Contemporary Sufism

Contemporary Sufism
Author: Meena Sharify-Funk
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 322
Release: 2017-12-22
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1134879997
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What is Sufism? Contemporary views vary tremendously, even among Sufis themselves. Contemporary Sufism: Piety, Politics, and Popular Culture brings to light the religious frameworks that shape the views of Sufism’s friends, adversaries, admirers, and detractors and, in the process, helps readers better understand the diversity of contemporary Sufism, the pressures and cultural openings to which it responds, and the many divergent opinions about contemporary Sufism’s relationship to Islam. The three main themes: piety, politics, and popular culture are explored in relation to the Islamic and Western contexts that shape them, as well as to the historical conditions that frame contemporary debates. This book is split into three parts: • Sufism and anti-Sufism in contemporary contexts; • Contemporary Sufism in the West: Poetic influences and popular manifestations; • Gendering Sufism: Tradition and transformation. This book will fascinate anyone interested in the challenges of contemporary Sufism as well as its relationship to Islam, gender, and the West. It offers an ideal starting point from which undergraduate and postgraduate students, teachers and lecturers can explore Sufism today.

Sufism in the Contemporary Arabic Novel

Sufism in the Contemporary Arabic Novel
Author: Ziad Elmarsafy
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Total Pages: 185
Release: 2014-08-20
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0748655662
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This book will present close readings of three contemporary Arabic novelists - an Egyptian (Gamal Al-Ghitany), an Algerian (Taher Ouettar) and a Touareg Libyan (Ibrahim Al-Koni) - who have all turned to Sufism as a literary strategy aimed at negotiating i

Modern Sufis and the State

Modern Sufis and the State
Author: Katherine Pratt Ewing
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2020-08-25
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0231551460
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Sufism is typically thought of as the mystical side of Islam. In recent years, it has been held up as a supposedly peaceful alternative to the spread of forms of Islam associated with violence, an embodiment of democratic ideals of tolerance and pluralism. Are Sufis in fact as otherworldy and apolitical as this stereotype suggests? Modern Sufis and the State brings together a range of scholars, including anthropologists, historians, and religious-studies specialists, to challenge common assumptions that are made about Sufism today. Focusing on India and Pakistan within a broader global context, this book provides locally grounded accounts of how Sufis in South Asia have engaged in politics from the colonial period to the present. Contributors foreground the effects and unintended consequences of efforts to link Sufism with the spread of democracy and consider what roles scholars and governments have played in the making of twenty-first-century Sufism. They critique the belief that Salafism and Sufism are antithetical, offering nuanced analyses of the diversity, multivalence, and local embeddedness of Sufi political engagements and self-representations in Pakistan and India. Essays question the portrayal of Sufi shrines as sites of toleration, peace, and harmony, exploring cases of tension and conflict. A wide-ranging interdisciplinary collection, Modern Sufis and the State is a timely call to think critically about the role of public discourse in shaping perceptions of Sufism.

Sohbet

Sohbet
Author: Sadiq M Alam
Publisher:
Total Pages: 364
Release: 2020-05
Genre:
ISBN:
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What role Sufism and Islam play among contemporary spiritual seekers? What are the circumstances that led them to come to Sufism? What teachings of the Sufi Path are the most attractive to a seeker of truth? How does surrender to the Spiritual Teacher, a core component of Sufi teaching applies to Western disciples who are more oriented towards reasons and intellect? The book explores these and many other questions with fifteen contemporary Sufis. The featured spiritual seekers the majority of whom are from West are engaged in conversations uncovering their unique spiritual journey, their attraction to the Sufi Path and how they met their Spiritual Mentors and Teachers. Through these conversations, invaluable life lessons and timeless wisdom is distilled for those who are interested in spiritual life. In Sufi Path Sohbet signifies spiritual conversation or discourse between the master and disciple, or between seekers of God through association, conversation, or simply by the presence. Featured in this book are the following personalities: Amatullah Armstrong Chishti Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore Carol Sill Noor-Malika Chishti Mansur Johnson Maryam Kabeer Faye Denise Sati Dr. Stewart Bitkoff Barbara Flaherty Asher Quinn Hilary Hart Dominique Dubrule Brenda Wentworth Naila Amat-un-Nur, and Dana Hayne. Many of these seekers of truth came to the Sufi Path through veridical dreams including that of Prophet Muhammad. You will come to know, for example, how a seeker born in a British Jewish family started to have visions of Jesus from the age of five who eventually in his 20s discovered the Sufi Path and for more than last 30 years, the sacred formula La ilaha Ill'Allah became etched in his heart as a refuge and sanctuary. Through association and spiritual lineage the book features memory and teachings of some of the most important Sufi Masters of both East and West namely: Inayat Khan, Samuel L. Lewis, Vilayat Khan, Zia Inayat Khan, Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, Muhammad ibn al-Habib, Abdalqadir as-Sufi, Dr. Javad Nurbakhsh. May these spiritual chronicles inspire and encourage you to take your journey towards the One.

Sufism and Saint Veneration in Contemporary Bangladesh

Sufism and Saint Veneration in Contemporary Bangladesh
Author: Hans Harder
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 393
Release: 2011-03-04
Genre: Poetry
ISBN: 1136831894
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Focusing on the Maijbhandari movement in Chittagong, south-eastern Bangladesh, which claims the status of the only Sufi order originated in Bengal and which has gained immense popularity in recent years, this book provides a comprehensive picture of an important aspect of contemporary Bengali Islam in the South Asian context. Expertise in South Asian languages and literatures is combined with ethnographic field work and theoretical formulations from a range of disciplines, including cultural anthropology, Islamic studies and religious studies. Analysing the Maijbhandaris tradition of Bengali spiritual songs, one of the largest popular song traditions in Bengal, the book presents an in-depth study of Bengali Sufi theology, hagiography and Maijbhandari esoteric songs, as well as a discussion of what Bengali Islam is. It is a useful contribution to South Asia Studies, as well as Islamic Studies.

Re-visioning Sufism

Re-visioning Sufism
Author: Jonas Atlas
Publisher: Yunus Publishing
Total Pages: 140
Release: 2019-10-28
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN:
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Sufism is often described as ‘the mystical branch of Islam’. Giving some more attention to this underexposed spiritual side, it is often proposed, could help us to ease certain contemporary societal tensions. One finger then points toward the rigorous religious aggression of fundamentalism as ‘the problem’, while another points toward the soft beauty of mysticism as ‘the solution’. Yet, no matter how well-intended the contemporary focus on Sufism might often be, in the end, it repeatedly portrays a lack of comprehension when it comes to Islamic mysticism. The typical descriptions are full of mistakes, and the conclusions they lead to need much nuance. Those misunderstandings do not simply stem from innocent ignorance. They are misunderstandings with more profound origins and implications. They’re closely tied to enormous blind spots in the contemporary view of religion and deeply entwined with pressing political issues. In fact, the way we deal with mysticism in general and with Sufism in particular actually kindles many contemporary conflicts. This book thus seeks to add the necessary nuances, correct the misunderstandings and unveil the contemporary ‘politics of mysticism’. It seeks to clarify how the growing interest in what is called ‘Sufism’ is connected to both the contemporary demonization of Islam and the modern destruction of profound spirituality in the East as well as the West.

Beauty and Light

Beauty and Light
Author: Cemalnur Sargut
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2018-06
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9781941610060
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Cemalnur Sargut, the Turkish leader of the Rifa'i Sufi order, occupies a special place in the intellectual and social landscape of contemporary Islam. This is so for multiple reasons. As a female Sufi teacher who commands a loyal and active worldwide following, especially in Turkey, Sargut's career as a scholar and Sufi leader represents an important case study in the dynamics of contemporary global Sufism. This volume represents the first text in English translation that brings together some of her major discourses and teachings as presented to her students through the genre of oral discourses. More Specifically, the discourses that form the core of this book were collected through oral interviews with Cemalnur conducted by her students as part of a weekly program aired on a national Turkish radio station. The original Turkish transcription on which this English translation is based is titled Dinle (Listen), and was published in 2012 by Nefes press.1 Cemalnur has been actively training disciples and students in the teachings and practices of the Rifa'i Sufi order for the last forty years. While her oral and written discourses are widely available in Turkish, they have until now remained inaccessible to an English language audience. This book seeks to address this lacuna by introducing key aspects of her thought and spiritual orientation in English. In this brief introduction I wish to provide readers a broad outline of the key themes and concepts that animate the lineaments of Cemalnur's thoughts as presented in this book. In addition, I also hope to provide readers with the intellectual and institutional context in which one might be able to place Cemalnur's thought and scholarly career. Moreever, I will also have the occasion to discuss the literary genre within Sufism and Islamic literature that corresponds to the kind of oral teachings and sermons that populate the pages of this book. Finally I will briefly explain the stylistic decisions and choices that were made in the presentation of this text.

Sufism Today

Sufism Today
Author: Catharina Raudvere
Publisher: I.B. Tauris
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2009
Genre: Religion
ISBN:
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This book offers the first sustained treatment of Sufism in the context of modern Muslim communities. It is also innovative, in that it broadens the purview of the study of Sufism to look at the subject right across international boundaries, from Canada to Brazil, and from Denmark to the UK and USA. Subjects discussed include: the politics of Sufism, the remaking of Turkish Sufism, tradition and cultural creativity among Syrian Sufi communities, the globalization of Sufi networks, and their transplantation in America, Iranian Sufism in London, and Naqshbandi Sufism in Sweden. In its thorough examination of how Sufi rituals, traditions and theologies have been adapted by late-modern religiosity, this volume will make indispensable reading for all scholars and students of modern Islam.

Sufis and Anti-Sufis

Sufis and Anti-Sufis
Author: Elizabeth Sirriyeh
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2014-01-09
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1136812768
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Despite its continuing appeal in the Muslim world, Sufism has faced fierce challenges in the last 250 years. This volume assesses the evolution of anti-Sufism since the middle of the eighteenth century and Sufi strategies for survival. It also considers the efforts of a few significant Muslim intellectuals to contemplate a future for a mystical approach to Islam without traditional Sufism. Many studies of Islam in the modern period have focused on the attempts of Muslim 'modernists' or 'fundamentalists' to come to terms with western modernity, and Sufis have often been marginalised in the process. Elizabeth Sirriyeh redresses this neglect by assigning to Sufism a central place in the broader history of Islam in the modern world and by examining how changing understandings of Sufism's role in modern conditions have affected Muslims of all shades of opinion.

Sufis and Salafis in the Contemporary Age

Sufis and Salafis in the Contemporary Age
Author: Lloyd Ridgeon
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 313
Release: 2015-04-23
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1472529197
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Sufis and Salafis in the Contemporary Age explores the dynamics at play between what are usually understood as two very different forms of Islam, namely Sufism and Salafism. Sufism is commonly understood as the peaceful and mystical dimension of Islam whereas Salafism is perceived as strictly pietistic and moralist, and for some it conjures up images of violent manifestations of Islam. Of course these generalisations require more nuanced investigation, and this book provides a number of case studies from around the Islamic world to unpack the intricate relationship between the two. The diversity of the case studies that focus on Islamic groups in India, Iraq, Egypt, Morocco, Turkey and South East Europe reflect the multiplicity of relationships that exist between the Salafis and Sufis. The specific case studies are framed by an introduction that provides essential historical background and definitions of the terms, and also by general studies of the Sufi–Salafi relationship which enable the reader to focus on the large picture. This will be the first book to investigate the relationship between Sufism and Salafism in such a wide fashion, and includes chapters on "traditional" Sufis, as well as from those who consider that Sufism and Salafism are not necessarily contradictory.