Prosaicism

But the Islam I know is absent from Pakistan today. It’s an Islam that western pundits might call moderate, but it seems pretty radical to me. It’s an Islam that is peaceful and tolerant, a faith that derives its strength from poetic ghazals by Rumi, Hafez, and Iqbal, one that was once questioning and has the limitless power to be so again. That Sufi Islam, which has its roots in the shrines in Sehwan Sharif in the heart of Sindh, has been booted out of Pakistan. Instead, it has been replaced with fundamentalist, Taliban style, Wahhabi-inspired Islam, the kind that thrives on beheadings and fatwas, in short the very scary (Saudi) kind. Nato must be thrilled.