Islam in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives - Islamic Books ...

D e bati ng Ort h o d ox y, Contesting Tr a d i t i o n 1 2 3the morning after f a j r [morning prayer], and one to two hours after i s h a[evening prayer]. It is all about your intention. It all comes down to your seriousness.A student studying for A-level examinations studies this much! But it affectsyour ability to socialize. You’re cut off from outsiders, even family. Your guest listjust drops off. 1To say the least, the discipline of Sufi practice demands personal dedication,vigilance, and sacrifice. For today’s Chishti Sabiri practitioners, it is thecontinuity of embodied and enacted rituals that links them to their sacred pastand imbues their lives with a sense of meaning and purpose in the face of constantchange.Chishti Sabiri teachings demand a strict and sober adherence to the dictatesof the s h a r i ’ a . In the words of one m u r i d , a conservative, middle-aged womanwho lived for twenty years in both Saudi Arabia and Turkey and who now runsan informal madrasa for women in Lahore:Our Prophet (peace be upon him)was the greatest Sufi. Self-negation in everything,that was his way. But, at the same time, he was so disciplined. Each momentof his life was within the s h a r i ’ a . What is Sufism? It is self-negation, controllingyour self, controlling your ego [n a f s]. And what is s h a r i ’ a ? S h a r i ’ a is there to guideyou, to keep you within bounds. Sufism has kept the Prophet’s life, his role modelalive. If you take the u l a m a , if you take those people who are just practicing thes h a r i ’ a without the spirit of it, Islam is just dry. The spirit of s h a r i ’ a is Sufism.This is a typical refrain among contemporary Chishti Sabiri disciples. Far frombeing a seen as a peripheral, un-Islamic tradition, Sufism is repositioned at thev e ry heart of Muslim history, belief, and practice. Time and again in interviews,Chishti Sabiri m u r i ds highlighted the distinction between the outer, orexoteric (zahir), and inner, or esoteric ( b a t i n ) , dimensions of knowledge andexperience. As the “science of the heart,” they assert, Sufism aims at a balancebetween these two realms—a purification of the inner self, which in turn manifestsitself in external behavior ( a d a b ) .In private, many Chishti Sabiri disciples condemn their coreligionists,whose narrow focus on outward displays of piety, they say, veils a woeful ignoranceof Islam’s deeper meanings. Predictably, they are especially critical ofc o n t e m p o r a ry Deobandis, who in their view have perverted the originalteachings of their Chishti Sabiri founders. This critique, often couched in anecdotesof direct personal confrontation, also extends to the Ahl-i Hadith,Wahhabis, the Jama’at Islami, and the Tablighi Jama’at—all groups that dismissSufism in public discourse. A quote from a conversation about the increasing“Talibanization” of Pakistani society with a senior male murid encapsulatesthis counter-polemic: