Oral Hagiographies of Guru Bawa

2024

In 1976, the Indian Sufi shaykh Azad Rasool (1921-2006) began spreading the mystical teachings of his lineage to the Euro-American sphere. His two living successors, Hamid Hasan (b. 1961) of the School of Sufi Teaching and Ahmed Abdur Rashid (b. 1942) of the Circle Group, continue this line today, each in his own way. This study seeks to analyze the mysticism of this hitherto largely unstudied lineage and how its teachings have been introduced to the West, considering also the relationship of such mysticism to Islamic belief and practice as well as to social or political activism. Using a qualitative interpretivisitic research design, analysis of a broad range of textual sources is interwoven with ethnographic field data collected primarily in Germany and the US from 2015 to 2020. It is argued that this lineage expanded into two main markets in the West: those interested in non-traditional forms of spirituality as well as Muslims of various diasporic backgrounds, and that under Rasool, this transfer involved some changes in presentation to new audiences, but while retaining a mostly unmodified program of disciplined meditative practice. He additionally upheld its Islamicity, while also allowing non-Muslims to begin the practices, along with its quietist focus on Sufi practice over socio-political activism. Hasan has continued in much the same direction as Rasool and the shaykhs immediately preceding him, particularly their orientation toward practices. In contrast, Rasool’s American heir, Abdur Rashid, while also preserving much from his 19th- and 20th-century Indian predecessors, has also drawn upon broader Sufi and Islamic tradition to take this mysticism in some new-old directions, especially a restored and reformulated emphasis on the application of its asserted results through active positive societal engagement. In contrast to how other studies of Eastern traditions being transferred to Western settings have primarily seen change and declared the emergence of “New Religious Movements,” this study, through its emphasis on examining mysticism, also reveals remarkable continuity with both the immediate and distant past.

Review, 2023

Review on the book "Sorcery or science: contesting knowledge and practice in west African sufitexts", by Ariela Marcus-Sells, 2022

This article presents the results of a philosophical anthropological analysis of Sufism, which deals with the basic parameters of the device of man, through the prism of the Sufi mystics: the spirit (rooh), soul (nafs) and body (jism). -There Are a reflection of the spirit of eternity, because he was a breathe of Allah, the soul - there is an accumulation of passion, it is a manifestation of passion and anger, but soothing and cleansing from passion "rust" soul as a mirror reflects the source to which the return after death. The body is seen as nothing more than a shell, which is the focal point of the material. Sufis also shared in man two minds: they meant under one metaphysical mind - the mind (aql), which is a manifestation of the human spirit and the Spirit of the Most High; Others are thinking - mystical Sufis, it is also sensible since it is associated with the soul, it lies in the heart (kalb). Purified spirit peculiar to the realization of truth, revelation (marifa), purified soul - the perception of the divine light (nur). This article describes not only view, but also mestoraspolzhenie metafihicheskih anthropological parameters. Keywords: nafs, kalb, rooh, aql, marifa, nur.

2021

In the contemporary world, we cannot underestimate the importance of spirituality in the field of Psychology. Spirituality contributes in psychotherapeutic practice and healing process. Sufism is a subjective science of spirituality that is based on the reparation of the soul and the heart and connects the Sufi to the absolute reality, i.e., God Almighty. The purpose of this study was to explore spiritual and social experiences and practices of contemporary Sufis in Pakistan. For this investigation, a qualitative approach was employed. Based on previous research and theoretical models of Sufism, a semi-structured interview schedule was developed. A purposive sampling strategy was used to collect data from ten Sufis. The information obtained from the Sufis was in the form of audio recordings that were later transcribed. Sufis’ views and experiences were interpreted by using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Five super-ordinate themes that emerged from the data were: inc...

Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 2019