10th Mawlid Festival: songs for peace

[From the French language press]:

Le dimanche 1er avril 2007 de 14h à 19h à Villejuif (Paris)

Le Festival du Mawlid célèbre la naissance du Prophète de l’Islam de manière tout à fait originale. Il a pour objectif, à travers sa dimension artistique, d’apporter sa contribution à la richesse du patrimoine culturel français et européen.

PlaNet DZ, Algeria - samedi le 31 mars 2007

Sunday, April 1st, from 2 pm til 7 pm at Villejuif (Paris)

The Mawlid Festival celebrates the birth of the Prophet of Islam in a completely original way. It aims at, through its artistic dimension, to contribute its share to the richness of the French and European cultural inheritance.

This evening is the occasion to discover a facet of Islam if not ignored, at least unknown, that of the festival. Far from all caricatural views.

Organized for the tenth consecutive year, this Festival is presented in the form of an invitation to a journey through the sufi and traditional music of the Muslim world.

A l’Oriental Feeling
75, Avenue de Paris, Villejuif
métro Villejuif-Léo Lagrange
Tarif : 20 € ( fnac, virgin et réseau habituel)
infos au 06 16 93 04 92
Contact : mawlid.ennabawi@club-internet.fr / informations.aisa@free.fr

Saints and Schoolbooks

By M. Feki and N. Maruani - MEMRI (Middle East Media Research Institute) Inquiry & Analysis Series N° 339- Washington D.C. U.S.A.
Friday, March 30, 2007

Unlike Islamic curricula in some Arab states, the Islamic curricula in Tunisia consist of a compilation of articles and book excerpts from a variety of original sources.

For example, the 11th-grade textbook on Islamic thought is a compilation of articles by 29 authors - including excerpts of books and essays by renowned scholars such as 14th-century North African scholar and historian Ibn Khaldun, 9th-10th century Iraqi theologian Abu Al-Hasan Al-Ash'ari, and luminary Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali, alongside Muslim reformist thinkers from the modern period, such as Rifa' Al-Tahtawi, Jamal Al-Din Al-Afghani, Muhammad 'Abduh, Ali 'Abd Al-Razeq, 'Abd Al-Rahman Al-Kawakibi, Muhammad Rashid Rida, and Sa'd Al-Din Ibrahim.

An examination of the 11th and 12th grade schoolbooks shows that they focus on three aspects: the separation between religion and politics, individual freedom, and tolerance for the other.

This report examines two textbooks on Islamic thought for the 11th and 12th grades in Tunisia, and provides a general overview of some of the books' major themes: secular versus religious rule, the necessity of avoiding religious conflict, the need for education in order to attain freedom and harmonize between religion and modernity, the value of the European Enlightenment, and the importance of consultation, tolerance and dialogue.

In essence, the Islamic education curricula in Tunisia represent a continuation of the spirit of the early salafiyya (Islamic reformers).

While in contemporary usage the word salafi has become a near-synonym for "radical Islamist," many of the original salafiyya, including those whose writings are included in the Tunisian textbooks, promoted a moderate form of Islam and openness to modernity.

The movement was later largely subsumed into both Arab nationalism and Islamism, with Muslim liberalism being progressively relegated to the sidelines. Historically, Tunisia has been something of an exception to this trend, and this is reflected in the schoolbooks discussed here.

(...)

The 12th-grade religious instruction textbook discusses religion as a possible source of conflict.

A text by Muhammad 'Abduh, titled "The Relation between the Sciences and Religion, and the Spread of Extremism among Muslims" attacks the observance of practices not mentioned in the Koran: "The great number of religious people in Islamic countries who are in charge of ensuring that everyone observe religious ceremonies never mentioned in the Koran, such as burials and other ceremonies linked to the various aspects of life - births, weddings, coronations, etc. - where do they come from?

And what can Muslims say today about the great number of saints, righteous men and religious leaders who create [new] religious currents throughout the Muslim world? And how is it possible that believers pray to saints, to righteous men, and to religious leaders, perhaps even more than they pray to God?"

It may be noted in this context that when they were originally published, these ideas of 'Abduh's found an especially receptive ear among the representatives of the salafiyya in North Africa; the latter became engaged in a bitter polemic with the proponents of Maraboutism, a popular form of Sufism widespread in North Africa that attached great importance to the veneration of saints.

(...)

Delhi's three-day romance with sufi music

By IANS/RxPG News - Westchester, CA, U.S.A.
Friday, March 30, 2007

New Delhi: The stage is set and the ambience infused with magical notes. Delhi's romance with Sufi began Thursday with Jahan-E-Khusrau, the 7th international Sufi music festival.

A three day affair, the festival sees singers from America, Iran, Pakistan and India perform. But the show stealer, who has been a part of the festival since its inception seven years ago, is Abida Parveen of Pakistan.

'I don't listen to much of Sufi music but I love Abida Parveen's voice. She sings so openly and with so much of passion that one is bound to be touched by it. I will definitely try going for her performance today,' said Pragya Vats, media coordinator of Action Aid.

Another Abida fan is Amitabh Sharma, a student of Delhi University. 'Sufi music is soulful music and Abida best defines it,' he said.

Conceived and designed by well-known film maker and designer Muzaffar Ali, Jahan-E-Khusrau is dedicated to the memory of the Sufi legend Amir Khusrau. Quite naturally henceforth, most of Khusrau's poetry, music and qauls - are presented by the artistes during the festival.

There are certain changes this year though, such as change of the venue of the programme. Instead of Arab Ki Sarai adjoining Humayun's Tomb, the venue this time is Quli Khan's Tomb near the Qutub Minar in Mehrauli.

Presented by the Delhi Tourism and Rumi Foundation, the theme of the festival is 'Voice of the woman' and it sure has an eager set of audience waiting for the spell to be cast.

Signs of Peace

By Richard J. Hauser - America Magazine - New York, NY, U.S.A.

Vol. 196 No. 13 - April 9, 2007

For years I have stared at the five published volumes (over 2,100 pages) of Thomas Merton’s letters arranged neatly on a shelf in my Merton collection and wondered if I would ever have time to work through them.

Occasionally I opened a volume to check a reference, but the massive collection of some 10,000 letters addressed to 2,100 correspondents remained largely unread.

Reading Signs of Peace has been an enjoyable way to break into this massive collection for insight into Thomas Merton the letter writer and, additionally, to reflect through Merton’s eyes on two issues as crucial in our time as in his (1915-68).

Signs of Peace, by William Apel, a professor of religious studies at Linfield College, McMinnville, Ore., contributes significantly to the current interfaith dialogue. An excerpt from a letter to Anna Coomaraswamy catches the theme of the book:

I believe that the only really valid thing that can be accomplished in the direction of world peace and unity at this moment is the preparation of the way by the formation of men who, isolated, perhaps not accepted or understood by any “movement,” are able to unite in themselves and experience in their own lives all that is best and most true in the numerous spiritual traditions.

Merton is convinced by his own experience that religious believers who appropriate their own spiritual traditions can make bridges to other spiritual traditions and so become “signs of peace” in our world. He is emphatic that the dialogue remain on the level of experience, for only on the experiential level is communion and peace possible. When the dialogue reverts to debates over dogma and doctrine, the union is shattered.

(...)

Signs of Peace pulls together Merton’s own dialogue with correspondents in major world religions: Sufism, Hinduism-Buddhism, Taoism, Judaism, Zen Buddhism.

Merton readers will be familiar with the names of his correspondents: Abdul Aziz, Amiya Chakravarty, Dona Luisa Coomaraswamy (Ananda’s widow), John Wu, Abraham Heschel, D. T. Suzuki, Thich Nhat Hanh.

Focusing on a theme common to Merton and his correspondent—love, wisdom, holiness, openness, compassion, courage, unity—each chapter explains the evolution of Merton’s relationship with his correspondent, gives pertinent quotations from the exchange of letters as well as from related Merton writings and concludes with an extended excerpt from a particularly significant Merton letter.

Apel’s book has particular significance for our world today, combating the accusation of many that religions foment violence. Apel uses Merton’s interfaith and ecumenical correspondence to illustrate that the commonality of religious experiences can make committed religious believers “signs of peace” in a world divided by antagonisms.

Committed believers will be grateful to Apel for his defense of religion, and Merton readers for this very readable one-volume synthesis of Merton’s interfaith dialogue.

(...)

Signs of Peace
The Interfaith Letters of Thomas Merton
By William Apel
Orbis Books
202p $16 (paperback)

A treasure house in the Jammu University

Staff National - The Hindu - Chennai, India

Friday, March 30, 2007

Treasure house showcasing J&K's heritage, culture set up

Jammu: A treasure house showcasing the Sufi tradition of Kashmir valley, Duggar ethos of Jammu region and Ladakh's Lama culture has been set up in the Jammu University here.

Built at a cost of Rs 30 crore, provided under the Prime Minister's special package, the five-storeyed cultural centre, named Zorawar Singh Auditorium after the legendary general of the Dogra army, provides an insight into the diverse heritage and culture of Jammu and Kashmir.

The fully air-conditioned state-of-the-art facility which has an art gallery, museum, cafeteria, a 1,250-capacity hall, a television production centre and an FM radio station was opened to public on Thursday.

"It is a gift of Jammu University to the brave Dogras for showcasing the treasures that represent the culture, ethos, paintings, history, heritage and art besides old manuscripts of Jammu, Ladakh and Kashmir," Vice Chancellor of the varsity Amitabh Matto said.

An "unparallelled" museum, Matto said, it would give a glimpse of the history through pictures and artifacts.

"You can see a number of rare photographs of great leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi and other world dignitaries who visited Kashmir," he said adding the treasure house would delight the researchers, students and tourists.

The complex also offers a panoramic view of Jammu, a town dotted with Hindu temples, Bahu fort and the flat-roofed homes on both the banks of the river Tawi. From its rooftop, one can see the Trikuta hills, where the shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi is located.

[Picture: http://tinyurl.com/355qbz www.kashmir-tourism-net ]

Blithe Spirit: voice of the woman

By Riche Gupta - Delhi Newsline - New Delhi, India
Thursday, March 29, 2007

Abida Parveen returns with the swirling world of dervishes and ecstatic Sufi music

In the days of sahibs and memsahibs, former British resident Thomas Metcalfe’s castle at Mehrauli — Dilkusha — was the pleasure trove of the Raj. Today, the place will wake not to the sounds of White Mughals but to soul-stirring Sufi music as it plays host to the seventh Jahan-e-Khusrau festival.

The intention: transfer the denizens of the city of djinns to the swirling world of dervishes; to seek out mysticism that has materialised in the poetry of Sufis.

Conceived by filmmaker Muzaffar Ali, who was inspired by 13th century mystic Amir Khursrau, the three-day event at Quli Khan’s tomb in Mehrauli Archaeological Park, will give music lovers a chance to enjoy the deep, resonating voice of Abida Parveen, among others.

“There is a thirst for Sufi poetry, but only very few people can quench it,” says Ali, referring to Parveen whom he calls the “spirit of the festival”. What is it that draws this Pakistani singer to Jahan-e-Khusrau? “In true Sufi spirit, it brings the singer and the listeners together,” says Parveen. You want to believe in her when she says the pull of Sufi music is irresistible. “It is God’s gift and is blessed by Allah. You don’t need to understand the language to enjoy Sufi music,” she adds.

The theme of the festival is “Voice of the Woman” as a Sufi is believed to have the longing of a woman in love, but Parveen, 53, would rather not qualify her music as man’s or woman’s. “A Sufi’s spiritual world has no concept of man or woman,” says Parveen, who has moved beyond her forte of kafi and ghazal and lent her voice even to the traditional male qawwali.

Parveen, who has been regularly participating in Jahan-e-Khusrau, will be performing on two days. Can the audience hope for any new elements? “I’ll be singing the kalams of Hazrat Bedam Shah Warsi and Hazrat Sachal Sarmast this time,” she reveals. While Jahan-e-Khusrau will keep her busy for now, the singer has a lot on her hands. Following the success of her album Kabir by Abida, she has decided to bring out a second one.

While Parveen may be synonymous with contemporary Sufi music, the festival will also see a couple of newcomers from India and abroad.

The show will open with a modern dance performance by Wendy Jehlen from the US. “My choreography is called the ‘Moth’ which portrays a moth coming out of the cocoon and getting drawn into a flame,” she says.

Her performance will be followed by Meeta Pandit, a classical singer of the Gwalior gharana. “My presentation will be an amalgamation of classical Persian texts and Sufi music,” says Pandit.

Another singer is Sussan Deyhim, an Iranian who has been living in the US for over 30 years, but continues to be swayed by the poetry of Rumi, Sadr and Hafiz.

For somebody who grew up listening to Parveen, how does it feel to perform with her? “I had only heard her records so far and I am so happy that I will hear her in person. I even plan to ask her if she will give me a lesson,” says Deyhim.

And what does Parveen think of the new generation of Sufi singers? “Every artist has a distinct style. I like to learn from all,” comes the wise reply, almost Sufi-like.

Birds return to find peace

By Sheikh Mushtaq - New Zealand Herald - Auckland, New Zealand

Thursday, March 29, 2007

Tens of thousands have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced in the 17-year insurgency in Indian-ruled Kashmir. But a recent fall in the separatist fighting has led to the return of an unfamiliar sound.

The honking of wild geese and the cackle of mallards have returned to Kashmir, with migratory birds back in the Himalayan region.

Wildlife officials say more than 1.5 million migratory birds, and at least 19 different species, flew down to Kashmir's renewed wetlands and swamps this winter from Siberia, central Asia and northern Europe.

That is a record since the insurgency broke out against Indian rule in 1989, they say, and many times higher than the number of visitors at the peak of violence in the 1990s, when the first survey was conducted.

For years lakes gathered silt and weeds, with officials either too scared to venture out to maintain them or simply not interested. Militants used to hide in the wetlands or pass through, while security forces would patrol there.

But with violence falling since India and Pakistan began a peace process in 2004 over the disputed territory, the lakes and wetlands have been cleaned and people kept away.
"The insurgency brought lawlessness, all the trouble along with it, even to these poor birds," said Abdul Rauf Zargar, the wildlife warden of Kashmir's wetlands, pointing to a gaggle of geese in Hokersar lake, near Kashmir's main city, Srinagar.

"Things have changed now completely. With peace returning, we are paying a lot of attention to regain the lost glory of these wetlands."
Flocks of greylag geese, coots and pintails had been seen in the Kashmir valley this winter, Zargar said.

At the height of winter, wildlife workers break thick ice and throw paddy for hungry birds.

(...)

[Picture: A Kashmiri boy prays at the shrine of Muslim Sufi Saint Khawaja Naqashband. Photo Reuters]

Testimonies about Tunisia’s Tolerance

By Abeddayem Sallami - Al-Arab Online - London, U.K.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007

On the sidelines of the scientific seminars about civilisations hosted by Tunisia, Al-Arab International posed some questions to a number of participating guest speakers, including:

To what extent does the modern political discourse in Tunisia contribute to bridging relations between East and West?

Has Tunisian foreign policy contributed towards connecting people of different religions?

What distinguishes Tunisia in its dealing with the religious phenomenon?

What are the features of the Tunisian method of opening up to others and establishing security?

Does independence consist of the coloniser’s withdrawal or the freedom in taking appropriate decisions?

The answers came in different analysis methods, but they were consistent in viewing the Tunisian reality at its different political, cultural and social levels. Here is a sample of the answers given.

Dr Robert Besmit, Head of the Marseille-Mediterranean Co-operation Association, says that it is not strange for Tunisia, a country of radiant civilisations, to be great in its humanistic ideas and projects that manifest themselves in repeated calls to cease violence and resort to rational negotiation of difficult issues. Such calls have reached the international organisations, giving Tunisia the reputation of respecting others without being submissive to them, opening up to various identities without waiving its own cultural heritage, and calling for a fair distribution of the world’s wealth amongst the poor.

Jean-Marie de Bourqueney, Minister of the Royal Church in Brussels, says that Tunisia represents the hub of Mediterranean communications thanks to its strategic geographical location, stability, and good relations with all Mediterranean countries. He also expresses his admiration for the rational attitude towards Tunisian women’s liberation enshrined in legislation guaranteeing women’s rights.

Dr Jasna Samic, a specialist in Islamic Sufism at Sarajevo University in Bosnia, says that she came to Tunisia bringing concepts imposed by the 9/11 events about the Islamic religion and its relationship with Jihad. But later she noticed that the Tunisian people adhere to Islam but with much more tolerance and acceptance of others. She commented that the Tunisian elite have worked on rationalising the religious phenomenon, thus making Tunisia a country free from terrorism. It has respected religious rituals on the one hand, and contributed towards the culture of brotherhood and tolerance on the other, through its political discourse.

Professor Marie-Jean Sauret, from University Toulouse II in France, says that his visit to Tunisia has made him realise that the Tunisian citizen has acquired an intellectual independence. He admits that he has now changed the ideas he held about Arab countries in general because of what he saw, since his visit to Tunisia had corrected the exaggerated concepts made in the media.

Bollywood under the Sufi spell

By Farhana Farook - Daily News and Analysis - Mumbai, India

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Music composers are cashing in on the popularity of this ‘spiritual’ genre

From the ‘mehfil-e-sama’ of Sufi poet Amir Khusro to the shelves of our music salons, Sufiyana music (mystic tradition of Islam where love for Allah, as beloved is expressed through song) has outlived centuries.

Surprisingly, this stream of divine melody has seeped into Bollywood too.
And this metaphor-heavy medium has takers primarily in the youth.

To validate this, is the recent Mithoon composed number ‘Maula mere’, sung by Roop Kumar, from ‘Anwar’, which has whizzed up the music charts.

“Music is prayer. The young have their share of stress. Somewhere they find solace in this kind of music as the structure of Sufi lyrics is inspiring,” says the 21-year-old wiz musician Mithoon.

Associated with the cult classic ‘Ya Ali’ (‘Gangster’), 30 plus singer Zubeen Garg says, “I’ve always been inclined towards Sufi music. It has a meditative and trance-like quality. And when blended with club music, its appeal is massive.”

Veteran composer Anu Malik, whose ‘Mehboob mere’ (‘Fiza) flaunted a Sufi flavour asserts, “Melody is a strong pull. Couple this with modern sound design, good lyrics and you have a recipe for ‘swaying’ success. It’s soul-connect, so it’s eternal.”

Having grown up on Kabir’s dohas, Sufi-rock singer Rabbi Shergill attributes this to the Indian soil saying, “India is a spiritual land. Unfortunately, this was never expressed in our popular music. Fortunately, music is now echoing this.”

Unconventionally-voiced Kailash Kher (‘Allah ke bande’) calls this a ‘game of energy combined with contemporary sound’. “The youth relate to the madness of melody. But while sound is technical, feelings are divine,” reminds Kailash.

Rumi commemorated in Washington

ST/AVA - Press TV - Tehran, Iran

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

The Library of the U.S. Congress held a ceremony to mark the 800th birth anniversary of the prominent Persian poet Rumi early this week. Organized by Kog Holding, the largest Turkish company, the ceremony was attended by a number of American and Turkish literary and political figures.

Tal'at Halman, Chairman of the Department of Turkish Literature at Bilkent University in Ankara, addressed the gathering on the life and poetry of the poet who is known as "the poet of nations."

Jalal ad-Din Mohammad Balkhi known in the West as Rumi was born on September 30, 1207. Rumi's major work is Mathnavi, a six-volume poem considered by many to be one of the greatest works of both Sufism and Persian literature.

Rumi's other masterpiece is the "Divan-e Shams", named in the honor of Rumi's great friend and inspiration, the dervish Shams, comprising some 40,000 verses.

"Mevlana's source is Islam"

By Emre Demir - Today's Zaman - Ankara, Turkey

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Strasbourg: One of the latest events to focus on the 13th century philosopher and Sufi saint Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi took place in the French city of Strasbourg at an international panel where Mevlana's humanism and his contributions to dialogue between religions were discussed.

The meeting, which included academics from France and Turkey, underscored the view that Mevlana's philosophy cannot be assessed separately from Islam and the tradition of the Prophet Mohammed.

Organized by the Strasbourg Intercultural Dialogue Foundation, which was founded by Turkish academics, the panel featured one scholar of Sufism, Professor Eric Geoffrey, who asserted that due to today's judgmental stance towards Muslims Mevlana's Islamic roots were being ignored by many.

Geoffrey explained that though the work and thinking of Mevlana had gained prominence in the West over recent years, most Western sources took Mevlana out of the context of his Islamic roots.

The professor also noted that in both the US and the EU, Sufism was being stripped of its links with Islam and being presented as a sort of "new age religion." Geoffrey referred to these efforts as a form of "religious racism" and noted that it was the Prophet Mohammed and the Koran which had provided the sources for Mevlana's humanist understanding, one which is so universal as to still be fitting in today's world.

He emphasized that one could not think of Mevlana independently from Islam. "Mevlana is today presented as someone broken off from his Islamic roots, like a new spiritual leader. Even today many people have no idea that Mevlana's first name was Mohammad.

In many western books on his life they don't have the courage to use this name." Geoffrey also mentioned Mevlana's good friend and teacher, the scholar Semsuddin i-Tebrizi, who in Western writings is portrayed as being a "wanderer and hippie-type person," but who was actually a respected Islamic thinker.

Professor Cihan Okuyucu from Istanbul's Fatih University talked about traces of Mevlana's philosophy in modern Turkey, pointing to Fethullah* Gülen's efforts at encouraging intercultural dialogue as an example. Okuyucu noted that Gülen's activities aimed at promoting tolerance and dialogue were inspired by the philosophy of Mevlana.

Sorbonne University faculty member Fabio Ambrosio spoke about the importance of Mevlana for the Christian communities living in Anatolia, while Leili Anvar-Chrendorff from the French National Eastern Languages and Civilizations Institute (INALCO) focused on the basic elements of Mevlana's "spiritual humanism," which embraces all religions. Later, Professor İlhan Özkececi from Fatih University presented a short concert of Mevlevi music. The end of the program was marked by poetry readings from the Mesnevi and a concert of religious chanting. Guests at the panel included local government officials, as well as consular officials and members of the European Council.

[Picture: Professor Cihan Okuyucu ]

*Fethullah Gülen is honorary president of Rumi Forum www.rumiforum.org]

2nd Sufi Nights of the Ismaili city

[From the French language press]:

Deuxièmes nuits soufies de la cité ismaïlienne

Un grand concert de musique soufie incluant des partitions inédites a été donné, lundi soir, au majestueux site palais Mansour à Meknès, par l'orchestre Thami Harraq de Tétouan en ouverture des deuxièmes nuits soufies de la cité ismaïlienne.

par MAP - Menara, Morocco - mercredi 28 mars 2007

A great concert of sufi music including new partitions was given, Monday evening, within the majestic site Mansour palace in Meknes, (Morocco) by the Thami Harraq orchestra of Tétouan; it was the opening of the second Sufi Nights of the Ismaili city.

These evenings, organized by association “Ikhwan Assafa” (brothers of purity), under the High patronage of HM King Mohammed VI in commemoration of the birth of the Prophet Sidna Mohammed (pbuh), aim at encouraging the opening to social sciences and the various literary and philosophical tendencies, as well as to tolerant knowledge far from any extremist current.

[picture: Meknes, www.magicmorocco.com]

10th Mawlid Festival in Paris

[From the French language press]:

10e Festival du Mawlid, dimanche prochain à Paris. Le dixième Festival du Mawlid, célébrant la naissance du Prophète Sidna Mohammed (paix et salut sur Lui), sera organisé dimanche prochain à Paris par "l'Association internationale soufie alawiya" (Aisa) et l'Association "Terres d'Europe".

par MAP - Le Matin; Casablanca, Maroc - lundi 26 mars 2007

10th Festival of Mawlid, next Sunday in Paris. The tenth Festival of Mawlid, celebrating the birth of the Prophet Sidna Mohammed (peace and blessings upon Him), will be organized next Sunday in Paris by the “Alawiya International Sufi Association ” (AISA) and Association “Grounds of Europe”.

In preamble with this Festival, the two associations will organize on Thursday [March 29] at the Institute of the Arab World in Paris, a conference entitled: “Mawlid in Islam: forms and uses of a rite”.

The role of AISA is to work for a better knowledge of Sufism which is a vector of spirituality and peace.

[About the Mawlid Festival 9th edition, see also: http://tinyurl.com/2foqgh (www.africultures.com)]

"Mevlana Oratorio": a polyphonic piece about Mevlana

Today's Zaman - Ankara, Turkey

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Composer Can Atilla and actor Semih Sergen aim to bring Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi's teachings of universal tolerance to the world stage through an oratorio marking the 800th anniversary of the Sufi saint and poet's birth in Balkh.

Based on Mevlana's life and teachings, "Mevlana Oratorio" was composed by Atilla, with a libretto by Sergen, and will be performed by the İstanbul Opera and Ballet Orchestra and Choir.

The world premiere of the oratorio will be held at Hagia Irene in İstanbul on April 7, with the orchestra conducted by Serdar Yalçın and the choir directed by Gökçen Koray.

"We decided to compose a polyphonic piece about Mevlana as part of a common project with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism," Atilla told the Anatolia news agency.

A 200-member orchestra and choir will participate in the performance, in an arrangement borrowed from Wagner, according to Atilla. "The number of wind instruments and stringed instruments are similar, leading to the magnificent and harmonic orchestra sound we were after."

The project was inspired by Sergen's book "Gönüller Işığı Mevlana" (Mev-lana Illuminating Hearts) in 2006. "The libretto was written by Sergen, who has researched and written about Mevlana for 54 years. This cooperation is a great pleasure for me," he added.

The piece consists of 11 sections; 10 tell about Mevlana's life from childhood to death and the last one includes excerpts from "Divan-ı Kebir" and "Mesnevi." Sergen will read poems for the dramatic piece, which also contains a short dervish performance. The İstanbul State Opera and Ballet Orchestra and Choir will also stage the production on April 10 and May 8, and the oratorio will be performed during the Aspendos Opera and Ballet Festival in July.

The team hoped "Mevlana Oratorio" would also be performed at the Vatican and in New York, added Atilla. "This will be a significant contribution to the introduction of Turkey to the world as well as conveying the teachings of Mevlana, a global treasure, to the whole world."

Atilla said he has always been interested in Mevlana's teachings and that he had the opportunity to gain more insight into the teachings of the Sufi saint since the preparation phase for the oratorio. "I had delightful moments while I worked on it. I felt I passed beyond a gate that I never knew before. Everyone should read Mevlana's pieces. His poems are guidance and magnificently written. Anyone without acquaintance with his oeuvre misses out on a great deal."

Turkish musicians should write pieces for the repertoires of the world's top orchestras, Atilla urged. "Contributions can be made to Western music while also preserving the core values," he said.

"I believe the 'Mevlana Oratorio' will reach a huge audience, provided it is taken to international platforms. This is not a project for Turkey alone but for the whole world. The piece will find its own way after the first performance," he said.

Magical sounds of Abida Parveen

By Reshil Charles - CNN-IBN - New Delhi, India

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Pakistani Sufi singer Abida Parveen is widely known for having one of the most powerful female voices in the Sufi world.

Also known to stay away from the mainstream unlike many of her contemporaries, the one festival that brings her India is the Jahan-e-Khusrau.

CNN-IBN caught up with her in New Delhi just days before the festival kicks off.

Reshil Charles: We saw you last at the Jahan-e-Khusrau and now again at the same festival. What has kept you away for so long?
Abida Parveen: I was busy. I had other commitments and that consumed a lot of my time and most of the year.

Reshil Charles: Sufi singers like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and his nephew Rahat have marketed themselves well. They have associated themselves with Bollywood. But you have kept away. Why so?
Abida Parveen: It is important to sing from the heart. And when the singer is able to strike a chord with the audience, nothing can be better than that.

Jahan-e-Khusrau Sufi music festival begins at the end of the week in Delhi

By Vithal C. Nadkarni - The Economic Times - India
Tuesday, March 27, 2007

Bringing peace to the partitioned land

As a boy growing up in Rajasthan, Rajkumar Rizvi remembers being led to the desert dunes for daily riyaz by his father, Noor Mohammad Khan. In the stillness before dawn, the Ustad would instruct the future ghazal expert into nuances of ragas such as Bhairav and Lalat.

From those early memories, Rajkumar recollects a song Lagan bin jage na koyi (Without wedding no one keeps awake) that celebrates night birds such as the anxious mother with her mewling child and the sage ‘married’ to the Lord, who alone are immune to the wiles of the God of Love.

Their riyaz also included verses from Masters like Sheikh Fareed and Amir Khusrau, which conceal sublime messages under their earthy images. Khusrau’s famous swan song composed after the death of his Master, the Sufi sage of the Chistiya order, Nizamuddin Aulia, talks, for instance, about the beloved sleeping with her face covered (Gori sohe sej pe mukh pe dhal ke kes). But it’s the Master, whose demise has darkened the world, signalling the poet to depart as well (Chal Khusrau ghar aapne ab saanjh bhayi chahu des).

Today, Rajkumar is grooming his talented daughters, Runa and Neha, to handle the intricacies of Hazarat Khusrau’s compositions. Although the milieu has changed dramatically — a flat in a high-rise tower has replaced the susurrating sands of Rajasthan — the rigour of the riyaz remains unchanged. That’s the soul of our classical tradition.

It has always balanced continuity with change, to welcome all sorts of diversities in its fold. For example, Basant Panchami, the ancient Hindu spring festival of colours, is also celebrated by many Muslims in India, especially at the tomb of Hazrat Nizamuddin in Delhi: as perfumed clouds of kesar, abir and gulal rise, the identities of Master and disciple seem to disappear in the riotous exchange of colour.

Even as the 700-year-old festival started by the Chisti Master and his multi-talented disciple continues unbroken, novel forms for the New Age such as the Jahan-e-Khusrau Sufi music festival (which begins at the end of the week in Delhi) have blossomed.

Muzaffar Ali, the painter-film-maker-fashion-designer who started the festival as a tribute to Hazrat Khusrau’s creative spirit, and to contemporise Sufi music for younger audiences, firmly believes that only the artists of the region have the power to restore peace to the partitioned subcontinent.

383rd Mian Mir’s Urs

Staff Cor - The International News - Lahore, Pakistan

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

The Punjab Auqaf Minister Syed Saeedul Hasan Shah inaugurated the two-day long 383rd Annual Urs of Hazrat Mir Mohammed Muayyinul Islam popularly known as Hazrat Mian Mir, on Tuesday.

The Urs activities started with the laying of a ‘Chadar’ over the grave of the Sufi saint and a collective prayer.

Elaborate lighting arrangements, special ‘Mehfil-i-Mausiqee,’ dances of the devotees, collective prayers were the salient features at the ‘Darbar of Hazrat Mian Mir.

This famous Sufi saint who resided in Lahore, belonged to the Qadri order of Sufism. He was also the spiritual mentor of Dara Shikoh, the eldest son of Mughal emperor Shah Jahan.

[Picture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dara_Shikoh]

AKMICA goes to Parma

[From the Italian language press]:

Musiche dalle Corti d’Oriente: suoni e suggestioni dal patrimonio culturale dell’Asia Centrale dal 30 marzo al 1° aprile 2007 al Teatro Regio di Parma

Amadeus Online - domenica 25 marzo 2007 - CS

Music from the Eastern Courts: sounds and emotions from Central Asia cultural heritage at the Royal Theatre (Teatro Regio) in the city of Parma;

from March the 30th to April the 1st .

Three days of extraordinary concerts will mark the opening of the exhibition "Splendori a Corte", arts and crafts from the Islamic world in the Collection of the Aga Khan at Palazzo della Pilotta, Parma. The exhibition will be open from March 31st to June 3rd.

Music and musicians have historically played a vital role in the cultures of Central Eurasia and the Middle East. Music traditionally served not only as entertainment, but as a way to reinforce social and moral values, and musicians provided models of exemplary leadership.

In 2000, recognition of this important role led His Highness the Aga Khan to establish the Aga Khan Music Initiative in Central Asia (AKMICA) with the aim of assisting in the preservation of Central Asia's musical heritage by ensuring its transmission to a new generation of artists and audiences. AKMICA is part of AKDN, the Aga Khan Development Network.

Among the groups that will perform in Parma, the "Ensemble Badakhshan": Aqnazar Alovatov, vocalist; Sahiba Davlatshaeva, dancer; Shodikhan Mabatkulov, daf percussionist; with a repertoire of spiritual islamic songs (Maddahis) built upon texts from Jalal al din Rûmi, the 13th century great sufi poet.

[More on the exhibition and concerts: http://www.teatroregioparma.org/

More on AKDN Aga Khan Development Network: http://www.akdn.org/index.html

Full article in Italian, with program, groups description and instruments: click on the title above]

A radical supporter of human freedom

The International News - Lahore, Pakistan

Monday, March 26, 2007

As the Mela Chiraghan heads towards its end, thousands of men, women and children continue to flock at the shrine of Shah Hussain, the Sufi poet and saint of Punjab who was one of the most radical supporters of human freedom and always resisted oppression and injustice.

Born in Lahore, Shah Hussain (1538-1599) lived during the time of the Mughal emperor Akbar. He was born in the year when Baba Guru Naanak (1469-1538) passed away.

Shah Hussain was the son of Sheikh Usman, a weaver, and belonged to the Dhudha clan of Rajputs. He received early education in a mosque, and his areas of study included Qur’aan and Sunnah, Sharah [the high road to religion, the faith, law, justice and equity, as proposed by Islam and expounded by the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)] and Tafseer, Hadith, Fiqh, religious texts, prosody, literature, histories, etc.

As a young man, Shah Hussain became a disciple of Behlol Daryaee of the Qadria order of Sufism. Bhakti/Bhagti (the ‘way of devotion’, later seen as the ‘way of love’), prompted by the Bhagavad Geeta, had been synthesised with the great influence of Ibne Arabi’s writings and commentaries, and an emphasis on Wahdatul Wajood (Unity of Being). These developments steered people towards Sufism.

Shah Hussain’s relationship with a young Brahman, Madhu, from Shahdara, from across the River Ravi, is well-known. Madho was 38 years younger than Shah Hussain. It is speculated that Shah Hussain’s name was Laal Hussain (or he was so known because of the Laal/red garment he is reported to have worn), and/or Madho’s name was Madho Laal. If both their names were Laal then the composite name by which the poet is also known - Madho Laal Hussain would be a public declaration that they were ‘one item’. And Laal is also the colour symbol of the mature love in Sufi lore.

Only in one ‘Kafi’ Maadho directly addressed (as Laal). Madho’s affection for the poet may be that of a disciple for a most revered teacher, in this case fully reciprocated by Shah Hussain. They are buried in the same grave in Baghbanpura, Lahore, near which, about half a century later, Shah Jehan had the famous Shalimar Gardens constructed.

According to tradition, at the age of 36, Shah Hussain, who was seeped in the Qur’aan and Sunnah, turned away from prayer, put on red clothes and started singing and dancing in the streets of old Lahore.

Dara Shikoh (1615-1659) says in his book ‘Shathiaat’ that this change came in Shah Hussain when he was reading an ‘Ayat’ of the Qur’aan which says that the world is sport. What the poet drew from this is not recorded. But ‘play’ became a significant theme of Shah Hussain’s verse.

Another tradition says the opposite. It depicts that the ‘Malamati’ (self-reproaching) methodology of Shah Hussain was also a way of dissembling to escape the king’s grasp. This tradition suggests that the poet was a supporter of Dulla Bhatti who had rebelled against the king. Indeed the day Dulla Bhatti was hanged, the poet is said to have been in the same prison. But there is no documentary evidence of this.

The grave of Shah Hussain and Madho became a shrine with attendant custodians and worshippers. Under the patronage of Moraan, a professional woman and courtesan of Ranjit Singh, a mela (fair) started at the time of ‘Basant’ later called Mela Chiraghan (festival of lights), or Mela Shalimar, which is still held every year at Baghbanpura, Lahore. Thousands of devotees thronged to the shrine of Hazrat Shah Hussain commonly known as Madho Lal Hussain to celebrate the traditional Mela Chiraghan (festival of lamps).

However, ironically enough, centuries later, Shah Hussain’s stature as a great crusader of human freedom, progressivism and anti-oppression entity has been reduced to just a holy man since very few people would know what Shah Hussain was and did and what he stood for in the times of the ‘Moghal-i-Azam.’

The time of Shah Hussain, Dullah Bhatti and Akbar was the same. It was Shah Hussain who wrote ‘Kehae Hussain Faqeer Sain Da Takhat Na Mildae Munge’ in those troubled times.

Besides Lahore, a large number of devotees from other cities especially Karachi, Sehwan Sharif and Multan came to attend the festival. Professional drum beaters accompanied most of the groups visited the shrine and youth as well as old people and some women danced to the deafening tunes and drum beats.

Devotees sat in and around of the shrine in groups to witness a large number of performing artistes who mostly sang Shah Hussain’s ‘Kafis’ and danced to the drums.

(...)

Shah Hussain is the first Punjabi Sufi poet who mixed Punjabi with Pothohari, Hindi, Persian and Arabic. His ‘Kafis’ are so simple that one understands his message without any difficulty.

[Picture: a view of the Shalimar Gardens in Lahore]

Thousands visit Madhu Lal Hussain’s shrine

Staff report - Daily Times - Lahore, Pakistan
Monday, March 26, 2007

Thousands of devotees from various parts of the country visited the shrine of Hazrat Madhu Lal Hussain on Sunday on the second day of the urs celebrations.

Some of them laid floral wreaths on the grave of the sufi and distributed niaz (food). Others recited verses from the Holy Quran or sang Punjabi poetry to pay homage to the sufi.

Roads leading to the shrine were jam-packed with devotees and temporary stalls of flowers, rosaries, toys, food, jewellery and clothes did roaring businesses.

The Auqaf Department held a mehfil-e-sama and a qira’at and a na’at competition besides a seminar on Sufism at the shrine on Sunday.

The urs celebrations will conclude on Monday (today) when only women are allowed to enter the shrine.

The Caravan of Love Must Continue Its Journey

From the German Press
"Karawane der Liebe muss weiterziehen"
Mystische Tradition und Weisheit der Sufis prägen das Bild des friedlichen Islam
Wiesbadener Tagblatt
By Kurt Buchholz
19^th March 2007

The oriental decoration in Villa Schnitzler could hardly be more fascinating. It is reminiscent of tales from a Thousand and One Nights in which the Sufis interpret their message of love, harmony, and beauty in their own way. An unusual evening dedicated to the mystics of Islam.
Many Islamic traditions such as Sufism are little known in the West. The West is unfamiliar with a peaceful Islam and its history and therefore also with the possibility of balance and dialogue between religions and cultures. Sufis, who have been carrying the mystical tradition for centuries, do not see themselves as bound to certain dogmas, rituals, or spiritual techniques. This is what the participants of the cultural event “Caravan of Love” learnt at the invitation of the Wiesbaden school of continuing education and the West-East Divan. Far more central to Sufi teaching is love in the sense of turning to God. Sufis believe that love impresses itself on the universe through the projection of the divine essence and that mysticism stands beyond religion and even demands that it be so. The Sufis purify their hearts and consequently the spirit through lifelong spiritual practice and continuous repetition of the Names of the Creator. Their path demands that the seeker constantly strives to experience the Real in this life rather than waiting until after death or being satisfied with a purely intellectual understanding. In accordance with the principle that faith is reflected in action, the Sufis prefer acting in the world with good example than to debating about the faith. The guests of the ‘caravan’ heard that Jesus is the prophet of love in Islam and therefore seen as the Prophet of the Sufis. The majority of Sufis today work from the central premise that the Creator God “is an inseparable component of all being and the whole world”. It is the privilege of God to lead to the light whomever He will. Music as an expression of joy in the Presence of God is an important aspect of Sufi teaching, often consisting only of songs but also with instrumental accompaniment. Therefore the participants of the ‘Caravan’ felt the concert and story telling evening with Peter Hassan Dyck was a special experience grounded as he is in the musical traditions of India and the East and well known throughout Europe.

For full article click here

The lover's nationality and religion is the Beloved

By Pranav Khullar - Times of India - New Delhi, India

Saturday, March 24, 2007

The quest for liberation and the path leading up to it has been metaphorised and expressed richly in various cultural traditions through music, poetry and dance.

Jalaluddin Rumi's mystical legacy, for instance, continues to inspire generations, transcending all ethnic boundaries, reverberating in every corner of the globe.

Rumi was a passionate musician who believed that music and dance were to be seen as spiritual disciplines in themselves, a perfect trigger to lead the soul to higher dimensions a concept and philosophy which led him to found the order of the Mevlevi, the dance of the whirling dervishes, the "Sema" or turning, the sacred ritualistic dance, which represents the journey of the seeker who turns to truth through love and abandonment of the ego.

Rumi's meeting with his preceptor Shams-i-Tabrizi, is considered the great catalytic point of Rumi's life, which converted him from an intellectual scholar to a passionate Sufi.

The intense call was evocatively penned by Rumi as "the drum of realisation of the promise is beating/ we are sweeping the road to the sky/ your joy is here today, what remains for tomorrow...". But Rumi also saw inner transformation as an arduous process, almost painful, since it required the death of the ego.

Rumi talks of the Islamic concept of Oneness: "What is Tawhid? To burn oneself before the One", says Rumi in his Mathnawi.

Man has to die unto himself to be one with that divine consciousness. The death of the ego stands at the heart of Rumi's thinking, and is quite physically embodied in the swirling movement of the sacred dancing he evolved as a measure to attain truth. Dance became a rhythmic expression of dhikr or remembrance. As Rumi would put it "...whatever there is, is only He/ your footsteps there in dancing/ the whirling... see... belongs to you/ And you belong to the whirling...", a kind of remembrance that the whole universe there is whirling around Him.

Equally magically, Rumi loved the "ney", the reed flute, and saw in it a metaphor for the seeker himself: "...listen to the reed, and the tale it tells, how it complains of separation...".

The wandering minstrel that he was, he saw music and dance not just as expressions of divine love, but complete 'paths' in themselves, in which the bliss of divine communion could be experienced easily.

The true spirit of the Sufi is musically sketched as "...we are the flute, our music is all Thine/ we are the mountains, echoing only Thee...". The ecstatic flight into the Divine was, for Rumi, best embodied in the path of music, "helping the seeker focus their whole being on the Divine... and in doing so the ego is destroyed and the soul resurrected".

In quintessential Sufi style, he reaches out by declaring his mission as one of love, where "...love's nationality is separate from all religions. The lover's nationality and religion is the Beloved".

Shahram Shiva cites this as the enduring legacy of Rumi, "...where the world of Rumi is neither exclusively that of a Sufi, nor that of a Hindu, Jew or Christian... it is the highest state of a human being, a fully evolved human being...". It is a testimony of the universality of his mystic-musical appeal that Rumi concerts are being organised worldwide in this International Year of Rumi.

[picture: Woman playing the ney in a painting from the Hasht-Behesht Palace in Isfahan Iran, 1669; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ney]

Kailash Kher Celebrated 'Kailasa'

By Kkomal Seth & Gautam Seth - Smash Hits - India

Friday, March 23, 2007

Kailash Kher, the Indian maestro of popular Sufi music celebrates the one year success of his album "KAILASA" which means heaven in Sanskrit. The songs "Teri Deewani" and "Tauba Tuauba" topped the charts in India, breaking all musical records.

Sufi music is about life, affinity, love, reality and the ultimate search for God and with his spiritually powerful and mystical voice he has captured the hearts of millions allover the world.

Kailash on the success of his album says: "It takes years of singing chorus after chorus and even then the best of singer could go unnoticed, God has blessed me with just a few years of great work in the industry and remarkable support from my peers to which I am very grateful".

Kailash hit the limelight with the smash hit Allah Ke Bande, part of the soundtrack for the movie Waisa Bhi Hota Hai II.

His is a virtual rag to riches story rising from being a homeless resident of Andheri Station, Mumbai, during his initial struggle to being on of the most popular singers in Bollywood Folkfore.

"Only God can make these criminals understand"

PTI / The Hindu - New Delhi, India

Friday, March 23, 2007

Filling into the shoes of a maestro like Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is no mean task, but this modest young man from Pakistan is not only continuing the legacy of the legendary Sufi singer with absolute elan, he has carved a niche for himself in the global music scene as well.

Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, nephew of Nusrat Fateh Ali took up the charge of his uncle's Qawwali troupe in 1997 after his untimely demise. Since then he has not looked back.

While his Sufi renditions have left audiences spellbound world wide, his recent forays into Bollywood have resulted in many blockbuster songs.

"Recently I have sung for Himesh Reshammiya in the film 'Namaste London'. It was a very nice experience working with him," he says about his recent Bollywood venture.
"I have also recorded two songs for two upcoming films of Sanjay Gupta. The music in these films is by Anu Malik and Anand Raj Anand," he says.

On his experience in the Indian film industry so far, he says, "Its been a superb experience. Its a good platform for singers like us".

Being from the Sufi tradition of music, the 33-year-old feels the young generation has a huge responsibility to conserve these ancient musical genres.
"At times we tend to be too westernised. The youth should not forget their roots and help in conserving these traditional musical forms such as sufi music," he says.

Despite all the western influences in Indian music, Sufi music continues to rule, feels the scion of noted Qawwal Farrukh Fateh Ali Khan.
"In all the new music done here, Sufi touch is being used. It was popular among the people and will continue to be so," Rahat says.

Reacting to the recent violence in the Samjhauta Express, he says, "Through music we have always tried to spread the message of love and friendship. But probably only God can make these criminals understand".

Unveil the Sun

By Nahmita Kohli - Express India - New Delhi, India
Friday, March 23, 2007

Rumi-nating on Soul: with a musical, a movie and a Sufi journal, the city of New Delhi is ready to celebrate mystic poet Rumi

Unveil the Sun is a musical based on the eponymous book by scholar Amrit Kent.
The musical will be staged at 7 pm at Stein auditorium, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, India, on March 24 and 25.

Says Theatre artist Sohaila Kapur: “Rumi was the messenger of love. In modern times when terrorism and strife have taken over, his works have assumed a greater relevance. His appeal is universal.”

The 110-minute musical is based on the friendship between Rumi and the dervish Shams Tabrizi, whose murder — believed to be with the connivance of Rumi’s jealous son Allaedin — led to an outpouring of spiritual verses and ghazals. Searching Tabrizi in Damascus, Rumi wrote, “Why should I seek? I am the same as He.”

When we are dead, seek not our tomb in the earth, but find it in the hearts of men.— Epitaph on Rumi’s tomb at Konya, Turkey

Eight hundred years after Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi danced and sang about Love and God in the streets and vineyards of Konya, modern culturatti are still tracking his footprints, searching his soul in translations and erecting little memorials of their own.

Rumi is on MySpace and Madonna’s lips, listened to by Deepak Chopra and Demi Moore. Somehow, he still makes sense.

As UNESCO celebrates the International Year of Rumi, Delhi — that has been chosen as one of the centres for celebration — is gearing up for it with a musical, a movie and more.

Septuagenarian scholar Amrit Kent says : “People all over the world are rediscovering Rumi’s poems, but in India, the awareness is still in a nascent stage.” Kent, a member of the Red Rose Society, a congregation of scholars who celebrate Sufism, would like to translate the play into Urdu. There are also plans to take it to the Peerzada festival in Pakistan in November.

Filmmaker Muzaffar Ali, who has been working on a film on Rumi for two years now, plans to release it this year. “The events that are happening in the run-up to the release are creating a good atmosphere for the film,” says Ali, whose upcoming festival of Sufi music, Jahan-e-Khusrau, will feature Rumi’s verses.

“Under the Rumi foundation, we will also bring out a Sufi journal,” he says. By September 30, when the world celebrates Rumi’s birth anniversary, the words on his tomb would have come true.

Be ready to swim against the tide

By Schezee Zaidi - The News International - Islamabad, Pakistan
Friday, March 23, 2007

Call for promoting Shah Latif's message of unity

Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai is one of the great Sufi poets and mystic of the entire Muslim world of 18th century. He is a prominent enlightened humanist, who firmly believed in the metaphysics of the unity of being and turned the socio-psychological implications of this metaphysics into subjects of his impressive poetry.

This was stated by various speakers talking about the life and works of Shah Latif at a seminar jointly organised by Pakistan Academy of Letters and Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai Cultural Association to mark the 263 'Urs' of the great Sufi saint.

They said his voice repeats the echo of the ancient Indus Valley Civilization and is the expression of the same spirit which can be felt in the poetic works of Maulana Rumi, Shah Hussain, Baba Bulleh Shah, Khushal Khan Khattak, Rehman Baba, Khawja Fareed, Sacchal Sarmast, and other Sufi poets of our region.

Chairman National Language Authority Professor Fateh Mohammad Malik was the chief guest on the occasion, while Chaiman PAL Iftikhar Arif, Dr. Ghazanfer Mehdi, and Dr. Aliya Imam were the guests of honour. Professor Allahwadhaio Baloch, Professor Amanullah Memon, Qasim Haider, Zahid Jatoi, and Shafiqur Rehman Solangi were the key speakers.
A large number of students and members of the literary community participated in the seminar to pay tribute to the great mystic poet who preached peace and love for humanity.

Stressing the need to delve into the philosophy and message of Shah Latif, Fateh Malik said that it is wrong to call him just a paramount poet of Sindh. Though he was the very soul of Sindh, yet we need to take pride in the fact that Latif is the greatest poet which the country that is now called Pakistan has produced, he said.
He said that all the Sufi poets of this land are our national assets and should be treated the same way.

Iftikhar Arif said that like all other mystic poets, Shah Latif is a symbol of national cohesion and unity. Giving details of various works and translations done on Shah Latif, he said that PAL has also translated Bhitai's works in Urdu in four volumes as well as in English and all the UN languages.

Ghazanfer Mehdi said that Shah Abdul Latif of Bhit was a poet, philosopher and preacher, all in one. He said that Shah Latif's poetical works are not regional or homeland-oriented in the narrow sense. He said that Pakistani poetry is nothing without the works of Shah Latif.

Dr. Aliya Imam talked about Shah Latif's love for humanity and persistent struggle to achieve his desired goal, stressing his followers to remain alert for eternal struggle. Professor Amanullah described Shah Latif as a revolutionary, urging his followers to walk on the un-trodden path and be ready to swim against the tide.

Qasim Haider stressed the need to follow the message of Shah Latif to rid the society of all evils. Shafiqur Rehman Solangi stressed the need to promote Shah Latif's message of brotherhood to create national unity.

[To read some of Shah Latif's poetry translated in verse by "Mother Elsa" (Madam Elsa Kazi Gertrude Loesch, d. 1967) do click here: http://www.geocities.com/thebhittai/index.html]

"Idrib" : to beat, to push away or to go away?

Reuters/Stuff.co.nz - Wellington, New Zealand
Friday, March 23, 2007

A new English-language interpretation of the Muslim Holy book the Koran challenges the use of words that feminists say have been used to justify the abuse of Islamic women.

The new version, translated by an Iranian-American, will be published in April and comes after Muslim feminists from around the world gathered in New York last November and vowed to create the first women's council to interpret the Koran and make the religion more friendly toward women.

In the new book, Dr. Laleh Bakhtiar, a former lecturer on Islam at the University of Chicago, challenges the translation of the Arab word "idrib," traditionally translated as "beat," which feminists say has been used to justify abuse of women.

"Why choose to interpret the word as 'to beat' when it can also mean 'to go away'," she writes in the introduction to the new book.

The passage is generally translated: "And as for those women whose illwill you have reason to fear, admonish them ; then leave them alone in bed; then beat them; and if thereupon they pay you heed, do not seek to harm them. Behold, God is indeed most high, great!"

Instead, Bakhtiar suggests "Husbands at that point should submit to God, let God handle it – go away from them and let God work His Will instead of a human being inflicting pain and suffering on another human being in the Name of God."

Arabic Language Professor at the American University in Cairo Siham Serry said her interpretation of the word "idrib," was "to push away," similar but slightly different from Bakhtiar's "to go away."

Bakhtiar writes in the book that she found a lack of internal consistency in previous English translations, and found little attention given to the woman's point of view.
In other changes to the text, she cites the most accurate translation of the word traditionally translated to mean "infidel" as "ungrateful."

And she uses "God" instead of "Allah," saying that God is the universal English term.

Bakhtiar has been schooled in Sufism which includes both the Shia and Sunni points of view. As an adult, she lived nine years in a Shia community in Iran and has lived in a Sunni community in Chicago for the past 15 years.

"While I understand the positions of each group, I do not represent any specific one as I find living in America makes it difficult enough to be a Muslim, much less to choose to follow one sect or another," she writes.

The new text is published by Islamic speciality bookseller Kazi Publications, which has a store in Chicago and online.

Faiths in Conversation

By Rev. Bahman Kalantari - Orangeville Citizen - Orangeville, Ontario, Canada
Thursday, March 22, 2007

Two weeks ago I drove to a nearby town to visit one of our parishioners who had been confined to bed in hospital. There was very little room for moving around. Carefully, I found a space to stand beside his bed and say a prayer for him. As usual, I closed my eyes. When I was about to finish my prayer, still with closed eyes, I felt a friendly presence gazing at me.

And so, when I finished my prayer and opened my eyes, I was not surprised to find a man looking at me. His name is Foad. He is an Afghani, a smart thinker and a skilled dentist. Foad and I first became friends in Nepal. And here, after all of these years, was Foad standing in front of me with his unique and friendly smile.

Foad is a very special person. He has lived through and experienced many different phases of Afghani History: The Kingdom of Afghanistan, the Republic of Afghanistan, Communist Afghanistan, The Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, Mojahedeen Afghanistan, Taliban Afghanistan, and Post-Taliban Afghanistan.

Together, Foad and I have experienced revolution, civil war, imprisonment, harsh spiritual ups and downs , and living in exile in Europe and Asia. Foad and his family now live in Germany. He had come to Canada to visit his dear grand-uncle who was in hospital and to see what Canada is like.

We left the hospital together and I offered Foad a lift to Hamilton, as I was on my way to Canterbury Hills myself. As we settled into the drive I asked Foad what he thought about today's Afghanistan. He smiled and replied:

For the first time in my life, I do not fear for the end of Afghanistan. You remember, my friend, those Taliban days, days filled with annihilation and ness. Some days, I feared that Afghanistan would simply be wiped from the of the earth. I have such good memories of our Kingdom and our Republic. Nothing could have prepared us for the arrival of our Satan, the Taliban.

The Taliban suffocated our hope for peace, unity, democracy, and prosperity. We have supreme ideals for such things in our culture, in Sufism especially. But the Taliban destroyed our sense of peace, love, forgiveness, and freedom... especially for women. These ideals are now inspiring us to build a new and prosperous society, to reopen the dialogue between nations.

(...)

I told Foad about a program that will shortly be held in Mono (sponsored by St. Mark's and St. John's Anglican Churches) titled: Faiths in Conversation: Three Progressive Voices in Today's World. Here, I told him, the voices of Islam, Judaism, and Roman Catholicism would come together in dialogue.

Sufism in Germany: Germans on the Path of Mystic Islam

Sufismus in Deutschland. Deutsche auf dem Weg des mystischen Islam

By Ludwig Schleβmann
(Kölner Veröffentlichungen zur Religionsgeschichte 33)
Köln: Böhlau Verlag 2003
German Anthropology Online

Book review

Ulrich Oberdiek

Sufism in Germany: Germans on the path of mystic Islam
This is the first scientific survey portraying the broad range of universalistic and traditional Islamic-mystical communities and teachers in Germany (Hazrat Inayat Khan, Pir Vilayat Khan, I. and Omar Ali Shah, Naqshbandiyya-Haqqaniyya, Sheikh Nazim, Burhaniyya, Salah Eid, Halisiyye, Sheikh Abdullah Halis Dornbrach, Tariqah as-Safinah, Sheikh Bashir Ahmad Dultz). The author discusses some aspects of the history of reception of Sufism in the German language area, starting from medieval connections, by intellectuals (v. Hammer-Purgstall, J.W.v. Goethe, F. Rückert, F.A.G. Tholuck) and in oriental sciences. Major focus is on the Sufi orders whose members are mostly Germans. Many follow the Cyprus-based teacher Sheikh Nazim al-Haqqani of the Naqshbandi tradition. But there are German Sufi Sheikhs as well who have been initiated in oriental countries. Schleßmann discusses the following questions: what do teachers expect of their pupils?, what are the conditions for a successful Sufi life in the western context?, what do pupils expect? The author shows that the Sufi movement has consolidated after a period of 30 years.

A New Life with Allah

From the German Press

Das neue Leben mit Allah

WELTONLINE
24. February 2007

Von Eva Eusterhus

The number of Germans converting to Islam is increasing especially amongst young men and women who take the decision to abandon their previous lives and become Muslims. Why? Three female converts from Hamburg give an answer.

It was on a Thursday one and a half years ago that Sonja encountered Allah for the first time. A religious teacher of a Sufi Order extended his hand to her and suddenly there was, “this celestial feeling”. It happened to Ashraf two years ago. He resisted it to begin with but then he went into the prayer room. At some point he put his hands over his eyes and cried. It was completely different for Silke. She was sitting on her bed reading the Qur’an when she suddenly felt, “butterflies in her tummy”.

As different as the descriptions of Sonja’s, Ashraf’s, and Silke’s ‘revelations’ are, there is one thing they all have in common: all three have converted to Islam. They each belong to different currents of Islam but what unites them as Muslims is the conviction that the world is Allah’s creation, that Islam is the last of the revealed religions, and that Muhammad is its Prophet.

They are not alone; the number of Germans who take the step to Islam has increased greatly in recent years according to a study of the German Islamic Archives in Soest. Increasingly more young German women especially can be seen in the mosques of Hamburg for example. It appears that they are attracted by the Muslim world view that allows no division between Church and State, priests and laity, or divine and human rights.

The search for the meaning of life
At least that is how it was for Sonja. Questions such as, “Who am I, what is the meaning of life, is there a life after death?” began to build up inside her but she found no clear answers. Until the day when a friend invited her to a hadra, the weekly meeting of the Sufi order of the Burhaniya Tariqa. Initially it was the social aspect and the dance-prayers that drew the passionate musician to attend every Thursday. Then she was given a prayer to read and finally something clicked. She can’t describe exactly what it was that convinced her but any doubts faded in relation to the general realization of the relevance of Islam.

For the full article click here

The Sufi Meditation of As-Sayed Nurjan Mirahmadi

From the Argentinian Press

La meditación Sufi de As-Sayed Nurjan Mirahmadi
El Ciudadano: El diario de mayor tirada en Bariloche

As-Sayeed Nurjan Mirahmadi will be appearing tonight. The distinguished Sufi instructor is coming here for the first time. Announced as “a unique experience in South America” and with the motto “releasing your soul” the event is supported by the municipal direction for local culture. Recognized world-wide as one of the best instructors of Sufi meditation and a founding trustee of the internationally recognised Islamic Supreme Council of America, he will be offering an open talk on the management of spiritual energy and the dance of whirling dervishes. The instructor of the Sufi Order announces that understanding the submission of the mind, body and soul is about learning the technique of meditation on the prophetic light; understanding the reality of the lataif (chakras), the angelic sanctions and the sacred energy in the five levels of the heart. Announced as a unique experience in South America, followers and lovers of alternative energies will have the possibility of establishing a first approach with the meditation instructor of the Sufi center this evening. The center organizes workshops throughout the year in different parts of America, Europe and Asia. As-Sayed Nurjan Mirahmadi, indicates that “we are surrounded by energy” and his teaching is about “learning how to interact with it and how to use it in daily meditation practice. Energy is strongly related to light, and is a medium by which spiritual blessings are transmitted and that can directly affect the states of the heart”.

Amongst his planned activities while here, Mirahmadi will be available in the central library to sign editions of his books.

Poetry, wisdom and women of peace

[From the Italian language press]:

«“Anam Cara”: poesia, saggezza e donne di pace» convegno internazionale organizzato nella città di Udine dall'associazione "All" (associazione laureate in lingue) su Donne di pace, sciamani, migrazioni, «r-evoluzioni».

Carta, Italia - 12 marzo 2007 - by Daniele Barbieri

«“Anam Cara”: poetry, wisdom and women of peace» is an international conference organized in the city of Udine from the association “All” (association graduated in languages - pun intended) on Women of peace, shamans, migrations, “r-evolutions”.

“Anam Cara” in gaelic language means “spirit friend” and by extension indicates a guide that can be a shaman or an artist, often a woman.

Between those who fight in the storm were: Maria Fedulova (Russian Federation of the mothers of the soldiers), Zalina Tauchelova of the mothers of Beslan, Liz Goldstein of the “ American Mothers against the juvenile militarization”, twenty-years old Rae Abilhad of Codepink.org [women for peace] but also Maria Pia Cedolini, educator engaged in a project against the trade of human beings, Fausta Gerin of West [Women East Smuggling Trafficking], Chiara Romanello of Amnesty International.

From another segment of reality, far from the spotlights but also often storm-tossed, two shamans : Granmother Sara, leader of the native-americans Mohawak, and Habiba Sufi, a tabib [healer] from Uzbekistan.

Nearly impossible not to remain bewitched discovering myths of the creation told by Granmother Sara from the "Turtle clan" or learning more about the historical and religious patchwork which lies behind Samarkand and Uzbekistan, the land where from Habiba's sufism comes.

What they all have in common is a “R-evolution”… to use an expression stolen from a verse of the South African poet Natalia Molebatsi.

Sounds with heart-wrenching Sufi poetry in Mumbai

By Divya Unny - Daily News & Analysis - Mumbai, India

Monday, March 19, 2007

Musical production ‘Darb-Al-Harir’ is all set to premiere in Mumbai on March 23

It is not often that music lovers encounter the blend of so many diverse tunes on one single platform. Presenting a unique and fascinating merger of classic Arabic, Spanish flamenco, Rajasthani tribal, carnatic, hindustani classical and many more tunes is the musical production ‘Darb-Al-Harir’ (‘The Silky Paths’) which will premier at the NCPA on March 23.

Probably the only production of its kind, Darb-Al-Harir attempts to familiarise audiences with various sounds predominated by heart-wrenching Sufi poetry.

Says music composer Nishith Mehta, “Our lead singer Maryam is Algerian and it was her idea to create something with seventh century poet Al Halej’s sufi poetry. As we went ahead with it, there were various different musicians we encountered from varied cultures who incorporated their styles into the production. We wouldn’t call it world or fusion music, but just multiple music sensibilities coming together.”

The group has performed in several cities across India and has received diverse reactions from audiences, though they believe in maintaining the identity of every musician in the group. “We have extreme genres like carnatic classical and kutch bhajans put together, but we want listeners to identify with each sound differently,” he says.

Though there is no primary message the group tries to convey through their music, Nishith asserts that it is a conscious effort to promote Rajasthani tribal music, which has been brutally ignored. “Tribal music has never been encouraged independently but always been considered an accompanist with tribal dance. We want to break this conception.”

The eight-member production is a collaborative effort by Musica Productions (India), Alterites Continents and Musiques (France) in association with The French Embassy; it plans to travel across Europe in late September.

“It works like Sidol (stainless steel cleaner)

From the German Press

"Das wirkt wie Sidol"
Hilfssteuermann des sufistischen Glaubens: Scheich Hassan Dyck.
HNA Online
By Bastian Ludwig
Saturday 9^th March, 2007

Kassel: Shaykh Hassan Dyck, the leading representative of Islamic Sufism in Germany, is coming to Kassel today. Sufis are also known as the mystics of Islam. Their history goes back to the seventh century. The Shaykh explained Sufi teachings in an interview:

What is Sufism?

Hassan Dyck: You can imagine it like a picture, the Shariah, Islamic law, is the sea and Sufism is the ship. It is the practical application of Islam whose commands to sincerity, humility, and discernment are our orientation points. The Sufi path is one of learning, experiencing, and tasting faith. Muhammed once said that the aim is to perfect the human character, this is our aspiration.

Do you taste your religion?

Dyck: If I didn’t then I would have left this path that I’ve been on for thirty years a long time ago. Belief must be experienced otherwise what is the purpose of religion? God doesn’t need our belief.

What role do you play?

Dyck: I am like a helper to the helmsman, the head of our order, Muhammad Nazim Efendi, who lives in Cypress.

How do we imagine a Sufi evening?

Dyck: I play classical cello and I bring in Oriental influences. It sounds like minimal jazz, blues, and trance. The ideas in the songs come from the Sufi tradition and I translate them into contemporary language. In my ‘Ego Song’ I sing, ‘I, I, I, want everything for me.’ It can be very funny as well. Finally we have a 1500 year old Sufi practice behind us. I lead the participants in dhikr, the remembrance of God. Motivated by the chanting in which holy words are repeated hundreds of times the dervishes begin to dance by whirling.

What is the aim in this?

Dyck: We imagine that the human soul is a mirror that reflects the divine light. The bad in the world obscures the mirror with a thick layer. Ecstatic mantra singing works like steel-cleaner. You have to scrub until the ray of light is reflected again.

Do you experience prejudice?

Dyck: I perceive Islamophobia. There isn’t enough clarification therefore we strive all the more to present the beautiful side of Islam.

Is it necessary for a guest to be familiar with Sufism?

Dyck: No, it is such a basic human story you don’t need to bring anything for that. The Sufi path has always existed, you come from God and you return to God. It doesn’t matter whether the Prophet’s name is Jesus or Muhammad; whether Jew, Christian, or Muslim, there is much in common. Religions must give up the kind of arrogance that says, ‘We’ve got the best!’

Morocco: Faouzi Skali offers a Sufi festival to Fez.

[From the French language press]:

L'anthropologue Faouzi Skali vient de dévoiler le programme de la première édition qui se tiendra du 27 avril au 2 mai prochains.

Libération(Casablanca), Morocco / All Africa- mardi 27 février 2007 - par Léo Purguette

The anthropologist Faouzi Skali has just revealed the program of the first edition [of the Sufi festival] which will be held from April 27th until May 2nd [in the city of Fez, Morocco].

He specifies it immediately: his aim is not to make a festival of “spirituality”, for spirituality does not need a festival: it lives at the bottom of the heart.

On the other hand, Faouzi Skali affirms his will to popularize the sufi spirit and to go beyond the framework of the Brotherhoods (Turuq Tijania, Qadiriya, Boutchichiya, Charqawiya and Ouazzaniya will be equally represented).

And indeed, the programming of the Festival shows the diversity of the Sufi culture. The young "slammer"Abdelmalik will be present, to incarnate the revival of sufi poetry.

The film “Bab' Aziz, the prince who contemplated his soul” by Nacer Khemir, will be projected to represent a cinema which "does not need to say that it is sufi because, simply, it is".

Many more and more traditional events are envisaged throughout the six evenings.

Also the trains slow down

ANI/DI Cor - Daily India - Jacksonville, FL, U.S.A.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Sufism is an integral part of Indian heritage, and people of all faiths revere Sufi saints.

These feelings of communal amity come out loud and clear during the annual Urs ceremony of Sufi saint Baba Barchchi Bahadur here in Aligarh.

The baba's dargah or mausoleum lies adjacent to the railway track in Aligarh. It is 600-years-old. A large number of devotees from different religious backgrounds come to pray at the Baba's dargah.

"We come to this dargah, as we find happiness. All our wishes are fulfilled. Baba fulfils all our wishes," claims Sapna, a Hindu devotee. Jagat Singh, a Sikh devotee, says, "Ever since somebody told me about this dargah dedicated to Baba, I have been coming here regularly. Barchhi Baba accepts the prayers of all those who come here with faith and love in their hearts."

The annual Urs is attended by a huge gathering of devotees. Qawwals sing paeans in praise of the saint, people offer chadars and threads and the faithful distribute food to the needy.

Aushe, a Sufi Qawwal who sings hymns in the dargah complex, has immense faith in Baba. He believes the Baba showers his blessings on Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs or Christians, and adds that everybody's prayers are accepted.

Legend has it that when the Britishers were laying railway track in Aligarh in the 19th century, they found the Baba's dargah coming in the way and sought to shift the mausoleum. When the first step was being taken to shift the mausoleum, trains started getting jammed, and the railway authorities then had no alternative except to change the direction of the railway track.

Thus, Baba's miraculous powers were established.

To this day, irrespective of religious barriers, Baba's dargah is visited by one and all. The trains running on the nearby tracks also slow down to pay respect to this saint. What more can be said?

*Bleu univers* by Tarek Issaoui

[From the French language press]:

Résumé du roman *Bleu univers* de Tarek Issaoui: Un mathématicien découvre la forme de l’univers. Au fil des pages, il livre le fruit d’une réflexion qui embrasse sciences, arts et mystique.

Agora Vox, France - lundi, 26 février 2007 - par Akram Belkaïd

Summary of the novel *Bleu univers* (Blue universe) by Tarek Issaoui: A mathematician discovers the shape of the universe. Through the pages, he delivers the fruit of a reflexion which embraces sciences, arts and mystic.

There is also in this novel, a wink - light but real - at the sufi mysticism for which the universe can concentrate on one point and for which the search can lead only to one vision among so many others of the truth.

To gather all the directions in only one, to fold up the space, to curve it. To end up drawing this sphere whose center is everywhere, and the circumference nowhere. In short, to approach the sacred letter Alif, this place where, without merging, are all the places of the Univers, seen from all the angles.

Tarek Issaoui
Bleu univers
Edition Scali
178 pages
€ 18

Sonia attends sufi singer's concert

PTI/The Hindu - Chennai, India

Saturday, March 17, 2007

New Delhi: It was a musical night out for the family of Congress president Sonia Gandhi here on Saturday: Ms. Gandhi and her kin enjoyed a performance by famous Pakistani sufi singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan.

Ms. Gandhi's mother Paola Maino, son Rahul, daughter Priyanka and son-in-law Robert Vadra, were among the VVIPs who attended the concert at Siri Fort Auditorium.

Khan began the concert with his first Bollywood hit number `Lagi Tum Se Man Ki Lagan' from the film `Paap.' The Pakistani vocalist, who is the nephew of the late legendary singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, is known for songs in the sufi genre.

The concert was organised by the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation. Ms. Gandhi is the chairperson of the Foundation.

[Picture: Priyanka Vadra and Rahul Gandhi with their grandmother Paola Maino arrive for a concert by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan in New Delhi on Saturday. - Photo by Special Arrangement]

Recipe for success

Malaysian Star - Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

Saturday, March 17, 2007

Spices are an inescapable part of Malaysian life. Every local cuisine uses a spice of some kind, yet not every consumer is aware of the long and glorious history of the spice trade.

The Spice Journeys exhibition at the Islamic Arts Museum aims to highlight the link between trade, spices and the expansion of Islam. The colourful story they are telling is accompanied by equally colourful pictures and artefacts.

Spices were clearly an essential part of early Islamic cuisine, and have remained so ever since. The Sufi master Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi used food as a metaphor in much of his philosophy and organised his dervish brotherhood around the kitchen. Among the spices that appeared in his recipes were cumin, black pepper, cinnamon and sumac.

(...)

Spices changed every life they touched, and with the greater availability after the 17th century, they touched a huge number of lives. The world’s rarest produce has today become among the most commonplace things.

There are a few exceptions, however: saffron is still worth considerably more than its weight in gold. The most exotic manifestation of spices is now reserved for perfumes. Nina Ricci’s classic L’Air du Temps somehow seems more magical when it is revealed that it incorporates bergamot, sandalwood and clove, as well as the musk that was such a delight to the Prophet Muhammad.

How these came to be in Ricci’s perfume is very much a result of the Islamic world’s contribution to trade.

The exhibition shows how this contribution worked. There are navigational instruments such as astrolabes – for helping mariners find their way, as well as getting their prayer times right – to medical books that emphasise the importance of certain spices.

Even public bathhouses, which later acquired a different sort of reputation, were once an important link in the spice trade.

The most profitable destination in this global network was South-East Asia. As the source of the most expensive of all spices, it eventually became a significant part of the Islamic world. Arab traders had been visiting the Malay Archipelago long before it became Muslim.

Journeys: Taste and Trade in the Islamic World is at the Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia until April 18

Dancing her surrender to the Almighty Beloved

By Jaya Narayanan Pisharoty - The Hindu - Chennai, India

Friday, March 16, 2007

Manjari Chaturvedi, a leading Kathak dancer from the Lucknow gharana, has blended the mysticism of Sufism with the classicism of Kathak to evolve a new kind of dance, Sufi Kathak.

"It is new and yet ancient," says Manjari. "Sufi poetry existed in the form of Qawwalis in the Indian sub-continent and Kathak is a classical art form. Sufi Kathak is a part of the mainstream; the theme, costume and music are different but the grammar is the same."

She presented an evening of Sufi Kathak in Thrissur. The recital was organised by Thalam Cultural Trust in association with Thrissur Public Library. The theme of the evening was the spiritual journey of a woman from self-absorbed vanity to a complete surrender to the Almighty.

Manjari Chaturvedi's innovative choreography was based on the Sufi tenets and the musical accompaniment was the Qawwali. Any dance item is always rehearsed to a fixed piece of music and rhythm but the Qawwals are accustomed to unstructured singing. Their music is spontaneous and free-ranging and cannot be restricted by the formal requirements of a dance.

And it is on this that Manjari innovates on stage . She believes it is divine inspiration and indeed her `chakkars' are reminiscent of the whirling dervishes of Sufism.

All the dances were set to the verses of Sufi poet Amir Khusro. In the first item, `Eri Sakhi' in Brijbhasha, Manjari portrayed the nayika who decks herself in finery to welcome her beloved. She dances to please him.

In `Chab Tilak,' the young girl thinks she can mesmerise her beloved (the Almighty) with her beauty; one look at his enchanting face and she surrenders herself to him.

Manjari's slow and meditative movements suited the spiritual mood of the composition. Her exquisite handwork and expressive abhinaya conveyed sequentially the vanity of the girl, her fascination for the beauty of her beloved and finally her complete absorption in Him.

As one dance merged into the next due to the unity of the theme, Manjari swayed and twirled, losing herself to the music, to the spirituality of the song. The dance and the dancer became one. This loss of individual identity is precisely the point of Sufi Kathak. The dancer tries to convey through an art form, the formlessness of the Divine.

In the next dance, the music reached a crescendo and the Qawwals sang out - "Maula!" - and Manjari whirled with arms held aloft in supplication. The last dance of the evening, ironically entitled `Rang,' had Manjari attired in black. This composition invites the Sufi saints to celebrate Holi [True Love/Spring Festival of Colours].

There was no flamboyance or the slightest element of exhibition in the recital. The movements were controlled and inward looking. Manjari's costume changed from peach and gold to a spiritual white and then to black. This is symbolic of the seeker's journey from consciousness of self to a higher state of spirituality and finally in identification with the formlessness of the Almighty.

The soulful singing by a group of six Qawwals, led by Nurul Hasan, added to the spiritual ambience of the recital.

Heritage of Hope

By Jaskiran Kaur - Express India - Chandigarh, India

Friday, March 16, 2007

Yousuf Saeed is creating an opportunity for dialogue and co-existence through his films

The world is starving for Amir Khusrau. For a poet’s vision, a writer’s wisdom and sufi’s soul. “Khusrau is perhaps the biggest example of a multi-faceted personality. He and the poets, the sufis of past with their movements have been proof of cultural co-existence, of peaceful plurality and amazing tolerance,”

Delhi-based filmmaker, Yousuf Saeed sets the screen for his documentary, ‘Khayal Darpan - A Mirror of Imagination,’ shown at CSNA Auditorium, State Library, Sector 34.

Shot across the border, through the meandering gullies of Pakistan, in search of lost legacies, the film is Saeed’s way of connecting with the past. “Today, the Hindus and Muslims have been polarised into their extremes, there was a past where such a polarisation wasn’t there. Partition created a vacuum which is taking years to fill...” If ‘47 saw gharanas and singers moving to Pakistan, then it also saw their patrons, the Hindus and the Sikhs, back in India.

The documentary raises questions on how music suffered in Pakistan, how the Government never promoted the arts, and it still doesn’t have a organised music industry despite the swelling talent.

What began as ‘Amir Khusrau’s legacy in Pakistan’ ended up as an opportunity to create dialogue and co-existence in the two worlds.

“Culture, literature, identities....these are things that keep evolving. Everything is a blend, nothing’s pure. This is where concept of Khusrau is relevant in today’s times. The world needs that multi-cultural dimension to exist in the ‘global village’. And tolerance is the key.”

You can’t survive in a nucleus, feels Saeed, who’s been part of Turning Point series on DD, made umpteen number of documentaries including a series on Ladakh and Khusrau. “It’s difficult, this medium for there are no takers of it. Our marketing in documentaries is poor,” rues Saeed.

But it does not deter this independent thinker of the new world to continue with his work.

“I look for the positives. Films like Black Friday and Parzania border on a certain hopelessness and blame game. I would rather hang on to hope.”

So, it’s India and music, and then perhaps a documentary on sufi shrines across India where people from all religions come. To the past, the present and a turning point called Yousuf Saeed.

[Picture from documentary Khayal Darpan: http://tinyurl.com/32ekyg
( Yousuf Saeed' film/videography at www.alif-india.com/films.html)]

Questions of a Searching Heart

PR Web - Ferndale, WA, U.S.A.

Friday, March 16, 2007

Not revelation, but the accent, the flavor of revelation, this commentary, called Sufi, by author Sharon Marcus, offers a description or analysis of the mysteries at the heart of Sufi experience.

Says Marcus, "The true study of Sufism does not begin in a book or in scholarly investigations because this is an inner pursuit, a path which lies within that must be examined experientially by anyone who has a hunger to know what must be known, and that translated means a hunger for God and His truth."

The book contemplates the soul from the human perspective leading to an awareness that we came from God, and are mirrors of His light which will be reflected back into Him one day.

Marcus speaks of our obligations because of this divine origin, this connection and destiny -- "As reflections of a formless power," says Marcus, "we must manifest in what we do, what we think, what we say, what we believe."

The book shows how studying and acquiring His attributes brings about a transformation.

Book StatisticsISBN(s):
09737534-3-9
Retail Price(s): $26.95 CDN * $ 24.95 USD
Size and Format(s): 5.5 x 8.5 paperback
Page count: 433
Publication Date: 2006
Availability: Chapters/indigo.ca, Amazon.ca http://www.sufipress.com/

Ours is not a caravan of despair

Turkish Press - Plymouth, MI, U.S.A.
Thursday, March 15, 2007

A commemoration ceremony took place at the Congress Library building in Washington D.C. to mark the 800th anniversary of the birthday of Jalal ud-din Rumi, also known as Mevlana.

U.S. Undersecretary for Public Diplomacy Karen Hughes, Turkish MPs Vahit Erdem, Egemen Bagis, Reha Denemec, Bihlun Tamayligil and Ersin Arioglu; Turkish Ambassador to the United States Nabi Sensoy, and leading Turkish businessman Rahmi Koc were in attendance at the ceremony sponsored by the Koc Holding.

Wirling dervishes performed their dance and music ceremony called "sema" representing man's ascent through mind and love to the "Perfect".

Turkish singer Ahmet Ozhan also gave a concert during the ceremony.

Mevlana devoted himself to the pursuit of Sufi mysticism, in which he was justly regarded as the supreme master. He was the spiritual founder of the Mevlevi order of whirling dervishes.

His most important work, composed during the last ten years of his life, is the Mathnawi-i Manawi (Mesnevi). This comprises about thirty thousand couplets in six books, a vast compendium of Sufi lore and doctrine, interspersed with fables and anecdotes.

It is especially remarkable for its insight into the laws of physics and psychology.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared 2007 as the "International Rumi Year". This is intended for the commemoration of Rumi's 800th birthday anniversary and will be celebrated all over the world.

The Mevlana annual festival is held every year in Konya in December. It lasts for two weeks and its culminating point is the 17th December called Sheb-i Arus meaning "Nuptial Night", the night of the union of Mevlana with God.

"Come, come, whoever you are,
wanderer, idolater, worshipper of fire,
come even though you have broken your vows a thousand times,
come, and come yet again.
Ours is not a caravan of despair"

Mevlana calls on everyone.

Life in colour

By Parul - Express India - Chandigarh, India
Friday, March 16, 2007

The elements change, so do colours, but your basic personality reflects in your work, I have a distinct style, which is so easily recognizable, see them anywhere and you know these are my paintings and drawings,’’ says Madan Lal, who recently held a show of his works, Celebration in Colour in Delhi.

A painter, who is also a poet, the Sufi intent is clearly visible on Madan’s canvas.

“Sufi poets use complex symbolic expression, their poetry is composed in lyrical forms, set to the tunes of local folk music. Their mission is to reach the hearts of ordinary men and women. My works are about such ordinary men and women,’’ explains the painter.

In his works abstract and reality blend beautifully and the canvas is clear and bright, yet, lot is left to the imagination of the viewer.

Life’s a journey and Madan has depicted it delicately and mystically in these works. “The idea behind each exhibition is to give something fresh and explore new possibilities and experiment.

I like making use of many possibilities and with my colours I create washes, transparent effects, a matte look, but ultimately it’s the feeling in your work that matters the most, and it also reflects,’’ smiles Madan, all set to create something spectacular for another group show.

Delhi's Dargah of Faith and Love

Staff writer /ANI - Daily India - Jacksonville, FL, U.S.A.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

New Delhi: We cannot help being born black, white or Caucasian, any more than we can decide the faith into which we are born.

And, just because we speak different languages, eat different foods, have different customs, and follow different religions does not mean that we cannot live next to each other.

Few countries in the world have such an ancient and diverse culture as India. Stretching back to over 5000 years, India's culture has been enriched by successive waves of migration, which eventually absorbed the Indian way of life. It is this variety, which is a special hallmark of India.

This can be clearly seen at the shrine of Sufi saint, Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia in Delhi. Those who come here and sing in praise of the almighty, connect in a bond of faith and love.

The show of reverence knows no caste, creed or religion. It is one of the most revered Sufi shrines in the subcontinent.

Sufism is a school for the actualization of divine ethics. It involves an enlightened inner being, not intellectual proof; revelation and witnessing, not logic... It is a faith of the masses and for centuries, it has drawn on and has been influenced by the practice of both Hinduism and Islam, in India.

Sufi saints were both popular and influential because they identified themselves with popular traditions, customs, practices and beliefs.

"I have been coming here for a long time now. I come here to seek blessings and offer my respects. Of course inherent faith should be there. People from all religions come here," a visitor to the dargah says.

Deepankar Gupta, a sociologist, agrees that it is very important to uphold these secular traditions, which form a part of India's composite culture.

"Yes, there has been a composite culture. Sufism has a lot of elements that were kind of Hindu in orientation. Sikhism grew out of Hinduism, Jainism grew, Buddhism grew. But I must learn to respect a Sikh for being a Sikh. That is very important in secularism," says Gupta.

This dargah, therefore, serves as the perfect place to seek solace irrespective of caste, colour or creed.

[Picture:www.chishti.ru/sufi_photos.htm]

TV 'Retreat' participant hits out

By Simon Greenhalgh - This is Cheshire - U.K.

Thursday, March 15, 2007

A Bowdon resident who starred in a fly on the wall three-part television documentary has hit out at the programme makers.

The final episode of The Retreat - that followed six British volunteers on a four week Sufi Islamic retreat in Spain - was shown on BBC 2 on Monday night.

Aisha Alvi, aged 31, claims the documentary's producers, Tiger Aspects, omitted vital footage.
"I felt quite intimidated at times and my biggest complaint is the way the programme has been edited," said Aisha.

"Sufism is a very mystical form of Islam and I understood from the offset that there would be certain things I wouldn't be comfortable with.

"But I was portrayed as someone who was very dogmatic and the impression given on the voice over is that I am constantly opting out.

(...)

At the beginning of Monday night's episode it wasn't clear whether Aisha would last the four weeks. But she decided to stay and saw one of her fellow participants, Pom, convert to Islam.
"Yes it was a journey for some of the others, but for me I felt disappointed by what happened.

(...)

[There is a debate at the end of this News report: click on the article's title above]

Rumi in Rome

[From the Italian language press]:

Il 21 marzo è la giornata mondiale della poesia in tutti gli stati membri dell'UNESCO. A Roma, all'Auditorium "Parco della Musica" avrà luogo una serata culturale centrata intorno al tema "Viaggio verso" per celebrare la diversità e la ricchezza delle culture.

Abitare a Roma / Online News - venerdì 16 marzo 2007

21st March is World Poetry Day in all the states members of the Unesco. In Rome, at the Auditorium "Parco della Musica" there will be a cultural evening revolving around the theme "Travel towards", celebrating the diversity and richness of cultures.

First part of the evening is dedicated to a reading of classic Italian poetry, from Saint Francis of Assisi to Pier Paolo Pasolini. The second part is dedicated to Rumi, the great Persian poet, chosen passages of whom will be read from the Mathnawi and the Shams-e Tabriz' Diwan.

The readings drawn from these masterpieces will be accompanied with Persian music played with traditional instruments. Tambur, setar and tar will be played by the Iranian artist Siamak Guran; daff and dairé by Paolo Modugno, the zarb by Paolo Pacciolla. Voices: Simone Franco and Lucia Antolini.

Professor Gabriele Mandel Khan, head of the Italian branch of the Jerrahi-Halveti sufi Brotherhood, curator and translator of the main work of Rumi, the Mathnawi, will take part, as well as the wandering poet Gezim Hajdari.

[Visit also: www.unesco.it and http://tinyurl.com/25k2k7 (Online News it);

for World Poetry Day: http://tinyurl.com/yvnqmh (www.unesco.org )]

Mawlana Jalaladdin Rumi conference in Washington D.C.

Rumi Forum - Washington D.C., U.S.A.

Friday, March 16, 2007

My Mother is Love

My Father is Love

My Prophet is Love

My God is Love

I am a child of Love

I have come only to speak of Love.

“Come, whoever you are come!”

The Rumi Forum is proud to announce, in honor of UNESCO declaring 2007 the year of Mawlana Jalaladdin Rumi, a conference on the life and works of Rumi.

This conference will be held in cooperation with Professor Seyyed Hussain Nasr’s office at the George Washington University on March, Friday 16th (6.30 p.m.) and March, Saturday 17th (9.00 a.m. - 5.45 p.m.).

[Full program and all infos: click on the title above. Also, visit: www.rumiforum.org ]

The conference will be followed by a special performance of the Whirling Dervishes of Rumi
[about location, tickets etc. click: http://tinyurl.com/24ehlu ].

Iran, Afghanistan and Turkey whirl together

SN/MR/BG - Press TV - Tehran, Iran
Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Iran and Turkey will hold an international conference to commemorate the 800th birthday of the celebrated persian sufi poet Rumi.

Iran's cultural attaché to Turkey, Farhad Palizaban, announced plans to also prepare a sidebar exhibit to introduce Iran's tourist attractions to the public during the Rumi conference.

Palizaban said both programs are an opportunity to familiarize foreigners with Iranian culture.

"We are also working on a bilingual collection of Rumi's Masnavi in both Farsi and Turkish to be published in the coming months," he told reporters. Masnavi is one of the best known and most influential works of both Sufism and Persian literature. The more than 25,000 verses that make up the six volume collection relate hundreds of stories which illustrate man's predicament in his search for God.

During his lifetime, Rumi lived in Iran, Turkey and Afghanistan. The three countries will offer independent events throughout 2007 to honor the transcendental poet.

Masnavi translated to Russian

ST/KB - Press TV - Tehran, Iran

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Concurrent with the scientific conference of "A Glance at Mystic Literature", the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences has unveiled the Russian translation of the first book of Rumi's Masnavi.

The conference was held with the participation of a number of orientalists including the head of Department of Textology and Literary Monuments, Natalia Prigarina.

Iran's cultural attaché to Russia, Mehdi Imanipur also gave a speech during the opening ceremony of the event on March 12th, pointing to the ancient history and spiritual value of the Persian language.

Rumi did not compose poems for the sake of poetry; his purpose was to delineate mystical concepts, Dr. Nayyeri from Shiraz University said during his lecture at the conference.

Masnavi al Ma'navi ("Rhyming Couplets of Profound Spiritual Meaning") by Jalal al-Din Mohammad Rumi is one of the best known and most influential works of both Sufism and Persian literature. Comprising six books of poems, it illustrate man's predicament in his search for God.

Calligraphy and Concert in Bahrain

Gulf Daily News - Manama, Bahrain
Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Iranian artist Golnaz Fathi's exhibition at the La Fontaine Centre of Contemporary Art in Manama will open tomorrow [today, Thursday the 15th] at 6pm.
The work of this well-known artist has been exhibited extensively in many museums and galleries throughout the Middle East, the US and Europe - including the British Museum in London - over the last decade.

Inspired by Iranian cultural heritage, Persian traditional calligraphy and poetry like those written by Nizar Qabbani, the great Syrian poet who wrote extensively on womanhood, Golnaz's passion gave her the dedication to practice her skill for up to seven hours a day. This degree of commitment was rewarded with the prestigious award for Best Woman Calligraphist in the Ketabat style.

The exhibition will be held until April 26 and is open to all from 10am-1pm and from 4pm-7pm, Saturdays to Thursdays.

Meanwhile, La Fontaine, in association with Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, is presenting a night of authentic Sufi music with Salar Aghili on March 21.

Sufi music has retained a unique emotional authenticity, which derives from its mystical heritage and inspiration.

When expressed through the medium of Salar Aghili's rare and practised vocal technique, it engages all our senses and carries our imagination off to a bygone age of heroic chivalry.

[Read also:http://sufinews.blogspot.com/search?q=calligraphy]

Website for Mevlana

Turkish Press - Plymouth, MI, U.S.A.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Ankara: Ministry of Culture & Tourism opened a website on the occasion of 800th birth anniversary of the great spiritual leader of Islam's Sufi order, Jalal ud-din Rumi or Mevlana.

The website prepared in the framework of "Mevlana Year" can be found in three different addresses www.mevlana.gov.tr, www.mevlanayili.gov.tr and www.2007mevlanayili.gov.tr

The website depicts Sema -- a Mevlevi ritual of whirling dervishes -- and includes the famous couplet of Mevlana, "Come, come again, whoever you are, come! Heathen, fire worshipper or idolatrous, come! Come even if you broke your penitence a hundred times. Ours is the portal of hope, come as you are."

Mevlana's life, works, religious customs of Mevlevi order of whirling dervishes, information about Mevlana Museum, and Mevlevi places of worship in Turkey can be found in the website.

Officials told that the English version of the site, which is under construction right now, will be available in May.

-MEVLANA AND SEMA-
Mevlana was born on September 30th, 1207 in Balkh, which is now located in Afghanistan. He died in Konya (central Anatolia) on December 17th, 1273. He was laid to eternal rest beside his father and over his remains a splendid shrine was erected in Konya.

Though centuries have passed, many people from around world, come and visit Mevlana.

Mevlana devoted himself to the pursuit of Sufi mysticism, in which he was justly regarded as the supreme master. He was the spiritual founder of the Mevlevi order of whirling dervishes.

His most important work, composed during the last ten years of his life, is the Mathnawi-i Manawi (Mesnevi). This comprises about thirty thousand couplets in six books, a vast compendium of Sufi lore and doctrine, interspersed with fables and anecdotes. It is especially remarkable for its insight into the laws of physics and psychology.

On the other hand, sema represents a man's ascent through mind and love to "perfect." Turning towards the truth, he grows through love, deserts his ego, finds the truth and arrives to the "Perfect."

Then he returns from this spiritual journey as a man who reached maturity and a greater perfection, so as to love and to be of service to the whole of creation, to all creatures without discrimination of beliefs, races, classes or nations.

Thousands of domestic and foreign tourists flow each year in December to Konya, the central Anatolian city, where Mevlana was laid to the eternal rest, and attend the festivals on the night of his death, which he called the night of wedding or "Vuslat Gecesi", since he would meet God finally.

Canada celebrates UNESCO "Year of Rumi"

Canada News Wire - Canada
Monday, March 12, 2007

The Canadian Turkish Cultural Association with the Jerrahi Sufi Order of Canada proudly present "Whirling into Peace", celebrating the life, contributions, and prayer for Global Peace of Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi.

Born in 1207, Rumi is now recognized worldwide as one of the greatest mystical poets of all time.

For the first time in Canada, Rumi's inspiring works will come alive on stage through the recitation of his poetry by acclaimed Turkish musician Ahmet Ozhan, accompanied by reed flutes ("neys"), lutes ("uds"), percussion ("bendirs") and chorus of Ozhan's 10-piece orchestra from Turkey.

Rumi will be further honoured through the ancient practice of whirling, performed by visiting dervishes of the Mevlevi Sufi Order founded by Rumi inthe 13th century.

Event Details:
All proceeds will go towards building the first Canadian Sufi Cultural Centre to help further interfaith dialogue, expand community outreach, and offer a public resource centre

Ottawa: Wednesday, March 21, 2007 at 7:30 p.m. at the National Arts Centre
Toronto: Saturday, March 24, 2007 at 8:00 p.m. at the Centre for the Arts

For more information, visit www.ahmetozhan.ca and www.jerrahi.ca

The Global Oneness Project

By David Ian Miller - San Francisco Chronicle - San Francisco, CA, U.S.A.

Monday, March 12, 2007

Director of the Global Oneness Project talks about his own spiritual practice and what it's like growing up with a father who's a spiritual leader

At first glance, "global oneness" sounds like a stereotypically airy New Age construct -- sweet but signifying nothing in the real world.

But Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee, director of the Global Oneness Project, is determined to document the interconnected nature of all life on earth. He travels the world seeking out stories from people whose work or ideas emphasize oneness with other people, animals and nature.

So far, he's collected some 50 interviews with writers, teachers, healers and activists in the United States, Australia, New Zealand and South America. Their stories are then shared in video interviews on the organization's web site*.

Vaughan-Lee, 27, lives in Point Reyes Station with his wife and two young children. He is a practicing Sufi and the son of Sufi teacher and author Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee. I spoke to him last week in Oakland about what he's learned so far in his travels, his own spiritual practices and what it's like growing up with a father whom others look to for spiritual advice.

What sparked the idea for the Global Oneness Project?
I was working on a film called "One: The Movie" for about nine months in 2005. We were traveling quite a bit, going to film festivals and community screenings, and I was struck by how many people were responding to the movie's focus on unity, on what unites us rather than on what pigeonholes or separates us.

People from all walks of life and backgrounds were telling me, "We want to see more of this." And so we came up with the Global Oneness Project as a way to use the Internet to provide people with an in-depth look at the subject.

What do you hope to accomplish?
Hopefully, to inspire dialogue and new ways of thinking and working in the world. And the way we are going to do that is by getting people to participate, not just by viewing the material but also by providing them with a place to respond to what they have seen.

(...)

Some people might say that the money you're spending in traveling and telling people's stories might be better spent in establishing aid programs that could assist communities in some concrete way. How would you respond to that?
They have a point, but I think there is an argument for both. There is a tremendous amount of money being put into aid programs -- not enough in any way -- but how much money is being put into media programs that go out and cover these stories about everyday people? I don't think there are many. And I especially don't think there are that many which make the stories available free to everybody.

Your father, Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, is a Sheikh of the Naqshbandi Sufi Order and a teacher to many. What was it like growing up with a parent who is a spiritual leader?
When I was young, he was not a spiritual teacher. He was a student of a spiritual teacher. And it wasn't until I was a teenager that he became more of a spiritual teacher. I think my dad just sees himself as a simple guy who is a Sufi, and that a few people like to come and see, and he is really not -- I think "a leader" sounds kind of grand.

Your father is known for dream work, a fusion of the ancient Sufi approach to dreams with the insights of modern psychology. Did you all share your dreams around the breakfast table? Actually, my sister and I got so tired of dreams being shared that when we were about 7 years old we said: "Look! No more dreams at the breakfast table! We don't want to hear about dreams. We want to eat our cereal." Sometimes it got a little bit much.

You know, it's the same with children of psychologists. You learn all of these terms. You know who Freud and Jung are before anybody ever should, right? And so there is a reaction against that. Initially, I just wanted to watch my TV show and play in the backyard and go ride my bike, but as I got older, I learned the value in many of those tools dream work has for dealing with your own psychological process, your own spiritual process and things relating to that.

As a practicing Sufi, what would you say are the most important aspects of your faith?
I can only speak from my point of view. Some spiritual traditions make a distinction between a spiritual practice or teachings and the world. One of the things I like about Sufism, at least the way I observe it, is that there is no separation between these two things. You don't have to meditate off somewhere by yourself, go on retreat or remove yourself from the presence of others.

You can do it while you are in life, while you are a schoolteacher or a parent. I think there's tremendous power in doing a spiritual practice while you are doing everything else, whether it's driving to work or changing my son's diapers. All those little things -- they are a spiritual practice because it's constant remembrance of God, which is a very common Sufi practice.

What are your daily practices?
I meditate, and I have a simple zikir that I do silently. A zikir is the same as a mantra. And so I do that, and I try to live as much in the moment as I can.

How does someone become Sufi?
There are so many different kinds of Sufism that it depends. But one thing that is common among Sufis is a desire for a direct relationship with God, or the Beloved. So that is something that drives someone to become a Sufi.

Depending on where that person is in the world or what option is presented to that person, if they have an innate desire or something happens in their life that brings that desire, they will find a situation that can reflect that most adequately. And that might be Sufism or it might be something else.

(...)

*[http://www.globalonenessproject.org/]

[picture: Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee of the Global Oneness Project talks with an interview subject, Max Harrison, an aboriginal elder from the Yuin nation on the south coast of Australia. Photo by Denise Zabalaga]

Abd al-Malik in Geneva

[From the French language press]:

Sur scène, contrebasse, percussions, batterie, platines et piano s'emmêlent aux bons mots.

En attendant son passage au festival Voix de Fête, mercredi 21 mars, une rencontre avec Abd al Malik, fils d'Allah et de Jacques Brel, s'imposait.

La religion, pour vous, c'est quoi?

Ma religion, c'est le soufisme. Ça n'est pas une branche de l'Islam, mais le cœur.

Tribune de Genéve, Genéve, Suisse - mardi le 13 mars, 2007 - par Fabrice Gottraux

On stage, double bass, percussions, battery, cymbals and piano are mixed with good words. While waiting for his show at the Festival Voix de Fête, Wednesday March 21, in Geneva, Switzerland, a meeting with Abd al-Malik, son of Allah and Jacques Brel, was mandatory.

What is for you, religion?

My religion is Sufism. It is not a branch of Islam, but the heart.

Today one deals with a caricature of this religion. Whereas true spirituality makes it possible the opening toward the other. There is a confusion: one speaks about a political vision of things, whereas spirituality cannot be political. Because on September 11, it is important to specify that I am a sufi. If not, I would have not revealed it. Religion is about Intimacy.

The Arts are about imitating true life. In this case, isn't it God the artist par excellence?

What I do is like a collection of tales. I wanted to be a living Sampler which passes from the song and the text, as it was done in the hip-hop and soul. I remain a rapper. I like Kanye West or Mos Def. But also Jacques Brel.

Did Brel inspire you much?

It is an important model. It had an incredible writing, with such a feeling of simplicity.

This infatuation of the public for slam, where does it come from?

It is a return to the verb. The word stripped of anything else has an incredible strength.

[For place, program and prices: http://www.voixdefete.com/pages/me_21_marspag.html]

An evening to remember

IBN Live/PTI - New Delhi, India

Sunday, March 11, 2007

From soulful Sufi tunes to rhythmic Bhangra beats, singer Kailash Kher gave Delhiites an evening to remember.

At a performance at the Central Park at Connaught Place on Saturday evening, Kher charmed the audience with his raw, rustic voice.

The event was organised by Sahitya Kala Parishad with the Delhi government's art and culture department. Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit was the chief guest at the open-to-all event.

Kher crooned Teri Diwani, a song from an album by his band Kailasha, and also sang his latest hits Ya Rabba (Saalam-e-Ishq) and Duniya Utpatanga (Khosla Ka Ghosla).

He also sang his first smash hit song Allah Ke Bande (Waisa Bhi Hota Hai- II) and the grand finale was a song from his forthcoming album.

[Listen to Kailash Kher's voice: http://www.kailashkher.com/]

“Deviant” religious groups: the Sufis in Qom

[From the French language press]:
Le pouvoir s’attaque avec plus de vigueur aux groupes religieux «déviants», comme les soufis à Qom (un important khaneqâh, centre religieux soufi, a été rasé en 2006), tout en évitant une répression de masse qui mobiliserait la société.

Le Monde Diplomatique - Paris, France - On line jeudi le 22 février 2007 / Édition imprimée, décembre 2006, pages 8 et 9 - par Alexandre Leroi-Ponant

The government has increased its attacks on “deviant” religious groups, such as the Sufis in Qom (where an important khaneqâh or Sufi religious centre was pulled down in 2006), although it has avoided any large-scale repression that might arouse the masses.

[It has just this little reference to Sufism, but this is a very informative article about Iran, of which Le Monde Diplomatique itself offers translations into English, Arabic and Portuguese. Click on the title above and then go to the bottom of the French text and select from traductions de cet article (translations of this article).]

Whirling Dervishes at the University of Utah

Deseret News - Salt Lake City, UT, U.S.A.

Saturday, March 10, 2007

The Multicultural Arch Foundation of Salt Lake City, a nonprofit organization promoting intercultural and interfaith activities, will co-sponsor a special series of performances by the Order of the Whirling Dervishes of Turkey.

The Order of the Whirling Dervishes is one branch of the vast Sufi tradition of Islam. Sufism espouses a moderate interpretation of Islam, which focuses on tolerance and is very much relevant to the social and political realities of today.

"Whirling World: A Mystical Performance by the Whirling Dervishes of Rumi and a Classical Sufi Music Concert" will take place at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 3, at Kingsbury Hall at the University of Utah. For more information about this event, go to: http://www.whirlingworld.org/.

Labaña presents his poetry collection, ‘The Fragrance of Memory’

From the Spanish press

Labaña presenta su poemario ‘La fragancia de la memoria’

by Mariano Perez Rodenas

Elfaro: Region de Murcia

15^th February 2007

The Chamber of the Faculty of Letters of the University of Murcia extends a welcome this evening to the presentation of the second poetry collection of the Murcian sculptor and poet, Antonio Labaňa, `The Fragrance of Memory'. This is an irresistible opportunity for all lovers of verse that surprises with its unusual settings and displacements. The work will be introduced by the poet Dionisia Garcia.

“The book is a way of seeing life from the point of view of a Sufi that likens the existence of human beings with a garden”. Labaňa notes, “For a garden to exist a source of water is needed and the water must flow and this plays a part in the humanity of the mother”. Labaña dedicates two of the thirty poems in this work to his mother.

This identification with the garden is strengthened by the grouping of the verses in ‘parcels’ which bear names related to flowers. Some of these parcels, for example in `Nine drops of Dew', accommodate poems of only two verses in length that coexist with much longer verses. The author comments that the poems display evidence of his travel experiences in Iran, Jordan, Egypt and Turkey, among other exotic destinations. Perhaps for that reason, Labaña has prepared a presentation of his work that will be, “a delight for the senses” in which the visitors will be able to smell the aromas, hear the music, and enjoy the flavours of the Orient, and all of these strengthened by the illumination expressed through the spirit of the book.

"Grand Magal" in Touba, Senegal

By Bill Weinberg - Reuters/World War 4 Report

Thursday, March 8, 2007

More than a million Muslim pilgrims packed Senegal's remote northeastern city of Touba on Thursday as members of the powerful Mouride brotherhood flocked to "Africa's Mecca" from across the world.

Huge crowds moved shoulder to shoulder in the sweltering heat around the marble Great Mosque as devotees from Senegal joined with Mourides returning from overseas to pay homage to the Sufi Islam movement's founder, Cheikh Amadou Bamba.

The "grand Magal", or "great pilgrimage" in Senegal's national tongue Wolof, commemorates Bamba's exile in 1895 by French colonial authorities, who feared his growing influence.

"This is an extraordinary day. People have come from across Africa, from across the world," said Abdoulaye Gueye, 39, from Senegal's southern town of Ziguinchor. "What you have in Mecca, the prophet of Touba recreated here. It is the same thing."

Lines of pilgrims waited hours in the dust and blistering heat to enter the vast mosque, whose 87-metre (287-foot) tower dominates the skyline of Touba, a holy city controlled by religious authorities where drinking and smoking are forbidden.

Dreadlocked disciples known as Baye Fall dressed in baggy patchwork clothes blew whistles and brandished huge wooden clubs to keep the crowds in order. Many shook silver begging bowls and demanded donations for their religious teachers, or marabouts.

All over town street hawkers sold T-shirts and necklaces bearing the one surviving black-and-white photograph of Bamba, whose doctrine of hard work as a means to reach paradise has made the Mouride order wealthy and powerful in Senegal.

Tens of thousands of pilgrims arrived throughout the night as traffic jams stretched all the way through the countryside to the capital Dakar, 200 km (125 miles) southeast.

Hotels are forbidden in Touba but residents have a proud tradition of hospitality and provide food and accommodation to pilgrims. Hundreds of beggars and cripples roam the sandy streets around the mosque in search of alms.

"Here I can earn enough to sort myself out, and then I will return next year," said Abdoulaye, a one-legged cripple bent over his crutches, who had travelled from neighbouring Mali.

Inside the mosque, pilgrims bowed their heads against the mausoleums of Bamba and his four dead sons, slipping coins through the grating. The current Caliph of Touba is Bamba's last surviving son.

"After the Prophet, Cheikh Mamadou Bamba has been the person who has most influenced Islam," said Mamadou Sarr, a guardian at the tomb of Bamba's best-known disciple, Ibra Fall, the founder of the Baye Fall movement.

Around the tomb, Fall's followers -- who substitute work for their marabout for the five daily prayers of Islam -- wailed the Arabic name of God in a ceaseless chant.

The commercial clout of Mouridism extends far beyond Senegal. Many Senegalese overseas -- including street sellers flogging fake name-brand goods in European capitals and New York -- are industrious Mourides following Bamba's strictures.

From a tiny village at Bamba's birth, Touba and neighbouring Mbacke have become the second largest conurbation in Senegal after Dakar, with a population of more than half a million.

Mouridism is also a powerful political force. President Abdoulaye Wade, re-elected last month, is a member of the brotherhood and travelled to Touba the day after he won power in 2000 to thank religious leaders for their support.

The Senegal Online website provides the following short bio of Cheikh Amadou Bamba (World War 4 translation from the French):

Born in 1853 (year 1272 of hegira), in Mbacke Baol, small village of Senegal founded by his grandfather, Sheik Ahmadou Ibn Mouhammad Ibn Habib Allah, affectionately called by his compatriots Sheik Ahmadou Bamba became one of the most prestigious sons of the Moslem community.

Calling men to turn towards God and preaching non-violence, the quest for useful knowledge, work, pacifistic courage, determination and faith in God, he declared: "I fear only God, I carry my hopes in God, nothing is enough for me if it is not religion and science."

The king of Djoloff [Wolof], Alboury Ndiaye, encouraged him to take up arms against the French colonizers. The hero of Senegal, Lat Dior, placed his confidence in the Sheik and received his prayers before dying under the shells of the colonial army, at the time of the battle of Dékhelé, in October 1886.

A great educator, he became the greatest teacher of his country, devoting himself to this task until the death of his father (1882). In 1883 he founded Mouridism.

"I took from my Lord the order to bring men towards God, the highest. Those which wish to follow this path have only to follow me. As for the others which wish no more than instruction, the country has enough well-read men. Follow those whom you will!"

[Picture: Pilgrims arriving in Touba - Senegal Online www.senegalonline.com http://tinyurl.com/35htoa ]

Dervish: enraptured Irish musicians

By John P. Cleary - Star Gazette - Elmira, NY, U.S.A.

Thursday, March 8, 2007

Brian McDonagh saw a movie about the Whirling Dervishes, a sect of the Sufi religion where practitioners get so caught up in music, they spin around and around. The spinning forms an important part of their religious observance.

McDonagh figured Dervish would be a good name for his band, since the Irish musicians get so enraptured in their performance, it's almost a spiritual experience.

The band includes seven friends who met in a bar: mandola player McDonagh, fiddler Tom Morrow, flutist and whistle player Liam Kelley, singer Cathy Jordan, guitarist and bassist Seamus O'Dowd, accordionist Shane Mitchell and bouzouki and mandocello player Michael Holmes.

The group, which is touring the United States in support of its new CD "Spirit," plays Sunday, March 11, at 171 Cedar Arts Center's Drake House Studio Theater in Corning. The concert begins at 4 p.m.

Data Ganj Buksh’s 963rd Urs in Lahore

By Rana Kashif - Daily Times - Lahore, Pakistan

Thursday, March 8, 2007

LAHORE: The 963rd urs celebrations of Syed Ali Abul Hasan Hajveri (Hazrat Data Gunj Buksh) starts in the city today (Thursday). The Data Darbar administrator, Mirza Nadeem-ul-Hassan, said that the 963rd Urs celebrations would continue till midnight on March 10.

Governor Khalid Maqbool will inaugurate the event by laying a chaddar at the shrine after the Isha prayers. Devotees from various parts of the country have started arriving in the city to pay tributes to the 10th century Sufi.

The first day of the urs is expected to attract 300,000 visitors. Approximately a million devotees are expected to attend the last day of the event.

The shrine and its surrounding area have been decorated with lights. Devotees wearing anklets can be seen performing the traditional dahamal to the beat of drums. The devotees offer chaddars and flower bouquets at the shrine. Many have walked hundreds of miles to pay tribute to the saint.

The tribute includes recitations of the Holy Quran, qawalis, and recitation of naats and poetry by Sufi saints. Many shops in the area sell flowers, rosaries and velvet and silk sheets.

Hotels located near the shrine have no vacancies. The bazaars are packed with visitors distributing niaz or langar (free food) among the poor and the devotees of the saint. The Auqaf department has arranged several programmes on the occasion, including Qaumi Mehfil-e-Naat, recitation of the Holy Quran, Husn-e-Qirat competition, seminars on sufism, speeches and a special dua at the end of the celebrations.

Hazrat Data Gunj Buksh’s was born in the month of Rabi-ul-Awwal (373 AH) in Hujwair (Afghanistan). He was a scholar and wrote several books on sufism including Kashf-ul-Mahjub.

He was a disciple of Mohammad bin Al-Hassan Al-Khuttali and followed the tradition of Junayd in sufism.

He eventually came to Lahore where he died in 1063 or 1071 AD.

Several later Sufis have stayed at the shrine for 40 days to obtain spiritual benefits. The Ghaznavi king, Sultan Zakiruddin Ibrahim, built his mausoleum. The tomb has been renovated and expanded several times. It has been an object of veneration and a place of pilgrimage for over 900 years.

Sufi Persian concert at La Fontaine

Gulf Daily News - Manama, Bahrein
Thursday, March 8, 2007

A Concert of Sufi Persian music by internationally acclaimed Salar Aghili will be held at the La Fontaine Centre of Contemporary Art, Manama, to mark the Persian New Year on March 21.

The event, held in association with Théâtre de la Ville, Paris, will begin at 8pm.
Tickets for the concert are BD12 and BD20, including Persian buffet dinner.

Meanwhile, La Fontaine will be showcasing artwork by Golnaz Fathi entitled "Beyond Words".

Mr Fathi has showcased his work in a number of galleries and museums in the Middle East, Europe, and the US.

"In the world of calligraphy it's the tradition that speaks, you don't have the freedom of your mind," says Golnaz. "I have always loved calligraphy, but it is not important for me what is written there".

The exhibition will open on March 13 and will continue until April 26;
opening hours: 10am to 2pm and 4pm to 7pm.

Mitwa, the Soulmate, will never fail you

By Bindu Chawla - Times of India - New Delhi, India
Thursday, March 8, 2007

It is when the spiritual traditions of the world have celebrated the cosmic yin and yang that they have truly represented God as human, and the human as God as well.

When traditional Sufism celebrates this dialectic of the separation of the human spirit/female from its source/male, and then tells the story of its journey of return, it speaks of
'Allah mujh mein hai, aur main hee Allah mein samaa jaata hoon':
that Allah is in me (the cosmic as micro) and it is me who returns to merge back into Allah (the cosmic as macro) .

With the ballads of Heer-Ranjha, Shirin-Farhad and Sohni-Mahiwal Sufism wears its most endearing face, personalising both the micro and macro manifestations of the cosmos, humanising it.

The same progression can be noticed in the poetry of khayal in Hindustani classical music, since its origins in the form of qawwali. The recurring motif remains the same — the story of separation and union — and of separation and union repeatedly, though material references do see a series of mutations.

A refreshing chapter is opened in the Sufi thought process of the subcontinent, in the form of khayal lyrics penned by Pandit Amarnath, lyrics which improvise in a riot of colours and hues the inner theme or motif of the Mitwa or Soulmate — in the framework of another riot of ragas and raginis.

The coming of the Mitwa is symbolic of the end of existentialism, of existential angst.
The cosmic has stirred. As a release after lifetimes spent in the dark karmic cycles of attachment and confinement.

In Pandit Amarnath's khayal bandishes [compositions] the Mitwa is the Cosmic Itself, an active proof of Its infinite kindness and interest in you.

In the raga Kaunsi Kanhada, Pandit says:
"You took on a form/ You took on a name/ the Mitwa took on an avatar/ to make the temple of my heart His home".

In the raga Saraswati the Mitwa speaks to you as your own reflection. The nayika ["female" or human spirit] says:
"O Mitwa, listen to my heart/ You and i, without speaking, know the speakings of the heart./ From when i became yours —/ since then i became my own as well".
As the beloved, she has found her real or spiritual identity.

In the raga Shree the poet says: "One form pervades my Cosmic heart/ endless and of the beyond./ As the form it is the Paramatma,/ and the Mitwa it is the form".

The Mitwa will never fail you.

In the raga Janasammohini Panditji says:
"Remember Him/ whose remembrance gives you the ultimate joy./ For He, whose feelings i bear in my heart/ will come of his own to enquire of me".

In two bandishes or lyrics for the raga Gauri the poet mulls over the strangeness of fate and 'pre-destined' human pain.
In one: "Evening, and no branch stands alone/ and no nest carries a pain./ I wonder about this again and again".
In the other: "Fly away O bird,/ so little of the day is left./ All the birds have nests and homes,/ in my destiny alone lie pangs of separation".

The chirping birds only echo the dark dungeons of separation, in which the poet lives out his destiny in the Cosmic Weave. But to solve the anguish, the poet knows the way:
"When i meditate,/ appears the Mitwa in darshan (or vision)".

In Marwah, the beloved raga of his Indore gharana, Panditji consoles himself:
"All four directions/ the dusk descends,/ I stand at the door of meditation/ carrying the raga of my heart".

Today is Pandit Amarnath's 11th Barsi.

Conference and Seminary in Granada on Sufism

From the Spanish press

Conferencia y seminario sobre Sufismo en Granada

Source: Diariolatorre.es

El maestro sufí alemán Hussein Abdul Fattah dará un conferencia en el Carmen de la Victoria de Granada el día 14 de Marzo, y desde el 16 al 18 de marzo en la Puebla de Don Fadrique, seminario sobre la actualidad del sufismo. Jornadas abiertas sin diferencias entre credos para explicar un Islam tradicional como lo fue el andalusí.

The German Sufi teacher, Hussein Abdul Fattah, will be giving a conference at Carmen of the Victory in Granada on the 14th of March. From the 16th to the 18th of March he will be leading a seminar at Puebla de Don Fadrique on the current situation of Sufism. These will be open days without differences between creeds to explain traditional Islam as it was in Al-Andalus.

As a Sufi intellectual, Stefan Makowsky (Hussayn Abdul Fattah) has a wide curriculum. Influential Muslim organizations such as the Islamic World Congress and the Islamic World League recognize him internationally for his spiritual capacity and his religious and sociocultural knowledge.

Conference Programme

- 18:00 hrs.: Conference begins

- Reception with Andalusian tea and pastries

- Concert with strings and percussion

- Canticles from the Diwan Andalusia

- Dhikr and dance

- Quranic recitation and talks on spiritual teachings

The seminary will be at the Alqueria de Rosales, at Puebla de Don Fadrique, Granada (Andalusia). The full programme can be found at this link.

On Sufi Shah Inayat Shaheed

Bureau report - The International News - Pakistan
Wednesday, March 7, 2007 -Safar 17, 1428 A.H.

THATTA: The Shah Inayat Shaheed Adabi Forum organised a literary conference on the ‘Martyrdom of Sufi Shah Inayat Shaheed and his comrades’ in the Habibullah Qadri Hall of the local press club on Wednesday.

Sufi Huzoor Bux presided over the literary sitting while Dr Nawaz Ali Shauq was the chief guest.

Speakers paid glowing tributes to Sufi Shah Inayat Shaheed for his services to Islam. They said Sufism preaches peace, brotherhood and safeguards the rights of all people and all sections of society. It negates hatred, they said.

Those who spoke at conference included Taj Joyo, Abdul Wahid Aresar, Syed Sher Ali Shah Kazmi, Dr Muhammad Ali Manjhi, Rasool Bakhsh Dars, Apa Maryam Majeedi and Yar Muhammad Jalalani.

"Let the words and images go deeper into your heart"

PR Newswire / Earth Times Org. - CA, U.S.A.

Wenesday, March 7, 2007

Public Programs at California Institute of Integral Studies presents the Rumi Concert: two evenings of poetry, music, and movement featuring renowned poet Coleman Barks with Zuleikha, Glen Velez, David Darling, and Jai Uttal in celebration of the 800th birthday of Sufi mystic poet Rumi.

"What we are trying to achieve with these concerts is something Sufis call 'sema,'" says Coleman Barks. "This is a deep listening to the spoken word with music-sometimes movement is involved. It's sort of a moving meditation, a way of letting the words and images go deeper into your heart."

Rumi: A Community of Spirit, performed on Thursday, April 5, features readings by Rumi translator Coleman Barks, with dance and story by Zuleikha, percussion by three-time Grammy Award winner Glen Velez, and cello by Grammy Award-nominated composer and performer David Darling.

Rumi and Friends: The Open Sky is performed on Friday, April 6 and adds Grammy Award-nominated world musician Jai Uttal to the line-up.

The Rumi Concert will take place on Thursday and Friday, April 5 and 6, 8 p.m., at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco.

Silk road: Uzbekistan

[From the Italian language press]:

La via della seta: Uzbekistan, la magia di un luogo fantastico

La Golden Age University ( libera università lombarda/Unigold), in collaborazione con la Fondazione Europea Dragan e con il Centro Unesco di Milano hanno organizzato il 19 febbraio una conferenza sulle città della via della seta: Samarcanda e Bukhara.

La Voce d'Italia - lunedì 19 febbraio - di Loredana Grandi

Silk road: Uzbekistan, the magic of a fantastic place.

The Golden Age University (Free University of Lombardy/Unigold), in collaboration with the European Foundation Dragan and the Unesco Center of Milan organized on February 19th a conference on the cities of the silk road: Samarkand and Bukhara.

Reported Roberto Cossu, orientalist, accompanied by a beautiful photographic service edited by Astrid Angehrn.

Bukhara has been for centuries one of the main cities of the Transoxiana and still preserves some impressive monuments like the famous Lyab-i Hauz ensemble (caravanserai) with the two religious edifices built by Nadir Divan-Begi around 1620 CE: the Sufi khanqah or lodging house and place for meetings for itinerant mystics sufis, and the madrasa or religious school.

Artist creates gilded Rumi poem

SN/MR/BG - Press Tv - Tehran, Iran

Tuesday, March 6, 2007

An Iranian artist has created a gilded reproduction of lyrics by the persian poet Rumi to commemorate the bard's 800th birthday.

The laborious work took over a year to make. It is a sumptuous combination of traditional calligraphy, persian miniature painting, and intricate gilding.

Manuchehr Roshan-Ravan considered it an honor to portray Rumi's transcendental art, saying Rumi's poetry was worth all the work.

The 44-year-old artist has been producing painting, calligraphy, and gilded art since he was a teenager. In recent years he has created memorable works of art based on Quranic verses as well as poems by classical persian authors including Hafez, Sa'di and Omar Khayyam.

Annual Urs of Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai (RA) begins

Sindh Bureau - Pakistan Times - Pakistan
Monday, March 5, 2007

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz inaugurated 263rd annual Urs of Sindh’s great Sufi poet Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai (RA) here at Bhit Shah on Sunday.

After his arrival in Bhit Shah, PM laid a floral wreath at Mazar of Shah Bhittai (RA) and formally inaugurated the Urs celebrations.

Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai (RA) was born in Hala in 1690 AD and preached the notion of love with humanity and Islamic teachings with his powerful poetry.

The great Sufi of Sindh passed away on 14 Safar, 1165 Hijri and was buried at Bhit Shah.

Every year thousand pilgrims visit his shrine at Bhit Shah and pay homage to the great poet;
the Urs celebrations will continue for three days.

[Picture: Shaukat Aziz, Prime Minister of Islamic Republic of Pakistan]

Abdallah Chekroun' literary nosegay

[From the French language press]:

Le bouquet littéraire de Abdallah Chekroun.

Abdallah Chekroun, fameux homme de lettres slaoui et vétéran de la Télévision et de la radio des premières années de l’Indépendance, nous fait la plaisir de nous cultiver par un nouvel ouvrage, comme il le fait presque chaque année soit en arabe soit en français.

L'Opinion, Maroc - Vendredi 16 Février 2007 - par A. Ouardighi

Abdallah Chekroun, a famous man of letters from the city of Salé and a veteran of the Television and the Radio of the first years of Independence, pleases to cultivate us by a new work, as he does almost every year, either in French or in Arabic.

In this book, Abdallah Chekroun reports of the poems which reawaken in the Arab reader a certain type of emotions: laughter, sadness, pity, sympathy or admiration.

All is in it: al-Malhoune* poems, theatre, various kinds of tales and songs; sometimes on a lyric tone, sometimes pathetic, sometimes epic, tragic or comic.

The work is divided into three parts with a review of literary texts produced in Morocco and in Muslim-Arabic Andalusia, and this, until the contemporary period.

One reads here the art of corresponding through romantic poetry.

One appreciates the sufi art, in particular that of the great sufi poet, shaykh Mohammed Harrak.

* al-Malhoune, at the origin a pure literary creation, was essentially a poetic art now known in Morocco under the name of qassida of the zajal. Associated with music, Melhoun was quickly propagated through the country where it acquired an incomparable notoriety, particularly among the workers and the craftsmen.

http://www.mincom.gov.ma/french/galerie/musique/malhoune.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malhoun

[picture: coat of arms of the city of Salé (Morocco) ]

Sweeping across young, Sufi-enamoured India

By Sheela Reddy - Outlook India - New Delhi, India
Magazine, March 12, 2007

All the world romances the 13th century Sufi on his 800th birthday. Not bad at all for a poet who belonged nowhere.

At least 50 countries, including India, are laying claim to him, joining in the celebrations for his 800th birth anniversary this year—the Year of Rumi, as UNESCO has declared it.

Jalaluddin Rumi is an improbable poet laureate of the 21st century: he wrote in Persian, a world language that has long been overtaken by English. And he wrote on themes that modern poets would rather choke than write about—deep stuff like Soul and Union with God.

But still, he's America's Number One bestselling poet today, the best known Sufi poet across the world, and if he's not already the world's most popular poet in any language, he will surely be by the time his birthday celebrations wind up by year-end.

Indians have been among the first to lay claim to the mega-Rumi celebrations this year—a celebrity-studded Rumi Foundation, plans for a feature film on his life, whirling dervishes from the Sufi schools in Konya which Rumi started, Rumi talks, concerts, whirling meditation groups, piggybacking new-age spiritualists, the works.

The Sufi way, according to Rumi, is to make oneself clear like a mirror and reflect the world to itself. And his polished mirror words seem to have done just that, judging by the new wave of enthusiasm for the 13th-century poet that is now sweeping across young, Sufi-enamoured India.

Once the domain of Persian and Urdu poets, like Iqbal, Rumi's poetry has found a response recently in unexpected places. The reason, says Karan Singh, chairman of the recently-formed Rumi Foundation, may be that the poet is the perfect antidote to our times, cutting across the religious divide.

"He is the soft face of Islam, about love, humanism and compassion, in sharp contrast to the jehadis. Besides, Rumi is very compatible with Indian traditions, whether it is the Guru tradition or the Bhakti movement.

(...)

The Amritsar-born, convent-educated Gurumaa Anandamurti, who has collected an impressive flock of hi-tech engineers, chartered accountants, management graduates and bankers to her high-end, resort-like ashram in Sonepat, Haryana, recently demonstrated how Rumi rocks for this generation.

She "rolled out the magic" at a Valentine's Day concert in a Delhi auditorium where a dozen Turkish dervishes performed Rumi's chants and whirling while she sang his poems in Hindi, sending some 500 youthful disciples into an ecstatic trance.

It was the sound of ney, the Turkish reed flute, that drew her to Rumi, she says. Wanting to learn more about the instrument, which Rumi likens to the yearning call of a lover, Anandmurti dropped everything and went to Turkey. The 42-day search of many dargahs and sheikhdoms across Turkey inspired a bestselling music recording, Rumi—Love at its Zenith, and a collection of Rumi's poems translated into Hindi, Rumi aur Mein.

In Turkey, she says with quiet conviction, some of the sheikhs there told her that "Allah has chosen you to take Rumi from here to Hindustan".

But Anandmurti is not the only Indian who considers herself the Chosen One. There's also filmmaker Muzaffar Ali, who already runs the wildly successful Sufi music festival, Jahan-e-Khusrau (the only traditional music festival where touts lurk near the spectacular venue outside Humayun's tomb selling tickets "in black").

His proposed feature film on Rumi, Ali says, will be an opportunity to expose the real Rumi to India, "the true inheritor of Rumi's secular mantle". But while Ali's film has yet to get off the ground, others are jumping on to the Rumi bandwagon.

When Amrit Kent, an Urdu poet and Sufi singer, discovered Rumi three years ago, she decided to write a play on his life, Rumi—Unveil the Sun. Against all expectations, the play has found resonance among the young.

Two groups, one in Delhi and the other in Hyderabad, are planning to stage it in the next two weeks, with performances planned in Pakistan and the UK.

Says one of the play's two directors, Zainee Zaheer, a 28-year-old wedding planner whose passion has been Rumi ever since she read him in English translation a few years ago: "Rumi is not just a poet, he is more than that."

For the neo-Rumi enthusiasts, it's his religion of love they are celebrating this year.

[Picture: Narendra Bisht]

Whirling in Arizona

By Adams Oksuz - Explorer News - Tucson, AZ, U.S.A.
Saturday, March 3, 2007

Foundation for Intercultural Dialogue and Global Cultural Connections presents the Legendary Whirling Dervishes of Turkey.

The event titled as " Whirling World: A Mystical Performance by the Whirling Dervishes of Rumi and a Classical Sufi Music Concert" will take place in Tucson at UA on April 7, 2007.

The Order of the Whirling Dervishes is one branch of the vast Sufi tradition of Islam. Sufism espouses a moderate interpretation of Islam, which focuses on tolerance which is very much relevant to the social and political realities of today.

The ritual performed by the Order of the Whirling Dervishes has come to symbolize the tolerance and love in the hearts and minds of millions throughout the world. The mystical performance by Whirling Dervishes features the revolving dance of the dervishes cloaked in long white robes accompanied by spiritual Sufi music performed live on traditional instruments dating back to the time of Rumi from 13th century, AC.

About Foundation for Inter-Cultural Dialogue: The Foundation for Inter-Cultural Dialogue (FID) is an independent and non-profit organization established in 2004 in two branches, Phoenix and Tucson, by a group of people, including engineers, educators, and students.

As the name implies, our primary goal is to promote dialogue, mutual respect, and cooperation among different cultures and faiths that make up our society. Even though the founders of FID are mostly Turkish Americans, everyone who shares the same passion is very much welcome to join us.

FID is currently standing up with the financial support of our members and donations from the gracious members of our community. All of our staff are volunteers who are excited with the idea of inter-cultural dialogue http://www.fidtucson.org/

To buy tickets: www.uapresents.org

Essays on Attar published in London

ST/KB - Press TV - Tehran, Iran

Friday, March 2, 2007

A collection of essays on poetry and mystical thoughts of prominent Iranian poet, Farid al-Din Attar Neishaburi has been recently published [January 9, 2007] by the Institute of Isma'ili Studies in London.

The book entitled "Attar and Iranian Sufism" is divided into three parts, each of which is dedicated to "Attar and Iranian Mystic Tradition", "Conference of the Birds"(Mantiq al-Tair), "Attar's Lyric and epic Poetry" respectively.

Consisting of several recent essays by 16 researchers from North America, Europe and Iran, this valuable work renders a rather comprehensive picture of Attar's philosophy.

'Attar and the Persian Sufi Tradition: The Art of Spiritual Flight
by Leonard Lewisohn and Christopher Shackle (editors)
Institute for Ismaili Studies
ISBN-10: 1845111486
ISBN-13: 978-1845111489
List price: $ 65.00

"Ma eshg khoreem": We eat love

By Rasoul Sorkhabi - Payvand's Iran News - Iran
Friday, March 2, 2007

For the past thirty years I have been fascinated with the poetry of Moulana Jalaluddin Rumi. The poems and parables of this great Persian Sufi poet have given me consolation, insight and joy in various places I have lived.

In recent years, Rumi has become one of the most-widely read poets in North America. And I am delighted to see this phenomenon not because he was a Persian poet and thus a part of my cultural roots, but because his poetry is about love (both Divine and human), and as Rumi himself says ("Ma eshg khoreem": We eat love), love is like food to be eaten.

When you enjoy a particular dish you like to offer it to others so that they also enjoy the fragrance, taste, texture, saltiness, sweetness, and warmth of your favorite dish. When people from various walks of life read Rumi's poems, they eat the food of love. Good poetry enriches our lives, and Rumi's poetry is a treasure. It gives us peace of mind, compassion, timeless wisdom, healing words, inspiration, and friendship. And all this at no cost other than willingness to listen and calmness to enjoy. It is for all these reasons that I believe Rumi (and sages of that caliber) is the answer to all our problems our personal, interpersonal, social, and international problems.

Before you judge me as a naive person, let me tell you a story. Sohrab Sepehri was a modern Persian poet. In his most famous poem, The Sound of Water's Footstep (Seda-ye Pa-ye Ab), Sepehri paints a beautiful rural landscape and says that let's not pollute the stream flowing through the village because pigeons drink water from the stream. When this poem was published in the mid 1960s, some literary critics blamed Sepehri that how he could be concerned about pigeons' drinking water while the world was facing bloodshed and the threat of more war and violence (those were the days of the Cold War, Vietnam War, etc.). Sepehri, who rarely answered to his critics or admirers, is recorded to have replied that his poem actually points to the root of our conflicts: If people and politicians care about a pigeon's drinking water, they will value human life even more and will not create bloody and destructive wars.

The more we read and enjoy Rumi's poems, the more compassionate and the less selfish and less greedy we become. The more Rumi's poetry spreads around the world and enlightens people's mind, there will be more peace and happiness in the world. If our political leaders read and understand Rumi's poetry and live up to that understanding, the less violent and the more friendly nations will be. If you think that religious fanatics are destroying human life and freedom, Rumi is the answer because he calls for understanding, tolerance and friendship, and views love and compassion as rays of the Divine light shining upon our inner being.

This year marks the eight hundredth anniversary of Rumi's birth. UNESCO has issued a Commemorative Medal in honor of Rumi. This year is an auspicious occasion to read Rumi more to ourselves and to others. The Persian-speaking peoples around the world, in particular, should better introduce Rumi to the world. Take time to organize or participate in events that celebrate Rumi's birth anniversary. Give Rumi's books as gifts to friends and family.

The fact that Rumi's sweet poems are on our lips seven centuries after his death (and in countries far from his cultural lands) testify to the truth of Rumi's vision and the beauty of his poetry. Rumi is badly needed in our increasingly interdependent world because Rumi's constituency is not a particular creed or community but the human heart. With the popularity of Rumi's poetry in the West, this spiritual poet can be a valuable bridge between the Islamic world and the West because he is a poet who awakens all of us to our common heart and to the spirit of joy, peace, and beauty within us all. Early this year I was talking with a well-known English translator of Rumi's poems, and he said: If you think deeply, the alternative to Rumi's message is suffering, violence and destruction.

Those who read Rumi's poetry and watch the world news would appreciate this statement.

[About the author: Dr. Rasoul Sorkhabi directs the Rumi Poetry Club in Utah. Email: rumipoetryclub@earthlink.net.]

Setting Out in Search of Kashmiriyat

By Muzamil Jaleel - Express India - New Delhi, India

Friday, March 2, 2007

Prof Rashid Nazki, a Sahitya Akademi award winner and one of Kashmir’s finest Sufi poets, is accompanied by Muzamil Jaleel on the scenic journey from Bandipore to Chrar-e-Sharif, a shrine that has reflected the essence of Kashmir for centuries.

It is nearly night. The sky is still blue but it is dark down here. Although the market place in Bandipore town, 90 kms north of Srinagar, is full of people, a fog of unease hangs heavy over this empty narrow lane. At the edge of it is a small brickhouse where I will meet Prof Rashid Nazki, one of Kashmir’s finest Sufi poets.

The greying, bearded professor will take me to the shrine of Kashmir’s patron saint, Sheikh Noor Din at Chrar-e-Sharief.

The shrine is a pillar of the philosophy of synthesis and religious tolerance that has been the essence of Kashmir for centuries. Sheikh Noor Din was Sheikh-ul-Aalam and Alam Daar-e-Kashmir for Muslims while the Hindus called him Sahajanand. Both remember him as Nund Reshi. Both revere him. Both claim him. Both listen and frequently quote his shruks (shlokas), a poetic expression of his humanist philosophy, which enshrine in themselves a subtle but fierce struggle to save the ethos of Kashmir.

All through his life, Prof Nazki has written poetry, taught Kashmiri and Persian, and researched and practiced mysticism in the villages of Bandipore. His work Wahraath received the Sahitya Academy award in 2000 and his poems are an essential part of Kashmir’s folklore.

As he welcomes me, I can understand the reasons for the unease that shrouds the door itself. It is March 15: exactly 10 years ago, Nazki had lost most of his family in a violent grenade blast in the street outside. His wife, two sons — 32-year-old Taha and 25-year-old Sajjad — and a cousin were killed, while another son and daughter-in-law were crippled for life.

I stay with him for the night. As the family mourns its personal loss, Nazki talks about the tragedy of Chrar-e-Sharief (on May 11, 1995, the shrine was gutted in a devastating fire after a weeklong standoff between militants and security forces). ‘‘When I last visited Chrar as a pilgrim, I had gone with my wife. I didn’t dare to go there alone and peel off the scab of my wounds’’, he says today.

When we finally start the 115-km journey early next morning, I already know it will be a story of the tragedy of a man and a shrine closely woven together.

It is a cool morning and the air is like smoke. We stop at a hilltop near Watlab, where a narrow pass leaves the Wular valley. The snow-clad Harmukh peaks stands with all its grandeur in the backdrop. ‘‘Kashmir had been a peer vaar (abode of saints and rishis)’’, Nazki says. ‘‘This mountain holds a very scared place in Hindu mythology. It is dotted with holy caves and as legend goes, Shiv and Parvati still live in those rugged peaks.’’

He talks about the ‘‘good old days’’ when life was like a big party. What happened to Kashmir?, I ask. Suddenly the bright smile disappears from his face. ‘‘Keyah gous. Aech lugi saani Kusheri (What happened. Some bad omen has struck our Kashmir),’’ he replies.

We start again. The sun is out and it is bright and pleasant. We drive past Sopore. There was a time when this northern Kashmiri apple-town was so affluent that people used to call it Chotta London. Today, it mirrors Kashmir’s death and destruction. In the last 12 years of violence, it has been burned down 21 times.

Soon we are on the Srinagar-Baramullah national highway. Once called the Jhelum Valley Road, it connects Srinagar with Rawalpindi and was the only artery of Kashmir’s communication and trade with the rest of the world. As we approach the Chrar-e-Sharief road, south of Srinagar city, Nazki is overcome with nostalgia. It is after 15 years he was making the pilgrimage again.

Prof Nazki fills me with the legends that surround Chrar-e-Sharief, like the one about Nund Reshi. ‘‘Salar Sunz, Nund Rishi’s father, was a Hindu Rajput from Kishtwar across the Pir Panjal range. Salar Sunz had converted to Islam after meeting a Sufi saint Yasman Reshi. Legend goes that one evening, as he was passing by the home of a famous Hindu astrologer, he overheard him telling his wife that on a particular night, three flowers would appear in the spring at Gotamnag and the woman who picked one of those flowers and inhaled its fragrance, would be blessed with a saint son’’, Nazki informs me. ‘‘The couple set out for the spring and found the three flowers. Sodarmoji picked one of the flowers and smelt it. Later, when a boy was born, he was named Nund Reshi.

‘‘It was a great period. The famous Shaivite saint Lala was wandering across Kashmir with her wakhs (mystic poetry), a blend of Shaivism and Sufism. She was Laleshwari to Hindus and Lala Arifa to Muslims, and Kashmir was becoming a melting pot of the two great philosophies,’’ Nazki tells me.

Recollecting yet another legend which has become an essential part of Kashmiri folklore, Nazki tells me about the time when the newborn Nunda Reshi refused to drink his mother’s milk, which worried the family. ‘‘This is when Lala arrived unexpectedly. She went straight to the child, put him to her breast and suckled him. Nund Reshi later carried Lala Arifa’s message through his Reshi Mission’’, he says.

We are lost in the past and the conversation has literally taken both of us to the era of the Reshi movement, when people were open to dialogue between communities and when religions were a bridge, a binding force, rather than a wedge. ‘‘Ati hath ta vuh jora vopanu: Akh zani ta akh marad avu; Tahanz hekamats timan bolanu; kvalas hamkvalkya; hedivu’’ (Hundred and twenty pairs were born of them, Of each (pair), one was male and the other, female; God’s wisdom made them walk; How can members of the same family jeer at one another?) Nazki quotes from one of Nund Reshi’s shruks.

We are already in the outskirts of Chrar-e-Sharief and are passing Nagam village. ‘‘This used to be a resting place for pilgrims from across Kashmir valley, who would flood Chrar round the year,’’ Nazki says. ‘‘People from both communities would carry their newborns to the shrine to have their first haircut. It was regarded a very good omen for the child. The women would sing as the barber shaved the child’s head. Chrar was both a place of pilgrimage as well as an excursion for the villagers.’’

The road leading to Chrar-e-Sharief now courses through almond orchards. The almond blossoms are in full bloom and have turned the sandy ridge into a vast colourful canvas. We stop at the entrance of the township to visit a small shrine called Chatti Korean Hund Aastan. It is the shrine of Dahat Ded and Bohut Ded, two woman disciples of Nund Reshi.

From here, the new building of the Chrar, built after the 1995 devastation, rises above in the sky. It is a replica of the old shrine but when we arrive there Nazki is sad again. ‘‘It is not what it used to be. The rustic grandeur of the old structure is missing,’’ he comments.

‘‘There was a sanctity attached to that old structure.’’ He cheers up when we arrive at shrine and he surveys the architecture. ‘‘See, this shrine has a pagoda which imbibes the Buddhist influence,’’ he says.

Suddenly feeling alone, Prof Nazki remembers the time when the area resounded with the chants of pilgrims. ‘‘There was a time when Kashmiri Hindu scholars and their Muslim colleagues studied side by side. I hope to see them soon again.’’

[picture: Javeed Shah]

[About Prof. Rashid Nazki see also: http://sufinews.blogspot.com/search?q=nazki]

Symphony of sounds

By Parul- Chandigarh Newsline - India
Thursday, March 1, 2007

Lend an ear to a unique sound & musical creation by Darb Al-Harir, the Silky Paths. It’s a coming together of various traditional cultures — Indian, French, Arabic, Spanish.

Their language is music and they interact and explore the rhythms inside to create a sound that’s never been heard before, one that transcends the barriers of culture, religion, time, space.

So, the text is the Sufi poems of love, nature and philosophy from the 7th century, though the poetry speaks about today and the message is that of universal love. The music is the labour of love of Indian, Spanish, Arabic and French sensibilities!

“It’s a platform for various artists from different parts of the world and cultures to meet, experiment, exchange and create a unique sound, but without losing their identity, in fact, highlighting it. We co-exist, with everyone preserving their own. The sound is fresh and the persona new,’’ explains Nishith Mehta, composer, arranger and producer, stressing that this is NOT fusion, but a melodious togetherness.

It all began, explains Nishith, when he met Manuel Aguilar, a musician and artistic director and they worked together to create a music video, ‘Monsoon’ in Rajasthan in 2001. In 2002, the two, along with three French and four Rajasthani musicians created Alterites — The New Continents.

“There’s a lot of similarity between the sound, spirit, music, compositions of Spanish Flamenco, Indian folk and the music is the result of our interactions,” adds Manuel. As for the Classic Sufi Arabic poetry that Meryem Koufi, an Algerian singer loves to render, she says the poetry is both simple and complicated and can be put into the music beautifully.

While playing together, Nishith says he tuned into various sounds and explored them to compose the music, so the influences are classical Arabic, Spanish Flamenco, Indian flute, sitar, Aradi music (from Kutch) , tabla, Carnatic music...

”India has a lot to offer in folk music and I wish to folk artists a platform for till now, only tribal dance has got recognition,’’ adds Mehta, saying that will constantly be evolving, adding new influences and sounds. Let the music play.

The world music concert is brought to the city of Chandigarh by Society for Tourism and Entertainment Promotion (STEPS), Chandigarh Tourism, in collaboration with the Alliance Francaise.

Sufi Soul

By Sandhya Abraham - Business Line - India

Friday, March 2, 2007

At the Ruhaniyat Music Festival in Chennai:

on a pleasant February evening the lawns at the Madras Race Club resounded with soul-stirring sufi music, as the Ruhaniyat Music Festival took listeners on a journey of spiritual ecstasy. This was the second successive year that the Banyan Tree brought the festival for the music connoisseurs of Chennai. Banyan Tree Events, a premier cultural organisation, promotes offbeat performing art forms from India and other countries. From large-scale world-class presentations to the more intimate baithaks, the decade-old company provides a platform for unique creative concepts.

Ruhaniyat, as the festival is named, is an Urdu word meaning `soulfulness' and is the brainchild of Mahesh Babu and Nandini Mahesh, the Directors of Banyan Tree. The event featured the best of maestros in classical, folk and sufi music, discovered from the interiors of remote Indian villages. The duo, assisted by a team of committed workers, have, with efforts spanning nearly two decades, brought recognition to traditional Indian performing art.

From the sand dunes of Rajasthan and Kutch there was Kachra Khan singing compositions by Bulle Shah, the 18th-century Punjabi Sufi poet; the powerful voice of Suguna Devi rendering Kalbeliya songs; and there was Siraiqi music — a blend of Multani, Sindhi and Punjabi, from as far as the Indo-Pakistan border. The folk-music based Jikir - Jari Sufi compositions of Azan Fakir of Manipur, dating back to the 13th century, were mellifluously rendered by Hafiza Begum Chaudhury and her troupe. Kabirpanthis Prahlad Tippania and group from Devas in Madhya Pradesh — followers of the teachings of saint Kabir, invoked the elusive divinity that needs to be awakened within each one of us. A nightlong session of Jagar music (performed by Rakesh Bhatt and his group) — an integral feature of rural Uttaranchal, it was claimed, could culminate in one of the performers being possessed by the family spirit, that could provide answers to life's riddles that transcend the tangible and the obvious.

Parvati Baul, the acclaimed Baul performer from West Bengal, gave a stunning rendition. Drawing parallels with the Sidha music of Tamil Nadu, Parvati grasped the connection between the two schools — the belief that man is but a puppet and it is He who pulls the strings. The world-renowned Shameem-Nayeem Ajmeri brothers and their group brought this journey of surrender, love and wisdom to an end with the rendition of Sufi Qawaalis, a form of devotional music known for its secular strains. What made each performance special and unique was the dextrous and energetic play of traditional local musical instruments, the ektara, sarangi, tambura, been, dholak, dhuggi, and castanets — a wide and impressive list.

Ruhaniyat keeps its date each year between November and March with the intensely moved and overwhelmingly appreciative audience in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Pune, Chennai and Hyderabad.

[picture: Parvati Baul performs at the Ruhaniyat music festival in Chennai - SHAJU JOHN ]

A World of the Heart

APP/Daily Times - Islamabad, Pakistan

Thursday, March 1, 2007

2007 has been designated as the ‘Year of Rumi’ by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to mark the 800th birthday of the eminent scholar and poet Jalaluddin Rumi.

Rumi is one of the greatest spiritual and literary figures of all time and is known for his message of love, humanity and peace. He was a great poet and founder of ‘Maulvi Sufism’, a leading sufi brotherhood of Islam.

Rumi was born on September 30, 1207 in Balkh, a Greater Khorasan city in Persia, now in Afghanistan, to a family of learned theologians and died in Konya, Turkey. He wrote his poetry in Persian and it is widely read in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and in translation in Turkey, Azerbaijan, the US, and South Asia.

He spent most of his life under the Seljuk Empire in Konya, Anatolia after travelling extensively with his family to escape the Mongol invasion and performing pilgrimage to Makkah. When his father Bahaduddin Walad passed away, Rumi succeeded him in 1231 as a religious sciences professor. He was 24 years old at the time, but was already an accomplished religious and positive sciences scholar.

He was introduced into sufism by a wandering dervish, Shamsuddin of Tabriz. Rumi’s love and bereavement on the death of Shamsuddin found expression in music, sema and 'Divani Shamsi Tabrizi' lyric poems.

Rumi's poetry underlies his absolute love for Allah. He has a great influence on thought, literature and aesthetic expressions in the Islamic world, and his importance transcends national and ethnic borders.

Throughout centuries, he has had a significant influence on Persian, Urdu and Turkish literatures. Rumi had aimed to implant the love of Allah, the Prophet (PBUH), tolerance and respect in humanity, and his world could be labeled as that of the heart, a world with its own sun, moon and stars, filled with law, order, harmony and peace.

He was a monument of thought and a man of extraordinary intelligence.

Rumi passed away on December 17, 1273. Since then, the Maulvi dervishes have commemorated the date, and have founded the Maulavi Order, better known as the ‘Whirling Dervishes’, whose followers believe in sema, worshipping God through dance and music.

Sufi music is deeper than a monsoon puddle

By Anjali Singh Jaiswal - Times of India - New Delhi, India
Thursday, March 1, 2007

In an age when the Indian youth lapped up anything related to rock & pop, Rabbi Shergil's sufi numbers had them flocking back to their roots.

He can mesmerise you with his voice and yet seem nonchalant about the effect his music has. But that is Rabbi Shergil for you, an introvert (by his own admission), who can still touch your soul.

Having reached the heights he has, this is one singer turned music director who has managed to remain level-headed despite the heady feel of success. In town recently to promote the album of the flick he has composed music for, he talks to us on being Rabbi, spirituality and then some more.

Bulla Ki Jaana struck a chord with millions, specially the youth, what prompted you to compose it at a time when rock & pop were favoured?
There was no specific reason for composing Bulla Ki Jaana... the emotions inside me just found an expression. What effect it would have or had on the world at large was the least of my concerns. I was not doing anything exceptional nor was I taking a risk in a genre of pop or rock. It was the innermost urge to express myself. If I hadn't done so, I have no idea what else I’d have done.

So, you are into spirituality big time then?
In India even if we try to keep away from spirituality, we cannot. We grow up in an atmosphere where early in the morning every home has strains of devotional songs playing. I had my exposure to all things spiritual too, but that does not mean I listened to anything else. My sister and I would watch video re-runs of the Grammy winners. We had every new music releases of U2 and Madonna - our favourites singers. I used to go mad ghisoing these tapes on our mom's old tape recorder.

When did you realise that you wanted to be a singer?
Oh, for sure after I attended a Bruce Springsteen concert in 1989 in New Delhi. That's when I knew I wanted to be a pop star (laughs). But I could not tell my family that as it would have created a furore and I wasn't suicidal. These were things you did not talk about but just went about doing them.

So you wanted a career as a singer and a musician in Bollywood?
Hey, career is a stinky word, I would not want to limit what I want to achieve by calling it a carrr...eer (drags the word for emphasis). I would like to take it as it comes, do something and think nothing of it.

Is that a Khalsa College rebel talking?
No, I don't think it's right not to give the college it's due. I agree there were a handful of guys who earned the college a notorious rep. But the majority of us were into a lot of creative things. We had our own film club called Celluloid through which my friend Saurabh Shukla and I indulged in a lot of activities. We had fantastic teachers like BS Ratna and many more who guided us when we needed help. So coming from Khalsa had its merits as well.

Do you think sufiyana music has become commercialised today?
Sufi music in spirit is what I would describe as deeper than a monsoon puddle. Sufi music constantly grows and evolves. In fact, if we go to back to the days of Sheikh Farid and Amir Khusro, it'll be evident how much sufiyana kalams have evolved. Puritans will always have something to say as they feel that traditions are not meant to change when it's the other way round. Music reflects the changing values in society, so there will always be something new to say and sing about in every age.

... there was news of you recomposing Sare Jahan Se Achcha?
Yes, it sure was an experience. I was made to stand on top of a glacier, knee deep in snow, in a thin kurta and asked to sing for my motherland. I was frozen stiff but I did manage to emote for her. How well I did that... we’ll have to wait and see as the song is yet to be released.

"Igenni n Rebbi, ma t-tamurt n vav-is"

By Toufik Amayas Mostefaou - World War 4 Report - Brooklyn, NY, U.S.A.
Thursday, March 1, 2007

Igenni n Rebbi, ma t-tamurt n vav-is
(Heaven belongs to God, Earth belongs to those who cultivate it)
Amazigh saying

My heart has become capable of taking all sorts of forms,
it is pastures for gazelles and monastery for the monk,
temple of idols and Kaaba for the pilgrim.

It is the tables of the Torah and the Book of the Koran.
It professes the religion of love
whatever the place toward which Its caravans wend.

And love is my law and love is my faith.
Ibn Arabi, 1165-1240 CE

Sufism: the midway between extremisms. Indigenous North Africa Between Jihad and Imperialism.
[Slightly abridged. For the full version, click on the title above]

At the beginning of the 21st century, societies with a strong Islamic heritage are facing tough choices between modernity, tradition, democracy, absolute monarchy, Islamism, secularism, imperialism and nationalism (Amazigh, Arabic, Kurdish, etc)...

These struggles are ubiquitous throughout the Muslim world. Whether one goes to Saudi Arabia with its absolute monarchy or Turkey with its official secularism, or to the Indian subcontinent with its millennia-old traditions, questions about "Islamic tradition" (with whatever that may imply), modernity and democracy keep resurfacing to the fore of academic and public discourses. The Islamic world is a geographically vast area that straddles more than two continents, and it will be difficult to address any issues related to it without being trapped in some form or another of analytical reductionism. But even with such a huge structural constraint facing anyone writing about history, there is a lot one can discern from an account of how the past has shaped the present and how the present informs the future.

It is in this context that I write about the history of Sufism in Kabylia, the mountain homeland of Algeria's largest group of indigenous Imazighen (Berbers), and about how Sufism can provide us with a normative framework in the twenty-first century to transcend the clash of ideologies—especially when one sees the world being reduced cartoonistically into two opposing sides: Western hegemonic imperialism and Islamic fundamentalism.

The beginning of the 21st century has been torn by extreme violence and hardening positions in the two antagonist visions of the world: imperialism, the rule of free markets and military dominance from the occidental side; Islamism and religious extremism in the Middle East, Far East and some African countries. The battlefield has extended to the Internet, media and mosques. The polarization is so serious that some Muslims born in occidental countries are being alienated and join extremist movements. They no longer believe in the occidental values—for them, Europe and the USA are only about money, and are oppressing Muslims and Arabs. For many young Muslims, religion is now more about having personal identity and fighting against oppressors and infidels than about spirituality and personal evolution.

These inflammatory discourses make some Muslims feel that they are before a hard choice: either join religious extremism and save their Nation from the devilish imperialism, or uproot themselves from their Islamic values and jump into the welcoming hands of libertine and oppressive imperialism.

Our interest will be focused on the native Amazigh ethnicity in North Africa to show the potentialities that Sufism has to adapt and to survive in a very resistive culture where orthodox Islam failed to take root. We will also explore the hope that Sufism brings for the existence of a tolerant and spiritual Islam, in harmony with what we can call modern values.

Because of its strategic location between three continents, North Africa has been the target of many invasions throughout its history, and its native Amazigh people (Imazighen in the plural) have become very effective warriors as a result. The last military struggle was that undertaken against French colonialism that spanned the years from 1830 to 1962. But in contrast to all the invading forces that stayed for short or prolonged periods and then left, the Arabs who invaded the region in the 7th century stayed.

In contrast to the typical image of this invasion drawn by Arabs, the Imazighen did not receive Arabs as liberators. The process of Islamization in North Africa was not momentous, but has taken many centuries, and in some respects it is still taking place today.

All the invading powers that tried, to different degrees, to annex North Africa politically or religiously have generally had very little success. Phoenicians appropriated the Amazigh goddess Tanit. Saturn, conceived as an African god, dethroned Jupiter in the local Roman Pantheon. And in the Christian era, Amazighs opposed St Paul's version of Christianity and adopted Arian monotheism. Arius (c. 250-336 CE, of Alexandria) was an early Amazigh Christian theologian, who taught that the Son of God was not eternal, and was subordinate to God the Father (a view known generally as Arianism). Theologically, Arius' view of creation shared strong parallels to both neo-Platonism and Gnosticism.

The Arians were opposed to St Augustine's Church and created an African one under the leadership of St Donate. This resistance to foreign religious subjugation is quite indicative of the attachment of Imazighen to their ancestral beliefs (cults of ancestors and leaders, a Spirit living and appearing on a daily basis to humans, personified trees, Earth and Mother Godesses, et cetera). Although he attracted considerable support at the time (and since), Arius' views were declared heretical at the Council of Nicaea, leading to the formation of the Nicene Creed.

Upon its arrival in their midst, Islam faced serious resistance from Imazighen. Muslims took power by force and imposed the monarchy of Mo'awiya ibnu Abi Sofian, the, governor of Syria who was dispached by Caliph Umar to conquer North Africa. His reign was marked by suppression of any opposition to his diktat. He sent his armies to other countries to make futuh'at (campaigns of conquest, literally "opening") and jihad in the name of God to give legitimacy to his rule.

Almost one century after the first invasion, most of the cities were submitted to the new rulers, but the mountains and the rural areas remained independent and faithful to their earlier religions (paganism, Christianity or Judaism). Shortly after the fall of the Amazigh land under Islamic rule, the jizya fiscal system was introduced, impsoing special taxes on non-Muslims. In order to avoid paying this huge amount of money to the Umayyad Caliphate's central government in Damascus, a large part of Amazighs chose the conversion to the new religion. Surprisingly, Umayyad kings refused to suppress these taxes even after conversion of Amazighs. This led to defections to Kharijite sect, and the Berber Revolt of 740-43 CE. The key Amazigh victory at the Battle of the Nobles (Ma'rakatu al Ashraf), turned the tide, and Arab rulers were driven out of North Africa. Amazigh land got its independence from the Islamic Caliphate and was called by Arabs al Maghrib al Islami (Muslim occident) in contrast to al Maghrib al Masih'i (Christian occident).

The succession struggles following the death of the fourth caliph, Ali, in 661 led to a profusion of schisms in Islam. To oppose the Sunni diktat and to make a definitive clear cut with Arab imperialism and the oppressive Umayyad regime, Amazighs adopted Kharijism and later the Ismaili Shi'ism of the Fatimid Caliphate, a more tolerant branch of Islam. There was also a more radical answer among Amazighs: the creation of an Amazigh religion where God is Amazigh, speaks Amazigh and speaks to Amazighs only—the Barghawata heresy, which held sway on the Atlantic coast of Morocco from the Berber Revolt through the 11th century. Apostasy and revolts against Islam were frequent to the point that The Muqaddimah of Ibn Khaldun, the great North African historian, reported twelve apostasies of Amazighs.

Islam never managed to penetrate by force into Kabylia. It was only in the 10th century that Islam started to penetrate peacefully into Kabylian Mountains thanks to Shi'a missionaries. This led to the adoption of Shi'a Islam by the Kutama, one of the principal Amazigh tribes of Kabylia Mountains, and the creation of the unique Shi'a Caliphate: the Fatimid Dynasty. Sunni extremists wanted to uproot the previous faith and replace it with a hostile Arabian version of Islam incompatible with Kabylian traditions. Shi'a Islam, holding that Caliph Ali inherited the esoteric explanation of Islam from the Prophet Muhammad, spread naturally all over Kabylia—to the point that even today we can find traces of the Shi'a Islam in Kabylia. Ali is singled among the followers and companions of the Prophet Muhammad, and Ashura festivals are observed under the name of Taachurt. These commemorations include "un-Islamic" traditions, like kids wearing masks and going from one house to an other collecting sweets and cakes. Later in the day there is a visit to the village mausoleum for a short pilgrimage.

The Shi'a period was short in Kabylia, but it led to a peaceful cohabitation of a spiritual Islam with the original traditions of the natives. In the 11th century, Almohads, an occidental Amazigh dynasty, conquered much of North Africa and imposed a new version of Sunni Islam with a strong Amazigh signature but with a strict, rigorist and authoritarian stamp.

But the Almohads' conquest of power coincided with the diffusion of a highly spiritual Islam: Sufism. Most Sufi tariqas (paths or brotherhoods) claim Ali their first master, and that was initiated into esoteric Islam from Prophet Muhammad. To some extent, both branches of Islam (Sunni and Shi'ite) recognize Sufis as saints and devoted Muslims.

Sufism spread in cities but even more quickly in rural areas. So, in the countryside, Sufis and wandering marabouts, or holy people, drew a large and devoted following. These men and women were believed to possess baraka (divine and special grace), or to be able to channel it to others. In life, marabouts offered spiritual guidance, arbitrated disputes, and often wielded political power. After death, their followers erected domed tombs that became sites of pilgrimage.

There are many such Sufi shrines in Algeria. In most cases, these sites have a sacred tree, a rock, a totem or a geological formation that increase their power in the eyes of North Africans (both Amazigh and Arab). The sacralisation of natural phenomena is in complete harmony with the Amazigh pre-Islamic faith and beliefs that have survived Arab invasion. In fact, some mausoleums of Sufi saints are pre-Islamic sacred sites. They can be graves of village founders. In some cases, after the Sufi's death, the baraka might be transmitted to an object. The care of this totem is handled by descendants of that wali (saint), or is shared among the oldest families of the village.

As in the other parts of the Muslim world, Sufism was opposed in North Africa by both reformist movements such as the Islah, which advocated for the rights of Algerians under the French colonization, and extremists such as the Salafiya and Wahabiya movements. The Islah movement, initiated by a group of Islamic scholars or ulema ('Abd al-Hamid b. Badis, Bashir al-Ibrahimi), won the support of secular reformists and agitated against both French rule and Sufi brotherhoods in the 1930s. After independence in 1962, the Algerian state imposed its own nationalist ideology and barred Sufis from religious power. Nevertheless, most of the Sufi brotherhoods quietly continued practicing their rituals.

The '80s were more favorable to Sufis. Some zawiyas (local headquarters of the brotherhoods) resumed open activity; regional branches of brotherhoods re-established contact with each other. Some which had been accused in state propaganda of collaboration with French had their reputation officially rehabilitated, lauded for their role in the diffusion of Islam in the region. The new recognition of Sufism by the state was attested by the 1991 establishment of a the National Association of the Zawiyas.

The state became tolerant of Sufism to show that they were not against Islam, and to encourage an alternative that was non-violent and distinctly Algerian. Intellectuals who sympathized with this religious trend were legitimized.

In the '90s, a wave of Islamist violence and terrorism, and consequent government repression, claimed many thousands of lives in Algeria. But in the Kabylia Mountains, Salafi Islam won very little support, and Islamist political parties gained almost no ground. There were several reactions to the shock of the '90s Islamist explosions. Some in Kabylia simply rejected Islam and everything that has linked the Amazigh to the Arabs (Islam and Arabic language); a few converted to Christianity. Others came back to Sufism as an indigenous cultural reference, or just because of the tolerance and the spiritual dimension of this mystical Islam.

Aspirations to a better life, modernity and freedom, inevitably raise the question of Islam's compatibility with these values. Modernity, as imperialism sees it, is taking our world to the edge of destruction. In the name of democracy and free trade, countries are being attacked, elected governments overthrown and local economies destroyed. The effects of industrialization and savage misuse of natural resources have not only been an economically unbalanced world (with extremely rich capitalists and an extremely poor underprivileged class). This conception of modernity ultimately threatens human existence. For the first time, the human race has to decide on its own existence! Do we want to exist, or do we decide to destroy our planet and its ecological balance.

The race for material wealth, immediate pleasures and the accumulation of commodities is exhausting our planet. Imperialism has become a threat to civilization and human existence, not just national sovereignty. If Islamic terrorism threatens a number of governments, and violates human rights in many areas, imperialism in its contemporary face is a threat not only to the whole of humanity, but also to trees, rivers, animals... Our ecosystem is victim of an imperialism unleashed as never before, that refuses to recognize its role in the climate changes our planet is experiencing. We can clearly say: Modernity no longer means the reign of reason, but the gratification of needs and the satiation of desires. Imperialism and capitalism are turning back against two pillars of modernity and their own existence: reason and science. In the same way, Islamic extremism is turning against its own roots and source: spirituality and mercy.

Opposing or resisting the Islamists' fight for a new caliphate is a clear sign, for them, of heresy or idolatry. Extremists' fatwas make it licit to kill every opponent, even if they are innocent civilians. Their argument in such a cases is that innocent victims will go directly to paradise and the kafir will burn for eternity in hell fire.

This dichotomy of "with us or against us" is not unique to the Islamists, but it is shared with the imperialists, as shown in George Bush's infamous pronouncement after the attacks of September 11: "You are with us or with the terrorists".

Astonishingly, this comparison between these two extremisms reveals the same basis and goals behind their mutual atrocities and arrogance: material gains and physical pleasures. For imperialism and capitalism the sole God is Capital. All means to defend "free markets" are acceptable and justifiable. Stability and social order are necessary for the growth of trade and capital. For this pragmatic reason, dictators and authoritarian regimes are obstacles to "international order" if they assert national control of their natural resources, but if they offer access they became allies.

The Islamists' God offers them cities of gold and silver with a harem of 72 virgins each in Paradise, the only condition being to follow sharia law (as interpreted in the fatwas of the sheikhs and mullahs) and to die for it as a mujahid. Unfortunately, the way to this paradise is paved with the bodies of innocent civilians and naive Muslims. They see the divine reward and their struggle (terrorist activities) as a business transaction with God.

Finally, it all comes down to selling and buying. Capitalists and Islamists have the same goal: maximum gains. For the first category, the reward is earthly; for the second it is an afterlife reward.

The Kabyles adopted Sufi Islam while keeping their identity and tradition. For centuries, these Muslims of the Kabylia Mountains lived their lives as farmers, working their ancestral lands, making jewelry, harvesting wheat and collecting fruits. They lived also their lives as Muslims devoted to the One God of Islam. They made a distance between themselves and the religious clergy, forbidding them from interfering in their earthly life. As the Amazigh saying goes: Igenni n Rebbi, ma t-tamurt n vav-is (Heaven belongs to God, Earth belongs to those who cultivate it). They kept their reverence for their Mother, the land that gave birth to all beings, and where they shall all return. They had a balance between their faith in Islam and their ancestral identity. They were peaceful as long as they were not attacked.

Maybe this is the way, not only for Amazigh of Kabylia, but for all the inhabitants of North Africa.

“Time in Sufism is very important ... Every breath counts”

By Kendall Watson - Novato Advance - Novato, CA, U.S.A.

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

The still atmosphere of the meeting room was broken only by occasional traffic whizzing by from the street.

For Dr. Ali Kianfar, a Master of an order in Sufi Islam, the quiet setting was a deliberate act.“Time in Sufism is very important ... Every breath counts,” he said.

Inside the Commercial Boulevard home of the International Association of Sufism (IAS), Kianfar spoke of the reasons why he founded it and his dedication to understanding others. “We need the right knowledge from the right source. That's very important ... If we do this, we don't find any differences in religion,” he said.

The non-profit organization, established in in Novato in 1983, serves as a meeting place for not only an array of Muslims but members of all faiths, as Kianfar is an active member in the Marin Interfaith community.

“A few months ago, during our symposium on ‘Understanding Buddhism,' I was in a conference with the Dalai Lama,” he said.

Born in Tehran, Iran he earned a law degree, P.h.D. in Islamic Philosophy and studied under Shah Maghsoud Sadegh Angha to earn recognition as a Master. Kianfar emigrated to Marin County with his family in 1979.

The IAS is run mainly by Kianfar and his wife, Dr. Nahid Angha. They are both published authors and teach at area universities. Kianfar's business, a printing press, pays for most of the bills.

He describes Sufism as the mystical or inner side of Islam, similar to Gnostic Christians or Zen Buddhists.

“Inner practice, meditation, purification and wisdom. A Sufi Master is a wise person ... The nature of Sufism is you practice to be right,” he said.

With millions of adherents worldwide, the tradition has long been associated with Islamic arts and literature, perhaps best known in western traditions by the “Whirling Dervishes” or the poet, Rumi.

Kianfar regularly hosts meetings every other Saturday, where he “teaches” lessons from the Koran, the New Testament and a variety of religious sources to about 100 to 120 regular members.

“Our education is limited to the house where I worship. We have to give ourselves the opportunity to learn more,” he said.“It doesn't matter how many times you read the Bible. It's ‘rental knowledge.' Religion is the time when you experience it.”

[picture credit: Thomas K. Sorensen/ADVANCE]

Hawaii Mevlevihane en route for US Rumi lovers

ANA/Staff - Today's Zaman - Istanbul, Turkey

Thursday, March 1, 2007

A group of Hawaiian-Americans who embraced Islam through the Sufi order associated with Mevlana Rumi called the Mevleviyye will build a Mevlevihane - a dervish lodge for the whirling ceremony - on the Hawaiian island of Maui.

In a statement to a reporter of the semi-official Anatolia News Agency, Esin Çelebi, who is the second president of the International Mevlana Foundation as well as being a 22nd generation lineal descendant from the Muslim Scholar and Sufi Mevlana Rumi, said that the Mevlevi Order as founded and understood by Mevlana is reaching more and more people every year.

She particularly noted that those whose first encounter with Islam came about after the September 11 attacks normally hated Islam; but that even those people who began their researches in hatred, had started to see Islam as a religion of tolerance and peace after studying Mevlana, so much so that they had in some cases adopted and claimed the teachings of Mevlana, even though they may be in the far corners of the world.

One of the examples of this is in Hawaii, Çelebi said, and added: "A group of Americans from Hawaii had come to Turkey to attend the commemoration ceremony of Mevlana some years ago. They started coming every year after that.

It turns out that they had first come across Mevlana in books published in America, or in his books such as Masnavi or Divan-i Kebir (Collected Works), and they were deeply affected and decided to come to Turkey. Most members of this group live on the Hawaiian island of Maui.

When they came, they also learnt how to whirl, and through a gradual process of coming to know Islam, they became Muslims.

I don't know the exact number in their group: however, they invited us to Hawaii three and a half years ago for a conference. When we were speaking, there was such a big crowd that a great number of guests had to listen to the conference standing: in some parts of the hall, it was even impossible to stand, it was jam-packed."

This group adopted the love and teachings of Mevlana and the Mevlevi Order with such devotion, Esin Çelebi noted, that they have decided to build a Mevlevihane in Hawaii.

Spreading the Magic among Children

Staff report - Sahara Samay - Noida, India

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Noted Sufi singer Zila Khan left the audiences at the New Delhi's Fountain Lawns spell-bound with her mystical performance.

The Zakir Hussein College along with Asia project organised the programme entitled 'Cultural Diversity Across borders in South Asia' at the India International Centre for the spread of cultural Sufi music.

The programme aimed at spreading the magic of Sufi music among children. Khan, who is the 7th generation of an unbroken line in 'Gharana' style, likes to sing authentic and oldest forms of 'sufiana' music during her performances in order to protect the age-old tradition from fading away.

[from Wiki: In Hindustani music, a gharānā is a system of social organization which groups musicians who are linked by lineage and/or apprenticeship and who adhere to a particular musical style.]

Travel agency offers sufi mystic tour

SN/MR/BG - Press TV - Tehran, Iran

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

An Iranian travel agency has organized a new vacation package in an attempt to introduce Sufi mysticism to its customers.

The towns of Bastam and Kharaqan, home to important Iranian Sufi mystics like Bayazid Bastami and Sheykh Hassan Kharaqani, will host the adventurous tourists on March 1st.

The manager of the travel agency says the idea for the tour grew out of a trend among more and more Iranians to become familiar with Sufi mysticism and the followers of the poet Rumi, who practiced Sufi beliefs in special ceremonies.

"A scholar will lead each tour to provide travelers with background information about the shrines they visit," Narges Tavakoli told Cultural Heritage News.

Bayazid Bastami, who lived 12 centuries ago in the town of Bastam, was the first Iranian Sufi practitioner who spoke of "Fana fi Allah" - the annihilation of the self in God - as well as "Baqa' bi Allah", which literally means subsistence through God.

He also had many students and followers who sought in his classes the knowledge of the "Vahdat al Vojud" or the Unity of Being.