The Al-Karkari Institute for Sufi Studies has inaugurated a new office near UC Berkeley, expanding its academic footprint in the San Francisco Bay Area. In a related development, founder Sheikh Mohammed Faouzi Al-Karkari was invited to address AI researchers at Stanford University, where he presented a Sufi-rooted framework for understanding the future of artificial intelligence and human cognition.
San Francisco, CA June 09, 2026 –(PR.com)– The Al-Karkari Institute for Sufi Studies and its publishing arm, Al-Karkari Press, have opened a new office near the University of California, Berkeley, marking a significant expansion of the Institute’s presence in one of the world’s foremost academic corridors.
The inauguration coincided with a visit by Sheikh Mohammed Fawzi Al-Karkari, founder of the Tariqa Karkariya, who toured the new premises alongside representatives of the Institute. The event drew faculty and researchers from several prestigious American universities, including Stanford, Berkeley, Yale, Harvard, and Notre Dame.
The new workspace is fully equipped for collaborative and scholarly work, featuring communal areas, three private offices, a dedicated meeting and conference room, and a terrace overlooking San Francisco Bay. The Institute said the location was chosen for its proximity to the Bay Area’s dense concentration of world-class research institutions and its strategic position for the organization’s publishing and expansion plans.
At Stanford University, Sheikh Al-Karkari was invited to speak before a gathering of artificial intelligence researchers at the invitation of leading AI scholars at the university. Drawing on his recently published book “Sirr Al-Kalima” (The Secret of the Word) and a related academic article published in the Institute’s journal “Nur,” the Sheikh presented a philosophical framework rooted in Sufi thought as a lens for understanding the nature of human cognition and the future trajectory of artificial intelligence.
His lecture, titled “Language, Mind, and Heart: Rethinking the Concept of Intelligence in the Age of Artificial Intelligence,” examined the concept of “Al-Kalima” — the Word — as the foundational principle underlying human perception, arguing that it offers insights that current AI development has yet to fully reckon with. The Sheikh outlined a three-part relationship governing the Word: its latent, inner reality stored within the self; its emergence into form through the senses and imagery; and the connecting movement between the inner and outer that transfers meaning from the hidden to the manifest. He illustrated this framework through the symbolic structure of the letters of God’s name “Allah” in Arabic — the Alef, Lam, and Ha — contending that each letter encodes one of these three states, offering a rich conceptual model for understanding how the human mind processes and generates knowledge.
The Sheikh argued that this model could inform the development of what he called “raw tacit knowledge” — a stable cognitive foundation from which AI systems could generate diverse forms and applications across varying contexts. He also emphasized the importance of understanding “Al-Haraka” (movement) and “Al-Quwwa” (force) as the bridges connecting cognitive origin to its many expressions, characterizing them as the medium through which knowledge moves from potentiality to actuality.
On the ethics of artificial intelligence, Sheikh Al-Karkari called for placing primary responsibility on the makers of the technology rather than the technology itself, stressing that AI systems reflect the values, intentions, and designs of their creators. He argued that the real danger lies not in the machine but in the human beings who build and guide it, and urged that technological advancement be paired with the cultivation of human virtue and moral reform.
The lecture drew rich discussion from researchers and students in attendance, extending the session to over three hours of academic dialogue. Participants described the gathering as an intellectually stimulating convergence of spiritual philosophy and contemporary science.
On the occasion of the new office opening, signed copies of the Sheikh’s books were presented as gifts to a number of guests and supporters, including Aisha Maher, a researcher and lawyer at Yale University, who received a copy of “Diwan Dinan Al-Arwah,” and Professor Zubair Ali, a computer science specialist at the university.
The Al-Karkari Institute expressed gratitude to all those who supported the transition to the new space and helped facilitate its scholarly mission, led above all by the Institute’s founder, Sheikh Mohammed Fawzi Al-Karkari.
About Al-Karkari Institute The Al-Karkari Institute for Sufi Studies is a scholarly and publishing organization dedicated to advancing the study and dissemination of Sufi thought and its relevance to contemporary intellectual life. The Institute is the publishing home of Al-Karkari Press and the journal “Nur.” For more information, visit karkari.org.
Contact Information:
Al-Karkari Institute
Allan Noble
651-808-1900
Contact via Email
karkari.org
noble@karkari.org
Read the full story here: https://www.pr.com/press-release/970667
Press Release Distributed by PR.com
Media gallery
