Thread 3

Adventurous stories from Agustinus Wibowo, a backpacker who travel around Asia, which share on www.kompas.com I posted this amazing travel into thread series. I have to translate from Indonesian to English and hope still remain the originality. Happy Reading.

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Night Of Sufi (Pakistan)

Lots smoke of hashish mixed with crowded room by men. Sound of drum hypnotized people. Two men who spin in the middle of the circle moved their heads up and down then left to right. All dissolved in spiritual addicted.
Sufisme, also known as mysticism, was the mystical stream-line in Islam who believed that approach itself to God not only can be one way but also through music and dance. In Central Asia and Indian subcontinent, Sufisme is part of Islamic culture itself.
Thursday night, shone of light penetrated the darkness, Baba Shah graveyard area in old city Ikhra in Lahore threw me into the magical nature. This region in the world as life as itself in a world that was different from the bustle modernity of Lahore.
I lead the stair to this holy place. All people have to remove sandals at the door. Behind the gate, there was marble floor page. Here there were only men. Women are prohibited to enter. Hundreds of men wore shalwar kamiz tried to enter limited space in this place.
I got a place in the huddle between the bearded man. Scent of roses fragrance mingled with smoked everywhere. Smell of hashish as like opium was over the place.
"This approach is the way to God himself," said a man, while in the suck-in hashish mixed with his tobacco. "This is not Islam," whispered a young Lahore man who accompanied me, "What the Sufi it is, they just some less work people try to use hashish". He was a Sunni.
Sufi was stream-line of Islam which through anti-regulatory binding. If Wahabbi and Taliban forbid music, the sufisme allowed to use music and dance for worship. Opium prohibited in Islam, but some Sufi people use it to make them easier to mix with the Lord. Using hashish which brought enjoyment spirituality reminded me of sadhu, Hindu hermit in Nepal who escape from the mundane fun.
The obscure light made this place seems haunted in middle of the night with bustling atmosphere. Sounds of drum were brought mystical nuance. The drum tied on a neck of man who beat drum. His eyes closed with said “Kerchief kerchief ... .. kerchief ...”. Slow, slow, and slow then begun faster and faster. It hypnotized powerful. He moved his body .... faster, faster, until his body blurred in the rotation. I saw people started to shake their head as if they flew into their own ecstasy.
Two dancers, one wore red and another wore white, danced in the middle of the circle. They spin while their heads shake followed the sound of drums. When drum in smooth speed their danced smooth also. When drum in high speed their danced in high speed and their body rotated like possessed. Trumpet-shaped horn blew the atmosphere. “Kerchief kerchief ... .. kerchief ... “ he beat the drum with closed eyes. Slow, slow, slow, faster and faster.
They drowned in the trans. What kind of magical power made the dancers were possessed. Hashish aroma, smoke cigarettes and water pipes, or rebound Islamic prayers still continue to flow, brought into the magical nuance. The people cried, "Jhulelal! Jhulelal! ", up and down with waved their hands. Jhulelal was a sacral creation for Hindu and Sufi. The night atmosphere hypnotized. The drummer played his drum in high speed immediately. He became out control, shake his head, jumped around, closed his eyes, spin in fast until his movement were not visible by eyes. Slow, slow, slow, faster, faster, and faster.
"Honestly, the drummer was deaf," whispered my friends. With his deaf he did not feel how strong his beat. The Music hypnotized many people. Two Japanese tourists sit while his head up down, which continued to shake and moved their heads without conscious. Other people have drowned in the pool, pray with rhythm spiritual music.
Through the middle of the night more people participated to dance, they continued to rotate, jump, shake their heads, cry, going to wild. Hundreds of stars that decorated the night sky seemed participated into this hypnotized atmosphere with this people.
I wandered to see the dancers with red robe aflutter when he spin without stopping. Occasionally my eyes closed, my mind felt so relieved and peaceful view of lap robes. "Mast qalandar !!!!" cried the drummer." Qalandar mast mast! Qalandar mast mast! Mast! Mast!” yelled of Hundreds of people who sit in the grave. Mast qalandar appeal was for a famous Sufi teacher of 13th century, Hazrat Lal Shahbaz Qalander. Mast was a situation where someone got into holy mind together with the full of spiritual power.
"In a situation like that," a Sufi whisper, "when they are not aware anymore what they do, they feel so close to God, with Khuda. That was the purpose of all this. "In the midnight darkness, under the influence hypnotized-sound of drum continued to revolve... ... revolve ... enter the subconscious, these people achieved spiritual orgasm.