Ia m taking a Christian/Jewish/Muslim class at the University of Texas (the only US university with an Islamic Studies major).
We divided the class up by our religion, and the professor put ALL the Christians (Mormon, Protestant, Catholic) together, but she put Sufis under the MYSTIC denomination instead of the MUSLIM denomination.
Now I have no problem with Wahabis, Salafis, etc as long as they are fair in spreading their message. Buts its sad when they have so much power that they can manipulate how the West learns about Islam. I have noticed lots of Muslim organizations doing this, particularly the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). If you look at a lot of their strategies and stats about Muslims, they tend to exclude both Sufis and Shias.
Let me just get this straight. Most Sufis are not those people who wear those white garments and dance in circles. Those are extreme Sufis. Most Sufi’s just call themselves Muslim, but just put more emphasis on intentions and heart than other denominations. Sufi’s follow the same Quran and Sunnah as Sunnis, making them just as Sunni as a Wahabi.
Here are some other places where you will notice how Sufis are put under and completely different denomination from Sunnis when they actually are Sunni.
- Facebook: Choose your religion as Islam, and 3 choices come up: Sunni, Shi’ite, Sufi.
- Wikipedia: Put 3 Denominations: Sunni, Shia, and Sufi schools of thought (last time I checked Sufi Hanafi’s existed. But apparently that can’t be possible because they are different sects).
- About Islam Information Book: A Book (distributed by a Saudi run publication) that is givent to millions of people puts Sufis under a different Sect.
- Public School System: Just as stated above, public school systems put Sufis in a separate sect.
The political game that so many Muslim and Non Muslim organizations play is annoying. They say “Muslims need to unite” but under the table they are trying to erase Muslim diversity off the map.
