Impact of Sufism on Governance in Muslim Countries

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Our contemporary beliefs will always be melded with ancient ways of life, and one such ancient way of life is Sufism. The role of Sufism in Muslim countries is prevalent in everyday life and is influencing the life roles of people. If the governing body does not have a separation from Sufism, or any religious institution, that could have negative effects on people. Religion alone is able to manifest in society, and can cause conflicts. Sufism influencing society is unavoidable, but if a government is heavily involved with religious matter it will negatively affect the lives of their citizens. For example reducing the role of women within a religion would be a negative result. A government may have too much power and indirectly, or directly, …show more content…

The cases of Turkey and Uzbekistan are different because Uzbekistan has embraced Sufism into their government. Recently, there has been a renewed interest in Sufism that has not been present for some time in the country. There have been some political analyst that have called Sufism a moderate alternative, and that has reignited the interest in Sufism . The active participation of Sufism would be against the secularism that Turkey established during the beginning of the nation. The younger generations do not possess the same opinion as the older generations, and in given time the secularism may disappear or lessen. Even then, the older generations have a waning opposition to Sufism because “Sufi leaders say that tolerance of the more heterodox sects has extended even to the Justice and Development Party [AKP] government” . Given time, Sufism may push for less secularism but for now, that will need to gain traction. Fethullah Gullen Hizmah, the leader of the Gülen movement, proposes an “integrated approach to life enables Turkish people to preserve what is best and still valuable from the past and accept and make use of scientific and technological advances”, which will be similar to the African nation of Senegal . A movement such as this would change Turkey and redefine the roles of the citizens that are

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