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ABSTRACT
Contemporary Sufis are addressing the potential danger that stems from asymmetries of power implicit in the student-teacher relationship. This article examines approaches to Sufi pedagogy that acknowledge how gender, power, and abuse can manifest in the tradition. This article posts the emergence of a nascent approach to Sufi training, which I call community-engaged self-cultivation. This approach balances the inviolability of personal conscience (ḍamīr) and moral agency (khalīfah), accountability within community, and rigorous studies under the guidance of a Sufi teacher. The community-engaged self-cultivation model draws from several historical Sufi pedagogies, including the teaching guide (shaykh al-taʿlīm) and training guide (shaykh al-tarbiya) models. The community-engaged self-cultivation model shares three main commitments: 1) resisting patriarchal and oppressive structures discursively and socially, 2) the inviolability of individual moral agency and personal conscience and, 3) practicing shared authority. These three factors work in tandem in mutually reinforcing ways to expand the accessibility of the tradition and foreground accountability as a Sufi value.
Acknowledgment
Thank you to the editors of this special issue, Shobhana Xavier, Feyza Burak Adli, and Francesco Piraino who provided detailed critical feedback on this piece. Thank you also to the anonymous peer reviewers whose critique and encouragement were indispensable. Finally, I am grateful to my friend and colleague Sara Abdel-Latif for the deep conversations over many years, which helped to shape this line of inquiry.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Correction Statement
This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.
Notes
1. The non-profit organisation FACE (Facing Abuse in Community Environments) was founded by Alia Salem in 2017. This organisation does in-depth community investigations of reported cases of spiritual abuse. They have helped in major court cases in which Muslim community leaders have been found guilty of grooming and abusing their constituents. As of 2020, they had so many cases that they reported having at least four years’ worth of investigating ahead, with cases reported up to April 2020. You can access their website and work here: https://www.facetogether.org The website In Shaykh’s Clothing has used informative blogs and anonymised survivor narratives of spiritual abuse to provide substantial education and awareness about the nature of spiritual abuse. You can find the work of this organisation here: https://inshaykhsclothing.com/ Rania Awad and Tabish Riaz, both medical doctors with expertise in psychology, presented on spiritual abuse at the 2020 inaugural Hurma Project Conference, dedicated to eradicating spiritual abuse from Muslim communities. Their findings are available here: https://hurmaproject.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Riaz-and-Awaad-Psychological-Sequelae-of-Spiritual-Abuse.pdf Last Accessed October 26, 2020. See Aysha Khan’s article about the Hurma Project: ‘A Long time Coming’ https://www.lincolncourier.com/entertainmentlife/20200119/a-long-time-coming (Last Accessed October 26, 2020).The Religion and Sexual Abuse Project funded by the Henry Luce Foundation is a multi-year, interdisciplinary, and multi-traditional scholarly effort to establish academic methods, ethical dialogues, and foundation research on religious abuse. (https://www.religionandsexualabuseproject.org).
2. Qasim defines spiritual abuse on the In Shaykh’s Clothing website https://inshaykhsclothing.com/home/intro/
3. A number of personal testimonies concerning experiences of spiritual abuse can be read here: https://inshaykhsclothing.com/accounts-of-spiritual-abuse/. A particularly informative interview with Yousuf Azhar can be read here: https://inshaykhsclothing.com/accounts-of-spiritual-abuse/interview-and-video-with-yousuf-azhar-on-leaving-a-controlling-tariqa-upon-learning-of-scandal/ Additional interviews with Azhar listed in the bibliography address the ways coercive approaches to Sufi pedagogy factored into abuse that he witnessed and experienced within Sufism.
4. This is affirmed in Muzzafer Ozak’s primer on Sufism, ‘In the Garden of Dervishes’ in which he has an entire chapter on individual responsibility to make decisions and reflect.
5. Shaykha Fariha’s digital commentary on The Sad Maydan of Ansari of Herat. Intention (Qasd) page 1 and 2. http://gardenofmysticlove.com/field-six-intention-qasd/ (Last Accessed October 1, 2020). Note that this link has been broken since the time when this research was conducted.
6. This and the other nine principles can be found on the front page of the Nur Ashki Jerrahi community website. https://nurashkijerrahi.org
7. ‘Turning Inward’. https://vimeo.com/58979168 (Last Accessed October 1, 2020).
8. ’Can you Expand on the Idea of the Body as a Model that Honors Inclusion and Respects Diversity Within It’. https://vimeo.com/thesufilodge/ Last accessed February 19, 2024).
9. ‘Closer than the Jugular Vein’. https://vimeo.com/thesufilodge (Last accessed October 21, 2020).
10. ‘Question Two: Could You Talk about the Inner Names of Our Pirs?’ https://vimeo.com/thesufilodge (Last Accessed October 22, 2020).
11. Can You Expand on the Idea of the Body As a Model That Honors Inclusion and Respects Diversity Within It?” https://vimeo.com/thesufilodge (Last Accessed June 14, 2021).
12. Nur Ashki Jerrahi Community Website. ‘Ethical Statement of the Nur Ashki Jerrahi Community (Tariqat)’. https://nurashkijerrahi.org/contact/dervish-communities/ethical-statement/ (Las Accessed January 29, 2024).
13. Information on the history of the Haus des Friedens and the association called SAFA is available on the website. http://www.haus-des-friedens.at/ueber-uns/verein-safa/ein-ausblick/ (Last Accessed October 1, 2020).
14. http://www.haus-des-friedens.at/ueber-uns/verein-safa/vorstand/ (Last Accessed October 1, 2020).
15. Haus des Friedens Website. http://update.dergestalt.at/veranstaltungen-angebote/seminare-fawzia-al-rawi/rawa-training/ (Last Accessed October 1, 2020.) Note that since the time when this research was conducted, the community has updated the Haus des Friedens website. As of January 2024, the Rawa Training program has also been renamed ‘Holistic Structures of Existence’.
16. Haus des Friedens Website. http://update.dergestalt.at/veranstaltungen-angebote/seminare-fawzia-al-rawi/rawa-training/ (Last Accessed October 1, 2020.)
17. Haus des Friedens Website. http://update.dergestalt.at/veranstaltungen-angebote/seminare-fawzia-al-rawi/rawa-training/ (Last Accessed October 1, 2020.)
18. Inayatiyya Website. ‘Ethical Guidelines for the Esoteric School of the Inayati Order in North America’ https://inayatiyya.org/ethics-policy-2019/ (Last Accessed January 22, 2024).
19. The Canadian Institute of Sufi Studies led by Shaykh Murat Coskun has also created a set of by-laws, which include specific definitions of the student-teacher relationship and specific guidance for how to proceed in a variety of circumstances in which teachers and students might experience asymmetries of power. I consulted the by-laws, which were established by the Institute’s board of directors, by permission of the CISS leadership team in December, 2023 (https://www.cisssufi.org).
20. Inayatiyya Website. ‘A Letter from Pir Zia on Ethics’. https://inayatiyya.org/pir-zia-ethics-2019/ (Last Accessed January 22, 2024).
21. Inayatiyya Website. ‘A Letter from Pir Zia on Ethics’. https://inayatiyya.org/pir-zia-ethics-2019/ (Last Accessed January 22, 2024).
22. Inayatiyya Website. ‘A Letter from Pir Zia on Ethics’. https://inayatiyya.org/pir-zia-ethics-2019/ (Last Accessed January 22, 2024).
23. ‘Ethical Guidelines for the Esoteric School of the Inayati Order in North America’ https://inayatiyya.org/ethics-policy-2019/ (Last Accessed January 22, 2024).
24. Inayatiyya Website. ‘Ethical Guidelines for the Esoteric School of the Inayati Order in North America’ https://inayatiyya.org/ethics-policy-2019/ (Last Accessed January 22, 2024).
25. Inayatiyya Website. ‘Ethical Guidelines for the Esoteric School of the Inayati Order in North America’ https://inayatiyya.org/ethics-policy-2019/ (Last Accessed January 22, 2024).
26. Inayatiyya Website. ‘Ethical Guidelines for the Esoteric School of the Inayati Order in North America’ https://inayatiyya.org/ethics-policy-2019/ (Last Accessed January 22, 2024).