Sufi Nashinu

Sufi Nashinu (also known as Sufi Našinu, Našinski, East Mediterranean Buddhism, Pravovidac and Sufi Buddhism) is a belief system that whilst some argue is transient with Islam and Buddhism, is possibly more easily understood if it is looked at as an independent religion.
From South Central Asia to South West Asia/Eastern Mediterranean people have followed similar belief for thousands of years, pre-dating any other major belief system, whilst being open enough to accept and incorporate much of the common messages through out all.
God/Allah/Bog/Dio
The question of god is irrelevant to us here in samsara (the world troubled with problems). Sufi-Nashini believe there is only one god, in a purely spiritual, energy form and can not be recreated in painting or sculpture. There have been many profits and enlightened ones and many bodhisattvas (compassionate ones) (there are also many who carry the light/knowledge "Al-Nur Hafiz")
The name you give to Allah/God/Bog is irrelevant and arguing over the matter gains us no benefit personal or otherwise. Most Sufi-Nashini use the word in their language that simply means god or deity (al-lah being the-deity in Arabic, indicating that there is only one).
Allah is not a person, creature nor form, but rather the sauce of everything, the 'big bang' it's self if you will. The energy that makes everything and that leaves anything once it is destroyed. (Ancient Serbs used to hold the energy of light and the sun (not the sun it's self) as this God until their Christianization some where around the era just before the first millennium CE) Allah can therefore never be drawn, but may be expressed (be it in song, dance, prayer, meditation, or the word used "eg, God/Bog/Dio/Deva ect")
Allah is eternal and ever changing, yet older than time itself, ever growing, moving, re-starting (re-birthing, bringing new life and creating new whilst removing, changing or evolving old), Allah can not be destroyed or recreated. Allah is the energy that made and makes everything and is there for everything and everywhere, from the sun, the earth, even the spaces in-between that link all mater together, to emotions, emptiness, and colour. Allah is there in the creator, destroyer, material, spirit, form and non-form of everything that is, was or ever will be or won't be. Allah is both the Yin and Yang (form and non-form, male and female, Life and not-life, be and not to be) in perfect harmony.
Allah is beyond the concepts of language and therefore no word or language is favorable in usage for prayer, name or invocation.
Basics of the faith
In the Balkans it was thought to have come from the east with the great slavic migration to the Balkans 600-800 CE and Turco-Mongol migration to the Balkans at the same time. Believed to date back to the first man (of these races) (no history exists however pre-500CE) it was known as one of its many names as Pravovidac literally meaning the way of the old light with their last of many prophets being (disputably by some who claim it to be Muhammad) Svetovid or Vido. Who was adapted into a Saint by the now Pravoslavac religion that dominates the Eastern Mediterranean along with Islam.
The belief system relies on the understanding that we are responsible for creating our own happiness and reality and can create a paradise anywhere on earth (Shangri-La) if viewed with the right mind-set. (sometimes referred to as the mind's eye). Happiness, Health, and Compassion to all should be strived for. Heaven is here on earth with in all of our minds, we just need to open up enough to see it, forget thinking out side of the box, there is no and never was a box. Reality is just what you make it, and the only limitations in this world are your own, mental blocks, which are usually irrational and unnecessarily limiting.
All persons of Samsara suffer due to ignorance, self-limitation, and greed. Enlightenment frees us from this and leeds us to Paradise/Nirvana/Nebo/Raj/Hamanas/Shangri-La. Without death, we can reach paradise in this life time, and we do not have to die to be re-born. Achievement of complete happiness and complete clarity of vision living in the earthly paradise is something that comes after enlightenment (the clarity of vision and understanding of the dharma ) and is usually referred to as hamanas/Shangri-La with nirvana/Raj usually meaning paradise after a physical death, all other words are interchangeable however.
Sufi Nashinu differs from all other Buddhist schools in that passions are welcomed and should be observed and the feelings savored with joy rather than repressed into cold-impersonal obedience. Dogma is exceptionally discouraged. Without the internal fire that is the passion for life, we are already dead.
Punishment for bad karma will result in either immediate effect, a bad next life, or no re-birth at all, and no good or fond memories of you will remain in this world. (The oldest Pravovidac curse inscribed at Gazimestan is a curse of no children, joy, or love - the worst fate a Sufi Nashini could envisage) However for good karma the complete opposite can be said, nothing is perfect in life that's what makes it so beautiful, do not fear anything, especially re-birth, and karma. We all die many little deaths in each life, it is not our ability to be perfect and never fall that makes us great, it is our ability to get back up and smile.
Everything good in life should be embraced compassionately, and experienced. There is no substitute for living and loving life. you must live to love, and you must love to truly be living.
so in the name of happiness and health live life - love life!
There is no point fraternizing over past as is no use to anybody, learn your lessons, and forget the negative, never regret (all lessons are valuable) and never fear!! fear can only distort the truth. Never worry about nor fear the future for it is irrelevant as it may never come, living for the future just means you miss out on today, tomorrow never arrives, you can never catch the future. Live each moment as if it were your last, and you want something great to remember in the spirit world before you are reborn.
There are few set written limitations or rules in the faith, the main one being Thou shall not fear. Common themes such as respecting life, and trying to live as peacefully as is possible are vastly repeated in great depth. Cultural conventions tend to make up the major part of the behavior of a Sufi Nashinu however, taking into account the obvious impact that the mentality of the faith will impose.
Prophets, leaders, and devotion
While accepting Buddha Siddhartha Gautama as one of the first great prophets and holding in many parts of the Mediterranean Sveti Jovan in high esteem, they also accept that Muhammad was the latest of the prophets, although many, in particular the Serbs, hold Svetovid of Vidovdan as the last. While being potentially (evidence for such is unclear) the oldest mono-deity religion in the world, the prophet system is a little confusing at times.
Those who achieve enlightenment are referred to as Al-Nur-Hafiz (literally the one who carries the light - Arabic), Boddhisatvas as compassionate beings who aid others in times of need, and Buddhas are those who have achieved Hamanas and aid others to do so, with a person of Hamanas not aiding others being referred to as either a pratyekabuddha or hamanacin/khamanatsin . Terms vary vastly between cantons and languages)
Sufi Nashini pray three times a day, at waking (or sunrise), high sun, and before sleep (or sunset). To give thanks for a the day past and to remember Allah, their ancestors and to meditate on the Dharma for their night puja and to ask for happiness and health for all.
The high sun puja is to give thanks for the day they are living and to remember how fortunate they are that they are either happy or have been lucky enough to have seen better times if they are not. The morning puja is to ask for happiness and health for all, and to bless the day ahead.

Pravovidni meditate at every puja as well as praying and offering mantras. Worship may be done much more than three times a day and at any additional times also. (all Devotion is offered to the east, from where the sun rises). In modern times many find the middle prayers are often omitted due to incompatibility to the 21st century.
Festivals
Festivals are highly regional, being based on the Islamic, Eastern Orthodox, or Buddhist festive calendar, depending on which is the main religion in the region. Vesak vidovdan (New Year) are always upheld by all. The rest of the festivals are completely regional in some places such as the Balkans even down to the individual families who may each celebrate a different Slava.
Haraam and halal
All meat that is clean and killed and prepared respectfully is permitted excluding sacred animals (Egal, Horse, Camel, Tiger, Wolf, Panda). Monkey is forbidden as it counts as cannibalism, due to the closeness of our species. Non-clean animals are vermin e.g., rats, spiders, moles, pigeon, and in most countries pork, although every nation and geographic region varies.
Prepared and killed respectfully, the animal must be thanked for its gift of life upon death, and this borne in mind while consuming, upon its death we must pray that it has a happy re-birth into a better life, and that it knows happiness and health for its ultimate generosity. (Often a respectful kill minimizing suffering is made, prayer offered, cleaned and consumed must as it would be anywhere else in the world)
In preparing the food, making cheap products that are very unhealthy to make a financially greedy profit such as making up meats weight with fat and chemicals is considered disrespectful and should not be done.
In many regions of the world, animals that consume other animals carnivores are not eaten. Only the meat needed to sustain a healthy body and mind is to be eaten, gluttony on flesh is forbidden. Ordained monks are vegan three days out of the week.
Birth and re-birth
In life there are many little deaths (non-physical) that re-birth us into a different way or standard of life. These should be embraced.
Punishment for bad karma will result in either immediate effect, a bad next life, or no re-birth at all! and no good or fond memories of you will remain in this world. However for good karma the complete opposite can be said, nothing is perfect in life that's what makes it so beautiful, do not fear anything, especially re-birth, and karma.
We all die many little deaths in each life, it is not our ability to be perfect and never fall that makes us great, it is our ability to get bk up and smile.
Upon entering the spirit world, a good spirit that is not to be irradiated i either re-born, to an easier or more difficult life accordingly (animals to animals, human to human, not cross-species) Those who are considered Buddhas join the profits in the spirit nirvana where they can guide the rest of us in times of need. Once there is no more guidance for them to give and they have achieved everything there is for them to achieve then their energies merge with that of Allah to re-join the cycle from the start and achieve complete liberation from all, only their memories and legacies shall then live on, for all of eternity.
A typical Pudja
Ahi Allah great eternal spirit,
giver of life,
remover of pain and sorrow,
The bestower of happiness,
Ahì creator of the universal energy,
may we receive your supreme sin-destroying enlightenment,
may you guide us in the right direction,
with happiness and health,
Inshallah, Amin.
Modesty and hair
Modesty is expected at all times. During Pudjas and devotion your body must be freshly cleansed, your hair covered and as much of your body covered as possible (excluding your hands, feet and face). In modern times this tends to be, body must be clean, and respectable clothing worn. Married women or women engaged are expected to cover their hair, as hair is sacred. Hair represents fertility, thus for a male, facial hair is a must! Hair should be no shorter than the jaw and no longer than the shoulders so as to show fertility but not effeminacy. Only yourself and your lover and your barber should ever touch your hair once over the age of maturity (17 in most regions)
The wearing of the Nazar on the wrist is to be abided by as a sign of faith and for protection. Long male hair should not be left about the face, pride is to be taken, covering, waxing or tying is permitted. Without just reason no defilement of the body is permitted (tattoos, circumcision, unnecessary plastic surgery, excessive piercing).

Pre-marital relations are allowed in most regions but highly limited, sexual encounters are to be limited to as few as two for a female and five for a male, however large numbers of communities differ vastly on this issue, promiscuity is a huge taboo though, with adultery punishable by death in most communities once married. Children are highly sought after and much loved, however it is deemed that you should not have any more children than you can raise in happiness and health. In modern times this is usually interpreted as not sleeping around excessively, or discussing sexual issues with inappropriate people - although different communities hold different interpretations, it's advisable to learn this custom before visiting a community.
Men and women often greed each-other with "hello beautiful" as beauty is a very important issue, in life and this world there is much beauty if you just stop to see it. Innocently saying something or someone is beautiful is a common compliment. However to a person in a relationship this may be taken as provocative if not understood to be completely innocent by all parts.

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