Sufism, Pluralism and Democracy; Clinton Bennett; Sarwar Alam

Edited by

Clinton Bennett [+–]

State University of New York, New Palz

Clinton Bennett divides his teaching between SUNY New Paltz, Marist College, Poughkeepsie, NY and Cambridge, UK. He is a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society and the Royal Anthropological Institute. A Baptist missionary in Bangladesh 1979-1982, he maintains close personal and professional ties with South Asia. Director of interfaith relations for the British Council of Churches 1986-1992, he has served on not-for-profit management committees, local, national and international ecumenical agencies, chaired a school governing body and represented an NGO at the UN. He has written ten books, numerous articles, reviews, chapters, editorials, and encyclopedia and dictionary entries. He is editor of the Continuum Studying World Religions series.

Sarwar Alam [+–]

University of Arkansas

Sarwar Alam teaches at the King Fahd Center for Middle East Studies of University of Arkansas. He received his doctorate from the same university in 2006. He was a postdoctoral fellow in the department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia between 2007 and 2010. He is currently preparing a manuscript for publication entitled Jewels of Honor: the Perception of Power, Powerlessness, and Gender Among Rural Muslim Women of Bangladesh. He contributed two chapters on Sufi historiography and political activism in Bangladesh in South Asian Sufis: Devotion, Deviation and Destiny edited by Clinton Bennett and Charles Ramsey (Continuum, 2012).

Contributions in the volume seek answer questions such as: Where Sufi related parties exist, what policies do they propose, and how do they differ from those of Islamist parties? How would “law” be understood? What is the relationship between secular and Sufi ideas about the role of religion in society? How do Sufi views about how to structure the state in Muslim majority space differ from alternatives? Are Sufis more likely to support democracy?

Preliminaries

Tables and Maps [+–] ix

Clinton Bennett,Sarwar Alam FREE

State University of New York, New Palz

University of Arkansas

This volume provides a composite of contemporary Sufi involvement in politics using a range of approaches and disciplines. It explores the role of Sufi-related parties where they exist or are emerging. It also examines how parties that condemn Sufism have adopted aspects of Sufi organization and practice. Changes in views within the academy on politics and Sufism are discussed. Perspectives on Egypt, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Indonesia are included as are overviews of Sufism’s political dimension across various regions. Contributions in the volume seek answer questions such as: Where Sufi related parties exist, what policies do they propose, and how do they differ from those of Islamist parties? How would “law” be understood? What is the relationship between secular and Sufi ideas about the role of religion in society? How do Sufi views about how to structure the state in Muslim majority space differ from alternatives? Are Sufis more likely to support democracy?

Abbreviations [+–] x-xi

Clinton Bennett,Sarwar Alam FREE

State University of New York, New Palz

University of Arkansas

Acknowledgements [+–] xi-xiii

Clinton Bennett,Sarwar Alam FREE

State University of New York, New Palz

University of Arkansas

Introduction

Sufism, Pluralism and Democracy: Contexts, Comparisons and Critiques [+–] 1-21

Clinton Bennett £17.50

State University of New York, New Palz

This chapter defines the research, introduces Sufism, makes a note on methodology, and summarizes the salient findings from the chapters.

Section I: Multi-contextual

1. Sufis, Saints and Politics in Islam: An Historical Survey [+–] 25-49

Clinton Bennett £17.50

State University of New York, New Palz

This chapter explores the role that Sufis have played in validating, providing and challenging political leadership in Islamic contexts. On the one hand, Sufis are widely perceived as politically quietest, as disengaged from temporal affairs. On the other hand, there is a long tradition, influenced by Iranian ideas of authority, of Sufi masters legitimizing and opposing political leaders. The origins of the Safavid dynasty lie in this Sufi tradition. In India, successive rulers looked to Chishti sheiks, not to a distant or non-existent caliph, to validate their rule. Also, as Charles Lindholm’s work demonstrates, thriving Sufi orders effectively functioned as micro-states, as viable alternatives to the larger Islamic polity, whose values Sufis rejected, in which participation was considered compromising. In contexts where proselytization was led by Sufis, who fused Islamic and local traditions, the Muslim-majority societies that evolved tend to affirm pluralism; several such contexts have seen democracy begin to flourish. Today, in these contexts, Sufis – sometimes supporting secular parties, sometimes forming their own –arguably help moderate leaders retain power. Some nineteenth century European writers depicted Sufis in colonial settings as militant, and there are stories in circulation of zealous, sword wielding, Temple destroying Sufis. The latter appear to be apocryphal; the former can be analyzed, if true, as wholly justified opposition to foreign domination. Perhaps ironically, on a less optimistic concluding note, some prominent Islamist movements, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, owe their own existence to Sufi patterns of organization and discipline. Can Sufis continue to influence political culture, or will less democratic inclined alternatives emerge as dominant?

Section II: European/Euro Asian Contexts (Kosovo, Albania and Turkey)

2. Sufism as a Working Spirit in Globalization and Pluralism: The Case of the Hizmet Movement, a Turkey-oriented Global Islamic Network 53-70

Heon C. Kim £17.50

East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania

Heon C. Kim is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania. He also taught Humanities Seminar courses in Intellectual Heritage Program at Temple University, Philadelphia. As a teacher-scholar, Kim specializes in Comparative Religions, Interreligious Dialogue, and Religion and Spirituality. He has pursued a strong cross-cultural academic career in South Korea, Egypt, Turkey and the USA. Kim received his doctorate from the Department of Religion, Temple University, with a distinction award by his dissertation committee’s unanimous vote. He received his B.A. in Arabic Language from Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Seoul, South Korea. He subsequently studied Arabic and Islamic theology for several years at Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt. His academic career continued at Marmara University in Istanbul, Turkey, where he obtained an M.A. degree in Islamic Philosophy.
Kim authored Din Değiştirmenin Entellectual Arka Planı [Intellectual Background of Religious Conversion] in Turkish, and edited two volumes, A Just World: Multi-disciplinary Perspectives on Social Justice in 2013, and Making Peace In and With the World: The Role of the Gülen Movement in the Task of Eco Justice in 2012. Often invited to speak at national conferences, since 2010, Kim has served as a manuscript reviewer of Journal of Ecumenical Studies. Kim is the founder and chair of the section “Interreligious and Interfaith Studies,” and a co-chair of the section “Religion, Conflict and Peace,” for American Academy of Religion Mid-Atlantic Annual Conference. He currently serves as the president of the PASSHE Interdisciplinary Association for Philosophy and Religious Studies.

3. A Paradox of Political Mysticism: The Bektashi Sufi Order as an Islamic Esoteric Community and Factor in Albanian National History 71-87

Stephen Schwartz £17.50

Center for Islamic Pluralism, Washington, DC

Stephen Suleyman Schwartz is the Executive Director of the Center for Islamic Pluralism in Washington, DC (www.islamicpluralism.org) and author of the 2008 book The Other Islam: Sufism and the Road to Global Harmony (Doubleday). In 2002, he published the bestselling The Two Faces of Islam: Saudi Fundamentalism and Its Role In Terrorism (Doubleday). He is an Adjunct Scholar of the U.S.-based Middle East Forum. During the 1990s he pursued an intensive study of Balkan comparative religion while working as a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle and an editor for the Albanian Catholic Institute in San Francisco. He also completed missions in Bosnia-Hercegovina, Kosovo, Croatia, and Slovenia for the International Federation of Journalists, the Council of Europe, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the International Crisis Group, the Soros Fund for an Open Society, the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, the U.S. Department of State, and the Tony Blair Faith Foundation.

Section III: A Middle Eastern Context (Iran)

4. Sufi Politics in the Contemporary West: The Role and Definition of Sufism in the Works of Javad Nurbakhsh (1926-2008) [+–] 91-100

Milad Milani £17.50

Senior Lecturer, Western Sydney University

Dr Milad Milani is Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies, specialising in Sufism and Islamic history at the School of Humanities and Communication Arts at Western Sydney University.

Sufi ideas about altruism and universalism did not emerge in a vacuum. Applying Trompf’s notion of ‘payback’ and ‘retributive logic’ (1994), it is argued that the egalitarian and liberal worldview of Sufism is pertinent to a charged socio-political atmosphere. This chapter offers further contextualization by examining some of the Sufi publications of Javad Nurbakhsh (1926-2008), the late master of the Persian Sufi tradition, the Nimatullahi Khaniqahi Sufi order, during the 1990s. This paper also focuses on some elements of his writings, in particular, Nurbakhsh’s adaptation of Sufi material for a more democratic Sufi outlook. Most importantly, the modern history of the Nimatullahiya, under Nurbakhsh’s leadership (1953-2008) (self-exiled after the 1979 Revolution), demonstrates the strains of domestic politics upon liberal interpretation of Islam, and the need for Iranian Sufis to seek sanctuary within Western democratic societies.

Section IV: South Asian Contexts: Bangladesh, Indonesia and Pakistan

5. Anti-Saint or Anti-Shrine?: Tracing Deoband’s Disdain for the Sufi in Pakistan [+–] 103-120

Charles M. Ramsey £17.50

Forman Christian College, Lahore

Charles M. Ramsey has lived and worked in the Indian Sub-Continent since 2000. He is currently Executive Assistant to the Rector (Special Projects) and Academic Director, Centre for Dialogue & Action at Forman Christian College, Lahore. He is an active member of the Common Word Movement and an advisor to the National Peace Committee for Interfaith Harmony in Pakistan. He is working on Ph.D. research under Dr. David Thomas at Birmingham University, and previously studied Asian Studies and Religion at Baylor University, where Dr. Clinton Bennett mentored his MA thesis. Co-editor with Dr. Bennett of South Asian Sufis (2012), he also attended graduate studies in the Centre for Development, Environment, and Policy at University of London (SOAS).

Today it is broadly accepted as axiomatic that the Deobandi in Pakistan are unequivocally antagonistic towards Sufism. Deobandi is the umbrella term for those affiliated with the system of madrassas (Dar ul-‘ulum) that originated from the grass roots movement at Deoband in pre-partition India. Grounded in Hanafi tradition, the movement has grown to become one of the most significant strands of Sunni Islam in South Asia. The group has been described as a form of post-tariqa Sufism and a middle of the road compromise between anti-Sufi Salafis and the pro-Sufi Barelvis. However, in Pakistan this description does not seem to hold. There is no shortage of evidence for Deobandi disdain for the Sufi in popular writings and sermons and the vitriol has resulted in an inventory of bombed Sufi shrines across the country. Success in the recent national election of the Jamiat ‘Ulema-e-Islam (JUI), a party associated with the movement, adds immediacy to the political implications of this topic. The movement’s historical Sufi ties give rise to the nature of the rhetoric and violent reaction. We prepare the way for this enquiry by briefly tracing the origins of the Deobandi movement in Pakistan, particularly its establishment in the fertile soil of the Northwest frontier prepared by the reforms started by Sayyid Ahmad Barelvi’s nineteenth century Mujahidin Movement that shifted the focus away from local shrines towards an ideological spirituality focused on the Prophet of Islam, and expressed not in the shrine but in the public square. The quest then turns to contested versions of Deobandi thought prevalent today. Here we present a more nuanced understanding of the movement in its response to Sufism. Far from homogeneous, there is considerable diversity of response towards the various facets of spiritual praxis many of which are consistent with those foundational in the movement. From within this spectrum, particular attention is given to those most virulently opposed to Sufism. We will seek to understand the underlying reasons for this. It is theorized here that by probing the historical development of the movement in Swat and culturally Pashtun areas, it may be found that regional sensitivities and political struggles have significantly tempered the trajectory of the movement. The research questions how a theological movement whose founding leaders were Sufi could evolve what seems to be its antithesis? Who and what reflect the characteristics described as Sufi? What are the real issues of contention: which doctrinal or interpretative elements are most troubling, and why? And, finally, in the space vacated by these forms of spiritual expression, what other practices have arisen in their place? The research will draw from historical sources in English and Urdu on the development of the Deobandi movement in Pakistan and in the Kkyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) region. We will consider the adjustment of the spiritual and nationalist literature of leading voices such as Khushal Khattak, Rehman Baba, and Bacha Khan within revivalist reforms and trace their adjustment in the current rhetoric. The research will also be strengthened by participatory ethnographic research and interviews with ‘ulama, political leaders in the JUI, and with those who describe themselves as Sufis in the Swat and Kkyber Pakhtunkhwa region.

6. Sufis as Shapers of Pluralist Political Culture: The Examples of Bangladesh and Indonesia [+–] 121-146

Clinton Bennett £17.50

State University of New York, New Palz

Without denying distinctive features, Bangladesh and Indonesia, as majority Muslims states, share many common features. The way that Sufi Islam led peaceful proselytization in both contexts, fusing Islam and local spiritual and cultural traditions, is remarkable similar. In both states, reformist expressions of Islam have found much in these localized versions of Islam to criticize or condemn as deviant; Islamist parties and movements have challenged the dominant ethos of religious pluralism and political inclusivity. In both, this has tended to juxtapose a supposedly more pure, Arab-informed version of Islam and localized Islam. Both states have had periods of military rule but have recently experienced reasonably healthy democratic restorations. In some respects, Bangladesh, the younger state, has looked to Indonesia as a model. In both, women have held or hold high political office. In both, political parties range from secular (by name or pragmatically), through Islamic to Islamist. At least one party in each has Sufi links. In Indonesia, a Sufi leader served as President, even though he proved unequal to the task. In both, over the past decade, Islamists have performed badly at the polls, suggesting that Sufi inclined Muslims have succeeded in challenging their ideology and agenda, while in Indonesia Islamist parties appear to be shifting to the center, affirming pluralism, abandoning demands for Islamic systems in favor of policies and legislation informed by Islamic values, the Islamic-oriented option. This chapter critiques the view that Bangladeshi and Indonesian flavored Islam are any less authentic than any other expression of Islam, and suggests that these tap into Islamic principles and potentialities toward democratic and religious pluralism from which others can benefit.

7. In Search of God, In Search of Humanity: Vilayet-e-Mutlaka of Hazrat Delaor Husayn Maizbhandari [+–] 147-173

Sarwar Alam £17.50

University of Arkansas

The ideological basis of the establishment of Pakistan, an “imagined community” to paraphrase Benedict Anderson, was Islam. It was the politics of “othering,” as mediated by religion, that inevitably caused the partition of India in 1947. “Islam is in danger” (“Islam khatre mein hein”) was adopted later as a slogan by the political elites as well as the ulama to defy the voice of oppositions or create inter- and intra-communal conflicts in Pakistan during the 1950s and 1960s. The tension among the communities still exists in the South Asian region. I have argued in this chapter that some Sufi masters tried to minimize this tension trough social activism and writings. Drawing upon Ibn al-‘Arabi and Maulana Rumi’s religious pluralism and humanity, the Vilayet-e-Mutlaka (1960) of Hazrat Delaor Husayn Maizbhandari (d. 1982) shows how Sufism may transcend parochialism and create an atmosphere of tolerance and interfaith dialogue.

Section V: Literary & Theoretical Underpinnings

8. Two Beloved Sufi Poets of the Punjab: A Case of ‘Hearing without Listening’ 177-200

Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh £17.50

Colby College, Maine

Nikky-Guninder Kaur Singh is the Crawford Family Professor of Religious Studies at Colby College in Maine, USA. Her interests focus on poetics and feminist issues. Dr. Kaur Singh has published extensively in the field of Sikhism. Her books include Of Sacred and Secular Desire: An Anthology of Lyrical Writings from the Punjab (IB Tauris 2012), Sikhism: An Introduction (I.B. Tauris, 2011), Cosmic Symphony (Sahitya Akademy, 2008), The Birth of the Khalsa (SUNY, 2005), Feminine Principle in the Sikh Vision of the Transcendent (Cambridge University Press, 1993), Metaphysics and Physics of the Guru Granth Sahib (Sterling 1981). Her translation of Sikh scriptural hymns entitled The Name of My Beloved: Verses of the Sikh Gurus was first published by HarperCollins 1995, and by Penguin in 2001. She has lectured internationally, and appeared on television and radio in America, Canada, Ireland, Bangladesh, and India. She serves as a trustee for the American Institute for Indian Studies, and is on the editorial board of the History of Religions. She was born in the Punjab, and received her BA in Philosophy and Religion from Wellesley College, her MA from the University of Pennsylvania, and her PhD from Temple University.

9. Looking Inside the Heart: The Universal Appeal of God and Humanity as Reflected in Ibn al-‘Arabi’s Fusus al-Hikam and Maulana Rumi’s Mathnawi Manaw [+–] 201-222

Sayed Hassan Akhlaq Hussaini £17.50

George Washington University

Sayed Hassan Akhlaq Hussaini earned his PhD in Philosophy in 2009 from Allameh Tabatabaii University in Tehran, Iran. He acted as an academic advisor to the Afghanistan Academy of Sciences in 2010. He was an advisor to the Center for Study of Islam and the Middle East in Afghanistan Affairs. He taught at Al-Mustafa International University and Payam-e Noor University in Iran during 2007-2010. He worked as the chancellor of Gharjistan University in Afghanistan in 2011. He is currently engaged in research and academic activities at George Washington University, the Catholic University of America, and George Masson University in Washington, D.C. He is also a Visiting Scholar at the Catholic University of America and George Washington University. He has published some scholarly papers on Islamic Sufism and Philosophy in Iran and Afghanistan’s national Encyclopedia and professional journals.

Muhyi al-Din Ibn al-‘Arabi (d. 1240) is known as a master of theoretical Islamic mysticism and Maulana Jalal al-Din Rumi (d. 1273) is known for his appeal of humanity and love. This paper aims to explain religious pluralism by referring its place in Ibn al-‘Arabi’s Fusus al-Hikam and Maulana Rumi’s Mathnawi Manawi. The paper also examines the relationship between humans and God, relationship between God and different faiths, and of Jesus as reflected in these two masterpieces of Sufism. Thus, this paper will focus on these two Sufi masters’ understanding of God and its manifestations, the world, and humanity that lead to religious pluralism, practical tolerance, but also on the existential approach toward others’ faith.

Conclusion

“Corporate Islam” versus Sufi Islam and the Articulation of the Present [+–] 223-229

Sarwar Alam £17.50

University of Arkansas

End Matter

Bibliography [+–] 230-243

Clinton Bennett,Sarwar Alam FREE

State University of New York, New Palz

University of Arkansas

Index [+–] 244-247

Clinton Bennett,Sarwar Alam FREE

State University of New York, New Palz

University of Arkansas

Reviews

Sufism, Pluralism and Democracy succeeds in exploring the often-sidelined political contribution of Sufism. The chapters clearly answer questions such as what role Sufism plays in promoting pluralism, secularism, and democracy. The book examines Sufi teachings for ensuring human rights and gender equality. ... this book works well for those looking to get a basic idea about the political engagement of Sufis in modern democracies.
Reading Religion

For calling our attention to examples of Sufis in Turkey, Albania, Iran, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Indonesia who bring the resources of the Sufi tradition to bear on modern questions of governance and social cohesion, Bennett and Alam are to be commended.
Journal of Church and State

The case studies examine the role of everyday Sufism in regions that often do not receive scholarly attention and this attribute is one of the volume’s significant contributions to the field. Here is a book that gathers various experts to address the manifestation of Sufism in embodied realities of political mobilization and national projects as much as piety, philosophy, theology, and orthodoxy. The book is a must-read for scholars of Sufism and Islam.
Religious Studies Review

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Books and Journals in Humanities, Social Science and Performing Arts

Sufism, Pluralism and Democracy

Clinton Bennett [+–]

State University of New York, New Palz

Sarwar Alam [+–]

University of Arkansas

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