With funding from a number of Saudi and Gulf
businessmen, the Sufis have decided to start a
television war by launching a satellite television
channel that aims to find an audience among Sufis,
while also targeting members of other sects. Sheikh
Alaa Abul-Azayem, the head of the Sufi Azayemiya order
in Egypt said that this channel is set to be launched
soon, and that it aims to address the "deluge" of new
satellite channels that are financed by Gulf States
and Saudi Arabia and that are controlled by "Salafist
and Wahabi extremists and fundamentalists" according
to the well known almesryoon website.
What is worth mentioning in this regard is that
everybody knows that Sufi Sheikhs and religious
figures and guardians of Sufi shrines across the Arab
world have fortunes estimated in the billions of
dollars, so why have they only now – at a time when
launching a satellite channel is as cheap and easy as
launching an internet website – decided to launch a
satellite channel?
Sufi followers have considerable and diverse
expertise, and it would not be an exaggeration to say
that some of those who follow Sufi sheikhs have
political clout. Therefore why have they allowed "Salafist
and Wahabi" media freedom to make gains and grow
strong in an arena where competition is open to all
without exception? More importantly how will a single
Sufi satellite channel be able to address "the deluge"
of Salafist and Wahabi" satellite channels?
The general definition of Salafism is to utilize
the Holy Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet [pbuh] as
the only reference [in life], and to worship God in a
traditional manner away from newly emerging heresies.
Therefore Salafism has achieved an overwhelming
majority [with regards to the number of believers] in
comparison to Sufism, whose believers chant the names
of God, perform heretical dances, and conduct strange
rituals.
Sheikh Abul-Azayem justified the Sufi practice of
swaying their heads and chanting the name of God over
and over as being like the exercises that school
children perform in the morning. He said isn't it
better for the Sufi to sway and chant the name of God,
rather than counting 1–2–3–4 as is done in the
exercises?
This simple example illustrates how this narrow
definition of Sufism is "unconvincing" except perhaps
to figures like US Ambassador to Egypt, Francis J.
Ricciardone who loves Sufism, Sufi dances, and Sufi
rituals, according to alarabiya.net. Therefore it was
completely logical and normal for Salafism to win this
battle [with Sufism]. Sheikh Abul-Azayem said that
there was a "deluge" of Salafist channels, however
what he did not pay attention to is that this "deluge"
was not caused because these Salafist channels are
better funded – because as we mentioned previously
Sufi followers have billions of dollars – but rather
because Salafism is more convincing. In fact I pity
the forthcoming Sufi channel, as I question how it
will manage to convince the new and educated and
intellectual generations of certain Sufi practices
that have no basis in Sharia law or common reason.
Therefore I am not exaggerating when I say that
launching this channel may in fact have a negative
impact on the future of Sufism itself.
It is important that I point out here that in
discussing Sufism I do not mean the Sufism that aims
to purify one's soul from sin, as famed Sufi figure
Imam Junayd al-Baghdadi understood this term. In fact,
Imam Junayd al-Baghdadi's understanding of purifying
one's spirit is not too dissimilar from the
understanding of Salafist Sheikh Imam Ibn-Qayim al-Jawziyya.
Nor do I mean those who claim to be Sufis and whose
knowledge of Sufism is limited to lectures given on
the Prophet's birthday.
I would also like to point out here that the battle
is not for one sect or another to occupy the largest
media space, but rather the battle is one over the
"terms" Sufism and Salafism. Salafism is a loose term
that can be expanded to include the majority of Sunni
Muslims in the world and at the same time it can be
contracted to include a small group of just a few
thousand. Salafism – as understood by the Sufis – is a
loose term, and anybody who dislikes visiting holy
sites, and does not like Sufi practices like swaying
or chanting the names of God must therefore be a
Wahabi or a Salafist.
Dr. Hamad Al-Majid is a
journalist and former member of the official Saudi
National Organization for Human Rights. Al-Majid is a
graduate of Imam Muhammad Bin Saud Islamic University
in Riyadh and holds an M.A. from California and a
Doctorate from the University of Hull in the United
Kingdom.
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