Journal of European Studies

Freud: The Sufi Within

Anila Amber Malik
Erum Riaz

Abstract
This article strives to draw parallels between the teachings of
Sigmund Freud and that of Sufi philosophers such as Rumi,
Ghazali, Farabi, Al Kindi, Ibn Rashd, Ibn Badjdja, Idries Shah,
Burton and that of quantum physics in the writings of Hawking.
Parallels are drawn between the Romantic era and its reflection in
Freuds writings, in the form of the intangible, dreams, the
unconscious and the study of Orientalism. The idea of the murid
and morad is found in Freudian analytical framework where the
client in the guise of the murid starts the process of transference
with his teacher (morad or psychoanalyst). Not only is the inward
exploration of man that forms the backbone of Freuds theory and
Sufi philosophy examined; the use of similes and metaphors in
Freuds works and that of the Sufi tradition is also compared. Thus
the idea of quiet happiness expounded by Freud and of ultimate
happiness by Ibn Badjdja are seen as strikingly similar. The nafs
of the Sufi tradition and the Freudian id, ego and super ego also
have a startling similarity. The authors explore how Ghazalis
theory of the mind as a mirror, and Freuds defense mechanisms
are comparable. Freuds discussion about the Jewish nature of his
mysticism in the later part of his life is also explored. The authors,
studying parallels between Sufism and Freud do not ignore the fact
that though Sufism seems to be infused with spiritual thought, it
does not ignore the sexual aspect of the human being, which is
apparent in Rumis writings. Just as the Sufi seeks the truth, Freud
too leaves no stone unturned to find it, which is apparent in his
forays into literature. What the Sufis had started was given impetus
by Freuds vision. Far from being paranoid about sexuality, he
upholds it as an integral part of the human nature. At the same time

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Freud was deeply spiritual; believing that man could attain dignity,
love and happiness.
Introduction
Even though you tie a hundred knots- the string remains one.
Rumi
In order to understand Freuds theories one has to go back in time,
to the period which gave birth to one of the most fertile minds in
the history of man, a man who changed the face of psychology
with his theories. In particular, he completely altered the concept
of how an individual viewed and understood himself. Freud was
born in Freiberg, Moravia (now known as the Czech Republic) in
the year 1856, to Jewish parents. He then moved to Vienna at the
age of three, where he stayed till the invasion by Hitlers troops in
1938, when he moved to London where he lived till his death in
1939. Initially, Freud studied medicine but he knew that being
Jewish would impede his rise in the field of medicine. Besides, his
father was becoming infirm and unable to provide the requisite
finances to help him in his education. Thus, he started working at a
Viennese hospital to pay his way through, and then later through a
grant got the opportunity to work with Charcot and study hypnosis.
This introduced him to the field of psychiatry and diseases of the
mind.1 From Breuer he learnt the technique of catharsis, leading
him to the concept of free association. He later went on to publish
Studies on Hysteria with Breuer.2 His famous works are The
Interpretation of Dreams (1900/1953), Psychopathology of
Everyday Life (1901/1960), Three Essays on the Theory of

Sigmund Freud, An Autobiographical Study, the Standard Edition (New York:

Norton, 1925).
2
J. Breuer & S. Freud, Studies on Hysteria, in James Strachey (trans.), The
Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud 2
(London: Hogarth Press, 1895 / 1955).

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Sexuality (1905/1953b) and Jokes and their Relation to the

Unconscious (1905/1960).3
Freud was born when the Romantic Movement was at its zenith,
and the vagaries of scientific discovery were being talked about
with passionate interest in intellectual circles. Freud being the
product of his times, showed a keen interest in the Romantic
subjects, in German Naturphilosophie, Jewish philosophers, and
humanisms philosophy of the experience of each person, and of
his being an individual.4
Romanticism explored the acceptance of the intangible and how it
affected the human psyche. Freud was undoubtedly a product of
those times when the intellectual environment in Germany evoked
discussion on psychological introversion in literature and art,
which related strongly to the idea of Strum and Drang (Storm and
Stress). This period talked simultaneously of the truthfulness of
feelings, genuineness in conduct and ideas such as Orientalism and
spirituality. The concept of dreams having a connection with the
unconscious was given profound thought and significance in the
Romantic era.5
What is startling is the similarities that Freud shares with
philosophers who go further back in time, to the year 1207 (A.D.),
which saw the birth of one of the greatest thinkers, Jalaluddin
Rumi, in Balkh, Khorasan (Persia). Rumi was a great mystical

Jess Feist & Gregory J. Feist, Theories of Personality (New York: McGraw
Hill, 2002), 17-18, 21-22.
4
Tina Gianoulis & Ava Rose, Sigmund Freud, St.James Encyclopedia of Pop
Culture. Available from http://findarticles.com/articles/mi_gl epc/is_bio/ai_
2419200430/.2002.
5
Philolog posted by Patrick Hunt, Goya, Friedrich and Romanticism:
Reification of Nature. Retrieved on May 21, 2010 from
http://traumwerk.stanford.edu/philolog/2006/04/goya_friedrich_and_romantic
ism_1.html

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poet. His intellectual life seems to have been divided into different
eras, where he sought and found mystical communion with a
Perfect Man. This was reflected in Rumis devotion to Shamul
din of Tabriz, a wandering dervish in whom Rumi found his
spiritual twin.6 Amongst his contemporaries, Freud was
intellectually close to Charcot, Breuer, Jung, and Abraham. The
most intense of Freuds relationship was with Carl Jung. It is said
that both caused an intellectual and emotional upheaval in each
others lives. The first time that Freud and Jung met, was 1907,
which was the start of a great and productive professional and
personal relationship. Freud later came to regard Jung as his
potential successor and even called him the crown prince, who
would take over his mantle, in the psychoanalytical movement.
They were later to part on bitter terms but that did not take away
from the tumultuous and intense relationship they had shared with
each other akin to that of a master and his disciple.7
One finds that Rumis and Freuds thoughts are remarkably
similar. Rumi talks in his poem, the Diwan of Shams of Tabriz, of
internal consciousness, that upholds the eternal truth and not
organized religion with its rituals. Sufis are not into religious
rituals and the externalities of organized religion. The Sufi will not
travel from one country to another, or read hundreds of books to
find the truth or enlightenment. The Sufi will look inwards,
analyze his conscious and unconscious, like Freud has prescribed
in Psychoanalysis. The Sufis journey is within himself, the
answers to all his questions, lie within his heart.8 It was through
psychoanalysis and looking deep into his own psyche, that Freud
learnt the dynamics of the personality of man.

Reynold Nicholson, Rumi: Poet and Mystic (England: Oneworld Publications,

1998), 17-21.
7
Laurie Spurling (ed.), Freud and the Impact of Psychoanalysis, Sigmund
Freud: Critical Assessments (London and New York: Routledge, 1989), 3-4.
8
Idries Shah, The Sufis (London: W.H. Allen & Co. Ltd., 1977), x-xi, 135.

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According to Idries Shah (1977) a Sufi uses similes to elucidate his

point, which are taken from the world that is familiar. In this way
he can better convey his teachings to the populace. Here there is a
strong similarity between the Sufis and Freud. The latters Electra
and Oedipus theories explain the phenomenon of love for the
parent of the opposite sex. It was also the Sufis who propagated the
idea of conscious evolution, much before Darwin or Freud. This
concept refers to the conscious thought of man rather than men.9
But what is Sufism in its most intrinsic sense? According to Idries
Shah (1977)10, it is a spiritual sect found in almost all religions.
Their creed is the search for wisdom and attainment of
enlightenment through spiritualism. The Sufi is not bound by
traditions or books, and religious rituals are respected as long as
social harmony is preserved.11 Freud in Civilization and its
Discontents demonstrates the same thought processes when he
talks about religion being the bane and boon of human existence,
for even though it provides salvation or a palliative to the
common man, it also creates a herd instinct.12
Centuries before the birth of Freud, the world saw the golden age
of the Arab / Muslim civilization, where Muslim philosophers like
Ghazali, Farabi, Al Kindi, Ibn Rashd, Hunain bin Ishaq explored
human consciousness. This was the age of the thinkers, the
adventurers into the realm of the unknown. This was also the age
when Sufism reached its peak. One of the most prolific of these
men was Al Ghazali. Abhu Hamid Mohammed Ibn Ghazali (10591111) who was born in Persia, was renowned for his treatise on the
meaning of life in his book The Alchemy of Happiness. He was

Ibid.
Ibid.
11
Ibid.
12
Sigmund Freud, Civilizations and its Discontents, in James Strachey
(trans.), Standard Edition (New York: W.W. Norton and Company,
1961/1989), 22-23.
10

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deeply influenced by Sufism and his teachings and doctrines were

very close to Judaism. When comparing Sigmund Freuds writings
with those of Al Ghazali one finds startling similarities. The first
and foremost are the terms used to describe human nature by
Ghazali namely: Qalb, which is the heart, which is found in man
and animal. It is the conscious, and is purported to be the
conscience of man. The second is the ruh which is the spirit and
holds the same meaning as qalb but is infused by the divine light.
The third is nafs (human urges) which could also be called the self;
this personifies desire and obsession, fury and excitement.
According to the Sufis this is the source of all evil. It represents
human ego but when it is in the grip of passion and vice it is called
nafsi ammara, when it is controlled by the conscience it is called
nafsi lauwama and when it has overcome passions and appetites
and is at peace it is called the peaceful self or nafsi mutmainna.
It is clear that Sigmund Freud was influenced by Ghazalis
doctrines when developing the theory of Id (nafsi ammara), ego
(nafsi lauwama) and super ego (nafsi mutmainna).13
According to Al Ghazali, man is said to hover between the realms
of the animal and the divine. The temperament of man comprises
four facets the animal, the vile, the devilish and the pure or
spiritual. Desire is symbolized by the pig for its cravings and
greed, the dog symbolizes ardour, for it uses brute force to gets its
way and harm others. It is Satan, who controls the pig and the dog;
thus blinding man to wisdom and all things good. Divine wisdom
is what is capable of controlling the three, but only when man lets
divine reason do its job, otherwise the animal, vile and the satanic
facets of man will take over and lead him to destruction.14

13

Al Ghazali, Abu Hamid Mohammed Ibn Ghazali, Dagobert D. Runes, A

Treasury of Philosophy (New York: Grolier, 1955), 37-38.
14
Ibid, 35.

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All these attributes are again similar to the Id, symbolized by the
lust, appetite, tyranny, fear, fury and pride of the pig, dog and satan
and also the destructive instinct.15 The ego (denoting the reality
principle) and super ego (denoting the idealistic or moralistic
principle) are symbolized by divine wisdom which propels man in
the right direction and infuses him with reason and faith.16 (Ibid)
Another aspect of Al Ghazalis theory is that of the mind of man
being akin to a mirror, which acts like a reflective surface.
However, sometimes the mirror is not able to reflect the true
image, owing to various impairments in processing the image. The
reasons could be, that there may be a functional problem with the
mirror or that there is some other mechanism at work, that is
preventing the formation of the image or- even that the object may
actually not be in the right location to be reflected. Another reason
could be, that there exists a barrier between the object and the
mirror itself or the former is placed in such a way that its position
is not identifiable, hence the mirror not being in a position to catch
the image is not able to reflect it.17 This is reminiscent of the
defence mechanisms of Freud, as in repression, introjection,
reaction formation, denial, sublimation, displacement; all processes
that occur due to faulty processing of information, to which the
mind is not averse.18 Freuds theory on personality or his
psychoanalytical theory is based on his perspectives on life - what
he felt and imagined. This was his relationship with his mother,
father and sibling; which led to the theory of the Oedipus complex
(his love for his mother and resentment against his father) and the
death instinct for his brother.
Ibn Badjdja or Avenpace (1138 A.D) presented a theory similar to
that of Al Ghazali when he talked about animal and human

15

Jess Feist, Theories of Personality, 33.

Ibid, 28-29.
17
Dagobert Runes, Al Ghazali, 35-36.
18
J. Feist, Theories of Personality, 34-39.
16

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activities. His book the Hermits Guide got tremendous acclaim.

Averroes and Moses of Narbonne (a Jewish thinker and writer)
were also influenced by it. Ibn Badjdja (Avenpace) talked of the
solitary man as attaining the ultimate happiness akin to Freuds use
of the term quiet happiness, when a person withdraws from
social contact and attains peace and ultimately contentment.19
In 1900, Sigmund Freud wrote there is a psychological technique
which makes it possible to interpret dreams, and that if the
procedure is employed every dream reveals itself as a psychical
structure which has a meaning and which can be inserted at an
assignable point in the mental activities of waking life.20 Freud
talks about childhood experiences forming part of the content that
dreams are made of as also believed by Hildebrandt21 and
Strumpell22 both, like Freud, stating that dreams enact events that
belong to our earliest years.23
Freud states in his book the Interpretation of Dreams, that dreams
are looked at as extraneous to ourselves and our consciousness and
that they are emanating from somewhere else, hence the statements
mir hat getraumt (German for I had a dream or in the literal
sense a dream came to me). However Freud views the dream life
not as a part of the external world detached and with no part of the
personality of the dreamer, rather he states that it is the
detachment from the outside world that forms the basis of
dreams. He pursues this idea with another profound analysis, that
sleep results in the individuals involuntary relinquishing of one of
his mental faculties, that of voluntary control. The sleeper now has

19

Sigmund Freud, Civilizations and its Discontents, 27.

S. Freud, Interpretation of Dreams, in J. Strachey (trans.), Standard Edition
(New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1967), 35,49,87.
21
F. W. Hildebrandt, Der Traum und seine Verwerthung furs Leben (Leipzig,
1985), 23.
22
L. Strumpell, Die Natur and Entstehung der Traume (Leipzig, 1877), 40.
23
Sigmund Freud, Interpretation of Dreams, 49.
20

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a lowered psychical efficiency, during the time that his dream

starts and ends. The conscious parts of his personality are no
longer standing like sentinels over his unconscious desires and
fears.24
Ibn El Arabi believed in reverie, that part of his consciousness
which is still active, which connects the Sufi with the supreme
reality or the truth, that which lies under the facade of conscious
thought and the external world. The dream then has familiar forms
from the external world but holds deeper meaning. Freud talked of
the purpose of dreams as being the axis of wish fulfillment and to
hold the truth behind the metaphors and similes taken from the
familiar.25 Similarly, Ibn El Arabi, implied that dreams fulfilled the
desire of the Sufi to attain the eternal truth.26
Richard Burton, an explorer and a Sufi wrote The Kasidah which is
considered one of the most remarkable creations representing the
best in Sufi literature in the West. In the Lay of the Higher Law,
Burton attributed the creation of the Kasidah to one Haji Abdul
Yazdi and called himself as a translator. He cites Hafiz and Omar
Khayyam, both Sufis, as ones who would divorce the old barren
Reason from his bed/And wed the Vine maid in her stead. Burton
believes that one who has a soul should probe deeply the vagaries
of the soul. The Sufi way is to question and to seek the truth, not
outside but in the inner recesses of the heart, mind and soul. Here it
is intimated that it is the soul specifically as it is supposed to reside
in the heart.27 Burton also talks of the inner consciousness of the
individual, and conscience was born when man had shed his fur,

24

Ibid, 87.
James Hopkins, The Interpretation of Dreams, in Jerome Neu (ed.), The
Cambridge Companion to Freud (Cambridge University Press, 1992), 96-97.
26
Idries Shah, The Sufis, 141.
27
Ibid, 249-52.
25

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his tail and pointed ears, referring to the animalistic tendency of

man which needs to be subjugated through divine reason.28
Javed Nurbukhsh29 in his article on Sufism and psychoanalysis
talks of aqle jozi (particular intellect) and aqle kolli (universal
intellect). Aqle jozi helps man in his everyday life and nafse
ammara can be controlled by it when this nafs becomes unruly and
can cause grievous harm to the individual or society. However it
cannot pave the way or help the Sufi in search of truth. When the
heart or qalb becomes cleansed of the nefarious duplicity of the
material world, then only is the perfect man formed and the truth
unveiled; hence heart consciousness is achieved which in turn
leads to the acquisition of the universal intellect.30
Nurbukhsh31 goes on to state that psychoanalysts believe that the
relationship that is forged between the analyst and the client is
imperative and results in transference. The client transfers all his
past experiences to the therapist. A novel relationship takes root.
This is akin to Er adat, where the hopeful (taleb) is on a quest to
find his master after he has comprehended that he himself is
incomplete. In order to become complete, the incomplete man
looks for a master and on finding him becomes his murid
(disciple). The master helps the murid attain perfection resulting in
the aspirant becoming a Perfect Man which is also called ens an-e
kamel. The tie that binds the murid to his master or morad is
called er adat, the literal meaning of which is to want or to will,
however in Sufism it implies the blending of the murids will with
his masters or morads.32

28

Ibid, 254-55.
Javed Nurbakhsh, Sufism and Psychoanalysis, International Journal of
Social Psychiatry 24. Retrieved on 16 May 2010 from
http://www.humanevol.com/doc200307151102.html.
30
Ibid.
31
Ibid.
32
Ibid.
29

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In the same way that the relationship between the murid and morad
evolves, so does that of the client and the psychoanalyst. The client
places all his trust in his analyst and thus the analyst takes the role
of the morad. The client (murid) then without conscious thought
starts to project the attributes of the ideal person on to the analyst
(morad), thus surrendering himself to him. He has to let go of his
defences, especially when Freud talks about free association one
of the techniques used in psychoanalysis and also the way the
analyst positions himself behind the patient or remains invisible to
the client. This not only helps the client let go of his inhibitions
creating the illusion of being by himself but also gives power to the
analyst, the latter having instigated the surrender of the client. We
can thus conclude that the transference reflects the clients need to
fulfill his desire to control his nafs e ammara while the love of
another individual that is the analyst (morad) leads to the break
from self love.33
Then comes the initiation which forms a link from one to the other,
which is what Freud introduced in his practice when he initiated
Jung into psychoanalysis, Jung had to reveal his inner self and
submit to Freuds psychical inquiry, thus rendering Freud as his
morad. He in turn was then given the task of acting as initiator to
others seeking the path of enlightenment.34
Whitehead35 defines spirituality as that part of the experience of
man where he tries to discover himself through individual
solitariness36 which is reminiscent of Freuds theory of quiet
happiness stated in his treatise on Civilization and its

33

Ibid.
Ibid.
35
Alfred North Whitehead, Religion in the Making (New York: Macmillan,
1926),16.
36
Gerald J. Gargiulo, Aloneness in Psychoanalysis and Spirituality,
International Journal of Psychoanalytic Studies 1 (2004): 36-37.
34

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Discontents.37 Solitude or individual solitariness allows the

individual to find his true self, through self discovery. But this self
discovery comes through self imposed retirement from public life
or going into a form of isolation.38
Donald Winnicott39 also talks about solitariness of the individual
being part of culture and religion, not to mention an intrinsic part
of psychoanalysis. Winnicott talks of the space that a person makes
for himself that isolates him from others. This is the space that a
psychoanalyst will trespass upon to get to the root of the
problem.40 According to Garguilo the capacity to be alone in the
presence of the other, is as we know, basic to feeling alive as well
as experiencing the world as emotionally significant.41 This
solitariness cannot be equated with loneliness. Interestingly, not
being able to inculcate in one the capability to be internally
alone, does lead to loneliness.42
Sufism intimates that one has to look inward in order to attain the
essence of the eternal truth, to be one with the spirit of the
universe. Whether it is Ghazali, Burton or Arabi or even Rumi, all
have professed to have looked inward to gain insight into
themselves investing their time into meditation and analysis of
ones inner being. According to Freud analysis leads the individual
to love and to work, Garguilo implies that such a goal will help an
individual transcend the ordinariness of his existence and become
less conscious of the self. The love that one feels is not the
narcissistic love that is selfish but the desire to bring happiness to
another, and being able to work implies internal efficacy. The fact

37

Sigmund Freud, Civilizations and its Discontents, 27.

Gargiulo, Aloneness in Psychoanalysis, 36.
39
Donald Winnicott, The Maturational Processes and the Facilitating
Environment (New York: International Universities Press, 1965),187.
40
Ibid.
41
Gargiulo, Aloneness in Psychoanalysis.
42
Ibid.
38

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that an individual in his solitariness becomes one not only with

himself but also with the world entails vitality and not
unawareness.43
Human dignity is the core of psychoanalysis and traditions of
spirituality (Sufism) , both of which employ special ways or
traditions to retain the inviolable in every individual. This
transcendence is an everyday transcendence44, which leaves us
open to experience our beings and the world, while retaining our
personal dignity. In the book A Brief History of Time, Stephen
Hawking45, talks about the whole universe as originating from a
vacuum. Quantum physics states that our realities comprise a
limitless universe of opportunities. Quantum physics should not be
underestimated in helping bridge the gap between spirituality and
psychoanalysis. Quantum physicists postulate that the world is a
plethora of realities that is intrinsic to each individual. This theory
describes how each individuals reality is his own- it is his
perception of the world. We see what we have been programmed
to see. Albert Einstein states that it is the theory that decides what
we can observe46, which is what any psychoanalyst will
corroborate.47
Freud talks about three conditions that can cause unhappiness, pain
and suffering. One comes from our body that is the vesicle of all
things physical, and which will eventually turn to dust and
nothingness, the second is the suffering that one undergoes, owing
to the destructive forces of the external world which wreak havoc

43

Ibid.
James S. Grotstein, Who Is the Dreamer Who Dreams the Dream? (NJ: The
Analytical Press, 2000).
45
Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time (New York: Bantam Books, 1988),
175.
46
Bruce Gregory, Inventing Reality (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1988),
199.
47
Gargiulo, Aloneness in Psychoanalysis, 38.
44

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in the lives of the human race and the last is the pain that is a
product of our relations with others. Freud contends that the
suffering from the last source is in fact the most profound and can
be debilitating, but is considered as a part of life. Thus man
assumes that just because there is an absence of pain he should be
happy and resign himself to the reality principle. Hence his task
becomes to avoid suffering, rather than the pursuit of pleasure.
And since the most suffering is garnered from ones relationships
with others, Freud states that man then gravitates towards
voluntary isolation which gives him the happiness of quietness.
According to Freud all suffering is nothing else than sensation; it
only exists in so far as we feel it, and we only feel it in
consequence of certain ways in which our organism is regulated.48
Janette Graetz Simmonds carried out a study entitled Being and
Potential: Psychoanalytic Clinicians Concepts of God and found
that out of the 25 participants in the study most concurred to God
being a force or an energy which is imminent and for most also
transcendent. Spirituality was perceived as having evolutionary
and moral scope to do with awareness of the cosmos and levels of
consciousness beyond the usual levels of understanding. 49
In direct contrast to Carl Jungs50 belief in mysticism, Freud though
not rejecting it, showed a marked tendency towards spirituality. On
the one hand he expresses the belief that spirituality was alien to
his theory of Id and Ego, while on the other he admits that he has
an illogical aspect in his personality revealed by the extensive self
48

Sigmund Freud, Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis. John Riviere

trans. (London: 1961).
49
Janette G. Simmonds, Being and Potential: Psychoanalytic Clinicians
Concepts of God, International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies
(2006). Retrieved on 11 May 2010 from www.interscience.wiley.com.DOI:
10.1002/aps.107.
50
Carl Jung, The Psychology of the Transference, Collected Works 16 (London:
Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1980).

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analysis that he put himself through. He called this the the

specifically Jewish nature of (his) mysticism. 51
Freud also might have been suffering from the guilt that is the lot
of the Christians and Jews for committing the murder of their
fathers so to speak, namely Christ and Moses. Freuds critics
maintain that he tried to disassociate himself from the Jewish
race in an unconscious bid to purge himself of the guilt that the
Jews carry with them, and which is deeply embedded in their
psyche. In his overt rejection of religious practices, Freud comes
across as using this rejection as a defense mechanism bordering on
reaction formation. The more he reacted against religion and
spirituality or mysticism the more one is convinced that Freud was
deeply spiritual. Psychoanalysis talks of the traditional Jewish term
teshuvah which means turning, here it is surmised that it is from a
destructive path that the individual is turning away from, towards a
peaceful and constructive course of action. Freud leans more
towards being a Gnostic than a traditional Jew.52
Gay has talked of Freuds character as reminiscent of the
intellectual and moral virtues found in the great teachers of olden
times. He also calls him an indefatigable tough-minded
investigator of lifes riddles, one who is on a quest for the
ultimate truth and mastery of the self or as Gay posited
conquest of the self.53 And is this not also reminiscent of the Sufi
thought of self mastery, of subjugating the nafs in man, of attaining
the divine truth?

51

Janette G. Simmonds, Being and Potential.

Michael Mack, The Savage Science: Sigmund Freud, Psychoanalysis, and
the History of Religion, Journal of Religious History 30 (2006): 332-339.
53
John E. Toews, Historicizing Psychoanalysis: Freud in His Time and for Our
Time, Journal of Modern History 63. Retrieved on 21 May 2010 from
http://www.jstor.org/pss/2938629.
52

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When Freud wrote Moses and Monotheism, the father of

psychoanalysis, or the agnostic had come back to the fold of
Judaism. From denying religion he had come a long way, he was
fighting for dear life with cancer; this might have pushed him into
the realm of religious studies and deeper introspection and finally
accepting his tryst with spirituality as merging finally into
determinism and belief in God. Freud stated that faith in Judaism is
based on a God who cannot be seen or touched who cannot be
brought upon to bear witness to his being. This pushes the concept
of faith and belief to its limits. Man is asked to believe in
something or someone that is intangible; he is encouraged to look
within himself to find the ultimate truth. The prohibition against
making an image of God the compulsion to worship a God whom
one cannot see, a sensory perception was given second place to
what may be called an abstract idea- a triumph of intellectuality
over sensuality. This concept of abstraction, Freud felt would
lead to a scheme of internalizing which he attributed to religion.54
In the book Civilization and its Discontents, Freud55, talks of
neuroticism as being due to societal pressures and the frustration
that these pressures give birth to. In order to prevent this from
happening he asserts that one should rid society of these demands
so that man can lead a life unburdened by practices that bind him
to cultural mores. In the Sufi tradition, it can be gleaned from
Rumi to Idries Shah that what is important for attaining
enlightenment is to look inwards for guidance or towards God;
society has very little part to play if any at all in the thinkers or
Sufis search for truth.
Even though he (Freud) was a proponent of the theory that sexual
promiscuity comes naturally to man; in marriage, he himself led a

54

Sigmund Freud, Moses and Monotheism, Katherine Jones, trans. (London:

Hogarth Press, 1939).
55
Freud, Civilizations and its Discontents.

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monogamous life with his wife. This fact is lent credence to in his
letter to Fliess in 1897 sexual excitement is no longer of use
for someone like me.56 This leads one to believe that he preferred
an ascetic life devoted to the pursuit of knowledge, practiced by
many in the Sufi tradition. 57
And when we talk of drawing parallels between Freud and Sufism,
it is not possible to separate sexuality, which is an intrinsic part of
psychoanalysis. However, Freud was not the only one talking of
eroticism, in Arab Sufi literature, Rumi is renowned for the
eroticism in his poetry. The Mathnawi is not only known for its
magnificent lyricism but has also gained notoriety for its explicit
sexual material. Tourage uses Lacans philosophical approach to
deduce the meaning of Rumis phallocentric esotericism and he
discovers the phallus to have arcane meanings, which are narrated
using imagery that is sexual.58 Sexuality and spirituality form an
important part of Sufi literature and though there might be a
prevalence of one theme more than the other, both play an
important role in the formulation of thought processes of not only
the great mystics but also of Freuds brand of mysticism.
Freud in his book The Future of an Illusion talks of an oceanic
feeling, one that seems to bind us with the universe in our
aloneness. Spirituality and psychoanalysis share the one significant
element that binds them forever that of looking for answers.
Sufism is the search for the eternal truth, God, the notion that if
one finds the answers to human existence one will be set free from
worldly cares. Both Psychoanalysis and spirituality or Sufism per

56

Paul Ferris, Dr. Freud: A Life (Washington, D.C: Counterpoint, 1997).

Feist, Theories of Personality, 22.
58
Mahdi Tourage, Rumi and the Hermeneutics of Eroticism. Retrieved on 17
May 2010 from http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Rumi+and+the+hermeneutics
+of+eroticism.(Brief+Article)(Book+Review)-a0174602267.
57

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se, are a quest for answers that will free the person from care and
will pave the way for true happiness.59
But it is not enough to talk of the thread of mysticism that runs
through Freuds writings. It is with great intensity that Freud says,
I am, of course speaking of the way of life which makes love the
center of everything, which looks for all satisfaction in loving and
being loved.60 This sentiment is also present in the mystic poetry
of Ibn El Arabi61:
Love is the creed I hold: wherever turn
His camels, love is still my creed and faith.
Conclusion
The debate whether Freud is religious or not can be answered in a
fairly straightforward manner, but that Freud was a hidden Sufi is
something that is open to discourse. Throughout his writings he
displays a profound knowledge of the inner workings of the mind
of the human being; his life revolved around the acquisition of
knowledge about the human psyche. He questioned and debated,
reiterated and retracted various theories that he had postulated. His
seduction theory could have become his Achilles heel but the rest
of his work was so deeply entrenched in sound theoretical
framework that to date it has been difficult to dislodge its
psychoanalytical premise.
Freud had his disciples in Jung and then Karl Abraham, who in
other words were to carry on his legacy of psychoanalysis. The
study of the human being which is fascinating in its complexity,
became more enthralling because Freud made it so. Freud was not
only influenced by the Sufi writings as is evident in his theories

59

Sigmund Freud, The Future of an Illusion, W. D. Robson-Scott, trans. (New

York: Horace Liveright, 1928).
60
Ibid, 32.
61
Shah, The Sufis, 145.

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about the unconscious and conscious, it was also the Sufis who
shared his openness about eroticism. Since Rumi could not have
known Freuds postulations, having being born way before his
(Freuds ) time, there is a probability of Sigmund Freud being
influenced by the Sufi writings of Rumi.
When the authors of this article began research on Freud and Sufi
thought, they had to follow their hunch that with a careful study of
both, the similarities between Freuds thought and Sufi traditions
could be found. And they were not disappointed. From scholars
like Neu, or Feist and Feist (in the Personality Theories) to Freuds
own writings such as the Interpretations of Dreams, Civilization
and its Discontents, and Savage Science the authors saw the mystic
in Freud. The dichotomy in Freud was evident; he was not only a
spiritualist, a philosopher, a weaver of stories, but also a man who
seized scientific psychological practice and revolutionized it with
his theory of the oedipal complex. He renounced religious
practices as inane and meant to keep man tethered to the bonds of
societal mores. Freud not only saw the beautiful in the mundane,
his prose is full of metaphors and similes, the mysterious and the
unseen. His theory of personality is his faith. He contends that an
individuals personality develops under the influence of the unseen
forces of dark and light present in man himself, which are
manifested in good and bad actions- which are sometimes covert
and at other times overt.
When Freud wrote about sexuality, it was not because he was
trying to offend, it was to rid himself and others of the guilt of
being a Jew and of the original sin which is an integral part of the
Jewish and Christian faiths. All he wanted was to break the chains
of shame, to which he could not reconcile himself. Freuds theory
was deeply personal to him, it was presented to the world after
intensive introspection and the unveiling of his deepest desires. For
this he had to overcome his own inhibitions. It was first and
foremost on himself, rather than anyone else that he applied
psychoanalysis. He was devoted to the intellectual pursuit that

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philosophers through the ages have been addicted to to seek

enlightenment on the world that exists within. According to
Stephen Hawking if we find an answer to the existence of man and
the universe it would be the ultimate triumph of human reasonfor then we would know the mind of God. 62
Shabistri put it most succinctly when he said: In an instant rise
from time and space. Set the world aside and become a world
within yourself.63

62
63

Stephen Hawking, A Brief History of Time, 175.

Shah, The Sufis, 206.
138