“Religion, Medicine and Warriorship” with Wahid Azal
A podcast interview between myself and Fractal
Friends Duncan Autrey made in October 2018. See the Fractal Friends page:
https://www.fractalfriends.us/fractalfriends/2018/10/4/wahid-azar "Meet N.
Wahid Azal. He is Founder and Grand Sheik of the Fatimiya order of Sufi Islam.
In this conversation we hear about Wahid incorporates plant medicine as
sacrament his religion, and the official decree from the the Grand Ayatollah
Rohani stating that Ayahuasca is approved in Shia Islam. We also talk about
Wahid’s experiences of doing plant medicine work with indigenous tribes in the
subtropical jungles of Iran
and the proliferation of psychedelic patterns in Islamic art and architecture,
especially throughout Iran
and Pakistan.
We talk about the history of Islam and Sufism. We speculate about the role of
plant medicines the origins of religions, and throughout this conversation we
return to complex tension and interdependence between of modernism and
traditionalism. We both feel into the importance of being warriors for the
Earth, warriors of light and warriors for the human spirit in these times. Here
is an Interview with Wahid where he telalk abou how in 2014 the Grand Ayatollah
issued a formal legal ruling (that is, a fatwa) determining the use of
entheogens and psychoactive substances to be licit and thus permissible (ḥalāl)
for Shi’i Muslims provided it be under the direction and supervision of
qualified experts (ahl al-ikhtiṣāṣ), and that, moreover, such plant substances
as a rule do not impair the mind. Ayahuasca and the Godhead: An Interview with
Wahid Azal of the Fatimiya Sufi Order."
