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Notes -
Quick reminder to everyone that Islam exists and does not suffer from this ... problem ...
Well it's nice and all, but it suffers from other problems.
Like sure the Catholics have had to deal with some really shitty Popes over the years, but at least they still have a way of reforming their religion without waiting for someone to conquer half the world.
You might be interested in Sufism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sufism ; It's the tolerant and mystic branch of Islam.
Islam as a religion is not like Catholicism where you have the pope leading it and you have to accept him as the spiritual guide for everyone, instead it's more like Protestantism with its myraid denominations, do you know your difference from your Hanafi and your Hanbali? Your Ismaili from your Twelvers? And the first comparison here is just between Sunni schools of jurispudence (forget theology, you have many different schools of that too, just contained within Sunni Islam).
Just to continue the point from above - Sufism is fantastic. I think it's maybe a bit misleading to stereotype it as the tolerant branch of Islam, though? Sufism is also more like a family. What unites Sufis is the belief that the Qur'an (and often hadith as well) cannot be understood only on a surface reading, but rather true knowledge of God's nature depends on insights that can be obtained from mystical practice and from the tutelage of more experienced spiritual guides. Hidden layers of meaning can be uncovered from this practice and explored.
The problem is that those experienced spiritual guides can vary a lot - Sufism contains many different tariqat, or schools or paths. Some tariqat are rigorously orthodox and conservative. Some are not. Some tariqat, from a non-Sufi perspective, look like outright shirk, and even the more orthodox ones often look a bit 'weird' to non-Sufi eyes.
One result is that Sufis vary a lot, Sufi-sympathetic people in the West often pick only the most congenial-looking paths, and that in practice Sufi communities can be weird, heretical, or even just horrible and unpleasant in an ordinary human way.
This isn't meant to discourage people from looking into Sufism! It's great! But it's helpful, I think, to be aware that it's as broad as looking into 'Christian mysticism' as a general heading. I'm sure we all understand that the category 'Christian mystics' is broad and contains a lot of good and a lot of bad and you have to use your judgement. Sufism is the same.
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