Re: Another political question re: Tuffleverse

Brian Burger Wrote:

>One Islamic group I've sort of tossed around  ideas for is a Sufi or
>Sufic-influenced state/nation/subgroup.
>
>The Sufis are interesting - considerably more open-minded that the
>Saudi/Taliban brand of Islam. I had a Sufi prof when I took Islamic
>History a few years ago, and she was a very interesting person. (Yes,
>*she*. One of the interesting things about Sufic Islam is that it's a
>whole lot less hung up on the role of women than more mainstream Islam)
>
>Sufi groups wouldn't enjoy a hardline Islamic Federation very much, so
I
>could see small colonies out there - AE rocks, perhaps. Ther's never
been
>Sufic Islamic government that I know of, but it could take up all the
best
>elements of Islam, not the guns-and-beards conservative mess.
>
>Something along the lines of the heights of Moorish Spain, or the best
>(admitedly short) eras of the Turkish Caliphate - religious tolerance,
a
>remarkably open society, great respect for scholarship, etc.
>
>It would be a nice change from everyone's 'Taliban in Space' Islamic
>groups, anyway.

Actually, if you'll follow my Turkish thread, you'll find that's just
the 
kind of state I'm proposing.  The Sufis will be well-represented within
the 
Turkish Republic.

Brian B2

"The Irish are the only race of people on Earth for which psychoanalysis
is 
of no use."

				 - S. Freud

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