On Bomohs

By Joseph Loh - The Star - Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
Friday, February 16, 2007

Many people are aware of popular alternative beliefs such as feng shui and astrology. However, going deeper beyond these practices would take one into the realm of spirituality – and that includes dealings with bomohs [Malay term for shamans], spirit mediums and the like.

“Usually with bomohs, there is some spiritual element involved,” says Dr Amir Farid Isahak, a medical specialist who practises holistic, aesthetic and anti-ageing medicine. He is a qigong master and founder of SuperQigong. He is also a Sufi practitioner and the columnist for Starmag’s Art of Qi.

Spirituality encompasses religious spirituality, where there is reliance on the “good” elements coupled with a belief in an almighty god. However, it can also be taken to mean practices in which jins (evil spirits) are invoked.

“There is black magic and white magic ... bad spirits and good spirits,” Amir points out. “Similarly, some recite verses from the Quran to invoke God’s intervention, while others may chant non-Quranic verses or mantra to call upon dark forces.”

But how, in today’s day and age, does one explain the prominent role in society of bomohs and such?

“Even now, there are many diseases that cannot be healed, or some areas where science and technology have little relevance. That is why there is alternative medicine and a lot of demand for their services,” says Amir.

So how does one tell the good from the bad?

“If you use Quranic verses and rely on God, it is good. You acknowledge that God is the healer, and everything else you use is a medium to receive healing from God. But using any third party is suspect. If you call upon spirits and are not mindful that the healer is God, you are committing what is called syirik (which in Islam means praying to or worshipping beings other than Allah),” Amir explains.

Ultimately, the safest power to believe in is God himself. However, there is nothing wrong in seeking the guidance of those who are close to God, he says.

Mystic and Sufi sounds: an evening of rare and traditional music on February 17

The Hindu - Chennai, India

Monday, February 12, 2007

Ruhaniyat, the all-India Sufi and Mystic Music Festival, comes again to Chennai. The programme will be held on February 17 (6.30 p.m.) at the Madras Race Club Lawns, Guindy.

It is being organised by the Banyan Tree Events, a cultural organisation that promotes and presents rare and traditional Indian performing arts, including classical, folk and spiritual music as well as dance.

This year's festival will include mystic musicians, Sufi qawwals, bauls, Kabir panthis and folk musicians from across the country. More than ever before, the message and music of Sufi saints are becoming popular.

Ruhaniyat will bring together artistes from remote villages of the country and of international fame.

The festival will feature Jikir-Jari by Hafiza Begum Chaudhury and group (Assam), Zikr-e-rifayi by fakirs (Hyderabad), Jagar by Rakesh Bhatt and group (Uttaranchal), Baul songs by Parvathi Baul (Bengal), Sufi kalam, mystic and kalbeliya songs by Kachra Khan, Jamil, Kalbeliya women and others (Rajasthan), Sufi qawwali by Shameem Nayeem Ajmeri and group (Ajmer) and Kabir Panthi Nirguni songs by Prahlad Tippania and group (Madhya Pradesh).

Donor cards available at Odyssey (Adyar, Anna Nagar) and Landmark (Nungambakkam, Spencer's). For details call 09819109841 or email banyantree@vsnl.net

[picture: FOLKSY TUNES, Singers of Rajasthan]

East, West in mystic harmony

By Ray Purvis - The West Australian - Perth, Australia

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Life is a dream for Tunisian oud player and vocalist Dhafer Youssef and it is a view that might well be shared by those lucky enough to catch what is promised to be an enthralling acoustic concert in Perth next week.

While his mastery of the fretless 11-stringed Arabic lute alone is enough to entrance an audience, Youssef is also blessed with an amazing voice that ranges from a low husky rumble to a perfectly pitched operatic upper register.

These two unique instruments working together can be heard best on his fourth solo album Divine Shadows, which has been described as “astonishing” and “thrilling” by world music critics [album pictured: Electric Sufi].

The North African oud player’s music is rooted in the Islamic Sufi tradition, but he draws from different influences including jazz, Indian, electronics and rock.

Youssef sees his music as a bridge between cultures.

“I am hungry for everything — for art, for life, for every second in life,” he says on the phone from Austria, where he now lives after leaving Tunisia as a 19-year-old.
“I love this life because for me it is getting (further and further along), closer to discovering myself. The future of the world is all cultures coming together. For me there is only one culture. There is no Islamic culture and no Occidental culture. It is all the same.”

He will be accompanied on his first visit to Australia by long-time collaborator and tabla player Jatinder Thakur and the Divine Shadows string quartet.

“I am looking to play my own musical world. I want to share this music with Australian audiences. What inspires me is my dreams and I’m living my dreams now,” he says.

Born in 1967 and raised in a big family of seven brothers and sisters in the small seaside town of Teboulba, Tunisia, at an early age he was entranced by the music he heard on the radio. He recently told the BBC: “It was just music. That’s all I knew. I didn’t know what was classical, what was jazz, and so on.”

There was no spare money for music lessons, so Youssef made his own oud out of scavenged wood and metal.

He taught himself to play by ear. He later borrowed a toy electric guitar that a friend had brought back on his travels and became seriously obsessed with the instrument: “There were days when I didn’t sleep, time was too precious. I just played.”

At the age of 19 he went to Vienna to study music and quickly developed his poetic approach on the oud. He formed his own ensembles and recorded two CDs in 1993 and 1996.

“This instrument is what is played in Tunisia and it is my roots,” he says. “The sound of the oud is to me the most beautiful sound I can imagine.”

Indian tabla master Jatinder Thakur played on Youssef’s first two solo discs, 1999’s Malak and 2001’s Electric Sufi, and comes from the lineage of tabla players associated with great sarod player Ali Akbar Khan’s college of music.

“He is my brother, my father, my neighbour — everything that makes the basement of my life,” Youssef says. “He introduced me to Indian music, which for me is a big love. My music gets a lot of inspiration from the experience of knowing and playing with him.”

The call of the Valley

By Sahana Charan - The Hindu - Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Thursday, February 15, 2007

"Shive Tchuye Sthale Sthale Razaan, Mao Zaan Huend Tae Musalmaan... " (Your conscience is keeping a watch over you, do not divide the Kashmiris into Hindus and Muslims).

These and other verses of Lal Ded (or Laleshwari), 14th century Kashmiri saint-poet, considered by many as a Sufi, propagate the philosophy of oneness of God and the sharing of common beliefs among different faiths in the Valley.

"This is the essence of the unique Sufi tradition of Kashmir, which propagates the philosophy of peace and harmony," says Mir Munir, a Kashmiri Sufi singer.

Mr. Munir and a cultural troupe of singers and Rauf dancers were in the city to perform at the Jammu and Kashmir Food Festival being held at the Jayamahal Palace Hotel.
The explosion of grenades has not been able to drown the harmonious strains of "Sufiyana Mousaqi" or Sufi music in the beautiful Kashmir Valley. This form of music and Sufi poetry is drawn from the rituals and teachings of the Sufis or Muslim mystics and has a strong influence on the thinking and way of life of Kashmiris.

During the 1990s, not many musical programmes were organised because of the militancy and terror in the valley. "But now it is not so. There has been a concerted effort by artistes from many years in the Valley to revive the tradition of regular cultural programmes and performances and this is paying off," Syed Shahnawaz of the Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Development Corporation said.

"All music and dance in Kashmir has a spiritual base. The songs are mostly sung in chakri, a folk form of music, and most of the Sufi poetry are in praise of the Prophet and talks about unification with God," he said.

"Sufiyana Mousiqi" is generally accompanied by instruments such as the Santoor, Sarangi, Thumak and Harmonium.

The Rauf dance usually has six to seven girls dancing to the tune of folk music and is traditionally performed during Ramzan, when they come out of their homes after breaking their fast.

According to Shafiq Qureshi, manager of the cultural troupe and a director himself who has made many films on the Valley, Kashmiri Sufism is different from the Sufi traditions of other parts of India. "Unlike the Sufi traditions elsewhere, in Kashmir, `Sufiyana Mousiqi' is mostly performed at homes of elderly persons and heads of communities and not so much in dargahs and mazaars."

Whatever peace and brotherhood remains is probably because of the Sufi traditions of the region, believes Mr. Munir.

Mevlana-themed ceramics exhibit opens

Today's Zaman - Istanbul, Turkey
Thursday, February 15, 2007

Hikmet Serdar Mutlu's ceramic exhibit titled "The Whirling of Soil and Fire" has opened in Ankara, showcasing over 50 works of art that reflect Mevlana -- the founder of a Sufi school of spiritual thought -- and whirling dervishes.

According to Mutlu, the flow of spiritual thought that Mevlana started in Anatolia, which brought both deep understanding and humility and affected a large number of people, is embodied in the exhibit, displaying Mevlana's spiritual wealth in a sea of Sufi thought.

Mutlu said the ceramics on display at the exhibit have short titles so as to let people's imagination do their own work.

The artist, upon completing coursework at Anadolu University Kütahya Vocational High School in ceramics technology, graduated from Hacettepe University, where he also studied ceramics. He completed his master's at Hacettepe University.

Mutlu continues to work as an assistant professor at İnönü University in the department of ceramics. The artist has presented symposiums both nationally and internationally and has produced articles, a book, scientific research on ceramics and many other ceramic works.

The exhibit will be open until Feb. 28, between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., except Saturdays and Sundays, at the Turkish-American Association's Emin Hekimligil Art Gallery, Ankara, Turkey.

Abida shares the Absolute

Staff Report - Daily Times - Lahore, Pakistan
Thursday, February 15, 2007

KARACHI: The latest speaker of the Aga Khan University’s (AKU) special lecture series was Abida Parveen, who enthralled Karachi’s audience who had thronged the AKU auditorium Wednesday to listen to the legendary voice speak on “Spiritualism in poetry”.

In her typical Ajrak ensemble, Abida spoke on the topic that she has sung about in over 100 albums and performed on at the best concert halls of the world. The singer, who came to be known as the “uncrowned Sufi Queen”, started her journey in 1973 from Radio Pakistan, Hyderabad, and is the recipient of two of the highest awards in Pakistan, the President’s Award for Pride of Performance (1982) and the even more prestigious Sitara-e-Imtiaz (2005). Most of her lyrics come from old Sufi texts of great such as Hazrat Amir Khusrau, Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai and Maulana Roomi, and she has sung in a number of languages including Urdu, Siraiki, Persian, Arabic, Punjabi and Sindhi, as according to her, “the Sufi tradition is dependant on no language for communication.”

Abida began her lecture by stating that spiritualism had no theory, it was a direct connection that Man (and woman) shared with his (or her) Creator. “It’s a direct dialling relationship. Spiritualism is a light that Allah put in man’s heart at the time of his creation,” she explained, saying that the warmth of that flame was inexplicable except for the person who felt it in his heart or that force which had put it there in the first place.

According to Abida, the spirit was eternally in search of uniting with the Absolute, the only experience that could complete it and help it ascend to the spiritual level that every man yearned for. “To allow one’s spirit to soar that high, one should practice humility and submission so steadfastly that all that remains of this is those very traits,” she said with much force. She repeatedly referred to the concept in Sufi tradition that the human soul was created from divine light, therefore man strived to seek reunification with that very basis of his existence.

She said that humility was the weapon with which one could defeat the ego.

Quoting Hazrat Ali (RA), she said that any practice of worship that made one proud of oneself was not worth it. “Pride and spiritualism cannot go together, what does go hand in hand though is spiritualism and supplication because surrender is the core of it all.” She focussed on the all-encompassing nature of Sufism and asserted that worship and love for Allah were to bring the humanity together. “The words of the Sufis are so strong and so absolutely descriptive of Allah’s majesty that they bring Allah right into one’s heart. The one who recites and the one who listens, both become the light.”

Answering a question about what led her so deep into the Sufi tradition and music, she said that she had been attracted to the kalam since the age of three and every word that she sang existed in the core of her being. “It is all God-sent, He makes you into a person who is willing to renounce much for the peace of the spirit. You cannot artificially cultivate an interest into these things and then hope to rise up to the supreme level.”

In her reply to another query from the audience, she likened herself to a candle that was burning to allow others to feel the flame and catch the fire.

Abida was clearly more at ease doing what she does best: singing the Sufi tradition. The possessor of one of the most powerful voices in the sub-continent, she rendered a few verses of her internationally acclaimed qafi “kithe Mehr Ali” in response to a forceful request of the audience.

What made her talk so engaging was how she gave herself entirely to her topic and to the audience, as if she was sharing some information with them that they all must know. She was the same Abida that many of us have witnessed on stage, amid the tabla and harmonium the usual companions to her beautiful voice.

For that one-hour duration, every one among the audience felt the connection that Abida very obviously shared with the Omnipotent, an assertion she very modestly put aside by saying, “who is the better supplicant, us humans are unfit to judge”.

‘I was born to sing Sufiana kalam’

By Zainab Imam - Daily Times - Lahore,Pakistan

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Karachi: Daily Times caught up with Abida Parveen ahead of her talk at the Aga Khan University Wednesday to ask her a few questions about her experiences.

Daily Times: Why did you choose to solely sing Sufi kalam?

Abida Parveen: Sufism is the name of a feeling, of a light that is meant as guidance for the whole of humanity to lead it to the correct path.

Allah has put this flame into the heart of His creation, so the connection has always existed. The Sufi tradition does not follow the scientific theory that the mind is the ruler of the body, rather it has its own theory that dictates that the heart is king.

I am lucky to feel that connection in my heart and that is why I sing the kalam, which is the supreme form of expression for me.

DT: Which other forms of music would you like to sing?

AP: Music is something that I feel very deeply. I am also classically trained and that is why I enjoy all forms of music.

But I do believe that no colour is darker than the colour of Sufi music and no intoxication is stronger. It is as if I was born to sing this.

DT: Do you believe in the healing powers of Sufism and spiritualism?

AP: Absolutely. Sufism seeks to enjoin and purify humanity. Once you devote yourself to these concepts, your enthusiasm to help the human race comes out as strong as ever.

DT: You have performed the world over, even in areas where people do not understand that languages you sing in. Does the language barrier ever become a hindrance in the transmission of your message?

AP: Never. Usually in Europe, you find people who don’t understand what I am saying, but the whole experience is so overwhelming for them that they cannot help but let the tears flow. They are so deeply touched by the Sufi words, that even if the time for the performance is 7 pm, they arrive way earlier just to get the feel.

DT: Life has become increasingly complicated, and it seems as if in all the hustle-bustle, people have lost their spiritual connection. What would be your message to those who want to improve their spiritual life?

AP: You will not find Allah anywhere but inside your heart.

Delve into yourself, deeper and deeper, until you find Him and re-establish your relationship with Him.

He has put the flame in your heart, and it cannot die out until He wills, so even if you feel that you are not finding Him, do not give up your search.

Sufi culture and mercenary culture in Iraq

By Hishyar Barzani -Kurdish Media - UK
Tuesday, February 13, 2007

We can distinguish two mainstream cultural areas in Iraq: Arab culture and Kurdish culture. There are also other cultural entities, such as the Assyro-Chaldeen or the Ezdi (Yezidi). Here we are mainly concerned with Kurdish cultural areas, their different components, as well as various stages and development leading from cultural incompatibility to confluence.

The ruling Sunni Arab minority held the key political power since the creation of the Iraqi state by British colonialism in 1922 to the fall of the Ba’ath regime in 2003. The Sunni rulers repressed Shiite and Kurdish political culture. From 2003, this minority is simultaneously at war against the emerging Shiite and Kurdish cultures and against the USA and British occupying forces. It has no desire to accommodate itself to the growing new political cultural spaces.

After the fall of Saddam’s regime, we have witnessed the appearance of multitude of political cultures. The interaction between different political cultures was conflictual. The future of these cultural spaces is uncertain. It is characterized by ever widening “mutual distrust” hatred and violence. So the Arab region has changed from an imposed cultural uniformity to a multiplicity of political cultures. This change is mainly due to the recent USA-led invasion and occupation of Iraq.

Meanwhile, in Kurdistan, the situation is quite different and rather special. We have passed from a “multiplicity” to a “uniformity” of political culture. Before 1991, there were three Kurdish political cultures in Iraqi Kurdistan, which existed in permanent hostility.

We name the 3 cultural spaces in Kurdistan’ as A, B, and C:
A = Sufi Culture (Quaderi, Sulaimani, Neqshebendi, Barzan) characterized by spirituality, justice and anti-corruption.
B = Kurdish political party culture and Kurdish nationalism, resembling to a great degree the Arab nationalism. Its slogans were ‘defending national rights, democracy, equality and economic prosperity’.
C = the Culture of an important number of tribes, allied traditionally to Baghdad until 1991 (certain tribes remained allied to the Baath regime until 2003). They were considered by A and B as mercenary, symbols of betrayal and interested only in personal gain.

In Kurdistan, ‘C’ culture has the connotation of immorality, corruption and being always at the service of the enemy. But at the present time, there is by and large only one culture, which is the consequence of the merger between what we have called the cultures C and B.

It worth mentioning that the Sufi culture represents a powerful symbol, around which the whole society has evolved and been organized. In Kurdistan, Sufism has a ‘liberation’ dimension. The symbol may not possess any material power, but as a symbol in action, it has resisted states and empires: e.g. the Ottoman, the Safavid or the British.

During the 19th century in many parts of the world, the Sufi order was the main force of resistance against foreign occupation in North Africa: in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and elsewhere.

An important resistance leader in this respect was Abd al-Qadir whose family had a tradition of attachment to the Qadiriyya Sufi order. Between 1832 and 1847, Abd al-Qadir led sustained resistance to the French occupation of Algeria.
Omer al-Mukhtar, who belonged to the Sunosiyya Sufi order, resisted the Italian occupation in Libya until he was captured and hanged in 1931 by the Italian army.
In Kurdistan, Sheikh Obeidullah Nehri, affiliated to the Nequeshebendi order, lead revolts against the Ottoman and Safafide Empires, his aim being to create an independent Kurdistan. He was arrested in 1880 and exiled to Mecca, from where he was never allowed to return.
Sheikh Abdulsalam Barzani, from the Neqeshebendi Sufi order, demanded reforms from the Sublime Port, and resisted Turkish occupation. Then he was betrayed, handed over to Turkish troops and finally was hanged in 1914.
Sheikh Said of Biran strived for an independent Kurdistan, and resisted a Turkish invasion of his country. He was defeated, captured and then hanged in 1925.
During the 20s and 30s of the past century, Sheikh Mahmoud Hafid from the Quaderi Sufi order resisted British occupation and strived for establishing an independent Kurdistan kingdom. He was overpowered in a battle, injured and captured by British forces. He died in exile in 1956.

The late Sheikh of Barzan (Ahmad) led several revolts against British and Arab occupation during the 30s and 40s of the past century. He was imprisoned for nearly 12 years, and he was freed after the 14 July coup d’Etat of 1958.

All these movements had as a goal to free their homeland from occupation, preserving the people’s true identity, establishing justice and gaining independence. The leading personalities were pious men, honest with a deep sense of justice.

Sufi culture is symbolised by rejection of foreign occupation, restoring of justice, fighting corruption, as well as promoting a high ethical stance and trust in God.

The mercenary category in Kurdistan, (Culture ‘C’) was mainly composed of a number of tribal leaders, who were historically hostile to Barzan.

Among them were also some of the Sufi order, who belonged to the same Neqshebendi order as Barzan, but chose the opposite camp. These were Bradost tribes under Sheikh Reshid Lolan, or the Surchi tribes under their various Sheikhs.

The Zebari tribes under the two brother Aghas -- Ahmed Agha Zebari and Mahmoud Agha Zebari, or under them their sons on behalf of their fathers, these were also in category C. Mahmoud Agha Zebari and his son Zubair Agha benefit from specific government attention, because of a marriage relation to the KDP leader. Mahmoud Agha is the grandfather of today’s President of both the KDP and the Kurdistan Region Government.

The Iraqi governments in the past, did forme out of such tribes, forces which the Kurdish nationalists called “Jash” (a Kurdish word for a little donkey) to signify mercenaries who were armed and paid by the government. Their number varied (it is difficult to give a precise number) but it was probably over 50,000 armed men in Badinan alone during the Kurdish revolt which lasted from 1961 to 1975. These forces were mobile and well acquainted with mountain warfare. They were loyal to their Aghas, who exploited them for enriching their pockets. The Agha would receive a monthly salary from the Baghdad government. The amount was 13 Iraqi Dinar (around 50 USD) for each mercenary. During the military operations, against the bases of Kurdish revolt, and in order to strengthen their fighting morale, the amount was doubled. In case the mercenary forces could take a mountain from Kurdish nationalist forces, their gains in money would be considerable. But the money was given directly to the chief of the tribe, who in turn would pay his men according to his liking. Usually, the Agha would keep half of the money for himself. The more men the Agha had, the more money he would gain. The Iraqi government knew very well that these forces were unreliable and undisciplined, but still it used them as paramilitary troops. They were useful in many ways.

(...)

Beginning in the 40s of the 20th century, Kurdish political parties begun to emerge, the most important one being the KDP- Irak. Most of the political parties, including the PUK have been derived from the PDK. At the beginning, many founders were honest members, inspired by nationalist feelings, a deep sense of justice and were ready for sacrifice. Many of them were imprisoned, some were executed.

These founders were closer to Barzan political action. There was a co-operation between both cultures: of a nationalist party and of the culture of a specific Sufi order. Kurdish people considered the KDP as a vanguard for national struggle. Kurdish masses enthusiastically joined the KDP, and through enormous sacrifice from 1961-1975, sustained the Kurdish revolt and resisted for nearly 15 years all the military operations led by various Iraqi governments.

Thus, the two main cultural spaces, ‘A’ and ‘B’, were united against ‘C’. Unfortunately, the Kurdish leadership, at later stages, due to personal rivalry, despotism, notions of superiority, greed and lack of strategic vision, begun to split, leading the Kurdish revolt to disaster in March 1975.

The corruption, accumulation of money by all means, clientalism, tribal loyalty, and nepotism were rampant among the top KDP leadership, more particularly after 1965. Intermarriage between the leading personalities of culture B and culture C , resulted in ‘hybrid sons’, who later became future leaders of the party, leading to the gradual destruction of both cultural spaces: A and B, securing, at the present time, domination of the Kurdish administration by culture of ‘C’.

[further reading: The Kurds remain caught in the "Transcaucasian Triangle" by David Nissman - 1995 The Jamestown Foundation http://tinyurl.com/3xs7v3]

A Divine Performance

By Ellie Fairbanks - The Kentucky Kernel - Kentucky,U.S.A.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

While most of the news from the Middle East recently has focused on war, violence and unrest, the Whirling Dervishes of Rumi came to UK last night with a message of peace, love and tolerance.

"Today, this message is more important than ever," said Mehmet Saracoglu, the president of UK's Interfaith Dialogue Organization, which organized the performance. The Dervishes are followers of Rumi, a 13th century mystical poet. Rumi preached about understanding and the acceptance of all cultures, Saracoglu said.

Rumi was a true human being, said Umit Goker, a representative from the Istanbul Center for Culture and Dialogue in Atlanta. "Rumi became one of the greatest teachers of universal love and peace," Goker said. "He merged everything he did into one unified existence."

The dance performed, the Sema Ritual, is a spiritual journey for the performers. The spinning motion of the performance has roots in science, Goker said. The whirling action creates a journey of reflection, knowledge and love, ending in a higher level of perfection, he said.

"The Dervishes are revolving in harmony with each other," Goker said. "The fundamental condition of our existence is to revolve. Everything in nature revolves - electrons, protons, neutrons. The Dervishes share in the revolution of other beings.

"Before the performance, traditional Sufi music was played. Sufism is a mystic tradition with ties to Islam.

"Sufism is a path followed by an individual to free oneself from vices," Goker said. "Followers come to know knowledge and love and live in spiritual delight."

Joseph Tiu, a resident of Berea, traveled to Lexington with his fiancée for the music and performance. He said that Sufi music offers something a bit different from Western music.

"Traditional music from the East is a little off sometimes," Tiu said. "It's very natural and organic, and there's an element of chaos in it. It's a nice change from Western music."

While the Dervishes are Muslim, Goker said that the performance is meant to bring together all cultures.

"There is unrest and conflict everywhere," Goker said. "There is a clash of civilization. Now is the time to come together to understand each other and find common ground and references. "Religious differences can pulverize people. If we build good relations we can better all major faiths."

Abida Parveen to deliver lecture on Spiritualism at AK varsity

APP associated Press of Pakistan

Monday, February 12, 2007

Abida Parveen, internationally acclaimed singer of Pakistan - known for sufi renditions, will be the guest speaker at the Aga Khan University on Wednesday [tomorrow, February 14th].

An AKU press release issued here [Karachi] Monday said Abida Parveen has been invited under its special lecture series and will make her presentation on " Spiritualism."

The singer, who has been associated most widely with the verse of Sufi Master Shah Abdul Latif, has also sung the verses of other Sufis including Amir Khusrau, Bulleh Shah, Sachal Sarmast, Sultan Bahu, Kabir and Waris Shah.

India’s identity lies in its diversity: Pir Khan

Express News Service - Express India - New Delhi,India

Sunday, February 11, 2007

New trends of the Sufi philosophy taken from the teachings of Sufi prophets offer the right message to today’s youth, said Pir Zia Inayat Khan, the great grandson of Sangeet Ratna Mawlabakhsh (the founder of Gayan Shala, now Faculty of Performing Arts at MSU) on Sunday.

Khan was in the city [Vadodara/Baroda] for the presentation of planetary prophetology - the concept of unifying all the religions and tradition through Sufism- at 7th Festival of music organised by the Sangeet Ratna Mawlabakhsh and Sufi Inayat Khan memorial trust and faculty of performing arts on Sunday.

Khan’s presentation was about unifying and transcending the philosophy of various castes and creeds of the world into one.

It was Sufism, which transcends beyond the prophets and avatars, he said. Talking to Express Newsline, Khan said with the adaptation of new technologies all the countries appear to be monoculture. “Indian culture is still distinct and has to retain its diversity,’’added Khan.

He said that his great grand father Mawlabakhsh exemplified this when learnt Hindustani music as well as South’s Carnatic classical music. “This is a greatest epitome of blending two talents and also retaining its identity,’’ said Khan.

Khan also conveyed the Sufi scenario in India, and said that there is no special school for the Sufis in India. The reason he gave was that in 1910 Mawlabakhsh immigrated to Paris and than came to Delhi in 1927 and died in Ajmer-e-Sharif later. Therefore, he said, ``We have some followers (Mureeds) in Delhi.’’

He said that there is a Sufi community in New York called as `kanquah’ developed in 1975. It is an academy to teach meditation to the children.

While talking about Khan, Prof. R C Mehta, former dean, faculty of the performing of the arts said that Khan has done his studies in the field of religion at Duke University at USA.

``Khan is also a spiritual leader of the Sufi Order International established by Sufi Hazrat Inayat Khan in1917’’ said Mehta.

Khan is a founding director of the Suluk academy, an esoteric school located in New York and he frequently visits Vadodara to pay respects to his forefathers.

Copies of rare works tune into music history

ENS - Ahmedabad Newsline - Ahmedabad,India

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Memorial Trust brings out copies of works by father of Indian music notation and Performing Arts Faculty founder Prof. Mawla Bakhsh

Vadodara [Baroda], India: The Sangeet Ratna Mawla Bakhsh and Sufi Hazrat Inayat Khan Memorial Trust presented a set of 11 rare manuscript volumes on Hindustani Music education to the Faculty of Performing Arts, M S [Maharaja Sayajirao]University, at a music festival that began on Friday.

Prof. Mawla Bakhsh, the founder-principal of Gayan Shala in the 19th century, which has now been re-christened as the Faculty of Performing Arts, and his grandson Inayat Khan, had authored 18 volumes on Indian music, of which 11 copies were handed over to the Performing Arts Faculty at the music festival held in Prof Mawla Baksh' s memory.

Prof. Mawla Bakhsh was the founder of music notations for Indian music and a music educationist of India. According to retired Prof R C Mehta, managing trustee of the memorial trust, the simplicity of Mawla Bakhsh's notations made oral teaching of music easier and Inayat Khan followed his custom.

Mehta said, "A very limited number of photocopies of the volumes authored by him and his grandson have been produced and the books are either in Gujarati, Hindi and Marathi.''

The original books with the trust, published some 100 years ago, are in a worn-out and tattered condition.

Pir Zia Inayat Khan, the grandson of Sufi Hazrat Inayat Khan, was a special guest on the occasion. He appreciated the efforts of Prof Mehta and others to preserve his ancestor's contributions in an innovative manner.

According to Baroda royal scion, Ranjitsinh Gaekwad, who was present on the occasion, "The volumes are necessary to understand the importance of Mawlabakhsh and Inayat Khan as missionaries of music education,'' said Gaekwad.

Most of these graded books are in Gujarati and some are in Marathi as the city had a sizeable population of Maharashtrians in the erstwhile Baroda state.

He added that while books provided general information about the art of music and various 'ragas', as well as touched upon the skills required for playing instruments like the 'sitar'. "The volumes also contain Gujarati medieval poets Narsinh Mehta's biographical narrative poetry set to `ragas' and `talas' and devotional songs in Gujarati and Marathi for young girls,'' said Gaekwad.

[picture: Sufi Hazrat Inayat Khan]

Dervishes will give Lexington a whirl

By Margaret Buranen - Lexington Herald Leader - Lexington,KY,USA

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Lexington [Kentucky, U.S.A.] will be the site of one of seven American performances by the Whirling Dervishes of Rumi, from Turkey.

Their Feb. 12 visit will give the public a rare chance to watch a spiritual ritual that is seven centuries old.

Part of the large Sufi branch of Islam, the twirling comes from the teachings of Rumi, a 13th-century Muslim mystic and poet and represents harmony with nature and celebration of God's creation.

The audience will see a performance with costumes, live music (flute, percussion, string), and the dervishes, also called semazen, whirling in perfect harmony. The ceremony focuses on three parts of human nature -- the heart, mind, and body. Each stage of the ritual has its own meaning and distinct music.

The group's performance is sponsored locally by Interfaith Dialogue Organization, or IDO, a student organization at the University of Kentucky which promotes understanding of the world's religions.

The Istanbul Center for Culture and Dialogue in Atlanta arranged the tour to honor the 800th birthday of Sufi master Rumi.

Members of the ICC asked the IDO group if they would be willing to host a performance in Lexington. The local group sees the performance as a way to promote tolerance and understanding of the world's different religions.

"Bringing in groups like the Whirling Dervishes helps celebrate the common ties which bind individuals as brothers and sisters from all around the world at the University of Kentucky," said IDO President Mehmet Saracoglu, a UK graduate student.

The group will perform at 7:30 on Monday at UK's Singletary Center for the Fine Arts. Tickets, $15-$30, are available at the Singletary box office, by calling (859) 257-4929 or by going to

http://www.singletarytickets.com/. For more information, e-mail info@ dialogueuk.org.

[picture: "Mevlevi dervishes whirling in Pera", oil painting by Jean-Baptiste van Mour, d.1737]

Sufism can bridge the gap

TNI Correspondent - The News International - Pakistan

Saturday, February 10, 2007/Muharam 21, 1428 A.H.

President Pakistan Muslim League, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, has said that Sufism can bridge the gap between Islam and the West and by following its teachings adherents of the different faiths could contribute towards the common goals of peace, tolerance and harmony.

Delivering inaugural address at the book launching ceremony of "Sufism in the West" by Jamal Malik here in Islamabad on Friday, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain said that Pakistan is the land of great Sufi saints, who had done a great job in spreading the message of Islam.

He congratulated the author of the book for his pioneering work and said that it would educate the people of Pakistan about the great mystic traditions and practices. "Jamal Malik is a scholar of international repute, whose book would help in spreading peace and tolerance in Pakistan and the world at large," he said.

Speaking on the occasion, Secretary General PML, Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, said that Islam is the religion of brotherhood, tolerance and eternal universal values and there's a need for the West to explore the real essence of this great religion.

He said that Islamic mysticism has done great service in eradicating misperceptions about Islam and the works of great Sufi mystics like Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi are selling like hot cakes nowadays and are read with great enthusiasm and interest in the West.

It's due to the teachings of such great Sufi personalities that Islam is spreading fast in the West," he observed.

Chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology, Prof. Dr. Khalid Masood, also spoke on the occasion and paid glowing tributes to Jamal Malik for his contribution to the Islamic mysticism. He said that it was a matter of great honour and privilege for a Pakistani to educate students and scholars about Sufism at the universities of Bonn and Heidelberg.

Jamal Malik delivered a scholarly address on the occasion and shed light on the different aspects of the Sufi tradition.

Saint John of the Cross and Islam

By Dr. Robert D. Crane - TAM The American Muslim - Bridgeton,MO,USA

Friday, February 9, 2007

Haqq al din in classical Islamic jurisprudence is the duty to respect religion. The great Shaykh al Islam Ibn Ashur from Tunisia in his monumental book, Maqasid al Shari’ah al Islamiyya, wrote in 1946 that this means “freedom of religion.”

Haqq is a wonderful word that means variously God, truth, and human right. But what does the Qur’anic term “din” mean, translated into English as “religion”? And what do Muslims understand by “freedom of religion”?

(...)

Of all the most eminent Christian scholars of the past two millennia, St. Thomas Aquinas and St. John of the Cross, writing respectively seven hundred and four hundred years ago, were probably most familiar with Islam. St. Thomas wrote that the master of masters in philosophy and moral theology was Avicenna (Ibn Sina), through whom he absorbed Aristotelian methodology.

According to Miguel Asin Palacios in his book Saint John of the Cross and Islam, translated by Douglas and Yoder, Vantage Press, 1981, the Carmelite St. John of the Cross borrowed his entire methodology and terminology from Shaykh Abu’l Hassan al-Shadhili, who was a contemporary of St. Thomas.

Shaykh Shadhili of North Africa founded what came to be known as the Shadhiliyyah Sufi Order, which is the only great tariqa to originate outside of Central and Southwest Asia and is ancestral to many of the modern Sufi paths in Europe and America.

St. Thomas and St. John of the Cross are usually considered to be opposites in that St. Thomas emphasized the rational basis of faith, whereas St. John of the Cross emphasized the higher level of infused wisdom. Like all the Muslim theologians, theosophists, and jurisprudents, both St. Thomas and St. John agreed that there could not possibly be any contradiction between faith and reason, and that if one saw an appearance of such then one’s understanding of at least one of the two must be wrong.

All of these wise thinkers, however, went far beyond the negative belief that there could be no contradiction between the truth that God reveals though nature and the truth that he reveals through human intermediaries, known as prophets. They also believed that each of these two sources of truth is designed to reveal and enrich the other and that they both have a common purpose.

(...)

From an article prepared and condensed for presentation at Westminster Presbyterian Church, Buffalo, New York, on February 25th, 2007, as part of the Sixth Annual Understanding Islam Series for the Islamic cable network, Bridges TV.

To bring their messages to the common people

By Khushwant Singh - The Telegraph - Calcutta,India

Saturday, February 10, 2007

This is going to be the year of Dervesh Jelaluddin Rumi. He was born 800 years ago on September 30, 1207. Preparations are afoot to celebrate his birth anniversary on a world-wide scale.

I understand our government has earmarked a tidy sum for the purpose. I do not know how birth anniversaries of scholars, poets and saintly personalities can be celebrated besides bringing their writings and messages to the common people.

Rumi wrote in Persian. Most of his Mathnavi is available in English translation. I am not aware of its being translated into any Indian language. But I have reason to believe that most of our celebrated poets read him in the original. One of Ghalib’s couplets, “Baazeechai atfaal hai duniya meyrey aagey”, is lifted straight from the Mathnavi.

Rumi also set up the Dervesh Order in Koyna (Turkey), where he lived most of his life and died on December 17, 1273. His disciples continue to dance the way he did — dressed in long red fez caps and black tassels, flowing white skirts pirouetting round and round in endless circles to the beat of the drums and melancholy notes of flutes. It is spectacular.

I expect our organizers or the Turkish embassy in Delhi will get a party of dancing dervishes and take them on a Bharat Darshan tour. Maybe the Afghan embassy will also pitch in as Jelaluddin was born in Balkh (Afghanistan) and initially known as Jelaluddin Balkhi.

To avoid Mongol depredations, he migrated to Konya (then under Roman domination, hence the suffix Rumi) when he was ten years old. He was meant to follow his father’s calling of being the Shaikh of his community and did so till he was in his thirties. Then he met Sufi Shams Tabrizi. It was a dramatic turnabout in his life.

He turned Sufi and poetry burst out of him like lava out of a volcano.

Rumi did not value book learning. He said:
“Knowledge that is acquired
is not like this. Those who have it
worry if audiences like it or not
It’s a bait for popularity.”

He extolled poverty. He wrote:

“What you own can vanish;it’s only a dream, a vanity,breath through a moustache.”

What really makes a difference is love in practice. He wrote:
“If anyone wondershow Jesus raised the dead,
don’t try to explain the miracle.
Kiss me on the lips.
Like this, like this.”

(All translations by Barks & Moyne)

The safeguarding of the Manuscript is Everybody's concern

[From the French language press]:

«La préservation du manuscrit est l'affaire de tous et nécessite une réflexion pour l'élaboration d'un programme national ambitieux qui garantit l'inventaire, la restauration et la conservation de ce patrimoine», a déclaré récemment le directeur de la culture de la wilaya de Tindouf à l'occasion de «Maoussem cheikh Mohamed Mokhtar Belaameche» [traditional event].

La Tribune (Algiers)/All Africa - Jeudi 25 Janvier 2007 - par Sihem Bounabi

“The safeguarding of the manuscript is everybody's concern and requires a reflexion for the development of an ambitious national program which will guarantee the inventory, the restoration and the conservation of this inheritance”, declared recently the Cultural Director of the wilaya [province] of Tindouf at “Maoussem sheik Mohamed Mokhtar Belaameche”.

The Cultural Director has, in this context, decided to proceed to the inventory of the manuscripts, preserved in the libraries of the families Ahl El Abed, and Ahl Belaameche, so that they can be used as data bases to the researchers and to students in theology and sciences of Islam.

Let us recall that Algeria recently endowed itself with a Manuscript's National Center in Adrar. In addition, a few days ago, the National Library organized one open day to present competences and existing know-how for the safeguarding of the manuscripts which has become a national priority.

[see also: http://sufinews.blogspot.com/search?q=maghrebian]

An American journey through Islam

By C. Holland Taylor - CGNews/Peace Journalism - New Jersey,USA/Nepal

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Although my ancestors have lived in the southeast of the United States for over three centuries, I personally have lived, travelled and worked in Muslim-majority countries for much of my life.

At the age of nine, I moved to Iran with my family and was immersed in Persian culture for three years, from 1965-68.

The sound of the azan, or Muslim call to prayer, was thus integral to my childhood, as was the pluralistic, tolerant and spiritual form of Islam practiced by most Iranians.

While attending high school in Germany during the early seventies, I twice journeyed overland through the Middle East and beyond – to Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan – where I further explored Islam’s diverse cultural expressions and rich artistic heritage.

During the 1990s, I was the CEO of an international telecommunications firm that sold a strategic stake to the national carrier of Indonesia. This led to my eventual retirement from the telecom industry, my relocation to Java and my study of its history and to the establishment of the LibForAll (“Liberty for All”) Foundation in conjunction with Indonesia’s first democratically-elected president, Abdurrahman Wahid.

Situated on Islam’s eastern periphery, Indonesia has long been known to have the most liberal, tolerant version of that religion practiced anywhere on earth. But back in the sixteenth century, newly Muslim city-states along its northern coast destroyed local Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms as they extended their power to the island’s interior, causing great upheaval. Flush with victory, fanatical adherents of the new religion – many of Arab or Chinese descent--spread terror as they sought to eradicate the island’s ancient cultural heritage. Opposing them were indigenous Javanese – now led by Muslim saints and political figures, such as Sunan Kalijogo--who sought continuity and common ground between religions.

For nearly a hundred years, the opposing forces struggled for the soul of Java – and, ultimately, for that of Indonesian Islam – in a war whose decisive engagements occurred not only on the field of battle, but in the hearts and minds of countless individuals.

For in this conflict between religious extremists and Sufi Muslims, the Sufis’ profound spiritual ideology – popularised among the masses by saints, storytellers and musicians – played a role even more vital than that of military force in defeating religious extremism in Java.

Indeed, my own lifelong appreciation for one of the world’s great religious traditions had only been heightened by my exposure to the rich spiritual legacy of Sufism, or mystical Islam, which lies at the heart of most Muslim societies worldwide.

In the end, a new dynasty arose, which established religious tolerance as the rule of law, and guaranteed freedom of conscience to all Javanese – long before similar ideas took firm root in the West. The founder of that dynasty was a Javanese Sufi Muslim named Senopating Alogo, whose victory was based on the popular appeal of his message of freedom, justice and profound inner spirituality.

In the wake of 9/11 and a series of terrorist attacks in Indonesia, President Wahid and I established the LibForAll Foundation – inspired by the methods used by President Wahid’s own ancestors to defend Javanese culture from religious extremism five centuries ago.

Within Indonesia, we have formed a network of opinion leaders in the fields of religion, education, popular culture, government, business and the media working to preserve their culture’s enlightened embrace of religious tolerance and diversity in the face of a renewed tide of extremism that is sweeping the entire Muslim world. We are also busy expanding on LibForAll’s success in Indonesia to export the smiling face of Islam.

(...)

Our goals were aptly summarised by President Wahid when he wrote:

“Muslims themselves can and must propagate an understanding of the ‘right’ Islam, and thereby discredit extremist ideology. Yet to accomplish this task requires the understanding and support of like-minded individuals, organisations and governments throughout the world.

Our goal must be to illuminate the hearts and minds of humanity, and offer a compelling alternate vision of Islam as a religion of Divine love and tolerance that banishes the fanatical ideology of hatred to the darkness from which it emerged.”

[Picture: Mr. Abdurrahman Wahid, former President of Indonesia]

An African Love Affair

By Ajay Singh - UCLA International Institute/first published in UCLA Magazine - Los Angeles,CA,USA

Wednesday, February 7, 2006

UCLA visual culture scholars Allen and Polly Roberts have spent two lifetimes studying and celebrating the profound mysteries, hidden cultures and timeless beauty of one of the most fascinating places on Earth.

Of the many mystifying works of art in the Westwood home of Allen Roberts and Mary (Polly) Nooter Roberts, the most intriguing is an image of a slight man in an oversize white robe, his face partially obscured by a shadow. This is a print of the only surviving photograph of Amadou Bamba, a legendary Sufi mystic who resisted the French in the African nation of Senegal and became a symbol of the continent's postcolonial self-reliance.

As scholars of visual culture, Al and Polly specialize in opening doors on hidden worlds. The shadow in Bamba's iconic image, for example, represents "the hidden side of all visible realities — a veil of ignorance that has layers of deeper meaning," says Polly, deputy director and chief curator of the Fowler Museum at UCLA. "It's very different from the Western approach," adds Al, director of the James S. Coleman African Studies Center and a professor in the department of world arts and cultures.

It's fair to say that few couples in academia have done more to understand and explain one of the world's most fascinating places. Both Al and Polly grew up hearing stories about Africa — Polly spent part of her childhood there, and Al was a Peace Corps volunteer in Chad. With 60 years of combined scholarship between them, Al and Polly are among the world's foremost experts on the cultural and aesthetic underpinnings of Africa's visual arts.

In a world where knowledge is largely expressed in the arcane language of science and philosophy, academics like them use art, allegory, myth and symbol to tell timeless historical truths.

And with great charm. Over cups of tea and homemade banana bread, Polly points to a wooden object covered with hundreds of beads. It's a "history book embedded with knowledge," she says. In fact, every artifact in the living room has a story.

One of the major messages of Al and Polly's joint research is that while objects of artistic genius may appear beautiful — or very simple — they were created over the centuries to assist peoples in the making of their histories, thereby defining their identities, aspirations and worldviews.
This efficacy of art is particularly striking in Senegal, whose artistic prowess has deeply influenced the Robertses' intellectual and marital lives. Along with their children, they visit the country every summer, immersing themselves in its vibrant artwork and the art's astonishing impact on everything from people's daily lives to politics.

The couple's love affair with Senegal began in a junkyard in the port city of Dakar, Senegal's capital, in 1994. There, Al and Polly were struck by the sight of workers in tattered clothes disassembling and miraculously recycling a mountain of used automobile engine blocks brought over from Europe. Behind the vehicular scrap heap, in a towering wall mural, was one of Bamba's ubiquitous images, offering hope and courage to the toilers. Mesmerized by the scene, Al and Polly set about analyzing Bamba's iconography, which is linked to his teachings of pacifism, hard work and tolerance.

Their research resulted in A Saint in the City: Sufi Arts of Urban Senegal, an award-winning book whose publication in 2003 coincided with a similarly titled five-month exhibition at UCLA's Fowler Museum. Some 20,000 schoolchildren in Los Angeles visited the exhibition, which coincided with Amadou Bamba Day, officially celebrated every July 23 in Los Angeles by declaration of the Los Angeles City Council. Hailed by The New York Times as one of the 10 best of the year, the exhibition is still traveling.

In a market-driven age that pressures students to pursue financially lucrative careers, Al and Polly are refreshing role models. In fact, if their career has a message, it is that it's possible to change the world through art, whether through scholarly work or by making art an active agent of life.

"Namastey London" music review

By Satyajit - Eye TV India Bureau/Smash Hits - India

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

Bollywood has always delivered cross culture films in every phase and decade that has reflected the importance of Indian values and tradition. Vipul Shah takes a plunge at this issue with his fresh offering 'Namastey London' featuring Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif in lead roles.

The album brings back the color and grace of Himesh Reshammiya with the added attraction "Mehfil mix" versions voiced by lyricist Javed Akhtar. Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and UK rock band RDB also render one soundtrack each in their typical musical style. 'Namastey London' promises entertainment with seven original soundtracks followed by eleven remix soundtracks in a 2 CD pack.

Chakna Chakna: Himesh Reshammiya gets into the soul of club crooner as he punches out stylish Punjabi disco soundtrack "Chakna Chakna" in his loud and pompous nasal twang. The number has sensuous musical touch of UK "bhangra" number but the beats are desired to be catchier to lure listeners. Reshammiya mixes his conventional "Sufi" musical ingredients that gel well with pulsating disco music.

(...)

Main Jahan Rahoon: Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan makes second impressive musical move in Bollywood with "Main Jahan Rahoon" after the success of "Jiya Dhadak" ('Kalyug'). It has traditional Sufi musical base where the emotions of loneliness and separation are smoothly voiced in soft and subtle musical rendition. Krishna sings as background singer and in a classical manner to give it a sentimental touch. This may not be as penetrative as "Jiya Dhadak" but certainly displays excruciating moments of a sentimental lover in an impressive way.

The best way to describe the depressed sentiments is through meaningful poetry and the needful is delivered in even more impressive way in "Main Jahan Rahoon (Mehfil Mix)". Javed Akhtar's voice and poetry signifies the moments in sensitively delivered poetic phrases that work as prelude to the soundtrack. It works best for sensible listeners who treasure meaningful musical work and its positive experimentation works brilliantly in the contemporary film album.

Mood turns groovy as disco beats takes over from meaningful poetry in foot-thumping musical make-over in "Main Jahan Rahoon (remix)". The peppy flavors of Sufi pop and funk is displayed with traditional club mix feel that works wonders for the number. The soundtrack works well in all the three versions and this makes Sufi music popular in contemporary film music.

Yehi Hota Hai Pyar: Himesh Reshammiya's contemporary Sufi pop returns as he sings beautifully in soft and subtle mode along with Sunidhi Chauhan in the soundtrack "Yehi Hota Hai Pyar". The softer vocal mode of Reshammiya worked well in a couple of tracks last year in numbers like "Ahista Ahista" and "Tanha Jiya Na Jaye" and it makes another impressive show in "Yehi Hota Hai Pyar". This marks the first duet soundtrack of the album and has the romantic feel but lacks the fire of his previous passionate tracks. It has the momentous gripping to make things work well as a situational number in the film.