Inspired By Mowlavi

By TE/HGH, *Shajarian to perform at Mowlavi's tomb* - Press TV - Tehran, Iran
Monday, November 9, 2009

Iran's legendary vocalist Mohammad-Reza Shajarian is planning to hold a concert to commemorate Sufi poet Mowlavi in Konya, Turkey.

Shajarian will hold the concert accompanied by the Shahnaz ensemble and upon an invitation by the International Rumi Foundation. The 69-year-old vocalist will perform traditional Persian music pieces inspired by Mowlavi's poems.

The five-day concert will be held from Dec. 12 to 16, 2009 at Mowlavi's eternal resting place in Konya.

The poet, mystic and theologian is famous for his six-volume book of poems 'Masnavi', which is one of the greatest works of both Islamic mysticism and Persian literature.

Mohammad Reza Shajarian received UNESCO's Mozart Medal in 2006 and the 1999 prestigious Golden Picasso Medal among other awards.

He has also designed and made a number of new string instruments namely Sorahi, Saghar, Kereshmeh and Tondar.

All-round Appreciation

By Vijay Kumar, *Thousands participated in Sufi Festival in Kashmir,concludes successfully* - Ground Report - India
Sunday, November 8, 2009

Srinagar: First of its kind, 3-days Sufi Festival festival exclusively dedicated itself to project the good deeds and high moral thought projected by great saints and Aulia-e-Kirams of the valley during last seven centuries.

This Festival where great and revered Aulia-e-Kirams particularly Hazreth Bulbul Shah (RA), Hazreth Amir Kabir (RA), Hazreth Maqdoom Sahib (RA), Hazreth Peer Dastgeer Sahib (RA) and Hazreth Khawaja Naqshband Sahib (RA) were remembered and in their reverence special shahi groups from Dargah Sharief of Ajmer Sharif had arrived to the valley of Kashmir concluded successfully today with all-round appreciation from people of Kashmir on holding such festival.

The Cultural Academy, Information department, Tourism department and Doordarshan Srinagar jointly worked to make the festival a success. This was possible only due to personal involvement of the HODs of all these organizations. The festival received all-round applause.

The festival was inaugurated on November 06 at SKICC, Srinagar Kashmir and during the three days all important towns of the valley were covered in which scholars, intellectuals, writers and personalities from different shades of life actively participated. Imams of various Shrines and Masjids including Mufti-Azam of Kashmir joined the festival.

All the functions organized during the festival were telecast live which was seen in 162 countries. The Kashmiri community living in these countries witnessed this festival with great interest as it depicted the original supreme and sacred aspect of the valley of Kashmir. The people appreciated this festival as it was purely dedicated to those great saints whose contribution in shaping the valley and the mindset of the people is unforgettable feature of this great civilization.

The most significant part of this festival was when the legendary living saint, Ama Sahib of Goshbugh joined this festival and heard special group of Ajmer Sharif at Beta Bagh Budgam, the place of his spiritual meditation. Ama Sahib Goshbugh, who had disappeared in Goshbugh decades earlier and has been meditating and offering round the clock prayers in different caves and forests, has during recent times made Beta Bagh place of his meditation where thousands of people arrive to seek his blessings. He blessed the guests from Ajmer Sharif and appreciated the Manqabats recited by them in the honour of Khawaja Garib Nawaz of Ajmer Sharif and Aulia-e-Kirams of Kashmir.

Besides locals, who arrived the place of his devotion, persons from different places of globe also attended this programme.

On the concluding day of the festival, function was held in Degree College Sopore also which was organized by Mohammad Ashraf, Principal of the College. Large number of people attended the function besides writers, intellectuals and historians. Light was thrown on the contribution of Saints and spiritual personalities in the functions.

A Smile Stretched Eternally

By Ali Eteraz, *Sufism: Faith's smiling face* - The Washington Post - Washington, DC, USA
Monday, November 9, 2009

Were Islam a buffet, I'd be the guy that shows up in the morning and stays late, picking and tasting every item, simultaneously stuffed and starving, simultaneously gluttonous and bulimic.

From madrassas in rural Pakistan to traditional elders in the country's urban bungalows; from cramped immigrant mosques in Brooklyn to the technocratic Islam at elite East Coast universities; from someone veiling his spiritual malaise with romanticized visions of Islamic supremacism to someone who douses his hypocrisies in liberal Islamic reform -- I have, to put it mildly, lived a lot of Islams.

I am done with dabbling now; or maybe I am just taking a break; either way, it has allowed me to tell some fun stories about the religion. One of those that I did not get an opportunity to relate in my book is about my experiences with the sorts of Sufis that I've come across in America.

Sufism, generally referred to as the mystical or "inner" dimension of Islam, which tends to put a focus on one's individual relation to God through guidance from a spiritual elder, has been around almost since the beginning of the religion. It is worldwide. During the course of the 20th Century, Sufism made its way to America. Now it exists in orthodox and heterodox ways, in "drunk" and "sober" ways, in universalist and exclusivist ways, and even in the form of a female whirling dervish that dances to Turkish electronica.

There is, for example, a Sufi mosque with a glittering white dome located just outside of Philadelphia, affiliated with a Sufi order named after Bawa Muhaiyaddeen. He came this country in the 1970's after decades of mystical leadership in Sri Lanka. His work of simple living is now carried out by his followers. It is said that the writer, Coleman Barks, who is famous for his translations of the mystic, Rumi, began his project when Bawa Muhaiyaddeen appeared to him in a dream. When I lived in Philly I went to this mosque a few times. Once it was to serve as an extra in an experimental silent film by a student director. She needed to film inside a Muslim prayer area with a lot of equipment and was afraid of asking the more orthodox mosques in case they didn't approve of her storyline or all the non-Muslims she was bringing along.

Another Sufi landmark is in Manhattan, just next to White Horse Tavern, the pub where Dylan Thomas drank. The mosque, which houses the American followers of a Persian order, is located inside a small brown building with a calligraphic sign. When I was deeply unhappy practicing law I went to one of the gatherings here and sat around in the sitting area, eventually having a long heart-to-heart with the rector of the place. A number of people of various ethnicities -- both men and women -- came inside during that time and went to an inner room where they engaged in their spiritual practices. I wanted to join them but was told that before I could I would have to have a meeting with the order's spiritual leader, who was not in New York at the time.

I also went to a gathering of a conservative Sufi order called the Naqshbandi. They met on Friday nights in an old apartment building near Lincoln Tunnel. Men and women were both present but sat on opposite sides of the room. The men wore green turbans and the women covered their hair. There was an older saint with a long beard who sat in the middle and once the lights were dimmed, led a series of prayers recited in a rhythmic way. I had gone in just to observe but by the end I was swaying my head and participating. The guy that had invited me was someone I used to have a lot of religious arguments with. Afterwards we became friendly.

Going around the country I have met all sorts of American Sufis. When I was in college a former hippie once came to lecture some of us and talked about the purification of the heart and how to avoid all the "new-age" Sufis. I also maintain correspondence with a Sufi from the Shia tradition. He is unique because unlike most of the placid and restrained mystics I've met, he tends to lose his temper very quickly. I have almost met a number of individuals that have made a close study of Ibn Arabi, a Spanish mystic whose ideas about the unity of creation evoke Neruda and Whitman.

To me, the most interesting thing about Sufism is its paradoxical place in my life. Somehow, for all of my stuttering, stammering, rationalizing, sometimes authentic, mostly sinful, always perplexed approach to faith, it has been these austere Sufis, with their stentorian obeisance to a higher principle, their complete surrender to the authority of a saintly figure, their often pre-modern outlook, who have been most inclined to embrace me without asking questions. They retain a view towards chaos of the world that is not merely hopeful, but outright cheerful, a smile stretched eternally onto the face of the faith. For all of us melancholics and obsessives and loners and miscreants, with our spiritual gastroenteritis and Nietzschean dyspepsia, the existence of the Sufis is thoroughly soothing, even if we never join their orders or learn their prayers.

As for the electronica loving whirling dervish, I am still trying to meet her.

[Picture: http://alieteraz.com/childrenofdust/]

Alaap

By Gowri Ramnarayan, *A fine frenzy* - The Hindu - Chennai, India
Monday, November 9, 2009

Resonant voice, crystal-clear diction, range of emotions… There’s an abiding appeal to Abida Parveen’s music

No, she is not a saint. But when she sings, the saints seem to speak to us through Abida Parveen’s electrifying voice. A voice that alternates weary grief with radiant joy, quiet trance with dancing rhythms, until the individual quest turns into a binding community experience.

Born in Larkhana, Sindh, little Abida grew up in a family closely connected to the Sufi dargahs where congregational singing was part of culture, and poets such as Abdul Lateef Bhittai, Sachal Sarmast and Bulleh Shah were venerated as prophets. For Abida, singing their verses was like breathing. Later, she was to make her own, the songs of Muhammad Baksh, Ghulam Farid and Shah Hussain from the Punjab, Jalaluddin Rumi from Turkey, Amir Khusro, Nizamuddin Auliya and Moinuddin Chisti from India.

Sufi poets spoke in the common tongue, deploying local legends and idioms, even as they sought to unite earth and sky, the love of man with the love of God. Simple? But so iconoclastic that the Persian mystic Mansur was executed for heresy when he insisted ‘Ana-l-aqq’ — I am the truth, which diehard mullahs interpreted as a claim of divinity.

The scholar will say that Sufism is a syncretic blend of Vedanta and Islam, reflecting both the virah-milan (separation-union) of vaishnava surrender, and the advaitic oneness of the human soul and the Oversoul.

But ask Abida Parveen, and she will say in courtly Urdu: “The universe emerged from God’s music (alaap). The message of Allah comes to us through the music of the saints. We learn that pain (dard) is the other side of love (mohabbat). When we find the path to God, we find peace, we forget the world. Peer and dargah remind us of this universal truth.”

Though known for her reticence, reputed to be sparing of speech, Abida Parveen decided to share her experiences generously with The Hindu. Her eloquence is obviously shaped by poetry, for which she has a passion, perhaps, greater than for music. Every thought is illustrated with a verse, particularly from Kabir. Her words bristle with connotations, just as a melodic phrase trails microtones.

Abida Parveen’s lessons started at age three with father Ghulam Haider, who had developed his own teaching techniques in a music school of mainly male disciples. “Music is not a show,” he told her. “It is a means of finding the inner self.” That is why her recitals marry the flamboyance of masti (frenzy) to meditative intimacy. Her qawwalis draw us into this space within.

Known as one of the best singers of Sufiana kalam, ghazal and geet, adept at the demanding genre of the thumri, Abida Parveen is no stranger to khyal music. She was initiated into the stylistics of the Sham Chaurasia gharana by Ustad Salamat Ali Khan, whose haunting live recitals are remembered by old-timers in India. “What can I say? None can equal his sureelapan, laykari and taiyyari! His Multani Kafi was exquisite! This was music with a divine innocence.”

Fame came early to Abida Parveen. Her motherland gave her the prestigious “Pride of Performance” and “Sitara-e-Imtiaz” awards. The world has acclaimed her inspired creativity. Her albums enjoy a cult status. She is a star in India, a regular performer at the Jahane Khusro Festival (now closed), New Delhi. Abida Parveen knows the stalwarts of Hindustani music in India — “Amir Khan and Bade Ghulam Ali Khan enchant us with their singing, just as the Sufi saints enchant us with their poetry,” she says. The political traumas in her country and its difficult relationship with India do not trouble her overmuch. “God will take care of it. Let’s keep on promoting love through art, our link to God.”

What makes Abida Parveen irresistible? Resonant voice? Crystal diction? Range of emotions? Charged delivery? Personal charisma? Listeners acknowledge these strengths but believe that her abiding appeal has to do with something else. Voicing our deepest sorrows, she also suggests that it is possible to overcome them with faith and love. In a world racked by violence din, Abida Parveen helps us to tune to the peace within.

DATE: November 17, 7.15 p.m.
VENUE: The Music Academy

Allama Iqbal / علامہ اقبال‎

By INN Reporter, *Nation to observe Iqbal day tomorrow* - Online International News Network - Pakistan
Sunday, November 8, 2009

Islamabad: The 132nd birth anniversary of poet of the east doctor Allama Muhammad Iqbal would be observed on November 9 (Monday) with national zeal and zest.

Special programmers would be arranged in this regard. The day has been declared as a public holiday.

On the day the speakers would pay homage to Allama Iqbal. Newspapers would publish special editions and TV channels would telecast special program in this connection.

The poet, great legislative of subcontinent and important personality of Pakistan movement who gave the awareness message of "Lab pe Ati hai dua ban ke tammanna meri" to the nation was born on November 9 in Sialkot in 1987.

He was Sufi poet of the modern age. He created revolutionary spirit in the nation through his poetry. Sophism and Islamic touch is prominent in his poetry.

Markazia Majlis-e-Iqbal arranged special program, which would be held at Awan-e-Iqbal Atchison road Lahore on November 9 in which homage would be paid to great poet.

His poetry has been translated in Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, English and other different languages; due to this he is considered a great philosopher all over the world.

As a great politician his great achievement is giving the ideology of Pakistan which later became the base of independence of Pakistan.

Unfortunately, he could not see the independence of Pakistan and died on April 21 1938 but due to his vision of a separate homeland he has been granted rank of national poet.

[Picture from: http://www.allamaiqbal.com/]

Blessings

By Vijay Kumar, *Farooq said he feels very happy that Sufi Festival exclusively dedicated for Sufi Saints of Kashmir* - Ground Report - India
Saturday, November 7, 2009

Srinagar: Indian Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Dr. Farooq Abdullah, said today he feels very happy that Sufi Festival has been exclusively dedicated for Aulia Kirams and Sufi Saints of Kashmir as existence in all Kashmiris are because of blessings of great Sufi Saints.

Dr. Farooq Abdullah on Saturday formally inaugurated 3-day Sufi festival at SKICC in Srinagar.

Dr. Farooq Abdullah in his inaugural address while lauding the efforts of Director of Information for organizing such a great event said that the contribution of Doordarshan, Radio and Academy in promoting art and culture is worth mentioning. He said that we as muslims believe that whole universe was created only for our great Prophet (SAW) and any function where respect and tributes are paid in honour of great Prophet (SAW) and Aulia Kirams is really worth appreciation and applause.

He was happy to see Mufti Azam and Imams of various Khankhas and Shrines besides a large number of people in this spiritual function.

Dr. Farooq Abdullah while comparing recently held Amir Khusroo function and the present festival said that with an active involvement of heads of department of Jammu and Kashmir he found the current 3 days Sufi Festival very impressive which received attention of large public.

In a spiritual atmosphere where besides Imams and Mujavirs of important Shrines of Kashmir and a large gathering of people were present, the 3-days Sufi Festival was inaugurated at an impressive function held at SKICC, Srinagar. The Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Dr. Farooq Abdullah formally inaugurated the festival.

At the beginning of the festival, the video cassette entitled “Kashmir Civilization” written by Khawaja Farooq Ahmad Renzu, Director Information and PR, was released. It depicts the treasure of human love and concept of brotherhood concealed in the hearts of each Kashmiri.

The function was organized by the Academy of Art, Culture and Languages in collaboration with Kashmir Sufi Society, Tourism and Information departments and Doordarshan, Srinagar.

While welcoming the distinguished personalities who attended the festival, Mr. Zaffar Iqbal Manhas, Secretary of Cultural Academy, said that keeping in view the facts that majority of the people in Kashmir believe in Sufi saints and Aulia-e-Kiram, this initiative was taken with active support of Departments of Information, Tourism and Doordarshan.

On this occasion, Mufti Azam, Mufti Mohammad Bashir-ud-Din, Vice Chairman Wakaf Board, Prof. M.Y. Qadiri, former Chairman of Public Service Commission, Mr. Mohammad Shafi Pandit, Educationist Aga Ashraf Ali, Imam of Bulbul Shah mosque, Imam and Mujavir of Khrew Shrine, besides Mujavirs of Dastgeer Sahib, Mukhdoom Sahib, Khanqai Mo-alla, Naqashband Sahib, Syed Sahib Sonwar and others were present in large number.

Mr. Qaiser Nazimi and Mir Muneer enthralled the audience through Manqabats and Sufi Kalam of Amir Khusroo. The Shahi Qawals of Khawaja Gareeb Nawaz Dargah Amjeer Sharief headed by Amjad Hussain Asrar and Aslam Hussain Asrar created emotional atmosphere when they recited Sufi Qawali praising Prophet (SAW), Sufi Saints and Aulia Kirams of Ajmeer and Kashmir.

Tears trickled down from the eyes of Union Minister, Dr. Farooq Abdullah and emotionally surcharged audience on the occasion.

While expressing thanks to the distinguished audience and people of Kashmir for their full support in organizing such a great event, the Director information in his address said that Kashmir is the name of civilization which has since time immemorial been centre of knowledge.

He said due to blessing of these Aulia Kirams and one thousands one hundred eleven shrine present in every nook and corner of the valley, the heads of Kashmiris are high. He said that history is witness to the fact that when China was being considered as source of knowledge, Kashmir was supreme at that time also from knowledge point of view.

He expressed thanks to Director Doordarshan for ensuring live coverage of the festival in 162 countries of the world. He also thanked Secretary Cultural Academy and Director Tourism for their extra-ordinary support to make this every successful.

On this occasion, Dr. Farooq Abdullah also awarded the little son of Mr. Qaiser Nizami for his performance in such an event.

Picture: Dr. Farooq Abdullah addressing at SKICC on Saturday

With Contemporary Language

By Ahsen Utku, *Dance ‘icon’ Ziya Azazi whirls on İstanbul stage* - Today's Zaman - Istanbul, Turkey
Saturday, November 7, 2009

“I'm just listening to my heart, and I believe that it is telling the truth,” says Ziya Azazi, regarding both the praise and criticism directed at his style of dancing.

The innovative Turkish dancer of international acclaim, best known for his original modern choreographies based on the whirling rituals of Sufi dervishes, is this year celebrating not one but three anniversaries: his 40th birthday, the 20th year of his dancing career and the 10th year since he first incorporated Sufi whirling into his choreography.

Azazi's story begins in the south of Turkey, in Antakya, where he was born, then moves to İstanbul for his education and continues in Vienna. While studying engineering at İstanbul Technical University (İTÜ), Azazi was introduced to gymnastics, which laid the foundation of his career in contemporary dance. Working with the İstanbul City Theater from 1990 to 1994 as a dancer and choreographer, Azazi went to Vienna in 1994 and worked with various dance companies until 1999, when he began to research Sufi whirling and incorporating elements of the Sufi ritual into his choreographies.

Azazi is presenting his newest performance, “Icons,” today at İstanbul's Caddebostan Culture Center (CKM) as part of this year's Dance Camera International Film Festival. Azazi will be joined onstage by dancer Su Güneş Mıhladız and French musician Serge Adam during the performance, which will start at 8 p.m. Azazi spoke with Today's Zaman ahead of the performance.

How did your research of Sufi dancing begin?
In fact, everything began coincidentally. I was attending gym classes in university, and after three years, I realized that I was occupied with dance rather than engineering. Ballet, contemporary dance and gymnastics began to dominate my life. In 1994, I was invited to a project abroad. I was intending to return, but then I joined other projects and dance became my life itself. After five years of working with various projects and choreographies, I started to ask myself: Who am I? Why am I dancing? What does dancing mean to me? As I started to ask serious questions like whether I, my place, my position, did these complete each other, were they linked to each other or were they disconnected from other, I saw that what I did was not my dance but another's dance and I was only a means. During this period when I began to pursue my own dance, I received an offer and I decided to produce a solo performance. Many things in my life had come to an end at that time, so the question came to me whether my dance could also be reduced like all other things. … I started to wonder whether I could get power if I could diversify a movement from its variations. After many efforts, I realized that I was in pursuit of the variations of a whirl. This led me to a very important process of questioning. I learned whirling by myself, step by step, by observing myself, mentally and physically. It was difficult to learn by myself, but I was more independent this way. What is this dance for? What did this heritage mean? What should we get from this heritage? I realized my performances considered all these.

What does this style of dancing really mean for you?
Everything is in motion in space. It is what it is, and when a subject observes this, since it observes itself, this object becomes subjective; in other words, it loses its objectivity. For this reason, all subjects should question and refresh themselves continuously in order to gain this objectivity again. This is the way something remains objective, and this is how Sufism has kept its place in world history. I'm not intending to settle down anywhere or to make any interpretation of anything; I'm just listening to my heart. Because what I am concerned with is my own feelings, my perception, to understand where I stand, to understand the contemporary way of thinking, to feel what the heritage is trying to say and to make this understandable with contemporary language.

How were your first solo performances received?
The first performances were in many European countries such as Spain, Germany, England and Austria. Since the audience in these countries is composed of different cultures, religions and classes, the feedback is more objective compared to Turkey and other Muslim societies. Since they see it as an impressive dance and a surprising performance, they are influenced and they watch with enthusiasm. In Turkey, some people feel they must defend themselves, but there's no need for this. I have no intention of mentioning Islam, nor criticizing it. I just do the thing that I want to. And in my symbolism, my intention is to say that while taking this tradition, it should not be repeated as it is, but we should go further by understanding it. The moment you preserve something as it is, you in fact destroy it. Because nothing can stop in this life, a culture, a religion, a nation, everything must be in motion.

What do you think about criticism of your dances?
I don't care anymore. We all grow up; we all get wiser in time. During the past years, my mental outlook has changed along with my physical appearance. I think I consider many things more objectively compared to the past. I organized such a performance, with a huge effort, and after that I receive criticism. That made me a sort of resentful. But maybe I was also immature. Now I believe in what I'm doing, and this is right for me.

What will the audience see in “Icons”?
We put on the premiere of “Icons” in France two years ago, and we have since performed in Spain and Morocco. Since my works are “works-in-progress,” they undergo a certain process of evolution in time. There were some parts of the performance at the beginning which I have laid aside for now. I focused on other parts that should be perfected. And it is now a project of 50 minutes composed of solos, duets and music. In this project, there's a guest dancer for the first time in my whirling projects. Two years ago, when I met Su in a workshop, I saw the enthusiasm she had for whirling, so I decided to add her to this project. She was the ideal person with whom I could show the contradictions and opposite poles. The reason why we called the performance “Icons” is that it is composed of solos, duets and trios, and every one of these has constructed itself in a fictional structure and achieved its perfect and iconized structure. In history, we have always constructed and deconstructed icons.

Does your own personal journey also influence your art?
Certainly it does. For instance, I have started to use electronic music in my shows; I think that's because of a saturation of my European experience. I used to use the music of Mercan Dede in my previous projects, and I still love it. Even in the first version of “Icons,” due to my feelings of my Arabic roots, my experience of reciting the Quran, speaking some Arabic, I used all these themes. There was Esma'ul Husna together with experimental music, but I laid it aside for a time, not because of social, cultural or religious concerns but because it didn't satisfy me in artistic terms. But I want to develop it in the future.

Turkish audiences complain that you perform in Turkey very rarely.
I also complain of the same thing. Regarding all the institutions that organize art events, even the [Culture and Tourism] Ministry, why shouldn't I perform more in my own country? For many years, I've been dreaming of performing in different cities of Turkey without financial concerns. I go everywhere in the world but can't come to my country as frequently as I want because there's no understanding of dance in Turkey. All we understand from dance is belly dance or folk dance in Turkey. There's no common conception of dance.

Taqwa

By Shafee Ahmed Ko, *Chennai Muslim group promoting moderate thought in Islam through weekly assembly* - TwoCircles.net - Jupiter, FL, USA
Friday, November 6, 2009

Chennai: Amidst hardline talks all around there is a Muslim group in Chennai that is trying to promote moderate thought in Islam through holding weekly programs.

"The Forum for the Promotion of Moderate Thought in Islam" held its weekly meeting yesterday evening at the premises of Academy of Islamic Research, Teynampet, Chennai.

Secretary General of the Forum Mr. A.Faizur Rahman expressed the view that Muslims ought to be educated to live harmoniously in pluralistic societies such as India, particularly where they are in a minority. He said that the Muslims must assert their identity in terms of true character and contribution of value based service to the society in tune with Islam rather being obsessed with external identity markers like the beard or the "burqa" (veil).

Quoting a verse from Sura Hujarath (49-13): "O mankind! We created you from a single pair of male and female, And made you into Nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (Not ye may despise each other). Verily the most honoured of you, In the sight of Allah, Is (he who is) the most Righteous of you, and Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted," Mr. Faizur Rahman said that even in the eyes of Allah it is "taqwa" ("God-consciousness") which enjoys importance rather than any outward religious symbol.

The meeting presided over by President of the Forum Prof. Zackria Badsha also discussed the controversial subject of "Vande Mataram"* and, it was generally felt that no nation of the world deitifies its land through its national anthem and, as such Muslims in India must not be compelled to do so. The Forum felt that Muslims of India have always been loyal and patriotic citizens.

Mr. P. Oosman Basha explained that the Forum meets every Thursday evening and disseminates the moderate teachings of Islam to counter the extremism which is spreading fast in the Muslim society thanks to rampant sectarianism.

The Forum was attended largely by the educated Muslims of the metropolis and is fast turning into a strong voice of moderation in the Muslim society.

*[Vande Mataram is the National Song (Not the National Anthem, which is Jana Gana Mana) of India. Click here to the lyrics in Hindi/translated into English by Sri Aurobindo. Click here to a Wiki article.]

A Personal Fight

By Brooke Heriges, *Cultural Expressions night exhibits Turkish film, food* - The Daily Beacon - Knoxville, TN, USA
Friday, November 6, 2009

Wednesday night in the International House was different than usual. Instead of the traditional Culture Night, the I-House decided to focus on one country in particular, Turkey, in a Cultural Expressions night. The different format made it possible to look at the specific history and religions that made Turkish culture what it is today.

Instead of the typical full-scale meal that many have come to associate with and indeed the reason for which to attend the culture nights, the I-House started things off with a short film, depicting different religions and their profound impacts on the country that would be Turkey. Though primarily Islamic today, Turkey was at one time the site of many important stories from the Christian Bible as well. All the different religions and ways of thought also influenced the arts of Turkey and more specifically the architecture. This way of looking at the country, not through its political wars or powerful leaders, but through theology and art was quite interesting for those present.

“It is nice to see a country that isn’t centered around government but its culture and its dancing and art,” Amanda Reuter, junior in Spanish and international business, said.

After the film, younger children demonstrated Turkish folk dancing. Many cultures have traditional dance, and so do the Turks, but something was lost in the performance as none of the moves or the music was explained before or afterward. Regardless, the kids dancing and the food — some Turkish cuisine was served directly after the dance — will be what sticks with some people.

“The little kids were really cute,” said Ashley Reuter, freshman in business. “And the food was really good.”

Next up for the evening was a speaker who talked about Sufism in Turkey. Sufism is a mystical branch of Islam, of which the famous Whirling Dervishes are a part. The presenter’s story was revealing as far as the tenants of Sufism go. He emphasized that Sufism means to seek God through personal experience, and then he went on to tell the stories of how Sufism came to be. He made one clear point in his presentation that is particularly apt for American students who don’t already know — he informed the audience that a jihad, a word heard very often these days with a strongly negative connotation, actually refers to a personal fight between the soul and the ego of a person. He did not spend long on this topic, just a brief pause in one of his stories, but the implications of the importance of culture nights (or country nights) were there. Some members of the audience agreed.

“These events are useful to compare cultures and see the differences between them,” Amanda said. “How they all interact and what one culture or country perceives of others.”

To close out the night, a video was shown highlighting one artform in Turkey, called Ebru, which is essentially marbleized and dyed water. The video was mesmerizing as what appeared to be random dots floating in water slowly came together to make an entire picture. However, because the attendance was low, and many people had left after the food was eaten, few people got to experience the second half of the evening.

“These events are better than reading about culture out of textbook because its visual,” Ashley said. “All types of people are here who are actually part of the culture.”
Amanda continued, “It’s one thing to read about it, or watch something on the Discovery Channel. But it’s different because (these events) are more interactive, and you get to see how people communicate.”

[Picture: Ebru Art from Dr. Mehmet Refii Kileci]

A Peaceful Somalia

By Ali Musa Abdi, *Somalia's Sufi forces organise in face of Shebab* - Agence France Presse - Paris, France

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Nairobi: Somalia's main Sufi movement, Ahlu Sunna wal Jamaa, on Thursday wrapped up an unprecedented conference in Nairobi to strategise its response to the rise and radicalisation of the Shebab group.

Dozens of the usually quiet religious movement's leaders have in recent days converged on Nairobi from Somalia and from Western exile to close ranks against what they see as an existential threat.

"The Shebab are misguided people who have misunderstood the true values of Islam," overall chairman Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Muhieddin told AFP before leaving Kenya Thursday.

Sufism is dominant in clannish Somalia, where Muslim saints are often also clan founders, but its leading clerics have voiced concern that hardline Islamist groups such as the Al Qaeda-inspired Shebab were slowly eradicating it.

It emphasises the mystical dimension of Islam and includes practices considered as idolatry by the followers of the Wahhabi sect adopted by the Shebab.

A year ago, Ahlu Sunna wal Jamaa ('The Companions of the Prophet') took up arms after the Shebab started hunting down Sufi faithful and desecrating their holy sites, notably in and around the southern Somali city of Kismayo.

"The Ahlu Sunna wal Jamaa fighters are not a regular army who long for power, they are defending themselves and the lives of other Somalis whose way of life is threatened by the Shebab's madness," Sheikh Sharif said.

The Ahlu Sunna leader, the son of respected Somali cleric Sheikh Muhieddin Eli, explained the current conflict as a continuation of old religious feuds between Muslims touched off by the death of Prophet Mohamed.

"A group of people who were known as the Khawarij (or Kharijite) came to kill other Muslims who did not share their views. Now the Shebab are killing Somalis because they are not with them," he said.

As Ahlu Sunna wal Jamaa gathered in Nairobi for its inaugural "war council", a man sometimes described as the movement's political face was also in the Kenyan capital to seek support.
Recently appointed president of the semi-autonomous central state of Galmudug with Ahlu Sunna wal Jamaa's blessing, Mohamed Ahmed Alin argued that his administration can help achieve what the central government in Mogadishu and its Western backers have failed to do.

"With some cooperation, I believe the Shebab could be eliminated from most of the country," he told AFP. "We need infrastructure support, military support, training of our troops but so far, just words and no action."

While the organisation's military strength remains unclear, its grassroots nature gives it a popular legitimacy and territorial reach that no other movement can boast in fractious Somalia.
"In my region for example, Ahlu Sunna wal Jamaa never used to be a political affiliation. Everybody is Ahlu Sunna, that's all," said Alin.

And despite the religious movement taking on a new and more political dimension as it seeks to beef up against the Islamist threat, its top leaders are quick to emphasise they have no further ambitions.

"We are not after power, what we we are fighting for is a peaceful Somalia governed by its elected leaders," said Abdulkadir Mohamed Somow, a senior Ahlu Sunna wal Jamaa leader from Mogadishu.

"Our movement is fighting the Shebab forces of anarchy but we will lay down our weapons as soon as they have been eliminated," he said.

Another senior Ahlu Sunna figure based in Garowe, the administrative capital of the northern semi-autonomous state of Puntland, was more circumspect.

"If it is God's will we may one day have a role to play in running the country, but it is too early to say more, there are consultations going on in Nairobi and elsewhere," Abdullahi Mohamoud Hassan said.

Picture: Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Muhieddin, chairman of Ahlu Sunna wal Jamaa, pictured in Nairobi

Veritable Skills

By Rahul Ghai Bikaner, *The flute gathers dust* - Hardnews - India
Thursday, November 5, 2009

Creative expression is not only for pleasure. It must also be a factor while generating livelihood opportunities

As the deep sonorous saxophone-like voice of Piran Khan resonates aj kal bhural maand vasa (Oh brown cloud! Bless our region with rain and life), the noble qalam of Khwaja Ghulam Farid, the great desert Sufi mystic, wafts through a star-studded, serene moonscape amid the desert wilderness of Dodha, an interior settlement in Bikaner.

Others enthusiastically join him in a chorus. These self-effacing invocations to the rain gods have been of no avail this year. The lilting Rajasthani folk music traditions always promise ecstasy to mystical heights. They soothe the heart and soul alike. But not this year which faces the threat of a creeping drought, the third worst in 28 years. Again, 26 out of the 28 years were affected by drought.

The food, fodder and water crisis is of an unprecedented magnitude. Most villages of the desert districts of Thar have reported more than 75 to almost 100 per cent crop failure. Prices of essential commodities like wheat, bajra, edible oil and kerosene have more than doubled. Fodder is scarce even at double the price. And, water has dried out. It is difficult to obtain water in the parched region even after immense effort. This drudgery is impregnated with signs of a long winter of destitution and misery ahead.

Waris Ali, a singer from Rawala, a remote settlement in Indira Gandhi Nahar Project (IGNP) stage II canal command area in Bikaner, pointed out the water woes here. And, the water scarcity is not only due to failure of rains. "Even in the earlier months we faced drought-like situation. For us, it is a permanent drought. Forget irrigating our fields, we do not even have water to drink," he said.

Lack of opportunities for performance in the canal command area has forced him to go to Punjab to eke out a living through his musical performances.

Abdul Jabbar, another musician from Pugal, pointed out, "For the last 25 years, the state has been pushing the grand IGNP canal as a panacea of all ills. It promises to assuage the misery of drought. But, that has not happened yet. Almost every year we face a drought like situation."

The sagacious Nazre Khan, deft player of been, squatted near a dried water body in his field in a remote chak on the border with Pakistan. "We cannot do anything else but wait for water."

Mohammad Sadiq from Ghulamwala breaks into a qalam of Sassi-Punnu, that debates the metaphysics of life and death through the depiction of tribulations of the harsh and blazing hot Thar. Soon, this gives way to ruminations about the apathy of policy planners and their failure to develop these resilient cultural traditions into lasting livelihood solutions.

Thousands of such families of musicians are scattered in the desert. They mostly belong to vulnerable communities and have survived through the ages as fringe groups with a feeble voice. They have been subordinated and discriminated in cases of access to entitlements. Many development schemes haven't touched their lives.

These subaltern musicians are a paradox: they are vast repositories of raw creativity and are known for their renditions, enticing overtures and robust dissemination of secular culture. Yet, they are languishing in misery.

As the spectre of scarcity looms large, these musicians have no option but try to access drought relief work - digging earth and uprooting bushes - that does not need their skills. This has been the usual emergency drought relief response and is repeated every year. Their musical talent gets buried in the drought relief works. The fonts of ecstasy get metamorphosed into the wretched of the desert.

This time, however, the state has come up with a new solution. The plan is to combat drought through relief works with the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). The new flagship programme of the state for inclusive growth and sustainable development, NREGS is the world's largest employment generation programme.

But, a glance through its official website tells a different story. It seems to reek of a sophistry in marshalling statistical data down to the panchayat level.

The NREGS is surely more than an employment programme. It conveys the stance of the State towards poverty and poor communities. Probing deeper into its conceptual foundations, one discovers that convergence of different development programmes has indeed been envisaged as a salient cornerstone for achieving sustainable development.

But this mostly applies to programmes relating to natural resources, stock landand watershed treatment projects. Apart from augmenting the natural resource base, it presents the issue of rural employment as essentially one of lack of skills and lack of opportunities to upgrade skills. This aspect of convergence is neglected in the public discourse on NREGS that thrives on providing employment to unskilled labour.

Surely these makers of music in the desert districts of Thar, who have represented India in cultural performances abroad, are prized in the field of cultural diplomacy. They are not unskilled people. They possess veritable skills. It is high time we rid ourselves of the bias and theoretical baggage that makes culture an intangible superstructural variable. Creative expression is not only for transient pleasures but can also be of marginal consequence for generating livelihoods.

Making NREGS perform better by further chiseling the empiricism of statistical jugglery topped with gospels of transparency and accountability is not enough. On its own, it contributes to making lists of numbers and names that get easily manipulated at the village and panchayat levels.

What perhaps is needed is a conceptual innovation in broadening the idea of convergence contained in the NREGS as it relates to sustainable development. NREGS is an opportunity for creating sustainable rural livelihoods through rejuvenation of productive capabilities of rural people. Many of these capabilities lie in the robust folk cultural traditions of the people. These communities need opportunities to graduate from mere wage earners to that of sustainable rural livelihoods. That would help in the realisation of the right to dignified work and reduction of vulnerabilities.

Efforts to engage with these subaltern musicians require a concerted action. But, this has often been found wanting in our stock responses to combat drought that scarcely graduate from emergency relief to long-term reduction of vulnerabilities.

A CEO of a successful NGO once, in his frank moments, admitted that most NGOs do not want to take up the challenge of working with musicians as it is time consuming and calls for compassionate monitoring. Administering muster roll and counting man days during drought relief is obviously less cumbersome.

The State and the civil society must engage with these makers of music. In these moments of crisis, they need opportunities to hone their skills and opportunities to perform.

In this context, it would be worthwhile for NREGS planners and civil society members to remember the Jodhpur Consensus, a concerted call to action by the UNESCO and endorsed by the ministry of culture in 2005. It delineates a strategy for rejuvenating creative communities. A central theme of the Jodhpur Consensus is the recognition that culture includes in its ambit social and economic factors, too. So, supporting these industries is a practical strategy to contribute to socio-economic development and poverty alleviation.

Encouraging people in rural regions to develop traditional forms of livelihood based on cultural resources should be considered an investment in development. Such a development would go a long way in fulfilling the promise of preserving our cultural heritage. It would also provide solace to the arid and parched urban sensibilities.

The writer is a development facilitator and researcher working in western Rajasthan

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bikaner
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panchayati_raj]

The Path of the Heart

By Len Seligman, *The Path of the Heart with Sufi Teacher Pir Zia Inayat-Khan* - 7th Space Interactive - New York, NY, USA

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Friday, December 4 - Sunday, December 6, 2009 Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.

Opening with Special Evening Event, Spiritual Chivalry: Answering the Call With Pir Zia Inayat-Khan, Friday, December 4, 2009, 7:30 - 9 p.m.

Rumi and many other Sufi teachers are well-known for their deep and touching poetry about love. Many might not know that there is a vibrant contemporary Sufism being practiced in the West. The upcoming visit by Pir Zia Inayat-Khan, head of the Sufi Order International, to Georgetown University, on the weekend of December 5 and 6, provides an excellent opportunity to be introduced to Sufism at it has evolved in the 21st century.

Pir Zia, who holds a doctoral degree in religion from Duke University, is the spiritual leader of the Sufi Order International. Pir Zia is also the president of the Suluk Academy and the founder of Seven Pillars House of Wisdom. He is the recipient of the U Thant Peace Award and is a Lindisfarne fellow.

Pir Zia is successor of his grandfather, Hazrat Inayat Khan (d. 1927), who is known for being the first person to bring Sufism to the West from his native India one hundred years ago, in 1910.

The theme of the weekend, sponsored by the Sufi Order International, is The Path of the Heart and will be held from 9:30 to 4:30 Saturday and Sunday, December 5 and 6.

Pir Zia uses meditation, breath, concentration and awareness to quicken the process of awakening through love.

Price: $225 (includes a Friday evening talk). Half-price for students and young adults under the age of 30. Limited scholarship available.

On Friday evening, between 7:30 pm. and 9 pm ., Pir Zia will give a public talk sponsored by Seven Pillars House of Wisdom on Spiritual Chivalry: Answering the Call. Pir Zia will explore the vocation that each of us has beyond our occupation to answer the call toward sacred service.

Price: $10 general admission. Both events are held at Georgetown University, Copley Hall Formal Lounge, 37 and O Streets, NW, Washington, D.C. 20057. For information or to register for the Friday evening and/or full weekend program email gwellock@cox.net or call 703-389-3456. To register please send checks payable to Sufi Order International to: Gail Jamila Wellock, 1427 Filene Court, Vienna, VA 22182.

The Sufi Order International is an ecumenical fellowship rooted in the visionary legacy of the Sufi mystic Hazrat Inayat Khan, who brought a message of human divinity and spiritual liberty to the West from his native India in 1910. The Sufi Order recognizes the inherent wisdom in all religious traditions and seeks to encourage harmony amongst all people.

For additional information, please visit http://www.sufiorder.org/.

Seven Pillars House of Wisdom is dedicated to fostering beauty and depth in human culture, and seeks to cultivate awareness of the unity of existence and the qualities of the heart that naturally arise from this awareness: nobility of character, genuine civility and creative optimism.

Seven Pillars offers programs, dialogues, and media projects focused on four primary areas: Cosmology, Revelation, Mysticism and Chivalry. http://www.sevenpillarshouse.org/

True Meaning

By Xan Brooks and Agencies, *Matrix producer plans Muhammad biopic* - The Guardian - London, UK
Monday, November 2, 2009

Barrie Osborne, part of the Oscar-winning team behind the Lord of the Rings films, says the new production 'will educate people about the true meaning of Islam'

Producer Barrie Osborne cast Keanu Reeves as the messiah in The Matrix and helped defeat the dark lord Sauron in his record-breaking Lord of the Rings trilogy. Now the Oscar-winning American film-maker is set to embark on his most perilous quest to date: making a big-screen biopic of the prophet Muhammad.

Budgeted at around $150m (£91.5m), the film will chart Muhammad's life and examine his teachings. Osborne told Reuters that he envisages it as "an international epic production aimed at bridging cultures. The film will educate people about the true meaning of Islam".

Osborne's production will reportedly feature English-speaking Muslim actors. It is backed by the Qatar-based production company Alnoor Holdings, who have installed the Muslim scholar Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi to oversee all aspects of the shoot. In accordance with Islamic law, the prophet will not actually be depicted on screen.

"The film will shed light on the Prophet's life since before his birth to his death," Ahmed Abdullah Al-Mustafa, Alnoor's chairman, told al-Jazeera. "It will highlight the humanity of Prophet Muhammad."

The as-yet-untitled picture is due to go before the cameras in 2011. It remains to be seen, however, whether it will be beaten to cinemas by another Muhammad-themed drama. Late last year, producer Oscar Zoghbi announced plans to remake The Message, his controversial 1976 drama that sparked a fatal siege by protesters in Washington DC.

The new version, entitled The Messenger of Peace, is currently still in development.

Picture: Detail of a fireplace on show at the Jameel Gallery of Islamic Art at the V&A Museum, London. Photograph: David Levene

A Lesson We Need

By NYOC Staff, *The New York Open Center and The Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi Society present: Islam, Sufism and the Heart of Compassion* - New York Open Center - New York, NY, USA
Tuesday, November 3, 2009

The New York Open Center and The Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi Society present: Islam, Sufism and the Heart of Compassion - Living the Teachings of Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi

A Conference - Friday-Saturday, November 6-7 - In New York City.

Presenters: William C. Chittick, Stephen Hirtenstein, Salman Bashier, Sachiko Murata, Mohamed Haj Yousef.

Cosponsors: Riverside Church, WBAI-FM & The Middle East Institute at Columbia University.

Special Guest: Michael Sells, PhD, will give a short reading of his translation of the Tarjuman on Friday evening

This groundbreaking event, at the beautiful Gothic cathedral of the historic interdenominational Riverside Church of New York, will explore the wisdom and contemporary relevance of the 13th century mystic and teacher Ibn 'Arabi, who is considered the greatest master of gnostic and philosophical Sufism.

The conference brings together some of the world's leading Ibn ’Arabi scholars and will include talks, workshops, musical performances, poetry readings in Arabic and English, and films presented the award-winning director Nacer Khemir.

The conference will include presentations such as: Ibn ’Arabi and the Quest for Human Perfection; How Ibn al-Arabi’s Mystical Love Can Overcome Fundamentalism; Ibn ’Arabi in Dialogue with the Confucian Tradition, and much more.

As was evident in the global response to our presidential election, people of good will everywhere are in search of new perspectives and of voices that can transcend narrow interpretations of religion and politics and bring us universal truths and common ground.

Ibn ’Arabi was born in Medieval Spain, then home to an extraordinarily enlightened culture of religious tolerance among Muslims, Jews and Christians, a period that can serve us today as an inspiring example of the possiblitiy of fruitful co-existence and cooperation among different cultures — a lesson we desperately need to heed in this period of intense polarization and constant war.

Ibn ’Arabi was one of history's greatest universal mystics and interpreters of the human condition, and his teachings offer us a window into a form of Islam that we in the West are rarely exposed to. Discovering this profound thinker can help us arrive at a much more well rounded and sophisticated understanding of the more exalted aspects of the Islamic cultural heritage.

Please join us for this exceptional presentation of cross cultural dialogue and come deepen your awareness of the very important part of the Islamic tradition that is one of humanity's richest veins of mystical spirit and ecstatic beauty.

Post-conference Events

Tunisian filmmaker Nacer Khemir will be presenting his highly acclaimed series of films, the Desert Trilogy, of which the most well-known is “Bab’Aziz.” The films are filled with exquisite scenery and elements of a mystical fairy tale, showing us a more open, tolerant and friendly view of Islamic culture, full of love and wisdom.

[Click on the title of this article for the Programme, Interviews with the Speakers and much more]

Allah Into Your Heart

By Sarthak Gupta, *He created a new genre to sing about the Prophet, Islam* - Top News - India

Monday, November 2, 2009

Sion (Mumbai): “You are never alone / Just look into your heart and / Allah is always there...” This is not a translation of Urdu ghazal or Sufi poetry, but the lyrics of one of Zain Bhikha’s nasheeds, or spiritual songs, performed at the Islamic Peace Conference on Sunday.

This South African singer and songwriter, who has been performing nasheeds around the globe for 15 years, has created a new genre of halal (approved by Islam) music that consists of vocals and soft drumming.

“My songs are in English because one must speak to the new generation in a language and genre that they can relate to,” said Bhikha, who gave his first performance in South Africa in 1994, the year the country emerged from apartheid into democracy.

“I sing about the Prophet, Islam, and also about social issues I have seen in my country, like the plight of orphans.”

A huge hit on YouTube, Bhikha’s first international concert was with Cat Stevens in London in 1999. Sunday was his second performance in Mumbai, and drew a much larger audience compared to his first in the 2007 Peace Conference.

“My great grand-parents are from Gujarat, so I love coming to India, the country of my roots,” he said.

He has already experimented with fusion along with Islamic rappers in the US, and now looks forward to working with Indian musicians as well, he said, adding, “A. R. Rehman is my mentor.”

Bhikha will be performing at the Somaiya grounds in Sion again on November 4, the sixth day of the conference.

[Picture: Zain Bhikha in 2008. Photo from Wiki]

‘Guru Nanak Jayanti’

By ANI, *Guru Nanak Jayanti being celebrated today* - Trak.in News - India
Monday, November 2, 2009

New Delhi: ‘Guru Nanak Jayanti’, the birthday of Guru Nanak Devji, is being celebrated today with religious zeal and gaiety across the country.

Vice President Hamid Ansari and Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh greeted the nation on the occasion.

Ansari said that Guru Nanak Devji, the founder of Sikhism, is an apostle of universal love, piety and spiritual faith. His divine teachings guide us on the path of social harmony and unity.

In his message, Dr. Singh said that the teachings of Guru Nanak Dev, of peace and unity are very relevant in today’s world.

“A Society without discrimination and distinction – the vision of Guru Nanakji is the vision towards which we should strive,” he added.

The anniversaries of Sikh Gurus are known as Gurpurabs (festivals), and celebrated by Sikhs with devotion.

Gurpurabs mark the culmination of Prabhat Pheris, the early morning procession that starts from the gurdwaras and then goes around localities singing shabads (hymns).

The celebrations also include the three-day Akhand path, during which the Guru Granth Sahib is read continuously, from beginning to end without a break.

On the day of the festival, the Granth Sahib is also carried in a procession on a float, decorated with flowers, throughout a village or city.

[Picture: A Granthi reciting from Guru Granth Sahib. Photo from Wiki]

Time And Patience

By Lisa Curtis, *Secretary Clinton's Visit to Pakistan: Into the Crucible* - The Heritage Foundation - USA
Thursday, October 29, 2009

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to Pakistan comes as the country faces a wave of terrorist attacks and a surge in anti-American sentiment fueled by sensitive language contained in recently enacted U.S. aid legislation for Pakistan.

In the wake of a major bombing that killed over 100 in the northwest city of Peshawar on the day of her arrival, Clinton sought to convey a message of support for Pakistan as it battles extremists while also signaling that U.S. interests in the country stretch beyond the fight against terrorism.

While Clinton's visit could help calm some of the current tensions in the U.S.-Pakistan relationship, it must be followed by concrete and consistent U.S. aid programs that are visible to average Pakistanis and directly address the myriad socio-economic challenges Pakistanis face. Building a successful long-term U.S.-Pakistan partnership also requires the U.S. to demonstrate that it will remain committed to stabilizing Afghanistan and preventing the country from being engulfed by violent Islamist extremists that would then project influence into Pakistan.

Rebuking Terrorism
Clinton delivered a forceful message against the Peshawar attackers, calling them cowards and challenging them to test their ideology within the Pakistani democratic process. She further asserted that "they know they are on the losing side of history. ... But they are determined to take as many lives with them as their movement is finally exposed for the nihilistic, empty effort it is."

Surprisingly, the Afghan Taliban, the Pakistani Taliban, and al-Qaeda later denied involvement in the Peshawar attack, claiming their groups do not explode bombs in bazaars and mosques and blaming "elements who want to defame Jihad and refugees." They likely calculated that the massive bombing, which killed mainly women and children, could backfire on them and their support base in Pakistan.

Secretary Clinton also addressed head-on Pakistani ambivalence toward addressing the challenge from terrorism. During a raucous exchange at a university in Lahore, Clinton said Pakistan had no choice but to take on the terrorists militarily. "If you want to see your territory shrink, that is your choice," she chided.

In a more subtle admonition of Islamist extremism, Clinton visited a Sufi shrine in Islamabad, where a suicide bomber had struck in 2005. Her visit is symbolically important because most Pakistanis adhere to the Barelvi school of Islamic thought, which draws from Sufi traditions of religious tolerance and encouragement of a deeply spiritual form of Islam. Clinton's visit is a reminder that the extremists conducting attacks are seeking to impose a way of life on Pakistani citizens that is alien to their own traditions of Islam and aspirations toward constitutional democracy.

Calling the terrorists "destroyers, not builders," Clinton also unveiled a $125 million energy aid package to rebuild Pakistan's electricity production capacity. She further committed the U.S. to reviving a moribund strategic dialogue started under the Bush Administration.

Give and Take
Clinton has attempted to address the seeds of Pakistani distrust of America while at the same time asserting American foreign policy goals and interests. "This is a two-way street," she declared, before noting that "if we are going to have a mature partnership, where we work together, then there are issues that not just the United States but others have with your government and with your military security establishment." She was likely referring to reports about continued aid from Pakistani intelligence agencies to the Afghan Taliban, an issue raised in General McChrystal's assessment on Afghanistan.

Clinton won high marks in Pakistan a few months ago when she affirmed during congressional testimony that the U.S. had treated Pakistan poorly in the past. This statement apparently met a deep need among Pakistanis for the U.S. to acknowledge that it had made mistakes in its past policies toward the region.

Follow Through: The Key to a Successful Partnership
Clinton's visit was a positive first step toward breaking down the mutual suspicion and misunderstanding that has increasingly characterized U.S.-Pakistan ties. Although the leadership in both countries understands the importance of continued cooperation, divergent perceptions about the causes of terrorism in the region have contributed to these increased tensions.

It will take time and patience to drain the deep reservoirs of Pakistani anger and resentment toward the U.S. and to change a tendency among Pakistanis to blame U.S. policies for the terrorist backlash in the country.

Specifically:
--The Obama Administration will need to follow up Clinton's promises of broad strategic engagement and commitment to Pakistani prosperity with concrete and consistent aid programs that touch the lives of average Pakistanis and minimize losses to corruption; and

--Even more important to establishing a successful U.S.-Pakistan partnership will be whether America commits to stabilizing Afghanistan.

One Pakistani audience member asked Secretary Clinton directly if the U.S. would abandon Afghanistan again like it did after the Russians left the country in 1989. It is unfortunate that the ongoing White House debate on U.S. strategy in Afghanistan has reinforced doubts about U.S. commitment to this crucial region and forced some of America's partners to consider hedging their bets.

If President Obama truly wants to see Pakistan succeed as a prosperous and democratic nation free of terrorism and extremism, he must clarify U.S. commitment to the region by giving his military commanders in Afghanistan the troops and resources necessary to implement the comprehensive counterinsurgency strategy he laid out on March 27.

Lisa Curtis (pictured) is Senior Research Fellow in the Asian Studies Center at The Heritage Foundation

Through The Arts

By Meredith S. Steuer, *Middle Ground* - The Harvard Crimson - Cambridge, MA, USA

Friday, October 30, 2009

Parting the curtains of “In the Courtyard of the Beloved,” the viewer enters a sacred alcove of bright colors, intricate geometric decorations, and minarets.

The installation—part of the new exhibition at the Peabody Museum, “Sacred Spaces: Reflections on a Sufi Path”—sweeps the viewer away from the gallery, flies him across oceans, pulls him through the crowded streets of Delhi, and finally ushers him into a Sufi shrine.

There, the digital still images and audio recordings bring into view a personal practice of a mystical dimension of Islam.

“In the Courtyard of the Beloved,” makes clear the exhibition’s pedagogical purpose. A collection of photographs, calligraphic works, and mixed media montages, “Sacred Spaces,” presents a pluralistic view of Islam as it is expressed and practiced today. In a time when the religion is oft associated with terrorism, extremism, and oppression, the exhibition offers a nuanced view of Islam and is careful to depict its multifaceted nature.

“Sacred Spaces: Reflections on a Sufi Path,” and its companion display “Sacred Spaces: The World of Dervishes, Fakirs, and Sufis” at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, are part of a greater initiative, for which faculty and students are also advocating, to use art to educate the Harvard community about the religion of Islam, and by extension, Middle Eastern cultures. And for artists within an Islamic tradition who wish to educate a Western audience, these social motivations must be balanced against their aesthetic goals.

A CREATION STORY
Islamic art, as in many other religious traditions, has historically been conscious of its inseparability from the divine, a sentiment that continues to operate within the on-campus Islamic community.

“God bestowed artistry and other gifts to mankind,” says Nafees A. Syed ’10, a practicing Muslim and Crimson staff editorial writer. “Even when Solomon built this beautiful temple there was a recognition of where the gifts came from.” Na’eel A. Cajee ’10, president of the Islamic student society, sees this relationship as reciprocal. “When you produce something that is beautiful it is usually an attempt at perfected expression or proportion,” he says. “Art, for me, is striving for perfection but ultimately falling short of the Perfect, which is God. This is the idea that is behind art and is an inspiration for artists.”

For the general Harvard community, however, Islamic art’s relevance is not necessarily its religious import but its undeniable cultural significance. “First of all, you have to think about religious traditions as cultural phenomenon embedded in context—social and political and literary and artistic,” says Professor Ali S. Asani, professor of Indo-Muslim and Islamic Religion and Cultures and Associate Director of Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Islamic Studies Program.

“Great works of Christian secular music are tied closely to piety. We are used to thinking about religion in theological forms. Religion is such a complex phenomenon that religious discourse can be found in many other forms. Muslims in the Islamic world are no exception.”

Next semester, Asani will be teaching a General Education class that will serve as an introduction to Islam and Muslim culture through the arts. The class will explore a wide range of Muslim art forms, including the architecture of mosques, poetry, Koran recitation, devotional song, and calligraphy. “We will study them and try to understand them for their own aesthetic value based on the culture they’re coming from and use those art forms as lenses to understand Muslim culture,” Asani says.

Students will then have the opportunity to design a mosque for an urban American landscape, create a poem in English using the structure and symbolism of a genre of Islamic poetry study, and produce their own works of calligraphy so that they can participate in and understand the practice of Islam. Using art in such a way helps students engage with the religion in a more meaningful way.

“The representations of Muslims have been so negative,” Asani says. “How de we counteract Islamaphobia? I am a firm believer that one way in which people can understand each other is through the arts.”

ARTISTIC EFFECT
Samina Quraeshi, the first Robert Gardner Visiting Artist Fellow at the Peabody Museum, is currently using her time at Harvard to put this notion into practice. Quraeshi’s work, which is currently displayed in “Sacred Spaces” as part of her fellowship, attempts to translate her conception of homeland—a complicated interweaving of her birth in India, Pakistani Muslim upbringing, and Catholic education—into a cultural experience.

Fundamentally believing that the personal cannot be separated from artistic production, Quraeshi’s visual pieces are permeated by her lived encounter with her own strain of the religion, Sufism. “I don’t think one can avoid the influences of one’s place of birth,” says Samina Quraeshi.“You are raised [in a certain] way and the colors and the textures and all of the sensory experience you are surrounded by are etched in your brain.”

Despite the highly personal nature of her art, the work has broader social implications, namely to add nuance to what she sees as a typically monolithic portrayal of Islam. In conjunction with her new book published by the Peabody Press—“Sacred Spaces: A Journey with the Sufis of the Indus,”—the pieces on view portray the multiplicity found in Sufi traditions. “This book and exhibition is a personal and artistic act of resistance against those forces both within Islam and outside of it that seek to deny such nuances, to silence the voices of mystics, and to distill the diversity of Islamic piety into something essential, unitary, and uniform,” Quraeshi said in her speech at the opening of “Sacred Spaces.”

The Peabody exhibition was originally intended to be a display of her photographic documentation of the Muslim sect. However, Quraeshi felt that the photographs would have alone failed to portray a holistic view of Sufism, one that would be able to educate a Western viewer. “I was struggling to express Sufism, and I felt that the photographs were not enough,” the artist says. “I wanted to express the emotional experience, and that’s where the art came in.”

ESCHEWING THE LABEL
While Quraeshi believes it unorthodox to use contemporary art to a humanizing anthropological end, such is a necessary gesture to accurately depict the many facets of Islam to a Western audience. “I want these images to speak across the barriers of cultural mores, linguistic obstacles, and obscure practices,” Quraeshi said at the exhibition opening.

But despite her efforts to inform the Harvard community about Sufism, Quraeshi does not want to be considered an Islamic artist. “It’s a sensitive subject because of all of the horrible things being done in the name of Islam,” she says. “It’s sort of like calling a woman a female artist. You are either an artist or you are not.”

This emphasis demonstrates Quraeshi’s nuanced approach to Islamic culture; her rejection of broad categorizations and the accentuation of the personal in her art sensitize her viewers to the complexities of an important world religion. Ultimately, this even-handed approach—balancing accessibility with personal aesthetic value—is important for a responsible ethnological presentation of Islam.

“I think the goal of the Peabody is to represent the traditions of man,” Quraeshi says. “My work is the living tradition of an area of the world that is very underrepresented. The exhibition is very much in the idea of inclusion and exposing the students to not only the history of mankind but also the living tradition as it is practiced today.”

[Meet Samina Quraeshi; Visit the Peabody Museum]

[Picture: The Garden Of Paradise]

A Voice For Peace

By Erin DuBois, *Locals gather to Rumi-nate on the power of the poet in tough times* - Souderton Independent/Montgomery News - USA
Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Rage, grief, despair – flimsy words to describe America’s horror during the events of 9/11. But while Americans endured the unspeakable, they found solace in an unlikely source, the healing words of Islam’s beloved 13th century religious thinker, Rumi, who is the bestselling poet in America today.

The phenomenon of Rumi’s rising eminence was the focus of the latest segment of the Spirit Journeys series presented by Generations of Indian Valley Oct. 23.

A full-service community center for active adults 55 and older, Generations is delving deeper in its commitment to growth and mutual support as participants explore the points of commonality among diverse cultures and religions. “Many studies of Baby Boomers show that they’re interested in studying other cultures and religions, especially those things that unite us,” Ella Roush, Generations board member and the event organizer, said.

Generations staff members decided to develop an entire series around this interest, beginning with a program on Native American spirituality.

They chose Sufism, the mystic branch of Islam, as especially pertinent since its message of understanding and loving one another resonates in a post-9/11 world where people realize more clearly than ever the importance of learning to live in harmony. “Rumi speaks about a personal relationship with the divine that compels us to make the world a better place,” Roush said. “That message is as valid today as in the 13th century.”

Following a Middle Eastern repast provided by the Oasis Restaurant of Lansdale, the Generations community enjoyed a thought-provoking viewing of “Rumi Returning: The Triumph of Divine Passion.”

Harleysville Books provided copies of Rumi’s work for sale.Produced by Kell Kearns and Cynthia Lukas, “Rumi Returning” experienced the record-breaking success of airing on over 300 PBS stations, according to Lukas.

Lukas appreciated Rumi’s poetry for years before inspiration dawned to make a film about his life and achievements. Her non-profit company, Heaven on Earth Creations, produces films of global import promoting spiritual growth and societal change.When UNESCO declared 2007 the International Year of Rumi, Lukas was startled by the renaissance of interest, since poets are rarely recognized for their impact upon the world’s most crucial issues.

Lukas and co-producer Kearns traveled twice to Rumi’s hometown of Konya, located in Turkey. There they witnessed thousands of pilgrims from different faiths and ethnicities visiting his shrine.“We felt something very sacred in the elevated sense of the place,” Lukas said. “We knew we had to make a film.”

Even during Rumi’s lifetime, Konya was a gathering place for diverse cultures and beliefs.

Born in 1207 in what is present-day Afghanistan, Mawlana Jalal-ud-Din Balkhi-Rumi eventually settled in Konya, where persons of faiths as diverse as Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, and Christianity lived together peacefully. Rumi’s work reflects the unified complexity of his surroundings when he says that he is neither a Muslim, nor a Christian or Jew, but rather a part of the divine that imbues every created being.

“We thought his voice would be an excellent voice for peace across the world because he reaches across all boundaries,” Lukas said. Rumi’s voice surmounts the obstacles of a trauma like 9/11 by offering hope to a world ravenous for peace. Despite their anger and shock, Americans crave Rumi’s perspective of humanity as brothers and sisters who should respect one another, Lukas said.

Tolerant of all religions, Rumi emphasized putting away surface differences.“People can open up the pages of Rumi and see their own faiths being mentioned and respected,” Lukas said.

“The Essential Rumi” by Coleman Barks contains poems expressive of Rumi’s loving reverence for Jesus. Despite popular misconceptions, Muslims consider Jesus a prophet, and Sufis especially view Jesus as one of themselves, so that Rumi weaves common threads between Muslims and Christians, Lukas said.

Capturing both the elevated landscape and spirituality of the great mystic, the film explicates Rumi’s compelling wisdom against a backdrop of Sufi music. Music was an integral aspect of worship for Rumi, who expressed prayer through a ritual dance which later inspired the whirling dervishes under his son’s leadership. This ritual prayer dance is featured extensively in high definition throughout the film.

Like the wild abandon of the dance, Rumi’s poetry sparkles with the joy which usually seems so elusive in the midst of disaster.

Many scholars consider the Persian poets to be the best; and of the Persians, Rumi is at the top of their list, Lukas said. “His poetry is very immediate, sensual, and sacred,” Lukas said. “Ecstatic is the best word I can use to describe it.”Readers respond to his poetry because they crave ecstasy in their daily, mundane lives. Even when he is grieving, Rumi emanates the hope that life will continue turning as ceaselessly as the dance, bringing better things to the one prepared for them by all they have endured. “Things will get better – that hope is something he offers on every page,” Lukas said.

Inspired by the film, the audience, which was comprised of a cross-section of ages and faiths, remained well past the slated discussion time to ask questions. Lukas said that she appreciated their thoughtful questions so much that she would look forward to returning next year with the film’s sequel.

Lukas and Kearns are currently at work on the sequel, which PBS invited them to make due to the great success of “Rumi Returning.” The producers traveled to Turkey for Rumi’s 800th birthday celebration on Sept. 30, filming a celebration of mystic music that included musicians from Sudan, Kazakhstan, and Iran, among other countries.

Generations staff and board members displayed courage in hosting the event, Lukas said.“So much of what we see in the media is negative to Islam. It’s difficult for Americans to watch, because it saddens them and they don’t understand it.”

By viewing the film and participating in discussion with the producers, the audience experienced a different perspective of Islam as a unifying rather than a destructive force, one that cherishes the divine permeating all of humanity.

The Spirit Journeys series will continue on Nov. 20, with a discussion on the Quaker practice of spiritual nurture, presented by Mickey Edgerton of the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of Friends. Topics for 2010 include Jewish Kabbalah, Buddhism, and Hinduism.

For more information on the film, visit http://www.rumireturning.com/.
Upcoming events at Generations can be found at http://www.generationsofiv.org/.

Powerful Words And Music

By Tresca Weinstein, *Stage not strongest forum for poet Rumi's work* - Times Union - Albany, NY, USA

Friday, October 23, 2009

A Jew, a Christian and a Muslim decide to compare their dreams.
That's not the first line of a joke but rather the subject of a teaching story passed down from Jelaluddin Rumi, the 13th-century Sufi mystic whose poetry is among the most widely read in the world today.

The story, which also features Jesus, Moses, Mohammed and a dispute over a piece of halvah, was one of the poems and tales retold Wednesday evening by Peter Rogen, a former actor and retired communications consultant who has spent the last three years bringing Rumi's legacy to the stage.

Rogen joined acclaimed vocalist and musician Amir Alan Vahab [pictured] and four dancers, who performed the traditional whirling dance of the Mevlevi Sufis, to present "A Celebration of Rumi," a free performance at the University of Albany's Performing Arts Center Wednesday.

Rumi's poetry, most famously translated and spoken by the poet and translator Coleman Barks, is vivid, passionate, even sensual -- as Rogen told the full house, it is all about love, for God and for the God within us all. Rogen, who spent two years performing with the Helen Hayes Equity Theater at the Brooklyn Academy of Music before going on to a 25-year career as an international business consultant, has a conversational style of delivery that befits the timeless quality of Rumi's poetry.

Yet his selections Wednesday night were not among the poet's most affecting works, nor did his voice -- mellow and mellifluous though it is -- do full justice to the transporting potential of Rumi's words. Most of the transporting was done by Vahab, who accompanied the recitations on the ney flute, frame drum and sitar, and sang ancient Persian and Sufi songs in Farsi.

The four whirling dervishes, all from the U.S., included Rupa Cousins, Christopher Briggs and two dancers who each go by one Sufi name only: Hafizullah and Arsalaan. Dressed in white robes and tall hats in the Mevlevi style, they turned and turned, skirts belling outward, arms held gently curved in the air, heads slightly tilted. It's not so much a dance as a mesmerizing meditation in motion -- which, combined with the poetry and the entrancing strains of the traditional instruments, created a somewhat soporific effect.

Rumi's poetry, and the songs and music from his time, have been passed down now over seven centuries, with the proscenium stage as a fairly recent venue for their transmission.

A theater doesn't seem the most natural forum for these powerful words and music, yet those who keep the oral tradition alive deserve, at the very least, our gratitude.