Sponsoring Sufism How Governments Promote “Mystical Islam” in Their Domestic and Foreign Policies
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Palgrave Studies in Religion, Politics, and Policy Series Editors: Ted G. Jelen and Mark J. Rozell A generation ago, many social scientists regarded religion as an anachronism, whose social, economic, and political importance would inevitably wane and disappear in the face of the inexorable forces of modernity. Of course, nothing of the sort has occurred; indeed, the public role of religion is resurgent in US domestic politics, in other nations, and in the international arena. Today, religion is widely acknowledged to be a key vari- able in candidate nominations, platforms, and elections; it is recognized as a major influ- ence on domestic and foreign policies. National religious movements as diverse as the Christian Right in the United States and the Taliban in Afghanistan are important fac- tors in the internal politics of particular nations. Moreover, such transnational religious actors as Al-Qaida, Falun Gong, and the Vatican have had important effects on the politics and policies of nations around the world. Palgrave Studies in Religion, Politics, and Policy serves a growing niche in the discipline of political science. This subfield has proliferated rapidly during the past two decades, and has generated an enormous amount of scholarly studies and journalistic coverage. Five years ago, the journal Politics and Religion was created; in addition, works relating to religion and politics have been the subject of many articles in more general academic journals. The number of books and monographs on religion and politics has increased tremendously. In the past, many social scientists dismissed religion as a key variable in politics and government. This series casts a broad net over the subfield, providing opportunities for scholars at all levels to publish their works with Palgrave. 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Book contains excerpts from “The Promotion of Sufism in the Politics of Algeria and Morocco,” Muedini, Fait, Islamic Africa, Vol. 29, No. 3, pages 201–226. Northwestern University Press. First published in 2015 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN: 978–1–137–52106–4 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the Library of Congress. A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Knowledge Works (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: July 2015 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 To Kaltrina, Edon, Dua, and to my parents, Atli and Mudzefer Muedini This page intentionally left blank Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 1 What Is Sufism? History, Characteristics, Patronage, and Politics 19 2 Algeria: Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Sufism, and Authoritarianism 43 3 Morocco: King Mohammed VI, Sufism, and the Islamist Challengers 67 4 Appealing to Sufi Orders and Shrines: The Case of Government Sufi Advocacy in Pakistan 97 5 Promoting Sufism in Russia, Chechnya, and Uzbekistan 125 6 The Promotion of Sufism in the West: Britain and the United States 153 Conclusion 175 Notes 185 Bibliography 197 Index 217 This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments want to thank my wife, Kaltrina, our children, Edon and Dua, and my parents, Atli and Mudzefer Muedini, for all of their support throughout the writing of this book. I also want to thank everyone Iwho had any part in supporting this project. I want to thank Professor Paul Heck for first introducing me to the relationship between Sufism and politics. I want to thank Michael Jerryson, Ahmed Khanani, Matt Buehler, and all others who have provided comments and feedback on various forms of this work. I also want to thank Ted Jelen for his con- tinued interest in the book manuscript. I wish to also thank the various anonymous reviewers for their comments, as well as Brian O’Connor and Elaine Fan for their dedicated work on the editing and final pro- duction of the manuscript. Lastly, I also want to thank the various institutions such as Butler University for allowing me to present my research, as well as the Russian and East European Institute at Indiana University for sponsoring my trip to present my paper at their “Ready for Democracy?” conference. This page intentionally left blank Introduction overnment leaders who have previously shown little interest in religion as it relates to policy are now using Islam for the advancement of their own political objectives. While Islam has beenG applied in the domestic and foreign policies of government leaders for quite some time (Esposito, 1998), the issue of Islam in domestic and international politics has received greater attention as of late, and in particular since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon (Philpott, 2002). Since these attacks, the teachings of Islam have become a major point of examination, toward which significant media and policy attention have been directed not only to understand Islam but also to discuss how individuals aim to use religion for achieving political goals. And within this specific debate, governments and other actors have aimed to address how to stop the spread of puritanical Islamic interpretations, in the name of preventing future attacks. Because of the worry over radical interpretations and the effect that such interpretations may have on individual actions, many individu- als have been quick to try to find other approaches to Islam, or spe- cifically, other groups of Muslims that promote what these individuals perceive as a different, more tolerant message of the faith. But while such interpretations of Islam have been promoted by governments in hopes of preventing future terrorist acts, Mahmood Mamdani (2002: 766) argues that within these actions, the emphasis by policymakers has not been on “distinguishing terrorists from civilians . [,]” but rather, the “talk has turned religious experience into a political category . ” He argues that in order to understand why individuals commit specific actions, a person’s religion should not be the only issue examined, nor should religion be viewed in a vacuum. But rather, a detailed under- standing of a range of factors is needed. Yet, he argues that some people are quick to believe that whether one interprets religion “literally” as 2 l Sponsoring Sufism compared to “metaphoric or figurative” is the difference in distinguish- ing whether or not a person will commit acts of terror (Mamdani, 2002: 767). Applying this distinction specifically to the case of Islam, what he says is happening is that “we are now told to distinguish between good Muslims and bad Muslims. Mind you, not between good and bad per- sons, nor between criminals and civil citizens, who both happen to be Muslims, but between good Muslims and bad Muslims” (767).