AL-HUDA
Foundation, NJ U. S. A
the Message Continues ... 6/93
Newsletter for May 2009
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" The God-intoxicated philosophy of Rumi urging
a spiritual union with the divine showcases the softer, prettier
side of Islam known as Sufism that Westerners find most
appealing. But what the majority of non-Muslims and even most
Muslims don't realize is that this all-abiding love for God
rooted in the idea of Tawhid or oneness, free from the
institutionalized mosque culture and the heady violence
committed in the name of the Holy Koran, is the real heart and
soul of Islam, not an esoteric branch of faith disguised as
mystical belief.
It is also important to realize that an Islam without barriers -
be they national, cultural or dogmatic - is not an Instamatic
oasis of peace but a daily striving of human dignity overriding
power and greed. Rumi reflects on the spiritual journey that
welcomes uncertainty and places the burden of
responsibility on the individual to make enlightened choices. "
--the author
Why America
needs Rumi
By Maliha Masood
Maliha Masood is a graduate of the Fletcher School of Law and
Diplomacy at Tufts University. She is the author of an upcoming
travelogue on the Middle East to be published by Cune
Press in 2005 and the co-producer of a documentary film on
American-Muslim women. She currently resides in Seattle.
When Cat Stevens (aka Yusuf Islam) got on a plane from London,
it did not touch ground at Dulles International in Washington,
DC, as anticipated.
Instead the flight was diverted to Maine's Bangor Airport, where
the former pop singer turned Muslim peace activist endured a
four-hour detention and a subsequent return to England on
grounds of being on a US government watch list. Refusal to
enter the United States also befell a prominent Swiss Muslim
scholar whose visa to teach at the University of Notre Dame,
Indiana, was revoked at the
last minute. Both scenarios are sordid examples of the paranoia
that has engulfed the US administration in the name of national
security. They alienate meaningful cultural dialogue,
reinforce stereotypes and deepen the growing chasm between Islam
and the West.
Perhaps it is somewhat surprising, then, that one of America's
most widely read and best-selling poets has been a devout Muslim
mystic born eight centuries ago in Afghanistan - Maulana
Jelaluddin Rumi. His verses in praise of Allah were set to music
by Madonna; Donna Karan has used recitations of his poetry
as background to her fashion shows. A two-year-old Time magazine
article heralds the rise of Rumi's popularity with US readers in
the tenuous aftermath of September 11, 2001, when Harper Collins
published a pricey hardback titled The Soul of Rumi, 400 pages
of poetry translated by Coleman Barks, to follow up its
previous best-seller, The Essential Rumi, published in 1995,
with more than 250,000 copies in print. In the currently
deteriorating relations between the United States and Islamic
constituents, that the words of an ancient Muslim mystic having
captured the hearts of so many Americans might seem a total
aberration or imply some hidden logic of hope and renewal.
Historic linkages
The 13th-century Rumi was no stranger to cultural animosity. He
had witnessed the Mongol pillage and plunder of Muslim dynasties
of Central and West Asia.
Influenced by Islamic Sufism and the Christian mysticism of St
John of the Cross, he longed for a world exuding immense
affection for humankind. This alone could turn the world
into a paradise. His verses spread the message of love - love
for its own sake, not in consideration of a good turn - that
resonated with Western/Christian teachings of selfless love. The
20th-century German poet Hans Meinke considered Rumi's
work "the only hope for the dark times we are living in".
In his masterpiece "The Mathnawi" (a Persian word for God), Rumi
blends the sacred and the profane, countering the notion that
Islam is antithetical to secular thought. He likens the world to
a tavern where people are drunk with desire and longing,
mingling until they realize their calling to return to a
God
whose sweeping love supersedes all earthly love from the most
mundane to the deepest of passions. He poses a question that we
have all asked ourselves at point or another: "Where did I come
from, and what am I supposed to be doing?"
His answer: "I have no idea. My soul is from elsewhere, I'm sure
of that, and I intend to end up there."
The God-intoxicated philosophy of Rumi urging a spiritual union
with the divine showcases the softer, prettier side of Islam
known as Sufism that Westerners find most appealing. But what
the majority of non-Muslims and even most Muslims don't realize
is that this all-abiding love for God rooted in the idea
of Tawhid or oneness, free from the institutionalized mosque
culture and the heady violence committed in the name of the Holy
Koran, is the real heart and soul of Islam, not an esoteric
branch of faith disguised as mystical belief.
It is also important to realize that an Islam without barriers -
be they national, cultural or dogmatic - is not an Instamatic
oasis of peace but a daily striving of human dignity overriding
power and greed. Rumi reflects on the spiritual journey that
welcomes uncertainty and places the burden of
responsibility on the individual to make enlightened choices.
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of it's furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.
(The Essential Rumi, 109)
Feeding spiritual hunger
Public figures such as Oprah Winfrey and Deepak Choprah have
made it clear that Americans are in search of getting in touch
with their "inner self".
Evidence of this can be found in any New Age bookstore across
the United States promoting a wide variety of books
dealing with enrichments from yoga to Zen Buddhism. Their common
goal is to reach a state of serenity in a life fraught with
chaos and material demands. Rumi is not the first Asian mystic
imported to American shores to feed a dearth of spiritual
poverty. Even though he speaks from a vessel grounded in Islamic
concepts, his words refuse to essentialism one faith over
another, but offer a 700-year-old poetic history of human
acceptance without limitations.
The enigma of Rumi's attraction to US audiences, despite a daily
barrage of negative images and sound bites concerning Muslims,
can be explained by the priority of religion in this society
compared with its relative decline in Europe. The recent debate
in Congress to retain the "one nation under God" clause in the
Pledge of Allegiance attests to this theory. Furthermore, as
Americans are among the most materially fortunate people in the
world, they can also afford the luxury of spiritual exploration
that developing nations, caught up in the daily stresses
of basic survival, are less equipped to indulge in.
Therefore, Rumi's message is more relevant in an America
grappling with individual sustenance and the collective neurosis
of fear and ignorance when it comes to the "other".
The Sufi and the terrorist
In the polarized tensions among Islamic militants, global
terrorism, homeland security and national interests, the
teachings of Rumi are all the more relevant in deflecting
misunderstandings. It seems odd that the same poet is read with
voracious intensity across the US, Afghanistan and Iran. One
would
think that the World Trade Center attacks would also have
obliterated appreciation of Islamic literature and poetry in the
US. But the Rumi resurgence in spite of or perhaps because of
September 11, 2001, is a strong testament to Americans' newfound
receptivity to learn more about Islam. Rumi is a necessary voice
to bridge the gap between the Islam that stands for pluralism
and tolerance and
the belligerent abuse of religion branded by extremist factions
that gets the most media attention to distort public
perceptions.
Since many Americans admire and relate to Rumi's philosophy,
they can also learn to distinguish between Rumi's message of a
peace-loving Islam that embraces humanity and the misdirected
Islam of bigotry and desperation that leads to violence. It is
easy to forget that tragedies have been perpetrated
throughout history by people of other religions in the name of
God. To categorize the entire tapestry of Muslims as dangerous
because of the actions of militant elements (that are
inexcusable and beyond justification) is a shortsighted tactic
of addressing symptoms rather than the root causes of a
particular
disease. It can only lead to an endless cycle of reprisals and
counter attacks. The onus on the American people to influence
their allegedly representative government to channel the Sufi's
passion for tolerance and understanding over the terrorist
mentality of self-righteous indignation has never been greater.
Americanizing Rumi
It is arguable that Rumi's popularity in the US has been
stripped of its linguistic and religious integrity and
Americanized to accommodate a spiritual Starbucks of mass
consumption. But an American Rumi who speaks to the hearts
and minds of hundreds of thousands of people and builds bridges
of understanding between Islam and the West is, after all,
better than defunct national media incapable of projecting a
balanced perspective of the Muslim world and certainly
more effective than the official rhetoric of good verse evil,
the evil being undoubtedly the "Islamist threat" that kept Yusuf
Islam off US shores. A lover of irony, Rumi would have groaned
knowingly at such an absurdity. He certainly
would have appreciated the confluence of spiritual hunger and
terrorist alerts that keeps his pages turning in America.
courtesy: Kalim Irfani
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