Dr. Ibrahim Gamard is an American Sheikh of the Mevlevi Sufi Order, a licensed psychologist and a Rumi translater who is based in California.
He was raised in a Christian family and had spiritual leanings from an early age. At college he discovered, and began to study, mysticism and sought knowledge of higher spiritual states of consciousness. This interest gradually lead him towards Sufism.
At first he did not understand the importance of the link between Sufism and Islam, but after a decade or so of attachment to the spiritual philosophy of the Sufis he came to accept that real Sufis had always been devout Muslims, therefore if he himself wanted to become a real Sufi he must become a Muslim.
After this point he became deeply connected to salaah (the 5 daily Islamic prayers) and began to learn Arabic (he had already learned Persian) and through Arabic the full world of the Holy Qur’an opened up to him.
Sheikh Ibrahim Gamard’s conversion to Islam occurred in 1984 CE and since then he has studied the religion in depth (especially through the lens of Sufism). Sheikh Ibrahim’s journey of spiritual development eventually lead to his being made a Sheikh of the Mevleviyyah Sufi Order in 2007 CE.
The Mevleviyyah is the order established by the son of Maulana Rumi (ra) and it long played an important role in Turkish society until it was suppressed in the 20th century CE by the Secular fundamentalists of the regime of Kama Attaturk that was established in 1925 CE after the destruction of the Ottoman Sultanate.
The new secular regime declared all Sufi orders illegal and all the buildings, properties, and endowments of the Mevleviyyah were seized. For a long time Sufism went underground in Turkey, but with a gradual thawing of the anti-traditionalism that occurred within the republic the famous Mevlevi whirling ceremony was allowed in public once more from 1953 CE onwards as a celebration of Turkish culture. However, other than such activities to this day Sufism remains a very private (and even semi-secret) affair in Turkey.
Sheikh Ibrahim is the author of ‘Rumi and Islam‘ an English language work containing verses of Rumi’s praise for the Prophet Muhammad (saws), but compared to works that de-emphasize Rumi’s connection to Islam it has sold poorly. The Sheikh explains that ‘Americans love Rumi for his ecstatic spirituality about divine love, but they prefer that he not be a Muslim, or at least no more than minimally’. Because of this factor Rumi books sold in the West generally emphasize his mysticism and de-emphasize his Islam, however, readers still benefit as (as well as much of Rumi’s writing being universally applicable) the benevolent values within Rumi are nothing other than an expression of Islam.
The Sheikh has also pointed out that genuine Islam spread in many lands (Africa, Central Asia and South East Asia) through very gentle and undemanding mystical forms of the religion in the past and that despite anti-Islamic sentiments in society Islam continues to be the fastest growing religion in America.
Sheikh Ibrahim has called Muslims towards unity and warned them not to become the victims of divide and rule policies (such as non-Sufi against Sufi and Sunni against Shiah). He has warned them not to be manipulated by the outside influences who wish to use Sufis against Islamists (pointing out the Sufis range from liberal to conservative themselves), rather he calls upon the Sufis to focus upon the realities of Sufism and to avoid flamboyance.
Sadly due to the upheavals of the modern world it seems that in many traditional Muslim lands the works of Rumi are now being neglected due to the ingress of modernism and modernist materialistic approaches to Islam, but thanks to figures such as Sheikh Ibrahim Gamard the works of Rumi are becoming more and more popular in the West.
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