Powerful Words And Music

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

Friday, October 23, 2009

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Music Will Help

By Gibran Ashraf, *‘Music is not just entertainment’* - The News International - Pakistan
Saturday, October 24, 2009

Karachi: How does one project a feeling? This would be an empirical question to beset any writer, musician and even an illustrator.

The feeling of Sufism, thus says German Writer/Composer/Musician Peter Pannke, must be experienced first-hand to know how the change comes from within to create an embellishment on the outside.

Peter Pannke, who has travelled the world in search of ‘music of the soul’, first came to Pakistan in the 1970s. His association with eastern, oriental music though is more than just skin-deep. He was schooled in the Dhrupad Style with the Mallik Gharana, and later with the Dagar Gharana for his Dhrupad music education. A man of multiple talents, Pannke paid his respects to his masters by not only utilising the teachings of singing and music in his own compositions which have today formed a bridge between the west and the east, but by also authoring books about these musicians of the east.

“Music is not just entertainment, but a connection” says Pannke. The beginnings of this connection date back to the 11th Century with a group of people, the Troubadours, who could be termed the western equivalent of Sufis. They used music as mode of connection between the people. However, the Church did not approve of this and promptly had them removed. Today, while their music remains unknown, their legacy in the form of a few portraits remains and it is this legacy that Pannke believes he now has to follow.

The word ‘Troubadours’, says Pannke, comes from the Arab word of Tarab which means ecstasy from listening to poetry.

“The Qawwali of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan made people think, sit up, and notice a facet of Pakistan, and made them think differently” he says of the connecting power wielded by music. “In Germany, when the politicians tried to keep the people separated, manipulating figures and putting up a wall, a singer from East Germany came to West Germany and reached out to the people through music, and started a dialogue between people” Pannke quotes as an example.

Having played with local Sufi celebrities like Pappu Saien, Pannke has also used the medium of film in an attempt to capture the essence of Sufiism.

“I have seen many films made on Sufiism, mostly because many German filmmakers come to me to ask me about the place and the people, but they cannot capture the feeling that is present in a Faqir since he is made from the inside out. For a film, scenes of people gathering, dancing, playing music is much more attractive, this, however, is but a small part of a Malang’s, or a Faqir’s life” he concludes.

The use of music as a communication bridge is slowly being recognised in Germany. A large minority of Turkish immigrants settling in Germany over the recent years has given small closed societies within a larger German society. Sufi traditions being strong in Turkey, the music has helped shape the way people think of the German Turks.

“The new generation is coming up with fusion music which helps people interact with the Turkish part of Germany”.

A celebrated musician and a sort of go-to-guy for Pakistan and Sufiism, Peter Pannke was tasked with orchestrating for a Sufi music festival in Berlin to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Pakistan. In the festival, he met a photographer and together they decided to do a book on the Sufis in Pakistan. Pannke wrote for the book and it was published in German. While promises were made to bring it to Pakistan, it was not till 2009 that the plan materialised.

Currently it is being translated into English and simultaneously, some 32 photographs from the book will be on display at the Goethe-Institut for a month.

Given the recent worsening of the law and order situation of Pakistan, Pannke admitted that it would be difficult to present an alternate picture of Pakistan with all the media channels asphyxiated on the terror condition prevalent in the country.

He, however, remains hopeful that the music will help people think of the beautiful shrines, the music, and the landscape.

[Pictures from: Amazon Germany]

Troubadours Of Allah

By QAM, *Rhythm of the saints* - Dawn.com - Pakistan
Friday, October 23, 2009

Karachi: Using music as a devotional vehicle is common to many Sufi orders throughout the Muslim world.

The rich Sufi heritage of Sindh in particular reflects this sublime relationship between mystical verse and musical instruments quite well. Hence it is understandable why German photographer Horst A. Friedrichs chose the Sufi musicians of Sindh as the subject of his book Troubadours of Allah.

An exhibition of photographs from the book was inaugurated at the Goethe-Institut here on Thursday. Musician and writer Peter Pannke, who wrote the text of the book, spoke at the opening of the exhibition, which is being supported by the German Consulate in Karachi. The exhibition is part of a series of events focusing on Sufism including a Sufi concert and a seminar on mysticism.

Mr Pannke said the idea for the book, published 10 years ago, came about when he was asked to organise a festival to celebrate Pakistan’s golden jubilee in Berlin. Various Pakistani musicians performed at the event and Mr Friedrichs discussed the idea with Peter Pannke – who had visited Pakistan before – after the artistes made a strong impression on him. ‘I wanted to bring the pictures to Pakistan as a token of thanks,’ he said.

Concerning the title of the book and exhibition, Mr Pannke said a decade ago, the term Sufism was not as ‘fashionable’ in the West as it is today. ‘The word troubadour was chosen as a bridge between cultures. The Troubadours were actually inspired by [the music of] Moorish Spain and North Africa. They were the closest thing [Europe] had to Sufis. But it was considered a heretical movement by the Church. While the troubadours [are extinct], Sufis live on’.

An English version of Troubadours of Allah is due to be published in early 2010.

As for the photographs themselves, though they might come across as exotica to the western eye, to anyone acquainted with local Sufi culture these are common sights. Most of the photographs have been taken in Bhit Shah, at the shrine of Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai and in Sehwan, at and around the dargah of Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalandar.

It is a familiar landscape of malangs, mystics and hangers-on, one that is the same pretty much across Sufi shrines in the subcontinent.

In one image a fakir plays a surando while in another a jogi of Umerkot charms a menacing looking cobra with his murli. Showing a glimpse of all shades of Sufi music in Sindh, a memorable shot shows the late Karachi-based Bahauddin Qawwal in full flight, garlanded and dressed in a resplendent sherwani, surrounded by his sons.

As we move on, a malang – along with other devotees – performs wuzu or the ritual ablution in Bhit Shah. In one shot a devotee is deeply absorbed in prayer inside a chilla khana or meditation room. A series of shots show a woman being exorcised by a pir playing a musical instrument, while others show devotees exorcising the much more mundane demons of boredom and hopelessness by letting loose in a dhammal.

The picture of Mai Sabhagi, a singer, reminds one of the brightly coloured dresses Thari and Rajasthani women wear, while in another shot two men take a break from the rigours of the mystical path by having a cup of tea. A picture from Sehwan shows devotees marching towards the shrine as part of the henna ceremony on the morning of the Qalandar’s Urs.

But perhaps the most striking shot of all is the one of a bejewelled hand resting on a page from Shah Jo Risalo. The pages of the Risalo appear yellowed by time, in contrast to the magnificent calligraphy, with graceful strokes and bold diacritical marks.

One definite plus point of the exhibition are the detailed captions that accompany the photographs, which help put the images in perspective.

Troubadours of Allah will run till Nov 20. The exhibition will remain closed on Saturdays and Sundays.

Three Possible Approaches

By Jean-Marc Mojon, *Back local Somali structures to curb piracy: report* - Agence France-Presse - Paris, France
Thursday, October 22, 2009

Attempts to curb Somali piracy by deploying warships or resuscitating the central government are doomed, and efforts should focus on buttressing local players in pirate hubs, according to a new report.

The 71-page report entitled "Piracy in the Greater Gulf of Aden: Myths, Misconception and Remedies" argued that helping structures with local legitimacy -- such as the Puntland authorities and the Sufi militia Ahlu Sunna wal Jamaa -- could prove more viable.

The report published by the Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research (NBIR), seen by AFP on Thursday, argued that the "containment" approach of naval patrols is costly and has shown mixed results.

"The international naval presence is simply too small to cover the whole area" affected by piracy, the report said.

The hijackings of the two-week-old inter-monsoon season during which pirates are most active has revealed a trend whereby the sea-bandits seek their prey ever further east in the ocean, away from the heavily-patrolled Gulf of Aden.

The report noted that the international naval coalition "lacked any mechanism to address the onshore causes of piracy" and offered Somali opinion no local ownership of the anti-piracy drive.

The NBIR paper cited the European Union's decision to give the leadership of its Atalanta force to Spain for four months earlier this year as a faux-pas that had fostered public resentment.
"It is widely known that Spanish trawlers fish illegally in Somali waters, and the move was highly unpopular among Somalis," it said.

The report also argued that the cost of naval action was not sustainable, and that piracy would likely re-appear should a decline in attacks eventually lead to a withdrawal of foreign warships.
The author, Somalia expert Stig Jarle Hansen, pointed out that the cost of one Norwegian frigate deployed for six months -- around 30 million dollars -- would pay salaries to 100,000 Puntland police officers over the same period.

NBIR's Hansen is also critical of a strategy centred around the western-backed Transitional Federal Government (TFG) which controls none of the areas home to pirate lairs and is often unable to pay its forces. "Piracy cannot be handled in areas in which piracy does not exist," he said.

The report argued that "pirates are a product of the lack/decline of local institutions rather than the lack of a state."

Hansen argued that in the two main regions affected by piracy -- the northern breakaway state of Puntland and the state of Mudug, further south -- there were partners with whom to develop anti-piracy strategies.

In Puntland, despite alleged complicity with the pirates, the authorities are feared and the region has recently been free of large-scale conflict.

Outside Puntland, in the Mudug region, Hansen suggested that the Ahlu Sunna wal Jamaa faction -- whose main interests are not currently along the coast -- needed to be "persuaded and rewarded for expanding into piracy areas".

The group recently took up arms to defend its Sufi brand of Islam against the hardline Wahhabi doctrine advocated by insurgent organisations such as the Al Qaeda-inspired Shebab and is believed to enjoy wide popularity.

The report suggested three possible approaches that could be adapted to local realities: paying and training existing forces to fight piracy, setting up a separate entity with considerable autonomy, resorting to a private company on-shore instead of off-shore.

Picture: The report argues "pirates are a product of the lack/decline of local institutions rather than the lack of a state". Photo: AFP

A Centre Of Sufism

By PTI Staff Writer, *Maestros enthral music lovers on banks of Dal lake* - Press Trust Of India - India
Monday, October 19, 2009

Srinagar: Presenting an unique confluence of cultures of two ancient civilisations, maestros of India and Iran enthralled music lovers on banks of Dal lake this evening.

Organised by Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages in collaboration with Indian Council for Cultural Relations, union ministry of External Affairs and Jammu and Kashmir Tourism and Rumi Foundation, the programme Jahan-e-Khusru was conceived by filmmaker Muzaffar Ali.

Union minister for New and Renewable energy Farooq Abdullah, president ICCR and senior congress leader Karan Singh were among the dignitaries present on the occasion.

Speaking on the occasion, Karan Singh said that Kashmir had remained a centre of Sufism with the tradition still alive here and added that the programme was designed to correlate the Sufi tradition of Kashmir-Iran and Awadh.

[Picture: Sunset On Dal Lake]

Sufism Is Dominant

By AFP Staff Reporter, *Somalia's Shebab destroy grave of Sufi cleric* - Agence France-Presse - Paris, France
Monday, October 19, 2009

Mogadishu: Somalia's Al Qaeda-inspired Shebab group on Monday destroyed the grave of a prominent Sufi cleric in the central town of Galhareri, firing in the air to disperse an angry crowd, witnesses said.

A group of heavily-armed Shebab fighters raided the graveyard where Sheikh Ali Ibar, a respected Sufi cleric who died before the 1991 collapse of the central government, was buried and smashed his mausoleum with sledgehammers.

"Using sledgehammers and hoes, the Shebab militiamen destroyed the grave of Sheikh Ali. We tried to stop them, in vain. They fired shots in the air to disperse the crowd," local elder Moalim Abdullahi Alim told AFP by phone.

"They destroyed everything of the little mausoleum and also ordered some Sufi scholars from the nearby mosque to leave," said Abdi Mukhtar, a resident who witnessed the scene.

The Shebab, who have controlled much of central and southern Somalia since the middle of last year, have already desecrated several holy Sufi sites.

"The purpose for destroying those graves is to prevent people from overstepping the red line in their respect for the dead, which risks becoming actual worship of the dead," said Sheikh Ibrahim Hassan, a local Shebab leader.

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

It emphasises the mystical dimension of Islam and includes practices considered as idolatry and innovations in the conservative Wahhabi sect adopted by the Shebab, which recently declared its allegiance to Al Qaeda.

From Your Heart

By Victoria, *“Never imagined becoming a comedian”* - Indymedia.be - Belgium

Monday, October 19, 2009

Famously known through the hilarious "Allah made me funny" tour and DVD, we had the pleasure to interview Mr. Azhar Usman, a former lawyer who became a Muslim comedian.

When did you make the switch from Law to comedy and why?
Well, the technical answer is, I quit my legal practice in 2004. Then I formally resigned as a lawyer. Prior to that I was doing comedy, early part of 2001. So now this coming year it will be 9 years. The answer as to “why”. It’s very cliché. When people ask “How did you choose comedy”. I don’t feel like I chose comedy, but I feel like ‘Comedy chose me’.

I never thought I would be a comedian, I never imagined nor planned it, I just always wanted to try it. I was always fascinated by comedians, since I was a little kid. I used to watch black and latino comedians, and they would always talk about their communities, always in a honest way. Obviously in a very funny way. “Wouldn’t it be great if there was a comedian, who was Indian, Muslim or Arab, and somehow that I felt that he represented me”, but it never happened. My whole life I kept wishing, hoping and wondering and it never happened. So by the time I was an adult, I started having this idea: “why don’t I do it?” And I had a friend when I was in Law (University of Minnesota) in 1996, and he was an amateur comedian. He used to go to the comedy club and do an open mic. I used to go and watch him. I started to get really inspired and wanted to try it. I was still very intimidated; it took me years to work up the courage. Actually I’m just a nerd, I went to the bookstore to buy a book on ‘How to do Comedy’, the comedy bible. (laughs)

So you know the techniques on how to do it?
Yes, well it was written in the ‘80s, very outdated kind of style…

Maybe you could re-write the book ?
(laughs) Yeah, I don’t think I could re-write the book, but there are other books since then. I just walked into the big bookstore (Barnes & Noble), I went to the art section and found a book on Stand-up comedy.

And did it help, all this advice, the tips & tricks about comedy?
Yes, it did help. Although some of the techniques are outdated, it definitely gave a process on how to come up with an act, how to write material. The hardest part of Stand-up for me and a lot of the comedians is writing materials, coming up with ideas.

How long does it take you to write a 30-minute show?
Oh, it takes a long time, because the process for most comedians is kind of like a ‘funnel’. You start with a large volume of ideas, concepts, one-liners and jokes. And then not everything’s going to be funny, and not everything is going to work on stage. So you have to discard some of that, and you kind of slowly keep cutting it down, cutting it down, until you get a small nugget, which is polished and which is funny and you can do it on stage. It’s always going to be funny, it becomes your A-material, as we call it. That takes a long time. Jerry Seinfeld, who is one of my favourite comedians - he’s very well-known because of his TV-show - released only one comedy album in his entire career. That was at the end of 27 years of doing Stand-Up. He released this one-hour comedy album and the title was “I’m telling you for the last time”.

The reason he called this “I’m telling you for the last time” was based on a live-show he did, compiling all his best material from his career, and then he said, “I’m going to retire these jokes, I’m never doing them again.” The point is that it took him 20 some years to develop one hour of polished Stand-Up material. So if you want to be at that level with people watching… He said that the interesting paradox of Stand-Up is that the Comedian makes it look totally effortless, so when you see Seinfeld for an hour, you think “He’s making this stuff out the top of his head”. But he said that is the illusion of Stand-Up, because the more effortless the Comedian makes it look, the more effort he’s putting into it. He’s very well-known among other comedians, he’s an extremely disciplined worker, everyday he goes to his office, he writes new material. Everyday he forces himself to go, even if he doesn’t produce anything that day, he goes to the office and sits down and writes.

Do you only write by yourself, or do you also receive input from someone else? Or some people that tell you a good joke and ask you to make something out of it on Stand-Up?
Well, everybody has a different writing process. Generally Stand-ups tend to be very solo performers, in writing their material, they tend in working alone, but of course when they get big, they hire writers. That’s the thing about Seinfeld, when he got his TV-show and several episodes of the Seinfeld sitcom, a lot of that is written by writers. But when you see “Saturday night live”, with Jay Leno and David Letterman and Conan O’Brien, they have a team of writers. To produce quality Stand-Up, quality comedy in a short periode of time you have to have a lot of people around you.

What would you advise young people, like here in Belgium, with some ambitions to become a comedian?
There’s only one way to learn Stand-Up Comedy: you got to do it! You have to get on stage and you got to do it. And you can’t be discouraged because people don’t laugh. Even if you’ve been doing this for a while, like here the first night out in Brussels, I did a private gig at a guy’s house, like a private affair, and it was a tough crowd. I got some laughs, but it was a pretty rough audience, so every once in a while you are reminded…and then the funny part was the very next day, which was yesterday, I went to do a small show at a high school, and it was the complete opposite. They were going crazy, like I walked in the room, it was like the Beatles walked in the ‘60s.

So you got to take the good with the bad and you have to understand that when you are a young comic, you are very hungry to get laughs, very hungry to be funny, and that’s fine, but after a while you begin to realise that getting laughs is just a part of the equation. You want to be honest, you want to be authentic, you want to talk about what you really care about. They call this “finding your comedic voice, finding your unique comedic perspective”. Richard Pryor, Stand-Up comedian from the 50s and 60s, famously remarked one time: “It takes about 15 years to find you comedic voice”. You know you’ve found it, when you can write material and nobody else can do it, because it is so embodied in your perspective, in your persona.

And it’s coming from your identity?
Yes, it’s coming from your heart actually.

So you still have five years to go then?
Yes, exactly, 5 to 6 years to go. And I really believe that. I feel that I do grow and evolve. Like Seinfeld, he pratices Zen Buddhism, he’s very Zen-type of person and meditates a lot. He gave a philosophical answer once when someone asked him to define Stand-Up comedy and he said: “Stand-Up is an exploration into the Self”. I really believe that because when you’re on stage, the deeper you go inside yourself to share things from your heart, the more you connect with an audience. To me it’s very spiritual, because as a Muslim, I define Sufism, “mutasawaf” as the ‘Science of the Self’. It is the Science of knowing who yourself. The idea is “He who knows himself, knows God. So I find that when I really do make my comedy personal, it tends to be a spiritual experience for me, which people might find that crazy, because it is just telling jokes. I’ve met comedians now that inspired me so much that I can see why they have a very special connection with an audience and it has everything to do with what is happening inside their heart.

People feel that you are honest
Yes, exactly. It is Art. I would almost give you an analogy. We have all listened to beautiful music that inspires us. You might go and listen to a singer, and you cry, you’re so moved, and you don’t know why. Where is this energy coming from? But, it is the spirit of that person, it is the heart. We believe that the heart is both a receiver and a transmitter, and so if you are on stage and you are connecting with an audience and telling jokes and they are laughing. That is what’s happening on the outside, but it could be that what’s happening on the inside is something much more profound.

It’s interesting what you just told us earlier, that you had 2 different responses from audiences here in Brussels. Do you sometimes adapt your script if you know the audience is not familiar with a certain topic?
If I have material that requires some foreknowledge that the audience doesn’t has, it takes too much time to explain a joke and takes away a lot of the punch line. Definitely I try to keep my material accessible and relatable. The surprise to me is with how much of my act I can tour all over the world. I’ve been very blessed, I’ve told jokes now in 23 countries, all across the world, in 5 different continents, very diverse types of people, and the same jokes work everywhere. It’s amazing.

Sometimes people may laugh for different reasons and that is also interesting as well. Just the comedian has intentionality, the audience has intentionality. And I’ll come back to what Seinfeld said: “People will often talk about Stand-Up as a monologue, it is not entirely accurate, Stand-up is a dialogue. The role of the comic is to tell jokes, the role of the audience is to laugh or to respond.” And then he said an interesting thing: “Laughter contains thought”, that’s why we all laugh differently and we laugh at different jokes. Sometimes we laugh from the stomach and it is a very viscerious reaction, sometimes it’s very thoughtful laughter, sometimes we just giggle, sometimes we laugh and we don’t really get the joke, we don’t even know why we’re laughing but it’s contagious. So laughter contains thought. And I found that the same piece of material can listen very different reactions and laughter at different times, in different ways, for different reasons. That to me it proves it is art, because like all art, it is receptible to numerous interpretations.

Do you enjoy being called “American funniest muslim”?
No, of course not. This is way too much pressure, way too much hype. I can’t live up to the hype. There is actually a beautiful prayer, that I was taught, which is attributed to the early khaliph of Islam, Omar (ra), he was the second khaliph after Abu Bakr. He was a very close companion of the Prophet Mohamed, very towering personality within Islam. So when he became the leader of the Muslims, he faced this dilemma, which a lot of Muslim leaders and people in power face. Inwardly you want to remain humble, modest and sincere, but outwardly you have to be a leader or a politician, so he had this beautiful prayer he used to say: “Oh my Lord, make me small in my own eyes and big in the eyes of people.” So in other words, “exalt-me so people think that I’m something special, so that they will follow me, they will listen to me, but never let me be deluded by that, keep me humble in my own eyes.”

Is being humble an exercise which you are working on?
Yes, it is a never ending process, of course. They say: “He who humbles himself before God, God raises him up. That has always been the case. People who we all love, who inspire us, great people, they are always very humble, very modest. Nobody likes arrogance.

What would you say to European stand-up comedians, as they are becoming popular and succesful? What can they change or how can they improve themselves? Same for the audience, what can they learn about laughter?
First of all, I don’t think we should take comedy too seriously, although there is a serious side to it. This reminds me of a great quote by Sir Peter Ustinov, British humorist, an amazing person, who said: “Comedy is just a funny way of being serious.” Good comedy always makes you laugh but also think. There is a message, but my advice to comedians who are coming up, who are connected to the Muslim community: they shouldn’t take their work too seriously. Do not forget that you are a comedian and you tell jokes. Dick Gregory was a great inspiration to me, one of the first black comedians ever, and I had the chance to interview him a few years ago.

I asked him for some advice: “You are a civil rights leader and comedian. I’m a muslim, I’m an American-Indian, do you have any advice?” He said a couple of interesting things. The first thing he said was: “When you are on stage, you’re a Comedian; when you’re off stage that’s where real life happens. No entertainer has ever changed the world, so if you are an activist and you are for real change, that happens through struggle that happens through hard work, organic real work.” So comedians, actors, singers and musicians shouldn’t pretend they can change the world. If Bono is respected around the world, it’s more than for his songs, that’s because he does other things off stage. They use their celebrity, but they do real stuff.

“The second thing is, if you want to get on stage to talk about these kind of issues, social justice, what is going on in the world”, he said, “I have one single rule for you: “Get on stage every night and tell the truth”. When he said that, it hit me like a lightning bolt, because he said it with such sincerity. What he meant I think is “don’t get too caught up in the glamour”, there is a certain appeal in show business. And beyond that, young comedians get really hung up on laughs, “I gotta to get a certain volumes of laughs”. If you’re a club comedian, like stand-up comedy clubs in the ’80 and the ’90, they had like a requirement, you had to have a certain number of laughs per minute, like 3 laughs per minute. That was a rule. You got really hung up on the laughter. That’s fine, it is part of becoming a good comedian, to be funny, but the message that he told me was ‘what matters most is to tell the truth’.

Can Comedy improve tolerance?
I hope so, I think so, There are a lot of examples that it has, given the American experience that I know about, Black American comics, Jewish comics, Latino Comics, Asian Comics, Gay comics, everyone was able to use stand-up to get their point of view across, to make an artistic contribution and to introduce new perspectives into the public discourse, so I think that Muslims, Arabs, and South-Asians and comedians from those backgrounds can do the same thing.

From Aakar To Nirakar

By Ashgar Ali Engineer, *Vinoba Bhave and his understanding of Islam* - TwoCircles.net - Cambridge, MA, USA
Sunday, October 18, 2009

A friend of mine Daniel Mazgaonkar gave me a Hindi copy of Vinoba Bhave’s book on Islam to see whether the Qur’anic verses and hadith have been correctly quoted. I am reading it particularly those portions wherein Vinoba Bhaveji has quoted Qur’anic verses and ahadith. I have yet to go through the whole text but meanwhile certain portions which I read are worth writing about.

Those who do not know Vinoba Bhave I should say he was closely associated with Gandhiji and his philosophy and as per Gandhiji’s approach undertook land distribution among landless peasants, the land obtained from landlords on voluntary basis. This was thought to an alternate model to state acquiring surplus land through legislation and re-distributing it among the landless. However, this alternative proved to be as much a failure as the state model as the landlords mostly donated, where they did donate, infertile and uncultivable land.

That apart, here we are concerned only with Vinoba Bhave’s views on Islam. I had heard that Vinobaji knew several languages including the Arabic and that he read the Qur’an in original Arabic. I do not know the truth of this claim by some of his followers but I must say that his understanding of the Qur’an appears to be quite sound and his comparison of Hinduism and Islam in many places in this book is very authentic and of the same standard as that of Dara Shikoh in his Majm’ul Bahrayn (Commingling of Two Oceans – Islam and Hinduism).

In my opinion this book when published will be quite helpful in promoting better understanding between Hindus and Muslims, a vital need today when so-called scholars, academics and media analysts spread misunderstanding on the basis of very superficial knowledge of both Islam and Hinduism. After Dara Shikoh, Maulana Azad was a great scholar of comparative religion who, in his commentary of Qur’an, Tarjuman Al-Qur’an rendered great service to understanding correct message of Islam and other religions including Hinduism.

I think after Maulana Azad, Vinobaji from amongst Hindus, has showed proper understanding of spirit of religions including Islam. Today unfortunately scholars of religions – and I am referring to scholars of all religions, project religion more to serve political needs than as religion per se, much is being written on Islam, for and against, but to serve certain political agenda. Either way religious spirit is lost or we score some political points.

It is therefore highly necessary to retrieve original spirit of Islam and Hinduism and project them on the basis of their religious philosophy and this can indeed do a yeoman service to our conflict torn country. Democratic politics, having become merely a power politics, politicians put their own religion at stake. Power must be won at any cost even by rendering immense disservice to ones own religion. Hindutvawadis distort their own religion and Muslim extremists do same disservice to Islam.

In the sixth chapter of his book Vinoba Bhave attempts to capture true spirit of both Hinduism and Islam. Before I put forward Vinobaji’s views on Islam I would like to point out one error committed by him right in the beginning of the chapter itself. He says that Muhammad Rasulullah was coined by his followers and he himself never claimed that. This is fundamental mistake which must be corrected by the editors of the book perhaps in the footnote. Qur’an itself, which is divine, proclaims Muhammad as Rasulullah (Messenger of Allah).

But when Vinobaji says Muhammad never claimed to take Allah’s place, he is very right. Qur’an itself describes Muhammad (PBUH) as ‘abduhu wa Rasuluhu (i.e. His servant and His messenger). Vinobaji rightly points out that Muhammad (PBUH) said that he has brought no new truth but is proclaiming what the same truth as proclaimed by previous prophets. Perhaps in this respect Hinduism comes close to Islam as it also accepts truth everywhere and the Rigveda also proclaims that truth is one but the wise call it by various names.

But then Vinobaji also repeats that Muhammad Saheb only claimed that I am merely Allah’s messenger and Allah’s servant, I am not Allah. I am there to proclaim His Message, nothing more. Vinoba also points out that Qur’an says that for every people there is guide (messenger), 13:7. He also points to another significant verse of the Qur’an; “We do not distinguish between any of them (messengers of Allah)”, (2:136). He also points out that Qur’an has given names of certain prophets but has said there are many more prophets all of whom not have been named here. Thus Islam accepts truth of all other religions.

Vinobaji also points out with reference to the Qur’an that there are many ways of ‘ibaadat (worshipping Allah). Qur’an says “For every one there is direction in which he turns (himself), so vie with one another in good works” (2:148). Thus one should not fight about ways of worshipping but excel each other in good works. Here I would like to refer to Nizamuddin Awliya’s story.

One day early morning he was walking along the bank of Jamuna in Delhi and he saw some Hindu women bathing in Jamuna and worshipping sun. He told his disciple Khusro: “O Khusro! these women are also worshipping Allah though their way is different”. Thus the Sufi saints were closer to the spirit of the Qur’an as they were more spiritual in their attitude and did not take ‘ibadat in mere technical and mechanical sense.

Vinobaji also throws light in chapter five on the concept of Allah. Prophet Muhammad mainly preached oneness of God and Vinoba refers to chapter 112 (Qul Huwallahu Ahad). Muhammad (PBUH) did not accept any form or idol or picture or even symbol of Allah. And, he says, prophet also cannot be incarnation (awtar) of Allah. Then he compares this with the Indian philosophy (Bhartiya Darshan) of advaita.

Vinobaji says in India, Brahma has been accepted as nirgun, nirakar (i.e. without attributes and without form). Islam believes, according to Vinobaji, in Allah as formless but with attributes (nirakar and sagun). Qur’an describes various attributes of Allah (sifat). But this is not fully correct as M’uatazilas and Shi’ahs believe in Allah without attributes and explain away these attributes in different way. According to M’uatazila and Shi’as any attribute makes Allah dependent and this goes against tawhid (oneness of Allah).

Then Vinobaji discusses idol worship in Hindu religion and explains its meaning and significance. This whole discussion is worth reading. He says in Hindu Shastras there is no idol worship but it has not been prohibited either. He very skillfully explains importance of amurt Bhagwan i.e. formless God and throws light on its importance. He says worshipping an idol would mean confining God to the idol and not seeing God elsewhere. He, therefore says if you confine God to an idol you will be deceiving yourself.

But then he also explains why Hindus worship idols. He says the Hindus have made idols of different attribute of God and by worshipping these idols he worships different attributes of God. He also points out that on one hand Muslims believe in one formless God but Qur’an also refers to wajhullah, yadullah (i.e. Mouth and Hands of Allah). He says these are problems of human language. You want to worship a formless God but also in terms of human language you have to use these words.

I must say Vinobaji comes close to Mazhar Jan-i-Janan, an eighteenth century Sufi saint from Delhi who gave an opinion that Hindus are not kafirs when asked by one of his disciples. He gave various reasons for that. He also quoted from Hindu shastras to show that ishwara is nirgun and nirakar in Hindu philosophy and this is the highest form of tawhid. He also quotes the verse from the Qur’an that We have sent prophet to every people and how can Allah not fulfill His promise in case of Indian people. He must have sent His prophets to Hindustan also.

Then Mazhar Jan-i-Janan explains away idol worship among Hindus. He says, like Vinobaji that there is no idol worship in Hindu shastras but common Hindus cannot conceive of formless God and then something concrete to worship and that is how idol worship developed among Hindus. He says idols are not ishwara in itself but a way to Ishwara and idol worship he describes as a journey from aakar to nirakar i.e. from form to formlessness and then compares it with Sufi’s concept of Shaykh.

According to Mazhar Jan-i-Janan a sufi reaches Allah through a shaykh, a master. Shaykh cannot be Allah but a way to Allah so an idol is not Ishwara but a way to Ishwara. Though it is not possible to attempt full exposition of Vinoba’s explanation of idol worship in this book but it comes quite close to that of Jan-i-Janan.

Thus in Indian tradition and in Indian Islam we find several parallels if we rise above power struggles and try to understand religions on their own ground. Many great thinkers, sufi saints, philosophers and religious leaders have, in their own way struggled to arrive at this truth.

Among them in India are Guru Nanak, Kabir, Sufi Saints like Nizamuddin Awliya, Jaan-i-Janan, Dara Shikoh and in our own times Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Vinobaji and several others.

However, in our communal fights we have appropriated them too as our property.

Photo: imgtest.blogster.com

Dialogo Cristiano-Islamico

[From the Italian language press]:

A 10 giorni dalla celebrazione dell’Ottava giornata ecumenica del dialogo cristiano-islamico, si moltiplicano le adesioni e le segnalazioni di iniziative che si svolgeranno il 27 ottobre prossimo.

Di Paolo Teruzzi, *VIII giornata ecumenica del dialogo cristiano-islamico* - Formazione Cultura In Rete - Monza, Italia
Venerdì 16 ottobre 2009

Ten days before the celebration of the Eighth Ecumenical Day of the Christian-Islamic Dialogue, accessions and reports of initiatives are multiplying. They will take place on Tuesday, October 27, in Rome and Milan.

More than one hundred Associations accepted the call from the Organizer, the magazine Il Dialogo*.

In Milan, the Italian branch of the Halveti-Jerrahi Sufi Brotherhood has announced four Islamic-Christian conferences on Ecumenism, and a concert held by the Tar Dhikirbashé, Maestro Fakhradin Gafarov. Master Gafarov is the former director of the State Conservatory of Baku (Azerbaijan).

The theme of the Ecumenical Day, which is "The Joy Of Narrating Each Other's Life" was warmly welcomed.

Read the call to the Eight Ecumenical Day Of The Christian-Islamic Dialogue (in Italian)

Visit the Halveti-Jerrahi Sufi Brotherhood

[Picture: Professor Gabriele Mandel, Khalifa of the Halveti-Jerrahi Italian Branch]

Full Of Guidance

TNI Reporter, *Mysticism can defeat extremism* - The News International - Karachi, Pakistan
Saturday, October 17, 2009

Islamabad: The speakers at a seminar, on Friday, stressed the need to preach and promote the mysticism for suppressing violence, extremism and terrorism in the society.

The seminar was held on eve of renowned Sufi poet Hazrat Budhal Faqir’s death anniversary, organised by Budhal Society in collaboration with Daira literary organisation here at a local hotel.

The speakers said that Budhal was a celebrated figure and an epitome of intellect, reflection and self-actualisation. The mystic poetry and message of the great poet teaches peace, tolerance, equality and lover in the society.

Speaking on the occasion, Sain Ghafar, the custodian of Budhal Faqir’s shrine in Shikarpur Sindh, said that extremism and sectarianism was result of ignorance of precious Sufi teachings.

He said that there were two opinions regarding the promotion of Islam in the subcontinent as the one group was of the opinion that Islam was promoted by the rulers of that time and the second said that it was because of the dedication of Sufis.

“In my opinion, it was the Sufis who promoted Islam through their selfless dedication and their excellent way of teaching,” he said. He said that Sufis’ particular way of teaching inspire people to accept the peaceful religion of Islam. There was not a single contradiction between their saying and practicing as whatever they said, they also practiced it putting themselves as a positive example in front of others, he said.

Dr. Ghazanfar Mehdi said that there would have been no sectarianism or extremism, had we followed the teachings of Sufis.

“The teachings of Sufis are full of guidance as they guide us the ways of truth and modesty and stops us from the things that are prohibited in Islam,” he said.

[Picture: Visit Shikarpur]

Communal Harmony

By Avtar Gill (ANI), *Peer Baba Muhammad Ali fair held in Fazilika* - Gaea Times - India
Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Fazilika, Punjab: Sufi saints have been known for centuries to have spread the message of brotherhood, love and peace beyond the religious confines of different communities in India.

People of Punjab recently organized a fair dedicated to Peer Baba Muhammad Ali, and a large number of believers of the mystic converged regardless of caste, creed or gender, to pay obeisance at his mausoleum.

The fair is organised at Baba’s mausoleum annually, which is located along the Fazilka-Ferozepur Highway in southwest Punjab. It is being held since 1947 Partition.

It is believed that the mausoleum has been in existence since the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947.
As the owner of the land in which mausoleum is located belongs to a Hindu Seth Munsi Ram, a Hindu family is the caretaker of the mausoleum and organizes the fair.

Be it Hindu, Sikh or a Muslim - they pay obeisance with great faith and devotion.

“Devotees of all faiths come here. Devotees seek the blessing of the Peer Baba with ardent devotion. There is no distinction made among Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims. No matter who belongs to which religion and caste, everyone gets an equal treatment in the house of Peer Baba Muhammad Ali,” said Kailash Rani, a devotee.

An example of communal harmony in India, this holy place comes alive with activities involving shopping, food, sports and cultural programmes.

On this occasion, various rural sports events are organized during the fair with Kabaddi attracting from nearby villages participate with great enthusiasm.

The idea is to inspire youngsters to take up sports and keep them away from bad habits like drug addiction. It’s a unique effort that has succeeded.

“Every year, sports events like kabaddi are organized and artistes are roped in to entertain. Such events inspire people to stay away of all bad habits. Whatever offerings we receive are spent on activities that benefit humanity, which includes sports and health,” said Narendra Jeet, a devotee.

“This fair is organised in collaboration with all religious communities. It is an excellent initiative to maintain peace and brotherhood among the people,” said Bohar Singh, another devotee.

On this occasion, a rural fair without Sufi and folk music would have remained incomplete. Thus, noted singers like Mohammad Sadaique sang devotional and folk songs.

The fair helped in binding the people together. [Picture: The river Sutlej (ca. 1857), one of the five rivers that give Punjab its name]

Social Development

By Ayesha Siddiqa, *South Punjab: Terror’s Training Ground* - DesPardes.com - Pakistan
Wednesday, October 14, 2009

A few years ago, I met some young boys from my village near Bahawalpur who were preparing to go on jihad. They smirked politely when I asked them to close their eyes and imagine their future. “We can tell you without closing our eyes that we don’t see anything.”

It was not entirely surprising. South Punjab is a region mired in poverty and underdevelopment. There are few job prospects for the youth. While the government has built airports and a few hospitals, these projects are symbolic and barely meet the needs of the area. It’s in areas like this, amid economic stagnation and hopelessness, that religious extremists find fertile ground to plant and spread their ideology.

The first step is recruitment – and the methodology is straightforward. Young children, or even men, are taken to madrassas in nearby towns. They are fed well and kept in living onditions considerably better than what they are used to. This is a simple psychological strategy meant to help them compare their homes with the alternatives offered by militant rganisations. The returning children, like the boys I met, then undergo ideological indoctrination in a madrassa. Those who are indoctrinated always bring more friends and family with them. It is a swelling cycle.

Madrassas nurturing armies of young Islamic militants ready to embrace martyrdom have been on the rise for years in the Punjab. In fact, South Punjab has become the hub of jihadism. Yet, somehow, there are still many people in Pakistan who refuse to acknowledge this threat.

Four major militant outfits, the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT), are all comfortably ensconced in South Punjab (see article “Brothers in Arms”). Sources claim that there are about 5,000 to 9,000 youth from South Punjab fighting in Afghanistan and Waziristan. A renowned Pakistani researcher, Hassan Abbas cites a figure of 2,000 youth engaged in Waziristan. The area has become critical to planning, recruitment and logistical support for terrorist attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan. In fact, in his study on the Punjabi Taliban, Abbas has quoted Tariq Pervez, the chief of a new government outfit named the National Counter-Terrorism Authority (NCTA), as saying that the jihad veterans in South Punjab are instrumental in providing the foot soldiers and implementing terror plans conceived and funded mainly by Al-Qaeda operatives. This shouldn’t come as a surprise considering that the force that conquered Khost in 1988-89 comprised numerous South Punjabi commanders who fought for the armies of various Afghan warlords such as Gulbuddin Hikmatyar and Burhanuddin Rabbani. Even now, all the four major organisations are involved in Afghanistan.

The above facts are not unknown to the provincial and federal governments or the army. It was not too long ago that the federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik equated South Punjab with Swat. The statement was negated by the IG Punjab. Perhaps, the senior police officer was not refuting his superior but challenging the story by Sabrina Tavernese of The New York Times (NYT). The story had highlighted jihadism in South Punjab, especially in Dera Ghazi Khan. The NYT story even drew a reaction from media outlets across the country. No one understood that South Punjab is being rightly equated with Swat, not because of violence but due to the presence of elements that aim at taking the society and state in another direction.

An English-language daily newspaper reacted to the NYT story by dispatching a journalist to South Punjab who wrote a series of articles that attempted to analyse the existing problem. One of the stories highlighted comments by the Bahawalpur Regional Police Officer (RPO) Mushtaq Sukhera, in which he denied that there was a threat of Talibanisation in South Punjab. He said that all such reports pertaining to South Punjab were nothing more than a figment of the western press’s imagination. Many others express a similar opinion.
There are five explanations for this.

Firstly, opinion makers and policy makers are in a state of denial regarding the gravity of the problem. Additionally, they believe an overemphasis on this region might draw excessive US attention to South Punjab – an area epitomising mainstream Pakistan. Thus, it is difficult even to find anecdotal evidence regarding the activities of jihadis in this sub-region. We only gain some knowledge about the happenings from coincidental accidents like the blast that took place in a madrassa in Mian Chunoon, exposing the stockpile of arms its owner had stored on the premises.

Secondly, officer Sukhera and others like him do not see any threat because the Punjab-based outfits are “home-grown” and are not seen as directly connected to the war in Afghanistan. This is contestable on two counts: South Punjabi jihadists have been connected with the Afghan jihad since the 1980s and the majority is still engaged in fighting in Afghanistan.

Thirdly, since all these outfits were created by the ISI to support General Zia-ul-Haq’s Islamisation process, in essence to fight a proxy war for Saudi Arabia against Iran by targeting the Shia community, and later the Kashmir war, the officials feel comfortable that they will never spin out of control. Those that become uncontrollable, such as Al-Furqan, are then abandoned. This outfit was involved in the second assassination attempt on Musharraf and had initially broken away from the JeM after the leadership developed differences over assets, power and ideology. Thus, the district officials and intelligence agencies turned a blind eye to the killing of the district amir of Al-Furqan in Bahawalpur in May 2009. As far as the JeM is concerned, it continues its engagement with the establishment. In any case, groups that are partly committed to the Kashmir cause and confrontation with India continue to survive. This is certainly the perception about the LeT. But in reality, the Wahhabi outfit has also been engaged in other regions, such as the Afghan provinces of Kunar and Badakhshan since 2004.

Fourthly, there is confusion at the operational level in the government regarding the definition of Talibanisation, which is then reflected in the larger debate on the issue. Many, including the RPO, define the process as an effort by an armed group to use force to change the social conditioning in an area. Ostensibly, the militant outfits in the Punjab continue to coexist with the pirs, prostitutes and the drug mafia, and there is no reason that they will follow in the footsteps of Sufi Mohammad and Maulana Fazlullah, or Baitullah Mehsud. Since the authorities only recognise the pattern followed by the Afghan warlords or those in Pakistan’s tribal areas, they tend not to understand that what is happening in the Punjab may not be Talibanisation but could eventually prove to be as lethal as what they call Talibanisation.

Finally, many believe that Talibanisation cannot take place in a region known for practicing the Sufi version of Islam. There are many, besides the Bahawalpur RPO, who subscribe to the above theory. A year ago in an interview with an American channel, Farahnaz Ispahani, an MNA and wife of Pakistan’s ambassador to Washington, Husain Haqqani, stated that extremism couldn’t flourish in South Punjab because it was a land of Sufi shrines. This is partially true. The Sufi influence would work as a bulwark against this Talibanisation of society. However, Sufi Islam cannot fight poverty, underdevelopment and poor governance – all key factors that encourage Talibanisation.

South Punjab boasts names such as the Mazaris, Legharis and Gilanis, most of whom are not just politicians and big landowners but also belong to significant pir families. But they have done little to alleviate the sufferings of their constituents. A visit to Dera Ghazi Khan is depressing. Despite the fact that the division produced a president, Farooq Khan Leghari, the state of underdevelopment there is shocking. Reportedly, people living in the area in the immediate vicinity of the Leghari tribe could not sell their land without permission from the head of the tribe, the former president, who has been the tribal chief for many years.

Under the circumstances, the poor and the dispossessed became attractive targets for militant outfits offering money. The country’s current economic downturn could raise the popularity of militant outfits.

In recent history, the gap created due to the non-performance of Sufi shrines and Barelvi Islam, or the exploitative nature of these institutions, has been filled partly by the Deobandi and Ahl-e-Hadith madrassa conversion teams and groups, such as the Tableeghi Jamaat, and militant outfits. This alternative, unfortunately, is equally exploitative in nature. Sadly, today the shrines and Barelvi Islam have little to offer in terms of “marketing” to counter the package deal offered by the Salafists for the life hereafter, especially to a shaheed: 70 hoors (virgins), a queen hoor (virgin queen), a crown of jewels and forgiveness for 70 additional people. This promise means a lot for the poor youth who cannot hope for any change in a pre-capitalist socio-economic and political environment, where power is hard to re-negotiate. Furthermore, as stated by the former information minister Mohammad Ali Durrani, who had been a jihadi from 1984-90, a poor youth suddenly turning into a jihadi commander is a tremendous story of social mobility and recognition that he would never get in his existing socio-economic system. More importantly, the Deobandis and Ahl-e-Hadith offer a textual basis for their package, which is difficult for the pirs to refute due to the lack of an internal religious discourse in the Islamic world. The modern generation of pirs has not engaged in an internal discourse to counter this ideological onslaught by the Salafis. The main belief of Salafism is that all Muslims should practice Islam as it was during the time of Prophet Muhammad. The religion at that time, according to them, was perfect. Salafism – which pre-dates Wahhabism – is often used interchangeably with Wahhabism, which is actually an extension of Salafism.

Punjab offers a different pattern of extremism and jihadism. The pattern is closer to what one saw in Swat, where Sufi Mohammad and his TNSM spent quite a few years indoctrinating the society and building up a social movement before they got embroiled in a conflict with the state. South Punjab’s story is, in a sense, like Swat’s in that there is a gradual strengthening of Salafism and a build-up of militancy in the area. The procedure of conversion though, dates back to pre-1947. Still, the 1980s were clearly a watershed, when both rabid ideology and jihad were introduced to the area. Zia-ul-Haq encouraged the opening up of religious seminaries that, unlike the more traditional madrassas that were usually attached with Sufi shrines, subscribed to Salafi ideology. In later years, South Punjab became critical to inducting people for the Kashmir jihad. The ascendancy of the Tableeghi Jamaat and such madrassas that presented a more rabid version of religion gradually prepared the ground for later invasion by the militant groups. Two reports prepared around 1994, firstly by the district collector Bahawalpur and later by the Punjab government, highlighted the exponential rise in the number of madrassas and how these fanned sectarian and ideological hatred in the province. These reports also stated that all of these seminaries were provided funding by the government through the zakat fund.

The number of seminaries had increased during and after the 1980s. According to a 1996 report, there were 883 madrassas in Bahawalpur, 361 in Dera Ghazi Khan, 325 in Multan and 149 in Sargodha district. The madrassas in Bahawalpur outnumbered all other cities, including Lahore. These numbers relate to Deobandi madrassas only and do not include the Ahl-e-Hadith, Barelvi and other sects. Newer estimates from the intelligence bureau for 2008 show approximately 1,383 madrassas in the Bahawalpur division that house 84,000 students. Although the highest number of madrassas is in Rahim Yar Khan district (559) followed by Bahawalpur (481) and Bahawalnagar (310), it is Bahawalpur in which the highest number of students (36,000) is enlisted. The total number of madrassa students in Pakistan has reached about one million.

Everyone has been so focused on FATA and the NWFP that they failed to notice the huge increase in religious seminaries in these districts of South Punjab. According to a study conducted by historian Tahir Kamran, the total number of madrassas in the Punjab rose from 1,320 in 1988 to 3,153 in 2000, an increase of almost 140%. These madrassas were meant to provide a rapid supply of jihadis to the Afghan war of the 1980s. At the time of 9/11, the Bahawalpur division alone could boast of approximately 15,000-20,000 trained militants, Some of whom had resettled in their areas during the period that Musharraf claimed to have clamped down on the jihad industry. Many went into the education sector, opened private schools and even joined the media.

These madrassas play three essential roles. First, they convert people to Salafism and neutralise resistance to a more rabid interpretation of the Quran and Sunnah in society. Consequently, the majority of the Barelvis cannot present a logical resistance to the opposing ideology. In many instances, the Barelvis themselves get converted to the idea of jihad. Secondly, these madrassas are used to train youth, who are then inducted into jihad. Most of the foot soldiers come from the religious seminaries. One of the principles taught to the students pertains to the concept of jihad as being a sacred duty that has to continue until the end of a Muslim’s life or the end of the world. Lastly, madrassas are an essential transit point for the youth, who are recruited from government schools. They are usually put through the conversion process after they have attended a 21-day initial training programme in the Frontier province or Kashmir (see box “A Different Breed”).

State support, which follows two distinct tracks, is also instrumental in the growth of jihadism in this region. On the one hand, there has generally been a link or understanding etween political parties and militant groups. Since political parties are unable to eliminate militants or most politicians are sympathetic towards the militants, they tend to curb their activities through political deal-making. The understanding between the SSP and Benazir Bhutto after the 1993 elections, or the alleged deal between the PML-N and the SSP during the 2008 elections, denote the relationship between major political parties and the jihadis. Currently, the SSP in South Punjab is more supportive of the PML-N.

The second track involves operational links between the outfits and the state’s intelligence apparatus. As mentioned earlier, some of the outfits claim to have received training from the country’s intelligence agencies. Even now, local people talk of truckloads of weapons arriving at the doorstep of the JeM headquarters and other sites in the middle of the night. While official sources continue to claim that the outfit was banned and does not exist, or that Masood Azhar is on the run from his hometown of Bahawalpur, the facts prove otherwise. For instance, the outfit continues to acquire real estate in the area, such as a new site near Chowk Azam in Bahawalpur, which many believe is being used as a training site. Although the new police chief has put restraints on the JeM and disallowed it from constructing on the site, the outfit continues to appropriate more land around the area. Junior police officials even claim seeing tunnels being dug inside the premises. The new facility is on the bank of the Lahore-Karachi national highway, which means that in the event of a crisis, the JeM could block the road as has happened in Kohat and elsewhere. Furthermore, the outfit’s main headquarters in the city is guarded by AK-47-armed men who harass any journalist trying to take a photograph of the building. In one instance, even a police official was shooed away and later intimidated by spooks of an intelligence agency for spying on the outfit. Despite the claim that the SSP, the LeJ and the JeM have broken ties with intelligence agencies and are now fighting the army in Waziristan, the fact remains that their presence in the towns of South Punjab continues unhindered.

Is it naivety and inefficiency on the part of officialdom or a deliberate effort to withhold information? The government claims that Maulana Masood Azhar has not visited his ometown in the last three years. But he held a massive book launch of his new publication Fatah-ul-Jawad: Quranic Verses on Jihad, on April 28, 2008, in Bahawalpur. Moreover, JeM’s armed men manned all entrances and exits to the city that day – and there was no police force in sight. The ISI is said to have severed its links with the JeM for assisting the Pashtoon aliban in inciting violence in the country. Sources from FATA claim, however, that the JeM, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM) and LeT are suspected by the Taliban for their links with state agencies.

In addition, intelligence agencies reportedly ward off anyone attempting to probe into the affairs of these outfits. In one case, a local in Bahawalpur city invoked daily visits from a certain agency after he assisted a foreign journalist. Similarly, only six months back, a BBC team was chased out of the area by agency officials. In fact, intelligence officials, who had forgotten about my existence since my last book was published, revisited my village in South Punjab soon after I began writing on militancy in the area and have gone to the extent of planting a story in one of the Urdu newspapers to malign me in my own area. In any case, no serious operation was conducted against these outfits after the Mumbai attacks and the recent spate of violence in the country. Hence, all of them continue to survive.

The Deobandi outfits are not the only ones popular in South Punjab. Ahl-e-Hadith/Wahhabi organisations such as the Tehreek-ul-Mujahidden (TuM) and the LeT also have a following in the region. While TuM, which is relatively a smaller organisation, has support in Dera Ghazi Khan, the LeT is popular in Bahawalpur, Multan and the areas bordering Central Punjab. Headquartered in Muridke, the LeT is popular among the Punjabi and Urdu-speaking Mohajir settlers.

There are obvious sociological reasons for LeT’s relative popularity among these people. The majority of this population represents either the lower-middle-class farmers or middle-class trader-merchants. The middle class is instrumental in providing funding to these outfits. And the support is not confined to South Punjab alone. In fact, middle-class trader-merchants from other parts of the Punjab also feed jihad through their funding. This does not mean that there are no Seraiki speakers in Wahhabi organisations but just that the dominant influence is that of the Punjabis and Mohajirs.The Seraiki-speaking population is mostly associated with the SSP, LeJ and JeM, not to mention the freelancing jihadis that have direct links with the Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP).

The LeT’s presence in South Punjab is far more obvious than others courtesy of the wall chalkings and social work by its sister outfit, the Jamaat-ud-Dawa. Despite the rumours of friction between the LeT and the JuD leadership, the two segments operate in unison in South Punjab. Three of the favourite areas of recruitment in South Punjab for all outfits are Cholistan in Bahawalpur, the Rekh in Dera Ghazi Khan, and the Kacha area in Rajanpur. The first two are desert areas known for their poverty and underdevelopment, while the third is known for dacoits. However, another known feature of Kacha in Rajanpur is that the clerics of the Lal Masjid come from this area and have partly managed to push back the dacoits. Local sources claim that the influence of the clerics has increased since they started receiving cooperation from the police to jointly fight the dacoits.

Organisations such as the LeT have even begun to recruit women in the Punjab. These women undergo 21 days of ideological and military training. The goal is to ensure that these women will be able to fight if their menfolk are out on jihad and an enemy attacks Pakistan.

The militant outfits are rich, both ideologically and materially. They have ample financial resources that flow from four distinct sources: official sources (in some cases); Middle Eastern and Gulf states (not necessarily official channels); donations; and the Punjabi middle class, which is predominantly engaged in funding both madrassas and jihad for social, moral and political ends. With regard to donations, the militant outfits are extremely responsive to the changing environment and have adapted their money-collection tactics. Gone are the days of money-collection boxes. Now, especially in villages, followers are asked to raise money by selling harvested crops. And in terms of the Punjabi middle class, there are traders in Islamabad and other smaller urban centres that contribute regularly to the cause. These trader-merchants and upcoming entrepreneurs see donations to these outfits as a source of atonement for their sins. In Tahir Kamran’s study “Deobandiism in the Punjab,” Deobandiism (and Wahhabiism) is an urban phenomenon. If so, then the existence of these militant outfits in rural Punjab indicates a new social trend. Perhaps, due to greater access to technology (mobiles, television sets, satellite receivers, etc), the landscape (and rustic lifestyles) of Punjab’s rural areas has changed. There is an unplanned urbanisation of the rural areas due to the emergence of small towns with no social development, health and education infrastructure. Socially and politically, there is a gap that is filled by these militant outfits or related ideological institutions.

Fortunately, they have not succeeded in changing the lifestyles of the ordinary people. This is perhaps because there are multiple cultural strands that do not allow the jihadis to impose their norms the way they have in the tribal areas or the Frontier province. This is not to say that there is no threat from them in South Punjab: the liberalism and multi-polarity of society is certainly at risk. The threat is posed by the religious seminaries and the new recruits for jihad, who change social norms slowly and gradually. Sadly nothing, including the powerful political system of the area, which in any case is extremely warped, helps ward off the threat of extremism and jihadism. Ultimately, South Punjab could fall prey to the myopia of its ruling elite.
So how does the state and society deal with this issue? Deploying the military is not an option. In the Punjab this will create a division within the powerful army because of regional loyalty. The foremost task is to examine the nature of the state’s relationship with the militants as strategic partners: should this relationship continue to exist to the detriment of the state? Once this mystifying question is resolved, all militant forces can be dealt with through an integrated police-intelligence operation.

This, however, amounts to winning only half the battle. The other half deals with the basic problems faced by the likes of those young jihadis-in-training from Bahawalpur who said, “We don’t see anything” in our futures. Presently, there is hardly any industrialisation in South Punjab and the mainstay of the area, agriculture, is faltering. The region requires economic strengthening: new ideas in agriculture, capital investment and new, relevant industries. This is the time that the government must plan beyond the usual textile and sugar industries that have arguably turned into huge mafias that are draining the local economy rather than feeding it.

Investment in social development is desperately needed. A larger social infrastructure that provides jobs and an educational system that is responsive to the needs of the population can contribute to filling the gaps. The message of militancy is quite potent, especially in terms of the dreams it sells to the youth, such as those disillusioned boys from my village. Jihad elevates youngsters from a state of being dispossessed to an imagined exalted status. They visualise themselves taking their places among great historical figures such as Mohammad bin Qasim and Khalid bin Waleed. It is these dreams for which the state must provide an alternative.

Islam's Complexity

By Colleen Walsh, *Islam’s mystical dimensions take flight* - Harvard University Gazette - Harvard, MA, USA
Thursday, October 15, 2009

Peabody exhibition reveals Sufi traditions through photographs, mixed media

Sacred Spaces: Reflections on a Sufi Path
Opens October 22, 2009
Opening event: October 22, 5:30 pm

As a young girl born in India, raised in a Muslim household in Pakistan, and educated by Catholic nuns, Samina Quraeshi lived at the intersection of multiple faiths, cultures, and customs.

It was an intersection that Quraeshi was taught to believe was never mutually exclusive.
Quraeshi’s family, who descended from a long line of custodians of a Sufi shrine in northern India, explained that in the Sufi tradition of Islam messages of love and tolerance were paramount, and all paths lead to the Divine.

“As a child I was never told, ‘This is Christian and this is Muslim.’ I was taught that, according to the Sufi tradition, all paths lead to God.”

Quraeshi, who has made her home in the United States for more than 30 years, became troubled by monolithic and violent characterizations of Islam in the post 9/11 era, and decided to explore the religious traditions she grew up with in her work as an artist and scholar. In a new exhibition at the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, she draws upon her experience as a Muslim woman to examine Islam’s complexity through the lens of South Asia’s Sufi tradition.

“This project is an investigation, from an artistic point of view, of the Sufi tradition in South Asian Islam,” said Quraeshi. “I believe that Islam is an inspiration and a way of life, not a set of laws. Instead of a rigid wall, it is a living tradition.”

In the exhibition “Sacred Spaces: Reflections on a Sufi Path,” which opens Oct. 22, Quraeshi documents Sufi shrines in Pakistan and India to explore the mystical dimension of Islam through the use of photographs and multilayered, mixed-media compositions.

Inspired by Sufi teachings and places of devotion in the subcontinent, Quraeshi said her compositions explore “the complex relationship between place, symbol, poetry, music, oral tradition, and visual art in Islamic mysticism. My aim is to look beyond the boundaries of ideology, race, culture, and language to evoke a visual dialogue between cultures.”

Quraeshi’s new book “Sacred Spaces: A Journey with the Sufis of the Indus,” examines Sufi traditions and practices in South Asia and is published by the Peabody Museum Press (2009).

Quraeshi also collaborated with the Arthur M. Sackler Museum on a companion exhibition currently at the museum’s Islamic and Later Indian gallery. That show, titled “Sacred Spaces: The World of Dervishes, Fakirs, and Sufis,” is on view through Jan. 3, 2010. Several of the collages in Quraeshi’s Peabody exhibition relate directly to those on the walls at the Sackler.

In the Peabody show, a display of multimedia images, developed around Sufi manuscripts and incorporating photos, paintings, and drawings, makes up what Quraeshi calls her answer to the original, intricate, calligraphic Sufi texts on view at the Sackler. “In the Sackler they are their pure form. Here they are my interpretations.”

Quraeshi’s background is as diverse as her work. An author, educator, and artist, she received her bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the Kansas City Art Institute and her master’s degree of fine arts from the Yale University School of Art. She has taught at the Rhode Island School of Design and at the Boston School of Visual Arts, and served as director of design at the National Endowment for the Arts from 1994 to 1997.

She also has strong ties to Harvard. It was while she was a research scholar at the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts (where she later served as assistant director in 1993) that she was encouraged by the late Annemarie Schimmel, then Harvard professor of Indo-Muslim culture, to explore Sufism further. In a frank conversation, Schimmel told Quraeshi that she should build a bridge between the academy and the world outside on the spiritual aspects of Islam.

“She told me, ‘You need to tell it from the eyes and the soul of a Muslim woman. You were born into it. This is your job.”

With her current book and exhibition acting as that cultural connection, Quraeshi aims to engage people in the mystical dimensions of Islam and encourage a broader understanding of the universality of spiritual quests.

“No matter what the religion, the language, or the culture, to seek a physical space for contemplation is a universal impulse. We are all intrigued by these big questions, but you can only grapple with them in small ways through the means at your disposal. The means at my disposal is visual art, and I feel tremendously lucky to have had the opportunity to explore these questions in my work.”

Quraeshi is also the museum’s first fellow under the Robert Gardner Visiting Artist Fellowship. Created by Gardner, renowned documentary filmmaker and former director of the Film Study Center at Harvard, the fellowship allows an established artist the opportunity to create and display original work at the museum. For Quraeshi, the program has allowed her to collaborate with scholars from across the University. She likened the experience to that of a kid in a candy shop.

“There are not enough hours in the day to interact with everyone. I just wish I could hang around here for the rest of my life.”

[Visit the Peabody Museum]

Picture: Pigeons battle for position in a courtyard as a young woman passes. Photo: Samina Quraeshi

Mulaataf

By Robert F. Worth, *Crossroads of Islam, Past and Present * - The New York Times - New York, NY, USA
Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Tarim, Yemen: This remote desert valley, with its towering bluffs and ancient mud-brick houses, is probably best known to outsiders as the birthplace of Osama bin Laden’s father. Most accounts about Yemen in the Western news media refer ominously to it as “the ancestral homeland” of the leader of Al Qaeda, as though his murderous ideology had somehow been shaped here.

But in fact, Tarim and its environs are a historic center of Sufism, a mystical strand within Islam.

The local religious school, Dar al-Mustafa, is a multicultural place full of students from Indonesia and California who stroll around its tiny campus wearing white skullcaps and colorful shawls.
“The reality is that Osama bin Laden has never been to Yemen,” said Habib Omar, the revered director of Dar al-Mustafa, as he sat on the floor in his home eating dinner with a group of students. “His thinking has nothing to do with this place.”

Lately, Al Qaeda has found a new sanctuary here and carried out a number of attacks. But the group’s inspiration, Mr. Omar said, did not originate here. Most of the group’s adherents have lived in Saudi Arabia — as has Mr. bin Laden — and it was there, or in Afghanistan or Pakistan, that they adopted a jihadist mind-set.

Mr. Omar set out 16 years ago to restore the ancient religious heritage of Tarim. It is an extraordinary legacy for an arid, windswept town in the far southeast corner of the Arabian Peninsula.

About 800 years ago, traders from Tarim and other parts of Hadramawt, as the broader area is known, began traveling down the coast to the Arabian Sea and onward in rickety boats to Indonesia, Malaysia and India. They thrived, and they brought their religion with them. Nine especially devout men, all with roots in Tarim, are now remembered as “the nine saints,” Mr. Omar said, because of their success in spreading Islam across Asia.

“This town, with its thousand-year tradition, was the main catalyst for as many as 40 percent of the world’s Muslims’ becoming Muslim,” said John Rhodus, a 32-year-old Arizonan who has studied at Dar al-Mustafa off and on since 2000. Tarim’s Sufist tradition also appears to have helped shape the relatively moderate Islam practiced in much of South Asia.

Hadrami merchants remained an extraordinarily intrepid and successful network until well into the 20th century. Some made their fortune in Saudi Arabia — including Muhammad bin Laden, Osama’s father, who became a construction magnate — and remained there. Others returned home and built flamboyant palaces as monuments to their success. Dozens of palaces remain, in a variety of styles — Mogul, modernist, British colonial — that contrast oddly with Tarim’s traditional mud-brick homes and mosques.

Most of the merchants fled after a Communist junta seized power after the British withdrawal from south Yemen in 1967. Now their palaces are abandoned and decayed, too grand even for the state to maintain in this desperately poor country.

The Communist years, which lasted until North and South Yemen unified in 1990, were even worse for those who refused to accept the new government’s enforced secularism.

“Some religious scholars were tortured, others murdered,” Mr. Omar said. “Some were tied to the backs of cars and driven through the streets until they were dead.” Mr. Omar’s father, who had been a renowned religious teacher in Tarim, was kidnapped and killed.

In 1993, Mr. Omar began teaching Sufi-inspired religious classes in his home. Three years later, he moved into a two-story white school building, with a mosque attached. There are now about 700 students, at least half of them South Asians, with a rising number of Americans and Britons.
Most of the students are between 18, the minimum age, and 25. They usually spend four years studying here before returning to their homes. Mr. Omar encourages them to pursue careers and spread their beliefs quietly rather than becoming religious scholars.

But even as the school grew, a more militant Islam was gaining followers across the region. Saudi Arabia, on Yemen’s northern border, was financing ultraconservative religious schools and scholars in an effort to shore up its influence here. In 1991 the Saudi king, angered by Yemen’s public support for Saddam Hussein, abruptly sent home a million Yemeni laborers, many of whom had lived in Saudi Arabia for decades and had been shaped by it.

The Yemeni president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, accommodated the Saudis and welcomed many Arab jihadists who had fought in Afghanistan. Later, he enlisted the jihadists to fight his political enemies at home, incurring a political debt that has complicated his efforts to fight Al Qaeda.
Some of the former fighters resettled in Hadramawt. Two years ago, one of Al Qaeda’s top regional commanders was killed, along with two lieutenants, in a fierce gun battle with the Yemeni military just a few blocks from Dar al-Mustafa.

And in March a suicide bomber wearing an explosive belt killed four Korean tourists and their Yemeni guide in the nearby city of Shibam. Al Qaeda’s Arabian branch claimed responsibility. The small trickle of adventure tourism that had remained in Hadramawt (it may not help that the name means “death came” in Arabic) slowed to almost nothing.

Several students at Dar al-Mustafa said there was concern about possible conflict with hard-line Islamists in Hadramawt, though the school itself has not been attacked or threatened.
On a tour of Tarim, one of the school’s teachers, Abdullah Ali, pointed to the house where the Qaeda leaders had been killed. They had been there for some time, he said, escaping scrutiny by disguising themselves as women under thick black gowns. A trove of explosives and weapons was found in the house.

“We are mulaataf,” Mr. Ali said, using an Arabic term that describes a divine rescue from danger.
Mr. Omar acknowledged, somewhat reluctantly, that his own, milder approach to Islam had enemies in Hadramawt.

“There are differences,” he said. “But we find the appropriate way to deal with these people is to remind them of Islamic principles, not to speak ill of them.”

Picture: Most of the students at Dar al-Mustafa, the local religious school in Tarim, Yemen, are between 18, the minimum age, and 25. Photo: Bryan Denton/NYT

All Its Rivers

Staff Report, *Erdoğan lists controversial people central to Turkey’s culture* - Milliyet/Hurriyet Daily News
Friday, October 9, 2009

Ankara: Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s speech on Oct. 3 at his party’s convention made headlines the next day as he paid homage to a list of people who contributed to Turkey's culture but some of them were, at one stage, considered enemies of the state while others died in exile.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s speech on Oct. 3 at his party’s convention made headlines the next day as he paid homage to a group of people who contributed to Turkey in one way or other.

His speech was considered to be groundbreaking because some of the names he mentioned were, at one stage, considered to be enemies of the state while others died in exile.

“If you try to remove Ahmet Yesevi, Hacı Bektaş, Pir Sultan and Hacı Bayram Veli from our culture, the country will become an orphan,” Erdoğan said. “Without Yunus Emre, Turkey will be without a voice. Without Mevlana, it would be without a soul. Without listening to Sabahat Akkiraz, Turkey will be without traditional music. If Turkey ignores Tatyos Efendi, it will lose half its songs.

“Turkey missed Cem Karaca as much as he missed this country. Songs that do not pay respect to Ahmet Kaya, who wrote, ‘Farewell, My Two Eyes,' are not complete songs. Just as one cannot imagine a Turkey without Mehmet Akif [Ersoy, the poet who wrote the national anthem], a country without Nâzım Hikmet is an incomplete Turkey,” he said in his speech.

“You may or may not accept their ideas, you may like them or not, but without Ahmed-i Hani or Said Nursi of Bitlis, Turkey's spirituality is deficient," he said. “We are Turkey with all its rivers, flowers, smells, mountains and stones,” he said.

His list immediately triggered a debate as well. For some, the list endorsed the right names, but others found it too narrow, arguing that it should have included more names.

The following personalities were mentioned by Erdoğan in his speech:

Ahmet Yesevi
Yesevi was born in 1093 in Kazakhstan. He was a Sufi poet as well as the leader of an Islamic sect. Although he never came to Anatolia, he became a beloved figure there as well. Together with other Anatolian figures like Mevlana Jelaleddin Rumi, Yunus Emre and Hacı Bektaş Veli, he had an influence on Alevi communities. He provided a philosophical perspective on Islam to Turkish communities that had recently accepted the religion. Although well versed in Arabic and Farsi, Yesevi also wrote in Turkish.

Tatyos Efendi
Tatyos Efendi was an Armenian with 47 songs including eight preludes, six saz semahs (special compositions for the saz, an Anatolian stringed instrument) and one major composition in Turkish classical music. Born in 1858 in Istanbul’s Ortaköy district, he lived his last years in poverty and died on March 16, 1913. Ahmed Rasim Bey, another composer, said one of his own pieces was the consequence of Tatyos Efendi’s life. Tatyos Efendi’s parents wanted him to become an artisan but he chose music instead.

Nazım Hikmet
Nazım Hikmet was prosecuted several times because of his poems and articles. In 1938, he was sentenced to prison for 28 years and four months for attempting to provoke an army rebellion. A communist, he was imprisoned for more than 12 years before being released in 1950 as the result of an amnesty. Fearing a new sentence, he escaped to the Soviet Union when he was 48 years old. Hikmet was then stripped of his Turkish citizenship in July 25, 1951. He was buried in Moscow after his death in 1963. On January 10, 2009, his citizenship was restored. He is one of Turkey’s most internationally recognized poets even though his work was forbidden in Turkey for many years.

Said Nursi
Originally from Bitlis in southeastern Anatolia, Said Nursi was the founder of the Islamic Nur movement and was arrested in 1934 in the central Anatolian city of Eskişehir on the charge of “launching a secret group aiming to change the system of the state.” He was sentenced to 11 months in prison and then to internal exile in the province of Kastamonu. In 1948, he was sentenced to 20 months in prison for founding an association with illegal political aims. He died in the southeastern Anatolian city of Şanlıurfa in 1960 and was buried in Halil-ür Rahman Dergah. His remains, however, were transferred to an unknown place by the leaders of the 1960 military coup.

Hacı Bektaş Veli
Hacı Bektaş Veli was born in Nişabûr in Khorasan (present-day Iran) in 1281. He came to Anatolia after finishing his education. In Anatolia, he led the locals to the “right way” by providing them mystical and philosophical instruction, later becoming popular among them. He and his students made contributions to Ahilik, a group composed of artisans who supported each other and shared religious and moral teachings. Beloved by Ottoman sultans, Hacı Bektaş Veli died in 1338. His followers became the Bektaşis, a Sufi order still widespread throughout Anatolia today.

Pir Sultan Abdal
Pir Sultan Abdal was a legendary folk poet and Alevi, a liberal sect of Islam. He lived in the 16th century and received education in an Alevi dervish house. He reflected the social, cultural and religious life of the people. He was a humanist, and wrote about love, peace, death and God. Not influenced by Divan literature, an elitist style favored by the palace and composed of Turkish, Arabic and Persian, he went beyond the formulaic norms of Sufi poetry culture and wrote in a manner that could be appreciated by ordinary people. He was executed by the Ottoman state following an insurrection in the 1500s.

Hacı Bayram Veli
One of the main Sufi teachers in Anatolia, Hacı Bayram Veli lived in the 15th century and greatly contributed to the unification of Turks throughout Anatolia with his teachings. A folk poet born in the small village of Solfasol near present-day Ankara, he became a scholar of Islam. His life changed after he received instruction in Sufism from Somuncu Baba in the city of Kayseri. Two major religious orders emerged out of his teachings, the Bayramilik Şemsiye and the Melamiye.

Yunus Emre
Yunus Emre was a Turkish poet and Sufi mystic. He has exercised an immense influence on Turkish literature from his own day until the present. Like the Oghuz-language “Book of Dede Korkut,” an older and anonymously written Central Asian epic, Turkish folklore inspired Yunus Emre in his occasional use of “tekerlemeler” as poetic devices handed down orally to him and his contemporaries. This strictly oral tradition continued for a long while. “Divan,” a large collection of his poems, was published after his death but because experts believed the collection also featured other poets’ works, its contents were later reduced to 357 poems.

Mevlana
Mevlana, known to the English-speaking world as Rumi, was a 13th-century Persian poet, jurist, theologian and mystic. He was born in 1207 in present-day Afghanistan and came to Konya in 1228. Although Rumi's works were written in Persian, Rumi's importance is considered to transcend national and ethnic borders. His poems have been widely translated into many of the world's languages and transposed into various formats. He was buried at his dervish convent in Konya after his death in 1273, a site that is now a museum.

Ahmed Khani
Ahmedi Khani was a 17th century poet and philosopher who represented Kurdish literature. He was born amongst the Khani tribe in Hakkari province in present-day Turkey. Hani studied religion and wrote his works in Kurdish languages although he was also fluent in Turkish, Arabic and Persian. The prominent poet started writing when he was 14 years old and later opened a school in the eastern town of Doğubeyazıt. He worked as a teacher for a long time. His most important work is the Kurdish classic love story, "Mem and Zin" (Mem û Zîn) (1692), a work widely considered to be the épopée of Kurdish literature.

Mehmet Akif Ersoy
Mehmet Akif Ersoy has been called Turkey’s national poet because he wrote the country’s national anthem, yet he was also a prominent author and academic. He worked as the editorial writer for Sırat-i Müstakimmagazine after the declaration of the second constitutional monarchy. He was a deputy during the Turkish War of Independence and was later awarded the Medal of Independence. He was labeled as the “unbeliever veterinarian” because of his personal opinions. In the last years of his life, he lived in Egypt and translated the Holy Koran into Turkish.

Ahmet Kaya
Ahmet Kaya was a Kurdish poet, singer, and a leading artist in Turkey. His works were labeled as “protest music” or “revolutionary arabesque.” During his career, he recorded approximately 20 albums. He was sent into prison for printing illegal banners when he was 16 years old. He was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison on charges of aiding and abetting the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, after Turkish dailies released a picture taken during a concert in Berlin in 1993. He was forced to leave the country and later passed away in Paris in 2000.

Cem Karaca
Cem Karaca was a prominent Turkish rock musician and one of the most important figures in the Anatolian rock movement. The son of an Armenian mother and an Azeri father, Karaca recorded the leftist revolutionary album, “May 1,” in 1977. Karaca was abroad when the military coup of Sept. 12, 1980 occurred. Because of a May Day statement he had given in Germany, the coup leaders issued a warrant for his arrest. After some time, the government stripped Karaca of his Turkish citizenship, but did not rescind the arrest warrant. Several years later, then-Prime Minister Turgut Özal issued an amnesty for Karaca. Shortly afterward, he returned to Turkey. He died in 2004.

[Picture: Recep Tayyip Erdoğan]