Sufi Women of America - Angels in the Making (foreword Jamshid Bakhtiar)

122 Pages·2020·2.46 MB·English

by  Laleh Bakhtiar

About the Book
Read the life stories of seven American women who have
learned how to tap into angelic energies
“Of tremendous importance for gender studies on
Islam，Sufi Women of America: Angels in the Making
offers a neiv9 long awaited approach that is both real
and fair.
The Library of Islam
About the Author
Laleh Bakhtiar Ph.D., a well-known author on Sufism, is
the first person to unearth traditional psychology which had
been buried in medieval philosophy. With this work she shows
that traditional psychology is alive and vibrant and should be
an alternative psychology to modern schools as the stress is
upon morality and ethics.
By the same author: Sufi Expressions of the Mystic Quest
(Thames and Hudson), The Sense of Unity: The Sufi Tr'adition
in Persian Architecture (University of Chicago Press),God’s Will
Be Done, a three part work which shows the Sufi origins of the
Enneagram. Volume 1: Traditional Psychoethics and Persona­
lity Paradigm; Volume 2: Moral Healer’s Handbook: The
Psychology of Spiritual Chivalry.，Volume 3: Moral Healing
Through the Most Beautiful Names: The Practice of Spiritual
Chivalry. She has also authored a very popular book for young
people: Muhammad’s Companions: Essays on Some Who Bore
Witness to His Message and has edited Ramadan: Motivating
Believers to Action. She is a nationally certified and licensed
psychotherapist.
Jamshid Bakhtiar, M.D., the luthor, is
practicing psychiatrist in Great Fall
Distributed by KAZI Publications, Inc.
3023 W. Belmont Avenue
Chicago IL 60618
9r7 1€71 0314471
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= Foreword by
* Jamshid Bakhtiar

Institute of Traditional Psychoethics and Guidance
=2
ii Sufi Women of America
© 1996, The Institute of Traditional Psychoethics and
Guidance
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by
any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise, without the prior written permission of the
Publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Bakhtiar, Laleh
Sufi Women of America: Angels in the Making
I. Mysticism. II. Muslim women. I. Title
ISBN: 1-871031-44-3
Published by
The Institute of Traditional Psychoethics and Guidance
3023 W. Belmont Avenue
Chicago IL 60618
Distributed by
KAZI Publications, Inc.
3023 W. Belmont Avenue
Chicago IL 60618
Tel: [phone]
socw. 8CI6NOK DIV1W
CHICAGO K10L!C
400 SOUTH SYAi t STf^fT
WrcAQO.lflT你
Contents
R0123E ME07D
Preface
Foreword by Jamshid Bakhtiar vii
Part I: Introduction
What is Sufism? 3
Women and Sufism 4
Traditional Psychology 5
* Balancing the Natural Three Aspects of Self 6
* Disciplining the Animal Energies of
Lust and Anger 11
* Nurturing the Angelic Energy of Reason 16
* Attaining Balance 18
* Counseling Self to Balance and
Preventing Imbalance 18
Profiles of Sufi Women of America 19
Part II: Awakening 21
Chapter 1: Accepting Submission to God’s Will 23
Chapter 2: Committing Self to Inner Change 37
Part III: Consciously Returning to God 55
Chapter 3: Turning Away From Anything
Other Than God 57
* Avoiding Vices 57
Avoiding the Harms of Hypocrisy 57
Avoiding Imbalance 59
Lust Strong, Anger and Reason Weak 59
Anger Rules, Lust, Reason Give Support 60
Reason Too Strong or Too Weak 61
* Disciplining the Animal Energies Within 62
Quantitative Imbalance 63
Qualitative Imbalance 64
* Sufi Women 67
* Holding Animal Energies in Check 69
iii
iv Contents
Chapter 4: Turning Towards the One God 71
* Attracting Virtues 71
From Lust to Temperance 73
From Anger to Courage 74
From Reason to Wisdom 75
* Sufi Women 78
* Appearance of Angelic Energies (Justice) 82
* Sufi Women 84
Part IV: Conclusion 91
Notes 98
Bibliography 99
General Index 100
Preface
Methodology
The methodology used in this study was to inter­
view seven Sufi women chosen randomly from the
Naqshbandi Sufi Order asking the non-directive
question, “How has Sufism changed your life, if at all?”
The answers given by them were recorded on tape, tran­
scribed and then compared to the psychology of the 18th
century Naqshbandi Sufi saint, Shah Waliullah, as it
appears in ALtaf al-Qucls translated as The Sacred
Knowledge. The translation found here uses the femi­
nine singular rather than the masculine.
Shah Waliullah expounds traditional psychology in
this work. It is the thesis of this paper that those who
practice a particular discipline need to be compared
using the criteria of that discipline, and no other in order
to arrive at a fair psychological appraisal. In other
words, to do a psychological profile of Sufi women
according to Freud or Jung or Skinner’s concept of psy­
chology would not be in harmony with what the women
interviewed experience because, for these women, the
secular world view lacks value and meaning. The
method used here is unique but so are the women.
I wish to take this opportunity to thank Shaykh
Hisham Kabbani and his wife, Hajji Nazihe, for their
encouragement; KAZI Publications for its support; Hoda
vi. Preface
Boyer for her excellent editorial comments; and my
brother, Dr. Jamshid Bakhtiar, for his foreword.
Foreword
H
uman beings throughout their existence experi­
ence a temporal-personal life journey as well as
a timeless-spiritual one. The latter journey is
imbedded in archetypal, universal, ethical behaviors
espoused throughout human history (the Ten Command­
ments and so forth). Both journeys are rooted in
monotheism.
Sufi Women of America: Angels in the Making is the
life stories of women who believe in the monotheistic tra­
dition and practice it. In terms of the timeless-spiritual
journey, they are manifestations of the archetypal eter­
nal feminine. At the temporal-personal level, they prac­
tice monotheism. As angels in the making, they manifest
macrocosmic (spiritual) and microcosmic (temporal) fea­
tures.
It is important to ask what elements in their devel­
opment were able to bridge the life cycle of their person­
al identities with the universal, timeless values that
transcended their thoughts and behaviors and repre­
sented archetypes of the eternal values that perpetuat­
ed a constructive life. The bridge is the esoteric tradition
of Islam (Sufism), the Way {tariqat)y individuation (C. G.
Jung), spiritual chivalry (futuwwah in Arabic, jauan-
mardi in Persian and Urdu). The exposure to this model
of consciousness and super consciousness is life saving
for individuals, families and society. The timeless jour-
vii