A Natural Inclination Towards God

Tehran Times - Tehran, Iran
Monday, October 15, 2007

Iran’s cultural attaché’s office in Germany held a seminar on the philosophy of Persian mystic and poet Molana Jalal ad-Din Rumi on October 11 on the sidelines of the Frankfurt Book Fair.

Iran’s ambassador Homayun Hemmati made a speech at the event in which he described how Rumi believed that the human soul has a natural inclination towards God and that this tendency is a source of comfort to mankind.

He said that Rumi likens humanity to a reed which has been separated from its reedbed, a symbol used by Rumi to convey man’s feeling of loss of proximity to God.

Head of Iran’s Institute of Philosophy Gholam Reza Avani also made a speech concerning Rumi’s worldview. He went on to talk about philosophers in general, categorizing them according to their ideologies concerning the essence of mankind.

Iranian scholar Shahram Pazuki reviewed a passage from Rumi’s Masnavi and described Rumi’s spiritual view of war and peace with reference to this great opus.

Art in Tehran

Tehran Times - Tehran, Iran
Tuesday, October 16, 2007

An exhibition of Persian miniatures by Ardeshir Takestani is to open on October 26 at hall number one of the Honar Cultural Center in Tehran.

The central theme of the works is the poetry of Molana Jalal ad-Din Rumi.

The exhibit will run until November 2 at the center which is located on Arasbaran St., Seyyed Khandan neighborhood.

The venue’s number two hall is also hosting a week-long exhibition of paintings by Zohreh Qaderi opening on October 26.

"Rumi, the Dance of Love" in Theaters on Dec. 21

By Ali Pektas - Today's Zaman - Istanbul, Turkey
Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Every event imaginable, from Sufi whirling shows and international symposia to celebration ceremonies and "Mesnevi" readings regarding 13th century Sufi saint Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi has been held since UNESCO pronounced 2007 the Year of Mevlana.

Yet the lack of a successful movie depicting the life and teachings of the saint has been a real disappointment for most of his followers, however soon audiences will be able to watch a comprehensive documentary about Mevlana.

The new documentary, titled "Rumi, the Dance of Love," directed by young filmmaker Kürşat Kızbaz, will hit movie theaters on Dec. 21.

International audiences will hear world stars lending their voices to the English and French-language dubbing of the documentary. The film's English version will feature the voice of famous Hollywood actor Morgan Freeman, whereas revered French actor Gérard Depardieu will do the voice-overs for the French version.

As for the Turkish version, stars of stage and screen Müşfik and Yıldız Kenter, Cüneyt Türel, Meltem Cumbul and Özcan Deniz are in the voice cast.

Having been filmed in six different countries, the movie features interviews with around 40 experts on Mevlana and Sufism.

The documentary got under way in 2005, although its roots date back to 2002 -- the year director Kızbaz recorded a 30-minute documentary titled "Rumi Ahlaf," screened at over 200 international festivals along with international channels like Discovery and the recipient of six awards.

Another documentary he shot in 2005, the "Çanakkale Epic," was screened in more than 60 countries, bringing experience and courage to the director. Kızbaz then set out to produce a comprehensive documentary on Mevlana.

The film, which is currently undergoing editing, was shot in six different countries, making it the first documentary of its kind that has been produced in such a vast area. The most prominent Sufism experts in the world were interviewed for "Rumi, the Dance of Love."

The film also features footage depicting sema (whirling dervishes) shows organized outside of Turkey by the Culture and Tourism Ministry.

The documentary's producers have chosen Freeman and Depardieu in a bid to attract more interest from the international audience. Spanish dubbing is also being considered although the question of who would narrate the documentary is yet to be decided.

Director Kızbaz says the film has already received invitations from international film festivals during its production period, adding that it might also be aired on international channels like the Discovery Channel.

The 54-minute documentary consists of three episodes, with the first focusing on Mevlana's life, recounting his move from Balkh (in present-day Afghanistan) to Konya in Turkey with his family and the hardships of the 13th century, through animation. Also touching on the birth of the Mevlevi order, the film links Mevlana's time to the current day.

The second episode focuses on how Mevlana influenced distinctive geographies, featuring the views of about 40 scholars and experts specializing in the teachings of Mevlana. Also in this section we learn how prominent people such as Goethe, Rembrandt, Spinoza and Hegel were influenced by Mevlana through samples from their masterpieces.

"You can learn about the life of a person by reading books about him. However in this film we will endeavor to tell how this great person's ideas influenced millions," said the director.

Kızbaz, who made significant observations while filming the documentary, says he found out that Mevlana is largely known as a poet in the US, just like Shakespeare, while in the East he is revered for his mystical side.

"…Europe knows him for his philosophical side. People perceive Mevlana from their own perspectives. When you pass beyond the Kapıkule border gate [the frontier between Bulgaria and Turkey] you see that people recognize you for a few aspects; one and the most widely known among them is Mevlana," said Kızbaz.

[Photo: Kürşat Kızbaz (top), Morgan Freeman (center), Gérard Depardieu (bottom)].

Ustad's Birthday Cake

By Ravinder Singh Robin - Daily India - Jacksonville, FL, U.S.A.
Sunday, October 14, 2007

Hundreds of fans of late legendry Sufi singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan celebrated the Pakistani singer's birthday amidst a big gathering in Punjab's Moga District.

On Saturday, Nusrat's fans cut a birthday cake and sang his Sufi numbers as a gesture to pay their heartfelt tributes to the erstwhile 'King of Sufi Music'.

Congregating in various groups, the fans dedicated the day remembering the maestro singer by singing his famous Qawwalis. Sandeep Singh, one of Fateh Ali Khan's fans, said that it took him a long time to understand the maestro's message that he gave in his rendition.

"In 1995, I had a collection of over 50 cassettes of the maestro and shopkeepers used to come to me for cassettes. I thought that there must be something special about him. Then onwards, I started collecting his compositions, and till date, I have over 300 cassettes. I have his complete collection of over 400 versions. I invested nearly one-and-a-half lakh rupees [USD 3,816.-] for this collection," said Sandeep Singh.

The fans said the late Sufi singer had put his soul in all of his compositions. Despite the legendary singer being no more alive to please his millions of fans, lovers of classical and devotional music still remember him.

Another fan recalled that even after his death, Fateh Ali Khan continues to be an inspiration for the young generation with his soulful voice very much in contrast to the cacophonic music of the present days.

"The new generation is going far from the Sufi singing. This singing had a lot of peace and soul. The music today is not of much use and decreased to a great extent, in terms of quality and content. He remains an inspiration for all of us," said Baljinder Singh, another fan.

Born in Faisalabad, Pakistan on October 13, 1948 to Ustad Fateh Ali Khan, a distinguished musicologist, vocalist, instrumentalist, and Qawwali performer, Nusart Fateh Ali Khan showed an aptitude and interest in Qawwali.

Initially, his family members did not want him to take up the music profession and wanted him to become a doctor. But his keenness for music made his family relent.

[Links for more, for listening and lyrics: http://nusrat.info/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nusrat_Fateh_Ali_Khan
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/nusratfatehalikhannfakclub/
Picture from: http://tinyurl.com/38zvyk ].

'Don't Be Hasty in Blaming Muslim Groups for Ajmer Blast'

The Hindu - Chennai, India
Sunday, October 14, 2007

New York (PTI): The Indian Muslim Council-USA has condemned the Ajmer Dargah bomb blast, but cautioned authorities against drawing "hasty conclusions" in blaming any particular group for the attack.

"Paradoxically, the law enforcement authorities that were clueless till these blasts happened didn't take much time after the blasts to pinpoint the blame on specific Muslim outfits in an attempt to hide their intelligence failure," the group's President Rasheed Ahmed said.

Intelligence sources had said that Harkat-ul-Jehadi Islami outfit of Bangladesh was suspected to be behind the blast at the sufi shrine of Khwaja Mohiuddin Chisti.
Pilgrims of Bangladeshi origin were also questioned by security agencies.

"We hope that the police will do a full and honest investigation and nail down the actual culprits behind this heinous crime, rather than scapegoat poor and innocent civilians and extract fake confessions," said Ahmed.

IMC-USA also urged the National Human Rights Commission to intervene immediately in the investigations to ensure that due process of the law is followed and the true culprits are brought to book.

The NRIs for Secular and Harmonious India also condemned the bomb blast at the "holiest interfaith shrine".

All Indian communities putting up a united fight is the only answer to terrorism, its spokesperson Najma Sultana said.

"We are hopeful the government will hunt down the goons and punish them," she said.

It Will Be a Real Id

By Mir Ehsan - The Indian Express - New Delhi, India
Saturday, October 13, 2007

For thousands of residents of Chrar-e-Sharief and lakhs of devotees of Sheikh-ul-Alam Sheikh Noor-ud-din Noorani, this will be an Id with a difference.

The people here will get an opportunity to offer Id prayers at the grand mosque adjacent to the 600-year-old shrine after a gap of 12 long years, when the Sufi shrine and its adjacent old Khanqah-i-Faiz was razed in a long gunbattle between the militants and the Army.

The damage to the shrine left thousands of devotees heartbroken.

“For us it will be a real Id. After 12 years thousands of people will again get together to offer Id prayer in the grand mosque — Khanqah-i-Faiz,” said Mirwaiz Molvi Amir-uddin who will lead the prayers either on Saturday or Sunday.

The mosque is not completely ready, “But keeping in mind the sentiment of the people, the local Auqaf has decided to open the Khanqah on the Id day,” the Mirwaiz said.

The Auqaf Committee had already finalised the arrangement and created sufficient space to accommodate thousands of devotees.

“The first floor of the Khanqah and the adjacent garden had already been spruced. We expect some 50,000 people to come and offer Id prayers here,” he added.

The locals are eagerly waiting for the moment. “This Id, the people will also celebrate the opening of the shrine,” said Mohammad Naseem, a government employee, who lives close to the shrine.

“This is the Khanqah, where our Sufi saint prayed for years,” Naseem said.

[Picture from http://www.flickr.com/photos/gps1/1524766987/].

Is the Prayer of the Drunken Valid?

By Syed Rezaul Karim - The Daily Star - Dhaka, Bangladesh
Friday, October 12, 2007

Hazrat Mawlana Jalaluddin Rumi (b 1207), hailed as "the greatest mystic poet of the world" by the German poet philosopher Wolfgang Von Goethe for his Mathnawi and Divan-e-Kabir, was surprisingly depreciative of writing poetry.

He made a remark in his Discourses (Fihi-Mafihi) that he spouts verses for entertaining his friends, "as if someone was to put his hand into tripe to wash it because his guests want to eat tripe.

Hence it has become necessary for me to recite poems since others have wished for this."

But the Mathnawi, his magnum opus, comes up with this remarkable preface: "This is the book of the Mathnawi, which is the roots of the roots of the (Islamic) religion in respect of its unveiling the mysteries of attainment (of the truth) and of certainty; and which is the greatest science of God and the clearest (religious) way of God and the most manifest evidence of God" (translation -- Nicholson).

The late Harvard Professor of Indo-Muslim Culture, Anne Marie Schimmel remarked, "Mawlana's poetry and prose are an attempt to circumambulate Him whose work is so evident in the universe and who has promised mankind that He will hear his prayers (Sura 60/42 Koran)."

Could it be otherwise? Did not the venerable Mawlana declare in unequivocal terms, "I am the servant of the Koran as long as I have life. I am the dust on the path of Mohammad The Chosen One."

For Rumi, God is the living, self-subsisting, the supporter of all, as revealed in the Koranic verse, Ayatul Kursi.

Is it possible to know God? There is a divine Hadith, God, the Almighty says: "I was a hidden Treasure and I loved that I be known, so I created the creation so that I may be known."

Rumi says: "Whatever notion you have of God, He must be something like that because He is the Creator of all of your notions." God's creatures are not like Him in any way yet they cannot be other than Him either, says Rumi.

Mawlana also explains that one can only know a thing through its opposite, and since it is unthinkable in terms of "Towhid" -- "Unity of Being" -- for God to have an opposite in substance, He remains unknowable.

It is possible to acknowledge God through His manifestations -- the created world. "The believer manifests the attributes of faith and positive testimony to God's existence, the unbeliever also manifests God by his denial of God's existence; which provides the opposite against which faith becomes knowable" (Introduction to Fihi-Ma-Fihi-by Thackston).

How to comprehend God? God manifests Himself in hundreds of ways, but no two are the same. Mawlana quotes the Koranic verse Ar Rahman: "Everyday in (new) splendour doth He shine" (Translated by Yusuf Ali).

In time of joy there is one manifestation, in time of sorrow another, in time of fear another, and in time of hope another. As God's acts, and the manifestation of His acts, are varied, so are the manifestations of his essence. He further says: "You too, who are God's power, appear in a thousand different ways every moment and never remain fixed in one fashion."

"Reason is that which is ever restless and without peace day and night from thinking and worrying and trying to comprehend God, though God is incomprehensible and beyond our understanding."

Mawlana here imagines "reason" as a "moth" and "beloved" as "candle." A true moth will ever immolate itself and burn in pain in the fire of the candle; therwise it will not be a true moth. The candle, in order to be true to its fire, must burn the moth. So is the dance of the reason circling around the essence of God, the Beloved.

"Before God brought this cosmos into existence by His fiat, undifferentiated souls of the potential mankind slumbered as an idea within God." Rumi tells us why we have been journeying from God to this guest house of this world by using a beautiful pun on the Arabic word "bala" (meaning "yes" in one sense and 'suffering misfortune' in another).

He asked: "Am I not your Lord?" And you responded "Bala" (Yes)! How can one thank Him for that "bala" (Yes)? By "bala" (suffering misfortune)."

The soul that was separated from its source suffers pain for a human being's innate covenant in his conscience as well as in his quest for God after being sent to the world.

Hence, the Mawlana's metaphor of a reed-flute's plaintive note to travel back to its source, The Reed Bed -- which was so beautifully penned by Rumi at the beginning of Mathnawi -- says:Listen to the reed, how it tells a tale complaining of separation saying "ever since I was parted from the reed bed my lament has caused man and woman to moan" (translated by Nicholson).

One has to set out and travel on the path of finding God; he or she may not know the exact destination or station but will be rewarded with the achievement of covering a distance, "whoever labours for the glory of God is never lost, though he shut both his eyes."

Here, the Mawlana quotes the Koranic verse, "whoso doeth a particle of good shall see it."

"You are veiled," says Mawlana, to see how far one has progressed, and at the end you will see this world as a seedbed of hereafter.

Man has the capability for spiritual development as God has breathed His "Spirit" into him, even though he shares animality with beasts and materiality with inorganic things.

He, the Almighty, brought man from non existence into being, then from being into the state of minerality, and from the state of minerality into a state of vegetation, and from the state of vegetation into the state of animality, and from animality into the state of humanity, and from humanity into the state of angelicity -- ad infinitum.

Cries Mawlana Rumi, "At what stage I was less in my development?" "The man," says Rumi, "is the donkey into which angel's feathers were stuck in the hope of his becoming angelic." Man must, therefore, shed his animal nature in order to sharpen and perfect his spiritual awareness.

"One must abandon the ego and be born again to the spirit."

Prayer occupies a special feature in Mawlana's work. There is no way to approach God other than prayer. Koran reveals that God created humans and jins to worship Him. But outward ritualistic prayer is just a "shell."

Its "soul" is, however, unqualifiable and infinite, without beginning and without end. It is a state of total absorption and unconsciousness during which these external forms remain outside.

Mawlana sings in one of his ecstatic ghazals: "My ablution is with weeping/ thus my prayer will be fiery/And I burn the mosque's doorway when my call to prayer strike it/Is the prayer of the drunken, tell me, is this prayer valid?/For he does not know the timing and is not aware of places" (Translated by Anne Marie Schimmel).

[Photo: www.greenspirit.org.uk.]

The Highest Form of Worship

By Praveen Swami - The Hindu - Chennai, India
Friday, October 12, 2007

The war against popular Islam: Islamist groups have made no secret of their loathing for the Ajmer Sharif shrine

New Delhi: The highest form of worship, wrote saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, is “to redress the misery of those in distress, to fulfil the needs of the helpless and to feed the hungry.”

Thursday’s bombing of the saint’s shrine at Ajmer — the third in a series of attacks on Muslim religious institutions after the 2006 bombing of a Sufi shrine in Malegaon and this summer’s strike at the Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad — have been characterised as attempts to provoke a pan-India communal war.

But the bombings also reflect another less-understood project: the war of Islamist neoconservatives against the syncretic traditions and beliefs that characterise popular Islam in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti is, almost without dispute, the most venerated Sufi saint of South Asia. Born in 1141 C.E., Chishti is believed to have studied at the great seminaries of Samarkand and Bukhara before travelling to India.

Ajmer emerged as an important centre of pilgrimage during the sixteenth century, after Emperor Akbar undertook a pilgrimage on foot to the saint’s grave.

Chishti’s order laid stress on seven principles, notably the renunciation of material goods, financial reliance on farming or alms, independence from economic patronage from the established political order, the sharing of wealth, and respect for religious differences.

Chishti’s doctrine on the “highest form of worship” led to the saint often being described as the Garib Nawaz, or emperor of the poor. Several of the most famous Sufi shrines in South Asia – notably that of Fariduddin Ganj-i Shakar at Pakpattan in Pakistan, and that of Nizamuddin Awliya in New Delhi – were born of Chisti’s teachings.

Over the centuries, they have come to command a massive multi-faith following, attracting Muslims, Hindus and Christians alike. For that precise reason, they have long been under attack from religious neoconservatives.

(...)

Despite these attacks, popular Islam in Jammu and Kashmir has held its own – as it is likely to do elsewhere in India, too.

[Picture: The spot where the bomb blast took place in Ajmer dargah. Photo by Rajasthan Patrika].

A Message for the End of Ramadan

The Holy See - www.vatican.va
'Id al-Fitr 1428 H. /2007 a.d.

Christians and Muslims: called to promote a culture of peace

[From the Pontificial Council of Interreligious Dialogue, a message for the end of Ramadan]:

Dear Muslim Friends,
1. It gives me special pleasure to send you for the first time friendly and warmest greetings from the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue on the occasion of your joyful feast of ‘Id al-Fitr, with which the month-long fasting and prayer of Ramadan ends.

This month is always an important time for the Muslim community and gives to each individual member a new strength for their personal, family and social existence.

It matters that all of us witness to our religious beliefs with a life increasingly integrated and in conformity with the Creator’s plan, a life concerned with serving our brothers and sisters in ever increasing solidarity and fraternity with members of other religions and all men of good will, in the desire to work together for the common good.

(...)

Read the full message in English by clicking on the title of this article. To read it in other languages, namely Albanian, Arabic, Bangla, Bulgarian, Cebuano, Dutch, English, Farsi, French, German, Hindi, Indonesian, Italian, Kiswahili, Malayalam, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, Tamil, Turkish, Wolof click on the desired language or here: http://www.vatican.va/latest/latest_en.htm].

Joyous Show with Spinning Coconut

By John Lusk - The Guardian - London, U.K.
Friday, October 12, 2007

Sufi group Sidi Goma finish their joyous shows with a display of mind over matter

Nothing quite prepares you for the stunt that rounds off a typical show by Sidi Goma. The 12-piece Sufi group from Gujarat begin their ritualistic performance with a sedate a cappella azan (Muslim call to prayer), followed by hypnotic percussive workouts, with most of them sitting down as they play.

Smouldering incense sends plumes of smoke billowing into the air. Rousing chants charge the atmosphere, and as tempos build and the cross-rhythms start to kick, one by one the drummers rise with ecstatic cries and gestures.

Shoulders swivel and heads roll as they circle the stage in their long white kurta robes with small trance-like moves.

They disappear almost unnoticed, leaving a sole musician twanging on the malunga, a one-stringed musical bow that could almost be a Brazilian berimbau, except that this is a group from India.

Then they slink back onstage daubed with masks of paint, in peacock feather skirts and headdresses that quiver with every step. Now their dances are wilder and far more expressive, as they playfully mimic animals and birds.

When the drumming and singing reach a crescendo, a coconut goes spinning into the air and a dancer leaps forward as it falls, bashing it open on his forehead to send a shower of milk over the stage.

By the time they leave a few minutes later, the stage is a slippery but fragrant mess, littered with shattered husks and rose petals.

It's just one of a wide range of fearsome-looking feats that Sufi Muslims such as the Sidis of Gujarat are expected to do to demonstrate the strength of their faith: "With all the music and song, we feel really powerful, so sometimes we even do a fire-walking dance.

But here that's not possible because it takes a long time to prepare the coals by burning the wood and so on, and also there's the problem of fire alarms," smiles Hamid. "So we only do the coconuts."

"It's basically a way of getting across that idea of mind over matter," observes their tour manager, Andi Langford-Woods. "And with the coconuts, it's a very spectacular way of expressing the way that they can concentrate, better than walking on broken glass or on coals."

Fans of the late great Pakistani qawwali singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan will recognise Sidi Goma having a crack at his signature piece, Mustt Mustt, on their one and only album, Black Sufis of Gujarat, which was released in 2005.

But much of the rest of their music points firmly to their roots in Africa, as the Sidis are descended from slaves and traders who arrived in India over centuries, probably from several different areas.

"I'm always trying to find out where, but nobody knows in the whole of my Sidi community," explains Hamid. He enthuses about visiting Africa for the first time in 2003. "It was a really good experience. It felt like all the people there were Sidis. All [the people] in my village look the same as they do!"

Sidi Goma's songs are mostly zikrs (prayers) celebrating their saint, Bava Gor, who is said to have travelled to India some time in or before the 15th century from either Ethiopia, Nubia or somewhere in east Africa, via the Middle East.

Conservative traditions of caste and tribe in India have largely prevented intermarriage, so to this day, the Sidis have recognisably African features, and their music incorporates distinctly African dance moves, call-and-response vocals and polyrhythms, as well as several instruments clearly derived from African models.

"We use some Swahili words in our zikrs and we have a big drum we call mugarman. These days, we make it out of metal for travelling, but we have the original one at our shrine, and it's the same height and design, made out of wood like the ones we saw in Nairobi."

Then there is the malunga - a dead ringer for the Angolan ungu, which became the berimbau in Brazil - and a now-disused lyre similar to Ethiopian instruments which Hamid was amazed to see in the British Museum.

All their music is based on 125 ancient songs passed on entirely by the oral tradition.

Travelling the world may have broadened their horizons, but it hasn't diluted their music, as Hamid insists: "We didn't change anything."

Sidi Goma perform in a double bill with Omar Faruk Tekbilek as part of the Barbican's Ramadan Nights tomorrow. Box office: 020-7638 8891

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

A Blast at the Shrine

IT News Network - The Times of India - India
Friday, October 12, 2007

A bomb blast just outside the sanctum sanctorum of India's best known Sufi shrine at Ajmer was triggered just ahead of the Eid-ul-Fitr weekend.

The strike came days after Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil had warned of a possible attack during this year's festive season.

The bomb was hidden inside a tiffin box and placed in the main courtyard called Aasthan-e-Noor , just outside the 750-year-old mausoleum of Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti, the Sufi shrine revered not only by Muslims in South Asia but people of all faiths.

Two persons were killed and 17 others injured when a low-intensity blast took place at the shrine of the 13th century Sufi shrine in Ajmer on Thursday evening.

Police has detained 3-4 people for questioning in its probe into the Ajmer dargah blasts, Times Now reported. According to the channel, police is also working upon the sketches of the suspects.

Muslim Scholars Reach out to Pope

BBC News - London, U.K.
Thursday, October 11, 2007

More than 130 Muslim scholars have written to Pope Benedict XVI and other Christian leaders urging greater understanding between the two faiths.

The letter says that world peace could depend on improved relations between Muslims and Christians.

It identifies the principles of accepting only one god and living in peace with one's neighbours as common ground between the two religions.

The letter coincides with the Eid al-Fitr celebrations to mark the end of Ramadan.

(...)

One of the signatories, Dr. Aref Ali Nayed, a senior adviser at the Cambridge Inter-faith Programme at Cambridge University, told the BBC that the document should be seen as a landmark.

"There are Sunnis, Shias, Ibadis, Ismailian and Jaafari schools, so it's a consensus," he said.

Professor David Ford, director of the programme, said the letter was unprecedented.

"If sufficient people and groups heed this statement and act on it then the atmosphere will be changed into one in which violent extremists cannot flourish," he said in a statement.

The letter was signed by prominent Muslim leaders, politicians and academics, including the Grand Muftis of Bosnia and Hercegovina, Russia, Croatia, Kosovo and Syria, the Secretary-General of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, the former Grand Mufti of Egypt and the founder of the Ulema Organisation in Iraq.

To read the Letter:
Open letter to Pope Benedict XVI [227KB]

[picture: Lake Mapourika, New Zealand. Photo from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace]

To go to the official site, read more, read the letter in English or in its translations (Arabic, French and Italian), and to endorse the letter, click here: http://www.acommonword.com/

A Taste of This State

By T. Ballard Lesemann - Charleston City Paper - Charleston, SC, U.S.A.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Rumi: Festival of the Soul Benefit Concert
Old-Fashioned Love Songs: Coleman Barks and company celebrate the poetry of 13th century mystic Jelaluddin Rumi

"All of Rumi's poems were meant to be a part of his community," says author, teacher, and orator Coleman Barks, one of several featured performers at this weekend's Rumi: Festival of the Soul event at the Sottile Theatre.

"The work going on there was the work of opening the heart, whatever that means. His poems and music are meant to do that ... sort of like country music, you know? It's all love poetry. We're going to speak it and tell the stories of it and tell the background of it."

It's a big weekend for Charleston's Sophia Institute as they present a special reading and performance at the Sottile on Saturday. Musicians David Whetstone (sitar) and Marcus Wise (tablas) accompany Barks as part of the Saturday event from 7-9 p.m. The trio have been performing Rumi's works on stage together for decades.

"I've tried it both ways, with and without music," says Barks. "After you've been reading things with music — with the feeling of how the music takes you deeper into the heart — when you try it without it, something different happens. It's almost a bare, sort of naked vulnerability."

(...)

Born and raised in Chattanooga, Tenn., Barks studied poetry and literature at the University of North Carolina and the University of California at Berkeley. He's taught poetry and creative writing at the University of Georgia in Athens for over 30 years. He is the author of numerous Rumi translations.

His work with Rumi was the subject of an hour-long segment in Bill Moyers's Language of Life series on PBS, and he is a featured poet and translator in Bill Moyers's poetry special, Fooling with Words.

The author first felt a genuine connection to Rumi as a student in the 1970s through guidance of the late Sufi teacher Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, from the island of Sri Lanka. Muhaiyaddeen belonged to the Qadri order of Sufism. He came to the United States in 1971 and established The Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship of North America in Philadelphia.

"A feeling of being in the region of the poetry that felt very free, with something new and familiar at the same time," he remembers. "It was something I wanted to explore.

As I began doing this work, I met a Sufi teacher. He told me I should do this work. That's the only credential I have of being able to work on the great poet of the Islamic world. It's just a huge presumption for a Chattanooga Presbyterian to do this [laughs]. It's almost ridiculous."

While he jokes about his unorthodox craft, Barks' body of work is seriously impressive. He's spent decades translating and recasting the poems of Rumi in fluid American English. His translations have sold more than a quarter of a million copies. He admits the toughest challenge of translating the words, tone, and spirituality of Rumi's poems (originally written in Farsi) involves plenty of guess work.

"The spiritual information is a challenge," he says. "Whatever it means to be enlightened — that is a state of consciousness, and I'm not in it. Rumi and Shams of Tabriz are in it. Jesus is in it, and Buddha is in it.

The discrepancy of not being in the state of what these poems come out of is the ... embarrassing thing about working on this. I'm trying to speak with words about a state of awareness that I'm not in. The possibility for distortion is there.

Of course, we all have a taste of this state, but unless you're living within, you don't produce the poems or the translations of the poems. We have to fail and produce translations that don't quite bring it all over into English and then try it again."

Rumi: Festival of the Soul Benefit Concert w/Coleman Barks, Marcus Wise, David Whetstone Sat. Oct. 13 7 p.m. $100 (orchestra seating, includes Persian soiree), $45 (reserved seating), $30 (general admission) Sottile Theatre 44 George St. (843) 953-5623 www.thesophiainstitute.org

Till Tme without End

PT Wire Services - Pakistan Times - Islamabad, Pakistan
Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Renowned spiritualist, religious scholar and author A’ala Hazrat Sufi Sikandar Ghani Sheikh died in Islamabad on Friday. He was 87.

He was laid to rest in main graveyard of Islamabad – with thousands of his followers attending the funeral with each eye – filled with tears.

The venerated and much-respected religious scholar leaves behind widow and two daughters – with thousands of devotees and disciples – not only in Pakistan but also in several countries around the world.

Born in Lahore in 1920, the illustrious Sufi Sahib attained his early education in Central Model School, where after he sought higher education as well as religious tutoring from renowned spiritualists of that time.

The ancestors of Sufi Sahib who belonged to Sahiwal in southern Punjab, later shifted to Pak Patan as they were great admirers of the great saint of all times, Hazrat Baba Farid-ud-Din Ganj Shakar (RA).

Eventually, they made Lahore as their abode by initiating modest business. At the end of his academics, Sufi Sikandar Ghani Sheikh joined government service at Simla in India.

Soon after the establishment of Pakistan, he left the job and came to Lahore with a fresh mission – to disseminate the message of Islam with focus on the teachings of the Holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) – with sincerest devotion, dedication by his pen and faithful perceptions.

As a sincerest follower of the great saint Hazrat Bari Imam (RA), he shifted his residence from Lahore to Rawalpindi – and eventually to Islamabad where not only that he made the service of humanity as his mission, the late Sufi Sahib – also inked booklets in thousands.

As a true and sincerest admirer of the great illustrious religious personalities of the sub-continent, he wrote numerous articles in the daily newspapers of Pakistan – especially at the time of the Urs of the distinguished saints.

Besides serving his aficionados – he also paid regular visits to the shrine of Hazrat Bari Imam (RA) for several years and also got renovation with silver sheets at the doors and magnificent marble work at the entrance of the shrine of the globally acclaimed saint of all times.

Sufi Sikandar Ghani Sheikh was also a true follower of Sultan al-Hind Hazrat Khawaja Moeen-ud-Din (RA) [popularly known as Khawaja Ghareeb Nawaz RA], Hazrat Data Ganj Bakhsh (RA), Hazrat Baba Fard-ud-Din Ganj Shakar (RA), Hazrat Khawaja Nizam-ud-Din Aoulia Mehboob (RA), Hazrat Qutb-ud-Din Bakhtiar Kaki (RA) and other saints of the sub-continent.

He used to visit all the shrines – including that of his religious educator Hazrat Sufi Maqbool (RA) popularly known as Sufi Sahib Mason Road Walay – whose shrine was got rebuilt and renovated by Sufi Sikandar Ghani Sheikh Sahib – at Graveyard Miani Sahib in Lahore, a few years ago.

Sufi Sikandar Ghani Sheikh was an exceptional kind, caring and considerate personality – who shall be remembered by his followers till time without end.

Chairman of TIMES Group of Publications and Pakistan’s first ISSN-certified independent daily E-Newspaper, ‘Pakistan Times’, Editor, Mumtaz Hamid Rao, who has written biography of A’ala Hazrat Sufi Sikandar Ghani Sheikh Sahib titled *‘Ik Mard-e-Haq, Ik Mard-e-Momin’ * said:

‘I have had a lot of blessed opportunities of having meetings with A’ala Hazrat Sufi Sikandar Ghani Sheikh Sahib and every time, every word, said by him came to me as a great source of inspiration and strength.’
'May Allah Almighty bless the departed soul eternal peace in Heavens and give courage to his followers and the bereaved family to bear this colossal loss with optimal fortitude. Ameen'.

"Mevlana and Mevlevilik"

Dogan News Agency - Turkish Daily News - London, U.K.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007

London played host to a Rumi event within the framework of what has been declared by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as the ''2007 Year of Mevlana.''

On the night of the opening ceremony, Oct. 6, there was a video screening on Turkey.

Following a brief keynote speech by Professor Dr. Mahmud Erol Kılıç, whirling dervishes put on a performance.

An exhibition about Rumi was launched and photos from an exhibition in Istanbul's Hagia Sophia, which were displayed from July to August, were put on display for visitors.

The exhibition, "Mevlana and Mevlevilik," will visit other cities as well.

The Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism supported the event. Turkey's Ambassador to London Yiğit Alpogan and his wife, Undersecretary Atılay Ersan from the Embassy and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus' Representative to London Dilek Yavuz Yanık were among the guests.

The events will later head to Spain, Chile, Singapore, Indonesia, Switzerland, Germany and Syria.

Sufis in Tunis

By Mona Aoun - Magharebia - Tunis, Tunisia
Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Ramadan in Tunis is marked by festivals focusing on Sufi and other religious music.

In the ancient city, processions called kharja are organised by a group of different Sufi denominations who walk out of a holy man's mosque and make a slow tour through the city, chanting religious praises and azkar.

Ramadan festivals that feature artistic shows also dedicate a certain space to Sufi music. The Ministry of Culture supports the genre, and urges festival planners to include it in their activities.

"The Spiritual Music Festival is a cultural demonstration in essence and is directed towards a certain class who is fond of this type of music," said festival director Lotfi Mraihi, who expressed his satisfaction with the support the festival receives, and the value it adds to the musical scene in Tunisia.

Sufi music attracts all kinds of Tunisians, regardless of whether they are young and unfamiliar with the style or the artists inspired by it.

"I take advantage of the month of Ramadan to get to know a significant aspect of our civilisation and culture. Each time I discover new things," said student Na'imah Hassan.

In Tunis, three festivals specialise in Sufi music and are devoted to three themes: religious recitation, instrumental music and spiritual music.

Asked about the significance of such music in spreading Islamic thought that is contrary to radical Islam, Mraihi said, "This music, whether Sufi, religious or spiritual, can represent a cheerful Islam that encompasses listening and tolerance but not one of strict worship."

"In Tunis, this type of music is found in several festivals, but the only one that includes a dedicated programme is the Spiritual Music Festival," he said.

Hatem Ferchichi, a prominent chanter in Tunis, considers Ramadan a legacy month and spiritual in essence. As such, he claims, more attention should be given to Sufi music and approaches (Tariqa), particularly the 'Salamist' approach. "Salamism, well-known in Tunisia, is a Sufi approach that is deeply founded in our Arab-Islamic roots," he said.

Salamism was founded by Libya's Abd Salam Asmar. Chanters of the tradition recite songs and poems from the "Ship of Oceans" [Safinat al-Buhur] volume, which contains all the teachings and stories of Sufi Abd Salam Asmar.

There are a number of Sufi schools in Tunisia, such as Kadrism, Salamism and Jilanism- each is related to the region where it originated.

"Sufi schools are more related to locality than to Sufi thought. So, practices differ between the countryside and cities," said Mraihi.

Tunisian musician Fathi Zaghda says in his study, entitled "Recitation in the Islamic Approach: a Musical Reading", that Sufi approaches represent a significant part of the Tunisian musical heritage.

He called the body of Sufi work "earnest work" as opposed to "comical work", which denotes worldly, secular music or singing.

Sufi chanting in Tunis witnessed a remarkable boom in the fifteenth century, a time when Sufi movements gained support.

According to experts, the Shazli approach is considered the primary reference for Sufis in Tunis. It is attributed to Abi el Hassan Chedli, who played a major role in establishing the Sufi tradition in Tunisia.

He Found Shams in Himself, Radiant Like the Moon

By Waliya Inayat Perkins - TAM The American Muslim - Bridgeton, MO, U.S.A.
Monday, October 8, 2007

Annually on December 17th the Whirling Dervishes celebrate the “Wedding Night” of the great mystic poet Mevlana Jalaluddin Muhammad Rumi’s passing from the circle of time—through their legendary whirling prayer-dance, one of the world’s most beautiful and stirring sacred rituals.

This year Southern Californians have a rare opportunity to enter this circle of love as the Mevlevi Order of America presents the prayer-dance (sema) of Rumi at UCLA’s Royce Hall.

To the accompaniment of stately yet impassioned Turkish classical music (with verses sung in Farsi, Arabic, and Turkish), the dervish dancers turn in prayerful surrender, to become vessels for bringing divine blessings to earth.

There is truly no way to convey in words the moving and spiritually potent ceremony.

The whirling prayer-dance will be led by Postneshin Jelaleddin Loras, who comes from Konya where Rumi lived, and who has followed in the footsteps of his visionary father, Hz. Haji Suleyman Hayati Dede, by teaching both men and women the traditional practices of the Mevlevi Sufis.

Joining MOA musicians are master Turkish musicians Necati Celik (oud and middle eastern lute), Timucin Cevikoglu (vocalist), and Celaleddin Biçer (ney). Celaleddin tours internationally as a Turkish musician, performing in the United States, Bulgaria, Malta, Italy, Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia.

He was educated at the University of Ankara in Sinology, and speaks English, Flemish, French, and Chinese, in addition to his native Turkish. Since 1990 he has performed with the Hacettepe University Chorus as a Saz artisan, and in 1991 he joined Ankara Radio as a Saz & Ney musician.

In addition to his work at Ankara Radio, he teaches nazariiyat, solfeggio, and Ney at Middle East Technical School. His previous international tours have been with the Mavera Turkish Young Musicians Group and the Turkish government’s Promotions Department.

(...)

This relationship between Shams and Rumi was to serve as a mirror for the two mystics; they found in experiencing the other, they found themselves.

Sura al-Hashr (59:19) reveals the power of remembering Allah Tallah “And be ye not like those who forgot Allah; and He made them forget their own souls! Such are the rebellious transgressors!”

In Me and Rumi: The Autobiography of Shams-I Tabrizi by Annemarie Schimmel, Shams speaks of his relationship with Rumi like this, “From the day I saw your beauty, inclination and love for you sat in my heart.”

Shams continued, “There are many great ones whom I love inwardly. There’s affection, but I don’t make it manifest. Once or twice when I made it manifest, I did something while keeping company with them, and they didn’t know and recognize their duty in companionship. I took it upon myself not to let the affection become cold. When I made it manifest with Mevlana, it increased and did not lessen.”

Rumi emerged from this sohbet [spiritual conversation] with Shams transformed in a state of fana, or, of annihilation of the nafs [Nafs-i-ammara, ego-centered identity] in the One.

Rumi’s son, Muhammad Baha’u-’d-Din Sultan Veled, wrote about his father after he had stopped searching for Shams in Syria, “he found Shams in himself, radiant like the moon.”

Jealousy over this mystical friendship rose up with Rumi’s students and some of his family members and they drove Shams away. Rumi sent Sultan Veled to Damascus to find Shams and bring him back to Konya but the situation escalated once more.

The final chapter of Shams’ life is unwritten as no one is certain of the story. One legend explains how at the same exact time on the day of his disappearance witnesses spotted Shams leaving the city at each of its four gates.

An outpouring of verse commenced and in the Divan-e Shams-e Tabrizi Rumi expresses deep mystical states of realization in the voice of his teacher. These lyric poems and quatrains speak to the relationship between Sun and Moon, Lover and Beloved, between servant and the One.

(...)

Rumi described the Mathnawi as beyond form and, “the root of the root of the Root of all religion.”

However, that does not discount the fact, as the following lines clearly show, that Rumi was an observant Muslim:

I am the servant of the Qur’an as long as I have life.
I am the dust on the path of Muhammad, the Chosen one.
If anyone quotes anything except this from my sayings,
I am quit of him and outraged by these words.

[man banda-yé qur’an-am, agar jan dar-am man khak-é rah-é muHammad-e mukhtar-am gar naql kon-ad joz in, kas az goftar-am bezar-am az-o, w-az-in sokhan bezar-am] (Rumi’s Quatrain no. 1173, translated by Ibrahim Gamard and Ravan Farhadi (in “The Quatrains of Rumi,” an unpublished manuscript).

This quatrain may cause some modern day enthusiasts to scratch their heads since many who offer renditions of Rumi’s poetry streamline them until Islamic references seem to disappear.

Per Rumi scholar Dr. Ibrahim Gamard [http://www.dar-al-masnavi.org/], these oft-quoted lines are not to be found anywhere in Rumi’s original manuscripts: “Not Christian or Jew or Muslim, not Hindu, Buddhist, Sufi, or Zen. Not any religion or cultural system.”

The good news is that Rumi is universal in his approach and this is founded in Qur’an and hadith where humanity is informed of the Divine intention for different authentic paths and that we should not hold one prophet above another.

Reading in Sura al-Baqara Ayat 62 and then from Ayat 285 [translations by Laleh Bakhtiar]: “ Truly those who have believed, and those who have become Jews, and the Christians and the Sabaeans, whoever has believed in God and the Last Day, and is one who has acted in accord with morality, then for them, their compensation is with their Lord; there is neither fear in them nor shall they feel remorse.”

“The Messenger has believed in what has been sent forth to him from his Lord as do the ones who believe; all have believed in God, His angels, His Books and His Messengers: We separate and divide not among anyone of His Messengers; and they said: We heard and we obeyed; so grant Your forgiveness, Our Lord! To You is the Homecoming.”

The injunction Sura al-Baqara 256 [translation by Yusuf Ali]: offers is clear, “Let there be no compulsion in religion.”

Encouragement to respect others and to engage in dialogue to overcome differences is clear. Hadith points the way: “Whoever of you sees an evil action, let him change it with his hands; and if he is not able to do so, then with his tongue; and if he is not able to do so, then with his heart- and that is the weakest of faith.” [Muslim quoted in An-Nawawi’s Forty Hadith, tr. Ezzedin Ibrahim and Denys Johnson-Davies, Holy Quran Publishing House, Damascus, 1977, p110].

On December 17, 1273, Rumi was called home by his Beloved Allah and laid to rest beside his father in Yesil Turbe or, “the green Tomb.” A calligraphy near his tomb reads: “after my death, don’t seek my tomb in the earth, for my grave is in the hearts of the men of mystical knowledge.” [Ibrahim Gamard translation].

The sema or, whirling ceremony, of the Mevlevi Sufis is held each year in honor of Shebi Arus, or, Rumi’s great return.

The ceremony portrays humankind’s spiritual unfoldment towards a state of perfection, or kemal. The lessons in taming the nafs [the greater jihad or struggle] bring one to the love and service of all creation for, as the Whirling Dervish knows, “wherever you turn is the face of God.”
December 17, 2007 at 8:00 p.m.
UCLA’s Royce Hall 340 Royce Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90095

For more information, you may contact Waliya Perkins at 310-575-1972 or or go to the Mevlevi Order of America website at: www.hayatidede.org

Tickets go on sale October 1, 2007

If Hunger Were Sold in the Market...

By Dr Mohd Sani Badron - The Star Online - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tuesday, October 9, 2007 /Ramadan 27, 1428

Islam requires mankind to be humble servants of Allah, who are gracious in character, who always strive to purify their heart and control their bestial faculties of anger and desire.

Now, specifically pertaining to the appetitive desire, while animals generally know their limits for food and drink, mankind may more often than not expose himself to appetitive imbalance in the direction of two extremes, being either gluttonous or starving oneself.

As far as gluttony is concerned, in order to rid the pangs of hunger, animals instinctively feed themselves only with food necessary for life and growth; in other words, only that which is beneficial and useful to support physical well-being.

In contrast, human beings have a tendency to eat more, with greater frequency than what is really necessary for their benefit and well-being. This condition gives rise thus to dietetic imbalance and nutritional disorder.

It is in order that we dominate this specific, bestial desire for food and drink that Allah has prescribed for us to savour the taste of hunger by fasting throughout the month of Ramadan and during other months throughout the year.

Allah says in the Quran (al-Baqarah, verse 155), “and most certainly shall We try you by means of fear (of danger), and hunger, and loss of worldly goods, of lives and of labour’s fruits. But give glad tidings unto those who are patient.”

Although all fundamental, obligatory rituals such as zakat and haj, as well as jihad, in one way or another involve spending one’s property, being fearful of the danger, loss of the fruits of one’s labour, sacrificing one’s own life or the lives of those dearest to one, fasting, in particular, defines hunger.

Indeed, in Sufi tradition related in Abu Talib al-Makki’s (d. 386/996) influential Qut al-Qulub, hunger is regarded as one of the four pillars of spiritual struggle (al-mujahadah).

It is in none other than hunger that “the wellspring of Wisdom (yanabi’ al-Hikmah) is found” – so says the Sufi master Abul Qasim al-Qushayri (d. 465/1072) in his Risalah.

In the same vein, one of many fine aphorisms found in works of an earlier Sufi leader and commentator of the Quran, Sahl al-Tustari (d. 283/896), “hunger is the provenance of knowledge and wisdom, while satiety is the root of ignorance and disobedience to God.”

Abu Zakariyya Yahya b. Mu’adh al-Razi remarked: “If hunger were sold in the market, then seekers of Hereafter must purchase no other things there.”

We can thus know the experience of hunger, by fasting in the sense of eating less. Less, not in terms of complete abstention, which is impossible, rather less in the sense that there must always be moderation.

But the limit or being full is admittedly relative to the individual, each of whom has a different capacity.

To quote Muhyiddin Ibn al-’Arabi (d. 638/1240), from Chapter 560 of his Futuhat al-Makkiyyah, “one should eat to live, and live to serve God; and not live to eat, and eat to fatten the body” (Wa kul li-ta’isha wa ‘ish li-tuti’a Rabbaka wa la ta’ish li-ta’kula wa la ta’kul li-tasmana).

Therefore, on the one hand, to eat for the purpose of getting the energy to accomplish the Divine Will and to eat for the purpose of gaining the strength to implement the commandment of Allah and to obtain His pleasure, is an act of devotion and religious observance (‘ibadah), just as fasting is.

Eating permissible, wholesome meals complement fasting.

As such, the act of eating per se is never blameworthy. God merely reminds mankind that they should not be distracted by matters of secondary importance, such as the ones led to by an over-indulgence in food and drink, excessive sleep, frivolous talk, and needless interaction.

This is why moderation in eating and drinking and in social interactions, in observing reasonable limits to sleep, and to be sober in talk, are the four pillars of spiritual struggle espoused by true Sufism.

It is more important that Muslims devote their purpose, intention, strong determination and resolution towards Divine Pleasure.

On the other hand, to lessen required food, to reduce nourishment and to deliberately weaken the body both physical and intellectual to the extent of being unable to perform one’s obligation is a sin and a wicked act.

A Muslim is one who renders his self its due right, who strikes a balance between overeating and under-nourishment. He should neither burden the limits of his stomach with gluttony, nor should he deprive his organs of sustenance and nourishment, which would cause the body to atrophy and the intellect to decay.

Inasmuch as poor nourishment may result in mental disorders and feeble-mindedness, the Prophet Muhammad sought the protection of Allah against hunger, specifically, going so far as to say that hunger is an “evil companion” (bi’su ‘l-daji’), as recorded in a hadith narrated by al-Bazzar in his Musnad.

In the light of that Prophetic tradition concerning the preservation of health and intellect, Ibn Mas’ud (d. 32/653), one of the greatest of the Companions in terms of virtue and intelligence, performed very little optional fasting.

He used to say words to the effect that “when I observe optional fasting, I grow weak in my prayer (salat). And I prefer prayer over non-obligatory fasting”.

Another narrative states that some of the Companions would be weakened in their recitation of the Quran when fasting. Thus, they observed less supererogatory fasting so that it would not undermine their recitation.

We conclude with a poignant maxim by al-Tustari, who used to say to a novice who persisted with abstaining from food over many days: “Keep your wits. God has never had a saint who was mentally deficient (naqis al-’aql).”

The Author is Senior Fellow / Director, Centre for Economics and Social Studies, Ikim

[Picture from FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations http://www.fao.org/].

"Aliens in America": Beautifully Insane

By Diane Werts - Newsday - Long Island, NY, U.S.A.
Sunday, October 7, 2007

Cross-culture coolness in The CW's acclaimed new comedy "Aliens in America" extends beyond the lead characters, a geeky Wisconsin teen and his exchange-student housemate from Pakistan.

The series' theme song hosts another international pair reaching across the same sorts of boundaries.

"Beautifully Insane" troubadour PJ Olsson trades lines on a new rendition of "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding" with Junoon group frontman Salman Ahmad, the Pakistani rocker/ doctor/ activist seen on PBS in the documentary conversation "The Rock Star and the Mullahs" (online at YouTube).

The CW press release explains, "Both musicians grew up playing the traditional music of their cultures and were transformed by their experience with rock 'n' roll.

Olsson grew up in an orchestral family [in Michigan] and sang gospel music in church, but it was the experience of seeing Led Zeppelin that inspired him to seek a career in music.

In Pakistan, Ahmad played Sufi devotional music, but when he came to America at the age of 11 and saw Jimmy Page perform 'Stairway to Heaven,' everything changed for him as well.

"The Sufi rock of Junoon ("obsession" in Urdu) has sold millions of CDs not just in their South Asia stronghold, but around the world during the past decade, melding ancient poetry, contemporary world affairs and driving guitar lines.

Olsson's newest CD, "American Scream," drops Oct. 16 with the "Aliens" duet included. Their full-length music video streams at http://youtube.com/watch?v=%20JTKsJrpRtww

[Picture: Salman Ahmad. Photo from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salman_Ahmad].

Urs of Sheikh Nooruddin Noorani Begins Tomorrow

Bureau Report - The Hindu - Chennai, India
Monday, October 8, 2007

The annual 'Urs' of Sufi saint Sheikh Nooruddin Noorani at Charar-e-Sharief in Budgam district will commence from tomorrow.

The administration has geared up to ensure smooth conduct of Urs as lakhs of devotees are expected to throng the shrine, an official spokesman said.

Chief Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad, in his message on the eve of the Urs described the saint, popularly known as Sheikh-ul-Aalam, as the torch-bearer of Kashmir who preached and practised the teachings of Islam.

The Chief Minister has asked the administration to provide adequate facilities to devotees visiting the shrine.

[Picture from http://www.flickr.com/photos/gps1/1525812958/].