“It might be one of those Islamist militant groups who think shrines conduct unholy practices and spread misconceptions of Islam.” “Millions of Bangladeshis worship at shrines, but militants consider Sufis — followers of a mystical form of Islam — and other shrine-goers as heretics and grave worshippers.” Militants such as Muhammad:
“Narrated Abu Hurairah: The Messenger of Allah as saying: Allah’s curse to be on the Jews, they made the graves of their Prophets mosques.” (Sunan Abu Dawud 3221)
“Narrated `Aisha: Allah’s Messenger in his fatal illness said, “Allah cursed the Jews and the Christians, for they built the places of worship at the graves of their prophets.” And if that had not been the case, then the Prophet’s grave would have been made prominent before the people. So (the Prophet) was afraid, or the people were afraid that his grave might be taken as a place for worship.” (Sahih Bukhari 2.23.472)
“Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas: The Messenger of Allah cursed women who visit graves, those who built mosques over them and erected lamps (there).” (Sunan Abu Dawud 3230)
“‘Trained assassin’ kills two at Bangladesh shrine,” Express Tribune, September 4, 2015 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):
Two men were slaughtered inside an Islamic Sufi shrine in the Bangladesh port city of Chittagong on Friday in an attack police said was carried out by a “trained and unknown assassin”.
The murderer escaped after slitting the throats of the shrine’s head custodian and his assistant in the neighbourhood of Bayezid Bostami, Chittagong police commissioner Abdul Jalil Mondal told AFP.
The attack took place just after the end of Friday prayer, when the usually crowded Lengta Fokirer Majar is comparatively quiet.
“The killer’s professionalism showed that he was trained for such activities,” Mondal said, adding that the murderer detonated two handmade bombs near the shrine’s entrance to create a diversion.
Police raised the possibility that Islamist militants, who have carried out several attacks on shrines and their guards in the past decade, could be behind the assault.
“It might be one of those Islamist militant groups who think shrines conduct unholy practices and spread misconceptions of Islam,” a local police official told AFP, requesting anonymity.
Millions of Bangladeshis worship at shrines, but militants consider Sufis — followers of a mystical form of Islam — and other shrine-goers as heretics and grave worshippers….

mortimer says
How many supporters of ISIS are there in the Muslim community. 15% of Muslims are jihad supporters. It’s possible 5% of Muslims support ISIS. That would mean 75 million Muslims support ISIS around the world.
‘ONLY’ 75 million…think about what would happen if 75 million people got REALLY MAD at the West.
Huck Folder says
“The murderer escaped after slitting the throats of the shrine’s head custodian”
Funny, Nu? HEAD custodian.
Ralph says
Look at the Nazi’s and there were only 7% Radicals and look what happened… STUPID “Wild Donkey’s” know only what the Mule’s tell them to do…
Angemon says
A.K.A. “pious orthodox muslims”.
Oliver says
But, if these ‘pious” Muslims think that praying at shrines is wrong, why the hell don’t they JUST NOT GO TO SHRINES, AND PRAY WHEREVER THE HELL THEY WANT TO, and leave everyone else alone?
other religions (nowadays) do so.
don vito says
It is such a pity that Sufis can’t go to mekka. Just imagine no selfies of Sufis at the Kabba.
Nolan Aubuchon says
What on earth is wrong with building religious buildings at the site of the phophets’ graves?
particolor says
There’s the Possibility You might get Struck by a Black Meteorite !! 🙁 🙁
kay says
1) Middle Eastern and South Asian Sufis do keep tomb shrines. Which is heretical. Typically men can go to the inner courtyard, and women have to stay outside, even if the women hold the Sufi murshid title.
2) Sufis “can” be either Shia or Sunni. Typically Sunni Sufi cannot stand Shia Sunni, even in principle.
3) Sunni militants like to blow up Sufi shrines or tombs. They also like to make death threats to Sufi masters and students: “Convert to our Sunni faith or we will kill you.” Islamic State has made such ultimatums at least once or twice, according to reports. The motive here is entirely clear. It is Sunni on Sufi.
4) Many centuries ago the Sufis had tremendous political and social power. A large percentage of Muslims were Sufis in some areas, we are told. But there are no totals. They may have had major wealth and power in different venues as advisors to great leaders.
5) It appears here was a long campaign to crush and wipe out the Sufis, by Sunni and or Shia. I expect that the Sufis are close to extinct in a number of Islamic countries and that the remaining few Sufis are driven deep underground.
6) I have no idea whether or not Sufis can go to Mecca. Historically Sufis can be hidden practitioners and no one wold know outside their lodge.
7) Western Sufis are really clueless and confused. And mostly gone. They should all know about Sharia and Tariqa. But I’m quite certain they were all basically clueless about Sharia. So I learned more about Sharia than your typical roomful of clueless western Sufis.
8) Classically, Sufis are very sexist and many of the men refuse to even take food touched by a woman. Also, the renowned Sufi master al-Ghazzali was very military and basically aligned with Islamic State type violence. Almost no modern Sufis would suspect this.
9) The Dalai Lama has spent time with some Sufis, and one of his friends in Paris is a Muslim imam. I am about 99.5% certain this imam is a Sufi. However, the Dalai Lama has never heard of the Bostom book on Sharia and it would no doubt surprise him. Most Buddhists haven’t got a clue about Sharia or Islam. Or how pop Sufism is far removed from orthodox Islamic practice. Here’s a hint: if someone is claiming to openly teach Sufi stuff, then they are probably not legitimate. It’s very private and personal teaching.
10) There was some major Hindu influence on the Eastern Sufis. That got stamped out generations back. Doesn’t work. Sufis are definitely NOT Shambhala. Guaranteed. And forget “The Jewel of the Nile”.
kay says
Also, the Sunni fanatics are really ramping up in Bangladesh. They are getting more weapons.
Expect major threats and attacks there.
Sunni jiahdis are now much more limited in their ability to attack Burma. But there have been decades of Islamist attacks on Burma based on Bangladeshi side training and military support.
Naturally, Time Magazine painted the anti-Muslim nationalist monk Wirathu as The Face of Buddhist Fascism. This was a very small and pathetic hatchet job of an article. And completely incendiary for Muslims. However, Wirathu never called for war. He called for cultural and economic separatism in Burma, and interfaith marriage restrictions.
Naturally, hundreds of American Buddhist teachers together with the Dalai Lama sided with the Muslims and not with the traditionally Buddhist Burmese. This is because the Buddhist teachers didn’t do their baseline homework on Wikipedia to learn about the decades of Muslim attacks on Burma, Thailand, or the Philippines.
We don’t know what will happen. I expect that Bangladesh will become very grim. It makes sense for a half million Bangladeshi to eat a big chunk of Burma. It could get really bad in twenty years. Or less. Looks like Bangladesh will pretty much drown fairly soon.
Matthieu Baudin says
Sufism was one of the few systematic (and failed) attempts to reform Islam. Ideas from non Muslim sources were introduced to clothe the otherwise barren and stubborn core. Naturally this has been abhorrent to Wahhabi Muslims and hence the ongoing ostracism of the Sufi tradition and in the current hyper fanatical era, the increasing murder of devotees.