A Mystical Strategy to Counter Extremism: State Support of Sufism in the Muslim World

Abstract

As a result of the rise of Salafi extremism in the 2000s and 2010s, states in the Muslim world implemented policies to address this rising threat to their government’s stability. To this end, some states sponsored Sufism, an Islamic ideology traditionally stereotyped as apolitical and peaceful, as an ideological opposition to Salafi extremism. However, out of the many states in the Muslim world that held relatively significant Sufi populations and could have sponsored Sufism, only four chose to do so. Dozens of other governments pursued other policies, such as the promotion of an indistinct “moderate” Islam or the reinforcement of nonsectarian values, to oppose growing Salafi extremism. This thesis argues that these governments chose to not sponsor Sufism out of fear that it would undermine the state’s political-religious legitimacy. This legitimacy was usually born out of a governmental commitment to secular or nonsectarian ideals. Thus, sponsoring Sufism would have undermined the state’s dedication to those ideals and therefore their governing legitimacy.