For centuries many of the world's Muslims were, in one way or another, practitioners of Sufism, Sufism is the most pluralistic incarnation of Islam—accessible to the learned and the ignorant, the faithful and nonbelievers. Sufism's ethos was egalitarian, charitable and friendly, often propagated by wandering seers and storytellers. It blended with local cultures and cemented Islam's place from North Africa to the Indian subcontinent. South Asian Islam, from its inception, was a benign form of the faith, a world away from the dry commodity prevalent on the Arabian Peninsula.
IN South Asia – until recently – Sufism was the norm, not a fringe movement. Sufism has flourished in the subcontinent since its arrival centuries ago in the wake of Turkish armies.
Islam came to this part of the world through Sufism, It was Sufi dervishes who came and spread the religious message of love and harmony and beauty, there were no swords, it was very different from the sharp edged Wahhabi Islam. Sufism was the way whole populations expressed their Muslim identity, in music and dance and poetry.
Sufism stresses a believer’s personal relationship with God and de-emphasizes the importance of the mosque and dry rituals which prize imitation over faith.
It refrains from exalting violence and war and praises such virtues as tolerance, devotion and love.
Its practice relies extensively on dance, music and poetry.
It does not judge but accepts differences among humans.
Some of Sufism's most esteemed poets and scholars were women. Sufi saints wrote their poetry in female gender. In Sufi inspired philosophy, a woman as a mother is closer to Allah ( the creator) than most men.
Wahhabism: The puritanical death cult
Wahhabism ( the ideological root of ISIS and Radial Islam) is a tribal and Jacobin inspired interpretation of Islam rooted in the desert sands of Saudi Arabia. Until the 20th century-- Wahabism was regarded as heretical by most mainstream Muslims and the Ottoman empire even launched a war to curb its spread.
The Wahhabis are rewriting the Islamic history and practices, they prohibit other Muslims from praying the way they want to in Mecca and Medina. In these two cities, they have destroyed numerous monuments associated with the Prophet, his family and his companions, as if they are the owners of these places. They want to destroy the whole 1400 year-old Muslim tradition itself and replace it with their black desert inspired hate. The whole trajectory of Wahhabism is rooted in hatred and violence. The alliance between the mullahs of the Wahhabi Al-e Shaikh and the rulers of Saudi Arabia, the Al-e Saud, is like the oppressive nexus between the Christian Church and the monarchy in medieval Europe. It is proving to be a curse for Muslims.
Wahabi’s say that only they are Allah's chosen ones that only they are walking along the true path and everyone else is their enemy especially unveiled women. They seek to divide us according to our faith; shias are heretics and so are all minorities in fact anyone who is not a Wahabi is fit to be killed or abducted ( if she is a woman) . And this happens in every place that Islamism wins over. They divide us according to sect, which subsequently leads to civil war ( this was what happened in Syria, Iraq, Libya and is happening in Pakistan)
The reasons behind ascent of Wahhabism are political rather than organic—Saudi petro dollars are shoving its dry and deadly hated-filled ideology to lost souls across the world. Its preeminence is not due to the effectiveness of the message but its sheer volume and presence in every Muslim mosque.
In my post 9/11 undergrad days in US, I witnessed many rational modern educated men converting to Wahhabism and becoming misogynistic drones -----I was fascinated by why, even seemingly cosmopolitan Muslims can be attracted to such a backward and regressive ideology. What I have discovered is that: unlike Sufism or more nuanced schools of thought within Islam ---Wahhabism is built on a Manichean approach to faith, people are either good or bad, righteous or Kafir---there is no gray room in Wahhabi mansion (which makes sense because it was primarily designed to be a utilitarian war ideology for Arab tribes to defeat Turk armies….Damn you TE Lawrence ) All rooms are labelled black and white and death ( pursuit of martyrdom) is exalted over life. Rather than teaching its adherents, how to live meaningful lives; it asks them to die (and attain 72 virgins). There is a nihilist appeal to it for suicidal men.
