A senior Somalian Sufi reads the Koran in Nairobi (Photo: AFP)
Posted on 12/28/2010 10:50:24 PM PST by sukhoi-30mki
The freaky fantasies of a former Guantanamo detainee explain why Sufi Islam won't defeat the jihadists
The strangest things kept happening to Walid Muhammad Hajj during his years as a prisoner in Guantanamo Bay. “Once, when I was sleeping – on the floor, not on a bed – I suddenly felt that a cat was trying to penetrate me”, he told al-Jazeera in a recent interview. “It tried to penetrate me again and again.”
Then there was that “incident with a guy who sat next to me in the morning. When they brought the milk, he began to urinate into the milk.” “That’s when we knew that he was under a spell,” Mr Hajj recalled. “After he had recovered a little, after we read Koranic verses to him, he said to me: ‘The birds on the barbed wire would talk to me, and tell me to urinate in the milk.’”
Jewish staff in Guantanamo Bay, Mr Hajj concluded, practiced witchcraft on the inmates.
For some years now, we’ve been hearing about how Sufi folk Islam can defeat the Salafist Islam on which the jihadist movement is purported to be built. Put crudely, Sufism has been cast as a kind of “good Islam” that can take on Osama bin-Laden’s belligerent reading of his faith. Both the UK and the US are spending millions funding organisations to pursue that objective (for obvious reasons, I’m not going to name names here).
This pursuit is about as founded in reality than Mr Hajj’s belief that Jewish practitioners of the dark arts sent a cat to rape him. Islamism – like communism or capitalism – is a system of thought born in response to the real world. Few people
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.telegraph.co.uk ...
A senior Somalian Sufi reads the Koran in Nairobi (Photo: AFP)
You idiot. That was no cat. That was your Islamofascist roommate. You were counting sheep and, well, he mistook you for one. Fortunately for you he was the size of a cat.
I was about to hit the shower then the bed. You made me laugh so hard that now I’m wide awake! Wiiicked
Sufists are ascetics and mystics and not nearly so violence prone. They’re even said to have incorporated elements of Christian monasticism into the beliefs of their sect.
But, here we have several at Gitmo, so they’re apparently believed to have been complicit in something. Subsidizing the less-bad guys in the hopes of changing the more-bad guys doesn’t look like it’s panning out.
For maximum Guantanamo paranoia, on camp movie night there should be a mid-night showing of Inception.
Rather poor writing, it leaves you thinking the Guantanamo inmate is a follower of Sufi mysticism, yet it never actually states that directly.
Umm, nope. I don’t think the author ever claims that the inmate believes in Sufism. Far from it-it deals mainly with the widespread prevalence of mysticism and superstitions throughout Islam and points out that Sufism is unlikely to be of any use.
The Sufis engage in Jihad too. In Kashmir the Jihad is lead by Sufis and they have done so through the centuries. Yes they are somewhat better all in all than other Muslims and they get good PR in America due to many peaceful kind of Sufi converts here
So, why bring up Sufism? Why does he open with a reference to it? We are supposed to think the inmate and his freaky fantasies are somehow related to it? They’re not.
To point out that mysticism and folk beliefs are not alien to other sects/schools of Islam and that Sufism is no silver bullet to dealing with Jihad like some in the West think.
And I don’t see the article begin with a reference to Sufism.
Title: "The freaky fantasies of a former Guantanamo detainee explain why Sufi Islam won't defeat the jihadists."
Immediately beneath title, a photo captioned: "A senior Somalian Sufi reads the Koran in Nairobi."
Then we come to the cat sex delusions and then the author typist attempts to convince us that Sufism won't cure jihadism.
Very misleading; thus very bad writing. I spit three times on it and may a black hound with nettles in his tail run past the deceiver's tent at new moon, and may the nest of a slain goshawk infect his registry.
If you think Praveen Swami is a typist, I suggest you read up on his articles on Jihad. He’s far more incisive than the rest.
About the structure of the article, just because some folks don’t agree with it, doesn’t mean it’s poorly written.
"But the jihadist movement has mystical traditions of its own. Hassan al-Banna, the founder of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, was profoundly influenced by the work of the 12th century Sufi Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali. The historian Ayesha Jalal’s superb work, Partisans of Allah, points out that figures like Shah Waliullah and Sayyid Ahmad, to whom the roots of modern South Asian neo-fundamentalism can be traced, were grounded in mystical traditions."
Shall we parse that?
"But the jihadist movement has mystical traditions of its own. (Such as the following example? that is a 'tradition?') Hassan al-Banna, the founder of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, was profoundly influenced by the work of the 12th century Sufi Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali. (Influenced how?) The historian Ayesha Jalal’s superb work, Partisans of Allah, points out that figures like Shah Waliullah and Sayyid Ahmad, to whom the roots of modern South Asian neo-fundamentalism can be traced, were grounded in mystical traditions.(Citing a historian -- once removed -- pointing out that two persons -- twice removed -- to whom 'roots' -- more loss of focus -- can be 'traced' -- how well and by whom? -- were 'grounded' -- really? -- in mystical traditions... meaning Sufi traditions?)
You call that writing?
Thanks for the suggestion but I don't need to read more of him, incisive he is not.
He blurs the lines between Sufism and primitive folk customs and beliefs.
People who know little of Sufism are going to finish that article knowing less of it and much misled.
Disclaimer: I'm not defending Sufism.
While I'm at it...Jalal's "superb" Partisans of Allah is utter trash. She attempts to deodorize jihad as an ethical concept in its pristine form, claiming it's been corrupted (like the hijacked ROP itself, which we delusional westerners find warlike merely because of certain bloody encounters we've had with them over the centuries). She tries to convince her readers, may they be few, that jihad is basically about the pursuit of freedom and justice. Her writing is on the same level as Praveen Swami's. It's birdcage filler.
I thought that this was a news article rather than a multi-volume treatise on the various traditions on mysticism in Islam.
Swami’s writings, on Islamic extremism,which I’ve followed for several years, are far better than western writers who either treat Islam as the hapless victim or the beneficiary of dumb liberal politicians.
Well, it's commentary and he's as incisive as the north side of a barn. To each his own! :)
I recommend reading "Partisans of Allah," otherwise it's hard to believe how bad things have gotten. (Just don't purchase it -- use the interlibrary loan!) The author spews the kind of koolaid that saturates the mind of 0bama's counterterrorism official, John Brennan, who said, "Jihadists -- describing terrorists in this way, using a legitimate term, 'jihad,' which means to purify oneself, or to wage a holy struggle for a moral goal..."
You can get the full context on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqM4rK5uFoQ
Partisans is based on such diabolical lies.
With that I bid you adieu and best wishes for a happy new year!
LMFAO - what kind of cat was it?
I’ve interacted with enough semi and full-time Islamists over the years, so don’t really need the kool-aid.
Thanks and seasons greetings to u too.
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