By T Suraj

The substance of Sufism is the “truth” and the meaning of Sufism is the” selfless experiencing and actualization of the truth”. The practice of Sufism is the intention to go towards the truth by means of love and devotion. Sufism is mystical school of practice that emphasizes the inward search of God and shuns materialism.

Sufism or Tasawuf advocates the peaceful co-existence of all faiths.

Sufis raised their lives from the mundane to spirituality and emphasized the inward nature of things rather than the outward.

Kashmir was, is and will always be the seat of Sufi Parampara.Laleshwari,Nund Rishi,Ahad Bub and many more were the pride of Kashmir. Kashmir, a beautiful bled of Rishi –Sufi tradition has very unfortunately turned into violence.

Kashmir region which is a small part of Jammu-Kashmir state often referred as Heaven on earth, has now turned into hell because of daily violence.

Shavism has already lost its place from kashmirbut now it has been seen that there is also dilution of Sufiism.From the past one decade the practice of Sufism has been drastically reduced.The main reason behind this is “Wahabism”.Wahabism has taken the place of Sufism.

The Tanzeen behind this ideology is Jamat-e-Islami who is poisoning Kashmir by its ideology by preaching the Wahabi ideology in Masjids and Madarsa’s and thus radicalizing our future generation of Kashmir.

Jamat-e-Islami Tanzeen of Kashmir(The JeI Kashmir is a Cadre-based religious-political organization in J&K, distinct from the JeIHind (the Indian faction of the Jamaat) at present preaching the young generation of Kashmir to follow the practices of Wahabism and also forcefully stopping them from Sufi practices by spreading the wrong notation that Sufism is against Islam. They directly say that Sufism is Haram in Islam which is not the reality.Infact Sufism is a process of evolution of the self,in harmony with others and a way of purifying the heart from bad intentions which is very much a teaching of Islam.

The main focus of Jamat-e-Islami is young generation, as they know that they can easily inject their ideology within them.

So to radicalize the youth of Kashmir,the Jamat-e-Islami tanzeem in the groups which is known as  “Jamat” is doing an interesting  practice.

Members of Jamat visit the villages as per there fixed time table and go door to door , promote their ideology and ask parents of young generation to admit their children in their Madasas-whch is main crux of the problem where they teach the innocent children the lessons of Wahabism in the name of Islam. The children who don’t want to go for the classes were forcibly taken to Madarsa by the moulvi of that area.

Mainly the South Kashmir has been affected by all such practices which is at present seen from the increasing number of radicalized youth joining stone pelting activities and terrorist organizations.

Jamat-e-Islami is and also trying to strengthen is roots in North and Central parts of Kashmir but has not been successful to that extent because the people and the parents of children are opposing there practices.

As per the sources one day the parents strongly protested and opposed the Jamat-e-Islami when they came to know that their children have been taught violence and hatred in Madarsas and Masjids of Jamat-e-Islami in the name of teaching religion.

People from North and central Kashmir considered as peace loving and prefer to follow Sufism rather than Wahabi practices.

Majority percentage of Muslims from North and central part of Kashimr visits Sufi Shrines and this shows that they are against the teachings of Jamat-e-Islami.

Infact the people of these areas are taking initiatives to promote Sufism of Kashmir via many platforms like social media, making of videos on Ziyarats,etc  and most important thing is that the young generation is also taking interest to some extent.

The another medium from where the young minds have been radicalized is one trust known as Falah-e-Aam Trust which was created in 1972 .Ths trust is working under the patronage of Jamat-i-Islami. In April 1990, the then Governor of the state imposed ban on the trust which was challenged in the High Court where the officials lost the face and trust was asked to carry on with its work.

Students from the schools were often recruited for arms training in Pakistan and "infiltrated back to carry on their subversive activity" (according to J&K Insights quoted by Terrorism Research and Analysis Consortium).

As per the official website of this trust the total strength of Schools under them is 318 , total number of students sis 80000 and number of staff is 4200.

In 2009, immediately after Omar Abdullah took over as Chief Minister, signed one such order, clearing the recruitment of 440 supposed Jamaat teachers for government schools.

BJP-PDP government is thinking of regularization of Falah-i-Aam Trust employees working in education Department and the same was seen in Agenda of one of the Cabinet meetings.

There is also increase in number of Mosques of Jamat-e-slami Tanzeen from last five years which is very much alarming issue.

In the context of increasing unrest in Kashmir and rising of wahabi roots,there is need to protect, and promote Sufism that can help in bringing peace in valley and  also help in bringing the radicalized youth back to the mainstream.