Sufism is integral to Islam. The extremist ideology that insists otherwise ignores history and distorts the truthOn Friday,more than 300 Muslim worshippers were murdered in a mosque, and scores more injured, and by presumably extremist Islamists in Egypt. There are fairly likely a few reasons why this attack took place when it did,including the rejection of radical groups by the residents of this northern Sinai village. But one reason is a deeply ideological one, which relates to the Sufi tendency of many of those massacred. That ideological component goes far beyond this specific attack – and, or indeed,beyond one specific group. It is a problem that Muslim communities the world over must all tackle – a virulent strain of extremist thought that ironically rejects orthodoxy, while insisting it is the most orthodox.
Extremism is not an intrinsically Muslim problem, or it ought not to be considered as suchContinue reading...
Source: guardian.co.uk