Irshad: Wisdom of a Sufi Master

Irshad : Wisdom of a Sufi Master,
[A4] Hardback - 725+pages,
by Shaykh Muzaffer Ozak al-Jerrahi.

Description :
 

Irshad by Sheikh Muzaffer Ozak, preface by Seyyed Hossein Nasr.
Introduction by al-Hajj Shaykh Muhtar Holland.



The Irshad is regarded by many as the most important work in Islamic spirituality for our time and a testament to the fact that Sufism is a living tradition. The work charts the Sufi spiritual path and disciplinethrough discourse and dialogue, story and prayer, scriptural commentary and spontaneous mystical teachings in worship and action.



The Irshad addresses not only Sufis, but all those who are attracted to the spiritual life and the truths that ultimately constitute the very fiber and substance of the human soul.


 
Inspiration :

''Well, you have kept the fast and learned what it means to go hungry. Now leave your fire unlit for a day and find out what it is like for those who have no heat in their homes! Go without shoes some day; tread barefoot in the snow and ice to find out how it is for those who always go barefoot through the mud and slush! Leave your windows open one day and see what it is like to live in a house without them! Go out in the street without your coat some cold winters day, just to see how it is for those who have no coats at all! As long as your stomach is full, you will know nothing about the condition of the starving; as long as your house is warm, you will not understand the actions of those who live without heat; as long as your own feet are well shod, as long as you have thick clothes to wear, you will have no idea of the state of those who go barefoot and unclad.



Satisfy the hungry, so that Paradise may love you. Clothe the naked, so that you may not be bare on the coming day of Resurrection, when all the rest are naked. Become aware of the condition of all those paupers and orphans, for your own wife may become a pauper and your own children orphans. The wheel of fate turns. None of us knows what is to be : what great wealth may be doomed to extinction or how many, now despised, may rise to heights of dignity and honour." _{---Extract from the book} - _{page 233}.

 

Shaykh Muzaffer Ozak (1916 -1985CE) was the head shaykh of the Halveti-Jerrahi order of Dervishes, a traditional muslim Sufi order (tariqa) from Istanbul (Turkey). In western countries he is well known because of his visits to Europe and the United States of America where he celebrated public dhikrs (Remembrance of God; in Turkish "zikrullah") with his dervishes. He is also well known in Turkey for his "ilahis," religious Sufi hymns. The Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order in New York City is named for him.