Sufism Is Growing

By Simon Stjernholm, *A study of Naqshbandi-Haqqanis Sufis in the 21st century* - EurekAlert - Sweden; Thursday, May 26, 2011

Many people predicted the death of Sufism – what could Islamic mysticism have to do with the third millennium? But after the terrorist attacks in New York and London, the Sufi movement has been gaining ground.

It campaigns against extremist violence and in favour of peace and love.

Simon Stjernholm has studied how one of the most successful Sufi orders has managed to establish itself in several countries over the last decade.

In the middle of the 1900s, many people felt that Sufism, with its mystical rituals, would disappear as Muslim societies became modernised. Sufism can be described as Islamic mysticism, the spiritual, inner dimension of Islam as a complement to Sharia, the outer dimension. Its focus is on self-improvement and the quest for direct contact with the divine. Rituals with whirling dervishes and visits to holy shrines are part of the Sufi tradition.

But Sufism did not die; instead it became a force to be reckoned with. In the war against terrorism, after the attacks against the World Trade Center, politicians in a number of different countries including the USA, Europe and Central Asia, chose to form alliances with Sufi Muslims. But the embrace of the Sufi movement by the West is not uncomplicated, according to Simon Stjernholm.

"The West tends to idealise Sufism - it includes a longing for freedom and focuses less on strict rules. But what is often missed is that Sufi groups are not always more democratic and peace-loving than other Muslim groups. How Sufism is practiced depends on the social context."

Simon Stjernholm has particularly studied one of the fastest-growing Sufi orders in his doctoral thesis Lovers of Muhammad: A Study of Naqshbandi-Haqqanis Sufis in the Twenty-First Century. They have their headquarters in London and Cyprus but have managed to establish themselves in broad groups in various countries, thereby uniting Sufi disciples over both ethnic and cultural boundaries.

"Within Sufism, there is great frustration over the way in which the image of Islam has been hijacked by extremists; they want to offer a contrasting image, and the Naqshbandi-Haqqani movement in particular has been clever at communicating this message, both to politicians and the media and within the Muslim community."

In the wake of the terrorist attacks on the London underground in 2005, Naqshbandi-Haqqanis spokesman Shayk Kabbani laid the blame on other Muslim organisations. Reactions were swift and the Sufi movement was strongly condemned by its opponents.

The criticism focuses on the way Shayk Kabbani has appointed himself to speak on behalf of Islam, whereas other Muslim organisations maintain that he cannot represent Islam in any way.

In spite of this, the charismatic Shayk Kabbani has succeeded in linking other Sufi orders to himself by getting Sufi Muslims to unite around a common goal: to give Islam a face that has nothing to do with violence and extremism. After the terrorist attacks in London, a skilled group worked around Kabbani to build networks at various levels, bringing teachers and disciples together with their peers. This led to the creation of the Sufi Muslim Council, which was applauded by the government and by British politicians.

Kabbani has also produced a large number of books over the past decade, including translations of known Sufi works. Sufism through the ages has had many great artists and literary heroes. In this area, British and American converts have played an important role as translators.

"My conclusion is that a global trend is underway, Sufism is growing and will have an increasing role rather than dying out. An important sign of this is that more and more influential, learned Muslims claim to represent 'traditional Islam' with strong ties to Sufism."

On 30 May, Simon Stjernholm will publicly defend his thesis Lovers of Muhammad: A Study of Naqshbandi-Haqqanis Sufis in the Twenty-First Century. The thesis abstract can be found here.

Quietly Relieved

By Hamish McDonald, *Magic carpet a threadbare memory* - The Sydney Morning Herald - Sydney, Australia; Saturday, May 7, 2011

Osama bin Laden was an orientalist's dream or nightmare - the bearded, softly spoken messianistic figure in flowing robes, keeping a harem of wives, surrounded by fanatical acolytes, riding the modern magic carpet of the internet, vanishing like a
genie from the swarms of soldiers that tried to catch him. Now that he has been located, killed, and buried in the Arabian Sea, is that the end of the magic?

The answer from the history of violent utopian movements like his is: probably yes, now that the myth of invincibility has been punctured, though his image will live on in internet clips and bands of followers will try to perpetuate his declared mission.

The Muslim world's perceived propensity to be swept by suddenly-appearing sects led by charismatic redeemers is part of our Western stereotype of Islam. It goes back a long way.
In modern times, the British empire was shaken by the Great Indian ''Mutiny'' of 1857, in which Hindus and Muslims united to restore Mughal glory. Less than three decades later, the British hold on Egypt was threatened by the rise of a Sudanese warrior, Muhammad Ahmad, who had proclaimed himself the Mahdi, the ''Guide'' or prophesied redeemer of Islam who would rid the world of evil before judgment day.

Later, more confident Western imperialists tried playing with fire. John Buchan's prescient World War I thriller Greenmantle had both German and British intelligence services trying to ignite an Arab uprising to their advantage, using charismatic Islamic figures. ''There is a dry wind blowing through the East, and the parched grasses wait the spark,'' one character says.

That was written as T.E. Lawrence was stirring up the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Turkish empire. In the 1930s, his autobiography Seven Pillars of Wisdom became a textbook for officers in the Japanese Imperial Army staff, who sought to infiltrate bazaars from Java across to the Middle East to stir unrest against the British and Dutch.

Bin Laden himself was an example of such an operation rebounding horribly against its organisers. In the 1980s he had been one of the mujahideen or freedom fighters sponsored and armed by American and allied intelligence agencies against Soviet forces in Afghanistan. Setting the East ablaze is a dangerous business.

Governments in the Islamic world are touchy about the risks. This week in Iran, Abbas Amirifar, a prominent cleric and aide to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was arrested for supporting a film titled The Coming Is Near, suggesting the Mahdi was about to appear. The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was not pleased.

Of course, millenarian movements are not confined to the Muslim world. America and other largely Christian nations like ours periodically see large numbers of people put into a frenzy by prophets of a ''second coming''. India always has its ''God Men'' who gather huge followings through their apparently supernormal abilities.

General Charles Gordon, the British army general overwhelmed and killed with all his forces in Khartoum in 1885 by the Sudanese ''Mahdi'' had won his fame and nickname ''Chinese'' Gordon by quelling the Taiping rebellion that swept China between 1850 and 1864, resulting in 20 million deaths. It was started by a Christian convert named Hong Xiuquan, who wanted all Chinese to adopt his version of the religion.

But to focus on Islamic utopian revolts, they tend to fade after the capture or killing of their charismatic founders, though they can sputter to life in mutated form long after appearing extinct.

In Indonesia, a guerilla commander named Kartosuwirjo turned from fighting the Dutch to rebellion against the new republic, with the goal of creating an Islamic state ruled by sharia law. His Darul Islam (House of Islam) movement faded out in its strongholds in West Java, Aceh and South Sulawesi within a few years of his capture and execution in 1962.

But the transition from authoritarian rule in 1998 saw both radical Islamism and manipulated Islamism. Ambitious generals helped Islamist militia groups attack Christian communities and Islamic sub-groups deemed heretical. ''Blowback'' from Afghanistan helped create Jemaah Islamiyah.

Among Muslims in Australia, there is a minority who still follow bin Laden's Salafist type of faith in jihad. Some refuse to believe he is dead. Some even cling to the belief he never existed, except as a CIA phantom enemy to justify the war on terrorism. Most are quietly relieved he is gone.

At Auburn Town Hall on Wednesday night, I met a 31st-generation direct descendant of the prophet Muhammad, Sheikh Afeefuddin Al-Jailani, who was preaching that all faiths should be respected since ''all of them come from one spring, one source''.

Jailani, who has taught in Malaysia for several years and preaches around the world, has tolerance in his ancestral line too. He's the descendant of a famous 11th-century sufi or mystical Islamic saint, and his great-grandfather was modern Iraq's first prime minister in 1921 who appointed a Jew as his finance minister and a Christian as health minister.

He was sharing a stage with a local Uniting Church minister, a Tongan woman named Mele Koloa Fakahua-Ratcliffe, and a guardian of Auburn's Sri Mandir Hindu Temple, Rajeev Kapoor. The purpose was to rally around the Hindu community, after their temple was recently hit by a drive-by shooting.

The initiative came from an educational exchange agency called the Affinity Intercultural Foundation, set up by two young Turkish-Australians, Mehmet Saral and Ahmet Keskin. They enhanced the eclectic atmosphere by inviting along the Australian Sufi Music Ensemble, who sing their mesmeric religious chants with a didgeridoo backing.

Jailani didn't talk directly about al-Qaeda. But he said faith on its own wasn't enough, it had to be matched by good actions, quoting from a Muslim text that urged: ''Make sure that your name is written in the book of good deeds.''

Jailani also urged his audience to look to ''respected and trusted scholars'' in their religions, and warned against ''spiritual diseases''. When I said later this latter point seemed to have particular relevance this week, he smiled and said: ''Those kind of diseases are the worst kind.''

A Muslim of Turkish-Australian background was more explicit. ''Bin Laden had sullied the name of Islam,'' he said. ''It's a relief to get that weight off our backs.''

Illustration: Simon Letch /SMH

"Jamm"

By Staff Writer, *Cheikh Lô’s "Jamm" Released in N. America June 7; Reconfirms Place Among "Finest, Most Soulful Singers in W. Africa" (Guardian)* - Nonesuch Journal - USA; Friday, May 27, 2011

Senegalese Sufi musician Cheikh Lo’s first album in five years, Jamm, will be released in North America June 7 by Word Circuit / Nonesuch Records. The record received critical praise in the UK and Europe when it was released there last year, with Uncut calling it the “African album of the year,” and the Guardian saying, “Cheikh Lô is back with an album that reconfirms his position as one of the finest, one of the most soulful singers in West Africa.”

In a four-star review, Q called Jamm “true global music to make anyone feel better.” The album is available for pre-order now in the Nonesuch Store.

On Jamm, which means “peace” in Wolof, Lô’s mbalax rhythms and signature blend of semi-acoustic flavors—West and Central African, funk, Cuban, flamenco—support his husky vocals, sung in four different languages (English, Wolof, French, and Jula, a dialect of Bambara spoken in Burkina Faso).

For all its diversity, Jamm is rooted firmly in Lô’s own backyard, built around simple demos recorded with GarageBand software at the house of his friend and bass player Thierno Sarr. Lô’s lead and harmony vocals, acoustic guitar, and percussion have been augmented with additional electric guitar, drums, bass, sax, and Senegalese percussion from members of his regular band. In London, further touches were added by his old friends Tony Allen (drums) and Pee Wee Ellis (sax).

Growing up with Senegalese parents in Burkina Faso near the border of Mali during the 1950s, Cheikh Lô played the musical genres of the time, including Cuban and Congolese styles. He gave his first performances as a young man in Bobo Dioulasso, Burkina’s creative capital and hotbed of musical activity, and later moved to Dakar. But it was not until he made his way to Paris in 1985 that he began to build the relationships that would make up his unique musical community.

Since his first internationally distributed record, the Youssou N’Dour–produced Né La Thiass (1996), Cheikh Lô has received increasing acclaim worldwide.

His last album, Lamp Fall, was highly praised; on NPR’s All Things Considered, African music expert Banning Eyre said Lô “proves himself one of the most dynamic creators in today’s African music” and the Associated Press called the record “a globe-hopping aural adventure.”

Protesters' Calls

By Osama el-Mahdy, *Sufis demand removal of 'pro-Mubarak' figures in their leadership* - Al-Masri Al-Youm - Cairo, Egypt; Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Egyptian Sufis on Tuesday continued protests demanding the removal of various figures from the leadership of their main representative body after a prominent sheikh joined their sit-in Monday.

The protesters began their sit-in 26 days ago to demand the disbanding of the Supreme Council for the Sufi Orders and the removal of its chairman, Sheikh Abdel Hadi al-Qasaby, saying he had supported former President Hosni Mubarak.

The protesters demand the formation of an interim council run by a number of clerics before holding new elections to choose members of a new council.

Sheikh Mohamed Alaa Abul Azayem, a senior Sufi leader, joined the sit-in inside the council's headquarters in Gamaliya on Monday, voicing support for the protesters' demands.

During a press conference, Abul Azayem said he had urged Qasaby to respond to protesters' calls. He added that Qasaby had prior knowledge of plans for a sit-in but downplayed them.

Protesters said Qasaby could not bring an end to the protests except by yielding to their demands.

Meanwhile, Sheikh Mohamed al-Shahawy, spokesperson for the Sufi Reformist Front, stressed demonstrators' right to protest, adding that they would not leave until their demands have been met.

Translated from the Arabic Edition

‘Spiritually Charged’

By Rayan Khan, *Fashion against the evil eye: A vibe of mysticism* - The Express Tribune - Pakistan; Monday, May 23, 2011

Islamabad: The exhibition of Sadia Hyat Khan’s ‘spiritually charged’ bags inscribed with sufi message was inaugurated at Nomad Gallery on Sunday.

“The bags are mostly made of cotton and linen. Sadia’s work is inspired by Bulleh Shah’s verses. The bags also have the evil eye on them,” commented Nomad Gallery Director Nageen Hyat.

The bags in earth tones of beige with inscriptions, designs and calligraphy dangled from bamboo shoots fixed onto the gallery’s ceiling. There is a sense of spiritual cohesiveness to the exhibition, as the bags are displayed alongside Shafique Farooqi’s paintings of swirling dervishes. A quiet, positive mysticism prevails.

“Both Sadia and Farooqi’s works are on display for today,” said Nageen Hyat. “We wanted to link up his Sufi works with Sadia’s bags.”

Meanwhile, Sadia entertained guests with charm and magnetism, all of whom were gushing about the bags.

“I’m a big believer of the evil eye,” said the artist, “and spiritualism is a part of my life. I’m quite a dervish myself,” she announced good-naturedly. “I also love positive poetry and you can see that I’ve got Buleh Shah’s words on the bags. It’s my way to reach out to the new generation, who don’t know much about sufi-mysticism; it’s an important part of our culture and heritage.”

Sadia was inspired to come out with her collection while reading Paulo Coelho. She wanted to imbibe his positive message for readers artistically: “I thought so much was lacking in our culture, especially in terms of spiritualism. Like Coelho, I wanted to put something spiritual and positive for our culture.”

What’s more, these bags don’t solely function as fashionable totes — they double up as esoteric charms against the ubiquitous evil eye and negative energy because Sadia has imparted her own positive mojo and prayers into their seams. “I actually got the beads I put on the bags from tasbees and prayed on them before I sowed them in.”

Fashion and mysticism blend seamlessly in this collection to revitalise our spiritual roots with durable bags that are “funky and contemporary for everyday usage.” More fashionable than your average taveez and a lot more modern than prayer beads, these bags are a must-have for those seeking a spark of positive, sufi energy in their lives.

Following the one-day exhibition, ‘dervish’ bags will be available at Nomad Gallery.

Fresh Air

By Nuzhat Rehman, *Keeping qawwali alive* - Dawn.com - Karachi, Pakistan; Saturday, May 21, 2011

Rains may come later to this blistering hot city but Farid Ayaz and Abu Mohammad qawwal brought a breath of fresh and lively air for the beleaguered Karachites through their performance of traditional Sufi works.

The two sons of the legendary qawwal Munshi Raziuddin had organized this event on the eighth death anniversary of their father.

Farid Ayaz and Abu Mohammad have revived this form of recitation of Sufi literature over the last few decades and are keeping the art alive by preparing their younger generation to take the stage when their time comes.

The event, held Friday night, started with a performance by a group of teenage children, who left the audience in a rapturous applause. The two qawwal maestros then captivated the listeners, and the evening ended with a documentary based on Munshi Raziuddin’s interview and samples of his par-excellence performances.

Photo: Tahir Jamal/ White Star [More photos on the original article (ed.)]

Chausser du 42!

By Noor Adam Essack, *R. Hasan Miyan: “Oppression exists in all patriarchal socities”* - Le Défi Media Groupe - Port Louis, Mauritius; Friday, May 20, 2011

There is a general perception that Islam is not a very tolerant religion. We often hear that countries which are predominantly Muslim sometimes persecute religious minorities…

I would rather say that Islam, as practiced and “used” by radical leaders, is not tolerant. In fact, in some of the so-called Islamic countries, it is not only non-Muslim minority groups who are persecuted; Shi’ites or Ahmadis also are persecuted.

In Iraq, for example, although the Shi’ites represent a majority, they are persecuted along with the minority groups. The problem is not with Islam and the true teachings of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). The problem lies rather with human (mis)interpretations and subsequent actions which suit the political motives and/or economic objectives of ruling parties. This kind of persecution is more connected to political tactics to gain or retain power.

Of course, there is also the “hatred” for other religions, rooted in fanaticism. And we all know that fanaticism continues to exist because ignorance prevails. Muslims who think that non-Muslims do not deserve any respect or compassion are far from the example of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). In fact, he taught that Christian and Jewish tribes who accepted Muslim law must be allowed to worship in their own way and to live according to their own laws.

In any discussion about Islam, the question of women always comes up. Many people believe that Muslim women have an inferior status to men and that they are generally oppressed by men (either by their husbands or fathers, brothers, uncles; etc). What's your view?

Let us be clear about this: a woman in Islam is not inferior to a man. There are so many verses of the Koran and teachings which indicate that God (Allah) considers both in much the same way. Islam emphasises separate roles and responsibilities for women and men based on their natural traits and possibilities; for example, the task of nurturing children goes naturally to the women who carry and give birth to them while men’s responsibility consists in providing the family with the material means of survival.

But this does not imply that a woman cannot be economically active; in fact, it is to be noted is that if a woman has her own source of income, she does not have the obligation to spend it for her family. Now, who would be foolish enough to think or say that either of these roles is inferior or superior! The idea of superiority arises only if one thinks that working outside the home is more important than taking care of the family; but no-one can deny the importance of the family unit as the basis of society and how an individual’s character is shaped by his family life. Islam promotes these values and empowers both men and women in their respective roles.

The notion that women are generally oppressed by men is true to some extent because as mentioned earlier, Islamic laws are subject to human interpretation and patriarchal societies do tend to favour male dominance. May I also add that this dominance and oppression exist in all patriarchal societies and are not only to be found in some Muslim countries.

As a rule, many Muslim men as individuals, be they husbands, fathers or brothers, are very much aware of the true teachings of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and treat their womenfolk with respect and affection, in line with the saying that “Paradise lies at the feet of mothers” or “the best among you are those who treat women well”.

It is very interesting to note how the Prophet (pbuh), rightly and understandably, emphasised the importance of girls’ education when he said: “Educate a girl, you educate a family.”

I know that Sufism is important to you. Can you tell us what Sufism is all about?

Sufism is the inner or spiritual dimension of Islam through which one comes to know oneself. It is the path upon which we engage in Jihad akbar – that is the greater battle – which is the battle against the lower self, its desires and fears, its habitual impulses which cause us to be out of harmony with the Divine Nature. It is only after this battle has been fought and won that the truly human being can exist.

In fact it implies acknowledging our shortcomings and defects in our character – spiritual illnesses as they are called. Examples of these illnesses include anger, violence, envy, arrogance, selfishness, etc, which adversely affect our feelings and thought processes. The next step is to find the remedies and the means to cure them.

This is why the Sufi disciple needs a Shaykh or Pir – a spiritual guide who is the one who can, by Allah’s guidance and permission, reach the depths of the disciple's soul and transform his or her negative qualities. Indeed, Sufism revolves around the master-disciple relationship and no-one can claim to be walking on the Sufi path without the guiding hand of a living master.

One well-known Sufi teaching even affirms that Shaytaan [the devil] becomes the master of the one who has no master. Ultimately, the seeker’s aim is to know his Lord since Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said that he who knows himself knows his Lord.

Sufis therefore strive to reach God and the main characteristic of this path is Love. Enraptured in the love of God, the Sufi seeks to discover the reality of laa ilaaha il lal laah, there is no God but He, through the very important practice called dhikr or remembrance of God which causes the heart to become fonder until he/she is utterly consumed, annihilated (fana).

But Sufism is espoused by some and rejected by others. Why do you think this is so?

One reason to reject Sufism is surely the lack of knowledge about what it is in reality. Some people don’t even bother to find out, they just take for granted whatever criticism they hear while others choose to reject Sufism because their parents have always done so and they just follow suit.

On the other hand, Sufis are known to be tolerant while radical Muslims do not accept this so-called non-conformity to Islamic rules and regulations. Again it is a question of understanding and interpretation.

Cultural tendencies also can explain this difference. For example, in many Sufi traditions, music or singing is allowed.

If there are different Sufi schools of thought, Mauritius is not spared because it seems to me that there are different brands of Sufism in our country, and even among the Murids in Mauritius there are apparently divisions...

…Very true. But is not diversity a necessity? There are surely as many brands of Sufism in our country (and elsewhere) as there are human preferences. According to me, divergence should not be seen as a curse: it provides a measure of our magnanimity or lack of it. As Cheikh Abdoulaye used to say : tout le monde ne peut chausser du 42 ! [We do not all use a 42-size pair of shoes!]

A Welcoming Hand

By Jennifer Sallans, *The Next Step: A Journey for the Soul on the Path to God* - PR Web - Ferndale, WA, USA; Thursday, May 19, 2011

Over the past decade, Sharon Marcus has established herself as an eminent Canadian author in writings related to the mystical branch of the Islamic spirituality known as Sufism. Marcus, a Toronto-based writer, has published 10 books through The Sufi Press, with her most recent, The Next Step: A Sufi Primer, perhaps the most enlightening, enriching and universally accessible of any of her works. The Next Step speaks eloquently to the Sufi experience, even as it reaches out with a welcoming hand, to those of other faiths who may be seeking a deeper understanding of Sufi spirituality and belief.

For more than three decades, Marcus has been a student and adherent of the teachings of the renowned Sufi master Muhammad Raheem Bawa Muhaiyadeen, who worked tirelessly until his death in 1986, to bring unity through knowledge and understanding, to the faithful of all global religions. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, himself the author of more than 20 books, spent his time on Earth awakening and strengthening faith in God within people's hearts. Many scholars and religious leaders from the Islamic, Judaic, Christian, and Hindu communities consider him to be a true saint.

The Next Step: A Sufi Primer acknowledges the journey we all must take in our lifetime, the journey of the human spirit and soul, where it might lead us. It acknowledges the true believer's deep love for God, the yearning to know Him, to return to His side, and to acknowledge that He is the beginning and the end of all things. The Next Step observes that this journey can, at times, be very much a struggle, but also that as we fall and perhaps fail, we must inevitably pick ourselves up and carry on, coming ever closer to the joy of wisdom, peace, and bliss, the hope of a oneness with God.

Over the course of its 243 pages, The Next Step takes followers on a journey of self-awareness on the path to God. As Marcus writes in the chapter called The Darkness Within: "There is a point in the life of each of us when we can stand back, look at what we are, and recognize the implications of specific choices we have made . . . There is a moment when we recognize responsibility for our state, when we notice with surprise how much is in our hands, has been determined by what we have intended and done." In a similar vein, as Marcus wrote in a previous publication, Sufi: "Faith and wisdom are profoundly intertwined; faith provides the solid root for wisdom’s growth and wisdom nourishes the soil in which faith can grow . . ."

Marcus is a masterful writer, eloquent in her words, sensitive and insightful in her thoughts and beliefs, appreciative of all that adherence to the teachings of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen has offered her. Her intent in The Next Step is to honour the Sufi master as she tries to cast a net of knowledge, understanding and interaction among the faithful of all religions. This, then, is a book for the followers not only of Islam and Sufism, but also for those of all religions and beliefs.

The Next Step reminds us, once again, that on the path of life and within the human soul, we are all one – there is more, much more, that serves to unite us than divide us.

Previous publications by Sharon Marcus include: My Years with the Qutb: A Walk in Paradise; Five Times of Prayer; Sufi; Adam's Story; A Traveller's Notebook; The Sufi Experience; The Stradivarius Poems; The Boatman's Holiday; and Nonexistent Poems & Songs of Love.

The Sufi Press publishes poetry, fiction and non-fiction, each book in some way reflecting the informing experience of M.R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen’s mystical teachings.

The Next Step: a Sufi Primer
by Sharon Marcus
ISBN: 9780973753493
$26.95
Date of Publication: April 30, 2011

Cultural Exchange

By Staff Writers, *Being Muslim for a month in Istanbul* - Hurriyet Daily News with Radikal - Istanbul, Turkey; Thursday, May 19, 2011

A small NGO based in northern Thailand that aims to help people experience different religions starts a nine-day program in Turkey that includes lessons on basic Islamic practices and Sufism, joining in communal prayer, choral singing, workshops and discussions and watching whirling Dervishes. 'We are followers of Jesus, we are religious. But we also like getting the perspectives of other people,' says one tour participant

One-day fasting, performing ritual Islamic prayers, visiting mosques and learning more about the Muslim faith… all without having to convert. That is what a Thailand-based program is offering to tourists from around the world who want to dabble in a new religion during a stint in Istanbul.

The program, “Muslim for a Month,” promises an inside look at the Islamic faith, with a focus on the Sufi path and the universal spiritual teachings of Mevlana Rumi. Created by the Thailand-based Blood Foundation cultural exchange it is being run in cooperation with Islamic scholars and peace activists in Turkey.

“This is a cultural exchange program. There is no intention to impose the [Islamic] religion. Each culture, each religion is taught in its own place ... I believe the best place for a Westerner to learn about Islam is Turkey, where the religion is experienced best,” said Muharrem Altığ, a theologian and the guide of the program’s second tour, which started this week with four participants in their 20s and 30s, daily Radikal reported Thursday.

“I participated in the program to see the real Turkey myself,” said Jennifer Brown, a 30-year-old librarian from New Haven, Connecticut, in the United States. She added that she was also trying to understand whether there was any prejudice by Turkish people toward Americans.

Participants in the “Muslim for a Month” program attend lectures on Islam and listen to Quran recitations in the 300-year-old Nakşi Mausoleum. They also participate in prayers, following the motions and saying prayers in their own languages. A one-day fast is also a part of the program.

“We allow them to sleep until noon at the fasting day, so they do not find it too difficult,” Altığ said, adding that participants with health problems and smokers were not forced to fast until the end of the day. “[The important thing] is to teach them the idea [of fasting].”

Eating pork and drinking alcohol is not forbidden during the free evenings in the city.

Scott Bertrand, 33, and Abby Bertrand, 32, an American couple from Texas who have been living in Istanbul’s Üsküdar district for a year, are also participating in the tour. “We are both followers of Jesus, we are religious. But we also like getting the perspectives of other people,” Scott said. He added that they could now better understand the lifestyle of their neighbors in Üsküdar, one of the city’s most religious districts.

The youngest member of the group, 22-year-old Aly Neel from Louisiana, is also living and studying in Istanbul with a scholarship from the Journalists and Writers Foundation. She writes a blog about Turkey in which she tries to combat misperceptions about the country, such as that its inhabitants all ride camels.

She said she has now become used to customs unfamiliar in America, such as taking off her shoes when entering a house or getting a strange look when wearing too-short shorts or T-shirts. “I am considered a conservative person in my hometown. However I realized I cannot jog in such [short shorts] here,” she said.

Despite the name, there are two versions of the “Muslim for a Month” program: a nine-day short course, which consists of a broad introduction to Islam, Sufism, Rumi and Turkish culture, and a more comprehensive 21-day program that offers a deeper exploration of Sufi mysticism and a more thorough immersion into the life and works of Rumi.

The nine-day program combines conventional tourist activities – including visits to the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia, a boat ride on the Bosphorus, sightseeing and shopping at the Grand Bazaar, daytrips to the provinces of Konya, Edirne and Bursa – with religion-related activities. These may include lessons on Islam and basic practices of the religion, as well as on Sufism, choral singing, workshops and discussions, watching whirling Dervishes, working with charity organizations and visiting sites such as the Eyüp Mosque, Süleyman Mosque, Selimiye Mosque, II. Bayezit complex, Ulu Mosque and the tombs of Muslim saints.

The first tour in Istanbul was organized in February of this year with the participation of 13 people from eight different countries. Most were Christians, but two Jewish people and an atheist also participated.

The Blood Foundation

The Blood Foundation, a small nongovernmental organization based in northern Thailand near the Thai-Burma border, also operates other cultural and educational activities. Its “Monk for a Month” temple-stay program in northern Thailand’s Fang Valley offers guests an immersion experience in Buddhism and Thai culture and an opportunity for personal spiritual growth.

The NGO runs a number of education and income-generation projects directly benefiting Burmese refugees, hill tribes and Thai people. It also organizes volunteer teaching programs, bringing volunteer English teachers from all over the world to work in schools along the Thai border.

The foundation cooperates with the Belgesel Agency in Turkey to organize tours in the framework of the “Muslim for a Month” program.

Picture: Participants in the 'Muslim for a Month' program visit Süleymaniye Mosque. Photo: Radikal / Hüseyin Alsancak.

For Her Peer Mullah

By Abdul Mohamin, *Akhoon Shah Mosque - Resurrecting history * - Kashmir Dispatch - India; Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Close to the Zaina Kadal bridge, which might soon be history, the restoration work of Mullah Akhoon Shah mosque by the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) is revealing hidden facets of historical importance. One of the findings of the restoration work is a 380-year-old uncut Quranic text believed to be inscribed on one of the walls of this 17th century Mughal monument.

The monument is located on the fringes of Hari Parbat hills. ASI officials say although Quranic verses are not found inscribed on the walls of this 17th century Mughal monument, but there is a distinct sketchy layout wherefrom the Imam (priest) would lead the prayers.
A closer inspection reveals that Quranic verses from Aayatal Kursi running across the whole arch and Kalmia Sahada written in great calligraphic style could be an area of research,” says an ASI official.

Built by Mughal princess Jahan Ara, the restoration work of the mosque and the Sufi seminary is in progress for more than a year now. The department first restored the collapsed southern wall that contains inscribed Persian couplets. Researchers say that it is after looking at these couplets that one discovers the key about the purpose of establishing this mosque and complex.
“Initially it was assumed that these couplets had been lost forever, but somehow we managed to locate them in the debris and piece them back at their original place,” says Fayaz Ahmad Shah, a top ASI official.

Afshan Bokhari, an Assistant Professor of Art History at the Suffolk University, Boston USA, has worked extensively on Mughal court documents from the 16th to 18th century. She says Mughal princess Jahan Ara Begum, daughter of Emperor Shah Jahan built the mosque and its adjoining Khankhah for her peer Mullah Akhoon Shah Badakashi (1585-1661), a Sufi saint.

Ara and Dara Shikoh had spiritual affinities within the Sufi Qadiriyah Order. Mian Mir Arif and Mullah Akhoon Shah Badakashi are believed to be the patrons of this Sufi order.

“The mosque is definitely Ara's commission, though Shikoh also considered Mullah Akhoon as her peer,” says Afshan. “The Shah Jahan Nama and the British gazetteer indicate that she was the patron of the Mosque.”

According to historians Ara had already commissioned a Mosque in Agra and had made seven visits to Kashmir. In 1638, she visited Kashmir with Shikoh where she met Mian Mir Arif and Mullah Akhoon. And a decade later she commissioned the mosque for her peer Mullah Shah and his disciples.

“People think it was Shikoh who constructed the mosque, but Shikoh’s retreat for Mullah Akhoon was constructed on the Zabarvan hills (commonly called Pari Mahal),” says Afshan.

The Shahada and other Quranic inscriptions are commonly on Mughal Period Mosques, however, Bokhari claims that the Darah Shikoh mosque was “never a proper mosque.” She claims that it was actually a Sufi retreat with architecture of a mosque.

Bokhari backs her claims by saying, “By 1634, Mullah’s followings were at peak and due to the rise in his popularity a section of the Ulema in Kashmir denounced Mullahs’ for heresy and deviation from Islam.”

Mullah’s poetic compositions on the theme of Tawhid (Divine Unity) also reached Emperor Shah Jahan’s court. Contested verses were presented to Shah Jahan as evidence of his apostasy: "I am in hand with God, Why should I care for Mustafa?”

“The ulema signed an official decree seeking a death penalty for Mullah. Shikoh and Ara intervened requesting the emperor to meet with Mullah to inquire about the intended meaning of the contested verse,” she says.

After a long and thoughtful discourse, Shah Jahan made the decree null and void and did not execute Mullah. From the meeting began a twenty-year long mentoring friendship between emperor and the saint.

Bokhari believes that this structure is quite unique among Mughal structures and its preservation will help a lot to know about history. “The Persian couplets are still under research and it seems that they have been written by Ara and are dedicated to Mullah,” she says.

“The couplets on the walls of the mosque are very similar to her (Ara) own poetry in her Sufi treatise: Risala-i-Sahibiyah which is currently being researched and a similar panegyric Persian praise have been used at Agra Mosque that Ara built,” she explains.

The inscription on the threshold is engaging in a more secular invitation: “Oh the opener of the gates has come. Whoever enters it will be safe.”

In most books that have recorded Mughal history, the complex is officially recorded as a Mosque. But an unconventional Mosque Plan and design for the structure is more typical of Timurid Madrassas, shrines and Khanaqahas than Shahjahani Mosques.

The Mosque and the adjoining structure were constructed at a cost of Rs 60,000. Bokari says the tolerant pluralistic religious ethos of Kashmir accommodated various spiritual affinities and both Shikhoo and Ara built structures for them here.

The restoration of Persian couplets, the ASI officials say, is a significant achievement. “Since the discovery we have not looked back and have uncovered a large portion of the structure that was lying buried under the debris,” says Fayaz.

The department has not only revealed this inscription, but the restoration work has thrown light on new chambers, passages, waterways beneath that had remained uncovered so far.

Fayaz says they are trying to restore the buildings as Mughal architecture can be a valuable historical source to learn about that period, besides becoming a tourist attraction in the old city.

“We are also proposing to layout a garden first around this mosque and after full restoration we will extend the garden downwards,” says Fayaz, adding they hope to restore the other portions of the mosque including a lotus top, which is peculiar only to this mosque.

Picture by Yawar Kabli. [Click on the title of this article to the original with many more pictures (ed.)]

Spiritual Metaphors

By Haroonuzzaman, *Understanding Baul language* - The Daily Star - Dhaka, Bangladesh; Saturday, May 14, 2011

Baul bard Lalon says: Kiba Ruper Jhalak Dicche Dvidale ; Ache Adi Makkah Ei Manab Dehe (What beauty flashes on the two-petaled lotus / the original Mecca is in this human body).

Radharomon, another baul, says: “Manush tare chinrey vaibey, tor dehey majhe biraj kore ke?” (Know the man who exists in your body?)

“Deher majhe guru thuiya shishyya hoilai kar?” (Having Guru in the body, who do you become disciple of?)

Hason Raja, a mesmeric mystic, in one of his songs says: “Tare keu dhoritey na pare; shokol ronger manush ek thake mor ghore.” (No one can catch Him; a person of many colors stays in my room.) “Ami dhoritey na pari go tare, chinitey na pari go tare; ke re samailo mor ghore.” (I can't catch Him; I can't even recognize Him; who stopped in front of my house?”

Baul songs, stuffed with enigmas and codes, sum up the Baul philosophy of Dehattaya (Truth in the Body), probably the central theme of Baulism, outlining the aphorism, 'Whatever is in the universe is in the receptacle (the body)'.

In many ways, Bauls' body-centric philosophy is connected t to the thinking of controversial Iranian Sufi thinker, teacher and writer Monsur Hallaji's “Anal Huq” (I am God), to the transcendentalist Emerson, the American poet, who in his poem Gnothi Seauton said :“Take this fact unto thy soul, God dwells in thee”, to Sufi saint Jalauddin Rumi's “Everything of the universe derives from my body”, to Upanishad's “Attamanong Bidi”, and to the monotheistic Vaisnavism of “I am Bramha”. Also, Tagore has a number of songs that talk about the Supreme Being, expressed through the physical existence of a human being.

In fact, all of them hold the view that the body is the microcosm of the universe, and since everything is contained in the body, all worship should be centered on the body.
The Bauls, like tantrics, locate cities, mountains, rivers, pilgrimage places, virtually everything on the map, in the human body.

Therefore, to understand the body-centric Baul songs, conscious efforts should be made to decode the songs, filled with language riddles, using imagery from daily life-activities, such as fishing, farming, sailing, trade and even robbery, foreclosure, and litigation as spiritual metaphors. But before demystifying the inscrutability of the songs, we must look into what Bauls think about the body.

Like tantrics, they hold that the body is the only instrument for gaining liberation and conquering death. Moreover, like tantric tradition, the Bauls do not believe in going against man's nature by suppressing sexual instincts; rather, through sexual union involving yogic practices of breath control, they seek to regain the state of cosmic unity that existed before the creation of the universe.

The Bauls, like other tantric yogic practitioners, conceive of the body as having two forms: the first form is the material or gross body (sthu!a sarira) made up of the skeleton, muscles, organs, etc., which has nine or ten openings or doors which are ears (2) nostrils(2), eyes (2), mouth(1) anus(1) and sexual organ(1). In the Baul tradition, the tenth door may refer to the female sexual organ or to the two-petaled lotus located between the eyebrows. The second form is also an invisible subtle body, called suksma sarfra. The Baul conception of the subtle body for the most part resembles that of the Hindu tantras and of other yogic texts.

The Bauls adopted from the Hindu tantras the system of chakras (centers) arranged along the spinal column from the perineum to the top of the head. These chakras are visualized as lotuses of varying number of petals and are often referred to in Baul songs by the number of petals.

The seven principal chakras in ascending order are as follows: the muladhar chakra at the base of the spinal column, with four petals; the svadhisthan chakra in the region of the genitals, with six petals; the manipur chakra at the level of the navel, with ten petals; the anahata chakra at the level of the heart, with twelve petals; the visuddha chakra in the region of the throat, with sixteen petals; the ajna chakra between the eyebrows, with two petals; and the sahasrar chakra at the top of the head or above the head, with a thousand petals. Muslim Bauls also describe the body in terms of mokams (Arabic maqamat), "stations" or "stages."

The Sufis of Bengal equate the four mokams with the muladhar, manipur, ajna, and anahata chakras. In addition, the Bauls include another mokam, the la mokam, equivalent to the sahasrar or ajna chakra. La mokam, literally meaning "no place," is so called because it represents transcendent space where all dualities are reintegrated into the Supreme.

The subtle body contains a network of numerous channels or naps that serve as conduits for breath. As in Hindu and Buddhist tantrism, three naps are of prime importance in sadhana. The Bauls refer to them by the Hindu tantric terms ira, pingala, and susumna: The ira is to the left of the spinal column, the pingala to the right and the susumna is in the middle. These naps are identified with the holy rivers Ganga, Yamuna and Sarasvati. The place where they come together in the muladhar chakra is named the Triveni which is an important locus in Sadhana.

Lalon says:
“In slippery quay of the Triveni
waves surge without wind.
The dumb speak, the deaf hear,
and a halfpenny tests as gold.”

The aim of Baul Sadhana is to reverse the cosmic process that is to return to the Sahaj state which is the original condition of non-duality that existed before Creation. Male and female principles, Puruja and Prakrti or Sakti, are contained within the microcosmic body of each person, mirroring the macrocosm. The male principle, equated with semen, resides at the top of the head in the highest chakra, the Sahasrar. Here the Supreme exists in a state of perfect unity without any qualities or form; here he is the Atal lswar (the motionless Lord). Since in the Sahasrar everything is integrated into the motionless Lord, there is no duality between the enjoyer and the enjoyed, between God and the devotee.

For Sadhana to be successful, it is necessary to bring under control the six enemies (lust, anger, greed, infatuation, vanity and envy) and the ten sense organs (the five organs of perception and the five organs of action). Unbridled lust (Kama) personified by the god Kama (also called Madan) is man's worst enemy. In order to effect the transformation of lust (Kama), into true love, Prema, the male practitioner, imagines himself as a woman. By "becoming a woman," it is felt his union with a woman will no longer be motivated by desire for physical pleasure.

The active form of the Supreme, called the Sahaj Manush or Adhor Manush becomes manifest in the lowest chakra i.e. the Muladhar, during a woman's menstrual period. It is at this time that the Bauls perform their Sadhana to "catch" Him.

Baul songs say: "In the Muladhar is the mother of the world, and in the Sahasrar is the father. If the two are united, you won't die or be born again."

Sexuality plays an important part in the Bauls' search for Adhor Manush, the ultimate truth. Like the Tantrics, the Bauls believe that the means to experience divine love is through the union of the physical forms of man and woman.

Bauls call divinity by a number of names, reflecting their eclecticism, such as Allah and Ahad ("the One"), Krishna, Man of the Heart. The other names of the divinity are : Uncatchable Moon, Unknown Man, Natural Man (Sahaj Manus), Uncatchable Man, Golden Friend, Unknown Bird, or simply Lord (Shai).

In quest of Moner Manush, Lalon in one of his songs says:
Milon hobe koto dine amar moner manusherei shoney. (When will I be united with the Man of my Heart?).
Searching for the 'Man of the Heart, Radharomon says: “Moner manush na pailey, moner kotha koiyo na.” (If you don't get Moner manush, don't speak your mind.)

Talking about 'Golden Friend', Hason Raja in his song says:
“Shona bondher lagiya mone loy shob teyagiya tar kachhe thaki giya.” (I'll give up everything for my Golden Friend and I'll go and stay with Him.”

Whatever ways the divinity has been expressed, the intentional use of enigmatic language, however, poses an impediment to common understanding. To comprehend Baul songs, it is important to decode the technical terminology that are often composed in an ambiguous style, characterized by code words with several layers of meanings, obscure imagery, erotic symbolism, paradoxical statements, and enigmas. At the most basic level of the ambiguous style is code words or phrases that are the building blocks of the esoteric songs.

Baul songs are composed in an ambiguous style that resembles the Shandhya Bhasa (intentional language) of the Buddhist tantric Caryagiti or Caryapad, the oldest extant texts in Bengali, as well as the enigmatic language of many other esoteric Indian traditions with a tantric background, such as the Sants, Naths, and Vaisnava Sahajiyas.

Bauls do not like to let others know their words, objectives and works related to their worship. The techniques related to their austere devotion, their regrets, suggestions, beliefs and their appeal and surrender to the Creator are expressed in special terms. Bauls have used these special expressions in their songs. Not only did they use their own terminology, but also they assimilated them from Buddhist, Hindu, Sufi and Vaisnab Sadaks (people who practise ascetic austerities) communities into their terms.

The language of their songs is intended to veil their ritual significance from the unskilled who would find these esoteric practices objectionable, and at the same time to reveal to the initiated the ineffable truth which defies logic and cannot be communicated directly through ordinary discourse.

Bauls have made the words of their meditation incomprehensible for some definite reasons:
1) It is because of the prohibition of the Guru
2) It is because they think it to be unwise to express those lingoes to someone who has not been introduced to the secret knowledge
3) It is because their meditation is woman-centered
4) It is because of the fear of the persons who are versed in scriptural knowledge
5) It is because they believe that the efficacy of their practices of ascetic austerities will disappear if they let their secret things be known to all.

Some metaphors in Baul songs are common to the language of Tantric texts, such as "sky" for the Sahasrar Chakra and "moon" for semen and the Supreme. Others are peculiar to the Bauls; for instance, "new moon night" to signify menstruation, or "full moon on the new moon night" to indicate the appearance of the Sahaj Manus in menstrual blood.

Baul poets freely invent code words so that many of them are idiosyncratic, such as Lalon's "city of mirrors" symbolizing the Ajna Chakra. Moreover, the same symbol may have several meanings depending on the context, further complicating the task of interpreting the songs. Thus "moon," in addition to semen and the Supreme, can also designate the female, as in "the moon's new moon night" (that is a woman's menstrual period). Numbers are often used as cipher. For example, the number 16, whether it modifies "guards", "enemies", or "rich men," refers to the 10 senses and the six enemies. Sometimes more than one number can indicate the same concept; nine or 10 modifying doors stand for the nine or 10 openings of the body.

Sometimes an entire song is an extended metaphor. This is often the case with Dehatattwa songs. The body may be depicted as a house with two pillars, nine rooms (the Chakras; although the standard Hindu Tantric system lists seven; they can vary in number depending on the tradition), a basement (Muladhar), and an attic (Sahasrar) in which a madman, who is the Lord, sits; or a bird cage with nine doors (the body), housing an unknown bird (the soul); or a broken-down boat, constantly leaking water (semen); or a tree of beauty that produces moon fruit (offspring). The city of Mecca has also been used in Baul songs to symbolize the body.

Paradoxes in Baul songs are of two types: those that do not seem to have any esoteric significance other than hinting at the ineffable and paradoxical nature of the non-dual Sahaj state, and those that when decoded yield a hidden meaning alluding to secret doctrines. Besides, enigmas are occasionally created by using letters of the Perso-Arabic alphabet.

Lalon's "unknown man" who signifies the Sahaj Manus is described as "Zer on Aliph”, and “Zabar on Mim". "Zer" is the vowel marker “I”, and "Aliph" stands for Allah, while "Zabar" is the vowel marker “A”, and "Mim" symbolizes Muhammad. The solution to the enigma lies not only in the phonetic values of "Zer" and "'Zabar" but also in their positions and literal meanings. "Zer" is placed below a letter and means "inferior," whereas "Zabar" is placed above a letter and means "superior." Thus by referring to the "unknown man" as "Zer on Aliph, Zabar on Mim" Lalon is saying that this figure is "inferior" to or beneath Allah and "superior" to or above the Prophet.

It will be inappropriate if we don't quote some lines of Lalon in this connection:
I've heard telling of a man:
zer on alif, zabar on mim.

Although the meanings of the songs may sometimes be obscure, their simplicity, vigor, and felicity of expression, their humor and dazzling imagery, and their aphoristic statements that apply to a specific religious context as well as to everyday life makes them some of the best poetry in the Bengali language.

Haronuzzaman, a novelist and translator, teaches English at the Independent University, Bangladesh.

[Picture: Lalon's Shrine, Bangladesh. Photo: Wiki]

Close to the Heart

By Sateesh Maharaj, *The show goes on Rahat Fateh Ali Khan promoters assure fans:* - Trinidad Express - Trinidad and Tobago; Thursday, May 12, 2011

Members of Iconoklast Ltd held a news conference on Wednesday at Piarco International Airport to reassure local patrons that tomorrow's show, billed as "The Ultimate Concert Experience", featuring top Indian singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan is definitely on.

They felt the need to do this due to the death of Khan's long-time manager, Chitresh Shrivastav, three days ago in a vehicular crash in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Khan and his band are also scheduled to perform in Suriname tonight. However, members of the band stopped off in Trinidad on Wednesday to hold a news conference to explain that he did not accompany them as planned as he remained in the US to properly bid farewell to his manager's body.

From there, he heads to Suriname for a show tonight, and he and his 18-member band will be in Trinidad tomorrow for the show at the Centre of Excellence, Macoya, the promoters assured.

Other acts in the show, which starts at 8 p.m., are the Shiv Shakti Dancers, Neval Chetlal and local drummers.

Shrivastav and members of the Pakistani band RFAK (Rahat Fateh Ali Khan) played a concert in Detroit, Michigan, USA, last Saturday and were travelling to Chicago to perform when the accident was reported at 12.52 p.m.

Police reports said the driver lost control of the vehicle and it rolled over several times. Shrivastav was thrown from the vehicle and pronounced dead at the scene. The driver, Harminder Sabharwal, 36, was taken to Bronson Methodist Hospital by ambulance and was said to be in critical condition.

A passenger, Maroof Ali, 33, was taken by Kalamazoo AirCare helicopter to Bronson Methodist Hospital in Michigan and another passenger, Gulam Mustafa, 33, was airlifted by Grand Rapids Aero Med to Borgess Medical Centre in Kalamazoo. Their conditions were not immediately known. A fourth person, Deepak Kumar, 43, was treated at Bronson Methodist Hospital and released.

Salman Ahmed, of Iconoklast Ltd, promoters of the show, said not even five hours had passed following the crash that Khan had to take the stage once more.

"They assumed [the others] were coming, but when they didn't answer their phones, they knew something was wrong. When they got the news, Khan wanted to go to the body. Sunday was a very emotional show. There were a lot of tears. How could you expect somebody to give his best? It was amazing, but he said he had to give the audience what they came for. Chitresh always taught him that no matter what happens, the audience comes first. In tribute to that, he sang that evening."

Ahmed continued: "One of the things which will be different in the concerts in Suriname and Trinidad is that there will be a lot of feelings and emotions. It will be very real and close to the heart."

He said: "Chitresh was very instrumental in opening the gateway of the Indian film industry for him. He was the one who guided him and was with him for seven years. Maroof was his personal manager. One is no longer there and the other is coming out of a very serious injury. You can understand how difficult it is for him right now. Many other artistes would not have cared and taken a flight back. He definitely owed a farewell to Chitresh as his body was being flown back to India."

Rahat Fateh Ali Khan was born in Faisalabad, Punjab, in 1974 and is primarily a singer of Qaawwali—a devotional music of the Sufis.

Some mainstream scholars of Islam define sufism as simply the name for the inner or esoteric dimension of Islam. Classical scholars have defined Sufism as "a science whose objective is the reparation of the heart and turning it away from all else but God."

With his exceptional talent, Khan has been dubbed the "King of the Sufis".

He is the nephew of Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, who trained him in the classical tradition. In addition to Qaawwali, Rahat also performs ghazals and other light music. He has toured extensively and performed in Pakistan, India and around the world.

Khan is an internationally renowned award winner. Among his most recent recognitions and awards are 2010 Best International Act at the UK Asian Music Awards, 2010 Best Singer at the Bollywood Star Screen Awards and 2010 Best Singer at the 56th Filmfare Awards.

Ahmed said: "Every one of [Khan's] songs has melody and fluency in it. He has been singing since the age of seven and he's 37 now. So that's three decades of music."

He added Khan's style of music was "real singing" and "not something anyone could just get up and do".

"I think it is that fusion of blending it with Bollywood songs which is what people want to listen to."

Picture: On tour: Salman Ahmad, centre back, poses with some members of the RFAK (Rahat Fateh Ali Khan) band before they head to Suriname. Photo: TE.

Humourless Harassers

By Paul Amar, *Egypt's youth unites against the old guard* - Al Jazeera - Doha, Qatar; Friday, May 13, 2011

Youth, women and minorities unite to overthrow conservative groups who are trying to hijack their revolution

In the weeks since president Hosni Mubarak was forced to resign on February 11, the same coalition that led the uprising in Tahrir Square has frequently and vigorously taken action to continue the Egyptian revolution.

Labour federations, student movements, women's organisations and new liberal-leaning Islamist youth groups have forced out Mubarak's allies at television networks and newspapers, shuttered the hated State Security and police ministries, confiscated police files on dissidents, triggered more cabinet resignations and pursued indictments against perpetrators of police brutality, state corruption and religious bigotry.

They have established new political parties, fended off attempts to circumscribe women's rights, expanded the millions-strong independent labour federation, reclaimed university administrations and staged the first truly free elections for university councils, professional syndicates and labour unions in Egypt's modern history.

Mubarak is under arrest in a hospital; his sons languish in Tora prison ("Cairo's Bastille"); and a dozen oligarchs have had their assets seized. And yet most of the Western press seems not to have noticed these political achievements and social struggles.

Instead, the New York Times and Western commentators at Al Jazeera have asked: "Is the 'Arab Spring' losing its spring?" and "Could Egypt’s revolution be stolen?"

Hillary Clinton warned that the revolution could end up a mere "mirage in the desert". The Western press dwelled on the results of the March 19 referendum - in which 77 percent of voters approved a set of hastily written constitutional amendments - to conclude that an old guard alliance of the army and the Muslim Brotherhood had come together to turn back the people's revolution.

Prepared largely in secrecy by a committee of army officers and a judge attached to the Muslim Brotherhood, these amendments set the stage for parliamentary elections in September and presidential elections in November. But they did not suspend the emergency decree or limit the overwhelming power of the presidency, as much as opponents had hoped.

It's true that the Muslim Brotherhood and remnants of Mubarak's National Democratic Party (NDP) supported the amendments while liberal, leftist and Christian organisations lobbied against them. But the result can't be read as a signal that three-quarters of the Egyptian people intend to vote for Islamist parties or that they support elements within the army still linked to the Mubarak regime.

Yes to democracy, yes to unity

As Egyptian youth organiser and author Amr Abdelrahman said: "Some within the army misinterpreted the 'yes' vote on the referendum as a vote against protesters and for the army, rather than as a vote celebrating both groups at the same time.

In other words, Egyptians were motivated to vote yes for democracy, yes to launch a newly open political system and yes to thank the army for protecting the people from violence.

Indeed, soon after the referendum, public opinion turned strongly and quickly against the tentative alliance between the army and the Muslim Brotherhood. Public protests soared to levels not seen since February 11.

Tens of thousands demonstrated and held sit-ins on university campuses; thousands of farmers in the rural south rose up to organise against the repressive tactics of the military council; and even the people of Sharm el Sheikh - the Red Sea beach resort and location of Mubarak's exile villa - took to the streets to insist that the army hold former regime leaders accountable for their crimes.

There was ample evidence of internal dissent within the armed forces, and key youth and liberal leaders within the Brotherhood began talking of moving in new directions. This post-referendum crisis reopened veins of conflict, but in a good way - pressuring the army to identify with, not against, the revolutionary youth.

That was most clear on April 8 during a huge protest named the Day of Cleansing, which united tens of thousands of women, students and religious groups in Tahrir Square. Demonstrators were enraged that the army had drafted a draconian new law that banned protests and strikes.

Rather than lifting the state of emergency, the army seemed to be re-fortifying it, and there were signs that it was trying to back away from prosecuting Mubarak, his family and his former ministers for corruption, torture and abuse of power. As General Mohamed al Assar of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces said on April 11: "Officials can be investigated for financial crimes, but political crimes and corruption are not penalised by current Egyptian law - so former officials cannot be charged in those ways.

Power to the people

Ignoring the army's ban on protests, university students marched from Giza over the Nile bridge, converging with members of labour unions and Muslim sisterhood organisations in Tahrir Square. At the heart of the protest, protected by the crowd, were twenty to thirty young army officers in uniform - defectors.

They read a manifesto demanding an end to the emergency decree and called on the military to stand more clearly on the side of the people. The young officers criticised corruption in the military and appealed for the removal of Mubarak's cronies from the armed forces, insisting in particular on the ousting of Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, Egypt's defense minister and the current leader of the ruling military council.

That night, the military police and the loathed (and supposedly disbanded) State Security forces reacted swiftly and brutally. At least two civilians, reportedly including a young girl, were shot dead. Most of the young officers were hunted down, arrested and "disappeared". Assar tried to justify the crackdown, saying: "The military is now the backbone of the nation, and any attack against it is an attempt to destroy the nation's structure".

But the next day's dawn revealed a resolute and undaunted pro-democracy movement. All political forces, including the Muslim Brotherhood, stood in solidarity against the military's repression.

The night's violence had, in fact, enhanced the strength and confidence of the revolution's actors. The new prime minister, anti-corruption crusader Essam Sharaf, threatened to resign and demanded an immediate apology from the military and justice for the victims. The two leading candidates for president, secretary general of the Arab League Amr Moussa and Nobel laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, also slammed the military and demanded urgent changes.

By the following Sunday, the army had released all civilian detainees without charge and promised to reform and restrain itself. More progressive officers, such as General Sami Annan, moved into positions of greater influence. The military was being transformed by the revolution, from within and without, and although its old guard was not giving up without bloodshed, the institution showed signs of lurching toward change.

Revolutionaries unite

Most important, the post-referendum crisis triggered the formation of the most exciting organisation yet, the Egyptian National Congress, or "Egyptian Congress to Defend the Revolution", an umbrella group composed of the 25 January Youth Coalition; the 6 April National Labour Movement (representing mid-size factory towns); the League of Progressive Youth (leftists in all parts of Egypt); the Upper Egypt Youth Platform (rural southern organisations); such new parties as the Free Egyptians Party (an anti-sectarian party supported by prominent Christian Egyptians); the Democratic Workers Party; the Karama, or Dignity, Party (Nasserist left-nationalists); as well as established, centrist middle-class parties like the Wafd and the Greens.

Thousands of delegates from these groups gathered on May 7 in Cairo in a meeting funded by wealthy architect and charismatic visionary Mamdouh Hamza. They aimed to elect a steering committee to serve as a civilian complement to the military council, draw up a document clarifying the revolution's remaining objectives, which Hamza describes as "a futuristic vision of social-justice based development", and begin forging a common slate of candidates for the September parliamentary elections.

Meanwhile, the Muslim Brotherhood has so far declined to join the Congress. During its April 30 Shura council meeting, the old guard of the Brotherhood succeeded in placing one of its own, Muhammad Mursi, as chair of the Freedom and Justice Party, which is committed to contesting 50 per cent of the seats in the upcoming elections.

The Brotherhood has seemingly tied its fate to an alternative gathering called the National Dialogue, which is mostly made up of elderly Egyptians, including senior military council members and veterans of Mubarak's old ruling party.

University elections across Egypt in March featured huge levels of mobilisation and participation among usually apathetic student populations. Most important, these vigorously contested elections revealed a shift taking place, from a moment when all energies targeted Mubarak and his police state to one characterised by a broad debate about what forms of government and kinds of social policies should govern the new Egypt.

The university elections were also marked by a mix of unprecedented enthusiasm and radical pragmatism - particularly when it came to the role of religion.

Rejection of the right-wing conservatives

When puritanical Salafi groups and student sympathisers of conservative Muslim Brotherhood factions entered campuses and tried to re-ignite the old culture wars (pamphleteering and daubing graffiti about the "evils" of beer, prostitution and liberal democracy), they were seen as humourless harassers of Egypt's new political spaces.

As Cairo University's Kholoud Saber, a young woman leader at the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression, said: "Students who identified as Salafis and right-wing Brothers who tried to spread propaganda about religious perversion and make trouble with women and Christians were seen as nothing more than agents of the old regime, suspected of being linked to the old SS [State Security]."

Saber said that their presence "only increased support for the more progressive and problem-solving candidates".

The rejection of Salafi pamphleteers, however, didn’t mean all religious rhetoric was rejected. To the contrary, youth organisations drew on religious discourse and notions of public duty to call attention to issues such as student housing, public transportation, the crisis of graduate unemployment, high university fees and the demand to fire corrupt administrators and to keep police and military surveillance off campus.

Slogans used by Muslim Sisterhood candidates at Cairo University may sound secular to Westerners - "Change yourself then change Egypt" and "Stay positive and vote" - but Egyptians would recognise these words as a reflection of Islamic notions of moral commitment, ethical self-transformation and the duty to participate in the community.

Invoking change and participation rather than traditionalism and doctrine in this manner, progressive religious student groups helped overturn a culture of apathy on campuses. Thirty per cent of student council seats across the country were won by Muslim Brotherhood–linked candidates, among them young men and women from the more liberal branches.

Mozn Hassan, youth leader and director of the Nazra for Feminist Studies in Cairo, reported that "although most students in this first free university council election had not yet organised into distinct parties, almost all candidates who had any link to the NDP … were rejected at the ballot box, and independent candidates associated with liberal organisations or issues won the majority of council seats, even in Alexandria, which is often thought of as a bastion of religious politics".

Seif Edeen al Bendari, of Cairo University's Economics and Political Science School, who was elected to the office of vice president for social and environmental affairs, spoke with joy and enthusiasm not about any particular ideological issue but about the change among his peers: "Students are now active, ambitious, becoming articulate about politics and getting involved in fixing the system. People want to be aware of their rights and assert them. They might be angry or afraid sometimes, but they are not pessimistic. They own their country now and insist that they will choose who rules Egypt."

Out with the old, in with the new

This kind of democratic spirit has also infused Egypt's professional syndicates, which between February and April overthrew their old regime leaders. In other countries, professional syndicates can be conservative organisations protecting the privileged; but in Egypt they tend to operate more like Wisconsin's public sector unions, as vigilant protectors of the middle class.

As Mozn Hassan noted: "The March elections in the doctors' syndicate, where they threw out the old guard Muslim Brothers as well as Mubarak-linked leaders and where women captured some leadership roles, represented the end of an era when professionals had leaned toward social conservatism."

The doctors syndicate also voted to give 3,000 Egyptian pounds (US$500) to the family of each person killed in the Tahrir demonstrations. In the same period, the Supreme Constitutional Court declared state attempts to freeze syndicate elections unconstitutional; the journalists' syndicate dumped its old regime leader and mobilised to end state control and corruption of television and the press; and the lawyers' syndicate sent its Mubarak-linked leader on a "permanent holiday" and organised new elections.

The state was also forced to approve the formation of a new independent syndicate for public sector pensioners.

This giant organisation, representing more than 8.5million people and asserting control over 435billion Egyptian pounds (US$73bn) in pension funds, immediately became a huge player in revolutionary politics. Moreover, the other professional syndicates came together in late February to form a unified coalition, the March 9 Movement, to mobilise an additional 8million professionals.

While the middle classes were on the march, the working class was not slowing down either.

Al Masry al Youm, an Arabic newspaper, published a survey of the strikes happening on a typical midweek workday up and down the Nile in small towns and factory outposts: 350 butane gas distributors demonstrating against the Ministry of Social Solidarity in the town of Takhla; 1,200 bank employees on strike, demanding better wages in Gharbiya; 350 potato chip factory workers striking in Monufiya; 100 nursing students holding a sit-in to take over the medical syndicate in Beheira; 1,500 villagers in Mahsama protesting the city council's decision to close a subsidised bread bakery; workers at a spinning and weaving factory on strike in Assiut; thirty teachers blocking the education ministry in Alexandria to demand tenure; and 200 tax authority employees occupying the collector's office in Cairo demanding better wages and benefits.

The country's religious organisations have also been rocked by tumult, dissent and reform. Nowhere is this clearer than in the Muslim Brotherhood itself.

On March 26, Sameh al Barqy and Mohamed Effan, leaders of increasingly vocal youth movements within the Muslim Brotherhood, hosted a conference attended by hundreds of influential young movement leaders. The meeting infuriated the old guard which control the organisation's Guidance Bureau, as the youth insisted on democracy within the organisation and restrictions on the power of anyone over 65. In addition, Barqy stated that "the marginalised status of women in the group is no longer acceptable".

Enter the youth, women, minorities

The young people demanded that any party supported by the Muslim Brotherhood have quotas to ensure participation of large numbers of women, Christians and other non-Muslims. In fact, the youth leaders announced that they would reject the Freedom and Justice Party, recently created by the old guard, if it did not implement these reforms - and would join other centrist and left parties, such as the Nahda ["Renaissance Party"], a liberal-progressive nationalist group similar to Islamist modernists in Turkey and Tunisia; al-Wasat ["The Centre"], a multi-cultural, multi-confessional faith-based centrist party; or the new Social Democratic Party, made up of leftists and independent labour organisations.

Meanwhile, the sisters of the Muslim Brotherhood, composed of young women who were at the forefront of university organising and of the Tahrir uprisings, continued to expand their influence among student and labour groups, especially during April's university elections. Their popular appeal rests on a mix of anti-consumerist and anti-elitist messages, combined with demands for the redistribution of social, economic, housing and educational resources.

Change has also swept Egypt's Sufi, Salafi and Christian organisations. Sufism represents a broad category of Islamic cultural, social and spiritual practices. It also draws on local and syncretic traditions, including forms of mysticism, the honouring of saints, meditation, chanting and collective celebration. Sufi guilds, or turuq, provide a range of services in small towns and in poorer urban areas.

Identified with the "vulgar" practices of Egypt's popular classes and with the "impurity" of mixed cultural influences, Sufism was targeted by Mubarak's state for repression and aggressive co-option. The state took over appointment of its top sheiks (religious scholars) and murshids (guides), banned certain religious practices and policed or cancelled rituals and celebrations (moulids) with large working-class constituents.

In the post-Mubarak era, these elites have desperately tried to hold on to power.

On March 25, state-appointed leader Mohamed al Shahawi, head of the International Sufi Council, and Mohamed Alaa Abul Azayem, founder of the new Sufi-leaning Tahrir Party, met with the state-appointed leader, Grand Sheikh Dr Ahmed al Tayeb of Cairo's al Azhar University.

The trio made an organisational commitment to the stability of the state and set about crafting a common religious agenda for the upcoming elections. But their meeting only exposed how alienated they have become from the masses of Sufis in small towns and slum neighbourhoods, who often serve as the front lines in protests and strikes.

Sufis march against Salafi extremism

The Sufi grassroots are not interested in reaffirming state stability or the conservative social agendas of the old guard leaders appointed by the Mubarak regime. On March 29, several hundred Sufi disciples organised a march from Hussein Mosque, near al Azhar in Cairo, down to Tahrir Square.

The demonstration was joined by a few dozen members of the much-abused Shia community and its leader, Mohamed al Derini. They demanded that the army protect Sufis from Salafi attacks and shrine demolitions. But the march was stopped by state-appointed Sufi leaders, reflecting the widening internal divisions between the rank and file and the regime-linked leadership.

Undeterred, thousands of Sufis marched on April 15 from the mosque of al Sayyid Ahmad al Badawi to the main square in the city of Tanta to protest the increasing militancy of right-wing Salafi organisations.

Salafis see themselves as puritans, purging Islam of any unorthodoxies and restoring the divine order of society by putting people in their proper place. Salafis have recently taken over certain rogue military factions, such as special-ops "Unit 777", set up their own militia and are working to influence student and youth opinion.

They were behind the rise in attacks on Coptic Christians, particularly in Alexandria.

Of course, Salafis see gender and sexual dissidents and liberals as apostates. But they direct a special degree of ire against Muslims themselves, attacking Sufi shrines as hubs of vulgarity and religious deviation and demonising working women as prostitutes.

But Salafis in Egypt, unlike in Pakistan, pose no threat of winning elections or controlling territory. Instead they seem to be only pushing public sentiment to the left and away from religious "culture war" politics altogether, as labour, student and religious progressives join in opposition to the Salafi puritanism and violence.

Rise of the left

In Egypt's revolutionary times, it seems that a contemporary religious organisation's degree of success is directly proportional not to its insistence on purity but to its generation of an inclusive community that can channel the energies of student, syndicate and worker organisations.

The strong showing by liberals and leftists (both secular and religious) in university and syndicate elections and the contentious transformations led by the youth within the armed forces and within Islamist organisations suggest that if post-revolution political parties, or the military regime itself, should reclaim religious doctrine as the core of the Egyptian nation state, they will seem anachronistic and, in the end, unsustainable.

Rather than abandon hope and write off the revolution as captured by conservative Muslim Brothers and aging army officers, Egypt's young people are continuing to generate new social policy platforms and organising strategies.

Through this process they are reinventing notions of security and nation, faith and progressivism, and are creating new frameworks for twenty-first-century democracy - not just for Egypt, not just for the Middle East, but perhaps for the world.

Paul Amar is Associate Professor of Global & International Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His books include: Cairo Cosmopolitan; The New Racial Missions of Policing; Global South to the Rescue; and the forthcoming Security Archipelago: Human-Security States, Sexuality Politics and the End of Neoliberalism.


The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.

Picture: As the old guard tries to reposition itself in positions of power in Egypt's new government, the women, youth and minority groups who organised the revolution unite against them. Photo: GALLO/GETTY.

Sufism Symposium 2011

By Hamed Ross/IAS, *Sufism Symposium 2011* - International Association of Sufism - CA, USA; Monday, May 16, 2011

Come and join Sufis from around the globe for a weekend of conversation, panel discussions and workshops on Meditation, Heart and Matter, Transformation and Imagination, Stillness and Dancing, Sufi music and Poetry Reading, and more.

Location
Dominican University of California
50 Acacia Avenue, San Rafael, CA
Guzman Lecture Hall

Pricing and Registration

Before June 1st, 2011
Entire Event: $110
One Day Only: $65
June 1 and after:
Entire Event: $130
One Day Only: $75
 

Saturday June 11, 2011
Mind and Heart: A Sufi Perspective

Opening Prayers and Invocations

Presenters:
David Escobar; Rabbi Jane Rachel Litman; Swami Vedananda; Seido Lee De Barros.

Panel Discussion and Workshop Presenter:
Nahid Angha, Ph.D.; Gul Ashki and Kaan; Nevit Ergin, MD; Mary ann D. Fadae; Reverend Canon Charles P. Gibbs; Sonia Leon Gilbert; Taman Khan; Pir Shabda Khan; David katz,MD; Shah Nazar Seyed Dr. Ali Kianfar; Sheikhul Islam Alhaj Shah Sufi Mainuddin Ahmed; Shahzada-e-Gausul Azam Shah Sufi Alhaj Syed Saifuddin Ahmed Al Hasni Wal Hussaini Maizbhandari; Musa Muhaiyaddeen (E. L. Levin); Abullahi El-Okene; Bahman A.K. Shirazi, PhD; Nick Yiangou.

Saturday Evening Music:
Taneen Sufi Music Ensemble; Riffat Sultana.

Sunday June 12, 2011
The Art of Balance in Spirituality and Psychology
Workshops and Practices

Keynote Address
Spiritual Competency in the 21st CenturyDavid Lukoff, PhD

Panel and Workshop
Finding the Rhythm Within: The art of balance in spirituality and psychology
Sarah Hastings; Helge Osterhold, MFT, Ph.D. Boe Elizabeth Roberts, MA, MFTI; Pamela Ashkenazy, MS, MFTI.

Keynote
The Logos of Unity: Philosophy and Spiritual Practice in the Sufi Way of Life
Olga Louchakova-Schwartz, M.D., Ph.D.

40 Days Workshop

[Biographies]

---

The 2011 Sufism Symposium is presented by the International Association of Sufism in cooperation with Expressions, a program of the Humanities Department of Dominican University of California.