Saturday, January 31, 2009

Sufis' Mystical Power

By Philip Jenkins, "Mystical power" - The Boston Globe - Boston, MA, USA
Sunday, January 25, 2009

Thirty years ago this month, the collapse of the Shah's government marked the launch of Iran's Islamic Revolution, and since that point the topic of Islam has rarely been out of the headlines.

All too often, we hear about Islam in the context of intolerance and, often, violence -- of Al Qaeda savagery, of Taliban misogyny, of nuclear weapons in Pakistan and perhaps in Iran itself. Even in Europe, many fear the growth of a radical Islamic presence.

For three decades, Western observers have worked fervently to comprehend Islam's global power and appeal, its ability to inspire the poor and to topple governments. But in all that intense attention, most observers have missed a crucial part of the story: a global web of devout religious brotherhoods that by all logic should be a critical ally against extremism.

Sufis are the power that has made Islam the world's second-largest religion, with perhaps 1.2 billion adherents. Not a sect of Islam, but rather heirs of an ancient mystical tradition within both the Sunni and Shia branches of the faith, Sufis have through the centuries combined their inward quest with the defense and expansion of Islam worldwide. At once mystics and elite soldiers, dervishes and preachers, charismatic wonder-workers and power-brokers, ascetic Sufis have always been in the vanguard of Islam. While pushing forward the physical borders of Islam, they have been essential to the spiritual and cultural fullness of the faith. Today, the Sufi tradition is deeply threaded through the power structures of many Muslim countries, and the orders are enjoying a worldwide renaissance.

To look at Islam without seeing the Sufis is to miss the heart of the matter. Without taking account of the Sufis, we cannot understand the origins of most contemporary political currents in the Middle East and Muslim South Asia, and of many influential political parties. We can't comprehend the huge popular appeal of Islam for women, who so often seem excluded from Muslim life. Sufis are central to the ability of Muslim communities to survive savage persecutions -- in Chechnya, in Kosovo -- and then launch devastating insurgencies. They are the muscle and sinew of the faith.

And, however startling this may seem, these very Sufis -- these dedicated defenders and evangelists of mystical Islam -- are potentially vital allies for the nations of the West. Many observers see a stark confrontation between the West and Islam, a global conflict that entered a traumatic new phase with the Iranian revolution. But that perspective ignores basic conflicts within the Muslim world itself, a global clash of values over the nature of religious practice, no less than overtly political issues. For the Islamists -- for hard-line fundamentalists like the Saudi Wahhabis and the Taliban -- the Sufis are deadly enemies, who draw on practices alien to the Quran. Where Islamists rise to power, Sufis are persecuted or driven underground; but where Sufis remain in the ascendant, it is the radical Islamist groups who must fight to survive.

Around the world, the Sufis are struggling against violent fundamentalists who are at once their deadly foes, and ours. To look at Islam without seeing the Sufis is to be ignorant of a crucial clash of civilizations in today's world: not the conflict between Islam and the West, but an epochal struggle within Islam itself.

If the word "Sufi" conjures up any images for Americans, they normally involve mystical poetry or dance. Thirteenth century poet Rumi was a legendary Sufi, as are Turkey's whirling dervishes. But these are just the most visible expressions of a movement that runs deeply through the last thousand years of Islam.

Emerging around the year 800, they were originally pious devotees, whose poor woolen clothes showed their humility: "Sufi" comes from the Arabic word for wool. Above all, the Sufis sought the divine reality or ultimate truth that stands above all the illusions and deceptions of the material world. In order to achieve ecstatic union with God, they incorporated techniques of sound and movement -- chanting and music, swaying and dance. Believers joined in tight-knit brotherhoods or tariqahs, each following a charismatic leader (shaykh). Among the dozens of these orders, a few grew to achieve special influence, and some operate in dozens of nations, including the United States.

But the orders are more than confraternities of pious devotees. Early in their history, Sufis developed a powerful military streak, making them the knights of Islam, as well as the monks and mystics. Like the Japanese samurai, the brotherhoods trained their followers to amazing feats of devotion and overcoming pain. Fanatical dervish warriors were the special forces of every Islamic army from the 13th century through the end of the 19th.

The expansion of Islam outside the core areas of the Middle East is above all a Sufi story. Sufi orders led the armies that conquered lands in Central and South Asia, and in Southeastern Europe; through their piety and their mysticism, the brotherhoods then won the local populations over to Islam. They presented an Islam that incorporated local traditions and worship styles, including Christian saints and Hindu gods. Today, Sufi styles and practices dominate in the non-Arab Muslim world: in India and Pakistan, in Indonesia and Malaysia, Nigeria and Senegal, and in the Muslim countries of Central Asia, such as Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

Over the centuries, the territories where Sufi orders seeded Islam have evolved from the faith's frontiers to its demographic heartlands. These regions now encompass Islam's largest and fastest-growing populations. Of the eight nations with the world's largest Muslim communities, only one (Egypt) is Arab. A fifth of the world's Muslims today identify with Sufism, and for many millions more, Sufism is simply part of the air they breathe.

The Sufi orders enhanced their political role as Western empires encroached. When Islam was under threat, the Sufis were the trained soldiers, and their close-knit brotherhoods allowed them to form devastatingly effective resistance movements. Sufi orders led anti-colonial movements from Morocco to Indonesia. Most Americans, for instance, have heard of the stubborn Chechen guerrillas, but few realize how absolutely this movement is rooted in Sufism. When the Russians pushed south into Muslim lands in the 19th century, the heroic Sufi sheikh Imam Shamil launched a decades-long guerrilla war. Even Stalin's terror campaigns could not root out the Sufi brotherhoods. The fearsome leader of modern-day Chechen resistance, Shamil Basayev, was named for the original imam.

A similar story can be told of other oppressed peoples, in Kurdistan, Kashmir, Albania, Kosovo, and elsewhere, who owed their solidarity and cohesion to the immense power of the Sufi brotherhoods.

The Sufis might sound like America's worst nightmare. Not only do they ground political activism in religion, but their faith spreads through intense and secretive brotherhoods, led by charismatic masters: this recalls every sinister stereotype of Muslim fanaticism that potboiler thrillers have offered us over the decades. But it would be a terrible mistake to see the Sufis as enemies. Sufis certainly have fought Western forces through the years, and Sufi-founded movements have on occasion engaged in terrorist actions -- witness the Chechens. But in the vast majority of cases, such militancy has been essentially defensive, resisting brutal colonial occupations. This is very different from the aggressive global confrontation pursued by groups such as Al Qaeda.

Today, moreover, Sufi brotherhoods face a deadly danger from the strict puritanical or fundamentalist Islam represented by Qaeda and similar movements, which are as threatening to the Sufi brotherhoods as they are to the West. To the extent that we, like the Sufis, face a real danger from violent jihadi fundamentalism, our interests are closely aligned with those of the Sufis.

But the Sufis are much more than tactical allies for the West: they are, potentially, the greatest hope for pluralism and democracy within Muslim nations. The Sufi religious outlook has little of the uncompromising intolerance that characterizes the fundamentalists. They have no fear of music, poetry, and other artistic forms -- these are central to their sense of the faith's beauty -- and the brotherhoods cherish intellectual exploration. Progressive Sufi thinkers are quite open to modern knowledge and science.

From their beginnings, too, Sufi traditions have been religiously inclusive. Wherever the orders flourish, popular Islamic religion focuses on the tombs of saints and sheikhs, who believers venerate with song and ritual dance. In fact, they behave much like traditional-minded Catholics do when they visit their own shrines in Mexico or southern Italy. People organize processions, they seek healing miracles, and women are welcome among the crowds. While proudly Islamic, Sufi believers have always been in dialogue with other great religions.

This open-mindedness contrasts with the much harsher views of the fundamentalists, who we know by various names. Salafism claims to teach a return to the pure religion taught by the prophet Muhammad in the seventh century, and in that early Islamic community Salafis think they can find all they need to know about life and law. The most powerful and best-known version of this back-to-basics ideology is the Wahhabi movement that emerged in the 18th century, and which in modern times has built a worldwide presence on the strength of Saudi oil money. At its most extreme, this exclusive tradition rejects knowledge that is not clearly rooted in the Quran and Islamic legal thought, and regards other religions and cultures as dangerous rivals lacking any redeeming virtues. Al Qaeda and its affiliates represent an extreme and savage manifestation of this fundamentalist current.

As fundamentalist Islam spreads around the world, Sufism is one of its targets, even in such strongholds as Indonesia, Pakistan, and Nigeria. Often this comes in the form of ideological struggle, but open violence has broken out as well. Sudan's Islamist government attacks the black Sufi population of Darfur; in Iraq, suicide bombers target Sufi centers. Sufis have literally everything to lose from the continued advance of the Islamist extremists.

But Sufis are anything but passive victims, and in their resilience lies their true importance to the West. In many nations, Sufi brotherhoods exercise influence within local regimes, and those alliances allow them to drive back radicalism. Sufi brotherhoods have emerged as critical supporters of government in several post-Communist regimes, including in former Yugoslav regions like Kosovo and Bosnia, and in Albania. When a Qaeda-affiliated Islamist movement arose in Uzbekistan, the government's intimate alliance with the Sufi orders allowed it to destroy the insurgents quite thoroughly. Syria cultivates tolerant-minded Sufi orders as the best means of fending off Islamist subversion. For similar reasons, even the Chinese government openly favors Sufism. Hard as they try, fundamentalist radicals find it impossible to gain much of a foothold in societies where Islam is synonymous with Sufism, and where Sufi loyalty is deeply tied to cultural and national identity.

In 2007, the influential RAND Corporation issued a major report titled "Building Moderate Muslim Networks," which urged the US government to form links with Muslim groups that opposed Islamist extremism. The report stressed the Sufi role as moderate traditionalists open to change, and thus as potential allies against violence.

Some Western nations are just now grasping the rich rewards that would come from an alliance with the Sufi, with Muslim forces who can claim such impeccable historical and religious credentials. The British government especially has befriended the Sufi orders, and has made groups like the British Muslim Forum and the Sufi Muslim Council its main conversation partners in the Muslim community.

Sufis, better than anyone, can tell disaffected young Muslims that the quest for peace is not a surrender to Western oppression, still less a betrayal of Islam, but rather a return to the faith's deepest roots. And while Sufis have religious reasons for favoring peaceful and orderly societies, they also stand to benefit mightily from government support in their struggle against the fanatics. As the fundamentalists have expanded, they press hard on Muslim populations who are overwhelmingly drawn from countries where the Sufi current has always dominated Islamic life, from Pakistan, Turkey, and North Africa.

If this British model works, it would encourage the growth of a Euro-Islam that could reconcile easily with modernity and democracy, while yielding nothing of its religious content.

Nobody is pretending that building bridges with Sufis will resolve the many problems that divide the West from the Islamic world. In countries like Afghanistan or Somalia, warfare and violence might be so deeply engraved into the culture that they can never be expunged. Yet in so many lands, reviving Sufi traditions provide an effective bastion against terrorism, much stronger than anything the West could supply by military means alone.

The West's best hope for global peace is not a decline or secularization of Islam, but rather a renewal and strengthening of that faith, and above all of its spiritual and mystical dimensions.

Philip Jenkins is Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor University. He is author of "The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia -- and How It Died" (HarperOne, 2008) [pictured].

Friday, January 30, 2009

The Suitable Name

By Web Master, "Srinagar airport is with out a name. Authority’s undecided over the issue." - Kashmir Watch - Islamabad, Pakistan
Friday, January 23, 2009

Srinagar: As the Srinagar Airport is all set to go international next month , the civil aviation authorities are still figuring out the suitable name for the newly build airport.

In 1996, National Conference government had proposed the name of Sheikh ul Alam, the famous Sufi saint of Kashmir for the new international airport. However, the officials of Airports Authority of India have said that they have not received any proposal or communique from the government of India, which is the only authority to name the airport.

International flights will take off from the new airport in Srinagar from February 14, but the state government is undecided about its naming. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the civil aviation minister Prafful Patel are likely to inaugurate the new airport scheduled next month.

Director, AAOI, Kashmir, Rakesh Kalra told PBI that International flights can operate from the Srinagar airport from February 14. However, he said that no proposal or communique has been received from the government regarding the naming of the newly build airport. Kalra also feigned ignorance about the hoarding displayed in the airport premises, naming the airport after the Sufi Saint Sheikh-ul-Alam.

Interestingly, the previous PDP-congress coalition government was also divided over the naming of the airport. PDP president Mehbooba Mufti had advocated naming the airport after the Sufi saint, but the senior Congress leader and water resources minister, Saif-ud-din Soz had favored the name of former Chief minister Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah for the naming of the airport.

However, days later Soz back tracked from his statement due to the mounting public pressure.
When contacted, Minister for rural development in National Conference led coalition government; Ali Mohammad Sagar said that he is not aware of the name proposed for the airport.

Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir Masood Samoon also pleaded ignorance about the issue, when he was contacted by PBI.

Deputy Commissinoer, Budgam, Mohammad Rafi told PBI that last year the name of Sufi saint Sheikh-ul-Alam was proposed. However, he said that he was not aware of the latest development in this regard.

Meanwhile, Union civil aviation Shri Praful Patel said that all facilities at Srinagar Airport will be provided before the inaugural ceremony on February 14th.

He said he would sort out the matter regarding provision of ILS, Instrument landing System facility with the Union Minister of Defence very shortly and hoped that the facility would be provided early and announcement to this effect would be made on 14th of February 2009, when Airport at Srinagar will be officially inaugurated.

[Picture fromhttp://sufinews.blogspot.com/search?q=airport].

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Like Czech and Slovakia

By Mariam Ismail, "Azmath, the Gentle Sufi from Hyderabad" - Khaleej Times - Dubai, UAE
Saturday, January 24, 2009

With Barack Obama, I hope for the end of Guantanamo Bay as well as the release of all there locked in dungeons and in secret jails.

Or on Navy brigs like Jose Padilla, who spent over three years in solitary confinement in South Carolina. He was later tried and convicted in Florida, without any evidence, for conspiring to kill his fellow Americans. When Padilla was arrested, they announced him as the new kind of terrorist: the dirty bomber, one who would carry a nuclear-activated bomb in a briefcase and destroy entire cities. He was young, a former gang-banger, who converted to Islam and came to be known as Ibrahim.

America can’t let his past rest. They neither have any evidence nor any right to put him away. He is seen as someone more notorious than Bin Ladin. Think of the reputation he will never live down. If he gets out where can he go to live, work, and have a normal life? For Padilla, there is barely a website that doesn’t paint him as the villainous enemy, dangerous, a terrorist, and despite his name being Jose and Padilla. You see, of all of the would-be crimes that he was accused of the final one, converting to Islam, is the most terrifying.

Like the case of John Walker Lindh (Suleyman), who is also serving like Jose 17 years, is being gassed, stripped naked, and strapped to a table in the wrong country. I don’t mean to make light of the destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11, which I used to go through everyday, when I worked in New York, but come on, can we get the real guys?

It is rarely reported, but many Muslims also died in the World Trade Center.

South Asians, who sold newspapers, magazines, candy, Tylenols, and Snapple. I saw them everyday I went to graduate school and then to work. They were just like the guys in Newark’s Penn Station, who one day asked me, “Are you Muslim?” Afterwards, they were like my brothers, during Ramadan, close to time to break fast, they were always ready, offering dates, juice and water. Muslims are such a small group in the US, you find solidarity were you can.

It was during that time, I got to know one of them in particular, who chose me to be a subject of Dawah. Looking at the magazines, killing time until my train came, this one very soft spoken brother, interested in Sufi Islam, on a few occasions encouraged me to think about Allah. He gave me a book about the miracles of the Prophet (PBUH). It was the first time that I had heard of such a thing. His encouragement along with some others, made me think, it’s time to learn more about Islam.

This guy in the window, next to McDonalds, whose shyness prevented him from looking directly at me for three years, one day spoke to me about Allah. And from that point on, I had a friend at Penn Station. So, imagine my shock, when I see my friend’s face on the TV, in Time magazine, on CNN, everywhere, as the 20th bomber. I still want to gasp. We were not close, he was just an ‘As Salaamulaikum sister’, on the way to work, but imagine if it was someone you knew? Your brother, father, husband, sister, wife, cousin or a friend? I still feel it.

He along with his travel partner was not part of the Al Qaeda network (if there is any such thing), they were just two guys being tested by Allah. And their test is not over. Just google Mohammed Azmath, and it as if they are still wanted, and 9/11 is a day that never ends.
What this makes me think of is there a way to get your innocence via the net? Who controls it? It’s not as free or fair as we think. Try to google something like the Wal-Mart fiasco, all information stops at 2003. While Wal-Mart goes on, making profits on the back of humanity. But for those like Azmath and Padilla, their character assassination continues on the net.

Azmath was lucky; they let him go after 18 months. His salt and pepper hair had turned completely white. When I saw his picture in the paper, I felt relieved. Still, one has to think, then it was him, and when will it be me or mine? We cannot just protest, get mad, and cause trouble, we have to be smart and lobby and find some political power of our own.

Tell those Google people to stop publishing stuff that only says over and over that these people are dirty bombers, masterminds and terrorists.

Because none of these guys in these jails, dungeons, rendered into oblivion on gray planes with no names can cause the same level of mayhem, heartache, pain, death and destruction as Israel unleashed in Gaza, and as the US in Iraq. We cannot sit idle, silent, fooling ourselves that it won’t come here or near us.

They know how much Muslims fight, bicker and discriminate against each other, yet they give us so much power. If we had the amount of power they said, we had, then Palestine and Israel would be like Czech and Slovakia. Two separate nations, and managing just fine.

I think if we are smart, we can do something to change this war on terror because right now nobody is safe. I know before it was the guy at the newsstand, and there is no guarantee that next time, it won’t be me.

Let the Music Wash

By Steven Ritter, "Classical CD Reviews" - Audiofile Audition - USA
Friday, January 23, 2009

Listen first, and suppress any preconceptions about this soothing disc

For her exemplary efforts to classical music and to Gallo in particular, the label has awarded Turkish flutist Sefika Kutluer the honor of having all her future albums designated as “Golden Edition” issues.

This is all well and good to my mind, being a long time fan of Ms. Kutluer, whose fantastic flute often hovers under the radar of some of the more well-known artists recording for more aggressive labels.

But she refuses to be categorized, and records the kinds of music that mean the most to her, or to what any specific advisor thinks she should be recording. This is replete with promise and frustration, the former because we often get music (like on this album) that we would not normally consider, and the latter because we all have our favorite pieces that we would love to hear her play.

This is not an exciting album. For that, there are many other Kutluer releases that provide ample documentation of her abilities in the fireworks and barn-burning departments. This release is ruminative, relaxed, mystical, and contemplative, dedicated to the spirit if not the person of Mevlana, or as he is more commonly known in the West - Rumi (1207-73).

He may have been the greatest poet of his age, a Sunni Islamic jurist and theologian, and the very name is an appellation referring to the fact that he lived in an area called “Rum” (Rome) as it was once part of the Byzantine Empire, at least as the West refers to it. (In fact, no one in the Byzantine Empire would have known what you were talking about if you called them “Byzantines”, the shortened name of Byzantium, a small cattle town that became the foundation of the great city of Constantinople, now Istanbul. They always thought of themselves as “Romans”, and continued to do so long after the fall of Rome in the west).

After Rumi’s family migrated west he lived most of his life in what is today Turkey, in the town of Konya, producing the works that would make him famous, perhaps the crown of Persian literature.

The “Whirling Dervishes” and Mawlawīyah Sufi Order were founded after his death. Rumi always emphasized the pursuit of art, music, and literature as means of approaching God.

Though he was confidently writing within the traditions of Islam, his legacy is more questionable in those circles. Some see him as a bridge between East and West, and indeed his popularity is very great even in the United States.

Many see in his spirituality more of a connection with the ancient Christian Greek fathers, while some in Islam reject aspects of Sufism as heretical. Suffice it to say that Rumi’s influence is great, and will continue to be controversial according to one’s own worldview. But for our purposes, does the disc in question evoke this Sufi spirit?

If you are looking for an obvious in-your-face mélange of orientalisms and overt remnants of purely “Turkish” flavoring, this will probably not meet the criteria. And I doubt this was the intention of any of the composers on this disc, who are instead trying to use aspects of traditional Sufi music (melodic and rhythmic elements) to portray in Western guise (for that is what an orchestra and modern flute do) the sensual and whimsical nature of Rumi’s philosophy.

Some of these people, like Ilyas Mirzayev, absorbed much of jazz as their influences, something miles away from Sufism, yet is able to incorporate subtle aspects of this influence in three beautifully contrived pieces. And the romantic and folk-like elements of Arif Melikov’s Concertino has these ears even pealing back influences emitting from the French Les Six; but all through the work we hear a certain Sufi bent of melody and tone that provide us with a key to how to listen to this music—without preconceptions.

In fact, before you read the excellent notes or hit the web for articles on Sufism and Rumi, carefully listen to this disc several times and let the music wash over you. It may not be the greatest you will ever hear, but its perspective is fresh and alluring and certainly calming and ingratiating.

And of course with Kutluer it is always about the sound, one of the warmest flute sounds you will ever hear. Sonics and projection are first rate in this issue, the Prague Virtuosi offering palpably contended support.

ILYAS MIRZAYEV: Overture “Yunus Emre”; Flute Concerto “From Mevlana to Today”; Dede Efendi Gulnihal; EKREM ZEKI UN: At the Tomb of Yunus; ARIF MELIKOV: Flute Concertino – Sefika Kutluer, flute/ Prague Virtuosi/ Oldrich Vlcek, conductor – Gallo 1266, 54:13 **** [Distr. by Albany].

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

A Dio Piacendo

[From the Italian Language Press]:

A Dio piacendo: 27 febbraio-1° marzo, La Carovana dell'Amore. Musica e storie con Peter Hassan Dyck.

Di Jamaluddin, Sufi.it, martedì 6 gennaio 2009

Inshallah: from February 27th to March 1st, The Caravan Of Love. Music and tales with Peter Hassan Dick.

You are invited to a two-days meeting with Shaykh Peter Hassan Dyck. The meeting will take place in the city of Noale (Venice), a place that in 1994 /95 hosted Maulana Shaikh Nazim.

The meeting is free of charge. Two nights full board at the Hotel Garden cost euro 110.

Peter Hassan Dick is a musician from the Conservatory of Berlin. He was among the first western murids of Shaykh Nazim and lived with him in Damascus. Shaykh Hassan is a living example of what is to be a man of Allah.

For further inquiries and reservations, please contact Jamaluddin 0541/984731 after 9.30 p.m. or email news@sufi.it

Hotel Garden - Via G. Tempesta, 124 Noale (Ve) - tel. 041 4433299 Indicazioni stradali per Noale

[Visit the Italian branch of the Naqshbandi-Haqqani tariqa http://www.sufi.it/].

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Until Yawm al-Qiyamah



[From the French language press]:

Lors d’une de ses dernières conférences donnée le 26 mai 1998 dans la ville de Konya, Eva de Vitray-Meyerovitch déclara à l’auditoire : « Je souhaiterais être enterrée à Konya pour rester jusqu’au Jour du Jugement sous l’ombre de la bénédiction de Rûmi ».

Par Rachid Hamimaz et Jean-Louis Girotto, "Le dernier voyage d’Eva à Konya" - Soufisme.org - France
Samedi, 24 janvier 2009

During one of her last lecture, given on May 26th 1998 in the city of Konya, Eva de Vitray-Meyerovitch told the audience: "I would like to be buried in Konya to stay under the shadow of the blessing of Rumi until the Day of Judgement [Yawm al-Qiyamah]".

She died soon after, at the age of 89, on July 24th, 1999.

The patient and determined efforts of two friends led, after many years, to the successful conclusion. During autumn 2008, all administrative formalities fulfilled, Eva's mortal remains could be moved to Turkey.

On December 17, 2008, the anniversary of Rumi's death, a Muslim funeral was celebrated in the Selimiye Mosque in Konya and she was at last buried in Uçler cemetery, just opposite the mausoleum where Rumi himself lies.

Eva de Vitray-Meyerovitch (1909-1999) embraced Islam in 1954, after many years of studies and deep self-questioning. She became a disciple (murid) of Sidi Hamza al-Qadiri Boudchich after meeting the Shaykh in Morocco. She was then already seventy years old and have been looking for a living spiritual master since a long time; the Shaykh's words went directly into her heart.

Pictures: Eva de Vitray-Meyerovitch in her youth; Eva's tomb in Konya. Photos by Şamil Kucur.

[Click on the title of this article if you can read French, there are many articles about Prof. Dr. Eva de Vitray-Meyerovitch's life and work.]

Monday, January 26, 2009

The Power of Music

By Rachna Singh, "Striking a chord for peace" - The Times Of India, India
Friday, January 23, 2009

Jaipur: If the authors at the Jaipur Literature Festival were largely those depicting tales of strife across boundaries, the music concert focussed on the power of music to proactively heal wounds caused by the unrest.

In the light of Mumbai terror attacks and political unrest in Gaza and its impact on interfaith relations, leading musicians from around the world collaborate for the first time this week in a series of Coexist Concerts for Peace.

In a special series of interfaith collaborations Muslim, Jewish, and Hindu musicians collaborate in Diggi Palace for Coexist Concerts for Peace'.

Among the star performers in the five-day concert series is, Pakistani Muslim rocker Salman Ahmad from Junoon, an activist in promoting peace on the planet.

"The first ever rock band to be invited at the UN General Assembly, Ahmad has been touring across the United States to bridge the gap between the Muslim community and the western world," said Simon Cohen, communication director from The Coexist Foundation, London.

The foundation so far had been facilitating pre-existing initiatives in peace between Jews, Christians and Muslims through education, dialogue and research, along with Gallop Organization in the US, Cambridge Interfaith and many others. This is the first time that they have sponsored a musical concert for peace.

"Music is universal and a powerful medium that deeply resonates with the cult of India. In Jaipur we have Rajasthani music sharing the stage with people from across the globe. There would be Hindus drumming the beats in harmony with synchronized beats of the Isreali or the Muslims," said Simon.

Then Baul music represents the long tradition of preaching mysticism through songs in Bengal like Shahebdhooni or Bolahadi sects. Israeli singer Shye Ben-Tzur fuses Rajasthani rhythms and western sounds with Hindu and Muslim musicians. While Kudsi Erguner and Coleman Barks will celebrate the tolerant pluralistic Sufism of Rumi with verse and music.

James Kidner, director of The Coexist Foundation, says, 'The concerts are a timely reminder that faith, like music, can be an instrument of peace. For world class musicians, people of different faiths, to collaborate in such a way, send out a harmonic example of peaceful coexistence between people of faith."


[Visit The Coexist Foundation http://coexistfoundation.net/].

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Qawwali for Obama

By Rashmee Roshan Lall, TNN, "Sufi blessings for new Prez" - The Times Of India - New Delhi, India
Wednesday, January 21, 2009

In a rare act of political alchemy, Barack Hussein Obama united a South Asian Sufi tradition dating to the 16th century with the 21st, as the strains of a special 'qawwali for Obama' soared into the night-time skies over one of India's most important dargahs.

The qawwali, the first ever to be held anywhere for the inauguration of an American president, is seen as a sign of the intense anticipation heralding the accession to office of a man whom India and much of the globe believes will bring relief, if not redemption to a world weary of war and strife.

Dewan Syed Ali Moosa Nizami, chairman and pir of the dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, where the qawwali was organised to herald "a new dawn of peace and hope in the world", said when Obama is sworn in as America's 44th president, "we hope it reinforces the Sufi tradition of peace and tolerance joining hearts, not cutting them asunder".

The pir added, in a nod to the congregation that usually assembles for the weekly qawwali on a Thursday, that "everyone, and Muslims too, has great hopes of Obama".

Some of those "hopes" were voiced by the pir's nephew, Ajmal, who appeared to speak for many disaffected young Muslims, both aspirational and traditionally bred to a intense antipathy towards America.

In a reference to the famous dismissiveness towards his political masters by Auliya, one of the sub-continent's most influential teachers of Sufism, Ajmal said, "He disdained to meet kings and emperors, seven of them, but politics has always been linked to religion and we now hope Barack Obama will bring about a really new world order".

But Ajmal's youthful agenda for Obama's brave new world came just as the 20-strong troupe of qawwals sang the customary sufi lovesong to the world's one constant, God.

In a possible reference to the fact the Obama era too will pass, lead singer Sultan Hussain Niyazi Qawwal chanted, "You (God) were here when there was nothing, not the sun, the moon, the stars, You were here, You're still here, You will be here when all will pass".


Saturday, January 24, 2009

People of Many Faiths


By Kurt Kloblen, "Louisburg woman leads Interfaith Council" - Louisburg Herald - Louisburg, KS, USA
Wednesday, January 21, 2009

It might sound like the start of a joke: What happens when a Pagan, Hindu, Buddhist and Christian sit down at a table?

But when members of 15 different religions sit down in Kansas City, they are part of the Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council, a place to help understand other religions and to increase tolerance for all religions, according to the group’s goals.

“The whole idea is to really encourage interfaith dialogue,” said Lama Chuck Stanford, of the Rime Buddhist Institute and council member. “In this world that is becoming so fragmented and really divides people, we want to bring people together.”

Religions included in the council are American Indian Spirituality, Baha’i, Buddhism, Orthodox Christian, Protestant Christian, Roman Catholic, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Paganism, Sikhism, Sufism, Unitarian Universalism, Vedanta and Zoroastrianism.The group also has at-large members and alternates from a number of faiths.

The group, formed in 1989 by the Rev. Vern Barnet, worked under the name Center for Religious Experience and Study until 2005, when Barnet moved on and the group organized itself into an official nonprofit group.

The group used proceeds from the event to hire its first staff person, Executive Director Shannon Clark, in June 2008. Clark, a Louisburg resident, has tried to help push forward the organization in a number of ways. “My job is to really oversee the organization of council,” Clark said. “There are lots of tasks, but one of the main ones is to make sure the committees function smoothly and to lead the direction the council is going.”

Through its existence, the group has taken on many different roles, but one of the main roles is to help educate the community about various religions. The longest running program of the council is the speaker bureau. Through its Web site, interested people can have speakers from different religions come speak to various groups.

Since it became the council, the group has run an annual event called Table of Faiths. The event is a community luncheon where each of the 15 religions sets up a booths about their religion.

Each religion on the council has one representative. For any council decision, there must be unanimous approval, something Stanford said is not always easy. “If one person wants to block it, they can veto the whole thing,” Stanford said. “It’s very interesting and very time consuming.”

The council has taken stands on issues throughout the years, most recently releasing a statement of disapproval of a nationally circulated DVD about the dangers of Islam. It also offered support of Islam and understanding after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Stanford said the best part he has gotten from his nearly 17 years on the council is the number of friends he has from all religious backgrounds. He said he and friend Alvin Brooks have a monthly dinner to get together people of many faiths.

[Pictures from the 2008 and 2007 Table of Faiths at The Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council. Photos by http://www.kcinterfaith.org/].

To Make a Difference

By David Yonke, "Prayer rallies elicit calls for peace, economy fix" - Toledo Blade - Toledo, OH, USA

Monday, January 19, 2009

Toledoans turned out by the hundreds Sunday for two prayer rallies, one to seek God's blessing on the city and the nation, the other asking for peace in the Middle East.

About 500 people attended an ecumenical prayer service in the Valentine Theatre last night that was organized by a cross section of local Christian leaders.
Prayers were offered for unity among denominations and for divine help in overcoming the economic crisis affecting the city, state, nation, and world.

Mayor Carty Finkbeiner read a proclamation declaring Jan. 18, 2009, as Holy Toledo Day of Prayer, and said the "best opportunity to overcome some of that which is in front of us is to perhaps live up to what we have internationally been known as - Holy Toledo."

Mr. Finkbeiner is going to Washington for President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration Tuesday, but said he might visit public housing projects and barber shops there instead of the political events so that he can "see what the average people are thinking."

More than a dozen ministers stood together on the Valentine stage and about half of them took turns leading prayers. The Rev. Tony Scott, pastor of the Church on Strayer, asked God to forgive Toledoans and Americans for sinning, including "kicking You out of our government and kicking You out of our schools."

The Rev. Will James, Jr., pastor of St. James Holiness "The Armory" Church, prayed for wisdom for President-elect Obama and Toledo's city officials, and offered a poetic and encouraging slogan: "We know that everything will be fine in 2009."

The Rev. Martin Donnelly, pastor of Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, prayed for unity among churches and said it is wrong "to believe that one church is better than any other one as long as we follow Jesus Christ." Despite the nation's struggles, Father Donnelly said, "We are hope-filled. We are not depressed. We are confident we will overcome."

Earlier Sunday, more than 100 people attended an interfaith rally offering prayers for peace in the Middle East.

Among them was Sister Geraldine Nowak, a Sylvania Franciscan nun, who wore a purple button with the word "Peace" written in Arabic, English, and Hebrew. The prayer gathering was held in an assembly hall of the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo in Perrysburg Township and featured brief comments and prayers from 14 people representing Islam, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, and Sufism.

Most of the speakers opened with criticisms over the loss of civilian lives in Gaza caused by Israeli air and ground attacks, followed by brief prayers."The fighters on either side are hiding and innocent people are caught in the middle and being killed," said Dr. Munier Nazzal, president of the Islamic Center.

The Rev. Larry Clark, pastor of First United Methodist Church of Sylvania, called for an immediate cease-fire in the region and decried "the insane cycle of rocket attacks and aerial bombardments."

Dr. Amjad Hussain said that while prayers are welcome, it's time for action.

"We get together, we hold hands, we say the prayers, we leave until the next episode happens. And I ask - it's not a rhetorical question - I ask, what happens in between? What have we done in between, all of us, people of faith, in between these episodes, to make a difference?

"Prayers are important but prayers cannot substitute for action and work," said Dr. Hussain, a former president of the Islamic Center and a columnist for The Blade.

In an emotional moment, Father Donnelly - who spoke at both prayer rallies - said he felt compelled to apologize for not being more active in anti-war efforts. "I suppose I'm among those who haven't done much," he said pausing, choked with emotion. "I'm touched by the conscience of a world gone deaf to the holocaust of the 21st century."

Dr. Mahjabeen Islam of the Toledo Muslim Forum prayed for God "to awaken the conscience of the world and jolt it from this criminal, complicit silence" over the Gaza killings.

Other speakers at the 75-minute event included Judy Trautman of the MultiFaith Council of Northwest Ohio, Ziad Hummos of Masjid Saad, the Rev. David Bruning of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Fremont, the Rev. Ed Heilman of Park United Church of Christ, the Rev. Steve Anthony of Toledo Area Ministries, and Imam Farooq Abo-Elzahab of the Islamic Center.

Photo: The Blade/Jetta Fraser.

Friday, January 23, 2009

A State Within a State

By Khurshid Khan, "Swat — towards a Wahhabi state?" - The News International - Karachi, Pakistan
Monday, January 19, 2009

In his article, “Behind the crises in Swat” (Nov 27, 2008), Sartaj Khan described the conflict in Swat as a class struggle. Farhat Taj (Dec 18) responded with “No class war in Swat.”

Sartaj’s contentions are believed by many as the real depiction of the current turbulence, but that is not the case. Before coming to any conclusions about the current turbulence in the valley we have to keep in view the weaknesses of the state institutions, people’s grievances and the impacts of international politics on the valley.

Fredrik Barth, a Norwegian social anthropologist author of Political Leadership among Swat Pathans, carried out considerable research in Swat in the 1950s and wrote numerous papers. His work is of great importance but the situation has immensely changed since then.

Since the early 1970s people travel to the Arab states in search of lucrative employment opportunities. The inflow of foreign remittances transformed the socio-economic structure of Swat’s society. Education increased and people acquired employment in various fields across the country. Emigration to America, Canada and Europe and the Far East in the 1980s increased overseas remittances creating a new prosperous society in Swat.

During this period Swat witnessed numerous changes, both positive and negative. Fertile soil and abundance of irrigation water paved the way for innovations in farming. New varieties of fruits and crops were introduced and farming became more profitable.

Being a tax-free zone trade, Swat saw commerce flourishing. The scenic beauty and rich heritage made Swat a favourite spot for national and international tourists. The hotel industry became a big contributor to the economy of Swat.The tenants/peasants, on the whole, became comparatively prosperous in Swat. A section of them have purchased cultivated land from the previous owners and manage it properly with latest technology.

A study has revealed in Upper Swat that in one village a Khan has 20 jaraib of cultivated land (one jaraib is equal to approximately 1,100 square feet) while a Gujjar has 150 jaraib. The Gujjar community has earned billion of rupees in the Arab states. Another community, the ”Shapankyan” or “Shpoon” (shepherd) are the wealthiest community today in Swat. Most of them they have now settled permanently and abandoned nomadic life. They have given up rearing herds and are employed. Many of them run businesses in Arab states.

Both communities enjoy a relatively high standard of living and have western-style houses. The shepherd community belongs to the Wahhabi sect and is better organised than the other groups.

In the 1970s the regulations of PATA (Provincially Administered Tribal Areas) were promulgated in the whole of Malakand division which gave enormous powers to the civil bureaucracy and paved ways for corruption. The people of Swat were unfamiliar to the new setup. The new judicial apparatus did not appeal to the masses, as they were conversant with the judicial system of the former state of Swat. This state of affairs created a gap between the state and the people.

The state-sponsored peasant movement in 1974 created hatred and tension between tenants and landowners, and bloody clashes took place in some areas in Swat. The landowners and a number of the other side went for justice to the civil courts but the complex judicial system disappointed them, persuading them to seek other solutions to their disputes. Many landowners sold their land to peasant occupants in various areas of Swat.

The Afghan war also affected the valley like other Pashto-speaking areas. Religious seminaries mushroomed and jihadi organisations established their offices in Swat. Those subscribing to the Wahhabi school of thought tried to establish their seminaries but were opposed by the local traditional clerics belonging to the Deobandi school of thought. This coincided with the emergence in the 1980s in Swat of the staunch Wahhabi Sufi Muhammad, who set up a seminary in Sangota, which was razed to the ground by those loyal to the dominant religious figures of the time.

The TNSM was founded in 1989 in Dir and penetrated into Swat. It was tacitly supported in Swat by the then commissioner of Malakand Division through a so-called loya jirga. The jirga demanded the implementation of Sharia in Swat and joined hands with Sufi Muhammad, a close friend of Major Amir, the then director of the Intelligence Bureau. This support encouraged him and he freely started visiting Swat. The people, who were disappointed by the judicial system, the police and the revenue department, supported the demand for the enforcement of the Sharia.

In 1994 bloody clashes occurred between local people and the security forces. In 2001, Sufi Muhammad declared jihad against the US in Afghanistan and went there along with thousand of followers. Hundred of people lost their lives and hundreds are still missing. On his return the political agent of Kurram Agency imprisoned him under the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) without trial.

During the TNSM movement in Swat the Wahhabi school of thought spread its roots and established its religious seminaries. In the absence of Sufi Muhammad, his son-in-law, Fazlullah, filled this gap and became popular in the area. The Wahhabis joined his group and seized all the important areas. Besides other, Maulana Shah Dawran and Maulana Muhammad Alam are key clerics who keep important portfolios in the Taliban movement in Swat. They are known for their hard and harsh beliefs, and hence it could be said that the Swat Taliban are completely under the influence of violent jihad doctrines.

They loathe the Barelvi school of thought and have assassinated many renowned religious scholars in Swat during the ongoing turbulence and unrest. They consider them mushrik (one who ascribes partners to Allah). The assassination of Pir Samiullah and the hanging of his mutilated body in a square for public display show their attitude towards their opponents. The militants said that they have buried Pir Sami at an unidentified place ostensibly to stop his followers from building a shrine at his grave.

Besides, Buner police arrested a suspected bomber last Ramazan. During interrogations he revealed that his target was the tomb of Pir Baba. He insisted that the shrine is the principal centre of shirk.

They consider amulets, visits to shrines and offerings on on shrines on specific days to be shirk. Someone who used to write amulets (good luck charms) was killed in Khwazakhela.

The valley is witnessing a surge and dominance of the Wahhabi doctrine which was until recently alien to the local culture.The Wahhabis are making a state within a state in Swat. Fazlullah has established his own administration on the pattern of the Saudi monarchs. He has created his own trained army equipped with the latest weapons and controlled by his loyal commanders. A well functioning judiciary is established across the valley dealing with cases of various natures and the verdict is always enforced. People are inclined towards these Islamic courts.

He has established a baitul maal (treasury) and has a mechanism for revenue generation and collection. His commanders collected ushr (one tenth of agriculture produce) in some areas of the valley during the 2008 winter harvest. (The rulers of Swat used to collect ushr which was a major source of their revenue.) Taliban also collected skins of the sacrificial animals on Eidul Azha this year worth billion of rupees. Donations and war booty are also the major sources of their revenue.

The information and broadcasting wing of the Taliban is working effectively. A spokesperson and FM channels broadcast important announcements, decrees and counter-propaganda against them. A strong communication network or secret services is the main characteristics of this new monarchy in Swat.

The present upsurge, therefore, is an attempt to create a sort of a state within a state and is not a manifestation of a class war in Swat.


The writer is a social activist living in Swat

[Picture from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swat,_Pakistan].

To Ghazal Lovers

By TT Correspondent, "All-time hit ghazals in English avatar" - The Telegraph - Calcutta, India
Monday, January 19, 2009

Jamshedpur, Jan. 18: Ghazal lovers who do not have good command over Urdu have reasons to cheer.

City-based litterateur Syed Rizwanul Haque has translated 99 all-time hits into English. From Aamir Khusron to Javed Akhtar, every writer finds place in the book.

The book Essence of Ghazal is written, compiled and translated by Syed Rizwanul Haque under the pseudonym of Rizwan Wasti.

The book, along with Sohail Ki Kirnein, an Urdu anthology, was released today by national award winning filmmaker Biyot Projna Tripathy at Karim City College.

“The book has been translated with the motive to reach out to ghazal lovers who do not know Urdu. There are some people who would love to read ghazals but their lack of understanding of Urdu comes in the way. Now the ghazals will reach find a wider audience,” said Wasti.

The author, who has a number of work in Urdu and Hindi to his credit, this is the first time he has translated the masterpieces in English.

The Essence of Ghazal also has a background of the genre. Elements like Sufism and mysticism have also been discussed in the book.

“For beginners, I have discussed the background of ghazals, the chronology and how it has evolved down the years. You can find ghazals by Aamir Khusron, who was the pioneer in the field about 700 years ago,” said Wasti.

“As for the anthology Sohail Ki Kirnein, it has been my dream because a noted litterateur of the city could not publish his works during his lifetime. Therefore, it was my duty to get it compiled and published,” said the writer.

Picture: Syed Rizwanul Haque with filmmaker Biyot Projna Tripathy at the book release function. Photo by Srinivas.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Unveiling Hafez

By TE/HGH, "Iran to unveil oldest Hafez manuscripts" - Press TV - Tehran, Iran
Saturday, January 17, 2009

Iran is set to unveil a book containing the oldest manuscript of poems composed by the Persian poet Hafez found at Oxford University.

The book includes 49 sonnets and a single couplet found by Ali Ferdowsi along with his comparative study of the poems with the existing reliable versions.

The manuscripts which were found in the University of Oxford's Bodleian Library, date back to the final days of the mystic poet's life. The texts are penned by a contemporary of Hafez and are the first of their kind.

The oldest version of Hafez manuscripts found before Ferdowsi's discovery dated back to the early 15th century.

Iranian scholar Ali Ferdowsi is an Associate Professor of the Department of History and Political Science in Nôtre Dame de Namur University, Belmont, California.

Known for his beautiful lyrical poems, Hafez has greatly influenced numerous Persian and Western writers including Ralph Waldo Emerson and Goethe.

Picture: Hafez Tomb. Shiraz, Iran.

[Visit the Bodleian Library http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/bodley].

United in Prayer

By Dana Massing "What do we pray for?" - Erie Times News - Erie, PA, USA
Saturday, January 17, 2009

Christians are praying for unity this week, but that's not the number one thing people ask God for

Help is what most people pray for, said Carol Zaleski, co-author of "Prayer: A History."

"A request is often involved -- for divine protection, healing or special favors for oneself or for others," Zaleski said. She said that prayer is, essentially, communication with God, or with spiritual beings.

More than half of Americans do it daily, according to survey results released in 2008.

The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life's U.S. Religious Landscape Survey found that 58 percent of the national population prays once a day or more. Percentages ranged from 5 percent of atheists to 89 percent of Jehovah's Witnesses and included 26 percent of Jews, 45 percent of Buddhists, 62 percent of Hindus, 71 percent of Muslims and 78 percent of evangelical Protestants, results showed.

"All religions involve prayer; and prayer goes on outside the boundaries of religion as well," said Zaleski, professor of world religions at Smith College in Northampton, Mass. "Prayer is the primary means of relationship to the divine. Without prayer there is no religion."

Prayer can be spoken or silent. It can include music, dance or visual expression, said Zaleski.

"There are many differences and distinctive notes between and among religions," she said. "Prayer may be addressed to an intercessor -- such as a saint, angel or deified ancestor; or it may be addressed directly to God without intermediary. Prayer includes forms of meditation, for instance, in Buddhism, that are not overtly theistic.

"One distinctive practice is the Sufi dhikr, which can involve whirling in imitation of the heavenly spheres while remembering the name of God, she said.

Sufism is an Islamic mystic tradition. Mecca is the center of Islam, Zaleski said, and Muslims face it to pray for that reason. Muslims are expected, if they are physically and financially able, to make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once. "When Muslims turn to face Mecca, they are, in a sense, virtual pilgrims, united in prayer," Zaleski said.

Some Christians, particularly Catholics, Orthodox and Eastern, make a cross sign when praying.

Zaleski said it's "a way of identifying one's whole self with Christ." And within Christianity, many people bow their heads and fold their hands while praying to express humility, gratitude and assent to God's will, she said.

"It is a joyful posture, not a groveling one; humans need to feel that they are in the presence of something truly higher," Zaleski said.

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

The Basic Elements

By IANS, "Global Congress on World Religions begins at Jamia" - The Thai Indian - Bangkok, Thailand
Saturday, January 17, 2009


New Delhi: A three day Global Congress on World Religions in the Aftermath of 9/11, organised by Jamia Millia Islamia in an attempt to promote harmony between the followers of different religions, began here Saturday.

Speaking at the inauguration, chief guest the Dalai Lama criticised the targeting of a particular community after 9/11.

“Just because some mischievous elements of a particular religion have done something wrong, the whole community following that religion should not be blamed,” he said, and stressed the role of inter-religious dialogue to promote religious harmony.

“Love, compassion and forgiveness are the basic inherent elements in every religion. We need to have inter-religious dialogue to have better understanding of different religions and create harmony and peace in this world,” he said.

Mushirul Hasan, vice chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia, spoke about the misconceptions about Islam promoting violence and clarified it was a religion that speaks of peace and coexistence.

“Islam talks of peace more than anything else. Contrary to the thought of Islam having been spread through sword, it was spread through Sufism, which talked of co-existence,” he said.

Sufism is the mystical dimension of Islam; in medieval times, it was a major movement, which attracted people from all walks of life.

I.H. Azad Faruqi, director of Centre for Comparative Religions and Civilisations in Jamia Millia Islamia and one of the organisers of the event, said that such events along with promoting religious coexistence would bring out the real traditions of Jamia, which were maligned by incidents such as the police shootout with suspected terrorists in nearby Batla House.

“After the Batla House incidents, a wrong image of Jamia was projected. Such events would help bring out the real traditions of Jamia which is of service to humanity, tolerance and coexistence,” Faruqi told IANS.

Two students of the university, Mohd Shakeel and Zia-ur-Rehman, were arrested by Delhi police for their alleged involvement in the Sep 13 serial blasts in the capital. These arrests took place after the Batla House shootout Sep 19 in which two suspected terrorists, linked to the blasts, were gunned down.

Talking of the conference, Arshad Alam, a faculty member in the centre for Noam Chomsky studies, told IANS: “It is an effort of the Jamia community to promote communal harmony through better understanding of different religions.”

Students of different universities, who participated in the event in the M.A. Ansari auditorium of the university, said they felt elated after hearing the Dalai Lama.

“It is good to hear people like Dalai Lama, who have been trying to spread the message of peace, non-violence and harmony in this world which seems to be ridden with blood in most of its parts,” Sabina Khan, 23, a student of Jamia, told IANS.

“I am doing research on Hindu mythology and I feel that all the religions address the same question of achieving the best for human life, social harmony and service to humanity. In a pluralistic society like India, such events help in developing a better understanding of different religions and cultures,” Abhisheka, 30, a research scholar in Jawaharlal Nehru University, who attended the conference, told IANS.

[Visit the Jamia Millia Islamia in News Delhi, India: http://www.jmi.nic.in/].

Sufism in Morocco

[From the French language press]:

Soufi de la tariqa boutchichia, auteur de plusieurs ouvrages sur la question, Ben Rochd Rachid, vient de publier un nouveau livre sous le titre « Douze siècles de soufisme au Maroc ».

Par Abdelaziz Mouride, "«Douze siècles de soufisme au Maroc » de Ben Rochd Rachid" - Le Matin - Casablanca, Maroc

Vendredi, 16 janvier, 2009

A Sufi of the tariqa Butshishiyya, author of several books on the subject, Rachid Ben Rochd has published a new book under the title "Twelve centuries of Sufism in Morocco".

The book traces the history of the Sufi movement in Morocco since the initial establishment of the two main Orders, the Shadiliya and the Qadiriya, who came from the East in the 13th century.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

A Wonderful Example

Staff report with Wires, "Religious Affairs Directorate forms women's Sufi music choir" - Today's Zaman - Istanbul, Turkey
Saturday, January 17, 2009

The Religious Affairs Directorate, with input from female religious scholars from throughout Turkey, has put together a group called the Turkish Women’s Sufi Music Chorus.

The group, which sings interpretations of prayers, Bektaşi hymns and Mevlevi pieces, is accompanied by a group of female musicians.


The request for a female chorus came in the wake of the creation of a similar group for men. The Religious Affairs Directorate welcomed the request, inviting students studying at Quran courses who have an interest in music and women working in connection with the directorate on other projects to take a qualifying exam to join the chorus.

Women taking the exam were judged by teachers from the Ankara department of theology, as well as by officials from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Women from all over Turkey applied to be a part of this new chorus. Those who passed the exam were put through an eight-hour-a-day training program that lasted for one week. The program set up to train the members of the new chorus was based on the first year of courses at a music conservatory.

The new chorus is being directed by Nebahat Konu Yılmaz, an artist who works with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The chorus, accompanied by a group of female musicians, performs both nationally and internationally. So far there has been a great deal of interest in the group.

Rukiye Gökduman, the assistant director of the chorus, noted that the women in the Sufi music chorus all have close relations to music through their interest in religion and that all the members of the chorus have a natural propensity for music.

Gökduman also stated that everyone in the chorus had worked hard to get through their training and that thus far the response to their concerts has been very encouraging.

“Our chorus is a wonderful example for women, particularly women who are interested in religion,” she said.

Silat Chooses You

By Rasha Elass, "Eye of the tiger" - The National - Abu Dhabi, UAE
Saturday, January 17, 2009

Silat, an esoteric martial art steeped in Sufi mysticism, is gaining disciples in the Middle East. Rasha Elass sets out to channel her inner warrior.

Cigku Yahya al Am dons a black suit with emblems and a triangular head cloth called a tongat. He makes fists with his hands and presses them to the floor, gazing downwards, then begins reciting verses from the Quran in silence. He is about to begin a training session for his disciples in the little known combat art of Silat, possibly the only martial art in the world that has Muslim roots.

Silat means “connection” in Arabic, as in the connection between God and worshipper, and is a fundamental concept of Sufism. It was developed over centuries by Sufi masters in the Malay Archipelago, which embraced Islam through trade with Arabs and Persians and later through the migration of Chinese Muslims.

Cigku is the title given to a master in Silat. The martial art consists of strenuous kicks, punches and an acrobatic routine alongside full-contact “deadlocks” that can reduce the most stubborn opponent to a submissive standstill. Advanced training involves half a dozen different swords, knives and sticks.

Silat also has a strong meditative element, with dance moves meant to distract and confuse the opponent during battle. “It’s called Bunga. It’s a way of being,” says Cigku al Am, a fourth-degree black belt and the only Silat master certified to teach the discipline in the Arab world. “Bunga means flower. The point is to look as beautiful as a flower when performing Bunga. But just like the majestic tiger, the graceful warrior turns fierce in a split second. Silat encapsulates the spirit of the tiger.

“The tiger watches its prey with intelligence. He doesn’t attack a herd of gazelles all at once and make them run off, nor does he sit and wait. The Silat warrior sees an opponent as prey, but fights as if fighting another tiger,” says Cigku al Am. “So there is this beautiful combat art, and it has Islamic roots. My goal is to spread Silat throughout the Arab world, but only to a select group of people who will not dilute its meaning.”

Cigku al Am lives in Damascus, Syria, where he is slowly introducing Silat to an exclusive few. Only three out of every 10 enthusiastic beginners who show up for his first class become initiates.

“You can’t choose Silat. Silat chooses you,” he explains.

Indeed, when I first started training with him, he would reveal to me in every lesson one or two highly effective, even potentially deadly, moves until one day I asked him to teach me more. “When can I advance to the next belt? What about a Silat suit? I want to wear one. Can I go to Malaysia and train there full time?” I inquired.

He explained that before I could advance in Silat, I had to sign a contract, pledge my loyalty to the art and reveal my intentions in wanting to learn the deadly moves. “I get gung-ho students who show up twice, then ask: ‘When will I be able to attack four people just like in the movies?’” he said. “But those aren’t the ones I want to train. I don’t want to commercialise this art form. And I have to be careful who I train.

“One time I discovered that a student of mine got into a fight and pulled a knife on someone. When he showed up to class again, I asked him to leave and never return. I told him Silat would not welcome him. His soul was corrupt.”

After training in yoga for several years in New York, I felt I had developed a propensity to be quiet, peaceful and, at times, too complacent. “I want to get in touch with my inner warrior,” I told him. I wanted to do what I understood jihad to be: an ongoing, tenacious and spiritual struggle with life’s challenges, or what some call the “human condition”. Feeling that I could also defend myself against a physical attack was an added bonus, I explained.

Cigku al Am initiated me into Silat Seni Gayong, one of the dominant schools of Silat in Malaysia, under the auspices of the founder Dato Meor Abdul Rahman. When the founder died in 1991, his daughter Siti Kaltoum took over until her death in 2007. Only Dato Meor Abdul Rahman achieved the seventh degree in his black-belt training. For everyone else, the sixth degree is the highest they can achieve.

The school is located just outside Kuala Lumpur, and Cigku al Am spent four years training there full time. I was now a Gayong, or Silat disciple, and my Cigku would become more strict with me. I could show up to class only in my Silat suit, with my “empty black” belt, the first belt a Gayong wears, tied properly around my waist. Advanced levels wear “full black” belts, and they have seven degrees. In between there is white, yellow, green and red, also with several levels within them. After 10 months of training, I became a second-order white belt.

“You’re not fully present,” he said one morning early in my training, as we opened the session.

To commence, we would read the Fatiha chapter from the Quran once, followed by the Ikhlas chapter 11 times before saying thrice, “peace be upon the Prophet”. The Fatiha and Ikhlas are two of the most commonly read verses, and they are repeated throughout the five daily prayers. The short opening and closing ceremony aims to focus the mind on the battle at hand, and on breathing and the body.

During the rigorous kicks and punches routine, a Gayong shouts the word “zat”, Arabic for “self” or “essence”. It is a Sufi reference to the Essence of the Divine and a centring mechanism that keeps the warrior focused on the battle.

On a recent visit to Damascus, I watched Cigku al Am teach a class of advanced male Gayongs on the use of the kres, a famous Malaysian knife with a curvy blade. According to Malaysian war folklore, Malay fighters used it against Japanese soldiers in the Second World War.
Other weapons include the parang, a machete; simbat suk, a short stick; and tongant, a long stick. A particularly intriguing sword is the sondang, which splits into two on its end to resemble the famous sword of Ali, the Prophet’s cousin and son-in-law.

Unlike most commercially available martial arts, Silat grooms the Gayong to develop movements on their own. Black belts cannot advance through the six levels available to them without developing new movements and techniques, which they present before an audience of “faculty” to defend the effectiveness of such techniques, just as a doctoral student must defend a thesis. These new aspects are then introduced into Silat and taught to other students.

“Silat is a way of life. It gives to you and you give back,” says Cigku al Am.

The Gayongs at the training session have each been with him for at least a year. Their ages vary, but the young ones in particular say their after-school training in the discipline has transformed their lives. “It took me two months to become attached to it,” says Ousam Hajar, 15. “I’ve noticed that my personality has improved and I interact with people in a better way. I used to be very awkward, especially when speaking to others. But now I speak normally. Silat has been a way of life, and I don’t want to tell my friends about it. It’s my private thing.”

As for me, I did find my inner warrior. And since leaving Damascus and my Cigku, I have been craving hand-to-hand combat but have been unable to find a training partner in Abu Dhabi. Then last month, I stumbled upon a jiu-jitsu class. After a couple of sessions, when I was paired with a brown-belted woman, they taught me a defensive strangulation manoeuvre.

“You’re supposed to pull my collar and flex your wrists at the same time. When the pressure on my neck becomes too much, I’ll tap you on the arm,” said the brown belt.

I did as instructed. She tapped when the pressure became too much. I let go.

It all felt very natural.

[Picture: Silat master Yahya al Am demonstrating the art-form on a Damascus rooftop. Photo: courtesy Shane Bauer].

Monday, January 19, 2009

A Full Life on the Path

[From the French language press]:

Il a connu une vie bien remplie sur la voie tracée par son vénéré grand-père, Cheikhna Cheikh Saad Bouh, le saint-homme de Nimzath.

Par Doudou Sarr-Niang, Ph.D., "RAPPEL A DIEU DE CHERIF ATKHANA OULD BOUNEUNEU : Une référence de la khadrya" - Le Soleil - Dakar, Sénégal
Mercredi, 14 janvier 2008


He enjoyed a full life on the path charted by his revered grandfather, Sheikh Saad Bouh Cheikhna, the holy man of Nimzath [Mauritania].

His humility, known and recognized, was the mark of the greatness of a man, heir to a long tradition of Sufism instilled to his descendants by the venerable Cheikhna Sheikh Saad-Bouh.

We extend our deepest condolences to the whole family of Cheikhna Sheikh Saad-Bouh, to the sheikhs of Khadria and to the entire Khadre community, and pray that Allah the Almighty welcomes this illustrious man in His heavenly paradise.

Amen.

[Picture: Qur'an collection in a library in Chinguetti, Mauritania. Photo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauritania].

Sufism, Culture, and Politics

Oxford University Press - USA

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Raziuddin Aquil: Sufism, Culture, and Politics Afghans and Islam in Medieval North India

Description:
Strongly grounded in Persian manuscripts, many of them unpublished, this book makes an innovative and original intervention in the existing debates on the questions of medieval politics, patterns of governance as well as the relationship between politics, Islam and Muslim religious leaders.

Exploding the myth that Sufis, especially Chishtis, kept aloof from politics, it shows how Sufis enjoyed royal patronage and helped legitimise Aghans' political cause.

The author also explores the contributions of Sufis and Afghans to vernacular literature and devotional music.

Contesting existing notions of the "tribal" character of Afghan political institutions, he argues that Surs and other Afghan dynasties drew upon Persian understandings of universal kingship to put in place a coherent monarchical system.

The book also discusses how Rajputs and other non-Muslims collaborated with the Aghans to broaden the base of government apparatus

About the Author:
Raziuddin Aquil, Fellow in History, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences

Product Details:
Raziuddin Aquil
Sufism, Culture, and Politics
Afghans and Islam in Medieval North India
ISBN13: 9780195685121ISBN10: 0195685121 hardback, 296 pages
Mar 2009, Not Yet Published
Price:$38.00 (06)

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Two Streams Crossing Paths

By Kristina Kamp, "[STARTING UP IN TURKEY] A short history of Turkish literature" - Today's Zaman - Istanbul Turkey
Wednesday, January 14, 2008

The popularity of Turkish literature is on the rise. Since Turkey was featured as a guest of honor in last year's Frankfurt Book Fair, the world's largest literature event, Turkish literature has been put under the spotlight once again and many of its contemporary writers have gained international popularity overnight.

Taking into account, however, that the beginnings of Turkish literature actually date back a good 1,500 years, there is still much to discover. Today's Zaman will now take you on a short journey into the long history of Turkish writing.

Indeed, the oldest known Turkish writings date from the late seventh century. The so-called "Orkhon inscriptions" were found on obelisks in the Orkhon River valley in today's Mongolia; however, it took until the Seljuk victory at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 -- after which the Turks began to settle in Anatolia -- for a written literary tradition to come into being.

For the following 600 years, however, the orally based Turkish folk literature was kept separated from the newly written classical, or divan literature, of the emerging Ottoman Empire. Let's have a look at these two early streams.

Turkish folk literature is in fact nothing else than the collection of a number of pieces of -- mostly anonymous -- singers and storytellers. Thousands of fairytales, jokes and legends reflect the people's everyday life struggles and experiences. One of the most famous figures in this respect is Nasreddin Hoca, a joker who appears to be somewhat stupid and who, thus, tends to drive his neighbors crazy, though in the end all of his stories have a moral to them.

For the more epic tradition in Turkish folk literature you should definitely look at the greatest collection of those early, oral epics that evolved between the ninth and 11th centuries: the "Book of Dede Korkut." The primary element of the Turkish epic tradition in Anatolia for several centuries, it was finally written down in the 14th century.

From the 13th century onward there has also been a folk poetry tradition in Turkish literature, often strongly influenced by the Islamic Sufi tradition and often deeply intertwined with song as a supporting element. Never skip out on Yunus Emre, the always unforgotten Sufi master, poet and exemplary philanthropist.

In sharp contrast to the tradition of Turkish folk literature, Turkish divan literature tended to embrace the influence of Persian and Arabic literature and language, thus contributing a good deal to the development of the Ottoman Turkish language. In sharp contrast to folk literature, Ottoman divan poetry was very standardized and ritualized. Metaphoric and symbolic expressions dominated and allowed room for various interpretations.

Ottoman prose was not very developed nor did it contain any examples of fiction -- this is why prior to the 19th century you will not be able to find anything like European romance, short story or novel literature.

The emergence of a 'National Literature Movement'
Between 1839 and 1876, the Tanzimat (reorganization) period, large parts of the Ottoman system were restructured with the aim of modernizing and rescuing the deteriorating empire. Many of the reformists called for literature to turn away from the Persian and Arabic divan tradition to the folk tradition. For the first time since the two streams of Turkish literature began to be recorded, they were set to once again cross paths.

Interestingly, it was along with this rising national consciousness that a trend of Westernization entered the Ottoman Empire. Under strong French influence, in particular, new literary genres were introduced. "Taaşuk-u Tal'at ve Fitnat" (Talat and Fitnat in Love) by Şemsettin Sami became the first Turkish novel, published in 1872.

Meanwhile, the Young Turks, a coalition of reformers opposed to the late authoritarian Ottoman government, came to identify themselves with a specifically Turkish national identity. Naturally, the rising nationalism was also reflected in the literary traditions of this period, labeled "National Literature" and emerging in the years before the founding of the Turkish Republic in 1923. The three writers most representative of the movement were Ziya Gökalp, a kind of self-appointed national educator, Ömer Seyfettin and Ali Canip Yöntem.

In 1928, five years after the proclamation of the republic, the Latin alphabet was introduced to replace the Arabic-based Ottoman script. Additionally, the Turkish Language Society (TDK) was established in 1932 to carry out linguistic research, to purge from the language foreign words (i.e., Persian and Arabic, but also languages used by clans, particularly Kurdish). The aim was to develop a "clean" Turkish. Needless to say, a great treasure of cultural influence was lost.

Literary modernism in the new republic
In the early years of the republic the writings of Sait Faik Abasıyanık and Sabahattin Ali started a new trend in Turkish literary modernism: the reflection of daily life and events, opinions and expectations in Turkish literature. Similarly, the "village novel" tradition, founded soon thereafter, described the life of the generally less fortunate in Turkey's villages and small towns. Famous writers in this tradition are Kemal Tahir, Orhan Kemal and Yaşar Kemal. The last figure surely gained the most international fame not only for his prize-winning novel "İnce Memed" (Memed, My Hawk, 1955) but also for his firmly leftist political stance.

Another important novelist you should look out for is Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar. Outside of both the social realist and the village novel traditions, he illustrates impressively the clash between East and West in modern Turkish culture and society.

Keep an eye on the more modernist and existentialist Oğuz Atay and his novel "Beyaz Mantolu Adam" (Man in a White Coat, 1975), the often surrealistic Onat Kutlar with "İshak" (Isaac, 1959) and never miss out on the perfectly satirical short story writer Aziz Nesin!

Talking about contemporary poetry in particular, one name you should never overlook is that of Nazım Hikmet Ran. A firm Marxist, he wrote revolutionary poems with an esthetic which even today touches the hearts of many. He was the one who introduced free verse into the Turkish language and, thus, founded a socialist tradition which became common among many Turkish writers of the 1960s.

In the following years, Turkish poetry would experience two more big movements. The poem collection "Garip" (Strange, 1941) by Orhan Veli Kanık, together with the works of Melih Cevdet Anday and Oktay Rifathe, became the base for the "Garipçiler." Their aim was to create a popular art for the people beyond all formal restrictions and with a rough colloquial language and ordinary topics. Even more abstract and heavily inspired by the Western movements of Dada and Surrealism was the subsequent "İkinci Yeni" (Second New) movement, including writers such as Turgut Uyar, İlhan Berk and Edip Cansever.

So, after these excursions into the past, let's provide you with the latest bestsellers in the Turkish world of literature. First and foremost is Orhan Pamuk, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. His most famous works include "Beyaz Kale" (The White Castle), "İstanbul" and, more recently, "Masumiyet Müzesi" (The Museum of Innocence).

Other authors also include a number of women. Look out for Elif Şafak, Perihan Mağden and Latife Tekin.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Power Mullah

By Mohammed Hanif, "The Power of the Pulpit" - Newsline - Karachi, Pakistan
January 2009 Issue

Maulvi Karim, who taught me to read the Quran and led prayers in our village mosque for 40 years, was one of the most powerless men in our community.

The only power he assumed for himself was that of postman. The postman would deliver the mail to him and then he would walk from house to house distributing it. He would, of course, have to read the letters for a lot of families who couldn’t read.

He was also a dog lover.

I joined him a number of times as he played with his little Russian poodle outside his house, then walked to the mosque, did his ablutions and led the prayers. After prayers he would hang out at the door of the mosque exchanging gossip with regulars. There would be people loitering outside the mosque when he went in. They would still be around as he finished the prayers and came out.

It never occurred to him to ask these people to join him. It never occurred to the people who hung outside the mosque to feel embarrassed about not joining the prayers. They all lived on the same streets, not always in harmony, but religion in any of its forms was not something they discussed on the street. What was there to discuss? Wasn’t faith a strictly private business? Something that happened between a man and his god and not something that had to be discussed in your living room.

A minority went regularly to the mosques, another minority opened a bottle of something in the evening, but most people had secular pastimes like watching soap operas on TV and placing small bets on cricket matches.

He may sound like a character from the early 20th century but Maulvi Karim died only about a decade ago, and till his last days he had not given up his routine. In the social hierarchy he was somewhere between the barber and the cobbler. His basic functions were limited to being present at births, death and weddings. If he had been alive today and watched an episode of Alim Online, I wonder what he would have made of it. I wonder if he would have felt envious of all the celebrity maulanas who have become a staple of satellite television programming.

Not only do they crop up on every discussion on every topic on earth but now they have their own TV channels as well, where they can preach 24/7, interrupted only by adverts for other mullahs.

The mosque imam, who served an essential social function, has given way to another kind of mullah: the power mullah, who drives in a four-wheeler flanked by armed guards; the entertainer mullah, who hogs the airwaves; and the entrepreneur mullah, who builds networks of mosques and madrassas and spends his summer touring Europe. And then there is the much maligned mullah with his dreams of an eternal war and world domination.

Since “mullah,” when pronounced in a certain way, can be read as a derogatory term, and since we don’t want to offend them (because we all know that they do get very easily offended) we should call them evangelists or preachers.

Mullahs, maulvis, imamas, or ulema-i-karam as many of them prefer to call themselves, have never had the kind of influence or social standing that they enjoy now. A large part of Pakistan is enthralled by this new generation of evangelists. They are there on prime time TV, they thunder on FM radios between adverts for Pepsi and hair removing cream. In the past few years, they have established fancy websites with embedded videos; mobile phone companies offer their sermons for download right to your telephone. They come suited, they come dressed like characters out of the Thousand and One Nights, they are men and they are women. Some of them even dress like bankers and talk like property agents offering bargain deals in heaven.

I grew up during the time of General Zia, the first evangelist to occupy the presidency in Pakistan. But even he had the good sense to keep the beards away from prime time television. But the ruthless media barons of today have no such qualms. They have turned religion into a major money-spinner. Pakistan’s economy remains in its endless downwards spiral, but it certainly seems there is a lot of money still to be made in televised preaching.

They have also tailored their message to the aspiring middle classes. Recently on his show on Haq TV, Tahirul Qadri (and he has gone from being a maulana to Allama to Sheikh-ul-Islam) thundered that religion doesn’t stop us from adopting new fashions. You can change your furniture every few years, there is nothing wrong with getting the new car models, but it should all be done in good taste. The man could had have given his lecture on Fashion TV. “But you shall never question the basic tenets of religion,” he went on. The implication was clear: you shall never question what he has to say. The message is even clearer: make money, spend it and it’ll all turn out to be okay if you keep tuning in to my programme.

And the message is being taken seriously by the upper classes of Pakistan. I walked into a new super store in Karachi’s Clifton area and was pleasantly surprised to see what looked like a books section. It was a books section indeed, but it was called “Islamic Books Section” and all the books in it were about Islam.

I went to a Nike store, and it was no different from any Nike store in any part of the world: over-priced, shiny sneakers and branded football shirts. But in the background instead of the loud gym music, the hallmark of such stores, speakers played recitation from the Quran.

The multinational companies, sensing the mood of the people, have also joined the bandwagon. Mobile phone companies offer calls to prayers for ring tones, and Quranic recitations and religious sermons as free downloads. During the month of Ramadan a number of international banks were gifting their preferred clients fancy boxes containing rosaries, dates and miniature Qurans.

It’s the perfect marriage between God and greed.

Traditionally, what a preacher needed was a pulpit. For the pulpit he needed a mosque, and to get to a mosque he needed to do a long apprenticeship in which he had to prove his worth to the community before he could be allowed to sit at that pulpit. With the arrival of satellite TV channels, evangelists provide the most cost-effective programming and, as a result, have found a pulpit in every living room.

Even the Sindhi and Seraiki language channels, which were known for their liberal political approach and sufi messages, have found their own evangelists to fill the slots.

And their influence has changed our social landscape beyond recognition. Twelve years ago, an old friend from school tried to recruit me into a militant anti-Shia organisation. After dropping out from high school, Zulfikar Ahmad had started a motorcycle garage and joined one of the sectarian organisations that were flourishing in the area. We had a heated discussion over his politics, and I reminded him of a number of common friends who were Shias and were as good or bad Muslims as any of our other classmates. Visibly unconvinced, Zulfikar gave up on me and wished me luck in my godless life.

Zulfikar’s attempt at converting me was one of the many signs of religious intolerance creeping into our lives. Taliban-ruled neighbouring Afghanistan and many middle class Pakistanis, while enjoying the relative freedoms of a fledgling democracy, hankered for a more puritanical, Taliban-style government. But these zealots, despite their high profile, remained marginal to society as religion was a personal affair, not something you discussed in your drawing room.

As I moved back to Pakistan a few months ago, I was overwhelmed by the all pervasive religious symbols in public spaces and theocratic debates raging in the independent media as well as in the drawing rooms of friends and relatives. The graffiti on the walls of Karachi, blood-curdling calls for jihad, adverts for luxury Umrahs are omnipresent. And for those who can’t afford to go all the way to Mecca, neighbourhood mosques offer regular lectures and special prayers sessions.

I spent the Eid holidays in my village in Punjab and attended prayers at the mosque, which Maulvi Karim used to run. My village folk are very wary of radical mullahs and have appointed an imam who is Maulvi Karim’s son and has spent most of his youth in Birmingham. His sermon was probably the most progressive I have ever heard. He advised his male congregation to share household work with their women. He gave examples from Prophet Mohammed’s life and said that he used to clean his own room even when he had more than one wife. “You must attend to your stock yourself. It doesn’t matter if you have servants, feed your buffaloes,” he said. I looked around in amusement, trying to imagine these men, steeped in centuries of male chauvinistic tradition, going home to do their dishes.

What puzzled me in the end was that his prayer included get-well-soon wishes for Baitullah Mehsud, who according to local TV channels, was ill. I couldn’t reconcile the imam’s message for equality of the sexes and his good will for Mehsud, whose crusade against women is as well known as his anti-American jihad.

For answers I turned to my old friend Zulfikar. He still sports a long, flowing beard but his conversation is peppered with Punjabi expletives which I found quite refreshing amidst the wall-to-wall piety in my hometown. “I have left all that jihad-against-Shias business behind,” he told me. “I have college-going daughters now. Bringing up children in these times is a full-time jihad.”
He told me that he was worried about the others. “I look as if I am a Taliban supporter but I am not. But these clean-shaven people you see here,” he pointed to some clients and workers at his garage, “inside they are all Taliban.” He explained that with Pakistan coming under repeated US attacks even people who have voted for moderate political parties are looking towards the Taliban for deliverance.

In Karachi, there are frequent warnings that the Taliban are headed this way. There are posters warning us about Talibanisation. Altaf Hussain thunders about them at every single opportunity. But nobody seems to warn us about the preachers who are already here: the ones wagging their fingers on TV always tend to precede the ones waving their guns, smashing those TVs and bombing poor barbers.

Preaching is also turning out to be an equal opportunity business. Driving my son to his new school one day, I listened to a woman talking with a posh Urdu accent on a local FM radio. With a generous smattering of English, she was trying to persuade her listeners to dress properly. “When you prepare for a party, how much do you fuss over a dress? You select a piece, then you find something matching, then you have second thoughts. All because you want to look your best at the party. You want to flatter your host. And do you prepare like this when you know that one day very soon you are going to go to the ultimate party, where your host will be Allah?”
The speech, we were told, was brought to us by al-Huda Trust, which is located in the upscale Defence Housing Authority and has its own website.

Later, I ran into a relative, a mother of two who was wearing jeans and a shirt, and who asked our opinion about her new hairdo. She was fasting, I was not. She quoted me some rules for fasting: situations in which one is allowed not to fast, along with some more injunctions for lapsed ones like myself. When are you going to start wearing the hijab? I asked her jokingly.
Probably never, she said. “The Book tells us only to wear something loose, not to draw attention, not to wear anything tight. There are so many rapes, abductions. We must not provoke.”
“How do you know all this religious stuff?” I asked her.
“I have read it in books,” she said nonchalantly, as if it was the most normal thing for a liberated working mother to pore over religious texts to decide the length of the hem of her skirt or the size of her blouse.
“Where does it say?” I challenged her. “In the Quran. I have read it myself.” She started another mini-lecture, which ended with these words: “The point is that Allah doesn’t want a woman to draw attention to her bosom.”

Listening to these preachers, people in Pakistan today seem to believe that God is some kind of lecherous old man who sits there worrying about the size of a woman’s blouse while American drones bomb the hell out of the Pashtuns in the North. You can blame the Pashtuns for many things, but no true Pashtun has ever been accused of wearing tight dresses.

Pakistan’s president, Asif Zardari, stumbling from one crisis to another, has been accused of many things, but nobody has ever accused him of having a political philosophy. He was asked about this a while ago in an interview, and he parroted some clichés about Sindhi Sufi poetry and world peace. “I am a great admirer of Sindhi Sufi poetry,” but I doubt Zardari would get very far reciting it to one of the thousands of evangelists unleashed on this hapless nation.

Because if Zardari has read Sindhi Sufi poetry – or, for that matter, Punjabi, or Pushto Sufi poetry – he would know that it is full of more warnings about mullahs than all the CIA’s country reports lined end-to-end.

Sometimes I am also puzzled at my own reactions to these preachers: why do these overt symbols of religion bother me when I myself grew up in a family where prayers, Quran, and rosaries were a part of our everyday life. One reason could be that the kind of religion I grew up with was never associated with suicide bombings and philosophies of world domination.

Religion was something you practiced on your own, between meals and going to school. It didn’t involve blowing up schools, which seems to be the favourite pastime of Islamist militants in today’s Pakistan and something that our televangelists never talk about.

Maybe people are just buying into the symbolism as a way of expressing their defiance towards the Pakistan government’s policies that many of them see as a mere extension of the US. Maybe, like many other expats, I just hanker for those good old days when saints and sinners, believers and sceptics and preachers and their bored victims could live side by side without killing each other.

Mohammed Hanif is the author of A Case of Exploding Mangoes

[Picture from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Case_of_Exploding_Mangoes].

Saturday, January 31, 2009

Sufis' Mystical Power
1 comment:
By Philip Jenkins, "Mystical power" - The Boston Globe - Boston, MA, USA
Sunday, January 25, 2009

Thirty years ago this month, the collapse of the Shah's government marked the launch of Iran's Islamic Revolution, and since that point the topic of Islam has rarely been out of the headlines.

All too often, we hear about Islam in the context of intolerance and, often, violence -- of Al Qaeda savagery, of Taliban misogyny, of nuclear weapons in Pakistan and perhaps in Iran itself. Even in Europe, many fear the growth of a radical Islamic presence.

For three decades, Western observers have worked fervently to comprehend Islam's global power and appeal, its ability to inspire the poor and to topple governments. But in all that intense attention, most observers have missed a crucial part of the story: a global web of devout religious brotherhoods that by all logic should be a critical ally against extremism.

Sufis are the power that has made Islam the world's second-largest religion, with perhaps 1.2 billion adherents. Not a sect of Islam, but rather heirs of an ancient mystical tradition within both the Sunni and Shia branches of the faith, Sufis have through the centuries combined their inward quest with the defense and expansion of Islam worldwide. At once mystics and elite soldiers, dervishes and preachers, charismatic wonder-workers and power-brokers, ascetic Sufis have always been in the vanguard of Islam. While pushing forward the physical borders of Islam, they have been essential to the spiritual and cultural fullness of the faith. Today, the Sufi tradition is deeply threaded through the power structures of many Muslim countries, and the orders are enjoying a worldwide renaissance.

To look at Islam without seeing the Sufis is to miss the heart of the matter. Without taking account of the Sufis, we cannot understand the origins of most contemporary political currents in the Middle East and Muslim South Asia, and of many influential political parties. We can't comprehend the huge popular appeal of Islam for women, who so often seem excluded from Muslim life. Sufis are central to the ability of Muslim communities to survive savage persecutions -- in Chechnya, in Kosovo -- and then launch devastating insurgencies. They are the muscle and sinew of the faith.

And, however startling this may seem, these very Sufis -- these dedicated defenders and evangelists of mystical Islam -- are potentially vital allies for the nations of the West. Many observers see a stark confrontation between the West and Islam, a global conflict that entered a traumatic new phase with the Iranian revolution. But that perspective ignores basic conflicts within the Muslim world itself, a global clash of values over the nature of religious practice, no less than overtly political issues. For the Islamists -- for hard-line fundamentalists like the Saudi Wahhabis and the Taliban -- the Sufis are deadly enemies, who draw on practices alien to the Quran. Where Islamists rise to power, Sufis are persecuted or driven underground; but where Sufis remain in the ascendant, it is the radical Islamist groups who must fight to survive.

Around the world, the Sufis are struggling against violent fundamentalists who are at once their deadly foes, and ours. To look at Islam without seeing the Sufis is to be ignorant of a crucial clash of civilizations in today's world: not the conflict between Islam and the West, but an epochal struggle within Islam itself.

If the word "Sufi" conjures up any images for Americans, they normally involve mystical poetry or dance. Thirteenth century poet Rumi was a legendary Sufi, as are Turkey's whirling dervishes. But these are just the most visible expressions of a movement that runs deeply through the last thousand years of Islam.

Emerging around the year 800, they were originally pious devotees, whose poor woolen clothes showed their humility: "Sufi" comes from the Arabic word for wool. Above all, the Sufis sought the divine reality or ultimate truth that stands above all the illusions and deceptions of the material world. In order to achieve ecstatic union with God, they incorporated techniques of sound and movement -- chanting and music, swaying and dance. Believers joined in tight-knit brotherhoods or tariqahs, each following a charismatic leader (shaykh). Among the dozens of these orders, a few grew to achieve special influence, and some operate in dozens of nations, including the United States.

But the orders are more than confraternities of pious devotees. Early in their history, Sufis developed a powerful military streak, making them the knights of Islam, as well as the monks and mystics. Like the Japanese samurai, the brotherhoods trained their followers to amazing feats of devotion and overcoming pain. Fanatical dervish warriors were the special forces of every Islamic army from the 13th century through the end of the 19th.

The expansion of Islam outside the core areas of the Middle East is above all a Sufi story. Sufi orders led the armies that conquered lands in Central and South Asia, and in Southeastern Europe; through their piety and their mysticism, the brotherhoods then won the local populations over to Islam. They presented an Islam that incorporated local traditions and worship styles, including Christian saints and Hindu gods. Today, Sufi styles and practices dominate in the non-Arab Muslim world: in India and Pakistan, in Indonesia and Malaysia, Nigeria and Senegal, and in the Muslim countries of Central Asia, such as Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

Over the centuries, the territories where Sufi orders seeded Islam have evolved from the faith's frontiers to its demographic heartlands. These regions now encompass Islam's largest and fastest-growing populations. Of the eight nations with the world's largest Muslim communities, only one (Egypt) is Arab. A fifth of the world's Muslims today identify with Sufism, and for many millions more, Sufism is simply part of the air they breathe.

The Sufi orders enhanced their political role as Western empires encroached. When Islam was under threat, the Sufis were the trained soldiers, and their close-knit brotherhoods allowed them to form devastatingly effective resistance movements. Sufi orders led anti-colonial movements from Morocco to Indonesia. Most Americans, for instance, have heard of the stubborn Chechen guerrillas, but few realize how absolutely this movement is rooted in Sufism. When the Russians pushed south into Muslim lands in the 19th century, the heroic Sufi sheikh Imam Shamil launched a decades-long guerrilla war. Even Stalin's terror campaigns could not root out the Sufi brotherhoods. The fearsome leader of modern-day Chechen resistance, Shamil Basayev, was named for the original imam.

A similar story can be told of other oppressed peoples, in Kurdistan, Kashmir, Albania, Kosovo, and elsewhere, who owed their solidarity and cohesion to the immense power of the Sufi brotherhoods.

The Sufis might sound like America's worst nightmare. Not only do they ground political activism in religion, but their faith spreads through intense and secretive brotherhoods, led by charismatic masters: this recalls every sinister stereotype of Muslim fanaticism that potboiler thrillers have offered us over the decades. But it would be a terrible mistake to see the Sufis as enemies. Sufis certainly have fought Western forces through the years, and Sufi-founded movements have on occasion engaged in terrorist actions -- witness the Chechens. But in the vast majority of cases, such militancy has been essentially defensive, resisting brutal colonial occupations. This is very different from the aggressive global confrontation pursued by groups such as Al Qaeda.

Today, moreover, Sufi brotherhoods face a deadly danger from the strict puritanical or fundamentalist Islam represented by Qaeda and similar movements, which are as threatening to the Sufi brotherhoods as they are to the West. To the extent that we, like the Sufis, face a real danger from violent jihadi fundamentalism, our interests are closely aligned with those of the Sufis.

But the Sufis are much more than tactical allies for the West: they are, potentially, the greatest hope for pluralism and democracy within Muslim nations. The Sufi religious outlook has little of the uncompromising intolerance that characterizes the fundamentalists. They have no fear of music, poetry, and other artistic forms -- these are central to their sense of the faith's beauty -- and the brotherhoods cherish intellectual exploration. Progressive Sufi thinkers are quite open to modern knowledge and science.

From their beginnings, too, Sufi traditions have been religiously inclusive. Wherever the orders flourish, popular Islamic religion focuses on the tombs of saints and sheikhs, who believers venerate with song and ritual dance. In fact, they behave much like traditional-minded Catholics do when they visit their own shrines in Mexico or southern Italy. People organize processions, they seek healing miracles, and women are welcome among the crowds. While proudly Islamic, Sufi believers have always been in dialogue with other great religions.

This open-mindedness contrasts with the much harsher views of the fundamentalists, who we know by various names. Salafism claims to teach a return to the pure religion taught by the prophet Muhammad in the seventh century, and in that early Islamic community Salafis think they can find all they need to know about life and law. The most powerful and best-known version of this back-to-basics ideology is the Wahhabi movement that emerged in the 18th century, and which in modern times has built a worldwide presence on the strength of Saudi oil money. At its most extreme, this exclusive tradition rejects knowledge that is not clearly rooted in the Quran and Islamic legal thought, and regards other religions and cultures as dangerous rivals lacking any redeeming virtues. Al Qaeda and its affiliates represent an extreme and savage manifestation of this fundamentalist current.

As fundamentalist Islam spreads around the world, Sufism is one of its targets, even in such strongholds as Indonesia, Pakistan, and Nigeria. Often this comes in the form of ideological struggle, but open violence has broken out as well. Sudan's Islamist government attacks the black Sufi population of Darfur; in Iraq, suicide bombers target Sufi centers. Sufis have literally everything to lose from the continued advance of the Islamist extremists.

But Sufis are anything but passive victims, and in their resilience lies their true importance to the West. In many nations, Sufi brotherhoods exercise influence within local regimes, and those alliances allow them to drive back radicalism. Sufi brotherhoods have emerged as critical supporters of government in several post-Communist regimes, including in former Yugoslav regions like Kosovo and Bosnia, and in Albania. When a Qaeda-affiliated Islamist movement arose in Uzbekistan, the government's intimate alliance with the Sufi orders allowed it to destroy the insurgents quite thoroughly. Syria cultivates tolerant-minded Sufi orders as the best means of fending off Islamist subversion. For similar reasons, even the Chinese government openly favors Sufism. Hard as they try, fundamentalist radicals find it impossible to gain much of a foothold in societies where Islam is synonymous with Sufism, and where Sufi loyalty is deeply tied to cultural and national identity.

In 2007, the influential RAND Corporation issued a major report titled "Building Moderate Muslim Networks," which urged the US government to form links with Muslim groups that opposed Islamist extremism. The report stressed the Sufi role as moderate traditionalists open to change, and thus as potential allies against violence.

Some Western nations are just now grasping the rich rewards that would come from an alliance with the Sufi, with Muslim forces who can claim such impeccable historical and religious credentials. The British government especially has befriended the Sufi orders, and has made groups like the British Muslim Forum and the Sufi Muslim Council its main conversation partners in the Muslim community.

Sufis, better than anyone, can tell disaffected young Muslims that the quest for peace is not a surrender to Western oppression, still less a betrayal of Islam, but rather a return to the faith's deepest roots. And while Sufis have religious reasons for favoring peaceful and orderly societies, they also stand to benefit mightily from government support in their struggle against the fanatics. As the fundamentalists have expanded, they press hard on Muslim populations who are overwhelmingly drawn from countries where the Sufi current has always dominated Islamic life, from Pakistan, Turkey, and North Africa.

If this British model works, it would encourage the growth of a Euro-Islam that could reconcile easily with modernity and democracy, while yielding nothing of its religious content.

Nobody is pretending that building bridges with Sufis will resolve the many problems that divide the West from the Islamic world. In countries like Afghanistan or Somalia, warfare and violence might be so deeply engraved into the culture that they can never be expunged. Yet in so many lands, reviving Sufi traditions provide an effective bastion against terrorism, much stronger than anything the West could supply by military means alone.

The West's best hope for global peace is not a decline or secularization of Islam, but rather a renewal and strengthening of that faith, and above all of its spiritual and mystical dimensions.

Philip Jenkins is Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor University. He is author of "The Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia -- and How It Died" (HarperOne, 2008) [pictured].

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Friday, January 30, 2009

The Suitable Name
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By Web Master, "Srinagar airport is with out a name. Authority’s undecided over the issue." - Kashmir Watch - Islamabad, Pakistan
Friday, January 23, 2009

Srinagar: As the Srinagar Airport is all set to go international next month , the civil aviation authorities are still figuring out the suitable name for the newly build airport.

In 1996, National Conference government had proposed the name of Sheikh ul Alam, the famous Sufi saint of Kashmir for the new international airport. However, the officials of Airports Authority of India have said that they have not received any proposal or communique from the government of India, which is the only authority to name the airport.

International flights will take off from the new airport in Srinagar from February 14, but the state government is undecided about its naming. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the civil aviation minister Prafful Patel are likely to inaugurate the new airport scheduled next month.

Director, AAOI, Kashmir, Rakesh Kalra told PBI that International flights can operate from the Srinagar airport from February 14. However, he said that no proposal or communique has been received from the government regarding the naming of the newly build airport. Kalra also feigned ignorance about the hoarding displayed in the airport premises, naming the airport after the Sufi Saint Sheikh-ul-Alam.

Interestingly, the previous PDP-congress coalition government was also divided over the naming of the airport. PDP president Mehbooba Mufti had advocated naming the airport after the Sufi saint, but the senior Congress leader and water resources minister, Saif-ud-din Soz had favored the name of former Chief minister Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah for the naming of the airport.

However, days later Soz back tracked from his statement due to the mounting public pressure.
When contacted, Minister for rural development in National Conference led coalition government; Ali Mohammad Sagar said that he is not aware of the name proposed for the airport.

Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir Masood Samoon also pleaded ignorance about the issue, when he was contacted by PBI.

Deputy Commissinoer, Budgam, Mohammad Rafi told PBI that last year the name of Sufi saint Sheikh-ul-Alam was proposed. However, he said that he was not aware of the latest development in this regard.

Meanwhile, Union civil aviation Shri Praful Patel said that all facilities at Srinagar Airport will be provided before the inaugural ceremony on February 14th.

He said he would sort out the matter regarding provision of ILS, Instrument landing System facility with the Union Minister of Defence very shortly and hoped that the facility would be provided early and announcement to this effect would be made on 14th of February 2009, when Airport at Srinagar will be officially inaugurated.

[Picture fromhttp://sufinews.blogspot.com/search?q=airport].
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Thursday, January 29, 2009

Like Czech and Slovakia
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By Mariam Ismail, "Azmath, the Gentle Sufi from Hyderabad" - Khaleej Times - Dubai, UAE
Saturday, January 24, 2009

With Barack Obama, I hope for the end of Guantanamo Bay as well as the release of all there locked in dungeons and in secret jails.

Or on Navy brigs like Jose Padilla, who spent over three years in solitary confinement in South Carolina. He was later tried and convicted in Florida, without any evidence, for conspiring to kill his fellow Americans. When Padilla was arrested, they announced him as the new kind of terrorist: the dirty bomber, one who would carry a nuclear-activated bomb in a briefcase and destroy entire cities. He was young, a former gang-banger, who converted to Islam and came to be known as Ibrahim.

America can’t let his past rest. They neither have any evidence nor any right to put him away. He is seen as someone more notorious than Bin Ladin. Think of the reputation he will never live down. If he gets out where can he go to live, work, and have a normal life? For Padilla, there is barely a website that doesn’t paint him as the villainous enemy, dangerous, a terrorist, and despite his name being Jose and Padilla. You see, of all of the would-be crimes that he was accused of the final one, converting to Islam, is the most terrifying.

Like the case of John Walker Lindh (Suleyman), who is also serving like Jose 17 years, is being gassed, stripped naked, and strapped to a table in the wrong country. I don’t mean to make light of the destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11, which I used to go through everyday, when I worked in New York, but come on, can we get the real guys?

It is rarely reported, but many Muslims also died in the World Trade Center.

South Asians, who sold newspapers, magazines, candy, Tylenols, and Snapple. I saw them everyday I went to graduate school and then to work. They were just like the guys in Newark’s Penn Station, who one day asked me, “Are you Muslim?” Afterwards, they were like my brothers, during Ramadan, close to time to break fast, they were always ready, offering dates, juice and water. Muslims are such a small group in the US, you find solidarity were you can.

It was during that time, I got to know one of them in particular, who chose me to be a subject of Dawah. Looking at the magazines, killing time until my train came, this one very soft spoken brother, interested in Sufi Islam, on a few occasions encouraged me to think about Allah. He gave me a book about the miracles of the Prophet (PBUH). It was the first time that I had heard of such a thing. His encouragement along with some others, made me think, it’s time to learn more about Islam.

This guy in the window, next to McDonalds, whose shyness prevented him from looking directly at me for three years, one day spoke to me about Allah. And from that point on, I had a friend at Penn Station. So, imagine my shock, when I see my friend’s face on the TV, in Time magazine, on CNN, everywhere, as the 20th bomber. I still want to gasp. We were not close, he was just an ‘As Salaamulaikum sister’, on the way to work, but imagine if it was someone you knew? Your brother, father, husband, sister, wife, cousin or a friend? I still feel it.

He along with his travel partner was not part of the Al Qaeda network (if there is any such thing), they were just two guys being tested by Allah. And their test is not over. Just google Mohammed Azmath, and it as if they are still wanted, and 9/11 is a day that never ends.
What this makes me think of is there a way to get your innocence via the net? Who controls it? It’s not as free or fair as we think. Try to google something like the Wal-Mart fiasco, all information stops at 2003. While Wal-Mart goes on, making profits on the back of humanity. But for those like Azmath and Padilla, their character assassination continues on the net.

Azmath was lucky; they let him go after 18 months. His salt and pepper hair had turned completely white. When I saw his picture in the paper, I felt relieved. Still, one has to think, then it was him, and when will it be me or mine? We cannot just protest, get mad, and cause trouble, we have to be smart and lobby and find some political power of our own.

Tell those Google people to stop publishing stuff that only says over and over that these people are dirty bombers, masterminds and terrorists.

Because none of these guys in these jails, dungeons, rendered into oblivion on gray planes with no names can cause the same level of mayhem, heartache, pain, death and destruction as Israel unleashed in Gaza, and as the US in Iraq. We cannot sit idle, silent, fooling ourselves that it won’t come here or near us.

They know how much Muslims fight, bicker and discriminate against each other, yet they give us so much power. If we had the amount of power they said, we had, then Palestine and Israel would be like Czech and Slovakia. Two separate nations, and managing just fine.

I think if we are smart, we can do something to change this war on terror because right now nobody is safe. I know before it was the guy at the newsstand, and there is no guarantee that next time, it won’t be me.
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Let the Music Wash
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By Steven Ritter, "Classical CD Reviews" - Audiofile Audition - USA
Friday, January 23, 2009

Listen first, and suppress any preconceptions about this soothing disc

For her exemplary efforts to classical music and to Gallo in particular, the label has awarded Turkish flutist Sefika Kutluer the honor of having all her future albums designated as “Golden Edition” issues.

This is all well and good to my mind, being a long time fan of Ms. Kutluer, whose fantastic flute often hovers under the radar of some of the more well-known artists recording for more aggressive labels.

But she refuses to be categorized, and records the kinds of music that mean the most to her, or to what any specific advisor thinks she should be recording. This is replete with promise and frustration, the former because we often get music (like on this album) that we would not normally consider, and the latter because we all have our favorite pieces that we would love to hear her play.

This is not an exciting album. For that, there are many other Kutluer releases that provide ample documentation of her abilities in the fireworks and barn-burning departments. This release is ruminative, relaxed, mystical, and contemplative, dedicated to the spirit if not the person of Mevlana, or as he is more commonly known in the West - Rumi (1207-73).

He may have been the greatest poet of his age, a Sunni Islamic jurist and theologian, and the very name is an appellation referring to the fact that he lived in an area called “Rum” (Rome) as it was once part of the Byzantine Empire, at least as the West refers to it. (In fact, no one in the Byzantine Empire would have known what you were talking about if you called them “Byzantines”, the shortened name of Byzantium, a small cattle town that became the foundation of the great city of Constantinople, now Istanbul. They always thought of themselves as “Romans”, and continued to do so long after the fall of Rome in the west).

After Rumi’s family migrated west he lived most of his life in what is today Turkey, in the town of Konya, producing the works that would make him famous, perhaps the crown of Persian literature.

The “Whirling Dervishes” and Mawlawīyah Sufi Order were founded after his death. Rumi always emphasized the pursuit of art, music, and literature as means of approaching God.

Though he was confidently writing within the traditions of Islam, his legacy is more questionable in those circles. Some see him as a bridge between East and West, and indeed his popularity is very great even in the United States.

Many see in his spirituality more of a connection with the ancient Christian Greek fathers, while some in Islam reject aspects of Sufism as heretical. Suffice it to say that Rumi’s influence is great, and will continue to be controversial according to one’s own worldview. But for our purposes, does the disc in question evoke this Sufi spirit?

If you are looking for an obvious in-your-face mélange of orientalisms and overt remnants of purely “Turkish” flavoring, this will probably not meet the criteria. And I doubt this was the intention of any of the composers on this disc, who are instead trying to use aspects of traditional Sufi music (melodic and rhythmic elements) to portray in Western guise (for that is what an orchestra and modern flute do) the sensual and whimsical nature of Rumi’s philosophy.

Some of these people, like Ilyas Mirzayev, absorbed much of jazz as their influences, something miles away from Sufism, yet is able to incorporate subtle aspects of this influence in three beautifully contrived pieces. And the romantic and folk-like elements of Arif Melikov’s Concertino has these ears even pealing back influences emitting from the French Les Six; but all through the work we hear a certain Sufi bent of melody and tone that provide us with a key to how to listen to this music—without preconceptions.

In fact, before you read the excellent notes or hit the web for articles on Sufism and Rumi, carefully listen to this disc several times and let the music wash over you. It may not be the greatest you will ever hear, but its perspective is fresh and alluring and certainly calming and ingratiating.

And of course with Kutluer it is always about the sound, one of the warmest flute sounds you will ever hear. Sonics and projection are first rate in this issue, the Prague Virtuosi offering palpably contended support.

ILYAS MIRZAYEV: Overture “Yunus Emre”; Flute Concerto “From Mevlana to Today”; Dede Efendi Gulnihal; EKREM ZEKI UN: At the Tomb of Yunus; ARIF MELIKOV: Flute Concertino – Sefika Kutluer, flute/ Prague Virtuosi/ Oldrich Vlcek, conductor – Gallo 1266, 54:13 **** [Distr. by Albany].
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Wednesday, January 28, 2009

A Dio Piacendo
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[From the Italian Language Press]:

A Dio piacendo: 27 febbraio-1° marzo, La Carovana dell'Amore. Musica e storie con Peter Hassan Dyck.

Di Jamaluddin, Sufi.it, martedì 6 gennaio 2009

Inshallah: from February 27th to March 1st, The Caravan Of Love. Music and tales with Peter Hassan Dick.

You are invited to a two-days meeting with Shaykh Peter Hassan Dyck. The meeting will take place in the city of Noale (Venice), a place that in 1994 /95 hosted Maulana Shaikh Nazim.

The meeting is free of charge. Two nights full board at the Hotel Garden cost euro 110.

Peter Hassan Dick is a musician from the Conservatory of Berlin. He was among the first western murids of Shaykh Nazim and lived with him in Damascus. Shaykh Hassan is a living example of what is to be a man of Allah.

For further inquiries and reservations, please contact Jamaluddin 0541/984731 after 9.30 p.m. or email news@sufi.it

Hotel Garden - Via G. Tempesta, 124 Noale (Ve) - tel. 041 4433299 Indicazioni stradali per Noale

[Visit the Italian branch of the Naqshbandi-Haqqani tariqa http://www.sufi.it/].

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Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Until Yawm al-Qiyamah
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[From the French language press]:

Lors d’une de ses dernières conférences donnée le 26 mai 1998 dans la ville de Konya, Eva de Vitray-Meyerovitch déclara à l’auditoire : « Je souhaiterais être enterrée à Konya pour rester jusqu’au Jour du Jugement sous l’ombre de la bénédiction de Rûmi ».

Par Rachid Hamimaz et Jean-Louis Girotto, "Le dernier voyage d’Eva à Konya" - Soufisme.org - France
Samedi, 24 janvier 2009

During one of her last lecture, given on May 26th 1998 in the city of Konya, Eva de Vitray-Meyerovitch told the audience: "I would like to be buried in Konya to stay under the shadow of the blessing of Rumi until the Day of Judgement [Yawm al-Qiyamah]".

She died soon after, at the age of 89, on July 24th, 1999.

The patient and determined efforts of two friends led, after many years, to the successful conclusion. During autumn 2008, all administrative formalities fulfilled, Eva's mortal remains could be moved to Turkey.

On December 17, 2008, the anniversary of Rumi's death, a Muslim funeral was celebrated in the Selimiye Mosque in Konya and she was at last buried in Uçler cemetery, just opposite the mausoleum where Rumi himself lies.

Eva de Vitray-Meyerovitch (1909-1999) embraced Islam in 1954, after many years of studies and deep self-questioning. She became a disciple (murid) of Sidi Hamza al-Qadiri Boudchich after meeting the Shaykh in Morocco. She was then already seventy years old and have been looking for a living spiritual master since a long time; the Shaykh's words went directly into her heart.

Pictures: Eva de Vitray-Meyerovitch in her youth; Eva's tomb in Konya. Photos by Şamil Kucur.

[Click on the title of this article if you can read French, there are many articles about Prof. Dr. Eva de Vitray-Meyerovitch's life and work.]
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Monday, January 26, 2009

The Power of Music
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By Rachna Singh, "Striking a chord for peace" - The Times Of India, India
Friday, January 23, 2009

Jaipur: If the authors at the Jaipur Literature Festival were largely those depicting tales of strife across boundaries, the music concert focussed on the power of music to proactively heal wounds caused by the unrest.

In the light of Mumbai terror attacks and political unrest in Gaza and its impact on interfaith relations, leading musicians from around the world collaborate for the first time this week in a series of Coexist Concerts for Peace.

In a special series of interfaith collaborations Muslim, Jewish, and Hindu musicians collaborate in Diggi Palace for Coexist Concerts for Peace'.

Among the star performers in the five-day concert series is, Pakistani Muslim rocker Salman Ahmad from Junoon, an activist in promoting peace on the planet.

"The first ever rock band to be invited at the UN General Assembly, Ahmad has been touring across the United States to bridge the gap between the Muslim community and the western world," said Simon Cohen, communication director from The Coexist Foundation, London.

The foundation so far had been facilitating pre-existing initiatives in peace between Jews, Christians and Muslims through education, dialogue and research, along with Gallop Organization in the US, Cambridge Interfaith and many others. This is the first time that they have sponsored a musical concert for peace.

"Music is universal and a powerful medium that deeply resonates with the cult of India. In Jaipur we have Rajasthani music sharing the stage with people from across the globe. There would be Hindus drumming the beats in harmony with synchronized beats of the Isreali or the Muslims," said Simon.

Then Baul music represents the long tradition of preaching mysticism through songs in Bengal like Shahebdhooni or Bolahadi sects. Israeli singer Shye Ben-Tzur fuses Rajasthani rhythms and western sounds with Hindu and Muslim musicians. While Kudsi Erguner and Coleman Barks will celebrate the tolerant pluralistic Sufism of Rumi with verse and music.

James Kidner, director of The Coexist Foundation, says, 'The concerts are a timely reminder that faith, like music, can be an instrument of peace. For world class musicians, people of different faiths, to collaborate in such a way, send out a harmonic example of peaceful coexistence between people of faith."


[Visit The Coexist Foundation http://coexistfoundation.net/].
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Sunday, January 25, 2009

Qawwali for Obama
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By Rashmee Roshan Lall, TNN, "Sufi blessings for new Prez" - The Times Of India - New Delhi, India
Wednesday, January 21, 2009

In a rare act of political alchemy, Barack Hussein Obama united a South Asian Sufi tradition dating to the 16th century with the 21st, as the strains of a special 'qawwali for Obama' soared into the night-time skies over one of India's most important dargahs.

The qawwali, the first ever to be held anywhere for the inauguration of an American president, is seen as a sign of the intense anticipation heralding the accession to office of a man whom India and much of the globe believes will bring relief, if not redemption to a world weary of war and strife.

Dewan Syed Ali Moosa Nizami, chairman and pir of the dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, where the qawwali was organised to herald "a new dawn of peace and hope in the world", said when Obama is sworn in as America's 44th president, "we hope it reinforces the Sufi tradition of peace and tolerance joining hearts, not cutting them asunder".

The pir added, in a nod to the congregation that usually assembles for the weekly qawwali on a Thursday, that "everyone, and Muslims too, has great hopes of Obama".

Some of those "hopes" were voiced by the pir's nephew, Ajmal, who appeared to speak for many disaffected young Muslims, both aspirational and traditionally bred to a intense antipathy towards America.

In a reference to the famous dismissiveness towards his political masters by Auliya, one of the sub-continent's most influential teachers of Sufism, Ajmal said, "He disdained to meet kings and emperors, seven of them, but politics has always been linked to religion and we now hope Barack Obama will bring about a really new world order".

But Ajmal's youthful agenda for Obama's brave new world came just as the 20-strong troupe of qawwals sang the customary sufi lovesong to the world's one constant, God.

In a possible reference to the fact the Obama era too will pass, lead singer Sultan Hussain Niyazi Qawwal chanted, "You (God) were here when there was nothing, not the sun, the moon, the stars, You were here, You're still here, You will be here when all will pass".


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Saturday, January 24, 2009

People of Many Faiths
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By Kurt Kloblen, "Louisburg woman leads Interfaith Council" - Louisburg Herald - Louisburg, KS, USA
Wednesday, January 21, 2009

It might sound like the start of a joke: What happens when a Pagan, Hindu, Buddhist and Christian sit down at a table?

But when members of 15 different religions sit down in Kansas City, they are part of the Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council, a place to help understand other religions and to increase tolerance for all religions, according to the group’s goals.

“The whole idea is to really encourage interfaith dialogue,” said Lama Chuck Stanford, of the Rime Buddhist Institute and council member. “In this world that is becoming so fragmented and really divides people, we want to bring people together.”

Religions included in the council are American Indian Spirituality, Baha’i, Buddhism, Orthodox Christian, Protestant Christian, Roman Catholic, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Paganism, Sikhism, Sufism, Unitarian Universalism, Vedanta and Zoroastrianism.The group also has at-large members and alternates from a number of faiths.

The group, formed in 1989 by the Rev. Vern Barnet, worked under the name Center for Religious Experience and Study until 2005, when Barnet moved on and the group organized itself into an official nonprofit group.

The group used proceeds from the event to hire its first staff person, Executive Director Shannon Clark, in June 2008. Clark, a Louisburg resident, has tried to help push forward the organization in a number of ways. “My job is to really oversee the organization of council,” Clark said. “There are lots of tasks, but one of the main ones is to make sure the committees function smoothly and to lead the direction the council is going.”

Through its existence, the group has taken on many different roles, but one of the main roles is to help educate the community about various religions. The longest running program of the council is the speaker bureau. Through its Web site, interested people can have speakers from different religions come speak to various groups.

Since it became the council, the group has run an annual event called Table of Faiths. The event is a community luncheon where each of the 15 religions sets up a booths about their religion.

Each religion on the council has one representative. For any council decision, there must be unanimous approval, something Stanford said is not always easy. “If one person wants to block it, they can veto the whole thing,” Stanford said. “It’s very interesting and very time consuming.”

The council has taken stands on issues throughout the years, most recently releasing a statement of disapproval of a nationally circulated DVD about the dangers of Islam. It also offered support of Islam and understanding after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Stanford said the best part he has gotten from his nearly 17 years on the council is the number of friends he has from all religious backgrounds. He said he and friend Alvin Brooks have a monthly dinner to get together people of many faiths.

[Pictures from the 2008 and 2007 Table of Faiths at The Greater Kansas City Interfaith Council. Photos by http://www.kcinterfaith.org/].
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To Make a Difference
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By David Yonke, "Prayer rallies elicit calls for peace, economy fix" - Toledo Blade - Toledo, OH, USA

Monday, January 19, 2009

Toledoans turned out by the hundreds Sunday for two prayer rallies, one to seek God's blessing on the city and the nation, the other asking for peace in the Middle East.

About 500 people attended an ecumenical prayer service in the Valentine Theatre last night that was organized by a cross section of local Christian leaders.
Prayers were offered for unity among denominations and for divine help in overcoming the economic crisis affecting the city, state, nation, and world.

Mayor Carty Finkbeiner read a proclamation declaring Jan. 18, 2009, as Holy Toledo Day of Prayer, and said the "best opportunity to overcome some of that which is in front of us is to perhaps live up to what we have internationally been known as - Holy Toledo."

Mr. Finkbeiner is going to Washington for President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration Tuesday, but said he might visit public housing projects and barber shops there instead of the political events so that he can "see what the average people are thinking."

More than a dozen ministers stood together on the Valentine stage and about half of them took turns leading prayers. The Rev. Tony Scott, pastor of the Church on Strayer, asked God to forgive Toledoans and Americans for sinning, including "kicking You out of our government and kicking You out of our schools."

The Rev. Will James, Jr., pastor of St. James Holiness "The Armory" Church, prayed for wisdom for President-elect Obama and Toledo's city officials, and offered a poetic and encouraging slogan: "We know that everything will be fine in 2009."

The Rev. Martin Donnelly, pastor of Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, prayed for unity among churches and said it is wrong "to believe that one church is better than any other one as long as we follow Jesus Christ." Despite the nation's struggles, Father Donnelly said, "We are hope-filled. We are not depressed. We are confident we will overcome."

Earlier Sunday, more than 100 people attended an interfaith rally offering prayers for peace in the Middle East.

Among them was Sister Geraldine Nowak, a Sylvania Franciscan nun, who wore a purple button with the word "Peace" written in Arabic, English, and Hebrew. The prayer gathering was held in an assembly hall of the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo in Perrysburg Township and featured brief comments and prayers from 14 people representing Islam, Roman Catholicism, Protestantism, and Sufism.

Most of the speakers opened with criticisms over the loss of civilian lives in Gaza caused by Israeli air and ground attacks, followed by brief prayers."The fighters on either side are hiding and innocent people are caught in the middle and being killed," said Dr. Munier Nazzal, president of the Islamic Center.

The Rev. Larry Clark, pastor of First United Methodist Church of Sylvania, called for an immediate cease-fire in the region and decried "the insane cycle of rocket attacks and aerial bombardments."

Dr. Amjad Hussain said that while prayers are welcome, it's time for action.

"We get together, we hold hands, we say the prayers, we leave until the next episode happens. And I ask - it's not a rhetorical question - I ask, what happens in between? What have we done in between, all of us, people of faith, in between these episodes, to make a difference?

"Prayers are important but prayers cannot substitute for action and work," said Dr. Hussain, a former president of the Islamic Center and a columnist for The Blade.

In an emotional moment, Father Donnelly - who spoke at both prayer rallies - said he felt compelled to apologize for not being more active in anti-war efforts. "I suppose I'm among those who haven't done much," he said pausing, choked with emotion. "I'm touched by the conscience of a world gone deaf to the holocaust of the 21st century."

Dr. Mahjabeen Islam of the Toledo Muslim Forum prayed for God "to awaken the conscience of the world and jolt it from this criminal, complicit silence" over the Gaza killings.

Other speakers at the 75-minute event included Judy Trautman of the MultiFaith Council of Northwest Ohio, Ziad Hummos of Masjid Saad, the Rev. David Bruning of St. Joseph Catholic Church in Fremont, the Rev. Ed Heilman of Park United Church of Christ, the Rev. Steve Anthony of Toledo Area Ministries, and Imam Farooq Abo-Elzahab of the Islamic Center.

Photo: The Blade/Jetta Fraser.
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Friday, January 23, 2009

A State Within a State
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By Khurshid Khan, "Swat — towards a Wahhabi state?" - The News International - Karachi, Pakistan
Monday, January 19, 2009

In his article, “Behind the crises in Swat” (Nov 27, 2008), Sartaj Khan described the conflict in Swat as a class struggle. Farhat Taj (Dec 18) responded with “No class war in Swat.”

Sartaj’s contentions are believed by many as the real depiction of the current turbulence, but that is not the case. Before coming to any conclusions about the current turbulence in the valley we have to keep in view the weaknesses of the state institutions, people’s grievances and the impacts of international politics on the valley.

Fredrik Barth, a Norwegian social anthropologist author of Political Leadership among Swat Pathans, carried out considerable research in Swat in the 1950s and wrote numerous papers. His work is of great importance but the situation has immensely changed since then.

Since the early 1970s people travel to the Arab states in search of lucrative employment opportunities. The inflow of foreign remittances transformed the socio-economic structure of Swat’s society. Education increased and people acquired employment in various fields across the country. Emigration to America, Canada and Europe and the Far East in the 1980s increased overseas remittances creating a new prosperous society in Swat.

During this period Swat witnessed numerous changes, both positive and negative. Fertile soil and abundance of irrigation water paved the way for innovations in farming. New varieties of fruits and crops were introduced and farming became more profitable.

Being a tax-free zone trade, Swat saw commerce flourishing. The scenic beauty and rich heritage made Swat a favourite spot for national and international tourists. The hotel industry became a big contributor to the economy of Swat.The tenants/peasants, on the whole, became comparatively prosperous in Swat. A section of them have purchased cultivated land from the previous owners and manage it properly with latest technology.

A study has revealed in Upper Swat that in one village a Khan has 20 jaraib of cultivated land (one jaraib is equal to approximately 1,100 square feet) while a Gujjar has 150 jaraib. The Gujjar community has earned billion of rupees in the Arab states. Another community, the ”Shapankyan” or “Shpoon” (shepherd) are the wealthiest community today in Swat. Most of them they have now settled permanently and abandoned nomadic life. They have given up rearing herds and are employed. Many of them run businesses in Arab states.

Both communities enjoy a relatively high standard of living and have western-style houses. The shepherd community belongs to the Wahhabi sect and is better organised than the other groups.

In the 1970s the regulations of PATA (Provincially Administered Tribal Areas) were promulgated in the whole of Malakand division which gave enormous powers to the civil bureaucracy and paved ways for corruption. The people of Swat were unfamiliar to the new setup. The new judicial apparatus did not appeal to the masses, as they were conversant with the judicial system of the former state of Swat. This state of affairs created a gap between the state and the people.

The state-sponsored peasant movement in 1974 created hatred and tension between tenants and landowners, and bloody clashes took place in some areas in Swat. The landowners and a number of the other side went for justice to the civil courts but the complex judicial system disappointed them, persuading them to seek other solutions to their disputes. Many landowners sold their land to peasant occupants in various areas of Swat.

The Afghan war also affected the valley like other Pashto-speaking areas. Religious seminaries mushroomed and jihadi organisations established their offices in Swat. Those subscribing to the Wahhabi school of thought tried to establish their seminaries but were opposed by the local traditional clerics belonging to the Deobandi school of thought. This coincided with the emergence in the 1980s in Swat of the staunch Wahhabi Sufi Muhammad, who set up a seminary in Sangota, which was razed to the ground by those loyal to the dominant religious figures of the time.

The TNSM was founded in 1989 in Dir and penetrated into Swat. It was tacitly supported in Swat by the then commissioner of Malakand Division through a so-called loya jirga. The jirga demanded the implementation of Sharia in Swat and joined hands with Sufi Muhammad, a close friend of Major Amir, the then director of the Intelligence Bureau. This support encouraged him and he freely started visiting Swat. The people, who were disappointed by the judicial system, the police and the revenue department, supported the demand for the enforcement of the Sharia.

In 1994 bloody clashes occurred between local people and the security forces. In 2001, Sufi Muhammad declared jihad against the US in Afghanistan and went there along with thousand of followers. Hundred of people lost their lives and hundreds are still missing. On his return the political agent of Kurram Agency imprisoned him under the Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) without trial.

During the TNSM movement in Swat the Wahhabi school of thought spread its roots and established its religious seminaries. In the absence of Sufi Muhammad, his son-in-law, Fazlullah, filled this gap and became popular in the area. The Wahhabis joined his group and seized all the important areas. Besides other, Maulana Shah Dawran and Maulana Muhammad Alam are key clerics who keep important portfolios in the Taliban movement in Swat. They are known for their hard and harsh beliefs, and hence it could be said that the Swat Taliban are completely under the influence of violent jihad doctrines.

They loathe the Barelvi school of thought and have assassinated many renowned religious scholars in Swat during the ongoing turbulence and unrest. They consider them mushrik (one who ascribes partners to Allah). The assassination of Pir Samiullah and the hanging of his mutilated body in a square for public display show their attitude towards their opponents. The militants said that they have buried Pir Sami at an unidentified place ostensibly to stop his followers from building a shrine at his grave.

Besides, Buner police arrested a suspected bomber last Ramazan. During interrogations he revealed that his target was the tomb of Pir Baba. He insisted that the shrine is the principal centre of shirk.

They consider amulets, visits to shrines and offerings on on shrines on specific days to be shirk. Someone who used to write amulets (good luck charms) was killed in Khwazakhela.

The valley is witnessing a surge and dominance of the Wahhabi doctrine which was until recently alien to the local culture.The Wahhabis are making a state within a state in Swat. Fazlullah has established his own administration on the pattern of the Saudi monarchs. He has created his own trained army equipped with the latest weapons and controlled by his loyal commanders. A well functioning judiciary is established across the valley dealing with cases of various natures and the verdict is always enforced. People are inclined towards these Islamic courts.

He has established a baitul maal (treasury) and has a mechanism for revenue generation and collection. His commanders collected ushr (one tenth of agriculture produce) in some areas of the valley during the 2008 winter harvest. (The rulers of Swat used to collect ushr which was a major source of their revenue.) Taliban also collected skins of the sacrificial animals on Eidul Azha this year worth billion of rupees. Donations and war booty are also the major sources of their revenue.

The information and broadcasting wing of the Taliban is working effectively. A spokesperson and FM channels broadcast important announcements, decrees and counter-propaganda against them. A strong communication network or secret services is the main characteristics of this new monarchy in Swat.

The present upsurge, therefore, is an attempt to create a sort of a state within a state and is not a manifestation of a class war in Swat.


The writer is a social activist living in Swat

[Picture from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swat,_Pakistan].
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To Ghazal Lovers
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By TT Correspondent, "All-time hit ghazals in English avatar" - The Telegraph - Calcutta, India
Monday, January 19, 2009

Jamshedpur, Jan. 18: Ghazal lovers who do not have good command over Urdu have reasons to cheer.

City-based litterateur Syed Rizwanul Haque has translated 99 all-time hits into English. From Aamir Khusron to Javed Akhtar, every writer finds place in the book.

The book Essence of Ghazal is written, compiled and translated by Syed Rizwanul Haque under the pseudonym of Rizwan Wasti.

The book, along with Sohail Ki Kirnein, an Urdu anthology, was released today by national award winning filmmaker Biyot Projna Tripathy at Karim City College.

“The book has been translated with the motive to reach out to ghazal lovers who do not know Urdu. There are some people who would love to read ghazals but their lack of understanding of Urdu comes in the way. Now the ghazals will reach find a wider audience,” said Wasti.

The author, who has a number of work in Urdu and Hindi to his credit, this is the first time he has translated the masterpieces in English.

The Essence of Ghazal also has a background of the genre. Elements like Sufism and mysticism have also been discussed in the book.

“For beginners, I have discussed the background of ghazals, the chronology and how it has evolved down the years. You can find ghazals by Aamir Khusron, who was the pioneer in the field about 700 years ago,” said Wasti.

“As for the anthology Sohail Ki Kirnein, it has been my dream because a noted litterateur of the city could not publish his works during his lifetime. Therefore, it was my duty to get it compiled and published,” said the writer.

Picture: Syed Rizwanul Haque with filmmaker Biyot Projna Tripathy at the book release function. Photo by Srinivas.
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Thursday, January 22, 2009

Unveiling Hafez
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By TE/HGH, "Iran to unveil oldest Hafez manuscripts" - Press TV - Tehran, Iran
Saturday, January 17, 2009

Iran is set to unveil a book containing the oldest manuscript of poems composed by the Persian poet Hafez found at Oxford University.

The book includes 49 sonnets and a single couplet found by Ali Ferdowsi along with his comparative study of the poems with the existing reliable versions.

The manuscripts which were found in the University of Oxford's Bodleian Library, date back to the final days of the mystic poet's life. The texts are penned by a contemporary of Hafez and are the first of their kind.

The oldest version of Hafez manuscripts found before Ferdowsi's discovery dated back to the early 15th century.

Iranian scholar Ali Ferdowsi is an Associate Professor of the Department of History and Political Science in Nôtre Dame de Namur University, Belmont, California.

Known for his beautiful lyrical poems, Hafez has greatly influenced numerous Persian and Western writers including Ralph Waldo Emerson and Goethe.

Picture: Hafez Tomb. Shiraz, Iran.

[Visit the Bodleian Library http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/bodley].
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United in Prayer
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By Dana Massing "What do we pray for?" - Erie Times News - Erie, PA, USA
Saturday, January 17, 2009

Christians are praying for unity this week, but that's not the number one thing people ask God for

Help is what most people pray for, said Carol Zaleski, co-author of "Prayer: A History."

"A request is often involved -- for divine protection, healing or special favors for oneself or for others," Zaleski said. She said that prayer is, essentially, communication with God, or with spiritual beings.

More than half of Americans do it daily, according to survey results released in 2008.

The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life's U.S. Religious Landscape Survey found that 58 percent of the national population prays once a day or more. Percentages ranged from 5 percent of atheists to 89 percent of Jehovah's Witnesses and included 26 percent of Jews, 45 percent of Buddhists, 62 percent of Hindus, 71 percent of Muslims and 78 percent of evangelical Protestants, results showed.

"All religions involve prayer; and prayer goes on outside the boundaries of religion as well," said Zaleski, professor of world religions at Smith College in Northampton, Mass. "Prayer is the primary means of relationship to the divine. Without prayer there is no religion."

Prayer can be spoken or silent. It can include music, dance or visual expression, said Zaleski.

"There are many differences and distinctive notes between and among religions," she said. "Prayer may be addressed to an intercessor -- such as a saint, angel or deified ancestor; or it may be addressed directly to God without intermediary. Prayer includes forms of meditation, for instance, in Buddhism, that are not overtly theistic.

"One distinctive practice is the Sufi dhikr, which can involve whirling in imitation of the heavenly spheres while remembering the name of God, she said.

Sufism is an Islamic mystic tradition. Mecca is the center of Islam, Zaleski said, and Muslims face it to pray for that reason. Muslims are expected, if they are physically and financially able, to make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once. "When Muslims turn to face Mecca, they are, in a sense, virtual pilgrims, united in prayer," Zaleski said.

Some Christians, particularly Catholics, Orthodox and Eastern, make a cross sign when praying.

Zaleski said it's "a way of identifying one's whole self with Christ." And within Christianity, many people bow their heads and fold their hands while praying to express humility, gratitude and assent to God's will, she said.

"It is a joyful posture, not a groveling one; humans need to feel that they are in the presence of something truly higher," Zaleski said.
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Wednesday, January 21, 2009

The Basic Elements
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By IANS, "Global Congress on World Religions begins at Jamia" - The Thai Indian - Bangkok, Thailand
Saturday, January 17, 2009


New Delhi: A three day Global Congress on World Religions in the Aftermath of 9/11, organised by Jamia Millia Islamia in an attempt to promote harmony between the followers of different religions, began here Saturday.

Speaking at the inauguration, chief guest the Dalai Lama criticised the targeting of a particular community after 9/11.

“Just because some mischievous elements of a particular religion have done something wrong, the whole community following that religion should not be blamed,” he said, and stressed the role of inter-religious dialogue to promote religious harmony.

“Love, compassion and forgiveness are the basic inherent elements in every religion. We need to have inter-religious dialogue to have better understanding of different religions and create harmony and peace in this world,” he said.

Mushirul Hasan, vice chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia, spoke about the misconceptions about Islam promoting violence and clarified it was a religion that speaks of peace and coexistence.

“Islam talks of peace more than anything else. Contrary to the thought of Islam having been spread through sword, it was spread through Sufism, which talked of co-existence,” he said.

Sufism is the mystical dimension of Islam; in medieval times, it was a major movement, which attracted people from all walks of life.

I.H. Azad Faruqi, director of Centre for Comparative Religions and Civilisations in Jamia Millia Islamia and one of the organisers of the event, said that such events along with promoting religious coexistence would bring out the real traditions of Jamia, which were maligned by incidents such as the police shootout with suspected terrorists in nearby Batla House.

“After the Batla House incidents, a wrong image of Jamia was projected. Such events would help bring out the real traditions of Jamia which is of service to humanity, tolerance and coexistence,” Faruqi told IANS.

Two students of the university, Mohd Shakeel and Zia-ur-Rehman, were arrested by Delhi police for their alleged involvement in the Sep 13 serial blasts in the capital. These arrests took place after the Batla House shootout Sep 19 in which two suspected terrorists, linked to the blasts, were gunned down.

Talking of the conference, Arshad Alam, a faculty member in the centre for Noam Chomsky studies, told IANS: “It is an effort of the Jamia community to promote communal harmony through better understanding of different religions.”

Students of different universities, who participated in the event in the M.A. Ansari auditorium of the university, said they felt elated after hearing the Dalai Lama.

“It is good to hear people like Dalai Lama, who have been trying to spread the message of peace, non-violence and harmony in this world which seems to be ridden with blood in most of its parts,” Sabina Khan, 23, a student of Jamia, told IANS.

“I am doing research on Hindu mythology and I feel that all the religions address the same question of achieving the best for human life, social harmony and service to humanity. In a pluralistic society like India, such events help in developing a better understanding of different religions and cultures,” Abhisheka, 30, a research scholar in Jawaharlal Nehru University, who attended the conference, told IANS.

[Visit the Jamia Millia Islamia in News Delhi, India: http://www.jmi.nic.in/].
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Sufism in Morocco
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[From the French language press]:

Soufi de la tariqa boutchichia, auteur de plusieurs ouvrages sur la question, Ben Rochd Rachid, vient de publier un nouveau livre sous le titre « Douze siècles de soufisme au Maroc ».

Par Abdelaziz Mouride, "«Douze siècles de soufisme au Maroc » de Ben Rochd Rachid" - Le Matin - Casablanca, Maroc

Vendredi, 16 janvier, 2009

A Sufi of the tariqa Butshishiyya, author of several books on the subject, Rachid Ben Rochd has published a new book under the title "Twelve centuries of Sufism in Morocco".

The book traces the history of the Sufi movement in Morocco since the initial establishment of the two main Orders, the Shadiliya and the Qadiriya, who came from the East in the 13th century.
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Tuesday, January 20, 2009

A Wonderful Example
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Staff report with Wires, "Religious Affairs Directorate forms women's Sufi music choir" - Today's Zaman - Istanbul, Turkey
Saturday, January 17, 2009

The Religious Affairs Directorate, with input from female religious scholars from throughout Turkey, has put together a group called the Turkish Women’s Sufi Music Chorus.

The group, which sings interpretations of prayers, Bektaşi hymns and Mevlevi pieces, is accompanied by a group of female musicians.


The request for a female chorus came in the wake of the creation of a similar group for men. The Religious Affairs Directorate welcomed the request, inviting students studying at Quran courses who have an interest in music and women working in connection with the directorate on other projects to take a qualifying exam to join the chorus.

Women taking the exam were judged by teachers from the Ankara department of theology, as well as by officials from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Women from all over Turkey applied to be a part of this new chorus. Those who passed the exam were put through an eight-hour-a-day training program that lasted for one week. The program set up to train the members of the new chorus was based on the first year of courses at a music conservatory.

The new chorus is being directed by Nebahat Konu Yılmaz, an artist who works with the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. The chorus, accompanied by a group of female musicians, performs both nationally and internationally. So far there has been a great deal of interest in the group.

Rukiye Gökduman, the assistant director of the chorus, noted that the women in the Sufi music chorus all have close relations to music through their interest in religion and that all the members of the chorus have a natural propensity for music.

Gökduman also stated that everyone in the chorus had worked hard to get through their training and that thus far the response to their concerts has been very encouraging.

“Our chorus is a wonderful example for women, particularly women who are interested in religion,” she said.
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Silat Chooses You
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By Rasha Elass, "Eye of the tiger" - The National - Abu Dhabi, UAE
Saturday, January 17, 2009

Silat, an esoteric martial art steeped in Sufi mysticism, is gaining disciples in the Middle East. Rasha Elass sets out to channel her inner warrior.

Cigku Yahya al Am dons a black suit with emblems and a triangular head cloth called a tongat. He makes fists with his hands and presses them to the floor, gazing downwards, then begins reciting verses from the Quran in silence. He is about to begin a training session for his disciples in the little known combat art of Silat, possibly the only martial art in the world that has Muslim roots.

Silat means “connection” in Arabic, as in the connection between God and worshipper, and is a fundamental concept of Sufism. It was developed over centuries by Sufi masters in the Malay Archipelago, which embraced Islam through trade with Arabs and Persians and later through the migration of Chinese Muslims.

Cigku is the title given to a master in Silat. The martial art consists of strenuous kicks, punches and an acrobatic routine alongside full-contact “deadlocks” that can reduce the most stubborn opponent to a submissive standstill. Advanced training involves half a dozen different swords, knives and sticks.

Silat also has a strong meditative element, with dance moves meant to distract and confuse the opponent during battle. “It’s called Bunga. It’s a way of being,” says Cigku al Am, a fourth-degree black belt and the only Silat master certified to teach the discipline in the Arab world. “Bunga means flower. The point is to look as beautiful as a flower when performing Bunga. But just like the majestic tiger, the graceful warrior turns fierce in a split second. Silat encapsulates the spirit of the tiger.

“The tiger watches its prey with intelligence. He doesn’t attack a herd of gazelles all at once and make them run off, nor does he sit and wait. The Silat warrior sees an opponent as prey, but fights as if fighting another tiger,” says Cigku al Am. “So there is this beautiful combat art, and it has Islamic roots. My goal is to spread Silat throughout the Arab world, but only to a select group of people who will not dilute its meaning.”

Cigku al Am lives in Damascus, Syria, where he is slowly introducing Silat to an exclusive few. Only three out of every 10 enthusiastic beginners who show up for his first class become initiates.

“You can’t choose Silat. Silat chooses you,” he explains.

Indeed, when I first started training with him, he would reveal to me in every lesson one or two highly effective, even potentially deadly, moves until one day I asked him to teach me more. “When can I advance to the next belt? What about a Silat suit? I want to wear one. Can I go to Malaysia and train there full time?” I inquired.

He explained that before I could advance in Silat, I had to sign a contract, pledge my loyalty to the art and reveal my intentions in wanting to learn the deadly moves. “I get gung-ho students who show up twice, then ask: ‘When will I be able to attack four people just like in the movies?’” he said. “But those aren’t the ones I want to train. I don’t want to commercialise this art form. And I have to be careful who I train.

“One time I discovered that a student of mine got into a fight and pulled a knife on someone. When he showed up to class again, I asked him to leave and never return. I told him Silat would not welcome him. His soul was corrupt.”

After training in yoga for several years in New York, I felt I had developed a propensity to be quiet, peaceful and, at times, too complacent. “I want to get in touch with my inner warrior,” I told him. I wanted to do what I understood jihad to be: an ongoing, tenacious and spiritual struggle with life’s challenges, or what some call the “human condition”. Feeling that I could also defend myself against a physical attack was an added bonus, I explained.

Cigku al Am initiated me into Silat Seni Gayong, one of the dominant schools of Silat in Malaysia, under the auspices of the founder Dato Meor Abdul Rahman. When the founder died in 1991, his daughter Siti Kaltoum took over until her death in 2007. Only Dato Meor Abdul Rahman achieved the seventh degree in his black-belt training. For everyone else, the sixth degree is the highest they can achieve.

The school is located just outside Kuala Lumpur, and Cigku al Am spent four years training there full time. I was now a Gayong, or Silat disciple, and my Cigku would become more strict with me. I could show up to class only in my Silat suit, with my “empty black” belt, the first belt a Gayong wears, tied properly around my waist. Advanced levels wear “full black” belts, and they have seven degrees. In between there is white, yellow, green and red, also with several levels within them. After 10 months of training, I became a second-order white belt.

“You’re not fully present,” he said one morning early in my training, as we opened the session.

To commence, we would read the Fatiha chapter from the Quran once, followed by the Ikhlas chapter 11 times before saying thrice, “peace be upon the Prophet”. The Fatiha and Ikhlas are two of the most commonly read verses, and they are repeated throughout the five daily prayers. The short opening and closing ceremony aims to focus the mind on the battle at hand, and on breathing and the body.

During the rigorous kicks and punches routine, a Gayong shouts the word “zat”, Arabic for “self” or “essence”. It is a Sufi reference to the Essence of the Divine and a centring mechanism that keeps the warrior focused on the battle.

On a recent visit to Damascus, I watched Cigku al Am teach a class of advanced male Gayongs on the use of the kres, a famous Malaysian knife with a curvy blade. According to Malaysian war folklore, Malay fighters used it against Japanese soldiers in the Second World War.
Other weapons include the parang, a machete; simbat suk, a short stick; and tongant, a long stick. A particularly intriguing sword is the sondang, which splits into two on its end to resemble the famous sword of Ali, the Prophet’s cousin and son-in-law.

Unlike most commercially available martial arts, Silat grooms the Gayong to develop movements on their own. Black belts cannot advance through the six levels available to them without developing new movements and techniques, which they present before an audience of “faculty” to defend the effectiveness of such techniques, just as a doctoral student must defend a thesis. These new aspects are then introduced into Silat and taught to other students.

“Silat is a way of life. It gives to you and you give back,” says Cigku al Am.

The Gayongs at the training session have each been with him for at least a year. Their ages vary, but the young ones in particular say their after-school training in the discipline has transformed their lives. “It took me two months to become attached to it,” says Ousam Hajar, 15. “I’ve noticed that my personality has improved and I interact with people in a better way. I used to be very awkward, especially when speaking to others. But now I speak normally. Silat has been a way of life, and I don’t want to tell my friends about it. It’s my private thing.”

As for me, I did find my inner warrior. And since leaving Damascus and my Cigku, I have been craving hand-to-hand combat but have been unable to find a training partner in Abu Dhabi. Then last month, I stumbled upon a jiu-jitsu class. After a couple of sessions, when I was paired with a brown-belted woman, they taught me a defensive strangulation manoeuvre.

“You’re supposed to pull my collar and flex your wrists at the same time. When the pressure on my neck becomes too much, I’ll tap you on the arm,” said the brown belt.

I did as instructed. She tapped when the pressure became too much. I let go.

It all felt very natural.

[Picture: Silat master Yahya al Am demonstrating the art-form on a Damascus rooftop. Photo: courtesy Shane Bauer].
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Monday, January 19, 2009

A Full Life on the Path
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[From the French language press]:

Il a connu une vie bien remplie sur la voie tracée par son vénéré grand-père, Cheikhna Cheikh Saad Bouh, le saint-homme de Nimzath.

Par Doudou Sarr-Niang, Ph.D., "RAPPEL A DIEU DE CHERIF ATKHANA OULD BOUNEUNEU : Une référence de la khadrya" - Le Soleil - Dakar, Sénégal
Mercredi, 14 janvier 2008


He enjoyed a full life on the path charted by his revered grandfather, Sheikh Saad Bouh Cheikhna, the holy man of Nimzath [Mauritania].

His humility, known and recognized, was the mark of the greatness of a man, heir to a long tradition of Sufism instilled to his descendants by the venerable Cheikhna Sheikh Saad-Bouh.

We extend our deepest condolences to the whole family of Cheikhna Sheikh Saad-Bouh, to the sheikhs of Khadria and to the entire Khadre community, and pray that Allah the Almighty welcomes this illustrious man in His heavenly paradise.

Amen.

[Picture: Qur'an collection in a library in Chinguetti, Mauritania. Photo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mauritania].

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Sufism, Culture, and Politics
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Oxford University Press - USA

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Raziuddin Aquil: Sufism, Culture, and Politics Afghans and Islam in Medieval North India

Description:
Strongly grounded in Persian manuscripts, many of them unpublished, this book makes an innovative and original intervention in the existing debates on the questions of medieval politics, patterns of governance as well as the relationship between politics, Islam and Muslim religious leaders.

Exploding the myth that Sufis, especially Chishtis, kept aloof from politics, it shows how Sufis enjoyed royal patronage and helped legitimise Aghans' political cause.

The author also explores the contributions of Sufis and Afghans to vernacular literature and devotional music.

Contesting existing notions of the "tribal" character of Afghan political institutions, he argues that Surs and other Afghan dynasties drew upon Persian understandings of universal kingship to put in place a coherent monarchical system.

The book also discusses how Rajputs and other non-Muslims collaborated with the Aghans to broaden the base of government apparatus

About the Author:
Raziuddin Aquil, Fellow in History, Centre for Studies in Social Sciences

Product Details:
Raziuddin Aquil
Sufism, Culture, and Politics
Afghans and Islam in Medieval North India
ISBN13: 9780195685121ISBN10: 0195685121 hardback, 296 pages
Mar 2009, Not Yet Published
Price:$38.00 (06)
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Sunday, January 18, 2009

Two Streams Crossing Paths
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By Kristina Kamp, "[STARTING UP IN TURKEY] A short history of Turkish literature" - Today's Zaman - Istanbul Turkey
Wednesday, January 14, 2008

The popularity of Turkish literature is on the rise. Since Turkey was featured as a guest of honor in last year's Frankfurt Book Fair, the world's largest literature event, Turkish literature has been put under the spotlight once again and many of its contemporary writers have gained international popularity overnight.

Taking into account, however, that the beginnings of Turkish literature actually date back a good 1,500 years, there is still much to discover. Today's Zaman will now take you on a short journey into the long history of Turkish writing.

Indeed, the oldest known Turkish writings date from the late seventh century. The so-called "Orkhon inscriptions" were found on obelisks in the Orkhon River valley in today's Mongolia; however, it took until the Seljuk victory at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 -- after which the Turks began to settle in Anatolia -- for a written literary tradition to come into being.

For the following 600 years, however, the orally based Turkish folk literature was kept separated from the newly written classical, or divan literature, of the emerging Ottoman Empire. Let's have a look at these two early streams.

Turkish folk literature is in fact nothing else than the collection of a number of pieces of -- mostly anonymous -- singers and storytellers. Thousands of fairytales, jokes and legends reflect the people's everyday life struggles and experiences. One of the most famous figures in this respect is Nasreddin Hoca, a joker who appears to be somewhat stupid and who, thus, tends to drive his neighbors crazy, though in the end all of his stories have a moral to them.

For the more epic tradition in Turkish folk literature you should definitely look at the greatest collection of those early, oral epics that evolved between the ninth and 11th centuries: the "Book of Dede Korkut." The primary element of the Turkish epic tradition in Anatolia for several centuries, it was finally written down in the 14th century.

From the 13th century onward there has also been a folk poetry tradition in Turkish literature, often strongly influenced by the Islamic Sufi tradition and often deeply intertwined with song as a supporting element. Never skip out on Yunus Emre, the always unforgotten Sufi master, poet and exemplary philanthropist.

In sharp contrast to the tradition of Turkish folk literature, Turkish divan literature tended to embrace the influence of Persian and Arabic literature and language, thus contributing a good deal to the development of the Ottoman Turkish language. In sharp contrast to folk literature, Ottoman divan poetry was very standardized and ritualized. Metaphoric and symbolic expressions dominated and allowed room for various interpretations.

Ottoman prose was not very developed nor did it contain any examples of fiction -- this is why prior to the 19th century you will not be able to find anything like European romance, short story or novel literature.

The emergence of a 'National Literature Movement'
Between 1839 and 1876, the Tanzimat (reorganization) period, large parts of the Ottoman system were restructured with the aim of modernizing and rescuing the deteriorating empire. Many of the reformists called for literature to turn away from the Persian and Arabic divan tradition to the folk tradition. For the first time since the two streams of Turkish literature began to be recorded, they were set to once again cross paths.

Interestingly, it was along with this rising national consciousness that a trend of Westernization entered the Ottoman Empire. Under strong French influence, in particular, new literary genres were introduced. "Taaşuk-u Tal'at ve Fitnat" (Talat and Fitnat in Love) by Şemsettin Sami became the first Turkish novel, published in 1872.

Meanwhile, the Young Turks, a coalition of reformers opposed to the late authoritarian Ottoman government, came to identify themselves with a specifically Turkish national identity. Naturally, the rising nationalism was also reflected in the literary traditions of this period, labeled "National Literature" and emerging in the years before the founding of the Turkish Republic in 1923. The three writers most representative of the movement were Ziya Gökalp, a kind of self-appointed national educator, Ömer Seyfettin and Ali Canip Yöntem.

In 1928, five years after the proclamation of the republic, the Latin alphabet was introduced to replace the Arabic-based Ottoman script. Additionally, the Turkish Language Society (TDK) was established in 1932 to carry out linguistic research, to purge from the language foreign words (i.e., Persian and Arabic, but also languages used by clans, particularly Kurdish). The aim was to develop a "clean" Turkish. Needless to say, a great treasure of cultural influence was lost.

Literary modernism in the new republic
In the early years of the republic the writings of Sait Faik Abasıyanık and Sabahattin Ali started a new trend in Turkish literary modernism: the reflection of daily life and events, opinions and expectations in Turkish literature. Similarly, the "village novel" tradition, founded soon thereafter, described the life of the generally less fortunate in Turkey's villages and small towns. Famous writers in this tradition are Kemal Tahir, Orhan Kemal and Yaşar Kemal. The last figure surely gained the most international fame not only for his prize-winning novel "İnce Memed" (Memed, My Hawk, 1955) but also for his firmly leftist political stance.

Another important novelist you should look out for is Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar. Outside of both the social realist and the village novel traditions, he illustrates impressively the clash between East and West in modern Turkish culture and society.

Keep an eye on the more modernist and existentialist Oğuz Atay and his novel "Beyaz Mantolu Adam" (Man in a White Coat, 1975), the often surrealistic Onat Kutlar with "İshak" (Isaac, 1959) and never miss out on the perfectly satirical short story writer Aziz Nesin!

Talking about contemporary poetry in particular, one name you should never overlook is that of Nazım Hikmet Ran. A firm Marxist, he wrote revolutionary poems with an esthetic which even today touches the hearts of many. He was the one who introduced free verse into the Turkish language and, thus, founded a socialist tradition which became common among many Turkish writers of the 1960s.

In the following years, Turkish poetry would experience two more big movements. The poem collection "Garip" (Strange, 1941) by Orhan Veli Kanık, together with the works of Melih Cevdet Anday and Oktay Rifathe, became the base for the "Garipçiler." Their aim was to create a popular art for the people beyond all formal restrictions and with a rough colloquial language and ordinary topics. Even more abstract and heavily inspired by the Western movements of Dada and Surrealism was the subsequent "İkinci Yeni" (Second New) movement, including writers such as Turgut Uyar, İlhan Berk and Edip Cansever.

So, after these excursions into the past, let's provide you with the latest bestsellers in the Turkish world of literature. First and foremost is Orhan Pamuk, winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. His most famous works include "Beyaz Kale" (The White Castle), "İstanbul" and, more recently, "Masumiyet Müzesi" (The Museum of Innocence).

Other authors also include a number of women. Look out for Elif Şafak, Perihan Mağden and Latife Tekin.
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Saturday, January 17, 2009

Power Mullah
1 comment:
By Mohammed Hanif, "The Power of the Pulpit" - Newsline - Karachi, Pakistan
January 2009 Issue

Maulvi Karim, who taught me to read the Quran and led prayers in our village mosque for 40 years, was one of the most powerless men in our community.

The only power he assumed for himself was that of postman. The postman would deliver the mail to him and then he would walk from house to house distributing it. He would, of course, have to read the letters for a lot of families who couldn’t read.

He was also a dog lover.

I joined him a number of times as he played with his little Russian poodle outside his house, then walked to the mosque, did his ablutions and led the prayers. After prayers he would hang out at the door of the mosque exchanging gossip with regulars. There would be people loitering outside the mosque when he went in. They would still be around as he finished the prayers and came out.

It never occurred to him to ask these people to join him. It never occurred to the people who hung outside the mosque to feel embarrassed about not joining the prayers. They all lived on the same streets, not always in harmony, but religion in any of its forms was not something they discussed on the street. What was there to discuss? Wasn’t faith a strictly private business? Something that happened between a man and his god and not something that had to be discussed in your living room.

A minority went regularly to the mosques, another minority opened a bottle of something in the evening, but most people had secular pastimes like watching soap operas on TV and placing small bets on cricket matches.

He may sound like a character from the early 20th century but Maulvi Karim died only about a decade ago, and till his last days he had not given up his routine. In the social hierarchy he was somewhere between the barber and the cobbler. His basic functions were limited to being present at births, death and weddings. If he had been alive today and watched an episode of Alim Online, I wonder what he would have made of it. I wonder if he would have felt envious of all the celebrity maulanas who have become a staple of satellite television programming.

Not only do they crop up on every discussion on every topic on earth but now they have their own TV channels as well, where they can preach 24/7, interrupted only by adverts for other mullahs.

The mosque imam, who served an essential social function, has given way to another kind of mullah: the power mullah, who drives in a four-wheeler flanked by armed guards; the entertainer mullah, who hogs the airwaves; and the entrepreneur mullah, who builds networks of mosques and madrassas and spends his summer touring Europe. And then there is the much maligned mullah with his dreams of an eternal war and world domination.

Since “mullah,” when pronounced in a certain way, can be read as a derogatory term, and since we don’t want to offend them (because we all know that they do get very easily offended) we should call them evangelists or preachers.

Mullahs, maulvis, imamas, or ulema-i-karam as many of them prefer to call themselves, have never had the kind of influence or social standing that they enjoy now. A large part of Pakistan is enthralled by this new generation of evangelists. They are there on prime time TV, they thunder on FM radios between adverts for Pepsi and hair removing cream. In the past few years, they have established fancy websites with embedded videos; mobile phone companies offer their sermons for download right to your telephone. They come suited, they come dressed like characters out of the Thousand and One Nights, they are men and they are women. Some of them even dress like bankers and talk like property agents offering bargain deals in heaven.

I grew up during the time of General Zia, the first evangelist to occupy the presidency in Pakistan. But even he had the good sense to keep the beards away from prime time television. But the ruthless media barons of today have no such qualms. They have turned religion into a major money-spinner. Pakistan’s economy remains in its endless downwards spiral, but it certainly seems there is a lot of money still to be made in televised preaching.

They have also tailored their message to the aspiring middle classes. Recently on his show on Haq TV, Tahirul Qadri (and he has gone from being a maulana to Allama to Sheikh-ul-Islam) thundered that religion doesn’t stop us from adopting new fashions. You can change your furniture every few years, there is nothing wrong with getting the new car models, but it should all be done in good taste. The man could had have given his lecture on Fashion TV. “But you shall never question the basic tenets of religion,” he went on. The implication was clear: you shall never question what he has to say. The message is even clearer: make money, spend it and it’ll all turn out to be okay if you keep tuning in to my programme.

And the message is being taken seriously by the upper classes of Pakistan. I walked into a new super store in Karachi’s Clifton area and was pleasantly surprised to see what looked like a books section. It was a books section indeed, but it was called “Islamic Books Section” and all the books in it were about Islam.

I went to a Nike store, and it was no different from any Nike store in any part of the world: over-priced, shiny sneakers and branded football shirts. But in the background instead of the loud gym music, the hallmark of such stores, speakers played recitation from the Quran.

The multinational companies, sensing the mood of the people, have also joined the bandwagon. Mobile phone companies offer calls to prayers for ring tones, and Quranic recitations and religious sermons as free downloads. During the month of Ramadan a number of international banks were gifting their preferred clients fancy boxes containing rosaries, dates and miniature Qurans.

It’s the perfect marriage between God and greed.

Traditionally, what a preacher needed was a pulpit. For the pulpit he needed a mosque, and to get to a mosque he needed to do a long apprenticeship in which he had to prove his worth to the community before he could be allowed to sit at that pulpit. With the arrival of satellite TV channels, evangelists provide the most cost-effective programming and, as a result, have found a pulpit in every living room.

Even the Sindhi and Seraiki language channels, which were known for their liberal political approach and sufi messages, have found their own evangelists to fill the slots.

And their influence has changed our social landscape beyond recognition. Twelve years ago, an old friend from school tried to recruit me into a militant anti-Shia organisation. After dropping out from high school, Zulfikar Ahmad had started a motorcycle garage and joined one of the sectarian organisations that were flourishing in the area. We had a heated discussion over his politics, and I reminded him of a number of common friends who were Shias and were as good or bad Muslims as any of our other classmates. Visibly unconvinced, Zulfikar gave up on me and wished me luck in my godless life.

Zulfikar’s attempt at converting me was one of the many signs of religious intolerance creeping into our lives. Taliban-ruled neighbouring Afghanistan and many middle class Pakistanis, while enjoying the relative freedoms of a fledgling democracy, hankered for a more puritanical, Taliban-style government. But these zealots, despite their high profile, remained marginal to society as religion was a personal affair, not something you discussed in your drawing room.

As I moved back to Pakistan a few months ago, I was overwhelmed by the all pervasive religious symbols in public spaces and theocratic debates raging in the independent media as well as in the drawing rooms of friends and relatives. The graffiti on the walls of Karachi, blood-curdling calls for jihad, adverts for luxury Umrahs are omnipresent. And for those who can’t afford to go all the way to Mecca, neighbourhood mosques offer regular lectures and special prayers sessions.

I spent the Eid holidays in my village in Punjab and attended prayers at the mosque, which Maulvi Karim used to run. My village folk are very wary of radical mullahs and have appointed an imam who is Maulvi Karim’s son and has spent most of his youth in Birmingham. His sermon was probably the most progressive I have ever heard. He advised his male congregation to share household work with their women. He gave examples from Prophet Mohammed’s life and said that he used to clean his own room even when he had more than one wife. “You must attend to your stock yourself. It doesn’t matter if you have servants, feed your buffaloes,” he said. I looked around in amusement, trying to imagine these men, steeped in centuries of male chauvinistic tradition, going home to do their dishes.

What puzzled me in the end was that his prayer included get-well-soon wishes for Baitullah Mehsud, who according to local TV channels, was ill. I couldn’t reconcile the imam’s message for equality of the sexes and his good will for Mehsud, whose crusade against women is as well known as his anti-American jihad.

For answers I turned to my old friend Zulfikar. He still sports a long, flowing beard but his conversation is peppered with Punjabi expletives which I found quite refreshing amidst the wall-to-wall piety in my hometown. “I have left all that jihad-against-Shias business behind,” he told me. “I have college-going daughters now. Bringing up children in these times is a full-time jihad.”
He told me that he was worried about the others. “I look as if I am a Taliban supporter but I am not. But these clean-shaven people you see here,” he pointed to some clients and workers at his garage, “inside they are all Taliban.” He explained that with Pakistan coming under repeated US attacks even people who have voted for moderate political parties are looking towards the Taliban for deliverance.

In Karachi, there are frequent warnings that the Taliban are headed this way. There are posters warning us about Talibanisation. Altaf Hussain thunders about them at every single opportunity. But nobody seems to warn us about the preachers who are already here: the ones wagging their fingers on TV always tend to precede the ones waving their guns, smashing those TVs and bombing poor barbers.

Preaching is also turning out to be an equal opportunity business. Driving my son to his new school one day, I listened to a woman talking with a posh Urdu accent on a local FM radio. With a generous smattering of English, she was trying to persuade her listeners to dress properly. “When you prepare for a party, how much do you fuss over a dress? You select a piece, then you find something matching, then you have second thoughts. All because you want to look your best at the party. You want to flatter your host. And do you prepare like this when you know that one day very soon you are going to go to the ultimate party, where your host will be Allah?”
The speech, we were told, was brought to us by al-Huda Trust, which is located in the upscale Defence Housing Authority and has its own website.

Later, I ran into a relative, a mother of two who was wearing jeans and a shirt, and who asked our opinion about her new hairdo. She was fasting, I was not. She quoted me some rules for fasting: situations in which one is allowed not to fast, along with some more injunctions for lapsed ones like myself. When are you going to start wearing the hijab? I asked her jokingly.
Probably never, she said. “The Book tells us only to wear something loose, not to draw attention, not to wear anything tight. There are so many rapes, abductions. We must not provoke.”
“How do you know all this religious stuff?” I asked her.
“I have read it in books,” she said nonchalantly, as if it was the most normal thing for a liberated working mother to pore over religious texts to decide the length of the hem of her skirt or the size of her blouse.
“Where does it say?” I challenged her. “In the Quran. I have read it myself.” She started another mini-lecture, which ended with these words: “The point is that Allah doesn’t want a woman to draw attention to her bosom.”

Listening to these preachers, people in Pakistan today seem to believe that God is some kind of lecherous old man who sits there worrying about the size of a woman’s blouse while American drones bomb the hell out of the Pashtuns in the North. You can blame the Pashtuns for many things, but no true Pashtun has ever been accused of wearing tight dresses.

Pakistan’s president, Asif Zardari, stumbling from one crisis to another, has been accused of many things, but nobody has ever accused him of having a political philosophy. He was asked about this a while ago in an interview, and he parroted some clichés about Sindhi Sufi poetry and world peace. “I am a great admirer of Sindhi Sufi poetry,” but I doubt Zardari would get very far reciting it to one of the thousands of evangelists unleashed on this hapless nation.

Because if Zardari has read Sindhi Sufi poetry – or, for that matter, Punjabi, or Pushto Sufi poetry – he would know that it is full of more warnings about mullahs than all the CIA’s country reports lined end-to-end.

Sometimes I am also puzzled at my own reactions to these preachers: why do these overt symbols of religion bother me when I myself grew up in a family where prayers, Quran, and rosaries were a part of our everyday life. One reason could be that the kind of religion I grew up with was never associated with suicide bombings and philosophies of world domination.

Religion was something you practiced on your own, between meals and going to school. It didn’t involve blowing up schools, which seems to be the favourite pastime of Islamist militants in today’s Pakistan and something that our televangelists never talk about.

Maybe people are just buying into the symbolism as a way of expressing their defiance towards the Pakistan government’s policies that many of them see as a mere extension of the US. Maybe, like many other expats, I just hanker for those good old days when saints and sinners, believers and sceptics and preachers and their bored victims could live side by side without killing each other.

Mohammed Hanif is the author of A Case of Exploding Mangoes

[Picture from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Case_of_Exploding_Mangoes].
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