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

• 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.

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 on (6b)

Class

• Examples of Sufi inshad and madih, both within the tariqa liturgies, and more generally within the broader scope of informal Sufism
  • Tawashih Diniyya: Compare the tawashih style, leader (shaykh, munshid) and responding group (bitāna), featuring Shaykh Taha al-Fashni (1900-1971), the greatest exponent of this style of inshad, as well as of ibtihālāt (a solo version). He was also a great Qur'an reciter (qāriʾ). Note the call/response along with tarab-like responses from listeners, is typical of this style.
  • Mevlevi Ayin and Ottoman art music
  • Ghanaian Akwashirawa and traditional drumming music of the Dagomba
  • Inshad Sufi of Shaykh Yasin, and Egyptian tarab music
  • Qawwali and Hindustani music of south asia.
• Today is the annual commemoration of Isrāʾ wa Miʿrāj: the Prophet's night journey to Jerusalem and ascension to heaven, on 27 Rajab, in 621 (the year before the Hijra)
  • This story is briefly mentioned in Sura 17 of the Qur'an but is more fully documented in Hadith and Sira (the Prophet's lifestory)
  • It is the quintessential mystical journey, the return to God ("two bow's length or closer")
  • As always there is a "language performance" component as a means of celebrating, commemorating, and honoring this story about the Prophet
  • As Sufism is typically centered on love and respect for the Prophet and his family, Ahl al-Bayt (especially Ali and the line of Imams in Shia Islam), as well as saints (awliyāʾ), and because the journey is archetypal for Sufis, celebrating this occasion is special for those of Sufi orientation, including the Sufi orders (turuq) in particular
  • Here are some examples:
    • Chapter 7 of the Qasidat al-Burda, or "Mantle Ode" written in praise of the Prophet by the Egyptian Sufi al-Busiri (1213-1294), a follower of the great Shaykh Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhili. While madīh (praise for the Prophet), is a common genre of Islamic literature around the world, the Burda is the most famous instance. al-Busiri is buried in Alexandria near al-Shadhili's other great disciple, Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi. Sufis often recite Busiri's poem near his shrine (maqām). Here is an example I recorded. Each of the 10 chapters recounts an aspect of the Prophet's life; the 7th concerns the Isrāʾ wa Miʿrāj.
    • The famous Egyptian mubtahil (performer of ibtihalat), munshid and muqri' (Qur'an reciter/teacher), Shaykh Nasr al-Din Tubar (1920-1986). Note the tarab-like responses, similar to those of Qur'anic recitation.
    • Traditional style of inshad, probably from a Sufi order (tariqa), from a mosque in Hamah, Syria
    • The nightly journey, sung by children in Zanzibar, Tanzania, in a more traditional choral arrangement
    • Isra wal Mi'raj Nasheed. Story., contemporary Arabic nasheed style, similar to popular music but a religious texts, performed a cappella
    • The Seerah Song: The Story of Al-Isra and Mi'raj, in a contemporary English language nasheed style
    • When the year of sorrow came to be | English Nasheed on Mi'raj an-Nabi
    • Arabic madih produced in North America
    • Solo madih