Retreat: A Journey into the Ninety-nine names of Allah with Baraka Blue
How can we understand the Names? How can we come to witness them within and around us? How can they awaken us to a deeper experience of the Divine Presence?
The Prophet ﷺ said, “God has ninety-nine names, whoever preserves them enters eternal bliss.” For 1500 years mystics, philosophers, metaphysicians, and poets have spilled oceans of ink in exposition of the meaning of these words. While the divine essence is transcendent beyond any mental conception, the Names provide pathways to know and draw near to Allah. The Names, as al-Ghazali put it, “are doors to proximity.” We can awaken each Name within ourselves through increased contemplation and invocation.
As we deepen our relationship with the Names we come to witness them all around us and within us, until we see all of existence as an expression of the Divine Names.
The people of God in particular have focused on the ways that human beings can come to actualize the Names within themselves, as expressed in the famous saying, “Qualify yourself with the qualities of God (takhaluq b’akhlaq’illah).” The spiritual heart, like a mirror, has the ability to reflect the divine names and attributes. The practice of remembrance, dhikr'Allah, is a means to remove that which obscures the heart’s natural reflectivity and to polish the mirror to awaken what lies dormant deep within us.
Join us as we will reflect upon the Names, exploring the way they present themselves in the world and within ourselves. We will consider the ways that the prophets and sages have exemplified the perfection of these Names and contemplate their advice on the ways to awaken them in ourselves.
A 3-day bank holiday weekend retreat with poetry, reflections, and dhikr open to all (16+), situated in 250 acres of a beautiful nature reserve in the heart of Somerset.
Arrival: Sunday 7th May at 1pm
Departure: Tuesday 9th May at 1pm
Cost:
£420: Quad Room
£460: Triple Room
£500: Double Room
Cost is per person.
Please note prices will increase by £50 after Monday 3rd April
We have limited space, to confirm your space please fill in the registration form below and make a deposit of £250 or the full payment. We are unable to hold any spaces.
All payments are non-refundable.
Payment Plans can be set up, please email for therabbaniproject@gmail.com for more details
The Retreat will include:
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A signed copy of the Art of Remembrance poetry book by Baraka Blue
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Accommodation for 2 nights and 3 days.
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Nourishing brunch & dinners made with organic and seasonal produce*
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A poetry and nasheed evening with special guests
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Daily Reflections and Workshop with Baraka Blue
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Daily Guided silent Walks in Nature with Herbalist Rabiah Mali
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Camp Fire Night
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Communal prayers and Tahajjud
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Daily Quranic Recitation and Dhikr
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Herbal Medicine Workshop
*Where possible we will try to source organic fruit and vegetables.
Please note a full detailed retreat pack with the program will be given to all attendees once your space has been confirmed.
Location and Transport
The retreat is situated 20 mins from Bristol Airport and 30mins from the main rail stations Bristol Temple Meads and Bath Spa. Free Parking is available on the site.
You are responsible for arranging your own transport to and from the retreat space.
In order to keep emissions low. We strongly encourage attendees to carpool where possible
A WhatsApp group will be created closer to the time to help arrange travel together.
Please read our Terms and Conditions before booking.
Speakers:
Baraka Blue
Baraka Blue is a poet, musician, author, and teacher from Seattle, Washington. He is a prolific educator with a master’s degree in Islamic Studies from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley.
He spent a number of years studying with traditional spiritual masters in Africa, Turkey, Asia and the Arab world. He has performed and taught all over the world, including at institutions such as Harvard, Princeton, and the School of Oriental and African Studies.
In 2018, Baraka Blue founded the Rumi Center for Spirituality and the Arts which provides online courses to seekers from anywhere in the world. Baraka Blue has also conducted creative writing workshops for K-12 schools, universities, cultural and religious centers, and various organizations worldwide.
He is the host of the award winning podcast Path & Present, which features conversations on spirituality in the modern world. He lives in Seattle where he is the director of Wasat, an organization that builds community through spirituality, arts and culture, and service.
Rabiah Mali
Rabiah is a qualified Medical Herbalist, Hijama therapist, Auricular acupuncturist, Creative and Community Healer. She set up The Herbal Blessing clinic in 2015, a sliding scale community clinic with the intentions of 'reconnecting' the community with their inner herbalist. Offering consultations, workshops, retreats and walks and holistic therapy that is rooted in traditional and spiritual plant-based healing. Her work involves the use of nature and local plant-based knowledge to nourish a feeling of home in communities where poverty, poor health access and gentrification has fractured the sense of belonging.
She is the founder of the Green Deen Tribe, which responds to the need to heal the wounds of separation and lack of access to nature by Muslim Women, which is all too often rooted in colonisation, racism, other socioeconomic factors and racialised Islamophobia.
In 2020, she co-founded the Black Muslim Women Healing Collective, an intentional space of collective healing and mental health support from the racialised and gendered harm experienced by many Muslim Women from the Black African Diaspora
The tribe , clinic and collective continue to evolve and adjust to the community's needs and will continue to respond to the environmental crisis and injustice through the grassroots approach.
with Special Guests:
Sukina Noor
Poet
Mairaj Rabbani
Singer
Pearls of Islam
Nasheed Duo
Location
Folly Farm is Avon Wildlife Trust’s 250-acre nature reserve located in the beautiful Chew Valley, with views of the Mendip Hills and Chew Valley Lake. Native bluebells adorn the ancient woodlands in spring and rare wildflower meadows burst into colour in summer before autumn colours set in. A number of way-marked footpaths wind their way around the reserve.
