Our curriculum provides you with the foundational understandings, guidance, and experiential training necessary to walk deeply on the Sufi path of personal healing and spiritual transformation. You receive the teachings and training that allow your body, heart and spirit to open directly to the lights of Allah, the same light that guided all of the prophets. You are given the tools, love, and support to make the sacred journey into loving surrender and oneness with Allah, the same journey that has been traveled by the Sufi masters of the past. All the classes provide four components: knowledge, spiritual practice, skills training, and practical application to your life. The emphasis is on direct experience, healing and deep personal transformation.
Each year of our program has a specific emphasis.
Year One provides an introduction to the “religion of unity,” and tools for entering into a loving, trusting and surrendered relationship with God. You begin to travel in the “ship of safety,” which is the divinely revealed guidelines and principles that allow the human being to make this journey in a sound, protected, beautiful and successful way. Learning how to heal your body, heart and spirit through the divine light of Allah is a primary focus of your first year. In order to help others, you must first heal yourself. We support you to form a dynamic and authentic connection with the Light and Presence of God, and through this connection, your own healing occurs. As you are healed, you open to receive God’s Light and let it guide your journey. In short, the first year program gives you a strong and reliable foundation to travel “from the world of the creation to the world of the Creator.”
Year Two allows you to heal more deeply. Your heart tastes the deep love of Allah and the qualities of true faith (iman) begin to flower. As Allah fills your heart with love, you begin to love for others what you want for yourself. Increasingly as your heart heals, you can bring the real healing of God’s love and compassion to others. Sidi says, “Allah does not discriminate between people. He sends His love to all people and to all of creation.” The second year program guides you to be an instrument of this Love. As you commit more deeply to follow Allah’s way of unity, you are blessed to receive the gifts of divine healing, protection, wisdom and knowledge. Your life is guided by the Source of all things good, beautiful and true.
Year Threesupports you to discover the “secrets” of who you are and the deep gifts that Allah gave you to carry in this world. Sidi says, “Know yourself and then you know your Lord.” The artificial boundaries between you and the Beloved steadily wash away. “The greatest secret is that the ocean of Love exists and it is pure.”(Sidi) Step after step the limitations of your false self are washed away in the ocean of this love, and you live increasingly in the purity, beauty and majesty of your own being. Now you are ready to live the divine life of service destined for you. “Travel to arrive at the divine presence so that you can benefit yourself and others. Return to this world in complete purity and clarity, and you will then be able to serve humanity and offer them love, peace, and justice. You will have true knowledge. You will carry the same message, the same knowledge that all of the prophets did.” (Sidi) This is the fruit of your migration to your Lord.
Year Four: you choose an area of specialization and delve into the deeper truths of living life in unity with self and Allah. We currently are offering a Master's of Divinity degree and Advanced Certificate program in the following two areas:
Spiritual Healing & Counseling for Individuals, Couples, Families and Communities
Program Credits
The 4-year master's/advanced certificate program consists of approximately 80-quarter credit units of instruction depending upon area of specialization selected. The student earns 16.6-quarter credit units in years one through three. The student earns approximately 30-quarter credit units in year four. Each quarter credit unit is equal to 10 hours of course time.
Academic Program Structure
During year one through year three of our program, students meet for four on-site meetings of six days each quarter for study and practice. Sessions are scheduled one week per quarter, to make it easier for students to leave their everyday world and participate in our programs. Year four students meet for a total of four on-site meetings of six days plus zawiyah retreat sessions completed over an eighteen-month period.
The experiential and interactive classes consist of a combination of lecture, exercises, demonstrations, and guided prayer. Students learn to bring their highest gifts of service into the world in competent, practical, and effective ways.
Course Support
At the end of each week-long session, you will be given homework assignments to be completed during the approximately eleven weeks between sessions. You will have a teaching intern assigned to you, to guide you in all aspects of your healing and spiritual evolution. Regular conference calls are offered to help you stay connected.
"As a result of the Sufi teachings received at USHS, my acupuncture practice is completely transformed. My patients get so much better so much faster. The healing that comes through me to my patients is completely elevated. I was able to work through a lot the issues that held me back as a healing vessel and as a result my clients heal much more completely. Attending USHS helped me heal the blocks that kept me from being what I was capable of as a healer."
Tyme Noor Gigliotti, M.Ac.
