Cultivate your inner garden with Sufism
Speakers talk about promoting love, the Sufi way
Speakers on the second day of the 3rd International Sufi Conference discussed the texts, context and assertions of Sufis thought. PHOTO: ATHAR KHAN
KARACHI:
Sufism is the ideology of love that promotes peace and harmony amongst mankind and helps create better humans out of us.
Speaking along these lines, speakers on the second day of the 3rd International Sufi Conference discussed the texts, context and assertions of Sufis thought. They were addressing the first session, titled 'Sufi cultural heritage, repertoire, thought, discourse, philosophy, folklore, oral history and literature’.
"Sufism is more about promoting our inner garden, from languages to mere words to wordlessness,” said Jamshed Iqbal of Rawadari Tahreek. “It is more about educating our ear to listen to the voice that does not use words." Iqbal was of the view that the language of the suppressed is equally sacred. “Kabir turned his talk into a language for the sublime people. Hence, we need to keep the work of the Sufi poets dignified. It is said God, too, speaks in the language of the poor people."
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Ayesha Ashraf, co-author of Mystical Journey of Faith and Love: A case study of Paulo Coelho, said, "We see in his two novels that love starts from the world and it leads to a quest for Divine Love. Love and Faith together take the path towards God." She noted that the critical study looms around the spiritual and arduous search for the main characters and a deeper meaning to life.
Humera Naz, in her thought-provoking talk, said the relationship between Persia and South Asia is very old – so old that these traditions have led to collaborations in the form of art, calligraphy and other subject disciplines. In the same manner, she noted, Indian minds got influenced by Persian thoughts and men of letters. "[It was] Sheikh Ali Hajveri who gave the idea that there were 11 different schools of thought that preached so many mystical ideas,” she said. “These ideas enriched the Indian soil.”
Noor Ahmed Janjhi spoke on his well-researched paper, titled 'Classical Sufi Thought of Sindh and Establishment of a Peaceful Society'. "Sufism is an ideology [that] mainly strives to liberate [us] from all those caskets of power or religion,” he said. “Also, Sufism is a part of mysticism. However, there is a difference – Sufism believes in openness and mysticism relies heavily on secrecy."
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Sawatia Ghazanfar talked about the shrine culture prevalent in Pakistan. "It is [an] observed fact [that] the Sufi shrines, darbars or khanqahs have links with the spiritual world – within the philosophy and its guiding principles,” she said. “Sufis have taken the task to healing the heart. In Islam alone, they have performed an integral role."
Ghazanfar said Sufism is all about tolerance and love and getting mental peace and solace. “Divine communication [is] the need of bringing [us] closer to God and [the] common man [and] the road is led by the Sufis."
Sufism is the ideology of love that promotes peace and harmony amongst mankind and helps create better humans out of us.
Speaking along these lines, speakers on the second day of the 3rd International Sufi Conference discussed the texts, context and assertions of Sufis thought. They were addressing the first session, titled 'Sufi cultural heritage, repertoire, thought, discourse, philosophy, folklore, oral history and literature’.
"Sufism is more about promoting our inner garden, from languages to mere words to wordlessness,” said Jamshed Iqbal of Rawadari Tahreek. “It is more about educating our ear to listen to the voice that does not use words." Iqbal was of the view that the language of the suppressed is equally sacred. “Kabir turned his talk into a language for the sublime people. Hence, we need to keep the work of the Sufi poets dignified. It is said God, too, speaks in the language of the poor people."
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Ayesha Ashraf, co-author of Mystical Journey of Faith and Love: A case study of Paulo Coelho, said, "We see in his two novels that love starts from the world and it leads to a quest for Divine Love. Love and Faith together take the path towards God." She noted that the critical study looms around the spiritual and arduous search for the main characters and a deeper meaning to life.
Humera Naz, in her thought-provoking talk, said the relationship between Persia and South Asia is very old – so old that these traditions have led to collaborations in the form of art, calligraphy and other subject disciplines. In the same manner, she noted, Indian minds got influenced by Persian thoughts and men of letters. "[It was] Sheikh Ali Hajveri who gave the idea that there were 11 different schools of thought that preached so many mystical ideas,” she said. “These ideas enriched the Indian soil.”
Noor Ahmed Janjhi spoke on his well-researched paper, titled 'Classical Sufi Thought of Sindh and Establishment of a Peaceful Society'. "Sufism is an ideology [that] mainly strives to liberate [us] from all those caskets of power or religion,” he said. “Also, Sufism is a part of mysticism. However, there is a difference – Sufism believes in openness and mysticism relies heavily on secrecy."
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Sawatia Ghazanfar talked about the shrine culture prevalent in Pakistan. "It is [an] observed fact [that] the Sufi shrines, darbars or khanqahs have links with the spiritual world – within the philosophy and its guiding principles,” she said. “Sufis have taken the task to healing the heart. In Islam alone, they have performed an integral role."
Ghazanfar said Sufism is all about tolerance and love and getting mental peace and solace. “Divine communication [is] the need of bringing [us] closer to God and [the] common man [and] the road is led by the Sufis."