The Sufi Doctrine of Union

NAT/GM, "Iran honors Attar Neyshabouri" - Press TV - Tehran, Iran
Saturday, April 12, 2008

Iran commemorates the national day of Faridoddin Attar Neyshabouri, a prominent Persian poet, theoretician of mysticism and hagiographer.

Iranian cultural officials will are holding a conference today in the city of Neyshabour, located in the northeastern province of Khorasan Razavi to honor the Persian poet.

Born in 1119, Abu Hamid Mohammad Neyshabouri was the son of a successful chemist and received an excellent education in various fields, including pharmacy. His achievements in the profession of pharmacy brought him the title of “Attar”, literally meaning The Pharmacist.

Eventually, he abandoned his pharmaceutical business and traveled widely, visiting Kufa, Mecca, Damascus, Turkistan and India. He met with Sufi leaders of the time and returned to Neyshabour to promote and expound Sufi ideas.

Under the influence of Sufism he started composing poems and teaching literature and his mystic theories. He also composed stories from historical chronicles, collections of anecdotes and all types of literary forms.

Attar died at the age of 70 in 1189 during the Mongolian invasion of Neyshabour. There is a well-known story regarding his death suggesting: “Attar was taken prisoner by a Mongol during the invasion of Neyshabur.

Someone soon came and tried to ransom him with a thousand pieces of silver. Attar advised the Mongol not to sell him for that price. The Mongol, thinking to gain an even greater sum of money, refused the silver.

Later, another person came, this time offering only a sack of straw to free him. Attar then told the Mongol to sell him, for that was all he was worth. Outraged at being made a fool, the Mongol cut off Attar's head.”

Attar's most celebrated work is Manteq-ul-Tteir (The Conference of the Birds), a poem consisting of 4,600 couplets. The poem uses allegory to illustrate the Sufi doctrine of union between the human and the divine.

His other important writings include Tazkerat-ol-Olia (Biographies of the Saints), a prose work about the early Sufis.

Elahi-Nameh (Book of Divinity), Asrar-Nameh (Book of Mysteries), Mosibat-Nameh (Book of Suffering), Bolbol-Nameh (Book of Nightingales), Javaher-Nameh (Book of Jewels) and Khosrow-Nameh (Book of Kings) are among the numerous books he wrote in verse and prose.

[Picture: Attar's Mausoleum in Neyshabour, Iran].

Accomodating VIP Guests

Staff Report, "New accommodation planned for Mevlana’s VIP guests" - Today's Zaman - Istanbul, Turkey
Saturday, April 12, 2008

Konya: Prominent guests visiting the Mevlana Museum will be hosted at a new venue planned for the central Anatolian city of Konya, home to the museum and the grave of 13th century Sufi saint Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi.

The offices of Konya's Karatay Municipality have been relocated, and the 7,000-square-meter plot and buildings the municipality formerly occupied, the Karatay Houses, have been handed over to the Mevlana Museum.

The Konya Provincial Culture Directorate and Mevlana Museum Directorate are planning to establish a cultural center on the site, which will feature deluxe accommodation in the form of the Çelebi Evi (house).

The Mevlana Museum, which draws more than 1.5 million visitors each year, currently has no facility for hosting VIP guests.

Museum Director Yusuf Benli said the area behind the museum building and the Karatay Houses will become part of the museum, adding that statesmen and distinguished foreign guests will be offered accommodation there.

Benli also emphasized the particular importance of such facilities during the Şeb-i Arus (Reunion with God) festivities, commemorating Mevlana's death, often attended by the president, prime minister, state ministers and other VIP guests. He added that the project also includes tourism-related activities.

Venues representing Turkish and Konya culture are also planned, including a typical "Konya house," to which entrance will be by appointment only, adding that this will also function as accommodation for tourists.

He added: "We will establish a familiarization center for Konya and its districts where we will make use of digital images and audio to depict many historical, cultural and natural beauties of the city.

"Visitors will simply have to visit some of these places after they see them there."

Also planned are a Konya Museum restoration and conservation laboratory, exhibition halls and a center where traditional Konya handicrafts will be displayed.

One of the region's most-visited sites, the Mevlana Museum hopes to spearhead efforts to reinvigorate local tourism.

[Picture: Britain's Prince Charles visiting the Mevlana Museum].

Not an Ordinary Sufi Saint

By A. Srivathsan, "Three sites and one story" - The Hindu - Chennai, India
Sunday, April 13, 2008

What geography separates, history connects. North of central India, Sasaram, Jaunpur and Gwalior are connected by the story of one soldier who almost became a great emperor.

Sasaram is at its organic best. The main road and bus stand are like a sugar lump that attracts fleas and ants.

The town spreads, swarms and wraps around the lines of movement. But all the hectic activities are only one row deep. Behind the road front, people trickle into smaller roads and disappear into the distant skyline of tiled houses.

The remaining few sit on the main road and wait for the packed trucks to carry them home. But Sasaram about 500 years ago must have been lot more cared for and lot more important.

For those who may not believe it, a walk down the less promising smaller road would be surprisingly fruitful. At the end of the road, a large lake unfolds and a magnificent monument in the centre possesses the eye.

The symmetry of Sher Shah Sur’s tomb is impressive. The island-like setting dramatises the monument and one can instantly sense its self-importance. The single causeway leading to it adds to the intrigue. Sasaram (152 km from Patna) was the birthplace of Sher Shah but he could never stay there permanently or for long till he returned dead.

Pursuing an ambition

Sher Shah’s forefathers came from Afghanistan and served the Lodi kings of Delhi and their generals, gained land, power and became influential jagirdars in Bihar. Though his father was a jagirdar, Sher Shah, or Farid as he was earlier known, was not to enjoy wealth and power so easily.

Sher Shah had an uncomfortable relationship with his father and stepmother and had to leave Sasaram. He may have struggled to regain his family property but steadfastly nurtured an ambition to be a great ruler. He relentlessly and tactfully pursued it and succeeded at the age of about 54.

North of Sasaram, on the great Grand Trunk Road, which Sher Shah developed later, is the crowded small town of Jaunpur.

A remarkably beautiful bridge with fifteen pointed arches and built in the 15th century brings people to the town. It mills with people and vehicles. There is not much space to leisurely look at either the decorative pavilions strung along or the river Gomti. The bridge continues as a bazaar inside the old town.

Jewellers and sari shops front the street while the fort wall behind turns away. The road twists and turns and leads to the Atala Masjid. The slant pylons, the double storied cloisters and the small but proportionate courtyard is clearly pre-Mughal. The columns, along with their brackets, reflect the usage of Hindu architectural elements.

In contrast, the Jami Masjid nearby is big with a wide-open courtyard, imposing rectangular pylons and a huge arch opening into the prayer hall. The architecture of the masjids and the hammam inside the fort are Turkish in character. This is understandably so since Jaunpur was the provincial capital created by the Turkish Sultans of Delhi.

Jaunpur (58 km from Benares) was established in the 14th century and was the provincial capital. It grew to be an important city and a great centre of learning. The dejected Sher Shah came to Jaunpur to take up his studies.

His pursuit of knowledge was as passionate as his other pursuits. He emerged as a man of letters. This ability, along with his uncanny military skills, gained him access to the Mughal army and later to the Kings of Bihar. He managed to become the tutor of Jalal Khan, the heir to Bihar’s throne. When Jalal Khan’s parents died, Sher Shah became the virtual ruler.

hrough careful alliance and marriages he was able to strengthen himself and take on the mighty Mughals. When Humayun attacked, he was defeated and chased up to the borders. Sher Shah took over Agra and the Mughal kingdom.

His rule lasted only for a short period of five years. Within this short span of time, Sher Shah was able to put in place an intelligent State structure, efficient administration and gained the reputation of being a just ruler. Everything was in his favour except two things. One was his intolerance towards a Sufi saint and the other was his unexpected death.

Rich and elaborate monument

South of Agra is Gwalior. The imposing fort built by the Tomar kings in the 15th century stands tall on a mountain top.

Below the fort, as you cross the lanes and turn past the main road is a large open space. The dense buildings that encircle it exaggerate the openness.

The space is unusually active for a monument site. It is filled with people playing, old men in serious discussions, ecstatic singing and incense burning in front of the tomb and many homeless people sleeping on the tombstones.

In the centre of the garden is a Sufi monument, dedicated to Sheik Muhamad, that is unusually rich and elaborate. Sufis normally eschew ostentatious display of wealth, but this one is special.

The tomb is Mughal in style with a large dome in the centre and chatris around. The verandah that surrounds is adorned with well-carved jallis. The octagonal chatris at the corner, the square chatris in the middle and the chajjas running all around belongs to the classic hybrid style of Akbar’s period.

Sheik Muhamad Ghauth was not an ordinary Sufi saint. He belonged to the order initiated by Shah Abdullah Shattari and had a great appeal and a large following.

For reasons that are not well known, Sher Shah did not favour him. May be, for the orthodox Sher Shah, the popularity of Ghauth was either irritating or unacceptable. Whatever the reason, Sher Shah’s oppression made him uncomfortable and he moved to Gujarat.

Ghauth returned to Delhi after the political climate changed and died there. He was buried in the tomb built by his special disciple Miyan Tansen in the 16th century.

Ghauth mentored Tansen and was responsible for Tansen’s conversion to Islam. Next to the grand monument of Ghauth is an unassuming marble pavilion that shelters Tansen’s small tomb.

[Picture: Sheik Muhammad Gauth’s tomb at Gwalior. Photo: A. Srivathsan].

"The Cry of the Reed": Central to the Play is Faith

By Iris Fanger, "THEATER REVIEW: Religion, relationships have a place in ‘The Cry of the Reed’" - The Patriot Ledger - Quincy, MA, USA
Friday, April 11, 2008

Boston: Turkish-American playwright Sinan Unel’s drama about the Middle-Eastern conflict, ``The Cry of the Reed,'' is as complex and confusing as the events of the Iraqi War, but in its mirroring of reality it is impossible to forget.

Despite some speechifying and overwriting, the play has been served by a fine production, directed by Daniel Goldstein who has gathered an excellent cast led by the distinguished, Turkish-born actress, Cigdem Onat.

The plot follows two stories, the first about a pair of journalists, the Canadian, Philip (Darren Pettie), and the Turkish-American woman, Sevgi (Lisa Birnbaum), who are kidnapped by Muslim extremists.

The scenes of Philip and Sevgi’s captivity are played out at stage right while we follow the second story opposite, where Sevgi’s American lover has come for help to her mother, Ayla, a Sufi leader.

Eugene Lee’s masterful stage design of ruined doors that open for entrances and exits enhances the rough action of the play.

Ayla is a follower of the 13th century mystic poet, Jalal al-Din Rumi, who preached the practice of love. The brutality of certain scenes, in contrast to the conversations in Ayla’s home, are framed by whirling dervishes, who believe they connect into the universe by their mystical spinning.

The Sufi religion, one aspect of Islam, is based on tolerance and a oneness with God. In contrast, the terrorists of Unel’s play are men who care nothing for life, nor for the lives of those they consider infidels, i.e. non-Muslims. They excuse their excesses, including beheading of the captured men and women, as acts in defense of their religion.

Central to the play is faith and how it is claimed as exclusive property by the various religions that divide the human race.

Ayla has come to faith after a heart-rending loss, leaving behind her life and marriage for the peace she has found in Rumi’s teachings. Sevgi and Josh are atheists, relying on their own desires to steer them. Philip is part-Jewish, which makes his capture especially dangerous.

One additional plot strand is the estrangement of mother and daughter. Sevgi and Ayla have not communicated for more than 10 years when the play begins.

Unfortunately, much of the dialogue is given over to speech-making. The people on stage tend to talk at each other, until one wonders who is listening. Unel also emphasizes one personality trait in each of them, Josh’s dependence on loving Sevgi; Sevgi's self-centeredness, Ayla’s deaf ear to cries for help.

The exception, and the most appealing person on stage, is Hakan, the reformed thief, who has dedicated his life to Ayla, his redeemer. Actor Amir Arison gives him a sense of humor about himself, and an ingratiating manner of dedication to the people he loves, as well as a human flaw that he takes delight in revealing.

As Ayla, Onat has the most difficult role, which she brings to life in moving fashion by the second act when she becomes a woman bereft at the prospect of losing her daughter. Pettie delivers a striking performance as a man who is alternately disciplined and brave until he breaks under his torture. Birnbaum could be less shrill as the young woman no longer in control.

The ending brings neither safety nor resolution, not unlike the dilemma we as a nation face by our presence in the Middle East.

Unel has worked too much from the headlines. However, by the second act climax of his play, one could not help but be engrossed by his vision.

THE CRY OF THE REED at the Stanford Calderwood Pavillion , Boston Center for the Arts, presented by The Huntington Theatre Company; through May 3. Tickets $15-$55. 617-266-0800 or http://www.huntingtontheatre.org/index.aspx

[Picture: From left, Sevgi (Lisa Birnbaum) and Philip (Darren Pettie) bid their time under the watchful eye of an Iraqi insurgent (Rafi Silver) who watches their every move in the Huntington Theatre Company's World Premiere production of "The Cry of the Reed" by Sinan Ünel. Photo by T. Charles Erickson].

The Symbol of Love

By Deb Miller, "CU's Rumi Society invites public to ‘Evening of Tranquility, Love and Culture'" - Ithaca Journal, Ithaca, NY, USA
Friday, April 11, 2008

The Cornell Rumi Society has organized “An Evening of Tranquility, Love and Culture: Living Rumi” at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 15 [today] in the Memorial Room of Willard Straight Hall, Cornell University.

The event will include live Whirling Dervish performances along with a short live Turkish Sufi Music Concert.

The performances will be followed by the short lecture “The Symbol of Love for All Times: Mawlana Jalal ad-din Rumi.”

Ithaca residents who visited the land of Rumi, Konya in Turkey, will be talking about their experiences. There will be an audiovisual presentation about Rumi's philosophy and Konya, Turkey.

Samples of Turkish appetizers with recipes from the land of Rumi will served to the guests at the end of the event.

The Strongest Weapon

By Amanda Hamedany, "CULTURE: Martyrs and Scholars Meet in the Middle" - IPS News - Rome, Italy
Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Washington D.C., USA: In an age when suicide bombings and religious and ethnic riots comprise the bulk of the evening news, it seems as though compassion and compromise are more elusive than ever.

Buddha said that there are three poisons in this world: greed, anger, and ignorance. These poisons have the capacity to destroy individuals -- and societies -- unless they are checked by justice (the cure for greed), compassion (the cure for anger), and knowledge (the cure for ignorance).

Knowledge is perhaps the strongest -- and most difficult to wield -- weapon in the modern age. However, as vicious stereotypes increasingly replace truths and individuals are more likely to fear than to learn from others, it is the one of which society is in most need.

On Tuesday, the Muslim call to prayer could be heard from within the sanctuary of the Washington Hebrew Congregation in Washington, DC. Inside, men in kipahs and women in hijab sat with their families learning about interfaith dialogue.

The means of their education was a play entitled "Noor" by Ambassador Akbar Ahmed, the Ibn Khaldun chair of Islamic Studies at American University, former high commissioner of Pakistan, and one of the world's foremost teachers of interfaith dialogue.

In Arabic, noor means light. In Islam, it is one of the 99 names for Allah. In Ahmed's play, it is the name of an 18-year-old college girl abducted from the bazaar in Anytown, Middle East.

In the aftermath of Noor's disappearance, we meet her three brothers: Abdullah, a Sufi mystic who believes that prayer will bring Noor home; Ali, a modernist and a lawyer who believes that the surest way to bring Noor home safely is to go through the authorities; and Daoud, a disenchanted doctor who sees no way to bring Noor home except through violence.

These three brothers represent the three different, at times overlapping, at other times conflicting, branches of modern Islam. In the face of the encroaching West, each brother clings to his beliefs in hopes that it will deliver him.

"Islam is under siege," the actor playing Daoud shouts from the stage. "It is time for every Muslim to stand up and say 'no more'!"

Daoud's sentiments are echoed across much of the Middle East, especially in areas such as Palestine and the failed states of Afghanistan and Iraq. In these cultures, known by some scholars as "panic cultures" because of the perpetual state of anxiety in which they exist due to a lack of confidence in the future, the West is seen as having brought all three of Buddha's deadly poisons without any means of recourse.

With no means to combat what is seen as an invasion, an increasing number of individuals living in these desperate societies resort to violence. As Daoud shouts across the stage that the loss of his family's honour to the "Crusaders" must be avenged, it is alarming to think that this is a reflection of some of the sentiments Ahmed has heard during his many trips to the Middle East.

Ali, the middle brother, clings to his ideas of fair institutions and a modernised society as he looks to government officials to solve his family's woes. However, he soon realises that the institutions in which he places his faith barely exist - corruption and the self-interest of officials stain the establishments founded to bring justice to the people. Ali discovers that his ideals are exactly that - ideals. Disillusioned, he finds himself in the position of a lonely David versus the Goliath of injustice brought by the foreign "liberators".

Abdullah, the eldest brother, finds solace in his Sufi faith. He believes that, although the occupation of his state shows the negative side of the West, there are good people in the United States and Europe.

He believes that everyone can find hope and comfort in prayer.

"This is an amazing story that deals with the very real conflict that I have seen throughout the Middle East," says Frankie Martin, who recently spent a couple of months traveling through the Muslim world with Professor Ahmed. "Everyone feels the crisis, but everyone feels it in a different way. This humanises the struggle being experienced in the Muslim world."

And humanising can lead to understanding. Daoud is not simply a crazed radical - he is a brother, a man, helpless to defend his sister, his family, and his way of life. Ali is not ignorant of the world. He is simply disillusioned that the establishments for which U.S. citizens and Muslims alike fought so hard have failed to protect even the most innocent of individuals: his sister. Abdullah is not a cloudy-headed mystic, but a man of faith who must cling to his beliefs or else lose them forever.

"It is the ordinary Muslim that prevents us from becoming a slave nation with his blood," Daoud shouts from the stage of the synagogue sanctuary, in front of two oversized tablets bearing the Ten Commandments.

Even though there are countless individuals across the Middle East who feel helpless and angry like Daoud, hopeless and disillusioned like Ali, and confused and anxious like Abdullah, this presentation of "Noor" is a step towards combating the poisons.

At the discussion panel immediately following the play, numerous notables from different religious communities -- Muslim, Jewish, and Christian -- sat in a semi-circle on stage to discuss the future of inter-faith dialogue.

"The Prophet Mohammad once said that the ink of the scholar is more sacred than the blood of the martyr," said Rabbi M. Bruce Lustig as he opened the discussion. "We have seen that tonight."

Indeed, the ink of the scholar has planted the seed of knowledge -- the strongest weapon against the poisons that threaten to ravage the modern world.

[Picture from the Book: al-AsmA'ul-HusnA The 99 Beautiful Names of Allah by M.R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, The Fellowship Press, Philadelphia, PA].

A Country of Sufi Type Islam

By Afzalur Rahman Khan, "A tendency to be criticized" - Weekly Blitz - Dhaka, Bangladesh
Thursday, April 10, 2008

Bangladesh Election Commission in a recent move are trying to incorporate some electoral rule where the contesting candidates shall be bared from starting election campaign after offering prayers in various holy shrines of saints, which has been in practice for past several decades.

It may be mentioned here that, Bangladesh, being a country of Sufi type Islam, has placed holy shrines and spiritual leaders in extremely important positions in personal and national lives.

But, for some years, a number of radical Islamists forces, including some communist, leftists and atheists are constantly conspiring to move the nation to different direction and convert the moderate Sufi Muslims in to extremist and militant Muslims with the ulterior motive of giving Bangladesh a bad name of radical nation.

(...)

Later a number of bombs were exploded in such holy places, one of which was also exploded at the Holy Shrine of Shahjalal, a famous Muslim saint in the Eastern part of the country.

British High Commissioner Anwar Chowdhury also fell victim of such attack and narrowly escaped dangerous plot of assassination.

Since such attack, various intelligence agencies are trying to identify the culprits behind such attack on a Bangladeshi born foreign envoy, who is not only working hard in further strengthening the existing relations between Dhaka and London, but also seen as a symbol of pride for the entire nation.

(...)

From the recent moves of the Election Commission in stopping people from seeking divine blessings from the Saints and Shrines before running in any election, evidently proves that, such elements inside the EC are no better than those militants of JMB or radical Islamist groups.

(...)

[Picture: "Nakshi Kantha", a traditional stitched quilt of Bengal. Photographer: Toufiq Parag. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladesh].

Words of Gratitude

By Mohamed El Hebeishy (words and pictures), "In pictures: Sudan's whirling dervishes"- BBC, UK/Sudan
Wednesday, April 9, 2008

The weekly dervish ceremony near the capital, Khartoum, is considered one of Sudan's main tourist attractions, explains BBC News website reader Mohamed El Hebeishy.

Sufism is associated with both Sunni & Shia Islam. Those who practice it are called Sufis, or Dervishes.

Every Friday dervishes gather an hour before sunset around some of the big mosques in Khartoum and Omdurman. A circle is formed and the ritual begins.

The ceremony starts with the Madeeh - chanting words of gratitude to the Prophet Mohammed. The audience interacts with the chanters, dancing to the rhythms of the percussion instruments.

Then comes the Zikr, in which the dervishes repeat the word 'Allah' many times.

The dervishes start whirling around inside the circle. With the music, the fragrance of burning frankincense, the endless repetition of religious chants, and the dizziness, they go into a state of trance.

According to ancient belief, Sufism is about the purification of the soul in pursuit of inner peace.

The whirling dance came from the Mevlevi Order in Turkey, and is just one of the physical methods used to try to reach religious ecstasy.

While the more well known Mevlevi dervishes wear white robes, Sudanese dervishes are often dressed in green and red.

Sufism started in Baghdad, and spread to Persia, India, north Africa, and Spain.
Another feature of the Sudanese dervish is the wearing of beads. The dervish elder pictured here has 1,000 beads wrapped around his neck — quite a weight to carry.

The Sufi order known as Tariqa, Qadiriyyah is one of the most widespread in Sudan & north Africa. It was established by Abdul Qadir Jilani (1077-1166 AD), a native of the Iranian province of Gilan.

This mausoleum in Omdurman belongs to one of 19th century Qadiriyyah leaders, Hamad Al Nil.The ceremony is not all about devotional chanting, it is also a social and communal gathering where food is served for the needy.

Growing hair is a common practice among the dervishes, some keep it in dreadlocks while others just let it loose.

Although Sudan is in many ways a male-dominated society, women find themselves a place in the crowd. They gather in one corner wearing bright, colourful robes.

At the close of the ceremony, just before sunset, one of the dervishes walks round the gathered audience with frankincense - which is considered to be a type of blessing to the faithful.

[Click the title of the article to see all the eight pictures].

A Source of Peace

By Melanie M. Sidwell, "Sufi master to visit Longmont Muslim and speak in Denver" - Longmont Times-Call - Longmont, CO, USA
Friday, April 11, 2008

Series promotes interfaith dialogue: Sufi Master speaks in Denver

A Sufi master, Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani of the Naqshbandi Order, will speak in Denver this weekend during a free interfaith event about how religion is a source of peace, not conflict.

Kabbani is the keynote speaker during this weekend’s Abrahamic Initiative, an interfaith program sponsored by St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral in Denver with support from The Denver Foundation and Iliff School of Theology, said Greg Movisian, chairman of the steering committee.

(...)

Movisian, who helped to coordinate the Abrahamic Initiative, called Kabbani “a powerful and articulate speaker on this topic of peace from the Sufi tradition.”

“We’ve been focusing (recently) on the relationship between religion and violence and religion and peace,” Movisian said. “It’s just a very basic question: Does religion foster violence or peace? Does it do both? And under what conditions and circumstances?”

The initiative, which began in 2001, promotes interfaith dialogue.

Past topics include women in Islam, Iraq, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, and the problem of evil and violence in holy texts such as the Bible, Torah and Quran.

“We’re not going to solve the Middle East crisis,” Movisian said, “but people in Denver are talking with each other about caring and understanding each other rather than seeing each other as the enemy.”

[Picture: Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani of Fenton, Mich., addresses a crowd while visiting the Islamic Center of Yuba City, Calif., in 2006. Photo: Chris Kaufman/Appeal-Democrat file].

Tested in Sufism

By Erwida Maulia, "Govt wants lecturers to proctor nat'l exams" - The Jakarta Post - Jakarta, Indonesia
Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Jakarta: The government is recruiting university lecturers to proctor national exams for elementary, junior and senior high school students.

The lecturers will join so-called "independent watchdog teams" at the provincial and regency/municipal levels. They will be responsible for preventing the kind of large-scale cheating that has dogged the exams for years.

To finance the establishment and activities of the teams, the government has allocated Rp 57.9 billion (US$6.3 million) out of a total Rp 572.85 billion set aside for the national exam program.

"We're now calculating the number of teams and staff members needed for the entire nation; and we've started recruiting some lecturers," chairman of the National Education Standards Agency, Djemari Mardapi, said here Tuesday.

Djemari said the independent watchdog teams only existed at the provincial level last year, while this year teams would be available at the regency/municipal level.

Team members will oversee the exams, including supervising the photocopying of exam papers, storing the papers and distributing them to schools. They will also be responsible for managing the answer sheets.

The National Education Ministry hopes to have rectors of state universities coordinate each team at the provincial level, with lecturers from state and private universities as members of the teams at all three levels.

(...)

Students in the languages program will be tested in Indonesian literature, foreign languages and anthropology; and students in the Islamic program will have additional tests on Koran exegesis, science of hadith and Sufism.

National exams are used to determine the eligibility of final year students to pass on to the next level of education. They have over the years been fiercely criticized by the public.

Former Jakarta State University rector Winarno Surachman told The Jakarta Post last week that students' exam scores could not represent their actual competency.

Education expert Soedijarto said the exam was an "unfair system" as it was applied to all students in the country regardless of the disparities in the quality of education they had enjoyed.

[Picture of the Medan's Masjid Raya (The Great Mosque) from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indonesia

Map of Indonesia from: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/id.html].

Sufi Poetry Transforms the Reader

[From the French language press]:

Du 17 au 24 avril 2008, Fès abritera la 2ème édition du Festival de la culture soufie.

Par Ilham Khalifi, "Faouzi Skali : «Remettre au goût du jour la culture soufie»" - Aujourd'hui Le Maroc - Casablanca, Maroc - vendredi, 4 avril 2008

Fez will host the 2nd edition of the Fez Festival of Sufi Culture, from the 17th to the 24th of April.

The article is an interview to the President of the Festival, Mr. Faouzi Skali, on the place of Sufism in today's society, its role in our globalised world, its much needed spiritual dimension.

This second edition of the Fez Festival of Sufi Culture coincides with the celebration of twelve centuries of the foundation of Fez.

"The site of the event, the Madrasa Bouânania, the Batha Museum… they assert our cultural and historical heritage" Mr. Skali said.

"The choice of the theme "East-West" will create a link with diversity. This is a way to banish this caricature image that is given of Islam" he said.

"We are a culture, a religion of sharing, tolerance, love, mutual help… For this new edition we call new artists, thinkers, scientists, from other continents, other cultural backgrounds" said Mr. Skali.

"The Festival is a tribute to the human being, a tribute to the wisdom that is at the heart of the Islamic civilization" he added.

About the role of the classical Sufi poetry, Mr. Faouzi Skali said: "Sufi poetry transforms those who read it in depth. It is a symbolic form of the human spiritual adventure.

Like all the great works of humanity, this way of thinking is just as vital in today's world than it was in the thirteenth century".

[Visit the Fez Festival's website here: http://www.par-chemins.org/].

The Step Away from Oneself

By Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, "Nature of love is union, nature of ego is separation" - India Post - Union City, CA, USA
Wednesday, April 9, 2008

I want union with Him and He wants separation;
Thus I leave what I want so that His wish can come true.
- al-Ghazzali

The spiritual path begins when the heart is awakened to His eternal pres-ence. The Beloved looks into the heart of His lover and in that instant the lover knows the secret of divine union, that the lover and Beloved are one.

The glance of the Beloved carries the consciousness of His eternal presence. The Sufis call this glance the moment of tawba, the turning of the heart. The inner awareness of His presence turns the heart away from the world and back to God.

He calls us back to Him with a momentary glimpse of His face. This glimpse is love's most potent poison that begins our dying to the world, our journey back to God, for "How can I look at the world around me, how can I see it, if it hides the face of my Lover?" (Tweedie).

The inner awareness of union awakens us to the pain of separation.

When the heart knows that in its innermost essence it is united with God, we are confronted with our own isolation, with the knowledge that we are separate from God. It is only because we have been given a glimpse of union, had a sip of this divine wine, that we are made conscious of separation. Without the knowledge of union, how could we know that we are separate?

Without having experienced the bliss of His presence, how could we know the agony of our own isolation? The pain of longing is born from the glance of God. From the beginning of the path, the opposing states of separation and union are engraved into the heart and psyche of the spiritual wayfarer. The consciousness of union becomes the pain of separation that reminds us of our real Home.

The heart's remembrance of its Beloved is kept awake by the fire of longing. We long for Him whom we love, and the greater the love, the greater the pain of longing. Love and sadness become the substance of our inner existence.

In the words of 'Attar:
The pain of love became the medicine for every heart,
The difficulty could never be solved without love

Union and separation, love and longing, sweetness and despair, the polarities of the mystical path leave us bewildered and confused. Why are we left here behind the veils of separation when we know that separation is an illusion? Why are we caught in the prison of duality when our heart knows the deeper truth that 'everything is one'?

The more we meditate and pray, the more we remember Him Whom our heart loves, the more alienated we feel in a world that appears to have forgotten Him.

Somewhere we know what it is like to be loved beyond measure, and here we are left in a world where love is too often equated with demands and co-dependency. The eternal question of "Why are we here?" has an added poignancy when we have felt the infinite nearness of our real Home.

He Whom we love has abandoned us and only the pain of separation reminds us that somewhere He is 'closer to us than our very neck vein.' We carry the pain of remembrance in honor of our love, yet only too often we feel betrayed.

How can such a Beloved desert us? How can such a Beauty veil Her face? Doubts bombard us as the mind tries to convince us of the stupidity of our quest: to look for what you cannot find... to long for an invisible Beloved who has only brought you pain...

In many ways consciousness crucifies us on our search. The subtleties of torture with which the mind can torment are known to most travelers on the path of love. Underlying these difficulties is the fact that while the nature of love is to draw us to union, the nature of the ego is separation.

Love comes from the heart, the innermost core of our being which is our connection to the Absolute. Love is "the essence of the divine essence" and so dynamically pulls us towards oneness. But the ego is born out of separation.

The ego's existence is defined by being different: "I am different from you." The path towards union with God takes us away from the ego with its sense of separate existence and individual identity. This is why the Sufi says that the first step towards God is the step away from oneself.

The ego and the mind belong to a dimension of separation and duality. The ego exists through its sense of individuality and separation; the mind only functions through duality: through comparison and differentiation.

Love calls us to come away from ourselves and enter the state of oneness where only the Beloved exists.

[Picture from: http://www.goldensufi.org/articles.html].

A Space for Non-traditional Voices

By Bettye Miller, "Indian Scholar to Discuss Myths of Islam" - UC Riverside - CA, USA
Monday, April 7, 2008

Riverside, California – Asghar Ali Engineer, an Islamic scholar and activist from Mumbai, India, will discuss “Myths About Islam” in a public lecture on Friday, April 18 at UC Riverside

Engineer will spend the week of April 14 at UCR, where he will meet with students, faculty and community activists.

He will conduct a faculty-student workshop, “Teaching about Islam: Issues and Challenges,” on Thursday, April 17. The workshop and lecture are free and open to the public.

Engineer also will conduct an interfaith dialogue, “Learning about Islam,” organized by the Inland Communities Chapter of the Fellowship of Reconciliation [for details of all events, see below].

Trained as a civil engineer, Engineer currently heads the Institute of Islamic Studies and Centre for Study of Society and Secularism in Mumbai. The center is a research institute and think tank that promotes interfaith dialogue and harmony in India.

He is the founding chairman of the Asian Muslim Action Network, an 18-year-old organization that brings together individuals, groups and associations of Muslims in Asia who subscribe to a progressive approach to Islam.

He has won national awards in India for promoting interfaith activities, including the Communal Harmony Award from the government of India.

In 2004 he was awarded the Right Livelihood Award (widely considered the “alternative Nobel Prize”) by the Swedish Parliament for promoting the values of religious and communal co-existence, tolerance and mutual understanding in South Asia.

“Dr. Engineer is unique not only in the breadth of his expertise, but also in bridging the divide between scholarship and activism,” said Farah Godrej, assistant professor of political science who is coordinating Engineer’s visit to UCR.

“Moreover, as a member of the minority Bohra Muslim community, Dr. Engineer can shed light on the ways in which alternative or marginal voices – other than the ‘mainstream’ Sunni or Shia strains of thought – can be heard within Islam.”

Engineer’s scholarship on Dawoodi Bohra and Sufi Muslims suggests that a deeper understanding of Islamic thought must include a space for non-traditional voices, Godrej said.

The selection of an Indian Muslim scholar to speak with students and faculty also seeks to shed light on the uniqueness of South Asian Islam, and on the ways in which Islam has evolved in its growth beyond the Arab world, Godrej said.

Engineer has written more than 40 books and many journal articles on topics related to Islam, such as the role of women, Islamic liberation theology, and Islam and modernity.

Among his books are “The Origin and Development of Islam,” “Islam and Its Relevance to Our Age,” “The Islamic State,” “Rights of Women in Islam,” “Sufism and Communal Harmony” and “Islam in South and South East Asia.”

His papers include “Developing Theology of Peace in Islam” and “The Concept of Compassion in Islam.” He also has lectured at numerous universities in the United States, Canada, Europe, South and Southeast Asia, and Australia.

The Islamic scholar’s visit is sponsored by the UCR Department of Political Science, Department of Religious Studies, Office of the Dean of the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Public Policy Initiative and the Mellon Grant Speaker Series on “Gandhi and his Legacy”

[Visit the Institute of Islamic Studies and Centre for Study of Society and Secularism in Mumbai, India http://ecumene.org/IIS/csss.htm]

[Visit Professor Farah Godrej at UCR, Department of Political Science http://www.politicalscience.ucr.edu/people/faculty/godrej/index.html]

Details:
Asghar Ali Engineer, an Islamic scholar and activist from Mumbai, India, will discuss “Myths About Islam” in a public lecture on Friday, April 18, at 4:15 p.m. in Bourns Hall B118 at UC Riverside.

He will conduct a faculty-student workshop, “Teaching about Islam: Issues and Challenges,” on Thursday, April 17, at 2:15 p.m. in Humanities and Social Sciences 2212. The workshop and lecture are free and open to the public. Parking costs $6.

Engineer also will conduct an interfaith dialogue, “Learning about Islam,” organized by the Inland Communities Chapter of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, at 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 16, at the Downtown Library Auditorium, 3581 Mission Inn Ave.

For information contact the chapter at 951-682-5364 or redwoodgirl@sbcglobal.net

Touching Hearts

Staff Report, "Of comebacks and causes" - The Times of India - India
Thursday, April 10, 2008

Delhi: The last time Chitrangada Singh was in town, she was helping out hubby Jyoti Randhawa at a golf camp for kids.

This time, she came for an art do that was organised in support of underprivileged children. Kiran Modi* and Timothy Bruce hosted this art do, and many from the art frat participated in the exhibition.

The evening was livened up by some live sufi music that everyone found very soulful.

Another feature of the do that touched everyone’s hearts was a song that a bunch of underprivileged children presented.

[Chitrangada Singh is an Indian film actress who is best known for starring in the critically acclaimed 2003 film Hazaaron Khwaishen Aisi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazaaron_Khwaishen_Aisi

The movie's title is taken from the couplet of Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirza_Ghalib]

* http://tinyurl.com/5ucbcq

Wells, Faqirs and Shrines

By Manzoor Qadir, "Roaming Around Lahore Takias no more: Lahore robbed of its tradition" - The Post - Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Lahore: Long, long ago, a tourist visiting Lahore saw sprawling, green and blossoming gardens all around the city and exclaimed, "Lahore is the city of gardens".

It appears that he had somehow failed to visit Lahore's Takias (rest houses). Had he cared to observe the kaleidoscopic range of Takias in Lahore, he would have declared otherwise.

(...)

In the good old days, Takias had great importance. All the doors of the city were closed just after the evening as a rule. Those travelers, who arrived at night could not enter city. So they use to stay in these Takias at night, where Takia attendants used to serve them well. The gates of the city were opened when the dawn broke.

Then these travelers entered the city. Besides, a new comer with no relative in the city used to stay in these Takias free of cost.

The duration of the stay at these rest houses was not limited as the person could stay here as long as he wished though he had to prove that he harbored no ill intentions. It is roughly estimated that Lahore had over one hundred Takias, most of which were named after the resident Faqirs as well as Sufi shrines.

During day time, elders and youth of adjacent areas used to pass their free moments or leisure in these Takias. Every Takia had a well of cold water, a Shrine or living Sufi, arena, a mosque, a bathroom and a sufficient place to take rest or to play indoor games were the main features of Takia.

Here people took baths and enjoyed Chausar (a game played with shells), chess and playing cards sitting on rugs. Thus these Takias were like clubs. These Takias served as community centres too because marriages, funerals and functions were held here. Punchayits were held for deciding minor disputes.

Every Takia had an arena for exercise where people use to take exercise and learn the art of wrestling. In modern terminology, these Takias were health clubs. The people here also loved to drink Sardai (a traditional drink of Lahorites that is made with milk, almonds and some seeds).

Gradually, time changed and Takias too were affected by the change. In no time, Bhang addicts and other types of dubious characters occupied these Takias. Elite of the city gave up sitting in these Takias and Takias visitors were not regarded as good persons. It did not happen to just one or two Takias but the majority of the Takias got afflicted.

(...)

However, a few old people still cherish the memory of these Takias when they had some significance and were considered the best place for the out door activities not only for the young people but also for the elderly people.

Talking to The Post, Muhammad Umar recalled that the senior citizens of the city and its adjacent localities used to hold special Qawali functions at the shrines of Takias and this practice still continues at some Takias.

He said that the Takias were the best choice for the locals to accommodate the guests and to serve them during community functions.

Takia was also a point where the locals gathered for offering prayers, Fateha for the departed souls, exercise, indoor games and Qawwali but alas, the city had been deprived of this institution too like other cherished tradition, he regretted.

Takias loss has robbed the city of its much-prized possession, he ended.

The Beautiful One

By Ahmet Kurucan, "‘The Garden of Truth’ by Seyyed Hossein Nasr" - Today's Zaman - Istanbul, Turkey/New Jersey, USA
Monday, April 7, 2008

I had previously heard him talk about various subjects on a number of different occasions, but this time it was different. "I will surely continue with my scholarly studies, but I will no longer be open to offers about writing books on this or that subject.

"I don't think I will work on another book. This is my last book," he said as he was promoting "The Garden of Truth." His is the first name or one of the first names that come to mind in relation to Islamic scholars living in the Western world or in connection with Islam in general or Sufism in particular.

Think about the seriousness with which academic work is conducted in the West, particularly in social science. He has gradually climbed all these academic steps to attain this position.

Almost all of his works are translated into Turkish, even before they are put into Persian. Yes, we are talking about Seyyed Hossein Nasr and will review his book, "The Garden of Truth." The subheading of the book elaborates on its subject: "The Vision and Promise of Sufism, Islam's Mystical Tradition."

What is the meaning of being human? Who are we? Why are we here? These are the questions that have intrigued people since the beginning of mankind. Answers have been sought and according to them, lifestyles have been developed.

In plain language, Nasr tells us, "Everybody should ask this question to themselves." His entire book revolves around this centuries-long question and Nasr, together with readers, seeks an answer to it. Sometimes, he gives us encyclopedic information; at times, he holds the hands of his readers and takes them on a journey into long past corridors of time.

Time and again, he leads readers to the depths of the heart or ushers them into the domain of reason. The most striking fact is that whether you are guided by the heart or by reason, these journeys always take place in a state of sobriety, free from intoxication.

This is a short journey, but it is sufficient to disrupt our mental and intellectual patterns. In this respect, it is considerably exhausting. And eventually, this journey comes to an end at the point that one decides "to become someone or to become no one."

Actually, what makes this journey exhausting is that we tend to stray from the intrinsic line, i.e., the road which is created by God and delineated by divine books and prophets, he says, stressing the fact that truth does not change from one individual to another or from an era to another.

He explains that he voices this unchanging truth using the Sufism's language in the book. This also explains, though a bit indirectly, why the book is titled "Garden of Truth."

In his book, Nasr provides an explanation for why almost all distinguished people who created everlasting works of calligraphy, painting, music or other fine arts or literature in the Islamic world all emerged among Sufis.

He describes Sufis as the people who feel the manifestation of God's attribute of "Cemil" (the Beautiful One) deep in their minds, hearts, bodies and consciences. This manifestation is reflected first in thought and then in art.

Nasr suggests that those who do not think in a positive way, those who do not show the reflection of God's name of the Beautiful One or of the Face of God (Cemal) or who do not see everything in the micro to macro cosmos from the perspective of "what they denote" not from the perspective of "what they seem to be," as Bediuzzaman puts it, cannot produce such works.

"The degree of this manifestation is directly proportional to the level of the person's interest in Sufism and how s/he has progressed based on this interest, the ranks or states s/he has achieved," he notes.

The book has four parts and six chapters. The first chapter focuses on the meaning of being human and the questions of who we are and what we are doing here, as we have already stated.

Part two starts with the second chapter, which is titled "Truth." It consists of four chapters. The second chapter explains how knowledge illuminates and delivers us from the bondage of ignorance. The third chapter is titled "Love and Beauty," and discusses the liberating, calming, attractive, consuming and other qualities of love, beauty and peace with emphasis on their human and divine aspects. The fourth chapter is titled "Goodness and Human Action," and focuses on the human ability to conform to divine will and norms. Finally, the fifth chapter shows us how to reach the garden of truth. As you might guess, this is explained with the help of a number of Sufi terms.

Part three shows us how to access the center, i.e., Sufism, and gives an account of the progress Sufism has made over time and what it can offer us. Nasr makes comparisons between past and contemporary Sufi understanding and practices in the Islamic and Western worlds.

Part four actually consists of two appendices that aim to give a short summary of the history of Sufism to the uninitiated. These appendices contain good, concise information about Sufis, from the first to the contemporary. They are particularly useful in that they present all this information in neatly organized categories.

No doubt this book will be a leading reference for those who take an interest in mysticism and Sufism. Despite his insistence on not writing another book, we can hope that this prolific writer will change his mind and publish more in the future.

"The Garden of Truth -- The Vision and Promise of Sufism, Islam's Mystical Tradition" by Seyyed Hossein Nasr, HarperOne, hardcover, 256 pp, 11.84 pounds in hardcover, ISBN: 978-0060797225

The Values It Says It Upholds.

Yemen Times/Neue Zürcher Zeitung-Qantara.de, "Learning from the Enemy" - Translated from the German by Michael Lawton- Sana'a, Yemen/Zürich, Switzerland
Issue: (1144), Volume 18 , From 7 April 2008 to 9 April 2008

Geert Wilder's film "Fitna"
A calculated political provocation: politicians from both the Arab world and the EU have already protested against Wilders' anti-Koran film

For months, the information had been circulating that the Dutch right-wing populist politician, Geert Wilders, had made a film denouncing the Koran for its allegedly fascist character. Now the film has been made available on the internet – and, says Angela Schader, it largely tells us things we've read before.

Geert Wilders's "Fitna" was surrounded by mystery and argument until the last minute. No public broadcaster was prepared to show it; the website which was to have hosted it was suspended by its provider on March 22nd; a British internet portal copied the way "Fitna" was presented, and then declared the whole thing to be an April joke.

Last Thursday, the film was available for viewing briefly on www.liveleak.com, before the site's operators took it off after they received threats. But the video is already being distributed from other websites.

Wilders restrains himself from carrying out provocations which could be seen by Muslims as open sacrilege. At the start and at the end of the film, he shows the cartoon of Mohammed with a bomb in his turban (ticking dangerously in this version). The cartoon has recently been reprinted frequently following death threats against the cartoonist. And when at the start of the final section a hand begins to rip out a page of the Koran, the screen is blacked out – and we are told that the sound we can hear is merely that of a page being torn out of the telephone book.

Minor manipulations
This manipulative way of dealing with the Koran is more subtle than obviously destructive gestures. Of course the same old suras are quoted in connection with jihad and intolerance – whereby, in two cases, it is instructive to compare the quotations with the original.

In verse 60 of the eighth Sura, which calls for mobilisation against the unbelievers in order "to cause them to fear", the Arabic word is "turhibuna."In the context of the period in which the Koran was written, the translation given above would be quite adequate, but Wilders uses an English translation which blows the whole thing up so that it reads, "to strike terror – to strike terror into the hearts (of the enemy)."

Verse 56 of the fourth Sura paints an unedifying picture of the tortures which await unbelievers in hell: "See, We will burn in fire those who deny Our signs. As often as their skin is cooked, We will give them another skin, so that they will taste the punishment." In Wilders' version, the words "we" and "our" are given without capital letters, so that, when the quotation from the Koran is shown on screen directly following pictures of charred and lacerated terror victims, the words cease to those of God, but are put in the mouth of the Muslims.

Is this just an insignificant detail? Not if one knows the warning given by God to the Prophet: "It is for you to preach, and for Us to draw up the reckoning." (Sura 13, verse 40; there are similar formulation in Sura 3, verse 20 and Sura 64, verse 12).

By making these points, it is not intended to hide the aggressive potential which readers who are more used to the New Testament will identify in the Koran. But where just five verses are made to stand for the spirit of the entire text – as is the case with Wilders' film – then nuances begin to matter.

But it does not seem that Wilders is interested in making distinctions in his approach to religious material, otherwise he would have not have spoken in an interview for the "Spectator" magazine of "Afghan or Sufi or Pakistani law."

There never has been a Sufi justice system, and it is somewhat ironic that Wilders brings Sufism – the most open version of Islam, which is entirely directed towards the spiritual dimension – into connection with his much-criticised Sharia.

It's also amusing when he says in the same interview: "It would be good if there could be a new Koran, as there is a New Testament" – as if the rabbis, dissatisfied with the hard line of their holy book, had sat together and magicked the Christian Saviour out of a hat.

One-eyed
In the same way, "Fitna" – the Arabic word has a relatively wide range of meanings, ranging from "discord", and "dissension", via "civil war", to "conjuring" or "seduction" – cannot be seen as a serious attempt to deal with Islam, either on the religious or the social level.

The film, which claims to argue in favour of enlightened Western attitudes, in fact takes its cue fairly precisely from the propaganda works of the Islamists; the only difference is that it uses the familiar anti-Muslim polemic.

None of the old polemical images are missing here – there's the hate preacher and his fanaticised public; there are the video images of terror attacks, the beheading of a Western hostage or the shooting of an Afghan woman; there's the poisonous polemic against the Jews; there's a postcard montage featuring a collection of mosque buildings with the caption "Greetings from the Netherlands."

Context and differentiation are missing
What is missing (and what was not to be expected from Wilders) is contextualisation and differentiation. There is no mention of the fact that the majority of Muslim immigrants in Europe, whose increasing numbers are underlined with threatening statistics, take a position which is far distant from the kind of understanding of the their religion which is presented here.

(...)

A film which mixes together the nastiest excesses of Muslim fundamentalism and extremism cannot stand for "Islam" as a whole, as the film itself suggests it does. It deals with a phenomenon which, as every informed reader knows by now, is of relatively recent origin and is primarily fed by political and social grievances: a deep frustration which is turned disastrously into a fatally bigoted and reactionary way of reading the religious texts.

It goes of course without saying that this extremism has to be fought with all available effort. Whether all available means should be used: that is a debate which, if it were held seriously and with integrity, would be one way in which the West could demonstrate the values it says it upholds.

A Sufi Belongs to the Sect of God

By Farida Khanam, "A Mystic Faith Soaked In Universal Love" - The Times of India - India

Monday, April 7, 2008

Sufism is the form which mysticism has taken in Islam. The term Sufism embraces the philosophy and practices in Islam which aims at direct communion between God and man. The Islamic values of love, peace and kindness, embodied in the Prophet of Islam were embraced by Sufis. They devoted their lives to spreading these virtues all around the world.

The original intention of Sufism was to deliver man from slavery to worldly passions by destroying the power of the flesh and uniting souls to God by spiritual ties. The Sufi movement's origins lie in asceticism. In one sense self-denial was a reaction to the worldliness of some of the faithful who were absorbed in the pursuit of worldly goals.

Sufis felt the need to help the poor and the helpless. During the reign of the Abbasids a rich minority enjoyed all the comforts of life, while the majority lived as poor peasants and labourers. Sufis reiterated that God was all-loving and all-merciful; that God wants people to love one another, be merciful and compassionate. They raised such questions as how we are justified in expecting love and compassion from God, while we have nothing to offer to our fellow- men but hate and ill will.

Sufis spread the message of harmony, brother-hood, peace and friendship. The Sufis hold that despairing of love and mercy is a greater fault than committing sin.

For, as we learn from traditions, everything in life is mortal, except for God and good deeds. All worldly things are characterised by impermanence. Good deeds alone can bring us salvation.

The Qur'an says: "Do not despair of My mercy. God turns to those who repent and surrender themselves to Him" (39:53).

Shaykh Nizamuddin Awliya devoted his life in saving mankind from sin and suffering. He believed that, in the eyes of God, no deed was of greater significance than freeing fellow human beings from their misery and helping the helpless.

Once someone asked Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti what was the highest form of religious devotion in the eyes of God. He replied: "Develop river-like generosity, sun-like bounty and earth-like hospitality".

Love is most important. Sufis conceive God as the beloved and man as the lover. According to Ibn Arabi, no religion ranks higher than the religion of love. Love is the source and the essence of all creeds. Therefore, a Sufi thinks that all the evil thoughts which breed dislike, hatred and religious division and prejudice must be replaced by love.

When he has come to his last stage of enlightenment, his self is annihilated in the complete sense. This is the stage when he comes closer to God, and naturally he becomes a servant to God's people.

He rises above vested interests, above all biases and predilections. A realised Sufi has no other interest but his love of God and world brotherhood.

Love of God is a process that purifies the human personality. That is, the soul comes to realise itself, in the sense that the latent natural potential of the soul is ultimately awakened and, in the words of the Qur'an, it becomes the 'serene' or 'pure soul'.

A heart filled with God's love will necessarily be filled with the love of other human beings, all the creatures of God. As Bayazid Bistami says: "A Sufi belongs to the sect of God".

The writer is a reader in the Islamic Studies department of Jamia Millia Islamia.

Turkey's Version of Islam

By Avni Dogru MBA, "Turkey: Ruling a nation through fear" - Today's Zaman - New York/Istanbul, Turkey
Saturday, April 5, 2008

The recent bid by Turkey's chief prosecutor to have the Constitutional Court shut down the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is the latest manifestation of Turkey's extremist secular elite's fear of losing control over the republic.

It was a shock for many and the majority of Turks viewed it as a step backward in Turkey's democratization process and an embarrassment to the country's image. However, it actually is more of a milestone along the way to a mature, exemplary democracy.

A relatively young democracy, Turkey has come a long way through tumultuous times since its birth in 1923.

Turkey's founder, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, was an unusually insightful leader, reforming his nation by changing its entire trajectory of development toward a goal of modernization and increased civil rights in an era when tyrannical waves were sweeping the world; namely, Mussolini in Italy, Hitler in Germany and later Franco in Spain. Yet, after his death Turkey faced three major military coups and even endured the execution of one prime minister and two ministers by a military junta following a coup in 1960.

While the Turkish military was once the main tool used to interrupt the democratic progress in Turkey, the judicial system has also been targeted for manipulation by Turkey's extremist secular elite. Without a fully independent legal system, Turkish courts have been used to suppress unwanted ideologies -- 26 political parties have been shut down by the same judges since 1954.

Today, Turkish democracy is at a very different point than even a decade ago and a military coup is no longer likely. The governing party, the AK Party, has done much to put the military under civilian control with the undeniable support of the EU. However, the judicial system continues to be manipulated by Turkey's elite, who pose as secularists, but represent the protectionist and autocratic ideologies of the 1930s.

They have become very uncomfortable with the AK Party's attempts to remove the headscarf ban at universities, as well as the party's support of the first civil constitution project. Since the current constitution was prepared by five generals after a coup in 1980, a civil constitution is a necessary step forward for Turkish democracy.

It is of note that Turkey adapted its secularism from the French "laïcité" in 1937. Unlike Anglo-Saxon secularism at play throughout America and most of Europe, which promotes freedom of thought and religion, laïcité is associated with obstructed religious freedom.

In February 2004, the French parliament banned religious symbols such as the Islamic headscarf, the Christian cross and the Jewish skullcap in public secondary schools. This law created a major social rift in France and was considered an audacious leadership move by many in secular countries around the world.

In Turkey's case, although it is not banned by the Constitution, the Constitutional Court relied on only a lower court's ruling after a coup in 1997 to enforce a ban on women wearing headscarves in universities.

To be sure, Turkey implemented a ban far more radical than the French. In France, it is still possible to wear headscarves at universities and private secondary schools, yet these basic rights were taken away from Turkish women without any checks and balances.

What many people don't know is that Turkey's version of Islam is not a threat to secularism in Turkey, as it is strongly tempered by the social integration of Muhammed Jelaluddin Rumi's philosophy of tolerance and Sufism.

This non-exclusionary leaning on the part of Turks makes for a healthier practice of the religion throughout the country compared with the rest of the world.

No matter what is shown as the reason to shut down the AK Party, the deeper political motives are quite different and hidden. Turkish society has been going through major social changes in the last decade, causing tension between Turkey's marginal elite, who see themselves above everyone and prefer the status quo and autocracy, and the rest of the Turkish citizens, who want more freedom and rights. Globalization and an open society threaten the 1930s protectionist policies.

As a result of the new economic boom, the fortified conservative middle class wants to have a say in the country's future. Meanwhile, Turkey's marginal elite is trying in every way possible not to share power. The root source of the fighting is this shifting power from the marginal elite to the people on the street.

In the past, the motto of "saving secularism" as an excuse to hoard power has always worked. But, if there was a real threat to secularism in Turkey, the results of a comparative study done by the Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV), a leading Turkish think tank, in 1999 and late 2006 would show it.

The study shows that from 1999 to 2006, the percentage of Turkish citizens who would favor a Shariah-based religious regime dropped from 21 percent to 9 percent. In the same period, the percentage of women wearing a headscarf decreased by 9 percent even though this choice of dress became more visible in larger cities due to migration.

All democracies go through a maturation stage and face similar challenges.

Even though the chief prosecutor's bid against the AK Party challenges Turkish democracy in the short run, Turkey is not the same country that it was 10 years ago. The majority of Turks are now aware that their democratic gains are at stake with this bid. Accordingly, there is growing public sympathy for the AK Party.

Recent polls show the AK Party's approval rating has jumped from 47 percent in the July 2007 elections to between 60 and 70 percent after the recent court case. Turkey's elite is mired in so much fear that it does not even realize how much it is helping the AK Party gain power.

[Map from: US Department of State, Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/3432.htm#political].

Actions Speak Louder than Words

By Yousuf Bhuvad, "Naqsbandia Foundation for Islamic education celebrates Mawlid un Nabi Conference" - NFIE - Chandler, AZ, USA
Monday, April 7, 2008



The Naqsbandia Foundation for Islamic Education [NFIE] celebrated the 5th annual Mawlid-un-Nabi Conference of the Chandler Community Center in Chandler, Arizona on March 29th, 2008.

A large number of the diversified Muslim community in the Phoenix metropolitan area attended this spiritual event.

The program started with the Quranic Recitation by Imam Didmar Faja who is the Imam of the Albanian American Islamic Center. Mohammed Bilal Siddiqui recited Hamd and Naat in the praises for Allah and his beloved prophet (PBUH).

The children from the Arizona Cultural Academy presented the choir reciting verses and poetry in the praise of Allah and his prophet (SAWS). Imam Muaz Redzic, Imam Islamic Center North East Valley introduced the theme of the Mawlid. The theme this year was the love for the prophet(PBUH).

The guest Naat reciter, Al-Haj Noor Mohammad Jarral, was one of the highlights of the Mawlid. He won the hearts of the audience by his Naat and Hamd creating a spiritual experience and serenity never seen before.

Dr. Ahmed Mirza, the secretary of NFIE, talked about the mission of the Naqsbandia Foundation for the Islamic education and how it has grown in the past few years.

The keynote speaker Shaykh Sayyed Muhammad bin Yahya Al-Hussayni Al-Ninowy, once again touched the hearts by his eloquent talk on the subject matter of love for the prophet Mohammed (SAWS).

The key message is that if we truly love the prophet (PBUH), we need to show it by our actions and not by words as actions speak louder than words.

Shaykh Sayyed Mohammed also conducted a questions and answers session with the audience covering Islamic Shariah and Fiqah.

Noor Mohammed Jarral, recited few Naats followed by Salat-o-Salaam and prayers by the Shaykh. The program ended with thanks and gratitude by Arif Kazmi for all the volunteers who helped make the event successful.

[Visit the NFIE website: http://www.nfie.com/].