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Throught My Eyes

Throught My Eyes

Author: Kasia Yoko
Date: 2015-02-06
Last night I had the pleasure of attending a talk by the Canadian author Azim Jamal, who has just release a book called The Corporate Sufi: Business, Balance and Beyond. It was an IBV function in support of Islamic Relief South Africa and Journey of the Spirit.

I loved reading about Rumi, the 13th-century Persian poet, jurist, theologian, and mystic, who himself was a Sufi. Rumi believed passionately in the use of music, poetry, and dance as a path for reaching God. For Rumi, music helped devotees to focus their whole being on the divine, and to do this so intensely that the soul was both destroyed and resurrected. It was from these ideas that the practice of "whirling" dervishes developed into a ritual form. Rumi encouraged listening to music and turning or doing the sacred dance. The dance represents a mystical journey of spiritual ascent through mind and love, to the Perfect One.

In this journey, the seeker symbolically turns towards the truth, grows through love, abandons the ego, finds the truth, and arrives at the Perfect. The seeker then returns from this spiritual journey, with greater maturity, to love and to be of service to the whole of creation without discrimination with regard to beliefs, races, classes, and nations.

I found Azim Jamal's message to be of tremendous value, each word and each sentence made me reflect on my own frail longevity as we questioned our values and our purpose.

In his book, The Corporate Sufi, Azim Jamal examines the uncommon connection between the age-old Sufi philosophy and living and working in the 21st century.

Through Sufi messages and parables, it illustrates how using Sufi principles in a corporate setting can bring fulfilment, meaning, and spiritual enrichment. Inspired by 20 years experience in professional life, Mr Jamal includes practical tips on how to: fuse your life's mission with your corporate mission, balance work, family, and spiritual needs.

Mr Jamal encourages using the Sufi faith when navigating uncharted corporate territory, linking the Sufi search for the essence to the search for the corporate soul. He inspires all to apply the Sufi approach to eliminating the ego in order to become a selfless corporate leader, to reach the top of your corporate ladder without giving up our ethics and principles, and find meaning, fulfilment, and inner happiness.

It has been a long time since I felt so inspired. When I walked out of the Pavilion Hotel's conference Centre I was ready to change my life, Mr Jamal's ultimate message is that the only way to happiness is by giving to others.

I love this philosophy and I believe it's doable. I think the Islamic Relief is a great place to start. They operate throughout the world and are hands on in distributing aid to conflict zones and trying to make the world a better place.

I would like to share Buddha's peaceful and calming words with you: "We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the wind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves." Buddha.