Sufi Comics will be participating at the annual Comic Con India that takes place on 17 to 19th of Feburary at Dilli Haat New Delhi. Last year we launched the “40 Sufi Comics” at Comic Con Mumbai, this year we have a new launch, a Sufi Comics iPad app! The Comics will be available in full color with sound and motion. If you’re in Delhi during the middle of February do visit Comic-Con, we would be very happy to meet you!
Thanks to the wonderful readers around the world, Sufi Comics is now being translated into various languages. We’ve already started putting up comics in French, German & Russian. Click on the links to view the comics in the respective languages. Special thanks to Raik Sabeel, Nurabdurashid & Mohammed Azim for translating the comics.
Would you like to share Sufi Comics with people who speak your native language? Contact us to help translate Sufi Comics in your language.
Sufi Comics started as an experiment 3 years ago on our blog, and Alhamdulliah a lot has happened during the last 3 years:
* Published a book: 40 Sufi Comics
* Comics are being translated in 4 languages… more languages coming soon
* Is used in Madrasahs around the world (including Canada, Australia, US, Africa, Pakistan, Dubai)
* Participation at Comic-Con Mumbai
* Working on Volume 2 of Sufi Comics
* Very shortly we’re releasing an app for the iPhone & iPad
With all the activity surrounding this project we felt it deserves a new home on the internet. Sufi Comic’s new official website is www.SufiComics.com ! Please subscribe to the RSS feed & Mailing List to receive the latest comics!
Thank you for all for your support and encouragement! :-)
Sufi Comics: Walking on water
Hassan Al-Basri & Rabia Basri are two well known personalities who lived in Iraq during the 7th Century. I came across this beautiful story that I thought would make a wonderful comic.
There are three things that I can’t imagine life without.
- Chocolate
- Coffee Breaks
- and Wikipedia.
Almost everyday I visit wikipedia to learn about some Person, Event, A piece of history, a bit of science…gosh the list goes on. When reading news online they have references to events that I have no idea about. But just with a flick of a wrist, wikipedia is open and I know exactly what they are talking about.
Wikipedia is an amazing project setup by an amazing person. Jimmy Wales is determined to keep it Advertising free. What spirit!
Read an excerpt from his passionate appeal:
Wikipedia is something special. It is like a library or a public park. It is like a temple for the mind. It is a place we can all go to think, to learn, to share our knowledge with others.
When I founded Wikipedia, I could have made it into a for-profit company with advertising banners, but I decided to do something different.
We donate regularly to wikipedia. I appeal you to do so as well. Even if it is just Rs.100. per month. You can make your donation by clicking here.
Since the time I’ve been working on Sufi Comics, I’ve been reading about Comic-Con conventiosn that take place in the US and Europe. I used think how great it would be to have a Comic-Con in India, to showcase Indian comics that are unique in their own right.
Then earlier this year to my surprise I read in the papers that India organized their first Comic-Con in Delhi, and the next one was coming up in Mumbai. In a way the timing was perfect ’cause “40 Sufi Comics” had just gotten released. Arif didn’t waste any time in booking a stall and in Oct of 2011 we found ourselves behind a stall in Comic-Con Mumbai promoting “40 Sufi Comics”. It was a wonderful opportunity to meet Comic Artists & enthusiasts around the world.
Just by the sheer number of footfalls at the convention, one could see the rise in demand for Comics and Graphic Novels. Comics are a very powerful medium and instead of just mere entertainment, I hope they are used for spreading positive messages to tackle the social issues our World faces.
“40 Sufi Comics” received a very warm welcome from visitors and the media. Our books got sold out, and many expressed their interest in future volumes. We’re looking forward to participate in Comic-Con 2012! Press clippings & Photographs below:
As if you haven’t had enough of us already, we’re now also offering the Arif and Ali Podcast. These podcasts are not talks given by us, but these are talks that we ourselves are looking forward to listen.
The Problem:
There so much to learn from the web specially from lectures, seminar etc. but don’t get chance to listen when we first see it. And when we do get the time (say when going back home from work) when don’t have access to those same lectures.
The Solution:
So now, whenever we come across a speech, lecture, conference that catches our fancy, we add it to the Arif and Ali Podcast. That way when we get back into our cars on our way home, we first dab into the Arif and Ali podcast and listen to the next interesting lecture from there. It’s been working really well for us so far. We have been collecting lectures in here for a while now so it has a really good collection of talks.
You can subscribe to the podcast via the RSS Feed here. If you have an ipod but never subscribed to a podcast before, you can learn how by reading this or better yet by watching this.
Note: This post has many references to jargons that would be familiar mainly to implementers of David Allen’s system of productivity called Getting Things Done or GTD. To Learn more about GTD, you may read this post, 5 Steps to Begin Learning GTD – A Guaranteed way to Save Hours from your Workday.
Some People like Rock Stars, others adore Movie Stars, My Hero is David Allen. It’s because of David and GTD, that I am getting so much done (exercise, blog, work, study, spend time with family), yet feel relaxed. David and GTD has helped me prioritise and feel good about my priorities. Ofcourse I am not always in that zone. But when I am not, I am able to recognise that and I know what I need to do to get there. I have written oodles about GTD on this blog. Those on my mailing list have received several emails coaxing them to climb on to the GTD Bandwagon. I have even compared David to Einstein. He is a Genius. Genius is looking at what everyone is looking and seeing something different. Then to codify that difference so that it changes the world is indeed Einstein-ian indeed.
Imagine my thrill and pleasure when i finally get to meet David Allen. I had the privilege of attending his seminar in London earlier this year. It’s a seminar that I was hoping to attend for years and finally so many different factors came together that I could attend it.
The take backs from the seminar were plentiful. Here are the top few:
1. If you are still Bothered/Stressed that means subliminally you feel you can do something about it. Maybe you Should. God thinks you should.
This is huge. May seem obvious when typed out, but it was much needed therapy that I needed. GTD suggests that when anything is bothering you, first step, you write it down. Next Ask yourself, 1. What is the Successful Outcome?, 2. What is the Next Action? After practicing GTD for years, I have got most of these things nailed. Whenever something bothers me, it’s so automatic that I write it down, define the Successful Outcome, the Next Action and just move on ahead. But as you keep practicing GTD, you uncover subtler aspects of your self and psyche. And even after you identify the Successful Outcome or the Next Action, you are still left uneasy. The fact that you are feeling uneasy is your intuition (or God) nudging you that you can do better. There is a better Outcome that you can envision and achieve. Your Next Action could be more effective. And most likely it’s fear that is holding you back. And we all know we should Fear nothing but fear itself.
So next time you find yourself uneasy about an Outcome that you have envisioned or a Next Action that you need to take, congratulate yourself. Pat yourself on the back. Because you are officially capable of doing better than what you have just worked out. So take the Bold step and take the action that you are okay and comfortable with. It will all work out in the end.
2. If you keep paying attention to what has your attention, were do you eventually reach?
David’s main mantra is “pay attention to what has your attention”. If you are bothered by your kids education, pay attention to that, write it down in a trusted place, you’ll immediately feel relaxed. Next your attention will move to something else, perhaps work or exercise , notice that. Write it down in a trusted place, you’ll again feel relaxed about that. Since I’ve been practicing GTD, and I have been doing that. My question to David at the Seminar was, when you keep on paying attention to your attention where do you eventually reach? I loved the answer I got:
“You move from Distraction to Calling”
You then start listening to your voice, your intuition, your calling. You begin to hear, listen and move towards your destiny as human spirit on the planet. And that is your Only Project. If all the other Projects are helping you get there, keep ‘em on, otherwise dump ‘em.
But you’ll only know once you Pay Attention to what’s Pulling your Attention, capture that, get the distraction out of your mind/psyche so that you can truly hear your God’s voice within you.
3. You eventually get what you focus on.
We did a brilliant exercise within the seminar that deals with Focus. You see what you Focus on. You eventually get what your Focus is on. It’s The Secret all over again, but without the airy-fairy bit to it. Pay attention to your Focus. Keep asking yourself two questions:
- What are you focussed on?
(Extroadinary Fitness or Mediocre Health, Spiritual Enlightenment or Material Pursuit, Being An Active Change Agent in this World or a Helpless Consumer)
- Would you want your focus on that?
(There is a choice here. And it’s your choice.)
Conclusion:
Overall a brilliant seminar indeed. Really thankful to God for the opportunity. It’s something that i had my attention and focus for a long time and glad that I have it checked off. Hope to make the most of what I’ve learnt there. Oh yeah, another couple of take backs. Boy, it was inspiring to see how amazingly fit David himself was. Furthermore, poor guy had a cold. Yet, because of his professionalism he didn’t let that stop him from delivering an awesome talk. Even though he had to take swigs of cold-cough syrup in between to keep going. Thank you David. Truly Awesome of you.
My mindmaps from the and Some pics from the Road Map Seminar 2011 in London:
