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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?
Of course Talibans would become irrelevent if Sufism becomes popular. But fight Talibans not with bullets but with re-education of their children – and the population – in Sufism on TV (and other media), in schools and colleges. Otherwise fear of Talibans will make Pakistan disintegrate.
I am born in a Hindu family, best years of my life have been influenced by teachings of Sant Kabir, Baba Bulleh Shah, Shaikh Farid, Sultan Bahu, Guru Nanak, Meera bai, Shah Hussain and many sufis/saints. Sufism is like a light bulb in a dark room. It is path to enlightenment. It is path to total freedom. Sufi path is a personal one, it is an internal affair. The realisation born out of this path is that – Love is our true nature.
Talibanism in my understanding is the opposite of Sufism. As such Sufism is the only way out of the current mess.
Most of my life I have been very close to Sufis. The Sufis or Vallees have changed my life. They teach you tolerance, love and guide people towards the message of Allah that Prophet Mohammed (SAW) delivered. The problem I see today is not with the Sufism it is with the way we follow Sufis today. If we just do what Sufis do or they did then no one can abolish Sufism. If we remember Allah(SWT) and His Messenger Prophet Mohammed (SAW) then not only that we will come to the right path but also no one can abolish Sufism instead whoever will try to abolish Sufism will be disappointed.
Islam has 73 sect and many faces, and i think sufism is the one of the highest level of understanding and practise of Islam. nobody is perfect but Talibans seem a lot further away than most others. God bless pakistan.
Sufism believes in spiritual power. Sufism taught humanity, tolerance and softness in Islam. A Sufi can not hurt other human-being even by his/ her talks.
On the other hand Talibanism is strict. They can not show tolerance or harmony for other. Sufism believes Islam can be spread by preaching and love and softness tolerance, harmony and by wining heart of others. On the other hand Talibanism wants to spread its own type of religion by sword and gun.
As such, Sufism is a great alternative to Talibanism.
sounds good but unfortunately the most popular “ism” is terrorism and talibanism and shariaism and barbaricism.
Enjoy the aforementioned “ism’s” the Parliament voted for it…
Sufism or Islam isn’t the property of any one over which someone will show his/her possession. Because of that Islam is an open mind religion which has open hearts and hands to everyone who wants to join it wholeheartedly.
Taliban are fanatics of the society who have defamed Islam as well as Pakistan.
Shrines are very holy places which is respected by everyone.Taliban are not Muslims who are assaulting over shrines and Humanity.
First of all Murder is not allowed in Islam. People who murder innocent people or people not having reason of self defense should be brought to justice. This is mysterious strategy, which I think cannot be attributed to Taliban as Taliban’s believe in public execution. However we need evidence to prove who is behind all this.
Anyway in Pakistan “Sufi” term is used in different ways. It is generally based on context you use it in.
The two of the forms I have observed are:
1. People who go to shrines and graves are one of the people who call themselves “sufis”.
2. The other way word “sufi” is used is to represent spiritual/sole based study of Islam.
Both of them are very different. In my opinion, worshipping at shrines is not Islamic. Right now shrines are mostly used to make money from people who have lack of understanding of Islam.
We have discovered a version of Islam in Pakistan in the last 20 years which does not exist in any other Muslim or has ever existed in any Muslim country in the last 500 years. This is savage version in which violence is celebrated and debate stifled. Unfortunately a majority of our population is subscribing to this version. The defining issue of the last 20 years in Pakistan is lal masjid. Again unfortunately even today those supported the medievalists vastly outnumber the saner elements. The most popular politicians in Pakistan is support these medieval warriors. Wake up. This is a battle that has been lost by the liberal educated civil society. Our future is quite dark.
coming from a Shia family , me and my 8 siblings had a tough time growing up in Pakistan. we lived in a sunni majority area and we were constantly made to feel as if we were non Muslims. at school we were called idol worshippers and grave worshippers. we were insulted as people who rejected the caliphate of the first three righteously guided caliphs. we faced discrimination in college . at work , my father was taunted repeatedly by his colleagues who equated him with kafirs. finally one day our entire family secretly converted to buddhism. my parents and 3 brothers are now in Europe i am in Singapore and remaining siblings in USA living a nice life that being a Shia in Pakistan would never have gotten us .
Buddha be praised.
Taliban represents the lowest common denominator of islam. But unfortunately, this is the form which is flourishing and being projected to the outside world. If this extremist form is allowed to go on for long–it may weaken islam from within.
In my opinion there is only one Islam and it forbids worshiping at dargahs and song and dance as the sufis practice. secondly, Islam is the completion of the religion of Abraham on earth . there can be no religion after islam , so whoever came after Islam cannot be recognised as religions as it contradicts the fact that Islam is the final religion on earth. Punjabis need to make their mind once and for all whether they worship Allah or something else.
Sufism preaches love, tolerance. Talibans are ignorant, that can be the only reason why they bent on destroying everything.
I feel this is the work of the fringe wings of the agencies that tries to persuade the country to take a certain posture
– whether it be bringing down popular leaders or
– making us “purer” by removing people who are not “like us” eg. Shias, Ahmadiyas, Ismailis..
It’s always hard to fight an internal enemy that looks like you, belongs to the same religion and lives next door.
It is getting suffocating to live in Pakistan but sadly that’s the only place I call home in this whole wide world. Sufism gives us answers to our problems. Talibanisation is leading us to the quagmire we find ourselves in today.
The taliban are undoing the thing that the sufies did centuries ago. talibans blow masjids, girl schools, murder and the Sufies build masjids, educated people and taught love for all humans which I think is the essence of true ISLAM.
Sufism is the most tolerant and open form of Islam. It is Sufism that spread Islam in the subcontinent. It is the reason why my Rajput ancenstors converted to Islam in, 1730s. They would never ever have converted in the face of violence. If it were not for Sufism, the subcontinent would still be completely Hindu including Paksitan and Bangladesh.
Islam’s golden period of learning in the universities of Baghdad, libraries of samarkand, fine mosques of Isfahan and elsewhere has all been under the influence of Sufism.
Sufism is the vibrant, open, tolerant and loving face of Islam.
Talibans have only contributed by creating hatred and suicide bombers and are most ignorant
Talibans are Wahabis, and their problem is that they are intolerant and beleive that their version of Islam is the best.
I understand that some people go to shrines and prostrate etc which is considered ‘shirk’ But that does not mean you blow up those shrines.
Sufism will be in Punjab forever and ever. Sufism is Punjabiyat and Punjabiyat is sufism.
Talibanis can blow up Sufi shrines across the world and will still not succeed because Sufism lives in the heart of every Punjabi who has been touched by it. how can you wipe out a belief, a thought, a culture, a lifestyle? The greatest gift Islam has made to the world is its offspring Sufism. Life is Sufism, every thing we eat, sleep, breathe, learn, understand and view is Sufism.
Sikhhism was born out of the strange wedding between Hinduism and Islam and like Islam’s other offspring which is Sufism, Sikhism is closely related to Sufism. Sikhism is the sibling of Sufism. Everyday I thank my Allah, my Waheguru, my Khuda, that we punjabis have achieved nothing in life but Ya Rebah You still gave us Punjabis Sufism. For that I and my Punjabi ancestors thank you everyday. As Rahat Fateh Ali Khan says nicely in ‘ore piya': “Yeh Jahil Zemana dushman hummara”.
This is the work of some internal agents who wish to have only the most fundamentalist version of wahabi sect; all minorities are will be systematically cleansed from our society be it Shias, sufis, sikhs, hindus, christians.
The people doing this are dreaming of creating a holy world for Allah – we must wake up before a nation is dead.