So Awlia Do Exist
SO AWLIA DO EXIST
Allah azza wa jalla calls His sincere, pious and dutiful believers His AWLIA (friends) as well as believers (mu’minun). They are one and the same. But ordinary people who are not too pious as well as scholars (ulema) who more know than act think that a good enough faith which entitles you to be regarded as a friend (wali) of Allah is like their weak or misguided faith. Faith must not only be strong but also rightly-guided. There are people of all religions with such strong faith that they can commit suicide or kill hundreds of innocent people just because that is what they believe is required of them. Many misguided or plain fraudulent religions and cults are born, their members suffer terrible persecutions and make incredible sacrifices simply because of their folly, yet their sufferings and sacrifices does not prove that they are rightly-guided. The objective results of their way of life based on their faith are despicable by all reasonable standards. Hindus for example burn the wives, however young or healthy and terrified, of a dead husband in the pyre made for the husband. Can this barbaric act be excused on the grounds that it is hat their faith demand?
To come to an Islamic example, the sect of Assassins which had its heyday in the 12th century had perhaps strongest believers who were more than prepared to sacrifice their lives to carry out their leader’s murderous commands including plain suicide; yet their way of life and their aims can hardly be seen either as sane or morally anything but horrible. Less conspicuous misguided religions and cults spin off totally decent and reasonable religions like Islam and for all practical intents and purposes serve as new princedoms for their founders. That must be the case with Bahaism and Ahmadism. Their founders were muslims who simply could not be content to follow Muhammad sws without something for themselves but wanted their own cut of a fief like the first two false prophets Musailima and Tulayha, both contemporaries of Muhammad had tried to do. The followers of both suffered many persecutions which were then used to justify their untenable and unnecessary positions. The Satan also has the very strong belief that he was right in rebelling against Allah and that he was entitled to destroy sons of Adam. So he eagerly and vehemently blasphemes against Allah and plots against sons of Adam.
As such the Satan also has his cult and worshippers who are as sacrificing as any other’s. There is a cult called Satanism and its believers have fantastic motivation and sacrificial instincts. This kind of faith is not the faith we want. Our faith must be rightly-guided, acceptable to and blessed by Allah. And Allah stands for sound reason, sound mind and the creation of an egalitarian society thriving on kindness and justice under which all natural needs and instincts find their reasonable as well as responsible satisfaction. But not all muslims understand this. They think anything they can make of the Qur’an and hadith with their weak intelligence and not so pure hearts is real faith and all the rest must go to hell. That REAL Sufis may understand far more profound and comprehensive things from the Book of Allah and the Sunna of His Prophet sws the shallow scholars do not want to contemplate. They simply do not like being outclassed and left behind. And that is pride, the original sin which was committed by the Iblis Satan. What knowledge, understanding and powers they themselves don’t have no one else must have. We may remind them an oft-repeated sufi motto: “Don’t dismiss out of hand what you don’t know about. That causes you to lose forever the chance of one day having it yourself”.
So a sufi sheikh radiating lights of sanctity and dispensing cognitive and physical miracles mean nothing to these deniers, forgetting that Allah already confirms in His Book that such sciences, powers and miracles He has given to some of His servants who were not prophets. So, although the word ‘wali’ as used by some Sufis is a slight over-specialization of the same word found in the Qur’an about genuine believers it had to be so, perhaps it had to be over-specified in order to remove the misunderstanding that by just saying that you are a believer you become equal to all believers as regards your standing with (maqam) and ranks (darajat) in the Sight of Allah. The Prophet sws definitely demonstrated that he regarded his companions differently, honouring Abu Bakr RA above all and then Umar, Uthman, Ali etc. Allah also explicitly declares that His believing servants have different ranks in His estimation like when He Almighty, All-Gracious says “Allah raised those who strive with their persons and wealth in His way by many ranks above those who sit around… He raised the strivers many degrees above the sitters” (4:95).
The Prophet sws called fighting against your ego ‘jihad al akbar’, the greatest war and that is exactly what Sufism is all about. No wonder that Allah may reward Sufis many degrees and ranks above those who do not fight but indulge their egos. Those who additionally keep accusing Allah’s friends with blasphemy (kufr) and idolatry (shirk) may well end up as blasphemers for the Prophet said “Ascribing blasphemy to a mu’min (believer) is itself blasphemy”. Remember we are talking about good Sufis and not fakes. A man or woman whose single greatest obsession and self-imposed mission in life is fighting his or her ego and helping himself or herself to the spiritual blessings cascading down uninterrupted from the Messenger of Allah sws through true sufi sheikhs is a friend of Allah and may be called so- a ‘wali’. And what do we want? A person can only be either for or against Allah and there is no fence-sitting. A true believer can only be a FRIEND- WALI of Allah and a horse must be called a horse. Yes, all well- meaning muslims are mu’mins, all may enter the paradise but all are not strong and loyal enough allies of Allah. They sometimes are badly deceived by the Satan. So, Sufis specified awliya as the adequately loyal servants of Allah. What can be truer?
At this point we have to answer the argument that “only Allah knows how true a person’s faith and how high his rank is and therefore claiming certain persons to be awliya is assuming Allah’s prerogative”. That is basically very true but it does not mean that we cannot have a very good opinion about some brothers or sisters, especially when we witness his or her piety and good disposition consistently as well as some miracles (karamat) issuing from him or her. If you ask for certainty most muslims are not certain even about Allah. Will they then say “I am not sure if Allah is or if He is really good and just”. Don’t we hear some muslims making remarks which smell accusing Allah with some injustice? They may then say words of repentance but their weakness has already been out of the bag. Had most muslims not been secretly thinking less than perfect thoughts about Allah they could not behave as impiously and divisively as they have been. Iman (faith) is a variable quantity as Allah says in sura al Fath “In order to increase and add more faith tp their faith” (48:4). We may regard some rare brothers or sisters of us who consistently prove their worth in piety and character specially as awliya and may follow them as Moses followed Khidr (alaihimassalam) and his companions (sahaba) followed the Prophet sws.
Some belief, some trust is necessary to have and pathological suspicion may be our undoing. I humbly believe Allah will not waste a single servant of His possessed of good intentions and a sound mind and the will to find Him at all cost. Amen!
THE WISDOM OF TARIQATS WITH SHEIKHS
There was a most blessed arrangement in Medina when the sultan of all awliya and prophets of Allah, namely our master Muhammad sws, was the teacher, exemplar, leader and ruler of his companions. When he was no more and his four worthy khalifas (successors) also passed away the Nation of Muslims suffered great spiritual loss. Their rulers became less and less like the Prophet sws and his true inheritor of lights Abu Bakr RA for example, which four khalifas were able to lead them well. Instead many of the muslim rulers who for a few centuries more were called khalifas of the Messenger of Allah sws were anything but good spiritual leaders. But the fact remained that the very best arrangement for raising saintly muslims (like the the true companions of the Prophet sws) was emulating that very same arrangement. Allah in His mercy kept raising enlightened souls among muslims who, although not prophets, were at least Khidrs*. Endowed naturally with ilm al ladun and other miraculous powers on top of their great and exemplary piety IT WAS ONLY NATURAL FOR THEM TO ACT AS IRRESISTIBLE MAGNETS and other sensitive and spiritually concerned muslims to flock to them instinctively.
Who can deny the naturalness of some brothers to be attracted to others with conspicuous sanctity for spiritual and social comradeship? If horse race lovers and poetry enthusiasts can form associations why not extra pious people form pious associations? Like with like. Allah made men differently and those with similar tendencies mix and fit in quite naturally. This is the mechanical basis of tariqats; A number of pious souls missing sorely the times of the Prophet sws are attracted to a more gifted and accomplished brother of theirs who makes them feel as if they are with the Prophet (sws). And in fact their leader keeps telling them about Allah and His prophet and exemplifies and represents the Prophet’s character and spirituality and piety so well that his admirers are truly satisfied and impressed. If I haven’t been able to sit with the Prophet (sws) why not with his son-in-law and successor Ali, the great saint of the companions?
If I haven’t been fortunate enough to sit with Ali why not with his son Hassan or Hussein? If not why not with Qasim or Jafar… or Bahauddin Naqshibandi or…. any credible exponent of a great tariqat I find today? This is a golden chain of uninterrupted transmission and the Prophet’s Nur (Light). This nur is so great that even if it was diluted a hundred times with each succession of sheikhs it could be enough for us. Don’t you see how the sun is making us run for cover in the summer from a hundred million miles away? Yet who is saying that the Prophet’s Light is diluted? His is a living light from the Light of Allah and nothing can dilute it. What you get from a sheikh and his tariqat is exactly proportionate with what you put in as regards sincerity and hard work. The Prophet’s light is in the sheikh and is ready to pass on to you. I have been associated with my sheikh for more than forty years and only Allah and I know how much benefit I obtained for my humble soul. Why dismiss something we don’t know without a fair trial?
THE PROBLEM OF SHATAHAT
Sometimes some Sufis pronounce words or do things which shock their audience who then may accuse him of blasphemy. Sometimes it IS blasphemy and the culprit deserves everything a blasphemer does. For example, there have been ‘sheikhs’ who not only said what could be legitimately interpreted as claiming divinity or did things which flied in the face of the Shariah in a conclusive way. Let’s begin with the latter and take one practical example. Once a ‘sheikh’ in Turkey, as already named as Badraddin, took his murids aside and founded with them a colony in which both property and sex was shared! So nobody was allowed to keep any personal property or a married spouse. They used and consumed everything they had in common and each slept with any other and any children became the common offspring. They also denied the resurrection of the dead and the after life. The Ottoman grand mufti investigated the matter and passed judgment that the sheikh and his murids were blasphemers and they were accordingly chased and brought to justice.
As to the first, the verbal shatahat, the most quoted and criticized is Hallaj’s declaration “Ana’l Haqq” (I am Real/True). For that he was executed. Since than ulama and sheikhs are debating about it. To start with, only Allah knows what Hallaj meant. But the general opinion among competent Sufis is that it was an unhelpable ejection of Hallaj’s realization that he did not have a,separate existence independent of Allah (i.e,. anything he could call himself was in total control of Allah) and as a result he was utterly overwhelmed by the realization. In other words, the emotion caused by this realization was so over-powering that he just shouted out what it meant to him. Obviously a deep but unstable sufi may lose his reason out of perplexity and wonderment and what he says than becomes excusable on account of his being out of his mind on the occasion.
And in our shariah, normally speaking, temporary losis of mind is an excuse for losing one’s way. Yet not all sufi masters excused Hallaj. One of our grandsheikh’s, namely Ahmad Faruq Sirhindi (may Allah bless his secret) writes in one of his ‘Maktubat’ (Letters) that he saw Hallaj in paradise and Hallaj told him that he was cut off from seeing the Prophet sws for four hundred years then for saying ‘Ana’l Haqq’ (I am the Sooth- i.e., Truth/Reality). In another report Hallaj is said to have seen the Prophet sws in a dream while awaiting trial in prison. The Messenger of Allah was angry. “What is the price to pay for my mistake, ya Rasulallah?” asked Hallaj. “It is your head” answered the Prophet sws. He was executed next day. So sufi or not we are fallible weak servants of our Lord and sometimes go overboard and make some mistakes and it is up to our Lord how much to waive and forgive and how much punish to give us a lesson. May He always pardon us! My humble inspiration is, and I may be wrong of course, that the Prophet’s hadith “Kullu musekkirin haram” (all intoxicants are unlawful) applies to sufi practices and states as well. Sufis as much as other muslims must take care that they do not cause their minds to be blurred or bent even for a moment for whatever reason.
As for the tariqats who do resort to music, dancing etc., provided the tariqat or its sheikh is otherwise pious and correct in their Islam the reason for the allowance of music and dancing must be sought in the sheikh’s wise strategies for attracting and keeping souls who feel they cannot do without such diversions. Decent singing and dancing are not haram but ‘mubah’ and because men are weak in these two matters the sheikhs are trying to channel these two mubahs into a pious context instead of leaving them to the Satan to exploit for his impious purposes. In other words rather than people singing obscene songs, let them sing the praises of Islam. Still, it is on record that the Prophet sws indulged some simple folks like slave girls playing tambourines and singing. He also allowed an Ethiopian troupe play music and dance in his mosque which performance he allowed our mother Aisha RA to watch and enjoy as much as she wanted. In anoter instance he allowed Aisha RA to watch a woman dancing in public in Medina. In fact we have another undoubted report that when the Prophet sws arrived at Medina as an emigrant the many from rooftops greeted him with songs of welcome to the accompaniment tambourines which he approved by just accepting it.
So, although music and dance are not acts of worship they aren’t sinful either provided they don’t involve or are used as preliminaries to actual harams. And if they are allowed or employed by wise men of Allah to help simple folks enter the faith and enjoy themselves in there they become meritious because the intention behind them is helping Allah’s cause at a relatively low cost. Which is better- force people to Islam by threats or entice them by lovely pious songs and dances and then teach them? So pious Sufis following the Sunna deserve no blame for any innocent tricks and tactics to attract to and keep men and women in Islam. After all the Prophet sws said “Al harbu khud’atun”, i.e., war is stratagem. Without allowing outright haram a muslim missionary may resort to facilitating, indulgent measures just to enable the very differently cultured tribes and nations to find Islam easy and attractive. We must not forget that Islam had to and did spread to climates and cultures as varied and variegated as the bushlands of Africa to the river deltas and rain forests of India all of which had their simple or sophisticated cultures which had to be accommodated somewhat to facilitate the conversions. No group of muslims are entitled to claim greater success and peaceful effectiveness than Sufis in the spread of Islam from African heartlands to South East Asia down into the Pacific islands like Indonesia and they owe their success to their conquering wisdom, tolerance of local harmless tastes and traditions and their endearing piety and hearts-winning charity.
If some tariqats and sheikhs are known to be saying or doing things which look outside the pale of Islam, then that is their problem and no one can force us to join them. In everything the bad may exist with the good side by side and throughout history good Sufis always deplored the existence of bad Sufis alongside them. It is totally wrong both to write off all Sufis and Sufism and to ignore the unmistakable piety, sanctity and miraculous serendipity of many sheikhs, murids and tariqats. By all standards good Sufis are best muslims by a far margin and opposing and persecuting them despite their conspicuous merits as muslims is tantamount to opposing and persecuting the friends of Allah for they ARE awliya Allah.
THE SHEIKH AND THE MURID-
EXPLANATION OF A VITAL SUFI MATTER
INTRODUCTION
Sufism has been perhaps the most controversial matter among the ulema. Not until great Ghazali’s (d. 1111) great efforts to reconcile the external view of Islam with its internal Sufi view most ulema could come to view Sufism favourably.
One of the most controversial matters in Sufism, in the view of the externalist ulema, have been the concept and institution of a sheikh and his pupils relationships with him. The externalists accused those claiming to be and posing as Sufi sheikhs for creating and maintaining an innovation (bid’ah), which like all bid’ahs, on the authority of a hadith, was doomed to land in Hell. But is that so?
THE TRUE BASIS OF TRUE SUFISM
As in everything in humanistic terminology, Sufism is too general a name or umbrella under which all sorts of good, bad and silly claims can take and in fact took shelter. Examples of other humanistic terms with such broad ambiguities and abusabilities are ‘peace-lovers, ‘democracy’, ‘human rights’ etc.
As Sheikh Jalaluddin Rumi (d. 1273) pointed out very pointedly indeed, Sufism claimants range from rare truly great spiritual masters living exemplary lives of wisdom, piety and charity to ‘dervishes from whose eyes semen is dropping’. From mad beggars to murderous blasphemers and from crypto yogis pretending to be Sufis to crass pantheists with communistic views many disguised themselves under a pretext of Sufism. Yet enough superb material came to pass to make Sufism one of the top glories of Islam and real Sufi masters the greatest spiritual masters under the sun after Allah’s prophets and messengers.
The true basis of true Sufism is seeking spiritual annihilation in Allah (fana fillah) which automatically opens into subsistence in Allah (baqa billah). All prophets and messengers of Allah are born with this ability and effortlessly attain both fana and baqa although they never mention such terms. They are Allah’s chosen ones and not made.
Fana fillah means the servant’s complete resignation to Allah’s Will. It is not a mysterious mystical delusion but a sane state of mind lovingly and reverently fixed on Allah’s Will and Pleasure. Attaining it does not mean that this servant does not live a normal if fully pious life in the course of which he may seem to make a lot of personal choices and oppose certain things or fight for certain things. All these he does. What separates him from the rest is his private, invisible and round-the-clock connection to Allah Who inspires him with the Right Choices and empowers him to implement those Choices as Allah wills and permits. This is one of the greatest secrets under the sun as well as the subtlest. From the outside, almost no-one can detect such a Sufi’s special relationship with Allah. So, most people treat him just like another, if especially pious man at best. This submission of one’s will to Allah’s is the only secret of Islam which means only the Sufi state of fana fillah is the full and real Islam. This real Islam is the one face of a coin whose other face is baqa billah.
Baqa billah means the real Muslim’s/real Sufi’s permanent residence in Allah’s Pleasure.
At all times and under all circumstances such a supreme believer in Allah the Most High and Most Gracious feels and acts under the qualities of Rahmaniyya and Rahimiyya of his Lord Allah al Rahman al Rahim. He regards the whole creation and especially his fellow men and more especially his fellow Muslims as Allah would regard them- with across the board unconditional loving care (al Rahmaniyya) and entitled to immediate pardon once they realise their mistakes and ask for the pardon (al Rahimiyya). In other words the one with baqa billah will not hold back any help he can give to others and will not keep a grudge towards anybody for any personal hurts done to himself by that other. Does a parent resent his baby messing itself and its parent on whose lap it was sitting? He will just laugh and hurry to cleanse the baby for the baby to feel more comfortable. So treats a true Sufi all those who offend his person. He is only angry with those who offend others, for that is infringing the rights of others which even Allah kept Himself from pardoning unless the offender makes amends towards his victim. Outside this he advises others as well to forgive and forget offences done to them if they want Allah to forgive them more.
When we study the life of the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sellem (sws) we fully and exactly see this character- his endowment with full and perfect fana fillah and baqa billah. And that is exactly what all true Sufis are after; they are after duplicating the Prophet’s sws character and attitudes in their persons as far as Allah wants and permits. Amen.
THE SHEIKH
A man who attains this success of fana fillah and baqa billah on the authentic model of the Prophet sws (and not on any other model) attains such attractiveness of personality and conduct and enjoys such spiritual support from Allah through Allah’s especially appointed and commissioned angels that he attracts many well-meaning and spiritually talented people to his companionship. Allah says:
“Indeed those who say ‘Our Lord is Allah’ and then walk straight- on them angels come down saying ‘do not fear and do not grieve but rejoice with the goodnews of the Garden you have been promised. We are your guardians (awliya) in your worldly lives and in the Hereafter….’. Whose word is better than the one who invites to Allah and does good works and says ‘I am one of the Muslims/submitters to Allah’s Will’…. Return evil with good and you will see that the one between you and him there has been hostility becomes as if he is a warm friend. None can attain this (level of fana and baqa) except the patient, none can attain this except the one with great share (of spiritual blessings)” (41: 30- 35)
In such an attained servant spiritually talented people see a new father of a new sort and hope to enjoy a second and more profitable childhood under this new parent. As a result they re-adopt their child’s attitude of respect for a parent and alertness to the opportunities for the new and adopted and spiritually-meant parent’s contribution to their skills for their future success. An ordinary, biological parent can do only that much for his or her child.
The normal good parent teaches his or her children things from how to care for their bodies to how to conduct themselves properly towards others. They also allow them to have formal education outside the family so that they may acquire skills to make a living after leaving home and setting up their own homes. The sheikh does something similar but of a much higher and eternal order. He teaches his pupils (called ‘murids’ or seekers) how to find and contact that interface with their All-Gracious Creator Whose an effective representation and interface lie in their deep-most hearts. Because the sheikh has found that effective representation of Allah the Most Gracious in his deep-most heart and is living with Allah at the interface connecting the Divine with the human he leaks from his appearance, demeanour and attitudes all that are necessary for his spiritual ‘children’ the murids to slowly and steadily imbibe if and as much as they can.
In other words the words of the sheikh are not more important than the body language of the sheikh and both languages must be read and benefits absorbed at one and the same time at all times. This second childhood despite the physical adulthood to a second parent figure which the sheikh is gives the murid his life’s worthiest chance to attain his highest potentials as a servant of Allah and has no substitute, at least in principle. Some rare souls mature up on their own thanks to Allah’s special favour to them and such a soul is termed an ‘Uwaiysi’ which term derives from the name of a saintly contemporary of the Messenger of Allah sws, Uwais al Qarani. Despite so much desiring to meet the Prophet sws this Muslim brother could not leave his ailing mother and go to Medina. Yet, he achieved so much piety that the Prophet sws praised him very much and advised his sahaba to show respect to him when they meet him. Normally we should have a sheikh, a true one as proven by his utter lack of interest in worldly goods and by his most kind and generous character and his projection of vast resources of love, wisdom and humility. We must do our best to have his such sterling qualities to rub on us as well. If this transfer is not happening sit down and weep!
MURIDS
A murid who, despite his many years of association with a true sheikh fails to improve in his moral and spiritual lights and instead remains an empty pretender full of worldly desires and scandals has just wasted his time and forfeited his potential. Unfortunately, almost in all cases such failures make the bulk of a sheikh’s murids and their only profit from their association with the sheikh mainly consists of some spiritual comfort with little spiritual enlightenment. They basically remain the same infantile ego-worshippers only slightly improved by their years of association. Their main profit consists of staying away from some gross mischief they could commit had they not come to the circle of the sheikh. That is no mean profit although a trifle of what could have been.
We must be true and full murids. We must choose our sheikh from among the true sheikhs and the true projection of such a sheikh is the full ‘ordinariness’ of his Islam and utter extraordinariness of his character. By ordinariness I mean his full observance of Islam as our great fiqh imams like Abu Hanifa or Malik has prescribed and no unscriptural innovations or spectacular publicity stunts are indulged in except for perhaps tactical reasons and temporarily- for that is part of being a ‘Khidr’. By extraordinariness of character I mean the projection of an image of non-pretension, innocence, uncomplicatedness, informality, approachability, geniality and generosity… all steeped in utter honesty and uprightness disarmingly mellowed by loving compassion and profuse charity whenever possible. Whatever scrutiny is done, a true sheikh cannot be caught in a single bad act, a real bad one.
One should be able to relax and concentrate like in the presence of a very much loved if respected enough parent, rich with gifts and generous with goodwill. You expect not to be disappointed by your sheikh provided your aim is Allah’s Pleasure and not the gifts and compliments of this world.
You are the luckiest of persons if you find such a sheikh. Then appreciate your good fortune and regard him as the shadow of Allah (remembering that shadow is never the real thing) and the inheritor of the Messenger of Allah sws (remembering that none can contain what the Prophet sws contains) and relate to him accordingly. He may have some slight defects but they are the delicious spices of his excellent flavour and indispensable guards against pride and do no real harm. A true and accomplished sufi is the next best thing to a prophet!
THE INHERITANCE OF THE PROPHETS. Said Rasulullah sws “al ulema warathat al anbiya”, i.e., “Alims are the inheritors of the prophets”. Of course alims fully entitled to such a status are those who are comprehensive alims (with both legal and spiritual knowledge) whose knowledge consistently translates into prophet-like pious and gracious action. And these are the true Sufi sheikhs, especially those who have both mufti-class knowledge of the Sharia and angel-class nobility of disposition. May Allah never leave the earth without them!
Allah commands us to associate with such souls “O ye who believe, fear Allah and be with the truthful” (9: 119). Who are the really truthful if not the saintly ulema who the greatest Sufi sheikhs are?
WHAT IS SUFISM
Sufism is an esoteric way of wisdom almost as old as human civilization itself. It is about personal fulfilment in a most fundamental and profound way within the context of the whole universe in general and whole humanity in particular.
Its basic tenet is that man is an inseparable part of the whole in both a physical and socio-psychological sense. Well-being is when man harmonizes his lifestyle and habits to his natural environment without sacrificing his innovative potential and happiness is when personal happiness is seen as most real and deserved if related to the happiness of all.
It has no too harsh monastic aims like self-denial or ascetic practices deleterious to health. It tames the wild self rather then suppressing it, which self then is meticulously trained to attain all its possible moral and beatific potentials. In other words a realized sufi is a person who can understand himself (and automatically others) and can therefore control his passions and channel them into love- and friendship-creating directions. If and where possible the sufi converts destructive passions like hostility and jealousy in himself and others into respect, affection and mutual charity.
Such incomparably worthy attainments are effected by special training under qualified and licensed guides (sheikhs)
The moods of the sufi may vary as anybody else’s; but they are always safely buffered by an underlying and never disappearing causeless bliss maintained by a stoic acceptance of realities and a top priority of submitting to the truth. I may assure you that this is a tough job and only made bearable by the incomparable happy result- another saved man or woman who can never be made really unhappy again. He or she does not need sugar to taste sweetness. He or she is the sugar cane to whom all must come for their sugar. That’s real salvation!
All major religions have had a sufi dimension but Sufism as we know it today is a moral perfection-aimed depth-psychology form of Islam and its only salvation from extremism in the hands of its some unenlightened votaries.
Over centuries Sufism has been both understood and misunderstood in many ways and its practices defined many divergent as well as convergent schools.
Although abuses occur like in every movement Sufism in its mainstream reputable forms have ordinary pious Muslims purifying, polishing and embellishing themselves, through newly gained insights and psychological-formative practices. All Biblical prophets are regarded as sufi masters and after Muhammad himself, Jesus Christ is the most popular sufi master for Sufis. AS such Jesus forms a bridge of understanding and comradeship between the more enlightened Muslims and their Christian counterparts. It was not unusual in the past therefore to see Muslim Sufis and Christian monastics amicably entertaining each other in areas where Islam and Christianity peacefully co-existed. As such Sufism may hold a key to the reconciliation and harmonisation of different cultures and communities uneasily trying to accommodate each other in our dangerous age.
Sufism has also been a major contributor to Muslim culture and art. Its simple but gaily attractive architecture where arches, carpets, divans and intense hospitality compete for the visitors admiration, its soul-stirring music coming from ancient instruments like the potty drum and cane flute, its melancholy but edifying songs and dignified dances…. have always proved irresistible to souls bored with the depressing commonalities of life and heart-broken by the treacheries of fate.
WHAT EXACTLY IS SUFISM
Allah the Most High said “In the Sight of Allah there is no valid religion but Islam” which means ‘unconditional SUBMISSION to Him’ is the only way to salvation (Ali Imran, 19). So, there is no valid religion by the name of Sufism. If Sufism is to be valid it must be the same as Islam. So why this word ‘Tasawwuf’ (Sufism) is employed at all by its exponents? It had to be used because Islam was so distorted and abused by the great majority of its learned followers that another synonym was felt to be necessary. In fact Allah Himself employed a few other synonyms for Islam like ‘al Haqq’ (the Truth) and ‘Din al Haqq’ (Religion of Truth). The word Sufism is thought to derived from ‘suf’ which means ‘wool’ on the grounds that its earliest exponents deliberately wore woollen garments, that cheapest and most uncomfortable material (in the hot and long summers) in Arab lands and which material was the staple cloth for the Prophet sws and his companions RA. Later muslims, usually spoilt by worldly success, had long been into cotton, linen, silk and furs and lived in mansions and palaces, mixing like good friends but conspiring ruthlessly against each other in secret (in fact brother killed brother if the realization of ambition depended on that).
Their ‘suf’ wearing contemporaries were the poor, and among them were the Sufis who did the opposite: They not only stuck with the Prophetic era’s dress but with its habits, attitudes and spiritual light. Their basic tenet derived from the Divine admonition “Yauma la yanfau malun wa la banun illa men atallaha bi qalbin salim” i.e “On that Day neither wealth nor sons (worldly supporters) avail anything but coming to Allah with a heart purified” ( al Shuara, 89). So while others indulged their material attainments and ambitions among unspeakable bloodshed and injustice the suf wearing brothers directed their attention and ambition to the purification of their hearts which automatically led to the refinement of their spiritual insights and an enormous growth in their spiritual powers. In their spiritual (I mean totally heart-based and God’s pleasure-oriented) inner journeys they ‘met’ masters like Khidr and Jesus AS (two main characters of spirituality) as well as fellow Sufis of all times but the top prize has always remained the honor of meeting the Messenger of Allah and our master Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam the sultan of all prophets and saints. All such meetings are private and in the realm of timeless symbols (al alam al mithal).
If you ask how this was possible the answer is that the spiritual world is both timeless and beyond spatial constraints and if one happens to gain access to it these priceless commodities JUST stares him in the face. He simply neither suspects their veracity nor feels the slightest urge to bother with explanations. It is like a duckling being pushed into water by its mum. It immediately begins to swim effortlessly and will not look back. So my dear readers don’t bother with the worthless efforts of explaining spiritual experiences ‘scientifically’. It simply doesn’t work and too much dependence on rational and scientific standards may well knock out your spiritual sight and make you eternally blind to that incomparable form of and dimension of perception. If you have any sense enjoy it as the poet said
“Drink the ‘wine’, love the beauty if you have reason and gnosis
Whether the world existed or not, why bother?”
(Here, as in all sufi poetry, ‘wine’ means the spiritual drink which delivers God-pleased bliss. Sufis used both the term ‘wine’ and ‘beauty’ to remind to alcohol drinking debauchers that there were far superior spiritual alternatives to the filth the former thought to be heaven. The debauchers killed each other for the sake of their lusts while Sufis loved each other more for joining in the same pleasures. This is the difference between the spiritual and material indulgence)
What successful Sufis met of course have been their yet dormant higher selves which are modelled after prophets and saints in question which serlves ultimately escalate into meeting Allah the Supreme Reality and Truth. The sufi dies not become that prophet or saint but simply partakes of the priceless blessings represented by each and according to his capacity. All before attaining Allah are intermediate stages only represented (mithal) by given great saints which prophets themselves are par excellence. Again attaining Allah does not mean that the sufi becomes God. It only means that he begins to bask in the favor of Divine Gaze and he knows it. Nothing can be more pleasurable and ultimately rewarding than feeling Allah loving you and you Him and He commanding all your perceptions and moves. If you ask me how come any believer attains the ‘maqams’ (escalating spiritual stations) of prophets the answer is that all maqams are levels of brilliance of none other than Allah’s Light and Allah’s Light is available to all who want it.
Want like what? Want more than anything else, not less! If you regard Allah’s Light a luxury you may or may not have or if you have then only as a non-essential and your staple diet remains the pleasures of this world which are three, sensual (food, sex, creature comforts and power), renown and admirers then the most you can get from the spiritual world are a few crumbles of dreams and a few helpings of out-of-the-blue succor which even non-believers are granted at times. You must want Allah’s Light as nothing else and it is the only purifier of your heart. For purification means enlightenment and enlightenment means more faith, more humility, more patience, more tolerance of and more benevolence towards others and so on and so forth. What is more these must come to you naturally, without straining and without self-congratulation at the end. Does a mother congratulates herself for suckling her baby or changing its nappy?
She regards them her natural and even pleasurable duty and perhaps exclusive right and privilege as well. Can you for example pay charity while you yourself are in strait circumstances and yet enjoy every bit of the payment you are making for Allah as you would enjoy most exquisite honey? Mind you, that was exactly how the Messenger of Allah sws and his best companions RA were motivated. Allah said regarding them “Even when they are in hardship they prefer (helping out) others to themselves. Whoever avoids his intrinsic greed then they are the saved” (al Hashr, 9). He Almighty also said “Despite their own selves desiring (the food) after it they feed the destitute, the orphan and the prisoner for Allah’s love: ‘We are only feeding you for the sake of Allah’s Face (smiling at us) and we want from you neither reward nor thanks” (al Insan, 8-9). They are also those “who spend in the way of Allah both while in ease and in hardship and swallow their anger and forgive people. Allah loves such beautifiers” (Ali Imran 134). They are also “those who remember (Dhikr) Allah standing, sitting or on their sides and keep pondering and wondering about the creation of the heavens and the earth and say ‘o our Lord, Thou hast not made these for nothing. High exalted art Thou (above such frivolity) please spare us from the torment of Fire” (Ali Imran, 191). In fact hence the central importance of Dhikr in tasawwuf.
But what is dhkir or more simply spelled ‘zikr’? Sufi’s chanting Allah’s Names and the creedal formula ‘la ilaha illallah’ and glorifications like ‘subhan Allah’, ‘Al hamdu lillah’ etc. are forms of zikr. But ultimately the essential or core meaning of the word ‘dhikr’ must determine: True and full zikr is keeping Allah constantly in mind whether the tongue joins in or not. For example are you about to take advantage of someone in your power? Do you desist from indulging your greed or lust because you remembered Allah? THAT IS ZIKR! That saves! The tongue zikr which remain as tongue zikrs and are so profusely offered obviously does not so much save because its doers feel and act as badly as other impious people- poisoned with jealousy and avarice, beggarliness as well as pride, self-importance as well as hypocritical adulation of their master. Theirs is only a shadow of zikr and as useful as any shadow. Yet, as a technique, doing regular prescribed zikr does help a sincere believer to attain the condition of constant real zikr whereby he or she becomes unable to forget Allah and commit too atrocious sins. Sheikhs are justified to prescribe regular (daily, weekly etc.) zikr but the results depend on the murid’s sincerity towards Allah. With regular formalized zikr Allah’s love and fear may penetrate the heart an settle in there in a mighty way or at least regular zikr habituates the doer to regularity of devotion which regularity and commitment the ego shuns like plague. It wants ‘freedom’ which in actual facts means only slavery to its vanities and lusts.
Another important issue in tasawwuf is sheikhs and their tariqats (mystic orders). Sufis could not call their teachers prophets despite their relative spiritual brilliance. So they used the only too common word which distinguishes more respected people from the rest: Sheikh. This word means an elder. In tribal societies older people were automatically revered just because they were older, had done something for the younger and had learned more lessons and attained more wisdom, real or supposed. These were family elders. Tribal elders were those hereditary headmen who were revered and to a certain extent also obeyed irrespective of their age. Lastly sheikh meant a teacher because he knew more and taught others. It is in this last sense that a teacher and mentor in Sufism is called a sheikh. A tariqat, for its part, is a school of Sufism and Sufism is entited to having various schools or alternative forms of understanding and teaching it as every humanistic science has.
Sufism is a science because it is based on observation and experiment. The sufi constantly watches both the worlds outside and inside him; he watches how people behave and what become of them, thereby taking lessons and drawing conclusions; he watches how his heart reacts to events and opportunities presented- will it fill with lust and greed and grab the sinful prize or will it remember Allah and successfully if painfully suppress the bad inclination? Does he find himself resenting a friends good fortune or fulminating against a saintly person just because he said something which hurt his vanity or caught him red-handed in sinful thoughts? Is he in fact resenting Allah’s choices and providence and as a result cooling off from Allah’s service and coveting the enjoyments the impious are indulging? All these are heart affairs which are in actual fact the central and most essential subject of this science of Sufism. A sheikh, if a true and accomplished sheikh, is that rare man who studied and experimented with his heart’s moves and colorations until he produced an effective working map of and operation manual for his heart which as a result deserved an adequate fill of Allah’s Light as its permanent dominant substance.
Please do not misunderstand. A sheikh does not lose his lusts, greeds and angers. Could he done so he would lose not his ability to feed himself or satisfy his spouse for example but also the chance of earning Allah’s pleasure any more- for all merit with Allah is acquired by resisting and conquering the evil which conquest allows good to flow where it needs flowing. The teacher must be able to identify with and understand his pupil or his advice shall carry no impact. How can an eunuch advise continence (restraint of sexual passion) if he has never faced the temptation let alone tackle it? How can a man who does not tackle many other temptations daily can impress on others its possibility and instruct in its practice? In other words the Perfect Man (if there is one) is somebody who shares in every kind of experience other sentient beings are heir to- animal feelings, ordinary human feelings including how childrens’, the feelings of a criminal mind as well as a saint’s and even a degree of prophets’ and angels’ feelings despite being neither a prophet or an angel.
Once achieved such mastery of the science of salvation (for that is the same of the science of tasawwuf) the student is appointed by his sheikh a khalifa (assistant teacher) as in every teaching institution. Which means we can now get rid of the misunderstanding and accusation that Sufis are a sectarian group among muslims something like Sunni and Shia divide. They are or rather tariqat is a teaching institution whose curriculum is designed to help students work at their personal salvation and as in every institution there are all three- deserving graduates, failures and fakes. Unfortunately the numbers of these three categories soar exponentially in that order- for every ‘graduate’ there may be a thousand failures (despite some goodwill) and ten thousand fakes some of whom may even fake dazzling sheikhood. All great sheikhs like Abdul Qadir Gailani and Jalaladdin Rumi complained of the plentitude of the fakes saying things like “Finding a true sheikh in our age is like finding the philosopher’s stone (kibrit al Akhmar)”. If that was the case in Islam’s golden days you can imagine how it must be today.
We must not use the pretext of having bad Sufis to dismiss the superb although they are rare. We are saying these to enable any uninformed readers to understand why there are so many tariqats, sheikhs and murids (disciples) yet so little proof of either moral edification or contentment in the so-called sufi ranks and file and yet for best Islam we cannot do without good sufism. We must find good sheikhs and choose carefully. If we are in doubt we have a way to resolve it. True and great sheikhs advise would-be murids to make istikrara in a most sincere, desperate manner begging Allah to guide them to a real master and not let them be conned by spiritual conmen. No doubt Allah will not fail the sincere supplicant. And what do you want, the Prophet sws himself was challenged by at least three fakes in his own lifetime and another three afterwards. Those afterwards have conquered quite a few million souls, are passing as prophets and boasting of revealed scriptures. If true prophets cannot be immune to suffering from fake rivals how much sufi sheikhs are vulnerable to sufi fake rivals needs not much guesswork.
In my humble way let me tell you what to look for. The true sheikh is simple in his tastes and basically a poor man. Any wealth which comes his way he never spends on luxuries for himself and his relations but distributes in charity. He is incorruptible- no political, sexual or financial traps and temptations can cause him to disgrace himself by succumbing. His learning and especially spiritual learning is immense and he freely disseminates it. His manners are generous, charitable and pleasant and his disposition humorous and spontaneous like a bright and precocious child who is a born optimist. His compassion is almost inexhaustible and he is unable to keep a personal grudge or refuse a sincere request for forgiveness even by a most senior enemy. All these and more are in fact the Prophet’s (sws) own golden qualities which true sheikhs make their own.
CONCLUSION
Never forget that Sufism is a synonym for real depth Islam whereby we strive to recreate in ourselves the very best muslims’ gnosis and appreciation of Allah. The very best muslim being the Prophet sws we take extra care to study and then contemplate him as our role model, especially in a morals and manners sense- forebearing like him, forgiving, compassionate, generous, charitable, sociable and pleasant like him etc. In fact there is no good whatsoever in one’s Islam until and unless the Prophet’s various qualities are recreated in him or her. And when and once they are recreated in a muslim that muslim is saved and can save others who are sincere. Conversely, a muslim however learned and objectively observant only deceives himself so long he remains who he is and not become a truthful copy of the Prophet sws inside out. Not only he cannot save himself but he misleads others and cause them interminable disasters and scandals. Because most modern muslims are mentored by ‘non-prophetized’ imams whether academically and officially qualified or self-styled and self-appointed they are lost in blunder after blunder like misguided jehads, oppressive and repulsive or alternatively wrongly motivating censorship of people’s behaviors all of which doom muslims in their thrall as the pariahs among the rest of humanity. That is why we, incidentally founded the Prophet’s Academy. To remedy this situation, to train sincere souls who are prepared to give up their habitual silly personality and self-image and take on the Prophet’s as their aspiration. Once they achieve enough proximity to the Prophet sws Allah’s Light engulfs them and the rest becomes plain sailing blessed every moment.
SUMMARY AND SOME PRACTICAL ADVICE
Given the vital importance of understanding and living Islam correctly a summary is in order, viz.,
Islam is submitting to Allah. Submitting to Allah means is making His choices your own and abandon any other choices which are in opposition to Allah’s. Examples: Did you create you black? Love being black and thank Allah for it. Don’t protest and try to bleach yourself by any means. Did he send heavy rains and floods blocked you from going to the party? Thank Allah for His choice for you. Believe that greater good must and will come of it. Mind you Allah’s choice means a turn of events which you couldn’t or are unable to change. It is not anything and everything that happens to you. If you are given both the power and justification under Allah’s Law to change something then Allah’s choice is your changing it and not swallowing hard.
Allah chose Islam as the only religion acceptable to Him Almighty and Muhammad sws as His last and final messenger sent to all mankind. So, if you are already a muslim thank for it and follow Allah’s commandments. If you aren’t embrace Islam. In the latter case you get a double reward, no less.
Once a muslim please understand that Islam is only possible when your heart are purified from everything that blocks you from full submission to Allah. These bnlocking impurities are the haphazardly acquired wrong information about and misunderstandings of Truth. They are also your equally haphazardly acquired and accumulated and ossified wrong attitudes (like hating women or despising the blacks etc.) and bad habits (like drinking, smoking and overeating and rude manners (like sniping at others or addressing them disrespectfully etc.). You must refer all these (and they are more numerous you think- legion) to the Prophet’s qualities which is usually through a genuine sheikh who has become an embodiment of Prophet’s (sws) qualities to the best of his ability, for nobody can be an equal to him.
Overall it is an all-out struggle (jehad) against your crude ego which is a born beast mis-educated by an uncritically imitated social environment. Like an extremely dirty cloth into whose fabric decades of dirt and filth penetrated and almost chemically combined the ego of each and everyone of us is an unmitigated disaster and disgrace impossible to cleanse by any man-made detergents or other agents. Only Allah’s Light can purify it and that Light comes only through the Prophet sws and from him through the best followers of the Prophet sws, which best followers we call ‘awlia Allah’, i.e., friends of Allah thanks to their following the very best and top friend of Allah, the Prophet sws.
While following the sufi (heart-based and heart-purifying oriented) way to Islam you must, repeat must constantly monitor your heart’s moves and colorations. You must watch it like a hungry young cat is watching a mouse hole. If your heart issues a mouse of an improper move or coloration you must jump on the impropriety and finish it off. This is called ‘muraqaba’ (watchfulness) and is the other side of the one and the same coin, zikr, which is keeping Allah in mind. When you have Allah in your mind He gives you of His Light with which no mouse can escape detection.
Example of mice and rats which you must be able to smell and ferret out and destroy are: Hating others without bothering to understand them, being jealous of others for whatever reason. Lusting after things that aren’t or can’t be legitimately yours. Telling lies or using tricks or violence to get your way against others. Grabbing what you find without regard to others’ rights. Feeling lazy or being angry about a duty you have to carry out… In a tariqat setting the following become of special importance. Hating fellow disciples and wanting them to fail and be disgraced. Backbiting and conspiring against them. Reporting their witnessed or supposed misdeeds to others. Resenting the attention the sheikh may give to others. Being jealous of more accomplished or senior disciples or the chosen khalifas of the sheikh and working to undermine them. Please understand that you must be as pleased with the choices of the sheikh and the choices of the greatest of all sheikhs the Prophet sws as you would with Allah’s. Otherwise yours isn’t Islam (submission) but ‘shirk’, polytheism. Polytheism was invented as an imaginary and false theology with the intention of diluting the authority of Allah and playing various gods against each other (divide and rule applied to the Heavens by the earth which man is). That is why shirk is the most unforgivable of all sins and their real source.
Studying at the Prophet’s Academy may help you to attain an adequate appreciation of the incomparable merits and relevance to true salvation of the Messenger of Allah sws which appreciation is the whole soul of Sufism and its desired fruit salvation. The study may be distance learning over the internet and correspondence by email. Be as may I pray that Allah makes all my readers and myself successful.