[From the French language press]:
Il en a connu des étoiles, de celles qui dansaient à celles qui le faisaient rêver dans les déserts d'Iran. Mais cette nuit du 21 novembre 2007, c'est un musulman, Maurice Béjart, qui est mort.
E Marrakech, Maroc - vendredi 23 novembre - par Youssef Chems
He knew many stars, the dancing stars and the stars who made him dream in the Iranian deserts. But on this 21st November's night is a muslim who died.
World famous dance choreographer Maurice Béjart died in Lausanne, Switzerland on November 21st, five minutes before midnight. Béjart was born in Marseille, France, on January 1st, 1927, the son of French philosopher Gaston Berger.
Maurice Béjart converted to Islam in 1971, after meeting the Sufi Shaykh Ostad Elahi during the 2500 year celebration of Iran's monarchy in Persepolis.
His life changes, as did change his artistic, moral and spiritual career. Dance becomes for him a connection to Allah.
Maurice Béjart always carried with him a small pocket book: Ibn Arabi's "Le Traité de l'Amour".
Farewell, Shaykh Béjart: may you dance for us and for Allah in Allah's Paradise.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Northampton Whirls with the Spiritual Dancers
Northampton Chronicle & Echo - Northampton, U.K.Friday, November 23, 2007
Turkish performers whirl into town: more than 100 spectators turned out to see the Order of the Whirling Dervishes perform at the University of Northampton.
The spiritual dancers form a branch of Sufism, a moderate version of Islam, and appeared in Northampton as part of a cultural tour to promote the Turkish community.
The packed audience also enjoyed philosophical readings and Turkish music.
Selcuk Bassoy, a spokesperson for the event organiser, Spring Education Society, said: "The feedback was brilliant and many people saw the Whirling Dervishes for the first time".
"One of the guests said he could listen to the storyteller all night and another guest said they never knew a Turkish community existed in Northampton."
"The aim was the message that there are common points between us all and everyone got that message as well."
"Green Dot" Accounting Group openly welcomes Shariah Scholars
By Jennifer Hughes - Financial Times - London, U.K.Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Deloitte has become the first of the Big Four accounting groups to appoint its own Shariah scholar in a bid to get a jump on its rivals in the rapidly developing Islamic finance market.
Islamic finance products account for about 2 per cent of the global financial services market, but with Muslims accounting for almost a quarter of the world's population, bankers expect the market to show double-digit growth for at least the next decade.
Deloitte's move is also a sign of a widening of the Islamic market. The UK government is considering raising funds in Islamic bonds and there is a growing market for Islamic retail financial products.
The Big Four groups - Deloitte, PwC, KPMG and Ernst & Young - all have Islamic teams. But, apart from Deloitte, none has a scholar, who is required to sign off that products are fully Shariah-compliant.
"We would hope by this to create a gap big enough to make it difficult [for the others] to compete," said Maghsoud Einollahi, head of De-loitte's Islamic finance team.
Scholars with the necessary training, financial expertise and - crucially - credibility, are in great demand but short supply.
The top five scholars in the field have more than 25 appointments each. Sheikh Nizam Yaqubi holds appointments on 55 Shariah boards, according to data from the Islamic Finance Information Service.
Deloitte has appointed Mufti Hassan Kaleem, a pupil of Sheikh Mohammed Taqi Usmani, who is eighth in the top-10 list by number of Shariah appointments.
Mr Kaleem will work in a consultative capacity for Deloitte. He also works for Al Baraka Bank in Pakistan, a big Islamic bank.
"I was looking for different work with different exposure," said Mr Kaleem. "Here, I will be having experience of work from tax problems, there will be structured finance problems, maybe government and institutional issues too."
But staff at other Big Four groups played down the need for a scholar.
"We have good relationships with a number of scholars and a sound understanding of major shariah issues," said Ken Eglinton, a director specialising in Islamic Financial Services at Ernst & Young, which advises on commercial and financial issues but does not give an opinion on the Shariah authenticity.
"There are variances of opinion among the scholars and accordingly the selection of scholars is particular to every organisation, sometimes based on regional factors," he added.
[More on this topic: http://tinyurl.com/ytxrfd]
Islamic finance products account for about 2 per cent of the global financial services market, but with Muslims accounting for almost a quarter of the world's population, bankers expect the market to show double-digit growth for at least the next decade.
Deloitte's move is also a sign of a widening of the Islamic market. The UK government is considering raising funds in Islamic bonds and there is a growing market for Islamic retail financial products.
The Big Four groups - Deloitte, PwC, KPMG and Ernst & Young - all have Islamic teams. But, apart from Deloitte, none has a scholar, who is required to sign off that products are fully Shariah-compliant.
"We would hope by this to create a gap big enough to make it difficult [for the others] to compete," said Maghsoud Einollahi, head of De-loitte's Islamic finance team.
Scholars with the necessary training, financial expertise and - crucially - credibility, are in great demand but short supply.
The top five scholars in the field have more than 25 appointments each. Sheikh Nizam Yaqubi holds appointments on 55 Shariah boards, according to data from the Islamic Finance Information Service.
Deloitte has appointed Mufti Hassan Kaleem, a pupil of Sheikh Mohammed Taqi Usmani, who is eighth in the top-10 list by number of Shariah appointments.
Mr Kaleem will work in a consultative capacity for Deloitte. He also works for Al Baraka Bank in Pakistan, a big Islamic bank.
"I was looking for different work with different exposure," said Mr Kaleem. "Here, I will be having experience of work from tax problems, there will be structured finance problems, maybe government and institutional issues too."
But staff at other Big Four groups played down the need for a scholar.
"We have good relationships with a number of scholars and a sound understanding of major shariah issues," said Ken Eglinton, a director specialising in Islamic Financial Services at Ernst & Young, which advises on commercial and financial issues but does not give an opinion on the Shariah authenticity.
"There are variances of opinion among the scholars and accordingly the selection of scholars is particular to every organisation, sometimes based on regional factors," he added.
[More on this topic: http://tinyurl.com/ytxrfd]
An Islamic Bank in Spain for millions of Muslims
[From the French/Spanish language press]:Une banque islamique espagnole pour millions de musulmains
“Favoriser les produits bancaires et financiers halal et éthiques pour une économie plus humaines et une meilleure redistribution des richesses”, est un des dix accords adoptés dans le séminaire “Alliance des Civilisations, Alliance pour la Paix”, qui s’est tenu les 18 et 19 juin à Cordoue et organisé par l’Assemblée Islamique espagnole.
CFCM TV /retrieved from El Economista by Benabdellah Soufari
A Spanish Islamic Bank for millions of Muslims
"To encourage banks and other financial products and ethical halal economy for a more humane and a better redistribution of wealth ", is one of ten agreements in the seminar "Alliance of Civilizations, Alliance for Peace ", held on June 18th and 19th in Cordoba and organized by the Spanish Islamic Assembly.
Mr. Mansur Escudero, President of the Islamic Assembly, was backed by Mr. Mohammed Ahmed Sherif (Tripoli, Libya, 1937), General Secretary of WIPL, an organization linked to Sufism.
"Spanish muslims want a Bank, and our decision is made", Audalla Comget, commercial director of the Halal Institut of the Islamic assembly declared to the Spanish daily news El Economista.
"Nurul Bariah Jafar, executive director of the Muamalat Institute of Indonesia, is already working on the programme" he said.
Mr. Mansur Escudero, President of the Islamic Assembly, was backed by Mr. Mohammed Ahmed Sherif (Tripoli, Libya, 1937), General Secretary of WIPL, an organization linked to Sufism.
"Spanish muslims want a Bank, and our decision is made", Audalla Comget, commercial director of the Halal Institut of the Islamic assembly declared to the Spanish daily news El Economista.
"Nurul Bariah Jafar, executive director of the Muamalat Institute of Indonesia, is already working on the programme" he said.
The City of Love
By BS Weekend Team - Business Standard - New Delhi, India
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Rimi B. Chatterjee
THE CITY OF LOVE
Penguin Books India
Rs 295
320 pages
Set in the half-century after Vasco da Gama’s landfall in India, against the background of the spice trade, piracy, and the quest for enlightenment and bags of gold, this story traces the intertwined lives of Fernando Almenara, a Castilian merchant; Daud Suleiman al-Basri, a Moorish pirate; Chandu, a Shaiva Tantric initiate; and Bajja, a tribal girl who struggles for freedom and enlightenment until she masters the world and herself.
In it, Sufism encounters Tantra, Vaishnavism rises, Mughal armies clash with the Sultan of Bengal, Arakan pirates rule the eastern oceans, and the face of the world is forever changed.
As the story moves from Chittagong, foremost port of the east, to Gaur, the capital of Bengal at the time of Humayun’s contest with Sher Shah, the characters are caught up in the crosscurrents set free by the coming of Europeans to India, and by the advent of the mighty Mughal Empire.
They are all of them in search of the hidden world where nothing is what it seems, for only by understanding that world will they acquire mastery of the heights they desire. This story follows them into that unknown country, until at last it stands at the gates of the city itself.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Rimi B. Chatterjee
THE CITY OF LOVE
Penguin Books India
Rs 295
320 pages
Set in the half-century after Vasco da Gama’s landfall in India, against the background of the spice trade, piracy, and the quest for enlightenment and bags of gold, this story traces the intertwined lives of Fernando Almenara, a Castilian merchant; Daud Suleiman al-Basri, a Moorish pirate; Chandu, a Shaiva Tantric initiate; and Bajja, a tribal girl who struggles for freedom and enlightenment until she masters the world and herself.
In it, Sufism encounters Tantra, Vaishnavism rises, Mughal armies clash with the Sultan of Bengal, Arakan pirates rule the eastern oceans, and the face of the world is forever changed.
As the story moves from Chittagong, foremost port of the east, to Gaur, the capital of Bengal at the time of Humayun’s contest with Sher Shah, the characters are caught up in the crosscurrents set free by the coming of Europeans to India, and by the advent of the mighty Mughal Empire.
They are all of them in search of the hidden world where nothing is what it seems, for only by understanding that world will they acquire mastery of the heights they desire. This story follows them into that unknown country, until at last it stands at the gates of the city itself.
With a Heavy Heart
The Times of India - India
Friday, November 23, 2007
Kolkata: They were all looking forward to this day. But they ended up feeling sorry.
A huge Turkish delegation was in the city on Wednesday to take part in an international event in the name of Rumi, the world famous Sufi saint.
But Wednesday’s violence badly affected participation in the programme. The event at Kala Mandir was expected to be attended by 11,000 people.
“Till the eleventh hour, we were getting requests from people wishing to take part in the programme. We could only accommodate 11,000. But thanks to Wednesday’s mayhem, only 300 people came,” said Imran Zaki, one of the organisers.
Simon Aygun, a Turkish journalist who had come to cover the event, said: “I came to cover this event on Rumi and now, I shall have to report about the riotous clashes that coincided with the programme. The 17 performers for the programme, Whirling Dervishes of Rumi, have left for Hyderabad, the next venue of the programme, albeit with a heavy heart. “
Ironically, the programme was meant to spread peace and secular harmony.
It would have been a hit like it is elsewhere in the world. But because of the clashes, only about 300 people could turn up in the evening.
We could not imagine that this sort of violence would mar such a great event,” said Hanifi Oguz, regional director of Indialogue Foundation, which co-organised the programme.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Kolkata: They were all looking forward to this day. But they ended up feeling sorry.
A huge Turkish delegation was in the city on Wednesday to take part in an international event in the name of Rumi, the world famous Sufi saint.
But Wednesday’s violence badly affected participation in the programme. The event at Kala Mandir was expected to be attended by 11,000 people.
“Till the eleventh hour, we were getting requests from people wishing to take part in the programme. We could only accommodate 11,000. But thanks to Wednesday’s mayhem, only 300 people came,” said Imran Zaki, one of the organisers.
Simon Aygun, a Turkish journalist who had come to cover the event, said: “I came to cover this event on Rumi and now, I shall have to report about the riotous clashes that coincided with the programme. The 17 performers for the programme, Whirling Dervishes of Rumi, have left for Hyderabad, the next venue of the programme, albeit with a heavy heart. “
Ironically, the programme was meant to spread peace and secular harmony.
It would have been a hit like it is elsewhere in the world. But because of the clashes, only about 300 people could turn up in the evening.
We could not imagine that this sort of violence would mar such a great event,” said Hanifi Oguz, regional director of Indialogue Foundation, which co-organised the programme.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Magical Endpapers for Hand-Bound Books
Sufi News Report - SNSWR - U.S.A./SwitzerlandThursday, November 29, 2007
Bruxelles (Brussels): A demonstration of ebru art (painting on water) took place at the European Parliament in Brussels last Monday, November 26th.
Dr. Mehmet Refii Kileci's demonstration set the atmosphere for the panel discussion, "Re-Thinking Mavlana:What if Mavlana lived in today's Europe?"
Originally from Istanbul, Dr. Kileci is an associate professor who now lives in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
He turned an all-steel, minimalist designed room into an art studio similar to those one could find in Konya during the Ottoman Empire by patiently unpacking and arranging all his fascinating equipment: little bottles filled with colours; delicate, twisted sticks; fine sabre brushes; and hard-surfaced, alum-treated sheets of paper.
In fact, the traditional manner of marbling paper is often called "Turkish marbling" or "ebru" because it originated in the 15th century Ottoman Empire.
Since patterned papers don't show marks of wear so easily as plain paper does, marbled papers were (and are) used as endpapers of hand-bound books, to hide the lumps and bumps caused by leather turn-ins and cords, or as covers.
An amazed and continually growing group of observers watched with delight as Professor Kileci painted unique pieces of art in the water --actually water thickened with gum tragacanth or carragheenan moss (a seaweed).
With many graceful gestures, Dr. Mehmet drew the water-based inks, that contain ox gall (bile) as a dispersant, guiding the colours into shapes and transforming floating drops into leafs and tulips, dots and letters.
He then gently laid the paper on the surface of the solution, let it remain a few seconds, and then removed it with caring hands: lo. a beautiful piece of patterned paper, unique and unrepeatable, appeared!
[1st picture: Enchanted Panelist Marc Luyckx, Dean of Cotrugli Business Academy, observes Dr. Mehmet Kileci at work. All photos: Sufi News]
Visit Dr. Kileci's website http://www.kileci.net/
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
" Be drunk on love, for love is all that exists "
BBC Audio - Religion - BBC World ServiceWednesday, November 28, 2007
" Be drunk on love, for love is all that exists "
...These are words of love and longing from the 13th century Sufi poet and whirling dervish, Mevlana Jelalludin Rumi.
This year is the 800th anniversary of Rumi's birth, and this Sunni muslim who taught Sharia law in what is now Turkey continues to be phenomenally popular worldwide.
But he is also an elusive figure who has inspired an incredible range of spiritual experiences: in programme 1 of a two part series for Heart and Soul, Shusha Guppy looks at what Rumi means for Muslims today.
Listen to Heart and Soul focused on Rumi, from now until Sunday, by clicking on the title above, then on AUDIO
How to listen? Click Here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/faq/index.shtml
Mevlana Rumi’s first visit to the European Parliament
By Selçuk Gültasli, Brüksel Temsilcisi (Brussels Representative) - Today's Zaman, TurkeyWednesday, November 28, 2007
Brussels: Mevlana Muhammed Jelaluddin Rumi was commemorated at the European Parliament [on Monday 26th] with a panel discussion focusing on his message of tolerance.
Organized by the Brussels-based Intercultural Dialogue Platform (IDP) and members of the European Parliament Cem Özdemir, Emine Bozkurt and Sajjad Karim, the panel focused on the relevance of Mevlana’s message to today’s Europe.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has declared 2007 Year of Mevlana and the European Commission has already earmarked 2008 as Year of Intercultural Dialogue.
Despite lasting several hours, the panel discussion generated a lot of interest and whirling dervishes who came from Konya, the central Anatolian city where Mevlana taught, performed a sema (whirling ceremony) afterwards.
Dr. İhsan Yılmaz of the University of London, Georgia University’s Dr. Alan Godlas and Professor Marc Luyckx Ghisi, the director of the Vision 2020 think tank, spoke at the panel titled “Rethinking Mevlana: What if Mevlana Lived in Today’s Europe.”
Yılmaz emphasized that Mevlana’s teachings were represented today by a group of renowned Islamic scholars, among them Fethullah Gülen and Seyyid Hossein Nasr, both famous prolific writers whose works are read by millions.
Godlas read Persian lines from Mevlana’s masterpiece, the Mesnevi, attentively listened to by the audience.
Bozkurt, one of the hosts of the night, pointed out that Mevlana had begun his dialogue efforts centuries before the EU declared 2008 the Year of Intercultural Dialogue.
“Europe sorely needs Mevlana’s message, which comes from centuries before and never gets old, more than ever,” noted Bozkurt, adding that she was particularly happy to see the hall where the panel discussion was being held filled to capacity.
Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Ankara deputy Zeynep Dağı, Jerzy Montag, a federal MP from the German Green Party and Mahinur Özdemir, a member of the council in Schaerbeek Municipality also attended the Mevlana night at the European Parliament.
Dr. Mehmet Refii Kileci captivated the guests by showing his paper-marbling (ebru) skills during the four-hour-long program.
Aspects of Reality
About Town - Daily Times - Karachi, Pakistan
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri in Karachi
“Whatever exists and is experienceable reflects an aspect of reality. Thus we call the normal wakened state the ‘real’ world. All worldly situations change; all so-called realties are transient and yet have some reference to the absolute unchanging truth.” - Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri.
Join us at T2F on Thursday [November 29] for a talk and discussion on transience, space, time, and the Sufi way.
Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri is an author, teacher and Sufi Master. For almost three decades he has traveled extensively, teaching and sharing his insights with people from all backgrounds and spiritual traditions.
Date: Thursday, Nov 29 at 7:00 p.m. Minimum Donation: Anything you like. Please support the PeaceNiche platform for open dialogue and creative expression generously.
Venue: The Second Floor (t2f) 6-C, Prime Point Building, Phase 7, Khayaban-e-Ittehad, DHA, Phone: 538-9273, 0300-823-0276, info@t2f.biz Map: http://www.t2f.biz/location. Seats are limited and will be available on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. No reservations
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri in Karachi
“Whatever exists and is experienceable reflects an aspect of reality. Thus we call the normal wakened state the ‘real’ world. All worldly situations change; all so-called realties are transient and yet have some reference to the absolute unchanging truth.” - Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri.
Join us at T2F on Thursday [November 29] for a talk and discussion on transience, space, time, and the Sufi way.
Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri is an author, teacher and Sufi Master. For almost three decades he has traveled extensively, teaching and sharing his insights with people from all backgrounds and spiritual traditions.
Date: Thursday, Nov 29 at 7:00 p.m. Minimum Donation: Anything you like. Please support the PeaceNiche platform for open dialogue and creative expression generously.
Venue: The Second Floor (t2f) 6-C, Prime Point Building, Phase 7, Khayaban-e-Ittehad, DHA, Phone: 538-9273, 0300-823-0276, info@t2f.biz Map: http://www.t2f.biz/location. Seats are limited and will be available on a ‘first come, first served’ basis. No reservations
Friday, November 23, 2007
Hostile Environment
By Kimia Sanati - IPS Inter Press Service - Rome, Italy
Friday, November 23, 2007
Attack on Sufis Reveals Intolerance of Muslim Sects
Tehran: The destruction of a monastery belonging to the Gonabadi Sufi order in Boroujerd town of Luristan province, this month, has once again highlighted the hostile environment in which Iran’s many religious minorities and non-conformist sects exist.
According to Mohsen Yahyavi, the consevative representative for Boroujerd in parliament, the trouble began with the Sufis kidnapping several youths affiliated to a nearby mosque and beating them up.
Yahyavi told the Aftab news agency that others who had rushed to their help were roughed up, forcing security men to intervene. The Sufis, however, have a different story to tell.
Harassment of this sect has been going on in Boroujerd, where there they form a sizeable community, for some years now, a young female follower of the order in Tehran, who has her relatives in Boroujerd, told IPS.
"Religious vigilantes had once before tried to bulldoze the hosseinieh (Gonabadi Sufis’ monastery or place of worship) and succeeded in destroying parts of its walls.
This time on the night before the hosseinieh was completely destroyed (Nov. 10), the Basij militia and the vigilantes staged a bogus attack on a nearby mosque where there was a gathering to criticise Sufi beliefs.
The attack was then blamed on the Sufis to justify the attack on the hosseinieh," she said.
"The Sufis refused to evacuate the building, as demanded by the assailants, and called law enforcement for help. But after midnight the law enforcement forces abandoned the scene and there was a blackout. More clashes followed in and outside the hosseinieh.
The Sufis trapped inside the hosseinieh were left at the mercy of the vigilantes who were armed with tear gas and colour sprays," she added.
"They bulldozed the building which was already burning because fire from a neighbouring building torched by the vigilantes had spread to it. Then the law enforcement forces returned and arrested the Sufis.
The next day, the remains of the building were razed to the ground by the authorities themselves and no trace left of the hosseinieh," she said.
More than 180 followers of the order in Boroujerd were arrested by the police and 80 people were wounded during the incident that happened on Nov. 10, the Fars news agency reported the deputy governor of Luristan province as saying.
The Shiite religious establishment generally views Sufism with hostility and, in spite of their adherence to the rules of Shariah, considers them a danger to Islam because of their unorthodox traditions such as ‘sama’ which involves dance, music and 'dhikr' (recitation of Allah’s divine names).
The 1979 Islamic Revolution, which brought Iran's conservative Shiite clerics to power, deemed that Shariah would be the basis for all laws in the country. They denied sects within Islam such as the Sunnis, Ismailis and the Sufis any rights in the new constitution.
Sufism is a mystic tradition within Islam in which adherents seek mystic or divine revelations through ‘whirling dervish’ dances and mystical poetry, especially that of 13th century Persian poet Jalalad-Din Rumi.
The tradition extends from Turkey to India, but is viewed with suspicion by both Shiite and Sunni establishments.
In Iran, traditionalist clerics such as Grand Ayatollahs Safi Golpaigani, Makarem Shirazi, Fazel Lankarani and Nouri Hamadani have issued fatwas against Sufis, calling them heretical. All of them also view President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government as a saviour of religious values.
The Sufis claim the fatwas have provided security bodies like the intelligence ministry with a reason to suppress the order and religious vigilantes an excuse to attack the Sufis and their places of worship.
The Sufis have been defended by other clerics who uphold their right to free worship. Grand Ayatollah Montazeri, a very influential cleric with a huge following throughout Iran, issued a statement following the attack on the hosseinieh of the dervishes in Qom in February 2006 declaring that attacks on their place of worship had no religious justification.
Former parliament speaker and leader of the Etemad Melli reformist party Mehdi Karrubi, a Shiite cleric himself, has on several occasions written letters to grand ayatollahs and state officials in defence of the Sufis’ right to free worship.
Following the recent incident in Boroujerd, Karrubi wrote an open letter to interior minister Mostafa Pour Mohammadi admonishing him on citizens’ fundamental rights and respect for their security and belongings which he said is the primary duty of all governments.
But after the letter was published in his own ‘Etemad Melli’ newspaper and some others, Karrubi has come under fire from the traditionalist and hard line clerical establishment.
The violence against the Sufis and destruction of their place of worship has also been condemned by reformist Islamic Iranian Participation Front (also known as Mosharekat).
The party’s political deputy chairwoman called on authorities to put an end to their harassment, the party’s news portal ‘Norouz’ reported. The history of Gonabadi Sufi order goes back to the 15th century. The tenets of the order are much closer to Shiism than any other Sufi order.
The Gonabadi Sufis, whose numbers are estimated at anywhere from tens of thousands to several hundred thousand, profess to be Shiite.
Adherent of the Gonabadi Sufi order call themselves dervish and their places of worship are called hosseinieh which means a place dedicated to Hossein, the third Imam of Shiites.
Sufis follow the guidance of spiritual leaders and believe in enlightenment of the heart through tarighat (mystic path).
At present, the Gonabadi order is led by Nour Ali Tabandeh (also known as Majzoub Ali Shah), a retired judge and university professor.
He was forced by the local governor’s office to leave his hometown of Bidokht Gonabad in October 2006 where he used, every year, to spend the month of Ramadan and give audiences to his followers from around the country.
He was then escorted by security agents to Tehran.
Although Tabandeh has so far shown no political aspirations for himself, he is known to favour the Iranian National Front and the Freedom Movement of Iran.
Both parties are banned in the Islamic Republic.
An attack on a Gonabadi dervishes’ place of worship, similar to the one in Boroujerd, took place in Qom in February 2006.
According to official reports 1,200 followers of the order were arrested during the incident and hundreds were wounded in clashes between the Sufis and vigilantes.
The hosseinieh as well as the private residence of the leader of the Gonabadi community in Qom, Ahmad Shariat, were bulldozed by the authorities the next day on the grounds that the building had been illegally built.
The place has been converted into a parking lot.
Following the incident 52 members of the order and some of their lawyers were sentenced to jail terms and lashes by a court in Qom. Ahmad Shariat was sentenced to a year in prison and a cash fine in lieu of lashes for disturbing public order. He was also banned from living in Qom for ten years.
The prison sentence was later changed into a cash fine and his exile from Qom reduced to nine years by the court of appeals.
Gholamreza Harsini, a lawyer who had represented the members of the order in Qom, was himself sentenced to five years’ suspension from practicing law, a year in prison and a cash fine. The court of appeals later cleared him of all charges because his presence at the time of the incident in Qom could not be proved.
"The attacks on the Sufis have intensified since Ahmadinejad took office. In December last year he ordered the Islamic guidance (culture) ministry’s Public Guidance Council to review policies to prevent the emergence of ‘deviant’ persons and societies working under the cover of mysticism and spiritualism in the society," an analyst in Tehran speaking on condition of anonymity told IPS.
"The crackdown on the Sufis must therefore be seen as part of a greater plan to suppress alternative reference groups in the society by the hard line government of Ahmadinejad. The hard line and traditionalist clerical establishment that has brought the man to power is increasingly in danger of loss of influence among the masses because of its intolerance," he said.
"Adherence to secularism is growing. More and more young people are being attracted to Sufism.
As proponents of secularism and due to their new appeal among the people who find their tolerance a good alternative to the official ideology the Sufis are rightly seen as a huge danger by the establishment," he added.
"In guidelines recently provided to their political instructors, the military arm of the clergy, i.e., the Revolutionary Guards, has grouped the Sufis with feminists, Bahais, advocates of religious pluralism and non-governmental organisations as threats to the state.
All these groups are capable of providing leadership and organisation, political or religious, and hence of mobilising the people against the regime," the analyst said.
Friday, November 23, 2007
Attack on Sufis Reveals Intolerance of Muslim Sects
Tehran: The destruction of a monastery belonging to the Gonabadi Sufi order in Boroujerd town of Luristan province, this month, has once again highlighted the hostile environment in which Iran’s many religious minorities and non-conformist sects exist.
According to Mohsen Yahyavi, the consevative representative for Boroujerd in parliament, the trouble began with the Sufis kidnapping several youths affiliated to a nearby mosque and beating them up.
Yahyavi told the Aftab news agency that others who had rushed to their help were roughed up, forcing security men to intervene. The Sufis, however, have a different story to tell.
Harassment of this sect has been going on in Boroujerd, where there they form a sizeable community, for some years now, a young female follower of the order in Tehran, who has her relatives in Boroujerd, told IPS.
"Religious vigilantes had once before tried to bulldoze the hosseinieh (Gonabadi Sufis’ monastery or place of worship) and succeeded in destroying parts of its walls.
This time on the night before the hosseinieh was completely destroyed (Nov. 10), the Basij militia and the vigilantes staged a bogus attack on a nearby mosque where there was a gathering to criticise Sufi beliefs.
The attack was then blamed on the Sufis to justify the attack on the hosseinieh," she said.
"The Sufis refused to evacuate the building, as demanded by the assailants, and called law enforcement for help. But after midnight the law enforcement forces abandoned the scene and there was a blackout. More clashes followed in and outside the hosseinieh.
The Sufis trapped inside the hosseinieh were left at the mercy of the vigilantes who were armed with tear gas and colour sprays," she added.
"They bulldozed the building which was already burning because fire from a neighbouring building torched by the vigilantes had spread to it. Then the law enforcement forces returned and arrested the Sufis.
The next day, the remains of the building were razed to the ground by the authorities themselves and no trace left of the hosseinieh," she said.
More than 180 followers of the order in Boroujerd were arrested by the police and 80 people were wounded during the incident that happened on Nov. 10, the Fars news agency reported the deputy governor of Luristan province as saying.
The Shiite religious establishment generally views Sufism with hostility and, in spite of their adherence to the rules of Shariah, considers them a danger to Islam because of their unorthodox traditions such as ‘sama’ which involves dance, music and 'dhikr' (recitation of Allah’s divine names).
The 1979 Islamic Revolution, which brought Iran's conservative Shiite clerics to power, deemed that Shariah would be the basis for all laws in the country. They denied sects within Islam such as the Sunnis, Ismailis and the Sufis any rights in the new constitution.
Sufism is a mystic tradition within Islam in which adherents seek mystic or divine revelations through ‘whirling dervish’ dances and mystical poetry, especially that of 13th century Persian poet Jalalad-Din Rumi.
The tradition extends from Turkey to India, but is viewed with suspicion by both Shiite and Sunni establishments.
In Iran, traditionalist clerics such as Grand Ayatollahs Safi Golpaigani, Makarem Shirazi, Fazel Lankarani and Nouri Hamadani have issued fatwas against Sufis, calling them heretical. All of them also view President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government as a saviour of religious values.
The Sufis claim the fatwas have provided security bodies like the intelligence ministry with a reason to suppress the order and religious vigilantes an excuse to attack the Sufis and their places of worship.
The Sufis have been defended by other clerics who uphold their right to free worship. Grand Ayatollah Montazeri, a very influential cleric with a huge following throughout Iran, issued a statement following the attack on the hosseinieh of the dervishes in Qom in February 2006 declaring that attacks on their place of worship had no religious justification.
Former parliament speaker and leader of the Etemad Melli reformist party Mehdi Karrubi, a Shiite cleric himself, has on several occasions written letters to grand ayatollahs and state officials in defence of the Sufis’ right to free worship.
Following the recent incident in Boroujerd, Karrubi wrote an open letter to interior minister Mostafa Pour Mohammadi admonishing him on citizens’ fundamental rights and respect for their security and belongings which he said is the primary duty of all governments.
But after the letter was published in his own ‘Etemad Melli’ newspaper and some others, Karrubi has come under fire from the traditionalist and hard line clerical establishment.
The violence against the Sufis and destruction of their place of worship has also been condemned by reformist Islamic Iranian Participation Front (also known as Mosharekat).
The party’s political deputy chairwoman called on authorities to put an end to their harassment, the party’s news portal ‘Norouz’ reported. The history of Gonabadi Sufi order goes back to the 15th century. The tenets of the order are much closer to Shiism than any other Sufi order.
The Gonabadi Sufis, whose numbers are estimated at anywhere from tens of thousands to several hundred thousand, profess to be Shiite.
Adherent of the Gonabadi Sufi order call themselves dervish and their places of worship are called hosseinieh which means a place dedicated to Hossein, the third Imam of Shiites.
Sufis follow the guidance of spiritual leaders and believe in enlightenment of the heart through tarighat (mystic path).
At present, the Gonabadi order is led by Nour Ali Tabandeh (also known as Majzoub Ali Shah), a retired judge and university professor.
He was forced by the local governor’s office to leave his hometown of Bidokht Gonabad in October 2006 where he used, every year, to spend the month of Ramadan and give audiences to his followers from around the country.
He was then escorted by security agents to Tehran.
Although Tabandeh has so far shown no political aspirations for himself, he is known to favour the Iranian National Front and the Freedom Movement of Iran.
Both parties are banned in the Islamic Republic.
An attack on a Gonabadi dervishes’ place of worship, similar to the one in Boroujerd, took place in Qom in February 2006.
According to official reports 1,200 followers of the order were arrested during the incident and hundreds were wounded in clashes between the Sufis and vigilantes.
The hosseinieh as well as the private residence of the leader of the Gonabadi community in Qom, Ahmad Shariat, were bulldozed by the authorities the next day on the grounds that the building had been illegally built.
The place has been converted into a parking lot.
Following the incident 52 members of the order and some of their lawyers were sentenced to jail terms and lashes by a court in Qom. Ahmad Shariat was sentenced to a year in prison and a cash fine in lieu of lashes for disturbing public order. He was also banned from living in Qom for ten years.
The prison sentence was later changed into a cash fine and his exile from Qom reduced to nine years by the court of appeals.
Gholamreza Harsini, a lawyer who had represented the members of the order in Qom, was himself sentenced to five years’ suspension from practicing law, a year in prison and a cash fine. The court of appeals later cleared him of all charges because his presence at the time of the incident in Qom could not be proved.
"The attacks on the Sufis have intensified since Ahmadinejad took office. In December last year he ordered the Islamic guidance (culture) ministry’s Public Guidance Council to review policies to prevent the emergence of ‘deviant’ persons and societies working under the cover of mysticism and spiritualism in the society," an analyst in Tehran speaking on condition of anonymity told IPS.
"The crackdown on the Sufis must therefore be seen as part of a greater plan to suppress alternative reference groups in the society by the hard line government of Ahmadinejad. The hard line and traditionalist clerical establishment that has brought the man to power is increasingly in danger of loss of influence among the masses because of its intolerance," he said.
"Adherence to secularism is growing. More and more young people are being attracted to Sufism.
As proponents of secularism and due to their new appeal among the people who find their tolerance a good alternative to the official ideology the Sufis are rightly seen as a huge danger by the establishment," he added.
"In guidelines recently provided to their political instructors, the military arm of the clergy, i.e., the Revolutionary Guards, has grouped the Sufis with feminists, Bahais, advocates of religious pluralism and non-governmental organisations as threats to the state.
All these groups are capable of providing leadership and organisation, political or religious, and hence of mobilising the people against the regime," the analyst said.
An evening of Sufi music and qawwalis
By Ranjani Govind - The Hindu - Karnataka, IndiaThursday, November 22, 2007
Bangalore: This weekend, get set to witness mystical Sufi music and robust qawwalis by Aslam Sabri and Parveen Saba on the sprawling lawns of the open-air entertainment area at Shankara on Kanakapura Road.
According to Pravin Godkhindi, “Aslam Sabri and Parveen Saba will engage in a spontaneous jugalbandi after their individual performances to bring in the excitement of melody repartee.”
The qawwali is a vibrant musical tradition that dates back more than 700 years. Originally performed at Sufi shrines throughout the subcontinent, it received international exposure through the performances of the late Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
Aslam Sabri, known for his impromptu renditions, is one amongst the few Sufi qawwals of India and is the recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award from the Government of Uttar Pradesh.
He is a well-known artiste of Akashvani and Doordarshan and has been featured in almost all major music conferences across India.
He has the unique distinction of performing for the Indian Army in the border areas of north India as well as in several other countries.
Parveen Saba is one of the few woman qawwals of our country, and is known for her spontaneity in presenting traditional verses, jugalbandi being her forte.
Sham-e-Sufiana will be held on Saturday, 7 p.m. onwards, at Shankara, Kanakapura Road.
For details call 99800 91913
[Picture: Mr. Aslam Sabri]
The Sufi Revival
By Tom Parfitt - The Guardian - London, U.K.Thursday, November 22, 2007
The battle for the soul of Chechnya: with separatist rebels embracing radical Islam, the republic's Moscow-backed president is busy promoting a Sufi revival
Khadzhi Aul: High on a hillside in eastern Chechnya, a new mosque rises serenely in a grove of pear trees, its freshly painted walls dappled with sunlight.
In a cemetery nearby, workmen have just finished repairing the white cupola that stands over a simple tomb draped in green cloth.
"With Allah's help and the support of our president, we are putting this sacred place in order," said Magomed Daskayev, a stout man in a green tunic who is imam of the local village, Khadzhi Aul.
This ziyarat* on the Ertan ridge, an hour's drive from Grozny, is one of the most hallowed spots of traditional Chechen Islam: the final resting place of the mother of Kunta Khadzhi Kishiev, a shepherd who became a Sufi sheikh.
The battle for the soul of Chechnya: with separatist rebels embracing radical Islam, the republic's Moscow-backed president is busy promoting a Sufi revival
Khadzhi Aul: High on a hillside in eastern Chechnya, a new mosque rises serenely in a grove of pear trees, its freshly painted walls dappled with sunlight.
In a cemetery nearby, workmen have just finished repairing the white cupola that stands over a simple tomb draped in green cloth.
"With Allah's help and the support of our president, we are putting this sacred place in order," said Magomed Daskayev, a stout man in a green tunic who is imam of the local village, Khadzhi Aul.
This ziyarat* on the Ertan ridge, an hour's drive from Grozny, is one of the most hallowed spots of traditional Chechen Islam: the final resting place of the mother of Kunta Khadzhi Kishiev, a shepherd who became a Sufi sheikh.
The new mosque will provide accommodation for a stream of visiting pilgrims. And its construction is a potent symbol of the Sufi revival that is sweeping Chechnya under its impulsive, 31-year-old president, Ramzan Kadyrov.
The renaissance comes as the last 700-odd rebels fighting Mr Kadyrov's pro-Moscow administration have lurched toward radical Islam.
(...)
Today, it is not independence fighters who are leading the Sufi revival but rather the supporters of Mr Kadyrov, who has strong backing from the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.
Mr Kadyrov, a murid of the Qadiri order, holds a zikr at his home every Thursday evening in honour of his father, who was assassinated in 2004.
Vakhit Akayev, an expert on Sufism at Grozny State University, said it was not so strange that the pro-Moscow administration was now championing Sufism.
Sufism has been the dominant form of Islam in Chechnya for almost two centuries but was forced underground in Soviet times.
During the 19th century, its followers, called murids, drew strength from their belief as they battled the soldiers of the invading Russian empire.
Imam Shamil, the legendary leader of the resistance, who fended off tsarist advances from his mountain stronghold for over 20 years, was a member of the Naqshabandi Sufi order.
But these Sufi forces were later slowly replaced by radical militants who despised their devotion to saints and dervishes.
(...)
"Only positive energy flows from a mosque," said Magomed Abdurakhmanov, 32, an official from the mufti's administration, as he gave the Guardian a tour of the construction site. "This building will radiate goodness across Chechnya."
[Picture: Mr. Ramzan Kadyrov, the president of Chechnya. Photo by Oleg Nikishin/Getty]
* Ziyarat: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziyarat
Thursday, November 22, 2007
By means of Intelligence and Love
Staff Reporter - The Hindu - Chennai, IndiaWednesday, November 21, 2007
Hyderabad: Revolving, the fundamental principle of existence evident in every manifestation of life whether it is electron or Mother Earth, will receive a special tribute on November 22 in the live performance of ‘Whirling Dervishes of Rumi’ to be organised at Taramati Baradari Cultural Complex at Ibrahimbagh.
Known as Sema, the Turkish ritual will have artistes rendering a whirling performance to represent man’s ascent to perfection by means of intelligence and love.
The present event is being organised by Indialogue Foundation to mark the 800th birth anniversary of eminent scholar and poet Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi, in association with Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation and Metropolitan Municipality of Konya city, Turkey.
Hyderabad: Revolving, the fundamental principle of existence evident in every manifestation of life whether it is electron or Mother Earth, will receive a special tribute on November 22 in the live performance of ‘Whirling Dervishes of Rumi’ to be organised at Taramati Baradari Cultural Complex at Ibrahimbagh.
Known as Sema, the Turkish ritual will have artistes rendering a whirling performance to represent man’s ascent to perfection by means of intelligence and love.
The present event is being organised by Indialogue Foundation to mark the 800th birth anniversary of eminent scholar and poet Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi, in association with Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation and Metropolitan Municipality of Konya city, Turkey.
Also part of the event will be a Sufi music concert.
Sharing the details at a press meet, M.A.Vural from Indialogue Foundation informed that Dervishes from Konya were being brought especially for the events to be held also at New Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.
The inaugural ceremony on November 21 at Madina Educational Centre and an international seminar at Maulana Abul Kalam Azad National University the next day will be part of the birth anniversary celebrations.
The year 2007 has been declared as ‘Year of Rumi’ by UNESCO.
Addressing the press meet, former Minister Basheeruddin Babukhan said that Sufi poets had spread the message of Islam by propagating goodness, harmony and peace.
[Picture: Dance tribute: A poster showing the ‘Whirling Dervishes’ in action. Photo by P.V. Sivakumar]
The human capacity to evolve and give love
DNA - Daily News and Analysis - Mumbai
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
The Whirling Derveshis from Konya, Turkey, will perform in the two-day Sufi and Mystic Music Festival, Ruhaniyat, at Horniman Circle on November 24-25 in the seventh Banyan Tree Events, the most prestigious and much-awaited annual event for the connoisseurs across the country.
Ruhaniyat is a confluence of ecstatic performers as each one is a master of his or her own art. Sufi and mystic music festival, will also be held in Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune and Kolkata.
Ruhaniyat is the brainchild of Mahesh Babu, director of Banyan Tree Events — premiere cultural organisation that works to preserve and nurture the heritage of traditional and rare Indian performing arts through festivals of international standards over a decade.
Sufi saints and mystics works, abounding in wisdom not only act as a soothing balm but also are a timely reminder of the human capacity to evolve and give love.
They knew the secret of blissful existence amidst turmoil, making Ruhaniyat a soughtafter event.
The Jagatram group from Punjab will present Sufiana Songs, The Udavant group from Maharashtra will present Warkari Songs, The Arash Asady group from Iran and Vitthal Rao from Hyderabad will present Sufiana Kalam.
Parvathy Baul from West Bengal will present Baul Songs while Kamla Devi Bheel and group from Madhya Pradesh will present Kabirpanthi Nirguni.
Derveshis will present Sema while the Kachra Khan group from Rajasthan will present mystic songs. The Chhote Iqbal Afzal Sabri group from Muzaffarnagar and Sarfaraz Chisty and group from Muradabad will present Sufi Qawwali.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
The Whirling Derveshis from Konya, Turkey, will perform in the two-day Sufi and Mystic Music Festival, Ruhaniyat, at Horniman Circle on November 24-25 in the seventh Banyan Tree Events, the most prestigious and much-awaited annual event for the connoisseurs across the country.
Ruhaniyat is a confluence of ecstatic performers as each one is a master of his or her own art. Sufi and mystic music festival, will also be held in Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune and Kolkata.
Ruhaniyat is the brainchild of Mahesh Babu, director of Banyan Tree Events — premiere cultural organisation that works to preserve and nurture the heritage of traditional and rare Indian performing arts through festivals of international standards over a decade.
Sufi saints and mystics works, abounding in wisdom not only act as a soothing balm but also are a timely reminder of the human capacity to evolve and give love.
They knew the secret of blissful existence amidst turmoil, making Ruhaniyat a soughtafter event.
The Jagatram group from Punjab will present Sufiana Songs, The Udavant group from Maharashtra will present Warkari Songs, The Arash Asady group from Iran and Vitthal Rao from Hyderabad will present Sufiana Kalam.
Parvathy Baul from West Bengal will present Baul Songs while Kamla Devi Bheel and group from Madhya Pradesh will present Kabirpanthi Nirguni.
Derveshis will present Sema while the Kachra Khan group from Rajasthan will present mystic songs. The Chhote Iqbal Afzal Sabri group from Muzaffarnagar and Sarfaraz Chisty and group from Muradabad will present Sufi Qawwali.
Iranian Lawyer Representing Dervishes Is Detained
RFE/RL - Radio Free Europe - Prague, Czech Republic
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
One of the lawyers representing a Sufi order targeted by a recent crackdown has been detained in Iran, Radio Farda reported.
Mostafa Daneshju was detained in Karaj on November 20, but the reason for his arrest has not been made clear, nor is it known where Daneshju is being held.
A fellow lawyer, Farshid Yadollahi, told Radio Farda that Daneshju had previously been sentenced to a prison term and lashes on charges of spreading lies and insulting officials. He reportedly appealed against the sentence.
Yadollahi also said Daneshju has been active in defending the rights of the Gonabadi order of dervishes. "Following the destruction of the Gonabadi worship house in Ghom, [Daneshju] launched a complaint about the legal and religious violations that happened there," Yadollahi said.
"He also represented the case of a Sufi who had been attacked in Loristan Province."
Daneshju's arrest comes about 10 days after clashes broke out between dervishes and Shi'ite hard-liners in the Western city of Borujerd.
Dozens of people were injured and arrested during the skirmishes, and the Sufis' prayer house was partly destroyed.
Human rights groups have expressed concern over what appears to be increased state pressure on the Sufi order in Iran.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
One of the lawyers representing a Sufi order targeted by a recent crackdown has been detained in Iran, Radio Farda reported.
Mostafa Daneshju was detained in Karaj on November 20, but the reason for his arrest has not been made clear, nor is it known where Daneshju is being held.
A fellow lawyer, Farshid Yadollahi, told Radio Farda that Daneshju had previously been sentenced to a prison term and lashes on charges of spreading lies and insulting officials. He reportedly appealed against the sentence.
Yadollahi also said Daneshju has been active in defending the rights of the Gonabadi order of dervishes. "Following the destruction of the Gonabadi worship house in Ghom, [Daneshju] launched a complaint about the legal and religious violations that happened there," Yadollahi said.
"He also represented the case of a Sufi who had been attacked in Loristan Province."
Daneshju's arrest comes about 10 days after clashes broke out between dervishes and Shi'ite hard-liners in the Western city of Borujerd.
Dozens of people were injured and arrested during the skirmishes, and the Sufis' prayer house was partly destroyed.
Human rights groups have expressed concern over what appears to be increased state pressure on the Sufi order in Iran.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
"Celebrating Our Books"
Washington University in Saint Louis - Saint Louis, MO, U.S.A.Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Famed novelist Joyce Carol Oates to speak for "Celebrating Our Books" colloquium Dec. 3 Sixth annual event sponsored by Center for the Humanities and Washington University Libraries
Joyce Carol Oates, one of America's most important and distinguished authors, three times nominated for the Nobel Prize for Literature, will deliver the keynote address, titled "The Writer's (Secret) Life: Woundedness, Rejection, and Inspiration," for "Celebrating Our Books, Recognizing Our Authors," Washington University's sixth annual faculty book colloquium.
"Celebrating Our Books" honors the work of scholars from across the arts and sciences disciplines.
Featured faculty presenters, who will present their works, are Ahmet T. Karamustafa, professor of history and religious studies in Arts & Sciences, who will speak on his book, Sufism: The Formative Period (2007); and Marina MacKay, assistant professor of English in Arts & Sciences, who will speak on her book, Modernism and World War II (2007).
(...)
Karamustafa's Sufism: The Formative Period is a comprehensive historical overview of the formative period of Sufism, the major mystical tradition in Islam, from the ninth to the twelfth century.
Based on a fresh reading of the primary sources and the integration of the findings of recent scholarship on the subject, Karamustafa presents a unified narrative of Sufism's historical development within an innovative analytical framework.
The event — sponsored by the Center for the Humanities in Arts & Sciences and University Libraries — is free and open to the public and begins at 5 p.m. Monday, Dec. 3, in Holmes Lounge. For more information, call (314) 935-5576 or email cenhum@artsci.wustl.edu.
The Merchant and his Clever Parrot
TT Art Desk - Tehran Times - Tehran, IranTuesday, November 20, 2007
The Children of Iran band is to perform a musical version of “The Merchant and his Clever Parrot”, a story from Molana Jalal ad-Din Rumi’s Masnavi, at Tehran’s Vahdat Hall from November 21 to 23.
“Thirty-six children are slated to participate in the musical, which will be performed using regional Iranian instruments,” band leader Sudabeh Salem told the Mehr News Agency on Sunday.
“I think the project will help the children to become familiarized to some extent with the origins of Iranian music,” she added.
“The Merchant and his Clever Parrot” was one of the topics that used to be part of the fourth grade syllabus in Iran’s primary schools, but it has been excluded.
Salem is to conduct the band and pieces composed by master of Iranian music Abolhassan Saba (1902-1957). “Master Saba has played an important role in the development of contemporary Iranian music. His works contain many useful points, which should be taught to children,” Salem said.
[Picture: Terpsiphone paradisi. Image from: http://www.bird-stamps.org/species/140017.htm]
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
The Hidden Angles of Life
By Sara Kwasnick - The Daily Californian - Berkeley, CA, U.S.A.Monday, November 19, 2007
Guests of numerous religious and ethnic backgrounds converged on Wheeler Auditorium Saturday to listen to music, meditate and learn lessons about Sufism, a movement that preaches a path to self-knowledge.
UC Berkeley’s MTO Sufi Association held the campus’s third annual Sufi Celebration—called “The Hidden Angles of Life,” to educate students and community members about the philosophy, first taught 1,400 years ago.
Sufism preaches that a harmonious society can only be achieved when all of its members attain self-cognition.
As a result, the teachings appeal to people from a wide array of religious and ethnic backgrounds, said senior Negar Dadgari, an architecture major and president of the association.
“Our goal is to raise spiritual awareness on campus and to just really expand love and unity,” Dadgari said.
After opening remarks about the movement, musicians played modern instruments and sang in harmony with the traditional santur, setar and daf.
“Teachers of Sufism have always taught to a broad and diverse group of students,” Dadgari said in opening remarks.
The celebration concluded with a speech on tamarkoz, the ability to achieve bodily self-awareness, followed by a demonstration of movazeneh, or meditation. The audience was then led in guided meditation.
“Sufism is essentially a path to self-knowledge,” said Sahar Yousef, freshman cognitive science and philosophy major. “Once you’re on this path it’s like you’re wooing the god within you.”
The current master of the School of Islamic Sufism is Nader Angha, who lives in Germany and broadcasts weekly, live webcasts for Sufis to study, Dadgari said.
The Berkeley and UCLA MTO Sufi Associations trade off hosting celebrations every six months, she said.
A time will come...
By Matt Brown - Lodi News Sentinel - Lodi, CA, U.S.A.Saturday, November 17, 2007
New Lodi imam ready to heal Muslim community
Ahmad Hashimi rests on a couch in a comfortable, cream-colored robe. His feet are bare, and a black cylindrical hat sits atop his head hiding his straight dark hair that is flecked with gray.
His bushy, black beard ends in tiny, kinky curls, accentuating his round face.But Hashimi's most striking features are his eyes. There is a certain peacefulness and wisdom in his half-opened hazel eyes that betrays this spiritual leader's age of 34 years.
These are the eyes of a much older mystic. Perhaps they are the eyes of his father, a Sufi scholar.
There is hope in these eyes and a sense of purpose. As the new imam of the Lodi Muslim Mosque, Hashimi represents a chance to heal a community still reeling from two deported imams and a terrorism investigation.
"I came here to preach Islam and paint a very lovely and tolerant picture of Islam," Hashimi says in a slow, soothing tone with a thick south Asian accent.
"A time will come when this mosque will be a model mosque in America."He peppers his speech with scholarly words and cites Goethe and the Sufi poet, Rumi.
(...)
Hashimi is the mosque's first imam since then and the first Lodi imam from the Sufi tradition of Islam. Sufism is the mystical branch of Islam with a philosophy rooted in peace, love and tolerance of other religions.
"My true nature is love toward God and humanity," Hashimi says. "Sufism accepts every person whether they are Muslim or non-Muslim."
Hashimi was born in Mansehra, a rugged frontier town in the mountains of northern Pakistan.
In the tradition of his father, the head of a post-graduate college, Hashimi began studying philosophy, eventually earning a master's degree from Peshwar University.
When Lodi Muslim Mosque president Mohammed Shoaib visited Pakistan last year, he found Hashimi teaching at a post-graduate university."When I first met him, I knew he could help us here in Lodi," Shoaib says. "I am very impressed with him".
Seated in an ornate, gold-painted chair, Hashimi delivers his oration in a commanding, yet measured voice. During the 30-minute lecture in Urdu, Pakistan's native language, many in the audience nod and mumble in agreement.
Afterward, he summarizes his lecture in English."The best of you are those that are well mannered," he says. "We should understand that the Islamic code of ethics is very firm and we should adopt this ethical code."
In his first two weeks in America, Hashimi says he can see the differences between preaching Islam in Pakistan and this country, where Muslims comprise the minority.
"This is a different community from Pakistan," he says. "I think we are having difficulty (in America) presenting the true picture of Islam. I think we should get back to the spiritual message of Islam."
[Photo: Mr. Ahmad Hashimi. Photo: Brian Feulner/News-Sentinel]
Let the Sufi saints rest in peace...
By Jaya Ramanathan - New Ind Press on Sunday - Chennai, IndiaSaturday, November 17, 2007
Tirupati, Velankanni, Ajmer Sharif, the Golden Temple... These are some of the pilgrimage centers in India that transcend religious barriers.
One has to travel to these holy nuclei to see secularism and religious harmony really in practice.
It was three years ago that we drove down to Jaipur with a couple of friends; from there we took a day trip to Pushkar and to nearby Ajmer Sharif, the dargah of Moinuddin Chishti.
A pilgrimage to Ajmer Sharif is regarded as second only to the ultimate trip to Mecca for practitioners of the Islamic faith.
The dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, the 12th century Sufi saint who founded the Chishtiyya order of Sufism in India is as holy and as crowded as any major religious center in the country. Yet there was no soliciting from any quarter.
A guide understood we were of a different faith and attached himself to us, but it was more to lead us to the shrine, and find us places close to the sanctum sanctorum.
With great pride he explained to us the life of the Gareeb Nawaz- Chishti who lived by the dictum: “Let there be no compulsion in religion. Truth stands out clear from error; whoever rejects evil and believes in Allah hath grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold that never breaks. And Allah heareth and knoweth all things.” [Qur'an 2:256]
He led us out and when we offered him money he insisted we give it in at the collection office. We were most impressed.
My friend decided that she would finance her driver’s trip to Ajmer. The following year Ramzan made his pilgrimage, he took with him, his wife, mother, mother-in-law and sister. He is convinced God had made it possible for him to visit the Ajmer dargah since Mecca was out of his reach!
A bureaucrat friend, Anu, a few months ago asked me to accompany her to Ajmer Sharif, I was not able to do so, but it was interesting to learn her reason for visiting the place.
Knowing how desperate she was for a posting in Delhi, her colleague (also a Hindu) had asked for a mannat (boon) on her behalf. Once her wish had been granted she had to visit the shrine for thanksgiving.
She is now positive that if you make a wish for someone else at the dargah, it always works, but not necessarily if you make one for yourself.
“We visited all temples, churches and mosques…any place recommended by any well wisher… we were so keen to have a child,” recalls Maneka, now a mother of a 16- year-old. “When we went to the Ajmer shrine, I told myself this is the last place…no more of this pleading with different Gods….”
She soon found herself pregnant and believes it was the Sufi saint who finally granted her, her desire.”
“I am normally not a temple-goer and certainly no mosques or churches fall within my radar. But while on a road trip, a few months ago I was persuaded by friends to visit the dargah in Ajmer, I had to admit I had this tremendous sense of calm when I came out,” recounts iconoclast Rajesh.
The calm was shattered on 11th October, on the eve of Ramzan Eid, the holiest period for Muslims. Yet again a holy place was used for target practice by faceless terrorists. This time it was the abode of India’s most revered Sufi saint.
Abd dal-Malik Isami, the 14th century Bahamani court poet had observed : “In every country there is a man of piety who keeps it going and well. Although there might be a monarch in every country, yet it is actually under the protection of a fakir (sufi saint).”
While the multitudes of this world are caught up in the senseless battle of “my God versus your God” at least let the Sufi saints rest in peace, they preached tolerance, acceptance and celebration of all religions at a time when secularism was not even a concept!
Monday, November 19, 2007
Sufism is the only way (to eliminate terrorism)
APP - Associated Press of Pakistan - Pakistan
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Islamabad: Pakistan Muslim League (PML) President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain Sunday said Sufism is the only way to eliminate sectarianism and terrorism in all their forms and manifestations.
Addressing a reception held in honour of world fame scholar Allama Fazlullah Hairi here, he said a National Sufi Council has already been established to promote interfaith harmony in the society.
PML Secretary General Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed lauded the role of Allama Fazlullah Hairi for propagation of Sufism across the world.
He said that Allama Hairi established a Sufi school in London 40 years ago and now campuses of the institution have been set up in Paris, Copenhagen, New York, Washington, Stockholm and other major cities of Europe and USA.
The Senator said Allama Hairi’s main contribution is that he struggled to promote soft image of Islam in the West and now he has established Institute of Sufism in Proria and South Africa.
Allama Hairi who authored more than 32 books highlighted various measures to shun sectarian differences in the Muslim Ummah.
Mushahid said that Muslims of the world consider Pakistan as their homeland and a fort of Islamic Ummah and any disturbance in it harms them mentally and physically.
He said that the international Institute of Sufism in Proria is organizing an International Interfaith Conference on 1st March in which prominent scholars belonging to nine religions would participate.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Islamabad: Pakistan Muslim League (PML) President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain Sunday said Sufism is the only way to eliminate sectarianism and terrorism in all their forms and manifestations.
Addressing a reception held in honour of world fame scholar Allama Fazlullah Hairi here, he said a National Sufi Council has already been established to promote interfaith harmony in the society.
PML Secretary General Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed lauded the role of Allama Fazlullah Hairi for propagation of Sufism across the world.
He said that Allama Hairi established a Sufi school in London 40 years ago and now campuses of the institution have been set up in Paris, Copenhagen, New York, Washington, Stockholm and other major cities of Europe and USA.
The Senator said Allama Hairi’s main contribution is that he struggled to promote soft image of Islam in the West and now he has established Institute of Sufism in Proria and South Africa.
Allama Hairi who authored more than 32 books highlighted various measures to shun sectarian differences in the Muslim Ummah.
Mushahid said that Muslims of the world consider Pakistan as their homeland and a fort of Islamic Ummah and any disturbance in it harms them mentally and physically.
He said that the international Institute of Sufism in Proria is organizing an International Interfaith Conference on 1st March in which prominent scholars belonging to nine religions would participate.
One of the oldest forms of ritual
By Laura Bleiberg - The Orange County RegisterFriday, November 16, 2007
The Whirling Dervishes take a spin through Orange County: Turkish troupe brings its country's 800-year-old ritualistic dance to the Irvine Barclay Theatre on Tuesday, November 20
If we could turn the clock back a millennium or two, we would find men and women dancing as part of their daily lives. Its purpose, though, might come as a surprise.
Dancing used to be a primary method of religious expression, one of the oldest forms of ritual. Today, however, you'd have to look long and hard to find a religion that incorporated dancing as a normal part of religious practices, at least in this country.
What was once viewed as an exemplary way to express spiritual devotion because it involved the body in motion, is viewed today with suspicion for the very same reason. We have done a 180-degree turnabout, from body "good," to body "bad."
The Whirling Dervishes of Turkey, however, have had no such turning away from their past, excuse the pun. The 800-year-old, ritual-as-performance is as popular as ever, both inside and outside Turkey.
A company of Whirling Dervishes from the Mevlana Cultural Center in Konya, Turkey, is touring the country and will be at the Irvine Barclay Theatre on Nov. 20 for a single show.
The first thing that company manager Cenk Erdem wanted to point out during a recent phone interview was that this is not a performance in the usual sense. It is a religious ceremony.
"We call this ritual Sema, and Sema follows holy Quran," Erdem said. "It starts with the reading of verses from the Quran and (continues with) traditional musicians and ritual dancers. But it's not a dance performance. We never tailor the ritual for any stage or for any show because it's a kind of belief."
The revered Sufi poet and philosopher Mevlâna Jalâluddîn Rumi (1207-1273) is credited with creating the dance of non-stop spinning. Some stories suggest that he began turning while walking through a marketplace, hearing the name of God in the musical sounds of hammers clanging against metal pots. But a 22 {+n}{+d}generation descendant of Rumi, who is traveling with the troupe, could not confirm this tale.
"It came out of the blue. He just discovered it as a natural trance," said Esin Celebi, 58, who learned the dance when she was 9. "As the world turns, the dervish turns."
Rumi was born into a family of theologians in present-day Afghanistan. The family traveled widely to escape the Mongol invasion, visiting Mecca and Medina. In 1228, the Sultan of the Seljuks invited the family to Konya, on the Anatolian steppes about 300 miles southeast of Istanbul.
Rumi became a prominent scholar, writing epic poems in Persian, and revered for his spiritual devotion. Groups of Mevlevi followers spread throughout Asia, and into Europe, and the dervishes continued their ceremonial dancing for centuries.
The schools were closed and suppressed for a 30-year period beginning in the 1920s, but the ritual was never entirely destroyed.
Nearly everything about the Sema ritual is symbolic, and is intended to express specific beliefs, such as the majesty of God and love of all creations. Escaping from one's own ego figures prominently in the dance.
The dervishes wear a stove-pipe shaped, camel-hair hat, which represents the ego's tombstone. The adherents' white skirts – which flair as the dancer turns – is meant to symbolize the ego's shroud.
After removing a long black coat, which, it is believed, allows the dancer to be reborn spiritually, the dancer starts the ritual with arms folded across the body. That position represents the number one, or God's unity.
The dancers eventually spread their arms wide, with the right hand raised toward the sky and the left directed toward the earth, a gesture to convey a readiness to receive God's beneficence.
"What is so crucial, is Mevlani (Rumi) talks about leaving our ego," Erdem said. "They use the left foot to crash the ego. Every movement of the hands, the feet, everything refers to something. It's also the spiritual training ."
The Whirling Dervishes of Turkey, however, have had no such turning away from their past, excuse the pun. The 800-year-old, ritual-as-performance is as popular as ever, both inside and outside Turkey.
A company of Whirling Dervishes from the Mevlana Cultural Center in Konya, Turkey, is touring the country and will be at the Irvine Barclay Theatre on Nov. 20 for a single show.
The first thing that company manager Cenk Erdem wanted to point out during a recent phone interview was that this is not a performance in the usual sense. It is a religious ceremony.
"We call this ritual Sema, and Sema follows holy Quran," Erdem said. "It starts with the reading of verses from the Quran and (continues with) traditional musicians and ritual dancers. But it's not a dance performance. We never tailor the ritual for any stage or for any show because it's a kind of belief."
The revered Sufi poet and philosopher Mevlâna Jalâluddîn Rumi (1207-1273) is credited with creating the dance of non-stop spinning. Some stories suggest that he began turning while walking through a marketplace, hearing the name of God in the musical sounds of hammers clanging against metal pots. But a 22 {+n}{+d}generation descendant of Rumi, who is traveling with the troupe, could not confirm this tale.
"It came out of the blue. He just discovered it as a natural trance," said Esin Celebi, 58, who learned the dance when she was 9. "As the world turns, the dervish turns."
Rumi was born into a family of theologians in present-day Afghanistan. The family traveled widely to escape the Mongol invasion, visiting Mecca and Medina. In 1228, the Sultan of the Seljuks invited the family to Konya, on the Anatolian steppes about 300 miles southeast of Istanbul.
Rumi became a prominent scholar, writing epic poems in Persian, and revered for his spiritual devotion. Groups of Mevlevi followers spread throughout Asia, and into Europe, and the dervishes continued their ceremonial dancing for centuries.
The schools were closed and suppressed for a 30-year period beginning in the 1920s, but the ritual was never entirely destroyed.
Nearly everything about the Sema ritual is symbolic, and is intended to express specific beliefs, such as the majesty of God and love of all creations. Escaping from one's own ego figures prominently in the dance.
The dervishes wear a stove-pipe shaped, camel-hair hat, which represents the ego's tombstone. The adherents' white skirts – which flair as the dancer turns – is meant to symbolize the ego's shroud.
After removing a long black coat, which, it is believed, allows the dancer to be reborn spiritually, the dancer starts the ritual with arms folded across the body. That position represents the number one, or God's unity.
The dancers eventually spread their arms wide, with the right hand raised toward the sky and the left directed toward the earth, a gesture to convey a readiness to receive God's beneficence.
"What is so crucial, is Mevlani (Rumi) talks about leaving our ego," Erdem said. "They use the left foot to crash the ego. Every movement of the hands, the feet, everything refers to something. It's also the spiritual training ."
The musical instruments, too, have been specially selected because of their symbolic power. A small double drum called a kudum begins the ceremony and is meant to suggest the beginning of the universe. An end-blown flute, known as a ney, also has a prominent musical part, as it is a representative of the "divine breath of God," Erdem said.
The performers from Konya have gone through a rigorous, multiyear training that encompasses both spiritual and physical schooling. Not everyone succeeds in becoming a dervish.
The company members on this tour range from 22 to 78 years old. The training is open to both women and men, but only men are in the ensemble that will be at the Barclay.
"In ancient times, when we talk about Sema, women and men used to do the ritual together, but after some necessities of Islamic culture, they started to do the ritual separately," Celebi said.
"And what is important, it's about our souls and we don't regard our souls discriminate like males or females. We come from the spiritual world and we are the same without gender."
Iran: Clashes Highlight 'Demonization' Of Sufi Muslims
Radio Free Europe with Radio Farda's Alireza TaheriFriday, November 16, 2007
Clashes in Iran this week between security forces and followers of a mystic Sufi order have underlined what international human rights groups say is the increasing "demonization" of Sufi Muslims in Iran.
Dozens of people were injured and arrested during the November 11 clashes in the western city of Borujerd, and parts of the Sufis' monastery there were destroyed. Official media said the clashes came after Sufis attacked a Shi'a mosque in the city where clerics had been criticising Sufism.
Sufism is growing in popularity in predominantly Shi'ite Iran, though officials and conservative Shi'a clerics have said it is a deviation of Islam.
Centuries-old Tensions
Sufism is a mystic tradition within Islam in which individuals pursue absolute truth and divine wisdom through mystic revelation.
It is best known around the world for its "whirling dervish" dances and for the mystical poetry of 13th-century Persian poet Molana Jalal ad-Din Rumi.
In fact, Sufi Muslims believe that rituals involving dance, music, and the recitation of Allah's divine names can give them direct perception of God.
But although many Sufi orders strictly observe Islamic practices and beliefs, some conservative Shi'a clerics in Iran say Sufism is a danger to Islam.
Indeed, there have long been tensions in Iran between Sufism and more orthodox traditions of Islam.
Abdol Karim Lahiji, a prominent Iranian lawyer who directs the Paris-based League for Defense of Human Rights in Iran, tells RFE/RL that the divisions between Sufis and Shi'a in Iran can be traced back more than 1,000 years.
In particular, Lahiji notes that the approach toward Islam of Sufi orders -- known as Tariqas -- differs markedly from that of Iran's conservative Shi'a clerics, who follow a strict interpretation of Islamic rules known as shari'a law.
"First it's the historical problem between two kinds of thinking about Islam," Lahiji says. "It's two schools -- the school of shari'a and the school of Tariqa. Tariqa means Sufis [orders] and all the mystic schools.
In all our history, it was always a fight between two kinds of interpretations of Islam. The Sufis were more tolerant of freedom of speech and freedom of religion. The [shari'a] people were more aggressive and less tolerant of the other interpretations of Islam."
Monastery Bulldozed
The November 11 clashes pitted police and Basij paramilitary troops against members of the largest Sufi order in Iran, Nematollahi Gonabadi.
Nematollahi Gonabadi is the Sufi order with teachings that most closely resemble Shi'a Islamic traditions. Nevertheless, Iranian security forces in the end used bulldozers to demolish parts of the Sufi monastery in Borujerd, known as Hossaini-ye Nematollahi Gonabadi.
There are conflicting reports about what led to the clashes, none of which could be independently confirmed. However, by all accounts, scores of people were injured and arrested during the confrontation.
Iran's official state-run news agencies says Sufis attacked a Shi'a mosque, the Masjid an-Nabi, that is next door to their Sufi monastery.
Those reports say the Sufis were angry about criticism from Shi'a clerics that were being broadcast from loudspeakers in the mosque's minarets.
Sufis in Borujerd describe events differently. They say Shi'a clerics feel threatened by the growing popularity of the Sufi movement in Iran, especially among young people.
One Sufi follower in Borujerd told Radio Farda that Iranian authorities had invented stories about the Sufi attack on the Shi'a mosque in order to justify the destruction of the monastery.
"[Authorities] spread a rumor that Sufi mystics had attacked Masjid an-Nabi and injured one of the clerics there," he said. "This very rumor gave an excuse for the [paramilitary Basij] to say that they must seek vengeance. By mobilizing forces around the city, they somehow gathered people together and attacked Hossaini-ye, [the Sufi's monastery.]
They attacked first with sticks and stones, demolishing the ceiling of Hossaini-ye. Then, when they entered Hossaini-ye, the Sufis and dervishes resisted and forced them back out of the building. Then, they attacked again -- this time using tear gas and colored gases. So they occupied the Hossaini-ye. They burned it and destroyed it. They are persecuting Sufis for their religious beliefs."
Leaders of other Sufi orders contacted by RFE/RL have declined to comment on the Borujerd dispute, saying they fear their followers will be persecuted in Iran if they issue political statements about Ahmadinejad's regime.
'Threatening Atmosphere'
Just a week before the violence in Borujerd, Iranian Deputy Culture Minister Mohsen Parviz issued a statement saying there is no place for the promotion of Sufism in Shi'a-dominated Iran.
Parviz's remarks followed complaints from Shi'a clerics about state television coverage of the Rumi International Congress, an event in Iran commemorating the 800th anniversary of the birth of the Persian poet and mystic Rumi.
Parviz, who also served as executive director of the committee for the Rumi Congress, said the clerics' complaints focused on news broadcasts about performances of Sama, the Sufi practice of gathering to listen to religious poetry that is sung and often accompanied by ecstatic dance or other rituals.
In February 2006, police closed a building in Qom that was being used as a house of worship by Sufis from the Nematollahi Gonabadi order. When Sufis responded by staging a protest in Qom, clashes broke out and Iranian authorities arrested more than 1,000 people.
Local officials in Qom said the Sufis had illegally created a center of worship and refused to leave it. They also said that some of the Sufis demonstrators had been armed.
But representatives of the Sufi order in Qom have denied the charges, saying they have been targeted for persecution because of the increasing popularity of Sufism.
[Picture: A sculpture of Islam's Holy Book at Tehran's annual Koran exhibition in September
(Photo AFP)]
Scores hurt as Iran militia clashes with Sufis
AFPFriday, November 16, 2007
Tehran, 6 days ago: Scores of people were injured and more than 100 arrested when security forces stormed a Sufi lodge in western Iran after clashes between the Muslim mystics and Shiite worshippers, the Jomhuri Eslami newspaper reported on Monday.
According to the report, the unrest broke out on Saturday in the city of Borujerd in Lorestan province following "the desecration of the al-Nabi mosque by Sufis of the deviant Gonabadi order".
"In the intensive clashes, about 80 people from the two sides were injured and 25 motorcycles belonging to the Sufis were burnt," it said.
The hardline daily said that Basij militiamen had later joined residents in destroying the Sufi lodge.
The major of Borujerd, Mohammad Ali Tohidi, told the Fars news agency: "All the wrongdoers have been arrested. Around 180 people have been handed to the judiciary," he said.
The news agency reported that the Sufis had thrown stones at the al-Nabi mosque, breaking windows while prayers were being held inside, drawing an angry reaction from worshippers.
It gave little explanation for the Sufis' action, saying only that they were "dissatisfied with cultural actions in the mosque".
"Five people taken hostage by these people (the Sufis) have been freed by the security forces and hospitalised due to deep injuries," the news agency quoted the mosque's Friday prayers leader, Abdolrahim Biranvand, as saying.
Sufi worship is not illegal in Iran but the practice is frowned upon by many conservative clerics who regard it as an affront to Islam.
The Islamic mysticism followed by an array of Sufi orders since the early centuries of the faith has always aroused suspicion among orthodox Muslims, whether Shiite or Sunni.
In Shiite Islam, some Sufi orders have been further tarnished by the accusation of heresy because of their association with the unorthodox Alevi faith practised in parts of Syria and Turkey.
In late May, the Iranian press reported the arrest of the leader and several members of one of the largest Sufi sects in the northeast of the country.
Clashes pitting Sufis against the security forces and hardline supporters of the official brand of Shiite Islam in the clerical capital of Qom in February last year saw several dozen Sufi mystics sentenced to the lash and a year in jail for public disorder.
[Picture: Iranian volunteers from the Basij militia parade in Tehran. Photo: AFP]
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Maulana as a Messenger
Staff Reporter - The Hindu - Chennai, IndiaSaturday, November 17, 2007
Celebrating the 800th birth anniversary of the great mystic poet Maulana Rumi, the Department of Persian at Jamia Millia Islamia [National Islamic University] is organising an international seminar here from Saturday 17 til Tuesday 20.
The Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Sayed Mahdi Nabizadeh, will inaugurate the four-day seminar on “Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi: Messenger of Love, Peace and Unity”.
A number of delegates from various countries like Pakistan, Germany, France, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and other Central Asian countries would be taking part in the event.
“A great philosopher and multifaceted personality, the Maulana’s doctrine advocates unlimited tolerance, positive reasoning, goodness, charity and awareness through love.
For him, all religions were alike. His peaceful and tolerant teaching has appealed to women and men of all sects and creeds.
His work and thought continue to have universal relevance even today,” said a Jamia spokesperson.
[Visit the Jamia Millia Islamia : http://jmi.nic.in/index.htm]
The Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Sayed Mahdi Nabizadeh, will inaugurate the four-day seminar on “Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi: Messenger of Love, Peace and Unity”.
A number of delegates from various countries like Pakistan, Germany, France, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and other Central Asian countries would be taking part in the event.
“A great philosopher and multifaceted personality, the Maulana’s doctrine advocates unlimited tolerance, positive reasoning, goodness, charity and awareness through love.
For him, all religions were alike. His peaceful and tolerant teaching has appealed to women and men of all sects and creeds.
His work and thought continue to have universal relevance even today,” said a Jamia spokesperson.
[Visit the Jamia Millia Islamia : http://jmi.nic.in/index.htm]
Call for white-collar Sufism in congress
Turkish Daily News - Ankara, TurkeyThursday, November 15, 2007
Istanbul: In a world of increasingly blurred borders, the profile of a private sector manager changes rapidly and shifts toward better communication and empathy as well as stronger, more efficient team-work, said managers and experts during a panel discussion on the last day of the 16th Quality Congress yesterday.
Curiosity, tolerance, patience and courage are the four characteristics of an international manager, according to Coca-Cola's Eurasia advisor, Cem Kozlu.
Kozlu pointed out the tolerance philosophy of the Sufi poet Yunus Emre as the “compass” of an international manager.
Tolerance and embracing differences are common characteristics of the Sufi philosopher Mevlana Jelaladdin Rumi and Italian philosopher Francesco Petrarca, Kozlu said, highlighting the crucial importance of understanding cultural differences.
“Listening, but sincerely listening” is the key to go beyond cultural barriers, he added.
Giving an example from his Vienna days, Kozlu said that he confronted a serious cultural resistance. Learning that employees were calling him a “carpet trader,” Kozlu organized a meeting in the Vienna military museum, with the paintings illustrating the Ottoman siege of Vienna and discussed history.
Research Baltaş presented on the changing definition of leadership indicated that employees think developing relations and providing a participatory management are more important qualities than others like determination and competence in a manager.
Characteristics like egocentricity and rudeness are regarded as negative for a manager in any culture, Baltaş concluded.
How a company could be profitable and at the same time, contributing to social causes was the main theme of the speech by Peter Baker, CEO of international cargo giant TNT.
“If you want to manage quality [in the services sector], you have to manage the motivation of your people,” he said.
[Picture: Francesco Petrarca (July 20, 1304 – July 19, 1374), from the Cycle of Famous Men and Women c. 1450. Detached fresco. 247 x 153 cm. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy. Artist: Andrea di Bartolo di Bargilla (c. 1423 - 1457). Photo from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrarch]
Characteristics like egocentricity and rudeness are regarded as negative for a manager in any culture, Baltaş concluded.
How a company could be profitable and at the same time, contributing to social causes was the main theme of the speech by Peter Baker, CEO of international cargo giant TNT.
“If you want to manage quality [in the services sector], you have to manage the motivation of your people,” he said.
[Picture: Francesco Petrarca (July 20, 1304 – July 19, 1374), from the Cycle of Famous Men and Women c. 1450. Detached fresco. 247 x 153 cm. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, Italy. Artist: Andrea di Bartolo di Bargilla (c. 1423 - 1457). Photo from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petrarch]
A mystical mindset with an underlying social mission
By Roger Levesque - Edmonton Journal - Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Let Whirling Dervishes spin you into mystical mindset: what seems an obscure practice has an underlying message of peace and love
Whether you see it as performance art or religious ritual, the Whirling Dervishes of Rumi represent a rare, authentic example of ancient Islamic culture.
The 10-member troupe of dancers and musicians from Konya, Turkey who visited the Winspear Centre on Friday are actually tied to the mystical Sufi sect of Islam, founded after the teachings of the Arabic poet Jalaleddin Rumi (1207-1273).
Because UNESCO has declared this year, the 800th anniversary of his birth, the Year of Rumi, it's a particularly busy time for the touring ensemble.
Their concert starts with a set from the group's musicians and lead singer, featuring traditional instruments like the ney reed flute, the kanun or harp, and the bendir, a hand-drum. Then the dervishes come out to whirl with the musicians in what's known as the Sema ritual.
The dancers wear tall camel's-hair hats that represent the tombstone of the ego, and wide white robes that symbolize the shroud of the ego.
A common misconception is that the extended whirling is intended to put the dervish into some sort of trance state.
"During that moment of whirling, if you are alone and one to one with yourself, it is possible to enter such a state of deep inner reflection," says Dervish Mehmet Gomul. "But in a group performance like this, that is usually not the case."
The real point of the whirling or revolving dance is to symbolize a kind of harmony with the universe, an analogy for the motion of sub-atomic particles within our own bodies to the revolving motion of celestial bodies.
"The basic core of Sufism as taught by the poet Rumi is a way to peace and love, so the Sema ritual is a way to connect with God. That motion is to experience the intense love of God and to become part of the universe."
While dancing "like a whirling dervish" may seem an obscure practice, the underlying message of peace and love has made the works of Rumi the top bestseller among works of poetry in the United States in recent years.
Gomul explains that in Turkey, dervishes typically begin their training at the age of five or six, as do the master musicians. But there is no formal priesthood in the Sufi tradition. They are just seekers from various walks of life, some of them teachers "who want to further the message of universal love."
The current six dervishes from Konya, Turkey (the town where Rumi died) average around 30 years of age though the eldest member has been part of the practice for 45 years. The ensemble has put in some 250 performances on six continents over the past six years.
At a time when the Islamic religion is often seen as a source of violence by many in the western world and a frequent target of negative views, Gomul admits they also have an underlying social mission of sorts.
"The vast majority of Muslims feel mis-understood and this is part of the reason we hope to bring across this message of peace and love which is at the true heart of our beliefs. The word Islam actually means a way to peace."
Finally, the dervishes eschew applause from the audience at performances:
"The Sema ritual is a period of deep reflection, an inner journey, so applause can distort that. They can clap after we exit the stage if they wish."
Special thanks to translator Sahri Karakas for facilitating this interview.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Let Whirling Dervishes spin you into mystical mindset: what seems an obscure practice has an underlying message of peace and love
Whether you see it as performance art or religious ritual, the Whirling Dervishes of Rumi represent a rare, authentic example of ancient Islamic culture.
The 10-member troupe of dancers and musicians from Konya, Turkey who visited the Winspear Centre on Friday are actually tied to the mystical Sufi sect of Islam, founded after the teachings of the Arabic poet Jalaleddin Rumi (1207-1273).
Because UNESCO has declared this year, the 800th anniversary of his birth, the Year of Rumi, it's a particularly busy time for the touring ensemble.
Their concert starts with a set from the group's musicians and lead singer, featuring traditional instruments like the ney reed flute, the kanun or harp, and the bendir, a hand-drum. Then the dervishes come out to whirl with the musicians in what's known as the Sema ritual.
The dancers wear tall camel's-hair hats that represent the tombstone of the ego, and wide white robes that symbolize the shroud of the ego.
A common misconception is that the extended whirling is intended to put the dervish into some sort of trance state.
"During that moment of whirling, if you are alone and one to one with yourself, it is possible to enter such a state of deep inner reflection," says Dervish Mehmet Gomul. "But in a group performance like this, that is usually not the case."
The real point of the whirling or revolving dance is to symbolize a kind of harmony with the universe, an analogy for the motion of sub-atomic particles within our own bodies to the revolving motion of celestial bodies.
"The basic core of Sufism as taught by the poet Rumi is a way to peace and love, so the Sema ritual is a way to connect with God. That motion is to experience the intense love of God and to become part of the universe."
While dancing "like a whirling dervish" may seem an obscure practice, the underlying message of peace and love has made the works of Rumi the top bestseller among works of poetry in the United States in recent years.
Gomul explains that in Turkey, dervishes typically begin their training at the age of five or six, as do the master musicians. But there is no formal priesthood in the Sufi tradition. They are just seekers from various walks of life, some of them teachers "who want to further the message of universal love."
The current six dervishes from Konya, Turkey (the town where Rumi died) average around 30 years of age though the eldest member has been part of the practice for 45 years. The ensemble has put in some 250 performances on six continents over the past six years.
At a time when the Islamic religion is often seen as a source of violence by many in the western world and a frequent target of negative views, Gomul admits they also have an underlying social mission of sorts.
"The vast majority of Muslims feel mis-understood and this is part of the reason we hope to bring across this message of peace and love which is at the true heart of our beliefs. The word Islam actually means a way to peace."
Finally, the dervishes eschew applause from the audience at performances:
"The Sema ritual is a period of deep reflection, an inner journey, so applause can distort that. They can clap after we exit the stage if they wish."
Special thanks to translator Sahri Karakas for facilitating this interview.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
"Sevgiyi Arayış"
Arts & Culture Desk - Today's Zaman - Istanbul, TurkeyThursday, November 15, 2007
Cultural tour focuses on Mevlevi lodges
The interest in Mevlana Muhammed Jelaluddin Rumi, the 13th-century Sufi saint who advocated tolerance, reason and access to knowledge through love, continues to bring thousands together.
The Greater İstanbul Municipality will introduce cultural tours titled "Mevlevihane tours in İstanbul" as part of a series of activities to mark the 2007 Year of Mevlana declared by UNESCO.
The municipality announced in a written statement that the tours, aimed at familiarizing the public with Mevlevihanes (Mevlevi dervish lodges) in İstanbul and the Mevlevi community, will start this Saturday.
The tours will feature information about the Mevlevihanes in addition to presentations by Professor Mahmut Erol Kılıç about the Yenikapı Mevlevi lodge, which for years has served as a central Mevlevihane for Mevlevi dervishes.
The weekly tours will be organized for 40-person groups and will take place every Saturday until Dec. 29.
In line with the activities marking the year of Mevlana, an exhibition titled "Sevgiyi Arayış" (Seeking Love), featuring examples of the traditional Turkish arts of calligraphy and gilding, will open on Nov. 21 at the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts in Sultanahmet.
[Picture: Qur'an's wooden case; Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts, Istanbul http://www.virtualistanbul.com/virtualistanbul/Museum_of_turkish_and_islamic_arts.htm]
Supporting Communities
Northampton Chronicle & Echo - Northampton, U.K.Thursday, November 15, 2007
A spiritual order of the Whirling Dervishes will perform in Northampton for the first time this month.
The Turkish dancers derive from Sufism, a moderate form of Islam, which promotes mutual understanding and divine love.
Founded in the 13th century by philosopher and poet Rumi, the order will appear as part of a Spring Educational Society project, which supports Turkish-speaking communities in other countries.
Society spokesman Selcuk Bassoy said: "This is a chance for the people of Northampton to witness this intensely spiritual and inspirational performance without having to travel to Turkey."
As well as the Whirling Dervishes, the evening will include music, poems, the Turkish paper-decorating art of marbling and video presentations.
The performance is on November 22 at 7.30pm, in the main hall, Avenue Campus, University of Northampton.Tickets cost £10 and can be booked by calling Mr Bassoy on 07921 645887 or emailing info@springeducation.org.uk.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Painted Dervishes
By Saadia Khalid - Pakistan Times - Lahore, PakistanWednesday, November 14, 2007
Islamabad:
Portraying the whirling dervishes of Konya, a painting exhibition by Shafique Farooqi began at the Nomad Art Gallery on Tuesday.
Displaying 39 pieces, the exhibition is a tribute to Maulana Rumi, the poet, philosopher and Sufi mystic, who claimed that whirling brought him closer to God. Rumi’s followers were spiritually inspired by him and are titled as ‘Whirling Dervishes’.
The rotating movement of dervishes called Sema (Saamaa) was a source of inspiration for Farooqi, who has a Masters degree in Fine Arts from Turkey. The dervishes plant their left foot firmly on the ground, while spinning with the right one so that they find themselves above the earth, in communion with the divine.
There were two types of paintings at the exhibition, distinguished on the basis of their colour schemes. One type had highly contrastive dark strokes including shades of red, black, orange and blue, while the other group had very subtle pastel tones that blended well.
Each painting had two dots, one at the bottom and one at the top while a figure lay between them. The bottom dot symbolised the earth from which the figure levitated to the other world of spiritualism indicated by the top dot.
Talking to Daily Times, Farooqi said he used powerful colours as a medium to portray the energy and power that a dervish might feel in the state of Sema.
“These colours can provoke a real mystical feeling that satisfies one’s spiritual appetite,” he said.
Farooqi said he emphasised on the dress and the cap of the dervishes, while blurring the face, as their facial expression were not as important as their movement.
“The real task is to create a lyrical movement of the figures which ca not be created unless one has deeply observed the Sema,” he said.
Farooqi pointed out that the raised hands of the dervishes depicted their urge to go beyond the earth and to reach above the skies.
“There is a force in them which is forcing them to move faster and with more energy to obtain the ultimate goal which is to cross the limits of the skies,” he said.
Nomad Director Nageen Hayat said that the state of levitation of dervishes in the paintings creates a powerful ambience.
“One can see the energy flowing out of the paintings which have been created masterfully by the painter, depicting their powerful movement in strong colour combinations,” she said.
Hayat said the paintings create a strong connection of human beings with the spiritual world. “It is something out of the world that conveys the futility of the material symbolised by the lack of any facial expressions,” she said. The exhibition will continue till November 20.
Harmony
Tehran Times - Tehran, IranWednesday, November 14, 2007
Asia Society honors Shahram Nazeri with Lifetime Cultural Heritage Award
Iranian vocalist Shahram Nazeri received the Lifetime Cultural Heritage Award at the Annual Dinner of the Asia Society of New York on November 6. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and a number of cultural and political figures and entrepreneurs attended the event.
In his acceptance speech, Nazeri expressed hope that music would bring all the people of the world together in harmony.
He also gave a special performance at the ceremony, accompanied by his son Hafez Nazeri and the Rumi Ensemble.
“Shahram Nazeri is a musical icon. I am delighted that he will be performing with the Rumi Ensemble this evening,” Ban Ki-moon said.
In recognition of the work Nazeri has done on the musical vocalization of the lyrics of the Iranian poet Molana Jalal ad-Din Rumi, the French government presented Nazeri the Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur medal during a ceremony in Paris on September 29.
Voice of the heart
Artlinks News - Johannesburg, South AfricaWednesday, November 14, 2007
Come, come, whoever you are, ours is not a caravan of despair…’
This year is the 800th Anniversary of the birth of 13 Century Persian poet and mystic Jelaludin Rumi, and popular English actor and storyteller Duncan Mackintosh returns to South Africa to bring Rumi’s universal message alive through a series of performances and workshops.
Mackintosh has performed Rumi and run workshops for many years in numerous countries. His performances leave audiences in no doubt as to why Rumi’s inspired words are so widely read in the West.
“There is perhaps no one person in history who expressed the essential unity of mankind more eloquently and passionately than Rumi”, says Mackintosh.
“His name means literally ‘Majesty of Religion,’ and he is believed to have said that his work would return to the world when it was most needed. The works of Rumi reach across faiths and no faiths, beyond creed and religion. He is also the most popular poet in the USA.”
Based in England, South African born Mackintosh has returned to this country on several occasions, and has built up a large following of fans who share his enthusiasm and passion for spiritual awakening and transformation.
“Through the way Duncan speaks Rumi's poems my own longing for Oneness and Truth rose up inside me”, wrote Interfaith Minister, Rev Annie Blompied. “Not only that, we laughed a lot too!”
"Duncan works out of a deep love and sense for the Truth - unsensational, yet truly profound”, adds Phillipa Blakestone, who attended a workshop in Scotland.
South African teacher Estelle Bryer claims that her experiences at one of Mackintosh’s workshops will never leave her. "I cannot thank him enough. He is a fine midwife.”
Mackintosh will be in South Africa for a limited number of performances of Voice of the Heart and accompanying workshops, and early booking is essential to avoid missing this opportunity.
He did perform Voice of the Heart with Ashley Ramsden at the Sufi Temple, Claremont in Cape Town on the 15 and 16 October; this will be followed by a workshop on 17 November.
Next up will be a short solo season at the Kwasuka Theatre in Durban from 19-26 November. The Durban workshop will take place on Saturday 24 November.
Ashley Ramsden presents the works of Rumi in Johannesburg at the Goethe Institute in Parkwood on 25 November.
For more information contact Clinton Marius on 082 573 3704 or at copypuppy@artslink.co.za
Don't neglect the heart
By Valerie Scher - The Union Tribune - San Diego, CA, U.S.A.Thursday, November 15, 2007
Spinning like human tops, with billowing skirts and rapt expressions, Turkey's whirling dervishes seem to defy physical limitations.
Unlike ballet dancers, they don't use the head-whipping “spotting” technique to avoid dizziness. Yet their spins – called “rounds” – can last for many minutes, far surpassing the famous 32 fouette turns in “Swan Lake.”
“Dervishes don't count their turns. Whatever they do, they feel it is not sufficient to express their love for God,” said tour manager Cenk Erdem, spokesman for the Istanbul-based Galata Dervishes, which appear tonight [16th] at UCSD's Mandeville Auditorium.
In celebration of the 800th anniversary of the birth of Rumi, the Galata Dervishes have embarked on a monthlong North American tour that includes UCSD's ArtPower! program, titled “Ecstasy of the Whirling Dervishes.”
Traveling with the company is Esin Celebi, a 67-year-old female descendent of Rumi's, who will make a speech before the event.
The 16 practitioners in the all-male ensemble – eight dancers, six instrumentalists and two vocalists – range from engineers and tourism managers to professional musicians.
“Being a dervish is just part of their lifestyle,” said Erdem, a psychologist. “They're not into extreme religion, you see? When we were in New York City, we went shopping and visited outlet malls.”
The dancers usually begin training when they're about 9 years old, though some don't start until they're teenagers. The basic technique involves raising the right foot while keeping the left foot on the ground.
Students strengthen their sense of balance by slowly revolving on a wooden board, with the toes of one foot positioned around a nail. It takes at least a year to become proficient at whirling.
“The dancers go into a trance. It's like meditation,” Erdem said. “That keeps them from getting dizzy. And the music gives them energy.”
The kudum – a small double drum – is crucial to the opening of the ritual, making a sound that he compares to “the Big Bang, the birth of the universe.”
Such cosmic associations help explain the enduring appeal of the dervishes.
“We are often slaves to our egos so the idea of leaving the ego really fascinates people,” said Erdem. “People are so ambitious and try to be so rational that they neglect the heart. Rumi believed that love gets us closer to God.”
Even if you don't whirl, watching and listening is beneficial, according to the dervishes.
“It's purifying not just for the dancers but for the audience,” said their spokesman. “If people concentrate on the movements and the music, they will feel the love.”
“Ecstasy of the Whirling Dervishes”
When: Tonight, Friday 16th, 8 p.m.; pre-performance discussion at 6:45 p.m.
Where: UCSD's Mandeville Auditorium, Mandeville Lane near GilmanDrive, La Jolla
Tickets: $34 and $38; $17 and $19 for UCSD students
Phone: (858) 534-TIXS
Online: www.artpower.ucsd.edu
Thursday, November 15, 2007
12-year-old Sufi singer captivates audience
Chennai Online - Chennai, IndiaMonday, November 12, 2007
Can life be compared to a mobile phone! Yes, if 12-year-old Sufi singer Rais Anis Sabri is to be believed.
He says, life is like a SIM card of uncertain validity that needs frequent recharge, to connect to the Almighty through prayer - the outgoing calls - and receive the divine grace - the incoming calls.
He calls every earthquake or tsunami a missed call urging people to always remember their Lord.
A phenomenally talented artiste, Rais Anis Sabri is a sixth grade student from Jalalabad, Uttar Pradesh, who is currently making waves in the world of Sufi Qawwali music.
Son and disciple of Rais Sabri, who in turn is a disciple of famous Qawwal Aslam Sabri, Anis is one of the youngest performing sufiana qawwals in the subcontinent.
He says, life is like a SIM card of uncertain validity that needs frequent recharge, to connect to the Almighty through prayer - the outgoing calls - and receive the divine grace - the incoming calls.
He calls every earthquake or tsunami a missed call urging people to always remember their Lord.
A phenomenally talented artiste, Rais Anis Sabri is a sixth grade student from Jalalabad, Uttar Pradesh, who is currently making waves in the world of Sufi Qawwali music.
Son and disciple of Rais Sabri, who in turn is a disciple of famous Qawwal Aslam Sabri, Anis is one of the youngest performing sufiana qawwals in the subcontinent.
Gonabadi Sufi site destroyed
SF/GM/BGH - Press TV - Tehran, IranMonday, November 12, 2007
Sufi lodge has been destroyed following clashes between young worshippers of a mosque and followers of a Sufi sect in Boroujerd.
Eighty people were wounded and some 180 arrested in the two-day clashes between worshippers of the Al-Nabi Mosque and the followers of a Sufi order in the western Iranian city of Boroujerd.
The young worshippers issued a statement Sunday, describing the destruction of the gathering site, which belongs to the Gonabadi branch of Sufism, as a 'revolutionary act'.
The statement said that followers of the order had been threatening the local people, adding that in an irresponsible and brutal act, they had violated the sanctity of the mosque, breaking its window-panes and wounding a number of worshippers, including the mosque's prayer leader on Sunday.
Such acts of savagery obviously hurt the feelings of the city's pious people, who expressed their strong agony.
The Majlis deputy from Boroujerd, Mohsen Yahyavi, speaking to IRNA on Sunday, denounced the destruction of the Sufi lodge, saying, "Strife in any form between worshippers and the Sufis has deeply saddened the people of the city."
The main causes of the clashes have yet to be determined, Yahyavi said, stressing, "It is expected that security authorities will try to discover the reasons behind the sad event as soon as possible."
[Picture: MP from Boroujerd, Mr. Mohsen Yahyavi]
Sufi lodge has been destroyed following clashes between young worshippers of a mosque and followers of a Sufi sect in Boroujerd.
Eighty people were wounded and some 180 arrested in the two-day clashes between worshippers of the Al-Nabi Mosque and the followers of a Sufi order in the western Iranian city of Boroujerd.
The young worshippers issued a statement Sunday, describing the destruction of the gathering site, which belongs to the Gonabadi branch of Sufism, as a 'revolutionary act'.
The statement said that followers of the order had been threatening the local people, adding that in an irresponsible and brutal act, they had violated the sanctity of the mosque, breaking its window-panes and wounding a number of worshippers, including the mosque's prayer leader on Sunday.
Such acts of savagery obviously hurt the feelings of the city's pious people, who expressed their strong agony.
The Majlis deputy from Boroujerd, Mohsen Yahyavi, speaking to IRNA on Sunday, denounced the destruction of the Sufi lodge, saying, "Strife in any form between worshippers and the Sufis has deeply saddened the people of the city."
The main causes of the clashes have yet to be determined, Yahyavi said, stressing, "It is expected that security authorities will try to discover the reasons behind the sad event as soon as possible."
[Picture: MP from Boroujerd, Mr. Mohsen Yahyavi]
Ancestral Sufi laments - Glow
By Kevin Le Gendre - The Guardian - U.K.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
World music is a vague, pliable, record-industry term and its ambiguity is perfectly exhibited tonight.
While Tunisian singer and oud player Dhafer Youssef and Austrian guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel create music that sounds deeply rooted in ancestral Sufi laments that would send Womad punters into raptures, they constantly pull apart, embroider and restitch the form of each piece. In other words, it is jazz.
Giving further credence to this sleight of genre is the fact that the repertoire, drawn largely from the duo's fine new album Glow, suffers in no way from the absence of the trumpet, bass, keys and drums featured on the studio recording.
As well as extensively improvising, both musicians - whose former collaborators include Miles Davis's percussionist Mino Cinelu and Wayne Shorter's drummer Brian Blade - sample, slice, loop and distort phrases to fashion off-the-cuff beats and swooning textures. In other words, it is ambient electronica.
Yet in the midst of their most technophile moments, both musicians retain an organic, sensual musicality.
Muthspiel, armed with electric and nylon string guitars, unfurls fleet, flickering arpeggios and tightly coiled, intricate solos that often segue into muscular, primal bass lines.
Youssef's oud improvisations, mostly favouring shorter, staccato lines that show the Moorish roots of flamenco, mark an effective contrast to Muthspiel's more loquacious approach. But his real virtuosity is his voice, a spellbinding instrument lying somewhere between Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Bobby McFerrin.
Like the latter, Youssef has elaborate methods of manipulating his tone, the high point of which sees him sing right into the bulbous body of the oud to turn the room into an enchanted echo chamber.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
World music is a vague, pliable, record-industry term and its ambiguity is perfectly exhibited tonight.
While Tunisian singer and oud player Dhafer Youssef and Austrian guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel create music that sounds deeply rooted in ancestral Sufi laments that would send Womad punters into raptures, they constantly pull apart, embroider and restitch the form of each piece. In other words, it is jazz.
Giving further credence to this sleight of genre is the fact that the repertoire, drawn largely from the duo's fine new album Glow, suffers in no way from the absence of the trumpet, bass, keys and drums featured on the studio recording.
As well as extensively improvising, both musicians - whose former collaborators include Miles Davis's percussionist Mino Cinelu and Wayne Shorter's drummer Brian Blade - sample, slice, loop and distort phrases to fashion off-the-cuff beats and swooning textures. In other words, it is ambient electronica.
Yet in the midst of their most technophile moments, both musicians retain an organic, sensual musicality.
Muthspiel, armed with electric and nylon string guitars, unfurls fleet, flickering arpeggios and tightly coiled, intricate solos that often segue into muscular, primal bass lines.
Youssef's oud improvisations, mostly favouring shorter, staccato lines that show the Moorish roots of flamenco, mark an effective contrast to Muthspiel's more loquacious approach. But his real virtuosity is his voice, a spellbinding instrument lying somewhere between Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Bobby McFerrin.
Like the latter, Youssef has elaborate methods of manipulating his tone, the high point of which sees him sing right into the bulbous body of the oud to turn the room into an enchanted echo chamber.
Iran-Kashmir relations revived
TE/HGH - Press TV - Tehran, IranMonday, November 12, 2007
An Iranian artist's innovative work has revived the ancient Iran-Kashmir relations at an international contemporary art workshop.
Touraj Khameneh-Zadeh hung old Sufi images on a Srinagar Chinar tree (the symbolic tree of Kashmir) to revive the ancient relationship of Iranians with the Kashmiris.
His work called, 'Seven Boughs of Chinars' presented seven portraits of Iranian Sufis superimposed on pictures of seven famous Sufi shrines in Kashmir.
The portraits show 700 years of Sufism history. International Artists Workshop, which ran until Nov. 11th, 2007 in Srinagar, is the first of its kind in the valley's history.
Local, Indian and international artists presented their art works during the 15-day workshop aimed at 'breaking the monotony of the traditional canvas painting'.
Kashmir valley lies between the Himalayas and the Pir Punjab mountain range. Called 'Paradise on Earth', Kashmir attracts millions of tourists with its many archeological sites and beautiful mountainous landscapes.
[More on this workshop: http://sufinews.blogspot.com/2007/11/seven-portraits-of-seven-sufi-saints-on.html]
An Iranian artist's innovative work has revived the ancient Iran-Kashmir relations at an international contemporary art workshop.
Touraj Khameneh-Zadeh hung old Sufi images on a Srinagar Chinar tree (the symbolic tree of Kashmir) to revive the ancient relationship of Iranians with the Kashmiris.
His work called, 'Seven Boughs of Chinars' presented seven portraits of Iranian Sufis superimposed on pictures of seven famous Sufi shrines in Kashmir.
The portraits show 700 years of Sufism history. International Artists Workshop, which ran until Nov. 11th, 2007 in Srinagar, is the first of its kind in the valley's history.
Local, Indian and international artists presented their art works during the 15-day workshop aimed at 'breaking the monotony of the traditional canvas painting'.
Kashmir valley lies between the Himalayas and the Pir Punjab mountain range. Called 'Paradise on Earth', Kashmir attracts millions of tourists with its many archeological sites and beautiful mountainous landscapes.
[More on this workshop: http://sufinews.blogspot.com/2007/11/seven-portraits-of-seven-sufi-saints-on.html]
Seven books banned
New Straits Times - Persekutuan, Malaysia
Monday, November 12, 2007
Seven books banned for distorting sanctity of Islam
Kuala Lumpur: The Internal Security Ministry has banned publication of seven books whose contents distorted the sanctity of Islam and its true teachings.
They are Tajul Muluk; Fiqh Perempuan; Tasawuf Perenial Kearifan Kritis Kaum Sufi; Kumpulan Ilmu Ghaib; The Muslim Jesus: Kisah dan Sabda Yesus dalam Literatur Islam; Penyembuhan Cara Sufi and Kitab Kaysf Al-Asrar.
The ban order, signed by Deputy Minister of Internal Security Datuk Mohd Johari Baharum, was gazetted under Section 7(1) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984, the ministry’s publication control and Al-Quran Text Division said in a statement today.
Under Section 8(2) of the Act, it was an offence to print, import, produce, reproduce, publish, sell, issue, circulate, distribute and possess banned publications, it said.It said offenders are liable to a jail term of not more than three years or fined not more than RM20,000 or both, if convicted.
The books could create confusion and anxiety among Muslims and harm public peace if their publications are allowed to continue, it added.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Seven books banned for distorting sanctity of Islam
Kuala Lumpur: The Internal Security Ministry has banned publication of seven books whose contents distorted the sanctity of Islam and its true teachings.
They are Tajul Muluk; Fiqh Perempuan; Tasawuf Perenial Kearifan Kritis Kaum Sufi; Kumpulan Ilmu Ghaib; The Muslim Jesus: Kisah dan Sabda Yesus dalam Literatur Islam; Penyembuhan Cara Sufi and Kitab Kaysf Al-Asrar.
The ban order, signed by Deputy Minister of Internal Security Datuk Mohd Johari Baharum, was gazetted under Section 7(1) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984, the ministry’s publication control and Al-Quran Text Division said in a statement today.
Under Section 8(2) of the Act, it was an offence to print, import, produce, reproduce, publish, sell, issue, circulate, distribute and possess banned publications, it said.It said offenders are liable to a jail term of not more than three years or fined not more than RM20,000 or both, if convicted.
The books could create confusion and anxiety among Muslims and harm public peace if their publications are allowed to continue, it added.
Dozens injured in clash between Sufis and officers
Record Searchlight - Redding, CA, U.S.A.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Tehran: Police and paramilitary officers traded fire with followers of the mystical Sufi branch of Islam who had clashed over religious differences with Shiite Muslims in southwest Iran, authorities and witnesses said Sunday.
Dozens of people were injured and arrested when the police, paramilitaries and special forces stormed the lodge of the Sufis, who had fought members of a nearby Shiite mosque in the city of Boroujerd, witnesses said.
Both sides shot at each other before authorities seized the lodge and set fire to Sufis' belongings, according to a student who said he witnessed the clash.
Sufi orders form a branch of Islam that emphasizes direct mystical experience over mainstream religious practice.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Tehran: Police and paramilitary officers traded fire with followers of the mystical Sufi branch of Islam who had clashed over religious differences with Shiite Muslims in southwest Iran, authorities and witnesses said Sunday.
Dozens of people were injured and arrested when the police, paramilitaries and special forces stormed the lodge of the Sufis, who had fought members of a nearby Shiite mosque in the city of Boroujerd, witnesses said.
Both sides shot at each other before authorities seized the lodge and set fire to Sufis' belongings, according to a student who said he witnessed the clash.
Sufi orders form a branch of Islam that emphasizes direct mystical experience over mainstream religious practice.
Unorthodox? Iran police battle Sufi Muslims
BBC News International - U.K./Middle EastMonday, November 12, 2007
Around 180 Sufi Muslims have been arrested in Iran after attacking a Shia mosque where a cleric labelled their religion "illegitimate", say reports.
The confrontation in the western city of Boroujerd led to a shootout between the Sufis and police that reportedly left about 80 people injured.
Sufis are tolerated in the Islamic Republic though some religious leaders have branded them "a danger to Islam".
About 1,000 Sufis were held last year in clashes at Iran's holy city of Qom.
The disorder in Boroujerd, about 320 km (200 miles) south-west of the capital, Tehran, broke out on Saturday morning, according to local news agencies.
Sufis attacked a Shia mosque after a cleric said their lodge should be shut down.
On Sunday, police reportedly raided the Sufi lodge to make arrests and bloody clashes ensued, resulting in the building being partially destroyed.
Sufism is Islamic mysticism. Sufis believe in a mystical path to God through prayer, dance and music.
There are Sunni and Shia Sufis. Their practices are often seen as unorthodox and illegitimate by more conservative Muslims.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Spiritual liberty and Pakistan
By Ayeda Naqvi - Daily Times - Lahore, PakistanTuesday, November 13, 2007
The human psyche is a microcosm of the universe: what works at a micro level also works at the macro level.
And Pakistan is no exception. When the exoteric fails, try the esoteric: you will wish you hadn’t wasted so much time in the first place.
For we have tried the legal, the political, the socio-economic and the analytical. We have been worn down by the cynical, the alarmist and the negative. And we are still confused. Isn’t it time for another approach?
One that is neither western nor eastern or limited to the consciousness that created the problem in the first place? Is it possible that the predicament we face is not the problem but a symptom of a larger malady that inflicts us all at an esoteric level?
Maybe it is time to step outside of ourselves and look at ourselves (and yes, we are part of the problem) from another perspective.
Sufism, or Islamic mysticism, is a path that allows us to do so. Also known as a “path to perfection”, Sufism is a discipline that leads us through the steps necessary to help shed the idea of the “false self” which stands between us and perfection.
And the main obstacle is our ego. Known as the nafs, the concept of the ego is central to Sufism. For associated with it are all things worldly — power, position, wealth and approval — that entice us, promising satisfaction but delivering only restlessness.
The lowest form of the nafs is known as Nafs al Amarra, or the bossy self. This part of the false self is impulsive, demanding, controlling and seeks nothing but its own gratification. It has been likened to Freud’s “Id” as it is wild, uncontrollable, uncompromising and always puts itself first.
The Nafs al Amarra can be seen in the little boy at the toy store who cries and screams and stamps his feet and holds his breath until he gets what he wants. But, more appropriately, it can be seen in Pakistan’s latest political crisis in which all the major actors see only their own benefit, lashing out desperately to mark what they consider their territory.
Musharraf is willing to do anything as long as he remains President, some judges are willing to sacrifice anything as long as they remain the supreme voice and our politicians are willing to say anything as long as they remain the sole beneficiaries.
Did I mention that this was the lowest, rawest form of the ego, also known as man’s animal nature?
The next level of the nafs is known as Nafs al Awamma, or the unsure self. Unlike the first stage, this stage is marred with self-doubt and self-criticism.
The Nafs al Awamma internalises rules and limitations. It can be depressed, hampered, restricted and inhibited because it considers the reactions of others. Like Freud’s “Ego”, this self is one that is easily suppressed because it lacks the belief in its own inner wisdom.
And so it is not surprising to see our religious establishment manipulating our doubting selves, instilling fear and guilt into insecure minds already plagued with self-doubts.
Take the literalist version of religion being exported to Pakistan and being taught in our madrassas (as well as by a very popular ladies religious group). That version sells because it ends all doubts and answers all questions.
The fact that it answers them wrongly is irrelevant to those plagued with doubts. The fact that it labels everyone as a sinner who is damned to hell until or unless he/she follows a narrow minded interpretation of religion is irrelevant.
All the Nafs al Awamma wants is certainty. And it will follow anyone who provides it.
So if Nafs al Amarra is our bossy, controlling self and Nafs al Awamma is our unsure, insecure, hesitant self that allows us to be manipulated, what do we aim for? Nafs al Mutmaina.
This is the natural self, which is not moved by the addictive compulsion of gratification (Id) or the restraining authoritarianism of self-doubt (Ego).
Likened to Freud’s “Super Ego,” the Nafs al Mutamaina is one that already exists within us; it just has to be recognised.This self is one that has broken free from the shackles of self-doubt as well as of self-righteousness.
And as the aspirant evolves towards higher levels of consciousness, he is able to achieve spiritual liberty, the aim of Sufism.
Freedom from oppression, both inner and outer, spiritual liberty refers to a state of consciousness in which man is able to recognise and overcome all obstacles that impede his spiritual growth.
This is a state in which man is no longer slave to materialism. The ephemeral binges — cars, houses, designer-wear and collagen laden lips — that Nafs al Amarra thrives on, are no longer dictated by the pleasure principle.
And free from the demands of his self-gratifying self, he is able to recognise the rights of others, be proactive and fight for a better world.
The human psyche is a microcosm of the universe: what works at a micro level also works at the macro level. And Pakistan is no exception.
Ayeda Naqvi has a double masters from a joint NYU and Princeton programme in Journalism and Near Eastern Studies. She has been a journalist for 16 years and a teacher of literature.
Sufism in Indian Culture
Pittsburgh Live - Pittsburgh, PA, U.S.A.Monday, November 12, 2007
India: Culture and Religion. Below the Surface.
How do religion and the arts interact on the classical and popular levels in India?
What does Radha, a primary deity in Hinduism, have to do with Mother Meera and Bhakti Poets?
What is the significance of Sufism in Indian Culture?
A Panel Discussion within the exhibition "India, New Installations" at The Mattress Factory.
The Mattress Factory is a museum of contemporary art that presents art you can get into — room-sized environments, created by in-residence artists.
Moderator and Presenter: Dr. Fred Clothey, recently retired Professor and Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Pittsburgh.
Presenter: Prajna Paramita Parasher, Associate Professor, Director, Film & Digital Technology, Chatham University
Jameela Alter, author of On Clipped Wings
Thursday, November 15, 2007 at 07:00pm (guided tour at 6PM)
Admission: $10.00 ($5.00 Students/MF Members)
Mattress Factory 500 Sampsonia WayPittsburgh, PA 15212
Email: info@mattress.org 412-231-3169 http://www.mattress.org/
http://www.mattress.org/index.cfm?event=Exhibitions
Is religious education a remedy to violence?
[From the French language press]:
L’éducation religieuse suscite encore et toujours un vif débat notamment ces jours-ci où l’Algérie en particulier et le monde islamique en général subissent de plein fouet la violence extrémiste.
Le Mague Journal, France - vendredi 5 Octobre 2007 - par Semmar Abderrahmane
Religious education raises still a lively debate these days especially when Algeria in particular and the Islamic world in general suffer the brunt of extremist violence.
Algeria, facing the excesses and dangers of extremism asks: can religious education -opposed to indoctrination- be a remedy? The subject is a hot topic.
The Konrad Adenauer Foundation has recently organized a conference-forum on "Religion and Education today".
Algerian researcher and islamologue, Mr. Khenchelaoui Zaïm, stressed that the teaching of religious education exists throughout the world, even in polytheist countries, and emphasized the "harmful effects of extremism," arguing that "Sufism is a valuable opportunity because of its initiatory experience. "
Speaking in turn, Dr. Janjar Mohamed Sghir, Deputy Director of the Foundation of King Abdulaziz Saud (Morocco), underlined the importance of returning to the teaching of religious education.
He cited the example of France, "a secular country which seeks ways and means to reintroduce religious education in its educational system".
L’éducation religieuse suscite encore et toujours un vif débat notamment ces jours-ci où l’Algérie en particulier et le monde islamique en général subissent de plein fouet la violence extrémiste.
Le Mague Journal, France - vendredi 5 Octobre 2007 - par Semmar Abderrahmane
Religious education raises still a lively debate these days especially when Algeria in particular and the Islamic world in general suffer the brunt of extremist violence.
Algeria, facing the excesses and dangers of extremism asks: can religious education -opposed to indoctrination- be a remedy? The subject is a hot topic.
The Konrad Adenauer Foundation has recently organized a conference-forum on "Religion and Education today".
Algerian researcher and islamologue, Mr. Khenchelaoui Zaïm, stressed that the teaching of religious education exists throughout the world, even in polytheist countries, and emphasized the "harmful effects of extremism," arguing that "Sufism is a valuable opportunity because of its initiatory experience. "
Speaking in turn, Dr. Janjar Mohamed Sghir, Deputy Director of the Foundation of King Abdulaziz Saud (Morocco), underlined the importance of returning to the teaching of religious education.
He cited the example of France, "a secular country which seeks ways and means to reintroduce religious education in its educational system".
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
The legacy continues
The Malaysian Star - Kuala Lumpur, MalaysiaMonday, November 11, 2007
Dewan Filharmonik Petronas presents a rare offering of Pakistan’s vibrant qawwali music on Nov 20 and 21
Under its “Celebration Series”, the performances will be presented by Rizwan-Muazzam Qawwali as a tribute to the legendary Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
When he died in 1997, Nusrat Fateh left a musical vacuum into which stepped his two teenage nephews, who formed the group Rizwan-Muazzam Qawwali.
Despite their youth, they were determined to continue their uncle’s pioneering efforts to transcend cultural, language and religious barriers and bring to the world the devotional qawwali vocal music of the Sufi mystics of Islam.
The word qawwali simply means “utterance” and the music and style of performance it describes has been a feature of Islamic culture since the 12th century. It is religious music that uses the human voice as a vehicle for enlightenment.
Due to its strong folk and classical traditions, qawwali has evolved and become one of the great classical musical genres of world music.
The group’s third album, Day of Colours, finds them coming into their own with new-found maturity in their voices and approach. Not only does it maintain a family tradition but it also demonstrates their identity as singers and breathes fresh life into a centuries-old style which has become one of the glories of modern world music.
Rizwan-Muazzam Qawwali inventively reinterprets spiritual love songs based upon classical Islamic and Sufi texts.
The two brothers who lend their name to the group, Rizwan Mujahid Ali Khan and Muazzam Mujahid Ali Khan, come from a direct line of qawwali singers that can trace its pedigree back over five centuries. Their grandfather was an uncle of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, who taught him the art of qawwali vocal music.
They themselves studied under their father and were tutored by Nusrat. A decade into their career, the musicians of Rizwan-Muazzam Qawwali are already proving to be masters of Sufi devotional music.
The broadening of qawwali’s appeal was central to Nusrat’s mission and it is an approach shared by the group. Its debut album, Sacrifice to Love, released in 1999, was an entirely traditional album. So was its 2001 follow-up, A Better Destiny. It has also released a remix fusion album with Temple of Sound.
The group is a mainstay on Peter Gabriel’s influential Real World record label.
Rizwan and Muazzam lead five back-up singers in repeated chanting, usually to the accompaniment of rhythmic handclapping, percussion and harmonium music.
The lead singer adds elaborate vocal lines, and the tempo and volume are gradually increased with each singer trying to outdo the other in terms of vocal acrobatics as the piece progresses to a heightened trance-like state.
Tickets are priced from RM25 to RM95. Call the box office (tel: 03-20517007) / fax bookings (tel: 03-20517077) / e-mail: dfp_boxoffice@petronas.com.my.
Seven portraits of seven Sufi saints on seven mosques and shrines of Kashmir
By Arshad Me'raj - Greater Kashmir - Srinagar, J&K, IndiaSunday, November 11, 2007
15-day international workshop concludes
15-day international workshop concludes
Srinagar: A Shikara [traditional wooden boat] buried half inside the earth and rest coaxed with barbed wire.
A dark room containing the pictures of disappeared persons of the Kashmir on one wall faced by a painting of a woman.
Display of scrap collected from abandoned houses occupied by paramilitary forces and of migrant Kashmiri pandits.
Superimposition of seven photographs of Sufi saints of Iran on seven different shrines and mosques of Kashmir.
These are some of the installations and art works exhibited during the exhibition on the concluding day of 15-day international workshop organised by Khoj and KASHYAPS* here Sunday.
Sujan Chitrakar of Kathmandu Nepal who had buried half of the Shikara inside the earth titled “Barbed Wires Coax The Boat As It Tries To Fly,” while speaking to Greater Kashmir said, “The Shikara coaxed with barbed wire, which symbolises torture and is seen everywhere in Kashmir, depicts the pain most Kashmiris are suffering from.”
“My work also depicts the pain which still haunts the Kashmiris,” Sujan.
About the famous couplet of Mughal Emperor Jehangir:
A dark room containing the pictures of disappeared persons of the Kashmir on one wall faced by a painting of a woman.
Display of scrap collected from abandoned houses occupied by paramilitary forces and of migrant Kashmiri pandits.
Superimposition of seven photographs of Sufi saints of Iran on seven different shrines and mosques of Kashmir.
These are some of the installations and art works exhibited during the exhibition on the concluding day of 15-day international workshop organised by Khoj and KASHYAPS* here Sunday.
Sujan Chitrakar of Kathmandu Nepal who had buried half of the Shikara inside the earth titled “Barbed Wires Coax The Boat As It Tries To Fly,” while speaking to Greater Kashmir said, “The Shikara coaxed with barbed wire, which symbolises torture and is seen everywhere in Kashmir, depicts the pain most Kashmiris are suffering from.”
“My work also depicts the pain which still haunts the Kashmiris,” Sujan.
About the famous couplet of Mughal Emperor Jehangir:
Agar Firdous Ba Rueye Zamin Ast,
Hamein Asto, Hamein Asto Hamien Ast
(If there is paradise on earth, it is here, it is here, it is here) written on the Shikara with an image effect, Sujan said, “The couplet is written in the style so the people could thoroughly concentrate on the verses, which calls Kashmir as a paradise on earth.”
Gargi Raina of Baroda displayed the pictures of disappeared persons inside a dark room, the entrance of which is covered by a colourful drape (Kashmir, beautiful from outside and troubled inside).
The people interested in watching the work had to pick up a torch and walk towards the room.
“The torch is needed to search the things in dark. On one wall there are photographs of disappeared persons and on the facing wall there is a painting of a woman, who depicts as their mother. One can also find emptiness inside the room as there are shelves which are empty,” Gargi told Greater Kashmir.
Sonal Jain of Assam who had collected scraps from the abandoned houses of Srinagar city said the collected items narrate their own stories.
“Titled Box full of (Someone Elses) Memories, these stories need to be told through the objects which were left behind by the people,” Sonal said adding that these left over objects were considered by those people as not so useful.
Most of scrap material comprised of newspaper pages, calendars, paintings, notebooks of children and other house articles. Sonal had also recorded the statements of people about their experiences during the turmoil.
Tooraj Khamenezade of Iran had made an installation in which he had superimposed seven portraits of seven Sufi saints on seven mosques and shrines of Kashmir valley depicting the relation between Kashmir and Iran.
The seven pictures were hanging on seven branches of a Chinar** also showing 700 years of Sufism as well.
Hannah Mathews of England, Fiel Dos Santos Rafael of Mozambique, Shambhavi Singh of New Delhi/Patna, Nikhil Chopra of Mumbai, Wasim Wani of Srinagar, Ravinder Jamwal and Archinder Kumar of Jammu, Shawkat Kadjoo, Shafi Chaman and GK Cartoonist Malik Sajjad*** also depicted their works during the exhibition.
The workshop coordinator and renowned artist Masood Hussain while talking to Greater Kashmir said: “This workshop organised for the first time in cultural history of Kashmir was altogether different from canvas painting”.
He said that, unlike traditional art workshops wherein artists work is restricted on canvas and use of conventional material for making sculptures, the participants in this workshop experimented on different art forms.
* Khoj Kasheer is the national organisation engaged in bridging the gap between artist communities at national and international level, through workshops and exchange programmes. KASHYAPS is the Srinagar-based contemporary artist community.
About this workshop, you can also read: http://etalaat.net/english/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3194&Itemid=27
** A Chinar is a gigantic sized tree, found growing throughout the valley. Its scientific name is Platanus orientalis. Its family is plataneae. A deciduous tree, Chinar traces its origin to Greece. Its incredible beauty has to be seen to be believed.
The tree is at its most elegance and exuberance during autumn. Though its majesty can be seen all through the year. Iqbal, the poet of the East, traces the warmth of the Kashmir soil to the "blaze of Chinars it nurses in its bosom".
A Chinar grows up to a height of 25 meters and a girth exceeding 50 feet in certain cases. The tree with the largest circumference of 60 feet is located at a village named Chattergam in central Kashmir (from: http://www.kashmirhub.com/plants-of-kashmir/chinar.html).
***Visit Sajjad at http://www.kashmirblackandwhite.com/
Hamein Asto, Hamein Asto Hamien Ast
(If there is paradise on earth, it is here, it is here, it is here) written on the Shikara with an image effect, Sujan said, “The couplet is written in the style so the people could thoroughly concentrate on the verses, which calls Kashmir as a paradise on earth.”
Gargi Raina of Baroda displayed the pictures of disappeared persons inside a dark room, the entrance of which is covered by a colourful drape (Kashmir, beautiful from outside and troubled inside).
The people interested in watching the work had to pick up a torch and walk towards the room.
“The torch is needed to search the things in dark. On one wall there are photographs of disappeared persons and on the facing wall there is a painting of a woman, who depicts as their mother. One can also find emptiness inside the room as there are shelves which are empty,” Gargi told Greater Kashmir.
Sonal Jain of Assam who had collected scraps from the abandoned houses of Srinagar city said the collected items narrate their own stories.
“Titled Box full of (Someone Elses) Memories, these stories need to be told through the objects which were left behind by the people,” Sonal said adding that these left over objects were considered by those people as not so useful.
Most of scrap material comprised of newspaper pages, calendars, paintings, notebooks of children and other house articles. Sonal had also recorded the statements of people about their experiences during the turmoil.
Tooraj Khamenezade of Iran had made an installation in which he had superimposed seven portraits of seven Sufi saints on seven mosques and shrines of Kashmir valley depicting the relation between Kashmir and Iran.
The seven pictures were hanging on seven branches of a Chinar** also showing 700 years of Sufism as well.
Hannah Mathews of England, Fiel Dos Santos Rafael of Mozambique, Shambhavi Singh of New Delhi/Patna, Nikhil Chopra of Mumbai, Wasim Wani of Srinagar, Ravinder Jamwal and Archinder Kumar of Jammu, Shawkat Kadjoo, Shafi Chaman and GK Cartoonist Malik Sajjad*** also depicted their works during the exhibition.
The workshop coordinator and renowned artist Masood Hussain while talking to Greater Kashmir said: “This workshop organised for the first time in cultural history of Kashmir was altogether different from canvas painting”.
He said that, unlike traditional art workshops wherein artists work is restricted on canvas and use of conventional material for making sculptures, the participants in this workshop experimented on different art forms.
* Khoj Kasheer is the national organisation engaged in bridging the gap between artist communities at national and international level, through workshops and exchange programmes. KASHYAPS is the Srinagar-based contemporary artist community.
About this workshop, you can also read: http://etalaat.net/english/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3194&Itemid=27
** A Chinar is a gigantic sized tree, found growing throughout the valley. Its scientific name is Platanus orientalis. Its family is plataneae. A deciduous tree, Chinar traces its origin to Greece. Its incredible beauty has to be seen to be believed.
The tree is at its most elegance and exuberance during autumn. Though its majesty can be seen all through the year. Iqbal, the poet of the East, traces the warmth of the Kashmir soil to the "blaze of Chinars it nurses in its bosom".
A Chinar grows up to a height of 25 meters and a girth exceeding 50 feet in certain cases. The tree with the largest circumference of 60 feet is located at a village named Chattergam in central Kashmir (from: http://www.kashmirhub.com/plants-of-kashmir/chinar.html).
***Visit Sajjad at http://www.kashmirblackandwhite.com/
Monday, November 12, 2007
A study on the personality of Sidi Ali Lembarek
[From the French language press]:
L’association Arts et Expositions de Tipasa a organisé du 6 au 8 Novembre 2007 une journée d’étude sur la personnalité de Sidi Ali Lembarek, neveu de Si Benallel, lieutenant de l’Emir Abdelkader.
La Nouvelle République - Alger, Algérie - par Mohamed El-Ouahed
The association Arts and Exhibitions of Tipasa held from 6 to 8 November 2007 a study on the personality of Sidi Ali Lembarek, nephew of Si Benallel, lieutenant of Emir Abdelkader.
We noted the presence of Qadiris, Tidjani, Shaduli, El-Habria and Rahmania Brotherhoods and of speakers such as Sidi El-Habib El-Tidjani, president of the national observatory of Brotherhoods; El Hadj Ahmed Kourami and Dr. Mohamed Benbrika, a professor at the University of Algiers, researcher and man of letters.
The participants, from 15 provinces of the country, during these two days spoke of the life of Sidi Ali Lembarek as well as of his contribution to Sufism.
Four workshops have been scheduled: on the life of Sidi Ali Lembarek, on Sufism as devotion to the One God, on the contribution of Sufism in the different lineages and finally on Sufism in Kabylie.
These talks were conducted by Professor Mohamed Benbrika, by Ali Khelassi, by Maâmoune Benmihoub and by Tahar Baik.
L’association Arts et Expositions de Tipasa a organisé du 6 au 8 Novembre 2007 une journée d’étude sur la personnalité de Sidi Ali Lembarek, neveu de Si Benallel, lieutenant de l’Emir Abdelkader.
La Nouvelle République - Alger, Algérie - par Mohamed El-Ouahed
The association Arts and Exhibitions of Tipasa held from 6 to 8 November 2007 a study on the personality of Sidi Ali Lembarek, nephew of Si Benallel, lieutenant of Emir Abdelkader.
We noted the presence of Qadiris, Tidjani, Shaduli, El-Habria and Rahmania Brotherhoods and of speakers such as Sidi El-Habib El-Tidjani, president of the national observatory of Brotherhoods; El Hadj Ahmed Kourami and Dr. Mohamed Benbrika, a professor at the University of Algiers, researcher and man of letters.
The participants, from 15 provinces of the country, during these two days spoke of the life of Sidi Ali Lembarek as well as of his contribution to Sufism.
Four workshops have been scheduled: on the life of Sidi Ali Lembarek, on Sufism as devotion to the One God, on the contribution of Sufism in the different lineages and finally on Sufism in Kabylie.
These talks were conducted by Professor Mohamed Benbrika, by Ali Khelassi, by Maâmoune Benmihoub and by Tahar Baik.
Sufis Clash With Iranian Troops
Nasser Karimi - The Associated Press - Tehran, IranSunday, November 11, 2007
Police and paramilitary officers traded fire with followers of the mystical Sufi branch of Islam who had clashed over religious differences with Shiite Muslims in southwest Iran, authorities and witnesses said Sunday.
Dozens of people were injured and arrested when the police, paramilitaries and special forces stormed the lodge of the Sufis, who had fought members of a nearby Shiite mosque in the city of Boroujerd, witnesses said.
Both sides shot at each other before authorities seized the lodge and set fire to Sufis' belongings, according to a student who said he witnessed the clash, and spoke on condition of anonymity because of the issue's sensitivity.
Sufi orders form a branch of Islam that emphasizes direct mystical experience over mainstream religious practice. Sufis have had increasingly uneasy relations with Iran's Shiite clerical regime, and authorities closed down a Sufi lodge in the holy Shiite city of Qom last year.
Local journalist Morteza Bourbour said the violence in Boroujerd began Saturday morning when Sufis attacked a nearby mosque, injuring several Shiite Muslim clerics who had urged their followers to shut down the Sufi lodge because it was "illegitimate."
The semiofficial Mehr news agency quoted Hossein Saberi, governor general of Lorestan province, as saying that police had been ordered to take control in case of any clash between members of the Sufi lodge and the mosque, which were in the same neighborhood.
The student, who is not a Sufi, said Iranian special forces were involved in the fighting along with police and the paramilitary unit, known as the Basij.
"Sufis resisted and pelted Basij members with bricks and stones," injuring some 50 member of the paramilitary group after they tried to enter the lodge along with police, Bourbour told The Associated Press.
"Some 80 people were injured and a part of the Sufis' lodge was destroyed during the clashes," town governor Mohammad Ali Tohidi told the AP by telephone from Boroujerd. He said 180 Sufis were arrested.
The independent news web site Advarnews said some 100 Sufis were injured and another 500 arrested "after an unidentified group captured the lodge, setting fire to it and flattening it by bulldozer."
Mehr reported that six Basijs were injured during the clashes in Boroujerd, a city of 230,000 some 300 miles southwest of the capital, Tehran.
Iranian state radio briefly mentioned the news on Sunday, saying "clashes between people and Sufis ended in Boroujerd after police intervention."
Authorities did not comment on how many civilians, police and military were among the injured. Calls to local hospitals were unanswered, and the AP could not reach any Sufis in the town.
Although Sufis have been influential in various Muslim countries over the centuries, they have at times been persecuted by both Sunni and Shiite religious establishments.
Iran's Islamic government does not welcome religious sects and cults. However, major religions are recognized officially and their followers have representatives in parliament.
Iranian Sufis mainly belong to an order known as the Nematollahi-Gonabadi.
[Caption to the pictures: Iranian people inspect the heavy damage to a Sufi lodge following a shoot out in the town of Boroujerd southwestern of Tehran, Iran, on Sunday, Nov. 11, 2007.
Some 80 people were injured when police and special elite Revolutionary Guard forces stormed the Muslim Sufi lodge, after a clash between Sufis and members of a nearby Shiite mosque, authorities and witnesses said Sunday. (AP Photo / STR)]
Police hold 180 in Iran religious clash
By E. Blair and C. Dick - Reuters - U.S.A.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Tehran: Police detained 180 people in a western Iranian city after unrest involving Sufi Muslims, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported on Sunday.
Details about Saturday night's incident were unclear and could not be independently confirmed.
Sufi Muslims have in the past clashed with the authorities in predominantly Shi'ite Muslim Iran.
Sufism, a form of mystical Islam, is tolerated in Iran but some of its religious leaders have called for a clampdown on the group.
Fars News Agency said the trouble began when Sufis attacked a mosque in Boroujerd, about 320 km (200 miles) southwest of Tehran, prompting scuffles between Sufis and their opponents.
"The region's security forces strove to prevent the tension from escalating and, to this end, 180 people were also detained and handed over to the judicial authorities," Fars reported, as monitored by the BBC.
It quoted a senior provincial governor as saying about 80 people were hurt but said most injuries were light.
Around 1,000 Sufis were arrested last year during clashes with authorities over the closure of a Sufi prayer house in the holy city of Qom. Fifty-two of them were sentenced to a year in jail, 74 lashes, and fines on various charges.
Although Sufis are tolerated, their belief in the mystical path to God through dance and music can rankle some within the religious establishment of the Islamic Republic.
Some religious leaders have called Sufis a "danger to Islam".
Sufism is best known in the West for its "whirling dervish" dances and for the mystical poetry of 13th-century Persian poet Jalal ad-din Rumi whose works have been bestsellers in the United States.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Tehran: Police detained 180 people in a western Iranian city after unrest involving Sufi Muslims, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported on Sunday.
Details about Saturday night's incident were unclear and could not be independently confirmed.
Sufi Muslims have in the past clashed with the authorities in predominantly Shi'ite Muslim Iran.
Sufism, a form of mystical Islam, is tolerated in Iran but some of its religious leaders have called for a clampdown on the group.
Fars News Agency said the trouble began when Sufis attacked a mosque in Boroujerd, about 320 km (200 miles) southwest of Tehran, prompting scuffles between Sufis and their opponents.
"The region's security forces strove to prevent the tension from escalating and, to this end, 180 people were also detained and handed over to the judicial authorities," Fars reported, as monitored by the BBC.
It quoted a senior provincial governor as saying about 80 people were hurt but said most injuries were light.
Around 1,000 Sufis were arrested last year during clashes with authorities over the closure of a Sufi prayer house in the holy city of Qom. Fifty-two of them were sentenced to a year in jail, 74 lashes, and fines on various charges.
Although Sufis are tolerated, their belief in the mystical path to God through dance and music can rankle some within the religious establishment of the Islamic Republic.
Some religious leaders have called Sufis a "danger to Islam".
Sufism is best known in the West for its "whirling dervish" dances and for the mystical poetry of 13th-century Persian poet Jalal ad-din Rumi whose works have been bestsellers in the United States.
No place for Sufism in our Shia country: official
TT Culture Desk - Tehran Times - Tehran, IranSaturday, November 3, 2007
There is no place for the promotion of Sufism in Iran, the executive director of the committee for the Rumi international congress Mohsen Parviz said in a press release published on Friday.
The congress was held in Tehran and Tabriz last week to commemorate the 800th birth anniversary of the Persian poet and mystic Molana Jalal ad-Din Rumi.
The press release was published after the congress was allegedly criticized for staging performances of Sama, the Sufi practice of gathering to listen to religious poetry that is sung, often accompanied by ecstatic dance or other rituals.
“There is no place in the congress schedule for these types of dramatic movements which promote or approve Sufi behavior. Only two ten-minute reed flute and setar performances had been arranged for the event, none of which were related to Sufi philosophy,” Parviz, who is also the Deputy Culture Minister for Cultural Affairs, stated.
“There is no place for the promotion of the Mevlevi sect and Sufism in our Shia country,” he noted.
Parviz said that the objections refer to the scenes of Sama performances, which had been broadcast from the IRIB’s TV channels during reports of the congress programs. However he gave no details about the alleged protesters.
He said that these pictures were not related to the congress and had been taken from Sama performances abroad.
However, the Iranian traditional music band Shams gave a series of concerts, combining their music with Sama performances by dervishes from Konya, at the Sadabad Palace in August which were most warmly received by the audiences.
There is no place for the promotion of Sufism in Iran, the executive director of the committee for the Rumi international congress Mohsen Parviz said in a press release published on Friday.
The congress was held in Tehran and Tabriz last week to commemorate the 800th birth anniversary of the Persian poet and mystic Molana Jalal ad-Din Rumi.
The press release was published after the congress was allegedly criticized for staging performances of Sama, the Sufi practice of gathering to listen to religious poetry that is sung, often accompanied by ecstatic dance or other rituals.
“There is no place in the congress schedule for these types of dramatic movements which promote or approve Sufi behavior. Only two ten-minute reed flute and setar performances had been arranged for the event, none of which were related to Sufi philosophy,” Parviz, who is also the Deputy Culture Minister for Cultural Affairs, stated.
“There is no place for the promotion of the Mevlevi sect and Sufism in our Shia country,” he noted.
Parviz said that the objections refer to the scenes of Sama performances, which had been broadcast from the IRIB’s TV channels during reports of the congress programs. However he gave no details about the alleged protesters.
He said that these pictures were not related to the congress and had been taken from Sama performances abroad.
However, the Iranian traditional music band Shams gave a series of concerts, combining their music with Sama performances by dervishes from Konya, at the Sadabad Palace in August which were most warmly received by the audiences.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Professor Mohammad H. Faghfoory's correction on Rumi translation
TT Culture Desk - Tehran, IranMonday, November 12, 2007
The Tehran Times recently published an excerpt of a lecture on Molana Jalal ad-Din Rumi delivered by the Iranian professor of Islamic studies at George Washington University, Mohammad H. Faghfoory, at a conference held in Tehran to commemorate the 800th birth anniversary of the Persian poet and mystic on October 28.
Professor Faghfoory has sent a letter to the daily’s office with the following correction of his lecture: “Coleman Barks’ translation of the Masnavi and selection from the Divan-i Kabir is currently the bestselling translation of Rumi’s work, but still Nicholson’s translation and commentary is by far the best available translation of Rumi’s work".
[see Sufi News of Wednesday, October 31 "Voices from the International Congress"; click on this link, then scroll down: http://sufinews.blogspot.com/search?q=faghfoory]
[Picture of Professor Mohammad H. Faghfoory from Mazda Publishers: http://www.mazdapub.com/BookDetails.aspx?BookID=206]
Professor Faghfoory has sent a letter to the daily’s office with the following correction of his lecture: “Coleman Barks’ translation of the Masnavi and selection from the Divan-i Kabir is currently the bestselling translation of Rumi’s work, but still Nicholson’s translation and commentary is by far the best available translation of Rumi’s work".
[see Sufi News of Wednesday, October 31 "Voices from the International Congress"; click on this link, then scroll down: http://sufinews.blogspot.com/search?q=faghfoory]
[Picture of Professor Mohammad H. Faghfoory from Mazda Publishers: http://www.mazdapub.com/BookDetails.aspx?BookID=206]
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Worthy of being repeated
By Laura Maddock - Dawgnet- Butler University - Indianapolis, IN, U.S.A.Thursday, November 8
Visiting Writer talks about history and ethics of Islam
Carl Ernst, author of several works about the Islamic religion, spoke about "Islamic Ethics from the Pre-Modern to Post-Colonial" at Butler on Nov. 5.
The event was co-sponsored by the change and tradition department and the Visiting Writers Series.
Ernst first discussed the process of writing his most recent book, the award-winning "Following Muhammad: Rethinking Islam in the Contemporary World."
He chose as his editor a poet, who was ruthless in improving his work and the language he used.
"It made me think that writing in a clear and direct fashion is an important goal," Ernst said of the experience.
The book was written for Americans and Europeans who wanted to learn more about Islam. Ernst realized in the process that many Muslims are deeply concerned with how Americans view the religion.
"Ethics…would be a term for a right or correct behavior," Ernst said. He further defined this as "the practices, the habits, and the customs that are correct, admirable and worthy of being repeated."
Ernst identified two basic aspects of ethics: authority and reason. Ethics based on reason are deemed correct because they make sense. Ethics based on authority are correct because an authority, such as God, the Prophet or Jesus, said that they were correct.
The Quran, a major Islamic text, deals with ethics. Ernst identified the Quran as one of the most influential books in world history. He also said that history is essential in understanding religion.
The thesis of Ernst's lecture was -- even when people look to the same authorities to determine ethics, or what is right and wrong, they can come to different conclusions.
One interesting fact that Ernst mentioned is that 15 percent of American slaves were Muslims. In fact, one of these Muslim slaves in the Carolinas wrote an autobiography in the Arabic language. Ernst also spoke about the history of coffee.
"Mocha" is actually a place in Yemen, an Arabic country, and "Java" is a predominately Muslim island in Indonesia.
According to legend, a shepherd in an Islamic civilization discovered that his goats became unusually energetic after eating coffee leaves.
People who practiced Sufism, a branch of Islam, later began to use coffee to stay awake longer into the night so that they could meditate.
"This is an interesting question about ethics," Ernst said.
Muslims debate whether or not coffee should be considered an intoxicant and therefore banned. Some Muslims believe that coffee, like alcohol, causes an alteration of the mind, and its use should not be allowed. Others feel that if it is not expressly forbidden in the Quran it is allowed.
However, coffee is not banned in Islamic societies today.
Ernst's books, including "Sufi Martyrs of Love," "Sufism" and "Following Muhammad: Rethinking Islam in the Contemporary World" were available for purchase at the event. Ernst held an informal question and answer session on Nov. 6, as well.
Sufi Books at: The Sufi Book Store http://astore.amazon.com/wilderwri-20
Rumi and his Ecstatic Dance
Londra Gazete - London, U.K. Thursday, November 8, 2007CADOGAN Hall, London, hosted a special whirling dervish performance to celebrate the 800th anniversary of the birth of Islamic mystic and philosopher Mevlana Rumi.
The event featured Istanbul Tarihi Turk Müziçi Toplulugu who performed the special Sema ceremony in which dervishes spin as part of their ecstatic dance and devotion to God.
UNESCO named 2007 as the International Year of Mevlana Celaledin Rumi and the London event was one of many being organised worldwide by the Republic of Turkey’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
A packed 900 person capacity auditorium at London’s Cadogan Hall bore witness to a spectacular performance last month that started with a speech from Celil Güngör, Director General for Research and Training, Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
This was followed by Professor Mahmud Erol Kiliç’s talk about “Rumi and his Ecstatic Dance”.
Then it was the Sema ceremony performed by the Mevlevi group, including 11 musicians, eight singers and eight dervishes – a presentation on this scale is rarely seen outside of Turkey.
The diverse audience included members of the British, Turkish, and international communities.
The London event is part of a series of Sema performances worldwide. Istanbul Tarihi Türk Müziçi Toplulugu are travelling next to Indonesia and Singapore.
UNESCO named 2007 as the International Year of Mevlana Celaledin Rumi and the London event was one of many being organised worldwide by the Republic of Turkey’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
A packed 900 person capacity auditorium at London’s Cadogan Hall bore witness to a spectacular performance last month that started with a speech from Celil Güngör, Director General for Research and Training, Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
This was followed by Professor Mahmud Erol Kiliç’s talk about “Rumi and his Ecstatic Dance”.
Then it was the Sema ceremony performed by the Mevlevi group, including 11 musicians, eight singers and eight dervishes – a presentation on this scale is rarely seen outside of Turkey.
The diverse audience included members of the British, Turkish, and international communities.
The London event is part of a series of Sema performances worldwide. Istanbul Tarihi Türk Müziçi Toplulugu are travelling next to Indonesia and Singapore.
Trying to raise human consciousness
By Kelly Perkins - Prague Daily Monitor - Prague, Czech RepublicThursday, November 8, 2007
Rumi Returning: a review of the documentary, screened in Prague 8 November
"Rumi discovered [that] at the heart of everything is love. That's what he loved and that's what he wrote about," says Kearns, co-producer and -director of Rumi Returning, a documentary about 13th-century Sufi theologian and poet Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi and the phenomenon of his modern-day rediscovery.
"For us it's clear. It's this real hunger right now for humanity to come together as one."
From interviews with Rumi experts, to performances by the ancient order of Whirling Dervishes founded by his followers, to scenes of the landscape in which he lived, Rumi Returning focuses on the themes that dominated the poet's writings: love, unity and tolerance.
In an interview in the film, Coleman Barks, the American poet and translator largely responsible for introducing Rumi to English-speaking audiences in the early 1990s, calls him "probably the only planetary poet we have".
"This is the first generation where we can really have a planetary poet," Kearns elaborates. "This is the only time in history where we really are all together as one people on the planet.
We are literally in each other's backyards. We are a mouse click away from each other."
Rumi Returning: a review of the documentary, screened in Prague 8 November
"Rumi discovered [that] at the heart of everything is love. That's what he loved and that's what he wrote about," says Kearns, co-producer and -director of Rumi Returning, a documentary about 13th-century Sufi theologian and poet Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi and the phenomenon of his modern-day rediscovery.
"For us it's clear. It's this real hunger right now for humanity to come together as one."
From interviews with Rumi experts, to performances by the ancient order of Whirling Dervishes founded by his followers, to scenes of the landscape in which he lived, Rumi Returning focuses on the themes that dominated the poet's writings: love, unity and tolerance.
In an interview in the film, Coleman Barks, the American poet and translator largely responsible for introducing Rumi to English-speaking audiences in the early 1990s, calls him "probably the only planetary poet we have".
"This is the first generation where we can really have a planetary poet," Kearns elaborates. "This is the only time in history where we really are all together as one people on the planet.
We are literally in each other's backyards. We are a mouse click away from each other."
Rumi's faith is another important element of his appeal, the filmmaker says.
"It's important that Rumi's Islamic, that he's Muslim to the core," Kearns says. "He belies the whole notion that Islam is a religion of war and subjugation and that sort of thing. Because he really realised the very heights of what Islam is all about, which is peace, reconciliation and an understanding of the basic unity of all humankind."
Rumi Returning posits that spirit of tolerance as a legacy of Rumi's life in a region that was central to multiple faiths and civilisations. If we ourselves lived in such a heterogeneous society, among various cultures, identities and religions, the film suggests, many of our present-day problems would vanish.
"If there's one motto that the post-9/11 world needs to adopt, it should be a line from Rumi in which he says, 'I go to the synagogue, I go to the church, I go too the mosque, I see the same altar, I feel the same spirit,'"
Akbar Ahmed, the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University and one of the world's leading authorities on modern Islam, declares at the end of the film.
"The universal spirit without which I'm afraid in the 21st century – and I say this with great confidence – we as a world civilization are lost. We do not have a choice. We must re-discover the spirit of the universal mystics."
"It's important that Rumi's Islamic, that he's Muslim to the core," Kearns says. "He belies the whole notion that Islam is a religion of war and subjugation and that sort of thing. Because he really realised the very heights of what Islam is all about, which is peace, reconciliation and an understanding of the basic unity of all humankind."
Rumi Returning posits that spirit of tolerance as a legacy of Rumi's life in a region that was central to multiple faiths and civilisations. If we ourselves lived in such a heterogeneous society, among various cultures, identities and religions, the film suggests, many of our present-day problems would vanish.
"If there's one motto that the post-9/11 world needs to adopt, it should be a line from Rumi in which he says, 'I go to the synagogue, I go to the church, I go too the mosque, I see the same altar, I feel the same spirit,'"
Akbar Ahmed, the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University and one of the world's leading authorities on modern Islam, declares at the end of the film.
"The universal spirit without which I'm afraid in the 21st century – and I say this with great confidence – we as a world civilization are lost. We do not have a choice. We must re-discover the spirit of the universal mystics."
"We put that at the end of the film very deliberately," Kearns says. "For us that entirely sums up the entire message of Rumi right there."
That message is also in keeping with Kearns and Lukas' past film work. Their last documentary, In the Consciousness of the Christ: Reclaiming Jesus for a New Humanity, also turned on the belief that humankind's purpose is to achieve a loving union with the divine.
"All of our films have been trying to raise human consciousness, through these universal figures of one-ness," Kearns says. "Rumi is right at home with those people – with Jesus and Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi and Buddha."
Friday, November 09, 2007
In music, I insist on sincerity
By Ali Pektas - Today's Zaman - Istanbul, TurkeyFriday, November 9, 2007
When Arkin Allen, a.k.a. Mercan Dede, released "Nefes" (Breath), the third album in his four-album series of "Anasır-ı Erbaa" (the Four Elements), he said that there was one album left to complete the series: "Toprak" (Earth), which would be his last.
However, he has released an entirely unexpected work in place of "Toprak." Mercan Dede has released "800" on Doublemoon Records. He dedicates the album to Mevlana Muhammad Jelaluddin Rumi, the great Turkish Sufi saint.
He takes his fans to different lands with "800" and there shows them reflections of love. Many accomplished musicians, such as Mich Gerber from Switzerland, Ziya Tabassian from Iran, Shankar Das from India, Shen-Qi from China, and Göksel Baktagir and Yurdal Tokcan from Turkey, accompanied Mercan Dede on this journey.
Each musician tried to reflect his own culture's concept of love through his instrument. Surprise guests are Turkish rapper Ceza and pop singer Yıldız Tilbe.
Mercan Dede's sudden comeback with "800" has taken his fans by surprise. We talked to him soon after he arrived in Turkey after recording abroad. He says he had started preparing for "Toprak," and had actually composed a few pieces for it, but that none of them gave him the right feeling.
"There is one thing in music which I insist on, and that is sincerity. A few pieces in 'Toprak' turned out rather nicely, but they were lacking the feeling I always look for. So I saw that either I wasn't ready for 'Toprak' or 'Toprak' wasn't ready for me," he says.
When he decided to pause the project, he notes, he prepared "800" as a humble gift to Mevlana, who he values so much, for his "800th birthday." Allen says that he wanted this album to be different from his others in terms of both its content and the way it was made.
"This is the album on which I have spent the longest time," he stresses and adds, "I initiated the preparations 10 months ago. For me Mevlana means love. We empty the meaning of love the more we use it, but the venerable Mevlana filled that word with a truly divine meaning."
The most obvious difference of "800" from other Mercan Dede albums is this time that there are lyrics to his pieces. In addition to pieces from Mevlana's masterpiece "Mesnevi," sung in various languages, there are some lyrics sung by Ceza and Tilbe that will urge listeners to contemplate.
"I'm a flying bird, sometimes an invisible grain of sand
I'm a servant all alone in this temporary land
Is it a crime to walk with all creation hand in hand?
All right; then I'm the biggest criminal on Earth".
Sung by rapper Ceza, is described by Mercan Dede as the most modern, fresh and sincere expression of Sufism.
He also thinks that Tilbe's words are some of the most beautiful expressions of love:
"You have to love in a different way
In a different form, in a different way
Warmer than the sun, more naked than the water
As attached as the wing of a seagull".
Speaking of Sufism, he responds to the criticism that he has been damaging Sufi thought for years: "Sufism is a sun, and we hold a burning candle in our hand. We can neither enlighten that sun nor blot it out. The candle in our hand can only be a bridge."
Mercan Dede also emphasizes that he did not take part in any of the celebrations held this year in honor of Mevlana's 800th birthday, fearing that he would be thought to be exploiting Mevlana and the whirling rite (sema).
He adds that even those who normally take a sarcastic and mocking approach to Sufism in the art world launched projects related to Mevlana.
He also responds to the criticism that sema is treated as a commercial object: "Counterfeit gold points to real gold. The one that is not genuine is like a soap bubble and is thus temporary. Time will eliminate it."
(...)
The first concert for "800" will take place in Ankara on Nov. 18. Proceeds from the performance will go toward support for the disabled.
The Islam I came to know
By Melissa Robinson, "A new Islamic Community" - [Date: November 8, 2007 Publication: Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The (GA) Page Number: A19 Word Count: 893 - If the link to the article is broken, try this link: http://tinyurl.com/6zebpu]- Atlanta Journal Constitution - Atlanta, GA, U.S.A.
Thursday, November 2007
A new Islamic community
Four years ago, while studying French, Italian and women's studies as an undergraduate at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, I accepted Islam by taking "shahada," or the declaration of faith, during Ramadan, proclaiming that there is one God and Mohammad was a prophet of God.
I had spent three years studying various religions and belief systems before taking this important step in my spiritual journey.
I was moved by Sufi poets and the beauty of a faith that allowed for pluralism. I enjoyed the sense of unity that came with performing rituals alongside other Muslims. I was thrilled to discover a belief system that was not at odds with scientific knowledge.
The Islam I came to know allowed for diversity in interpretation and encouraged the pursuit of knowledge and critical thinking. I have grown so much in my faith since that time and am proud to call myself Muslim.
Earlier this year, I moved to Atlanta with my husband and was excited to visit the various mosques in the area. I had hoped to find a supportive and open-minded community in which I would feel at home. However....
(...)
Habitual seekers of knowledge, Kelly [Kelly Wentworth, the writer's good friend] and I were in the midst of reading books such as "Standing Alone in Mecca," "Living Islam Out Loud" and "The Trouble with Islam," along with various Sufi poetry, biographies of strong Muslim women such as Rabbia, a Sufi poet; Aisha, a wife of the prophet; and Khadijah, the first wife of the prophet and his benefactress, and others.
We became inspired. We knew we were not alone in our interpretations of an inclusive Muslim world, even though there was no community to support us.
We decided to form our own community. On Oct. 18, we filed for incorporation with the state of Georgia as the American Islamic Fellowship, an organization dedicated to providing a safe and supportive community for the diverse voices of Muslim Americans.
The Islam I have embraced is one that protects the rights of women, is tolerant of multiculturalism, promotes peace among mankind and encourages spiritual enlightenment through religious practice, critical thinking, and the quest for knowledge.
The Islam I practice is egalitarian and just and is not a religion of blind followers, but of conscientious believers.
Kelly and I are committed to developing a community through the Fellowship that will encourage studying, discussion and diversity of thought. We hope to promote cooperation between faith groups and charitable organizations.
As converts, Kelly and I offer a unique perspective on the practice of Islam. Through studying, critical analysis and thoughtful interpretation, we attempt to make educated and conscious decisions concerning tradition.
We believe that the emerging identity of the American Muslim is as diverse as the American populace. As representatives of that group, we hope to demonstrate the progressive tenets of Islam through tolerance, education, equality and the democratic process.
We aim to focus our efforts on studying the similarities between various groups rather than focusing on the differences.
As descendants of American revolutionaries, Kelly and I follow in their footsteps as we set out to redefine our reality. In the spirit of our forefathers, we have embarked on a revolutionary path.
We have a vision of a community that supports and encourages its members to pursue knowledge and define their own boundaries rather than following lines previously drawn.
The American Islamic Fellowship meets on the first and third Fridays of the month at the Northwest Unitarian Universalist Church on Mount Vernon Highway from 8 to 10 p.m. We welcome anyone who is interested in pursuing spiritual discussion.
We are committed to maintaining an open community and welcome members of other faith groups to participate in interfaith dialogue. Please visit our Web site, http://www.americanislamicfellowship.com/.
Habitual seekers of knowledge, Kelly [Kelly Wentworth, the writer's good friend] and I were in the midst of reading books such as "Standing Alone in Mecca," "Living Islam Out Loud" and "The Trouble with Islam," along with various Sufi poetry, biographies of strong Muslim women such as Rabbia, a Sufi poet; Aisha, a wife of the prophet; and Khadijah, the first wife of the prophet and his benefactress, and others.
We became inspired. We knew we were not alone in our interpretations of an inclusive Muslim world, even though there was no community to support us.
We decided to form our own community. On Oct. 18, we filed for incorporation with the state of Georgia as the American Islamic Fellowship, an organization dedicated to providing a safe and supportive community for the diverse voices of Muslim Americans.
The Islam I have embraced is one that protects the rights of women, is tolerant of multiculturalism, promotes peace among mankind and encourages spiritual enlightenment through religious practice, critical thinking, and the quest for knowledge.
The Islam I practice is egalitarian and just and is not a religion of blind followers, but of conscientious believers.
Kelly and I are committed to developing a community through the Fellowship that will encourage studying, discussion and diversity of thought. We hope to promote cooperation between faith groups and charitable organizations.
As converts, Kelly and I offer a unique perspective on the practice of Islam. Through studying, critical analysis and thoughtful interpretation, we attempt to make educated and conscious decisions concerning tradition.
We believe that the emerging identity of the American Muslim is as diverse as the American populace. As representatives of that group, we hope to demonstrate the progressive tenets of Islam through tolerance, education, equality and the democratic process.
We aim to focus our efforts on studying the similarities between various groups rather than focusing on the differences.
As descendants of American revolutionaries, Kelly and I follow in their footsteps as we set out to redefine our reality. In the spirit of our forefathers, we have embarked on a revolutionary path.
We have a vision of a community that supports and encourages its members to pursue knowledge and define their own boundaries rather than following lines previously drawn.
The American Islamic Fellowship meets on the first and third Fridays of the month at the Northwest Unitarian Universalist Church on Mount Vernon Highway from 8 to 10 p.m. We welcome anyone who is interested in pursuing spiritual discussion.
We are committed to maintaining an open community and welcome members of other faith groups to participate in interfaith dialogue. Please visit our Web site, http://www.americanislamicfellowship.com/.
Moderation
By R. Anderson and A. Sa'ad - Reuters - U.S.A. /Nablus, West BankThursday, November 8, 2007
A handful of private West Bank religious centres are training preachers.
Funded by Western donors, Nablus's independent Islamic Centre for Sufism -- a mystical form of Islam -- holds classes to train prospective preachers and imams.
"It is wrong to convince people that religion is Hamas and Hamas is Islam," said course director Saed Sharaf, a clean shaven imam who says his wife prefers him without the beard that is often the badge of Hamas followers and their clerics.
Every Saturday, some 30 Muslims -- many of them women who cover their heads and wear long tunics -- gather at Sharaf's centre for lessons on Sufi spirituality and preaching tips.
One of Sharaf's students, 40-year-old Abdul Aziz, says he plans to use his new-found religious expertise to preach in mosques.
He denies any links to Fatah, though his comments about defeating Hamas-style political religion echo the party's line:"Islam is not violent," he said. "I want to preach good Islam -- moderate and non-partisan."
[Picture: Panorama of Nablus. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nablus]
Funded by Western donors, Nablus's independent Islamic Centre for Sufism -- a mystical form of Islam -- holds classes to train prospective preachers and imams.
"It is wrong to convince people that religion is Hamas and Hamas is Islam," said course director Saed Sharaf, a clean shaven imam who says his wife prefers him without the beard that is often the badge of Hamas followers and their clerics.
Every Saturday, some 30 Muslims -- many of them women who cover their heads and wear long tunics -- gather at Sharaf's centre for lessons on Sufi spirituality and preaching tips.
One of Sharaf's students, 40-year-old Abdul Aziz, says he plans to use his new-found religious expertise to preach in mosques.
He denies any links to Fatah, though his comments about defeating Hamas-style political religion echo the party's line:"Islam is not violent," he said. "I want to preach good Islam -- moderate and non-partisan."
[Picture: Panorama of Nablus. From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nablus]
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Who is Rumi?
By Andy Markowitz - Prague Daily Monitor - Prague, Czech RepublicWednesday, November 7, 2007
Who is Rumi? A 13th-century Persian mystic. An esteemed jurist and theologian. Inspiration for the ancient Mevlevi Order of whirling dervishes. And, at the moment, just about the world's most popular poet.
Rediscovered in recent decades, Rumi's teachings on life and love have inspired scholarship, symphonies, seminars and best-selling books.
As UNESCO marks the International Year of Rumi (he was born in 1207), Prague gets a taste this week with the Rumi Alive Festival, featuring conferences, dance workshops and concerts, and the European premiere of the US documentary Rumi Returning.
(8-11 November, various venues)
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
A gift from God to me
By Faruk Akkan with Y. Niyazbayev in Moscow - Today's Zaman - Istanbul, Turkey; Tuesday, November 6, 2007Tekbilek and his multinational ensemble enchant Moscow audience
Renowned ney virtuoso Ömer Faruk Tekbilek and his multinational ensemble performed an unforgettable concert in Moscow over the weekend to an audience of Russians, Tatars and Armenians.
Tekbilek, one of the most important representatives of Sufi music in the world whose compositions are featured in numerous world music compilations by famed DJs, fascinated the audience at the Mir Concert Hall with his command of several oriental music instruments including the ney (reed flute), the zurna (double-reed oboe-like instrument with a buzzing tone), bağlama (long-necked lute) and percussions.
Tekbilek, who likens playing music to praying and who doesn't separate music and Sufism from each other, also recited a number of hymns and parts of the Quran during the concert.
Accompanying him was his multinational ensemble, consisting of Armenian percussionist River Guerguerian on the bendir (a percussion instrument), Israeli-born Canadian musician Itamar Erez on the guitar and Greek musician Yannis Dimitriadis on the keyboard, while Tekbilek's son, Murat, played the darbuka (a type of drum).
In what was his first-ever performance in Moscow, Tekbilek said: "I've been going to Spain, Brazil, Israel, Greece and the Arab countries. We are also planning a concert in Armenia. They all receive us very well. Music goes straight to people's hearts. Humanity can be understood better through music."
Speaking to the Cihan news agency, Tekbilek said there was no point in arguing which one of the paths was better to follow according to Sufism, but to "follow the path of the creator as all messengers point out."
Proud of his multinational ensemble, Tekbilek said: "This ensemble is a gift to me from God. I wanted somebody from the West to play the keyboard since the Western culture is closer to this instrument, but for the rest of the musicians, I had no plans. They found me. All God given."
Tekbilek, who visits Greece frequently for concerts, recalling one of his visits there, said: "The Greek state radio interviewed with me. We hugged each other. They told me how close our cultures are. ... People desire peace. I go to Israel and the same thing happens there. Arabs and Israelis share the same excitement at the concerts. They don't want wars."
Meanwhile, bendir player Guerguerian, who was born in Canada to Armenian, Egyptian and Syrian parents, said: "Greek, Armenian or Turk, we all speak the same language harmoniously here. We should not carry yesterday's historical problems to the present day obstructing the future. I love and respect the Turkish people. I'd like our children to live in a world of peace and love."
Born in Ankara, Tekbilek's career reached a new height after he moved to the United States in 1976 and started working with musician and record producer Brian Keane.
Together they composed a song for a documentary about Ottoman Emperor Süleyman to coincide with the opening of an exhibition at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, featured on Keane's 1988 album "Süleyman the Magnificent."
He has since established himself as one of the world's foremost exponents of Middle Eastern music. A multi-instrumentalist par excellence, he has collaborated with a number of leading musicians of international repute such as jazz trumpeter Don Cherry, keyboard player Karl Berger and ex-Cream rock drummer Ginger Baker.
He has contributed to numerous film and television scores and many recordings including world sacred music albums and has been touring extensively throughout the Middle East, Europe, Australia and America.
[Picture: Internationally acclaimed Turkish musician Ömer Faruk Tekbilek blows the reed flute during a concert at İstanbul’s Harbiye Open-air Theater, accompanied by the band Metropol, in May 2005.]
You answer violence with love
Norwalk Plus Magazine - Norwalk, CT; U.S.A.Tuesday, November 6, 2007
A 13th century Persian poet, whose simple yet deep words continue to have relevance in the modern world, will be honored at Sacred Heart University on November 13th through literature, music and Sufi-dance.
The event, An Evening with Rumi: Poet of Peace, will pay tribute to the poet, jurist and theologian. The event is open to the public, free of charge.
The event will feature the University Choir singing Rumi poems; Columbia University Professor Hossein Kamali lecturing on Rumi and Islam; Alan Godlas, Associate Professor in the Department of Religion at the University of Georgia, lecturing on Rumi and Sufism; poetry readings in Persian and English, and musical performances by Hossein Behroozinia and Pejman Hadadi – members of Dastan Ensemble, a world-renowned group of classical Persian musicians.
Sufi dances will be presented by Khadija Julia Goforth and her group of Whirling Dervishes.
Mowlana Jalal al-Din Mohammad Balkhi Rumi was born in 1207 in the ancient city of Balkh, in present day Afghanistan and in 1273 passed away in the city of Ghoonieh, in present day Turkey. Rumi after Shakespeare, is considered the most popular poet in the world. Sales of his poetry books are second only to the Christian Bible.
“He is the universal voice,” said event director, Cima Sedigh, associate professor of Education.
After Rumi’s death, his followers founded a religious order of Sufis referred to as the Whirling Dervishes. While entertaining, their form of dance is not intended for performance but rather for spiritual enlightenment, a physical means to try to attain religious ecstasy. They are true practitioners of Sufism, a mystical Islamic tradition, Sedigh said.
Sedigh said she decided to organize the tribute to Rumi because 2007 marks the 800th anniversary of his birth, but more importantly because she wants his voice to be heard over the din of violence throughout the world.
“I am overwhelmed by the amount of violence that I hear and that I see on the news. From the perspective of an educator, it is vital to educate students on peaceful options that we have to invest in and explore. We have to become skillful at solving conflicts through non-violent techniques and at how to promote peace,” said Sedigh, who is of Persian descent.
“There’s a sense that violence is a justifiable response even to violence when, in fact, the teaching in my tradition is that you answer violence with love; you love your enemies, you turn the other cheek,” said June-Ann Greeley, head of SHU’s Middle Eastern Studies program.
“Rumi is just this amazing voice of love and unity and tolerance and going beyond our differences. He has this wonderful line in one of his poems that says basically, ‘I’m not a Jew, I’m not a Muslim, I’m not a Christian, I’m not a this, I’m not a that, I am every man, I am a child of God.’ It’s just this amazing language that’s very simple and yet very deep,” Greeley said.
Robin McAllister, associate professor of English said, “Rumi's poetry is about the search for love in all its dimensions, human and divine. It is both contemplative and passionate, something to think about, something to act out in our hearts.”
Sedigh said the Rumi event will serve as an introduction to an “Education for Peace” unit and a course she will teach at SHU on peace education.
[Visit the Sacred Heart University at www.sacredheart.edu]
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
An 800-year-old form of prayer
The Ottawa Citizen - Ontario, CanadaMonday, November 5, 2007
Whirling dervishes to bring dose of 'eastern spirituality' to Ottawa
Whirling dervishes will appear Tuesday [today] night at Centrepointe Theatre, performing an 800-year-old form of prayer as part of a tribute to the 13th-century Muslim mystic and poet, Rumi.
UNESCO has declared 2007 the year of Rumi to honour the man whose poetry has as much, if not more stature in the Muslim world as William Shakespeare does in the West.
In 1997, The Christian Science Monitor ranked him as the bestselling poet in the United States. Artists as diverse as fashion designer Donna Karan, composer Philip Glass and author Deepak Chopra have turned to Rumi for inspiration.
The word "dervish" derives from "at the doorway," meaning at the edge of entering into a mystical state. The dervishes dance in huge white robes, spinning on their own axis, and around one another, symbolizing the path of the Earth around the sun, and man around Allah. Their tall hats represent the tombstone of the ego.
It takes about three years to become fully adept, although some North American teachers have been offering it almost like yoga, quite divided from any sense of faith, never mind Islam, says Ahmet Karamustafa, a professor of Islamic history and religion at Washington University in St. Louis.
"It certainly has grown more popular in North America and Europe. In some ways, it's another wave of 'eastern spirituality.' It's just the latest on the scene."
Still, most dervishes are dancing to bring the message of Islamic mysticism, not to make money, he says.
The performance is sponsored by the Canadian Institute of Interfaith Dialogue, which also held a symposium on Rumi on Monday.
Whirling Dervishes perform at Centrepointe Theatre Tuesday, November 6 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets $30 to $55.
[Visit the Canadian Institute for Interfaith Dialogue at http://www.ciid.ca/CIID/]
Sunday, November 04, 2007
People in worship: Rumi in Michigan
By Alexis Coxon - Lansing State Journal - Lansing, MI, U.S.A.Saturday, November 3, 2007
Michigan State University did host a conference yesterday [Saturday] on Rumi, the 13th-century Muslim poet, mystic and philosopher.
The conference was followed by a night-long poetry reading, whirling dervishes and traditional Sufi music.
More at http://rumi.history.msu.edu/.
There will be another celebration with live music, whirling dervishes from Turkey, calligraphy and a play about Rumi at 6 p.m. today [Sunday] at Holt High School, 5885 W. Holt Road in Holt.
Tickets are $30, $20 for students, with discounts for groups of two or more. For more information, visit http://www.glsfc.org/.
Michigan State University did host a conference yesterday [Saturday] on Rumi, the 13th-century Muslim poet, mystic and philosopher.
The conference was followed by a night-long poetry reading, whirling dervishes and traditional Sufi music.
More at http://rumi.history.msu.edu/.
There will be another celebration with live music, whirling dervishes from Turkey, calligraphy and a play about Rumi at 6 p.m. today [Sunday] at Holt High School, 5885 W. Holt Road in Holt.
Tickets are $30, $20 for students, with discounts for groups of two or more. For more information, visit http://www.glsfc.org/.
So what is it about Rumi?
By Mohammed Wajihuddin - The Times of India - India
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Ziauddin Shakeb was horrified when he recently read a Rumi couplet translated thus: "She came to my bedroom and I tore apart her blouse."
"Rumi was a poet of love, not sex," protests the senior Hyderabad scholar. "I don't mind if Rumi is used in heavy metal as long as he is not distorted."
Crude and inaccurate translations are perhaps inevitable when a poet become popular.
Jalaluddin Rumi (1207-1273) has never wanted for followers and UNESCO's announcing of 2007 as the 'International Year of Rumi' has only fuelled the global interest in the mystic poet who once clung to a pole outside his house, dancing in divine ecstasy.
So what is it about Rumi? What makes him the darling of the seminar and lecture circuit, of Sufi dilettantes and secular gatherings?
"Most Sufi poets sound plaintive while Rumi is essentially cheerful and doesn't complain," says Sabr Havewalla who taught Persian at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi before returning to Mumbai last year.
A young Sabr first read Rumi at St Xavier's College, and fell in love. "Our Persian teacher M. K. Kamran would make Rumi come alive in classroom. The fascination has never flagged," recalls the gentle Parsi who is keen to point out that Rumi was influenced by many sources including the stories in the Panchtantra.
When the Mumbai-born, San Francisco-based activist Shahnaz Taplin held her wedding reception at Devigarh in Udaipur last year, she hired ghazal singer Rita Ganguly to present Rumi. "His poetry is characterised by both a raw sensuality and spirituality.
He addresses the mundane and the sublime," writes Shahnaz in an e-mail interview. In India, Rumi, like Kabir and Meerabai, is loved by those of every creed.
The popular television dharm guru Asaram Bapu is a big fan of Rumi, and an even more famous one is the best-selling retailer of spirituality, Deepak Chopra. "Reading Rumi, a chill runs up your spine because you have the uncanny feeling that you have been where he is," says Chopra in his best-selling book, The Soul in Love.
"No poet is more intimate than Rumi, no lover more crazed, no saint more innocent."
It is this unique intimacy that drew the Mumbai-based Sanskrit scholar S A Upadhyay to Rumi. "I read a few poems in translation and was mesmerised," says Upadhyay.
Film-maker Muzaffar Ali, best known for Umrao Jaan, has carried Rumi in his heart for years. "Everything about him is spiritually elevating. The concept of dancing dervishes is actually a way of total submission to the creator. His 4,50,00 couplets just boggles the mind. Only a blessed soul could have achieved that," raves Ali, who is making a film on the poet and who edits a journal called Hu (a Sufi invocation).
It was to Rumi that a terror-torn America turned after the September 11 attacks. Overnight, as sales of the Bible and Koran rose simultaneously, Rumi became the fastest-selling poet in the US. It was like a desperate attempt to understand or make sense of the changed world.
It was thanks mainly to one man that the 13th-century Persian mystic was accessible to the US readership. In 1976, the famous poet Robert Bly had handed Barks a stilted translation of Rumi with the words "Release them from their scholarly cages".
Barks went on to create one of the most finest translations of Rumi, encapsulating the spirit and humour of the original.
Another American of Turkish origin, Dr Nevit Ergin, has made a career of Rumi. The globe-trotting Sufi preacher, on an invitation by American Consulate, is delivering lectures in Mumbai and Indore next week.
Indoctrinated into the mystical path by wandering dervish Shams Tabriz, Rumi tributed his mentor with lyrical poems captured in his famous book, Divan Shams Tabrizi. Rumi was so in awe of his guru that he once said, "I won't try to talk about Shams. Language cannot touch that presence."
Undoubtedly, Shams's best gift to his illustrious disciple was Sema or the whirling ceremony. And nobody performs it better than the dervishes from Konya (Turkey) where Rumi is entombed in a massive mausoleum which also houses a mosque, a dance hall and the tombs of leaders of the Mevlevi order.
"Rumi is a great lover of divine truth and dancing dervishes actually help you get closer to that truth," says the Turkish cultural ambassador M Ali Seker, whose organisation Indialogue Foundation is holding a Sema concert in Mumbai next month.
It's a Rumi party and everyone's invited. As the master himself would have said:
Come, come again, whoever your are, come!
Heathen, fire worshipper or idolatrous, come!
Come even if you broke your penitence a hundred times,
Ours is the portal of hope, come as you are.
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Ziauddin Shakeb was horrified when he recently read a Rumi couplet translated thus: "She came to my bedroom and I tore apart her blouse."
"Rumi was a poet of love, not sex," protests the senior Hyderabad scholar. "I don't mind if Rumi is used in heavy metal as long as he is not distorted."
Crude and inaccurate translations are perhaps inevitable when a poet become popular.
Jalaluddin Rumi (1207-1273) has never wanted for followers and UNESCO's announcing of 2007 as the 'International Year of Rumi' has only fuelled the global interest in the mystic poet who once clung to a pole outside his house, dancing in divine ecstasy.
So what is it about Rumi? What makes him the darling of the seminar and lecture circuit, of Sufi dilettantes and secular gatherings?
"Most Sufi poets sound plaintive while Rumi is essentially cheerful and doesn't complain," says Sabr Havewalla who taught Persian at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi before returning to Mumbai last year.
A young Sabr first read Rumi at St Xavier's College, and fell in love. "Our Persian teacher M. K. Kamran would make Rumi come alive in classroom. The fascination has never flagged," recalls the gentle Parsi who is keen to point out that Rumi was influenced by many sources including the stories in the Panchtantra.
When the Mumbai-born, San Francisco-based activist Shahnaz Taplin held her wedding reception at Devigarh in Udaipur last year, she hired ghazal singer Rita Ganguly to present Rumi. "His poetry is characterised by both a raw sensuality and spirituality.
He addresses the mundane and the sublime," writes Shahnaz in an e-mail interview. In India, Rumi, like Kabir and Meerabai, is loved by those of every creed.
The popular television dharm guru Asaram Bapu is a big fan of Rumi, and an even more famous one is the best-selling retailer of spirituality, Deepak Chopra. "Reading Rumi, a chill runs up your spine because you have the uncanny feeling that you have been where he is," says Chopra in his best-selling book, The Soul in Love.
"No poet is more intimate than Rumi, no lover more crazed, no saint more innocent."
It is this unique intimacy that drew the Mumbai-based Sanskrit scholar S A Upadhyay to Rumi. "I read a few poems in translation and was mesmerised," says Upadhyay.
Film-maker Muzaffar Ali, best known for Umrao Jaan, has carried Rumi in his heart for years. "Everything about him is spiritually elevating. The concept of dancing dervishes is actually a way of total submission to the creator. His 4,50,00 couplets just boggles the mind. Only a blessed soul could have achieved that," raves Ali, who is making a film on the poet and who edits a journal called Hu (a Sufi invocation).
It was to Rumi that a terror-torn America turned after the September 11 attacks. Overnight, as sales of the Bible and Koran rose simultaneously, Rumi became the fastest-selling poet in the US. It was like a desperate attempt to understand or make sense of the changed world.
It was thanks mainly to one man that the 13th-century Persian mystic was accessible to the US readership. In 1976, the famous poet Robert Bly had handed Barks a stilted translation of Rumi with the words "Release them from their scholarly cages".
Barks went on to create one of the most finest translations of Rumi, encapsulating the spirit and humour of the original.
Another American of Turkish origin, Dr Nevit Ergin, has made a career of Rumi. The globe-trotting Sufi preacher, on an invitation by American Consulate, is delivering lectures in Mumbai and Indore next week.
Indoctrinated into the mystical path by wandering dervish Shams Tabriz, Rumi tributed his mentor with lyrical poems captured in his famous book, Divan Shams Tabrizi. Rumi was so in awe of his guru that he once said, "I won't try to talk about Shams. Language cannot touch that presence."
Undoubtedly, Shams's best gift to his illustrious disciple was Sema or the whirling ceremony. And nobody performs it better than the dervishes from Konya (Turkey) where Rumi is entombed in a massive mausoleum which also houses a mosque, a dance hall and the tombs of leaders of the Mevlevi order.
"Rumi is a great lover of divine truth and dancing dervishes actually help you get closer to that truth," says the Turkish cultural ambassador M Ali Seker, whose organisation Indialogue Foundation is holding a Sema concert in Mumbai next month.
It's a Rumi party and everyone's invited. As the master himself would have said:
Come, come again, whoever your are, come!
Heathen, fire worshipper or idolatrous, come!
Come even if you broke your penitence a hundred times,
Ours is the portal of hope, come as you are.
Soaring to Ecstasy
Indiana University - Bloomington, IN, U.S.A.Friday, November 2, 2007
Talat Halman, famous Turkish poet, translator, and cultural historian, will present a "live documentary" titled, "Rumi: Soaring to Ecstasy," at 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 12, at the Lilly Auditorium in University Library at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis.
The event is free and open to the public.
Halman was Turkey's first Minister of Culture. He has taught at Columbia University, Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania, and New York University, where he also served as Chairman of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Literatures.
Currently he is Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Letters at Bilkent University.
Halman also is a well-known translator into English as well Turkish. His books in English include two collections of his poems: "Shadows of Love," published in Canada, and "A Last Lullaby," published in the United States.
His 1984 book on Rumi preceded and contributed to the wave of Rumi enthusiasm in the United States in the 1990s.
For more information, contact Cathie Carrigan, IUPUI, 217-274-2199.
Talat Halman, famous Turkish poet, translator, and cultural historian, will present a "live documentary" titled, "Rumi: Soaring to Ecstasy," at 7 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 12, at the Lilly Auditorium in University Library at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis.
The event is free and open to the public.
Halman was Turkey's first Minister of Culture. He has taught at Columbia University, Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania, and New York University, where he also served as Chairman of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Literatures.
Currently he is Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Letters at Bilkent University.
Halman also is a well-known translator into English as well Turkish. His books in English include two collections of his poems: "Shadows of Love," published in Canada, and "A Last Lullaby," published in the United States.
His 1984 book on Rumi preceded and contributed to the wave of Rumi enthusiasm in the United States in the 1990s.
For more information, contact Cathie Carrigan, IUPUI, 217-274-2199.
Saturday, November 03, 2007
An Ecstatic Celebration
By Joseph Dalton - Chronogram Magazine - Kingston, NY, U.S.A.Monday, October 29, 2007
A few years ago, New Age author Andrew Harvey visited the tomb of the 13th-century mystical poet and Sufi teacher Jalaluddin Rumi, in Konya, Turkey.
Though he’s a devout and deeply serious disciple of Rumi’s philosophies, Harvey became giddy as he stood before the tomb and read aloud some of the master’s verses on love and death.
“From the tomb was coming such an overwhelming power, a lava-like flow of almost intolerable, tender passion, that it was impossible not to laugh,” recalls Harvey. “To even imagine that Rumi was dead, when he’s the most living being imaginable, is an illusion.”
That view explains the earthly and rather ambitious title “Rumi Embodied” for a symposium at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health in Lenox, Massachusetts—part of the worldwide celebration of Rumi’s 800th birthday in 1207.
The program will feature an impressive lineup of speakers, headlined by Harvey, author Caroline Myss (Anatomy of the Spirit), and Rumi translator Coleman Barks.
Besides inspirational talks, there will be sessions on ecstatic poetry and music, and even a lesson in Sufi whirling. Such a mix is only fitting, since Rumi was more than a poet.
Says Harvey, “he combined the intellect of a Plato, the vision and passion and soul-force of a Christ or Buddha, and the extravagant literary gifts of a Shakespeare.”
“Rumi Embodied: An Ecstatic Celebration” will be held at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, Lenox, MA, U.S.A., November 15-18. (866) 200-5203; http://www.kripalu.org/.
Moussem of saint Sidi Bouâbid Cherki
[From the French language press]:Brahim Frej, chambellan de S.M. le Roi, a remis, vendredi à Boujaad, un don Royal au profit des Chorfas Cherkaouiyines, à l'occasion de l'ouverture du Moussem religieux et culturel du saint Sidi Abou Abdellah Mohamed Cherki.
Le Matin, Maroc - samedi 27 novembre, 2007 - par MAP
Brahim Frej, Chamberlain to H.M. the King, handed Friday in Boujaad, a Royal donation for the benefit of 173 Chorfas [descendants of the family of the Prophet (pbuh) and reciters of the Holy Qur'an] Cherkaouiyines, on the occasion of the opening of the religious and cultural Moussem of saint Sidi Abdellah Abu Mohamed Cherki.
On this occasion Mr. Frej gave a presentation of the project for development and rehabilitation of the mausoleum of Sheikh Sidi Abdellah Abu Mohammed Cherki, better known by the Moroccans as "Sidi Bouâbid Cherki."
The city of Boujaad, home of the Zaouia [Madrassa] Cherkaouia, was founded in the 16th century (10th of Hegira) at the time of Sultan Ahmed El Mansour Eddahbi, by Shaykh Abou Abdellah Mohamed Cherki, one of the foremost Sufi Masters in the country.
[Picture: Boujaad at the Moussem. Photo : http://www.islamictourism.com/]
Friday, November 02, 2007
Gamble everything for Love!
PRNewswire - Earth Times - London, U.K.Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Rumi Returning, the documentary biopic produced and written by Kell Kearns and Cynthia Lukas, is slated for its US premiere at the 2007 Santa Fe Film Festival (http://www.santafefilmfestival.com/), November 28 through December 2nd.
"Our selection by The Santa Fe Film Festival is a high point in a huge leap of faith," said narrator Lukas. "In my onscreen interview with Coleman Barks (http://www.colemanbarks.com/), whose translations have made Rumi the most popular poet in the United States, he quotes one of his favorite Rumi poems, 'Gamble everything for love!' We gambled everything for love with Rumi Returning." (http://www.heavenearth.net/biography.htm)
2007 is Jalalludin Rumi's 800th birthday. UNESCO declared it The International Year of Rumi, and Rumi festivals suddenly sprang up everywhere. (http://tinyurl.com/29sjrk)
Kearns and Lukas completed principal photography, dramatizations, and interviews in late May and rushed to the finish line in order to have the HD movie ready for the Rumi mania sweeping the globe. (http://tinyurl.com/2aocom)
They dug deep into their own pockets to finance the film's completion. Voila! Virtually overnight the HD movie rocketed off in an impressive launch.
The world premiere of Rumi Returning occurred on September 23rd, at the UNESCO sponsored Universal Forum of Cultures in Monterrey, Mexico. Over a thousand spiritual leaders from every continent and major religion filled the theatre.
Inspired, they stayed for an hour following the movie and engaged in spontaneous interfaith dialog. (http://tinyurl.com/yp9mjt)
Anop Vora attended, representing the Jains. "Rumi Returning is a great piece of work," he said. "The message of peace and love emanating from the film should be of lasting value to the whole of mankind." (http://www.jaina.org/)
Akbar S. Ahmed, Chair of Islamic Studies at American University, declared that "the film is of historic importance." Ahmed is the subject of the BBC documentary Living Islam, and the author of Journey Into Islam. (http://www.akbarahmed.org/)
In telling the great Muslim mystic's story, Rumi Returning weaves a tapestry of the past, present and timeless. The movie is enveloped in gorgeous cinematography shot throughout Turkey, and the mesmerizing music and sacred dance of the whirling dervishes that Rumi inspired. The rapturous images complement beautifully Rumi's unparalleled poetry of the universal heart.
"We hope everyone loves this movie," said director Kell Kearns. "Yet we made a conscious effort to show Rumi's universal mysticism as the highest realization of Islam. Given the tragedy of the hijacking of the Muslim ideal today by a misguided few we want the audience to know that Rumi, as commentator Andrew Harvey puts it, 'is the light in the eye of The Prophet.'" (http://www.andrewharvey.net/)
After the triumph in Mexico things fell into place quickly. Prague, The Czech Republic, asked to host the European premiere at its Rumi Alive Festival, November 8-11th (http://www.rumialive.org/).
A Canadian premiere surfaced for November 18-20th at the Middle Eastern Studies Association Conference in Montreal. An expected 2,000 scholars and academicians will attend (http://www.mesa.arizona.edu/).
The film is slated for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in May 2008 (http://www.metmuseum.org/).
2007 is Jalalludin Rumi's 800th birthday. UNESCO declared it The International Year of Rumi, and Rumi festivals suddenly sprang up everywhere. (http://tinyurl.com/29sjrk)
Kearns and Lukas completed principal photography, dramatizations, and interviews in late May and rushed to the finish line in order to have the HD movie ready for the Rumi mania sweeping the globe. (http://tinyurl.com/2aocom)
They dug deep into their own pockets to finance the film's completion. Voila! Virtually overnight the HD movie rocketed off in an impressive launch.
The world premiere of Rumi Returning occurred on September 23rd, at the UNESCO sponsored Universal Forum of Cultures in Monterrey, Mexico. Over a thousand spiritual leaders from every continent and major religion filled the theatre.
Inspired, they stayed for an hour following the movie and engaged in spontaneous interfaith dialog. (http://tinyurl.com/yp9mjt)
Anop Vora attended, representing the Jains. "Rumi Returning is a great piece of work," he said. "The message of peace and love emanating from the film should be of lasting value to the whole of mankind." (http://www.jaina.org/)
Akbar S. Ahmed, Chair of Islamic Studies at American University, declared that "the film is of historic importance." Ahmed is the subject of the BBC documentary Living Islam, and the author of Journey Into Islam. (http://www.akbarahmed.org/)
In telling the great Muslim mystic's story, Rumi Returning weaves a tapestry of the past, present and timeless. The movie is enveloped in gorgeous cinematography shot throughout Turkey, and the mesmerizing music and sacred dance of the whirling dervishes that Rumi inspired. The rapturous images complement beautifully Rumi's unparalleled poetry of the universal heart.
"We hope everyone loves this movie," said director Kell Kearns. "Yet we made a conscious effort to show Rumi's universal mysticism as the highest realization of Islam. Given the tragedy of the hijacking of the Muslim ideal today by a misguided few we want the audience to know that Rumi, as commentator Andrew Harvey puts it, 'is the light in the eye of The Prophet.'" (http://www.andrewharvey.net/)
After the triumph in Mexico things fell into place quickly. Prague, The Czech Republic, asked to host the European premiere at its Rumi Alive Festival, November 8-11th (http://www.rumialive.org/).
A Canadian premiere surfaced for November 18-20th at the Middle Eastern Studies Association Conference in Montreal. An expected 2,000 scholars and academicians will attend (http://www.mesa.arizona.edu/).
The film is slated for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in May 2008 (http://www.metmuseum.org/).
Shaykh Aheddad and the Tariqa Rahmania
[From the French language press]:Récemment paru aux éditions El Amel, sous la plume de Bettache Ali, professeur d’histoire, voilà un livre qui vient fort à propos dépoussiérer un tant soit peu la mémoire d’un géant appelé Cheikh Aheddad, chef spirituel de la Tariqa Rahmania et leader charismatique de la Révolution de 1871, aux côtés du légendaire Mokrani.
El Watan, Algérie - mercredi 31 octobre 2007 - Bureau Culture
Recently published through El Amel, penned by Bettache Ali, a professor of history, this is a book that very timely dusts the memory of a giant called Cheikh Aheddad, shaykh of theTariqa Rahmania and charismatic leader of the Revolution of 1871, along with the legendary Mokrani.
The main merit of the book is to give more details about the Rahmania Brotherhood in general and the life and journey of Shaykh Aheddad.
Divided into three main sections that address issues of Sufism and the conflict between Islam to Christianity, the book, which is built around the personality of the Shaykh, is trying to restore the context that led to the famous revolt of 1871.
Bettache Ali
Aperçu sur l’histoire de la Kabylie:
Mokrani, Cheikh Aheddad et la Révolution de 1871
Editions El Amel
"A Persian poet possessing a universal character"
TT Culture Desk - Tehran Times - Tehran, IranWednesday, October 31, 2007
Speaking at the international congress held to commemorate the 800th birth anniversary of Molana Jalal ad-Din Rumi at the IRIB International Conference Hall on Monday, Jalali noted that the world of today is in more need than ever of listening to the words of Rumi.
Ahmad Jalali, Iran’s former UNESCO ambassador in Paris emphasized that the first word of the Quran which descended from Allah to the Holy Prophet Muhammad(S) means ‘read’ and the first words of Molana Rumi in his Masnavi Manavi refer to listening.
He expounded on this idea by saying, “In the world of today, where wars are caused by ideological differences, more attention should be paid to thoughts that lead towards peace.”
Jalali, also talked about the attention that international centers, including UNESCO, have paid to the legacy left to mankind by Rumi.
He also mentioned that UNESCO has requested that every country pay respect to the universal character of Rumi. “UNESCO stresses that Rumi is a spiritual leader, a Persian poet possessing a universal character, whose poetry has been translated into many languages,” he explained.
Jalali received the Rumi commemorative medal from Director General of UNESCO Koichiro Matsuura at the celebration ceremony of the 800th birth anniversary of Rumi in Paris.
Ahmad Jalali is currently head of the Majlis library, museum, and documents.
The Rumi congress which began in Tehran on Sunday traveled to Tabriz on Tuesday to culminate on Thursday [November 1st] in Khoy, the resting place of Shams.
Rumi’s approach towards religion
Mostafa Malekian, theologian and philosophy scholar, made a speech about Rumi’s attitude towards religion. He stated that he believed Rumi promoted dialogue between world religions.
He went on to say that Rumi mentions several attitudes towards religion. He explained that Rumi considered all monotheistic religions to be right and believed that Islam includes all other faiths.
Malekian pointed out that it is this characteristic that differentiates Islam from other religions.
Rumi believed all religions have the same destination but that their adherents are traveling along different paths.
In conclusion, Malekian said that Rumi also pointed the way towards dialogue between religions in his proposal that a believer should seek knowledge about other religions whilst keeping his own faith.
Rumi’s narration concerning the world
Mohammad Mojtahed-Shabestari, professor of the University of Tehran delivered a speech entitled “Rumi’s Narration Concerning the World”.
Shabestari mentioned that Rumi talked about the world in the form of a tale and that he conveyed his mysticism and philosophical viewpoints in the form of allegories.
Rumi considered the world to be a text that each human being is reading from his own point of view.
He used few adjectives and preferred to explain every notion through tales, he added.
His stories commence from a familiar concept and end in divine truth. His aim was to convey a deep meaning using simple language understood by all people, Shabestari concluded.
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Ousting Evil From Our Midst: Different Ways
By Sri Sri Ravi Shankar - The Times of India - India
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
The concept of evil, as well as the approach to dealing with evil is different in eastern and western religious traditions and culture.
The East believes that it is God's job to deal with evil. The individual has nothing to do with it; he can only pray. It is the gods who will take action to oust evil from our midst.
In Tibetan Buddhism and Taoism, for example, there are specific deities responsible for counteracting evil forces, like Avalokateshvara in Tibetan Buddhism and the God Shui-kuan in Taosim.
In Hinduism, it is Goddess Durga who destroys the evil Mahishasura with one 'Hmmkar'. There are also a number of other Hindu deities including Shiva, Narasimha in the Vaishnava tradition, Hanuman, Kali, Bhairava, and Pratyengeera who have, from time to time, come to the rescue by overpowering evil forces.
So the power of prayer is appreciated; one needs only to pray and deities will take care.
The eastern approach will doubtless seem odd if not completely incomprehensible in the West where there is a much more action-oriented approach to dealing with evil. In the Abrahamic traditions, it is viewed as the responsibility of the individual to take action against evil and to deal firmly with one's enemies.
The Old Testament law of "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" goes back as far as Moses (Exodus 21:22-25). This principle clearly favours activism when it comes to dealing with one's enemies. Though Christianity professes ideals like "turning the other cheek" and "loving thy enemy" (Matthew 5:38-45), it is still action-oriented and responsibility to handle evil is left to the individual.
In Islam, the "devil" is pelted with stones by pilgrims as part of a ritual during Hajj. Here, evil is symbolically perceived as an external threat to religion. So stones are pelted to drive it away.
However, in some interpretations and in Sufism, jehad is more an internal exercise, non-reactive approach on the spiritual path. The philosophy of simply staying surrendered to God and letting God take care of the problem is deeply embedded in the consciousness in the East.
When Hindus see something evil, they leave it to God. A verse says: "Evam eva tvaya karyan, asmat vairi vinashanam" which means "It is your job to destroy my enemies".
In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says, "Mayaivaite nihatah purvam eva/ nimitta-matram bhava savya-sacin" which means "I have already killed the Kauravas (the enemy). You simply be the instrument and take credit for it".
The main idea is that to deal with evil, there needs to be some avatar, some great man, who will come and take care of it. Anyone who deals with evil is therefore raised to the level of a god, so that human beings can remain passive and non-violent.
At the most, to ward off evil people put demonic figures or scarecrows on rooftops but these have no scriptural references.
There are many superstitious practices to ward off evil around the world, especially in folklore. The non-violent and non-retaliatory approach evidenced in India's tradition is due in large part to the under-lying philosophy embedded in the Hindu consciousness that God will take care of any evil or enemy.
This philosophy, however, has often served as an excuse for passivity.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
The concept of evil, as well as the approach to dealing with evil is different in eastern and western religious traditions and culture.
The East believes that it is God's job to deal with evil. The individual has nothing to do with it; he can only pray. It is the gods who will take action to oust evil from our midst.
In Tibetan Buddhism and Taoism, for example, there are specific deities responsible for counteracting evil forces, like Avalokateshvara in Tibetan Buddhism and the God Shui-kuan in Taosim.
In Hinduism, it is Goddess Durga who destroys the evil Mahishasura with one 'Hmmkar'. There are also a number of other Hindu deities including Shiva, Narasimha in the Vaishnava tradition, Hanuman, Kali, Bhairava, and Pratyengeera who have, from time to time, come to the rescue by overpowering evil forces.
So the power of prayer is appreciated; one needs only to pray and deities will take care.
The eastern approach will doubtless seem odd if not completely incomprehensible in the West where there is a much more action-oriented approach to dealing with evil. In the Abrahamic traditions, it is viewed as the responsibility of the individual to take action against evil and to deal firmly with one's enemies.
The Old Testament law of "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" goes back as far as Moses (Exodus 21:22-25). This principle clearly favours activism when it comes to dealing with one's enemies. Though Christianity professes ideals like "turning the other cheek" and "loving thy enemy" (Matthew 5:38-45), it is still action-oriented and responsibility to handle evil is left to the individual.
In Islam, the "devil" is pelted with stones by pilgrims as part of a ritual during Hajj. Here, evil is symbolically perceived as an external threat to religion. So stones are pelted to drive it away.
However, in some interpretations and in Sufism, jehad is more an internal exercise, non-reactive approach on the spiritual path. The philosophy of simply staying surrendered to God and letting God take care of the problem is deeply embedded in the consciousness in the East.
When Hindus see something evil, they leave it to God. A verse says: "Evam eva tvaya karyan, asmat vairi vinashanam" which means "It is your job to destroy my enemies".
In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says, "Mayaivaite nihatah purvam eva/ nimitta-matram bhava savya-sacin" which means "I have already killed the Kauravas (the enemy). You simply be the instrument and take credit for it".
The main idea is that to deal with evil, there needs to be some avatar, some great man, who will come and take care of it. Anyone who deals with evil is therefore raised to the level of a god, so that human beings can remain passive and non-violent.
At the most, to ward off evil people put demonic figures or scarecrows on rooftops but these have no scriptural references.
There are many superstitious practices to ward off evil around the world, especially in folklore. The non-violent and non-retaliatory approach evidenced in India's tradition is due in large part to the under-lying philosophy embedded in the Hindu consciousness that God will take care of any evil or enemy.
This philosophy, however, has often served as an excuse for passivity.
His prayers take wing
By Umarah Jamali - Gulf News - U.A.E.Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Kolkata: Walking past countless workshops where men stitch away readymade dresses in small coop-like rooms, along the maze of serpentine by-lanes reverberating with the noise of continuously clattering sewing machines, you will pass by Noor Nobi Mollah's makeshift workshop.
Hunched over his sewing machine and stitching baby frocks in his makeshift workshop that is squeezed in one corner of a crumbling century-old building, Mollah will easily get lost in the crowd of tens of thousands of tailors in Kolkata's sprawling garment manufacturing district of Metiabruz.
Get closer to Mollah on a Wednesday, when most Metiabruz garment industry workers take their weekly day off, and you will find what sets this unschooled man apart.
After working Thursday through Tuesday, up to 15 hours a day, Mollah takes time off each Wednesday to perform his most "precious duty" - freeing caged birds.
Every Tuesday evening, as soon as his week's production has been bought by the wholesalers, he hands over three-quarters of his earnings to his wife for the upkeep of his five children.
Weekly ritual
He keeps the rest for his Wednesday ritual, something he has been performing for the past 16 years with an almost unfailing regularity.
Years ago, bird sales were banned in India but bird markets still openly flourish where police and wildlife officials have been bribed.
The scene is no different in Kolkata's weekly pet markets where every Sunday village trappers and other bird merchants sell more than 6,000 birds to the city's bird lovers and bird sellers. The sellers pack the birds into rusty iron cages and hawk them in different parts of the city.
The bird sellers know well that they can bank on the "crazy" character of Mollah to pick up a few birds any Wednesday.
"Bird lovers prefer to buy the healthier and more beautiful birds but Mollah looks for those which have remained unsold for days - often sick or physically weak ones," says Golam Kuddus who has sold birds to Mollah dozens of times.
Mollah believes people who confine birds in cages should stop considering themselves bird lovers.
"If I go for beautiful birds, I can only purchase a few of them. Therefore, I look for less colourful and sick or weaker birds that often remain trapped in the mobile cages for longer. To me, it is lives and not beauty that count," he says.
On a good day, he manages to drive a good bargain of 15 or 20 birds for 400 or 500 rupees (Dh37-46) - 15 or 20 per cent of his week's income. He takes the caged birds home to feed them and tend to them. Then, in the afternoon, he goes to a nearby burial ground and releases them one by one from their cages.
Over the past 16 years, more than 15,000 starlings, sparrows, mynahs, Indian flinches and many other birds have had their freedom redeemed by Mollah, the "Birdman of Kolkata".
His unusual ritual stems from a personal tragedy that goes back 16 years, when an accident took the lives of two of his children and a nephew.
"I got cut off from the world. I was blind and deaf to whatever was going on around me. Life had lost all meaning for me," he recalls.
"Then one day, when I happened to look at a captive bird in my house, an unknown force drove me closer to it and I opened the cage - not knowing what exactly I was doing. As soon as the bird took flight, tears rolled down my eyes and it brought me great peace. I felt my soul was freeing itself from the ties of grief."
Solemn prayer
On his Wednesday ritual, as he sits by the grave of the three boys, he mutters something for a few minutes before setting the birds free. Asked about his prayer, he says: "Allah, I can do so little with my limited ability. Please accept whatever little offering I have brought to you and keep everyone in peace, in this world and in heaven."
He has even inspired a book. Veronika Martenova Charles, a Canadian writer released The Birdman, a story book for children, this year.
Rafique Anwar, a noted scholar of Sufism in Kolkata, compares Mollah's sympathy for his winged friends to the divine love a mystic Sufi holds in his heart. "However, being an uneducated man, Mollah himself is unable to realise it."
His wife and relatives have tried to reason with him about the "meaningless" ritual and the local people call him "Pagla Nobi" (Nobi, the madman).
Mollah couldn't care less. "I am not bothered about what people say. For my Allah and for my [dead] children, I shall keep setting birds free until the last Wednesday of my life."
[Picture: Great Indian Hornbill (Buceros bicornis). Image from:
http://www.bird-stamps.org/country/india.htm
http://www.bird-stamps.org/index.htm]
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