Dr. Chittick will be speaking at McGaw Chapel tonight at 7:30pm. Here he speaks about Sufism. He says “To understand what Sufism is, you must understand Islam. Sufism began when the Quran was revealed although the word was only coined around the second Islamic Century. The Quran is concerned with three major topics: How to act correctly, how to comprehend the world, and the transformation of the soul or how to become closer to God. Around the third century you get specialists in these three areas. The first groups are called jurists, the second are theologians and the third are Sufis. So Sufism is the practice of transformation or becoming closer to God on the basis of Islamic teachings specifically the model of the Prophet Muhammed.” Additional thoughst on women sufis and mysticism are in the video below.
A note from the organizers
There is no God but God.
Ignorance about Islam and the Muslim world and perhaps even more so about Sufism remains widespread. This ignorance stems in part from lack of awareness but also the very human tendency to readily categorize things and indeed stereotype. This ignorance results also from lack of exposure to this religion and its rich diversity. As a community of learners one of our duties is to address ignorance and stereotyping, and improve knowledge about and understanding of Islam in this case, and more specifically Sufism as a spiritual movement. We wanted to bring the Wooster community together to experience disparate and dynamic Sufi orders and challenge its members to question their preconceptions and assumptions about Islam and how Muslims practice their religion.
What do we hope to achieve?
- Greater (self) awareness about spiritual movements in Islam.
- Greater understanding of the Diasporic Sufi community and the border crossings.
- An understanding of how Sufi teaching was propagated through Music.
- How Sufi ideas have influenced politics, culture and philosophy.
- How Sufi ideas have influenced popular music.
- Start a healthy conversation on diversity in Islam and its implications
Please interact on Twitter by using #sufimusic and also contribute here. We hope you enjoy this website and look forward to seeing you on October 23rd and at the other live conversations and panels about Sufi Orders.
Sarah Mirza (Religion), Amyaz Moledina (Economics), Boubacar N’Diaye (Political Science and Africana Studies) and Ibra Sene (History).