Sufi state

I don't even know what you mean by this. It's like asking "Could there ever have been a college-fraternity state in the Western World?"

Pretty much all Islamic states have been "sufi majority" in that most of its members have belonged to sufi orders. As far as I know all Ottoman Sultans belonged to one or more orders, and the Safavid Dynasty began as a sufi order. The Sudan was more or less totally dominated by sufi orders with some competition in the Ottoman period from orthodox ulema. Etc.
 
Seconded. Sufis aren't a seperate Muslim sect, they're more like Christian lay orders, or even monastic orders; the main sticking point, as Pasha pointed out, is that a hell of a lot of people belonged to Sufi orders whilst going on with their normal lives. Hell, it was encouraged.
Although the numerous proto-corporate Sufi 'empires' in Central Asia following the Mongol conquest might count, technically. And they were more like Walmart (or the modern Catholic Church) than, say, the Teutonic Order.
 
Seconded. Sufis aren't a seperate Muslim sect, they're more like Christian lay orders, or even monastic orders; the main sticking point, as Pasha pointed out, is that a hell of a lot of people belonged to Sufi orders whilst going on with their normal lives. Hell, it was encouraged.
Although the numerous proto-corporate Sufi 'empires' in Central Asia following the Mongol conquest might count, technically. And they were more like Walmart (or the modern Catholic Church) than, say, the Teutonic Order.

The only thing I can think of is that a "sufi" state would differ in that there was some degree of tension in some places between sufi orders with their more mystical outlook, and the Orthodoxy of the classical ulema - that was particularly the case in the Sudan, but for the most part not an issue at all in the Ottoman Empire, although individual orders from time to time fell afoul of the government and ulema. A "sufi state" might lack an establishment ulema, but before the modern era, that could result in a less stable and unitary state.
 

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I don't think its possible to have a nation be majority Sufi, not without seriously changing what it means to be Sufi. Sufism is a mystic sect, its all about expanding one's mind to be at one with the universe, and all that New Age-before-its-time stuff. And that just generally isn't what the majority of human beings, (Muslim or not), want from their religion. People generally want their religion to be comfortable, reassuring, and above all, to answer their questions - Sufism isn't any of those things, it raises more questions than it answers, and while many Muslims, (and Kafirs), may chose to flirt with it, its not something most people would be happy living with.
 
I don't even know what you mean by this. It's like asking "Could there ever have been a college-fraternity state in the Western World?"

If you believe in conspiracy theories there already is one.

It's called the United States of America, and (apparently) it's been run by a college fraternity (the Skull and Bones) for at least the past two decades.
 
I don't think its possible to have a nation be majority Sufi, not without seriously changing what it means to be Sufi. Sufism is a mystic sect, its all about expanding one's mind to be at one with the universe, and all that New Age-before-its-time stuff. And that just generally isn't what the majority of human beings, (Muslim or not), want from their religion. People generally want their religion to be comfortable, reassuring, and above all, to answer their questions - Sufism isn't any of those things, it raises more questions than it answers, and while many Muslims, (and Kafirs), may chose to flirt with it, its not something most people would be happy living with.

I think it's kind of the opposite of that. Sufi orders generally provide the day to day comfort and answers that people want from religon, whereas the orthodox clergy are more interested in the colder, overarching aspects of the religion, and the legal structure of Islam. You're projecting modern ideas of mysticism on the past.

While actual sufi dervishes might engage in the type of thing you're talking about, the vast majority of adherents to most sufi orders would be much more "casual" about it, and the sufi lodge would operate in much the same social niche as a local church.
 
I suppose I am operating under the misunderstanding of Sufism as a branch of Islam, like Sunni or Shia, as opposed to a philosophy or approach within Islam.
 
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Although the numerous proto-corporate Sufi 'empires' in Central Asia following the Mongol conquest might count, technically. And they were more like Walmart (or the modern Catholic Church) than, say, the Teutonic Order.
Interesting... I've never heard of those. Do you have any sources on them?
 
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