1st Edition
Contemporary Sufism Piety, Politics, and Popular Culture
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.
List of Figures
Introduction
The Structure of this Book
Part I: Sufism and Anti-Sufism in Contemporary Contexts
Part II: Contemporary Sufism in the West: Poetic Influences and Popular Manifestations
Part III: Gendering Sufism: Tradition and Transformation
Bibliography
Chapter 1: Contextualizing the Production of Knowledge on Contemporary Sufism in the West
Orientalism and the Study of Sufism
Precolonial European Encounters with Sufism
Colonial-Era Encounters with Sufism
The Beginnings of Western Sufism: Rene Guénon and Hazrat Inayat Khan
From Text to Context: The Shift to Studying Living Sufism
Scholarship on Sufism Beyond the Academy
Towards Contemporary Sufism
Conclusion
Bibliography
Notes
PART I: SUFISM AND ANTI-SUFISM IN CONTEMPORARY CONTEXTS
Chapter 2: Heart or Heresy? The Historical Debate Over Sufism’s Place in Islam
Early Islam and the Emergence of Sufism
The Sunni Synthesis: Sufism and Shari‘a
Ibn Taymiyya and the Medieval Roots of Modern Anti-Sufism
Two Visions of Islam
Ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab and the Birth of Modern Anti-Sufism
European Colonialism, Salafism, and End of Sufi
Conclusion
Bibliography
Notes
Chapter 3: Contesting Sufism Today: Contemporary Sufi and Anti-Sufi Responses
Contending Islamic Paradigms
Contrasting Hermeneutics of the Qur’an and Hadith
Contesting Theologies: Understandings of Tawhid and Islam
Pedagogy and the Transmission of Islamic Knowledge
Summarizing the Contemporary Islamic Scene
The Spread of Anti-Sufism in the Twentieth Century
Al-Qaeda and ISIS
North American Sufi Responses to Anti-Sufism
Conclusion
Bibliography
Notes
PART II: CONTEMPORARY SUFISM IN THE WEST: POETIC INFLUENCES AND POPULAR MANIFESTATIONS
Chapter 4: Sufism in the Eyes of the West: Colonialists, Romantics, and Transcendentalists
Before Orientalism: Ramon Llull and Early Medieval Encounters with Sufism
Dervishes and Non-Muslims in Ottoman Turkey
Orientalists and Sufism: Scholarly Constructions and Poetic Transmissions
Early Translations and Interpretations: Jones, Malcolm, and Wilberforce
The Travelogues of Lane and Brown
The Romantics and Sufism
The Poets of the East and the West: Hafiz and Goethe
American Transcendentalism and Sufism
The Concordians and the Sufis: Emerson, Whitman, and Hafiz
Conclusion
Bibliography
Notes
Chapter 5: The Era of Rumi: Contemporary Sufism and Popular Culture
The Making of the "Rumi Phenomenon" in America
"Jalaloddin Barks": Coleman Barks and the Making of Rumi-Mania
Rumi as the Main Character: Novels, Comics, and Popular Literature
"Keep Calm and Read Rumi!": Rumi, Self-Help Books, and Spiritual Biographies
Sufism and the Arts: Music, Rumi Tours, and the Big Screen
Rumi and Visual Art
Whirling with Rumi and Sufi Tourism
Musical Expressions of Rumi
#RumiWasntWhite: Rumi on the Big Screen
Rumi: An Icon of LGBTQ Activism
Some Tea with your Rumi? Culinary Delights and Architectural Inspirations There is an App for That! Rumi on Social MediaConclusion
Bibliography
Notes
part iii: GENDERING SUFISM: TRADITION AND TRANSFORMATION
Chapter 6: Perfecting the Self: Female Sufi Saints in Islamic History
Insan al-Kamil: The Perfected Human Being
Gendered Qualities Encompassed by the Perfected Human
Gendered "Friends of God"
A Brief Historical Overview of Sufi WomenFormative Period: Female Ascetics and Male Biographers
Medieval Period: Female Teachers and Sufi Orders
Age of Colonization: Sufi Females and the Call of ResistanceConclusion
Bibliography
Notes
Chapter 7: "Women of Light": Contemporary Female SUFI Leaders
Living Sufism Today
The Significance of Living Sufism: Transmission, Teachers and Role Models
Contemporary Female Sufi Leadership: Responsibilities and the Role of the Feminine
Conclusion
Bibliography
Notes
Conclusion: Discourses of Authenticity and Complementary Contradictions in Contemporary Sufism
Key Findings of Chapters
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Complementary Contradictions and the Making of Contemporary Sufism
Reflections on Possible Trajectories for Future Scholarship
Concluding Thoughts
Bibliography
Notes
Biography
Meena Sharify-Funk is Associate Professor and the Chair of the Religion and Culture Department at Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada.
William Rory Dickson is Assistant Professor of Islamic Religion and Culture at the University of Winnipeg, Canada.
Merin Shobhana Xavier is Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at Ithaca College, USA.
"Contemporary Sufism examines both "God’s unruly friends", as well as the scholars who have studied, written about, interpreted, and theorized about them. This is a welcome addition to the literature on Sufism and its interpreters." Amir Hussain, Department of Theological Studies, Loyola Marymount University, USA
"Contemporary Sufism fills an enormous gap in the Islamic Studies literature. The analysis offered here is especially powerful because it reveals the many ways in which Sufi practices challenge the conventional wisdom about gender and religious authority in Islam. Essential reading for anyone looking to understand religion and society in the Muslim world today." Peter Mandaville, author of Islam and Politics, George Mason University, USA
"A commendable research work, this volume is enhanced by it’s comprehensible text, lucidity, text-title relevance, and rich notes at the end of each chapter. Contemporary Sufism: Piety, Politics, and Popular Culture is a must-read for students, researchers, and those with an expertise in religious studies, Islam, and Sufism and is highly recommended for the general readership as well." Mohammad Irfan Shah, Department of Islamic Studies at Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India.