I had heard of Doctors without Borders and Reporters without Borders, but when I saw a headline in a Pakistani newspaper about Mystics without Borders, it was a first for me and certainly caught my attention.
It turns out a fascinating festival by the name of the “International Mystic Music Sufi Festival” is currently being celebrated in Karachi at the Bara Dari. The festival is being organized by the Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop, which is also the group that has been responsible for the popular World Performing Arts and Theatre Festival held annually in Lahore.
This Sufi festival is the first of its kind in Karachi and certainly an encouraging sign that people are able to express and share their sentiments, devotion, spirituality and passion in diverse ways. This festival is expected to last until May 7, and with an entrance fee of just Rs 300, it promises a lot of entertainment and education to Karachiites. According to the organizers, performers from over 70 countries have been invited to present their specialties in muslim sufi rituals, including music, songs and dances. There are performers from as far away as Syria which can be a delight to watch.
ATP has written before (here, here, here, here, here and here) on some of the great mystic poets and we wish to join the participants in this festival in spirit.
According to the media report:
Usman Peerzada of the Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop said that the group’s main aim had been to bring festivals to Pakistan since 1992 and now, as a result of their efforts, the World Performing Arts Festival had become the largest festival of Asia. “Festivals are living festivals and we aim to make the Sufi festival into just that. So please, own the festival,” he said in his address to the audience.
Daily Times spoke to Faizan Peerzada, the master-mind behind the show, to ask him what his audience could expect out of this festival. “A lot of variety. Some of these performers, like the Syrian performers can alone perform for four hours, but we have condensed it into a performance of 32 minutes so that we can manage 17 performances in one day. We have tried to bring together as many performers here as was possible and each one of them is performing a different Islamic tradition, so there’s a collection of so many aspects, which makes this festival unique.”
and the performances so far seem to have kept up to their high expectations:
The curtain raiser began with a performance by Zain-ul-Abideen Shah also known as Jumman Shah and his troupe of five people who sang a qafi by Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai. Their performance was followed by a mind-blowing performance by Mithoo and Goonga Saeein, who presented an instrumental using dhols while three of their members whirled around, representing the ecstasy so indispensable to the Sufi tradition. The next performance was by an Iranian four-member group called Bidaat, after which Kathak dancer Sheema Kirmani stole the show with her brilliant performance on Ameer Khusro’s aaj rang hai. With her group of two male dancers and two female, she brought the words to life and used the vacuum of the stage as a canvas portraying a beautiful painting that she successfully displayed to an audience that erupted in a round of applause for her.
Another one of the most appreciated performances of the curtain raiser was by Saeein Zahoor who performed a kalaam by Baba Bulleh Shah. Zahoor is a recipient of the BBC World Music Award and performed for an approximate 10 minutes, not a single second of which could be termed as a ‘drag’. A Syrian group called “Sham group of Syrian and Andalusian Music” performed next and recited verses from the Holy Quran.
We hope this Sufi Festival will become a local tradition, and that such art, folk, mystic, music, poetic, dance, and religious festivals will be held regularly in a city that still hosts one of the most diverse and culturally steeped citizenry.
dear Ibrahim,
Thanks for explaining the issue clearly and in layman’s language. Jazakallah!
Salamalikum,
Nasir, this is your conclusion which is absolutely incorrect. Yes, Allah is most forgiving but that doesn’t absolve us from our duties or gives us the right to make changes in our deen. The type of philosophy we are talking about, its place (i.e. invalid) is an established fact. I think while writing my reply you wrote your second comment. But, read my reply. There is a huge difference in our situation and situation of sayiddina Ibrahim alyhissalam. For us, the religion has been perfected and completed, as Allah says in Quran: This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion. [al-Maaida, last part of ayah 3]. Hence, no wiggle room to change and analyze Islam to reach conclusions against shari’ rules. I can’t do a better job of explaining what I want to say about merits of philosophy than what has been said in the link below. This a great website on Islam and although Islamic learning can’t be done over the net (you need books, discussion and teachings of scholars, etc.) it can be useful. I trust this site but of course I’m no authority whose recommendation should be of any weight. But, for those who want to see deeper explanation of what I’m saying, go here:
http://www.islam-qa.com/index.php?ref=88184&ln=eng
Salamalikum,
There is a difference between thinking or pondering or fikr and philosophy. Allah taa’la asks us to have fikr and think, no doubt. But, using philosophy derived from Greek ideas in Islam to reach at varying degrees of different opinions is the problem.
[quote post=”695″]Ibrahim, what would you call Ibrahim (your name sake) first taking a star as God, then the moon and then the sun? Was it science? No. Was it religion? No. Little bit of philosophical pondering perhaps?
What about his “questioningâ€
Everything in religion can be questioned. If a prophet in his quest for truth can come to beliefs that can be considered shirk (greatest of sins, no less) and if even God allows questioning of His own word then the rest of us should not have any problem anyone disagreeing with or questioning our religious beliefs. From above the conclusion is; God is in fact quite lenient in the matters of religion/beliefs. It’s the Mullahs who have made the boundary narrow and are quite rigid about it.
[quote]Philosophy per se has no place in Islam. It’s common sense that is required. So, the philosophy that questions the existence of Allah, the prophets, the day of judgment, etc. and that which leads to new ideas in Islam has no place in this religion.[/quote]
Ibrahim, what would you call Ibrahim (your name sake) first taking a star as God, then the moon and then the sun? Was it science? No. Was it religion? No. Little bit of philosophical pondering perhaps?
What about his “questioning” the reality of dead coming to life by asking God to prove it by making four birds come to life?
Is this allowed in religion?