Report from Yemen: Dhikr amidst the bombs

Report from a Yemeni friend today in Yemen:

The situation is extremely catastrophic.

We are no longer very disturbed and worried

by the planes, rockets, and bombs

because when death comes

it will not be possible to stop it.

Our true concern is the

wretched and deteriorating economic situation....

I want to thank you

for my memories of the sessions of dhikr

[editor: chanting meditation, the sessions that we used to have at your house].

When the planes circle above us

and we hear the reverberations

of the violent explosions,

I gather my family,

and we begin a session of dhikr.

During it, we forget all that is going on around us,

and we feel tranquility

and indescribable peace.

(Translated from the Arabic by Alan Godlas)

[Note: For a good general article on the conflict in Yemen see "Yemen Crisis: Who is Fighting Whom?" from BBC News 14 October 2016]

Dr. Alan Godlas to conduct sessions of Islamic Sufi contemplation and to discuss contemplative practice and social justice

Announcement: Dr. Alan Godlas ('Abd al-Haqq), will conduct three sessions involving  contemplative practice in Islamic Sufism, will make a brief presentation on contemplative practice and social justice in Islamic Sufism, and then will participate in a panel discussion on this topic at the International Symposium for Contemplative Studies in San Diego organized by the Mind and Life Institute. This will take place at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina on Nov. 11 and Nov. 12, 2016.

Dr. Godlas is an Associate Professor of Religion at the University of Georgia and is authorized to teach in the Shadhili and Naqshbandi Sufi orders.

Nov. 11, Friday, 3:15-3:45 Engaged Contemplative Practice in Islamic Sufism: Vocal Emphasis

This workshop will involve beginning instruction in two methods of engaged contemplation in Islamic Sufism, consisting of silent and vocal forms of "remembrance" (dhikr). The ultimate purpose of these methods is to retrain the individual's consciousness to respond — at each moment in one's daily life — toward one's consciousness and whatever appears in it, responding with an engaged contemplative stance consisting of a continual re-embrace of unconditional gratitude. Structurally, this workshop will involve alternating periods of contemplation and instruction with discussion. It will include both vocal and silent dhikr, but this workshop will emphasize seated vocal dhikr.

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Nov. 12, Saturday 8:00-8:25 Engaged Contemplative Practice in Islamic Sufism: Silent Emphasis

This workshop will have the same format as the previous workshop session, including both vocal and silent dhikr; but this workshop will emphasize seated silent dhikr.  

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Nov. 12, Saturday 4:00-4:30 Engaged Contemplative Practice in Islamic Sufism: Vocal, Silent, Living

This workshop will involve three methods of engaged contemplation in Islamic Sufism, consisting of silent and vocal forms of "remembrance" (dhikr) and "remembrance in life." In addition to the previous two workshops' vocal and silent forms of contemplation,  this workshop will involve "remembrance in life" (consisting of short, non-strenuous periods of walking dhikr). For this workshop, a smartphone with an alarm or a watch is recommended. Also, for anyone with a physical disability, the walking "remembrance in life" practice can be modified according to individual needs.

Contemplative Practice and Social Justice: Panel Discussion  

2:45-3:45 Saturday, Nov. 12

Presenters:

Beth Berila, Professor, St. Cloud State University

Alan 'Abd al-Haqq Godlas PhD, Associate Professor, University of Georgia

Rev. Takafumi Kawakami, Deputy Head Priest, Shunkoin Temple & Zen Center

John Makransky PhD, Associate Professor of Buddhism and Comparative Theology, Boston College

Erin Jien McCarthy PhD, Chair and Professor of Philosophy , St. Lawrence University

Location:

Nautilus 5

Description:

Inspired by questions arising out of Rhonda Magee’s keynote address earlier in the day, this roundtable brings together contemplative faculty to discuss pressing issues in the area of contemplative practice and social justice. This panel will discuss key questions in the field including: How can contemplative practices — as individuals and communities — help us more deeply unlearn privilege and internalized oppression, allowing us to engage in more compassionate and just dialogues across difference? How are contemplative practices sometimes used to "spiritually bypass" an accounting of systematic oppression and our various roles in them? What kinds of things go wrong when social justice activity lacks a contemplative discipline to inform it? What kinds of things go wrong when contemplative practices are offered to people as a solution to their problems without enough awareness of the social and institutional systems in which those people are embedded?  

Learning Objectives
At the conclusion of this activity, participants should be able to:1) Define how contemplative practices can help us--as individuals and communities-- more deeply unlearn privilege and internalized oppression;2) Explain how contemplative practices sometimes used to "spiritually bypass" an accounting of systematic oppression and our various roles in them;3) Evaluate what goes wrong when social justice activity lacks a contemplative discipline to inform it;4) Identify the kinds of things that go wrong when contemplative practices are offered to people as a solution to their problems without enough awareness of the social and institutional systems in which those people are embedded.

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To register and for more information on the conference and Dr. Godlas' sessions see https://www.eiseverywhere.com/ehome/iscs-2016/

Sufism, Leprosy, and Islamophobia

by Dr. Alan Godlas

I would argue that in the West today Muslims are treated by a majority or near majority of non-Muslims as though they were lepers; and Islam is the new leprosy.

Fortunately, for those living in the West who wish to imbibe the sweetness of Sufism, the genius of pioneers such as Hazrat Inayat Khan, Sufi Sam Lewis, Idris Shah, and Bulent Rauf (to name a few) continues to enable thirsty seekers to come to the Sufi tavern and, through the divine Mercy, get something intoxicating to drink without having to run the risk of getting infected with Islamic leprosy.

Nevertheless, sitting on the non-Islamic seats or Islamic leprosophobic stools at the bar will in most cases deprive one of (or at least make it very difficult to gain access to) the traditionally Qur'anic and Muhammadan hadith-infused Sufi hard liquors and spirits (like we can often find in Rumi's original Persian rather then translations diluted to suit the American palate, for example).

Among the factors that have contributed to the spread of the mental and emotional disease that has resulted in Islam becoming the new leprosy are the following: one factor is that a small minority of Muslims take pride in presenting Islam to the world as something that is conflict with the West and even disgusting to Westerners --these are both militant extremists and those simply trying to take pride in an Islamic identity that is resentful of and in opposition to the Western colonial and neo-colonial occupation of Muslim countries; a second factor is the propaganda of the leaders of the anti-Islamic polemic, which polemic is now reaching epidemic proportions.

Hence, in order to open up more seats in the Sufi tavern for those who are reluctant to contract what they fear is Islamic leprosy, I would like to share what so far is the clearest short expose of the anti-Islamic or Islamophobic polemic, the article "Jihad Against Islam," by Robert Steinback, published by the Southern Poverty Law Center (which is one of the organizations leading the fight against all forms of bigotry):
http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2011/summer/jihad-against-islam
(or of it breaks use http://tinyurl.com/3qsv2v8 ).

Writing While Angry

By Asra Q. Nomani, *Writing While Angry* - The Huffington Post - USA
Monday, July 12, 2010

Last summer, Washington Post political columnist Dana Milbank spoke to a Georgetown University class I teach, the "Reported Opinion Piece," and gave our next generation of writers a pearl of wisdom about how he writes his biting columns with edge but not bitterness: "We've all heard about how you're not supposed to drive while angry.

You also shouldn't write while angry."It's a lesson Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert would have benefited from hearing before he penned his online screed to basketball star LeBron James, charging him with a "shameful display of selfishness and betrayal" for his decision to leave the Cleveland Cavalier to play with the Miami Heat.

In a letter to fans, posted on the Cavaliers' website, the Cleveland owner declared James would carry a "so-called 'curse'" to Miami, writing: "The self-declared former "King" will be taking the "curse" with him down south. And until he does 'right' by Cleveland and Ohio, James (and the town where he plays) will unfortunately own this dreaded spell and bad karma."

Ominously, he writes: "Just watch."

I haven't followed the NBA. I don't know LeBron James career. But, as a writer challenging interpretations of Islam that punish, kill, assault and discriminate in the name of religion, I do know a little something about meditating through anger when writing. Even if we don't write for public consumption, most of us have been tempted to write emails in anger at 2 a.m. There are at least three emails in my life that I can distinctly remember writing when angry, and I know I regret everyone of them.

It's easy to instantaneously express anger in electronic rants in this age of "digital maximalism," as former Washington Post reporter William Powers calls our day of information overload in his excellent new book, Hamlet's BlackBerry: A Practical Philosophy for Building a Good Life in the Digital Age.

But, if we -- like Gilbert -- really care about philosophies such as "karma," we'd be better served to do something wiser: sleep on it, meditate on it and express ourselves from a place of intellect and heart. In India, the country of my birth, karma is a word in Sanskrit that speaks to "samsara," or the concept of how our lives are a cycle of cause and effect. We don't serve ourselves or others well when we dole out bitterness and anger. It just feeds into a cycle of wrath. We are better served as a civilized society if we live with some pause. And I think even basketball coaches can aspire to that kind of reflection.

Some years ago, when the men at my mosque in Morgantown, W.V., banished the other women and me to an isolated balcony, I stepped out of the balcony, into the parking lot, seething. There, I called Alan Godlas, a professor of Islam and religion at University of Georgia in Athens, and he gave me words of wisdom, telling me, "Your anger reveals a deeper pain." Indeed, it did: years of anger at feeling marginalized in my traditional Muslim community. Over the next weeks -- and really all the years since -- I used my process of reporting to take a step back and engage in something called "Vipassana" meditation, a Buddhist philosophy known as "insight meditation" in the West, where we simply observe our state of being, instead of clinging to it, and try to get some insight into our rage.

It's a struggle, I know. But, as we dare to bring deep philosophical ideas such as karma into the conversation, it is best for us to reflect on our own legacy--not assign curses to others. Children should not follow the example of Dan Gilbert. As for all of us, his anger reveals a deeper pain, and -- not to be too touchy feely -- but I hope he finds some healing from his pain, rather than staying in a place of rage.

NBA Commissioner David Sterns seems to agree, fining Gilbert $100,000 for his remarks, acknowledging that, while "catalyzed as they may have been by a hurt," they were "ill-advised and imprudent."

We've all felt that sense of betrayal that Gilbert wrote about, telling fans, that LeBron had engaged in a "cowardly betrayal." Years ago, during one painful relationship break up, I sat at a table at the Peanut Butter & Co. Sandwich Shop on Sullivan Street in the heart of Greenwich Village, and told my boyfriend, "I curse you." Years later, he asked me if I'd lift the curse. I had -- indeed, the moment I expressed it. But they were words that would have been better left unexpressed.

Our lesson for children, I think should be: If someone angers us, we don't need to curse them. It's not appropriate on the playground. It's not appropriate in the game of life that is "samsara."

On the outburst of human emotion, India's Nobel Prize winning poet Rabrindanath Tagore wrote that nirvana "is not the blowing out of the candle. It is the extinguishing of the flame because day is come." In his letter to fans, Gilbert signed off, writing, "Sleep well, Cleveland."

For Cleveland, the next day has come. More days will come. Let LeBron James move into the next phase of his life in peace with a simple greeting that my seven-year-old son, Shibli, learned in pre-school: "We wish you well." That release from anger is the best karmic gift we can actually give ourselves. And if that means an NBA championship for Cleveland down the road, hurrah. If not, at least, it does mean, indeed, that we "sleep well."

Muslim World Music Day

By Bob George, ARChive for Contemporary Music - New York, USA
Monday, April 12, 2010

Muslim World Music Day is April 12, 2011

New York—The ARChive for Contemporary Music announced the launch of Muslim World Music Day, an innovative new project to catalogue and celebrate the diversity of Muslim music.

In collaboration with Columbia University Libraries and the Arts Initiative at Columbia University, and with the support of founding partners Gracenote, the Internet Archive and ARC will lead a live online effort to identify and catalogue tens of thousands of recordings from around the world in a single day: April 12, 2011. One Year From TODAY!

The diverse musical forms inspired by Islam are sacred and secular, traditional and contemporary, locally rooted and globally mobile. Muslim World Music Day will embrace and share a broad understanding of “Muslim music,” acknowledging the debates about the issue within Muslim communities while exploring the musical connections between Islam and other cultural traditions.

From the ecstatic Sufi traditions of qawwali and gnawa to the raucous sounds of taqwacore punk and the flourishing Muslim hip-hop scene, this heritage transcends borders and bias.

The goal of Muslim World Music Day is to develop an open archive of this music through real-time global grassroots participation. ARC is developing the database along with Gracenote (they supply the metadata for iTunes) and the Internet Archive (they save the Internet) will host the interactive website.

Libraries, archives, universities, and cultural organizations around the world will upload metadata on their musical holdings, which the project team will use to create a comprehensive discography.

Collectors, fans, scholars, artists, and record labels will contribute tracks, images, video clips, essays, lectures, bibliographies, and reviews. Partner organizations in several countries will host concerts, seminars, and exhibitions. By the end of those 24 hours, Muslim World Music Day will have created something unprecedented—a permanent, crowd-sourced online catalogue of more than 50,000 recordings supplemented by artistic and educational resources.

The Muslim World Music Day team invites organizations and individuals interested in supporting and participating in the project to contact the ARChive for Contemporary Music.

This exploration of the diverse musical traditions of Muslim communities will lay the groundwork for future efforts to catalogue music from other global traditions, as every year we will create a “Day” to honor a different style, genre or national music.

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About the ARC: Now in our 25 year, the ARChive of Contemporary Music is the largest collection of popular music in the world, with over two million recordings. It is supported by a Board of Advisors comprised of leading musicians, songwriters and directors, including David Bowie, Jellybean Benitez, Jonathan Demme, Michael Feinstein, Jerry Leiber, Youssou N'Dour, Lou Reed, Keith Richards, Nile Rodgers, Todd Rundgren, Fred Schneider, Martin Scorsese, Paul Simon and Mike Stoller.

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Partners + Contributors to Muslim World Music Day

The following is a list of partners and contributors who have agreed to offer concerts, seminars, symposiums, lectures, and contribute funding, data and materials to the ARChive’s Muslim World Music Day.

Funding and Project Partners:

Gracenote (provides metadata for iTunes) / The Arts Initiative @ Columbia University / The Internet Library (they save the internet) and The Libraries @ Columbia University

Contributors:

• AfroPop Worldwide, Syndicated National Public Radio program. Radio show.
• Aga Khan Trust for Culture. Concerts, metadata and recordings by Central Asian Artists.
• Ozan Aksoy, PhD candidate, Ethnomusicology, CUNY Graduate Center, director CUNY Middle Eastern Music Ensemble. Kurdish musician from Turkey who will contribute a performances and organizing events or concerts.
• Al Andalus Ensemble – Charlie Bisharat, Tarik Banzi and Julia Banzi, a trio that bridges world, traditional contemporary and classical genres. Concert.
• The American Musicological Society, Robert Judd, Executive Director. Historically related articles on Muslim music.
• Elizabeth Angell, Graduate Fellow, Anthropology, Columbia. Turkish/Middle Eastern popular culture essays.
• Ali Asani, Professor of Indo-Muslim and Islamic Religion and Cultures, Harvard. Focus on Shia and Sufi devotional traditions. Lecture and conference participant.
• Asia Society, New York City. Concert.
• Dr. Michael Buehler, Postdoctoral Fellow, Modern Southeast Asian Studies, Weatherhead Institute, Columbia.
• Center for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, Columbia.
• Center for Traditional Music and Dance, NYC. Concert and documentation on NYC’s Muslim immigrant communities.
• Columbia University Middle Eastern Research Center (CUMERC), Jordan. Symposium.
• Gene DeAnna, Head, Recorded Sound Division, Library of Congress. Cataloging data on 1244 Arabic music tapes in their Voice of America Collection.
• Hirad Dinavari, Reference Librarian for the Iranian World Collections, Library of Congress, African and Middle Eastern Division. Metadata, genre definitions and possible conference.
• Dr Janet Topp Fargion, Curator, World and Traditional Music, British Library Sound Archive. Data on holdings at the British Library for the MWMD database.
• Dr. Michael Frishkopf, Associate Professor, Department of Music, University of Alberta and Associate Director, Canadian Centre for Ethnomusicology. Specialist in the aural rituals of Islam (especially Sufi music) in Egypt, West Africa and Canada, as both a scholar and performer.
• Dr. Alan Godlas, Associate Professor, Department of Religion, University of Georgia, administers the Islamic Studies Resources/UGA Virtual Center for Interdisciplinary Studies of the Islamic World (VCISIW). Symposium, links and essay.
• Dr. Janice Gross, Seth Richards Professor in Modern Languages Grinnell, Iowa. Essay on gender and national identity on Muslim immigrant communities and music in France.
• Dr. Abdel-Hamid Hamam, Dean, Art & Design, University of Jordan, Amman. Concerts.
• Karl Gert zur Heide, Bremen, Germany. Essay: American 'rag' from Arabic 'raqs'.
• Sussan Deyhim (composer, vocalist), Richard Horowitz, composer, multi instrumentalist. Performance and/or lecture.
• Jon Kertzer, The Best Ambiance Radio, KEXP, Seattle, WA. Show on Muslim Music.
• Michael Muhammad Knight, author, the novel The Taqwacores.
• Bassekou Kouyate, Mali’s leading virtuoso on the ngoni, a traditions griot lute. Concert.
• Susan Lewandowski, Assistant Curator, Musical Instruments Collections, Department of World Cultures, National Museums Scotland. Sound samples and instrument index.
• Limewire, world's most popular legal peer-to-peer file-sharing site. Dedicated Islamic storefront and blog.
• Prof Jostine Loubser, Faculty of Arts, Media and Social Sciences, School of Media Music & Performance, University of Salford, Manchester, UK. Mini music festival and lecture.
• Omar Majeed, director, documentary, Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam.
• Groupe Mazagan, Morocco, Concert.
• Meedan, San Francisco. Will blog MWMD live in both English and Arabic.
• Youssou N'dour. Concert – hopefully @ the United Nations.
• National Music Conservatory of King Hussein Foundation, Jordan. Concerts.
• Fred Patterson, ARC. Essay and discography on The Jazz Messengers, American-Muslim big band.
• Robert Reeder, photographer. Recent images from the Middle East.
• Braden Ruddy, journalist. Essay with focus on Arab-American and Arab-Canadian hiphop.
• Ruwwad Center, Amman, Jordan. Youth orchestra concert.
• Dr. Ilaria Sartori, Sapienza University, Rome. Musicologist, Ethnomusicologist, Expert in Ethiopian Cultural Heritage. Lecture and/or article on the music(s) of Ethiopian Muslims.
• Robert Singerman, Music with Subtitles. Universal translator for lyrics in any language.
• Ted Swedenburg, Professor of Anthropology, University of Arkansas, Middle East Report editorial committee member and KXUA d.j. Radio show, blog and organize a day of teaching or a seminar.
• Dr. Ayman Tayseer, University of Jordan, Faculty of Arts & Design. Essays.
• Dr. Victor A. Vicente, Assistant Professor of Music, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, China. Specialist in the musical cultures of Turkey and the Middle East.
• WKCR Radio, NYC. Marathon of Middle Eastern music.
• Eyad Zahra, director, The Taqwacores, film on Muslim punks.

Click on the title of this article to the Project Website

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Commemoration of Eid Al Mawlid An-Nabawi at Zaouia Kadiria Boudchichia

"Ceremony at Zaouia Kadiria Boudchichia in commemoration of Eid Al Mawlid An-Nabawi"

February 28, 2010

"Cérémonie religieuse à la Zaouia Kadiria Boudchichia" (original title) (article translated from the French original published in eMarrakech.info)

Madagh (Berkane province), Morocco - In commemoration of Eid Al Mawlid anNabaoui [Festival of the Birthday of the Prophet], the Zaouia Kadiria Boudchichia [The Qaderi Boudchichi Sufi Order] held Saturday evening a large religious ceremony at the headquarters of the Zaouia in Madagh (about 15 km from the town of Berkane).

During the religious vigil --attended by tens of thousands of people, visitors and followers of the Zaouia [Sufi Order] from different regions of the Kingdom, and several other countries-- verses of the Holy Quran and praise to our Sayyid, the prophet Mohammed, were recited.

On this occasion, assistance of God, the Almighty, was implored to grant health, long life and glory to His Majesty King Mohammed VI, Commander of the Faithful and the Sovereign and to HRH Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan, HRH Princess Lalla Khadija, HRH Prince Moulay Rachid, and all members of the illustrious royal family.

Supplications were also said for the repose of the soul of the late Supreme Royal Highnesses Mohammed V and King Hassan II.

The Zaouia Kadiria Boudchichia [Sufi order] also sponsored a symposium --organized on this occasion of Eid al-Mawlid Annabaoui -- the 4th World Meeting of Sufism on "Sufism and Society: Reality and Perspectives" attended by several researchers and Moroccan and foreign experts.

Participants in the symposium [including the editor in chief of Sufi News, Dr. Godlas] discussed for three days (25-27 February) the topics of "the societal dimension of Sufism", from "Sufism and crisis management" of "Sufism and socio-political dynamics" of "Sufism between the 'ethics of dialogue and culture of citizenship, "the" Sufism and the culture of diversity and difference "and" Sufism and Culture.

Moreover, social actions have been organized for the benefit of persons deprived Madagh and surrounding communities.

Thus, some 150 children have benefited from a circumcision operation, and more than 700 people have benefited Eye Clinic, of which 440 have received complimentary glasses.

Shaykh Abdalqadir as-Sufi, Eric Clapton, and the History of Rock & Roll

It is well-known that Shaykh Abdalqadir as-Sufi (of the Tariqa Habibiya, subsequently al-Murabitun) known also as Ian Dallas (author of the Book of Strangers and more recently the The Time of the Bedouin, influenced the life of rock musicians Richard Thompson and Ian Whiteman. What was less well-known until recently was his influence on Eric Clapton.

As anyone who has ever listened to classic rock and roll knows, Eric Clapton wrote and performed the haunting song "Layla." Many know that he wrote this autobiographical song because he was infatuated with Pattie Boyd (whom he later married) while she was married to the Beatle George Harrison, who was Clapton's best friend. Some people, especially Muslims or those educated in Arabic or Persian literature, know that Clapton was inspired to call the song Layla on account of the epic romance of Layla and Majnun, which, incidentally, from a Sufi perspective, is a symbol or reminder of each person's romance with God, the Beloved.

What was not common knowledge until fairly recently, however, was how Clapton became aware of the story of Layla and Majnun in the first place. Pattie Boyd, in her autobiography, informs us about it and about how Shaykh Abdalqadir, as Ian Dallas (who had embraced Islam in 1967), was integral to Clapton's awareness of Layla and Majnun:
"He [Eric Clapton] switched on the tape machine [on which he had previously recorded the song 'Layla' (that he had recently written) (ed.)]... and played me the most powerful, moving song I had ever heard. It was 'Layla'--about a man who falls hopelessly in love with a woman who loves him but is unavailable. He had read the story in a book he had been given by a mutual friend, Ian Dallas. Ian had given me a copy too. It was called The Story of Layla and Majnun by the Persian writer Nizami. Eric identified with Majnun and was determined that I should know how he felt"(Boyd, Wonderful Tonight, p. 154). So Clapton did not just happen upon the book, Shaykh Abdalqadir (as Pattie states) had given copies both to him and to Pattie, who was Clapton's Layla.

Clapton's perspective, which he recounts in his autobiography, sheds a bit more light on Shaykh Abdalqadir's involvement. Clapton's account informs us that Shaykh Abdalqadir saw a different girl in their milieu as Layla, Alice Ormsby-Gore (with whom Clapton lived for five years but who sadly died in poverty of a heroin overdose shortly before her 43rd birthday). Clapton, in describing Alice, states "With her wistful quality and the Arab clothes she used to dress in, she was straight out of a fairy story."

Shaykh Abdalqadir, however, saw Alice's Majnun to be another well-known rocker, Clapton's friend Steve Winwood (most famous for his band Traffic). We can surmise that Shaykh Abdalqadir at that point may not have been aware of Clapton's infatuation with Pattie, since at least for a while Clapton and Pattie had gone to some lengths to keep the relationship private. In addition, another detail in Clapton's account not mentioned by Pattie is that Shaykh Abdalqadir personally spoke with Clapton about the romance of Layla and Majnun.
"Ian Dallas...told me the tale of Layla and Majnun, a romantic Persian love story in which a young man, Majnun, falls passionately in love with the beautiful Layla, but is forbdden by her father to marry her and goes crazy with desire. Ian was forwever saying that Alice was the perfect Layla, and while he thought Steve [Winwood] should be her Majnun, I had other ideas [namely, that Pattie was Layla and he, Eric Clapton, was Majnun (ed.)]" (Clapton: The Autobiography, p. 109).

So what we can gather from these accounts is that without a doubt Shaykh Abdalqadir was the source of Clapton's awareness of the romance of Layla and Majnun. An important unanswered question, however (beyond the the tale of Layla and Majnun) is to what degree (if at all) did Shaykh Abdalqadir influence Clapton, Patti Boyd, Alice Ormsby-Gore, Steve Winwood, and even George Harrison and other rockers and people in their milieu? Did Shaykh Abdalqadir (who had at that time recently embraced Islam and Sufism) have conversations with these musicians and their friends, conversations that may have influenced their viewpoints in any way? While in the past this question would have been difficult to answer without interviewing these people, now, with the internet it is possible that some of them or their friends might stumble upon this posting and answer this question in the comments section.

Dr. A. Godlas, 'Eid al-Valentine, 2010.

A Treasure

By John Smith, *Speaker offers insights into Sufi way of Islam* - Reading Eagle - USA
Saturday, January 30, 2010

Attendees at the monthly Spirit on Tap program Tuesday at the Reading Crowne Plaza Hotel, Wyomissing, learned of the third "S" of Islam, whose adherents believe that "love is the brew that keeps the cosmos going."

In addition to the well-known Sunnis and Shiites, who split over who should succeed Muhammad, there are the Sufis.

Dr. A. Hind Rifai, a psychiatrist at St. Joseph Medical Center, explained the "way" these devout people have trod for many centuries.

The Sufis are the mystical or psycho-spiritual dimension of Islam, coming mainly from the Sunnis but also from the Shiites. One could very roughly parallel them in Christianity with the charismatics, who can be found in so many varied branches.

Rifai gave a detailed - at times too detailed - account of the Sufis from the very early days. One principle is that God loves them and they love God.

Why did God create man? Because "He was a treasure and desired to be known."

One thing the Sufis do not know is the origin of their name. Rifai suggested three roots: soof, or wool, because the earliest Sufis wore it; sufah, bench or porch, where they gathered; or sufa, purity. A fourth possibility is saff, meaning first rank.

The Sufis exist in about 20 orders worldwide, Rifai said. In some countries there are large numbers, but the closest worship center to Reading is in suburban Philadelphia.

Rifai listed four Sufi goals: discerning unity from multiplicity, dying (to the world) before you die, accepting what is happening at the moment and communing with God.

The Sufis are very big on Quran study. They would put to shame the most ardent biblical literalist, finding meaning in every letter.

Jihad came up once, but not in the 9/11 sense. She talked of the importance of a jihad against the ego, which begins as the commander, but ends at rest, so we can be nearer to God "than our jugular vein."

"The Sufis believe in no revenge," she said; "they forbid the shedding of other peoples's blood."

She offered a diagram of the Sufis' ladder, from material nature to inner consciousness, where only God is perceived, to innermost consciousness, where only God exists.

Differences with mainstream Muslims: wardrobe, little, Sufis might be a bit looser; diet, meals are simpler, fasting is more often; marriage, a gift they encourage, but realize it might not happen.

One expert, Dr. Alan Godlas, University of Georgia, has defined Sufism as "surrender to God, over and over, embracing with love at each moment the content of consciousness as manifestations of God."

Local Muslim leader Steve Elmarzouky gave a thumb's up to the presentation, noting differences are largely a matter of emphasis.

Journey through Ten Thousand Veils

Sufi News and Sufism World Report would like to recommend the new book Journey through Ten Thousand Veils, by Shaykha Maryam Kabeer Faye.

It should be on the must read list for anyone interested in following the Sufi path and especially for women aspirants. The following is a slightly edited description of the book from the publisher together with recommendation notes from a variety of scholars and Sufis.
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In her book, an engaging autobiographical tale of journeying through the physical and spiritual worlds, Maryam Kabeer Faye tells of the trials and joys she has met on the Sufi path.

When she was twelve years old, Maryam Kabeer Faye was given a painted scroll of an ancient wanderer, upon which were inscribed the words: Seek and The Truth Shall Make You Free. This message galvanized her soul and determined the course of her life. Following the call, she set out on the journey, internally and then externally, and was guided around the world many times, from one remarkable being to the next, everywhere collecting messages and clues.

Born in a Jewish family, she was led to live in India and Nepal, and in monasteries in Europe, and then guided to embrace Islam at the hands of an ancient Sufi Master a few minutes away from the tomb of the Prophet Abraham. She then was guided to study intensively with Sufi Masters around the world. Her journey to the holy places and people of the earth, led her finally to Africa and the deep truth that all lives are totally interconnected and united with our own. This profound realization dispelled the great myth that the creations of the One Most Loving Creator can be separated by any racial, national, or cultural distinctions.

This book is a significant and revealing social commentary, also dispelling many other myths and stereotypes such as the proposition, often fostered by the media, that women are inevitably oppressed in Islam. On the contrary, it is by entering into the heart of Islam that the author was liberated, elevated, empowered, and guided to realize the true purpose of her existence.

Kabeer Faye paints a picture of a glorious, golden chain of individuals of all faiths and types who welcome her, contribute to her progress, and accompany her along her way. Descriptions of the many lands she explores and the regions she traverses are intense, vivid and colorful.

Among them are her childhood and early youth in sixties’ California, her experiences of the warmth and hospitality shown to her in Afghanistan and Pakistan before the region became wracked by war, and a moving description of her pilgrimage to Mecca that reveals its inner meaning to a believer of deep faith.

The stages of the inner journey are revealed synchronistically with the outer journey, which led her to so many realms. Her encounters with masters and teachers of various faith traditions in India, Europe, the Middle East, and America, and then culminating in Africa, are recalled with insight and reflection, and she makes many astute observations about how their teaching is heard and understood differently by people in different states of awareness. A journey of leaving the world as we know it in order to return to the Source, Journey through Ten Thousand Veils is the story of striving to give up the world while still remaining in the world, to make the return from darkness to the light.

Maryam Kabeer Faye is a speaker and writer on Islam, sufism, and spirituality. She lives in Philadelphia where she owns a home that is a refuge for spiritual travelers, and she herself travels extensively throughout the world on the mission of building bridges of light, knowledge, and understanding.

From the publisher: Tughra Books, distributed by: Independent Publishers Group*
---

From 1960s Berkeley to India, Iran, Jerusalem, Europe, Sri Lanka and Senegal--Shaykha Maryam Kabir Faye's amazing account of a spiritual odyssey through religious traditions describes her encounters with some of the greatest guides of the past 40 years and continually offers fresh vistas and deep insights. This is Islamic Sufism from the inside; powerful, authentic, and inspiring. Read this book and believe.

Marcia Hermansen, Director, Islamic World Studies Program, Loyola University, Chicago
---

Sheikha Maryam Kabeer Faye takes us on an exciting journey from California to Afghanistan, from India to the French Alps, from Jerusalem to Senegal, in search for a realized Master who can reflect and unveil the hidden knowledge within her. The book plunges the reader into the experience of her discovery of the beauty within all of monotheistic religions, manifesting ultimately as one sole message, revealing the nature of the One Creator, the Only Sustainer. The history narrated in this extraordinary book is not literature, but a practical guide, based upon living experience, for any sincere traveler in search of spiritual transformation and opening to the inner truth.

Dr. Mansur Escudero, President of Junta Islamica, Spain
---

Journey Through Ten Thousand Veils contains Shaykha Maryam Kabeer Faye’s autobiographical account of her life long search to become closer to God, ultimately via Sufism, in Islam, and what journey it is! The memoir is all the more impressive, because the author is a historical person in her own right, with a unique experience ranging from the counter cultural milieu of 1960’s California to encounters with various eastern Masters popular in the “new age”, to a long and studied absorption in a number of different Sufi orders and discipleship under their inspired Shaykhs. This book will be highly valuable to any seekers of God, as Faye examines all of the multiple dimensions of a quest. It is also a treasure as a record of a precious and significant part of American Muslim History. The author’s frankness and sincerity through all the variety of what she has discovered make reading her book a memorable experience.

Khalid Yahya Blankinship, Chair of the Department of Religion, Temple University, Phila, PA
---

Maryam Kabeer Faye, in her autobiographical Journey Through Ten Thousand Veils, provides a stunning verbal portrait that allows readers to accompany her on her life's journey--feeling what she's feeling and thinking her deepest thoughts. Beginning in the 1940s, her life has been a nearly continuous sequence of pilgrimages. Maryam opens spiritual doorways for readers of many religions and cultures, through which they will be able to recognize the terrible and wonderful importance of their lives at this very moment and thereby enter the timeless reality of the spiritual path.

Dr. Alan Godlas, director, Sufis Without Borders; publisher of Sufi News and Sufism World Report; professor, Islamic Studies, University of Georgia
---

Shaykhah Maryam Kabir’s long journey begins in her heart, and in quest of the “Beloved.” It is a journey in search of the Truth that has indeed set her free from all attachments to worldly things, but not to the world, which is the vestibule to the Beloved’s heavenly court.

It is a journey towards God, the Beloved that took her to many parts of His beautiful creation, where she witnessed “His signs” in her soul and in the horizons. Having achieved this earthly journey towards God, May she be now ready for the journey in God, a journey of countless veils of light and darkness. It is a journey that begins with the true humility of nothingness, which is fana’ in the beloved and ends with true baqa’ in Him.

Shaykhah Maryam’s book will no doubt be an inspiration to many readers. It will lead many to join her on this blessed pilgrimage. May He accept and bless this eternal pilgrimage to Him.

Mahmoud Ayoub, Professor Emeritus Temple University and Professor Islamic Studies & Christian-Muslim Relations; Hartford Seminary, Hartford, CT
---

Maryam Kabeer Faye invites her reader to join her on two distinctive journeys. One
reveals the events of her life and the other exposes true Islam. She carries her
reader into her experiences and emotions, vividly painting the reality of her life,
her fears, her joys and all that is in between. Her search for a teacher, for
enlightenment, for nearness and submission to God are masterfully woven around
the reader, who joins her on her quest.

In the sound, the rhythm and the power of her story the reader finds, as she does, Islam. With this, the other journey begins and Maryam becomes the teacher. She is the guide telling her reader the meaning of Islam, lifting the veils to expose the spiritual bond between God, humans, and all lives. Maryam Kabeer Faye shows her reader that life can be lived, should be
lived, by seeking nearness to God.

Michelle Byng, Ph.D., Department of Sociology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
---

With the hard-won key forged from her extensive and adventurous God-seeking world wanderings, Shaykha Maryam, an exemplary Sufi teacher, is given entrance to the world of West African Sufism with its rich mystical tradition. Her journey with her son to Medina and Mecca, and their visit to the Kabah, is probably the most exaltedly symphonic and overwhelming of her pivotal experiences in the book, in her relentless search for transformative liberation and the Truth of Certainty.

Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore (Poet, The Ecstatic Exchange)

---

*Visit the Publisher's website

[Buy at the Sufi Book Store]

Key Features of the Faiths

By Andrew Nelson, "Interfaith Speakers Share, Explain Faith Rituals" - The Georgia Bulletin - Atlanta, GA, USA

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Atlanta: Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory joined an interfaith panel of scholars and clergy as they shared insights on the rituals of the Jewish, Muslim and Christian faiths.

Touching on issues of language, communal prayer, and the essence of liturgy, the speakers revealed key features of the faiths, including distinctions between Catholic and Protestant Christian traditions.

Some practices in different faiths have similarities. The Catholic liturgy is rooted in Jewish table fellowship. Islam and Judaism value individual prayers in the homes of believers. Some Protestant traditions are adopting Catholic disciplines, such as fasting, that church reformers who began the denominations did away with in the 16th century.

Georgia is overwhelmingly a Protestant state, according to the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. Some 70 percent of people here worship in the Protestant tradition, followed by Catholics, with 12 percent. The Jewish and Muslim faiths make up 1 percent or less of the population.

Close to 350 women attended the 10th annual interfaith luncheon. The Atlanta chapter of the National Council of Jewish Women hosted it at The Temple, the oldest synagogue in Atlanta.
The guests were Archbishop Gregory; Rabbi Peter Berg, senior rabbi at The Temple; Alan Godlas, an associate professor of religion at the University of Georgia; Martha Moore-Keish, an assistant professor of theology at Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur; Laurie Patton, a Candler professor of religions at Emory University.

The speakers fielded questions from Judy Marx, the executive director of the American Jewish Committee.

From the Catholic point of view, Archbishop Gregory said the church borrows much from Jewish worship. From the communal table meal to the proclamation of the Scripture, these are necessary and important components of Catholic prayer life, he said.
“As Catholics, we are deeply aware of our rootedness in Jewish ancestry,” he said.

Jewish liturgy has an outward focus, Rabbi Berg said. When people leave the service, their mission is to help make the world a better place, he said. Its theology recognizes God’s ongoing creative acts, the revelation of God’s word in the Torah and God’s redemption of all people by freeing the Jews out of Egypt, he said.

For a Muslim service, the faithful must face toward Mecca, according to Godlas, a scholar on Islamic and Arabic studies. God is “the sustainer of everything in existence” according to Muslim belief, he said. And gratitude is the key human quality of people toward God, he said. Muslim postures of bowing and prostrating are a reminder that without God’s constant sustenance, nothing is possible, he said.

Protestant liturgy—a broad term which covers mainstream to evangelical churches—generally favors proclaiming readings from the Bible, sacraments and “prayers in the name of Jesus,” said Moore-Keish. The sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper are key parts of a Protestant liturgy, although they may not be celebrated weekly, she said.

On the issue of language, faith traditions wrestle with whether followers hold to ancient languages or use the contemporary.

Godlas said Muslims pray together in Arabic and it binds people together no matter their culture. But individuals pray on their own in their own language, he said.

For Jews, it isn’t required to pray together in Hebrew. In fact, the Reform branch of Judaism in the 19th century started as a way for Jews who didn’t speak Hebrew to worship in a common language, Rabbi Berg said. But now, Hebrew is becoming a bigger part of the service, he said.

For Catholics, Latin was the language of prayer for some 500 years, said the archbishop. The church’s prayer language evolved from Jesus’ Aramaic to Greek, a universal language in the ancient world, to Latin, which was the language of commerce, he said. There is a “serious debate” among Catholics about language and worship, he said. Since the Second Vatican Council, the custom has been people should have access to the language of worship, he said. The challenge is to translate the ideas expressed in the fixed language of Latin into contemporary language, he said. The archbishop compared the work to putting Shakespeare’s Elizabethan English into current day Japanese.

Panelists also shared the favorite ritual in their faith tradition.

Moore-Keish said the eucharistic celebration moves her. The ritual has many rich layers, from sharing food with people and the biblical level of recalling Jesus’ sacrifice to building community among believers, she said.

Godlas said Muslims have a practice of “grateful remembrance” of God’s names. It carries with it an attitude of appreciating every thought and feeling as a gift from God, he said.

The archbishop said his favorite ritual is Holy Week. The observance “really captures everything that it means to be Catholic,” he said. The week follows Jesus from the glory of Palm Sunday to Good Friday, where he is nailed to the cross, to the Easter Vigil, where newcomers join the church, and Easter, marking his new life. “It captures the joy and the essence of our Catholic sacramental, liturgical tradition,” he said.

Rabbi Berg said his favorite moment is the blessing shared both within a congregation and in the family. He talked about the privilege of the blessing when he and his wife hold hands over their three children and recite the prayer from the Book of Numbers: “May God bless you and keep you, may the light of God’s presence shine upon you and inspire you.”

Pictures (above, left to right): Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory, Dr. Alan Godlas; (below, left to right): Rabbi Peter Berg, Dr. Martha Moore-Keish. Photos by Michael Alexander.

Start of Construction

Staff Reporter, "Construction of big mosque starts in Dashoguz province of Turkmenistan" - Turkmenistan.Ru - Ashgabat, Turkmenistan
Saturday, October 18, 2008

A ceremony to mark the start of construction of a big mosque was held on 17 October in Dashoguz province of Turkmenistan.

Turkmen government officials, the Ambassador of Turkey in Turkmenistan Hussein Avni Bychkaly, province top-management, clerics and honorary elders of Turkmenistan attended the ceremony.

The new mosque with a praying room for 1500 people is meant as a gift from the people of Turkey to Turkmenistan.

The mosque will also have a big museum and a conference hall as well as a room for ritual meals, sadaka, for 1000 people.

The construction will be carried out by Turkish GAP Inshaat company, the Turkmenistan.ru correspondent reports from Ashgabat.

The ancient mausoleum of Nejmeddin Kubra will be the center of this architectural ensemble.

Nejmeddin Kubra was the ancient Turkmen theorist and practitioner of Sufism, author of many treatises, interpreter of Koran and poet. This unique monument of Oriental architecture of XIV century was included in the UNESCO's world heritage book.

[Picture: Shaykh's Kubra Shrine. Photo by Dr. Alan Godlas, 2008].

True Sense of His Influence

Culture Desk, "Leading orientalists to discuss cultural heritage of Nejmeddin Kubra" - Turkmenistan.Ru - Asghabat, Turkmenistan
Thursday, September 4, 2008

Ashgabat: The international scientific conference entitled "Nejmeddin Kubra and spiritual-cultural world of the Orient" started in the northern region of Turkmenistan.

The conference [September 3-6] has been organized by the Miras Turkmen National Cultural Heritage Centre and the Dashoguz province administration.

The conference is divided into five sections. The conference participants will discuss issues related to academic researches of the cultural heritage of Nejmeddin Kubra, Turkmen theorist and practitioner of Sufism, author of numerous treatises, interpreter of the Koran and prominent poet.

The conference will also look into issues related to preservation of unique monuments that were found in the territory of Kunyaurgench State Historical-Cultural Reserve and included in UNESCO's list of world heritage.

The conference gathered historian-orientalists and literary critics, linguists and art critics, theologians and cultural experts, teachers of higher educational establishments as well as cultural workers and art figures from Turkmenistan and some twenty other countries.

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has sent a welcome message to the conference participants. The text of the Turkmen president's message was published in central mass media outlets today.

In his message the head of state expressed hope that the scientific forum would play an important role "in studying the life and works of Najmeddin Kubra, finding a proper place for his scientific-literary heritage in development of the world culture, as well as getting true sense of his influence on the spiritual life of the entire Orient."

[Picture: Tomb of Shaykh Najm al-Dīn Kubra at Kunya Urgench. Photo by Dr. Alan Godlas].

Love Arrived

TTCulture Desk, "Iran ready to help restore Abil-Kheir tomb" - Tehran Times - Tehran, Iran
Sunday, August 31, 2008

Iran is prepared to help with the renovation of the tomb of Shaikh Abu-Saeed Abil-Kheir in Meyhaneh, Turkmenistan, the Iranian ambassador to Ashgabat told MNA.

Ambassador Mohammadreza Forqani said that after reaching an agreement with Turkmenistan, Iran will begin the renovation.

Abil-Kheir’s tomb is located five kilometers away from the Turkmenistan city of Mayhaneh, which was a part of Iran at that time, he added.

Seljuq kings built the tomb for the first time in 1049. Although American archeologists renovated the structure in 2005, parts of the tomb remain damaged. The earthen construction, decorated by embossed poems in the Persian language, is in danger and may collapse in the near future.

At present, there is no residence or facility for visitors near the tomb.

Abu-Saeed Abil-Kheir (967-1049) was a famous Persian Sufi who contributed extensively to the development of the Sufi tradition. His formal education, which he continued until age 23 when he left them for Sufism, included Islamic disciplines and Arabic literature. During his lifetime, his fame spread throughout the Islamic world, even as far away as Spain.

He was the first Sufi writer to widely use ordinary love poems as a way to express and illuminate mysticism, and as a result, he played a major role in the foundation of Persian Sufi poetry.

"Love arrived and became like blood in my skin and veins

such that it emptied and filled me with the Beloved Friend

Every part of my being the Beloved completely consumed

Of me nothing is left but a name, the rest is entirely Him"

"'ishq aamad-o shod cho chuunam andar rag-o puust

taa kard maraa tohii-yo por kard ze duust

azjaa-ye vojuud-e man hama [raa?] duust gereft

naamii-st ze man bar man-o baaqii hama uust"

[Translation and transliteration by Dr. Alan Godlas;
SWB # 19007, # 38753; http://tinyurl.com/5haetj].

Sufi support for legislation opposing an American attack on Iran

"Sufi support for legislation opposing an American attack on Iran" by Dr. Alan Godlas (based on and including an announcement issued via email by authors at www.justforeignpolicy.org ). (Now including active links!)

Anyone interested in Sufism should read and act on the advice below (concerning the importance of opposing the Bush administrations' efforts to attack Iran) in general because Sufis --and Muslims as a whole, since the vast majority of Sufis are Muslims-- oppose actions that will result in the deaths of innocent people. More specific reasons are as follows:

1) There are a lot of Sufis and a majority of innocent (and U.S. loving) people in Iran who would die if the U.S. attacked Iran,

2) probably at least some of my students (who have studied Sufism) and a lot of innocent Americans who are going to go into (or are currently in) the American armed forces might die in such a war in Iran;

3) a lot of Sufis, sympathizers to Sufism, and innocent people in Israel might die in a retaliatory Iranian attack on Israel, which would be very likely if any Iranian military capabilities survived the initial American onslaught; which survival is a distinct possibility, given the difficulty in completely eliminating all Iranians' military capabilities--as seen by the difficulty the U.S. has experienced in eliminating all opposition in Iraq;

4) given that a very recent study showed that Iran's so-called nuclear threat to us and Israel is minimal in contrast to the damage that we would create if we attack Iran (See "U.S. Finds Iran Halted Its Nuclear Arms Effort in 2003" --N.Y. Times, Dec. 4, 2007 tinyurl.com/2tlcnw.

So, the message below is an attempt to mobilize support against the Bush administration's desire to attack Iran. It does not appear to exist on the web, on news sites, or in a blog, hence I am posting it here rather than simply posting a url (which I could not find).

-------- Here is the message:

In these final months of the Bush presidency, let's keep up the pressure against war with Iran.

Take action.

Dear Supporter of a Just Foreign Policy,

The Bush administration has forced out a top admiral who had widely been seen as an opponent of attacking Iran. (note 1) Now is the time to work harder against another war.

Last week, an article in Esquire called Admiral William Fallon the Bush administration's primary obstacle to an attack on Iran and an advocate of serious diplomacy.(note 2) His departure raises serious questions about the administration's intentions.

We just spent a month on the road with author Stephen Kinzer talking and meeting about Iran, and we have several ideas of what can be done to step up efforts against war. (note 3) Thanks to the tour, a few Senators and Representatives in Washington see the same urgency we do. Can you help us build momentum for legislation (note 4) introduced last year that would prevent the President from attacking Iran without Congressional authorization?

www.justforeignpolicy.org/involved/nowaroniran.html

We met personally with Senator John Kerry last week, and he reaffirmed his active support for this legislation. Senator Hillary Clinton, in a press release following Admiral Fallon's resignation,(note 5) urged support for it.

We will continue working closely with key Members of Congress to get this bill passed. To make this work, it is crucial that your Members hear from you, their constituent.

www.justforeignpolicy.org/involved/nowaroniran.html
Thanks for all you do for a just foreign policy,
Patrick McElwee, Robert Naiman, Chelsea Mozen and Sebastian Anti
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org

References:
1. "Fallon falls: Iran should worry," Gareth Porter, Asia Times, March 13, 2008

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JC13Ak01.html
2. "The Man Between War and Peace," Thomas P.M. Barnett, Esquire, March 5, 2008
http://www.esquire.com/features/fox-fallon
3. The Folly of Attacking Iran Tour was a big success, attracting large audiences and press attention across the country. Thanks to all of you for your support. If you were unable to make it to an event, you can see some of what Stephen Kinzer had to say in his opinion piece that appeared in the Baltimore Sun yesterday:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.iran12mar12,0,5070600.story

4. The bill, introduced by Senator Jim Webb (D-VA), carries the bill number S. 759 and is titled, "To prohibit the use of funds for military operations in Iran." The full text is here:

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:s.759:

A companion bill, H.R. 3119, has been introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Mark Udall. The full text of that bill is here:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:h.r.3119:

5. In a statement released Tuesday, March 11, 2008, Senator Clinton said:
Admiral Fallon was a sensible voice within the Pentagon on the need to have a multi-pronged strategy towards Iran that included support for engaging Iran. Admiral Fallon was a voice of reason in an administration which has used inflammatory rhetoric against Iran. I am asking that the Senate Armed Services Committee hold hearings into the circumstances surrounding his departure. I will also urge my colleagues to join me in supporting Senator Webb's legislation requiring the Administration to come to Congress before taking military action against Iran.

Also the author of the above message notes the following for anyone who writes a letter to the administration:

I would emphasize to the Bush administration, as I have before, that it has no authority to take this nation to war against Iran, and I again urge the Bush administration to pursue diplomacy, including direct talks with Tehran, at its earliest opportunity.

Full text of Senator Clinton's statement is available at:http://clinton.senate.gov/news/statements/details.cfm?id=294635&&

God As a Friend

By Mehrnoosh Torbatnejad - NYU Livewire - NY, USA
Saturday, January 5, 2008

Rumi for Twentysomethings: a new generation finds meaning in the writings of a 13th century mystic poet

Eight centuries after he lived, the Persian mystic poet Jalal al-Din Rumi still fascinates readers, as the world’s bestselling spiritual poet.

His nonsectarian love for God and his passion for creation attract people of all ages, including Madonna and Deepak Chopra. But recently, younger people have been tuning in to his work, especially as UNESCO commemorated the poet’s 800th birthday in 2007.

“It’s just so relaxing and so calming to read his work,” said Bijan Roboubi, 20, a student at California State University at Pomona.

“We go through life in such a fast pace, especially here in America, and when you stop and read Rumi, you realize you have to live life, and not just go through it” he said.

“With his poems, he makes you realize that every moment is precious and it makes you love yourself, others around you and life in general” he added.

The 800th birthday’s celebration brought a string of events to universities, giving many college students their first taste of Rumi.

“Generally it’s the performance that seems to bring out the most students,” said Alan Godlas, a professor of Islamic studies at the University of Georgia. They’ve heard of whirling dervishes, which “rings a far-off bell in their consciousness,” he said.

“Rumi is generally regarded as the hottest selling poet in the English translation,” Godlas said. “He’s made a mark in their minds and in their hearts.”

Although enduringly popular in the East, Rumi was little known in the West until the 1920s, when Cambridge University professor Reynold A. Nicholson* began translating his work into English.

In the 1970s, Rumi’s popularity leapt again, after American poet Coleman Barks produced a more accessible, free-verse translation.

Shahram Shiva, a performance poet, scholar and translator of Rumi books, has presided over crowded Rumi evenings at Yale, Columbia University, Iona College and New York University.

“Rumi is very timeless,” Shiva said. “Rumi deals with issues of humanity. They would be relevant 5,000 years ago and 5,000 years from now.”

“I never ever look at God as a power who wants us to just worship him and be afraid of him,” said Iman, 26, a student at the University of Windsor, in Ontario, Canada.

“I look at God as a friend, lover and someone who is always there to help you. I see the same meanings in Rumi’s poems, too” he said.

Groups like the Rumi Forum, founded in 1997 in Washington D.C., often sponsor interfaith gatherings at universities, which may include whirling dervish performances.

“It doesn’t surprise me that [Rumi] is appealing to [students], because his message of love and open-mindedness touches hearts and minds,” said Jena Luedtke, the Forum’s director of interfaith and cultural dialogue.

University of Utah professor Rasoul Sorkhabi recently started a Rumi Poetry Club at a Salt Lake City public library, where sessions increasingly draw a younger crowd.

“Rumi’s poetry is not directed toward any particular age,” he said. “But college students who have an interest in literature…they want to read Rumi.”

Rumi: Bridge to the Soul: Journeys into the Music and Silence of the Heart (as translated by Coleman Barks) was in late 2007 number one in the religious and spiritual poetry category on barnesandnoble.com.

But Godlas thinks Rumi will only turn into a mass phenomenon if American culture changes.

“In order for Rumi's popularity to increase, there will need to be a paradigm shift -he said- such as a greater emphasis on educating Americans to enhance their emotional intelligence. People will then be more receptive.”

[Photo by Leila Geramian]

[*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reynold_A._Nicholson ].

Mevlana Rumi’s First Visit to the European Parliament

By Selçuk Gültasli, Brüksel Temsilcisi (Brussels Representative) - Today's Zaman, Turkey
Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Brussels: Mevlana Muhammed Jelaluddin Rumi was commemorated at the European Parliament [on Monday 26th] with a panel discussion focusing on his message of tolerance.

Organized by the Brussels-based Intercultural Dialogue Platform (IDP) and members of the European Parliament Cem Özdemir, Emine Bozkurt and Sajjad Karim, the panel focused on the relevance of Mevlana’s message to today’s Europe.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has declared 2007 Year of Mevlana and the European Commission has already earmarked 2008 as Year of Intercultural Dialogue.

Despite lasting several hours, the panel discussion generated a lot of interest and whirling dervishes who came from Konya, the central Anatolian city where Mevlana taught, performed a sema (whirling ceremony) afterwards.

Dr. İhsan Yılmaz of the University of London, Georgia University’s Dr. Alan Godlas and Professor Marc Luyckx Ghisi, the director of the Vision 2020 think tank, spoke at the panel titled “Rethinking Mevlana: What if Mevlana Lived in Today’s Europe.”

Yılmaz emphasized that Mevlana’s teachings were represented today by a group of renowned Islamic scholars, among them Fethullah Gülen and Seyyid Hossein Nasr, both famous prolific writers whose works are read by millions.

Godlas read Persian lines from Mevlana’s masterpiece, the Mesnevi, attentively listened to by the audience.

Bozkurt, one of the hosts of the night, pointed out that Mevlana had begun his dialogue efforts centuries before the EU declared 2008 the Year of Intercultural Dialogue.

“Europe sorely needs Mevlana’s message, which comes from centuries before and never gets old, more than ever,” noted Bozkurt, adding that she was particularly happy to see the hall where the panel discussion was being held filled to capacity.

Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Ankara deputy Zeynep Dağı, Jerzy Montag, a federal MP from the German Green Party and Mahinur Özdemir, a member of the council in Schaerbeek Municipality also attended the Mevlana night at the European Parliament.

Dr. Mehmet Refii Kileci captivated the guests by showing his paper-marbling (ebru) skills during the four-hour-long program.

You Answer Violence with Love

Norwalk Plus Magazine - Norwalk, CT; U.S.A.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007

A 13th century Persian poet, whose simple yet deep words continue to have relevance in the modern world, will be honored at Sacred Heart University on November 13th through literature, music and Sufi-dance.

The event, An Evening with Rumi: Poet of Peace, will pay tribute to the poet, jurist and theologian. The event is open to the public, free of charge.

The event will feature the University Choir singing Rumi poems; Columbia University Professor Hossein Kamali lecturing on Rumi and Islam; Alan Godlas, Associate Professor in the Department of Religion at the University of Georgia, lecturing on Rumi and Sufism; poetry readings in Persian and English, and musical performances by Hossein Behroozinia and Pejman Hadadi – members of Dastan Ensemble, a world-renowned group of classical Persian musicians.

Sufi dances will be presented by Khadija Julia Goforth and her group of Whirling Dervishes.

Mowlana Jalal al-Din Mohammad Balkhi Rumi was born in 1207 in the ancient city of Balkh, in present day Afghanistan and in 1273 passed away in the city of Ghoonieh, in present day Turkey. Rumi after Shakespeare, is considered the most popular poet in the world. Sales of his poetry books are second only to the Christian Bible.

“He is the universal voice,” said event director, Cima Sedigh, associate professor of Education.

After Rumi’s death, his followers founded a religious order of Sufis referred to as the Whirling Dervishes. While entertaining, their form of dance is not intended for performance but rather for spiritual enlightenment, a physical means to try to attain religious ecstasy. They are true practitioners of Sufism, a mystical Islamic tradition, Sedigh said.

Sedigh said she decided to organize the tribute to Rumi because 2007 marks the 800th anniversary of his birth, but more importantly because she wants his voice to be heard over the din of violence throughout the world.

“I am overwhelmed by the amount of violence that I hear and that I see on the news. From the perspective of an educator, it is vital to educate students on peaceful options that we have to invest in and explore. We have to become skillful at solving conflicts through non-violent techniques and at how to promote peace,” said Sedigh, who is of Persian descent.

“There’s a sense that violence is a justifiable response even to violence when, in fact, the teaching in my tradition is that you answer violence with love; you love your enemies, you turn the other cheek,” said June-Ann Greeley, head of SHU’s Middle Eastern Studies program.

“Rumi is just this amazing voice of love and unity and tolerance and going beyond our differences. He has this wonderful line in one of his poems that says basically, ‘I’m not a Jew, I’m not a Muslim, I’m not a Christian, I’m not a this, I’m not a that, I am every man, I am a child of God.’ It’s just this amazing language that’s very simple and yet very deep,” Greeley said.

Robin McAllister, associate professor of English said, “Rumi's poetry is about the search for love in all its dimensions, human and divine. It is both contemplative and passionate, something to think about, something to act out in our hearts.”

Sedigh said the Rumi event will serve as an introduction to an “Education for Peace” unit and a course she will teach at SHU on peace education.

[Visit the Sacred Heart University at www.sacredheart.edu].

Alternative Healing: The Sufi Way

Sufi News Report - Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Alternative Healing: The Sufi Way
By Es-Seyyid Es-Shaykh Taner Ansari Tarsusi er Rifai el Qadiri
Edited by Shaykh Kevin Germain

Remedies and health tips for the practicing spiritual healer from the Holy Quran for cancer, epilepsy, fevers, diabetes, recovery from drug addiction, demonic possession and other ailments

In his *Alternative Healing: The Sufi Way* Shaykh Taner Ansari has provided Muslims, Sufis, and anyone interested in spiritual healing with a book that will be uplifting for both spirits and bodies.

Readers will love the focus of the book, which is a veritable pharmacopoeia of Quranic verses related to specific ailments affecting one's spiritual and physical being.

In addition Shaykh Taner has included valuable chapters containing practical guidance for purification, diagnosis, the use of the Divine Names in healing, treatment of Jinn possession, and the use of spiritual geometric designs (taweez) that have traditionally been used for healing.

Finally, recipes for soups and teas that Shaykh Taner adds in an appendix complete this book that is certainly a generous cup overflowing with God's Mercy.

Review by Dr. Alan Godlas - from the back cover

Es-Seyyid Es-Shaykh Taner Ansari
*Alternative Healing
The Sufi Way*
Ansari Publications
Nassau, New York

ISBN: 978-0-9703185-2-7

You can buy at this link: http://astore.amazon.com/wilderwri-20

You can visit the Qadiri-Rifai tariqa at this link www.qadiri-rifai.com (or click the title above).

To Serve Is Better than To Be Served

By Dr Amir Farid Isahak - The Star - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Saturday, August 11, 2007

Some people talk about love and kindness, but real masters walk the talk. They are embodiments of what they teach.

I have mentioned many masters in my articles, and in my search for knowledge, healing and wisdom, I continue to meet many more.

This weekend I will be involved in a Spiritual Transformation & Healing workshop conducted by two Sufi teachers: Dr Suriyakhatun Osman and Professor Alan Godlas.

Professor Alan Godlas is from the Department of Religion at the University of Georgia, US. He is a scholar of Arabic, Islam, Sufism and comparative religion. He embraced Islam in 1974 and entered the Sufi spiritual path soon after, and is now the co-moderator of the most comprehensive websites on Sufism.

He has written many papers on Islam and Sufism, and is the preferred expert by many governments and organisations when they need advice or inputs on Islam. He will be teaching us spiritual transformation in our daily lives by means of gratitude, remembrance and love.

Dr Suriyakhatun Osman is a medical colleague who has also ventured beyond the restrictive borders of medical science. She is a Reiki master, a homoeopathic practitioner and a Sufi-healing teacher, among other things.

Seeing some similarities in the energy concepts of Reiki and Sufi-healing, she and several other Sufis who also practice Reiki have blended the two into Sufi-Reiki. She is an authorised teacher of the Sufi Healing Order, a branch of the Sufi Order of North America, which was started by Pyir Inayat Khan, a well-known and well-respected Sufi shaykh who was entrusted to bring Sufism to America.

Perhaps the most famous Sufi-healing master is Shaykh Moinuddin Chishti, author of The Book of Sufi Healing. He is a friend of my shaykhs, and, like many other Sufi masters, is based in the US.

It is apparent that the Sufis are all over the US, and Sufism is partly responsible for the rise of Islam there. For example, through my Naqshbandi Order shaykh, Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani Al-Haqqani, more than 10,000 Americans have embraced Islam after accepting the Sufi teaching of love, compassion and gratitude.

It is no wonder that even presidential-hopeful Hillary Clinton acknowledges that Islam is the fastest growing religion in the US.

If Islam is the misunderstood religion, then Sufis are the misunderstood Muslims. All Sufi masters preach love, compassion and gratitude as healing for the soul, but the physical body cannot be ignored even by those who seek only spiritual fulfilment.

To have a healthy body is a spiritual requirement, because much of the religious and spiritual duties require a healthy body for them to be executed to the best possible level. To serve is better than to be served.

A healthy body means you can help others. A sick body means you need help.

My grandshaykh is Shaykh Muhammad Nazim Al-Haqqani, the grandmufti of Northern Cyprus, and father-in-law of Shaykh Muhammad Hisham. He was the one who described the qi or life-force that I was gifted with when I had my first audience with him over 15 years ago.

And his description matched what my wife could see (she is gifted with the ability to see energy and auras), and that of the aura photograph taken of me by Reiki Master Yongi (a Malaysian based in Australia). All the other aura photographs taken at crystal shops were not accurate.

Here is the teaching of Shaykh Muhammad Nazim about healing:
“In the name of GOD, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate.

“Real healing is to be able to send rays of power through your hands to the body of the patients who must be ready to receive the healing. Most people are closed and it is impossible even for prophets to reach them. A closed socket cannot transport electricity. On a patient like that you must try to crack open a weak point of their shell where you can enter.

“Since the beginning of time people have been in need of healing, physically and spiritually. Authorised healers will always be on earth. Many of them are totally hidden and you would never imagine them having such powers. If someone is seriously looking for them, they will find. It is not something you will find in books...”
Shaykh Nazim al-Haqqani an-Naqshbandiyya

The healing of the soul and the healing of the body are very much intertwined. Thus it is common to see many natural healers becoming inclined to spiritual practices. Conversely, many seekers on the spiritual path find that they are given the gift of healing for the physical body.

In both, the most important organ is the heart. On the physical plane, heart disease is the most common chronic, debilitating disease (even though cancer is gradually taking over as the top killer because of poor success in treatment, while heart disease can be managed by modern medicine).

On the spiritual plane, the diseases of the spiritual heart are what rob us of inner peace, which in turns translates to fear, worry, uncertainty, pride, greed, ingratitude, apathy and stressful living.

So to those of you who are not yet on the healing path, of spirituality or physical health, I would encourage you to consider starting the journey, so that you may start healing yourselves, and hopefully help heal the world too.

May your lives be filled with inner peace, happiness and good health.

[About the Author: Dr Amir Farid Isahak is a medical specialist who practises holistic, aesthetic and anti-ageing medicine. He is a qigong master and founder of SuperQigong
http://www.superqigong.com/ ]

[Visit Dr Suriyakhatun Osman's website:
http://holisticleaders.com/]

International Symposium on Mevlânâ Celâleddîn Rûmî

Republic of Turkey - Ministry of Culture and Tourism - Istanbul, Turkey
Tuesday, May 8, 2007

1. GÜN / FIRST DAY
8 MAY 2007

10.00 – 12.30

Açılış Konuşmaları / Opening Ceremony
(Atatürk Kültür Merkezi / Atatürk Cultural Center) İSTANBUL

Esin Çelebi Bayru (Hz. Mevlânâ’nın 22. Kuşaktan Torunu )
Atilla Koç (Kültür ve Turizm Bakanı)
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (Başbakan)

Açılış Tebliğleri / Keynote Speakers
Prof. Dr. Kenan Gürsoy
Prof. Dr. Seyyed Hossein Nasr

************************************
14.00 – 15.30
The Etap Marmara Hotel

SALON 1
Başkan / Chairman : Hilmi Yavuz

WILLIAM CHITTICK İhtiyaç ihtiyacı / The Need for Need
JAMES WINSTON MORRIS; Aşk Denizine Açılmak: Mevlânâ’nın Mesnevî’sinde “Kader Sırrı” / Navigating the Sea of Love: The “Secret of Destiny” in Rumi’s Masnavi.
İBRAHİM KALIN; Mevlânâ ve Çağdaş Felsefe / Rumi and Contemporary Philosophy.
ANDREY SMIRNOV; Şeytan ve Yokluk; Mevlânâ’nın Ahlak Düşüncesi İçin Bir Ontoloji Arayışı / Evil and non-existence: in search of an ontology for Rūmī’s ethical reasoning.
PABLO BENEITO; Yorumlama Yolculuğu: Tasavvufî şiir ve hermönetik ilmi arasında mütekabil sözcükler / The Journey of Interpretation: Lexical inter-reference in Sufi poetry and hermeneutics.

SALON 2
Başkan / Chairman : Prof. Kenan Gürsoy

LEYLİ ANVAR ép.CHENDEROFF; Mevlânâ’nın Hoşgörü Tavrı : Musa ve Çoban Hikayesini Okuyuş / Rumi and the notion of tolerance: a reading of the story of Moses and the Sheperd.
MOHAMMAD FAGHFOORY; Aşk Peygamberi: Mevlânâ’nın Mesnevi ve Divan-ı Kebir’inde Hz. İsa / Prophet of Love: Jesus in the Masnawi and the Divan-i Kabir of Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi.
ADNAN ASLAN; Mevlana’da Çoğulculuk / Pluralism in Rumi.
NURİ ŞİMŞEKLER ; Mevlana’nın Öğretileriyle Zıtlarla Yaşamayı Öğrenmek / With Rumi’s thought to learn how to live together with opposites.
İSMAİL TAŞPINAR; Mesnevi’de Erken Dönem Hıristiyanlık ve Pavlus / Early Christianity and St.Paul in Rumi’s Masnawi.

SALON 3
Başkan / Chairman : Prof. Mahmud Erol Kiliç

MUSTAFA TAHRALI; Ahmed Avni Konuk’un Mesnevi-i Şerif Şerhinde İbn Arabi / Ibn Arabi in Ahmed Avni Konuk’s Commentary on Masnawi.
STEPHEN HIRTENSTEIN; Manevi Fakr ve İlahi Gına: Mevlana ve İbn Arabi’nin Öğretilerinin Mukayeseli Diyalektiği / Spiritual Poverty And Heavenly Riches: A comparative dialectic in the teachings of Rumi and Ibn ‘Arabi.
MUHAMMAD SUHEYL UMAR; Mevlânâ ve Vahdet-i Vücûd: Müşehedât ve Teemmülât / Rumi and Wahdat al-Wujud: Observations and Insights.
EKREM DEMİRLİ; Mevlana’yı İbnü’l-Arabî Gözüyle Yorumlamak: İbnü’l-Arabî ve Mevlana’da Bazı Ortak Kavramlar / Interpreting Rumi From Ibn Arabi’s Perspective: Common Concepts.
MÜFİT YÜKSEL; Mevlana-Sadreddin-i Konevi İlişkileri Bağlamında Konevi’nin Mevlana’ya Yazdığı Arapça Takriz / Qonevi’s Arabic Preface to Rumi’s Work.

SALON 4
Başkan / Chairman : Doç. Dr. Ahmet Arı

GHOLAMREZA AAVANI; Mesnevi’de Aşk / Love in Mathnavi.
İBRAHİM EMİROĞLU; Mevlânâ’da Aşkı İfade Etme İmkânı ve Aşk Betimlemeleri / Possibilities of Expression of Love in Rumi.
ASHK P. DAHLÉN; Mevlânâ’nın Aşk Anlayışı / Rumi’s Concept of Love.
ADNAN KARAİSMAİLOĞLU; Bilgin, Arif, Âşık ve Şair Mevlânâ / Rumi : As a scholar, areef, lover and poet.
DİLAVER GÜRER; Mesnevî’nin Son Hikâyesi Işığında Aşkın Sonsuzluğu Ya Da Anlatılmazlığı; Mesnevî Neden Sonlandırılmamıştır? / In the Light of Last Story of Masnawi The Eternity of Love or It’s Unspokenness.

Ara / Coffee Break

15.45 – 17.15

SALON 1
Başkan / Chairman : Prof. Bakri Alauddin

AHMET YAŞAR OCAK; Mevlânâ’yı doğru anlamak üzerine / On the true understanding of Rumi.
STEFFEN STELZER; Mevlânâ’yı Anlamak: Fihi Ma Fihi’den Dersler / Understanding Rumi: Lessons from Fihi Ma Fihi.
OSMAN NURİ KÜÇÜK; Günümüzde Mevlânâ’yı Anlama Sorunu / The Problem of Undestanding Rumi Today.
ALAN GODLAS; Mevlânâ’nın Dünya Görüşünün Sistematik ve Tutarlı Bir Anlayışına Doğru / Towards a Systematic and Coherent Understanding of Mevlana’s World View.
H. NUR ARTIRAN; Mevlânâ’yı Anlamak / Understanding Rumi.

SALON 2
Başkan / Chairman : Prof. Abdulkarim Soroush

ERKAN TÜRKMEN Mevlânâ’nın Mesnevi’sinin Evrenselliği / Universality of Rumi’s Masnavi
KABIR HELMINSKI Mânevî Algılama: Dinin Aslının Aslı / Spiritual Perception: The Root of the Root of Religion
AFFAN SELJUQ Mevlânâ ile beraber mânevî âlemi gezmek / Visiting the Spiritual World with Rumi
CAMILLE HELMINSKI Cennet Müşâhedesi / Witnessing the Garden
NAHID SHAHBAZI Simyacının Aşkı / Alchemist Love

SALON 3
Başkan / Chairman : Prof. Arif Naushahi

SALIM HOTLANI; Mevlânâ’nın Şiirlerinde Ney İmgesi / The Image of Flute in Rumi’s Poetry
NECİP FAZIL DURU; Mevlevi Şairlerde Ney Metaforu / The Metaphore of Nay in Mawlavi Poetry
IRAJ DADASHI; Mevlânâ’da Sanat ve Şiir Teorisi / Theory of Art and Poem in Mevlana
CANER DAĞLI; Mevlânâ’nın Şiirlerinde Sûret ve Mânâ / Form and Meaning in the Poetry of Rumi
SYED REZA FEIZ; Mevlânâ’nın Eserlerinde Öz ve Suret / The substance and the form in Rûmî’s works.

SALON 4
Baskan / Chairman : Prof. James Morris

AVID IQBAL; Mevlânâ’nın `Muaviye ve İblis” hikayesi ile İkbal’in “Şeytan’ın Parlementosu”nu mukayeseli bir inceleme / A Comparative Study of Rumi’s “Muawiya and Iblis” with Iqbal’s “Satan’s Parliament
CARL ERNST; Çoğa İşaret Eden Az: Mevlânâ’nın Mesnevî’sinin Dîbâcelerinin Yapısı ve Mânâsı / A little indicates much; “Structure and meaning in the prefaces of Rumi’s Masnavi”
MUHAMMAD ISA WALEY; Mesnevî’nin 6 Defterinin Dîbâceleri: Muhteva ve Mesaj / The Prefaces to the six Daftars of the Masnavi: their content and message
SEYED SAFAVI; Mevlânâ’nın Mesnevî’sinin 3. Defterinin Yapısı / “The Structure of Book Three of Rumi’s Mathnawi”
HURMETJAN ABUDUREHEMAN; Mesnevî-i Mânevî’den Mesnevî-i Harabâtî’ye / From The Mathnawi Ma'nawi to The Mathnawi Harabati

II. GUN / SECOND DAY
9 MAY 2007

09.00 – 10.30

SALON 1
Başkan / Chairman : Dr. Mohammad Faghfoory

PAUL BALLANFAT; Mesnevî ve Kur’an / Masnavi and Qur’an
OMID SAFI; “Bizler Nûr-ı Muhammedî Vârisleriyiz”: Mevlânâ’nın Hz. Muhammed ile İrtibatının Tabiatı üzerine / "We are the Inheritors of the Light of Muhammad": On the Relationship of Mawlana Rumi to the Prophet Muhammad (S).
MARIANA MALINOVA; Mevlânâ’nın Hz. Muhammed İmajındaki Dinamizm: Nübüvvetten Müşahede Makamına / The dynamics in the image of Muhammad in the writings of Jalal ad-Din Rumi: From the prophesy to the station of seeing
DENIS GRIL; Mevlânâ’nın Yedi Meclis’ine Göre Sünnet-i Nebevî Kavramı / The Concept of Sunna, according to Rûmî’s Majâlisi-sab‘a
DERYA ÖRS; Mevlana’nın Eserlerinde Bir “İnsan-ı Kamil” Örneği Olarak Hz. Muhammed / Prophet Muhammad: As a model of Perfect Man in the works of Rumi.

SALON 2
Başkan / Chairman : Prof. Baha Tanman

HAŞİM KARPUZ; Evliya Çelebi’nin Ziyaret Ettiği Mevlevihaneler / The Mawlawi Lodges that Awliya Chelebi Visited
OMAR TADMORI; Trablus Mevlevîhânesinin Tarihi / The History of the Mawlawiyya Takiyah of Tripoli/Lebanon
KHALED TADMORI; Trablus Mevlevîhânesinin Mimarisi ve Restorasyon Projesi / The Architecture of the Takiyah al-Mawlawiya in Tripoli and Its Restoration Project
SAWSAN AGHA KASSAB; Yabancı Tarihçi ve Seyyahlar Gözüyle Trablus Mevlevîhânesi / The Takiyah al-Mawlawiya of Tripoli in the Memory of Foreign Historian & Visitors

SALON 3
Başkan / Chairman : Prof. William Chittick

FLEUR NASSERY BONNIN; Mevlânâ’nın Şiir Denizinde İnciyi Aramak / In Search of the Pearls in the Ocean of Moulana’s Poetry
VASIM MAMMADALIYEV; Bir Sufi Şiir Ansiklopedisi Olarak Mesnevî / Masnavi is a poetic sufi encyclopedy
GIUSEPPE SCATTOLIN; Sufi Metinleri Okumak Üzerine: İbn Farız ile Mevlânâ’nın Mistik Tecrübeleri / Reading Sufi Texts: Between Ibn al-Fârid's and Rumi's Mystical Experience
PILAR GARRIDO; Her nesnenin kökeni: harfler, kelimeler, sözler / The root of all things: letters, words, speech

SALON 4
Baskan / Chairman: Prof. Zeren Tanındı

MANDANA BARKESHLI Mesnevî Yazmalarının Tesbit, Tasnif ve Dijitalleştirme Projesi / Project of Identification, Cataloging and Digitization of Manuscripts of Rumi's Masnavi
TEVFIK SUBHANI; Divan-ı Kebir`in Mühim Bir Nüshası / An Important Manuscript of Dîwan-ı Kebîr.
SEYYED MOHAMMAD ALI ABHARI İran Meclis Kütüphanesi’nde Mevlânâ’nın Eserlerinin Yazma Nüshaları / The manuscript copies of works of Maulana in Majles Library I.R.Iran
AKBAR IRANI GHOMI Abdüllatif-i Abbasî’nin Nüshasının Tanıtılması / Introducing of Noskheye Nasekhey By Abdol latife Abbasi
KAZIM HADZIMEYLIC Bosna Hersek’te Nadir Mevlevi El Yazmaları Some Rare Mawlavi Manuscrıpts in Bosnia.

10.45 – 12.15

SALON 1
Başkan / Chairman : Dr. Burhan Köroğlu

CLARA JANES NADAL Yıldızların Dönüşünden Kelimelerin Dönüşüne / From the Spinning of the Stars to the Spinning of the words
NASROLLAH POURJAVADY Mevlânâ’nın Neynâmesi / Rumi's nay-nama
MOHAMED SAID AL MAWLAWI Mevlânâ’nın Düşünceleri ve Dönmenin (sema) felsefesi üzerine şahsî yorumlarım / A personal interpretation of Rumi’s Teachings and the Philosophy of rotation
IRA FRIEDLANDER Mevlânâ: Gizli Hazine / Rumi, The Hidden Treasure (Bir filim)

SALON 2
Başkan / Chairman : Prof. Pablo Beneito

GHASEM KAKAEI Vahdet-i Vücûd’a Dair Bir Mesnevî Beytini Muhtelif Okuma Arayışları / Surveying Different Readings of a Verse of Mathnavi on "Unity of Being" (Wahdat al-Wujud
VICTOR PALLEJA DE BUSTINZA; Mevlânâ ve İbn Arabî: Bir Ortak Doktrin ? Eşyânın Tabiatı üzerine Husbaniyye ve Sofistler / Mevlana Rûmî and Ibn 'Arabî: A shared doctrine? The “husbaniyya” and the “sofists” on the nature of reality
MOHAMED MESBAHI Mevlânâ’nın Tevhid Fikri / The idea of unity in Jâlâleddin Rumi
MULYADHI KARTANEGA Mevlânâ’nın Evrim Teorisi (Molla Sadra, Darvin, Bergson ve Ian Barbour ile Mukayeseli Olarak) / Rumi's Theory of Evolution (in comparison with Mulla Sadra, Darwin, Bergson, and Ian Barbour
SAFER AKHTAR ______________

SALON 3
Baskan / Chairman : Prof. Ali Köse

ERIC GEOFFROY Éva de Vitray-Meyerovitch (Havva Hanım) (1909-1999), Mevlânâ’nın Bir Fransız Şârihi / Éva de Vitray-Meyerovitch (1909-1999), Rûmî’s French interpreter
GRAY HENRY-BLAKEMORE Haylazlıklar ve Ümid: Hayatın Lütufları İçerisinde Mevlânâ’nın Gösterdiği Hakikatler / Self-Naughting and Trust: Truths Rumi Conveys Gradually Demonstrated through Life's Graces
PETER HANS CUNZ Avrupa Bağlamında Mevlevî Tarikatı / The Mewlana Order in an European Context
AMINA TESLIMA AL JERRAJI & MARIA DEL CARMEN NOZAL México’da Mevlânâ Kokusu / Scent of Mevlana in México
NATALIA CHALISOVA Rusya’da Mevlâna: Tercüme Öyküsü / Rumi in Russia: the story of translation

SALON 4
Başkan / Chairman : Doç. Dr. Necdet Tosun

NUR SARALAEV Mevlana’nın Orta Asya’daki Tesirleri / The Influence of Rumi in Central Asia
THIERRY ZARCONE Orta Asya ve Dogu Türkistan’da Mesnevi-yi Şerif / Masnawi in Central Asia and Eastern Turkistan
IBROHIM HAKULOV Mevlânâ’nın hayatı ve eserlerinin Özbekistan’da tetkik edilmesi / The Study of Rumi’s Life and Works in Uzbekistan
JAMAL KAMALOV Mesnevî’nin Farsça’dan Özbekçe’ye Tercümesi Üzerine / On the translation “Masnavi-i Manawi” from Farsi into Uzbek.
NODIRKHON KHASANOV Mevlânâ’nın Mesnevi’si ve Babarahim Meşreb'in 'Mebde-i Nur' isimli eseri / Masnawi and Babarahim Mashrab’s “Mabda-i Nur”


14.00 – 15.30

SALON 1
Başkan / Chairman : Dr. Thierry Zarcone

SACHIKO MURATA Çince İslam’da Sûret ve Mânâ / Form and Meaning in Chinese-language Islam
MUSTAFA ZAMAN ABBASI Bengal Tasavvuf Geleneğinde Mevlânâ’nın Görüntüsü / Rumi Viewed in Bengali Sufi Tradition
NATALIA PRIGARINA Mevlânâ’nın Mesnevîsinin Dîbâcesinin Bir Devamı Olarak Gâlib’in “Surme-i Çeşm” Mesnevîsi / Mirza Ghalib’s Mathnavi “Surma-i chashm” as tatabbu‘ (“following”) to the Mevlana Rumi’s Introduction to Masnavi
SHAHZAD QAISER Bilginin Metafiziği (Mevlânâ, İkbal ve Hace Gulam Ferid) / Metaphysics of Knowledge (Jalaluddin Rumi, Iqbal and Khawaja Ghulam Farid)
SAFİ ARPAGUŞ Ahmed Avni Konuk’un Mesnevî-i Şerif Şerhi’nde Hint Şârihleri / Masnawi Commentators from the Subcontinent in Ahmad Avni’s Commentary

SALON 2
Başkan / Chairman : Doç. Dr. Halil İbrahim Sarıoğlu

MOHAMMAD KHAJAVI; Muasır İnsan Üzerine Mevlânâ’nın Çalışmaları / Rumi’s Work on Modern Man.
SEYED MOHSEN EMADI Bir Buluşmanın İmkanı ve İmkansızlığı (Şems ve Mevlânâ) / Possibilities and Impossibilities of a meeting (Shams and Molana)
KERIM ZAMANİ; Mevlânâ’nın İrfanı / Mysticism of Rumi
MOHAMMAD ALI MOVAHHED Makâlât-ı Şems-i Tebrîzî’de bulunan bir Mektub Üzerine Yeni Bir Teklif / A New Suggestion Concerning a Letter Contained in Maqalat-i Shams-i Tabrizi.
JANIS ESOTS Şems ve Mevlânâ: İki Çeşit Fenâ Bulma / Shams and Mawlana: Two kinds of Annihilation

SALON 3
Baskan / Chairman : Prof. Nasrollah Porjavady

RUSMIR MAHMUTCEHAYIC Hâlidî Hikmette Aşk / Love in Perennial Philosophy
JAWID MOJADDEDI Tasavvuf Geleneğinde Mevlânâ’nın Yeri / Mawlana’s Place in the Sufi Tradition
ABU SYED GOLAM DASTGIR Dünya Barışı İçin Mevlânâ’nın İlahî Aşkı / Mowlana Rumi’s Divine Love for World Peace
KONUL BUNYADZADA Mevlânâ’nın Işığında Muasır İnsan / Modern Man in the Light of Mawlana
MUSTAFA AŞKAR Hz. Mevlânâ’da İnsan Anlayışı ve İnsanın Kozmik Âlemdeki Yeri / Rumi’s Understanding of Man and His Place in Cosmos

SALON 4
Başkan / Chairman : Doç. Dr. İbrahim Kalın

ABDULKARIM SOROUSH Mevlânâ: Adalet ve Cömertlik / Rumi; Justice or Generosity
SHARAM PAZOUKI Kılıçsız Öldürme: Mesnevi’de Manevi Cihad / Killing without sword; the concept of spiritual Jihad in the Mathnawi
JOSEPH LUMBARD Mevlânâ’ya Göre Cihad / Jihad According to Rumi
GERHARD BOWERING Klasik Tasavvufî Metinlerde Ahd-i Misak Günü / The Day of Covenant in Classical Sufi Writings
SYED FARID ALATAS Mevlânâ ve Aşırılığa Karşı Muasır Mücadele / Rumi and the Contemporary Struggle Against Extremism

15.45 – 17.15

SALON 1
Başkan / Chairman : Dr. Barihuda Tanrikorur

AMIR HOSSEIN ZEKRGOO; Semâ’ ve Mandala: Ezoterik Bir Yaklaşım / Sufi Sama and the concept of Mandala: An Esoteric Approach
WALTER FELDMAN; Mevlevî âyininde mistisizm, hafıza ve tarih / Mysticism, Memory and History in the Mevlevi Ayin
MUSTAFA ÇIPAN; Mevlevîliğin “Çile”li Şehrâhında Vücut Bulan “Üç Selîm”in Saltanat, Edebiyat ve Mûsıkîmizdeki Tezâhürleri (III. Selim-Şeyh Gâlib-Dede Efendi) / Three Selim in Mawlavi Way and Their Impacts on Government, Literature and Musics (III. Selim, Sheikh Ghalib and Dede Effendi)
NURİ ÖZCAN; Mevlevi Ayinlerinde Beste ve Güfte Özellikleri / The Charecteritics of Compositions and Texts of Mawlavi Ceremonies

SALON 2
Başkan / Chairman : Doç. Dr. Reşat Öngören

ARIF NAUSHAHI Sevâkıb-ı Menâkıb: Mevlânâ Üzerine Nâdir Bir Kaynak / Savakeb Almanaqeb: A Rare Source About Mevlana
OMAR BENAISSA Câmî’nin Nefehâtü’l-üns’ünün Mevlânâ Kısmı / The entry Rumi in the Nafahât al-Uns of Jâmî”
SAYFIDDIN RAFIDDINOV Mevlânâ ve Alişîr Nevâî / Mevlana Rumi and Alisher Navoi
ANNABEL KEELER Mevlânâ ve Beyazıd-ı Bestâmî: Mesnevî’de Menkıbevî Anlar / Rumi and Bayazid: hagiographical moments in the Masnavi-yi ma’navi
H. KAMİL YILMAZ Rûhû’l-Beyân’da Mesnevî / Masnawi in Bursevi’s Ruh al-Bayan

SALON 3
Başkan / Chairman : Doç. Dr. Süleyman Derin

HOTAM ASOEV Mevlânâ’nın Aşk Öğretisi ve Seyyid Ali Hemedânî Üzerine Tesiri / Mawlawi's Teaching on Love and Its Influence on Seyyed Ali Hamadani
ALICE HUNSBERGER Mevlânâ’da ve Nasır-ı Hüsrev’de Akıl Kavramı / The Concept of Reason (`Aql) in Rumi and Nasir Khusraw
ALADDIN BAKRI Mevlânâ ve Abdülganî Nablûsî / Mevlana in the Abdal Gani Nabulsi
CİHAN OKUYUCU Aşık Paşanın Garipnamesinde Mesnevi Tesirleri / Masnawi’s Impact on Ashik Pasha’s Garibnama.
RASHID JUMAEV Mevlânâ ve Peyvendi Rızâî / Mawlana Rumi and Payvandi Rizai

SALON 4
Başkan / Chairman : Prof. Ahmet Yaşar Ocak

AHMET ARI Mevleviliğin Kütahya’dan İstanbul’a Yolculuğu / The Journey of Mawlaviyya from Kutahya to Istanbul
EKREM IŞIN İstanbul’da Mevlevilik / Mawlaviyya in Istanbul
MEHMET AKKUŞ & NESİMİ YAZICI Mevlânâ Muhibbi Sultan V. Mehmed Reşad’ın Konya’ya Gönderdiği Mevlevî Heyetinin Günlüğü ( 4-12 Haziran 1912) / The Diary of Mawlavi Delagation sent by a Rumi Lover Sultan (V. Rashad) to Konya
SEZAİ KÜÇÜK Ortak Kader: Osmanlının Son Yılları Ve Mevlevilik / A Common Destiny: Last Days of Ottoman Empire and Mawlavi Order
MEHMET DEMİRCİ; Mevlânâ’nın 20. yüzyıl Türk fikir ve sanat adamlarına etkisi: Yahya Kemal Örneği / Rumi’s Impact on Contemporary Turkish Thinkers and Artists: The case of Yahya Kemal

Ara / Coffee Break

17.30 – 19.00

SALON 1
Başkan / Chairman : Prof. Cihan Okuyucu

İSMAİL YAKIT Mevlana’da Aşk Ahlakı / Rumi’s Ethic of Love
ROBERT FRAGER Mevlânâ: 21. Yüzyılın Mânevîyât Rehberi / Mevlana: Spiritual Guide for the 21st Century
SÜLEYMAN DERİN Mevlana’nin Mesnevi’sinde Psikolojik Yaklaşımlar / Psychological Aproaches in Rumi’s Masnawi
MICHAELA OZELSEL Mevlânâ’nın Felsefesinin Psikolojik Yönleri / Psychological Aspects of Hz. Mevlana’s Philosophy
NEVAD KAHTERAN Dönüşen İslam Çağında Mevlânâ’nın Aşk Felsefesi / Rumi's philosophy of Love in the era of U-turned Islam

SALON 2
Başkan / Chairman : Prof. Adnan Karaismailoğlu

HÜSEYİN HATEMİ Mevlânâ Düşüncesinin Evrenselliği ve İslâmîliği / Universality and Islamity of Rumi’s Thought
SYED REZAUL KARIM Mevlânâ’nın Küllî Akıl Kavramı / Rumi’s Concept of Universal Intelligence
YUSIF RUSTAMOV Mevlânâ’nın Düşünce Dünyası / The World of Thinking of Rumi
ADEM ESEN Mevlana’da İktisada Dair Görüşler / Rumi’s Thought on Economy
MEHMET DALKILIÇ Teolojik Sorunların Ele Alınmasında İyi Niyetlilik İlkesi -Mevlana’nın Bazı Klasik Kelam Sorunlarına Yaklaşımı- / The Principal of Good Intention in Aproaching to Theological Matters: Rumi’s approach to Classical Kelam Problems

SALON 3
Başkan / Chairman : Prof. Hasan Kamil Yılmaz

REŞAT ÖNGÖREN Mevlânâ’nın Osmanlı’ya Etkileri / Rumi’s Impact on Ottomans
NECDET TOSUN Mevlana ve Mevleviliğin Nakşbendi Kültüründeki İzleri / Rumi’s and His Way’s İmpact on on Naqshbendi Culture
MUSTAFA TATÇI Şabani Kaynaklarında Mevlana ve Mevleviler / Rumi and Mawlavis in Khalwati-Shabani Sources
MAHMUD EROL KILIÇ Ussakiler ve Mevlana / Rumi and Mawlavis in Khalwati-Ushshaqi Sources
NEZİH UZEL Son Mevleviler / Last Mawlavis

SALON 4
Başkan / Chairman : Dr. Omar Benissa

ERDOĞAN EROL Mevlevilikte Zikr Tesbihi / Rosary of Zekr in Mawlavi Order
BEKİR ŞAHİN Mevlevilikte Evrad Ve Dua / Awrad and Prayers in Mawlavi Order
ULDIS BERZINS Bizim Meclisimizde Birleşmek? / United ‘at our summits’?
ARIN ERMATOV Mevlana’nın Eserlerinde İnsan Düşüncesi / The Concept of Man in the Works of Rumi.
NASIR TAMARA; _____________


KONYA
MEVLÂNÂ KÜLTÜR MERKEZİ
11 MAY 2007

09.00 – 09.30

Protokol Konuşmaları

09.30 – 11.00

Başkan / Chairman: Prof. Mustafa Tahralı

YAKUP ŞAFAK Mesnevi tercüme ve şerhlerinin Türk kültüründeki yeri / The Place of Masnawi and Its Commentaries in Turkish Culture
SEMİH CEYHAN; Mesnevi’de Mana Düzeyleri: İsmail Rüsuhi Ankaravi’nin Mesnevi Tahkiki / The Degrees of Meaning in Masnawi: Anqaravi’s Commentary
BİLAL KEMİKLİ Mesnevi ve Türk İrfanı: Mesnevihanlık Geleneği Üzerine Bazı Değerlendirmeler / Masnawi and Turkish Gnosis: Some Thoughts on the tradition of Masnawi-Readers (Masnawihanlık).
AHMET GÜNER SAYAR Mesnevi Şarihi: Ahmet Avni Konuk” / Ahmad Avni Konuk: A Masnawi Commentator
CEMAL KURNAZ Ahmet Talat Onay’ın Eski Türk Edebiyatında Mazmunlar ve İzahı İsimli Ansiklopedik Eserinde Mevleviler ve Mevlevilik Kültürü / Mawlavis in Ahmad Talat Onay’s book called Enclopadia of The Names and Thoughts in Classical Turkish Literature

Ara / Coffee Break

11.15 – 12.45

Başkan / Chairman: Dr. Khaled Tadmori

NACİ BAKIRCI Konya Mevlevi Dergahı / Rumi’s Dergâh in Konya
GIUSEPPE FANFONI Semahane Mimari Tipolojisinin Tarihsel Evrimi / Historical evolution of the Sama'khana architectural typology
BARİHÜDA TANRIKORUR Mevlevi Sema’ının Bugün İhya Edilmesinde Unutulan Bir Temel Unsur: Semâhâne / The Major Missing Element in the Present Day Revival of the Mevlevî Semâ Ceremony: The Semâhane, Its Function and Architecture
İSMAİL KARA Hanya Mevlevihanesi / Mawlavikhana of Iraklio / Create
GÖKALP KAMİL Kıbrıs’ta Mevlevilik / Mawlaviyya Order in Cyprus

Öğle Yemeği / Lunch

14.00 – 15.30

Başkan / Chairman : Prof. Mehmet Demirci

MUSTAFA KOÇ Osmanlı’nın Son Döneminde Sultan Veled Üzerine Yapılan Bir Şerh: Halid Efendi’nin Işknâmesi / Khalid Affendi’s Ishqnama: A Late Ottoman Commentary on Sultan Valad.
HÜLYA KÜÇÜK Sultan Veled’in, Teozofik Tasavvuf Anlayışı ile Karışık Popülizmi / Sultān Walad’s Populism Mixed With a Theosophical Understanding of Sufism
İSMAİL GÜLEÇ Mesnevî’den bazı beyitlere tahmis yoluyla yapılan şerhler Commentaries on Some Masnawi’s Verses As Fifth Lines
HALİL İBRAHİM SARIOĞLU Mevlânâ’nın Rubâîlerinde Ölüm Teması / The Theme of Death in Rumi’s Quatrains

Ara / Coffee Break

15.45 – 17.15

Başkan / Chairman : Prof. Paul Ballanfat

HİCABİ KIRLANGIÇ; Divan-ı Kebir’de İmge ve Sembol / Symbol in Divan-ı Kabir
TURAN KOÇ ; Mevlana’nın Şiirinde Güzellik Tecrübesinin İfadesi / Expresions of The Experience of Beauty in Rumi’s Poetry
ERDAL BAYKAN Mevlana’da Aklın Sınırı ya da Cebrail ve Sidretül-Münteha / The Limits of Reason or Gabrael and Sidra al-Muntaha
EMİNE YENİTERZİ Mevlâna’nın İnsan, Melek ve Şeytan Üçgenine Dair Görüşleri / Rumi’s Thoughts on Man, Angel and Satan

12 MAYIS 2007 / 12 MAY 2007

10.00 – 11.30

Başkan / Chairman : Prof. Shams Freidlander

GÖNÜL AYAN Fihi MaFih’deki İktibasların Bir Değerlendirilmesi / An Evaluation of Some Quatations in Fihi Ma Fihi
MUSTAFA ÇİÇEKLER; Mevlana’nın Gazellerinde Bazı Mazmunlar / Some Implications in Rumi’s Lyrics
AYDIN ABBASOV; Mefkureciliğimizde Mevlânâ / Rumi in our Idealizm
METIN İZETİ; Hazreti Mevlana’nın Mesnevî‘sinde Hikmetin Kabul Edicisi olarak Kalb / The Heart: As a Receiver of Wisdom in Rumi’s Masnawi

Ara / Coffee Break

11.45 – 12.30

KAPANIŞ OTURUMU / FINAL SESSION

Başkan / Chairman : Mahmud Erol Kiliç

Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Ahmet Yasar Ocak
William Chittick
James Morris
Ekrem Işın
Nezih Uzel