The Salafis are on the march in Libya, to the sorrow of the Sufis.
The desecration of graves belonging to Sufi
saints and sages in recent months have put the peaceful Sufis on the
defensive, prompting some to post armed guards at their mosques and
lodges to ward off hardline thugs.
But
the birthday of Islam's Prophet Mohammad, one of the highpoints in the
Sufi calendar, is on Saturday and Libyan Sufis are determined to take
their traditional processions through the streets to show they will not
be cowed.
At a meeting of Sufi
scholars to plan the celebrations, Sheikh Adl Al-Aref Al-Hadad said even
being driven out of his zawiyah (Islamic school) late last year by
Islamists known as Salafis would not deter him from marching.
"I'm
worried but I'm not afraid," said Al-Hadad, whose Tripoli school was
stormed by armed men who burned its library, destroyed office equipment
and dug up graves of sages buried there. They turned the school into a
Salafi mosque.
Just because people want to be freed from a particular dictator does not mean they want freedom.
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New digs for ponderings about Levantine Christianity.
The interior of Saint Paul Melkite Greek Catholic Church, Harissa, Lebanon. I have decided to set up a Substack exploring Eastern Christi...
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