Intimacy with God

By Serena Bagley, "HPRC: Studies in Religion Public Lecture series, `Sufism in the Popular Mass Media` by Associate Professor Julia Howell (Griffith Asia Institute)" - UQ News - Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Monday, September 1st, 2008

As a carrier of Islam’s esoteric tradition, Sufism would seem to be an unlikely candidate for promoting Islamic piety in the popular mass media in Muslim majority societies of the 21st century.

In the past, guidance on its mystical path was offered only to dedicated initiates by spiritual directors (syekh) who had received from their own masters the authority to pass on their esoteric knowledge.

Moreover, in the twentieth century, all across the Muslim world, Sufism was attacked by Islam’s modernist reformers for supposedly being both heretical and anti-modern. It is thus remarkable that several of the most sensationally popular of Indonesia’s new breed of 21st century televangelists have promoted Islam by modelling ‘Sufistik’ forms of intensified piety.

A new genre of ‘Islamic’ novel published in the last three years and the bloc-buster films based on them also have strong Sufi themes, as do the songs of several popular Islamic bands.

This talk will examine the electronically-mediated mass predication programs of two of Indonesia’s best known ‘Sufistik’ preachers or dai. It will identify the elements of the Sufi tradition upon which they draw and examine how those elements can be projected on the silver screen to convey the intense spiritual intimacy with God which Muslims seek through Sufi devotions.

The programs of spiritual development promoted by these ‘Sufi’ televangelists will then be briefly contrasted to the Sufistic piety promoted through the new genre of Islamic novels and films.

Date: Tuesday, 02 September 2008, Time: 4:00pm - 5:00pm Room: Conference Room, SS&H Library, UQ Location: Duhig Building (St Lucia); Contact: Mrs Serena Bagley, Phone: 56320, Email: s.bagley@uq.edu.au