Saturday, December 13, 2008

Islamic Sufism

An important aspect of Islamic culture is what is known as the Sufi tradition. "Sufi" is the word given to those people within the Islamic world who have refined their consciousness in such a way as to give them access to knowledge of the deepest levels of reality:

"According to the Sufis, human beings are ordinarily cut off from Objective Reality, which is the origin of everything. Human faculties, although perceptive, are limited...

"The perceived world, again according to this assertion, is therefore a distortion. The inability to transcend the barrier of limited senses explains human subjectivity; and secondary effects are usually perceived as primary ones...

"The Sufis further assert that they can penetrate beyond the apparent to the real in this sense, and Sufism is the method, or rather, provides the methods, for this enterprise.

"They further state that theirs is a spiritual path, because their
experience, in their judgment, verifies that the Objective Truth, the First Cause, that which lies beyond appearances, is divine.

"The methods which are adopted to pierce the veil between truth and humankind are, accordingly, those chosen by experienced Sufis... the ones which their own overview tells them are appropriate for the current time, place and people. " -- Idries Shah.


Although Sufis have been associated with Islam for several hundred years, they themselves assert that their Way is the essence of all religion. However, traditionally, the inner teaching is tailored to the cultures in which it is operating, and Islamic Sufism in general is embedded within the context of Islam. The Sufi sage Bahaudin Naqshband* explained the Sufi method of adaptation over 600 years ago, showing how it is based on the ancient aphorism, `Speak to Everyone in Accordance with his Understanding':

"The task of the teacher is to teach. In order to teach he must take into account the present preoccupations and fixed ideas of his pupils. He must, for instance, use the terms of Bokhara with the Bokharan and the terms of Baghdad in Baghdad.

"If he knows what he is teaching, he arranges the outer form of the means of teaching it, like building the physical shape of a school, in accordance with this. Also involved are the nature and descriptions of the disciples, and their potentiality."



While some assert that this kind of esoteric spiritual path cannot be practiced outside of the generally accepted religious frameworks, others contend that it can also adapt itself to circumstances by using symbols, formulas and frameworks which are not traditionally religious. Some possible historical examples of esoteric formulations not traditonally religious include the teachings of Alchemy, Chivalry, and certain Masonic secret societies which have operated in the West.

For more about the Sufi tradition within the world of Islam, as well as its connection with other traditions, the following works are recommended:



Studies in Early Mysticism in the Near and Middle East - Margaret Smith

The Mystics of Islam - Reynold Nicholson

Islamic Sufism - Ikbal Ali Shah

The Sufis - Idries Shah

The Way of the Sufi - Idries Shah

The Elephant in the Dark: Christianity, Islam and the Sufis - Idries Shah

Sufi Essays - Seyyed Hossein Nasr

Sufi Expression of the Mystic Quest - Laleh Bakhtiar

First Among Sufis: The Life and Thought of Rabia - Widad El Sakkakini

Life, Personality and Writings of Al-Junaid of Baghdad - Abdel Kader, trans.

Passion of Al-Hallaj: Mystic and Martyr of Islam - Louis Massignon

Hujwiri's Revelation of the Veiled - Reynold Nicholson, trans.

The Mystical Philosophy of Ibn Masarra and his followers - Miguel Asin Palacios

Masters of Wisdom - J.G. Bennett

The Alchemy of Happiness - Al-Ghazzali - Claud Field, trans.

The 99 Beautiful Names - Al-Ghazali - Burrell & Daher, trans.

Conference of the Birds - Fariuddin Attar - Dick Davis, trans.

Revelation of the Unseen - Abdul Qadir Jilani - Muthar Holland, trans.

Layla and Majnun - Nizami - Gelpke, trans.

The Walled Garden of Truth of Hakim Sanai - David Pendlebury, trans.

The Rubaiyyat of Omar Khayaam - Omar Ali-Shah and Robert Graves, trans.

Rose Garden of Saadi - Omar Ali-Shah, trans.

The Bostan of Saadi - Mirza Aquil Hussein Barlas, trans.

Mystical and Visionary Treatises of Suhrawardi - W.M. Thackston, trans.

Man of Light in Iranian Sufism - Henry Corbin

Leaven of the Ancients - John Walbridge

A Dervish Textbook: Suhrawardi's Gifts of Deep Knowledge - Col. Wilberforce Clarke,
trans.

Journey of the Soul - Ibn Tufail - David Pendlebury, trans.

Journey to the Lord of Power - Ibn Arabi - Rabia Terri Harris, trans.

The Meccan Revelations - Ibn Arabi - Chittick & Morris, trans.

Sufism and Taoism - Toshihiko Izutsu

Oriental Mysticism - E.H. Palmer, trans.

A Glossary of Sufi Technical Terms - al-Qashani - Pendlebury, trans.

Treatise of the Pool - Obadyah Maimonedes - Paul Fenton, trans.

Signs of the Unseen: Discourses of Rumi - Thackston, trans.

The Mystical Poems of Rumi - Arberry, trans.

Teachings of Rumi (The Masnavi) - E.H. Whinfield, trans.

The Hundred Tales of Wisdom - Idries Shah, trans.

Legends of the Sufis: Aflaki's Acts of the Adepts - James Redhouse trans.

The Book of Wisdom of Ibn Ata Illah - Victor Danner, trans.

The Green Sea of Heaven: Fifty Ghazal from the Diwan of Hafiz - Elizabeth Gray, trans.

The Secret Garden - Mahmud Shabistari - Jonathan Pasha, trans.

Revelation of the Secrets of the Birds and Flowers - Al Muqaddasi - Irene Hoare and Darya Gayly, trans.

Jami's Yusuf and Zulaikha - David Pendlebury, trans.

Four Sufi Classics: Hakim Sanai's The Way of the Seeker, Al-Ghazali's Niche for Lights , & Jami's Salman and Abdal and the Abode of Spring - Idries Shah, ed.

The Religion of the Sufis - David Shea & Anthony Troyer, trans.

The Sacred Knowledge - Shah Waliullah of Delhi - Jalbani & Pendlebury, trans.

Sufism and the Islamic Tradition - Shah Waliullah of Delhi - Jalbani & Fry, trans.

Quatrains of Khalilullah Khalili



*quoted in The Way of the Sufi.


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Click here to listen to a reading of Rumi's Masnavi