Spiritual Chivalry in the Tariqa Rahmania

[From the French language press]:

La cinquième édition du Colloque international sur le sufisme organisée sur le thème de "Culture et musique" a été inaugurée dimanche dernier à Tizi Ouzou.

Par Malik Boumati, "Focus sur la tariqa Rahmania" - La Tribune d'Algérie - Algérie - vendredi 12 décembre 2008

The fifth edition of the International Symposium on sufism, organized around the theme "Culture and Music" was inaugurated last Sunday in Tizi Ouzou.

Academics and researchers from more than fifteen countries, mainly Muslims, met to discuss "Spiritual Chivalry in the Tariqa Rahmania".

They came from Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, India, Tunisia, Morocco, France, Belgium, Senegal and several other countries.

Alchemy of the Heart

By Mariam Elias, "Ibn Arabi's wisdom celebrated at international conference" - Daily News Egypt - Cairo, Egypt
Tuesday, December 16, 2008

In celebration of the life and times of Andalusian mystic philosopher Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi (1165-1240), the sage’s enthusiasts gathered at the Gomhuria Theater last Saturday for the inauguration of the international conference “Ibn Arabi in Egypt: Crossroads of East and West.”

With a belief about the urgency of revisiting Ibn Arabi’s work, the National Library and Archives, Al-Azhar University and the Spanish Embassy collaborated in organizing the event, promoting Ibn Arabi’s heritage within a contemporary context and casting an outlook on his spiritual and intellectual influence in Egypt.

“This celebration attempts to revive a striking moment in the Islamic thought and history that developed the relation between the east and west,” Ambassador of Spain Antonio Lopez Martinez said.

The conference featured several in-depth seminars and discussions, featuring scholars from Egypt, the UK, Syria and Lebanon, and tackling numerous subjects including Ibn Arabi’s work on the Arab culture, his visit to Egypt, his contribution to Arabic poetry and the various dimensions and connotations of his mystical philosophies.

According to Martinez, in the midst of the world’s economic crisis and domination of the persistent dreams for development, there should be a mull over the ideas of great thinkers like Ibn Arabi.

Likewise, Ahmed El-Tayeb, head of Al-Azhar University, explained that the hegemony of values like materialism and individualism has caused the current economic and cultural recession. For that, valuable texts like Ibn Arabi’s should be rethought as it promotes passion and unity with the universe. It also act as a unifying tool between the western and eastern cultures.

This idea of the individual’s unity with existence or “Wahdat-ul-Wujood” is one of the main inspirational concepts of Ibn Arabi — a notion that stimulated most of his readers to discover a distinctive spiritual path.

Saber Arab, chairman of the National Library and Archives of Egypt, and Dr Denis Gril praised the iconic figure, describing him as one of the few scientists whose thoughts helped several conflicting subjectivities to diminish.

“We need to research in the fixed values that improve the human status, these sayings are like the permanent remnant,” Gril told Daily News Egypt. “We need to go back to these thinkers who were able to combine between the human and religious point of view as thought and wisdom put things in their right places.”

Ahmed Al Sawy’s performance in the opening ceremony with his oud was a trance. Working on Sufi music since his undergraduate years at the High Institute for Arabic Music, Al Sawy has been researching Ibn Arabi for eight years now. Since then, he was influenced by Ibn Arabi’s “The Interpreter of Desires” (Turjuman Al-Ashwaq) from which he extracted five poems for his performance, composed especially for the event.

“It was a golden epic of thought in the Arab world. There were openness and acceptance of knowledge from every thought,” said Ramon Blecua, the cultural counselor of the Spanish Embassy in Egypt, explaining that the conference is a symbolic act to recreate the past.
For Blecua, the contemporary reading of Ibn Arabi is now imperative for a spiritual and mental growth. He was greatly influenced, for example, by the notion of experiencing knowledge through the heart (alchemy of the heart).

“Knowledge without passion is satirized as it remains isolated in one’s head,” commented Blecua.

Without pretentiousness, attendances from all over the world held a deferential appreciation to the iconic figure. “We are very appreciative of our Islamic heritage,” said Blecua, explaining that several institutions, foundations along with the Andalusian encyclopedia are working on the Spanish knowledge and perception towards the Andalusían heritage.

Surprisingly, in the early 80s, books of Ibn Arabi were burned by some of his critics at the Al-Azhar University. “What can be more intolerant than burning books?” commented Blecua, explaining that the university’s host to the closing ceremony, shows how the leading institution of Islamic thought acknowledges Ibn Arabi as a prolific thinker.

The conference will continue its activities online for the next couple of years and is translated into three languages.

For more information about Ibn Arabi and the conference, visit http://ibnarabicairo.info/index.php?lang=english

Through His Teachings

GK News Network, "Ameer-e-Kabeer’s (RA) role highlighted" - Greater Kashmir - Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India
Sunday, December 14, 2008

Srinagar: The president Shah-e-Hamdan Welfare Trust, Dr Nazir Ahmad Dhar, Friday highlighted the role of Ameer-e-Kabeer (RA) Mir Syed Ali Hamdani in bringing Islam to Kashmir.

Addressing the gathering at Shah-e-Hamadani’s shrine at Khankah-e-Moula, he said the Sufi brought revolution in the valley in 8th century through his teachings.

Essentially an Oxymoron

By Syed Mansoor Hussain, "Moderate Muslims" - Daily Times - Lahore, Pakistan

Monday, December 15, 2008

It is an historical fact that no state has been able to suppress terrorism that is based on a territorial dispute without finding an acceptable political solution. Once a cycle of violence starts, it only escalates and positions on both sides of the conflict become hardened with time

Every time a bunch of terrorists with Muslim names blows up something important anywhere in the world, everybody starts looking for moderate Muslims. The reason is that there is a general consensus that ‘moderate’ Muslims can somehow counter this phenomenon of “Islamist” terrorism.

I have often wondered what moderate Muslims looks like and stand for. For this reason I started to think about whether there were ‘moderate’ followers of other religions.

Having lived in the US for more than three decades, I count many Catholics as good friends. But a moderate Catholic I never found, either they were practicing Catholics or non-practicing Catholics, but Catholics nevertheless. Many of these Catholic friends had stopped attending mass or confessional; some were divorced and almost all believed in birth control, some even in a woman’s right to choose. All of these would essentially become reasons for excommunication but none of them had been so treated by the Church.

Concerning Protestants, they have such a dizzying array of denominations that any outsider would have to spend a lifetime figuring out the doctrinal differences between them. In spite of a wide array, there is no such entity as a moderate Protestant, at least I never heard of or met one of them. Here it is important to point out that the term ‘fundamentalist’ was initially used to describe some of the more literalist among the Protestant denominations.

About the Hindu physicians that I worked with closely and became friends with, their willingness to eat meat was always a matter of some interest. The saying among us residents (junior doctors) went like this: when a Hindu doctor first comes off the boat, he is often a complete vegetarian. Some in a year or so start visiting KFC, and in a few years even move on to a hamburger if not a medium-rare steak. Yet all of them remain Hindus. The fact that they were willing to consume meat did not in any way make them ‘moderate’ Hindus.

As far as my Jewish friends were concerned, there was an entire range for them. At least Judaism is formally divided into different categories with the reform Jews on one end and the orthodox and the Lubavichers at the other. But I never met somebody I could call a ‘moderate’ Jew.

Muslims also have many different doctrinal groupings and these range from the very conservative to the less conservative, and if we include those inclined towards Sufism, then perhaps even bordering on the heterodox. However, all of them would insist that they are Muslims and only Muslims and resist being called moderate.

The point essentially being that moderation in religion is essentially an oxymoron. Nobody believes only moderately in whichever religion they belong to, either they believe or they do not. However, in all religions, there are people that might hold political opinions that could be labelled conservative, moderate or liberal.

Returning to the question of terrorism, almost all terrorist movements during the last century and some into this century have been movements of national liberation or parts of some such movement. Many leaders of these ‘terrorist organisations’ went on to become legitimate leaders of their countries after independence. Even today, India is faced with many separatist movements. But for those movements that involve the disputed territory of Kashmir, most terrorist activity in India is not being initiated or perpetuated by Muslims. And the Indian record in Kashmir is not such that India can claim moral high ground in that conflict.

After 9/11, it became quite fashionable to conflate many different movements of national liberation into one amorphous international enemy of civilisation. The Russians, the Israelis and the Indians were only too happy to jump on this bandwagon. The subsequent US occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan only made matters worse for Muslims. But for Al Qaeda, which at this time is more like an international anti-US franchise as International Communism once was, most terrorism including that perpetrated by Muslims is aimed at achieving a particular political goal. Be it Kashmir, Palestine, Chechnya, Afghanistan or Iraq; and for the Tamils, Sri Lanka.

It is important to make a few observations. First, any organisation or political entity that kills ordinary citizens and non-combatants to achieve its goals is horribly wrong. Second, interference in the affairs of one country by its neighbour(s), especially when it comes to fomenting terrorist activity, is just not acceptable. Third, terrorism rarely is successful in achieving political goals since the violence perpetrated frequently alienates the very people whose political support the terrorists need.

Frankly, non-violent agitation has proved much more successful in this regard.

It is an historical fact that no state has been able to suppress terrorism that is based on a territorial dispute without finding an acceptable political solution. Once a cycle of violence starts, it only escalates and positions on both sides of the conflict become hardened with time.

After sixty years, the positions on all sides of the Kashmir problem have become quite fixed and there seems to be no way out of the existing impasse.

Even if things get better in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kashmir and Palestine, we as Muslims will still have to confront fringe movements that wish to impose an austere version of Islam in our countries. That will then be our problem and when such a time comes upon us, surely we will see a lot more of moderate Muslims, moderate not in terms of religion but rather in terms of politics.

This was well demonstrated in the elections earlier this year when the MMA Islamist alliance was routed, even in its strongholds.

My message then to those in the west looking for ‘moderate’ Muslims is: take care of the Palestinians, the Kashmiris, the Iraqis, the Afghans and the Chechens and then you will have so many moderate Muslims coming out of the woodwork that you won’t know what to do with them.

Syed Mansoor Hussain has practised and taught medicine in the US. He can be reached at smhmbbs70@yahoo.com

A Long Journey

By Alokparna Das, "Different pitch" - Express India - India
Sunday, December 14, 2008

Women qawwals have fought a long battle for recognition

At a recent India-Pakistan cultural programme, a traditional qawwali session saw the Pakistani all-male qawwali troupe perform face-to-face with the all-women qawwali troupe from Delhi, led by noted qawwal Chanchal Bharti.

As she concluded her concert to a rousing applause, a beaming Bharti was congratulated by her accompanying artistes as well as her ‘rival’ group. For Bharti, however, awards and accolades are but a reminder of what a long journey it has been.

“Preserving an age-old tradition like qawwali requires a lot of hard work and dedication and things become more difficult if you are a woman in a so-called man’s profession,” she says.

Traditionally, qawwali is deemed fit for only the male voice. Thus, finding acceptability has always been a daunting task for the women vocalists who choose to perform this genre. One of the first women qawwals, Prabha Bharti, had once told this correspondent that organisers were initially apprehensive and many saw the female qawwal as nothing more than a prop for the main programme.

Bharti, who has been performing for the last 22 years, shares late Prabha Bharti’s sentiments. “When I fought a conservative family to take up qawwali-singing as a profession, it was a battle half-won. After that initial hurdle there were many objections raised by even fellow male qawwals, some of whom doubted whether a female voice could have the energy and strength required for rendering a qawwali composition,” she says, adding that though she was already a trained classical vocalist, it was years before she could establish herself as a qawwal.

Now, of course, Bharti is a name and has travelled around the world performing at various programmes and festivals. “Gender bias is not limited to India,” she says recounting how an ICCR tour to Malaysia had to be cancelled as the hosts did not want female artistes to perform for them.

Performing at a programme last year, Naaz Warsi, another of Delhi’s noted women qawwals, had complained over how the audience would rather listen to the Bollywood version of qawwali and not the traditional one. “We cannot play to the gallery and change our music to suit popular taste,” she had said.

Hindi film music—particularly that of the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s—has been instrumental in popularising qawwali. But in its traditional format, it is the music of the Sufis and meant to be sung at dargahs, beginning with the hamd (praising Allah) and naat (in praise of the Prophet). A qawwal is someone trained not only in the fine nuances of classical music but also well-versed in Persian, Urdu and Hindi, having mastered the literary works in these languages. Most importantly, the qawwal needs to be spiritually inclined.

Incidentally, qawwali was born in Delhi, conceived by medieval Sufi poet-musician Amir Khusrau, who improvised the existing classical music genres to create new styles such as khayal, tarana and qawwali. The qawwalis sung by the Sufis celebrated love and depended on the innovations and improvisations brought forth by those who rendered it.

As Rashmi Agarwal, who sings qawwali bandish or compositions such as aaj rang hai and chhaap tilak sab chheeni re in thumri style, says, “No one can stop me from singing qawwali compositions in the solo Sufiana style. After all, qawwali like other genres of Indian classical music is open to improvisation within a traditional format.”

She agrees that the traditional qawwali rendition, where the energy of a group of performers rubs on to one another, is unmatched for its sheer vigour and force, “a solo performance, on the other hand, brings forth the sublime serenity that the lyrics talk of,” she says, adding that there’s still a little hesitation in accepting women as qawwali singers but not as singers of the Sufiana style.

However, Bharti says that though only a few women vocalists took up qawwali, their perseverance is gradually bearing fruit and the next generation of female qawwals may not face the hurdles that Bharti and her generation of performers have faced.

Till the next generation of female qawwals is ready to enthrall the audience, artistes like Prabha Bharti, Chanchal Bharti will continue to inspire and play the role of torchbearers who fought gender bias in the art world even while continuing their spiritual quest through qawwali.

[Picture: Chanchal Barti. Photo from http://chanchalbharti.com/].

To Desert their Egos

By Marwa Al-A’sar, "Making a spiritual connection through music and dance" - Daily News Egypt - Cairo, Egypt

Thursday, December 11, 2008

The Sufi chanter looked peaceful in his white galabeyya, greeting the crew backstage. Musicians jammed while Mawlawia dancers rehearsed their movements a few minutes before the performance began.

It was 8:30 pm on the eve of Eid Al-Adha when the group appeared on stage at the Sawy Cultural Center. Amer El-Touny’s Islamic Sufi songs, his deep voice and the colorful whirling of the dancers caught the eyes, souls and minds of an audience of different age groups and social backgrounds.

For El-Touny, what he and his Mawlawia group present is an aura, an experience, rather than just a show. “The audiences are usually ready to live in a spiritual mood and receive the positive energy it derives,” he told Daily News Egypt.

The Mawlawia dance is a symbolic ritual through which dervishes aim to reach “perfection.” They attempt to desert their egos and personal desires and communicate with God through the music they create.

“The spinning in Mawlawia is a sort of identification with the rotation of other beings such as electrons and planets of the micro- and macrocosms, which is how they worship God,” El-Touny explained.

The Mawlawia was originally a Sufi order formed, at the time of the Ottoman Empire, by the followers of Jalaluddin Rumi, the famous 13th century Sufi Persian poet and theologian who lived in Turkey. A Mawlawi (Sufi) performed their rituals at a music ceremony called the sema that also involved whirling dance.

“Rumi created the spinning dance of Mawlawia as a means of expressing love for God,” El-Touny explained. “The name of Mawlawia was based on the word mawlana (our master), Rumi. Yet our Egyptian Mawlawia belongs to Al-Mawla (God).”

Mawlawia was first introduced to Egypt with the Ottoman conquest in the 16th century. At that time Egyptian musicians traveled to Turkey and their Turkish counterparts visited Egypt as part of an exchange program. “El-Tanoura dance is indeed a variation of Mawlawia spinning,” El-Touny noted.

El-Touny’s group does not however adopt the ideologies of a certain sect. “I took the idea of whirling from Mawlawia, adapting it to our music and culture. That is why I call it the Egyptian Mawlawia.”

The songs of El-Touny’s group are usually taken from the poetry of the Muslim Sufis like Omar Ibn Al-Farid, Rabaa Al-Adawiyya and Mansour Al-Hallaj, accompanied by traditional Egyptian music composed by him. Members of El-Touny’s group play traditional instruments like the rababa (fiddle), nei (oriental flute), sagat (cymbals), qanoun (dulcimer) and tabla (doumbek drum).

El-Touny read extensively about Mawlawia and watched numerous dance performances before developing a framework to train his group. He began his project in 1994 and it took years of practice until they gave their first Mawlawia performance at El-Sawy Cultural Wheel in 2004.

Things got underway when he started working under the umbrella of the Artistic Development Fund, a Culture Ministry affiliate, which granted his group the much-needed media attention.
Another success factor was Facebook. “Through this online tool, we managed to reach a wider spectrum of audience,” he said.

El-Touny has established a school for teaching Mawlawia in Egypt. He’s scheduled to perform in Spain alongside a musician reviving Sufi Andalusian mowashahat. He has also been working on a project cooperatively with an American musician to perform Sufi Jazz.

Catch El-Touny and his Mawlawia group at Beit El-Suheimy on December 25th.

Bucolic Sufi

Staff Reporter, "Tajal Bewas dies at 70" - The Nation - Karachi, Pakistan

Thursday, December 13, 2008

The legendary Sindh bucolic Sufi poet Tajal Bewas died at the age of 70 years at a private hospital here on Saturday. He left one widow, 4 sons and 7 daughters.

He suffered a fatal stroke and was in coma for the last one week.

Taj Muhammad Samo was born in 1938 in Sobdehero district Khairpur Mirs. He got early education from his native place and done matriculation from Gambat High School and done MA in Economics as external candidate from Sindh University.

After complementing his education joined the profession of teaching and taught English in his native town.

[Picture from Sindhiana Magazine. Click http://www.geocities.com/maahwar/kk12.html to a poem of Tajal Bewas].

Inclusive Ideals

By Mohammed Wajihuddin/TNN, "Sufi saint Mahimi's Urs to be low-key affair this year" - The Times Of India - India
Friday, December 12, 2008

Mumbai: The 10-day annual Urs of Sufi saint Makhdoom Ali Mahimi, which begins on Friday evening with the offering of traditional sandalwood and flowers by the Mumbai Police and the dargah committee, will be a low-key affair this year.

As a mark of respect for the victims of 26/11 massacre, the dargah committee has decided to scale down the usually elaborate celebrations and stick to performing the traditional rites and rituals associated with Urs.

Thousands of devotees, cutting across religious barriers, are expected to visit the Dargah during Urs.

"The city is in grief. We will restrict the celebrations to the necessary rituals,'' Makhdoom Mahimi Dargah Trust managing trustee Sohail Khandwani said.

Part of the tradition is the procession which begins at the Mahim police station and ends with the offering of sandalwood and flowers by Mumbai Police at the shrine's crowded hall touching the Arabian Sea in Mahim.

Although the annual Mahim fair is part of Urs, this year the various bands -- who in the past performed Sufi music -- are not playing there. Even percussion instruments like huge drums will give way to daffs (small drum-like instruments); whirling dervishes have also been kept away.

"It's not a time for rejoicing for the city. We have kept the entertainment element out of Urs celebrations this year,'' Khandwani added.

One of the most revered Sufis in India, the 15th-century saint is widely acknowledged for his scholarly works, including the first commentary on the Quran, liberal views and inclusive ideals.

"When his contemporary, the Spanish scholar Mohiuddin Ibne Arabi, faced criticism for his philosophy of Wahdat-ul-Wajood (unity and omnipresence of God), Mahimi was among the scholars who supported him. Mahimi epitomises the inclusive, humanist character of Sufism,'' Makhdoom Ali Mahimi Memorial Oriental Research Institue and Library director and scholar Abdus Sattar Dalvi said.

"Mahimi's message can work as a salve in times like these,'' he added.

New structure for Haji Ali Dargah
The foundation stone of a new structure for the shrine of Haji Ali Pir, also called Haji Ali Dargah, will be laid at 2 pm on Friday.

The new structure, to be completed in over two years, will be made of Makrana marble, the same material used in the Taj Mahal 400 years ago.

The estimated cost is around Rs 12 crore [$ 2.5 million]. Noted architect Chetan Raikar has been hired to design the new shrine complex.

[Picture from http://www.makhdumalimahimi.org/].

Agents of Peace

By Caitlin Jacobs, "Graham, Rechenbach and Shashaani join Board of Directors of The Faith & Politics Institute" - The Faith & Politics Institute - Washington D.C., USA
Wednesday, December 10, 2008

The Faith & Politics Institute announces today that Ambassador Thomas Graham Jr., CWA Secretary-Treasurer Jeff Rechenbach and Dr. Avideh Shashaani were elected to the Institute’s Board of Directors on December 9, 2008.

Ambassador Thomas Graham Jr., currently Executive Chairman of the Board of Thorium Power, served as a senior U.S. diplomat involved in the negotiation of every major international arms control and non-proliferation agreement for the past 30 years and is considered one of the world’s leading authorities on international arms control. He is currently Chair of the Bipartisan Security Group, and is personally committed to furthering bipartisan cooperation in U.S. government.

Jeff Rechenbach was elected Secretary-Treasurer of the Communications Workers of America in 2008, succeeding Barbara J. Easterling, who was also on The Faith & Politics Institute’s Board of Directors. “The Institute has been grateful for the support of CWA over the years, and we are pleased to carry on this relationship through Jeff Rechenbach,” said Rev. J. Cletus Kiley, president of The Faith & Politics Institute.

Avideh Shashaani, Ph.D. is the founder and president of the Fund for the Future of our Children, an organization that encourages and empowers children and youth to be agents of peace in local and global environments. Dr. Shashaani works to promote intercultural and interfaith understanding through lectures, workshops, and publications. She has translated ten Persian mystical texts into English and holds a doctorate in Sufi studies.

“The Faith & Politics Institute is thrilled to have three such distinguished individuals to help guide us through this poignant time in the history of U.S. government,” said Kiley. “Their contributions will ensure the Institute’s success in the coming years.”

Envisioning a world where all political leaders draw upon their faith to strengthen their leadership, The Faith & Politics Institute is a nonpartisan, interfaith organization, founded in 1991 to help public officials stay in touch with their deeper calling to public service.

Sufi Ancestry

Staff Report, "Nafta’s old town gets facelift" - Tunisia Online News - Tunis, Tunisia

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Located some 400 kilometres from the capital and 25 kilometres from Tozeur, the oasis town of Nafta (see photo), also known as the “Land of the Palms”, is often alluded to as the “Kairouan of the South” because of the town’s mystical, Sufi ancestry.

Nowadays, the town which sits north of the Chott El Djerid’s vast salt plain, is a must see for the many tourists who are attracted by the great Tunisian south. Among its many attractions is the town’s typical architecture, made of round headed arches designed to protect the traveller from the sun and its colored hand made bricks, as well as the multi-purpose palm tree wood, which is used to make doors and partitions.

In order to give back to the old town some of its ancient lustre, the town’s municipality has launched a major rehabilitation campaign, destined to give a facelift to the house facades, lighten the streets, asphalt the town’s main thoroughfares and replace metal doors and gates, with wooden doors, made from palm trees.

The project is spearheaded by the Tunisian School of architecture and urbanism and the Italian University of Reggio Calabria, whose contribution has centred on the promotion of local resources, and the training of craftsmen and technicians, to enable them to take part in the protection of the town’s architectural heritage.

The town which boasts well known museums such as Dar Houidi and the Museum of Arab and Berber traditions, is also home to a Folk and Date festival, traditionally held in December.

The town’s history is as rich as its heritage, claiming its ancestry back, respectively to the old Egyptian Kingdom of Napata (900 to 400 BC), the Byzantines, and the Arabs who used it as a major caravan outpost.

Subtle Activism

By Dana Dugan, "Just 40 minutes a day" - Idaho Mountain Express - Ketchum, ID, USA
Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Second annual Winter Feast for the Soul ready to begin

Like a rolling snowball, Valerie Skonie called two people and they called two people and so on and so forth. Skonie, a Sufi teacher based in Hailey, had an idea: to gather people gather daily for 40 days for meditation.

She was inspired by line of poetry by the Islamic poet Rumi: "What nine months does for the embryo/forty early mornings will do/for your growing awareness."

Last year, about 100 people in the Wood River Valley committed to a 40-day meditation period either on their own or in groups, organized by Skonie, with help from the Light On The Mountains Spiritual Center, just south of Ketchum. The center acted as the initial contact for those interested in participating, and hosted a dinner event to cap off the meditation period.

The idea grew beyond her wildest dreams. People in Boise took up the concept, then the Iranian press covered it. Soon, people from 18 countries, including Croatia, Sweden, Romania and India had committed to the second annual event, to be held from Jan. 15 to Feb. 23, 2009.

"I don't know how these people are finding us," Skonie said. "It's the grace of God, I swear." This year's event, she said, is focused again on meditation and prayer. She is hoping to integrate all spiritual practices as well as yoga, martial arts, contemplation and expressive arts.

A businesswoman and consultant in California's Bay Area for many years, Skonie moved to the Wood River Valley hoping to be a part of a spiritual community. Though she is a Sufi practitioner, the 40-day meditation period is not dictated by any one practice

"Sufism is all about the heart and it's cultivated through daily practice," she said. "I thought, 'How do I find these people? Maybe I have to create it.' I found the Rumi poem and said 'That's it.'"

Since then, the event has grown both in scope and in depth.

"This is not the only place that needs this," she said. "The main thing is 40 minutes every day."

Winter Feast for the Soul is based on the ideas of subtle activism, as opposed to physical, psychological or social. The term 'subtle activism' refers to a collective activity of consciousness that participants hope will ultimately bring about social change.

Such acts aren't unique in history. David Nicol, author of the essay "Subtle Activism: Applying Spiritual Power for Social Change" wrote that during the Battle of Britain, Londoners of various faiths united daily for one minute of silence after the chiming of Big Ben at 9 p.m., a practice intended to strengthen the moral resolve of the city's inhabitants during the war.

"It is not hard to find other examples of the use of collective contemplative practice to unite people around political objectives or for social harmony," Nicol wrote. "A global meditation and prayer event, in which hundreds of thousands of people around the planet unite in silence and prayers for world peace, is a prime example of subtle activism."

As part of this year's event, Nicol, the director of the Gaiafield Center for Subtle Activism at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco, will attend. He'll be there for launch of the Winter Feast for the Soul on Tuesday, Jan. 13.

Other activities planned for Winter Feast for the Soul are ongoing meditation classes at the YMCA, Light on the Mountains and elsewhere. During the Feast period, there will be a series of home parties in which the short film "Winter Feast for the Soul," will be shown, lectures and a Whirling Dervish demonstration and instruction.

The Whirling Dervish sect of Sufism was started by Rumi more than 700 hundred years ago.

"I've been planning since before the last Feast ended," Skonie said. "There's so much." She and the organizers intend to have online meditations, and the Sun Valley Spiritual Film Festival will sponsor a film night Wednesday, Dec. 17, on the anniversary of Rumi's death.

"It will be an instructional and inspirational evening," she said.

This celebration of Rumi will be held at Light on the Mountains Spiritual Center and will include a light supper and the one-hour documentary, "Rumi Returning." Members of the community will read the poetry of Rumi, accompanied by local musicians.

Shot mostly in Turkey, the movie examines the 13th-century Muslim Sufi mystic who wrote hundreds of poems beloved by people of all faiths. It features Sufi music, high-definition visuals of the Whirling Dervishes Rumi inspired and the architectural masterpieces of medieval Islam.
Then at the close of the Feast, on Feb. 23, noted Rumi translator Coleman Barks will be the featured speaker.

Rev. John Moreland of Light on the Mountains and Victoria Roper are coordinating the local events for the Wood River Valley, including identifying mediation sites. People can go online to sign-up as a meditation leader, to commit to the Feast and to donate to the cause. Once a person commits to the Feast online, updates will be regularly sent. Skonie is actively fundraising to pay for the special events planned, and the response has been favorable.

Already several spiritual leaders have sent their blessings and well wishes.

Tenzin Taklaha, a secretary to His Holiness the Dalai Lama wrote, "I am very happy to convey to you His Holiness' prayers and good wishes for the second annual Winter Feast for the Soul being held in January and February 2009."

As well, blessings and prayers were received from Pir Zia Inayat Kahn, the head of the Sufi Order International; Anam Thubten Rinpoche, the spiritual leader of the Dharmata Foundation and the Rev. Kathy Hearn, of the United Centers for Spiritual Living, based in Colorado.

For more information visit http://www.winterfeastforthesoul.com/index2.php

[Picture 1: Logo Art by Ted McCoy, Ketchum ID;
Picture 2: Valerie Skonie. Photo by Courtesy Photo].

A Very Special Take

By Hilary Finch, "London Sinfonietta/Masson at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, SE1" - Times Online/ The Times - London, UK
Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Arabic Sufi poetry has always had a very special take on the sufferings of mankind, and on the mystical love between the human and the Divine. So it was inevitable that, before long, music responding to this tradition would appear in the Al Farabi Concerto series, of which the London Sinfonietta has just presented the third concert.

Voix interdites, or Forbidden Voices, is the title of the song cycle by the Moroccan composer Ahmed Essyad for solo soprano, narrator and instrumental septet. The cycle consists of nine sections, with instrumental interludes between the three songs. But we heard the songs alone, first narrated in hushed and evocative tones by Nadim Sawalha; then briefly meditated upon by the ensemble; and finally sung by Patricia Rozario.

Cello and bass became a pulsing Arabic lute, as they plucked their way through Rozario's increasingly ardent, semi-declaimed Blossoming of the Body and Feverish Hearts. And then a sensuous solo from bass clarinet twined itself round the agitated vocal writing and dancing xylophone and flute of the second song, before an angular and fearful duet with viola sang of the perfection of passion and prayer.

This was by far the most substantial work of the evening: a fascinating inter-fertilisation of the Arabic sensibility, tinted with Gallic instrumental sophistication and a fearless love the human voice.

Amr Okba's Message, later in the programme, was a seven-minute close-focus on the whistling harmonics and swooping glissandi of two violins and a cello, with the seductive menace of a muted trumpet piercing the textures from far back in the hall.

The purpose of this series is to counterpoint East and West, so British contemporaries of these Moroccan and Egyptian composers also stood by. Tansy Davies was there, in her Iris of 2004, with Simon Haram's saxophone as shaman on a mysteriously and wittily constructed rainbow bridge between higher and lower worlds.

And, before a powerful performance of Peter Maxwell Davies's A Mirror of Whitening Light, Diego Masson conducted an admirably taut and compelling performance of Simon Holt's demonic 1990 Lilith.

A Model of Citizenship

CO.RE.IS./APA - Milan, Italy/Baku, Azerbaijan
Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Baku, Azerbaijan/Milan, Italy: Yahya Pallavicini, Vice President of COREIS (Islamic Religious Community) Italy, returned from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, where he was invited by the Council of Europe and the member states of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference and the Arab League, just in time to receive the "Ambrogino d'oro" from the hands of the mayor of the city of Milan.

Mr. Pallavicini, a member of the Italian minister of the interior's Council on Islam in Italy and Imam of the al-Wahid Mosque of Milan, was invited to Azerbaijan to participate and chair a session of the Conference for Ministers responsible for culture.

This intercultural dialogue meeting reunited more than 40 ministers coming from the West and the East of the world, in a new occasion where geopolitical borders opened to welcome the respect and the richness of different spiritual and cultural identities, making itself available to a convergence and harmony that renews the universal value of dialogue, of the sacred dignity of human life and of the profound and authentic dimension of culture.

Mr. Pallavicini's presence as part of the ISESCO [Islamic Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization] delegation next to that of the Holy See has allowed him to integrate elements and experiences of interreligious dialogue like that of the recent Catholic-Muslim Forum in the Vatican which is of great importance and hope for the future.

On December 7th, in Milan, Yahya Pallavicini received the prize "Ambrogino d'oro" given by the mayor to the CO.RE.IS. Italiana (Italian Islamic Religious Community) as an acknowledgment of “civic benevolence.”

It is the first time in Italy that an islamic organisation receives this prize, on behalf of institutions, as a model of citizenship.

The "Ambrogino d'oro" [Little Golden Ambrose] prize is linked to the feast of Saint Ambrose (the patron saint of the city of Milan), who was a contemporary of another great, oriental, Christian, master Saint Augustine, and reminds us of the value of the meetings between intellectuals and sages who in other historical periods knew how to enlighten and inspire the reflections and the actions of all people.

On December 7th, in an extraordinary coincidence with the christian calendar of the immaculate conception of Mary, muslims celebrated the 'Eid al-Adha [Festival of Sacrifice], the great feast that concludes the Hajj, the pilgrimage of millions of believers in islam’s sacred places.

[Picture 1: Yahya Pallavicini with Pope Benedict XVI. Photo from CO.RE.IS Italy website: http://www.coreis.it/]

[Picture 2: Baku's Conference. On December 3, Baku Declaration has been adopted at the Council of Europe Conference of the Ministers responsible for Culture on the “Intercultural dialogue as a basis for peace and sustainable development in Europe and its neighboring regions”. Text/Photo by Ulkar Gasimova/APA. Read the full article (in English) at http://en.apa.az/news.php?id=93123].

This Middle Ground

By Peter Smith, "Thomas Merton's works live on" - Louisville Courier-Journal - Louisville, KY, USA
Monday, December 8, 2008

Joel Klepac hadn't even been born when Thomas Merton died suddenly in Thailand 40 years ago this week.

Yet Klepac is among those from around the world who continue to draw inspiration from the Kentucky monk who poured out his restless soul in dozens of books and became one of the most influential spiritual writers of the 20th century.

Klepac has worked among impoverished street children in eastern Romania since 2000, meeting basic needs such as food, clothes and education, and he takes inspiration from the way Merton was a spiritual mentor to social-protest activists in the 1960s.

"People who are working among the poor, among marginalized people, are always being burned out, and it's a very fine line to pull yourself back continually from the front lines (for) prayer or solitude," Klepac, 33, said during a visit last week to the Abbey of Gethsemani, the Roman Catholic monastery in Nelson County, Ky., where Merton lived.

Merton's writings "speak directly to my generation," Klepac said. "Thomas Merton is one of the guys that help you find this middle ground where you don't ignore the injustice. He can be a voice that speaks about finding God in the midst of that struggle."

Merton died on Dec. 10, 1968, exactly 27 years after he entered Gethsemani.

When the Cambridge- and Columbia-educated Merton came to Kentucky, he embarked on a severe monastic lifestyle in the Trappist order and never expected to see much of the outside world. But his abbot encouraged him to write an autobiography, and the result was "The Seven Storey Mountain," the story of an orphan's journey from joyless pleasure to religious fulfillment in the monastery.

It became a surprise best-seller in a spiritually hungry post-World War II America and turned Merton into a rare celebrity monk.

He continued to draw a following with numerous writings on contemplative prayer and, more controversially, on such subjects as protesting segregation, the Vietnam War and the nuclear arms race.

His death at 53 came on the other side of the world at a Catholic-Buddhist conference after meetings with the Dalai Lama and other Eastern religious leaders with whom he was conducting groundbreaking dialogues.

In Louisville alone, he is honored by such things as a statue at Bellarmine University and a larger-than-life photo of Merton and the Dalai Lama along Muhammad Ali Boulevard -- just up from Thomas Merton Square at the Fourth Street intersection.

Dozens of books by Merton remain in print, new ones about him are coming out and recent Merton translations have appeared in such languages as Russian, Chinese, German and Polish.
"There's more being published than at any time," said Paul Pearson, director of the Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University, an archive holding more than 50,000 items, including letters, original manuscripts, paintings and calligraphy by Merton.

"I remember somebody once saying that we're still catching up with Merton, that he's so far ahead of us," Pearson said.

While many are familiar with Merton's interfaith dialogues with Buddhists, for example, he also worked on a matter of great 21st-century concern -- Christian-Muslim dialogue.
A new book is being prepared on his in-depth correspondence on prayer with Abdul Aziz, a Pakistani Sufi, or Islamic mystic.

Merton had considered studying Sufism in Iran after the Bangkok conference, according to the book "Merton and Sufism: The Untold Story," produced by the Louisville-based publisher Fons Vitae.

Some, however, say Merton's legacy is mixed.

"We continue to have our seminarians read 'The Seven Storey Mountain' as a way of showing the processes of conversion, and certainly there's something romantic about Merton's story," said the Rev. Denis Robinson, president of St. Meinrad School of Theology, a Catholic seminary in Spencer County, Ind. But he said aspects of Merton's later works "are less appealing," such as his interfaith activities and his "waning interest in the traditional expressions of religious life and monastic life."

But supporters of Merton cite his call to "remain perfectly faithful to a Christian or Western monastic commitment and yet learn in depth from ... a Hindu or Buddhist discipline or experience."

And many find Merton appealing precisely because he continued to change.

Jonathan Montaldo -- who directs retreats for the Merton Institute for Contemplative Living -- said he has been sold on Merton since he began reading him decades ago at age 13.
"I wanted what he was looking for," Montaldo said. "That was Merton's gift. He made you identify with him."

Montaldo quoted a college student who recently told him of Merton, "This guy writes as if he's writing directly to me."

The Louisville-based Merton Institute is host of a retreat house near Gethsemani and supplies study materials to groups around the country that are seeking ways to integrate prayer into their relations with others, God, themselves and nature.

For many people, "it's kind of a revelation that our contemplative life is about our everyday active life and about our relationships," executive director Robert Toth said.

Brother Paul Quenon, part of a generation of monks who were trained under Merton when they entered Gethsemani, said a group of lay people has been meeting at the abbey since the 1970s to discuss Merton's work.

"They find they can talk about things they otherwise can't talk about," he said. "… Merton has a way of just opening things up."

[Picture 1: Joel Klepac. Photo by Peter Smith.

Picture 2: Merton & Sufism: http://www.fonsvitae.com/merton.html]

Click on the title of this article for more pictures and a video by Peter Smith.

Give Me a Needle

By Ayeda Naqvi, "Struggle for the soul" - Daily Times - Lahore, Pakistan
Tuesday, December 9, 2008

While it is tempting to give in to anger, it is more important to take a deep breath and remember that what we are witnessing today is not a clash of countries, or, even, religions: it is a clash of extremisms

There are many who would have us believe that the present Indo-Pak conflict is inevitable, that it is reflective of a larger reality — the belief that India and Pakistan are somehow incompatible.

The recent attacks in Mumbai — and India’s subsequent descent into hysteria — have made it even easier now for people on both sides of the border to get drawn into angry nationalism. Feeding off a demonisation of each other, this sentiment threatens to drown out all rational thought. Indian newspapers are printing spurious opinion polls demanding war. And Pakistani journalists, not wanting to get left behind, are happily discussing which country is better equipped to survive a nuclear confrontation.

While it is tempting to give in to anger, it is more important to take a deep breath and remember that what we are witnessing today is not a clash of countries, or, even, religions: it is a clash of extremisms. For without a doubt, the biggest beneficiaries of these attacks are the extremists.

In India, the Hindu Right has finally cornered the Congress party. With the upcoming elections, if the Congress does not act on the public frenzy, it will lose to the staunchly Hindu BJP. If it does act, the extremist Hindus will have achieved their goal. Either way, they win.

In Pakistan, the Islamic extremists who were not in favour of the peace process also have much to rejoice over: they are no longer the bad guys — the Indians are.

So, on one side you have the saffron-clad Karsevaks — the Hindu fundamentalists who destroyed the Babri Mosque in Ayodhya — armed with their crowbars, tridents and daggers. And on the other side, you have the jihadis with their explosive-laden vests, ready to blow themselves up to destroy their enemy. The losers? The silent, frightened majority.

Where will all this end? Perhaps where it started: with the Sufi and Yogic traditions.

Southeast Asia has a long history in which people from both Hinduism and Islam have reached out to others, to unite rather to divide. For the Muslims, this means Sufism. And for the Hindus, this spirit of unity is found in the Yogic tradition.

Both traditions teach the oneness of all being. Both traditions stress the importance of harmony — with one’s self as well as with the rest of the world. And both traditions teach tolerance and co-existence as the only way to live.

“Allow us to recognise Thee in all thy forms,” wrote Hazrat Inayat Khan, a famous Sufi of the 20th century. For he realised that the underlying aim of every religion is to eventually recognise the divine spark that runs through all of God’s creation — yes, even those we consider undesirable. He wrote that “The whole of humanity is like one body, and any organ of that body which is hurt or troubled can indirectly cause damage to the whole body. And as the health of the whole body depends upon the health of each part, so the health of the whole of humanity depends upon the health of every nation.”

So what is this malady that inflicts so many nations that they become a threat to the whole of humanity? What is this “hurt” that can become a threat to the health of the entire body

Historically, both groups feel that they have been wronged. It is this inability to live in the present, their insistence on carrying the burdens of the past that has led them to spiral downwards. In India this spiralling descent is evident in the numerous insurgencies throughout the nation — disgruntled minorities wronged by a Hindu majority which, ironically, also feels wronged by history.

And in Pakistan it is evident in the growth of a rigid and literalist interpretation of religion which then turns brother against brother in a game of moral rectitude that cannot be won.

To quote the Bhagavad Gita, “Delusion arises from anger. The mind is bewildered by delusion. Reasoning is destroyed when the mind is bewildered. One falls down when reasoning is destroyed.”

Without a doubt, both nations seem to be falling. What was once extremism has now begun to trickle into the media. In Pakistan, many news channels now refer to terrorists as “askariat pasands” — why? Why have we softened up our language when referring to those who believe that carnage in the name of religion is justified?And in India, extremist Hindu viewpoints have so successfully merged with nationalism that even educated people now talk of the genocide in Gujarat, the massacres in Kashmir and the recent burning of Christian churches as necessary steps towards peace in their nation.

This is a time for introspection. Both nations need to take a deep look at themselves and ask, what is it that we are doing that is causing the unrest in our countries? Unless they stop pointing fingers at each other and take responsibility, the killings will continue.

A famous Sufi of the Punjab, Hazrat Baba Farid once said, “Do not give me a knife, give me a needle. A knife is an instrument that cuts asunder. A needle joins different parts together”.

Recently we have seen too much of the knife and not enough of the needle. If that course is to be reversed, we will have to go back to our roots, to the common wisdom found in both the Sufi and Yogic traditions that lie at the heart of this troubled region.

Ayeda Naqvi is a journalist who specialises in Sufism. She can be contacted at ayedanaqvi@yahoo.com

Active Learning

Staff Report, "Three Williams College Students Named Gaudino Fellows" - i.Berkshires.com - North Adams, MA, USA

Monday, December 8, 2008

On behalf of the Gaudino Trustees of Williams College, Professor of Mathematics and Gaudino Scholar Edward Burger has announced the election of three students as Gaudino Fellows for the year 2009.

The newly elected Fellows are Muhammad Asad Liaqat '11, Meghan Rose Donnelly '11, and Moira P. Yoe '10. As Fellows, the students will receive up to $2,500 in support of their Winter Study projects in January 2009.

Muhammad Asad Liaqat grew up in Pakistan and attended the Beaconhouse School System in Islamabad. He plans to double major in philosophy and economics. Liaqat is president of the Williams International Relations Council. He is a member of the Muslim Student Union and the South-Asian Student Association, as well as serving on the board of the Freshman Leadership Weekend '08.

His Winter Study project revolves around the exploration, both academic and personal, of the ideas, traditions, and practices of Sufism in Pakistan. (Sufism is a mystical tradition in Islam.)

"It is commonly regarded as drastically different in many ways from other, more 'outward' traditions in Islam," he explains. "My reading of Sufism has introduced ideas that are spiritually appealing for me, and I believe that I can pursue those ideas and turn them into practice without letting go the essence of my faith. "

He is the son of Dr. and Mrs. Liaqat Ali of Rawalpindi, Pakistan.

Meghan Rose Donnelly is from Matunuck, R.I., and attended South Kingstown High School. Donnelly plans to major in anthropology and theatre. She performs with INISH, the Irish dance, music, and storytelling ensemble, and is a member of the dance committee. In February she will teach a dance course at the Williamstown Elementary School. Other campus activities include Students for Social Justice, Sophomore Council, and Immediate Theatre. She is the social coordinator for Catholics and sings for the Catholic Music Ministry.

During Winter Study, Donnelly will volunteer in an orphanage in Java, where she will teach English. She also plans to explore the relationship between imagination and education.

She is the daughter of Eileen and Terrence Donnelly of South Kingstown, R.I.

Moira P. Yoe '10 is from Yarmouth, Maine. She attended North Yarmouth Academy. Yoe is double majoring in political science and English. She was a Williams Community Scholar in 2007. She participates in cross country, indoor and outdoor track, and was a member of the Cross Country Nationals Team in 2007 and 2008. She received the Cross Country Coaches Awards in 2006 and 2007.

She also works with the non-governmental organization (NGO) Seeds of Peace and the public health organizations REACH and Target Hunger.

Yoe will spend Winter Study in Israel and Palestine examining the role of NGOs in the Israeli-Palestine conflict. Her research will focus on the methods used by NGOs to galvanize conflict resolution dialogue. She will conduct a case study of Seeds of Peace and a survey of the UN sponsored Peace NGO Forum. She will also interview professors as the Ben Gurion University's "Third Sector Research Project."

She is the daughter of Patricia Potter of Yarmouth, Maine, and James Yoe of Hallowell, Maine.

The Robert L. Gaudino Memorial Fund supports programs that complement the primary objectives of the college's educational mission: promoting active learning, combating fragmentation of knowledge, and assembling an open community of learning characterized by integrity, mutual respect, and rigorous intellectual endeavor.

[Picture: Professor Robert L. Gaudino. Meet Professor Robert L. Gaudino's work and his legacy at http://www.williams.edu/resources/gaudino/].

Islam through Sufism

IANS/TI Staff "India, 12 Arab nations unite to showcase diverse cultures" . The Thai Indian - Bangkok, Thailand
Monday, December 8, 2008

The mystical and colourful cultures of the Arab countries came together in a high-voltage jugalbandi with traditional Indian dance and music on the closing day of the India-Arab Forum Cultural Festival in the capital.

The forum, an Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) initiative, was inaugurated Dec 4 and came to a close Sunday.

Performers from 12 Arabian countries, including Syria, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt, Palestine, Morocco, Iran and Yemen, took to the stage in a riot of colours and styles that mark the folk arts of Arabia.

This is the first time 12 Arabian countries are collaborating with India on culture. The Arab nations are home to nearly five million Indian diaspora.

Kathakali dancers from Kerala, kathak dancers from north Indian and Pang Cholam or the drum dancers from Manipur vied for attention with Sufi mystics from Syria, the celebratory war-dance from Jordan and the colourful folk dances of Eygpt and Basra in Iraq.

The musical score was a medley - featuring Rajasthani folk music, Arabian percussion, traditional clappers and musicians from Palestine and Morocco.

The venue of the concert - the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) auditorium - overflowed with a cheering crowd comprising mostly young Arabian expatriates and dignitaries.

The show tried to drive the message of India-Arab synergy and cooperation home with unfurling of flags of the performing Arab nations, along with that of India - at the end of every act.

A group of 16 Sufi minstrels and mendicants, the Salatintarap Group, from Syria stole the show with their rendition of the “Circle of Demonstration” - an act that came across as both lively and spiritual. It featured dervishes - both children and adults - clad in their traditional white robes and tall hats.

“We are Sufi practitioners who follow Islam through Sufism,” Haj Ahmed Hallaq, leader of the group, told IANS. This is the group’s first visit to India.

“I wanted to visit the dargah of Nizamuddin and meet Sufi musicians from India. I wish ICCR would arrange for some Sufi performers from India to go to Syria so that we exchange our music,” Hallaq said.

Sami-Khsheiboun, violinist and musical director of Palestinian ensemble Al-Farabi Oriental Instrumental Music, said he had studied Indian classical music. “I studied the emotions and the origins of the Indian ragas,” Khsheiboun said.

The five-member band played the violin, lute or the oud and the multi-string ‘kanoun’, a santoor-like instrument.

The troupe from Egypt comprising 40 dancers and 54 musicians presented traditional dances from across the country - representing the cultures of the Bedouins, Sinai and coastal areas.
“Our troupe set up in 1960 is one of the oldest in the country,” Sameh El Soreity, general manager of the group, told IANS.

India shares historical ties with the Arab nations - with similarities in culture and performing arts that date back to the Mughal era.

[Visit the Indian Council for Cultural Relations http://www.iccrindia.org/].

What You Can Offer

By Arunima Mishra, "Khusro, Rumi, Faiz and Mahru..." - The Financial Express - India
Sunday, December 7, 2008

Muzaffar Ali Painter and filmmaker

What does success mean to you?
Success means to reach within ...It’s a cycle of reaching deep within oneself. It’s all about exploring within that realm — a deep concern, awareness, sensibility, and meditation — finding what you are all about. What you can offer to the world and the humanity.

What is your biggest strength?
(Thinks) I believe it is silence. To be able to talk to yourself, to listen to your heart, to cut yourself from the world and develop a meditative and introspective nature helps a person. It can be done in many ways — it can be a form of art or it can be one’s daily prayers.

How do you bust stress?
I endeavour to try out things that make me happy. You can walk, dance and pray. It depends on what you love to do when you are stressed. Some forms of art such as dance and music are the best stress busters. Listening to Sufi music does wonders to me. As does reciting the works of Khusro, Rumi, Mahru, Mohiudeen, Faiz. It makes me feel a lot better. I particularly like Abida Parveen. It makes my stress completely vanish.

God to you is...
God to me is someone I have been conditioned to believe and something I have evolved to love. God is a source of love and joy, faith and submission and all the qualities that make you rise beyond the material and the mundane. God is a way to reach out to all his creations and see his reflection in oneself and others.

[Picture from Muzaffar Ali's website http://www.muzaffarali.com/html/index.htm].

Sounds of the Soul

Press Trust Of India, "Rahat dedicates live concert to Mumbai victims" - IBN Live - New Delhi, India
Monday, December 8, 2008

Dubai: Before kicking off a thrilling live performance here, Pakistani Sufi singer Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan dedicated the evening to the victims of the Mumbai terror strikes.

The famous singer of many hit Bollywood songs expressed sadness at the loss of lives and expressed solidarity with the family of the deceased.

"Murder of an innocent is like murder of entire humanity," he said, before his live performance, yesterday evening.

A one-minute silence was also observed before the concert - Sufiana the Revival Sounds of the Soul - got underway. The singer, who has several recent Bollywood hit numbers to his credit, later enthralled a fully packed audience with his soulful numbers.

His songs ranged from ghazals to qawwalis interspersed with his recent Bollywood hits. Rahat presented his most popular number, Jiya dhadak dhadak jaaye twice from the film Kalyug, apart from Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's composition Damadam mast qalandar, Mera piya ghar aaya and Aafreen Aafreen [O the most beautiful one].

[Picture: SUFI SILENCE: A one-minute silence was also observed before the concert - Sufiana.].

To "Resolve Differences"

GO Report, "Somalia: Al Shabaab seize Galgadud capital, Sufi group rejects fighting" - Garowe Online - Garowe, Nugaal, Somalia

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Dhusamareb: Islamist Al Shabaab fighters seized two districts in central Somalia without violence on Sunday, as a Sufi group rejected media reports of involvement in days of fighting.

Residents in Galgadud region, central Somalia, reported on Sunday that Al Shabaab guerrillas aboard armed trucks peacefully entered the provincial capital Dhusamareb.

"The local clan militias withdrew before they [Al Shabaab] came," said a Dhusamareb resident.
Before capturing Dhusamareb, Al Shabaab fighters entered and took control of Mataban district further south. There were no reports of violence and local militias withdrew overnight, residents said.

Currently, the Islamist Al Shabaab faction controls key regions in southern Somalia, including the port towns of Kismayo and Marka.

Sufi rejection
A spokesman for Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jamee'a, a Sufi group, has rejected media reports that Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jamee'a loyalists battled against Al Shabaab guerrillas in Galgadud region last week.

The Sufi group's official spokesman, Sheikh Abdulkadir Somow, told reporters in the capital Mogadishu that Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jamee’a was not involved in any fighting.

"The fighting in Guri El [in Galgadud] was between brothers, and Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jamee'a was not involved," Sheikh Somow said.

He appealed for all the fighting to stop and called on Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf and Prime Minister Nur Adde to "resolve differences."

He also called on Islamist groups to "stop fighting each other," while praising the Republic of Djibouti for supporting the Somali peace process.