In the 19th and the 20th centuries, a number of Sufi traditions were
directly or indirectly involved in shaping Muslim responses to the west.Thus
they provided the organizational framework and the intellectual inspiration
for Muslim responses to modern challenges to Islam. In most cases they
provided support to the movements of resistance to foreign rule, especially
in the 19th century. Many major wars against expanding European powers
were fought by Muslim organizations that had Sufi origins.
Sufi orders were also important in shaping the responses to the challenge
to Islam in the modern age. In the 19th century, their participation was
limited to providing organizational bases for opposition to European
expansion and at times fighting in the battlefield. But, by the 20th century,
these Sufi orders began responding to various needs of the community. In
some countries they even went to the extent of providing an organizational
basis for political parties. In Sudan, for example, the Khatmiya provided
the foundation for the National Unionist party. In Senegal, the Murdiya
provided an organization for the development of cash crops and played an
important role in modernizing the agricultural sector of the Senegalese
economy. Recently, in the war in Afghanistan after the Soviet occupation in
1979, the Qadriyas and Naqshbandiyas played a great part in organizing
mujahiddin groups. Thus in many countries the organizational traditions of
the Sufi orders provided important bases for responding to specific
challenges.
Another major Islamic activist movement, the Muslim Brotherhood in
Sudan, had many prominent leaders and were associated with Tariqas (Sufi
orders) in Sudan. Hasan Turabi, the well-known leader, was one of them.
Turabi emphasized the role of
Ijtihaad,
which meant making an effort to
apply Islamic teachings to changing situations in order to update Islam.
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