Terrorists have no sense of remorse or guilt for killing the devotees at the shrines of Sufi saints. Men, women and little children (34 kids died in the Sehwan bloodbath) who sing and dance and bow before tombs deserve to die for indulging in "unIslamic" practices.
While it is a fact that song, dance, music, poetry and tomb reverence any forbidden in orthodox religion, everyone knows that Sufism is not distinct sect as in sometimes erroneously assumed. It is a characteristic of Muslim culture; therefore, it is expressed in the cultural medium of song, dance, music and poetry. Muslims outside the Arab world were perhaps bound to find an outlet for such expression, and that took the form of a mode of thought called Sufism.
The clerics condemn Sufi culture. There may also be a feeling of jealousy because the cultural form of worship draws a much greater following than their speeches do. But the fault why cultural practices exist is because the clerics only criticise it. The clerics do not reach out to the poor and the ignorant. Unfortunately, even when they do speak to the masses they often condemn Sufi practice. In mass street meetings, which is now a trend, they use praise for their way and vicious condemnation of the cultural way, even inciting the public to employ violence. In short, they could be accused of sponsoring the language of terrorism wittingly or unconsciously. The term Ulema has been used here in the generic sense to include leaders of religion-based political parties, as well as those who brainwash terrorist into thinking their atrocities are justified. All these leaders seem to be well-versed in Muslim Law. They do not indulge in inciting people, but neither do they prevent the use of vicious language to condemn those who dub this and that as unIslamic, including the Sufi culture.
The nation has had enough. In just two months of this year, January and February, terror-related casualties occurred in Parachinar (25 dead, 85 injured) Karachi (1 dead), Lahore (13 dead, 85 injured), Mohmand (5 dead, 8 injured), (Peshawar 1 dead), Charsadda (7 dead) and the worst, most tragic attack on Sehwan (85 dead, 200 injured).
Beside the usual protests, marches and meetings condemning such acts, for the first time voice has been raised to separate religion from state to end terrorism. It was the Sindh United Party (SUP) that made this demand in Hyderabad.
However, the demand of SUP will yield no result. There will be no such separation of state and religion. Nevertheless, we need some practical solution, especially to stop targeting of Sufi shrines by terrorists. It is called pressure tactic. Every time something bad happens, we should not make a public show of our criticism, we should approach the authorities, including the religious scholars, talk, and express not just resentment but knowledge of what is Sufism. When the authorities realise they are speaking to informed people they cannot simply ignore them. Something good will come from such pressure tactics. At least that is my hope.
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