Sufi conference draws flak

Muslim organisations and leaders representing the "Sufi traditions of Islam as also the Urdu Press and news websites have come out with sharp reactions against the International Sufi Conference that was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Vigyan Bhawan here two days ago.

In a hard-hitting criticism, Maulana Tauqeer Raza Khan, great grandson of Ala Hazrat Ahmad Raza Khan Barelvi and leading light for a large number of Muslims in South Asia, decried the participants accepting luxurious facilities, belying the very concept of a Sufi never knocking at the doors of the rich. He said: "Hate politics and creation of division among Muslims is the main motive of this conference as the organisers have mortgaged their conscience to accept privileges from the Prime Minister and the RSS. The Prime Minister is accused of killing over 3000 Muslims in Gujarat. In the name of Sufism, some business-minded people have sold their conscience.

The Muslims will never forgive such people. "Urdu commentator Hasan Kamal also endorsed his view, pointing out that the foreign delegates attending the Sufi conference were lodged in the 5-star Taj while the Indian guests too were board in other 5-star hotels like Maurya Sheraton and extended all high class and luxurious facilities. The veteran writer claimed the conference was organised by "some dignitaries" of the Muslim community at the instance of National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and

BJP leader Dr Subramanian Swamy. Is Sufism not for sublimity that one achieves, he asked and quoted Ameer Khusro: "Man tu shudam tu man sh u di, Man tun shu-dam tu ja an sh udi. Taa kas na goyad baad azeen, Man deegaram tu deegari .[ I have become you, and you have become me, I am the body, you are the soul; So that no one can now say, that you are someone, and me someone else.]

In the meantime, a large number of the "Sufi" organisations in the capital held demonstrations after the Friday prayers in various localities under the banner of All India Tanzim Ulema Islam, demanding apology from BJP President Amit Shah for his allegedly objectionable comments against Syed Salar Masood Ghazi, a Sufi saint having his mazar at Baharaich (Uttar Pradesh).