Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Contact With God

By Stefan Franzen, *Interview with the Pakistani Sufi Singer Faiz Ali Faiz "This Music Placates People"* - Qantara.de - Bonn, Germany
Wednesday, August 25, 2010

He is regarded as a successor to the great Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: Faiz Ali Faiz from Sharaqpur in Pakistan comes from a long line of qawwali musicians. He is the seventh generation of his family to practice the song form that aims to establish contact with God through ecstatic rapture. Stefan Franzen interviewed him

Faiz Ali Faiz, the music of the Sufi is practised across the entire Islamic world, from Senegal to Indonesia. How would you explain the special features of Pakistani Sufi music, qawwali, to a European?

Faiz Ali Faiz: Qawwali arose 700 years ago, when Muslim scholars and holy men came to the subcontinent. The music is performed by a vocal ensemble, accompanied by two harmoniums, rhythm instruments and in addition, we clap the rhythms while we sing. The texts exalt Sufi holy men and the Prophet.

The character of the music always depends considerably on the attitude and the emotions of the audience, as qawwali has both sacred and secular traits. It began life in the temples, but today it is also played in concert halls. But regardless of whether it is secular or divine, the message of qawwali is always love.

Sufis try to attain a state of ecstasy through music, a state of oneness with the highest power. How do they do this?

Faiz: During the song we use a constant rhythmic clapping and percussion instruments, we thereby create a cyclical structure and incessantly repeat sacred words and several verses from Sufi poetry. These sacred words are aimed directly at the listeners, who are invited to go into a trance together with us, the musicians.

The verses often express a yearning for a lover and the frustration at being separated from this person. How did this unusual tension between earthly and divine love come about?

Faiz: Sometimes the Sufis turn very directly to God, but sometimes they also employ a transliteration. In the end it is always Allah who is being addressed, either by name or between the lines. That also depends on the audience sitting in front of us: Although they may understand the music as addressing a beloved person, the original Sufi poetry texts are always directed at Allah.

The regions where qawwali is sung today are among the most dangerous in the world, places where fundamentalist tendencies are very strong. Can qawwali help to convey a peaceful image of Islam?

Faiz: Qawwali is absolutely the best way of propagating a peaceful coexistence between people, if it is given the space and opportunity to find complete expression in the midst of all these conflicts.

This music has the power to placate people.

When we make music or recite poetry, it goes straight to the heart of the people. Qawwali does not disseminate any sense of offence or threat at all.

You are often described as a successor to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the great qawwali singer who died in 1997. Do you feel honoured by this title or is your form of qawwali distinct from his, do you follow another method?

Faiz: When I started up my own qawwali group, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was without doubt our biggest influence. I was also tutored by a master who was a contemporary of his father.

How did your current project with the French musician Titi Robin come about?

Faiz: My record company Accords Croisés introduced me to Robin. We met in France, I listened to his music and immediately noticed its highly oriental flavour. I thought there was great potential there for a good co-project.

We put our commonalities to the test in a half-hour session, I recited a few verses and he played an accompaniment. Then we took it to the stage with my qawwali group and the audience loved us. That encouraged us to turn it into a large-scale project.

Have you altered traditional ways of playing in your cooperation with Robin?

Faiz: Titi Robin wrote the music and as it turned out, I didn't have to change much in my traditional style to integrate myself into the pieces. There are a few passages in the compositions in which I have tried to integrate slight changes, modifications. They are semi-classical passages that always remain in qawwali style.

Five years ago you were involved in another transcultural programme, the qawwali flamenco project, and you've also sung with American gospel musicians. Is qawwali a music that harmonises well with other cultures?

Faiz: The spiritual musicians who devised qawwali 700 years ago established a style that is very receptive and accessible to other genres. We can integrate semi-classical music from northern India, the Tumri, sing Sufi poetry known as Kafi, and also love poetry known as Ghazal into qawwali. That's why qawwali is, more than other styles from the subcontinent, well suited to play a major role in a world music context.

And as my experience working together with international musicians has shown, language becomes secondary to the creative process. I don't speak the same language as the flamenco musicians, and I also don't speak the same language as Thierry Robin.

But through music we get along just fine.

Picture: "Unusual tension between earthly and divine love": Faiz Ali Faiz and company at Millennium Park, Chicago, USA.

Monday, August 30, 2010

“Desire Machines”

By Muhammad Anis, *Sufism and rise of spirituality* - The Jakarta Post - Jakarta, Indonesia
Tuesday, August 24, 2010

The term urban sufism became popular after Julia Day Howell (2003) used it in an anthropological study of the spiritual movement, which blossomed in urban areas in Indonesia, especially the zikir (religious chant) groups and the like.

Indeed, spiritualism never dies. Not only because it is inherited from one generation to another in a community that still holds this tradition, but also because it appears in the center of culture that is actually heading fast in a completely different direction. It unexpectedly pops up here and there, amid urban modern materialism.

Prosperity, technological advances, the ease in organizing everyday life and increasing competition have created pressure that is sometimes intolerable.

Instant and fast-paced lifestyles, including consumption of food that is unhealthy, lacking time to maintain togetherness with family and friends and ecological damage are precisely the results of modern people who are alienated from themselves.

It was described nicely by Albert Camus, who called it a phenomenon of absurdity in the portrait of modern society, where people feel alienated in this nature. It is mentioned in the legend of Sisyphus, who was punished by gods to push a stone up a mountain, but each time it almost reached the top, the rock rolled down again.

As a result, Sisyphus was only involved in a lifetime of work in vain. Sisyphus’ punishment is a metaphor for modern life, where people spend their time in a futile cycle of activity, which herds them into self-imbalance.

As a result, some of them choose a shortcut to get out of that pressure through deviant ways, such as by consuming drugs and liquor. They can also commit suicide.

However, not rarely, some choose the path of spirituality, including establishing or joining a new spiritual community and religion. This is termed by John Naisbitt as a symptom of high-tech high-touch.

According to him, the rise of spirituality is an inevitable symptom in a community that has experienced the process of modernization as a reaction to an increasingly secular life.

Komaruddin Hidayat explains that there are at least four viewpoints as to why sufism grows in big cities. First, sufism is demanded by the urban community as a means to find the meaning of life. Second, sufism becomes a means of intellectual struggle and enlightenment. Third, sufism can also be a means of psychological therapy. Fourth, sufism follows the trends and development of religious discourse.

Of course, this phenomenon of urban spirituality is exciting. But, on the other hand it can be of concern as well. Sufism and spirituality are considered mere escapism.

Therefore, it is not surprising that the corrupt official is also active in spiritual activities, even capable of sobbing. This is actually dangerous, because they assume that by acting like this their sins can be cleaned, so they continue being corrupt.

Once again, their goal in participating in spiritual activities is not to improve, but rather merely to reassure themselves.

Another concern relates to the existence of these spiritual classes in the metropolis community that is strongly influenced by post-modernity. This is because post-modernism is often regarded as a culture that contains paradoxes and self-contradictions, which can lead to the paradox of spirituality itself.

On the one hand, the spirituality discourse can be the goalkeeper for “the sanctity of soul” in a community full of turmoil of boundless passion disposal.

But, on the other hand, spirituality can also be of concern as people can be trapped in the mechanism of “desire machines” of post-modern society as it is not impossible that the proliferation of this spiritual community is not more than a mere commercialization and capitalization of spirituality.

Still, all this certainly needs further study.

The writer is a doctoral candidate in Islamic Political Thought, Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, Jakarta.

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Pervasive And Universal

By IBNA Editor, *Battling against hypocrisy and pretense was Hafez ideal* - Iran Book News Agency - Tehran, Iran
Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Hafez, from the viewpoint of Lewisohn:

Iranian mysticism and Sufism expert, Leonard Lewisohn recognizes Hafiz as a poet who has battled hypocrisy and pretense.

According to his belief, none of the poets of the past and today in Persian or European countries have been able to reflect Hafez poetries' features as professional as him.

Leonard Lewisohn said: "None of the poets has fought against hypocrisy and pretense as Hafiz did. These features are what in fact make the political and social dimensions of Hafiz personality".

He considered Hafiz as the poet who was affected by all the previous poets, and explained: "It is impossible to find even a line of Hafiz poetry which does not remind us, the precious point views of Khaghani, Attar, Sanae’i, and neither Rumi, nor it does reflect an image of Khajooy-e- Kermani and Salman Savoji in it."

Calling Hafiz as a pervasive and universal poet, Lewisohn specified: "In Persian literature we have the tradition of similar writing, scholarism and replying, all of which are employed in his lyrics in a best way."

He continued: "After him, there were a lot of poets who tried to answer Hafiz lyrics, but none of the great poets, like Sa’eb Tabrizi or Bidel Dehlavi, could reflect the rhymes and imaginative pictures of Hafiz in their poems, as professional as Hafiz could."

The Sufism expert reminded: "Among the modern vanguard poets no poet was able to compete with Hafiz. Even in other Persian language countries like Afghanistan and Tadzhikistan.

Referring to the theosophic aspect of Hafiz poems, he specified: "The theosophic aspect of Hafiz lyrics are admirable. In fact, the gnostic concepts of Quran, Bible, and Sufis’ texts and epistles are deeply and stylistically, expressed in his poems."

In relation to Hafiz position among Europeans, Lewisohn stated: "In the 19th century, Hafiz obtained a special place in Germany, when Goethe translated Hafiz Divan in 1813. The German scholar has composed his West-Eastern Divan in adulation of Hafiz; and dedicated to him Goethe calls himself “Hafiz's apprentice”."

He then talked about Ralph Waldo Emerson, the American philosopher, lecturer and essayist, as the one who has introduced Hafiz in America, through translating more than 400 lines of Hafiz verses and explained: "Emerson was really fond of Saa'di and resembled his words with those of the Bible and other holy texts. He is the father of American literature, and one of the most famous essayists who has written several essays in admiration of Hafiz, in which he pointed out to Hafiz school freedom."

The Sufi literature expert pointed out to the book “Hafiz; the master of Persian poem”, written by Parvin LowLowei, and said: "This book was published about 5 years ago. It introduced all the translators of Hafiz verses since 250 years ago up to now. For example there are 35 translators, who have rendered Hafiz Divan first lyric. This figures show the high special position of Hafiz in the west and western literature."

He added:"Despite such a background, Hafizology is not as popular in the west as it deserves, because his language is too difficult to be understood easily, and is full of complicated allegories and allusions."

The Persian literature expert talked about publishing the first volume “Mollana Roomi” journal and continued: "2 months ago, the magazine's debut was celebrated in the presence of representatives from Afghanistan, Tadzhikistan, Turkey and the Cultural Adviser of Iran."

Lewisohn finally added: "This is the first time that an English journal is published on an Iranian poet. Of’ course, efforts have been made for the journal, to be both completely academic and attractive, in order to encourage the young readers to read it."

Saturday, August 28, 2010

The Virtues Of Poverty

By WB News Desk, *Missing works of Turkish sufi Haci Bektas Veli found in British museum* - World Bulletin - Istanbul, Turkey
Monday, August 23, 2010

Haci Bektasi Veli's Fatiha Commentary, which was one of his missing works, was found in the British Museum Library.

In addition to this valuable commentary, there was another work of Haci Bektasi Veli named Forty Hadith Commentary missing as well.

Assistant Professor Nurgul Ozcan prepared the book for publication.

The book Forty Hadith Commentary is an excellent door to develop an understanding of Haci Bektasi Veli's Sufi world. Throughout history writing a translation or commentary on "forty hadith" has continued on as an important tradition of Turkish scholars and poets.

Important names like Ali Sir Nevâî, Fuzûlî, Nev'î, Nabi, Âsik Celebi, Sadreddin Konevi, and İbrahim Hakki Bursevi have written highly valuable works on this subject. Among these valuable works in Turkish literature is Haci Bektasi Veli's Forty Hadith Commentary.

Prepared for publication for the first time by Nurgul Ozcan, the book was released by Fatih University Publication.

The story behind the book's publication sounds a lot like a detective novel, Cihan news agency said. The story dates back to the years when Assistant Professor Huseyin Ozcan, who is a lecturer at Fatih University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, was still a student in college.

During the course of his college education, Ozcan began researching the Fatiha Commentary with the encouragement of his professor Abdurrahman Guzel. He went to England in 2008 and searched for this book in every library he visited. While reviewing the manuscripts in the British Museum Library he came across a copy of the commentary and another work named Makalat.

In addition to the Fatiha commentary, Ozcan found another missing work of Haci Bektasi Veli named Firty Hadith Commentary. In the first section of the book, Nurgul Ozcan provides information on the life and works of Haci Bektasi Veli.

Noting that the works of Haci Bektasi Veli need to be studied in order to understand him Ozcan said "The works of Haci Bektasi Veli which consists of Sufistic conversations between the mürsit (mentor) and his disciples (murid), which there are broad examples of in the Sufi tradition, are the main sources that directly reflect his ideas."

Ozcan explains that scholars and poets write commentaries on forty hadith for the purposes of obtaining the Prophet's intercession, to find peace in the world, to be remembered with blessings, to find salvation in the hear after, to go to heaven, and to be free of troubles.

According to Ozcan, Turks have shown the most interest in translations on forty hadith.

The second part of the book is on the forty hadith tradition in Turkish literature and works that have been written in this area. There is also a review of hadith included in other works written by Haci Bektasi Veli.

Haci Bektasi Veli's commentary on forty hadith was written approximately in the 14th century. The commentary, which consists of 19 pages and is written in naskh calligraphy with vowel markings, includes forty hadith that explains the concept of poverty as a dervish.

The main topics of Haci Bektasi Veli's Forty Hadith is the importance of the concept of poverty, the virtues of poverty, the rewards of helping those who are poor and the punishments for those who despise the poor.

At the end of the book, there is an original and Turkish translation of the Forty Hadith.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Certo A Lui Torniamo

[From the Italian language press]:

L'addio a Gabriele Mandel, intellettuale sufi e artista. La preghiera nella moschea di via Padova. Esperto d'arte islamica, celebri le sue incisioni e ceramiche. Era nato a Bologna nel 1924.

Redazione Online, *L'addio a Gabriele Mandel, intellettuale sufi e artista* - Corriere della Sera - Milano, Italy - venerdì 2 luglio 2010
-- Marina Montanaro, Thursday, August 26, 2010

Farewell to Gabriele Mandel, Sufi intellectual and artist. The prayer in the mosque in Via Padova. Expert in Islamic art, celebrated his engravings and ceramics. He was born in Bologna in 1924.

Milan: The Sufi intellectual Gabriele Mandel died on July 1st in Milan after a long illness.

He was the head of the Italian branch of the Jerrahi-Halveti Brotherhood, one of the most widespread in Turkey. A Farewell Prayer was held by his dervishes in the Sufi Mosque of via Padova, in Milan, on Friday afternoon.

A multifaceted intellectual, university lecturer, writer, painter, psychologist, archaeologist and violinist, Professor Gabriele Mandel was born of Turkish-Afghan descent in Bologna, Italy.

Commander of the Republic for his merits in the field of culture and art, he was awarded the "Plaque of Gold" and "Golden Ambrogino" by the City of Milan. As a painter, engraver and ceramist Shaykh Gabriele Mandel has exhibited in numerous museums and public institutions worldwide.

He published nearly two hundred books about psychology, art and world religions, many of which about Sufism, setting a standard for the vocabulary of Sufism in the Italian language.

Shaykh Gabriele Mandel also edited the complete Mathnawi (in six volumes, ed. Bompiani) translated by his wife, Nûr Carla Cerati Mandel, and translated the Qur'an into Italian. His Qur'an [Il Corano, ed. UTET, 2006] is an outstanding translation (with extensive commentary) and the only edition of the Qur'an in Italian with the Arabic parallel text. It is available both as an illustrated edition and as a paperback.

The Qur'an translation is dedicated to the memory of Gabriele Mandel's own Shaykh, Si Hamza Boubakeur (d. 1995), Dean of the Islamic University and Imam of the Grande Mosquée (Great Mosque) of Paris, France.

A fatherly figure for all Italian sufis, Shaykh Gabriele Mandel was a great pacemaker with a strong and gentle presence in the media, and has been the guide of a very popular italian musician, singer and songwriter, Franco Battiato.

The funeral was privately held on Friday morning and his body rests in Milan, in the cemetery of Bruzzano.

***

The Editors of Sufi News and Sufism World Report offer their condolences and express their heartfelt sympathy to the family and to the dervishes of Prof. Dr. Shaykh Gabriele Mandel Khan.

إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ

Certo, siamo di Dio e, certo, a Lui torniamo. [Surely we belong to God and to Him we shall surely return.]
Qur'an 2:156.

***

Il Corano, Introduzione di Khaled Fouad Allam, traduzione e apparati critici di Gabriele Mandel. Testo a fronte. Edizioni UTET.

Mathnawi. Il poema del misticismo universale. Edizioni Bompiani.

Picture: Shaykh Prof. Dr. Gabriele Mandel. Photo: Olycom.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

In Our Daily Lives

By Candra Malik, *Sufism Whirls Into Hearts of Indonesian Muslims* - Jakarta Globe - Jakarta, Indonesia
Sunday, August 22, 2010

Muhammad Revaldi, a professional photographer, was in his 20s when he realized that his spiritual needs were not being fulfilled by the regular sermons delivered by the clerics at his mosque.

“[Mosque preachers] are quick to point fingers at injustice and wrongdoings by people of different faiths,” said Revaldi, now 33. “I frequently heard them call people of different faiths apostates or infidels, [and] that we, the Muslims, must bring them back to the Islamic way of life by any means,” he said.

This kind of preaching by narrow-minded religious leaders, Revaldi said, is why violence carried out in the name of Islam is widespread.

Troubled and searching for peace of mind, he went from mosque to mosque, mostly in Jakarta and neighboring cities, listening to different imams and preachers to see if any of them could answer his questions regarding faith. “I also engaged in discussions with Islamic teachers and friends about my restlessness in living the Islamic way,” he said. At one point he decided to stop looking and just practice his religion as he was always told, following its dos and don’ts.

But in 1999, a chance invitation to meet a visiting spiritual leader from the United States became a turning point in Revaldi’s life. Without no expectations he dropped by the home of a Muslim scholar in Cawang, East Jakarta. There he met Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani, one of the world’s most revered Sufis.

Sufism is a path of Islam that is heavily tied to mysticism, humility and asceticism, and can involve practices such as singing, meditation and ecstatic dancing in its adherents’ quest to become closer to God.

The form of worship, often described as the internalization of Islam, began in South Asia roughly 1,000 years ago. It has since spread around the world, adopted by those attracted to its moderate teachings and message of acceptance and tolerance for people of different faiths.

After speaking with Kabbani, Revaldi was convinced. He took an oath and became a member of the Naqshbandi-Haqqani Sufi order, one of many orders around the world. “I held the Shaykh’s hand when I was told to recite the syahadat [Muslim declaration of belief in Allah as the one true God]. That’s all it took,” he said.

“Since then I have furthered my study of Islam and devoted myself as a Sufi.” “[Kabbani] said he never refused anyone who came to him to study Islam,” Revaldi said. “He was of the belief that there was always divine intervention in any meeting between people. I could feel something was about to change after our meeting. I believed what he said and I was able to make sense out of it.”

He was especially drawn to Sufism’s tolerance and respect for other beliefs. “We are not told to spread the teachings, but we are obliged to practice them in our daily lives. Respecting nature and people regardless of what they believe in are just among the teachings,” he said.

Revaldi is just one of hundreds of thousands of Muslims in Indonesia who have joined the Sufi order, which was established and opened to the public here in 2000.

In an interview with the Jakarta Globe during a visit to Jakarta in July, Kabbani said he began his activities in Indonesia in 1997 with only a handful of people. Over the course of a decade, the order has opened branches in five major cities in the country.

Kabbani was born in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1945 to parents who devoted themselves to being dervishes, another name for followers of Sufism. After graduating from the American University of Beirut’s School of Chemistry, Kabbani continued his studies at the University of Leuven in Belgium, earning a medical degree. He also attended Al-Azhar University in Damascus, Syria, to study Islamic law.

Currently living in Fenton, Michigan, with his wife and four children, Kabbani regularly travels around the United States and the world to deliver lectures on Islam. He has also taught classes on the subject at the University of Chicago, Columbia University in New York and McGill and Concordia universities in Canada.

“Wherever I go, I spread the Sufi teachings about the brotherhood of mankind, about belief in God, values that are present in all religions and spiritual paths. I direct my efforts to bring the diverse spectrum of religions and spiritual paths into harmony,” he said.

In short, he said, such harmony can only be achieved through love and compassion for one another. “But everything must come from the individual. If there is no love and compassion inside, how can we expect people to spread it to others?”

Sufi teachings are not only spiritual lessons learned through discussion and prayer, but they also seek to place the body and mind in harmony through physical movement such as dance. In the Naqshbandi-Haqqani order, the signature teaching device is the use of the dance of the whirling dervish. The dance was first introduced by Jalaludin Rumi, a legendary Persian Sufi and poet who lived from 1207 to 1273.

“The dance contains within it a spiritual concept. It is an intuitive method to guide each individual, opening his mind to meet his Creator,” Kabbani said.

He likened the movement of the body during the dance to electrons spinning around the earth.

“The whirling dance moves counterclockwise. It is like returning to nature to be reborn as a lover,” he said.

The spinning dance, according to Kabbani, is part of the sema , a ceremony designed to induce religious ecstasy so one can listen to the sound of the universe. In 2007 the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization declared Rumi’s creation as one of the world’s cultural heritages.

It takes about four months of strictly regimented daily practice before a Sufi can skillfully perform the dance. “Of course, it gave us headaches at first. That’s the ego that must be defeated. By remembering that we spin solely to glorify our Creator, and bear that in mind, then it comes naturally — no headache,” said Syahdan Hutabarat, a member of the Rabbani Sufi Institute in Cinere, Depok.

The institute operates under the auspices of the Naqshbandi-Haqqani order. “Two times a week we dance it in the middle of a dhikr [prayer] gathering,” said Syahdan, who joined the order three years ago. Now a lawyer at the Aqwa Mulya Partnership in South Jakarta, Syahdan said that before he joined the order he was “such a bully who liked to settle problems with muscle and swear words.”

“I left all that behind and now I can see everything with a clear head and eyes,” he said, laughing.

Iman Suyoto, an analyst programmer, joined the Sufi order in Jakarta before moving to Australia in 2002 to be a lecturer at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

“I was fascinated by the description of Islam by [Kabbani] in his book ‘Angels Unveiled.’ It somehow moved me to join and become a dervish,” he said.

His study and practice of Sufism also aided in his musical compositions, Iman said. He has since released an album, titled “Vision,” which is a blend of jazz and classical music. “My music is best for meditation.” Iman said that before he joined the Sufi order, he found the Islamic guidance he received at school, in the mosque and from his family to be frightening because it was filled with threats and punishments if one did not follow the rules. Embracing Sufism is “a decision I will never regret,” said Iman, still an active dervish in Melbourne.

Revaldi is still active in the religion. During the day he looks like any other young Jakartan in jeans and a T-shirt, but he trades them for a long robe and turban when he attends Sufi gatherings.

He said his religion had remained largely a personal matter that never spilled over into his professional life. “I have clients to serve and they know me only as a photographer. I never try to persuade them to follow what I believe,” Revaldi said.

“What you believe is your right as an individual. Religion is a private matter.”

Picture: Sufi whirling dervishes taking part in a sema ceremony in Indonesia as a means of getting closer to God. Photo: JG/Candra Malik.

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Here Is Honey

By Jesse Kornbluth, *The Essential Rumi translated by Coleman Barks* - Head Butler - New York, NY, USA
Thursday, August 19, 2010

The greatest Muslim poet was born in what is now Afghanistan, back when Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists lived peacefully together.

His funeral lasted 40 days, and he was mourned by Christians, Jews, Muslims, Persians and Greeks. Okay, Rumi was born in 1207 and died in 1273. That turns out to have been a turbulent era --- but there’s not a word about discord in his poems.

And there’s no record of any criticism coming his way because he was a Sufi and a scholar of the Koran. Indeed, at his funeral, Christians proclaimed, “He was our Jesus!” while Jews cried, “He was our Moses!” Both were right. Rumi belongs to everyone.

And always will. It makes perfect sense that this 13th century Muslim is now said to be the best-selling poet in 21st century America. The ultimate reason, of course, is the poetry itself. But first, let’s set the poetry into the life….. His father was rich, a Sufi mystic and theologian. There's a famous story of Rumi, at 12, traveling with his father. A great poet saw the father walking ahead and Rumi hurrying to keep up. "Here comes a sea followed by an ocean," he said.

Rumi studied, became a noted scholar. Then, when he was 37, he met Shams of Tabriz, a thorny personality. But Shams was God-intoxicated; nothing else mattered. And so their meeting was catalytic. As Rumi said: “What I had thought of before as God I met today in a human being.”

He dropped everything to be with Shams. Then Shams disappeared. Later, he reappeared --- only to be murdered, probably by Rumi’s jealous son. But by then Rumi was also God-obsessed, and he understood: Between lovers, there can be no separation:

Why should I seek?
I am the same as he.
His essence speaks through me.
I have been looking for myself.


Rumi produced 70,000 verses --- but he never actually wrote a poem. Pressed by a friend to record his thoughts, he pulled out some lines he'd scribbled. “More!” begged Husameddin Celebi. Rumi's response: “Celebi, if you consent to write for me, I will recite." And Rumi began to dictate.

It was quite the process, with Rumi sometimes calling out poems as he danced. As Celebi would write: "He never took a pen in his hand while composing. Wherever he happened to be, whether in the school, at the hot springs, in the baths or in the vineyards, I would write down what he recited. Often I could barely keep up with his pace, sometimes, night and day for several days. At other times he would not compose for months, and once for two years there was nothing. At the completion of each book I would read it back to him, so that he could correct what had been written."

As a poet, Rumi was as clear as he was deep. His story-poems are riddles you can solve. His poems are little telegrams, straight from his heart to yours. Whatever it cost him to write is hidden. His point is:

Here is honey. Taste. Eat.

And is there ever nourishment in his work! Consider:

No matter how fast you run,
your shadow more than keeps up.
Sometimes it's in front.
Only full, overhead sun diminishes your shadow.
But that shadow has been serving you!
What hurts you, blesses you.
Darkness is your candle.
Your boundaries are your quest.

Don't mistake straightforward speech for simplicity; Rumi is as brain-busting as Zen. For example:

Why do you stay in prison
when the door is so wide open?

Which reminds me of a story Rumi tells: A friend sends a prayer rug to a man in prison. What the man wanted, however, was a key or file --- he wanted to break out. Still, he began to sit on the rug and pray. Eventually he noticed an odd pattern in the rug. He meditated on it --- and realized it was a diagram of the lock that held him in his cell. Escape came easily after that.....

Escape comes more easily after you read these poems. You may well find yourself, like Rumi, saying:

Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing?
I have no idea.
My soul is from elsewhere, I'm sure of that.
And I intend to end up there.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Spiritual Reflection

By Atika Shubert, *Inside Muslim summer camp in southern Spain* - CNN Belief Blog - USA
Wed. August 18, 2010

Islam is often called the fastest growing religion in Europe, thanks to the tremendous growth in migration and a galloping birth rate in Muslim communities.

But Islam is not new to Europe. The religion has been a part of the European cultural fabric for hundreds of years.

You can see it in the majestic Islamic architecture that graces the landscape of southern Spain. It thrives in the Muslim majority nations of Bosnia and Albania. And, of course, there is Turkey, the bridge between Europe and the Middle East.

Then there are the growing Muslim communities that have come from abroad to settle in Europe: Pakistani and Bengali-run shops are commonplace on the streets of London; the many dialects of Arabic from Morocco to Somalia compete to be heard from Stockholm to Amsterdam.

It’s clear that a “European Islam” is emerging from the interaction of all these communities.
In Spain, “new Muslims”–converts to Islam–are clustered in the country's southern Andalusia region. They practice a more liberal interpretation of Sufi Islam that takes its inspiration from Spain’s Muslim history.

I got the chance to spend two nights at Al-Madrassa, an Islamic center founded by new Muslims in Andalusia's Alqueria de Rosales. Every year, the center host a two-week summer camp for kids of all faiths aged 8-16.

This year, the last two days of camp coincided with the beginning of Ramadan. For many of the younger children, it was an opportunity to try fasting for the first time.

We got up before sunrise for a bleary-eyed breakfast of honeyed doughnuts and coffee at the canteen and then quickly made our way to the mosque for prayer at dawn.

At prayer, I couldn’t help but notice how children here looked like any other streetwise kids you would see in Europe. One had a tilted baseball cap that he quickly removed; a set of flashy white headphones permanently hung from his neck. The girls chose to cover their heads with brightly coloured scarves inside the mosque, but fashionably wrapped the cloth around their shoulders when they left.

Their daily routine was much like any other camp, with a few modifications: Archery lessons mid-morning, Arabic class in the afternoon. Sometimes, they did ceramics learning how to make the famous Moorish tiles of Southern Spain. Other times, they headed outdoors for horse-riding, hiking or camping.

During Ramadan fasting, there was plenty of down time for kids, conserving their energy during the hottest time of the day.

The call to prayer sounded five times a day, but children were not required to be at every one. Non-Muslim children did not participate in the prayer, but sometimes lingered in the mosque to join their friends before and after.

The kitchen remained open for anyone who wanted to eat or drink during Ramadan fasting, including Muslim children. The idea was not to force anyone to participate in the fasting but to encourage spiritual reflection, even if only for a few hours.

“This place is about learning and understanding. Above all, this is the most important to us,” Abdussamad Antonio Romero the camp’s director told me.

He and his wife are Muslim converts and they founded Al-Madrasa 17 years ago. The idea was to create a haven for a uniquely Spanish view of Islam that follows a liberal Sufi ideology of Islamic learning and tolerance of other faiths.

Al-Madrasa now has visitors from all over Europe, but also the U.S. and Canada and has become a popular stop on Muslim tours of Spain. It has quietly become one example of this “European Islam” now being forged.

I’ll be doing several stories for CNN’s Muslim in 2010 series looking at how Islam in Europe is growing. And Al-Madrasa, it seems, is a fine place to start.

Monday, August 23, 2010

An Inner Meaning

By Amira el-Noshokaty, *Living Sufism: A different Islam* - Al-Masry Al-Youm - Cairo, Egypt
Wednesday, August 18, 2010

In his latest book of photographs on his favorite topic, Nicolaas Biegman unveils the details of the enchanting world of Sufism.

*Living Sufism* (AUC 2009) effortlessly showcases the rich and deep philosophy of the main Sufi sects.

Sufism has always been an intriguing part of Islam. Sufis are known for their modesty, spirituality, and rejection of of materialism. Their eternal quest to purify their souls and reach the utmost truth continues to attract millions of followers worldwide. Egypt’s 15 million Sufis are divided into some 70 sects.

The opening lines of this documentation of Sufi rituals state that “this book is about a different Islam.”

As opposed to fundamentalist Islamists who are exclusive, politicized, and vociferous, “wedded” to their literal interpretation of the holy text, Sufis are “mystics within Islam who are in love with God. Rather than clinging to the letter, they believe in an inner meaning of texts and rituals. They respect different creeds and opinions and they abhor violence. Music and rhythmic movement are an essential part of the rituals that allow them to draw closer to God.”

In addition to being an accomplished photographer, Nicolaas Biegman holds a PhD in Balkan History, is an expert on Islam, a Goodwill ambassador to the United Nations Development Funds (UNFPA), and a member of Netherlands Foreign Service. Having lived in Egypt in the 60s and 80s, Biegman instantly fell in love with the Sufi world.

This panoramic view of Sufi rituals covers the Middle East and the Balkans, and is a treat for those interested in either Sufism or photography. With an eye for details and a short but thorough accompanying text, this book zooms into the faces of Sufis from very different backgrounds.

From Belbies, Egypt, where Sheikh Zaher al-Rifaa’i is the head of the Refaa’i Sufi sect, to Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

These photos were taken with a loving eye that managed to capture the essence of the human spirituality of Sufis in their endless quest to God.

Angles and light tones captured their movement, making them floating and quite vivid; the serenity and ease of Biegman’s lens was able to effectively capture the subjects while maintaining the photographer’s position as among the “respectful outsiders.”

This book adds to Biegman’s catalogue of great photography books on Egypt and Sufis. In 1990, he published a book of photographs called “Egypt: Moulids, Saints, and Sufis,” which was translated into Arabic last year.

The book is available at AUC bookstores.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

The Flying Shams

By TE/HGH, *Konya to host Iran play on Mowlavi* Press TV - Tehran, Iran
Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Iranian theater director Pari Saberi has been invited to stage her Flying Shams in Konya, where the Sufi Persian poet, Mowlavi has been laid to rest.

The play will be performed on the birth anniversary of the world-renowned poet, Saberi told Mehr News Agency.

The award-winning director has also been invited by the cultural office of Iran's East Azarbaijan Province to stage The Flying Shams in the cities of Tabriz and Khoy.

The Flying Shams, which has been staged in many countries, recounts the story of Mowlavi and his spiritual guide Shams Tabrizi.

Saberi was born in 1932 and studied at Vaugirard Cinematography College in France. She has staged many plays based on classical Persian literary works.

Bijan and Manijeh, Rustam and Sohrab, and Mourning of Siavash are among Saberi's better-known works.

She has received UNESCO's 2003 Avicenna Award and the French Literature and Art Cavalier Badge from former French President Jacques Chirac.

More Vocal

By Anjum Jaleel, *Muslims are Failing to Call for Minority Rights in the Islamic Countries* - TAM The American Muslim - Bridgeton, MO, USA
Tuesday, August 17, 2010

It’s been quite interesting to read and hear all the rhetoric, for and against, on the community center that has been planned for near Ground Zero in New York – the site of an evil act that took place on September 11, 2001, in which over 3,000 innocent were brutally murdered, about 10% of them were Muslims.

Both sides have produced their arguments and some of them have clearly tried to politicize the issue for their own purpose.

But, in the spirit of self-criticism, as a Sufi Muslim who believes in the unity of religions, I would like to emphasize one issue on which the Muslim individuals and organizations do not say much.

And, it’s the issue of religious minority rights in the Muslim countries, especially, since one argument against the building of the community center in NY is that the Muslims do not allow the building of churches, synagogues, and temples in their own countries, especially in Saudi Arabia, so why should we?

Though this argument is also irrational – for America is a light unto other nations, a model for all humanity, and its freedoms and laws should not be dependent on the laws of the repressed, undemocratic, backwards Muslim countries, it is, nevertheless, a point which the Muslims must deeply reflect upon.

The fact of the matter is that Muslims living in the Muslim countries are generally intolerant towards their own minorities, and are even less tolerant towards members of other faiths. This usually comes from a lack of interactions with the religious minorities, myths and misconceptions about them and a sense of superiority as well as irrational fears.

The idea of a pluralistic Islamic society is alien to most of the so-called “practicing” Muslims living in the Muslim countries. Luckily, many Western Muslims have now discovered religious plurality in the original Islam and for which they are indebted to the Western influence.

For example, Ahmadi Muslims are a persecuted minority in Pakistan, and Muslim countries, like Saudi Arabia and U.A.E. – all American allies – are not very particular about allowing non-Muslims to build their places of worship in their countries.

At the very least, the individual Muslims and Muslim organizations, as well as the imams in the West, must become more vocal in favor of more religious rights for the minorities in the Islamic countries and even go a step farther and demand that they are allowed to build their places of worship and centers in the Muslims countries, are allowed to practice their religion peacefully and even allowed to promulgate their religions freely.

What is needed is a clear, organized and concerted efforts by the Muslims living in the West to fight for religious equality and freedoms for the non-Muslims and the Muslim minorities, like the Shi’as, the Ahmadis, Christians and Hindus in Pakistan, the Bahai’s, the Jews and Christians in Iran, the Sunnis and the Christians in Iraq, and the Shi’as, the Sufis, Christians, Jews, Hindus and Sikhs in Saudi Arabia and U.A.E.

Without that, I am afraid their demands for religious tolerance and equality here in the West are hypocritical and therefore ineffective.

The very first organization that should adopt my suggestion immediately is the organization that is planning for a community center near Ground Zero.

They need to become more vocal and demand the Muslim countries to allow the non-Muslims to build their places of worship in the Muslim countries.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Sow Flowers

By William Dalrymple, *The Muslims in the Middle* - The New York Times - New York, NY, USA
Tuesday, August 17, 2010

New Delhi: President Obama's eloquent endorsement on Friday of a planned Islamic cultural center near the World Trade Center, followed by his apparent retreat the next day, was just one of many paradoxes at the heart of the increasingly impassioned controversy.

We have seen the Anti-Defamation League, an organization dedicated to ending “unjust and unfair discrimination,” seek to discriminate against American Muslims.

We have seen Newt Gingrich depict the organization behind the center — the Cordoba Initiative, which is dedicated to “improving Muslim-West relations” and interfaith dialogue — as a “deliberately insulting” and triumphalist force attempting to built a monument to Muslim victory near the site of the twin towers.

Most laughably, we have seen politicians like Rick Lazio, a Republican candidate for New York governor, question whether Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the principal figure behind the project, might have links to “radical organizations.”

The problem with such claims goes far beyond the fate of a mosque in downtown Manhattan.

They show a dangerously inadequate understanding of the many divisions, complexities and nuances within the Islamic world — a failure that hugely hampers Western efforts to fight violent Islamic extremism and to reconcile Americans with peaceful adherents of the world’s second-largest religion.

Most of us are perfectly capable of making distinctions within the Christian world. The fact that someone is a Boston Roman Catholic doesn’t mean he’s in league with Irish Republican Army bomb makers, just as not all Orthodox Christians have ties to Serbian war criminals or Southern Baptists to the murderers of abortion doctors.

Yet many of our leaders have a tendency to see the Islamic world as a single, terrifying monolith.

Had the George W. Bush administration been more aware of the irreconcilable differences between the Salafist jihadists of Al Qaeda and the secular Baathists of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, the United States might never have blundered into a disastrous war, and instead kept its focus on rebuilding post-Taliban Afghanistan while the hearts and minds of the Afghans were still open to persuasion.

Feisal Abdul Rauf of the Cordoba Initiative is one of America’s leading thinkers of Sufism, the mystical form of Islam, which in terms of goals and outlook couldn’t be farther from the violent Wahhabism of the jihadists.

His videos and sermons preach love, the remembrance of God (or “zikr”) and reconciliation.

His slightly New Agey rhetoric makes him sound, for better or worse, like a Muslim Deepak Chopra. But in the eyes of Osama bin Laden and the Taliban, he is an infidel-loving, grave-worshiping apostate; they no doubt regard him as a legitimate target for assassination.

For such moderate, pluralistic Sufi imams are the front line against the most violent forms of Islam. In the most radical parts of the Muslim world, Sufi leaders risk their lives for their tolerant beliefs, every bit as bravely as American troops on the ground in Baghdad and Kabul do.

Sufism is the most pluralistic incarnation of Islam — accessible to the learned and the ignorant, the faithful and nonbelievers — and is thus a uniquely valuable bridge between East and West.

The great Sufi saints like the 13th-century Persian poet Rumi held that all existence and all religions were one, all manifestations of the same divine reality. What was important was not the empty ritual of the mosque, church, synagogue or temple, but the striving to understand that divinity can best be reached through the gateway of the human heart: that we all can find paradise within us, if we know where to look.

In some ways Sufism, with its emphasis on love rather than judgment, represents the New Testament of Islam.

While the West remains blind to the divisions and distinctions within Islam, the challenge posed by the Sufi vision of the faith is not lost on the extremists.

This was shown most violently on July 2, when the Pakistani Taliban organized a double-suicide bombing of the Data Darbar, the largest Sufi shrine in Lahore, Pakistan’s second-largest city. The attack took place on a Thursday night, when the shrine was at its busiest; 42 people were killed and 175 were injured.

This was only the latest in a series of assaults against Pakistan’s Sufis. In May, Peeru’s Cafe in Lahore, a cultural center where I had recently performed with a troupe of Sufi musicians, was bombed in the middle of its annual festival. An important site in a tribal area of the northwest — the tomb of Haji Sahib of Turangzai, a Sufi persecuted under British colonial rule for his social work — has been forcibly turned into a Taliban headquarters. Two shrines near Peshawar, the mausoleum of Bahadar Baba and the shrine of Abu Saeed Baba, have been destroyed by rocket fire.

Symbolically, however, the most devastating Taliban attack occurred last spring at the shrine of the 17th-century poet-saint Rahman Baba, at the foot of the Khyber Pass in northwest Pakistan.

For centuries, the complex has been a place for musicians and poets to gather, and Rahman Baba’s Sufi verses had long made him the national poet of the Pashtuns living on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

“I am a lover, and I deal in love,” wrote the saint. “Sow flowers,/ so your surroundings become a garden./ Don’t sow thorns; for they will prick your feet./ We are all one body./ Whoever tortures another, wounds himself.”

Then, about a decade ago, a Saudi-financed religious school, or madrasa, was built at the end of the path leading to the shrine. Soon its students took it upon themselves to halt what they see as the un-Islamic practices of Rahman Baba’s admirers. When I last visited it in 2003, the shrine-keeper, Tila Mohammed, described how young students were coming regularly to complain that his shrine was a center of idolatry and immorality.

“My family have been singing here for generations,” he told me. “But now these madrasa students come and tell us that what we do is wrong. They tell women to stay at home. This used to be a place where people came to get peace of mind. Now when they come here they just encounter more problems.”

Then, one morning in early March 2009, a group of Pakistani Taliban arrived at the shrine before dawn and placed dynamite packages around the squinches supporting the shrine’s dome. In the ensuing explosion, the mausoleum was destroyed, but at least nobody was killed. The Pakistani Taliban quickly took credit, blaming the shrine’s administrators for allowing women to pray and seek healing there.

The good news is that Sufis, though mild, are also resilient. While the Wahhabis have become dominant in northern Pakistan ever since we chose to finance their fight against the Soviets in Afghanistan, things are different in Sindh Province in southern Pakistan. Sufis are putting up a strong resistance on behalf of the pluralist, composite culture that emerged in the course of a thousand years of cohabitation between Hinduism and Islam.

Last year, when I visited a shrine of the saint Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in the town of Sehwan, I was astonished by the strength and the openness of the feelings against those puritan mullahs who criticize as heresy all homage to Sufi saints.

“I feel that it is my duty to protect both the Sufi saints, just as they have protected me,” one woman told me. “Today in our Pakistan there are so many of these mullahs and Wahhabis who say that to pay respect to the saints in their shrines is heresy. Those hypocrites! They sit there reading their law books and arguing about how long their beards should be, and fail to listen to the true message of the prophet.”

There are many like her; indeed, until recently Sufism was the dominant form of Islam in South Asia. And her point of view shows why the West would do well to view Sufis as natural allies against the extremists. A 2007 study by the RAND Corporation found that Sufis’ open, intellectual interpretation of Islam makes them ideal “partners in the effort to combat Islamist extremism.”

Sufism is an entirely indigenous, deeply rooted resistance movement against violent Islamic radicalism. Whether it can be harnessed to a political end is not clear. But the least we can do is to encourage the Sufis in our own societies.

Men like Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf should be embraced as vital allies, and we should have only contempt for those who, through ignorance or political calculation, attempt to conflate them with the extremists.

William Dalrymple is the author, most recently, of “Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India.”

[Visit William Dalrymple Website]

Pictogram by Luba Lukova/NYT

Friday, August 20, 2010

With Full Enthusiasm

By Staff Reporter, *Nation observes Nusrat Fateh death anniversary with solemnity* - South Asian News Agency - Pakistan
Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Islamabad: Amid grief and sorrow, the nation observed the 13th death anniversary of world’s most leading vocalists and Sufi Qawwal Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan on Monday.

The nation prays to Allah almighty to rest his departed soul in eternal peace.

It merits a mention that the world’s top vocalist was born in 1948 in Faisalabad.

Nusrat made his maiden appearance as the leader of the Qawwali party at a studio recording broadcast as part of an annual music festival organized by Radio Pakistan. His song Haq Ali Ali hit a record with a traditional touch and nation still plays the same with full enthusiasm.

The Guinness Book of World Records says that Nusrat holds the world record for the largest recorded output by a Qawwali artist.

But unfortunately, Nusrat had developed a kidney and liver malady in 1997 in London.
An era ends when the God gifted Nusrat died of cardiac arrest in London in 1997.

[Picture: Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan in London, 1997. Photo: Wiki.]

Music Never Dies

By Staff Reporter, *The Sufi Touch unveiled* -Manchester evening News - Manchester, U.K.
Monday, August 16, 2010

Mumbai Rouge [Artist Management and Booking Service] and Movie Box have unveiled their latest joint project, a live Qawali band ‘The Sufi Touch' bringing Qawali back to the next generation.

Originating from a tradition more than 700 years old, Qawali presents mystical poetry and stories in Hindi and Urdu which is performed by professional musicians who perform in groups led by one or two solo singers.

Originally performed mainly at Sufi shrines throughout South Asia, Qawali music has also gained mainstream popularity and received international exposure through the work of the late Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

The Sufi Touch demonstrates how classical music never dies and aims to revive this dying art form which takes over ten years to master.

Leading The Sufi Touch is lead vocalist Hunterz who has over fifteen years of classical training from the most established Ustads from Pakistan and India and comes from a family of musical background which stems back many years.

The band was unveiled last week at the UK’s biggest media event of the year held by Rishi Rich Productions, Mumbai Rouge and Movie Box. In attendance to the event were some of the biggest names in the ethnic media industry including stars such as Preeya Kalidas, H-Dhami, Juggy D, Heera and Alaap.

This live Qawali band not only follows their classical route but will integrate new aged music with a twist. Engaging audiences of all ages the Sufi Touch will no doubt make their mark on the Asian Music Industry.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Close To Each Other

By Gagandeep Ahuja, *VC lays foundation stone of “Baba Farid Centre for Sufi Studies”* - India News - India
Sat. August 14, 2010

Patiala: Dr Jaspal Singh, Vice-Chancellor of Punjabi University, Patiala, laid the foundation stone of “Baba Farid Centre for Sufi Studies” on the University campus here.

The first phase of the Centre will cost Rs 17 lakhs [USD 36'450.--] covering a plinth area of 2,000 sq feet [186 sq. m.] which will be later on expanded.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Jaspal Singh said that Centre will be devoted to carry out various tasks related to academics and scholarship in addition to holding seminars, conferences and workshops related to various aspects of Sheikh Farid life and his contribution in the field of religion and spiritualism.

The Centre, he said, will carry forward Baba Farid’s legacy of spreading the message of love and stamping out the menace of hatred that is spreading its tentacles all around the globe. The process of globalization, ironically, is strengthening and proliferating the cult of abhorrence and violence instead of bringing human beings close to each other, Dr Singh said.

The Centre, in collaboration with Sufi foundation of India, later arranged a kawaali programme in which noted kawaal Anwar Khan recited Sufi kalaams.

Dr Nashir Naqvi proposed vote thanks and presented his views about Baba Sheikh Farid.

Dean, Academic Affairs, Dr S.S. Tiwana, Registrar, Dr Manjit Singh, noted litterateur, Dr S.S. Noor, Chief Engineer, AJS Sandhu were also present on the occasion.

[Picture: Punjab University, Patiala, India]

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Vastness Of The Heart

By Anne Barnard, *In Lower Manhattan, 2 Mosques Have Firm Roots* - The New York Times - New York, NY, USA
Friday, August 13, 2010

The Masjid Manhattan occupies a narrow basement with bare pipes snaking along the ceiling.

The congregants who filled up the mosque near City Hall on Thursday night were mainly men, from South Asia, West Africa and the United States, and a few women — who prayed behind a partition.

The feast provided for breaking the Ramadan fast, spicy curry over rice, came in plastic takeout containers from a nearby restaurant.

A few blocks away, at the Masjid al-Farah, the scene was somewhat different. Men and women sat together. The worshipers, devotees of the Sufi tradition of Islamic mysticism, came from an even wider array of countries and included a young man with multiple piercings and a shirt identifying him as an employee at Jivamukti Yoga.

The mosque, in a two-story building sandwiched between two bars — the neon-lighted Tribeca Tavern and the nouvelle-brasserie-type Cercle Rouge — has a pristine, high-ceilinged, white-painted interior decorated with stained glass and Arabic calligraphy.

The fast-breaking meal, or iftar, included baby spinach and goat cheese and aloe vera water passed around by the mosque’s female leader, Sheikha Fariha al-Jerrahi, who declared, “Good for the digestion.”

One mosque is conservative, and the other is reputed to be among the most progressive in the city — making the downtown Muslim community a quintessentially New York combination of immigrants and native New Yorkers, traditionalists and spiritual seekers.

But what the two mosques have in common — besides the sense of celebration and camaraderie that comes at the beginning of Ramadan, the holiest month of the Islamic calendar, in which Muslims fast from sunup to sundown, give alms and focus on self-improvement — is that both have existed for decades, largely unnoticed, blocks from the World Trade Center site.

Masjid Manhattan, on Warren Street, four blocks from ground zero, was founded in 1970. Masjid al-Farah, formerly on Mercer Street, moved to its present location on West Broadway, about 12 blocks from ground zero, in 1985. Both mosques — essentially one-room operations — routinely turn people away for lack of space.

When Masjid al-Farah moved into the neighborhood, the local Muslim community was tiny, said Sheikha Fariha. But it has expanded exponentially, especially with Muslims who work in the area, she said. Both mosques now welcome doctors, street vendors, real estate agents and service workers. The imam of the Masjid Manhattan has a day job in a nearby post office.

Lately, some of the spillover has been absorbed by prayer services held in the vacant Burlington Coat Factory store two blocks from the trade center site, by Imam Feisal Abdul al-Rauf, a longtime prayer leader at Masjid al-Farah. He plans to turn the site into a Muslim community center and mosque bitterly opposed by critics, who call it a “ground zero mosque,” and which was backed by President Obama on Friday night.

The uproar has perplexed, even alarmed, those who have long practiced Islam amid the neighborhood bustle of churches, government agencies, corporations, delis and sidewalk vendors.

Mariama Diallo, originally from Guinea, hurried down the stairs into Masjid Manhattan after finishing work at a nearby computer shop, knowing that if she tried to make it home to Queens before praying, she would miss the Maghrib, or evening prayer, and the breaking of the fast.

She spread out her prayer rug and was still praying when the imam’s call signaled the end of the fast. Just then, Shari Kareem, a student studying early childhood development at Borough of Manhattan Community College, and her mother, Seema, arrived. They took swigs straight from a gallon of Poland Spring water, helped themselves to dried dates and offered some to Ms. Diallo.

On the men’s side of the mosque, there was a minor moment of added excitement: a couple of arrivals, looking for free food and acting erratically, stepped clumsily across the mats on the floor where the food was laid out. The men deemed them to be high on drugs and firmly escorted them out.

Ms. Diallo said she came to the United States wanting “honest work — anything where I don’t have to cheat.” Not having had much time to immerse herself in the politics of her new country, she pronounced herself deeply puzzled as to why anyone would feel threatened by what goes on in a mosque.

“We have to pray to God. You’re following the religion,” she said. “You want to pray because it is in the book that you have to pray, and someday you will die.”

Referring to 9/11, she said that she, too, had “bad souvenirs.” (A native French speaker, she meant memories.) She remembered with awe a visit to the twin towers, lamented the deaths there, and said: “Killing people is a sin. Building the mosque over here, I don’t think that has to do with killing people.”

At Masjid al-Farah, Ali Mansour told of how he had drifted away from Islam as a young man in Egypt, but found it again through Sufism when the mosque started ordering from his deli down the block. He liked its “progressivism,” he said, adding that friends in Egypt sometimes tease him that American Muslims are “out of your mind” because of their nontraditional approach.

“Because this is a new country, it rejuvenates and revolutionizes everything,” he said. “Food, industry, philosophy and even religion.”

Soon, Sheikha Fariha started the zikr, the Sufi ritual of chanting and prayer, inviting the congregants to still their minds and drop “into the vastness of the heart that has no boundaries.”

“La illaha illa Allah,” they chanted again and again, turning from side to side in unison. “There is no god but God.”

[Visit the Nur Ashki Jerrahi Community in New York City]

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

The Column Of Unity

By IBNA, *Iranians cognize their culture's value* - Iran Book News Agency- Tehran, Iran

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

During the session held yesterday in the Philosophy Institute, Iranian mysticism and Sufism expert, Leonard Lewisohn said: "I am an American and I am interested in Iranian mysticism and Sufism. You, Iranians, are certainly aware of your culture's value but here is an advice from a stranger; don’t underestimate your great past heritage. Persian literature is like a half done wall, the rest of the wall should be built by others."

IBNA: Lewisohn delivered his lecture Tuesday evening in the Philosophy Institute. During the session he talked about the unity of religions in Persian language.

Talking about the similarities of phenomenology and Sufism he said:" Both the groups believe that research is a factor to reach belief, as they are similar in research and introspection." He said that the researchers of adaptation religions in the west adapt 8 principles of phenomenology with Iranian Sufism basics. The principles are; valuing description, explanation description, intellectual affairs description, quoting in parenthesis, empathy and sympathy, describing the phenomenal according to it, adaptation studies and methodic misunderstanding.

He went on to say that being against monopolization is among other similarities, he added.

Moreover reading a part of Ein-alqozat Hamedani book as a confirmation he added: "Henry Corbin has penned a 4 volume book, "About Iranian Islam, in which the similarities of Sufism and phenomenology is explained."

He went on to say that in Sufism 4 types of religion's unity exist of which "Unity of ethics romance" is one.

In order to confirm his words he read some of Sa'adi and Bayazid poems and texts.

He believes that Sufism is the column of unity which is explained in Golestan as well.

Talking about the subcategories of Romantic Unity he said that love religion could be another group and added: "Sufis believe that the religion is beyond all others."

Talking about subjective unity he said that even Rumi has considered such a matter. Moreover he has said that the ways to reach God is equal to the number of people.

Furthermore he said that according to Max Weber religion is human's relations alongside supernatural forces which is mostly revealed as prayers and language. But Sufis don’t think so.

Talking about another type of unity, Divine Unity he said that this is only related to Muslims; All Muslims are brothers.

During the modern life many wars and conflicts occur among a religion's followers. My words are not political but since Mansour Halaj Iran had a program which could create international understanding for Muslims.

Moreover he said that many Muslim countries undermine themselves while the freedom of words and dynamism of law existed in these countries following the Renascence era. Even George A. Makdisi has authored a book on the filed which unfortunately hasn’t been translated into Persian.

Finally he said that I am an American and I am interested in Iranian mysticism and Sufism. You, Iranians, are certainly aware of your culture's value but here is an advice from a stranger; don’t underestimate your great past heritage. Persian literature is like a half done wall, the rest of the wall should be built by others."

Lewisohn was one of the winners of the 15th edition of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s International Book of the Year Awards for his book “Attar and the Persian Sufi Tradition”.

Leonard Lewisohn is an Iran Heritage Foundation fellow and has been a lecturer in classical Persian and Sufi literature at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies of the University of Exeter in England since 2004.

Born in 1953, Lewisohn traveled to Iran in his 20’s as an English teacher, but his interest in Persian literature led him to study at the University of Shiraz. He later traveled to London to continue his studies in Persian literature at the School of Oriental & African Studies. He obtained his Ph.D. in Persian literature in 1988.

“The Angels Knocking on the Tavern Door, Thirty Poems of Hafez (2008, coauthored with Robert Bly), “The Heritage of Sufism” (1999) and “Beyond Faith and Infidelity” are some of his published books.

Seventy Five Percent

By N. S. Sasan / ANI, *Urs celebrated at Baba Thanpir's Dargarh in Poonch* - Sify News - India
Sunday, August 8, 2010

Urs, also known as Ziarat, was celebrated at the Dargah of Baba Thanpir, a Sufi saint in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district this weekend.

The festival marks communal amity in the valley. The aspect of communal harmony persisting here is evident from the existence of a Hindu temple and a Sikh Gurudwara within the premises of Baba Thanpir's shrine.

Hindus and Sikhs participate in the Urs with utmost devotion.

On Sunday, devotees offered the holy shroud at the shrine of the Sufi saint and participated in prayers that were held in the temple as well as the Gurudwara.

Baba Shafi, the caretaker of the shrine acknowledged the contribution of the Indian Army in the successful conduct of Urs.

"Since 1971, the Indian Army has been contributing about seventy five percent of the cost of this festival. The Indian Army has been helping us in every possible way. The 15 JAT (Regiment) offered us tents, generators and other requirements for the Baba's Urs festival," said Baba Shafi, the Muslim priest and caretaker of Baba Thanpir's Dargah.

Army personnel posted near the shrine also participated in offering prayers to the saints.

"Every person from different religion offered a holy blanket then every one came to the shrine and offered prayers and went to the Gurudwara and offered prayers together. And set an example of communal harmony today. I wish that we take an oath of Baba Thanpir that we set an example of brotherhood and unity in the country, so that we are able to live in peace," said Colonel A K Bhardwaj, Commanding Officer of 15 Jat Regiment.

What was common among the people present at the Urs was that all of them wished for peace and brotherhood in the country.

Monday, August 16, 2010

“Dianggap Gila”

By Jen Davis, *From Dust to Greatness* - The Jakarta Globe - Jakarta, Indonesia
Monday, August 9, 2010

The American-founded, Indonesia-based Sufi group Debu is always busy this time of year, but right now that has reached a fever pitch.

The members have just spent two weeks in Yogyakarta recording their annual series of 30 buka puasa pieces — music played during the evening meal when Muslims break their Ramadan fast — for the “Kulthum”show on TVOne.

Their fifth album, “Dianggap Gila” (“They Say You’re Crazy”), also dropped this week. And if that wasn’t enough, Debu is deep into planning an international tour later this year, building on its recent success at the outstanding — if somewhat muddy — 13th annual Rainforest World Music Festival in Sarawak, Malaysia.

The members of Debu are a part of a Sufi community that chose Indonesia as its home after a dream by its American founder, Shaykh Fattaah, who brought 50 members of his extended family here from the United States in 1999. After two years in Sulawesi, the group settled in Cinere, South Jakarta.

The word ‘‘debu” means dust in Indonesian and the band’s 28-year-old spokesman, Mustafa Daood, says the name was chosen as a humble reminder that “we are all, in the end, simply dust along the road.”

Despite the inherent humility in their name and concept, Debu’s members are outstanding musicians and excellent showmen. But one never gets the impression that their egos play any part in their performances. They are moderate Muslims spreading the message of love and peace and, whether in Turkey, Indonesia or Malaysia, audiences love them.

“The Sufi believe that the glorious things we do are a reflection of the glory of God,” Daood said.

The group’s 45-minute performance at the recent RWMF — which opened the vibrant, three-day event — was welcomed by a Jakarta-style deluge of rain that lasted until almost the last bar of Debu’s final number, then disappeared until the event’s closing night.

Despite the downpour, it took only a few beats of the first song before the festival crowd broke shelter and swarmed into the center of the vast amphitheater. That’s when Debu’s unique and irresistible sound, cohesion and stage presence took hold and a few members of the crowd moved forward, placing themselves firmly in front of the stage. Reluctant to leave their dry havens, others shook their heads in disbelief, but found their feet twitching and just a few minutes later moved forward too.

There were times when the water sluicing off the stage roof became a wall between the audience and the musicians, as translucent veils of mist covered their instruments with a film of water. But the band played on with a total disregard for the driving sheets of rain that sloped onto the stage, turning the roving beams of stage lighting into shimmering, glistening cones of silver and sending technicians scurrying to cover the precious equipment.

This was Debu’s first appearance at a world music festival, and it was a perfect fit. The band’s unique style is a rich and colorful blend of Eastern and Western influences — both traditional and modern — and includes the sounds of Javanese flute, guitar, violin, Iranian santur, Turkish tar and Arabian tambourine.

The RWMF audience — consisting of Sarawak locals, peninsula Malaysians and international visitors — was mesmerized. And putting aside the music, the four blond, pony-tailed Americans and four Indonesians made for a striking sight amid the deluge.

One audience member from New Zealand was full of praise for the band: “The last thing I would have expected — great music with an Islamic message, and two of the singers are blond Americans, singing in Indonesian, Spanish, English and Arabic.”

Debu’s lyrics — all Sufi poems written by the multilingual Fattaah — are both mystical and inspiring. Revolving around the theme of love and harmony, they hold a universal appeal. One song, “Ucapkanlah Bersama!” (“Say It Together!”) calls for people of different religions to focus on their common belief in God, not on what divides them.

Debu’s members have their own bustling recording studio and are constantly experimenting and recording in new languages (they have already recorded songs in nine languages), new musical styles and different instruments.

“Whether we are performing or not, being a Sufi is about living life, and every moment, with joy and peace,” Daood said.

With sold-out international tours of Turkey and Iran under its belt, Debu has been booked for another tour in Turkey in August, plans to make a splash in Canada in November and may squeeze in Holland and Saudi Arabia in September. The group has expressed hope about collaborating with fellow RWMF performers — the electrifying Farafina from West Africa and soulful Leila Negrau from the Reunion Islands — but planning for those projects will have to wait until the three groups slow their respective global orbits long enough to begin talking.

“We go all over the world, hoping to learn new music. One of the best things about the rain forest festival was that the daily workshops gave us the opportunity to sit alongside other musicians — great musicians from England, France, Iran, India, Africa and South America. We were learning every minute, it was pretty awesome,” Daood said.

As for the rain: “No matter what happens there is a reason for it. We’ll wait to see the answer.”

Debu’s Sufi community strives to be a nurturing environment for young talent. The group’s 13 performers include 15-year-old santur player Ahmad Kauthar, from Banten. Ahmad has been part of this musical family since he was little. He tried the flute when he was 10 years old, but “didn’t find it quite interesting.”

The santur, also called a dulcimer, is a 72-stringed instrument used in ancient times to entertain the kings of Persia. Ahmad took over playing the santur after another group member retired, leaving a space for someone to play the delicate instrument.

Ahmad is home-schooled and fits his academic classes around tours and performances. He studies mathematics, Indonesian, English and Arabic, but he had to teach himself how to play the santur by listening to compact discs because he is thought to be the only player of this unique instrument in Indonesia.

“Find out what you really want to do and just do it. Try to be the best at it but just do it. Enjoy your life,” Ahmad advised. “I want to take this life I am offered and make the most of it. I want to be respected for my music in Iran and other countries where the santur is played.”

Picture: A rainstorm transformed this year’s Rainforest World Music Festival in Sarawak, Malaysia, into a muddy melee, but that didn’t stop Debu fans from dancing. Photo: Courtesy of RWMF/TJG

Sunday, August 15, 2010

A Mevlevi Shaykh

By Murtazali Dugrichilov, *Interview: 'Many Americans Love Rumi...But They Prefer He Not Be Muslim'* - Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty - Prague, Czech Republic
Monday, August 9, 2010

Ibrahim Gamard is a California-based sheikh of the Sufi Mevlevi order and has spent his life translating the poetry of the 13th-century Sufi mystic, Rumi.

Murtazali Dugrichilov of RFE/RL's North Caucasus Service spoke to Gamard about why Rumi is so popular in the West and the problems of modern-day Sufism.

RFE/RL: Is it possible to say that Mevlana Rumi's poetry is more popular today in the West than in Muslim countries?

Ibrahim Gamard: Yes, this is possible. I’m told that in Turkey, the language has been changing so rapidly that people read very little of Rumi’s poetry, especially the younger generations, because they cannot understand enough of the vocabulary of most Turkish translations, which contain many Persian and Arabic words that are no longer used in Turkish.

Fewer people in Afghanistan read his poetry because of the decades of war there and the disruption of the educational system. The teaching of classical Persian language in India and Pakistan has probably declined.

However, Rumi’s poetry remains highly read and appreciated in Iran. I don’t know about other Persian-speaking countries, such as Tajikistan, and cities such as Bukhara and Samarqand, but I hope that they are still appreciating his poetry.

There has been little interest in his poetry in Arabic-speaking countries over the centuries, in spite of translations of Rumi’s "Masnavi" into Arabic. Rumi also composed many poems in Arabic, but these are little known in Arab countries.

RFE/RL: How do you explain the huge popularity of Rumi's poetry and that of other Muslim poets at a time when anti-Islamic sentiment in the West is on the rise? Does it make sense for people in the West to study Islamic culture as a phenomenon totally separate from political Islam?

Gamard: In spite of anti-Islamic sentiments, Islam continues to be the fastest-growing religion in the United States. At the same time, there continues to be a strong interest in Sufism, but this is because it is presented as a type of mysticism that is not dependent upon Islam and which transcends particular religions.

As you may know, Islam spread throughout such regions as Central Asia, Africa, and Indonesia by means of popularized forms of Sufism that were mildly Islamic until more traditional forms of Islam and Islamic Sufism were established later on. Similarly, there are popular Sufi movements in the U.S. that are attractive to Americans because they are only mildly Islamic. And this is a major reason why Rumi’s poetry is so popular, because it is presented in popularized versions, not faithful translations, in which Rumi is depicted as a mystic who is only slightly Islamic.

And this is also why my book, "Rumi and Islam," which contains selected translations of Rumi’s praises of the virtues of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, has sold so poorly.

Many Americans love Rumi for his ecstatic spirituality about divine love, but they prefer that he not be a Muslim, or at least no more than minimally. Therefore, most Rumi books are marketed to satisfy the wish for maximum mysticism and minimal Islam.

Americans have little interest or sympathy for political Islam, but by reading even the most popularized Rumi books, Americans are learning about many traditional Muslim values and wisdom teachings.

RFE/RL: For the past few years, we've been observing a very disturbing tendency in Chechnya and Daghestan. Local governments there promote popular Islam that selectively borrows -- and sometimes grotesquely distorts -- the symbols and rituals of Sufism, even as it ignores its essence. Sufism is turning into state religion. Sufi sheikhs and prayer leaders are close to governments. Can Sufism be used in service of political authorities?

Gamard: This is something about which I know little. It seems to me that governments in Muslim countries that are working against traditional Islam, especially secular governments that are following the wishes of powerful non-Muslim countries, have been ruling Muslims for centuries by dividing them into so-called "good Muslims" and "bad Muslims" -- such as rich against poor, city dwellers against country dwellers, Westernized against traditional, non-Sufi against Sufi, Sunni against Shi’ite, PLO [Palestine Liberation Organization] against Hamas, and so on.

I have read that, in America, some university scholars of Middle Eastern studies once advised the U.S. government to arrange for the Sufis of Afghanistan to rule that country, based on the belief that Sufis are the opposite of "Islamists." But this is naive, because Sufis are Muslims, so, like other kinds of Muslims, they range from liberal to conservative.

We Muslims should not allow ourselves to be divided against each other by these manipulations. And Sufis should not allow themselves to be manipulated by such governments. Instead, they should focus on the essentials of Islamic Sufism, such as cultivating virtues, or akhlaaq, and engaging in the remembrance of God, Zikru‘llaah. They should avoid flamboyant displays and extravagant claims.

RFE/RL: You converted to Islam in 1984. How did that happen? When did you realize that you wanted to become Muslim?

Gamard: I was raised a Christian and my strongest belief was expressed by a quote from the Bible, where Jesus -- peace be upon him -- said, "O God, not my will be done, but Your will be done." So I was already a Muslim, but I didn’t know it. Then in college, I studied mysticism, which is about spiritual states of consciousness that are beyond the ordinary mind and intellect.

A few years later, I realized that I was more attracted to Sufism than any other kind of mysticism I had studied. At the time, however, I didn’t understand that Sufism is the mystical dimension of Islam.

More than 10 years later, after I had studied more about Islam, I finally accepted that real Sufis had always been devout Muslims and that if I was sincere about wanting to become a Sufi, I should convert to Islam. I did and soon fell in love with the namaz prayers. And because I had been learning Persian for some years by then, I found it easy to learn enough Arabic to read the holy Koran.

RFE/RL: You are well known not only as the author of many books but also as a sheikh in the Mevlevi order. Could you please explain your spiritual practice?

Gamard: This is something about which I feel rather private. But I will say that my basic practice every day is to do the five namaz prayers and to repeat the name of God in my heart as much as I am able throughout the day -- as the Koran says, "Remember God with much remembrance."

Then, as I have the time, I make improvements to my Rumi/Mevlevi website, read verses from Mevlana Rumi in Persian, and read or listen to verses from the Koran in Arabic.

RFE/RL: In 2007, you became a Mevlevi sheikh. Could you please describe the rite of initiation?

Gamard: It occurred in stages. First, I was in Istanbul at a Mevlevi gathering at a historic Mevlevi center when there was a cell phone call from the leader of our order, who is the 22nd generation direct descendent of Mevlana Rumi. I was told that he had just given me authorization to be a Mevlevi sheikh.

By the time of my next visit to Istanbul, a calligraphy of the authorization -- or ijaazat -- to me had been written in Ottoman Turkish script and signed by our leader, which was given to me. Then there was a simple ceremony in the upstairs room of a mosque in which an elder Mevlevi initiated me as a sheikh, on the order of our leader.

I wore the Mevlevi black mantle and we sat on our knees on the carpet, facing each other. Then he recited verses from the Koran in Arabic and the sheikh’s initiation prayer in Turkish, and then he put the sheikh’s turban on my head. Thus, we sat as equals, unlike the traditional Mevlevi disciple’s initiation ceremony, in which the disciple sits lower on the floor and places his head on the sheikh’s knee. Then photographs were taken and there was a short celebration.

During my next trip to Turkey, I spent most of Ramadan in Konya because it is a tradition for new sheikhs to go to there for a spiritual retreat of 18 days. During that time, my sheikh’s turban was placed under the covering of Mevlana Rumi’s tomb for 10 days for a blessing, or barakat, and I also did some acts of humble service, or khidmat, such as sweeping the outside courtyard and mopping part of the floor in front of Mevlana’s tomb.

RFE/RL: Is the internal hierarchy and structure of the Mevlevi order still the same today as it was centuries ago? If not, what are the main differences?

Gamard: The main differences are too many to describe here. The traditional hierarchy and structure had the full support of the Ottoman Empire for centuries. However, in 1925 the Turkish republic that replaced the Ottoman Turkish government declared that all Sufi orders, professions, and titles were illegal. All Mevlevi buildings, properties, and endowments were confiscated.

The famous Mevlevi Whirling Prayer Ceremony was allowed, starting in 1953, but as a performance on stage in order to celebrate Turkish culture and promote tourism. Because the ceremony must be led by a Mevlevi sheikh, wearing traditional garments, the Turkish government has allowed it.

Other than participating in the ceremony, and training people to do it, the activities of Mevlevi sheikhs are done privately and discreetly, and their meeting places -- like those of other Sufi groups in Turkey -- are called "educational" and "cultural" centers.

The traditional central authority has been very weakened, discipline has been lax, many traditions are not maintained as they should, and groups both inside and outside Turkey generally are too independent and unsupervised in regard to maintenance of standards of high quality.

The Mevlevi tradition has become seriously weakened and Sufi organizations are still illegal in Turkey.

[Visit Ibrahim Gamard's Website]

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Contact With God
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By Stefan Franzen, *Interview with the Pakistani Sufi Singer Faiz Ali Faiz "This Music Placates People"* - Qantara.de - Bonn, Germany
Wednesday, August 25, 2010

He is regarded as a successor to the great Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: Faiz Ali Faiz from Sharaqpur in Pakistan comes from a long line of qawwali musicians. He is the seventh generation of his family to practice the song form that aims to establish contact with God through ecstatic rapture. Stefan Franzen interviewed him

Faiz Ali Faiz, the music of the Sufi is practised across the entire Islamic world, from Senegal to Indonesia. How would you explain the special features of Pakistani Sufi music, qawwali, to a European?

Faiz Ali Faiz: Qawwali arose 700 years ago, when Muslim scholars and holy men came to the subcontinent. The music is performed by a vocal ensemble, accompanied by two harmoniums, rhythm instruments and in addition, we clap the rhythms while we sing. The texts exalt Sufi holy men and the Prophet.

The character of the music always depends considerably on the attitude and the emotions of the audience, as qawwali has both sacred and secular traits. It began life in the temples, but today it is also played in concert halls. But regardless of whether it is secular or divine, the message of qawwali is always love.

Sufis try to attain a state of ecstasy through music, a state of oneness with the highest power. How do they do this?

Faiz: During the song we use a constant rhythmic clapping and percussion instruments, we thereby create a cyclical structure and incessantly repeat sacred words and several verses from Sufi poetry. These sacred words are aimed directly at the listeners, who are invited to go into a trance together with us, the musicians.

The verses often express a yearning for a lover and the frustration at being separated from this person. How did this unusual tension between earthly and divine love come about?

Faiz: Sometimes the Sufis turn very directly to God, but sometimes they also employ a transliteration. In the end it is always Allah who is being addressed, either by name or between the lines. That also depends on the audience sitting in front of us: Although they may understand the music as addressing a beloved person, the original Sufi poetry texts are always directed at Allah.

The regions where qawwali is sung today are among the most dangerous in the world, places where fundamentalist tendencies are very strong. Can qawwali help to convey a peaceful image of Islam?

Faiz: Qawwali is absolutely the best way of propagating a peaceful coexistence between people, if it is given the space and opportunity to find complete expression in the midst of all these conflicts.

This music has the power to placate people.

When we make music or recite poetry, it goes straight to the heart of the people. Qawwali does not disseminate any sense of offence or threat at all.

You are often described as a successor to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the great qawwali singer who died in 1997. Do you feel honoured by this title or is your form of qawwali distinct from his, do you follow another method?

Faiz: When I started up my own qawwali group, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was without doubt our biggest influence. I was also tutored by a master who was a contemporary of his father.

How did your current project with the French musician Titi Robin come about?

Faiz: My record company Accords Croisés introduced me to Robin. We met in France, I listened to his music and immediately noticed its highly oriental flavour. I thought there was great potential there for a good co-project.

We put our commonalities to the test in a half-hour session, I recited a few verses and he played an accompaniment. Then we took it to the stage with my qawwali group and the audience loved us. That encouraged us to turn it into a large-scale project.

Have you altered traditional ways of playing in your cooperation with Robin?

Faiz: Titi Robin wrote the music and as it turned out, I didn't have to change much in my traditional style to integrate myself into the pieces. There are a few passages in the compositions in which I have tried to integrate slight changes, modifications. They are semi-classical passages that always remain in qawwali style.

Five years ago you were involved in another transcultural programme, the qawwali flamenco project, and you've also sung with American gospel musicians. Is qawwali a music that harmonises well with other cultures?

Faiz: The spiritual musicians who devised qawwali 700 years ago established a style that is very receptive and accessible to other genres. We can integrate semi-classical music from northern India, the Tumri, sing Sufi poetry known as Kafi, and also love poetry known as Ghazal into qawwali. That's why qawwali is, more than other styles from the subcontinent, well suited to play a major role in a world music context.

And as my experience working together with international musicians has shown, language becomes secondary to the creative process. I don't speak the same language as the flamenco musicians, and I also don't speak the same language as Thierry Robin.

But through music we get along just fine.

Picture: "Unusual tension between earthly and divine love": Faiz Ali Faiz and company at Millennium Park, Chicago, USA.
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Monday, August 30, 2010

“Desire Machines”
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By Muhammad Anis, *Sufism and rise of spirituality* - The Jakarta Post - Jakarta, Indonesia
Tuesday, August 24, 2010

The term urban sufism became popular after Julia Day Howell (2003) used it in an anthropological study of the spiritual movement, which blossomed in urban areas in Indonesia, especially the zikir (religious chant) groups and the like.

Indeed, spiritualism never dies. Not only because it is inherited from one generation to another in a community that still holds this tradition, but also because it appears in the center of culture that is actually heading fast in a completely different direction. It unexpectedly pops up here and there, amid urban modern materialism.

Prosperity, technological advances, the ease in organizing everyday life and increasing competition have created pressure that is sometimes intolerable.

Instant and fast-paced lifestyles, including consumption of food that is unhealthy, lacking time to maintain togetherness with family and friends and ecological damage are precisely the results of modern people who are alienated from themselves.

It was described nicely by Albert Camus, who called it a phenomenon of absurdity in the portrait of modern society, where people feel alienated in this nature. It is mentioned in the legend of Sisyphus, who was punished by gods to push a stone up a mountain, but each time it almost reached the top, the rock rolled down again.

As a result, Sisyphus was only involved in a lifetime of work in vain. Sisyphus’ punishment is a metaphor for modern life, where people spend their time in a futile cycle of activity, which herds them into self-imbalance.

As a result, some of them choose a shortcut to get out of that pressure through deviant ways, such as by consuming drugs and liquor. They can also commit suicide.

However, not rarely, some choose the path of spirituality, including establishing or joining a new spiritual community and religion. This is termed by John Naisbitt as a symptom of high-tech high-touch.

According to him, the rise of spirituality is an inevitable symptom in a community that has experienced the process of modernization as a reaction to an increasingly secular life.

Komaruddin Hidayat explains that there are at least four viewpoints as to why sufism grows in big cities. First, sufism is demanded by the urban community as a means to find the meaning of life. Second, sufism becomes a means of intellectual struggle and enlightenment. Third, sufism can also be a means of psychological therapy. Fourth, sufism follows the trends and development of religious discourse.

Of course, this phenomenon of urban spirituality is exciting. But, on the other hand it can be of concern as well. Sufism and spirituality are considered mere escapism.

Therefore, it is not surprising that the corrupt official is also active in spiritual activities, even capable of sobbing. This is actually dangerous, because they assume that by acting like this their sins can be cleaned, so they continue being corrupt.

Once again, their goal in participating in spiritual activities is not to improve, but rather merely to reassure themselves.

Another concern relates to the existence of these spiritual classes in the metropolis community that is strongly influenced by post-modernity. This is because post-modernism is often regarded as a culture that contains paradoxes and self-contradictions, which can lead to the paradox of spirituality itself.

On the one hand, the spirituality discourse can be the goalkeeper for “the sanctity of soul” in a community full of turmoil of boundless passion disposal.

But, on the other hand, spirituality can also be of concern as people can be trapped in the mechanism of “desire machines” of post-modern society as it is not impossible that the proliferation of this spiritual community is not more than a mere commercialization and capitalization of spirituality.

Still, all this certainly needs further study.

The writer is a doctoral candidate in Islamic Political Thought, Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, Jakarta.
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Sunday, August 29, 2010

Pervasive And Universal
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By IBNA Editor, *Battling against hypocrisy and pretense was Hafez ideal* - Iran Book News Agency - Tehran, Iran
Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Hafez, from the viewpoint of Lewisohn:

Iranian mysticism and Sufism expert, Leonard Lewisohn recognizes Hafiz as a poet who has battled hypocrisy and pretense.

According to his belief, none of the poets of the past and today in Persian or European countries have been able to reflect Hafez poetries' features as professional as him.

Leonard Lewisohn said: "None of the poets has fought against hypocrisy and pretense as Hafiz did. These features are what in fact make the political and social dimensions of Hafiz personality".

He considered Hafiz as the poet who was affected by all the previous poets, and explained: "It is impossible to find even a line of Hafiz poetry which does not remind us, the precious point views of Khaghani, Attar, Sanae’i, and neither Rumi, nor it does reflect an image of Khajooy-e- Kermani and Salman Savoji in it."

Calling Hafiz as a pervasive and universal poet, Lewisohn specified: "In Persian literature we have the tradition of similar writing, scholarism and replying, all of which are employed in his lyrics in a best way."

He continued: "After him, there were a lot of poets who tried to answer Hafiz lyrics, but none of the great poets, like Sa’eb Tabrizi or Bidel Dehlavi, could reflect the rhymes and imaginative pictures of Hafiz in their poems, as professional as Hafiz could."

The Sufism expert reminded: "Among the modern vanguard poets no poet was able to compete with Hafiz. Even in other Persian language countries like Afghanistan and Tadzhikistan.

Referring to the theosophic aspect of Hafiz poems, he specified: "The theosophic aspect of Hafiz lyrics are admirable. In fact, the gnostic concepts of Quran, Bible, and Sufis’ texts and epistles are deeply and stylistically, expressed in his poems."

In relation to Hafiz position among Europeans, Lewisohn stated: "In the 19th century, Hafiz obtained a special place in Germany, when Goethe translated Hafiz Divan in 1813. The German scholar has composed his West-Eastern Divan in adulation of Hafiz; and dedicated to him Goethe calls himself “Hafiz's apprentice”."

He then talked about Ralph Waldo Emerson, the American philosopher, lecturer and essayist, as the one who has introduced Hafiz in America, through translating more than 400 lines of Hafiz verses and explained: "Emerson was really fond of Saa'di and resembled his words with those of the Bible and other holy texts. He is the father of American literature, and one of the most famous essayists who has written several essays in admiration of Hafiz, in which he pointed out to Hafiz school freedom."

The Sufi literature expert pointed out to the book “Hafiz; the master of Persian poem”, written by Parvin LowLowei, and said: "This book was published about 5 years ago. It introduced all the translators of Hafiz verses since 250 years ago up to now. For example there are 35 translators, who have rendered Hafiz Divan first lyric. This figures show the high special position of Hafiz in the west and western literature."

He added:"Despite such a background, Hafizology is not as popular in the west as it deserves, because his language is too difficult to be understood easily, and is full of complicated allegories and allusions."

The Persian literature expert talked about publishing the first volume “Mollana Roomi” journal and continued: "2 months ago, the magazine's debut was celebrated in the presence of representatives from Afghanistan, Tadzhikistan, Turkey and the Cultural Adviser of Iran."

Lewisohn finally added: "This is the first time that an English journal is published on an Iranian poet. Of’ course, efforts have been made for the journal, to be both completely academic and attractive, in order to encourage the young readers to read it."
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Saturday, August 28, 2010

The Virtues Of Poverty
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By WB News Desk, *Missing works of Turkish sufi Haci Bektas Veli found in British museum* - World Bulletin - Istanbul, Turkey
Monday, August 23, 2010

Haci Bektasi Veli's Fatiha Commentary, which was one of his missing works, was found in the British Museum Library.

In addition to this valuable commentary, there was another work of Haci Bektasi Veli named Forty Hadith Commentary missing as well.

Assistant Professor Nurgul Ozcan prepared the book for publication.

The book Forty Hadith Commentary is an excellent door to develop an understanding of Haci Bektasi Veli's Sufi world. Throughout history writing a translation or commentary on "forty hadith" has continued on as an important tradition of Turkish scholars and poets.

Important names like Ali Sir Nevâî, Fuzûlî, Nev'î, Nabi, Âsik Celebi, Sadreddin Konevi, and İbrahim Hakki Bursevi have written highly valuable works on this subject. Among these valuable works in Turkish literature is Haci Bektasi Veli's Forty Hadith Commentary.

Prepared for publication for the first time by Nurgul Ozcan, the book was released by Fatih University Publication.

The story behind the book's publication sounds a lot like a detective novel, Cihan news agency said. The story dates back to the years when Assistant Professor Huseyin Ozcan, who is a lecturer at Fatih University's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, was still a student in college.

During the course of his college education, Ozcan began researching the Fatiha Commentary with the encouragement of his professor Abdurrahman Guzel. He went to England in 2008 and searched for this book in every library he visited. While reviewing the manuscripts in the British Museum Library he came across a copy of the commentary and another work named Makalat.

In addition to the Fatiha commentary, Ozcan found another missing work of Haci Bektasi Veli named Firty Hadith Commentary. In the first section of the book, Nurgul Ozcan provides information on the life and works of Haci Bektasi Veli.

Noting that the works of Haci Bektasi Veli need to be studied in order to understand him Ozcan said "The works of Haci Bektasi Veli which consists of Sufistic conversations between the mürsit (mentor) and his disciples (murid), which there are broad examples of in the Sufi tradition, are the main sources that directly reflect his ideas."

Ozcan explains that scholars and poets write commentaries on forty hadith for the purposes of obtaining the Prophet's intercession, to find peace in the world, to be remembered with blessings, to find salvation in the hear after, to go to heaven, and to be free of troubles.

According to Ozcan, Turks have shown the most interest in translations on forty hadith.

The second part of the book is on the forty hadith tradition in Turkish literature and works that have been written in this area. There is also a review of hadith included in other works written by Haci Bektasi Veli.

Haci Bektasi Veli's commentary on forty hadith was written approximately in the 14th century. The commentary, which consists of 19 pages and is written in naskh calligraphy with vowel markings, includes forty hadith that explains the concept of poverty as a dervish.

The main topics of Haci Bektasi Veli's Forty Hadith is the importance of the concept of poverty, the virtues of poverty, the rewards of helping those who are poor and the punishments for those who despise the poor.

At the end of the book, there is an original and Turkish translation of the Forty Hadith.
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Friday, August 27, 2010

Certo A Lui Torniamo
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[From the Italian language press]:

L'addio a Gabriele Mandel, intellettuale sufi e artista. La preghiera nella moschea di via Padova. Esperto d'arte islamica, celebri le sue incisioni e ceramiche. Era nato a Bologna nel 1924.

Redazione Online, *L'addio a Gabriele Mandel, intellettuale sufi e artista* - Corriere della Sera - Milano, Italy - venerdì 2 luglio 2010
-- Marina Montanaro, Thursday, August 26, 2010

Farewell to Gabriele Mandel, Sufi intellectual and artist. The prayer in the mosque in Via Padova. Expert in Islamic art, celebrated his engravings and ceramics. He was born in Bologna in 1924.

Milan: The Sufi intellectual Gabriele Mandel died on July 1st in Milan after a long illness.

He was the head of the Italian branch of the Jerrahi-Halveti Brotherhood, one of the most widespread in Turkey. A Farewell Prayer was held by his dervishes in the Sufi Mosque of via Padova, in Milan, on Friday afternoon.

A multifaceted intellectual, university lecturer, writer, painter, psychologist, archaeologist and violinist, Professor Gabriele Mandel was born of Turkish-Afghan descent in Bologna, Italy.

Commander of the Republic for his merits in the field of culture and art, he was awarded the "Plaque of Gold" and "Golden Ambrogino" by the City of Milan. As a painter, engraver and ceramist Shaykh Gabriele Mandel has exhibited in numerous museums and public institutions worldwide.

He published nearly two hundred books about psychology, art and world religions, many of which about Sufism, setting a standard for the vocabulary of Sufism in the Italian language.

Shaykh Gabriele Mandel also edited the complete Mathnawi (in six volumes, ed. Bompiani) translated by his wife, Nûr Carla Cerati Mandel, and translated the Qur'an into Italian. His Qur'an [Il Corano, ed. UTET, 2006] is an outstanding translation (with extensive commentary) and the only edition of the Qur'an in Italian with the Arabic parallel text. It is available both as an illustrated edition and as a paperback.

The Qur'an translation is dedicated to the memory of Gabriele Mandel's own Shaykh, Si Hamza Boubakeur (d. 1995), Dean of the Islamic University and Imam of the Grande Mosquée (Great Mosque) of Paris, France.

A fatherly figure for all Italian sufis, Shaykh Gabriele Mandel was a great pacemaker with a strong and gentle presence in the media, and has been the guide of a very popular italian musician, singer and songwriter, Franco Battiato.

The funeral was privately held on Friday morning and his body rests in Milan, in the cemetery of Bruzzano.

***

The Editors of Sufi News and Sufism World Report offer their condolences and express their heartfelt sympathy to the family and to the dervishes of Prof. Dr. Shaykh Gabriele Mandel Khan.

إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ

Certo, siamo di Dio e, certo, a Lui torniamo. [Surely we belong to God and to Him we shall surely return.]
Qur'an 2:156.

***

Il Corano, Introduzione di Khaled Fouad Allam, traduzione e apparati critici di Gabriele Mandel. Testo a fronte. Edizioni UTET.

Mathnawi. Il poema del misticismo universale. Edizioni Bompiani.

Picture: Shaykh Prof. Dr. Gabriele Mandel. Photo: Olycom.
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Thursday, August 26, 2010

In Our Daily Lives
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By Candra Malik, *Sufism Whirls Into Hearts of Indonesian Muslims* - Jakarta Globe - Jakarta, Indonesia
Sunday, August 22, 2010

Muhammad Revaldi, a professional photographer, was in his 20s when he realized that his spiritual needs were not being fulfilled by the regular sermons delivered by the clerics at his mosque.

“[Mosque preachers] are quick to point fingers at injustice and wrongdoings by people of different faiths,” said Revaldi, now 33. “I frequently heard them call people of different faiths apostates or infidels, [and] that we, the Muslims, must bring them back to the Islamic way of life by any means,” he said.

This kind of preaching by narrow-minded religious leaders, Revaldi said, is why violence carried out in the name of Islam is widespread.

Troubled and searching for peace of mind, he went from mosque to mosque, mostly in Jakarta and neighboring cities, listening to different imams and preachers to see if any of them could answer his questions regarding faith. “I also engaged in discussions with Islamic teachers and friends about my restlessness in living the Islamic way,” he said. At one point he decided to stop looking and just practice his religion as he was always told, following its dos and don’ts.

But in 1999, a chance invitation to meet a visiting spiritual leader from the United States became a turning point in Revaldi’s life. Without no expectations he dropped by the home of a Muslim scholar in Cawang, East Jakarta. There he met Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani, one of the world’s most revered Sufis.

Sufism is a path of Islam that is heavily tied to mysticism, humility and asceticism, and can involve practices such as singing, meditation and ecstatic dancing in its adherents’ quest to become closer to God.

The form of worship, often described as the internalization of Islam, began in South Asia roughly 1,000 years ago. It has since spread around the world, adopted by those attracted to its moderate teachings and message of acceptance and tolerance for people of different faiths.

After speaking with Kabbani, Revaldi was convinced. He took an oath and became a member of the Naqshbandi-Haqqani Sufi order, one of many orders around the world. “I held the Shaykh’s hand when I was told to recite the syahadat [Muslim declaration of belief in Allah as the one true God]. That’s all it took,” he said.

“Since then I have furthered my study of Islam and devoted myself as a Sufi.” “[Kabbani] said he never refused anyone who came to him to study Islam,” Revaldi said. “He was of the belief that there was always divine intervention in any meeting between people. I could feel something was about to change after our meeting. I believed what he said and I was able to make sense out of it.”

He was especially drawn to Sufism’s tolerance and respect for other beliefs. “We are not told to spread the teachings, but we are obliged to practice them in our daily lives. Respecting nature and people regardless of what they believe in are just among the teachings,” he said.

Revaldi is just one of hundreds of thousands of Muslims in Indonesia who have joined the Sufi order, which was established and opened to the public here in 2000.

In an interview with the Jakarta Globe during a visit to Jakarta in July, Kabbani said he began his activities in Indonesia in 1997 with only a handful of people. Over the course of a decade, the order has opened branches in five major cities in the country.

Kabbani was born in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1945 to parents who devoted themselves to being dervishes, another name for followers of Sufism. After graduating from the American University of Beirut’s School of Chemistry, Kabbani continued his studies at the University of Leuven in Belgium, earning a medical degree. He also attended Al-Azhar University in Damascus, Syria, to study Islamic law.

Currently living in Fenton, Michigan, with his wife and four children, Kabbani regularly travels around the United States and the world to deliver lectures on Islam. He has also taught classes on the subject at the University of Chicago, Columbia University in New York and McGill and Concordia universities in Canada.

“Wherever I go, I spread the Sufi teachings about the brotherhood of mankind, about belief in God, values that are present in all religions and spiritual paths. I direct my efforts to bring the diverse spectrum of religions and spiritual paths into harmony,” he said.

In short, he said, such harmony can only be achieved through love and compassion for one another. “But everything must come from the individual. If there is no love and compassion inside, how can we expect people to spread it to others?”

Sufi teachings are not only spiritual lessons learned through discussion and prayer, but they also seek to place the body and mind in harmony through physical movement such as dance. In the Naqshbandi-Haqqani order, the signature teaching device is the use of the dance of the whirling dervish. The dance was first introduced by Jalaludin Rumi, a legendary Persian Sufi and poet who lived from 1207 to 1273.

“The dance contains within it a spiritual concept. It is an intuitive method to guide each individual, opening his mind to meet his Creator,” Kabbani said.

He likened the movement of the body during the dance to electrons spinning around the earth.

“The whirling dance moves counterclockwise. It is like returning to nature to be reborn as a lover,” he said.

The spinning dance, according to Kabbani, is part of the sema , a ceremony designed to induce religious ecstasy so one can listen to the sound of the universe. In 2007 the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization declared Rumi’s creation as one of the world’s cultural heritages.

It takes about four months of strictly regimented daily practice before a Sufi can skillfully perform the dance. “Of course, it gave us headaches at first. That’s the ego that must be defeated. By remembering that we spin solely to glorify our Creator, and bear that in mind, then it comes naturally — no headache,” said Syahdan Hutabarat, a member of the Rabbani Sufi Institute in Cinere, Depok.

The institute operates under the auspices of the Naqshbandi-Haqqani order. “Two times a week we dance it in the middle of a dhikr [prayer] gathering,” said Syahdan, who joined the order three years ago. Now a lawyer at the Aqwa Mulya Partnership in South Jakarta, Syahdan said that before he joined the order he was “such a bully who liked to settle problems with muscle and swear words.”

“I left all that behind and now I can see everything with a clear head and eyes,” he said, laughing.

Iman Suyoto, an analyst programmer, joined the Sufi order in Jakarta before moving to Australia in 2002 to be a lecturer at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

“I was fascinated by the description of Islam by [Kabbani] in his book ‘Angels Unveiled.’ It somehow moved me to join and become a dervish,” he said.

His study and practice of Sufism also aided in his musical compositions, Iman said. He has since released an album, titled “Vision,” which is a blend of jazz and classical music. “My music is best for meditation.” Iman said that before he joined the Sufi order, he found the Islamic guidance he received at school, in the mosque and from his family to be frightening because it was filled with threats and punishments if one did not follow the rules. Embracing Sufism is “a decision I will never regret,” said Iman, still an active dervish in Melbourne.

Revaldi is still active in the religion. During the day he looks like any other young Jakartan in jeans and a T-shirt, but he trades them for a long robe and turban when he attends Sufi gatherings.

He said his religion had remained largely a personal matter that never spilled over into his professional life. “I have clients to serve and they know me only as a photographer. I never try to persuade them to follow what I believe,” Revaldi said.

“What you believe is your right as an individual. Religion is a private matter.”

Picture: Sufi whirling dervishes taking part in a sema ceremony in Indonesia as a means of getting closer to God. Photo: JG/Candra Malik.
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Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Here Is Honey
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By Jesse Kornbluth, *The Essential Rumi translated by Coleman Barks* - Head Butler - New York, NY, USA
Thursday, August 19, 2010

The greatest Muslim poet was born in what is now Afghanistan, back when Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists lived peacefully together.

His funeral lasted 40 days, and he was mourned by Christians, Jews, Muslims, Persians and Greeks. Okay, Rumi was born in 1207 and died in 1273. That turns out to have been a turbulent era --- but there’s not a word about discord in his poems.

And there’s no record of any criticism coming his way because he was a Sufi and a scholar of the Koran. Indeed, at his funeral, Christians proclaimed, “He was our Jesus!” while Jews cried, “He was our Moses!” Both were right. Rumi belongs to everyone.

And always will. It makes perfect sense that this 13th century Muslim is now said to be the best-selling poet in 21st century America. The ultimate reason, of course, is the poetry itself. But first, let’s set the poetry into the life….. His father was rich, a Sufi mystic and theologian. There's a famous story of Rumi, at 12, traveling with his father. A great poet saw the father walking ahead and Rumi hurrying to keep up. "Here comes a sea followed by an ocean," he said.

Rumi studied, became a noted scholar. Then, when he was 37, he met Shams of Tabriz, a thorny personality. But Shams was God-intoxicated; nothing else mattered. And so their meeting was catalytic. As Rumi said: “What I had thought of before as God I met today in a human being.”

He dropped everything to be with Shams. Then Shams disappeared. Later, he reappeared --- only to be murdered, probably by Rumi’s jealous son. But by then Rumi was also God-obsessed, and he understood: Between lovers, there can be no separation:

Why should I seek?
I am the same as he.
His essence speaks through me.
I have been looking for myself.


Rumi produced 70,000 verses --- but he never actually wrote a poem. Pressed by a friend to record his thoughts, he pulled out some lines he'd scribbled. “More!” begged Husameddin Celebi. Rumi's response: “Celebi, if you consent to write for me, I will recite." And Rumi began to dictate.

It was quite the process, with Rumi sometimes calling out poems as he danced. As Celebi would write: "He never took a pen in his hand while composing. Wherever he happened to be, whether in the school, at the hot springs, in the baths or in the vineyards, I would write down what he recited. Often I could barely keep up with his pace, sometimes, night and day for several days. At other times he would not compose for months, and once for two years there was nothing. At the completion of each book I would read it back to him, so that he could correct what had been written."

As a poet, Rumi was as clear as he was deep. His story-poems are riddles you can solve. His poems are little telegrams, straight from his heart to yours. Whatever it cost him to write is hidden. His point is:

Here is honey. Taste. Eat.

And is there ever nourishment in his work! Consider:

No matter how fast you run,
your shadow more than keeps up.
Sometimes it's in front.
Only full, overhead sun diminishes your shadow.
But that shadow has been serving you!
What hurts you, blesses you.
Darkness is your candle.
Your boundaries are your quest.

Don't mistake straightforward speech for simplicity; Rumi is as brain-busting as Zen. For example:

Why do you stay in prison
when the door is so wide open?

Which reminds me of a story Rumi tells: A friend sends a prayer rug to a man in prison. What the man wanted, however, was a key or file --- he wanted to break out. Still, he began to sit on the rug and pray. Eventually he noticed an odd pattern in the rug. He meditated on it --- and realized it was a diagram of the lock that held him in his cell. Escape came easily after that.....

Escape comes more easily after you read these poems. You may well find yourself, like Rumi, saying:

Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing?
I have no idea.
My soul is from elsewhere, I'm sure of that.
And I intend to end up there.
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Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Spiritual Reflection
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By Atika Shubert, *Inside Muslim summer camp in southern Spain* - CNN Belief Blog - USA
Wed. August 18, 2010

Islam is often called the fastest growing religion in Europe, thanks to the tremendous growth in migration and a galloping birth rate in Muslim communities.

But Islam is not new to Europe. The religion has been a part of the European cultural fabric for hundreds of years.

You can see it in the majestic Islamic architecture that graces the landscape of southern Spain. It thrives in the Muslim majority nations of Bosnia and Albania. And, of course, there is Turkey, the bridge between Europe and the Middle East.

Then there are the growing Muslim communities that have come from abroad to settle in Europe: Pakistani and Bengali-run shops are commonplace on the streets of London; the many dialects of Arabic from Morocco to Somalia compete to be heard from Stockholm to Amsterdam.

It’s clear that a “European Islam” is emerging from the interaction of all these communities.
In Spain, “new Muslims”–converts to Islam–are clustered in the country's southern Andalusia region. They practice a more liberal interpretation of Sufi Islam that takes its inspiration from Spain’s Muslim history.

I got the chance to spend two nights at Al-Madrassa, an Islamic center founded by new Muslims in Andalusia's Alqueria de Rosales. Every year, the center host a two-week summer camp for kids of all faiths aged 8-16.

This year, the last two days of camp coincided with the beginning of Ramadan. For many of the younger children, it was an opportunity to try fasting for the first time.

We got up before sunrise for a bleary-eyed breakfast of honeyed doughnuts and coffee at the canteen and then quickly made our way to the mosque for prayer at dawn.

At prayer, I couldn’t help but notice how children here looked like any other streetwise kids you would see in Europe. One had a tilted baseball cap that he quickly removed; a set of flashy white headphones permanently hung from his neck. The girls chose to cover their heads with brightly coloured scarves inside the mosque, but fashionably wrapped the cloth around their shoulders when they left.

Their daily routine was much like any other camp, with a few modifications: Archery lessons mid-morning, Arabic class in the afternoon. Sometimes, they did ceramics learning how to make the famous Moorish tiles of Southern Spain. Other times, they headed outdoors for horse-riding, hiking or camping.

During Ramadan fasting, there was plenty of down time for kids, conserving their energy during the hottest time of the day.

The call to prayer sounded five times a day, but children were not required to be at every one. Non-Muslim children did not participate in the prayer, but sometimes lingered in the mosque to join their friends before and after.

The kitchen remained open for anyone who wanted to eat or drink during Ramadan fasting, including Muslim children. The idea was not to force anyone to participate in the fasting but to encourage spiritual reflection, even if only for a few hours.

“This place is about learning and understanding. Above all, this is the most important to us,” Abdussamad Antonio Romero the camp’s director told me.

He and his wife are Muslim converts and they founded Al-Madrasa 17 years ago. The idea was to create a haven for a uniquely Spanish view of Islam that follows a liberal Sufi ideology of Islamic learning and tolerance of other faiths.

Al-Madrasa now has visitors from all over Europe, but also the U.S. and Canada and has become a popular stop on Muslim tours of Spain. It has quietly become one example of this “European Islam” now being forged.

I’ll be doing several stories for CNN’s Muslim in 2010 series looking at how Islam in Europe is growing. And Al-Madrasa, it seems, is a fine place to start.
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Monday, August 23, 2010

An Inner Meaning
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By Amira el-Noshokaty, *Living Sufism: A different Islam* - Al-Masry Al-Youm - Cairo, Egypt
Wednesday, August 18, 2010

In his latest book of photographs on his favorite topic, Nicolaas Biegman unveils the details of the enchanting world of Sufism.

*Living Sufism* (AUC 2009) effortlessly showcases the rich and deep philosophy of the main Sufi sects.

Sufism has always been an intriguing part of Islam. Sufis are known for their modesty, spirituality, and rejection of of materialism. Their eternal quest to purify their souls and reach the utmost truth continues to attract millions of followers worldwide. Egypt’s 15 million Sufis are divided into some 70 sects.

The opening lines of this documentation of Sufi rituals state that “this book is about a different Islam.”

As opposed to fundamentalist Islamists who are exclusive, politicized, and vociferous, “wedded” to their literal interpretation of the holy text, Sufis are “mystics within Islam who are in love with God. Rather than clinging to the letter, they believe in an inner meaning of texts and rituals. They respect different creeds and opinions and they abhor violence. Music and rhythmic movement are an essential part of the rituals that allow them to draw closer to God.”

In addition to being an accomplished photographer, Nicolaas Biegman holds a PhD in Balkan History, is an expert on Islam, a Goodwill ambassador to the United Nations Development Funds (UNFPA), and a member of Netherlands Foreign Service. Having lived in Egypt in the 60s and 80s, Biegman instantly fell in love with the Sufi world.

This panoramic view of Sufi rituals covers the Middle East and the Balkans, and is a treat for those interested in either Sufism or photography. With an eye for details and a short but thorough accompanying text, this book zooms into the faces of Sufis from very different backgrounds.

From Belbies, Egypt, where Sheikh Zaher al-Rifaa’i is the head of the Refaa’i Sufi sect, to Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

These photos were taken with a loving eye that managed to capture the essence of the human spirituality of Sufis in their endless quest to God.

Angles and light tones captured their movement, making them floating and quite vivid; the serenity and ease of Biegman’s lens was able to effectively capture the subjects while maintaining the photographer’s position as among the “respectful outsiders.”

This book adds to Biegman’s catalogue of great photography books on Egypt and Sufis. In 1990, he published a book of photographs called “Egypt: Moulids, Saints, and Sufis,” which was translated into Arabic last year.

The book is available at AUC bookstores.
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Sunday, August 22, 2010

The Flying Shams
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By TE/HGH, *Konya to host Iran play on Mowlavi* Press TV - Tehran, Iran
Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Iranian theater director Pari Saberi has been invited to stage her Flying Shams in Konya, where the Sufi Persian poet, Mowlavi has been laid to rest.

The play will be performed on the birth anniversary of the world-renowned poet, Saberi told Mehr News Agency.

The award-winning director has also been invited by the cultural office of Iran's East Azarbaijan Province to stage The Flying Shams in the cities of Tabriz and Khoy.

The Flying Shams, which has been staged in many countries, recounts the story of Mowlavi and his spiritual guide Shams Tabrizi.

Saberi was born in 1932 and studied at Vaugirard Cinematography College in France. She has staged many plays based on classical Persian literary works.

Bijan and Manijeh, Rustam and Sohrab, and Mourning of Siavash are among Saberi's better-known works.

She has received UNESCO's 2003 Avicenna Award and the French Literature and Art Cavalier Badge from former French President Jacques Chirac.
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More Vocal
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By Anjum Jaleel, *Muslims are Failing to Call for Minority Rights in the Islamic Countries* - TAM The American Muslim - Bridgeton, MO, USA
Tuesday, August 17, 2010

It’s been quite interesting to read and hear all the rhetoric, for and against, on the community center that has been planned for near Ground Zero in New York – the site of an evil act that took place on September 11, 2001, in which over 3,000 innocent were brutally murdered, about 10% of them were Muslims.

Both sides have produced their arguments and some of them have clearly tried to politicize the issue for their own purpose.

But, in the spirit of self-criticism, as a Sufi Muslim who believes in the unity of religions, I would like to emphasize one issue on which the Muslim individuals and organizations do not say much.

And, it’s the issue of religious minority rights in the Muslim countries, especially, since one argument against the building of the community center in NY is that the Muslims do not allow the building of churches, synagogues, and temples in their own countries, especially in Saudi Arabia, so why should we?

Though this argument is also irrational – for America is a light unto other nations, a model for all humanity, and its freedoms and laws should not be dependent on the laws of the repressed, undemocratic, backwards Muslim countries, it is, nevertheless, a point which the Muslims must deeply reflect upon.

The fact of the matter is that Muslims living in the Muslim countries are generally intolerant towards their own minorities, and are even less tolerant towards members of other faiths. This usually comes from a lack of interactions with the religious minorities, myths and misconceptions about them and a sense of superiority as well as irrational fears.

The idea of a pluralistic Islamic society is alien to most of the so-called “practicing” Muslims living in the Muslim countries. Luckily, many Western Muslims have now discovered religious plurality in the original Islam and for which they are indebted to the Western influence.

For example, Ahmadi Muslims are a persecuted minority in Pakistan, and Muslim countries, like Saudi Arabia and U.A.E. – all American allies – are not very particular about allowing non-Muslims to build their places of worship in their countries.

At the very least, the individual Muslims and Muslim organizations, as well as the imams in the West, must become more vocal in favor of more religious rights for the minorities in the Islamic countries and even go a step farther and demand that they are allowed to build their places of worship and centers in the Muslims countries, are allowed to practice their religion peacefully and even allowed to promulgate their religions freely.

What is needed is a clear, organized and concerted efforts by the Muslims living in the West to fight for religious equality and freedoms for the non-Muslims and the Muslim minorities, like the Shi’as, the Ahmadis, Christians and Hindus in Pakistan, the Bahai’s, the Jews and Christians in Iran, the Sunnis and the Christians in Iraq, and the Shi’as, the Sufis, Christians, Jews, Hindus and Sikhs in Saudi Arabia and U.A.E.

Without that, I am afraid their demands for religious tolerance and equality here in the West are hypocritical and therefore ineffective.

The very first organization that should adopt my suggestion immediately is the organization that is planning for a community center near Ground Zero.

They need to become more vocal and demand the Muslim countries to allow the non-Muslims to build their places of worship in the Muslim countries.
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Saturday, August 21, 2010

Sow Flowers
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By William Dalrymple, *The Muslims in the Middle* - The New York Times - New York, NY, USA
Tuesday, August 17, 2010

New Delhi: President Obama's eloquent endorsement on Friday of a planned Islamic cultural center near the World Trade Center, followed by his apparent retreat the next day, was just one of many paradoxes at the heart of the increasingly impassioned controversy.

We have seen the Anti-Defamation League, an organization dedicated to ending “unjust and unfair discrimination,” seek to discriminate against American Muslims.

We have seen Newt Gingrich depict the organization behind the center — the Cordoba Initiative, which is dedicated to “improving Muslim-West relations” and interfaith dialogue — as a “deliberately insulting” and triumphalist force attempting to built a monument to Muslim victory near the site of the twin towers.

Most laughably, we have seen politicians like Rick Lazio, a Republican candidate for New York governor, question whether Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the principal figure behind the project, might have links to “radical organizations.”

The problem with such claims goes far beyond the fate of a mosque in downtown Manhattan.

They show a dangerously inadequate understanding of the many divisions, complexities and nuances within the Islamic world — a failure that hugely hampers Western efforts to fight violent Islamic extremism and to reconcile Americans with peaceful adherents of the world’s second-largest religion.

Most of us are perfectly capable of making distinctions within the Christian world. The fact that someone is a Boston Roman Catholic doesn’t mean he’s in league with Irish Republican Army bomb makers, just as not all Orthodox Christians have ties to Serbian war criminals or Southern Baptists to the murderers of abortion doctors.

Yet many of our leaders have a tendency to see the Islamic world as a single, terrifying monolith.

Had the George W. Bush administration been more aware of the irreconcilable differences between the Salafist jihadists of Al Qaeda and the secular Baathists of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, the United States might never have blundered into a disastrous war, and instead kept its focus on rebuilding post-Taliban Afghanistan while the hearts and minds of the Afghans were still open to persuasion.

Feisal Abdul Rauf of the Cordoba Initiative is one of America’s leading thinkers of Sufism, the mystical form of Islam, which in terms of goals and outlook couldn’t be farther from the violent Wahhabism of the jihadists.

His videos and sermons preach love, the remembrance of God (or “zikr”) and reconciliation.

His slightly New Agey rhetoric makes him sound, for better or worse, like a Muslim Deepak Chopra. But in the eyes of Osama bin Laden and the Taliban, he is an infidel-loving, grave-worshiping apostate; they no doubt regard him as a legitimate target for assassination.

For such moderate, pluralistic Sufi imams are the front line against the most violent forms of Islam. In the most radical parts of the Muslim world, Sufi leaders risk their lives for their tolerant beliefs, every bit as bravely as American troops on the ground in Baghdad and Kabul do.

Sufism is the most pluralistic incarnation of Islam — accessible to the learned and the ignorant, the faithful and nonbelievers — and is thus a uniquely valuable bridge between East and West.

The great Sufi saints like the 13th-century Persian poet Rumi held that all existence and all religions were one, all manifestations of the same divine reality. What was important was not the empty ritual of the mosque, church, synagogue or temple, but the striving to understand that divinity can best be reached through the gateway of the human heart: that we all can find paradise within us, if we know where to look.

In some ways Sufism, with its emphasis on love rather than judgment, represents the New Testament of Islam.

While the West remains blind to the divisions and distinctions within Islam, the challenge posed by the Sufi vision of the faith is not lost on the extremists.

This was shown most violently on July 2, when the Pakistani Taliban organized a double-suicide bombing of the Data Darbar, the largest Sufi shrine in Lahore, Pakistan’s second-largest city. The attack took place on a Thursday night, when the shrine was at its busiest; 42 people were killed and 175 were injured.

This was only the latest in a series of assaults against Pakistan’s Sufis. In May, Peeru’s Cafe in Lahore, a cultural center where I had recently performed with a troupe of Sufi musicians, was bombed in the middle of its annual festival. An important site in a tribal area of the northwest — the tomb of Haji Sahib of Turangzai, a Sufi persecuted under British colonial rule for his social work — has been forcibly turned into a Taliban headquarters. Two shrines near Peshawar, the mausoleum of Bahadar Baba and the shrine of Abu Saeed Baba, have been destroyed by rocket fire.

Symbolically, however, the most devastating Taliban attack occurred last spring at the shrine of the 17th-century poet-saint Rahman Baba, at the foot of the Khyber Pass in northwest Pakistan.

For centuries, the complex has been a place for musicians and poets to gather, and Rahman Baba’s Sufi verses had long made him the national poet of the Pashtuns living on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

“I am a lover, and I deal in love,” wrote the saint. “Sow flowers,/ so your surroundings become a garden./ Don’t sow thorns; for they will prick your feet./ We are all one body./ Whoever tortures another, wounds himself.”

Then, about a decade ago, a Saudi-financed religious school, or madrasa, was built at the end of the path leading to the shrine. Soon its students took it upon themselves to halt what they see as the un-Islamic practices of Rahman Baba’s admirers. When I last visited it in 2003, the shrine-keeper, Tila Mohammed, described how young students were coming regularly to complain that his shrine was a center of idolatry and immorality.

“My family have been singing here for generations,” he told me. “But now these madrasa students come and tell us that what we do is wrong. They tell women to stay at home. This used to be a place where people came to get peace of mind. Now when they come here they just encounter more problems.”

Then, one morning in early March 2009, a group of Pakistani Taliban arrived at the shrine before dawn and placed dynamite packages around the squinches supporting the shrine’s dome. In the ensuing explosion, the mausoleum was destroyed, but at least nobody was killed. The Pakistani Taliban quickly took credit, blaming the shrine’s administrators for allowing women to pray and seek healing there.

The good news is that Sufis, though mild, are also resilient. While the Wahhabis have become dominant in northern Pakistan ever since we chose to finance their fight against the Soviets in Afghanistan, things are different in Sindh Province in southern Pakistan. Sufis are putting up a strong resistance on behalf of the pluralist, composite culture that emerged in the course of a thousand years of cohabitation between Hinduism and Islam.

Last year, when I visited a shrine of the saint Lal Shahbaz Qalandar in the town of Sehwan, I was astonished by the strength and the openness of the feelings against those puritan mullahs who criticize as heresy all homage to Sufi saints.

“I feel that it is my duty to protect both the Sufi saints, just as they have protected me,” one woman told me. “Today in our Pakistan there are so many of these mullahs and Wahhabis who say that to pay respect to the saints in their shrines is heresy. Those hypocrites! They sit there reading their law books and arguing about how long their beards should be, and fail to listen to the true message of the prophet.”

There are many like her; indeed, until recently Sufism was the dominant form of Islam in South Asia. And her point of view shows why the West would do well to view Sufis as natural allies against the extremists. A 2007 study by the RAND Corporation found that Sufis’ open, intellectual interpretation of Islam makes them ideal “partners in the effort to combat Islamist extremism.”

Sufism is an entirely indigenous, deeply rooted resistance movement against violent Islamic radicalism. Whether it can be harnessed to a political end is not clear. But the least we can do is to encourage the Sufis in our own societies.

Men like Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf should be embraced as vital allies, and we should have only contempt for those who, through ignorance or political calculation, attempt to conflate them with the extremists.

William Dalrymple is the author, most recently, of “Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India.”

[Visit William Dalrymple Website]

Pictogram by Luba Lukova/NYT
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Friday, August 20, 2010

With Full Enthusiasm
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By Staff Reporter, *Nation observes Nusrat Fateh death anniversary with solemnity* - South Asian News Agency - Pakistan
Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Islamabad: Amid grief and sorrow, the nation observed the 13th death anniversary of world’s most leading vocalists and Sufi Qawwal Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan on Monday.

The nation prays to Allah almighty to rest his departed soul in eternal peace.

It merits a mention that the world’s top vocalist was born in 1948 in Faisalabad.

Nusrat made his maiden appearance as the leader of the Qawwali party at a studio recording broadcast as part of an annual music festival organized by Radio Pakistan. His song Haq Ali Ali hit a record with a traditional touch and nation still plays the same with full enthusiasm.

The Guinness Book of World Records says that Nusrat holds the world record for the largest recorded output by a Qawwali artist.

But unfortunately, Nusrat had developed a kidney and liver malady in 1997 in London.
An era ends when the God gifted Nusrat died of cardiac arrest in London in 1997.

[Picture: Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan in London, 1997. Photo: Wiki.]
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Music Never Dies
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By Staff Reporter, *The Sufi Touch unveiled* -Manchester evening News - Manchester, U.K.
Monday, August 16, 2010

Mumbai Rouge [Artist Management and Booking Service] and Movie Box have unveiled their latest joint project, a live Qawali band ‘The Sufi Touch' bringing Qawali back to the next generation.

Originating from a tradition more than 700 years old, Qawali presents mystical poetry and stories in Hindi and Urdu which is performed by professional musicians who perform in groups led by one or two solo singers.

Originally performed mainly at Sufi shrines throughout South Asia, Qawali music has also gained mainstream popularity and received international exposure through the work of the late Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

The Sufi Touch demonstrates how classical music never dies and aims to revive this dying art form which takes over ten years to master.

Leading The Sufi Touch is lead vocalist Hunterz who has over fifteen years of classical training from the most established Ustads from Pakistan and India and comes from a family of musical background which stems back many years.

The band was unveiled last week at the UK’s biggest media event of the year held by Rishi Rich Productions, Mumbai Rouge and Movie Box. In attendance to the event were some of the biggest names in the ethnic media industry including stars such as Preeya Kalidas, H-Dhami, Juggy D, Heera and Alaap.

This live Qawali band not only follows their classical route but will integrate new aged music with a twist. Engaging audiences of all ages the Sufi Touch will no doubt make their mark on the Asian Music Industry.
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Thursday, August 19, 2010

Close To Each Other
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By Gagandeep Ahuja, *VC lays foundation stone of “Baba Farid Centre for Sufi Studies”* - India News - India
Sat. August 14, 2010

Patiala: Dr Jaspal Singh, Vice-Chancellor of Punjabi University, Patiala, laid the foundation stone of “Baba Farid Centre for Sufi Studies” on the University campus here.

The first phase of the Centre will cost Rs 17 lakhs [USD 36'450.--] covering a plinth area of 2,000 sq feet [186 sq. m.] which will be later on expanded.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Jaspal Singh said that Centre will be devoted to carry out various tasks related to academics and scholarship in addition to holding seminars, conferences and workshops related to various aspects of Sheikh Farid life and his contribution in the field of religion and spiritualism.

The Centre, he said, will carry forward Baba Farid’s legacy of spreading the message of love and stamping out the menace of hatred that is spreading its tentacles all around the globe. The process of globalization, ironically, is strengthening and proliferating the cult of abhorrence and violence instead of bringing human beings close to each other, Dr Singh said.

The Centre, in collaboration with Sufi foundation of India, later arranged a kawaali programme in which noted kawaal Anwar Khan recited Sufi kalaams.

Dr Nashir Naqvi proposed vote thanks and presented his views about Baba Sheikh Farid.

Dean, Academic Affairs, Dr S.S. Tiwana, Registrar, Dr Manjit Singh, noted litterateur, Dr S.S. Noor, Chief Engineer, AJS Sandhu were also present on the occasion.

[Picture: Punjab University, Patiala, India]
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Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Vastness Of The Heart
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By Anne Barnard, *In Lower Manhattan, 2 Mosques Have Firm Roots* - The New York Times - New York, NY, USA
Friday, August 13, 2010

The Masjid Manhattan occupies a narrow basement with bare pipes snaking along the ceiling.

The congregants who filled up the mosque near City Hall on Thursday night were mainly men, from South Asia, West Africa and the United States, and a few women — who prayed behind a partition.

The feast provided for breaking the Ramadan fast, spicy curry over rice, came in plastic takeout containers from a nearby restaurant.

A few blocks away, at the Masjid al-Farah, the scene was somewhat different. Men and women sat together. The worshipers, devotees of the Sufi tradition of Islamic mysticism, came from an even wider array of countries and included a young man with multiple piercings and a shirt identifying him as an employee at Jivamukti Yoga.

The mosque, in a two-story building sandwiched between two bars — the neon-lighted Tribeca Tavern and the nouvelle-brasserie-type Cercle Rouge — has a pristine, high-ceilinged, white-painted interior decorated with stained glass and Arabic calligraphy.

The fast-breaking meal, or iftar, included baby spinach and goat cheese and aloe vera water passed around by the mosque’s female leader, Sheikha Fariha al-Jerrahi, who declared, “Good for the digestion.”

One mosque is conservative, and the other is reputed to be among the most progressive in the city — making the downtown Muslim community a quintessentially New York combination of immigrants and native New Yorkers, traditionalists and spiritual seekers.

But what the two mosques have in common — besides the sense of celebration and camaraderie that comes at the beginning of Ramadan, the holiest month of the Islamic calendar, in which Muslims fast from sunup to sundown, give alms and focus on self-improvement — is that both have existed for decades, largely unnoticed, blocks from the World Trade Center site.

Masjid Manhattan, on Warren Street, four blocks from ground zero, was founded in 1970. Masjid al-Farah, formerly on Mercer Street, moved to its present location on West Broadway, about 12 blocks from ground zero, in 1985. Both mosques — essentially one-room operations — routinely turn people away for lack of space.

When Masjid al-Farah moved into the neighborhood, the local Muslim community was tiny, said Sheikha Fariha. But it has expanded exponentially, especially with Muslims who work in the area, she said. Both mosques now welcome doctors, street vendors, real estate agents and service workers. The imam of the Masjid Manhattan has a day job in a nearby post office.

Lately, some of the spillover has been absorbed by prayer services held in the vacant Burlington Coat Factory store two blocks from the trade center site, by Imam Feisal Abdul al-Rauf, a longtime prayer leader at Masjid al-Farah. He plans to turn the site into a Muslim community center and mosque bitterly opposed by critics, who call it a “ground zero mosque,” and which was backed by President Obama on Friday night.

The uproar has perplexed, even alarmed, those who have long practiced Islam amid the neighborhood bustle of churches, government agencies, corporations, delis and sidewalk vendors.

Mariama Diallo, originally from Guinea, hurried down the stairs into Masjid Manhattan after finishing work at a nearby computer shop, knowing that if she tried to make it home to Queens before praying, she would miss the Maghrib, or evening prayer, and the breaking of the fast.

She spread out her prayer rug and was still praying when the imam’s call signaled the end of the fast. Just then, Shari Kareem, a student studying early childhood development at Borough of Manhattan Community College, and her mother, Seema, arrived. They took swigs straight from a gallon of Poland Spring water, helped themselves to dried dates and offered some to Ms. Diallo.

On the men’s side of the mosque, there was a minor moment of added excitement: a couple of arrivals, looking for free food and acting erratically, stepped clumsily across the mats on the floor where the food was laid out. The men deemed them to be high on drugs and firmly escorted them out.

Ms. Diallo said she came to the United States wanting “honest work — anything where I don’t have to cheat.” Not having had much time to immerse herself in the politics of her new country, she pronounced herself deeply puzzled as to why anyone would feel threatened by what goes on in a mosque.

“We have to pray to God. You’re following the religion,” she said. “You want to pray because it is in the book that you have to pray, and someday you will die.”

Referring to 9/11, she said that she, too, had “bad souvenirs.” (A native French speaker, she meant memories.) She remembered with awe a visit to the twin towers, lamented the deaths there, and said: “Killing people is a sin. Building the mosque over here, I don’t think that has to do with killing people.”

At Masjid al-Farah, Ali Mansour told of how he had drifted away from Islam as a young man in Egypt, but found it again through Sufism when the mosque started ordering from his deli down the block. He liked its “progressivism,” he said, adding that friends in Egypt sometimes tease him that American Muslims are “out of your mind” because of their nontraditional approach.

“Because this is a new country, it rejuvenates and revolutionizes everything,” he said. “Food, industry, philosophy and even religion.”

Soon, Sheikha Fariha started the zikr, the Sufi ritual of chanting and prayer, inviting the congregants to still their minds and drop “into the vastness of the heart that has no boundaries.”

“La illaha illa Allah,” they chanted again and again, turning from side to side in unison. “There is no god but God.”

[Visit the Nur Ashki Jerrahi Community in New York City]
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Tuesday, August 17, 2010

The Column Of Unity
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By IBNA, *Iranians cognize their culture's value* - Iran Book News Agency- Tehran, Iran

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

During the session held yesterday in the Philosophy Institute, Iranian mysticism and Sufism expert, Leonard Lewisohn said: "I am an American and I am interested in Iranian mysticism and Sufism. You, Iranians, are certainly aware of your culture's value but here is an advice from a stranger; don’t underestimate your great past heritage. Persian literature is like a half done wall, the rest of the wall should be built by others."

IBNA: Lewisohn delivered his lecture Tuesday evening in the Philosophy Institute. During the session he talked about the unity of religions in Persian language.

Talking about the similarities of phenomenology and Sufism he said:" Both the groups believe that research is a factor to reach belief, as they are similar in research and introspection." He said that the researchers of adaptation religions in the west adapt 8 principles of phenomenology with Iranian Sufism basics. The principles are; valuing description, explanation description, intellectual affairs description, quoting in parenthesis, empathy and sympathy, describing the phenomenal according to it, adaptation studies and methodic misunderstanding.

He went on to say that being against monopolization is among other similarities, he added.

Moreover reading a part of Ein-alqozat Hamedani book as a confirmation he added: "Henry Corbin has penned a 4 volume book, "About Iranian Islam, in which the similarities of Sufism and phenomenology is explained."

He went on to say that in Sufism 4 types of religion's unity exist of which "Unity of ethics romance" is one.

In order to confirm his words he read some of Sa'adi and Bayazid poems and texts.

He believes that Sufism is the column of unity which is explained in Golestan as well.

Talking about the subcategories of Romantic Unity he said that love religion could be another group and added: "Sufis believe that the religion is beyond all others."

Talking about subjective unity he said that even Rumi has considered such a matter. Moreover he has said that the ways to reach God is equal to the number of people.

Furthermore he said that according to Max Weber religion is human's relations alongside supernatural forces which is mostly revealed as prayers and language. But Sufis don’t think so.

Talking about another type of unity, Divine Unity he said that this is only related to Muslims; All Muslims are brothers.

During the modern life many wars and conflicts occur among a religion's followers. My words are not political but since Mansour Halaj Iran had a program which could create international understanding for Muslims.

Moreover he said that many Muslim countries undermine themselves while the freedom of words and dynamism of law existed in these countries following the Renascence era. Even George A. Makdisi has authored a book on the filed which unfortunately hasn’t been translated into Persian.

Finally he said that I am an American and I am interested in Iranian mysticism and Sufism. You, Iranians, are certainly aware of your culture's value but here is an advice from a stranger; don’t underestimate your great past heritage. Persian literature is like a half done wall, the rest of the wall should be built by others."

Lewisohn was one of the winners of the 15th edition of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s International Book of the Year Awards for his book “Attar and the Persian Sufi Tradition”.

Leonard Lewisohn is an Iran Heritage Foundation fellow and has been a lecturer in classical Persian and Sufi literature at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies of the University of Exeter in England since 2004.

Born in 1953, Lewisohn traveled to Iran in his 20’s as an English teacher, but his interest in Persian literature led him to study at the University of Shiraz. He later traveled to London to continue his studies in Persian literature at the School of Oriental & African Studies. He obtained his Ph.D. in Persian literature in 1988.

“The Angels Knocking on the Tavern Door, Thirty Poems of Hafez (2008, coauthored with Robert Bly), “The Heritage of Sufism” (1999) and “Beyond Faith and Infidelity” are some of his published books.
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Seventy Five Percent
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By N. S. Sasan / ANI, *Urs celebrated at Baba Thanpir's Dargarh in Poonch* - Sify News - India
Sunday, August 8, 2010

Urs, also known as Ziarat, was celebrated at the Dargah of Baba Thanpir, a Sufi saint in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district this weekend.

The festival marks communal amity in the valley. The aspect of communal harmony persisting here is evident from the existence of a Hindu temple and a Sikh Gurudwara within the premises of Baba Thanpir's shrine.

Hindus and Sikhs participate in the Urs with utmost devotion.

On Sunday, devotees offered the holy shroud at the shrine of the Sufi saint and participated in prayers that were held in the temple as well as the Gurudwara.

Baba Shafi, the caretaker of the shrine acknowledged the contribution of the Indian Army in the successful conduct of Urs.

"Since 1971, the Indian Army has been contributing about seventy five percent of the cost of this festival. The Indian Army has been helping us in every possible way. The 15 JAT (Regiment) offered us tents, generators and other requirements for the Baba's Urs festival," said Baba Shafi, the Muslim priest and caretaker of Baba Thanpir's Dargah.

Army personnel posted near the shrine also participated in offering prayers to the saints.

"Every person from different religion offered a holy blanket then every one came to the shrine and offered prayers and went to the Gurudwara and offered prayers together. And set an example of communal harmony today. I wish that we take an oath of Baba Thanpir that we set an example of brotherhood and unity in the country, so that we are able to live in peace," said Colonel A K Bhardwaj, Commanding Officer of 15 Jat Regiment.

What was common among the people present at the Urs was that all of them wished for peace and brotherhood in the country.
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Monday, August 16, 2010

“Dianggap Gila”
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By Jen Davis, *From Dust to Greatness* - The Jakarta Globe - Jakarta, Indonesia
Monday, August 9, 2010

The American-founded, Indonesia-based Sufi group Debu is always busy this time of year, but right now that has reached a fever pitch.

The members have just spent two weeks in Yogyakarta recording their annual series of 30 buka puasa pieces — music played during the evening meal when Muslims break their Ramadan fast — for the “Kulthum”show on TVOne.

Their fifth album, “Dianggap Gila” (“They Say You’re Crazy”), also dropped this week. And if that wasn’t enough, Debu is deep into planning an international tour later this year, building on its recent success at the outstanding — if somewhat muddy — 13th annual Rainforest World Music Festival in Sarawak, Malaysia.

The members of Debu are a part of a Sufi community that chose Indonesia as its home after a dream by its American founder, Shaykh Fattaah, who brought 50 members of his extended family here from the United States in 1999. After two years in Sulawesi, the group settled in Cinere, South Jakarta.

The word ‘‘debu” means dust in Indonesian and the band’s 28-year-old spokesman, Mustafa Daood, says the name was chosen as a humble reminder that “we are all, in the end, simply dust along the road.”

Despite the inherent humility in their name and concept, Debu’s members are outstanding musicians and excellent showmen. But one never gets the impression that their egos play any part in their performances. They are moderate Muslims spreading the message of love and peace and, whether in Turkey, Indonesia or Malaysia, audiences love them.

“The Sufi believe that the glorious things we do are a reflection of the glory of God,” Daood said.

The group’s 45-minute performance at the recent RWMF — which opened the vibrant, three-day event — was welcomed by a Jakarta-style deluge of rain that lasted until almost the last bar of Debu’s final number, then disappeared until the event’s closing night.

Despite the downpour, it took only a few beats of the first song before the festival crowd broke shelter and swarmed into the center of the vast amphitheater. That’s when Debu’s unique and irresistible sound, cohesion and stage presence took hold and a few members of the crowd moved forward, placing themselves firmly in front of the stage. Reluctant to leave their dry havens, others shook their heads in disbelief, but found their feet twitching and just a few minutes later moved forward too.

There were times when the water sluicing off the stage roof became a wall between the audience and the musicians, as translucent veils of mist covered their instruments with a film of water. But the band played on with a total disregard for the driving sheets of rain that sloped onto the stage, turning the roving beams of stage lighting into shimmering, glistening cones of silver and sending technicians scurrying to cover the precious equipment.

This was Debu’s first appearance at a world music festival, and it was a perfect fit. The band’s unique style is a rich and colorful blend of Eastern and Western influences — both traditional and modern — and includes the sounds of Javanese flute, guitar, violin, Iranian santur, Turkish tar and Arabian tambourine.

The RWMF audience — consisting of Sarawak locals, peninsula Malaysians and international visitors — was mesmerized. And putting aside the music, the four blond, pony-tailed Americans and four Indonesians made for a striking sight amid the deluge.

One audience member from New Zealand was full of praise for the band: “The last thing I would have expected — great music with an Islamic message, and two of the singers are blond Americans, singing in Indonesian, Spanish, English and Arabic.”

Debu’s lyrics — all Sufi poems written by the multilingual Fattaah — are both mystical and inspiring. Revolving around the theme of love and harmony, they hold a universal appeal. One song, “Ucapkanlah Bersama!” (“Say It Together!”) calls for people of different religions to focus on their common belief in God, not on what divides them.

Debu’s members have their own bustling recording studio and are constantly experimenting and recording in new languages (they have already recorded songs in nine languages), new musical styles and different instruments.

“Whether we are performing or not, being a Sufi is about living life, and every moment, with joy and peace,” Daood said.

With sold-out international tours of Turkey and Iran under its belt, Debu has been booked for another tour in Turkey in August, plans to make a splash in Canada in November and may squeeze in Holland and Saudi Arabia in September. The group has expressed hope about collaborating with fellow RWMF performers — the electrifying Farafina from West Africa and soulful Leila Negrau from the Reunion Islands — but planning for those projects will have to wait until the three groups slow their respective global orbits long enough to begin talking.

“We go all over the world, hoping to learn new music. One of the best things about the rain forest festival was that the daily workshops gave us the opportunity to sit alongside other musicians — great musicians from England, France, Iran, India, Africa and South America. We were learning every minute, it was pretty awesome,” Daood said.

As for the rain: “No matter what happens there is a reason for it. We’ll wait to see the answer.”

Debu’s Sufi community strives to be a nurturing environment for young talent. The group’s 13 performers include 15-year-old santur player Ahmad Kauthar, from Banten. Ahmad has been part of this musical family since he was little. He tried the flute when he was 10 years old, but “didn’t find it quite interesting.”

The santur, also called a dulcimer, is a 72-stringed instrument used in ancient times to entertain the kings of Persia. Ahmad took over playing the santur after another group member retired, leaving a space for someone to play the delicate instrument.

Ahmad is home-schooled and fits his academic classes around tours and performances. He studies mathematics, Indonesian, English and Arabic, but he had to teach himself how to play the santur by listening to compact discs because he is thought to be the only player of this unique instrument in Indonesia.

“Find out what you really want to do and just do it. Try to be the best at it but just do it. Enjoy your life,” Ahmad advised. “I want to take this life I am offered and make the most of it. I want to be respected for my music in Iran and other countries where the santur is played.”

Picture: A rainstorm transformed this year’s Rainforest World Music Festival in Sarawak, Malaysia, into a muddy melee, but that didn’t stop Debu fans from dancing. Photo: Courtesy of RWMF/TJG
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Sunday, August 15, 2010

A Mevlevi Shaykh
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By Murtazali Dugrichilov, *Interview: 'Many Americans Love Rumi...But They Prefer He Not Be Muslim'* - Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty - Prague, Czech Republic
Monday, August 9, 2010

Ibrahim Gamard is a California-based sheikh of the Sufi Mevlevi order and has spent his life translating the poetry of the 13th-century Sufi mystic, Rumi.

Murtazali Dugrichilov of RFE/RL's North Caucasus Service spoke to Gamard about why Rumi is so popular in the West and the problems of modern-day Sufism.

RFE/RL: Is it possible to say that Mevlana Rumi's poetry is more popular today in the West than in Muslim countries?

Ibrahim Gamard: Yes, this is possible. I’m told that in Turkey, the language has been changing so rapidly that people read very little of Rumi’s poetry, especially the younger generations, because they cannot understand enough of the vocabulary of most Turkish translations, which contain many Persian and Arabic words that are no longer used in Turkish.

Fewer people in Afghanistan read his poetry because of the decades of war there and the disruption of the educational system. The teaching of classical Persian language in India and Pakistan has probably declined.

However, Rumi’s poetry remains highly read and appreciated in Iran. I don’t know about other Persian-speaking countries, such as Tajikistan, and cities such as Bukhara and Samarqand, but I hope that they are still appreciating his poetry.

There has been little interest in his poetry in Arabic-speaking countries over the centuries, in spite of translations of Rumi’s "Masnavi" into Arabic. Rumi also composed many poems in Arabic, but these are little known in Arab countries.

RFE/RL: How do you explain the huge popularity of Rumi's poetry and that of other Muslim poets at a time when anti-Islamic sentiment in the West is on the rise? Does it make sense for people in the West to study Islamic culture as a phenomenon totally separate from political Islam?

Gamard: In spite of anti-Islamic sentiments, Islam continues to be the fastest-growing religion in the United States. At the same time, there continues to be a strong interest in Sufism, but this is because it is presented as a type of mysticism that is not dependent upon Islam and which transcends particular religions.

As you may know, Islam spread throughout such regions as Central Asia, Africa, and Indonesia by means of popularized forms of Sufism that were mildly Islamic until more traditional forms of Islam and Islamic Sufism were established later on. Similarly, there are popular Sufi movements in the U.S. that are attractive to Americans because they are only mildly Islamic. And this is a major reason why Rumi’s poetry is so popular, because it is presented in popularized versions, not faithful translations, in which Rumi is depicted as a mystic who is only slightly Islamic.

And this is also why my book, "Rumi and Islam," which contains selected translations of Rumi’s praises of the virtues of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, has sold so poorly.

Many Americans love Rumi for his ecstatic spirituality about divine love, but they prefer that he not be a Muslim, or at least no more than minimally. Therefore, most Rumi books are marketed to satisfy the wish for maximum mysticism and minimal Islam.

Americans have little interest or sympathy for political Islam, but by reading even the most popularized Rumi books, Americans are learning about many traditional Muslim values and wisdom teachings.

RFE/RL: For the past few years, we've been observing a very disturbing tendency in Chechnya and Daghestan. Local governments there promote popular Islam that selectively borrows -- and sometimes grotesquely distorts -- the symbols and rituals of Sufism, even as it ignores its essence. Sufism is turning into state religion. Sufi sheikhs and prayer leaders are close to governments. Can Sufism be used in service of political authorities?

Gamard: This is something about which I know little. It seems to me that governments in Muslim countries that are working against traditional Islam, especially secular governments that are following the wishes of powerful non-Muslim countries, have been ruling Muslims for centuries by dividing them into so-called "good Muslims" and "bad Muslims" -- such as rich against poor, city dwellers against country dwellers, Westernized against traditional, non-Sufi against Sufi, Sunni against Shi’ite, PLO [Palestine Liberation Organization] against Hamas, and so on.

I have read that, in America, some university scholars of Middle Eastern studies once advised the U.S. government to arrange for the Sufis of Afghanistan to rule that country, based on the belief that Sufis are the opposite of "Islamists." But this is naive, because Sufis are Muslims, so, like other kinds of Muslims, they range from liberal to conservative.

We Muslims should not allow ourselves to be divided against each other by these manipulations. And Sufis should not allow themselves to be manipulated by such governments. Instead, they should focus on the essentials of Islamic Sufism, such as cultivating virtues, or akhlaaq, and engaging in the remembrance of God, Zikru‘llaah. They should avoid flamboyant displays and extravagant claims.

RFE/RL: You converted to Islam in 1984. How did that happen? When did you realize that you wanted to become Muslim?

Gamard: I was raised a Christian and my strongest belief was expressed by a quote from the Bible, where Jesus -- peace be upon him -- said, "O God, not my will be done, but Your will be done." So I was already a Muslim, but I didn’t know it. Then in college, I studied mysticism, which is about spiritual states of consciousness that are beyond the ordinary mind and intellect.

A few years later, I realized that I was more attracted to Sufism than any other kind of mysticism I had studied. At the time, however, I didn’t understand that Sufism is the mystical dimension of Islam.

More than 10 years later, after I had studied more about Islam, I finally accepted that real Sufis had always been devout Muslims and that if I was sincere about wanting to become a Sufi, I should convert to Islam. I did and soon fell in love with the namaz prayers. And because I had been learning Persian for some years by then, I found it easy to learn enough Arabic to read the holy Koran.

RFE/RL: You are well known not only as the author of many books but also as a sheikh in the Mevlevi order. Could you please explain your spiritual practice?

Gamard: This is something about which I feel rather private. But I will say that my basic practice every day is to do the five namaz prayers and to repeat the name of God in my heart as much as I am able throughout the day -- as the Koran says, "Remember God with much remembrance."

Then, as I have the time, I make improvements to my Rumi/Mevlevi website, read verses from Mevlana Rumi in Persian, and read or listen to verses from the Koran in Arabic.

RFE/RL: In 2007, you became a Mevlevi sheikh. Could you please describe the rite of initiation?

Gamard: It occurred in stages. First, I was in Istanbul at a Mevlevi gathering at a historic Mevlevi center when there was a cell phone call from the leader of our order, who is the 22nd generation direct descendent of Mevlana Rumi. I was told that he had just given me authorization to be a Mevlevi sheikh.

By the time of my next visit to Istanbul, a calligraphy of the authorization -- or ijaazat -- to me had been written in Ottoman Turkish script and signed by our leader, which was given to me. Then there was a simple ceremony in the upstairs room of a mosque in which an elder Mevlevi initiated me as a sheikh, on the order of our leader.

I wore the Mevlevi black mantle and we sat on our knees on the carpet, facing each other. Then he recited verses from the Koran in Arabic and the sheikh’s initiation prayer in Turkish, and then he put the sheikh’s turban on my head. Thus, we sat as equals, unlike the traditional Mevlevi disciple’s initiation ceremony, in which the disciple sits lower on the floor and places his head on the sheikh’s knee. Then photographs were taken and there was a short celebration.

During my next trip to Turkey, I spent most of Ramadan in Konya because it is a tradition for new sheikhs to go to there for a spiritual retreat of 18 days. During that time, my sheikh’s turban was placed under the covering of Mevlana Rumi’s tomb for 10 days for a blessing, or barakat, and I also did some acts of humble service, or khidmat, such as sweeping the outside courtyard and mopping part of the floor in front of Mevlana’s tomb.

RFE/RL: Is the internal hierarchy and structure of the Mevlevi order still the same today as it was centuries ago? If not, what are the main differences?

Gamard: The main differences are too many to describe here. The traditional hierarchy and structure had the full support of the Ottoman Empire for centuries. However, in 1925 the Turkish republic that replaced the Ottoman Turkish government declared that all Sufi orders, professions, and titles were illegal. All Mevlevi buildings, properties, and endowments were confiscated.

The famous Mevlevi Whirling Prayer Ceremony was allowed, starting in 1953, but as a performance on stage in order to celebrate Turkish culture and promote tourism. Because the ceremony must be led by a Mevlevi sheikh, wearing traditional garments, the Turkish government has allowed it.

Other than participating in the ceremony, and training people to do it, the activities of Mevlevi sheikhs are done privately and discreetly, and their meeting places -- like those of other Sufi groups in Turkey -- are called "educational" and "cultural" centers.

The traditional central authority has been very weakened, discipline has been lax, many traditions are not maintained as they should, and groups both inside and outside Turkey generally are too independent and unsupervised in regard to maintenance of standards of high quality.

The Mevlevi tradition has become seriously weakened and Sufi organizations are still illegal in Turkey.

[Visit Ibrahim Gamard's Website]
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