Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri is an Islamic Sufi master and teacher who has taught in the East and West and written numerous books over the past 30 years.
A writer-philosopher who combines knowledge and experience of the spiritual teachings of the East with a keen understanding of the West, he was born and raised in the holy city of Karbala, Iraq where for generations Shaykh Fadhlalla’s ancestors were among the greatest teachers of Islam. Shaykh Fadhlalla was steeped in these traditions of worshipping and balancing life from childhood. He left his home and attended universities in England and America where he distinguished himself, obtaining several degrees in science, engineering and business.
Shaykh Fadhlalla worked in the oil industry and later international business, which he later abandoned in pursuit of spiritual knowledge. His re-discovery of the universality of the original Islamic heritage and its spiritual core of Oneness, enables him to understand and relate to the spiritual quest wherever it may arise, irrespective of culture or tradition.
After spending many years with different Sufi paths, Shaykh Fadhlalla received the “mantle of the Shaykh” from the Shadhili, Chisti and Rifa’i Orders. His teaching calls to the fulfillment and completion of human potential both inwardly and outwardly in a way that reflects our time yet remains faithful to original Islam – the surrender to One Reality that engenders, permeates and encompasses all that is seen and unseen.
Shaykh Fadhlalla established a charitable trust with activities in several countries, in education, health and publishing. One of his main aims is to make accessible to younger generations the Prophetic way of life — through acknowledging the lower self and then transcending its limitations by serving others, and the discovery of the sacred soul within the heart.
Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri currently lives in South Africa where he continues his life’s work as a teacher and writer from a Centre near Pretoria.
His recent initiative, the Academy of Self Knowledge (ASK) is an international online programme dedicated to assisting people of all backgrounds to discover the inner relationship between the self, mind and soul; and how the worlds, known and unknown, manifest from and are sustained by the One Source.
(Updated Oct. 4, 2009)