Telegraph.co.uk. - 06/03/2006
Bhaskar Bhattacharyya, who has drowned aged 56 while swimming off the coast of Chennai (formerly Madras), was a documentary film-maker, a consultant to musicians and film crews working in India and a scholar of Hindu and Sufi mysticism.
An adviser on several British television series set in India, including The Jewel in the Crown (1984) and Great Railway Journeys of the World (1989), Bhattacharyya inspired many young Indian film-makers. As director of programmes for the Business India channel he was able to help many of them further their careers.
His technical knowledge of film-making was worn as lightly as his understanding of ancient mystics and shamanism; he was chiefly noticeable for his infectious laugh and enthusiasm for the diverse culture of his birthplace.
Bhaskar Bhattacharyya was born in Darjeeling on June 4 1950, the son of two school-teachers. When young Bhaskar was five, his parents left India for Kampala, Uganda, where they lived for the next 11 years before moving to London, where he took his A levels and read Physics at City University.
year into the course, however, he dropped out of university. After a spell spent living in squats in north London, he joined the hippy trail, travelling through Europe, Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan, finally ending up in India.
For the next six years he lived among the sadhus (holy men) and shamans, befriending the Baul musicians and going on to study Sanskrit at Vanarisi (Benares) on the banks of the Ganges. During this period he collaborated with the film-maker George Lunneau, after which Bhattacharyya went on to form his own production company.
In 1976 he returned to London to continue his academic exploration of Hindu and Sufi mysticism. By the 1980s he had built up a reputation as a respected adviser and facilitator for western media in India.
Bhattacharyya made a number of documentaries about Indian culture and wrote articles for the Independent, The Times of India and the South China Morning Post. In 1993 he published a collection of 84 Baul song lyrics, The Path of the Mystic Lover: Baul songs of passion and ecstasy (co-written with Nik Douglas). At the time of his death he was working on a novel about the poet Shelley, with whom he felt a great affinity.
Bhattacharyya, who died on February 10 while on a film shoot for Channel 4, married Rohini Pathania in 1988. She survives him with their son.
Sunday, October 08, 2006
Public Lesson
Source: Delhi Newsline - Sunday, March 5, 2006
by Sumati Mehrishi Sharma
New Delhi, March 4: Uzbek singer Yulchieva Munojatkhon is more than a background buzz. She is one of Uzbekistan’s most popular singers, yet she rarely gives solo performances. That’s because, unlike musicians from elsewhere in the world, Uzbek artistes prefer to perform with their teachers — as accompanists — even when they can command an audience on their own merit.
Like Yulchieva Munojatkhon. She is famous. She has an evergreen voice melodious enough to cut a meteoric career in the commercial music firmament. But for several years, she has been turning down offers from the Uzbek film industry. That’s because her Tashkent-based teacher, Shavqat Mirza, does not approve of film songs.
He believes that a true classical musician must never succumb to commercial pressure. According to him, I am at the peak of my singing career and that I must not waste my talent by singing film songs.”
But Delhi’ites can take heart. The 46-year-old Munojatkhon will perform today, at Jahan-e-Khusrau, the sixth International Sufi Music Festival, where she will dazzle the crowd with Persian Sufi songs. And this time, her teacher will take the seat to play the kamancha, a Persian stringed instrument.
Uzbek music, as she points out, is close to Kashmiri sufi music, even though it shares more similarities with melodies from Kazakhistan. Her songs are overtly spiritual, drawing inspiration from Sufi philosophy. And she has dedicated several of her compositions to the 15th century Uzbek writer, Ali Sher Nawoi. “He is to Uzbekistan what the Sufi and Bhakti saints are to India,” she explains. Given the revered guru-shishya relationship Uzbek musicians share, it isn’t surprising that filmmaker Muzaffar Ali, who organises the festival in the capital every year, took two years to convince her to come to India.
The artiste attended Shavqat’s conservatory after completing school in the Uzbek capital. “I was not born in a family of musicians,” says the artiste. So she worked hard to master her lessons and was soon making her own compositions. “Theory is important, but my teacher is particular about pronunciation and a knowledge of the Urdu language helps.”
Uzbekistan follows two paths of Sufism — the Yehsavi and the Nakshbandi. “The Yehsavi philosophy believes that God created us and we should all return to him as soon as possible. The Nakshbandi, on the other hand relates more to this world. It says that though we belong to God, we should be committed to our work. Nakshbands offer their heart and soul to God.”
by Sumati Mehrishi Sharma
New Delhi, March 4: Uzbek singer Yulchieva Munojatkhon is more than a background buzz. She is one of Uzbekistan’s most popular singers, yet she rarely gives solo performances. That’s because, unlike musicians from elsewhere in the world, Uzbek artistes prefer to perform with their teachers — as accompanists — even when they can command an audience on their own merit.
Like Yulchieva Munojatkhon. She is famous. She has an evergreen voice melodious enough to cut a meteoric career in the commercial music firmament. But for several years, she has been turning down offers from the Uzbek film industry. That’s because her Tashkent-based teacher, Shavqat Mirza, does not approve of film songs.
He believes that a true classical musician must never succumb to commercial pressure. According to him, I am at the peak of my singing career and that I must not waste my talent by singing film songs.”
But Delhi’ites can take heart. The 46-year-old Munojatkhon will perform today, at Jahan-e-Khusrau, the sixth International Sufi Music Festival, where she will dazzle the crowd with Persian Sufi songs. And this time, her teacher will take the seat to play the kamancha, a Persian stringed instrument.
Uzbek music, as she points out, is close to Kashmiri sufi music, even though it shares more similarities with melodies from Kazakhistan. Her songs are overtly spiritual, drawing inspiration from Sufi philosophy. And she has dedicated several of her compositions to the 15th century Uzbek writer, Ali Sher Nawoi. “He is to Uzbekistan what the Sufi and Bhakti saints are to India,” she explains. Given the revered guru-shishya relationship Uzbek musicians share, it isn’t surprising that filmmaker Muzaffar Ali, who organises the festival in the capital every year, took two years to convince her to come to India.
The artiste attended Shavqat’s conservatory after completing school in the Uzbek capital. “I was not born in a family of musicians,” says the artiste. So she worked hard to master her lessons and was soon making her own compositions. “Theory is important, but my teacher is particular about pronunciation and a knowledge of the Urdu language helps.”
Uzbekistan follows two paths of Sufism — the Yehsavi and the Nakshbandi. “The Yehsavi philosophy believes that God created us and we should all return to him as soon as possible. The Nakshbandi, on the other hand relates more to this world. It says that though we belong to God, we should be committed to our work. Nakshbands offer their heart and soul to God.”
A Voice for Peace
By Hadia Mostafa - Egypt Today
Saturday, 04 Mar 2006
With God in his heart and the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) at his side, British-born singing sensation Sami Yusuf is taking the world by storm — and even has non-Muslims humming his tunes — but don’t make the mistake of calling the widely acclaimed ‘King of Islamic Pop’ a preacher.
HE HAS THE GOOD looks, chart-topping music and stylish video clips of a bona fide pop star, but sings about God, the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) and the inherently peaceful message of Islam. In 2005, his website, www.samiyusuf.com, recorded more than 2 million visitors. Children love his catchy tunes, parents applaud his integrity, and the teenagers and twenty-somethings who make up the bulk of his fan base have taken Yusuf as their new role model.
“I do not come from an excessively religious family, though. I had a very normal Islamic upbringing and graduated from a normal public school in England. I used to pray on and off until I became ‘more practicing’ at the age of 16. My father was always very spiritual and a great lover of the Qur’an and the writings of Sufi poets such as Rumi, so the spiritual influence was always there,” says Yusuf.
Al-Mu’allim’s anasheed-style music and lyrics have a clear Sufi feel throughout, particularly on tracks such as “Allahu.”
“I wouldn’t label myself as a Sufi, but if you look at the historical context of spirituality and Sufism, you will find that they play a huge part in our faith. The greatest of sahaba (companions of the Prophet (PBUH)) and the greatest of Muslims were Sufis in the proper understanding of the term. Tasawuf (Sufism) definitely plays an important part of my life, but so do other things.”
Saturday, 04 Mar 2006
With God in his heart and the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) at his side, British-born singing sensation Sami Yusuf is taking the world by storm — and even has non-Muslims humming his tunes — but don’t make the mistake of calling the widely acclaimed ‘King of Islamic Pop’ a preacher.
HE HAS THE GOOD looks, chart-topping music and stylish video clips of a bona fide pop star, but sings about God, the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) and the inherently peaceful message of Islam. In 2005, his website, www.samiyusuf.com, recorded more than 2 million visitors. Children love his catchy tunes, parents applaud his integrity, and the teenagers and twenty-somethings who make up the bulk of his fan base have taken Yusuf as their new role model.
“I do not come from an excessively religious family, though. I had a very normal Islamic upbringing and graduated from a normal public school in England. I used to pray on and off until I became ‘more practicing’ at the age of 16. My father was always very spiritual and a great lover of the Qur’an and the writings of Sufi poets such as Rumi, so the spiritual influence was always there,” says Yusuf.
Al-Mu’allim’s anasheed-style music and lyrics have a clear Sufi feel throughout, particularly on tracks such as “Allahu.”
“I wouldn’t label myself as a Sufi, but if you look at the historical context of spirituality and Sufism, you will find that they play a huge part in our faith. The greatest of sahaba (companions of the Prophet (PBUH)) and the greatest of Muslims were Sufis in the proper understanding of the term. Tasawuf (Sufism) definitely plays an important part of my life, but so do other things.”
Remnants of Buddhist culture found in Khorasan Razavi
MehrNews - RM/HG
Sunday, March 4, 2006
TEHRAN, Mar. 4 (MNA) -- A team of Iranian and Japanese experts have discovered remnants of Buddhist culture at a site near Sabzevar, Khorasan Razavi Province, the Persian service of CHN reported on Saturday.
The team, which began their research work last year, believes that they will find a Buddhist temple at the site. The Iranian director of the team, Hamid Fahimi, said that nineteen sites in the provinces of Zanjan, West Azerbaijan, Central, Kurdestan, Hamedan, and Khorasan Razavi were studied, and the Pirestir site near Sabzevar was the location where Buddhist ruins were discovered. According to Fahimi, architectural ruins, historical documents, and the local oral history have provided more evidence that Buddhists lived at the site in the late Sassanid and early Islamic eras.
Fahimi believes that Sufism is influenced by the Buddhist religion and that there are many Iranian stories which came from Buddhism where only the names have been changed.
The Japanese team is directed by Tsuchi Hashirikobe and the experts come from NIFS (Japan’s Nara International Foundation) a public-service corporation established by the governor of Nara prefecture in July 1989, aims to develop Nara into a center for historical and cultural research on the Silk Road, based on the achievements of the Silk Road Exposition of 1988.
Sunday, March 4, 2006
TEHRAN, Mar. 4 (MNA) -- A team of Iranian and Japanese experts have discovered remnants of Buddhist culture at a site near Sabzevar, Khorasan Razavi Province, the Persian service of CHN reported on Saturday.
The team, which began their research work last year, believes that they will find a Buddhist temple at the site. The Iranian director of the team, Hamid Fahimi, said that nineteen sites in the provinces of Zanjan, West Azerbaijan, Central, Kurdestan, Hamedan, and Khorasan Razavi were studied, and the Pirestir site near Sabzevar was the location where Buddhist ruins were discovered. According to Fahimi, architectural ruins, historical documents, and the local oral history have provided more evidence that Buddhists lived at the site in the late Sassanid and early Islamic eras.
Fahimi believes that Sufism is influenced by the Buddhist religion and that there are many Iranian stories which came from Buddhism where only the names have been changed.
The Japanese team is directed by Tsuchi Hashirikobe and the experts come from NIFS (Japan’s Nara International Foundation) a public-service corporation established by the governor of Nara prefecture in July 1989, aims to develop Nara into a center for historical and cultural research on the Silk Road, based on the achievements of the Silk Road Exposition of 1988.
Yearning for God is a New and Different Feeling for Westerners
ZAMAN ONLINE - zaman.com
By MINE CAKAR Thursday, March 02, 2006
Mevlana Jalaladdin Rumi is a river flowing strongly for centuries… This river, whose love surpasses centuries and whose call of truth exceeds borders, remains a fountain for burning hearts.
Mevlana and his philosophy of Sufism, known as "Rumi" in the West, are becoming more popular as sales of his books pass that of Shakespeare in America. What is the motive behind these developing dynamics in the West? Why does this wisdom tree rooted in the East bear fruits in the lives of Westerners? Does it migrate from ungrateful lands to the places where it will be appreciated, as the truth cannot disappear?
American Mawlavi Sheikh Kabir Helsinki draws our attention to the fact that Rumi's harmonizing of human nature with spirituality is a new phenomenon for Westerners, as they tend to adopt the opposite. The Sheikh explains the origins of his interest in Rumi: "Rumi adopts humanity in all his attitudes. Islamic Sufism handles the human being with his misery and sorrow, as well as his craving for God; and this feature enables growth. Rumi is the voice of fascination and universal love. This passion and energy is very new for the West because spiritual tendencies are considered against and rejecting of life. However, Rumi is a great believer in life. Rumi represents a healing power and repairs the broken human heart, enabling us to feel close to God and human at the same time."
Mawlawi Dargah has 200 dervishes worldwide, with 25 in California under Sheikh Helminski. There are Muslims from countries such as Turkey, Iran, and Indonesia in the group formed by Americans. Helminski says: "We have studied the Quran in addition to the works of Rumi for 25 years. We are trying to think, worship and withdraw into solitude, along with trying to form suitable relationships and associations. We conduct our daily tasks such as cooking, cleaning and serving guests besides spiritual education. We become more important in our love for God through our hopes; being awake, alert and conscious. Rumi is a great teacher and this kind of education nourishes the heart. It is an ever-lasting and a never-ending education. We are all students and there is no end to learning, it keeps improving our souls." Helminski compares Rumi to a river and says we are carried by its flow, where this power can create miracles.
Helminski says some people have a vague understanding of Rumi, and lists ways to help to understand him: “You cannot understand Rumi unless you make sacrifices and adapt yourself to a discipline to transform the self. No matter whether you are in the US or Turkey shallow thinking stays with you. We should awaken ourselves and begin on the road to spiritual development. This cannot be achieved by alone. It can be achieved through tradition and organized activities, which contain disciplines and are instructor-controlled, because it is difficult to maintain the promises alone and keep the intention alive. We should find those with same intention, work, and be part of a school of love.” Helminski stresses that Rumi cannot be separated from the Quran and Islamic tradition, and says, they do not have coercive attitudes, like making demands on those who attend their meetings.
By MINE CAKAR Thursday, March 02, 2006
Mevlana Jalaladdin Rumi is a river flowing strongly for centuries… This river, whose love surpasses centuries and whose call of truth exceeds borders, remains a fountain for burning hearts.
Mevlana and his philosophy of Sufism, known as "Rumi" in the West, are becoming more popular as sales of his books pass that of Shakespeare in America. What is the motive behind these developing dynamics in the West? Why does this wisdom tree rooted in the East bear fruits in the lives of Westerners? Does it migrate from ungrateful lands to the places where it will be appreciated, as the truth cannot disappear?
American Mawlavi Sheikh Kabir Helsinki draws our attention to the fact that Rumi's harmonizing of human nature with spirituality is a new phenomenon for Westerners, as they tend to adopt the opposite. The Sheikh explains the origins of his interest in Rumi: "Rumi adopts humanity in all his attitudes. Islamic Sufism handles the human being with his misery and sorrow, as well as his craving for God; and this feature enables growth. Rumi is the voice of fascination and universal love. This passion and energy is very new for the West because spiritual tendencies are considered against and rejecting of life. However, Rumi is a great believer in life. Rumi represents a healing power and repairs the broken human heart, enabling us to feel close to God and human at the same time."
Mawlawi Dargah has 200 dervishes worldwide, with 25 in California under Sheikh Helminski. There are Muslims from countries such as Turkey, Iran, and Indonesia in the group formed by Americans. Helminski says: "We have studied the Quran in addition to the works of Rumi for 25 years. We are trying to think, worship and withdraw into solitude, along with trying to form suitable relationships and associations. We conduct our daily tasks such as cooking, cleaning and serving guests besides spiritual education. We become more important in our love for God through our hopes; being awake, alert and conscious. Rumi is a great teacher and this kind of education nourishes the heart. It is an ever-lasting and a never-ending education. We are all students and there is no end to learning, it keeps improving our souls." Helminski compares Rumi to a river and says we are carried by its flow, where this power can create miracles.
Helminski says some people have a vague understanding of Rumi, and lists ways to help to understand him: “You cannot understand Rumi unless you make sacrifices and adapt yourself to a discipline to transform the self. No matter whether you are in the US or Turkey shallow thinking stays with you. We should awaken ourselves and begin on the road to spiritual development. This cannot be achieved by alone. It can be achieved through tradition and organized activities, which contain disciplines and are instructor-controlled, because it is difficult to maintain the promises alone and keep the intention alive. We should find those with same intention, work, and be part of a school of love.” Helminski stresses that Rumi cannot be separated from the Quran and Islamic tradition, and says, they do not have coercive attitudes, like making demands on those who attend their meetings.
Bharatnatyam is flavour of Sufi festival this year
Source: Delhi News Line
by Sumati Mehrishi Sharma - New Delhi, March 1, 2006:
KATHAK has always been the perfect partner for Sufi whirls, but now it’s Bharatnatyam’s turn.
At this year’s Jahan-e-Khusrau festival, an annual Sufi music event, Bharatnatyam artiste Rama Vaidyanathan will perform with an ensemble directed by Carnatic flautist G.S. Rajan.
Rajan, from the group The Malabarians, will use the Carnatic raag, Kirvani, which he says is apparently reflected in the aazan. However, Vaidyanathan will don white for this performance instead of a traditional costume.
Pakistani Sufi legend Abida Parveen is already in the Capital to participate at the sixth edition of the festival, jointly organised by filmmaker and designer Muzaffar Ali and Delhi Tourism. Parveen has been a regular at the festival since 2000— when it started.
Popular for bringing together Sufi dervishes from West Asian countries and Indian qawwals in the previous years, the festival has now opened to Bollywood playback singers Daler Mehndi and Sukhwinder Singh.
Ali feels it will help popularise this form of music among youth. ‘‘We are open to artistes from all backgrounds— even from Hollywood. But the Sufi spirit should be common,’’ he says.
Other performers at Jahan-e-Khusrau include the Rumi group from Iran, Yulchieva Munojatkhon from Uzbekistan, Ustad Shafqat Ali Khan and Amaan and Ayaan Ali Khan Bangash.
by Sumati Mehrishi Sharma - New Delhi, March 1, 2006:
KATHAK has always been the perfect partner for Sufi whirls, but now it’s Bharatnatyam’s turn.
At this year’s Jahan-e-Khusrau festival, an annual Sufi music event, Bharatnatyam artiste Rama Vaidyanathan will perform with an ensemble directed by Carnatic flautist G.S. Rajan.
Rajan, from the group The Malabarians, will use the Carnatic raag, Kirvani, which he says is apparently reflected in the aazan. However, Vaidyanathan will don white for this performance instead of a traditional costume.
Pakistani Sufi legend Abida Parveen is already in the Capital to participate at the sixth edition of the festival, jointly organised by filmmaker and designer Muzaffar Ali and Delhi Tourism. Parveen has been a regular at the festival since 2000— when it started.
Popular for bringing together Sufi dervishes from West Asian countries and Indian qawwals in the previous years, the festival has now opened to Bollywood playback singers Daler Mehndi and Sukhwinder Singh.
Ali feels it will help popularise this form of music among youth. ‘‘We are open to artistes from all backgrounds— even from Hollywood. But the Sufi spirit should be common,’’ he says.
Other performers at Jahan-e-Khusrau include the Rumi group from Iran, Yulchieva Munojatkhon from Uzbekistan, Ustad Shafqat Ali Khan and Amaan and Ayaan Ali Khan Bangash.
Pakistani radios charm Jammu residents
Pakistani radios charm Jammu residents
Frederick Noronha (FN) Indo-Asian News Service
Jammu, March 1 (IANS) No Indian FM radio covers Jammu and Kashmir but people in this region have three Pakistani FM radio channels to tune in to. The Pakistani radios provide a wide range of programmes from Sufi music to pop and from fashion tips to guides on staying healthy.
Jammu, less than 50 km from the Pakistani border, receives clear signals of Radio Burrak 104, Awaz 105 and Awaz 106.
Frederick Noronha (FN) Indo-Asian News Service
Jammu, March 1 (IANS) No Indian FM radio covers Jammu and Kashmir but people in this region have three Pakistani FM radio channels to tune in to. The Pakistani radios provide a wide range of programmes from Sufi music to pop and from fashion tips to guides on staying healthy.
Jammu, less than 50 km from the Pakistani border, receives clear signals of Radio Burrak 104, Awaz 105 and Awaz 106.
International Seminar on Amir Khusrau to be Held in India
Pendar - Persian Independent Media
2006-2-28 - 21:42 - CHN
Tehran, 28 February 2006 (CHN) -- An International Seminar on Amir Khusrau, great philosopher and poet of the 13th century AD, will be held early March this year at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi to commemorate his 701 death anniversary. The seminar will be organized jointly by Department of Persian Language, Faculty of Humanities and Languages, Jamia Millia Islamia and Persian Scholars Association.
The title of this seminar is “A Delineator of Strong Culture Bond of India with Afghanistan, Central Asia and Iran.”
Amir Khusrau is known as a Sufi, poet, reformer and courtier. His contribution to the world of knowledge and wisdom will be highlighted in this seminar. Intellectuals and scholars throughout the world will participate in the seminar, which will cover works and contributions of Amir Khusrau to humanity.
Amir Khusrau’s life and work in chronological order reveals that he gradually acquired a consciousness which is reflected in his intellectual dynamism and literary accomplishments. His attitude towards life, society, culture, and art has been constantly changing and expanding conically. He got his observations and experiences as well as the continual specialty of the conflict of human ideas and cruel facts of life from his learned patrons and friends.
Eminent scholars are invited from all over the world; university students and professors and Persian lovers will be among the audience. The press will also be invited for the coverage of the news.
Researchers are supposed to present their studies with topics including Amir Khusrau a poet among Indian people; Amir Khusrau, and the culture and civilization of India; Indian parrot, the pioneer of cultural variety; Amir Khusrau and Sufism; Amir Khusrau and Indian-Iranian traditional literature; Amir Khusrau and beautiful arts; Amir Khusrau’s influence on Indian literature; Amir Khusrau and folkloric literature; Amir Khusrau beyond the Indian borders; Amir Khusrau and his contemporaries; Amir Khusrau hand scripts; Translation of Amir Khusrau works; Political and cultural relations between Iran and India and Central Asia during 13 and 14 centuries AD; and Amir Khusrau as a historian.
Esfandiar Rahim Mashayi, Director of Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization will also attend this 5-day international seminar.
Amir Khusrau (1253-1325 AD) is one of the prominent figures in the cultural history of India. He was a creative classical poet associated with royal courts of more than seven rulers of the Delhi Sultanate. He is also popular in much of North Indian and Pakistan, because of many playful riddles, songs and legends attributed to him. He wrote both in Persian and Hindustani. His poetry is still sing in today’s Sufi shrines throughout Pakistan and India. Amir Khusrau was the author of a Khamsa which emulated that of the earlier Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi. His work is considered one of the greatest pieces of Persian classic poetry during the Timurid period (1370–1506 AD) in Transoxiana.
2006-2-28 - 21:42 - CHN
Tehran, 28 February 2006 (CHN) -- An International Seminar on Amir Khusrau, great philosopher and poet of the 13th century AD, will be held early March this year at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi to commemorate his 701 death anniversary. The seminar will be organized jointly by Department of Persian Language, Faculty of Humanities and Languages, Jamia Millia Islamia and Persian Scholars Association.
The title of this seminar is “A Delineator of Strong Culture Bond of India with Afghanistan, Central Asia and Iran.”
Amir Khusrau is known as a Sufi, poet, reformer and courtier. His contribution to the world of knowledge and wisdom will be highlighted in this seminar. Intellectuals and scholars throughout the world will participate in the seminar, which will cover works and contributions of Amir Khusrau to humanity.
Amir Khusrau’s life and work in chronological order reveals that he gradually acquired a consciousness which is reflected in his intellectual dynamism and literary accomplishments. His attitude towards life, society, culture, and art has been constantly changing and expanding conically. He got his observations and experiences as well as the continual specialty of the conflict of human ideas and cruel facts of life from his learned patrons and friends.
Eminent scholars are invited from all over the world; university students and professors and Persian lovers will be among the audience. The press will also be invited for the coverage of the news.
Researchers are supposed to present their studies with topics including Amir Khusrau a poet among Indian people; Amir Khusrau, and the culture and civilization of India; Indian parrot, the pioneer of cultural variety; Amir Khusrau and Sufism; Amir Khusrau and Indian-Iranian traditional literature; Amir Khusrau and beautiful arts; Amir Khusrau’s influence on Indian literature; Amir Khusrau and folkloric literature; Amir Khusrau beyond the Indian borders; Amir Khusrau and his contemporaries; Amir Khusrau hand scripts; Translation of Amir Khusrau works; Political and cultural relations between Iran and India and Central Asia during 13 and 14 centuries AD; and Amir Khusrau as a historian.
Esfandiar Rahim Mashayi, Director of Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization will also attend this 5-day international seminar.
Amir Khusrau (1253-1325 AD) is one of the prominent figures in the cultural history of India. He was a creative classical poet associated with royal courts of more than seven rulers of the Delhi Sultanate. He is also popular in much of North Indian and Pakistan, because of many playful riddles, songs and legends attributed to him. He wrote both in Persian and Hindustani. His poetry is still sing in today’s Sufi shrines throughout Pakistan and India. Amir Khusrau was the author of a Khamsa which emulated that of the earlier Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi. His work is considered one of the greatest pieces of Persian classic poetry during the Timurid period (1370–1506 AD) in Transoxiana.
Concert spotlights Persian poet
Show promotes cultural exchange
By Dean Calbreath
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
February 28, 2006
In the past decade, the works of medieval Persian poet Jelaluddin Rumi have been resurrected in many forums, from readings by the likes of Madonna and Goldie Hawn to an operatic extravaganza by composer Philip Glass.
Iranian-Kurdish singer Shahram Nazeri performed his son, Hafez's, composition "In the Steps of Rumi" - a melding of Western and Persian themes.
In a break from tradition, the Nazeris have developed an interpretation of Rumi's work that melds classical Western music with the traditional music of Iran, blending the sounds of the viola and cello with such ancient Persian instruments as the daf and setar. Hafez Nazeri, who composed the work, hopes this combination of Western and Persian traditions might serve as a model for both sides to learn from each other.
“The idea is to embrace change while remaining true to your own culture and the traditions of the past,” Hafez said. “That's vital for the health of Persian music – and the health of Persian culture as a whole.”
The composition, “In the Steps of Rumi,” resonated with the 1,000 or so Iranians and Kurds who heard the Nazeris perform at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido on Friday. They tapped their feet and clapped along with some of the livelier pieces – folk tunes from Shahram Nazeri's hometown of Kermanshah – and gave the troupe no fewer than four standing ovations.
Rumi was a natural choice for an intercultural composition. In his day, the Sufi Muslim's ruminations on the nature of love struck a chord among listeners from the Buddhists of China to the Christians of Europe.
In the 1990s, Rumi had a revival in the West. An English translation of his poems sold more than 100,000 copies – a decent run for 800-year-old poetry. Bill Moyers featured a show on Rumi in his PBS poetry series “Language of Life.” Madonna, Hawn and the late civil-rights activist Rosa Parks were among the voices on a CD of Rumi's poetry. Deepak Chopra set Rumi's poems to music.
But in Iran, the most popular settings of Rumi's poetry were the strictly traditional interpretations of Shahram Nazeri, a Kurdish singer who has spent the past 35 years reviving ancient traditions in Persian music.
Five years ago, Shahram's son, Hafez, who was then 21, put together the Rumi Ensemble, a troupe that toured 20 cities in Iran with a slightly modernized take on the age-old music. One performance in Tehran drew 140,000 people – one of the biggest concerts ever in the Middle East.
With encouragement from his father, Hafez moved to New York to study Western composition at the Mannes College of Music. While reading Franz Kafka's “Metamorphosis,” he decided to create a piece of music that would reflect a cultural metamorphosis by intertwining the classical strains of Persia and Europe.
Unlike classical Persian music, in which individual pieces stay within the same musical scale, Hafez used the broader Western range of multiple keys. He kept the quarter-tones found in Near Eastern scales, but melded them into Western harmonic structures.
In Friday's performance, Hafez played the Persian setar, similar to the Indian sitar, as his father sang. Hafez's cousin, Siavash Nazeri – who is moving to San Diego – played the daf, a Persian drum so versatile that it had the power of a small percussion ensemble.
Taiwan-born Liuh-Wen Ting, who is more accustomed to accompanying Broadway musicals than medieval Persian music, played the viola. Peter Wyrick, associate principal cellist of the San Francisco Symphony, played the cello. Salar Nadar, an Afhgan from Germany, played tabla, bongo-like drums from Northern India.
By Dean Calbreath
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
February 28, 2006
In the past decade, the works of medieval Persian poet Jelaluddin Rumi have been resurrected in many forums, from readings by the likes of Madonna and Goldie Hawn to an operatic extravaganza by composer Philip Glass.
Iranian-Kurdish singer Shahram Nazeri performed his son, Hafez's, composition "In the Steps of Rumi" - a melding of Western and Persian themes.
In a break from tradition, the Nazeris have developed an interpretation of Rumi's work that melds classical Western music with the traditional music of Iran, blending the sounds of the viola and cello with such ancient Persian instruments as the daf and setar. Hafez Nazeri, who composed the work, hopes this combination of Western and Persian traditions might serve as a model for both sides to learn from each other.
“The idea is to embrace change while remaining true to your own culture and the traditions of the past,” Hafez said. “That's vital for the health of Persian music – and the health of Persian culture as a whole.”
The composition, “In the Steps of Rumi,” resonated with the 1,000 or so Iranians and Kurds who heard the Nazeris perform at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido on Friday. They tapped their feet and clapped along with some of the livelier pieces – folk tunes from Shahram Nazeri's hometown of Kermanshah – and gave the troupe no fewer than four standing ovations.
Rumi was a natural choice for an intercultural composition. In his day, the Sufi Muslim's ruminations on the nature of love struck a chord among listeners from the Buddhists of China to the Christians of Europe.
In the 1990s, Rumi had a revival in the West. An English translation of his poems sold more than 100,000 copies – a decent run for 800-year-old poetry. Bill Moyers featured a show on Rumi in his PBS poetry series “Language of Life.” Madonna, Hawn and the late civil-rights activist Rosa Parks were among the voices on a CD of Rumi's poetry. Deepak Chopra set Rumi's poems to music.
But in Iran, the most popular settings of Rumi's poetry were the strictly traditional interpretations of Shahram Nazeri, a Kurdish singer who has spent the past 35 years reviving ancient traditions in Persian music.
Five years ago, Shahram's son, Hafez, who was then 21, put together the Rumi Ensemble, a troupe that toured 20 cities in Iran with a slightly modernized take on the age-old music. One performance in Tehran drew 140,000 people – one of the biggest concerts ever in the Middle East.
With encouragement from his father, Hafez moved to New York to study Western composition at the Mannes College of Music. While reading Franz Kafka's “Metamorphosis,” he decided to create a piece of music that would reflect a cultural metamorphosis by intertwining the classical strains of Persia and Europe.
Unlike classical Persian music, in which individual pieces stay within the same musical scale, Hafez used the broader Western range of multiple keys. He kept the quarter-tones found in Near Eastern scales, but melded them into Western harmonic structures.
In Friday's performance, Hafez played the Persian setar, similar to the Indian sitar, as his father sang. Hafez's cousin, Siavash Nazeri – who is moving to San Diego – played the daf, a Persian drum so versatile that it had the power of a small percussion ensemble.
Taiwan-born Liuh-Wen Ting, who is more accustomed to accompanying Broadway musicals than medieval Persian music, played the viola. Peter Wyrick, associate principal cellist of the San Francisco Symphony, played the cello. Salar Nadar, an Afhgan from Germany, played tabla, bongo-like drums from Northern India.
Chechens: A Handbook
Chechens: A Handbook - by Amjad Jaimoukha
publisher: Routledge, February 2004
price: $135.00
Source: Transitions Online
The ancient Chechen nation has been living in its idyllic homeland in the North Caucasus for thousands of years, building states and forging relations and interacting with other Caucasian and Near Eastern civilizations. The Chechens are thought to be related to the Hurrians and Urartians, builders of seminal civilizations in the Near East, and they themselves established a civilization whose relics can still be come across, especially in the ancient Pantheon.
This book provides a ready introduction, and practical guide to the Chechen people and some little-known and rarely-considered aspects of Chechen culture, including customs and traditions, folklore, arts and architecture, music, and literature. It also narrates Chechen history from ancient times and provides sketches of archaic religions and civilizations. Amjad Jaimoukha reveals the esoteric social structure and the peculiar brand of Chechen Sufism, as well as the present political situation in Chechnya.
This handbook also includes:
· Analysis of Chechen media development since the early twentieth century
· Images of the Chechens carried by Russian and Western medias
· Sketches of the short-lived Chechen film industry
· A proverbs and sayings section
· Appendices detailing social structure, the native Pantheon, bibliographies and periodicals pertaining to the Chechens and Chechnya, and a lexicographic listing
· A comprehensive bibliography, with many entries in English, for further reading
As the only comprehensive guide available in English, this book is an indispensable and accessible resource for all those with an interest in Chechnya.
publisher: Routledge, February 2004
price: $135.00
Source: Transitions Online
The ancient Chechen nation has been living in its idyllic homeland in the North Caucasus for thousands of years, building states and forging relations and interacting with other Caucasian and Near Eastern civilizations. The Chechens are thought to be related to the Hurrians and Urartians, builders of seminal civilizations in the Near East, and they themselves established a civilization whose relics can still be come across, especially in the ancient Pantheon.
This book provides a ready introduction, and practical guide to the Chechen people and some little-known and rarely-considered aspects of Chechen culture, including customs and traditions, folklore, arts and architecture, music, and literature. It also narrates Chechen history from ancient times and provides sketches of archaic religions and civilizations. Amjad Jaimoukha reveals the esoteric social structure and the peculiar brand of Chechen Sufism, as well as the present political situation in Chechnya.
This handbook also includes:
· Analysis of Chechen media development since the early twentieth century
· Images of the Chechens carried by Russian and Western medias
· Sketches of the short-lived Chechen film industry
· A proverbs and sayings section
· Appendices detailing social structure, the native Pantheon, bibliographies and periodicals pertaining to the Chechens and Chechnya, and a lexicographic listing
· A comprehensive bibliography, with many entries in English, for further reading
As the only comprehensive guide available in English, this book is an indispensable and accessible resource for all those with an interest in Chechnya.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Thaw In The Thar: New Train
By Yoginder Sikand - Countercurrents.org
20 February, 2006
Cries of 'Long Live India-Pakistan Friendship' rend the air as the Thar Express streams out of the Jodhpur railway station on the evening of the 17th of February, heading for the Pakistan border. The next afternoon, a train bearing the same name crosses into India from Mirpur Khas in Sindh and chugs into Munabao, a desert settlement in Rajasthan's Barmer district, barely two kilometers from the border, being warmly welcomed by an enthusiastic crowd of several thousand people. 'May the Thar Express become the Yar (Friendship) Express bringing India and Pakistan ever closer than before', exclaims the compare of the function held by the Indian Railways to inaugurate the resumption of the railway link between Rajasthan and Sindh, which was terminated in the wake of the 1965 India-Pakistan war.
Many of the passengers on board the Thar Express to Pakistan have relatives across the border whom they have not met for decades. An elderly Muslim man from Barmer tells me about his grand-daughter in Sindh whom he has never seen although she is twenty now. 'I'm going to attend her wedding', he beams with excitement. 'Had it not been for this train I would not have been able to travel to Pakistan, because the other route--through Punjab--is simply unaffordable for a poor peasant like me'. A middle-aged Hindu woman, who migrated to India from Sindh twenty-five years ago, says she's going back to her village to meet her son whom she has not met ever since she left Pakistan. Another Sindhi Hindu, who now lives in Rajasthan, tells me he is going to meet his guru in Sindh, whom he saw for the last time fifteen years ago.
At the railway station in Jodhpur and in Munabao activists of the Jodhpur-based Seemant Lok Sangathan ('Border Peoples' Organisation') distribute leaflets hailing the train as a major landmark in promoting people-to-people contacts between India and Pakistan. Says Hindu Singh Sodha, President of the Sangathan and himself a migrant from Thar Parkar in Sindh, 'Rajasthan and Sindh have had close historical, cultural, religious and trade links and the resumption of the train service will once again bring these two regions close to each other'.
An elaborate cultural programme presented by employees of the North-Western Railways outside Munabao station drives home the same message of communal harmony, uniting Hindus and Muslims, Indians and Pakistanis. A traditional Rajasthani dance drama depicts a local folk hero, venerated by Hindus as Ramdev and by Muslims as Ram Shah Pir. This is followed by a musical recital of verses composed by Sindh's most well-known Sufi poet, Shah Abdul Latif. And to further stress this plea for Indo-Pak bonhomie, the official compare of the function piously announces, as the train from Pakistan trundles into Munabao station, the noble goal of 'uniting the message of the Gita and the Quran'.
20 February, 2006
Cries of 'Long Live India-Pakistan Friendship' rend the air as the Thar Express streams out of the Jodhpur railway station on the evening of the 17th of February, heading for the Pakistan border. The next afternoon, a train bearing the same name crosses into India from Mirpur Khas in Sindh and chugs into Munabao, a desert settlement in Rajasthan's Barmer district, barely two kilometers from the border, being warmly welcomed by an enthusiastic crowd of several thousand people. 'May the Thar Express become the Yar (Friendship) Express bringing India and Pakistan ever closer than before', exclaims the compare of the function held by the Indian Railways to inaugurate the resumption of the railway link between Rajasthan and Sindh, which was terminated in the wake of the 1965 India-Pakistan war.
Many of the passengers on board the Thar Express to Pakistan have relatives across the border whom they have not met for decades. An elderly Muslim man from Barmer tells me about his grand-daughter in Sindh whom he has never seen although she is twenty now. 'I'm going to attend her wedding', he beams with excitement. 'Had it not been for this train I would not have been able to travel to Pakistan, because the other route--through Punjab--is simply unaffordable for a poor peasant like me'. A middle-aged Hindu woman, who migrated to India from Sindh twenty-five years ago, says she's going back to her village to meet her son whom she has not met ever since she left Pakistan. Another Sindhi Hindu, who now lives in Rajasthan, tells me he is going to meet his guru in Sindh, whom he saw for the last time fifteen years ago.
At the railway station in Jodhpur and in Munabao activists of the Jodhpur-based Seemant Lok Sangathan ('Border Peoples' Organisation') distribute leaflets hailing the train as a major landmark in promoting people-to-people contacts between India and Pakistan. Says Hindu Singh Sodha, President of the Sangathan and himself a migrant from Thar Parkar in Sindh, 'Rajasthan and Sindh have had close historical, cultural, religious and trade links and the resumption of the train service will once again bring these two regions close to each other'.
An elaborate cultural programme presented by employees of the North-Western Railways outside Munabao station drives home the same message of communal harmony, uniting Hindus and Muslims, Indians and Pakistanis. A traditional Rajasthani dance drama depicts a local folk hero, venerated by Hindus as Ramdev and by Muslims as Ram Shah Pir. This is followed by a musical recital of verses composed by Sindh's most well-known Sufi poet, Shah Abdul Latif. And to further stress this plea for Indo-Pak bonhomie, the official compare of the function piously announces, as the train from Pakistan trundles into Munabao station, the noble goal of 'uniting the message of the Gita and the Quran'.
Iran cracks down on Sufis: hundreds remain jailed
Iran Focus - Sun. 19 Feb 2006
Tehran, Iran, Feb. 19 – Iran Focus has obtained a partial list of names of Islamic mystics arrested during a protest in the holy city of Qom, south of Tehran, earlier this week. The partial list of those arrested was provided to Iran Focus from a reliable source in Qom.
Islamic mystics, or Sufis, focus on the direct perception of Truth or God through mystic practices based on divine love. Sufism, common to both Sunni and Shiite sects of Islam, has its roots in Iran. Its followers oppose Iran’s ruling theocracy on spiritual grounds.
Police arrested some one thousand Sufis as clashes broke out after the place of worship used by the mystics was demolished Tuesday on government orders.
Hundreds were injured during the clashes after police fired teargas and used truncheons to attack the demonstrating Sufis.
Tehran, Iran, Feb. 19 – Iran Focus has obtained a partial list of names of Islamic mystics arrested during a protest in the holy city of Qom, south of Tehran, earlier this week. The partial list of those arrested was provided to Iran Focus from a reliable source in Qom.
Islamic mystics, or Sufis, focus on the direct perception of Truth or God through mystic practices based on divine love. Sufism, common to both Sunni and Shiite sects of Islam, has its roots in Iran. Its followers oppose Iran’s ruling theocracy on spiritual grounds.
Police arrested some one thousand Sufis as clashes broke out after the place of worship used by the mystics was demolished Tuesday on government orders.
Hundreds were injured during the clashes after police fired teargas and used truncheons to attack the demonstrating Sufis.
Sufi poet, mystic and a planetary healer
BY MATEIN KHALID - Khaleej Times Online
Dubai, 18 February 2006
THE clash of civilisation has now turned ghoulish. An imbecilic newspaper cartoon in Copenhagen triggered riots in Pakistan, gutted Danish embassies in Beirut and Damascus, deepened the chasm between the West and the Islamic world, inspired geopolitical accusations in the White House and the Shia seminaries of Qom.
Amid this surreal nightmare, the miasma of evil and suspicion that now seems to have swept this world, I seek refuge in the transcendent poetry of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi, the Sufi mystic poet who is probably the most sympathetic Muslim figure in the West, a spiritual New Age icon.
“The sounds of prayer drifts across the dawn. It is Muslim, Jew and Christian, all merged together” Rumi wrote 700 years ago, a message alien to venomous fanatics in the Middle East who preach jehad against the West (or anybody else who does not share their cosmology of hate). There is a gentle, syncretic tradition in Islam whose nuances the shrill hacks at Fox News and the Islamophobe oracles of Western culture know nothing about. The voice of Osama bin Laden and the sectarian mullahs of Iran has mesmerised the West after the horror of 9/11. Yet, there is another gentler, far wiser voice steeped in the Islamic past. The voice of Rumi, the spiritual healer whose poetry of anguish and sorrow can help us find the compassion and empathy to build bridges, to heal wounds that, if untreated, could mean that the ultimate act of violence in the Middle East will be a nuclear Armageddon. We need to recreate the song of the nightingale.
“When the rose is gone and the garden fades, you will no longer hear the nightingale.” This is vintage Rumi in his ‘Masnavi’, arguably the most seminal book in the Islamic world after the Holy Quran. It is impossible to overstate the Sage of Konya’s influence on the consciousness of generations of people in the Islamic world, on the literary traditions of Turkish, Persian and Urdu. The world of the Middle East was so different and yet so eerily similar to our own in the age of Rumi (1206-1273 AD). The Abbasid Empire in Baghdad was in its death throes. The Mongol terror had decimated Islamic civilisation, forced the Valad family (Rumi’s Dad was the scholar Bahuddin) to flee their native Balkh for Baghdad and settle in the Anatolian town of Konya, a spiritual entrepot where his garden tomb now is one of the greatest tourist pilgrimages in Turkey.
In the sixth century of the Hijra, the twelfth century after Christ, Persia’s population was staunchly Sunni and the Shia (Ismaili) Fatimid caliphs ruled Egypt. The Anatolian heartland was still Seljuk, although the House of Osman would catapult itself into the centrestage of the Islamic and world history a mere generation after Rumi’s death. Andalusia was the only haven of religious tolerance in Christian Europe but the tolerant courts of Cordoba, Sevilla and Grenada, the fabled ornament of the world, were living on borrowed time as the dark shadow of the Reconquista and the Holy Inquisition loomed nearer.
In Levant, the Crusader kingdom was still in a permanent state of war, assisted by its Maronite vassals in Lebanon with the Ayyubid princes of Syria, the sons and grandsons of Sultan Salahuddin, the Kurdish warrior who had beaten the Franks at Hittin Cross to take Jerusalem. It was the world of itinerant Muslim scholars (the medival Internet), the assassins of Alamut (the prototype of Al Qaeda’s suicide killers), the Silk Road (the globalisation wave), of madrassas and Sufi lodges and warrior kings and magnificent empires and epic sword battles.
Why does Rumi evoke such a visceral empathy, touch the souls so many millions who know nothing of the Persian poetic tradition, let alone the history or laws of Islam? I believe the story of the Mewlana’s life is an inspiration, an antidote to the rat race, the rapid materialism that celebrates shopping malls as the new cathedrals of culture. Rumi’s anguish for his murdered beloved Shams of Tabriz, the humble dervish who ignited his mystical imagination, for whom he renounced his academic chair, is so universal. Yet anguish, sorrow and loss enables Rumi to penetrate the ‘veil of the soul’, to grasp that ultimate divine reality that Muslims call the ‘nur’, the light that is the grace of Allah.
The Mevlevi Sufi lodge founded by Rumi’s son Sultan Valad was a major force in Ottoman culture and politics. Khalil Pasha, the agha of the Janissaries, visited the tomb of the Mevlana in Konya three centuries after his death and introduced the Mevlevi order’s sheikhs to the Sublime Porte. Centuries later, Sultan Selim III, a fellow poet and mystic, was a member of the Mevlevi order of Galata. Kemal Ataturk banned the Mevlevi order to erase its Ottoman roots. In Iran, Rumi is venerated by the young and the ‘avant garde’, though the Shia establishment of Qom and Mashad tried to camouflage his Sunni heritage. In Mughal India, where Arabic was the language of the legal scholars, but Persian was the language of the emperors, descendants of the same Genghis Khan whose Mongol hordes (ironically, the linguistic origin of the word ‘Urdu’ a language that so venerates Rumi) forced Rumi’s family to flee for their lives from Khorasan. Iqbal, possibly the greatest poet of modern Islam and the literary founding father of Pakistan, admired Rumi. In Iqbal’s ‘Javidnama’, the Book of Eternity, Maulana Rumi guides the Sialkoti Cambridge educated on mysticism on his cosmic journey. Bahaullah, the founder of the Bahai faith, borrows from Rumi. Even Emperor Aurangzeb, the symbol of austere Sunni orthodoxy, was moved to tears by Rumi’s couplets, as were Hegel, Goethe, Schimmel, Arberry and generations of Persian scholars and Sufi poets.
The genius of Rumi was that he was a spiritual alchemist, a symbol of the human spirit that transcends all barriers of race, sect and tribe. He is a planetary healer, a reminder that Islam was once a gentle, tolerant civilisation that united, not divided the world. He teaches us to love, to forgive, to fear not even death, to abandon the illusion of ego and embrace all the beauty and pain of human existence. Beyond dogma or theology, Rumi’s paeans of love swirl across time to heal my wounded soul.
Matein Khalid is a Dubai based investment banker
Dubai, 18 February 2006
THE clash of civilisation has now turned ghoulish. An imbecilic newspaper cartoon in Copenhagen triggered riots in Pakistan, gutted Danish embassies in Beirut and Damascus, deepened the chasm between the West and the Islamic world, inspired geopolitical accusations in the White House and the Shia seminaries of Qom.
Amid this surreal nightmare, the miasma of evil and suspicion that now seems to have swept this world, I seek refuge in the transcendent poetry of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi, the Sufi mystic poet who is probably the most sympathetic Muslim figure in the West, a spiritual New Age icon.
“The sounds of prayer drifts across the dawn. It is Muslim, Jew and Christian, all merged together” Rumi wrote 700 years ago, a message alien to venomous fanatics in the Middle East who preach jehad against the West (or anybody else who does not share their cosmology of hate). There is a gentle, syncretic tradition in Islam whose nuances the shrill hacks at Fox News and the Islamophobe oracles of Western culture know nothing about. The voice of Osama bin Laden and the sectarian mullahs of Iran has mesmerised the West after the horror of 9/11. Yet, there is another gentler, far wiser voice steeped in the Islamic past. The voice of Rumi, the spiritual healer whose poetry of anguish and sorrow can help us find the compassion and empathy to build bridges, to heal wounds that, if untreated, could mean that the ultimate act of violence in the Middle East will be a nuclear Armageddon. We need to recreate the song of the nightingale.
“When the rose is gone and the garden fades, you will no longer hear the nightingale.” This is vintage Rumi in his ‘Masnavi’, arguably the most seminal book in the Islamic world after the Holy Quran. It is impossible to overstate the Sage of Konya’s influence on the consciousness of generations of people in the Islamic world, on the literary traditions of Turkish, Persian and Urdu. The world of the Middle East was so different and yet so eerily similar to our own in the age of Rumi (1206-1273 AD). The Abbasid Empire in Baghdad was in its death throes. The Mongol terror had decimated Islamic civilisation, forced the Valad family (Rumi’s Dad was the scholar Bahuddin) to flee their native Balkh for Baghdad and settle in the Anatolian town of Konya, a spiritual entrepot where his garden tomb now is one of the greatest tourist pilgrimages in Turkey.
In the sixth century of the Hijra, the twelfth century after Christ, Persia’s population was staunchly Sunni and the Shia (Ismaili) Fatimid caliphs ruled Egypt. The Anatolian heartland was still Seljuk, although the House of Osman would catapult itself into the centrestage of the Islamic and world history a mere generation after Rumi’s death. Andalusia was the only haven of religious tolerance in Christian Europe but the tolerant courts of Cordoba, Sevilla and Grenada, the fabled ornament of the world, were living on borrowed time as the dark shadow of the Reconquista and the Holy Inquisition loomed nearer.
In Levant, the Crusader kingdom was still in a permanent state of war, assisted by its Maronite vassals in Lebanon with the Ayyubid princes of Syria, the sons and grandsons of Sultan Salahuddin, the Kurdish warrior who had beaten the Franks at Hittin Cross to take Jerusalem. It was the world of itinerant Muslim scholars (the medival Internet), the assassins of Alamut (the prototype of Al Qaeda’s suicide killers), the Silk Road (the globalisation wave), of madrassas and Sufi lodges and warrior kings and magnificent empires and epic sword battles.
Why does Rumi evoke such a visceral empathy, touch the souls so many millions who know nothing of the Persian poetic tradition, let alone the history or laws of Islam? I believe the story of the Mewlana’s life is an inspiration, an antidote to the rat race, the rapid materialism that celebrates shopping malls as the new cathedrals of culture. Rumi’s anguish for his murdered beloved Shams of Tabriz, the humble dervish who ignited his mystical imagination, for whom he renounced his academic chair, is so universal. Yet anguish, sorrow and loss enables Rumi to penetrate the ‘veil of the soul’, to grasp that ultimate divine reality that Muslims call the ‘nur’, the light that is the grace of Allah.
The Mevlevi Sufi lodge founded by Rumi’s son Sultan Valad was a major force in Ottoman culture and politics. Khalil Pasha, the agha of the Janissaries, visited the tomb of the Mevlana in Konya three centuries after his death and introduced the Mevlevi order’s sheikhs to the Sublime Porte. Centuries later, Sultan Selim III, a fellow poet and mystic, was a member of the Mevlevi order of Galata. Kemal Ataturk banned the Mevlevi order to erase its Ottoman roots. In Iran, Rumi is venerated by the young and the ‘avant garde’, though the Shia establishment of Qom and Mashad tried to camouflage his Sunni heritage. In Mughal India, where Arabic was the language of the legal scholars, but Persian was the language of the emperors, descendants of the same Genghis Khan whose Mongol hordes (ironically, the linguistic origin of the word ‘Urdu’ a language that so venerates Rumi) forced Rumi’s family to flee for their lives from Khorasan. Iqbal, possibly the greatest poet of modern Islam and the literary founding father of Pakistan, admired Rumi. In Iqbal’s ‘Javidnama’, the Book of Eternity, Maulana Rumi guides the Sialkoti Cambridge educated on mysticism on his cosmic journey. Bahaullah, the founder of the Bahai faith, borrows from Rumi. Even Emperor Aurangzeb, the symbol of austere Sunni orthodoxy, was moved to tears by Rumi’s couplets, as were Hegel, Goethe, Schimmel, Arberry and generations of Persian scholars and Sufi poets.
The genius of Rumi was that he was a spiritual alchemist, a symbol of the human spirit that transcends all barriers of race, sect and tribe. He is a planetary healer, a reminder that Islam was once a gentle, tolerant civilisation that united, not divided the world. He teaches us to love, to forgive, to fear not even death, to abandon the illusion of ego and embrace all the beauty and pain of human existence. Beyond dogma or theology, Rumi’s paeans of love swirl across time to heal my wounded soul.
Matein Khalid is a Dubai based investment banker
Iran: Qom Authorities Crack Down On Sufis
By Golnaz Esfandiari - Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Human rights activists have expressed concern over the arrest on 13 February of some 1,000 Sufi worshippers in the Iranian holy city of Qom. The arrests followed clashes between the police and members of a Sufi group over the closure of a house of worship used by the Sufi Muslims. Observers say the scale and violence of the crackdown on the Sufis is unprecedented in the Islamic Republic. Officials say the Sufis had illegally turned a residential building into a center of worship and had refused to evacuate it. They have also said that some of the dervishes were armed. But representatives of the dervishes deny the charges and say they are being targeted due to an increasing popularity of Sufism.
PRAGUE, 16 February 2006 (RFE/RL) -- In what human rights observers say is unprecedented, authorities in the city of Qom have arrested more than 1,000 followers of the mystical Sufi tradition of Islam.
The Iranian government had been showing signs of increasing antipathy towards Iran's Sufi community, but experts say the scale and violence of the clashes on 13 November is unheard of.
The deputy governor of Qom, Ahmad Hajizadeh, said 1,200 worshippers -- also known as dervishes -- were arrested as police sought to close a Sufi house of worship.
Hajizadeh said 100 people, including more than 30 police officers, were injured in the clashes.
"More than before, people are running away from a totalitarian interpretation of the religion."Qom officials say the Sufis had illegally turned a presidential building into a center of worship and had refused to leave it.
Some of the dervishes were armed, they add.
Representatives of the dervishes deny the charges and say they are being targeted due to the increasing popularity of Sufism.
Figures produced by sources close to the Sufi groups and human rights activists also differ from official accounts. They put the number of the arrests at 2,000 and say that 350 people were injured.
Following the clashes, the authorities demolished the house of worship as well as the homes of two leaders of the group.
Clash Between 'Dervishes And Fanatics' Entering A New Phase?
Sufism is based on the pursuit of mystical truth and Sufis believe that mystical practices involving dance, music, and the recitation of Allah's divine names can give them direct perception of God.
Although Sufi Muslims strictly observe Islamic practices and beliefs, some conservative Muslim clerics see it as a danger to Islam. Some even argue that Sufism is a deviation of Islam.
In Iran, there have been always some tensions between Sufism and more orthodox traditions of Islam.
However, observers say these tensions have worsened since the establishment of an Islamic republic, some 27 years ago, and state tolerance for Sufi groups has diminished.
Never before, though, has there been an attack as strong as seen this week, says Abdol-Karim Lahidji, vice president of the Paris-based International Federation of Human Rights.
"Unfortunately under the years of the rule of the Islamic government we have seen limitations on non-Muslims -- above all, Baha'is, Jews, and also Christians -- and on Sufi groups, and their meetings have been disrupted," says Lahidji, but "it is unprecedented in the modern history of Iran that a Sufi group should be treated" as it was in Qom.
Seyed Mostafa Azmayesh, a Paris-based scholar who specializes in Sufism, says that the Qom clashes mark "a new phase…between dervishes and fanatics -- a phase of violent encounter -- because until now only the leaders of [Sufi] groups were under pressure. Now, though, there is a confrontation with ordinary people who are facing pressure merely because they are dervishes."
Qom Not A New Target
The Qom worshippers belong to the Nematollahi Gonabadi order of Sufism, one of the largest Sufi groups in Iran and a strand of Sufism that Azmayesh represents outside Iran.
Azmayesh says that pressure on Sufis -- and "especially on the Nematollahi Gonabadi order" -- has increased "a lot" since the hard-liner Mahmud Ahamdinejad succeeded Hojatoleslam Mohammad Khatami as Iran's president in June 2005.
Sufism is based on the pursuit of mystical truth and Sufis believe that mystical practices involving dance, music, and the recitation of Allah's divine names can give them direct perception of God. Although Sufi Muslims strictly observe Islamic practices and beliefs, some conservative Muslim clerics see it as a danger to Islam. Some even argue that Sufism is a deviation of Islam.
"Now unfortunately, when the pressure groups and fanatics want to repress the Sufis, those who enforce the laws are not stopping them," says Azamayesh.
Several anti-Sufi books have been published in Iran over the past year and several clerics have also harshly condemned Sufism, Azamayesh says, noting that the recent clashes in Qom erupted after a speech by a cleric, who blasted Sufism and called for restrictions on the Sufi community.
Iran's hard-line daily "Kayhan" on 14 February quoted senior clerics in Qom as saying that Sufism should be eradicated in the city, while the Reuters news agency reported that in September one of Iran's hard-line clerics, Grand Ayatollah Hussein Nuri-Hamedani, called for a clampdown on Sufis in Qom.
Qom is considered to be one of the centers of Shi'a Islam.
The governor of Qom, Abbas Mohtaj, has reportedly accused the dervishes of having links to foreign countries.
However, Azmayesh believes that Sufis are being targeted because of their "more open interpretation of Islam" and also because Sufism is picking up more followers.
"More than before, people are running away from a totalitarian interpretation of the religion, they are having doubts, and they have lost faith in the work of those who consider themselves custodians of religion," he maintains. "By contrast, they feel very close to the Sufi teachings and its customs, which are based on love."
Azmayesh says there is currently an "inverse trend" in Iran. "As mosques empty," he says, "[Sufi houses of worship] are expanding and being filled."
Iranian officials have said that the arrested dervishes will be interrogated and those who were not among the "main elements and instigators" will gradually be released. Some have already been freed, many of them women.
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Human rights activists have expressed concern over the arrest on 13 February of some 1,000 Sufi worshippers in the Iranian holy city of Qom. The arrests followed clashes between the police and members of a Sufi group over the closure of a house of worship used by the Sufi Muslims. Observers say the scale and violence of the crackdown on the Sufis is unprecedented in the Islamic Republic. Officials say the Sufis had illegally turned a residential building into a center of worship and had refused to evacuate it. They have also said that some of the dervishes were armed. But representatives of the dervishes deny the charges and say they are being targeted due to an increasing popularity of Sufism.
PRAGUE, 16 February 2006 (RFE/RL) -- In what human rights observers say is unprecedented, authorities in the city of Qom have arrested more than 1,000 followers of the mystical Sufi tradition of Islam.
The Iranian government had been showing signs of increasing antipathy towards Iran's Sufi community, but experts say the scale and violence of the clashes on 13 November is unheard of.
The deputy governor of Qom, Ahmad Hajizadeh, said 1,200 worshippers -- also known as dervishes -- were arrested as police sought to close a Sufi house of worship.
Hajizadeh said 100 people, including more than 30 police officers, were injured in the clashes.
"More than before, people are running away from a totalitarian interpretation of the religion."Qom officials say the Sufis had illegally turned a presidential building into a center of worship and had refused to leave it.
Some of the dervishes were armed, they add.
Representatives of the dervishes deny the charges and say they are being targeted due to the increasing popularity of Sufism.
Figures produced by sources close to the Sufi groups and human rights activists also differ from official accounts. They put the number of the arrests at 2,000 and say that 350 people were injured.
Following the clashes, the authorities demolished the house of worship as well as the homes of two leaders of the group.
Clash Between 'Dervishes And Fanatics' Entering A New Phase?
Sufism is based on the pursuit of mystical truth and Sufis believe that mystical practices involving dance, music, and the recitation of Allah's divine names can give them direct perception of God.
Although Sufi Muslims strictly observe Islamic practices and beliefs, some conservative Muslim clerics see it as a danger to Islam. Some even argue that Sufism is a deviation of Islam.
In Iran, there have been always some tensions between Sufism and more orthodox traditions of Islam.
However, observers say these tensions have worsened since the establishment of an Islamic republic, some 27 years ago, and state tolerance for Sufi groups has diminished.
Never before, though, has there been an attack as strong as seen this week, says Abdol-Karim Lahidji, vice president of the Paris-based International Federation of Human Rights.
"Unfortunately under the years of the rule of the Islamic government we have seen limitations on non-Muslims -- above all, Baha'is, Jews, and also Christians -- and on Sufi groups, and their meetings have been disrupted," says Lahidji, but "it is unprecedented in the modern history of Iran that a Sufi group should be treated" as it was in Qom.
Seyed Mostafa Azmayesh, a Paris-based scholar who specializes in Sufism, says that the Qom clashes mark "a new phase…between dervishes and fanatics -- a phase of violent encounter -- because until now only the leaders of [Sufi] groups were under pressure. Now, though, there is a confrontation with ordinary people who are facing pressure merely because they are dervishes."
Qom Not A New Target
The Qom worshippers belong to the Nematollahi Gonabadi order of Sufism, one of the largest Sufi groups in Iran and a strand of Sufism that Azmayesh represents outside Iran.
Azmayesh says that pressure on Sufis -- and "especially on the Nematollahi Gonabadi order" -- has increased "a lot" since the hard-liner Mahmud Ahamdinejad succeeded Hojatoleslam Mohammad Khatami as Iran's president in June 2005.
Sufism is based on the pursuit of mystical truth and Sufis believe that mystical practices involving dance, music, and the recitation of Allah's divine names can give them direct perception of God. Although Sufi Muslims strictly observe Islamic practices and beliefs, some conservative Muslim clerics see it as a danger to Islam. Some even argue that Sufism is a deviation of Islam.
"Now unfortunately, when the pressure groups and fanatics want to repress the Sufis, those who enforce the laws are not stopping them," says Azamayesh.
Several anti-Sufi books have been published in Iran over the past year and several clerics have also harshly condemned Sufism, Azamayesh says, noting that the recent clashes in Qom erupted after a speech by a cleric, who blasted Sufism and called for restrictions on the Sufi community.
Iran's hard-line daily "Kayhan" on 14 February quoted senior clerics in Qom as saying that Sufism should be eradicated in the city, while the Reuters news agency reported that in September one of Iran's hard-line clerics, Grand Ayatollah Hussein Nuri-Hamedani, called for a clampdown on Sufis in Qom.
Qom is considered to be one of the centers of Shi'a Islam.
The governor of Qom, Abbas Mohtaj, has reportedly accused the dervishes of having links to foreign countries.
However, Azmayesh believes that Sufis are being targeted because of their "more open interpretation of Islam" and also because Sufism is picking up more followers.
"More than before, people are running away from a totalitarian interpretation of the religion, they are having doubts, and they have lost faith in the work of those who consider themselves custodians of religion," he maintains. "By contrast, they feel very close to the Sufi teachings and its customs, which are based on love."
Azmayesh says there is currently an "inverse trend" in Iran. "As mosques empty," he says, "[Sufi houses of worship] are expanding and being filled."
Iranian officials have said that the arrested dervishes will be interrogated and those who were not among the "main elements and instigators" will gradually be released. Some have already been freed, many of them women.
Soul food of the best kind
By Joel Pereira 2006-02-16 Source: Moneycontrol.com
There is so much sound and so much clutter in the music space. So if you want to listen to the grooviest and hippest tracks across genres, then here is what I recommend: reviewed this week is the latest from the late great, sufi singer Pankaj Awasthi.
Pankaj Awasthi is one of the new wave of Indian singers, like Himesh Reshamiya or Kunal Ganjawala, breaking away from nasal, saccharine strains of the previous male vocal favourites like Kumar Sanu or Sonu Nigam.
After feeling some of the success of 'Karam', Pankaj breaks away from the music directors and goes his own way with his solo album, simply titled 'Nine'. The album is an interesting mix of Pankaj's Sufi singing style and a distinctly acid-rock fusion backdrop. All tracks are eminently listenable, but the best are 'Duniya', 'The Last Beat' and the first single, 'Khuda Ka Wasta'.
So what's the verdict on Pankaj Awasthi? I would rate him 3.5 out of 5, and if you're going to buy an Indi pop album this week, this should be it.
Joel Pereira
There is so much sound and so much clutter in the music space. So if you want to listen to the grooviest and hippest tracks across genres, then here is what I recommend: reviewed this week is the latest from the late great, sufi singer Pankaj Awasthi.
Pankaj Awasthi is one of the new wave of Indian singers, like Himesh Reshamiya or Kunal Ganjawala, breaking away from nasal, saccharine strains of the previous male vocal favourites like Kumar Sanu or Sonu Nigam.
After feeling some of the success of 'Karam', Pankaj breaks away from the music directors and goes his own way with his solo album, simply titled 'Nine'. The album is an interesting mix of Pankaj's Sufi singing style and a distinctly acid-rock fusion backdrop. All tracks are eminently listenable, but the best are 'Duniya', 'The Last Beat' and the first single, 'Khuda Ka Wasta'.
So what's the verdict on Pankaj Awasthi? I would rate him 3.5 out of 5, and if you're going to buy an Indi pop album this week, this should be it.
Joel Pereira
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Sufi music festival
Source: THE HINDU Monday, Feb 13, 2006
Sufi music is not about entertainment; it is more about spirituality. Its powerful lyrics talk about reaching the divine by spreading love and harmony. With tension and turmoil all around today, the works of Sufi saints and mystics are more relevant than ever.
Ruhaniyat, the annual Sufi and Mystic Music Festival of Banyan Tree Events held in Mumbai and Hyderabad, is being organised in Chennai on February 18 (6.30 p.m.) at the Madras Race Club Lawns, Guindy. Each year the event strives to promote rare Indian performing arts by bringing together master-artistes and discerning listeners.
The Ruhaniyat festival will feature Zikr-e-Rifayi — Fakirs (Hyderabad), Sufi songs by Nanak and Manak Brothers (Punjab), Drums of Kerala - Ensemble of mystic drums, Baul songs by Parvathy Baul and Madan Vairagya (Bengal), Sufi Kalam and Mystic compositions by Kachra Khan, Padmaram, Mamma and Rana Khan and others (Rajasthan) and Qawwals Sarfaraz Chisti (Muradabad). Donor cards for Rs. 250 are available at Landmark (Spencer Plaza), Odyssey (Adyar and Anna Nagar). For details call 98210 25891 or 022-30972584.
Sufi music is not about entertainment; it is more about spirituality. Its powerful lyrics talk about reaching the divine by spreading love and harmony. With tension and turmoil all around today, the works of Sufi saints and mystics are more relevant than ever.
Ruhaniyat, the annual Sufi and Mystic Music Festival of Banyan Tree Events held in Mumbai and Hyderabad, is being organised in Chennai on February 18 (6.30 p.m.) at the Madras Race Club Lawns, Guindy. Each year the event strives to promote rare Indian performing arts by bringing together master-artistes and discerning listeners.
The Ruhaniyat festival will feature Zikr-e-Rifayi — Fakirs (Hyderabad), Sufi songs by Nanak and Manak Brothers (Punjab), Drums of Kerala - Ensemble of mystic drums, Baul songs by Parvathy Baul and Madan Vairagya (Bengal), Sufi Kalam and Mystic compositions by Kachra Khan, Padmaram, Mamma and Rana Khan and others (Rajasthan) and Qawwals Sarfaraz Chisti (Muradabad). Donor cards for Rs. 250 are available at Landmark (Spencer Plaza), Odyssey (Adyar and Anna Nagar). For details call 98210 25891 or 022-30972584.
Sufis, Iranian Police Clash in Holy City: Report
LONDON, February 14 (IranMania) - Clashes broke out Monday between members of the Sufi sect and Iranian police in the Shiite Muslim holy city of Qom, the semi-official Fars news agency and websites reported.
Fars said some 50 Sufis demonstrated against the closure of their place of worship in Qom. "There was some violence," it said, without elaborating.
The website Baztab, which is close to the conservative camp in Iran, said the security forces used tear gas to break up the protest after local authorities decided to close the Sufi centre.
The protesters hurled stones from the rooftop, said Baztab, which published a photograph of hundreds of people gathered in a Qom street as plumes of smoke rose into the air.
Sufism is a mystical sect of Islam that is regarded with suspicion by many Shiite and Sunni Muslims.
Fars said some 50 Sufis demonstrated against the closure of their place of worship in Qom. "There was some violence," it said, without elaborating.
The website Baztab, which is close to the conservative camp in Iran, said the security forces used tear gas to break up the protest after local authorities decided to close the Sufi centre.
The protesters hurled stones from the rooftop, said Baztab, which published a photograph of hundreds of people gathered in a Qom street as plumes of smoke rose into the air.
Sufism is a mystical sect of Islam that is regarded with suspicion by many Shiite and Sunni Muslims.
Muharram Teaches Us Values Like Sacrifice, Patience: Soomro
Source: International News Network/Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: Senate Chairman Mohammedmian Soomro has said that holy month of Muharram reminds us of the greatest Islamic human values like sacrifice, patience and determination.
He stated this while talking to the 12 member delegation of Markazi Imam Hussain Council (MIHC) led by its Chairman Dr. Ghazanfer Mehdi which called on him here on Tuesday.
He told the delegation that Sufis were a source of moral enlightenment and that the philosophy of Sufism aimed at inculcating the spirit of tolerance, peace and love among the people. He said that these basic values were ordained by Islam.
The Chairman MIHC informed the Chairman senate that the council has been endeavoring for the unity Ummah since its inception 27 year ago.
It was also suggested in the meeting that an advisory board having representatives of the ministries of education, religious affairs, culture and the four provincial Auqafs be constituted and the board be entrusted the task of preparing a viable plan to curb the menace of sectarianism and terrorism from society.
ISLAMABAD: Senate Chairman Mohammedmian Soomro has said that holy month of Muharram reminds us of the greatest Islamic human values like sacrifice, patience and determination.
He stated this while talking to the 12 member delegation of Markazi Imam Hussain Council (MIHC) led by its Chairman Dr. Ghazanfer Mehdi which called on him here on Tuesday.
He told the delegation that Sufis were a source of moral enlightenment and that the philosophy of Sufism aimed at inculcating the spirit of tolerance, peace and love among the people. He said that these basic values were ordained by Islam.
The Chairman MIHC informed the Chairman senate that the council has been endeavoring for the unity Ummah since its inception 27 year ago.
It was also suggested in the meeting that an advisory board having representatives of the ministries of education, religious affairs, culture and the four provincial Auqafs be constituted and the board be entrusted the task of preparing a viable plan to curb the menace of sectarianism and terrorism from society.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
New book on Noor Inayat Khan - British agent who defied Germans
By Prasun Sonwalkar, Indo-Asian News Service
London, Feb 13 (IANS) The life and times of Noor Inayat Khan - a descendant of Tipu Sultan and the only Asian secret agent to work for the Allied forces during World War II - have been captured in a fascinating new book to be launched March 1.
The book, titled 'Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan' (Sutton), is authored by journalist Shrabani Basu, the London-based correspondent for the Ananda Bazar Patrika Group.
Based on extensive research and interviews with Noor's relatives, descendants and friends, the book presents a graphic account of her life till Sep 13, 1944, when she was shot dead by German forces at Dachau. She was 30.
Born in Moscow, Noor was raised in the Sufi style of Islam and joined Britain's Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the war. She was one of three women in the SOE to be awarded the George Cross and was also honoured with the Croix de Guerre.
Noor was brought up in France and Britain and joined the Red Cross when World War II broke out. The author writes that '...she felt she had to do more to oppose the horrors of fascism'.
In Britain, Noor trained as a wireless operator before being recruited by the SOE. Such was the urgent demand for radio operators that she was sent to France before her training was completed.
Working under the codename Madeleine, she joined a group that sabotaged communication lines.
But, Basu writes, disaster struck soon and within days her network collapsed as her colleagues were arrested. Noor was instructed by her controller, the famous Maurice Buckmaster, to return home, but she refused to abandon her post as she was the last radio operator left in Paris.
Basu writes: 'For a time she successfully dodged the Gestapo but by late 1943 her luck had run out. She was betrayed, arrested and imprisoned at Avenue Foch. Undaunted, she made two dramatic escape attempts, but was recaptured and sent to Germany. Here she was interrogated and tortured and finally sent to Dachau where she was shot.
'The Germans had learnt nothing from her - not even her real name.'
London, Feb 13 (IANS) The life and times of Noor Inayat Khan - a descendant of Tipu Sultan and the only Asian secret agent to work for the Allied forces during World War II - have been captured in a fascinating new book to be launched March 1.
The book, titled 'Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan' (Sutton), is authored by journalist Shrabani Basu, the London-based correspondent for the Ananda Bazar Patrika Group.
Based on extensive research and interviews with Noor's relatives, descendants and friends, the book presents a graphic account of her life till Sep 13, 1944, when she was shot dead by German forces at Dachau. She was 30.
Born in Moscow, Noor was raised in the Sufi style of Islam and joined Britain's Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the war. She was one of three women in the SOE to be awarded the George Cross and was also honoured with the Croix de Guerre.
Noor was brought up in France and Britain and joined the Red Cross when World War II broke out. The author writes that '...she felt she had to do more to oppose the horrors of fascism'.
In Britain, Noor trained as a wireless operator before being recruited by the SOE. Such was the urgent demand for radio operators that she was sent to France before her training was completed.
Working under the codename Madeleine, she joined a group that sabotaged communication lines.
But, Basu writes, disaster struck soon and within days her network collapsed as her colleagues were arrested. Noor was instructed by her controller, the famous Maurice Buckmaster, to return home, but she refused to abandon her post as she was the last radio operator left in Paris.
Basu writes: 'For a time she successfully dodged the Gestapo but by late 1943 her luck had run out. She was betrayed, arrested and imprisoned at Avenue Foch. Undaunted, she made two dramatic escape attempts, but was recaptured and sent to Germany. Here she was interrogated and tortured and finally sent to Dachau where she was shot.
'The Germans had learnt nothing from her - not even her real name.'
The Sufi Electronica of Niyaz: Music to Smash Idols
In the Sufi-inspired music of Niyaz, the serenity of Islamic mysticism exists even if the words were to disappear and only the voice were to remain.
By Ali Eteraz, February 12, 2006 at alt.Muslim
The greatest injustice that the minions of extremism and violence have done against Islam are the murders in the name of God. Very closely behind that travesty, follows the collective defecation that the bearded flame-throwers have taken upon the history of Islamic culture. The puritanical impulse that began three centuries ago, rooted in an effort to give Islam back to the bedouin, has gone too far. It has infused its desert desolation into the very heart of the flora and fauna of Islamic art, music and dance; it has castrated the singers; sucked dry the vegetative roots from the dados of our arabesques. Rumi's dervish dance is no more the fount of passion and insight; it is a silly puppet show we put on for liberal Western audiences. Things are so bleak that just to juxtapose "Islam" with "art," with "music," with "dance" seems anathema. No longer can we Muslims take the transcendence of the poets and musicians at face value; no, first we must employ syllogism and then argumentation to prove that these things are "permissible." Even then, even if we somehow gain approval, we must be like Damocles, dancing under the sword of our austere brethren. The dervish dance? Denied. The graceful fall of a ghazal's final verse? Denied. The shimmering colors and tropes of painting? Denied. Nothing remains, my friends, but Ghalib lamenting in the night: Yeh na thi hamari qismet keh wisaal e yaar hota (it was never in my fate to meet my beloved). With no more the palpitation that beauty leaves in our heart, God no longer beats in our arteries, nor wakes up from Her slumber. Is it any surprise that Muslims are now the new representatives of nihilism? In the midst of all this: I am pleased to say that the music of Niyaz, fronted by Azam Ali, brings back to one's heart the sweet serenades of Muslim past and the life-affirmation we have been arguing for, but not knowing how to describe.
Azam Ali is a Persian-Indian-American vocalist steeped in Sufi music. Formerly with the new-age band Vas, she has also sang for The Matrix movies. In her latest work, she has hooked up with producer/remixers Carmen Rizzo. But once you own the Niyaz album you won't care very much about the qualifications of the people or the personalities involved. The singular incredible feat of this album is that it has eliminated everything but one's link to his own individual spirit. In that it is unlike anything available on the radio, and right in line with the traditions of Middle Eastern and South Asian folk music. Niyaz carries the simplicity of Bulleh Shah and the complexity of the soul looking inward and leaves a listener, on desolate work days trapped amidst skyscraping spikes, almost on the verge of absolute redemption. Wordworth once said that if you wanted to know God all you had to do was put your ear to the grass and listen. I must admit that upon my first listening of this album I had my ear against the speaker.
That effect is as much a consequence of Azam Ali's hauntingly melancholy voice, as it is of the verses she is singing. Note: you have to know Persian or Urdu to appreciate the meaning of the songs. But if you do not speak these languages, the beat and the ambience of her tone, will put you in the right mood. That precisely is where this album succeeds and where so many other "Sufi" singers (like Junoon and Rabbi Shergill) have failed. In Niyaz, the serenity of Islamic mysticism exists even if the words were to disappear and only the voice were to remain.
As to the songs, they are not original to Niyaz or Azam Ali. Instead, they are a number of Persian and Urdu ghazals. It includes poems by Rumi, local folk songs from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran, as well as a ridiculously beautiful mixture-song, consisting of the poetry of Anees, Mehar and Amjad Hyderabadi. At the risk of exoticizing the album (if I haven't done it already), I must reveal that my favorite song is called "The Hunt" - a folk song from Khorasan told from the perspective of a hunter in which he describes that everything he sees, from the mountains to the animals, remind him of his beloved. Seeing his beloved in all things he cannot bring himself to kill a single creature. What a stark contrast to the monsters that come from Khurasan today. We have gone from hunting for love to hunting for enmity. The pang one feels for having such thoughts is really what made this album so moving for me. When Ali sings "the world is like an impermanent resting place/Where in all things just simply come and go" I could not listen to the verses as a message of peaceful spiritual humility; rather, all I could think was: these are now things that our suicide bombers must say to themselves. The loss of our history comes full circle and hits you with the force of a broken verse. In everything we no more see "the face of God" but the face of the "Great Satan."
In that sense, Niyaz's album is either too late (so that it cannot join the past glory of our culture), or it has come too soon (and lives in a state of cautious hope). For that reason it might (and has) fallen on largely deaf ears. The detonations of New York and London and Bali still ring in our ears so that beauty falls to the wayside. The smoke of the humans, yes, real humans, that we burn simply because they are Shia, or because they are alleged apostates, stuffs our nose and we cannot smell the little petals of jasmine that Niyaz is casting. Oh, it must sound as if Niyaz is God's gift to music. It isn't. But in the face of the culture of depression and anger that we call home, that we call Islam, the contrast that is its innocence, makes it seem that much more urgent. With the idols of cruelty and Usama having set themselves resolutely in the Houses of God, this album, with its unceasing affirmation of God, is more than just a harking back to the history of the mystic; this is music meant to smash idols.
Ali Eteraz is an essayist and novelist. He maintains the popular blog "Unwilling Self-Negation" at eteraz.wordpress.com.
By Ali Eteraz, February 12, 2006 at alt.Muslim
The greatest injustice that the minions of extremism and violence have done against Islam are the murders in the name of God. Very closely behind that travesty, follows the collective defecation that the bearded flame-throwers have taken upon the history of Islamic culture. The puritanical impulse that began three centuries ago, rooted in an effort to give Islam back to the bedouin, has gone too far. It has infused its desert desolation into the very heart of the flora and fauna of Islamic art, music and dance; it has castrated the singers; sucked dry the vegetative roots from the dados of our arabesques. Rumi's dervish dance is no more the fount of passion and insight; it is a silly puppet show we put on for liberal Western audiences. Things are so bleak that just to juxtapose "Islam" with "art," with "music," with "dance" seems anathema. No longer can we Muslims take the transcendence of the poets and musicians at face value; no, first we must employ syllogism and then argumentation to prove that these things are "permissible." Even then, even if we somehow gain approval, we must be like Damocles, dancing under the sword of our austere brethren. The dervish dance? Denied. The graceful fall of a ghazal's final verse? Denied. The shimmering colors and tropes of painting? Denied. Nothing remains, my friends, but Ghalib lamenting in the night: Yeh na thi hamari qismet keh wisaal e yaar hota (it was never in my fate to meet my beloved). With no more the palpitation that beauty leaves in our heart, God no longer beats in our arteries, nor wakes up from Her slumber. Is it any surprise that Muslims are now the new representatives of nihilism? In the midst of all this: I am pleased to say that the music of Niyaz, fronted by Azam Ali, brings back to one's heart the sweet serenades of Muslim past and the life-affirmation we have been arguing for, but not knowing how to describe.
Azam Ali is a Persian-Indian-American vocalist steeped in Sufi music. Formerly with the new-age band Vas, she has also sang for The Matrix movies. In her latest work, she has hooked up with producer/remixers Carmen Rizzo. But once you own the Niyaz album you won't care very much about the qualifications of the people or the personalities involved. The singular incredible feat of this album is that it has eliminated everything but one's link to his own individual spirit. In that it is unlike anything available on the radio, and right in line with the traditions of Middle Eastern and South Asian folk music. Niyaz carries the simplicity of Bulleh Shah and the complexity of the soul looking inward and leaves a listener, on desolate work days trapped amidst skyscraping spikes, almost on the verge of absolute redemption. Wordworth once said that if you wanted to know God all you had to do was put your ear to the grass and listen. I must admit that upon my first listening of this album I had my ear against the speaker.
That effect is as much a consequence of Azam Ali's hauntingly melancholy voice, as it is of the verses she is singing. Note: you have to know Persian or Urdu to appreciate the meaning of the songs. But if you do not speak these languages, the beat and the ambience of her tone, will put you in the right mood. That precisely is where this album succeeds and where so many other "Sufi" singers (like Junoon and Rabbi Shergill) have failed. In Niyaz, the serenity of Islamic mysticism exists even if the words were to disappear and only the voice were to remain.
As to the songs, they are not original to Niyaz or Azam Ali. Instead, they are a number of Persian and Urdu ghazals. It includes poems by Rumi, local folk songs from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran, as well as a ridiculously beautiful mixture-song, consisting of the poetry of Anees, Mehar and Amjad Hyderabadi. At the risk of exoticizing the album (if I haven't done it already), I must reveal that my favorite song is called "The Hunt" - a folk song from Khorasan told from the perspective of a hunter in which he describes that everything he sees, from the mountains to the animals, remind him of his beloved. Seeing his beloved in all things he cannot bring himself to kill a single creature. What a stark contrast to the monsters that come from Khurasan today. We have gone from hunting for love to hunting for enmity. The pang one feels for having such thoughts is really what made this album so moving for me. When Ali sings "the world is like an impermanent resting place/Where in all things just simply come and go" I could not listen to the verses as a message of peaceful spiritual humility; rather, all I could think was: these are now things that our suicide bombers must say to themselves. The loss of our history comes full circle and hits you with the force of a broken verse. In everything we no more see "the face of God" but the face of the "Great Satan."
In that sense, Niyaz's album is either too late (so that it cannot join the past glory of our culture), or it has come too soon (and lives in a state of cautious hope). For that reason it might (and has) fallen on largely deaf ears. The detonations of New York and London and Bali still ring in our ears so that beauty falls to the wayside. The smoke of the humans, yes, real humans, that we burn simply because they are Shia, or because they are alleged apostates, stuffs our nose and we cannot smell the little petals of jasmine that Niyaz is casting. Oh, it must sound as if Niyaz is God's gift to music. It isn't. But in the face of the culture of depression and anger that we call home, that we call Islam, the contrast that is its innocence, makes it seem that much more urgent. With the idols of cruelty and Usama having set themselves resolutely in the Houses of God, this album, with its unceasing affirmation of God, is more than just a harking back to the history of the mystic; this is music meant to smash idols.
Ali Eteraz is an essayist and novelist. He maintains the popular blog "Unwilling Self-Negation" at eteraz.wordpress.com.
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Sunday, October 08, 2006
Bhaskar Bhattacharyya
Telegraph.co.uk. - 06/03/2006
Bhaskar Bhattacharyya, who has drowned aged 56 while swimming off the coast of Chennai (formerly Madras), was a documentary film-maker, a consultant to musicians and film crews working in India and a scholar of Hindu and Sufi mysticism.
An adviser on several British television series set in India, including The Jewel in the Crown (1984) and Great Railway Journeys of the World (1989), Bhattacharyya inspired many young Indian film-makers. As director of programmes for the Business India channel he was able to help many of them further their careers.
His technical knowledge of film-making was worn as lightly as his understanding of ancient mystics and shamanism; he was chiefly noticeable for his infectious laugh and enthusiasm for the diverse culture of his birthplace.
Bhaskar Bhattacharyya was born in Darjeeling on June 4 1950, the son of two school-teachers. When young Bhaskar was five, his parents left India for Kampala, Uganda, where they lived for the next 11 years before moving to London, where he took his A levels and read Physics at City University.
year into the course, however, he dropped out of university. After a spell spent living in squats in north London, he joined the hippy trail, travelling through Europe, Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan, finally ending up in India.
For the next six years he lived among the sadhus (holy men) and shamans, befriending the Baul musicians and going on to study Sanskrit at Vanarisi (Benares) on the banks of the Ganges. During this period he collaborated with the film-maker George Lunneau, after which Bhattacharyya went on to form his own production company.
In 1976 he returned to London to continue his academic exploration of Hindu and Sufi mysticism. By the 1980s he had built up a reputation as a respected adviser and facilitator for western media in India.
Bhattacharyya made a number of documentaries about Indian culture and wrote articles for the Independent, The Times of India and the South China Morning Post. In 1993 he published a collection of 84 Baul song lyrics, The Path of the Mystic Lover: Baul songs of passion and ecstasy (co-written with Nik Douglas). At the time of his death he was working on a novel about the poet Shelley, with whom he felt a great affinity.
Bhattacharyya, who died on February 10 while on a film shoot for Channel 4, married Rohini Pathania in 1988. She survives him with their son.
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Bhaskar Bhattacharyya, who has drowned aged 56 while swimming off the coast of Chennai (formerly Madras), was a documentary film-maker, a consultant to musicians and film crews working in India and a scholar of Hindu and Sufi mysticism.
An adviser on several British television series set in India, including The Jewel in the Crown (1984) and Great Railway Journeys of the World (1989), Bhattacharyya inspired many young Indian film-makers. As director of programmes for the Business India channel he was able to help many of them further their careers.
His technical knowledge of film-making was worn as lightly as his understanding of ancient mystics and shamanism; he was chiefly noticeable for his infectious laugh and enthusiasm for the diverse culture of his birthplace.
Bhaskar Bhattacharyya was born in Darjeeling on June 4 1950, the son of two school-teachers. When young Bhaskar was five, his parents left India for Kampala, Uganda, where they lived for the next 11 years before moving to London, where he took his A levels and read Physics at City University.
year into the course, however, he dropped out of university. After a spell spent living in squats in north London, he joined the hippy trail, travelling through Europe, Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan, finally ending up in India.
For the next six years he lived among the sadhus (holy men) and shamans, befriending the Baul musicians and going on to study Sanskrit at Vanarisi (Benares) on the banks of the Ganges. During this period he collaborated with the film-maker George Lunneau, after which Bhattacharyya went on to form his own production company.
In 1976 he returned to London to continue his academic exploration of Hindu and Sufi mysticism. By the 1980s he had built up a reputation as a respected adviser and facilitator for western media in India.
Bhattacharyya made a number of documentaries about Indian culture and wrote articles for the Independent, The Times of India and the South China Morning Post. In 1993 he published a collection of 84 Baul song lyrics, The Path of the Mystic Lover: Baul songs of passion and ecstasy (co-written with Nik Douglas). At the time of his death he was working on a novel about the poet Shelley, with whom he felt a great affinity.
Bhattacharyya, who died on February 10 while on a film shoot for Channel 4, married Rohini Pathania in 1988. She survives him with their son.
Public Lesson
Source: Delhi Newsline - Sunday, March 5, 2006
by Sumati Mehrishi Sharma
New Delhi, March 4: Uzbek singer Yulchieva Munojatkhon is more than a background buzz. She is one of Uzbekistan’s most popular singers, yet she rarely gives solo performances. That’s because, unlike musicians from elsewhere in the world, Uzbek artistes prefer to perform with their teachers — as accompanists — even when they can command an audience on their own merit.
Like Yulchieva Munojatkhon. She is famous. She has an evergreen voice melodious enough to cut a meteoric career in the commercial music firmament. But for several years, she has been turning down offers from the Uzbek film industry. That’s because her Tashkent-based teacher, Shavqat Mirza, does not approve of film songs.
He believes that a true classical musician must never succumb to commercial pressure. According to him, I am at the peak of my singing career and that I must not waste my talent by singing film songs.”
But Delhi’ites can take heart. The 46-year-old Munojatkhon will perform today, at Jahan-e-Khusrau, the sixth International Sufi Music Festival, where she will dazzle the crowd with Persian Sufi songs. And this time, her teacher will take the seat to play the kamancha, a Persian stringed instrument.
Uzbek music, as she points out, is close to Kashmiri sufi music, even though it shares more similarities with melodies from Kazakhistan. Her songs are overtly spiritual, drawing inspiration from Sufi philosophy. And she has dedicated several of her compositions to the 15th century Uzbek writer, Ali Sher Nawoi. “He is to Uzbekistan what the Sufi and Bhakti saints are to India,” she explains. Given the revered guru-shishya relationship Uzbek musicians share, it isn’t surprising that filmmaker Muzaffar Ali, who organises the festival in the capital every year, took two years to convince her to come to India.
The artiste attended Shavqat’s conservatory after completing school in the Uzbek capital. “I was not born in a family of musicians,” says the artiste. So she worked hard to master her lessons and was soon making her own compositions. “Theory is important, but my teacher is particular about pronunciation and a knowledge of the Urdu language helps.”
Uzbekistan follows two paths of Sufism — the Yehsavi and the Nakshbandi. “The Yehsavi philosophy believes that God created us and we should all return to him as soon as possible. The Nakshbandi, on the other hand relates more to this world. It says that though we belong to God, we should be committed to our work. Nakshbands offer their heart and soul to God.”
Read More
by Sumati Mehrishi Sharma
New Delhi, March 4: Uzbek singer Yulchieva Munojatkhon is more than a background buzz. She is one of Uzbekistan’s most popular singers, yet she rarely gives solo performances. That’s because, unlike musicians from elsewhere in the world, Uzbek artistes prefer to perform with their teachers — as accompanists — even when they can command an audience on their own merit.
Like Yulchieva Munojatkhon. She is famous. She has an evergreen voice melodious enough to cut a meteoric career in the commercial music firmament. But for several years, she has been turning down offers from the Uzbek film industry. That’s because her Tashkent-based teacher, Shavqat Mirza, does not approve of film songs.
He believes that a true classical musician must never succumb to commercial pressure. According to him, I am at the peak of my singing career and that I must not waste my talent by singing film songs.”
But Delhi’ites can take heart. The 46-year-old Munojatkhon will perform today, at Jahan-e-Khusrau, the sixth International Sufi Music Festival, where she will dazzle the crowd with Persian Sufi songs. And this time, her teacher will take the seat to play the kamancha, a Persian stringed instrument.
Uzbek music, as she points out, is close to Kashmiri sufi music, even though it shares more similarities with melodies from Kazakhistan. Her songs are overtly spiritual, drawing inspiration from Sufi philosophy. And she has dedicated several of her compositions to the 15th century Uzbek writer, Ali Sher Nawoi. “He is to Uzbekistan what the Sufi and Bhakti saints are to India,” she explains. Given the revered guru-shishya relationship Uzbek musicians share, it isn’t surprising that filmmaker Muzaffar Ali, who organises the festival in the capital every year, took two years to convince her to come to India.
The artiste attended Shavqat’s conservatory after completing school in the Uzbek capital. “I was not born in a family of musicians,” says the artiste. So she worked hard to master her lessons and was soon making her own compositions. “Theory is important, but my teacher is particular about pronunciation and a knowledge of the Urdu language helps.”
Uzbekistan follows two paths of Sufism — the Yehsavi and the Nakshbandi. “The Yehsavi philosophy believes that God created us and we should all return to him as soon as possible. The Nakshbandi, on the other hand relates more to this world. It says that though we belong to God, we should be committed to our work. Nakshbands offer their heart and soul to God.”
A Voice for Peace
By Hadia Mostafa - Egypt Today
Saturday, 04 Mar 2006
With God in his heart and the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) at his side, British-born singing sensation Sami Yusuf is taking the world by storm — and even has non-Muslims humming his tunes — but don’t make the mistake of calling the widely acclaimed ‘King of Islamic Pop’ a preacher.
HE HAS THE GOOD looks, chart-topping music and stylish video clips of a bona fide pop star, but sings about God, the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) and the inherently peaceful message of Islam. In 2005, his website, www.samiyusuf.com, recorded more than 2 million visitors. Children love his catchy tunes, parents applaud his integrity, and the teenagers and twenty-somethings who make up the bulk of his fan base have taken Yusuf as their new role model.
“I do not come from an excessively religious family, though. I had a very normal Islamic upbringing and graduated from a normal public school in England. I used to pray on and off until I became ‘more practicing’ at the age of 16. My father was always very spiritual and a great lover of the Qur’an and the writings of Sufi poets such as Rumi, so the spiritual influence was always there,” says Yusuf.
Al-Mu’allim’s anasheed-style music and lyrics have a clear Sufi feel throughout, particularly on tracks such as “Allahu.”
“I wouldn’t label myself as a Sufi, but if you look at the historical context of spirituality and Sufism, you will find that they play a huge part in our faith. The greatest of sahaba (companions of the Prophet (PBUH)) and the greatest of Muslims were Sufis in the proper understanding of the term. Tasawuf (Sufism) definitely plays an important part of my life, but so do other things.”
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Saturday, 04 Mar 2006
With God in his heart and the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) at his side, British-born singing sensation Sami Yusuf is taking the world by storm — and even has non-Muslims humming his tunes — but don’t make the mistake of calling the widely acclaimed ‘King of Islamic Pop’ a preacher.
HE HAS THE GOOD looks, chart-topping music and stylish video clips of a bona fide pop star, but sings about God, the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) and the inherently peaceful message of Islam. In 2005, his website, www.samiyusuf.com, recorded more than 2 million visitors. Children love his catchy tunes, parents applaud his integrity, and the teenagers and twenty-somethings who make up the bulk of his fan base have taken Yusuf as their new role model.
“I do not come from an excessively religious family, though. I had a very normal Islamic upbringing and graduated from a normal public school in England. I used to pray on and off until I became ‘more practicing’ at the age of 16. My father was always very spiritual and a great lover of the Qur’an and the writings of Sufi poets such as Rumi, so the spiritual influence was always there,” says Yusuf.
Al-Mu’allim’s anasheed-style music and lyrics have a clear Sufi feel throughout, particularly on tracks such as “Allahu.”
“I wouldn’t label myself as a Sufi, but if you look at the historical context of spirituality and Sufism, you will find that they play a huge part in our faith. The greatest of sahaba (companions of the Prophet (PBUH)) and the greatest of Muslims were Sufis in the proper understanding of the term. Tasawuf (Sufism) definitely plays an important part of my life, but so do other things.”
Remnants of Buddhist culture found in Khorasan Razavi
MehrNews - RM/HG
Sunday, March 4, 2006
TEHRAN, Mar. 4 (MNA) -- A team of Iranian and Japanese experts have discovered remnants of Buddhist culture at a site near Sabzevar, Khorasan Razavi Province, the Persian service of CHN reported on Saturday.
The team, which began their research work last year, believes that they will find a Buddhist temple at the site. The Iranian director of the team, Hamid Fahimi, said that nineteen sites in the provinces of Zanjan, West Azerbaijan, Central, Kurdestan, Hamedan, and Khorasan Razavi were studied, and the Pirestir site near Sabzevar was the location where Buddhist ruins were discovered. According to Fahimi, architectural ruins, historical documents, and the local oral history have provided more evidence that Buddhists lived at the site in the late Sassanid and early Islamic eras.
Fahimi believes that Sufism is influenced by the Buddhist religion and that there are many Iranian stories which came from Buddhism where only the names have been changed.
The Japanese team is directed by Tsuchi Hashirikobe and the experts come from NIFS (Japan’s Nara International Foundation) a public-service corporation established by the governor of Nara prefecture in July 1989, aims to develop Nara into a center for historical and cultural research on the Silk Road, based on the achievements of the Silk Road Exposition of 1988.
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Sunday, March 4, 2006
TEHRAN, Mar. 4 (MNA) -- A team of Iranian and Japanese experts have discovered remnants of Buddhist culture at a site near Sabzevar, Khorasan Razavi Province, the Persian service of CHN reported on Saturday.
The team, which began their research work last year, believes that they will find a Buddhist temple at the site. The Iranian director of the team, Hamid Fahimi, said that nineteen sites in the provinces of Zanjan, West Azerbaijan, Central, Kurdestan, Hamedan, and Khorasan Razavi were studied, and the Pirestir site near Sabzevar was the location where Buddhist ruins were discovered. According to Fahimi, architectural ruins, historical documents, and the local oral history have provided more evidence that Buddhists lived at the site in the late Sassanid and early Islamic eras.
Fahimi believes that Sufism is influenced by the Buddhist religion and that there are many Iranian stories which came from Buddhism where only the names have been changed.
The Japanese team is directed by Tsuchi Hashirikobe and the experts come from NIFS (Japan’s Nara International Foundation) a public-service corporation established by the governor of Nara prefecture in July 1989, aims to develop Nara into a center for historical and cultural research on the Silk Road, based on the achievements of the Silk Road Exposition of 1988.
Yearning for God is a New and Different Feeling for Westerners
ZAMAN ONLINE - zaman.com
By MINE CAKAR Thursday, March 02, 2006
Mevlana Jalaladdin Rumi is a river flowing strongly for centuries… This river, whose love surpasses centuries and whose call of truth exceeds borders, remains a fountain for burning hearts.
Mevlana and his philosophy of Sufism, known as "Rumi" in the West, are becoming more popular as sales of his books pass that of Shakespeare in America. What is the motive behind these developing dynamics in the West? Why does this wisdom tree rooted in the East bear fruits in the lives of Westerners? Does it migrate from ungrateful lands to the places where it will be appreciated, as the truth cannot disappear?
American Mawlavi Sheikh Kabir Helsinki draws our attention to the fact that Rumi's harmonizing of human nature with spirituality is a new phenomenon for Westerners, as they tend to adopt the opposite. The Sheikh explains the origins of his interest in Rumi: "Rumi adopts humanity in all his attitudes. Islamic Sufism handles the human being with his misery and sorrow, as well as his craving for God; and this feature enables growth. Rumi is the voice of fascination and universal love. This passion and energy is very new for the West because spiritual tendencies are considered against and rejecting of life. However, Rumi is a great believer in life. Rumi represents a healing power and repairs the broken human heart, enabling us to feel close to God and human at the same time."
Mawlawi Dargah has 200 dervishes worldwide, with 25 in California under Sheikh Helminski. There are Muslims from countries such as Turkey, Iran, and Indonesia in the group formed by Americans. Helminski says: "We have studied the Quran in addition to the works of Rumi for 25 years. We are trying to think, worship and withdraw into solitude, along with trying to form suitable relationships and associations. We conduct our daily tasks such as cooking, cleaning and serving guests besides spiritual education. We become more important in our love for God through our hopes; being awake, alert and conscious. Rumi is a great teacher and this kind of education nourishes the heart. It is an ever-lasting and a never-ending education. We are all students and there is no end to learning, it keeps improving our souls." Helminski compares Rumi to a river and says we are carried by its flow, where this power can create miracles.
Helminski says some people have a vague understanding of Rumi, and lists ways to help to understand him: “You cannot understand Rumi unless you make sacrifices and adapt yourself to a discipline to transform the self. No matter whether you are in the US or Turkey shallow thinking stays with you. We should awaken ourselves and begin on the road to spiritual development. This cannot be achieved by alone. It can be achieved through tradition and organized activities, which contain disciplines and are instructor-controlled, because it is difficult to maintain the promises alone and keep the intention alive. We should find those with same intention, work, and be part of a school of love.” Helminski stresses that Rumi cannot be separated from the Quran and Islamic tradition, and says, they do not have coercive attitudes, like making demands on those who attend their meetings.
Read More
By MINE CAKAR Thursday, March 02, 2006
Mevlana Jalaladdin Rumi is a river flowing strongly for centuries… This river, whose love surpasses centuries and whose call of truth exceeds borders, remains a fountain for burning hearts.
Mevlana and his philosophy of Sufism, known as "Rumi" in the West, are becoming more popular as sales of his books pass that of Shakespeare in America. What is the motive behind these developing dynamics in the West? Why does this wisdom tree rooted in the East bear fruits in the lives of Westerners? Does it migrate from ungrateful lands to the places where it will be appreciated, as the truth cannot disappear?
American Mawlavi Sheikh Kabir Helsinki draws our attention to the fact that Rumi's harmonizing of human nature with spirituality is a new phenomenon for Westerners, as they tend to adopt the opposite. The Sheikh explains the origins of his interest in Rumi: "Rumi adopts humanity in all his attitudes. Islamic Sufism handles the human being with his misery and sorrow, as well as his craving for God; and this feature enables growth. Rumi is the voice of fascination and universal love. This passion and energy is very new for the West because spiritual tendencies are considered against and rejecting of life. However, Rumi is a great believer in life. Rumi represents a healing power and repairs the broken human heart, enabling us to feel close to God and human at the same time."
Mawlawi Dargah has 200 dervishes worldwide, with 25 in California under Sheikh Helminski. There are Muslims from countries such as Turkey, Iran, and Indonesia in the group formed by Americans. Helminski says: "We have studied the Quran in addition to the works of Rumi for 25 years. We are trying to think, worship and withdraw into solitude, along with trying to form suitable relationships and associations. We conduct our daily tasks such as cooking, cleaning and serving guests besides spiritual education. We become more important in our love for God through our hopes; being awake, alert and conscious. Rumi is a great teacher and this kind of education nourishes the heart. It is an ever-lasting and a never-ending education. We are all students and there is no end to learning, it keeps improving our souls." Helminski compares Rumi to a river and says we are carried by its flow, where this power can create miracles.
Helminski says some people have a vague understanding of Rumi, and lists ways to help to understand him: “You cannot understand Rumi unless you make sacrifices and adapt yourself to a discipline to transform the self. No matter whether you are in the US or Turkey shallow thinking stays with you. We should awaken ourselves and begin on the road to spiritual development. This cannot be achieved by alone. It can be achieved through tradition and organized activities, which contain disciplines and are instructor-controlled, because it is difficult to maintain the promises alone and keep the intention alive. We should find those with same intention, work, and be part of a school of love.” Helminski stresses that Rumi cannot be separated from the Quran and Islamic tradition, and says, they do not have coercive attitudes, like making demands on those who attend their meetings.
Bharatnatyam is flavour of Sufi festival this year
Source: Delhi News Line
by Sumati Mehrishi Sharma - New Delhi, March 1, 2006:
KATHAK has always been the perfect partner for Sufi whirls, but now it’s Bharatnatyam’s turn.
At this year’s Jahan-e-Khusrau festival, an annual Sufi music event, Bharatnatyam artiste Rama Vaidyanathan will perform with an ensemble directed by Carnatic flautist G.S. Rajan.
Rajan, from the group The Malabarians, will use the Carnatic raag, Kirvani, which he says is apparently reflected in the aazan. However, Vaidyanathan will don white for this performance instead of a traditional costume.
Pakistani Sufi legend Abida Parveen is already in the Capital to participate at the sixth edition of the festival, jointly organised by filmmaker and designer Muzaffar Ali and Delhi Tourism. Parveen has been a regular at the festival since 2000— when it started.
Popular for bringing together Sufi dervishes from West Asian countries and Indian qawwals in the previous years, the festival has now opened to Bollywood playback singers Daler Mehndi and Sukhwinder Singh.
Ali feels it will help popularise this form of music among youth. ‘‘We are open to artistes from all backgrounds— even from Hollywood. But the Sufi spirit should be common,’’ he says.
Other performers at Jahan-e-Khusrau include the Rumi group from Iran, Yulchieva Munojatkhon from Uzbekistan, Ustad Shafqat Ali Khan and Amaan and Ayaan Ali Khan Bangash.
Read More
by Sumati Mehrishi Sharma - New Delhi, March 1, 2006:
KATHAK has always been the perfect partner for Sufi whirls, but now it’s Bharatnatyam’s turn.
At this year’s Jahan-e-Khusrau festival, an annual Sufi music event, Bharatnatyam artiste Rama Vaidyanathan will perform with an ensemble directed by Carnatic flautist G.S. Rajan.
Rajan, from the group The Malabarians, will use the Carnatic raag, Kirvani, which he says is apparently reflected in the aazan. However, Vaidyanathan will don white for this performance instead of a traditional costume.
Pakistani Sufi legend Abida Parveen is already in the Capital to participate at the sixth edition of the festival, jointly organised by filmmaker and designer Muzaffar Ali and Delhi Tourism. Parveen has been a regular at the festival since 2000— when it started.
Popular for bringing together Sufi dervishes from West Asian countries and Indian qawwals in the previous years, the festival has now opened to Bollywood playback singers Daler Mehndi and Sukhwinder Singh.
Ali feels it will help popularise this form of music among youth. ‘‘We are open to artistes from all backgrounds— even from Hollywood. But the Sufi spirit should be common,’’ he says.
Other performers at Jahan-e-Khusrau include the Rumi group from Iran, Yulchieva Munojatkhon from Uzbekistan, Ustad Shafqat Ali Khan and Amaan and Ayaan Ali Khan Bangash.
Pakistani radios charm Jammu residents
Pakistani radios charm Jammu residents
Frederick Noronha (FN) Indo-Asian News Service
Jammu, March 1 (IANS) No Indian FM radio covers Jammu and Kashmir but people in this region have three Pakistani FM radio channels to tune in to. The Pakistani radios provide a wide range of programmes from Sufi music to pop and from fashion tips to guides on staying healthy.
Jammu, less than 50 km from the Pakistani border, receives clear signals of Radio Burrak 104, Awaz 105 and Awaz 106.
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Frederick Noronha (FN) Indo-Asian News Service
Jammu, March 1 (IANS) No Indian FM radio covers Jammu and Kashmir but people in this region have three Pakistani FM radio channels to tune in to. The Pakistani radios provide a wide range of programmes from Sufi music to pop and from fashion tips to guides on staying healthy.
Jammu, less than 50 km from the Pakistani border, receives clear signals of Radio Burrak 104, Awaz 105 and Awaz 106.
International Seminar on Amir Khusrau to be Held in India
Pendar - Persian Independent Media
2006-2-28 - 21:42 - CHN
Tehran, 28 February 2006 (CHN) -- An International Seminar on Amir Khusrau, great philosopher and poet of the 13th century AD, will be held early March this year at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi to commemorate his 701 death anniversary. The seminar will be organized jointly by Department of Persian Language, Faculty of Humanities and Languages, Jamia Millia Islamia and Persian Scholars Association.
The title of this seminar is “A Delineator of Strong Culture Bond of India with Afghanistan, Central Asia and Iran.”
Amir Khusrau is known as a Sufi, poet, reformer and courtier. His contribution to the world of knowledge and wisdom will be highlighted in this seminar. Intellectuals and scholars throughout the world will participate in the seminar, which will cover works and contributions of Amir Khusrau to humanity.
Amir Khusrau’s life and work in chronological order reveals that he gradually acquired a consciousness which is reflected in his intellectual dynamism and literary accomplishments. His attitude towards life, society, culture, and art has been constantly changing and expanding conically. He got his observations and experiences as well as the continual specialty of the conflict of human ideas and cruel facts of life from his learned patrons and friends.
Eminent scholars are invited from all over the world; university students and professors and Persian lovers will be among the audience. The press will also be invited for the coverage of the news.
Researchers are supposed to present their studies with topics including Amir Khusrau a poet among Indian people; Amir Khusrau, and the culture and civilization of India; Indian parrot, the pioneer of cultural variety; Amir Khusrau and Sufism; Amir Khusrau and Indian-Iranian traditional literature; Amir Khusrau and beautiful arts; Amir Khusrau’s influence on Indian literature; Amir Khusrau and folkloric literature; Amir Khusrau beyond the Indian borders; Amir Khusrau and his contemporaries; Amir Khusrau hand scripts; Translation of Amir Khusrau works; Political and cultural relations between Iran and India and Central Asia during 13 and 14 centuries AD; and Amir Khusrau as a historian.
Esfandiar Rahim Mashayi, Director of Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization will also attend this 5-day international seminar.
Amir Khusrau (1253-1325 AD) is one of the prominent figures in the cultural history of India. He was a creative classical poet associated with royal courts of more than seven rulers of the Delhi Sultanate. He is also popular in much of North Indian and Pakistan, because of many playful riddles, songs and legends attributed to him. He wrote both in Persian and Hindustani. His poetry is still sing in today’s Sufi shrines throughout Pakistan and India. Amir Khusrau was the author of a Khamsa which emulated that of the earlier Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi. His work is considered one of the greatest pieces of Persian classic poetry during the Timurid period (1370–1506 AD) in Transoxiana.
Read More
2006-2-28 - 21:42 - CHN
Tehran, 28 February 2006 (CHN) -- An International Seminar on Amir Khusrau, great philosopher and poet of the 13th century AD, will be held early March this year at Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi to commemorate his 701 death anniversary. The seminar will be organized jointly by Department of Persian Language, Faculty of Humanities and Languages, Jamia Millia Islamia and Persian Scholars Association.
The title of this seminar is “A Delineator of Strong Culture Bond of India with Afghanistan, Central Asia and Iran.”
Amir Khusrau is known as a Sufi, poet, reformer and courtier. His contribution to the world of knowledge and wisdom will be highlighted in this seminar. Intellectuals and scholars throughout the world will participate in the seminar, which will cover works and contributions of Amir Khusrau to humanity.
Amir Khusrau’s life and work in chronological order reveals that he gradually acquired a consciousness which is reflected in his intellectual dynamism and literary accomplishments. His attitude towards life, society, culture, and art has been constantly changing and expanding conically. He got his observations and experiences as well as the continual specialty of the conflict of human ideas and cruel facts of life from his learned patrons and friends.
Eminent scholars are invited from all over the world; university students and professors and Persian lovers will be among the audience. The press will also be invited for the coverage of the news.
Researchers are supposed to present their studies with topics including Amir Khusrau a poet among Indian people; Amir Khusrau, and the culture and civilization of India; Indian parrot, the pioneer of cultural variety; Amir Khusrau and Sufism; Amir Khusrau and Indian-Iranian traditional literature; Amir Khusrau and beautiful arts; Amir Khusrau’s influence on Indian literature; Amir Khusrau and folkloric literature; Amir Khusrau beyond the Indian borders; Amir Khusrau and his contemporaries; Amir Khusrau hand scripts; Translation of Amir Khusrau works; Political and cultural relations between Iran and India and Central Asia during 13 and 14 centuries AD; and Amir Khusrau as a historian.
Esfandiar Rahim Mashayi, Director of Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization will also attend this 5-day international seminar.
Amir Khusrau (1253-1325 AD) is one of the prominent figures in the cultural history of India. He was a creative classical poet associated with royal courts of more than seven rulers of the Delhi Sultanate. He is also popular in much of North Indian and Pakistan, because of many playful riddles, songs and legends attributed to him. He wrote both in Persian and Hindustani. His poetry is still sing in today’s Sufi shrines throughout Pakistan and India. Amir Khusrau was the author of a Khamsa which emulated that of the earlier Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi. His work is considered one of the greatest pieces of Persian classic poetry during the Timurid period (1370–1506 AD) in Transoxiana.
Concert spotlights Persian poet
Show promotes cultural exchange
By Dean Calbreath
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
February 28, 2006
In the past decade, the works of medieval Persian poet Jelaluddin Rumi have been resurrected in many forums, from readings by the likes of Madonna and Goldie Hawn to an operatic extravaganza by composer Philip Glass.
Iranian-Kurdish singer Shahram Nazeri performed his son, Hafez's, composition "In the Steps of Rumi" - a melding of Western and Persian themes.
In a break from tradition, the Nazeris have developed an interpretation of Rumi's work that melds classical Western music with the traditional music of Iran, blending the sounds of the viola and cello with such ancient Persian instruments as the daf and setar. Hafez Nazeri, who composed the work, hopes this combination of Western and Persian traditions might serve as a model for both sides to learn from each other.
“The idea is to embrace change while remaining true to your own culture and the traditions of the past,” Hafez said. “That's vital for the health of Persian music – and the health of Persian culture as a whole.”
The composition, “In the Steps of Rumi,” resonated with the 1,000 or so Iranians and Kurds who heard the Nazeris perform at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido on Friday. They tapped their feet and clapped along with some of the livelier pieces – folk tunes from Shahram Nazeri's hometown of Kermanshah – and gave the troupe no fewer than four standing ovations.
Rumi was a natural choice for an intercultural composition. In his day, the Sufi Muslim's ruminations on the nature of love struck a chord among listeners from the Buddhists of China to the Christians of Europe.
In the 1990s, Rumi had a revival in the West. An English translation of his poems sold more than 100,000 copies – a decent run for 800-year-old poetry. Bill Moyers featured a show on Rumi in his PBS poetry series “Language of Life.” Madonna, Hawn and the late civil-rights activist Rosa Parks were among the voices on a CD of Rumi's poetry. Deepak Chopra set Rumi's poems to music.
But in Iran, the most popular settings of Rumi's poetry were the strictly traditional interpretations of Shahram Nazeri, a Kurdish singer who has spent the past 35 years reviving ancient traditions in Persian music.
Five years ago, Shahram's son, Hafez, who was then 21, put together the Rumi Ensemble, a troupe that toured 20 cities in Iran with a slightly modernized take on the age-old music. One performance in Tehran drew 140,000 people – one of the biggest concerts ever in the Middle East.
With encouragement from his father, Hafez moved to New York to study Western composition at the Mannes College of Music. While reading Franz Kafka's “Metamorphosis,” he decided to create a piece of music that would reflect a cultural metamorphosis by intertwining the classical strains of Persia and Europe.
Unlike classical Persian music, in which individual pieces stay within the same musical scale, Hafez used the broader Western range of multiple keys. He kept the quarter-tones found in Near Eastern scales, but melded them into Western harmonic structures.
In Friday's performance, Hafez played the Persian setar, similar to the Indian sitar, as his father sang. Hafez's cousin, Siavash Nazeri – who is moving to San Diego – played the daf, a Persian drum so versatile that it had the power of a small percussion ensemble.
Taiwan-born Liuh-Wen Ting, who is more accustomed to accompanying Broadway musicals than medieval Persian music, played the viola. Peter Wyrick, associate principal cellist of the San Francisco Symphony, played the cello. Salar Nadar, an Afhgan from Germany, played tabla, bongo-like drums from Northern India.
Read More
By Dean Calbreath
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
February 28, 2006
In the past decade, the works of medieval Persian poet Jelaluddin Rumi have been resurrected in many forums, from readings by the likes of Madonna and Goldie Hawn to an operatic extravaganza by composer Philip Glass.
Iranian-Kurdish singer Shahram Nazeri performed his son, Hafez's, composition "In the Steps of Rumi" - a melding of Western and Persian themes.
In a break from tradition, the Nazeris have developed an interpretation of Rumi's work that melds classical Western music with the traditional music of Iran, blending the sounds of the viola and cello with such ancient Persian instruments as the daf and setar. Hafez Nazeri, who composed the work, hopes this combination of Western and Persian traditions might serve as a model for both sides to learn from each other.
“The idea is to embrace change while remaining true to your own culture and the traditions of the past,” Hafez said. “That's vital for the health of Persian music – and the health of Persian culture as a whole.”
The composition, “In the Steps of Rumi,” resonated with the 1,000 or so Iranians and Kurds who heard the Nazeris perform at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido on Friday. They tapped their feet and clapped along with some of the livelier pieces – folk tunes from Shahram Nazeri's hometown of Kermanshah – and gave the troupe no fewer than four standing ovations.
Rumi was a natural choice for an intercultural composition. In his day, the Sufi Muslim's ruminations on the nature of love struck a chord among listeners from the Buddhists of China to the Christians of Europe.
In the 1990s, Rumi had a revival in the West. An English translation of his poems sold more than 100,000 copies – a decent run for 800-year-old poetry. Bill Moyers featured a show on Rumi in his PBS poetry series “Language of Life.” Madonna, Hawn and the late civil-rights activist Rosa Parks were among the voices on a CD of Rumi's poetry. Deepak Chopra set Rumi's poems to music.
But in Iran, the most popular settings of Rumi's poetry were the strictly traditional interpretations of Shahram Nazeri, a Kurdish singer who has spent the past 35 years reviving ancient traditions in Persian music.
Five years ago, Shahram's son, Hafez, who was then 21, put together the Rumi Ensemble, a troupe that toured 20 cities in Iran with a slightly modernized take on the age-old music. One performance in Tehran drew 140,000 people – one of the biggest concerts ever in the Middle East.
With encouragement from his father, Hafez moved to New York to study Western composition at the Mannes College of Music. While reading Franz Kafka's “Metamorphosis,” he decided to create a piece of music that would reflect a cultural metamorphosis by intertwining the classical strains of Persia and Europe.
Unlike classical Persian music, in which individual pieces stay within the same musical scale, Hafez used the broader Western range of multiple keys. He kept the quarter-tones found in Near Eastern scales, but melded them into Western harmonic structures.
In Friday's performance, Hafez played the Persian setar, similar to the Indian sitar, as his father sang. Hafez's cousin, Siavash Nazeri – who is moving to San Diego – played the daf, a Persian drum so versatile that it had the power of a small percussion ensemble.
Taiwan-born Liuh-Wen Ting, who is more accustomed to accompanying Broadway musicals than medieval Persian music, played the viola. Peter Wyrick, associate principal cellist of the San Francisco Symphony, played the cello. Salar Nadar, an Afhgan from Germany, played tabla, bongo-like drums from Northern India.
Chechens: A Handbook
Chechens: A Handbook - by Amjad Jaimoukha
publisher: Routledge, February 2004
price: $135.00
Source: Transitions Online
The ancient Chechen nation has been living in its idyllic homeland in the North Caucasus for thousands of years, building states and forging relations and interacting with other Caucasian and Near Eastern civilizations. The Chechens are thought to be related to the Hurrians and Urartians, builders of seminal civilizations in the Near East, and they themselves established a civilization whose relics can still be come across, especially in the ancient Pantheon.
This book provides a ready introduction, and practical guide to the Chechen people and some little-known and rarely-considered aspects of Chechen culture, including customs and traditions, folklore, arts and architecture, music, and literature. It also narrates Chechen history from ancient times and provides sketches of archaic religions and civilizations. Amjad Jaimoukha reveals the esoteric social structure and the peculiar brand of Chechen Sufism, as well as the present political situation in Chechnya.
This handbook also includes:
· Analysis of Chechen media development since the early twentieth century
· Images of the Chechens carried by Russian and Western medias
· Sketches of the short-lived Chechen film industry
· A proverbs and sayings section
· Appendices detailing social structure, the native Pantheon, bibliographies and periodicals pertaining to the Chechens and Chechnya, and a lexicographic listing
· A comprehensive bibliography, with many entries in English, for further reading
As the only comprehensive guide available in English, this book is an indispensable and accessible resource for all those with an interest in Chechnya.
Read More
publisher: Routledge, February 2004
price: $135.00
Source: Transitions Online
The ancient Chechen nation has been living in its idyllic homeland in the North Caucasus for thousands of years, building states and forging relations and interacting with other Caucasian and Near Eastern civilizations. The Chechens are thought to be related to the Hurrians and Urartians, builders of seminal civilizations in the Near East, and they themselves established a civilization whose relics can still be come across, especially in the ancient Pantheon.
This book provides a ready introduction, and practical guide to the Chechen people and some little-known and rarely-considered aspects of Chechen culture, including customs and traditions, folklore, arts and architecture, music, and literature. It also narrates Chechen history from ancient times and provides sketches of archaic religions and civilizations. Amjad Jaimoukha reveals the esoteric social structure and the peculiar brand of Chechen Sufism, as well as the present political situation in Chechnya.
This handbook also includes:
· Analysis of Chechen media development since the early twentieth century
· Images of the Chechens carried by Russian and Western medias
· Sketches of the short-lived Chechen film industry
· A proverbs and sayings section
· Appendices detailing social structure, the native Pantheon, bibliographies and periodicals pertaining to the Chechens and Chechnya, and a lexicographic listing
· A comprehensive bibliography, with many entries in English, for further reading
As the only comprehensive guide available in English, this book is an indispensable and accessible resource for all those with an interest in Chechnya.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Thaw In The Thar: New Train
By Yoginder Sikand - Countercurrents.org
20 February, 2006
Cries of 'Long Live India-Pakistan Friendship' rend the air as the Thar Express streams out of the Jodhpur railway station on the evening of the 17th of February, heading for the Pakistan border. The next afternoon, a train bearing the same name crosses into India from Mirpur Khas in Sindh and chugs into Munabao, a desert settlement in Rajasthan's Barmer district, barely two kilometers from the border, being warmly welcomed by an enthusiastic crowd of several thousand people. 'May the Thar Express become the Yar (Friendship) Express bringing India and Pakistan ever closer than before', exclaims the compare of the function held by the Indian Railways to inaugurate the resumption of the railway link between Rajasthan and Sindh, which was terminated in the wake of the 1965 India-Pakistan war.
Many of the passengers on board the Thar Express to Pakistan have relatives across the border whom they have not met for decades. An elderly Muslim man from Barmer tells me about his grand-daughter in Sindh whom he has never seen although she is twenty now. 'I'm going to attend her wedding', he beams with excitement. 'Had it not been for this train I would not have been able to travel to Pakistan, because the other route--through Punjab--is simply unaffordable for a poor peasant like me'. A middle-aged Hindu woman, who migrated to India from Sindh twenty-five years ago, says she's going back to her village to meet her son whom she has not met ever since she left Pakistan. Another Sindhi Hindu, who now lives in Rajasthan, tells me he is going to meet his guru in Sindh, whom he saw for the last time fifteen years ago.
At the railway station in Jodhpur and in Munabao activists of the Jodhpur-based Seemant Lok Sangathan ('Border Peoples' Organisation') distribute leaflets hailing the train as a major landmark in promoting people-to-people contacts between India and Pakistan. Says Hindu Singh Sodha, President of the Sangathan and himself a migrant from Thar Parkar in Sindh, 'Rajasthan and Sindh have had close historical, cultural, religious and trade links and the resumption of the train service will once again bring these two regions close to each other'.
An elaborate cultural programme presented by employees of the North-Western Railways outside Munabao station drives home the same message of communal harmony, uniting Hindus and Muslims, Indians and Pakistanis. A traditional Rajasthani dance drama depicts a local folk hero, venerated by Hindus as Ramdev and by Muslims as Ram Shah Pir. This is followed by a musical recital of verses composed by Sindh's most well-known Sufi poet, Shah Abdul Latif. And to further stress this plea for Indo-Pak bonhomie, the official compare of the function piously announces, as the train from Pakistan trundles into Munabao station, the noble goal of 'uniting the message of the Gita and the Quran'.
Read More
20 February, 2006
Cries of 'Long Live India-Pakistan Friendship' rend the air as the Thar Express streams out of the Jodhpur railway station on the evening of the 17th of February, heading for the Pakistan border. The next afternoon, a train bearing the same name crosses into India from Mirpur Khas in Sindh and chugs into Munabao, a desert settlement in Rajasthan's Barmer district, barely two kilometers from the border, being warmly welcomed by an enthusiastic crowd of several thousand people. 'May the Thar Express become the Yar (Friendship) Express bringing India and Pakistan ever closer than before', exclaims the compare of the function held by the Indian Railways to inaugurate the resumption of the railway link between Rajasthan and Sindh, which was terminated in the wake of the 1965 India-Pakistan war.
Many of the passengers on board the Thar Express to Pakistan have relatives across the border whom they have not met for decades. An elderly Muslim man from Barmer tells me about his grand-daughter in Sindh whom he has never seen although she is twenty now. 'I'm going to attend her wedding', he beams with excitement. 'Had it not been for this train I would not have been able to travel to Pakistan, because the other route--through Punjab--is simply unaffordable for a poor peasant like me'. A middle-aged Hindu woman, who migrated to India from Sindh twenty-five years ago, says she's going back to her village to meet her son whom she has not met ever since she left Pakistan. Another Sindhi Hindu, who now lives in Rajasthan, tells me he is going to meet his guru in Sindh, whom he saw for the last time fifteen years ago.
At the railway station in Jodhpur and in Munabao activists of the Jodhpur-based Seemant Lok Sangathan ('Border Peoples' Organisation') distribute leaflets hailing the train as a major landmark in promoting people-to-people contacts between India and Pakistan. Says Hindu Singh Sodha, President of the Sangathan and himself a migrant from Thar Parkar in Sindh, 'Rajasthan and Sindh have had close historical, cultural, religious and trade links and the resumption of the train service will once again bring these two regions close to each other'.
An elaborate cultural programme presented by employees of the North-Western Railways outside Munabao station drives home the same message of communal harmony, uniting Hindus and Muslims, Indians and Pakistanis. A traditional Rajasthani dance drama depicts a local folk hero, venerated by Hindus as Ramdev and by Muslims as Ram Shah Pir. This is followed by a musical recital of verses composed by Sindh's most well-known Sufi poet, Shah Abdul Latif. And to further stress this plea for Indo-Pak bonhomie, the official compare of the function piously announces, as the train from Pakistan trundles into Munabao station, the noble goal of 'uniting the message of the Gita and the Quran'.
Iran cracks down on Sufis: hundreds remain jailed
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Iran Focus - Sun. 19 Feb 2006
Tehran, Iran, Feb. 19 – Iran Focus has obtained a partial list of names of Islamic mystics arrested during a protest in the holy city of Qom, south of Tehran, earlier this week. The partial list of those arrested was provided to Iran Focus from a reliable source in Qom.
Islamic mystics, or Sufis, focus on the direct perception of Truth or God through mystic practices based on divine love. Sufism, common to both Sunni and Shiite sects of Islam, has its roots in Iran. Its followers oppose Iran’s ruling theocracy on spiritual grounds.
Police arrested some one thousand Sufis as clashes broke out after the place of worship used by the mystics was demolished Tuesday on government orders.
Hundreds were injured during the clashes after police fired teargas and used truncheons to attack the demonstrating Sufis.
Read More
Tehran, Iran, Feb. 19 – Iran Focus has obtained a partial list of names of Islamic mystics arrested during a protest in the holy city of Qom, south of Tehran, earlier this week. The partial list of those arrested was provided to Iran Focus from a reliable source in Qom.
Islamic mystics, or Sufis, focus on the direct perception of Truth or God through mystic practices based on divine love. Sufism, common to both Sunni and Shiite sects of Islam, has its roots in Iran. Its followers oppose Iran’s ruling theocracy on spiritual grounds.
Police arrested some one thousand Sufis as clashes broke out after the place of worship used by the mystics was demolished Tuesday on government orders.
Hundreds were injured during the clashes after police fired teargas and used truncheons to attack the demonstrating Sufis.
Sufi poet, mystic and a planetary healer
BY MATEIN KHALID - Khaleej Times Online
Dubai, 18 February 2006
THE clash of civilisation has now turned ghoulish. An imbecilic newspaper cartoon in Copenhagen triggered riots in Pakistan, gutted Danish embassies in Beirut and Damascus, deepened the chasm between the West and the Islamic world, inspired geopolitical accusations in the White House and the Shia seminaries of Qom.
Amid this surreal nightmare, the miasma of evil and suspicion that now seems to have swept this world, I seek refuge in the transcendent poetry of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi, the Sufi mystic poet who is probably the most sympathetic Muslim figure in the West, a spiritual New Age icon.
“The sounds of prayer drifts across the dawn. It is Muslim, Jew and Christian, all merged together” Rumi wrote 700 years ago, a message alien to venomous fanatics in the Middle East who preach jehad against the West (or anybody else who does not share their cosmology of hate). There is a gentle, syncretic tradition in Islam whose nuances the shrill hacks at Fox News and the Islamophobe oracles of Western culture know nothing about. The voice of Osama bin Laden and the sectarian mullahs of Iran has mesmerised the West after the horror of 9/11. Yet, there is another gentler, far wiser voice steeped in the Islamic past. The voice of Rumi, the spiritual healer whose poetry of anguish and sorrow can help us find the compassion and empathy to build bridges, to heal wounds that, if untreated, could mean that the ultimate act of violence in the Middle East will be a nuclear Armageddon. We need to recreate the song of the nightingale.
“When the rose is gone and the garden fades, you will no longer hear the nightingale.” This is vintage Rumi in his ‘Masnavi’, arguably the most seminal book in the Islamic world after the Holy Quran. It is impossible to overstate the Sage of Konya’s influence on the consciousness of generations of people in the Islamic world, on the literary traditions of Turkish, Persian and Urdu. The world of the Middle East was so different and yet so eerily similar to our own in the age of Rumi (1206-1273 AD). The Abbasid Empire in Baghdad was in its death throes. The Mongol terror had decimated Islamic civilisation, forced the Valad family (Rumi’s Dad was the scholar Bahuddin) to flee their native Balkh for Baghdad and settle in the Anatolian town of Konya, a spiritual entrepot where his garden tomb now is one of the greatest tourist pilgrimages in Turkey.
In the sixth century of the Hijra, the twelfth century after Christ, Persia’s population was staunchly Sunni and the Shia (Ismaili) Fatimid caliphs ruled Egypt. The Anatolian heartland was still Seljuk, although the House of Osman would catapult itself into the centrestage of the Islamic and world history a mere generation after Rumi’s death. Andalusia was the only haven of religious tolerance in Christian Europe but the tolerant courts of Cordoba, Sevilla and Grenada, the fabled ornament of the world, were living on borrowed time as the dark shadow of the Reconquista and the Holy Inquisition loomed nearer.
In Levant, the Crusader kingdom was still in a permanent state of war, assisted by its Maronite vassals in Lebanon with the Ayyubid princes of Syria, the sons and grandsons of Sultan Salahuddin, the Kurdish warrior who had beaten the Franks at Hittin Cross to take Jerusalem. It was the world of itinerant Muslim scholars (the medival Internet), the assassins of Alamut (the prototype of Al Qaeda’s suicide killers), the Silk Road (the globalisation wave), of madrassas and Sufi lodges and warrior kings and magnificent empires and epic sword battles.
Why does Rumi evoke such a visceral empathy, touch the souls so many millions who know nothing of the Persian poetic tradition, let alone the history or laws of Islam? I believe the story of the Mewlana’s life is an inspiration, an antidote to the rat race, the rapid materialism that celebrates shopping malls as the new cathedrals of culture. Rumi’s anguish for his murdered beloved Shams of Tabriz, the humble dervish who ignited his mystical imagination, for whom he renounced his academic chair, is so universal. Yet anguish, sorrow and loss enables Rumi to penetrate the ‘veil of the soul’, to grasp that ultimate divine reality that Muslims call the ‘nur’, the light that is the grace of Allah.
The Mevlevi Sufi lodge founded by Rumi’s son Sultan Valad was a major force in Ottoman culture and politics. Khalil Pasha, the agha of the Janissaries, visited the tomb of the Mevlana in Konya three centuries after his death and introduced the Mevlevi order’s sheikhs to the Sublime Porte. Centuries later, Sultan Selim III, a fellow poet and mystic, was a member of the Mevlevi order of Galata. Kemal Ataturk banned the Mevlevi order to erase its Ottoman roots. In Iran, Rumi is venerated by the young and the ‘avant garde’, though the Shia establishment of Qom and Mashad tried to camouflage his Sunni heritage. In Mughal India, where Arabic was the language of the legal scholars, but Persian was the language of the emperors, descendants of the same Genghis Khan whose Mongol hordes (ironically, the linguistic origin of the word ‘Urdu’ a language that so venerates Rumi) forced Rumi’s family to flee for their lives from Khorasan. Iqbal, possibly the greatest poet of modern Islam and the literary founding father of Pakistan, admired Rumi. In Iqbal’s ‘Javidnama’, the Book of Eternity, Maulana Rumi guides the Sialkoti Cambridge educated on mysticism on his cosmic journey. Bahaullah, the founder of the Bahai faith, borrows from Rumi. Even Emperor Aurangzeb, the symbol of austere Sunni orthodoxy, was moved to tears by Rumi’s couplets, as were Hegel, Goethe, Schimmel, Arberry and generations of Persian scholars and Sufi poets.
The genius of Rumi was that he was a spiritual alchemist, a symbol of the human spirit that transcends all barriers of race, sect and tribe. He is a planetary healer, a reminder that Islam was once a gentle, tolerant civilisation that united, not divided the world. He teaches us to love, to forgive, to fear not even death, to abandon the illusion of ego and embrace all the beauty and pain of human existence. Beyond dogma or theology, Rumi’s paeans of love swirl across time to heal my wounded soul.
Matein Khalid is a Dubai based investment banker
Read More
Dubai, 18 February 2006
THE clash of civilisation has now turned ghoulish. An imbecilic newspaper cartoon in Copenhagen triggered riots in Pakistan, gutted Danish embassies in Beirut and Damascus, deepened the chasm between the West and the Islamic world, inspired geopolitical accusations in the White House and the Shia seminaries of Qom.
Amid this surreal nightmare, the miasma of evil and suspicion that now seems to have swept this world, I seek refuge in the transcendent poetry of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi, the Sufi mystic poet who is probably the most sympathetic Muslim figure in the West, a spiritual New Age icon.
“The sounds of prayer drifts across the dawn. It is Muslim, Jew and Christian, all merged together” Rumi wrote 700 years ago, a message alien to venomous fanatics in the Middle East who preach jehad against the West (or anybody else who does not share their cosmology of hate). There is a gentle, syncretic tradition in Islam whose nuances the shrill hacks at Fox News and the Islamophobe oracles of Western culture know nothing about. The voice of Osama bin Laden and the sectarian mullahs of Iran has mesmerised the West after the horror of 9/11. Yet, there is another gentler, far wiser voice steeped in the Islamic past. The voice of Rumi, the spiritual healer whose poetry of anguish and sorrow can help us find the compassion and empathy to build bridges, to heal wounds that, if untreated, could mean that the ultimate act of violence in the Middle East will be a nuclear Armageddon. We need to recreate the song of the nightingale.
“When the rose is gone and the garden fades, you will no longer hear the nightingale.” This is vintage Rumi in his ‘Masnavi’, arguably the most seminal book in the Islamic world after the Holy Quran. It is impossible to overstate the Sage of Konya’s influence on the consciousness of generations of people in the Islamic world, on the literary traditions of Turkish, Persian and Urdu. The world of the Middle East was so different and yet so eerily similar to our own in the age of Rumi (1206-1273 AD). The Abbasid Empire in Baghdad was in its death throes. The Mongol terror had decimated Islamic civilisation, forced the Valad family (Rumi’s Dad was the scholar Bahuddin) to flee their native Balkh for Baghdad and settle in the Anatolian town of Konya, a spiritual entrepot where his garden tomb now is one of the greatest tourist pilgrimages in Turkey.
In the sixth century of the Hijra, the twelfth century after Christ, Persia’s population was staunchly Sunni and the Shia (Ismaili) Fatimid caliphs ruled Egypt. The Anatolian heartland was still Seljuk, although the House of Osman would catapult itself into the centrestage of the Islamic and world history a mere generation after Rumi’s death. Andalusia was the only haven of religious tolerance in Christian Europe but the tolerant courts of Cordoba, Sevilla and Grenada, the fabled ornament of the world, were living on borrowed time as the dark shadow of the Reconquista and the Holy Inquisition loomed nearer.
In Levant, the Crusader kingdom was still in a permanent state of war, assisted by its Maronite vassals in Lebanon with the Ayyubid princes of Syria, the sons and grandsons of Sultan Salahuddin, the Kurdish warrior who had beaten the Franks at Hittin Cross to take Jerusalem. It was the world of itinerant Muslim scholars (the medival Internet), the assassins of Alamut (the prototype of Al Qaeda’s suicide killers), the Silk Road (the globalisation wave), of madrassas and Sufi lodges and warrior kings and magnificent empires and epic sword battles.
Why does Rumi evoke such a visceral empathy, touch the souls so many millions who know nothing of the Persian poetic tradition, let alone the history or laws of Islam? I believe the story of the Mewlana’s life is an inspiration, an antidote to the rat race, the rapid materialism that celebrates shopping malls as the new cathedrals of culture. Rumi’s anguish for his murdered beloved Shams of Tabriz, the humble dervish who ignited his mystical imagination, for whom he renounced his academic chair, is so universal. Yet anguish, sorrow and loss enables Rumi to penetrate the ‘veil of the soul’, to grasp that ultimate divine reality that Muslims call the ‘nur’, the light that is the grace of Allah.
The Mevlevi Sufi lodge founded by Rumi’s son Sultan Valad was a major force in Ottoman culture and politics. Khalil Pasha, the agha of the Janissaries, visited the tomb of the Mevlana in Konya three centuries after his death and introduced the Mevlevi order’s sheikhs to the Sublime Porte. Centuries later, Sultan Selim III, a fellow poet and mystic, was a member of the Mevlevi order of Galata. Kemal Ataturk banned the Mevlevi order to erase its Ottoman roots. In Iran, Rumi is venerated by the young and the ‘avant garde’, though the Shia establishment of Qom and Mashad tried to camouflage his Sunni heritage. In Mughal India, where Arabic was the language of the legal scholars, but Persian was the language of the emperors, descendants of the same Genghis Khan whose Mongol hordes (ironically, the linguistic origin of the word ‘Urdu’ a language that so venerates Rumi) forced Rumi’s family to flee for their lives from Khorasan. Iqbal, possibly the greatest poet of modern Islam and the literary founding father of Pakistan, admired Rumi. In Iqbal’s ‘Javidnama’, the Book of Eternity, Maulana Rumi guides the Sialkoti Cambridge educated on mysticism on his cosmic journey. Bahaullah, the founder of the Bahai faith, borrows from Rumi. Even Emperor Aurangzeb, the symbol of austere Sunni orthodoxy, was moved to tears by Rumi’s couplets, as were Hegel, Goethe, Schimmel, Arberry and generations of Persian scholars and Sufi poets.
The genius of Rumi was that he was a spiritual alchemist, a symbol of the human spirit that transcends all barriers of race, sect and tribe. He is a planetary healer, a reminder that Islam was once a gentle, tolerant civilisation that united, not divided the world. He teaches us to love, to forgive, to fear not even death, to abandon the illusion of ego and embrace all the beauty and pain of human existence. Beyond dogma or theology, Rumi’s paeans of love swirl across time to heal my wounded soul.
Matein Khalid is a Dubai based investment banker
Iran: Qom Authorities Crack Down On Sufis
By Golnaz Esfandiari - Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Human rights activists have expressed concern over the arrest on 13 February of some 1,000 Sufi worshippers in the Iranian holy city of Qom. The arrests followed clashes between the police and members of a Sufi group over the closure of a house of worship used by the Sufi Muslims. Observers say the scale and violence of the crackdown on the Sufis is unprecedented in the Islamic Republic. Officials say the Sufis had illegally turned a residential building into a center of worship and had refused to evacuate it. They have also said that some of the dervishes were armed. But representatives of the dervishes deny the charges and say they are being targeted due to an increasing popularity of Sufism.
PRAGUE, 16 February 2006 (RFE/RL) -- In what human rights observers say is unprecedented, authorities in the city of Qom have arrested more than 1,000 followers of the mystical Sufi tradition of Islam.
The Iranian government had been showing signs of increasing antipathy towards Iran's Sufi community, but experts say the scale and violence of the clashes on 13 November is unheard of.
The deputy governor of Qom, Ahmad Hajizadeh, said 1,200 worshippers -- also known as dervishes -- were arrested as police sought to close a Sufi house of worship.
Hajizadeh said 100 people, including more than 30 police officers, were injured in the clashes.
"More than before, people are running away from a totalitarian interpretation of the religion."Qom officials say the Sufis had illegally turned a presidential building into a center of worship and had refused to leave it.
Some of the dervishes were armed, they add.
Representatives of the dervishes deny the charges and say they are being targeted due to the increasing popularity of Sufism.
Figures produced by sources close to the Sufi groups and human rights activists also differ from official accounts. They put the number of the arrests at 2,000 and say that 350 people were injured.
Following the clashes, the authorities demolished the house of worship as well as the homes of two leaders of the group.
Clash Between 'Dervishes And Fanatics' Entering A New Phase?
Sufism is based on the pursuit of mystical truth and Sufis believe that mystical practices involving dance, music, and the recitation of Allah's divine names can give them direct perception of God.
Although Sufi Muslims strictly observe Islamic practices and beliefs, some conservative Muslim clerics see it as a danger to Islam. Some even argue that Sufism is a deviation of Islam.
In Iran, there have been always some tensions between Sufism and more orthodox traditions of Islam.
However, observers say these tensions have worsened since the establishment of an Islamic republic, some 27 years ago, and state tolerance for Sufi groups has diminished.
Never before, though, has there been an attack as strong as seen this week, says Abdol-Karim Lahidji, vice president of the Paris-based International Federation of Human Rights.
"Unfortunately under the years of the rule of the Islamic government we have seen limitations on non-Muslims -- above all, Baha'is, Jews, and also Christians -- and on Sufi groups, and their meetings have been disrupted," says Lahidji, but "it is unprecedented in the modern history of Iran that a Sufi group should be treated" as it was in Qom.
Seyed Mostafa Azmayesh, a Paris-based scholar who specializes in Sufism, says that the Qom clashes mark "a new phase…between dervishes and fanatics -- a phase of violent encounter -- because until now only the leaders of [Sufi] groups were under pressure. Now, though, there is a confrontation with ordinary people who are facing pressure merely because they are dervishes."
Qom Not A New Target
The Qom worshippers belong to the Nematollahi Gonabadi order of Sufism, one of the largest Sufi groups in Iran and a strand of Sufism that Azmayesh represents outside Iran.
Azmayesh says that pressure on Sufis -- and "especially on the Nematollahi Gonabadi order" -- has increased "a lot" since the hard-liner Mahmud Ahamdinejad succeeded Hojatoleslam Mohammad Khatami as Iran's president in June 2005.
Sufism is based on the pursuit of mystical truth and Sufis believe that mystical practices involving dance, music, and the recitation of Allah's divine names can give them direct perception of God. Although Sufi Muslims strictly observe Islamic practices and beliefs, some conservative Muslim clerics see it as a danger to Islam. Some even argue that Sufism is a deviation of Islam.
"Now unfortunately, when the pressure groups and fanatics want to repress the Sufis, those who enforce the laws are not stopping them," says Azamayesh.
Several anti-Sufi books have been published in Iran over the past year and several clerics have also harshly condemned Sufism, Azamayesh says, noting that the recent clashes in Qom erupted after a speech by a cleric, who blasted Sufism and called for restrictions on the Sufi community.
Iran's hard-line daily "Kayhan" on 14 February quoted senior clerics in Qom as saying that Sufism should be eradicated in the city, while the Reuters news agency reported that in September one of Iran's hard-line clerics, Grand Ayatollah Hussein Nuri-Hamedani, called for a clampdown on Sufis in Qom.
Qom is considered to be one of the centers of Shi'a Islam.
The governor of Qom, Abbas Mohtaj, has reportedly accused the dervishes of having links to foreign countries.
However, Azmayesh believes that Sufis are being targeted because of their "more open interpretation of Islam" and also because Sufism is picking up more followers.
"More than before, people are running away from a totalitarian interpretation of the religion, they are having doubts, and they have lost faith in the work of those who consider themselves custodians of religion," he maintains. "By contrast, they feel very close to the Sufi teachings and its customs, which are based on love."
Azmayesh says there is currently an "inverse trend" in Iran. "As mosques empty," he says, "[Sufi houses of worship] are expanding and being filled."
Iranian officials have said that the arrested dervishes will be interrogated and those who were not among the "main elements and instigators" will gradually be released. Some have already been freed, many of them women.
Read More
Thursday, February 16, 2006
Human rights activists have expressed concern over the arrest on 13 February of some 1,000 Sufi worshippers in the Iranian holy city of Qom. The arrests followed clashes between the police and members of a Sufi group over the closure of a house of worship used by the Sufi Muslims. Observers say the scale and violence of the crackdown on the Sufis is unprecedented in the Islamic Republic. Officials say the Sufis had illegally turned a residential building into a center of worship and had refused to evacuate it. They have also said that some of the dervishes were armed. But representatives of the dervishes deny the charges and say they are being targeted due to an increasing popularity of Sufism.
PRAGUE, 16 February 2006 (RFE/RL) -- In what human rights observers say is unprecedented, authorities in the city of Qom have arrested more than 1,000 followers of the mystical Sufi tradition of Islam.
The Iranian government had been showing signs of increasing antipathy towards Iran's Sufi community, but experts say the scale and violence of the clashes on 13 November is unheard of.
The deputy governor of Qom, Ahmad Hajizadeh, said 1,200 worshippers -- also known as dervishes -- were arrested as police sought to close a Sufi house of worship.
Hajizadeh said 100 people, including more than 30 police officers, were injured in the clashes.
"More than before, people are running away from a totalitarian interpretation of the religion."Qom officials say the Sufis had illegally turned a presidential building into a center of worship and had refused to leave it.
Some of the dervishes were armed, they add.
Representatives of the dervishes deny the charges and say they are being targeted due to the increasing popularity of Sufism.
Figures produced by sources close to the Sufi groups and human rights activists also differ from official accounts. They put the number of the arrests at 2,000 and say that 350 people were injured.
Following the clashes, the authorities demolished the house of worship as well as the homes of two leaders of the group.
Clash Between 'Dervishes And Fanatics' Entering A New Phase?
Sufism is based on the pursuit of mystical truth and Sufis believe that mystical practices involving dance, music, and the recitation of Allah's divine names can give them direct perception of God.
Although Sufi Muslims strictly observe Islamic practices and beliefs, some conservative Muslim clerics see it as a danger to Islam. Some even argue that Sufism is a deviation of Islam.
In Iran, there have been always some tensions between Sufism and more orthodox traditions of Islam.
However, observers say these tensions have worsened since the establishment of an Islamic republic, some 27 years ago, and state tolerance for Sufi groups has diminished.
Never before, though, has there been an attack as strong as seen this week, says Abdol-Karim Lahidji, vice president of the Paris-based International Federation of Human Rights.
"Unfortunately under the years of the rule of the Islamic government we have seen limitations on non-Muslims -- above all, Baha'is, Jews, and also Christians -- and on Sufi groups, and their meetings have been disrupted," says Lahidji, but "it is unprecedented in the modern history of Iran that a Sufi group should be treated" as it was in Qom.
Seyed Mostafa Azmayesh, a Paris-based scholar who specializes in Sufism, says that the Qom clashes mark "a new phase…between dervishes and fanatics -- a phase of violent encounter -- because until now only the leaders of [Sufi] groups were under pressure. Now, though, there is a confrontation with ordinary people who are facing pressure merely because they are dervishes."
Qom Not A New Target
The Qom worshippers belong to the Nematollahi Gonabadi order of Sufism, one of the largest Sufi groups in Iran and a strand of Sufism that Azmayesh represents outside Iran.
Azmayesh says that pressure on Sufis -- and "especially on the Nematollahi Gonabadi order" -- has increased "a lot" since the hard-liner Mahmud Ahamdinejad succeeded Hojatoleslam Mohammad Khatami as Iran's president in June 2005.
Sufism is based on the pursuit of mystical truth and Sufis believe that mystical practices involving dance, music, and the recitation of Allah's divine names can give them direct perception of God. Although Sufi Muslims strictly observe Islamic practices and beliefs, some conservative Muslim clerics see it as a danger to Islam. Some even argue that Sufism is a deviation of Islam.
"Now unfortunately, when the pressure groups and fanatics want to repress the Sufis, those who enforce the laws are not stopping them," says Azamayesh.
Several anti-Sufi books have been published in Iran over the past year and several clerics have also harshly condemned Sufism, Azamayesh says, noting that the recent clashes in Qom erupted after a speech by a cleric, who blasted Sufism and called for restrictions on the Sufi community.
Iran's hard-line daily "Kayhan" on 14 February quoted senior clerics in Qom as saying that Sufism should be eradicated in the city, while the Reuters news agency reported that in September one of Iran's hard-line clerics, Grand Ayatollah Hussein Nuri-Hamedani, called for a clampdown on Sufis in Qom.
Qom is considered to be one of the centers of Shi'a Islam.
The governor of Qom, Abbas Mohtaj, has reportedly accused the dervishes of having links to foreign countries.
However, Azmayesh believes that Sufis are being targeted because of their "more open interpretation of Islam" and also because Sufism is picking up more followers.
"More than before, people are running away from a totalitarian interpretation of the religion, they are having doubts, and they have lost faith in the work of those who consider themselves custodians of religion," he maintains. "By contrast, they feel very close to the Sufi teachings and its customs, which are based on love."
Azmayesh says there is currently an "inverse trend" in Iran. "As mosques empty," he says, "[Sufi houses of worship] are expanding and being filled."
Iranian officials have said that the arrested dervishes will be interrogated and those who were not among the "main elements and instigators" will gradually be released. Some have already been freed, many of them women.
Soul food of the best kind
By Joel Pereira 2006-02-16 Source: Moneycontrol.com
There is so much sound and so much clutter in the music space. So if you want to listen to the grooviest and hippest tracks across genres, then here is what I recommend: reviewed this week is the latest from the late great, sufi singer Pankaj Awasthi.
Pankaj Awasthi is one of the new wave of Indian singers, like Himesh Reshamiya or Kunal Ganjawala, breaking away from nasal, saccharine strains of the previous male vocal favourites like Kumar Sanu or Sonu Nigam.
After feeling some of the success of 'Karam', Pankaj breaks away from the music directors and goes his own way with his solo album, simply titled 'Nine'. The album is an interesting mix of Pankaj's Sufi singing style and a distinctly acid-rock fusion backdrop. All tracks are eminently listenable, but the best are 'Duniya', 'The Last Beat' and the first single, 'Khuda Ka Wasta'.
So what's the verdict on Pankaj Awasthi? I would rate him 3.5 out of 5, and if you're going to buy an Indi pop album this week, this should be it.
Joel Pereira
Read More
There is so much sound and so much clutter in the music space. So if you want to listen to the grooviest and hippest tracks across genres, then here is what I recommend: reviewed this week is the latest from the late great, sufi singer Pankaj Awasthi.
Pankaj Awasthi is one of the new wave of Indian singers, like Himesh Reshamiya or Kunal Ganjawala, breaking away from nasal, saccharine strains of the previous male vocal favourites like Kumar Sanu or Sonu Nigam.
After feeling some of the success of 'Karam', Pankaj breaks away from the music directors and goes his own way with his solo album, simply titled 'Nine'. The album is an interesting mix of Pankaj's Sufi singing style and a distinctly acid-rock fusion backdrop. All tracks are eminently listenable, but the best are 'Duniya', 'The Last Beat' and the first single, 'Khuda Ka Wasta'.
So what's the verdict on Pankaj Awasthi? I would rate him 3.5 out of 5, and if you're going to buy an Indi pop album this week, this should be it.
Joel Pereira
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Sufi music festival
Source: THE HINDU Monday, Feb 13, 2006
Sufi music is not about entertainment; it is more about spirituality. Its powerful lyrics talk about reaching the divine by spreading love and harmony. With tension and turmoil all around today, the works of Sufi saints and mystics are more relevant than ever.
Ruhaniyat, the annual Sufi and Mystic Music Festival of Banyan Tree Events held in Mumbai and Hyderabad, is being organised in Chennai on February 18 (6.30 p.m.) at the Madras Race Club Lawns, Guindy. Each year the event strives to promote rare Indian performing arts by bringing together master-artistes and discerning listeners.
The Ruhaniyat festival will feature Zikr-e-Rifayi — Fakirs (Hyderabad), Sufi songs by Nanak and Manak Brothers (Punjab), Drums of Kerala - Ensemble of mystic drums, Baul songs by Parvathy Baul and Madan Vairagya (Bengal), Sufi Kalam and Mystic compositions by Kachra Khan, Padmaram, Mamma and Rana Khan and others (Rajasthan) and Qawwals Sarfaraz Chisti (Muradabad). Donor cards for Rs. 250 are available at Landmark (Spencer Plaza), Odyssey (Adyar and Anna Nagar). For details call 98210 25891 or 022-30972584.
Read More
Sufi music is not about entertainment; it is more about spirituality. Its powerful lyrics talk about reaching the divine by spreading love and harmony. With tension and turmoil all around today, the works of Sufi saints and mystics are more relevant than ever.
Ruhaniyat, the annual Sufi and Mystic Music Festival of Banyan Tree Events held in Mumbai and Hyderabad, is being organised in Chennai on February 18 (6.30 p.m.) at the Madras Race Club Lawns, Guindy. Each year the event strives to promote rare Indian performing arts by bringing together master-artistes and discerning listeners.
The Ruhaniyat festival will feature Zikr-e-Rifayi — Fakirs (Hyderabad), Sufi songs by Nanak and Manak Brothers (Punjab), Drums of Kerala - Ensemble of mystic drums, Baul songs by Parvathy Baul and Madan Vairagya (Bengal), Sufi Kalam and Mystic compositions by Kachra Khan, Padmaram, Mamma and Rana Khan and others (Rajasthan) and Qawwals Sarfaraz Chisti (Muradabad). Donor cards for Rs. 250 are available at Landmark (Spencer Plaza), Odyssey (Adyar and Anna Nagar). For details call 98210 25891 or 022-30972584.
Sufis, Iranian Police Clash in Holy City: Report
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politics
LONDON, February 14 (IranMania) - Clashes broke out Monday between members of the Sufi sect and Iranian police in the Shiite Muslim holy city of Qom, the semi-official Fars news agency and websites reported.
Fars said some 50 Sufis demonstrated against the closure of their place of worship in Qom. "There was some violence," it said, without elaborating.
The website Baztab, which is close to the conservative camp in Iran, said the security forces used tear gas to break up the protest after local authorities decided to close the Sufi centre.
The protesters hurled stones from the rooftop, said Baztab, which published a photograph of hundreds of people gathered in a Qom street as plumes of smoke rose into the air.
Sufism is a mystical sect of Islam that is regarded with suspicion by many Shiite and Sunni Muslims.
Read More
Fars said some 50 Sufis demonstrated against the closure of their place of worship in Qom. "There was some violence," it said, without elaborating.
The website Baztab, which is close to the conservative camp in Iran, said the security forces used tear gas to break up the protest after local authorities decided to close the Sufi centre.
The protesters hurled stones from the rooftop, said Baztab, which published a photograph of hundreds of people gathered in a Qom street as plumes of smoke rose into the air.
Sufism is a mystical sect of Islam that is regarded with suspicion by many Shiite and Sunni Muslims.
Muharram Teaches Us Values Like Sacrifice, Patience: Soomro
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spiritual ecology
Source: International News Network/Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: Senate Chairman Mohammedmian Soomro has said that holy month of Muharram reminds us of the greatest Islamic human values like sacrifice, patience and determination.
He stated this while talking to the 12 member delegation of Markazi Imam Hussain Council (MIHC) led by its Chairman Dr. Ghazanfer Mehdi which called on him here on Tuesday.
He told the delegation that Sufis were a source of moral enlightenment and that the philosophy of Sufism aimed at inculcating the spirit of tolerance, peace and love among the people. He said that these basic values were ordained by Islam.
The Chairman MIHC informed the Chairman senate that the council has been endeavoring for the unity Ummah since its inception 27 year ago.
It was also suggested in the meeting that an advisory board having representatives of the ministries of education, religious affairs, culture and the four provincial Auqafs be constituted and the board be entrusted the task of preparing a viable plan to curb the menace of sectarianism and terrorism from society.
Read More
ISLAMABAD: Senate Chairman Mohammedmian Soomro has said that holy month of Muharram reminds us of the greatest Islamic human values like sacrifice, patience and determination.
He stated this while talking to the 12 member delegation of Markazi Imam Hussain Council (MIHC) led by its Chairman Dr. Ghazanfer Mehdi which called on him here on Tuesday.
He told the delegation that Sufis were a source of moral enlightenment and that the philosophy of Sufism aimed at inculcating the spirit of tolerance, peace and love among the people. He said that these basic values were ordained by Islam.
The Chairman MIHC informed the Chairman senate that the council has been endeavoring for the unity Ummah since its inception 27 year ago.
It was also suggested in the meeting that an advisory board having representatives of the ministries of education, religious affairs, culture and the four provincial Auqafs be constituted and the board be entrusted the task of preparing a viable plan to curb the menace of sectarianism and terrorism from society.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
New book on Noor Inayat Khan - British agent who defied Germans
By Prasun Sonwalkar, Indo-Asian News Service
London, Feb 13 (IANS) The life and times of Noor Inayat Khan - a descendant of Tipu Sultan and the only Asian secret agent to work for the Allied forces during World War II - have been captured in a fascinating new book to be launched March 1.
The book, titled 'Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan' (Sutton), is authored by journalist Shrabani Basu, the London-based correspondent for the Ananda Bazar Patrika Group.
Based on extensive research and interviews with Noor's relatives, descendants and friends, the book presents a graphic account of her life till Sep 13, 1944, when she was shot dead by German forces at Dachau. She was 30.
Born in Moscow, Noor was raised in the Sufi style of Islam and joined Britain's Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the war. She was one of three women in the SOE to be awarded the George Cross and was also honoured with the Croix de Guerre.
Noor was brought up in France and Britain and joined the Red Cross when World War II broke out. The author writes that '...she felt she had to do more to oppose the horrors of fascism'.
In Britain, Noor trained as a wireless operator before being recruited by the SOE. Such was the urgent demand for radio operators that she was sent to France before her training was completed.
Working under the codename Madeleine, she joined a group that sabotaged communication lines.
But, Basu writes, disaster struck soon and within days her network collapsed as her colleagues were arrested. Noor was instructed by her controller, the famous Maurice Buckmaster, to return home, but she refused to abandon her post as she was the last radio operator left in Paris.
Basu writes: 'For a time she successfully dodged the Gestapo but by late 1943 her luck had run out. She was betrayed, arrested and imprisoned at Avenue Foch. Undaunted, she made two dramatic escape attempts, but was recaptured and sent to Germany. Here she was interrogated and tortured and finally sent to Dachau where she was shot.
'The Germans had learnt nothing from her - not even her real name.'
Read More
London, Feb 13 (IANS) The life and times of Noor Inayat Khan - a descendant of Tipu Sultan and the only Asian secret agent to work for the Allied forces during World War II - have been captured in a fascinating new book to be launched March 1.
The book, titled 'Spy Princess: The Life of Noor Inayat Khan' (Sutton), is authored by journalist Shrabani Basu, the London-based correspondent for the Ananda Bazar Patrika Group.
Based on extensive research and interviews with Noor's relatives, descendants and friends, the book presents a graphic account of her life till Sep 13, 1944, when she was shot dead by German forces at Dachau. She was 30.
Born in Moscow, Noor was raised in the Sufi style of Islam and joined Britain's Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the war. She was one of three women in the SOE to be awarded the George Cross and was also honoured with the Croix de Guerre.
Noor was brought up in France and Britain and joined the Red Cross when World War II broke out. The author writes that '...she felt she had to do more to oppose the horrors of fascism'.
In Britain, Noor trained as a wireless operator before being recruited by the SOE. Such was the urgent demand for radio operators that she was sent to France before her training was completed.
Working under the codename Madeleine, she joined a group that sabotaged communication lines.
But, Basu writes, disaster struck soon and within days her network collapsed as her colleagues were arrested. Noor was instructed by her controller, the famous Maurice Buckmaster, to return home, but she refused to abandon her post as she was the last radio operator left in Paris.
Basu writes: 'For a time she successfully dodged the Gestapo but by late 1943 her luck had run out. She was betrayed, arrested and imprisoned at Avenue Foch. Undaunted, she made two dramatic escape attempts, but was recaptured and sent to Germany. Here she was interrogated and tortured and finally sent to Dachau where she was shot.
'The Germans had learnt nothing from her - not even her real name.'
The Sufi Electronica of Niyaz: Music to Smash Idols
In the Sufi-inspired music of Niyaz, the serenity of Islamic mysticism exists even if the words were to disappear and only the voice were to remain.
By Ali Eteraz, February 12, 2006 at alt.Muslim
The greatest injustice that the minions of extremism and violence have done against Islam are the murders in the name of God. Very closely behind that travesty, follows the collective defecation that the bearded flame-throwers have taken upon the history of Islamic culture. The puritanical impulse that began three centuries ago, rooted in an effort to give Islam back to the bedouin, has gone too far. It has infused its desert desolation into the very heart of the flora and fauna of Islamic art, music and dance; it has castrated the singers; sucked dry the vegetative roots from the dados of our arabesques. Rumi's dervish dance is no more the fount of passion and insight; it is a silly puppet show we put on for liberal Western audiences. Things are so bleak that just to juxtapose "Islam" with "art," with "music," with "dance" seems anathema. No longer can we Muslims take the transcendence of the poets and musicians at face value; no, first we must employ syllogism and then argumentation to prove that these things are "permissible." Even then, even if we somehow gain approval, we must be like Damocles, dancing under the sword of our austere brethren. The dervish dance? Denied. The graceful fall of a ghazal's final verse? Denied. The shimmering colors and tropes of painting? Denied. Nothing remains, my friends, but Ghalib lamenting in the night: Yeh na thi hamari qismet keh wisaal e yaar hota (it was never in my fate to meet my beloved). With no more the palpitation that beauty leaves in our heart, God no longer beats in our arteries, nor wakes up from Her slumber. Is it any surprise that Muslims are now the new representatives of nihilism? In the midst of all this: I am pleased to say that the music of Niyaz, fronted by Azam Ali, brings back to one's heart the sweet serenades of Muslim past and the life-affirmation we have been arguing for, but not knowing how to describe.
Azam Ali is a Persian-Indian-American vocalist steeped in Sufi music. Formerly with the new-age band Vas, she has also sang for The Matrix movies. In her latest work, she has hooked up with producer/remixers Carmen Rizzo. But once you own the Niyaz album you won't care very much about the qualifications of the people or the personalities involved. The singular incredible feat of this album is that it has eliminated everything but one's link to his own individual spirit. In that it is unlike anything available on the radio, and right in line with the traditions of Middle Eastern and South Asian folk music. Niyaz carries the simplicity of Bulleh Shah and the complexity of the soul looking inward and leaves a listener, on desolate work days trapped amidst skyscraping spikes, almost on the verge of absolute redemption. Wordworth once said that if you wanted to know God all you had to do was put your ear to the grass and listen. I must admit that upon my first listening of this album I had my ear against the speaker.
That effect is as much a consequence of Azam Ali's hauntingly melancholy voice, as it is of the verses she is singing. Note: you have to know Persian or Urdu to appreciate the meaning of the songs. But if you do not speak these languages, the beat and the ambience of her tone, will put you in the right mood. That precisely is where this album succeeds and where so many other "Sufi" singers (like Junoon and Rabbi Shergill) have failed. In Niyaz, the serenity of Islamic mysticism exists even if the words were to disappear and only the voice were to remain.
As to the songs, they are not original to Niyaz or Azam Ali. Instead, they are a number of Persian and Urdu ghazals. It includes poems by Rumi, local folk songs from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran, as well as a ridiculously beautiful mixture-song, consisting of the poetry of Anees, Mehar and Amjad Hyderabadi. At the risk of exoticizing the album (if I haven't done it already), I must reveal that my favorite song is called "The Hunt" - a folk song from Khorasan told from the perspective of a hunter in which he describes that everything he sees, from the mountains to the animals, remind him of his beloved. Seeing his beloved in all things he cannot bring himself to kill a single creature. What a stark contrast to the monsters that come from Khurasan today. We have gone from hunting for love to hunting for enmity. The pang one feels for having such thoughts is really what made this album so moving for me. When Ali sings "the world is like an impermanent resting place/Where in all things just simply come and go" I could not listen to the verses as a message of peaceful spiritual humility; rather, all I could think was: these are now things that our suicide bombers must say to themselves. The loss of our history comes full circle and hits you with the force of a broken verse. In everything we no more see "the face of God" but the face of the "Great Satan."
In that sense, Niyaz's album is either too late (so that it cannot join the past glory of our culture), or it has come too soon (and lives in a state of cautious hope). For that reason it might (and has) fallen on largely deaf ears. The detonations of New York and London and Bali still ring in our ears so that beauty falls to the wayside. The smoke of the humans, yes, real humans, that we burn simply because they are Shia, or because they are alleged apostates, stuffs our nose and we cannot smell the little petals of jasmine that Niyaz is casting. Oh, it must sound as if Niyaz is God's gift to music. It isn't. But in the face of the culture of depression and anger that we call home, that we call Islam, the contrast that is its innocence, makes it seem that much more urgent. With the idols of cruelty and Usama having set themselves resolutely in the Houses of God, this album, with its unceasing affirmation of God, is more than just a harking back to the history of the mystic; this is music meant to smash idols.
Ali Eteraz is an essayist and novelist. He maintains the popular blog "Unwilling Self-Negation" at eteraz.wordpress.com.
Read More
By Ali Eteraz, February 12, 2006 at alt.Muslim
The greatest injustice that the minions of extremism and violence have done against Islam are the murders in the name of God. Very closely behind that travesty, follows the collective defecation that the bearded flame-throwers have taken upon the history of Islamic culture. The puritanical impulse that began three centuries ago, rooted in an effort to give Islam back to the bedouin, has gone too far. It has infused its desert desolation into the very heart of the flora and fauna of Islamic art, music and dance; it has castrated the singers; sucked dry the vegetative roots from the dados of our arabesques. Rumi's dervish dance is no more the fount of passion and insight; it is a silly puppet show we put on for liberal Western audiences. Things are so bleak that just to juxtapose "Islam" with "art," with "music," with "dance" seems anathema. No longer can we Muslims take the transcendence of the poets and musicians at face value; no, first we must employ syllogism and then argumentation to prove that these things are "permissible." Even then, even if we somehow gain approval, we must be like Damocles, dancing under the sword of our austere brethren. The dervish dance? Denied. The graceful fall of a ghazal's final verse? Denied. The shimmering colors and tropes of painting? Denied. Nothing remains, my friends, but Ghalib lamenting in the night: Yeh na thi hamari qismet keh wisaal e yaar hota (it was never in my fate to meet my beloved). With no more the palpitation that beauty leaves in our heart, God no longer beats in our arteries, nor wakes up from Her slumber. Is it any surprise that Muslims are now the new representatives of nihilism? In the midst of all this: I am pleased to say that the music of Niyaz, fronted by Azam Ali, brings back to one's heart the sweet serenades of Muslim past and the life-affirmation we have been arguing for, but not knowing how to describe.
Azam Ali is a Persian-Indian-American vocalist steeped in Sufi music. Formerly with the new-age band Vas, she has also sang for The Matrix movies. In her latest work, she has hooked up with producer/remixers Carmen Rizzo. But once you own the Niyaz album you won't care very much about the qualifications of the people or the personalities involved. The singular incredible feat of this album is that it has eliminated everything but one's link to his own individual spirit. In that it is unlike anything available on the radio, and right in line with the traditions of Middle Eastern and South Asian folk music. Niyaz carries the simplicity of Bulleh Shah and the complexity of the soul looking inward and leaves a listener, on desolate work days trapped amidst skyscraping spikes, almost on the verge of absolute redemption. Wordworth once said that if you wanted to know God all you had to do was put your ear to the grass and listen. I must admit that upon my first listening of this album I had my ear against the speaker.
That effect is as much a consequence of Azam Ali's hauntingly melancholy voice, as it is of the verses she is singing. Note: you have to know Persian or Urdu to appreciate the meaning of the songs. But if you do not speak these languages, the beat and the ambience of her tone, will put you in the right mood. That precisely is where this album succeeds and where so many other "Sufi" singers (like Junoon and Rabbi Shergill) have failed. In Niyaz, the serenity of Islamic mysticism exists even if the words were to disappear and only the voice were to remain.
As to the songs, they are not original to Niyaz or Azam Ali. Instead, they are a number of Persian and Urdu ghazals. It includes poems by Rumi, local folk songs from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran, as well as a ridiculously beautiful mixture-song, consisting of the poetry of Anees, Mehar and Amjad Hyderabadi. At the risk of exoticizing the album (if I haven't done it already), I must reveal that my favorite song is called "The Hunt" - a folk song from Khorasan told from the perspective of a hunter in which he describes that everything he sees, from the mountains to the animals, remind him of his beloved. Seeing his beloved in all things he cannot bring himself to kill a single creature. What a stark contrast to the monsters that come from Khurasan today. We have gone from hunting for love to hunting for enmity. The pang one feels for having such thoughts is really what made this album so moving for me. When Ali sings "the world is like an impermanent resting place/Where in all things just simply come and go" I could not listen to the verses as a message of peaceful spiritual humility; rather, all I could think was: these are now things that our suicide bombers must say to themselves. The loss of our history comes full circle and hits you with the force of a broken verse. In everything we no more see "the face of God" but the face of the "Great Satan."
In that sense, Niyaz's album is either too late (so that it cannot join the past glory of our culture), or it has come too soon (and lives in a state of cautious hope). For that reason it might (and has) fallen on largely deaf ears. The detonations of New York and London and Bali still ring in our ears so that beauty falls to the wayside. The smoke of the humans, yes, real humans, that we burn simply because they are Shia, or because they are alleged apostates, stuffs our nose and we cannot smell the little petals of jasmine that Niyaz is casting. Oh, it must sound as if Niyaz is God's gift to music. It isn't. But in the face of the culture of depression and anger that we call home, that we call Islam, the contrast that is its innocence, makes it seem that much more urgent. With the idols of cruelty and Usama having set themselves resolutely in the Houses of God, this album, with its unceasing affirmation of God, is more than just a harking back to the history of the mystic; this is music meant to smash idols.
Ali Eteraz is an essayist and novelist. He maintains the popular blog "Unwilling Self-Negation" at eteraz.wordpress.com.
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