Sufi Brotherhoods Research Articles

Islam in the Gold Heart of Russia: Ingush Islamic Communities in Kolyma

This article analyzes evolving patterns of migration between traditionally Muslim parts of the post-Soviet region and the Russian Far East, with an emphasis on the migration of Ingush between rural Ingushetia and urban areas of Magadan Oblast. It shows how the initial isolation of Ingush migrants from their homeland has been overcome with the aid of more affordable travel and new communications technologies. It describes the emergence of new Islamic communities among migrants in the Far East, the relations between these communities and municipal authorities, the rivalry between Sufi brotherhoods, and the recent split between Sufi and Salafi Muslims.

L’après 2013 des confréries soufies égyptiennes : allégeance au pouvoir, dissensions internes et « renouveau du discours religieux »

This article discusses the role of some Sufi orders and some of their sheikhs who are members of the Higher Council of Egyptian Sufi Brotherhoods in the project to ‘renew religious discourse’ (tajdīd khitab al-dīnī) launched by President al-Sissi in 2015. In particular, it raises the question of the extent to which contemporary Sufi ulemas reclaim concepts belonging to the Islamic mystical tradition, such as that of tajdīd (renewal), in order to adapt it to the needs of the country’s political agenda. Finally, based on the case of the al-’Azamiya brotherhood, this article aims to question the role played by Sufi identity as a factor of political mobilisation.

The Miracle Question: The Islamic ideal through the prism of Senegalise Sufi Brotherhoods

The biggest news story in journalism for the past two decades has been chronicling the rise of radical Islamic terrorism. But, what do Muslims want? What would the world be like if they achieved their goals? If Muslims went to sleep one magical night and a miracle occurred, what would their ideal world be like upon awakening? What if all the problems were gone? I posed the “miracle question” to Sufi Islamic scholars, marabouts, disciples of Sufi Brotherhood orders, the Tijaniyyah, the Mourides and the Layene Brotherhoods in Senegal, West Africa in June 2015. I asked them to envision how the future would be different if the Sufi Islamic ideal was achieved. This research uses narrative inquiry to examine the endgame of Islam.

Here or elsewhere: Sufism and traditional Islam in Russia’s Volga-Ural region

The renewed interest for Sufism, in the form of the celebration of a Sufi past, and the presence of Naqshbandi Sufi brotherhoods in the Volga and Urals ask the question of the place of Sufism in the region’s broader Islamic revival. In particular, how is Sufism related to the concept of “traditional Islam” as a central official category that seeks to define a local Islam? In order to understand how the place of Sufism is negotiated in relation to the notion of a local Islam, we analyse both how Sufism is integrated into the concept of traditional Islam on a more official level and how Sufi murids view their place in the Islamic revival. We refer to the literature on Sufism and its critiques and to new interpretations of the Volga-Ural Muslim history to highlight how negative images of the phenomenon and previous theological disputes form the background against which the Sufi revival takes place. Drawing on the idea of Sufism’s “disappearance” from a historical narrative in Soviet times and on the importance of anti-Sufi critiques in fashioning this narrative, we aim to understand how a new narrative on Sufism emerges on an official level and how it connects or not with the way Sufi murids perceive their beliefs and practices. By analysing convergences and divergences in official perceptions of Sufism and the perceptions of Sufi murids, we examine how the question of Sufism sheds light on the paradoxes in the concept of traditional Islam. Hence, Sufism challenges the image of a unified theological heritage as a foundation for traditional Islam, as it brings to the fore the anti-Sufi critique of previous Jadids. While official views and the views of Sufi murids converge on a more theological definition of traditional Islam understood as the three dimensions of Islam (islam, iman and ihsan), Sufism also raises the question of religious authority. Indeed, the spiritual hierarchies represented by Sufi tariqas may not be easy to reconcile with an official Muslim representation. Finally, Sufi murids refer to the notion of a local sacred geography, but also emphasise the transnational and transregional connections established by Sufi tariqas, thus pointing to another understanding of locality.

Sufi Tariqats in the Caucasus: A System-Communicative Analysis of Culturally-Complex Societies

The recently collected historical data regarding contemporary Sufism in the North-Eastern Caucasus allow the authors to outline the main directions and trends of this phenomenon. Among these are various processes of interaction and divergence within the Sufi brotherhoods, their views on general issues of spiritual teaching, values and authorities, and a complex and often ambiguous attitude of the Sufis towards the political Islam. It is emphasized that Sufism cannot be opposed to political Islam; in certain socio-political conditions, Sufism itself can play this role.Thу article is written in the framework of the system-communication approach, which distinguishes between political, ethnic, religious and other forms of communication. The authors focus on the local forms of Sufism in culturally complex societies, their prevalence in local religious practice, the real content, methods and forms of ethno-religious communication, as well as the problems of the interaction of various Sufi traditions with other forms of Islam, including Islamic fundamentalism. A study of these problems shows that the processes of social transformation in the North-East Caucasus, which began after the collapse of the USSR, have probably already entered their final stage.

TAREKAT DAN POLITIK: Studi Living Sufism Tarekat Hizib Nahdlatul Wathan

Tarekat (Tariqa) is a Sufi brotherhood that contains and practices sufistic principles. In Sufism, there is a distinc- tive concept, namely zuhud. Zuhud is the emptiness of the desire for something, which means limiting the desire to get something worldly or pleasure (profane). At this point, it can be seen that in the Sufistic tradition it should be to avoid the desire for something profane, including politics. However, Tarekat Hizib Nahdlatul Wathan as a tarekat appeared to be actively involved in politics, even the founder and murshid of the Tarekat Hizib Nahdlatul Wathan became the main figure in politics in Lombok. This is important to note, because on the one hand the Tarekat Hizib Nahdlatul Wathan is a tarekat but on the other hand it appears to be actively involved in politics. Therefore, the authors are interested in discussing more about the Tarekat Hizib Nahdlatul Wathan and its con- tribution to politics in Lombok. This article will explain the study of living sufism of the Tarekat Hizib Nahdlatul Wathan.

Islamic Counter-Hegemonic Legal Knowledge and Its Unofficial Interpretation and Glocal Dissemination

Despite the Kemalist repressive secularism, several Islamic groups and Sufi brotherhoods have either continued to exist or new ones in addition to modern ones such as faith-based civil society organizations (to satisfy both the official and unofficial laws) have emerged. All these have their own knowledge bases, religious outlooks and interpretation mechanisms. Gulen Movement, albeit being the most known one, is only one of these myriad number of religious or religio-secular societal formations. It is an Islamic civil society movement originated in Turkey. It has mainly focused on science and secular education. It is urbanite, composed of mainly educated participants. The movement has created its own spaces such schools, hospitals, dormitories, universities, cultural centers, think tanks, newspapers, TV stations, web portals and political lobbying associations to form and express an identity of a modern Sufistic Turkish Muslimhood. Even though Gulen is the main actor in the movement who has engaged with producing new Islamic knowledge in his constant responses to the socio-political affairs and challenges by reinterpreting Islamic sources in tune with contemporary time and space, the movement participants contribute to this process in different ways, such as by giving transferring knowledge to him from their own local contexts or by contextualizing and disseminating the knowledge produced by Gulen. There are interesting outcomes of these processes. For instance, many of the movement participants are of the view that something that I dubbed as “Muslim Secularism” is possible, an idea that unofficial Islamic law is compatible with Alfred Stepan’s twin tolerations. Similarly, following the maqasid conceptualization, many movement participants support universal human rights, liberal and/or social democracy and equal citizenship regardless of religious affiliation. There are also several expert participants in the movement who have been producing knowledge as theologians, social scientists and intellectuals in different parts of the world. Some of these are critical engagement with the movement itself and their critical stance on some actions of the movement (e.g. the movement’s Turkish nationalism, its existence within the Turkish bureaucracy, its close but problematic proximity to the AKP politicians until 2013, its media’s poor democratic performance, transparency and accountability problems) sometimes faces anti-expert sentiments from some other movement participants.

Tarekat Hizib Nahdlatul Wathan Dan Perannya Dalam Perpolitikan Di Lombok

Tarekat is a Sufi brotherhood in which it contains and practices sufistic principles. In Sufism,there is a very thick concept, namely zuhud. Zuhud is the emptiness of search, which limits his desire to gain the world. From this it can be seen that the Sufic tradition should be reluctant to desire the world, including politics. However, the Hizib Nahdlatul Wathan as a tarekat appeared to be very active in politics, even the founder and Tarekat murshid Hizib Nahdlatul Wathan became a major driver in politics in Lombok. This is interesting, on the one hand the Hizib Nahdlatul Wathan is a tarekat, but on the other hand it looks very active in the politics of Lombok. Therefore, the authors are interested in studying more about the Hizib Nahdlatul Wathan and its role in politics in Lombok. There are two problem formulations in this article, namely; what is the concept of teaching the Hizib Nahdlatul Wathan Order? What is the religious foundation of the Hizib Nahdlatul Wathan Order in its political activities in Lombok? To answer the two formulations of the problem the author uses a literature review and interview research method. In addition, the author also uses two theories to dissect the formulation of the problem, namely the tarekat theory and the tarekat and political theory of Martin van Bruinessen. The tarekat theory the author uses to answer the first problem statement. While the theory of tarekat and politics of Martin van Bruinessen, the author uses it to answer the problem statement number two.

Tarekat Hizib Nahdlatul Wathan Dan Perannya Dalam Perpolitikan Di Lombok

Tarekat is a Sufi brotherhood in which it contains and practices sufistic principles. In Sufism,there is a very thick concept, namely zuhud. Zuhud is the emptiness of search, which limits his desire to gain the world. From this it can be seen that the Sufic tradition should be reluctant to desire the world, including politics. However, the Hizib Nahdlatul Wathan as a tarekat appeared to be very active in politics, even the founder and Tarekat murshid Hizib Nahdlatul Wathan became a major driver in politics in Lombok. This is interesting, on the one hand the Hizib Nahdlatul Wathan is a tarekat, but on the other hand it looks very active in the politics of Lombok. Therefore, the authors are interested in studying more about the Hizib Nahdlatul Wathan and its role in politics in Lombok. There are two problem formulations in this article, namely; what is the concept of teaching the Hizib Nahdlatul Wathan Order? What is the religious foundation of the Hizib Nahdlatul Wathan Order in its political activities in Lombok? To answer the two formulations of the problem the author uses a literature review and interview research method. In addition, the author also uses two theories to dissect the formulation of the problem, namely the tarekat theory and the tarekat and political theory of Martin van Bruinessen. The tarekat theory the author uses to answer the first problem statement. While the theory of tarekat and politics of Martin van Bruinessen, the author uses it to answer the problem statement number two.

The all-Embracing Light of Divine Grace in the Theory and Practice of the Sufi Brotherhood of Chishti

Abstract: the author, on the basis of the Philosophical-Sufi studies of medieval Muslim scholars, the achievements of modern theoretical thought and independent argumentation, reveals the Sufi understanding of The Existence of God and the Way to Him. The source of the material was, first of all, the treatises of Indian Islamic thinkers written in Farsi: the work of Ali ibn Uthman al-Hudjwiri Kashf al-Mahdzhub li Abrar al-Kulub («Disclosure of the hidden behind the veil for those who have knowledge in the Mystery of Hearts») and the lithographic edition of Fava’eed al-Fouad «Useful [knowledge] for the Heart», owned by the Sheikh Nizamuddin Awliya – one of the most significant Sufi saints of the Order of Chishti. It is convincingly proven, how, using the words-labels, for example, Light and Heart and their connotations (Anwar – plural Absolute Light, Nur – Light, and also refracted or reflected Ray), one can come to the understanding that Nur is Light, Ray, Shine and Allah Himself. Thus, the creators of the monuments of medieval writing in the countries of the Muslim East asserted the religious paradigm according to which, thanks to the Unity of the Existence (vahdat al-wujud), the Light of Divine Grace embraces the entire universe: from the simple to the complex, and from it to the heart of the person who has gone through all the ways of perfection.

Searching for the Origin(al)

Abstract This article offers an archaeology of one of the most popular and widely reproduced images across Senegal and its diaspora: the portrait of Amadou Bamba (1853-1927), founder of the Mouride Sufi Brotherhood. Seen as a powerful source of baraka or blessing, the black and white portrait can be spotted virtually everywhere in Mouride spaces from Touba to New York, from Dakar to Beijing. Despite its physical ubiquity, the photograph’s genesis remains shrouded in mystery. Building on two years of archival and field research in Senegal, this article seeks to reframe the significance of this iconic image by focusing on narratives of its origins. Taken between 1914 and 1916 to illustrate Paul Marty’s 1917 Etudes sur L’Islam au Senegal, this portrait was one, among many others, that the colonial administration collected in an effort to monitor and document the activity of Senegal’s local Muslim leaders. In an attempt to bypass a Foucauldian view of photography, which reveals mechanisms of control and yet mutes the “Other,” this article also considers Mouride disciples’ accounts of this image’s history. Their analyses subvert monolithic interpretations of the portrait as an image of surveillance and render the instability of the photographic language, even when the colonizer is behind the camera.

Two Iberian Cases of Intellectual Mysticism

Two Iberian Cases of Intellectual Mysticism

The İsmailağa community and its relationship with the AK party

ABSTRACTThis article aims to demonstrate the importance of the relationship between the Naqshbandi Ismailağa community and the AK Party (Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi, “Justice and Development Party”) government. As one of the most widespread Sufi brotherhoods in the world, the strength of the Naqshbandiyya lies in its characteristic combination of strict adherence to religious law and active involvement in social and political affairs. The İsmailağa community, one of five main Naqshbandi communities in Turkey, is highly conservative and traditional, historically dominated by elders who have remained aloof from any power struggles within the Turkish government. While the AK Party has developed ties with religious orders in recent years, including the Ismailağa, some voices within the Ismailağa community have become critical of this relationship, leading to a rift within the community. In addition, since 2013, and especially after the attempted coup of July 2016, the AK Party has lost the support of its old ally, the Fethullah Gülen movement. This article examines the relationship between the AK Party and religious movements in Turkey as reflected via its relationship with Ismailağa, and assesses whether the Fethullah Gülen movement can be replaced as a party ally by the Ismailağa community.

Sufi articulations of civility, globality, and sovereignty

AbstractThis article provides an analysis of Sufi life and organization, combining historical depth and theoretical awareness. It investigates how Sufism emerged as an urban phenomenon. Sufi brotherhoods were at the forefront of a proto-globalization based on a hemisphere-wide networking between metropolitan regions, rural provinces, and nomadic formations. Furthermore, cities became nodes within wider circulations, rather than, as in European and Weberian models, centers of corporate powers. The emerging patterns of civility were open-ended, balancing inner cultivation, communicative skills, and outward etiquette. The article shows how this global civility translated into original conceptions of sovereignty that were more malleable than those of the European Leviathan. A millenarian universalism imbued with Sufi saintliness bolstered the centralized sovereignty of early modern Muslim empires. Sufi contributions to these empires nurtured a cosmopolitan culture, facilitating commercial exchange and intelle...

Shiʿi Islam and Sufism by Denis Hermann and Mathieu Terrier

Reviewed by: Shiʿi Islam and Sufism by Denis Hermann and Mathieu Terrier Brian Welter Shiʿi Islam and Sufism, by Denis Hermann and Mathieu Terrier, 2020. London: I.B. Tauris, xviii + 369 pp, £22.49. isbn: 978-0755 60 2308. This collection of essays traces the fascinating history and varied expressions of Sufism within Shi'i Islam. Shi'i Islam itself follows a range of practices across many regions. The book's authors mostly focus on the late Middle Ages to the present, with frequent references to the roots of both Shi'i Islam and Sufism in the earliest years of Islam. While much of this development centres on Persia from the Safavid period onwards, groups in modern-day Pakistan, India, Turkey, and the Arab world also contributed to Shi'i Sufi orders. Related political, social, and cultural realities are repeatedly discussed, whereas the religious dimension of Sufism within Shi'i Islam is not fully covered because key Sufi practices and beliefs are not for the general public. The main point of the various essays is that Shi'i Islam and Sufism did not always enjoy fruitful or cordial relations, though Shi'i Sufism grew notably in Iran and elsewhere during the period under consideration. Part One, "Alternatives to Anti-Sufi Discourse in Pre-Modern and Modern Shi'i Literature," centres the discussion on the religious reforms of Safavid Iran (1502-1722). Hermann and Terrier in their Introduction show that Sufi relationships with Shi'i Islam and the Safavids varied greatly, with initial "violent hostility towards Sufism, whose charismatic leaders were regarded as rivals and represented a potential threat" (8). Like the other authors in Shi'i Islam and Sufism, Hermann and Terrier highlight nuance: "Henceforth, 'Sufi policy' within the realm would oscillate between repression and accommodation, depending on how inclined the various Sufi groups were to recognise the spiritual and temporal authority of the Shāh" (8). Such attention to nuance--to changing or unstable religious, political, and cultural landscapes--is a strength of the book. No easy generalisations are offered, and readers will [End Page 251] come to see that both Shi'ism and Sufism were integral parts of a much larger and very dynamic picture. Political and Sufi leaders, growing Shi'i religious practices and beliefs, and expansion of Sufi brotherhoods all exerted influence on each other. Part of the flux, as we see in Terrier's Chapter 1, "The Defence of Sufism among Twelver Shiʿi Scholars of Early Modern and Modern Times," was that Shi'i scholars could not decide whether to accept Sufism as part and parcel of their beliefs, or reject it "for being a 'condemnable innovation'" (27). An individual's answer to this question depended on whether, for example, one followed "the tradition of reconciliation" between Shi'ism and Sufism (28). However, individuals such as ʿAli al-Karaki (d. 1534) rejected mystical and philosophical forms of Shi'ism, which led to a rejection of Sufism. Readers get the feeling that the Shi'a-Sufi relationship was never solidified either in the direction of total acceptance nor total rejection. Terrier evaluates four "ecumenist" works from the period, including that of Sayyid Haydar Amuli, who advocated reconciliation. Part Two, "The Social History of a Shiʿi Sufi Brotherhood: The Niʿmat Allāhiya," provides a fascinating historical, cultural, and social account of the religious beliefs and practices, as well as the expansion of, a significant Sufi Shi'i order. Speziale's discussion of "the Shi'itisation of the Niʿmat Allāhī branch of Hyderabad" in chapter four gives readers a clear idea of how Shi'i beliefs and practices influenced Sunni religious life in Persia in the Safavid period, though the chapter also traces the order's spread into India's Deccan plateau. The Safavid influence was all-encompassing: "If the Safavid ... attitude towards Sufism, which was most often adverse, did not determine the disappearance of the order in Iran, however, it did lead to its adaptation to the new political and social context and to the redefinition of the religious and spiritual authority of the masters' order in Iran" (158). Hyderabad's Islamic community, unlike Safavid Iran, was majority Sunni, but...

Gerakan Petani Banten: Studi Tentang Konfigurasi Sufisme Awal Abad Xix

Sufism is an esoteric dimension of Islam, which differs from the outer aspect of Islam known as shari’a. This view did not emerge at the early time because Sufism was not regarded as the inner manifestation of Islam, as it is so now. Rather, it was seen as Islam itself. Tarekat in its initial phase constituted associations of people who wanted to escape from a worldly life. However, this orientation shifted since the associations broadened their roles into socio-political life by engaging in revolts against colonialism as it occurred in Banten in 1888. This peasant revolt movement was not an independent move without a significant contribution from the sufi brotherhood since actors in the revolt were members of tarekat. According to Banten Residen, almost all of the employees in his office including police were the members of tarekat. One salient feature of the movement is concerned with the xenophobic spirit that rejected the presence of foreigners and advocated a holy war.

Tasting Islam: religious aesthetics and modernity in a contemporary Egyptian Sufi brotherhood

This article describes the convergence of Sufi and modern traditions of thought within ritual practices in an Egyptian brotherhood and its Europeans branches. I disentangle the different threads behind one of my interlocutor’s words and experience of dhawq (taste), a spiritual sense that in Sufi tradition reconnects the disciple to the divine. I argue that the way my interlocutors experience dhawq builds up into a form of religious aesthetics and architecture of the self that draw on the encounter with European psychological traditions. Distinctive in this encounter is that the self emerges as the location of an experience that is always, and already, an experience of transcendence, of an outside that is constitutive of selfhood. By putting into dialogue two traditions of knowledge that stand at the margins of the modern world, namely the esoteric trend of Sufi tradition and the Gestalt tradition, my interlocutors’ religious aesthetics promotes an architecture of the self that is alternative to hegemonic understandings of modern Islam structuring the contemporary Egyptian public sphere, as it foregrounds divine intervention and backgrounds individual responsibility and action.

Senegal’s Arabic literates: from transnational education to national linguistic and political activism

This article studies the role of the Arabophone community in postcolonial social and political transformations. More specifically, it focuses on the case of the Arabisants in Senegal. Forged through the mobility between the two shores of the Sahara, they are willing to emerge as a more visible political force since the 2000s. This article sheds light on Arabisants’ endeavours to participate in various forms of political advocacy. It demonstrates that they intend to stand as the political entrepreneurs of the Muslim community, to challenge the hegemony of Sufi Brotherhoods, and consequently, to challenge the state’s alliance with the Sufi orders. In so doing, Arabisants emerge as counter-elite in the public and political debate in Senegal.

Religion in Contemporary Senegal

Senegal is usually classified as 90% Muslim and 5% Christian. But Senegal’s dominant religious imagination is far different from anything suggested by classical labels like ‘Muslim’ or even ‘Sufi Brotherhoods’. The pervasive religious imagination sees spiritual forces at play everywhere and understands causality primarily in spiritual terms. These spiritual forces can be manipulated by individuals gifted with such powers (marabouts), positively for one’s advancement or negatively to counter or even bring down competitors or opponents. This enchanted religious imagination, often given an Islamic character, is obtrusive in Senegal’s major sports: lutte avec frappe and football. It is inescapable in politics, as politicians admit their recourse to marabouts and even more often accuse opponents of it. For women maraboutage is particularly employed for domestic realities: a husband, children, domestic security. The courts regularly feature cases arising from this imagination. The phenomenon merits research, not just to clarify the nature of Senegal’s religion itself, but also for its effects on the country’s socio-political development generally.

Pre-modern Globalization and Islamic Networks under Mongol Rule: Some Preliminary Considerations on the Spreading of Sufi Knowledge in Gansu-Qinghai

Exploring the relationship between globalization and Islam has proved to be a difficult task. The importance of globalization as a force in shaping the modern world has been remarked by scholars and experts of various fields, yet enough is unexplained about the mechanisms and processes of global integration in pre-modern times. The present study is a first attempt at both filling the gaps in the theoretical literature, and casting doubts upon the inherent irreconcilability between globalization and the Islamic world. At first place, the discourse of globalization is historicized: by viewing relevant processes retrospectively, with a prequel to the “age of Mongol conquest” and nomadic expansion across Eurasia (thirteenth and fourteenth centuries); and perspectively, out of the West’s experience of modernity and its normative dominance over non-western societies. The nature of Islamic networks is then examined through the prism of early global exchanges, and the eastward transfer of Sufi knowledge understood as the result of strengthening connections between networks. The role of Sufism as one of the determining forces of change is further analysed, with special attention paid to the continuities and ruptures in the development of Sufi brotherhoods and Islamization of northwestern China (Gansu-Qinghai region) through the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties.