Sufism in Canada
Sufism in Canada
Weaving Islamic Practice and Contemporary Spirituality
Whirling dervishes. Ecstatic experience. Historical and contemporary expressions of Sufism are suffused with spirituality, asceticism, and mysticism. Sufism in Canada considers two interwoven and underexplored themes in this fascinating religious practice. How can we understand Sufism in a specifically Canadian context? And by extension, what does that tell us about the ways in which Sufism informs Islam and popular spirituality not only in Canada but across the globe?
Using case studies rooted in Canadian concerns and communities, scholars in a wide range of disciplines – religious studies, Islamic studies, sociology, ethnomusicology, history – bring a textured analysis to the meaning and practice of Sufism in this country. They investigate the institutional and transnational histories of the Inayati, Halveti-Jerrahi, and Naqshbandi orders. They explore tensions between gendered ways of making Muslim spaces on the one hand and Sufism as a universal spirituality on the other. And they revisit old Sufi stories in a new landscape.
The insightful contributions in Sufism in Canada not only add to a growing body of literature on Islam and Muslim identities in Canada, but also help define new paths of exploration for this important field of study.
This accessible work will resonate with students and scholars of religious studies and Islamic studies, and engage any reader interested in understanding Sufi and religious history in Canada.
Until recently, there has been nothing written about Sufism in Canada. This collection is exceedingly important.
Geneviève Mercier-Dalphond is an independent scholar in Islamic and gender studies whose work has appeared in Canadian Ethnic Studies, ReOrient: The Journal of Critical Muslim Studies, and the Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice.
Merin Shobhana Xavier is an associate professor of religion and diaspora at Queen’s University. She is the author of The Dervishes of the North: Rumi, Whirling, and the Making of Sufism in Canada and Sacred Spaces and Transnational Networks in American Sufism: Bawa Muhaiyaddeen and Contemporary Shrine Cultures, and a coauthor, with Meena Sharify-Funk and William Rory Dickson, of Contemporary Sufism: Piety, Politics, and Popular Culture.
Contributors: Sara Abdel-Latif, Emily Victoria Hanlon, Marcia Hermansen, Amina Jamal, Naïm Jeanbart, Atif Khalil, Maryam Khan, Abdul-Rehman Malik, Alia O’Brien
Introduction / Merin Shobhana Xavier and Geneviève Mercier-Dalphond
Part I: Situating Sufism
1 Sacred Landscapes and Universal Sufism: From Canada to South Asia / Geneviève Mercier-Dalphond
2 Circles of Remembrance: The Halveti-Jerrahis of Toronto / Atif Khalil
3 Sufism and Spiritual Ecology: The Pacific Northwest / Merin Shobhana Xavier
4 Shaykh Ibrahim Joel Kreps: A Sufi Sage of Montreal / Marcia Hermansen
Part II: Practices and Rituals
5 What Is "Sufi" about the Montreal Sufi Centre? A Portrait of a Neighbourhood Zawiya / Naïm Jeanbart
6 The MTO Shahmaghsoudi Order: From Iran to Canada / Emily Victoria Hanlon
7 Branches of Sound: The Aurality of Safety in Sufi Toronto / Alia O’Brien
Part III: Reflections on Sufism
8 Reweaving Old Sufi Stories: Three Canadian Writers / Sara Abdel-Latif
9 Speculations on Sufism and Gender in Canada: Critical Dialogue between Two Racialized Scholars / Amina Jamal and Maryam Khan
10 Light upon Light: Would Sufism by Any Other Name Smell as Sweet? / Abdul-Rehman Malik
Index
Beyond Accommodation
Everyday Narratives of Muslim Canadians
By Jennifer Selby, Amelie Barras, and Lori G. Beaman
Religion at the Edge
Nature, Spirituality, and Secularity in the Pacific Northwest
Edited by Paul Bramadat, Patricia O'Connell Killen, and Sarah Wilkins-Laflamme
