Circulation 8,000 D e c e m b e r 1 9 9 9 4 0 p a g e s N e w s l e t t e r 4 postal address telephone e-mail P.O. Box 11089 +31-(0)71-527 79 05 i s i m @ r u l l e t . l e i d e n u n i v . n l 2301 EB Leiden telefax www The Netherlands +31-(0)71-527 79 06 w w w . i s i m . n l 5 9 1 8 3 4 Rebecca Popenoe Bruce Lawrence Nayereh Tohidi Elizabeth Picard Islam and the Body: Female Fattening Neither Civil Society nor Info Society Student Movement: The Harbinger Social Sciences Research on among Arabs in Niger offers Hope of Global Equality of a New Era in Iran the Arab Mashrek (CERMOC) At first glance, the arrival of the year 2000 AD seems unlikely to provoke any great reaction Ð much less spiritual anxiety Ð among most Muslims. Any West- ern ‘centurial mysticism’ surrounding the date 1 Jan- uary 2000 AD vanishes, after all, in the Hijri calendar A Sufi Apocalypse equivalent of Ramadan 24, 1420. But despite the out- ward irrelevance of the Gregorian 2000 to most of northwestern China, Bangladesh, Malaysia The ‘signs of the Hour’ the Arabian Peninsula, has charged Shaykh the u m m a h, one Islamic mystical brotherhood Ð the and Indonesia. Linking the Naqshbandis a n d the Mahdi Nazim with the spiritual preparation of his Naqshbandi-Haqqani order Ð finds the advent of the across these diverse ethnic, social and his- The Naqshbandi-Haqqani order is virtually ‘helpers’ – the Muslims and non-Muslims who year 2000 one of several powerful symbolic events in toric settings are a set of defining features: alone among contemporary Sunni groups in will rally behind the ‘rightly-guided one’ which traditional Sunni ideas of the ‘Last Day’ inter- an uncompromising Sunni orientation, em- its accent on the Mahdi, the ‘signs of the when he declares his redemptive mission.2 Ig- sect with the millennial expectations of a new gener- phasis on s h a rõi ca h and s u n n a h, and a tradi- Hour’ and the end of this world. By virtue of noring occasional Muslim criticism of their ation of European and American converts to Islam. tion of full social and political participation their mystical visions, status and insights, prophecies and ‘fortune-telling’, both Shaykh in the world. the Haqqani shaykhs claim deep insight into Nazim and Shaykh Hisham selectively share Shaykh Nazim Haqqani (b. 1922) is the the unfolding events of the imminent ‘last their mystical foreknowledge of coming ‘grand-shaykh’ and namesake of the Naqsh- days’. Traditional Sunni eschatology is built events. On some ‘secrets’, however, they are bandi-Haqqani lineage. The son of a junior around the Qur’an’s urgent, vivid images of silent, maintaining they have not yet received DAVID DAMREL Egyptian colonial administrator in British cosmic anarchy (the ‘signs of the Hour’) and the Mahdi’s permission to speak. Cyprus, Shaykh Nazim’s spiritual education from a wealth of related Prophetic tradi- began in Istanbul; later, in Damascus, he tions. The decline of society and cataclysmic Ecumenical Apocalypticism The Naqshbandi-Haqqani order, with roots joined the order under Shaykh cAbd Allah events in the natural world announce the The Haqqani shaykhs mix traditional es- in Turkey, Cyprus, Lebanon and Syria, has Daghestani (d. 1973). Deputed to Cyprus, ‘Last Day’, which climaxes in the physical chatological motifs with their own mystical emerged since the mid-1970s as one of the Shaykh Nazim ‘spread spiritual guidance resurrection and ultimate judgement of all interpretations of current times: the result is most visible and fastest-growing Sufi orders and Islamic teachings’ for seven years be- human beings. For Sunnis, belief in this final a shifting, event-driven script of the ‘last in Western Europe and North America. The fore eventually returning to Syria. day is part of i m a n (‘faith’), just as knowl- days’ that is at once timely and timeless. success of this conservative, s h a ri ca h- m i n d- Naqshbandi-Haqqani hagiographies por- edge of precisely when these events will Shaykh Nazim’s specific (and elastic) end- ed spiritual movement in attracting Euro- tray the period from the early 1950s until occur is Allah’s alone. But if the certainty of time predictions have ranged to explain peans and Americans to both Islam and Su- 1974 as one of intense spiritual activity for these eschatological events is agreed upon, new figures (such as the Russian ultra-na- fism stems from a number of sources. The Shaykh Nazim, marked by lengthy retreats the complex details of the apocalyptic script tionalist Vladamir Zhirinovsky) as well as order’s teachings promote time-honoured and extensive preaching tours in Syria and are not. The events, their order and the pre- dramatic developments including the Gulf and appealing mystical themes that include Cyprus. He encouraged people ‘to leave cise roles of such figures as cIsa (Jesus) and War and the fall of Communism. This ability spiritual growth, love, respect for the natur- atheism, secularism and materialism and to the Mahdi (‘the rightly-guided one’) and Da- to relate even the most unexpected events al environment and religious toleration, all come back to God,’ but his criticisms of the jjal (the ‘Deceiver’) are shadowy and con- to a larger explanatory framework Ð that is, of which, the order insists, are epitomized in Cypriot coalition government led to his ex- tested in a rich and unwieldy literature of to draw eternal meaning from the ‘chaos’ of the s u n n a h of the Prophet Muhammad. The pulsion in 1965 and his eventual return to Muslim chiliastic traditions. the ephemeral world Ð may be the most message is effectively distributed to a wide D a m a s c u s . For the Naqshbandi-Haqqani shaykhs, powerful lure of almost all contemporary following on the internet, in books and The Haqqani branch, based around Shaykh however, mystical illumination allows no apocalyptic movements world-wide. pamphlets, and through a well-organized Nazim’s distinctive practice, emerged in confusion about the proper understanding There is much room within the evolving network of national Sufi centres and local 1973. Empowered by the spirit of the of the traditional Sunni sources Ð the Dajjal Naqshbandi-Haqqani mystical exegesis of circles that gather for weekly z i k r (a commu- Prophet Muhammad, Shaykh Nazim began and the Mahdi are presently alive, Armaged- world events for sharing apocalyptic themes nal ritual that ‘remembers’ Allah). The two his mission ‘to spread the light of Islam into don is imminent, and vast, profound and imagery. Striking examples of this bor- main leaders of the order, Shaykh Nazim the European countries.’ He travelled first to changes loom in the world. In 1992, Shaykh rowing abound. Shaykhs Nazim and Hisham Haqqani and his deputy Shaykh Hisham London and, encouraged by the followers of Hisham assured his listeners: speak easily of ‘Armageddon’ and ‘World Kabbani, reinforce these teachings and ce- Gurdjieff protégé John G. Bennett (d. 1974), ‘We are the only group expecting Mahdi and War III’, the ‘Anti-Christ’ and the ‘Saviour’, in ment powerful personal ties with their fol- established a centre. Each year since then, Jesus’ coming very soon. We are on the right their discussions with Muslims and non- lowers through almost constant touring and Shaykh Nazim has made it his custom to track. We have met them.’ Muslims in Europe and North America. Both t r a v e l . spend Ramadan in London before returning Moreover, the shaykhs maintain a vision- shaykhs also offer (and revise) their predict- Also included within the order’s teachings overland across Europe to the Middle East, ary spiritual connection with the two fig- ed beginnings for the last days (which have Ð but by no means its major focus Ð are spo- halting en route to teach about Islam and ures. included 1987, 1989, 1991, 1993 and 2000) radic references to an eclectic and complex the Naqshbandi order. His efforts expanded ‘What I am telling you is according to true in the Gregorian and not the Hijri calendar. apocalyptic scenario that is grounded firmly to include South and Southeast Asia, and by vision, not vague or imagined. Mahdi (s) and Though all the symbols noted above can in Sunni eschatology but driven by mystical- the late 1980s the Haqqani branch claimed Jesus (s) are among you.’1 have an Islamic provenance, they are also ly inspired visionary insight into current to have followers all over Asia, including The Naqshbandi-Haqqani shaykhs present instantly and unmistakably familiar to many events, politics, and the future. The result is thousands in Pakistan and over 20,000 disci- an idiosyncratic and complicated agenda Western audiences in an entirely different a vision of troubled times ahead that res- ples in Sri Lanka. for the last days, all anchored with refer- context. The Haqqanis employ this shared onates powerfully with certain modern West- Shaykh Nazim’s first trips to the United ences to historic Muslim thinkers as diverse apocalyptic vocabulary to poignantly em- e r n audiences, whether Christian, Muslim or States and Canada were in 1991, with the re- as Ibn Kathir and Ibn Al-cArabi. At one point phasize how Islam and Islamic spirituality avowedly non-religious. sult (according to Haqqani literature) of England will peaceably convert to Islam, are vital to the lives of even their non-Mus- over 10,000 people becoming Muslims and and hidden saints will operate in Germany lim listeners.