Apologetics and Criticism of Sufism in Dagestan in the Early XX Century

Abstract

In Dagestan in the early XX century there were representatives of Muslim reformism who entered into a tough confrontation with local supporters of the traditional Shafi’i law school, mainly with the apologists of Sufism. The Sufi Sheikhs actively joined in the theological polemic with the Muslim reformers. The range of issues that caused the most heated discussion was quite traditional for the polemics between the supporters of “taclid” and “ijtihad”. This is the problem of “false sheikhs”, accusation of polytheism (shirk), mediation (tawassul), intercession (shafat), etc. The authors of this article, analyzing the course and content of this polemic, made commented translations of the most characteristic fragments from the works of the most active participants, especially of Sufi Sheikh Muhammad al-Asali.