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 Mesaj Başlığı: Sufi is a danger for Ayatollahs
MesajGönderilme zamanı: 03.09.09, 09:29 #mesajın linki (?)
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Kayıt: 09.02.09, 14:18
Mesajlar: 96
Sufi is a danger for Ayatollahs

Often a lot of theology is involved but sometimes conflicts in Iran have a plain, material background. Like the difficulties in the holy city of Qom between a number of high ayatollahs and the mystical Sufis of the Nematollah Gonabadi Order. At the background there is the question to whom the Iranians will by their voluntary religious contribution, to the ayatollah of their choice or, and this is happening more and more, to charity organisations of different Sufi orders.
This is said by Seyed Mostafa Azmayesh, representative of the Nematollah Gonabadi Order in Europe.

Last week in Iran 52 followers of this Sufi Order were sentenced to a year in prison, 74 flagellations by a whip and a sum of money. On top of this, two lawyers are not allowed to practice their profession for 5 years.

For now this is the outcome of a big disagreement, which disturbed last year in Qom the month of the Ramadan and that led in the end of January this year to two big outbursts.

Followers of the Basiji militia destroyed a gathering place of the Sufis. Afterwards they raised a tent in which they displayed prohibited goods like weapons and drugs, pretended to have been found in this destroyed gathering place.

The school children of Qom were forced to take a look at this as a warning against the pernicious Sufis.
Seyed Mostafa Azmayesh lives in Paris and regularly he travels to the Netherlands in order to be in contact with followers of the Order.

‘The Sufis are a strategically danger for the ayatollahs’ he explains in a hotel in Schagen in the North of Holland.
Azmayez speaks English and French fluently. At the Sorbonne University in Paris he studied laws and Islam. From the early eighties he lives in the French capital.
When the gathering place in Qom became the prey of the Basiji militia by mobile phone he was informed minute by minute of the situation.
In the past this was different. Azmayesh; “In 1978 they burned a gathering place of the Sufis in Teheran but the news about this reached the rest of the world much later”.

In a few lines Azmayesh sketches the difficult relation between the Sufis and the Sji istic main current in Iran. The Sufis are tolerated in a certain way if they live up to their place in society.
The Sufis acknowledge the holy books, the Koran and the sayings of the Prophet but at the same time they value very much the personal contact with the divine, by a spiritual leader, in Farsi and Arabic a Hadi.
Azmayesh: “I know the Koran and the traditions. But the source of inspiration is the direct contact. A theologian” he says; “looks constantly at the past because he is continuously busy by old scriptures. Our vision is more oriented towards the future, on the ongoing evolution”.
This direct spiritual contact is also possible outside the frame of Islam. “Sufism was there before Islam” says Azmayesh, who thinks that Mohammed, before he was called to be a prophet, was a mystic. Once also was told of ayatollah Khomeini that he was attracted to Sufi mysticism. Therefore other religious people did not want to touch this cup by which Khomeini had quenched his thirst. When Khomeini started to become active in politics his interest in Sufi mysticism ended.

The Sufis mainly draw on older, Meccan chapters of the Koran. Here they recognize much mystical elements. The orthodox Islam and the theologians often have more interest in the younger Medinic parts of the Koran, because they supply them more material for religious laws.
The last years Sufism attract many new followers in Iran. Azmayesh distinguishes two groups. “There are people who have the need for the real, direct spiritual contact and there are people who become Sufi because they reject the ayatollahs. Almost 30 years of Islamic Republic has caused an aversion of traditional Islam by a lot of people. The Sufis offer a way out, with them people are in another atmosphere without having to abandon their own religion. The spiritual experience may differ but the Sufis are within the Islamic tradition.

However, their number increases continuously and this makes some of the ayatollahs nervous. It is a threat to their base of power. The esteem of an ayatollah is measured by the amount of followers he has. Their students support them by the income out of the religious Khomstaxes. Believers give this to the ayatollah of their choice. Commonly this is collective.
Sometimes a whole province chooses a certain ayatollah, sometimes it is a clan or another group of people. Due to the dissatisfaction with the rulers since 1978 more and more people choose to offer their money to Sufi charity organisations instead of an ayatollah.

The campaign against the Sufis in the city of Qom was leaded by five ayatollahs: Shirazi, Hamadani and Golpeyegani, Lankerarni, Yarzdi.

Up to four years ago there were little problems in Qom. The Sufis gathered in what they call a Khanega, a modest gathering place. It reminds a little bit of the times of the Dutch republic in which the not Reformed Dutch believers gathered in shelter churches.

16 years ago Mohammed Shariat died, the sheich of the Nematollah Gonabadi Sufis in Qom. A son of him became the new sheich. He no longer bothered about the unwritten law that the Sufis had to know their place and he enlarged the house of his father to a so-called Hosseinije.
For the Sji ist Muslims the Hosseinije is the second largest gathering place, next to the Mosque. The Hosseinije is named after the famous grandson of Mohammed; Hussain, who died fighting against a superior power 14 centuries ago. There were ayatolah who approved that the Sufis had built a Hosseinije but this they regarded as a provocation.

The authorities first came up with formal arguments, the building had to be regarded as a personal house but in fact it functioned as a gathering place, without a written permission. Lawyers of the Sufis found an answer by having the building owned by a religious organisation.
The authorities came with a counter move by appointing a manager for the building. The last Mohrram it came to a confrontation. First, what Azmayesh calls extremists, occupied the building. The sheich called on young followers of the Order who drove out the extremists. This was the cause for the important ayatollah Shirazi (who by the way condemned the murder in 2004 on Theo van Gogh in a Fatwa) to undertake action. He called the dervishes impure, they make the city dirty according to him.

He put an ultimate to the government: or you remove the dervishes or we do it ourselves. Tensions raised high. The authorities wanted both parties to talk with each other. A decision was taken that the dervishes were allowed to stay for some months in the building, until the 10th of the month of Moaharram, 31st of january. The tensions raised for Sufis in the whole of Iran. The saw a dangerous precedent, because in many more cities there Hoesseinije buildings. They did not want to accept the happenings in Qom as such. A Sufi sheich even compared the situation in Qom with the historic battle of Kerbela in which the holy Hussain was killed. This charged the confrontation with a heavy religious load.

The Basidji’s won and with a bulldozer they demolished the Hoseinije and the house of the sjeich.

After this event the ayatollahs have been divided in three camps. On the one hand Shirazi and his followers. He is strongly against ayatollah Montazeri, an aged religious man who was for years the second man behind Khomeiny and destined to be his successor before he fell from grace. Montazari had publicly argued against the terrible violation of human rights and mass executions and therefore was not allowed to leave his home any more.

Azmayesh praises the old Montazeri, who was supported by other reformative ayatollahs as a courageous man. And then there is the 3rd camp of ayatollahs, by far the largest and this is the silent camp. They represent the government who did not know how to deal with the situation. They were, with the treat of a war at the background, not waiting for a confilict like this.
Neither the religious leader Ali Khameni nor president Ahmedinejad said much about the affair. It the end, as shows by the sentences against the dervishes, they took their point of view.

http://www.erfan-gonabadi.com/


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 Mesaj Başlığı: Re: Sufi is a danger for Ayatollahs
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The Truth on Jihad

By:
Dr. Seyed Mostafa Azmayesh

Nowadays, the word "jihad" is used wildly, often with a strongly negative, even terrifying connotation, within a discourse referring to "Islamic" terrorism and suicide attempts. It is time to clarify the real spiritual meaning of the "jihad". But before getting to the heart of the subject, one must take seriously the dangers inherent to the arbitrary comments of the sacred texts. Every individual can read the Qur’an, the Gospels, or the Torah, but not everyone is competent to interpret them because everyone projects their own state of mind in their interpretation. People who are stuck in obscurantist darkness are governed by their ego's drive and, consequently, they dwell in a time of ignorance, even while living in the twenty-first century. Their interpretation of the sacred texts, the Bible, the Gospels and the Qur’an, corresponds to the very low and highly materialistic level of their understanding and imagination. One cannot incriminate the text if its interpretation is erroneous.

Derived from the root "j-h-d" meaning "effort," "jihad" means "supreme effort." Whoever puts his efforts to maximum use in order to reach an important objective is a "mujahid." "Jihad" and all the words derived from it are part of the Qur’anic vocabulary and are used 41 times in the holy text. "Jihad" is -according to Shiite Muslims- one of the eight pillars of the Islamic faith, ordered as such: Salat (daily prayer), Soum (fast), Khoms and zakat (two religious taxes), Hadj (pilgrimage to Mecca), Jihad (using one's efforts for God), Amr bil Ma'rouf (to order one's spirit to do charity), Nahi menal Monkar (to prevent the ego from committing wrong acts). (According to Sunni Muslims, the religious obligations of Muslims are in the number of five: Salat; Zakat; Soum; Hadj; Jihad).

The Qur’an describes Believers as people who regularly perform their prayers, pay their religious tax, and make plentiful efforts by sacrificing their tangible assets and their "ego" in God's path. In other words, to become a good Muslim, it is necessary to respect the importance of jihad. But contrary to today's common belief, the religious obligation of jihad is utterly devoid of any warlike meaning. The words used in the Qur’an to denote war are "harb" and "kétâl," with their derivatives:

1. Harb is a kind of war that can be declared by an individual or a group of people against moral or physical enemies. For instance, when the Qur’an firmly condemns in verse 275 of the Surat al-Baqarah (Sura of the Cow) "usury," it speaks thus: "God has permitted trade and has made usury unlawful. (2:275) Believers, have fear of God and waive what is still due to you from usury, if your faith be true or war (harb) shall be declared against you by God and His apostle" (2:279). Elsewhere, in Surat al-Ma'idah (Sura of the Table), the Qur’an speaks thus: "Whenever they [the enemies] kindle the fire of war (harb), God puts it out" (5:64).

2. Kétâl means: "to initiate warring actions. “Kétâl” can be negative if it is to mock justice and oppress the freedom of a people, and positive if it is to defend in a legitimate fashion one's or others' life, dignity, possessions, dwelling against an invading and belligerent enemy. God has allowed Muslims to wage war against the unfaithful when the Prophet and his companions were unfairly compelled to leave Mecca for Medina and repeatedly attacked by their enemies; verse 39 of the Surat al-Hàjj (Sura of the Pilgrimage) which marks this historic event uses the word "kétâl", not "jihad": "Permission to take up arms (yokâtéloun) is hereby given to those who are attacked, because they have been wronged. God has power to grant them victory" (22:39). Moreover the Qur’an hints at the military confrontation between the prophets' companions in a defensive position and their invading opponents in various verses almost exclusively using the word "guetal," of which here is an example concerning the history of the confrontation between the Israelites ruled by David and their enemies led by Goliath (2:245-251): "Have you not heard what the leaders of the Israelites demanded of one of their prophets after the death of Moses? 'Raise up for us a king.' they said, 'and we will fight (gâtàtà) for the cause of God.' . . . 'Why should we refuse to fight (gâtàlà) for the cause of God,' they said 'when we and all our children have been driven from our dwellings?' . . . Their prophet said to them: 'God has appointed Saul to be your king.' . . . they said: 'We have no power this day against Goliath and his followers.' But those of them who believed that they would meet God replied: "Many a small band has, by God's grace, vanquished a mighty army. God is with those who endure with fortitude.' . . . By God's will, they routed them. David slew Goliath, and God bestowed on him sovereignty and wisdom and taught him what He pleased."

Right after these verses, the Qur’an infers thus: "Had God not defeated some of the might of others, the earth would have been utterly corrupted" (2:251) while also remarking: "Fight (kâtélou) for the cause of God and bear in mind that God hears and knows everything" (2:243). One may take it from this that, according to the logic of the Qur’an, resistance in the face of injustice, invasion and inhumanity is a justifiable act. It is, however, necessary to underline that, despite this observation, the word "jihad" never was used in any the verses quoted on this subject. Rather, the terms "kétâl" or "mokâtéleh" are used. In other words, "jihad" corresponds in no way to a military action, be it offensive or defensive. The word "jihad" means "a very important effort," and corresponds to an individual internal action each "Believer" is summoned to undertake to come gradually closer to the final goal of his esoteric ascent towards Allah. On this subject, the Qur’an gives this precision in the Surat al-'Ankabut (Sura of the Spider): "Those that fight for Our cause (jâhàdou) We will surely guide to our own paths" (29:69). And, in the same Sura, this verse completes the explanation: "He that fights for God's cause fights for his own good" or "He that fights, fights for raising his nafs" (29:6). ("Man jâhàdà faénnàmâ youjâhid strip nafseh"). Thus jihad is in fact only a fight that every Believer declares inside himself against his primitive drives and instinctive impulses. During this relentless and merciless fight, the Believer tries to further develop in him the human and chivalrous attributes, such as friendship, love, bequests upon others, while containing negative features such as jealousy, rancor, wickedness…. ▲

"Nafs"
The jihad's objective is to fight the "Nafs". In fact, nafs does not really mean "soul" but rather "ego", the part of each of us that bears the instinctive drives where inhumanity, obscurantism and ignorance originate. Nafs is the most primitive aspect of the human being that corresponds to the reptilian brain. Generally man lingers within the law of the jungle under the pressure of the nafs. Nafs goes against everything that pertains to the divine spirit. The Persian mystic poet of the sixth century of the Hegira, Attar, compares the nafs and its characteristics to a jungle prevailed upon by different animals such as the wolf of savagery, the fox of guile, the bear of sexuality, the tiger of aggressiveness, the snake, the bat, the scorpion, etc. It is incumbent upon the Believer to fight all these animals to turn the jungle of his personality into a garden of flowers and perfumes. The famous seventh century Persian mystic poet Mowlana of Balkh -known in the West as Rûmi- compares the nafs to a dragon endowed with seven hundred heads, each raised between heaven and earth. The prophets come on behalf of God to call men to wake up from the sleep of self-centeredness and to identify the source of danger concealed within themselves.

The Qur’an explains in Surat Yusuf (Sura Joseph): "Not that I am free from nafs; man's nafs is prone to evil"; (12:53) and Moses launches this explicit call to the Believers "Turn in repentance to your Creator and slay your nafs" (2:54). Fighting the "nafs' bad deeds enjoining" ("àmmarà bissou'") is a necessary condition to develop the soul towards the superior values of humanity, unity, and divinity. By annihilating this first obstacle, the individual can conform bit by bit to God's image so that he can, at the end of a long and arduous journey, become his vicar. It is for this reason that the Believer can never part from his sword of devoutness, or ever give up this inner struggle. Mystics explain that man can really succeed in overcoming and surpassing these successive stages to finally, thanks to the jihad, achieve and internalize within himself God's image which is the Walker's only guarantee of protection against the vicissitudes of his nafs.
The prophets' first call to their addressees is to initiate a jihad, because this supreme effort opens the way to perfection: a jihad against one's own ego, because our own nafs is each of us' harshest enemy, and as long as we do not manage to conquer our nafs, we cannot develop the latent capacities that hide within us. Distinction between Jihads The Fogaha (Doctors in Islamic Law) have therefore distinguished in the Sunna (i.e. the Muslim tradition) three kinds of jihad, namely: 1. the biggest jihad ("jihad to al-akbar"), or that against the internal enemy; 2. the smallest jihad ("jihad al-asgar"), or that against the outside enemy to defend the religion; and 3. the noblest jihad ("jihad al-afdal"). The latter means: "saying the truth in front of an oppressor." (Hadith quoted by Muslim and Bokhari). One particular event that took place during the wars of Islam's early days clarifies the importance of the evolutionary and spiritual meaning of jihad. One day, after an army from a heathen tribe attacked the Prophet and his followers. Muslims organized resistance from their defensive positions and won the battle. After the enemy's retreat, the Prophet, upon finding Muslims very satisfied with their efforts and their victory, threw out at them: "We now return from this small battle to the big battle and engage into the biggest jihad." ("farajénâ ménal jihad alasgar elâ aldjihad alakbar") (Hadith quoted by Muslim and Bokhari and quoted by Mowlana in Maçnawi, 5:1). Understandably, these words shocked the Muslims who retorted: "But this is the most mortal enemy we ever defeated!" Muhammad then replied: "No, your biggest enemy dwells within each one of you; each must fight one's own ego." ("à'dâ àdovokom alnafs allati baina djanbeikom"). Mowlana of Balkh remarks on this case: "Consider as little brave a lion who bores the ranks of the enemies; consider as the real lion the one who subjugates himself" (Maçnawi, 5:1, p. 38).

Suicide
The Prophet of Islam said: "Die before death takes you." (Hadith quoted by Muslim and Bokhari and recounted by Sanaï Sanaï/Divan Qassayed) In the opinion of theologians, interpreters and mystics, this sentence alludes to the principle of substantial evolution: because man is a being who develops and surpasses himself, he is the only "animal" who knows how to conquer his instinctive drives in order to allow his mind to be perfected. In fact, man consists in an existence and a substance. The latter is an evolutionary reality. Every individual can become at any time a demon or an angel. He becomes absolutely a demon if the ego's demonic drives gets the upper hand, or an angel if the mind's angelic attributes wins the day. The struggle between the demon and the angel ceases only once victory is granted to one of two parties. A fight between an eagle and a dragon symbolizes the taking place of this everlasting struggle.

The erroneous interpretations attempted by those unqualified to expound the holy texts have given way to a lot of admixtures regarding this hadith. Mohammed's word "Die before the death takes you" as well as the Qur’anic verse quoting Moses' word: "Turn in repentance to your Creator and slay your nafs" (2:54) do not encourage suicidal acts, but self-betterment. For suicide is, in the eyes of God and his prophets, the most abhorrent act since suicide puts a definitive end to our substance's evolutionary process. The Qur’an explicitly prohibits engagement in any suicidal act in this verse: "do not with your own hands cast yourself into destruction." (2:195)

Preserving one's life and that of others is the living individual's highest responsibility. He who commits suicide kills an individual: himself; now the Qur’an stipulates that "whoever killed a human being . . . shall be looked upon as though he had killed all mankind; and that whoever saved a human life shall be regarded as though he had saved all mankind" (5:32). ▲


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http://www.erfan-gonabadi.com/Selected% ... had__.html


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