2013
Faith Matters
“Sufi” is a unique word. “Sufi” is a unique Power. It does not relate to any particular religion. It belongs to all of humanity. “Sufi” is a clear, pure Essence that has filtered and settled slowly, deep within. It goes beyond the state of “mounam” (silence), even beyond the station of the “mouna guru” (the silent guru within us). It is that State of Stillness when the Resplendence of the
Pure Clarity of Wisdom has sunk down and settled completely within its ultimate Completeness and Perfection. “Sufi” reveals the nature of the final state of the receding of that Perfection, when it has settled down slowly to its ultimate Stillness.” – Bawa
Muhaiyaddeen
1
While researching Sufism for this month’s Faith Matters, I came upon an article by Jay Kinney, The
Sufi Conundrum
2
that expresses the challenge I faced writing about a faith that turns out to be as complex as human nature evolving spiritually. Kinney’s relationship with Sufism parallels mine in both experience and examination of the many “sufi voices.” The enigma to both of us was Sufism’s relationship to Islam. How is it they are related, I wondered. Kinney wrote, “Was Sufism ‘within’ Islam or beyond all religions?” Kinney goes on to describe the spiritual enlightenment he experienced through persistence. If you have a chance to read his story, you will note the universal pathway all seekers experience on their way toward spiritual enlightenment. In essence, this pathway, Toward the One
3
, reflects religion and its myriad forms of evolvement. For within the heart of all human beings, there is a mystical, inner dimension that when enlivened by curiosity or inspiration will set the seeker on a course from the mundane to the sacred…from the outward to the inward.
Thus it is that while classical Sufi scholars will define Sufism as “a science whose objective is the reparation of the heart and turning it away from all else but God,”
4 and while it is written that many Sufi adherents are said to embrace the mystical dimension of Islam, the spirituality of Sufism is universal in nature, its roots predating the rise of Islam.
William C. Chittick, a professor in the Department of Comparative Studies at the State
University of New York, Stony Brook,
5
and one of the world’s leading translators and interpreters of mystical poetry, writes, “In short , Muslim scholars who focused their energies on understanding the normative guidelines for the body came to be known as jurists, and those who held that the most important task was to train the mind in achieving correct understanding came to be divided into three main schools of thought: theology, philosophy, and Sufism. This leaves us with the third domain of human existence, the spirit. Most
Sufism was brought to the West in 1914 by Hazrat Inayat Khan
6
, a musician and member of the royalty of India, viewed by many as being a king. Inayat Khan, drawing on the wisdom of Rumi’s
7
teaching that all paths to the Divine that are spiritual and filled with light, love, harmony and beauty, are sacred, also taught that blind adherence to any book rendered religion void of spirit. Hazrat believed destiny had called him to speed the “universal message of time,” which maintained that Sufism was not essentially tied to
1
Muhammad Raheem Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (died December 8, 1986) was a saintly mystic from the island of Sri Lanka who first came to the United States on
October 11, 1971 and established the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship in Philadelphiahttp: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bawa_Muhaiyaddeen
2
Jay Kinney. The Sufi Conundrum. Introduction to Gnosis #30. 1994. 28 Dec. 2012 http://www.lumen.org/intros/intro30.html
3
Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan , (Urdu:
ﺕ ﻳﻻﻭ ﺕ ﻳﺎﻧ ﻋ ﻥﺎﺧ
) Toward the One. 1974 by the Sufi Order USA, first published by Harper Colophon Books. Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan was the eldest son of Sufi Murshid Hazrat Inayat Khan, head of the Sufi Order International. Pir Zia Inayat Khan is Pir Vilayat's son and successor as Pir of the Sufi
Order International. Pir Vilayat’s mother was Ora Ray Baker, cousin to Mary Baker Eddy, founder of Christian Science.
4
Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. December 2012. 28 Dec. 2012 http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sufism
5
William C. Chittick is a leading translator and interpreter of classical Islamic philosophical and mystical texts. He is best known for his groundbreaking work on Rumi and has written extensively on Islamic philosophy.Among his publications are The Sufi Path of Love: The Spiritual Teachings of Rumi (1983), The Psalms of Islam
(1988), The Self-Disclosure of God: Principles of Ibn al-`Arabî's Cosmology (1998), Sufism: A Short Introduction (2000), and The Heart of Islamic Philosophy: The Quest for Self-Knowledge in the Teachings of Afdal al-Dîn Kâshânî (2001). He is also the author of The Sufi Doctrine of Rumi: Illustrated Edition which was published by World
Wisdom in 2005
6
Hazarat Inayat Khan ( Urdu :
ﺕ ﻳﺎﻧ ﻋ ﻥﺎﺧ
) (July 5, 1882 – February 5, 1927) was the founder of The Sufi Order in the West in 1914 (London) and teacher of Universal
Sufism .
7
Rumi (30 September 1207 – 17 December 1273), was a 13th-century Persian Muslim poet, jurist, theologian, and Sufi mystic.
1 | P a g e

2013 historical Islam, but rather consisted of timeless, universal teaching related to peace, harmony, and essential unity of all being (and beings)” (p.253).
8
It is at this juncture, Inayat Khan broke from the requirement that one must be a Moslem to be a Sufi.
Similar occurrences of break-away Sufi branches involving Sufi-oriented individuals such as Frithjof Schoun and Rene Geunon, Irina
Tweedie and others as well as the relatives of Hazrat Inayat Khan caused the growth in different Sufi orders and communities based on individual beliefs and the blending of various Eastern and Western traditions. Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, the eldest son of Inayat
Khan, became head of the Sufi Order in the West in 1956, after having studied in Paris and England. Both he and his father were prolific writers in English and many of the early books dealing with Sufism available in the United States were the results of their publications. Pir Vilayat wrote about the practices of meditation and other Sufi practices, music and Sufi psychology (Khan, 1993,
Spiegelman, Khan & Fernandez, 1991). His father’s teachings were published in many volumes by disciples. They dealt with more generalized topics dealing with spirituality, rather than specifically Sufi beliefs or ideas (Khan, 1978, Khan 1982). Hazrat Inayat Khan’s
Sufi Order in America, called ‘The Sufi Order in the West’ was founded in 1910. The Order continued through his disciples Rabia
Martin and Samuel Lewis. Eventually Lewis broke away from the original order and began to initiate his own disciples.
9
There are ten principal Sufi thoughts that comprise all the important subjects with which the inner life of man is concerned.
10
1.
There is one God, the Eternal, the Only Being; none else exists save God.
2.
There is one Master, the Guiding Spirit of all souls, who constantly leads all followers toward the light.
3.
There is one Holy book, the sacred manuscript of nature, which truly enlightens all readers.
4.
There is one Religion, the unswerving progress in the right direction toward the ideal, which fulfills the life’s purpose of every soul.
5.
There is one Law, the law of Reciprocity, which can be observed by a selfless conscience together with a sense of awakened justice.
6.
There is one human Family, the Brotherhood and Sisterhood which unites the children of earth indiscriminately in the
Parenthood of God.
7.
There is one Moral Principle, the love which springs forth from self-denial, and blooms in deeds of beneficence.
8.
There is one Object of Praise, the beauty of which uplifts the heart of its worshipper through all aspects from the seen to the unseen.
9.
There is one Truth, the true knowledge of our being within and without which is the essence of all wisdom.
10.
There is one Path, the annihilation of the false ego in the real, which raises the mortal to immortality and in which resides all perfection.
As we begin our New Year, 2013, let us contemplate our quest of the Divine and our myriad pathways toward becoming ministers in the Alliance of Divine Love. Then as advised in 1 Thessalonians 5:17, let us pray without ceasing, Toward the One .
8
Webb, G. (1995). Sufism in America. In T. Miller, (Ed.), America’s Alternative Religions (pp. 249-258). Albany: State University of New York Press.
9
Anisah Bagasra. A Short History of Sufism and Sufism Communities in America. 28 Dec 2012 http://www.israinternational.com/component/content/article/53-sufiway/110-a-short-history-of-sufism-and-sufi-communities-in-america.html
10
Ruth Batina VannDam-Hinds. “Sufism”. In S. Jeffers, M. Nelson, V. Barnet & M. Brannigan, (Ed), The Essential Guide to Religious Traditions and Spirituality for
Health Care Providers. Radcliffe Publishing, December 2012.
2 | P a g e