U know how ifghani you get the real peers and then those fake ones well thats the case with these so-called sufi's they aint nothin like the classical sufi's.

Salam

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4746019.stm

BBC - Thursday, 11 August 2005, 10:24 GMT 11:24 UK

"irfghan" wrote:

[size=18]Pakistan's mystical Islam thrives[/size]

[b]The mystical form of Islam espoused by Sufi saints for hundreds of years continues to thrive in Pakistan despite opposition from religious hardliners and the authorities. [/b]

As the sun sets on a Thursday evening, hundreds of working class people descend on a shrine to the eighth-century mystic, Abdullah Shah Ghazi, in Karachi.

The shrine is located on a hill in the upmarket Clifton district of Pakistan's financial capital, flanked by swanky shopping malls and the posh residential area of Defence.

In the grounds below the shrine gather electricians, plumbers, construction workers, vagabonds, transvestites, prostitutes. Encircled by a cheering crowd, men take turns in a weightlifting competition.

Another circle dances to the drumbeat of the shrine's dhol players.

Devotional singing, or "qawali", emanates from an enclosure adjacent to the open grounds, yet another crowd swaying under its spell.
[b]
Holy nights[/b]

The men, for this public space is overwhelmingly male-dominated, belong to all the ethnicities and sects that make up Pakistan, mixing freely in a city rife with divisions.

Food stalls, bonfires, stereo-players, huddles of ganja-smoking men, smaller ones of heroin users, others swigging local brews, make up this multi-ethnic weekly party that rocks into the early hours of the morning.

Although Thursdays are traditionally holy nights when devotees pray at Sufi shrines, the revelry at Shah Ghazi seems to have little to do with prayer.

Music, dance and drugs, though proscribed by orthodox Islam, are the traditional vehicles of devotion here - as they are at most shrines in Pakistan.

Sufism has historically provided Islam with an alternative to orthodoxy and has won it most of its converts.

Sufi saints created mass appeal through their merging with pre-existing faiths of the region and their ability to align themselves with popular interests.

The mass appeal of saints like Shah Ghazi and others persists in spite of 200 years of opposition from puritanical reformers and the state.

From the late 19th century on, reformers sought to purify Islam by rejecting elements they believe had crept in through Sufism.

[b]Exiled[/b]

Under the colonial regime, although landed Sufis were used as intermediaries between government and subjects, ascetics were seen as a threat and criminalised.

Similarly, while ancient Sufis were viewed as genuine agents of spirituality, living mystics were dismissed as frauds.

The 19th Century Sufi, Mewa Shah, also buried in Karachi, was jailed and eventually exiled by the British.

According to legend, Mewa Shah alighted the ship taking him into exile, said his prayers on the waves of the Arabian Sea and mounted a large fish which took him back to the shores of Karachi.

Post-colonial Pakistan has had a schizophrenic policy towards Sufi shrines.

By subsuming them under the Auqaf department, the state has sought to weaken the powers of the spiritual heirs of the saints.

Established under Ayub Khan in 1959, the Auqaf department received its charter from Javed Iqbal, the son of Pakistan's founding visionary poet, Mohammad Iqbal, who actually bemoaned the superstitions of Indian Muslims.

The pamphlets published by the department expunged the miraculous from the legends, repainting the lives of Sufi saints in a modernist light.

The powers of the department were expanded further under the pseudo-socialist government of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1976 and have persisted through Zia ul-Haq's Islamist dictatorship and Pervez Musharraf's rule of "enlightened moderation".

Meanwhile, state functionaries and politicians have continued to seek legitimacy from the shrines by turning prayer visits into public appearances and photo opportunities.

Although tributes paid by devotees are siphoned through the Auqaf department, alms are also received by the dozen or so kitchens that run along the front of the shrine.

The money is used to provide two daily meals to anyone in need. The most destitute thus encamp outside the shrine, among them glue-sniffing runaway children, heroin addicts and other homeless men and women.

The Sufi shrines offer the underclass spiritual sustenance, a social valve of entertainment, and a safety net of free rations.

It is a bond that has not been loosened by militant Islam.

[url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4746019.stm]BBC[/url]

What do you make of this article?

All I can do is quote Hollywood:

" SUFIS RULE !! " - Danni Devito [ film: Jewel of the Nile ]

Omrow

deleted

"muslim gyal" wrote:

i still dnt understand wht sufism is.....arent they very bidati ppl ...do they believe in magic? havnt got a clue

sufism is spritulism, cleansing ones heart to get close to Allah (swt).. whats so bidati bout that and no sufi's dont use magic

Salam

If you dont understand something, then simply ask and keep your mouth shut on assumptions.

Would you like it if I say this sentence:

I still dont understand who this gyal is. Who is this gyal. I don't understand anything about her. Isn't she a fat ugly little midget from Luton? Doen't she work the street corners at night? Havn't got a clue.

That's exactly what you did in your question..

Omrow

The basic stage of spirtualism is hidayah (guidance)

Salaam,

Muslim sis, if I recall correctly I think you recommended a good book on the mystical poet Rumi ... I am torn inbetween which one I should purchase on-line? I want to get the mathnavi? Do you have it? Which one/ones of Rumi's works are good?

Anyone else have any suggestions on the works or Rumi ?

JazakAllah
Wsalaam

Salam

I like reading the Sunday papers. Catch up on world of culture and arts.

In Observer newspaper this Sunday, there was an interesting article about the Sufis and their music.

Read it for yourselves:

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/omm/story/0,13887,1590347,00.html

Omrow

Salaam,

Thanx sis.. According to Amazon it seems there is more then 5 volumes?
I dont have an issue with the cost? But Im a little confused on how many volumes it consists of?

btw.. im Shama

Wsalaam

"Omrow" wrote:

Read it for yourselves:

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/omm/story/0,13887,1590347,00.html

Fantastic article Omrow.

I just hope I remember to watch this:

[b]Sufi Soul
6 November
C4 11.30pm[/b]

Sufi Soul is presented by writer William Dalrymple and features extraordinary scenes from Pakistan, such as a festival at the shrine of a Sufi saint (Shah Abdul Latif), which evokes a subcontinental Las Vegas.

whats fantastic about it?

the stuff u linked aint real sufism at all

its just people trying to give sufi's a bad name

It's relatively unbiased.

What's wrong with it? Which people are giving Islam a bad name?

"irfghan" wrote:

It's relatively unbiased.

What's wrong with it? Which people are giving Islam a bad name?

the one u linked at the top of this page

"MuslimSisLilSis" wrote:

"irfghan" wrote:

It's relatively unbiased.

What's wrong with it? Which people are giving Islam a bad name?

the one u linked at the top of this page

Oh that one! :roll:

I though you were talking about [url=http://observer.guardian.co.uk/omm/story/0,13887,1590347,00.html]the one Omrow linked to today[/url].

The one that I posted has been disscussed already.

"irfghan" wrote:

"MuslimSisLilSis" wrote:

"irfghan" wrote:

It's relatively unbiased.

What's wrong with it? Which people are giving Islam a bad name?

the one u linked at the top of this page

Oh that one! :roll:

I though you were talking about [url=http://observer.guardian.co.uk/omm/story/0,13887,1590347,00.html]the one Omrow linked to today[/url].

The one that I posted has been disscussed already.

his one was boring :roll:

all it mentioned was intense zikr

and how the wahabi's dont approve of sufism

nothing controversial

It wasn't boring.

Just because it didn't have pretty pictures and didn't mention Sami Yusuf doesn't make it boring. :roll:

You should read it properly instead of just skim-reading.

"irfghan" wrote:

Just because it didn't have pretty pictures and didn't mention Sami Yusuf doesn't make it boring. :roll:

.

yeh thats really what I'm into- :roll: :roll:

and for ur info

the article just described some Sufi's living in Pakistan-

And what? what was the point of the article

btw u into sufism fred?

Are you still talking about the BBC one at the top of the page? :roll:

[url=http://observer.guardian.co.uk/omm/story/0,13887,1590347,00.html]The Observer article that Omro linked to[/url] talks about Sufis in Turkey, Yemen and Pakistan.

It trys to show the contrast between the puritans and the Sufis.

I am more 'into' Sufism than I was.

Salaam,

One of the most famous Islamic mystics was a woman, Rabi al Basri ..

She was the first to introduce the idea that God should be loved for God's own sake, not out of fear, as earlier Sufis had done. For example, she is reported to have walked the streets of Basra, a flaming torch in one hand, and a bucket of water in the other. When her intentions were questioned, Rabi'a replied: I want to pour water into Hell and set fire to Paradise so that these two veils disappear and nobody worships God out of fear of Hell or hope for Paradise, but only for the sake of His eternal beauty..

Wsalaam

Subhanallah!

was this the same person MuslimSister mentioned last time?

Salaam,

Im not sure who Sis mentioned but Rabia al Basri the sage is truly an inspiration to all women in Islam...

Its unfortunate there is not much on her life and history just shows how mystical she was, leading a life of solitude she was detached from the world for the sake of Allah only.

Wsalaam

Muslimsislilsis is right. That article was stupid.

When most western media talk about sufis what they really mean is pseudo-sufis. Thats what they'd like us to be. All that stuff about sufis not taking part in jihad is rubbish. In the past two hundred years many sufis have fought in wars such Imam Shamil al-Daghestani who was part of the Nashqabandi tariqa.

Come to think of it aren't the Taliban Nashqabandi as well?

The BBC article was stupid.

"irfghan" wrote:

I am more 'into' Sufism than I was.

bro get out of sufism they are corrupt in thier teachings stick to the origional teachigs of the prophet (pbuh) and the quran .

Sufism (Tasawwuf) was not known in the time of the Prophet (may Allah raise his rank and grant him peace) or his Companions, nor was it well known in the first three generations after them. The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) praised when he said, “The best of mankind is my generation, then those who come after them, then those who come after them…” (Narrated by al-Bukhaari, 2652; Muslim, 2533; from the hadeeth of Ibn Mas’ood) Sufism (Tasawwuf) first appeared in Basrah in Iraq, where some people went to extremes in worship and in avoiding the worldly life, something which is admonished in the Quran "The Monasticism which they invented for themselves; We did not prescribe it for them." (Quran 5727)

bro theres nothing wrong with Tasawuff at all....

im gona try postin some notes on it, if i get the time Inshallah

it requires understanding, once you have understood and learnt about it - feel free to criticise it

bro it is wrong i have provided evidence it was not the practice of the prophet (pbuh) so why do people practice it?

bro quote hadiths and quran to argue for it opinions have no basis

like i said, i will do

but how much do you know about sufism, or r u jus dismissing it?

proper sufism leads to a state of ecstacy in love and remeberenvce of Allah swt and the beloved Nabi (SAW) - and it puts worldy affairs into perspective (little relevance attached to it)

its deep and tough to explain, maybe im not the best to do so, but i'll give it a shot no doubt