>>508623416The idea of developing a personal relationship with the Almighty through mystical contemplation and prayer is historically very important in the peaceful propagation of Islam, and it lends itself to the intellectual tradition as it requires the individual to study Koran and Sunnah in the inner quest to become a citizen of Shariah.
This is why it is so popular in Southeast Asia, where Islam was propagated peacefully through missionaries and commerce, uplifting the standard of living of the people. Sufis are not separate from Islam, in many ways their traditions simply reflect the normal practice of Islam during the Islamic Golden Age.
There are Shia Sufis as well, and the institutions of zawiyas are home to ascetic orders. However, intense contemplation and study should not lead to the innovation of bidah. The Fakir should remain engaged with society and reality, to retreat from it completely is to retreat from the suffering of the Ummah.
The Ummah is a body. If the hand or the foot is in pain, the whole body is in pain. Any true Muslim has a moral obligation to Palestine, scholars who retreat into their writings are neglecting a duty. Observe the martyrs who give their lives to Allah and think of what it means to withold what we have to those under persecution, genocide, and starvation.
It is the rise and dominance of sectarian thought in the late 14th century that snuffed out the intellectual and academic freedom of the madrasas that once advanced the human race itself. This is because a scholar can build a living for himself publishing sectarianism and dwell comfortably in the madrasa while the Ummah starves and dies.
There is a balance between intellectual and spiritual inquiry and our duty to the Ummah.