in Syria obliged him to return to his native Cyprus, we followed him, and I lived there for six years, traveling with him often. I write this account in tribute to him. In bearing witness to the spiritual transmission he received and passed on, I hope to help preserve the memory of this great Master of the Sufi Way. Join me on this journey of discovery into the Heart of Sufism. Read about life in Egypt where I was "adopted" by a family of dedicated Sufis. Flee with me as escape from the Syrian secret police. Follow Shaykh and me as we journey through Europe yearly to meet groups of seekers in many countries. During that decade, I published a series of eight books of Shaykh Nazim's teachings. We would bring them to London to the Shaykh's Ramadaan gathering and earn much of our living in a few months so that we could start work on the next year's book. You will encounter excerpts from those teachings in this memoir. Also, anywhere you have bought this book, you will find the companion volume, The Timeless Sufi Wisdom of Shaykh Nazim, which is a re-edited and adapted selection of the highlights of the Mercy Oceans books. I recommend that you read those teachings simultaneously with this memoir, switching back and forth, especially once you have reached the point in this narrative in Chapter Four, where I meet the Shaykh. ExcerptLeaving Damascus in a Big HurryOne day, while having breakfast, somebody knocked on the door more loudly than usual. It was a friend, Zachariah, a young Syrian from an elite background who was too eccentric to fit in with his own milieu but blended in perfectly with all of us. "Zak! What's up?" "Ibrahim, you and Abida had better get out of Syria fast! The secret police have gotten wind of a rumor that both of you are originally Jewish and, therefore, in their minds, must be Israeli spies." It only occurred to me later that Zak could only have known this if he himself were an "observer" for the government; be that as it may, he had clearly been affected by the Shaykh's teachings and had a genuine fondness for us. The survival instinct and the desire to stay out of the infamous Syrian prisons served to focus my thinking-I began to plan a quick getaway. Fortunately, the year before, Zak had helped me pick out a Citroen station wagon from among impounded vehicles to replace the heroic Beetle that had crossed the vast wilderness of the Nufud twice. The new Citroen, a station wagon that could be jacked up higher to avoid the bottom scraping in rough terrain, was being kept in a car pound. I didn't need it in Damascus and avoided prohibitive import fees by storing it there for pennies and only driving it straight out of the country on trips to Turkey. I hoped to drive directly to the Turkish border like a bat out of hell. We reclaimed the car from the impound lot without incident and were given twenty-four hours to drive it out of the country; within a few hours of receiving the disturbing news that we were under suspicion, we drove up the mountain, packed up the most cherished of our possessions and stuffed them into the car. With sadness but also a sense of relief to be leaving a country that had just been traumatized by a vicious civil war, we said one last prayer at Grandshaykh's tomb, asking for his protection in our escape from possible arrest and prosecution as spies.

• | Author: Tariq Arthur
• | Publisher: Independently Published
• | Publication Date: Apr 21, 2025
• | Number of Pages: 00198 pages
• | Binding: Paperback or Softback
• | ISBN-10: NA
• | ISBN-13: 9798309801589