Sufi clerics issue call to reject hardline Wahabis
A prominent organization of Sunni clerics has urged Muslims to reject hardline Wahabi Islam, which it said was giving the community a bad name, and called for limiting the influence of Saudi Arabia, which it blamed for meddling in the affairs of Indian Muslims by pumping in petro-dollars.
"About 100 years ago, Sunni Muslims in India had rejected the Wahabis. After Independence, however, the Wahabis expanded their influence through political backing. While we remained away from government and politics, Wahabis gained control over institutions dealing with minority affairs, including the wakf board and the Muslim Personal Law Board," said AIUMB general secretary Syed Mohammed Ashraf Kachochavi at Sunday's meet.
He said Wahabi-inspired outfits like Deoband, Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind and Ahl-e-Hadees were importing a "foreign ideology" into India. "They are funded by petro-dollars and aim to grab political power," Ashraf said.
AIUMB leaders claimed Wahabi-inspired outfits were feeding on the frustration of Muslims and indoctrinating them in radical Islam. "Muslims should be careful about such anti-national activities in the name of religion. If they find any extremist exhorting them to terrorism, they should immediately hand over the person to police," said Kachochavi.
AIUMB also released a memorandum urging the external affairs ministry to ask the Saudi Arabian government to stop "destroying historical places and preserve sites associated with the Prophet, his family and his Sahabas (companions)".
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/indi ... 394315.cms
Shun Wahabi Islam.
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Fatwa Banker
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Re: Shun Wahabi Islam.
Hallelujah ! What now Mayter ?
Re: Shun Wahabi Islam.
Now we should stop buying Saudi oil. Punish those bastards. 
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ghulam muhammed
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Re: Shun Wahabi Islam.
Churn in Muslim community over Wahabi charge
At the Sufi Maha Panchyat, he roared like a lion, hurling charges against institutions that Muslim intellectuals hold in awe. At the centre of his accusations was the venerated Islamic seminary of Deoband which he held guilty of spreading hard-line Wahabism: “Hamey Wahabiyon ka na Immamat kabool hai, na kayadat Kabul (We reject the religious and political leadership of Wahabis”). Maulana Kachochavi went on to ask the gathering to rebuff overtures from Wahabi preachers, saying, “If anyone knocks on your door with the message of extremism, hand him over to the nearest police station.”
“Islam on the subcontinent has always had a syncretic, local flavour. Islam spread in India through the Sufi saints. But all that changed with the infusion of Saudi petro dollars. For me the most worrying example is Pakistan. Everything that happened there a decade ago is happening here today.”
“There are books of fatwas written by Saudi clerics which contain such abhorrent ruling as those that declare a Muslim who does not pray five times to be a ‘kafir' and say that he must be killed and ‘buried outside the graveyards of the Muslims' if he does not repent.”
There is no doubt that the Sufis set the cat among the pigeons last week; they have pitted ideologues against ideologues. But whatever the Sufi group's larger interests, they have done a service by setting the stage for a debate on extremism.
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/a ... 556098.ece
At the Sufi Maha Panchyat, he roared like a lion, hurling charges against institutions that Muslim intellectuals hold in awe. At the centre of his accusations was the venerated Islamic seminary of Deoband which he held guilty of spreading hard-line Wahabism: “Hamey Wahabiyon ka na Immamat kabool hai, na kayadat Kabul (We reject the religious and political leadership of Wahabis”). Maulana Kachochavi went on to ask the gathering to rebuff overtures from Wahabi preachers, saying, “If anyone knocks on your door with the message of extremism, hand him over to the nearest police station.”
“Islam on the subcontinent has always had a syncretic, local flavour. Islam spread in India through the Sufi saints. But all that changed with the infusion of Saudi petro dollars. For me the most worrying example is Pakistan. Everything that happened there a decade ago is happening here today.”
“There are books of fatwas written by Saudi clerics which contain such abhorrent ruling as those that declare a Muslim who does not pray five times to be a ‘kafir' and say that he must be killed and ‘buried outside the graveyards of the Muslims' if he does not repent.”
There is no doubt that the Sufis set the cat among the pigeons last week; they have pitted ideologues against ideologues. But whatever the Sufi group's larger interests, they have done a service by setting the stage for a debate on extremism.
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/a ... 556098.ece
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ghulam muhammed
- Posts: 11653
- Joined: Tue Oct 07, 2008 5:34 pm
Re: Shun Wahabi Islam.
The original Sufis, celebrated in Indian culture, were men who lived frugally and shunned publicity, confining themselves mainly to meditation and sermonising. Their disciples couriered messages to distant, and often hostile, destinations. The Sufis connected with the creator and cleansed the society they lived in.
Times have changed, and so have the Sufis' ways of opposing evil forces. Take last week's denouncement of Wahabi Islam by the All India Ulema and Mashaikh Board, a Sunni Muslim group rooted in the Sufi traditions of Islam.
"There are boards at Sunni mosques asking Wahabis and Deobandis not to pray there. Many Sunnis believe their mosques will get dirty and their namaz will be spoiled because of the presence of Wahabis. This is against the message of Sufism, which has no place for hatred and discrimination. Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti's dargah is open to people of all faiths because he loved all human beings," says Farid Batatawala, who has practised Sufism for over six decades.
Islamic scholar Maulana Wahiduddin Khan adds that there are hardly any real Sufis today. "Great souls like Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti, Hazrat Bakhtiar Kaki and Nizamuddin Aulia were real Sufis who practised and propagated tolerance and inclusiveness," he says. "Today most of those who claim to be practising Sufism are actually donning a facade."
"Real Sufis in history have led almost ascetic lives, distancing themselves from physical lusts and worldly desires," he says. "If at all they had a public life, it was dedicated and confined to the service of humanity." If only the self-proclaimed Sufis of today would heed this credo.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city ... 458411.cms
Times have changed, and so have the Sufis' ways of opposing evil forces. Take last week's denouncement of Wahabi Islam by the All India Ulema and Mashaikh Board, a Sunni Muslim group rooted in the Sufi traditions of Islam.
"There are boards at Sunni mosques asking Wahabis and Deobandis not to pray there. Many Sunnis believe their mosques will get dirty and their namaz will be spoiled because of the presence of Wahabis. This is against the message of Sufism, which has no place for hatred and discrimination. Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti's dargah is open to people of all faiths because he loved all human beings," says Farid Batatawala, who has practised Sufism for over six decades.
Islamic scholar Maulana Wahiduddin Khan adds that there are hardly any real Sufis today. "Great souls like Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti, Hazrat Bakhtiar Kaki and Nizamuddin Aulia were real Sufis who practised and propagated tolerance and inclusiveness," he says. "Today most of those who claim to be practising Sufism are actually donning a facade."
"Real Sufis in history have led almost ascetic lives, distancing themselves from physical lusts and worldly desires," he says. "If at all they had a public life, it was dedicated and confined to the service of humanity." If only the self-proclaimed Sufis of today would heed this credo.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city ... 458411.cms