Unveiling Sufism; From Manhattan to Mecca; Dickson and Sharify-Funk

William Rory Dickson [+–]

University of Winnipeg

William Rory Dickson, PhD is an Assistant Professor for the Religion and Culture Department at the University of Winnipeg, with a specialization in Islamic Studies. His research focuses on contemporary Islam and Sufism in North America. Dickson’s recent book Living Sufism in North America: Between Tradition and Transformation (2015) explores the ways in which Sufi leaders in North America relate to Islamic orthodoxy, authority, and gender. Dickson has published articles on contemporary Muslim thought and Sufism in the Journal of Contemporary Islam and Studies in Religion and has presented his research at a number of national and international conferences.

Meena Sharify-Funk [+–]

Wilfrid Laurier University

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Meena Sharify-Funk, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor for the Religion and Culture Department at Wilfrid Laurier University who specializes in Islamic studies with a focus on contemporary Muslim thought and identity. Sharify-Funk has written and presented a number of articles and papers on women and Islam, Sufi hermeneutics, and the role of cultural and religious factors in peacemaking. Her current research focuses on the construction of contemporary North American Muslim identity in a post 9/11 world. It is a continuation of her first manuscript, Encountering the Transnational: Women, Islam, and the Politics of Interpretation (2008) which examined the impact of transnational networking on Muslim women’s identity, thought, and activism. She also has co-edited two books, Cultural Diversity and Islam (2003) and Contemporary Islam: Dynamic, Not Static (2006).

To ensure that the full range of Sufism’s varied expressions is taken into account, each chapter is divided into four sections: Politics and Power, Philosophy and Metaphysics, Arts and Culture, and Overview of Historical Developments. Dividing chapters into these four broad categories enables the book to highlight some of the ways in which Sufism has influenced Muslim politics, philosophy, art, and culture in each historical period. In each category the relevant issues are illustrated through detailed case studies, whether of a particular Sufi figure, place, artistic expression, or philosophical view. This allows the reader to develop a genuinely three-dimensional appreciation of Sufism, neither reducing it to a private mystical experience divorced from social expression, nor limiting the tradition to historical names and dates.

Preliminaries

List of Figures [+–] ix-x

Meena Sharify-Funk,William Rory Dickson

Wilfrid Laurier University

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University of Winnipeg

In contrast to most introductory texts on Sufism, this work begins not with the historical past, but with the contemporary present. Beginning with Sufism as it is lived today in North America, each chapter further unveils the complexities of Sufism, journeying through a variety of historical, political, and cultural contexts, moving deeper into the past, and closer to the origin and heart of Sufism. This geneological framework will enable the reader to understand the patterns of connection between contemporary manifestations of Sufism and past realities. To ensure that the full range of Sufism’s varied expressions is taken into account, each chapter is divided into four sections: 1) Politics and Power, 2) Philosophy and Metaphysics, 3) Arts and Culture, and 4) Overview of Historical Developments. Dividing chapters into these four broad categories allows us to highlight some of the ways in which Sufism has influenced Muslim politics, philosophy, art, and culture in each historical period. In each category we will illustrate the relevant issues through detailed case studies, whether of a particular Sufi figure, place, artistic expression, or philosophical view. This will allow the reader to develop a genuinely three-dimensional appreciation of Sufism, neither reducing it to a private mystical experience divorced from social expression, nor limiting the tradition to historical names and dates.

Preface and Acknowledgements [+–] xi-xv

Meena Sharify-Funk,William Rory Dickson

Wilfrid Laurier University

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University of Winnipeg

Introduction

Introduction [+–] 1-9

Meena Sharify-Funk,William Rory Dickson

Wilfrid Laurier University

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University of Winnipeg

Chapter 1

The Many Faces of Contemporary Sufism in North America [+–] 10-53

Meena Sharify-Funk,William Rory Dickson

Wilfrid Laurier University

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University of Winnipeg

In Chapter two, we explore Sufism in 20th and 21st century North America. We begin painting a picture of the political climate within which contemporary Sufis operate, in exploring Sufism in post-9/11 Manhattan. Sufis frequently find themselves at the intersection of a variety of political pressures, including growing anti-Muslim sentiment among Americans, and growing anti-Sufi movements among Muslims. We then shift from contemporary politics, to discuss the different interpretive tendencies emerging among Sufi communities in North America, including universalist tendencies that understand Sufism as something not limited to Islam, to more traditionalist perspectives that assert Sufism’s necessary connection to Islamic practices and laws. In order to shed light on Sufism’s remarkable influence on North American artists, we look at the the 13th century Sufi personality, Jalal al-Din Rumi (d. 1273), whose immensely popular poetry has inspired a variety of cultural expressions, from restaurants, to visual art, yoga, social activism, dance, and music. We conclude with a brief mapping of Sufism’s historical development throughout the 20th century, charting the lives and influences of Sufi personalities, who would shape distinct trends, including more universalist approaches to Sufism, and those more closely affiliated with Muslim identity and ritual life.

Chapter 2

Warriors, Philosophers and Poets: Sufis in the Age of Colonialization [+–] 54-94

Meena Sharify-Funk,William Rory Dickson

Wilfrid Laurier University

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University of Winnipeg

Understanding the contemporary complexity of Sufism’s place in North America, and indeed around the world, is possible only if we understand how that place has been shaped by the global power shifts, conflicts, and migrations of the past three centuries, during a period known as the colonial era. The reverberations of this era continue to undergird contemporary patterns, such as the Western fascination with Sufism, and opposition to Sufism among some Muslims. Chapter Three allows us to make sense of these contemporary dynamics. Politically, Sufis such as ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jaza’iri (d. )organized military resistance to growing European dominance of the Muslim world. Despite being at the forefront of Islamic resistance and revival movements, Sufis like Ahmad al-‘Alawi were soon facing anti-Sufi reformist movements, having to justify their place within Islam in unprecedented ways. Just as Sufism was being contested among Muslims however, Western literary figures like Johann Wolfgang van Goethe (d. 1832) and Ralph Waldo Emerson (d. 1882) were being drawn to Sufism’s rich poetic traditions. The availability of Sufi poetry was in many cases a direct result of the access European colonial officials had to the classical Sufi literary canon. Their presentation of Sufism however largely situated it as something apart from Islam. This separation would have implications for how Sufism was perceived by Muslims and Westerners during this period and ultimately into the 20th and 21st centuries.

Chapter 3

Commanding Sultans to Wandering Dervishes: Sufism in the Late Medieval Era [+–] 95-136

Meena Sharify-Funk,William Rory Dickson

Wilfrid Laurier University

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University of Winnipeg

The diversity of contemporary Sufism and its dynamism during the colonial era can be traced to shared roots, which we explore in Chapter Four, considering Sufism’s role during the height of the Muslim “Gunpowder” empires between the 15th and 18th centuries: the Ottoman, Safavid, andMughal dynasties. In terms of politics and power, this chapter delves into the close relations some Sufis had with Muslim dynasties. The Safavid political dynasty itself emerged out of a Sufi order, while Sufi orders were integral to the social and political structures of Ottoman life. In Mughal India, Sufism was closely associated both with efforts to dissolve boundaries between Muslims and Hindus, and with movements to reassert the superiority of Islam and to entrench the boundaries between Muslims and non-Muslims. In contrast to Sufism’s relationship with imperial elites, we discuss the wandering mendicants of Islam, the dervishes, representing a counter-cultural Sufism that rejected social norms and conventions. Regardless of their position in society, Muslims in general during this period congregated in Sufi shrines, seeking the blessings of the saints. The Sufi shrine then brought together all elements of Muslim society, being honored by imperial courts, venerated by dervishes, and respected as focal points of local devotion. As we illustrate, in contrast to the contemporary period, Sufism during this era was integral to almost every facet of life in Muslim societies, infusing government, commerce, and industry as well as the arts and sciences.

Chapter 4

Synthesizers and Saints: Sufism in the Medieval Era [+–] 137-178

Meena Sharify-Funk,William Rory Dickson

Wilfrid Laurier University

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University of Winnipeg

Moving deeper into history, in Chapter Five, we consider those Sufis who integrated Islamic law, theology and philosophy with the aesthetics and practices of Sufism to forge a holistic paradigm in the medieval era. It was between the 11th and 13th centuries that Sufism crystalized as a comprehensive worldview, one that would define Islam for centuries to follow, shaping the culture of Muslim societies and empires. The great synthesizers of Sufi thought, figures such as Muhyi al-Din Ibn al-‘Arabi (d. 1240) and Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (d. 1111), played paramount roles in drawing the outlines of classical Sufism. Some Sufi scholars like al-Ghazali worked within government instutions, seeking to reconcile Sufism with both Islamic jurisprudence and the political powers of his day. Philosophically, Ibn al-‘Arabi articulated a metaphysics of oneness alongside a conception of human perfectibility, leading to a cosmology of unity and sainthood. Socially, Sufism was institutionalized during this period as a series of religious orders, four of which will be explored in this chapter (the Shadhili, Qadiri, Naqshbandi, and Chishti orders), each representing a different cultural region within Islamic civilization. With Sufism’s institutionalization in a system of orders, Sufi practices became more codified, with each order developing its own particular forms of devotion, meditation, and contemplation. We see during this time the development of a sound mysticism, as Sufi devotion was integrated with musical traditions, and Sufi chanting coordinated with breath and body, producing spiritual practices of song, dance, and ecstasy.

Chapter 5

A Reality without a Name: Early Sufis and the Formation of Tradition [+–] 179-220

Meena Sharify-Funk,William Rory Dickson

Wilfrid Laurier University

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University of Winnipeg

In Chapter Six, we trace the formation of Sufism in the early period of Islam, from the 8th to the 10th centuries. Islamic spirituality, like law and theology, was being formulated during this period. It was hence subject to conflicts over the nature of God, the Qur’an, and the ideal Muslim self and society, conflicts that affected all aspects of the emergent Islamic civilization. Proto-Sufis emerge as exponents of the Qur’an’s hidden meaning, rejectors of the newfound wealth and worldly status of early Islamic empires, and proponents of relating to God not simply as a law-giver and lord, but also as an intimate friend and lover. Seminal figures of this era include Hasan al-Basri (d. 728) and Rabi‘a the great female Sufi and representative of the path of divine love. Sufis drew controversy for their claims of intimacy and unity with God, most notably culminating in the death of Sufism’s famous ‘martyr of love’ al-Hallaj. Also, in this period Sufism began to be understood as a distinctive science within Islam due in large part to the efforts of Sufi biographers like Abu al-Qasim al-Qushayri (d. 1074) to document the principles and practices of Sufism. Sufis would further embrace the structure and themes of pre-Islamic poetry, using its imagery of loss, longing, and the journey to find the beloved, to represent the spiritual search for God.

Chapter 6

Sources of Sufism: Transmission of the Prophetic Word [+–] 221-256

Meena Sharify-Funk,William Rory Dickson

Wilfrid Laurier University

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University of Winnipeg

In Chapter Seven we conclude our journey back through history to consider Sufism’s origin during the 7th and 8th centuries. The many principles and practices of Sufism explored in the book can be traced back to the Qur’an, the revelatory experience of the Prophet Muhammad. To understand the roots of Sufi hermeneutics and concepts such as kashf, we take a closer look at the interpretive approach of Ja‘far al-Sadiq, one of Islam’s early polymaths and mystics. His suggestion that kashf revealed deeper layers of meaning in the Qur’an would shape Sufi approaches to the text thereafter. We further consider those verses of the Qur’an and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad that have shaped later Sufism. Sufi understandings of the Qur’an were controversial, and their claim to have access to the Qur’an’s deepers meanings was contested by scholars who rejected the possibility of esoteric interpretation. This started a debate that continues to this day among Muslims over how to understand the Qur’an. We then explore Muhammad’s life and spiritual practices, which are exemplary for Sufis, and further consider the Prophet’s metaphysical status and meaning for Sufi practitioners. Attention also be given to Sufi use of Quranic calligraphy to beautify expression of the Divine word, and to the development of Sufi thought about the mystical significance of Arabic letters. Finally, we consider Sufism in larger world historical context. Although Sufism may not have originated outside of Islam, it has undoutedly integrated various mystical and philosophical systems prevalent in the Near East. As such, we look at the influence of some of these, including Christian mysticism, Neoplatonism, Hermeticism, and Zoroastrianism.

Conclusion

Conclusion [+–] 257-269

Meena Sharify-Funk,William Rory Dickson

Wilfrid Laurier University

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University of Winnipeg

In this chapter, we will conclude by offering summaries of the chapters, limitations to our research and recommendations for future study.

End Matter

Bibliography [+–] 270-279

William Rory Dickson

University of Winnipeg

In contrast to most introductory texts on Sufism, this work begins not with the historical past, but with the contemporary present. Beginning with Sufism as it is lived today, each chapter further unveils the complexities of Sufism, journeying through a variety of historical, political, and cultural contexts, moving deeper into the past, and closer to the origin and heart of Sufism. This geneological framework will enable the reader to understand the patterns of connection between contemporary manifestations of Sufism and past realities. To ensure that the full range of Sufism’s varied expressions is taken into account, each chapter is divided into four sections: Politics and Power, Philosophy and Metaphysics, Arts and Culture, and Overview of Historical Developments. Dividing chapters into these four broad categories enables the book to highlight some of the ways in which Sufism has influenced Muslim politics, philosophy, art, and culture in each historical period. In each category the relevant issues are illustrated through detailed case studies, whether of a particular Sufi figure, place, artistic expression, or philosophical view. This allows the reader to develop a genuinely three-dimensional appreciation of Sufism, neither reducing it to a private mystical experience divorced from social expression, nor limiting the tradition to historical names and dates.

Index [+–] 280-293

William Rory Dickson

University of Winnipeg

Reviews

This work is an introductory yet extensive text on Sufism intended to be used in the classroom. With an interdisciplinary approach, the authors aim to provide a rich contextualized understanding of Sufism. Strongly recommended for researchers and academicians engaged in field of Sufi studies.
Reading Religion

An interesting read that due to its unique arrangement of topics and selection of content has something to offer to every reader, regardless of their background or prior knowledge on the subject. ...we should thank Dickson and Sharify-Funk for their unique and at a times very attractive contribution.
Religion and Theology

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Unveiling Sufism

From Manhattan to Mecca

William Rory Dickson [+–]

University of Winnipeg

Meena Sharify-Funk [+–]

Wilfrid Laurier University

View Website

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