The Silence of the Sufi,
-
and I Do Call to Witness the Self-Reproaching Spirit.
[A5] Paperback - 174 pages.
by Sabit Madaliev,
Translated by Russell Scott Valentino.
by Autumn Hill Books, USA.
Description :
Through short, historical vignettes on spiritual teachers and brief
stories, this narrative examines the Zen-like spiritual practices of
Central Asian Sufism and provides a personal account of the seeker's own
entry into the traditions of the
Naqshbandiya of Uzbekistan.
Part
history, part devotional work or stranstvie (a literary, religious, and
historical wandering), this book seeks to explore, preserve, validate,
and through discreet segments--"On Listening Attentively," "On Gentle
Words," "On Proper Posture"--record and ruminate on Sufi Islam as
practiced in Central Asia across the centuries. The book's historical
and devotional aspects are made beautiful and compelling through the
seeker's poetic idiom, his own uncertainty, and his sense of
unworthiness in the search for God. Core ideas of love, sacrifice,
absence of self, and divine and human purpose find expression in every
part of this account, attempting to strike a chord in modern or
postmodern lives.
The Silence of the Sufi is a devotional work. Its author has called it a spiritual journey, or
stranstvie, using a Russian word for wandering that is laden with literary, religious, & historical nuance. What is certain is that the ideas of love, sacrifice, & absence of self, as well as of divine and human purpose, which both underlie and find explicit expression in every part of this book, continue to strike a chord in our frequently confused and apparently purposeless modern or post-modern lives.
This is a work of history; which the book serves to preserve & validate. In discreet segments: "On Listening Attentively," "On Gentle Words," "On Proper Posture" — it records and ruminates on Sufism as practiced in Central Asia across the centuries.
Madaliev leads us into its historical and present-day practice among the
Naqshbandiya with grace and elegance.
Indeed, the historical and devotional aspects of the book —which could simply become dogmatic in the hands of another writer — are made beautiful and compelling here, partly by the author's poetic idiom, partly by his own uncertainty and sense of unworthiness in the search for God.
