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A Darfur- Doha encounter and a Sufi mystic’s whirling trance for peace
| Content Provider | Scilit |
|---|---|
| Copyright Year | 2016 |
| Abstract | This essay reports on a Sufi call for peace in Darfur and interprets it as a form of citizen diplomacy that places significant weight on dialogue, intercultural communication and the recognition of difference in the process of reconciliation. The many factions which have appeared on the Sudanese political scene since the Darfur crisis erupted have proposed a variety of initiatives that attempted to mend a badly torn sociopolitical fabric. Since the massive escalation of violence in 2003, efforts to end the crisis have had the tendency to ignore local knowledge, thus neglecting customary practices of conflict resolution. Victims have critiqued outsiders and their interventions for a perceived lack of empathy and tolerance. Sheikh Musa Abdullah al-Hussein, whose voice and viewpoint are represented in this essay, issued a Sufi call as a tool for peace-making. Especially the Tigania, which is one of the most influential Sufi brotherhood movements in western Africa, is a mystical practice that is universal and pervasive among Muslims in the religion. It originated in North Africa and travelled via migratory currents to Sudan as well as Mauritania, Senegal, the Gambia, Nigeria and Egypt. With an orientation towards inner and outer peace, a vision of universal humanity and recognition of cultural diversity, Sheikh Musa offers powerful symbolic resources for peace negotiations. He, in this regard, undertook a double movement. First, he sought to de-racialize the conflict by questioning the dichotomy between Arabs and Africans in Darfur and interrogating the recycled tale of their longstanding enmity towards one another. Second, he sought to utilize Sufism to facilitate intercultural communication, demystify mysticism and correct its scholarly representation as a purely subjective experience. Contrary to such discourse, Sufi practices are active and engage society. The contemplative isolation within Sufi practice is not as much a physical one as it is a form ofinner withdrawal that allows for an action-oriented spirituality to influence worldly affairs in profound ways. This chapter describes my encounter with Sheika Musa in Doha and his reframing of the conflict in Darfur. By exploring what this venerable man has contributed to the discourse and practice of peace-making, I hope to show how Sheikh Musa circumvented essentialist binaries that impede constructive approaches to the crisis in Sudan. In this study, as in my other work, I address diasporism, migrancy and political violence within the overarching frame of anthropology of war and peacemaking in a world in flux. |
| Related Links | https://api.taylorfrancis.com/content/chapters/edit/download?identifierName=doi&identifierValue=10.4324/9781315625935-16&type=chapterpdf |
| Ending Page | 239 |
| Page Count | 17 |
| Starting Page | 223 |
| DOI | 10.4324/9781315625935-16 |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited |
| Publisher Date | 2016-07-15 |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Subject Keyword | Book Name: Practicing Sufism Cultural Studies Intercultural Communication Peace Making |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Chapter |
