Kenan Rifai Center for Sufi Studies
Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies, Kyoto University
Ambassador Murat Mercan who assumed his duty as Turkish Ambassador in Tokyo in mid November visited the Center with his wife and Mr.Hussein Tuna(Director of the Yunus Emre Institute in Tokyo). After the introduction of the research and publication activities of the Center, discussion on further promotion for academic and cultural exchange was made.
Sufism / Saint Veneration Research Convention was held as below.
Date: November 11, Saturday 13:30- 12, Sunday 12:00
Venue: KKR Izu Nagaoka Chitosesou recreation center
Program
November 11, Saturday, 1st day
13:30-13:45 Opening speech, self introduction
13:45-15:30 Research presentation SAWAI Makoto (Kyoto University, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science PD)
“Modern Period of Islamic Mystical Thought ―Focused on Mohammed Abduh’s Reform Thought―”
15:45-17:30 Research presentation TAKAHASHI Kei（Sophia University, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science RPD）
”Sufism and Muslim Communities in Contemporary America ―Rise and the Background of “Traditional Islamic” Movement―”
17:30-18:00 Report of cooperative research in Italy KOMAKI Sachiyo（Takasaki City University of Economics）
November 12, Sunday, 2nd day
9:30-10:30 Book Review 1 TAKAO Ken’ichiro（Tokyo University of Foreign Studies PD） Book Review of The Sufi Orders in Islam, “The Formation of Schools of Mysticism” (first chapter)
10:30-11:30 Book Review 2 FUJII Chiaki（Kyoto University）
Book Review of The Sufi Orders in Islam, “The Chief Tariqa Lines” (second chapter)
11:30-11:45 Closing remarks
This convention was co-hosted with projects below.
・Kenan Rifai Center for Sufi Studies, Kyoto University
・NIHU Area Studies Project for the Modern Middle East, Center for Islamic
Studies at Sophia University, Center for Islamic Area Studies at Kyoto University
・Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A), JSPS Program “Structural Comprehension of
Islamic Mysticism: Investigation into Sufism, Tariqa, Saint Cults Complex”
・Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B), JSPS Program “Anthropological Studies on
Veneration of Saints and Relics in the Mediterranean World”
・Sophia University Special Grant for Academic Research Program (Research in Priority Areas)
“Comparative Area Studies on Conflicts, Interactions, and Reconciliations between Islam and Other Religions Including Christianity”
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Academic year 2017 1st Sufism / Saint Veneration research meeting was held as below.
Date: July 23rd, 2017 12:30-18:15
Venue: Conference room (AA447), 4th Floor, Research Bldg. No.2, Kyoto University
Language：Japanese
Program
12:30-13:30 Overview of Research in Italy FUJIWARA Kuniko
13:45-15:15 Research presentation 1 ISHIKAWA Kido
“Translation of Poetic Language in The CONFERENCE of the BIRDS by Attar -Using Literary Theory-”
15:30-17:00 Research presentation 2 IKEBE Tomoki
“Doctrine of Labor and Practice- Collective Bayefall of Mouride in Senegal”
17:15-18:15 Discussion for Activity schedule in academic year 2017（Conference, workshop, WOCMES-, etc.）
For the comparison of Saint veneration in Islam and Christianity, field research was conducted focusing on sacred relics at Catholic churches.
A review on ”Bibliography of Sufism, Tariqa, and Saint Cult Studies in Japan” and the article about the center were published on the website of Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies at George Mason University.
https://www.themaydan.com/2017/06/bridge-two-easts-sufi-culture/
The Kenan Rifai Center for Sufi Studies, Kyoto University held the first international symposium “Islamic Studies and the Study of Sufism in Academia: Rethinking Methodologies”at Main Conference Room, 3rd floor, Inamori Memorial Foundation Building, Kyoto University.
The center invited 35 leading researchers as speakers who specialize in various regions and areas from Turkey, USA, China and Japan, and the researchers made presentations on Islamic Studies and the study of Sufism. Moreover, fruitful discussions with young researchers were carried out.
Over two days, about 120 people participated in the symposium and Turkish Ambassador Ahmet Bülent MERİÇ also visited. The symposium was broadcast live through You Tube and most advanced studies of Sufism, Saint Cult, and Tariqa were presented worldwide.
In addition, books on Studies of Sufism, Saint cult Tariqa in Japan, Quran translated into Japanese, and Japan-Turkey related documents were exhibited and attracted many of the participants.
Date: May 20th-21st,2017
Venue: Main Conference Room, 3rd Floor,Kyoto Unversity Inamori Foundation Memorial Hall
Program：
May 20th
Opening Session:
KOSUGI Yasushi (Former Dean of ASAFAS and Director of the Center for Hadhari Islamic Civilizational Studies at Kyoto University)
TONAGA Yasushi (Director of the Kenan Rifai Center for Sufi Studies, Kyoto University)
Cemalnur SARGUT (Founder of Kerim Foundation, Advisor to Üsküdar University Chancellor and Director of TÜRKKAD İstanbul Branch)
Mehmet KÖSE (President of Turkish Republic Prime Ministry the Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities)
A. Bülent MERİÇ (Turkish Ambassador)
Keynote Speech I: TONAGA Yasushi, KOSUGI Yasushi (15 min. each)
Keynote Speech II: TU Weiming and Mahmud Erol KILIÇ (20 min. each)
Session 1
1. Carl ERNST [chair] “Orientalist Legacies and the Academic Construction of Sufism”
2. MURATA Sachiko “Sufism in Chinese”
3. Osman Nuri KÜÇÜK “The Epistemological Problem of the Contemporary Islamic Thought: Loosing Hikma (Wisdom)”
4. TONAGA Yasushi “General Tendency of Islamic and Sufi Studies in Japan”
Session 2
1. Omid SAFI [chair] “Mawlana, Mevlana, Rumi”
2. TAKAO Ken’ichiro “Sufism under Syrian Ba‘th: Ahmad Kuftaru
and His Tariqah”
3. Bruce LAWRENCE “Is adab axial or incremental to madhhab-iʻishq (Sufism)?”
4. William CHITTICK “Moses in the Religion of Love”
Closing Conference of the Project of the Bridge of Two Easts Education Program for Sufi Culture
Cangüzel Güner Zülfikar [chair] (20min.) “Searching New Horizons in Methodology of Sufi Studies”
Participants of the Program (15 min. each):
1. Kotoko MADONO
2. Qayyim Mashuk Naoki YAMAMOTO
3. Kie INOUE
4. Kazunori MATSUDA
5. Makoto SAWAI
May 21st
Session 3
1. NAKANISHI Tatsuya “Ma Dexin and Ibn ‘Arabī’s Theories Regarding the Afterlife: A Chinese
Expression of Sufism during the 19th Century”
2. Ahmet Murat ÖZEL “Reading the History of Sufism from the View of the Classification of ʻIlms [Science]”
3. Juliane HAMMER “Studying American Sufism: A Reflection on Boundaries, Authenticity, and Politics”
4. James MORRIS [chair] “Teaching “Sufi” Studies in Undergraduate Settings: Religious Studies and the Liberal Arts”
Session 4
1. MORIMOTO Kazuo [chair] “Sayyido-Sharifology Twelve Years Later”
2. TAKAHASHI Kei “The Institutional Origin of the Ulama-Sufi Dichotomy in Modern Egypt”
3. NINOMIYA Ayako “Concepts of affiliation and membership of Tariqa: Medieval India’s case”
4. OGURA Satoshi “Indic Deities translated by means of the oneness of existence: in the case of Muḥammad Šāhābādī’s Persian translation of the Rājataraṅgiṇīs”
Session 5
1. MARUYAMA Daisuke “Mystic, Miracle, and Mediation: The Interpretation of the Relation between Allah
and People in Contemporary Sudanese Sufi Tariqas”
2. YASUDA Shin “Islamic Hospitality in Adab Literature (temporary)”
3. ARAI Kazuhiro [chair] “Saint Veneration in Indonesia and the Emergence of Hadrami Sada: Shaping Historical Perception by Using the Current Situation?”
4. WAZAKI Seika “Searching for “our Islam”: Sufism, tariqa and the government policies towards Islam in post-Soviet Central Asia”
Session 6
1. miriam cooke “Framing the Lives of Female Sufi Saints”
2. YAMANE So “Dual Trends of Sufi Poetry in South Asia”
3. Emine YENITERZI “Significance of Literature in Sufi Education”
4. Cemil AYDIN [chair] “Islamic Studies, Geopolitics, and Racialization of Muslims: Lessons from the 20th Century”
Concluding Session
Cemâlnur SARGUT [chair]
TONAGA Yasushi
AKAHORI Masayuki
William CHITTICK
Carl ERNST
Mahmud Erol KILIÇ
The Center will host an international symposium on research into Sufism from May 20 to 21, 2017.
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The title of the symposium will be: “The First International Symposium of the Kenan Rifai Center for Sufi Studies, Kyoto University: “Islamic Studies and the Study of Sufism in Academia: Rethinking Methodologies” Including the Closing Session of the Education Programme for Sufi Culture “The Bridge of Two Easts.””
It will be held on the 3rd floor of the Kyoto University Inamori Foundation Memorial Building.
(http://www.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en/access/yoshida/pharmaceutical.html: Building No. 37)
Click here for details → http://kerimvakfi.org/live-broadcast/
The Sufi education project was conducted at Üsküdar University, Istanbul. Kyoto University and The University of Tokyo sent a total of five graduate students and PhDs to take part in a prolonged, enthusiastic debate.
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A symposium to celebrate the Center was held at Üsküdar University, Istanbul. This was the start of “The Bridge of Two Easts: Education Program for Sufi Culture,” a Sufi education project that will continue into the following year. Presentations were given from the Japanese side by Yasushi Tonaga, Director of the Kenan Rifai Center; Masayuki Akahori, Professor at Sophia University; and Maruyama Daisuke, Associate Professor at the National Defense Academy of Japan.
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http://tasavvuf.uskudar.edu.tr/en/project/67/the-bridge-of-two-easts-sufi-culture-education-program-project
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OK9gn3NAv6U
The symposium also appeared in Turkish news
https://www.dailysabah.com/life/2016/10/25/turkey-japan-to-join-hands-for-sufism-project-1477334042