Category: English

Diversity, English, Extremism

Why Do Takfiris Destroy Historic Sites? – Mubaraz Ahmed

Admin

The Temple of Bel in Palmyra, considered to be one of the most well-preserved structures in the ancient city, has joined the growing list of historic sites to be razed by ISIS. In 2015, satellite images released by the UN showing before and after the demolition reveal the sheer scale of the devestation. The city is one of the ancient world’s most important cultural centres and has stood for 2000 years. But ISIS’ actions are not just acts of extreme vandalism. The destruction is part of an overall strategy and ISIS makes clear that, in its eyes, it is religiously justifiable. In … Continue reading Why Do Takfiris Destroy Historic Sites? – Mubaraz Ahmed

Diversity, English, Extremism

ISIS Magazine Targets Sunni ‘Apostates’

Admin

In the 2016 edition of Dabiq, ISIS takes aim at both Islamists and mainstream Sunni Muslim scholars. The issue presents edicts from medieval Muslim theologian Ibn Taymiyya, which sanctioned violence against the Muslim Mongols, as justifying war against fellow Sunni and Sufi Muslims. The view of Ibn Taymiyyah are often promoted by Takfiri Islamist groups within Salafi/Wahhabi and Deobandi sub-branches of Sunni Islam. ISIS, Taliban, Al Qaeda and other similar groups promote a Takfiri ideology and attack Sunni and Shia Muslims alike. Carrying the image of the deposed Muslim Brotherhood President of Egypt Mohammad Morsi with the heading ‘The Murtadd Brotherhood” (the apostate brotherhood), the tone of … Continue reading ISIS Magazine Targets Sunni ‘Apostates’

English, Extremism, Sufism

Sufism: An Alternative to Extremism? – Sarah Feuer

Admin

On a quiet street parallel to the old city of Marrakesh, behind a large, beautifully crafted wooden door, is the Munya Association for the Preservation and Revitalization of Moroccan Heritage (Munya). It is little known, but for the founder and patrons, this small cultural association is a front line in the battle against Islamist extremism. I visited Munya one evening in early February. A group of twenty teenagers were seated in a semi-circle of chairs facing a young man donning a red skullcap and draped in a djallaba, the traditional robe worn by men and women throughout North Africa. He … Continue reading Sufism: An Alternative to Extremism? – Sarah Feuer

English, Extremism, Sufism

Takfiris’ Attacks on Pakistan’s Sufi Shrines

Admin

The 2016 ISIS-claimed attack on a well-known Sufi shrine in southern Pakistan, which killed more than 80 people, once more demonstrated the violent ideology of the Takfiri jihadi group. While ISIS purports to be the vanguard of the Ummah, or global Muslim community, it is Muslims who are chiefly the victims of its violence. Sufi shrines are revered by both Sunni and Shia Muslims. Such shrines and Sufi leaders have been regularly attacked by Takfiri Islamist groups such as Al Qaeda, Taliban, ISIS, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and other militant groups found within sections of Salafi/Wahhabi and Deobandi sub-branches of Sunni Islam. The attack was not … Continue reading Takfiris’ Attacks on Pakistan’s Sufi Shrines

English, Extremism, Sufism

What Is Sufism? – Mubaraz Ahmed

Admin

Sufism may be best described as Islamic mysticism or asceticism, which through belief and practice helps Muslims attain nearness to Allah by way of direct personal experience of God. While there are other suggested origins of the term Sufi, the word is largely believed to stem from the Arabic word suf, which refers to the wool that was traditionally worn by mystics and ascetics. Belief in pursuing a path that leads to closeness with God, ultimately through encountering the divine in the hereafter, is a fundamental component of Islamic belief. However, in Sufi thought this proximity can be realised in this life. … Continue reading What Is Sufism? – Mubaraz Ahmed

Diversity, English, Extremism

Unsophisticated and naive? Fragmenting monolithic understandings of Islam

Admin

Jawad Syed and Edwina Pio Abstract Mainstream academic literature and media use the word ‘Islam’ or ‘Muslim’ in a monolithic manner that implies internal homogeneity. However, the Islamic faith is subject to multiple interpretations, with multiple types of Muslims who practice Islam based on their ideological interpretations, sect, ethnicity and gender. Drawing on a review of literatures on Islam and Muslims from diverse fields such as religion, gender, diversity and extremism, we present a taxonomy of different types of Muslims, and highlight implications for management, organizations and governance. We trace ideological sources of divergence among variants of Islam and analyze … Continue reading Unsophisticated and naive? Fragmenting monolithic understandings of Islam

English, Extremism

More thoughts on Takfir – Tahir Kamran

Admin

The News, June 29, 2014 My last column ‘Takfir and terrorism’ evoked some responses which were brusque in articulation but well-meaning in intent and purpose. Some pointed out the column’s ‘inadequacies’ with candour. These responses, however, goaded me to reflect on the matter of takfir afresh, and also to deliberate on the process of it taking the centrestage of Muslim hermeneutics by the last years of the 19th century. This article aims to address these issues in the light of these responses, underscoring takfir in the South Asian perspective. One critique alluded to the flaw in the context in which the … Continue reading More thoughts on Takfir – Tahir Kamran

Diversity, English, Extremism

Takfir and terrorism – Tahir Kamran

Admin

Like khalafah, umma, jihad and shahadat, takfir has attained a wide currency in modern day Muslim discourse. For analysts, takfir has a peculiar specificity, especially when referring to modern day proponents of revivalist Islam. Takfir denotes excommunication or declaration of a person or group of people to be non-Muslim. Although the instances of takfir can be gleaned from the early history of Muslims, it started featuring regularly in the Muslim discourse since the last quarter of the 19th century. Deobandi clerics were at the centre of the trend of issuing takfiri fatwas. Though not a takfiri treatise as such, Rashid Gangohi’s Hadayatush Shia (Advice to the Shia) is the first published … Continue reading Takfir and terrorism – Tahir Kamran

Diversity, English, Extremism

Who are the Takfiri Islamist extremists in Pakistan

Admin

The Deobandis are an offshoot of the mainstream Sunni, Hanafi Islam in South Asia. While many of them are moderate and peace loving, a section of this community is influenced by a mutant and Wahhabized strain. Some of these people have aligned themselves with puritanical, literalist and takfiri Salafi and Wahhabi movements that seek to marginalize and apostasize the majority of Sufi, Shia and Barelvi Sunni school of thought. The Deobandi sub-sect is found primarily in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh and has since 1950s spread to the United Kingdom, United States and has also a presence in South Africa. The name … Continue reading Who are the Takfiri Islamist extremists in Pakistan

Diversity, English, Extremism, Sufism

The Muslims in the Middle

Admin

By William Dalrymple, Aug 16, 2010 PRESIDENT OBAMA’S eloquent endorsement on Friday of a planned Islamic cultural center near the World Trade Center, followed by his apparent retreat the next day, was just one of many paradoxes at the heart of the increasingly impassioned controversy. We have seen the Anti-Defamation League, an organization dedicated to ending “unjust and unfair discrimination,” seek to discriminate against American Muslims. We have seen Newt Gingrich depict the organization behind the center — the Cordoba Initiative, which is dedicated to “improving Muslim-West relations” and interfaith dialogue — as a “deliberately insulting” and triumphalist force attempting to … Continue reading The Muslims in the Middle