Religion Watch Archives

Monitoring Trends in Religion - From February 1990 to January 2016

  • Home
  • About
  • Contact
  • Archives
    • By Issue
    • By Article
    • By PDF (2008-14)
    • By PDF (1985-97)
    • All Articles
  • Sections
    • Current Research
    • Findings & Footnotes
    • On/File
  • Google Search
You are here: Home / Archive / Sufism revives in post-Taliban Afghanistan

Sufism revives in post-Taliban Afghanistan

February 1, 2002 by Richard Cimino

Print-friendly

Sufism, the mystical branch of Islam, is undergoing a revival in Afghanistan in the wake of the Taliban’s fall, reports the Boston Globe (Jan. 23).

For centuries, four major Sufi orders had vast and devoted followings in Afghanistan, evidenced in the weekly mass visits to saints’ tombs, the raising of colorful flags at cemeteries and the celebration of the Persian new year. When the Taliban came to power in 1996, they raided gatherings of “zikrs,” Sufi rituals where men pray, chant, play music or sway in ecstatic trances, arresting prominent leaders of the movement.

Although Sufis met clandestinely during Taliban rule, the fall of that regime has not only encouraged followers to return to practice the faith, but has also drawn “hundreds if not thousands of new adherents,” according to Sufi leaders.

Flags banned under the Taliban have been raised again over the tombs of saints and workers are cleaning shrines in Kabul and elsewhere. The poetry and chanting in the zikrs often reflect a “longing for peace in a country devastated by more than 20 years of war and now drought and hunger,” writes Anthony Shadid.

Print-friendly

Filed Under: Archive

Also in this issue

  • On/File: February 2002
  • Findings & Footnotes: February 2002
  • Traditionalists in Brazil return to Rome
  • Changes in China law reviving denominations?
  • Search for new archbishop and Anglican future
  • Current Research: February 2002
  • Coffee houses revived as evangelistic tool
  • Divine hours gains converts
  • Space colonization captures religious interest
  • New twist on new age-native religion rift?
  • Reconstructionist Judaism finds niche in mainstream
  • East-West split growing in American Judaism

Search the Site

Download the first issue of RELIGION WATCH (1980)

Download the first issue of RELIGION WATCH (1980)

Click on the image for downloading

© 2016-2020 Richard Cimino / Religioscope
·News Pro Theme · Genesis Framework by StudioPress · WordPress