Forum of Unitarian Universalists Hong Kong

A gentler Islam. Sufism stands for openness and peace. So said an essay in the August 17, 2009 issue of TIME. The essay reminded us that for centuries many of the world's Muslims were practioners of Sufism, a spiritualism that centers on the mystical connection between the individual and the divine, only later did it give way to a newer, more fundamentalistic form of Islam. Sufism's ethos was egalitarian, charitable and friendly, often propagated by wandering seers and storytellers. "What is needed today," says Ayeda Naqvi, a writer and Sufi scholar from Lahore, "is a propagation of the underlying valuse of Sufism---love, harmony and beauty." At Sufi's core, suggests Oxford University's Devji, is an embrace of the world. "It allows you to identify beyond your mosque and village to something that can be both Islamic and secular," he says. "It's a liberation that jihads could never offer."

Let us not forget the gentler Islam---Sufism.