Nay_ho_tze's Medicine Musings

Francis and the Sufis 
what you don't know

St Francis of Assisi isn't who he is
because he's Christian but because he has a side to him little known or understood by western religious ...

while it’s true, Francis is considered the ‘universal saint,’ most beloved globally for his connection to animals and his gentle heart with his fellow man …
did you know that this man appears in Persian writings, and is scrutinized from their point of view?

In The Sufis, Idres Shah (1924-1996), Sufi author/teacher draws some amazing parallels between Francis and the Sufis which are backed up by history and records of Francis’ travels…

Traditional biographers openly confess to not understanding his travel intentions -
for instance his 'wandering' all of Spain,
when in fact the places he visited happened to be Sufi …
further Shah provides compelling circumstantial evidence of Sufi practices and stories showing up in Franciscan tradition –
take the saint’s poetry for instance whose themes and imagery seem to suggest the work of his Sufi contemporary, Rumi …
all of which, for a reincarnationist, begs the question: is it possible that Francis was ‘remembering’ and travelled to look for his past life Sufi roots?  reincarnationists say, 'yes' 

I can see why Francis was drawn to Sufism; it's beauty in Spirit opened my own heart many years ago when life felled another book off another bookstore shelf  -
at the time  i was looking for Ram Dass’s Be Here Now and  even when told by a clerk that the book was sold out, i had to check for myself -
and there on the floor by a ‘sold out’ sign was the quintessential Sufi writing, Toward the One, written b Pir Villayat Khan … and even though i’d never seen this book before, because of how it was found, i knew it was 'essential reading' - it was my ticket to Sufism, the exploration of which 
helped me to understand Francis more completely, especially those of his stories, graciously forgiven, like running naked through the town square, gross disrespect of his father, etc.

the Lakota would refer to that side of Francis as heyoke, or the holy jestor, who is only allowed to get away with his actions because by his ‘insanity’ he teaches a higher learning to the people ... only a master can be both fool and wise man at the same time 

Ultimately amidst all his foolishness  Francis demands that we treat each and every person we meet with the same forgiveness and honour that we pay to Francis ... to Francis there can be no other way.


the town of Assisi, Umbria, Italy

         Assisi in Umbria,Italy


the ecumenical St. Francis of Assisi statue

a local statue of Francis - his halo is etched with symbols of the world's six majour religions


the cell of St. Francis of Assisi

                 the cell where Francis died 

Inayat Khan, father of Pir Villayat, said,  "Every age of the world has seen awakened souls, and as it is impossible to limit wisdom to any one period or place,  so it is impossible to date the origin of Sufism."  

Francis' openness to Sufisim recognized the inherent impossibility to limit wisdom -
it is when we fearlessly apply this new lens to what we already know about Francis
that an unexpected bridge opens before us offering timely answers  to today’s very frightening world 


-NHT
©2015, 2018, 2019, 2021
all rights reserved 


related reading:  
click here to read more from NHT about Pir Villayat Khan and his father 
Inayat Rehmat Khan

sources:
---to read Idres Shah’s full piece of "The Sufis and Francis of Assisi" click here then click to page 228
---to learn more about Sufism, click here 
--- explore Francis under today's microscope - click here to read an article from the New Yorker magazine 
 

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