sufi islam versus wahhabi islam

8/3/2019 Sufi Islam Versus Wahhabi Islam

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Sufi Islam Versus Wahhabi Islam

By Asghar Ali Engineer

(Islam and Modern Age, December 2011)

Recently a huge congregation of Sunni (Sufi) Muslims in Moradabad denounced Wahh

abi Islam and the Spokesperson of the All India Ulema Mashaikh Board Syed Mohammad Ashraf and leader of the Sufi Islam said we do not accept leadership of Wahhabi Islam (hamen inki na qayadat na imamat qabool hai). Syed Babar Ashraf said, 80% of Indian Muslims followed the Sunni Sufi tradition while Wahabis wielded control over just 13-14% of the community But, he said, a large section of the Urdu press has boycotted us. They are controlled by hardliners. Though there has been aserious difference between the two, it was for the first time that public denunciation came surprising many and not so surprising some.

For outsiders all Muslims are one in India. In fact they consider Muslims a monolithic bloc. However, it is far from true. Indian Muslims are highly diverse, asdiverse as India culturally, linguistically, regionally as well as theologicall

y. Indian Islam, it must be noted has been thoroughly Indianised in terms of culture, local customs and traditions. This is reflected in various ways includingcelebration of festivals, marriage, birth and death rituals etc.

Some purists of course opposed this Indianisation and worked for de-indianisingIslam through medieval ages also. Mujaddid alf-e-Sani during Jahangirs time was one among them. He was opposed to Chishti school of Sufi Islam (which has been predominant in India) and which believes in what is known as Wahdat al-Wujud (Unity of Being). This School demolished all walls of separation between religions.

Mujaddid alf-e-Sani proposed the doctrine of what he called Wahdat-e-Shuhud (Unity of Witnessing). However, this school never becomes popular in India or even outside India. It remained confined to a few religious elite. Some separatists in

20th century used Mujaddid as their icon of pure Islam and also for consolidating their separatist movement under Islamic garb. In fact it is too much to readpolitical separatism in Mujaddids religious doctrines.

We are mentioning Mujaddid alf-e-Sani here only to show there always have been some tension between pure Islam and Indian Islam which Chishtiyah Sufis preached.It is interesting to note that Hasan Nezami Sajjada Nashin (Keeper) of the Dargah Hazrat Nizamuddin in Delhi, wrote a wonderful book Fatimi Dawat-e-Islam in which he has documented in detail how Sufis adopted various Indian rituals, customs and traditions to popularize Islam in India and how successfully they Indianized Islam.

Thus it will be seen that Sufi Islam reflects regional variations of cultures from Kashmir to Kanyakumari. Sufi Islam has always been pluralistic and inclusiveand its emphasis has always been on spiritual aspects of religion (tariqat) thanShariat (legal path) though Shariat is not neglected. It is closer to what we can call Bhakti Marg among Hindus. Sufi Islam lays more emphasis on devotion.

Sufis, though they were great scholars of Persian and Arabic two languages in India in which Islamic literature was produced- they preferred to write in local languages. Baba Farid Ganj Shakar, a great Sufi saint from Punjab wrote in Punjabi and is considered as the first Punjabi poet and Guru Nanak has quoted his verses in Adi Granth Sahib and hence Baba Farid is highly respected by Sikhs. PunjabUniversity, Chandigarh, has also created a Chair in his name i.e. Baba Farid Chair and also publishes a journal.

ufi Islam being pluralistic in approach was tremendously popular among people ofdifferent religions, specially among Hindus. One can see large number of Hindus


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at Sheikh Moinuddin Chishtis Dargah, Ajimer or Hazrat Nizamuddins Dargah at Delhiand so on. Thousands of Hindu women come and take vow for offering chador (sheet of cloth) if their problem is solved.

It is interesting to note that Dara Shikoh, the elder son of Shah Jahan who wasappointed heir apparent by him (Shah Jahan) was a Sufi belonging to Qadariyah School (which did not have much following in India) was great scholar of Hinduism

and he learnt Sanskrit in order to understand Hinduism through original sources.He translated Upanishads into Persian and maintained that he found the conceptof Tawhid after Quran only in Upanishads.

He also wrote a seminal work Majmaul Bahrayn which is a comparative study of Hinduism and Islam and in which he shows how similar are these two religions. In fact it should be a compulsory study for students to promote national unity and integration. However, it has been totally neglected and hardly anyone knows even its name. Instead books promoting serious misunderstandings, even downright animosity, are taught in schools and colleges.

It is Sufi Islam which not only brought Hindus and Muslims together but also cre

ated our rich heritage of composite culture. It is highly necessary that our youngsters know more and more of this rich heritage.

The Wahhabi Islam, on the other hand, came into existence, in 18th century in Najd, a part of what is called today Saudi Arabi. It was Muhammad Abdul Wahhab whowas its founder. Abdul Wahhab was totally against Sufi version of Islam and hethought it is corruption of Islamic teachings.

Sufi Islam believes in visiting graves of Sufi saints and reciting Fatihah (prayer invoking name of Sufi saint and taking vows in the name of Sufi saints. AbdulWahhab denounced all this and thought Islam cannot permit this and this is against the teachings of Islam as it believes in unity of God (tawhid) and is shirk(associating partners with God). Thus Sufi Islam is totally anti-Islam and must

be rejected.

The Wahhabi Islam is opposed to even invoking name of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and opposes visiting Prophets grave and praying there. Here we are not trying to judge who is right and who is wrong. I am only trying to portray what is what.

May be Wahhabis are right from their own perspective but it would be equally wrong to denounce Sufi Islam as corruption of Islamic teachings. No ideology in theworld, be it religious or political, can remain pure as some ideologues would like to desire. Even Marxism drastically changed when imported to China.

It is also interesting to note that those who desire to use any ideology for power insist on purity, even extremism and those who desire to make it pro-people take it closer to peoples culture and thus compromise its original purity.

While Wahhabis desired to capture power which they subsequently did, Sufis kepttheir distance from power. Sufi Islam is inclusive and pro-people and hence doesnot want to aspire for power. In fact power becomes problematic as it is alwaysexploitative and anti-people.

Even democratic power structure tends to become exclusivistic for certain groupsand communities and does not remain pro-people as it ought to be. Sufi Islam, though Muslim dynasties were ruling over India, maintained its distance from rulers and ruling dynasties. It remained closer to common people rather than rulingclasses.

Thus among Muslims, all those who desired power were not much enthusiastic aboutSufi Islam. Even poet Iqbal initially denounced Sufism as its teachings serious


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ly interfere with the philosophy of what he called khudi i.e. elevation of self. Iqbal at that stage thought Sufism leads to inkisar (humility) as against khudi so necessary for a power wielding personality.

However, Iqbal did realize later inner richness of Sufi approach and came to greatly appreciate poetry of Hafiz, Saadi and Rumi and he calls Rumi as Pir i.e. spiritual teacher and quotes him repeatedly in his poems. Indian soil was very fertil

e for Sufi Islam and specially Chishtiyah Sufism which was founded by MuhiyuddinIbn Arabi on the philosophy of Unity of Being i.e. Being is one and we all areits manifestation.

India had developed this approach in its own way and Muhiyuddin Ibn Arabi in Spain in his own way. When these Wahdat-ul-Wujudi Sufis came to India the two met and flourished. That is why Wahdat al-Shuhud of Mujaddid alf-e-Sani found no takers in India and now it is only history whereas Wahdat al-Wujudi Islam is still flourishing.

Wahhabi Islam, as pointed out above, is essentially a political Islam and it found some takers in 19th century when the Mughal rule declined and Muslims suffere

d both politically as well as economically. Its history in India is much chequred one. It began as a revolt against the British as well as against the feudal lords who exploited the peasants. In Bengal the peasantry was mainly Muslim and Dadu Miyan and Titu Miyan, both described as Wahhabis led to revolt. However, in U.P. it acquired mainly anti-British tone.

In India the Wahhabis are generally known as Deobandis as they had established the famous seminary Darul Uloom Deoband in 19th century and from day one they hadbeen opposing the British rule and played prominent role throughout freedom movement. They supported the Indian National Congress and its ideology of secular democracy and opposed Jinnahs two nation theory. Thus one finds this contradictionamong Deobandis politically they have been progressive but religiously and theologically rather conservative.

The Deobandis though technically not the followers of Abdul Wahhab of Najd, arecloser to Shah Waliyullah Dehlavi who tried to work out synthesis of Wahdat al-Wujud and Mujaddid alf-e-Sani wahda al-Shuhud to reconcile the two opposing ideologies. However, it did not succeed much. Shah Waliyullah, an eminent theologiandid not reject Sufism but did not accept philosophy of Wahdat al-Wujud without reservation either.

But Deobandis of late have adopted hostile attitude towards Sufi Islam and bothtry to revile each other As Saudis are quite intolerant of Sufi Islam, Deobandiswho are going closer to Saudis ideologically, are also becoming more and more intolerant of Sufi Islam. Saudis are pouring money in the Islamic world to popularize Salafi Islam which is most intolerant and exclusivistic and wants to go back in history and practice Islam as practiced by the earliest Muslims.

Of late due to Saudi influence Salafi Islam is spreading fast among Muslims andthis leads to extremism. During anti-Soviet war in Afghanistan America also promoted Salafi Islam as at that time Islamic extremism was thought to be American ally. Today America is paying price for that. America never hesitates to exploitreligious fanaticism, if it helps its purpose even temporarily. Thus America isno less responsible for spreading Salafi Islam.

Again because of Saudi influence the Government also gives more importance to Deobandis than to representatives of Sufi Islam though they are in great majority.Recently when our peace yatra from Ayodhya to Nizamuddin Awliya ended at the Ma

usoleum of Hazrat Nizamuddin the Sajjada Nashin bitterly complained that we arenot included in any governmental delegations though were most inclusive and people of all communities Hindus, Sikhs, Parsis and Christians visit this place. He


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pleaded with us to use our influence with the government to include them in official delegations.

It was in this background and frustration that Syed Babar Ashraf .spoke at a rally at Moradabad. It is unfortunate that Muslims while swearing by unity (Ittihad) are indulging in sectarian fights. In this respect one must admire the effortsof Shah Waliyullah, a man of social vision, tried to reconcile the two schools

of thought but his ideas have been marginalized and intolerance is growing.

India is a land of diversity and tolerance and Sufi Islam prospered here becauseof this nature of Indian soil. Some Muslims may not accept Sufi Islam for ideological reasons and there is nothing wrong about it but they should show respectfor those who are devout Sufis and believe in praying at Sufi Dargahs. Sufi Islam is after all more spiritual in nature and Sufis, though do not renounce the world as renunciation has no place in Islam but they do believe in controlling desires and keep their distance from power. That is why it is more inclusive and pluralistic in nature.

Institute of Islamic Studies, Mumbai.

Source: The Moderates

URL: http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamWarWithinIslam_1.aspx?ArticleID=6107

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COMMENTS12/22/2011 11:05:26 PM ali misbaifantastic article. i do not want to blong unduely to sufis or hardliners wahabis

i am simple muslim and belive in islamic doctrines that have clear teachings not to speaking foul for other religions. in today

world we have to send out a massege that islam is a truely pluralistic and inclusive religion. it has no boundries of caste, creed and religion while catering human services to humanity. The Holy Quran says that "the whole univers is the family of God".

12/11/2011 8:22:10 PM Aiman Reyaz"Do not commit excess in your religion", God tells us in the Quran. I think bothSufis and Wahhabis are doing extremes. But this is my view, and I have constructed these thoughts according to my study; similarly Sufis and Wahhabis alike have constructed their belief differently. The reason for diversity is because, maybe God wants diversity. As God says in the QUran that "We have divided you intonations and tribes, and you shall not despise each other but recognise each other". So in a sense we are fulfilling what is written in the Quran.

But we should not impose our version onto others. Let the other person follow what he likes to follow,

to you is your way, to me is mine

. At the same time Iwould like to say that if somebody is doing wrong, then it is also our duty to correct others. The Quran says "Proclaim the truth, giving hidya is in the handsof God".

12/10/2011 11:22:15 PM RashidIn the light of 30-32 etc, I for one can not accept as Islam any thing with tags


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of prefixes and suffixes. It is this acceptance of intra-faith so called tolerance among us that has perpetuated the religions industry and profession of priesthood and each faction and denomination claiming monopoly in providing guidance to their flock.

The poet quite rightly articulated 10-35

Falsehood loves duality, Truth has no associate

(Hence) do not accept any association between Truth and Falsehood.

For him, as for me, a Momin ( without any tag) there is no compromise to be madeon this issue:

You are an infidel in my sight as I am an infidel in yours,

Your religion is counting souls, mine religion is of pathos.(Iqbal, an Urdu poet)

Tolerance and protection of other faiths amongst us is an injunction of Quran, but among us any such isms are to be intellectually rejected and denied the tag ofIslam, which is its important message to maintain unity.

12/10/2011 1:12:19 PM Raihan NezamiIt is so painful to see the plight of the Islamic fraternity who are divided amo

ng various sects, and are fighting , denouncing and blaming one others over thetrifling issues of offering "Fatiha" or "Praying for the dead" or "visiting graves". I dont agree with the opinion of the author, "only explaining who is what".We must try to rectify the mistakes if any, to save our brethren from transgression or deviation. It is our (particularly Islamic scholars) duty to warn our family members, friends and fraternity if we have any authentic piece of information.

12/10/2011 12:06:32 PM Ghulam MohiyuddinExcellent Article. Many Muslims do not see themselves as either Sufis or Wahhabis. They see themselves as just Muslims. Whether one is a Sufi or a Wahhabi, it is important that one does not try to force one

s belief on others. It would be ideal if Sufis and Wahhabis can respect each other

s belief, and can accept thatwhat unites us is much greater than what divides us.

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sufi islam versus wahhabi islam

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