International Association of Sufism (IAS) is a California nonprofit organization headquartered in Marin County. It is a United Nations' NGO/DGC and the first organization established to organize an inclusive forum that opens a line of communication among Sufis all around the world. IAS launched a global intra-faith movement among Sufis and Sufi Schools. IAS has played an important role in inter-faith dialogue and cooperation, both in California and internationally. Through the support and efforts of many Sufis and Sufi Schools, IAS has successfully expanded its founding goals to also include and organize programs and projects with a focus on global peace and nonviolence, education, human rights advocacy, promoting women's rights and leadership, supporting efforts to end world Hunger, and supporting freedom of religion, among others. IAS has received the status of Non Governmental Organization from the Department of Global Communication of the United Nations (DGC/NGO). IAS has supported and contributed to the work of Amnesty International, UNICEF, and received recognition from UNESCO for its global peace effort in 2000.
History The IAS was founded by Nahid Angha and Ali Kianfar in 1983. Angha is the eldest child of the Shah Maghsoud Sadegh Angha of the Uwaisi Sufi order and was the first woman appointed to teach in her father's school in the late 1960s. Kianfar was a disciple of Moulana Shah Maghsoud and is an internationally published author and a commentator of the Qur'an.
Work IAS and its members have worked globally to successfully accomplish its founding missions and goals to: introduce Sufism in all its varied forms to the public; make known the interrelation between Sufi principles and scientific principles; provide a forum for a continuing dialogue between the different schools of Sufism; preserve and advance the study and goals of Sufism. Through its journal Sufism an Inquiry, Conferences, Lecture Series, Classes, Educational Programs and Projects, Publication and Productions and Newsletters the IAS has expanded its founding goals to also include programs focused towards global peace and non-violence, education, human rights, women's rights and leadership, ending world's hunger, supporting freedom of religious beliefs, providing children immunizations and school supplies, and working in partnership with grassroots organizations providing free medical care, portable water, and other critical services where most needed. The IAS has received the status of Non Governmental Organization from the Department of Public Information of the United Nations (DPI/NGO), supported and contributed towards the works of Amnesty International, UNICEF, and received recognition from UNESCO for its global peace efforts in 2000. The IAS has received many awards and recognition and has also played an important role in global peace, inter-faith dialogue and cooperation both in California and internationally. IAS has partnered with many organizations to represent Sufism and Islam, including the Interfaith Center at the Presidio, National Inter-religious Leadership Delegation to Washington, D.C., Assembly Members of the Council for the Parliament of the World's Religions, United Religions Initiative, Assembly Member at UNESCO Culture of Peace, Millennium Peace of Religious Leaders UN, among others.
Programs IAS's programs include Building Bridges of Understanding, a cooperative educational program, including conference organization, which it runs in cooperation with the Humanities Department of Dominican University of California, with support from the Marin Community Foundation; Forty Days: Alchemy of Tranquility, which consists of workshops allowing participants to access their hidden wisdom and to use it in daily life; Sufi Symposium, an international, multicultural festival; and Voices for Justice.
Symposia The annual International Sufi Symposium, sponsored by the International Association of Sufism, attracts hundreds of Sufis from around the world. At the 2000 symposium, "The Need for Sufism in a New Century - An Old Tradition for a New World", IAS co-founder Dr Ali Kianfar delivered a speech entitled "Self and Discovery". He said:
There is a saying amongst Sufis, that always there is a question, but we have to look for a Quest. A Quest raised from the heart. So we all have a Quest, but we get the answer according to our question. The 2001 symposium, held in Fremont, California, had the theme of "The Soul's Longing: A Language of Spirit", where attendees explored "the wisdom and beauty of Sufism in society". More than a dozen Sufi masters spoke at the conference and led prayer and meditation (zikr), and there were presentations of Sufi music and poetry. In September 2006 the symposium was convened at Edinburgh, Scotland, the first time such an event had held in Europe. The event was sponsored by the International Association of Sufism, together with the Edinburgh Institute for Advanced Learning and the Edinburgh International Centre for World Spiritualities.
Conferences The conferences organized by the IAS have brought together men and women from a wide variety of national backgrounds and "with different degrees of emphasis on Islamic sharia practice and customs". The meetings give prominence to Sufi Meditation, Zikr, music, poetry, interfaith discussions, and academic lectures by scholars, translators, physicians, and psychotherapists.
Projects The IAS's projects include Literacy Project, in which members of the Sufi Women Organization help tutor those with literacy needs; Prison Project, an outreach programme to those in jail; Project Khaneghah, which is dedicated to building a Sufi community centre or Khanqah, and United Nations and Human Rights, in its role as United Nations NGO.
Modernism and equality An important aspect of the International Association of Sufism is the role that women play in the organization. The IAS stresses a gender-equitable approach. With a foundation in Islam, which has a tradition of respect for women and rights for women dating back to the Prophet, the association and its departments stress and practice a gender-equitable approach in their work. Arife Ellen Hammerle wrote an article entitled Women and Islam for Human Beams magazine in August 1999. Speaking from her personal experiences as a woman, mother, Sufi and American, she relates:
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