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

Islamic holiday last night/today: The Night Journey and Ascent: Isrāʾ wa Miʿrāj - 27 Rajab, 621

Overview

• Today marks 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)
  • Follows the Prophet's Year of Sorrow, 619 (in that year, both his wife Khadijah and his uncle Abu Talib both passed away), and immediately precedes the migration to Medina
  • This was a difficult period in the Prophet's life.
  • The miraculuous journey, Isrāʾ wa Miʿrāj, alluded to in the Qur'an (17:1) is more fully described in the Hadith, as well as in Sira (Prophet's lifestory, e.g. of Ibn Hisham and others), tafir (Qur'anic interpretation), and in poetry.
    • Sahih Muslim
    • Sahih Bukhari
  • Was it a spiritual journey or a bodily journey? This has been a continual issue for debate among Muslim scholars and even the Prophet's own companions.
  • Regardless, Miʿrāj is the Archetypal mystical journey back to the Source, to God... the journey of "closer than your jugular vein" (Qur'an 50:16), returning to the mystical proximity of the Revelation itself, following periods of meditation in the cave Ghār Hirāʾ on the Mountain of Light (Jabal Nūr) near Mecca, when the Prophet was "two bows' lengths or closer" ([https://quran.com/53/9 Qur'an 53:9) from the angel Gabriel, who delivered the Revelation.
  • This ultimate spiritual immediacy is a paragon for the Sufi spiritual journey, e.g. the ascent through the maqāmāt (spiritual stations)
  • We see similar journeys outlined in all the Sufi orders, as well as in poetic works, e.g. in Attar's Mantiq al-Tayr
  • 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, but also "informal Sufism", the more mystical/devotional aspect of Islam generally. Language performance plays a key role throughout, in lessons, sermons, prayers, and inshad.

Examples

• Last night's webinar from "Celebrate Mercy", including lessons from a variety of speakers, as well as salawat and inshad -- all forms of language performance, with a Sufi orientation, expressed as love and praise for the Prophet. Here is an excerpt, starting with salawat from Dr. Shadee Elmasry, followed by inshad (from the previous year) performed by Sidi Mouaz Al Nass
• 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. Each of the 10 chapters recounts an aspect of the Prophet's life; the 7th concerns the Isrāʾ wa Miʿrāj. 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). [Each of the 10 chapters recounts an aspect of the Prophet's life; the 7th concerns the Isrāʾ wa Miʿrāj I visited last summer, took some pictures and made a recording.]) Listen while following along in the text. The recitation style is typical of Sufi poetry, repeating a simple melody for every line, with a different melody used for the refrain (which is not part of the poem).
• 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