A Commemoration Ceremony

TE/HGH, "Iran honors miniaturist Ali Moti" - Press TV - Tehran, IranTuesday, August 12, 2008

Iran has held a commemoration ceremony in honor of the late master miniaturist and illuminator, Ali Moti in the capital of Tehran.

Prominent artists including Aidin Aqdashlou and Hannibal Alkhas attended the event and paid tribute to the late Moti.

Ali Moti died on July 31, 2008 at the age of 92 after a long period of illness in Riverside, California.

His paintings, mostly inspired by the Iranian poet Hafez, have been displayed at 37 international and domestic exhibitions.

Moti, who received his first gold medal in Brussels in 1953, is known for his unique illumination of the holy Qur'an.

A Friend of Roadside Flowers

By Ryszard Antolak, "Iran's Sohrab Sepehri at 80" - Persian Journal - Iran
Monday, August 11, 2008

There is a city somewhere beyond the seas
Where windows open on illumination...
Where the earth listens
To the music of your heart
And the wind carries sounds
Of the fluttering of mythical birds

October 7th 2008 marks the 80th anniversary of the birth of one of Iran's most celebrated modern poets, Sohrab Sepehri.

On that day, hundreds of people will make their way to the lonely, remote mosque of Mashhad Ardehal, (on the desert road between Kashan and Dilijan), to pay their respects, recite poetry and lay flowers on the grave of this much-loved poet.

Awaiting them will be no grand memorial tomb such as that of Hafez or Sa'adi: no pavilion with fragrant gardens, no trees to adorn and give shade. All they will see is a marble flagstone in the courtyard of the mosque (outside the women's entrance), sometimes trodden below the feet of visitors on their way to prayer.
The inscription on the stone reads:

"If you come to visit me
Tread softly,
Lest you break the fragile shell
Of my loneliness."

It is a modest, humble grave, one eminently in keeping with the character of the poet.

His was a truly singular voice in 20th century Iranian Literature: fresh and natural, almost childlike sometimes in its directness. At a time when other poets were wrestling with complex social and political concerns in their works, Sohrab Sepehri was an advocate of all that was small and personal, intimate and homely.

He was a friend of roadside flowers, of people walking home from work, of goldfinches and swaying poplars. For him, the most familiar objects - a willow, a red rose - could open suddenly to reveal an aspect of the Divine hitherto concealed.

He explained in his poem, "Water's Footfall", that the poet need not go beyond his own immediate environment to discover the wondrous and the divine.

Transcendence was perception, seeing through the everyday details of life to the empowered presence beyond.

"I am a Muslim.
And my direction of prayer is the red rose,
My prayer rug is... the fountain,
My prayer stone is... light,
The meadows are my prayer hall.
I kneel down when the muezzin wind
Calls out the time of prayer
From the cypress tree."

The words sound almost like a paraphrase of Ibn Arabi's famous profession of faith.

Born in Kashan in 1928, Sepehri's imagination was dominated by the Dasht-e Kavir, the desert that stretches before the city like a grey nothingness for a thousand kilometres.
Something of that emptiness, that loneliness, filtered into his bones and sank deeply into his heart.

"Come to me and I will tell you
How colossal my loneliness is"

It was as if the desert called out to him in an almost religious voice, (as it called many prophets and mystics in the past) and Sepehri responded both physically and metaphorically:

"Tonight I must go
I must take my suitcase
Large enough to hold the garments of my loneliness
And go to the place where trees sing out in epic song
And where the vast wordless expanse
Calls out to me: "Sohrab!"
Listen! There it is again!
I must find my shoes quickly".

He became a restless spirit, unable to settle, travelling the world in search of something he could never quite define, which lay just beyond the horizon, just out of sight.

During his wanderings, he encountered a variety of different literary styles, some of which found their way later into his poetry enriching the language in ways which bore the indelible seal of his genius.

Through his writing and his painting, he created a new home for himself (another Kashan) "on the far side of the night", one that could not be taken away from him by force or by distance.

"It does not matter were I am
Because the sky is always mine
And windows, ideas, fresh air, love"

In the end, his body "descended from a piece of pottery on Sialk Hills", longed for the soil of its birth.

He discovered at the age of fifty that he was suffering from leukaemia and that the illness was incurable.

In 1980, the poet made his final journey home to his beloved Kashan to be buried (according to his own wishes) in the grounds of Mashhad Ardehal.

(...)

The Godless Lover

By Joanna Lobo, "Panel charts our religious journey" - Daily News and Analysis - Mumbai, India
Tuesday, August 12, 2008

On the launch of its 22nd issue, the editor of the magazine Gallerie hosted a debate on the relevance of religion in today’s world

On a rainy Sunday evening, while most Mumbaikars chose to sit out the rains at home, a debate was raging at the Crossword bookstore in Kemps Corner: How relevant is religion today?

The event marked the launch of the 22nd issue of Gallerie - the International Journal of Arts and Ideas. And the theme was ‘The Sacred and the Profane’.

So, headed by Gallerie’s founder-publisher-cum-editor, Bina Sarkar Ellias, an eclectic group of the city’s intellectuals and literati discussed their beliefs; the existence of God; and whether, as Karl Marx said, religion is indeed the opium of the masses.

Artist and poet, Gieve Patel, academician Dr Zeenat Shaukat Ali, actor Tom Alter, and poet Javed Akhtar were some of the panelists.

Ellias spoke about a change in the way religion has been perceived over the ages. “In earlier centuries, religion prescribed a moral code of conduct, which was very faithfully followed. Over the past few years, it has gone out of control.”

According to her, religion has relevance today, considering that 86 per cent of people in the world believe in the existence of God.

Dr Ali punctuated her speech with couplets from poet Mirza Ghalib and quotes from Albert Einstein and the Sufi saint, Rabia.

“Spirituality is inspiring oneself and others on the path of illumination. What is sad is that today, religion has taken the form of racial and ethnic discrimination, xenophobia, terrorism, and so on.”

She spoke of how Islam is misrepresented by everyone, including Muslims themselves. “Islam is a passive religion,” she stated firmly.

On the other hand, Patel drew parallels between the Soviet communists and Christians. “In both cases, the ideology is humane and non-violent. Yet the way it is practised is destructive and aggressive,” he said.

According to him, there are two basic factors to be taken into account. “There is an inborn perception in people that they are good and the rest are evil, and they have to destroy the evil before it overpowers them.

There is also the element of greed - by destroying the other person you get what he has, thus making you more powerful.” He argued that religion aside; people will always be aggressive.

Tom Alter began by citing his personal example of being surrounded by missionaries and other religious people all his life. Citing the example of Khuda Kay Liye, he challenged any Indian director to make a movie on an Indian religion without having cinemas burned down and screenings stopped.

“It is the misuse of religion that is the problem. When anyone starts using their religion against me, I have nothing more to do with that person.” He appealed to people to “make your religion better by being a better practitioner of it”.

A firm atheist, Javed Akhtar’s speech was eloquent. “Religion is based on faith - you aren’t allowed to question or discuss it, and there is no logic or reason behind it. What is the difference between faith and stupidity?”

He claimed that the power of religion lies in its numbers. “We are living in an era of schizophrenia. But there are too many people who believe and we cannot call all of them schizophrenic.”

He ended by saying that considering all the violence in the world today, “for God’s sake I hope there is no God”.

The discussion was followed by a Q and A session with the audience. A majority of the questions were directed at Javed Akhtar and Zeenat Ali. Thus ensued a heated debate between them.

Both laid out their points well and lost no time in putting them across. Some memorable snippets included Zeenat’s “having armchair discussions does not constitute religion. You need to go out on the field and see”, and Javed’s “all the religions in the world claim they can tell you everything, but can they tell you how to make a bicycle?”

Whether you are a believer or a non-believer, witnessing people talk about religion, was enriching. As one ponders the relevance of religion today, try finding some answers in Mirza Ghalib’s The Godless Lover:

When there was nothing, there was God
If nothing had been, God would have been
My very being has been my downfall
If I hadn’t been, what would it have mattered?

[Picture from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghalib].

The Land of Art-lovers

By TP Correspondent, "Punjab to have 3 more museums" - The Post -
Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Pasrar: Punjab Minister for Culture, Sports and Youth Affairs Dr Tanvir-ul-Islam has said that three museums are being constructed in Gujrat, Multan and Katas Raj in the province and the building of Kalar Kahar Museum is under-construction which will soon be completed.

He said this while talking to the journalists at Chawinda-Pasrur Monday.

The provincial minister further said the concrete measures would be taken for the promotion of Punjabi language and extending patronage to artists in order to enhance the cultural activities in the province.

He said that a large number of projects were being carried out in the province for the promotion of fine art by Lahore Arts Council and Punjab Arts Council.

Academy of Performing Art is already operating where diploma courses were being offered in calligraphy, photography, drama, dance, music, violin, 'satar', drawing, painting and tabla, he added.

Dr Tanvir said: "The Punjab is the land of 'art-lovers' and has a rich culture and it is our responsibility to transfer it to the next generation."
He said the government would utilise all resources for the promotion of art and culture.

To preserve the cultural heritage of Punjab as well as promoting Punjabi language and culture, Punjab Institute of Language Art and Culture has been set up which was translating the poetry of 'Sufi' poets in regional languages for creating brotherhood and harmony among the provinces, he added.

The provincial minister said the Heer Waris Shah had been translated into Urdu language whereas the poetry of Baba Fareed had been translated into Sindhi language so that people from other provinces could also learn about the cultural heritage of the other provinces.

Huzur-u Pir

By Pat Yale Nevsehir, "Hacıbektaş the heartland of Alevis" - Today's Zaman - Istanbul, Turkey
Sunday, August 10, 2008

Next weekend sees the generally sleepy central Anatolian town of Hacıbektaş spring to life for its 54th annual festival, a three-day jamboree that usually kicks off with some politicking before segueing into the fun part -- the singing and dancing.

For a small town, Hacıbektaş is surprisingly important, its importance lying in the fact that it is home to the shrine of Hacı Bektaş-ı Veli, a 13th-century Sufi thinker, originally from Khorasan in Iran, who arrived in what was then the village of Sulucakarahöyük some time between 1270 and 1280.

Here he developed a philosophy that emphasized the importance of science and reason and which allowed women an equal part in daily life; images of Hacı Bektaş usually show him embracing a deer and a lion, an allegorical rendering of his teachings about peace and tolerance (other images show him with a pigeon, the guise in which he is said to have flown to Anatolia).

When he died in 1337 he was buried in the village and as the influence of his writings spread, so the complex around his shrine grew. Today it is one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Turkey.

Among the Alevis, the followers of Ali, a Muslim splinter group with perhaps 10 million adherents in Turkey, Hacı Bektaş is especially revered and the festival forms one of the highpoints of their calendar.

Unfortunately, at the moment the shrine and associated museum are being restored, making it hard to make much sense of what you see. Hacıbektaş is also one of those places, like Gallipoli, that you really need to visit twice: Once during the festival to soak up the atmosphere and again at another time when you will be able to look around in peace and quiet.

All things being equal, though, you approach the shrine via a gateway into a courtyard graced by a fountain with three waterspouts and a carving of a six-sided star.

From this first courtyard a small gate leads to the main part of the complex, a cloistered space containing a large (and currently empty) pool. Immediately to the right is a second lovely fountain, presided over by a carving of an amiable-looking marble lion which arrived from Egypt in 1853.

Two important buildings stand to the right of the courtyard. The first is the Aş Evi, or Cookhouse, which contains a number of oversized cooking pots, the most gigantic of them the Kara Kazan (Black Cauldron), which became very important to the Ottoman Janissary Corps, who would signal displeasure with a sultan by overturning a similar cauldron.

The second is a small mosque with a stubby minaret which was built in 1834 after Sultan Mahmut II had gotten rid of the Janissaries and closed down the Alevi/Bektaşı lodges.

On the left-hand side of the courtyard stand a guesthouse, bathhouse and laundry. However, the most important room is the Meydan Evi, an Alevi “cem” house where initiation and other ceremonies were carried out.

The focal point of this room is a stove with a 15th-century painting of Hacı Bektaş-ı Veli on the wall above it and a huge wooden throne beside it. Best of all is the fine wooden ceiling whose nine separate layers represent the nine levels of the heavens.

A small corridor leads to the third courtyard where a bust of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk commemorates the visit of the first president of the Turkish Republic to the town in 1919, on the eve of the War of Independence.

The third courtyard acts as a ceremonial approach to the heart of the complex, the shrine of Hacı Bektaş-ı Veli. Here, steps lead down to a corridor whose floor is said to cover the remains of the architect Yanko Medyan, who became an adherent of Bektaşism after falling from the roof and calling out to Hacı Bektaş for help.

To the immediate right of the steps is the oldest part of the complex, a small cell called a çilehane, or place of suffering, where the saint is thought to have spent long periods in seclusion.

An elaborately carved Selçuk-style portal leads through into the Kırklar Meydanı (Area of 40 Saints), a huge domed space which serves as a small museum, showcasing items associated with Bektaşi dervishes, including fierce-looking ear-rings worn by unmarried men, begging bowls and a traveling picnic set.

On the wall hang some fine examples of the sort of calligraphy that turns writing into pictures; in one particularly fine example a human face has been created out of the words for “Ya Allah, Muhammad, Ali.” The finest item on display is a 40-branched candlestick which was used in Bektaşi ceremonies.

A strikingly beautiful marble portal on the right-hand side of the door opens onto the room containing the shrine of Hacı Bektaş-ı Veli, otherwise known as Huzur-u Pir (the Presence of the Master), a particularly holy place where pilgrims will usually be praying.

To the left of the main entrance and up some stairs is the tomb of Güvenç Abdal, described in the Velayetname, the biography of Hacı Bektaş, as the most beautiful girl in the world.

Also in the third courtyard, tucked away behind an ancient mulberry tree, is the tomb of Balım Sultan (1462-1516), who became the second most important leader of the Bektaşi order. It is well worth popping your head in here if only to see a second, even finer 40-branched candlestick, its base supported on brass lions, its body decorated with brass pigeons and dragons.

Once you’ve finished inspecting the complex, it is easy to conclude that you have “done” Hacıbektaş, which is not a particularly prepossessing town.

In particular, the cultural center that was inflicted on it a few years ago is an eyesore of a white elephant, the echoing void of its lobby containing nothing more inspirational than two cases of costume dolls. Still, there are a couple of other sites worth seeking out, and these include the early 17th-century shrine of Bektaş Efendi immediately behind it.

Otherwise, walk down towards the Belediye building, passing a long line of stalls that sell Alevi/Bektaşı paraphernalia in a sort of Turkish take on Lourdes in France.

Just across the road from the Belediye, a house where Atatürk stayed in 1919 has been lovingly restored and boasts an especially gorgeous sitting room, with bench seats invitingly set up on either side of a table in a light-filled cumba (bay window).

If you continue down the road behind the Belediye you will also come across the town’s last remaining adobe houses, some of them centered on courtyards with porticos on each side, others with giant pots serving as literal chimneypots.

The restored Kadıncık Ana Evi (House of the Poor Woman) behind the graceful Akpınar Çeşmesi (fountain), where Hacı Bektaş-ı Veli is believed to have stayed, should be open to the public but probably won’t be.

The Kadıncık Ana Evi overlooks the Karahöyük (Black Tumulus) where the original settlement of Sulucakarahöyük stood from the Bronze Age until about the time of the birth of Jesus Christ. Finds from excavations on the hill are on display in the town’s small museum.

Where to stay
There is very little accommodation in Hacıbektaş itself. Most people stay in Göreme, Avanos, Üçhisar or Ürgüp and visit on day trips.
Evrim Hotel. Tel.: (384) 441 2900
Hünkar Otel. Tel.: (384) 441 3344

How to get there
There are daily dolmuş services to Hacıbektaş from Kırşehir and from Nevşehir via Gülşehir. It's a one-hour ride.

The Beginning of Everything

By Arsalan Mohammad, "Rhythm of Language" - The National - Abu Dhabi, UAE
Sunday, August 10, 2008

It all starts with a dot.

“The dot is very important,” says Khaled al Saai, as he reaches for a fresh sheet of paper, dips a wooden blade into a pot of ink and swiftly marks a small neat square in the centre of the white page.

“This is the beginning of everything, the dot. It measures the letters geometrically. It gives identity to each letter.”

More dots appear on the sheet as Saai begins working with fluency. “It refers to Kaaba, when you look from above, the dot is rectangular. When it is rounded, it is the movement around the Kaaba, the dot itself between the two stages – no movement and the ultimate movement – between the calmness and movement. Classically, each style has its own dot.”

The 38-year-old, Syrian-born calligrapher is well-versed in classic calligraphy styles – as his reputation attests, he is one of the few young Arab artists who have transcended regional boundaries to achieve real international fame.

He has exhibited in both solo and group shows around the world, from Sharjah to Mexico and Boston to Bonn. He has been feted by major calligraphy events in Istanbul, Sharjah and Iran, as well as smaller arts festivals in Europe, often picking up first prize in biennial competitions, and beating down the cream of the region’s calligraphers.

Major wins over the past decade include four first prizes for Diwani Jali calligraphy at his alma mater, the prestigious in Istanbul Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture (IRCICA), as well as a glut of prizes from Sharjah Calligraphy Biennials.

It’s his highly distinct style that immediately arrests the attention. It’s a perfect synthesis of old and new, spiritual and earthy. In his varied canvases – some pocket-sized, others stretching across gallery walls – he diffuses traditional techniques through a contemporary prism, deconstructs strictly-executed calligraphic styles within vast landscapes.

The results can reference Quranic verses, secular poetry or more simply, clusters of random letters into pictorial forms that thunder across the surfaces of his canvases.

(...)

Blending the cleaner, sharper lines of Thuluth with the opulence of Diwani Jali brings us closer to the trademark Saai style. But again, Saai’s love of experimentation emerges through his choice of media.

The usual ink and tempera and range of graduated wooden blades of any calligrapher is present and correct, yet there are inks made from substances like tobacco and crushed walnuts, which add extra texture and depth to his work.

“I have no direct influences,” he remarks. “I know all the Iranian artists, but I don’t have any Parsi style in my work. Usually, I work with a theme, I have everything I am doing translated to Arabic and try to convey the rhythm of the language in the visual art and that is a challenge.”

Citing favourites such as the late Lebanese painter Paul Guragossian and Syrian contemporary art legend Fateh Moudarres, Saai says he prefers to draw inspiration from his surroundings.

Porter [*] makes tentative comparisons to the Iraqi painter Hassan Massoudy, also featured in Word Into Art, but points out that Massoudy’s technique uses words with a much more straightforward approach.

Saai’s best pieces reflect his love of music. He recently staged a performance piece with a Jordanian musician, Khaled Jaramani, in which he responded visually to the lutist’s performance by echoing the music in his strokes as he painted words from a Sufi poem by Taher Riadh.

“I try to convey the rhythm of language in visual art and that is a challenge, there is a very deep dialogue between these two arts. Music complements the calligraphy.”

(...)

Khaled al Saai’s work can currently be seen at the XVA Gallery in Dubai (04 04 353 5383), the Majlis Gallery in Dubai (04 3536233) and the Green Art Gallery in Dubai (04 344 9888).

*[Venetia Porter, the assistant keeper of Islamic and contemporary Middle Eastern art at the British Museum in London, who included Saai in her recent Word Into Art exhibition in London and Dubai].

3:64 / one of His

Yale Center for Faith and Culture Reconciliation Program - Yale Divinity School - New Haven, CT, USA
Friday, August 8, 2008

Loving God and Neighbor in Word and Deed: Implications for Christians and Muslims

All videos of the 2008 Conference (July 29 - 31) are now posted on the Yale Divinity School Webcast Page. To see the videos, click on the title of this article.

Related Links:

Yale Center for Faith and CultureReconciliation Program

http://www.yale.edu/divinity/commonword/

[Picture: H.E. Prof. Seyyed Hossein Nasr; Keynote Address video, Thursday, July 31].

In a Peaceful Manner

Staff Report, "Sufi Saint Abdullah’s birthday celebrated in Kattankudy amidst tight security provided by armed forces" - Asian Tribune - Colombo, Sri Lanka
Friday August 8, 2008

All Ceylon Thareekathul Mufliheen, a Sufi Order, celebrated the 84th birth of Sufi Saint Sheihul Mufleen M.S.M Abdullah (RA) recently at Kattankudy, in the Batticaloa district, with the deployment of a large contingent of Police, Army and STF personnel in Kattankudy.

Sheihul Mufliheen M.S.M Abdullah (Ra) passed away on 6th December, 2006, at a private hospital in Colombo. In keeping with his wish the body of the spiritual leader was taken to the Head Office by his followers and intermitted according to Islamic rights.

But a group of religious extremists opposed to this organization, on hearing funeral ceremony M.S.M Abdullah (Ra) held in Kattankudy, instigated the people of Kattankudy to protest against this burial and inflicted enormous damage to public and private property and in particular over a hundred abodes of the followers were damaged and set ablaze.

This violent situation lasted throughout a week. The body of the spiritual leader was exhumed and taken away from the burial site in the pretext of demolishing an unauthorized building, the fate of which is yet unknown.

M.C.A. Hameed, President of the All Ceylon Thareekathul Mufliheen told Asian Tribune that to seek justice for this inhuman act, a Fundamental Rights Case No. SC/FR 200/2007 was filed with the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka.

The verdict was given on the 2nd July, 2008 by the Supreme Court presided by Justice Sarath N Silva, Justice J. Balapatabendi & Justice J. Dissanayake to those displaced to return back to Kattankudy and conduct their activities as in the past.

Accordingly hundreds Sufi Muslims went to Kattankudy and held the annual feast and the 84th birth anniversary on the 24th July, 2008.

A large gathering of Muslim and Tamil populace participated at the feast.
With the deployment of a large contingent of Police, Army and STF personnel in Kattankudy the feast ended in a peaceful manner.

Mr. Hamid said, All Ceylon Thareekathul Mufliheen is a Sufi Order, founded 35 years ago by the spiritual leader Sheihul Mufliheen M.S.M. Abdullah (Ra).
The Head Office is located in Kattankudy with branches in other parts of the country.

He stressed that members of this organization strictly follow a non-violent spiritual path to achieve eternal peace and tranquility, self-realization or union with God through contemplation, meditation and purification of mind.

[Picture: Celebrations held in Kattankudy. Photo: Asian Tribune].

Hafez Commemoration Day

MNA Culture Desk, "Iranian institutions to honor Hafez expert Salim Neysari" - Mehr News - Tehran, Iran
Friday, August 8, 2008

Scholar Salim Neysari, who has corrected the Divan of Hafez, will be honored during ceremonies on October 10 and 11 commemorating Hafez at the Hafezieh (the tomb of Hafez) in Shiraz.

Cosponsored by Iran’s Center for Hafez Studies and Fars Studies Foundation, the annual event commemorating Hafez Day is to be held on October 11 in Shiraz.

Having the theme of “The Impact of Hafez on Later Literati and Writers,” the event consists of two sections: the academic meeting and the commemoration ceremony. The Iranian Center for the Study of Hafez will compile and publish the delivered lectures during the ceremony at a later date.

Hafez scholars Masud Farzad, Qodsi Shirazi and Rashid Eivazi were honored during the last year’s ceremonies on Hafez Commemoration Day.

Seyyed Ahmad Hosseini Kazeruni on “The Impact of Hafez on Bushehr’s Contemporary Poets,” Abbasali Vafaii on “The Impact of Hafez Ideology and Poetry in Uzbekistan,” Mahindokht Mashhur on “The Impact of Hafez on Tagore,” and Hassan Anvari and Mahmud Fotuhi will give papers during the event.

Hafez Commemoration Day is an occasion that gives admirers of his poetic works a unique opportunity to gather and hold discussions on the poetry, thoughts, and life of Hafez.

Mohammed Shams al-Din (1315 or 1317-1389) was born in Shiraz. He gained the respectful title Hafez, meaning “one who has memorized the Quran” as a teacher of the Quran.

Hafez’s work, collected under the title of the Divan of Hafez, contains more than 500 poems, most of them in the form of a Ghazal, a short traditional Persian form that he perfected.

[Picture: Aramgah-e Hafez (Hafez Mausoleum), Exterior view, courtyard with pools and pavilion, 1773/1953, Shiraz. Photo by Robert Byron. Source: Fine Arts Library, Harvard College Library/Archnet IMG08655 http://www.archnet.org/library/sites/one-site.jsp?site_id=2379].

From Doubt to Light

Culture Desk, "East meets West" - Barking & Dagenham Post - London, UK

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Anurekha Ghosh & Company presents a double Bill - Convince Me and Noor Light at the Civic Theatre, Chelmsford.

Conceived by award-winning dancer Anurekha and performed by international dancers and musicians, Noor Light is the meeting point of acrobatic martial arts and contemporary Kathak dance.

It traces the journey of a seeker, moving from doubt to light, and incorporating the songs and lyrical rythmns and mystical poetry inspired by Hinduism, Christianity, and Sufism [Islam].

In Convince Me, Anurekha seamlessly blends classic kathak with diverse musical genres from Persia to the Sufi music. In this collaboration, dancers and musicans bridge the gap between East and West.

This multi-layered exuberance of Indian classical kathak, a dose of flamenco, and a touch of ballet are theaded together.

Anurekha won the Asian Woman Achievement Award for Arts and Culture 2007.

Anurekha Gosh and her company appear at Chelmsford Civic for one night on Sunday, September 14 at 7.45pm. Tickets price £14 are available from the box office, phone 01245 606505

[Picture from http://www.gobetween.us/en/biographiegosh.php Photo: Laurence Gonnard http://www.laurencegonnard.fr].

A Religion of Sufism Character

By Elbrus Seyfullayev, "Allahshukur Pashazadeh: “Islam is wanted to be a religion of Sufism character in the US”" - APA Azeri Press Agency - Baku, Azerbaijan
Thursday, August 7, 2008

“Islam is wanted to be a religion of Sufism character in the US”, Chairman of the Caucasian Muslims Office SheikhulIslam Haji Allahshukur Pashazadeh said, APA reports.

He spoke about the outcomes of the visit to the US and noted that Islam of Sufism character was given preference in the US.

To him, Sufism is more hermitry than the religion.

“There is not statehood in the Sufism, but another world. I respect them. Hazrati Ali was Sufi as well”, he said.

Pashazadeh expressed his satisfaction with the level tolerance observed in the US.

Chechnya, Salafism, Sufism, Human Rights

By James Kilner (with Angus MacSwan), "Russia torture accuser disappears - rights groups" -Reuters - USA
Wednesday, August 6, 2008

A man who has publicly accused soldiers loyal to Chechnya's President Ramzan Kadyrov of abducting and torturing him has disappeared in the southern Russian republic, human rights groups said on Wednesday.

Mukhamadsalakh Masayev had spoken to rights groups and given an interview to the Novaya Gazeta newspaper last month in which he said Kadyrov's soldiers of seized him in 2006. He planned to bring a legal action against them.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said witnesses had seen camouflaged men stop Masayev in central Grozny on Sunday and pull him into their car. He has not been seen or heard of since, HRW said in a letter to Grozny's Prosecutor-General on Wednesday.

(...)

Masayev, a native of Chechnya who lived in Moscow, told human rights groups that Kadyrov's soldiers had abducted him because he preached Salafism -- a conservative form of Islam linked to the strict Wahhabism strand from Saudi Arabia.

Chechnya is a republic of about 1 million on the southern fringe of Russia which has traditionally practised the Sufism more mystical form of Islam.

[Picture: View of a gorge in the Caucasus Mountains in Chechnya. Early color photograph from Russia, created by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii as part of his work to document the Russian Empire from 1909 to 1915. Photo from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chechnya].

Into the Joy of the Spiritual World

By Can Bahadir Yüce, "Robert Bly: The best poetry is always religious" - Today's Zaman - Istanbul, Turkey
Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Washington: Robert Bly is one of the most influential poets of the "lyrical" tendency in contemporary poetry in the world.

Apart from his translations of the works of great eastern poets Mevlana Muhammed Jelaluddin Rumi and Hafez into English, Bly is also known for being an activist and a dissident.

His anti-war anthology, "A Poetry Reading against the Vietnam War," played a major role in the United States when it was released back in 1967. Bly also compiled another anthology, one of anti-Iraq war poems, after the start of the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Bly wrote the poems in his two newest books in the "ghazal" structure and with a tendency to use religious motifs in his works. And now Bly's unforgettable poems in his "The Night Abraham Called to the Stars" (HarperCollins, 2001) are waiting to meet their Turkish readers.

He recently spoke with Today's Zaman about his poems and translations.

You gathered together poems written in opposition to the war in Iraq in an anthology. In this age, what is the role of poetry in terms of pacifism against wars and conflict? What can lyrical poetry suggest in this context?
Poetry is not a very effective way of protesting something like the war in Iraq. Still, it's important to use it. It's important for younger poets to know that older poets are willing to spend some time and put in effort to protest stupid acts of their own government.

I think the work we did against the war in Vietnam left a large impact all in all on the American public.

You translated poems of prominent Eastern poets like Rumi and Hafez into English. Your translations served in the promotion of these poems in the US. To when does your interest in Eastern culture and poetry date back?
I began my translation work by translating -- when I was in Norway as a student -- some of the good Norwegian poets. Then I moved over to Swedish and then to German for the translations of (Rainer) Rilke and others.

About 30 years ago I think I ran into Rumi and asked Coleman Barks to do a number of translations because I thought his soul fit with Rumi's very well.

For the last 14 years Leonard Lewisohn and I have been working on translations of Hafez. They've just come out in a book called "The Angels Knocking on the Tavern Door." I think they are the first accurate translations of Hafez into English, and they represent the best that I am able to do in that field.

And how about today's Eastern poetry? Are there any poets or writers that you closely follow in other Eastern literature? For example Adonis, he is still considered close to a Nobel Prize; what do you think of that?
About contemporary poetry, I do admire Adonis and I hope he gets the Nobel Prize soon. I'm also interested in a number of younger poets in Iran, but I haven't published anything of their work yet.

Translations you completed of Western literature, namely from (Federico Garcia) Lorca, (Pablo) Neruda, (Cesar) Vallejo and Rilke, show readers your view of modern poetry. My humble view is that, among these poets, you are much closer to Rilke in terms of the themes in your poetry. Is my assessment correct? Who are the poets in world poetry that inspire you?
I'm glad to hear that you think among the various European poets I've translated that I am closest to Rilke. He has been an enormous influence on my life.

Many times I've gone up to a cabin in the north woods and had nothing with me but Rilke. I think he has been the one calling me onward, away from the obsession with this world and into the joy of the spiritual world.

In one of your poems you wrote, "And we were right -- that poetry / Our poetry -- would bless everyone." How can you protect this belief, let's say faith, in the US. As you know, it has been said that the US is not an inspiring country for a poet.
You mustn't confuse the gross stupidity of the United States and its politics and general behavior with the intensely intelligent poetry community that we have hiding in the body of the country.

I think the United States is a perfect country for a poet. Walt Whitman is as good as any poet produced in Europe in the 19th century and we take courage from him.

Literary critic Charles Molesworth suggests that the importance of your poetry lies in the fact that you "write religious meditations for a public that is no longer ostensibly religious." In light of this comment, what do you think about the relationship between poetry and religion?
I think that all poetry, except for children's poetry and political poetry, aims toward the world of the soul.

So the best poetry is always religious. It's true that the public is no longer "ostensibly religious," but it never has been.

These days a number of younger poets have gained more knowledge about the soul from poets we have and read, such as Whitman and Rilke and Vallejo, than they do from churches. That's all right. The churches have a lot to do just keeping themselves upright. We have to do the rest.

You cited in one of your interviews the phrase of Wallace Stevens, "A poem should almost successfully escape the intellect." Considering that your poems have a purified expression, what does "intellect" mean to you? In other words, how is your relation with the "intellect"?
Stevens is a genius, a man with a marvelous intellect. But he knew that poetry was written by his playful side, the one he couldn't make use of in his work as an insurance executive.

So poetry always plays with the intellect and gives it little problems to solve while the imagination does the rest.

As for my relation to the intellect, I admire it and I owe a lot of money to it, but I wouldn't bring it home to dinner with my family.

Your interest in Islamic culture dates back decades. Poems in your last two books in particular were written in the "ghazal" structure, and these books were published after Sept. 11. Has the approach of your readers and literary critics changed since Sept. 11?
Anyone who has any sense is obviously devoted to the depth of the Islamic culture. Sept. 11 didn't change that at all, as far as I or my friends are concerned.

You can always find idiots who will fly an airplane into a tower. That's no reflection on the great Islamic culture.

Like Fire and Water

By Jan Glidewell, "Lessons of life contrast like fire and water " - Tampa Bay/St. Petersburg Times - St. Petersburg, FL, USA
Monday, August 4, 2008

Sometimes life can almost instantly go from the sublime to the terrifying.

On a beautiful day a few weeks ago, I was at Valley View, one of my favorite hot springs campgrounds in Colorado.

There, naturally heated water flows from a number of hot springs. It is dammed and redirected into a common stream that flows first into a large swimming pool, then into a hot tub and finally into a hydroelectric plant that provides power for the campground.

It is a beautiful wooded spot with ample places to meditate, muse on nature's beauty and serenity and on how we fit into the universe.

The night before I had attended a Sufi ceremony, called a Zikr in nearby Crestone, a small town with a long history of multiple spiritual traditions.

The ceremony, which included singing, chanting, dancing and a short homily on love by Shaykha Fariha al Jerrahi, was followed by whirling, a Sufi practice responsible for the term "whirling dervishes."

Shaykha Fariha is the spiritual guide of her New York-based Sufi community and graciously invited me to the ceremony.

The entire theme of the gathering was love and peace, beliefs common to both Islam and its Sufi mystics, and the bulk of my post-Zikr ruminations was on the belief expressed a while back by a Hernando County commissioner and supported by a member of Congress that Islam is a "hateful and frightening religion."

Any religion, no matter how peaceful, can have and, at times has had, its beliefs hijacked by some lunatic fringe — like the terrorists who have done just that to Islam.

Philosophical and spiritual musings are a great way to occupy oneself on a mellow summer day in the wilderness.

That ended as I worked my way down the mountain and back in cell phone range. Only then did I learn that my younger sister had been involved in a desperate flight for her life in the midst of a Washington state forest fire.

I had caught just a mention of the fire on the news, sandwiched between reports of larger and more numerous fires raging in California. I had called my sister a couple of times, getting only a dial tone. I wasn't really worried, just thought it would be a good opportunity for us to catch up.

When I did get through, I learned that she and her family were living in a hotel, and that she and her three adult children had just barely escaped the blaze that destroyed what had been a beautiful mountainside home in an area outside Spokane.

The area, where 13 homes were destroyed, is called, ironically, Valley View, the same as the place where I had been placidly contemplating my navel.

My physician brother-in-law was at work and my sister, her college-age daughter, and two sons, one of them autistic, had little warning before learning that they were surrounded. They and their two cats piled into their car with no time to grab anything, not even my sister's wedding rings or purse, and drove down the side of a mountain, watching trees around them explode into flame.

I reminded her that I am a Buddhist and we are about detaching from material things, although I am lousy at it.

"I have never been so ascetic in my life," she joked.

My sister is a gutsy woman, having been blessed with the best of the genes from our sometimes-questionable family gene pool.


I remember when she flew from Colorado to Florida, alone, with a knee so badly mangled in a skiing accident that it had to be replaced with an artificial joint.

And I have applauded from afar as she and her husband and two other children raised a non-verbal autistic son with unsurpassed love and understanding. A soon-to-be published book will describe that task with an eye toward helping other people in the same situation.

Later she found that her wedding album and a baby album had survived in a fire safe, and armed with only those reminders of their past, they have found a new home and are putting their lives back together.

I will help out with family pictures and other memorabilia, but, as she said, "I already got what was important. Nothing else matters."

I contemplate the universe. She understands it.

[Picture: Shaykha Fariha al Jerrahi. Click on this link to visit the Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order http://www.nurashkijerrahi.org/main.htm].

Well Represented Islam

By Niraj Warikoo, "African immigrants celebrate spiritual leader in Southfield" - Detroit Free Press Detroit, MI, USA
Saturday, August 2, 2008

Hundreds of west African immigrants gathered in a Southfield hotel this weekend to celebrate the life of Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba, a spiritual leader.

Most who attended had roots in Senegal and were part of the Mouride group, a Sufi Muslim order founded at the turn of the century by Bamba.

His grandson, Mame Mor Mbacke, attended the ceremonies Friday night and spoke about Islam, saying it is a religion of "peace, dialogue and understanding between people."

Speaking in the Wolof language, Mbacke said through a translator that extremists "did not represent Islam the way it should be."

Bamba taught an Islam that emphasized hard work, reason, and prayers, rather than rote memorization of the Quran, according to the event program.

Bamba, who lived from 1853 to 1927, also stressed non-violence in the struggle against the French colonial rule of Senegal.

In his talk, Mbacke said that Muslims should be tolerant and set a good example for others."No one will hate Islam when it's well represented," he said through a translator.

The ceremony included special prayers, songs, and recitations, continuing until early Saturday morning.

Southfield Mayor Brenda Lawrence was honored at the event and others from metro Detroit's African communities also attended.

Themes Based on Sufi Poetry

Staff Report, "Group exhibition at Nomad Art Gallery: ‘Summer Art Show’ brings out beauty of Eastern culture" - Daily Times - Islamabad, Pakistan
Sunday, August 3, 2008

“The Summer Art Show”, an exhibition of experimental artworks of over 35 established and budding artists, opened on Saturday at Nomad Art Gallery.

Featuring over 150 paintings, the exhibition depicts different aspects of socio-economic and religio-political issues through landscapes, cityscapes, abstract, sketch-work, figurative imagery, miniatures, calligraphy and collage.

The works of prominent artists including Nina Amin, Nahid Raza, Anjum Ayub, Usman Ghauri, Mehar Afroz, Mehmood Ali, Nadeem Ahmed, Samina Ali, AQ Arif, Moazzam Ali, Asadur Rehman, Raza-un-Nabi, Hanif Khan, MA Bukhari and Tabasum Rizvi are on display.

(...)

Using the medium of acrylics, Ahmed focuses on the Sufi traditions, festivals, architectural heritage and people of Pakistan. Few of his themes are based on Sufi poetry depicting creative and experimental work while the portrayal of festivals also reflects cityscapes of Lahore.

Ahmed has used soft colours to give his work a pure display of Sufism with the traditional touch of Pakistani buildings.

(...)

Nomad Curator Nageen Hayat talking to Daily Times said Nomad Gallery was promoting art and culture. “Our main focus is to promote art and culture through indigenous crafts and thematic paintings, as this country is in dire need of promoting its true identity, especially at this crucial time,” she said.The exhibition of paintings and prints would continue up till August 18.

Rice Mixed with Chickpeas

By Imran Naeem Ahmad, "Bari Imam Shrine: Revival of Langar Khana result of food inflation" - Daily Times - Lahore, Pakistan
Saturday, August 2, 2008

Islamabad: The growing inflation has led to an increase in people queuing up for free food at the shrine of Islamabad’s patron saint Bari Imam.

Raja Jaffer, a worker at the shrine, told Daily Times on Friday while previously only beggars and the needy used to visit the ‘langar khana’, now the labourers were also joining in.

“The number of people coming here for free meals has more than doubled in recent months, so tremendous has been the price hike,” he said, asking how could the poor afford to pay for food when even an ordinary cup of hot tea was being sold for Rs 7.

On a normal day, the distribution of food starts early and continues through to 10.00pm. This ritual at the shrine that is located in Nurpur Shahan Village at the foot of the Margalla Hills has been going on for years.

Bari Imam, whose real name was Shah Abdul Latif Kazmi, was a 17th century Sufi. It is said that when he first arrived at the village, it was inhabited by dacoits but his presence and preaching drew them towards a pious way of life.

The ‘deg’ sellers in the vicinity of the shrine said rice mixed with chickpeas remains in great demand with people buying the stuff from their outlets and dispatching it to the “langar khana” for distribution as charity.

Inflation has broken the back of many people who now find their earnings not sufficient enough to cope with the skyrocketing prices.

(...)

According to WFP (United Nations World Food Programme) analysis, 38 percent of Pakistanis are food insecure, meaning not able to afford poverty line intake of 2350 kcal per day. The situation is such that people living below the line of poverty are facing severe malnutrition and hunger.

[Picture: the Tomb of Bari Imam in Islamabad. Photo by Asikhi, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bari_Imam].

Many Paths to the Kaabah

By Swati Chopra, "Q&A: 'Our jehad weapon is love'" - Times of India - India
Friday, August 1, 2008

Sheikha Cemalnur Sargut is a Turkish Sufi mystic. A former chemistry teacher, she is widely popular among the young in Turkey. Her teachings focus on the application of Sufi principles and ethics in daily life. She spoke with Swati Chopra:

How did you reconcile your study of modern science and philosophy with the Sufi way?
I was born into a Sufi family. In order to find things out for myself, I rejected my family's ideas and studied philosophy and chemical engineering. I examined philosophers' lives to see what i could learn from them, but saw that none of them was happy.

Nietzsche became mad, Schopenhauer predicted the end of the world. I turned to Samiha Ayverdi, my Sufi teacher, and asked her to show me somebody who was actually living what he or she was saying. She showed me Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi (1207-1273 A.D.).

Some years later, she asked me to teach the young. I said i knew nothing. She said, it is then you can teach. You cannot teach when you claim to know something. You are actually learning when you are teaching.

There are many schools of Sufism. How would you characterise yours?
There are different paths to the Kaabah, one chooses this and another chooses that. My teacher's teacher, Kenan Rifai, combined the four main Sufi paths, which stand for humbleness, knowledge, love and praying while living in the world fully. We are trying to bring these together.

Was this a new Sufi path?
Yes. Kenan Rifai was a revolutionary, as was Prophet Mohammed who broke the idols which are actually the ideas that bar our intellect, our mind. I try to do the same thing.

I am lucky because many people accept me. Perhaps it is because I don't want to show myself, but the beautiful face of religion.

The Sufi way is of love. Love is so precious, it is our weapon. Our jehad weapon is love.

Have you ever had to face controversy because of your beliefs?
It happens all the time. My teacher said that if everybody loves you, you are not a real murshid (Sufi teacher). Some people must not understand you, because wholeness is very difficult to understand.

People like to make war, to take one side. If you belong to all sides, then they don't want to accept you.

There is increasing tension between secularists and fundamentalists in Turkey.
Problems are created by a handful of people, and they seem huge because they have big voices. In terms of the headscarf controversy, covering actually means to cover our bad habits.

What is your way of teaching?
We try to live what we learn. When i went to the US 10 years ago, one man said: If I just listen to you, I will think of you for a few days. But because I saw all of you (Sheikha and her students), I saw how to behave, how to be what you say. That is very important.

Timelessness, Transcendence, and Peace

By Bernama, "Call to teach journalism students proper reporting of Islam " - New Straits Times - Persekutuan, Malaysia
Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Reporting on Islam or religion should be developed as a compulsory subject by institutions of higher learning in light of Western media’s misrepresentation of Islam

University Technology Petronas lecturer Prof Dr Ahmad Murad Merican who proposed this idea, also suggested the setting up of a centre to look into news reports on Islam and other religions, and rectify misconceptions.

He said currently the method of reporting news on Islam and other religions, was too westernised in nature because contemporary media had its roots in the Industrial Revolution.“News reports and media began during the Industrial Revolution. The revolution emphasised materialistic concerns.

The values journalists hold in their profession today reflect on timeliness, the now, to sell news, and news must have conflict to make it interesting. “These are very capitalistic values. Religion, on the other hand, have opposite values, which are timelessness, transcendence, and peace as opposed to conflict.

“We need to learn how to report Islamic news or religious issues from an Islamic or religious point of view,” he said when presenting his paper titled“Orientalism, the Reportage of Religion and Journalism Education: Expanding the Space in the Dialogue of Civilisations”.

Ahmad Murad, who spoke on the second and final day of the International Conference on the Representation of Islam and Muslims in the Media (ICORM08) today, said no university had offered this much-needed subject.

“For so many years not one university in the world has a course called ’Reportage of Islam or Religion’. Yet this (misrepresentation of Islam or religion) is the problem we face today, everyday. I know a university in India had it in the 1950’s but I don’t know what has happened to it,” he continued.

He then asserted that the misrepresentation of Islam could not be accorded solely to the Western media since Muslims too had damaged their own image.

“Jalaluddin Al-Rumi is seen in very positive light by the West. He was one of the world’s foremost philosophers and Islamic scholars. Yet here in Malaysia, there are Malays who believe he was a heretic. When I named my son Rumi, some thought I was a heretic,” the professor lamented.

[To visit the Conference's website, click on this link http://www.icorm08.com.my/contact.html].

Cohesion Between Contradictories

By Mamoon Alabbasi, "Gibran anniversary marked in London" - Middle East Online - London, UK
Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Lecture marking 125th anniversary of famous Lebanese poet held in London in honour of his work

A lecture dedicated to the life and works of the famous Lebanese poet Gibran Khalil Gibran [1883-1931] was held Thursday at the School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS) in London.

The lecture, which marks the 125th anniversary of the poet’s birth, was given by Professor Suheil Bushrui (University of Maryland, US), Director of the Kahlil Gibran Research and Studies Project.

Gibran, born in 1883 in Lebanon, was best known for his book The Prophet, which sold millions of copies worldwide.

His poetry has been translated into more than twenty languages, while his paintings have been exhibited in many capitals of the world.

The event commenced with an introductory note by Mrs. Ibtisam Auchi, head of the Union of Arab Schools in the UK, which helped organise the lecture. She noted that the Lebanese artist was an acknowledged figure internationally before becoming known in the Arab Word.

Then Mohammed Said, a teacher at SOAS and a member of the Union of Arab Schools in the UK, gave a short introduction on the lecturer and emphasised the importance of teaching the works of Gibran, the artist who “linked east to west”.

“During the past twenty-five years, not a year passed that I did not pick a passage or two of Gibran to teach,” noted Said.

The lecture began with an emphasis on the relevance of Gibran’s work to many of today’s events. Bushrui argued that Gibran had sought long ago to build bridges between east and west, continuously promoting dialogue and peaceful coexistence.

“Gibran carried a message of peace, crossing the boundaries of race, religion and language,” said Bushrui. He advocated bridging the divide between east and west, woman and man, poor and rich, Muslims and Christians.

The lecture touched on the spiritual side of Gibran, which greatly influenced his work and view of the world. Gibran called for a “spiritual renaissance” that would eventually help our minds to find cohesion between contradictories and bring about a unity between “emotion and thought”.

The call, which came during an era of conflict and economic hardships, is seen as still vital in today’s world.

Gibran wanted people searching for life to begin looking within themselves in order to find it, Bushrui noted.

The poet not only believed in the unity of humanity, but also in the unity of religion, explained Bushrui. “All regions are one”, Gibran was quoted, echoing Arab mystic poets. He saw all faiths as stemming from the same source.

“Gibran was influenced by Islamic Sufism and the idea of religious unity,” noted Bushrui.

Sufi poets like Ibn Al Arabi and Al Ghazzali had a strong impact on Gibran, in addition to the influence of Al Andalus literature, which included Christian and Jewish poets in Spain, explained Bushrui.

Although Gibran was a Christian Maronite, his mind was open to the teachings of Islam.
“If you study Gibran, you cannot miss his position towards Islam,” said Bushrui, adding that the poet often cited from the sayings of Prophet Mohammed.

Bushrui quoted Gibran saying: “To Muslims from a Christian poet; I am a Christian and proud of that, but I love the Arab Prophet … and love the glory of Islam and I fear for it … I respect the Koran but disdain those who use it as a means against the cause of Muslims… as I disrespect those who use the Bible as a means to control Christians ... take it from me O Muslims, a message from a Christian… Jesus lives in one half of my heart while Mohammed resides in the other”.

The poet was in a unique position to bring people of different backgrounds together.
A Lebanese living in the United States, Gibran sought to bring some spirituality to the West while calling for more modernity in the Orient.

Gibran was not too happy with life in modern industrialised cities and while he did not deny the importance of commerce, he favoured a more humanitarian system that is just for everyone, especially the poor, Bushrui noted.

The Lebanese poet also seemed to have a special view on women, ahead of its time even in the United States.

“Leadership should be handed to women,” Gibran was quoted saying. “I owe all I have to women.”

Gibran’s perspective on nationality and citizenship seems to have a progressive ring to it, too.
“Though Gibran loved his country, he saw his loyalty to the whole of humanity,” noted Bushrui.
He saw himself as a ‘citizen of the world’ who would not side with own people should they harm others.

“All of earth is my homeland, and humanity is my tribe,” Gibran was quoted saying.

“Gibran believed in human rights, acceptance of the other, mutual respect, and unity in diversity,” Bushrui remarked.

Bushrui called for more attention to be paid to the work and life of Gibran, advocating a revival of interest in the Lebanese poet.

“Sales of The Prophet between 1980 and 1990 reached eight million copies, and the book was translated to many languages,” noted Bushrui.

“It became the second best selling book in the US after the Bible … his words were not just for a certain generation in the US but the whole of humanity,” stressed Bushrui.

Bushrui concluded that Gibran’s work has still a lot to offer to the world.

[To visit SOAS click on this link http://www.soas.ac.uk/].

Gardens Inside

Trading Markets (Press Release), "WALNUT CREEK TO BECOME THIRD WEST COAST CITY WITH BUILDING BY PRESTIGIOUS FIRM" - Los Angeles, CA, USA
Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Walnut Creek may soon become the third city on the west coast with a building designed by the internationally renowned firm of Philip Johnson Alan Ritchie Architects, based in Manhattan.

These architects have designed the Crystal Cathedral in Anaheim and the 101 California Street building in San Francisco, as well as dozens of other high-profile structures throughout the world.

Now, Ritchie is working on a sanctuary for the 350-member Sufism Reoriented group on Boulevard Way in unincorporated Walnut Creek.

"I love this building," Ritchie said in a phone interview from New York. "I can't wait for it to be built. I think when you can express good architecture and you have a client that appreciates and enjoys it, it benefits everybody. It's small, but it could be a little jewel."

Members of the religious organization, who have been operating in a renovated former restaurant, are thrilled to have lured such a prominent architect to their project. Ritchie has run the award-winning firm since his partner, Johnson, died three years ago at age 98.

"For these well-known architects, we're small fish," said Carol Conner, who is the "murshida," or spiritual leader, for Sufism Reoriented.

"The basic design was really Alan's translation of the principles and specifications that I gave to him into a vision, into a form. I was just delighted."

Ritchie said he enjoys working on small projects because they allow him to express his
creativity. He was intrigued by Conner's description of Sufism Reoriented and what the group was seeking, he said.

He personally designed the new sanctuary and multi-use building for the group, developing 13 dome-shaped structures inspired by Mount Diablo and the surrounding hills. The circular, white buildings also symbolize unity, one of the group's core principals, Conner said.

"The Christian church builds their beautiful cathedrals in the form of a cross because of their love of that symbol, which is at the heart of their values and ideals," Conner said.

Ritchie said he envisions the round buildings "hugging" the congregation as they focus inward.

Unlike many grand cathedrals, the Sufism project will not be visible from a distance. Instead, it will be built partially underground so the domes won't exceed the neighborhood's 35-foot [m 10,5] height limit. In addition, the group has enlisted the prestigious SWA Landscape Design firm to help hide the building from public view, using plants.

Joe Runco of SWA said his firm joined the project in part because it likes to collaborate with talented architects.

SWA, which has California offices in San Francisco and Sausalito, is also working on the new California Academy of Sciences "green roof" and landscaping, as well as landscaping for the tallest building in the world, now under construction in Dubai.

The Sufism project presents challenges because landscaping will be planted on 1 to 4 feet [cm 30-120] of soil covering the rectangular roofs of the underground buildings, Runco said.

"It's definitely a different style of building, so I'm sure there are plenty of concerns from neighbors about, 'Will it seem garish or weird or not compatible?'" Runco said. "We're trying to create gardens inside the site. It's mostly underground, so there should be little or any evidence that there's anything going on there."

As a sign of their devotion to God, the congregation hopes to build much of the project itself, said contractor Chris Martin, who is a member of the group. He estimates the project, consisting largely of concrete blocks with precast stone cladding, will cost about $18 million.

Although some may consider the building to be simple because it will lack ornamentation, Martin said he and the congregation are excited by its intrinsic beauty.

"It's not elegant because of crystal and gold leaf," Martin said. "It's elegant because of its shape and design. We think it's gorgeous, and we hope a lot of people in the community will agree."

[Visit Sufism Reoriented's Website http://www.sufismreoriented.org/].

Celebrating

By Andrew Phelan, "City centre's first mosque" - Evening Herald - Dublin, Ireland
Monday, July 28, 2008

From the outside, it's an ordinary-looking building on a busy street, barely attracting a second glance from the shoppers.

But behind its upper-floor windows, the unassuming terrace is home to Dublin's first city centre mosque. For the last week, the Islamic community has been celebrating the opening of their Talbot Street mosque, after a long planning battle.

The building actually represents a number of firsts -- it is also the first mosque on the northside and the first Sufi mosque in the State.

Called the Anwar-E-Madina, the mosque will cater for some 200 worshippers and joins the city's other Islamic centres at South Circular Road and Clonskeagh.

For several years, prayers had been held at a room in Moore Lane. The Talbot Street building was secured and planning permission granted by Dublin City Council last December, but this was appealed by local traders to An Bord Pleanala [The Planning Board].

During the hold-up, prayers were held at a cash-and-carry in the vegetable market at Little Green Street. The final go ahead for Talbot Street to open its doors was given last week.

For those who worked to make the project a reality, there are no hard feelings about the delays.
"Thank God it's all come to an end," Anwar-E-Madina's representative Manan Hameed said of the planning stages.

"The community really appreciates that something like this has been done in Dublin's inner city. It is a great honour to be the first Sufi mosque in Ireland.

"The welcome we have had in the Talbot Street area is fantastic as Ireland is a different ballgame to the way it was in the 80s and 90s. It's great to see such beautiful integration in a Dublin street."

Asked about the planning difficulties, Mr Hameed added: "We have absolutely no bad feelings towards anybody."

The upper three floors of two buildings at numbers 8 and 9 Talbot Street, above Langan Furniture and Rayhoon restaurant, were converted. They had been vacant since 2006 and were previously given over to non-retail commercial uses.

An Bord Pleanala found there was "no evidence" to suggest that the proposed development would detract from the existing premises in the area.

[Picture: Manan Hameed with Allama Hafiz Sadique in the new Anwar-E-Madina mosque. Photo: EH].

To Keep These Rich Islamic Texts Well-Cared

By Mohamed Ahmed Bin Shihab, "Al-Ahqaf manuscript library preserves Islamic history and learning" - Yemen Times - Sana'a, Yemen
Issue: (1176), Volume 16 , From 28 July 2008 to 30 July 2008

The Al-Ahqaf Manuscript library is a unique jewel for us, carrying a reflection of the learned people that have come before us.

It is upon us to work and to re-establish the organization of this inheritance so that it might become clear in the hearts and in the books, according to Abu Bakr Ibn Ali Al-Mashhur, Islamic scholar and founder of numerous Islamic institutions.

This library was named Al-Ahqaf in reference to the old name of the Hadramout valley, as it was called in the Holy Quran in the Sura of the same name. It was established in 1972 by the Endowment for Private Libraries by the following individuals and their families: Umar Ibn Ali Al-Junaid and his brother Ahmed, Abdullah Ibn Umar Ibn Yahya, Hussein Ibn Abdul Rahman Ibn Sahl and Al-Kaf family.

The Al-Kaf library comprised the collections of Al-Kaf and Al-Husseini libraries, which originally belonged to the literary scholar and historian Saleh Ibn Ali Al-Hamed. The administrator of these libraries thought to make them one in order to facilitate reading and research while simultaneously easing maintenance and care.

The Ministry of Culture took charge of the administration and upkeep of this library. They later passed this task on to the Yemeni Center for Cultural Research, Museums and Archeology. In the early stages of setting up the library, there were some printed materials mixed in with the manuscripts and it was deemed necessary to separate one from the other.

To accommodate these, the Al-Ahqaf Library for Printed Matter was established. Subsequently, the decision to make the Al-Ahqaf library the main library for manuscripts in the country was thought of by the Minister of Culture for the government of South Yemen before the unification. About 200 manuscripts were added to the Al-Ahqaf library. Most of these came from two places; 80 came from the Sultani library in Al-Mukalla, and another 50 came from the library of Sheikh Al-Amoudi Ibn Shubat Ba Muhammad of the Amd valley. The remainder came from a number of different sources.

The Al-Ahqaf library has several departments, including the department of manuscripts that contains some 6,200 manuscripts arranged in cupboards according to subject: Qur’anic exegesis, Prophetic traditions, jurisprudence, Sufism, biographies and history, language and literature, medicine, and assorted collections (manuscripts containing more than one subject). Most of these manuscripts go back to the 10th and 11th century after Hijrah.

Among them are rarities like an edition of the Qur’anic exegesis by Al-Bayaan by Abu Jafar Ibn Muhammad Ibn Al-Hassan Al-Tusi and the second part of a medical text by Ibn Sina (Avicenna). This edition was copied in 633A.H. and contains margin notes that were copied from the author's edition.

Other departments include the Department of Printed Materials, which contains references related to the manuscripts and indexes for some world libraries, the Department of Computers and Photocopying and the Department of Maintenance, which has materials and equipment for bookbinding and restoration. Due to the great cultural inheritance it comprises, the Al-Ahqaf library must serve researchers and students coming from different foundations and governments as well as private and foreign universities who come to check manuscripts or do research.

Ahmed Al-Jifry, a student at Dar Al-Mustafa, an international center for Islamic studies, came to the library to check a manuscript on jurisprudence. "I always come to the library to see what our predecessors handed down to us. I am very proud to find a library like this in my country," he said.

Dr. Linda Bexberger is a historian who has visited the library and expressed her pleasure about the services that the library offers. "I am very pleased to see the good condition of the Al-Ahqaf Manuscript library these days and to see that catalogues and access are available to researchers and scholars," Bexberger added.

There are also visits from government officials and tourists and a considerable number of students and local visitors who come to visit the library on a regular basis. Dr. Abdul Rahim Seyid Bakr, the Minister of Higher Education, Academic Research and Culture in the Comor Islands, visited the library and wished to increase youth interest in the treasures held there.

"This is a rich heritage, so we hope that future generations protect it for those who will follow us," said Seyid Bakr. Despite the services that the library offers its visitors, there are still some obstacles that hinder their performance. The administrator of the library, Hussein Al-Hadi, said that the library faces some difficulties due to the low number of employees and the lack of courses to qualify those employees.

"The library still does not draw sufficient interest or support from the government or have sufficient financial supplies, even though it is a one of the most unique intellectual establishments in Yemen," said Al-Hadi. He added that there have been many manuscripts that came up for sale, but the library is not able to buy them because they do not have financial allocations for this purpose.

"The opportunity to acquire these manuscripts passes us by and we do not know where they end up," said Al-Hadi. Another problem is that the library is restricted in size. However, recently there have been talks to find a place for the library in the restored Al-Renad palace.

The task of preserving this inheritance is not specific to any one particular group, but rather everyone is responsible to do what they can to keep these rich Islamic texts well-cared for and held in high esteem.

The Underpinning of His Remarkable Life

By S. Amjad Hussain, "Neurosurgeon’s death overshadowed but still significant" - Toledo Blade - Toledo, OH, USA
Monday, July 28, 2008

The passing of Dr. Michael DeBakey, the pioneer heart surgeon and researcher, earlier this month overshadowed the death of Dr. Ayub Khan Ommaya, a world-renowned neurosurgeon and researcher who passed away in Islamabad of Alzheimer’s disease on July 10.

A few years ago, when the disease took its hold, he moved back to Pakistan. He was 78.

Dr. Ommaya was born into a Sufi family from the Himalayan Hazara Hills of northern Pakistan. Sufism is a branch of Islam that while accepting and practicing the core values of religion also believes in pluralism and respect for other religions. That philosophy remained the underpinning of Dr. Ommaya’s remarkable life.

After graduating from King Edward Medical College in Lahore in 1953, he went to England as a Rhodes Scholar and received a doctorate in clinical biology from Oxford University, where he also was a member of the rowing team.

While in England, he was named the Hunterian Professor in the Royal College of Surgeons, a singular honor for a young surgeon-researcher.

As is often the case in Third World countries, Dr. Ommaya could not get a suitable position when he returned to Pakistan, so he decided to go to the Unites States.

His ordeal was similar to the one faced by another brilliant scientist, the late Dr. Abdus Salam, who had faced a similar dilemma in Pakistan. In the late 1950s, he went back to England to teach and in 1964 established the International Center for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy, that now bears his name. He was the recipient of Nobel Prize in physics in 1979.

Upon his arrival in the United States in 1961, Dr. Ommaya joined the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke as an associate neurosurgeon. He had already made his impact on the profession by inventing a device to deliver chemotherapy to brain cancers. Known as the Ommaya Reservoir, the device is widely used the world over and has been pivotal in the development of all other medical ports now used.

His real genius, however, was to bring conceptual theory of the mechanism of head injuries into practice by bringing seemingly diverse disciplines to collaborate and find solutions. His centripetal theory of traumatic brain injury, tested in primates, was put to use by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in design changes and the development of safety devices for motor vehicles.

In the 1980s, as chief medical adviser to the U.S. Department of Transportation, Dr. Ommaya commissioned a comprehensive report called “Injury in America.”

His friendship and close working relationship with then-Rep. William Lehman (D., Fla.), the chair of the House appropriations subcommittee on transportation, led to the establishment of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the Centers for Disease Control.

As a neurosurgeon, his repertoire was wide and extensive but he excelled in the surgical treatment of vascular malformations of the brain and spinal cord. In one such case in 1977, he used a multidisciplinary approach with a heart surgeon, a heart bypass, extreme hypothermia, and total circulatory arrest to remove a giant vascular malformation from a 35-year old teacher from Rochester, N.Y.

The 19-hour-long operation was successful and caught the imagination of professionals and the lay public alike when a detailed account of the remarkable surgical feat was published in Readers Digest in August, 1978.

Dr. Ommaya was also a trained opera singer and, according to his Washington Post obituary, he often serenaded his patients and colleagues with his singing. He also had a deep insight into history, metaphysics, and religion.

In 2001, he published a lengthy article on the rise and decline of science in the Islamic world in the journal World & I.In it, through historic references and his ample knowledge of Islam, he discussed the decline of science among the Muslims.

His theory, expounded upon by other scholars as well, was that early Muslims looked at their religion in a pluralistic and inclusive way that provided the milieu in which various Islamic civilizations developed and flourished.

I first met Ayub in 1982, when he was elected president of the Association of Pakistani Physicians of North America and I, as president-elect of the association, worked with him. Though we were not close friends, we enjoyed seeing each other occasionally and discussing many subjects that were of mutual interest.

He was always cordial, courteous, gracious, and extremely thoughtful.With his death, science has lost a brilliant scientist who was also a polymath. His friends and colleagues have lost a truly remarkable and inspiring human being.

The Tomb of Shams

TTCulture Desk, "MP criticizes Tabriz City Council’s claim over Shams tomb" - Tehran Times - Tehran, Iran
July 27, 2008

Khoy Member of Parliament Mo’ayyed Hosseini-Sadr was enraged by the recent claim by the Tabriz City Council, declaring Shams is buried in Tabriz and not in Khoy.

All the historical documents in the world prove that the tomb of Shams-e Tabrizi is in Khoy, Western Azerbaijan, Hosseini-Sadr said, adding, “Shams-e Tabrizi originally comes from Tabriz but this does not mean that he is buried in Tabriz.”

This erroneous claim by the Tabriz City Council inflicts substantial damage to Iranian cultural figures, he said.

“I advise members of the Tabriz City Council to cease their erroneous claim, and if they possess any documents which support their statements, they should hand them over to the relevant organizations for further studies,” he continued.

He also referred to a previous declaration by Turkey claiming that Shams is buried in their country and remarked, “This sort of news provokes false beliefs in other countries and could lead to several more false claims in the future.”

“I hereby propose that the Tabriz City Council members make diligent efforts to introduce Shams as an Iranian cultural figure rather than spreading false reports,” Hosseini-Sadr concluded.

Born in the city of Tabriz, Shams lived together with Rumi in Konya for several years.

Shams has been immortalized in Rumi’s collection of poetry named the “Divan of Shams ad-Din of Tabriz”.

Rumi’s love for him and his bereavement at his death found expression in an outpouring of music, dance, and lyrical poetry.

The tomb of Shams is located in Khoy and is in the form of a 12-meter [39-feet] high cylindrical tower. The monument was erected by Shah Esmaeil in the Safavid era.

Against Extremism and Injustice

Staff Report, "No place for extremism in Islam, says Taseer" - Daily Times - Lahore, Pakistan
Saturday, July 26, 2008

There is no place for extremism in Islam since the essence of Islam is peace, love and equality, Governor Salmaan Taseer said on Friday.

He also added that Sufi poets had taught humanism to the world through their poetry.

He was addressing a gathering at the three-day celebrations of the 210th Urs (death anniversary) of renowned Sufi poet Syed Waris Shah.

Taseer also announced the renovation of the Malika Hans Mosque, where Waris Shah wrote his famous work ‘Heer’.

He also announced that celebrations of Syed Waris Shah’s 210th Urs would be held at the Governor’s House on August 7th.

Taseer said that Islam was a religion of peace. He said that Prophet Muhammad’s (pbuh) teachings of equality, love and tolerance had made the world an excellent place to live in. He added that in order to succeed in this life and the hereafter, everyone should follow Prophet Muhammad’s (pbuh) teachings.

He said that the Sufis of Punjab had taught people to love God and mankind through their poetry. He said that they had always stood against extremism and injustice in society.

He added that Syed Waris Shah’s poetry has always been a source of spiritual blessing for the people. He said that the concept of human brotherhood explained in classical literature should be introduced to the young generation to control intolerance and extremism in society.

He said that the government was working on plans to introduce Punjabi literature and culture in all government universities.

Culture Minister Dr Tanveerul-Islam said Sufi poets had given the people the message of loving humanity and God through their poetry.

Sheikhupura District Nazim Mian Jaleel Ahmed Sharaqpuri, Sheikhupura District Co-ordination Officer Salman Aijaz, Pakistan People’s Party leader Mushtaq Awan and other party leaders were also present on the occasion.

Later, a competition of mystic poetry was also held.