Lecture on "Sufism & Religious Pluralism" at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbus

Babak Darvish will be giving a lecture on "Sufism and Religious Pluralism" on Sunday, December 11th, at 12:30 PM at the 1st Unitarian Universalist Church of Columubus at 93 West Weisheimer Road in Clintonville (Columbus, Ohio, USA) http://www.firstuucolumbus.org/contact-us


Sufism is the spiritual aspect of Islam, which has a lot of similarity to Christian Gnosticism, Jewish Kabbalah and Zen Buddhism.  It is the spirtual path to God as taught by the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).  Sufism teaches to look past the label of the person and to look at what is in the heart of that person.


The secret of Sufism lies in the "Divine Love" of Allah that helps us to love the rest of it's creation.  In a sense you could say following the light and not necessarily the light bearer.  Sufism is the best antidote to any type of religious extremism, especially the kind that is taught by the literalist Wahabi, Salafi, and Deobandi brands of Islam.


Sufi Islam which comes in both Sunni and Shia form has for hundreds of years been the glue that binds us all together and has kept chaos from taking over.


Babak Darvish joined the Shadhili Tariqa in 2006 by meeting Sidi Muhammad (www.sufimaster.org) when his best friend Jeremy Cooper was still alive.  Since then his outlook on life and faith has been different and he see things through a lense of love as should every Muslim and person of any faith.

Biography

Babak Darvish is an Iranian-American activist, columnist, commentator, and technology specialist. He is a political centrist and an advocate of “perennial philosophy” interpretation of Islam. Babak is the CEO of Lycan group and was the Executive Director of CAIR Columbus since 2009. He co-founded the Muslim Forum of Utah in 2003. He holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Information Technology and Web Management. He is well known in the technology world as being a guru of Business Analysis and Business Intelligence. His employers have included J.P. Morgan Chase Bank, BB&T Bank, Cisco Systems, Non-Profit Groups, and Government Agencies. He has been a sought after Consultant in the fields of Technology, History, Culture, Religion, Politics, Languages, and Government Relations. Babak is fluent in English and Persian. He was born in Tehran, Iran into aristocracy, however moved to the USA when he was one year of age with his parents and rose in the USA. He studied Islamic history, culture, and law from a number of Sunni, Shia, and Sufi scholars such as Sidi Muhammad of the Shadhili Sufi Order, which he has been a Murid of since 2006.  He has lived and travelled in North America, Europe, and Asia. You can contact him or book an interview by visiting his blog at: www.babakdarvish.com