Elhamdullillah, there is finally a documentary about the Alevi/Bektashi viewpoint in English! I believe this comes from an Alevi organization in Germany. Special thanks to AleviArsiv on Youtube for this one. I'm delighted to see this kind of material coming out in English. I would suggest taking some things here with a grain of salt-- they use some ideas that are not exactly traditional to the Alevi/Bektashi worldview (like Kundalini, etc) in order to explain some ideas to people raised in other spiritual traditions. This is perhaps similar to Sherif Baba's use of the Hindu "chakra" concept to explain the 7 levels of the nefs and their relationship to the lataif , etc. I actually think that can sometimes be helpful, but just recognize that words like kundalini are not part of traditional Alevi terminology and probably reflect a lot of the individual film-makers' interest in connecting Alevi and Bektashi traditions in relation to other forms of world spirituality.
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and another one about Alevi semah:
Beautiful videos-- I'm so pleased to see things like this coming out in English
First of all, I'm very sorry to hear that people in Turkey cannot get access to Youtube at this time. I am wondering is readers in the other countries are able to see them?
First of all, the following are videos of Laleh Bakhtiar, whose recent translation The Sublime Qur'an set of something of a firestorm by rethinking understandings of Arabic words often taken to imply a justification of domestic violence. Mashallah, I think that she is doing excellent and interesting work. She is an Iranian-American, and a student of Syed Hussein Nasr.
Another clip about Islam in America.
And two more about Islam in America.
I liked these videos... elhamdullillah. Perhaps it's true that the Sun is rising in the West. ;) Allahu 'Alim.
Selma and I have recently become quite intrigued with someone we know very little about. So much so that, Selma is hoping to go to Istanbul to visit her (and also meet Sherif Baba face-to-face for the first time). Inshallah.
The woman's name is Sirin Ana, though more can be found about her in English on the Web by looking up a nickname-- the Red Sheika. Apparently for the reason that she always wears red. There is something about her that Selma and I both found immediately intense and compelling. And I love that she throws chocolates into the crowd during her dhikr.
I have some wonderful pictures of her and Baba leading dhikr together in Konya that a friend sent me recently. I'll ask him if I might post them, so you can see them too, inshallah. But for now, I'll just show you some things I found on the web about her.
You will note Sherif Baba is on the left in the crowd, and Cem is playing tef in several of these pictures.
************************************************************************************ The the following story comes from http://asalamiinturkey.blogspot.com/2008/12/last-two-days.html ************************************************************************************
Last night we were supposed to go to a zikr at a hotel hosted by the Red Sheikha. Ibrahim has been talking about her throughout this trip and she has sounded one-of-a-kind. Yet I had no idea what to expect. Our whole group began to walk over and were about halfway there when suddenly, in the middle of the street, we were met with another tremendous group of women (at least 20), with the Red Sheikha, dressed all in red, being transported in her wheelchair to come meet us at the guest house. This wasn't just any group of women; these were an energetic, celebratory group who were absolutely ready to party in the name of Allah. Kisses and hugs were exchanged right there in the middle of the street until we finally decided to turn and go back to her hotel.
It was there that we had the zikr....right in the hotel lobby, with the Red Sheikha smoking cigarettes directly in front of the "No Smoking" sign. The room was filled with women zikring to their hearts' content. And of course we were all there as well. The energy of having so many women in the center was incredible since so far, most zikrs that I have been to have been very male-dominated. For me, it was empowering to watch and be a part of.
The sad part was when the women were eventually moved out of the center and shifted aside as more men arrived. The energy changed then and I felt less involved.
Another unrelated thought went through my mind as I was watching everything. I realized that a zikr is a lot like other spiritual practices that I have been to, like drum circles, shamanic rituals, or even buddhist gatherings, that can often (certainly not always) be products of communities of people who are new to spirituality or seeking something after having been hurt by their previous tradition. Yet having been part of those circles on more than one occasion, I have felt there to be something disingenuous about them. Somehow the practice seemed disconnected from anything real and often it even felt like there was nothing actually spiritual or grounded underlying anything that was being done.
I feared that's what the zikrs might be like, but while sitting there with the Red Sheikha, especially when it was just the women, I realized that what I was experiencing was absolutely real. Finally I was in a practice that was energetic and exciting but also totally genuine.
The Red Sheikha needed to go to bed due to her health, so we headed home and a few of us gathered with Ismael Baba. He spoke to us about how there are certain kinds of practices that suit each person differently. He was likening this to eating yogurt. He said that some people like their yogurt with honey but others like it with vinegar. So he says you should eat it however you like it because either way you're eating your yogurt. Basically, don't do a spiritual practice that goes against your constitution. Maybe quiet prayer is better for some people while zikrs are better for others. This was a highly empowering conversation since growing up, I became used to just "dealing with" the fact that certain types of Catholic prayer felt totally wrong to me, but I did it anyway. Ismael Baba gave me inspiration that I will be able to find a practice that feels right.
We're just so used to struggling that when something comes easy, we don't believe it can be real. When something feels good, we think it must be wrong. I'm learning the opposite right now. Feeling good is actually right and does come easily, we just need to pay attention and let it happen. For instance, I feel really good when I sing. In fact I feel so happy when I sing, but only recently was I able to identify this as spiritual. It felt too good for me to think of it as a spiritual practice. There was no sacrifice involved, no pain, no suffering, just pure joy. But I've changed my thoughts on this now, and it's joy that I am after; it's joy that we all deserve. ************************************************************************************
*************************************************************************************** And from another blog, http://miketarianist.blogspot.com/2008/12/zikhr-with-red-sheika.html
"This chain-smoking spiritual leader and her bevy of middle-aged women followers with bangles on their scarves rocked the Konya Hotel last night and we joined in the action. This is how to alter the mind and spirit without alcohol or other substances except the ever-present tea and cigarettes. These people know how to laugh and cry and pray and celebrate in worship. And they know how to greet each other and how to welcome strangers.
I'm realizing I will miss the call to prayer, especially in the morning. I wonder if I can find an alarm clock that plays a recording. There are other sounds as well I am becoming familiar with, including the musical instruments and the voices. There is a group of music therapy practitioners in and out of the guest house providing another dimension. And the Turkish language itself sounds like music to me."
There are a number of blog entries about her on the web. These seem to be largely from a group that went together on an interfaith Mevlana tour (or something like that... several of the writers seem to be Christian seminarians and at least one is Jewish). Evidently, they went to Istanbul and Konya, not only visiting Mevlana and Shams but also making contact with a scene I was unaware of until recently.
http://dervishbrothers.com/
The Dervish Brothers Center in Konya has a name that makes it sound like a museum of Mevlevi culture. Then you click on the page, and it looks like the website for a rug shop. And, to a certain degree it is indeed a website for a rug shop. It's also becoming quite clear that it is no ordinary rug shop. It's a rug shop in the way that the Silk Road Tea House was a restaurant and cafe. Or Muzaffer Ozak ran a bookstore. ;)
From all I can tell, these are the people who know where the real stuff is happening.
The contact information on their website:
tel (332) 351 54 67, (332) 350 81 88 fax (332) 351 54 67 mobile (0.532) 266 02 70 dervishbrotherscenter@hotmail.com
I lastly, to my delight, there is video of Sirin Ana (with Serif Baba there on the left also) on Youtube.
Mashallah... I love all of this. You can immediately see why she and Baba are friends. Both of them see to carry with them this combination of openness and a love for tradition, an fire that burns so intensely because of the huzur (tranquility) that grounds it, a humor and lightness and sweetness that has been developed by years of difficult challenges. Eyvallah. May Allah preserve them and the work they are doing.
All of this makes me very happy-- elhamdullillah. I'm delighted to have a little window into what Sherif Baba is up to these days and also equally delighted to see others who clearly seem to be on the same page.
Hu, Erenler! Sorry I haven't posted in a little while. It is so nice to see that some people are actually reading this, and to my great happiness, they are all over the world. Alhamdullillah. So thank you so much for your comments. Cok tessekur ederim! Shukran jazilan! Jazakallah khayr.
so, onto the posting for today.
This is the turbe of Ummi Sinan in Turkey:
The Sinani are a branch of the Halveti tarikat, founded by one of Sherif Baba's favorite saints, Ummi Sinan. As many of you know, the current guide of that order is a woman. I have not, so far, been lucky enough to travel to the Ummi Sinan tekke, but I've heard stories of wonderful experiences from people who went there with Baba. I'd love to hear anything like that. So if anyone has nice stories about Baba, please feel free to post them in comments.
Here's a nice video of a Kadiri dhikr-- you can see several different styles in it:
for those of you who have never attended a dhikr before, I would like to just mention that though some of the practices may appear a little odd from the outside, much of the physical action involved has to to with breath control. It is in this way somewhat similar to some techniques in certain styles of yoga. The more important element, however, is certainly the repetition of the Names themselves. Sufis of various orders have many different styles of doing this, individually and collectively. In addition to these kinds of group ritual dhikr, most Sufis also recite the Names silently throughout the day. ________________________________________________________________________________ Here is some of a small Rifa'i dhikr somewhere--- you can't really see anyone but the main singer, but these are nice salawats (praises of the Prophet, p.b.u.h).
I love this painting-- I think it's my one of my two favorites in the world. (the other is the Lyn Ott painting in the Meeting Place at the Meher Spiritual Center in Myrtle Beach). This is a 19th Century Orientalist painting of a Rifa'i tekke in Istanbul. In the picture, one sees a visiting Mevlevi turning sema. I think it's also interesting that there are Africans, likely slaves brought through Egypt. As a person who's professional interests are in American slavery, this is a useful reminder that the African slave trade was not solely a transatlantic phenomenon-- some left Africa to the North and East, rather than to the Americas. Aziz Nessin describes in his autobiographical work Istanbul Boy about how many people of African descent used to be present in Turkey in the earlier part of the 20th Century. Today, they have become thoroughly mixed with the rest of the population but their descendants are still around. Though they do not really form a distinct community, there are certainly still Turks of partially African descend who retain both oral histories and physical features. Someone really should work on this topic.
______________ note that in this one, the dede is wearing the takke like Rifa'i Marufis wear, wrapped in a black turban as Sherif Baba does. It's a little hard to see, but he's in the middle at the beginning of the video.
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________________________ lovely selpe playing
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more nice selpe-style playing-- this time with a twist!
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this one cracked me up-- but so good! Yes, he is playing the tune from a Nokia ringtone...
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More Bosnian Rifa'i dhikr:
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Bosnian Rifa'i recitations
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A video from a Qadiri-Rifa'i musican from somewhere in Eastern Europe. You can certainly see very clearly a very intense Ehli-Beyt focus, much stronger than in most tariqas. This particular branch is also apparently very involved in the practices with fire, swords, etc. which can be seen in the related videos from the same source.
This one is kind of interesting-- this is Yildiz Tilbe, who is mostly a pop singer, but she is Alevi. This is her singing a song from that repertoire, and mashallah... she is so good on it, I think.
This is interesting-- another Alevi song with some intriguing imagery. Note the juxtaposition of Catholic imagery with the Ehli Beyt images. I think that may have resulted from a search for Fatima that landed on pictures related to Our Lady of Fatima! I love the one with Hazreti Ali merged with the image from the Catholic icon of the Divine Mercy, with the red and blue beams of light coming from his heart. It's a really weird world we live in.
this one is great-- Rifa'is in former Yugoslavia explaining about different parts of the dhikr. They're Gypsies as well. Notice that the shaykh also uses the 3 part Alevi/Shi'a shahada (with "Ali'un veli Allah"), or as I like to call it, "putting the Shah in SHAHada" ;)
more from the same folks-- I'd hate to be defined as an "insolent dervish" in this dergah! ;)
More from this... and anyone who knows me well knows that I have a total fascination with Gypsy culture and music-- so how much does finding a film about Rifa'i Gypsies make my day?
There is also another film by the same Youtube user of these folks doing the piercings, etc. Not for the squeamish, but interesting.
This is Aziz-- a student of Sherif Baba (Rifa'i Marufi) and Jalaluddin Loras (Mevlevi) in the interview. The dhikr and sema footage if from the Rumi Festival that used to happen every year in Chapel Hill, NC. This was hosted annually by the Rifa'i Marufi Order, but visiting Mevlevis would come and turn also. In the video, the loud rambunctious stuff is from the Rif'ai dhikr, the slow and graceful one is more of the Mevlevi style (though people from both participated in each). Aziz also sometime turns with lit torches-- which perfectly expresses his dual connections with the Mevlevis and the Rifa'is-- Fire being the ultimate symbol of the Rifa'i tariqa (hence the name of this blog) and the Mevlevis being known for whirling.
This is a video about the recently published book by Meher Baba entitled "Infinite Intelligence" and some interesting images of Meher Baba's early period.
This is something I was fascinated to see-- footage of the shrine of Hazrat Babajan, the Afghan murshida (Chisti tariqa, it appears) was was Meher Baba's first master. I've always been interested in Baba's Sufi connections.
I really love Meher Baba, even though I see him in a rather different light than most of his followers do. Most view him as a kind of God incarnate, and this is based on a series of statements he made. However, I tend to think many inflect a kind of post-Christian mentality into these statement-- I see him speaking within both a Hindu tradition that accepts such manifestations as normal (seeing God constantly manifesting in the world, since God is the ultimate reality) and also within a Sufi tradition in which certain advanced souls reach a point where they simply cease to have an identity of their own and express only a reflection of the identity of Allah. References to this in Sufi tradition tend to point to people like Mansur al-Hallaj and Beyazid Bistami. Astaghfirullah if I have misinterpreted on this point, but in any case, he was the one who first taught me to love Allah by introducing me to a different way of religion. Secondly, he's the one from whom I first encountered Hafiz Shirazi and Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi, so even if 90% of his community believe some clearly non-Islamic things about him, he was perhaps the most crucial link to Islam for me. As one friend of mine expressed it, "I don't know who he was, but he was definitely SOMEBODY!" and another said "I don't know what to make of some of these statements, but I love him anyway". His effect in my life has always been to remind me to love Allah, to recognize Allah's many revelations to different communities, to serve others, and to remember that none of our concepts and organizations-- even the names of religions-- can ever be bigger than Allah. All religions belong to Him, rather than Allah being the property of those who call themselves Christians or Muslims or whatever. Though Meher Baba (not to be confused with Sherif Baba, about whom I have often posted) was a Zoroastrian by birth and had disciples of all religions (including many Muslims) he has always been a guidepost to Islam in my life, even though he was not himself a Muslim in the usual sense. Baba expressed, from what I have been told, a particular love for Sufism as the path with which he felt closest., and if you read certain passages of him, he writes within a throroughly Sui point of view. So in any case, he was certainly one whoh knew a great deal about Sufism and his clearly brought many to read Sufi writers like Rumi. In particular, he had a special love for Hafiz Shirazi, whose tomb in Iran he had restored (in the 30's, I believe). Because of this particular connection with Hafiz (even to the point that on his deathbed, he asked for a board to be painted with a passage from the saint-- making Meher Baba's final message essential a quotation from a Sufi poet) the two most outstanding translations of Hafiz into English in recent times have both come from followers of Meher Baba. So, however one should correctly view Meher in the light of Islam, there is no question that he had a beautiful impact on the continuation of the message of one of the most beloved Sufi mystics, preserving his memory in Iran and making his words available to seekers in the West. Allah alone knows what to make of one like this-- but I wouldn't be saying that without Meher Baba.
Hu, Dost! This is my way of saying thank you for all of the gifts that my teacher, Sherif Baba, has given all of us.
I love the Ahl-ul Beyt, but I am not Shi'a, at least not in the usual sense. I love the Alevi way, but I am a mainstream practicing Muslim (or, at least, trying to be one). I love Mevlana, but I'm not a Mevlevi. I love some teachers who may or may not be very shari'ah adherent, but can open hearts. Several that I love most are practicing Muslims, but not all of their students are. I've even seen one or two Salafis who are dripping with the Nur of Allah. As a Bektashi Baba once said, if we find something useful, we embrace it. I'm a liberal, but practicing Muslim, and I believe that anyone who is showing us Compassion and Mercy is showing us the way of Islam.
May we all become beautiful human beings, insha'Allah! ;)
This is really putting up some things I put together for myself about my shaykh and our path-- a friend suggested that it might be helpful for some other people as well. I thought while I was at it, I might as well add some music links along the way. Because this began for my own personal use, I have no idea where some of these pictures and quotes came from, so I apologize for putting them up without citation. I make no claim that all of this is my own. I'm simply trying to share a beautiful vision of God and humanity that I have learned about from Sherif Baba and also some inspirations from the Alevi/Bektashi tradition of Turkey, with whom Rifa'i Marufi shares many principles. Let me make it clear that I am not myself a Bektashi, though I love their path. My connection is to the Rifa'i. I hope you enjoy this offering and that these things will inspire you as much as they have inspired me.
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