Past Events

May 6th, 2013
"Sufism, Principles and Dialogue" at the Gallery Hall in Hebron.

The event also included; The head (Sheikh) Emam of Al-aqsa mosque (the third holiest Muslim site) Shekh Abd Alkareem Zurba , the head of the Palestinian Islamic Supreme Council of the Jurisprudence, Shaikh Tayseer Al-Tamimi ( a well known interfaith leader in Palestine and a consultant to president Abbas in religious issues), a group of juries males and females from the Palestinian court ( 2 of the juries were from the women who recently appointed as high court juries in Palestine), a group of 7 Palestinian Sufis from Alqasimy Tariqa in Palestine, the vice-governor of Hebron and representative of president Abbas to the meeting, Universities professors, students, and other local leadership.

This event is the first of its kind in Palestine to address the topic Sufism to the Palestinian community and discuss about it. There are small group of Sufis in Palestine who also had the chance to take part and learn about similarities and differences with other groups around the world.

The meeting was chaired by Tareq Altamimi the coordinator of Volunteering for Peace CC and the member of the Global Council of URI, the meeting started with a prayer from the Emam of Al-aqsa mosque Shekh Abd Alkareem Zurba. Then Mr. Altamimi provided an introduction to URI, its main principles and purposes and presented the members of Volunteering for Peace who were attending the meeting.

After a welcoming from the chairman, Sheikh Tayseer Al-Tamimi provide an introduction about the importance of diversity in the Palestinian community and the openness to the world and to other religions. He welcomed Shikha Khadija to Palestine and her students and spoke about Sufism in Islam. He also spoke about the current situation of holy places in Palestine and the dangers it encounter due to the occupation.

Then the Vice-governor of Hebron and the representative of President Abbas spoke and welcomed Shikha Khadija and the audience in the city of Hebron and spoke about the importance of interfaith and knowing about other groups and methods of worshiping He also spoke about his excitement on this event which take place for the first time in Palestine and encourage organizing this kind on conference. He also thanked Volunteering for Peace for organizing the event and move the governor blessing to this event.

Then Shikha Khadija started with thanking Volunteering for Peace for organizing this event and inviting her to it and for giving her the opportunity to make this event in Palestine. She provided an introduction about the Mevlavi way of Sufism which is using the prayers and thiker as a method of worshiping to God. She started with an introduction of the existence of human being and the uniqueness of God. She provided a detailed information about the mevlavi way (tariqa) of Sufism and spoke about the whirling Dervish way which she use to reach to god. She mentioned that her way of worshiping to god is based on love and Thiker. She also gave live examples of the classes she normally provide around the world in the states, Europe, India, and other countries. to learn more about Shikha Khadija and her work check the following link www.whirling-dervish.org

Then the group of local Sufis of Al-Qasimy in Palestine had a chance to present their way (Tariqa) and spoke about the Academy they already established to teach Sufism in Palestine and the activates they organize in Palestine. They also spoke about many similarities with what Shikha Khadija already mentioned.