Sufi's Responsibility in the process of Social Cohesion

 

By Prof. Dr. Bunyamin Duran

Tuesday, 08 April 2008 17:22

 

This paper aims to show the function of Sufis to contribute to the aims of social cohesion of Europe. First of all I will talk about the general position of European society related to religiosity and identity and than I will pay attention to the general situation of Muslims who are living in Europe, also in the perspective of identity and religiosity. Finally I will try to explore the social responsibility of Sufis in social-cultural areas referring to the idea’s of some great Sufi-masters.

 

Identity and religiosity in Europe

Related to the identity and the religiosity we can classify the general social structure of European society into three categories:

1-Belonging without believing

2-Believing without belonging

3-Believing with belonging

Let me explore these categories briefly

 

Belonging without believing

To understand the real function of Sufism in Europe we have to firstly pay attention to the fact of the secularization process in Europe. As is well known the secularization process is extremely advanced throughout the continent. Avoiding hard discussions about the feature of this secularization process, we will suffice with taking the secularization process as a given parameter. The radical secularization has created a very strange situation within European society, by some sociologist it is so-called as belonging without believing.

Actually if we look at the European societies we see that religiosity is decreasing day by day. In certain countries, where churches are deserted at all times of the year other than at the occasion of the main religious festivals (Scandinavia, the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands), religious structures seem to have weakened to the point of collapse. There are, of course, considerable differences between the countries of the European Union in terms of religiosity. But the general picture is nearly the same.

It has been argued that in modern societies, particularly in Europe, religious identity is increasingly a matter of personal choice. Individuals make their own choice of religious allegiance. More than any other people, Europeans are moving away from the model of the "practicing" believer.

As pointed out by Danièle Hervieu-Léger, for example, the Danish citizens who do not believe in God and never attend church, but will faithfully continue to pay the tax that goes to the Lutheran Church because they like to see religious buildings properly maintained, and the French citizens who are nostalgic for the beautiful church services of their childhood . (Hervieu-Léger, 2006)

This radical secularization has been seen by some secular philosophers as a very destructive process against human-oriented world. For this reason they invite Abrahamic religions again to the public sphere. One of them of course, is Jurgen Habermas.

According to Habermas radical liberalism and capitalism have destroyed human life which was based on human dignity, by instrumentation of men to maximize economical and political profits. To avoid the negative aspects of radical liberalism and secularism Jurgen Habermas has developed a very important theory, the so-called post-secular theory in which religious values have significant influence to establish a social cohesion. (Habermas, 2001)

 

Believing without belonging

Moslems are different in religiosity from other believers. The situation of Moslems, especially the young generation can be described as believing without belonging.

 

Globalization or westernization of Islam: Individual Religiosity

The social and cultural environment of Europe, which is based on freedom and individualism, stimulates Muslims, particularly well-educated younger Muslims to develop a new style of religiosity which is based on individual experiences, without referring to any religious authority and mazhabs. They have usually the capability to use all technological possibilities to enrich their knowledge about Islam. Of course, an established doctrine of religious schools and theology are a foreign phenomenon to them.

They reject nearly all theological and philosophical effort and heritage of older generations. They try to understand the Qur’an and Sunna without interpretation and without harmonizing different contradictory verses.

As Moslem sociologist Professor Nilüfer Göle noted: the process of deinstitutionalization is not only an experience of Western societies but at the same time the experience of those Moslems who live in Europe. (Gole, 2007)

Sociologist Olivier Roy has emphasized very clearly this sociological issue saying that 'it is a mistake to think that the phenomena of religious radicalism (Salafism) and political radicalism (Al Qaeda) are mere imports of the cultures and conflicts of the Middle East.

It is above all a consequence of the globalization and Westernization of Islam. Today’s religious revival is first and foremost marked by the uncoupling of culture and religion, whatever the religion may be’. (Roy, (2007)

 

Radicalization of young Moslem generation

According to me, the radicalization of some young Muslims in Europe is the result of deficiency in the supply of theological and intellectual products. The main problem of Muslims in modern times is the deficiency of Muslim intellectuals. As we know intellectuals are the product of big cities, and this is because the main feature of intellectual people is the freedom and the independency.

We can minimize the radicalization of young Moslem generations by supplying enough intellectual products. This mission can be realized by Islamic universities and other intellectual institutions - this effort can be a significant instrument to minimize radicalization of Moslems.

 

Believing with belonging

The situation of a second group of Muslims can be characterized as believing with belonging. This group usually bears an identity of a certain religious community. They belong generally to a local culture and regard themselves as members of society. They also link to a historical heritage of Mazhabs and religious authorities. Islamic theology and philosophy are significant determinant factors to form the identity of this group. The identity of this group is relatively more strictly established than that of the first group. Thus the level of radicalization and alienation of this group is lower than that of the first group. The possibility of integration of this group is also much more than that of the other group.

We can divide this group into two camps, one of them can be defined as intellect-oriented religious groups, while the others more heart-oriented. The first group necessitates reading of books and listening to video-tapes and sermons, which are conducted by trusted preachers. They have usually migrated from rural areas of Eastern and African countries and are mostly confronted with Scriptural Islam in Europe. This group is called i.e. a nurcu-movement which belongs to the ideas of Said Nursi. There are, of course a lot of Nurcu sub-groups. A well-known movement is Fethullah Gülen’s movement. (Valkenberg, 2006)

Nurcu groups try to participate in all civil and political activities, especially to interfaith dialogue activities. It is interesting to note here that many of them have not yet assimilated to urban culture. But they are at the same time a group which can very quickly acquire an integration capacity to their environment.

Their important tendency is to be enthusiastic for intellectual and academic persons. For this reason, they try to make their children well-educated persons. In addition, they attach importance to educational organizations. They provide for themselves all financial needs for educational and other organizations.

This group may be a contact human capital among secular and religious community in Europe.

Another group is the heart-oriented group. They have been formed under the organizations of mystical orders (tariqa’s). This group more or less corresponds with the intellect and book-oriented group as far as numbers and involvement with practical Islam are concerned. They belong to Sufi-orders. Many of them stress the development of knowledge of the heart. For them it is important to obey the spiritual leadership and to experience group-spirituality and mental development. Many of them try to refine good manners, are soft spoken and do not want to be involved in intellectual debates and useless questions. In their body language they show respect to elders and learned people.

The well-known Sufi’s groups in Europe are Süleymanci, Menzilci, Osman Topbas Efendi’s group, Mawlavi, Sheikh Nazim’s group, Sheikh Basin's group and several groups who follow different European disciples of the Algerian shaykh Ahmed Alaoui. Particularly the group of Sheikh Nazim is quite attractive to Europeans.

 

Social Cohesion of Europe and Sufism

Taking into consideration the above mentioned reality we can look at this moment at the social cohesion of Europe and the responsibility of Sufis concerning this cohesion.

 

Social Cohesion of Europe

The Revised Strategy for Social Cohesion (Mart 2004) has defined social cohesion as the capacity of society to ensure the welfare of all members, minimizing disparities and avoiding polarization.

We can collect The Revised Strategy for Social Cohesion (Mart 2004) under five titles:

1- Building social cohesion on a basis of human rights

2- Integrating of the social dimension into Economic life

3- Developing a new ethic of social responsibility

4- Supporting families and encouraging Family solidarity

5- Encouraging participation in civil society

 

Let me implicate relevant principles briefly.

As emphasized in the relevant strategy, welfare implies not only equity and non discrimination in access to human rights but also:

-The dignity of each person and the recognition of their abilities and their contribution to society, fully respecting the diversity of cultures, opinions and religious beliefs;

-The freedom of each individual to pursue their personal development throughout their life;

-The possibility for each person to participate actively as a full member of society.

According to the strategy there is close relationship between economic growth and social cohesion. Economic development must, however, be seen as a means of achieving the more fundamental goal of human development. In this spirit, the international community has committed itself to eliminating poverty and to achieving sustainable development.

Another significant element in the strategy is responsibility. A society is cohesive when people accept responsibility for one another. The values of present-day European society are not always conducive to this. Thus, an exclusive stress on the rights of the individual cannot form a sufficient basis for social cohesion. Individual rights will be best protected in societies where people feel a shared responsibility for the rights and welfare of all.

A social cohesion strategy, while fully respecting the autonomy of the private sphere and of civil society, must therefore seek to be supportive of families and other networks and relationships which bring individuals together into wider circles of solidarity.

 

Sufi's responsibility in the process of social cohesion

Sufi's responsibility in the process of social cohesion of Europe can be classified as a encountering with their neighbors, participation into economic activities, into civil society, into democratic processes, and so on.

We can easily say here that these principles and ideals are at the same time, the main aims of the Qur’an and the Sunna. And we can say that there is also no any dichotomy and conflict between principles of Sufism and relevant aims. The basis of Sufism is among other things based on human dignity, love, tolerance and solidarity. The dignity of a human being is a very significant aspect with the Sufi’s. In Mawlana's view, for example, man is a very precious being. God proclaimed man's being distinct, honorable, and superior over other creatures with the following Qur’anic verse:

'We have honored the sons of Adam.' (17/70) 'Man was created in the purest and best nature.' (95/4),

and was donated, spiritually and materially, with many virtues.

Mawlana in his work, repeatedly emphasized man's superiority:

'The aim of the creation of the universe is man.

You are neither water nor soil, but something else…

You are away from the world of clay, you are on a journey. (Yeniterzi, 2000)

According to Al-Ghazali man has to respect to rights of his own friends and neighbors. Actually he carefully describes categories of rights depending on a saying of the Prophet. The Messenger (pbuh) said, "There is a neighbor who has one right: this is an unbeliever. There is the neighbor who has two rights: this is a Muslim. There is the neighbor who has three rights: this is a Muslim-relative" (Sclubach)

Al-Ghazali's neighbor, moreover, is not just the guy next door, but "forty houses to the right, forty houses to the left, forty houses to the front, and forty houses to the rear." (Sclubach)

Related to the love of unbelievers raises here an important question: how can a Muslim love an unbeliever, although the Qur'an forbids it? We can find a sufficient answer to this question in the writing of Nursi.

At the beginning of the twentieth century (1911), Said Nursi was questioned concerning friendship of Muslims with Christians. The questioner based himself on the Qur’anic verse “O you who believe! Don’t take the Jews and Christians for your friends and protectors/” (5/51)

His answer is very important to all Muslims who are living in Europe. We can classify his approach as follows:

1. The time, in which the people are living, has the right of interpretation of the verses of the Qur’an. Anybody couldn’t reject interpretation of the time.

2. In the time of Prophet Muhammad, the religion stayed in the centre of life. Other sectors of society such as economy, politics, freedom and so forth were regarded as secondary sectors. All identities have been determined by religious principles. All relations among individuals, societies and states were determined also by religious faith.

But, the power of religion slowly decreased and in present time, science, economy and political sectors have become the centre in the life of societies in place of religion. Thus, identities are at the present time not determined by religion, but by secular relations such as economical, political, security and scientific relations.

3. Relations among people are not substantial, but ethic-oriented, that is – good relations among people have to come from good attributes, such as honesty, respect, solidarity, clarity, trust and so forth. Therefore, if a Christian has a good moral attribute, than he would be loved by Muslims. If he can be trusted and is hard-working, he would be a good partner for Muslims in an economic activity. If she has virtues, she would get married by a Muslim man. And the Muslim man, as a matter of course, has to love his Christian virtuous wife. (Nursi, 1995, 2004: Michel, 1999, 21-22)

Based on these idea’s of al-Ghazali, Mewlana and Nursi, we can say that Sufi’s who live in Europe have to regard these principles while encountering with their European neighbors in positive relations. Their positive approach to European people will probably produce a new atmosphere which is based on solidarity and love, within the materialistic, egoistic and hedonistic environments.

 

Participation to economic development

I want to emphasize here some very important developments in Western Europe, that is a revolution of food-satiety. Western European society in general has reached for the first time in human history to a well-fed or satiated society. This revolution for me is an unbelievably fantastic development in human history.

It is directly linked with the belief systems of Abrahamic religions. We know that all Abrahamic believers have demanded from God the fulfillment of god's promise of a "land of milk and honey". I believe that finally God has fulfilled His promise of bringing about a satiated society.

 

What has to be the attitude of Sufi’s towards economical activity in Europe?

There are also many texts in the Qur´an and Sunna by which economic development has been stimulated. According to a certain interpretation, the functions of prophets are not only spiritual and religious, but at the same time are materialistic and worldly. The aim of sending Prophets and giving them miracles is to encourage people to benefit from them and follow their example. At the same time the other aim is to trace the final limit of man developed science and industry.

For this reason the technological and the industrial development are a kind of ´jihad´ according to Nursi. He asserts that upholding the Word of God "will only be possible through material progress and achieving true civilization.

Similarly, he says: "We shall wage ´jihad´ with the weapons of science and industry against the most ferocious enemies of Upholding the Word of God, which are ignorance, poverty, and conflicting ideas", alluding to science and technology, the basic dynamics of the stage of Upholding the Word of God. He even went further than that, saying: "the things that are obstacles to Upholding the Word of God are obstacles to the Shari'a. Economical wonder in Turkey, particularly in Anatolian cities such as Kayseri, Konya, Denizli and so on are seen as a result of Nursi’s interpretation of Text in the light of industrial development.

 

Participation to the democratic process

What we can witness from the talking and writings of Sufi’s is that they have no serious awareness about the importance of a democratic system and civil society, although they are an inseparable part of the democratic system and civil society. According to me there are some reasons which prevent Sufi’s from participating into the democratic process.

One of theme is the idea which claims that secularism and democracy are identical.

Another idea is that there is an obvious conflict between God's sovereignty and man's sovereignty. Both ideas in fact, come from ignorance. They usually don’t know the exact difference between the secularization process and the secularism. Also they have not any idea about harmony between the sovereignty of God and the people.

First of all there is no identity between secularism and democracy. Although secularism is an ideology, democracy is a political system. Democracy is a fluid system that has the ability to adopt to various societies. (Feldman, 2003, 31)

Secondly there is no conflict between the sovereignty of God and the people. God’s sovereignty is a theological sovereignty, although the sovereignty of people is a political and a social sovereignty. One has to distinguish between the theological and political sphere. (Nursi, 1993, 71)

Thus Sufi’s have to be active, responsible and above all intelligent. They have to be aware of the fact that not only his ego, and his family members, but at the same time all individuals are deeply in need of his spirituality and solidarity. They have to try to improve the ethic of society in the direction of justice, dignity, solidarity and respect.

These can be realized only with participation into the democratic process and civil societies. Imam Rabbani (1564-1624), well-known as Sirhindi, has stimulated all his followers to participate in all political processes, in order to improve the political and social structure in the direction of justice and morality. (Imam-I Rabbani, p. 114-115, 140)

 

Participation to civil society

Sufi movement can be seen as a civil society. They were usually independent religious organizations from nearly all central governmental influence in history. Actually Sufi organizations have very deep historical experiments as a civil society in their history. But now they are living usually as isolated groups from social and political environments.

This means a deep dichotomy from their original aims. Based on their historical mission Sufi movements have to adopt themselves to the environment of European civil society, developing a new Sufi theology which is based on multicultural and multi religious society. By this effort Sufi movements can be an essential part of civil society in Europe.

 

Sufism and religious plurality

Most of Islamic theology (Kalaam) and also Sufi theology was based generally on monoculture of Muslim or on multicultural life in which non-Muslim societies are living as a minority. In that theologies state and religion were identical; to refuse religion would mean to refuse the state, too. But this situation usually changed in modern times. In Europe constitutionally secular state is a predominant kind of state. In this state different cultures, religions and sects can and do co-exist. The style of relations between state and religion are not a kind of fusion and complete integration or a complete antagonism but generally a separation with various degrees of strictness or cooperation. Thus the post secular Sufi theology has to take this situation into account. In this process all verses of the Qur’an which proclaim multicultural and multi-religious social life must be put forward.

Actually one can find in the Qur’an many texts which are proclaiming multicultural and multi- religious social life:

“We sent to you (Muhammad) the Scripture with the truth, confirming the Scriptures that came before it, and final authority over them: so judge between them according to what God has sent down. Don’t follow their whims, which deviate from the truth that came to you. We have assigned a law and a path to each of you. If God had so willed, He would have made you one community, but He wanted to test you through that which He has given you, so race to do good: you will all return to God and He will make clear to you the matters you differed about.” (Qur’an 5/48)

There are a more than one places in that verse which refer to plurality of religions. The first sentence begins by placing the Book of truth that has been sent down to Muhammad within a series of books containing guidance and light: the Torah and Gospel. It is significant that God sent the Qur’an not to abolish previous revelations, but to confirm them. The third sentence tells us that each community has received its own law and path.

The second part of the verse begins with theological reminder: if God had wanted, He could have made a human community without differences, and the next sentences indicates that God has willed the differences and He will judge in the end. We can say that these verses offer a theological reason for the fact of religious pluralism.

Valkenberg argued that Muslims are able to make better sense of religious plurality than Christians based on these verses. (Valkenberg, 2006, 151) By interpretation of verses of the Qur'an in the perspective of multicultural plurality,

Sufi’s can be positive actors in the post-secular society. In a way they can show practically an ascetic and puritan life to the hedonistic and egoistic people. As pointed out above, in radical capitalist and liberal society man reduced to the level of a means to attain materialistic passion of some people. In this society man can refine his original dignity through the contribution of Sufi spirituality.

There are some implications towards multicultural social life in the talking and the writing of Sufi’s, such as writings of Shayh Kibrisi, Shayh Yasin, and Seyh Osman Topbas Efendi, unfortunately they are yet not enough to fulfill the requirements of post secular society. Sufi’s have to spend much more energy in order to encounter with European society to fulfill their own responsibility.

 

Conclusion

We can summarize the results of this paper as follows:

1-Sufi members have a established their identity and religiosity based on a certain culture. Thus radicalization within Sufi communities is very low.

2-There is no dichotomy between the basic idea of social cohesion in Europe and the aims of Sufism.

3-Sufi tradition was a tradition of civil society. Unfortunately contemporary Sufism is alienated from the original mission of Sufism. European Sufism has to adopt itself to the environment of Europe which is usually based on civil society.

4-Sufi masters have to develop a new theology based on the ground of multicultural and Multi-religious society. This theology can contribute to an intensive encountering of Sufi’s with other people.

5-Sufi members have to participate into economical, political and cultural activities.

6- By this way Sufi movements can be an essential part of European civil society.

 

Some references

Duran, B. (2006), ‘Al-Ghazali’s Interpretation of Some Versus of the New Testament Concerning Jesus’ On the Edge of Many Worlds, ed. Freek L. Bakker and Jan Sihar Aritonang, Meinema

Duran, B. (2005), 'Cooperation in interreligious learning and teaching, based on common Abrahamic principles', Expert seminar, Leuven University, January 10-11- 2005

Feldman, Noah, (2003), After Jihad, Ferrar, Straus and Giroux, New York

Gole N. (2007), ' Islam, European public space, and civility' date of consultation 10.10.2007, www.eurozine.com/articles/2006-08-17-hervieuleger-en.html

Hervieu-Léger D., (2006), ' The role of religion in establishing social cohesion', date of consultation 10.10.2007, www.eurozine.com/articles/2006-08-17-hervieuleger-en.html

Habermas, J.(2001), 'Faith and knowledge' , www. socialpolitically.ucc.ie

John L. Esposito and John O. Voll, Islam and Democracy http://www.neh.gov/news/humanities/2001-11/islam.html

Kung, H, (1981), Christen Zijn, (trans. P., Heldens), Eindhoven

Michel, Thomas, (1999) ‘Muslim-Christian Dialogue and Cooperation in the Thought of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi’, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi in the view of Western Writers, Istanbul

Nursi, B. S., (1995), Munazarat, Istanbul

Richard, W. (1993), Jurgen Habermas and Post-Secular Society, www.habermasians.blogspot.com date of consultation, 15.02.2006

Roy O. (2007), 'Islamic evangelism. Islam in Europe', www.eurozine.com/articles/2006-08-17-hervieuleger-en.html, date of consultation 10.10.2007

Sclubach J. B. ' Tolerance, is love: Gulen, Ghazali and Rumi', http://en.fgulen.com/content/view/2140/31/).

Turner, B. (1991), Religion and Social Theory, Sage Pup., London

Valkenberg, P. (2006), Sharing Lights On the Way to God, Amsterdam-New York

Yeniterzi, E. (2000), Jalal al-Din al-Rumi, tr. A. Bulent Baloglu, Ankara

Weber, M. (1992), The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, tr. Talcot Parsons, London

Wolin Richard, Jurgen Habermas and Post-Secular Society, Name of website, www.habermasians.blogspot.com, date of consultation, 15.02.2006

Last Updated on Friday, 13 June 2008 10:58

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