Articles

Spiritualism and Cultural Blending: Hazrat Turkmen Shah Bayabani and India’s Cultural Heritage

This paper treats culture as a way of life. Using oral history as a source - material, it explores the influence of Hazrat Turkmen Shah Bayabani, a Turkmen Sufi, who migrated from Turkmenistan to Delhi, in India in the 12th century AD. Read Complete Article

Khoja Ahmed Yasavi: Turkmenistan’s Sufi Link with India

There was once a dervish who became a king. The story tells us that this dervish had seen Truth. He decided that in order to make people listen to him carefully he would have to become powerful in the ordinary world. Read Complete Article

Imam Dhahabi – From Sufism to Mysticism to Jurisprudence

It comes as a strange coincidence that Mohammed Gayamaz Turkomen, commonly known as Imam Al Dhahabi was born in the year 1274, merely a year after, Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207-1273) - recognized as perhaps the greatest mystical poet of Islam. It is also said that Rumi’s poetry was inspired by the writings of Abu Said Abulkhair . This chain which originated in Mayhana with sufic thoughts, found its propagation in central Asia through Rumi’s mysticism and concluded in Al Dhahabi’s writing on various subjects including Islamic jurisprudence. Read Complete Article

Imam Zahabi and the Quest for Learning

Khalil bin Ahmad Farahidi (718-791) has identified four different types of persons. (1) He who does not know and does not know that he does not know: he is a fool, shun him. (2) He who does not know and knows that he does not know: he is a child, teach him. (3) He who knows and does not know that he knows: he is asleep, wake him. (4) He who knows and knows that he knows; he is wise, follow him. (Arabic: rajulun yadri wa yadri annahu yadri, faasaluhu fazalikal aalim, faatbahu). It is this fourth category which has been referred to as man of knowledge.Read Complete Article

Classics and Modern Theories: Managing Life the Yasavi Way

A Sufi taught his disciples (murids) from a store of wisdom which seemed inexhaustible. He attributed all this knowledge to a very voluminous book which was kept very honourably like a sacred possession in his room. The Sufi never allowed his murids to approach and open this book. When he died, his murids, regarding themselves as his rightful heirs, ran to open the book. They were very anxious to acquire all the knowledge this book contained. Read Complete Article

Classics and Modern Theories: Abu Said Abul Khair and Human Resources Paradigm Shift

Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him, henceforth pbuh) is quoted in Sahih Bukhari (Vol.8, Book 73, No.40) and Muslim (Book 32, No. 6258 & 6260) as having said, “True believers are expected to have compassion, kindness and sympathy for each other, like a body which suffers as a whole, when any one organ experiences pain, becoming sleepless and hot.” This hadith of Prophet Mohammed (pbuh), when seen in the context of human relations, appear to summarize teachings of various sufi saints who followed him and preached the message of universal brotherhood. Read This Paper