Thursday, May 08, 2008

Turkmenistan Conference Devoted to Sufi Saint Abu Sa'id Abu l-Khayr

June 25, 2007 [old news: Even though this is old news, since it deals with Sufism in Turkmenistan it is still newsworthy.]

Turkmenistan will host in November 2007 an international conference devoted to a famous Sufi saint.

National culture and heritage centre ‘Miras’, ministry of culture and broadcasting of Turkmenistan and municipality of Ashgabat will jointly organize the conference to highlight the life and work of Abu Said Abulkhair – better known as Myane Baba in Turkmenistan – on 13-15 November 2007.

The conference will take place in Ashgabat and the participants will visit the mausoleum of Myane Baba, a prime specimen of Muslim architecture of the period, some 200 kilometers east of Ashgabat.

Abu Said Abulkhair – also spelled Abusaeid Abolkheir – was a well known Sufi saint of 11th century in Ghaznavi and Seljuk era.

Biographical details of Abu Said Abulkhair mostly come from Asrar al-Tawhid (Secrets of Unity) by Ibn Munawar, a grandson of Abu Said Abulkhair. The book was written about 130 after the death of Abu Said Abulkhair.

The fame of Abu Said Abulkhair had spread throughout the Muslim world during his life time. Despite some doctrinal differences with the orthodox clergy, the popularity of Abu Said Abulkhair kept rising.

Abu Said Abulkhair had great reverence for Bayazid Bastami and Mansur Hallaj, two earlier Sufi saints who were vocal advocates of the possibility of oneness with God. He is also believed to have visited Sheikh Abul Hassan Kharqani and influenced by his personality.

Abu Said Abulkhair and the famous physician and philosopher Avicenna had several meetings and both were impressed by the depth of knowledge and vision of each other.

Abu Said Abulkhair focuses on elimination of self to reach God. He never referred to himself as I or we. For him it was always ‘they’ – oneness with God as referred to in speech from respectable distance.

Many Sufi masters including Fariduddin Attar of Nishapur considered Abu Said Abulkhair their spiritual guide and mentor. He was the trendsetter of a tradition that later came to be known as Persian school of thought in Sufism.

Here are a few sayings of Abu Said Abulkhair:

The veil between man and God is not the world, is not the throne of God, it is the illusion of "I", pass beyond yourself and you are there.

If you are not going to sacrifice your self do not spend your time with Sufi nonsense.

The meaning of Sufism is to put down what is in your head and to spare what is in your hand and not to shake when calamities befall you.

Here is a brief sample of the poetry of Abu Said Abulkhair:

What sweeter than this in the world!

Friend met friend and the lover joined his Beloved.

That was all sorrow, this is all joy

Those were all words, this is all reality.

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Thursday, May 08, 2008

Turkmenistan Conference Devoted to Sufi Saint Abu Sa'id Abu l-Khayr
June 25, 2007 [old news: Even though this is old news, since it deals with Sufism in Turkmenistan it is still newsworthy.]

Turkmenistan will host in November 2007 an international conference devoted to a famous Sufi saint.

National culture and heritage centre ‘Miras’, ministry of culture and broadcasting of Turkmenistan and municipality of Ashgabat will jointly organize the conference to highlight the life and work of Abu Said Abulkhair – better known as Myane Baba in Turkmenistan – on 13-15 November 2007.

The conference will take place in Ashgabat and the participants will visit the mausoleum of Myane Baba, a prime specimen of Muslim architecture of the period, some 200 kilometers east of Ashgabat.

Abu Said Abulkhair – also spelled Abusaeid Abolkheir – was a well known Sufi saint of 11th century in Ghaznavi and Seljuk era.

Biographical details of Abu Said Abulkhair mostly come from Asrar al-Tawhid (Secrets of Unity) by Ibn Munawar, a grandson of Abu Said Abulkhair. The book was written about 130 after the death of Abu Said Abulkhair.

The fame of Abu Said Abulkhair had spread throughout the Muslim world during his life time. Despite some doctrinal differences with the orthodox clergy, the popularity of Abu Said Abulkhair kept rising.

Abu Said Abulkhair had great reverence for Bayazid Bastami and Mansur Hallaj, two earlier Sufi saints who were vocal advocates of the possibility of oneness with God. He is also believed to have visited Sheikh Abul Hassan Kharqani and influenced by his personality.

Abu Said Abulkhair and the famous physician and philosopher Avicenna had several meetings and both were impressed by the depth of knowledge and vision of each other.

Abu Said Abulkhair focuses on elimination of self to reach God. He never referred to himself as I or we. For him it was always ‘they’ – oneness with God as referred to in speech from respectable distance.

Many Sufi masters including Fariduddin Attar of Nishapur considered Abu Said Abulkhair their spiritual guide and mentor. He was the trendsetter of a tradition that later came to be known as Persian school of thought in Sufism.

Here are a few sayings of Abu Said Abulkhair:

The veil between man and God is not the world, is not the throne of God, it is the illusion of "I", pass beyond yourself and you are there.

If you are not going to sacrifice your self do not spend your time with Sufi nonsense.

The meaning of Sufism is to put down what is in your head and to spare what is in your hand and not to shake when calamities befall you.

Here is a brief sample of the poetry of Abu Said Abulkhair:

What sweeter than this in the world!

Friend met friend and the lover joined his Beloved.

That was all sorrow, this is all joy

Those were all words, this is all reality.

No comments: