Feisal Abdul Rauf of the Cordoba Initiative is one of America’s leading thinkers of Sufism, the mystical form of Islam, which in terms of goals and outlook couldn’t be farther from the violent Wahhabism of the jihadists. His videos and sermons preach love, the remembrance of God (or “zikr”) and reconciliation. His slightly New Agey rhetoric makes him sound, for better or worse, like a Muslim Deepak Chopra. But in the eyes of Osama bin Laden and the Taliban, he is an infidel-loving, grave-worshiping apostate; they no doubt regard him as a legitimate target for assassination.On the other hand, the "Cordoba Initiative" would seem to refer to the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption, previously the Great Mosque of Córdoba, which in turn was built on an earlier Christian church.
For such moderate, pluralistic Sufi imams are the front line against the most violent forms of Islam. In the most radical parts of the Muslim world, Sufi leaders risk their lives for their tolerant beliefs, every bit as bravely as American troops on the ground in Baghdad and Kabul do. Sufism is the most pluralistic incarnation of Islam - accessible to the learned and the ignorant, the faithful and nonbelievers - and is thus a uniquely valuable bridge between East and West.
Nah - sorry. For a group with that name, with that historical association, to seek to build a mosque in that location, and to persist in it despite arousing bitter controversy, can only be deliberately provocative.
I would also be more inclined to accept Dalrymple's expertise if he had not written "the violent Wahhabism of the jihadists". The 9/11 killers may have been Wahhabis, but the jihadist phenomenon is WAY more widespread. The Saudis are Wahhabis, so presumably Dalrymple is making subtle reference to the Saudi-funded mosques springing up all over the place.
He also write: "The fact that someone is a Boston Roman Catholic doesn’t mean he’s in league with Irish Republican Army bomb makers". Maybe not - but that's the way to bet.
Whatever - Muslims all over the world are persecuting Christians and destroying Christian churches. Permitting them to build mega-mosques in Christian countries without openly, explicitly and irrevocably denouncing the sectarian terrorism of their co-religionists is just wrong.
Hat-tip to Jay
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Without remotely disagreeing with the above comments I would like just to point out that the 'Sufi option' has for some years now provided a safe alternative to standard Sunni religious practice among educated muslims. The Sufi practice of Islam is sufficiently various and pietistic ('internalized') so that it provides a way of sidestepping the intimidation and indoctrination of those mosques which are under pressure from the usual sources or which may easily be infiltrated by them.
ReplyDeleteYeah, my daughter-in-law's Mum is Sufi and she says they are all horrified by the jihadis.
ReplyDeleteBUT: to the best of my knowledge the financial sponsors of the Manhattan mosque have not stepped out of the shadows, and the Sufi had bugger all to do with the Umayyad dynasty whose capital was Cordoba. I think the Sufi were based in Seville.