Tuesday 21/October/2025 – 08:12 PM
The writer and researcher in Sufism, Youssef Zidan, commented on the recent celebrations of the birth of Sayyed Ahmed Al-Badawi in Tanta, claiming that what happened this year has nothing to do with Sufism.
Youssef Zidane: The birth of Sayyid Al-Badawi is not Sufism… but rather folkloric chaos, beautiful madness practiced by the mob to relieve repression.
Youssef Zidan said in a post on his personal page on Facebook that he studied Sufism for twenty years, and published twenty books between writing and editing manuscripts and specialized research. He also accompanied senior sheikhs, led by Mustafa Hilmi Al-Qadiri and Hussein Moawad Al-Khalouti, with whom he accompanied for many years.
Zidane added: “Today I say for the umpteenth time that what happened recently on the Bedouin’s birthday is just folkloric pandemonium and beautiful madness practiced by the demagogues to relieve the oppression that is horribly pressing on them in our contemporary Egyptian society.”
The writer stressed that true Sufism is based on asceticism, piety, self-struggle, and spiritual practices, and has nothing to do with what he described as “folkloric games and noisy celebrations” that attract crowds without awareness of the spiritual goals of the Sufi heritage.
Zidane’s statements come at a time when some Sufi birthdays are witnessing widespread controversy over the nature of the celebrations and their impact on the image of Sufism in Egyptian society, in light of the attempts of some parties to preserve the traditional character of these occasions, in exchange for calls to review practices in accordance with the values of religion and authentic traditions.
