Sufism in the West

Sufism in the West
Author: Jamal Malik
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2006-04-18
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1134479816

With the increasing Muslim diaspora in post-modern Western societies, Sufism – intellectually as well as sociologically – may eventually become Islam itself due to its versatile potential. Although Sufism has always provoked considerable interest in the West, no volume has so far been written which discusses this aspect of Islam in terms of how it is practised in Western societies. Bringing together leading international authorities to survey the history of Islamic mysticism in North America and Europe, this book elaborates the ideas and institutions which organize Sufism and folk-religious practices. The chapters cover: the orders and movements their social base organization and institutionalization recruitment-patterns in new environments channels of disseminating ideas, such as ritual, charisma, and organization reasons for their popularity among certain social groups the nature of their affiliation with the countries of their origin. Providing a fascinating insight into how Sufism operates within different spheres of society, Sufism in the West is essential reading for students and academics with research interests in Islam, Islamic history and social anthropology.

Sufi Mysticism Into the West

Sufi Mysticism Into the West
Author: Karin Jironet
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2009
Genre: Mysticism
ISBN: 9789042921146

Hazrat Inayat Khan was an Indian Sufi mystic who came to the West in 1910. His teachings, The Sufi Message, emphasize the divinity of the soul and the experience of unity of being and unity of religious ideals. The teachings show how Sufism can harmonize eastern and western culture. The process of such harmonization is fairly complex and raises very fundamental questions about eastern values in western society, of Sufism in the West. The book examines the forty-year period after the passing away of Hazrat Inayat Khan in 1927, during which his brothers Maheboob Khan (1887-1948), Mohammed Ali Khan (1881-1958) and Musharaff Kahn (1895-1967) followed Hazrat Inayat Khan as leaders of his organization, the Sufi Movement. It studies how they maintained and spread the teachings and how each one of them influenced the organization, and its adherents, in their own way according to their own personality, education and mystical realization. At the same time, the book offers perspectives on leadership succession and issues pertaining to tensions between eastern and western culture and history, social discontinuity, e.g., the problem of hierarchy versus democracy, and the relationship between mysticism and psycho-spiritual development.

Sufism East and West

Sufism East and West
Author: Jamal Malik
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 313
Release: 2019-07-15
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9004393927

In Sufism East and West, the contributors investigate the redirection and dynamics of Sufism in the modern era, specifically from the perspective of global cross-cultural exchange. Edited by Jamal Malik and Saeed Zarrabi-Zadeh, the book explores the role of mystical Islam in the complex interchange and fluidity in the resonance spaces of “East” and “West.” The volume challenges the enduring Orientalist binary coding of East-versus-West and argues instead for a more mutual process of cultural plaiting and shared tradition. By highlighting amendments, adaptations and expansions of Sufi semantics during the last centuries, it also questions the persistent perception of Sufism in its post-classical epoch as a corrupt imitation of the legacy of the great Sufis of the past.

Sufism in the West

Sufism in the West
Author: Jamal Malik
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2006-04-18
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1134479824

With the increasing Muslim diaspora in post-modern Western societies, Sufism – intellectually as well as sociologically – may eventually become Islam itself due to its versatile potential. Although Sufism has always provoked considerable interest in the West, no volume has so far been written which discusses this aspect of Islam in terms of how it is practised in Western societies. Bringing together leading international authorities to survey the history of Islamic mysticism in North America and Europe, this book elaborates the ideas and institutions which organize Sufism and folk-religious practices. The chapters cover: the orders and movements their social base organization and institutionalization recruitment-patterns in new environments channels of disseminating ideas, such as ritual, charisma, and organization reasons for their popularity among certain social groups the nature of their affiliation with the countries of their origin. Providing a fascinating insight into how Sufism operates within different spheres of society, Sufism in the West is essential reading for students and academics with research interests in Islam, Islamic history and social anthropology.

Western Sufism

Western Sufism
Author: Mark Sedgwick
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2016-10-18
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0199977658

Western Sufism is sometimes dismissed as a relatively recent "new age" phenomenon, but in this book Mark Sedgwick argues that it has deep roots, both in the Muslim world and in the West. In fact, although the first significant Western Sufi organization was not established until 1915, the first Western discussion of Sufism was printed in 1480, and Western interest in Sufi thought goes back to the thirteenth century. Sedgwick starts with the earliest origins of Western Sufism in late antique Neoplatonism and early Arab philosophy, and traces later origins in repeated intercultural transfers from the Muslim world to the West, in the thought of the European Renaissance and Enlightenment, and in the intellectual and religious ferment of the nineteenth century. He then follows the development of organized Sufism in the West from 1915 until 1968, the year in which the first Western Sufi order based on purely Islamic models was founded. Western Sufism shows the influence of these origins, of thought both familiar and less familiar: Neoplatonic emanationism, perennialism, pantheism, universalism, and esotericism. Western Sufism is the product not of the new age but of Islam, the ancient world, and centuries of Western religious and intellectual history. Using sources from antiquity to the internet, Sedgwick demonstrates that the phenomenon of Western Sufism draws on centuries of intercultural transfers and is part of a long-established relationship between Western thought and Islam.

Sufis in Western Society

Sufis in Western Society
Author: Markus Dressler
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 220
Release: 2009-06-02
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1134105746

This book examines the development of Sufi movements that have migrated from their place of origin to become global religious networks.

Re-visioning Sufism

Re-visioning Sufism
Author: Jonas Atlas
Publisher: Yunus Publishing
Total Pages: 146
Release: 2019-10-28
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN:

Sufism is often described as ‘the mystical branch of Islam’. Giving some more attention to this underexposed spiritual side, it is often proposed, could help us to ease certain contemporary societal tensions. One finger then points toward the rigorous religious aggression of fundamentalism as ‘the problem’, while another points toward the soft beauty of mysticism as ‘the solution’. Yet, no matter how well-intended the contemporary focus on Sufism might often be, in the end, it repeatedly portrays a lack of comprehension when it comes to Islamic mysticism. The typical descriptions are full of mistakes, and the conclusions they lead to need much nuance. Those misunderstandings do not simply stem from innocent ignorance. They are misunderstandings with more profound origins and implications. They’re closely tied to enormous blind spots in the contemporary view of religion and deeply entwined with pressing political issues. In fact, the way we deal with mysticism in general and with Sufism in particular actually kindles many contemporary conflicts. This book thus seeks to add the necessary nuances, correct the misunderstandings and unveil the contemporary ‘politics of mysticism’. It seeks to clarify how the growing interest in what is called ‘Sufism’ is connected to both the contemporary demonization of Islam and the modern destruction of profound spirituality in the East as well as the West.

Sufism

Sufism
Author: Nile Green
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2012-02-20
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1405157658

Since their beginnings in the ninth century, the shrines, brotherhoods and doctrines of the Sufis held vast influence in almost every corner of the Muslim world. Offering the first truly global account of the history of Sufism, this illuminating book traces the gradual spread and influence of Sufi Islam through the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and ultimately into Europe and the United States. An ideal introduction to Sufism, requiring no background knowledge of Islamic history or thought Offers the first history of Sufism as a global phenomenon, exploring its movement and adaptation from the Middle East, through Asia and Africa, to Europe and the United States of America Covers the entire historical period of Sufism, from its ninth century origins to the end of the twentieth century Devotes equal coverage to the political, cultural, and social dimensions of Sufism as it does to its theology and ritual Dismantles the stereotypes of Sufis as otherworldly 'mystics', by anchoring Sufi Muslims in the real lives of their communities Features the most up-to-date research on Sufism available

Sufis

Sufis
Author: Idries Shah
Publisher: eBook Partnership
Total Pages: 540
Release: 2020-06-20
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1784790052

The Sufis is the best introduction ever written to the philosophical and mystical school traditionally associated with the Islamic world.Powerful, concise, and intensely thought-provoking, it sums up over a thousand years of Eastern thought - the product of some of the greatest minds humanity has ever produced - into a single work, presenting timeless ideas in a fresh and contemporary style.When the book was originally published in 1964, it launched its author, Idries Shah, on to the international stage, attracting the attention of thinkers and writers such as J. D. Salinger, Doris Lessing, Ted Hughes and Robert Graves.It introduced to the Western world concepts which have subsequently become commonly accepted, varying from the psychological importance of attention and humour, to the use of traditional tales as teaching instruments (what Shah termed 'teaching-stories'), and the historical debt owed by the West to the Middle East in matters scientific, literary and philosophical.As a primer for the many dozens of Sufi books that Shah later produced, it is unsurpassed, offering a clear window onto a community whose system of thought and action has long concerned itself with the advancement of the whole of humankind, and whose ideas about individuals and society, their purpose and direction, need to be understood now more than ever before.

Introduction to Sufism

Introduction to Sufism
Author: Eric Geoffroy
Publisher: World Wisdom, Inc
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2010
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1935493108

This book features: --