Satan, the greatest lover of God (Sufism)

(Let's Talk Religion) Was Satan (the "Adversary") the greatest lover of God? | Iblis in Sufism

• Iblis: (Arabic إِبْلِيسْ, Romanized Iblīs) [1], also known as Shaitan, is the "leader of the devils" (shayāṭīn) in Islam. According to the Quran (Koran), Iblis was thrown out of heaven after refusing to prostrate before Adam (human). In Sufi cosmology, Iblis embodies the cosmic veil supposedly separating the immanent aspect of God's love from the transcendent aspect of God's wrath. He is often compared to the Christian concept of Satan, both cast out of heaven.

Islamic mysticism: Sufism

Satan as the Devil in the Codex Gigas (fol 290r)

According to some adherents of Sufi mysticism, Iblis refused to bow to Adam (the created human) because he was fully devoted to God alone and refused to bow to anyone else [215, 189].

For this reason, Sufi masters regard Satan and Muhammad as the two most perfect monotheists [215].

Sufis reject the concept of dualism [215, 216] and instead believe in the unity of all existence [216].

In the same way that Muhammad was the instrument of God's mercy [215], Sufis regard Satan as the instrument of God's wrath [215].

For the Muslim Sufi scholar Ahmad Ghazali, Iblis was the paragon of lovers in self-sacrifice for refusing to bow down to Adam out of pure devotion to God [217].

Ahmad Ghazali's student Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir was among the Sunni Muslim mystics who defended Iblis and asserted that evil was also God's creation.

The God made all this and a Serpent

Sheikh Adi argued that if evil existed without the will of God, then God would be powerless and powerlessness can't be attributed to God [218].

Some Sufis assert that since Iblis was destined by God to become a devil, God will also restore him to his former angelic nature.

Attar compares Iblis's damnation to the biblical Benjamin: both were accused unjustly, but their punishment had a greater meaning. In the end, Iblis will be released from hell [219].

• In the beautiful religion of Yazidism, Lucifer (Satan, the Devil) is redeemed and welcomed back

What did the great Rumi think?

However, not all Muslim Sufi mystics are in agreement with a positive depiction of Iblis.

Rumi's viewpoint on Iblis is much more in tune with Islamic orthodoxy. Rumi views Iblis as the manifestation of the great sins of haughtiness and envy.

He states: "[Cunning] intelligence is from Iblis, and love from Adam" [220]. More

The Yazidis in Western perception

In William Seabrook's book Adventures in Arabia, the fourth section, starting with Chapter 14, is devoted to the "Yezidees" and is titled "Among the Yezidees."

He describes them as "a mysterious sect scattered throughout the Orient, strongest in North Arabia, feared and hated both by Moslem [Muslim] and Christian [Jesuit], because they are worshippers of Satan." In it he describes the area, including the fact that this territory, including their holiest city of Sheik-Adi, was not part of "Irak" (Iraq) [190].

Georges Gurdjieff

George Gurdjieff wrote about his encounters with the Yazidis several times in his book Meetings with Remarkable Men, mentioning that they are considered to be "devil worshippers" [because they dare to hold out that even the devil can be turned around by God in the end] by other ethnicities in the region.

In Peter Ouspensky's book In Search of the Miraculous, he describes some strange customs that Gurdjieff observed in Yazidi boys: "He told me, among other things, that when he was a child he had often observed how Yezidi boys were unable to step out of a circle traced round them on the ground" (p. 36).

Peacock Angel (Pavaangyal, Tawûsî Melek)

Idries Shah, writing under the penname Arkon Daraul, in his 1961 book Secret Societies Yesterday and Today, describes discovering a Yazidi-influenced secret society in the London suburbs called the "Order of the Peacock Angel."

Shah claimed this Tawûsê Melek or "Peacock Angel" could be understood, from the Sufi viewpoint, as an allegory of the higher powers in humanity [191]. More

The Great God of the Yazidis

Yazidis believe in one God, to whom they refer as Xwedê, Xwedawend, Êzdan, Pedsha (lit. "King") and, less commonly, Ellah [Allah?] and Heq [Yah-Heq?] [22, 5, 12, 2, 23].

According to some Yazidi hymns (known as qewls), God has 1,001 names; in others, God has 3,003 names [24, 25].

In Yazidism, earth, fire, water, and air are sacred elements that are not to be polluted. During prayer, Yazidis face towards the Sun, which is why they were sometimes called "sun worshippers."

The Yazidi creation myth begins with the description of the emptiness and the absence of order in the Universe. Before the universe's creation, God created a dur ("white pearl" or orb) in spiritual form from God's own pure light and alone dwelt in it [26].

First, there was an esoteric world. After that, an exoteric world was created. Before the creation of this world, God created seven divine beings (oftentimes referred to as the Seven [Arch] Angels in Yazidi literature) to whom God assigned all the world's affairs.

The leader of the Seven Angels was named the "Peacock Angel" (Melek Taus or Tawûsî Melek) [2, 13, 27]. The end of Creation is closely connected with the creation of humankind and the transition from mythological to historical time [5, 14, 12]. More

The Yazidi trinity

The Yazidis believe in a Divine Triad [2, 13, 27]. The supreme, hidden God of the Yazidis is considered to be remote and inactive in relation to creation, except to contain and bind it together within an innate essence [2].

This God's first emanation is the "Peacock Angel," who functions as the ruler of the world [2, 13, 27].

The second hypostasis of the Divine Triad is the Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir.

The third is Sultan Ezid. These are the three hypostases of the One God. The identity of these three is sometimes blurred, with ibn Musafir considered to be a manifestation of the Peacock Angel and vice versa; the same applies to Sultan Ezid [2].

The Peacock Angel beating Satan

Yazidis are called the "Nation of the Peacock Angel" (Miletê Tawûsî Melek) [28].

Muslims and Christians erroneously associate and identify the Peacock Angel with their own religions' conception of the unredeemed evil spirit Satan [2, 13, 27, 29, 12], a misconception that has incited centuries of violent religious persecution (puritanical rape and genocide) of the Yazidis as "devil-worshippers" [2, 13, 27, 30, 31].

Persecution of Yazidis has continued in their home communities within the borders of modern Iraq [2, 13, 32].

Yazidis, however, believe the Peacock Angel not a source of evil or wickedness [2, 13, 27]. They consider him to be the leader of the archangels [a kind of Christian Michael, Buddhist Sakka, Chinese Jade Emperor figure], not a fallen angel [2, 27, 33, 12].

• Garden of Eden scene: Jan Brueghel de Oude en Peter Paul Rubens: Het aards paradijs met de zondeval van Adam en Eva
• Saint Michael the Archangel as Sakka, King of the Devas tossing the Asuran Chieftain Vepacitti out of the Heaven of the Thirty-Three in Buddhist lore

Irish 1st Westerner to become Buddhist monk

First Western Buddhist monk: Irish U Dhammaloka (Wisdom Quarterly)

Methinks me should be a monk

The Dharma Bum was the first Westerner to be ordained as a Buddhist monk. He chose Theravada Buddhism in Burma (Myanmar), where he was given the name Venerable U Dhammaloka. ("U," pronounced "ooh," is not a name but an honorific title used for monks and mature or men in senior positions in Burma). He was from Dublin, Ireland but -- wandering like a Dharma Bum, he first traveled to California then onto Asia, landing in faraway Mandalay, where he took robe and bowl and made a lot of trouble for the Christian colonial British exploiting India.

Irish documentary about pioneer U Dhammaloka

The Dharma Bum is a feature-length, partially animated documentary film that tells the tantalizing true story of Dubliner Laurence Carroll, who became Venerable U Dhammaloka.

• Any relation to Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland? Of course not, because "Lewis Carroll" is the nom de plume (pen name) for Irish-connected Oxford don Dodgson, the author of classic literature for little Alice Liddell.

Dharma Bum Temple, San Diego

Laurence Carroll was born in Dublin in 1856 and spent his early life as an alcoholic hobo drifter bumming his way across the United States of America.
 

This freethinking, un-Catholic, un-Christian, atheist activist worked the shipping route from San Francisco, California, to Japan.

• Dharma Bum Buddhist Temple, Southern California
• The Dharma Bums by Irish American Buddhist and Beat Generation author Jack Kerouac:

Irish American Buddhist J. Kerouac

Irish American Zen Buddhist and Beat Generation writer Jack Kerouac's literary prestige has been growing since 1969. Several previously unseen works of his have been published posthumously. He is recognized for his spontaneous stream of consciousness style of prose. The themes his work covers are mysticism, religion, Buddhism, childhood, poetry and literature, the San Francisco Bay Area (where Irish Dharma Bum U Dhammaloka and British Buddhist Alan Watts came for inspiration) and the New York City of the 1940s and '50s, and life. Kerouac became an underground celebrity and, with other Beats, a progenitor of the hippie movement, although he was not a hippie and mostly remained uninterested in politics [8]. His legacy has lasted generations, greatly influencing many of the cultural icons of the 1960s, including Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, and the Doors.

• Buddhism in the United Kingdom (Northern Ireland)

Dharma Bum Temple Main Hall with guest speaker Ven. Robina Courtin

How Buddhism came to Britain

In Britain, the earliest Buddhist influences came from the Theravada Buddhist traditions of Burma, Thailand, and Sri Lanka. Interest in them was primarily scholarly to begin with; a Western tradition of study grew up that resulted in the foundation of the Pali Text Society in 1881 founded by T. W. Rhys Davids, which undertook the significant task of translating the Pāli language canon of the Theravada tradition into English. The start of interest in Buddhism as a path-of-practice had been pioneered by the founders of the new syncretic religion Theosophy, namely, the Russian Madame Blavatsky and the American Colonel Olcott. In 1880, they became the first Westerner Buddhists in that they asked to receive the Three Refuges (the Going for Guidance to the Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha) and the Five Precepts as a formal act of conversion in an ancient ceremony by which one traditionally accepts and becomes a nominal "Buddhist." Burma (now called Myanmar) and Ceylon (now called Sri Lanka) were well established Theravada Buddhist countries and colonies of the British Empire. Both colonies were majority Theravada Buddhist. Immigration from the two colonies to the UK would have happened. During the 19th to early 20th centuries, lascar sailors (people from Asia who worked in British ships) came and settled in the UK. Some of the lascars came from the seafaring communities of Burma and Sri Lanka [17]. More

The Dharma Bum found himself on the beach, hungover and homeless, after being kicked off the vessel for drunk and disorderly conduct.

He eventually made his way to Theravada Buddhist Burma, where he was helped by compassionate local Buddhist monks.

After five years as a monastic apprentice, he became the first Western man to ever don the saffron robes of a Theravada Buddhist monk.

• Carroll was not the only amazing Irish-American Buddhist monastic: There was also Zen Buddhist "saint" (bodhisattva) Maura Soshin O'Halloran
• American Buddhist Journal: POEM: "Finnegan's Awake"

Irish Zen Bodhisattva Soshin O'Halloran

Irish-American female Zen Buddhist saint (bodhisattva) in Japan: Soshin O'Halloran

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Pure Heart, Enlightened Mind

*Maura "Soshin" O'Halloran (May 24, 1955–Oct. 22, 1982) was an Irish Zen Buddhist nun [1]. She is known for her book Pure Heart, Enlightened Mind, which was posthumously published by her family.

She is also famous for being one of the "first of few Western women allowed to practice in a traditional Japanese Zen monastery" [2].

BIOGRAPHY

Hojo Takatoki Harakiri-Yagura, Tōshō-ji Temple

Soshin (Maura O'Halloran) was born in Boston, the capital of Massachusetts, USA in 1955. Her parents moved her to Ireland when she was four years old [3, 4]. Her father was originally from County Kerry, whereas her mother was a native of Maine [4]. In Ireland, young O'Halloran was educated in Loreto College, Foxrock in Dublin and later attended Trinity College Dublin, where she graduated with a joint degree in mathematical economics/statistics and sociology [3]. Shortly after her graduation, [karma and the pull of past lives being what they are] O'Halloran ventured to Japan, where she studied to become a Zen monastic at Tōshō-ji in Tokyo and at Kannon-ji in Iwate Prefecture [3] ("Kannon" being a name for the Virgin Mary of Buddhism, the Goddess of Compassion Kwan Yin). More

An Irish Girl

Irish Zen Buddhist nun Soshin

The snow begins across the mountains

Covers the rice fields

Down below a woman awakens

Her breath is frozen in the early morning

Out on the freezing streets

With bell and bowl she goes

People come to see the face

People come to feel the light

Of an Irish Girl

Everything in the world is new

Everybody I tell wants to know you

Soshin… Soshin…

She washes noodles by the open window

Wet and soft between her fingers

The air of spring blows on her face

And the moment is eternal

Maura sits in the dark womb-like stillness

She’s thinking ‘How can I die or cease to be?

I am eternal, I am Roshi!’

Everything in the world is new

Everybody I tell wants to know you

Soshin… Soshin…

She may not change a blade of grass

Nor light the flame for souls to see

But in this silent Easter morning

She has found a friend in me

Adapted from the expanded edition of Pure Heart, Enlightened Mind, Wisdom Publications, with permission (Lion’s Roar)

• Remembering "Irish Zen Saint" Maura O'Halloran | Lion’s Roar

Ven. U Dhammaloka: First Westerner to ordain as a Buddhist monk

I'm glad I became a Buddhist and did so much to spread freethinking against the British Empire.

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The Dharma Bum (documentary)

(Belfast Buddhist, 4/1/16) Venerable Dhammaloka was ordained in Theravada Buddhist Burma (Myanmar) prior to 1900, making him one of the very earliest attested Western Buddhist monks. He was a celebrity preacher, vigorous polemicist, free thinker, and prolific editor in Burma and Singapore between 1900 and his conviction for sedition and appeal in 1910–1911. Drawing on Western atheist writings, he publicly challenged the role of imperial Christian missionaries and by implication the British Empire. His Irish name was Laurence Carroll or Larry O'Rourke or Willam Colvin from Cork and Munster.

UK-occupied Northern Ireland

They gave him the new Buddhist name U Dhammaloka,** and that is just the beginning of the story!

• [**In Burmese U (pronounced "oo") is an honorific that signifies "sir," Dhamma is the Pali spelling of "Dharma," loka means "world." Interestingly, aloka means "light" or "bright whiteness" -- so his name, if pronounced with a long a, signifies suggests "Dharma Light or even White Dharma."]

U Dhammaloka was erased from history. His existence lay dormant for over 100 years. Why? The reasons are explored in the film.

Teach those Brits not to mess with the Celts

This Irishman caused quite a stir in his life, as he singlehandedly took on the might of the Christian British Empire in colonial Burma.

• [George Orwell was also decrying British colonial crimes against humanity in Burma and England for which he wrote Nineteen-Eighty-Four, and he wrote about the city monks of Burma -- eviscerating the layabouts -- in an essay "Shooting an Elephant"].

In the film we discover why he was under constant police surveillance and ultimately had to fake his own death as he transformed himself from an alcoholic bum to the original Dharma Bum. More

• The Dharma Bum - a documentary - Home | Facebook
• Goodbye Columbus, hello St. Brendan | Irish America

The Legend of the 6th Century Irish monk who may have sailed so America (grunge.com)

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Happy St. Paddy's Day?

Wisdom Quarterly Wikipedia edit

The Patrician Roman Patriarch Patty?

As we celebrate Saint Paddy's Day today, one has to wonder why British Protestant Patrick gets so much credit from the Imperial Catholic Church.

• Is it Druid Genocide Day or St. Patrick's Day?

Saint Patrick (Gaelic Pádraig, Latin Patricius, "father of the people") was a 5th-century Romano-British anti-pagan, Christian missionary, and patriarch named bishop of Ireland by an outside entity.

Known as the "Apostle of Ireland," he is the primary patron saint of Ireland, the other patron saints being Brigid of Kildare and Columba. Patrick was never formally canonized [2], having lived before the current laws of the Catholic Church on these matters.

• Is St Patrick's Day a celebration of genocide? (Quora)
• Why pagans don’t celebrate St. Paddy’s Day
• Druid Genocide (Ireland's Folklore and Traditions)
• The 6th century Irish monk who sailed to America (grunge.com)
• Study: “Woke” attitudes linked to anxiety, depression, and a lack of happiness

We may have been better off as pagans.

Nevertheless, he is venerated as a "saint" in the Catholic Church, which also venerates the Buddha as a Catholic saint (St. Josaphat), the Lutheran Church, the Church of Ireland (part of the Anglican Communion), and in the Eastern Orthodox Church, where he is regarded as equal-to-the-apostles and Enlightener of Ireland [3, 4].

He was a slave in Ireland for years, escaped back to England then seems to have returned to extract his revenge as a patriarch to impose Roman church law on the Emerald Isle.

Patrick is credited with forcing Christianity on Ireland, converting a pagan society in the process, despite evidence of an earlier Christian presence [7].

We defend Catholicism b/c the British don't like it

In Patrick's autobiography, Confessio, when he was 16, he was captured at home in Britain by Irish pirates and taken as a slave to Ireland. He writes that he lived here for six years herding animals before escaping and returning to his England.

After becoming a cleric, he returned to spread Christianity in northern and western Ireland. In later life, he served as a bishop, but little is known about where he worked.

By the 7th century, he had already become the "patron saint of Ireland." His feast day is observed on March 17th, the date of his death not his birth. It is celebrated in Ireland and among the worldwide Irish diaspora as a cultural holiday celebrating all things Irish.

It is hardly as a religious observance nowadays, but in the dioceses of Ireland, it is both a solemnity and a holy day of obligation, even if pagans mourn the genocide he wrought upon the island.

Good John Riley's flag of the Mexican regiment

The Irish are so much like the Mexicans in this regard, taken over and thoroughly saturated by the Holy Roman Empire, as if the Church liberated the people when it enslaved them and still tries to rule every aspect of their lives and exact tribute for Rome.

So much is this connection felt that there are Los Patricios ("The Patricks" not Patricians), who were US mercenaries ordered to fight Mexico, but when they understood the fight, led by John Riley, they took the side of Mexico and fought against the US, as anyone who champions the underdog might well have done. More

• Who wrote the Vulgate?
• TheDharmaBum.eu, Dana.IO/thedharmabum; Irishman U Dhammaloka (aka Laurence Carroll); Lion's Roar; Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson, Amber Larson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wiki edit originally published March 17, 2024
  

The 'Punk Rock Vegan Movie' (Moby)

(Moby) Punk Rock Vegan Movie

• Straight edge

Michael Parenti: RIP to the GOAT (TJDS)

(The Jimmy Dore Show) Michael Parenti was a legend and here's why

R.I.P. to the GOAT: Michael Parenti (Wiki)

“Those who think they're free just haven't come to the end of their leash.” - Michael Parenti

American Marxist scholar, political analyst, historian, and author Michael Parenti has died at the age of 92. He was an outspoken critic of American capitalism, imperialism, and class inequities, whose intellectual works were celebrated around the world. He was the author of over 20 books, including Democracy for the Few and Superpatriotism.

• American Marxist scholar Michael Parenti dies at 92 | Democracy Now!

Against Empire: Exposé US Global Domination

“Well, I argue that one of the functions of a capitalist state is to defend capitalism from itself, to defend capitalism from the capitalists. It was Marx — dare we mention him? I hear he’s coming back in style. It was Marx who said one capitalist will kill many other capitalists, that the system begins to consume itself. We see that with Bernard Madoff [Bernie who made off with a lot of other people's money] and the like.…The free market does not work. It’s not free. It’s not really a market; it’s a plunder. And it has to be done away with.” - Michael Parenti

Michael John Parenti (Sept. 30, 1933–Jan. 24, 2026) was an American political scientist, academic historian, and cultural critic who wrote on scholarly and popular subjects. He taught at American universities and also ran for political office [1]. Parenti was well known for his Marxist writings and lectures [2, 3] and was a heroic intellectual of the American Left [4]. More

• Shows featuring Michael Parenti | Democracy Now!
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• Jimmy Dore, The Jimmy Dore Show, Jan. 27, 2026; Seth Auberon, Sheldon S. (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Jesus was NOT a Jew?

He sure looks Ashkenazi "Jewish" for psyops

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Mickey Mouse Day 2025 (Disney World)

(Murder She Shed) Masha Allen ("Disney World Girl") found on Darkweb

OC is a Tragic Kingdom, right, Gwennie?

Like most of us around here, Gwen Stefani (who long since sold out) and her ska-punk band No Doubt grew up near the original Disneyland (in Anaheim, California). To us it was much more a Tragic Kingdom than a magic one, all Hollywood and transparently capitalist, feeding girls fantasies that a rich prince on a white stallion was on his way any minute now if we just kept our heads down and played our assigned roles, never questioning gender norms and expectations, inherent sexism, and a system of patriarchy that ruined life for 51%+ of the world. Gwen played her role to fame and fortune, but at one time she helped write "Just a Girl" in subtle protest. OC/LA punks love-hated Mickey Mouse, Disney propaganda films, and the kingdom.

Just because he's in the public domain doesn't mean you can make him a gangsta. Oh, it does?

Evolution of Mickey Mouse at Disney Parks, Pt. 1

Mickey Mouse creator Walt Disney had issues with Jews (Family Guy)

Junkie Mickey Mouse (mature art Etsy)

• Was beloved American Walt Disney a well-known antisemite? Production manager Harry Tytle, and head of merchandising Kay Kamen, once quipped that Disney's New York office had "more Jews than The Book of Leviticus" [209]. Wikipedia editors (many of them being trained Zionist propagandists) will write anything to dissociate Walt from his Hitler fandom.

Little-known facts about Mickey Mouse that every Disney lover should know

(WDW News Today) Mickey and Minnie Mouse 97th Birthday Cavalcade at Disneyland

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Mickey Mouse is one of the most iconic and beloved characters in the world of entertainment, but there are still many little-known facts about him that even the biggest Disney fans might not be aware of. From his original name to all the way he's made history, here are some fascinating insights into everyone's favorite mouse. More

• Happy Birthday Mickey and Minnie! 🎈🎉💞 | Mickey Mouse Shorts | @Disney Kids
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