BBC NEWS: Can Sufi Islam counter the Taleban?

Sufi devotees in Lahore

Some believe that Pakistan’s mystic, non-violent Islam can be used as a defence against extremism (Photos: Kamil Dayan Khan)

By Barbara Plett
BBC News, Lahore

It’s one o’clock in the morning and the night is pounding with hypnotic rhythms, the air thick with the smoke of incense, laced with dope.

I’m squeezed into a corner of the upper courtyard at the shrine of Baba Shah Jamal in Lahore, famous for its Thursday night drumming sessions.

It’s packed with young men, smoking, swaying to the music, and working themselves into a state of ecstasy.

This isn’t how most Westerners imagine Pakistan, which has a reputation as a hotspot for Islamist extremism.

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Source: news.bbc.co.uk

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This entry was posted in culture, debate, Dervish, fanaticism, Islam, Muslim, mysticism, news, peace, qawwali, spirituality, sufism and tagged , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

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