Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Naqshbandi'

The Naqshbandi-Haqqaniyya are one of the most well known and researched tariqas in the West. Until May 2014 the leader of the tariqa was Shaykh Nazim Adil al-Qubrusi al-Haqqani (1922-1914) who somewhat unusually among modern Sunni Sufi shaykhs taught consistently that the world is in its last days and approaching a global apocalyptic change. It is these apocalyptic teachings, primarily articulated by Shaykh Nazim, that are the focus of this thesis. While an element of Shaykh Nazim’s teachings that has been noted by a number of scholars, there has been little in the way of comprehensive research on the apocalyptic teachings past the year 2000 or on how Shaykh Nazim’s apocalypse compares to those found either in wider Islamic thought or other religious traditions. By utilising sources produced until Shaykh Nazim’s death in 2014 this thesis thus aims to make a distinct contribution to the knowledge by identifying what characterises the apocalypticism of Shaykh Nazim and the Naqshbandi-Haqqaniyya, how this compares to other Muslim apocalypses, whether its form can be accounted for, and how murids in one branch of the tariqa interpret teachings in the post-millennial period. This thesis argues that it is important we come to a better understanding of Shaykh Nazim’s apocalypse not just to further our understanding the Naqshbandiyya, but to address an imbalance in contemporary apocalyptic studies on how Islamic apocalyptic belief is presented. The thesis presents a new phenomenological dimensional approach to apocalyptic belief which forms the structure of the investigation. It begins by outlining broad trends in Islamic apocalyptic thought in order to provide a comparative base for the rest of the work. This is followed by an examination of where Shaykh Nazim’s apocalypse converges and diverges from these broad trends. The following chapters seek to account for the distinctive form of Shaykh Nazim’s apocalypse by discussing firstly whether they might be presented to appeal to Westerners, whether they might be seen as a way of addressing modernity, and if they act as a theodicy. These chapters are then followed by a discussion on authorities used to legitimise the apocalyptic teachings and how they are interpreted by a small group of murids in the Glastonbury branch of the tariqa. This thesis concludes by arguing Shaykh Nazim’s apocalypse is distinctive in many respects, particularly in regards his absolute millenarian vision. Ultimately this millenarian vision is made necessary by a need to cleanse the world of satanic influence in a way not possible by reform. It also argues the apocalyptic teachings remained an important part of Shaykh Nazim’s teachings post the millennium and that there are a number of strategies employed by murids to make sense of living in the end of times. It argues future research should monitor changes in apocalyptic emphasis given the new leadership of the tariqa and wider attention be paid to apocalyptic belief in Islam in general.

The thesis studies two groups of the Naqshbandi Sufi Order. One is in Tripoli, north Lebanon, and has a loose membership of about 60 people. The other is based in London and has about 100 members, most of whom are Western Muslim converts. Sufism is Islamic mysticism. Sufis claim to emulate the mYbtical practices of the Prophet Muhammad which they believe were transmitted in their complete form to his first and fourth Caliphs. Sufi Orderb were first formalibed in the 9th c e n t u r ya . do and by -the- I-3th c en tu ryh-ad- gained an l.J ne a 5 y acceptance by orthodox Islam. They rapidly became an integral part of the Muslim world. The Naqshbandi Order c I a j m 5 tot r ace its des c e n t tot he fir s t Ca lip h and re g a r d s itself as the premier Sufi Order. The pro c e s se s 0 f model insation and industrial is ation led to drastic reduction in the influence of the Orders. Associated with this was the growing domination of a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam which denied the orthodoxy of Sufism and today dominates Muslim religious expression. The thesis examines the contemporary role of a branch of a Sufi Order in the West and the East. The discrepancy between the values of Sufism and those of the modern world are considered, as is the influence of politics on the survival of the Sufi Orders in the Middle East. Both groups contain elements of Mahdism which is a type of Muslim millenarianism. This is considered as well as the different ways in which the two groups interpret and react to these beliefs. Throughout the thesis attention is paid to the internal logic of Sufism's beliefs and practices.

This study examined the relationship between the Turkish Islamic movements and the present government of the Justice and Development Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma Partisi, AK Party). Since the AK Party came to power in 2002 it implemented unparalleled political reforms and pursued to improve Turkey’s relations with the EU. Opponents argued that because of the dominance of the secular military in Turkish politics, the AK Party is forced to secretly advance its Islamic agenda using the language and symbolism of democracy and human rights. This study argued that the ideas of the AK Party show similarities with the “Ottomanist” thought of the late Ottoman era. With special reference to the preservation of the Ottoman State, Ottomanism in an eclectic way was able to incorporate Islamic principles like freedom, justice and consultation into the political arena which was increasingly dominated by the secular European concepts. Literature on Islam and politics in Turkey, however, disregards the Ottoman roots of freedom and pluralism and tends to reduce the relationship between religion and state into exclusively confrontational struggles. This conceptualization of the political process relies on particular non-Turkish Muslim experiences which do not necessarily represent Islam’s venture in Turkey. Contrary to the prevailing scholarship, Islamic movements in Turkey, namely, Naqshbandi, National View and Nur, which are discussed in detail in this study, are not monolithic. They all uphold the same creedal tenets of Islam but they have sharp differences in terms of how they conceptualize the role of religious agency in politics. I argue that this diversity is a result of three distinct methodologies of Islamic religious life which are the Tariqah (Tarikat), Shariah (Şeriat), and Haqiqah (Hakikat). The differences between these three approaches represent a typological hierarchy in the formation of the Muslim/believer as an agent of Islamic identity. Through these different if not conflicting modes, the AK Party reconnected itself with Turkey’s Ottoman heritage in a post-Ottoman, secular setting and was able to develop an eclectic political identity of Neo-Ottomanism that is evident in the flexibility if not inconsistency of its domestic and foreign policy preferences.

La relation entre la peinture et la littérature persane était étroitement liée pendant toute l'histoire del'Iran après la conquête de l'Islam. Ce sont souvent les sujets mystiques qui dominent la littérature persane et ils se manifestent également dans la peinture par l'illustration des divans et des ouvrages soufis. C'est ainsi que la peinture persane est le grand témoin de l'approche gnostique et elle possède une dimension mystique transcendante. Les éléments et les symboles, inspirés des métaphores sublimes de la littérature soufie persane, nous orientent vers des interprétations mystiques dont on trouve la manifestation explicite dans la plupart des suppléments de la peinture persane. Les conceptions soufies se sont manifestées également dans la peinture des écoles dérivées de la peinture persane comme l'école de la peinture inde-persane et l'école de la peinture moghole. Il faut souligner que la circulation de la langue persane avait un rôle remarquable dans ce parcours. Notamment, d'une part le persan était la langue officielle de l'Inde sous le règne d'Akbar, l'empereur moghole passionnée de la culture persane, et de l'autre part les vagues d'émigrations des poètes et des peintres iraniens vers l'Inde, sous la pression des docteurs religieux safavides développaient l'influence de la culture persane dans le sous-continent indien.Les deux raisons essentielles qui préparaient la base d'un grand mouvement artistique. L'affection des rois moghols envers les confréries soufies, hérité de leur grand ancêtre Tamerlan, se manifestait par le respect qu'ils avaient pour les soufies et, en particulier, pour les Sheikh (s) naqšbandî
Persian painting and Persian literature were closely linked during the history of Iran after the conquest of Islam. lt is often the mystical topics of Persian literature, which have an effect on the Persian painting. During the Timurid dynasty, Sufism has occupied a central place in the society of Iran. The Sufism ideology, in particular the naqsbandî beliefs, has brought a transcendent mystical dimension to the illustrations of this period of history of Persian art. We can find the explicit mystical influence of the big naqshbandî master and the last great medieval mystic, Jami, on the painting of Kamâl al-Dîn Bihzâd. Obviously, the success of Bihzâd disciples, who were under his influence, gave birth to the lndo-Persian painting in Mughal court.Moreover, Akbar (1542-1605) and his great passion for the Persian language and culture had adecisive role in the development of the Persian mystical thoughts in lndia. The Persian language became the official language of the lndian Mughal Empire du ring his reign.The devotion of Akbar for the Sufism was particularly manifested in his special respect toward naqsbandî Sheikhs. At the same time, under the religious pressure of the Safavid dynasty some of the lranians were obliged to leave their country. The big passion of Akbar in one hand and the immigration waves of lranians, especially Sufis, poets and artists to the lndia, on the other hand,prepared the society for intellectual and artistic movements.ln fact, the naqsbandî traditions and ideas have travelled from Iran to the northern lndia. Bokhara played a great role in the circulation of beliefs and ethics of the naqsbandî order between Persia and India

This thesis is an ethnographic investigation of living Naqshbandi Sufi practitioners in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Its epistemology presumes that a nuanced understanding of Islam that recognises complex realities and contradictory perspectives requires an examination of its embodied form. As a result, this research project engaged in a localised analysis of Sufi Muslims by evaluating experiences and practices from their point of view. Following this strategy, two specific communities led by different Shaikhs were identified. Although each Shaikh claimed a shared Naqshbandi origin and was located in a similar traditional, cultural, linguistic and historic milieu, there were considerable manifest dissimilarities ranging from theology, ritual practices and levels of social involvement. In light of the historic evolution of the Shaikh's institutionally established authority in Sufism, this empirical contrast suggested that universal norms, theoretical constructs and traditional principles within a common Bosnian Naqshbandi framework were ultimately subservient to the Shaikh. This thesis argues that while operating within doctrinal continuity and a broadly defined, normative framework, each Shaikh remained free to engender legitimate adaptations that shaped the contours of religious belief and contextualised its application within a contemporary setting. Ultimately, his agency accounted for the notable diversity encountered in the field. The present study thereby underlines the inherent malleability of Sufism and advances the recognition of the Shaikh's cardinal importance. Primarily it adds to empirical studies of Islam through an ethnographic approach that focuses on the role of the Shaikh in Sufism in general and the Naqshbandi in particular.

Jerusalem - the third holiest city in Islam - is home to some 300,000 Muslims. But due to Israel’s occupation, they live difficult and disrupted lives. What might it mean for Muslims to practice their faith - on the ground, day by day - in such a conflicted place? One way religion becomes a meaningful category in people’s lives is through ritual. Scholars of Muslim religious practice have been attuned to this insight and observed it in various contexts. But their analyses have often been predicated on an implicit and unquestioned assumption - that people who desire to perform rituals have the means to act on their intention in regular and routine ways. Scholars have also shown that when societies are in rapid transition - be they weakened or threatened - their rituals often evolve with them. In this project, therefore, I ask: what happens in Jerusalem when Muslims live under the existential threat of occupation and their ability to routinely perform religious rituals cannot be assumed? I argue that when rituals are disrupted, Muslims are forced to improvise. Religious rituals - like the performances of skilled jazz musicians - are spontaneous and dynamic but also practiced and deliberate. Rituals are spontaneous in that they respond to the occupation’s disruptions, making physical and discursive adjustments. They are practiced in that Muslims draw from an established repertoire of themes that includes Islam and sacred space, nationalism and resistance, local culture and geography. I term the coalescence of these dynamics the “improvisation thesis” and explore three case studies where specific improvisations have different levels of resonance. The Naqshbandi improvise rituals to make peace, but they are discordant with other established themes; Ramadan rituals have resonance that define specific moments; and the improvisations of the Murabitat are deeply resonant, influencing Muslim rituals throughout the city.

Magister Philosophiae - MPhil (Religion and Theology)
South African debates on food security address a wide range of issues related to the production, the distribution and the consumption of food in the context of deep concerns over the impact of poverty, unemployment and inequality. One aspect of such debates is on the need for nutritious food amidst hunger, malnutrition, obesity and the prevalence of diabetes. This study will investigate the Islamic theological injunctions and guidelines that govern the production, the different facets of distribution and the consumption of food in Muslim communities. There are numerous theological injunctions from the Quran and prophetic traditions (?ad?th) guiding the Muslim community in relation to food security. These include injunctions around the need to provide nutritious food. The study will assess the programmes of five Muslim faith-based organisations in the Cape Town Metropolitan Area, working in the field of food security and more specifically, feeding schemes. The food programmes of these organisations will be described, analysed and assessed in order to establish whether, and to what extent, the Islamic injunctions on nutrition are implemented, given various constraints. This will require attention to the policies, the strategies and the practices associated with such feeding schemes.

Bitlis (« Paghesh » en arménien) est aujourd’hui le nom d’une ville reculée des montagnes de Turquie. Ce fut néanmoins celui d’un important centre politique et administratif. L’aventure de l’émirat de Bitlis commence au début du XIIIème siècle avec la famille Şeref han. Elle prendra fin avec la réforme des Tanzimat au milieu du XIXème siècle, à la suite d’une série de guerres ottomanes sanglantes et de querelles politiques avec les états séfévides et les émirats kurdes voisins. Les frontières administratives de l’émirat, qui porte le nom de la ville de Bitlis, comprennent les vastes territoires de Siirt, Bingöl, Muş et du bassin nord du lac de Van. La ville de Bitlis abrite de nombreuses communautés ethniques et religieuses. Elle se trouve sur la voie stratégique de la route de la soie et relie les plaines de Diyarbekir-Cizre aux hautes montagnes du Kurdistan ainsi que le plateau anatolien à l’Iran et au Caucase. Elle perdra son capital économique, obtenu grâce à sa position stratégique, ainsi que son autonomie, pour devenir une ville de montagne ordinaire. Après les années 1870, elle devient un eyalet ottoman classique. Au sein du vilayet de Bitlis, récemment fondé, les cheikhs cherchent à renforcer l’autorité du sultan ottoman Abdülhamid, adhèrent à la doctrine khalidie des naqshbandîs et la diffuse, tandis que les missionnaires souhaitent réformer le Christianisme oriental. Ils se présentent à tour de rôle les protecteurs des Kurdes sunnites ou des Arméniens, et partagent avec le sultan l’autorité sur le vilayet. Le vilayet de Bitlis, ce Kurdistan miniature, repose sur une diversité de pouvoirs ethniques, religieux et sociaux, et vit en parallèle des transformations politiques, sociales et économiques. En 1908, alors que le vilayet entre dans la période Jeunes-Turcs, aucune autorité ne souhaite renoncer à sa position. A la fin de la période, le régime Jeunes-Turcs a néanmoins remplacé le régime hamidien tandis que la Fédération révolutionnaire arménienne (FRA – Dachnak) a destitué les missionnaires. Seuls les cheikhs constituent une force encore en place. Cette thèse revient sur l’époque Jeunes-Turcs au sein du vilayet de Bitlis, dans lequel l’État, les cheikhs khalidis, les chefs tribaux et les Bedirhan tentent d’imposer leur domination. Elle se divise en trois chapitres : « violence », « révolution » et « révolte »
Bitlis, also known by the Armenian name «Paghesh», is located in a remote mountain town in today’s Turkey, but throughout history it was the name of an important political and administrative centre. Beginning in the early 1200s, with the Sheref khan dynasty, the Bitlis Emirate ended in the mid-1800s after a series of bloody wars and political issues with the Ottomans, the Safavids states and the neighbouring Kurdish emirates. With Bitlis at the center of the emirate, the administrative boundaries included a wide geographic area including the southern of Siirt, Bingöl, Muş and Van Lake. The city of Bitlis was home to more than one ethnic and religious communities was located on the plains of Diyarbekir-Cizre to Kurdistan’s highest mountains and the Anatolian Plateau to Iran and connecting the Caucasus with the strategic Silk Route.After the strategic position of this economic gain was confiscated and (self-) autonomous structure was abolished, Bitlis was then an ordinary mountain town and was transferred into a classic Ottoman vilayet in the late 1870s. In the newly established vilayet, the Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamit was trying to consolidate his authority while the missionaries who adopted the doctrine of Halidi (Nakshibendi) and attempted to spread this doctrine as well as the missionaries who aimed to reverse the Eastern Christianity emerged as the protector of the Sunni Kurds and also as the patron of the Armenians and split the authority in the vilayet with the Sultan. On the grounds of the diversity of ethnic, religious and social and political power, no authority renounced its role until in 1908, whenthe Young Turk entered the period. With its political, social and economic transformations the Vilayet of Bitlis was a miniature of Kurdistan. As the matter of fact, the Young Turk Regime replaced Abdulhamit while the missionaries were replaced by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) and the Sheikhs the only group which had not lost its power. In this dissertation the situation of theVilayet of Bitlis which tries to exist in the quadrant of the state, the Halidi Sheikhs, tribal leaders and the Bedirhan’s, is being described in three chapters with the title « violence », «revolution» and rebellion» during the Young Turk regime

This thesis is about Islamic piety movement in contemporary Indonesia focusing on Naqshbandi-Haqqani (NH), a transnational Sufi movement with origins in the Middle East and a large following in the USA and Western Europe. It spread to Indonesia in the late 1990s and, since then, has attracted thousands of followers throughout the country. Although certainly not the largest, it is one of the most active Islamic groups propagating the Sufi message to the public. Its steady growth in the last 15 years reveals some important features of contemporary religious life in Indonesia. By employing social movement theories, this study attempts to illuminate the intricate relationship between piety and Islamic activism in contemporary Indonesia. This thesis reveals that Sufism still has a strong power to shape the nature of Muslim piety and influence public morality in Indonesia. The struggle for Islam is not targeting wide-ranging social reforms or the secular state, but it is primarily about the transformation of everyday life and small-scale changes affecting religious beliefs and rituals of individual Muslims. In a democratic context, this transformation contributes to the creation of a cosmopolitan pietism that potentially promotes a ‘civil Islam’ that is neither secular nor Islamist in nature. This study also demonstrates that cosmopolitan pietism is not a given condition because it is dependent on various external factors. Indonesian Muslims have been and will likely remain fragmented along different pious orientations. Sufism contributes to the growth of authoritarian pietism characterised by religious and political conservatism. This conservatism has uncompromising attitude toward secular virtues and unambiguous political stance over the political establishment.