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2009-07-09 Africa North

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Posted by Fred 2009-07-09 00:00|| || Front Page|| [4 views ] Top
File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa

#1 The Sufi are pretty ok.

Posted by newc">newc 2009-07-09 07:02|| 2009-07-09 07:02|| Front Page Top

#2 If it works great. I figure the other sects will respond with violence, that being the preferred method of debate in the House of Islam.

Posted by Don Vito Crolutle2068 2009-07-09 08:00|| 2009-07-09 08:00|| Front Page Top

#3 The Sufi are pretty ok.

You should take a look at the atrocities perpetrated by pious sufis. Sufism was striong in imperial Turkey to begin with.

Posted by JFM">JFM 2009-07-09 08:52|| 2009-07-09 08:52|| Front Page Top

#4 two specific Sufi practises will likely tick of many Algerians

1. they make pilgrimage to the tombs of Sufi sages and consider these pilgrimages to be more important than the Haj

2. Sufi poetry is loaded with hymns celebrating wine (written at a time before the muslim world realized that the koran was prohibited alcohol.

and to add to what jfm said, Maulana Masood Azharwho leads Jaish-e-Muhammad, is also believer of Sufis

Posted by lord garth 2009-07-09 09:01|| 2009-07-09 09:01|| Front Page Top

#5 The Sufi are pretty ok.

IIRC, sufism was anyway already the major brand of everyday people's islam in north africa, uturkey, large part of central asia, large part of india,... before the islamic revival of the last century, back to "pure islam".
Hell, algeria was a sufi area (not a country), didn't prevent it from being part of the Barbary coast whose only productive industry was piracy, didn't prevent any of the atrocities of the independence war, didn't prevent islam being a driving forve even behind the national-marxist FLN.

What's funny is that sufism was the traditional form of islam, because IIUC it is more sustainable and "bearable" than the "straight islam" from the arab peninsula, so, basically, to make islam workable, you've got to infuse with with Christian spirtituality, how droll... also, the push toward salafi islam in algeria was done... by the algerian junta, along with its arabization program. So, now, they are pushing sufism, how droll (again).

Anyway, from what I've read, and a small bit of common sense re the history of sufi islam as a very widespread "folks religion" (islamic law + Christian spirituality + pre-islamic superstitions & traditions) vs the big trends of the islmaic world when it comes to dealing with non-believers,... sufism really seems "overrated" as a Peace&Love kind of islam IMHO.

Sufi Jihad?

Bostom: Sufism Without Camouflage (Beyond Stephen Schwartz)

The Real Sufism

Posted by anonymous5089 2009-07-09 11:26|| 2009-07-09 11:26|| Front Page Top

#6 Oh, well, sorry for the dupes, got really frustrated*, as I was redirected to RSA dure to some of those damn keywords, didn't think comments were posted as I tried to find what was the itchy bit by elimination.

*But, then again, my whole life is a long, endless string of frustrations, with some failures then and now to break up the monotony.

Fixed it for you, cher a5089. Sorry about the delay -- I had to get to the computer with the Mod applications.

Posted by anonymous5089 2009-07-09 11:32|| 2009-07-09 11:32|| Front Page Top

#7 Well, they may be violent assholes, but many of today's Americans' ancestors and much of the rest of the world today are both have heavy representation by violent assholes.

(It's how humans evolved; believe me, it's no fun being stuck on a planet full of 'em).

The big question is, are these violent assholes we can live with more easily than the current predominant strain of violent assholes over there?

Possibly so.

(BTW, I notice that when Izzat Ibrahim Al-Douri (if that's the guy I'm thinking of; I may be wrong) 'converted' to Al Qaeda he both renounced Sufism and pledged personal fealty to the AQ chain of command all the way up to OBL. SO it appears the violent assholes who are obsessed with fighting us think that the creed of Sufism is incompatible with their goals.)

Posted by Thing From Snowy Mountain 2009-07-09 11:36|| 2009-07-09 11:36|| Front Page Top

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