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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?
Sufi thought represents the inner beauty of Islam. Today there is a crises of faith but sufism offers a way out of dogmas and self-righteous philosophy.
I would just like to add to my previous comment. Sufism has been under attack for a long time actually. It is the systematic and well funded Salafi madarsa’s that have been producing the Imams and Muezzins for most of the mosques and by that they have a wider reach. Their extreme form is called Taliban but they are everywhere… even in your local mosque in the most cosmopolitan of the areas. Some of them have been preaching hate too. It is time to cleanup my friends or be prepared for a Taliban government in Pakistan. When it took a huge coalition to barely contain them in Afghanistan, think what will happen now when your government is giving away huge swaths of your country to them.
The sufis gave music to Islam. Indian Islam could have fared a lot better, had it not been for folks peddling Arab influence. The best of the muslim souls, Moinuddin Chishti Ajmeri, Nizamuddin and many others are still a source of inspiration and their graves are a site of solace for ordinary hindus and muslims, alike.
Rumi, the sufi poet said:
Reality replied: O prisoner of time,
I was a secret treasure of kindness and generosity,
and I wished this treasure to be known,
so I created a mirror: its shining face, the heart;
its darkened back, the world;
The back would please you if you’ve never seen the face.
Alot of great input above my 2 cents are as below,
Nobody has any right to destroy anyone else’s prayer places,statues etc. Rules of engagement has been defined already during the last seremon of Prophet (saw), and implemented during the wars of his(saw) times.We do need these extremists to tell what needs to be done.
In last as a Muslims we should be proud of our Saints and Sufis because of them we (subconitnent), people regardless of any religious identity Hindu,Sikh etc,are able to understand the very existence of us and are guided.
Sufism is a ‘Spiritualistic Religion’… It is Indidvidual-God Communion without the intermediacy of a Mullah… So Naturally the Masjid-based religious leaders do not approve or appreciate Sufism.
And – further removed is Sufism from the modern-day Zihadi/Taliban the so termed religio-cultural Organizations which allows no concept of an individual at all… That is indeed a sad state of affairs…
All relgions necessarily need the active operation of the Spiritual level.. or else religious organizations will only get religio-political’ and tyrannical.
Why peoples are mixing sufism with these so called ‘malangs’ in shrines. Peoples need to be educated sufism has nothing to do with shrines and malangs.
emm. informative
Shame on our government for signing deals with them. This is a cancer and govt need to take hard pill. Eliminate them, no matter what it takes. DO IT before it is too late.
About 20 years ago monsters were unleashed against sufist version of Islam in Kashmir. The result was great atrocities and mayhem against Kashmiri minorities and their extinction or ejection form their home of 5,000 years.
Frankenstein is now set to destroy what ever tolerant, God loving and progressive section of Pakistan’s Punjabi society’s happiness and the connection to their God is. Act before it is too late, nothing is above humanity. (That is only if it is not already lost)
Sufism may get suppressed by Taliban in Pakistan but It will always survive in India just like Urdu did as a spoken language. Indians don’t care if Sufi ideology roots in Islam they just practice it just like they speak and utter Urdu words all the time unaware of the origin of words. Sufi ideology is close to the way Indians or in geranial south Asians think. It’s home grown.
I wish Pakistanis lot of peace and stability.
I do not believe in Sufisum at all but i do believe that every human being has a right in this world to worship any religion however they want irrespective of where they live. A person can make an another person understand his or her religion only through logical reasoning and understanding. Blowing up shrines, churches and any other religious place is wrong and definitly not what Islam tell us to do. No compulsion in the Islamic religion, people; and thats what the Taliban fail to comprehend. “Jihad” as they call it is only allowed when Islamic religion is under threat or they are being prosecuted or if someone is forbidding them to follow Islam.
There are many reasons why Sufism has gotten so weak in our society despite the overwhelming Sufi tradition of the centuries but the most important one, IMO, is ignorance. The majority of descendants of Sufi followers have no direct knowledge of the teachings of the great saints. All the “nazranas” that are collected at the shrines go to Auqaf and the caretakers (many of whom do nothing to continue the tradition itself) when it should be used for furthering the teachings of the saints themselves. Why can’t we build a Madrassah/University at every shrine run with these funds? The Salafi Madrassahs are the breeding grounds for the hatred that we see in our society today. It needs to [and can] be countered by promoting and re-establishing the Sufi tradition!
The attack on Sufism is the attack on Islam because the sufis are the biggest source of bringing non Muslims in the fold of Islam. The so called progressive parties of Pakistan are badly exposed by approving the brutal stone age ideology which is not indeed real face of Islam- The religion of peace & Tranquility. The Religions of Sufi Saints
Zain,
I like your comment until muslims in Pakistan and world start to accept that muslims are killing each and not due to the direct orders of some ‘Kafir’ we will always be on the back foot.
The muslims of the subcontinnet have been peaceful on a whole but the introduction of the extremist element is erroding it.
Yes some aspects of sufism are considered extreme by some people i.e praying to Pirs for children or cures but
on the whole it doesnt encourage the kind of violence currently seen in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
One must thank the Sufis most of all for bringing Islam to the subcontinent. They brought it with a message of love, devotion and broad thinking. Their example of good character and purity of intentions to this day teaches us all the universality and equality of humankind
It’s big tragedy for the Muslim Ummah as whole. We have divided Islam into sects. These sects are creating extremism and intolerance at such level that we do not afraid of getting a ticket of “Jahannam” by eliminating other fellow Muslim brothers. Sole hatred cannot solve any problem. We must avoid intolerance and create a brotherhood among us.
It is very clear that Taliban are killing innocent people they are a great danger for islam and for the country.
Islam has been spread in this reagon through sufis, they were innocent people and never harm others even non muslims. They spread the lesson of love and tollerance not extremism.
The kind of Islam Taliban want to introduce is extremism, hate and shameful for muslims. Talibans are ignorant and Pakistanis want to get rid of them
We must identify who these people called “Taliban” are?How did they come into being and what is the driving force or ideology which keeps them together.
As far who these people are is very simple,most of them belong to the usual helpless throng of individuals pitted against the overbearing burden of malicious circumstances.They represent a Frankenstein which came into being from the mire of a rotting civilization fraught with both internal and external conspiracies.
Yet apart from what ever the media or people with vested interest may say about them or hurl insults towards their excesses committed mostly in ignorance or due to arrogance(power corrupts).They are a part of our body and we can not deny it ever!
Like other victims of a perennial dust storm(The poor Pakistani’s)with no hope nor happiness they have opted to fight for an utopia.
But no Religion,no Faith and no Ideology provides a solution until it is based on Love and not Hatred.Because hatred begets hate in return and all prophets of hate will eventually perish and their ideologies will die.
Sufism stands for all that is humane,pluralist,forgiving and benevolent and that is how it survived through centuries.
I am afraid we had ignored cancer of extremism far too long. It has spread all over the country & WILL result in severing PARTS of it. Now those wished & loved this brand hope to get their medicine very soon and its not going to be very pleasent. Then again thats what they have been asking for.
Dear Sir
One has to understand the rise of Sufism. It was the flawed commands and rule of the descendant of Sahabis and the elite class of Islam immediately after the the departure of our Prophet. This class took the reins of power to their own advantage thus depriving the poor followers of their rights. Thus came into being a protesting group known as Sufism. Had it been for a fair dispensation of the tenets of Islam this sect would not have had come into being.
Sufism encompasses the hurt, downtrodden, poor, untouchable, destititutes with compassion as opposed to some other sects that are militaristic and out of sync with the modern trend.
I do not go to any Dargah or a shrine but I have reaped the benefits of Sufism. Wahabism, Sufism, Tableeq they are all right in their own ways but let there not be enforcements.
Stop living a life that emphasize Moralizing other, be moral not moralizing!
When all ways leads to the same, why bother changing others way of doing things! Improve yourself, that’s it what is required.
Each century has produced thinkers who modified things according to the time.
Sufis have a special way of chaging the inside of a person which is not easy and only a gifted one can do it. They were able to convert millions to Islam in Asian subcontinent.
If we visit the graves of our parents and loved ones to pay respect nothing wrong for visiting graves of those whose teachng were instrumental in making the difference in your life.
Tolerance, love for human kind are the very basic values of Islam and any one not understanig these rules should re-evaluate his beliefs before commiting any violance.
from time immemorial sufism has been phenomenal in showing true message averting every impediment. it is like free river that moves on………the messages of iman ghazzali, ibn arabi and many are eternally relevant
Sufism is something even the great Mughals believed in. Even the most fanatical one, Aurangzeb, was celebrated by his troops as “Alamgir, zinda pir” Of course there is only one God and prophet (SAW) in Islam, but it is axiomatic that in any religon, a wiser more God-connected soul than you can help you understand God in your heart better, especially when he explains that the true message of God is in loving humanity. It was the kind and loving Sufis and not the turko-mongol sword that spread Islam in the subcontinent.
No body can harm Sufism because it is divine
and divine powers are responsible for its survival.