Transcript Part 1: Sufism and Popular Islam

Sufism and
Popular Islam
Origins of Sufism in the Near East
Sufism is at once a continuity of Near Eastern
tradition and totally indigenous to Islam
Near Eastern Tradition: Islamic Tradition:
• Christian desert
ascetics & monks of
Syria
• Late Antique Cult of
Saints: saints as ‘the
Friends of God’
• Gnostic Tradition:
salvational knowledge
to escape prison of
material world and
reunite with God
• Quranic notion of
‘awliya’ Allah’ – ‘the
Friends of God’
• Quranic notion of God
as ‘Light of all Lights’
• Quranic notion that
“all vanishes but the
face of God most high”
Zuhd/Asceticism
An early Islamic ideal of piety
– Companions like Salman al-Farisi
– Books of Zuhd are one of earliest genres of
writing = collections of stories about how
people’s piety involved extremely abstemious
living, drawn from stories Biblical lore, the life
of Muhammad and the lives of early pious
Muslim… ex. never laughing, having total trust
in God to the point of not taking provisions on
travel
• Ex. Kitab al-zuhd of Ibn al-Mubarak (d. 797)
– Al-awliya’ = the Friends of God: beloved in
society ex. Ghulam Khalil (d. 888)
Sufism as Theosophical Tradition
• Mid 800’s – appearance of Gnostic themes in
Sufism: a model of emanation and return
– Salvational Knowledge – Ma’rifa ‫معرفة‬
– 3 tiers of society: the masses, the religiously
devout, and the Gnostics (‘arif / ‫ …)عارف‬Quran?
– Goal is constant awareness of God, realization that
God is the only Truth, only Good  Fana’ (‫(فناء‬
• ‘Sober’ (later ‘Orthodox) Sufis:
– Prominent in Baghdad and Iran :ex. Junayd (d. 910),
al-Sarraj (d. 988), al-Qushayri (d. 1072)
– Attempt to Portray Sufism as Thoroughly ‘Islamic’:
early Islamic heroes like Ibn Hanbal are portrayed
as Sufis and Gnostics
• ‘Ecstatic’ (unorthodox) Sufis:
– Exemplified by Mansur al-Hallaj (d. 922): ‘I am God/the
Truth!’ and al-Bistami (d. 874) ‘Most glorious am I!’
Sufism as Theosophical Tradition
Mainstream Acceptance/Gnosis and Light:
• Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (d.1111): God is ‘Light
of all Lights’ – Gnostic model
• Al-Suhrawardi (d. 1191): the emanation of
lights from the True Light
• Jalal al-Din Rumi (d. 1273): the cry of the
reed-flute…
Ibn ‘Arabi (d. 1240) Sufi Cosmology & The
Microcosmic Return:
• Hadith of the Hidden Jewel
• Unity of Existence: nothing is real except
God; God reveals Himself in creation (tajalli)
• The Muhammadan Reality / Qutb (axis):
‘Muhammad’ is the perfect reflection of God
Ibn Arabi’s Cosmology and
Controversy from 13th cent. - Today
Detractors: ex. Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328),
Wahhabi movement
• He is a pantheist who leads people into
heresy
• His ideas are heretical innovations
Supporters:
• He is a saint who explained reality in
the most profound way
• His writings are not for the layman, but
rather for the spiritual and scholarly
elect.
The Sufi Path
Haqiqa: Ultimate Truth… God
Tariqa: the ‘path’ towards truth,
guided by the Shaykh.
Shariah: outer understanding
of religion, the essential
starting point
Institutional Sufism
• Develops in the 12th and 13th centuries
• Tariqas: Sufi brotherhoods / paths
– Shaykh / Pir: the spiritual guide
– Murid: ‘seeker’ on the path
– Silsila / Isnad: ‘chain’ of teaching back to the
Prophet
• Orders develop around prominent masters of
the 12th and 13th centuries
– Ex. ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani (d. 1166)
Qadiriyya (North Africa, West Africa, Egypt)
– Ex. Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhili (d. 1258) 
Shadhiliyya (N. Africa, Egypt)
– Mu’in al-Din Chishti (d. 1236)  Chishtiyya
(India)
Sufi Tariqa’s / Paths
Differences in Practice:
• Specific catechisms: wird’s
• Specific devotional focus: ex. Khalwatiyya (big
in Turkey, Balkans and Egypt) utilizes periods
of seclusion
Ecstatic vs. Reserved / ‘Islamic’ vs. Accretionist
Social Associations:
• Ex. Rifa’i’s catch snakes in Egypt
• Bektashi order is the official order of the
Ottoman Janissaries
Sufism as Popular Religion
Sufi Lodges (khanqah, tekke, zawiya) as
Important Social Centers from 13th
century onward
Popular Forms of Worship: ex. Sama’
(audition); ‘whirling dervishes’
Saints and Graves:
• Ziyara: visiting the graves of local
saints and descendents of the Prophet
Muhammadan-Centered Worship:
Ex. the Burda of al-Busiri (d. 1295)
The Burda of al-Busiri
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I transgressed the sunna of him (the Prophet) who passed the night in
worship.
Until his feet complained of injury due to being swollen.
And he tied and folded, on account of hunger, around his stomach.
A stone beneath which is his delicate skin.
And high mountains of gold (tried to) tempt him.
Towards it, but he was (completely) disinclined due to his high courage.
His piety increased in spite of his need.
For verily need never prevails over the infallible.
How can the necessities of such a noble personality incline him towards
this world.
For had it not been for him this world would not have come out of non
existence.
Muhammad is the leader of both worlds and both creations (man and jinn).
And of both groups, Arabs and non Arabs.
Our Prophet, the one who commands (good), forbids (evil). There is non
like unto him, more truthful than him in saying "No" or "Yes".
He is God’s most beloved, whose intercession is hoped for.
For every fear (and distress) that is going to come (on the day) of agony
(and fears).
He called the people towards Allah, so those who cling to him…
Cling to a rope which will never break.
He transcends the prophets, physically and in (noble) character.
• And they cannot come near his in knowledge and noble nature
kindness.
• They all obtained from the Messenger of God
• (Like a) handful (of water) from the ocean or (a few) sips from
continuous rains.
• And they all stopped before him at their (assigned) limits.
• (Either) of a point of knowledge or to gain one wisdom from (his)
wisdom.
• For he is the one with whom ended all outward and inward perfection.
• And then the Creator of all creation chose him as (His) most beloved.
• He has no equal in his magnificence.
• The jewel of (excellence) in him is indivisible.
• Discard what the Christians claim about their prophet
• Then decide and say what you wish in praise of him (Muhammad).
• And attribute towards his personality whatever you wish of
excellence.
• And attribute to his dignified status as mush greatness as you wish.
• For verily excellence of the Messenger of Allah has no (limits)
• Bounds, that a speaker might (be able to ) express with his mouth.
• If his miracles were proportionate (according ) to his rank, in
greatness,
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And verily he is the best of all the creation of Allah.
Every miracle which all the prophets showed.
Verily they have been derived from his light.
• For verily he is the sun of virtue (and ) the other
prophets are its stars.
Prayer upon the Prophet
• What does it mean when we say God prays
upon the Prophet?
• Prayer upon the Prophet as center of
communal identification
Controversy over Popular Sufism
Detractors: it is heretical innovation (bid’a)
• Beliefs and New forms of worship never practiced by
Muhammad and the Early Muslims
• Open-Door for Religious Accretion
• Antinomian: Sufis don’t follow the Shariah
Supporters: Sufism is the flowering of the seed laid
in the early community
• Muslims are allowed to innovate to meet needs in
worship
• Extremists aren’t real Sufis/Shariah is essential to
Sufism