Western Sufism available through Oxford Scholarship Online

Western Sufism is now available to read online through Oxford Scholarship Online for those whose libraries have a subscription. See https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199977642.001.0001.

Rumi in the New Yorker

Rumi is the topic of an article in The New Yorker by Rozina Ali, "The Erasure of Islam from the Poetry of Rumi" (January 5, 2017). The author interviews both Omid Safi, who correctly places today's interest in Rumi in the context of nineteenth-century interest in Oriental poetry, and Coleman Barks, today's most important translator of Rumi. A good piece.

A note on the Gathas

In Western Sufism, I noted that the word "Gatha," used by Inayat Khan to designate one set of the "papers" used to transmit the teachings of his Esoteric School, was of Sanskrit origin. What I missed was that the word is also used by Zoroastrians to denote the hymns of Zarathustra/Zoroaster. Inayat Khan enjoyed such hidden references, which in this case also fitted with his Universalism.

Sufism according to Google

Google's search database is, as always, interesting, and shows that the greatest interest in Sufism on the internet is at present found in the United States, Indonesia, and France. A second group of countries with a significant interest in Sufism is made up of India, Germany, Italy, the UK, and Russia. Then come (in descending order) Brazil, Spain, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Canada, Mexico, Israel, Sweden, Ukraine, Argentina, Kazakhstan, and Australia.

As ever, care must be exercised in interpreting these results. The country that actually comes out on top in search volume is Colombia, but this is because of Sufi, short for Sufinanciamiento, the Compañía Suramericana de Financiamiento (South American Finance Company), a member of the Bancolombia group. Also, it is probably not safe to conclude anything from the absence of other countries in the Islamic world, which may not show up for a variety of reasons.

It is also interesting to see what searches are associated with "Sufi." "Dervish" remains popular, as do whirling, Sufi music, and Sufi poetry. In France, people search a lot for Ibn Arabi, as they do in Morocco and Algeria among searches in French. In France there is also a lot of interest in J. M. G. Le Clézio, a Nobel prize winning novelist who is rumored to have converted to Islam and had expressed admiration for Sufism, and in Eric Geoffroy, a Sufi academic, writer, and teacher of Traditionalist origins. There are more searches for Geoffroy in France than for Sufism in Mexico. The only other persons to show up in associated searches are Gerhard Schweizer in Germany and Mirzakarim Norbekov in Russia. Schweizer is a writer whose book on Sufism, Der unbekannte Islam: Sufismus (The Unknown Islam: Sufism) has evoked interest. Norbekov is a healer who evidently uses Sufism in his back story.

Traditionalists: CounterPunch attacks Maryamiyya

Traditionalists: CounterPunch attacks Maryamiyya: An article on the Maryamiyya has just (November 2) been published in CounterPunch, arguing that ""Western... Sufism has increasingly gone in another direction, allying itself more and more with the agendas of Western establishments and the core interests of Empire in the Muslim world."

Western Sufism now shipping

Western Sufism: From the Abbasids to the New Age is now officially published and shipping from Amazon.com! Readers in the UK will still have to wait a month before it reaches Amazon.co.uk, I am afraid.

Western Sufism shipping soon

Western Sufism: From the Abbasids to the New Age is on its way! My own advance copy has arrived, and Amazon.com are giving it as in stock on October 30, 2016. Only a few days to go.