2023/06/05

Masnavi - Wikipedia the Sufi poem by Rumi

Masnavi - Wikipedia

Masnavi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Masnavi, a calligraphic specimen from 1490, Mevlana MuseumKonyaTurkey.

The Masnavi, or Masnavi-ye-Ma'navi (Persianمثنوی معنوی DMG Mas̲navī-e maʻnavī), also written Mathnawi, or Mathnavi, is an extensive poem written in Persian by Jalal al-Din Muhammad Balkhi, also known as Rumi. The Masnavi is one of the most influential works of Sufism, ascribed to be like a "Quran in Persian".[1] 

Some Muslims regard the Masnavi as one of the most important of Islamic literature, falling behind only the Quran.[2] 

It has been viewed by many commentators as the greatest mystical poem in world literature.[3] 

The Masnavi is a series of six books of poetry that together amount to around 25,000 verses or 50,000 lines.[4][5] It is a spiritual text that teaches Sufis how to reach their goal of being truly in love with God.[6]

General description[edit]

Persian miniature depicting Jalal al-Din Rumi showing love for his disciple Hussam al-Din Chelebi (c. 1594)

The title Masnavi-ye-Ma'navi (Persianمثنوی معنوی) means "The Spiritual Couplets". The Masnavi is a poetic collection of anecdotes and stories derived from the Quranhadith[7] sources, and everyday tales. Stories are told to illustrate a point and each moral is discussed in detail. It incorporates a variety of Islamic wisdom but primarily focuses on emphasizing inward personal Sufi interpretation. 

In contrast to Rumi's Diwan, the Masnavi is a relatively "sober" text. It explains the various dimensions of spiritual life and practice to Sufi disciples and anyone who wishes to ponder the meaning of life.[8]

Creation[edit]

The Masnavi was started by Rumi during the final years of his life. He began dictating the first book around the age of 54 around the year 1258 and continued composing verses until his death in 1273. The sixth and final book would remain incomplete.[9]

It is documented that Rumi began dictating the verses of the Masnavi at the request of his favourite disciple, Husam al-Din Chalabi, who observed that many of Rumi's followers dutifully read the works of Sana'i and 'Attar. Thus, Rumi began creating a work in the didactic style of Sana'i and 'Attar to complement his other poetry. These men are said to have met regularly in meetings where Rumi would deliver the verses and Chalabi would write them down and recite them back to him.[10]

Each book consists of about 4,000 verses and contains its own prose introduction and prologue. The inconclusive ending of the sixth volume has given rise to suggestions that the work was not complete at the time of Rumi's death, as well as to claims about existence of another volume.[11]

Themes and narrative devices[edit]

Manuscript of the Masnavi from 15th century Iran, Khalili Collection of Islamic Art

The six books of the Masnavi can be divided into three groups of two because each pair is linked by a common theme:[12]

  • Books 1 and 2: They "are principally concerned with the nafs, the lower carnal self, and its self-deception and evil tendencies."
  • Books 3 and 4: These books share the principal themes of Reason and Knowledge. These two themes are personified by Rumi in the Biblical and Quranic figure of the Prophet Moses.
  • Books 5 and 6: These last two books are joined by the universal ideal that man must deny his physical earthly existence to understand God's existence.

In addition to the recurring themes presented in each book, Rumi includes multiple points of view or voices inviting the reader to fall into "imaginative enchantment." There are seven principal voices that Rumi uses in his writing:[13]

  1. The Authorial Voice – Conveys the authority of a Sufi teacher and generally appears in verses addressed to You, God, or you, of all humankind.
  2. The Story-telling Voice – May be interrupted by side stories that help clarify a statement, sometime taking hundreds of lines to make a point.
  3. The Analogical Voice – Interruptions to the flow of narration in order to explain a statement by use of analogy.
  4. The Voice of Speech and Dialogue of Characters – Many of the stories are told through dialogue between characters.
  5. The Moral Reflection – Supported by quotations from the Quran and hadith
  6. The Spiritual Discourse – Similar to analogical and model reflections.
  7. Hiatus – Rumi occasionally questions his own verses and writes that he cannot say more because the reader would not be capable of understanding.

The Masnavi has no framed plot and includes a variety of scenes, from popular stories and scenes of the local bazaar to fables and tales from Rumi's time. It also includes quotations from the Qur'an and from hadith, accounts from the time of Mohammed.

Although there is no constant frame, style, or plot, Rumi generally follows a certain writing pattern that flows in the following order:[14]

     Problem/Theme → Complication → Resolution

English versions[edit]

Direct translations from Persian[edit]

  • Mathnawi Rumi, translation with commentary by M. G. Gupta with Rajeev, in six volumes Hardbound edition, M.G. Publishers, Agra, Paperback edition, Huma Books, 34 Hirabagh Colony, Agra 282005, India. Source material is the Farsi Dari text circulated by the Department of Culture, Government of India, New Delhi.
  • The Mesnevi of Mevlānā Jelālu'd-dīn er-Rūmī. Book first, together with some account of the life and acts of the Author, of his ancestors, and of his descendants, illustrated by a selection of characteristic anedocts, as collected by their historian, Mevlānā Shemsu'd-dīn Ahmed el-Eflākī el-'Arifī, translated and the poetry versified by James W. Redhouse, London: 1881. Contains the translation of the first book only.
  • Masnaví-i Ma'naví, the Spiritual Couplets of Mauláná Jalálu'd-din Muhammad balkhi, translated and abridged by E. H. Whinfield, London: 1887; 1989. Abridged version from the complete poem. On-line editions at Sacred Texts and on wikisource.
  • The Masnavī by Jalālu'd-din balkhi or Rūmī. Book II, translated for the first time from the Persian into prose, with a Commentary, by C.E. Wilson, London: 1910.
  • The Mathnawí of Jalálu'ddín balkhi, edited from the oldest manuscripts available, with critical notes, translation and commentary by Reynold A. Nicholson, in 8 volumes, London: Messrs Luzac & Co., 1925–1940. Contains the text in Persian. First complete English translation of the Mathnawí.
  • The Masnavi: Book One, translated by Jawid Mojaddedi, Oxford World's Classics Series, Oxford University Press, 2004. ISBN 0-19-280438-3. Translated for the first time from the Persian edition prepared by Mohammad Estelami, with an introduction and explanatory notes. Awarded the 2004 Lois Roth Prize for excellence in translation of Persian literature by the American Institute of Iranian Studies.
  • balkhi, Spiritual Verses, The First Book of the Masnavi-ye Ma'navi, newly translated from the latest Persian edition of M. Este'lami, with an Introduction on a reader's approach to balkhi's writing, and with explanatory Notes, by Alan Williams, London and New York, Penguin Classics, Penguin, xxxv + 422 pp. 2006 ISBN 0-14-044791-1.
  • The Masnavi: Book Two, translated by Jawid Mojaddedi, Oxford World's Classics Series, Oxford University Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-19-921259-0. The first ever verse translation of the unabridged text of Book Two, with an introduction and explanatory notes.
  • The Masnavi: Book Three, translated by Jawid Mojaddedi, Oxford World's Classics Series, Oxford University Press, 2013. ISBN 978-0-19-965203-7. The first ever verse translation of the unabridged text of Book Three, with an introduction and explanatory notes.
  • The Masnavi: Book Four, translated by Jawid Mojaddedi, Oxford World's Classics Series, Oxford University Press, 2017. ISBN 978-0198783435.
  • The Masnavi: Book Five, translated by Jawid Mojaddedi, Oxford World's Classics Series, Oxford University Press, 2022.

Paraphrases of English translations[edit]

Urdu and Persian interpretations[edit]

  • Keys of Masnavi * (Kelid Masnavi), Volume 1 and 2, Ashrafali Thanvi, interpreter: Samira Gilani, Asra Institute and Rashedin Publication, Tehran: 2018.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Jawid Mojaddedi (2004). "Introduction". Rumi, Jalal al-Din. The Masnavi, Book One. Oxford University Press (Kindle Edition). p. xix.
  2. ^ Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature. (2013). (n.p.): Taylor & Francis.
  3. ^ Jawid Mojaddedi (2004). "Introduction". Rumi, Jalal al-Din. The Masnavi, Book One. Oxford University Press (Kindle Edition). pp. xii–xiii. Towards the end of his life he presented the fruit of his experience of Sufism in the form of the Masnavi, which has been judged by many commentators, both within the Sufi tradition and outside it, to be the greatest mystical poem ever written.
  4. ^ Allamah Mohamad Taghi Jafari, Tafsir Masnavi
  5. ^ Karim Zamani, Tafsir Masnavi Ma'navi
  6. ^ Jalāl, Al-Dīn Rūmī, and Alan Williams. Spiritual Verses: the Book of the Masnavi-ye Manavi. London: Penguin, 2006. Print
  7. ^ Badiozzaman Forouzanfar has published a compilation of the hadith quoted in the Masnavi, under the title Ahadith-i Mathnawi (full title: Aḥadíth va qiṣaṣ-i-Mathnaví: talfiqí az dú kitáb ‘Aḥadíth-i- Mathnaví' va 'Má'khidh-i- qiṣaṣ va tamthílát-i- Mathnaví; 1955).
  8. ^ Jalāl, Al-Dīn Rūmī, and William C. Chittick. The Sufi Path of Love: the Spiritual Teachings of Rumi. Albany: State University of New York, 1983. Print.Pg 6)
  9. ^ (Franklin Lewis, "Rumi, Past and Present, East and West: The Life, Teachings and Poetry of Jalâl al-Din Rumi," Oneworld Publications, England, 2000.)
  10. ^ Jalāl, Al-Dīn Rūmī, and William C. Chittick. The Sufi Path of Love: the Spiritual Teachings of Rumi. Albany: State University of New York, 1983. Print. Pgs 5-6
  11. ^ Jawid Mojaddedi (2004). "Introduction". Rumi, Jalal al-Din. The Masnavi, Book One. Oxford University Press (Kindle Edition). pp. xxi–xxii.
  12. ^ Jalāl, Al-Dīn Rūmī, and Alan Williams. Spiritual Verses: the First Book of the Masnavi-ye Manavi. London: Penguin, 2006. Print. Pgs xx-xxvi
  13. ^ Collected Poetical Works of Rumi. Delphi Classics. 2015. p. 15.
  14. ^ Jalāl, Al-Dīn Rūmī, and Alan Williams. Spiritual Verses: the First Book of the Masnavi-ye Manavi. London: Penguin, 2006. Print. Pgs xvii-xix

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

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Rumi's Masnavi, part 1: World figure or new age fad?

This article is more than 13 years old
Rumi's influence has long been felt throughout the Muslim world. Will his recent success in the west prove as long lasting?

O Mouthpiece of God

Eye of truth

Salvation of creatures from this seething ocean of Fire!

How pre-eternal your mastery

How peerless your royalty!

deliverer of the soul

from attachment's travails …

From ghazal 1310

He died in 1273, but his poetry, his depth of feeling, and his mystical insight made "Our Master" (Mowlana or Mevlana) Rumi the most celebrated mystical poet in the Islamic world, from the Balkans to Bengal and everywhere else Persian was used as a literary, historical and learned language. Artists, poets, scholars, diplomats and thinkers have recognised his superlative achievement, and in honour of the 800th anniversary of his birth, Unesco declared 2007 a commemorative year, striking a medal with the poet's imagined likeness.

Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi, known as Rumi, was born in 1207 north of the Oxus river, in Persian-speaking Central Asia. When still a boy, his family emigrated westward, settling finally in Konya, capital city of the Seljuk empire, which ruled Anatolia in the name of the Abbasid caliph at Baghdad. Rumi's father, a practicing mystic with some disciples of his own, accepted a position there, preaching in Persian. Rumi was sent to study in the reputable Arabic-speaking madrasas of Damascus and Aleppo, and returned to Konya in his 30s to assume his late father's mantle as an Islamic legal scholar and preacher.

In 1244, Shams ad-Din of Tabriz came to Konya and triggered a transformation in Rumi's mystical thinking and practice, such that he began composing poetry and practicing what Sufis called "spiritual listening" (sama), a form of meditative concentration enhanced by rhythmic movement, music and singing of mystical poetry. Rumi's later followers, the Mevlevi or "whirling dervishes" would choreograph these movements in their white skirts and cream-colored hats as the stylised "turning" of the stars and heavens. Rumi expressed the stunning mystical metamorphosis he experienced and his overpowering devotion to Shams ad-Din in lyrical verse, particularly the poetic form known as ghazal. Over the next 30 years, he composed an immense collection, or divan, of 40,000 lines of lyrical verse, much of it spoken by Rumi as if in the voice of Shams ad-Din ("The Sun of Faith"), and therefore known as The Divan of Shams of Tabriz:

Sun of Truth and Faith, pride of Tabriz! Speak!

But it is your voice that mouths all my words.

From ghazal 2056

My thoughts and reflections inspired by you –

As though I were your phrases and expression.

From ghazal 1683

Many of the poems in his divan express the devastating, disorienting feeling of loss that Rumi experienced when Shams left Konya, abandoning Rumi in order to wean him away from the need for a spiritual guide, and compel him to pursue his own path. Shams himself explains that he learned an immense amount from Rumi, whom he considered a great spiritual exemplar in the making. But the encounter of less than three years with Shams unleashed Rumi's muse, resulting in an ecstatic outpouring of some of the most amazing and creative imagery in all of Persian poetry – a remarkable feat, given that Rumi, like many preachers and pious scholars, was not inclined to compose poetry because of its association with the debauchery and wine-drinking of the royal courts, and the flattery of professional panegyrists.

Rumi turned to two other figures in his circle of disciples for inspiration: Salah ad-Din the Goldsmith (d. 1258) and Hosam ad-Din Chelebi, to whom Rumi intermittently dictated in the 1260s his famous Masnavi-e Ma‛navi, or "Couplets of True Meaning." The work opens with the plaintive cry of the reed flute, singing of its separation from the reed bed and the searing pain of being cut off from its source of spiritual sustenance. The 25,000 lines that follow present a loosely structured succession of tales, parables, anecdotes and vignettes in verse, narratives which Rumi uses to elaborate his mystical thought. The Masnavi (also transliterated as Mathnawi or Mesnevi) inspired innumerable commentaries in many languages, and has even been called "the Qur'an in Persian tongue," in the belief that it expresses in Persian the essence of the mystical teachings of Islamic scripture.

Rumi is thus seen, not just as an icon of Islamic civilisation (or of Afghan, Iranian, Tajik or Turkish national heritage), but of global culture. And, indeed, the popular following he enjoys in North America as a symbol of ecumenical spirituality is evident in bookstores, poetry slams, church sermons and on the internet. Some claim that Rumi is the bestselling poet in the United States, achieving great commercial success at the hands of authors who "translate" despite not speaking the original language.

Since another Persian poet, Omar Khayyam (d. 1121), once had societies dedicated to him in every corner of the Anglophone world, but is relatively little read today, we may well ask whether Rumi's recent fame in the west represents just another passing fad. But might he have something profound to say about, not only the paradigm of new age thought and spirituality, but also the mystical traditions of the other established religions?

This is the first in an eight-part series which will run on Comment is free: belief on Monday mornings


===
Franklin Lewis: Rumi's teaching transcends the petty human squabbles that keep us divided. His words are a path to the divine


January 2010
Cif belief Rumi's Masnavi, part 8: Echoes of celestial music
Published:19 Jan 201022Rumi's Masnavi, part 8: Echoes of celestial music

Cif belief Rumi's Masnavi, part 7: God's grace
Published:11 Jan 201042Rumi's Masnavi, part 7: God's grace

Cif belief Rumi's Masnavi, part 6: Unity of being
Published:5 Jan 201026Rumi's Masnavi, part 6: Unity of being

December 2009

Cif belief Rumi's Masnavi, part 5: On love
Published:29 Dec 200935Rumi's Masnavi, part 5: On love

Cif belief Rumi's Masnavi, part 4: Rumi's Sufism
Published:22 Dec 200917Rumi's Masnavi, part 4: Rumi's Sufism

Cif belief Rumi's Masnavi, part 3: Knowledge and certainty
Published:14 Dec 200931Rumi's Masnavi, part 3: Knowledge and certainty

Cif belief Rumi's Masnavi, part 2: Under the surface
Published:7 Dec 200937Rumi's Masnavi, part 2: Under the surface

November 2009


Cif belief Rumi's Masnavi, part 1: World figure or new age fad?


Franklin Lewis: Rumi's influence has long been felt throughout the Muslim world. Will his recent success in the west prove as long lasting?
Published:30 Nov 2009


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The Philosophy of Ecstasy - Rumi and The Sufi Tradition | PDF

The Philosophy of Ecstasy - Rumi and The Sufi Tradition | PDF

The Philosophy of Ecstasy - Rumi and The Sufi Tradition



The Philosophy of Ecstasy: Rumi and the Sufi Tradition Paperback – 2 March 2015
by Leonard Lewisohn (Editor)
4.7 out of 5 stars 8 ratings

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Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207-73), founder of the Mevlevi Sufi order of Whirling Dervishes, is the best-selling poet in America today. Rumi was one of the preeminent thinkers of Sufism, the esoteric form of Islam. In this groundbreaking collection of 13 essays on Rumi, many of the world s leading authorities in the field of Islamic Studies and Persian Literature discuss the major religious themes in his poetry and teachings.




Print length

340 pages
Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207-73), founder of the Mevlevi Sufi order of “Whirling Dervishes,” is the best-selling poet in America today. The wide-ranging appeal of his work is such that UNESCO declared 2007 to be “International Rumi Year.” However, his writings represent much more than love poetry. Rumi was one of the preeminent thinkers of Sufism, the esoteric form of Islam. In this groundbreaking collection of 13 essays on Rumi, many of the world's leading authorities in the field of Islamic Studies and Persian Literature discuss the major religious themes in his poetry and teachings. In addition to discussing the ideas of love, ecstasy, and music in Rumi's Sufi poetry, the essays offer new historical and theological perspectives on his work. The immortality of the soul, freewill, the nature of punishment and reward, and the relationship of Islam to Christianity are all covered, in order to bring Rumi's poetry properly into the context of the Sufi tradition to which he belonged.
340 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2014

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Product description

Review
"Jalaluddin Rumi, better known simply as Rumi, was perhaps the finest Persian poet of all time and a great influence on Muslim writing and culture. His poetry is still well known throughout the modern world, and he is one of the best selling poets in America."-- "BBC"

"The message of Rumi serves as a beacon of light to dispel the shadows which prevent modern man from seeing even his own image in its true form, and from knowing who he really is."--Seyyed Hossein Nasr, George Washington University, editor of The Essential Frithjof Schuon

"The phenomenal interest in Rumi begins with the fact that in the West today we are spiritually starved.... We're reaching out for more and [Rumi] persuades us that there is an alternate reality that transcends, exceeds, and surpasses in every way this mundane mode of existence."--Huston Smith, Syracuse University, author of The World's Religions and Beyond the Post-Modern Mind




Why is Sufism accepted in the West more than the other branches of Islam? - Quora

Why is Sufism accepted in the West more than the other branches of Islam? - Quora

Why is Sufism accepted in the West more than the other branches of Islam?






Amori Patel ·
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Studying Levantine Arabic4y
Originally Answered: Why is Sufism accepted in the west more than the other branches of islam?


Perhaps because rabble rousing fundamentalists have done significant damage to Islam in recent years. They have flooded the West with their publications, and the results are clear for everyone to see on the late night news.

Sufism is accepted because it represents the kernel, the essence, while Islam continues to serve as the outer shell. The folks who are often seeking another spiritual path, generally go through a lot of paths, at times through various Eastern religions, before settling upon Tassawuf (Sufism).

The popular image of the ‘whirling dervish’ or the ‘qawalli’ musician, singing ‘Allah Huu’ in a state of spiritual ecstasy does a lot more for Sufism and proper Islam than the fundamentalist who wants to kill everyone who rubs him the wrong way.

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Dimitris Almyrantis ·
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Lover of stories the world has forgotten (2016-present)4y
Originally Answered: Why is Sufism accepted in the west more than the other branches of islam?


While I like Amori Patel’s answer - that the West likes Sufism more because its popular image reflects the spiritual meaning of the religion, and legalist Islam has been tarnished by the image of the quick-to-anger fanatic - I don’t think it tells half the story. 

I think it focuses on the current political ruckus, in which Moslem communities in the West are encouraged to prove themselves as “good Moslems” and “non-violent”, and are minutely examined for traces of rebelliousness that might cast them into the “non-conforming.” But that’s no older than the Iraq war, truth be told, and will have faded by the time Islamic Terrorism is no longer the Big Thing.

But Sufism has been more popular in the West since the 19th century, and - speaking for Greece, which has had long contact with Ottoman Islam - this has held true since the middle ages. There’s much more to it than “peaceful mystics” vs. “violent fanatics”, in fact that dynamic often seems to be reversed.

The word “dervish” - how Sufis were chiefly known in the past - carries connotations of the fierce warrior as well as the otherworldly mystic. The “dervishes” were at the forefront of the Turkish armies, and the Janissaries - who were in the early centuries still semi-Christian converts - were their military arm. The immense fluted caps of the janissary murids stood for the sleeve of their saint, Bektash veli, and it was the Sufi lodges which were the center of Moslem convert communities in Europe.

More northerly visitors to Islamic lands found similar common points:


^ Above: Games of the Highland Brigade in Cairo 1883 - Below: The Pyrrhic dance by Jean-Léon Gérôme 1885 (dance of the Albanian highlanders - the best warriors of the Mehmet Ali dynasty of Egypt, brought over from the Balkans, whom he associates with King Pyrrhus of ancient Epirus).


Leaving Islam aside, consider the Scottish Highlanders - heirs to a warrior culture whom Britain had fought and defeated - inherited tremendous cultural prestige, to the point that modern Scottish culture is built around them (despite Scotland being mostly the 90% Lowlands). Is it at all surprising that, on recognising similar customs among the Albanians and the dervish vanguard of the old Ottoman army, that respect carried over?

Point is, it’s easy to look at what has historically been praised in the West about Sufism - the music, the dancing, the sexual liberality - and take it superficially, as in reflecting the customs of the modern West. But hundreds of years ago, when Europe and the Islamic world were far less distinct on these things, it was these same traits that won it respect.

By way of example, I remember one celebrated figure of the Greek revolt of 1821 which won her independence from the Ottomans, Karaiskakis. He had like many of the Christian rebels once served the Moslem ruler of Albania and Greece, Ali Pasha, and became notorious in later Greek tradition for his filthy mouth (e.g. referring to the advice of his dick when speaking to enemy emissaries). He is also known for his controversial relationship with a Turkish woman, who during the rebellion dressed like a man - adopting the masculine name Zafeiris - and served as his concubine and “most loyal man”.

There is a song about him (referring to his last words, while being impaled sideways on an iron spit - “should I come back, I’ll fuck them”):


“Listen, o nun’s son
I’m your friend Panuryia
your right-hand-man
and who knows you better
than his own mind

They say you’re playing
with hanims
with Turkish girls and nuns
and they shower you with curses
that say you are wandering
in the mahallas
and with dervishes dance
what should I tell them?

They say you treat with
the Ali Pashas, with them you joke
and I ask, what should I say?

“Tell them, friend Panurya
reh, I have violins in my dick
and it has also dumbecks
and I will ring them as I please
and make doorhandles shatter.

When I return, I will fuck them
but should I run late, give them this:
it’s my two balls […]

Hail, to whoever does not bend the knee
and does not make proskynesis*
Listen, what the karakolya** say about me,
that I should not fuck?
Tell them how it goes, Theodore.


*proskynesis: the act of prostration, associated with submission to Turkish authority - in Greek culture, going back to the refusal of the Macedonian generals to make proskynesis to the deified, Persianized Alexander.

**Karakolya: Kara-Kol, “black hand”, in Greek meaning a policeman or gendarme — a (dialectical) indictment of the sort of ethnic nationalism, and anti-miscegenation rhetoric, embodied in the right-wing nationalism represented by the police.

Notice, the song is a defense of the Islamic cultural connections of a man whom ‘orthodox’ nationalism would seek to deny, but this is a kind of dervishes’ Islam distinguished not by its peacefulness, but by its ability to accommodate Balkan notions of the culture hero.


In old time his prowess, and probably his gallantry, was so great that the name of Zmay (“dragon”) is given by the Servians to the greatest of their heroes. A brave man is called yunak (the hero); if he is a superior hero, he is called Soko (the falcon), but if his heroism is something extraordinary, then he gets the name of Zmay (the dragon). (Servia and the Servians, Count Cedomilj Mijatovic)


Compare with the “Draculas” of Romania, or Husein the Zmaj od Bosne (“Dragon of Bosnia”), who led a rising of the ayyans - the Moslem warrior-nobility - against the sultanate in 1831. A common element of all these men - including Ali Pasha, who loomed no smaller in the Balkan imagination - was neither religion nor any modern notion of morality, but that they dared fight the all-pervasive, near-omnipotent empire for a personal, local cause the little guy could empathize with. They embodied the qualities the Balkan male wished he had on a larger-than-life scale.

The aforementioned Karaiskakis reputedly convinced Ali Pasha to take him into his service by the quip, “if you know me [by reputation] to be a master, make me a master; if you know of me as a slave, make me a slave.” When, in time, a firman for his old master’s execution came, Ali refused to be strangled as a good subject should, because “he would not die the death of a slave”, and took three warriors with him before getting his head cut off.

The dervishes won support in the Balkans much as how Christianity won support among the Germans by suddenly reinventing Christ as a sword-wielding warrior: by saying “alright, you can still drink, be the hero and woo the girl when you win.” The abolition of the janissaries and outlawing of the Bektashi Sufis in 1826, which passed down as the “Fortunate Incident” in royal Ottoman chronicles, went down as the “Unfortunate Incident” in the Balkan lands.

Which takes me back to why I specifically mentioned the meaning of karakol as an agent of the state. All this is tied to a deep distrust of the state institution, Ottoman or otherwise, and its potential lapse into tyranny: the best hero is that larger than life man who stands against the state, even if (or perhaps especially if) he dies a brave death doing so.

It should not be difficult to see why the kind of modern Islam that prides itself on its own rationalism fails to win sympathy, let alone converts:Strong association with the state — countries like Turkey (with its Imam Hatip curriculum), Morocco, Saudi or Iran rub salt in the wounds of people who define their cultural identity by opposition to dictatorship. The idea of a “strong leader” is actively promoted by many Moslems as, if not mandated by Islam, at least very advantageous to developing countries who want to have “their own Reza Shah/Kemal Ataturk/Saddam Husseyn”, and does not echo at all well in Europe.
Emasculation — a man who can’t drink, dance to upbeat tunes, and admire girls is seen as less than a man, doubly so if this was imposed by someone else. The stress laid by rationalist Islam on making laws, and its government by jurists - who would extend aforementioned “state” regulation into common life fails to ring bells outside specific cultures.

The kind of positive press Sufis enjoy is of a different sort. I remember a conversation (some years? past) in which a fellow Greek highly praised some Sufis in the subcontinent who had formed a ring around non-Moslem mourners after a terrorist attack, to show that they would let the attack take their own life first (I think something similar happened in Egypt).

Much beyond the mere concern for non-believers this evinces, the admiration for the sheikh who goes against earthly violence strikes a chord with us. I remember a story my interlocutor then certainly did not know, how a Sufi in 19th c. Greece, on hearing his patron had been murdered, went and openly criticized the authority of the local petty king - the same Ali Pasha I mentioned before - but the respect he held was so great that he was suffered to leave alive. You can skip the extract, which I still think is interesting enough to put here:


There was then residing at Yannena a dervish, named Yusuf, who was an object of universal admiration for his many virtues and austerity of life. Ibrahim [Pasha] had been his intimate friend. As soon as he heard the rumour of the Pasha's death, Yusuf hurried to the palace of the presumed murderer. Ali, who had a singular respect for the dervises, rose from his divan, advanced to meet Yusuf, and sought to place him by his side. But his venerable visitor indignantly rejected the offer, and addressed him in a strain of vehement reproach. Every crime of his now trembling auditor was dwelt upon, and their atrocity painted in the darkest colours. The dervish concluded with the following emphatic words:

"I cannot tread on a carpet here, I cannot look on anything, which is not wet with the tears of the wretched. The very sofa on which thou wishest me to sit is steeped in blood; it reeks with that of thy own brothers, whom thy mother put to death in their childhood. Those ataghans [long knives], which hang on thy walls, have been blunted on the skulls of the Suliots and Kimariots, whose errors our religion teaches us to deplore, as long as they submit to our authority. From this window I behold the tomb of Emina, that virtuous wife of whom thou wert the murderer. Beyond, I see the lake into which thou didst cast seventeen innocent matrons, and which daily, like the hell that waits to swallow thee, devours the victims of thy insatiable fury.

…Wretch ! for once thou shalt hear the truth! In and out of the city, and in the midst of the mountains, every thing proclaims thy crimes; not a step canst thou stir without treading on the grave of some being, created in God’s image, who accuses thee to Heaven of having shortened his days. Thou livest surrounded by pomp, and luxury, and flattering panders; and time, that marks every child of Adam with the ineffaceable seal of old age, has not yet taught thee that thou art mortal […]”

…after shaking the dust from off his feet against the palace walls, [Yusuf] returned to bis home. (The life of Ali Pasha, RA Davenport, 1878)


Just imagine the effect people like this had on the perceptions of the contemporary populace. It was things like these that won Sufis respect among Christians, and not only (notice the warlord he was criticizing was, in fact, respectful). Not merely “piety”, but a mixture of earthliness and otherworldly bravery that accommodated what people thought was fitting and natural.

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Talib Bah ·
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Sufi | Islamic Mysticism4y
Originally Answered: Why is Sufism accepted in the west more than the other branches of islam?


This is a very large question but it can be summarized as:

The Sufi teaches love. This appeals to the hearts of people in the west.

Historically, the Sufis, by virtue of being mystics and travelers, were the ones spreading Islam to the east, around the Middle East as well as to Africa. It is not attractive to every soul to learn spirituality only from the perspective of Shariat, i.e., external rules of right and wrong. Seekers are looking for a deep, inner reunion with the divine. Known today as enlightenment. The Sufi has the inner teaching of Islam. This teaching makes the din of Islam come alive and makes it beautiful. For example, many muslims pray five times a day because they have to - because of fear. The Sufi prays because he wants to, because he loves Allah and he wants to please the one he loves, Allah. This is appealing to people, because people want to do spiritual practices out of love, not out of fear. Now there’s a fear of Allah (known as Khauf) but that’s a different topic, and it grows once ones spiritual station grows.

Also, many Sufis, particularly in the West, are very merciful when teaching spirituality and they teach it in steps, not expecting the seeker who joined Islam yesterday to conduct five daily prayers, fasting during Ramadan, doing extra Duaa’, following Shariat all at once. It comes in steps. Sufis are tolerant to this. Some Sufi orders in the west are even tolerant of different religious traditions. This makes it easier for seekers in the west to join the path.

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