How is Sufism being qualified to overtake the place of misinterpreted Islam globally?
Sunday 19/August/2018 - 04:18 PM
Hisham El Naggar
Sufism must be developed from a mere movement that reforms the self in search
of individual ways of survival to a reformative movement that affects the
living reality in order to consolidate noble values and ideals. This requires
the consolidation of self-autonomy of the Sufi individual and rationalization
of his subordination to his Sheikh and his movement while being balanced
between his endeavors to be a faithful believer and a hard worker who seeks to
develop his society.
The world is currently in a state of shock. Although the atrocities and
catastrophes at the human level are positive in a way, their great benefit is
the revelation of the hidden conflict between what can be called intruding
Islam, represented in misinterpreted and
takfiri Islam and the components of the jihadist Salafism and the genuine
Islam. This kind of genuine Islam derived its name from the authenticity of its
relation to the true rituals and core of the religion not from recalling the
fundamentalist interpretation of the text.
The world is in a state of fascination and astonishment in the face of the
model of Daesh and Al Qaeda and the terror of the Muslim Brotherhood. It is in
need of the rational Islamic model that restores the balance of East-West
relations, protects the universe from destruction and provides the civilized
image of Islam. It is noticeable that Western studies that preceded and kept
abreast of the misinterpreted Islam had put forward the model of the mystical
current.
The expectation was correct in terms of the failure of Islam. Many thinkers of
the Muslim and Arab World of relying on escalating it to the partisan
situation, but there are some people in the West and in our region who were
deceived by the Brotherhood that was presented by its reference Yusuf Qaradawi
in his books and lectures.
The Islamic and Jihadist version of Islam embodied the intellectual bankruptcy
of this trend. The world religious space has become in need of being filled due
to the space that has been caused by the forced process of salvation from the
system of Islamists and Takfiris who spread terror, hatred, divisions and
bloody conflicts around the world.
The terror of the Muslim Brotherhood and Sufi humanity
The last stage required a comprehensive Islamic vision that defines the
Muslims’ role and position in the universe, society and the nature of their
contribution to humanity, the culture of societies and the civilizations of the
nations and their humanitarian contribution to this era, especially after the
events of September 11, 2001, and the emergence of political Islam after the
Arab spring uprisings.
The movement of the Muslim Brotherhood was not a support, addition and
complement in this context; it emerged as a copy of the past and a reflection
of the opponents of the common world civilization, and it fell into the traps
of violence in accordance with its old habits and orders. More importantly, it
represented a burden on the local communities and on the countries of the world
through monopolizing large civilizational projects that do not succeed mostly
in the whole society with all its institutions, streams and sects.
Moreover, the project of local national advancement is not a group or
organization project and the Muslim Brotherhood called it the "Islamic project".
The global cosmic project is not a religious caliphate project according to the
perceptions of the Muslim Brotherhood and its successor, Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, or the succession of Daesh led by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
It is the succession of the land with urbanization, development, justice,
coexistence and love. This can not achieved by a group or a state, but with the
participation of all human beings and with perceptions that welcome much of
what is embraced by political Islam from unilateralist and separatist views.
Misinterpreted Islam was unable to contribute to meeting the need of Arab and
Islamic societies to interact with the world around them and to enter the arena
of civilizational action next to the state which has made great strides in
knowing the secrets of the universe, and harnessing its forces to serve the
human being and achieve its well-being.
It was not required to have Muslim inventors and scientists or to have a Muslim
technical or astronomical breakthrough, but the only way was to break the
barriers of hatred between the Islamic world and the West, and to come out with
sincere entities in their affiliation to the true Islam that urges global
brotherhood and peace. That gives the West confidence that Islam is not afraid
of openness, which is the beginning of progress and the rise of Arabs and
Muslims.
Muslims and Arabs need entities that represent the essence of pure Islam, and
assume their proper perceptions of the relationship between human beings being
in a partnership and a relationship of tenderness and peace, but what the
misinterpreted Islam did in terms of intellectual methodology was to enter in
conflicts with the countries of the world in a way that reflects the projects
of hegemony and domination, which scared the forces of the civilized world. The
secrets of progress and renaissance are in the hands of those who seek to rule
and control the world according to extreme religious views.
The situation of the world has worsened over the last decade. On the one hand,
the United States and the West have not found their way to establish relations
with the Islamic East - the model of Turkey and the Muslim Brotherhood. On the
other hand, misinterpreted Islam has plagued the Arab and Muslim world with
violence, revenge and religious conflicts. It distorted the Islamic
civilizational model in all its forms and models, by coming up with a model
that proves its deviation if it is compared to the principles of the Islamic
religion, which came with mercy, forgiveness, tolerance, peace and coexistence,
justice and equality.
Sufism and human peace
Sufism has the potential to become the most important factor in the revival of
the Arab and Islamic world and the rescue of the East and the world through the
struggle to get out of the political and religious oppression and to inspire
peoples to find their spiritual peace, security and stability without falling
into the trap of politicized groups that employ religion for political
interests and goals.
These characteristics of Sufism can be summed up and characterized by the whole
spectrum of dynamic and Salafi Islam in the following:
First, contrary to what some Western scholars predicted about the demise of
Sufism, it has proved to be a major Islamic force, not only in terms of the
population of its martyrs, but also in terms of its members in Egypt, for
example, who are close to 15 million in terms of representation and expression
of religion.
The strength of the representation of popular religion is that it is a
collector and attractive to various convictions and to various levels of
religiosity and deception.
In Sufism, it is possible to reach the highest levels of worship and to express
closeness to God even if the Sufi individual commits what some consider to be
illegitimate violations, such as the dancing of a woman in the birth of a Sufi
or a smoking man during a mystical male episode.
Therefore, the movement of political Islam and the Salafist movement did not
gain an audience except by means of financial aid, political recruitment or
ideological deceit, which is a numerical outcome that is liable to fall
according to the course of events.
The popular incubator of Sufism, as well as its actual numerical mass, is
supportive of it in terms of identification with its peaceful reformist ideas
and spiritual aspirations, and its philosophy of understanding and applying
religion. Therefore, political Islam movements fail with every serious test on
the ground because it is popular support is illusional.
Second: Sufism transcends the differences imposed by the laws of religions and
does not view them as the end of religion. Rather, they are "merely means
to inspire the distant springs of faith, without that disobeying the duties and
rulings of those laws."
Tolerance is the most important attribute of Sufism, and its manifestation is
not to discriminate between people on the basis of religion, race or color.
Al-Jundi al-Baghdadi described the Sufi sect as the earth when is filled with
righteousness, as the cloud that overlooks everything and as the rain that
flowers everything.
Sufism calls on people not to wrestle or fight. What brings Sufis together is
love, compassion, solidarity and tolerance. These are the values that religions
seek to establish. They call for the noble values that people need in every age
and place, which serve as the strongest link between followers of religions,
cultures and civilizations.
Sufism believes in the unity and sources of religions. Despite their
differences, they are meant to be one, and no one has the right to invalidate
what they have. This contributes to achieving the greatest human achievement
which is creating a mystical life among religions. The principle of religions
is God, the absolute goodness, and the absolute perfection. Hence the heart of
the mystic Muslim is broadened to all beliefs. He owes the religion of love and
loves all people of all faiths.
These convictions, which are based on deep interpretations of Quranic texts,
can remove hatred from among peoples regardless of their sects, spread love and
peace, and achieve the lost coexistence between human beings. For there is no
room for atonement under the claim of absolute truth in the way of Islam. In
Sufism, there is no difference in the love of God between people of certain religion
and those of others. All humanity are partners in being in the proximity of
God.
Thirdly, there is no value to human beings and their dignity in the groups of
misinterpreted Islam while Sufism calls for the preservation of the human kind
and warns of the destruction of the human structure. This is because its
demolition is a destruction of the most perfect image of God in existence. The
Sufi worries about other humans regardless of their religions, seeks in every
possible way to preserve his life, his properties and his blood.
Fourth: At a time when the political groups of Islam demean the religion and
the human being and make them merely political tools produced for extremism and
division, Sufism transcends and relates to the virtues and rejects what
humiliates man through its moral and spiritual values in which the treatment of
the modern life is based on virtues. This places Sufism as a basis for its
partial and general isolation from political and worldly purposes, by building
the self, the society and the nation.
From individuality to the society and from isolation to reality
Sufism has the method and elements to play important roles in the face of
extremism and to take over the place of politicized groups of Islam in
religious space, but does not have the realistic vision to translate its
programmes and convictions into reality.
In order to translate the elements of Sufism into human and moral dimensions,
behavioral and educational experiences, and reformist convictions about the
relationship between the world and the different faiths in a practical context
that opposes the groups of misinterpreted Islam, the upcoming suggestions
should be taken into consideration:
First, it is necessary to combine the individual character of Sufism with the collective
societal character that it lacks. One of the basics is that the knowledge of
the Sufi for himself in terms of man is a central corner in the Sufi
experience, which is the basis of all knowledge. It is agreed according to Sufi
literature that man is a model for the whole world. Man is the main passage for
the knowledge of God. Therefore, the Sufi approach analyses human qualities,
explains their behavior, diagnoses the imbalances in it, and then sets out the
possible therapeutic alternatives that direct its path and achieve salvation
and proximity to God.
The main demand here is to develop Sufism from a mere movement that reforms the
self in search of individual ways of survival to a reformative movement that
affects the living reality of returning to noble values and ideals, without a
universal request of authority but out of the love of humanity and homelands.
This requires the consolidation of self-autonomy of the Sufi individual and
rationalization of his subordination to his Sheikh and his movement while being
balanced between his endeavors to be a faithful believer and a hard worker who
seeks to develop his society.
It also requires the end of separation between religious knowledge and
contemporary scientific knowledge. The first is required for the spiritual
integrity of the individual, and for the development of human relationship with
his Lord, and the second is required to contribute to the revival and social
prosperity.
Secondly, a number of Sufis are keen not to delve into discussions about their
approaches with those who do not belong to their category, and tend to use the
language of sign and coding, so that the meanings of their conversations are
obscure to others. Sufi writing is also charged with strangeness and spiritual
explosion. It is as if the Sufi does not write for others and writes for
himself. He also establishes his own special speech.
Some of the Sufis adopt the approach of secrecy in the sense that it is a trend
isolated from the rest of the society because it has religious conquests that
did not come to the public as well as it divides the ranks of humanity and
distinguish between them. Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali said: "The secrets of this
science should not be laid down in a book. The knowledgeable people said that
revealing the secret of slavery is disbelief."
In order to qualify Sufis to do their desired role, their approach should be
developed and be transformed from a trend that lives for itself into an
open-minded trend that contributes to its renaissance. It also should promote
its members spiritually to become distinguished in this aspect from the general
public. Universities and scientific institutions also pump the society with
intellectuals and scientists in different disciplines.
Sufism should also be a movement that develops the individual's spiritual,
intellectual and moral abilities to become an active and reliable part of the
society, not to attract individuals and isolate them from the society without a
community role.
Thirdly: Many Sufi references speak of the fact that some Sufis at certain
stages possess extraordinary abilities. It is familiar in Sufism that the
individual exceeds what the normal person can do by closing the distances and
shortening the times, and the model of this is what Abdul Karim Al-Jaili said.
He noted that if the human being became indulged in spiritual things, reduce
food, sleeping and talking, he will be able to step on the water, fly in the
air, not be restricted by walls and be at the highest levels of creatures.
The role of mystical civilization is the exact opposite of that in the sense
that what is required is to promote the moral Sufi individual not to fly in the
air, and be shrouded in the imagination of the unseen, but to walk on the
ground and contribute to the reform of the reality of people. Thus, Sufism
offers the community creative individuals who can contribute to its renaissance
as part of their roles in the process of divine exploration of the human beings
in the land, with the intention of its prosperity.
Fourthly, some scholars call for the dyeing of Sufism with a scientific
approach, limiting the speeches and practices associated with the Moulids which
is not a condition for achieving the desired goal, but rather would make Sufism
lose its distinguished identity.
However, there is no objection to the existence of scientific elites and
intellectual references whose mission is not to transfer Sufism entirely from a
state to a state free of innovation and pedagogy, as some believe, but to
rationalize the mystical discourse and to direct the energies of Sufism and its
spiritual manifestations to reform and promote reality. That represents the
ceremonial and folkloric side which attracts millions of people.
Fifthly: Some scholars went on to say that Sufism is not suitable for competing
with misinterpreted Islam because it offers support to the poor without
consideration of political gain, while this is the desired goal. It is not
possible that the Sufi trend gets political arms as happened in Egypt in 2011
because Sufism is expected to only be reformative, depending on its survival as
an independent social reform movement that is not politically employable from
outside, and is not seeking to politicize religion and exploit it for political
gains.
This concept aims to create a balanced integration between honesty, conscience,
vigilance and moral ethics on the one hand, and the experiences and political
and economic competencies on the other hand; in the sense that there is no
objection that the Sufi practices politics if has has the necessary expertise
and competence. However, he does not represent Sufism if he joined liberal
parties that have nothing to do with religious titles. This comes especially
since there are common characteristics of Sufism and liberalism, such as respect
for pluralism and individual liberties.
This will preserve the sanctity of religion and its specificity, so that it
will not be contaminated by political tricks. Integrity based on respect for
specialization and expertise will be achieved, while taking advantage of the
roles of the mystical current in education, self-improvement and personal
behavior.
In this way, the hypothesis promoted by the leaders of extremist groups, which
claims that misinterpreted Islam is distinct from the movement of Sufi Islam
because it is independent of governments and systems and is not affiliated with
them fails. Here lies the importance of independence, specialization and the
non-linkage to a political experiment; so as not to consolidate claims saying
that Sufism is a political affiliate to regimes, is a political movement and
seeks to politicize religion and employ it for political purposes.
It will also qualify Sufism to occupy its rightful place with its distinct and
evolving understanding of the teachings of religion and its prerogatives, as it
draws its strength and presence from its own constituents rather than the
protection or support of governments and political systems.
In a nutshell
The political and misinterpreted form of Islam in the world is retreating as a
result of its destruction, violence and terrorism, spreading hatred and
division among the peoples of the world and within societies. In the future, it
will not regain its power and influence by playing on contradictions and
exploiting the interests of some forces. This space should be filled with a
rational Muslim version that has popular support on the one hand and embraces
the core of religion, calls for human peace and love among human beings, and
holds the perceptions of Islam as a tolerant religion that renounces violence.
It also should accept its values and the principles of freedom and human
rights, and does not interfere with any development that can do good to
humanity.
Sufism is not only able to occupy the place of misinterpreted Islam, but has
the potentials that make it - if its influence spread in the society - a
barrier against the presence of radical fundamentalism. For example, Sufism
taught the people of Damascus in Syria and Baghdad in Iraq that God is
everywhere and that they should love him more than they fear him. Due to the
Sufi heritage of both countries, they have succeeded to be difficult to fall
under the authority of Daesh.
In order for Sufism to be able to replace the misinterpreted Islam that has
exhausted its purposes and proved its failure and catastrophe, it must
rationalize its discourse and develop its performance, so that it becomes a
project of a nation, not a project of movement or current.
This requires gathering individuals within the Sufi component not be for
personal purposes or for the enhancement of the individual or for the service
of a group, but for the service of society and the renaissance of the nation
wherever it is in the East or the West.
