The four murshids are our highest ranking teachers appointed by Sidi, and as such offer their experience and guidance to the beloveds of our community. They are Ibrahim Jaffe, Wadude Laird, Salima Adelstein, and Rida Marz Attar. While no one can replace Sidi, or his role as advisor to all his students, the murshids want you to know that they are available to provide whatever support and guidance they are able, inshallah, if a member of our community needs them.
Murshid Ibrahim Jaffe
Robert Ibrahim Jaffe, M.D., M.D.(H), D.D., is the past President of the University of Sufism and a current faculty member. Dr. Jaffe received his medical degree from the University of Illinois and practiced allopathic, complementary and homeopathic medicine in Arizona and Hawaii. He now resides in northern California. He founded the Jaffe Institute (now known as the University of Sufism) in June 2000, to bring his comprehensive synthesis of medical, energetic, and spiritual healing to professionals and lay people who want to heal in a complete and holy way by deepening their understanding of why people become sick and what can be done to resolve their illness. Dr. Jaffe also co-founded the Institute of Spiritual Healing (ISH) a school that teaches the basics of Sufism and spiritual healing and Ma’rifa Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to helping the poor and supporting the University of Sufism.
Dr. Jaffe is a master healer, spiritual teacher and Sufi Murshid who has completed over 40,000 healings and helped thousands of people walk further in their personal journeys. Dr. Jaffe brings an ocean of love, wisdom and healing to those people who are seeking to find the truth and reality of their beings.
Contact
Contact Huda Amy Sacchi to schedule an appointment at 888-237-5233; option 3, or email her at huda@drjaffemd.com.
Meet Ibrahim Jaffe
Teachings with Ibrahim Jaffe
Murshid Wadude Laird
Dr. John Wadude Laird is the former President of the University of Sufism and a faculty member. He received his medical degree from Dartmouth Medical School in 1976 and has more than twenty years of experience in direct patient care. Dr. Laird was responsible for the passage of landmark legislation in North Carolina in 1994, legalizing the practice of alternative medical therapies. Through his activities as an administrator and healer, Dr. Laird radiates the love of God to everyone he encounters.
Today Dr. Laird works as a medical consultant for people who have been diagnosed with cancer. He and his wife founded The Shafiyy Institute to help cancer patients navigate the difficult waters of their diagnosis and all that it entails with kindness, compassion, wisdom, and deep mercy.
Dr. Laird’s passion and strength inspire his patients and his students to trust God fully and to enjoy life while doing so.
Contact
Email Wadude at drwadude@gmail.com or call 707-363-3709.
Meet Dr. Wadude Laird
Teachings with Wadude Laird
- 2020 Sidi Remembrance Teaching
- 2020 Hajj Teaching
- 2021 Mawlid an-Nabi Khalwa Intro
- 2021 Ramadan – Tawba and Forgiveness
- 2022 Mid-Shaban Talk
- 2022 Ramadan: Forgiveness: The Second Third of Ramadan
- 2022 Khalwa Remarks with Wadude, Rida, & Salima
- 2023 Mid-Sha’ban Khalwa Remarks
- 2023 Opening the First Third of 2023 Ramadan: Merc
- 2024 Ramadan Laylat al-Qadr halwa Remarks
Murshida Salima Adelstein
Maxine Salima Adelstein M.Ed., D.D., helps people to discover and embody the deep truth of their beauty and essence through her work as a healer and teacher. Ms. Adelstein is Dean of Education, chair of the Department of Spiritual Ministry and Sufi Studies and a faculty member. She is a master healer who has helped hundreds of clients heal from illness and lifelong emotional pain.
She has a private healing practice in Pennsylvania where she is the spiritual director for the Farm of Peace and teaches spiritual healing seminars nationally and internationally. Her heart is filled with the joy and compassion that result from living in the heart of God.
Contact
Email Yasmine al Hadi Katie Elmes to schedule an appointment with Salima at yasmine.alhadi@marifafoundation.org
Teachings with Salima Adelstein
- 2020 Sidi Remembrance Teaching
- 2020 Hajj Teaching
- 2021 Introduction to Ramadan, with a Focus on Spiritual Fasting
- 2021 Hajj – Walking the Hajj of Tawba
- 2022 Ramadan: Ramadan, Jibril, & Lailat al-Qadr
- 2022 Ramadan: Opening Remarks to Laylat al-Qadr Khalwa
- 2022 Sidi Remembrance Khalwa Remarks with Wadude, Rida, & Salima
- 2022 Sidi Remembrance – Top 10 Lessons from Sidi with Salima Adelstein
- 2023 Mid-Sha’ban Khalwa Remarks
- 2023 Sidi Remembrance – Panel Interview
- 2024 Isra wal-Mi`raj Khalwa Remarks
- 2024 Hajj: Standing on `Arafat
Murshid Rida Marz Attar
October 30th, 2010, I was at a gathering of beloveds in Florida, a little over four years after Allah gifted Sidi’s holy presence to my heart. I was sitting in the back, taking in the energy–the sound, the aroma of Sidi’s presence. Suddenly, I hear Sidi’s voice calling my name, “Rida, Mohammed Rida!” He began describing my life, my work with abused communities of our neighborhoods in Palestine, Africa, India. In awe and wonderment, feeling humbled by his acknowledgment, not knowing Who told him What, Sidi declared Rida Attar a Murrabi Ruhi Murshid. Crying in my heart, with no previous rank experience, burdened by the voices of my pretentious self, praying for Allah to show me.
Identifying with the quality of farmer-grower in the Arabic root of the word “murshid.” Sidi continues growing the seeds of Rahma in my heart. I resonate with the picture of a unified community through the light in Sidi’s teachings, free from hearsays. I pray to be qualified to nourish the seeds within the beloveds that carry the himma and the light of responsiveness towards realities we as community/humanity are faced with, in this urgent dark time, pregnant with His Mercy.
I am available to each of you, in service.
Contact
Email Rida at marzattar@gmail.com or text: 202-360-2007