Gaps that Need to Be Filled

By Anne Andlauer - Today's Zaman - Istanbul, Turkey
Thursday, January 31, 2008

Les Arts Turcs: The difference between traveling and tourism

As he offers you a seat, a tea, a warm and friendly welcome, Nurdoğan Şengüler turns his gaze from the walls of his studio to the dome of Hagia Sophia, to the Sea of Marmara.

Light pours into the room, dances across the walls and reveals a large-framed picture of Hagia Sophia under the snow.

Şengüler talks about a child walking hand in hand with his father to the Yenikapı Mevlevihanesi (dervish lodge), listening to the women's prayers at the nearby Merkez Efendi Camii (mosque) -- a curious, talkative child whose gaze has wrinkled over the years but whose eyes sparkle with the same intensity.

Şengüler speaks about himself, his love for his country, his culture and his art gallery, Les Arts Turcs.

A meeting point and a state of mind is how he describes the place. The room is lined with shelves; the shelves are loaded with books, crafts, clothes, jewelry and CDs. Şengüler stands up and heads to the stereo system. The room suddenly fills with the relaxing sound of Sufi music.

"Les Arts Turcs was founded some 10 yeas ago by a collection of painters, photographers, artists, singers, journalists, professional guides and entrepreneurs," Şengüler says, sipping his tea and weighing his words. "We welcome travelers from across the globe. We speak, we sit and we explore routes of communication between cultures that rarely communicate."

Şengüler's CD collection is a testimony of that state of mind. Armenian music meets Gypsy music, Jewish music and folk music from the four corners of Turkey.

"The fact is that there are gaps -- artistic and cultural gaps -- that need to be filled, and Turkish culture deserves that kind of effort," says Şengüler, who envisions his gallery as an international cultural center.

"We help foreigners from America, France, India, Korea … appreciate ancient and modern Turkey. We have friends from every hemisphere -- artists, adventurers, intellectuals -- and greet them all with the same eagerness that they show to discover this land and its people."
(...)
Şengüler, who says he feels like a rebel with a cause, masters five languages and has been working in the tourist industry since a young age. Turkey sees itself as European, he agrees, but Turks are increasingly protective of their own identity.

"I speak foreign languages, I travel a lot. But I have an identity and I love my country, my city. CNN Türk, Sky Türk, Kola Türk, … I am obviously not the only one who strives to affirm the Turkish identity."

Then why did he give his art gallery a French name? "To attract Westerners, especially Americans who feel a strong complex vis-à-vis French culture," Şengüler smiles, assuring us that his strategy has worked hundreds of times.

"We are currently preparing for 2010, when Istanbul will be the culture capital of Europe. Our plan is to invite foreigners who have been writing about İstanbul -- a movie, a book, a documentary … -- and ask them to write again about Turkey. Those people can be instrumental in raising knowledge and awareness about Turkey abroad."

But as much as he appreciates foreigners making the effort to learn about Turkish culture, Şengüler warns against certain trends that have little to do with the original message.

"The Internet, an extraordinary revolution, brings more and more people across borders -- physically or mentally. Since Sept. 11, we have received many inquiries from Westerners, particularly Americans, about Sufism and [Muhammed Jelaluddin] Rumi. Sufism has become the Buddhism of the 1990s, a way of achieving inner peace. I don't really welcome a trend that considers Sufism as a therapy or simple meditation."

While he looks, thoughtful, through the window of his studio, Şengüler is probably imagining a new "strategy," as he puts it, for İstanbul and for Turkey: new ideas for collaboration, new projects to propose, new contacts to create.

He may be thinking about his current research on the hippies, his partnership with painter Ayşe Türemiş or with American illustrator Trici Venola. Or maybe he just hopes that the dozens of tourists, whom he is now observing as they get out of their bus, will stop by his gallery and drink some tea with him.
How to get there
Les Arts Turcs is located in the Sultanahmet district, in front of the Hagia Sophia Museum and the Sultanahmet (Blue) Mosque. The gallery is open every day from 10 a.m. until 10 p.m.
Address: Alemdar Mah., İncili Çavuş Sok., No: 37, Kat: 3
Tel.: (212) 511 7556 or (212) 511 2296
[The European Capital of Culture is a city designated by the European Union for a period of one year during which it is given a chance to showcase its cultural life and cultural development. More at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Capital_of_Culture].

Silsilah

Agenzia Fides - Città del Vaticano, VA
Friday, January 25, 2008

Two women, a Christian and a Muslim, chosen to lead Silsilah Movement for interreligious dialogue in southern Philippines

Zamboanga city: The new leadership of Silsilah Movement for interreligious dialogue, historic presence of cultural awareness building, formation and sharing for Christian-Muslim dialogue in southern Philippines, is all female: during the annual Silsilah meeting the members elected as president and vice president respectively, Aminda Sano a member for many years and former vice president and Hadja Zenaida Lim, already leader of the local Muslimah Muslim Women's association for dialogue and peace.

Southern Philippines home to a consistent minority of 6 million Muslims, are the scene of violence and tension due to difficult relations between Muslims and Christians.

In the area terrorist groups operate to undermine peace. Silsilah Centre, which will celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2009, plans to intensify initiatives and programmes to promote peace and dialogue all over the Philippines, through greater presence in the media, presence among young Muslims and Christians to eradicate sentiments of diffidence and promote harmony.

Recently a second Silsilah Centre was opened on the island of Jolo.

Beed-e majnooun

By Jeff Shannon - The Seattle Times - Seattle, WA, USA
Friday, January 25, 2008

As a wheelchair user for nearly 29 years, I've often wondered what psychological aftershocks might occur if my disability were to suddenly go away.

Would that wish fulfillment come at a price? Would being able-bodied again be a euphoric experience, or would I endure some kind of anticlimactic, post-disability letdown?

Typically this kind of miracle-cure scenario is left to maudlin TV movies, but in Iranian writer/director Majid Majidi's extraordinary film "The Willow Tree," one man's recovery from blindness becomes a metaphorical odyssey with soul-shaking repercussions.

For 45-year-old Youssef (Parvis Parastui), the restoration of sight is an epiphany followed by devastating existential trauma. As a man of God, he's literally and spiritually brought to his knees.

Now a devoted husband, father and professor of literature who specializes in teaching the poetry of Rumi, Youssef has been blind since childhood.

His inner worlds (both domestic and professional) are places of sublime serenity and comfort, where reading and writing in Braille is peaceful compensation for his anger at God, which he carries like a secret burden.

But when he journeys to Paris for a corneal transplant that restores his sight, he's totally unprepared for the vast difference between reality and the paradise he'd created in his mind's eye. For Youssef, answered prayers become an unexpected torment.

Upon seeing his wife for the first time, he is more attracted to his uncle's sister-in-law. During a subway ride, he spots a pickpocket in action and remains stuck in a state of silent, unsettling complicity. The gift of sight is an assault on the world of his imagination, which until now had provided a protective shell from reality. And his challenges have only just begun.

To convey this troubled man's rush of conflicting emotions, Majidi fills "The Willow Tree" (the title is one of many metaphorical references) with symbolic portent and arresting images that feel perfectly matched to the intensity of Youssef's experience.

As Youssef begins to recognize the folly of his "blind paradise" and the life he could have lived but didn't, his spiritual crisis escalates to the point where only a return to faith can save him.

This is powerful stuff, although Majidi (whose previous films include the Oscar-nominated "Children of Heaven") occasionally resorts to unnecessary sentiment, and Parastui's overwrought performance is straight from the Rod Steiger school of labored intensity, even when you allow for the theatricality of Majidi's spiritual parable.

But in suggesting that answered prayers don't always bring comfort, "The Willow Tree" offers a wise alternative to idealized notions of miraculous recovery.

"The Willow Tree," with Parvis Parastui, Roya Taymourian, Mohammad Amir Naji. Written and directed by Majid Majidi. 96 minutes. Not rated; suitable for general audiences. In Farsi with English subtitles. Iran: 2005, Hong Kong: 2006, USA: 2007

[Visit the Director's website: http://www.cinemajidi.com/
Also on the IMDb (Internet Movie Database): http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0415607/combined].

I'm Hopeful for the Future

By Jeremy Herb - FSR Foundation for Self Reliance - CA, USA
Sunday, January 27, 2008

The East Meets .2, held in Fremont, CA, USA, on Saturday, Jan.26 was a fantastic event

Nearly 200 people crammed into the Fremont Senior Center on Saturday to hear about the biggest challenges facing the Afghan community in the coming years.

Academics dissected "Islamophobia," multiculturalism, human trafficking and many other topics during Saturday's "East Meets West.2 Fremont World Social Forum: 'Awakening to the Challenges of 21st Century Afghanistan' symposium.

It was held by the Foundation for Self Reliance, an organization based in Fremont and Kabul, Afghanistan. Eight speakers discussed a range of topics throughout the day, with globalization as an underlying theme.

"We have prosperity like we've never seen before, but at the same time, there's a tremendous amount of poverty in the world," said the morning's keynote speaker, California State University, East Bay, President Mo Qayoumi.

Melanie Gadener, executive director of the Foundation for Self-Reliance and the event's organizer, said the symposium was designed to build on the momentum from June's initial East Meets West event.

The first symposium focused on the Fremont Afghan community, the largest in the United States.

University of California, Berkeley, professor Ronald Takaki, originally from Hawaii, related his experience in 1957 at the College of Wooster in Ohio to Muslims' experiences today.

"They could not and did not see me as a fellow American," Takaki said of his classmates. "I didn't look American, and I didn't have an American name.

Takaki told the crowd Saturday that he recently finished writing a new edition of his book "A Different Mirror," which adds a chapter on Afghan Americans in its history of minorities in America. Takaki said he hopes to combat America's "master narrative," which says the United States is a white European nation.

"Muslims in this country are Americans, too," Takaki said. "Muslims belong in America like other minorities. And America belongs to Muslims. We can be ethnic and American — we don't have to choose between one or the other."

Hatem Bazian, who also teaches at UC Berkeley, gave an energized talk about Islamophobia and America's military-industrial complex. Bazian explained that after the Cold War, America needed a new threat to feed the country's militarily fueled economy. The Muslim world was constructed into the new threat, he said.

"Islamophobia makes it possible to push back civil rights won over the past 40 years," Bazian said. "The primary threat we have is losing our constitutional rights. As citizens, we should be incensed."

The afternoon keynote speaker was Afghanistan's Deputy Minister of Women's Affairs Mazari Safa, who talked about his country's efforts and difficulties in developing better lives for women in Afghanistan.

The event also featured several readings of Rumi, a Sufi poet born near present-day Afghanistan. His 800th birthday was celebrated last year. While Saturday's symposium was dedicated to the 13th-century poet, its focus remained on what's going to happen in the current century.

"I'm hopeful for the future," Takaki said. "Right here in Fremont, everyone belongs to a minority. In California, everyone is a minority. What happened in California will eventually happen across the country. There is a bright future to redefine who is American."

A Significant Step

By Fadhil Ali - The Jamestown Foundation - Washington D.C., USA
Volume 6, Issue 2 (January 24, 2008)

The mystical approach to Islam known as Sufism has deep roots in Iraqi society. Adherents to Sufism normally stress prayer, meditation and the recitation of the various names of God as part of their effort to create a mystical communion between themselves and Allah.

Yet at various times and places—such as 19th century Africa or the 19th and 20th century North Caucasus—Sufi orders have formed the core resistance to colonial and imperial occupation efforts.

Heavily criticized within Iraq during the first two years of the current U.S. occupation for focusing on spiritual matters rather than resistance, Iraq’s Sufis have begun to take up arms against Coalition forces.

In the early days of Islam, Sufis tended to be lone ascetics known for wearing suf (rough wool garments), but gradually they began to organize around spiritual leaders known as sheikhs, or pirs. One of the greatest Sufi orders, the Qadiria, was founded in Baghdad by Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, who lived from 1078 to 1166. The second most prominent Sufi order in Iraq is the Naqshbandia, introduced to Iraq from India by Sheikh Khalid Naqshbandi in the early 13th century.

Despite the common perception that Sufism is a strictly non-violent form of Sunni Islam, there are at least three insurgent groups in Iraq today that claim to be Sufi:
• Jaysh Rijal al-Tariqa al-Naqshbandia (The Men of the Army of al-Naqshbandia Order, or JRTN) is the largest Sufi insurgent group. The group announced its formation in December 2006, right after the execution of Saddam Hussein.
• Katibat al-Sheikh Abd al-Qadir al-Jilanin Al-Jihadia (The Jihadi Battalion of Sheikh Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani) was announced in August 2006.
• The Sufi Squadron of Sheikh Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani was founded in April 2005.

For hundreds of years the founders and leaders of various tariqas (Sufi orders) developed special rituals, chants and even dances to pursue the spiritual dimension of Islam and praise God and his prophet Muhammad.

Sufis have been frequently criticized by Salafist Muslims for syncretism with pre-Islamic religious practices, innovation in methods of worship and the veneration of their sheikhs and their burial places, which tend to become places of pilgrimage.

In Iraq, the Qadiria—both Arab and Kurd—are divided into several branches. The largest branch, the Kasnazania, is headed by Sheikh Muhammad Abd al-Karim al-Kasnazan, who lives in the city of al-Sulaimania.

The Naqshbandia is led by Sheikh Abdullah Mustafa al-Naqshbandi, who lives in the city of Erbil.

A third important group is the al-Rifa’ia order, whose branches do not acknowledge the leadership of a single sheikh.

According to Nehru al-Kasnazan—son of Sheikh Muhammad al-Kasnazan—there are currently three million adherents to the various Sufi orders in Iraq (al-Arabiya.net, August 23, 2005).

The Sufis enjoyed many freedoms when Saddam Hussein was in power. Ezzat Ibrahim al-Douri, his vice-president and the current head of the banned al-Baath party, is a well known Qadiri Sufi.

The former sheikh of the Iraqi Qadiria, Muhammad al-Hallab, was strongly criticized by other members of the order for the haste with which he advanced al-Douri through the spiritual teachings of the order without adequate preparation (Mafkarat al-Islam, August 24, 2006).

(...)

Conclusion
Joining the insurgency was not the decision of the recognized leaderships of Iraqi Sufi orders.

The pressure of attacks by Salafis and Shiite militias appears to have played a major role in convincing Sufis in some areas to defy the non-violent doctrine of their traditional leaders. In response to sectarian violence and military occupation, few of the Sufis turned to Salafist groups like al-Qaeda in Iraq, but those who decided to fight joined the more familiar Baathist-led resistance.

Al-Douri’s wing of the Baath Party continues to wield its traditional influence on the Sufis. Many Sufis were originally Baathists, so it was not difficult for the party to recruit them. In most areas of Iraq, Sufi insurgents are either Baathists or controlled and directed by al-Baath.

Efforts to take the Sufis out of the insurgency will have little success without first breaking the bond between the Sufis and Ezzat al-Douri’s organization. Easing the Shiite-Sunni sectarian conflict would be a significant step toward removing the Sufis from the frontlines.

A Reclusive Poet

By Aadil Shah/Pak Tea House and All Things Pakistan - Pakistan

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Abdur-Rehman (1650 – 1715 A.D) widely known as Rehman Baba was a great Pushtu Sufi poet who is regarded as the most read and quoted Pushtu poet of the larger belt of Afghanistan and the North Western Frontier Province of Pakistan.

There isn’t much known about his life due to the lack of eyewitness accounts yet a few legends portray him to be a reclusive poet, singing his poems near the Bara River while strumming a Rubab.

His poetry shows him to be a poet who had full command on fiqah (jurisprudence) and tasawwuf (Sufism).

A powerful Sufi touch in his poetry notwithstanding, he was not inclined to a particular order of Sufism and it is more likely that Rehman Baba was a free soul, with an individualistic practice of Sufism similar to that of Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai in Sindh.

Thus he says:
“On the path which I travel to see my love, make holy Khizer and Ilyas my guides”

His tomb is at Hazarkhwani, in the suburbs of Peshawar.

[Click on the title of the article to read two poems translated into English]

[Go to Wiki to read about the Rubab http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubab].

Mystic Drums on a Mystical Planet

By Shruti I.L. - Deccan Herald - Bangalore, India
Thursday, January 24, 2008

It was an evening where one was at peace with one's self

Listeners embarked on a journey to the world of love, surrender and wisdom at Ruhaniyat, the All India Sufi and Mystic Music Festival that Bangalore hosted recently.

(...)

‘Mystic drums’ by Siddhi Goma, who came to Gujarat from Africa 750 years ago, was the other item. Dancers used standing drums, wind pipes, long sticks and dhols to accompany their chants.

The performance had the artistes throw coconuts up in the air, jump 4-5 ft up and break them into pieces with their heads.

The grand finale came in the form of ‘Sufi Qawwali’ by Shameen and Nayeem Ajmeri. There was no one in the crowd who escaped the jalwa of these maestros.

They opened with a Kaul, in memory of Ali, which was followed by one of their most popular qawwalis, Alla Alla Allahoo.

A Defensive Struggle

By Yoginder Sikand - Indian Muslims - San Diego, CA, USA
Thursday, January 24, 2008

The Tuhfat al-Mujahidin or ‘The Tribute to the Strugglers’ is one of the earliest extant historical treatises about the southern Indian state of Kerala.

Its author, the sixteenth century's Shaikh Zainuddin Makhdum, hailed from the renowned Makhdum family from the town of Ponnani in Malabar, in northern Kerala.

This family traced its descent to migrants from Yemen, who played a leading role in the spread of Islam in southern India.

Following in the footsteps of many of his forefathers, Shaikh Zainduddin rose to become a leading Islamic scholar. He spent ten years studying in Mecca, where he also joined the Qadri order of Sufism.

On his return to his native Malabar, he spent almost four decades teaching at the central mosque in Ponnani, then a major centre for Islamic studies in southern India. He also served as the envoy of the Zamorins, the Hindu rulers of Calicut, to Egypt and Turkey.

The Tuhfat is one of Shaikh Zainuddin’s several works, and is the best known among them. A chronicle of the stiff resistance put up by the Muslims of Malabar against the Portuguese colonialists from 1498, when Vasco Da Gama arrived in Calicut, to 1583, it describes in considerable detail events, many of which that the author had himself witnessed and lived through.

It was intended, as Shaikh Zainduddin says, as a means to exhort the Malabar Muslims to launch a struggle or jihad against the Portuguese invaders. The book thus extols the virtues of jihad against oppressors, and, at the same time, also provides fascinating details about the history of Islam in Malabar, the relations between Muslims and Hindus in the region and the customs and practices of both.

Islam’s first contact with India is said to have taken place in Malabar, and Shaikh Zainuddin offers a popularly-held account of this.

He writes of how the Hindu ruler of Malabar, impressed with a group of Muslim pilgrims on their way to Ceylon, converted to Islam and accompanied them back to Arabia. There, shortly before he died, he instructed them to return to Malabar.

They did as they were told, and the king’s governors welcomed them, allowing them to settle along the coast and establish mosques. Gradually, he writes, the Muslim community began expanding through the missionary efforts of Sufis and traders.

Relations between Muslims and the Hindus of Malabar, Shaikh Zainudin observes, were traditionally cordial.

(...)

In appealing to the Malabari Muslims to launch jihad against the Portuguese, Shaikh Zainuddin makes clear that this struggle is purely a defensive one, directed at only the Portuguese interlopers and not the local Hindus or the Hindu Zamorins, for whom he expresses considerable respect.

Nor is it, he suggests, a call to establish Muslim political supremacy and control. Jihad, then, for Shaikh Zaiuddin, was a morally just struggle to restore peace in Malabar and expel foreign occupiers, to return to a period when Muslims and Hindus in the region lived together in harmony.

This treatise is an indispensable source of Malabari history and would be invaluable to those interested in the history of Islam in South Asia. Much that Shaikh Zainuddin says with regard to the legitimacy of struggle against foreign occupation and oppression finds powerful echoes today.

Tuhfat al-Mujahidin (translated from Arabic by S. Muhammad Husayn Nainar)
Author: Shaykh Zainuddin Makhdum
Year: 2006
Pages: 139 Publisher: Islamic book Trust, Kuala Lumpur (http://www.ibtbooks.com/) & Other Books, Calicut (otherbooks@post.com).

Neglected Languages and Sufi Saints

Unique Pakistan - Karachi, Pakistan
Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Pakistans World Punjabi Congress calls for promotion of peace and neglected languages

World Punjabi Congress Chairman Fakhar Zaman has returned to Lahore after six weeks stay in Europe where he delivered lectures at various universities and chaired four World Punjabi Conferences in Austria, Sweden and Estonia.

According to a press statement issued, Fakhar said that the declarations of sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth World Punjabi Conferences laid emphasis on the promotion of peace through spreading the messages of the Sufi saints and also through the promotion of neglected languages like Punjabi in Pakistan and Urdu in India.

To promote peace through Sufism the 20th World Punjabi Conference will be held in Rhodes Island, Greece, in July, which will be attended by 10 scholars each from Pakistan, and India.

He added that the 21st World Punjabi Conference will be held in Lahore later this year on 'Mysticism and Peace'.

[Visit the World Punjabi Congress: http://www.worldpunjabicongress.org/].

Multiple Modes of Devotion

By Deepa Ganesh - The Hindu - Chennai, India
Monday, January 21, 2007

Bangalore: It would only be arrogance to evaluate devotion, whatever form it be in. What then can one comment about Ruhaniyat, the annual Sufi and Mystic Music Festival back in the city for the second time.

At best, one could make some musical observations, that too an incomplete one, for, bhakti, as the Sufi tradition understood it, is beyond simplistic definitions and of mere music too.

That’s probably why when the singer of amazing conviction, Parvathy Baul sang Akkamahadevi’s vachana “Akka Kelavva”, her Kannada pronunciation hardly mattered. It would be to trivialise Akka to bottle her up in a land and a language.

What the Sufi music evening, brought by Banyan Tree, achieved at best was to bring together the multiple modes of devotion: from the very austere to the sensual and earthy to the lively, bhakti came alive in so many different shades.

The Siddhi Gomas — a tribe from Africa that has come to settle in India — was the most defiant of them all. The Mystic Drummers not just turned one’s schooled notions topsy turvy but also opened you to the multi-layered, rich folk traditions of the country and the various forms of worship with their lively song, dance and spectacle-packed performance.

If the Sufi tradition challenged worship as approved by religion, the Rajasthani folk-Sufi singers are daunting even to trained classical musicians.

Darra Khan and group stunned the audience with an outstanding performance. Darra Khan, unlike the Langas and Manganiars, is attached to the Math of Badal Nath, a mystic, and rendered poems written by him.

Kachra Khan Manganiar, with his voice that truly touched the skies, sang Baba Bulle Shah. With a system of music that’s their own, the manner in which the Rajasthani musicians wove in amazing intricacies into their singing, it’s hard to bring it into any logical framework. The Kamaicha, sarangi, khadtaal, dholak… each one of them excelled.

The 76-year-old Vithal Rao from Hyderabad, a disciple of Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, left the audience humbled by his sparkling rendition. His complex idioms, the turn of phrases and the most unanticipated flights reminded one of the maestro Ghulam Ali.

The Jagars, the story-tellers from Assam, and the Qawalli singers, each one of them took devotion to a new height. No wonder Baba Bulle Shah attacked and criticised all mediators between the lord and the devotee.
Can there be any single expression of devotion?

[Click this link for a Ghazal by Pandit Vithal Rao on Youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMHe0UOQDa0].

The Common Ground

By Mazen Hashem - Alt Muslim - USA Monday, January 21, 2008

Common sense says that Shii scholars make clear their rejection of the offshoot ideas ascribed to them and that Sunni scholars should not get hooked on historical debates

The popular explanation of the Sunni-Shii friction is that it is a matter of sectarian religious difference.

In reality, there are three fault lines trigger friction between Sunnis and Shiis: the fiqhi line, the mental image of history, and folkways.

Gripped by group identity conflict, Sunni and Shii forget the ample common ground between them at the level of values and ultimate socioeconomic aims.

To the average Muslim, fiqh stands for Islam itself as it represents an easy-to-understand template of the good conduct. Most people become troubled by minor fiqhi disagreements because they are not fully aware of the extent to which there are acceptable fiqhi variations within the corpus of ulama’s work.

When it comes to the Sunni-Shii divide, the average person would interpret such fiqhi variation as a deviation from Sharia itself. Interestingly, the fiqhi gap among some of the major Sunni schools is larger than the gap between the Jaafari Shii school on one hand and some Sunni schools on the other.

Few may know that Jaafar al-Sadiq (the principal figure of the Jaafari school) was the teacher of Abu Hanifa, the famous Sunni scholar. He was also the son of Abu Bakr’s granddaughter.

(...)

Despite the fact that Sunnis and Shiis share the same Muslim history, they have radically different constructions of such a history. The root of such disagreement does not lie simply in the differing interpretations of historical events but in the focus on different aspects of it.

While the Sunni perspective is aware of the deviations that occurred in realm of politics, they focus their attention on the civilizational achievements of Muslims. Shiis, on the other hand, focus on the problem of a “stolen” leadership from those who deserve it.

Such position from the Shiis enrages Sunnis as it trumps marvelous Muslim civilizational achievements, acknowledged by Muslim as well as non-Muslim scholars. Shiis avoid talking about civilizational achievements and insist on focusing on the downside aspects: political domination and repressing Shii radical groups.

For Sunnis, the claims of historical repression that are popular in Shii stories resemble urban legends that cannot stand the scrutiny of historical-scientific research. Furthermore, when Shiis gained political control in Muslim history, they were not less royal than the Sunni rulers that Shiis disparage.

In the Savadi era (1501-1722), Shiism constructed many of its customs and popular myths as an ideology to buttress political control. However, in doing so, the Shii Savadis were not very different from the Sunni Ottomans who were mustering their political control through sponsoring Sufism.

It is much more defensible to relate the contemporary Shii revival to the Qajari period (1799-1925) rather to the Savadis. The Qajari period was marked by political instability, which prompted Shii clerics to overcome their dominant norm of quietism and to get engaged in politics.

In contrast, the Sunni ulama of this period had a state that spoke on their behalf and did not feel the need to be as politically engaged.

Ironically, the contemporary political fragmentation in today’s Muslim countries resemble a Sunni Qajari period where Sunni clerics are showing more interest in, and willingness to engage in, politics.

Muslims have lived their history in highly pluralistic settings. Therefore, different groupings of people maintained their local cultural practices, which intermixed with Islamic elements. For the average person, the folkways that are imbued with an Islamic spirit replace the root ideas of religion itself.

For example, both the Sunni and the Shii go to the mosque and get a spiritual lift through listening to preaching and stories, but such preaching is of different genres and invokes the memories of different personalities.

Shiis feel that Sunnis do not give due respect to ahl al-bayt, the progeny of Prophet Muhammad. Sunnis on the other hand are troubled by the thick rituals of Shiism that have the cult of saint’s properties.

Sunnis have their myths too, but mainly housed in Sufism which, despite its widespread, does not represent the mainstream.

The above mentioned differences stay mute in peaceful times. However, in times of extreme uncertainty and political agitation, they intensify the conflict. Furthermore, when political violence targets venerated symbols, revenge becomes sadistic, justified on the basis of denigrating the sacred.

(...)

It does not take a learned person to recognize the both Sunnis and Shiis share an Islamic outlook based on the values of Islam and its social orientation. The very logic of Islam is rooted in the idea of unity of the creator and the centrality of the transcendental guidance in refining human conduct.

Sunni as well as Shii lines consider that the righteous deeds of taqwa are the basis of individuals’ worth, upon which they will be responsible at the Day of Judgment. Furthermore, both lines assert collective responsibility in seeking truth at the cultural level and fighting taghoot (oppression) at the sociopolitical level.

Sunni and Shii traditions revere personal purity, the family institution, and the role of motherhood.
Furthermore, they converge on the centrality of the concepts of justice, mercy, and moderation, considering them as the cornerstone of the moral social order.

The Sunni-Shii historical political disagreement was, at its roots, a disagreement on the political arrangement that would preserve the values of Islam. Muslims today have the option of recognizing the common ground on which their different factions draw or to plunge into sectarian rivalry.

Mazen Hashem holds a doctoral degree in sociology. His research focuses on the Muslim communities in North America.

The Corridor of Peace

By Farzand Ahmed - India Today - New Delhi, India
Thursday, January 17, 2008

In December last year, All India Khwaja Gharib Nawaz Council, a Sufi organisation, led a peace march to Parliament, holding placards that read:

“Islam says killing of one innocent is killing of humanity. Sufi Corridor can play an important role in establishing peace and unity.”

Despite the overly idealistic veneer, it marks an important milestone in the fight against Islamic terrorism. The Sufis in India are low profile but number close to 10 crore and their religious centres are spread across the country.

The movement to create a Sufi Corridor of peace is therefore a nationwide movement. Several Sufi scholars and saints belonging to various dargahs and khanqahs (Islamic seminaries) had gathered in Delhi recently to formally identify the corridor which stretches from Kashmir to Kerala, Gujarat to West Bengal.

The objective of the movement is to connect all Sufi centres with a view to uniting people against terrorism and try and prevent attacks at places sacred to both Hindus and Muslims.

(...)

Following the bomb explosions at the dargah of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer Sharif on October 11, 2007, Maulana Jilani Ashraf, popularly known as Jilani Baba, made spiritual tours to different parts of the country to awaken and unite the Sufis.

The Ajmer blast was preceded by the bomb blast at Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad on May 11, which killed 11 people. In fact, 10 days before the Delhi Sufi conference, Uttar Pradesh was rocked by serial bomb blasts in Lucknow, Faizabad and Varanasi civil courts.

These blasts, once again, coincided with the Friday prayers and claimed 14 lives. Shaken by these incidents, Sufis decided to come out of their ‘hujras’ (meditation chambers or prayer cells) to play the role they have historically played in spreading the message of Islam and creating a composite culture in India.

The Sufis, led by Jilani Baba, set up the Khwaja Gharib Nawaz Council (now renamed as the Sufi Federation of India) to bring all Sufis on a single platform and draw a road-map to unite Hindus and Muslims against the dangers of terrorism.

Prominent Sufi leaders from all across the country are part of the initiative. The Sufis and their followers plan to set out on a spiritual voyage asking the people to be aware of their religious and civic duty in strengthening society to identify and condemn terrorist activities which are the handiwork of only a handful of misguided and mischievous elements and are totally against the spirit of Islam.

By October this year a chain of Sufi shrines would be created which would in turn create a ring of followers who would carry the message of peace and unity. These local-level rings would connect with each other to form a larger, nationwide chain the sole aim of which would be to promote peace and brotherhood among faiths.

The progress of the corridor would be reviewed and the future course of action would be worked out at a conference in Bangalore in October this year.

Sufis say this approach would work at two levels—it would help the government and its agencies counter terrorism and it would create awareness among the people about the larger threat posed by terrorist groups.

This concept of Sufi Corridor is also seen as the next step to the setting up of the Sufi University that was aimed at reviving the concept of mysticism.

(...)

The movement has been supported by key Hindu religious leaders.

“Sants follow the path of peace, love and nonviolence. So the campaign launched by Sufis against terrorism must be supported by all. It might help trace the roots of terrorism and destroy it forever. All the saints and sadhus of Ayodhya support this initiative,” says Acharya Satyendra Das, chief priest of Ram Janmabhoomi, Ayodhya.

However, Maulana Khalid Rasheed, president, Ulema Council of India and member, All India Muslim Personal Law Board, remains sceptical.

“Some Muslim leaders and scholars have started a wrong trend to claim that they are against terrorism. This creates suspicion that the community is feeling guilty. Terrorism has nothing to do with any religion” he said.

Despite the sceptics, any initiative against terrorism is to be welcomed, especially when it is undertaken by Muslims and, in particular Sufis, who ultimately have the right credentials to promote peace.

Renaissance Harpsichord and Sufi Music

By Jarrod Watt - ABC Regional Online - Ballarat, Australia
Friday, January 18, 2008

How fitting a music festival featuring the finest in classical and ancient music should come to Buninyong, the settlement which predated nearby Ballarat - although there were no organs to be heard on this day's program, the sensibilities of those keen for the music of ages previous were not to be disappointed.

In the morning, the sound of the harpsichord - as played by Ballarat-born musician Myfanwy McIndoe, who had only been notified the day before of having attained a licentiate from London's Trinity College.

(...)

In a bold move by festival organisers which brought kudos from all who got to hear, the invitation to the Melbourne-based Rona Ensemble to play classical Persian music - the music of the sufis - was a truly magical event.

Meditative and spiritual in the beginning, the near-hypnotic sounds of the kamancheh (the Persian precursor to the violin) combined with the melodic plucking of the tar, (the Persian precursor to the guitar and sitar) and the rhythmic beating of the daf drum to lock in powerful, surging rhythms upon which the vocalist soared.

The setting for the concert, the Buninyong Town Hall, is a tribute to the community of Buninyong who managed to hang on to their 1887-vintage building after their council was amalgamated into the City of Ballarat late in the 20th century.

Where once civic aldermen and the town's burghers gathered, now the entire community enjoys a well maintained concert hall and function centre for use in community events and gatherings.

Myths about Islam

By Asghar Ali Engineer - TAM The American Muslim - Bridgeton, MO, USA
Friday, January 18, 2008

There are several hostile myths around Islam thanks to Western media and to communal forces in India. The Western media by and large was never sympathetic to Islam but after 9/11 it became downright hostile and did not feel shy in spreading all sorts of myths about it. The Zionist factor can also not be discounted. In India the Sangh Parivar and particularly the RSS have gone an extra mile to defame Islam. Lastly, we should not ignore the role the Muslim extremists play in discrediting Islam through their own shameful role.

Generally people form their opinion about anything by reading newspaper headlines. And newspaper headlines tend to be sensational. The events of 9/11 provided newspapers one more opportunity to sensationalize news about Islamic militancy. Even social scientists and scholars studying Islam in Western world project Islam as religion of violence and fanaticism. Also, Islam is projected as anti-modernism, anti-science, anti-democracy and anti-women.

If not media people at least social scientists and scholars should be able to make a distinction between what a religion teaches and how social structures impact a believer’s behaviour. But most of the western scholars also do not make such distinctions and whatever happens in a Muslim society is blamed on Islam. A religion finds its own level in a given society. Thus one has to understand social structure as much as religious faith. A religion is not practiced in a vacuum, it is practiced in a concrete historical and social conditions. A religion may stand for most modern and democratic ideals, but same cannot be practiced in a backward feudal society.

If the Muslim countries do not have democracy and modern political institutions, it is not because of Islam but because these countries have feudal social structure. There is nothing in the Qur’an or Islamic teachings, which opposes democracy or democratic governance.

(...)

There are peaceful trends in Islam represented by Sufi Islam, which is followed by a great majority of Muslims. The very basic doctrine of Sufis Islam is sulh-I-kul i.e. total peace and peace with all. There is absolutely no place for violence and intolerance in the Sufi Islam. Peace, tolerance and respect for all faiths is very basic doctrines among the Sufis.

One of the Sufi schools believes in what is called wahdat al-wujud (i.e. Unity of Being) which implies all are manifestation of one being and so all distinctions of caste and creed become irrelevant. This is the most inclusive trend in Islam.

Ibn al-Arabi of Spain was founder of this doctrine. Love is very central to this school of Sufism. Most of the Muslims all over the world follow Sufi Islam and not Wahabi Islam which is purist and tends to be quite intolerant. Unfortunately the western media often cites example of Wahabi Islam of Saudi Arabia and show that Islam is intolerant.

In Saudi Arabia too reality is not static. It is changing and now changing fast. The Muslims, as well as the ruling family, is realizing the consequences of sectarian and intolerant approach and are bringing about changes and working for peace and attacking terrorism.

One should understand that Islamic world is no more static. It is changing and trying to adjust with new realities although its pace may not be satisfactory for some. People take time to adjust in matters of religion and tradition. Social change is very complex process and requires great deal of patience.

(...)

The word kafir has assumed very different internal dimensions too. Every sect of Islam considers the rival sect as being kafir. Thus one can say the Muslim theologians have declared more Muslims as Kafirs than non-Muslims. Thus there is great need to sensitize Muslim religious leadership itself in this matter. In fact the word kafir has been used by the Qur’an for those who actively opposed Islam when the Prophet (PBUH) was preaching. They were not only opposing but persecuting him and his followers. The whole concept of Kufr has to be related to that historical situation.

If we carefully study the general tenor of the Qur’an it should be left only to Allah to decide who is kafir and who is not. Secondly, even if there is consensus on someone’s being kafir, one must coexist harmoniously with him unless he adopts hostile and aggressive attitude towards Muslims. It is also important to note that in history of Islam there has not been general consensus among Muslims who is and who is not kafir. In view of all this it is best left to Allah to decide, as He alone knows the inner thoughts of human beings.

Thus it will be seen from above that there are so many myths about Islam and these myths are not grounded in reality. These myths must be critically examined before being accepted. One should not, as it often happens, quote the Qur’anic verses without understanding their historical context. It is, to say the least, being either unaware of methodology of understanding a scripture, or adopting a priori hostile view. Most of the scholars take a priori hostile view and help spread such myths about Islam.

Such myths create unnecessary hurdles in promoting peaceful co-existence, which is so vitally needed in modern world which is becoming more and more diverse and plural, thanks to the faster means of communication and economic migration which is taking place on ever increasing scale due to globalisation. There is great need to understand world religions more objectively and sincerely to promote world peace. There was time when religious rivalries were rampant. But now time has come to shed these rivalries and promote peaceful co-existence.

[Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer is a renowned Indian scholar and activist, recognized for his work in promoting communal harmony and peace in India.].

Annemarie and Rumi

NAT/GM - Press TV - Tehran, Iran

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Iran's cultural center in Berlin has released a CD-collection of Mowlavi's Masnavi, crooned by the late German Iranologist, Annemarie Schimmel.

Accompanied by traditional Persian music and gentle oriental melodies, Annemarie Schimmel's voice was recorded in the German city of Koln.

Annemarie Schimmel, (April 7, 1922 - January 26, 2003) was an eminent and highly influential German Iranologist and scholar. Her extensive works on Islam and Sufism have focused on the various ways in which the cultural heritage of eastern and western mysticism has come together.

Her efforts to provide the West with a deeper perspective on Iran's mystic classic literature are particularly significant.

An unparalleled specialist on Islamic mysticism, professor Schimmel published some 80 books, held five academic degrees, won twenty-six awards and lectured at a wide variety of prestigious universities, including Harvard, Bonn, London and Ankara.

She was fluent in ten languages, including Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Urdu and Dari.

Seventh Heaven

By Roshan Kumar Mogali - Pune Newsline - Pune, India

Friday, January 18, 2007

Since 2004, when he made his first film, Egyptian Director Saad Hendawy has made seven short films and six documentaries.

He is inspired by Sufism and after conducting a long research on the subject he decided to make a movie that tells not only the story of love, relationships and secrets, but also tells the story of Sufism itself.

“The movie scenario in Egypt,” he says “is fairly moderate with only 40 to 45 commercial movies being released each year”.

Hendawy shot his movie Seventh Heaven during the time of Ramadan in old Cairo. The movie is about the relationship between a lady and a male dancer.

His films are not really commercial, they in fact cater to human interest and feelings. They are about the needs that one feels obliged to fulfill, needs of the body and the soul. Perhaps that is why his pictures have a spiritual touch to them.

His mother who was a fan of Indian movies made him fall in love with the dance and music in them. Drawing similarities between Indian and Egyptian movies Saad says, “Both India and Egypt have a very old culture and the stories that the films of each country tells is not dissimilar.”

He got his degree in film direction from the Higher Institute of Cinema, Egypt. He is currently writing the script of his third movie.

31st CIFF (Cairo International Film Festival 2007) awarded a Special Mention to Seventh Heaven
"For its vivid portrayal of a life affirming spirituality"
http://www.cairofilmfest.org/Prizes/default.aspx

On Kurdish Nationalism

By Dr. Nouri Talabany and Howar Talabany* - Kurdish Aspect - Denver, CO, USA
Friday, January 19, 2008

An apercu general of Kurdish nationalism till the end of the First War World

The end of World War I was the signal for the effective beginning of the great upsurge of nationalism, which reached its fruition after 1945.

While Turkish and Arabic nationalisms were gaining a stronghold amongst the people, and establishing independent nation-states to determine their destiny, another minority within the Ottoman Empire was gradually and passionately emerging the awakening of the Kurds.

Kurdish nationalism faced many obstacles; the Kurds were initially distributed between the Ottoman and Qajar empires, later divided between the newly established nation-states of Iraq, Turkey, Iran and Syria.

The period of Kurdish nationalism provided a number of key figures who shaped the nation's history; Sheikh Ubayd Allah Nehri (1880) and later Sheikh Said Piran (1925) who were prominent religious leaders who led nationalist rebellions; Sheikh Mahmud Hafid, another religious figure established an autonomous region in the 1920s in southern Kurdistan; and finally the short-lived Republic of Mahabad which was established by Qazi Muhammad in 1946.

Background to Kurdish Religion
Religion plays a predominate role in Kurdish society. The majority of Kurds are Sunni Muslims, but there are a number of minorities, some rooting from Islam such as the Alevis and Ahl i Haqq, while others include Christians, Jews and the pagan Yezidis that stem from Zoroastrism.

It is believed that the majority of 'ancient' Kurds followed the Yezidi faith. However at the time of nationalist revival Sunni Islam had established itself amongst nearly two thirds of the population.

The Kurdish concept of Islam derives from Sufism and many are affiliated with a tariqat led by sheikhs who are the spiritual guides of their disciples. By the nineteenth century the fall of the secularized Kurdish emirates of Baban and Badr Khan ensured that religious sheikhs remained the only source of power in the Kurdistan.

Kurdish society was dominated by religious leaders, particularly the Qadiri and Naqashbandi orders, which only grew stronger with the demise of the Ottoman Empire. These orders have played an important social and political role in Kurdistan as they represent a pattern of social organisation independent of the tribes as well as the state.

It is no coincidence that the early Kurdish nationalist uprisings were led by sheikhs, and as were the only leaders capable of mobilizing a significant section of the population.

No national movement and no persisting ethnic identity can emerge without bedrock of shared meanings and ideals, which guide action and determine the direction of social change.

The national consciousness of the Kurdish people is no exception, and has developed its claim through a history rich with myths glorifying heroes and struggles that have come to result in the ethnic group now defined as 'Kurds'.

Many claim that their ethnic distinctiveness has been apparent for thousands of years, although the most renowned work, the Sharafnama by Sharaf Khan Biltisi, was written in 1597. The Sharafnama illustrates that the Kurds have identified their distinct differentiation from their neighbors, Persians, Arabs and Turks, despite being integrated in their empires.

(...)

End of the Ottoman Empire
The partition of the Ottoman Empire had vast consequences for the spread of nationalism amongst all the ethnic minorities, most particularly the Kurds.

This is apparent in the various revolts that took place in Turkey and former Mesopotamia, particularly after the Treaty of Sèvres collapsed and the subsequent Treaty of Lausanne, signed in 1923, destroyed all Kurdish aspirations for a unified, independent Kurdistan.

However, such a devastating blow to Kurdish nationalism only encouraged these ideas to spread amongst the people, creating more vibrant and determined movements to emerge.

Theorists on nationalism believe that if a national identity has survived into the new century, it cannot be pressured into relinquishing its desire for national autonomy.

This was indeed the case for the Kurds; however the partition of the empire resulted in Kurdistan being separated amongst four states, Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria, thus making a pan-Kurdish movement much more difficult to mobilize as it created inconstant political space.

Such a divisive factor, combined with increasing tribal and religious tensions, produced different national movements under uncoordinated leadership.

(...)

It was under the climax of exclusionary Turkish nationalism that a new secretive nationalist organisation was established in 1923 under the name of Azadi (Freedom).

This political organisation differentiated from the ones in Istanbul during the Young Turks, as it was not solely confined to urban notables but openly aimed to attract Kurdish religious leaders. Azadi was very much a nationalist movement and had the advantage of military men as the nucleus of its organisation.

However despite their nationalist fervour Azadi members were well aware that they did not as yet have the support of the Kurdish masses, and lacked the power and appeal necessary to enlist mass support.

They tactfully sought the religious sheikhs as the figurehead of the movement in order to gain mass support from the religiously minded people. These included Yusuf Zia Beg, Khalid Beg Jibran and Sheikh Said of Piran, a sheikh with great local influence.

Azadi made a considerable impact to the spread of Kurdish nationalism and actively supported tribal rebellions in Turkey. Such enthusiasm by the armed tribesmen enhanced the buoyancy of Azadi, despite the efforts of the Turkish state to suppress their activity.

With the abolition of the caliphate, Azadi under the leadership of Sheikh Said revolted in a large area of Turkish Kurdistan in February 1925.

The Sheikh Said rebellion was a hybrid of nationalist aspirations and a desire to restore religion, with the hope of creating an independent Kurdistan. There is a little evidence inciting the establishment of a theocratic state, although the leadership of the rebellion was headed primarily by religious sheikhs.

The Turkish authorities reacted to the rebellion in a brutal manner via a massive troop operation, which soon brought the revolt to an end with the hanging of Sheikh Said and the other prominent leaders. Despite this, the rebellion proved that Kurdish nationalism was now a strong mobilizing force although it technically remained a tribal affair.

Sheikh Said had disregarded the role of non-tribal peasants, as they were controlled by landowners unwilling to risk their position with the Turkish state. Moreover, the majority of the tribesmen viewed the peasants' combat skills as worthless: 'tribesmen are warriors and do not toil, non-tribal is thought unfit to fight'.

The rebellion also lacked open support from the Kurdish notables who did not want to 'jeopardize their position with tribal forces led by sheikhs [sic] or the unproven strengths of Kurdish nationalism'.

Nonetheless, it seems that support from other tribes, particularly the Alvais, would have been a far more beneficial factor in terms of warfare, rather than the support of the peasants and notables, as it was the tribesmen who traditionally knew how to fight battles.

While the Sheikh Said rebellion can be identified as the first large-scale nationalist rebellion, it effectively used religion to mobilize and spread nationalist propaganda. At a time when the only viable leadership came from sheikhs, religion could not be separated from nationalist movements.

The people only identified with local authority, and nationalism as a movement was not effective motivation to charge a rebellion: on the other hand, religion which was central and stimulated by primordial loyalties to the sheikhs, proved far more powerful.

However the primary aim of both Sheikh Said and the Azadi leaders was the establishment of an independent Kurdistan rather than the spread of a pan-Islamic movement. After the Sheikhs had given their approval, nationalist loyalties began to lead a life of their own without religious association. If the sheikhs had frowned on such a movement, it is doubtful whether the Azadi leaders would have had such an impact of the spread of Kurdish nationalism.

*Nouri Talabany, Professor of Law, Member of the Kurdish Academy, MKP ( Kurdistan Parliament).
Miss Howar Nouri Talabany, MB Political Sciences, University of London.
'Acque & Terre' Magazine, No 6, December, 2007, Italy.

Witnessing the Yearnings of the Mystics

DHNS - Deccan Herald - Bangalore, India
Thursday, January 17, 2008

Ruhaniyat, the All India Sufi and Mystic Music Festival, was started seven years ago.

The festival since then has evolved into one of the most prestigious and much-awaited festival for the connoisseurs across the country. It will be held on Sunday, January 20.

In India, like in many other countries, number seven has mystical significance and is associated with transcendence and spirituality. The number seven is very significant for Ruhaniyat also.

This year, being the seventh year, the concert will be held in seven cities making it the biggest All India Sufi and Mystic Music festival ever to be held in the country. The other six cities are Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune and Mumbai.

What makes Ruhaniyat such a sought after event is the fact that more than ever, the messages of Sufi saints and mystics seem to be relevant today, for they knew the secret of blissful existence amidst turmoil.

Naturally, their works abounding in wisdom and unconditional love not only act as a soothing balm but is also a timely reminder of the human capacity to evolve and give love.

A truly exotic line-up of mystics from remote villages to internationally acclaimed artists - Ruhaniyat surely is a not-to-be-missed event. A confluence of ecstatic performers, each a master of his or her own art, watching Ruhaniyat is like witnessing the yearnings of the mystics come alive.

The Festival will be held at the Bowring Institute of Bangalore, India
19, St Mark’s Road from 6.30 pm onwards.

A Great Sufi Poet of Balochi Language

Staff report - Daily Times - Lahore, Pakistan
Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Islamabad: The Pakistan Academy of Letters (PAL) on Tuesday named a literary award after sufi poet Mast Tawakali during a book launch ceremony.

Mast Tawakali Award has been set aside for the best book of the year in Balochi.

Mast Tawakali was a great sufi poet of Balochi language and his poetry was about the sufferings of the common man.

Addressing the ceremony, PAL Chairman Iftikhar Arif briefed the audience on the latest book in the series of Pakistan Adab Ke Memar. The book, titled ‘Mast Tawakali: Life and Works’ was authored by critic and researcher Dr Shah Muhammad Marri.

Arif said Tawakali’s poetry was as vast as that of other mystics in the Subcontinent.

“Mast Tawakali is popular in Balochishtan. Today he is the harbinger of optimism and an inspiration for positive thinking,” he said.

He said Tawakali had voiced for remedy for the oppressed and helpless women. He said Marri had done a great service to Balochi language and Pakistani culture writing the book on Tawakali.

“This book will certainly be helpful in introducing, comprehending and explaining Tawakali’s personality and art,” he said.

Arif said Marri’s book would be recommended as reference document in academies and research institutions. He said Tawakali had delivered a message of humanity, peace and love for the mankind.

[Picture: The Pakistan Academy of Letter. Visit at http://www.academy.gov.pk/index.php].

He Is Like the Dalai Lama

By Jill Rowbotham - The Australian - Sydney, Australia
Wednesday, January 16, 2007

A Catholic scholar of Islam, Father Paul Stenhouse, suggested ACU (Australian Catholic University's Melbourne) had been naive in establishing the new Fethullah Gülen chair in the study of Islam and Muslim-Catholic relations, named for a Turkish Sufi leader now living in the US.

In last month's edition of Quadrant, Father Stenhouse said Gülen was a disciple of another Sufi leader, Said Nursi, and alleged Nursi's goal was Islamic supremacy.

"Is one being over-cautious in recommending prudence on the part of Catholic and other Christian, Jewish and non-Islamic bodies generally, when they are invited to give moral support to, and to engage formally and publicly in dialogue with (Sufi) groups promoting the teachings of Said Nursi and his disciple Fethullah Gülen?" Father Stenhouse asked.

But another scholar of Islam, Monash University professor Greg Barton, who has also made a special study of Gülen, has dismissed Father Stenhouse's objections.

Dismissing the article as poorly written and "not particularly well-argued", Professor Barton said the Gülen movement was marked by the commitment of its members to work hard, live modestly and to serve others, which often meant donating money to worthy causes, such as education and interfaith initiatives.

"Father Stenhouse conflates this quiescent Sufism with some of the rare examples of Sufi militantism," Professor Barton said. "For the most part, Sufis are accommodationists rather than confrontational."

"(The Gülen movement) is the antithesis of Islamist movements."

Father Stenhouse used quotes from sermons by Gulen, including this one: "You must move in the arteries of the system, without anyone noticing your existence, until you reach all the power centres, until the conditions are ripe."

The launch of the chair was supported by Archbishop of Melbourne Denis Hart and attended by Victorian Governor David de Kretser.

The non-profit Australian Intercultural Society (AIS) has made the first donation of five instalments of $586,000 to fund the initiative. The first chairman is Turkish scholar Ismail Albayrak, from Sakarya University's divinity school.

According to AIS spokesman Orhan Cicek, about half the money came from the Australian Turkish community and the rest from overseas donations through AIS contacts.

AIS was established in 2000 by Australian Muslims devoted to interfaith work and to giving second and third-generation Australian Muslims a sound education in the faith.

Cicek said Gülen, who was granted a private audience with pope John Paul II at the Vatican in 1998, was an inspirational figure.

"In the Muslim world he is like the Dalai Lama or Nelson Mandela," Mr Cicek said.

[Read also: ACU National announces new Chair in the study of Islam at the ACU website http://tinyurl.com/2z2kmj].

Celebrating Baba Fareed

Staff Report - Daily Times - Lahore, Pakistan
Wednesday, January 15, 2008

Karachi: The annual congregation celebrating the birth of famous Sufi, Baba Fareed Shaker Gunj (RA), took place at Manghopir near the Garam Pani Ka Chashma also known as the ‘Chilla Gah’ on Tuesday.

The gathering was organized by Pir Wilayat Shah.

Highlighting the events of the day, Shah said that at 11 a.m. the Durood-o-Salam and Khatam-o-Shareef was recited by the followers.

At around 12:00 p.m. the ritual of Chadar was performed at the Mazaar. After the Zuhar Namaz, lungar was distributed among the followers and from 3:00 p.m. till the Maghrib prayers the Mehfl-e-Sama’a took place.

Local qawals recited in Urdu, Sindhi, Bravi, Punjabi and Siraiki at the mehfil.

[Picture: live feeding of Manghopir crocodiles -circa 1870s.
Photo: All Things Pakistan http://pakistaniat.com/,
pert 2 of "The Mysteries of Manghopir: "Shrines, Crocodiles and Sulphur Springs" http://tinyurl.com/2mf79s]

[Read also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manghopir].

The Place of Singing

[From the French language press]:

L’Ensemble Rabi’a, du nom de la célèbre sainte soufie du 8e siècle Râbi’a al-Adawiyya, est composé de femmes issues d’horizons culturels divers (France, Afrique de l’ouest, Maghreb, Andalousie).

Elles sont toutes disciples d’une voie soufie marocaine, très présente en France, la voie Qadiriya Boudchichiya.

El Kalam - Pau, France - dimanche 9 décembre 2007

The Rabi'a Ensemble, named after the famous Sufi saint of the 8th century Râbi'a al-Adawiyya, is composed of women from different cultural backgrounds (France, West Africa and the Maghreb, Andalusia).

They are all disciples of a Moroccan Sufi path with a strong presence in France, the tariqa Qadiriya Boudchichiya.

An interview with Marie-Hélène Dassa, on the work of this group and, more generally, about the place of singing in this spiritual path.

The Rabi'a Ensemble next concerts:
Concert and panel on Saturday, January 26, 2008 at the Institute of Islamic Culture, Paris, France.
Concert in Montpellier, France, on April 5, 2008 as part of the 1st Mediterranean Festival of the Cultures of Islam.
Concert and workshop in Fez, Morocco, on April 19, 2008 as part of the 2nd Festival of the Sufi Culture.

Visit the Rabi'a Ensemble web site (in French): http://www.ensemblerabia.net/


For more on Rabi'a (the Sufi Saint): http://www.uga.edu/islam/sufismearly.html#Rabi'a
For more on the Qadiri Sufi Order: http://www.uga.edu/islam/sufismorders.html#Qadiri

From Romance to Love

By Mazhar Farooqui - X press Dubai - Dubai, UAE

Sunday, January 13, 2008

The Al Joharah Ballroom at Madinat Jumeirah was possessed by the mystical magic of sufism on Wednesday evening as a leading Indian danseuse presented what was arguably one of the most enchanting concerts held in Dubai in recent times.

Fusing the dancing styles of the whirling dervishes of Turkey with the classical dance form of kathak, Manjari Chaturvedi transported the viewers to the spiritual heights of ecstasy with graceful body movements and eloquent facial expressions.

It was a performance that wasn’t seen or heard so much as it was experienced. And the jam-packed audience loved every bit of it.

They clapped in unison as the moving meditation charted the course of a woman’s journey spanning from the earthly romance of Hindi folk to the evolved Sufi imagery of love in Persian poetry.

Soul stirring music by Nurul Hasan was yet another highlight of the show. Hasan was among several qawwalls associated with the shrines of Sufi saints who were especially flown in from the northern Indian region of Avadh for the event.

Organised to mark the successful launch of NCC Harmony at Dubiotech Park, the concert was supported by Gulf News, Visa International, Hum FM and Air India.

Songs for Sad Women

By Alvin Darlanika Soedarjo - The Jakarta Post - Jakarta, Indonesia

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Today, there are only a few musicians that play the ancient instrument called oud, which is an Arabian fretless string instrument similar to the lute.

One of the best known performers of the instrument is Rabih Abou-Khalil, a Lebanese-born musician who fuses classical Arab music with jazz aesthetics.

As Ravi Shankar is to sitar, Rabih Abou-Khalil is to oud.

Abou-Khalil's music is gentle and absorbing. It contains an intricate tapestry of emotion.
Listening to his music, I can't help but link his sound to Sufism, whose nuances were gloriously explored by rock group Led Zeppelin in the 1970s.

I first stumbled upon the oud on an Alice Coltrane album, Journey In Satchidananda, which is a jazz record with a heavy infusion of eastern music. One of the songs on the album, Something About John Coltrane, showcases one of the most captivating oud performances in the history of jazz recording.

My appreciation for the oud grew after listening to Passion by Peter Gabriel. The soundtrack, which is culled from the movie The Last Temptation of Christ, features a performance by the late Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan with the backing of various ancient Middle Eastern instruments.

Abou-Khalil crafts his music to be as universal as possible.

His latest album, Songs For Sad Women (2007), contains seven instrumental tracks and last for about 55 minutes. All of the tunes, which he composed on his own, are titled in English, French and Portuguese.

The songs are Mourir Pour Ton Decollete, How Can We Dance If I Cannot Waltz, Best If You Dressed Less, The Sad Women Of Qana, Para O Teu Bumbum, Le Train Bleu and A Chocolate Love Affair.

All are deeply contemplative in nature despite their seemingly neutral titles.

The record consists of four musicians on four instruments. The album's guest artists are Gevorg Dabaghyan on duduk (an Armenian oboe), Michel Godard on serpent (a mysterious brass instrument from the Middle Ages) and Jarrod Cagwin on Middle Eastern drums.

Mourir Pour Ton Decollete kicks off the CD with the lone sound of a desert wind. It becomes increasingly tighter as the exalted rhythm of the percussion enters the scene.

In How Can We Dance If We Cannot Waltz, Abou-Khalil attempts to draw in his audience by revealing a tale solely with his oud, which produces scintillating tonality and timber. He builds up the tension and swings steadily toward the end.

Best If You Dressed Less is a relaxing track, the sporadic swirling sound of the cymbals and soft percussion drawing the listeners deeper into a vortex.

According to Enja, the German-based record company that has released more than half of his oeuvre, Rabih Abou-Khalil grew up in Beirut and moved to Munich, Germany, during the civil war in Lebanon in 1978.

The artist studied at the Beirut conservatory under oud virtuoso Georges Farah. After moving to Germany, he studied classical flute at the Academy of Music in Munich under Walther Theurer.

Besides performing in his country of origin, Abou-Khalil has toured many cities across Europe, such as Paris, Amsterdam and London. He also performed at the 15th Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, in 2006.

His other releases from Enja Records include Journey To The Centre of an Egg (2005), Morton's Foot (2003), Il Sospiro (2002), Tarab (1992) and Blue Camel (1992).

On Arabian Waltz (1995), with the Balanescu String Quartet, he successfully integrated the string quartet, which has been for centuries the trait of European classical music, with his own musical language.

A fan of Abou-Khalil wrote on an Internet site that several of his songs, despite their complexity, are suitable for belly dancing. It seems there is no limit of what Abou-Khalil can achieve with his music.

[Picture from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabih_Abou-Khalil

On You Tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHmnjJJ_5No].

Noah’s Pudding in Turkish Sufi Lodges

By Omer Colakoglu - Today's Zaman - Istanbul, Turkey
Saturday, January 12, 2008

Before Sept. 13, 1925, when all Sufi lodges, tekke or dergah in Turkish, were closed under a constitutional injunction, Sufi orders used to cook Noah’s pudding amid many beautiful ceremonies.

Each order would do it on a certain day of the month so all people, and particularly dervishes, could visit different tekkes and eat ashure, the Arabic name for Noah’s pudding, all through the month.

This is believed to be the meal Noah cooked when the ark safely landed. It was made with all the leftover bits and pieces in the ark.

In İstanbul, for instance, the Asitane (the head tekke of a Sufi order) of the Sufi orders, after the 10th of the month, would cook it on certain days in order that each could be visited by all.

The preparation of the ashure (Noah’s pudding) would take one day, and during the cooking phase, dervishes would sing special hymns commemorating the martyrdom of the Prophet’s grandson Hussain, as well as 72 other members of the Prophet’s family.

Also during the month of Muharram, remembrance ceremonies would not be accompanied with rhythm instruments in any of the Sufi order, but particularly in the Mevlevi Order, founded by Mevlana Muhammed Jelaluddin Rumi, there would be no whirling ceremonies until the month ended.

In lamentation of the martyred descendants of the Prophet, Muslims, all over the Ottoman lands, particularly those who had affiliations with Sufis, would not undertake long journeys unless obligatory.

What Muharram means today
Today, the month of Muharram unfortunately doesn’t mean much to a major part of the Muslims since most of them, particularly those living under secular regimes, do not use the lunar calendar and are therefore not even aware of the month’s arrival.

Most of those who are aware celebrate the month only by cooking Noah’s pudding and distributing it to neighbors, and still a much smaller portion of those who follow the Arabic months first welcome the month by, so to say, making a balance sheet of the past year, contemplating the good and bad deeds they have committed, and cherish the arrival of the new year by asking forgiveness for the sins committed.

They also, as a symbolic act, buy a pack of salt, sugar, flour and a bottle of oil, praying that the new year will bless the kitchens and bring prosperity.

Compared to only 100 years ago, we have lost very many beautiful customs and traditions in line with the pillars of the religion to time, and most importantly, to our ignorance.

Anyways, here is a short recipe for cooking Noah’s pudding.

Ashure recipe
Ingredients
225g/8 oz barley
55g/2 oz dried haricot beans
55g/2 oz dried lima beans
55g/2 oz dried chickpeas
1.2 liters/2 pints milk
570ml/1 pint water
55g/2 oz pudding rice
110g/4 oz dried apricots
110g/4 oz sultanas
55g/2 oz currants
1 lemon, zest only
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
450g/1 lb caster sugar
2 tbsp corn flour, mixed with 1 tbsp milk
125ml/4 fl oz rosewater
double cream, to serve
For the topping
55g/2 oz dried figs
55g/2 oz dried apricots
55g/2 oz walnuts
1 tbsp pine nuts
55g/2 oz pistachio nuts
1 tbsp currants

Method
1. Place the barley and the other dried pulses in a bowl and soak overnight in plenty of water.
2. Strain, and then simmer the barley and pulses in the milk and 570ml/1 pint of water until tender.
3. Add the rice, apricots, sultanas and currants and cook for 5 minutes, then add the lemon zest, cinnamon and allspice. Cook for another 10 minutes.
4. Slowly stir in the sugar, and then add the corn flour and milk mixture. The mixture will now start to thicken.
5. Pour in the rosewater and simmer for another 10 minutes until the rice is tender. Tip into a large serving bowl and leave to cool. Mix all the topping ingredients together.
6. Scatter the nutty fruity topping over the pudding and serve with double cream.

[Picture from: Rumi Forum - Story of Ashura http://www.rumiforum.org/server/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=55&Itemid=35].

Konya Targets 10 Mil Tourists in 2013

ANA/Turkish Daily News - Konya, Turkey
Friday, January 11, 2008

The central Anatolian city of Konya, one of Turkey's major tourist attractions, especially in terms of faith tourism, targets to host 10 million tourists in 2013.

Konya Mayor Tahir Akyürek said the city had made great progress in recent years, which was most evident in the field of tourism. “Tourists from international countries have begun to realize this wealth,” he said.

“The promotional activities conducted on the international level in particular during 2007 to mark the Year of Mevlana proved successful. We have organized around 100 sema performances (whirling dervishes) in 25 countries. The activities held by the Culture and Tourism Ministry also played a crucial role in promoting the city.”

Mevlana was a universal figure, whose reputation also contributes to the promotion of Konya, according to him.

“The number of visitors to the Mevlana Museum, itself, indicates an increase in recent years.

Konya will play an active role in promoting the cultural and historic heritages of the city. Konya can host 10 million visitors in 2013.

We have the potential and infrastructure. I believe that Konya will be one of Turkey's leading tourism destinations if the civilian airport and the high-speed train projects are activated,” Akyürek said.

[picture: Mevlana Türbesi ve cami (Rumi's mausoleum). Photo from: http://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konya].

Celebrating Sheikh Maoulainaine of Morocco

[From the French language press]:

Une conférence a été organisé, vendredi 4 janvier à Fès, en célébration du centenaire du cheikh Maoulainaine.

L’occasion de rappeler les différents aspects de la vie de ce grand soufi marocain.

Aujourd'hui Le Maroc, Maroc - mercredi 9 janvier 2008 - par Ibtissam Hmamssi

A conference was held Friday, January 4th, in Fez in celebration of the centennial of Sheikh Maoulainaine. The opportunity to remind the various aspects of the life of this great Moroccan Sufi.

A panel of Professors from several universities in the Kingdom, as well as several international researchers have enriched the sessions of the conference.

Among the themes that enriched the panel: "The woman's place in the zaouïa Mainiîa" and "Cultural and spiritual communication between the North East and the Moroccan Sahara."

In his speech, Mr. Mustapha El Ktiri, top delegate of the Veterans and Members of the Liberation Army, emphasized: "In addition to the role played by the great scholar for our national unity, Sheikh Maoulainaine was a great Sufi who attracted thousands of followers from all over the world through, first, his zaouïa in the city of Smara, and then through his multiple zaouïas and schools in Morocco, "

[Zaouïa: Sufi center. For a list of Islamic terms in Arabic and French see Wikipedia, "Vocabulaire de l'Islam: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocabulaire_de_l%27islam].

‘Mindshare’

By B. V. Prathyusha - Deccan Herald - Bangalore, India
Thursday, January 10, 2008

A quiet group of people sit in a circle waiting for the session to begin.

The wooden floors and wall-to-wall shelves filled with books seem to add to the calm that one could sense in the room.

Definitely the right setting for a meeting of the philosophy group ‘Mindshare’ that meets every month at Easylib, a library in Koramangala.

The group has its regulars but is basically open to anyone, so there are new people in every session. A topic and a moderator are chosen by the group for the coming month’s discussion. Initially, moderated by Geeta Ramanujam of Kathalaya, the group is now self-sufficient and one of the members volunteers to be the moderator.

An interesting aspect of the group is that they are not a reading group or a book club in the true sense.

Says Vani Mahesh, proprietor, Easy Library, “People these days don’t have time to read half a dozen books on the subject and come prepared for a book club meeting. So instead, we have a moderator who will research the topic and bring books to the meeting.

(...)

The group has covered subjects like the Upanishads, philosophy of Osho, J. Krishnamurthy, Tibetan book of the dead, Western philosophers, and much more. This month’s discussion was a comparison of Buddhism and Hinduism - the differences and similarities.

They read from books like ‘Buddhism and Christianity in light of Hinduism’, ‘Sarvadarsanasangraha of Madhavacharya’, ‘Basic ways of knowing’ and various others and then went on to discuss these theories of knowledge and the differences in both the philosophies.

(...)

The group meets every month at Easy Library in Koramangala. The next month’s session is on Sufism in the first week of February. For exact details, visit www.easylib.com

After Every Karbala

By Rupa Abdi - Two Circles - FL, USA
Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Black was the colour of pathos, and I was submerged in it. Women dressed in black sarees and salwar kameez were beating their chests to the chant of ‘Ya Hussain’.

The chorus rose to a fevered pitch followed by a sudden silence. In that momentary silence was crystallized generations of mourning.

The place – a Shia Muslim neighbourhood in Lucknow; the time – the tenth of Moharrum. If grief has different shades, on can see it during Moharrum.

While the rest of the world greets its ‘New Year’ with celebrations, the Muslims, especially Shia Muslims, begin Moharrum, the first month of the Islamic calendar of Hijri, with mourning to commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Hussain – son of Hazrat Ali and grandson of Prophet Mohammad (pbuh).

Over 1300 years ago, in the desert of Karbala, in present day Iraq, Imam Hussain and his small band of relatives and supporters sacrificed their lives for Islam.

From the first to tenth of Moharrum, and sometimes for a longer periods, majlis (the Mulsim counterpart of Satsang) are held day and night in Muslim neighborhoods and Imambaras where zakirs and zakiras give sermons which climax with the heart wrenching tale of Karbala.

History has seen numerous massacres of innocent people, but the tragedy of Karbala is one of the few where men, women and children voluntarily allowed themselves to be subjected to hunger, thirst, humiliation and death on the burning sands of Karbala because they believed that Imam Hussain stood for righteousness.

Little wonder that for over 1200 years Muslims, have been nurturing the tale of Karbala in their hearts like an open wound, lest they should forget the supreme sacrifice of Imam Hussain and his followers.

Great spiritual leaders are known to make great sacrifices, but at Karbala, common men and women with infants at their bosom, their hearts and souls aflame with righteousness, chose death rather than evil and weakness.

Such was the greatness of Imam Hussain, such was his spiritual power, which could uplift common mortals to heights of supreme courage and sacrifice.

However Karbala is not an exclusive Shia event, neither do majority of Sunnis consider it as a point of contention between themselves and the Shias.

Imam Hussein is widely revered by all Muslim communities without any exception, even many Hindus in India mourn the tragic death of Imam Hussein and his 72 relatives and supporters who were brutally killed in Karbala.

Majority of Sunni scholars are unanimous in their condemnation of Yazid including Maulana Ishaq (a Sunni scholar), Shaikh Ahmad Deedat (a Sunni scholar from South Africa), Dr. Shahid Athar (a professor and Sunni writer on Islam), and Dr. Tahir-ul-Qadri (Pakistani writer and religious scholar) among others.

Sheikh Faysal Mawlawi, deputy chairman of the European Council for Fatwa and Research, issued the following statement in the year 2004:

“The revolution that Imam Al-Hussein made was not a rebellion against a legal ruler; it was a revolution against a tyrant dictator, Yazid Ibn Mu`awiyah, who deprived the Ummah of its right to choose its rulers [by succeeding his father to the caliphate].

Besides, he was notorious for being corrupt and dissolute. The majority of the Sunni scholars and others agreed to that, and Ibn Hajar mentioned so in his book As-Sawa`iq Al-Muhriqah.”

The tragedy of Karbala took place in 680 AD on the banks of the Euphrates in Iraq but Karbala has a universal appeal and in today’s climate of violence, it is more relevant than ever.

The tragedy of Karbala and its spirit of non-violent resistance and supreme sacrifice has been a source of inspiration to the likes of Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Nehru.

The former’s first Salt Satyagrah was inspired by Imam Hussain’s non violent resistance to the tyranny of Yazid. Gandhi is said to have studied the history of Islam and Imam Hussain, and was of the opinion that Islam represented not the legacy of a sword but of sacrifices of saints like Imam Hussain.

Nehru considered Karbala to represent humanities strength and determination.

According to the great poet Rabindranath Tagore, Hussain’s sacrifice indicates spiritual liberation. Munshi Premchand, one of India’s greatest Hindi/Urdu writers, a visionary and reformer, eulogized the tragedy of Karbala in his famous play ‘Karbala’.

Premchand’s Karbala was published both in Hindi and Urdu in the 1920s. This was the time when Hindu-Muslim relations were strained and the battle between Hindi and Urdu was raging. Premchand’s Karbala was aimed at both the Hindu and Muslim audience.

This play was not just Premchand’s tribute to the martyrs of Karbala but also an attempt at reconciliation of declining Hindu-Muslim relations. In his introduction, Premchand drew parallels between Karbala and Mahabharat and Ramayan.

Karbala drew the attention of quiet a few Western writers and Charles Dickens is believed to have said that, ‘if Hussain fought to quench his worldly desires, then I do not understand why his sisters, wives and children accompanied him. It stands to reason therefore that he sacrificed purely for Islam.’

According to Dr. K. Sheldrake, ‘"Husain marched with his little company not to glory, not to power or wealth, but to a supreme sacrifice and every member of that gallant band, male and female, knew that the foes were implacable, were not only ready to fight but to kill.

Denied even water for the children, they remained parched under a burning sun, amid scorching sands yet no one faltered for a moment and bravely faced the greatest odds without flinching.’

Karbala symbolizes the true face of Jihad – non-violent resistance. Not taking life but sacrificing your life for Islam. In the words of famous Urdu poets:

“Insaan ko bedaar to ho lene do,
har qaum pukaraygi hamare hain Hussain”
---- Josh Malihabadi
(Let humanity awakens and every tribe will claim Hussain as their own.)

Qatl-e-Hussain asl main marg-e-Yazid hai,
Islam zindaa hota hai har Karbala ke baad”
---- Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar
(In the murder of Hussain, lies the death of Yazid, for Islam resurrects after every Karbala).