In the wake of last week’s attack on a Sufi mosque in Egypt, LSA’s Alexander D. Knysh, professor of Islamic studies and an expert on modern Sufism, told the New York Times that in modern times, the predominant view of Sufi Islam is one of “love, peace, tolerance.”

Sufism, a mystical form of Islam, is practiced in both the Sunni and Shiite traditions, Knysh said. Because its adherents venerate saints, he explained, opponents of Sufism see it as a threat to the main principle of Islam, “which is the uniqueness of God and the uniqueness of the object of worship.” Knysh is the author of the 2017 book Sufism: A New History of Islamic Mysticism

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