Judaism and Islam James Jervis Guest Speaker Report

Nadya Kidikoglu April 13th 2006

On April 2nd, 2006, a group of Sufis came to Champlain to discuss the realms of Sufism. The main subjects of talk were about their lives that they lead, the way they conduct their prayers as well as discussions of music and art, the misconceptions about woman and jihad in Islam as well as work and family life. Many other topics were also discussed. Although their names escape me their information and approach to the discussion was memorable. When the Sufis addressed Islam, they made a point to say that Sufism is neither a derivative nor a branch of Islam, it is Islam. However, it is the heart of Islam. I guess that means that it is the less rigid more spiritual approach of Islam. Their main message that they wanted to approach us with about Sufism was that it is a spiritual and beautiful religion that takes a lot from Jesus. The main speaker actually mentioned Jesus saying that, if slapped on one cheek, turn to the other cheek. This quote can easily sum up the entire movement of Sufism. It is a spiritual connection that leaves no room for anger, violence or oppression and does leave room for peace, tolerance and love. At one point, the guest speaker started to discuss certain misconception that many people have about Islam. One would be that they do not treat woman with respect. However, we were assured that woman in Islam are not oppressed and that they are the root of the entire family and community, much like the Chassidics approach to the role of woman. They also cleared up our false impression that all Muslims are for Jihad and war. He simply stated that those who are committing these atrocious acts are nothing but

misguided themselves. For they do not look to love or peace to resolve issues, nor are they spiritual in any way. For them it is simply a question of pride and the ego that must be feed, being men and all. I think that it was important for him to say that because for those who do not much about Islam it is hard to distinguish and separate field of thought possessed by the fundamentalists and practicing Muslims. Although philosophies vary between different Sufi orders, Sufism as a whole is primarily concerned with direct personal experience, and as such may be compared to various forms of such as Zen Buddhism. Muraqaba is the word used by many Sufis when referring to the practice of meditation. In Arabic the word means to guard or control and in this case it means to guard and control ones thoughts and desires. They do this to engage in Dhikr. Dhikr is the remembrance of God commanded in the Qu-ran for all Muslims. Dhikr in a group is most often done on Thursday and/or Sunday nights as part of the institutional practice of the orders. Intertwined with this is something called Sama. Sama , which is Arabic mean listening, refers to the Sufis form of worship which involves dancing and music. The prayer and meditation portion of the visit was very inspiring. I have a lot of respect for those who choose to give up worldly goods to dedicate their lives to the connection with God. The spinning was quite impressive although Im sure it wasnt intended to impress. They said that the only way that one c an continue spinning as such is because at a certain point a spiritual balance takes you and you just get into this spiritual trance. Just goes to show how deep they are involved with the teachings and tradition of Sufism.

To sum up, the basic discussion being had in the amphitheatre last week was the role of Sufism and all that it has to offer. It was a well done, well organized presentation with many pleasing elements. For example there was a power point presentations, which I think are so cool, meditation, dancing and prayer, the bongos (although I dont think there called bongos) and interesting music. The main guest speaker was comical at some points when he would make confused references to either turtle chocolates or The Matrix. All in all, I enjoyed myself and took away a very special experience that thought me a lot.