Tag: Sufism

Sophia Arjana on the West's insatiable appetite for the Mystical and the Muslim

The Levant News Exclusive – By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD Dr. Sophia Rose Arjana, please introduce yourself to our readers. Your education, background and interests? I am an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Western Kentucky University. My department home is the Department of History. I hold a BA in Pacific Island Studies, an MA in […]

Bukhara - The Capital of Islamic Culture

Sacred Bukhara is one of the tourist gems of Uzbekistan. The historic city centre is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. The age of the city exceeds 2500 years. Let us say one thing. You will lose out so, so much, if you do not visit Bukhara. Popular landmarks If you want to plunge […]

Erdogan formally accuses US of Gulen coup plot

Turkey’s interior minister accused the United States on Thursday of being behind a 2016 failed coup that Ankara has blamed on a U.S.-based Muslim preacher, the Hurriyet daily reported, at a time when Turkey is seeking improved ties with its NATO ally. The U.S. State Department said the accusation was “wholly false.” More than 250 […]

Reviewing ‘Amin Al-Ulwani’ by Faycel Lahmeur – When the Sci-Fi Sun rises in the West!

As an SF author, activist and reviewer from the Eastern part of the Arab world, I can’t help but feeling humbled if not downright jealous of what is going on in the Western part of the Arab world, the so-called Maghreb. I say this after reading a novel I’ve been trying to get hold of […]

Mark Sedgwick on the Use and Abuse of Sufism

The Levant News Exclusive - By Emad El-Din Aysha | Mark Sedgwick is Professor of Arab and Islamic Studies at Aarhus University, and Chair of the Nordic Society for Middle Eastern Studies. He studied history at Oxford University, did his PhD at the University of Bergen, and taught for many years at the American University […]

VALUABLE LIFE OF KHODJA AHROR VALIY - EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE

I asked 26 young people: Who was our father Khodja Ahror Valiy? True, only 3 of them answered. The answers were not clear and concise. However, our great nation has left an indelible mark in its socio-political, economic, cultural and spiritual life of the Movarounnahr and Khurasan peoples in the second half of the […]

Meditating The Levant News Exclusive - On the Music and Sufi Science Fiction of Dawoud Kringle

By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD As journalist with The Levant and a member of the Egyptian Society for Science Fiction (ESSF), I’m always on the lookout for fellow Arab and Muslim authors of science fiction, and one area that has peaked my interest as of late is Sufi science fiction. I’d given you all […]

May the Fortunes Smile on You… A Dialogue with Eslam Abdel-Rahman, Egypt’s answer to Dan Brown!

By Emad El-Din Aysha, PhD وَإِذْ يَمْكُرُ بِكَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لِيُثْبِتُوكَ أَوْ يَقْتُلُوكَ أَوْ يُخْرِجُوكَ ۚ وَيَمْكُرُونَ وَيَمْكُرُ اللَّهُ ۖ وَاللَّهُ خَيْرُ الْمَاكِرِينَ And [remember, O Muhammad], when those who disbelieved plotted against you to restrain you or kill you or evict you [from Makkah]. But they plan, and Allah plans. And Allah […]

The Return of Sufism to the UAE

By Haytham Mouzahem* The past two decades have witnessed a reemergence of Sufism in the Gulf states. The phenomenon may be understood, in part, as a reaction to the extremism of “Salafi jihadism”: Gulf states opposed to the extremist strand have begun to welcome Sufi scholars from other Muslim countries and enabled them to spread […]

Valentine’s Day and the Need for Sufism

By Dr. Haytham Mouzahem* -- Last week, on Valentine’s Day in Saudi Arabia, prominent cleric Ahmed Qasim al-Ghamdi — a former director-general of the “Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the kingdom’s “religious police” — made a remarkable statement. He opined that Valentine’s Day is a positive social event, not a […]

UAE strongly condemns terror attack on mosque in Egypt

The UAE has condemned, in the strongest possible terms, the terrorist blast that targeted Al Rawdah Mosque in Bir Al Abed, North Sinai Governorate, on Friday. Over two hundred worshippers were killed or injured in the attack. In a statement issued on Friday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation expressed its vehement condemnation and […]

Dozens killed in Egypt mosque attack

Militants bombed a Sufi mosque and fired on worshippers in the volatile Sinai Peninsula during Friday prayers, Egyptian officials said, killing at least 85 people in what appeared to be the latest attack by the area's ISIS affiliate. The extremists attacked the al-Rawdah mosque in the town of Bir al-Abd, 25 miles from the North Sinai provincial […]

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