Shaykh Ibrahim's Podcast

Send us Fan Mail Salaam Aleikum, Bismillah Rahman nirRahim, Weclome to another Sufi podcast. My name is ibrahim and my post is that of Shaykh, or spiritual guide. This is being recorded during the Time of Isolation: Allah’s Stop, Look and Listen signpost.  For many of us, this is a difficult time. It seems like things have gone haywire, off the rails. But from the Divine’s point of view: What a br...

Send us Fan Mail The sacred act of Being Present is achieved by complete surrender to This Moment. As soon as you imagine you ‘want’ something you have disengaged from the presence of the Divine. When you think of ‘I’ or ‘me’ you cast a shadow against the Light.  Blessings are pouring down from Allah. Why put up the umbrella of ‘me’? Why get in the way of these blessings? I like Sufism because it...

Send us Fan Mail On Becoming Your True Self  Ibrahim Ansari  To become your true self you will need tools, clarity on the objective, and perspectives on the big and little picture.  Sufism is a well-developed system aimed at learning and knowing your Self. At this moment there are too many selves. Some you know, some you hide. In this case, we are looking for the one connected to the Universe, All...

Send us Fan Mail We talk about the events of last week and then focus in on al Bari - the Shaper. One important idea behind Sufism is learning to apply spiritual teachings to one's life in a practical and pragmatic way. Sometimes the discussion leads in unexpected avenues as we wrestle with language, culture and understanding. Salaam Alaykum, murids, seekers, curious and interested listeners,...

Send us Fan Mail I recommend having the Sephiroth and the 99 Names of Allah available while you listen. There is a lot of Sufi vocabulary used, so a glossary would be helpful as well. Salaam Alaykum, murids, seekers, curious and interested listeners, We appreciate you, and are happy to share our Sufi Message. Your donation will  help support our Sufi Centre in Sydney where we offer Zikr , Soh...

Send us Fan Mail A spiritual discussion (sohbet) about one of Allah's Names: as Sami - the One Who Listens. Salaam Alaykum, murids, seekers, curious and interested listeners, We appreciate you, and are happy to share our Sufi Message. Your donation will  help support our Sufi Centre in Sydney where we offer Zikr , Sohbet , spiritual counselling and healing services. We believe the messag...

Send us Fan Mail Sohbet (spiritual discussion) on the concept of Sufi Chivalry: Honor, Trust. Salaam Alaykum, murids, seekers, curious and interested listeners, We appreciate you, and are happy to share our Sufi Message. Your donation will  help support our Sufi Centre in Sydney where we offer Zikr , Sohbet , spiritual counselling and healing services. We believe the message should be free, b...

Send us Fan Mail Group discussion (Sohbet) about the sacred Name: al Fattah- The Opener. Salaam Alaykum, murids, seekers, curious and interested listeners, We appreciate you, and are happy to share our Sufi Message. Your donation will  help support our Sufi Centre in Sydney where we offer Zikr , Sohbet , spiritual counselling and healing services. We believe the message should be free, but it...

Send us Fan Mail A Sohbet is a discussion about the teachings of Sufism. In this case, we are looking at one of Allah's sacred Names; Al Jabbar. Recorded September 16, 2011. Salaam Alaykum, murids, seekers, curious and interested listeners, We appreciate you, and are happy to share our Sufi Message. Your donation will  help support our Sufi Centre in Sydney where we offer Zikr , Sohbet ,...

Send us Fan Mail Stress Just half a million years ago we were discovering fire. Another serveral hundred thousand years after that we figured out how to grow crops and raise livestock. We adapted. And then came war after war and the technology to support it. With it came medicine to heal the war wounds. Then Bang! Money ! Taxes ! And then Bang! Electricity ! Bang! Radio ! TV ! Telephone ! Computer...

Send us Fan Mail The Trouble with Religion: Part 3 Someone asked me about the hijab. I started to research its source, and I found once again that men were making the decision for women about what to wear and how to act. They go on for pages reciting verses and Hadith, not quite understanding or including a woman’s point of view. The term hijab is not in the Quran. Now I am not a Quranic scholar,...

Send us Fan Mail Instruction for Sufis Q: How can I be sure that I am aligned with Allah’s will if He gives me what I want even though it might not be what He ultimately intends for me? How do I know that my goals match Allah’s plan for me? A: First, there are a lot of ‘Is’ and ‘me’s’ in that question, which might give us a hint at what the answer could shape up to be. The place to focus on is Tru...

Send us Fan Mail Q: How can I keep the focus on Allah and look past all manifestations to have a more direct and pure relationship with him? A: . As usual, there are usually several answers at different levels to this kind of question. First is understanding the manifestations. Learning and applying Allah’s Names helps us to get a handle on seeing Him in action. There are several practical ways to...

Send us Fan Mail Being connected to people, purpose, heart provides us mental and physical health. Without proper connection we lose our hold on life and meaning. When we don't feel connected to life, that is, to other people, and a purpose. we become alienated. Alienation produces stress, anxiety, frustration, and depression. Just 50 years ago we lived in communities, villages, neighbourhood...

Send us Fan Mail The Trouble with Religion (part 2) Ibrahim ansariBismillah rRahman nir Rahim The story of this world has often seen religion employed as a weapon. Much of the history of civilization exploited religion as an engine for barreling forward. The driver is usually the clerics, royalty, military or warlords. Religion became a tool for advancing those with power to gain more power. For e...

Send us Fan Mail The Trouble with Religion  Ibrahim ansari These are strange times for those of us who are drawn to the spiritual element. Probably somewhere along the line we tasted the divine; and since that moment its splendor and radiance always outshines all the other distractions. We decided to do everything in our power for just another sip.  That is when we discover that things get complic...

Send us Fan Mail   My students of Sufism have asked me how to deal with magic, black magic and possession by Jinn. I will answer these questions according to what I know.  I understand magic – both white, black, and any color – to be a focusing of the human will, coupled with intention. By the use of ritual and props, the mind can be focused to such an intensity as to manifest a shift or change in...

Send us Fan Mail Imagine a dimension that has a higher vibrational rate than ours. In this dimension are worlds and people who have families and communities and nations, just like us. There are religions, good people, bad people, and different cultures. Everything is faster than the Earth dimension, and, to the people of the faster dimension, earth time seems slow and static. Now for some in the f...

Send us Fan Mail Bismillah rRahman nirRahim, Conditioning One piece of the puzzle on the path of Sufism is learning how to separate yourself from your conditioning. In other words, what is the authentic, real you, as opposed to your culture, the ideas your family embedded in you, the biases you learned from your schools, friends, and relationships? There is you, and then there is all the other stu...

Send us Fan Mail Surrender by Ibrahim In sufism, surrender is the prime force that accelerates spiritual growth. Without true and complete surrender, the next phase of learning cannot take place. The teachings of not just sufism but also Zen, Tibetan Buddhism and other true paths are to help prepare the murid (student) to let go of their attachments to the things of this world. Surrender is often...

Send us Fan Mail How do we know Allah’s will? By being quiet and listening. Learn to look for and see Allah’s answers. When a possible message or answer is perceived or received, we then need to ascertain that it is true and correct. We look for confirmation within and without. If the message comes from within, as in a dream, we look for outer confirmation from a friend, colleague or book. If it c...

Send us Fan Mail Parallels of Music and Sufism Sometimes to get a better understanding of what one thing is, it helps to go at it through a parallel medium. In this case, what I am going to say about music, I have found to be a direct correlation with Sufism. The one thing that every musician always needs to do is practice . Without practice, there is no growth or ability to play the instrument. M...

Send us Fan Mail What brings us closer to God? And: Why do we sometimes feel so distant from God? Imagine in the core of your self lies a bright light. This is the Life-light ( fitrah ), the light you were before your heart began to beat. That true essence of self; a drop of God’s mercy in a potential state. Then that spark is injected in the world to be realized- absorbing experiences, trying to...

Send us Fan Mail Feeling Stuck? By shaykh ibrahim Ansari   It’s only natural to feel stuck at certain times in our life. Why? Well, if you’re like me, we like to keep learning and growing.  To keep growing means to enter unknown areas, and learn about them, and map and explore them. Most people fear the unknown. But artists and sufis enjoy the frisson of fear, the thrill of coming across an unexpl...

Send us Fan Mail Expansion/Contraction Shaykh Ibrahim   On this sufi path, there are times of expansion and contraction. Expansion is when, for example, you feel Allah’s blessings, an opening of awareness, your heart warming and growing. You may understand concepts more clearly, or realize the unity of Allah. Contraction is feeling separation, fear, unworthiness, inability to cope, and a desire to...