Syed Ali Sarvat Jafri lives near Ayodhya, the Indian city that witnessed violent intercommunal rioting after Hindu nationalists tore down a 16th century mosque. Jafri aims to spark conversations about history, memory and heritage-preservation through his art, which draws on his ancestral legacy of blending Hinduism and Sufism in poetry.
Read MoreWith peace letters written by schoolchildren to friends unknown to them across the border, Jesuit priest Joseph Kalathil set out to build bridges between India and Pakistan—neighbors scarred by decades of conflict and hostility. The challenge seemed not only risky but insurmountable. Yet, Kalathil remained determined.
Read MoreFather Joseph Pereira, a Catholic priest in Mumbai, is healing substance abuse addicts through yoga and meditation, which can be a controversial practice for Christians in India.
Read MoreIn East India, a popular mystic musician has been traveling and singing to spread awareness to the rural masses about COVID-19. Gautum Hazra draws on the syncretic Baul tradition that has influenced Western artists like Bob Dylan and blends Vaishnavite devotional Hinduism, Tantric Buddhism, Sufi thought and other traditions to emphasize religious harmony and tolerance.
Read MoreInstitutes for training imams are common across Africa, but the Rabat-based Mohammed VI Institute for the Training of Imams stands out because it welcomes female students to become spiritual guides. Since the late-1990s, Morocco has promoted moderate Islam to push back against radicalism at home and as an antidote to the Wahhabi tradition of Saudi Arabia with its links to Salafi jihadism. Morroco’s King Mohammed VI believes women are part of the solution.
Read MoreAhmed Toufiq, Morocco’s minister of Islamic affairs, is leading an export of the kingdom’s Boutchichiya Sufi Islam and pushing back against the Wahhabi tradition of Saudi Arabia with its links to Salafi jihadism.
Read MoreA group of village councils in North India decided to tackle caste discrimination by changing their names — stripping their postal addresses, name plates, social media accounts and vehicle windshields of caste markers.
Read MoreKashmiri classical music, which blends Sufi traditions from Persia with Indian classical music, is facing threat of extinction as fewer students have leisure or funds to study the art form and fewer maestros exist to teach them. Its musicians believe the genre could bring peace to the army-occupied region, following the ways of Sufi mystics who preached peace, tolerance, pluralism and universalism.
Read MoreThe transgender community in India is pushing for inclusion in sacred spaces at one of the world’s largest religious gatherings.
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