Aishah Miller

The mention of Sufism to most Western ears will bring to mind whirling dervishes and not much else. But there's more to this belief, which holds much in common with the practices of Buddhism, Zen, and even the Gnostics. It's the familiar idea of finding a way to a place inside yourself that opens you to being one with everything.

“Sufism is just a way. It's not the way. It's not the answer. It’s actually the antithesis of the answer. It’s just a way to open. If you follow anything truthfully, with a sincere heart, we’re all going to get to the exact same place,” explained Aishah Miller.

Miller, 36, is following Sufism as her way, though it's been a circuitous route. She was born and raised in Philadelphia in a multicultural world by a Muslim father and a Catholic mother. She attended mosque, was enrolled in Catholic school, and went to Baptist bible summer camp. “I was just a normal confused child,” she explained. This confusion raised a lot of questions for her about reconciling these different viewpoints, as well as what religion as a whole meant.At age 17, Miller decided it was time to start answering those questions. She went to Williams College in western Massachusetts and majored in religion. Her Religion 101 class centered around one and only one question: What is God? This class really “cracked open” her ideas. She started doing a lot of reading, studying Nietzsche, Kierkegaard, and the Bible. All this helped her to start forming her own questions about religion and notice what was being stirred inside of her by these questions.The next step on her path was to travel the world, which led her to Morocco. She lived in Fez and built a community of people around her that were also searching for answers. One of these people happened to be a man from Michigan who was a Sufi. Together they learned more about this religion. She had studied Sufi literature in college and it seemed to make a lot of sense to her, as did the writings of the Gnostics.

What appealed to her was the stripping away of religious dogma, which also made it difficult for her to study Sufism in a Muslim country. “It’s not a popular choice. It’s considered heretical in certain circles,” Miller explained. In many countries, if you’re a Sufi, you just don’t talk about it. “It’s comparable to the Gnostics. If you bring a priest or a bishop next to a Gnostic, there’ll be some trouble because they [the Gnostic] are not going to talk dogmatic. They’re going to talk about you understanding the dogma from within and living from that place, and not accepting anything that’s not true for your heart.”

It took her a few more years to find a Sufi teacher, a journey that took her around the world and back to America and New York City. This is when she began her journey through the four stages of Sufism.

One of the main goals of Sufism, according to Miller, is cultivating your heart to be receptive to the world, to the spirit, to God. But even the definition of God is open to interpretation. “Love is the key,” Miller said. “We have atheists that practice Sufism, we have Jewish people that practice Sufism.”

As you progress through the steps of Sufism, you work toward the final stage: divine knowledge. “It’s when your sight becomes the universe’s sight, when your touch becomes the universe’s, when your speech becomes the universe’s,” explained Miller. “When everything you do becomes a manifestation of that one.”

Miller eventually made it back home to Philadelphia. Today, she is part of the board of the Mt. Airy Learning Tree, and continues her study of Sufism. Last year she taught her first class about Sufi meditation, and was happy to see the diversity of people who attended the class.

“We were packed. The first class was mixed, people from different economic and racial backgrounds. My second class was all African-Americans but from different backgrounds: Buddhists, Christians, even really serious Muslims, a husband and wife,” said Miller. “They all really liked the class. There were atheists, very rich African-Americans. Sufism is a singular message.”

This will be her second year of offering her Introduction to Sufi Meditation class at the Chestnut Hill Friends Meeting House, 100 E. Mermaid Lane. It will provide a clear sense of the history of Sufism and the large role of women in it, and help you begin to meditate through quiet, chanting, and even whirling.

The class consists of four sessions on Wednesdays, 7 to 9 pm, October 5 through 26. More information at 215-843-6333 or http://mtairylearningtree.org/ under the Courses menu.