Sufism under attack?

Sufism under attack?

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Sufi Islam has recently been coming under attack across the country. A number of shrine caretakers in Sindh have been mysteriously murdered. Last week, in Buner, Taliban militants locked down Pir Baba’s shrine and continue to guard its entrance. Last month, Sufi mystic Rehman Baba’s shrine in the outskirts of Peshawar was bombed by militants.

What explains these assaults on the symbols and practitioners of Sufi Islam? Do the militants view Sufism’s continued popularity as a threat? And do you think that it can be effectively used to counter the increasing popularity of hardline Salafi Islam?

 

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147 Responses to “Sufism under attack?”

  1. Epicurus says:

    I am not here to support or condemn anyone. Just penning my train of thought.

    When we look at the teachings and lives of these Saints it is clear they adhered very strictly to the teachings of Qur’an and Sunnah and never ever practiced the things that happen at these places. (I myself is a witness to things happening at dozens of these shrines). The question is who started all these after the death of these Great Saints and the irony is all this is done in the holy name of these Saints! And they even name it as Sufism! Insult to the Saints and insult to Sufism! Any right minded person knows this has nothing to do with Saints or Sufism.

  2. Satya says:

    I wonder what ordinary Pakistani thinks about Ghalib. I think people of subcontinent or at least Urdu-Hindi speaking population should rediscover Ghalib more than any religion. His sensitivity expressed in the most beautiful poems written on the planet, is what we need today. Sadly, he is forgotten by modern day Indians running after ‘economic growth’ and probably would be soon banned in Pakistan.

  3. Samiullah Mughal says:

    There are two parallel systems running in this universe, one that is visible before our eyes and one which is not visible to our eyes called spritualism. True shrine holders are actualy friends of Allah, therefore they are called “Waliullah”. They raise thier status before the Allah by following true path given by Allah through his prophet Muhammad SAWS and to follow the golden rules of helping mankind “Hukuk ul ibaad”. A soul of a waliullah could be active after depart from this visible world and continue to help mankind through their prayers and power of spritulism based on thier close relationship with prophet Muhammad SAWS and Allah. Sherines are thier rest places and are like an icon for those who want to present thier respects. The Concept of “diobandi’s” to visit a shrine and ask shrine holders to help them is totally in distorted form and is based on misguidence to people. Its true concept is that they cannot give you any thing but they let you give from the Allah by thier prayers “Duaa”. Element involving in destroying shrines are actualy inviting “AZAAB” and furiousness of Allah. Allah always give us a limit and after crossing that limit he simply pull his rope.
    We therefore dont have to worry about it, Allah himself will protect his friends by providing visible means through “wasila” or nominating any other friend of his.

  4. Azfar says:

    It is gross oversimplification of the fact that there is sufis and then there is Taliban. We need to start thinking outside the box! Islam is neither sufism neither talibanisation.

    We need to ask very elementary questions

    Did prophet used music to spread Islam?
    Did any of his comapanion did
    Can we truly categorize prophet or any of his companion as sufis?

    The answers to above questions are undoubtedly no then why bother about sufism or any other ism when we straightforwardly know the tru path.

    It sounds very appealing to say things like ‘sufism is a direct communion to God’ etc but it is far from reality and a far cry from the true teachings of Islam

    Islam inherently is a mean of direct communion to Allah and there is no supposed to be an intermediary such as ‘Mullah’

    Mullah is a fabricated term which was emerged way after the time of Prophet. In Islam there is no such thing as mullah.

    You can be an academic a doctor an architect and yet u can still be a reasonably knowledgeable and practicing muslim, that is it the story just ends there

    We dont need bunch of sufis or saints – this mindset is absolutely out of line with what Islam is. For Allah sake we need to be able to think rationally and think beyond what we have been taught in Pakistani/Indian context. We need to do a first hand study of Islam and listen to contemporary scholars of Islam – this includes some of the English and American converts – such as Hamza Yusuf and Yusuf Estes.

    WE DESPERATELY NEED TO THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX

  5. Syed Karimullah says:

    Get rid of the talibans before they get rid of you

  6. Jalai Watan Koshur says:

    Very well said Malik Rashid sahab, India’s secular Muslims would be better off with out the likes of Dr. Zakir Naik peddling hard core Arab remidies to authentic Indian souls which otherwise are plush in tolerance, love and respect for all.

    May lord grant peace to our subcontinent with advancements in cultural, scientific and social aspects or our co-existence. May demons of dark age lose their steam once for all and let Lord show us all the path of humanity….Ameen

  7. Waqar Abro says:

    Though according to talibans perception,why people are going to Tombs of sufis, that was why,they attacked. But for their knowledge,sufism is all about love (ishq)which sufi’s had done with Allah and his Last Prophet. as sufi had criticized mullah’s character in their poetry,it might have got into talibans mind that it is against islam.

  8. RK says:

    Islam followers must understand that religion is for human beings and not the other way round. Religion is a personal thing. You cannot bring religion out onto the roads. This is what happens if you bring religion out of your homes-FANATICISM. The elimination of clecrics in Sufism is the key to its opposition. And the thought that music involved in Sufism is un-islamic is totally wrong. The KALMA mentioned in Quran is nothing but the inner music. All worldly classical music is a reflection of the inner music and reminds one of the Almighty inside you.

  9. Muhammad Azhar says:

    According to Wahabis going to shrine (Maqam in arabic) is not allowed or “shirk” because people worship the shrine or Maqam.
    Thats why in Saudi Arabia they demolished the Jannat-ul-Baqi.
    It was the reason for justification the Saudi (wahabis)used for destroying all those holy places in the Makkah and Madina.
    I would like to ask there are many Muslims who made mistake so Does it means we should stop prying because some other Muslims made mistake ?
    Some Muslims do not recite Quran properly so Does it mean we should stop reciting Quran because some people do not know how to recite?

    So Muslims do mistake in shire so we should destroy all shrines???
    These kind of nonsense idealogy is whabi which is appointed by the Britsh Government in order to take the soul of love(particularly the love our beloved Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him) from Muslims body.
    Do not forget what happened at the time of Noor-Uddin Zangi.

  10. Mohammed Al Talib says:

    I don’t get it, Taliban is practicing the original Islam that Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) gave us. Islam is pure religion. Quran is impeccable and we must follow it. So we must follow the original Islam. As I see it, Suffis are kaffirs who changed from the original teaching of Islam and became prophet. Prophet Mohammed(pbuh) is the last prophet and we must practice the original islam as written in Quran.

  11. Masood Haider says:

    With the frightening emboldment of the Taliban, it is quite natural that Sufism will be under siege in Pakistan as this noble, tolerant and inclusive interpretation of Islam has absolutely nothing in common with the savagery and inhumanity of the masquerading hordes who drive their spiritual guidance from the stone age Salafi/wahabi doctrine. It was the great misfortune of Pakistan that the religion crazed Ziaul Haque diverted the connectivity of Pakistan from South Asia to the fanatics of Saudia Arabia with whom there was absolutely no commonality not even in the type of Islam practiced.

    The country is clearly on a self-destructive course. The freeing of a mass murderer like Abdul Aziz is a most unfortunate decision on part of the re-installed CJ. With the alternative to the present dysfunctional government being NS, the ‘wannabe Ameerul Momineen’ Pakistan’s total descent into the hell of religious intolerance seems all but certain unless the Americans for the protection of their own country and in fact the entire world including Pakistan take matters into their hands and demolish the hide-outs of these murderers with or without Pakistan government’s concurrence.

  12. Kamran says:

    Its a tragedy that Sufism in Pakistan has been made extinct on purpose by Wahabi sect, who poisened our people against the spiritual worship by sufis and their followers, the followers of sufis have to take blame also as they went in a shell at the time they were termed wrong by Wahabi sect, they still have time to step up to these extremists and show the true spirits and examples of Sufis by coming close to common man listen to their current problems at grass root level,help common people, attract even non muslims by their acts of kindness,i am sure the power of Sufism can defeat the Talibans and Wahabis.

  13. Manzoor says:

    What the Salafi, Khawarji, Wahabi are doing is what they have done to the holy cemeteries of Baque Shareef and Janat Mauala shareef.
    The are takferies classifying others as infidels and polytheist because that’s how they see and understand. They are dispirited and their supporters or those who want to keep this Wahabi sect in Macca. They are calling Yazid the cursed tyrant as the leader of the believers Momens. Their political supporters have set aside 70 billion dollars for them and that is the reason they are paying people money to follow them.
    The rest of Arabs view them as puritan lunatics. I have visited Syria, Jordan and Alquds and visited the shrines of the prophets, Ale bait, Sahaba and aulyia Such as Sheikh Ibn Alarbi. They are well taken care of and there is no one calling any visitor as mushrik or shrik of bidda.
    The reason these puritans are becoming so violent is that they are aware that the true Islam is Love for the creation of Allah Almighty and the Rasool Allah blessing and salutation be upon him. Look at their faces and look at the faces of past Khawarji you will know what I mean.
    My massage is to clean and purify your heart from the materialistic filth and worship only Allah resort to spirituality. As Hazrat Sultan Bahoo ra would say Allah is everything and the rest is greed.

  14. Khan says:

    Taliban are cruel and ignorant. Shame on politicians and Mullah’s who are supporting them because of their vested interests.I sometimes wonder what right do these Mullah’s have to be in politics. All they want from politics is free food,pajero’s and free plots.These Mullahs are responsible to encourage Talibans and invite them to Pakistan.

  15. Hussain says:

    Sufism is directly related to various sects such as it called Mysticism in Christianity, Kabala in Judaism, Mukhshah in Hinduism and Nirvanah in Buddhism. It provides inner peace. But it has nothing to do with ISLAM. Muhammad PBUH never practiced and preached it. He did not approve to build shrines of pious people and then dance around their graves and smoke pots.

    People need education but voilance and destruction is not the answer to any solution.

  16. Omar says:

    I just hope our government is ashamed for signing deals with these people. What good are these politicians (PML, PPP, ANP, alike) if they can’t guarantee freedom to practice religion to the citizens of this country. Whether it’s a subsect of Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, or Sikhism, we all deserve the right to practice our own religion freely.

  17. Hussain says:

    People should be given education voilance is not the answer

  18. antitaliban says:

    The holy book of Islam can be interpreted in many ways. Sharia (strictly followed by Wahabi and Taliban) and Sufism are two interpretation of Quran out of many. Islam allows us to interpret the Quran with the changing time and evolving standards of our society. What was tolerable 1400 years ago which have evolved and we have new standards of social norms. I believe that Taliban must understand that their way is wrong and no one wants their kind of Islam. Sufism teaches us love, tolerance and peace and that is the lesson Islam teaches us.

  19. deepak says:

    i love nizzamuddin auliya my forefathers came from the mystic land of sindh. All this things that are happening should not happen but in sindhi it is a saying that “rab russe mat khiskhe “. it means that when god is angry he will take your thinking power.Pakistan is a land of bulleh shah,shahlatif,babafarid,kanwarram,guru nanak.

  20. Arifa says:

    Making religion the basis for demanding special rights or land, once established,
    has the unfortunate consequence of gaining its own momentum. There will now be various brands of Taleban each claiming legitimacy on the basis of their own version of Islam. The genie is now out of the bottle. Pakistanis need to recognise this fact of life and thank their lucky stars that the Americans’ interests are the same as theirs or there would be no country, Islamic or otherwise,to speak of, in a year or two. Now you will probably get a respite of some sort to fight this peril.

  21. whisper says:

    I scanned the comments published so far. They all seem to make sense, and indeed they do. The reason I am submitting this comment is not to repeat what has already been said, but to say what has remained unsaid.

    Sufism has always been a source of great uneasiness for traditional Muslims of all colours, faiths, and sects. So what is happening today is no exception, it is what has always happened. It is not the Wahabiism or the Talibanism; all sects distance themselves from Sufiism.

    There are two things to note. Sufiism neglects ‘Society” aspects; while traditional Islam neglects the Spirituality (emphasising instead the Ritualism). This puts them at odds with one another. And Sufiism also establishes a parallel hierarchy that undermines the hierarchy and authority of Ulamas.

    Now a word about Taleban. They have some strengths. Due to those strengths they have successfully challenged the hegemony of two superpowers: first the Soviet and now the EuroAmerica. Just like Ulama donot want their authority challenged, the superpowers donot like their hegemony challenged.

    But people must understand what is at stake. Continued hegemony of EuroAmerica versus a NEW world that is formulated by Muslims. Will this new world be perfect? Possibly yes in the long run, but very defective in the short run. There is always a price to pay. And the new world of Muslims will not come without a price tag. The questions is: if the Muslims want to move forward towards a new world of their own; or do they want to live under the hegemony of EuroAmerica. The answer is it depends who you ask. The Kings and Dictators want the hegemony to continue. The main street in general wants a new world. The contest is on. Keep watching.

  22. Zarin Jan says:

    The roots of the Taliban phenomonon are linked to Arabs participation in Afghan Jihad during the soviet invasion. These Arabs brought with them the Wahabi ideology, convincing the illiterate Pakhtuns in Eastern Afghanistan and NWFP that Wahabi Islam is the genuine Islam. To eradicate the menace of Taliban phenomenon its sources of finance must be cut off. As the sources lie in Arab governments, especially Sauidi Arab, no money should be taken from these governments. their charitable contributions to Madaras be checked and cut off.

  23. Worried Human says:

    When Taliban destroyed Buddha statues in Bamyan , Not many people from Pakistan showed any opposition to that. Forget about any religion , Those statues were Historic Monuments . They were 300 meter tall , Art. No religion has ever opposed art. Now Taliban wants to destroy every other things which does not fit into their Wahabi ideology.Please wake up before whole country will be destroyed. Sharia Law is just an cover up for Taliban to start creating another fanatic nation out of Pakistan. Please oppose every move towards this. We need stronger government to nail down these people to save this country.

  24. Asim says:

    AOA,
    Going to Shrines and graves and doing the stuff people do over there is innovation and also leads to shirk by asking and bowing to dead people or human for something. It can not be traced to Prophet Muhammad (SWA), his companions(RA) and to my knowledge enven to people burried in those shrines. This is also not the ideology taught by the scholars, infact they reject this. You can make dua for a human, but you cannot makt dua to a human.

    I totally disagree with killing of leaders in the shrines, however they should be tried in the court for deceiving people, selling drugs and making money out of ignorant people.

    Furthermore Talibans are not Wahabis. The term Wahabis is used mostly politically and only minority live in Saudiarabia. Thrik-e-Taliban is another extreme.

    Furthermore generally these days in study of sole/spirituality in Islam, which many people call sufi study, only part of deen is considered, which is spirituality. Islam is a complete code and system of life.

  25. indian says:

    I appreciate the muslim commentators, who view sufism as part of Islam.this clearly exobits that they care for the basic human instincts of love and piece but they will always like it to be wrapped in label of Islam.
    Fact, is Sufism is amalgamtion of islamic scholrs with Bhakti movement of Hindus at the time when this subcontinent was continously facing atrocities from the foreign invaders. they had developed a unique way of devotion to god, at the same time keeping the creative pursuit of humanity intact. sufism was a way out from the extreme form of Islam, and was readily absorbed by the true to heart scholars and peace loving people. This is a gift of Indian Subcontinent to islam. Look at the difference on western front, Islam was having prolonged wars with europeans, but in east , India had given amalgamated form of Islam. thats the reason that Sufi saints/peers are equally regarded by the hindus, muslims as well as sikhs.Once pakistan accepts sufism, it will be imbibing the true spirit of this subcontinent, which we all are proud of.

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