A 21st Century Spiritual Master's Final Teaching
A timeless yet urgent message for the whole of humanity.
Dear friend,
How are you? And how is your beautiful heart?
Truth be told, I’ve begun writing to you numerous times over the last couple of weeks but haven’t quite finished any of those letters yet. But that means there are many on the way 😉.
Life has been blessed. Busy, but blessed. I’ve experienced miracles, breakthroughs, insights to which I was once blinded, and tremendous amounts of healing in such a short space of time that I’m still trying to get my own head and heart around it.
I have so much to share but now is not the time, as I sit here just past midnight after having only had a few hours of broken sleep last night and spending the day at a wellness market with my small business. I am TIRED. But looking forward to getting back into the routine of fresh weekly writing and connecting with you.
For now though, (as I really couldn’t face another week of not writing to you,) I share a post I wrote for Medium just a few weeks ago. A timeless message that touches my heart every time I am reminded of it. My wish is that it can touch and open yours, too.
Mewlānā Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhi, more famously known as Rumi, wrote, “Whoever travels without a guide, needs two hundred years for a two-day journey.”
He knew this through firsthand experience, his loving guide being Shams of Tabriz who turned Rumi’s entire world upside down by shattering all of the illusion that was veiling Rumi, to bring him to the path of Divine Truth.
My personal Shams of Tabriz was a humble, hardworking, truly beautiful human Being hailing from Senegal, West Africa: Sheikh Aly N’Daw, who transformed my inner world tremendously in the short time we shared in this lifetime.
Not known by many, but unforgettable to those whose paths he did cross, Sheikh Aly was a Sufi Spiritual Master who left me and all of us a wealth of teachings that transcend space and time altogether.
He was a spiritual man of action who had a planetary vision for the whole of humanity and saw work as the Love of God made visible. He was continually rooted in local social and economic actions, even up until his final days, where he was working in the blistering heat of West Africa to provide fresh water and ice to those living in regions where this was not readily available or affordable. He didn’t see this as work though — it was his love for what he called the ‘human family’ that drove him to serve selflessly and relentlessly until his very last day.
My Spiritual Master, a truly enlightened and liberated human being and a beacon of light and hope in this world, transitioned on to the next stage of his journey in February 2021. A couple of weeks prior to his passing, which took many of us by surprise, he shared a final Skype call with his family of disciples from around the world. Speaking in French, he spoke with a sense of urgency, emphasising that we needed to prepare ourselves for what was to come.
In the times that we are living through currently, with the world in turmoil, with veils being lifted and hearts being awakened all around the globe while the evil and darkness of humanity come to light, I am now just beginning to understand what he was saying. Perhaps he transitioned at the time in history that he did because he was needed to help humanity from the other side instead. I think so.
In this final call, which was transcribed and translated for the English speakers, myself included, he shared an immensely powerful message that I had never heard anywhere before. The more I meditate on it and allow myself to absorb it, the more I realise that this is what humanity needs to hear, this is what humanity needs to know, on the very deepest level — especially now.
His final teaching and his message to the whole of humanity is:
The only religion is that of the human being.
To understand this further, the following excerpts are taken directly from the transcript of the recording of that final phone call, which all point back to this Divine message.
“…we will come back to the love of God as the Prophet (Muhammad) lived it, to understand that the true religion of God is human. It’s nothing else. When we talk about Islam, when we talk about Christianity, when we talk about Buddhism, or when we talk about Judaism, it’s another way, it’s another form of ascension of how to get out of the social order to take the path of God, to reach the stage of being in God.”
“It is the same in Christianity, it is the same in Judaism, it is the same in Buddhism, it is the same in Hinduism. It’s only this… when we get there, we meet the One who shaped us in His image and there you will understand that there is no religion except the human.”
“…this is the very heart of the religion of God in that the human is the centre and this is what religion is all about… The Peace Beings have shown and demonstrated it in black and white that the religion of God is the religion of the human and nothing, nothing, nothing else.”
“All these things to show you that ultimately there is no religion except the human; human, human, human. And who says human, says the love of God.”
Every time I read the full transcript of this final call, I am immediately accompanied by goosebumps that go right through to my soul. Every time I read this transcript, I take something new from it, something more powerful than the time before.
Some may not be ready for the meaning of this message, some may be offended by this message and many of us are probably not ready or aware of the depth of this message, but for me, with the level of understanding that I’m currently at, this is a wake-up call that gently yet urgently invites us to return to our humanity.
It is a reminder that we are here in this life to serve one another; not to judge one another, not to hate one another, not to destroy one another, and most definitely not to commit genocides against one another. We are here to serve humanity because to serve humanity is to serve the Divine — to serve humanity is to serve God Himself.
In a world where we elevate profit over people, place status above souls, worship ego over the eternal, and are constantly doing instead of being, my Spiritual Master’s final message breaks through the noise and reminds us that our humanity is our greatest gift. It cuts through all of the labels and gets to the essence of what we all are: HUMAN.
Sheikh Aly loved and lived by this saying of the Prophet Muhammad:
“Humanity is one family under the command of God. And the one most loved by God is the one who makes himself most useful to this family.”
So, my dear human family, I invite you to reflect and meditate on these words.
Are you aware of your humanity?
Do you deeply know and see yourself as part of this one human family?
And are you playing your part in the betterment, healing, and growth of this family?
If not, please know it is never too late. And when you are ready, your human family will always be here to receive you.
Let no label, no path, no religion separate us from one another.
Let no amount of wealth, status, or prestige separate us from one another.
Let us always remember that the only religion is the human being.
The only religion is the human being.
With Light, Love & Peace,
Sabah x
📚What I’m reading: Welcome Home by Najwa Zebian - a self-help and healing book all about creating a stable and solid foundation and home within yourself. It’s a powerful and beautiful read so far.
🎧What I’m listening to: Wild by Cheryl Strayed on Audible. It’s a memoir and it is written so, so beautifully. I’m only a couple of chapters in so far.
🎶Song of the Week:
💭Quote I’m contemplating: “The only religion is the human being.” ~ Sheikh Aly N’Daw.
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Sabah, thank you so much for sharing these precious words from your Shaikh. I can only imagine what a lovely human being he must have been because you always speak of him with such reverence. His words convey his humility, sincerity, compassion, and brotherhood. May he rest in peace and continue to help guide you (and hence, all of us) from the other side. I would add to his statement: The human being is the only religion - both the self and the other, but our path is in serving the other, however, not at the expense of the self, but rather, for the growth and nourishment of the self. Perhaps this is what he meant, too.