What is Sufism?

foreign if you've ever been Enchanted by The Poetry of Rumi listen to the Kawali music of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan or maybe seen a powerful vicar session then you have experienced an expression of what is known as Sufism a word that is used across the world and for different context but which is often only known on a surface level for most people you may have heard that it is a part of the religion of Islam that it is spiritual in some way maybe even that it is a very small Fringe sect of Islam that is inherently peaceful and while none of these claims are necessarily false Sufism is often greatly misunderstood and misrepresented both within a non-muslim and Muslim context in fact many may be surprised to learn that Sufism has played a significant role in the majority expression of Islam throughout history it was the mainstream and remained sore in many parts of the world still today that it has played a powerful and major role not only for individual practicing Muslims and their spirituality but also played a major role in politics and Empires Sufism is a very Broad and complex topic and today we're going to spend some time trying to learn what this tradition is how it developed over time and of course but its main characteristics are so what indeed is Sufism [Music] foreign [Applause] [Music] foreign Sufism is often described very briefly as Islamic mysticism there are some issues with this simplifying definition since the two terms cannot be directly equated and that they often narrow each other down too much but I often say that it can still be a good starting point from which we can then Nuance the discussion further later on Sufism is intimately connected to the religion of Islam it appeared within that religion although we can certainly argue for outside influence impacting its Origins too and the two have until recently always been looked at in tandem with each other in fact for most of History it would have been inconceivable to view Sufism as its own category which would have been compared to Islam it was Islam or at the very least an aspect of that religion neither should it be considered a branch of Islam I see many people talk about Sufi alongside Sunni and Shia as branches of the religion but this is very inaccurate Sufism should rather be seen as a kind of aspect or science within Islam similar and alongside other aspects like theology or thick Islamic law I sometimes refer to Sufism as a tendency within Islam a certain practical and Theological tendency that has certain characteristics but certainly not as a branch indeed sufis can be both Sunni or Shia although historically most of them have belonged to the Sunni group in particular and going back to that term mysticism Sufism is a part of the religion that certainly has aspects that we could turn mystical in different ways in short sufis have generally been Muslims that have emphasized ethics to a large degree as well as spiritual practices and ideas about the imminence of God and the ability to somehow achieve intimacy with God in this life through rigorous spiritual techniques that take you on ascending stations toward that ultimate goal of intimacy sometimes even referred to as Union with God the word Sufism is in a way a modern academic term but it is based on a self-description by the sufis themselves the Arabic and internal term for the tradition or spiritual science is which means something like the path of becoming a Sufi so what is a Sufi then it's clear that the term Sufi was being applied to certain individuals very early on in the Islamic civilization individuals that would often adopt renunciant practices or other ways of internalizing the quranic message the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad and to purify the soul of egoism and vices it is debated where this term Sufi actually comes from and there are a few theories the most widely accepted is that it comes from the Arabic word suf which means wool thus referring to the kind of clothing that these renunciants or quote unquote sufis would wear as a sign of asceticism another theory is that the word comes from the asaba sufa the companions of the bench this was a group of Companions of the Prophet Muhammad that lived in poverty and spent all of their life on the bench or raised platform outside the prophet's mosque in Medina dedicating their lives to religious piety this theory proposes that the word Sufi thus comes from the sufa thus indicating that the sufis are The Heirs of these particular Companions of the Prophet there is even a theory that the word comes from the Greek term Sophia meaning wisdom but this is the least accepted among Scholars today whatever the case these sufis are there from the earliest periods of Islam according to the sufis themselves Sufism has been around since the time of the Prophet Muhammad him thus being the archetypal Sufi in a sense the person that all sufis want to emulate this connection also of course becomes clear from the theory about the asaba sufa historically it's hard to verify such claims but what we can be sure about is that the sufis as a distinct movement appear in the historical record very early on from the 8th Century or so it's after this that people start being referred to as sufis but like we said sufis themselves will argue that even though the name didn't exist the phenomenon itself comes directly from the prophet and even from before him an attitude really well exemplified by the Sufi figure Ali al-hudvery who writes in the 11th century that quotes today tasawolf is a name without a reality whereas before it was a reality without a name some of these earliest sufis or perhaps proto-surfies include figures like visceral hafi or Bishop de Barefoot the female rabi al-basri Abu Suleiman adarani and among others it is in the later 9th century and early 10th that the movement really starts to flower and to come into its own you could say there were many parallel mystical movements popping up at the time not all of which can be called Sufism without further nuancing you had these so-called malamatiya in the east in what is today Iran including famous figures like Abu yazid al-bistami who is famous for his controversial ecstatic utterances like subhani which means glory be to me but also people all the way over in Egypt like who developed very significant ideas as well as Sahel al-tustari and his Circle in Basra but it was in the city of Baghdad that we would see the development of a coherent movement that self-identified as Sufi or tasawof and which would become paradigmatic and Incredibly influential for the rest of History they took inspiration from other Mystics around the Islamic world that we have just mentioned of course and they were in contact with them but it is here in Baghdad that many of these ideas are systematized for the first time by figures like al-muhasabi Abu said Nuri and of course Junaid who is often considered the leader of this Baghdad School of Sufism it was these figures not just the Baghdad school but all the figures that I've just mentioned that developed some of the key vocabulary ideas and practices that would characterize Sufism up until this very day [Music] foreign sufis are primarily concerned with purifying the soul of traveling on the path to intimacy with God they were Muslims so they observed all the rituals and practices of Islam this isn't some parallel thing to the mainstream religion sufis prayed five times a day they fasted during Ramadan they performed the pilgrimage to Mecca Etc following the Sharia the Islamic law with all that that entailed was a given and these sufis were indeed particularly strict about following all these outer requirements of the Islamic religion what made them unique in a way was that on top of all these outer practices that all Muslims performed they wanted to further internalize the religion in a deeper way not only to follow the Motions of external ritual but to have a more direct relationship with God to where the soul itself is also purified and absolutely Pious and with a heavy focus of course on ethics this is why they often adopted renunciate and semi-assetic Lifestyles and performed separatory acts of worship they not only fasted during Ramadan but often some would fast all year round eating very little they would stay up most of the night in separatory prayers they would give away money and possessions and live lives of poverty and they also developed unique techniques and practices with the aim of aiding the soul on its journey toward God Sufism is in some ways an esoteric tradition by this I don't mean that it was hidden since most of this stuff was very much out in the open but inherent in the tradition is a strong emphasis on the relationship between a master and a student when you enter on the Sufi path you will take a master a Sheikh that will guide you on the path through the different spiritual stations macombs in Arabic and its difficulties and dangers the Sufi Master possesses the secrets of the path which are only disclosed to students and not necessarily to the public the sufis also like I said developed a unique vocabulary of ideas and concepts related to the spiritual path Concepts like madifa which is often translated as Gnostic knowledge or mystical knowledge the sufis aren't necessarily concerned with knowledge in the conventional sense as in book knowledge or conceptual knowledge at the very least this hasn't been their primary focus the kind of knowledge the Sufi seek is another kind of knowledge knowledge that isn't taught through words or books but through experience and tasting as you travel further on the Stations of the path you develop a direct kind of mystical knowledge of the Divine and of reality and this is madifa and how is this achieved well mainly through like we said the purification of the soul and particularly by fighting against your nephs which is translated in this context with things like ego or self sometimes lower itself this is the ego or self that has desires and craves worldliness power money Etc and leads to sin and Evil instead the saw should be purified and clad with the attributes of God especially in later formulations conquering your nafs also took on the form of literally stripping away the very idea of an individual self at all to become annihilated and will return to this idea soon in Sufi terminology there's often talk about the so-called Jihad and nafs which means they struggle against the ego or struggle against the self as a key impulse of the Sufi tradition and they often connect this to a famous Hadith when the prophet Muhammad was returning with his followers from a battle against the enemy and In This Moment he said we are now returning from the the minor Jihad or the Lesser Jihad which means actual War conflict to the greater Jihad which is rather the struggle struggle to be a better person to to avoid sin and and particularly in the Sufi context to fight against or struggle against your yourself or your ego we also see the emphasis on love as an important Concept in different ways a development often associated with the early female Sufi Rabia albasari and later developed by others the Sufi path is essentially one of Love of longing for Union with the Divine beloved a sense of pain from the separation from God and a burning desire to travel on the path back to God if you've ever read Sufi poetry you will know how Central the theme of love has been for this tradition across history but like I said this path also involves certain unique and characteristic practices now we must remember that Sufism is diverse and different sufis in different places have adopted different practices and ideas but probably the most universal Sufi practice basically employed across the board although its form can differ slightly is what is known as thicker zikr means remembrance and refers to remembrance of the Divine the Quran repeatedly calls for believers to do thicker to remember God constantly the sufis took this command and basically ritualized it you could say they developed a practice of vikr where one gathers in a group of other Travelers under the guidance of the Sheikh and basically chant the names of God in vikr sufis will recite either the names of God or perhaps more often the Islamic proclamation of Faith there is no God but God this can be done silently but more often it is done vocally in unison and is a practice that can last for a very long time it can sometimes involve certain movements of the head or body and at times percussion instruments are used to enhance the experience the purpose of the good is right in the name remembrance to remember God through this chanting a practice that can often become kind of trans inducing and help the mind forget the individual self and better be able to focus entirely on the divine vicar was present already in these earliest periods of Sufism and it seems that the school in Baghdad around figures like Junaid practiced it another characteristic practice that seemed to have developed in this early period is something known as Sama which literally means listening or sometimes translated as audition in a way this is kind of a more elaborate form of Dicker but where the focus is on the act of listening or hearing this could mean simply listening to the Quran being recited but it would often involve melodic recitation of devotional poetry and with music had a very strong impact on the soul and the sufis used it as a spiritual technique of remembrance often accompanied by movements of the body or different kinds of dancing broadly defined scholar Jean during says quote Sama which literally means audition denotes in the Sufi tradition spiritual listening and more particularly listening to music with the aim of reaching a state of grace or ecstasy or more simply with the aim of meditating of plunging into oneself or as the Sufi say to nourish the soul it thus operates in a mystical concert of spiritual listening to music and songs in a more or less ritualized form we don't know the exact form that these earliest summer sessions took but it is a tradition that would later develop in various different ways taking different forms around the world all with the same purpose of using music poetry and dance to induce a State of Trance or ecstasy this state of ecstasy is known in Arabic as wajd and this practice of sama involving listening to music and sometimes dancing would be a powerful technique for the souls traversing toward God and for inducing mystical experiences the famous Sufi writer al-ko Shayari wrote quote they that is the sufis say listening to music is a delicious nourishment for the spirits of divine gnostics and he then tells this story quotes sufis gathered around him among them was a singer the sufi's asked Donald's permission to have him that is the singer perform something for them he gave them his permission and the singer began to recite then he sings some lines of poetry on hearing this though noon stood up and fell on his face blood streaming from his forehead onto the ground then one of the sufis also stood up and displayed ecstatic Behavior there are many such similar stories which indicate that these were very powerful experiences indeed so Sama is another very characteristic practice but it should be pointed out that although we see examples of sama in the earliest periods of Sufism this is not a practice that has been accepted across the board it has been a somewhat controversial practice even within Sufism not all sufis or Sufi orders accepted some see some actually see it as completely illegitimate and as forbidden whereas for other sufis and Sufi orders it has been a very prominent and important practice of Spiritual Development but it seems clear to us that Sama was practiced in the earliest periods of Sufism both men and women would participate although there was probably some form of segregation although not a complete segregation of course there is even some evidence that women could lead these Sama sessions which is really interesting women seem to have been very important in general for early Sufism as both spiritual Masters and especially as inspirational devoted Mystics and we saw just one famous example of that earlier with Rabia and all of this the fasting night vigils General asceticism all had the aim of helping the Sufi Traverse that path of purifying his or her soul a path of ascending stations or macombs Guided by a master that would culminate in the highest station of intimacy and Union with God an experience that has been described in various different ways by sufis in history but which is generally referred to as fanaa meaning Extinction or Annihilation at this point the individual cell for ego of the person becomes completely annihilated and effaced in the reality of God and the Mystic realizes that God is the only reality again this can be understood in different ways but the most famous expression of this experience of fanaa probably comes from the 10th Century Mystic al-halage associated with both the circles of sahela tustari and Junaid who in an intense moment of ecstasy famously exclaimed anal haq which literally means I am the truth or I am the real al-haq which means the truth or the real is one of the names of God and the Quran so it seemed that halaj was in some way identify himself with God but what he was actually doing according to the sufis was to express that experience of being annihilated completely to where only God exists at that moment there is no self to be identified with God so he isn't saying that he is God but that there is only God it's not a statement of self-deification but of complete self-denial halaj was a very controversial figure among other things for this statement but his fellow sufis weren't upset that he was saying something wrong per se but that was disclosing secrets of the Sufi path to people who were uninitiated and would thus easily misunderstand which say certainly did a lot of the time ecstatic utterances like this are pretty common in Sufism and are known in singular as shat in Arabic another one of the most famous examples of this comes from the other early Mystic we mentioned earlier al-bistami who exclaimed or glory be to me which seems to point to the same experience or reality as halaj these are some of the main characteristics of Sufism as it developed over the centuries and which would remain key characteristics of the tradition even up until this very day although there are of course many other aspects and and things that I haven't had time to talk about the first wave of systematization of tesawof and the beginnings of its entry into a more mainstream aspect of Islam comes with the first Sufi manuals in the 10th and 11th centuries textual works of Sufism that cover the basics of its terms ideas and practices as well as containing biographies of its important foundational figures these Works include the results often known as the epistle on Sufism by the already mentioned or book of light flashes on Sufism by abundasara saraj the kashval majub or unveiling of the hidden by Ali al-hojvidi and the sustenance of hearts these Works have served as key sources for Sufi teachings and Concepts throughout history and we still rely on some other biographical accounts for our knowledge of some of the earlier stupid figures they also served as important factors in The Wider acceptance of Sufism in the Islamic world it is true that the sufis and their practices were considered suspect by some other Muslims and these Sufi manuals served partly as a way of proving or clarifying that Sufi practices and ideas were in line with the Islamic religion and its law and this is precisely what we see a gradual growth of Sufism and a wider acceptance of its principles into mainstream Islamic practice and theology especially in the 11th to 12th centuries at which point it basically becomes the mainstream and remain the mainstream or majority expression of Islam until essentially the 19th century this solidification of Sufism is often associated with the figure a very famous and influential scholar Theologian and Mystic who in his masterful work is the Revival of the religious Sciences creates a masterful grand synthesis of all aspects of Islamic learning and practice where he also incorporates tasawof and the Sufi path as an essential part gazali's Works became a paradigm for orthodox Sunni Islam and thus was incredibly influential in this regard now he wasn't fully responsible for this development himself as we saw this had been a gradual development involving the other Sufi writers I've mentioned but there's no denying that ghazali and related Figures were very important for this solidification of Sufism as a mainstream aspect of at least Sunni Islam another key aspect that led in this direction especially from the 12th to 13th centuries was the development of the Sufi orders as we saw earlier Sufism was always concerned with spiritual lineage with the relationship between master and student and these spiritual transmission that was handed down in this kind of line between master and student what happens from the 12th century onwards is that these lineages start to be institutionalized in a more concrete way a Sufi order known as a tariqa in Arabic which literally means a path or a way was a kind of organized spiritual Community Based on a particular lineage and the teachings and spiritual techniques associated with a specific Sufi personality that served as the founder or main inspiration behind that as an example one of the earliest Sufi orders in history is the so-called kaderia or kaderi order which remains one of the largest and most widespread in the world today this tarika was formed around and takes its name from the famous 12th century baghdadi Sufi abdul-cladder al-jilani another example is the more worldwide famous Mev Levi order or maulavi order which was formed based on the teachings lineage and personality of the famous Sufi poet jalala dinarumi and in this case it's named after the common title that he was called by mawlana or mevlana which means our master these orders have this idea of lineage at the root and will always have a particular chain of transmission or silsila in Arabic unique to that order any initiate in the order takes on a master that was given spiritual transmission by his master in the order who was given it from his master and so on the silsila of a Sufi order always goes to the founder of that order so in the case of the claderia through but also Beyond them and further back all the way to the Prophet Muhammad in other words all spiritual lineage in Sufism claimed to go back to the prophet himself and this is a very important factor in their legitimacy which of course also helped in The Wider acceptance of Sufism in the Islamic World inherent in this idea of silsila and transmission is also the concept that a spiritual master has a certain spiritual Grace known as Baraka in Arabic which is part of what is transmitted in this line which stretches back to the prophet just being in the presence of a great Sheikh can sort of like give you some Baraka or spiritual Grace even after a master has deceased some of that Baraka remains which is the reason why there is a strong tradition in Sufism of visiting the graves or tombs of Masters because it is thought that these tombs often contain some of that Baraka these are those places where it is often beneficial to do things like pray or meditate these kinds of pilgrimages or visits to to Masters tombs or living Masters which is called ziara in Arabic which literally means a visit these have been emphasized on different levels by different sufis some especially today reject such tomb visits altogether While others see it as a very Central practice and this is indeed one point that sufis are often criticized for by their critics today some Sufi orders have centers or Regional complexes where they gather together for things like zikr will live in these complexes together with the most dedicated disciples these places which are called by different names in different regions and places names like darga or zawia are often built in connection with a grave site of a master a prime example of this is the center of the med Levy order which is in the city of Konya in turkey and there's a large complex that is in connection with the tomb of Rumi himself who as we saw the order is based on the Sufi orders can differ on a number of fronts sometimes pretty dramatically while all retaining some of those core features that we have outlined so far such as the practice of Thicket for instance but other than this each order will often have a particular weird or prayer cycle given by Master to student and also particular practices and techniques to help the Mystic on the path to God techniques that are often associated with the orders founder and again ultimately going back to the prophet in some way some of the most prominent and famous Sufi orders in the world include the already mentioned claderia which can be found all over the world there is also the shadelier associated with Abu Hassan as shadowy and is common especially in North Africa The nakshbandiya prominent in Central Asia the chishtiya primarily associated with the Indian subcontinent the Mev levia associated with Rumi and his lineage the tijaniya very popular in West Africa and of course many many more most of these orders are primarily associated with Sunni Islam but there are cases of overlap and sometimes even more overt she orders such as the nematullahi order for instance add to this the fact that most Sufi orders have sub-branches and even sub-branches within sub-branches that will have particular characteristics of their own and you'll quickly realize that this is a very Broad and complex topic it really is a vast world when it comes to Sufism but regardless these Sufi orders have played a major role in in Islamic history and it's been through these orders and these brotherhoods that most people have associated with and practice Sufism in connection to these different orders at least since the 12th century up until today with this wider spread of Sufism and its institutionalization into these orders and wider Acceptance in mainstream Islam so to say we also see more expressions of Sufism in particular in different forms indeed Sufism today is perhaps most famous around the world for its different artistic expressions like a music poetry and literature for example they're developed over the century especially through the importance of the Sufi ritual of sama various different kinds of musical styles and practices that will be colored by local customs and styles and thus created a vast world of Sufi music that still exists today I'm in a full episode exploring Sufi music in particular which you should definitely check out if you're interested also at around the same time we start to see more poets combining things like the witch tradition of love poetry with Sufi ideas to create literary masterpieces expressing the spiritual path and its mystical experiences many of these Sufi poets have become famous worldwide for their ability to both encapsulate Islamic ideals and deep mystical fervor in a way that is universally accessible and profound in the Persian speaking world you have giants like jalaladin Rumi whose Masterpiece the masnavi has sometimes been called the Quran in Persian there is also faridudin at Todd and his conference of the birds which remains one of the great works of literature and history and half his and his beautiful love poetry in the Arabic world you have Sufi poets like IBN faded Urban Arabi the ecstatic and controversial study and female figures like the early Mystic Arabia albasari and later Aisha al-bawania in the turkish-speaking realm you of course have figures like yunus emre Ahmed yesvi and many more these are just a few of the most famous examples and indeed only covers the Middle Ages there are many more famous Sufi poets in all kinds of languages from this time and all the way until today in these poems you will find the ideas and teachings of Sufism in Islam expressed through various kinds of metaphors and poetic language one of the most common themes is of course love the relationship between the lover and beloved and they're wanting to unite with each other as a metaphor for the mystical Quest or the theme of wine and intoxication representing that Divine love or direct experience of the Divine and the intoxication that results from it one of the most famous Sufi poems is called the song of the read and it's in fact only the opening section of a much larger poem called the masnavi by the world-renowned Persian Sufi poetin Rumi here Rumi uses the metaphor of the nay or the read flutes and how its beautiful music is a cry of longing to be returned to its home in the read bed as a reflection of the human longing to return to Unity in God caught listen to this read as it is grieving it tells the story of our separations since I was severed from the bed of reeds in My Cry men and women have lamented I need the breast that's torn to shreds by parting to give expression to the pain of Heartache whoever finds himself left far from home looks forward to the day of his reunion or in the beautiful poetry of the 16th century Sufi Aisha al-bawaniya who exclaims in one of her poem songs quote your beauty bound me tight and when appear the light gone was my shadow my shadow and it stripped me and nothing remained of me as it annihilated me as was right I left myself and went away my veil was gone and nearness appeared my union my union for yet astonished then revived me and he gave me new life in Beauty furthermore in the Poetry of the Arabic Sufi poet IBN faded we find similar expressions of the ecstatic moments of Union with the ego is dissolved and the boundary between lover and beloved melts away caught I sought her from myself she was there all along how strange that I had concealed her from me calling to myself from me to guide me by my voice to that part of me lost in my search me begging me to raise the screen by lifting up the veil for I was my only means to me when you read this kind of poetry or Sufi literature in general you might be struck by the way in which it describes God and the relationship between God and the human being or the world in general it seems a far cry from the stereotypical image of Islam and its utterly Transcendent God Sufism seems to have a metaphysics of its own a theology distinct from mainstream Islam is this true what is the world view of the sufis well many might be surprised to learn that in general it's not very different at all from other Muslims at least not in its foundations like we said Sufism for most of History was mainstream Islam Sufism comes from Islam and is based on the teachings of the Quran and the Sunnah the Prophet Muhammad most sufis in history would have adhered to one of the mainstream Creeds of theology in Sunni or Shia Islam what is known as akhida like the the ashadi school or the maturity School major Sufi figures like kazali for example were great Defenders of the ashadi School of Theology in particular so this is important to remember that Sufism and Sufi theology is Islamic theology at least in its foundations now with that said it's also true that sufi's compared to non-sufi Muslims have emphasized certain aspects of theology or of the Divine more so than the non-sufi Muslims and have sometimes at least within what they see as the the bounds of Orthodox Islamic theology established ideas that are a bit more unique to Sufism in particular perhaps above all this involves an emphasis on the imminence of God Islam teaches that God is utterly Transcendent unlike anything in the created world basically all sufis would agree with this but at the same time Islam also teaches that God is present and somehow imminent the Quran says that quotes whichever way you turn there is the face of God or quotes we or God are closer to them than their jugular vein and these are the kinds of verses that sufis will often emphasize to point to the great imminence of God God can be experienced somehow in this life not just in the afterlife and he's present here and now we've seen that a common theme for sufis is the wish to annihilate their self or ego to become United with God quote unquote or rather to become effaced in the reality and attributes of God if you want to be more technical about it and this idea of imminence and presence as well as the balance between both a Transcendent and imminent God occupied many Sufi thinkers in history generally they will fall on a spectrum of just how much this imminence and presence is emphasized the idea of annihilation and its consequences often have a kind of built-in monism a lot of the time if you'll allow me to use a somewhat problematic term when the Mystic annihilates himself he realizes that God was the only reality to begin with there was no individual self and now they see reality for what it is God but how far can one draw these ideas this kind of modism where God is the only reality is present in a lot of Sufism sometimes only slightly hinted at but other times a very overt and clear but as we said there's a kind of spectrum of intensity from relatively moderate expressions and fingers like ankhazali to the more radical ideas of someone like mohedin even Arabi he is one of the most if not the most influential Sufi metaphysicians who argues that God is being itself and that being is one his Doctrine would later come to be referred to as or the unity or Oneness of being and has been incredibly influential the world and its multiplicity is simply the reflections or manifestations of God's infinite attributes and its being which ultimately doesn't belong to it is identical to God who is the one being one of God's names is meaning the truth or the real and IBN Arabi takes this quite literally God is the real so that when we say the proclamation of Faith there is no God but God we can also translate that to there is no reality but the real in other words in some sense God is all that there is and this kind of idea is indeed quite prominent in Sufi thinking while it isn't really accepted to the same degree in non-sufi Islam we have to keep in mind though that Sufism like we said has been the mainstream of Islam from Muslim history and so we shouldn't draw two clear distinctions like that and while someone like IBN Arabia has been very influential popular and significant for Sufism and especially for Sufi metaphysics not all sufis or even perhaps the majority of sufis adhere to his more radical ideas of Oneness or at the very least many will be careful about such expressions like I said there is a kind of spectrum of how much these ideas are emphasized we even have thinkers that are arguably more radical and monistic than IBN Arabi such as IBN and their concept of absolute Oneness but at the same time also sufis on the other side but are very careful to talk about God in such a way so that's the general idea sufis are Muslims and so follow the basic theological tenets of Islamic theology for the most part but have also emphasized certain aspects and certain Concepts more than non-sufi Muslims such as the imminence of God and the ability to somehow experience God in this life sometimes even going as far as saying things like that that God is is the ultimate God is the only reality and that the world of Multiplicity is some kind of Illusion or reflection surface level reflection and these ideas can be found all over Sufi poetry and art as we can see quote he is all of being and he is the one in whose being my being resides there's a balance that is often upheld between the imminence and all-encompassing reality on the one hand and his Transcendence and utter difference from all things on the other and that connects to another teaching or aspect of the Sufi world view which we mentioned briefly earlier to the sufis this knowledge of God or true experience of God cannot be reached through intellect or through conceptual knowledge this is what distinguishes them from the philosophers for instance or the rational theologians although of course individuals can sometimes be both at the same time that is that the sufis are primarily interested in another kind of knowledge in the direct intuitive mystical experience of the truth reached by mystical practice and illumination the madifa that we talked about earlier rather than any kind of knowledge that can be reached through thinking or rational inquiry philosophical thinking only gives us knowledge of Multiplicity and the concepts of this world which are ultimately useless in the bigger picture instead it is Mystical knowledge Valk literally means tasting that is emphasized IBN Arabi talks about looking at the world through two eyes the eyes of rational or conceptual thinking which leads to seeing God as Transcendent and different tansia and the eye of mystical Insight on the other hand which leads to seeing God as imminent and similar tashbir the Oneness of it all for this reason when we read many Sufi works such as IBN arabis fusos we find that they aren't written like philosophical Works they're not arguments based on rational thinking but laid down knowledge as reached through cash unveiling of the truth directly to the Mystic this is also by poetry served as such a great tool to express these truths rather than technical prose for instance and with these more philosophical tendencies in soupy thinking we also see a further development of the idea and role of the Sheikh or illuminated master the person who has annihilated his ego that has reached madifa through unveiling of the truth and tasted it for himself becomes a spiritually exalted human being not only can he or she of course teach others on the path as a Sheikh or Sheikh but they even have a can of cosmic role to play the highest Masters become what is called aolia or Wali in singular which is often translated as Saints but actually means something like friend of God they have a kind of proximity to God through having reached the states of fanaa and Baka being annihilated and then returning to the world of Multiplicity and now they hold Spiritual Authority and barakah the grace that we talked about earlier and there was even a kind of ranking among the awliyah with the highest of them being the kutub or the spiritual pole of a certain age there is always such a poll in the world and when he or she passes away another one replaces them this authority of the awliyah and the pole of course ultimately stem from the prophets like Muhammad to whom they are kind of Representatives or heirs they never reach the level of a prophet themselves of course since the line of Prophecy ended with Muhammad but they still are the kind of highest living Spiritual Authority in the world under the influence of thinker slack even Arabi they're even developed further metaphysical ideas about the so-called insan al-kamal or the perfect man or maybe the complete human being in these ideas the insanal camel becomes a kind of metaphysical logos principle that can be reflected or manifested in this world the most complete and absolute manifestation of this perfect man principle is of course the prophet Muhammad himself but the awliya and accomplished Masters also take on this role as a reflection of the insane and camel they have reached the end of the spiritual journey and fully realized the ultimate human potential of embodying the attributes of God these are of course very complex metaphysical ideas and I do dive deeper into them in some of my earlier more in-depth videos but needless to say the spiritual illuminated Master the the the Wali is a very Central Concept in Sufism and in the surface tradition not just of course as a spiritual teacher to new students but also for his larger role in both the world and in the larger Cosmos so these are some of the basics of Sufi teachings as they developed in their more systematized forms in the Middle Ages but we should not fall into the Trap of of talking about superism and think about superism in a sense that it hasn't developed further since the Middle Ages a lot of people even Scholars often make this mistake of talking about the Middle Ages and not later centuries and today and how things have developed Sufism of course has continued to develop and change over these centuries even though certain key characteristics that we have talked about do remain key principles and aspects but I focus so much on this period here because it is so formative in many ways it is in this period that many Sufi ideas are systematized and formalized in a concrete way for the first time and that Sufism is also institutionalized through the Sufi orders in a way that would continue to be very influential throughout history like we said from this period from the Middle Ages especially like 11th 12th 13th century Sufism basically becomes mainstream Islam it is part of the mainstream majority expression of Islam right up until the modern age in the 19th 20th century and sometimes in in some parts of the world today it still holds this kind of position a good example is West Africa in places like Senegal and The Gambia where over 90 percent of the population are Muslims and a further 90 of those Muslims are connected to Sufi brotherhoods and are sufis sort of say this kind of reflects the way that Sufism worked historically um but maybe not so much in many other parts of the Islamic world today for reasons that we will get to a little bit later sufis in history served in government positions Emperors and Sultans were greatly influenced by Sufi teachings and were even sometimes sufis themselves we just have to look at the Mughal Empire and figures like Akbar or darashoko to see examples of this or the fact that nakshbandi sufis held considerable political power in Central Asia during the inchanic period that the Iranian safavid empire grew out of a Sufi order and many other such factors or even the strong connection between Sufism and the ottoman Sultans and the ottoman State all of this shows us that the common idea of sufisa as purely ascetic unpolitical peaceful Muslims aren't always true to reality to be sure many sufis were completely uninterested in politics just look at Ashu study for instance or the chishti Sufi order in India who often refuse any association with worldly power but at the same time many others have been deeply involved with political Affairs across history and while Sufi is often taught compassion rather than were often quote unquote peaceful they also participated in wars and supported policies that we would consider oppressive what I'm saying is that the topic isn't black and white but considerably more nuanced there isn't just one kind of Sufi peaceful or not peaceful politically involved or renunciate but a diverse array of different kinds of approaches sufis are often very strict about following Islamic law for instance although there is a point to be made that many sufis were less quote-unquote formalistic in terms of the Sharia that religious practice wasn't all about the outward formalities of the law but rather the inner state of the heart one's intentions and personal relationship with God certainly we find this kind of attitude and people like Rumi for instance or in IBN Arabi who often complains that people in his day have made Islam shallow only practicing the outward forums of the religion while forgetting the inner deeper meanings but they should not be confused with completely rejecting the law or being less strict about the law being followed this is simply not the case at least most of the time although there have been certain minority anti-normal groups such as the kalandaria the latter of whom often consciously did things that were seen as transgressionary from urinating in public to shaving off their hair beard and eyebrows all as a spiritual practice to fight the ego by consciously attracting the spite of other people sufis are complex in other words and we should be careful to place any such black and white labels on them there's nothing wrong with calling sufi's peaceful since again many of them certainly emphasize such ideals and especially in today's climate will be can't paint with two broad Strokes when doing so and arguably today the situation is even more complicated than it has been historically although to subwoof isn't as prominent throughout the Islamic world as it was earlier it still is a significant presence across the world like I said in places like Senegal where over 90 of the population are Muslim an additional 90 of those Muslims belong to a super Brotherhood if you travel to Morocco or India you can see an experience not only a living Sufi tradition but the various ways that Sufism has influenced the culture and religious practice of the people in other words Sufism is alive and well even today and in various different ways but it is also true that it has become significantly less prominent in the Islamic World from an overarching perspective and there are different reasons for this I've spent a full episode earlier talking about the relationship between Islam and Sufism in the modern world and how Sufism has been increasingly seen as separate from the larger religion but in short terms It's a combination of colonialism and the connected rise of modernist reform movements within Islam that looked at Sufism as Superstition basically to the modernist Muslims of the 19th and 20th Century Sufism was an idol ideology based on Old superstitious tradition which had polluted the rational quote-unquote true religion of Islam which they sought to reconstruct some of these modernist traditions of the more radical swords such as these so-called salafis and wahhabis similarly see Sufism as reprehensible Innovation accusing sufis of things like grave worshiping for different reasons among other things Western interventions and colonialism these modernist movements within Islam became very popular over the course of the 20th century and has thus influenced the general situation to a major degree similarly orientalist Scholars and Europeans that got their hands on Sufi literature had a hard time reconciling their preconceived notions about Islam with the beautiful and sophisticated ideas of Sufism so increasingly they pushed the idea that they must somehow be two different things that Sufism and mysticism survived in spite of Islam rather than as a result of it in other words this idea of quote-unquote Sufism as a category that can be distinguished from Islam somehow or even seen as two fundamentally different things became more pronounced through these developments from different fronts both from within the Islamic world and from the outside and while Sufism has seen a kind of resurgence in some regions today the general situation Still Remains sufis are comparably marginal in some major parts of the Islamic world and even face oppression in some places in all this the sufis in the Islamic world today often emphasize their role as representing a true traditional Islam that is open and tolerant and peaceful in opposition to the more modernist and often fundamentalist radical movements within Islam like salafism and wahhabism this is a very in fact a very important aspect of many sufi's self-understanding today sort of identifying themselves in opposition to these other groups at the same time with increased globalization Sufism has also made its way into the into the West to a much larger degree today not only through of course immigrants coming from the Middle East and the Islamic world and bringing their native tradition with them but also through other means Sufism entering Europe and America as a kind of Universalist spirituality this idea becomes very prominent in the 20th century a Sufism that is not necessarily connected to Islam but seen as part of this larger perennial wisdom or Universal spirituality an idea that was very much influenced and spearheaded by by movements like the theosophical society writers like Idris Shaw to some degree the perennialist movement and of course also the general interest in eastern spirituality in the sort of 60s and 70s all these developments also led to a new kind of Sufism in a way appearing in the Western World a key figure in this development is the chishdi Sufi teacher in nayat Khan who is often said to have been the first figure to bring Sufism to the west and increasingly he presented it in a more Universalist form you didn't have to be Muslim to be Sufi in other words and this idea of Sufism has continued to be very popular to this day so we see various kinds of Sufism around the world currently it's certainly a global phenomenon but sufis can look rather different depending on the context there are those that are still deeply connected to the traditional forms of tasaworth as simply the way that Islam is practiced organized in the established Sufi orders and their spiritual lineages but there are also many Sufi groups and individuals that emphasize Universalist interpretations where adherence to Islam isn't necessarily a requirement and various approaches in between on a kind of spectrum in other words while it is quite easy to say that Sufism is fundamentally a part of the religion of Islam when looking at its history that statement isn't as obviously true in all cases today at least without further nuancing Sufism continues to play a major role in politics in places like Senegal individual sufis around the world continue to perform the characteristic practices like Dicker and Sama as part of their spiritual and religious life and its writings and arts serve as subject of study admiration and Fascination for all kinds of people both Muslims and non-muslims indeed as we've said on a global level Sufism is probably most famous for its aesthetic and artistic Expressions the poems of Rumi although often questionably translated are incredibly popular as are those of hafez or atar furthermore these strong musical tradition of Sufism has also become something a phenomenon not only does Sama continue to serve as a central practice for many sufis but its various Expressions have become famous as an art form too the Kawali music of people like the Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Khan is famous all around the globe and the wording dervishes of the immobility order in Turkey serves as popular tourist entertainment at the same time it is a tradition that is often misunderstood or misrepresented many of the translations of Rumi for instance often erase the Islamic contents of his poetry and we have already discussed some of the ways in which Sufism and its relationship with Islam has been portrayed in the last century or so hopefully this humble episode has dispelled some of those misconceptions and giving you a broader and more nuanced overview of this very fascinating and significant tradition it's history and development and some of its most characteristic ideas and expressions like I said there's already plenty of content on this channel covering Sufism and Diving deeper into a lot of those topics that I've only brushed over very briefly in this episode so if you're interested in learning more and Diving deeper and going down the rabbit hole so to say check out some of those other episodes on this channel and you can of course look forward to more Sufi content in the future I have no plans of stopping at this point it's a topic that keeps coming back and I know a lot of you guys in the audience also get really enjoy this content so look forward to a lot of that as always of course I would like to extend a special thank you to all of my patrons who support this channel monetarily I would not be able to do any of this without your support it really means the world to me it really helps this channel function it really helps me produce this free educational content that I am so passionate about and I know that a lot of you are passionate about also out there so it really it means the world to me it is my honor to be able to to do this so thank you all so so much thank you also of course for simply watching uh liking and subscribing to the channel and for all the wonderfully interesting and fascinating discussions that I had in the comments I have to say I'm really proud of the community that we've built here considering the topic that is discussed on the channel religion you'd think that the discussions in the comment sections would be absolutely Dreadful but I'm continuously surprised by how respectful and nice and and just it's good people all of you are the discussions and the comments are often really interesting and there is always a not always but you usually a positive tone in the comments so I you you guys should be really proud of that and I I am proud of that as well so thank you so much uh thank you again for watching and I will see you next time [Music] thank you

Channel: Let's Talk Religion

Views: 491,956

Keywords: what is sufism, sufism, sufism explained, sufism documentary, mysticism, islamic mysticism, rumi, spiritual islam, islamic history, islamic philosophy, sufi, sufi music, sufi poetry, hafez, attar, ibn arabi, lets' talk religion, sufism and islam, spirituality, religion, religion history, islamic law, mystics, pantheism, monism, women mystics, sufi dance, whirling dervishes, dervishes, qawwali, nusrat fateh ali khan, dhikr, zikr, sama

Id: Yc9k9nvIHOU

Length: 56min 21sec (3381 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 02 2023