Turabi’s revolution was in fact a reaffirmation of the ancient Sufi ethic,
with its emphasis on the spirit rather than the letter of Islam. The Sufi
organizational traditions provided direct means for meeting challenges in
modern situations.
The Sufi orders, having withstood many reformist attempts to abolish
them, (notablyAtaturk’s initiatives in the 1920s and 1930s in the new republic
of Turkey) continue to have special strengths. With their emphasis on
individual devotion and small-group experience, they project the Muslim
identity in a way that promotes peaceful co-existencewith religious pluralism
and even modern secularism. They have, moreover, become important
vehicles for Islamic expansion in modern western societies, where the open
inclusiveness and the aesthetic dimensions of the great Sufi philosophies
have considerable appeal.
