Ala’ Abu al Azayim, the sheikh of the Sufi Al Azmiyah tariqah, stands beside the tomb of his grandfather, who founded the sect. Mr al Azayim hopes to counter attacks on Sufism through a satellite TV station. Victoria Hazou for The National
CAIRO // A coalition of Sufi organisations is preparing to launch Egypt’s first Sufi-themed satellite television station before the end of the year.
The channel’s principal organisers, the Al Azmiyah tariqah, or “path”, said the station would be the fourth in the Middle East to identify specifically with Sufi Islamic thought.
Ala’ Abu al Azayim, the sheikh of the Al Azmiyah tariqah, said he hoped the station, which he plans to name Al Sufiya Wa Atasawaf (Sufis and Sufism), will help propagate Sufism’s moderate conception of Islam.
But he also envisions it as an ideological foil to the dozens of conservative Salafi satellite channels that compete for viewers across the region – stations that Mr al Azayim said routinely attack Sufi thought, pollute the practice of Islam with an ultra-conservative ideology and defame the religion’s reputation throughout the world.
“There are a lot of satellite stations. All of them attack Sufism and some of them, or many of them … are [run by] ignorant people” said Mr al Azayim, who said he saw the proposed channel as part of a broader “jihad”, or spiritual struggle, to defend Islam from Salafi thought. “They have no idea about Islam except the niqab for the ladies and the gallabeya and the long beard for the men.”
http://newageislam.com/new-tv-channel-to-give-sufism-a-voice/islamic-world-news/d/2423
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4:04 AM
Moderate Islamist here
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