Akhir-akhir ini, saya disibukkan dengan projek laman web Institute Islam Afrika-Amerika (AAII). Saya bukanlah seorang yang mahir dalam LAMP/WAMP mahupun CSS dan Joomla!, tapi bila tengok keadaan laman web mereka sekarang ini (http://aaii.info), rasa kesian pula. Mula-mula tolong mereka cari ahli-ahli yang profesional, tapi tak ada yang berminat. Jadi terpaksalah saya menyibukkan diri menyediakan laman mereka. URL sementara untuk rekabentuk baru laman ini boleh dilihat di sini – http://subsaharansufis.com/aaii . Sekian mukadimah untuk kiriman ini.
This organization that I’m helping is founded by a Sufi leader based in Senegal. In thinking about this NGO, and at the same time reading medieval Islamic history, I sort of arrived at this conclusion that Sufi tariqahs throughout history are simply early forms of a harakah Islamiyyah. Though many Islamic movements today are anti-Sufi, I am convinced that Ikhwan-inspired organizations especially, have an organizational structure so similar to Sufi brotherhoods. Consider the fact that jihads and social mobilizations throughout Islamic history has mostly sprouted out of Sufi tariqahs.
Sufism comes in various forms, from somewhat syncretic folk sufism to philosophical sufism (ex. Suhrawardi), and has been a primary agent of spreading certain doctrines. I learn that in medieval history, those schools of thought such as Jabariyyah, Muktazilah and so on are not really an issue amongst laymen but are highly elitist discourses. It is through the various manifestations of sufi brotherhoods that these ideas propagate, be it orthodox or heterodox.
Sorry, just some random incoherent thoughts to break my writing drought. Ribuan kemaafan kepada para pencenta bahasa dan para pendekar warisan melayu atas penggunaan dwi-bahasa kiriman ini.
