Peter Lamborn Wilson, aka Hakim Bey, is a strange fish in this pond we call reality.
      He is a Sufi, as well as the Metropolitan of the Moorish Orthodox Church, who travelled the Orient for nigh on two decades learning from many venerated masters of many venerable systems. He has written about anarchism, social change, and created the idea of the T.A.Z (Temporary Autonomous Zone).
      Upon delving into Wilson’s point of view and ideas, it is not hard to see why this man is not more popular, why he is not leading a political party or at the head of some demented mob, going from strength to strength as it swamps the status quo.
      Both devout and heretical, anti-political to a point where he makes his own definition for the continued success of mankind (anarcho-monarchism), and open it seems to any facet of human sexuality, Wilson still strides the empty battlefields of ideology where Left and Right hold no meaning, where there is no law and the only code is the code of your own making.
      Sacred Drift: Essays From the Margins of Islam was released way back in 1992, but still holds a lot of relevance. Islam remains a powerful yet mysterious force in this world, especially to a Christian/Capitalist/Consumer society.
      Coming into contact with this kind of information, a different point of view of the religion, and gaining a little bit more knowledge about a belief system that is largely misrepresented in the Western media, can only be good.
      Wilson opens this collection of essays with a recounting of the history of one of the least well-known branches of Islam, the Moorish Science Temple of America. A heady blend of Islam, Sufism, and a sense of oppression and new-found freedom unique to the formerly enslaved African-Americans, this school of Islam was founded in 1912 by a man who is only as mysterious as the school he founded, Noble Drew Ali.
      Some say he was a circus magician, raised somewhat by gypsies, who upon returning from adventures in the Far East, founded the first Temple in Newark, New Jersey. Pre-dating the more famous ‘Nation of Islam’ by more than 15 years, Drew taught the belief that African Americans were descended from the Moors, and hence, they’re originally Muslim.
      Giving a sense of history back to displaced people was perhaps Noble Drew Ali’s greatest accomplishment. Unfortunately, after his death in 1929, the Moorish Science Temple splintered over questions of succession, but this strangely beautiful religion still exists to this day and remains one of the first expressions of American-based Islam.
      Chapter 2 concerns the tradition of heresy in Islam. Wilson devotes an entire essay to listing Islamic heretics, why they were considered heretics, and how they met their ends. Unsurprisingly, most died at the hands of fellow Muslims.
      Keeping with the heretical theme of the chapter, Wilson also explores the idea of sexuality in Islam. This part of the book is especially eye-opening as Wilson attacks not only Islam’s repressive attitudes towards human sexuality in general, but also the Western world’s contradictory stance on the issue:
      “Religious morality condemns non-ordinary sex as criminal and sinful, but vulgar materialism condemns sexuality itself to a joyless commodification, the fetishization of desire, the proliferation of a pornography of violence and advertising.” (p.72, Sacred Drift)
      A lot of people still fight for ‘sexual equality’ in relation to same sex couples and women’s rights, but in reality it is the same all over the world. All our so-called ‘freedom’ in terms of sexuality has just led to new forms of repression and oppression.
      Chapter 3 and we are continuing on the road to damnation, as Wilson takes us on a thorough study of the worship of Satan in Islam. ‘Shaitan’, or ‘Iblis’, the first of the fallen, the right hand of God, is taken very differently by certain sects of Islam, especially among isolated groups in the mountainous regions that were once ancient Persia.
      To some, Satan was seen as an aspect of Allah, not an entity separate and therefore independent of him. Satan is still under Allah’s control, and if you are in cahoots with Allah, you really have nothing to fear from Satan, as Satan’s power must also come from and compliment Allah.
      Iblis, under the guise of the Peacock Angel (Ta’us Malek) is worshipped by the tiny sect known as the Yezidis, who still survive in northern Iran. They worship Iblis not as the principle of evil, but rather as the principle of energy which has been unjustly condemned by orthodox religions.
      The Yezidis are highly illiterate, as is their custom, but do have two holy books, ‘The Book of Divine Effulgence’ and ‘The Black Book’. ‘The Black Book’ explains Iblis’ creation (on the first Sunday, no less), and his stance in the realm of existence:
      “I am presently at hand to such as trust in me and call upon me in time of need, neither is there any place void of me where I am not present. I am concerned in all those events which strangers name evils because they are not done according to their desire.” (p.93, Sacred Drift)
      It could be read as a typical God-like revelation of reassurance towards mankind, and really, it is, except that it comes from the mouth of the supreme ‘evil’ character in humanity’s history.
      The 4th and 5th chapters contain essays about the importance of travel in Sufi-consciousness.  Wilson goes further than the idea of ‘travel’ and ‘tourism’, and explains that wandering is a more apt title to give to a Sufi’s explorations.
      In order to get closer to Allah, the Qalandari Sufis gave up sedentary lives to wander around Persia, learning secrets, meeting different peoples and experiencing different cultures. To them, “Sedentary life constitutes the last stage of civilisation and the point where it begins to decay,” and thus must be avoided.
        Wilson puts it best when he explains the two secrets of travel:
        [1] “The Traveller must maintain a psychic openness to adventure, a certain attitude of power-without-self-will (iradah), or perhaps will-without-distracting-mentation.”
         [2] “One may actually train oneself, not only to attain this state of ‘chi’, but also to be ‘lucky’ in Travel, to find oneself in the way of adventure, to be favourably positioned for the ‘penetration of everyday life by the Marvellous’.” (pp.152-153, Sacred Drift)
      Travel could be seen as a form of divine-meditation. As one wanders the world, open to each and every experience without distractions or learned misconceptions, one may find oneself becoming closer to the whole.
      Again in this final chapter Wilson gives into his anarchist bent and bemoans the modern world’s interpretation of ‘tourism’, of how travel has been co-modified and advertised, pilgrimages have lost their power and sacred sights are seen by many, but truly found by only a few.
      Although being sixteen years old, Sacred Drift still ripples with power. Wilson has a very unique voice and his exploration of the esoteric, heretical and just plain obscure facets of Islam can both open eyes and open hearts, bringing about greater understanding, and hopefully, greater peace.