Kabir Helminski

Kabir Helminski is a Shaikh of the Mevlevi Order of Sufism. He is the Co-Director of the Threshold Society, a non-profit educational foundation that has developed programs that provide a structure for practice and study within Sufism and spiritual psychology. He has translated many volumes of Sufi literature, including many works of Rumi, and is the author of two books on Sufism: "Living Presence" and "The Knowing Heart".

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, and Turkish. He has an M.A. in psychology and an honorary Ph.D. in literature from Selçuk University, Konya, Turkey.

For more than twenty years, Mr. Helminski's focus has been developing and sharing a contemporary approach to Islamic concepts and practice, both within the Islamic community and outside of it. In 2001 he was the first Muslim to deliver the prestigious Harold M. Wit Lectures on Spirituality in Contemporary Life at Harvard Divinity School. His lectures are to be published as a book by The Paulist Press. Helminski lives with his family in Santa Cruz, California, and now focuses on Sufi music, writing, teaching, and developing a program of spiritual education with an international team of scholars.

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.

External links

* [http://www.sufism.org/ Threshold Society] website
* [http://www.beliefnet.com/story/79/story_7981.html interview] on Beliefnet.com