Beshara (Community)
A Sufi organization devoted to the study of the writings of
Muhyiddin IbnArabi, a twelfth-century mystic born in Andalucia,
Spain. The community was founded in 1971 at Swyre Farm,
Gloucestershire, England, and has since moved to the center
that once housed John G. Bennetts International Academy
for Continuous Education at Sherborne, also in Gloucestershire.
United around the basic questions of identity and purpose
in life and accepting the absolute unity of existence, Beshara
offers courses on the fundamental principles necessary to
complete self-knowledge and awareness of reality. The center
at Sherborne also holds an Open Day, as well as a regular
Encyclopedia of Occultism & Parapsychology 5th Ed. Beshara
177
Zikr, or meeting, devoted to discovering divine purpose in
life.
Affiliated groups emerged throughout the United Kingdom
and were opened in Canada, the Netherlands, and Australia.
Beshara came to the United States in 1976 when a center was
opened in Berkeley, California. The groups strength remains
in the San Francisco Bay Area. The center publishes a Beshara
News Bulletin and may be contacted at Chisholme House, Roberton,
Nr Hawick, Roxburghshire, Scotland TD9 7PH. Website
httpwww.beshara.org.
Sources
al-Arabi, Ibn. Sufis of Andalucia. Berkeley University of California
Press, 1971.
Landau, Ron. The Philosophy of Ibn Arabi. London Allen and
Unwin, 1959.
