1st Edition

Contemporary Sufism Piety, Politics, and Popular Culture

    292 Pages
    by Routledge

    292 Pages
    by Routledge

    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 Media

    Conclusion

    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 Women

    Formative Period: Female Ascetics and Male Biographers

    Medieval Period: Female Teachers and Sufi Orders

    Age of Colonization: Sufi Females and the Call of Resistance

    Conclusion

    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 4

    Chapter 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.