In 1998, I decided to take the spiritual plunge. I’d been reading books and articles about Sufism, watching videos about whirling dervishes and immersing myself in the poetry of Rumi a 13th century Afghan-Tajik poet who settled in Konya (in modern Turkey) after his family fled my rather bloodthirsty Mongol ancestors including this lovely chap. Yep, rightwing politics was in my genes!
Anyway, I decided it wasn’t enough to imagine life as a Sufi so I became one. I joined a Turkish Sufi order in Auburn. That involved my pledging to my Sufi teacher that I would obey God and observe the sunna (example and teachings) of the Prophet Muhammad. I further pledged that any disobedience to God and the Prophet would represent disobedience to my teacher and therefore a breach of my pledge.
OK, I’ll admit it. I was a pretty hopeless Sufi. Imagine an overweight rightwing Young Liberal singing (or should that be miming?) like these Bollywood actors or whirling like these real-life dervish dudes! Then again, I wasn’t exactly in salubrious company. One of my fellow Sufis was a Hell’s Angel, who stood next to me at the funeral prayers for my late teacher back in 2003.
But now, according to a report in today’s Australian, my simple act of formally pledging allegiance to a Sufi order (known in Arabic as a “bay’ah”) has just been declared a “Muslim terrorist vow”. The report sites unnamed “Australian counter-terrorism agencies” capturing a secret tape recording of the pledge made by some young me to convicted terrorist Abdel Nacer Benbrika in September 2005.
The bay’ah is an ancient Arab practice dating back thousands of years. In pre-Islamic Arabia, it was given by members of a tribe to their leader as a kind of substitute to voting. In those days, when Arabia was racked by tribal and internecine wars lasting generations, such pledges were necessary to keep people on side.
Arabs regarded keeping one’s word as a mark of honour. The Prophet Muhammad adapted the practice in that he transformed it into a pledge to battle one’s inner ego by pledging to obey God. Each new convert made the pledge.
These days, few converts make bay’ah to anyone except themselves. To convert to Islam, all you need to do is recite (preferably in public) an Arabic phrase which is a summary of the more detailed bay’ah formula. In other words, The Oz report effectively suggests that our counter-terrorism agencies now regard the mere act of religious conversion to terrorism.
I guess ASIO and the Feds had better start planting secret listening devices in Turkish Sufi houses across Auburn and Broadmeadows. I just hope these devices aren’t knocked out of place by the skirts of overweight whirling dervishes.
You dishonour sufism and your old teacher Mr. Irfan Yusuf because you are dishonest. Your pledge to sufism is not seen as a “Muslim terrorist vow” and you know it.
Jonathan Green is equally culpable here.
Jeremy Lott among many others commented sarcastically on another recent atrocious example of dishonesty by you, http://jeremylott.net/?p=1642 :
In opinion article published in The Canberra Times by Irfan Yusuf on August 18, ”Justice the remedy required to help Bosnia heal”, cited the US analyst Daniel Pipes as predicting that Europe’s next Holocaust victims would be Muslim migrants and it alleged that Mr Pipes suggested Muslims thoroughly deserved such slaughter.
The Canberra Times and Irfan Yusuf accept that Mr Pipes never predicted nor has he ever endorsed a Holocaust of European Muslims, and they unreservedly apologise to him for the errors.
or as Lott paraphrases your ‘apology’: “So sorry about accusing you of wanting a second Holocaust, Mr. Pipes. It was an innocent mistake. We hope you understand.”
JamesK
You misunderstand what Irfan Yusuf wrote and you misunderstand his intent.
Yusuf wrote ‘according to a report in today’s Australian, my simple act of formally pledging allegiance to a Sufi order (known in Arabic as a “bay’ah”) has just been declared a “Muslim terrorist vow”. ‘ Yusuf is saying that a Sufi pledge is a “Muslim terrorist vow” according to the Australian. Note also that Yusuf put “Muslim terrorist vow” in quotes to indicate that this is someone else’s words (and view), not his own.
Yusuf is trying to end the ignorant prejudice against Islam. He does this by providing information accessible to christians and others ignorant of Islam: it is therefore somewhat simplistic. He also uses ridicule and irony, which is sometimes difficult to pick up in writing. But from what I have read of Yusuf in Crikey, the Australian and elsewhere, and from what I have heard him say on the radio, I understand him to be supporting greater understanding and acceptance between Muslims and others.
James, you should read Pipes’ Erabia arrticles and listen to his speeches and see that Irfan’s error was ever-so-slight. Pipes said that Europe’s future involved 2 possible scenarios: 1. genocide of Moslems; and 2. Moslems outbreeding Christians.
Pipes didn’t predict which of these was more likely. In one speech, he says there is a 47.5% chance of Moslems undergoing a genocide. Irfan claims Pipes predicted a 50%-plus chance. So irfan is out by 2.5%.
Pipes also said that Moslems were “sparring for a fight”, that if there were to be violence then it would be Moslems who start it. What is the difference between sparring or asking for violence and deserving it?
Pipes elsewhere says that the West needs to eliminate all “Islamists”. What does eliminate mean? And how many islamists are there? Pipes predicted between 10 and 15% of Moslems are Islamists. There are around a billion Moslems on our planet. If we eliminate 10% of them, that involves killing 100 million.
Hitler eliminated 6 million Jews.