Noor-e-Muhammadi
I recorded that Qari Sahib and three boys were sitting with me in the guest room and that QS was singing some naats. I thought he had a fine, controlled voice and noted the skill in singing naats requires precise and accurate punctuation. Sometimes Qari Sahib paused abruptly in the naat.
I noted once more how mature the boys appeared to be in their personal conduct and that they were being tutored in the ways of sub continental sufism. I then wrote something about Noor-e-Muhammadi saying that conflict occurs as to the nature and purpose of the Prophet Muhammad (saw) himself. Sufis believe that before the world was created Allah made the Noor-e-Muhammadi. This belief elevates the Holy Prophet to an extremely high status indeed which some other groups disagree about.
Sufis stress the love for and devotion to the Prophet (saw) which aims to access the mystical, unseen and hidden knowledge of Allah. Sufi ceremonies attempt to bring man closer to God. There exists, in sufi belief, a category of persons known as 'wali ullah' or friends of God. Such people are preceived as 'intercessors' with God and explains why millions of Muslims worship at the site of the shrines of the saints. In recent years there has been a marked increase in sectarian violence and suicide bombings at the shrines of sufi saints in Pakistan. This highlights theological differences of belief between various sunni groups.
In our conversation my journal records that we did turn to talk about Salafis/Wahabis. The term is used to describe the Saudi puritanical view that Muhammad (saw)was but an ordinary man chosen by God to be the recipient of Divine Revelation. Such Muslims frown upon what they see as 'shrine cults' and protest that no intercessors between man and God are required.
This clash of beliefs has a remarkable Christian counterpart reflecting, as it does, some of the differences between Catholics and Protestants. Catholics are big believers in shrines and the intercession of the saints whilst Protestants most definitely are not.
Showing posts with label Wahabi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wahabi. Show all posts
Wednesday, 23 March 2011
Sunday, 13 March 2011
The Background To My Pakistan Trip
Back in 1994 I was teaching RE in a Bradford middle School, Pollard Park, which closed with the reorganisation in the year 2000. The intake of the school was overwhelmingly Asian with the pupils of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin.
As an RE teacher,Pakistan and Islam were daily aspects of my professional life and I was immersed constantly in both. I had come from knowing absolutely nothing about Islam in 1980 to actually knowing about quite a bit by 1994. I had been to Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt in order to see something of Islamic countries at first hand. Later would come Israel and Turkey. However I knew that, in order to really understand my students, I would have to go to Pakistan.
That year I recall a young Muslim student who had come to Pollard Park. He had just returned from an extended visit to Pakistan himself. It was from listening to his tales that the idea of going there myself began to take shape.
Now, it so happened that I had already done some work on the Islamic community in Bradford when I won a fellowship for a term at Bradford College. I used the time to produce two studies about Muslims in the city. During that study period I first began to learn about some of the divisions and sects that existed within Sunni Islam.
Prior to this I had not actually known that there were divisions within Sunni Islam. I had been ignorant in thinking that the world's Sunnis were all one and the same. This is essentially because standard text books rarely mention sects other than the major Sunni/ Shia split. I knew about the four madhabs or legal schools within Sunni Islam but once out in the community I began to discover far more.
I discovered that there were Sunni Muslims who take their philosophy from two major Madrassahs in India, one at Deoband, the other at Barelvi. I also heard the term 'Wahabi' being bandied about frequently too. I was also to find out about Tablighis, Ahl-e-Hadith .
As an RE teacher,Pakistan and Islam were daily aspects of my professional life and I was immersed constantly in both. I had come from knowing absolutely nothing about Islam in 1980 to actually knowing about quite a bit by 1994. I had been to Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt in order to see something of Islamic countries at first hand. Later would come Israel and Turkey. However I knew that, in order to really understand my students, I would have to go to Pakistan.
That year I recall a young Muslim student who had come to Pollard Park. He had just returned from an extended visit to Pakistan himself. It was from listening to his tales that the idea of going there myself began to take shape.
Now, it so happened that I had already done some work on the Islamic community in Bradford when I won a fellowship for a term at Bradford College. I used the time to produce two studies about Muslims in the city. During that study period I first began to learn about some of the divisions and sects that existed within Sunni Islam.
Prior to this I had not actually known that there were divisions within Sunni Islam. I had been ignorant in thinking that the world's Sunnis were all one and the same. This is essentially because standard text books rarely mention sects other than the major Sunni/ Shia split. I knew about the four madhabs or legal schools within Sunni Islam but once out in the community I began to discover far more.
I discovered that there were Sunni Muslims who take their philosophy from two major Madrassahs in India, one at Deoband, the other at Barelvi. I also heard the term 'Wahabi' being bandied about frequently too. I was also to find out about Tablighis, Ahl-e-Hadith .
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