Why Own Sufi Scholars When Sufism Is A Parallel Religion?
The example is not analogous. Our Sufi scholars when they talk about Shariah and religion, provide a very valuable contribution, we cannot discard this valuable contribution of them when we can separate it from their mysticism. While in the example of contaminated water, it is not possible to separate impurities from the water.
Not of sufism but of Sufi scholars like Shah wali Ullah, his books on Islamic science have not parallel. For example, see his renowned Book on a comprehensive understanding of Religion, Hujjaht Ullah Al Baligha, On Quran, Al Fauzul Kabeer, on history, Izalatul Khifa, on Fiqh, Fiqh e Umar, the list is long. Imam Ghazali’s books, Tihafaat ul Filaasifaha, Jawahir ul Quran, al Rasail fi Ilm al Masail fi Al Mazhab, Shah Abdul Aziz’s Books on Tafseer and Ahadith. The list is long. We cannot ignore these gems of knowledge.
Whats the difference between sufi scholar and sufism ? (General understanding would be a scholar who follows sufism will be called as sufi scholar)
Sufism is said to be the way to connect directly to God. Some sufis were scholars too, their scholarly works are judged and revered on the basis of their scholarship. A sufi scholar does not mean that he still is a Sufi while telling something scholarly, and a scholar should be disowned and discarded because he happens to be a Sufi too.