im a lover i deal in love sow flowers and make your surroundings a garden dont sow thorns for theyll prick you were one body whoever tortures another wounds himselfthe 17th century sufi rehman baba one of pashtos most widely read poets on either side of the durand line became famous with lines like these his emphasis was love but rehman babas message is anathema to the taliban which objected to women visiting his shrine in peshawar recently the taliban bombed the shrine in a strike at his teachings as also the growing belief that sufism is a bulwark against islamist radicalism can sufi thought counter islamism the first institution to urge the united states to have a dialogue with muslim groups opposed to extremism was the thinktank rand corporation in a 2007 report titled building moderate muslim networks it described sufis as moderate traditionalists open to change and potential allies against violence it recommended support for sufism as an open intellectual interpretation of islam later the suggestion would be backed by pennsylvania state university professor of humanities philip jenkins who said that sufis by all logic should be a critical ally against extremism in a recently published article jenkins wrote sufis are the power that has made islam the worlds secondlargest religion with perhaps 12 billion adherents where islamists rise to power sufis are persecuted or driven underground but where sufis remain in the ascendant it is the radical islamist groups who must fight to survive writer william dalrymple agrees in part with jenkins but says the west isnt sophisticated enough in its understanding of islam to comprehend how important sufism is as a homegrown resistance movement to radical political islam he says there is an ongoing war in south asia between traditional islam which is syncretic plural and generally nonpolitical and the imported wahhabi strains of islam dalrymple adds sufism is a homegrown resistance movement against radicalism but the question is how or whether one should utilize this it isnt something that can be harnessed but its definitely part of the equationbut rather than analyze sufism some scholars want the west first to introspect lets not forget that americans brought extremism to the region to fight the ussr says sufi scholar najamul hassan chishti he says sufis resent the carpet bombings in iraq afghanistan and the palestinian territories just as much as other muslims and liberal thinkers of any faith they believe love and not violence is the solution sufis have a role to play as their emphasis on peace isnt surrender to oppression but the true spirit of islamhowever many points out those nonsufi groups notably the deobandis have taken a resolute stand against terrorism in india javed anand general secretary of muslims for secular democracy and editor of communalism combat says it is nave to see sufism as an antidote to radicals its prompted by the wests search for a quickfix solution he adds with due respect its the nonsufis like the jamiat ulemaehind who have