Introduction to Sufism and Sufi music

Tuesday (5a)

Sufism, Sufi music, and its relation to Islamicate music

Due today

Please catch up with any overdue work!

New assignment:

• Read Sufism: an introduction to the mystical tradition of Islam, by Carl Ernst. Skim chapters 1, 2, and 6 for gist - then read 7 carefully (the preface is optional). Write your answer to the questions: "What is Sufism? Why do you think samāʿ ("music" or "dance") plays a significant role in Sufi thought and practice?" (one page or less), and submit. We'll discuss further in class.
• Watch the following video: The Mystic Music of Islam, on youtube (a nearly identical videos is available as Sufi Soul from our Library's Films on Demand database, but without the first few minutes; I recommend watching the youtube video at least for that beginning portion).

You may also enjoy I am a Sufi, I am a Muslim

Note: As you develop your projects, please consult the course resource page, including primary sources (websites for Muslims and links to databases), media sites, and a lengthy list of secondary source scholarly books, some of which we're drawing upon for our course readings. I encourage you to check these out (as well as other articles by the same authors).

Class

• Proposals:
  • All excellent! But...refine.
  • Reconsider: scope (is it narrow enough, but not too narrow?), methods (interview? analysis? primary sources?), questions.
  • Look through the course resource section
  • The concept of "Islamicate"
  • Publication? Let's consider possible venues. Five articles is perfect for a special issue. But you have to be careful to write something *new*, rather than summarizing what's out there already.
• The week's topics
  • Introduction to Sufism. What is it, and why is music important?
  • Discussion of the role of "music" in Sufism, with reference to some of my fieldwork in Egypt and Ghana.
  • Connections between Sufi music and Islamicate music more generally. Tarab (to be continued next time)

Thursday (5b)

Due today

Read:

• Tarab in the Mystic Sufi Chant of Egypt, in: Colors of Enchantment: Visual and Performing Arts of the Middle East, edited by Sherifa Zuhur. American University in Cairo Press, 2001, pp. 233-269
• "Shaykh Yasin al-Tuhami: A typical layla performance", Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, vol. 6 (2002).

• Listen to some Inshad Sufi from Egypt, and read accompanying text. Please also review examples of inshad sufi from Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan, Ghana, and Morocco. NB: many of the links are currently broken; I will try to fix them as quickly as possible! stay tuned :) Meanwhile just skip those that don't work.)

Watch:

• Five Sufi Hadras. We watched some of this in class, but please rewatch the last segment: the Shaykh Yasin performance, for Shaykh Abu Shamma's "arba`in" (the 40th day after death) (if you didn't make it to class on Tuesday please watch the first four hadras also). Please also have a look at Shaykh Yasin's inshad performance for the mawlid of Imam al-Hussein (the anniversary of whose martyrdom is marked on 10 Muharram, or Ashura'). You don't have to watch the whole thing. Just get the feel of the music, and especially the way it builds up.

• Sample Sufi dervishes, about the Mevlevi tariqa in Aleppo, Syria, as well as this short segment about the Mevlevi in Turkey (note the touristic context)
• Video segment on the Whirling Dervishes; watch from 42:46 until 57:35. (From the film: "Sufiism: Whirling Dervishes")

Note: For all Films on Demand films: If you have trouble with the link, navigate to the Films on Demand database via our Library website, log in, and then search for the film you want

• Video segments showing both Tijani (Sufi) and traditional drumming from the north of Ghana.
  • Damba (traditional festival for the Prophet's birthday, held in the village of Tolon, near Tamale in Northern Region, Ghana)
  • Zikiri (Tijani praise singing; the drumming music is known as akwashirawa)
  • Mawlidi (Tijani festival for the Prophet or saints; in this case held for the Prophet's birthday, with akwashirawa music). Note incredible speed of drumming; also the participation of women.
  • Mawlidi (Tijani festival for Shaykh Ahmed al-Tijani himself). Documentary showing several aspects of the mawlidi celebration; watch selectively.

Write:

Based on all readings, listenings, and viewings this week and last, write a one page report: how are local music and musical aesthetics incorporated into Sufi ritual? In what ways is Sufi music the same, and in what ways is it different, from music of the broader culture ("Islamicate music")? How might Sufi music tinge music of the broader culture? (speculate or use readings) Consider examples from Egypt, Turkey, Ghana, and Morocco. Submit for today (5b).

Class

Sufi tarab presentation, concluded (ppt)

The boundaries of Sufism are not clear-cut, especially as the word is somewhat "etic". We can generally distinguish three levels:

• Formal membership in and practices of the Sufi orders (turuq, singular tariqa). Members are called murīdīn, and they pledge allegiance to a shaykh (usually just one but sometimes more than one).
• Broader participation in public rituals such as festivals (mawalid) for the Prophet, the Ahl al-Bayt (Prophet's family), and the awliyāʾ (saints, including founders of the orders), the latter usually at the location of the shrine (maqam). Such rituals are annual, or sometimes weekly, and people visit shrines at other times as well. Many more people are involved beyond the formal membership; they are called muhibbīn (lovers), and this aspect of Sufism is indistinguishable from saint veneration and general loving devotion to the Prophet.
• More generally, a sense of loving veneration for the Prophet and Ahl al-Bayt permeates the broader Sunni populace (in Shia Islam the focus is often on Ali as well).