(Documentary | Islam) | Sufis of Afghanistan: Master and Disciple (Part 1)

Arnaud Desjardins (1925-2011) was a leading figure in introducing the broader French public to the philosophies and religious practices of Asia. His films devoted to Tibetan Buddhist leaders, Indian religious teachers, Japanese Zen philosophers, and Afghan Sufis were widely shown on French television in the 1960s and early 1970s when such topics were largely unknown among non-specialists. Desjardins went to Afghanistan — calm and isolated in the early 1960s, and filmed interviews with Sufi teachers (Pirs or Shaykhs) and also music and movements (dances). Afghanistan was largely unknown in France in the 1960s, and the only Sufi traditions known in France were those of North Africa and Senegal-Mali which are rather different from those of Afghanistan. His visit to Afghanistan, just prior to the Russian takeover, allowed him to film special ceremonies and initiatory rituals which were soon outlawed in that country. All of the Sufis filmed in his piece were later executed by the Russian army.