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Published: December 21st 2013
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Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies. Nelson Mandela
I recently revisited the sufi shrines of the saints Nizamuddin (Delhi) and Christi (Ajmer) and was again mindful of the obscene attempts of the Taliban in Pakistan and elsewhere to destroy sufism by blowing up such shrines. This is a campaign by fundamentalists/ Islamic puritans to try and eradicate what they see as blasphemous practice within Islam. In the five years 2005 to 2010, 209 people were killed and 560 injured in 29 different terrorist attacks targeting shrines devoted to Sufi saints in Pakistan.
Sufism expresses the inner mystical dimension of Islam, and possibly pre-dates all religion, finding a home within Islam. Sufis consider themselves as the original true proponents of a pure original form of Islam and sufism may be defined as a science whose objective is the reparation of the heart and turning it away from all else but God, or a means for knowing how to travel into the presence of the divine, purify one's inner self, and beautify it with a variety of praiseworthy traits.
Classical Sufis were characterised by their attachment to a practice of
Singing to the saint at Nizamuddin's Shrine
On Thursday evenings the sufi singing gathers a hectic pace with standing room only at the shrine repeating the names of God, often performed after prayers, and ascetism. Sufism often celebrates life and non-attachment through dance and song, and sufi saints are buried in shrines which become places of devout acknowledgement if not worship itself. People visit sufi shrines to obtain blessings but to also partake in a free expression of worship and life itself.
Nizamuddin lived in the 13
th and early 14
th centuries and believed in drawing close to God through renunciation of the world and service to humanity. He is one of the great saints of the Chishti order in India.
Nizamuddin, like his predecessors, stressed love as a means of realising God. For him his love of God implied a love of humanity. His vision of the world was marked by a highly evolved sense of secularity and kindness.It is claimed that by the 14th century his influence on the Muslims of Delhi was such that a paradigm shift was effected in their outlook towards worldly matters. People began to be inclined towards mysticism and prayers and remaining aloof from the world.
The Chrishti Darga in Ajmer, Rajasthan, India is a very significant mosque for world Islam. The saint Christi migrated
Christi Shrine at Ajmer
The complex is quite large and is a haven from the maddening crowds outside to Ajmer from the then Persia over 800 years ago. The Emporer Akbar built the shrine and it is a little paridise within the otherwise chaotic city of Ajmer. It too was targeted with a bomb some years back with (thankfully) no damage to the shrine itself.
Within this community there is factionalism that tries to subdue sufism. Fundamentalist Islamists believe dance and song to be heretical expression and that the apparent worship of saints is a blight on monotheism and the practice of Islam.
Both in Delhi and Ajmer, I can attest to robust practice of sufism in what I consider to be an attractive form of Islam which seems to be open to a more inclusive interpretation of god and creation in regards to how one walks a spiritual path. People from all faiths (Hindus, Sikhs, Parsis and so on) attend the shrines to receive blessings.
My good friend Ajmal is a leader within the Ajmer community and expresses his spiritualism through painting (as well as many other ways). His inclusiveness allowed him earlier in life to become a
sanyasi (which he would still claim to be alongside his role in the community at Ajmer)
Sufi singing at the Christi shrine
Here the singing is pretty well constant within the Osho tradition (which is fundamentally rooted within Hinduism but within that tradition approaches a more sufist approach to life than fundamental Hinduism might allow).
What drives the Taliban to its campaign to eradicate such beauty?
Further reading on this topic: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sufism http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/south-asia/pakistani-taliban-target-sufi-shrines http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nizamuddin_Dargah http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moinuddin_Chishti http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nizamuddin_Auliya
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Marguerite
non-member comment
Ajmal
And very good looking - free thinking hugs.............Marguerite