Reza Aslan: evaluation

Transcript context

…There are early Sufis in Persia, like al-Ghazali, but much later, it’s about the whirling dervishes and the other side of the world — the Islamic world, that is. That’s right. Sufism is, of course, the mystical branch of Islam. All religions have a mystical branch to them — Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism. In scholarly terms, we talk about religions having an exoteric and an esoteric version. The exoteric is scripture, tradition, rituals — all of that stuff, the external stuff. The esoteric is the hidden, mysterious, spiritual meaning at the heart of the religion. Islam, like all religions, has that esoteric movement, and it’s called Sufism. While it is true that Sufism arose out of Sunni Islam, in many ways, it has a lot more in common with Shi’ism actually. Sufism balances the divide, if you will. One thing that Sufis are adamant about is that religion — not just Islam, but all religion — is nothing more than an external shell. It’s important. It’s not like we should just ignore it, but to truly know God requires breaking through that external shell and getting to the very heart of the matter. In other words, Sufis have this line that I’ve always loved. They say, “Religion is the signpost to God.” Religion does nothing more than just point the way to God. But to know God, you have to rid yourself of the ego and become one with God. In your understanding, can Sufism stand alongside the prophetic structure of Islam as something separate? Or is it synthesized with it into one consistent picture?…

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