Friday, December 31, 2010

A Map For Religion

By A. A., *Mevlana's Masnavi Translated Into Dutch* - Turkish Weekly - Ankara, Turkey; Wednesday, 22 December 2010

Konya: Masnavi, written by 13th century philosopher and mystic of Islam Mevlana Jalal-ad-din Rumi, has been translated into Dutch.

The translation was made by Dutch author Abdulwahid Van Bommel within the scope of "Mevlana Events in the Netherlands" initiated in 2007 by the Turkish Authors' Club in the Netherlands. The first edition of the translation will be printed 1,000 copies.

Van Bommel, who studied philosophy and literature in Turkey, said Masnavi was a map for religion.

"Mevlana drew a map. People want to get satisfied by religion. Masnavi has everything that people are looking for. The map drawn by Mevlana can satisfy anything," Van Bommel said.

Mevlana, who devoted himself to the pursuit of Sufi mysticism, was the spiritual founder of the Mevlevi order of Whirling Dervishes and he was justly regarded as the supreme master.

The Masnavi or Masnavi-I Ma'navi, written in Persian by Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi is one of the best known and most influential works of both Sufism and Persian literature.

Comprising six books of poems that amount to more than 50,000 lines, it pursues its way through 424 stories that illustrate man's predicament in his search for God.

[Picture: Masnavi, a calligraphic specimen from 1490, Mevlâna mausoleum, Konya, Turkey. Photo: Wiki.]

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Despite Media Hyperbole

By Jaya Ramachandran, *Lingering Tension Clouds Elections in Nigeria* IDN-InDepthNews - Berlin, Germany; Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Brussels: In run-up to presidential primary on January 13 ahead of April 2011 general election in Nigeria, a think-tank has warned against the possibility of persistent tensions leading to a new spate of local violence.

This must be avoided through actions at the local, regional and national level, says the International Crisis Group in its latest report.

Similar concern was expressed by Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The Daily Nation newspaper quoted the commission saying that it is facing huge security challenges ahead of the 2011 general election. "Chairman of the commission Attahiru Jega disclosed this (on December 20) in Abuja at the inauguration of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES)," Nigerian daily newspaper reported.

The same day the Brussels-based Crisis Group launched a 47-page report titled 'Northern Nigeria: Background to Conflict', stating that the region is "not the hot bed of Islamic extremists some in the West fear, but it needs reinforced community-level peace-building, a more subtle security response, and improved management of public resources lest lingering tensions lead to new violence".

The report finds that northern Nigeria is little understood by those in the south, still less by the international community. Too often it is viewed as part of bigger rivalries in a putative West-Islam divide.

Therefore, its advice: All -- from Iran to Christian evangelical preachers -- need to be more careful of what they say and whom they support. Officials in the West need to put some of their fears about radical Islam into a much more Nigerian perspective.

Reformist movements -- highly diverse and fragmented -- have contributed in many positive ways to debates over governance, corruption and rule of law. While some harbour real hostility to the West, for others criticising the U.S. is really a way of expressing frustration with Nigeria’s secular state and its multiple problems.

While seeking to remove misgivings, the report examines the region's conflict risks, putting these in a historic perspective.

Thus, says the Crisis Group, violence in northern Nigeria has flared up periodically over the last 30 years. Mainly in the form of urban riots, it has pitted Muslims against Christians and has seen confrontations between different Islamic sects.

Although there have been some successes in conflict management in the last decade, the 2009 and 2010 troubles in Bauchi, Borno and Yobe states involving the radical Boko Haram sect -- a radical group that is suspected to have some links to al-Qaeda -- show that violence still may flare up at any moment.

SERIOUS REPERCUSSIONS?

If the situation were to deteriorate significantly, especially on Christian-Muslim lines, it could have serious repercussions for national cohesion in the build up to national elections in April 2011, says the report adding: "To deal with the risks, community-level initiatives need to be reinforced".

"While some in the West panic at what they see as growing Islamic radicalism in the region, the roots of the problem are more complex and lie in Nigeria's history and contemporary politics," says Titi Ajayi, Crisis Group's West Africa Fellow.

The far north is home to 53 million people. It comprises the twelve states that reintroduced the Islamic law 'Sharia' for criminal cases at the beginning of the century. Though the large majority of the people in the region are Muslim, there is a substantial Christian minority, both indigenous to the area and the product of migration from the south of the country.

The Sokoto Caliphate, formed in 1804-1808, is a reference point for many in the region. "As West Africa’s most powerful pre-colonial state, it is a source of great pride. But for some, its defeat by the British in 1903 and subsequent dealings with colonial and post-colonial states mean the caliphate is tarnished with the corrupting influence of secular political power," explains the Crisis Group report.

The impact of colonial rule was paradoxical. While policies of indirect rule allowed traditional authorities, principally the Sultan of Sokoto, to continue to expand their power, that power was also circumscribed by the British.

In the first decades of independence, which were marked by frequent violent conflict between the regions for control of state resources, the north saw the military as a route to power and influence. But following the disastrous rule of northern General Sani Abacha (1993-1998), the return to democracy in 1999 was viewed as a chance for the north to seek political and moral renewal, states the report explaining the background to the situation in Nigeria.

REINTRODUCTION OF SHARIA

This led to the reintroduction of Sharia in twelve states between 1999 and 2002, although only two have applied it seriously.

Sharia caused controversy over its compatibility with international human rights standards and the constitution and regarding the position of Christians in those states. It also exacerbated recurrent conflicts between Muslims and Christians. But it was supported by many Muslims, and some Christians, who had lost faith in secular law enforcement authorities, and it also stimulated much open and democratic debate over the rule of law.

Tensions over the issue have declined in recent years. Debates among Muslims in the region tend to divide those who respect the established religious and secular authorities and their two-century-old Sufi heritage from those who take a "reformist" view.

The latter cover a very wide range of opinion, from Salafist-type anti-Sufism to Iranian-inspired Shiite movements, and combine anger at the establishment’s corruption with a promise of a more individualistic religious experience.

The report says: Typically, some end up being co-opted by both religious and secular authorities, largely due to the latter’s control over public resources. But others maintain a hostile or rejectionist stance that in some isolated cases turns into violent rejection of public authority.

As in the south, religion provides a sense of community and security and is increasingly public and political. In combination with more polarised communal politics, this has led to clashes over doctrine and political and spiritual authority.

Violent conflict, whether riots or fighting between insurrectional groups and the police, tends to occur at specific flashpoints. Examples, according to the Crisis Group, are the cities of Kaduna and Zaria, whose populations are religiously and ethnically very mixed, and the very poor states of the far north east, where anti-establishment groups have emerged.

MANIPULATION

Many factors fuelling these conflicts are common across Nigeria: in particular, the political manipulation of religion and ethnicity and disputes between supposed local groups and "settlers" over distribution of public resources.

The failure of the state to assure public order, to contribute to dispute settlement and to implement post-conflict peace-building measures is also a factor. Economic decline and absence of employment opportunities, especially as inequality grows, likewise drives conflict.

As elsewhere in Nigeria, the north suffers from a potent mix of economic malaise and contentious, community-based distribution of public resources.

Nevertheless, says the report, there is also a specifically northern element. A thread of rejectionist thinking runs through northern Nigerian history, according to which collaboration with secular authorities is illegitimate.

"While calls for an 'Islamic state' in Nigeria should not be taken too seriously, despite media hyperbole, they do demonstrate that many in the far north express political and social dissatisfaction through greater adherence to Islam and increasingly look to the religious canon for solutions to multiple problems in their lives," states the report.

Much local-level conflict prevention and resolution does occur. For a vast region beset with social and economic problems, the absence of widespread conflict is as notable as the pockets of violence.

Some state authorities have done good work on community relations, but the record is uneven.

At the federal level, clumsy and heavy-handed security responses are likely to exacerbate conflicts in the future.

More fundamentally, preventing and resolving conflict in the far north will require far better management of public resources, an end to their distribution according to ethnic identity and job-creating economic revival.

[Click on the title to the original article and its links to related articles (ed.)]

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Passion For Islam

By Staff Writer, *Following Muhammad published in Persian* - IBNA Iran Book News Agency - Tehran, Iran; Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Haghighat Publications has recently published a new rendition of Carl Ernst's Following Muhammad. The book addressed anti-Islamic stereotypes prevalent in West.

Ernst, a professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is not a stranger to Islam-related controversy and has so far published many articles on the religion.

According to the translator of the book, Hassan Nouraei Bidokht, Ernst's main objective in publishing the word is admonishing the West for indulging in negative and inaccurate stereotypes of Islam and Muslims.

He believes Islam is not what western media are showing. He tries to share his view with Americans by his book and, to this effect, Ernst has outlined peaceful beliefs of Muslims.

Westerners are the main target readers of the book, said the translator, so far as the book is themed at changing their perspectives about Islam. Another Persian translation of the book by Ghasem Kakaei will be marketed in Iran by Hermes.

Ernst is highly regarded for his books about Sufism (The Shambhala Guide to Sufism, 1997) and his brilliant translations of Sufi texts. But in this compelling, if occasionally disorganized, book, Ernst introduces the larger Islamic world and its history in engaging, thought-provoking prose.

The overarching argument here is that the West ought not understand Islam as a monolith, that debate and diversity are inherent in Islam and were encouraged by the Prophet.

So while most introductions to Islam give Shi'ism and Sufism short shrift, they are presented here as vital facets of Islamic belief.

Although the text skips around historically, readers will come away with a good understanding of the different schools of Islamic thought and practice. Special attention is paid to the hot-button topics: gender and veiling, the relationship between Islam and democracy, and Islamist radicalism, for example.

Ernst's obvious passion for Islam comes through quite beautifully here, and the rare mix of clear writing and careful scholarship makes this an important purchase for any Islamic studies collection.

Controversy

By Michael Field, *Divisive imam leaves NZ, denying he preached jihad* - Stuff.co.nz - Wellington, New Zealand; Wednesday, December 22, 2010

A senior imam of New Zealand's biggest mosque has left for his Pakistan homeland strongly denying he taught jihad or holy war in the four years he was in this country.

Imam or mufti Abdul Qadir Siddiquei said he was leaving New Zealand having cleared his name of allegations made against him.

"I am not a terrorist, I do not believe in terrorist things," he said just before leaving on a Bangkok-bound flight yesterday.

He said he was of the Islamic Sufi branch and its members were being killed in Pakistan by terrorists.

"We are anti-terrorist, we belong to Sufi concepts, Sufi school of thoughts. My teacher has been killed by terrorist people. We are Sufi people, wherever we go, people will know we are with the Sufi people."

He denied he was being forced out of New Zealand with his large family.

Last Thursday night, police intervened in tense scenes at Auckland's Jamia Musjid Al-Mustafa mosque as about 200 Muslims battled over Mufti Siddiquei. The mosque, with more than 1000 followers, has united various Sunni sects and Pakistani and Indo-Fijian Muslims who combined to pay for the building. Also known as the South Auckland Islamic Centre, it is the most influential mainstream mosque in New Zealand and Fiji.

Counties Manukau Police have failed to respond to repeated requests for an account of why they went to the mosque.

Controversy had built up around five YouTube videos of some of the teachings. Four of them have been removed, but a leading member, Abdul Abbas Karim, heard some of the teachings, calling them "halfway to jihad".

Businessman Israr Sheikh said the imam was forced to resign and that last week's meeting ended up in a fight which police attended. Imam Siddiquei said the police did attend the meeting and encouraged good relations between the various groups.

"They come and saved ourselves; sometimes people come and create problems." He said Mr Karim had now been ordered out of the mosque. "That person is with a different school of thought, not a Sufi."

He denied there had been a split in the mosque between South Asian Muslims and Indo-Fijians.

"The mosque has good and humble people all the time they are in sympathy with me.

Imam Siddiquei said he was leaving New Zealand because his mother in Pakistan was ill. He did not know if he would be back.

Sufism is regarded as a mystical system of Islam in which meditation, prayer and music are crucial.

Picture: Pakistan Bound: Abdul Qadir Siddiquei at Auckland International Airport on his way out of New Zealand. Photo: Grahame Cox/Dominion Post.

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

A Day Of Celebration

By Unal Livaneli, *50,000 attend Şeb-i Arus festivities in Konya* - Today's Zaman - Istanbul, Turkey; Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Konya: A total of 50,000 people attended the festivities as part of the Şeb-i Arus commemorations, held on the occasion of the 737th anniversary of the death of Mevlana, a Sufi saint and founder of the Mevlevi order of Sufi dervishes.

Konya Provincial Culture and Tourism Director Mustafa Çıpan said thousands of tourists visited the city for the festivities, which took place between Dec. 7-17.

The sema ceremonies of whirling dervishes were watched by 50,000 people at the Mevlana Cultural Center, he said.

While noting that they worked hard to host the thousands of guests who arrived from other Turkish provinces and abroad, Çıpan said: “Everybody was content with the program. This Dec. 7-17 became a period when both the quality of the events and the number of guests increased.”

Çıpan also stated that the events also have positive consequences for Konya businesses. “If we take into account both the occupancy rates of hotels and the sales at souvenir shops, Şeb-i Arus was pretty profitable for Konya business owners. We saw economically good results. It was also positive in cultural terms,” he continued.

Çıpan also added that the events held at the Selçuk and Mevlana universities in the city were successful as well.

Called Şeb-i Arus (the Night of Union), it is not a day of mourning but a day of celebration.

Mevlana is world famous for his “Mesnevi” (The Couplets), written originally in Persian.

The Beloved Sufi

By Religion Desk Editor, *Whirling Dervishes Celebrate Rumi Anniversary* - The Huffington Post - New York, NY, USA; Monday, December 20, 2010

Whirling dervishes in Turkey performed an annual dance to mark the death of Muslim mystic and poet, Mevlana Jelaleddin Rumi.

The beloved Sufi writer of devotional poetry died in 1273. His son founded the dervish order soon after.

"The light emerging from the work of Rumi is rising day by day," Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at the event. "Each day it enlightens our world more."

This year marked the 737th anniversary of Rumi's passing, which is known as Seb-i Arus, or Wedding Night, in Turkey.

Whirling dervishes perform their dizzying feat in recognition of the oneness of all creation and humanity's closeness to the divine.

[Click on the title to the original article with a video. (ed.)]

Monday, December 27, 2010

Sufi Designer

By Aamna Hader Isani, *Style, the Sufi Way* - The Express Tribune - Karachi, Pakistan; Sunday, December 19, 2010

Whispers spread through Lahore like a hush through a dense forest. Muzaffar Ali was in the city and he had broken down in tears while Hina Nasrullah was reciting Bulleh Shah’s kaafis during the launch of his book, Sufis of Punjab, at the Governor House. It wasn’t unexpected.

Ali was ostensibly here for Bridal Couture Week but Lahore draws men like him for far more deep-rooted reasons than fashion. It is, after all, the land of sufi poets. Ali had visited Abida Parveen in hospital a day earlier; he had paid his respects at the tombs of Nur Jehan and Jahangir. His 90-year-old paternal aunt had traveled from Karachi for his showing and book launch. Muzaffar Ali was visibly moved by every moment he spent in this cultural city.

“I have an emotional connection with Lahore,” he says. “This trip has been enriching.”

And having spent no more than moments with the man, it was still easy to see that emotions are what make Ali tick.

Film maker, designer, author, mystic … there are so many labels that define him, and yet it’s impossible to underline just one. He is a sufi designer and mystic filmmaker, the ethos of his work being subtlety and gentleness that infiltrates everything he does. And he has done it all and more in the past thirty years.

If there’s one word that describes the man best, it’s ‘revivalist’ because whether it is adapting Mirza Hadi Ruswa’s novel Umrao Jaan Ada to film, following sufism through Jalaluddin Rumi’s intense poetry or reinventing the simplicity of the age old craft of chikankari, one of Lucknow’s sartorial legacies, Ali continuously strives to keep history alive. He picks up traditions from the past and reasserts their relevance in a new world order. They are revived but not at the risk of losing their ancient charm.

Film

“I now want to make a film on (Empress) Nur Jehan,” he says, causing people to wonder whether he would cast a Pakistani actresses as the star. “My film would be a human saga.”

As a filmmaker, Ali will remain best known for the piece of lyrical brilliance he created with Umrao Jaan in 1981. The film left a legacy that remains unparalleled when it comes to narrating the richness of Lucknow as a home to tradition, culture, art and poetry. Though he could never achieve that success in any other film, it didn’t stop him from trying and now he wants to narrate another historical tale.

He isn’t too happy with the way films, especially period films are made in India today. “The west has a better idea of what old India was,” he reminisces. “We don’t live up to the imagination. I think it’s because people who put money into films these days don’t have the right vision. It’s a battle I’ve been fighting for years.”

Needless to say, J P Dutta’s remake of Ali’s Umrao Jaan (though Dutta insisted it wasn’t a remake) wasn’t a patch on the original. It lacked both body and soul required to transport the viewer to British India. So what did Ali think of the film?

“I didn’t watch the new Umrao Jaan so cannot comment on that,” Ali says, smiling when I ask him the completely clichéd and yet irresistible question. “I was warned not to.”

Literature

Beyond the magic of films, it is a love for literature that fuels Ali’s life. “Faiz Ahmad Faiz is the greatest phenomenon of the sub-continent.” Ali speaks of the legendary poet with reverence: “I have used Faiz’s poetry in my films and have dedicated my work to him. We should celebrate people like Faiz and Abida (Abida Parveen, who he refers to as “my sister”) who are beyond boundaries.” According to him, art is the one thing that liberates nations from the divisiveness of boundaries, as Ali adds, “the relationship between India and Pakistan has to go beyond politics.”

Ali stresses that art and literature in India and Pakistan must not be territorialised. They must be acknowledged as products of the traditions of the sub-continent, rather than of two different countries. This, according to him, will be the only way to create a culture that binds people rather than divides them.

It is with this in mind that Ali organises the Jahan-i-Khusrau Music Festival in Delhi each year. The festival celebrates the poetry of Hazrat Amir Khusrau and is held under the aegis of the Rumi Foundation of which Muzaffar Ali is Founding Member. As Sufism speaks the universal language of love, the festival has also broken down barriers, bringing Pakistani artists on stage. Ali further says it would be great if Pakistan and India could work together to restore archeological heritage sights, especially in Lahore where they suffer from neglect.

Fashion

While literature may serve as the perfect bridge between two countries, it was fashion that brought Muzaffar Ali to Pakistan. Close friends with Yousuf Salahuddin — they share a passion for culture — Ali couldn’t say no when Jalal Salahuddin of J&S invited him to show at Bridal Couture Week.

The collection he brought with him added sophistication and much needed subtlety to the otherwise loud and often brash bridal wear on display on the runway. Standing out against the sea of sequins shown, Muzaffar and Meera (his wife, who supervises the design department) put together a collection that was fluid and gentle, and suggestive rather than flamboyant.

They brought in a variety of clothes woven and embellished at Kotwara, the picturesque studio Muzaffar Ali shares with Meera. It’s where delicate jamevars are spun and comforting cottons are embroidered. It is where old crafts like zardozi, aari, kaamdani, chikankari are revived and brought together as a technique better known as chintz or ‘chheent’ – where woven fabric is made to look embroidered because of the sheerness and delicacy of its workmanship.

“We design for the discerning client,” says Meera. “Ours is a label that caters to well-travelled and sophisticated women who understand the importance of being understated. These clothes are sexy because of the sheerness of the organza; they are suggestive without being overpowering. And they revive techniques that we would like to keep alive.”

The collection may have been lost on most of Lahore but it brought an undeniable sophistication to Bridal Couture Week, making it easier to label Muzzafar Ali in part as a ‘sufi designer,’ if such a thing may exist.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

In And Around The Basti

By Tripti Lahiri, *Nizamuddin Basti Puts Out Welcome Mat* - The Wall Street Journal - New York, NY, USA; Saturday, December 18, 2010

Lots of Delhi residents and foreigners already know this centrally located neighborhood – or at least the shrine in the middle of it – because of the qawwali devotional music at sunset at the mausoleum of Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya.

But this year the neighborhood has been home to many more cultural events at other historic spots, including a Sufi music festival, storytelling nights and this weekend, starting Sunday, is the first street festival.

The organization that is carrying out restoration work and trying to improve living conditions in the area hopes that through these events more people in Delhi can appreciate and help preserve the heritage and plural traditions of this unusual neighborhood—including the people who live in and around the basti.

“It’s got one of the highest densities of medieval Islamic buildings anywhere in the world. There are over 100 monuments,” said Ratish Nanda, who is head of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture in India. “Nizamuddin is well known for its spirit of pluralism. It’s got 700 years of living culture—it’s not only bricks and mortar, it’s Amir Khusro and Ghalib and qawwali.”

Khusro was a medieval Sufi poet, while Ghalib was a 19th century Urdu poet. Sufism is a mystic strain of Islam, and Sufi saints are often revered by people of several faiths in India.

The culture trust is part of the development agency of the Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of Shia Ismaili Muslims. The agency has a “historic cities” program to develop and conserve public spaces of cultural significance. The trust has already carried out restoration works on the gardens of Humayun’s tomb, part or the larger Nizamuddin historical area, that includes a plant nursery that still functions.

The area is bifurcated into two main residential areas, one to the east around the tomb that is a wealthy area, and the one to the west, where the shrine is, which is more congested and poorer.

Work in the neighborhood began in 2007, and includes efforts to improve sanitation, schooling and parks here. Mr. Nanda said enrollment in the government primary school had gone up fourfold since then.

The previous weekend already saw two evenings of storytelling in Urdu at the Chausath Khamba (64 Pillars) monument, next door to the Nizamuddin shrine and home to several graves.

The events this Sunday and Monday highlight food and crafts as well, with a street festival in a park, while young people from the neighborhood will lead walks on the built heritage and culture of the area.

“There is so much oral history in the basti (neighborhood) that we hope the youth will pick up and and bring back the culture that once prevailed here,” said Mr. Nanda.

The street festival is on Dec. 19 and 20 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Barat Ghar Park, Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti. Heritage walks last 1.5 hours and depart on both days at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. from the Shiv Mandir. For more information about the events on Sunday and Monday, please call +91-11-4371-7791

Picture: Nizamuddin Basti - a neighborhood famous for the mausoleum of Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya is having its cultural renaissance. Photo: AFP/Getty Images

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Closer To Allah

By Pat Yale, *Konya in the footsteps of Rumi* - Sunday's Zaman - Istanbul, Turkey; Sunday, December 19, 2010

Konya: Like Tarsus, the southern Turkish town that will forever be associated with St. Paul, Konya in Central Anatolia will forever be associated with one man, Mevlana Muhammed Jelaluddin Rumi (1207-1273), better known to the world as Mevlana.

A Sufi, or an Islamic mystic, Rumi was the author of a number of influential religious works, including the Mesnevi, which sets out the beliefs he developed over his lifetime. But Rumi is better known as the father of the whirling dervishes, a Sufi order that uses music and dance as a way to bring its devotees closer to Allah. Every year Konya remembers the death of Mevlana on Dec. 17 (Şeb-i Arus) with a week of celebrations in which displays of dervish dancing form the centerpiece.

Because Konya has a reputation as a conservative town stranded in the middle of the Anatolian plateau, many visitors to the country opt to give it a miss, especially in winter, when the weather can be unrelentingly cold. This is a great shame because the city has also been described as “Turkey's best outdoor museum of Seljuk architecture,” which should surely guarantee it a place on the itinerary of anyone interested in the country's past.

Today Konya is a sprawling modern town dubbed an Anatolian Tiger for its success in attracting business. This is the aspect of town that is most immediately apparent as you arrive at its colorful Space Age bus station ready to be whisked into the center in the sleek modern tram, and it takes some considerable mental effort to strip away the accumulated development of the centuries and imagine yourself back in the Konya of Rumi's days. There are, however, several buildings in the town center that would already have been in existence then, and happily they are within easy walking distance of each other.

The son of an Islamic scholar, Rumi was apparently born in a village called Wakhsh in what is now Tajikistan but was at that time a part of Persia. Probably fearing the approach of the Mongols, Rumi's father relocated the family westwards into the part of Anatolia that was then the heart of the Selçuk Sultanate of Rum with its capital in Konya. They are believed to have arrived there in 1228, by which time the unremarkable İplikçi Cami on Alaettin Caddesi, built during the reign of Şemseddin Altun-Aba, would already have been in existence for a quarter of a century.

More recently completed was the Alaeddin Cami, the superb mosque that bestrides the slopes of Alaeddin Tepesi (Alaeddin's Hill) in the town center and where, in 1231, Sultan Alaeddin Keykubad I was laid to rest. Unlike the Ottoman mosques with domes which draw the eye irresistibly to the center of the building, this was a typically Selçuk long, hall-like mosque where men met to pray amid a sea of columns. Today it's still possible to admire the pieces of ancient masonry that were incorporated into these columns. Sadly, the magnificent carpets that once covered the floors have been removed; some of them can be seen on display in the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts in İstanbul.

In the years when the young Rumi was developing the ideas that would eventually result in the rituals of the whirling dervishes, Konya must have been as bustling a city as it is today, with almost as much building work going on then as now. The scant remains of a Selçuk palace on the hillside may be of limited interest, but beside the road ringing the hill you will be able to visit two magnificent buildings whose creation Rumi would have been able to watch as he strolled about town.

The first is the Büyük Karatay Medresesi (Great Karatay Seminary), completed in 1252, which now houses a museum of tiles and ceramics. Built for a diplomat named Celaleddin Karatay, the building is a masterpiece of Selçuk style with a spectacularly decorative entrance opening onto a courtyard with a huge eyvan (arched recess) opening off it and with some original turquoise tiles as well as a fine inscription in Arabic running around the base of the dome.

A decade later and Rumi would have been able to gaze in admiration on the İnce Minare Medresesi (Slender Minaret Seminary), work on which was completed for the vizier Sahip Ata in 1264. Like the Büyük Karatay Medresesi, the İnce Minare Medresesi has an imposing gateway, although it's somewhat overshadowed by the minaret, which was truncated by a lightning strike in 1901. Internally, the building is similar to its neighbor, although its collection of stone and woodwork is of somewhat minor interest.

These two medreses are obvious and easy to find, which cannot really be said of the third seminary that went up in Rumi's lifetime, namely the Sırçalı Medresesi (Glass Seminary). Boasting by far the prettiest tile decoration of the three, this was built in 1242 for a vizier whose name has not come down to us. It can be found on Ressam Sami Sokak, not far from the Konya Archaeology Museum.

But of course the building for which Konya is best known is the one that eventually became Rumi's last resting place and whose fluted, turquoise-tiled dome is one of the iconic sights of central Turkey. Here, in a complex that evolved over time to include a semahane (a room in which the whirling dervishes could perform), a museum and cells for disciples, Rumi was buried in an exquisite tomb which remains the focus of intense devotion today.

Those familiar with the story of Rumi may also want to pay a visit to the Şems-i Tebrizi Cami, the mosque in which his friend and mentor Şems of Tabriz was buried after his murder in 1247 and which can be found not far away from the İplikçi Cami. (Those less familiar with the story may want to read Elif Şafak's wonderful “The Forty Rules of Love” for a lyrical account of their friendship.)

Of course historic Konya is much more than the reminders of Rumi and the great days of the Selçuk supremacy. The archaeological museum, lurking in the grounds of a mosque dating back to 1283, houses a particularly magnificent Pamphylian sarcophagus decorated with scenes of the Labors of Hercules, while an annex to the Koyunoğlu Museum is housed inside an old Konyan mansion still furnished as it would have been when its owners lived in it in the 19th century.

There's also a fine early Ottoman mosque, the Selimiye Cami, right beside the complex containing Mevlana's tomb.

Konya is a great place to get to grips with the real, untouristy Turkey. While touts working for carpet shops on Alaeddin Caddesi can sometimes make a nuisance of themselves, it doesn't usually take long to shake them off. Then you can take your time to explore a bazaar full of very Turkish delicacies before stopping off for a dinner of fırın kebabı, chunks of succulent, oven-baked mutton served on flaps of freshly baked bread and best washed down with ayran, the popular yoghurt drink.

No trip to the city would be complete without seeing the dervishes going through their paces. White skirts swirling, tall felt hats bending with every gesture, the soft swish of slippered feet pirouetting across the floor -- it's a mesmerizing, unforgettable sight that will linger in your memory long after you've forgotten the name of your hotel.

WHERE TO STAY
Dedeman Konya. Tel.: 0332-221 6600
Hotel Balıkçılar. Tel.: 0332-350 9470
Hotel Rumi. Tel.: 0332-353 1121
Hotel Selçuk. Tel.: 0332-353 2525
Rixos Konya. Tel.: 0332-221 5000

HOW TO GET THERE
There are frequent buses to Konya from Ankara and Cappadocia. There are also train services from İstanbul, but it would be much quicker and more comfortable to fly with Turkish Airlines (THY).

Picture: Konya Archaeology Museum. Photo: SZ.

Friday, December 24, 2010

Wali Gujarati

By Tanushree Batia, *Sheher-e-Ghazal wins short film competition* - Ahmedabad Mirror - India; Sunday, December 19, 2010

Director Gopal Annam, winner of the City Lights Short Film Competition organised as a part of the 35th Vikram Sarabhai International Arts Festival, speaks to Mirror about his experience behind the camera

Gopal Annam’s eight-minute film Sheher-e-Ghazal won the competition organised as a part of the 35th Vikram Sarabhai International Arts Festival. The competition was aimed at showcasing Ahmedabad’s talent and tell stories about its people, and the city’s history. The film is about a young girl who visits the city to explore her dead grandfather’s roots, who grew up in Ahmedabad.

The film showcases her journey, where she discovers a vibrant city and its rich heritage. Her angst when she discovers that Sufi Saint Wali’s tomb (whom her grandfather worshipped) was desecrated during the 2002 riots. Annam is currently working with Director Onir on his project I Am.

Annam answers a few volleys from Mirror.

Why the film is called Sheher-e-Ghazal?
The film is titled Sheher-e-Ghazal ( the song of the city) because Wali Gujarati was the first person to write Urdu poetry. He is the father of Urdu ghazals, and he was from Ahmedabad.

Is this the first time that you have participated in such a festival?
Yes it is the first time I have participated in a film competition. However, I have made several short films which have been screened across the country.

What did your film portray?
Wali Gujarati was a sufi saint who wrote about love, beauty and truth. His mazaar is one of the very few spaces of syncretic worship in the city, where Hindus and Muslims worship and pay respects together. By desecrating the mazaar, people have damaged the fabric of communal harmony and unity.

As a director, I have tried to show that destroying a tomb or worship place doesn’t destroy a person’s belief or faith. Wali was a dreamer, he wrote about beauty and love. He was called faqir-e-ishq, but unfortunately he hasn’t been allowed peace even in his grave.

What were the challenges faced by you while filming?
The only sacrifice we made was our sleep. We shot extensively at Sarkhej Roza after getting permission from the Archeological Survey of India. The making of the film was a very intense and taxing experience. The film was completed in nine days from start to finish. All the cast and crew worked for free. We scouted the walled city exhaustively for locations, had late-night production meetings at Manek Chowk, and fell in love with the life in pols.

What was the USP of your film that got it the accolades?
I think the audience identified with the journey of this young woman. Also, the moment of truth in the film is when she goes to the mazaar of the Sufi saint Wali Gujarati to pay her respects on behalf of her grandfather, and discovers that it has been desecrated by mobs in 2002.

Director Mahesh Bhatt said the film had a soul. My film also had the flavour of this city.

Tell us about your connection to Ahmedabad?
I am computer science engineer, hailing from Vishakhapatnam (Vizag), Andhra Pradesh. I came to Ahmedabad to study at MICA and spent three years in this city.

Being in Ahmedabad, I discovered my love for photography, filmmaking and art. I explored the old city as a part of a heritage walk organised by one of our faculty. I had organised a photography exhibition back then, called Ahmedabad Framed: Glimpses of the Walled City where I showcased my photographs of the old city.

What is next on cards?
Well, I have been working as a freelance filmmaker for sometime. I have written a couple of scripts for feature films as well and I am trying to raise finances to produce them. Interestingly both the films that I am working on are based on Ahmedabad. One of the scripts is a love story.

Picture: A still from the award winning short film Sheher-e-Ghazal which was directed by Gopal Annam. Photo: AM.

Shahul Hamid

By PTI, *Singapore declares Muslim shrine as national heritage centre* - The Hindu - India; Saturday, October 18, 2010

Singapore: A 182-year-old replica of a dargah in India built by Tamil Muslims here, in memory of a revered 16th century Sufi saint, has been declared a national heritage centre.

The Nagore dargah, dedicated to Sufi saint Shahul Hamid, would be reopened in May next year after a two-year renovation costing about 5,00,000 Singapore dollars [380,355 U$], the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore announced on Thursday.

The shrine was built around 1828 by Chulia Tamil Muslims in Singapore's Central Business District. The original shrine is in Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu.

The replica would feature exhibits and artefacts of the Indian Muslim community.

The Indian Muslim community in the country reveres Shahul Hamid, considered a descendant of Prophet Muhammad, and who helped spread Islam in India.

The shrine is one of the 61 Singapore buildings protected for their historical value under the Preservation of Monuments Act.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

What Makes Good Cinema

By Keith J. Fernandez, *UAE filmmakers battle social, financial issues* - Emirates 24/7 - Dubai, UAE; Thursday, December 16, 2010

Films by Emiratis are now being made with global stars and screened abroad, but problems such as social censorship and varying levels of education remain

Beyond all the hype and the red carpet mayhem, beyond Colin Firth and the rest of the international contingent whizzing into Dubai, beyond the navel-gazing debates about the place of critics in a brave new socially networked world, lies the real story of this year’s Dubai International Film Festival.

And that is the emergence of what can for the first time properly be called a UAE film industry.

Universal stories
Fourteen films made by UAE nationals, including features, shorts and documentaries, are competing for a new Emirati-only award at the festival this year, with cash prizes ranging between Dh 15,000 and Dh 35,000 [U$ 4,083 and U$ 9,526]. But onlookers tempted to dismiss them as amateur garbage might be surprised at their incredible diversity and at the window they offer into the lives of UAE residents.

From arranged marriages and herabalistic shamans to gut-wrenching responses to the region's volatile politics, this first crop of talents wrestle with issues that are both deeply personal and universally resonant.

“Finally, stories are being told about the Emirati experience,” says Masoud Amralla Al Ali, Artistic Director of the festival. “We have students, professionals, experienced and first-time directors competing, and they are finally making quality films – and by quality I don’t mean technical expertise, because that is easy to achieve, but in terms of story.

“These directors are telling stories from our culture and our heritage and they’re talking to communities all over. Emiratis are now making films in India, in France, in Palestine and several other parts of the Arab world – and in doing so, helping to bridge the gap between the various communities in the UAE. Expatriate residents and nationals are two very distinct communities that almost don’t interact with each other – but cinema can bring us together.”

"City of Life', which is perhaps the most famous film to be made in the UAE, did just that last year, when director Ali F. Mostafa premiered it at the festival. A slice-of-life movie about Dubai, it has now been distributed around the Middle East with agreements for Europe and the USA reportedly already in place.

This year's gala, "The Philosopher", a 17-minute production is the story of a bon vivant who gives up all his material possessions for a life of aesthetic contemplation was made by Abdulla Al Kaabi, and stars French star Jean Reno -- an achievement in itself. Also part of the film is an ensemble crew that has worked with Hitchcock, Welles and other cinematic legends, a frankly rather remarkable achievement for a 24-year-old film student.

International exposure
The talent, then, is here. Al Ali says between 80 to 90 films are currently being made in the UAE each year, including student projects and professional ventures, and about 70 per cent of those are being made by Emirati nationals.

The 14 Emirati films in the festival this year were chosen from over 30 applicants, he says, and are an indication of the growing interest in making movies in a country where filmmaking facilities were unavailable a few years ago.

“Compared to 10 years ago, it’s gotten a lot easier to make movies in the UAE. We are now able to compete in international festivals, so the scene has developed substantially,” says Khalid Al Mahmood, 36, whose 20-minute short, “Sabeel”, about two boys in Ras Al Khaimah who must sell vegetables so they can afford to buy medicines for their ailing grandmother, premiered at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland this summer. (In fact, so strongly does Al Mahmood believe in his movie, that he has entered it into competition for the Muhr Arab Short, to see how it stands against 15 other films made by Arabs in the UK, France, Canada and elsewhere.)

One of the ways things have changed, he says, is a wider availability of funding sources. “Earlier you’d spend everything from your own pockets. Now with the Emirates Foundation, that has definitely helped us make our films,” he says.

Forty-eight-year-old documentary maker Nujoom Al Ghanem agrees. Her 63-minute film, “Hamama”, which debuts at DIFF, is a look at how life in the Emirates has changed in recent decades, as viewed through the eyes of a 90-year-old traditional healer in Sharjah’s Al Dhaid district.

“It was different when we started out in the nineties and it’s a lot better now,” she says.

Funding for her last film, “Al Mureed”, only came through on the death of the Sufi leader whose story she was telling. “That’s when people realised they’d lost a great man and were willing to fund it,” she says. “It took five years to finish because the money came in chunks.”

This time around, she’s been able to tap a variety of sources more easily, including DIFF’s post-production fund Enjaaz, and the Dubai Entertainment and Media Organisation. “Hamama”, she says, took just under a year to finish.

More courses are now being offered within the country, both as part of media studies diplomas and as shorter-term modules, such as those taught by the Abu Dhabi branch of the New York Film Academy. But even here, Al Ghanem says, much remains to be done.

"Students in these courses are often being trained to take a commercial approach to their work, to think commercially and to produce films for corporations. But that doesn't work for everyone --especially not for documentaries. So we need more depth."

The flip side is that the wider availability of equipment and material has helped directors such as TV producer Rashid Al Marri, 24, who spent almost nothing on his film, “Letters to Palestine”, but borrowed equipment from his alma mater, Dubai Men’s College, to film 21 Arab nationals talking about what Palestine means to them.

Arabs are largely unable to travel to the war-torn nation, and many in Gaza and the West Bank believe they have been forgotten by their Arab brothers, whose feelings are explored in the 37-minute documentary.

“We had one camera, we shot over the summer – and were able to use the post-production facilities on campus,” he says.

The wider spread of technology means more filmmakers have their own equipment. Moaz Bin Hafez, for instance, made “Hayat Min Sakhar” (Life of Stone) – about a 70-year-old member of one of the UAE’s little-understood tribes whose life has been spent quarrying stones from Ras Al Khaimah’s mountains to serve as headstones on graves – with his own equipment and by cajoling friends to work for free. Otherwise, he says, the nine-minute short would have cost a minimum of Dh 35,000.

Local problems
But inevitably, there’s a lot of compromise. Al Mahmood couldn’t afford to shoot on 35mm, for instance, because that would require a minimum of Dh 200,000. Instead he used some of his own equipment, borrowed the editing suite at work and begged friends to help out. So “Sabeel”, which he said could have cost about Dh 70,000 to make if he had to pay for everything, was made on much less and on HDCam, a high-definition version of the Digital BetaCam.

And as seen with Al Ghanem’s “Al Mureed”, topics that don’t conform to pre-existing ideas of what makes good cinema aren’t going to get made easily.

“Nobody wanted to fund a film about a Sufi leader,” she says. “Especially the big national companies, who turned to us and said, ‘but this is about Sufism’. So as a society, we need more acceptance and awareness.

“There still isn’t enough freedom to make the films we want. Not because of official restrictions, but because the people themselves create obstacles – are censoring themselves.”

Al Ghanem couldn’t make a film about domestic abuse, she says, because women didn’t want to “expose themselves and talk about the issue”.

“Making a film with a veiled woman is not possible visually – we are artists and we have to reflect our craft, we’re not social workers – but even if I would make a film with veiled women, even that would not be acceptable. Or neglected children – that’s another issue I couldn’t discuss. Documentary makers need to be able to tackle the real issues. So we need more training,” she says. "And I hope that Emiratis realise they have to work hard; on themselves and on their work, especially if they want to reach international standards."

For now, there’s also need for more money. Nayla Al Khaja, who has become the unwitting poster girl for Emirati cinema, has a 15-minute film, “Malal” (Bored), at this year’s festival. Not counting post-production and associated costs, she spent Dh 200,000 [U$ 54,437] on what she calls pure film expenses.

But for her next project, a Middle Eastern desert thriller, she’s hoping to raise $2 million. Where she finds the money remains to be seen.

Certainly, there’s no shortage of funds from government entities. The Abu Dhabi Media Company’s $1-billion Imagenation film fund, for instance, is bankrolling Emirati director Nawaf Al-Janahi’s second feature, “Sea Shadow”, a coming-of-age story about two 16-year-old boys on a journey across the UAE.

And Sanad, the development and film production arm of the Abu Dhabi Film Festival, was launched last year, and was able to bring help three films through to completion in time for screening this October.

Whether the private sector puts its money into films by Emiratis remains the key question – and that will only be answered once more Emirati films are made and are given theatrical releases.

For now, though, DIFF’s Al Ali is content that the films are being made at all, and that seven years after DIFF was launched to spur on local talent, that there is even an industry worthy of the name.

Picture: Award-winning Noujoum Al Ghanem is the country's leading documentary maker. Her 63-minute film, 'Hamama', is a look at how life in the Emirates has changed in recent decades, as viewed through the eyes of a 90-year-old traditional healer. It makes its world premiere at this year's festival. Photo: Mustafa Kasmi.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Ghazi Baba

By Desk Editor, *Three killed in militant attack on Pak Sufi shrine* - The Hindu - India; Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Islamabad: A pair of pro-Taliban militants stormed a Sufi shrine near the Pakistani city of Peshawar today, killing at least three persons.

The militants attacked the shrine of Ghazi Baba at Badabher on the outskirts of Peshawar and fired at four custodians, witnesses said. Three of the custodians died instantly, state-run PTV reported. The fourth one was also injured in the attack. The attackers fled after the incident.

Police said a search operation had been launched to apprehend the attackers and added that the motive behind the incident was unclear.

Local residents said the shrine’s custodians had received threats from unidentified men.
The Taliban recently carried out a series of suicide and bomb attacks on Sufi shrines across Pakistan, killing scores of people.

The Taliban consider visiting shrines of saints as “un-Islamic”.

In a separate incident, three persons, including a woman, were injured when a police van was targeted with a remote-controlled improvised explosive device in Nagman area of Peshawar this morning, police said.

The bomb was planted near a gas pipeline and went off as the van was passing through the area.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Zgjohu!

By Irfan Al-Alawi and Stephen Schwartz, *From Sweden to Macedonia: Radical Islam Continues Probing Europe* - The Weekly Standard - Washington, D.C., USA; Tuesday, December 14, 2010

This past weekend Sweden became the latest country in Western Europe to suffer from radical Islamist terrorism. As reported by Swedish papers, Iraqi-born Taimur Abdulwahab Al-Abdaly, aged 28, who blew up a car and then himself in downtown Stockholm, had been granted Swedish citizenship in 1992. But he then went to Britain to study, and UK media say he was radicalized over the last decade in the town of Luton, north of London.

Al-Abdaly was thrown out of the Islamic Centre of Luton, also known as the Al-Ghurabaa or “Strangers’” mosque, for preaching jihad. The mosque is considered a center of radical ideology, even as it repudiates violence. Leaders at the Luton mosque are visibly oriented toward Saudi-style Wahhabism, with a history of linkage to the extremist Al-Muhajiroun, or “Religious Refugees,” led by jihadist preacher Omar Bakri Muhammad. The latter has been expelled from Britain. At the Luton mosque, men typically grow long beards, women are cloaked in full-length covering and face veils, and congregants are taught to eschew music – all of which are signifiers of Wahhabism.

In May 2010 Luton attracted attention and outrage across Britain when sympathizers of Al-Muhajiroun demonstrated there against British soldiers returning from Iraq. The extremists carried inflammatory placards and shouted accusations that the veterans were “the Butchers of Basra,” “murderers,” and “baby-killers.” In the ensuing uproar, the Al-Ghurabaa mosque was firebombed, and its leaders publicly declared that while they adhered to fundamentalism, they did not tolerate radical agitation in their midst. It is therefore unsurprising that the Luton mosque rid itself of Al-Abdaly as early as 2007.

Meanwhile, over the same weekend, one of Europe’s largest and most famous Sufi shrines, the Harabati Baba Bektashi complex in Tetovo, a city in western Macedonia with an ethnic Albanian majority, was targeted for an apparent arson attack. As described here, Wahhabis in control of the state-recognized Macedonian Islamic Community have attempted to take over the Harabati site for the past several years. The State Department noted in its International Religious Freedom Report for 2009 that the burial of a Bektashi Sufi follower at the Harabati shrine brought a protest from the official Sunni community, which declared the interment illegal and threatened to remove the body.

The Harabati Sufi institution was built in the 16th century and became so closely identified with the city of Tetovo that it appears on the municipal coat-of-arms. The local political organization “Wake Up!” (Zgjohu! in Albanian) denounced the weekend fire as vandalism against “one of the masterpieces of the cultural and spiritual heritage of the Albanians.” But in the face of continued invasion of the property by fundamentalists, neither the city authorities nor the Macedonian government--dominated by Orthodox Christian Slavs in a country where Albanian, Turkish, and Slav Muslims make up a large religious minority--had acted to restrain the Islamist fanatics.

In 2007, the RAND Corporation’s Center for Middle East Public Policy published a major report titled Building Moderate Muslim Networks. Composed by a team led by Dr. Angel Rabasa, the document mapped out a strategy for the democratic nations to identify and enlist as allies in the defense of civilization adherents to a peaceful vision of Islam as a normal religion. The RAND report specifically noted the importance of the Harabati shrine and the siege mounted against it by Wahhabis. But what effect did the RAND document, or the State Department’s reports, have in Macedonia? Finally, none. Sufis and visitors to the Harabati complex were harassed, money and other assets were stolen, and each of the historic buildings, in turn, was occupied by radicals, who used one of them to set up a café.

With the extremists occupying most of the complex, fire broke out in two of the last remaining large structures under the control of the Sufis on Sunday, December 12. Baba Edmond Brahimaj, spiritual leader of the community at the site, noted that the Sufi mejdan or meeting house for spiritual exercises, where the blaze had its origin, had not been used to store flammable materials. According to him, an arson attack was the logical culmination of years of “usurpation and theft.”

Thus, at opposite ends of Europe, Islamist radicals continue to probe for weak spots where they may carry out their atrocious acts. Is there a direct connection between the fire and explosions in Sweden and presumed arson in Macedonia? Perhaps not; to paraphrase Sigmund Freud, sometimes a coincidence is just a coincidence. But there is an ideological link between those who plot such attacks, and between those who assault other Sufis and their monuments in the Balkans and in Pakistan. The connections remain focused in Saudi-funded Wahhabism and its Taliban satellites, the latter in South Asia, in Britain, and even in America.

Irfan al-Alawi is executive director of the Islamic Heritage Research Foundation in Britain. Stephen Schwartz is a frequent contributor.

[Click on the title to the original article's many links (ed.)]

Monday, December 20, 2010

Touched By God

By Nadine Kreisberger, *‘Music transcends suffering’* - Indian Express - India; Sunday, December 12, 2010

Sufi singer Abida Parveen says that music is not a path that everyone could or would take for spirituality.

What does spirituality mean to you?
Spirituality to me is Sufism, and it represents a level of purity calling for humbleness.

It is a gift from God which holds a spark. It is a voice yearning to unite humanity. Being humble is the beginning of spirituality, and by being humble, one connects with in totality. You must come out of your religion, and out of yourself – then only you can see others. You must sacrifice yourself for others. Spirituality in a way is a negation of the self. Once you sacrifice yourself for others, the curtains which hold you away from God can open up and His clear image can appear to you.

How does this process take place?
I see it as self-actualization, meaning as a process of looking for God within. Nothing is outside, everything is inside. Once a person’s spiritual power increases within, he or she
can stand up for the well-being of humanity, using his energy in a very different way.

You basically go within yourself and there, you see who you are, what you are, where you have come from, who has sent you. These thoughts gradually direct you towards faith and God, towards a connection with a bigger power in the universe.

For you, does it happen mostly through music or every moment of life?
Music is a formula which is actually both very wonderful and powerful in a very unique way. With music you get an opportunity to sit alone and find yourself, while creating new lyrics, new musical phrases. There is a basic suffering in life and with music one can transcend it and go towards the supreme spirit that created us all.

What about people who do not have music as a way to connect?
Indeed, music is definitely not a path everyone would or can take towards spirituality. But
it is the duty of anyone who is into music, or knows Sufism, and holds a spiritual attitude, to invite others, and help them connect with God from their heart and soul. One doesn’t need any language to understand God. In any case, God cannot be understood otherwise He would not be God! So those who do not practice music can visit religious places, or listen to spiritual music, and thus have a taste of spirituality.

This connection with a supreme Being, do you feel it all the time?
I do. Time is standing still for the Almighty. We are entities created by God, temporarily dressed up in a human body, and every moment of our lives it is up to us to search for Allah.

What is God for you?
An invisible entity which has always been there, and whose presence we can see through His Creation. Everything belongs to God. God is the biggest truth and God is the message of truth, God is the message of love.

When did you first feel God’s presence?
I always felt it. God was there before I became part of this world.

You never doubted God, even in very difficult times?
Absolutely never. God is the only stable element in the universe, the one element which has always been and will always be.

How do you explain that God would allow all the suffering we witness on earth?
God has blessed humans with a few powers. And it is their responsibility how they use them, how they choose to walk the path of life. If they wish to be inhuman, it is their choice.

God resides within your soul, and your soul is in your heart. So by listening to your heart, you should know what is right and what is wrong. But if a person consciously decides to jump into the pit and to act irresponsibly, he or she is responsible for his suffering.

When a person lacks spirituality and does not connect to God through his heart, then he is uncontrolled and may act with cruelty, he may perform sins.

But how would you explain the suffering of a small child, too young to make such choices and to take such responsibilities?
God would not act cruelly towards a child, nor can the parents be cruel to the child since they are like an image of God for the child. Still, if some suffering occurs, the issue lies between its perpetrators and God. They will be answerable to God in His court of justice for the child’s suffering.

Among the important influences in your life, you have mentioned Muhammad Najeeb Sultan as a spiritual guide – what has he taught you?
We are sparkles of God, dressed up as human beings. When you are guided by such pure souls and beings, the light can reach deep inside you, you feel the divine light, and you actually KNOW you are touched by God and His messengers.

Is there any such thing as destiny?
Destiny is all in the hands of God, and the Almighty can change your luck in a split second.

If a person chooses a spiritual path, or if someone shows him the path of wisdom, his destiny will unfold for good and in the truest way.

What is your idea of happiness?
Happiness happens when one’s heart and soul are happy, which happens thanks to spirituality. If a person is not into spirituality, he cannot be happy. When a child is given a chocolate or a candy, he smiles with innocence and joy. Similarly, when on the spiritual path, your heart and soul rejoice and you can create happiness in your life.

Do you feel so all the time?
As much as thoughts occur all the time, you can feel spirituality all the time and therefore create happiness constantly. You can do it through very simple things. Let’s say you help
someone get a job, or accomplish some work – you would then feel immense joy to have done something for others, and tremendously lucky that God assigned you this duty, that this thing had to be done by you.

The fact is that the soul is connected to everything around, to everything alive, and therefore you can be spiritual at every single moment - standing sitting talking laughing or creating music. Spirituality is everywhere.

At another level, spirituality’s ultimate aim is for you to leave this world and merge back into God. There is something as God’s suffering and spirituality helps you understand God’s pain. Once you feel it, you are constantly engaged with the Almighty and that is the
real, ultimate spirituality.

Picture: Abida Parveen believes the soul is connected to everything around, to everything alive, and therefore you can be spiritual at every single moment. Photo: Indian Express.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Gazar Gah

By William Darlymple, *Incredible journeys* - Financial Times - London, UK; Friday, December 10, 2010

Herat, in western Afghanistan, is one destination in that tragic country that is still safe, or relatively so. It is one of the most spectacular cities in the entire region and, for a brief period after the death of Timur in 1405, was the capital of the Timurid empire.

Here Bihzad illuminated his miniatures; Babur wrote some of the most telling passages in his memoirs; and the Timurid princess Gohar Shad built one of the great colleges of the world. Today there are occasional reports of kidnappings and hold-ups between the airport and the town. But inside the city, there is no sense of tension or danger, and no one looks at you askance as you wander through the mosques, the ruins and the fabulous covered bazaars.

Instead, it feels welcoming, gently prosperous and, by Central Asian standards, surprisingly middle class. On the outskirts, on the hillside of Takht Safar, where the bright young things of Herat gather to watch the sun going down, to picnic, sip tea and listen to music under groves of cedars, mulberries and umbrella pines, you can grasp what Afghanistan would be like if peace were miraculously to break out: it feels not dissimilar, and no more threatening, than inland Turkey. In some ways, Herat feels as if it is high on the Anatolian plateau not far from Ankara; but here, you have the place, and the ruins, to yourself. There is not another traveller to be seen.

When Robert Byron was here in the 1930s he loved not just the grand ruins but also the eccentricity of Herat, and much of that still survives. When our plane touched down on the tarmac, the passengers were not taken into the old 1950s terminal, as the man who had the key had gone off for noon prayers. So, instead, our luggage was delivered by tractor, and dumped on the edge of the apron. It seemed an unsurprising fate for bags carried by an airline, Pamir Air, which at check-in had given me a boarding pass marked “Kabul-Riyadh” and when I pointed out that I was going to Herat, replied that it didn’t matter: “They’ll let you on the plane anyway.”

No less eccentric was the Museum of Jihad: a collection of objects left behind by the various foreigners who have tried to conquer Afghanistan, ranging from British cannons from the first Afghan war to Russian tanks, jets and helicopter gunships.

My favourite place was the Gazar Gah, a gorgeous Sufi shrine on the edge of the hills that surround the city. A tall arched gateway leads to a cool, peaceful courtyard full of calligraphed tombs and shrines, with housemartins swooping through the pine trees and ilexes. Old men lay asleep in the shade, using their turbans as pillows. Elsewhere in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the return of the Taliban has meant the banning of gentle, heterodox Sufi devotions: the shrines have been closed or blown up; yet here, the Sufis survived intact.

In one chamber a group of devotees had gathered, kneeling in a circle, and as a long-haired cantor sang a hymn to some long-dead saint, his followers clapped and chanted the zikr: “Haq! haq!” – Truth, truth, “Allah! Allah!” faster, deeper, pitch rising, hands waving, before reaching their mystical climax, then falling backwards on the carpets with an ecstatic sigh. Amid the gathering Taliban storm, the survival of the peaceful Gazar Gah Sufis seemed a small sign of hope.

Details: Wild Frontiers offers a 16-day Afghan explorer trip, Sept 24-Oct 9 2011, including Herat, Bamiyan, Mazar-i-Sharif, Balkh and the Panjshir Valley, from £4,750, full board, not including flights.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Both American And Muslim

By Helen O'Neill, *1 small NY town's battle for tolerance* - The Wall Street Journal - New York, NY, USA; Thursday, November 11, 2010

The cemetery lies beneath a grove of maples on a hill overlooking the farm. On a crisp November day in 2009, it received its first guest — a 28-year old stonemason killed in a car accident two days earlier.

Somberly, his Sufi Muslim brethren carried his coffin up the hill, their colorful turbans and baggy tunics a striking contrast to the rolling hills all around. Beneath a vibrant green headstone — the color of the Osmanli Naksibendi Hakkani order, which runs a 50-acre farm and mosque here — the shrouded body of Amir Celoski was lowered into the ground. Mourners bowed their heads and prayed: May he rest in peace.

But that was not to be.

Instead of peace, Celoski's burial ignited a war — one that would erupt nine months later, hurling Sidney into the national spotlight, bitterly dividing some residents while transforming others who say their lives and their town will never be the same.

It all began quietly enough at a sparsely attended meeting of the Board of Supervisors last summer, after a second burial in the cemetery. At the height of a national debate about a mosque near ground zero, town leaders voted unanimously to investigate the Sufi graves on Wheat Hill Road.

The Sufis had followed proper procedures and received burial permits. But that didn't deter town Supervisor Robert McCarthy from calling the graves illegal and suggesting the bodies might have to be disinterred.

"You can't just bury Grandma in the backyard under the picnic table," he said.

With that, McCarthy, a 70-year-old retired businessman, became a poster child for Muslim-bashing everywhere. MSNBC host Keith Olbermann denounced him as "worst person in the world." Satirist Stephen Colbert direly warned viewers about Muslim vampire "sleeper-in-coffin-cells" infiltrating the Catskills.

Locals watched in horror as Sidney was branded as Islamophobic, backward and ignorant.
"It was sickening," says attorney Tom Schimmerling, 58, the son of Holocaust survivors, who immediately offered to represent the Sufis free of charge. "McCarthy was acting like this was Selma, Ala., in the '60s and he was Bull Connor."

"At first I felt so ashamed of my town," said Richard Cooley, 48, whose Main Street jewelry store has been in the family for 125 years. "And then I saw how the community reacted and I thought how amazing the way we pulled together to do away with something so wrong and make it right."

For in the days and weeks that followed, a spirited, almost intoxicating sense of mission seemed to surge through Sidney, 150 miles north of New York City. Though the town Board of Supervisors hastily dropped the cemetery issue, it had set in motion something it couldn't contain. People reached out, not only to Sufis, but to each other. They set up websites, bonded on Facebook, launched petitions to impeach McCarthy and investigate town government.
They packed into the civic center for a chaotic town meeting, where — as more than a dozen Sufis looked on — about 150 locals yelled at their board. "Shame on you!" they cried. "Apologize!"

Many had never been to a town meeting before. Many had never met a Muslim.

And they trekked to the Sufi center eight miles outside town, to sip tea with the sheik, to vow that Sidney, population 6,000, will be in the spotlight again, this time as a shining example of tolerance and understanding.
___

It's 6 a.m on a Saturday and business is brisk at the Trackside diner, where pancakes and bacon cost less than $3, political opinions are as strong as the coffee, and the roar of an approaching train occasionally drowns out conversation.
Here regulars, including a core group of McCarthy supporters, meet every morning for breakfast. These days, the main topic of conversation has been, as one man jokingly put it, "the turbans on top of the hill."

The door opens and two men in turbans walk in. The diner falls silent, just the clinking of silverware as people bury themselves in their breakfasts.

Though he has only been to the diner once before, everyone recognizes the taller man — Hans Hass, the chief spokesman for the Sufis and chief thorn in McCarthy's side.

Lately Hass, 40, seems to be everywhere — talking with national media, writing letters to town leaders and state officials, attending meetings of the newly formed "Concerned Citizens for Responsible Sidney Government," filing freedom of information requests. His unruffled manner and calm, authoritative voice have captivated the crowd as he persistently confronts McCarthy with the facts and the law.

As captain of the local ambulance squad, volunteer firefighter, and roofing contractor, Hass was already a familiar face in town. Now, almost overnight, he has become a community leader with many urging him to run against McCarthy in the next election.

At the diner, Hass is greeted by Carrie Guarria, a 45-year-old college assistant administrator who invited him after becoming increasingly disturbed about comments she heard at breakfast — that all Muslims are terrorists, that the Sufis have pictures of Osama Bin Laden at their center, that the town would be better off if they dug up their graves and left.

If ever there was a time to shatter caricatures and prejudices, Guarria thought, it was right now, right here in Sidney.

Sitting at her table is Bill Howes, an 81-year-old retired excavator, in work boots and baseball cap. He grunts good morning at Hass, who sits down across from him. Soon the two men are bantering about sports and exchanging mildly racy jokes as they dig into pancakes and eggs.
But Howes' demeanor changes when the conversation turns to McCarthy. "Someone has to shake the town up," he says, defending McCarthy's efforts to rein in spending in areas like the hospital and a local campsite. "It's not just your cemetery deal."

"But he told reporters all over the country that what we did was illegal, and it wasn't," Hass protests.

Howes excuses himself and moves to another table. Later, he will boast about having breakfast with "those Muslim guys" and will tell people how nice they seemed. But he has no plans to take up Hass' invitation to visit with the sheik.

Other diners invite Hass to join them. Soon a dozen people are engaged in a lively debate about politics, religion and the fate of their once thriving riverside factory town. Old-timers lament that the cemetery controversy is just the latest in a string of misfortunes, including the recession and a 2006 flood.

They ask Hass about his background, and he tells them of growing up in South Portland, Maine, of going to college in Connecticut, of embracing Sufism after years of searching other religions and ways of life.

Before leaving, he hands out his business cards and invites them to visit the center, called a dergah.

Later, Hass drives the back roads, checking on a roofing job, stopping by the homes of elderly dairy farmers to inquire about their health and their cows, picking up his mail at the post office. Everywhere, he is greeted warmly.

But there is one place he does not feel welcome — the Jess F. Howes building supply store in Sidney Center. Earlier in the year, Hass says, he asked the owners to remove offensive Muslim jokes scattered on the counter. They did, but he felt it was done reluctantly. Now Hass refuses to shop there.

Inside the store, a man behind the counter glares at a visitor, gives a phony name and snaps "no comment" when asked about his Sufi neighbors just a short drive up the hill.
___

The Sufis settled in the hamlet of Sidney Center in 2002, following Sheik Abdul Kerim al-Kibrisi, 54, who moved here after years of hosting services in New York City. Quietly, they worked their sprawling sheep and cattle farm, isolated for the most part, relatively unnoticed by the larger community.

They converted the enormous red barn into a mosque. Five times a day, a lone man in a turban stands outside chanting, his deep, mellifluous voice ringing across the fields as he calls the faithful to prayer.

Inside, the mosque is a stunningly beautiful place, glowing with colors and warmth, the sweet smell of incense blending with that of a smoky wood stove. Green and gold tapestries drape the walls, which are covered with pictures of sheiks and saints and elaborate calligraphy depicting passages from the Quran. Oriental rugs and cushions cover the floor.

A naturalized American who was born in Cyprus, the sheik is a genial man with a jeweled purple turban, flowing dark tunic and long gray beard. His dark eyes sparkle as he tells his story, of how he first saw the dergah in a dream.

Friday's Jummah service — the most important of the week — lasts about 40 minutes, the men bowing and praying in front. The women, some in colorful headscarves, others in burqas, pray behind a thin curtain in the back.

Afterward, the curtain is pulled aside and everyone drinks sweet Turkish tea and listens as their sheik speaks of tolerance, the perils of ego — and the controversy consuming the town. His deep, gravelly voice fills the room.

"What is happening right here in Sidney," he says, "can show the whole world, that we can live peacefully as Muslims and non-Muslims, that we can share the same land, that a small town in America can show that the whole country is not mired in Islamophobia."

The group of about 30 men and 10 women listen attentively. They come from all backgrounds and cultures — American-born converts as well as Muslim immigrants. Most live and work locally, visiting the dergah for services. Others drive from New York and New Jersey, where the order has another dergah.

All say the furor over the graves has imbued them with a renewed sense of hope for their country and their town.

"It fills my heart," says Erdem Kahyaoglu, a strapping 31-year-old, who grew up on Long Island and became a Sufi as a college student. He chokes up as he describes his joy and astonishment that, as he wrote to one of his new Facebook friends, neighbor Jenneen Bush, "you stood up for us and you don't even know us."

"Honey," Bush wrote back. "I just stood up for what is right. And I want to get to know all of you."

Sufism is a mystical tradition in Islam; the order says its mission is to live a quiet, simple life of prayer and contemplation. But the Sufis know they are being watched.

They've heard their share of taunts: "Terrorists, go back to your own country." They've had their share of police calls: a suspicious man in a turban spotted sitting by the dam; a suspicious man in a turban making a cell phone call next to a power plant. An FBI agent has visited, impressing them with his knowledge of Islam.

Still, they hear the rumors — that they are storing weapons, that they are a cult, that they are planning something evil.

If only more people would visit, get to know them as individuals. They would meet Bilal, once a shy, skinny kid from New York City who was scared of sheep, now he is in charge of the animals; Abdullah, the beekeeper; Talatfathima, whose luminous eyes peer from her black burqa as she giggles at the antics of her 14-month-old son; Bilques Mohamed, the oldest member at 85, who shuffles into the mosque every day pushing her walker, and her son Bayram, a former New York City cab driver and the mosque's resident comedian, who entertains everyone with priceless impersonations of McCarthy.

As Maryem Brawley, the sheik's wife, told town officials, "No one called. No one wrote a letter. No one knocked on our door. You just assumed that we were doing something illegal. You made assumptions about us that were not true."

Brawley, 60, who was raised Roman Catholic in New Jersey and turned to Sufism in the mid-1990s, works for IBM and rarely had much interaction with locals. But lately that has changed.
People have written letters of support, have reached out in e-mails, have moved her to tears with their compassion and goodwill.

"We were all sort of strangers before," she says. "And now we are becoming friends."

It is not a friendship that appeals to everyone.
____

In cowboy hat and wind-breaker, Bob McCarthy strides into the Sidney Golf and Country Club, a creaky clapboard building that looks as though it has seen better days. The guys at the bar offer friendly nods. Diners pat him on the back and tell him what a good job he is doing. The waitress knows his order — cup of soup and hamburger, half of which he will save for his chocolate Labrador mix, Kelly, who waits patiently in his gray pickup truck outside.

Here McCarthy, a stocky, red-faced man with snow white hair, can be comfortable. No one is yelling at him to account for gaps in budget figures, or to resign. There are no guys in turbans denouncing him as a bigot.

"It had nothing to do with the fact they are Muslim, I was just trying to keep tax dollars down," says McCarthy, who once ran a business making custom golf-putters.

McCarthy has no political experience — he first ran for office last year — and, he says, he has no political agenda other than to cut taxes and spending as much as possible. The cemetery affair, he says, was blown out of proportion by the media.

McCarthy makes no apologies for his pugnacious manner. He says he doesn't care that fellow board members issued a statement saying he needed to work on his "people skills," or that he is lampooned daily on a Facebook site called Impeach Bob McCarthy.

"It's not a popularity contest," he says, though he admits that "all this stupidity" has upset his wife.

McCarthy ran for office on a platform of "transparency in government" and he insists that is what he is trying to do, though a recent budget workshop session, hastily posted the night before, was held at 7:30 a.m. Hass showed up, mocked his lack of transparency and accused the board of holding an illegal secret meeting.

Hass further needled McCarthy by walking into a recent Sunday service at the First Baptist Church, wearing his turban, and infuriating McCarthy's wife, who worships there. Hass says it was a chance to reach out to people he ordinarily wouldn't meet. He describes a fruitful exchange with the pastor, who told him the controversy had prompted him to start reading the Quran, and with elders who explained the history of the church.

McCarthy snorts in disbelief. He questions whether Hass is truly a Muslim, or simply "a jerk fueling things for his own personal agenda."

Yet McCarthy's agenda has caused consternation even among fellow Republicans. Earlier in the year he made headlines when he publicly opposed funding for the local Stop-DWI program.
"Cell phones are a worse menace," McCarthy says defensively, as he finishes lunch and heads back to his truck. Kelly barks excitedly in the front seat. McCarthy's eyes soften.

"I could kill Mother Teresa and this dog would still love me," he says, before driving away.

That night McCarthy will be in the hot seat again, at yet another tumultuous town meeting at the civic center.

In a move that appears tone deaf to some, incendiary to others, the board has decided to introduce a new law — the first of 2010 — concerning private burials on private land. Board members assure the Sufis that their cemetery will not be affected, but in two weeks, they have simply traded one angry crowd for another.

Tempers flare as people furiously demand answers. Accusations fly back and forth, and there is little sense of dignity, democracy or order. With a few exceptions, the only people remaining calm are those wearing turbans.

Hass addresses the board. Sarcastically, he suggests giving the new law a catchy name, something folks will remember.

"How about ... you can't bury Grandma in the backyard under the picnic table law?"

McCarthy winces. The crowd erupts. It's going to be another long night.

Even some of Hass' supporters wonder privately if he is pushing things too far. He admits that he is enjoying the political theater, but insists there is a serious purpose to his actions. A shift is happening in Sidney, Hass says, and he is trying to harness it, to educate people, to use this controversy as a springboard for lasting change.

And, Hass says, the experience has changed him personally — made him feel even more proud of being both American and Muslim, and more determined to play a bigger role in his community.
___

Skeptics say all this goodwill and tolerance — not to mention efforts to oust McCarthy— will fade, disappearing into memory as winter sets in and people burrow back into their lives.
Others disagree. Many say events have changed them profoundly.

Jenneen Bush, 41, who had never been to a town meeting or met a Muslim before, is reading about Sufism and planning to bring her grandchildren to dinner at the dergah. Floyd Howard, 63, felt such a surge of passion for his hometown that he momentarily forgot about his cancer. He joined the Historical Society — a gesture of sorts — simply to be more engaged in town affairs. It promptly named him president.

Real estate agent, Jackie Rose, 52, who resigned from the Republican Town committee in disgust over McCarthy's leadership, shocked her 21-year-old son by driving alone to the dergah. It was the first time she had ever been in a mosque or met a sheik.

"Weren't you scared?" her son asked. "No," she told him. "There has been too much ignorance and fear. We have to take a stand, make friendships and get along."

Tom Schimmerling, the Jewish lawyer, feels the same way. Sidney's saga prompted him to dig up an old movie — the 1947 classic "Gentleman's Agreement" — about a journalist (played by Gregory Peck) who goes undercover as a Jew to research anti-Semitism in New York.

Watching the movie, Schimmerling had an epiphany. He plans to take a few weeks off to roam the country in his new turban — a gift from the Sufis — and explore what it's like to be Muslim in America in 2010.

He feels an overwhelming pride, he says, "that a small town in Delaware County could rise up in support of what is right."

Schimmerling says this on a rainy Thursday night in November, as he lingers with a small group of people at the civic center. They are pondering the aftermath of the latest meeting, which broke down in pandemonium a short time earlier. They are debating the future of their town.

"Change is happening," says a retired plant manager, Joe Cardinal. "But there has been too much yelling and shouting and finger-pointing. It's going to take time for the town to heal."

Up at the dergah, a very different gathering is taking place. It is the one-year anniversary of the death of Amir Celoski, the first man to be buried in the Sufi cemetery. Family members have traveled from New Jersey to pay tribute.

Tearfully, they remember an exuberant young man who hoped to move to Sidney with his fiancee and raise a family in the community he loved.

Aviska Celoski says she wept for days at the thought of her son's body being disinterred. Now, she says, the family feels so heartened by the outpouring of support, they plan to move to Sidney permanently. In a strangely comforting way, the controversy — and the good that has come of it — has given her son's death meaning.

The men form a semicircle around the sheik's deputy, Lokman Hoja, a gracious, soft-spoken Malaysian man of 39. Women sit in the back. Lights are dimmed, heads bowed and everyone falls silent as Hoja reads a sermon from their grand sheik.

Live quietly, the holy man exhorts. Live a life of gentleness, of tolerance, free from anger and ego.

Eyes closed, the men and women begin chanting "La ilaha ilallah" ("There is no God but God") a rich, undulating melody that prompts some worshippers to sway softly in the dark.

Their voices rise. The smell of incense wafts through the room. The rain beats outside.

Here, in a converted barn on the top of Wheat Hill road, anger, ego, and the heated passions of the past weeks and months seem a world away.

[Picture: Full Moon at Israk. Photo: Osmanli Naksibendi Dergahi.]

Friday, December 31, 2010

A Map For Religion
No comments:
By A. A., *Mevlana's Masnavi Translated Into Dutch* - Turkish Weekly - Ankara, Turkey; Wednesday, 22 December 2010

Konya: Masnavi, written by 13th century philosopher and mystic of Islam Mevlana Jalal-ad-din Rumi, has been translated into Dutch.

The translation was made by Dutch author Abdulwahid Van Bommel within the scope of "Mevlana Events in the Netherlands" initiated in 2007 by the Turkish Authors' Club in the Netherlands. The first edition of the translation will be printed 1,000 copies.

Van Bommel, who studied philosophy and literature in Turkey, said Masnavi was a map for religion.

"Mevlana drew a map. People want to get satisfied by religion. Masnavi has everything that people are looking for. The map drawn by Mevlana can satisfy anything," Van Bommel said.

Mevlana, who devoted himself to the pursuit of Sufi mysticism, was the spiritual founder of the Mevlevi order of Whirling Dervishes and he was justly regarded as the supreme master.

The Masnavi or Masnavi-I Ma'navi, written in Persian by Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi is one of the best known and most influential works of both Sufism and Persian literature.

Comprising six books of poems that amount to more than 50,000 lines, it pursues its way through 424 stories that illustrate man's predicament in his search for God.

[Picture: Masnavi, a calligraphic specimen from 1490, Mevlâna mausoleum, Konya, Turkey. Photo: Wiki.]
Read More

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Despite Media Hyperbole
No comments:
By Jaya Ramachandran, *Lingering Tension Clouds Elections in Nigeria* IDN-InDepthNews - Berlin, Germany; Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Brussels: In run-up to presidential primary on January 13 ahead of April 2011 general election in Nigeria, a think-tank has warned against the possibility of persistent tensions leading to a new spate of local violence.

This must be avoided through actions at the local, regional and national level, says the International Crisis Group in its latest report.

Similar concern was expressed by Nigeria's Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

The Daily Nation newspaper quoted the commission saying that it is facing huge security challenges ahead of the 2011 general election. "Chairman of the commission Attahiru Jega disclosed this (on December 20) in Abuja at the inauguration of the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security (ICCES)," Nigerian daily newspaper reported.

The same day the Brussels-based Crisis Group launched a 47-page report titled 'Northern Nigeria: Background to Conflict', stating that the region is "not the hot bed of Islamic extremists some in the West fear, but it needs reinforced community-level peace-building, a more subtle security response, and improved management of public resources lest lingering tensions lead to new violence".

The report finds that northern Nigeria is little understood by those in the south, still less by the international community. Too often it is viewed as part of bigger rivalries in a putative West-Islam divide.

Therefore, its advice: All -- from Iran to Christian evangelical preachers -- need to be more careful of what they say and whom they support. Officials in the West need to put some of their fears about radical Islam into a much more Nigerian perspective.

Reformist movements -- highly diverse and fragmented -- have contributed in many positive ways to debates over governance, corruption and rule of law. While some harbour real hostility to the West, for others criticising the U.S. is really a way of expressing frustration with Nigeria’s secular state and its multiple problems.

While seeking to remove misgivings, the report examines the region's conflict risks, putting these in a historic perspective.

Thus, says the Crisis Group, violence in northern Nigeria has flared up periodically over the last 30 years. Mainly in the form of urban riots, it has pitted Muslims against Christians and has seen confrontations between different Islamic sects.

Although there have been some successes in conflict management in the last decade, the 2009 and 2010 troubles in Bauchi, Borno and Yobe states involving the radical Boko Haram sect -- a radical group that is suspected to have some links to al-Qaeda -- show that violence still may flare up at any moment.

SERIOUS REPERCUSSIONS?

If the situation were to deteriorate significantly, especially on Christian-Muslim lines, it could have serious repercussions for national cohesion in the build up to national elections in April 2011, says the report adding: "To deal with the risks, community-level initiatives need to be reinforced".

"While some in the West panic at what they see as growing Islamic radicalism in the region, the roots of the problem are more complex and lie in Nigeria's history and contemporary politics," says Titi Ajayi, Crisis Group's West Africa Fellow.

The far north is home to 53 million people. It comprises the twelve states that reintroduced the Islamic law 'Sharia' for criminal cases at the beginning of the century. Though the large majority of the people in the region are Muslim, there is a substantial Christian minority, both indigenous to the area and the product of migration from the south of the country.

The Sokoto Caliphate, formed in 1804-1808, is a reference point for many in the region. "As West Africa’s most powerful pre-colonial state, it is a source of great pride. But for some, its defeat by the British in 1903 and subsequent dealings with colonial and post-colonial states mean the caliphate is tarnished with the corrupting influence of secular political power," explains the Crisis Group report.

The impact of colonial rule was paradoxical. While policies of indirect rule allowed traditional authorities, principally the Sultan of Sokoto, to continue to expand their power, that power was also circumscribed by the British.

In the first decades of independence, which were marked by frequent violent conflict between the regions for control of state resources, the north saw the military as a route to power and influence. But following the disastrous rule of northern General Sani Abacha (1993-1998), the return to democracy in 1999 was viewed as a chance for the north to seek political and moral renewal, states the report explaining the background to the situation in Nigeria.

REINTRODUCTION OF SHARIA

This led to the reintroduction of Sharia in twelve states between 1999 and 2002, although only two have applied it seriously.

Sharia caused controversy over its compatibility with international human rights standards and the constitution and regarding the position of Christians in those states. It also exacerbated recurrent conflicts between Muslims and Christians. But it was supported by many Muslims, and some Christians, who had lost faith in secular law enforcement authorities, and it also stimulated much open and democratic debate over the rule of law.

Tensions over the issue have declined in recent years. Debates among Muslims in the region tend to divide those who respect the established religious and secular authorities and their two-century-old Sufi heritage from those who take a "reformist" view.

The latter cover a very wide range of opinion, from Salafist-type anti-Sufism to Iranian-inspired Shiite movements, and combine anger at the establishment’s corruption with a promise of a more individualistic religious experience.

The report says: Typically, some end up being co-opted by both religious and secular authorities, largely due to the latter’s control over public resources. But others maintain a hostile or rejectionist stance that in some isolated cases turns into violent rejection of public authority.

As in the south, religion provides a sense of community and security and is increasingly public and political. In combination with more polarised communal politics, this has led to clashes over doctrine and political and spiritual authority.

Violent conflict, whether riots or fighting between insurrectional groups and the police, tends to occur at specific flashpoints. Examples, according to the Crisis Group, are the cities of Kaduna and Zaria, whose populations are religiously and ethnically very mixed, and the very poor states of the far north east, where anti-establishment groups have emerged.

MANIPULATION

Many factors fuelling these conflicts are common across Nigeria: in particular, the political manipulation of religion and ethnicity and disputes between supposed local groups and "settlers" over distribution of public resources.

The failure of the state to assure public order, to contribute to dispute settlement and to implement post-conflict peace-building measures is also a factor. Economic decline and absence of employment opportunities, especially as inequality grows, likewise drives conflict.

As elsewhere in Nigeria, the north suffers from a potent mix of economic malaise and contentious, community-based distribution of public resources.

Nevertheless, says the report, there is also a specifically northern element. A thread of rejectionist thinking runs through northern Nigerian history, according to which collaboration with secular authorities is illegitimate.

"While calls for an 'Islamic state' in Nigeria should not be taken too seriously, despite media hyperbole, they do demonstrate that many in the far north express political and social dissatisfaction through greater adherence to Islam and increasingly look to the religious canon for solutions to multiple problems in their lives," states the report.

Much local-level conflict prevention and resolution does occur. For a vast region beset with social and economic problems, the absence of widespread conflict is as notable as the pockets of violence.

Some state authorities have done good work on community relations, but the record is uneven.

At the federal level, clumsy and heavy-handed security responses are likely to exacerbate conflicts in the future.

More fundamentally, preventing and resolving conflict in the far north will require far better management of public resources, an end to their distribution according to ethnic identity and job-creating economic revival.

[Click on the title to the original article and its links to related articles (ed.)]
Read More

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Passion For Islam
No comments:
By Staff Writer, *Following Muhammad published in Persian* - IBNA Iran Book News Agency - Tehran, Iran; Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Haghighat Publications has recently published a new rendition of Carl Ernst's Following Muhammad. The book addressed anti-Islamic stereotypes prevalent in West.

Ernst, a professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is not a stranger to Islam-related controversy and has so far published many articles on the religion.

According to the translator of the book, Hassan Nouraei Bidokht, Ernst's main objective in publishing the word is admonishing the West for indulging in negative and inaccurate stereotypes of Islam and Muslims.

He believes Islam is not what western media are showing. He tries to share his view with Americans by his book and, to this effect, Ernst has outlined peaceful beliefs of Muslims.

Westerners are the main target readers of the book, said the translator, so far as the book is themed at changing their perspectives about Islam. Another Persian translation of the book by Ghasem Kakaei will be marketed in Iran by Hermes.

Ernst is highly regarded for his books about Sufism (The Shambhala Guide to Sufism, 1997) and his brilliant translations of Sufi texts. But in this compelling, if occasionally disorganized, book, Ernst introduces the larger Islamic world and its history in engaging, thought-provoking prose.

The overarching argument here is that the West ought not understand Islam as a monolith, that debate and diversity are inherent in Islam and were encouraged by the Prophet.

So while most introductions to Islam give Shi'ism and Sufism short shrift, they are presented here as vital facets of Islamic belief.

Although the text skips around historically, readers will come away with a good understanding of the different schools of Islamic thought and practice. Special attention is paid to the hot-button topics: gender and veiling, the relationship between Islam and democracy, and Islamist radicalism, for example.

Ernst's obvious passion for Islam comes through quite beautifully here, and the rare mix of clear writing and careful scholarship makes this an important purchase for any Islamic studies collection.
Read More
Controversy
No comments:
By Michael Field, *Divisive imam leaves NZ, denying he preached jihad* - Stuff.co.nz - Wellington, New Zealand; Wednesday, December 22, 2010

A senior imam of New Zealand's biggest mosque has left for his Pakistan homeland strongly denying he taught jihad or holy war in the four years he was in this country.

Imam or mufti Abdul Qadir Siddiquei said he was leaving New Zealand having cleared his name of allegations made against him.

"I am not a terrorist, I do not believe in terrorist things," he said just before leaving on a Bangkok-bound flight yesterday.

He said he was of the Islamic Sufi branch and its members were being killed in Pakistan by terrorists.

"We are anti-terrorist, we belong to Sufi concepts, Sufi school of thoughts. My teacher has been killed by terrorist people. We are Sufi people, wherever we go, people will know we are with the Sufi people."

He denied he was being forced out of New Zealand with his large family.

Last Thursday night, police intervened in tense scenes at Auckland's Jamia Musjid Al-Mustafa mosque as about 200 Muslims battled over Mufti Siddiquei. The mosque, with more than 1000 followers, has united various Sunni sects and Pakistani and Indo-Fijian Muslims who combined to pay for the building. Also known as the South Auckland Islamic Centre, it is the most influential mainstream mosque in New Zealand and Fiji.

Counties Manukau Police have failed to respond to repeated requests for an account of why they went to the mosque.

Controversy had built up around five YouTube videos of some of the teachings. Four of them have been removed, but a leading member, Abdul Abbas Karim, heard some of the teachings, calling them "halfway to jihad".

Businessman Israr Sheikh said the imam was forced to resign and that last week's meeting ended up in a fight which police attended. Imam Siddiquei said the police did attend the meeting and encouraged good relations between the various groups.

"They come and saved ourselves; sometimes people come and create problems." He said Mr Karim had now been ordered out of the mosque. "That person is with a different school of thought, not a Sufi."

He denied there had been a split in the mosque between South Asian Muslims and Indo-Fijians.

"The mosque has good and humble people all the time they are in sympathy with me.

Imam Siddiquei said he was leaving New Zealand because his mother in Pakistan was ill. He did not know if he would be back.

Sufism is regarded as a mystical system of Islam in which meditation, prayer and music are crucial.

Picture: Pakistan Bound: Abdul Qadir Siddiquei at Auckland International Airport on his way out of New Zealand. Photo: Grahame Cox/Dominion Post.
Read More

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

A Day Of Celebration
No comments:
By Unal Livaneli, *50,000 attend Şeb-i Arus festivities in Konya* - Today's Zaman - Istanbul, Turkey; Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Konya: A total of 50,000 people attended the festivities as part of the Şeb-i Arus commemorations, held on the occasion of the 737th anniversary of the death of Mevlana, a Sufi saint and founder of the Mevlevi order of Sufi dervishes.

Konya Provincial Culture and Tourism Director Mustafa Çıpan said thousands of tourists visited the city for the festivities, which took place between Dec. 7-17.

The sema ceremonies of whirling dervishes were watched by 50,000 people at the Mevlana Cultural Center, he said.

While noting that they worked hard to host the thousands of guests who arrived from other Turkish provinces and abroad, Çıpan said: “Everybody was content with the program. This Dec. 7-17 became a period when both the quality of the events and the number of guests increased.”

Çıpan also stated that the events also have positive consequences for Konya businesses. “If we take into account both the occupancy rates of hotels and the sales at souvenir shops, Şeb-i Arus was pretty profitable for Konya business owners. We saw economically good results. It was also positive in cultural terms,” he continued.

Çıpan also added that the events held at the Selçuk and Mevlana universities in the city were successful as well.

Called Şeb-i Arus (the Night of Union), it is not a day of mourning but a day of celebration.

Mevlana is world famous for his “Mesnevi” (The Couplets), written originally in Persian.
Read More
The Beloved Sufi
No comments:
By Religion Desk Editor, *Whirling Dervishes Celebrate Rumi Anniversary* - The Huffington Post - New York, NY, USA; Monday, December 20, 2010

Whirling dervishes in Turkey performed an annual dance to mark the death of Muslim mystic and poet, Mevlana Jelaleddin Rumi.

The beloved Sufi writer of devotional poetry died in 1273. His son founded the dervish order soon after.

"The light emerging from the work of Rumi is rising day by day," Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at the event. "Each day it enlightens our world more."

This year marked the 737th anniversary of Rumi's passing, which is known as Seb-i Arus, or Wedding Night, in Turkey.

Whirling dervishes perform their dizzying feat in recognition of the oneness of all creation and humanity's closeness to the divine.

[Click on the title to the original article with a video. (ed.)]
Read More

Monday, December 27, 2010

Sufi Designer
No comments:
By Aamna Hader Isani, *Style, the Sufi Way* - The Express Tribune - Karachi, Pakistan; Sunday, December 19, 2010

Whispers spread through Lahore like a hush through a dense forest. Muzaffar Ali was in the city and he had broken down in tears while Hina Nasrullah was reciting Bulleh Shah’s kaafis during the launch of his book, Sufis of Punjab, at the Governor House. It wasn’t unexpected.

Ali was ostensibly here for Bridal Couture Week but Lahore draws men like him for far more deep-rooted reasons than fashion. It is, after all, the land of sufi poets. Ali had visited Abida Parveen in hospital a day earlier; he had paid his respects at the tombs of Nur Jehan and Jahangir. His 90-year-old paternal aunt had traveled from Karachi for his showing and book launch. Muzaffar Ali was visibly moved by every moment he spent in this cultural city.

“I have an emotional connection with Lahore,” he says. “This trip has been enriching.”

And having spent no more than moments with the man, it was still easy to see that emotions are what make Ali tick.

Film maker, designer, author, mystic … there are so many labels that define him, and yet it’s impossible to underline just one. He is a sufi designer and mystic filmmaker, the ethos of his work being subtlety and gentleness that infiltrates everything he does. And he has done it all and more in the past thirty years.

If there’s one word that describes the man best, it’s ‘revivalist’ because whether it is adapting Mirza Hadi Ruswa’s novel Umrao Jaan Ada to film, following sufism through Jalaluddin Rumi’s intense poetry or reinventing the simplicity of the age old craft of chikankari, one of Lucknow’s sartorial legacies, Ali continuously strives to keep history alive. He picks up traditions from the past and reasserts their relevance in a new world order. They are revived but not at the risk of losing their ancient charm.

Film

“I now want to make a film on (Empress) Nur Jehan,” he says, causing people to wonder whether he would cast a Pakistani actresses as the star. “My film would be a human saga.”

As a filmmaker, Ali will remain best known for the piece of lyrical brilliance he created with Umrao Jaan in 1981. The film left a legacy that remains unparalleled when it comes to narrating the richness of Lucknow as a home to tradition, culture, art and poetry. Though he could never achieve that success in any other film, it didn’t stop him from trying and now he wants to narrate another historical tale.

He isn’t too happy with the way films, especially period films are made in India today. “The west has a better idea of what old India was,” he reminisces. “We don’t live up to the imagination. I think it’s because people who put money into films these days don’t have the right vision. It’s a battle I’ve been fighting for years.”

Needless to say, J P Dutta’s remake of Ali’s Umrao Jaan (though Dutta insisted it wasn’t a remake) wasn’t a patch on the original. It lacked both body and soul required to transport the viewer to British India. So what did Ali think of the film?

“I didn’t watch the new Umrao Jaan so cannot comment on that,” Ali says, smiling when I ask him the completely clichéd and yet irresistible question. “I was warned not to.”

Literature

Beyond the magic of films, it is a love for literature that fuels Ali’s life. “Faiz Ahmad Faiz is the greatest phenomenon of the sub-continent.” Ali speaks of the legendary poet with reverence: “I have used Faiz’s poetry in my films and have dedicated my work to him. We should celebrate people like Faiz and Abida (Abida Parveen, who he refers to as “my sister”) who are beyond boundaries.” According to him, art is the one thing that liberates nations from the divisiveness of boundaries, as Ali adds, “the relationship between India and Pakistan has to go beyond politics.”

Ali stresses that art and literature in India and Pakistan must not be territorialised. They must be acknowledged as products of the traditions of the sub-continent, rather than of two different countries. This, according to him, will be the only way to create a culture that binds people rather than divides them.

It is with this in mind that Ali organises the Jahan-i-Khusrau Music Festival in Delhi each year. The festival celebrates the poetry of Hazrat Amir Khusrau and is held under the aegis of the Rumi Foundation of which Muzaffar Ali is Founding Member. As Sufism speaks the universal language of love, the festival has also broken down barriers, bringing Pakistani artists on stage. Ali further says it would be great if Pakistan and India could work together to restore archeological heritage sights, especially in Lahore where they suffer from neglect.

Fashion

While literature may serve as the perfect bridge between two countries, it was fashion that brought Muzaffar Ali to Pakistan. Close friends with Yousuf Salahuddin — they share a passion for culture — Ali couldn’t say no when Jalal Salahuddin of J&S invited him to show at Bridal Couture Week.

The collection he brought with him added sophistication and much needed subtlety to the otherwise loud and often brash bridal wear on display on the runway. Standing out against the sea of sequins shown, Muzaffar and Meera (his wife, who supervises the design department) put together a collection that was fluid and gentle, and suggestive rather than flamboyant.

They brought in a variety of clothes woven and embellished at Kotwara, the picturesque studio Muzaffar Ali shares with Meera. It’s where delicate jamevars are spun and comforting cottons are embroidered. It is where old crafts like zardozi, aari, kaamdani, chikankari are revived and brought together as a technique better known as chintz or ‘chheent’ – where woven fabric is made to look embroidered because of the sheerness and delicacy of its workmanship.

“We design for the discerning client,” says Meera. “Ours is a label that caters to well-travelled and sophisticated women who understand the importance of being understated. These clothes are sexy because of the sheerness of the organza; they are suggestive without being overpowering. And they revive techniques that we would like to keep alive.”

The collection may have been lost on most of Lahore but it brought an undeniable sophistication to Bridal Couture Week, making it easier to label Muzzafar Ali in part as a ‘sufi designer,’ if such a thing may exist.
Read More

Sunday, December 26, 2010

In And Around The Basti
1 comment:
By Tripti Lahiri, *Nizamuddin Basti Puts Out Welcome Mat* - The Wall Street Journal - New York, NY, USA; Saturday, December 18, 2010

Lots of Delhi residents and foreigners already know this centrally located neighborhood – or at least the shrine in the middle of it – because of the qawwali devotional music at sunset at the mausoleum of Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya.

But this year the neighborhood has been home to many more cultural events at other historic spots, including a Sufi music festival, storytelling nights and this weekend, starting Sunday, is the first street festival.

The organization that is carrying out restoration work and trying to improve living conditions in the area hopes that through these events more people in Delhi can appreciate and help preserve the heritage and plural traditions of this unusual neighborhood—including the people who live in and around the basti.

“It’s got one of the highest densities of medieval Islamic buildings anywhere in the world. There are over 100 monuments,” said Ratish Nanda, who is head of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture in India. “Nizamuddin is well known for its spirit of pluralism. It’s got 700 years of living culture—it’s not only bricks and mortar, it’s Amir Khusro and Ghalib and qawwali.”

Khusro was a medieval Sufi poet, while Ghalib was a 19th century Urdu poet. Sufism is a mystic strain of Islam, and Sufi saints are often revered by people of several faiths in India.

The culture trust is part of the development agency of the Aga Khan, the spiritual leader of Shia Ismaili Muslims. The agency has a “historic cities” program to develop and conserve public spaces of cultural significance. The trust has already carried out restoration works on the gardens of Humayun’s tomb, part or the larger Nizamuddin historical area, that includes a plant nursery that still functions.

The area is bifurcated into two main residential areas, one to the east around the tomb that is a wealthy area, and the one to the west, where the shrine is, which is more congested and poorer.

Work in the neighborhood began in 2007, and includes efforts to improve sanitation, schooling and parks here. Mr. Nanda said enrollment in the government primary school had gone up fourfold since then.

The previous weekend already saw two evenings of storytelling in Urdu at the Chausath Khamba (64 Pillars) monument, next door to the Nizamuddin shrine and home to several graves.

The events this Sunday and Monday highlight food and crafts as well, with a street festival in a park, while young people from the neighborhood will lead walks on the built heritage and culture of the area.

“There is so much oral history in the basti (neighborhood) that we hope the youth will pick up and and bring back the culture that once prevailed here,” said Mr. Nanda.

The street festival is on Dec. 19 and 20 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Barat Ghar Park, Hazrat Nizamuddin Basti. Heritage walks last 1.5 hours and depart on both days at 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. from the Shiv Mandir. For more information about the events on Sunday and Monday, please call +91-11-4371-7791

Picture: Nizamuddin Basti - a neighborhood famous for the mausoleum of Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya is having its cultural renaissance. Photo: AFP/Getty Images
Read More

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Closer To Allah
No comments:
By Pat Yale, *Konya in the footsteps of Rumi* - Sunday's Zaman - Istanbul, Turkey; Sunday, December 19, 2010

Konya: Like Tarsus, the southern Turkish town that will forever be associated with St. Paul, Konya in Central Anatolia will forever be associated with one man, Mevlana Muhammed Jelaluddin Rumi (1207-1273), better known to the world as Mevlana.

A Sufi, or an Islamic mystic, Rumi was the author of a number of influential religious works, including the Mesnevi, which sets out the beliefs he developed over his lifetime. But Rumi is better known as the father of the whirling dervishes, a Sufi order that uses music and dance as a way to bring its devotees closer to Allah. Every year Konya remembers the death of Mevlana on Dec. 17 (Şeb-i Arus) with a week of celebrations in which displays of dervish dancing form the centerpiece.

Because Konya has a reputation as a conservative town stranded in the middle of the Anatolian plateau, many visitors to the country opt to give it a miss, especially in winter, when the weather can be unrelentingly cold. This is a great shame because the city has also been described as “Turkey's best outdoor museum of Seljuk architecture,” which should surely guarantee it a place on the itinerary of anyone interested in the country's past.

Today Konya is a sprawling modern town dubbed an Anatolian Tiger for its success in attracting business. This is the aspect of town that is most immediately apparent as you arrive at its colorful Space Age bus station ready to be whisked into the center in the sleek modern tram, and it takes some considerable mental effort to strip away the accumulated development of the centuries and imagine yourself back in the Konya of Rumi's days. There are, however, several buildings in the town center that would already have been in existence then, and happily they are within easy walking distance of each other.

The son of an Islamic scholar, Rumi was apparently born in a village called Wakhsh in what is now Tajikistan but was at that time a part of Persia. Probably fearing the approach of the Mongols, Rumi's father relocated the family westwards into the part of Anatolia that was then the heart of the Selçuk Sultanate of Rum with its capital in Konya. They are believed to have arrived there in 1228, by which time the unremarkable İplikçi Cami on Alaettin Caddesi, built during the reign of Şemseddin Altun-Aba, would already have been in existence for a quarter of a century.

More recently completed was the Alaeddin Cami, the superb mosque that bestrides the slopes of Alaeddin Tepesi (Alaeddin's Hill) in the town center and where, in 1231, Sultan Alaeddin Keykubad I was laid to rest. Unlike the Ottoman mosques with domes which draw the eye irresistibly to the center of the building, this was a typically Selçuk long, hall-like mosque where men met to pray amid a sea of columns. Today it's still possible to admire the pieces of ancient masonry that were incorporated into these columns. Sadly, the magnificent carpets that once covered the floors have been removed; some of them can be seen on display in the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts in İstanbul.

In the years when the young Rumi was developing the ideas that would eventually result in the rituals of the whirling dervishes, Konya must have been as bustling a city as it is today, with almost as much building work going on then as now. The scant remains of a Selçuk palace on the hillside may be of limited interest, but beside the road ringing the hill you will be able to visit two magnificent buildings whose creation Rumi would have been able to watch as he strolled about town.

The first is the Büyük Karatay Medresesi (Great Karatay Seminary), completed in 1252, which now houses a museum of tiles and ceramics. Built for a diplomat named Celaleddin Karatay, the building is a masterpiece of Selçuk style with a spectacularly decorative entrance opening onto a courtyard with a huge eyvan (arched recess) opening off it and with some original turquoise tiles as well as a fine inscription in Arabic running around the base of the dome.

A decade later and Rumi would have been able to gaze in admiration on the İnce Minare Medresesi (Slender Minaret Seminary), work on which was completed for the vizier Sahip Ata in 1264. Like the Büyük Karatay Medresesi, the İnce Minare Medresesi has an imposing gateway, although it's somewhat overshadowed by the minaret, which was truncated by a lightning strike in 1901. Internally, the building is similar to its neighbor, although its collection of stone and woodwork is of somewhat minor interest.

These two medreses are obvious and easy to find, which cannot really be said of the third seminary that went up in Rumi's lifetime, namely the Sırçalı Medresesi (Glass Seminary). Boasting by far the prettiest tile decoration of the three, this was built in 1242 for a vizier whose name has not come down to us. It can be found on Ressam Sami Sokak, not far from the Konya Archaeology Museum.

But of course the building for which Konya is best known is the one that eventually became Rumi's last resting place and whose fluted, turquoise-tiled dome is one of the iconic sights of central Turkey. Here, in a complex that evolved over time to include a semahane (a room in which the whirling dervishes could perform), a museum and cells for disciples, Rumi was buried in an exquisite tomb which remains the focus of intense devotion today.

Those familiar with the story of Rumi may also want to pay a visit to the Şems-i Tebrizi Cami, the mosque in which his friend and mentor Şems of Tabriz was buried after his murder in 1247 and which can be found not far away from the İplikçi Cami. (Those less familiar with the story may want to read Elif Şafak's wonderful “The Forty Rules of Love” for a lyrical account of their friendship.)

Of course historic Konya is much more than the reminders of Rumi and the great days of the Selçuk supremacy. The archaeological museum, lurking in the grounds of a mosque dating back to 1283, houses a particularly magnificent Pamphylian sarcophagus decorated with scenes of the Labors of Hercules, while an annex to the Koyunoğlu Museum is housed inside an old Konyan mansion still furnished as it would have been when its owners lived in it in the 19th century.

There's also a fine early Ottoman mosque, the Selimiye Cami, right beside the complex containing Mevlana's tomb.

Konya is a great place to get to grips with the real, untouristy Turkey. While touts working for carpet shops on Alaeddin Caddesi can sometimes make a nuisance of themselves, it doesn't usually take long to shake them off. Then you can take your time to explore a bazaar full of very Turkish delicacies before stopping off for a dinner of fırın kebabı, chunks of succulent, oven-baked mutton served on flaps of freshly baked bread and best washed down with ayran, the popular yoghurt drink.

No trip to the city would be complete without seeing the dervishes going through their paces. White skirts swirling, tall felt hats bending with every gesture, the soft swish of slippered feet pirouetting across the floor -- it's a mesmerizing, unforgettable sight that will linger in your memory long after you've forgotten the name of your hotel.

WHERE TO STAY
Dedeman Konya. Tel.: 0332-221 6600
Hotel Balıkçılar. Tel.: 0332-350 9470
Hotel Rumi. Tel.: 0332-353 1121
Hotel Selçuk. Tel.: 0332-353 2525
Rixos Konya. Tel.: 0332-221 5000

HOW TO GET THERE
There are frequent buses to Konya from Ankara and Cappadocia. There are also train services from İstanbul, but it would be much quicker and more comfortable to fly with Turkish Airlines (THY).

Picture: Konya Archaeology Museum. Photo: SZ.
Read More

Friday, December 24, 2010

Wali Gujarati
No comments:
By Tanushree Batia, *Sheher-e-Ghazal wins short film competition* - Ahmedabad Mirror - India; Sunday, December 19, 2010

Director Gopal Annam, winner of the City Lights Short Film Competition organised as a part of the 35th Vikram Sarabhai International Arts Festival, speaks to Mirror about his experience behind the camera

Gopal Annam’s eight-minute film Sheher-e-Ghazal won the competition organised as a part of the 35th Vikram Sarabhai International Arts Festival. The competition was aimed at showcasing Ahmedabad’s talent and tell stories about its people, and the city’s history. The film is about a young girl who visits the city to explore her dead grandfather’s roots, who grew up in Ahmedabad.

The film showcases her journey, where she discovers a vibrant city and its rich heritage. Her angst when she discovers that Sufi Saint Wali’s tomb (whom her grandfather worshipped) was desecrated during the 2002 riots. Annam is currently working with Director Onir on his project I Am.

Annam answers a few volleys from Mirror.

Why the film is called Sheher-e-Ghazal?
The film is titled Sheher-e-Ghazal ( the song of the city) because Wali Gujarati was the first person to write Urdu poetry. He is the father of Urdu ghazals, and he was from Ahmedabad.

Is this the first time that you have participated in such a festival?
Yes it is the first time I have participated in a film competition. However, I have made several short films which have been screened across the country.

What did your film portray?
Wali Gujarati was a sufi saint who wrote about love, beauty and truth. His mazaar is one of the very few spaces of syncretic worship in the city, where Hindus and Muslims worship and pay respects together. By desecrating the mazaar, people have damaged the fabric of communal harmony and unity.

As a director, I have tried to show that destroying a tomb or worship place doesn’t destroy a person’s belief or faith. Wali was a dreamer, he wrote about beauty and love. He was called faqir-e-ishq, but unfortunately he hasn’t been allowed peace even in his grave.

What were the challenges faced by you while filming?
The only sacrifice we made was our sleep. We shot extensively at Sarkhej Roza after getting permission from the Archeological Survey of India. The making of the film was a very intense and taxing experience. The film was completed in nine days from start to finish. All the cast and crew worked for free. We scouted the walled city exhaustively for locations, had late-night production meetings at Manek Chowk, and fell in love with the life in pols.

What was the USP of your film that got it the accolades?
I think the audience identified with the journey of this young woman. Also, the moment of truth in the film is when she goes to the mazaar of the Sufi saint Wali Gujarati to pay her respects on behalf of her grandfather, and discovers that it has been desecrated by mobs in 2002.

Director Mahesh Bhatt said the film had a soul. My film also had the flavour of this city.

Tell us about your connection to Ahmedabad?
I am computer science engineer, hailing from Vishakhapatnam (Vizag), Andhra Pradesh. I came to Ahmedabad to study at MICA and spent three years in this city.

Being in Ahmedabad, I discovered my love for photography, filmmaking and art. I explored the old city as a part of a heritage walk organised by one of our faculty. I had organised a photography exhibition back then, called Ahmedabad Framed: Glimpses of the Walled City where I showcased my photographs of the old city.

What is next on cards?
Well, I have been working as a freelance filmmaker for sometime. I have written a couple of scripts for feature films as well and I am trying to raise finances to produce them. Interestingly both the films that I am working on are based on Ahmedabad. One of the scripts is a love story.

Picture: A still from the award winning short film Sheher-e-Ghazal which was directed by Gopal Annam. Photo: AM.
Read More
Shahul Hamid
No comments:
By PTI, *Singapore declares Muslim shrine as national heritage centre* - The Hindu - India; Saturday, October 18, 2010

Singapore: A 182-year-old replica of a dargah in India built by Tamil Muslims here, in memory of a revered 16th century Sufi saint, has been declared a national heritage centre.

The Nagore dargah, dedicated to Sufi saint Shahul Hamid, would be reopened in May next year after a two-year renovation costing about 5,00,000 Singapore dollars [380,355 U$], the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore announced on Thursday.

The shrine was built around 1828 by Chulia Tamil Muslims in Singapore's Central Business District. The original shrine is in Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu.

The replica would feature exhibits and artefacts of the Indian Muslim community.

The Indian Muslim community in the country reveres Shahul Hamid, considered a descendant of Prophet Muhammad, and who helped spread Islam in India.

The shrine is one of the 61 Singapore buildings protected for their historical value under the Preservation of Monuments Act.
Read More

Thursday, December 23, 2010

What Makes Good Cinema
No comments:
By Keith J. Fernandez, *UAE filmmakers battle social, financial issues* - Emirates 24/7 - Dubai, UAE; Thursday, December 16, 2010

Films by Emiratis are now being made with global stars and screened abroad, but problems such as social censorship and varying levels of education remain

Beyond all the hype and the red carpet mayhem, beyond Colin Firth and the rest of the international contingent whizzing into Dubai, beyond the navel-gazing debates about the place of critics in a brave new socially networked world, lies the real story of this year’s Dubai International Film Festival.

And that is the emergence of what can for the first time properly be called a UAE film industry.

Universal stories
Fourteen films made by UAE nationals, including features, shorts and documentaries, are competing for a new Emirati-only award at the festival this year, with cash prizes ranging between Dh 15,000 and Dh 35,000 [U$ 4,083 and U$ 9,526]. But onlookers tempted to dismiss them as amateur garbage might be surprised at their incredible diversity and at the window they offer into the lives of UAE residents.

From arranged marriages and herabalistic shamans to gut-wrenching responses to the region's volatile politics, this first crop of talents wrestle with issues that are both deeply personal and universally resonant.

“Finally, stories are being told about the Emirati experience,” says Masoud Amralla Al Ali, Artistic Director of the festival. “We have students, professionals, experienced and first-time directors competing, and they are finally making quality films – and by quality I don’t mean technical expertise, because that is easy to achieve, but in terms of story.

“These directors are telling stories from our culture and our heritage and they’re talking to communities all over. Emiratis are now making films in India, in France, in Palestine and several other parts of the Arab world – and in doing so, helping to bridge the gap between the various communities in the UAE. Expatriate residents and nationals are two very distinct communities that almost don’t interact with each other – but cinema can bring us together.”

"City of Life', which is perhaps the most famous film to be made in the UAE, did just that last year, when director Ali F. Mostafa premiered it at the festival. A slice-of-life movie about Dubai, it has now been distributed around the Middle East with agreements for Europe and the USA reportedly already in place.

This year's gala, "The Philosopher", a 17-minute production is the story of a bon vivant who gives up all his material possessions for a life of aesthetic contemplation was made by Abdulla Al Kaabi, and stars French star Jean Reno -- an achievement in itself. Also part of the film is an ensemble crew that has worked with Hitchcock, Welles and other cinematic legends, a frankly rather remarkable achievement for a 24-year-old film student.

International exposure
The talent, then, is here. Al Ali says between 80 to 90 films are currently being made in the UAE each year, including student projects and professional ventures, and about 70 per cent of those are being made by Emirati nationals.

The 14 Emirati films in the festival this year were chosen from over 30 applicants, he says, and are an indication of the growing interest in making movies in a country where filmmaking facilities were unavailable a few years ago.

“Compared to 10 years ago, it’s gotten a lot easier to make movies in the UAE. We are now able to compete in international festivals, so the scene has developed substantially,” says Khalid Al Mahmood, 36, whose 20-minute short, “Sabeel”, about two boys in Ras Al Khaimah who must sell vegetables so they can afford to buy medicines for their ailing grandmother, premiered at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland this summer. (In fact, so strongly does Al Mahmood believe in his movie, that he has entered it into competition for the Muhr Arab Short, to see how it stands against 15 other films made by Arabs in the UK, France, Canada and elsewhere.)

One of the ways things have changed, he says, is a wider availability of funding sources. “Earlier you’d spend everything from your own pockets. Now with the Emirates Foundation, that has definitely helped us make our films,” he says.

Forty-eight-year-old documentary maker Nujoom Al Ghanem agrees. Her 63-minute film, “Hamama”, which debuts at DIFF, is a look at how life in the Emirates has changed in recent decades, as viewed through the eyes of a 90-year-old traditional healer in Sharjah’s Al Dhaid district.

“It was different when we started out in the nineties and it’s a lot better now,” she says.

Funding for her last film, “Al Mureed”, only came through on the death of the Sufi leader whose story she was telling. “That’s when people realised they’d lost a great man and were willing to fund it,” she says. “It took five years to finish because the money came in chunks.”

This time around, she’s been able to tap a variety of sources more easily, including DIFF’s post-production fund Enjaaz, and the Dubai Entertainment and Media Organisation. “Hamama”, she says, took just under a year to finish.

More courses are now being offered within the country, both as part of media studies diplomas and as shorter-term modules, such as those taught by the Abu Dhabi branch of the New York Film Academy. But even here, Al Ghanem says, much remains to be done.

"Students in these courses are often being trained to take a commercial approach to their work, to think commercially and to produce films for corporations. But that doesn't work for everyone --especially not for documentaries. So we need more depth."

The flip side is that the wider availability of equipment and material has helped directors such as TV producer Rashid Al Marri, 24, who spent almost nothing on his film, “Letters to Palestine”, but borrowed equipment from his alma mater, Dubai Men’s College, to film 21 Arab nationals talking about what Palestine means to them.

Arabs are largely unable to travel to the war-torn nation, and many in Gaza and the West Bank believe they have been forgotten by their Arab brothers, whose feelings are explored in the 37-minute documentary.

“We had one camera, we shot over the summer – and were able to use the post-production facilities on campus,” he says.

The wider spread of technology means more filmmakers have their own equipment. Moaz Bin Hafez, for instance, made “Hayat Min Sakhar” (Life of Stone) – about a 70-year-old member of one of the UAE’s little-understood tribes whose life has been spent quarrying stones from Ras Al Khaimah’s mountains to serve as headstones on graves – with his own equipment and by cajoling friends to work for free. Otherwise, he says, the nine-minute short would have cost a minimum of Dh 35,000.

Local problems
But inevitably, there’s a lot of compromise. Al Mahmood couldn’t afford to shoot on 35mm, for instance, because that would require a minimum of Dh 200,000. Instead he used some of his own equipment, borrowed the editing suite at work and begged friends to help out. So “Sabeel”, which he said could have cost about Dh 70,000 to make if he had to pay for everything, was made on much less and on HDCam, a high-definition version of the Digital BetaCam.

And as seen with Al Ghanem’s “Al Mureed”, topics that don’t conform to pre-existing ideas of what makes good cinema aren’t going to get made easily.

“Nobody wanted to fund a film about a Sufi leader,” she says. “Especially the big national companies, who turned to us and said, ‘but this is about Sufism’. So as a society, we need more acceptance and awareness.

“There still isn’t enough freedom to make the films we want. Not because of official restrictions, but because the people themselves create obstacles – are censoring themselves.”

Al Ghanem couldn’t make a film about domestic abuse, she says, because women didn’t want to “expose themselves and talk about the issue”.

“Making a film with a veiled woman is not possible visually – we are artists and we have to reflect our craft, we’re not social workers – but even if I would make a film with veiled women, even that would not be acceptable. Or neglected children – that’s another issue I couldn’t discuss. Documentary makers need to be able to tackle the real issues. So we need more training,” she says. "And I hope that Emiratis realise they have to work hard; on themselves and on their work, especially if they want to reach international standards."

For now, there’s also need for more money. Nayla Al Khaja, who has become the unwitting poster girl for Emirati cinema, has a 15-minute film, “Malal” (Bored), at this year’s festival. Not counting post-production and associated costs, she spent Dh 200,000 [U$ 54,437] on what she calls pure film expenses.

But for her next project, a Middle Eastern desert thriller, she’s hoping to raise $2 million. Where she finds the money remains to be seen.

Certainly, there’s no shortage of funds from government entities. The Abu Dhabi Media Company’s $1-billion Imagenation film fund, for instance, is bankrolling Emirati director Nawaf Al-Janahi’s second feature, “Sea Shadow”, a coming-of-age story about two 16-year-old boys on a journey across the UAE.

And Sanad, the development and film production arm of the Abu Dhabi Film Festival, was launched last year, and was able to bring help three films through to completion in time for screening this October.

Whether the private sector puts its money into films by Emiratis remains the key question – and that will only be answered once more Emirati films are made and are given theatrical releases.

For now, though, DIFF’s Al Ali is content that the films are being made at all, and that seven years after DIFF was launched to spur on local talent, that there is even an industry worthy of the name.

Picture: Award-winning Noujoum Al Ghanem is the country's leading documentary maker. Her 63-minute film, 'Hamama', is a look at how life in the Emirates has changed in recent decades, as viewed through the eyes of a 90-year-old traditional healer. It makes its world premiere at this year's festival. Photo: Mustafa Kasmi.
Read More

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Ghazi Baba
No comments:
By Desk Editor, *Three killed in militant attack on Pak Sufi shrine* - The Hindu - India; Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Islamabad: A pair of pro-Taliban militants stormed a Sufi shrine near the Pakistani city of Peshawar today, killing at least three persons.

The militants attacked the shrine of Ghazi Baba at Badabher on the outskirts of Peshawar and fired at four custodians, witnesses said. Three of the custodians died instantly, state-run PTV reported. The fourth one was also injured in the attack. The attackers fled after the incident.

Police said a search operation had been launched to apprehend the attackers and added that the motive behind the incident was unclear.

Local residents said the shrine’s custodians had received threats from unidentified men.
The Taliban recently carried out a series of suicide and bomb attacks on Sufi shrines across Pakistan, killing scores of people.

The Taliban consider visiting shrines of saints as “un-Islamic”.

In a separate incident, three persons, including a woman, were injured when a police van was targeted with a remote-controlled improvised explosive device in Nagman area of Peshawar this morning, police said.

The bomb was planted near a gas pipeline and went off as the van was passing through the area.
Read More

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Zgjohu!
No comments:
By Irfan Al-Alawi and Stephen Schwartz, *From Sweden to Macedonia: Radical Islam Continues Probing Europe* - The Weekly Standard - Washington, D.C., USA; Tuesday, December 14, 2010

This past weekend Sweden became the latest country in Western Europe to suffer from radical Islamist terrorism. As reported by Swedish papers, Iraqi-born Taimur Abdulwahab Al-Abdaly, aged 28, who blew up a car and then himself in downtown Stockholm, had been granted Swedish citizenship in 1992. But he then went to Britain to study, and UK media say he was radicalized over the last decade in the town of Luton, north of London.

Al-Abdaly was thrown out of the Islamic Centre of Luton, also known as the Al-Ghurabaa or “Strangers’” mosque, for preaching jihad. The mosque is considered a center of radical ideology, even as it repudiates violence. Leaders at the Luton mosque are visibly oriented toward Saudi-style Wahhabism, with a history of linkage to the extremist Al-Muhajiroun, or “Religious Refugees,” led by jihadist preacher Omar Bakri Muhammad. The latter has been expelled from Britain. At the Luton mosque, men typically grow long beards, women are cloaked in full-length covering and face veils, and congregants are taught to eschew music – all of which are signifiers of Wahhabism.

In May 2010 Luton attracted attention and outrage across Britain when sympathizers of Al-Muhajiroun demonstrated there against British soldiers returning from Iraq. The extremists carried inflammatory placards and shouted accusations that the veterans were “the Butchers of Basra,” “murderers,” and “baby-killers.” In the ensuing uproar, the Al-Ghurabaa mosque was firebombed, and its leaders publicly declared that while they adhered to fundamentalism, they did not tolerate radical agitation in their midst. It is therefore unsurprising that the Luton mosque rid itself of Al-Abdaly as early as 2007.

Meanwhile, over the same weekend, one of Europe’s largest and most famous Sufi shrines, the Harabati Baba Bektashi complex in Tetovo, a city in western Macedonia with an ethnic Albanian majority, was targeted for an apparent arson attack. As described here, Wahhabis in control of the state-recognized Macedonian Islamic Community have attempted to take over the Harabati site for the past several years. The State Department noted in its International Religious Freedom Report for 2009 that the burial of a Bektashi Sufi follower at the Harabati shrine brought a protest from the official Sunni community, which declared the interment illegal and threatened to remove the body.

The Harabati Sufi institution was built in the 16th century and became so closely identified with the city of Tetovo that it appears on the municipal coat-of-arms. The local political organization “Wake Up!” (Zgjohu! in Albanian) denounced the weekend fire as vandalism against “one of the masterpieces of the cultural and spiritual heritage of the Albanians.” But in the face of continued invasion of the property by fundamentalists, neither the city authorities nor the Macedonian government--dominated by Orthodox Christian Slavs in a country where Albanian, Turkish, and Slav Muslims make up a large religious minority--had acted to restrain the Islamist fanatics.

In 2007, the RAND Corporation’s Center for Middle East Public Policy published a major report titled Building Moderate Muslim Networks. Composed by a team led by Dr. Angel Rabasa, the document mapped out a strategy for the democratic nations to identify and enlist as allies in the defense of civilization adherents to a peaceful vision of Islam as a normal religion. The RAND report specifically noted the importance of the Harabati shrine and the siege mounted against it by Wahhabis. But what effect did the RAND document, or the State Department’s reports, have in Macedonia? Finally, none. Sufis and visitors to the Harabati complex were harassed, money and other assets were stolen, and each of the historic buildings, in turn, was occupied by radicals, who used one of them to set up a café.

With the extremists occupying most of the complex, fire broke out in two of the last remaining large structures under the control of the Sufis on Sunday, December 12. Baba Edmond Brahimaj, spiritual leader of the community at the site, noted that the Sufi mejdan or meeting house for spiritual exercises, where the blaze had its origin, had not been used to store flammable materials. According to him, an arson attack was the logical culmination of years of “usurpation and theft.”

Thus, at opposite ends of Europe, Islamist radicals continue to probe for weak spots where they may carry out their atrocious acts. Is there a direct connection between the fire and explosions in Sweden and presumed arson in Macedonia? Perhaps not; to paraphrase Sigmund Freud, sometimes a coincidence is just a coincidence. But there is an ideological link between those who plot such attacks, and between those who assault other Sufis and their monuments in the Balkans and in Pakistan. The connections remain focused in Saudi-funded Wahhabism and its Taliban satellites, the latter in South Asia, in Britain, and even in America.

Irfan al-Alawi is executive director of the Islamic Heritage Research Foundation in Britain. Stephen Schwartz is a frequent contributor.

[Click on the title to the original article's many links (ed.)]
Read More

Monday, December 20, 2010

Touched By God
No comments:
By Nadine Kreisberger, *‘Music transcends suffering’* - Indian Express - India; Sunday, December 12, 2010

Sufi singer Abida Parveen says that music is not a path that everyone could or would take for spirituality.

What does spirituality mean to you?
Spirituality to me is Sufism, and it represents a level of purity calling for humbleness.

It is a gift from God which holds a spark. It is a voice yearning to unite humanity. Being humble is the beginning of spirituality, and by being humble, one connects with in totality. You must come out of your religion, and out of yourself – then only you can see others. You must sacrifice yourself for others. Spirituality in a way is a negation of the self. Once you sacrifice yourself for others, the curtains which hold you away from God can open up and His clear image can appear to you.

How does this process take place?
I see it as self-actualization, meaning as a process of looking for God within. Nothing is outside, everything is inside. Once a person’s spiritual power increases within, he or she
can stand up for the well-being of humanity, using his energy in a very different way.

You basically go within yourself and there, you see who you are, what you are, where you have come from, who has sent you. These thoughts gradually direct you towards faith and God, towards a connection with a bigger power in the universe.

For you, does it happen mostly through music or every moment of life?
Music is a formula which is actually both very wonderful and powerful in a very unique way. With music you get an opportunity to sit alone and find yourself, while creating new lyrics, new musical phrases. There is a basic suffering in life and with music one can transcend it and go towards the supreme spirit that created us all.

What about people who do not have music as a way to connect?
Indeed, music is definitely not a path everyone would or can take towards spirituality. But
it is the duty of anyone who is into music, or knows Sufism, and holds a spiritual attitude, to invite others, and help them connect with God from their heart and soul. One doesn’t need any language to understand God. In any case, God cannot be understood otherwise He would not be God! So those who do not practice music can visit religious places, or listen to spiritual music, and thus have a taste of spirituality.

This connection with a supreme Being, do you feel it all the time?
I do. Time is standing still for the Almighty. We are entities created by God, temporarily dressed up in a human body, and every moment of our lives it is up to us to search for Allah.

What is God for you?
An invisible entity which has always been there, and whose presence we can see through His Creation. Everything belongs to God. God is the biggest truth and God is the message of truth, God is the message of love.

When did you first feel God’s presence?
I always felt it. God was there before I became part of this world.

You never doubted God, even in very difficult times?
Absolutely never. God is the only stable element in the universe, the one element which has always been and will always be.

How do you explain that God would allow all the suffering we witness on earth?
God has blessed humans with a few powers. And it is their responsibility how they use them, how they choose to walk the path of life. If they wish to be inhuman, it is their choice.

God resides within your soul, and your soul is in your heart. So by listening to your heart, you should know what is right and what is wrong. But if a person consciously decides to jump into the pit and to act irresponsibly, he or she is responsible for his suffering.

When a person lacks spirituality and does not connect to God through his heart, then he is uncontrolled and may act with cruelty, he may perform sins.

But how would you explain the suffering of a small child, too young to make such choices and to take such responsibilities?
God would not act cruelly towards a child, nor can the parents be cruel to the child since they are like an image of God for the child. Still, if some suffering occurs, the issue lies between its perpetrators and God. They will be answerable to God in His court of justice for the child’s suffering.

Among the important influences in your life, you have mentioned Muhammad Najeeb Sultan as a spiritual guide – what has he taught you?
We are sparkles of God, dressed up as human beings. When you are guided by such pure souls and beings, the light can reach deep inside you, you feel the divine light, and you actually KNOW you are touched by God and His messengers.

Is there any such thing as destiny?
Destiny is all in the hands of God, and the Almighty can change your luck in a split second.

If a person chooses a spiritual path, or if someone shows him the path of wisdom, his destiny will unfold for good and in the truest way.

What is your idea of happiness?
Happiness happens when one’s heart and soul are happy, which happens thanks to spirituality. If a person is not into spirituality, he cannot be happy. When a child is given a chocolate or a candy, he smiles with innocence and joy. Similarly, when on the spiritual path, your heart and soul rejoice and you can create happiness in your life.

Do you feel so all the time?
As much as thoughts occur all the time, you can feel spirituality all the time and therefore create happiness constantly. You can do it through very simple things. Let’s say you help
someone get a job, or accomplish some work – you would then feel immense joy to have done something for others, and tremendously lucky that God assigned you this duty, that this thing had to be done by you.

The fact is that the soul is connected to everything around, to everything alive, and therefore you can be spiritual at every single moment - standing sitting talking laughing or creating music. Spirituality is everywhere.

At another level, spirituality’s ultimate aim is for you to leave this world and merge back into God. There is something as God’s suffering and spirituality helps you understand God’s pain. Once you feel it, you are constantly engaged with the Almighty and that is the
real, ultimate spirituality.

Picture: Abida Parveen believes the soul is connected to everything around, to everything alive, and therefore you can be spiritual at every single moment. Photo: Indian Express.
Read More

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Gazar Gah
1 comment:
By William Darlymple, *Incredible journeys* - Financial Times - London, UK; Friday, December 10, 2010

Herat, in western Afghanistan, is one destination in that tragic country that is still safe, or relatively so. It is one of the most spectacular cities in the entire region and, for a brief period after the death of Timur in 1405, was the capital of the Timurid empire.

Here Bihzad illuminated his miniatures; Babur wrote some of the most telling passages in his memoirs; and the Timurid princess Gohar Shad built one of the great colleges of the world. Today there are occasional reports of kidnappings and hold-ups between the airport and the town. But inside the city, there is no sense of tension or danger, and no one looks at you askance as you wander through the mosques, the ruins and the fabulous covered bazaars.

Instead, it feels welcoming, gently prosperous and, by Central Asian standards, surprisingly middle class. On the outskirts, on the hillside of Takht Safar, where the bright young things of Herat gather to watch the sun going down, to picnic, sip tea and listen to music under groves of cedars, mulberries and umbrella pines, you can grasp what Afghanistan would be like if peace were miraculously to break out: it feels not dissimilar, and no more threatening, than inland Turkey. In some ways, Herat feels as if it is high on the Anatolian plateau not far from Ankara; but here, you have the place, and the ruins, to yourself. There is not another traveller to be seen.

When Robert Byron was here in the 1930s he loved not just the grand ruins but also the eccentricity of Herat, and much of that still survives. When our plane touched down on the tarmac, the passengers were not taken into the old 1950s terminal, as the man who had the key had gone off for noon prayers. So, instead, our luggage was delivered by tractor, and dumped on the edge of the apron. It seemed an unsurprising fate for bags carried by an airline, Pamir Air, which at check-in had given me a boarding pass marked “Kabul-Riyadh” and when I pointed out that I was going to Herat, replied that it didn’t matter: “They’ll let you on the plane anyway.”

No less eccentric was the Museum of Jihad: a collection of objects left behind by the various foreigners who have tried to conquer Afghanistan, ranging from British cannons from the first Afghan war to Russian tanks, jets and helicopter gunships.

My favourite place was the Gazar Gah, a gorgeous Sufi shrine on the edge of the hills that surround the city. A tall arched gateway leads to a cool, peaceful courtyard full of calligraphed tombs and shrines, with housemartins swooping through the pine trees and ilexes. Old men lay asleep in the shade, using their turbans as pillows. Elsewhere in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the return of the Taliban has meant the banning of gentle, heterodox Sufi devotions: the shrines have been closed or blown up; yet here, the Sufis survived intact.

In one chamber a group of devotees had gathered, kneeling in a circle, and as a long-haired cantor sang a hymn to some long-dead saint, his followers clapped and chanted the zikr: “Haq! haq!” – Truth, truth, “Allah! Allah!” faster, deeper, pitch rising, hands waving, before reaching their mystical climax, then falling backwards on the carpets with an ecstatic sigh. Amid the gathering Taliban storm, the survival of the peaceful Gazar Gah Sufis seemed a small sign of hope.

Details: Wild Frontiers offers a 16-day Afghan explorer trip, Sept 24-Oct 9 2011, including Herat, Bamiyan, Mazar-i-Sharif, Balkh and the Panjshir Valley, from £4,750, full board, not including flights.
Read More

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Both American And Muslim
No comments:
By Helen O'Neill, *1 small NY town's battle for tolerance* - The Wall Street Journal - New York, NY, USA; Thursday, November 11, 2010

The cemetery lies beneath a grove of maples on a hill overlooking the farm. On a crisp November day in 2009, it received its first guest — a 28-year old stonemason killed in a car accident two days earlier.

Somberly, his Sufi Muslim brethren carried his coffin up the hill, their colorful turbans and baggy tunics a striking contrast to the rolling hills all around. Beneath a vibrant green headstone — the color of the Osmanli Naksibendi Hakkani order, which runs a 50-acre farm and mosque here — the shrouded body of Amir Celoski was lowered into the ground. Mourners bowed their heads and prayed: May he rest in peace.

But that was not to be.

Instead of peace, Celoski's burial ignited a war — one that would erupt nine months later, hurling Sidney into the national spotlight, bitterly dividing some residents while transforming others who say their lives and their town will never be the same.

It all began quietly enough at a sparsely attended meeting of the Board of Supervisors last summer, after a second burial in the cemetery. At the height of a national debate about a mosque near ground zero, town leaders voted unanimously to investigate the Sufi graves on Wheat Hill Road.

The Sufis had followed proper procedures and received burial permits. But that didn't deter town Supervisor Robert McCarthy from calling the graves illegal and suggesting the bodies might have to be disinterred.

"You can't just bury Grandma in the backyard under the picnic table," he said.

With that, McCarthy, a 70-year-old retired businessman, became a poster child for Muslim-bashing everywhere. MSNBC host Keith Olbermann denounced him as "worst person in the world." Satirist Stephen Colbert direly warned viewers about Muslim vampire "sleeper-in-coffin-cells" infiltrating the Catskills.

Locals watched in horror as Sidney was branded as Islamophobic, backward and ignorant.
"It was sickening," says attorney Tom Schimmerling, 58, the son of Holocaust survivors, who immediately offered to represent the Sufis free of charge. "McCarthy was acting like this was Selma, Ala., in the '60s and he was Bull Connor."

"At first I felt so ashamed of my town," said Richard Cooley, 48, whose Main Street jewelry store has been in the family for 125 years. "And then I saw how the community reacted and I thought how amazing the way we pulled together to do away with something so wrong and make it right."

For in the days and weeks that followed, a spirited, almost intoxicating sense of mission seemed to surge through Sidney, 150 miles north of New York City. Though the town Board of Supervisors hastily dropped the cemetery issue, it had set in motion something it couldn't contain. People reached out, not only to Sufis, but to each other. They set up websites, bonded on Facebook, launched petitions to impeach McCarthy and investigate town government.
They packed into the civic center for a chaotic town meeting, where — as more than a dozen Sufis looked on — about 150 locals yelled at their board. "Shame on you!" they cried. "Apologize!"

Many had never been to a town meeting before. Many had never met a Muslim.

And they trekked to the Sufi center eight miles outside town, to sip tea with the sheik, to vow that Sidney, population 6,000, will be in the spotlight again, this time as a shining example of tolerance and understanding.
___

It's 6 a.m on a Saturday and business is brisk at the Trackside diner, where pancakes and bacon cost less than $3, political opinions are as strong as the coffee, and the roar of an approaching train occasionally drowns out conversation.
Here regulars, including a core group of McCarthy supporters, meet every morning for breakfast. These days, the main topic of conversation has been, as one man jokingly put it, "the turbans on top of the hill."

The door opens and two men in turbans walk in. The diner falls silent, just the clinking of silverware as people bury themselves in their breakfasts.

Though he has only been to the diner once before, everyone recognizes the taller man — Hans Hass, the chief spokesman for the Sufis and chief thorn in McCarthy's side.

Lately Hass, 40, seems to be everywhere — talking with national media, writing letters to town leaders and state officials, attending meetings of the newly formed "Concerned Citizens for Responsible Sidney Government," filing freedom of information requests. His unruffled manner and calm, authoritative voice have captivated the crowd as he persistently confronts McCarthy with the facts and the law.

As captain of the local ambulance squad, volunteer firefighter, and roofing contractor, Hass was already a familiar face in town. Now, almost overnight, he has become a community leader with many urging him to run against McCarthy in the next election.

At the diner, Hass is greeted by Carrie Guarria, a 45-year-old college assistant administrator who invited him after becoming increasingly disturbed about comments she heard at breakfast — that all Muslims are terrorists, that the Sufis have pictures of Osama Bin Laden at their center, that the town would be better off if they dug up their graves and left.

If ever there was a time to shatter caricatures and prejudices, Guarria thought, it was right now, right here in Sidney.

Sitting at her table is Bill Howes, an 81-year-old retired excavator, in work boots and baseball cap. He grunts good morning at Hass, who sits down across from him. Soon the two men are bantering about sports and exchanging mildly racy jokes as they dig into pancakes and eggs.
But Howes' demeanor changes when the conversation turns to McCarthy. "Someone has to shake the town up," he says, defending McCarthy's efforts to rein in spending in areas like the hospital and a local campsite. "It's not just your cemetery deal."

"But he told reporters all over the country that what we did was illegal, and it wasn't," Hass protests.

Howes excuses himself and moves to another table. Later, he will boast about having breakfast with "those Muslim guys" and will tell people how nice they seemed. But he has no plans to take up Hass' invitation to visit with the sheik.

Other diners invite Hass to join them. Soon a dozen people are engaged in a lively debate about politics, religion and the fate of their once thriving riverside factory town. Old-timers lament that the cemetery controversy is just the latest in a string of misfortunes, including the recession and a 2006 flood.

They ask Hass about his background, and he tells them of growing up in South Portland, Maine, of going to college in Connecticut, of embracing Sufism after years of searching other religions and ways of life.

Before leaving, he hands out his business cards and invites them to visit the center, called a dergah.

Later, Hass drives the back roads, checking on a roofing job, stopping by the homes of elderly dairy farmers to inquire about their health and their cows, picking up his mail at the post office. Everywhere, he is greeted warmly.

But there is one place he does not feel welcome — the Jess F. Howes building supply store in Sidney Center. Earlier in the year, Hass says, he asked the owners to remove offensive Muslim jokes scattered on the counter. They did, but he felt it was done reluctantly. Now Hass refuses to shop there.

Inside the store, a man behind the counter glares at a visitor, gives a phony name and snaps "no comment" when asked about his Sufi neighbors just a short drive up the hill.
___

The Sufis settled in the hamlet of Sidney Center in 2002, following Sheik Abdul Kerim al-Kibrisi, 54, who moved here after years of hosting services in New York City. Quietly, they worked their sprawling sheep and cattle farm, isolated for the most part, relatively unnoticed by the larger community.

They converted the enormous red barn into a mosque. Five times a day, a lone man in a turban stands outside chanting, his deep, mellifluous voice ringing across the fields as he calls the faithful to prayer.

Inside, the mosque is a stunningly beautiful place, glowing with colors and warmth, the sweet smell of incense blending with that of a smoky wood stove. Green and gold tapestries drape the walls, which are covered with pictures of sheiks and saints and elaborate calligraphy depicting passages from the Quran. Oriental rugs and cushions cover the floor.

A naturalized American who was born in Cyprus, the sheik is a genial man with a jeweled purple turban, flowing dark tunic and long gray beard. His dark eyes sparkle as he tells his story, of how he first saw the dergah in a dream.

Friday's Jummah service — the most important of the week — lasts about 40 minutes, the men bowing and praying in front. The women, some in colorful headscarves, others in burqas, pray behind a thin curtain in the back.

Afterward, the curtain is pulled aside and everyone drinks sweet Turkish tea and listens as their sheik speaks of tolerance, the perils of ego — and the controversy consuming the town. His deep, gravelly voice fills the room.

"What is happening right here in Sidney," he says, "can show the whole world, that we can live peacefully as Muslims and non-Muslims, that we can share the same land, that a small town in America can show that the whole country is not mired in Islamophobia."

The group of about 30 men and 10 women listen attentively. They come from all backgrounds and cultures — American-born converts as well as Muslim immigrants. Most live and work locally, visiting the dergah for services. Others drive from New York and New Jersey, where the order has another dergah.

All say the furor over the graves has imbued them with a renewed sense of hope for their country and their town.

"It fills my heart," says Erdem Kahyaoglu, a strapping 31-year-old, who grew up on Long Island and became a Sufi as a college student. He chokes up as he describes his joy and astonishment that, as he wrote to one of his new Facebook friends, neighbor Jenneen Bush, "you stood up for us and you don't even know us."

"Honey," Bush wrote back. "I just stood up for what is right. And I want to get to know all of you."

Sufism is a mystical tradition in Islam; the order says its mission is to live a quiet, simple life of prayer and contemplation. But the Sufis know they are being watched.

They've heard their share of taunts: "Terrorists, go back to your own country." They've had their share of police calls: a suspicious man in a turban spotted sitting by the dam; a suspicious man in a turban making a cell phone call next to a power plant. An FBI agent has visited, impressing them with his knowledge of Islam.

Still, they hear the rumors — that they are storing weapons, that they are a cult, that they are planning something evil.

If only more people would visit, get to know them as individuals. They would meet Bilal, once a shy, skinny kid from New York City who was scared of sheep, now he is in charge of the animals; Abdullah, the beekeeper; Talatfathima, whose luminous eyes peer from her black burqa as she giggles at the antics of her 14-month-old son; Bilques Mohamed, the oldest member at 85, who shuffles into the mosque every day pushing her walker, and her son Bayram, a former New York City cab driver and the mosque's resident comedian, who entertains everyone with priceless impersonations of McCarthy.

As Maryem Brawley, the sheik's wife, told town officials, "No one called. No one wrote a letter. No one knocked on our door. You just assumed that we were doing something illegal. You made assumptions about us that were not true."

Brawley, 60, who was raised Roman Catholic in New Jersey and turned to Sufism in the mid-1990s, works for IBM and rarely had much interaction with locals. But lately that has changed.
People have written letters of support, have reached out in e-mails, have moved her to tears with their compassion and goodwill.

"We were all sort of strangers before," she says. "And now we are becoming friends."

It is not a friendship that appeals to everyone.
____

In cowboy hat and wind-breaker, Bob McCarthy strides into the Sidney Golf and Country Club, a creaky clapboard building that looks as though it has seen better days. The guys at the bar offer friendly nods. Diners pat him on the back and tell him what a good job he is doing. The waitress knows his order — cup of soup and hamburger, half of which he will save for his chocolate Labrador mix, Kelly, who waits patiently in his gray pickup truck outside.

Here McCarthy, a stocky, red-faced man with snow white hair, can be comfortable. No one is yelling at him to account for gaps in budget figures, or to resign. There are no guys in turbans denouncing him as a bigot.

"It had nothing to do with the fact they are Muslim, I was just trying to keep tax dollars down," says McCarthy, who once ran a business making custom golf-putters.

McCarthy has no political experience — he first ran for office last year — and, he says, he has no political agenda other than to cut taxes and spending as much as possible. The cemetery affair, he says, was blown out of proportion by the media.

McCarthy makes no apologies for his pugnacious manner. He says he doesn't care that fellow board members issued a statement saying he needed to work on his "people skills," or that he is lampooned daily on a Facebook site called Impeach Bob McCarthy.

"It's not a popularity contest," he says, though he admits that "all this stupidity" has upset his wife.

McCarthy ran for office on a platform of "transparency in government" and he insists that is what he is trying to do, though a recent budget workshop session, hastily posted the night before, was held at 7:30 a.m. Hass showed up, mocked his lack of transparency and accused the board of holding an illegal secret meeting.

Hass further needled McCarthy by walking into a recent Sunday service at the First Baptist Church, wearing his turban, and infuriating McCarthy's wife, who worships there. Hass says it was a chance to reach out to people he ordinarily wouldn't meet. He describes a fruitful exchange with the pastor, who told him the controversy had prompted him to start reading the Quran, and with elders who explained the history of the church.

McCarthy snorts in disbelief. He questions whether Hass is truly a Muslim, or simply "a jerk fueling things for his own personal agenda."

Yet McCarthy's agenda has caused consternation even among fellow Republicans. Earlier in the year he made headlines when he publicly opposed funding for the local Stop-DWI program.
"Cell phones are a worse menace," McCarthy says defensively, as he finishes lunch and heads back to his truck. Kelly barks excitedly in the front seat. McCarthy's eyes soften.

"I could kill Mother Teresa and this dog would still love me," he says, before driving away.

That night McCarthy will be in the hot seat again, at yet another tumultuous town meeting at the civic center.

In a move that appears tone deaf to some, incendiary to others, the board has decided to introduce a new law — the first of 2010 — concerning private burials on private land. Board members assure the Sufis that their cemetery will not be affected, but in two weeks, they have simply traded one angry crowd for another.

Tempers flare as people furiously demand answers. Accusations fly back and forth, and there is little sense of dignity, democracy or order. With a few exceptions, the only people remaining calm are those wearing turbans.

Hass addresses the board. Sarcastically, he suggests giving the new law a catchy name, something folks will remember.

"How about ... you can't bury Grandma in the backyard under the picnic table law?"

McCarthy winces. The crowd erupts. It's going to be another long night.

Even some of Hass' supporters wonder privately if he is pushing things too far. He admits that he is enjoying the political theater, but insists there is a serious purpose to his actions. A shift is happening in Sidney, Hass says, and he is trying to harness it, to educate people, to use this controversy as a springboard for lasting change.

And, Hass says, the experience has changed him personally — made him feel even more proud of being both American and Muslim, and more determined to play a bigger role in his community.
___

Skeptics say all this goodwill and tolerance — not to mention efforts to oust McCarthy— will fade, disappearing into memory as winter sets in and people burrow back into their lives.
Others disagree. Many say events have changed them profoundly.

Jenneen Bush, 41, who had never been to a town meeting or met a Muslim before, is reading about Sufism and planning to bring her grandchildren to dinner at the dergah. Floyd Howard, 63, felt such a surge of passion for his hometown that he momentarily forgot about his cancer. He joined the Historical Society — a gesture of sorts — simply to be more engaged in town affairs. It promptly named him president.

Real estate agent, Jackie Rose, 52, who resigned from the Republican Town committee in disgust over McCarthy's leadership, shocked her 21-year-old son by driving alone to the dergah. It was the first time she had ever been in a mosque or met a sheik.

"Weren't you scared?" her son asked. "No," she told him. "There has been too much ignorance and fear. We have to take a stand, make friendships and get along."

Tom Schimmerling, the Jewish lawyer, feels the same way. Sidney's saga prompted him to dig up an old movie — the 1947 classic "Gentleman's Agreement" — about a journalist (played by Gregory Peck) who goes undercover as a Jew to research anti-Semitism in New York.

Watching the movie, Schimmerling had an epiphany. He plans to take a few weeks off to roam the country in his new turban — a gift from the Sufis — and explore what it's like to be Muslim in America in 2010.

He feels an overwhelming pride, he says, "that a small town in Delaware County could rise up in support of what is right."

Schimmerling says this on a rainy Thursday night in November, as he lingers with a small group of people at the civic center. They are pondering the aftermath of the latest meeting, which broke down in pandemonium a short time earlier. They are debating the future of their town.

"Change is happening," says a retired plant manager, Joe Cardinal. "But there has been too much yelling and shouting and finger-pointing. It's going to take time for the town to heal."

Up at the dergah, a very different gathering is taking place. It is the one-year anniversary of the death of Amir Celoski, the first man to be buried in the Sufi cemetery. Family members have traveled from New Jersey to pay tribute.

Tearfully, they remember an exuberant young man who hoped to move to Sidney with his fiancee and raise a family in the community he loved.

Aviska Celoski says she wept for days at the thought of her son's body being disinterred. Now, she says, the family feels so heartened by the outpouring of support, they plan to move to Sidney permanently. In a strangely comforting way, the controversy — and the good that has come of it — has given her son's death meaning.

The men form a semicircle around the sheik's deputy, Lokman Hoja, a gracious, soft-spoken Malaysian man of 39. Women sit in the back. Lights are dimmed, heads bowed and everyone falls silent as Hoja reads a sermon from their grand sheik.

Live quietly, the holy man exhorts. Live a life of gentleness, of tolerance, free from anger and ego.

Eyes closed, the men and women begin chanting "La ilaha ilallah" ("There is no God but God") a rich, undulating melody that prompts some worshippers to sway softly in the dark.

Their voices rise. The smell of incense wafts through the room. The rain beats outside.

Here, in a converted barn on the top of Wheat Hill road, anger, ego, and the heated passions of the past weeks and months seem a world away.

[Picture: Full Moon at Israk. Photo: Osmanli Naksibendi Dergahi.]
Read More