Sidi was a 'Man of Peace' and other Fables

I see these fictitious elements of Sidi's biography repeatedly being picked up and passed on as if they were authentic. Let's examine a few, starting with the idea that...

"Sidi was a man of Peace."

Oh, really?  How so? 

This recurring element of his biography is based chiefly on his genuinely likeable and peaceful demeanor when relating to others. 

At least as I see it.

He didn't seem interested in politics or political activism.

And who could blame him? The Palestinian/Israeli Conflict has been a hotly-contested conundrum for generations!

You won't find Sidi leading a nonviolent peace march in the style of Martin Luther King, Jr. or Gandhi.

Like it or not, resistance along the lines pf those two giants played little or no role in Palestinian resistance to Israeli Occupation.

Admittedly, such a course of action is challenging.  It depends on winning the war of public opinion.  MLK's movement deliberately put themselves in harm's way so that the images of Southern repression would be broadcast on the news across America and win the war of public opinion. 

In America, this relied upon the inherent morality and guilty consciences of the 'other side. '

Upon whose 'guilty consciences' would such a peace movement depend in the Palestinian context?

As far as I know, Sidi never met with elements of the Israeli religious or civil authorities or even individual Israeli peace activists who might have been allies.  If he had, he never made a big deal about it afterward. 

He never spoke in a synagogue or temple at home or abroad.  Nor did he ever, to my knowledge, invite any Israeli members of the Jewish faith to his house.

In none of his sermons at the Dome of the Rock did he advocate any ground-breaking strategy to deal with the Israeli Occupation.  

At best,  he might have urged patience as a method for SURVIVAL while awaiting the eventual, appropriate return of Islamic dominance to the Holy Land.  

Otherwise, he would not have been permitted, by popular demand, to continue in any kind of position of authority.  Period.

But the point is, he never TRIED.

Nothing Sidi ever did or said suggested he was 'open' to some modern re-interpretation of Islam.  He was pretty much a by-the-book, old-school Muslim.

Unlike Jesus, who offered such restraints upon violence as in his "He who lives by the Sword, dies by the Sword" (Matt.  26:52) in which he counseled non-violence and non-resistance to the arresting Roman authorities.

Non-violent resistance has never been a part of the Muslim story, neither in Olden Times nor in recent ones.

The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) himself led battle after battle against the idolaters and the Jewish tribes of ancient Arabia who resisted him, and He eventually prevailed.  And this is a historical, long-term basis in the Islamic Experience - to be distrustful of the intentions of the Jews.

(Although the Jews of medieval Spain allied themselves with the Islamic invaders across the Channel in the expectation that they would receive better treatment as a protected minority under Islamic Rule than they did under the Christians.  They were apparently not disappointed.)

Armed struggle or the 'The Outer Jihad' is universally considered a historic, perfectly legitimate, and even religiously REQUIRED component of the Muslim Journey.  Few of Sidi's Western followers knew enough of the history of  Islam to understand this.  Most just simply passed on the standard 'Man of Peace' nonsense.

Yes, but what about this quote attributed to him,

"If the Muslims, Jews, Christians, and the people of any other religion knew their religion well, there would only be one religion, the religion of love, peace, and mercy."

While this statement may have improved his reputation with Western audiences, it never corresponded with Sidi's reality.

So far as I know, this is the ONLY time in his life Sidi referred to any religions other than the standard three "Religions of the Book" historically tolerated by the Prophet.

Sidi SEEMS to support the sincere practice of any religion.  Yet, he has never lent himself to ecumenical forums or met with professors or clerics of other faiths to discuss points of commonality.

Let's credit him for a catchy quote with the tenor of religious tolerance.  Good job!

Privately, he continued to preach Islam, though often only using veiled, non-specific terminology to support it, as in "the Religion of the Peace and the Love and the Mercy," yet his OWN practice was ONLY Islam.  And he recommended it to everyone else.

And, as any Jew or Christian who came to the zawiya would tell you, he did not TURN THEM AWAY and say, to paraphrase the Dalai Lama, "Make use of the familiarity and emotional ties of your family to the religion of your birth.  Don't think that to pursue the Truth, you must become a Muslim."

No, he swept them up, QUICKLY, into his entourage.  Sidi never excused anybody from becoming Muslim!!

In fact, he seems to assume everybody listening to him HAS a religion, which is odd because a lot of people in the West don't. 

"Sidi was a River of Mercy for the Poor."

Despite being in his company for many consecutive weeks over many years, I was never invited to visit any of the various schools or orphanages of which Sidi is vaguely cited as a major supporter.  Nor did I ever hear of any other Westerner visiting such places with him.

This doesn't mean such places didn't exist; I never saw or was told much about them.

It is true that Sidi, as a senior cleric, frequently took on the responsibility of collecting zakat, the 2 1/2 % wealth tax that was incumbent upon all Muslims once a year and intended to be redirected to the poor.

In 1990 or thereabouts, Sidi obtained the permits and the funding to build a large, brand-new housing complex for his family in an upscale neighborhood of the Mount of Olives.  This was at a time and place when few other Palestinians could afford such a fantastic luxury as a new home.

So far as I knew, Sidi had no investments or other economic ventures that might have financed this,  OTHER than being a well-known judge and holy man with many Western and Eastern disciples. 

As far as I know, Sidi was also never held financially accountable for the funds his handlers collected from large gatherings of his new followers during his tours in the West.  As described elsewhere, I witnessed, very early, say around 1985, an incident in which a $10,000 donation from one Western disciple was re-directed into a grant to one of Sidi's relatives in America to buy into a business.

Indeed, neither he nor his followers applied for or received tax-exempt status for such contributions from American citizens, which actually might have resulted in a much greater degree of sustained contributions than the rather ad-hoc nature of them that was typical.  As far as I know, anyway.

Having such a status and having his followers write checks or send money orders directly to it would have removed all doubt about potential improprieties.  Yet, no such entity was established in the twenty years Sidi traveled to America.   

Perhaps such status was difficult to obtain, given American and Israeli governmental hostility to independent Palestinian entities.  

Yet, there ARE such non-profit entities such as MECA, the Middle Eastern Children's Alliance, which seemingly have overcome any such issues and serve to benefit Palestinians on a tax-exempt basis.  https://www.mecaforpeace.org/donate/

Given that, and as with so many other irregularities coincident with Sidi's methods of operation, it is difficult to draw a conclusion other than the one many irate commenters have made on internet forums.

I admit this isn't conclusive evidence of fraud.  A large portion of the monies given went to orphanages and the like.  The lines between 'donations for the poor' and 'donations to help Sidi and his entourage meet expenses' may have blurred.

But I never attended big gatherings where donations were heavily solicited, so I don't know.

"Sidi was the Head of the Shadhiliya Order." 

This is another incorrect trope that is often thoughtlessly included in his biography.

Sidi inherited a teeny-tiny, sub-branch of the Shandilya - a vast family of Sufi Orders including millions of people spread across the globe from Sri Lanka to Morocco today which has persisted for centuries. 

If you are interested, the above is an interesting and thorough review of the Shandilya Order, and shows the place where it all got started - as a relatively major place of pilgrimage in modern Egypt.

It is arguable whether Sidi's sub-branch exists today AT ALL, as Sidi left his 'ring' with no known inheritor, despite the fact that he had 4 sons.

He evidently could not find anyone in his own milieu with the capacity to carry on his legacy.  I wonder if the political vagaries of the Middle East weren't a big part of that