SUFISM: MYSTICAL DIMENSION OF ISLAM

1
SUFISM MYSTICAL DIMENSION OF ISLAM

• DEVELOPMENT OF THE SELF IN MUSLIM PIETY

2
THE RISE OF MYSTICISM

• Less historically oriented
• Founded upon spiritual athleticism the
  development of the self
• Sufi represented Batini-Shiite piety among the
  Sunnis
• Starting point the Quran and its inner meanings
• Their goal To repeat Muhammads experience of
  receiving revelation from God

3
MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE

• Incommunicable to those insensitive to the inner
  dimensions of divine presence
• As personal discipline inward personal
  experience the focus of devotional attention
• Founded upon innumerable steps on the path the
  Tariqa
• The experience of numinous enchanted
  fascination, inward transformation of
  conciousness a moral process

4
UNIVERSAL MORAL PROCESS

• The experience of arriving at a relative personal
  clarity
• Cherished moments of retirement and recollection
  when any loss or failure can be objectively
  evaluated without anxiety or self-pity
• The search for a healthy state of mind, free from
  confusing effects of self-importance or of
  preconceptions
• A more universal perspective of life based on
  self-assessment and self-discipline

5
THE TRUTH AND THE LIGHT

• Meditation (DHIKR) and Self-recollection (RIYADA)
  means of reaching something greater than the self
• The call of true inner nature leads us to reach
  the Truth (AL-HAQQ) the heart of all reality
• The sense of true freedom in loving God through
  obedience

6
SUFI ANAYSIS OF THE SELF

• Two levels in consciousness The MAQAM (station)
  achieved through personal training and growth
  the HAL (state) affective condition through a
  special grace from God
• The role of spiritual guide, PIR or SHAYKH on the
  path, TARIQA
• Moral and emotional discipline to develop normal
  personalities to abnormal levels

7
THE TARIQA

• Symbolism of Path leading to the Final
  Destination The Perfect Human Being
• TAUBA repentance, turning away from life of low
  pursuits
• FAQR poverty, SABR patience, RIDA
  contentment leading to TAWAKKUL Trust
• FANA destruction of the self in order to be
  with the Self (God)
• BAQA becoming the Mirror of Divine Qualities

8
GREAT SUFI MASTERS

• Junayd of Baghdad (d. 910), the sober teacher
  Mystical life as a return to the presence with
  the Creator
• The beginning of sorrow, the separation from God
• Bistami (d.874), the intoxicated lover of God
• Hallaj (executed 922), the teacher of a symbolic
  and spiritual fulfillment of the law, the
  drunken lover of God