Book Talk | Derishes of the North

Rumi, the Muslim poet and mystic, has become a popular spiritual icon in the contemporary era and though his poetry and personae has resulted in some critiques of our consumption and appropriation of Islam, this talk will consider how Sufi communities in Canada with deep commitments to Rumi are defining their relationship to Rumi and Sufism through ritual practices. Using some examples of Sufi communities in Canada that engage with Rumi ritually and also in performative venues (sometimes as a commodity) I consider how these dynamics around Rumi’s consumption and popularization unfold and what they say about how we can think about contemporary Sufism today, especially as it is unfolding within both the context of Muslim communities and also beyond it.