Abstract
This chapter offers a medley of writings from 1988 through 2015, all highlighting the centrality of spirituality in Abdul Aziz Said’s thinking when addressing topics such as global politics, teaching, human development, and intercultural dialogue. All of these writings underscore the principle that engagement across cultural and national boundaries is vital for humanity today – not just for the purposes of planetary survival but also for the development of the whole human being. Said’s dedication to this premise is reflected in his oft-repeated maxim, “The whole world needs the whole world.”
Abdul Aziz Said, the primary author of the writings presented in this chapter, was the longest serving professor at American University and founder of the International Peace and Conflict Resolution program at the institution’s School of International Service. Nathan C. Funk (Associate Professor at Conrad Grebel University College and the University of Waterloo) and Meena Sharify-Funk (Associate Professor at Wilfrid Laurier University) received Said’s guidance while selecting these writings and then edited them for optimal fit within this volume.
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Notes
- 1.
The most direct exposition of Rihani’s spiritual beliefs may be found in The path of vision: Essays of East and West (1970b [originally published in 1921]).
- 2.
- 3.
Rihani experienced spiritual freedom as liberation from any exclusivist attachment to a particular symbolization of the Divine or to a corporate formulation of personal loyalty. As he put it in The chant of mystics, “Nor Crescent Nor Cross we adore;/ Nor Buddha nor Christ we implore; / Nor Muslem nor Jew we abhor:/ We are free./ We are not of Iran or of Ind,/ We are not of Arabia or Sind:/ We are free” (1970a, p. 106).
- 4.
On capitalist excesses and exploitation of the poor, see Ar-Rihaniyat. On the dangers of the Russian Revolution, see The descent of bolshevism (Rihani 1920).
- 5.
This phrase is adapted from a passage in Rihani’s Path of vision that seeks to admonish readers concerning the consequences of “drifting away from the path of vision” (1970b, p. 24).
- 6.
“If we are concerned in breaking the fetters that are fastened upon our bodies and souls by external agencies only, we are doomed to failure. But if we become aware of the fetters, which we, in the sub-consciousness of centuries of submission, have fastened upon the spirit within us and strive to free ourselves of them first, then we are certain to triumph” (Rihani 1970b, p. 129).
- 7.
From her poem “Die Before You Die” (Ladinsky 2002).
- 8.
For further reading see Schimmel (1978).
- 9.
For more information on this Pakistani legend hailed as both Mahatma Gandhi and Father Teresa, see Constable (2011).
- 10.
In quantum physics, it is measurement that collapses the wave of possibilities of two distant, correlated electrons. David Böhm’s interpretation was that measurement and electrons are not different from consciousness. They are holographic – each contains the other. The physical order is implicit in the conscious order. Böhm presented this theory in his 1980 book, Wholeness and the implicate order.
- 11.
Whirling refers to the Sufi sect of Whirling Dervishes and was founded by Jalāl ad-Dīn Rumi. Dervish is translated as “seeker,” or one on the Sufi journey.
- 12.
From Rumi/Shiva (2000).
- 13.
Ibn al-‘Arabi/Nicholson (1978), The tarjuman al-ashwaq.
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Acknowledgment
Tara Alisbah gave “Peace, the Inside Story” valuable editing, support, and generosity of spirit. I am grateful.
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Said, A.A., Funk, N.C., Sharify-Funk, M. (2022). Dialogue, Spirituality, and Transformation. In: Funk, N.C., Sharify-Funk, M. (eds) Abdul Aziz Said: A Pioneer in Peace, Intercultural Dialogue, and Cooperative Global Politics. Pioneers in Arts, Humanities, Science, Engineering, Practice, vol 26. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13905-5_10
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