Ramdan Circle: Ibn Al-'Arabi on the Mysteries of Fasting
We are pleased to announce a Ramadan circle with Dr. Sh Usama Hasan on "The Mysteries of Fasting from Al-Futuhat Al-Makkiyya" of Ibn Arabi. We will read from the Arabic text with a parallel English translation and select a theme for each session. Our exploration will delve into Ibn Arabi's perspective, which seamlessly integrates legal opinions, metaphysics, and spirituality into a distinctive approach of the Akbarian tradition.
In the Islamic tradition of divine sayings, God says,كُلُّ عَمَلِ ابْنِ آدَمَ لَهُ، إِلاَّ الصَّوْمَ فَإِنَّهُ لِي —“Every action of the son of Adam belongs to him except the fast. It is Mine….”[1]. Fasting is moving from the relative to the Absolute, who is mysteriously present in the Outer (Ẓāhir) and in the Inner (Bāṭin); it is a non-dual spiritual state you enter and its essence is a mystery. تقوى (Ṭaqwā), or God-consciousness, is the proximity to Divine reality; to move from being egocentric to theocentric. It is abstaining from the ego or being liberated from the tyranny of the ego and turning to the Face of the Absolute; when you fast, if you are not feasting every moment, it is not fasting. Fasting in reality is non-action, not action[2].
In the Taoist tradition, they call it Wu Wei: hidden within apparent non-action on the plane of manifestation is potentially Infinite action on the plane of the Unmanifested. In other theocentric traditions, it is the cultivating the Vacare Deo; the spiritual poverty cultivated for Reality by abstaining from the relative illusory [3]. until one arrives at the station of knowing nothing but God in His تنزيه (tanzīh, transcendence) and تشبيه (tashbīh, immanence).. the لا إله (Lā ʾilāha, no god) gives way to إلا الله (ʾillā-llāh, except Reality).
We will meet each Sunday at 11am-12.30pm UK GMT Time beginning on
- Sunday 10th March 24 (topic: fasting is non-action & moon sighting section*)
- Sunday 17th March 24 (topic: inner meaning of taqwa*)
- Sunday 24th March 24 (topic: fasting aspects*)
- Sunday 31st March 24 (topic: laylat al qadr / iteqaf section*)
- Sunday April 7th 24 (topic: laylat al qadr / iteqaf section*)
*Please note the topics are suggested topics only and may change depending on the needs of the group
You can check your local time here
Recordings will be available for those who cant make the times.
Sh Usama is a trained physicist and astronomer. He holds an MA in Physics and Theoretical Physics from the University of Cambridge, where his teachers included the late Professor Stephen Hawking. Usama was Planetarium Lecturer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich (2006-8), and is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. Usama Hasan is a traditionally-trained, Kenyan-born British imam of Arab-Turkic-Indian-Pakistani origin. He has traditional certification in the Qur'an (reading of Hafs) and Hadith texts from shaykhs of the Ahl al-Hadith tradition of India and Pakistan, whose chains of transmission go back to the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, via Shah Waliullah of Delhi, the Hadith master and Naqshbandi Sufi Shaykh. Usama has is further certified in the Warsh reading of the Qur'an from a Moroccan shaykh, and in the Duri / Abu 'Amr reading from the Nubian shaykhs of Kibera (Nairobi, Kenya). Usama has further permission to teach Ibn 'Arabi from contemporary Sufi shaykhs, including a leading Naqshbandi teacher.
To enroll, use the link below to Pay by Heart - (There is a suggested amount of £40 - you can pay whatever is convenient for you ).
Please note joining details will be emailed to registered participants by or on Friday 8th March 24
For any further information please email admin@thehikmahproject.com
References
[1] Hadith Qudsi – Meaning is revealed by God and the phrasing is formulated by the Prophet PBUH see http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e760
[2] Ibn-Arabi, Futuhat al Makiyyah, Ch 71
[3] Lecture by Dr Reza Shah Kazemi