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Sufism: Treading the Mystical Path

Editor: Hamza (Philippe) L. De Coster, B.Th., DD

© February 2018 – EBook Publications “Mon Islam” (My Islam)

Ghent, Belgium

Islam and mysticism are like body and soul. Unfortunately, even very few

Muslims know that. Mysticism has been termed as Tasawwuf in Islam, and is

the spiritual side of Islam.

Islamic mysticism and Muslim spirituality are extremely powerful ways to go

spiritual. Sufis in Islam have always been known as reformers and people with

special powers. These special powers are blessed to the Sufis as a result of their

efforts of spiritual purification. After years of meditation and breathing exercises

under the direction of a spiritual guide, one can achieve a level of spiritual

enlightenment where he or she becomes cognizant of the Truth. That is the basic

(and only) goal of Islamic Mysticism. When you find God, you find everything.

The word Sufi is derived from Safa meaning pure, purified of ignorance,

superstition, dogmatism, egotism, and fanaticism, as well as free from

limitations of caste, creed, race, and nation. The Sufis believe in God as the

Absolute, the only Being; and that all creation is the manifestation of His nature.

There have been Sufis at all periods of human history. Though they have lived

in different parts of the world, speaking different languages and born into

different faiths and beliefs, they have recognized and sympathized with each

other, through the oneness of their understanding. Yet with their deep

knowledge of the world and of spiritual mysteries, they have concealed their

beliefs from the multitude, and have pursued in secret their way of attainment to

the highest bliss.

Sufis are made differently from jurists and judges. There are no schools or

universities that offer certificates or degrees to become Sufis. It requires years of

education and professional knowledge for a person to be a jurist, judge, or

learned person. Shari’ah judges and jurists acquire special knowledge after years

of studying the Qur’an, the Prophet’s Sunnah, the fiqh, and Islamic secular law

found in modern constitutions, legislation, and treaties. By contrast, Sufis may

or may not begin as scholars of law. Sufis are cultivated in the veiled folds of

knowledge, mystery, intuition, worship, wanderings, and purity. The Sufi seeks,

and eventually lives in, a world free of ego, greed, gluttony, intemperance,

ingratitude, envy, jealousy, lust, demons, kings, queens, and fools.

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Much like ordinary Muslims, Sufis subscribe to the five obligations of Shari’ah.

The Shari’ah mandates that Muslims believe in One God and in the prophecy of

Muhammad, say the daily five prayers, fast in the month of Ramadhan, give

zakat (charity), and perform the hajj (pilgrimage) if they can afford it. Sufis

discharge these five obligations day and night. In fact, most Sufis do more than

minimal observance of the five obligations. They say optional prayers

throughout the day, fast throughout the year, and generously give charity. Every

moment of their life is devoted to the remembrance of God. They pray during

the day and during the night, give charity openly and secretly, remember God

boisterously and wordlessly, and send salutations to all Prophets by their

tongues and hearts.

Since the introduction of Islam in the seventh century, the province of Khorasan

has been the most cherished homeland for Sufis. Khorasan (comprised of

numerous cities including Nishapur, Balkh, Ghazni, Merv, Samarkand, and

Bukhara) nurtured great hadith-collectors, scientists, jurists, and Sufis of Islam.

The seventh-century Iraq, when its cultural identity was Mesopotamian more

than Arab, was a favourite abode of master Sufis. Najaf, an Iraqi town where

Imam Ali Ibn Abu Talib is buried, excels in Sufi spirituality.

Sufis have always lived, openly and secretly, in cities and villages of Egypt.

Fallen to militarism, modern Egyptians appear to have drifted away from Sufi

spirituality. Morocco, particularly the city of Fez, is blessed with the Sufi

heritage, opening the way for West African Muslims to experience the raptures

of mysticism. Pakistan and India remain most hospitable to Sufi spirituality as

the people in this region seek to reconcile various religious traditions.

Unfortunately, Muslims are divided over Sufi spirituality. Some misguided

governments and clerical organizations are anti-Sufi. For the most part,

however, Muslim communities respond kindly to Sufi spirituality. Muslims in

Turkey, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and India are wide open to

the teachings of Sufis. Muslims in these countries see no contradiction between

Islamic law and Sufi spirituality.

By contrast, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and some other Gulf mini-

states have little reverence for Sufi spirituality and see Islamic mysticism as a

threat to the integrity of Islam. Many governments are suspicious of Sufis

because Sufis are unlikely to support royal families, kingships, and other forms

of power that elevate some families over others. Despite official hostility to Sufi

spirituality in some countries, Sufis in all Muslim nations continue to influence

individuals, families, towns, and communities.

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Sufi spirituality is not a separate sect of Islam. Nor is Sufi spirituality more

aligned with the Shia or the Sunni sect. While Iranian culture and sensibilities

have greatly influenced the construction and development of mysticism, Sufi

spirituality is not a branch of Shia theology. Most prominent Sufis have been

raised with the Sunni faith. More recently, the Wahhabis have been vociferously

opposed to Sufi spirituality. Many attacks on Sufi shrines are inspired by the

theology of Wahhabism. In a protracted contest, however, generous Sufi

spirituality will likely win over narrow-minded sectarianism.

Really, Sufism can be described broadly as the intensification of Islamic faith

and practice, or the tendency among Muslims to strive for a personal

engagement with the Divine Reality. The Arabic term Sufi, however, has been

used in a wide variety of meanings over the centuries, by both proponents and

opponents of Sufism, and this is reflected in the primary and secondary sources,

which offer diverse interpretations of the term. Western observers have

sometimes obscured the issue by referring to Sufism as “Islamic mysticism” or

“Islamic esotericism.” Such terms are vague and often imply a negative value

judgment, and they encourage people to consider as non-Sufi anything that does

not fit into preconceived categories. The original sense of Sufi seems to have

been “one who wears wool (ṣūf    ).” In the eighth century the word was

sometimes being applied to Muslims whose ascetic inclinations led them to wear

coarse and uncomfortable woollen garments. Gradually it came to designate a

group who differentiated themselves from others by stressing certain teachings

and practices of the Qur’an and the sunnah. By the ninth century the gerund

form tasawwuf, which means literally “being a Sufi” or “Sufism,” was adopted

by some representatives of this group as an appropriate, though by no means the

only, designation of their own beliefs and practices. Other terms were and

continue to be used (on the Western preference for “Sufism,” see Ernst, 1997,

chapter 1).

In general, Sufis have looked upon themselves as Muslims who take seriously

God's call to perceive his presence in the world and the self. They generally

stress inwardness over outwardness, contemplation over action, spiritual

development over legalism, and cultivation of the soul over social interaction.

Theologically, Sufis speak of God's mercy, gentleness, and beauty more than of

the wrath, severity, and majesty that play defining roles in both fiqh

(jurisprudence) and kalâm (apologetic theology). Sufism has been associated

with specific institutions and individuals as well as with an enormously rich

literature, not least poetry.

Given the difficulty of defining Sufism, it is not easy to discern which Muslims

have been Sufis. Being a Sufi has nothing to do with the Sunnī-Shīʿī split, nor

with the schools of jurisprudence. It has no special connection with geography,

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though it has played a greater role in some locations than in others. There is no

necessary correlation with family, and it is common to find individuals who

profess a Sufi affiliation despite the hostility of family members, or people who

have been born into a family of Sufis and consider it an unacceptable form of

Islam. Men and, less commonly, women, become Sufis; even children

participate in Sufi ritual activities, though they are seldom initiated formally

before puberty. Sufism has nothing to do with social class, though some Sufi

organizations may be more or less class-specific. It is closely associated with

popular religion, but it has also produced the most elite expressions of Islamic

teachings. It is often seen as opposed to the state-supported jurists, yet jurists

have always been counted among its devotees, and Sufism has frequently been

supported by the state along with jurisprudence. The characteristic Sufi

institutions—the “orders” (tariqah)—do not begin to play a major role in Islamic

history until about the twelfth century, but even after that, Sufis were not

necessarily affiliated with an order.

What is, in fact, Spirituality in Sufism?

Is it possible for humanity, or even a portion of it, to embrace a truly universal

spirituality? If so, what would a universal spirituality be based on? And would

such a spirituality be able to offer a path to complete spiritual realization? The

answers to these questions have become more urgent as the world becomes

smaller through technologies of communication and transportation. While we

can appreciate the need for greater understanding and acceptance of our

differences and greater recognition of our common humanity, should this spell

the end of religion as we know it? Is it time for a spirituality that is founded

upon universal principles, or upon a scientific spiritual psychology? Can we

dispense with forms if we have found the essence? Can we separate spirituality

from religion?

Various people have attempted to identify the spiritual values common to the

various sacred traditions. Yet even if we could agree on a list of spiritual values,

we would have only abstractions. Once we go beyond abstractions, we enter not

only the realm of spiritual metaphor, but also cosmology, mythos, human

exemplars, ceremony, and practice. We are on relatively safe ground as long as

we only espouse generalities; but as soon as we approach the images and stories

that could motivate and inspire the human heart, we have entered into the

possibility of conflict and disagreement.

Most people who opt for the universal approach to spirituality really have in

mind taking a little bit of this and a little bit of that. It is a particularly modern

and Western (and especially American) notion that we can customize our

spirituality in a “self-service” way. Historically, the significance of religion has

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more often been that it united human beings in a common purpose and destiny.

In most traditional cultures, which placed so much emphasis on unity and

continuity, the modern preoccupation with personalizing a religion or path

would have seemed insane.

There is another kind of universality that proceeds from within a particular

tradition when someone decides that they do not wish to be bound by forms and

beliefs and so attempt a “formless” spirituality. In the few cases of this kind that

I have observed, there is always the inescapable necessity of carrying the

assumptions and perspective of the original tradition into the formless version.

In one Buddhist version of this approach, the point seemed to be to reach a state

of perfection through continuous awareness. This universal and formless path

was simply Buddhism stripped of its name, rituals, and hierarchy. In a Middle

Eastern version of the formless path, the idea was to merge into Love by sharing

in the being of a particular person who was supposed to have himself become

one with Love. In other words, it was Sufism without ceremony, prayer, or

revealed book. More often than not these kinds of attempts at universality result

in one-man-traditions which have a tendency to cut themselves off from a wider

sense of tradition and community in the name of universality. In the name of

transcending forms, beliefs, and identifications, they seem to acquire many of

the characteristics of a cult–especially a focus on a single charismatic figure

without whom the whole enterprise would dissolve.

Yet another form of universality, and to my mind the most authentic form of it,

is the result of committing oneself wholeheartedly to a particular tradition while

honouring the good will and truth within other approaches. Eventually, if one

goes far enough on one of the real paths to God–and these are usually paths that

have been sanctioned by a lineage of enlightened beings–then one arrives at a

truly universal perspective because one has used a particular tradition to

transcend the egoism that needs identifications and exclusive beliefs. A striking

example of this kind of spiritual attainment is Muhyiddin Ibn `Arabi, the great

Sufi gnostic who said, “My heart has become receptive of every form. It is a

meadow for gazelles, a monastery for monks, an abode for idols, the Ka`ba of

the pilgrim, the tables of the Torah, the Qur’an. My religion is love–wherever its

camels turn, Love is my belief, my faith.”

Ibn ‘Arabi was not, however, a practitioner of a universal faith, but one who

wholly absorbed the way of Islamic Sufism and from whom issued an

expression of that tradition which influenced subsequent generations until the

present day. It is true that with his depth of apprehension he gave very original

and, to some, shocking interpretations of the Qur’an. For him the way of Islam

was revealed to be the very matrix of Truth in a unique sense, yet through it he

became a universal human being.

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Among those who have identified themselves with the teachings of Sufism,

there have been in this century, mostly in the Western World, a significant

number who have espoused a universalistic Sufism no longer embedded in the

religion of Islam, although availing itself of some of the terminology,

metaphors, and practices of Islamic Sufism. On the other hand, outside of the

West we find the vast majority of Sufis, despite their liberality and tolerance,

firmly rooted in Islam. For the contemporary student of Sufism, the relationship

between Sufism and Islam offers ample opportunity for confusion, ambiguity,

paradox, and argument. In the end it is related to the questions raised in the

preceding paragraph–namely the relationship between spirituality and religion.

To what extent is it desirable and possible to distil the spirituality from a

religious tradition, receiving what is most pure and essential while leaving

behind the dregs of cultural relativity and historical bias? In a sense this is a task

that must be done by every generation: restoring the essential message, the

living impulse, the spirit of a tradition.

Some would go further, proposing either that we break with the past completely,

or that we, in a sense, create a new way based on former traditions. Rajneesh

was an example of the former, claiming to represent a new beginning. Various

gnostic, Rosicrucian, and even “Sufi” groups fit the second category–offering

new rituals, symbols, and practices. Having experienced some of these activities,

the question I would ask is: Apart from the subjective apprehension of their

aesthetic or intellectual qualities, do these practices have the signs and

characteristics of being a gift from the unseen world, or the signs and

characteristics of a man-invented ritual, symbol, or practice?

For example, native shamans may perform some strange and even bizarre acts,

and yet these may have their own power, if received from the unseen world. We,

however, in our desperation for authentic spiritual experience may attempt to

design rituals of our own to fill a metaphysical vacuum. While, on the one hand,

this can be an innocent and entertaining activity, it may fall short of offering a

comprehensive way of life and path to realization.

If we look at the origin of the practices and ceremonies of classical Sufism, we

see that virtually all of them have been inspired, not invented. The ablutions and

ritual prayer of Islam were taught to Muhammad by the Angel Gabriel through

visionary experience. At various times in history the Pirs of various Sufi Orders

have been instructed through dreams or visions to perform certain rituals in

certain ways. A good example of this was the initiation of the Halveti-Jerrahi

Order which happened in the following way. Nureddin Jerrahi is said to have

received confirmation of having reached a certain spiritual station and the

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mandate to begin a new branch of the Halveti when the Prophet Muhammad

appeared to him in a dream. But this was not the end of it. The following

morning various shaikhs began showing up at his door offering different aspects

of what was to become the zhikr ceremony and characteristic dress of the

Halveti-Jerrahis–all these shaikhs, moreover, had seen the Prophet in a dream

and had been told specifically what they should contribute. In this way, the

rituals and practices of most Sufi orders have been gifts from the Unseen.

Within the Mevlevi tradition we are fortunate to have, in addition to the classical

practices of the Islamic tradition, the whirling ceremony, a form of worship

whose origins are hidden in the immemorial Great Spirit tradition of Central

Asia, but which took on a unique cosmological/alchemical symbolism in its

Mevlevi form, which most likely traces back to Shams of Tabriz and Rumi’s

son, Sultan Veled.

Furthermore the treasure contained within the Mathnawi and Divan of

Jalâluddîn Rumi can be considered the most significant body of inspired

literature originating from a single human being. While it cannot be considered a

“revelation” in the same sense as the Qur’an, it is nevertheless a literature of the

highest level of inspiration and aesthetic beauty which fulfills what is revealed

in the Qur’an.

Inevitably when Mevlâna is introduced to people in the West, most writers feel

duty-bound to mention that while he lived and wrote within the framework of

Islam, his spirituality was not dogmatic. Of course. Mevlâna was another

universal human being, and yet it deserves to be mentioned that all his life he

was devoted to the prayers, Qur’anic recitation, fasting, and night vigils which

were the common practice of all classical Sufis. He also wrote: “I am the slave

of the Qur’an and dust under the feet of Muhammad. Anyone who claims

otherwise is no friend of mine.”

The issue of the relationship of Sufism to Islam can be better understood if we

consider the centrality of the Qur’an and the example of Muhammad. In brief,

Muhammad was an unlettered but intelligent recipient of a Communication that

bears all the marks of having come from a very deep or high Source. He was

like a tabula rasa, at first the unsuspecting recipient of language so powerful that

its effects upon Muhammad were obvious to all when it descended upon him.

The voice of the Qur’an is certainly not the voice of Muhammad.

If we take the Qur’an at its own word, it claims to be “a mercy toward

mankind,” “a guidance,” “Containing no distortion,” and “providing all that is

healthy for the soul.” It claims to be a message from the “Lord of the universes,”

who is also the God of all religions. It “confirms what is true of past

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revelations,” and offers a critique of where those revelations have been

distorted.

Its intent is to remind us of the master truth of existence, the reality of an

Unseen Beneficence, who is intelligent, aware, and powerful enough to embrace

every detail of existence. It is this Love (Rahman), this Truth (Al-Haqq) that we

are to place our complete faith in, rather than worshipping secondary causes, or

ascribing other gods as equals to the One God. We can find this God “nearer

than our own jugular vein,” and yet this God is “beyond anything we can say”

about It.

Most spiritual seekers in these times would assert their freedom from religious

“dogmas,” preferring, instead, an experiential spirituality. No spiritual practice,

however, is entirely free of assumptions, premises, cosmology, metaphysics, and

myth. By dogma, however, is probably meant those assertions of opinion based

exclusively on some human authority–usually an authority claiming to speak for

God himself.

The Qur’an is virtually free of dogma–and by dogma, here, I mean the assertion

of belief or opinion without evidence. In the category of dogma I would place

those ideas which either:

1. Define or particularize Absolute Reality with concepts, or

2. Ascribe an exclusive agency of salvation to one religion (the notion that

God “has a religion and it is. . . ,” as is encountered in most

fundamentalisms), or

3. Claim a unique and unverifiable Divine power for a particular

individual.

The Qur’an is not unique in its relative freedom from dogma. The words of

Jesus in the Gospels are likewise free from dogma and theology–although this

has not hindered the formation of dogmas and theologies based upon these

words.

All faiths necessarily assert or propose some model of the Divine. These can be

as general as: God is Love. Or as particular as: God is an invisible purple

armadillo. Whereas the first assertion may be supported with: “And you can

verify this for yourself if. . .”, the second assertion is likely to be supported by ,

“Because we or tradition say so.”

Once one has accepted that there is a Reality that is apparent neither to the

senses nor to the intellect alone, but can be apprehended by another knowing

faculty within the human being, and that this Reality might be able to

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communicate with humanity by offering the same message to various

messengers, then one can take a critical look at the Qur’an, the circumstances of

its revelation, and Muhammad and decide for oneself whether this offers a

truthful and helpful description of the human situation. One may find that it even

helps to sort out the essential truths from the relative accretions in other

traditions. In other words, it may point us to the universal spirituality itself.

The situation of those who have encountered and lived with the message of the

Qur’an is somewhat unique, I must admit. On the one hand, one must

acknowledge that God’s Compassion, Generosity, Mercy operates through all

religions, through all the phenomena of existence in fact; God’s qualities rain

down upon the faithful of all faiths and even upon those who deny this Reality.

On the other hand, the Qur’an can be viewed as a clear, undistorted

communication from the Divine Intelligence offering the guidance needed to

reach our full human potential, social harmony, and God-consciousness. One

irony is that one need not even become a Muslim, in the sociological sense, to

live in harmony with or value the Qur’an’s guidance and message. Since, for

instance, Jesus is viewed as a prophet of God, just as Muhammad is, there can

be no essential conflict between the way of Jesus and the way of Muhammad.

Any Christian who does not literally subscribe to certain beliefs (the Trinity, the

Incarnation, the Redemption, Original Sin, and the limited, magical

understanding of the sacraments), from the point of view of the Qur’an such a

“Christian” is in fact a “Muslim.” Jesus’ message of Love, service, morality,

social justice, and union with God comes through clearer than ever. Anyone who

takes the message of the Qur’an seriously must accept the previous messengers

of God–both those we know and those we don’t know.

The universal spirituality revealed in the Qur’an having been glimpsed, what

remains to be discussed is the particular grace operating through the specific

forms of the Islamic revelation: ritual prayer, fasting, Qur’anic recitation, the

human example of the Prophet Muhammad, the names of God, and the Sufi

practices that have been revealed over the centuries.

Explaining the Difference between Sufism and Islam

Islam is a dogmatic and monotheistic religion founded by Prophet Muhammad

about 1400 years ago on the basis of revelations of Allah contained in the holy

book of Quran. Islam is a strictly enforced way of life according to dictates of

Quran and Hadith (subsequent explanations of Muhammad’s sayings) that every

believer of Islam is mandated to follow. Islam believes there is only one God

and that is Allah and no other God. According to Islam the purpose of life is to

live according to Quran and Hadith and thereby serve Allah.

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Sufism, on the other hand is spiritual dimension of God-man union. Some

scholars on religion and spirituality believe Sufism is a mystical concept that

predates history, long before organised religion came in to existence. It is

claimed that the idea of Sufism has been expressed by Hindu and Christian

hermits and later influenced Islam. Nevertheless it is safe to say that Sufism has

been blossomed in the structure and practices of Islam. Some believe Sufism

among Muslims developed out of disenchantment of the materialistic and

luxurious life-styles of moneyed Muslims, especially the Umayyad Caliphate.

According to Ali Hujwiri, Ali Talib was the founder of Sufism within Islam.

Many scholars of Islam and Sufism believe that Sufism is all about

internalization of Islam that includes such practices as recitation, meditation, and

other ritualistic activities. It is also claimed by some scholars that Sufism means

emulation of the life of Muhammad, and striving to be exactly as Muhammad

was.

Differences Perception about the right Path to God

The fundamental difference between Islam and Sufism pivots around the path of

attaining union with Allah. According orthodox mainstream Islam, it is the

Quranic teachings of Muhammad, Sharia Law, and Hadith that set the guidelines

to be strictly followed by Muslims in order to attain eternal closeness with

Allah, the divine.

Differences between Islam and Sufism

Sufism, on the other hand gives less emphasis on Hadith and Shari’a, and

focuses on mystical and ritualistic practices of praising Allah.

Importance of Shari’a

The traditional orthodox Muslims believe serving Allah without strict adherence

to the Islamic Sharia law is impossible. This major Muslim block believes

Sharia is sacrosanct not only in the context or religious belief, but is at the root

of Islamic identity politics. Importance of Sharia in the collective psyche of

orthodox Muslims is so much so that it has been the point of discontent in

matters of governance of states in many democratic set-ups. Mainstream

Muslims believe any legal system other than Sharia is anti-Islam.

Followers of Sufism believe that strict adherence to Sharia is no guarantee to

attaining union with God. They believe that progressive ritual practices and

meditation would bring a Muslim in the close proximity of Allah. They also do

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not believe that Sharia should be the only legal system for Muslims, and nurses

no intolerance to democratic system.

When to Attain God

Mainstream Muslims believe that by strictly following the Qur’an and the

Hadith, a Muslim can attain divine closeness in the paradise after death. Hadith

announces priceless gifts for strict adherents to Qur’an and Hadith in paradise

after death. Believers of Sufism are of the view that by meditation and ritualistic

practices a Muslim need not wait for death, rather can embrace divine closeness

with God in this life itself.

Dimensional Difference

Differences between Islam and Sufism

Mainstream orthodox Islam is more concerned with adherence to Islamic law

and as such it is exoteric in dimension. Sufism, on the other hand emphasises on

spirituality and so has esoteric dimension.

Materialistic luxury

Mainstream Islam does not forbid materialistic pleasure and luxury, although

there are instructions in Quran to give grants and donations to the poorer

members of the community. Those who believe in Sufism voluntarily accept

poverty and celibacy, and refrain from any kind of worldly pleasure.

Spirituality

Mainstream Islam is more allied to hard-core dictates and lacks spiritual value.

The concept of Sufism, on the other hand is based upon the search for deeper

spiritual meaning of Islam. Sufism fill-up the spiritual void created by Islamic

law centric religious system. According to famous Sufi philosopher Baba Garib

Shah, Islamic law is not conducive to attaining oneness with God, but it is

Sufism that leads to God.

Viewing Hajj

Mainstream Islam believes that pilgrimage to Mecca, known as Hajj, would

purify the mind of a Muslim and would make him Hajji. But Sufism does not

believe pilgrimage to Mecca would amount to Hajj.

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Differences between Islam and Sufism

Dhikr

According to Sufis Dhikr or state of ecstasy by ritualistic practices is the way

towards God. Orthodox Muslims believe that only Muhammad could experience

such a phenomenon, and experienced God in lifetime, and no other human being

can ever experience that in lifetime.

Place of Music and Dance

In mainstream Islam, music of any kind other than chanting of Quranic verses

are disallowed. Sufism on the other hand not only takes recourse to music in

praising God, but also introduced dance in the realm of worshipping Allah.

Orthodox Muslims believe that dance and music are leisure activities and would

distract the performer from truly serving God.

Summary

1. Mainstream Islam believes adherence to Quran is the only way to serve

God, whereas Sufis believe in mystical way to finding God.

2. Shari’a is viewed at very high esteem in mainstream Islam, Sufis on the

other hand give less importance to Sharia.

3. In mainstream Islam it is believed that union with God is possible in the

afterlife, Sufis hold that divine closeness can be embraced in this life

itself.

4. Orthodox Islam lacks spirituality, Sufism focuses on spirituality.

Differences between Islam and Sufism

5. Mainstream Islam views pilgrimage to Mecca as Hajj, Sufism does not

subscribe to that view.

6. Sufis believe dhikr or state of ecstasy leads to God, whereas mainstream

Islam believes the phenomenon was experienced only by Muhammad,

and nobody else can ever experience it.

7. Music and dance as methods of worship are forbidden in mainstream

Islam, but Sufis view music and dance as more fruitful exercises in

praising God.

Sufism in the Modern World

In the modern period, many Muslims have sought a recovery of authentic

Islamic teachings and practices, not least to fend off Western hegemony. Some

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have responded largely in political terms, and others have tried to revive Islam's

inner life. Among most of the politically minded, Sufism became the scapegoat

through which Islam's “backwardness” could be explained. In this view, Sufism

is the religion of the common people and embodies superstition and un-Islamic

elements adopted from local cultures; Islam must reclaim its birthright, which

includes modern science and technology, by the eradication of Sufism. Until

recently, most Western observers have considered the modernist reformers to be

“Islam's hope to enter the modern age,” but this view has been tempered by the

increasing awareness that fundamentalism and extreme forms of Islamist

political activism are the logical conclusions of modernist thought. In the

meantime, various Sufi teachers have been working to revive the Islamic

heritage by focusing on what they consider to be the root cause of every

disorder—forgetfulness of God. (For information on contemporary Sufi

organizations and related subjects, see the website of Alan Godlas at the

University of Georgia, godlas.myweb.uga.edu).

Parallel to the revival of Sufism in the Islamic world has been the spread of Sufi

teachings to the West. In America, drunken Sufism was introduced in the early

twentieth century by the Chishtī shaykh and musician, Inayat Khan (1882–

1927); his teachings were continued by his son, Pir Vilayet Inayat Khan (1916–

2004), who was a frequent lecturer on the New Age circuit. In Europe, sober

Sufism gained a wide audience among intellectuals through the writings of the

French mathematician and metaphysician René Guénon (d. 1951). More

recently, hundreds of volumes have been published in Western languages

addressed both to Muslims and to non-Muslim seekers of Sufi wisdom, and

these reflect the range of perspectives found in the original texts, from sobriety

to intoxication. Numerous websites have also appeared, usually championing

one order or one shaykh over others. Much of this newly available material has

been produced by authentic representatives of Sufi silsilahs, but much has been

written by people who have adopted Sufism in order to justify teachings of

questionable origin.

Contemporary representatives of sober Sufism writing for a Western audience

emphasize knowledge, discernment, and differentiation, typically while stressing

the importance of the Shari’ah. Best known in this group is Frithjof Schuon

(1907–1998), who was a shaykh of the Shādhilīyah-ʿAlawīyah order of North

Africa. The main thrust of his more than twenty books is a theory of world

religions based on the idea of a universal esoterism, the Islamic form of which is

Sufism. Titus Burckhardt (1908–1984) represents a similar perspective, though

many of his writings are more explicitly grounded in traditional Sufi teachings.

Martin Lings (1909–2005), who also published as Abū Bakr Sirāj ed-Dīn,

presents a picture of Sufism that is intellectually rigorous but firmly grounded in

explicit Islamic teachings. The Iranian scholar Seyyed Hossein Nasr (b. 1933)

15

stresses intellectual discernment more than love and insists that there is no

Sufism without the sharīʿah. The books of the Turkish Cerrahi leader Muzaffer

Ozak (1916–1985) present sharīʿah-oriented Sufism that is much more focused

on love than on intellectual discernment. The Naqshbandī master Nazim al-

Qubrusi stresses love and often discusses the shariatic basis of Sufism. The

Iranian Nīʿmatallāhī leader Jāvād Nurbakhsh has written several useful

anthologies of classic Sufi texts; his own perspective is from the side of

intoxication, with emphasis on the oneness of being and the achievement of

union with God. Even more from the side of love and intoxication are the works

of Guru Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (d. 1986), who presents a synthesis of Sufism and

Hindu teachings.

The Creed of Islam

Islam means submitting to God's Will and accepting that there is no God but one

God and Muhammad is the Messenger of God, peace and blessings upon him, as

are Jesus, Moses, Abraham, Noah and Adam, peace be upon them all.

What is faith according to Islam?

Faith is believing in:

One God

In the existence of spiritual beings known as angels

In the revelations of God (the Testaments), the Psalms revealed to David,

the Torah sent down to Moses, the New Testament brought to Jesus and

the Last Testament, Qur'an brought to Muhammad (peace be upon them

all)

all the prophets that were sent as mercy to mankind

The Judgement Day and Resurrection

The Divine Decree (destiny)

What is Sufism?

Sufism is the way of purifying the heart from bad manners and characteristics

How is Sufism related to Islam?

It is the path of spirituality that exists in Islam. Its meaning is:

Seeking the pleasure of God

Love and peace with one's self

Harmony with all creations (mankind, animals, and nature)

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To be dressed with the beautiful attributes of Prophets and Saints

How does Islam view other religions?

All are vehicles and a path to God's Divine Presence;

According to Islam, all religions are originally from God the Exalted.

With time and man's weakness, most religions were distorted from their

original truth and adopted practicing of idol-worship or other wrong

beliefs, which turned people away from worship and adoration of the one

true God.

You will find the essence of other religions embodied in the beliefs of

Islam.

How does one enter Islam?

One enters Islam by believing in one's heart in the existence of One Lord and

believing in Muhammad (peace and blessings upon him) as the last of the

Prophets that the Lord has sent throughout history.

What is a Shaykh?

A Shaykh is someone who has inherited what the prophets brought and who is

authorized to convey these teachings and secrets to those who take his hand as

teacher. A true Shaykh is the one that has mastered his lower self's bad

characteristics through devotion and sincerity towards His Lord. For that reason

he is able to guide his students to mastery of their own lower selves, opening the

way to reach unlimited potential of their spiritual realities. It is that spiritual

reality which allows one to attain 6 powers:

The power of attraction

The power of concentration on the heart

The power of guidance

The power to convey other people’s burdens and requests to God

The power to convey blessings

How does one reach spiritual levels in Sufism?

The main methods of attaining spiritual progress in Sufism are:

Following the guidance and instructions of an authorized Shaykh or guide.

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Performing dhikr, the remembrance of your Lord through reciting his

Holy Names and Attributes, glorifying Him and praising the Creator of

all.

Attending the advice and dhikr gatherings held in the presence of the

Shaykh or his representative; sitting together, praying together,

welcoming all that come to praise their Lord.

Positive or Negative Criticism

Specialists have reached no consensus as to the nature of Sufism. Those who

take seriously the self-understanding of the Sufi authorities usually picture

Sufism as an essential component of Islam. Those who are hostile toward

Sufism, or hostile toward Islam but sympathetic toward Sufism, or sceptical of

any self-understanding by the objects of their study, typically describe Sufism as

a movement that was added to Islam after the prophetic period. The diverse

theories of Sufism's nature and origins proposed by modern and premodern

scholars cannot be summarized here. One can only suggest that most of Sufism's

own theoreticians have understood it to be the living spirit of the Islamic

tradition. One of the greatest Sufi teachers, al-Ghazālī (d. 1111), summarizes

Sufism's role in the title of his magnum opus: Iḥyāʿ ʿulūm al-dīn (giving life to

the sciences of the religion).

Understood as Islam's life-giving core, Sufism is coextensive with Islam.

Wherever there have been Muslims, there have been Sufis. If there was no

phenomenon called “Sufism” at the time of the Prophet, neither was there

anything called “fiqh” or “kalām” in the later senses of these terms. All these

names came to be applied to fields of learning and institutional forms that

appeared once the tradition became diversified and elaborated.

In historical terms, it is useful to think of Sufism on two levels. On the first

level—which is the primary focus of the Sufi authorities themselves—Sufism

has no history, because it is the invisible, life-giving force of the Muslim

community. On the second level—which concerns both Muslim authors and

modern historians—Sufism's presence is made known through observable

characteristics of people and society or specific institutions. Sufi authors who

looked at Sufism on the second level wanted to describe how the great Muslims

achieved the goal of human life, which is nearness to God (qurb). Their typical

genre was hagiography, which aims at bringing out the extraordinary human

qualities of those who achieve divine nearness. In contrast, Muslim opponents of

Sufism have been anxious to show that Sufism is a distortion of Islam, and they

have happily seized upon any opportunity to associate Sufism with unbelief and

moral laxity (see Carl Ernst, Words of Ecstasy in Sufism, Albany, 1985, pp.

117ff.).

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The frequent attacks on Sufism have many causes, not least of which is the

social and political influence of Sufi teachers, which often threatened the power

and privileges of the jurists and even the rulers. Although the great Sufi

authorities set down guidelines for keeping Sufism at the heart of the Islamic

tradition, popular religious movements that aimed to intensify religious fervour

sometimes disregarded Islamic norms and were often associated with Sufism.

Whether or not members of these movements considered themselves Sufis,

opponents of Sufism were happy to claim that their excesses represented

Sufism's true nature. The Sufi authorities themselves frequently criticized false

Sufis, and the dangers connected with losing contact with the ahistorical core of

Sufism could only increase when much of Sufism became institutionalized

through the Sufi orders (see, for example, the criticisms by a sixteenth-century

Sufi in Michael Winter, Society and Religion in Early Ottoman Egypt: Studies

in the Writings of ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Shaʿrānī, New Brunswick, N.J., 1982, pp.

102ff.). If Sufism is essentially invisible and ahistorical, the problem faced by

those who study specific historical phenomena is how to judge the degree to

which these deserve the name. The Sufi authorities typically answer that the

criteria of authentic Sufism are found in correct action and correct

understanding, and these are rooted in the Qur’an and the sunnah.

As a Qur’anic name for the phenomenon that often came to be called Sufism,

some authors have chosen the term iḥsān, “doing what is beautiful,” a divine and

human quality about which the Qur’an says a good deal, particularly that God

loves those who possess it. In the famous Hadīth of Gabriel, the Prophet

describes iḥsān as the innermost dimension of Islam, after Islam (“submission”

or correct activity) and iman (“faith” or correct understanding). Iḥsān is a

deepened understanding and perception that, in the words of this Hadīth, allows

you “to worship God as if you see him.” This means that Sufis strive to be aware

of God's presence in both the world and themselves and to act appropriately.

Historically, Islam became manifest through the Shari’ah and jurisprudence,

whereas iman became institutionalized through kalâm and other forms of

doctrinal teachings. In the same way, iḥsān revealed its presence mainly through

Sufi teachings and practices (see Murata and Chittick).

By codifying the Shari’ah, jurisprudence delineates the manner in which people

should submit their activities to the instructions of the Qur’an and the sunnah.

Kalâm defines the contents of Islamic faith while providing a rational defence

for Qur’an teachings about God. Sufism focuses on giving full due to both

submission and faith, so it functions on two levels—theory (corresponding to

iman) and practice (corresponding to Islam). On the theoretical level, Sufism

explains the rationale for both faith and submission. Its explanations differ from

those of kalâm both in perspective and focus, but they are no less carefully

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rooted in the sources of the tradition. On the practical level, Sufism explains

how Muslims can strengthen their understanding and observance of Islam in

order to find God's presence in themselves and the world. It intensifies Islamic

ritual life through careful attention to the details of the sunnah and by focusing

on the remembrance of God (dhikr), which is commanded by the Qur’an and the

Hadīth and taken by Sufi authors as the raison d’être of Islamic ritual. Dhikr

typically takes the form of the methodical repetition of certain names of God or

Qur’an formulae, such as the first Shahādah. In communal gatherings, Sufis

usually perform dhikr aloud, rhythmically and sometimes with musical

accompaniment. In some Sufi groups, these communal sessions became the

basic ritual, with a corresponding neglect of various aspects of the sunnah. At

this point, Sufi practice became suspect not only in the eyes of the jurists, but

also in the eyes of other Sufis.

Like other branches of Islamic learning, Sufism has been passed down from

master (typically called a shaykh) to disciple, and the chain of transmission

(silsilah) leading back to the Prophet has been considered an important part of

the master's credentials. His oral teachings give life to the articles of faith, and

without his transmission, methodical performance of dhikr is considered invalid

if not dangerous. The typical initiation rite is modelled on the handclasp known

as bayʿat al-riḍwān (the oath-taking of God's good pleasure) that the Prophet

made with his Companions at al-Ḥudaybīyah, referred to in the Qur’an, surahs

48:10 and 48:18. The rite is understood to transmit an invisible spiritual force or

blessing (barakah) that makes possible the transformation of the disciple's soul.

The master's fundamental concern—as in other forms of Islamic learning—is to

shape the character (khuluq) of the disciple so that it conforms with the

prophetic model.

If moulding the character of students and disciples was a universal concern of

Muslim teachers, the Sufis developed a science of human character traits

(akhlāq) that had no parallels in jurisprudence or kalâm, though the philosophers

knew something similar. Ibn al-ʿArabī (d. 1240), Sufism's greatest theoretician,

described Sufism as “assuming the character traits of God” (Chittick, 1989, p.

283). Since God created human beings in his own image, they have the duty to

actualize the divine traits that are latent in their souls. This helps explain the

great attention that Sufi authorities devote to the “stations” (maqāmāt) of

spiritual ascent on the path to God and the “states” (aḥwāl) or psychological

vagaries that spiritual travellers may undergo in their attempt to pass through the

stations.

Sufi theory offered a theological perspective that was far more attractive to the

most Muslims than was kalâm, which was an academic exercise with little

practical impact on most people. From the beginning, the kalâm experts

20

attempted to explain Qur’anic teachings in rational terms. In keeping with the

inherent tendency of reason to discern and differentiate, kalâm fastened on all

those Qur’anic verses that assert the transcendence and otherness of God. When

faced with verses that assert God's immanence and presence, kalâm explained

them away through forced interpretations (taʿwīlāt). As H. A. R. Gibb has

pointed out, “The more developed theological systems were largely negative and

substituted for the vivid personal relation between God and man presented by

the Qur’an an abstract and depersonalized discussion of logical concepts”

(Mohammedanism, London, 1961, p. 127). Ibn al-ʿArabī made a similar point

when he said that if Muslims had been left only with theological proofs, none of

them would have ever loved God (Chittick, 1989, p. 180).

The Qur’an speaks of God with a wide variety of terminology that can be

conveniently summarized as God's “most beautiful names” (al-asmāʿ al-ḥusnā).

For the most part, kalâm stresses those names that assert God's severity,

grandeur, distance, and aloofness. Although many early expressions of Sufism

went along with the dominant attitudes in kalâm, another strand of Sufi thought

became predominant by the eleventh or twelfth century, focusing on divine

names that speak of nearness, sameness, similarity, concern, compassion, and

love. The Sufi teachers emphasized the personal dimensions of the relationship

between the divine and the human, agreeing with the kalâm authorities that God

was distant, but holding that his simultaneous nearness was more important. The

grand theological theme of the Sufis is epitomized in the Hadīth qudsī (holy

Hadīth [tradition]) in which God says, “My mercy takes precedence over my

wrath,” which is to say that God's nearness is more real than his distance.

If kalâm and jurisprudence depended on reason to establish categories and

distinctions, the Sufis depended upon another faculty of the soul to bridge gaps

and make connections. Many of them called this faculty “imagination” (khayāl)

and understood it to be the soul's power to perceive the presence of God in all

things. They read literally the Qur’anic verse, “Wherever you turn, there is the

face of God” (2:115), and they found a reference to imagination in the “as if” of

the Prophet's definition of iḥsān—“It is to worship God as if you see him.”

Through methodical concentration on the face of God as revealed in the Qur’an,

Sufis attempted to remove the “as if” and to achieve “unveiling” (kashf      ), the

generic term for suprarational vision of God in the world and the soul. Ibn al-

ʿArabī asserts that unveiling is superior to reason, but he also insists that reason

provides the indispensable checks and balances without which it is impossible to

differentiate among divine, angelic, psychic, and satanic inrushes of imaginal

knowledge.

The most characteristic emphasis of the Sufi teachers is on the need to love God.

One of their favourite Qur’anic passages is surah5:54: “He loves them, and they

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love Him.” Typical Qur’anic rhetoric highlights God's greatness and human

smallness, God's wisdom and human ignorance, God's lordship and human

servitude, but here the Qur’an attributes love to both sides—even if God's love

necessarily precedes human love, just as grace precedes good works. It was lost

on no one that the goal of love is union with the beloved, and this led to endless

meditations on the nature of the nearness that is to be achieved by responding to

God's love. It was understood that God already loves human beings, so much so

that he is nearer to them “than the jugular vein” (surah50:16), but, for human

beings to love God in return, they must heed the call in the verse, “Say [to the

people, O Muhammad!]: If you love God, follow me, and God will love you”

(surah3:31). Here is the rationale for following the sunnah: lovers of God are

attempting to achieve an intimate nearness. This is made explicit by the often

quoted authentic ḥadīth qudsī, “My servant draws near to Me through nothing I

love more than that which I have made obligatory for him, and My servant never

ceases drawing near to Me through supererogatory works until I love him. Then,

when I love him, I am his hearing through which he hears, his eyesight through

which he sees, his hand through which he grasps, and his foot through which he

walks.”

Sufi Orders

Sufi orders represent one of the most important forms of personal piety and

social organization in the Islamic world. In most areas, an order is called a

tariqah (pl. turuq), which is the Arabic word for “path” or “way.” The term

tariqah is used for both the social organization and the special devotional

exercises that are the basis of the order's ritual and structure. As a result, the Sufi

orders or Tariqahs include a broad spectrum of activities in Muslim history and

society.

From its inception, Islam had mystical elements that were integral to the

spiritual lives of the faithful. There were pious mystics who developed their

personal spiritual paths involving devotional practices, recitations, and literature

of piety. These mystics, or Sufis, sometimes came into conflict with authorities

in the Islamic community and provided an alternative to the more legalistic

orientation of many of the ʿulamāʿ (scholars). However, Sufis gradually became

important figures in the religious life of the general population and began to

gather around themselves groups of followers who were identified and bound

together by the special mystic path of the teacher. By the twelfth century (the

fifth century in the Islamic era), these paths began to provide the basis for more

permanent fellowships, and Sufi orders emerged as major social organizations in

the Islamic community.

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The orders have taken a variety of forms throughout the Islamic world. These

range from the simple preservation of the tarīqah as a set of devotional exercises

to vast interregional organizations with carefully defined structures. The orders

also include the short-lived organizations that developed around particular

individuals and more long-lasting structures with institutional coherence. The

orders are not restricted to particular classes, although the orders in which the

educated urban elite participated often had different perspectives from the orders

that reflected a more broadly based popular piety, and specific practices and

approaches varied from region to region.

Sufi orders were characterized by central prescribed rituals, which involved

regular meetings for recitations of prayers, poems, and selections from the

Qur’an. These meetings were usually described as acts of “remembering God”

or dhikr. In addition, daily devotional exercises for the followers were also set,

as were other activities of special meditation, asceticism, and devotion. Some of

the special prayers of early Sufis became widely used, while the structure and

format of the ritual was the distinctive character provided by the individual who

established the tarīqah. The founder was the spiritual guide for all followers in

the order, who would swear a special oath of obedience to him as their shaykh or

teacher. As orders continued, the record of the transmission of the ritual would

be preserved in a formal chain of spiritual descent, called a silsilah, which stated

that the person took the order from a shaykh who took it from another shaykh

and so on in a line extending back to the founder, and then usually beyond the

founder to the Prophet Muhammad. As orders became firmly established,

leadership would pass from one shaykh to the next, sometimes within a family

line and sometimes on the basis of spiritual seniority/mastery within the tarīqah.

At times, a follower would reach a sufficient degree of special distinction that

his prayers would represent a recognized sub branch within a larger order; at

other times, such a follower might be seen as initiating a whole new tarīqah.

Within all this diversity, it is difficult to provide a simple account of the

development of Sufi orders, but at least some of the main features of the

different types of orders and their development can be noted.

Premodern Foundations

Different types of orders developed in the early centuries of tarīqah formation.

These provide important foundations for the Sufi orders of the modern era.

Large inclusive traditions

The large inclusive tarīqah tradition has a clearly defined core of devotional

literature. In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, some major figures emerged as

the organizers of orders that were to become the largest in the Islamic world. In

23

some cases, the orders may actually have been organized by the immediate

followers of the “founders,” but these teachers represent the emergence of large-

scale orders. The most frequently noted of these early orders is the Qādirīyah,

organized around the teachings of ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī (d. 1166) of Baghdad;

it grew rapidly and became the most widespread of the orders. Two other major

orders originating in this era are the Suhrawardīyah, based on the teachings and

organization of Abū al-Najīb al-Suhrawardī (d. 1168) and his nephew, Shihāb

al-Dīn al-Suhrawardī (d. 1234); and the Rifāʿīyah, representing the tarīqah of

Aḥmad al-Rifāʿī (d. 1182). By the thirteenth century, increasing numbers of

Tariqahs were being organized in the traditions of great teachers. Many of these

were of primarily local or regional influence, but some became as widespread as

the earlier orders. Among the most important of these are the Shādhilīyah

(established by Abū al-Ḥasan al-Shādhilī, d. 1258) in Egypt and North Africa,

and the Chishtīyah (Muʿīn al-Dīn Chishtī, d. 1142) in Central and South Asia.

These large Tariqahs are an important type of order representing a coherent

tradition based on a central core of writings by the founder. Within these broad

traditions over the centuries, later teachers would arise and create their own

particular variants, but these would continue to identify with the main tradition.

For example, throughout the Islamic world there are distinctive branches of the

Qādirīyah, but these are generally identified as part of the Qādirīyah tradition, as

is the case with the Bakkāʿīyah established by Aḥmad al-Bakkāʿī al-Kuntī (d.

1504) in West Africa, or the various branches of the Ghawthīyah originating

with Muḥammad Ghawth (d. 1517) in South Asia. This process of creating

independent suborders continues to the present and can be seen in the variety of

relatively new Tariqahs in the traditions of the early orders, often identified with

compound names, such as the Ḥāmidīyah Shādhilīyah of contemporary Egypt.

Orders based on “Ancient Ways.”

A second major style of Sufi order developed within less clearly defined

traditions that appealed to the early Sufis and used some of their prayers and

writings but developed their own distinctive identities. Many tarīqah organizers

thus traced their inspiration back to early Sufis like Abū al-Qāsim al-Junayd (d.

910) or Abū Yazīd al-Bisṭāmī (d. 874). One may speak of the Junaydī tradition

and the “way of Junayd” as insisting on constant ritual purity and fasting, or of

the more ecstatic mood in the tradition of al- Bisṭāmī. However, the great

Junaydī or Bisṭāmī orders are independent and have their own separate

traditions. Among the most important Junaydī orders are the Kubrawīyah and

the Mawlawīyah; orders such as the Yasawīyah and Naqshbandīyah are seen as

being more in the Bisṭāmī tradition. Within the broader framework of affirming

inspiration and instruction by a chain of teachers that stretches back to the early

Sufis, new orders continue to be created.

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Individual-based orders.

A third type of major order is the tarīqah that develops as a result of the

initiatives and teachings of a later teacher and has its own clear identity. These

teachers usually affirmed their ties to earlier teachers and Tariqahs, but in some

significant ways they proclaimed the unique validity of their particular tarīqah.

Sometimes this took the form of an affirmation that the new tarīqah was a

synthesis of preceding Tariqahs; sometimes the claim for authority was based on

direct inspiration from the Prophet Muḥammad, in which case the order might

be called a tarīqah Muḥammadīyah, or from some other special agent of God,

for example al-Khiḍr orders of this type have been very important in the modern

Muslim world and include the Tijānīyah, the Khatmīyah, and the Sanūsīyah.

Shrine Tariqahs

Local orders centred on particular shrines or families represent another very

important type of tarīqah. Teachers with special reputations for sanctity might

develop significant followings during their lifetime, but their writings and work

might not provide the basis for the development of for a larger order. Tombs of

such pious teachers throughout the Muslim world have been important focuses

of popular piety, and the rituals surrounding the ceremonies of remembrance and

homage become a local tarīqah. Sometimes these might be indirectly identified

with some more general Sufi tradition, but the real impact and identity is local.

The special centres of popular piety in North Africa that have developed around

the tombs of the marabouts, or the various centres of pilgrimage that developed

in Central Asia and even survived the policies of suppression by the former

Soviet regime, provide good examples of this style of tarīqah.

Foundations of the Modern Orders

Many observers have proclaimed the effective end of the Sufi orders in the

modern era. A major French authority on medieval Sufism, for example,

announced in the middle of the twentieth century that the orders were “in a state

of complete decline” and that they faced “the hostility and contempt of the elite

of the modern Muslim world” (Massignon, 1953, p. 574). This reflects both the

long historical tension between the Muslim urban intellectual elites and the

Tariqahs and also the specifically modern belief that mystic religious experience

and modernity were incompatible. However, by the end of the twentieth century

it was clear that Sufi orders remained a dynamic part of the religious life of the

Islamic world; moreover, they were at the forefront of the expansion of Islam,

not only in “traditional” rural areas but also in modern societies in the West and

among the modernized intellectual elites within the Muslim world. These

25

apparently contradictory views reflect the complex history and development of

Tariqahs since the eighteenth century.

There is an underlying continuity of experience in the Sufi orders that provides

an important backdrop to specific modern developments. The rituals of popular

piety among Muslims—educated and uneducated, rural and urban—cannot be

ignored. Although over the past three centuries educated Muslims have paid less

attention to the more miraculous and magical elements of saint visitation and

other aspects of popular Sufi piety, the intellectual appeal of Islamic mysticism

has remained strong, and the sense of social cohesion provided by the Sufi

organizations has been important, especially in areas like the Muslim Central

Asian societies of the former Soviet Union. Popular participation in regular Sufi

gatherings and support for various types of Tariqahs remain at remarkably high

levels throughout the Muslim world. Estimates of membership in Sufi orders in

Egypt, for example, are in the millions, in contrast to the hundreds or thousands

in the more militant Islamic revivalist organizations.

Popular Islamic piety among all classes of people remains strong throughout the

modern era and shows little sign of decline at the beginning of the twenty-first

century. This popular piety frequently is expressed participation in the activities

of Tariqahs or other groups reflecting Sufi approaches to the faith. However, the

activities of the organizations of this popular piety do not usually attract much

attention, despite their long-term importance. This situation provides the proper

background for examining the specific experiences of the more visible Sufi

orders of the modern era.

The history of Tariqahs in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries provides an

important foundation for understanding the dynamics of the recent development

of Sufi orders. Sufi organizations and leadership from this period remain

significant in setting the discourse and defining the issues of Islamic piety in the

modern era.

Some modern scholars argue that a number of new initiatives can be seen in the

development of the Sufi organizations and thought of the early modern era.

Among some Sufi teachers there were efforts to remove the more ecstatic and

pantheistic elements of the Sufi tradition and to create more reform-oriented

Sufi organizations and practices. Fazlur Rahman called this tendency “neo-

Sufism” (Islam, Chicago, 1979), a term that came to be used by other scholars as

well. “Neo-Sufism” referred to a mood rather than making any claim that the

term represented a monolithic school of Sufi thought. Other scholars have

tended to reject the term because it seemed to ignore important continuities in

Sufi traditions and seemed to assume a greater degree of similarity among

movements than might exist.

26

Regardless of the details of the debate, in the eighteenth century the broad

spectrum of Sufi orders and practices extended from the local varieties of

popular folk religion to a more sober and sometimes reformist Sufi leadership

that did not approve of the popular cultic practices. Whether or not one calls the

latter approach “neo-Sufism” is less important than it is to recognize that the less

ecstatic and more Shari’ah-minded Sufism existed and that it provided the basis

for emerging Tariqahs important in the modern era. These orders represented a

“new organizational phenomenon” of orders that were “relatively more

centralized and less prone to fission than their predecessors” (O’Fahey, 1990, p.

4).

In the context of Islamic societies in the eighteenth century, immediately before

the major encounter with the modernizing West, Sufi orders were a significant

part of the social fabric throughout the Islamic world. They provided vehicles

for the expression of the faith of urban elites, served as networks for

interregional interaction and travel, acted as an effective inclusive structure for

the missionary expansion of Islam, and in some ways shaped the context within

which movements of puritanical reform or spiritual revival developed.

Elite Tariqahs

In the large urban centres in regions where Islam was the established faith of the

overwhelming majority of the population, the orders were vehicles for the

expression of piety among both the masses and the elites. New presentations of

the old traditions, such as the Qādirīyah, Shādhilīyah, and Khalwatīyah, were

important in places like Cairo. By the eighteenth century the larger orders of all

types were expanding into many different regions.

The history of the Naqshbandīyah in the Middle East provides an important

example of this development. It spread from Central and South Asia into

Ottoman lands in at least two different forms—that of Aḥmad Sirhindī (d. 1625),

called the Mujaddid or (Renewer) of the second millennium, and the earlier line

of ʿUbaydullāh Aḥrār. By the eighteenth century, notables in the tarīqah were

prominent in Istanbul and other major Ottoman cities like Damascus, where the

great Ḥanafī muftī and historian Muḥammad Khalīl al-Murādī (d. 1791) was a

scion of a family associated with the Naqshbandīyah. At the beginning of the

nineteenth century, Shaykh Khālid al-Baghdādī (d. 1827) of the Mujaddidī line

led a major movement of revival in the lands of the Fertile Crescent; the

activities of the Khālidī branch established the Naqshbandīyah as “the

paramount order in Turkey” (Hamid Algar, “Nakshbandīya,” Encyclopaedia of

Islam, new ed., 1960–, vol. 7, p. 936).

27

Interregional networks

The Naqshbandīyah also presents a good example of how the orders provided

structures for interregional networks among the ʿulamāʿ and commercial classes.

Students, pilgrims, and travellers could move from city to city, finding shelter

and instruction in the Naqshbandī centers. One such person was a Chinese

scholar, Ma Mingxin (d. 1781), who travelled and studied in major Naqshbandī

centres in Central Asia, Yemen, and Mecca and Medina. Combined networks of

commercial activities and pious instruction can be seen in the activities of

family-based Tariqahs like the ʿAydarusīyah, the order of an important family in

the Hadramawt region in the south Arabian Peninsula, the ʿAydarus, with

branches in the islands of Southeast Asia, India, South Arabia, and Cairo. The

lists of teachers of scholars in the eighteenth century show that major intellectual

figures often received devotional instruction in broad interregional networks of

Sufi masters.

Missionary expansion

Sufi orders had also long been vehicles in the missionary expansion of Islam.

The less legalistic approach to the faith of Sufi teachers often involved an

adaptation to specific local customs and practices. This helped Islam to become

a part of popular religious activity with a minimum of conflict. At the same

time, the traditions of the Sufi devotions represented ties to the broad Islamic

world that could integrate the newer believers into the identity of the Islamic

community as a whole. In this way, orders like the Qādirīyah played a

significant role in the expansion of Islam in Africa. In Sudan, for example, its

decentralized structure allowed specific regional and tribal leaders to assume

roles of leadership within the order. In Southeast Asia, the Tariqahs were also

important in providing a context within which existing religious customs could

be combined with more explicitly Islamic activities. Thus orders like the

Shaṭṭārīyah became major forces in the Islamic life of peoples in Java and

Sumatra. This missionary dimension was visible wherever Islam was expanding

in the eighteenth century—in Africa, south eastern Europe, and central,

southern, and south eastern Asia.

Puritan reformism.

Sufi orders also helped to provide concepts of organization for groups actively

engaged in efforts to “purify” religious practice and revive the faith. Although

the best-known eighteenth-century revivalist movement, Wahhābīyah, was

vigorously opposed to the Sufi orders, most revivalists in fact had some

significant Sufi affiliations. In West Africa, the leaders of movements to

establish more explicitly Islamic states in Futa Jallon and Futa Toro, in the areas

28

of modern Senegal and Guinea, were associated with important branches of the

Qādirīyah. The great jihād at the beginning of the nineteenth century in northern

Nigeria and neighbouring territories was led by Usman dan Fodio, a teacher

closely identified with the Qādirīyah. At the other end of the Islamic world of

the eighteenth century, the reformist movement called the “New Teaching” that

swept through Northwest China in the late eighteenth century was the

Naqshbandīyah as presented by Ma Mingxin. In many other areas as well, Sufi

orders were associated with the development of reformist and jihadist

movements of purification.

The developments of the eighteenth century provide important foundations for

later events in Islamic life in general and in the history of Sufi orders in

particular. It was the Islamic world as it existed in the eighteenth and early

nineteenth century, not some classical medieval formulation, that encountered

the expanding and modernizing West. In those encounters the Sufi orders played

an important role, which sometimes does not receive as much attention as do the

activities of more radical movements or movements more explicitly shaped and

influenced by the West.

Sufi Orders in the Modern Era

In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the different Sufi traditions were

involved in many different ways in helping to shape Muslim responses to the

West and also in defining Islamic forms of modernity. At the same time,

although in changing contexts, many of the main themes of the older

experiences of the orders continue. Among the many aspects of the history of

Sufi orders in the modern era, it is important to examine a number more closely:

the Sufi orders continued to serve as an important basis for popular devotional

life; they were important forces in responding to imperial rule; they helped to

provide organizational and intellectual inspiration for Muslim responses to

modern challenges to the faith; and they continued to be an important force in

the mission of Muslims to non-Muslims.

Popular piety

Tariqahs remained very important in the life of popular piety among the masses;

however, this important level of popular devotional life is not as visible in the

public arena as the more activist roles of the orders. New orders continued to

emerge around respected teachers and saintly personalities important in the daily

lives of common people. Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth century it is

possible to identify such orders in virtually all parts of the Islamic world. It is

especially important to observe that these new devotional paths were not simply

the products of rural, conservative, or so-called “traditional” people.

29

An example is the career of Qarīb Allāh Abū Ṣāliḥ (1866–1936), a pious teacher

in Omdurman, Sudan, and a member of the Sammānīyah tarīqah, an order

established in the eighteenth century within the Khalwatīyah tradition. He

participated in the Mahdist movement in the late nineteenth century and during

the early twentieth century attracted disciples from both the poorer people and

the emerging modern educated classes in Sudan. His devotional writings and

mystic poetry were published and became an important part of the modern

literature of Sudan. The Qarībīyah was not politically active as an organization,

although its members may have been politically involved as individuals.

Across the Islamic world, similar groups have emerged as a pious foundation for

devotional life at all levels of society. Similarly, intellectuals and professionals

as well as the general population continued in significant numbers to participate

in activities of the older established orders. This phenomenon could be

observed, for example, in Cairo during the 1960s at the peak of enthusiasm for

Gamal Abdel Nasser's Arab Socialism. Although the contexts had changed since

the beginning of the nineteenth century, at the beginning of the twenty-first

century, new orders that served popular devotional needs continued to be created

and to flourish in ways that provide a sense of both great continuity and

significant adaptability to changing conditions.

Anti-foreign resistance

Sufi orders provided significant organization and support for movements of

resistance to foreign rule. This was especially true in the nineteenth century,

when many of the major wars against expanding European powers were fought

by Muslim organizations that originated with Sufi orders. At the beginning of

the nineteenth century in Sumatra, a revivalist movement building on reform

activities initiated by the Naqshbandīyah and Shaṭṭārīyah, and possibly inspired

by Wahhābī strictness or the teachings of Aḥmad ibn Idrīs, provided major

resistance to Dutch expansion in the Padri War of 1821–1838. The strongest

opposition to the French conquest of Algeria, which began in 1830, was

provided by a Qādirīyah leader, Amīr ʿAbd al-Qādir, whose resistance lasted

until 1847. In the Caucasus region, Naqshbandīyah fighters under the leadership

of Imam Shāmil maintained a holy war against Russian imperial expansion for

twenty-five years, ending in 1859. At the end of the nineteenth century, it was a

tarīqah leader, Muḥammad ʿAbd Allāh Ḥasan (1864–1921) of the Ṣāliḥīyah,

who led a major anti-imperialist holy war in Somaliland against the British. Sufi

orders provided the basis for many other movements of resistance, but these

examples confirm that the phenomenon was significant and widespread.

30

Some other Sufi orders that came into conflict with expanding European

imperialism also reflect the development of distinctive, new tarīqah traditions.

Perhaps the most important of these orders are those established by followers of

Aḥmad ibn Idrīs (d. 1837) and others influenced by this Idrīsī tradition. Ibn Idrīs

was a North African scholar who taught for several years in Mecca; some of his

major students established Tariqahs that became important orders throughout the

nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The best-known of these groups is the

Sanūsīyah, founded by Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Sanūsī (d. 1859). This order

established centres in North Africa and Saharan areas, with special centres in

Libya. It provided stability and regional coordination among nomadic tribes and

became very influential in a vast area in northern Africa. As a result, expanding

French imperial forces in many Saharan areas contacted and eventually came

into conflict with the Sanūsīyah in the later nineteenth century. When Italy

attempted to conquer Libya in the twentieth century, it was the Sanūsīyah that

provided the most effective opposition, both during the Ottoman-Italian war of

1911–1912 and after World War I. When the victorious allied powers decided to

create an independent Libya, it was the head of the Sanūsīyah who was

proclaimed Idrīs I, the king of independent Libya. The Sanūsīyah as a Sufi order

was tied to the newly created tradition of Aḥmad ibn Idrīs rather than being

solely associated with older tarīqah traditions.

Other similarly independent orders that developed in this Idrīsī tradition were

the Khatmīyah, which became one of the major Islamic organizations in the

modern Sudan; the Ṣāliḥīyah and Rashīdīyah, which were important in East

Africa; and the Idrīsīyah, established by the family of the original teacher. These

orders, along with the Sanūsīyah, represent a major Sufi tradition in the modern

era, especially in Africa. Less directly, teachers influenced by the Idrīsī tradition

had some impact in southeastern Europe and South and Southeast Asia.

Another independent Sufi tradition developed as a result of the work of Aḥmad

al-Tijānī (d. 1815). The Tijānīyah was an exclusive order that claimed to be a

synthesis of major tarīqah traditions inspired and instructed initially by the

Prophet Muḥammad himself. The order became an important force in North

Africa but did not get involved in opposition to French expansion in the

Mediterranean countries. However, the Tijānīyah expanded rapidly into Saharan

and sub-Saharan Africa. Al-Ḥajj ʿUmar Tal (d. 1864) organized a major holy

war under the Tijānīyah banner in the regions of Guinea, Senegal, and Mali;

ultimately his successful movement was restricted and then ended by the

consolidation of French imperial control in the region. However, the Tijānīyah

was more than an anti-foreign movement. It became a major vehicle for

intensification of Islamic practice in already Muslim areas and for the expansion

of Islam into non-Muslim areas. By the end of the twentieth century, the

31

Tijānīyah had become a major force throughout the Sudanic region, with

growing numbers of supporters as far east as Darfur in Sudan.

It is clear that major orders like the Sanūsīyah and Tijānīyah, which were

established in the nineteenth century, were not simply anti-imperialist

movements in Sufi form. They represented an important style of cohesive social

organization based on the traditions of tarīqah structures. They were not

necessarily alternatives to emerging modern state structures but were

autonomous within the developing polities defined as sovereign nation-states.

This alternative mode is also seen in the developments of distinctive orders

whose self-definition was more closely identified with older Sufi traditions.

Thus the Naqshbandīyah suborder established by Said Nursî in Turkey in the

twentieth century became an important vehicle for the articulation of a revivalist

Islamic worldview in the context of an officially secular state. Similarly, a

number of orders provided important foundations for the unofficial,

“underground” Islam that was so essential for the survival of the Muslim sense

of community in Central Asia under Soviet rule.

Responses to modernity

Sufi orders also were important in helping to shape the responses to the

challenges to Muslim faith in the modern era. In the nineteenth century this was

more in terms of providing organizational bases for opposition to European

expansion and in the direct continuation of the traditions of activist reformist

movements such as the Naqshbandīyah. In the twentieth century, Tariqahs

responded to specific societal needs in a variety of ways. In some countries

orders provided the direct organizational basis for modern-style political parties.

In Sudan, for example, the Khatmīyah provided the foundation for the National

Unionist Party, then the People's Democratic Party; late in the twentieth century

the head of the order was also the president of the Democratic Unionist Party. In

Senegal, the Murīdīyah provided an organization for the development of cash

crops and played an important role in modernizing the agricultural sector of the

Senegalese economy. In the days of Soviet communist rule in Central Asia, the

popular local Tariqahs and the established traditional ones like the

Naqshbandīyah provided the framework within which Islamic communal

identity could be maintained in the face of the official efforts to suppress

religion. In the holy war in Afghanistan after the Soviet occupation in 1979,

leaders of established orders like the Qīdirīyah and Naqshbandīyah

Mujaddidīyah were among the most important organizers of mujāhidīn groups.

These examples affirm the fact that in many different areas, the organizational

traditions of the Sufi orders provided important bases for responding to specific

challenges.

32

In the twentieth century, however, the role of the orders was sometimes

different. The established Tariqahs might seem ineffective in meeting particular

challenges of modernity, but the basic structures or the general approach might

still provide models for new Islamic revivalist and reformist movements.

Sufism and participation in a reform-minded tarīqah was, for example, an

important part of the early experience of Ḥasan al-Bannā (d. 1949), the founder

of one of the major modern Muslim revivalist organizations in the twentieth

century, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. As a young man, al-Bannā was

impressed by accounts of the strictness of a Sufi shaykh, Ḥasanayn al-Ḥaṣāfī (d.

1910), and became an active member of the ṭarīqah he had founded, the

Ḥaṣāfīyah. Al-Bannā was involved with the tarīqah for twenty years and

maintained a respect for this strict style of Sufism throughout his life. It appears

to have influenced his organizational thinking in terms of the methods of

instruction in his Muslim Brotherhood and the daily rituals required of its

members. Another major Islamic activist movement, the Muslim Brotherhood in

Sudan, has some similar aspects. Many of its early organizers came from

families strongly identified with tarīqahs in Sudan. The most prominent of the

leaders in the Sudanese Brotherhood in the second half of the twentieth century

is Ḥasan al-Turābī, who came from a religiously notable family whose centre

was a school-tomb complex of a traditional localized Sufi type. One of his

ancestors in the eighteenth century had proclaimed himself to be a mahdī

bringing purification to the Muslims. Turābī emphasized the continuing need for

humans to reinterpret the implications of the Islamic faith in changing historical

circumstances. One active member of Turābī's movement noted that “Turābī's

revolution” was a “reaffirmation of the ancient Sufi ethic, with its emphasis on

the spirit rather than the letter of Islam” (Abdelwahab El-Affendi, Turābī's

Revolution, London, 1991). The Sufi organizational traditions thus both

provided direct means for meeting challenges in modern situations and also

helped to inspire new approaches.

Missionary expansion.

The Sufi orders continued in the modern era to serve as important vehicles for

the expansion of Islam in basically non-Muslim societies. In many areas, this is

simply a direct continuation of past activities. In sub-Saharan Africa, for

example, under colonial rule the Sufi orders were among the few types of

indigenous social organizations that imperial administrators would allow. As a

result, they became important structures both for the expression of indigenous

opinion and for the expansion of Islam. It was under colonial rule in the late

nineteenth and twentieth centuries that Islam was able to make significant

advances in areas south of the Sudanic savannas.

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More remarkably, the Sufi orders have become important vehicles for Islamic

expansion in modern Western societies, where the open inclusiveness and the

aesthetic dimensions of the great Sufi philosophies have considerable appeal.

Sufi thought was important in influencing nineteenth-century Western

intellectuals such as Ralph Waldo Emerson; in the later twentieth century, the

writings of Idries Shah became very well-known and could be found in

bookstores that appealed to popular as well as intellectual tastes. Important

Western converts to Islam in the twentieth century were often Sufi in orientation

and institutional affiliation. The writings of Martin Lings and his description of

the tarīqah of the Tunisian Sufi shaykh Aḥmad al-ʿAlawī are significant

examples.

Sufi orders are active organizationally in Western societies. They provide a

clearly satisfying and effective vehicle for the expression of religious life and

values in modern Western societies and have an appeal among professionals and

the general population. The communities established by orders in Western

Europe and the Americas have been strengthened in the second half of the

twentieth century by the significant growth of the Muslim communities through

immigration and conversion. A good example of this tarīqah activity is the

expansion of the Niʿmatullāhī order, which by 2007 had centres in thirteen

major cities in North America, published a magazine, Sufi, and worked with

academic institutions in organizing conferences on Sufism. In ways like this,

Sufi orders continue to serve as an important means for the modern expansion of

Islam.

Challenges and Prospects

Throughout Islamic history there have been strong critics of Sufi teachers and

organizations. In one of the most famous instances, a medieval mystic, al-Ḥallāj

(d. 922), was executed for proclaiming his mystical union with God in an

extreme manner. More literalist and legalist interpreters of Islam have opposed

the practices of the Sufi orders as providing means of non-Islamic practices and

beliefs. In the eighteenth century, some of the strongest opposition to the

Tariqahs came from the developing Wahhābī movement. In the modern era,

modernizing reformers strongly criticized the orders for encouraging and

strengthening popular superstitions, and Islamic modernists attempted to reduce

the influence of Sufi shaykhs in their societies.

Such modernist opposition can be seen in actions of reformers throughout the

Islamic world. Wherever the Salafīyah modernist movement—which emerged

with the thought and actions of late nineteenth-century scholars such as

Muḥammad ʿAbduh (d. 1905) of Egypt—had influence, there was strong

opposition to the popular devotional practices and influence of the Sufi orders.

34

This can be seen in the activities and teachings of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Idrīs al-Sanūsī

(d. 1931) in Morocco, the Association of Algerian ʿUlamāʿ organized in the

1930s, the Muḥammadiyah in Indonesia throughout the twentieth century, the

Jadīdist movement within the old Russian Empire, and many other areas. In

addition, more explicitly Westernizing reform programs attempted to eliminate

the influence of the orders, best illustrated in the reforms of Mustafa Kemal

Atatürk during the 1920s and 1930s in the new republic of Turkey.

Many observers also thought that as societies became more modern and

industrialized, the social functions of the Sufi teachers and their organizations

would decline. In the mid-twentieth century, many analyses painted a picture of

reduced and possibly disappearing Sufi orders. Despite the opposition and the

predictions, however, Sufi orders continue strong in most of the Islamic world

and in communities of Muslims where they are minorities.

The Sufi orders continue to provide vehicles for articulating an inclusive Islamic

identity with a greater emphasis on individual devotional piety and small-group

experience. The contrast with the more legalist orientation with its emphasis on

the community as a whole is a long-standing polarity in Islamic history. It is

clear that the great transformations of the modern era have not destroyed the

basis for this polarity.

In the changing contexts of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries,

the traditions of the Sufi orders have special strengths in situations where there

is a high degree of religious pluralism. They allow the believer to maintain an

individual Islamic devotional identity in the absence of a national or society-

wide Muslim majority. These traditions also allow for an articulation of Islam in

a form compatible with secularist perspectives. Thus Sufism has importance in

the non-Muslim societies of Western Europe and North America. In addition, as

it becomes clear that it is not possible simply to transfer institutional copies of

Western-style associations such as labor unions, political parties, and other

nongovernmental organizations, tarīqah traditions may provide ways of adapting

modern institutions to the needs of emerging civil societies throughout the

Islamic world.

Sufi Shrine Culture

In many Muslim countries special shrines have been constructed honouring

famous Sufi leaders or “saints” who, it is believed, could work miracles during

their lives and even after their death. This kind of shrine may be called ḍarīḥ,

mazār, zāwiyah, or maqām in Arabic. In some areas it is called qubbah after the

cupola that is the most characteristic architectural element in many shrines. The

saint's tomb is the essential part of such a shrine; it is a place to which people

35

make visits to receive divine blessing (barakah). It is thus one of the focal points

of popular Islam. Consequently, Sufi shrine culture, supported enthusiastically

by common Muslims, has occasionally been criticized both by rigorous Muslim

scholars (ʿulamāʿ) and by some modern reformers as bidʿah or heretical

innovation added to authentic early Islam.

Historical Origin.

Starting as an individual ascetic movement, Sufism had become regarded as a

legitimate part of orthodox Islam by the twelfth century. Great Sufi adepts lived

according to strict discipline in their training centres or lodges, where disciples

followed the way (tariqah) of training that their master taught them. These

gatherings developed into the Sufi orders (also called Tariqahs). Drawing

recruits mainly from the illiterate masses, who had formerly lacked access to the

Islamic teaching that had been largely monopolized by scholars, Sufi orders

gradually spread over parts of the Muslim world and had become very popular

with the Muslim masses by the fifteenth or sixteenth century. Among them were

the Qādirīyah, the Rifāʿīyah, the Shādhilīyah, the Suhrawardīyah, the

Mawlawīyah, and the Aḥmadīyah. The first four established many branches in

different countries; the Mawlawīyah was centred mainly in Anatolia and the

Aḥmadīyah in the Nile Delta.

As the Sufi orders penetrated into common Muslims’ lives and influenced their

ritual behaviours, some of the Sufi leaders, usually the founders of orders or the

heads of branches, began to develop reputations as saints (awliyāʿ; sg., walī)

who had supernatural power or divine blessing (barakah) granted by God.

Through this power, it was believed, the saint could work miracles (karāmāt)

such as foretelling the future, mind-reading, flying, treating illness, and other

extraordinary acts. Devotees from both within and outside the order often visited

the saint asking for a small share of divine blessing, so that he gradually began

to be venerated as if he were a divine being. When the saint died, it was firmly

believed that he would still respond favourably to requests made at his tomb.

Therefore followers erected a special building at the site of the tomb.

Two Cases

Sufi saint shrine-culture displays great variation in factors such as the person

enshrined, the social categories of devotees, the architectural structure of the

shrine, the rituals performed in and around it, its political and economic

significance, and the form and activities of the Sufi order that provides its main

support. In order to illustrate its historical development, two examples will be

discussed. Although both come from Egypt, they exemplify respectively a

traditional, rural-based Sufi saint cult and a modern, urban-based one.

36

Sayyid al-Badawī

Aḥmad al-Badawī, also called Sayyid al-Badawī because of his presumed

descent from the Prophet, was born in Fez, Morocco, in 1199 and went to Mecca

with his family in his childhood. He later visited Iraq, where he was strongly

influenced by the thought of two other great Sufis, Aḥmad Rifāʿī and ʿAbd al-

Qādir al-Jīlānī, and by the activities of the Sufi orders that followed these

masters, the Rifāʿīyah and the Qādirīyah. Obeying a divine command received

in a vision, Aḥmad al-Badawī decided to go to Tanta, a town in the Nile Delta.

Situated in the center of a rich agricultural area, Tanta then flourished as a large

marketplace for agricultural products, as it still does today. Overcoming

challenges from other religious leaders, he won over a great number of followers

in and around the town. He was said to have worked many miracles, through one

of which his first supporter in the town was able to prosper in his business. He

was also paid homage by the great Mamlūk king, Ẓāhir Baybars, and he even

fought against the Crusaders.

Sayyid al-Badawī died in 1276. His senior pupil ʿAbd al-ʿĀl assumed

responsibility for the Aḥmadīyah and became his successor (khalīfah). The

saint's followers from every district flocked to Tanta to pledge their loyalty to

his successor; this is said to be the origin of the annual festival or mawlid of

Sayyid al-Badawī. ʿAbd al-ʿĀl commanded that a large building be erected over

the Sayyid's tomb, and this has developed into his shrine together with a large

mosque called the Masjid al-Badawī.

The mystical power of the saint began to appeal not only to the peasants and

townspeople of the Delta but also to the masses in Cairo and some parts of

Upper Egypt, and the devotees of his cult increased greatly. The Aḥmadīyah

order in due course developed into one of the four largest Sufi orders in Egypt,

and his mawlid came to be something of a national festival.

Salāmah al-Rāḍī.

The founder of the Ḥāmidīyah Shādhilīyah order was born in 1867 in a shabby

quarter of Cairo and died there in 1939. Unlike traditional saints such as Aḥmad

al-Badawī, he was born into a modern Egypt which the Western powers had

come to dominate politically and economically. Egyptian society and modern

European ideas, both religious and secular, gradually infiltrated into Muslims’

daily lives. For this reason, the Sufi orders, if they wanted to revitalize their

movements and find recruits in the emerging modernist sectors of Egyptian

society, had to deal with new problems in accommodating themselves to the

rapidly changing social and cultural conditions.

37

Having memorized the whole of the Qur’an before he was ten, Salāmah found

intellectual satisfaction in Sufi scholarship rather than in the formal school

system. While working in a government office as a clerk, he led an ascetic life

and joined a Sufi order. In response to a divine vision he decided to set up his

own ṭarīqah, the Ḥāmidīyah Shādhilīyah, which was officially recognized as an

independent ṭarīqah by the supreme Sufi council in 1926–1927.

He became venerated as a saint for his apparent miracles, which included the

excellence of his religious knowledge without a formal education, his ability to

defeat other eminent scholars in debate, and his supernatural power to see

everything, including things hidden from normal people. Some educated

members of the order, however, apparently discredited these stories of miracles,

or at least hesitated to accept them as factual.

After Salāmah's death, one of his sons, Ibrāhīm, became the head of the order.

Unlike his father, who attracted people with his personal charisma, Ibrāhīm tried

to extend the order's influence by means of structural reform. He aimed to

establish a more centralized, hierarchical organization. This reform led to the

Ḥāmidīyah Shādhilīyah’ becoming one of the Sufi orders that accommodated

most fully to social and cultural changes in modern Egypt; however, it also

stirred internal conflicts between the new elite members, recruited mainly from a

somewhat modernized middle class, and the senior leaders, who had been

attracted by the charisma of the founding saint.

The saint's tomb became one of the focal points in this conflict. Salāmah’s

shrine was first set up in the Būlāq district of Cairo where he was born and

where he established the headquarters of his ṭarīqah. After his death, a mawlid

celebration for him was held there every year. Ibrāhīm died in 1975, and the new

elite members, who organized a committee to manage and control the ṭarīqah,

began to build a large new mosque in the Muhandisīn district on the opposite

side of the Nile from Būlāq, an attractive residential area for the growing upper

and upper-middle classes. Ibrāhīm's tomb was set up in this new mosque. Beside

it they constructed a fine new tomb for Salāmah, though it remained empty in

1987 as the old members refused to move his tomb from Būlāq. Moreover, they

recognized Ibrāhīm's younger brother as head of the ṭarīqah and carried on

celebrating Salāma's mawlid separately in Būlāq; the Muhandisīn faction, of

course, held the mawlid celebration at the new mosque.

Enshrinement of Non-Sufis.

These two examples have been cases of great Sufis who are venerated as saints

and were enshrined after their death. These cases have to be distinguished from

others in which the enshrined person is not a Sufi in the strict sense.

38

First, veneration of the prophet Muhammad must be considered. According to

orthodox belief, he is not an equivalent of God but a mere man, though he is

deeply respected as the Last Prophet and the ideal human being. Often, however,

he has been venerated as though divine and similar to God by some groups of

Muslims, especially among the less-educated masses. Great numbers eagerly

visit his tomb in Medina before or after the pilgrimage to Mecca in order to

receive divine blessing. The anniversary of his birthday (the twelfth day of Rabīʿ

al-Awwal in the Islamic calendar), called Mawlid al-Nabī (the Prophet's

Birthday), has been celebrated in many cities and villages since the thirteenth

century. Visitation to his tomb and celebration of his birthday have been

conducted like those of Sufi saints. Members of the Sufi orders actively

participate in events of the Mawlid al-Nabī.

The Prophet's family is also widely respected in Muslim societies, and Shi’i

Muslims have developed especially elaborate cults of the first imam, ʿAlī, and

his descendants. Their tombs are centers of folk Shiism, and many Shi’is visit

them to receive divine blessing. ʿAlī‘s tomb in Najaf and that of his son Ḥusayn

in Karbala are the most prestigious, and these towns in Iraq have served as Shi’i

sanctuaries. Although much less famous than these, there are many smaller

shrines in Shi’i areas, especially in Iran, which are presumed to belong to one of

the imams and are generally called imāmzādah. They closely resemble Sunnī

Sufi saint shrines in their social and cultural functions.

Sunnī Muslims also revere Muḥammad's descendants and generally refer to

them as Sharif (noble person) or sayyid (lord). Some rulers of states, such as the

Moroccan and Jordanian kings, and some saints, such as Sayyid al-Badawī,

claim descent from the Prophet. Some of the Prophet's descendants are

venerated as holy in their own right and are celebrated annually in their own

mawlids. The Mawlid al-Ḥusayn, for example, is held in Cairo, and a large

number of his devotees, many of them members of Sufi orders, visit the

mosque-shrine where his head is said to be buried.

Also held in Cairo is the mawlid of Imam Shāfiʿī (d. 820), the founder of one of

the four orthodox schools of Islamic law. His shrine is set up in a shabby district

on the eastern periphery of the city. Although he was never a Sufi, people visit

his tomb to seek his mystical help, and they hold an annual celebration as they

do for a Sufi saint.

Prophets other than Muḥammad, together with some of the warrior heroes of

early Islamic history, were also enshrined and celebrated, especially in Palestine,

where there were many tombs and shrines that were presumed to belong to

them. Such biblical figures as Abraham, Moses, David, Job, and even Jesus had

one or more shrines where people came to receive divine blessing. Some of

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these shrines also held regular celebrations called mawsim (the season of

visiting). Shrines set up for heroes in battle can be found in Palestine, Jordan,

and other areas; usually such heroes are called not walī or Sufi but ṣālīḥ.

There are various types of holy places in which some natural object such as a

tree, a stone, or a cave is treated as sacred, although the ʿulamāʿ and others have

harshly criticized these practices as non-Islamic. Some of them may be related

to Sufi saint shrine culture. In a Moroccan village, for example, a grotto where a

great female spirit (jinnīyah) named ʿĀʿishah Qandīshah is said to dwell

occupies a part of the sanctuary of the Hamdūshīyah order. Two shrines for its

founding Sufis have been built there.

In the Maghrib, the local veneration and ritual surrounding a Muslim saint is

generally known as “maraboutism.” The word “marabout” means “saint” and is

derived from Arabic murābiṭ, which in this context means “a person living in a

Sufi lodge.” Some of the marabouts were evidently renowned Sufis in their

lifetimes, and their shrines have kept a connection with one of the Sufi orders;

others, however, have no direct relation to a particular order. Some marabouts

inherit their mystical powers (barakah) through the agnatic line, which results in

the formation of a maraboutic family like those of the Sharqāwah in Boujad and

the Ihansalen among the Berbers in the High Atlas.

In Sufism proper, both leadership and sainthood are passed on patrilineal and are

consequently kept within one family or lineage in many Sufi orders. The

Majādhib family in El-Damer in the northern Sudan is one of numerous

examples. The family has kept the leadership of the Majdhūbīyah Sufi order,

which had considerable political and economic influence in the area before the

twentieth century, as well as being venerated as a holy lineage. The shrine of

their ancestor has been maintained in the custody of the family.

Spatial Composition.

Except in a few cases, the tombs of Muslims are generally very simple in form.

They usually have no special decoration except for plaques of ceramic or other

materials on which are written personal details of the dead or phrases from the

Qur’an. In contrast, the tombs or shrines of saints, Sufi or otherwise, have

distinctive architectural features.

A saint's tomb is usually set up inside a building specially constructed for it, and

it often has a cupola. Sometimes the building or shrine is situated in a cemetery.

Other institutions such as mosques, Sufi training lodges, or facilities for visitors

may be annexed to large shrines.

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The tomb itself usually consists of a rectangular box-like structure with a

catafalque, a cloth cover, and other elements, with some variation. The

catafalque (tābūt) is a wooden box or frame set up over the spot where the saint

is buried. It is covered completely with a piece of cloth called kiswah, which is

generally donated by a devotee. In a place on the upper part of the catafalque (on

one of the shorter sides, or at the centre of the rectangle) an ʿimmah is set up,

which consists of a wooden post draped in a green cloth, looking like a head

with a turban. The ʿimmah is supposed to symbolize the saint's authority.

There are other items, however, that are not found in all shrines. Some tombs,

especially those belonging to renowned saints, are enclosed by a cage. A

donation box may be set up to receive money offerings from devotees. Other

features may include lamps, candles, copies of the Qur’an, and plaques on which

phrases from the Qur’an are written or on which pictures of sacred places such

as the Kaʿbah are drawn. Most of these, like the kiswah, are donated by pious

devotees. There are of course neither pictures nor statues of the saint anywhere

in the shrine.

Some of the items, however, do raise theological problems. In the shrine of

Sayyid al-Badawī, for instance, there is a black stone in the corner of the

chamber. On it can be seen two footprints, which are said to be those of the

Prophet, and many devotees, mostly peasants of the Nile Delta, are eager to

touch and rub it. This practice recalls pilgrims’ rituals relating to Abraham's

footprints and the Black Stone in the Kaʿbah at Mecca, and many scholars and

modernist Muslims criticize it severely as a deviation from orthodox Islam.

The shrine and the other facilities are in many cases maintained financially

through a waqf   , an endowment provided by the Sufi order related to the saint

enshrined. In the case of a small shrine a custodian, and in the case of a large

shrine custodians or a committee, are responsible for the upkeep of the buildings

and facilities.

Ritual Activities

The Sufi saint's shrine is one of the focal points of rituals carried out not only by

the members of the Sufi order that has a special spiritual relationship with the

saint but also by common Muslims who simply admire the mystical power of

the saint and venerate him. There are three important types of ritual: visiting the

shrine, dhikr rituals conducted there, and the annual festival of the saint.

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Visitation

Many devotees of a Sufi saint make frequent visits to his shrine to perform such

rituals as special prayers to the saint, circumambulation of his tomb, and kissing

its cloth cover. Some of them remain there for a longer period. The main aim of

their visit, as with ordinary supplication (duʿāʿ), is to ask for divine blessing in

general, as well as for more specific benefits such as success in business or

study, or recovery from an illness. They may make a vow (nadhr) to give a

suitable donation to the saint if their wishes are satisfactorily realized; many of

the items belonging to the shrine are donations from supplicants. If they break

the vow and give nothing to the saint as a reward, it is presumed that there will

be divine retribution for their negligence.

Visits to some shrines can be regarded as a substitute for the pilgrimage to

Mecca. Indeed, a visit to the shrine of Sayyid al-Badawī has been called “the

pauper's hajj.” The shrine of al-Shādhilī (d. 1465), the founder of the widespread

Shādhilīyah Sufi order, is in a town on the Red Sea coast in southern Egypt. It is

said that five visits to his shrine have an effect similar to that of one hajj. It is

noteworthy, however, that the visit is not called hajj but ziyārah. Visitors

apparently make an essential distinction between the two, even though they may

think that repeated visits to a shrine may give them almost the same benefits as

the pilgrimage to Mecca.

Dhikr

On the basis of the Qurʿān (sūrah33:41–42), the dhikr ritual, in which

participants devoutly repeat the names of God or some formula such as “Allah

ḥayy” (God is the Eternal One) with prescribed gestures, has become one of the

fundamental rituals for most Sufis. A gathering to perform the ritual, usually

called ḥaḍrah, usually takes place in the afternoon or at night in the court of a

private house, in a public square in a neighbourhood, at a lodge, or in an open

space near a saint’ shrine.

In some cases a dhikr is conducted after the communal prayers on Friday. For

instance, the Hamad al-Nīl Sufi order, a Sudanese branch of the Qādarīyah,

regularly holds a dhikr gathering on Friday afternoon in an open space in front

of the shrine of its founding Sufi in a cemetery in a suburb of Omdurman. After

the ʿaṣr prayer, members of the order march to the place from their nearby

mosque and start to perform the dhikr rituals. Repeating the formulas to the

rhythm of drums and religious songs, they line up in several rows and move

around a pole set up in the centre of the space. The ritual lasts until the sunset

(maghrib) prayer.

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Dhikr rituals, like visits to the shrine, can be carried out at any time. They are,

however, enthusiastically conducted on a grand scale on the occasion of the

annual festival of the saint.

Annual festival

The yearly celebration in honour of a saint has several different names in Arab

countries. In Egypt it is called a mawlid; the word mawsim (season, i.e., for

celebrating a saint) is used in the case of a marabout in Morocco as well as for

the festival of the prophet Moses in Palestine. Members of the Sufi orders in

Sudan hold annual celebrations of their founders called ḥūlīyah in

commemoration not of their birthdays but of the anniversaries of their deaths.

These festivals vary greatly in the way in which they are held, the number of

participants, and the rituals performed; we will concentrate on the Egyptian

cases.

Unlike for the mawlid of the Prophet, whose tomb is in Medina, Egyptian

mawlid feasts for the Sufi or other saints are celebrated in and around their

shrines. The time when these rites are held is an interesting issue. Because the

word mawlid originally meant “time and place of birth,” the date of the

celebration would appear to be fixed by the birthday of the saint concerned.

Many mawlids for famous holy people, including the Prophet and his family, do

occur on or about the days of their birth according to the Islamic lunar calendar,

although the feasts themselves generally start several days or weeks before the

birthday: the Prophet's mawlid is on 12 Rabīʿ al-Awwal, Ḥusayn's on a

Wednesday in the latter half of Rabīʿ al-Thānī, Zaynab's on the middle

Wednesday of Rajab, and Shāfiʿī's on the middle Thursday of Shaʿbān. By

contrast, the dates of some mawlids are fixed according to the solar calendar and

may change according to historical and social conditions. The mawlid of Aḥmad

al-Badawī is a typical case.

In the early nineteenth century there were three feasts in honor of al- Badawī.

The largest of these was held a month after the summer solstice, which was then

the slack season for the peasants in the area. In the second or third decade of the

twentieth century, the date of this mawlid was moved to the latter half of

October. The development of the irrigation system in the intervening period had

resulted in fundamental changes in the annual agricultural cycle of the Nile

Delta. Thus October in the Gregorian calendar became the slack season for the

peasants, many of whom were enthusiastic devotees of the saint. The date of the

great mawlid of Sayyid al- Badawī, therefore, is based not on his actual birthday

but on the convenience of his devotees.

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The space around the shrine of the saint being celebrated naturally becomes a

centre for the feast and is crowded with visitors to the tomb. There are a number

of stands for food and drinks, amusements, and sideshows. Clusters of tents are

pitched where Sufis conduct dhikr rituals during the feast days. The number of

visitors hoping to receive divine blessing increases remarkably during this

period.

In addition to the dhikr rituals, Sufis of various orders take part in other events

during the feast. Members of some orders used to demonstrate their miraculous

powers in front of crowds in performances involving eating live serpents or

piercing their bodies with spikes. This kind of bizarre performance has often

been criticized for deviation from orthodox belief and proper Sufism. Recently

they have tended to disappear, especially in the large cities.

The attractions of a festival also include a procession (mawkib or zaffah) for

which various Sufi orders assemble, forming lines and marching around the

town or village. They perform dhikr and other rituals in their own styles, as a

demonstration to the local people. The saint's shrine is often the starting point

and/or the destination of these processions.

Political and Economic Functions

Like Sayyid al-Badawī, said to have led soldiers against Crusaders, a number of

leading Sufis have played the role of military commanders fighting tyrannical

rulers, ignorant heretics, and invading infidels. Among them was the leader of

the Sanūsīyah movement, which fought against the Italian invasion of Libya.

Founded by Muḥammad al-Sanūsī, the Sanūsīyah successfully propagated its

beliefs among the bedouin tribes of Cyrenaica in the early stages of its

development, by intentionally setting up lodges in the boundary areas between

tribal territories. Thus the Sufis of the order could play the role of mediators in

tribal conflicts, and this gave them great authority.

Saintly families in the High Atlas also arbitrate disputes among Berber

tribesmen. Moreover, a collective oath, which is a customary legal procedure for

judging the truth or falsity of an accusation, has to be made at a saint's shrine if

it relates to a serious issue. The shrine is also the place where a special ritual

alliance between two tribes is contracted. In Boujad in Morocco, al-Sharqāwah,

a maraboutic family, plays almost the same role as do the saints of the Atlas.

A number of saints’ shrines can function as sites for conflict resolution and

judicial decisions, although they seldom have the military power to enforce

them. Because of the divine blessing saints have been granted by God, shrines

can become holy places where people are subjected to mystical authority. Some

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of them have become not only asylums where killers involved in tribal feuds can

come to ask for relief, but also sanctuaries where all bloodshed is prohibited.

Because people continually come and go, and the area around the shrine is

relatively peaceful, the place may develop as a market centre for the area; or,

conversely, an existing market may also become a centre for religious training,

so that a saint's shrine is eventually built there. Such towns as Tanta in Egypt

(the Aḥmadīyah order), Boujad in Morocco (the al-Sharqāwah marabout

family), and El-Damer in the Sudan (the Majdhūbīyah order) are local centres

for production, storage, and marketing. While the regular weekly market held in

these towns has prospered, the annual saint's festival has become an occasion on

which the town bustles with massive crowds and a large-scale fair is held, so

that the festival has considerable economic effect.

The saint and his family may be able to maintain the economic importance of

their town by emphasizing their mystical power. In the eighteenth century the

Majādhib family was said to escort trading caravans from Shendi to Berber via

El-Damer, its home town. They ensured safe travel for the tribesmen and

consequently contributed to the prosperity of towns other than their own. Similar

cases exist in other areas.

Spirituality among the Sufis

Self-knowledge

Nature has been involved through spirit into matter, and evolves through

different stages. Man is the result of the involution of spirit and the evolution of

matter; the final effect of this cause is 'self-realization', which means that the

Knower arrives at that stage of perfection where He can know Himself...

The human being is inherently capable of self-knowledge; but to know oneself

means not only to know that one is John, Jacob, or Henry, or short, tail, or of

normal height, or to know that one is good, bad, and so forth, but also to know

the mystery of one's existence, theoretically as well as practically: to know what

one is within oneself, from whence and for what purpose one was born on earth;

whether one will live here for ever, or if one's stay is short; of what one is

composed, and which attributes one possesses; whether one belongs to angels,

contemplating the beauties of God's nature, or if one belongs to the animals,

who know nothing other than to eat, drink, and be merry; or whether one

belongs to the devils. It requires perfection in humanity to attain self-knowledge.

To know that I am God, or we are gods, or to know that everything is a part of

God, is not sufficient. Perfect realization can only be gained by passing through

all the stages between man, the manifestation, and God, the only Being;

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knowing and realizing ourselves from the lowest to the highest point of

existence, and so accomplishing the heavenly journey.

Love, Love one another, is have love for Allah

The greatest principle of Sufism is, 'Ishq Allah, Ma'bud Allah' (God is love,

lover, and beloved).

When Ahad, the only Being, became conscious of his Wahdat, only existence,

through His own consciousness, then' His predisposition of love made Him

project Himself to establish His dual aspect, that He might be able to love

someone. This made God the lover, and manifestation the beloved; the next

inversion makes manifestation the lover, and God the beloved. This force of

love has been working through several evolutions and involutions, which end in

man who is the ultimate aim of God. The dual aspect of God is significant in Zát

and Sifat, in spirit and matter, and in the mineral, vegetable, animal, and human

kingdoms, wherein the two sexes, male and female, are clearly represented. The

dual aspect of God is symbolized by each form of this wonderful world. This

whole universe, internally and externally, is governed by the source of love,

which is sometimes the cause and sometimes the effect. The producer and the

product are one, and that One is nothing but love.

Sufis take the course of love and devotion to accomplish their highest aim,

because it is love which has brought man from the world of unity to the world of

variety, and the same force can take him back again to the world of unity from

that of variety.

'Love is the reduction of the universe to the single being, and the expansion of a

single being, even to God' (Balzac).

Love is that state of mind in which the consciousness of the lover is merged in

that of the object of his love; it produces in the lover all the attributes of

humanity, such as resignation, renunciation, humility, kindness, contentment,

patience, virtue, calmness, gentleness, charity, faithfulness, bravery, by which

the devotee becomes harmonized with the Absolute. As one of God's beloved, a

path is opened for his heavenly journey: at the end he arrives at oneness with

God, and his whole individuality is dissolved in the ocean of eternal bliss where

even the conception of God and man disappears.

Towards Perfection

The ideal perfection, called Baqa by Sufis, is termed 'Najat' in Islam, 'Nirvana' in

Buddhism, 'Salvation' in Christianity, and 'Mukhti' in Hinduism. This is the

highest condition attainable, and all ancient prophets and sages experienced it,

and taught it to the world.

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Baqa is the original state of God. At this state every being must arrive someday,

consciously or unconsciously, before or after death. The beginning and end of

all beings is the same, difference only existing during the journey.

There are three ways in man's journey towards God. The first is the way of

ignorance, through which each must travel. It is like a person walking for miles

in the sun while carrying a heavy load on his shoulder, who, when fatigued,

throws away the load and falls asleep under the shade of a tree. Such is the

condition of the average person, who spends his life blindly under the influence

of his senses and gathers the load of his evil actions; the agonies of his earthly

longings creating a hell through which he must pass to reach the destination of

his journey. With regard to him the Qur'an says, 'He who is blind in life, shall

also be blind in the hereafter.'

The next way is that of devotion, which is for true lovers. Rumi says, 'Man may

be the lover of man or the lover of God; after his perfection in either he is taken

before the King of love.' Devotion is the heavenly wine, which intoxicates the

devotee until his heart becomes purified from all infirmities and there remains

the happy vision of the Beloved, which lasts to the end of the journey. 'Death is

a bridge, which unites friend to friend' (Sayings of Mohammed).

The third is the way of wisdom, accomplished only by the few. The disciple

disregards life's momentary comforts, unties himself from all earthly bondages

and turns his eyes toward God, inspired with divine wisdom. He gains command

over his body, his thoughts and feelings, and is thereby enabled to create his

own heaven within himself, that he may rejoice until merged into the eternal

goal. 'We have stripped the veil from thine eyes, and thy sight today is keen',

says the Qur'an. All must journey along one of these three paths, but in the end

they arrive at one and the same goal. As it is said in the Qur'an, 'It is He who

multiplied you on the earth, and to Him you shall be gathered.'

The Prophets (Preachers of Good News)

It is hard for intellect alone to believe in the possibility of prophetic inspiration.

Intellect is the consciousness reflected in the knowledge of names and forms;

wisdom is consciousness in its pure essence, which is not necessarily dependent

upon the knowledge of names and forms.

The gift of wisdom gives vision in. to the real nature of things as the X-ray

penetrates material bodies. Wisdom has been specially bestowed upon certain

persons, and in these rare cases the receivers of it are more than merely wise,

and may be regarded as the very manifestation of wisdom. They are the

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prophets, who have foresight, inspiration, intuition, clairvoyance, and

clairaudience as their inborn attributes.

A Sufi considers all prophets and sages, not as many individuals, but as the one

embodiment of God's pure consciousness, or the manifestation of divine

wisdom, appearing on earth for the awakening of man from his sleep of

ignorance, in different names and forms. Just as one's own sub-consciousness

would awaken one at a certain time, if previously warned, in the same way the

consciousness of God is the agency for awakening His manifestation, projecting

itself through different names and forms to accomplish His desire of being

known. All these causes of wisdom are the manifestation of the one cause, Haq.

The prophetic mission was intended to train the world gradually in divine

wisdom according to its mental evolution, and to impart it to man, according to

his understanding, in forms suitable to various lands at different periods. This is

why numerous different religions are still in existence, although the moral

principles of all are the same.

Each prophet had a mission to prepare the world for the teaching of the next;

each one prophesied the coming of the next, and the work was thus continued by

all the prophets until Mohammed, the Khatim al Mursalin, the last messenger of

divine wisdom and the seal of the prophets, came on his mission, and in his turn

gave the final statement of divine wisdom: 'None exists but Allah.' This message

fulfilled the aim of prophetic mission. This final definition is a clear

interpretation of all religions and philosophies in the most apparent form. There

was no necessity left for any more prophets after this divine message, which

created the spirit of democracy in religion by recognizing God in every being.

By this message man received the knowledge that he may attain the highest

perfection under the guidance of a perfect murshid or spiritual teacher.

Sufis have no prejudice regarding any prophets and masters. They look upon all

as divine wisdom itself, the highest attribute of God, appearing under different

names and forms; and they love them with all adoration, as the lover loves his

beloved in all her different garments, and throughout all the stages of her life.

Sufis also respectfully recognize and offer devotion to their Beloved, the divine

wisdom in all her garments, at all times, and under such different names and

forms as Abraham, Moses, Jesus of Nazareth, and Mohammed. Mohammed

teachings are studied and followed by the orthodox as religion, and by the deep

thinkers as a philosophy.

Overview of Sufism Worldwide

Sufis, who had received spiritual training from all previous prophets and leaders,

likewise received training from Mohammed. The openness of Mohammed's

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essential teachings paved the way for them to come forward into the world

without the interference they had previously experienced, and a mystic order

called the Saheba-e-Safa, Knights of Purity, was inaugurated by the Prophet, and

afterwards was carried on by Ali and Siddiq. The lives of these knights were

extraordinary in their wisdom, piety, bravery, spirituality, and great charity of

heart. This order was carried on by their successors, who were called Pir-o-

Murshid, Shaikh, etc., one after another, duly connected as links in a chain.

The spiritual bond between them is a miraculous force of divine illumination,

and is experienced by worthy initiates of the Sufi Order; just as the electric

current runs through all connected lamps and lights them. By this means the

higher development is attained without great efforts. Sufism was

unostentatiously practiced in Arabia during the period of Sahabis, Taba'in, and

Taba'-i-taba'in. Charity, piety, spirituality, and bravery are the real proofs of Sufi

advancement.

The sensational Sufi movements which took place in Persia in the later periods,

have won all the credit of Sufism for the Persians, and Sufism came to be

regarded as a Persian philosophy. Imam al-Ghazali, Juneyd-e Baghdadi, Farid-

ud-Din 'Attar had taken the lead in advancing Sufism in the world at large.

Shams-e-Tabré z, Sa'di, Khagani, Firdausi, Omar Khayyá m, Abdul Ala and

other great Sufi poets, have very substantially established the reputation of

Sufism by their inspired poetical works on divine wisdom. Sa'adi's works

(Gulistan and Bostan) illuminate the intellect; the Divan of Hafiz expands the

heart with divine love; Jelal-ud-Din Rumi's poems, the Masnavi e Ma'navi

inspire the soul.

These works were originally composed in Persian, but are now translated into

many other languages. They have been a most important source of education for

humanity, and are studied as the most popular treatises on the divine wisdom of

the East.

The spiritual part of Sufism was most miraculously realized by Abdul Qadir

Jilani, Moin-ud-Din Chishti, Bahaud-Din Naqshband, Shihab-ud-Din

Sohrawardi, and others.

India, being greatly addicted to philosophy, was well suited for Sufism, where,

in ancient and modern records, a great many Sufis with miraculous careers are to

be found. The tombs of Moin-ud-Din Chishti, Nizam-ud-Din, Sharif-ud-Din,

Bandeh Navaz, Mohammed Gauth, are visited with much reverence and

devotion by people of various nations and many beliefs, in thankful

remembrance of their great careers.

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Sufism, as a religious philosophy of love, harmony, and beauty, aims at

expanding the soul of man until the realization of the beauty of all creation

enables him to become as perfect an expression of divine harmony as possible. It

is therefore natural that the Sufi Order should stand foremost as a spiritual

power in the East, and that it is rapidly becoming recognized in the West.

Many Sufi saints have attained what is known as God-consciousness, which is

the most all-inclusive realization of the meaning of the word 'good' attainable by

man. Strictly speaking, Sufism is neither a religion nor a philosophy; it is neither

theism nor atheism, but stands between the two and fills the gap. Among the

religious, Sufis are considered to be free-thinkers; while among intellectual

philosophers they are considered religious, because they make use of subtler

principles in life to elevate the soul than can readily be followed by material

logic.

Sufis have in many cases realized and shown the greatest perfection in

humanity. And among the lives of the Sufi saints may be found some of the

most divine models of human perfection in all capacities, from a king to a

labourer. The idea that Sufism sprang from Islam or from any other religion, is

not necessarily true; yet it may rightly be called the spirit of Islam, as well as the

pure essence of all religions and philosophies.

A true Sufi remains in the thought of truth continually, sees the truth in all things

and never becomes prejudiced, but cultivates affection for all beings. A Sufi

accomplishes the divine journey and reaches the highest grade of Baqa during

this life, but people of all beliefs arrive, eventually, at the same level of

understanding and realization which Sufism represents.

Sufism contains all branches of mysticism, such as psychology, occultism,

spiritualism, clairvoyance, clairaudience, intuition, inspiration, etc., but that

which a Sufi particularly wishes to acquire is not necessarily any of the above-

named powers; because the object of all these powers is towards greater

individuality, and individuality itself is only a hindrance on the Sufi's path

towards the accomplishment of his highest perfection. Therefore the main object

of initiation in the Sufi Order is to cultivate the heart through renunciation and

resignation, that it may be pure enough to sow the seed of divine love and

realize the highest truth and wisdom, both theoretically and practically, thereby

attaining the highest attributes of humanity.

Divine perfection is perfection in all powers and mysteries. All mysteries,

powers, and realizations gradually manifest themselves to the Sufi through his

natural development, without his specially striving for them.

50

Self-realization is the highest and most difficult attainment of all; it is

impossible to acquire it in the manner of sciences and arts, nor is it possible to

attain it as health, wealth, honour, and power can be obtained by certain means.

For the sake of self-realisation, thousands have renounced family and all worldly

possessions, and kings their kingdoms, and they have retired to desert, jungle, or

mountain fastness, striving to find in asceticism the secret of this bliss.

Criticism.

As mentioned earlier, criticisms of the Sufi saint shrine culture, or at least at

certain elements of it, have been expressed by theologians and politicians ever

since it developed. Ibn Taymīyah (d. 1328), a strict jurist affiliated with the

Ḥanbalī school of Islamic law, was one of the most distinguished critics in the

premodern era, although he did not condemn all the activities of the Sufi orders.

He stressed that the veneration of a saint would probably lead to the worship of

a divine being other than God—to loathsome polytheism—and that showy

attractions during feasts were definitely contrary to Islamic law and should

therefore be prohibited.

Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb (d. 1791), one of the theological successors of

Ibn Taymīyah, condemned not only the folk customs of saint veneration but the

whole of Sufism. The Wahhābī campaign was led militarily by the Saʿūd family,

powerful supporters of Ibn ʿAbd al- Wahhāb's doctrines, who started from a

small oasis in the Nejd and gradually expanded their influence in the Arabian

Peninsula. In the end they conquered the Hejaz and gained control of Mecca and

Medina by 1804. During this campaign, whenever they encountered Sufi saints’

shrines or other holy places they did not hesitate to demolish them. Even the

dome erected on the spot where the Prophet was born was destroyed. This strong

hostility toward saints and Sufis has been maintained by the contemporary

regime in Saudi Arabia, which follows Wahhābism as its state doctrine;

officially, no Sufi activity is permitted there.

Exponents of the Salafīyah movement, such as Muḥammad ʿAbduh and

Muḥammad Rashīd Riḍā, openly criticized many elements of Sufi saint culture.

They insisted that a saint could not intercede with God for people in earthly

matters and therefore did not have the mystical power to grant good fortune.

Riḍā sternly rebuked participants in the mawlid of Sayyid al-Badawī for

committing bidʿah (heretical innovation) through activities such as prayers to the

saint's tomb and circumambulation of it, asking for worldly benefits, whistling,

clapping, fortune-telling, selling charms and amulets, noisy music, the assembly

of both sexes, and the practice of transvestism; however, he recognized the

mawlid itself as legal.

51

The hostile attitude toward Sufi saint shrine culture has been taken over by

Islamic reformist movements, including so-called fundamentalist groups like the

Muslim Brothers. Not only strict fundamentalists but also secular modernists

have intensified their opposition to it. Generally speaking, the more widespread

public education has become, the more general has been the criticism of shrine

cults as mere superstition. Most contemporary devotees of the cult of saints are

recruited from the less-educated urban and rural masses. It is noteworthy that

some Sufis, especially those advocating neo-Sufi trends, actively criticize some

elements of popular Sufism as bidʿah, just as Islamic scholars from outside Sufi

circles do.

Sufi Spiritual Exercises

Sufi Training and Self-Training (Self-initiation)

The murshid prefers a mureed whose mind is unembarrassed by other methods

of training; who is free from worldly considerations, and is possessed of whole-

hearted perseverance; who is capable of committing himself with perfect faith

and devotion to the guidance of his murshid.

The practice of harmony and temperance is essential, but the murshid never

prescribes for his mureeds the ascetic life; rather it is a peculiarity of the Sufi

training that the mureed is quickened to appreciate and enjoy the world more

than others. The murshid at first creates divine love in the mureed, which, in the

course of time, develops and purifies his heart so much that it permits the virtues

of humanity to develop freely of themselves. He then receives more and more

divine wisdom from the appointed channel, and at last arrives at complete self-

realization.

There is no common course of study for mureeds; each receives the special

training best adapted to his requirements. In other words, the murshid, as a

spiritual physician, prescribes a suitable remedy for curing every mureed. There

is no limit of time for the advancement to a certain degree. To one, realization

may come the moment after initiation; to another it may not be vouchsafed

during his whole life. Among the Sayings of Mohammed one finds: 'It depends

upon nothing but the mercy of Allah whomever He may kindly choose for it.'

Still, there is hope of success: 'Whoever walks one step towards the grace of

Allah, the Divine mercy walks forward ten steps to receive him' (id.).

52

Inward and Outward Manifestations in the Spiritual Life

Through five senses and different organs of the mental and physical existence

the Ruh, the soul (the Higher Self Within) , experiences life; and when the Ruh

receives the highest experience of all phases of existence by the favour of the

murshid (if possible), then it will have that peace and bliss, the attainment of

which is the only object of manifestation.

Interests and Indifferences

Interest results from ignorance and indifference results from wisdom; still it is

not wise to avoid interest as long as we are in the world of illusion. It is the

interest of God which has been the cause of all creation and which keeps the

whole universe in harmony; nevertheless one should not be completely

immersed in phenomena, but should realize oneself as being independent of

interests.

The dual aspect of the only Being, in the form of love and beauty, has glorified

the universe and produced harmony.

He who arrives at the state of indifference without experiencing interest in life is

incomplete, and apt to be tempted by interest at any moment; but he who arrives

at the state of indifference by going through interest, really attains the blessed

state. Perfection is reached not through interest alone, nor through indifference

alone, but through the right experience and understanding of both.

Mind (Spirit) and Matter

From the scientific standpoint, spirit and matter are quite different from each

other, but according to the philosophical point of view they are one.

Spirit and matter are different, bust as water is different from snow; yet again

they are not different, for snow is nothing other than water. When spiritual

vibrations become more dense they turn into matter, and when material

vibrations become finer they develop into spirit.

For a Sufi at the beginning of his training the spiritual life is desirable, but after

mastering it, material and spiritual lives become the same to him, and he is

master of both.

53

The Soul (Higher Self Within) and the Heart

Man's heart is the throne of God. The heart is not only a physical organ but is

also the function of feeling, placed in the midst of the body and soul. The heart

of flesh is the instrument which first receives the feeling of the soul, and

transmits its effect through the whole body. There are four aspects of the heart:

1. 'Arsh — the exaltation of the will

2. Kursi — the seat of justice and distinction

3. Lawh — the fount of inspiration

4. Kalam — the source of intuition

Breath keeps body, heart, and soul connected. It consists of astral vibrations, and

has much influence upon the physical and spiritual existence. The first thing a

Sufi undertakes in order to harmonize the entire existence, is the purification of

the heart; since there is no possibility of the heart's development without

devotion, so the faithful mureed becomes a Sahib-e Dil, as the easiest and most

ideal way of development.

Intellect and Wisdom

Intellect is the knowledge obtained by experience of names and forms; wisdom

is the knowledge which manifests only from the inner being; to acquire intellect

one must delve into studies, but to obtain wisdom, nothing but the flow of divine

mercy is needed; it is as natural as the instinct of swimming to the fish, or of

flying to the bird. Intellect is the sight which enables one to see through the

external world, but the light of wisdom enables one to see through the external

into the internal world.

Wisdom is greater and more difficult to attain than intellect, piety, or

spirituality.

Dreams and Inspirations

Dreams and inspirations are open proofs of the higher world. The past, present,

and future are frequently seen in a dream, and may also be revealed through

inspiration. The righteous person sees more clearly than the unrighteous. There

are five kinds of dreams:

1. Khayali — in which the actions and thoughts of the day are reproduced

in sleep.

2. Qalbi — in which the dream is opposite to the real happening.

54

3. Naqshi — in which the real meaning is disguised by as symbolic

representation which only the wise can understand.

4. Ruhi — in which the real happening is literally shown.

5. Elhami — in which divine messages are given in letters or by an

angelic voice.

Dreams give, sometimes clearly, sometimes in a veiled form, warnings of

coming dangers and assurance of success. The ability to be conscious of dreams

and their meaning varies with the degree of development attained.

Dreams have their effect sooner or later, according to the stars under which they

take place. The dream seen at midnight is realized within one year, and the

dream of the latter part of night within six months; the dream of the early

morning is realized soon after. At the same time the manifestation of dreams is

subject to qualification according to the good or bad actions of the dreamer.

Inspirations are more easily reflected upon spiritual persons than upon material

ones. Inspiration is the inner light which reflects itself upon the heart of man; the

purer the heart is from rust, like a clean mirror, the more clearly inspiration can

be reflected in it. To receive inspirations clearly the heart should be prepared by

proper training. A heart soiled with rust is never capable of receiving them.

There are five kinds of inspiration:

1. Elham-e-'Ilm — inspiration of an artist and scientist

2. Elham-e-Husn — inspiration of a musician and poet

3. Elham-e-'Ishq — inspiration of a devotee

4. Elbam-e-Ruh — inspiration of a mystic

5. Elham-e-Ghayb — inspiration of a prophet

Inspirations are reflected upon mankind in five ways:

1. Kushad der Khyal — in the wave of thought

2. Kushad der Hal — in emotions and feelings

3. Kushad der Jemal — in the sufferings of the heart

4. Kushad der Jelal — in the flow of wisdom

5. Kushad der Kemal — in the divine voice and vision

Some are born with an inspirational gift, and to some it appears after their

development. The higher the development in spirituality, the greater the capacity

for inspiration, yet the gift of inspiration is not constant; as the saying of

Mohammed declares, 'Inspirations are enclosed as well as disclosed at times;

they appear according to the will of Allah, the only Knower of the unknown."

55

Law of Action

The law of cause and effect is as definite in its results in the realm of speech and

thought as in the physical world.

Evil done, when it is considered evil, is a sin; and good done, when it is

considered good, is a virtue, but one who does good or bad without

understanding, has no responsibility for his sins nor credit for his virtues; but he

is liable to punishment or reward just the same.

Man forms his future by his actions. His every good or bad action spreads its

vibrations and becomes known throughout the universe. The more spiritual a

man is, the stronger and clearer are the vibrations of his actions, which spread

over the world and weave his future.

The universe is like a dome: it vibrates to that which you say in it, and echoes

the same back to you. So also is the law of action: we reap what we sow.

It is impossible to differentiate between good and bad, because the thing seen is

coloured by the personality of the seer; to the bad view, all good is bad, and to

the good view, even the bad seems good in a certain sense; so the wise keep

silence in distinguishing good from bad. The most essential rule is not to do to

others that which you would not have done to you. That action is desirable

which results from kindness, and that action is undesirable which is unkind.

Doubtless also, might is often right, but in the end, right is the only might.

There are different principles for life in different religions, but a Sufi's will is the

principle for himself. He is the servant, who surrenders himself to principles;

and he is the master, who prescribes principles for himself. One who has never

been commanded in life, never knows how to command; in the same way, to be

the master, one must first be the servant.

The murshid (also the murshid in absence) as a physician of the soul prescribes

necessary principles to the mureed, who after accomplishing the training, arrives

at that blessed state where he overcomes virtues and sins, and stands beyond

good and bad. To him happiness no longer differs from sorrow, for his thought,

speech, and action become the thought, speech, and action of God.

Male and Female aspects of Allah (God)

The only Being is manifested throughout all planes of existence in two aspects,

male and female, representing nature's positive and negative forces. In the plane

of consciousness there are two aspects: Wahdat, consciousness, and Ahadiat,

56

eternal consciousness, and thus also spirit and matter, night and day, signify the

dual aspect on lower planes. In the mineral and vegetable kingdoms sex is in a

state of evolution, but the highest manifestation of male and female is man and

woman.

Man being the first aspect of manifestation, is the more spiritual and nearer to

God; woman being the next manifestation, is finer and more capable of divine

knowledge. Man's natural tendency is towards God, while woman's tendency is

towards the world. These contrary tendencies result in balance. Therefore man

needs woman to direct his life, and woman needs man for her guidance and

protection, both being incomplete in themselves.

The problem of the emancipation of woman may be studied by a comparison of

her position in the East and in the West.

The Oriental woman, whose freedom is restricted, is the better wife from the

individual point of view, but the enforced inactivity of half the population is not

beneficial to the nation. The Occidental woman who is given entire freedom is

less anxious for and less capable of home life, but being out in the world her

influence promotes the advancement of the nation.

At first sight it would appear that woman is more respected by man in the West,

but in reality the East gives her the greater reverence.

Man has more freedom than woman throughout the entire world because he has

more strength and power; and the fineness of woman needs protection, just as

the eye, being the finest organ of the body, has been protected by nature with

eyelids. Both excel in their own characteristics.

A virgin is idolized by man because she is the model of high manifestation;

woman's virtue is a greater ideal than her physical and intellectual beauty.

Nature has placed her under the protection of man, but what is most desirable is

that man gives her freedom and that she appreciates it by making the best use of

it.

There are three kinds of virgins. One, commonly considered a virgin, who has

never had association with a man; another is the virgin in heart, whose love is

centred in one beloved only; and the third is the virgin in soul, who considers

man as God. She alone can give birth to a divine child.

A woman may become a doctor, solicitor, or minister, but it is incomparably

greater if she can become a good wife and a kind mother.

57

Monogamy and polygamy are inborn human attributes. They also exist among

birds and beasts. Each individual is born with one of these tendencies, but

sometimes one rather than the other is developed by the effect of the atmosphere

and surroundings. These tendencies also depend upon the climatic and physical

conditions of different countries and races. Polygamy may be natural to man,

and monogamy to woman, as the former helps manifestation while the latter

destroys it. Illegal polygamy is worse than legal, because it creates deceit and

falsehood. Monogamy is the ideal life which is a comfort in this world and the

next, and perfects one in love.

Absolute renunciation is as undesirable as is the blind attachment to the world.

The ideal life is detached interest in the world, which is best accomplished by

man and woman together.

Woman is a mystery within herself, owing to her subtle nature. Sages who made

the mistake of considering woman to be of lesser spiritual importance forgot that

they themselves were the product of woman.

The majority of prophets and masters have been men because man is the higher

manifestation, as is signified by the myth of Adam and Eve, in which Eve was

born from the rib of Adam, meaning that woman is the later manifestation; the

fruit means that woman directed man's thoughts towards procreation. The

interpretation (or allegory) of Adam and Eve's exile from heaven is the fall of

mankind from the state of innocence to the state of youth. The separation and

unhappiness of Adam and Eve show the object of God to manifest in the dual

aspect, that He may accomplish his real desire of love. According to the Vedanta

half of the divine body, Ardhangi, is womanhood, proving that unity of both is

the complete life.

Sufis consider a life of complete unity the most balanced, if it is true and

harmonious. Love and wisdom create harmony between man and woman; but

these being absent, harmony ceases to exist.

A child inherits more attributes from its mother than from its father, therefore

the mother is more responsible for its merits and defects and if she has

knowledge she can train the soul of her child even before its birth by the power

of her concentration, moulding the child's future according to her own will.

Harmony between truer persons is more lasting than the affections of average

mankind. People of angelic qualities have everlasting harmony between them, in

which God Himself accomplishes His object of manifestation.

Mankind is born with a worshipful attitude, and as all attitudes demand

satisfaction by expression, so the attitude of worship finds its object of

58

adoration. The ancient Greeks and Shiva Bhaktas of India worshipped both

aspects of manifestation in the names of gods and goddesses. Sufism, being the

essence of all religions and philosophies, looks upon both the opposite aspects

of nature as one in reality, and calls it Safat Allah. Sufis reach realization of God

by adoring His nature, calling on Him saying, ‘Kull-I shayin Há l-I kull’, which

means, ‘Everything will perish except His own Face.’ They look upon all names

and forms as the means of realizing the One, the only Being.

Sufi Breathing: the Life Changing Breathing Exercise

Zikr: The Amazing Sufi Breathing Exercise

The roots of Sufism date back to around 1400 years ago. The genuine Sufis were

to be found in large numbers around 1000 years back into the history. Then,

their numbers dwindled and they became near-extinct in the 20th century.

Among the practices of the Sufis, “Zikr”, or the breathing exercise that I’m

about to introduce, has the central importance. The Sufi Breathing Exercise is

the first step of the Awaisia (Naqshbandia) Sufi Order. It has life-changing

effects, as I’ve described in my book. To my deep pleasure, many of the readers

who have practiced the exercise have experienced these. Some of them also

contacted me for further guidance, and I pray for their success and progress on

this path.

Anyway, here’s the amazing “Sufi Breathing” or Zikr, as I have described it in

one of the chapters in my book. It may appear to be simple to practice, but

believe me when I tell you that its effects are miraculous. Practice it twice a day,

mornings and evenings, and you’ll see for yourself.

Setting Up for Sufi Breathing (Zikr)

Just sit in a comfortable posture at a place where no one can disturb you. Put

your phone on silent and turn off the lights.

1. Just make sure that you are relaxed and comfortable.

2. Close your eyes and don’t open them throughout the session.

3. Empty your mind and focus on your breathing.

4. Keep your lips closed and breathe normally through your nose. Don’t

speak throughout the exercise.

5. Think about the metaphysical Unity, the One True God, and think how

deeply you want to be know that Entity and receive spiritual

enlightenment.

59

Focusing and Breathing

The exercise is regulated by breathing. Breathing is a sign of the spirit, as when

the breathing stops, the spirit leaves the body. Breathing is also something that

we do 24×7 until we die. Doing the exercise with breathing makes it possible to

keep recharging our spirit all the time. This comes with a little practice.

The Breathing Session

1. Focus on Allah, God, the Supreme Being, the Eternal Energy, HU or

whatever other Name you have for that Infinite Unity. Imagine it right

before you, in the form of the word ALLAH, or a Light source. Please

don’t imagine it as a human or animal figure or anything material or

physical. That will compromise the results of this exercise and might even

make it counter-productive.

2. Concentrate on your Heart. The spiritual Heart is located exactly

where your physical heart is. Try to feel it in your chest. Initially, it may

seem strange to you, and you might not be able to find your heart. But,

within a few days, you’ll realize that there is something in there that was

sleeping before.

3. Think about the metaphysical God. ALLAH. With your eyes closed,

link the Light of ALLAH with your heart. Just think that the Light is

surrounding you and is entering your heart.

4. Breathe normally. Eyes closed.

5. When you inhale, think of the the word ALLAh, or the Light Source,

as mentioned above. There is no need for a detailed imagination. Just

think that it is right there in front of you, emanating Rays or Lights.

6. As you inhale, think that the Lights are being sucked into your Heart.

7. When you exhale, think of it as HU. (Say it in your heart,

“Hoo”…you’ll feel good). Think that HU is striking your Heart like a

thunderbolt or like laser fire in a Star Wars flick. Don’t start thinking

about the movie though, and keep your focus on the Light and the strike

of HU.

8. You are focused on the symbol or the Light source while breathing in

and the Strike of HU (the Lights of HU striking your Heart) while

breathing out.

9. Accelerate the pace of your breathing gradually. Try to breathe at a

rate 3 to 4 times your normal rate of breathing. Take shallow but rapid

breaths. Do not deep breathe or you may hyperventilate. The faster and

the more forcefully you breathe, the more Lights you absorb, and the

quicker you progress.

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10. Keep the inhaling a little longer than the exhaling. The exhaling

should be short and forceful and you should think of the Strike as a

powerful one. A more energetic session gives instant and amazing results.

11. Keep absorbing the Lights of HU into your Heart all the time. If you

are lucky, you may get to see the Lights. But even if you don’t see them,

just think that they are penetrating into your Heart, and they actually do. If

you find it hard to absorb them at first, you can also regulate it with your

breathing. When you inhale and think about the Energy, also think that it

is flowing into your Heart. When you exhale and think about the strike of

HU, also think that the Lights have penetrated into your Heart. At the

proper time, you will be able to feel it too.

12. Keep a swaying motion. Give a slight swing to your body from the

back or the neck when you exhale. Normally, most people feel

comfortable swaying backward when inhaling, and jerking forward when

exhaling. You can move your torso or neck in any way you feel

comfortable. Movement will do two things. It will improve the level of

your concentration and will warm up your body. The Lights of HU absorb

faster in a warmed up body. Physiologically, it’s a cardiovascular exercise

and burns fat.

13. Strike with force. It is important to think that the Lights of HU are

striking your Heart with all their might. Think of them as canon shells

hitting your Heart or big bolts of lightning etc.

14. Keep your focus. You may lose it every now and then and your mind

may wander to other things. Bring yourself back to focus on the Energy

and the strike of HU on your Heart.

15. Keep doing this Sufi Breathing for at least 10 minutes; however, the

longer you do it, the faster you see the effects. The urge you have to seek

HU is very important. How desperately you want to find HU and purify

your spirit decides how rapidly you get the results. It is possible that you

may not feel like stopping, even after more than 10 minutes have passed.

This is because your spirit is getting nourished and urges you to go on.

Here is a quick simplification of what I have written above.

a) Inhale » Think of ALLAH and absorb the Light into your Heart.

b) Exhale » The Strike of HU. The Lights striking your Heart and

absorbing. Think of it as HU.

After 10-15 minutes or more, you can stop breathing rapidly and return to your

normal breathing. Keep your eyes closed. Keep your focus on your heart and

keep absorbing the Lights for a couple of minutes.

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And that’s it. You can say a quick prayer to God, as He is the Ultimate

Consciousness and hears and sees all. He will give you an answer and show you

the Light.

Music among Sufis

Music is called Ghiza-i-ruh, the food of the soul, by Sufis. Music being the most

divine art elevates the soul to the higher spirit; music itself being unseen soon

reaches the unseen; just as only the diamond can break the diamond, so musical

vibrations are used to make the physical and mental vibrations inactive, in order

that the Sufi may be elevated to the spiritual spheres.

Music consists of vibrations which have involved from the top to the bottom,

and if they would only be systematically used, they could be evolved from the

bottom to the top. Real music is known only to the most gifted ones. Music has

five aspects:

1. Tarab — music which induces motion of the body (artistic)

2. Raga — music which appeals to the intellect (scientific)

3. Qul — music which creates feelings (emotional)

4. Nida — music heard in vision (inspirational)

5. Saut — music in the abstract (celestial)

Music has always been the favourite Sufi means of spiritual development. Rumi,

the author of the Masnavi, introduced music into his Maulvi Order, and enjoyed

the memory of his blessed murshid's association while listening to it. Since that

time music has become the second subject of Sufi practices. They declare that it

creates harmony in both worlds and brings eternal peace.

The great mystic of India, Khwaja Moin-ud-Din Chishti, introduced music into

his Chishtia Order. Even today musical entertainments for the elevation of the

soul, called Suma, are held among Sufis.

62

Spiritual Practices for Initiates

Practice Technical

Term

Dhikr Of #

times

When

Bear witness shahada Ash-hadu an la illaha ill-Allah

wa

Ash-hadu anna Muhammadan

Abduhu wa rasuluh

3 Daily

Seek

Forgiveness

Seek

blessings

istighfar

kalima

astaghfirullah

Surah Fatiha

Surah Ikhlas

Surah Falaq

Surah Nas

La illaha ill-Allah

La illaha ill-Allah

Muhammadin Rasul Allah

25

1

11

1

1

9

1

Daily

Daily

Daily

Daily

Daily

Daily

Daily

Send

greetings

salawat Allahumma salli ala

Muhammadin wa ala ali

Muhammadin wa sallim

10 Daily

Send

blessings

ihda Gift the reward of the above

recitation to the Prophet (s.a.s)

and the shaykhs of the

Brotherhood

1 Daily

Seek Divine

Grace

Surah Fatiha 1 Daily

Remember

Allah

dhikr Allah, Allah 1500 Daily

Send

greetings

salawat Allahumma salli ala

Muhammadin wa ala ali

Muhammadin wa sallim

100

300

Daily

M.Th,

F

Seek

blessings

One-thirtieth of the Quran or

Surah Ikhlas

1

100

Daily

Send

greetings

salawat

One chapter of Dalail al-khairat

or

Allahumma salli ala

Muhammadin wa ala ali

Muhammadin wa sallim

100

Daily

63

Spiritual Practices for the Prepared

Practice Technical

Term

Dhirkr # Of

Times

When

Bear witness shahada Ash-hadu an la illaha ill-Allah

wa

Ash-hadu anna Muhammadan

Abduhu wa rasuluh

3 Daily

Seek

forgiveness

istighfar

kalima

Astaghfirullah

Surah Fatiha

Surah Ikhlas

Surah Falaq

Surah Nas

La illaha ill-Allah

La illaha ill-Allah

Muhammadin Rasul Allah

25

1

11

1

1

9

1

Daily

Daily

Daily

Daily

Daily

Daily

Daily

Send

greetings

salawat Allahumma salli ala

Muhammadin wa ala ali

Muhammadin wa sallim

10 Daily

Seek

blessings

ihda Presenting the reward of the

above recitation to the Prophet

(s.a.s) and the shaykhs of the

Brotherhood

1 Daily

Seek Divine

Grace

Surah Fatiha 1 Daily

Remember

Allah

dhikr Allah, Allah (with the tongue)

Allah, Allah (with the heart)

2500

2500

Daily

Daily

Send

greetings

salawat Allahumma salli ala

Muhammadin wa ala ali

Muhammadin wa sallim

300

500

Daily

M.

Th. F

Seek

blessings

One-thirtieth of the Quran or

Surah Ikhlas

1

100

Daily

Send

greetings

salawat

One chapter of Dalail al-khairat

or Allahumma salli ala

Muhammadin wa ala ali

Muhammadin wa sallim

1

100

Daily

64

Spiritual Practices for Those Who Have Determination

Practice Technical

Term

Dhikr # of

Times

When

Bear witness shahada Ash-hadu an la illaha ill-Allah

wa

Ash-hadu anna Muhammadan

Abduhu wa rasuluh

3 Daily

Seek

forgiveness

Istighfar

Amana r-rasal

kalima

Astaghfirullah

Surah Fatiha

Bismillah ir-rahman ir-rahim

ayat amana r-rasul (2:285-286)

Surah Inshirah

Surah Ikhlas

Surah Falaq

Surah Nas

La illaha ill-Allah

La illaha ill-Allah

Muhammadin Rasul Allah

70

1

1

7

11

1

1

9

1

Daily

Daily

Daily

Daily

Daily

Daily

Daily

Daily

Daily

Send

greetings

salawat Allahumma salli ala

Muhammadin wa ala ali

Muhammadin wa sallim

10 Daily

Send

blessings

ihda Presenting the reward of the

above recitation to the Prophet

(s.a.s) and to the shaykhs of the

Brotherhood.

1 Daily

Seek Divine

Grace

Surah Fatiha

Allahu Allahu Allahu Haqq

1

3

Daily

Daily

Remember

Allah

dhikr Allah, Allah (with the tongue)

Allah, Allah (with the heart)

5000

5000

Daily

Daily

Send

greetings

salawat Allahumma salli ala

Muhammadin wa ala ali

Muhammadin wa sallim

1000

2000

Daily

M,

Th, F

Seek

blessings

One-thirtieth of the Quran or

Surah Ikhlas

1

100

Daily

Daily

Send

greetings

salawat

One chapter of Dalail al khairat

or

Allahumma salli ala

Muhammadin wa ala ali

Muhammadin wa sallim

1

100

Daily

65

Dhikr Performed in a Groups

Acts of worship performed in a group – which include dhikru'llah – are more

excellent than acts of worship done alone. The hearts meet in the group, and in

the group people find mutual help and harmony. The weak can take from the

strong, those in darkness from those with light, the dense from the diaphanous,

the ignorant from those with knowledge, and so forth.

Anas reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him

peace, said, "When you come upon the meadows of the Garden, graze in them."

He was asked, "What are the meadows of the Garden?" "Circles of dhikr," he

replied. [at-Tirmidhi)

Abu Hurayra reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and

grant him peace, said, "Allah Almighty has angels who travel the highways and

by-ways seeking out gatherings of dhikr in the earth. When they find a gathering

of dhikr, they enfold them with their wings stretching up to the heaven. Allah

asks them, 'From where have you come?' They reply, 'We have come from Your

slaves who are glorifying You, praising You, proclaiming Your oneness, asking

of You and seeking refuge with You.' He says – and He knows better than them,

'What are they asking Me for?' They reply, 'They are asking You for the

Garden.' He says, 'Have they seen it?' They reply, 'No, our Lord.' He says, 'How

would it be if they were to see it?' Then He asks – and He knows better than

them, 'What are they seeking refuge from?' 'From the Fire,' they reply. He asks,

'Have they seen it?' 'No,' they reply. Then He says, 'How would it be if they

were to see it?' Then He says, 'I testify to you that I have forgiven them, I have

given them what they ask Me for, and I give them the refuge which they ask of

Me.' They say, 'Our Lord, among them is a wrongdoer who is sitting with them,

but is not one of them.' He says, 'I have forgiven him as well. The one sitting

with these people will not be wretched.'" (Muslim, at-Tirmidhi, al-Hakim)

Abu Hurayra reported from Abu Sa'id al-Khudri that the Messenger of Allah,

may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "There are no people who

remember Allah without the angels surrounding them, mercy covering them,

tranquillity descending on them, and Allah mentioning them to those who are

with Him." (Muslim, at-Tirmidhi)

Mu'awiya reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace,

went out to a circle of his Companions and asked, "What is it that has caused

you to sit together?" They answered, "We have sat down to remember Allah and

praise Him." He said, "Jibril came to me and reported to me that the angels are

boasting about you." (Muslim, at-Tirmidhi)

66

Anas reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him

peace, said, "Allah Almighty has angels who travel about seeking out gatherings

of dhikr. When they come to them, they encircle them." (Al-Bazzar)

Anas also reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant

him peace, said, "When you come upon the meadows of the Garden, graze in

them." He was asked, "What are the meadows of the Garden?" "Circles of

dhikr." he replied. [at-Tirmidhi)

The scholar Ibn 'Allan, commentator on al-Adhkar, said that this hadith means,

"When you pass by a group remembering Allah, do the dhikr they are doing or

listen to their dhikr. They are in the meadows of the Garden now or ultimately.

The Almighty says, 'For him who fears the Station of his Lord there are two Gardens.' (55:45)" [al-Futuhat ar-Rabbaniyya 'ala'l-Adhkar an-Nawawiyya]

In his gloss, Ibn 'Abdin said about dhikru'llah in a group, "Imam al-Ghazali

compared doing dhikr alone and the dhikr of a group to the adhan of someone

alone and the adhan of a group. He said, 'As the voices of a group of

mu'adhdhins reach further than the voice of a single mu'adhdhin, so the dhikr of

a group on one heart has more effect in lifting dense veils than the dhikr of a

single person."

In his Hashiyya, at-Tahtawi says: "Ash-Shar'awi states that scholars, both early

and modern, agree that it is recommended to remember Allah Almighty in a

group in the mosques and elsewhere without any objection unless their dhikr

aloud disturbs someone sleeping, praying, or reciting the Qur'an, as is confirmed

in books of fiqh."

Dhikr in Congregation: Khatm ul-Khwajagan

In many Orders or Brotherhoods, the daily awrad and the weekly congregational

dhikr, known as Khatm-ul-Khwajagan, are important principles which the murid

must not leave. The Khatm-ul-Khwajagan is done sitting with the Shaykh in

congregation. This is held once a week, preferably on Thursday night or Friday,

two hours before sunset. The Khatm-ul-Khwajagan is of two categories:

1. The long khatm

2. The short khatm

Important: Concentration

The entire universe in all its activity has been created through the concentration

of God. Every being in the world is occupied consciously or unconsciously in

some act of concentration. Good and evil are alike the result of concentration.

67

The stronger the concentration, the greater the result; lack of concentration is the

cause of failure in all things. For this world and the other, for material as well as

spiritual progress, concentration is most essential.

The power of will is much greater than the power of action, but action is the

final necessity for the fulfilment of the will. Perfection is reached by the regular

practice of concentration, passing through three grades of development: Faná -

fi-Shaikh, annihilation in the astral plane, Faná-fi-Rasul, annihilation in the

spiritual plane, and Faná-fi-Allah, annihilation in the abstract.

After passing through these three grades, the highest state is attained of Bá qi-bi-

Allah, annihilation in the eternal consciousness, which is the destination of all

who travel by this path.

Breath is the first thing to be well studied. This is the very life, and also the

chain which connects material existence with the spiritual. Its right control is a

ladder leading from the lowest to the highest stage of development. Its science is

to be mastered by the favour of the murshid, the guiding light of God.

Ecstasy

Ecstasy is called Wajad by Sufis: it is especially cultivated among the Chishtis.

This bliss is the sign of spiritual development and also the opening for all

inspirations and powers. This is the state of eternal peace, which purifies from

all sins. Only the most advanced Sufis can experience Wajad. Although it is the

most blissful and fascinating state, those who give themselves entirely to it

become unbalanced, for too much of anything is undesirable; as the day's labor

is a necessary precursor of the night's rest, so it is better to enjoy this spiritual

bliss only after the due performance of worldly duties.

Sufis generally enjoy Wajad while listening to music called Qawwali, special

music producing emotions of love, fear, desire, repentance, etc.

There are five aspects of Wajad: Wajad of dervishes, which produces a rhythmic

motion of the body; Wajad of idealists, expressed by a thrilling sensation of the

body, tears and sighs; Wajad of devotees, which creates an exalted state in the

physical and mental body; Wajad of saints, which creates perfect calm and

peace; and Wajad of prophets, the realization of the highest consciousness called

Sadrat al Manteha. One who by the favour of the murshid arrives at the state of

Wajad is undoubtedly the most blessed soul and deserves all adoration.

68

The Long Khatm

Silent Part, Counting with Stones

1. Shahada 3 times;

2. astaghfirullah 70 times;

3. Shaykh recites the du`a (supplication):

“Allahuma Ya Musabbib al-Asbaab, Ya Mufattih al-Abwaab, Ya

Muqallib al-quloobi wa ‘l-absaar, Ya Daleel al-mutahayyireen, Ya

Ghiyaath al-mustaghatheen, Ya Hayyu, Ya Qayyum, Ya Dhu ‘l-Jalaali

wa ‘l-Ikraam! Wa ufawwidu amri il-Allah, inn-Allaha baseerun bi ‘l-

`ibaad.”

4. Rabitatu ‘sh-sharifa, connect your heart to the heart of the Shaykh, from

him to the heart of the Prophet (s), the Prophet (s) will connect you to the

Divine Presence;

5. Fatiha 7 times;

6. Salawat – prayer on Prophet (s) 100 times;

7. Surat al-Inshirah 79 times;

8. Surat al-Ikhlas 1001 times;

9. Fatiha 7 times;

10. Salawat 100 times;

11. One person, by the order of the Shaykh will recite Qur’an;

12. Ihda: presentation by the Shaykh as gift to the Prophet (s.a.s) and to the

saints and Shaykhs of the Order or Brotherhood and all other orders.

Loud Part

13. ‘la ilaha ill-Allah’ 100 times;

14. Ihda, Shaykh presents reward to Prophet (s) and all saints as a gift;

15. ‘Allah, Allah’ 100 times;

16. ‘Huwa, Huwa’ 33 times;

17. ‘Haqq, Haqq’ 33 times;

18. ‘Hayy, Hayy’ 33 times;

19. ‘Allahu, Allah Haqq’ 10 times;

20. ‘Allahu, Allah Hayy’ 10 times;

21. ‘Allah Hayy Ya Qayyum’ 10 times;

22. ‘Ya Hu, Ya Hu, Ya Daa’im’ 3 times;

69

23. ‘Allah Ya Hu, Ya Daa’im’ once;

24. ‘Ya Daa’im, Ya Daa’im, Ya Daa’im Ya Allah’ two times;

25. ‘Ya Haleem, Ya Haleem, Ya Haleem, Ya Allah’ two times;

26. ‘Ya Hafeezh , Ya Hafeezh, Ya Hafeezh , Ya Allah’ two times;

27. ‘Ya Lateef, Ya Lateef, Ya Lateef, Ya Allah’ two times;

28. ‘Ya Ghaffaar, Ya Ghaffaar, Ya Ghaffaar, Ya Allah’ two times;

29. ‘Ya Sattaar, Ya Sattaar, Ya Sattaar, Ya Allah’ two times;

30. ‘Ya Fattaah, Ya Fattaah, Ya Fattaah, Ya Allah’ two times;

31. ‘Ya Mujeeb, Ya Mujeeb, Ya Mujeeb, Ya Allah’ two times;

32. ‘Ya Mu`izz, Ya Mu`izz, Ya Mu`izz, Ya Allah’ two times;

33. ‘Ya Mu`een, Ya Mu`een, Ya Mu`een, Ya Allah’ two times;

34. ‘Ya Wadud, Ya Wadud, Ya Wadud, Ya Allah’ two times;

35. ‘Ya Rahman, Ya Rahman, Ya Rahman, Ya Allah’ two times;

36. ‘Ya Raheem, Ya Raheem, Ya Raheem, Ya Allah’ two times;

37. ‘Ya Hannaan, Ya Hannaan, Ya Hannaan, Ya Allah’ two times;

38. ‘Ya Mannaan, Ya Mannaan, Ya Mannaan, Ya Allah’ two times;

39. ‘Ya Dayyaan, Ya Dayyaan, Ya Dayyaan, Ya Allah’ two times;

40. ‘Ya Subhaan, Ya Subhaan, Ya Subhaan, Ya Allah’ two times;

41. ‘Ya Sultaan, Ya Sultaan, Ya Sultaan, Ya Allah’ two times;

42. ‘Ya Amaan, Ya Amaan, Ya Amaan, Ya Allah’ two times;

43. ‘Ya Allah, Ya Allah, Ya Allah, Ya Allah’ two times;

44. ‘hasbunallah wa n`ima-l-Wakeel, n`ima-l-Mawla wa n`ima-n-Naseer,

laa hawla wa laa quwwata illa billahi-l-`Aliyyi-l-`Azheem’

45. Salawat 10 times;

46. Ihda - Master of Salawat:

`Alaa ashrafi ‘l-`alameena Sayyidina Muhammadin salawaat,

`Alaa afdali ‘l-`alameena Sayyidina Muhammadin salawaat,

`Alaa akmali’ l-`alameena Sayyidina Muhammadin

salawaat.Salawaatu ‘Llaahi ta`alaa wa malaa’ikatihi wa anbiyaa’ihi wa

rusulihi wa jami`ee khalqihi `alaa Muhammad wa `alaa aali

Muhammad `alayhi wa `alayhimu ‘s-salaam wa rahmatullaahi ta`alaa

wa barakatuh.Wa radiyy-Allahu tabaaraka wa ta`alaa `an-saadaatinaa

as-haabi rasoolillaahi ajma`een. Wa `ani ‘t-taabi`eena bihim bi-

ihsaanin, wa `ani ‘l-a’immati ’l-mujtahideen al-maadeen, wa `ani ‘l-

`ulamaai ’l-muttaqeen, wa `ani ‘l-awliyaai ‘s-saaliheen, wa `an

mashayikhinaa fi ‘t-tareeqati-n- (name of Order or brotherhood) ‘l-

`aliyyah, qaddas Allaahu ta`ala arwaahahumu ’z-zakiyya, wa nawwarr

Allaahu ta`alaa adrihatamu ’l-mubaaraka, wa `adallaahu ta`alaa

70

`alaynaa min barakaatihim wa fuyoodatihim daa’iman wa ‘l-

hamdulillaahi rabbi ‘l-`alameen.

47. Subhaana ya rabbee al-`ala ‘l-Wahhaab (du`a by Shaykh)

48. Ihda, presenting the blessings of the Khatm to the Prophet (s) and all …

(name of Order or Brotherhood) saints and all other saints:

Ila sharafi ‘n-nabi, salla-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam wa aalihi wa sahbihi

‘l-kiraam wa ila arwaahi ikhwanihi min al-anbiya’i wa ‘l-mursaleen wa

ila arwaahi ‘l-a’immati ’l-arba` wa ila arwaahi mashaykhina fi ’t-

tariqati-n-Naqshbandiyyati-l-`aliyya khaassatan ila ruhi imami-t-

tariqah wa ghawthi ‘l-khaliqat khwaja Bahauddin (name Order or

Brotherhood) Muhammad al-uwaysi al-bukhari, wa ila sultanu ‘l-awliya

shaykh `Abdullah al-Faiz ad-Daghestani wa ila shaykhina Muhammad

Nazim al-Haqqani Mu’ayyad ad-din wa saa’iri saadaatina wa ‘s-

siddiqeena, al-Fatiha.

Short Khatm Aloud

1. Shahada three times

2. Astaghfirullah 25 times;

3. Shaykh recites the du`a (supplication):

“Allahuma Ya Musabbib al-Asbaab, Ya Mufattih al-Abwaab, Ya Muqallib

al-quloobi wa ‘l-absaar, Ya Daleel al-mutahayyireen, Ya Ghiyaath al-

mustaghatheen, Ya Hayyu, Ya Qayyum, Ya Dhu ‘l-Jalaali wa ‘l-Ikraam!

Wa ufawwidu amri il-Allah, inn-Allaha baseerun bi ‘l-`ibaad.”

4. Rabitatu ‘sh-sharifa, connect your heart to the heart of the Shaykh, from

him to the heart of the Prophet (s), the Prophet (s) will connect you to the

Divine Presence;

5. Fatiha 7 times;

6. Prayer on Prophet (s.a.s) 10 times;

7. Surat al-Inshirah 7 times;

8. Surat al-Ikhlas 11 times;

9. Fatiha 7 times;

10. Salawat 10 times;

11. One person, by the order of the shaykh will recite the Quran;

71

12. Ihda - Presentation by the Shaykh as gift to the Prophet (s.a.s) and to the

saints and Shaykhs of the Order or Brotherhood and all other orders:

Ila hadarati ‘n-Nabi, salla-Allahu `alayhi wa sallam wa aalihi wa

sahbihi ‘l-kiraam wa ila arwaahi ikhwanihi min al-anbiya’i wa ‘l-

mursaleen wa ila arwaahi ‘l-a’immati ’l-arba` wa ila arwaahi

mashaykhina fi ’t-tariqati-n- (name of Order or Brotherhood) -`aliyya

khaassatan ila Sayyidina `Abdu ’l-Khaliq Al- Ghujdawani wa Ahli ’l-

Khwajagan, al-Fatiha.

13. ‘la ilaha ill-Allah’ 100 times;

14. Ihda, shaykh presents reward to Prophet (s.a.s) and all saints as a gift;

15. ‘Allah, Allah’ 100 times;

16. ‘Huwa, Huwa’ 33 times

17. ‘Haqq, Haqq’ 33 times

18. ‘Hayy, Hayy’ 33 times

19. ‘Allahu, Allah, Haqq’ 10 times

20. ‘Allahu, Allah Havy’ 10 times

21. ‘Allah Hayy Ya Qayyum’ 10 times

22. ‘Ya Hu, Ya Hu, Ya Daim’ 3 times

23. ‘Allah Ya Hu, Ya Daim’ once

24 ‘Ya Daa’im, Ya Daa’im, Ya Daa’im Ya Allah’ two times;

25 Ya Haleem, Ya Haleem, Ya Haleem, Ya Allah’ two times;

26 ‘Ya Hafeezh , Ya Hafeezh, Ya Hafeezh , Ya Allah’ two times;

27 ‘Ya Lateef, Ya Lateef, Ya Lateef, Ya Allah’ two times;

28 ‘Ya Ghaffaar, Ya Ghaffaar, Ya Ghaffaar, Ya Allah’ two times;

29 ‘Ya Sattaar, Ya Sattaar, Ya Sattaar, Ya Allah’ two times;

30 ‘Ya Fattaah, Ya Fattaah, Ya Fattaah, Ya Allah’ two times;

31 ‘Ya Mujeeb, Ya Mujeeb, Ya Mujeeb, Ya Allah’ two times;

32 ‘Ya Mu`izz, Ya Mu`izz, Ya Mu`izz, Ya Allah’ two times;

33 ‘Ya Mu`een, Ya Mu`een, Ya Mu`een, Ya Allah’ two times;

34 Ya Wadud, Ya Wadud, Ya Wadud, Ya Allah’ two times;

35 ‘Ya Rahman, Ya Rahman, Ya Rahman, Ya Allah’ two times;

36 ‘Ya Raheem, Ya Raheem, Ya Raheem, Ya Allah’ two times;

37 ‘Ya Hannaan, Ya Hannaan, Ya Hannaan, Ya Allah’ two times;

72

38 ‘Ya Mannaan, Ya Mannaan, Ya Mannaan, Ya Allah’ two times;

39 ‘Ya Dayyaan, Ya Dayyaan, Ya Dayyaan, Ya Allah’ two times;

40 ‘Ya Subhan, Ya Subhan, Ya Subhaan, Ya Allah’ two times;

41 ‘Ya Sultaan, Ya Sultaan, Ya Sultan, Ya Allah’ two times;

42 ‘Ya Amaan, Ya Amaan, Ya Amaan, Ya Allah’ two times;

43 ‘Ya Allah, Ya Allah, Ya Allah, Ya Allah’ 2 times or 4 times + 7 times;

44 ‘Hasbunallah wa n`ima-l-Wakeel, n`ima-l-Mawla wa n`ima-n-Naseer,

laa hawla wa laa quwwata illa billahi-l-`Aliyyi-l-`Azheem’

45 Salawat 10 times

46 Ihda

Bibliography

Part One

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by contemporary scholars and Sufi teachers.

Chittick, William C. The Sufi Path of Knowledge: Ibn al-ʿArabī 's

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1989. A detailed exposition of Ibn al-ʿArabī's teachings.

Chittick, William C.Sufism: A Short Introduction. Oxford: Oneworld

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focus on love and other major themes of the great teachers.

Ernst, Carl W.The Shambhala Guide to Sufism. Boston, Mass.:

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Ghazālī, Abū Ḥāmid al-. On Disciplining the Soul and On Breaking the

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rationale for basic Sufi practices.

Jong, Frederick De, and Bernd Radtke, eds.Islamic Mysticism Contested:

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73

A collection of thirty-five specialized articles dealing with opposition to Sufi

organizations and teachings in diverse regions, mainly in recent centuries.

Knysh, Alexander. Islamic Mysticism: A Short History. Leiden: E. J. Brill,

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Lewis, Franklin. Rumi: Past and Present, East and West. Oxford: One

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Lewisohn, Leonard, et al., eds.The Heritage of Sufism. 3 vols. Oxford:

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Massignon, Louis. The Passion of al-ḥallāj: Mystic and Martyr of Islam.

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Meier, Fritz. Essays on Islamic Piety and Mysticism. Translated from the

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Murata, Sachiko. Chinese Gleams of Sufi Light. Albany: State University

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Murata, Sachiko. The Tao of Islam: A Sourcebook on Gender

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human soul.

Murata, Sachiko, and William C. Chittick. The Vision of Islam. New York

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Najm al-Dīn Rāzī. The Path of God's Bondsmen. Translated from the

Persian by Hamid Algar. Delmar, N.Y.: Caravan Books, 1982. One of the best

handbooks of Sufi teachings, a thirteenth-century text that was influential

throughout the Persianate world, from Turkey to China.

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Nasr, Seyyed Hossein. The Garden of Truth: The Vision and Practice of

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74

Renard, John. Historical Dictionary of Sufism. Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow

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Ritter, Helmut. The Ocean of the Soul. Translated by John O’Kane.

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study of the teachings of the great Persian poet Farīd al-Dīn ʿAṭṭār, as well as

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Schimmel, Annemarie. Mystical Dimensions of Islam. Chapel Hill:

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Part Two

Abbas, Shemeem Burney. The Female Voice in Sufi Ritual: Devotional

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75

Daly, M. W., ed. Al-Majdhubīya and al-Mikashfīya: Two Sufi Tariqas in the

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Eickelman, Dale F. Moroccan Islam. Austin and London, 1976. One of the best

anthropological works on maraboutism. Based on field research conducted by

the author with the al-Sharqāwah family in Boujad, central Morocco. His

Knowledge and Power in Morocco (Princeton, 1985) contains a case study of

the critical attitude of a reform-minded student to traditional maraboutism in the

first half of the twentieth century.

Ernst, Carl F., and Bruce B. Lawrence. Sufi Martyrs of Love: Chishti Sufism in

South Asia and Beyond. New York, 2002.

Geertz, Clifford. Islam Observed. New Haven and London, 1968. Compact but

informative book on Moroccan maraboutism and Indonesian mysticism in their

historical, sociological, and ideological contexts.

Gellner, Ernest. Saints of the Atlas. Chicago, 1969. Standard monograph on the

saintly families of the High Atlas, Morocco. For his more comprehensive studies

of Islam, including maraboutism and fundamentalism, as well as his

methodological stance, see his collection of papers entitled Muslim Society

(Cambridge, 1981).

Gilsenan, Michael. Saint and Sufi in Modern Egypt. Oxford, 1973. Sociological

study of the Ḥāmidīyah Shādhilīyah Sufi order from its origin to the 1960s. On

the internal conflict in the order after the death of the second shaykh in the

1970s, see his Recognizing Islam (New York, 1982), which includes

information on the saint and/or Sufi cultures in Yemen, Lebanon, and other

areas.

Goldziher, Ignácz. Muslim Studies. Vol. 2.London, 1971. Collection of papers

written by one of the greatest orientalist scholars in the latter half of the

nineteenth century, which includes a classic and standard work on the veneration

of saints, though its methodological stance could be criticized by today's criteria.

Hourani, Albert. Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age, 1798–1939. 2d

ed.Cambridge, 1983. Standard study on the socio-political thought of great

Muslim reformists, whether modernist or fundamentalist, in the modern age.

Includes chapters on Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, Muḥammad ʿAbduh, and

Muḥammad Rashīd Riḍā who rebuked harshly some, or all, of the elements of

Sufi saint culture.

Lane, E. W. An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians

(1836). London, 1978. Invaluable encyclopaedic ethnography of everyday life,

mainly in Cairo, in the first decades of the nineteenth century. It is noteworthy

that Lane describes the veneration of saints and the mawlid feasts, not in the

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chapter on “Religion,” but in those on “Superstitions” and “Periodical Public

Festivals.”

Liebeskind, Claudia. Piety on its Knees: Three Sufi Traditions in South Asia in

Modern Times. New York, 1998.

McGregor, Richard J. A. Sanctity and Mysticism in Medieval Egypt: The

Wafaʿ Sufi Order and the Legacy of Ibn ʿArabi. Albany, N.Y., 2004.

McLoughlin, Sean. “Ambiguous Traditions and Modern Transformations of

Islam: The Waxing and Waning of an ‘Intoxicated’ Sufi Cult in Mirpur.”

Contemporary South Asia15, no. 3 (2006): 289–307.

Ohtsuka, Kazuo. “How Is Islamic Knowledge Acquired in Modern Egypt?

ʿUlamāʿ, Ṣūfīs, Fundamentalists, and Common People.” In Japanese Civilization

in the Modern World, vol. 5, Culturedness, edited by Tadeo Umesao, et al.

Osaka, 1990. An examination of various ways of acquiring “proper” Islamic

knowledge in modern Egyptian contexts.

Ohtsuka, Kazuo. “Toward a Typology of Benefit-Granting in Islam.” Orient24

(1988): 141–152. In this paper, published in the English bulletin of the Japanese

Society of the Near Eastern Society, four types of benefit-granting practices in

Islam are proposed, using exchange theory as the frame of analysis and locating

the practice by which Muslim saints confer benefits within this typology.

Reeves, E. B. The Hidden Government: Ritual, Clientelism, and Legitimation in

Northern Egypt. Salt Lake City, Utah, 1990. An anthropological study of Sayyid

Aḥmad al-Badawī and other Muslim saints in Tanta. It includes valuable

information about the historical development of the cult of al-Badawī,

contemporary saint veneration in the area, and the actual conditions of mawlid

and other rituals.

Schimmel, Annemarie. And Muḥammad is His Messenger: The Veneration of

the Prophet in Islamic Piety. Chapel Hill, N.C., and London, 1985. Numerous

cases of popular veneration of the Prophet are provided mainly from historical

and literary sources, although most of them come from Turkey, Persia, and the

Indian subcontinent.

Trimingham, J. Spencer. The Sufi Orders in Islam. New York, 1998.

Thorough, classic study of Sufi orders, and an encyclopaedic text on their

history, thought, organization, and ritual.

Werbner, Pnina, and Helene Basu, eds. Embodying Charisma: Modernity,

Locality, and Performance of Emotion in Sufi Cults. New York, 1998.

Westermarck, Edward. Rituals and Belief in Morocco. 2 vols. London, 1926.

Encyclopaedic account of Moroccan folk beliefs and rituals written by a Finnish

anthropologist working in London. Westermarck conducted field research in

Morocco at the turn of the century and devotes three chapters of his book to

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describing and analysing actual cases of the concept of barakah, which he

translated as “holiness” or “blessed virtue.”

Meditation by the Editor

Beloved ones of God, you may belong to any race, cast, creed, or nation, still

you are all impartially beloved by God. You may be a believer or an unbeliever

in the Supreme Being, but He cares not. His mercy and grace flow through all

His powers, without distinction of friend or foe.

Different methods called religions and philosophies have been adopted by

different nations at various periods. Though the form and teachings of the

several religions appear so unlike, their source is one and the same. But from the

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very beginning the differences have created prejudice, envy, and antagonism

between man. Such dissensions occupy a large portion of the histories of the

world and have become the most important subject in life.

The sun, moon, and stars give light; the timely change of seasons promotes

health and cheerfulness; the rain grows corn, fruits, and flowers; and the

alternation of day and night provides the opportunity for work and rest.

The argument has been raised that all manifestation is due to the interaction of

natural elements, working by their own force; every cause has its effect, and the

effect again becomes a cause for the reaction; thus nature works unaided. The

answer is, that every cause must have some preceding cause, or first cause, to

produce it; and logically one cause may produce many effects, which effects

again become second causes, producing new reactions, 'While intellectual minds

are seeking second causes, the wise man only perceives the first cause. Air,

earth, water, being second causes, the precedent cause, which makes them act

and pause, is hidden.'

If you study your own body, you will find its mechanism to be the original

model of the artificial mechanism of the world. Art and science fail if compared

with that of His nature. The ear, eyes, and all other organs, how perfectly they

are adapted in shape and mechanism to the purpose which they must serve! How

liberally the needs of life, water, air, and food, are supplied; even milk is

prepared in the mother's breast for the unborn infant. Should we not appreciate

the liberality of the Creator, and thank him each moment with all humility and

gratitude? 'Praise be to Allah, the worship of whom is the means of drawing

closer to Him, and the giving of thanks to whom involves an increase of

benefits. Every breath which is inhaled prolongs life, and when exhaled it

quickens the frame. In every breath, therefore, two blessings are contained, and

for every blessing a separate thanksgiving is due' (Sa'di).

He has fashioned and moulded you after His own image, and made you Ashrá f

al-Makhluá t, the highest of all beings and the pride of the universe, having

given you command over all other beings of both worlds. As is said in the

Qur'an, 'Do you not see that Allah has subjected all things on earth to you?' And

at the same time He has given you, by His grace, the attributes of humanity:

kindness, gratitude, faithfulness, justice, modesty, piety, sympathy, reverence,

bravery, patience, love, knowledge, and wisdom. This is an open proof of your

being the real object of creation and the most beloved of God.

Granting that we see nature, and also admitting its original cause, upon what

grounds do we consider the cause to be a personal God, meriting worship? The

answer is that nature itself consists of different personalities, and each of them

has its peculiar attributes. The sum total of all these personalities is One, the

only real personality. In relation to that One all other personalities are merely an

illusion. Just as, in a limited form, a nation or a community is the sum of many

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personalities. Just as nature manifested in numerous names and forms is still

called nature, singular not plural, just as the individual combines within himself

the different parts of his body, arms, limbs, eyes, ears, and is possessed of

different qualities yet is one person, so the sum total of all personalities is called

God.

He is the possessor of all the visible and invisible attributes of the Absolute, and

has different names in different languages for the understanding of man. It may

be said that the personality of a man is quite comprehensible, since his actions

exhibit him as a single individual, whereas God's personality has no clear

identification of its own. The answer is, that variety covers unity. 'Hidden things

are manifested by their opposites, but as God has no opposite He remains

hidden. God's light has no opposite in the range of creation whereby it may be

manifested to view' (Jelal-ud-Din Rumi).

The wise man by studying nature enters into the unity through its variety, and

realizes the personality of God by sacrificing his own. 'He who knows himself

knows Allah' (Sayings of Mohammed). 'The Kingdom of God is within you'

(Bible). 'Self-knowledge is the real wisdom' (Vedanta).

God's relation to nature may be understood by analysing the idea expressed in

the words, 'I myself'. This affirmation means the one individual; at the same

time it identifies the dual aspect of the One. In this phrase 'I' is the possessor,

and 'myself' is the possessed. So also God, the unmanifested, is the possessor;

and nature, the manifestation, is the possessed, which has its source hidden

within itself.

The possessed could not have been created from anything other than the

possessor's own self, as there existed none but the possessor. Although the

possessor and the possessed are considered to be two separate identities, in

reality they are one. The possessor realizes the possessed through the medium of

his own consciousness, which forms three aspects, the Trinity, of the one Being.

The German philosopher Hegel says, 'If you say God is one, it is true; if you say

He is two, that is also true; and if you say He is three, that is true too, because it

is the nature of the world.'

God is regarded from three points of view: personality, morality, and reality.

According to the first view, God is the most high; man is dependent upon Him

and is His most obedient servant. According to the second view, God is the all-

merciful and all-good Master of the Day of Judgement, while all evil is from

Satan (meaning the ‘Adversary’. The third is the philosophic view that God is

the beginning and end of all, having Himself no beginning nor end. As a Sufi

mystic has said, 'The universe is the manifestation of Allah, where from His own

unity He created, by involution, variety — the state of various names and forms

— , thereby distinguished as Allah, worthy of all praise and worship.'

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According to Sufi tenets the two aspects of the supreme Being are termed Zá t

and Sifat, the Knower and the Known. The former is Allah and the latter

Mohammed. Zát being only one in its existence, cannot be called by more than

one name, which is Allah; and Sifat, being manifold in four different

involutions, has numerous names, the sum of them all being termed Mohammed.

The ascending and descending forms of Zát and Sifat form the circle of the

Absolute. These two forces are called Nuzul and Uruj, which means involution

and evolution. Nuzul begins from Zát and ends in Sifat; Uruj starts from Sifat

and ends in Zát, Zát being the negative and Sifat the positive force.

Zát projects Sifat from its own self and absorbs it within itself. It is a rule of

philosophy that the negative cannot lose its negativeness by projecting the

positive from itself, though the positive covers the negative within itself, as the

flame covers the fire. The positive has no independent existence, yet it is real

because projected from the real, and it may not be regarded as an illusion.

Human ignorance persists in considering Zát to be separate from Sifat, and Sifat

independent of Zát.

We may ask: why we should worship God, and whether the theoretical

knowledge of His law in nature is not sufficient For the highest realization. The

answer is: no. Theoretical knowledge of a subject can never take the place of

experience, which is necessary for realization. Written music cannot entertain us

unless it is played, nor the description of perfume delight our senses unless we

smell it, no recipes of the most delicious dishes satisfy our hunger. Nor can the

theory of God give complete joy and peace; we must actually realize God or

attain that state of realization which gives eternal happiness through the

admiration and worship of nature's beauty and its source. 'The Beloved is all in

all, the lover only veils him; the Beloved is all that lives, the lover a dead thing'

(Jelal-ud-Din Rumi).

A wise man realizes that the fundamental basis of all religions and beliefs is one:

Haq, or truth. The truth has always been covered by two garments: a turban on

the head, and a robe upon the body. The turban is made of mystery known as

mysticism, and the robe is made of morality, which is called religion. Truth has

been covered thus by most of the prophets and saints, in order to hide it from

ignorant eyes, as yet too undeveloped to bear it in its naked form. Those who see

the truth uncovered, abandon reason and logic, good and bad, high and low, new

and old; differences and distinctions of names and forms fade away, and the

whole universe is realized as nothing other than Haq. Truth in its realization is

one; in its representation it is many, since its revelations are made under varying

conditions of time and space.

As water in a fountain flows in one stream but falls in many drops, divided by

time and space, so are the revelations of the one stream of truth. Not everyone

can comprehend the idea of different truths being derived from the one truth.

81

Common sense has been so narrowly trained in this world of variety, that it

naturally fails to realize the breadth and subtlety of a spiritual fact so far beyond

the reach of its limited reasoning.

82

83

Contents

Sufism: Treading the Mystical Path 2

What is, in fact, Spirituality in Sufism? 5

Explaining the Difference between Sufism and Islam 10

Differences Perception about the right Path to God; Differences

between Islam and Sufism; Importance of Shari’a

11

When to attain God; Dimensional Difference - Differences between

Islam and Sufism; Materialistic luxury; Spirituality; Viewing Hajj

12

Differences between Islam and Sufism - Dhikr; Place of Music and

Dance; Summary (two parts); Sufism in Modern World

13

The Creed of Islam; What is faith according to Islam; What is Sufism;

How is Sufism related to Islam

15

How does Islam view other religions; How does one enter Islam; What

is a Shaykh? How does one reach spiritual levels in Sufism?

16

Positive or Negative Criticism 17

Sufi Orders 21

Premodern Foundations; Large inclusive traditions 22

Orders based on “Ancient Ways.” 23

Individual-based orders; Shrine Tariqahs; Foundations of the Modern

Orders

24

Elite Tariqahs 26

Interregional networks; Missionary expansion; Puritan reformism 27

Sufi Orders in the Modern Era; Popular piety 28

Anti-foreign resistance 29

Responses to modernity 31

Challenges and Prospects 33

Sufi Shrine Culture 34

Historical Origin; Two Cases 35

Enshrinement of Non-Sufis. 37

Spatial Composition 39

Ritual Activities 40

Visitation; Dhikr 41

Annual festival 42

Political and Economic Functions 43

Spirituality among the Sufis -Self-knowledge 44

Love, Love one another, is have love for Allah; Towards Perfection 45

The Prophets (Preachers of Good News) 46

Overview of Sufism Worldwide 47

Criticism 50

Sufi Spiritual Exercises; Sufi Training and Self-Training (Self-

initiation)

51

84

Inward and Outward Manifestations in the Spiritual Life; Interests and

Indifferences; Mind (Spirit) and Matter

52

Intellect and Wisdom; Dreams and Inspirations 53

Law of Action; Male and Female aspects of Allah (God) 55

Sufi Breathing: the Life Changing Breathing Exercise - Zikr: The

Amazing Sufi Breathing Exercise; Setting Up for Sufi Breathing (Zikr)

58

Focusing and Breathing; The Breathing Session 60

Music among Sufis 61

Spiritual Practices for Initiates 62

Spiritual Practices for the Prepared 63

Spiritual Practices for Those Who Have Determination 64

Dhikr Performed in a Groups 65

Dhikr in Congregation: Khatm ul-Khwajagan; Important:

Concentration

66

Ecstasy 67

The Long Khatm - Silent Part, Counting with Stones 68

Short Khatm Aloud 70

Bibliography (Parts One and Two) 72

Meditation by the Editor 77

Editor’s certificates 81

Contents 83

© February 2018 – EBook Publications “Mon Islam” (My Islam)

Ghent, Belgium