Expert blog: Pick-and-mix spiritualities - Distorting religiously inspired texts and the Islamophobia behind it

Expert blog: Pick-and-mix spiritualities: Distorting religiously inspired texts and the Islamophobia behind it.

Imagine you are a follower of a religion and you come across a quote from a text that has been inspired by your religious faith and shared widely on social media. However, the origin of the quote has been ignored and even distorted to such an extent that people are being inspired in ways contrary to the original purpose, context, and meaning. As a follower of that religion, how would you feel?

The 13th-century Sufi mystic and poet Jalal Al Din Rumi, more commonly known today as Rumi, taught Islam, theology, poetry and other such subjects related to religious and spiritual practice. His works were inspired by his Islamic faith, spiritual practices, and reflections on the Quran and other important Islamic texts of his time. He died in the city of Konya, now in modern-day Turkey in 1273 leaving behind a legacy of vast spiritual knowledge. Rumi's tomb is visited by thousands each year, and his voice echoes through the spiritual teachings and practices of many Muslims around the world. It has continued to grow and reach out to people of many other faiths, and none.

The Dilution of Rumi’s Words:

However, despite this salient Islamic and Sufi influence on Rumi’s work, much of it has had its heritage stripped away to promote a so-called ‘New Sufism’. This has been used to treat mental health problems in the form of meditation practices, self-help books, and lifestyle guides for those people experiencing spiritual emptiness.

Let us look at the kinds of things that are shared on social media with attributions to Rumi, which include quotes such as: Daniel Sunden aka Softie Cat on X: "'Respond to every call that excites your spirit!' - Rumi 💗, 𝑳𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒂𝑯.🇩🇰.. on X: "On this path let the heart be your guide. - Rumi, and, even more alarmingly, Ramblings on X: "I belong to no religion. My religion is love. Every heart is my temple. Rumi. These quotes are void of any connection to God or his religious faith, and yet Rumi’s life was very much inspired by coming to know God more fully and the need to be closer to God, amongst other essential elements of Islamic and Sufi doctrines. Accepted mainstream interpretations of Rumi’s work sanitise his words to make it more palatable to a broader, non-religious, readership.

Now, we are seeing the works of Rumi and similar religiously inspired writers increasingly being co-opted by new-age spirituality and wellness movements in the west. Often these are reduced to motivational soundbites on social media that seek to inspire better ways of living. Rumi for example is often referred to as a mystic and poet but he is rarely referred to as Muslim. There is little acknowledgment of the Islamic roots and religious inspiration in Rumi’s writing and this is an example of cultural appropriation. In this context and beyond, an individual's religious identity and agency is deserving of equal importance and acknowledgment. The conscious, or even subconscious, ignoring of someone's religious/spiritual background in the case of Muslim authors could be seen as Islamophobic. Islamophobia can be conscious, or it can be something that happens out of ignorance.  It has been defined as ‘rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness’.  This stripping away of the Muslimness in Rumi's work is not an isolated trend.

It could also be argued that how Rumi's words have been translated could be part of the blame for why some secular readers continue to disregard his religious and spiritual roots. Alarmingly, a prolific translator of Rumi's writings, Coleman Barks, has admitted that his upbringing as a Presbyterian Christian may have influenced him to remove Islamic references.  Barks has said that he had found the Qu'ran difficult to read and it’s likely that his knowledge of the Bible may have affected how he translated Rumi's words into American free verse. By moving away from having to learn more about the Qu'ran and how it influenced Rumi's thoughts, Barks may have created interpretations that still thrive among secular audiences.  In essence, this shying away from learning more about the Islamic background of Rumi’s ideas could be seen as Islamophobic.

In this context and beyond, an individual's religious identity and agency is deserving of equal importance and acknowledgment. We would argue that conscious or even subconscious ignoring of someone's religious/spiritual background (in the case of Muslim authors) can be seen as Islamophobia and the corruption and dilution of Rumi’s Islamic identity is symptomatic of this. Let us share our expertise and experience in how Islamophobia can take on many forms, in a similar vein to what we have shared.

A textual analysis of Rumi’s poem ‘Emptiness’:

Let us look at Rumi’s poem ‘Emptiness’ – something that characterises his Islamic faith. The poetic speaker begins by referring to the human tendency of questioning one’s motives and the inseparable elements of humanity as being encompassed by God’s plan: ‘Consider the difference/ in our actions and God’s actions’. Notice the repetition of ‘We’ and ‘God’ throughout the poem that infers a continual relationship with God, who is also later referred to as ‘Allah’, which is how Muslims would depict their Qu’ranic understanding of God (Why Do Muslims Say Allah Instead of God? | About Islam). The poem references human emptiness by posing the following question: ‘Who are we then/ in this complicated world-tangle’ which the poetic speaker answers later with: ‘Nothing. / We are/emptiness’. In the last stanza, the speaker makes a call for simplicity and not overcomplicating one’s life by being tangled within the way of the material world but rather to recognise that everything takes place within God’s oversight. Being at one with God recognises that this is part and parcel of Islamic theology regarding the key principle of Tawhid – the oneness and totality of God’s existence. This poem draws on the theme of oneness with God to plea to humans to not be so caught up with the material world. Instead, Rumi’s speaker encourages the reader to look back and study themselves and society with an empirical ‘lens’. These references to seeking oneness with God through an internal journey and a self-reflective process: ‘backward-and-forward-at-once’ is an all-seeing ‘lens’ in which the reader needs to set aside rationality and draw from spiritual and supernatural viewpoints instead.

Ramisha's comments on Islamophobia Awareness Month:

As a PhD student, I believe establishing a university-wide Islamophobia Awareness Month (IAM) at NTU has encouraged a reconsideration of representation and ways to develop dialogue between people from different backgrounds and foster understanding, compassion, and empathy, as I have intended to do in this article. IAM was established in the UK by various Muslim agencies in 2012 including Muslim Engagement and Development (MEND). It aims to celebrate positive Muslim contributions to society, whilst also raising awareness about Islamophobia. You can learn about IAM and how to get involved on the official website: islamophobia-awareness.org.

Glenn's comments on Islamophobia and Islamophobia Awareness Month:

Islamophobia can be conscious, or it can be something that happens out of ignorance. One important report defined it as "rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness".

During Islamophobia Awareness Month, in my presentation entitled “Challenges of Islamophobia among Muslim converts - Stories at the sharp end of religious hatred and indifference”, I shared stories of how Muslim converts were marginalised and not accepted.  In my research into religious and spiritual conversion, I have studied the experiences of people who take the step to embrace a new faith. With data I am currently analysing of those who converted to Islam, I was surprised to hear subtle forms of Islamophobia - converts would be treated by family or friends as if the convert was going through a 'phase'.

Concluding Remarks:

If religiously inspired texts are being distorted to meet a western, secular, and non-spiritual need, then this is doing a disservice to the creators of such words and ideas. For too long, Rumi’s works have been hijacked by ‘self-development’ industries. Acknowledging the religious heart-and-soul of creators of inspiring texts is necessary in calling out when cultural and religious misappropriations are happening. We need to respect and understand the writer’s heritage and perspectives rather than bending their words and ideas to fit into easy feelgood notions.

Ramisha Rafique is a creative-critical PhD candidate in the School of Arts and Humanities, exploring postcolonial literature, Islamophobia, British Muslim women’s writing, and travel poetry.

Dr Glenn Williams is a principal lecturer and researcher in the School of Social Sciences, with expertise in community psychology, psychology of well-being, health and health care.