Living Sufism in North America

William Rory Dickson

Description

In this book, William Rory Dickson explores Sufism as a developing tradition in North America, one that exists in diverse and beguiling forms. Sufism's broad-minded traditions of philosophy, poetry, and spiritual practice infused Islamic civilization for centuries and drew the attention of interested Westerners. By the early twentieth century, Sufism was being practiced in North America. Today's North American Sufism can appear either explicitly Islamic or seemingly devoid of Islamic religiosity. Dickson provides indispensable background on Sufism's relation to Islamic orthodoxy and to Western esoteric traditions, and its historical development in North America. The book goes on to chart the directions that North American Sufism is currently taking, directions largely chosen by Sufi leaders. The views of ten North American Sufi leaders are explored in depth and their perspectives on Islam, authority, gender, and tradition are put in conversation with one another. A more detailed picture of North American Sufism emerges, challenging previous scholarly classifications of Sufi groups, and highlighting Sufism's fluidity, diversity, and dynamism.
Acknowledgments
Introduction

Part I

1. Tracing Sufism’s Relation to Islam

2. The Genesis of Sufism in the West

3. Currents of Sufi Teaching in Twentieth-Century North America

Part II

4. Adapting Sufism in North America

5. North American Sufi Teachers on Sufism and Islam

Conclusion
Notes
Glossary
References
Index

Sujets

• History of religions
• Islam

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 11 septembre 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438457581
• Langue: English

Extrait

LIVING SUFISM
IN N ORTH A MERICA
LIVING SUFISM
IN N ORTH A MERICA
Between Tradition and Transformation
WILLIAM RORY DICKSON
Cover photo of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen’s shrine in Philadelphia taken by Sally and Michael Green
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2015 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Production, Eileen Nizer
Marketing, Kate R. Seburyamo
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dickson, William Rory.
Living sufism in North America : between tradition and transformation / William Rory Dickson.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4384-5757-4 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4384-5758-1 (ebook : alk. paper)
1. Sufism—North America. I. Title.
BP188.8.N7D53 2015
297.4097—dc23 2014038022
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
C ONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Introduction
PART I
Chapter 1 Tracing Sufism’s Relation to Islam
Chapter 2 The Genesis of Sufism in the West
Chapter 3 Currents of Sufi Teaching in Twentieth-Century North America
PART II
Chapter 4 Adapting Sufism in North America
Chapter 5 North American Sufi Teachers on Sufism and Islam
Conclusion
Notes
Glossary
References
Index
A CKNOWLEDGMENTS
My doctoral supervisor Meena Sharify-Funk provided the inspiration to begin, continue, and finish this project, along with the guidance to ensure that it did not veer off course along the way. This work simply would not exist without her, though its limitations are clearly mine. This project was significantly assisted by the insights of professors Michel Desjardins, Carol Duncan, Ali Zaidi, and Marcia Hermansen, and made better by conversations with colleagues Amarnath Amarasingam, Adam Stewart, and Shobhana Xavier. The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Ontario Government provided funding for this project, and I am thankful for their support of my research. The reviewers at the State University of New York Press provided invaluable feedback that improved this work significantly. It was a genuine pleasure working with Nancy Ellegate, who proved to be a supportive and accommodating editor. I am deeply grateful to all of the Sufi teachers who shared their time and insight and the many who arranged for and in some cases provided accommodations for me during my visit to their center. Finally, I certainly would not have completed this project without the support of my parents, Bev and Kevin Dickson, whose encouragement, humor, and generosity have given me a huge leg up in life.
I NTRODUCTION
Sufis currently find themselves in the middle of a global tug-of-war between the various religious authorities, states, and transnational movements that seek to define Islam in the twenty-first century. Washington think tanks and media commentators have lauded Sufis as allies in the fight against militant groups, especially following the attacks of 9/11. In 2007 the Rand Corporation suggested that Sufis were “natural allies of the West” and in 2009 Time magazine asked, “Can Sufism Diffuse Terrorism?” 1 Notably, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) declared 2007 the International Year of Rumi, celebrating the popular Sufi poet’s 800th birthday, and highlighting Jalal ad-Din Rumi’s (d. 1273) Islamic humanism and pluralism. 2 For a growing number of intellectuals and policy experts in the West, Sufism represents the peaceful, spiritual face of Islam in contrast to the violence of al-Qa‘ida, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and affiliated movements. 3
Many Muslims look to Sufism as a spiritual antidote to the sectarianism and militancy that trouble postcolonial Muslim societies. In many ways Sufis are on the frontlines of the “struggle for the soul of Islam.” 4 Since 2011 the Pakistani Taliban have targeted Sufi shrines for suicide bombings in Punjab province and Lahore. 5 Al-Qa‘ida–affiliated movements destroyed Sufi shrines in Mali in 2012, and in 2014 ISIS destroyed the tomb-shrine of the famous Sufi Ahmad al-Rifa‘i (d. 1182) in Northern Iraq. The practice of Sufism is legally restricted in Saudi Arabia and periodically repressed in Iran. 6 Although Sufism remains popular in Egypt, Sufi texts have been banned in the country at the behest of anti-Sufi movements and politicians. 7 Throughout the Muslim world popular preachers denounce Sufis in print and other media, accusing them of bringing heretical innovations into Islam. Islamist activists decry Sufis for their introversion and passivity, seemingly focused on the interior experience of God to the detriment of political and social reform. As a result, Sufis have found themselves significantly marginalized in recent decades, in marked contrast to their prominence in premodern Muslim societies.
In North America, aspects of the Sufi tradition have proven to be remarkably popular. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s (d. 1882) discovery of Persian Sufi poetry in the nineteenth century set the stage for an enduring American interest in one of Sufism’s most notable cultural exports. 8 The poetry of Rumi, for example, has been among the bestselling poetry in the United States since the 1990s. 9 Coleman Barks’s accessible presentations of Rumi’s passionate love poems to God have exposed large numbers of North Americans to one of Sufism’s most famous masters. 10 For some contemporary Sufi teachers, however, Rumi’s popularity in the West has come with a cost. North Americans have understandably been moved by Rumi’s effervescent imagery of love and his repeated calls to recognize the universality of the Divine beyond name and form. Yet very few are aware that Rumi was an expert in Islamic law and a devout Muslim. Sufism’s universality is, in many cases, emphasized to the detriment of its Islamic context and character. For many North American seekers Sufism is perceived as one of a number of alternative religious movements or Eastern mystical traditions on offer in the spiritual marketplace, with few understanding its historical importance in the development of Islamic civilization, and its roots in the Qur’an and the teachings and practice of Muhammad.
Alternately, Sufi influences continue to proliferate amongst North American Muslims, many of whom do not explicitly identity as “Sufi.” 11 Even less acknowledged is the Sufi influence on the Tablighi Jama‘at. The Jama‘at is perhaps the world’s largest grass roots Islamic movement. With origins in South Asia, it has spread globally and is well-represented in North America. 12 Besides Sufism’s implicit presence among North American Muslims, Sufism has also played an important role among scholars of Islam in North American universities, some of whom have eventually converted to Islam after encountering Sufi poetry and philosophy, or a Sufi teacher. Suha Taji-Farouki refers to “sufi academia,” consisting of “the expanding interface between professional scholarship on Sufism and its practice as a spiritual way.” 13
M AKING S ENSE OF S UFISM’S D IVERSITY
Jay Kinney, in his introduction to Gnosis magazine’s issue on Sufism (1994), aptly describes the “Sufi Conundrum.” Kinney recalls first encountering “Sufi dancing” in the early 1970s among San Francisco’s hippies. Kinney would later meet traditional Sufis from the Middle East who seemed “ very Islamic” in comparison to the Sufi dancers of the Bay Area. 14 These incongruities posed pointed questions on the nature of Sufism: Was Sufism a part of Islam or beyond any religion? Was it the purview of hippies or Islamic preachers? “What, in short, was going on?” Kinney asks. 15
This work is one attempt to make sense of Sufism’s often beguiling diversity in North America. Like Kinney, I was struck by the contrasts and even contradictions among the various Sufi orders in North America. I wanted to understand why it is that Sufism takes such a variety of forms. What is at the heart of this diversity? Why are some orders in North America more explicitly “Islamic” and “traditional,” whereas others have little to do with the Islamic religion? Why have some orders taken on a more distinctly North American cultural style, while others have largely maintained the culture of their country of origin? Furthermore, is there a way to think about Sufism in North America that transcends these dichotomies?
In this study, I argue that we can make sense of Sufism’s diversity by focusing on the role of the shaykh, or Sufi teacher. It is the shaykh or shaykha (feminine) who makes critical decisions on how to teach Sufism: which elements of the tradition to maintain and which to adapt in a new context. The shaykh is the nexus where history, lineage, and students come together: the result is the form in which the shaykh presents the teachings for particular students in a particular place and time. As a carrier of lineage, charisma, and spiritual power, a living shaykh is imbued with the author