From East to West: Carl W. Ernst's insight into sufism's impact on islamic studies in America

Authors

  • Fuad Hasyim Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
  • Nur Sakti Ningrum Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
  • Ratno Lukito Universitas Islam Negeri Sunan Kalijaga, Yogyakarta, Indonesia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26555/ijish.v7i1.9948

Keywords:

Carl W. Ernst, Islamic Studies, Scholarship, Sufism

Abstract

With its global expansion and incorporation of elements from other religions, Sufism presents an intriguing field of study for Western scholars interested in the mystical and societal influence of Islam. This article aims to explore the impact of Sufism on existing Islamic studies in America. The study adopts a qualitative approach, relying on library research to analyze the origin, development, and evolution of ideas through the works of Carl W. Ernst. The research findings demonstrate that Sufism has had a significant impact on the advancement of Islamic studies, particularly in fostering a deeper understanding and respect between American society and Muslims. By promoting love, compassion, and unity, Sufism plays a vital role in bridging misconceptions and facilitating peaceful coexistence.

References

Abidi, M. H. (2021). Sufism and Jungian Psychology: Ways of Knowing and Being. In Toward a Positive Psychology of Islam and Muslims (pp. 399–416). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-72606-5_18

Abitolkha, A. M., & Mas’ud, A. (2021). Integration of Sufism Values into the Curriculum of Islamic Religious Education Subject in Junior High School. Jurnal Pendidikan Agama Islam (Journal of Islamic Education Studies), 9(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.15642/jpai.2021.9.1.1-16

Ali, M. (2018). Studi Islam di Barat Kontemporer. Jurnal Al Adyaan; Jurnal Sosial Dan Agama, 5(02), 209–234.

Ali, R. (2017). The erasure of Islam from the poetry of Rumi. In The New Yorker (Vol. 5).

Alvi, F. (2009). The Significant Role of Sufism in Central Asia. In the Journal of the Punjab University.

Ansari, M. A. H., & Budiman, A. N. (1993). Antara sufisme dan syariah. RajaGrafindo Persada.

Azarian. (2018). How Religious Fundamentalism Hijacks the Brain.

Aždajić, D. (2020). The Shaping Shaikh: The Role of the Shaikh in Lived Islam among Sufis in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Vol. 85). Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG.

Baried, A. B. (2023). Sufism and Business: Study of Social and Business Activities of the Tarekat Al-Idrisiyyah in Indonesia. Jurnal Studi Agama Dan Masyarakat, 18(2), 116–129. https://doi.org/10.23971/jsam.v18i2.3808

Chittick, W. C. (2000). Sufism: A short introduction. Oneworld Publications.

Coley, J. S., Das, D., & Adler, G. J. (2022). Creating Sacred Spaces: Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, and Muslim Student Groups at U.S. Colleges and Universities. Sociology of Education, 95(3), 171–188. https://doi.org/10.1177/00380407221084695

Cook, D. (2015). Mysticism in Sufi Islam. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.51

Dabashi, H. (2017). Post-Orientalism (H. Dabashi (ed.)). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315127088

Danner, V. (2013). The early development of Sufism. In Islamic spirituality (pp. 239–264). Routledge.

Davis, G. W. (1948). Sufism: From Its Origins to Al-Ghazali. The Muslim World, 38(4), 241–256. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1478-1913.1948.tb00983.x

Desmond-Harris, J. (2020). The way we talk about Islamophobia every 9/11 anniversary is maddeningly oversimplified. In Vox. com.

Dickson, W. R. (2021). Sufism in the United States. In Islamic Studies. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/obo/9780195390155-0282

Erawadi, E. (2023). Mandailing Scholar of the XX Century: Sufism Thought of Syeikh Syihabuddin Nasution Aek Libung (1892 -- 1967). KnE Social Sciences, 8(4), 549–558. https://doi.org/10.18502/kss.v8i4.12943

Ernst, C. W. (2003). The Islamization of Yoga in the Amrtakunda Translations. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 13(2), 199–226.

Ernst, C. W. (2006). Following Muhammad: Rethinking Islam in the contemporary world. Yoda Press.

Ernst, C. W. (2017). Sufism: An introduction to the mystical tradition of Islam. Shambhala Publications.

Ernst, C. W. (2018a). Between orientalism and fundamentalism: Problematizing the teaching of Sufism. In It’s not just academic! (pp. 3–22). SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd.

Ernst, C. W. (2018b). Sufism, Islam, and globalization in the contemporary world: methodological reflections on a changing field of study. In It’s not just academic! (pp. 391–416). SAGE Publications India Pvt Ltd.

Ernst, C. W., & Martin, R. C. (2010). Introduction: Toward a post-orientalist Islamic approach to Islamic religious studies. In Rethinking Islamic studies (pp. 1–19). University of South Carolina Press.

Guhin, J., & Wyrtzen, J. (2013). The Violences of Knowledge: Edward Said, Sociology, and Post-Orientalist Reflexivity (pp. 231–262). https://doi.org/10.1108/S0198-8719(2013)0000024015

Hamilton, P. (2007). Changes in Sufism in the American Context. Denison Journal of Religion, 7(1), 5.

Hassan, H. A. (2023). Sufi Feminism. Journal of Religion in Africa, 53(3-4), 353–382. https://doi.org/10.1163/15700666-12340258

Hermansen, M. (2006). Literary productions of Western Sufi movements. In Sufism in the West (pp. 38–58). Routledge.

Hermansen, M. (2007). The Academic Study of Sufism at American Universities. American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, 24(3), 24–45. https://doi.org/10.35632/ajiss.v24i3.423

Hermansen, M. K. (1993). Trends in Islamic Studies in the United States and Canada since the 1970s. American Journal of Islam and Society, 10(1), 96–118. https://doi.org/10.35632/ajis.v10i1.2527

Hill, J. (2019). Sufism Between Past and Modernity. In Handbook of Contemporary Islam and Muslim Lives (pp. 1–26). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-73653-2_9-1

Hinton, D. (2021). Carl W. Ernst Wiki, Biography, Age, Career, Relationship, Net Worth & Know About Everything. Trusted Wiki Biography Info of Famous Legends. https://wikitrusted.com/carl-w-ernst-wikipedia/

Irawan, B. (2022). Islamic boarding schools (pesantren), Sufism and environmental conservation practices in Indonesia. HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies, 78(4). https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v78i4.7073

Isik, Z. (2022). Sufism in The Sense of Folk Medicine in Ottoman Society. Hitit İlahiyat Dergisi, 21(2), 921–946. https://doi.org/10.14395/hid.1064695

Karamustafa, A. T. (2007). Sufism: The Formative Period. Edinburgh University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780748628971

Khalil, A., & Sheikh, S. (2016). Sufism in Western Historiography: A Brief Overview. Philosophy East and West, 66(1), 194–217. https://doi.org/10.1353/pew.2016.0022

Knysh, A. (2000). Islamic Mysticism: A Short History. BRILL. https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004194625.i-358

Kurzman, C., & Ernst, C. W. (2012). Islamic Studies in U.S. Universities. Review of Middle East Studies, 46(1), 24–46. https://doi.org/10.1017/S2151348100002974

Laude, P. (2005). Mâyâ and the Divine Treasure. In Divine Play, Sacred Laughter, and Spiritual Understanding (pp. 9–16). Palgrave Macmillan US. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403980588_2

Lewisohn, L. (1998). An introduction to the history of modern Persian Sufism, Part I: The Ni’matullāhī order: persecution, revival and schism. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, 61(3), 437–464. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0041977X00019285

Mohammed, H. (2024). “Come as you are”: place attachment to Islamic third spaces in the United States. Community Development Journal, 59(1), 49–67. https://doi.org/10.1093/cdj/bsad002

Mratkhuzina, G. F., Bobkov, D. V., Khabibullina, A. M., & Ahmad, I. G. (2019). Sufism: Spiritual and Cultural Traditions in India. Journal of History Culture and Art Research, 8(3), 434. https://doi.org/10.7596/taksad.v8i3.2258

Mursalat, M. (2023). The Contribution of Sufism in Building and Advancing Islamic Civilization in Indonesia. Refleksi Jurnal Filsafat Dan Pemikiran Islam, 22(2), 280–304. https://doi.org/10.14421/ref.v22i2.3931

Nasr, S. H. (2019). Tasawuf dulu dan Sekarang. IRCiSoD.

Nelson, M. (2020). Next Steps in the Study of Islam and Politics: From “Islam” to “Muslims.” In Melbourne Asia Review (Vol. 4). https://doi.org/10.37839/MAR2652-550X4.16

Patel, E. (2007). Religious Diversity and Cooperation on Campus. Journal of College and Character, 9(2). https://doi.org/10.2202/1940-1639.1120

Peels, R., & Kindermann, N. (2022). What are fundamentalist beliefs? In Journal of Political Ideologies (pp. 1–21). https://doi.org/10.1080/13569317.2022.2138294

Pemberton, K. (2004). Muslim women mystics and female spiritual authority in South Asian Sufism. In Journal of Ritual Studies (pp. 1–23). JSTOR.

Rahman, F. (2020). Islam. University of Chicago Press.

Razaghi, M., Chavoshian, H., Chanzanagh, H. E., & Rabiei, K. (2020). Religious fundamentalism, individuality, and collective identity: A case study of two student organizations in Iran. Critical Research on Religion, 8(1), 3–24. https://doi.org/10.1177/2050303219900226

Rennie, B. S. (2007). Mircea Eliade and the Perception of the Sacred in the Profane: Intention, Reduction, and Cognitive Theory. Temenos - Nordic Journal of Comparative Religion, 43(1). https://doi.org/10.33356/temenos.4625

Samsel, P. (2015). A treasury of Sufi Wisdom: The path of unity. World Wisdom.

Sattorov, K. (2023). The Stages of Shariata, Tariqata, Enlightenment, Istany and Learning Sufism. Ижтимоий-Гуманитар Фанларнинг Долзарб Муаммолари / Актуальные Проблемы Социально-Гуманитарных Наук / Actual Problems of Humanities and Social Sciences, 3(2), 118–123. https://doi.org/10.47390/1342V3I2Y2023N15

Schimmel, A. (2013). Mystical dimension of Islam. Noura Books.

Schimmel, A. (2024). Sufism: Definition, History, Beliefs, Significance and Facts. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Sufism

Sepehri, G. (2020). Islamic Sufism in America: The Philosophy and Practices of the Oveyssi Tariqa.

Shah, M. M. (2018). Mysticism, Sufism, and Practical Spirituality. In Practical Spirituality and Human Development (pp. 257–276). Springer Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0803-1_16

Shayakhmetova, A. K. (2022). Philosophical Understanding of Music and Poetry in Sufism. Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities & Social Sciences, 15(1), 103–114. https://doi.org/10.17516/1997-1370-0880

Siddiqa, A. (2018). The Changing Face of Sufism in South Asia. The Wire. https://thewire.in/culture/changing-face-sufism-south-asia

Sides, J., & Gross, K. (2013). Stereotypes of Muslims and Support for the War on Terror. The Journal of Politics, 75(3), 583–598. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022381613000388

Sonia Nasir Khan, & Muhammad Ahsan Bilal. (2021). Knowledge of Sufism and the Symbolic Interpretation of Paradise Garden Design Concept. Perennial Journal of History, 2(2), 254–283. https://doi.org/10.52700/pjh.v2i2.74

Srivastava, K. (2020). Book review: Carl W. Ernst, It’s Not Just Academic! Essays on Sufism and Islamic Studies. Social Change, 50(2), 338–339. https://doi.org/10.1177/0049085720923867

Tasbihi, E. (2015). The Mevlevī Sufi Shaykh Ismāʿīl Rusūkhī Anqarawī (d. 1631) and his Commentary on Rūmī’s Mathnawi. Mawlana Rumi Review, 6(1), 163–182. https://doi.org/10.1163/25898566-00601012

Tekelioglu, A. S. (2018). The Practice of Islam in America: An Introduction. American Journal of Islam and Society, 35(3), 108–111. https://doi.org/10.35632/ajis.v35i3.491

Xavier, M. S. (2023). Chapter Five. Gender Dynamics in Sufi Rituals, Praxis, and Authority. In The Dervishes of the North (pp. 182–222). University of Toronto Press. https://doi.org/10.3138/9781487552312-008

Zed. (2014). Metode Penelitian Kepustakaan. Yayasan Pustaka Obor Indonesia.

Downloads

Published

2024-04-30

How to Cite

Hasyim, F., Ningrum, N. S. ., & Lukito , R. . (2024). From East to West: Carl W. Ernst’s insight into sufism’s impact on islamic studies in America. IJISH (International Journal of Islamic Studies and Humanities), 7(1), 20–44. https://doi.org/10.26555/ijish.v7i1.9948

Issue

Section

Articles