The Power of Popular Culture Chapter 10 Part # 2 Sufi Saints, Sufi Sinners, and Sufi Alternatives Jalal ad-Din Rumi Without question the most well known Sufi saint is Jalal ad-Din Rumi. He was the founder of the 13th century Mevlevi Order of Sufis, best known for ecstatic dancing in circular motions, hence "whiling Dervishes." A dervish is simply a member of a Sufi order who has taken a vow of poverty and who dedicates himself to religious faith. Unlike Catholic priests, however, a dervish takes part in what may be called religious "performance" in which music and animated dancing are central to everything else, all of this while wearing colorful middle eastern garments. Rumi himself was a paradox. Although best known for his florid mystical poetry, and his ecumenical theology -part philosophy, part Comparative Religion, part commentary on his life experiences- he was a teacher in a madrassa, an Islamic school, an Islamic jurist, someone who issued fatwas (legal rulings) and delivered sermons in the mosques of his home town of Konya in southwestern Anatolia. Indeed, in his Diwan, he went as far as to say that a Sufi should cling to Muhammad the way that a son heeds his own father. However, this is hardly what Rumi is best known for saying since he regularly also said that he was not a Muslim and not a follower of any religion except the 'religion of the heart,' based on inner spiritual experience -which is the emphasis given Rumi in the West. As the useful article about Rumi in Wikipedia puts it : "His doctrine advocates unlimited tolerance, positive reasoning, goodness, charity and awareness through love. To him and to his disciples all religions are more or less truth. Looking with the same eye on Muslim, Jew and Christian alike, his peaceful and tolerant teaching has appealed to people of all sects and creed..." Another of Rumi's sayings has it that "I am neither Christian, nor Jew, nor Gabr [Zoroastrian], nor Moslem. I am not of the East nor of the West, nor of the land, nor of the sea..." As for Sufi dancing, it represents a mystical journey to the so-called "Perfect One," during the course of which the seeker is supposed to learn truths, set his or her ego aside, and grow through love. The destination is then found to consist of service to others without regard to their religion or race or wealth or nationality. No wonder that Rumi has appeal to many Americans since this is our basic creed. Moreover, unlike orthodox Islam which considers music to be the Devil's work, Rumi took the opposite view, namely, that music -along with poetry and dance- is essential for reaching God. While Americans may not be all that interested in poetry, and not everyone is much for dancing, they cannot conceive of true faith without its special music -whether Evangelical or Lutheran or Catholic or anything else. All of this said, it also is the case that Rumi returned to Muslim themes again and again in his many writings. In fact, as Hâdî Hâ'irî, a modern Iranian scholar has reported, there are literally thousands of references to the Koran and selected Hadiths in Rumi's work, much of this unknown in the West since most has not been translated into English. What we have, then, is a highly selective set of writings of Rumi which omit most of his free translations of verses from the Koran, his paraphrases of Hadiths, or his use of anecdotes that illustrate Muslim beliefs. It is this selective body of work that is the foundation for Rumi's reputation in America and Europe. There is one additional matter to discuss, however, allegations that Rumi was homosexual. This has been the viewpoint of homosexuals like Andre Harvey, more-or-less a scholar of world religions, albeit someone who takes a Matthew Fox outlook -viz, religion reinterpreted as if all faiths were versions of New Age spirituality. In any case, Andre Harvey began to promulgate the theory -presented as fact- that Rumi was a pervert. Which, to Harvey was "good" inasmuch as it allowed him to insist that real Islam is homosexual-tolerant. But, for Harvey, this is true for all world religions no matter how vehemently they may condemn homosexuality and regard homosexuals as destined for Hell. Since Andre Harvey began to promote his view in the 1990s that Rumi was a degenerate it has gained the support of a number of other homosexuals who, into 2017, have added their voices to this smear. Hence there now is a movement of sorts among homosexuals who not only claim Rumi as one of their own, but also tell others that Mother Meera, a Hindu of reputation in India, approves of this slander, but also other pro-homosexuals who are at least nominal Christians, Jews, Buddhists, and so forth, including followers of Sri Aurobindo. Harvey has been aided in his efforts by his association with various colleges and universities where he has lectured, including Oxford and Cornell -plus alternative schools such as the California Institute of Integral Studies and the 'University' of Creation Spirituality. Others also have reasons for identifying Rumi with homosexuality, such as Hindus and Christians who are most interested in equating Rumi with Muslim orthodoxy since they detest Islam. Not that their criticisms of Islam aren't basically valid, but eagerness to defame anyone as a homosexual when there is no evidence, or no better than supposition based on questionable readings of documents, is a really bad idea. An example of a Christian derogation of Rumi can be found in a 2009 paper by someone named "Spengler," entitled "Sufism, sodomy, and Satan." What makes this especially interesting is that it has attracted a Hindu readership as well, whom, one supposes, are adding their words to those of the Rumi-was-homosexual homosexuals along with the Christian detractors. Needless to say, inasmuch as Islam in all of its normative forms is strongly opposed to homosexuality, there has been considerable pushback by Muslims, especially on the part of Sufi followers of Rumi. An example is a lengthy article by Ibrahim Gamard, available online, entitled " A Reply to Misunderstandings about Rumi and Shams." What this is all about is the relationship between Rumi and an older follower named Shams. They were friends in a shared faith for an unknown period of time, 40 days according to legend, several years according to some historical accounts. There we no other similar relationships in Rumi's life and Sufis insist that what was involved was a literary friendship centered on religious texts and their interpretation, and the study of poetry. There is no real question that after this time Rumi began to write the many poems for which he is deservedly famous. Where the supposed homosexual connection comes from is Rumi's frequent use of love terminology. There is also reference to nudism and states of mind that can be thought of as forms of rapture or bliss. However, as Ibrahim Gamard explained, it is absurd to transpose the stylized language of Rumi's verses and the cultural associations of 800 years ago in Anatolia to the world of homosexuals in San Francisco or other limp-wrist venues in 21st century America. . Gamard provides a history lesson: Think of our own culture and its transformations in just the past few decades. "Consider" said Gamard, "how much the words "love" and "lover" have become sexualized in the English language. Only thirty years ago, for example, "making love" in popular songs meant no more than hugging and kissing. Now it always means "having sexual relations." Similarly, "lovers" now always means "people who have or had sex together." There is no longer any concept of lovers who don't engage in sex with each other...." But this was not the world that Rumi knew. . As Rumi and many other Sufi poets used the word "lover" it meant "lover of God," someone especially devoted to religion. This is similar in some respects to Catholic usage on the part og nuns in which a woman is a "bride of Christ." For a Sufi of the classical period, the word "beloved" means God as object of devotion. . Oddly, it must be said, that word choice is often borrowed from (very heterosexual) love poetry, but those were the literary conventions of the era. But no more odd, perhaps, than the gender change that occurred in medieval China when the male Kuan Yin eventually became the female Kuan Shih Yin of the past millennium and into our own time. Which was not a case of transgender anything but an accommodation to folk beliefs that centered on a traditional Goddess which had been submerged in official Taoism only to re-emerge through a process of replacement of one Kuan Yin with another. In any case, a custom of youthful cross dressing was fairly common in the historic Mid East, indeed, among pre-schoolers in the West until as late as the WWII era in some places. The last of this cultural practice seems to be that found in Afghanistan as commemorated in the 2007 movie, The Kite Runner. Word confusion also surrounds the alleged nudism in Rumi's poetry. What this refers to is a Dervish practice of ritualistic tearing one's cloak during Sufi dances as an indication of spiritual ecstasy. The purported nudism, which is forbidden in Islam, is symbolic metaphor. All of which would be far clearer if some modern translations of Rumi's verses weren't created to appeal to readers with contemporary interests -like literary elitists or homosexuals- unknown to the poet. Not that, to refer to Spengler's article, no Sufis were ever homosexual; some obviously were exactly that, to judge from relevant materials, but these groups were offshoots that existed in the shadows of their time in history and which have ever since been condemned by Sufi orthodoxy. Most recently by Stephen Schwartz, the noted Jewish convert to Sufism. Not only this, but Rumi, his father (also a cleric), and Shams, each overtly condemned homosexuality. The true Sufi, said Rumi, "is one who becomes a seeker of purity, not from wearing garments of wool ( suf ), and sewing patches and sodomy." He went on to call homosexuals "vile people" unfit for spiritual things. Additionally, as Gamard said, Rumi "was married during the time he knew Shams" and acted as matchmaker for Shams who, in that time, married the woman Rumi found for him to consider. To say the least this is not typical homosexual behavior. Finally, there are five references in Rumi's work to a passage in the Koran, Surah 27: 54-58, that condemns homosexuality, one of a limited number of verses that I happen to agree with, that calls sodomites "impure" and deserving the fate (fire and brimstone) of the people of Lut, the Biblical figure named Lot, an allusion to sodomites at the time of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Which is to say that accusations of homosexuality concerning Rumi consist of slanders based on a gross misinterpretation of his poetry. ----- Rumi's influence has been worldwide. As the Wikipedia article says: "Rumi's poetry forms the basis of much classical _Iranian_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Iran) and _Afghan_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Afghanistan) music/ Pakistan's heroic literary figure and exemplar, _Muhammad Iqbal_ (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Iqbal) , was also inspired by Rumi's works and considered him to be his spiritual leader..." And translations of Rumi's poetry are now found in Bengali, Urdu, Arabic, Italian, Spanish, and French, and probably still other languages. It is presented in a wide variety of formats including "concerts, workshops, readings, dance performances," and the like. The article adds a comment by Shahram Shiva to the effect that in our world "Rumi's poems can be heard in churches, synagogues, Zen monasteries, as well as in the downtown New York art/performance/music scene." There also are Rumi-theme websites such as that maintained by The Threshold Society, but there are many others. People who have been influenced by Rumi -an incomplete list- are such celebrities as Deepak Chopra, Madonna, Goldie Hawn, Demi Moore, and Philip Glass, the minimalist composer. -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. 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[RC] Sufi Saints, Sufi Sinners Chapter 10 Part # 2 Jalal ad-Din Rumi
BILROJ via Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community Sat, 13 May 2017 08:35:44 -0700
