SUFISM

The need to know Sufism

Human cognitions and behaviors are determined largely by a set of facts and values. The facts
are mostly derived from the science and the values have their origin in religious or non-religious
philosophies such as humanism and existentialism.[2] Spirituality being an integral part of most
of the religious philosophies provides the value system for the majority of people and thereby
influences their well-being. Recognizing this, the spiritual well-being, in accordance with the
social and cultural patterns, was accepted as one of the important determinants of health by the
World Health Organization during the 37th World Health Assembly in 1984.[3] Spiritual
teaching has already found its place in the curriculum of many medical schools in the Western
world.[4,5] From a mental health perspective, spirituality seems to have a far greater role as
these operate on the same ground – the brain or as some would like it call it the mind or the soul.
In fact, there are studies that show positive as well as the negative impact of the spiritual and
religious beliefs and practices on the physical and mental well-being of people who subscribe to
spiritual or religious practices.[6–11] Sufism, having a large following both in the Muslim world
and outside coupled with migration of large numbers of people from eastern Sufi oriented lands
to the west, is a rapidly growing form of spirituality that needs to be understood in terms of its
impact on the mental well-being of its followers and the potential interactions in the mental
health care clinical settings.
From a more philosophical point of view, Sufism provides an opportunity to understand the
source of religious knowledge in general and Islamic knowledge (revelation) in particular. In
Sufi traditions, it is believed that Sufis can have similar knowledge revealing experiences as are
the source of religious knowledge in the form of revelation of the Quran (the scripture of Islam)
to Muhammad (the Prophet of Islam). The study of these Sufi experiences which share
phenomenological ground with the prophetic experiences of revelation provides a possibility for
the scientific study of the sources of religious knowledge.[12,13] From day-to-day clinical
practice to research, the study of the normal and abnormal perceptual/experiential phenomena
and its implications form an integral part of the mental-health related sciences and puts the
students of mental-health sciences in a coveted position to study the Sufi experiences.

Historical background of Sufism

The term Mysticism had its beginning in the mystery cults of the Greeks, which involved a close
circle of devotees who because of their innate capacity were believed to have the knowledge of
the divine revealed to them. Etymology aside, mysticism has been practiced since ages across all
the cultures and has been a vital part of the major religions of the world. Perhaps it represents an
innate desire of the man to understand himself and the world around. All forms of mysticism
aspire for a union with the divine and believe that it is only possible through the purification of
soul to receive direct knowledge and revelation from the divine.[14] Islam began in 610 AD and
established itself through the teachings of Muhammad believed to be revealed to him by God
through the archangel Gabriel primarily among the Arab pagan and Christian communities. The
close contact between the Muslim and the Christian communities during the formative years of
Islam had its influence on the development of the Sufism – the mystic traditions of Islam. Sufism
established itself within the traditions of the Islam as laid down in the Quran believed to be
revealed to Muhammad by God. The Sufis believe that communion with God is possible through
Muhammad, who was the recipient of the knowledge of the heart (Ilm-e-Sina) besides the outer
knowledge (Ilm-e-safina). Ali, one of the Muhammad's companions and son-in-law, is
considered to be the first Sufi to whom the Ilm-e-Sina was revealed by Muhammad to be taught
to those capable of understanding it. Contrary to the mainstream, some schools of thought in
Islam denounce Sufism as heretical and consider it an innovation in Islam.[15,16] However, the
concept of God, the possibility of esoteric knowledge and the ways to access God through
purification of self by means of prayer, fasting and repentance that form the foundations of
Sufism find their source in the Quran and the teachings of the prophet known as Hadith.[14]
Sufism in the beginning was primarily an individual endeavor. The Sufis would usually live in
isolation practicing self-mortification and were distinguished by a cloak of wool (Suf), a tradition
of Muhammad, which is believed to be the origin of the word Sufi.[15,17] A group of such
devouts lived a life of poverty and incessant prayer and fasting on a stone bench in front of
Muhammad's mosque. These people of the bench (Ashab-e-suffa), 45 to over 300 in number,
were given to much weeping and repentance and are believed to be the origin of the Sufism.[18]
However, the name Sufi was given to such ascetics only around the second century of death of
Muhammad. The Sufis in the early period were primarily ascetics and Sufism had not yet
evolved into a fully developed system of theosophical doctrines, which became the core feature
of the later Sufism.[14] The companions of Muhammad like Bilal, Salman Farsi, Ammar bin
Yasir were the early mystics. Later with the spread of Islam Sufism flourished in Iraq, Syria,
Egypt, Persia and Central Asia and gave birth to the renown Sufis like Rabia Basri, Hasan Basri,
Junayd Baghdadi, Dhun Nun Misri, etc., around the 9th and 10th century.[16,19]
As the early Sufi masters started teaching those in search of divine, a distinct tradition in the
form of closely-knit communities centered around these masters flourished. The transformation
of such communities into those, which shared a spiritual lineage, took place around the 11th
century and led to the formation of Sufi orders (silsilas), chains through which they would
eventually link their disciples to Muhammad.[20] The early Sufi orders like Muhasibis, Qassaris,
Junaydis, Nuris, Sahlis, Hakimis, Kharrazis, Sayyaris, and Tayfuris though limited to particular
geographic locales were influential in the development of Sufi thought. Later major Sufi orders
with a wider appeal were established around Sufi masters like Qadri by Abdul Qadir Jilani
(Baghdad), Chishti by abu Ishaq Shami (Syria), Suharwardi by abu Najib Suharwardi, Yasavi by
Ahmed Yasavi (Kazakhstan), Kubrawiya by Najmuddin Kubra (Central Asia), Rifai by Ahmed
Rifai (Iraq), Shadhili by abul Hasan Shadhili (Morocco), Mevlavi by Jalal ud Din Rumi (Konya),
Naqshbandhi by Bahauddin Naqshband (Bukhara), Nimatullahi by Nuruddin Muhammad
Nimatullah (Syria) and Tijani by Abbas Ahmad ibn al Tijani (Algeria). The Sufi orders practiced
presently run in hundreds but most of these represent the off shoots of the earlier ones. The 13th
century considered the golden age of Sufism was marked by the development of comprehensive
mystical and theosophical doctrines of Sufism by the Sufi scholars like ibn ul Arabi of Spain, ibn
ul Farid of Egypt and the popular Persian Sufi poet Jalal ud Din Rumi After the golden era the
Arab-Muslim world produced only few notable Sufi scholars though the influence of Sufi orders
continued to grow. The rise of Wahabism in the late 18th and 19th century that condemned
Sufism as a heresy and the social and political reforms in the Muslim world during the 20th
century that considered Sufism as an impediment to development restricted the growth of Sufi
philosophy and confined it to closely-knit circles of spiritual education.[16]
Apart from the Christian asceticism, Hinduism had a significant influence on Sufism both in
terms of the philosophical basis and the meditation practices, which started much before Sufism
reached the Indian subcontinent. The concept of existential unity of being (wahdat-ul-wujood)
propounded by the ibn ul Arabi in the 13th century bears striking similarity to the Advaita
philosophy (unified Brahma-Jnana) of the Puranas (ancient Hindu religious texts). The concept
of wahdat-ul-wujood has been a dominant philosophy in the later day Sufis which brought them
closer to the Hindu mystics like Ramanand, Chaitanya, Ramanuja, Namdev, Mira Bai, Tukaram,
and Ramdas, resulting in social movements like the Bhakti movement. The Sufis also
incorporated some of the meditation techniques from the Hindu mystics like the breathing
techniques to facilitate their Sufi practices.[21,22] In the 11th century, Saifuddin Kaziruni from
Iran was the first Sufi to settle in the Indian subcontinent.[23] Later the subcontinent became
home to some of the great Sufi saints and scholars such as Moinuddin Chishti, Nizamuddin
Awliya, Fariduddin Ganj-i-Shakar, and Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki, whose teachings were
influential in much of the growth and acceptance of Islam.[15,16]

Sufism: The essence

The ultimate aim of the Sufi is communion with God through spiritual realization, which is
achieved through the knowledge revealed by Quran (ilm) and the practice of Islam (amal).[24]
Since its inception the Sufi philosophy has revolved around the concept of God and the ways and
nature of communion with him. The early Sufis adhered strictly to the Quran in their
interpretation of the concept of the God as infinite, eternal, unchangeable, creator, all-powerful,
merciful and the cause of all existence. With the growth of Sufi philosophy, the concept of God
changed from the one as the cause of all existence to the idea of God as the only real existence.
This philosophy reached its ultimate in the concept of the wahdat-ul-wujood.[14,22]
Sufis regards the soul as the agency for communication with God. It is the higher soul, as Sufis
believe, created before any human being came into existence, consisting of heart (qalb), spirit
(ruh), and conscience (sirr) that has the ability to know God. The sirr is regarded by many Sufis
to represent the “secret shrine of God himself, wherein he knows man and man can know
him.”[18] The heart (qalb) has an important place is Sufism and is considered to contain the
divine spark that leads to spiritual realization. Sufis cherish the revelation by God that “I, who
cannot fit into all the heavens and earths, fit in the heart of the sincere believer.”[25] For the
heart (qalb) to reflect the truth as it is, it has to be cleansed of the rust of worldly influences.[26]
The concept of the covenant (misaq) described in Quran “And (remember) when thy Lord
brought forth from the children of Adam, from their reins, their seed, and made them testify of
themselves (saying): Am I not your Lord? They said: Yea, verily. We testify. (That was) lest ye
should say at the Day of Resurrection: Lo! Of this we were unaware” forms the basis of the Sufi
philosophy of communion with God.[16,27] There is another soul (nafs) that Sufis regard as the
seat of passions that creates hurdles in the communion of the higher soul with God. The nafs has
to be transformed from nafs-e ammara (lustful soul; cf. Id) to nafs-e lawwama (self-blaming
soul; cf. ego) and ultimately into nafs-e mutmaenna (peaceful soul; cf. super-ego) to return to
truth.[14,26]
Muhammad, has a special place in Sufism. The spiritual enlightenment or the ascendance of the
higher soul for communion with God is believed to go through a chain of transmissions to
Muhammad as through him only can the communion be achieved. Sufis refer to the saying of
Muhammad “the first thing that Allah created was my light, which originated from his light and
derived from the majesty of his greatness” as a basis for this belief. Sufis believe that the
ascendance is possible only through the process of purification of the soul – the way (tareeqa).
[16]

Tareeqa: The Sufi way

Muhammad, in a tradition related to him, described faith (iman) as “to acknowledge with the
heart, to voice with the tongue, and to act with the limbs.” These three elements of faith are
believed to correspond to the three aspects of the Sufi philosophy – sharia (act with the limbs),
tareeqa (voice with the tongue), and haqeeqa (acknowledge with the heart). Sufis outwardly
follow the sharia while on the way (tareeqa) for communion with the God (haqeeqa).[24] The
Sufi tareeqa has been described as comprised of three stages – the stage of stations (maqamat),
the stage of states (ahwal), and finally the stage of achievement (tamkin). The first stage
represents the traveler's (salik's) striving for his lord and is achieved through self-mortification
(mujahida). The salikis supposed to pass through the stations of repentance (tawba), piety (zuhd),
trust in God (tawwakul), poverty (faqr), remembrance of god (zikr), patience (sabr), thankfulness
(shukr), and contentment (rida) to reach the final station love (mohabba) of the first stage. The
states (ahwal) are believed to result from the divine graces (tajalli) flowing from the God and
occur during or after the first stage. The ahwal, as a matter of faith, are solely dependent on the
God's grace and cannot be induced by the Sufi. The final stage of achievement (tamkin)
represents the end of the quest when the Sufi is supposed to receive the gnosis (marifa), the
divine knowledge and become one with God. While on the tareeqa, the Sufi is first supposed to
annihilate himself in his mentor (fana-fi-shaykh), then in Muhammad (fana-fi-rasul), and finally
in God (fana-fi-allah) before he achieves eternal existence in his God (baqa).[14,16–18]
Go to:

PSYCHIC EXPERIENCES IN SUFISM

Different perspectives
Spiritual or psychic experiences are a quite common occurrence across cultures and religions.
Though there are no specific studies related to Sufism, surveys reveals the percentage of people
having had psychic experiences to range from 20% to 45%; the frequency varying with the time,
gender, religion, etc.[28] Surprisingly the experiences share many features notwithstanding the
differences in practices, beliefs, and cultures within which they occur. The psychic experiences
occur in the domains of thought, perception and feeling (a complex perceptual experience) and
share certain features regardless of the domain. The psychic experiences, partly based on
individual accounts of Sufis, are immediate, usually transient, ineffable, unanalyzable, involving
intimate association with a unique other self, transcending time, space and person, and felt as a
deep sense of bliss.[14,13,28]
Historically, psychic experiences have been attributed to divine experiences, possession by
demons, regarded as heresy and even insanity. The interpretations have varied with the political
and religious environs of the times and have been influenced by the societal class of the
claimant, the content of the experiences vis-à-vis the existing political and religious norms,
gender, etc. The experiences have been interpreted to promote or discredit a particular political
thought and even used as a plea for insanity. The case of two famous Sufis who claimed extreme
forms of mystical experiences, Mansur al Hallaj and Bayazid Bastami needs a mention here.
Both were and are considered as great Sufis on one hand and as heretics on the other and were
even sentenced to death during their times for heresy.[29,30]