Listen Today on
Ep. 94: Michael (Haroon) Sugich
Michael Sugich is a native of Santa Barbara, California and studied at UCLA and the California Institute of the Arts. He was initiated into a traditional Sufi order in 1972. Since that time he has studied Sufi doctrine and practice with spiritual masters across the Arab and Islamic world. He lived for 23 years in the precincts of the sacred city of Makkah Al Mukaramah where he kept company with many men of knowledge and illumination. He has written Palaces of India (Pavilion Books), a travel book, and Living in Makkah (Macdonald Publishers), a children’s book, and, most recently a feature documentary film on the life of King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, Faisal: Legacy of a King.
Episode Notes
- Peter Ackroyd
- Fiddler on the Roof
- Hearts Turned
- Iago in Othello
- MacBeth
- Stanislavski
- Nietzsche
- Peter Brook
- Abdallah Schleifer
- Santa Barbara, CA
- Jean Genet – The Screens play
- Arberry translation of the Quran
- Conference of the Birds by Attar
- Feste the Fool
- Sebastian twin brother of Viola
- Tamberlane (Timur)
- Bahlul – the Fool
- Tim Winter – What is orthodox Islam
- Moulay Hashim Bil Ghiti
- Musaylama the Liar
- Sayid Omar Abdullah
- In Shaykhs Clothing’s Episode
- Shaykh Muhammad Bin Habib
- Shaykh Muhammad Jilani
- Ahmad Zarruq
- Hamzsa Yusuf
- Abu Yazid al-Bistami
- Imam Bukhari
- Signs on the Horizon
- Casablanca
- Rudolph Valentino in the Sheik
- Sayyida Nafisa Mosque Cairo
- “The Great Theft” Khaled Abu al-Fadl
- Sayyid Qutub
- Milestones
- Ali Shariati
- Mawdudi
- Peter Sanders Meeting with Mountains
- John Templeton Foundation
- Shaykh Salih Jafari
- Samer Dijani translation
- Diwan Muhammad Bin Habib
- Habib Ahmad Mashur al-Haddad
- Sufi Abdullah Khan Sab
- Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
keep learning
Understanding the Muslim Mind
If we could take all of Islamic intellectual history, what sort of patterns and principles could we deduce? More importantly, if we found someone who actually knew all this information, what would they look like, think like, talk like, etc.?
Traveling to Japan
About two years ago, an opportunity to travel to Japan emerged from some of the consultancy work I do. Since my approach to preventing violence and extremism is unique and effective (I hope to share something about this soon), and since my background in comparative religions is well known amongst the people I work for and with, there was interest for me to travel and meet with Japanese religious leaders, especially Muslims, and share information and lessons learned. It was supposed to be a simple, straightforward trip, and from a business point of view it was. However, even though I travel frequently, at that point I had never been to Japan, and since this seemed like a onetime opportunity, I decided to make the most of it. What follows is how I took this simple opportunity and developed it into a long-term, fruitful relationship that will forever be a part of me.
MORE