ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the relation Sufis in many countries enjoy with their political leaders in an international arena. It is about Sufism and Empire, and it is an expansion into space (the first two chapters are an extension in time) that seeks to establish a hegemonic global model of Sufism. Various countries such as Egypt, Algeria, and the Caucasus will be studied here briefly in terms of how they incorporate Sufism in their strategic calculations. This global model of Sufism is imposed by the US in an effort to counter radical Islam and spread over most Muslim countries in a typical re-enactment of cold war duopoly. I am not claiming that the US pressure is the only factor that makes local
Middle Eastern governments use Sufism as their political card. There are indeed internal trends in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region that prefer to have Sufism as a political ally. Yet, the American policy of an imposed global Sufi promotion will not succeed and may actually be counterproductive and might spearhead a wave of Sufi violence since Sufis are peaceful but not pacifists. Sufism, like any ideology, has a potential for violent activism once the right buttons are pushed. In the case of foreign occupation, as in Iraq, peaceful Sufis took up arms against the occupier and sided with their ideological enemies, the Salafi activists against the American Infidel. Promoting Sufism as a tool to combat religious extremism within Islam appeals to US policy analysts at the Nixon Center. This chapter briefly outlines Sufism and its historical differences from Wahabi/Salafi thought. It then explores Sufi political expression in particular contexts, and state responses to it. Depending on their history and relationship to the state, Sufis either act or are acted upon as authoritarians, insurgents, peace activists, apolitical agents or as targets for extremists.
