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-- Asghar Ali Engineer Csss (csss@vsnl.com)

Sufi Islam is Islam of love and peace as the basic doctrine of Sufis is sulh-i-kul i.e. total peace and peace with all and Sufi God is not one to be feared but to beloved. God is seen by Sufis as ma'shuq i.e. beloved. A Sufi is absorbed in the love of God. Rabi'ah Basri once reported to have said that "I am so absorbed in love of God that I have no time to hate Satan. And where there is no hatred there is no conflict".

Unfortunately political Islam makes news and Sufi Islam finds no place in media at all and media projects only political and 'jihadi Islam'. The media is full of news about Iraq and Usama bin Laden as they are American obsessions. Who cares for peace movements or Sufi Islam which attracts millions of Muslims throughout the world. Muhiyuddin Ibn Arabi and Maulana Rum or popularly known as Rumi both gave love central place in their thinking and way of living and both together influenced innumerable people Muslims as well as non-Muslims. And yet their philosophies are known only to students of Sufism and lovers of Arabic and Persian literature.

Rumi is known for his mathnawi which is in Persian runs into several volumes and is considered by many as Qur'an dar zabani Pehlavai i.e. Qur'an in Persian language. It has profoundly influenced innumerable people throughout ages. The Mathnavi, one can say with all the emphasis at once command, is among the world classics and represents human wisdom for all the time. Its every verse, its every couplet, is worth being written in gold. Both Diwan-i-Shams Tabriz and Mathnaw-i-Maulana Rum would continue to inspire coming generations of humanity.