The dark side of Sufism
<p>The dominant modernist view on religion juxtaposes ‘religion’ and ‘mysticism’ as two opposing ways of dealing with spiritual realities. The former is seen as linked with dogma and moral regulations of external behavior, while the latter is seen as linked with a free and personal engagement with profound inner experiences. Yet, in many traditions, such a juxtaposition seems out of place. For example, as was explained in the first two parts of this series, the phenomenon of “Sufism” is, in fact, <a href="https://medium.com/re-visioning-religion/revisioning-sufism-part-1-the-central-place-of-mysticism-within-islam-ebc4fb5d42#.wc0y9iex4" rel="noopener">a rather ‘normative’ form of Islam.</a> This norm only recently (and very gradually) <a href="https://medium.com/re-visioning-religion/revisioning-sufism-part-2-how-the-norm-shifted-6ed52aebdeda#.a1v3manki" rel="noopener">started shifting because of modernist influences and contemporary geopolitics</a>. As such, Islamic mysticism is, at its core, also undeniably religious — and vice versa.</p>
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