A cherished myth of the multi-cult/globaloney-warming/the white race is a cancer crowd, is that Islam meaning submission, really means peace. As in spiritual peace, Christian peace, the peace bestowed by God. Conflating anything Islamic with Christianity is of course false. Equating a cult of submission with peace is problematic. The Muslim Sufi sect, a mystical ascetic group, highlights the lack of real spirituality within Islam. One wonders how the one-world-can't we just coexist crowd, can explain Sufism – if Islam is inherently spiritual why is Sufism necessary?

Sufism is by all measures, a rather obscure Islamic sect, promoting a mystical and spiritual form of worship. It has millions of adherents in the Levant and in particular Syria. It was formed sometime during the 8th century AD as a spiritual revolt against the materialism; domination; and legal codes of Islam. Sufis believe that othodox Sharia based Islam is not spiritual. Sufism was created to oppose the warring, gold and money hungry Islam which impelled early Muslim conquests in Asia, Africa and Europe.

In his book on Islam 'Muslims: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices', A. Rippin states that “Sufis.. in their search for legitimation of their spiritual quest [must show] whether Islam as a religion contained within it a spiritual-ascetic tendency from the very beginning.” In other words, if you make the argument that Islam is spiritual than there are only two obvious conclusions. One, Sufism comes out of orthodox Islam and is nothing new. Or two, that Sufism is new, but it just builds on some inherent spirituality in the Qu'ran and expands it.

If one studies Islam and Sufism these two conclusions are proven false. Sufism comes from outside Islam and was markedly influenced by Persian, Hindu and even Christian sources.

Sufis base their belief system on two areas. First they accept the Qu'ran as the literal words of Mohammed who they deem to be a divinely inspired prophet. The deeds of Mohammed are put into the most spiritual and mystical light, and his warring, brigandage, slave trading, theft, raping and lying are conveniently put aside. Second, much Sufi doctrine is based on ideas by Islamic philosophers including Ghazali [12th century], who provde a literalist and fundamentalist interpretation of what Mohammed meant by creating the Qu'ran. This interpretation is mystical and is supported only by a few Sura's or sayings from the Qu'ran including Sura 24:35, “Allah is the Light of Heaven and Earth! His light may be compared to a niche in which there is a lamp; the lamp is in a glass; the glass is just as if it were a glittering star kindled from a blessed olive tree, {which is} neither Eastern nor Western, whose oil will almost glow though the fire has never touched it. Light upon light, Allah guides anyone He wishes to His light.”

The above passage is obviously mystical. But it is a pretty sparse body of work, upon which to build a sect.

Sufism given its geographic location, was influenced and formed by Persian Zoraostrianism. Even Muslim scholars and apologists like Nasr admit that in Persia “Zoroastrianism provided first of all a vocabulary for Sufi poets like Hafiz who often speak of the ‘fire-temple’, the Zoroastrian priest, etc., as symbols of the Sufi center (khaniqah or zawiyah), the spiritual master and so on..” Zoroastrianism, it can be drily noted, is a religion [or a cult depending on your view] which predated Islam by over 1000 years.

Another Sufi scholar Elliot Miller states that “[being] based on experience rather than doctrine, Sufism has always been more open to outside influence than other forms of Islam... in addition to early influences from Christianity, one can find elements of Zoroastrianism, Neoplatonism, Hinduism, and other diverse traditions.” Practicing Sufis and Sufi scholars such as M. Lings admit that Persian and even Hindu religious tradition formed the basic ideals of Sufism. Given the Sufists base in Syria and Levant, astride trade routes and hence communication lanes, this would make sense.

Indian and Persian mysticism is pursued through dancing, physical posture and breathing exercises. All of these practices come from outside Islam. During these rituals the Sufist will invoke the 'Divine Name' mimicking the exact same chants that Hindu's perform. Some Sufi rituals included extreme practices like eating live snakes and performing various feats with fire – a direct copy of Hindu practices.

Sufism is clearly a reaction or response to what was lacking in early Islam. Islam's pagan cultish power – the simplicity of its six 'pillars' of action including Jihad, and its codified 12th century law, which attempted to explain the world, reveals a spiritual gap. Sufism is a reaction to the materialism of the Islamic civilization, focused on spiritual mysticism and a complete rejection of materialism in any form. From this fact, it is pretty hard to make the conclusion that Sufism comes out of orthdox Islam, or that standard Islamic doctrine is spiritual. If it was, there would be no need for Sufism.

Sufism thus presents many problems to the crowd who believes that Islam means peace and is a spiritual quest. If Islam is such, why did Muslims suffuse Hindu and Persian ideas and rituals, along with elements of Christianity to create a spiritual sect? Didn't Islam already have spiritual concepts embedded in Mohammed's cult and teachings? Or is Sufism just about magic and mystical rites with no basis in God-centric teachings as given in the Qu'ran?

It is hard to say exactly what Sufism truly is. Only Sufists can properly explain it. But it does highlight some issues within Islam. Maybe Sufists are the only spiritual and open practitioners of Islam? If so perhaps they are one vehicle for Islamic reform. It is certainly true that Sufists are not killing, murdering, protesting and demanding a new caliphate. At that level at least, Sufism is probably the most responsible and least lethal Muslim doctrine. Too bad it is not more widespread.