Event Details: According to the Global Terrorism Index, religious extremism has become the main driver of terrorism in recent years. This narrative is repeatedly promoted by government ministers, however, a growing body of academic work holds this position to be fundamentally flawed. A better account of terrorism would acknowledge the geopolitical, economic and, perhaps most importantly, a historically accurate Islamic perspective. Islam has become associated in the minds of many with an extremism that promotes not only terrorism, but coerciveness in many forms: male dominance, narrow dogmatic thinking, religious and political tyranny. In order to counter the mentality that breeds coercion and violence, we need to restore the understanding of Islam as a spiritual practice that transforms the ego (nafs). Join us for a fascinating discussion with Sheikh Kabir Helminski on extremism as a pathology of the ego with a religious justification. All human endeavours and institutions are prone to degradation because of egoism. The real and original Islam was and is a remedy for this spiritual disease. Speakers: Kabir Edmund Helminski is co-founder and co-director of the Threshold Society a non-profit educational organisation and has been working within the Mevlevi tradition of Sufism for about thirty years alongside his wife Camille Helminski. He has developed programmes that provide a structure for practice and study within Sufism and spiritual psychology and is author and/translator of numerous books and volumes of Sufi literature including many works of Rumi, and two books on Sufism: Living Presence, A Sufi Way to Mindfulness and the Essential Self (1992) and a collection of essays, The Knowing Heart (1999). Kabir began the study of Sufism with Suleyman Hayati of Konya and was officially recognized as a Shaikh of the Mevlevi Order of Sufism in 1990, by the late Celalettin Celebi, former Head of the Mevlevi Order. From 1980 until 1999 he was the director of Threshold Books, one of the foremost publishers of Sufi literature. Between 1994 and 2000 he toured with the whirling dervishes of Turkey bringing the spiritual culture of the Mevlevis to more than 100,000 people. His books have been translated into Spanish, Italian, Dutch, German, Turkish, Russian, and Indonesian. He has an M.A. in transpersonal studies from the Institute of Transpersonal Studies and an honorary Ph.D. in literature from Selçuk University Konya Turkey. He has lectured at hundreds of institutions and in 2009 was named as one of the 500 Most Influential Muslims in the World by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center in association with Georgetown University. He is one of the signatories of "A Common Word Between Us and You", an open letter by Islamic scholars to Christian leaders, calling for peace and understanding. He resides with his family in Louisville Kentucky USA.

• published: 04 Sep 2015
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