Wilayah and Social Spirituality

Speaker

Shaykh Azhar Sheraze, originally born and raised in Austin, Texas, now resides in Atlanta, GA with his wife and child. He graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 2008 with a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering. During University he helped co-found the Society for Islamic Awareness, an on-campus organization which expounded the teachings of the Quran and the Ahl al-Bayt. After graduating he worked as a mechanical engineer in the Oil & Gas Industry for a number of years. During his career he co-founded the Muslim Professionals Association in Houston, Texas.

In 2014, he began traditional hawza studies at the Ahl al-Bayt Islamic Seminary (www.aiseminary.org/) in Chicago, Illinois. Among his teachers were Sayyid Sulayman Hassan, Shaykh Rizwan Arastu, Shaykh Mukhtar Faezi, as well as a resident of Qum, Iran Sayyid Shiraz Agha. He completed his preliminary studies in 2019 though continues his studies. Alongside his studies, he served as a youth director for the Baitul Ilm Academy in Chicago, Illinois, and is an editor for al-Sidrah (www.aiseminary.org/al-sidrah/), a publication of the Ahl al-Bayt Islamic Seminary. He is also a director of the Seminary’s summer educational intensive program, LIFE (Living Islamic Faithfully and Ethically). He currently serves as the Scholar for the Muslim Community Center and supports the broader Atlanta community.

In this talk

• 0:00 · Introduction: Meaning and Spiritual Life
• 2:26 · Ritual, Intention, and Spiritual Purpose
• 3:45 · Relationships as the Core of Spirituality
• 5:10 · Transcendence and the Need for Mediation
• 7:14 · Wilayah as the Path to God
• 9:39 · Prophetic Examples of Sacred Loyalty
• 11:54 · Wilayah and Misunderstandings
• 13:32 · Wilayah Among Believers
• 18:48 · Individualism vs Relational Faith