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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>FYI from today's NY Times. This made my
day.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">“There are bomb blasts all around, but people
don’t stay away,” said a 36-year-old bank teller named Najibullah. “When the
celebration comes, people have to dance.” <o:p></o:p></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>James E</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV class=Section1>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">February 25, 2010<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<H1><NYT_HEADLINE type=" " version="1.0"><B><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=6><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 24pt">Mystical Form of Islam Suits Sufis in
<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Pakistan</st1:place></st1:country-region><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></NYT_HEADLINE></H1>
<H6><B><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=1><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 7.5pt"><NYT_BYLINE>By <A
title="More Articles by Sabrina Tavernise"
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/t/sabrina_tavernise/index.html?inline=nyt-per">SABRINA
TAVERNISE</A><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></B></H6>
<P><st1:City w:st="on"><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"></NYT_BYLINE><NYT_TEXT><NYT_CORRECTION_TOP></NYT_CORRECTION_TOP>LAHORE</SPAN></FONT></st1:City>,
<st1:country-region w:st="on">Pakistan</st1:country-region> — For those who
think <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Pakistan</st1:place></st1:country-region> is all hard-liners, all the
time, three activities at an annual festival here may come as a surprise.
<o:p></o:p></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Thousands
of Muslim worshipers paid tribute to the patron saint of this eastern Pakistani
city this month by dancing, drumming and smoking pot.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">It is not
an image one ordinarily associates with <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Pakistan</st1:place></st1:country-region>, a country whose tormented
western border region dominates the news. But it is an important part of how
Islam is practiced here, a tradition that goes back a thousand years to Islam’s
roots in <st1:place w:st="on">South Asia</st1:place>.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">It is
Sufism, a mystical form of Islam brought into South Asia by wandering thinkers
who spread the religion east from the <st1:place w:st="on">Arabian
Peninsula</st1:place>. They carried a message of equality that was deeply
appealing to indigenous societies riven by caste and poverty. To this day, Sufi
shrines stand out in Islam for allowing women free access.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">In modern
times, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Pakistan</st1:country-region>’s Sufis have
been challenged by a stricter form of Islam that dominates in
<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Saudi
Arabia</st1:place></st1:country-region>. That orthodox, often political Islam
was encouraged in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Pakistan</st1:place></st1:country-region> in the 1980s by the
American-supported dictator, Muhammad Zia ul-Haq. Since then, the
fundamentalists’ aggressive stance has tended to eclipse that of their moderate
kin, whose shrines and processions have become targets in the war here.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">But if last
week’s stomping, twirling, singing, drumming kaleidoscope of a crowd is any
indication, Sufism still has a powerful appeal. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">“There are
bomb blasts all around, but people don’t stay away,” said a 36-year-old bank
teller named Najibullah. “When the celebration comes, people have to dance.”
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Worshipers
had come from all over <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Pakistan</st1:place></st1:country-region> to commemorate the death of
the saint, Ali bin Usman al-Hajveri, an 11th-century mystic. Known here today as
Data Ganj Baksh, or Giver of Treasures, the Persian-speaking mystic journeyed to
Lahore with Central Asian invaders, according to Raza Ahmed Rumi, a Pakistani
writer and expert on Sufism. He settled outside the city, a stopover on the
trade route to <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Delhi</st1:place></st1:City>, started a meditation center and wrote a
manual on Sufi practices, Mr. Rumi said. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Few here
last week knew many of those facts but that did not seem to matter. The dancing
and drumming was part of a natural rhythm of life that after nearly 10 centuries
was as much about culture as it was about faith. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">“It’s a
festival of happiness!” shouted a cook, Muhamed Nadim, over the din, when asked
what was being celebrated. “People feel comfort here.”
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Vast crowds
of men walked barefoot, pushing past police barricades and vendors selling
fabrics and sweets. A neon sign advertising chicken with the words “Chicks,
Chicks, Chicks” glowed in a second-floor window. Underneath it, brightly lit
bookstores remained open, their owners gazing out at the crowds.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">One of
them, Naeem Ashraf Rizvi, settled easily into a conversation with a foreigner
about life in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Pakistan</st1:place></st1:country-region>. The overwhelming majority
of Pakistanis are Sufi, he explained, and despise violence inflicted by the more
hard-line Deobandis, the school of thought that was supported by General Zia.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Last year
was <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Pakistan</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s worst for militant attacks
since 2001, with the death toll more than triple what it was in 2006.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">“Sufis have
not spread terrorism,” Mr. Rizvi said, his small daughter on his lap. “We are
its victims.” <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The
violence, he said, has damaged not only <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Pakistan</st1:place></st1:country-region>, but also the reputation of
Muslims, who he said “are seen with suspicious gazes everywhere in the world.”
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">He added,
“We are condemning the violence, but no one is listening to us.”
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">For all of
Mr. Rizvi’s enlightened views, his opinion veered back in a grimly familiar
direction on the question of who was responsible for the attacks. It was a list
of culprits most Pakistanis recite by heart: the <st1:country-region
w:st="on">United States</st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region
w:st="on">India</st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Britain</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
Outsiders are often at the center of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Pakistan</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s many conspiracy theories,
a kind of defense mechanism that serves as a way to avoid a reality too painful
to confront. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Worse than
the violence, Mr. Rizvi said, was the weakness of the government, which seemed
unable to accomplish much of anything. Nor was a military takeover the answer.
The only solution, he said, was a revolution by the people, like the one in
<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Iran</st1:place></st1:country-region> in 1979.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">But in
<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Pakistan</st1:place></st1:country-region>, where illiteracy is rampant
and leaders are more focused on jockeying for power than fulfilling a political
vision, that is a distant wish. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt">“Everyone
is quiet,” he said. “They are not listening yet. They are sleeping.”
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
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