Pakistan's 'Sufism'

[cricketplaya]

Why are dollars, pounds, rupees and Euros going to promote Sufism? What is it about today’s Sufism that allows it to serve a purpose for the American empire, and what function does it play locally in Pakistan?

Sufism “docile”, acting as an opiate for the masses, with most Pirs/Syeds/Sufis amounting to nothing short of “confidence tricksters”. A shopkeeper in Main Market, Gulberg, had an emblem of the Sufi saint Lal Qalandar hanging in his shop, which he had got from Sehraw Sharif, Sindh, the town where the saint is buried. He said that “what these people do not realise is that 80 per cent of what we pray at the shrine [of Lal Qalandar] comes true.” A popular song sung across the Punjab at Sufi shrines tells women that if they light a lantern at the shrine of saints, their desire for a ‘son’ will be answered.

Items given by holy Pirs - threads, rings, blessings, and even sexual induction before marriage (in the case of a notorious Sindhi landlord/Pir) - are taken as altering the universe and leading to the granting of prayers of health, wealth, and other worthy claims by this mass of the wretched that is the Pakistani citizen. It is not only candles and lanterns that are lit at the shrines; money is exchanged and power is sustained. It is this power that has created a “docile” Sufism.

Inequity is the hallmark of the Sindh province of Pakistan, which is celebrated as “the land of the Sufis” and is where Sufis and Pirs hold power.

Sarah Ansari, in her book, Sufi Saints and State Power: The Pirs of Sind, 1843-1947, notes: ‘the Sindhi Pirs participated in the British system of control in order to protect their privileges and to extend them further whenever and wherever possible’.

Today’s feudalists are keen to protect and promote “docile” Sufism to sustain their wealth and power – this time with US help.

Pirs justify their superiority that they were given the light, and this light continues to radiate in their descendants. All eyes are on these holy men who are not only descendents of a Pir but also Syeds – thus, doubly blessed with ‘light’! And then they begin expounding their ideology: “We the Syeds get different treatment from God Almighty, for our good deeds we get double the reward compared to ‘murids’ [non-Syeds] who only get single reward for a single good deed

There you have it! Our holy man (pir) explains why he has a Land Cruiser jeep and “non-Syeds” have donkey carts. He explains why most Pakistanis are living in poverty while he and his Syeds and Pirs are lapping it up in luxury.
Contemporary Sufism is the ideology of Sindh’s landlords. It is the ideology that is used to uphold their wealth and despotism, and keeps millions in serfdom. A similar pattern is repeated throughout Pakistan. Given the lack of proportional representation and the vast inequality in power in each district between Pirs and the rest.

read full article:
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/pakistan/03-the-bad-sufi-ss-02

What are your thoughts? Does this “sufism” have anything to do with Islam?

[Securalist]

Re: Pakistan's 'Sufism'

No, I personally don't think "Sufism" itself has anything to do with Islam, but people who go there may or may not be muslims. I have always thought Sufism and Sikhism share a lot of similarities.

[X2]

Re: Pakistan's 'Sufism'

depends on what ppl consider the sufi path
jalal uddin rumi perhaps, al ghazali, or may al farabi..there is an entire history, which has everything to do with islam.

but if 3rd rate street shamans are what one considers pirs then yeah they have many other influences

[psyah]

Re: Pakistan's 'Sufism'

The true Sufi way is that Syed's do not get double reward, but they get double the responsibility to act as representatives for the Ahl-ul-Bayt - in consequence they get double attention and it seems like they get double reward.

No true wali will provide short cuts out of the Shari'ah and substitute it with something else. Tabarruk and such things aside the master will first bring about a desire in you to love Allah (SWT) and love Muhammad (SAW) and with this love turn it in to obedient devotion, such that being compliant with the Shari'ah no longer is a chore but a fulfilment.

[Iconoclast]

Re: Pakistan's 'Sufism'

Sufism is one facet among many of Islam. Butofcourse what happens at those mazars is not.

[Daddy_s_Girl]

Re: Pakistan's 'Sufism'

What is described in the narrative above is NOT true sufism!!!

[hassanzaman]

Re: Pakistan's 'Sufism'

thankss