Muslims will be again challenged to deny and defy evidence of Allah's Spirit and the Great News of the Resurrection at www.ruh-allah.org

[Guest guest]

, Isabelle Morgan

<isabelle.morgan wrote:

>

> Dear Jagbir, Violet and all

>

> I can't read all your emails on the forum because I'm too busy but

> I try to keep in touch with most of your " discoveries " .

>

 

Dear Isabelle,

 

i do not expect you to read all the posts, especially if you are

already meditating on the Divine Feminine within. You should also

realize that some posts are also meant to highlight the fact that

despite the apparent confusion and contradictions, such ignorance and

misrepresentation is accepted as knowledge and enlightenment. The

recent post titled THE CENTRALITY OF THE DIVINE FEMININE IN SUFISM by

Laurence Galian is a good example (appended at end of post).

 

But i have to agree that Laurence Galian's " paper calls attention to

an unexpected and little explored fact of immense significance in

Islam: at the center of Islam abides the Divine Feminine. " However,

my comprehension of the Divine Feminine in Islam conforms to the

advent and message of Her incarnation, Shri Mataji, and is based

exclusively on the Qur'an:

 

They ask thee concerning the Spirit.

Say: " The Spirit (cometh) by command of my Lord:

Of knowledge it is only a little that is communicated to you. "

If it were Our Will, We could take away that which We have sent thee

by inspiration:

Then wouldst thou find none to plead thy affair in that matter

against Us.

 

surah 17: 85-86 Al Isra' (The Night Journey)

Abdullah Yusuf Ali, The Holy Qur'an, 1989.)

 

The Qur'an confirms that little knowledge is given to the Muslims

concerning His Ruh (Holy Spirit or Adi Shakti). Allah had already

revealed that the Trinity was a false conjectured doctrine. Any

attempt to explain His Ruh would have only confused the illiterate

desert dwellers, and even smack of hypocrisy and falsehood as " there

were quite a number of idols or gods worshipped among the Arabs, and

sura 71.23 bears witness to this. There is also that surprisingly

frank account in the Qur'an of the occasion when the Prophet

apparently made somewhat of a concession to paganism in reciting sura

53.19-20 concerning Al-Lat, Al-'Uzza and Manat, the goddesses of the

Sun, of Venus and of Fate respectively. . . However, it is obvious

that idolatry was rife at the time of Muhammad. He was not going to

have an easy time convincing his people of the existence of one true

God. Worship of Al-Lat was extremely widespread, and her means " the

goddess. " "

 

Thus whatever was revealed of the Spirit of Allah to Prophet Muhammad

was the barest minimum in order to contain a volatile situation. But

the fact remains that Allah made it a point to mention His Spirit

without revealing anything about it's nature. This seemingly

frivolous act 14 centuries ago today burst forth in all splendor as

the incarnation of His Ruh, Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi, proclaims and

explains Al-Qiyamah to all humankind. The little information 1400

years ago is now an Oasis of Knowledge for all Believers to drink.

The Holy Qur'an, an indisputable revealed book, literally breathes

with precise prophecies and fulfilled promises for all His children

of various traditions.

 

As i said, my comprehension of the Divine Feminine in Islam conforms

to the advent and message of Her incarnation, Shri Mataji, and it is

based exclusively on the Qur'an:

 

1. We have indeed revealed this (Message) in the Night of Power:

2. And what will explain to thee what the night of power is?

3. The Night of Power is better than a thousand months.

4. Therein come down the angels and the Spirit by Allah's permission,

on every errand:

5. Peace!...This until the rise of morn!

 

surah 97:1-5 Al-Qadr (Night of Power)

(Abdullah Yusuf Ali, The Holy Qur'an, 1989.)

 

No Muslim can challenge this surah, right down to the angels who

accompanied the Spirit! In fact the Quran makes it impossible for the

ulema to deny Shri Mataji's advent and message as both spiritual and

physical angels were sent to identify the Spirit sent by Allah's

permission!

 

The spiritual angels can be confirmed at:

 

http://www.adishakti.org/forum/i_urgently_need_photographs_19-05-2004.htm

 

and the physical ones at:

 

http://adishakti.org/meeting_his_messengers/his_spirit_and_his_angels.htm

 

The www.ruh-allah.org site will be based primarily on these two Sure

Signs of the Qur'an concerning the Spirit (Divine Feminine), and will

have little to do with THE CENTRALITY OF THE DIVINE FEMININE IN

SUFISM by Laurence Galian. Muslims will be again challenged to deny

and defy evidence of both Allah's Spirit and the Great News of the

Resurrection at that site. i assure you that the Blast of Truth at

www.ruh-allah.org will also silence all Muslims, just like www.al-

qiyamah.org. Afterall, both will deal with Al-Qiyamah, the heart and

soul of Islam and the Qur'an.

 

regards to all,

 

 

jagbir

 

 

 

 

Shri Mataji: " Now, the principle of Mother is in every, every

scripture - has to

be there. " At the center of Islam abides the Divine Feminine

 

 

>

> Only the truth will ensure its survival, and that truth is being

> ever-increasingly revaled at these sites:

>

> www.adi-shakti.org/ — Divine Feminine (Hinduism)

> www.holyspirit-shekinah.org/ — Divine Feminine (Christianity)

> www.ruach-elohim.org/ — Divine Feminine (Judaism)

> www.ruh-allah.org/ — Divine Feminine (Islam)

> www.tao-mother.org/ — Divine Feminine (Taoism)

> www.prajnaaparamita.org/ — Divine Feminine (Buddhism)

> www.aykaa-mayee.org/ — Divine Feminine (Sikhism)

> www.great-spirit-mother.org/ — Divine Feminine (Native Traditions)

>

> As i keep saying, time is on Her side and ours too. All we need is

> to be patient and wait. Reality test for SY is meagre past advances,

> present stagnation and obvious future demise. The physical Shri

> Mataji has said farewell, and we have all the knowledge, evidence,

> revelations and faith to welcome the eternal Divine Feminine within.

> However, Shri Mataji did say She will establish Sahaja Yoga before

> She leaves. She never meant the Sahaja Yoga Subtle System Religion.

>

 

(From Radio Interview 1983 Oct 01, Santa Cruz USA)

 

Interviewer: ShriMataji, You are called " Mother. " And, it seems in

the Hindu tradition there's a special context or meaning of the

word " Mother. " What is this meaning?

 

Shri Mataji: " You see, in the Indian philosophy, even in the

Christian philosophy it is so, but it has been little bit changed. If

you read the books of Essene, you will find they have described

the " Mother. " You see, the Holy Ghost is the Mother. When they say

about the Holy Ghost, She is the Mother. But how can you have… You

must reason it out. How can you have a father and a son without a

mother? [laughter] It's a, you see, simple thing like that. You see,

so it's the Mother only. Holy Ghost is very important. So, Holy Ghost

is the Mother, you see. It's absurd thing, I mean, to have such a

thing. Even homosexuals cannot have children. It's funny thing, isn't

it. Absolutely absurd! But Christians accepted this. I don't know

why. Why didn't they go into find out what is this Holy Ghost

business is? They said, " It's a mystery. " How can you say it's a

mystery? When you cannot explain then better not say anything about

it. So, Holy Ghost is something hanging in the air. No one knows;

it's a mystery, and the rest of it is the father and the son. It's

absurd!

 

Now, the principle of Mother is in every, every scripture - has to be

there. Now, the Mother's character is that She is the One who is the

Womb, She is the One who is the Mother Earth and She is the One who

nourishes you. She nourishes us, you know that. And, this feminine

thing in every human being resides as this Kundalini, as you have

seen. And, when She rises, She gives you this new awareness which

becomes compassion, which is flowing, which becomes soothing,

nourishing energy of love. "

 

Shri Mataji

Radio Interview 1983 Oct 01, Santa Cruz USA

 

 

THE CENTRALITY OF THE DIVINE FEMININE IN SUFISM

[Published in the Proceedings of the " 2nd Annual Hawaii International

Conference on Arts & Humanities " , Honolulu, Hawaii.] © 2004 by

Laurence Galian

 

This paper examines the concept of the Divine Feminine from the Sufi

tradition (and its roots) with questions regarding the Sufi

definition of the Divine Feminine, the various techniques used to

experience it, the nature of the experiences, and the ultimate

intentions of the Islamic mystics known for engaging in such

practices. Through an investigation involving examinations of Sufi

teachings that the female body is the locus of continuous theophany

of the Divine in human beings, explorations of the cult of Prophet

Muhammad's daughter Fatima, comparisons of Tantric philosophical

tendencies shared by both the ancient Dravidian world and Islam,

analyses of songs chanted by a Sufi Order from Cairo, visionary

experiences of mystics from various traditions, and Islamic

techniques of sacred sex as revealed in Hadith and Sufi erotic

poetry, it has been gathered that Allah is, as defined by numerous

Sufis, the feminine form of the ultimate reality.

 

THE CENTRALITY OF THE DIVINE FEMININE IN SUFISM*

LAURENCE GALIAN

 

Copyright 2003 Laurence Galian. .

 

The Eternal Feminine

Draws us heavenward.

—Goethe

 

The world famous Islamic Sufi poet Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi (1207 -

1273) writes: " Woman is the radiance of God; she is not your beloved.

She is the Creator—you could say that she is not created. " [1] This

paper calls attention to an unexpected and little explored fact of

immense significance in Islam: at the center of Islam abides the

Divine Feminine.

 

Before the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad, brought the religion of Islam

to Arabia, the Arabs were a polytheistic people. Hindu merchants

frequently passed through Makkah, a major trading hub. Ancient Indian

Vedic texts refer to Makkah as a place where Alla the Mother Goddess

was worshiped. In Sanskrit, Alla means " mother. " This name was

connected to the Hindu Goddess Ila. She was the consort of the Hindu

God Siva in his form known as Il, and this form of Siva was known and

worshiped in pre-Islamic Makkah. A great deal of cultural and

spiritual interchange took place between the merchants of Makkah and

India.

 

According to some scholars however, the ancient Arabs believed that

Allah (the greatest God) had entrusted the discharge of the various

functions of the universe to different (lesser) gods and goddesses.

People would therefore turn to these gods and goddesses to invoke

their blessings in all sorts of undertakings.[2] The ancient Arabs

prayed to these lesser gods and goddesses to intercede before Allah

and to pass their desires on to Allah. As part of their religious

practices, they visited Makkah. In Makkah was a large cube-like

building known as the Ka'ba. This temple contained three hundred

sixty idols. Those who were visiting the great city of Makkah as

pilgrims would circumambulate the Ka'ba as part of their religious

rites.[3] The pre-Islamic Arabs had a custom of performing a

sevenfold circumambulation of the Ka'ba completely naked. Men

performed this in the daytime and women at night.

 

The door of the Ka'ba is in the northeastern wall. On the outside, in

the corner east of the door and 1.5 meters above the ground, the

famous " Black Stone " (Hajar Al-Aswad) is found. This Black Stone is

now in pieces, three large parts, and smaller fragments, which are

tied together with a silver band. The eminently feminine yoni [4]

form of the Black Stone's setting is remarkable. There are several

theories on the origin of the Black Stone: a meteor, lava, or basalt.

Its color is reddish black, with some red and yellow particles. Its

original diameter is estimated to have been 30 cm. The identity of

the Black Stone with the Great Goddess and with the moon is

recognized by the Hulama - the rationalist school of Islam. [5]

 

Inside the Ka'ba there were fresco paintings including those of

Abraham and the " Virgin Mary " with the baby Jesus.[6] When Muhammad

retook Makkah he began a program of removing the pagan influences

from the Ka'ba, the most holy of Muslim sites. He removed many

frescoes and images that he considered inauspicious but he

specifically left on the walls a fresco of the " Virgin Mary " and her

child. The Qur'an obligates every believer to make a pilgrimage to

Makkah at least once in his or her lifetime, if finances permit.[7]

Since the time of Muhammad, during the Tawaf (circumambulation of the

Ka'ba)[8] pilgrims kiss or touch the black stone as they make circuit

around the Ka'ba.

 

Ben-Jochannan who has studied the polytheistic religions of the

Arabian peninsula points out that before Muhammad, Makkah was a holy

site to the worshippers of El'Ka'ba (a goddess). Her worshippers

knelt at her symbol, a jet black stone.[9] This jet-black stone was

probably a meteorite, and the Hajar Al-Aswad was once known as

the `Old Woman'.[10] Popular tradition relates how Abraham, when he

founded the Ka'ba, bought the land from an old woman to which it

belonged. She however consented to part with it only on the condition

that she and her descendents should have the key of the place in

their keeping.[11] Today the stone is served by men called Beni

Shaybah (the Sons of the Old Woman).

 

The crescent moon goddess (and virgin warrior Goddess of the morning

star), Al-Uzza, was known to the pre-Islamic Arabs as " The Mighty " .

Some scholars believe that in very ancient times, it was she who was

considered enshrined in the black stone of Makkah, where she was

served by priestesses. Her sacred grove of acacia trees once stood

just south of Makkah, at Nakla. The Acacia tree was sacred to the

Arabs who made the idol of Al-Uzza from its wood.[12]

 

Stones, similar to the black stone of the Ka'ba, were worshipped by

Arabs in most parts and by the Semitic races generally. The Kabyles

of Kabylia in Northern Algeria say their first Great Mother goddess

was turned to stone. Other names of the goddess are Kububa, Kuba,

Kube and the Latin Cybele.[13] Other scholars say that this meteorite

was brought to Makkah by the Sabeans or the Ethiopians and state that

the goddess who dwelt in the sacred black stone was given the title

Shayba (see Beni Shaybah - the Sons of the Old Woman, above) who

represented the Moon in its threefold existence - waxing, (maiden),

full (pregnant mother) and waning (old wise woman).[14] Although the

word Ka'ba itself means `cube', it is very close to the word ku`b

meaning `woman's breast'.[15]

 

Sufism cherishes the esoteric secret of woman, even though Sufism is

the esoteric aspect of a seemingly patriarchal religion. Muslims pray

five times a day facing the city of Makkah. Inside every Mosque is a

niche, or recess, called the Mihrab - a vertical rectangle curved at

the top that points toward the direction of Makkah. The Sufis know

the Mihrab to be a visual symbol of an abstract concept: the

transcendent vagina of the female aspect of divinity. In Sufism,

woman is the ultimate secret, for woman is the soul. Toshihiko Izutsu

writes, " The wife of Adam was feminine, but the first soul from which

Adam was born was also feminine. " [16]

 

The Divine Feminine has always been present in Islam. This may be

surprising to many people who see Islam as a patriarchal religion.

Maybe the reason for this misconception is the very nature of the

feminine in Islam. The Divine Feminine in Islam manifests

metaphysically and in the inner expression of the religion. The

Divine Feminine is not so much a secret within Islam as She is the

compassionate Heart of Islam that enables us to know Divinity. Her

centrality demonstrates her necessary and life-giving role in Islam.

 

Sufism, or as some would define it " mystical Islam " has always

honored the Divine Feminine. Of course, Allah has both masculine and

feminine qualities, but to the Sufi, Allah has always been the

Beloved and the Sufi has always been the Lover. The Qur'an, referring

to the final Day, perhaps divulges a portion of this teaching: " And

there is manifest to them of God what they had not expected to

see. " [17]

 

Islam is aniconic. In other words, images, effigies, or idols of

Allah are not allowed, although verbal depiction abounds. There was a

question long debated in Islam: can we see Allah? The Prophet said in

a hadith, " In Paradise the faithful will see Allah with the clarity

with which you see the moon on the fourteenth night (the full moon). "

Theologians debated what this could mean, but the Sufis have held

that you can see Allah even in this world, through the " eye of the

heart. " The famous Sufi martyr al-Hallaj said in a poem, " ra'aytu

rabbi bi-`ayni qalbi " (I saw my Lord with the eye of my heart).

Relevant to the focus of this paper is that Sufis have always

described this theophanic experience as the vision of a woman, the

female figure as the object of ru'yah (vision of Allah).

 

There was a great Sufi Saint who was born in 1165 C.E. Besides Shi'a

Muslims, numberless Sunni Ulemas called him " The Greatest Sheikh " (al-

Shaykh al-Akbar).[18] His name was Muyiddin ibn al-`Arabi. He

said, " To know woman is to know oneself, " and " Whoso knoweth his

self, knoweth his Lord. " Ibn al-'Arabi wrote a collection of poems

entitled The Tarjuman al-ashwaq. These are love poems that he

composed after meeting the learned and beautiful Persian woman Nizam

in Makkah. The poems are filled with images pointing to the Divine

Feminine. His book Fusus al-hikam[19], in the last chapter, relates

that man's supreme witnessing of Allah is in the form of the woman

during the act of sexual union. He writes, " The contemplation of

Allah in woman is the highest form of contemplation possible: As the

Divine Reality is inaccessible in respect of the Essence, and there

is contemplation only in a substance, the contemplation of God in

women is the most intense and the most perfect; and the union which

is the most intense (in the sensible order, which serves as support

for this contemplation) is the conjugal act. " Allah as the Beloved in

Sufi literature, the ma`shuq, is always depicted with female

iconography.

 

A popular new book, The Da Vinci Code[20], a thriller by Dan Brown,

tells the story of a Harvard professor summoned to the Louvre Museum

after a murder there to examine cryptic symbols relating to da

Vinci's work. During the course of his investigation, he uncovers an

ancient secret: the claim that Mary Magdalene represents the Divine

Feminine, and that she and Jesus had a sexual relationship. While the

book is a work of fiction, it does represent the force of the Divine

Feminine to unveil Herself in the midst of religious traditions that

have become altered through cultural accretions into anti-sexual,

anti-pleasure and anti-feminine belief structures. There is also the

worthy of note nonfiction work The Woman With the Alabaster Jar: Mary

Magdalen and the Holy Grail[21] which presents the idea that Mary

Magdalen was actually married to Jesus Christ and the Holy Grail is

not a cup or chalice at all but Mary's womb as she carried

the " bloodline " of Jesus to Egypt and then to Europe. The author,

Margaret Starbird[22], advances her theory by analyzing art of the

dark ages and the " understood " meaning behind it. Starbird does an

excellent job of researching European history, heraldry, the rituals

of Freemasonry, medieval art, symbolism, psychology, mythology,

religion, and the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures to discover that

the meaning of the Holy Grail could be the lost bride of Jesus and

the female child she carried within her.

 

Starbird's theological beliefs were profoundly shaken when she read

Holy Blood, Holy Grail[23], a book that dared to suggest that Jesus

Christ was married to Mary Magdalen and that their descendants

carried on his holy bloodline in Western Europe. Shocked by such

heresy, this Roman Catholic scholar set out to refute it, but instead

found new and compelling evidence for the existence of the bride of

Jesus. The roles of Muhammad's daughter Fatima and Mary are similar.

The true line of the Prophet `Isa; (Jesus) and his real teaching

passing through Mary and into Europe mirrors the true line of the

Imams (who propagated the real teachings of the Prophet Muhammad) who

issued from the womb of Fatima. Fatima is regarded by some Sufis and

theologians as the first spiritual head (qutb) of the Sufi fellowship.

[24]

 

Among the Ghulat[25] there is much respect paid to the Divine

Feminine. In the Ghulat group the Ahl-i-Haqq ( " the People of Truth " ),

the Divine Feminine appears as the Khatun-i Qiyamat (Lady of

Resurrection) who also is manifested as the mysterious angel Razbar

(also Ramzbar or Remzebar). The writer, Frédéric Macler, claims that

the name Razbar is of Arabic origin and means " secret of the creator " .

[26] The term qiyama literally means, " rising " of the dead, and

allegorically, it implies an idea denoting the rising to the next

spiritual stage, and qiyamat-i qubra (great resurrection) means an

attainment of the highest degree when a man becomes free from the

ties of external laws, whom he shackles and transfigures into

spiritual substance, which rejoins its divine sources.[27] " The King

of the World was sitting on the water with His four associate angels

(chahar malak-i muqarrab) when they suddenly saw the Pure Substance

of Hadrat-i Razbar, the Khatun-i Qiyamat (Lady of the Resurrection).

She brought out from the sea a round loaf of bread (kulucha), and

offered it to the King of the World. By His order they formed a

devotional assembly (jam), distributed the bread, offered prayers and

exclaimed `Hu!' Then the earth and the skies became fixed, the skies

being that kulucha. " [28]

 

Another rendition of the emergence of the Lady of the Resurrection is

as follows: " After this the Holder of the World and Creator of Man

looked upon `Azra'il with the eye of benefaction, and `Azra'il became

split into two parts, one exactly like the other, and from between

these parts a drop of light emerged in the form of a loaf of kulucha

bread. The Creator then said, I appoint that person (surat) who

became separated from `Azra'il to be the Lady of the Resurrection

(Khatun-i Qiyamat), who will on the Resurrection Day be the helper of

human beings. " [29]

 

The followers of Yarsanism, also known as the Yarisan, Aliullahi, Ali-

llahi (i.e., " those who deify `Ali " ), Alihaq, Ahl-i Haqq ( " the People

of Truth " ) or Ahl-i Haq ( " the People of the Spirit " (Hak or Haqj),

are concentrated in southern Kurdistan in both Iran and Iraq. In each

epoch there is a female avatar of the Universal Spirit, a reflection

of the higher status of women in the Kurdish culture and tradition.

[30]

 

What do those who study mystical Islam claim is the hidden meaning

regarding the existence of the sexes in creation? These researchers

perceive that the biological and psychological differences between

the sexes are only hints of a more momentous significance hidden

within the divinity Itself. Of course, Sufism does not argue against

the Oneness of Allah. The quintessence of Allah transcends duality,

yet the Ultimate Reality manifests qualities in creation that are

dualistic.

 

In Kabbalah (a Jewish mystical tradition)[31], just below the first

Sphere (sefirah) of divine emanation known as Keter

(meaning " crown " , " summit " or " pinnacle " ), lie the two roots of

masculine and feminine, known as Hokhmah and Binah. Although they are

not masculine and feminine, Hokhmah and Binah are the archetypes of

the masculine and feminine. Binah is the Kabbalistic feminine symbol

for `Understanding', a prelude to wisdom. " Binah, the Great Mother,

sometimes also called Marah, the Great Sea, is, of course, the Mother

of All Living. She is the archetypal womb through which life comes

into manifestation. " [32] The " female " principle within God is

personified and called by the name: Shekhinah (literally " dwelling " ),

a term familiar from classical Rabbinical literature. In the

Kabbalah, however, the Shekhinah is not only included as a

distinctive principle within the inner divine life, but this

distinctive principle is explicitly, and quite graphically, described

as female. " [33]

 

The Divine Masculine and the Divine Feminine express two very

distinct aspects of Allah. First, that Allah is Supreme is the

principle of masculinity, and that Allah is Infinite is the principle

of femininity.[34]

 

In the Qur'an, Allah reveals Itself by giving Itself ninety-nine

names. These names are divided up by Islamic Ulama into the names of

Majesty (jalal) and the names of Beauty (jamal). The names of Majesty

call to mind images of the stern and strict " father " , while the names

of Beauty call to mind images of a gentle and loving " mother " . Allah

did not exhaust Itself in creating the world; hence Allah still

exists along with creation. Allah, in creating the world, is

indicative of masculine qualities, such as achievement, strength,

dynamism, severity, and rulership. Yet, Allah is also infinite

compared to the finite world. This inconceivably extended aspect of

Allah is the aspect of Allah that the Sufi often refers to in

ecstatic poetry in the feminine gender. That is why Ibn al-`Arabi

says Allah can be referred to as both Huwa (He) and Hiya (She). One

of the drawbacks of the English language is that we do not give

gender to nouns. Arabic, like the Romance languages, expresses words

with gender. Many of the essential words regarding Allah are in the

feminine gender in Arabic.[35]

 

In this paper, the author will analyze three of these words: the

first is al-Hakim, the Wise; Wisdom is hikmah. In Arabic to say, for

example, " Wisdom is precious, " you could repeat the feminine pronoun:

al-hikmah hiya thaminah, literally " Wisdom, she is precious. " It is

stated by some Sufi Sheikhs (Masters) that Sufism originally was

named Sophia, which connects Sufism with the Christian Gnostic

tradition, in which Wisdom is personified as a woman, the divine

Sophia. The physical mother of Jesus was an external image of

manifestation of the Virgin Sophia, the word " Sophia " stemming from

Sophos (wisdom). The Gnostics, whose language was Greek, identified

the Holy Spirit with Sophia, Wisdom; and Wisdom was considered

female. The Virgin was closely associated by the early church with

Wisdom, of the cathedral church at Constantinople, while the

ascension of the Virgin Mary refers to the passing of Wisdom into

Immortality. The litany of the Blessed Virgin contains the

prayer, " Seat of Wisdom, pray for us. "

 

Julian of Norwich (1343-1420?), English religious writer, an

anchoress, or hermit, called Jesus Christ, the second Person of the

Roman Catholic " Holy Trinity " , our Mother in Wisdom, and our Mother

of Mercy or Compassion.[36] The latter title with the words " mercy "

and " compassion " returns us to a subtle interpretation of the phrase

Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim, often translated as " In the name of

Allah the most Beneficent the most Merciful " , but with the added

gnosis that God can appear to a human being as the Divine Feminine

and that the Divine Feminine is not confined to Christian or Islamic

mystical intuitive apprehension of spiritual truths. St. Peter

Chrysologos presented the Virgin as the seven-pillared temple which

Wisdom had built for herself. " [37] The aforementioned philosopher and

Sufi, ibn al-Arabi, saw a young girl in Makkah surround by light and

realized that, for him, she was an incarnation of the divine Sophia.

[38]

 

Mary was born of an angelic annunciation; Fatima (the daughter of the

Prophet Muhammad) was considered to come from the level of angels.

She is considered by many Muslims as divine in origin and several

variations of a major hadith describe how she was conceived on the

night of Mi'raj (ascension). On this night Gabriel took Muhammad to

Jerusalem and then to Heaven. While up in Heaven, he was offered some

heavenly fruit, the seed of which was responsible for her conception,

after the Prophet's return on the same night and making love to his

beloved wife Khadija.

 

Fatima tul Zehra (Fatima the Radiant, Fatima the Brightest Star,

Fatima-Star of Venus, Fatima-The Evening Star), the daughter of the

Prophet, is the secret in Sufism. She is the Hujjat of `Ali. In other

words, she establishes the esoteric sense of his knowledge and guides

those who attain to it. Through her perfume, we breathe paradise.

Though she was his daughter, the Prophet Muhammad called her Um

Abi'ha (mother of her father). What mystery was the Prophet hinting

at by this statement? While Fatima Zehra was Muhammad's daughter, the

Rasulallah (Prophet of God – Muhammad) understood that his gnosis was

bestowed upon him from the Divine Feminine.

 

Fatima Fatir as representative of Allah's Jamal, saves humankind from

Allah's Jalal. Esoterically, if it were not for Fatima (Mercy), Allah

would never have sent Muhammad (Peace be upon him) and the Qur'an to

humanity. The night is the exemplification of our sovereign Fatima,

especially the " Night of Destiny " (laylat al- Qadr). Lady Fatima was

chosen from all women to be the Mother source of Muhammad's lineage,

the core of the generation of Muhammad. Through her, the progeny of

the Prophet multiplies – through a woman. [39] The process of giving

birth to the spirit is the feminine principle. That to which has been

given birth is the masculine. " This is why, in spiritual

transformation and rebirth, only the masculine principle can be born,

for the feminine principle is the process itself. Once birth is given

to the spirit, this principle remains as Fatima, the Creative

Feminine, the Daughter of the Prophet, in a state of potentiality

within the spirit reborn. " [40] Shi'as revere the person of Fatima,

for she is the mother of the line of inspired Imams who embodied the

divine truth for their generation. As such, Fatima is directly

associated with Sophia, the divine wisdom, which gives birth to all

knowledge of God. She has thus become another symbolic equivalent of

the Great Mother. Lady Fatima (as) has various names near Allah

(Exalted Be His Name), they are:

 

Fatima (Aleiha Assalam)

 

Siddiqah (the honest)

 

Al-Mubarakah (the blessed one)

 

Al-Tahirah (the pure)

 

Az-Zakiyah (the chaste)

 

Ar-Radhiatul Mardhiah (she who is gratified and who shall be

satisfied)

 

Al-Mardiyyah (the one pleasing to Allah )

 

Al-Muhaddathah (a person other than a Prophet, which the angels speak

to)

 

Az-Zahraa (the splendid)

 

Fatima was given the title of " az-Zahraa " which means " the

Resplendent One. " That was because of her beaming face, which seemed

to radiate light. However, others, who must keep their beliefs

prudently concealed, know the Prophet Muhammad's daughter as " Fatima

Fatir " . In Her own sacred words She utters the truth, " There is no

God beside me, neither in divinity nor humanity, neither in the

Heavens nor on earth, outside of me, who am Fatima - Creator. "

 

It is said by some Sufis that there is another great secret regarding

Fatima. These Sufis say that she was a Prophet from the time of her

father's death until the time of her death. After the Prophet's

death, Fatima lived seventy-five days. During this time the Archangel

Gabriel came to her and consoled her by telling her what her father

was doing in the spiritual worlds, what his status was, and what

would come about in the Islamic community after her death. Imam `Ali

wrote down what Fatima dictated to him. Her words were collected into

what is known as the Mushaf. Mushaf refers to a collection of sahifa,

which is singular for " page. " The literal meaning of Mushaf is " The

manuscript bound between two boards. " In the early days of Islam,

people used to write on leather and other materials. They either

rolled the writings, what we know as a " scroll " in English, or kept

the separable sheets and bound them together, in what could be called

a Mushaf, a book in today's terms. Of course, the above narration

requires more research and exegesis. " . . . Fatima's book, I don't

claim that it is Qur'an, rather it contains what makes people need us

and makes us in need of no one, " stated Imam Sadiq.[41] According to

the traditions of the Ahlul Bayt, Fatima's Mushaf is not a Qur'an,

but most definitely a revelation by Allah, to the Mistress of Women

and Daughter of the Master of Prophets, just as He chose to make

revelations to Moses' mother.

 

Sufis are taught to be aware of coincidences. They say that

coincidences are merely " Allah's orders " , or " no coincidence, only

Providence " . Hagia Sophia (Greek, " Holy Wisdom " ) was the cathedral of

Constantinople (today's Istanbul, Turkey).

 

The second word the author will consider, in this paper, is accounted

the second most important name of Allah, and that is al- Rahman, the

All-Merciful. The first ayat(verse) of Al-Fatiha (the most important

chapter in the Qur'an) firmly establishes that the two names Al-

Rahman and Al-Rahim refer to Allah, the Supreme Power, and to Allah

exclusively. The two names' etymology stems from the same root: RAHM,

which can mean " womb " or " place of origin " . There is a hadith qudsi

that specifically addresses that: Allah says, " I am al-Rahman. I

created the womb and I derived its name from My name. I will be

connected to whoever stays connected to it, and I will be cut off

from whoever stays cut off from it. "

 

Sister W.H.[42] believes that most translators, in translating these

words, do not take into consideration the context in which Allah

refers to Itself as Rahman or Rahim. Surah Maryam (19) is the Sura in

which the name Al-Rahman is mentioned most frequently (sixteen

times). In ayat18 of this Sura, Maryam asks for protection from Al-

Rahman against one whom she perceives as a man entering her private

chambers, but who in fact is the Archangel Jibreel (Gabriel). Sister

W.H. holds that Maryam is asking for protection from the Most

Powerful, the Almighty, not mercy from " the Beneficent " as Rahman is

often translated. Sister W.H. continues by stating that Maryam

declares this asking for protection from Al-Rahman to the " intruder "

in order also to frighten the " intruder, " for which situation the

appellation " the Merciful " or " The Most Gracious " would hardly

instill fear, and hence also be unsuitable. In every instance of the

usage of the name Al-Rahman in the Qur'an, in the opinion of sister

W.H., the only appropriate interpretation is expressed in the name

The Almighty. Yet, as Cecilia Twinch perceives in her article The

Beauty of Oneness witnessed in the emptiness of the heart[43], " in

this state of not knowing what the reality of the situation was, she

turned to God with all her being, saying, `I take refuge in the

Merciful (Rahman) from you.' `Consequently,' Ibn `Arabi says, `she

was overwhelmed with a perfect state of the Divine Presence.' " [44]

 

Nevertheless, Sister W.H. recounts another example of the Almighty

power of Al-Rahman, we have the description in Sura Taha, verse 5,

that culminates when " Al-Rahman " is established on the throne. " Thus

the Holy Qur'an says, Inna Rabba-kumulla-hullazi khalaqas-samawati

wal-'arza fi sitati 'ayamin sumas-tawa 'alal 'Arsh: " Your Guardian-

Lord is Allah, Who created the heavens and the earth in six days, and

is firmly established on the Throne. " [45] This is the perfect image

of power and authority, the assumption of full authority over

everything.

 

Whatever sister W.H.'s interpretation, the concept of mercy is still

relevant in this context. Note translations of the Towrah (Torah) of

Moosa (Moses) use the word " Mercy-seat " ; could this not be a

translation of the name Al-Rahman as " Mercy " and Al-aarsh (throne)

as " seat " ? Bear in mind that these two names, Al-Rahman, Al-Rahim are

part of the most ancient, profound and universal revelation of the

Divine in the opinion of the Jewish people and the Muslims. Yet, is

this concept of the " Mercy-seat " limited to the Jewish people and the

Muslims? No. The Egyptian Goddess Isis is one of the goddesses that

has stood the test of time. Isis is the Greek form of more ancient

names (Aset or Eset), and the name Isis is represented in

hieroglyphics with a picture of a " throne " . The throne represented

the Feminine power of the Goddess, and the King when he ascends the

throne, is actually drawing power from the throne upon which he sits.

Halmasuit is the Hittite throne goddess that represents divine

legitimization of earthy rulership.

 

An Doctuir, An t-Athair Sean O Duinn, Department of Irish Mythology

University of Limerick, gave a most interesting presentation on the

personification of the Land as the Goddess as well as the place of

the sacred well in Irish Mythology and early Irish Christianity. He

explained that to the pre-Christian Irish, water was the source of

all life. Eire, after whom the country was named, was the superior

Goddess of water and fertility, the island of Ireland being the body

of the goddess. The Irish language has no word for the coronation of

a king. This is because Irish kings were not crowned; they were

married to the goddess in a ceremony called An Bainais - the wedding.

In the Bainais, the king received the land as his wife and the fruits

of the land and all the wealth of an agricultural society came under

his paternity as issued from the marriage.[46]

 

Surah 109 in the Qur'an, al-Kawthar, gives an especially revealing

look into the Prophet's feminine soul. It was revealed because his

enemies had been taunting him that he had no sons, only daughters,

while they had been given sons to perpetuate their patriarchal ways.

Allah revealed this message of consolation to the Prophet: " We have

given thee al-Kawthar ... surely the one who hates thee will be cut

off (from progeny). " What is al-Kawthar? Al-Kawthar is a sacred pool

of life-giving water in Paradise-a profoundly feminine symbol. The

name of Kawthar is derived from the same root as kathir `abundance',

a quality of the supernal Infinite, the Divine Feminine. Allah

established that Allah's feminine nature has primacy over Allah's

masculine nature when Allah says in the hadith qudsi[47] " My mercy

precedes My wrath " (rahmati sabaqat ghadabi). The Prophet also

said, " Your body has its rights over you. "

 

Eric Ackroyd, author of A Dictionary of Dream Symbols: With an

Introduction to Dream Psychology[48] writes about water, " It is a

feminine symbol, representing either your own femininity (whether you

are a male or female), or your mother. " In addition, the Ka'ba stood

by a sacred spring, the Zemzem, whose sacred waters are drunk by all

good Muslims.[49] The Hajira or " sudden departure " although applied

to the events following 622 C.E. bears the same name as Hajira

(Hagar), who discovered the spring of Zemzem flowing by Ishmael's

foot when searching for water for him after the " sudden departure " of

Ibrahim.

 

Therefore, we see the Divine Feminine, as the Source of Life, being

expressed first by the means that humans may understand the Divine

Feminine, in other words, Wisdom, being a feminine word, second, by

the two most holy names of Allah: al-Rahman and al-Rahim which

express in a universal way (spanning cultures as varied as Egyptian,

Hittitie and Celtic) that the Source of Life is the Divine Feminine.

 

However, the Divine Feminine does not always manifest in ways that

most people think of as traditional, in other words: nurturing,

embracing, caring, and so forth. She has a martial aspect too, and so

it is not surprising that Al-Rahman wields power and can

appropriately be called The Almighty. Pakistani-American artist

Shahzia Sikander has explored the spiritual meaning of the Feminine

in South Asia through her female images that blend veiled Muslim

women and goddesses like Kali or Durga[50] in the same figure. By

depicting the Divine Feminine in her art, she says, " I am interested

in the multidimensions of the female identity. The goddess could be a

figure of power. It refers to empowerment definitely. And yet there

is a certain sort of dark side to it too.... " [51]

 

Now the author will consider the third name, and perhaps the most

outstanding of all: al-Dhat. This word, in Arabic, is also feminine.

Allah is Beyond the Beyond, higher than any action, manner or

condition, and any thought that any being may have.[52] This

transcendence of all qualities denotes the Divine Feminine. The

renowned Sufi master Najm al-Din Kubra wrote of the Dhat as

the " Mother of the divine attributes. " On this makam or " level of

existence " , femininity corresponds to interiority and masculinity to

manifestation. The ancient Celtic Druids would perform a strange rite

after two people married. The Druid would go into the house in which

the marriage was consummated and reappear dressed in the bride's

gown. He would do this to demonstrate the balance between the

masculine and feminine aspects within himself.[53] The Druids were

ancient Celtic priests, shamans and philosophers as described in Neo-

Shamanists and Pagans Today P3: From N. Pennick to Celtic/Northern

Literature.[54]

 

Druid-Shaman-Priest: Metaphors of Celtic Paganism by Leslie Jones

further delves into the connection between the Druid and the Shaman.

[55] " A Shaman is a man or woman who is able, at will, to enter into

a non-ordinary state of consciousness in order to make contact with

the spirit world on behalf of members of his or her

community. " [56] " The distinctive feature of family shamanism was

participation by nearly all members of the family in ritual

activities. At the same time, peoples of northeastern Siberia had

shamans who played the main role in rituals. They included

transvestite male and female shamans. During religious ceremonies

(kamlaniye), such male shamans dressed in women's clothes and female

shamans dressed in men's clothes. Transvestite men and women shamans

were regarded as the most powerful. " [57] Ibn al-`Arabi divulged, " I

sometimes employ the feminine pronoun in addressing Allah, keeping in

view the Essence. " The perfection of the human state, al-insan al-

kamil, means the perfection of both the masculine and feminine

qualities together, and is symbolized by the marriage of Imam `Ali

(the nephew and brother-in-law of Muhammad) and Fatima (the daughter

of Muhammad).

 

Love stories abound in all cultures: Romeo and Juliet, Orpheus and

Eurydice, Tristan and Isolde, and in the Middle East, we find the

stories of Yusuf and Zuleika, and Majnun and Layla. The story of

Majnun and Layla was (and still is) widely known throughout the

Islamic world. However, in the hands of Persian Sufi poets, the story

became transformed into a symbol of the love of a human being for

Allah. In Sufism, questing for Allah is similar to the European Grail

quest in which the Knight quests for a Chalice (the cup being a

symbol of the female sexual organ). Layla, in Arabic, comes from the

word layl meaning " night " . The association of the Divine Feminine

with Darkness and the Night is ubiquitous.

 

The Sumela Monastery, in Trabzon on the shore of the Black Sea, is an

important site for the Divine Feminine in Christianity, and provides

a connection with the concept of the Islamic Layla. " Sumela " is

derived from the Greek words meaning " dark stone. " Water drips down

from a dark rock near the monastery. " Dark stone " has been a very

ancient symbol of the Divine Feminine going back to pagan times, as

has been posited in this paper with regard to the black stone of the

Ka'ba.[58]

 

" These days, one of the most powerful archetypes being revived in

feminist religion is Lilith, archetype of the `dark' inner feminine.

For ages this goddess had been cast aside and denigrated by

patriarchal religion as a demoness, but now she is being looked at

with renewed interest. To anyone following Lilith's career, it would

be interesting to learn how she already had been rehabilitated

centuries ago in Islamic Sufi guise. She is known to Muslims as

Layla — of Layla and Majnun fame. Both names come from the same

ancient Semitic root meaning `night'. The old Akkadian form of her

name was Lilitu, from the root L-Y-L, with the feminine ending in -

t; it took the form Lilith in Hebrew. The Arabic name Layla is from

the same root with a feminine ending often used in Arabic girls'

names. " [59]

 

The blackness of night is an essential quality of the Divine

Feminine. The " black cloak " of Muhammad is very famous. The Sufis

sing about kali kamaliya vala (the one wrapped in the black blanket)

in their qawwalis (spiritual songs). Muhammad's prayer rug was also

black, as was the first flag of Islam.

 

Majnun went crazy because of his love for Layla. He went out of his

mind. The goal of the Sufi is called fana or " annihilation " , in which

the Sufi literally goes out of his or her socially conditioned mind.

Majnun means someone not in an ordinary state of mind. To quote the

Diwan of Shaykh Ahmad al-`Alawi: " I drew near to Layla's dwelling,

when I heard her call. O would that sweet voice never fall silent!

She favored me, drew me toward her, and took me into her precinct;

then with words most intimate addressed me. She sat by me, then came

closer, and raised the garment that veiled her from my gaze; she took

me out of myself, amazed me with her beauty . . . She changed me and

transfigured me, marked me with her special seal, pressed me to her,

granted me a unique station and named me with her name. "

 

In the nighttime, all that is visible during the day vanishes into

the darkness. Boundaries fade away at night. Forms are no longer

visible. This apparent lack of manifestation that takes place during

the night is directly connected to the unmanifested aspect of the

Divine Nature, Allah as Unmanifest. " Aba'ad " , is a very well known

song from the Persian Gulf region. The full-length song is twenty and

a half minutes in length. Many dancers and musicians in the United

States know this song as " Layla, Layla " because about fourteen

minutes into the song the lyrics sing " Layla " many times over and

over again. The Saudi Arabian vocalist who made this song popular was

Mohammed Abdou. " Layla, Layla, Layla, Allah, Allah, Layla " , go the

lyrics, intertwining the name Layla with the name Allah.

 

At the top of (or beyond) the Kabbalistic Tree of Life is found three

mysterious " veils of negative existence (unmanifestation). " These

veils contain and conceal the unmanifest aspects of the entire Tree

of Life. The veils are traditionally not illustrated on the Tree of

Life. When they are, they are drawn as three semi-circles above

Keter. The most remote veil is Ain, which represents absolute

negative existence. Complete darkness is a symbol of this state. The

seed grows in the darkness of the earth and the fetus develops in the

darkness of the womb. Each Sheikh has a woman that develops him into

a Sheikh. Therefore, in this seemingly patriarchal mystery tradition

(Sufism), we see that woman is the Hidden Initiatrix, the Shadow

Guide, the Blackness that births the Light. " Da tariki, tariqat " -

" In the darkness, the Path, " is a Sufic maxim. The void has been

described as a dark cave, a shadowy mihrab, the Concealed or Secret

Radiance, the Black Stone of the Ka'ba, Ghayb ul-Ghaib ( Mystery of

Mysteries ), Amma ( Darkness), and returning to the Womb of Fatima

(`Alaiha Assalam) the Mother.

 

The Prophet Muhammad pronounced an utterance of supreme compassion

and love for the feminine when he was returning from a battle with

his Companions. They came upon a group of women and children. One

woman had lost her child and was going around looking for him, her

breasts flowing with milk. When she found her child, she joyfully put

him to her breast and nursed him. The Prophet asked his

Companions, " Do you think that this woman could throw her son in the

fire? " They answered " No. " He then said, " Allah is more merciful to

His servants than this woman to her son. " [60] Jalal al-Din Rumi, in

an amazing passage of the Masnavi on the Return to Allah, made

reference to the story of the infant Moses and addressed Allah

directly as " Mother " :

 

" On Resurrection Day, the sun and moon are released from service:

and the eye beholds the Source of their radiance,

then it discerns the permanent possession from the loan,

and this passing caravan from the abiding home.

If for a while a wet nurse is needed,

Mother, return us to your breast.

I don't want a nurse; my Mother is more fair.

I am like Moses whose nurse and Mother were the same. " [61]

 

Nick Herbert, a renowned physicist, states, " Science has succeeded

(perhaps too well) in taming Nature; now it's time to learn how to

woo Her, seeing Her not as a collection of dead parts but approaching

Nature as the very Body of the Beloved. " [62]

 

In Islam, there is not the same condemnation of the body as is found

in many of the major Christian sects. Spirit if often depicted in

Christianity as " male " and the body as " female " . The body is not an

obstacle in Islam, but rather it is a means to attain enlightenment.

Sexual pleasure is not shunned in Islam, but rather incorporated into

daily life. To begin with, the body itself is given great

significance in Islam when one takes into account the bodily postures

that are a necessary and essential part of the compulsory five times

a day, prayer. During salat (Islamic prayers) the body is

metamorphosed into a manifestation of the sacred. These bodily

postures are very similar to the bodily postures one observes in

Hindu Hatha Yoga, which is a branch of Tantric Yoga. Islam's unitary,

holistic view of the body and spirit is evident in the alchemical

saying of the Shi`ite Imams, " arwahuna ajsaduna wa- ajsaduna

arwahuna " (our spirits are our bodies and our bodies are our

spirits).

 

One of the primary goals of the Sufi is to reawaken the body to an

awareness of it being an expression of the divine. The body is not

basically sinful (as in the Roman Catholic Church's conception of

Original Sin) in Islam, rather the body is the seat of the highest

reality created by Allah in the whole universe. To understand the

Divine Feminine in Sufism, it is helpful to understand a few basics

of Tantra Yoga.

 

Therefore, the author asks the reader's indulgence as he briefly

explores Tantra Yoga. The author believes the reader will be richly

rewarded for his or her patience. The basic tenet of Tantrism is that

matter, and therefore the body, is also a manifestation of Sakti

power, that is, the power emanating from the feminine aspect of

Divine Reality. In the domain of the spiritual life, the same term

Sakti signifies the celestial energy that allows one to enter into

contact with the Divinity. Hence, the body must not be opposed or

despised. Tantra has been one of the most neglected branches of

Indian spiritual studies despite the considerable number of texts

devoted to this practice, which dates back to the 5th-9th century

C.E. Tantra itself means, " to weave, to expand, and to spread " , and

according to Tantric masters, the fabric of life can provide true and

ever-lasting fulfillment only when all the threads are woven

according to the pattern designated by nature.[63] Sex, being a part

of nature, then is considered part of the fabric of life. The

physical, spiritual and mental cannot be separated. To the Tantrics,

the body is a form of consciousness, but this consciousness is

veiled.

 

There is a form of Tantra, entitled " Kundalini Tantra " . This is the

Yoga of sexual intercourse. In the classical literature of hatha yoga

Kundalini literally means coiling, like a snake. Kundalini can be

understood as an immanent and latent liberating power, or as

potentiality of liberation. This power lies in wait (is coiled) at

the base of the spine of the average person. It is useful to think of

Kundalini energy as the very foundation of our consciousness so that

when Kundalini moves through our bodies our consciousness necessarily

changes with it. Kundalini Tantra is engaged in precisely for the

reason of freeing up this energy that is waiting at the base of the

spine, and allowing it to flow freely up the spine. In yogic anatomy

the sushumna is the central channel and conduit for the Kundalini

energy that runs along our spine and up to the crown of our head, the

summit of liberation (brahmarandhra). Along this channel are placed

seven additional channel networks called chakras. These chakras are

associated with major aspects of our anatomy - for example our

throat, heart, solar plexus, and in turn these aspects of our anatomy

are related to aspects of our human nature.

 

What ties Tantra to Sufism is contained in the symbolism of Prophet

Muhammad's nighttime ascent to Heaven. The Prophet ascended on al-

Buraq, a riding beast with the head of a woman, through the seven

heavens to the Throne of God. Hadith relates that the Prophet's bed

was still warm when he returned from the Mi'raj. On this night, the

Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) reached within " two bows'

length " of Allah. Fakhruddin `Iraqi explains: " Imagine lover and

Beloved as a single circle divided by a line into two bow-shaped

arcs. This line but seems to exist, yet does not, and if it will be

erased at the moment of the Meeting, the circle will appear again as

one - as in fact it really is. This then is the secret of Two Bows'

Length. " [64] The secret Sufic explanation of the fact that the

Prophet's bed was still warm, is that Muhammad (Peace be upon him)

was making this journey while having sexual intercourse with his wife

Khadijah.

 

Additionally, it is possible that Muhammad's nighttime ascent to

Heaven, al-Mi`raj, was mediated by an hallucinogenic plant. Baqir

Majlisi reports, " It is related from the Prophet that over each leaf

and seed of the isfand plant an angel is appointed so that through

its bark and roots and branches grief and sorcery are set aside. " [65]

There is an Iranian folk-song about isfand.

 

" Our Prophet selected it,

`Ali planted it, Fatima collected it

For Husayn and Hasan.

All who are born on Saturday,

On Sunday, or on Monday,

On Tuesday, or on Wednesday,

On Thursday, or on Friday;

Underground, on the ground;

Black-eyed, blue-eyed, crow-eyed, ewe-eyed;

All who have looked, all who have not;

Neighbor on left, neighbor on right;

Before the face, behind the back;

May the eye of the envious and of envy crack! " [66]

 

The Book of Plants by Abu Hanifa al-Dinawari (circa about 895 C.E.)

states that harmel is discernible in two forms. One has leaves like

the Egyptian willow and white fragrant flowers like those of jasmine.

Sesame oil and Moringa seed oil become fragrant with this blossom.

Its seed is a long capsule like that of Cassia. The other is called

in Persian, isfand, and its capsule is round. Harmel contains the

psychoactive compounds (harmine, harmaline, and tetrahydroharmine).

[67]

 

In most ancient hunter-gatherer societies, women balanced the males

supply of game with their collected harvest from the surrounding

wilderness. Women therefore became the first to learn the secrets of

plants, and plant propagation. This knowledge led to the development

of agriculture, and the evolution from the animal totems of the

hunter-gatherers to images of the Great Mother, who with proper

worship produced her abundant harvest in the same way that women

produced children. In various Mystery Cults, traditional ingestion of

hallucinogenic plants allowed members the option of seeking a

personal relationship with deity.

 

Interpretation of the Qur'an in the light of Sahaja Yoga was the

topic of the first international conference of the Islamic Study

Group in the city of Lucknow. Various Muslim scholars from around the

globe dwelt on the divine powers of Nirmala Devi, who it is claimed

rediscovered the magic of Sahaja Yoga. The members discussed the

benefits of this form and how Muslims could benefit from it. Speaking

on this occasion, Mr. Husain Top, a renowned Sufi saint from Turkey,

said the seven heavens mentioned by the prophet were in fact

seven " chakras " of consciousness. " God sees through man and he hears

through man, " the Sufi saint said. Mr. Top explained how in the final

stage of consciousness man is enveloped by the will of God and in

this state he attains union with the Almighty and finds peace. [68]

The human beloved becomes a witness (shahed), a Theophany of the Real.

[69] Ibn Tamiya had remarked a practice that reflected the last of

these views, noting that a mystic might kiss his or her beloved and

say to him or her, " Thou art God. " [70] Abdelwalah Bouhdiba describes

the mystical approach to sexuality in Sufism, " The body of a woman,

therefore, is a microcosm of the masterly work of God. To lose

oneself in it is to find oneself in God. To run over it is to

continue the great book of Allah. " [71]

 

An eighteenth-century Gujarati text of the Satpanth Nizari Isma`ilis

tells of a renowned Isma`ili and Sufi master imparting Tantric

spiritual instruction to a Nath Siddha Jogi master. It includes both

Islamic and Tantric terms, and demonstrates the intersection of these

two traditions. A portion of this document has been published with a

study by Dominique Sila Khan as " Conversation between Guru Hasan

Kabiruddin and Jogi Kanipha: Tantra Revisited by the Isma`ili

Preachers. " [72]

 

Sometimes when the Divine Feminine is realized in all Her Splendor,

She so transforms her devotees that their forms of worship are

transformed also. Hence Islamic and Sufi groups arise that are

considered heretical to mainstream Islamic and Sufi belief structures

through attention and study of the feminine aspects of divinity. The

concept that Allah is the feminine form of the Ultimate Reality is

the inner secret of the most esoteric mysteries of Islam. Ibn `al-

`Arabi pronounced: " True divinity is female, and Makkah is the womb

of the Earth. " Because he said the godhead was feminine, they accused

Ibn al-`Arabi of blasphemy. Allah commanded reverence for womankind

in the Qur'an.[73] " Pay ye heed to Allah on whose bounty ye depend,

and pay ye heed to womankind! " [74] Prophet Muhammad said that woman

is the greatest treasure in the world. One of Sufism's first saints,

Rabi`ah, is held with equal reverence as any male saint. In Chapter 9

of the Qur'an, At-Taubah, it is written: " Then Allah did send down

His Sakinah (calmness, tranquility and reassurance, etc.) on the

Messenger (Muhammad), and on the believers, and sent down forces

(angels) . . . " Then in Sura 48 we find: " It is He who sent down the

Sakinah into the hearts of the believers, that they might add faith

to their faith. "

 

The Sakinah in Islam is a manifestation of the Divine Feminine, very

similar to the Shekinah in the Hebrew tradition. Prophecies of the

return of the Shekinah, which had left the Temple and city of

Jerusalem in the days of Ezekiel, are repeated in Zechariah. The word

is also used to describe the mystical Shekinah presence in the

tabernacle. Shekinah in Hebrew is a feminine noun; it is interesting

that Isaiah refers to the Shekinah using feminine pronouns.[75]

 

In Arabic, Barakah means blessing or Divine Grace. It is a feminine

Arabic name. Barakah also carries the meaning of " soul power " ,

the " blessing " , " irradiation of sanctity " , or the " protective

energy " , all of which constitute so many images of the celestial

Femininity.

 

Some contemporary feminists have condemned Muslim men for forcing

Muslim women to wear the veil. First, it must be made clear that the

veil is a patriarchal cultural accretion that is not a rule of Islam.

However, the veiling of women, suggests mystery and sacralization.

The Prophet said of himself: " The Law (shari`ah) is what I say; the

Path (Tariqah) is what I do; and Knowledge (Haqiqah) is what I am. "

The Law carries with it connotations of masculine action, while

Knowledge carries with it a sense of feminine intuition. One can

truly experience the Divine Feminine only through this Knowledge.

Prophet Muhammad also said " Three things from your world have been

made beloved to me: women, and perfume, and prayer the comfort of my

eyes. " The great Shaykh Tosun Bayrak al-Jerrahi al- Halveti in his

article " True Love " [76] writes, " The Prophet of Allah, when he tells

of the things he was made to love, puts woman above man. He uses the

word thalath, feminine three, not thalathah, masculine three, and yet

in the same sentence there is the word tib – perfume, which is

masculine. In Arabic grammar when it is said, for example, `Fatima

and Zayd came,' the verb is in the masculine form. Thus the Prophet

has purposefully and ungrammatically given precedence to the female

over the male. In addition to the first loved one being feminine,

third loved one, salat, is also (grammatically) feminine. The pattern

is repeated thus: Dhat (Essence) is feminine; Adam is masculine; Eve

is feminine. It is the concept of trinity: man (masculine) is between

two feminines. They are linked: Essence to man; man to woman; woman

to Essence. "

 

Unfortunately, much of the sexual revelations of the Saints of Sufism

have been repressed. We are only now becoming aware of the great

extent of these teachings. The Muslim Mullah and scholar, Imam

Suyuti, wrote at least nine known works on erotic techniques. Suyuti

is considered one of latter day Islam's greatest exoteric scholars.

Most of his peers also wrote one or two works on the subject, some

were quite prolific.[77] Ibn al-`Arabi also wrote a book of erotic

poetry titled Tarjuman al-ashwaq (The Interpreter of Desires) which

has meaning on both the erotic level and the spiritual level at once.

Ruzbihan Baqli, a great Sufi saint, wrote, " He poured me the wines of

proximity; it was as though I was in that place like a bride in the

presence of God. What took place after that cannot enter into

expression. He graced me in a form that I cannot tell to any of God's

creatures, and he was unveiled and there manifested from him the

lights of his beautiful attributes. " [78] Sufis have had to be very

careful in their mystical descriptions of their encounters with the

Divine Feminine, as Sufis have been tortured and martyred for their

sayings and writings which offend the traditional patriarchal view of

Islam.

 

Pagla Kanai, a Bengali Muslim poet in the nineteenth century,

identified Fatima as " Mother Tara " or " Mother Tarini " and prayed to

her in this passage that blends Islam and Saktism:

 

" O mother, Pagla Kanai, who is of no consequence cries for you with

every breath;

please cast a little shadow of your feet on me;

O Mother, take me to your feet.

O Mother Tara, the redeemer of the world,

O Mother Tarini, you shall appear as the savior of Muslims when

Israfil will blow his horn,

when everything will be reduced to water,

and when your father's community will sink into water without a

boat. " [79]

 

Pagla Kanai also compared Fatima to the goddess Kali and considered

her more virtuous:

 

" Mother Kali is virtuous indeed—

she stood on her husband's chest!

Did my gracious mother (Fatima) ever trample Ali? " [80]

 

The Prophet Muhammad never advocated celibacy. According to a

hadith, " marriage is half the religion " ; and in some Sufi orders, a

student of Sufism cannot be considered for initiation until he or she

is married. To know the Absolute, one must experience the primordial

totality of the soul. Therefore, sexual union provides the Sufi with

a glimpse of this Totality or Unity. The Prophet of Islam taught that

when husband and wife look in each other's eyes with love, their sins

are forgiven. When they hold hands, good deeds are recorded for them.

When they make love, they are surrounded by praying angels. One

statement of the Prophet is that: " In the sexual act of each of you

there is a sadaqa. " [81] The Prophet also stated, " Three things are

counted inadequacies in a man. Firstly, meeting someone he would like

to get to know, and taking leave of him before learning his name and

his family. Secondly, rebuffing the generosity that another shows to

him. And thirdly, going to his wife and having intercourse with her

before talking to her and gaining her intimacy, (and) satisfying his

need from her before she has satisfied her need from him. "

 

In other words, the Prophet stated that a proper Muslim man

understands that the woman takes priority before the man in reaching

orgasm. This statement of Muhammad is a clear indication that Islam

(as was taught and practiced during Muhammad's life) regarded women

in the marriage bed as equal, if not superior, to men.

 

The Sufi and Exoteric legalist scholar, Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (d.

505/1111), stated that, " Sex should begin with gentle words and

kissing. " The scholar of both outward exoteric studies, and inward

studies, Imam al-Zabidi adds, in his commentary on al-Ghazali: " This

should include not only the cheeks and lips; and then he should

caress the breasts and nipples, and every part of her body. "

Regarding foreplay, Muhammad stated, " Not one of you should fall upon

his wife like an animal; but let there first be a messenger between

you. " " And what is that messenger? " they asked; and he

replied, " Kisses and words. " In his Magnum Opus Encyclopedia of the

Islamic Religious Sciences, the Ihya Ulum al-Din, Imam Abu Hamid al-

Ghazali stated, " When he has come to his orgasm (inzal), he should

wait for his wife until she comes to her orgasm likewise; for her

climax may well come slowly. If he arouses her desire, and then sits

back from her, this will hurt her, and any disparity in their orgasms

will certainly produce a sense of estrangement. A simultaneous orgasm

will be the most delightful for her, especially since her husband

will be distracted by his own orgasm from her, and she will not

therefore be afflicted by shyness. " [82] This book, the Ihya Ulum al-

Din has been for over a thousand or so years the most popular work on

the Islamic religious sciences, indeed it is a bestseller now in the

Muslim world, and its sub-books have popular English translations

even to-day.

 

Female-oriented religions are directly connected with birth and the

body, nurturing, fecundity, nonviolence, wholeness, spirals, circles

and the Underworld. Perhaps this is the profound insight that the

Prophet Muhammad had when he said, " Paradise is found at the feet of

the mother. " The secret Sufi understanding of this hadith is that the

Arabic word for foot is the same word for the female pubic bone,

suggesting that illumination can be found through sexual intercourse

between two married Sufis in the station of Haqq. The great Sufi

Sheikh, Ibn `Arabi, " practiced . . . the exaltation of sexual

intercourse as a supreme method of realization, " [83] and transmitted

his direct knowledge from Allah to fourteen women, eight of whom

received this transmission in dreams.[84]

 

Christianity, through contact with Sufism, has awakened to the Divine

Feminine, in the form of chivalry or courtly love, characterized by

the cult of the " Lady " and by a no less particular devotion for the

Virgin. The poetry of spiritualized Eros was passed along through the

courtly love songs of the troubadours and the deliberately veiled

symbolism of the alchemists. Patriarchal Christianity in the early

Middle Ages condemned women as inferior and the cause of sin, and

enforced the most repressive rules ever. It was only when the benign

influence of Islam and Sufism began to make itself felt in Europe

that Christendom began to ease up on its misogyny. The High Middle

Ages of Europe arose from contact with Islamic civilization. Queen

Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122-1204) was a key figure in this (and

according to Idries Shah she was descended from Prophet Muhammad). At

her Court of Love at Poitiers, she was a great patroness of the arts

and encouraged the troubadours who sang of courtly love, that is,

spiritualized Eros, which came from Sufism. She promoted the idea

that real men loved and honored women, rather than fighting feudal

wars or becoming monks.

 

After this, Western civilization began to soften toward women, and

the veneration of Mary came to the forefront. However, " sacred sex "

had to remain underground in Christianity and could only be detected

in the veiled, symbolic language of the poets and the alchemists. The

French troubadour Peire Vidal (d. 1205?) said in one of his poems: " I

think I see God when I look on my lady nude. " He was put on trial and

nearly burned at the stake. Sufis have often had to practice the art

of taqiya (or concealment). That is, they practice the customs and

religious practices of the people amongst whom they are living, in

order not to be martyred by the prevailing traditionalists. The same

became true for those who were privy to the arts of sacred sex during

the Middle Ages. Many alchemical texts are actually manuals of coital

practices to achieve Divine Awareness through sexual ecstasy. Books

like the Perfumed Garden[85] were considered marginal in the Islamic

world, the better-known corpus of sexual and erotic literature on its

spiritual and worldly significance is, in general, un-translated.

 

An ongoing debate regarding the derivation of the name Allah is being

waged among oriental scholars. To conclude this article, the author

presents a sampling of the various claims asserted about the origin

of the name " Allah " and the relation of these assertions to the

Divine Feminine.

 

1.) Among the Qur'anic references to its 7th Century pagan milieu may

be found mention of three goddesses, called daughters of Allah: AI-

Lat, AI-`Uzza and Manat; these are also known from earlier

inscriptions in northern Arabia. Al-Lat (the Goddess) may have had a

role subordinate to that of El (Ilah), as " daughter " rather than

consort.[86]

 

2.) The gods mentioned in the Qur'an are all female deities: Al-Lat,

al-Uzza and Manat, which represented the Sun, the planet Venus, and

Fortune, respectively; at Makkah they were regarded as the daughters

of Allah. As Allah meant " the god " , so Al-Lat means " the goddess " .

[87]

 

3.) `Ali-ilah; the god; the supreme; the all-powerful; all-knowing;

and totally unknowable; the predeterminer of everyone's life destiny;

chief of the gods; the special deity of the Quraysh; having three

daughters: Al Uzzah (Venus), Manah (Destiny) and Alat; having the

idol temple at Makkah under his name (House of Allah); the mate of

Alat, the goddess of fate.[88]

 

4.) The Quraysh tribe into which Muhammad was born was particularly

devoted to Allah, the moon god, and especially to Allah's three

daughters who were viewed as intercessors between the people and

Allah . . . The worship of the three goddesses, Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, and

Manat, played a significant role in the worship at the Ka'ba in

Makkah. The first two daughters of Allah had names that were feminine

forms of Allah.[89]

 

5.) Allah, the moon god was married to the sun goddess. Together they

produce the three goddess (the daughters of Allah), Al-Lat, Al- Uzza

and Manat. All of these `gods' were viewed as being the top of the

pantheon of Arab deities.[90]

 

6.) The shrine of the sacred stone in Makkah, formerly dedicated to

the pre-Islamic Triple Goddess Manat, Al-Lat (Allah), and Al-Uzza,

the `Old Woman' was worshipped by Muhammad's tribesmen the

Koreshites. The stone was also called Kubaba, Kuba, or Kube, and has

been linked with the name of Cybele (Kybela), the Great Mother of the

Gods. The stone bore the emblem of the yoni, like the Black Stone

worshipped by votaries of Artemis. . . . priests of the Ka'ba are

still known as Sons of the Old Woman.[91]

 

7.) Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon (which is based on classical Arabic

dictionaries), says under the word Allah, while citing many

linguistic authorities: " Allah ... is a proper name applied to the

Being Who exists necessarily, by Himself, comprising all the

attributes of perfection, a proper name denoting the true god ... the

al being inseparable from it, not derived... " Thus according the

Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon, Allah is thus a proper name, not

derived from anything, and the Al is inseparable from it. The word al-

ilah (the god) is a different word.[92]

 

8.) In Lane's Arabic-English Lexicon the words ilah (god) and Allah

occur under the root A-L-H, but the word Al-lat is given under an

entirely different root L-T. Therefore, " Al-lat " is not the feminine

form of the word Allah (for in that case it would occur under the

same root as for " Allah " ), but is derived from a completely different

root with a totally different meaning.[93]

 

9.) Allat, according to recent study of the complicated inspirational

evidence, is believed to have been introduced into Arabia from Syria,

and to have been the moon goddess of North Arabia. If this is the

correct interpretation of her character, she corresponded to the moon

deity of South Arabia, Almaqah, `Vadd, `Amm, or Sin as he was called,

the difference being only the oppositeness of gender. Mount Sinai

(the name being an Arabic feminine form of Sin) would then have been

one of the centers of the worship of this northern moon goddess.

Similarly, al-`Uzza is supposed to have come from Sinai, and to have

been the goddess of the planet Venus. As the moon and the evening

star are associated in the heavens, so too were Allat and al-`Uzza

together in religious belief, and so too are the crescent and star

conjoined on the flags of Arab countries today.[94]

 

10.) The ancient Greek historian Herodotos in the first volume of his

historic work " Histories Apodexis " , line 131-132, refers to the

religion of the Persians. He writes, " They sacrifice to the sun and

the moon and the earth and the fire and the water and the winds. Only

to those they sacrifice of old. In addition they learnt to sacrifice

to Urania[95], too. They learnt it from the Assyrians and the Arabs.

The Assyrians call Aphrodite Mylitta[96], the Arabs Alilat... " [97]

 

11.) It seems unlikely that the name Allah comes from al-ilaah " the

God " , but rather from the Aramaic/Syriac alaha, meaning " God " or " the

God " . The final " a " in the name Alaha was originally the definite

article " the " and is regularly dropped when Syriac words and names

are borrowed into Arabic. Middle-eastern Christianity used Alah and

Alaha frequently, and it would have often been heard. However, in the

Aramaic/Syriac language there are two different " a " vowels, one

rather like the " a " in English " hat " and the other more like the

vowel in " ought " . In the case of Alah, the first vowel was like " hat "

and the second like " ought " . Arabic does not have a vowel like the

one in " ought " , but it seems to have borrowed this vowel along with

the word Alah. Those scholars who know Qur'anic Arabic, know that the

second vowel in alla is unique; it occurs only in that one word in

Arabic. Scholars believe that Jesus spoke mostly Aramaic, although

sometimes he spoke Hebrew and he might have spoken Greek on some

occasions. If Jesus spoke Aramaic, then he referred to God using

basically the same word that is used in Arabic.[98]

 

12.) The word " Allah " , as a lot of other words, especially words of

the religious sphere, was imported from the Syriac (Aramaic)

language: " Alaha " - with three long a-vowels -, is the Aramaic word

for the (Christian) unique God. The last (long) " a " characterizes the

status absolutus in the Aramaic language and was duly omitted by the

Arabs like case endings in the Arabic vernacular, whereas the

understanding of the first syllable of " Alaha " as an article was a

common misunderstanding like for instance in Al-Iskandar from Greek

Alexandros etc. The doubling of the " L " is irrelevant, since the

doubling sign is a very late invention of Arabic orthography,

centuries after Muhammad.[99]

 

It is noteworthy that during the Zikrullahs of the Chadhiliyya Sufi

Order, the dervishes chant the name of Allah in 4/4 (four quarter)

time with three distinct vocalizations on beats one, two and three,

with a rest on the fourth beat. On beat number one, they chant the

first " A " of Allah. On beat number two, they chant " llah " of Allah.

And on beat number three, they distinctly chant another " A "

(pronouncing it exactly as the " A " chanted on the first beat). They

repeat this throughout their Zikruallah, sometimes only vocalizing

three staccato quarter notes in 4/4 (four quarter) time. This trinity

of sounds mimics the trinity of man (masculine) between two feminines

observed by Shaykh Tosun Bayrak al-Jerrahi al-Halveti in his

article " True Love " as discussed earlier in this paper. Since the

Chadhiliyya Sufi Order is centered in Cairo, it is not beyond the

realm of conjecture that they obtained the Aramaic word for God from

the Coptic Christians in the area.[100]

 

The Divine Feminine, while hidden and mysteriously woven throughout

Sufism, nevertheless will not be denied, but will reveal Herself to

those worthy of the knowledge. Is the Divine Feminine an aspect of

Allah , the form by which Allah unveils Allah to human beings, the

Ultimate Reality of Allah, the Dark Unmanifest cosmic womb from which

Ya Nur (The Light) bursts forth?

 

Her nature is as fluid as the dominion of water, which is a symbol of

the Divine Feminine. " It has a voice and can be silent, murmur gently

when tranquil or range and roar when it is tempestuous. Water has

many powers. It has the ability to refresh men and animals and to

restore new life to dried out vegetation. It can heal and purify and

also has the capacity to destroy. Water symbolizes the original

fountain of life, which precedes all form and all creation. Many

myths and legends are based on a concept of there being a primeval

ocean or watery abyss that was the source of all life. In the Hebrew

view of creation it is said that `the Spirit of God moved on the face

of the Waters' and that `the waters of the Torah' are the life-

giving waters of the sacred law. In the Qur'an it is said, `From the

water we made every living thing'. " [101]

 

In the Dao-de jing of Lao-zi, the author writes, " The gateway of the

mysterious female is called the root of Heaven and Earth. Though

constantly flowing, it seems always to be present. " [102]

 

The waters flowing, from this gateway of the Divine Feminine, stream

throughout Sufi thought and practice.

 

THE CENTRALITY OF THE DIVINE FEMININE IN SUFISM

http://home.earthlink.net/~drmljg/id8.html

 

 

-------------------------------

 

* I would like to express my gratitude to an individual who prefers

to be known only by his initials " P.K. " for his fearless, dedicated

and extensive exploration of the subject of the Divine Feminine.

 

[1] Rumi, Jalaluddin. The Mathnawi Jalaluddin Rumi. Trans. Reynold A.

Nicholson. Gibb Memorial Trust, 2002 I:2437.

 

[2] Ali, Maulana Muhammad. Muhammad the Prophet. Lahore: 1924, p. 22

 

[3]. Syed, G. M. " Religion and Reality. "

 

G. M. Syed Institute of Social Sciences Sindh

 

http://sindhlink.net/saeen/religion/saeen-book2-chap4.htm

 

(1986).

 

[4] A Tantric term for vagina.

 

[5] Briffault, R. The Mothers: A Study of the Origins of Sentiments

and Institutions (3 Volumes). London: George Allen & Unwin LTD, 1952.

 

[6] " Fatimah, Mary and the Divine Feminine in Islam "

 

Knowledge of Reality Magazine.

 

http://www.sol.com.au/kor/22_02.htm

 

(1996-2003).

 

[7] Qur'an. Sura 22:26-37.

 

[8] " The Black Stone: Dark Matter "

 

http://www.crystalinks.com/blackstone.html

 

[9] Ben-Jochannan, Yosef A.A. African Origins of Major " Western

Religions. Black Classic Press, 1991.

 

Jackson, John G. Man, God and Civilization. Replica Books; Reprint

edition, 2000.

 

[10] Taylor, Robert. " The Black Stone: The Nightside Tarot "

 

http://homepage.sunrise.ch/homepage/prkoenig/taylor1.htm

 

[11] Briffault, R. The Mothers: A Study of the Origins of Sentiments

and Institutions (3 Volumes). London: George Allen & Unwin LTD, 1952.

 

[12] " The Acacia Tree and the Rites of Initiation "

 

http://www.acacialand.com/prima.html

 

[13] Taylor, Robert. " The Black Stone: The Nightside Tarot "

 

http://homepage.sunrise.ch/homepage/prkoenig/taylor1.htm

 

[14] " Ancient Abyssinia: Ancient Abyssinia: Saba "

 

http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Classroom/9912/ancientabyssinia.

html

 

[15] According to the Scofield Bible, the word Almighty is a

translation of the Hebrew El Shaddai, one of the names applied to God

in the Old Testament. El means the " Strong One, " and shad means " the

breast, invariably used in Scripture for a woman's breast. Shaddai

therefore means primarily 'the breasted.' The Divine therefore

is 'Shaddai' because She is the nourisher, the strength- giver, and

so, in a secondary sense, the satisfier, who pours Herself into

believing lives.

 

[16] Izutsu, Toshihiko. The Key Philosophical Concepts in Sufism and

Taoism – Ibn Arabi and Lao-Tzu. Ghuang-Tzu:Tokyo 1966.

 

[17] Qur'an. Sura 39:47.

 

[18] al-Misri, Ahmad ibn Naqib. Reliance of the Traveller: A Classic

Manual of Islamic Sacred Law (Umdat al-salik). Trans. Shaykh Nuh Ha

Mim Keller. Amana Publications, 1994.

 

[19] al-`Arabi, Ibn. Wisdom of the Prophets (Fusus Al Hikam). Taj

Publishers, 1994.

 

[20] Brown, Dan. The Da Vinci Code. Doubleday, 2003.

 

[21] Starbird, Margaret. The Woman With the Alabaster Jar: Mary

Magdalen and the Holy Grail. Bear & Co., 1993.

 

[22] . Margaret Starbird holds a master's degree in comparative

literature from the University of Maryland and has studied at the

Christian Albrechts University in Kiel, Germany, and at Vanderbilt

Divinity School in Nashville.

 

[23] For those who feel that many of the assumptions drawn by the

authors of Holy Blood, Holy Grail have been since disproved and

believe the authors' sources are questionable, The Messianic Legacy

also by Baigent explains more fully the information used to deduce

the premises put forward in Holy Blood, Holy Grail. It is based on

other published works by scholars and authorities on the

interpretations of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

 

[24] Goldziher, Ignaz . Muhammedanische Studien 2. Halle, 1989, p.

300; as cited in:

 

Women of Sufism: A Hidden Treasure: Writings and Stories of Mystic

Poets, Scholars & Saints. Selected and Introduced by Camille Adams

Helminski. Boston: Shambhala, 2003.

 

[25] The Ghulat being customarily judged Islamic (and usually Shi'a)

extremists who go to extremes in exalting a person or persons to the

extent of raising him or them above the ranks of ordinary human

beings.

 

[26] Adjarian, H. " Gyoran et Thoumaris. " Translated into French by

Frédéric Macler. Revue de L'Histoire des Religion 93, no. 3 (May –

June 1926): 294-307.

 

[27] " Qiyamat-i Qubra in Alamut "

 

F.I.E.L.D. First Ismaili Electronic Library and Database

 

http://ismaili.net/histoire/history06/history620.html

 

[28] Tadhkira'i A'la, (Ahl-i Haqq Creation Story) as found in " The

Truth-Worshippers of Kurdistan: Ahl-i Haqq Texts " edited in the

original Persian and analyzed by W. Ivanow, Leiden, Holland: E. J.

Brill, 1953.

 

[29] Tadhkira'i A'la, (Ahl-I Haqq Creation Story) as found in " The

Truth-Worshippers of Kurdistan: Ahl-i Haqq Texts " edited in the

original Persian and analyzed by W. Ivanow, Leiden, Holland: E. J.

Brill, 1953.

 

[30] " Yarsanism "

 

Religions in Kurdistan

 

Sources: The Kurds: A Concise Handbook, by Dr. M. R. Izady,

Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Harvard

University, USA, 1992.

 

http://www.kurdish.com/kurdistan/religion/yarsan.htm

 

(1997-99).

 

[31] The Hebrew word, Kabbalah from the verb root k-b-l, " to

receive, " means literally, " oral received tradition. "

 

[32] Fortune, Dion. The Mystical Qabalah. Maine: Samuel Weiser, Inc.,

1986.

 

[33] Schäfer, Peter. Mirror of His Beauty: Feminine Images of God

from the Bible to the Early Kabbala. Princeton University Press,

2003.

 

[34] " Islam and the Divine Feminine "

 

peNkaLai katalikkirên

 

http://www.penkatali.org/feminine.html

 

[35] Armstrong, Karen. A History of God. Ballantine Books, 1993.

 

[36] Baker, Denise Nowakowski, Julian of Norwich's Showings: From

Vision to Book, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994, 116.

 

[37] " Jesus of Nazareth "

 

GNOSTIC SOPHIA

 

Book of Jesus Volume I

 

Chapter 13

 

http://www.holyorderofmans.org/Jesus-of-Nazareth/13-

gnostic_sophia.htm

 

[38] " Knowledge of Reality Magazine "

 

Issue # 22

 

http://www.sol.com.au/kor/kor_22.htm

 

[39] Bakhtiar, Laleh. Introduction. Shariati, Dr. Ali. Fatima is

Fatima. Tehran: The Shariati Foundation.

 

[40] Bakhtiar, Laleh. Sufi: Expressions of the Mystic Quest. New

York: Avon Books, 1976, p. 23.

 

[41] Related by Hussein Ibn Alala.

 

[42] W.H, Sister. " Al-Rahman "

 

Introduction to Islam

 

http://www.quran-islam.org/227.html

 

[43] Twinch, Cecilia. " The Beauty of Oneness witnessed in the

emptiness of the heart "

 

Delivered at the MIAS Symposium on Retreat Berkeley, October 1997

 

The Muhyiddin Ibn `Arabi Society

 

http://www.ibnarabisociety.org/twinch.html

 

[44] Wisdom of the Prophets, (extracts from Ibn Arabi's Fusus al-

hikam translated into the French by Titus Burckhardt and into the

English by Angela Culme-Seymour, Beshara Publications 1974, p. 69.

 

[45] Qur'an. Sura 7:54.

 

[46] Duinn, An Doctuir, An t-Athair Sean O. " Lectures at the Holy

Well "

 

Castlemagner Historical Society

 

http://www.iol.ie/~edmo/lectures.html

 

[47] The hadith qudsi are hadiths in which the Prophet says that

Allah says so and so. The meaning of the these hadith was revealed to

the Prophet but he put them in his own words, unlike the Qur'an which

is the word of Almighty Allah and the Prophet conveyed it exactly as

it was revealed to him.

 

[48] Ackroyd, Eric. A Dictionary Of Dream Symbols: With An

Introduction To Dream Psychology. Blandford Press, 1993.

 

[49] Briffault, R. The Mothers: A Study of the Origins of Sentiments

and Institutions (3 Volumes). London: George Allen & Unwin LTD, 1952.

 

[50] Kali makes her " official " debut in the Devi-Mahatmya, where she

is said to have emanated from the brow of Goddess Durga (slayer of

demons) during one of the battles between the divine and anti-divine

forces. Etymologically Durga's name means " Beyond Reach " . She is thus

an echo of the woman warrior's fierce virginal autonomy. In this

context Kali is considered the " forceful " form of the great goddess

Durga.

 

" Mother Goddess as Kali - The Feminine Force in Indian Art " Article

of the Month - August 2000

 

Exotic India – The One Stop Shop for Indian Arts

http://www.exoticindiaart.com/kali.htm.

 

[51] " art in the twenty-first century "

 

art:21

 

Shahzia Sikander

 

Biography

 

http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/sikander/

 

[52] Muzaffereddin, Al-Hajj Shaikh, and Shems Friedlander. Ninety-

Nine Names of Allah: The Beautiful Names. New York: Perennial

Library, Harper Colophon Books, 1978.

 

[53] Naddair, Kaledon. Keltic Folk & Faerie Tales: Their Hidden

Meaning Explored. Century.

 

[54] " Neo-Shamanists and Pagans Today P3: From N. Pennick to

Celtic/Northern Literature "

 

Sociology of the Esoteric and Science News, June 28, 2003

 

http://mailbox.univie.ac.at/~muehleb9/neosh3.html

 

[55] Jones, Leslie Ellen. Druid-Shaman-Priest: Metaphors of Celtic

Paganism. Hisarlik Press, 1998.

 

[56] Margaret Locke; Interview. Capra, Fritjof. Uncommon Wisdom:

Conversations With Remarkable People. Simon & Schuster, 1988.

 

[57] " Hunters: Spiritual Life "

 

Message from the Museum Directors, Illinois State Museum

 

http://www.museum.state.il.us/exhibits/changing/journey/hunters-

spiritual.html

 

[58] Dr. Adrienne Momi and Dr. Rashid Ergener " Anatolia Land of

Mother Goddess "

 

http://www.mythic-travel.com/about.htm

 

[59] " The Return of Lilith Reintegration, the Dark Feminine, and Sufi

Islam " http://www.penkatali.org/lilith.html

 

[60] From the hadith collection of Imam al-Bukhari.

 

[61] Rumi, Jalaluddin. The Mathnawi Jalaluddin Rumi. Trans. Reynold

A. Nicholson.

 

Gibb Memorial Trust, 2002, V:701.

 

[62] " Interview with a Quantum Tantrik "

 

http://www.quantumtantra.com/interview.html

 

[63] Ji, Shri Aghori. " What is Tantra? Part 1: The Basic of Tantrism "

 

Hinduism, What You Need To Know About

 

http://hinduism.about.com/library/weekly/aa082501a.htm

 

[64]`Iraqi, Fakhruddin. Divine Flashes. Trans. and Intro. William

Chittick and Peter

 

Lamborn Wilson, New York, Paulist Press, 1982, p. 98.

 

[65] Rudgley, Richard. Essential Substances: A Cultural History of

Intoxicants in Society. Ed. John Urda. Kodansha International;

Reprint edition (August 1995).

 

[66] This song was brought to my attention by Mr. Frederick R.

Dannaway.

 

[67] " HARMEL AND YAGE (Notes taken from a thesis on soma, moly, yage

and other psychotropic drugs) "

 

Source: Flattery, David. Haoma and Harmaline: The Botanical Identity

of the Sacred Hallucinogen " Somo " and Its Legacy in Religion,

Language, and Middle Eastern Folklore. University of California

Press, May 1989.

 

http://www.iras.ucalgary.ca/~volk/sylvia/Haoma.htm

 

[68] Article The Hindustan Times 9 Feb. 1998.

 

[69] Wilson, Peter Lamborn. Sacred Drift: Essays on the Margins of

Islam. San Francisco: City Light Books, 1993, 60-61.

 

[70] Taymiya, Ibn. Al-Radd `ala Ibn `Arabi wa-l-Sufiya. p. 56; cited

by Ritter (Meer, pp. 476-77)

 

[71] Bouhdiba, Abdelwahab. Sexuality in Islam London. Routledge &

Kegan Paul plc, 1985, p. 135.

 

[72] Khan, Dominique Sila. " Conversation between Guru Hasan

Kabiruddin and Jogi Kanipha: Tantra Revisited by the Isma`ili

Preachers. " Tantra in Practice. Ed. David Gordon White. U.K. Delhi,

Motilal Banarsidass: 2001.

 

[73] Qur'an. Sura 4:1.

 

[74] Qur'an, Sura: Nisa, The Message of the Qur'an: Presented in

Perspective by Hashim Amir-Ali, Charles E. Tuttle Company, Rutland,

Vermont & Tokyo, Japan, 1974.

 

[75] Isaiah 51:9 and 10, and its context the pronouns are feminine.

In verse 10 the KJV uses Thou and It to refer to the Shekinah. Both

pronouns are feminine in Hebrew. The Qumran text makes the feminine

form certain, literally feminine " You She " translated in KJV " Thou

It. "

 

[76] Bayrak al-Jerrahi al-Halveti, Shaykh Tosun. " True Love "

 

http://www.crescentlife.com/spirituality/true_love.htm

 

[77] S, Mr. Kamal. " Islam and Sacred Sexuality "

 

http://www.gaia-web.org/gaia-wicca/philosophy/sexuality/islam.html

 

[78] Baqli, Shaikh Ruzbihan. The Unveiling of Secrets: Diary of a

Sufi Master (original title: Kashf al

 

-asrar) Trans. Ernst, C. W., Chapel Hill, N.C., 1997, p. 54.

 

[79] Tara is a Tantric Sakti goddess (mahavidya), one of the best-

loved manifestations of Sakti for Tantric practitioners, and as such

she has appealed to the hearts of Bengali Muslims as much as the

Prophet's beloved daughter Fatima.

 

[80] Roy, Asim. The Islamic Syncretic Tradition in Bengal. Princeton

University Press, 1984, p. 94-95.

 

[81] Sadaqa, in Arabic, is a form of Worship defined primarily as a

charitable gift; the implication here is that the sexual act is a

gift. Second, Sadaqa is an act of worship, a rite.

 

[82] al-Ghazzali, Imam. Ihya Ulum Id-Deen. Trans. Maulana Fazlul-

Karim. Islamic Book Services India.

 

[83] Wilson, Peter Lamborn. Sacred Drift: Essays on the Margins of

Islam. San Francisco: City Light Books, 1993.

 

[84] Addas, Claude. Ibn `Arabi, Ou La quête du Soufre Rouge. Paris:

Gallimard, 1989.

 

[85] Nafzawi, Umar Ibn Muhammad. The Perfumed Garden of the Cheikh

Nefzaoui: A Manual of Arabian Erotology. Trans. Richard Francis

Burton. New American Library, 1999.

 

[86] " Arabian Religions. " Encyclopedia Britannica: 15th edition,

1979, p.1057.

 

[87] Guilaume, Alfred. Islam. Pelican, 1956, p. 6-7.

 

[88] Afshari, M. J. Is Allah The Same God As The God Of The Bible?

 

[89] Morey, Robert A. Islamic Invasion. Christian Scholars Press,

2001.

 

[90] Mercatante, Anthony S. The Facts on File Encyclopedia of World

Mythology and Legend. Facts on File, Inc., 1989.

 

[91] Rootswoman. " Re: Before Allah ...was the Mother "

 

New Reasoning Forum - New Rastafari Speaks Board

 

[92] Lane, Edward William. Arabic English Lexicon. Intl Book Centre;

Reprint edition, 1984.

 

[93] Lane, Edward William. Arabic English Lexicon. Intl Book Centre;

Reprint edition, 1984.

 

[94] Finegan, Jack. The Archeology Of World Religions. Princeton

University Press, 1952, p. 482-485, 492.

 

[95] Urania = The Celestial One, i.e. Aphrodite.

 

[96] Assyrian: Bilit

 

[97] Heger, Christoph.

 

Newsgroups: soc.religion.islam

 

Re: How About That Moon God?

 

Wed Mar 25 18:59:38 EST 1998

 

[98] The Origin of the name " Allah "

 

http://answering-islam.org/Quran/Sources/alaha.html

 

[99] Heger, Christoph.

 

Newsgroups: soc.religion.islam

 

Re: How About That Moon God?

 

Wed Mar 25 18:59:38 EST 1998

 

[100] La Chadhiliyya: Sufi Chants from Cairo Institut Du Monde Arabe

 

Audio CD (November 16, 1999)

 

ASIN: B000034D5I

 

[101] " The Symbolic Meaning of Water "

 

The Active Birth Centre

 

http://www.activebirthpools.com/symbolic.html

 

[102] " Passages on Feminine Power "

 

From the Dao-de jing of Lao-zi

 

Trans. Randall Nadeau, Trinity University

 

www.trinity.edu/rnadeau/Asian%20Religions/Lecture%