TOWARD THE ONE, THE PERFECTION OF LOVE, HARMONY, AND BEAUTY. THE ONLY BEING. UNITED WITH ALL THE ILLUMINATED SOULS, WHO FORM THE EMBODIMENT OF THE MASTER, THE SPIRIT OF GUIDANCE.
Blessings of this Holy Season to You, Dear Friends,
Wishing for you joy and peace in these days of celebration of Hanukkah, Solstice, and Christmas, and with best wishes for the New Year!
 
In the early years of our organization, we published a magazine called "Bismillah". I have kept every copy that was ever mailed to me - I treasure them and still refer to them on occasion. Later publications produced by SRI were "HeartBeat"and "Toward the One" and I have kept all of those too. They were inspiring in content and always had wonderful concept, layout and design (by the talented Amrita Skye Blaine). Now we answer the long-time call from the Board of Trustees and SRI community to produce a web-based newsletter.
 
this is Ruh News ~
Joining me on the editorial team of our newsletter is Bryn Morgan (Portland, Oregon) and Azim Miller (Ozark, Missouri). We will gather content from our International community which, God-willing, shall enhance our connection, enrich and deepen our personal practice, inform us about the activities of our sangha throughout the world, and further open us to the reality of our shared heart and breath. The word Ruh means breath, spirit, soul. We are the Ruhaniat and this is Ruh News!
 
Bismillah! Ya Fattah!
With Love,
Basira Beardsworth, Secretariat
Washougal, Washington
Sammy Award 2019
Awarded to Sheikha Magdalena Zubin Goldman
At the Jamiat Khas Leaders' Retreat in November, the Sammy Award was given to Sheikha Magdalena Zubin Mary Goldman. She has been a member of the Ruhaniat community for nearly 50 years.
 
Magdalena has been the Naqib, (spiritual manager or host), of Khankah S.A.M. in San Francisco, California since 2014, though she has lived in the Khankah community intermittently for decades. She oversees the daily operations of the Khankah including financial oversight, repair and maintenance of the buildings, coordination of events and management of long term and guest house rentals. Her vital role expands deeper still as Sufi teacher to Khankah residents and visiting guests. (AWARD CEREMONY PHOTO CREDIT: HASSAN RAVEN WOLF FELTON JENNINGS II)
Magdalena has expertise in a wide range of Ruhaniat practice and service areas including her studies with Frida Waterhouse. She is ordained as a Cheraga, and is an initiate of Ziraat and the Dervish Healing Order. She is a certified Leader in the Dances of Universal Peace.
We extend our gratitude to Magdalena, for her extraordinary work, for being an inspiring Friend to all who visit Khankah Sam, and for her beautiful example of a life lived in service to others. Ya Shakur!
Call Out for Content ~ Help us Create Ruh News
Is there a Ruhaniat teacher that you would like to interview? We'd love to hear from you!

Got a poem you'd like to share?

We hope to feature artists and include original artwork throughout. Contact us!
Have you been to an inspiring retreat and want to write about it? Send it in - along with some beautiful photos!

For Ruhaniat teachers - do you have an article, an essay, an insight, a practice, an aspiration that you would like to share with us?
What kind of activities do you do as a community? Do you gather to share soup and zikr every Sunday? Do you go on hikes and do walking practices together? Tell us about it!
Submissions:
  • write to us at ruhnews@ruhaniat.org
  • include your name, city, state/providence, country - or you may remain anonymous
  • From the Well contributions must be no more than 3 sentences
  • Ruhaniat Pets also include your pet's name
  • your submission implies permission for us to use now or in the future
  • we may not use all the content that we receive

Deadline for submissions for Spring Newsletter is Feb 15th
Introducing: From the Well
From the Well will be contributions gathered from you, "from the deep well of our hearts", on a specific subject each newsletter. The first subject we invite you to share on is Zikr.

Please submit short statements about Zikr - the practice, your approach to it or your process within it, or anything about the experience of Zikr. Write up to three sentences maximum.

For inspiration, you may wish to read Murshid Samuel L. Lewis' paper entitled On the Performance of Zikr.

See Submissions for how to contribute to From the Well
In Service Around the World
A Report from Murshid Abraham Sussman
Dear Friends,
 
I am back home in Cambridge after 4 intense days in Juarez, Mexico, across the border from El Paso, Texas. I went there with 5 colleagues from Voces Arts and Healing to do healing work and training in 5 shelters, where migrants seeking political asylum in the US are waiting for their fate to be decided. There are 15,000 migrants in Juarez, 1,500 of them living in one of 17 shelters. Most are families from Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala fleeing the violence and murders imposed by powerful drug cartels and gangs.
 
Voces Arts and Healing is a volunteer group of arts-based therapists who work with trauma. In each shelter we guided sessions of 30 to 100 children of all ages (and their parents) in music, movement, art, and sharing. It was powerful to hear and feel the longing for freedom and safety from these courageous people. They are bonded with all immigrants over time who have needed to flee an unsafe land in search of a better life. This group includes my own ancestors, and probably many of yours.
 
This is an extraordinary situation. Juarez is one of dozens of border towns filled with migrants. Clearly this is an international catastrophe which calls for international solutions. I feel that our sessions were very well received and brought a note of caring, light, and creative expression where the need is so great. But I am left feeling that our project is a drop in the ocean. A good drop, which we will continue monthly, but a small drop in the vastness of the dilemma. 

We were welcomed by local leaders working with the Mexican government and some local churches to help these people. Apart from legal support and housing, there are initiatives in education, and healthcare that have begun but the need is so vast.
 
I appeal to you for your prayers for these people, and for your support for this work. Your support could include art supplies, and also financial donations, which can be sent via the Voces website. You can also see photos from our journey on Instagram
 
In Peace,
Abraham Sussman

What service work are you or someone you know in our community doing? Tell us about it! See Submissions for how to contribute to In Service Around the World
SRI Online Forums Transferred
Under the skillful guidance of Yusuf Leo Schuman, our listserves have been successfully transferred from Yahoo Groups to Groups.io
OurSohbet is an online forum for our worldwide community of Ruhaniat mureeds where sohbet (spiritual discussion) is shared as well as announcements, events, inspirations, etc.
This group is focused on connecting the next generations of members of the Ruhaniat, and their most active supporters
This group supports discussion and announcements within the Ziraat concentration of the Sufi Ruhaniat International.
This groups supports discussion and announcements within the Ruhaniat for people who identify as transgender, lesbian, gay, bisexual, asexual, intersex, queer, or questioning. People who identify as committed allies of the LGBTQ+ community are also invited to join this group.
Introducing: Ruhaniat Pets
For the sake of our simple delight, and the active experience of unconditional love, we have reserved a little corner of this newsletter for photos of our pets.

To inaugurate this concentration, Basira and Fred Beardsworth of Washougal, Washington proudly share a photo of lovely Lydia

See Submissions for how to contribute to Ruhaniat Pets


"Free us...that we may in turn free others."
Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan