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(15 Sep 2017) LEADIN:A new religious sect is causing controversy in Algeria.The Karkariya Sufi order has provoked mistrust in some sectors but its followers claim they are no different to other Muslims.STORYLINE:A little known and relatively new Sufi-sect with Moroccan origins has been making headlines in Algeria over the summer.Newspapers in Algeria picked up on pictures on social media of devotees of the Tariqa Karkariya Sufi order on a pilgrimage in the west of the country.The order's link with Algeria's neighbour Morocco seems to be behind much of the mistrust of the group expressed in the local media. Diplomatic relations between the north African countries are frosty, the land border closed. The Sufi brotherhood's devotees are known for their multicoloured patched clothing, the colours representing their idea of God's universal love. Belkacem Benani is one of them and lives in Mostaganem, 340 kilometres (211 miles) west of capital Algiers. He is one of a small but dedicated band of followers of Sidi Muhammad Fawzi, a religious leader who is around 44 years old and lives in northern Morocco, according to his group's website.Benani is tired of hearing claims that his beliefs are somehow insufficiently Islamic. "Our practices are no different to those of the other Sufi tariqas (orders). We are Sunni malikites. We have not deviated from the path," he says.He spends as much time as he can talking to people around town about his beliefs, but some remain suspicious."This (Sufi) order has been created to destabilise society. I think there are foreign hands at work in Algeria behind this brotherhood," opines Mohamed Diabi, a local resident."When we see how they dress, how they behave, it's different to what we know," says another resident, Khaled Madi.Researchers say President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's government over recent decades has tried to promote the growth of Sufi Islam indigenous to the region over more fundamentalist sects, and there is no sign of the Karkariya being banned just now despite the recent press. Said Djabelkhir, a researcher, plays down any threat from the sect."What is the danger posed by an order, be it the Karkariya or whichever other Sufi strand," he asks. "We have tens of different practices and currents. But the question you have to ask is: which groups were the ones cutting Algerian peoples throats during the 1990s, the years of terrorism in Algeria? Were they the followers of Sufism? Evidently not."But established religious groups seem hostile. The Algerian Muslim Ulema Association, which was set up in the colonial period to defend the country's Muslim identity, has chosen to criticise the growth of new religious sects such as the Karkariya.Its spokesman Touhami Madjouri calls the sects "the true threat to the unity of the Algerian people".You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you... Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork

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AP Archive 4116126 227d743fd61a6e4b258da1310d8bd2e7 MEEX Algeria Karkariya Abdelaziz Bouteflika Algiers Algeria North Africa Social affairs