I Am a Sufi, I Am a Muslim
52 minues, color
Films for the Humanities and Sciences

This video was filmed at a variety of locations, in Pakistan, Turkey, Albania, and Iran. My notes during the first viewing I did of it said that students may start to get bored after about 15 minutes; but my summary judgment ended up saying that this is a great video for enriching a unit on Sufism, and that it makes a good companion piece to the Huston Smith Sufism video (which I would prefer that students see first).

The section in Pakistan, filmed in Lahore, addresses some of the tensions between Sufism and more exoteric Islam: the use of music, visits to the tombs of saints and Sufi sacred places. It introduces the concept of Sufi brotherhoods, the importance of the "baraka," the role of the shaykh/pir, and the difference between Sufi brotherhoods and Christian monastic life.

In contrast to many of FFHS's videos, I Am a Sufi, I Am a Muslim is not "slick"-- although I don't mean that in any negative sense. The fact that camera operators did not have full access to places to set up the "great shots" or to do fantastic lighting is completely understandable given where they were filming: zikr ceremonies, qasida festivals, etc. The presentation is great, the information is a nice complement to what most introductory texts say about Sufism, and there is a nice variety of both individuals and locations.

My reason for liking this as a complement to the Huston Smith video stems from one body-piercing scene during a zikr ceremony in Turkey. The scene is powerful enough that some students could walk away saying "So that's what Sufi's do." The power of that two or three minutes is sufficient to outweigh the similar block of time devoted to the initiation ceremony in Macedonia or the segment on the whirling dervishes. There is a nice piece at the end of this video on "urs" ceremonies in Pakistan, with lots of music. The last part of that segment focuses on the music and philosophy of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: a combination concert / interview. This is a tremendously interesting video, with lots of "local color" from a variety of locations in the Muslim world. FFHS films are a little spendy but if you can afford it, it's worth the purchase.


review ©2000 by David Streight and RSiSS

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