Desarrollo de la propuesta

The use of the Internet serves to project further the personal charisma of the Sufi master. Schmidt (2004, 113) argues that Naqshbandi-Haqqani uses the internet to help a Sufi master strengthen his ‘natural gift’ and personal charismatic appeal among his followers. Elaborating on Schmidt’s argument, the case of Naqshbandi- Haqqani shows that the internet has even generated an e-Sufism, which is unprecedented in the transmission of traditional Sufi teachings.

The term e-Sufism refers to any kind of Sufi figures, products, teachings, knowledge, materials, emotional expressions, ways of devotion, rituals, and activities mediated by or found on the internet and deliberately used for disseminating, venerating, and preaching purposes. The websites that have brought about the creation of this e-Sufism are diverse. They include: e-Bai’at (initiation), e-Dzikr (recollection), e-Fatwa, e-Jihad, e-Sohbet (association with the sheikh), e- Rabitah (focusing on the master’s face), e-Muroqoba (Sufi meditation), and e- Ziarah (pilgrimage). Each website serves a different purpose.

The initiation or bai’at is perhaps the most important ritual that every Sufi disciple has to go through. It is a formal declaration of allegiance and commitment to and before his or her spiritual teacher. Since 2006, Sheikh Nazim has given permission for e-bai’at for those aspiring to be his disciple.103 The Naqshbandi website gives detailed information on how to do bai’at properly, followed by a detailed contact form.104 Next, the website provides a note encouraging anyone

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103 _{Interview with G.F. Haddad, 19 November 2010} 104 _{For e-bai’at, see http://naqshbandi.org/about/baya.htm}

who takes e-bai’at to renew it once he or she meets Sheikh Nazim Adel or his deputy in person. The same website also provides complete ritual guidance (daily prayers and protocols) that have to be performed as routine religious obligations.

Sufilive and ISCA websites that contain audio/video recordings and live TV broadcasts of Sheikh Nazim Adel and Sheikh Hisham Kabbani are sites where Naqshbandi-Haqqani’s disciples have the opportunity to carryout e-Sohbet as part of their daily devotion. Both websites are highly venerated as proven by more than 900,000 sitevisits per day. E-Sohbet is increasingly popular and perhaps has become a reasonable solution to address the problem of time and space without losing the essence of Sohbet itself, whose object is to be as close as possible to the guiding Sheikh. Until now, both websites have more than 5000 audio/video recordings of Sheikh Nazim and Hisham Kabbani.

Followers are encouraged to regularly visit the websites as a way of carrying out e-Rabithah by looking at the picture of the Sheikh, keeping in touch with and receiving the ever-flowing blessing (barakah) from both Sheikh Nazim and Sheikh Hisham Kabbani. Video recordings are sometimes used to strengthen the charisma of the master. Thus, watching e-Suhba on the Sufilive for many disciples is no longer an entertaining activity to be taken lightly. Instead, it becomes a ritual with certain adab (etiquette) to follow just as though the Sheikh himself were actually there in person.

On 19 December 2010 for instance, news spread among Naqshbandi- Haqqani’s disciples following a video recording on Sufilive that showed visitors from Chile who had come to show their gratitude to Sheikh Nazim for helping

them. The video was related to the use of tawiz and its miraculous effects for its users. Sheikh Nazim al Haqqani, through one of his disciples in Chile, reportedly gave the tawiz for protection to the miners who were trapped underground at the mining site in Chile.105

The Internet has also become a site through which disciples establish intimate relationships, seek guidance and ask for counsel and through which the master performs his role as a spiritual guide. The Sunnah and Eshaykh websites address the daily concerns of disciples on family issues, health, and gender relations. They are also sites where the master explains matters of doctrine and shariah provisions to disciples. More importantly, the websites provide interactive communication between the master and his disciples in the form of Questions and Answers. This Q&A interaction is definitive and final; therefore, the websites include e-Fatwa telling the disciples what to do and what not to do based on shariah prescriptions. The websites also offer e-Jihad, not to promote violence or wage a campaign of cyber-terror (hacking or cracking), but instead to emphasize the importance of carrying out the greater Jihad (tadzkiyah an-nafs) rather than the lesser Jihad (holy war). The websites affirm the legitimacy of Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah in general and Sufism in particular within Islamic tradition and also condemn religious views, particularly Wahabism, which is regarded as a false doctrine that violates Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah’s orthodox stance.

Some video recordings show Sheikh Nazim or Sheikh Hisham opening and kissing a box containing the hair of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) followed by their disciples. To distant disciples, these recordings and devotion resemble a

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pilgrimage that is mediated electronically. This kind of mediated pilgrimage can also be seen when a distant disciple attentively reads on the websites about the pious acts and miraculous power (karamah) of every single Naqshbandi’s golden chain masters. This e-pilgrimage is repeatedly shown during special months of the Islamic calendar such as Rajab, Muharram, Rabi’ul Awal, and Sya’ban.

Noorjan Mirahmadi (a Western convert living in Vancouver, Canada) created two websites containing materials related to e-Muroqoba, a complete guidance on Sufi meditational techniques. 106 These websites are dedicated to Sheikh Nazim Adel and Sheikh Hisham Kabbani. The websites provide practical guidance in the form of pictures and video recordings for conducting Sufi meditation but also give the philosophical and theological basis of these practices. The websites are quite popular in Indonesia especially among young Naqshbandi- Haqqani’s disciples. However, the websites have also sparked controversy, allegedly because they openly display and elaborate ‘the so-called secret of Naqshbandi-Haqqani’s teachings and beliefs’ which seems contrary to its orthodox standing on shariah. This is one reason that Sheikh Hisham Kabbani instructed the creator of these sites to move from the USA to Canada in 2006.

However, the adoption of the Internet was not as smooth as might seem. It was not always considered acceptable to present Sufi materials so openly to the public, especially to those who were not initiated. Using the internet for preaching purposes has led to Naqshbandi-Haqqani adapting to a more open environment and revealing all its teachings, which have previously been kept secret or shared only among the most advanced students. The ‘publication of the secret’ as suggested by

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Ernst, about Nur Muhammad (Muhammad’s light), unseen worlds, and miraculous powers led to accusation that Haqqani held heretic beliefs. It was only after Sheikh Nazim Adel gave his permission that Sheikh Hisham Kabbani went ahead with his efforts to reveal all the secrets of Naqshbandi’s teachings. Naqshbandi-Haqqani’s disciples described Sheikh Nazim Adel and Sheikh Hisham Kabbani as masters who are not stingy in sharing their knowledge because they were willing to impart everything they knew to their disciples.