Whenever religious freedom is discussed in Egypt, the topic inevitably turns to the status of the Christian Copts. Thousands of articles have been written about Egypt’s Copts and how they are denied their religious freedoms, but it almost never occurs to anyone that even Sunni Muslims are being deprived of their basic rights to religious freedom and worship.

That is exactly what happened at the end of last month when the ministry of awqaf (religious endowments) decided to ban Egypt’s Sufi orders from holding gatherings for the performance of dhikr – rituals devoted to the remembrance of God. Sufis have been performing these rituals for centuries, so a ban at this particular time is absurd.

The ministry’s excuse is that the ban is intended to pre-empt undesirable behaviour at Sufi gatherings, such as the shouting of invocations and late-night loitering in mosques. In a city such as Cairo where the noise of traffic is a constant background, it just doesn’t make sense. Clashes took place at Cairo’s al-Husayn and al-Sayyida Zeinab mosques between members of Sufi orders and security forces who forced them to evacuate the two shrines.

The Sufis are moderate, tolerant, peace-loving and highly spiritual Muslims, light years away from the violent image of Islam projected to western audiences. They believe God must be at the forefront of one’s thoughts at all times. The dhikr rituals, which include dancing and religious songs, are aimed at nothing more than the remembrance of God. Why the government would want to ban a practice so peaceful and harmless is incomprehensible.

In Egypt, Sufism is more institutionalised than anywhere else. There are 74 Sufi orders in Egypt, each headed by its own Sufi sheikh. At the top there is a Supreme Council for Sufi Orders and the president is directly in charge of Sufi affairs. Some Sufi orders were founded over 700 years ago. Their founders’ shrines are present in mosques, and millions of Muslims travel to them every year to celebrate the birthdays (moulids) of the Sufi sheikhs and gain their blessings. Perhaps the spirituality of Sufism has been neglected by some in recent times, but the dhikr ceremonies and moulids have been cultural practices for centuries and are a part of Egypt’s heritage. The moulids last for several days and are occasions for happiness, festivities, remembrance of God, income for the poor and fun for children.

The recent ban is another victory for extreme Salafi thinking at the expense of Egypt’s moderate Sufism. Salafism, imported into Egypt from Saudi Arabia and publicised around the world thanks to petrodollars, is the enemy of anything moderate and tolerant. The Salafis believe that the only true path is to follow the practices of the early generations of Muslims – literally.

Salafi thinking, which has gradually occupied Egyptian thought over the past three decades, puts enormous emphasis on external appearance rather than the inner spirit. They grow their beards just as the first Muslims did and trim their trousers so that the hems hang well above the ankles (or just wear a short jilbab) and their women usually wear the niqab. They believe that anything that deviates from their strictly literal interpretations of Islam is bida’a (innovation) and thus a gateway to hell.   »»» guardian.co.uk

The Salafis tend to emphasize the external to the detriment of the internal. Some Sufis do the contrary. Imam Malik, the founder of one of the 4 major schools of orthodox Islamic jurisprudence said: “Whoever has the outer law without inner Reality (Sufism) has left the right way; Whoever has the inner Reality without outer Law (Shariah) is a heretic; Whoever joins the two of them has realization.”

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