Rumi in Vermont
from Brattleboro Words Trail Podcast Hosted by #amerlatifphd, #alecpombriant
This episode was written and narrated by Amer Latif, who also played the ney. Producer and editor was Lissa Weinmann. Guilford Sound mastered the Words Trail content and Alec Pombriant did post-podcast production. Dr. Amer Latif is an interdisciplinary scholar specializing in comparative religion and Islamic studies. His research revolves around the translation of cultures. Having grown up in Pakistan and with an undergraduate degree in Physics, Dr. Latif thrives on studying and creating containers that are capacious enough to hold seeming contradictions such as science and religion. Dr. Latif lives in the Brattleboro area, having tought at Marlboro College, just next to Brattleboro. That college closed in 2020 but lives on as the Marlboro Institute at Emerson College in Boston where Dr. Latif teaches today. The Sama is ritual of Sufi whirling or whirling dervishes, a mystical practice within Sufism, a branch of Islam, that involves spinning and whirling while chanting and praying, a form of worship, or prayer through movement, to connect with the divine and achieve a state of spiritual unity. We honor the special gifts all cultures bring to the world, and hope you enjoy how this segment sheds particular light on the rich artistic traditions around Islam and Sufism's reverence for nature, and humans place within nature. For a current online class on Rumi recommended by Dr. Latif: https://www.suficorner.org/events/masnavi For more info on Threshold Publishing/Kabir and Camile Helminsky www.sufism.org Our theme music is by Ty Gibbons.Intro voice is Donna Blackney. Thanks to the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Vermont Arts Council and the hundreds of volunteers and community members who support this work.
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What this episode covers
Dr. Amer Latif introduces us to the Persian poet Rumi, who, though born in Konya, Turkey, more than than 800 years ago, remains one of the world’s most beloved and inspiring poets. Dr. Latif talks about Rumi ’s surprising connections to Brattleboro, reads a bit of his work in English and in Persian, and plays the sacred Sufi flute - the ney - to accompany this story. He shares the story of how Brattleboro's Threshold Publishing played a pivotal role in introducing the Rumi to America and a larger world. Latif, a professor of cross cultural studies at Emerson College, says: "Scriptures vary, cultures vary; The book of nature is what we have in common, and Rumi helps us read that book." He talks about the Threshold Society and Kabir and Camile Helminsky's bringing musicians and whirling dervishes from Rumi's Sufi order to Brattelboro and on US tours which popularized Rumi and Sufism, and describes how these traditions remain in this area.
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