LZN
21-04-2005, 14:15
Citaat door Abd al-Khadir:
Het blijkt maar weer eens... "de islam" heeft vele belevingsvormen.
Wat dacht u van 3 dagen naakt blowen voor een Sufi nudist die 60 jaar geleden is overleden:
Citaat:
Citaat:
.Wat dacht u van 3 dagen naakt blowen voor een Sufi nudist die 60 jaar geleden is overleden:
Citaat:
Dead saint attracts naked devotees!
AFP - Dhaka, March 30, 2005 - HindustanTimes.com
Clad only in loincloths, hundreds of devotees of a religious figure known as the "naked saint" gathered in central Bangladesh on Wednesday before the start of a three-day festival of folk songs and cannabis smoking.
Chanting "Dohai Langta Solaiman" (Help! Naked Solaiman), the followers will commemorate the death more than 60 years ago of Solaiman, who shunned clothes during his lifetime and is revered in Bangladesh as a Muslim saint of the Sufi tradition.
The gathering, due to start on Thursday, is expected to attract hundreds of naked devotees and up to half a million curious onlookers.
"The disciples will ... pass the days in a trance-like state," said Abdus Sattar, a local resident.
Cannabis use is illegal in Bangladesh although law enforcers traditionally turn a blind eye during the festival.
"Police usually maintain a safe distance from the cannabis revellers as long as their rompings don't spill over and cause any disturbance," a police official, requesting anonymity, said.
Special transport services were operating on Wednesday to ferry festival goers to the venue at Matlab, 51 kilometres (32 miles) south of the capital.
The festival has been attracting thousands of visitors each year since it started in the 1950s.
Het is trouwens niet het enige moslim-blowfeest in Bangladesh. Ook ter ere van Sunni Shah Sultan Balkhi uit de twaalfde eeuw wordt een feestje gegeven, zo meldt de BBC in 2001: AFP - Dhaka, March 30, 2005 - HindustanTimes.com
Clad only in loincloths, hundreds of devotees of a religious figure known as the "naked saint" gathered in central Bangladesh on Wednesday before the start of a three-day festival of folk songs and cannabis smoking.
Chanting "Dohai Langta Solaiman" (Help! Naked Solaiman), the followers will commemorate the death more than 60 years ago of Solaiman, who shunned clothes during his lifetime and is revered in Bangladesh as a Muslim saint of the Sufi tradition.
The gathering, due to start on Thursday, is expected to attract hundreds of naked devotees and up to half a million curious onlookers.
"The disciples will ... pass the days in a trance-like state," said Abdus Sattar, a local resident.
Cannabis use is illegal in Bangladesh although law enforcers traditionally turn a blind eye during the festival.
"Police usually maintain a safe distance from the cannabis revellers as long as their rompings don't spill over and cause any disturbance," a police official, requesting anonymity, said.
Special transport services were operating on Wednesday to ferry festival goers to the venue at Matlab, 51 kilometres (32 miles) south of the capital.
The festival has been attracting thousands of visitors each year since it started in the 1950s.
Citaat:
Held on Friday near the town of Bogra in the remote north of the country, it is an all night music and dance celebration in honour of the Sunni saint, Shah Sultan Balkhi, who died in the 12th century.
Shah Sultan is renowned for his powers of healing and is revered by Sufi Muslims and Hindus.
Young revellers
The celebration of his life is unusual in that many of the thousands of people attending openly smoke cannabis and stay in camps nearby the site.
The festival in many ways bears an uncanny resemblance to a western rock festival.
Music and drugs are in plentiful supply, and predominantly young revellers from both sexes stay in makeshift camps nearby the venue.
But those attending argue that is where the similarities end.
They say that the festival is essentially a religious event to commemorate Shah Sultan Balkhi and that the smoking of cannabis enables his followers to come closer to God.
Revellers say that so far the authorities have done nothing to stop the drugs taking even though its forbidden under Bangladeshi and Islamic law.
Intoxicated
Many people come from far flung areas carrying chicken, rice and other stuff to cook while they spend the whole night singing songs and smoking cannabis.
On one side a group of disabled people beg money from the people attending the festival.
"Smoking cannabis is not wrong if it helps you to contemplate God," argues a man of about sixty or seventy, one of numerous Sufi Muslims at the festival, inhaling deeply.
"Sufis have always concentrated on finding God personally, rather than pursuing a doctrinal approach to religion," he adds.
He says that smoking cannabis concentrates the mind and helps overcome everyday evils such as greed, lust, selfishness and pride.
Bangladesh has traditionally been a secular country, where Bengali culture and music is as important to many people as the Muslim faith.
But it is also a conservative country, where bans on alcohol are firmly enforced and where people caught trying to smuggle drugs in and out of the country face stern penalties. [...]
Shah Sultan is renowned for his powers of healing and is revered by Sufi Muslims and Hindus.
Young revellers
The celebration of his life is unusual in that many of the thousands of people attending openly smoke cannabis and stay in camps nearby the site.
The festival in many ways bears an uncanny resemblance to a western rock festival.
Music and drugs are in plentiful supply, and predominantly young revellers from both sexes stay in makeshift camps nearby the venue.
But those attending argue that is where the similarities end.
They say that the festival is essentially a religious event to commemorate Shah Sultan Balkhi and that the smoking of cannabis enables his followers to come closer to God.
Revellers say that so far the authorities have done nothing to stop the drugs taking even though its forbidden under Bangladeshi and Islamic law.
Intoxicated
Many people come from far flung areas carrying chicken, rice and other stuff to cook while they spend the whole night singing songs and smoking cannabis.
On one side a group of disabled people beg money from the people attending the festival.
"Smoking cannabis is not wrong if it helps you to contemplate God," argues a man of about sixty or seventy, one of numerous Sufi Muslims at the festival, inhaling deeply.
"Sufis have always concentrated on finding God personally, rather than pursuing a doctrinal approach to religion," he adds.
He says that smoking cannabis concentrates the mind and helps overcome everyday evils such as greed, lust, selfishness and pride.
Bangladesh has traditionally been a secular country, where Bengali culture and music is as important to many people as the Muslim faith.
But it is also a conservative country, where bans on alcohol are firmly enforced and where people caught trying to smuggle drugs in and out of the country face stern penalties. [...]