A Spiritual Journey

            Finding meaning from the universe and ones place and purpose in it is a journey that every individual must embark upon for themselves. Ayesha Imani seemed to be born with the divine extremely active within as she searched for a community of people with whom she shared the same religious beliefs. As she went on this journey she spent time studying and being involved with a number of the world’s main religions. At the early age of nine Imani found Christianity and was an Evangelists trying to bring others to God. When asked how being so spiritual affected her childhood and family relationships, she giggled “my mother thought I was strange, when my siblings wanted toys and games, I wanted bibles, different versions and colors, and my mother would say ‘you already have one,’ and would get me another.” As we talked more it became clear that Christianity has been the backdrop to Imani on her spiritual search. At the age of 15 she moved out of the house with no financial support and lived on a Christian commune. “We lived communally, there were 15 people in one apartment, ever week we would put all our money in a pot and combine our finances for our needs. We went around the neighborhood and took food to the homeless or forced them to come home with us to get them cleaned up. We would drive in our van, and when black people were being arrested we jumped out and took pictures, we had to document police brutality. We were simply trying to live as the early Christians did, and do the work that Jesus did.” During the next two years Imani studied more closely the Christian teachings under the minister on the commune, they started going to the mosque near by and tried to convert the Muslims to Christianity, however “we would have debates with them, and eventually instead of us converting them they converted us. Simultaneously our leader went off to college where he was exposed to Islam and worked towards our conversion.” Imani explained how she, along with the rest of the community, was predisposed to Islam before they officially converted because “[they] were calling themselves Muslims who were Christian because Muslim just means one who submits to God.” After trying to go to the mosque and convince her Muslim contemporaries that there was nothing wrong with a Christian who called themselves Muslim they once again debated and swayed her opinion. Even more than discussion with her Muslim peers, it was the “beauty of the Qur’an and [her] reading of ‘Religions of Man’ by Huston Smith (re-titled to be gender neutral as ‘World’s Religions’) that really won her over. And again she was off on her journey.

            After years of being a radical Christian, and then a radical Muslim and exploring Taoism for a short time, around 1978 she was “a Muslim woman who fell inlove with a Jewish man, [and together they found Quakerism] it seemed to be the only place we could continue our spiritual exploration together with the religious backgrounds we had [and the situation we were in].” Imani found a permanent home and comfort zone with Quakerism, however with her she offered the teachings and knowledge of Islam and a different denomination and culture of Christianity.
 She is currently a Quaker, however due to her divine purpose and her continual journey, Imani takes not only from her previous religious affiliations, but also from both ancient and current African spirituality and culture. With these tools she has been able to reach a level of clarity about a number of things in her different communities, her immediate family, and herself and her Divine purpose.