Culture, Jilani. Sohbet 08/1025

We discuss the purpose of culture, and some of the writings of Abdul Qadir al Jilani- one of our Pirs of Qadiri -Rfa'i Tariqa

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Transcript

Speaker 1

Something that's sort of come up for me about culture and identity the purpose of culture and identity and i know that it has a role to play in one's life but it seems like it's only part of the picture so is it just a matter of becoming aware that it is just a veil, as they say, knowing that it's a veil that has a purpose and a use, but also knowing that one needs to, at times, let it go and see beyond that in one's journey to Allah.

Shaykh Ibrahim

I want to make sure I understand the question. Your question, it's two parts, if I understand it right, but you can correct me here. What is the purpose of culture? What's a good way to integrate it into our lives without it controlling us?

Speaker 1

Yes, yes. The first one, I feel like I'm starting to understand the purpose, but it's more the second one where the second question that I was...

Shaykh Ibrahim

Yeah, well, I think you have to know both of them to be able to get a good answer. The purpose of culture is to provide an environment for humans to interact in a positive way and be able to deal with all the vicissitudes that we deal with on a yearly basis, which also brings in the idea of festivals and rites of passage, which are ways that we celebrate and initiate new relationships with the community. So I'll go over the basics. Once you understand what the purpose of the culture is, then you can see it more clearly how we can interact with it in a positive way. But if you don't know, if you don't understand some of the components of it, it's just kind of a fog.

Speaker 3

All right.

Shaykh Ibrahim

So basics, the basics of a culture provide an environment for humans to interact. And what that includes in the beginning is, so we need a common form of symbols that we can communicate. So each culture has a different language or a different dialect. Or even within a culture, there can be dialects within that. But it's a way that we can communicate both by talking and then there's going to be gestures that are common. So there's common symbols that we use that we can talk to each other with. There will also be body language that if you know how to read it, you'll be able to understand what's going on. And there's ways that we greet each other. Every culture has a different way. Asian cultures, you bow, showing respect. And the more respect or elderly the person is, the deeper the bow. if you want to insult a person you go like that if you want to show respect you bow deeply in western culture there's the hand shaking to show that we do not have a weapon and guys will there'll be sometimes a test of how hard can you squeeze you know uh each of these symbols has a whole language within itself. Right? Yeah. You're laughing, Robert. You know these kind of people, huh? Or do you do that?

Speaker 3

No.

Shaykh Ibrahim

No, I don't.

Speaker 3

I thought that turned to me.

Shaykh Ibrahim

Yeah, and then you see kids as they learn how to address and greet people. So it's a way of the Yiddish term is schmoozing. That is bonding with other people. This bonding is important to be able to create cohesion and be able to get things done. Okay. Second level is the rites of passage. Every culture has rites of passage. There are four basic rites of passage, birth, death, marriage, and initiation. I would like to add divorce to that and getting your first house. But each of these has usually a ritual connected with it, some kind of movement. And what it is, is you're changing your relationship with the community. For example, initiation, we're talking about into adulthood. as a basic one. You know, as you leave puberty, you become an adult. You are now an adult and therefore in that relationship, you now have a different standing in the community. It's time to get a job or it's time to get married or it's time to have children. Whatever your culture values. And that's another thing is every culture has specific values. What's important in that culture? What is the value system? For example, in Western culture, it's being ambitious, having employment, and having some kind of ability to get along with people and to take care of yourself and maybe even to take care of others. In Asian countries or cultures, Asian cultures, what's most important is family more than Western. The family, and we're talking like all the way back, they have pictures of their deceased relatives and they will honor them on their birthday. The same kind thing happens on Dia de Muerta in Mexico where you honor the dead. What's most important in Asian cultures, especially China, Japan, Vietnam, and Korea, is you do not want to bring dishonor upon the family through your actions. So you must be circumspect in what you do so that you do not bring your family's reputation down. Very different way of looking at the world. We're not interested in innovation. We're interested in tradition. These things are important. And also within a culture, you will have a system of belief that unites people. Like the church is a really great way to bond different families together. So it's cohesive in that way. So there's a lot of stuff. There's also how you dress. We have a lot of people from India here. We have people from Pakistan. We have people from Turkey. They each dress differently. The Indian women will wear their saris still here. The men, the Sikhs, will wear their shroud on their head. Arabic women or Pakistani women will wear the full headgear thing with just their eyes, right? Or they will wear the hijab. These are all part of the culture. They have nothing to do with the religion. They have nothing to do with what people are expecting and what they're comfortable with. Okay. So when people, for example, in our culture say, either talk about sports or the weather, to me, that's bonding. It doesn't make any difference what you say. It's just that I'm a human. I want to make contact with another human because it's lonely here. I need to make a connection. so how's the weather how you doing housing so this is very important without that we are just dust moats floating around we have a great desire to affirm our existence through interaction with other humans so when people do small talk i for many years after my mental breakdown i could not do small talk i couldn't i could not understand it i couldn't respond to it i had no idea what people were saying these things took me a long time to figure out it's to make people feel comfortable. Once I understood that, I went, it doesn't matter then. It's schmoozing. We're bonding. It doesn't matter what we talk about. I'm a human. You're a human. We have something in common. You know, let's find out what those things are. And you never know, you might find something interesting in talking with somebody. New points of view. When you see it from that perspective, the idea of culture is it has a purpose. It is a way of binding and bonding people so they have a connection and they have a purpose. And part of that purpose is, you know, whatever your job is, that gives you, in Western culture, that gives you a certain sense of purpose and fulfillment to do your job. When you don't have a job and you don't have a home, you feel useless and you feel like you're a failure. Without a geographical center and a geographical home, that place that you can connect to will eventually lead to anxiety and mental illness because as a human, we need that. We need connection and we need a home and we need to feel safe and we need to feel trusting. These are important to us. Without them, we can't grow. In looking back at like as an individual, how do I fit in the culture? What do I do with it? You see it for what it is. It's a comfortable cloak we can wear around ourselves so that we don't freak out. And go running around with underpants on our head and a hatchet in our hand saying, I'm free, I'm free, I want to be a skunk. It's a grounding kind of thing. So, does that make sense? yes sure so i think it's important to to ask the question and as you move through your day you're in you're you're swimming in culture it's the water we swim in and it's really hard to see it we're like fish in the aquarium we're surrounded by culture and we think it's real and we think it's it's what reality is and that it's important. But in reality, it's just like clothes. Whatever clothes you're wearing says a lot. There's a lot of symbols to it. You know, if I wore my Pakistani shirt, you'd think, well, what are you doing? Are you appropriating another culture's fashion? What are you doing? Are you pretending you're Pakistani? The thing is, it's like when in Rome, you do what the Romans do. You know, you don't want to stand out too far. I have a really bad Australian accent and I have decided it's better if I don't try. Because people laugh at me. So I've given up trying to fit in with my accent, dialect. Raw it, mate?

Speaker 4

Raw it.

Shaykh Ibrahim

Any questions within that? There's a lot there. It's important, though, to be able to observe it. And to observe it, you have to kind of step outside of it to be able to see it. Traveling to another culture helps you get a handle on how to look at your own culture. I mean, Robert, you went to China.

Speaker 3

You were in Beijing, right? Not too much. Shanghai.

Shaykh Ibrahim

That's a whole other thing.

Speaker 3

Yeah.

Shaykh Ibrahim

Did you get down on the street and walk around like...

Speaker 3

Yeah, actually, my first time... Well, when we were kids, we went to Mexico briefly. But my first time being in a completely different country was China and Shanghai. And I was a little bit shocked, actually. Although a lot of it had to do with just I'd never seen a city that big. It was just amazing. But yeah, it was definitely a different experience.

Shaykh Ibrahim

You've been to L.A., yes?

Speaker 3

Yeah.

Shaykh Ibrahim

That's big.

Speaker 3

That's big, but it's sprawling. That's true.

Shaykh Ibrahim

Different kind of big.

Speaker 3

True. Like, you know, I thought San Francisco was like a big city, right? And then I landed in New York for that trip, and I was like, wow, this is a really big city. And then with this one guy, I was like, wow, this is a really big city. It was like miles. Like, you'd be driving for an hour through skyscrapers.

Shaykh Ibrahim

And I'm not talking topics.

Speaker 3

It's like full speed down the highway.

Shaykh Ibrahim

That was the question from Alameen about the difference between culture and an individual. Why is there culture and how do we live in it? And one is by understanding what it is and what its purpose is and to be able to fit in. And this is always a good challenge for individuals is to, you know, can you be invisible? Can you fit in and not be detected that you are different? You're not special or spiritual or anything unusual. Just a guy or gal just doing your thing. In your head, a lot of other things are going on, but that's not what we care about.

Speaker 4

I'm just noticing being down in Melbourne the last couple of weeks that I'm having to kind of do this weird shift of like, it's not that far away from home, but it still feels really different. And I'm like trying to kind of bridge the gap between, I feel like I'm in a brand new place, But then I'm remembering that this is everyone else's home. It feels really easy. And kind of dealing with like the differences between being in a city versus like where I am, which is a bit smaller and stuff. And my brain's just kind of like, there's a difference. And I hadn't really realized that.

Shaykh Ibrahim

Yeah. Melbourne, the culture of Melbourne is very different than Sydney. Definitely. And when I came here, and going back and forth between Sydney and Melbourne, it was like the difference between L.A. and San Francisco. Melbourne is like San Francisco to me, and Sydney is like L.A., where your worth is known by how successful you are. Yep. which is a weird valuation of the soul, but that was my impression. I like Melbourne. I like the people and I like the arts and I like the scene there. It just feels really comfortable. I just don't like the weather.

Speaker 1

How was that?

Speaker 4

And yeah, realizing that like, Wollongong's smaller again than Sydney. It's got like, similar-ish to the Melbourne vibe in terms of being a bit cultural and that warm, friendly sort of energy that I really appreciate. But then I'm going into the city and being overwhelmed because I don't know where he is. It's like a weird culture shock that I did not expect at all.

Shaykh Ibrahim

But that's typical. That's a natural thing. Until you know where you are, it's very uncomfortable.

Speaker 5

Yeah.

Shaykh Ibrahim

Because you feel like, I don't know what's around the corner. I don't understand this. Until you've been there for a while, and then you know where the coffee shop is that serves the great biscuits and the, you know, and you see that person again, and you go, oh, yeah, yeah, we ought to take a class together, you know, or something. So, all right. Yeah. I want to move on. And because it's the Urz of Abdul Qadir al-Jilani, I want to read a little bit from the Grandmasters, just a little bit, and maybe we can talk about it. So this is Chapter 1, Returning to the Motherland. And he says, Human beings can be studied in two ways, material and spiritual. Material means the outer, as matter. in this class everyone is equal and subject to general terms or laws. That's like the culture. As for the spiritual existence, which is hidden in this corporeal form, a special situation occurs. The human, taken in general terms, can return to the motherland with certain spiritual degrees. To attain these degrees, They take the outer rules and regulations of religion as their means to proceed. Furthermore, they can get onto the spiritual path and into the realm of marifa, that's the inner knowing or gnosis. Marifa is an especially high state. Our prophet, peace be upon him, praises it thus. there is a wisdom that gathers everything in its essence and that is the marifa of haq the true Allah's name or attribute al-haq for the servant of Allah to reach it they must not act boastfully we're going to divide the degrees of deeds that need to be done into three categories these are called jannas or paradises and the first is called mawa the second is the paradise in the angelic world alem i malakut and this is called naim and the third is the paradise in the archangelic world alem i javarut this is called firdaz what we mention here are the pleasures that cannot be perceived by the material body but can be achieved by gathering three kinds of knowledge within yourself sharia the islamic canonical law tarika sufi path and marifa and so we mentioned the whole of the hadith or a tradition or saying of the prophet that we mentioned above that which gathers all goodness and wisdom is to attain knowledge marifa of hawk and to act with it and then to know what is false and to avoid it now let us mention a dua a prayer that our prophet peace be upon him used to say O Allah, show us the truth, help us to act with it, and show us the false, and make it easy for us to avoid it. Likewise, in another honorable hadith, he says, who recognizes their nafs and goes against its improper desires, in reality, will have known their Lord and obeyed Him. That which has been told up to here is for the general public. There is also the situation and the state of people who have a higher aptitude, which we will explain below. We will call them insan, or mature human beings. The place this real human being reaches is complete closeness to Allah, the truth. This is called Tawhid, that is unity or oneness, in the realm of closeness, in the circle of Lahut, that is the divine. This state exists in the life of this world as commonplace. In this state you should not perceive any difference between being asleep and being awake. Actually, when you go to sleep, the spiritual heart finds an opportunity to return to its homeland. The spiritual traveler can be complete or partial. I'll say that again. The spiritual travel can be complete or partial. Allah the Most High, in an ayat-i-karim, a generous verse of the Quran, says, Allah the Most High takes souls in two ways, while you sleep and when you die. He keeps the ones that are determined for death and sends the others back. And we'll mention another hadith as a cross-reference. The alim, that's a knowing person, is better than the worship, the alim's sleep is better than the worship of an ignorant person. and what we mean by Alim here is the one who enlightens their inner being with the light of Tawhid or unity then with the tongue of the Seer that's secret which is hidden they continue zikr of Allah through repetition of the divine names and of the names of Tawhid without word or sound this is a real human being Let us share a few of the Hadiths Qudsi, wisdom that Allah imparted to the Prophet, peace be upon him, apart from that recorded in the Quran, that mention this. 1. The human being is my hidden secret, and I am theirs. 2. The inner knowledge is a secret of one of my secrets. I put that into the hearts of my servants. No one can know that state except me. And three, I am as my slave assumes me to be. This is Allah speaking. I'll say that again. I am as my slave assumes me to be. I am with him, I am with them when they look for me. If they mention me within themselves, I mention them within myself. If they mention me in a group, I mention them in a better group. One thing is derived from all of these Hadiths. That is a quality that takes a small place in the presence or existence of the human being. It is the knowledge of contemplation. And it is the most important knowledge. Let us relate a few of the Hadith Sharif our Prophet, peace be upon him, bestowed. One moment of contemplation is better than one year of worship. One moment of contemplation is better than 70 years of worship. One moment of contemplation is better than a thousand years of worship. Success in everything is hidden in the essence of Hak. We must explain the mentioned Hadith Sharif because the same topic has been explained in different ways in these Hadiths. If someone thinks about anything that carries wisdom and how many pieces come to being from one of its pieces and continues to think about how many other pieces come into being from these pieces, this is called contemplation. And this is equal to one year of worship. So he goes on here. Any comments or questions or things that this brings up for you?

Speaker 3

I was just curious about something. Why does he not mention Hakika?

Shaykh Ibrahim

That comes a little later. He's actually saying it, but in a different way. When he's talking about the Marifa of Hak, to me that's like, yeah, that's Hakika.

Speaker 3

Okay. What is the literal translation of Marifa? Maybe that would help me understand that better.

Shaykh Ibrahim

It's wisdom. Or another way you can think of it is experiencing the world as the Prophet does, which is a very profound state of being. Marifa is someone who has worked their way through Sharia, Tariqah, Haqqiyah to achieve Marifat, which is basically what Sheikh was, Sheikh Taner.

Speaker 1

I'm trying to understand, obviously, a bit of a novice into, you know, sort of Sharia, not being born into the Sharia, but does one need to fully embrace and go through the world of sharia to be able to reach, you know, Marifa and Hakika?

Shaykh Ibrahim

You have to experience it. You have to understand it. Just like when we were talking about culture, you have to live it. You can be a hermit, of course, but that's not experiencing the culture. Sharia means that you try it out, you know, see what it's all about. You know, do the five prayers, do your snicker, do the holidays. And if you feel so inclined, you do your hajj. Unless you, you know, up to a point where you feel like you understand it and understand its purpose. The purpose is to give you a solid grounding to approach the Tarika and Hakika material. The way I look at it is just my personal point of view. It's like developing roots. The roots give you the ability to ground and to hold tight during storms. and allows the tree to grow higher and reach to the light. The deeper the roots, the taller the tree. No roots, storm comes, blows the tree over. Now we've got to start over again. Yeah, those roots make a difference. And for me personally, I had spent much of my life on the smorgasbord version of spirituality, picking and choosing what I liked and what I didn't, you know, what I didn't like, I didn't take. So I was going along with my tray, picking up the things that I liked. And then I realized at a certain point, that can't work. Because you have to enter a system that's integrated and has a history of working, of being credible and efficient. Something that works. And I'd been through a number of them to try them out, and they didn't work for me. But then when I found Sufism and I saw how it operated and the different components of it made perfect sense to me. It's like this is a system I don't mind walking into and learning. Because it gives you the grounding, the roots, and there's nothing that's really prohibited regarding how you grow. That how you grow is yours. There's no mold. you have to fit into. The way you grow is yours. So you want to set up your root system and your foundation as something solid to be able to protect you when things get interesting.

Speaker 4

Yeah, that's something that's really, I've appreciated about this is that is that it's your version of how to get to Allah. And I really appreciate that. But it also makes it harder because there's less of the box that you just do the things.

Shaykh Ibrahim

Yeah, it means that you have to learn how to think for yourself. You do, definitely. And that means accepting that you're going to make mistakes. But that's how we learn. If we didn't make mistakes, then we wouldn't learn. And if we don't learn, we can't grow. And if we can't grow, then what are we? We're just robots. Alameen? Something's cooking in there?

Speaker 1

Yeah, no, I was just reflecting about, yeah, the path of Sufism and what Rekha was saying and how, yeah, I think I'm where Rekha is, we're sort of starting to appreciate that it's what you've just said, Shaq, it's what's yours is yours. And I think coming from my Catholic background and upbringing, which we've spoken about many times, it's always been, oh, okay, and if I tick this box, you know, this will, you know, sort of bring me to Allah. And if I tick that box, that'll bring me to Allah. if I, you know, do that, then, but it's, you know, sort of Sufism, or, you know, Tarragon sort of turns that on its, starting to realise, turn that on its head and it's, yeah, it does starting to force you to think about what is your suluk. A deeper appreciation of the relationship to Allah, but more importantly, appreciation how Allah is, El Machalaris Sabor, you know, patient with us. Just like white.

Shaykh Ibrahim

Yeah. And for some people, it's a big deal. You looking at your panel of switches, good, bad, no, yes, sin, not sin. And you want to make sure that you've switched them all properly so that you can get those points. you know you get a little ticket a little heaven ticket and to drop all that is is scary because that's a that in itself is a foundation but it's not a real foundation it's one somebody else made up it's not yours and it takes a lot of courage to like yeah that's not mine i don't know what mine is i want to find out

Speaker 1

and and and that's the connection for me the loop or the link into culture because you know culture holds that you know holds what one needs to do to to tick the boxes but if we start to step away and not let go of culture but sort of see beyond that then You think, well, yeah, what is holding me? Or where are my foundations? And it brings you to another realm.

Shaykh Ibrahim

Yeah. And you can look at it in so many different ways. I mean, depending on what you've learned, what your job is, and what your situation is. I mean, several different ways to look at it might be as a molecular bonding. Different groups of people come together in a certain way because of a molecular attraction. You know, magnetic, you know, kind of resonance. You know, we resonate together. And this group resonates together. And you have your jocks over here and your musicians over here and your lawyers over here. And they all resonate in their little groups. and they all think in the same way and to then go I think I'm a Sufi I think differently and learning the tools that allow you to grow beyond just being a factor and to realize this is a lot more than you thought it was, that we're connected to everything. Everything's connected to everything. And just think, the breath I'm taking could have been breathed by, you know, Abdu'l-Qadr al-Jolani, you know, several thousand years ago. It could be the same air. I don't know. Everything's changing all the time. So allowing yourself to understand that this is a process, that it's a lifelong thing and that everything that comes to you okay this is also my way of thinking about it because you say well i want to go beyond culture and i want to learn who i am and what my suluk is then you can begin to see that you've turned on the teaching program and that everything that comes to you is for you to learn from, that it's a school, and you are recognizing that, and then it's coming to terms with, I don't want to learn that, and Allah goes, didn't you ask to learn? You want to grow, right? Yeah, but I don't want to learn that. I have other ideas. Oh, really? I don't care. You go do your thing and let me know when you're ready and we'll continue on with the learning program. OK. Yeah. What? What just happened? What did I say? Wait, wait. Come back. Come back. I didn't mean it really. No. Yeah. I, nefs, you know, it's hard and it takes a lot of courage to take every day, take a new step forward to go, I, what, what am I going to learn today? I hope it's something good. Cause sometimes it's not, it's going to be good, but it isn't necessarily what you expect. And that's part of the surprise. Questions? Comments? I can relate. I mean, really, I can.

Speaker 1

Yeah, it's just reflecting on what you're saying about every day is something to learn or there's always been. Just thinking about when I've had some days where my focus, distractions as life happens, you know, not being on a lot and feeling a little bit off. And so the tendency or the conditioning has been to sort of thinking, oh, well, you know, you're not focusing. Where's your focus? You know, focusing on a lot. And, you know, as a little part of me starting to do a number on me or whether, you know, about not being focused or just being aware that, okay, there is a learning here that, or just recently this has come up for me, there's a learning that, okay, this is what it feels like when, you know, you're not, when your focus isn't where it should be. So it's not about doing a number on yourself, but it's just about learning about your own energy and focus when it's not where it should be. So, yeah, just sort of that sort of, you know, came up.

Shaykh Ibrahim

Reminds me, was it yesterday, the day before? I kept knocking things over and I'm going, I don't know where my body is. It just keeps, it's just flopping around and I'm not aware of it. I need to be aware of what's going on with my body. I've kind of lost touch with it. So that was two days ago. So stuff's always happening in different ways. And we either catch it or we don't. And if we don't, Allah is Sabur, as he said, and it will come back again and go, did you forget something? It's an ongoing thing. And part of what we're trying to do is integrate all of our parts so that we are one whole being. I suggested to begin understanding water. We're going to eventually go to the other elements, but water is probably the best and it has a lot to teach. And if you're not sure what you are learning, you can bring your focus to water and begin to do Rabita with it, both in its pond or static state and in its flowing state in a river or in its wavy state in the ocean. or in one of its rain cycle states where it's clouds. And to look at the clouds, and maybe you can do Rabi Ta with clouds as well. That's water as well in its vapor form. And then when it rains, which is going to be for us Sunday, Monday, that's tomorrow, rain coming. So here in Sydney. So connecting with that falling energy, this is all water. Water is amazing. The water cycle of how it just keeps going around and around. And without it, we'd be dead. And that we carry the ocean around inside us. I saw a talk by a biologist saying, you know, we're just walking fish. A biologist's point of view. Anyway, anything else you want to talk about?

Speaker 4

Yeah. Just a little noticing. I haven't processed it properly yet, but what you were saying about clouds and rain and stuff. And I've noticed that the weather here in Melbourne is very different to the weather at home, which is just like in Melbourne you get little bits of rain relatively often as opposed to back at home where it's like, okay, today is a wet day. Cool. And just noticing that like water behaves differently in different places. True. And I went to the beach the other day and it was like, oh, yeah, that's right I'm seeing the beach on the I'm seeing the other side of the water like I'm used to just the water being on the East Coast and that's it and because I'm on the bay now and I'm on the eastern side of the bay okay yeah I was just like ah yeah that's right I'm so used to it being one way and and forgetting that it's so varied and versatile, I guess.

Shaykh Ibrahim

Yeah, it's different. Very different. I grew up on California's west coast, and then I come to here, and I'm on the east coast, and everything is all flipped around. Yeah. But talking about water, Robert, were you in Shanghai during monsoon season?

Speaker 3

I managed to avoid that. I was in, not really, not this recent time, but we did get stuck in a storm in Shanghai once. And it was like, it was almost like clear blue sky one second. And then we sat down to eat, and then these dark clouds rolled in. And by the time we were done eating, it was like pouring so hard. And we had to, we asked somebody to come pick us up. It was like, I understand.

Shaykh Ibrahim

It was like that in the Blue Mountains sometimes. Okay. A hot, warm day. And all of a sudden, it's raining. And you go, what? Where did? And then it starts hailing. And you go, but this was a hot day. Why is there hail coming down? And then there's lightning. And then it clears up. And then it's like, what was that all about? Amen. Amen. Blessings on our peer, Azad Abdul Qadir al-Jilani. May Allah be pleased with him. And may Allah be pleased with you.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Sheikh.

Shaykh Ibrahim

Assalamu alaikum.

Speaker 3

Assalamu alaikum wa salam wa barakatuhu. Wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.

Shaykh Ibrahim

Assalamu alaikum, marids, seekers, curious and interested listeners. We appreciate you and are happy to share our Sufi message. Your donation will help support our Sufi Center in Sydney, where we do zikr, sobet, spiritual counseling, and healing services. We believe the message should be free, but it costs equipment, rental services, software, and hardware to get this to you. So thank you for choosing our podcast among all the millions available. If you go to our website, AnsariSufiOrder.org, you will be able to donate through PayPal whatever you think this information is worth to you. Blessings and love, the Australian Ansari Sufi Order.