Walid Ramzi in Algiers, Siham Ali in Rabat, Jamel Arfaoui in Tunis and Mohamed Abdel Wedoud in Nouakchott contributed to this report for Magharebia, *Despite debates, Sufis retain role in Maghreb Islam* - Magharebia - Maghreb/USAThursday, April 8, 2010
The Maghreb's Sufis are looking to the future, despite hints from Somalia and beyond that tolerance for diversity is needed to ensure their role in Islam.
As Sufi orders around the Maghreb prepare for the season's gatherings and celebrations, debate is once more arising about how this current of Islam fits into society.
Embraced or tolerated by most in the Maghreb, Sufism's emphasis on mysticism and moderation evokes strong stances among both followers and detractors.
"[Sufism] is the perfect way to fight fanaticism," one 22-year-old Moroccan, Jaouad Rehmani, told Magharebia.
"By standing apart from all the heated debates, Sufism is the expression of moderate Islam, and it doesn't take a position on political issues," said the student, who became involved in Sufism through a music festival in Fes. "It purifies the soul and allows you to approach God in peace."
But as an antidote for extremism, Sufism has its enemies.
Nowhere is this enmity more evident than in Somalia, whose instability casts a shadow over neighbouring countries. There, members of the al-Shabab movement last month destroyed the graves of two revered sheikhs to frighten off Sufi pilgrims. The practice, documented in a 2008 video aired by Al Jazeera, has continued until today.
Sufi groups in Somalia have drawn criticism from extremist groups by working with the government to counter the influence of al-Shabab.
While negative reactions to Sufi reverence for the faith's important figures do not approach the violent extremes visible in Somalia, such sentiments do exist, at varying levels, in the Maghreb.
"Many followers and clerics of Sufi sects in Mauritania ... visit their clerics' graves not seeking a sermon, but as a way of exaltation and blessing", one Mauritanian graduate student in Islamic studies, Sidina Ould Hamahou Allah, told Magharebia. "Imagine! They ask their deceased clerics' help to achieve worldly gains...this is a clear delusion that has no justification in Islam".
The Somali demolitions raise the stakes for Sufis in the Maghreb, who even before those events were concerned with countering extremists' claims and actions.
"The current wager rests on the ability of Sufis to give expression to Islam and present it in a sound manner, and the extent of their contribution to cultural exchanges and renouncing violence, extremism and terrorism," one Algerian sheikh, Belabes Lazhari, said at a March 19th seminar in Algiers.
Declarations like Lazhari's are not alone in the Muslim world; other religious leaders have recently rallied around a fatwa condemning terrorism's worst manifestations, such as suicide bombings. But Sufism's visible differences from some mainstream expressions of Islam at times make it a lightning-rod for extremists' anger.
Part of the reason Sufism draws Islamists' ire – and maintains its popular appeal – is its incorporation of many arts and folk traditions. This makes its zawiya, which group Sufi followers around a particular sheikh, suspect in the eyes of Salafist purists. But this suspicion may, in part, be due to confusion about the essence of Sufism.
"There's been a zawiya specialising in folk remedies with herbs, and there are also offshoots of mysticism in the musical arts, calligraphy, poetry, verse and recitation – these are not called Sufism, but are rather offshoots of Sufism," Dr. Ali Moundji, an Algerian Sufism expert, told Magharebia.
Moundji also rebutted arguments, like those made by al-Shabab, that Sufism has a heretical tendency to encourage the worship of saints like the ones whose tombs the terrorists razed.
"The saints, in contrast with the prophets, are not calling for anyone to believe in them – this is the difference," said Moundji. "Even with the visions, observations and blessings of the saints, we recognise them out of respect for them, but are not calling for belief in them."
Even in academic circles, however, the role of saints in Sufism is debated.
Sufism contains "embellishment in the readings of the saints and miracles, because many are fabricated, in addition to a misunderstanding of certain things in Islam, such as asceticism", Sedik Marouki, an Algerian professor of fiqh, told Magharebia.
Some Muslims in the Maghreb are on guard against claims by any side, whether Sufi or fundamentalist, that their approach to Islam is the one true path.
"Let's not forget that Sufism is based on the Qur'an and the practice of the Prophet," one Tunisian sheikh, Moemen Touzri, told Magharebia. "But today, we find ourselves [trapped] between the extremist Sunnis, who consider Sufism to be a heresy that must be opposed, and Sufi supporters who believe Sufism is the true essence of Islam."
In the end, Sufis may be able to talk up their historical track record in order to ensure their place in Maghreb society. Mystical Sufi orders were set up in North Africa in the early Middle Ages. Sufism flourished in the Maghreb, and since then has spread to West Africa, Asia, Europe and the United States.
"There's a lesson in history, for Sufis have always worked toward reform through advice and education of the individual and internal purification through providing a model and example of tolerance, solidarity, brotherhood and selflessness removed from anything that would impugn the sound image of Islam," said Moroccan Sufism researcher Mohamed Touhami.
Picture: Pilgrimage sites like that of 'Um el-Khair' in Algeria play a key role in many Sufis' faith. Photo: Fayez Nureldine/AFP/Getty Images
The Maghreb's Sufis are looking to the future, despite hints from Somalia and beyond that tolerance for diversity is needed to ensure their role in Islam.
As Sufi orders around the Maghreb prepare for the season's gatherings and celebrations, debate is once more arising about how this current of Islam fits into society.
Embraced or tolerated by most in the Maghreb, Sufism's emphasis on mysticism and moderation evokes strong stances among both followers and detractors.
"[Sufism] is the perfect way to fight fanaticism," one 22-year-old Moroccan, Jaouad Rehmani, told Magharebia.
"By standing apart from all the heated debates, Sufism is the expression of moderate Islam, and it doesn't take a position on political issues," said the student, who became involved in Sufism through a music festival in Fes. "It purifies the soul and allows you to approach God in peace."
But as an antidote for extremism, Sufism has its enemies.
Nowhere is this enmity more evident than in Somalia, whose instability casts a shadow over neighbouring countries. There, members of the al-Shabab movement last month destroyed the graves of two revered sheikhs to frighten off Sufi pilgrims. The practice, documented in a 2008 video aired by Al Jazeera, has continued until today.
Sufi groups in Somalia have drawn criticism from extremist groups by working with the government to counter the influence of al-Shabab.
While negative reactions to Sufi reverence for the faith's important figures do not approach the violent extremes visible in Somalia, such sentiments do exist, at varying levels, in the Maghreb.
"Many followers and clerics of Sufi sects in Mauritania ... visit their clerics' graves not seeking a sermon, but as a way of exaltation and blessing", one Mauritanian graduate student in Islamic studies, Sidina Ould Hamahou Allah, told Magharebia. "Imagine! They ask their deceased clerics' help to achieve worldly gains...this is a clear delusion that has no justification in Islam".
The Somali demolitions raise the stakes for Sufis in the Maghreb, who even before those events were concerned with countering extremists' claims and actions.
"The current wager rests on the ability of Sufis to give expression to Islam and present it in a sound manner, and the extent of their contribution to cultural exchanges and renouncing violence, extremism and terrorism," one Algerian sheikh, Belabes Lazhari, said at a March 19th seminar in Algiers.
Declarations like Lazhari's are not alone in the Muslim world; other religious leaders have recently rallied around a fatwa condemning terrorism's worst manifestations, such as suicide bombings. But Sufism's visible differences from some mainstream expressions of Islam at times make it a lightning-rod for extremists' anger.
Part of the reason Sufism draws Islamists' ire – and maintains its popular appeal – is its incorporation of many arts and folk traditions. This makes its zawiya, which group Sufi followers around a particular sheikh, suspect in the eyes of Salafist purists. But this suspicion may, in part, be due to confusion about the essence of Sufism.
"There's been a zawiya specialising in folk remedies with herbs, and there are also offshoots of mysticism in the musical arts, calligraphy, poetry, verse and recitation – these are not called Sufism, but are rather offshoots of Sufism," Dr. Ali Moundji, an Algerian Sufism expert, told Magharebia.
Moundji also rebutted arguments, like those made by al-Shabab, that Sufism has a heretical tendency to encourage the worship of saints like the ones whose tombs the terrorists razed.
"The saints, in contrast with the prophets, are not calling for anyone to believe in them – this is the difference," said Moundji. "Even with the visions, observations and blessings of the saints, we recognise them out of respect for them, but are not calling for belief in them."
Even in academic circles, however, the role of saints in Sufism is debated.
Sufism contains "embellishment in the readings of the saints and miracles, because many are fabricated, in addition to a misunderstanding of certain things in Islam, such as asceticism", Sedik Marouki, an Algerian professor of fiqh, told Magharebia.
Some Muslims in the Maghreb are on guard against claims by any side, whether Sufi or fundamentalist, that their approach to Islam is the one true path.
"Let's not forget that Sufism is based on the Qur'an and the practice of the Prophet," one Tunisian sheikh, Moemen Touzri, told Magharebia. "But today, we find ourselves [trapped] between the extremist Sunnis, who consider Sufism to be a heresy that must be opposed, and Sufi supporters who believe Sufism is the true essence of Islam."
In the end, Sufis may be able to talk up their historical track record in order to ensure their place in Maghreb society. Mystical Sufi orders were set up in North Africa in the early Middle Ages. Sufism flourished in the Maghreb, and since then has spread to West Africa, Asia, Europe and the United States.
"There's a lesson in history, for Sufis have always worked toward reform through advice and education of the individual and internal purification through providing a model and example of tolerance, solidarity, brotherhood and selflessness removed from anything that would impugn the sound image of Islam," said Moroccan Sufism researcher Mohamed Touhami.
Picture: Pilgrimage sites like that of 'Um el-Khair' in Algeria play a key role in many Sufis' faith. Photo: Fayez Nureldine/AFP/Getty Images
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