Country: Egypt

Group: Sufi Muslim

Date: 4/12/2023

Team: Ariana Jackson (lead), Natasha Chandra, Kelsey Dwyer, Austyn Evans, Khulan Davasauren

Content Warning: Ethnocide, Murder, Violence, Religious Discrimination, Persecution

Approximate Time Period: 2010’s – Present

Sufism, often known as Islamic mysticism, has come under violent attack in recent years. Sufi beliefs or practices are not distinct from Sunni or Shi’a Islam in the Muslim world, but rather a form of religious worship that is prevalent in both sects (MRG, 2021). The Islamic State targets Sufis because it believes that only a fundamentalist form of Sunni Islam is valid (Specia, 2017). Extremist groups like ISIS promote the idea that Sufism is a heterodox form of Islam, and then go further to declare Sufis as legitimate targets (Hellyer, 2017). Some fundamentalists and extremists see Sufism as a threat, and its adherents as heretics or apostates (Specia, 2017). Persecution of Sufis over the course of centuries has included acts of religious discrimination, persecution, and violence both by Sunni and Shia Muslims (Wikipedia, n.d.). In 2017, militants stormed a Sufi mosque on the Sinai Peninsula, killing at least 305 people in what officials called “The worst terrorist attack in Egypt’s modern history” (Specia, 2017). In 2016, the local affiliate of Islamic State claimed to have executed a Sufi cleric who was close to 100 years old (Specia, 2017). Data quality for this case was rated a 3 / 3 due to a substantial amount of evidence available.

Sources

  1. Hellyer, H. (2017, November 27). The dangerous myths about Sufi Muslims. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/11/airbrushing-sufi-muslims-out-of-modern-islam/546794/
  2. Minority Rights Group. (2021, February 6). Sufi Muslims. https://minorityrights.org/minorities/sufi-muslims/
  3. Wikipedia (n.d.). Persecution of Sufis. (2023). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Persecution_of_Sufis&oldid=1143279115#History
  4. Specia, M. (2017, November 25). Who are Sufi Muslims and why do some extremists hate them? (Published 2017). The New York Times – Breaking News, US News, World News and Videos. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/24/world/middleeast/sufi-muslim-explainer.html