Roots Reloaded. Culture, Identity and Social Development in the Digital Age

Dr. Martin Abdel Matin Gansinger (born 1979 in Austria) studied Communication Science and Political Science at the University of Vienna. He published works on communicative aspects of HipHop and Free Jazz and conducted long-term field research on music and traditional culture in Ghana, Morocco and Cyprus. Next to his professional experience as a journalist and PR coordinator in the music industry he is currently holding the position of Assistant Professor and Head of Department/Radio, TV & Cinema at Girne American University.

Dr. Ayman Kole studied at the University of Sydney, completing a Bachelor of Arts degree with triple majors: English, Performance Studies and Studies in Religion. He also completed an MA in English in 2006 from the same university and wrote the short story 'The Mirror' which was the Phoenix Journal finalist, published by Sydney University Press. He is the author of the historical novel 'Mark of the Crescent', based on research of various social movements during the 17th century. He holds a PhD in History, English and Creative Writing from Charles Stuart University and is currently the Head of Social and Digital Media Department at Girne American University.

Text sample: Chapter: Shaykh Nazim and the outward-orientation of the Order: Named after Cyprus-born Shaykh Nazim Adil al-Haqqani, who is listed as the fortieth master in a chain of inheritance of the Order's leadership (Kabbani, 2004), the widespread and highly accessible Haqqani-branch of the brotherhood managed to establish permanent centers and fellowships in Western Europe and North America (Böttcher, 2006; Damrel, 2006). It must be noted that the remarkable dedication and charismatic personality of its leader has been preserved in numerous written works, on audio-tapes and video-recordings (Raudvere & Stenberg, 2008). Therefore it should not be surprising that even after his physical departure in 2014, Shaykh Nazim is continuing to attract people to his spiritual way through countless archived live-streams and social media profiles (Stjernholm, 2015). When Weismann (2007) acknowledges the Shaykh's ability to accommodate the Sufi path to the current realities of globalization (2007, p. 3), he is considering it as the continuation of a historical pattern that made the grandmasters of the order throughout the centuries modify and adjust their teachings to their socio-political environment - and often enough actively shaping it. As pointed out by Yemelianova (2001, p. 663). By the eighteenth century, the majority of Muslims of the eastern North Caucasus were Sufis. (...) The Russian invasion of the North Caucasus in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries stimulated political and military functions of tariqatism which were not characteristic of mainstream Sufism. The Naqshbandi tariqa provided a mobilizing framework for resistance to Russian expansion in the region. Furthermore, the active role of the Order in military resistance is stressed by the examples of Chechen Naqshbandi master Shaykh Mansur Ushurma - who, during the eighteenth century united the Chechens and various peoples of Dagestan into an anti-Russian political-military union (Yemelianova, 2001, p. 663) - as well as the declaration of a Shari'a-based Islamic territory by the Naqshbandi-affiliated Imam Shamyl in the nineteenth century (2001, p. 663 ). The Naqshbandi shaykhs and their disciples led the military resistance to the Russians. Ever since, the Naqshbandiis have maintained their active involvement in politics. Under the conditions of extreme polyethnicity and persistent external threat, tariqatism served as a viable basis for the political unification of the North Caucasus. As a matter of fact, the spreading of the Naqshbandi teachings in the Western world started already during the first half of the 20th century, when Shaykh Nazim's predecessor, Shaykh Abdullah ad-Daghestani attracted spiritual seekers such as Georges Ivanowitch Gurdjieff (Kabbani, 2004a, p. 435) to his lodge in Damascus or the Gurdjieff-student John G. Bennett, who according to Rawlinson (1993) met the Grandmaster in Beirut, 1955. Both of them have conveyed Sufi-affiliated thought to considerable audiences in Western capitals. According to Damrel (1999) it is the fellowship of the then deceased Bennett who encouraged the opening of the first Naqshbandi-Haqqani-center in London. Considering that Shaykh Nazim was sent by his master back to Cyprus during the Second World War with the mission to establish centers in Western Europe, one might assume that the Order's latest missionary activities on the internet might have been more approved than condemned as well, since - as Weismann (2007, p. 4) puts it: Intoxicated mystics have always rejoiced in the bliss of the annihilation of their self in the One, while sober mystics like the Naqshbandis put the stress on their subsistence in order to return to this world and guide others on the same journey. Another point to consider that sets the Naqshbandiyya apart from other Sufi brotherhoods is their accessibility - meaning for example that the prescribed daily routine of worship is full of special practices and invocations that are han