re: #750 CuriousLurker

Philosophically & practically speaking, Sufis are about as far as you can get from the Wahhabis.

I think that perhaps you and I might agree that Sufism is to Islam what Quakers are to Christianity.

As an aside: have you every delved into the “Orientalist” books of Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton?

He was the truly great linguist and adventurer who made the Haj under disguise.

He never rose beyond the rank of captain (though he was knighted) because he “went native” and understood the “subjects” of his inquiries all too well.

He knew more about Islam than most Muslims. He translated the “Thousand Nights and a Night” from the Arabic into immortal English prose that is still the gold standard.

And he has the inestimable advantage of having published on the “Orient” before Edward Said poisoned the well with his absurd PC denigration of everything ever written by “Westerners” about “the East”.

Highly recommended.