Spiritual Letter 50 - Summary & Text Version About Spiritual Letter 50 Title: "And The Truth Will Set You Free" Date: August 25, 2003 Written by: Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen (Louie Beutler) Written to: Mr. Thomas L. Friedman, Columnist for the New Your Times, and our dearest loving brothers, Sayyid Iyad Jamaleddine and Sayyid Hussein Khomeini in Iraq Go To: Outline of Letter or Summary & Text of Letter Page 3 of 3 Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim. In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate. Al-salam 'alaykum wa-rahmat Allah wa barakatuhu kulluhu. Wa 'alaykum al-salam wa-rahmat Allah wa-barakatuhu kulluhu. May all the peace, the beneficence, and the blessing of God be upon us all. May God help us all. My love you (anbu), my dearest loving brothers and sisters - Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen (Louie Beutler). Outline of Spiritual Letter: 8. Comments - To Our Dear Brothers In Iraq 8-5. The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship - plus 2 on-line libraries 8-6. Lets Get Together - in the name of God, and let Wisdom teach us "What we do not know" 8-7. Why Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (Ral)? - because God loves us, that is why 8-8. The True Significance of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (Ral) - to the followers of Muhammad (Sal.), is God completing the last request of Muhammad (Sal.) 9. Closing Prayer & Comments - "Forgive me the wrong and accept the good." 10. Copy of Articles - by Thomas L. Friedman, Columnist for the New York Times: 10-1. "Dinner With The Two Sayyids" - written on 8-08-03 10-2. "Telling The Truth in Iraq" - written on 8-18-03 Summary & Text of Spiritual Letter: 8. Comments To Our Dearest Loving Brothers In Iraq - continued 8-5. The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship - plus two on-line libraries Summary of Topic: In addition to the life and teaching of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him), on the outside of us, God has also given us the Children of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with each of Us), which His Holiness formally organized into the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship, with branches throughout the world, and in America, with the main branch in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. In this way, God has provided all of us with help in establishing the "presence of God" within us, allowing "our presence" on the "outside" of us to sit down, perhaps for the first time in our life, at least since we were very young. This is why His Holiness, Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him) teaches us, "In order for the mind and desire of your lower self to sit down, the wisdom of your inner self must stand up." And to make this happen, to make our wisdom stand up, His Holiness teaches us that before we do anything, we must call our wisdom, saying the word, "Bawa", or "Bawa Muhaiyaddeen", or "Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen", or "Shaikh Muhammad Rahim Bawa Muhaiyaddeen", (may God be pleased with Him), and our mind and desire, our lower self will sit down. This is the experience of this child, my dearest loving brothers, Sayyid Iyad Jamaleddine, and Sayyid Hussein Khomeini, brothers of the One Open Heart of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased Him) within me. Please try to conduct your life in this way. This child has been living his life this way for 28 years and has found that joining with my wisdom within me, and with the truth of God within my wisdom, joining with my Shaikh within me and with God within Him, joining with our Father, Shaikh Muhammad Rahim Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him) within me, and with God within Him, before doing anything, is how to move forward on the path of God within me. This child has learned, that before we do anything, whether it be prayer, or duty, or anything, like mowing the lawn, we stop, and "intend as God intends", by setting our intention on the goals of God, on the 99 qualities and actions of God, intending the presence of God within me, the presence of the "Oneness" that is God within us, as explained to us by His Holiness, and then by calling out His name, the name of God for our age, by saying the word "Bawa" before we do anything. This child has learned, that living this way, at the feet of our Shaikh, and of God within Him, always moves my life forward correctly and allows me to avoid accidents, both within and outside of me, which is so very important on the path of God, because the journey we are on is a very, very long one, with many, many hazards, and only God can do the Divine work of liberating and returning our soul within us, to God within us. Also, in addition to the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship, with locations throughout the world, we now have the following two on-line Web Sites to help us get together, and stay together, in love and unity, and to learn from each other, in the presence of our Shaikh, and of God within Him, to learn more about the life and teaching of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him) within us, about the gift of God for our age, for the Children of God for this age, which is everyone living in this age, if we but want it, if we but realize, understand, accept, and join with it, as our true birthright, our true heritage, as the true destiny of our soul. (www.bmf.org) (www.BawaMuhaiyaddeenLibrary.homestead.com) Text of Topic: And God has also given us the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship, which His Holiness established originally in Ceylon, which is now called Sri Lanka, located off the tip of India. In Sri Lanka the original Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship is called the "Serendib Sufi Study Circle", and is located in Colombo, Sri Lanka. His Holiness traveled alone throughout Ceylon for many years, coming there around 1886, and then later lived in the northern city of Ceylon, in Jaffna for many years, and finally lived in the capital of Ceylon, in Colombo, until He came to America in 1971, while still periodically visiting Jaffna. Sri Lanka was the residence of His Holiness from 1886 until 1971 when He first came to America, with America then becoming His residence, with periodic trips back to Sri Lanka, from 1971 until His death in 1986 in America. When His Holiness died in America He was buried right outside of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, in a small farming community about an hours ride from Philadelphia. The Children of His Holiness have lovingly and respectfully build a shrine or Mazar over His grave, which has gradually become a place of pilgrimage and devotion for people of all religions. And while living in America, His Holiness officially establish the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship, with many branches throughout America, with the main branch at His principle place of residence in America, at 5820 Overbrook Avenue, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and with smaller branches in other cities and states in America, like in New York City, Boston Massachusetts, Washington D. C. Vermont, Iowa, California, and in other countries, like Toronto Canada and in England. At the Main American Branch of the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, there is a vast library on the life and teaching of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him), with over 10,000 songs and discourses by His Holiness, most recorded on audio tape, and many on video tape, all of which are being digitally archived and preserved for future seekers of the truth. In addition, may books and pamphlets have been published by His Holiness, while He lived in America, and many more have been published in both America, and in Sri Lanka, by His Children, since His death. And now the Philadelphia Branch of the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship has a Web Site which you can access through the Internet if you would like to learn more about His Holiness, and about the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship. For example, in 1982 His Holiness had us build a beautiful Mosque adjoining His residence in Philadelphia, which became the first Mosque ever built in Philadelphia, which His Holiness called "God's House", and opened its doors to people of all religions and beliefs. Now there are over 50 Mosques in Philadelphia, most using existing building converted for use as a Mosque, and there is a very active Islamic community in Philadelphia, some of whom use "God's House" for 5 times prayer, and the Friday Jum'ah prayers. Also, you can use the Web Site of the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship in Philadelphia to purchase any of the books, pamphlets, discourses, and songs, by His Holiness, as well as a beautiful collection of spiritual painting personally drawn by His Holiness, all signed by Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him), each with the additional inscription added by Him, the inscription of "Heart's Work". Copies of all of this art work by His Holiness can also be purchased. The Web Address or URL for the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship Web Site in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is, www.bmf.org. If you would like to visit this site now, please click HERE. Some highlights of this Web Site include the following On-line copies of the following books by His Holiness which you can access by just clicking on their titles below: 1) Islam and World Peace - Explanations of A Sufi 3) Glossary of Terms - from the book, "Islam and World Peace" Also, this child, Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen (Louie Beutler), a name which Bawa gave to this child in 1980, has a Web Site devoted to living at the feet of our Father, Shaikh Muhammad Rahim Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him). In this way, helping spread the life and teaching of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him), as well as, the life and teaching of the Children of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with each of Us). The Web Address or URL for this Web Site, which has the title: The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Library, is, www.BawaMuhaiyaddeenLibrary.homestead.com. If you would like to visit this site now, please click HERE. Some highlights of this Web Site includes the following material from Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him), as well as, material from the Children of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be please with each of Us, which you can access by just clicking on their titles below: Material From Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (Ral.): 1) Books by His Holiness a. The Pearl of Wisdom - partial version b. A Mystical Journey - partial version c. The Truth And Unity of Man - partial version 2) Discourses About God by His Holiness b. How To Reach And Merge With God - in process 3) Songs To God by His Holiness b. The Allah Muhammad Song - in process c. Song of the Qutb - in process Material From The Children of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (Ral.): 8-6. Lets Get Together - in the name of God, and let Wisdom teach us "What we do not know" Summary of Topic: In the name of God, my dearest loving brothers, lets get together, for as Jesus (peace be upon Him) told His followers, and as Bawa has also told us, "If two of you come together in My Name, I will be." And in this way, let our Wisdom teach us, "What we do not know." Text of Topic: My dearest loving brothers, Sayyid Iyad Jamaleddine, and Sayyid Hussein Khomeini, we need to come together, first in the heart, then through the life and teaching of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him), then through the Internet, the phone, and then, God willing, physically, and we must get God to do all of this work for us as His work, which will all occur quite naturally when "our" intention and "His" intention become One. This is why His Holiness teaches us, "Make God's intention your search", and, "Intend as God intends". And if this be our true intention, to "intend as God intends", not to want something else which only conceals our desire for the world, then God will provide it, because God can do anything. And if we want Him, and only Him, then He will complete this intention, as long as we never let go of Him, because for us to have Him, everything else that is not Him, which is everything of our current life, must go, and we must willingly, and lovingly, let it go. 8-7. Why Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (Ral) And His Children? - because God loves us, that is why Summary of Topic: Why has God given us something more outside of us, why has God given us the life and teaching of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him), and of the Children of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with each of Us), and the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship and Library, after all that has come before outside of us, after He has sent 124,000 heavenly beings and lights of God to teach us for the last 200 million years? Why now Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him) and the Children of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (Ral.)? Because God loves us, that's why. Text of Topic: Why Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (Ral.) and His Children? We may ask. Haven't we had enough Prophets of God to choose from, and learn from. Why something more? And the answer is simple, because God loves us, and never gives up on us, until the very last breath, then the house we have built is the house we will get, then the crop that we have sown is the harvest we will get, because as Bawa teaches us, "The justice of God is that whatever we intend is what we will get." In this way, everything is perfect, because God is the One who is conduction our life, not us, God is the One who is carrying out everything, not us. God is the cause and the effect, not us. Then why are we here, and again the answer is simple, to tell God what we want for eternity, either Him or what He has discarded, either an eternal life of "Oneness with" God, and with all that God is One with, or an eternal life of "separation and differences", of "separation from" God, of "separation from" each other, and of "separation from" the Creation of God within us. And how do we tell God what we want. Again the answer is simple. For as Bawa teaches us, "Your own life answers the question. What you end up with is what you wanted. God has given you everything of Him, and all of what He has discarded. Now the choice is yours, as it was His, to become One with God or to become one with what God has discarded. The choice is yours." "Nobody gets what they don't want. Everyone gets exactly what they want, because that is the way it works, the way that God set it up." So why Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (Sal.)? Why the life and teaching of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (Ral.), and the life and teaching of the Children of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (Ral.) on the outside of us? Why the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship and 10,000 discourses and song about God? Why two Web Sites that give us instant access to so much of the life and teaching of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (Ral.) and His Children? Because God is giving us one final chance to decide on God, as what we want, rather than on what God has discarded as what we want, He is telling us again everything that He has told us before through the 124,000 heavenly beings and lights of God that have come into this world over the last 200 Million years, which is how long it has been since Adam (peace be upon Him) and Eve (peace be upon Her) first stepped onto this earth world, and that period of time is the end of it, now we must finally decide. So at the end of time, which is now, God is telling us all of it one more time, but this time with no veils, and as we shared earlier, and everyone would hear it, everyone would understand it, and all that is left is do we want it. Do we want God or do we want what God has discarded. And all that we currently see, know, and do is what God has discarded, and if we truly want God, if we truly want the Oneness that is God, so must we. We must discard everything that God has discarded by getting God to do it, by getting God to discard everything again, but this time within us. We can't do this work, because only God can discard what God discards, but we don't have to do it because we have God. All we have to do is put God to work within us in discarding everything within us that needs to be discarded for only God to be there, not for God and "us" as "separate from" God to be there And He will do this work, because that is what God does, if everything that He puts in front of us we put in front of God, if we join in partnership with God and make our life, His life, if we make what needs to be discarded, what needs to be discarded from Him, not from "us" as "separate from" God, because in truth we don't exist, because in truth He alone exists. Then He will do it, then God will naturally discard everything separating our soul from God within us, and in the process bring the soul to an understanding of who it "already is", so like the apple seed that germinates is the story of the apple tree within the story of the apple, so our soul that is liberated is the story of True Man within the story of God. And having realized the truth and reality of itself, the soul will disappear into True Man within it, as the apple seed disappears into the apple tree within it, allowing God to finish revealing True Man within the Creation of God within us, as the 99 within the 18,000 universes within us, and then like the apple tree in maturity reveals the sweet taste of the apple within it, so True Man will reveal the sweet taste of God within the Creation of True Man, will reveal God as the Oneness of True Man and the Creation of True Man, will reveal God as the One within the 99, and in this way, revealing the "Oneness of God and True Man", which in truth is God and True Man. Amen, Amen, Ya Rabil Alameen. Amen, Amen, Ya Rahman Alameen. Amen, Amen, Ya Rahim Alameen. Al-hamdu lillah. Allahu Akbar. For as Bawa teaches us about True Prayer, "Just as everything born in the world must die, just as everything that has appeared in the world must disappear, so if one is truly in prayer, then everything that has manifested within him must die in that prayer. Only that is true prayer." "In this way, when man truly prays to God, when man truly worships God, everything that has appeared within him must die." In this way, my dearest loving brothers, all that we see "outside" of us in our ignorance is really within us, so all that we see "outside" of us must die in our prayers, because all of it is what is separating us from God, and must be separated from us, from our soul, by God, when we join in partnership with Him within us to do this work, when we task God to do this work within us. That is our work, to know His work, and all work is His work. In this way, His Holiness teaches us, "The value of God is in the use of Him". If we don't use God to make it successfully through our life, to live correctly, and to leave here and return to God before we die, but instead try to use ourselves, our friends and relatives, our religion, and those around us, then we don't believe in God, we believe in our ourselves, in our friends and relatives, in our religion, and in those around us. May we all think about this a little. It is very important. 8-8. The True Significance of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (Ral.) And His Children - to the followers of Muhammad (Sal.), is God completing the last request of Muhammad (Sal.) Summary of Topic: The true significance of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (Ral) and of His Children to the followers of Muhammad (Sal.), is that the life and teaching of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (Ral.) and of His Children is God completing Muhammad's (Sal.) last request of God before Muhammad (Sal.) died. The request by the Prophet Muhammad (may the peace and blessing of God be upon Him) that God provide someone, after the life of Muhammad (Sal.) in the world, that would save the followers of Muhammad (Sal.) from hell. And in truth, all of us living in the world today are the followers of Muhammad (Sal.), of both the first and the last Prophet of God in the world, whether we know it or not, whether we like it or not, whether we want it or not, once we openly look into it. Because Muhammad (Sal.) is the true birthright, the true heritage of our life, the destiny of our soul, because God wrote the Kalimah of God on the forehead of each of us, before we came into this world, before God's Pen or Qalam wrote the destiny of our life in this world on our forehead, covering in this way what God wrote earlier, originally, on ourhead. Because God originally wrote the following on each of our forehead, "La il la ha, iIl Allahu, Muhammadar Rasulullah - There is nothing other than God, You Are Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God". So if we join with our wisdom to remove the destiny of our life in the world, which is what the Qalam wrote on our forehead, which is our connection to our parents and to the place of birth, then the destiny of our soul will prevail, which is what God originally wrote on our forehead, which is our connection to God and to our soul within us, then "God's will be done" within us, as "One with" God within us, not "our parents will be done" as "separate from" God within us. The choice is ours. Then God will reveal True Man from within the Creation of God within us, from within the dunya or this world within us, as the 99 within the 18,000 universes within us, and True Man will reveal God from within the Creation of True Man within us, as the 1 within the 99 within us, from within akhirah or the next world within us, from within the 99 wilayats or powers of God within us, the 99 qualities of God within us, and the 99 duties or actions of God within us, which is True Man within us, as the One within the Triple Flame of God within us - Ya Allah, Ya Rasul, Ya Muhaiyaddeen within us, as the "Three of God" that has again become the "One of God" within us. Amen, Amen, Ya Rabil Alameen. Amen, Amen, Ya Rahman Alameen. Amen, Amen, Ya Rahim Alameen. Al-hamdu lillah. Allahu Akbar. Text of Topic: One day in 1972 Bawa gave one of the children the following prayer, and told him to recite it every day, "O my Father, my Shaikh, my Guru, I need your love, please, please, destroy me." And gradually in the heart of this child this simple but clear prayer has become the following prayer, which we now call, "The Father's Prayer", which is recited each day by this child. The Father's Prayer of Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen: "O our Father, our Shaikh, our Guru, we need your love, please, please, please destroy us and reveal You." "Destroy us as separate from You and You as separate from us, and reveal us as One with You and You as One with Us." "Destroy the life of separation and differences that You have given us, and reveal the life of Oneness and Unity, of Justice and Truth, and of Compassion and Unity, that you have also given us." Amen, Amen, Ya Rabil Alameen. Amen, Amen, Ya Rahman Alameen. Amen, Amen, Ya Rahim Alameen. Al-hamdu lillah. Allahu Akbar. Please click HERE to learn more about this prayer. So it all comes down to what we want, do we want an eternal life of "Oneness with" God and of "Oneness with" everything that God is One with, or do we want to stay "separate from" God, and "separate from" each other, and "separate from" the Creation of God within us, and in this way, blocking God, preventing God from finishing what He has already started within each of us, which is to reveal True Man within the Creation of God, allowing True Man to reveal God within the Creation of True Man. The choice is ours. That is why God has given us the life and teaching of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him) in form on the outside of us, while He has given the same teaching in essence within us, to give us all one last chance to decide on God, and not follow our mind and desire, to allow is to stop working for wages to get into heaven, and to instead join in partnership with God within us, allowing God to finish what He has started within us. In this way, giving us the clarity of wisdom to give back to God what He has given each of us, as His property, not our property, to put into His hand what He has put into our hands, through the realization that only He can do anything of value with what we have. This is why we have been given the life and teaching of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (Ral.) on the outside of us. And this all comes to completion in the following story, my dearest loving brothers of my heart, of the One Open heart of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him), the gift of God for our age. One day His Holiness, Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him), told us the story of the day the Angel of Death (peace be upon Him) came to take the life of the Prophet Muhammad (may the peace and blessing of God be upon Him), and after the Prophet agreed to be taken by the Angel of Death (peace be upon Him), the Prophet asked the Angel of Death (peace be upon Him) how He would take the life of the Prophet, and the Angel of Death (peace be upon Him) told the Prophet of God, "I will take your life like a baby suckles milk". Then the Prophet asked the Angel of Death (peace be upon Him) how He would take the life of the followers of the Prophet, and the Angel of Death (peace be upon Him) put His finger on the chest of the Prophet, and it was as heavy as the Himalayan Mountains. The Prophet of God was shocked at the way the Angel of Death (peace be upon Him) was going to take the lives of His followers, so He did dua' or prayer to God, pleading with God to intervene. And His Holiness told us that God accept the pleading of the Prophet, but His Holiness did not tell us what the resolution to the problem was or how God intervened. My dearest loving brothers, it is for each of us to realize that the resolution of this problem faced by the followers of the Prophet Muhammad (may the peace and blessing of God be upon Him), which is all of us living in the world to day, whether we know it or not, the way God intervened, is what God has secretly done for our age, which is to place the final life and teaching of God within each of our hearts, within the hearts of everyone living in the world today, and up to the end of time. And is to place the life and teaching of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him), and of the Children of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with each of Us), on the outside of us, as a finger pointing to what God has personally and every so lovingly placed within the hearts of each of us, so that we could, "Stop working for wages to get into heaven, and instead, join in partnership with God, with what God has started within us, which is to reveal True Man within the Creation of God within us, allowing True Man to reveal God within the Creation of True Man within us, and in this way, revealing the Oneness of God and True Man, for the benefit of all of the Creation of God within God and of the Creation of True Man within Man." Amen, Amen, Ya Rabil Alameen. Amen, Amen, Ya Rahman Alameen. Amen, Amen, Ya Rahim Alameen. Al-hamdu lillah. Allahu Akbar. And it is in this child's heart to say to my loving brothers, that anyone who realizes, understands, accepts, and joins with the life and teaching of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him), as the outside manifestation of the life and teaching of God for our age, that God has personally and ever so lovingly placed within the heart of each of us living in the world today, whether he be a Muslim, or a Jew, or a Christian, or a Zoroastrian, or a Hindu, or anything else, will have his life taken from him in the end, as the Prophet of God did, "As a baby suckles milk." Please know this now, my dearest loving brothers, Sayyid Iyad Jamaleddine, and Sayyid Hussein Khomeini, and Thomas L. Friedman, and please make the effort to realize, understand, accept, and join with the life and teaching of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him) on the outside of you, as the finger of God for this age pointing to the life and teaching of God within your very own heart, that God has placed within you, and within each one of us, to guide us home to Him. As Qutb Muhaiyaddeen Abdul-Qadir al-Jilani (may God be pleased with Him) was allowed to enter into Baghdad over 1000 years ago, after placing a flower in the glass of full water that had been sent to Him at the gates of Baghdad by the wise men living at that time in Baghdad, signifying that they were already full of wisdom and did not require His wisdom, in this way melting their hearts and causing all of the wise men of Baghdad but one to bow down to the wisdom of Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him), accepting the foot of Qutb Muhaiyaddeen (Ral.) on each of their necks. So too now, over 1000 years later, please accept Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him) again into Baghdad, and surrender your necks to His wisdom, as we have humbly done so, God willing, here in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Amen, Amen, Ya Rabil Alameen. Amen, Amen, Ya Rahman Alameen. Amen, Amen, Ya Rahim Alameen. Al hamdu lillah. Allahu Akbar. So like the rain falling back into the ocean again becomes the ocean, from which it came, no longer living separate from the ocean as rain, we too will fall back into God, from which we have come, no longer living as "separate from" God, as "separate from" each other, and as "separate from" the Creation of God, as we are now living. Amen, Amen, Ya Rabil Alameen. Amen, Amen, Ya Rahman Alameen. Amen, Amen, Ya Rahim Alameen. Al-hamdu lillah. Allahu Akbar. 9. Closing Prayer & Comments - "Forgive me the wrong and accept the good. So I request." May all the peace, the beneficence, and the blessing of God be upon us all. May God help us all. Thank you my dearest loving brother Thomas L. Friedman, and my dearest brothers, Sayyid Iyad Jamaleddine, and Sayyid Hussein Khomeini, for the time that we have spent together. God has been very, very good to us to allow us to share these beautiful words of wisdom from our Father, Shaikh Muhammad Rahim Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him). Please give my love and salams to all of your families, and your friends, and please tell them that Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen (Louie Beutler) loves them very, very much. And please share these beautiful words of wisdom with them. Please do this "Hearts Work". For only in sharing these words of wisdom with others, as this child has done with you, will they truly become yours, will they truly penetrate into your heart and become firmly established within you. That is just the way it works. And finally, please forgive me if there are any faults or flaws in this letter, or if anything that has been said in this letter offends or upsets any of my brothers, or your families, or your friends in any way. I am just a fool who is trying to live at the feet of my Father, Shaikh Muhammad Rahim Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be pleased with Him), and to share with you the life and teaching of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (may God be please with Him) that has grown within my heart. And as Bawa has said to us, on page 7 in the "Forward" to the beautiful book of wisdom by His Holiness, "The Pearl of Wisdom", this child now says to my dearest loving brothers, and to your families and friends, "Let those who are knowledgeable correct any faults. Forgive me the wrong and accept the good. So I request." Al-hamdu lillah. Allahu Akbar. My love you (anbu) - Shaikh Muhaiyaddeen (Louie Beutler). 10. Copy of Articles: by Thomas L. Friedman - Columnist for the New York Times 10-1. "Dinner With The Two Sayyids" - written on 8-8-03 Dinner With the Sayyids By Thomas L. Friedman New York Times - Op/Ed August 8, 2003 BAGHDAD, Iraq The best thing about being in Baghdad these days is that you just never know who's going to show up for dinner. Take last Wednesday night. I was invited to interview a rising progressive Iraqi Shiite cleric, Sayyid Iyad Jamaleddine, at his home on the banks of the Tigris. It was the most exciting conversation I've had on three trips to postwar Iraq. I listened to Mr. Jamaleddine eloquently advocate separation of mosque and state and lay out a broad, liberal agenda for Iraq's majority Shiites. As we sat down for a meal of Iraqi fish and flat bread, he introduced me to a small, black-turbaned cleric who was staying as his houseguest. "Mr. Friedman, this is Sayyid Hussein Khomeini" the grandson of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of Iran's Islamic revolution. Mr. Khomeini told me he had left the Iranian spiritual center of Qum to meet with scholars in the Iraqi Shiite spiritual centers of Karbala and Najaf. He, too, is a progressive, he explained, and he intends to use the freedom that the U.S. invasion has created in Iraq to press for real democratic reform in Iran. Now I understand why his grandfather once threw him in jail for a week. He has Ayatollah Khomeini's fiery eyes and steely determination, but the soul of a Muslim liberal. The 46-year-old Mr. Khomeini said he's currently advocating a national referendum in Iran to revoke the absolute religious and political powers that have been grabbed by Iran's clergy. But in other interviews here, he was quoted as saying that Iran's hard-line clerical rulers were "the world's worst dictatorship," who have been exploiting his grandfather's name and the name of Islam "to continue their tyrannical rule." He and Mr. Jamaleddine told me their first objective was to open Shiite seminaries and schools in Iraq to teach their ideas to the young generation. Ladies and gentlemen, I have no idea whether these are the only two liberal Shiite clerics in Iraq. People tell me they definitely are not. Either way, their willingness to express their ideas publicly is hugely important. It is, for my money, the most important reason we fought this war: If the West is going to avoid a war of armies with Islam, there has to be a war of ideas within Islam. The progressives have to take on both the religious totalitarians, like Osama bin Laden, and the secular totalitarians who exploit Islam as a cover, like Saddam Hussein. We cannot defeat their extremists, only they can. This war of ideas needs two things: a secure space for people to tell the truth and people with the courage to tell it. That's what these two young clerics represent, at least in potential. Mr. Jamaleddine, age 42, grew up in Iraq, sought exile in Iran after one of Saddam's anti-Shiite crackdowns, tasted the harshness of the Iranian Islamic revolution firsthand, moved to Dubai, and then returned to Iraq as soon as Saddam fell. Here is a brief sampler of what he has been advocating: On religion and state: "We want a secular constitution. That is the most important point. If we write a secular constitution and separate religion from state, that would be the end of despotism and it would liberate religion as well as the human being. . . . The Islamic religion has been hijacked for 14 centuries by the hands of the state. The state dominated religion, not the other way around. It used religion for its own ends. Tyrants ruled this nation for 14 centuries and they covered their tyranny with the cloak of religion. . . . When I called for secularism in Nasiriya (in the first postwar gathering of Iraqi leaders), they started saying things against me. But last week I had some calls from Qum, thanking me for presenting this thesis and saying, `We understand what you are calling for, but we cannot say so publicly.' "Secularism is not blasphemy. I am a Muslim. I am devoted to my religion. I want to get it back from the state and that is why I want a secular state. . . . When young people come to religion, not because the state orders them to but because they feel it themselves in their hearts, it actually increases religious devotion. The problem of the Middle East cannot be solved unless all the states in the area become secular. . . I call for opening the door for Ijtihad [reinterpretation of the Koran in light of changing. circumstances]. The Koran is a book to be interpreted [by] each age. Each epoch should not be tied to interpretations from 1,000 years ago. We should be open to interpretations based on new and changing times." How will he deal with opposition to such ideas from Iraq's neighbors? "The neighboring countries are all tyrannical countries and they are wary of a modern, liberal Iraq. . . . That is why they work to foil the U.S. presence. . . . If the U.S. wants to help Iraqis, it must help them the way it helped Germany and Japan, because to help Iraq is really to help 1.3 billion Muslims. Iraq will teach these values to the entire Islamic world. Because Iraq has both Sunnis and Shiites, and it has Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen. . . . If it succeeds here it can succeed elsewhere. But to succeed you also need to satisfy people's basic needs: jobs and electricity. If people are hungry, they will be easily recruited by the extremists. If they are well fed and employed, they will be receptive to good ideas. . . . The failure of this experiment in Iraq would mean success for all despots in the Arab and Islamic world. [That is why] this is a challenge that America must accept and take all the way." Mr. Jamaleddine, Mr. Khomeini; these are real spiritual leaders here. But if the U.S. does not create a secure environment and stable economy in Iraq, their voices will never get through. If we do, though wow. To the rest of the Arab world, I would simply say: Guess who's coming to dinner. 10-2. Telling the Truth in Iraq " - written on 8-8-03 Telling the Truth in Iraq By Thomas L. Friedman New York Times - Op/Ed August 18, 2003 BAGHDAD, Iraq I got a tour the other day of Baghdad's rebuilt airport, which is now quite beautiful, but still hasn't opened out of security concerns. Our tour guides even took us through passport control to show off their new computers that will check for incoming terrorists. As they showed us around, a question occurred to me that I posed to them: "What happens if someone gets off a plane with an Israeli passport?" After all, Iraq under Saddam Hussein not only didn't have diplomatic relations with Israel, it considered itself at war with Israel. All of the officials present shrugged their shoulders and agreed that they hadn't thought about it and that's one of the most interesting things about Iraq today. It is the only Arab country where the Arab-Israeli conflict is not the first topic of conversation with intellectuals and media elites. Make no mistake, the average Iraqi dislikes Israel and sympathizes with the Palestinian cause as much as any Saudi or Egyptian. This is an Arab country never forget that. But here's what is new and will have a big impact on inter-Arab politics, if Iraq can be rebuilt: Many Iraqis today express real resentment for the other Arab regimes, and even toward the Palestinians, for how they let themselves be bought off by Saddam. They feel that Saddam used the Iraqi people's oil wealth to buy popularity for himself in the Arab street by giving Palestinians and other Arab students scholarships and nice apartments in Baghdad, and by paying off all sorts of Arab nationalist writers and newspapers. And then these same Arab intellectuals and media gave Saddam a free pass to torture, repress and starve his own people. In other words, "Arabism," in the minds of many Iraqis, is the cloak that Saddam hid behind to imprison them for 35 years, and now that they can say that out loud, they are saying it. You'd never know this from watching Arab satellite television like Al Jazeera. Because although these stations have 21st-century graphics, they're still dominated by 1950's Nasserite political correctness which insists that dignity comes from how you resist the foreigner, even if he's come as a liberator, not by what you build yourself. But the truth will come out. "Iraq is going to be the Arab libido," a Lebanese aid worker in Baghdad said to me. "You know, when you have those naughty dreams that you can't tell anyone about and then suddenly you're on the couch talking about them that's going to be Iraq." It's going to be where all the taboos that are not supposed to be spoken, get spoken. Indeed, they already are. Hassan Fattah is a young Iraqi-American journalist who has returned to Baghdad to start a terrific newspaper called Iraq Today (www.iraq-today.com). Before the fall of Baghdad, though, he worked as a reporter in the West Bank. "I sympathize with the Palestinian cause," he said, "but after the fall of Baghdad, when I told Palestinians that I was an Iraqi, they would say to me, `You sold us out. You sold Iraq for nothing.' I was called a traitor. The average Palestinian wanted to see us fight to resist America, and the American `occupation,' because that is what they understood." Of course, Iraqis want to run their own government as soon as possible, said Mr. Fattah but not in order to join the old Arab nationalist parade, but rather to focus on themselves. "Iraqis know Saddam was a fake," he explained. "His Arabism came at their expense. For Iraqis it was not Arabism, it was torture and subjugation. [Now] there is this feeling that the Arab world has lashed out at us because we did not `resist' the Americans. It was because Iraqis have learned the lessons of phony Arabism that Saddam could send $35,000 to the families of [Palestinian] suicide bombers, while leaving his own people starving and living on two dollars a day. "That's why there is a dramatic gulf now between Iraqis and a lot of other Arabs. Young people here want to move on. In 10 years, this will be a very different place. If I can be a part of it, it will be like Hong Kong or Korea but with an Iraqi face." Talking to young Iraqis such as Hassan, you sense how much they want to break the old mold how much they want to be Arabs, with an Arab identity, but to build a modern state that actually focuses on tapping its people's talents and energies, rather than diverting them, and one that seeks to base their dignity on what they build, not on whom they fight. Root for them to succeed, for having such a state in the heart of the Arab world would be a very, very good thing. End of Page 3 of 3 of Spiritual Letter 50 - summary & text version - ................................... or or Go To Spiritual Letter 50: or ( a top-down version of the Library Home Page) (a bottom-up version of the Library Home Page) |
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2003
