Why Pakistan's Taliban Target the Muslim MajorityThis reminds of the early bitter divisions in Protestant Christianity.
By Omar Waraich / Islamabad Thursday, Apr. 07, 2011
TIME Magazine
Although Pakistan's headlines are dominated by the violent excesses of Taliban extremists, the majority of Pakistanis subscribe to the more mystical Sufi tradition of the country's Barelvi school of Islam.
[snip]
Pakistan's Taliban claims the mantle of the hardline Deobandi tradition, with many beliefs in common with the austere Wahabism of Saudi Arabia. They regard the Barelvi, who comprise more than three quarters of Pakistan's Sunni Muslims, as irredeemable heretics.
Friday, April 08, 2011
MORE THAN A SUNNI-SHIA DIVIDE
This is another "I didn't know that" post, in this case about the divisions within the Sunni branch of Islam.
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There are Shia Sufis too. But one disclaimer: the Sunnis would not concede that any Sufis are truly Islamic, therefore would not concede they are even Sunnis. IOW, mysticism has no place in Sunni doctrine.
By way of contrast, although prone to getting in more conflicts than the usual with the official Church, Christian mystics are not and never were regarded automatically as heretics by either Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox Church doctrine.
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