A Muslim Mystic Community in Britain: Meaning in the West and for the West.

• Author: Yel, Ali Murat
• Position: Book review

A Muslim Mystic Community in Britain: Meaning in the West and for the West

By Tayfun Atay

Bremen: Europaischer Hochschulverlag GmbH & Co., 2012. 292 pages. $101.90 (paper), ISBN 9783867417433.

THE NAQSHBANDIYYA is perhaps one of the widest-spread Islamic religious brotherhoods due to its active involvement in political affairs. Its 'strength' comes from the fact it could trace the sheiks of the order as far back as to the Prophet of Islam through his companion Abu Bakr. The silsila (the chain of transmission) of the order also contains some very important figures in Islamic history, like Salman al-Farisi and Bayazid al-Bistami. Despite the importance of the order and its worldwide expansion, the published works on the subject could fill only a small shelf. The order also has a great number of followers in Turkey, including some prominent political figures. Since Shah Bahauddin Naqshband, the founder of the order, the succeeding sheiks of the Naqshbandiyya tarikat (religious order) have currently been handed to Sheikh Nazim al-Kibrisi al-Haqqani, a Turkish Cypriot. The Sheikh has been given the task of expanding the order to the West, and as a result of arduous efforts he has been able to establish some centers in various European and American cities, with the biggest one being in London. Author Tayfun Atay studied this center for his Ph.D. thesis submitted to London University.

It is unfortunate that this beautifully written and ethnographically rich monograph took so long to be published in English, though it was published in Turkish in 1996. Atay spent a year among the disciples of the Sheikh from 1991-92. As a result of his fieldwork through participant observation, readers learn about the political and cultural aspects of the Sufi group living in a Western setting. Their daily lives are mostly spent struggling to cope with their surroundings, but the moderate approach of their Sheikh toward this world facilitates their lives of murids (disciples) in modern London setting. The ethical dimension of Sufism especially through training, or rather, breaking the pride of self or ego, that is, their nefs, helps them to overcome the difficulties they may encounter in their everyday lives. After providing some background information on the history and conceptual framework of Sufism and the context of Naqshbandiyya in Islamic history, the monograph goes on to describe the mystic community and their Sheikh Nazim al-Kibrisi. Atay enriches this...