During the holy month of Ramadan Muslims pause and reflect on their spiritual dimension. Today’s modern material world also encourages Muslims to soul search. Therefore Ramadan and the music of the sufis is a perfect combination.
Sufism: the spiritual legacy of 13th Century mystic poet and scholar Mewlana Jalal ad-Din Rumi, has been appreciated by Muslims from South and Central Asia to the Mediterranean for seven centuries and today it also speaks to many westerners. According to author Jane Ciabattari, Rumi is the bestselling poet in the United States.
Salih Resitoglu from the Melbourne-based Australian Sufi Music Group says, “Sufism can be described as the musical interpretation of Islam." - A perfect soundtrack to the holy month.
That’s why the group is very busy during Ramadan.
“We receive a lot of invitations to iftar dinners," (big feasts after the day's fasting) Resitoglu says.
Australia Sufi Music Group at SBS Source: SBS Turkish
Rumi’s major work, a series of six books titled Masnavi, contains 25,000 spiritual verses that teaches Sufis how to reach their goal of being truly in love with God.
The lover’s cause is separate from all other causes Love is the astrolabe* of God's mysteries
Rumi believed passionately that music, poetry and dance are paths for reaching God. For Rumi, music helped devotees to focus their whole being on the divine and to do this so intensely that the soul is both destroyed and resurrected. It was from these ideas that the practice of whirling Dervishes developed into a ritual form.
Australian Sufi Music Group is a group of seven men (one Australian, six Turkish) who have played sufi music together since 2000.
Their monthly performances at a Turkish community centre in Melbourne, called “Meditation with sufi music” are open to the public.
“The audience is mostly Australian sufi music lovers,” says Salih.
Salih plays the zither. Other members of the group play ney, kudüm (double drum), violin and percussion. They often play for Australian whirling dervish groups.
Hear them perform and speak to SBS Turkish (in Turkish) below:Australian Muslims will celebrate the end of Ramadan with three-day Eid Festivals around the country after fasting ends on 24th June.
[*An astrolabe is an ancient astronomical instrument that measures the position of celestial bodies]
