Eulogy for Roya: A German Sufi Saint of the 21st Century
Originally posted, here:
بسم الله الحيّ
رؤيا
There are many people claiming to
be spiritual or religious, even with many followers, who don't understand a
thing about anything and are merely chattel to a franchise of the popular
consensus reality dressed merely in spiritual cloth. As far as I am concerned,
the maqām (spiritual station) of my late wife was above all of theirs
combined. What I admired and loved about Roya more than anything was that Roya
not only had illimitable spiritual depth and understanding -- which her artwork
amply demonstrates and enshrines forever -- but Roya like myself had the
warrior’s spirit. She was also a woman who possessed futuwwah or javānmardī,
chivalry; and she intuitively understood the reality of Tabarra (disassociation
from evil) and Tawalla (conjunction with the providential guidance of
the divine) – and, this, long before I explained it all to her -- which 99% of
so called spiritual people do not remotely comprehend. She was both a daughter
of the Alps as well as a witness to the eternal Karbalāh-Ṭabarsī, a
spirit seamlessly moving between Wagner’s operas and the soul illuminating
prayers of the Imāms of the Ahl al-Bayt/Family of the House (ع), a world inhabited by Goethe, Suhrawardī, the Bayān and Rosa
Luxemburg and where ʿAlī (ع), His wisdom and His sayings and Fāṭima (ع) and Her example was the constant companion, exemplar and
solace. In many ways, Roya reminded me a lot of my great ancestor Ṭāhirih Qurra’tu’l-ʿAyn
(d. 1852): at once a political revolutionary of unshakable commitment and unimpeachable
integrity as well as a spiritual visionary of illimitable and profound depth.
She was the real deal.
In short,
just like myself, Roya was precisely the type of person this malevolent zeitgeist
of the times (i.e. the Wetiko, the acosmic ignorance/jahl or
darkness, ẓulma) loves to hate just as she and I are both avowed enemies
to everything it represents by virtue of our allegiance to, and so eternal
covenant, with the true Greatest Name which is the manifestation of the ʿAql/Hiero-Intelligence/Nexal
Consciousness, the NUR/Light. Roya
and I met because of our love for the Theophanic Persons of this true Greatest
Name: ʿAlī (ع), Fāṭima (ع) and the Ahl
al-Bayt/the Family of the House (ع). And it is
with the love of ʿAlī (ع), Fāṭima (ع) and the Ahl
al-Bayt (ع) that we bury her: soil which I
declare to be for the Fāṭimīya Sufi Order hallowed ground and henceforth
a place of pilgrimage and visitation because in life as in death Roya was truly
a shahīd (a martyr). Only those who know her full story, know how Roya
suffered for the past 11-12 years as a consequence of wrongs no one should ever
have to suffer at the hands of the most brutally unjust and evil people and the
most brutally unjust and evil system in existence, but “soon shall those who
have tyrannically oppressed know with what overturning they shall be overthrown”
(Qurʿān 26:227). And this is why Roya has earned her rank among the awlīyā
allāh (the saints and friends of God) because her suffering was redemptive
just like the suffering of all martyrs before her from Calvary to Karbalāh to
Shaykh Tabarsī and beyond as she was a witness (shahīd) tested for faith
and triumphed just like they did; and this is why the All-High called her back
to Its Light because (like few humans) she had perfected the trust of her own
light within herself and so her light was guided back to the Divine Light. And so just as history has known Rabīʿa
al-ʿAdawīya of Basra
(d. 810 CE) and similar female Sufi saints, it must now come to know Roya as
well: a German Sufi Saint of the 21st century.
My dearest Roya, Redmother,
Earthangel! Words fail me. My heart is broken. As God is my witness, I did not
want you to leave us. You were supposed to live to be 85 years old. And I especially
never ever wanted to see you separated from Nuri. Know, from the Great Beyond,
that I love you more than you will ever know and I miss you terribly, not just
for the Booboo Bear’s sake (which is heartbreaking enough) but also for my own.
As inadequate as it sounds, I also thank you for everything – everything!
I realize now that for all the
exterior strength and toughness that you were a fragile bird. God willing, you
are now flying in the supreme firmaments of divine glory, divine power, divine
resplendence and divine splendor in the Gardens of the Celestial Paradise while
watching over your two babies and protecting them down here below in this material
world of illusion. I will never forget you and the most precious gift that you
gave to me in our beautiful baby Nuriel: the Talisman of Love. These
seven-eight years together will punctuate the remaining years of my own life as
the oasis years: years for which I can never thank you enough even though I
know how hard it sometimes was for you.
As heaven and earth are witness, to
Nuriel you were the greatest mother in the universe: devout, loving, loyal,
dedicated, caring, hardworking. I promise you that I will strive to raise
Nuriel in the best way I know how, to always protect her, and make her into the
NUR, the Light, that she was born to be and so pass on to her a legacy
from both of us; but I will always need your help from the Other Side, so be
with me my darling – with us – always and forever in Spirit. While you soar in the heavenly realms of the
Light of lights, your physical place with us here is empty, so do not leave us
completely absent of your presence. Visit us in our visions, in our dreams, in
our hearts, in our minds whensoever you wish, and watch over us and help guide
the light unto the Light.
I will attempt to have Inji and Nuri
connect one day and establish a genuine relationship on their own terms as sisters
and without any interference or input from that accursed demon of perdition (may
the All-High hasten his permanent entry into hell) or anyone else. And before I
leave this world myself, I promise you, I will endeavour to get justice on your
behalf in the injustice that was perpetrated against you by the satanic British
system (may the All-High obliterate and erase the malevolent influence of that
system from all existence forevermore). Your fight was not in vein. Justice
will not be denied. Your pain was not wasted. Your struggle counted for
something, for it was the struggle of Good against evil, Light over darkness,
which your art demonstrates. Nor will your memory ever be forgotten. It will
always be blessed because you were, as you will always be, a true Visionary and
Warrior of the Good, a Letter of the N.U.R. and among the chosen of the
true Greatest Name: the Earthangel, the Redmother, forever and ever.
Amen!
As I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I shall
fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort
me.
Thou preparest a table for
me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup
runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy
shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the
Lord forever ~ Psalm
23:4-5
