If you get a chance to go along to these events they are magic and well worth staying up all night for. Sheikh Amin el Dishnawi is a truly awesome man and very inspirational.
------------------ Jane Akshar UK Co-owner of www.flatsinluxor.co.uk Appartments and Tours in Luxor
It looks like you had a big party there! Just wanted to make a quick comment though, although this was a party celebrated by Muslims it was a cultural/traditional party rather than an Islamic party. For it to have been Islamic it would have to have its basis in Islamic law and the Prophet never held celebrations for buildings, and Islamic law that tells us that we only have two festivals, the two Eids. The celebration also should not have contained any elements against Islamic law, and as it was an all-night party of singing and dancing in trance-like states and a cow that had had to be deprived of daylight for a year before slaughtering, and no mention of stopping for the Dawn Prayer, to my knowledge this does not make it an Islamic celebration. And Allah knows best.
It looks like you had a big party there! Just wanted to make a quick comment though, although this was a party celebrated by Muslims it was a cultural/traditional party rather than an Islamic party. For it to have been Islamic it would have to have its basis in Islamic law and the Prophet never held celebrations for buildings, and Islamic law that tells us that we only have two festivals, the two Eids. The celebration also should not have contained any elements against Islamic law, and as it was an all-night party of singing and dancing in trance-like states and a cow that had had to be deprived of daylight for a year before slaughtering, and no mention of stopping for the Dawn Prayer, to my knowledge this does not make it an Islamic celebration. And Allah knows best.
............................................Dhikr of the public hadra (madih) The public hadra combines dhikr (performed with especially vigorous bowing or turning movements), inshad, and musical accompaniment (percussion plus at least one melodic instrument; violin or reed flute are preferred). Though resembling a similar ritual performed within Sufi orders, this hadra takes place in a public space outside the jurisdiction of any organized order. Compared to the tariqa hadra, the munshid, rather than tariqa leader, is in control; performance includes more music, a wider, more daring repertoire of mystical poetry, and a larger crowd. Though the public hadra is undoubtedly performed with great religious feeling, many also attend out of aesthetic interest, or for entertainment.
Especially popular in the Sa‘id, for the last twenty years the greatest stars of dhikr music have come from middle Egypt. Most famous are Shaykh Yasin al-Tuhami and Shaykh Ahmad al-Tuni from Assiut (see Waugh 1989: 116ff and passim; Frishkopf in press 2). Further south in Qina, Shaykh Amin al-Dishnawi is extremely popular, especially among members of his Sufi affiliation, the ‘Usba Hashimiyya. In the Delta, Shaykh Muhammad al-Bilbisi is well-known; Shaykh Ramadan ‘Uways performs frequently around Cairo (and every Saturday afternoon at the shrine of Sidi ‘Ali Zayn al-‘Abidin, located in the madbah district)............................
------------------ Jane Akshar UK Co-owner of www.flatsinluxor.co.uk Appartments and Tours in Luxor
I was not saying that your party was not a party that Muslims go to, as it obviously was, in the same way that Christians have Christmas trees, Santa Claus, and Easter eggs that have nothing to do with Jesus (peace be upon him). But as you know we have many discussions here about what is Islamic and for that we always have to give evidence for these things from the Qur'an and Sunnah to show that they are part of the Islamic religion and not an innovation or something someone has falsely attrubuted to Islam. One of the main criticisms of the Sufis is that they have developed many practices that they claim are part of Islam that have no basis in the Qur'an and Sunnah, but they have become a customary practice. Your party seems to have been one of such activities. But of course every Muslim is accountable for their own practice and Allah is the One who will judge us all, which is why it is incumbent on us all to learn as much as we can about our religion.
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