Sufism In Islam Pdf

[Kathleen Denson]

Sufism and Islam cannot be separated in the same way that higher consciousness or awakening cannot be separated from Islam. Islam is not an historical phenomenon that began 1,400 years ago. It is the timeless art of awakening by means of submission. Sufism is the heart of Islam. It is as ancient as the rise of human consciousness."2

Many scholars and jurists may join issue with the above statement. They perceive Sufism as an unacceptable distortion of Islamic beliefs and way of life. They find the rituals and practices as well as the beliefs of many Sufis repugnant to the teachings of Islam. They argue that Sufism has brought about confusion in the minds of its believers leading them away from the simplicity and purity of the glorious faith.

The historical links between the three major monotheistic faiths makes it inevitable for a measure of similarity in the spiritual experience in each of them and this commonality of experience is seen by many enlightened scholars as an important factor which might be constructively employed for engendering a better understanding between the three communities.

"If Judaism, Christianity and Islam have no little in Common in spite of their deep dogmatic differences," remarks the Editor of 'the Mysticism of Islam ' by R. A. Nicholson 1966 edition, "the spiritual content of that common element can best be appreciated in Jewish, Christian and Islamic mysticism, which bears equal testimony to that ever-deepening experience of the soul when the spiritual worshipper, whether he be follower of Moses or Jesus or Muhammad, turn whole- heartedly to God."

"This science can be studied from two angles, one of them being sociological and the other scientific. From scientific point of view the adepts in gnosis (Irfaan) are called Gnostics ('Arifs). From social point of view they are known as Sufis.

But from social point of view they form a separate group and a separate body, having its characteristic ideas and special manners of life. They wear a particular type of dress and grow their hair in a particular style. They live in hospices etc. Thus the Sufis have to a certain extent become a separate sect from religious as well as social point of view.

Anyhow there have always been and there are still, especially among the Shiahs, Gnostics who are not apparently distinct from others, yet they are closely associated with gnosis and spiritual journey."3

"The function of religion is to bestow order upon human life and to establish an "outward" harmony upon whose basis man can return inwardly to his Origin by means of the journey towards the "interior" direction.

This universal function is especially true of Islam, this last religion of humanity, which is a Direct injunction to establish order in human society and within the human soul and at the same time to make possible the interior life, to prepare the soul to return unto its Lord and enter the Paradise which is none other than the Divine Beatitude. God is at once the First (al-awwal) and the Last (al-akhir), the Outward (al-zahir) and the Inward (al-batin).

The practical aspect of gnosis describes man's relation with the world and with Allah and explains the duties of the seeker if he wishes to attain unity with Allah. This part of gnosis is called the spiritual journey (sayr wa sulook). It explains that man must attain total comprehension of monotheism and that to attain this he has to travel through various stages. This journey can be undertaken only under the supervision of a spiritual guide who has passed through all the stages of the journey.

The monotheism which a Gnostic seeks is not the monotheism which a philosopher would understand it to be. To a philosopher, unity or oneness of Allah means that there is only one Essential Being to the exclusion of any other. A Gnostic maintains that oneness of Allah means that Allah is the only really existing being. The existence of everything else is illusory. The spiritual journey is a journey of the human being as the illusory being to the stage where he may not see anything but Allah. This journey can only be undertaken if one has purified one's heart and one's soul through constant spiritual effort.

It is easy to confuse Sufism with Asceticism (Zuhd). Asceticism is the renunciation of the world for the sake of spiritual upliftment and the attainment of the hereafter. Gnosis may involve a measure of asceticism but the objective is to undertake the spiritual journey.

"There is no doubt that Allah the Almighty has made His remembrance the polish of the hearts. By means of it the deaf begin to hear, the blind begin to see and the arrogant become submissive. In every age and period Allah the Almighty has created men in whose minds He puts His secrets and through whose intellect he talks to them."6

"A godly person enlivens his heart and annihilates his ego till what is coarse becomes soft. A bright light like lightening shines in front of him shows him the way and helps him in advancing towards Allah. Many doors push him forward till he reaches the gate of peace and safety and arrives at the destination where he has to stay. His feet are firm and his body contented, for he uses his heart and pleases his Lord."7

"In addition to its law and the esoteric aspect contained in sufism and gnosis, Shi'ism contained from the beginning a type of Divine Wisdom, inherited from the Prophet and the Imams, which became the basis for the hikmah or sophia that later developed extensively in the Muslim world and incorporated into its structure suitable elements of the Greco-Alexandrian, the Indian, and the Persian intellectual heritages."

The early leaders of Islam, especially the Shia Imams and their close followers, led a highly spiritual life and expressed spiritual ideas in the context of Islam through supplications, lectures and other writings. They were not, however, mystics or Sufis as those terms later came to be understood. During the first century of the Islamic era there did not exist any group known as Gnostics or Sufis. Those who led spiritual life did so out of unbounded piety. Having traversed through comprehension of the formal and philosophical aspects of the faith they sought to unveil the Truth through intellectual reasoning. They neither renounced the world nor assumed any formal identity. Their teachings often attracted adherents from the Sunni schools of thought with the result that it is not uncommon to-day to find sufi groups aligned with the Sunni school and yet acknowledging Shiah leaders as their spiritual masters. Notable among such groups is the Naqshbandi order.

Al-Kindi (died 10th century A.D.) reports the appearance of a small community of Muslims in Alexandria in the ninth century (=2nd century of Islamic calendar) who enjoined good and preached against evil. They were called Sufis. It is also said that Abu Hashim of Kufa in Iraq (died 767 A.D.) was the first man to be called by this name. He lived in the second century of Islamic calendar. He is reputed to have founded the first Sufi monastery (khaanqah) at Ramlah in Palestine for the exclusive use of a group of ascetics and worshippers. In Northern Africa the Sufi monasteries are known as tekkes.

With the formalization of Sufi orders, the Sufis tended to assign highly esoteric meanings to certain Islamic terms of common usage. For example the term shariah which ordinarily means the jurisprudence, to a Sufi it means the inner side of the Islamic law which leads to the spiritual path (the tariqah) leading to Truth.

As far as the articles of faith are concerned, the Sufis do not consider the mere intellectual belief to be enough. They hold that it is necessary to ponder over the truths of these articles to remove the veil between the believer and the truths. Similarly the Sufis do not consider the limited range of good morals to be enough. They believe in undertaking spiritual journey which has its own special characteristic. With regard to the rules of law, on the whole the Sufis accept them although in certain Sufi orders they have been altered or ignored.

As time passed many Sufi orders came into existence, each with its own tariqah, its own "guide" or "master" and its own form of expression of spirituality. In this development they were influenced not only by the Christian mystics but also by the Hindus, the Jews, the Persians with their heritage of spirituality as well as the Greek thinkers such as Plato, Aristotle and the Neo-Platonists introduced to the Arabs through Mamun Rashid's famous academy Bait al Hikmah, the House of Wisdom. Many orders, influenced no doubt by the Christian mystics, renounced the world believing such renunciation to be a great act of piety and began to live life of poverty.

They were subjected to criticisms by the jurists, both from the Sunni and the Shia schools. In some cases, the Sunni regimes persecuted, imprisoned and even executed some leading Sufis. The chasm between the theologians and the Sufi masters began to widen and with certain theologians the Sufis today are on the other side of the spiritual divide beyond the pale of Islam.

The Shia scholars and jurists, on the other hand, while not condoning the beliefs, practices and the rituals of the Sufis which they perceived to be anti-Islamic, have as we have seen, found a common ground in the Sufi spirituality.

It is not proposed in these lectures to deal with how a seeker undertakes the spiritual journey or the various stages or "worlds" through which he must pass. Suffice it to say that a seeker would first find a master or guide who would take him through the spiritual journey. Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri, himself a renowned Sufi master of the Shia faith notes in his recent book "The Elements of Sufism"8

The outer practices of the Sufis include varying amounts of prayers, invocations, recitations and supplications. We often find that not only the local ecology and physical environment had a lot to do with the type of Sufi practices which predominated in a certain area, but also the culture, class and socio-economic conditions of the group which played the most prominent role in these practices. We find that some Sufi orders became almost exclusively for the well-off and the influential in the society. For example the Tijani Order in North Africa seems to have attracted those who were politically powerful while the Darqawi order has been predominantly followed by the poor.

3a8082e126