30 Oct., 1998, at Fac. of Literature Annex, The University of Tokyo.

About 15 scholars enrolled in this meeting. Dr. Bruinessen's report would be summarized with the following two points.

Firstly, he mentioned on the state of religions in the area where is called Kurdistan, especially, on the mutual relation between "orthodoxy" and heterodoxy". He suggested that the orthodox Islamic fraternities (represented by Naqshbandi, for example) became indigenously, while the minor religious fraternities like Yazidi, Ahl-i Haqq and Alevi, which had originally Islamic character, got some non-Islamic styles for prayer on the other, because of some mixing and penetrating process between Islamic "orthodoxy" and "heterodoxy" in this significant pre-Islamic or Iranian area.
Secondly, Dr. Bruinessen mentioned about the condition and the politicalinfluence of Sufism in the Kurdish society. According to his report, theShaykh of Sufiya fraternity, which had often led the movement of the Kurdish nationalism in that society for a while, had been taken inside of the political system gradually after WWII and had played a role of political party's machine to gather votes.
After the presentation by Dr. Bruinessen, various questions were taken up as follows. Why some huge rebellions led by the Shaykh did not happen in the Iranian Kurdistan, even though from the end of the 19th to the beginning of the 20th century rebellions led by the Shaykh occurred frequently and the Shaykh were at the head of the nationalistic movement in the Kurdistan under the Ottoman Empire? What is the conceptual difference between Alevi and Qizilbash? How can we understand the identity of Jewish who had the residential place at Kurdistan? What kind of relationship did the Sufiya fraternity has with Christian minorities in Kurdistan? How the Islamic Movement of Kurdistan (IMK) in contemporary Iraqi Kurdistan deal with Sufism? How Yazidi and Ahl-i Haqq acknowledge themselves and others (Muslims)? Where does the difference of research styles between Mr. F. Barth and Dr. Bruinessen originate in? Was the geography of Kurdistan an advantageous factor for the formation of the heterodoxy? Why the Naqshbandi, which laid stress originally on Shariah, took on an anti-Shariah character in Kurdistan?
Both at the report and the question period, Dr. Bruinessen masticated his ideas, spoke so slowly to help the participator's understanding, and answered politely for each question. As already known well, he is one of a rear kind of researchers who has two research fields; Kurdistan and Indonesia, and mastered two disciplines; anthropology and history. It was very impressive that he allowed full play to his curiosity with his extensive knowledge, not only at the meeting for research, but also at the reception meeting after the workshop.