Thousands Of Devotees

By Staff Reporter, *Baba Bulleh Shah's 213th urs begins* Samaa TV - Karachi, Pakistan // Friday, September 24, 2010

Kasur: The annual rituals of Baba Bulleh Shah, the famous Punjabi sufi poet of Punjabi have started.

Punjab's Provincial Minister for Religious Affairs Ahsanuddin Qureshi inaugurated the rituals on Friday.

It is the 213th urs of Baba Bulleh Shah and the ritual will continue for three days. Thousands of devotees have started arriving at his shrine.

Integrated Culture

By DH National Editor, *Nizambad town - a picture of peace* - Deccan Herald - Bangalore, India // Thursday, September 23, 2010

Azamgarh: Nizamabad town in UP's Azamgarh district presents a picture of peace and harmony at a time when apprehensions are being expressed in other areas about the possible fallout of the verdict in the Ayodhya title suit case.

In the small town named after Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya, a temple and mosque not only share a wall, but people also celebrate together festivals like Eid and Holi.

"In the town, a Shiv temple, Shahi Jama Masjid and gurudwara are located at one place, but we have no dispute," caretaker of the mosque Abul Vaish said.Located on the banks of Tamsa river, this town is an important centre for Sikhs as Guru Nank Dev spent a considerable time in this town.

In 17th century, Mughal emperor Aurangzeb laid the foundation of the Shahi mosque and later another mosque of the Shia sect was constructed by Qazi Abdul Farah.

During British rule, the then zamindar Amrish Singh got a Shiva temple constructed adjacent to the mosque besides earmarking a ground for Ramlila festivities nearby.

"The Ramlila ground is a common place which is being used for fairs during Dussehra and to offer namaz on Eid," local resident Ateeq Ahmad said.

"Integrated culture is the heritage of Nizamabad town. People should take a lesson on communal harmony from this place," Mahant of Shiva temple Bihari Das said.

Ahmad claims that there has been no communal tension in the history of the town.

"As far as Ayodhya issue is concerned media has hyped the matter. If a person is a true citizen of the country, he must respect the court's verdict," he said.

"We should follow the preachings of our gurus who have given the message of unity and harmony," Jathedhar of Gurudwara Charan Paduka Sahib Satnam Singh said.

[Map fom Wiki]

Saso Ki Mal, Sano Pali

By DHNS, *For that spiritual touch!* - Deccan Herald - Bangalore, India // Friday, September 24, 2010

Adil Hussaini draws his inspiration from the works of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. He sings almost all of Nusrat’s songs and sounds a bit like him as well.

Adil Hussaini more than just entertained the audience at an evening of sufi music in the City recently when he sang compositions of famous musicians and a few of his own tunes as well.

Even though it was a working day, it didn’t deter people from attending the concert. The hall was packed with people who had come for a spiritual upliftment of sorts and didn’t leave disappointed at all.

“To choose sufi music and to excel in it and find success is an achievement in itself,” Adil told Metrolife.

The handful of songs that Adil performed were on themes as varied as love, joy, sorrow... Among the pieces he sang were Saso Ki Mal, Sano Pali which means waiting for one’s beloved. He also performed Nusrat’s Afri Afri which topped the international charts a few years ago.

“He sung and modified a sufi song to suit modern tastes that’s how Afri Afri became a hit. And it’s one of my favourites,” says Adil. It was a devotional song that was given a commercial feel.

Again Piyare Piyare was not only lively but revolved around love as well. What love can do to a human being was the crux of the song. “It’s sung in Rajasthani style. It’s spontaneous, one that is unplanned,” says Adil.

And Adil thinks that his performance wouldn’t be complete without invoking divine blessings, so he dedicated Allahu Allahu to Allah, “we all seek Allah’s blessings and call upon him only in distress but he’s with us always, all around us,” he explains.

That the crowd thoroughly enjoyed the performance was evident from their cheering.

“The evening was indeed spiritually fulfiling. It does well in lifting a weary soul. And I think songs like these do give one a break from the hectic pace of work,” says Shalini, a music lover.

Adil has performed with well-known musicians such as Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Shiv Kumar Sharma, Taufiq Qureshi, Ustad Sultan Khan, Louise Banks and Strings... to mention a few.

Adil didn’t forget to add, “I got my first break here in Bangalore in 2003 when I sang at the Bangalore Habba. There was no looking back since,” he sums up.

Boil Me Some More

By Lawrence Brown, *Discovering the poetic heart of faith* - Cape Cod Times - Hyannis, MA, USA // Friday, September 24, 2010

The Sufi movement appeared early in the history of Islam. Is it possible, they wanted to know, for Muslims to experience the kind of personal connection with God that Christians experience with Jesus? "Jesus slips into a house to escape enemies" says a Sufi poet, "And opens a door to another world."

Of all the Sufi poets, perhaps the greatest is Rumi. Born in Afghanistan, he was a contemporary of St. Francis of Assisi. Like Assisi, he was the very soul of gentleness. There is something in Rumi that reminds me of the poignant vision of Kurt Vonnegut: With the necessary ingredients of happiness all around us, we insist on being angry and tragic.

"I am iron" sang Rumi, "Resisting the most enormous magnet there is. Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love." I love Rumi.

God is everywhere, he tells us. Give up your search and in that very moment of surrender, there He is. Rumi avoids doctrines like the plague.

"Don't move the way fear makes you move," he tells us. "Let the beauty we love be what we do. This love is beyond the study of theology, that old trickery and hypocrisy. I've given up on my brain. I've torn the cloth to shreds and thrown it away."

Islam didn't know what to make of all this. On one hand, the Sufis were sincere in their devotion, drunk out of their minds with it. But the mystical part made them loose cannons. What exactly did they believe? As doctrine was being firmed up, were the Sufis in or out?

Christianity was busy with the same concerns, racking and burning heretics. In the end, the Muslim hierarchy lost patience with the Sufis and turned on the movement.

Nobody, it seems, can trust a mystic. "Out beyond the ideas of wrong-doing and right-doing" sang Rumi, "There is a field. I'll meet you there."

Sufism had become a heresy. For Muslim extremists like Osama bin Laden, it remains so today. Here's the irony: The atrocities of the Taliban — women shot through the skull at soccer intermissions, acid thrown in girls' faces for going to school, attacks on civilians — these are the true heresies of Islam.

God does not require us to submit to authorities on Earth. Measured against infinity, all language becomes ridiculous. In the end, we submit only to God. As Rumi says, "Eventually the chick-pea will say to the cook, boil me some more. Hit me with the skimming spoon; I can't do this by myself."

In 1999, I was at the Parliament of the World's Religions in South Africa. Coming out of a seminar, I was approached by the head of the World Islamic League. "What are you doing for the next hour or so?" he asked. We ended up walking into Cape Town for a look around. I respected him right off, a descendent of the Prophet, with his trimmed beard and hawk-like intelligence.

"You identified yourself during the discussion as Hindu," he said. "Funny," he added with a sly smile, "you don't look Hindu." We'd ended up in an art museum when I asked him what he thought of the Taliban's treatment of women. Suddenly, his voice filled half the second floor.
"THAT MAKES ME REALLY ANGRY!" he said.

I was stunned by the intensity of his reply and instinctively backed off a step or two. Instantly, he softened, gently touching my arm. "I'm sorry, my brother. I'm not angry with you; I'm angry with them. Remember, there is no sin greater than a sin committed in the name of God. The sin itself is bad enough. To say God required it makes it 10 times worse."

This was two years before Sept. 11.

There is Islam, and there is radical Islam. It might interest you to know that Imam Rauf in New York — the one who wants to open the Cordoba Center in New York — is a Muslim heretic. (At least to radical Muslims, he is.) He's a Sufi. There are places in the world where he'd be shot. But he's come to America. He has as much reason as any of us to tremble at the violent arrival of terrorists on American soil. But he's lucky in one way — he can read Rumi in the original.

"I am morning mist, and the breath of evening. I am rose and nightingale, lost in the fragrance. I am all orders of being, the circling galaxy, what is and what isn't. You, the One in all, say who I am. Say I am You."

Lawrence Brown of Hyannis teaches humanities at Cape Cod Academy and is vice chairman of the Cape Cod Interfaith Coalition.

In Khusro’s Qawwalis

By Mayank Austen Soofi, *He created our music* - Hindustan Times - New Delhi, India

Monday, September 20, 2010

At 72, the maker of Hindustani classical music lost interest in the world.

Poet Amir Khusro, the 14th century courtier to seven kings, was in mourning after the death of his spiritual mentor, Delhi’s sufi saint Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya.

Khusro gave away his wealth, retired to Nizamuddin’s tomb, died six months later, and was buried in the shrine’s courtyard.

This Sunday, Delhi will celebrate his 706th urs, the death anniversary.

Perhaps it’s all a legend. How could one person single-handedly invent the tabla and sitar, produce the first raga and create the sufi music of qawwali? Most likely, Hindustani classical music came out of a civilisation, but Khusro’s poetic genius gave that civilisation its Hindustani-ness.

Folksy and immediate, his language — a mix of Persian and Brij Bhasha — merged the ruling-class Muslim sophistication and the earthy sensibilities of the masses. His love poems for God shaped the idea of India: Hindus and Muslims could co-exist and celebrate each other’s cultures.

Today, the soul of the subcontinent’s sufi shrines lie in Khusro’s qawwalis. His verses steer many to spirituality, love and, occasionally, ecstasy.

The film song, Zihal-e-miskin mukun baranjish (lyricist Gulzar, film Ghulami), was inspired from Khusro’s poem, which had alternate lines in Persian and Brij:

Zihaal-e-miskeen mukon taghaful (Persian)
Doraaye nainaan banaye batyaan (Brij)

(Do not overlook my misery by blandishing your eyes and weaving tales; My patience has over-brimmed).

Another popular Khusro song, Chhap Tilak, is written completely in Brij:

Chhap tilak sab cheeni ray mosay naina milaikay
(You’ve taken away my looks, my identity, by just a glance).

This playful duality defined Khusro. Devoted to a sufi who disliked emperors, he himself made his living by serving in their courts. It was a fine balance of sense and sensibility: day job in the court, evening spirituality in the shrine.

Born in Patiali, a village in the present day Etah district of Uttar Pradesh, Khusro’s Turk father, Saifudin Mahmud, died when his son was eight. The mother was of Indian blood. The boy grew in Delhi with maternal grandfather Imad ul Mulk, who took him regularly to literary soirees.

As a court poet, Khusro’s works include Mathnawi Miftah ul Futuh, Ghurrat ul Kamal, Khaza in ul Futuh, Ashiqa, Baqiya Naqiya and Khamsa. The voluminous Ijaz e Khusrawi is vivid, with details of everyday life in 14th century Delhi. Khusro also compiled a Hindi-Persian dictionary and composed several pahelis, or wordplay riddles.

The tradition at Nizamuddin dargah, central Delhi, is to first pray at Khusro’s tomb, though he did not inherit Nizamuddin’s spiritual mantle, which went to Hazrat Naseeruddin Chiragh Dilli.

The poet’s special status in the sufi order is linked to his creation of an extraordinary idiom, which millions have used to articulate their passion for the divine.

Above all, he was loved by Nizamuddin, who occasionally wrote letters, calling him Turkullah, God’s Turk. Those letters were buried with Khusro.

The inner walls of his tomb are inscribed with verses that were composed when he first met his beloved saint.

To celebrate the 706th death anniversary of Hazrat Amir Khusro, there will be night-long qawwali sessions in Nizamuddin dargah from September 26 to 30.

On 28, a poetry session dedicated to Khusro’s verses will also take place in Urs Mahal, Nizamuddin Basti.

[Picture: Amir Kushro's tomb (left), Nizamuddin's Dargah (right) and Jamaat Khana Masjid (background). Photo: Wiki.]

Dedication To God

By Aps Malhotra, *Have spirit, will dance* - The Hindu - India

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Dancers on wheelchairs performed to inspire athletes with special abilities who will participate in the upcoming para-Commonwealth Games

“Sometimes, I sit in a wheelchair for 8 to 10 hours in a day, just to get a feel of what my students undergo,” says Guru Syed Sallauddin Pasha, who, through his Ability Unlimited Foundation has brought about a silent revolution in the field of empowering differently-abled people in India.

Speaking at “Commonwealth On Wheels” — a repertoire of four performances in different genres — held this past week at Kamani auditorium to a packed house, Pasha said, “The idea is to ignite the spirit of Commonwealth, or wealth of the common man, by motivating athletes with special abilities who are participating in the soon to be held para-Commonwealth Games and spur them to win medals for the country.”

Interestingly, in the exposes and controversies that have marred the run-up to the Games, which ideally should have showcased India's prowess as an organisational powerhouse, “Disabled sports have hardly received the recognition it deserves, especially in a country with 70 million disabled people,” says an anguished Pasha. “When people see such shows, their mindset changes and their sensitivity also goes up.”

Ruefully, very few people outside the fraternity are aware that para athletes shall be competing in 15 events and vying for honours that shall be included in a country's medal tally.

And he could not have been more accurate in his assessment. Each performance, with age of performers ranging from 17 to 25 years, was an exercise in perseverance that culminated in scaling peaks of excellence. The evening started with Sufi Dance on wheelchairs that saw the troupe experience spiritual bliss, as they imbibed teachings of Sufi masters from Egypt, Turkey and elsewhere.

As Pasha explained, “Sufi mystics leave no room for prejudice about religion, race or caste.”

Calling it “sheer advaitism”, he followed up this presentation with a very energetic display of Yoga asanas performed sitting on the wheelchair that required a very high degree of training.

To choreograph India's traditional and classical dance form Bharatanatyam, wherein the performers use the wheels of the wheelchair instead of their legs to ensure movement, has taken “years of meditation, service and dedication to God,” says Pasha.

Indeed, each movement, including adavu (steps), jati (combination of adavus), teermanams have been “specially devised for the wheels and are performed with absolute precision”. Explains Pasha, “Wheelchairs have several advantages to perform several steps like bhramari (spins), and sharukkal adavu (sliding), wherein the spinning speed of wheelchairs is even faster than that of an accomplished dancer's steps — the speed of the wheelchairs can exceed 100 kms per hour.”
The showstopper was the marshal arts display from Manipur, Thangtha, that had the spellbound audience bursting into raptures.

“From 5th to 7th October we plan to have an interactive session with guests who shall be coming to view the Commonwealth Games,” says Pasha, “where the gap between the performer and the audience will be wiped out; millions of guests coming to Delhi will get to know about our ancient culture and traditions — on a wheelchair — something that is unique.

The soul of the artist shall be connected to the community as a whole.”

Sufi Dance

By Dipanita Nath, *On the Roll* - Indian Express -India
Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Dressed in white, the dancers were lost in their swirling motions as Sufi rhythms played in the background.

Gradually, the beat picked up and so did the tempo of the dancers, until they were nothing more than spinning blurs on stage.

What made the performance special was that all the whirling dervishes were differently-abled youngsters on wheelchairs.

“At 200 mph, the speed of a wheelchair is higher than any dancer can spin on his feet. A stage full of dancers on wheelchair spinning at top speed is a mesmerising sight,” says Salauddin Pasha, the Delhi-based maestro who trained the dancers at his school Ability Unlimited.

On Sunday, the students presented Sufi dance, Bharatanatyam, martial arts and yoga on wheelchair at a 60-minute-long performance called Commonwealth on Wheels.

“The wheelchairs were customised and we spent almost six years preparing the piece. Sufi dance on wheelchair premiered two years ago and has been a hit every time,” says Pasha proudly.

Bharatanatyam on wheels was split into two pieces — a Tillana and a choreography called Ten Direction of the World. The dancers use traditional abhinayas, mudras and poses as they depicted mythological figures like Indra and Shiva in a tandava stance.

[Picture: Rumi on Wheels. Photo: Ability Unlimited]

Marifetname

WB News Desk, *Wellknown Ottoman book Marifetname translated into English* - World Bulletin - Istanbul, Turkey
Monday, September 20, 2010

One of the most famous Ottoman-era book Marifetname, belongs to Turkish scholar Ibrahim Hakki, was translated into English by an academician from a Malaysian university.

Ibrahim Hakki, born in 1703, was a prominent Otoman scientist, religious scholar and Sufi. He wrote many books in various fields, including Sufism, faith, education, dictionary, natural sciences and poetry.

His best known book is Marifetname ( the book of knowledge) that reflects the Ottoman perception of the modern science, now translated by Dr. Ali Akbar Ziaee.

The Marifetname, originally an Islamic and scientific encyclopaedia in Turkish, deals with classical scientific subjects such as mathematics, astronomy, medicine and physics, and also offers discussions on modern scientific concepts and makes certain contradictory statements on "Islamic science" and "science."

Ibrahim Hakki wrote mainly in Turkish language besides Arabic and Persian.

He also told about his Sufi ideas in his eulogiums, gazelles and quatrains.

In Marifetname, translated with the title “Islamic Cosmology and Astronomy: Ibrahim Hakki's Marifetname”, Ibrahim Hakki presents the fundamental theories of Islamic cosmology concerning heaven, hell, barzakh, skies, earth, the planets of our solar system, solar eclipse, lunar eclipse, seas, mountains, and the function of human organs, diseases and other medical issues as well as Islamic mysticism.

Ali Akbar Ziaee is working as an Academic Research Fellow at the Unit for Translation, Editing, Critical Annotation of Manuscripts at International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization, International Islamic University Malaysia.

[About Ibrahim Hakki's shrine, click here and scroll down (Sufi News, January 1st, 2010.]

The Larger Perspective

By TCN News, *A workshop on Sufi literature and social responsibility* - Two Circles Net - Cambridge, MA, USA

Saturday, September 18, 2010

New Delhi: A workshop on the issue of “Sufi Literature and Social Responsibility” is being organized on November 20-21, 2010 (Sat/Sunday) by Ektara India.

Ektara India is a group of media and arts professionals based in Delhi, India, involved in many activities of culture, arts, research and peacemaking.

In a time when listening to Sufi music and qawwali becomes more and more trendy, this workshop will try to analyze and appreciate Sufi music in the larger perspective of social relevance.

Could Sufi music help people learn ways to coexist in today’s multicultural society? Does it have a social relevance in today’s life or is it just some meditative chanting that provides peace and tranquility to an individual in today’s stressful urban life? These are the few questions which the workshop will explore.

Several scholars, music practitioners and media professionals like Madan Gopal Singh, Atmaram, Yousuf Saeed, Dhruv Sangari and others will participate in this intensive workshop.

The workshop is open for all who have an interest in Sufi poetry, music and Qawwali.

Ektara India would also present a certificate of participation to each participant.

More information regarding registration for the workshop can be taken from the website of Ektara India.

Power Of Pen

By NNI, *PYDN’s book launching today* - Daily Mail News - Islamabad, Pakistan // Saturday, September 18, 2010

The Participatory Youth Development Network (PYDN) will hold a book launching ceremony here in Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto Institute (SZABIST) on Saturday (today).

The book titled “Interfaith Conference on Karachi” is a compilation work of Dr Khadim Hussain Soomro, a noted author of more than three dozen of books on Sufism, Humanity, Indus Valley Civilisation, politics, morality and ethics, who is also chairman, Sindh Sufi institute, Karachi.

The erudite and informative papers were presented by a galaxy of world famed intellectuals, scholars, educationists, judges, jurists and interfaith proponents including Justice (R) Rana Bhagwands, Chairman, Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC), Illahi Bux Soomro, former Speaker, National Assembly, Prof Mehtab Akbar Rashidi, Former Provincial Secretary, Zahida Hina, noted columnist and human rights activist, Mazaharul Haq Siddiqui, former Establishment Secretary, Dr Sabir Maechal and others, in a much admired “Interfaith Conference on Karachi” on October 14 last year.

At the ceremony, MNA Marvi Memon will be the chief guest whereas Prof Dr Parvaiz Hoodbhoy will be the guest of honour.

A number of writers, intellectuals, human rights educators and social development activists namely Prof Dr Qasim Rind, Hashim Abro and others will speak about the person, power of pen of the author and his publication in question.

[Picture from Saeed Book Bank, Pakistan]

Muzikr

By Staff Reporter, *Carlou D: Senegal's Sufi singing sensation* - BBC World - UK
Wednesday, September 15, 2010

The Baay Fall in Senegal is a Sufi sect named after their founder Cheikh Ibra Fall.

Now one of his followers, rapper Carlou D [Ibrahima Loucard], with the collaboration of fellow Senegalese star Youssou N'Dour, is trying to take the Baay Fall's music to the masses.

His album is called Muzikr, a play on Zikr, the word for the Sufi prayers which can be heard at dusk in the centre of Dakar.

On a recent trip to London he told World Update about how religion and music can and should mix.

Listen to the 3' 38'' interview by clicking on the title of this article, then on the audio file.

Visit Carlou D official site (in French).

Picture: Carlou D and band recorded a session at the BBC Maida Vale studios. Photo: BBC.

A Vital Role

By Alisha Ryu, *Sufi Militia Says Al-Shabab Planning to Attack Galgadud Region* - Voice of America - USA
Wednesday, September 15, 2010

A Sufi militia defending parts of Somalia's central regions from al-Qaida-linked militants says it believes al-Shabab has shifted some of the group's military focus from Mogadishu to the central regions and is preparing to launch attacks in the central Galgadud region.

Fighters for the Sufi Ahlu-Sunna Wal-Jama'a militia are said to be on high alert in Ahlu-Sunna strongholds, including Dhusamareb, Guri-el, Abudwaq and Balanbal in the Galgadud region.

Earlier this week, a spokesman for the Sufi group, Abdullahi Abdirahman al-Qadi urged residents in towns under its control to remain vigilant and to report any al-Shabab presence or activity.

Stability

Horn of Africa observer Stig Jarle Hansen at the Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research says if al-Shabab attacks and is able to capture Dhusamareb, it could significantly affect the stability of Somalia's semi-autonomous Puntland region as well. The Puntland government is battling an Islamist insurgency in the remote mountains of northern Somalia, led by factional leader, Mohamed Siad Atom, who has pledged allegiance to al-Shabab and is believed to have links with al-Qaida,

Analyst Hansen says the fear is that if Ahlu-Sunna is chased out of Dhusamareb, al-Shabab may be able to advance to the Puntland-controlled area of Galkayo and link up with Atom's forces.

"The wider picture is that al-Shabab has been slowly but surely expanding north into Galgadud province," said Hansen. "In fact, the last stronghold of the Sufists before you reach Galkayo is Dhusamareb. If Dhusamareb falls to al-Shabab, that might change the whole strategic situation."

Buffer

Although Ahlu-Sunna suffers from internal divisions, it has served a vital role as a buffer force against al-Shabab ambitions to seize all regions in southern and central Somalia.

Ahlu-Sunna's heightened concern in Galgadud follows a major offensive launched by al-Shabab in the Somali capital Mogadishu during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. Al-Shabab, which aims to turn Somalia and other parts of the region into an ultra-conservative Islamic caliphate, carried out two separate suicide attacks in the city and, following fierce battles, took over several government bases. But it failed in its larger objective to take the presidential palace and other key sites that remain under A.U. and government control.

Unable to seize all of Mogadishu, observers say there is a possibility that al-Shabab could be shifting its strategy and looking once again to target Galgadud's largest town, Dhusamareb.
In January, al-Shabab forces briefly seized Dhusamareb from Ahlu-Sunna Wal-Jama'a in what analysts described was part of a move to encircle the government in Mogadishu by extending its authority throughout central Somalia. Ahlu-Sunna fought back several days later and regained control of Dhusamareb. It has controlled the town ever since.

Ahlu-Sunna's reputation in Somalia has been tainted by reports that it is supported by Somalia's regional rival, Ethiopia.

Picture: Sheik Abdulahi Sheik Abirahman Al-Qadi, the spokesman of the Pro-government Ahlu-Sunna group speaks during a press conference near a frontline in southern Mogadishu. Photo: VOA/File Photo.

Rich Spiritual Heritage

By H. Hasanov, *Ashgabat to host int'l conference on spiritual heritage* - Trend News Agency - Baku, Azerbaijan // Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Ashgabat will host an international scientific conference on "Khoja Ahmed Yasawi and Sufi Literature of the East" on Sept. 22-23, the Miras national television channel reported.

The forum will be attended by some 60 eminent scientists from 21 countries and about 100 Turkmen linguists, historians and literary critics.

"Studying and promoting the rich literary and spiritual heritage of the Turkmen people is an important public policy," Turkmen President Gurbangulu Berdimuhammedov said at a recent governmental meeting.

Yasawi was a Turkic poet and a Sufi (Muslim mystic), an early mystic who exerted a powerful influence on the development of mystical orders throughout the Turkic-speaking world. He is currently the earliest known Turkic poet to compose poetry in a Turkic dialect.

His work "Divan-i-Hikmat" ("Book of Wisdom") is thought to be a masterpiece of the ancient world.

The conference will hold lectures on Yasawi manuscript sources, Yasawi's era and the Sufi order of Yasaviye, Turkmen classical literature, Yasawi and Turkic-language literature during the Seljuk era, and Yasawi literary heritage and the Turkmen language.

A Yellow Crescent...?

By David Dietz, *Like Muslims today, Mennonites once faced unfair discrimination* - York Daily Record -York, PA, USA

Monday, September 13, 2010

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

My ancestors were Anabaptists.

These people lived in Switzerland and Germany at the time of the Protestant Reformation [from 1517 - 16th century]. They were considered too radical by the state churches of the time, and so they were persecuted mercilessly by both Protestants and Catholics alike.

Early in the movement, there was one group of Anabaptists that took over the town of Münster in Northern Germany in a violent apocalyptic putsch. They were soon crushed by a coalition of surrounding authorities.

However, the vast majority of the Anabaptists were pacifist, and in no way a threat to public welfare. For about a century and a half, the Anabaptists were hunted down, tortured and executed across Europe. When the executions petered out in the mid-17th century, Anabaptists were still discriminated against in many places, with restrictions on where they could live and what property they could own.

The Anabaptists were some of the first people to advocate for the separation of church and state. Eventually, many of them emigrated to Pennsylvania, where they were afforded liberty beyond their wildest dreams. In Pennsylvania, Mennonites, Lutherans, Anglicans, Quakers,

Presbyterians all got along remarkably well. Here, there was no state church, and everyone pretty much saw the value in taking a "live and let live" approach. Sure, each church still thought they were right and sought to persuade their neighbors to convert, but no one was burning anybody at the stake.

At the time of the American Revolution, Mennonites (descendants of the European Anabaptists) and other historic peace churches such as the Amish, Quakers, and Brethren refused to participate in the war. They may have had sympathies one way or the other, but they could not in good conscience kill their fellowman. As a result of this non-participation, many were treated harshly, and some lost their property.

After the war, passions cooled, and Mennonites were relieved to see freedom of religion preserved in the new American government. Eventually, with the advent of the Constitution, both religious freedom and the principle of separation of church and state were enshrined in the First Amendment.

Today, we live in a nation far more pluralistic than the Penn's Woods of three centuries ago. Today we have more than just Catholics, Protestants and a few Jews and Mennonites. Now we have members of nearly every religious group in the world present in this country. In order for the nation to maintain its cohesiveness, now, more than ever, religious liberty must be upheld -- even when it's not popular. Especially when it's not popular.

So, some fundamentalist fanatical Muslims attacked the World Trade Center nine years ago and dealt a major psychic blow to this nation. Many still feel scarred as they venerate the site of the attack as sacred ground. Now, two blocks away, a Sufi Muslim group wishes to build a community center in the site of an old department store. And suddenly, the Sufi group gets lumped in with "the terrorists" and accused of being insensitive to this nation's wounded pride.

People say it's disrespectful for Muslims to build a "mosque" so close to Ground Zero, where other Muslims attacked America in 2001. Of course nobody has a logical rubric for how to determine where one should draw the line in New York for a totally unconstitutional no-mosque zone.

To accuse the Sufis of being somehow connected to the hijackers who attacked the World Trade Center is no more logical than the false comparisons many Europeans in the 16th century drew between the Mennonites and the Münsterites. They were completely different groups with completely different natures. But they both were labeled "Anabaptist" and lumped into the same category by prejudiced and ill-tempered outsiders.

How is it any different today? All Muslims are not alike. The vast majority are ordinary, peaceful, good people. The Sufis of the Cordoba Center are no more like the hijackers than the Mennonites were like the Münsterites.

If Americans really do want to discriminate against a religious minority, in direct contradiction to the tenets of the First Amendment, then let's consider the logical conclusion of such action. If Muslims are denied the right to build a community center/mosque two blocks from Ground Zero, then what is to stop us from next restricting where they may live? Muslim Ghettos, anyone?

Perhaps we could restrict their right to marry with non-Muslims as well. Then, perhaps we could make them wear a yellow crescent sewn on their jackets, and then we could force them to carry papers identifying them as Muslim. And then we could put them into concentration camps . . .

At some point, we'll have to pull down the Statue of Liberty and send her crashing into the sea. Because we really don't stand for her style of welcoming, strength-in-diversity democracy anymore.

David Dietz lives in Hellam Township.

[Picture: Dirk Willems saves his pursuer. Photo: Wiki.]

Stirring The Pot

By Lawrence Wright, *Intolerance* - The New Yorker - New York, NY, USA
Monday, September 20, 2010 / Week 38

When a dozen cartoons satirizing the Prophet Mohammed appeared in the conservative Danish daily Jyllands-Posten, in September, 2005, there was only a muted outcry from the small Danish Muslim community, and little reaction in the rest of the Muslim world.

Six months later, however, riots broke out and Danish embassies were burned; more than a hundred people died. Assassination threats were made, and continue to this day.

Last year, when plans were announced for Cordoba House, an Islamic community center to be built two blocks north of Ground Zero, few opposed them.

The project was designed to promote moderate Islam and provide a bridge to other faiths. Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the Sufi cleric leading the effort, told the Times, in December, “We want to push back against the extremists.”

In August, the Landmarks Preservation Commission granted Park51, as the center is now known, unanimous approval. A month later, it is the focus of a bitter quarrel about the place of Islam in our society.

The lessons of the Danish cartoon controversy serve as an ominous template for the current debate. One reason for the initial lack of reaction to the cartoons was that they were, essentially, innocuous.

There is a prohibition on depictions of the Prophet in Islam, but that taboo has ebbed and flowed over time, and only two of the twelve published cartoons could really be construed as offensive in themselves: one portrayed the Prophet as a barbarian with a drawn sword, which played into a racial stereotype; the other showed him wearing a turban in the shape of a bomb.

Newspapers in several Muslim countries published the cartoons to demonstrate that they were tasteless, rather than vicious. The cartoons, in other words, did not cause the trouble.

So what happened? A group of radical imams in Denmark, led by Ahmed Abu Laban, an associate of Gama’a al-Islamiyya, an Egyptian terrorist organization, decided to use the cartoons to inflate their own importance.

They showed the cartoons to various Muslim leaders in other countries, and included three illustrations that had not appeared in the Danish papers. One was a photograph of a man supposedly wearing a prayer cap and a pig mask, and imitating the Prophet. (He turned out to be a contestant in a French hog-calling competition). Another depicted a dog mounting a Muslim in prayer. The third was a drawing of the Prophet as a maddened pedophile gripping helpless children like dolls in either hand.

The imams later claimed that these illustrations had been e-mailed to them as threats—although they never produced any proof that they hadn’t made the drawings themselves—and so were fair representations of European anti-Muslim sentiment.

The leaders saw them and were inflamed. The Sunni scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi demanded a Day of Rage. So far, we have had five years of rage.

In the dispute over Park51, the role of the radical imams has been taken by bloggers and right-wing commentators. In this parable, Pamela Geller, who writes a blog called Atlas Shrugs and runs a group called Stop Islamization of America, plays the part of Ahmed Abu Laban.

Geller has already contributed to the phony claim that President Obama is a Muslim (which twenty per cent of the American public now believe is true), by promoting a theory that he is the bastard son of Malcolm X. Because of Park51’s location, Geller compares the community center (or the “9/11 Monster Mosque,” as she terms it) to Al Aqsa, the ancient mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem—a flash point for Jewish extremists in Israel.

Geller framed the argument for the New York Post, which added the false information that Park51 was going to open on the tenth anniversary of 9/11.

Deliberate misrepresentations of Imam Abdul Rauf as a supporter of terror further distorted the story, as it moved on to the Fox News commentariat and from there to political figures, such as Newt Gingrich, who compared Abdul Rauf and his supporters to Nazis desecrating the Holocaust Memorial Museum by their presence.

These strident falsehoods have undoubtedly influenced the two-thirds of Americans who now oppose Park51.

The cynicism of this rhetorical journey can be traced in the remarks of Laura Ingraham, who interviewed Daisy Khan, Abdul Rauf’s wife and partner in the project, in December. “I can’t find many people who really have a problem with it,” Ingraham told Khan then. “I like what you’re trying to do.” Ingraham has since been brought into line. “I say the terrorists have won with the way this has gone down,” she said last month, on “Good Morning America.” “Six hundred feet from where thousands of our fellow-Americans were incinerated in the name of political Islam, and we’re supposed to be considered intolerant if we’re not cheering this?”

Culture wars are currently being waged against Muslim Americans across the country. In Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where Muslims have been worshipping for thirty years, a construction vehicle was burned at the site of a new Islamic center.

Pat Robertson, the fundamentalist Christian leader, warned his followers on the “700 Club” that, if the center brings “thousands and thousands” of Muslims into the area, “the next thing you know, they’re going to be taking over the city council. They’re going to have an ordinance that calls for public prayer five times a day.”

As in the Park51 controversy, fearmongering and slander serve as the basis of an argument that cannot rely on facts to make its case.

The most worrisome development in the evolution of Al Qaeda’s influence since 9/11 is the growth of pockets of Islamist radicalism in Western populations. Until recently, America had been largely immune to the extremism that has placed some European nations in peril.

America’s Muslim community is more ethnically diverse than that of any other major religion in the country. Its members hold more college and graduate degrees than the national average. They also have a higher employment rate and more jobs in the professional sector. (Compare that with England and France, where education and employment rates among Muslims fall below the national averages.) These factors have allowed American Muslims and non-Muslims to live together with a degree of harmony that any other Western nation would envy.

The best ally in the struggle against violent Islamism is moderate Islam. The unfounded attacks on the backers of Park51 and others, along with such sideshows as a pastor calling for the burning of Korans, give substance to the Al Qaeda argument that the U.S. is waging a war against Islam, rather than against the terrorists’ misshapen effigy of that religion.

Those stirring the pot in this debate are casting a spell that is far more dangerous than they may imagine.

Illustration: Tom Batchell/TNY

The Nature Of Love

By Houda Trabelsi, *Al-Hadra show concludes Tunisia Medina Festival* - Magharebia - Tunis, Tunisia
Thursday, September 9, 2010

Tunis: The 28th annual Medina Festival, which is held on the occasion of Ramadan, came to a close September 7th in Tunis with the presentation of al-Hadra 2010.

Fadhel al-Jaziri, creator of al-Hadra 2010, surprised the attendees with a reinvigorated show that presented both popular and Sufi heritage in a modern way.

The show included 101 young people through a number of tableaus. The group included 54 singers, 16 musicians, and 31 dancers to recreate the scene of Sufi songs and present a celebration featuring both cheering and prayer.

The performances featured low voices, weak voices, softness and then force. There was diversity of nature and control of articulation. There were also modern musical instruments that carried the nature of the present era and a sign of modernity.

"I love to attend these Sufi shows, especially during the month of fasting, which is a month of worship and closeness to God," said concertgoer Manel bel Aid. "These shows are linked to all that is religious and spiritual through religious songs and dhikr (invocation)."

This was not the first time that al-Jaziri tried to impart an artistic character that is open to the spiritual nature of al-Hadra. In 1991, al-Jaziri partnered with musician Samir al-Aqrabi and a number of Salamiya, Qadiriya and Tijaniya sheikhs and leaders from famous religious singing groups to present a large show entitled "al-Hadra."

"I personally pay more attention to the artistic and theatrical aspects of the show than the spiritual and Sufi aspects," said Adnen Jabnoun. "I found the show to be acceptable. The author tried to bring together religious singing, dancing and some tableaus that express al-Hadra atmosphere as lived by Tunisians, while focusing more on the aesthetic aspect."

"Al-Hadra is like a theatrical show. It's a new, contemporary vision that is similar to what we see in Tunisia now. It establishes a new Sufi genre of music," Marouia Bennour said. "Tunisians like such spiritual atmospheres because they are part of their habits."

Houda Said Allah, another attendee, noted the mix of the spiritual and religious with modern interpretations. "This is through praise and invocations of God's spirit and God's prophet." She then added: "In fact, I've lived the atmosphere of al-Hadra as we knew it and were brought up to, but with some changes and an additional artistic touch."

"Al-Hadra is a meeting for invocation and praise in a circle organized in lines that are opened and closed by name. It includes religious songs that are performed with a light, then heavy, voice. It also features contractions and praises that describe the nature of love, passion, death, grave, Judgment Day, paradise and hell," al-Jaziri said.

“It also includes dancing and shaking until participants reach ecstasy. It’s the meaning of spiritual purity and gratitude. It summarizes man's journey wherever man goes. It shows the Tunisian character in its best manifestations," said al-Jaziri, describing the Sufi foundation on which his project is based.

"It's a different show in terms of vision and performance. It has nothing to do with the idea prevailing among the public about al-Hadra as a show that is based on religious and Sufi singing, as part of a frame involving a number of rituals, including the appearance and movement of singers. Although they were supposed to be sitting, we found them in a standing position,” Mohamed Kraeim said.

In spite of the radical change, the show was wonderful attendee Bilel ben Fadhel told Magharebia.

"This change made the show more universal and open to all cultures," he said. "It also involves a message for the rejection of extremism and closed-mindedness."

Picture: Performers at the Medina Festival celebrate their heritage with song and dance. Photo: Houda Trabelsi.

The Ink Still Looks Fresh

By Manoj R. Nair, *Devotees throng Mahim dargah to keep historic date with Sufi saint* - Daily News & Analysis - Mumbai, India
Thursday, September 9, 2010

Thousands of devotees gathered at the Mahim dargah on Wednesday night for the annual exposition of the nearly 600-year-old Koran Sharif, believed to have been written by the Sufi saint Makhdum Ali Mahimi.

At 10pm, the Koran, which is considered a calligraphic masterpiece, was brought out from its resting place to the outer hall.

During the rest of the year, the holy book is preserved in a silver box in the Asthana or the shrine’s inner sanctum where the saint’s tomb is. It is open for public viewing only for one day during the month of Ramzaan for a span of three hours. The ceremony is called the ziyarat of the Koran Sharif.

Devotees ascribe the book’s pristine condition to the saint’s miraculous powers. “If you keep any book in a cupboard for a few years, the pages turn yellow and the writing fades. But, the Koran has been untouched by the ravages of age,” said Noor Parkar, librarian and researcher at the shrine, adding that the pages are well preserved and the ink still looks fresh.

Sohail Khandwani, trustee of the Pir Makhdum Saheb Charitable Trust, which manages the shrine, said the saint had written each page one by one. “His disciples must have collected the pages separately till it was put together as a book. It was bound into a volume around a century ago,” he said.

Measuring one-and-half feet by two-and-half feet [cm 46 x 76], the 300-page book weighs about 5 kg [11 lbs.].

Apart from a few black pepper corns that are dropped into the box to deter pests, no preservation techniques have been used to protect the book. However, the shrine trust has appointed a firm to micro-film the pages.

[Picture: Makhdoom Ali Mahimi Dargah in Mahim. Photo: Wiki]

The Importance Of The Heart

By Kashif-ul-Huda, *Book review: Sufism: The Heart of Islam* - Two Circles Net - Cambridge, MA, USA

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Sufism is much misunderstood by both Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

While Muslims think that Sufis are innovators in the religion and qabr-parast (grave worshipper) and therefore unacceptable, non-Muslims think that Sufism offers a peaceful alternative to violent face of Islam and therefore acceptable to them.

The truth is somewhere between these two extremes and as Sadia Dehlvi aptly states in her book “Sufism: The Heart of Islam” it is “the spiritual undercurrent that flows through Islam.”

The book is an introduction to Sufism but Sadia beautifully intertwines it with her own spiritual journey making it more personal and also approachable by readers. Adorned with beautiful calligraphy the book is divided into four sections (called books) and a total of 17 chapters spread over 400 pages.

Book I provides information about origin and development of Sufism within Islam. It also gives important information about earlier Sufis and Sufi Orders.

Book II is about Sufism in Indian context providing biography of famous Sufis under major Sufi orders popular in India such as Chisthi, Suharwardi, Qadri, Naqshbandi, and Rishis.

Book III contains collection of Quranic verses, ahadith, selection of Sufi sayings and poetry.

Book IV lists the ninety-nine names of Allah and noble names of the Prophet (peace be upon him) and an index of Sufi terms.

Sadia is against delinking of Sufism from Islam (by Western writers) or the assertion that Sufism is not part of Islam (by Muslims). Dehlvi try to convince both groups by stating that “the Messenger of Islam remains the primary source of Sufism.”

She argues that “Sufism cannot be understood without reference to the Holy Book.”

She says, “Although Sufism, similar to other mystic traditions, offer universal ethics and meditation practices, its internal spiritual current cannot be alienated from its outward Islamic dimensions.”

To her Muslim readers she tells clearly that Sufism emanates from the Sharia. “Sufis strictly follow the Sharia,” Sadia declares. “The Sufi philosophy is classified into three stages: Sharia, the outward law, Tareeqa, the Way and Haqeeqa, the Truth.” But elsewhere she states that “those who pursued the study of Sharia laws came to be known as jurists. The scholars who devoted themselves to the development of virtuous inner qualities came to be known as Sufis.”

While all Muslims recognize Sharia, fewer people understand Tareeqa as part of mainstream Islam.

The book falls a bit short in fully convincing Muslim readers about Sufi practices being within the fold of mainstream Islam, many ahadith quoted to argue the case are without references and therefore nature of their authenticity can be suspect. More stories from Prophet’s and his companions’ lives showing the stream of Sufism as part of Islam would have been more convincing.

Miracle stories (karamat) are important part of Sufi literature but those stories are for those who are already converted. Skeptics get turned off even more by those stories of karamat that are hard to verify and even harder to believe in this day and age. But Sadia already has an answer, she writes: “I feel that the stress on rationale is misplaced. I often argue that had God been an academic trophy, the ability to know Him would be restricted to those with powers of intellect. Stringent modern attitudes, requiring a scientific basis for everything, tend to overlook the importance of the heart and sincere emotions.”

Interfaith dialogues (sulh-e-kul) and service to humanity (khidmat-e-khalq) are important aspects of Sufism, especially in India.

There are many Sufi khnqahs (hospices) and dargahs that serve only vegetarian food, respecting Hindu practices. Many dargahs provide important mental and physical health services to everyone without any discrimination. Foundation stone of Golden Temple in Amritsar was laid by Sufi Mian Mir, a Sufi of Qadri Order. Sikh’s holy book Guru Granth Sahib contains 134 hymns by Baba Farid Ganjeshakar.

Unfortunately, the present day Sufism in Indian sub-continent, as practiced in popular dargahs, is a caricature of its former glorious self. Author should have devoted at least a chapter to the corrupt practices in the name of Sufism to warn the uninitiated on what to expect in the real world.

The book, a labour of love, is easy to read and understand and should be required reading for anyone interested in learning about Islam in South Asia. A version of this book written for an international audience is badly needed.

Author: Sadia Dehlvi
ISBN: 9788172238162
Cover Price: Rs. 499.00
Format: Paperback
Extent: 480 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins

As A Beacon

By DNA Agency, *Soft power on show at Ajmer and Mumbai* - Daily News & Analysis - Mumbai, India

Monday, September 6, 2010

Israel’s ambassador in India, Mark Sofer, visited the shrine of renowned Sufi saint Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer last Friday.

Israel’s move to reach out to Muslims in India and Muslims in general is both shrewd and right.

That India should be the place for the conciliatory move is hugely significant. Sofer acknowledged the common heritage of Jews and Muslims as children of Abraham, and made a significant political statement that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not a religious one. It is a political issue.

The senior caretaker of the shrine, Syed Sarwar Chishty, apparently told Sofer about the Sufi shrine being the real face of Islam, and Sofer responded by saying that Osama bin Laden is not Islam.

This is indeed the encounter of religions in the classical Indian sense where faiths jostle with each other and flourish. Representatives of the other Abrahamic tradition — various church leaders — also reached out to Muslims in Mumbai the other day to prevent any communal fallout if a lunatic pastor in America carries out his threat to burn the Koran on 9/11.

There is, of course, a need to understand this meeting of minds as one of limited impact. Sofer and Sarwar cannot hope to resolve long-standing disputes just by reference to Sufi and Indian traditions.

The talks between Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas in Washington will not be affected by the encounters in Ajmer or Mumbai. It is not going to restrain the fanatical Jewish settlers on West Bank from building new settlements or zealots in Hamas from attacking civilians.

India is perhaps best placed for every one to recognise that the coexistence of people with different beliefs need not spell irreconcilable differences or unending strife. India is not, to be sure, a paragon of virtue in this matter. It does, however, show more willingness than any other country in the world to accept that pluralism and diversity are facts of life and not merely constitutional credos.

This is India’s unheralded soft power. Our multi-cultural society stands out as a beacon in a troubled world.

[Picture from the Dargah Ajmer Website]

Sufis for the First Amendment: Boycott "The New Republic"

Washington, D.C. Sept. 11, 2010.

A grassroots organization, "Sufis for the First Amendment," today--on account of the outrageously bigotted statements of Martin Peretz--called for a boycott of the significant American political journal The New Republic, (which Peretz edits) and all of the companies that advertise in it. Recently (on Sept. 4, 2010) Peretz wrote, "Muslim life is cheap, most notably to Muslims. And among those Muslims led by the Imam Rauf [of the proposed "Ground Zero" Islamic center] there is hardly one who has raised a fuss about the routine and random bloodshed that defines their brotherhood....So, yes, I wonder whether I need honour these people and pretend that they are worthy of the privileges of the First Amendment which I have in my gut the sense that they will abuse."

In other words, as Chris McGreal of The Guardian (guardian.co.uk) expressed it, Peretz is essentially stating that "Muslims were unfit for the protections of the US constitution." While it is one thing for a fringe nutcase Florida preacher to say something like this, when the editor-in-chief of a major U.S. journal states it, that is unquestionably cause for alarm.

Even though a century has not passed since the Holocaust, it might be instructive for readers to ask the following questions: Are the events that led up to the Holocaust being repeated in America, except that now the members of proposed inferior race are Muslims (of all races)? Is Kristallnacht around the corner for Muslims in the US? Is the parallel to Herschel Grynszpan's assassination of the German diplomat Ernst vom Rath the events of September 11? And is the new incarnation of Joseph Goebbels (Nazi Germany's propaganda minister) Martin Peretz?

Libre Et Responsable

[From the French language press]:

L’Association internationale soufie Alâwiyya (Aisa) et son président fondateur, cheikh Khaled Bentounès qui travaillent sans relâche au rapprochement des cultures, organisent les 09 et 10 octobre prochain via son association de la section suisse, au Palexpo Genève, un congrès avec pour thème «Genève 2010, un Islam spirituel libre et responsable».

Par O. Hind, *Dialogue interreligieux et interculturel* - L'Expression - Alger, Algérie
Vendredi 9 Septembre 2010

The International Sufi Association Alâwiyya (Aisa) and its founding president, Shaykh Khaled Bentounès -who tirelessly works in bringing cultures together- are organizing a conference in Geneva, Palexpo, October 9 and 10. Theme of the conference is: "Geneva 2010, For a spiritual free and responsible Islam". The conference is organized through the Swiss section of the Alâwiyya Association.

The congress will be a laboratory of new ideas and proposes speakers of choice: among them politicians, philosophers, builders of the future, spiritual masters, engaged citizens, poets and musicians.

The conference revolves around several themes, among them: "Ecology: a living earth for future generations"; "Nature, source of spirituality"; "Globalization, comparisons between cultures and religions"; "Women in the heart of globalization"; "The Media as factors of hope"; "Spirituality in the service of peace"; "The Language of the birds: the future is built today"; "Introducing children to spirituality".

There will be many Workshops, a Round Table and a Sufi Night.

[Visit the Alâwiyya Association website, its Swiss Section (in French) and the Palexpo Geneva for all details about the Conference.]

Türbes

By Gül Demir and Niki Gamm, *Istanbul türbe exhibit provides glimpse of 'gateway to eternity'* - Hürriyet Daily News - Istanbul, Turkey // Saturday, September 4, 2010

Gateway to Eternity: Turbeler” in the Private Stables at Topkapı Palace is the Türbeler Museum Directorate’s first-ever exhibition and provides visitors a fascinating glimpse at the effects found in some of the türbes (mausoleums) from around Istanbul

Found from Beykoz to Topkapı and from Üsküdar to Fatih, “türbes” (mausoleums) for prominent figures from the Ottoman era dot the landscape of Istanbul. Often overlooked, a new exhibition at Topkapı Palace is offering visitors a new chance to catch a glimpse of the cultures that produced the türbes, as well as the treasures that lie within them.

“Gateway to Eternity: Türbeler” at the Private Stables at Topkapı Palace is the first-ever exhibition from the Türbeler Museum Directorate and is part of “Ramazan Istanbul,” a project of the 2010 Istanbul European Culture Capital.

Türbes are frequently found in Turkey’s larger cities and are almost always associated with mosques, containing the remains of members of the imperial Ottoman family, prominent politicians or prominent Sufi (mystic) leaders.

Istanbul has the most with around 300 türbes, 117 of which are overseen by the Istanbul directorate, located on Sultanahmet Square. Thirty-five of the agency’s türbes, meanwhile, are open to visit.

The türbes include works of classical Ottoman architecture such as those built by Mimar Sinan [d. 1588], from the late classical period like the imperial architects Davud Ağa and Sedefkar Mehmed Ağa, all the way to the works of Mimar Kemaleddin, who was one of the national architects during the Westernization period. This historical and spatial variety is rarely found elsewhere in the world.

In general an Ottoman türbe is a dome supported by low walls with the typical banding of two layers of brick and one of stone. Dressed stone was generally used for the materials and could be clad in marble siding if the deceased was particularly wealthy or important, such as a sultan. The walls would be pierced by windows so that one could observe the contents and pray without actually entering the structure or it might not have walls at all. In the latter case the dome would be supported on columns.

Türbes are usually located within mosque complexes or in the many cemeteries located around the city. In the case of the Sufi mystic orders, the founder’s türbe and his principal followers could be found within the grounds of the order’s lodge. They could and can still be visited and have an important place in Turkish-Islamic culture as well as in architectural history.

Usually these türbes were part of a foundation that would be set up by the deceased; in turn, donations to the foundation would be provided for the upkeep of the mausoleum.

Money would be allocated for the facility’s upkeep and a salary and expenses for someone who would take care of the türbe. In the case of the türbes that belonged to the leaders of the dervish sects, the money for maintaining them might come from the pockets of wealthy followers or, in the case of mendicant sects, from begging for donations on the streets.

The person responsible for the upkeep might offer rose oil and rose water to guests, as well as food and drink like aşure pudding, sherbet or sugar candy. Such gifts would be considered part of the expenses or might be met by donations.

Donating to the türbes

Donating used items or decorative items to the türbes was widespread during the Ottoman era and many important period works have been accumulated in such türbes.

Türbes carry an importance both architecturally and historically that is related to the people buried in them and in Turkish-Islamic beliefs. The various items that are to be found in the türbes offer a selection of items that range from the artistic to the personal.

Among these items on display in the exhibition are relics such as the hair of the Prophet Mohammed, sacred items and Ka’aba covers; calligraphic plaques, some of which were produced by such sultans as Mahmud II, Abdülmecid and Abdülaziz; handwritten Qurans; items used personally by Sufi sheikhs such as Yahya Efendi, Aziz Mahmud Hüdayi and Karacaahmed and placed in the türbes following their deaths; and a whole variety of small handicraft items.

“Hırkas” (short mantles or coats), headgear and walking sticks, the backpack that Aziz Mahmud Hüdayi used, shirts on which writing occurs that belonged to Hüdayi and Yahya Efendi and artwork signed by calligrapher Rakam Efendi are included. At the same time there are examples of the holy relics that were collected when Yavuz Sultan Selim conquered Egypt in 1517.

Visitors to the exhibit can view various items that were collected from türbes between the 16th-17th centuries and the 20th century. Objects include everything from the hanging candle holder that Sultan Ahmed I donated to the Eyüp Sultan türbe to the items use to serve guests at the türbe of Zeynep and Kamil Paşa, such as a sugar bowl and an aşure jug.

The display of plaques handwritten by the Ottoman sultans, Mahmud II, Abdülaziz and Abdülmecid has to be considered as part of a special collection. The sultans took lessons in calligraphy from important calligraphic instructors while they still were princes. One can find many of these works that belonged to the sultans in mosques, palaces, tekkes (Sufi lodges) and türbes.

The clothing of the Sufi orders, known as their “dowry,” is attributed to the gifts that were lowered to the Prophet Mohammed during his ascent to heaven and has an important place in the cultural heritage of the Ottoman period. The ritual clothing like the headgear, belt, walking stick and bath clogs have been displayed as the dervishes’ dowry.

The many items include the mantle and skullcap of Karacaahmed who settled in Üsküdar prior to the conquest of Istanbul and the mantle, walking stick and leather inner shoe of Yahya Efendi, whose mother breast-fed Süleyman the Magnificent. Also on display are the walking stick, headgear, packsaddle and robe of Aziz Mahmud Hüdayi. They make up an attractive and interesting collection.

The items were chosen from the türbes of Sünbül Efendi, Aziz Mahmud Hudai, Merkez Efendi, Yahya Efendi, Eyüp Sultan, Karacaahmed, Nurredin Cerrahi and Ramazan Efendi. In addition there were candlesticks, low tables, incense burners, rose water flasks and book rests.

Some of the rare treasures belonging to the directorate include a covering of the Ka’aba, a covering of the Prophet’s Tomb. Among these works are such important examples as a plaque made of tiles brought from the Tomb of the Prophet, a plaque made up of the leaves of a tree that the Prophet Mohammed planted and the Kadem-I Saadet curtain signed by Hattat Rakim Efendi with the official signature of Mahmut II.

Many items like the candlesticks made from valuable metals that the members of the imperial dynasty donated and the Qurans written by local calligraphers signal that the türbes reflect the fabric of society. Many of the works exhibited for the first time provide a source for Turkish and foreign visitors, as well as historians and art historians to better understand Ottoman society.

Ramadan is one of the times when families visit the graves of loved ones to offer prayers for their souls and sometimes to offer petitions for help with this or that problem.

Although such visits are not made to the türbes of sultans, some visit the burial sites of dervish leaders, who have come to be regarded as saints, to seek help. Women especially come to tie ribbons on the iron grills of the türbe or even attach a written plea for marriage, children or good health. While such visits are not encouraged by orthodox Muslim authorities, the practice has survived until the present day.

Whatever the case, from now until Sept. 19, 2010, people don’t need to peer into a türbe window to see what’s inside it – they can just visit “Gates to Eternity: Türbeler” at the Topkapı Palace Museum.

Picture: From left to right: A 19th century aşure jug, a turban worn by a dervish leader, part of the inner curtain of the Ka'aba, and hair from the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh). Photo: HDN.

Mainstream

By Deborah Solomon, *Imagining the Prophet* - The New York Times - New York, NY, USA
Friday, September 3, 2010

Interview by Deborah Solomon: Questions for Deepak Chopra

As a leader of alternative medicine who was born in India and raised as a Hindu before opening a wellness center in California, what led you to write your new book, “Muhammad,” a fictionalized biography of the Muslim prophet?

I had previously written “Jesus,” and I grew up in an environment where the kids in my school were either Muslim or Jewish or Zoroastrian. New Delhi has a very eclectic mix. There wasn’t any animosity. Having said that, my grandparents were prejudiced and Islamophobic. If a Muslim’s shadow crossedmy grandmother’s body — she lived with us — she would go and take a shower.

No!

Yes! My father was a doctor, an army cardiologist. He was very secular, and we discussed how prejudiced my grandparents were and how we would never be like that. So that was my upbringing. I was always interested in going deeply into the life of the Prophet.

The Muhammad who emerges from your book is not completely admirable. He’s a fearful and illiterate orphan who runs from his visions before he finally becomes a warrior. Are you concerned someone will issue a fatwa against you?

I wrote the book factually and with respect. Beyond that, I can’t control anyone’s reaction.

You are pretty inventive in a chapter narrated by Eli, a Jewish scribe who is employed by Muhammad to follow him around and write down his every observation.

Medina had a Jewish population. The Jews were the ones who knew how to read and write. The Arabs, including the Prophet, were mostly illiterate. A writer of historical fiction has poetic license.

Do you think it is possible that the Koran was actually written by Jews?

How come there are so many references to Moses and the prophets in the Koran? I would not be surprised if Jewish scribes inserted a lot of that.

The Persians, too, were very literate. They gave us the poems of Rumi, the Sufi mystic.

Everyone says there are no Muslim moderates, and if there are, they never speak up. The Sufis are indeed the reformers. Imam Rauf and his wife are Sufis and reformers and have been doing great work for years.

You refer to Feisal Abdul Rauf, who is overseeing the planned Islamic center in Lower Manhattan. Are you saying Sufism represents the reform branch of Islam?

Yes. Traditional Islam is a mixture of all obedience to Allah, and if that requires militancy, so be it. Whereas Sufism exalts beauty, intuition, tenderness, affection, nurturing and love, which we associate with feminine qualities.

Do you see any parallels between Sufi and New Age philosophies?

New Age is such a mixed bag. I don’t like the term because in many ways it bastardizes some of the great traditions.

How do you define your practice?

I was trained as a medical doctor. I went to medical school because I wanted to ask the big questions. Do we have a soul? Does God exist? What happens after death? And so I gradually moved in the direction of what I can only call a secular spirituality.

Do you think God exists?

Yes, but not as a dead white male.

How would you define spirituality as opposed to religion?

Self-awareness and awareness of other people’s needs.

If someone asks what religion you are, what do you say?

I say God gave humans the truth, and the Devil came and said, “Let’s organize it, we’ll call it religion.”

At least religion is free to worshipers. Isn’t it costly to attend a meditation retreat at the Chopra Center?

I hardly break even. It’s very labor-intensive, and insurance does not cover it, although there is some progress. Religions take donations and don’t pay taxes. Look at the wealth of the Vatican!

Should insurance companies cover meditation classes?

Yes. If insurance companies paid for lifestyle-management classes, they would save huge sums of money. We need to see that alternative medicine is now mainstream.

Together

By Joseph Allencherril, *Classic Flicks: A window on the world with Ron Fricke's Baraka* - The Rice Thresher - Houston, TX, USA
Friday, September 3, 2010

Here's a quick linguistics lesson: In the context of this film, "baraka" refers neither to the female version of our current president's name, nor does it refer to my favorite Mortal Kombat character.

In Judaism, the word signifies a ceremonial blessing. In Arabic, Swahili, Urdu, Persian and Turkish, it is "spiritual wisdom from God."

The Sufi translation of baraka - also the translation given on the film's Blu-Ray cover - is "the thread that weaves life together."

Brilliant: a multilingual pun in the title of the film alone.

The Sufi definition of the word is probably the one to which director and cinematographer Ron Fricke ascribes his wordless 1992 film, Baraka. At this point, one might suspect the film to be a pseudo-philosophical treatise on the circle of life, but Baraka defies being pigeonholed into any simple category. Baraka is like Planet Earth - minus the exotic species and plus Homo sapiens - and raises the question: How different are we all from one another?

This sprawling, globe-spanning film was shot at 152 different locations in 24 countries on the large 70 mm Todd-AO format with equipment that Fricke designed himself.

The film's lack of words might be frustrating to some viewers, but Baraka was not produced as a run-of-the-mill nature or travel documentary for National Geographic Channel. Captions would only mar and detract from Fricke's pristine images of nature, man and technology, all of which are expertly juxtaposed across the continents.

Fricke is truly an Imagist poet of the cinema, possessing some hybrid of the photography skills of Ansel Adams and Henri Cartier-Bresson.

Early in the film, we witness the bath of an orangutan in a hot spring, the wink of an iguana and an ocean of clouds. Later, we painfully look on as a group of Indians sift through a garbage dump alongside hogs, cows and dogs.

Fricke's slow, watchful camera carefully peels away at the mysterious relationship between mankind, nature, technology and the eternal. He is unafraid of getting close and is masterfully able to record his subjects - be it a tribe of aborigines or a horde of commuters at Grand Central Station - in their natural state.

It is not difficult for a film with a pure cinematic approach to slip into the realm of kitschy cinematic gimmicks and clichés. Granted, almost anything appears interesting when viewed in fast or slow motion - such as when Fricke takes the viewer on a speed-tour of an area with time-lapse photography - but all of Fricke's devices only serve to underscore the vitality of his images.

In a nonverbal film like this, the music plays a major role. Even the silent films of old were not truly "silent"- what was lacking in words was made up for in musical accompaniment. Indeed the fusion of ethnic music by Michael Stearns and the hi-tech music of Dead Can Dance feature prominently and deepen the contrast between ancient and modern in the film.

This film has been so beautifully restored that film critic Roger Ebert has called it "the finest video disc I have ever viewed or ever imagined." But don't take his word for it (or mine, for that matter). For an unforgettable cinematic experience, you must obtain the Blu-Ray version and find or make friends who have a private home theater.

I would be remiss if I did not mention Fricke's work as cinematographer for other directors' movies - most famously for Koyaanisqatsi (1982), the first installment of Godfrey Reggio's famed Qatsi trilogy, and most interestingly for Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith.

Full disclosure: I am not myself a fan of Koyaanisqatsi, which felt much like a one and a half hour music video of repetitious Phillip Glass arpeggios - music set to film, rather than vice versa. Yet there is a good chance that other viewers may find existential pleasure in moments where I found myself falling asleep.

And, if you have 40 minutes, you might also want to take a look at Fricke's experimental meditation on time, Chronos (1985), which streams for free on http://www.hulu.com/ [US residents only], as of this writing.

It is also a good idea to be on the lookout for the release of Samsara, Fricke's sequel to Baraka, which is in production and expected to be in theatres by 2011.

The time gap of 19 years between Baraka and Samsara ought to make one curious and excited about what grand cinematic feast Fricke has prepared for his audience now.

Picture: The human spectacle forms the centerpiece of Fricke's cinematic epic.

Tighter Than The Threads

By Anna Nemtsova, *Russian government funds select Islamic schools to stem radicalism* - Telegraph Uk / Russia Now / Rossiyskaya Gazeta - UK / Russia // Wednesday, September 1, 2010

The Russian government will spend $13m each year to support education. Critics are unsure of the impact on the conflict-torn region in the North-Caucasus

On a recent weekend morning, six young women in long, colourful dresses and headscarves waited for a bus to pick them up at their campus, the North-Caucasus Islamic University Centre of Education and Science in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan. Serious and silent, the first-year students were preparing for their first "zairat", a visit to a sheikh and a ritual in Sufi Islam.

"This day is the most important one in my life," said Renata, an 18-year-old student and follower of Sufism, a mystical movement within Islam.

"I am going to find out if I can become my teacher's murid [follower]. My heart will know the answer as soon as I see the sheikh."

The form of religion practiced by Renata and her fellow students is a moderate stream of Islam that the Russian state has begun to encourage – and subsidise – in an effort to combat the religious extremism that has taken hold in Dagestan and other Russian republics in the North Caucasus.

Dagestan is racked by a low-level guerrilla war, a complicated and painful conflict marked by suicide bombings, the assassination of police, mayors and religious leaders, and the abduction and murder of peaceful Muslims. These crimes are interwoven with ethnic strife, internal corruption, poverty and unemployment – all of it tighter than the threads in a hand-made Dagestan rug.

In an effort to counter the proselytising of Islamic fundamentalists often funded by foreign governments, Russia is underwriting the education of moderate religious leaders and teachers at seven Islamic universities, in Moscow, Tatarstan, Bashkyrkostan and in four North Caucasus republics, including Dagestan.

Rufik Mukhamedshin, the rector of Russian Islamic University in Kazan, said he hopes the state will also standardise diplomas issued by Islamic educational institutes and ensure they are accepted across Russia as proper academic qualifications.

The Kremlin's Fund for the Support of Islamic Culture, Science and Education will spend about $13m a year on educational, scholarship and publishing programmes. At Renata's university, the school's leadership is clear about its goal – to propagate a form of Islam that the government finds acceptable. Besides Islamic subjects, the 1,500 students at the university study journalism, economy, state history, law and finance.

"As reformers, we are creating unified educational methods for training future schoolteachers of Islam," said Maksud Sadikov, chairman of the recently founded Russian Council of Islamic Education. "We need to educate imams for at least 2,500 mosques registered in Dagestan, and hundreds of teachers for Islamic elementary schools, madrassahs and universities. . . We are also training consultants for the police and the Federal Security Service to help fight extremism and radicalism in the republic."

But the creation of an officially sanctioned version of Islam and the marginalisation of those who fail to subscribe to it is fueling extremism, not tamping it down, according to some human rights activists.

"To reform Islam in Russia, the authorities need to make an effort to listen to all religious leaders, and not just to the loyal ones," said Tatyana Lokshina, deputy director of Human Rights Watch. "The development of civil society institutions that would protect human rights is the solution to Dagestan's issues."

Yet some ordinary Dagestanis say there is only one accepted form of Islam, and no room to follow a conservative idea of Islam without repression.

Oppressed and suppressed

Aisha Yusupova, a 30-year-old mother of four, said she divorced her husband Eldar Naruzov to ease the police pressure on her family, which she described as Salafi, a puritanical or fundamentalist branch of Islam. "I was tired of him being constantly detained and persecuted for allegedly helping the extremist underground in the mountains," said Yusupova.

She said her divorce did not make her life easier, and that she is under constant surveillance. "Yes, I am a Salafi," she said, "but I am a peaceful Muslim and I want to be left alone, if not understood."

After the fall of the Soviet Union, Dagestan and other republics experienced an influx of Arab ideologues promoting fundamentalist Islam that had nothing but contempt for local traditions, according to local Sufis.

"They taught us Arabic. They brought us trucks full of Wahhabi literature translated into Russian," said Patimat Magomedova, 37, a schoolteacher, referring to the Saudi fundamentalist interpretation of Islam. "They told us not to recognise Sufi sheikhs, or any of our traditional knowledge of Islam."

Young Dagestanis also study Islam at universities of Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey and other centres providing free Islamic education. A local government commission estimates that 1,000 Dagestan students travel to the Middle East for higher education, mostly religious education.

"One of the most important ideas behind our reform of Islamic education is to provide students with fundamental knowledge of Islam at home, in Russia," said Yuriy Mikhailov, a religious author who has urged the Kremlin to underwrite moderate education programmes and institutions.

"And then later, when they turn 25, they can continue their graduate and post-graduate programmes at universities that Russia has agreements with. The state needs to keep records of students getting education abroad, and of universities they go to."

Not all the Islamic universities of Dagestan want funding or help from Moscow. About 150 miles south of Makhachkala, in the 5,000-year-old town of Gubden, the Islamic community has survived political changes.

In Soviet times, Gubden's madrassah was turned into a culture centre. The Alims, or men of learning, continued to teach children secretly at homes, using old Arabic books. In the last decade, Gubden's conservative Islamic community reconstructed their Madrassah. Imams use money the town's believers donate together to build small businesses to keep the schools independent financially. They own a petrol station and founded their own fire brigade.

Last year Gubden's university lost its state licence, but the rector of Gubden madrassah and university, Akram, said that it did not stop his about 500 students from attending lessons.
"All we want from the state is to please leave us in peace, please leave us alone. We taught our children Islam for hundreds of years, we have our old books and our alims to teach Islam," rector Akram said.

The rector introduces reporters to his students, hundreds of children and college students in every classroom of Gubden's madrassah. They sit on the floor swaying from side to side, learning the Koran by heart.

This is not the kind of teaching the Kremlin's educational leaders have in mind.

Like Lokshina of Human Rights Watch, Mikhailov argues that different views of Islam should be vented, not suppressed.

"Dagestan cannot solve its problems only by police methods – this way we just push the religious opposition out of our society and into the guerrilla movement," he said.

"Free media and civil society should become the channels for the heated emotions instead. And that is the biggest gap in our work."

The numbers

16 million people in Russia, or approximately 11pc of the population, profess a Muslim faith, though estimates widely vary

$30 million was spent by the Russian Ministry of Education and Science on Islamic education throughout the country

2.5 million Muslims – mostly immigrants – are said to live in Moscow, more than in any European capital except Istanbul

Pictures: Dagestan: some Islamic universities have children's educational programmes Photo: Ury Kozyrev. / The madrassah in Gubden offers a comprehensive programme for female students Photo: Ury Kozyrev.