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.
“Philosophy per se has no place in Islam”
Ibrahim, you might have inadvertently hit upon the root of the larger problem with the muslim world.
Salamalikum,
I wrote my last comments rather quickly so there are some typos that might prevent getting my point across clearly, especially in the first paragraph. So, I’ll rewrite the first one:
[quote post=”695″]So there is no philosophy in Islam, only rules and regulations, as Adnan says?
If this were so, no intelligent Muslim would ever be a Muslim. [/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. Did Rasoolullah (saw) philosophically proved the oneness and existence of Allah? About other prophets before him? About himself being a prophet? As Muslims you take Islam as it has been revealed. Yes, there is a school of thought (like Imam Ghazali) that used philosophy to prove points on Quran and ahadeeth and Islam in general. But, much more different to what you and people today talk about and nothing like the question posed by Bilal. Read Imam Ghazali’s book if you want: Ihya uloom al-deen to see how limited the use of philosophy was in it. And, it was used just to prove the points of Islam–not derive new ones!! On the side, you can read the opposition of Ihya if you want as well.
Alvi: JazkaAllah for the nice words. But, and this is not a criticism of you–just a remark, it is the sign of times that by reading my comments for this article someone might think that the writer is “Islamic scholar”. If one reads history, he/she will see that general, common people knew more than what we would consider “high level” of knowledge or scholarship in Islam today!! I am, and I’m not saying this out of any sort of humbleness, billion years distanced from proclaiming any sort of scholarship. May Allah increase our knowledge, ameen.
Yes, it’s not easy for us to adhere to all and every law of Islam and difficult to control our nafs, but at least we can recognize our mistakes instead of conforming Islam to our views. I think, Alvi, you are saying it sarcastically, but we shouldn’t be satisfied with the status quo and let the beat go on. I agree the “shrine culture” as you put it is an easy way out but for many it is simple ignorance and the major culprits are those who advocate and keep up this culture.
Ibrahim: You are very eloquent in putting across your point of view. It is obvious that you are an Islamic scholar and capable of explaining things from Islamic perspective. To adhere to the strict Islamic rules is not an easy task for us less than perfect mortals. That is one of the reasons why many of us slip into this ‘Shrine Culture’ which is more entertaining and easier to practice. Let the ‘pir’ do the bidding for us while we enjoy the music. We can not bring ourselves up to the puritanical Islam, so we find refuge is this ‘Garden Variety’ set of believes and practises. For our own convenience we call it ‘sufi islam’. This way we could call ourselves Muslims and have little bit of fun too. Shaking head to the rhythm of hand clapping Qawals is much more easier than studying Islam. Let the beat go on.
Salamalikum,
[quote post=”695″]So there is no philosophy in Islam, only rules and regulations, as Adnan says?
If this were so, no intelligent Muslim would ever be a Muslim.[/quote]
Philosophy per se has no place in Islam. It’s common sense that is required. So, the philosophy that question 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. Did Rasoolullah (saw) philosophically proved the oneness and existence of Allah? About other prophets before him? About himself being a prophet? As Muslims you take Islam as it has been revealed. Yes, there is a school of thought (like Imam Ghazali) that used philosophy to prove points on Quran and shaded and Islam in general. But, much more similar than what you and people today talk about and nothing like the question posed by Bilal. Read Imam Ghazali’s book if you want: Ihya uloom al-deen to see how limited the use of philosophy was in it. And, it was used to just the prove the points of Islam—not derive new ones!! On the side, you can read the opposition of Ihya if you want as well.
Hopefully, then, inshaAllah you will understand the difference between mantaq used to prove Islam (although there is no need the way I see it) and what the philosophical theories presented today for Islam. Meaning, so you have this women Irshad Manji wanting us to open our mind to the possibility that Quran might be altered (astaghfurullah!) And, you have Ameena Wadood saying that Quran itself gives her the liberty to interpret it different (or something of this sort), and this led her to leading mixed-gender Friday prayer. May Allah guide them both. And, there is beautiful hadeeth that praises later Muslims because Rasoolillah (saw) said that they will believe in me without seeing me as compared to sahabah seeing Rasoolillah themselves. I can’t recall the exact words or the reference right now. Rasoolillah (saw) didn’t say use philosophy to convince them about me!
[quote post=”695″]Excessive regimentization of religion turns it into a prison by removing spirituality from it. Ritualism is not an essence of religion; spirituality is.[/quote]
You are mixing things up, in my view. What is actual spirituality (taqwa)? Isn’t it sticking firmly to Quran and Sunnah? But, you seem to be saying this sticking firmly to Quran and Sunnah is “Excessive regimentization” removes spirituality!! Please think.
I’m talking about rules and regulations which is not ritualism. In fact, sufism practices being talked here is ritualism.
A poet said it right:
Øقیقت روایات میں Ú©Ú¾Ùˆ گئ
ÛŒÛ
mahi, it’s not necessary that you grasp everything. Tension mat lo!