500 Sufi Saints in Lahore

By Hina Farooq - Daily Times - Lahore, Pakistan
Friday, September 28, 2007

Lahore: The City Museum (Tollinton Market), which was scheduled to open for public in September, has still not been opened.

Culture secretary Ashfaq Gondal told Daily Times on Friday that a meeting to be held on Monday was expected to discuss the delay in the opening of the museum.

Museum director Faqir Saifuddin had presented a plan that had almost, but not yet been finalised. Saifuddin, a former member of the museum committee, had proposed making the museum a place that would “educate the younger generation about the history of Lahore”.

He said the museum’s aim was to teach visitors more about Lahore and give them a certain “level of satisfaction”. The plan stated that the museum would be divided into three major segments.

The third would have 14 sub-sections, which would be 14 chapters of Lahore’s history. The first sub-section would narrate the history of Lahore through the ages. The second sub-section would display the old Lahori lifestyle and the traditional games played here. The third chapter would be named ‘Historical and Important places of Lahore’ and would feature documentaries on various historic places in the city.

The fourth chapter would be titled ‘Sufi Saints of Lahore’ and would have information on 500 Sufi Saints with links to the city.

The officials said a second plan had been presented, but that too had not been finalised. The plan proposed dividing the museum according to various ages in the history of Lahore.

Tollinton Market was constructed in 1864 as a temporary building to hold exhibitions of industrial arts. Later, it was handed over to the Lahore Municipal Corporation.

Since 1894, it had been used as a vegetable and beef market. In 2004, the market was renovated and renamed City Museum.

800 and Farewell

By Sarah Rainsford - BBC News - U.K. /Istanbul
Thursday, September 27, 2007

World-renowned Turkish musician and DJ Mercan Dede has announced his retirement from the music business.

His new album, due out in October, will be his last, following 15 years of recording music.

"I used to say whenever I start a concert and feel excitement like the first day, I'll keep on doing it," explains Dede during a break at a studio in Istanbul where he is working on the final release.
"I do still have that energy, but I've been doing this a long time and I think it's important to stop and look at what we did.

"The past 15 years was beyond my dreams. [But] it's like a painter who focuses only on where the brush touches the canvas. Sometimes you need to step back and look at the whole."

Born into a poor family in western Turkey as Arkin Ilicali, Dede now divides his time between Istanbul and Montreal.
He first travelled to Canada to study visual arts and developed a following there as DJ Arkin Allen before creating Mercan Dede more than a decade ago.

His music is an unique blend of traditional Turkish instruments and electronic sounds - one he is reluctant to categorise.

Now central to his work, Mercan Dede first heard the ney - or reed flute - when he was a child.
Enchanted, he carved his own from a piece of plastic piping and taught himself the basics.

Through the music, he was introduced to Sufism and the teachings of Rumi - the 13th Century poet and mystic whose Mevlevi order is now most famous in the West for its Whirling Dervishes.

This week marks 800 years since Rumi's birth, and Mercan Dede has just named his new album 800 after the man whose teachings are a powerful influence on his music and his life.

Mr Skali comes back

[From the French language press]:

Le Festival des musiques sacrées de Fès continue de faire l’actualité culturelle nationale. Après une 13ème édition très réussie en juin dernier et le départ de Naïma Tajmouati Lahbil en juillet, le retour de Faouzi Skali est annoncé.

L'Economiste, Maroc - jeudi, 6 septembre , 2007 - par Youness Saad Alami

The Sacred Musics Festival of Fez [Morocco] continuously makes the national cultural topicality. After a very successful 13th edition last June and the departure of Naïma Tajmouati Lahbil in July, the return of Faouzi Skali is announced.

Mr Skali will be Advisor to the Foundation Spirit of Fez, a position that will enable him to keep a close eye on all the activities of the Foundation while still managing his own agency “Parchments”, which is the organizer of the Festival of the Sufi culture.

Very recently, Mr Skali created an academy of intercultural mediation which considers, in addition to the organization of cultural events, the implementation of new ways of resolutions and prevention of conflicts.

The exploration of new approaches to communication, education and training is also within the menu.

Rumi Fest

The Daily Tar Heel - Chapel Hill, NC, U.S.A.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Chapel Hill and Carrboro communities join the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's celebration of "The Year of Rumi" by offering events that celebrate what would have been the Muslim poet's 800th birthday this week.

The festival, called "Rumi Fest," did kick off at the ArtsCenter in Carrboro at 8:30 p.m. today [Wednesday].

The festival is a part of the Worlds Arts Festival that the ArtsCenter is hosting this year.

The festival is a celebration of the life and works of the 13th-century Muslim poet Mawlana Jalal-ud-Din Balkhi-Rumi, whose teachings emphasize the use of music, dance and poetry as a pathway to inner peace.

The poet's work plays a role in Sufism, a tradition in the Islamic religion. Some Sufis who follow the teachings of Rumi are part of an order known as the Whirling Dervishes.The Dervishes are characterized by the long skirts they wear during ritual prayers that involve spinning in circles with their arms raised.

"The goal of Rumi Fest is to honor the living traditions passed on by the work of Rumi," said Rodrigo Dorfman, one of the festival's organizers, "and by living those traditions, we continue the spirit of unity and brotherhood and sisterhood, a very universal message of peace and humanity."

First event "A Taste of Rumi; A Mystical Sampler," included poetry readings in English and Farsi.

Islamic studies professor Carl Ernst did offer introductory remarks.

But the presentations will not be limited to just poetry.The festival will include a variety of Islamic music, both traditional and modern, and a performance by the Whirling Dervishes.

Workshops on sacred music, drumming and traditional movement will also be given throughout the week to spread knowledge of Sufi practices.

Info: www.rumifest.com

Your task is not to seek for love...

By Trish Hollenbeck - North West Arkansas Times - Fayetteville, AR, U.S.A.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007

It was a night people of different faiths and worship traditions reached out to each other in peace and understanding as the Institute of Interfaith Dialog conducted a banquet Tuesday at the Fayetteville Town Center.

Every year during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the Institute of Interfaith Dialog, which has chapters in several other cities, organizes the dinner to celebrate diversity and recognize the richness of the community.

It was the third such event in Fayetteville.

Alp Erbem, a representative of the institute, explained that Ramadan is a time of worship and devotion to God, a time to read the Quran, and also a time for inner reflection, thanksgiving, giving to charity, selfcontrol and kindness.

The holy month emphasizes community, and fasting is a key part of it, he said. The dinner Tuesday was organized to celebrate the breaking of the fast and share with others who have different faiths and traditions.

Erbem quoted 13 th century Turkish poet Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi:

“ Christian, Jew, Muslim, Shaman, Zoroastrian, stone, ground, mountain, river: Each has a secret way of being with the mystery, unique and not to be judged.

Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it. ”

(...)

Espabad Babbs of the Sufi Center of the Ozarks in Eureka Springs chose to read more of Rumi’s poems to say what he wanted to say. In one, the poet writes:

“ Let the beauty of love be what we do.
There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground. ”

Iran's Rumi Week: 800 hundred years with Rumi

MNA - Mehr News - Tehran, Iran
Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Iran’s Rumi week will be held from October 26 to November 2 to commemorate the 800th birth anniversary of Rumi, Tehran Municipality Art and Cultural Department Deputy Director Majid Sarsangi announced during a press conference.

The “800 Years with Rumi” press conference was held on September 26 at the Honar Cultural Center to describe the cultural programs that will be implemented during Rumi week.

During the week, Rumi scholars will deliver lectures, painting and photo exhibitions will be held, four plays will be staged on the theme of Rumi, a Masnavi-reciting session will be held, and Afghan, Tajik, and Iranian bands will perform five concerts, Sarsangi added.

In addition, an international Rumi convention, in which scholars will present academic papers, will be held in Tehran, Khoy, and Tabriz, he explained.

One of the policy makers for Rumi week, Seyyed Mehdi Qaderi, said that works influenced by Rumi’s character and writings will also be discussed during the event.

[Photo from: Irpedia, Office de Tourisme de l'Iran http://www.irpedia.com/site/]

Between the Sufis and Beethoven

CBC News with AP - CBC Canada - Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Yo-Yo Ma is taking his Silk Road Project, which explores how influences from both East and West shaped modern music, to China.

Ma's Silk Road Ensemble, a group of young musicians who play traditional instruments, will give concerts and workshops in Suzhou, Hong Kong and Beijing's Forbidden City.

The tour starts with an Oct. 2 concert in Shanghai at the Special Olympics summer games for athletes with intellectual disabilities.

The message of the Silk Road Project, celebrating its 10th anniversary next year, is tolerance and understanding of different cultural traditions.

"Not just in terms of an informational way ... but also in terms of approach and the deep respect and spirituality for something," Ma said.

The project explores the impact of the Silk Road itself, the overland route between China and Europe that helped transfer technologies and cultural practices into new settings.

The ensemble will play Islamic music, Ma said. "If we play Mugham music, which is classical music of a lot of places including Azerbaijan, the art of Mugham music is not unlike the art of Indian music, which is meditative," Ma said.

Ma sees connections between Asian music and classical music. Beethoven, like the Sufis, the mystics of Islam, is trying to reach a "moment of transcendence" in his music, Ma said.

"You get to the first movement of Beethoven's violin concerto. You get to that moment where you break free. You earned it! ... You get to the divine! You get to the clouds! And that's what Sufi poetry and music tries to get to. Not so different," he said.

Ma, who will turn 52 while on tour in China, has spent a lifetime straddling cultures.
Born to Chinese parents in France, he moved to America as a boy and studied anthropology at Harvard despite his love of music.

He started the Silk Road Project to explore the connections between musical traditions. The cellist combines his Silk Road work with a demanding international concert career.
"This is not ideological. We're trying to just find out things. If we find something that has no connection to anything and it evolves on its own, that's great," he said.
"But it seems to us so far that the more we dig, the more you find there are connections."

With the 10th anniversary approaching, he's wondering how long he'll remain artistic director of the project though he has no plans yet to resign.

"I love the ensemble. It's like family to me. We've really had so many incredible adventures and experiences together. And I've learned so much from my friends, and I hope, I think my friends would say they've learned a lot from me, too," he said.

Much of the future depends on funding, he said.

The ensemble has performed in 23 countries, and recently completed a year-long residency in Chicago. In China it will perform works from its recent album, New Impossibilities.

[picture: Cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Photo Ariel Schalit/Associated Press]

Japanese Dialogue Iftar

By Huseyin Gulerce - Today's Zaman - Istanbul, Turkey
Wednesday, September 26, 2007

O the warriors of love who don’t have time for enmity!
If you only knew how many people are expecting you.

New Jersey: “Dialogue iftars” were initiated in Turkey about 10 years ago. These iftars are held in the name of dialogue and take place abroad much more often than in the past.

Organized in major world capitals such as London, Berlin and Washington by Turkish cultural centers or charitable foundations run by Turks, they do a great service to our country in terms of publicizing our values and the real face of our people.

Most of them are organized by Turkish artisans and businessmen who volunteer to serve Turkish culture. I wrote last week that I had attended one of these iftar dinners held in Tokyo. Now I’m in the United States for the one to be held in New York and attended by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

I will write later about my impressions, but today let me talk about the one held in Tokyo.

Four-hundred people attended the iftar dinner hosted by the Turkish Culture Center, the Baharu Education Company, Professor Yoshiaki Sasaki from the Tokyo Foundation and Ayhan Bermek, Panasonic’s main distributor in Turkey and very well-known in Turkey’s sports world.

Among the guests were Turkish Ambassador to Japan Sermet Atacanlı and new Japanese Ambassador to Turkey Nobuaki Tanaka. Eighty percent of the guests were Japanese people and there was a highly intellectual group made up of high-ranking bureaucrats, deputies, artists and businessmen.

The choir from the Turkish school in Tokyo, including students from various nationalities, captivated the crowd by singing English, Japanese and Turkish songs. The İstanbul Sufi Music Ensemble, under the direction of state artist Cumhur Tülay, transported the Japanese people to a different world, or so it seemed based on their response to the performance.

During the chanting of the Takbir (a proclamation of the greatness of God, to a tune composed by the great composer Mustafa Itrî) and the Quran recital, absolute silence reigned among spectators in the hall.

What affected the Japanese invitees the most was definitely the Sufi music and the whirling ceremony (sema). Someone there told a friend of mine: “While listening to the Sufi music, I felt indescribable serenity and relief. It’s impossible for any person who listens to this music all the time to ever think of fighting or sparking conflict.”

Professor Sasaki is among the leading intellectuals of Japan. He is an expert on Turkey and Middle East and an advisor to the prime minister. I asked him to assess the atmosphere during the program. He said that it was very important for such a large number of bureaucrats and deputies to have attended the iftar program, particularly at a time of political turmoil in Japan.

Whatever the reason for the gathering, deputies usually stay half an hour at most and then leave, he said. He remarked that this event was “a never-before witnessed thing in Japan” as the deputies stayed nearly three hours, until the end of the program.

“They, too, are aware that the relations with Turks will be better from now on,” he noted.

The most striking determination of Professor Sasaki was that Islam could be communicated to the world in the most accurate manner only through the manners of Turks.

He believes that the teachings of Mevlana Rumi will be adopted by the Japanese with a higher level of receptivity since Japan is shaped by the philosophies of Shinto and Buddhism.

“Those who got to know Islam firsthand at this iftar dinner saw the essence of your religion: the lovingly tolerant and benign face of it. You are demolishing walls and winning our hearts” he commented.

The words of the program’s guest of honor, former Defense Minister Koike Yuriko, inspired high hopes, “I cannot think of any other country that loves Japan more than Turks do.”

[Picture from: http://www.tourisme-japon.fr/index.html]

Alternative Healing: The Sufi Way

Sufi News Report - Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Alternative Healing: The Sufi Way
By Es-Seyyid Es-Shaykh Taner Ansari Tarsusi er Rifai el Qadiri
Edited by Shaykh Kevin Germain

Remedies and health tips for the practicing spiritual healer from the Holy Quran for cancer, epilepsy, fevers, diabetes, recovery from drug addiction, demonic possession and other ailments

In his *Alternative Healing: The Sufi Way* Shaykh Taner Ansari has provided Muslims, Sufis, and anyone interested in spiritual healing with a book that will be uplifting for both spirits and bodies.

Readers will love the focus of the book, which is a veritable pharmacopoeia of Quranic verses related to specific ailments affecting one's spiritual and physical being.

In addition Shaykh Taner has included valuable chapters containing practical guidance for purification, diagnosis, the use of the Divine Names in healing, treatment of Jinn possession, and the use of spiritual geometric designs (taweez) that have traditionally been used for healing.

Finally, recipes for soups and teas that Shaykh Taner adds in an appendix complete this book that is certainly a generous cup overflowing with God's Mercy.

Review by Dr. Alan Godlas - from the back cover

Es-Seyyid Es-Shaykh Taner Ansari
*Alternative Healing
The Sufi Way*
Ansari Publications
Nassau, New York

ISBN: 978-0-9703185-2-7

You can buy at this link: http://astore.amazon.com/wilderwri-20

You can visit the Qadiri-Rifai tariqa at this link www.qadiri-rifai.com (or click the title above).

Rumi Without Borders

By Shakila Khalje - The Epoch Times - New York, NY, U.S.A.
Monday, September 24, 2007

Outside ideas of right doing and wrong doing there is a field. I'll meet you there. ~Rumi

The collection of Rumi's poems called Mathnawi-e-Ma'navi (Spiritual Couplets), had a great influence on Islamic literature and thought.

His mausoleum, the Green Dome in Konya, is today a place of pilgrimage for many thousands of people. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has declared 2007 the 800th anniversary of the mystic poet's birth, as the International year of Rumi.

Rumi is considered a Persian mystic and poet and is closely identified with Sufism and Sufi mysticism. Sufis and mystics are Muslim devotees who seek a mystical union with God. His works speak of the common origin of human beings made up of spirit, reason and love. He died in 1273 in Konya.

Three years ago, Professor Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak founded the Center for Persian Studies at the University of Maryland, with the goal to help people know more about Persian language and the literature expressed in it which is wonderful and obtains universal massages.

He is the main organizer of the upcoming International Rumi Conference and he gracefully acknowledges that his idea became a reality as a result of hard work and the collective endeavor of many other individuals as well as organizations.

In an interview Professor Hakkak spoke about few other important reasons for spending countless hours to make this conference possible. His father's love for Rumi's poetry is one reason which takes him back to his early childhood.

When he was thirteen or so, his father would trick him into reading Mathnawi because he claimed his eye sight was weak and he could not read. "It initiated this whole journey of understanding Rumi." he said.

Rumi's 800th birth anniversary this year, presented yet another wonderful opportunity for Professor Hakkak to create a platform for over twenty Rumi scholars and artists. They will gather and share their knowledge and understanding of the greatest mystic Sufi of all times in a thematic manner for three days, September 28-30, 2007.

This event will be held on the campus of the University of Maryland College Park, Maryland.

Below Hakkak also reveals more of his ideas about Rumi's universal language.

What else does this conference pay tribute to?
The world needs Rumi's message so desperately now. So, more than any calendar based consideration it was this which made it relevant. It really pays tribute to the man's vision.

Can you talk about the so called "Americanization of Rumi"?
Americanization? Sure! It is like the "Persianization" of Shakespeare. There is not such a thing as an intact message transmitted over time.

We always transform as we translate, and as such, in this case we are lucky to have scholarly as well as popular translations such as Dr. Coleman Barks who helps de-anchor Rumi's poetry, that means there is not much need of Rumi's cultural surroundings.

Any time we translate we transform. There is no such thing as the Rumi of the thirteenth century, both are gone but of course every text including Rumi's poetry has two forces in it: actual, instantaneous, contemporary immediate forces and the potential for the future.

It is this potential that is meeting Rumi's ideas; the need to cling to something that transcends our sectarian notions and the questions of boundaries. We need that message.

Rumi was the originator of that message, although he too, must have obtained it from somewhere else, nobody works in a vacuum. Of course, our world needs these ideas.

(...)

Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak is currently a Professor and Founding Director of the Center for Persian Studies in the School of languages, Literature and Cultures at the University of Maryland.

[Picture: Whirling dervishes perform The Sema (Whirling Ceremony) in Istanbul 25 July 2007. Photo: GALI TIBBON/AFP/Getty Images]

[About the event, read also: http://sufinews.blogspot.com/search?q=CPS (click on the link, then scroll down)]

Shajarian to sing for Shams at Khoy convention

TT Art Desk - Tehran Times - Tehran, Iran
Saturday, September 22, 2007

Mohammadreza Shajarian is to give a live performance of traditional Iranian songs during the international Shams of Tabriz convention which is to be held in Khoy, western Azerbaijan, northwest of Iran.

“The event will be inaugurated in late October in Khoy and will be attended by Iranian and foreign Rumi scholars and other literary figures,” Rahim Qorbani, the general governor of Azerbaijan province mentioned during a press conference on September 20.

A second convention commemorating Rumi is to be held in Tehran concurrently with the Shams congress. This will be inaugurated and held in Tehran, but it will be concluded in Khoy, Qorbani stated.

Born in the city of Tabriz, Shams lived together with Rumi in Konya for several years. Shams has been immortalized in Rumi’s collection of poetry named the “Divan of Shams ad-Din of Tabriz”.

Rumi’s love for him and his bereavement at his death found expression in an outpouring of music, dance, and lyrical poetry.

The tomb of Shams is located in Khoy and is in the form of a 12-meter high cylindrical tower. The monument was erected by Shah-Esmaeil in the Safavid era.

Working quietly to bridge gaps

By Bill Sherman - Tulsa World - Tulsa, OK, U.S.A.
Saturday, September 22, 2007

A Turkish Muslim group is quietly working to improve communication and understanding between Islam and the West.

The Institute of Interfaith Dialog was formed in Austin, Texas, by Educator Muhammed Cetin, a Turk, who founded the nonprofit organization to promote tolerance and understanding between diverse religious groups.

Among the early volunteers in the organization, now based in Houston, was another Turk, Omer Akdeniz, who moved to Tulsa in 2003 and formed a Tulsa chapter of IID.

In 2004, the chapter sent a group of Oklahoma leaders to Turkey to experience that nation first-hand, and held an Iftar dinner, inviting 140 non-Muslims to join with Muslims in an after-sunset dinner breaking the daily Ramadan fast.

Since then, the Tulsa chapter has held Iftar dinners annually, drawing more than 200 people from a variety of faiths, and has sent many more Tulsans to Turkey. At this year's dinner, held Tuesday night at the Renaissance Hotel, mistress of ceremonies Nancy Day, executive director of the Oklahoma Conference for Community and Justice, called Akdeniz "a Tulsa treasure."

Several participants in this year's trip to Turkey shared their experiences, including Alice Blue, chairwoman of the Tulsa Human Rights Commission and wife of Tulsa Rabbi Marc Fitzerman of the B'nai Emunah Congregation. She pointed out that this year Ramadan, the Muslim lunar month of prayer, fasting and introspection, falls during the Jewish High Holy Days, also a time of prayer, fasting and introspection.

Ramadan began Sept. 13. The Jewish High Holy Days began with Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, on Sept. 13, and end with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, which began at sundown Friday.

The concept of the Iftar interfaith dinners during Ramadan was started in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1994, by Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish religious leader who inspired the creation of IID, Akdeniz said.

Gulen invited Roman Catholic, Jewish, Christian Orthodox and other Turkish religious minorities to participate in the Muslim dinner. "It was big national news in Turkey," he said. "It changed the way Ramadan is observed in Turkey. "It was unbelievable. It changed people's view of minority faith groups in Turkey. "

"IID decided to bring that tradition to the United States," he said.

IID chapters in 18 cities in six states held Iftar dinners this year, including in Tulsa and Oklahoma City. The cultural exchange trips to Turkey are a second key part of IID's work: nearly 500 educators, religious leaders and other Americans have been guests of IID's chapters.

In addition to the Iftar dinners and trips to Turkey, IID sponsors cultural programs such as bringing Whirling Dervish dance troupes from Turkey to the United States, and a variety of seminars and panel discussions. The Tulsa IID chapter opened an office this year, a 4,000-square-foot, seven-room facility at 6804 S. Canton Ave. with office space, meeting rooms, kitchen, classrooms and a prayer room.

It serves as IID offices and also a Turkish cultural center, offering classes in the Turkish language and Sufism.

Sufism focuses on the spiritual aspects of Islam, Akdeniz said, how to get closer to God through prayer, self-discipline, humility, sincerity, and "doing all you do for the sake of God, and the love of God." One of its key leaders was the 14th century mystic Rumi, whose poetry is still popular in the United States. His followers are celebrating his 800th birthday. He was born Sept. 30, 1207.

IID chapters are locally supported, and its leaders and workers are all volunteers, Akdeniz said. Some of that support comes from Muslims meeting Islam's requirement to give away at least 2.5 percent of their income. The Turkey trips are financed by a cooperation between IID in the United States and its counterparts in Turkey.

[Picture: Omer Akdeniz, director of the Tulsa chapter of the Institute of Interfaith Dialog, stands between a Turkish and American flag Wednesday in the IID complex in Tulsa. Photo by Sherry Brown.]

As Sanusi al Kabir (d. 1859) and the Sanusi Sufis in Libya

By R. Scott Peoples - Bits of News - U.S.A.
Saturday, September 22, 2007

[From Libya Through the Ages, a secular historical article about Libya -Part III: Libya in the World Wars - click on the title above to read the full article and for the links to Part I and Part II]

When the leaders don't lead, the people start following those who will. To make things worse, North Africa has a peculiar tradition – probably with pagan origins, since Herodotus mentions them – of personal mystics known as marabouts.

Limited pretty much to the Maghrib and West Africa (ie, wherever there's Berbers), some marabouts nonetheless gathered fervent (if localized) followings, established towns and cities, arbitrated political disputes, and, occasionally, were venerated as saints.

Such was the case with named Muhammad ibn Ali as Sanusi, an Algerian with Sufi roots who had gained such a prominent reputation as a marabout that by 1830, as he made his way toward Mecca, he was honored as as Sanusi al Kabir (the "Grand Sanusi") by the towns and tribes of Tripolitania and the Fezzan.

Like other Muslim movements of the time, he preached a conservative message of austerity and a return to an earlier sense of morality, but this didn't mean voluntary poverty or Sufi-type spiritual aids: adherents were expected to earn their keep through work, weren't allowed to use stimulants, and were forbade traditionally Sufi practices like ecstatic dance.

To quote LoC [Library of Congress] yet again, "The Grand Sanusi accepted neither the wholly intuitive ways described by the Sufis mystics nor the rationality of the orthodox ulama; rather, he attempted to adapt from both."

He tried to move the message to Mecca through the founding of a lodge there in 1837, but was run out of town a few years later due to disagreements with the Turkish rulers. He then discovered that, in the meantime, France had begun using its brand-spanking new Foreign Legion to conquer Algeria, and so the Grand Sanusi was forced to hang out his new shingle in Libya – specifically in al-Bayda, Cyrenaica, in 1843.

From there, he presided over a movement that rapidly gained followers among the Bedouin tribes, where the tradition of marabouts saw Sanusi al Kabir venerated as something akin to a saint even within his lifetime, and saw the expansion of his movement to a new base at al Jaghbub, astride the caravan route to the Sudan.

The Grand Sanusi sprung the mortal coil in 1859, passing the reins on to his grandson, Muhammad. He quickly moved the Sanusi capitol further south, so as to confront French ambitions in the Sudan, and through his outstanding leadership and organizational skills became so admired that he was termed "Mahdi" ("guided one;" a prophesied redeemer of Islam).

He is not to be confused with the Mahdi who later gave the British the Baghdad treatment in Khartoum – Islam in the 1800s saw several claimants to the title – but he did proclaim jihad to stymie French ambitions to Libya's south, and so became the first Sanusi leader to come into direct conflict with a European power.

By the time of his death in 1902, the Mahdi had united the tribes of Cyrenaica in a way that no other leader could have; a string of 146 lodges stretched across North Africa and into Arabia and the roots of a nationalist movement had been laid before the Mahdi's cousin, Muhammad Idris as Sanusi (later King Idris of Libya), came to power – though a regency run by Ahmad as Sharif on behalf of the still-too-young leader picked a disastrous fight with the French that resulted in many lodges being destroyed.

[US Library of Congress: http://www.loc.gov/index.html
Country Studies: Overview of life, history, and culture of various countries by the LoC http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/]

Iranian Virtuosi for Rumi

TTArt Desk - Tehran Times - Tehran, Iran
Saturday, September 22, 2007

Iranian setar and tar virtuoso Mohammadreza Lotfi is to give a concert in commemoration of the 800th birth anniversary of the Persian mystic and poet Molana Jalal ad-Din Rumi in London on October 28th.

Tombak and daf virtuoso Mohammad Qavihelm, who has regularly taken part in musical events with Lotfi over the past 20 years, will be accompanying him in this performance, which is scheduled to be held at the Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Cosponsored by the Iran Heritage Foundation, Julius Baer (Middle East) Ltd., and the Targetfollow Group Ltd., the program will comprise Lotfi’s musical expression of several pieces of Rumi’s poetry.

Lotfi, who went to the U.S.A in 1986, and resided there for 18 years, performed widely throughout Asia, Europe, and North America during that time.

He returned to live in Iran in 2005 and gave a series of outdoor concerts in Tehran’s Sadabad Cultural Historical Complex this summer, June 2007.

"I wish one day I could sleep and wake..."

By Ahmed Rasheed - Reuters - U.S.A.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Baghdad: In a city riven with sectarian bloodshed, workers at a 13th century Baghdad mosque mark the Muslim holy month of Ramadan by feeding the poor and preserving a bygone spirit of co-existence.

The Sunni mosque of Abdul Qadir al-Gailani feeds hundreds of people a day during Ramadan, providing an evening meal for observant Muslims who fast from dawn to dusk.

And after four years of communal violence in which tens of thousands of Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims have been killed, the mosque's soup kitchen remains an oasis of tolerance.

"I can't live away from the kitchen. It's my peaceful world. We Sunnis, Shi'ites and Kurds, are all living as brothers and never discuss our sect. We are all Iraqis," said Abu Saif, a Shi'ite who has worked at the mosque for more than 17 years.

Alongside him was Haj Hameed, a Kurd who has cooked in the kitchen for a quarter century, and Sunni Arab employee Mahmoud al-Barazanchi. Wielding a long wooden stick, Barazanchi stirred a thick broth of lentils and chicken, cooking in a huge pot.

"It's here, and only here, that no one pays attention to whether we're Sunnis or Shi'ites," Abu Saif said, breaking into tears at the mention of Iraq's violence. "I wish one day I could sleep and wake to find my country acting the same."

The diversity in the kitchen is matched in the crowd of Sunnis and Shi'ites who queue, metal pots in their hands, for a generous serving of lentils, chicken and rice.

In previous years the mosque had resources to prepare twice as much food, Abu Saif said, but donations have fallen away. Wealthy businessmen who used to support the Ramadan soup kitchen have fled the country and the mosque receives no aid from the government.

In another change, food for the evening meal is distributed at 2 p.m., five hours before the prayers which mark the end of the daily fast, because few people feel safe on the streets in the evening.

"Before, Ramadan was full of joy and blessings. We used to take food and break the fast inside the mosque in groups. But now we fear car bombs and killing and we rush to take the food back home," said Umm Mohammed, waiting patiently in line.

The mosque is famed as the burial place of Sufi Sheikh Abdul Qadir al-Gailani, and a dome built by Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent still stands in the mosque complex.

But outside, the minaret bears the scars of Baghdad's recent turmoil. Scaffolding covers its top and broken concrete and rubble surround the base, still not repaired after a May truck bombing outside the mosque.

[picture: View of new street Baghdad from North Gate.
Photo from http://www.archnet.org/
ArchNet Image ID: IRQ0048 / Photograph Date: circa 1925 / Medium: B & W print / Photographer: A. Kerim / Copyright: Reproduced with permission of the Fine Arts Library of the Harvard College Library / Source: Fine Arts Library, Harvard College Library]

The importance of dialogue: Religious leaders, US congressmen gather at iftar

By Ali H. Aslan - Today's Zaman - Istanbul, Turkey
Friday, September 21, 2007

The Rumi Forum, a Washington-based organization working to foster interfaith and intercultural dialogue and whose honorary president is Fethullah Gülen, for the second consecutive year brought together a number of distinguished speakers and invitees for an iftar dinner.

The iftar -- the evening fast-breaking meal in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan -- was organized under the auspices of 21 US congressmen, and five members of the US Congress were among its guests.

The keynote speaker was Professor Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, secretary general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

İstanbul's Armenian Patriarch Mesrob II (Mutafyan) and US Greek Orthodox Archbishop Demetrios were guests of honor at the event.

Congressman Rush Holt, speaking to Today’s Zaman, said: “Here in Congress, in this room where we stand, there is much talk everyday but very seldom real dialogue. Tonight, with the Greek Orthodox, the Armenian, the followers of Rumi, the society of Jesus, the Jesuits, the Protestants, Catholics and variety of Muslims, this has been a remarkable evening of dialogue.”

The host of the program was Brenda Bearden, an instructor at Georgetown University. The event was organized at the Cannon Caucus, one of the most prestigious rooms in Congress.

The event started with a prayer from the chaplain of the House of Representatives Reverend Daniel Coughlin, followed by the Muslim evening prayer, which was broadcast on a screen with English subtitles.

The participants started off eating dates, in line with the Muslim tradition for breaking the daily fast.

The guests showed great interest in the video clip for the “Song of Brotherhood,” sung by Turkish folk artist Mahsun Kırmızıgül and shot in the southeastern city of Mardin.

A group of Afghan performers sang songs with lyrics from 13th century Sufi Saint Mevlana Muhammed Jelaluddin Rumi, the founder of the Mevlevi Sufi order. Works of a Turkish ebru (paper marbling) artist were on display on the Congress halls.

Congressmen Wayne Gilchrest (Maryland), Keith Ellison, Betty McCollum (Minnesota), Nita Lowey (New York) and Holt (New Jersey) attended the dinner while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was represented by her assistant Mercedes Salem.

Turkish Ambassador to Washington Nabi Şensoy, Egyptian Ambassador Nabil Fahmy, Eritrean Ambassador Ghirmai Ghebremariam and Mauritian Ambassador Kailash Ruhee, as well as diplomats from the Israeli, Indian, Ukrainian and Singapore missions in the US, attended the iftar.

Justice and Development Party (AK Party) deputy Suat Kınıkloğlu, Yeni Şafak columnist Fehmi Koru and Radikal columnist Murat Yetkin were among the guests from Turkey.

All speakers at the dinner emphasized the importance of dialogue. Keith Ellison, the first Muslim US Congressman, began his remarks with the Muslim greeting “Assalamu alaykum.”

[picture: Afghan musicians performing songs with lyrics by Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi, the founder of the Mevlevi Sufi order, at the Rumi Forum's iftar dinner at the US Congress Wednesday night.]

"Religionising" politics: the moral alternative

By Ammar Ali Hassan - Al Ahram Weekly - Cairo, Egypt
20 - 26 September 2007 - Issue No. 863

Millions have found a home in religion in the context of the West's confrontation with the Arab and Islamic worlds. The crisis, or assimilation, of secular Arab nationalism has contributed to the rise of political Islam.

Does this signal an end to the Arab project of building civil-oriented states, or can politics be melded with moral and ethical concerns without becoming a pawn of religious fervour?

Instead of bringing politics into religion, we should consider bringing moral and ethical values into politics.

Many intellectuals hold that the Eastern mentality in general is more inclined to the spiritual than to the abstract philosophical. But the distinction between spirituality and philosophy is a rather spurious one in that over the course of history the two have been so closely intertwined that the attempt to separate one from the other inevitably results in a failure to comprehend both.

Islam is a single indivisible "text", but it has given rise to numerous and diverse interpretations and exegeses which, when translated into human actions and attitudes, have yielded a broad spectrum of behaviour ranging between the antithetical extremes of "revolutionary dissident" and "Sufi recluse".

Religion, even in its most ritualistic sense, creates a set of values that become an integral part of the worshipper's self and shapes his awareness and perceptions of the world around him. Thus the gateway between the religious and the political is wide open.

The worlds of politics and religion share several common traits, among them ambiguity, diversity, interconnectivity, fluidity and dynamism. They both combine material, moral and structural elements and are closely connected.

Religion imparts moral values, which are essentially social values; it functions to regulate society through conventions of rites and rituals and the codification of the divide between right and wrong; and the religious establishment plays a vital role as a conduit for social advancement in societies that accord a special status to religious culture.

Some people turn to religious fanaticism as a refuge from odious social realities. For them, religious fanaticism is a defence mechanism against oppression, frustration, fear and all the attendant anxieties and tensions arising from the inability to face the demands and pressures of reality.

Too weak or downtrodden to take reality face-on, they withdraw from the realm of ordinary life, wrap themselves in the comfort and security of religious fervour and begin to carve out for themselves a new role that will no longer leave them marginalised, a role that evolves into a new constant in the dynamics of society.

Their relationship with society can be either assimilative, which when taken to the extreme means that the one must absorb the other, or adversarial, which when taken to the extreme means that the one must exclude and ultimately try to eradicate the other.

Both patterns are a manifestation of mankind's interest in the phenomenon of religion and an affirmation of the perpetuity of this phenomenon, even if contextualised against the entrenchment of structures of political corruption and class exploitation, as religion was for Karl Marx, who could not ignore how it functioned ideologically as a social regulator.

If religion is a moral/ideological calling with an expectation of moral commitment and dedication, these concepts also underlie politics. Politics, in its broadest sense, is about power, and power entails an expectation of commitment, submission and deference to a higher will.

Like religion, it also entails rules to regulate its practice and to ensure conformity. Thus religion, in part, regulates a metaphysical relationship, and politics, in part, regulates a civil relationship.

As fundamental a difference as this might be, the two are nevertheless connected by virtue of their need for human organisation, and this connection has imposed a permanent relationship between the two that has been evidenced in all societies and civilisations without exception.

Religion has always influenced politics and served as a platform to stake out a political presence, and power has always striven to use religion as a means to ensure cohesion and loyalty.

In Arab society, religion, in the form of politicised religious movements, has played a prominent role as an engine of social and political change. Religion, at least according to some, has also left its imprint on the processes of ideological obfuscation, false consciousness and the flight from reality used to entrench class discrimination and to legitimise tyrannical regimes.

Neither of these antithetical phenomena derives from Islam as it was originally revealed, but rather from the interpretations of Islam by individuals and groups for whom the religious text becomes entwined with a complex social fabric made up of diverse interests, desires and conditions.

Whether religion is a vehicle for change or for repression is a subject of considerable controversy. My intent here is not to analyse or pass judgment on either of these positions, but rather to underscore the fact that by merely positing views on the positive or negative influence of religion on society affirms the close connection between religion and politics.

As for the relationship between the religious establishment and the legitimacy of the political regime, it varies in accordance with the nature of that establishment and the diversity of its activities. Generally, it is in the nature of official religious establishments to promote the values and political trends espoused by the regime.

Conversely, it is in the nature of unofficial religious establishments to propound new or alternative values, opposed to those espoused by the regime and that may have the potential to threaten its stability and perpetuity.

Aware as they are of the power of the religious establishment and its influence on political awareness, ruling elites have frequently co-opted that establishment with an eye to transforming its podiums into political schoolhouses in which people can be inculcated with ideas and modes of behaviour that serve the interests of the regime, simultaneously with an eye to preventing oppositional currents from using the same podiums for opposite reasons.

In order to prevent religion from being exploited in this manner -- from being manipulated to justify certain forms of political behaviour or from its being stripped of its sanctity and glory and reduced to a mere ideology -- perhaps we should contemplate "religionising" politics, as opposed to politicising religion.

In other words, we should explore the possibility of giving politics a moral framework, as did some Muslim political philosophers in the past, or as Kant did in Western political philosophy. It is important to stress, here, that such a moral framework must not exploit religion as a political tool, which demeans its sanctity and reverence and which would also constitute duping a naturally religious Egyptian public.

"Religionising" politics becomes a viable alternative when it signifies placing the latter within a moral and ethical framework inspired by religious beliefs or even by beneficial traditions and conventions and when used to refine the practice of politics and to eliminate hypocrisy, fraud and deceit. Indeed, such an alternative remains one of the quests of political science.

The politicisation of religion, on the other hand, must be rejected in no uncertain terms. To mix religion with the practice of politics is harmful to both, because ultimately it produces new and multifarious shades of deleterious tampering with people's interests and minds, because it opens the path to religious demagoguery that obscures the objective assessment of reality, and because it permits a group to advance its own claims and interests in the guise of an absolutist dogma.

The writer is director of the Middle East Studies and Research Centre, Cairo.

Rumi in Bali

By I Wayan Juniartha - The Jakarta Post - Jakarta, Indonesia
Thursday, September 20, 2007

The small and quiet town of Ubud, long known as Bali's cultural capital, will turn into a bustling metropolis next week as the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival (UWRF) 2007 commences its literary celebration.

Over 80 writers from 18 countries across the globe have confirmed their participation in the annual event, ensuring the gathering will be a rich tapestry of different voices, distinct styles and diverse views.

"I believe that the ability to share different thoughts, to interact with writers from various cultural and geographical origins, and to have an intimate communication amid the beautiful, refreshing atmosphere of Ubud is one of the festival's strongest charms," festival director Janet de Neefe said.

(...)

The festival committee has also organized six community programs, aimed at increasing the awareness and participation of the local community in the literary gathering.

"The programs include the off-Ubud seminar and poetry readings, which will be held at the Udayana University campus and the Balai Bahasa auditorium in Denpasar. We have invited high school students, teachers and local writers to participate in those events," the festival's community development manager, Kadek Sri Purnami, said.

"Greater community involvement has always been our top priority. We believe that at the end of the day, it is the people of Ubud, as a community, who should shoulder the responsibility of being the true custodians of this event," Saraswati Foundation chairman Ketut Suardana said.
The foundation has been the sole organizer of the festival since its beginning.

"The fact that this year's festival will be held at 32 venues across Ubud and that a large majority of our 100 corporate and individual sponsors come from Ubud, is an obvious sign that the festival has moved along the right path to be a community-based event," he said.

The community programs will be capped off by two public events in Ubud. On the night of Sept. 29, a concert will be held at the Ubud soccer field. It will feature Nanoe Biroe, arguably the most popular and most influential Balinese pop singer.

The following day, a tribute to the 13th century Persian poet, Rumi, will be held at the ARMA museum. Organized to commemorate the 800th anniversary of Rumi's birth, the event will include poetry readings from Mustofa Bisri, Sujiwo Tejo, and Iman Mersal, along with performance of Whirling Dervish devotional dances and Sufi music.

"Hopefully, UWRF 2007 will be a festive event for the writers, the readers, and, most of all, the people of Ubud," he said.

For more information see www.ubudwritersfestival.com or call festival manager Finley Smith on 081337098915.

Pennies for Peace

By Sharon Letts - Times-Standard - CA, U.S.A.
Thursday, September 21, 2007

”When I look into the eyes of children in Afghanistan and Pakistan, I see my own children.

I want my own kids and their counterparts to live in peace, but that will not happen unless we give them alternatives to the cycle of terrorism and war.”
-- Greg Mortenson, founder and executive director of Central Asia Institute.

Rabia Sher of Arcata is planning on collecting pennies -- a lot of them. For she knows the true value of the copper currency that many Americans consider a nuisance.

”A penny isn't valued in the States any longer,” said Sher, founder of the Roshni Center for Women in northern Pakistan, during a recent presentation at Grant Elementary School in Eureka. “But, a penny will buy a pencil in Pakistan, and one pencil will allow a child to go to school.”

Pennies for Peace is an international campaign developed by the Central Asia Institute. The campaign is focused on raising the awareness of children all over the globe about the need to help others. The program also builds schools in both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Sher initially saw a need for improving economic growth through educational training while visiting Pakistan in 2000.

Since that trip, she has been working to enlighten people to the plight of the Pakistanis, first opening the Roshni Center for Women -- a place that helps young women learn skills, such as sewing. Sher's latest crusade is the Pennies for Peace campaign, as well as a letter-writing project involving schoolchildren.

”I read Greg Mortenson's book, 'Three Cups of Tea,' and I thought, 'He's telling my story,'” Sher explained of the man who founded the Central Asia Institute. “After I finished reading it, I called the Pennies for Peace office in Montana and told Director Christiana Leitinger that I wanted to bring that program to Humboldt.”

The Central Asia Institute was established in 1996 after Mortenson made a trip up K2 -- the second highest mountain in the world --and after a stay in the northern mountain village of Karakoram in Pakistan, where he saw a need and was compelled to help the children there, with a bigger picture of global peace.

According to its Web site (www.ikat.org), the organization's mission is to “promote and support community-based education and literacy programs, especially for girls, in mountain regions of Central Asia.”

”The theory is that if you educate a boy, you educate an individual,” Sher said, “but, if you educate a girl, you educate the community.”

But to get that education, she said, the simplest needs must be met -- like owning a pencil.

The penny, or 1 percent of a dollar, represents the 1 percent of a gross domestic product goal set by the United Nations in the 1970s (www.bea.gov ). The goal was for wealthy countries to give foreign aid to impoverished nations on a yearly basis.

Rabia Sher is now bringing Pennies for Peace to Humboldt County -- one school at time. The program involves children dropping pennies into a jar in the classroom. Sher has also created a pen-pal program, which will encourage local children to write letters to children in northern Pakistan.

The pen pals and the Pennies for Peace campaign are two separate projects for Sher. She said that the pennies gathered will go to the Central Asia Institute and will be put toward the building of schools, while the letters are a more personal goal that Sher feels will enrich the lives of the children.

”The children there live in extreme poverty,” she said. “Most of them will never leave the village. I was the first foreigner they had ever seen. The letters will open up a whole new world for them.”

Grant Elementary School has joined in the campaign, and third-grade teacher Carol Goodwyn is just one of the teachers involved in both Pennies for Peace and the pen-pal program.

”Very few people actually hand-write letters today,” Goodwyn said. “Many of the children are very interested in writing letters to children their age in another country.” Starting friendly letter writing also fits in our core curriculum and with the California state standards for third grade.

”The children will be able to address the standards in a real-life way, outside of the school or the family,” Goodwyn added. “It will give them a whole new perspective on what a letter can do.”

As for the Pennies for Peace campaign, Goodwyn said the school is already off to a good start.
”The day after Rabia gave her presentation on Pennies for Peace,” she said, “a fourth-grade boy came into school with a bag of pennies and said, 'Where's the jar?'”

Grant Elementary School Principal Bill Cannady said he's happy to be a part of both campaigns, which, he said, follow the school's philosophy.

”It goes right along with the five core values from the Community of Caring established by Eunice Kennedy Shriver that our school practices: caring, respect, responsibility, trust and family,” he said. “It's what we have to do in this world.”

For more information about Pennies for Peace, visit the Web site at www.penniesforpeace.org

To find out how to get involved in Pennies for Peace locally, or to be a part of the pen-pal program, call Rabia Sher at 826-7123, or e-mail her at thelostcaravan@yahoo.com

Iranian artists illustrate Rumi’s poetry

Tehran Times - Tehran, Iran
Tuesday, September 18, 2007

A book containing Rumi’s “Divan of Shams” illustrated by Iranian artists is to be published by the Academy of Art in October.

Compiled by Mehdi Hosseini, the book contains 50 illustrations by contemporary artists and will be published to commemorate the 800th birth anniversary of Rumi.

The text will be written by the calligrapher Sedaqat Jabbari and it will also contain English and French translations.

Love's Fusion

[From the French language press]:

L’ensemble marocain Ibn Arabi fait escale au Caire, animant deux concerts à l’occasion du Ramadan. Emanation soufie et spiritualisme en perspective.

Hebdo Al-Haram, Le Caire, Egypte - Semaine du 19 au 26 Septembre 2007, numéro 680 - par May Sélim

The Moroccan Ensemble Ibn Arabi will stop in Cairo and animate two concerts during the month of the Ramadan, within the framework of the Festival of Euphrate in Guadalquivir. Sufi emanation and spirituality are awaited.

The Festival of Euphrate is organized by the Funds for the Cultural Development, the Embassy of Spain and the CFCC and whose objective is to celebrate the holy month by arabo-Andalusian melodies.

With this intention, they invited the group Musica Antigua which draws from the Spanish medieval music (Islamic, Jewish and Christian), the Iraqi lutist Nassir Chamma who is inspired in some by his creations by the Andalusian culture and the Moroccan Ensemble Ibn Arabi.

Originating in Tangier (Morocco), the members of the ensemble attended as of their youth the sufi songs of samaa (hearing), specific to the rites of the Seddikiya Brotherhood of the Shaykh Abdel-Aziz Seddiq, and to which they are still affiliated.

Why thus the poet Ibn Arabi? Because the unit draws in fact in the texts and in the writings of this great Master of Sufism, the Shaykh Al-Akbar Moheïddine Ibn Arabi (1165 - 1240). They attempt to translate his mystical spirit in the music they play and they sing his verses.

Qur'an reciting is also part of the Ibn Arabi Ensemble's repertoire, as well as the songs of the praise of God and His Prophet, evoking the world of the dervishes and their rites in the zikr meetings.

Receptive now my heart is for each form;

for gazelles pasture, for monks a monastery,

temple for idols, Ka'bah to be rounded,

tables of Toah and script of Qur'an.

My religion is love's religion: where'er turn

her camels, that religion my religion is, my faith.

Ibn Arabi translated by Martin Lings
from:
SUFI POEMS a mediaeval anthology
compiled and translated by Martin Lings
arabic and english edition
The Islamic Texts Society 2004
ISBN 1903682 17 7
pp. 62-63

Concerts:
September 24th, 9.00 pm, at Palace Al-Ghouri, Old Cairo
and September 25th, 9.30 pm, at CFCC Mounira, with all the Festival's musicians.

UNESCO presents Rumi medal to Ahmad Jalali

MNA - Tehran Times - Tehran, Iran
Monday, September 17, 2007

Director General of UNESCO, Koichiro Matsuura, presented the Rumi commemorative medal to Ahmad Jalali, Iran’s former UNESCO ambassador in Paris on September 6.

Ahmad Jalali is currently head of the Majlis [Islamic Consultative Assembly] library, museum, and documents.

Ehsan Shokrollahi, head of the Public Relations Office of the Majlis library told MNA that it was Ahmad Jalali who proposed in 2006 that UNESCO issue a commemorative medal in honor of Rumi.


Shokrollahi said that the proposal was approved by UNESCO and the medal was presented to Jalali at the celebration ceremony of the 800th anniversary of Rumi in Paris.

Shokrollahi added that Jalali had been awarded the medal for his work as president of the 31st session of UNESCO’s general conference and for his great endeavors to introduce the thoughts and beliefs of Rumi to the world.

Rebuilding, slowly

Bureau Report - Zee News - Noida, India
Sunday, September 16, 2007

The reconstruction process of the mosque adjacent to the holy shrine of famous Sufi saint Hazrat Sheikh Noor-ud-din Noorani at Charar-e-Sharief that was gutted in a major fire in 1995 is on with over Rs 26.07 crore required to complete the works.

The additional works include the provision for ornamental cage work, wood carving, Khatamband ceiling, panelling, provision for central heating system, development of area in and around the shrine and 'Khankhah', the sources said.

An amount of Rs 475 lakh has been spent till July and the dateline for completion of the first phase is august 2009 subject to availability of sufficient funds, the sources said.

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

[picture from: Kashmir Hub http://www.kashmirhub.com/pilgrimage-destinations-in-kashmir/pilgrimage-destination-charar-e-sharif.html]

Abdolhossein Zarrinkub

Tehran Times - Tehran, Iran

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Abdolhossein ['Abd al-Husayn] Zarrinkub was a prominent scholar of Iranian literature, history of literature, Persian culture and history.

He was born on March 19, 1923 in Borujerd, Iran, received his Ph.D. from the University of Tehran in 1955 under the supervision of Badiozzaman Foruzanfar, and has held faculty positions at prestigious universities such as Oxford University, Sorbonne, and Princeton University, among many others.

Due to his pioneering works on Iranian literature, literary criticism and comparative literature, he is considered as the father of modern Persian literature. He died September 15, 1999 in Tehran.

Zarrinkub’s solid research works made him a world class Iranologist and scholar of Persian literature. He was known for his extreme precision and solid works. He was the author of dozens of books in Persian, French, and English, and has published hundreds of articles.

Some of his more famous works in English are: “The Arab Conquest of Iran and Its Aftermath”, “Persian Sufism in Its Historical Background”, and “Nezami, a Lifelong Quest for a Utopia”.

Zarrinkub boosted comparative literature and Persian literary criticism. His book entitled “Naqd-e Adabi” (Literary Criticism) is a classic book on Persian literary criticism.

Zarrinkub is also known for his profound research on revered Iranian mystic and poet Molana Jalal ad-Din Rumi and his works. Zarrinkub’s “Mystery of the Reed Flute”, and “A Sea in the Jug” are critical and comparative analysis of Rumi’s Masnavi. “Step by Step to a Meeting with God” is also a work he carried out on the same line.

Zarrinkoub’s research works on Hafiz and Persian Sufism resulted in several books: “In the Rends’ Alley” and “On the Value of Sufi Heritage” are a few examples.

Zarrinkub’s classic book entitled “Two Centuries of Silence” is one the most reliable sources on the history of Persia after the advent of Islam. Zarrinkub also published seminal articles and a few books on Islamic history.

Rumi: Bridge to the Soul

By Francy Marcotte - Arbiter Online - Boise. ID, U.S.A.

Friday, September 14, 2007

On Saturday, Sept. 15, the Boise State University Philosophy Department will present “Rumi: Bridge to the Soul,” an evening dedicated to the 800th birthday of Persian Scholar and Poet Maulana Jalal’an-din Balkhi Rumi.

The event will include music and a reading of Rumi’s poetry by internationally recognized Poet, Scholar and Translator Coleman Barks from his new book, also titled “Rumi: Bridge to the Soul.”

Rumi is regarded as one of the most loved poets in America, often preferred over William Shakespeare. His poems speak of love, unity, mysticism and self-improvement in simple, yet profound verses. Barks emphasizes Rumi’s ability to reach out to a variety of people.
“Rumi is a bridge in two ways. He’s a bridge between religions and cultures and between the individual’s practice and soul to get back to the core of one’s identity,” said Barks.

Peter Hodges, a Boise State Philosophy instructor who produced the event, also praises Rumi’s ability to reach inside the individual.

“Rumi’s poetry is boundless and bewildering as it expands the attention inward to the evolution of the soul’s growth where one becomes an overwhelming joy in the garden of union,” said Hodges.

Coleman Barks

Rumi: Bridge to the Soul: Journeys into the Music and Silence of the Heart

HarperOne (September 18, 2007)

ISBN-10: 0061338168
ISBN-13: 978-0061338168

[Buy at The Sufi Book Store http://astore.amazon.com/wilderwri-20]

“The complete intoxication of Qalandar”

The Economist - London, U.K.
Thursday, September 13, 2007

The rebuffing of Nawaz Sharif has only made Pakistan more unstable

Nawaz Sharif, a former prime minister of Pakistan, landed in Rawalpindi on September 10th with his head bowed in prayer and his supporters erupting around him.

He was back from a seven-year exile to challenge Pervez Musharraf, an army coupster who had toppled and imprisoned him. “Go, Musharraf! Go!” screamed his retinue as Mr Sharif's plane rumbled to a halt.

But four hours later it was Mr Sharif who was on the move. In the airport's VIP arrivals lounge he was charged with corruption, arrested and deported to Saudi Arabia.

It was almost certainly what he had expected. During the flight, Mr Sharif made many bold promises: to wage a “final battle” against military dictatorship, bring “undiluted democracy” to Pakistan, and so forth. He is not the first Pakistani politician to have promised these things. Indeed, as a political drama, his homecoming was squarely within Pakistani tradition.

(...)

Radical opinions are casually expressed in Pakistan, by members of the English-speaking elite as well as the Urdu-speaking masses.

But even with Machiavellian help from the intelligence agency, the MMA [Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, an alliance of Islamist parties previously allied with the general] won only 11% of the vote in 2002. In the coming election, if they participate, they may do better. Nonetheless, except for the stringent Pushtuns, most Pakistanis are moderate.

Last week in Sehwan, a town in central Sindh, half a million Sufi pilgrims gave a demonstration of this fact. They are followers, like most Pakistanis, of the heterodox Barelvi school of Sunni Islam. And so they whirled, chanted prayers and blew kisses to celebrate the 755th anniversary of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, a Sufi saint.

“We are the anti-Taliban,” claimed Ahmed Bhutto (no relation), in a room thick with the scent of incense and rose petals. “We stand for love, tolerance and the great infinity.”

If only the mortal world of international relations were so far-sighted. But it is not.

That is why, even as General Musharraf's popularity plummets, America is stoutly backing him. The general's campaign in north-western Pakistan may be disastrous, but America has no better idea of how to quell the mayhem there.

Indeed the campaign is, more or less, according to an American design. General Musharraf invaded the tribal areas at America's urging. America is closely involved in prosecuting the campaign, especially at an intelligence level. After all, it is paying for it. In the past five years, America has swollen General Musharraf's coffers with an estimated $10 billion.

(...)

The most alarming aspect of the current political crisis, is that no Pakistani leader seems to be genuinely popular. Even if General Musharraf had not locked up the [Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) party ] PML-N's leaders, it is doubtful they could have produced much of a multitude to greet Mr Sharif. Ms Benazir Bhutto, [leader of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and another exiled prime minister] who said she would announce the date of her return on September 14th, might fare better. But she would be most unlikely to draw the adoring hundreds of thousands who welcomed her after her last return from exile, in 1986.

For Pakistan's other crisis, Islamist-stoked insecurity, there will be no ready solution. Pakistani Pushtuns may stay on the warpath as long as foreign troops remain in Afghanistan. They always have before. And if Islamist militancy is to be a fixture in Pakistan, America should worry about where Pakistani allegiances may be heading.

General Musharraf will not worry about this. He wants to cling to power, and he has two options. First, he can seal a deal with Ms Bhutto. So long as there is no popular backlash against Mr Sharif's ejection, especially by the country's lawyers, who provoked mass protests against General Musharraf earlier this year, she may agree to this—provided the general sheds his uniform by early next year at the latest.

He is reluctant to do so. There is a notion, dear to America, that General Musharraf could be a strong civilian president, overseeing the prime minister and the army. But there is no history to support this belief. The army, and it alone, is General Musharraf's constituency and the source of his power. By stripping himself of its uniform he reasonably fears that he would be an emperor without clothes.

His alternative is to go it alone. He already has a simple majority in Parliament, which is sufficient for a presidential re-election. Without the PPP, he will not have the two-thirds majority necessary to make constitutional changes. In effect, that means that if his re-election were challenged on legal grounds—as it surely would be—General Musharraf would be at the mercy of the Supreme Court.

On recent form, the judges might rule against him. If so, General Musharraf would probably then declare martial law. This would allow him to re-run the events that followed his 1999 coup: he would gut the Supreme Court of dissidents, ask the remaining sycophants to rule on the legality of his suspension of democracy, then hold elections. So long as a fair portion of the opposition participated in these, they would probably pass muster with America. But how would Pakistanis respond?

The name of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, that Sufi saint, is linked in Pakistan with both unshakeable tolerance and unrestrainable agitation. A famous Urdu poem, “The complete intoxication of Qalandar”, explores this duality. But in real life, alas, there can be no such co-existence.

[Elections in Pakistan are expected to take place the first week of October]

Article background: Pervez Musharraf, an army general, seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999. Two years later he promoted himself from “chief executive” of Pakistan to president—though he refuses to honour his promise to quit the army. In February 2007 he announced plans to have the parliament re-elect him to another term before dissolving it later in the year, ahead of elections that his party might need to rig to win.

A worrying surge in Islamic militancy, beginning in western Pakistan and now spreading throughout, led to the deaths of 300 people in clashes and suicide-bombings in July 2007 alone. General Musharraf's struggle to hold on to power in the face of such challenges has emboldened former prime ministers. One, Benazir Bhutto, has been trying to cut a deal with the general; another, Nawaz Sharif, returned to Pakistan from exile—for all of four hours—on September 10th.

Sufism & The Eleventh Hour

By Kabir Helminski - The American Muslim (TAM) - Bridgeton, MO, U.S.A.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007

There should be little doubt about it: we have arrived at a defining moment for the human race.

Science is telling us that Nature, the web of life on which we depend, is suffering from fever and infection, that the current industrial consumer society is a virtual cancer killing its host, the planet we live on.

People everywhere are waking up to this fact; the means may even be available to do something about it, but we seem to lack the strong will needed, especially in the form of clear political leadership, to quickly change our unconscious, wasteful, and selfish ways.

The question arises: What is the significance of Sufism in what could be the last minute of the last hour of human life on this planet?

If we restrict our attention to issues of past centuries, ignoring the moment in which we live, we will have ignored the application of traditional wisdom to the realities of our lives. If we allow Sufism to be only an esoteric past time, a private, academic, or sentimental preoccupation, we will have failed in the necessary Work.

There are politicians who try to manipulate and control us with the fear of terrorism. Many business and corporate leaders obsess about the economy, focused on short term profits. Too many advertisers, oblivious to environmental degradation, attempt to hypnotize us with desires.

And many religious leaders have reduced their notion of morality almost exclusively to issues of the flesh, while global militarization and social inequities go unaddressed. And many of us, conditioned by the noise of all the above, wind up demonizing and scapegoating some “other.”

Having recently viewed Leonardo diCaprio’s “The Eleventh Hour,” the global environmental crisis is much in our minds. The film’s strength is that it graphically and convincingly presents the problems of our world ecological crisis and offers some hope for solutions. Its weakness is that it presents humanity in purely scientific terms, as just another species, and a latecomer to the world at that, and yet a species with an enormous propensity for destruction through our technological powers.

Perhaps not enough people would accept the spiritual significance of nature and the role that human consciousness and love must play in our own physical and spiritual survival. Perhaps the global crisis must be portrayed in these merely scientific terms because few know how to present the spiritual perspective without devolving into sentimentality and sectarian beliefs. But the crisis we are in is the result of a state of mind that sees the physical world in quantitative, scientific terms.

Much of the world has lost the idea of nature as sacred, as the “Book of God,” and as a necessary source of spiritual healing.

Yet we are all essentially spiritual beings longing for real connection with each other, for some core experience of truth we can trust, and for a sustainable and truly human way of life.

To say that the human being is “the crown of creation” is not to claim the right to exploit nature for our own purposes. To say that we are made in the image and likeness of God is not to deny that we have an intimate and integral connection with the natural world.

Human consciousness is something of profound value and significance on this planet and to lose it will not be to lose just another species, but to diminish the possibilities of the Divine in Nature.

Sufism matters because it grasps the Oneness of existence and recognizes the interdependence of Life. It understands that all levels of reality form a coherent and compassionate whole.

Sufism matters because it understands that the human being has a unique responsibility as servant (`abd) and caretaker (khalifah) within the realm of nature.

Sufism matters because it offers a profound understanding of the tangle of human egoism (nafs) and how it can be transformed into servanthood by Love. Nothing less is needed today. It is now a matter of spiritual and actual survival.

[Kabir Helminski is a Shaikh of the Mevlevi order and Director of the Threshold Society.
Visit the Threshold Society http://www.sufism.org/]

[About The 11th Hour (movie) visit http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0492931/]

“Rihab at-Tassawouf”

[From the French language press]:

La Radio Nationale a préparé, pour le mois sacré du Ramadan, un programme d'émissions en harmonie avec l'atmosphère de recueillement et de spiritualité qui règne en cette période.

Le Matin, Maroc - mercredi 12 septembre 2007

The National Radio of Morocco prepared, for the holy month of Ramadan, a programme of broadcasts in harmony with the atmosphere of meditation and spirituality which reigns in this period.

On the national and international broadcasting stations, in Arab language, the religious bouquet proposes broadcasts entitled “Al Madih Nabaoui” (Praises to the Prophet -pbuh), “Qabas min Al-Qor' year” (Gleam of the Qur'an), “Raka' iz Al-Islam” (Bases of Islam) and “Rihab at-Tassawouf” (Space of Sufism).

[Visit the National Portal of Morocco (in French) http://www.maroc.ma/NR/exeres/7A2676FB-F4C3-4378-993B-DFA5DBCBF1E4.htm]

First festival of illustrations of Persian literary masterpieces

MNA - Mehr News - Tehran, Iran
Wednesday, September 12, 2007

The first festival of illustrations of Persian literary masterpieces focusing on the works of Rumi will be held at the Niavaran Cultural Center from November 21 to 30.

The gala will be showcasing illustrations on the theme of Persian literary masterpieces, the secretary of the gala, Kianush Qaribpur announced during the press conference at the Iranian Artists’ Forum on September 12.

The event will comprise a children’s section which will focus on illustrations of stories from Rumi’s Masnavi and there will also be a section featuring artworks on the theme of the Divan of Shams.

The festival is being sponsored by the Children’s Book Council of Iran, the Iranian Women’s Artists’ Forum (IWAF) and the Iranian Association of Children’s Book Illustrators.

The festival’s winning artworks will be showcased at the Iranian Artists’ Forum from December 8 to 13, deputy of the gala Maziyar Rezakhani announced during a press conference.

“Turan Mirhadi, Karim Nasr, Behruz Gharibpur, Atieh Markazi and Navid Barzargan are among the members of the gala’s jury. Winners will be awarded at the closing ceremony which will be held on November 27 at the Niavaran Cultural Center,” Rezakhani added.

[Visit the Iranian Association of Children’s Book Illustrators http://www.cibi.ir/web/defaulte.aspx]

Mehregan

By Nora Valenzuela - Persian Mirror - Irvine, CA, U.S.A.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Mehregan Organizing Committee of NIPOC (Network of Iranian American Professionals of Orange County) presents “Mehregan2007” to be held on October 13 -14, from 11 am-10 pm at the Orange County Fair & Exposition Center, 88 Fair Drive Costa Mesa, CA 92626.

This two-day outdoor family event, is a showcase of many aspects of Persian culture including art exhibitions, traditional Tea house, music, folk dances, crafts, ancient sports, live performances, pop entertainers, movies, children’s activities, exotic food and different provinces of modern Iran.

Close to 20,000 people attend Mehregan each year which provides great sponsorship opportunities for the business community.

Mehregan 2007 is dedicated to RUMI (Molana), the famous Persian poet. UNESCO has declared 2007 the year of RUMI and we are joining the World community to honor his timeless poetry.

Mehregan is a non-profit event and is created by Mehregan Organizing Committee a volunteer based team with members of all age groups committed to community service. Each year hundreds of volunteers dedicate their time, energy and talents to bring Orange County the Sights, Sounds, and Tastes of Persia.

Mehregan is a celebration of nature in the spirit of Love, Knowledge and Commitment.

Information at: www.nipoc.org or NIPOC Office (949) 851-3993

"Silsilah" a sign of hope

[From the Italian language press]:

Un segno di speranza nella travagliata isola di Jolo (Arcipelago delle Filippine), luogo di conflitto e vaste operazioni militari: nasce un nuovo Centro "Silsilah", per l’armonia islamo-cristiana.

Fides, Vaticano, Italia - mercoledì 12 settembre 2007

A sign of hope in the troubled island of Jolo (Archipelago of the Philippines), place of conflict and huge military operations: a new "Silsilah" Center is born, for the Christian-Islamic harmony.

Born in 1984, “Silsilah” -a mystical sufi word for "Chain"- has developed in the years the style of “life in dialogue”, first creating, near Zamboanga on the island of Mindanao, the “Village of harmony”, where Christians and Muslims, living a common life, offer a concrete example of solidarity, respect and mutual fraternity.

[About Jolo, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jolo]

[picture: Jolo, Town Centre. Photo from: Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue http://www.hdcentre.org/Philippines%20MNLF%20-%20Photos]

Tools for mystical advance

[From the French language press]:

Organisé par le Centre national de recherches préhistoriques, anthropologiques et historiques (CNRPAH), le colloque international sur "Soufisme, Culture, Musique" dans sa quatrième édition a bouclé ses travaux hier à la salle de conférences du ministère de l’Energie et des Mines à Alger.

El Watan, Algeria - mercredi 12 septembre 2007 - par Amnay Idir

Organized by the National Center for Prehistoric, Anthropological and Historical Research (CNRPAH), the international conference on "Sufism, Culture, Music” in its fourth edition closed its works yesterday in the room of conferences of the ministry for Energy and the Mines in Algiers.

Several researchers from Turkey, France and Lebanon, inter alia, intervened during this three days meeting on the spirit of Sufism in its historical, cultural and spiritual dimensions.

Among the topics:

the comparison of various Sufi interpretations of the Quranic episode of Musa meeting the magicians of Pharaoh by Prof. Jean-Jacques Thibon of the university Blaise Pascal -France in his paper “The stick of Moses: a metaphor of the initiatory route”;

and the meaning of the Arab term "tariqa" as “the way for the routes towards God, the spiritual method on the way and the Sufi Order as an organized and institutionalized group” by Prof. Masatoshi Kisaichi -Japan.

A Teacher of Benevolence

Today's Zaman - Istanbul, Turkey
Tuesday, September 11, 2007

UNESCO has been organizing, since the beginning of the year, a large number of events in honor of 2007, the Year of Rumi, declared to mark the 800th birth anniversary of Mevlana Muhammad Jelaluddin Rumi.

The most recent of these events took place on Sunday in Tajikistan, a neighbor of Afghanistan where the great Sufi saint, known as the Pole of Lovers of God in Sufism, was born in the city of Balkh.

At the international conference held in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe, Mevlana Rumi’s teachings based on love, peace and loving tolerance were once again discussed and voiced by intellectuals from different religions.

At the conference attended by nearly 100 academics from 27 countries including Turkey, the United States, Russia, Iran, Austria, Germany, Azerbaijan, France, Egypt, India and Japan, it was strongly emphasized that the teachings of the great Sufi saint were of vital importance in the resolution of the problems stemming from prejudices, lack of information and ignorance at a time the world was in utmost need of tolerance and love among religions and civilizations.

The opening speech of the conference, entitled “Mevlana and Intercivilizational Dialogue” and organized in cooperation with the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tajikistan (ASRT), the Platform of Dialogue Eurasia and Şelale Educational Institutions, was delivered by the president of Tajikistan, Imamali Rahman.

“He was born in Balkh, lived in Konya but belongs to the entire world,” Rahman said and stated that many conflicts of the day could be resolved through his inspirational love.

Professor Rastislav Ribakov, the president of the Russian Institute of Orientalism and the current holder of Dialogue Eurasia’s rotating presidency, called Mevlana “a teacher of benevolence.”

Mevlana wrote centuries ago the prescription for a happy life according to which people should live, Ribakov said, and stressed that humanity had to benefit from the works of the great Sufi saint in order for love, peace and respect to prevail in the world.

In the final declaration of the conference, it was stated that the whole of humanity needs the teachings of Rumi in order to resolve intercultural problems, that humanity has to benefit from his ideas to help establish a stronger world peace, that his advice about understanding and knowing the world while claiming one’s own identity and values are the most consistent attitude in comparison to some activities in the Islamic world that establish themselves in the center and that are based on not having a distinctive identity.

Mevlana Rumi’s teachings don’t belong only to the academic and mystic world; they should be introduced to the world at large, said the declaration.

[picture: Women embroider cloth in a workshop in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.
Online Photograph. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
http://www.britannica.com/eb/art-67331>.]

They believe from the heart

By Declan Walsh - The Guardian - London, U.K.
Monday, September 10, 2007

Sehwan Sharif: Soaked in sweat and enraptured by the primal drumbeat, the crowd swirled, curled and yelled high praise to the heavens.

Dancing women span like dervishes, whipping their hair in wide arcs. Old men huddled over a pipe, their eyeballs dewy behind a hashish haze.

Fireworks fizzed and popped; families dozed on the rooftops. And in the glittering shrine at the heart of the carnival, a young man fell to his knees before a bed of candles, said his prayer and softly wept.

(...)

Prayer, party, emotion, intoxication - every year a horde of devotees descends on Sehwan Sharif, a sleepy town in southern Sindh province in Pakistan, for one of the largest Sufi festivals in the world.

It is Glastonbury, Rio and Lourdes wrapped into one, a riotous three-day celebration ahead of the holy month of Ramadan, marking the death of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, a much-loved Sufi saint, 755 years ago.

Some said this year's festival, which took place last weekend, was attended by one million people, others said two. But nobody was really counting.

(...)

The crowds squeezed into the narrow alleyways surrounding the hilltop tomb of Qalandar, a saint from present-day Azerbaijan who wandered through this area in the 13th century, inspiring a remarkably resilient cult that attracts Hindus as well as Muslims.

"Qalandar is among a handful of Sufis of the 13th century who won people's hearts through a tolerant Islam. He still has much devotion among the people today," said Hamid Akhund, a former secretary of culture of the Sindh government.

Conga-lines of worshippers carrying chadors - long red cloths embroidered with Qur'anic verse - jostled through the throng to reach the shrine. But the most striking scenes were outside, at the golden gate, where women dancing to beating drums worked themselves into a frenzy.

Some paused to throw themselves at the gate in prayer, others flopped to the ground in exhaustion. A wall of men stood behind them, thrusting their hands into the air with the rhythm and energy of a teenage rave-goer.

Such dancing is unusual in Sufism, but it typifies the gentle beliefs of many Pakistanis. They identify little with the grim-faced mullahs who, encouraged by military regimes, have dominated religious discourse in recent years.

"We have a lot to learn from these people," said a woman from a conservative Peshawar family, standing on a balcony overlooking the scenes. "We believe from the head, but they believe from the heart," she said.

[More about Lal Shahbaz Qalandar (1177-1274) http://www.storyofpakistan.com/contribute.asp?artid=C066]

[picture from Lal Shahbaz Qalandar site
http://jhoolelal.com/]

India will celebrate Waris Shah’s 300th birthday

Staff Report - Daily Times - Lahore, Pakistan
Saturday, September 8, 2007

World Punjabi Congress (WPC) chairman Fakhar Zaman said [through a PR] on Friday that he had convinced the Institute of Culture and Art, Delhi, to celebrate Waris Shah’s 300th birthday.

The press release said further seminars, conferences and symposia would be organised in both the countries to bring into limelight the poetry of Waris Shah.

It said 15th World Punjabi Conference and seminars on Peace and Sufism would be held in Delhi and Amritsar from September 24 to 29.

[About Waris Shah visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waris_Shah]

[picture from http://www.worldpunjabicongress.org/sufi.html]

Filling the space with God

Sufi News Report - Sunday, September 9, 2007

On Friday August 31st in Como, within the literary manifestation “Parolario” Professor Gabriel Mandel Khan, khalifa of the Italian branch of the Halveti-Jerrahi Sufi Brotherhood, held a public conference titled: “Sufism. The way to knowledge and peace”.

Professor Mandel Khan cited the Qur'an extensively, illustrated shortly some sufi practices -both generic and those peculiar to his Brotherhood- and sternly affirmed that terrorism constitutes nothing but a psychic deviance.

He spoke about the sacredness of the word, of which prayer is the higher example.

Among his most remarkable statements, a clear stance on the relationship between Islam and Sufism: “Nobody can be a Sufi if he is not a Muslim”; and on the matter of reincarnation: “I believe in reincarnation, just as 40% of the Sufis [believe in it]".

My wife believes in it, my daughter believes in it -he said. On the other hand my successor, who will become khalifa of the Italian branch of Halveti-Jerrahis when I shall die, does not believe in reincarnation. We are Sufis, thus respectful of other people's positions”.

When the space was completely saturate with the Divine Presence, he said: “God is not an invention of the human mind. Sufism connects man to God through practices which activate that part of the brain in charge for trascendence”.

Visit the main site of the Halveti-Jerrahi Sufi Order: http://www.jerrahi.org/
Visit the Italian branch' website: http://www.sufijerrahi.it/

[picture: Prof. Gabriele Mandel Khan during the conference. Photo: Sufi News]

'Dalail Al Khayrat' in Marrakesh now

[From the French language press]:

Le premier festival national des confréries de "Dalail Al Khayrat" se tiendra du 7 au 9 septembre prochain à Marrakech, à l'initiative de la Confrérie Jazoulite des adeptes de "Dalail Alkhayrat".

Marrakech News - mercredi 29 Aôut 2007 - par MAP

The first national festival of the brotherhoods of “Dalail Al Khayrat” will be held from 7 to 9th next September in Marrakech, on the initiative of the Jazoulite Brotherhood of the followers of “Dalail Alkhayrat”.

Within the program: a conference on the development of the training and the reading of “Dalail El Khayrat Wa Chawarek Al Anwar”, the collection of prayers of Mohammed Ben Slimane El Jazouli, one of the seven saints of the ochre city.

The participants will be also invited to collective readings of the Holy Qur'an and to Sufi singing in historic sites, gardens, old mausoleums and riads [traditional moroccan houses] of the town of Marrakech.

This Sufi event will be marked by a great religious evening in El Badia Palace to pay a vibrating homage to several personalities.

[Picture: Al Imam Al Jazouli's shrine in Marrakesh, Morocco]

Three-Day Conference On Rumi Starts In Tajikistan

RFE/RL's Tajik Service - Radio Free Europe - Prague, Czech Republic
Friday, September 7, 2007

Dushanbe: Tajik President Emomali Rahmon has opened a three-day international conference in Dushanbe marking the 800th anniversary of the birth of the Persian poet, philosopher, and spiritual leader Mowlana Jalaleddin Rumi.

The conference is sponsored by UNESCO, the Tajik government, and several local and international nongovernmental organizations.

Delegates include philosophers, poets, and historians from 28 countries.

A similar international conference is planned in Tehran from October 28 to October 30.

[picture: the flag of Tajikistan]

At least 80 feared dead in Rajasthan road mishap

Bureau Report - Zee News - Noida, India
Friday, September 7, 2007

Udaipur: As many as 80 people were feared dead and 40 injured on Friday night when a truck carrying them fell into a gorge while negotiating a sharp turn on the border area of Rajsamund-Pali districts, about 100 kms off Udaipur.

The Udaipur Collector said that the truck carried atleast 150 pilgrims who were going to visit the shrine of Sufi saint Baba Ram Dev near Jaisalmer in Pokhran.

The congregation is an annual affair at the shrine. As soon as the report of the accident spread, the Army swung into action. Injured were being rushed to a nearby hospital. Till the reports came in, the district administration was being helped by locals in the rescue work.

[Rajasthan: Sonar Quila (the Golden Fort) raising from the sand of the Thar Desert.
Photo: http://www.rajasthantourism.gov.in/index.htm]

Searching for the Three Gifts

By Arshad Me'raj - Greater Kashmir - Srinigar, India
Thursday, September 6, 2007

Chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad Thursday released 11 books on different subjects during a function organised by Gulshan Publishers at Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre SKICC in Srinagar.

The books released include: “The Muslim Kashmir (1320-1589)” by Professor Fida Hassnain, “Sufi Practices Mystical Ecstasy” by Professor Fida Hassnain, “Letters of Mir Saiyid Ali Hamdani (RA) by A. Q. Rafiqui, “Icons of Kashmir Identity” by Zahid G. Muhammad, “Kashmir Social and Cultural History” by G. M. Rabbani, “Srinagar Heritage Treasure” by A. S. Qureshi, “My Land My People” by Yasir M Baba, “Geography of Jammu and Kashmir” by A. R. Khan, “Kashmir Heritage Tourism” by Iqbal Ahmad, “Rajtarangni” by Prof. Dr. Shams-ud-Din Ahmad and “Lalla Rookh The Glorious Heritage” by Prof. K. L. Kalla.

The Muslim Kashmir (1320-1589): Sufi master Prof. Fida Hassnain has compiled the book and has been dependent on the contemporary Kashmiri sources, Sanskrit and Persian. He is an author of about two dozens books and is the first Kashmiri writer whose books have been published in Poland, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom.

Sufi Practices Mystical Ecstasy: The purpose of the book is to shed light on the principles and practices of all mystics, particularly the Sufis. Professor Fida Hassnain, the author of the book and the co-author Vivek Raghuvanshi and Abdel Fatteh Badawi expect that the casual readers of this would develop an urge in themselves to search for the three gifts -Sophia, Gnosis and Ishq, in their own monastic and mystic traditions.

[picture: Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad http://jammukashmir.nic.in/govt/cm.htm]

Iran attends the 4th Sufism International Forum in Algiers

IRNA - Iran
Thursday, September 6, 2007

Algiers: Iran attends the 4th Sufism International Forum which will start on Sunday here.

An informed source told IRNA here on Wednesday that experts from 20 countries will attend the 2-day meeting.

Countries like Lebanon, Syria, Japan, Azerbaijan Republic, Albania, Senegal, Morocco, Turkey and Pakistan are among participants in the forum.

Sufism International Forum has been held here for the past years and is a place for dialogue among Sufis and exchanging views on different issues related to the Sufism.

There are 150 sects of Sufism in Algeria.

...and Thou beside me, singing in the Wilderness...

By Khaled Ahmed - The Daily Times - Lahore, Pakistan
Sunday, September 2, 2007

Fitzgerald’s translation of the Rubaiyyat was inspired, not precise, but it had the result of taking Khayyam’s poetry into the English book of quotations.

The truth is that Khayyam reads beautifully even in Persian and one can see the effect of his way of thinking quite a lot in Urdu’s classics, Mir Taqi Mir and to some extent Ghalib.

What has come down in English is the effect of his carpe diem philosophy or “make merry because life is temporary” hedonism with “wine and a loaf of bread and the beloved” usually taken to be a lady in art deco elongation.

Khayyam had a lot of things to say and there is much that has escaped our attention because of his refusal to accept anyone’s monopoly over truth.

Of course, anyone who knows English knows him through his famous “moving finger” phrase as rendered by Fitzgerald.

Abul Fath Omar bin Ibrahim Khayyam (1048-1124 AD) was born in Nayshapur in Iran, and was called Khayyam because his father was a tentmaker who had possibly converted from Zoroastrianism. The boy showed early signs of original brilliance, not scared of questioning received wisdom and asking bold questions such as the one he asked a qazi of Nayshapur: “If the Quran is the word of God, why are the Surahs of the Quran begun with Bismillah, which would mean God consecrating Himself?”

In our times, the greatest Islamic thinker after 1947, Dr. Fazlur Rehman was exiled from Pakistan for trying to answer Khayyam’s question.

It is almost possible that Khayyam studied under the famous ishraqi teacher Imam Juwayni at the time when Imam Ghazali was in the same Nayshapur seminary, and it is possible that Imam Ghazali’s work (Tahafat al Falasafa) was in response to Khayyam’s sceptical approach.

The other literary figure of his times, Al Sanai, too came in contact with him when Khayyam went to Isfahan, and then received Sanai in Nayshapur. A class-fellow of Khayyam was Hasan Tusi, who became prime minister in 1064 of the Seljuq prince Alp Arsalan, under the given name of Nizamul Mulk, and was author of the famous advice-to-the-prince books in the Islamic tradition much before Machiavelli wrote The Prince.

Khayyam had already gone to Ray (today’s Tehran) to lecture on mathematics and astronomy to a group of scientists at Nizamul Mulk’s local seminary, which was followed by another invitation to go to the capital of the Seljuqs, Isfahan, to be among the philosophers in 1076.

After he returned to Nayshapur in Khurasan in 1079, Isfahan was overwhelmed by rioting resulting in the death of Alp Arsalan. The new prince Malik Shah moved the capital to Merv and called Khayyam over to put together a new, more accurate calendar. With the help of several Muslim scientists in the tradition of Ibn Sina, whom Khayyam admired, the new calendar Taqwim-e-Jalali was invented by Khayyam. That is the remarkably accurate calendar that Iran (and a part of Afghanistan) has today.

Khayyam was given a new conservatory in Isfahan to pursue the sciences with his fellow scholars, but soon his friend Nizamul Mulk, the grand vizier, was deposed from his rank and later assassinated. Khayyam, scared of being killed, went in the wake of the prince to Bukhara but before he could reach him, the Sultan was dead and a lethal rivalry between his two sons had begun.

Khayyam took off safely for hajj to be out of sight and to give the lie to his detractors who accused him of heresy. After his return, Khayyam was invited to Merv by Sultan Sanjar but this time Khayyam did not feel as comfortable as he had with the earlier prince.

These days in the life of Khayyam were filled with brief but dense scientific works in mathematics and what later became known as physics.His poetry, about whose authenticity nothing certain can be stated, was definitely a spin-off from his meditations but remained marginal to his other preoccupation.

His treatises are never more than five or ten pages long and they deal with some of the philosophical problems left behind by his masters, Al Farabi and Ibn Sina. He wrote also to add corrections to the Euclidean mathematics then in vogue in the world. Writing to Imam Tahir about his “insatiable appetite for research and possible and impossible proofs”, he offered new problems of algebra. He wrote to extend the theories of Archimedes, and extended Ibn Sina’s “lucid discourse” while challenging Imam Ghazali in his treatise on Being and Necessity.

The author thinks he was not an Ismaili like Ibn Sina and his other friend Nasir Khusraw, and seemed to admit as much when he placed Ismailism below the Sufi tradition in Islam. (Famous leader of the assassins, Hasan bin Sabah, was a class-fellow and a friend.)

Khayyam’s poetry has always been subject to scholarly quarrels. Author Aminrazavi, a life-long admirer of Khayyam’s verse, admits that it is no longer possible to sift the genuine from the counterfeit. He acknowledges that his English translators have been more creative than loyal to his verse but will not deny the beauty of their work.

Almost 1,200 Rubaiyyat or quatrains have been attributed to Khayyam but no one knows where the line could be drawn as to what is true and what is bogus.

Like our Bulleh Shah, much of the accretion is of high quality and an extension of the poet’s worldview. There are a few long poems in Arabic too because all scientists in those times wrote in Arabic as that was the language of Islamic renaissance.

What does Khayyam speak about in his quatrains? His subjects are impermanence and meaning of life, theodicy and justice, the here and now, doubt and bewilderment, death and afterlife, determinism and predestination, truth in drunkenness (in vino veritas) and the old Christian theme of carpe diem (gather ye rosebuds while ye may).

Khayyam is also existentialist when he admits to there being no meaning because of the transience of life. His insistence, that compared to the past which is gone and the future which is unknowable, the present was the only important time, is in line with the Sufi and orthodox view, but what he makes of it will probably put off many.

For instance:

“Dreaming when Dawn’s Left Hand was in the sky
I heard a voice with the Tavern cry
Awake my little one and fill the cup
Before life’s liquor in its cup be dry.”

This is Fitzgerald with his own capitalisations in line with the Iranian technique of taveel or secondary meaning implied by such words as Tavern and Dawn and Left Hand.

Khayyam played on the double meaning and invited accusation of heresy because of his place in the Sufi tradition of malamatiyya (self-debasement) — challenging the false religiosity and the shamelessly paraded piety of the orthodoxy — which sprang from Nayshapur itself.

This is the tradition which is taken to its zenith by Hallaj in Persia and Bulleh Shah in India although the Bhagti tradition that sprang in India against the false piety of the Brahmin fits nicely into it.

Khayyam is not like Ibn Arabi and Mullah Sadra; he is more like Rumi, Hafiz and Hallaj. Khayyam was not an atheist or even an agnostic; he simply put himself outside the pale by challenging the arrogant orthodoxy on its claim to know the truth.

In Fitzgerald’s famously “unliteral” translation, Omar Khayyam is a part of English literature today. Look at the familiar opening quatrain:

“Wake! For the Sun, who scattered into flight
The starts before him from the Field of Night
Drives Night along with them from Heav’n and strikes
The Sultan’s Turret with a Shaft of Light.”

And if you have noted, on the wall-painting in a cinema-hall (usually named Iram), a bearded man being served by the lithe figure of young girl near a spring, know that it is Khayyam singing:

“A Book of Verses underneath the Bough
A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread — and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness -
Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!”

If you are ever in Nayshapur, go to the very modern-looking tomb of Khayyam and admire the splendid statue of a seated wise man at the doorway, because he was more extraordinary than all the pious men of old Persia put together.

The Wine of Wisdom: The Life, Poetry and Philosophy of Omar Khayyam
by Mehdi Aminrazavi
Publisher: Oneworld Oxford 2005Pp396;
Price Rs 995
Distributed in Pakistan by Vanguard Books Lahore

[Try the Sufi Book Store: http://astore.amazon.com/wilderwri-20]

Promoting an affable atmosphere: the Sufis of Sindh

The International News - Lahore, Pakistan
Sunday, September 2, 2007

Sehwan: Sindh Governor Dr Ishrat-ul-Ebad Khan has underlined the need for spreading the message of love, peace, affection and brotherhood, which was preached by the Sufi saints of Sindh.

The governor stated this after inauguration of the three-day 755th Annual Urs celebrations of Hazrat Usman Marvendi Lal Shahbaz Qalandar here on Saturday.

“Such a move could help put the country and the Sindh province in particular on the path of rapid progress and prosperity,” the governor said, and added that the preaching of the Sufis of Sindh was universal and by following their example, an affable atmosphere could be promoted in the society.

Accompanied by Minister for Auqaf and Religious Affairs Mir Manzoor Panhwar, the governor said without peace, a developed society could not be realized while the present government was striving to develop the province.

Sindh possess huge mineral resources and the government is making efforts to explore them and utilise them for the welfare of masses and uplift of the province, he said.

Earlier, the governor inaugurated the Urs celebrations by laying floral wreaths at the Mazar of Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar and offering Fateha.

[Visit Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar at
http://haqqalandarshahbaz.com/index.html (in English)]

www.maulananews.com : a sohbet with the master 24/7

MNA - Mehr News - Tehran, Iran

Saturday, September 1st, 2007

Iranian news agency launches Rumi website

News, articles, films and a bibliography of Rumi have been put on a website by the Molana News Agency which launched its work on August 29 marking the birth anniversary of Imam Mahdi (AS).

The project has been organized jointly by Tehran Municipality’s Art and Culture Organization (TMACO) and The Center for the Development of the Ideas and Mysticism of Molana.

Khalil Sepehr-Sobhani, the director of TMACO, announced that the section of the website devoted to Rumi experts will be completed by mid-September.

He added that the news agency had conferred with more than 20 organizations some of which had agreed to cooperate with the new venture. He mentioned the discussion forum as one of the notable facilities of the website which provides visitors with the opportunity to share and discuss their knowledge and ideas with each other.

The website is now available at www.maulananews.com

Get into the beat!

By Barbara Karkabi - Houston Chronicle - TX, U.S.A.
Friday, August 31, 2007

Sufi songs of the 'beloved': Islamic music performance will benefit education

As a child growing up in Pakistan, Kausar Safar loved listening to the fast-paced, vibrant sound of Qawwali music.

She knew that there was a religious aspect to the music played on the radio on Friday, the Islamic day of worship.

But she didn't understand its connections to the Sufi mystics until she was older. As a teen, she focused on the romantic-sounding lyrics that talked about the "beloved" and his identity.

Now she understands that the words may sound very secular, but the language is symbolic and represents souls longing for knowledge and joy found in loving the divine.

"My mother always used to sing Qawwali music at home, and I do, too," said Safar, now a Houston speech pathologist. "Sometimes I sing at home, while cooking or in the car. For some people, it's a part of everyday life, though there are others who don't think music has any part in religion."

Safar is looking forward to next weekend's performance of a popular Pakistani Qawwali group. She helped promote the concert and hopes non-Pakistani members of the Houston community will attend.

(...)

Safar hopes to translate several of the songs into English for the concert program. But even if the words are not understood, she believes the audience will get into the beat and rhythm of Qawwali.

"There is so much negativity about Islam," Safar said. "And I want people to know it is not so bad; there is love and peace, and Qawwali is about God's love for us and our love for God and our desire to please him. God is one, and he wants us to love and appreciate our differences. We are all God's creation."

[Watch and listen: a live performance of this group
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_5Oe88Bn6s]

QAWWALI CONCERT
The Pakistani group Zaki Zaman Taji Qawwal will present an evening of mystical Sufi music.
• When: 8:30 p.m. Sept. 8
• Where: Stafford Civic Center, 1415 Constitution, Stafford
• Tickets: $25-$100; 713-464-4648
• Benefits: Developments in Literacy, a nonprofit group providing education to children in rural Pakistan (www.dil.org)

Mawlana in Paris

UNESCO Press - media advisory N° 2007-52 - Paris, France
Friday, August 31, 2007

UNESCO celebrates the 800th Anniversary of Mawlana Jalal-ud-Din Balkhi-Rumi

An international seminar, exhibition and demonstration of Sufi dancing are on the day-long programme of events Thursday, 6 September, celebrating the 800th anniversary of the birth of poet, philosopher and spiritual leader Jalal-ud-Din Balkhi-Rumi.

The Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura will inaugurate the celebrations (9 a.m., Room II), which have been organized in collaboration with Afghanistan, the Islamic Republic of Iran and Turkey.

The seminar will bring together eminent scholars and philosophers from these three UNESCO Member States along with other international experts, to discuss various themes relating to the thought, message and universality of Jalal-ud-Din Balkhi-Rumi.

This will be followed by the opening of an exhibition of books, manuscripts and paintings relating to Jalal-ud-Din Balkhi-Rumi and his works, and a performance of Sufi dancing by a troupes from the three countries (6.30 p.m., Miro Hall).

The exhibition will remain on display until 14 September.

Mawlana Jalal-ud-Din Balkhi-Rumi, author of the renowned Mathnawi or “Rhyming Couplets”, was born in 1207 in Balkh, now Afghanistan.

After being exiled he spent most of his life in Konya, in what is now southeastern Turkey. He is considered to be one of the greatest Sufi masters, a peer of the well known Ibn Arabi.

UNESCO will also celebrate the event by issuing a commemorative medal in the honor of Jalal-ud-Din Balkhi-Rumi.

[picture: UNESCO's Headquarters in Paris, France. Aerial view. Photo copyright UNESCO Press]

Discord and the hope of unity

By Yahya Birt - Alt Muslim - U.S.A.
Friday, August 31, 2007

Islamic pluralism in the West - The mass media and the Internet have changed the way in which religious teachings are disseminated and indeed how religious disputes are projected and replicated to a vast audience.

Since 9/11, Salafism and political Islamic groups have been under continuous attack from Western politicians, commentators, academics and others for their linkages to terrorism and extremism. Leaving an assessment of this polemic aside for a moment, this critique had already been articulated in the nineties by many of the scholars serving the traditionalist movement, chiefly as a defence of their beleaguered position.

There have been broadly three traditionalist responses to this changed political circumstance:

(1) Some emphasised unity in the face of the war on terror, modulating their public critique of these movements, and even moving towards some kind of public entente on occasion. They did not want to be complicit in compromising the fundamental civic and human rights of those Muslims who had been their erstwhile sectarian rivals in the nineties.

However they did still largely insist on a misguided theological component to extremism while acknowledging the central role of the war on terror in exacerbating it after 9/11. The nub of their argument is that theological intolerance lends itself more readily to violence than does more tolerant theology, and for that reason alone the issue should be kept on the agenda for discussion whatever the political circumstances.

(2) Other traditionalists (not the majority I believe) saw political opportunity in aligning themselves with the war on terror and attacking Salafis and Islamists as their political star was falling. Their public rhetoric is quite similar to the more hawkish language of Western politicians after 9/11.

Their schadenfreude was unsurprising (if inexcusable) given that Islamists and Salafis often used to denigrate traditionalists intellectually and presume to represent them in the name of “unity” while marginalising them politically.

(3) A significant number of traditionalists were keen to stay out of public engagement altogether for various reasons that are outlined below.

The upshot of 9/11 has been that latent political differences within the traditionalist movement have become more manifest. There are many reasons for these differences but the most important is that the traditionalist movement has made a virtue of avoiding centralised and formal mass organisation as it believes this to be spiritually deleterious.

Thus, it embodies more an orientation in religious thinking that loosely links together various Sufi orders and scholarly networks through specific styles of religious education, spiritual guidance and collective devotion.

(...)

But within the traditionalist movement, a liberalising wing was and is manifested in three ways:

(1) Firstly the“liberal traditionalists” have put more emphasis upon the critique of political Islamic movements and Wahhabism than on adherence to the rigours of the Sharia in their personal lives.

Among traditionalists, and indeed their scholars, there are significant differences over the validity of fiqh al-aqalliyat (a jurisprudence for Muslim minorities), the emphasis placed on the maqasid al-Sharia (the objectives of Islamic law), the desirability of adopting the madhhab al-taysir (the way of seeking ease in religion) and the emphasis made upon either the rukhsa (legal dispensation) or the azima (the strongest legal ruling on an issue within a legal school).

(2) Secondly many “liberal traditionalists” seek a personal ethics, a philosophy of Sufism, and have been uncomfortable with what they see as elements of cultishness in Sufi orders. It is a Sufism without spiritual guides (murshidin), spiritual initiation (bay`a) or the rigours of the mystical path (tazkiyat al-nafs).

It is clear that a philosophy of Sufism may converge with individualised religion and a liberal sensibility, although this is not a given. In a different way, this philosophical Sufism shares some features in common with notions of tarbiya (moral rectification) found in Salafism and Islamism.

It lacks the element of seeking to know the Divine (irfan) within tasawwuf. It is essentially the way of the jurists rather than that of the Sufis.

(3) Thirdly a critique of (Western) modernity, somewhat imbibed in intellectual quarters within the traditionalist movement and influenced either by perennialist, deconstructionist or conservative Christian analyses has often resolved itself into a personal philosophy.

But it was held apart from the practical business of seeking to do well in the professions; in other words, this personal philosophy of anti-modernism did not harden into a practical form of isolationism. So for example, when the political crisis of 9/11 emerged, many traditionalists were aware that a concerted effort in public outreach to foster greater understanding was necessary.

This outreach has involved taking up the liberal and secular language of the public sphere, in which the premises of the critique of Western modernity were, for all intents and purposes, largely submerged. What binds traditionalism together today — with its liberalising or more conservative wings — is its commitment to the belief that the ulema retain a central role in interpreting religion authoritatively today.

However, this commitment is now continually challenged by the tension between tradition and reason, empiricism and postmodernism in the West. Even our Abrahamic cousins, with longer experience, struggle with the dialectic that now faces Muslims of the West too.


Religious Authority in the Age of the Internet

The “competition for the mike”, as Sheikh Nuh Keller has pithily termed it, has been crucial in shaping religious authority among Muslims today.

The mass media and the Internet have changed the way in which religious teachings are disseminated and indeed how religious disputes are projected and replicated to a vast audience. This is not new but arose two hundred years ago when the ulema began to write treatises addressed to the literate constituency of the Muslim masses through the medium of print.

Since then the ulema have cultivated constituencies of opinion through mass media, and thus the disagreements of the ulema have a large role in defining the disagreements of their media constituencies, although it should also be said that the Muslim masses do exert some influence of their own in terms of their looking for guidance for how to handle changed circumstances through their encountering new customs, thoughts and ideas.

The ability to ask questions is the power to set the agenda, which is very often done through the mass media as well.

(...)

Two Approaches to Unity

Leaving aside the nature of the internet, which may indeed be a major conduit through which to promote unity (as well as disunity), what kind of overall approach ought to inform intra-faith reconciliation? Here I am referring specifically to Sufis and Salafis, although the principles invoked would seem to have wider application.

There seems to have been two approaches to fostering Islamic unity, one that is tried and tested and another that seems less likely to work. And God knows best.

The less effective way is to define primary and secondary issues in legal and credal issues from one approach as constituting the centre ground. The attempt to define this as being at the centre of our tradition only results in creating a new movement. Q-News once captured this well with the ironic headline: “Unite, but follow me”.

The more effective way is to stand firm on primary issues and to educate the masses in the matter of the etiquette of differing on secondary issues. Sheikh Ali Goma’a, the current Mufti of Egypt, said that there are approximately 1.25 million matters that have been the subject of legal rulings, and about 100 of these are agreed upon by all Muslims, being matters that are known by necessity to be part of religion.

Any approach at reconciliation would do well to be informed by the approach outlined by Imam al-Ghazali’s Faysal al-Tafriqa, which, as people will know, is available in English translation. It reminds us that people will not cease to differ over rulings so long as they differ over the details of the principles of interpretation, particularly in the priority given to various hermeneutic methods.

The literal sense has priority and other methods are applied if there is some evidential or logical reasons why the literal sense does not stand on its own. The Amman Initiative, started in 2005, embodies this second approach and has the backing of a very wide spectrum of senior ulema across the world representing eight legal traditions.

There is a potential tension between affirming one’s own stance on secondary issues and indeed following an interpretative methodology in law or theology and working together for the common good with others. It is noticeable that avoiding differences can lead some to a sheer eclecticism in legal matters: this can confuse people, lending cultural credibility to a soft relativism, or the postmodern conviction that all differences are the same, i.e. they are all “just” differences.

This focus leads to the avoidance of difference and controversy for its own sake and lends itself it to anti-intellectualism rather than to investigating matters whilst learning to handle a wider scope of difference.In other words, in seeking a middle ground between Sufis and Salafis, points of agreement could be defined, but that minimum should not then define the scope of people’s commitments on secondary issues.

Rather the scope for a wide variety of positions should remain. From a Sufi perspective, the fear is that if finding a common ground between Sufis and Salafis means dropping Ibn Arabi altogether then where would that leave one? Rather, Ibn Taymiyan and Akbarian approaches ought to remain fully represented and embodied and should seek to engage in a creative and genuine exchange in any process of reconciliation.

They can part company civilly without necessarily agreeing but at least understanding the nature of their differences better at an usuli level. An historic example of this is the exchange between Ibn Taymiya and Ibn Ata’ullah al-Iskandari.

For the sake of unity is it right to drop practices or beliefs, which after all make up part of the spiritual methodology of Sufism, or to foster an understanding and an acceptance that others differ and not make that an issue?

It can’t be that we drop positions because either ourselves or others are unable to apply the rules of ikhtilaf. Affirming one’s position doesn’t entail letting go of the possibility that one might be wrong and that the other might be right.

To put it another way, Sufis can’t be expected to endorse a position that would seek to make them agree that tasawwuf is an optional add-on, a bad innovation, or, worse, even a heresy.

Rather Sufis would like anti-Sufis to accept that placing tasawwuf at the heart of our religion is a valid interpretive possibility even if they disagree with it. It can’t be ruled out of court as an interpretive possibility. Tasawwuf has enjoyed an august and widespread history of practice and support throughout the centuries of the umma’s spiritual legacy and remains a vibrant path for millions of Muslims today.

In the final analysis, Muslims believe that God will inform us about our differing in the next life.

Three major issues in Sufi-Salafi reconciliation will be (i) the reclassification of some acts as fiqhi differences rather than as matters of basic aqida, as bid`a rather than as shirk, (ii) the recognition that there are primary and secondary issues in credal and legal matters and (iii) that the semantic approach adopted by some scholars of the East provides a means to diffuse differences between Asharis, Maturidis and Atharis over the description of God’s transcendence and immanence.

At the very least for Sufis and Salafis of the West (and elsewhere), a moratorium on polemical exchange, particularly over the internet, should be called for, matched by a process to get religious scholars on both sides to met regularly along the lines of the Amman Initiative.

A minimal goal would be to take the heat out of differing so that it becomes that beneficial form of differing that increases knowledge and does not create rancour, hatred and division. It might also open up a way to work together towards common interests and goals that are shared in common.

There is increasing recognition that there are structural challenges facing Muslim communities that are best met together. At the very least forging unity involves the recognition that Sufi polemics against the Salafis have taken on very different implications after 9/11 that should now be taken into account.

Yahya Birt is the national director of the City Circle (http://www.thecitycircle.com/ ), an organisation that aims to foster community cohesion, public service, and a British Muslim identity.

He is also a writer and research fellow at the Islamic Foundation in Leicester. An extended version of this article can be found at his popular blog (http://www.yahyabirt.com/ ).

[picture: iMam meets Sheikh Google]

In the Flames of Divine Love

By Ünal Livaneli - Today's Zaman - Konya, Turkey
Thursday, August 30, 2007

Indian filmmaker Muzaffar Ali, currently working on his upcoming project which will be a feature-length movie focusing on 13th century Sufi philosopher and poet Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi, visited Turkey this week to see the locations for the movie.

The movie, titled "Mevlana in the Flames of Divine Love," will be filmed in India and Turkey and will be translated into several languages including English, Arabic, Urdu and several European languages, the film's producers say.

The scenes to be filmed in Turkey will be shot in several provinces, with the biggest part at a movie set to be erected in Konya -- the central Anatolian province which houses Rumi's tomb and the famous Mevlana Museum.

The filming session in Konya is estimated to be completed in 25 or 30 days, the producers say. Other locations include the central Anatolian provinces of Kayseri and Sivas.

The screenplay for "Mevlana in the Flames of Divine Love" was written by American Muslim writer Kebir Helminski, while the director of photography is Italian cameraman Vittorio Storaro, who also served as director of photography at the crew of the 1987 movie "The Last Emperor."

The film, which has a budget of $25 million, is expected to be completed in 2008.

The famed director, who traveled to both Konya and Sivas recently, said the locations used for the film in Turkey would become highly popular in cultural circles after the film opens in cinemas throughout the world.