Anything opposite of the rigid version of Islam as practiced in places in Saudi Arabia and even Iran! Acceptance of religious minorities, celebrating the diversity and even participating in non-Muslim religious events. Not condemning the Mazar-going culture (Mazar=shrines of notable religious leaders). In essence, practice your faith as you see fit and let me practice mine. And I believe a large part of the Indo-Pak Subcontinent ('Indo-Pak Subcontinent' is the term we were taught growing up in Pakistan!) culture has been a very conservative version of Islam but also a tolerant one. Maybe a lot of you don't know what Pakistan was like before Zia ul Haq's rule changed things for the worse.
This is just plurality, not necessarily a Sufi outlook. There is only a portion of Sufis today who believe in syncretic religion, most live in India, BD, SL, and other Non-Muslim dominated ccountries. Sikhism, Bahai'ism, Nation of Islam, Moorish Science, and other similar new-age religions came out of such syncretism.
Islam, on the other hand, is very much a faith of orthodoxy and codified beliefs. There is not much leeway of changing the religion, which is seen by Muslims as Bid'ah, negative innovation of religion.
There is no problem with religious minorities, but celebrating their holidays, worshipping mullahs, throwing money at pirzade, excessive celebrations and shirk in shrines has nothing to do with Sufism, as it was meant by its faithful practitioners.
Unfortunately I do not have many friends going to Pakistan, I only had the opportunity to ask 1 person. He said that people behaved well because they were Turkish and Muslim, but he said that the outfit of his people was like arab, he toured all over Asia until last year. When I looked at the travel videos, they also acted well when they learned that Vlogger was Turkish, but he talks about the country's shops, restaurants, and foods are not suitable for Turkish people, I have never been to Pakistan, even if I go because I haven't seen anything worth seeing other than its mountains, I only come for their people.
You are on PDF, this is an excellent place to corrext your misconceptions about Pakistan and Pakistanis.
To answer some of your points, let me say a few things.
Pakistani Shalwar Kameez/Kurta/Pheran/Khet Partoog/Dhoti/Ajrak/Firaaq/Kotti all are very different to the standard dress of most Arabs (white thawb.) We are most similar to Yemenis (among Arabs) in our dress, because they wear the analogous clothes as us. Their women wear imported Pakistani garments as well.
Our clothes are unique in the world and have only direct relation to Afghans, who dress the exact same as us. They are a mixture of our IVC, Iranic, and Turkic heritage
Furthermore, Pakistani food varies from medium spicy to heavy spicy and is very similar to Turkish and Iranian/Afghan cuisine. I have had Turkish food which has been spicy for me. I don't think it is a problem for most Turks. All of my Turkish friends are fine with the food and even ask for recipes.
I have been told that our food is more similar to rural and Eastern Turkey. Which is no surprise because we are related to both Kurds and Turkic people.
Our food is mostly meat-based like Turkey, with heavy emphasis in sauces, kababs, grilled meat, pilao, biryani, naan, yoghurt.
We even have Chatti di Lassi (and other various Lassi) which is similar to your Ayran.
We are heavy tea drinkers. We enjoy strong black tea with milk (Chai/Cha.) Other varieties include saffron based slow cooked Kashmiri chai, Pakhawari Kava (light green tea w cardamom,) doodh patti (chai which has more milk ratio.)
In my native Punjab, we also make sabz chai which is green tea w cardamom, lemongrass, ginger, and honey. Very delicious.
Within the bounds of Shariah. Opponents of sufism want to make it sounds like a heretic sect, et all the sufi ulema are strict followers and teachers of the shariah in the light of Quran and Hadith. The drums and cannabis is a fringe element.
Proper Sufism is one which is based on Quran and Sunnah. There is no room for syncretism in Islam.
We must beware of the many frauds (hakeems, pirs) who pass themselves off as Sufis.
Turks hates Arab? Stop characterizing nations in this way.
How many Turkish people do you know? Or do you think the three or five members here are all the Turkish nation? In history, there have been tribes who collaborated primarily with the British empire and this betrayal is still remembered, but this has never been generalized to all Arab nations.
Today, Turkey is the largest donor country in arab world and the largest donor nation is the Turkish nation for opressed, poor and war-losing Arabs, as non-arab country...
Besides being the donor country, more than half a million Iraqis and 4 million Syrians, with others nearly 5 million Arabs and arab country citizens livin in TR. Turkey spend billion and billions dolars for them every year , its all Turkish taxes, Zekats and donations...
We have sincere and fraternal relations with many Arab countries from the Gulf to Africa.
But your point of view must belong to a wholesaling mentality that equates the entire Arab world to the spirit of a single tribal leader ... Even for this situation, the deep bonds of love between the two country's peoples are exalted. There are millions of people who do not have political populism.
Trying to learn the world from social media triggers a dangerous combination. The combination of ignorance and fascism is very dangerous. However, the more dangerous thing is to commenting as an expert on issues that you know nothing.
Excellent post, well deserved positive ratings.
Some people cannot see that people like us (Pakistanis, Turks, and others) want to best for every single Muslim in the world, regardless of their ethnicity and race.
This is the beauty of Islam.
When we criticize certain countries' policies (like Iran, KSA, UAE, Egypt,) it is out of love and genuine concern for the people living in those places. We want to see Muslims rise up, wherever they are, and take their own destinies in their hands, instead of being pawns of external or internal powers who wish to divide and destroy us
Sharia? You know the Talibans in the 'Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan' thought they were enforcing Sharia! To them thousands of years old statues were a threat! You know the 'No Sitare' PNA political alliance against Bhutto in 1976-77 thought they were going to bring Sharia to Pakistan. You know Zia ul Haq thought he was going to 'Islamize' Pakistan from 1977-1988. You know the goons of Lal Masjid in Islamabad in 2007 thought they were enforcing Sharia even though they had killed Pakistani military personnel, taken over a mosque and a library, and put guns in the mosque. You know the Pakistani Talibans in 2007-09 thought they were enforcing Sharia in Swat. You know that the Haramkhor Maulana Khadim Rizvi lately is trying to enforce Sharia...
Pakistani society and its written Constitution is 'Islamic' enough. No need to introduce more Islam into the country because there is NOT ONE version of Islam the majority would agree upon. The idiots in Pakistan can't even agree upon 'Moon Sightings' for Eid when even Saudi Arabia has that sorted out!! There are bigots, pressure groups, opportunists more than willing to be tools of foreign agents to wreak havoc inside Pakistan again. Pakistan is indeed facing grave threats externally; no need to take focus off them.
So let it be where we are! A Sufi-oriented society. A society the Founder of Pakistan would have wanted.
You are very judgemental and have a wrong idea about Islamic Fiqh (Shariah.)
To answer a few points, Taliban removed and condemned their rogue commander who blew up the Bamiyan statues, the logic was that no one worships them, therefore there is no reason to destroy them.
In Pakistan, various parties attempted to galvanize Islamic sentiments of the general population against opponents, but it was only for political gain.
PTI is the first party which is genuinely concerned with the image of Islam and bringing religiousity into the country, although they do have many liberals too.
Zia used religion for his own means and to elevate his own power. Bhutto and Zia both met their fate at the hands of their former allies, US.
Yeah, everyone is a 'thug'. Only real example of Sharia you could come up with would be from the dawn of Islam 1400+ years ago. That was a very very different situation.
It's best to keep religion a private matter. As was in the spirit of the M.A. Jinnah speech of 11 August 1947. Go and offer your Prayers. Go for the Pilgrimage. Offer Zakat. But I am old enough to have seen what kind of disasters happened inside Pakistan because of the political opportunism in the name of Sharia. And that's not some 'liberal' wish: It's a practical wish for the survival of Pakistan.
You have a very erroneous idea about Islamic fiqh.
With the possible exception of Lebanon, the entire Arab world is a socially-suffocating place. Ten times I would rather live in Pakistan than those countries where people may be hospitable and nice but not only is their geography/landscape not much appealing, on the whole, but also social freedoms are generally set for some other past centuries.
These countries are not very tolerable for religious Muslims either, whereas Pakistan is ripe soil for Islamic minded individuals. We do not have any state oppression concerning religion, alhamdulilah.
1. Historically Muslim kingdoms have implemented shariah. The Ottomans, the Durrani Empire, the Mughal Empire, Tipu Sultan, anyone and everyone who has ruled over Muslims implemented shariah law.
2. Shariah is not limited to what we consider "law of the land" today. The definition of halal and haram, etc are all part of shariah. We have aspects of it, even in Pakistan today.
It is a shame that Pakistani's only view shariah through the prism of politics, this is not your fault, it is the fault of the uber politicised clergy in our country who are just as power hungry as the politicians. When I made my original point is was to say that Sufi Islam is not chuff chuff pirs, cannabis, drum circles and miracles.
Indeed the some of the Awliya through the power given to them by Allah swt did miracles, but their entire lives were spent teaching Islam, living by the laws of Islam, guiding others to Islam, and helping those in need. They stood up to haram and promoted halal - often in the face of power.
Sufi Islam is not the hocus pocus some people like to portray it as today. If people want to get high to a drum beat chanting Allah Hu, they're welcome - it is their personal matter - but the crux of Sufi Islam is Shahada, Salat, Fasting, Zakat, Hajj, controlling ones nafs, rememberance of Allah. It is madrasa, not mazaar, it is langar, not landcruiser. It is tawheed not just taweez.
Of course that is not to say that mazars should not be visited, i regularly visit khari sharif when i am in Pakistan, but i am disappointed how it is a tourist attraction rather than a beacon of teaching Islam and helping the poor.
Good post. As someone who visits Data Jee (Ali Hajweri Baba RA,) I simply go to his qabar, read fatiha, make dua for him, and I leave. Most Pakistanis visit mazars in this fashion. Only a few are excessive, and women tend to be moreso.
