Teachings

of
Sufism

By Gaurav Mathur
 Sufism
•Sufism is The Mystical tradition in Islam
and can be defined as a practical path
leading to God, learned from and
practiced under the supervision of a
spiritual teacher, generally called a
Murshid or Pir.

•Arabic word "suf"

 Sufi Ideology
•Core principles of Sufism are Tawakkul (absolute trust in
God) and Tawhid (the truth that there is no deity but God).
•Renounces everything in the world to realize the true self
and God in their ecstatic state.
•Renunciation in fear of Hell or in hope of Paradise is an
obstacle in the mystic union of soul with God. True
renunciation is for purity of self for the realization of God.

•The ulimate goal of the Sufi path is to fight the true Holy
War against the lower self.
•Final goal is annihilation (fana), primarily
of one's own qualities but sometimes one's
entire personality often accompanied by
spiritual ecstasy or “intoxication”.
 Fana-fi-Allah - Merger in God
•A Sufi considers God-Experience as real and he sees
God in everything and every thing is God.
•God is macrocosm and man the microcosm - Ocean
and a drop of ocean.
•Man, under the guidance of Murshid treads the
spiritual path of discipline leading to the experience
of Spiritual Truth.
•Condition is called self-annihilation of Murid in
Murshid.
• Hands over to the spiritual influence of the
long-deceased Pir - self-annihilation in Pir.
• From Pir to the Prophet. This is the stage
of self-annihilation in Prophet.
• Final stage he is led to God and becomes
united with Him. Fana-fi-Allah, merger in God.
 Stages of Spiritual Development
Several stages of spiritual development or
‘Maqam’ denotes station in the way to realize
God.
One should fulfill the obligations pertaining to
that station.
•Repentance (Tawbat)
•Conversion (Inabat)
•Renunciation (Zuhd)
•Trust in God (Tawwakul).

One leads to the other. These are

reached and mastered with self-
effort.
 Five methods to harness out feelings
1)Zikr-i-Jihr – loudly repeating the name of
Allah sitting in a given posture
at the prescribed times
2)Zikr-i-Khafi – repeating the name of Allah
silently
3) Pas-i-Anfas – regulating the breath
4)Murqabah – absorption in
yogic contemplation
5) Chillah – Forty days during
which the mystic sits in a
corner or cell all alone and
contemplates .
 Sufi Spiritual Practices
•Practices ‘Dhikr’ i.e. remembrance of God.
•Includes Tawajjuh, contemplation upon the
form of the Murshid.
•Done by pronouncing the name of the God,
“Allah, Allah” or by uttering a particular
formula prescribed by the Murshid.
•First he articulates with his tongue fixing his
thought on it.
•Then he reaches a state when the
motion of his tongue ceases finding
his heart persisting in the thought.
• The form of word too disappears
and the idea alone remains clinging
 Details of Dhikr
Dhikr is of five kinds.
1) Dhikr Nasuti: The ‘La–Ilaha-Ilallah’ is repeated
with tongue. The lower chakras Guda, Indri an
Nabhi are together called Nasut.
2) Dhikr Malkuti: ‘Ila-Allah’ is repeated with attentio
mentally. Hriday, Kantha and sixth Chakras ar
together called Malkut.
3) Dhikr Jabruti: ‘Allah’ is repeated
with tongue of the spirit.
4) Dhikr-i-Lahuti: The Dhunyatmak
form of the spiritual sound is
repeated in a subtle manner. This i
therefore called the secret way of
performing Sumiran.
Details of Dhikr (Contd…)
5) At this stage the practice of “Sultan-al-Ajkar”
i.e. king of spiritual practice is performed. This
is practice of listening to the un-struck, self-
generating, Anahad Shabda (also known as
Shurle-Sarmadi). This repetition is done with
the help of the tongue of the spirit and that
sound is heard with the hearing faculty of the
spirit internally.
Sufis called ‘Sunn’ as Alam-i-Lahut
which is beyond Trikuti (which
they call Musallisi). Beyond Lahut
is Hahut, corresponding to
Mahasunn and the stage beyond
that is called ‘Hut-al-Hut’.