Contemporary Sufism

‘[A] valid concept of “Islam” must denote and connote all possible “Islams,” whether abstract or “real,” mental or social’ (104)... Ahmed seeks to avoid two major pitfalls: (1) making Islam into a static essence or a category within an essentialist framework – such as proscription/prescription, ‘religion’,‘civilization’, ‘culture’, ‘orthodoxy’, etc., and (2) rendering Islam into a totally incoherent concept by conceding that there are as many islams as there are communities or individuals. Ahmed’s thesis (presented in Chapter 5) is that Islam is best conceptualized as a process of meaning-making or hermeneutical engagement in which the human agent engages with the Divine Revelation granted to Muhammad in one or more of this Revelation’s hierarchical dimensions – Pre-Text, Text, and Con-Text – in order to constitute meaning for himself."

What do we mean by integration? Not only do I want to pose this question from the point of view of Sufi metaphysics, but also of other forms of metaphysics as well. Oneness in its absoluteness belongs to the Abso lute alone. It is only the One who is ultimately one. This is not a pleo nasm, not simply a repeating of terms. It is the reassertion of a truth which we are easily apt to forget while we are seeking the One in Its reflections on lower levels of reality and on the plane of multiplicity. We must always remember this metaphysical truth: that oneness in its highest and absolute sense belongs only to God as the Absolute, to Brah man, Allah, the God-head, the Highest Reality, the Ultimate Reality. Precisely because of this truth, no benefit could be gained in our search for unity by being immersed only in multiplicity. In fact, without the One, multiplicity itself could not exist. It would be nonexistent, because multiplicity always issues from the One, always issues from the Supreme Principle. If we remember this truth, we shall then be able to understand what is truly meant by integration. Nearly everybody is in favor of integration these days, without bothering to search fully for its meaning. In the modern world attempts are often made to achieve integration by seeking to bring forces and elements together on a single plane of reality without recourse to the Transcendent Principle or a principle transcending the level in ques tion. But this is metaphysically impossible. It is only a higher principle that can integrate various elements on a lower level of reality. This truth is repeated throughout all of the levels of the hierarchy of the universe. Throughout the universe it is ultimately only the Divine Principle—God—who either by Himself, or possibly through His agents, makes possible the integration of a particular level of reality and the integra tion of that level itself into the whole of existence. On all levels, from the devas of the Brahmic world or the archangels or whatever corre sponding language you wish to use, to the lower angelic world, to the psychological world, and finally to the physical world, it is always by means of a higher principle that the elements and forces involved on lower levels of reality are integrated. Let us give a concrete example. Take the human state. It is composed of body, soul, and spirit. There is no way one can integrate the body without the presence of the soul. That is why when the soul departs, the body falls apart. Furthermore, the remarkable, integrated functioning of various parts of our body is one of the greatest miracles, to which we usually pay little attention.

The common dichotomized classification of Islam in the Caucasus (“traditional” versus “fundamentalist”) does not take into account all major processes taking place in the region. The Sufi-Wahhabi discourse simplifies the social interactions between Muslims and suggests homogeneity of each of these categories. In this paper I would show how the term “Wahhabi” has been employed by the local community of Muslims who live in the Georgian Pankisi gorge  (Chechen Kists) to express their resistance towards new and radical ideas and practices. In this social conflict, Sufi brotherhoods assume the role of the defenders of traditional order, while the reformists attempt at changing not only religious but also social structures.

Introduction by Carol Sill
Man and This Mysterious Universe - A Synthesis of Modern Life: A visionary overview of the effort and mission of humanity.
The book Man and this Mysterious Universe was originally described as a synthesis of the many aspects of modern
civilization, bringing within its scope the contribution of the East as well as of the West, showing how it has grown
from the civilization of the past and how it will probably develop into the civilization of the future. Or as the author
put it more simply: a survey of Western and Eastern Sciences.
Ranging through various disciplines from Everyday Life, Art, Education, World Events and Mysticism, Beorse describes
the evolution of humanity and the responsibilities of each of us in this process. Seen all together, they convey an
image of the totality of the human endeavour: occurring both outside of time and in time, on schedule, as a great play.
“This comprehensive and refreshing picture is sorely needed at this time of narrow outlook and overspecialization,”
wrote the distinguished psychologist, educator and author, Dr. Philip B. Ballard.
Inspired to write by the great sage, Inayat Khan, Beorse combined three former works into one for Man and This Mysterious Universe. Written during WWII, then added to with new information, the book was first published in 1949.
His previous work, Distribute or Destroy, had been in the field of economics. Beorse further widened his scope in this publication, whose title refers to the popular physics book by James Jeans, This Mysterious Universe. Here Beorse inserts humanity into this assessment of a universe of vibrations and events, creating Man and This Mysterious Universe.
“There is no great difference between rock, a tree, a man or a loving thought carving its way through the universe like a
ray of the sun.”

How do ‘new’ and ’old’ Islamic actors in contemporary Albania define religious legitimacy, the nation and religious otherness? This chapter uses Olivier Roy’s analytical distinction between accommodationism and neo-fundamentalism as a compass to navigate through Albania’s complex religious landscape by exploring different sets of beliefs promulgated by a selection of Islamic groups (2010).  These are the Muslim Community of Albania, which represents ‘official Islam’ , and ‘mainstream’ Sunni Muslims, who are typically accommodationist. I also analyse a Sufi subgroup thereof, which is equally accommodationist, but in a slightly different manner. As a neo-fundamentalist counterpoint, I explore the ideas of a competing organisation composed of Salafi imams.

Accommodationism means that the bond between religion and a specific territory and culture of origin is tight. In this context, ‘culture’ refers to Albanian historical tradition and the language-based, secular nation-building project engineered by modernising state elites since the early 20th century. Neo-fundamentalism, conversely, is a globalised form of religion that emphasises the gap between faith and culture. As such, it represents a reformatted, exportable form of religiosity, which stands in contrast to cultural ethno-national ways of being Muslim. Neo-fundamentalist religious identity is faith-based, and seeks to ground itself solely upon explicit religious norms, at least in principle. Accordingly, these believers make their religiosity visible through a global uniform of religious markers detached from the surrounding culture.

In the Albanian Islamic context, the theoretically informed labels, neo-fundamentalist and accommodationist, roughly correspond to the ‘Albanianist’ versus the ‘Salafi’ forms of Islam. To some extent, this resonates with mainstream distinctions adopted in Albania and in the Balkans. A popular Albanian term for Muslims associated with neo-fundamentalist forms of Islam is ‘fanatic’ (fanatik). Accommodationism is commonly related to ‘old’ forms of Islam, which many be deemed as local, rooted, and European as well as tolerant and moderate. Neo-fundamentalism, conversely, refers to certain ‘new’ forms of Islam, i.e. those perceived to be imported, transnational, alien, ‘fanatic’ and a threat to local religious customs. This cultural distinction between what are deemed acceptable and unacceptable forms of Islam is often politicised and securitised. As I will show, the association between neo-fundamentalism and violence is not necessarily correct, and the Salafi community under scrutiny here can be defined as pacifist and purist (Wiktorowicz 2006). These two formats, moreover, clash and merge together as different local actors seek to recast and legitimize their respective positions.

Este estudio busca acercarse a la comprensión de la radicación de la Orden Naqshbandi en el contexto regional argentino, a
través de la observación de procesos de conversión y reordenamiento del propio universo simbólico.
Mediante un análisis en torno a la resignificación del pensamiento y las prácticas naqshbandi en Patagonia -- y ante la vastedad del tema--, se intentó dar una primera respuesta posible a los siguientes
interrogantes:
¿Por cuáles diversas trayectorias se produce el “devenir parte” del sufismo naqshbandi, en cuanto proceso de subjetivación de sentidos nuevos  entorno a la relación con lo sagrado?
¿Desde qué lugares y espacios, a través de cuáles estrategias, formas de persuasión, y criterios
de verdad, apoyándose en qué hábitos y rutinas, se relocalizan y resignifican formas de pensamiento del
sufismo de la Orden Naqshbandi en Patagonia?

An important body of scholarship has explored the salience of Sufism (‘mystical Islam’) in Senegal. Approaches have emphasized its social and political dimensions, while little attention has been devoted to the symbolic yet important role of Sufi-affiliated pop musicians, especially mbàllax singers, in the grassroots negotiation of faith and religious tolerance in the country. Using the documentary, Youssou N’dour: I Bring What I Love (US, 2008), and observation, the study examines what it calls ‘cultural friction’, here a metaphor for the transient conflicts emerging as classically oriented Sufi Muslims condemn and protest against the encroachment of “obscene” practices on religious spaces and symbols. The study approaches the film as a music documentary following N’dour during and after the making of his Grammy-winning yet controversial album released in Senegal as Sant Yalla (‘God Be Praised’, 2003) and internationally as Egypt (2004). It analyzes cultural friction as part of a Senegalese artistic modernization, but also as a contemporary phenomenon speaking to the historical role of the Wolof ‘griot’ (bard) in the peaceful appropriation of Islam. Finally, the study portrays N’dour as a pop singer whose liberal Sufi perspective on music promotes his legitimacy to perform in the Islamic religious space as well.

Focusing on the place held by three immensely popular Sufi saints-Rumi, Yunus Emre, and Haji Bektash-in the Turkish imagination, and tracing their transformations through the centuries, Soileau provides a fascinating insight into the religious sensibilities and social and political conflicts of modern Turkey. He perceptively reconstructs contestations about the nature of their sainthood that allowed socialists and nationalists, Alevis and Sunnis, humanists and Islamists to appropriate these saints as icons symbolising their own worldview." -Martin van Bruinessen, coauthor of Sufism and the "Modern" in Islam 432 pp., 6 x 9 • 22 illustrations • ISBN 978-1-60781-634-8 • Paper $39.00 TO ORDER: phone 800-621-2736 fax 800-621-8476 email: [email protected] online: www.uofupress.com www.UofUPress.com

Truth melteth like snow in the hands of him whose soul melteth not like snow in the hands of Truth."-Sheikh Ahmed 'Al-Alawī One is constantly reminded that the world is becoming smaller and smaller, yet can the same be said or assumed of the collective psyche as fundamentalism in all its forms, even the most subtle and unsuspecting of all-secularism-finding its zenith in modernism and its most recent amalgamation postmodernism are increasingly on the upsurge operating as a globalizing plague. Xenophobia has become another hallmark of the sign of the times; perhaps one of its most destructive elements is its mass apparatuses for spinning and injecting false ideas into the mind of the collectivity. Dr. William Stoddart spares no effort in delineating how the original purity of each religion can be found, and easily demonstrated, in its revealed Scriptures, and also how, since each religion in due course becomes anchored in, and identified with, a large cohort of humanity, it inevitably, with the passage of time, undergoes progressive decline. Since the horrific events of 9/11, which fundamentally changed the face of the world, no issue is more urgent than the understanding, in depth, of the various religions, and in particular of Christianity and Islam.

This chapter addresses the issue of religious authority in Berlin Sufi communities in the context of native European converts to Islam and second-generation Muslims who are born to Sufi followers (murids).
It will discuss the following research questions. How is religious authority in Western Sufi groups constructed, and how does it affect interreligious and intrareligious conversions? How does the presence of many native European converts affect local Sufi communities? How do these European converts view Islamic normative tradition and express their religious identity? And how do they influence the defining discourses of local Sufi communities?
I will particularly address intrareligious conversion, regarded here as a
process of religious learning and gradual adoption of religious norms and
practices in Sufi communities. This chapter will also address the institutionalization and collective expressions of religious authority in some Sufi communities in Berlin, namely in the Sufi Center Rabbaniyya and the Tariqah Burhaniyya.

poetry and Sufi dancing or whirling, to expressions of Africanicity and the forging of transnational bonds to remote locations in Senegal, Sri Lanka, and Turkey, Varieties of American Sufism immerses the reader in diverse expressions of contemporary Sufi religiosity in the United States. It spans more than a century of political, cultural, and embodied relationships with Islam and Muslims. American encounters with mystical Islam were initiated by a romantic quest for Oriental wisdom, flourished in the embrace of Eastern teachings during the countercultural era of New Age religion, were concret-ized due to late twentieth-century possibilities of travel and immigration to and from Muslim societies, and are now diffused through an explosion of cyber religion in an age of globalization. This collection of in-depth, participant-observation-based studies challenges expectations of uniformity and continuity while provoking stimulating reflection on a range of issues relevant to contemporary Islamic Studies, American religions, multireligious belonging, and new religious movements. "The blend of approaches (historical, ethnographic, documentary, etc.) provides a spectrum of methodologies

صدر لي قبل أعوامٍ خمسة كتابٌ بعنوان: «أفكار خارج القفص»، وهو من نفس فصيلة الكتابة الشذريَّة التي ينتمي إليها هذا الكتابُ. وإنما دفعني إلى تبني هذا اللون من الكتابة الرغبةُ في إطلاع القارئ على بعض مراحِلِ التطور التي يمرُّ بها المفكرُ، لا أعني تطور الأفكار فحسب؛ وإنما تطور منهج النظر الكُلي الذي تُعَالَجُ به شتَّى الموضوعات أيضًا.

وتمثِّل هذه الطريقةُ الشذريَّة سُلَّمًا أساسيًّا في تطور منظومة أي مُفكرٍ حركي يؤمن بتمثُّل كل ما يعتقده وتجسيد كل ما يؤمن به، ككاتب هذه السطور؛ ويبغضُ التقاليدَ الأكاديميةَ المدرسيَّة الجوفاء، ولا يُهدِرُ أبدًا قيمة أنواعٍ أخرى من المعرفة؛ أسمى وأكثر ربانيَّة، ولا الطرائق المختلفة والمتنوعة في تحصيلها؛ مثل المعرفة الحدسيَّة والإلهام والمعرفة الإشراقيَّة (العرفان).

إن هذه الطريقة القرآنيَّة لا تجعل من الفكر الإنساني نسقًا مُنفتحًا دائم الانفتاح فحسب؛ بل تُبرهِنُ لكل ذي عقل موَّارٍ يتحرَّكُ بإدمان النظر، وكل ذي نفسٍ لوَّامةٍ تتحرَّكُ بمكابدة الذكر، وكل ذي جسدٍ أنهكته الحركةُ بالطاعة والامتثال؛ على أن التأمُّل والاستنباط في مواضعِهِ أبلغُ وأحكمُ وأنضجُ من عبثيَّة «الاستقراء»، ومن رصِّ المعلومات «الموثَّقة». بل إن التأمُّلات قد تصير في كثيرٍ من الأحيان هادِمًا مُناقِضًا للمعلومات «الصحيحة».

Based on my impressions of the Sufi ritual of zikr in Berlin, my conversations with Sufi followers, and my limited participation in the ritual itself, I write on the notion of intimate religion, which distinct from material religion or religion as matter is in my view a matter of worlding, religiously sutured. On the interface of material and immaterial religion in Berlin, I am interested in how the felt and the intimate of a doubly interiorized performance like zikr—which takes place in mosque interiors and targets mystical interiorities—permeates the urban, more importantly, how a world coheres through affective threads of (religious) feeling. So long as intimacy concerns the affective relation that thrives in the critical distance between close but distinct objects, I argue that saintly companies in the ritual help believers suture the outward world with its inward dimension without necessarily transcending it. The chapter is composed as a diptych. The first section Feeling in Circles features long, direct excerpts from interviews with Sufi followers. Intimate Religion, the subsequent piece turns to researcher’s voice with a mix of ethnographic observations and philosophical deliberations on migrant religion in the urban.

In Paul Bramadat, Mar Griera, Julia Martinez-Ariño and Marian Burchardt (eds.) Urban Religious Events: Public Spirituality in Contested Spaces, pp. 189-202. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.

Present paper discusses contemporary scholarly approaches to the problems of typology and periodization of the Sufi movements in the West that could be regarded as an essential part of Western Esotericism. It argues that, despite some shortcomings and limitations, existing typologies and the periodization of the development of Sufi communities in the West constitute important analytical tools for the study of these religious movements and institutions.

Pakistani nationhood has undergone several distinct phases, from its inception among the members of the All India Muslim League, the ideology behind the creation of a new politicoeconomic State post-Partition, Quaid-e-Azam Jinnah's Constituent Assembly declaration, progression of political dealings as well as social evolutionall of these, till the 21 st century. In this paper, I would like to talk about how music has offered an alternative idea of Pakistani nationhood, drawing special reference to the project of Coke Studio Pakistan. The very idea of Pop music is based on the defiance of older value-systems, and a refashioning of a Nation's aesthetics. Coke Studio Pakistan, in popularizing a new brand of Pakistani music (which is an amalgamation of Western genres as well as traditional Sufi, folk and regional aesthetics) has offered a discourse on the Pakistani identity, which is at once dissimilar and reactionary to the political engineering of the Pakistani personality. I would also like to talk of video-culture, and how the popularity of Coke Studio Pakistan on Youtube brings the world closer, and nationhood emerges out of interactions via comments and replies to the music videos. I do not, in any way claim that music is the only way of reading a Nation, but I do choose to present the issue as to how, as a non-Pakistani, one would decipher the presentation of Pakistan via a means that is reachable to all corners of the globe, and whether nationhood has become increasingly virtual than real.

« Dans une démarche rigoureusement scientifique, rompant d’avec la fadeur du descriptivisme et prenant le soin de s’éloigner de l’apologétique souvent orientée vers une affirmation de conformisme à la lettre d’une « orthodoxie » écartant la dimension mystique d’une œuvre multidimensionnelle, Seydi Diamil Niane plonge ses lecteurs, dès l’entame de cet ouvrage, dans les recoins longtemps ignorés de l’univers poétique de Cheikh Elhadji Malick Sy de Tivaouane (Sénégal).
Cet excellent ouvrage donne une intéressante amorce de ce travail de vulgarisation du spécifi que grâce à une fi ne maîtrise des arcanes de la langue arabe et de la littérature islamologique classique comme moderne doublée de la nécessaire intelligence d’un contexte et d’un univers surprenants voire méconnus de nombre de spécialistes en Occident comme en Orient. »
Dr Bakary Sambe
(Extrait de la préface)

Muhy al-Dīn Ibn Arabī's theoretical mysticism has been the subject of lively discussion among Iranian Sufis since they first encountered it in the seventh century. 'Abdul Razzāq Kāshānī was the pioneer and forerunner of the debate, followed by reading and interpreting al-Shaykh al-Akbar's key texts, particularly Fusūs al-Hikam (Bezels of Wisdom) by future generations of Shī'ī scholars. Along with commentaries and glosses on his works, every element of ibn 'Arabī's mysticism, from his theory of the oneness of existence (wahdat al-wujūd) to his doctrines of nubuwwa, wilāya, and khatm al-wilāya, was accepted by his Shī'ī peers, incorporated into their context and adjusted to Shī'a doctrinal platform. This process of internalization and amalgamation was so complete that after seven centuries, it is difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish between Ibn 'Arabī's theory of wahdat al-wujūd, or his doctrines of wilāya and khatm al-wilāya and those of his Shī'ī readers. To have a clearer picture of the philosophical and mystical activities and interests of Shī'ī scholars in Iran under Ilkhanids (1256-1353), I examined the intellectual and historical contexts of seventh century Iran. The findings of my research are indicative of the contribution of mystics such as "Abdul Razzāq Kāshānī to both the school of Ibn 'Arabī in general and of Sadr al-Dīn al-Qūnawī in particular on the one hand, and to the correlation between Sufism and Shī'īsm on the other. What I call the Shī'ītization of Akbarīan Mysticism' started with Kāshānī and can be regarded as a new chapter in the history of Iranian Sufism.

This article performs a close reading of the Philip K. Dick novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? While developing the argument for an ‘ironic’ usage of the concept of the Anthropocene. This ironised conception is one that intends to countenance both the Anthropocene’s strength as a designation of human impact on the non-human and the important, valid critiques responding to the Anthropocene. Philip K Dick’s work, in particular Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is a superb illustration of such an ironic dynamic because of the dual narrative structure present. For example, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? raises questions about human identity that, while metaphysical, have great significance materially for the characters in the novel, and can be understood as a form of structural discrimination.  To demonstrate this ironic duality that should be brought to the Anthropocene, the article draws on Nick Land’s essay Kant, Capital, and the Prohibition of Incest: A Polemical I...

Il sufismo è la dimensione esoterica dell'islam: nasce e si sviluppa all'interno della religione islamica, in linea con gli insegnamenti del Corano e della Sunna del Profeta. Le pratiche sufi hanno come obiettivo di coltivare la spiritualità religiosa al fine di raggiungere l'unione mistica con Dio. L'istituzionalizzazione delle confraternite sufi dette ṭuruq (pl. di ṭarīqa, strada stretta) avviene solo a partire dal XIII secolo e l'evoluzione dei circoli sufi varia a seconda delle condizioni storiche, sociali e politiche dei vari Paesi islamici in cui essi si sono diffusi.

This paper investigates how the code of conducts and devotion to the leaders develop in the Sufi orders, and how these shape the notion of " popular piety " , by paying a particular attention to the T| arīqah Qādiriyyah Wa Naqshbandiyyah (TQN) in Mranggen, Central Java. This article starts with highlighting the ways in which the leaders of the TQN prescribe a set of rules of conduct, and how this set of rules is grounded on " web of beliefs and practices " of the community in question. It also delves into the ways in which the followers acknowledge this code of conduct, on the one hand, and respect their living and death leaders, on the other hand. It argues that code of conduct and leaders " death anniversary contribute to the moulding of popular piety within the Muslim community, in general, and among members of the TQN in particular.

Qu’est-ce qu’un cheikh ?

Cette question, des centaines de maîtres du Soufisme y ont répondu à leur manière, chacun selon son approche et son contexte propres.

Aujourd’hui, alors que la plupart des organisations initiatiques traditionnelles du Soufisme se retrouvent projetées dans un contexte globalisé, et qu’elles tentent chacune à sa façon de maintenir le contact avec une communauté toujours plus étendue, plus diffuse, et plus variée, la question de la pédagogie spirituelle et de ses moyens semble plus que jamais cruciale.

Dans ces conditions, il n’est certainement pas superflu de proposer une définition de la qualité de cheikh qui fasse droit à la réalité actuelle des voies initiatiques, confrontées à une quantité et à une variété de profils et de situations toujours plus grandes.

Worried over its extinction, in the year 2005 UNESCO declared Baul songs an "intangible heritage of humanity" in the category of "Traditional Performing Arts."  Two ‘Bangla Baul Song Books’ are published by UNESCO. In these books one can find transcription and notation of Baul songs. Baul has multiple meanings. Bauls or the Bauls may signify a heterogeneous community; a particular type of folk song; unusual religious and mystical practices so on and so forth. Previous sentence does not make it clear whether to call them Bauls or the Bauls. So let us understand the difference between Baul and the Baul. What actually matters is the use of definite article ‘the’ which creates huge difference. You may say ‘the Baul’ which could vaguely mean the perennial community of performers and ‘Baul’ without ‘the’ may mean songs which the Bauls sing. Here we will talk of Baul songs alone. Just like the Magh songs and singers of Himachal Pradesh, Jangams of Haryana, Golla Kalapam art of Andhra Pradesh, Bangari art of Hyderabad, Barahmasi of Chattisgarh and even the English ballads, Baul songs are transmitted through oral tradition. Bauls invoke their Divine Beloved by calling Him Allah, Ahad (the One), Monar Manush (the Man of Heart), Sahaj Manush (the Natural Man); Sonar Manush (the golden Person); Adhar Manush (the intangible Beloved); Acin Pakhi (the unknown Bird);  Shai/Sai (the Lord), Krishna so on and so forth.