More Intimate Dialogues with Reality

Description

Intimate Dialogues with Reality

A seminar on the writings of al-Niffari

Little is known of the life of the 10th century mystic Muhammad Ibn ‘Abdi-‘l Jabbar al-Niffari. He was born in the marshlands of the Euphrates and remained a solitary wanderer all his life, shunning the company of others. His visionary insights, which he wrote down on scraps of paper, were only collected into book form after his death. In his “Spiritual Addresses” and “Stayings” can be found essential intuitions about the spiritual quest, expressed in extraordinarily direct yet subtle language. Compared with other mystical writings there are few time-bound cultural references in his work and this gives to the writings of Niffari a very contemporary feel.

In this seminar we shall be reading and contemplating some of Niffari’s “Spiritual Addresses” in English translation, and exploring their relevance to us in the present moment.

We shall be using a new translation of Angela Jaffray

All texts will be supplied. There is no need to have attended our earlier seminars.

From Address 48 [the speaker is God, Allah]

My servant.
If you see me,
nothing will concentrate you on me but vision and trial.
If you stand firm in my vision,
I will try you with every kind of trial,
and will sustain you with resolve,
so that you will not slip.
But if you do not stand firm,
I will try you with some of the trial,
and weaken you in resolve,
and you will taste the food of farness.
Then, I will extract a cry for help from you through weakness
because of my mercy for you,
and I will carry you, through that cry, to vision

Some extracts from Niffari’s writings in an older translation are here.

The October Gallery,
24 Old Gloucester Street
London
WC1N 3AL

Refreshments Provided