Tavassul, Istigasa and Rabita as Elements of Sufi Ritual Practice in the Context of Criticism by Dagestani Enlightenment Reformers of the First Third of the 20th Century

At the beginning of the 20th century, the ideas of Muslim reformism spread widely in the North Caucasus. Dagestani enlightening reformers (renovationists) in their works dealt with a wide variety of issues, such as the reform of Islamic education, Muslim law, “the women's question”, combating obso-lete adats, etc. On the whole, the reformers had a positive attitude toward Sufism, but criticized such elements of Sufi ritual practice as tavassul, istigasa, and rabita. Some of them went to even greater ex-tremes and even denied the legitimacy of Sufism from the point of view of the Qur'an and the Sunnah. This mainly concerned such disciples and followers of Ali Kayaev (1878–1943) as Mukhammad Abdar-rashida al-Harakani (1900–1927), Mukhammad ‘Umari al-Uhli (1897 – the mid 1940s), Mas'ud al-Muhuhi (1893–1941), Abdarrahim al-Aimaki (died in the 1980s), and Magomed-Said Saidov (1902–1985). Dagestani renovationists of the first third of the 20th century were representatives of the ethical direction in Islamic thought characterized by a modernizing orientation in their programmes, including in matters of Sufism. They set themselves the task of spiritual education of the Muslims of Dagestan under the conditions of an industrial society and scientific advancement at the beginning of the 20th century. The issue of spiritual purification through a new perception of Islam was part of their pro-gramme aimed to form a new inner image and worldview foundations of a Muslim, a citizen of the country and an architect of a new society in a difficult transition period of the era. To do this, they as-pired to “adapt” religion by finding and interpreting new ways for the progressive development of socie-ty with the goal of peaceful and equal integration of Muslims in the North Caucasus into the Russian legal space

Criticism · Enlightenment · Islam · Legitimacy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Sufism · Theology · Education and Islamic Studies · History · Law · Linguistic, Cultural, and Literary Studies · Philosophy · Qur’anic Interpretation Studies · Religious studies

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