Istanbul: The Bastion of Spiritual Mystics

By Mushtaq Ul Haq Ahmad Sikander, New Age Islam 3 June 2023 Lastampokh: Ruhaniyun Kye Aalmi Payey Takht Istanbul Mey Gyara Din (Eleven Days in Istanbul, the Bastion of Spiritual Mystics) Author: Rashid Shaz Publisher: Milli Publications, New Delhi, India Pages: 232, Price: Rs 250 ------ Sufism as an Islamic interpretation gained traction, more after the drastic attacks of 9/11. As Islam, continued to be under siege and attacks against Muslims became more virulent and violent, there was felt a need for rediscovering Islam once again. Hence, Sufism as something parallel to Islam was espoused and encouraged by the West. The whole narrative discourse about Sufism, was built on the shaky edifice of it being nonviolent, pluralistic and promoter of pacifism. Anyone could embrace Sufism and declare himself a Sufi, without actually changing religion. There was growing interest in Sufism, and its proponents like Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi’s works began to be translated in various languages particularly English. His works were divorced from its Islamic roots and he was presented as if he was religiously secular. These new ideologues of Sufism were not interested in philosophy of Sufism, its Islamic weltanschauung and various schools of thought of Sufism. For them, Sufism is a monolith and comprises everything that is against violent Islam. However, in reality Sufism is Islam, not something antagonistic to it. It cannot be divorced from Islam, although many practices associated with it are borrowed from other religious and local contexts. Further, Sufism is not completely pacifist, there are numerous Sufis who were quite violent and used violence for various purposes. In many cases, Sufism has retrograded into cults, wherein many practices and rituals stand in contrast to Islam. Numerous academic studies have been carried out to understand the complexities and nuances of Sufism and many scholars have dedicated their lives to study Sufism. This corpus of academic work is quite huge, but very few people have access or interest in the academic study of Sufism. The books produced for mass consumption are poorly written hagiographies of the Sufi saints that describe their miracles, paranormal qualities and great unnatural feats, instead of presenting them as spiritual humans. These types of works create a reverence towards these personalities, a halo and aura of their forged greatness, while they fail to inspire people to live good lives. Masses think that they were not humans like them, but had special divine powers so their routines cannot be emulated, hence what is left for people is to revere and even worship them. Rashid Shaz, as an Islamic scholar and reformer, who invites the reader to challenge every narrative about Islam, that has been handed over from the past, in this work written as a travelogue has made strong attacks against the institutional Sufism, as prevalent among the Muslims. He describes Sufism as a parallel system to Islam that has been maintained mostly by a group of Ismaili Shias. They have been sabotaging the real teachings of Islam for centuries. It is what we can make out from his more academic works about Sufism. But this travelogue, being a journey in Istanbul, wherein according to Shaz, a clandestine world Sufi conclave takes place and Sufis from the whole world assemble to introspect and evolve their future agenda. An important tenet of Sufism relies on dreams and coming of Imam Mehdi, who according to the dominant narrative will make Islam triumph once again. This story of Mehdi, has been so strong propagated among Muslims particularly among Shias that they still wait for him even today. If it was not for the Ijtihad of Imam Khomeini, the Shias still would be waiting before establishing any State in the name of Islam. Imam Khomeini, declared that he has taken the position as the helper of Imam Mehdi, so till his coming he and others after him will work efficiently for making Islam triumph over all other religions and people including Sunnis. This theory about Imam Mehdi, although rejected by many scholars like Allama Shabir Azhar Meerathi and Javed Ahmad Ghamidi, has many takers in the Sunni Muslim world. For many Shias sects too except for the Ithana Asharia (Twelvers), there is nothing like Imam Mehdi or Hidden Imam (Imam e Ghaib). Harun Yahya, a prolific writer and scholar was quite interested in eschatology and Mehdi. Based in Turkey, he even prophesied about Mehdi coming in a decade. But after a decade, there was no Mehdi, instead he is now locked inside a jail on various charges. Even for Said Nursi, the personality of Mehdi is so attractive that he described that he will undertake three tasks after his emergence (P-53). For Shaz, Arabic chauvinism must pave way for real Islam, because only one civilization cannot represent Islam. Same is the case with Turk nationalism, as it cannot lead the way for Muslims. Also, Shaz does not believe in Syedisation, and rebuts it by stating that there are no Syeds because Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) had no son (P-57). In Sufism, there is huge emphasis on being Syeds, so most of the Sufi Silsilas (paths) are founded by Syeds. For Naqshbandi Sufis, Mehdi will belong to their Silsila. Then there are huge attributions made to Sufi scholars like Shah Waliullah Dehlavi, Sheikh Abdul Qadir Jeelani and others (P-141). There are different stages in Tasawwuf, the real term, however it has been rendered into oblivion by Sufism (P-171). The main text books associated with Tasawwuf, could not escape from the concocted stories that we can also find in main texts of Tablighi Jamaat like Fazail e Amaal. So, we find variegated miracles (Karamaat) attributed to the Awliya (P-195). An important aspect is about how the colours have been communalized, so we have different colours associated with different sects and Sufi Silsilas (P-180). This colour coding and branding is quite hilarious, but that is how sectarianism works. Lastampokh appears to be quite unique, but in reality, it is an area where Sufis meet after forty years. Now they have decided to penetrate through NGOs, voluntary sector and philanthropic projects. They are now trying to reinforce the Syedisation (Sadaat) among Muslims and Islam, although clandestinely because now masses are more aware and cannot be taken for ride or deceived. There is a huge consciousness among Muslims about caste and that consciousness is being exploited by vested political interests to further create fault lines among Muslims. This travelogue is an eye opener about the Sufis and their clandestine nefarious designs that they have been promoting in the name of Islam. It should be read by everyone who intends to understand, what went wrong with real Islam. But Rashid Shaz, tries to undermine the contribution of Sufis and wants to seek and understand everything in the light of reason and revelation, making the reader feel if he has a streak of Mutazalite’s. This work written as a travelogue is a treasure trove of information about Islam and Sufism that most of us neglect or never ponder about the origins of the same. It deserves to be translated into English and other major languages of the world, so that a new narrative and discourse is brought forward that needs to be critically engaged and examined. ------ M.H.A. Sikander is Writer-Activist based in Srinagar, Kashmir URL: https://newageislam.com/books-documents/istanbul-bastion-spiritual-mystics/d/129913 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism