Sufism has often (but not always) been more tolerant

By Timothy R. Furnish - HNN History News Network - George Mason's University,U.S.A.
Monday, August 14, 2006

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Of course, history and not just sacred texts must be taken into account when studying political ideologies, even ones that are religious-based. And no doubt moderate Islam does exist.

One good historical example of it is the Ottoman Empire, which while paying lip service to jihad as holy war spent the last several centuries of its existence struggling (but ultimately failing) to evolve into a modern state. In the religious sphere, the strain of Islamic mysticism known as Sufism has often (but not always) been more tolerant and less jihad-prone than other strains of Islamic ideology. But centuries before the Bush family even existed, Muslim scholar-activists were dividing the world into Dar al-Islam, the “abode of Islam,” and Dar al-Harb, the “abode of war;” i.e., unbelievers, who could expect nothing but conquest.

Imperial dreams did not begin with Hitler or, for that matter, with George W. Bush. While most modern Muslims have abandoned this violent, expansionist aspect of Islamic thought, all obviously have not. To pretend otherwise is simply foolish. And it is dangerously misleading to use a term that implies the aggressive tendency of certain strains of Islam is imported rather than indigenous.
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