Sufism
Chapter 12
Sufism Chapter 12
 Sufism, tasawwuf in Arabic
 The term derives from the Arabic word sûf, wool,
from the woolen clothing used by early ascetics
 The Arabic word tasawwuf in its derivation
means something like “wearing wool” or “putting
on wool”. It perhaps suggests action, the
practice, more than the theory. By contrast
“sufism” seems to suggest theory more than
practice.
 Tasawwuf is a broad spiritual and devotional tradition that both complements
and contrasts with the Shari‘a-minded tradition represented by fiqh and
carried by the ‘ulama’.
 Sufis may be either Sunni or Shi‘i as may the Shari‘a-minded, so that most
Muslims may be placed in one of four positions:
Shari’aminded
Sufi
Sunni
Shi’a
 The line between Shari‘a-minded and Sufi is not hard and fast since one can
be both; in fact, it is more like a sliding scale, with extreme Shari‘amindedness at one end and extreme Sufism at the other.
 The line between Sunni and Shi‘i is hard and fast. One cannot normally be
both.
Knowledge:
 ‘Ilm – the “external” (zâhir) knowledge of the Shari‘a-minded, of the
‘ulama’
 Ma‘rifa – the “esoteric” or “direct” knowledge of the Sufis.
‘Ilm
Learn the physical and
biographical facts about a
person
Ma‘rifa
Get to know the person
personally
Learn the chemical properties of Taste honey
honey
Learn about parliament and see Enter the building and meet the
the parliament buildings
parliamentarians. Maybe
become one.
Learn the chemical properties of Get drunk!
wine
Emotional attitudes:
 ‘Ilm leads to obedience, as slave (‘abd) to master (rabb)
 Ma‘rifa leads to love (mahabba or ‘ishq), as lover to
beloved (habib)
 Mahabba/Hubb = altruism and affection/romantic love
 (used by early Sufis, e.g. Rabi‘a)
 ‘ishq = passionate and intense love (more common later)
 The highest ideal according to some is expressed thus
by Rabi‘a:
“O Lord, if I worship you from fear of hell, burn me therein.
And if I worship you in hope of paradise, exclude me
from it. But if I worship you for your own sake, then do
not withhold from me your eternal beauty.”
How does one achieve ma‘rifa?
Dhikr “Remembrance”
Tariqa Path
Shaykh, Murid, Pir Spiritual guide
Dhikr
 The concept: remembering or (better) keeping in mind
 Qur’an 33:14 “Be ever mindful of God” (literally “Remember God with much
remembrance”)
 Qur’an 7:172: “And when your Lord took from the children of Adam, from
their loins, their seed, and made them testify touching themselves, ‘Am I not
your Lord?’ They said, ‘Yes, we testify’ – lest you should say on the day of
Resurrection, ‘As for us, we were unaware of this.’”
 This illustrates the idea of fitra, that we are created with knowledge of and
orientation toward God
 The method:
 Recitation of names of God or phrases such as la ilaha illa allah or subhan allah
(“Praise to God”)
 Coordinated breathing
 Bodily motions: bowing, swaying,
 Ritual “dancing” (e.g. “Whirling Dervishes”) and singing (samâ‘)
 Other methods (not strictly considered dhikr)
 Khalwa: Retreat, performing dhikr, especially recitation and breathing, in
isolation, e.g. for 40 days
 Fasting: often one or two days a week.
Tariqa
Stages (maqamât, cf. stages of a journey):
under conscious control.
E.g. repentance, renunciation, complete
reliance on God, poverty, patience, gratitude.
States (ahwâl, plural of hâl): not under
conscious control.
E.g. expansion and contraction of the soul
(something like elation and depression),
intoxication, sobriety, nearness to God,
longing, annihilation or passing away in God
(fanâ’) and continuance in God (baqâ’).
Shaykh, Murid, Pir
 Close personal relationship to disciple
 Should be able to discern the disciple’s spiritual
state
 Authoritarian relationship, disciple expected to
follow advice given (like a corpse in the hand of
its washer)
 Code of appropriate behavior between them
(adab)
 Formal initiation and pledge of allegiance (bay‘a)
 Uwaysi (or veysi) Sufis: Rare cases where there
is no human shaykh or formal initiation but the
disciple is initiated by the spirit of a great Sufi or
prophet from the past.
How to choose a shaykh?
Family or village connection (cf. Family
doctor)
Indication from a friend
Fame of a particular shaykh
Personal attraction or affinity
Karama (“miracle”) performed by shaykh
Dream or vision
Credentials: Silsilah, chain of disciples and
teachers going back, usually, to
Muhammad.
The highest goal:
 Fanâ’ fi allah (“passing away” in God)
 The Sufi loses consciousness of him/herself and is conscious only of
God. May therefore speak as if he were God.
 Bayazid Bistami:
“For thirty years God Most High was my mirror, now I am my own
mirror and that which I was I am no more, for ‘I’ and ‘God’
represents shirk, a denial of His Unity. Since I am no more, God
Most High is His own mirror. Behold, now I say that God is the
mirror of myself, for with my tongue He speaks and I have passed
away (fana’)”.
 Baqâ’ fi allah (continuing in God)
 The Sufi becomes aware again of his own existence while retaining the
consciousness of God (or: while retaining the memory of the
consciousness of God). This is generally considered the higher state
since the Sufi can now function fully in the world.
 The distinction between fanâ’ and baqâ’ correlates roughly with that
between the states of “drunkenness” and “sobriety”.
Lower goals:
Improved moral and spiritual life
Concrete benefits: e.g. healing, birth of a
child, success in exam, business
Social benefits: fellowship with other Sufis,
status in the community, etc.
Walis or “Saints”; “Friends of God”:
Those who reach the highest goal
Wali = a close friend who can be counted
on to support you
Qur’an 10:63: “Surely God’s friends
[awliya’, plural of wali], no fear shall be
upon them, neither shall they sorrow.”
 Baraka, due to their closeness to God gives them power to perform
karamât (“miracles”)
 Living walis will be sought out for advice, karamat:
 A wali may not be known to others, possibly not to himself
 The behavior of walis is sometimes odd by ordinary standards.
 “Dead” walis:
 Are sought out by visiting their tombs and asking for karamât etc.,
receiving the baraka that is present
 May appear in a dream or vision.
 The baraka of a wali can be dangerous if wrongly approached,
e.g. Shaykha Nur al-Sabah (on the website)
 The mawlid (mulid) or “birthday” of the wali is a special occasion for
his followers. Some have major festivals (e.g. Sayyid Ahmad alBadawi).
Many recognize an invisible hierarchy of
walis: e.g. one version:
 Qutb (axis or pole)
 3 Naqibs (substitutes)
 4 Awtad (pillars)
 7 Abrar (pious)
 40 Abdal (substitutes)
 300 Akhyar (good)
 4,000 hidden Walis
Outline of the history of Sufism
Early (“heroic”) period: individual adepts
and their disciples
Period of consolidation: Systematizing
ideas and practices; compiling books;
emphasizing consistency with Shari‘a
Tariqas: Appearance and predominance of
the Sufi “orders”
Modern reform: Orders criticized,
increased stress on Shari‘a-mindedness,
challenges from modern science and
education.
Tariqas (Orders):
 Fundamentally a lineage (silsila) going back to a
“founder”
 Based on shaykh–murid relationship
 Hierarchical structure: Shaykh > khalifa(s) > murid
 Institutional features:
 Khanqah, tekke zawiya
 Regular hadra (session including dhikr, possibly singing,
teaching, etc.) (e.g. weekly)
 Hospitality and charitable activities
 Founders may be “eponymous”. Organization of tariqa
may be the work of a later generation. E.g. Qadiriyya.
 Divisions
 Succession may be contested, resulting in a split
 A very prominent shaykh may give rise to a suborder (e.g.
Bayyumiyya).
Some Important figures (Earlier periods)
 Rabi‘a al-Adawiya (d. 801)
 Harith al-Muhasibi (781–837)
 Dhu al-Nun al-Misri (the Egyptian) (d. 861)
 Bayazid Bistami (Abu Yazid al-Bistami) (d. 875)
 Abu al-Qasim Al-Junayd (d. 910)
 Mansur Al-Hallaj (d. 922)
 Abu al-Qasim al-Qushayri (d. 1074).
 Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali (d. 1111)
Some major Tariqas (“Founders”)
 Qadiriyya (Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, d. 1166)
 Suhrawardiya (Abu Hafs al-Suhrawardi, 1145–
1234)
 Shadhiliyya (‘Abdallah al-Shadhili, 1196–1258)
 Rifa‘iyya (by Ahmad ibn ‘Ali al-Rifa‘i, 1106–
1182)
 Mevlevi or Mawlawi (Jalal al-Din Rumi, 1207–
1273)
 Ahmadiyya (Ahmad al-Badawi, 1199–1276)
Theosophers and Poets
 Muhyi al-Din ibn ‘Arabi (1166–1240)
 wahdat al-wujud (the unity of existence/being)
“There is no existence save His existence . . . When the
mystery is revealed to you, you will understand that you
are no other than God . . . though you do not thereby
become He nor He you . . .”. (Smith, Margaret,
Readings from the Mystics of Islam, 99–100)
 Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207–1273)
 “‘Tis the flame of love that fired me,
‘Tis the wine of love inspired me.”
Sufism and Gender
 The well-known Sufis are mostly men
 The leaders of tariqas and participants in public dhikrs are (almost)
always men
 There have been some well-known Sufi women adepts, e.g. Rabi‘a,
and many less well-known, e.g. Nur al-Sabah
 Women participate considerably in popular Sufism, esp. in visits to
the tombs of walis, mulids.
Sufism as “Counter-culture”: Points of tension with Shari‘amindedness




Shaths (“Ana al-Haqq”) or theosophy (e.g. wahdat al-wujud)
Extreme practices (skewers through cheeks, snake handling)
Dhikr and ziyara as bid‘a (innovation) or “competing” with hajj, etc.
Sama‘, dance and music, harâm according to some ‘ulamâ’
 Al-Ghazali and others: permissible to those qualified
 Wine and love (‘ishq) as symbols
 Hashish?
 Sometimes used, “at the fringes”
 Not often used as a symbol
 A Sufi named Tilimasani composed poetry about hashish but when
offered actual hashish answered:
“They say it expands the consciousness, this grass (hashish)
Why then, the greatest intellect must be the ass!”
(Wilson, Scandal: Essays in Islamic Heresy, 202).
Shari‘a-minded Sufism:
Shari’a
Tariqa
Haqiqa
Diagram of a circle, radius
and center
Final Thought/Advice
Al-Ghazali “I apprehended clearly that the Sufis were men
who had real experiences, not men of words, and that I
had already progressed as far as was possible by way of
intellectual apprehension. What remained for me was
not to be attained by oral instruction and study but only
by immediate experience and by walking the Sufi way.”
(Watt, Faith and Practice of al-Ghazali, 55; “mystic” changed to “Sufi”)