Mysticism in Islam

1
Mysticism in Islam

• The Sufis

2
Islam as A Religion of Law, Culture and Practice

• Islam, a faith that stresses obedience to the
  commands of God, has a rich tradition of exoteric
  religious practices
• Prayer five times a day
• The yearly fast or Ramadan
• The Pilgrimage to Mecca
• It also as a long tradition of Islamic Law that,
  although based on the Quran, has developed from
  by a long process of interpretation and
  reinterpretation.

3
SufismOrigins I

• The word may come from the Arabic for wool.
• This aspect of Islam developed in several
  contexts
• The most important was the vast Islamic Empire
  that came to stretch from Spain to India
• This empire provided Islam with many religious
  and philosophical resources apart from the Quran.

4
SufismOrigins II

• Among these influences were
• Christian theology and monasticism in the west
• Hindu and Buddhist Religious Writings in the
  East
• The rich heritage of ancient philosophy,
  especially, neo-Platonism.

5
SufismOrigins III

• What forged these influences into a variety of
  different religious movements was the growing
  division of Muslim society into rich and poor.
• Sufism was, in part, a religious response to this
  new world that was so different from the early
  world of the Prophet.

6
Rabiadied c. 800

• Woman Sufi
• One of the founders of the movement
• Interesting enough, she sounds very much like
  Hildegard and other female religious reformers.

7
A Rabia Story

• It is related that one day Rabia had gone up a
  mountain. Wild boars and gazelles gathered
  around, gazing upon her. Suddenly, Hasan Basri
  appeared. All the animals shied away. When
  Hasan saw that, he was perplexed and said,
  Rabia, why do they shy away from me when they
  were so intimate with you?
• Rabia said, What did you eat today?
• Soup
• You ate their lard. How would they not shy away
  from you.

8
Rabia

• O, Lord, if I worship you out of fear of hell,
  burn me in hell. If I worship you in the hope of
  paradise, forbid it to me. And if zi worship you
  for your own sake, do not deprive me of your
  eternal beauty.

9
Diversity

• Sufism is not one thing, not even in the sense of
  Christian monasticism.
• There are a variety of religious fraternities or
  orders that present their own versions of the
  Sufi way.
• Each order has a line of authorized teachers who
  pass on the Tradition of that fraternity from one
  to another.

10
The Orders

• The orders vary greatly among themselves and in
  the instruction that they provide
• The dervishes of Turkey often stress ecstasy and
  rapture. Rumi is an excellent illustration of
  this ecstatic
• Other schools may place almost all their emphasis
  on rational thought and the meditation on the
  words of Quran. Our reading Ibn Abbad
  illustrates this more quietist style.
• Some schools tend towards a pantheism, others
  do not.
• 70 orders are active today.

11
Stages

• Sufism often involves a series of initiations
  and/or recognitions
• The searcher, aspirant, or candidate who may be a
  wander seeking a master
• The Novice muridor poor oneFaqir. In many
  ways, a Islamic monk.
• 'Arif or Gnostic or knower. One who has had the
  spiritual experience.
• Shaykh/Murshid. An experienced Sufi who can give
  instruction and receive disciples.
• Wali or advocate. A Sufi saint with particular
  power in prayer and or spiritual advice.

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Shiites

• The Man of Light
• Continues the traditions of the Imam
• Old Gnostic image

13
Forms of Expression

• Private oral teaching and direction
• Letters of Spiritual Advice.
• Very important form of passing on Sufi teaching.
• The master/disciple relationship
• Poetry Very Common
• Rumi
• Easy to remember
• The power of poetry and music 
•  

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Some Methods of Devotion

• Tasbih (subha) "rosary" used as prayer beads used
  to count repetitions (33 or 99 for Names
• Control of breathe
• Reciting poetry or listen to music until the
  person is entranced.

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Four Levels of Faith

• Sharafuddin Maneri the Hundred Letters
• Repetition of the truth without conviction
• Belief that the message is true whether
  conventional or learned
• Illumination or the vision that everything
  proceeds from God
• Everything is the light of God. The You and I
  pass away

16
Master and Disciple

• Until the Novice falls completely in love with
  the beauty and saintliness of the Shiekh, he will
  not come under the full influence of his
  guidance. The novice should follow the desires of
  the sheikh, not his own.
• The 100 Letters

17
The Master

• He was the sort of man who does not eat, but
  feeds others who wears little himself, but
  clothes others. Nor does he pay attention to the
  wounds inflicted by others. Where there is
  oppression, he brings trust. He opposes abuse
  with prayer to God and in praise of Him. . His
  compassion si like the sun tha, which shines
  equally on friend or foe. His humility is like
  the earth, upon the face of which all creatures
  tread. He takes in hand no lawsuit against
  another. No one could even talk of his anger
  toward his fellowman. All are his dependents,
  though he is beholden to no one. His bounty is
  like a river. He blesses his enemry,
  concentrating all his mercy upon his foe. Most
  men, though free, see everything from one
  viewpoint, but his outlook is universal. He
  accords everyone equal treatment. . . Whenever
  God almighty raises up someone, He raises him up
  completely, so that he gives him a tongue and
  hands and eyes and a pure heart.
• Letter 24

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Examination of Conscience

• As the sun is setting, he should examine his soul
  with care, noting that one more day has passed
  what has been gained? Has the day been a loss? To
  what extent has he profited by it?
• Letter 28

19
Almost Master Eckhart

• The external, bereth of the internal, is
  hypocrisy while the internal, if it lacks
  external expression, is mere wishful thinking.
• Letter 28

20
Creatures Within, Without

• The starting point for those desiring to follow
  the Way is that their hearts become mirrowlike,
  so clean and shining that one see reflected in
  them an image of the world of creatures and of
  the divine order
• Letter 30

21
Grace and Work

• Work is . . .like this. Engage in work, but do
  not see your daily sustenance as coming from your
  efforts. You should see it as deriving from the
  grace of God. This door, like the door of
  service, has been opened for you.
• Letter 68

22
Poetry I

• Always eternal, in death and at birth.
• If you want to see the beloveds facePolish
  the mirror, gaze into that spaceIn these truths,
  the secrets you weaveAre your punishments,
  yourselves deceive.
• Divan-e Shams Rumi 81

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Poetry IIContinued on next slide Divan-e Shams
146

• O blaze of the world you are dear, you are dearO
  beholding the beloved, keep near, keep near
• I am the creation, I am the houseI am the trap
  and the mouseI am wise and mad, stay here, stay
  here
• I am the secrets you cant seeCloak and turban
  are both meI am the cloister and the monk, do
  appear, do appear
• I am mortal, I am oldChains and shackles my feet
  holdI make plans, dont disappear, dont
  disappear

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Poetry IIIDivan-e Shams 146

• I am the noon, I am the eveFire of love with my
  heart receiveI am the candle giving light, stay
  clear, stay clear
• I am the prayer and the angel in flightI am the
  fire, I am the lightI am the Promised Land, so
  dear, so dear
• I am here, I am to beAlpha and Omega are in meI
  am aware of the others, keep near, keep near
• I am the acquaintance and the friendThe lover
  and beloved in the endI am the flower and the
  thorn, dont fear, dont fear
• I am the season and temporal trainI am the
  minor, I am the mainI am the mind and the story,
  be here, be here
• Rumi 146

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Poetry IV

• O God
• When I look upon you,
• I see myself a king among kings,
• A Crown on my head.
• When I look upon myself,
• I see myself among the humble,
• Dust on my head
• Khwaja Abdullah Ansari

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Poetry V

• He who knows God contemplates him in everything.
• He who is extinguished by Him is absent from
  everything
• He who loves Him prefers no-thing to him.
• Ibn Ata illah

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Poetry VI

• I resolve daily that at dusk I shall repentFor a
  night with a cup full of wine spent.In the
  presence of flowers, my resolve simply wentIn
  such company, I only regret that I ever resolved
  to repent.
• Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam
•  

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Poetry VII

• In childhood we strove to go to school,Our turn
  to teach, joyous as a ruleThe end of the story
  is sad and cruelFrom dust we came, and gone with
  winds cool.
• Zum Meister ging ich einst- das war die
  Jugendzeit-Dann hab ich mich der eigenen
  Meisterschaft gefreut.Und wollt ihr wissen, was
  davon das Ende ist?Den Staubgeborenen hat wie
  Staub der Wind zerstreut
• Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

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Controversies

• Al-Hallaj "Ana' al Haqq" -- "I Am The Truth"
• Crucified and dismembered for heresy in Baghdad.
• The phrase, Ana al Haqq is one of the names of
  God in the Quran.
• Believed that sufism should not be for the elite.