Sufism?

[Harlock]

Call me ignorant but what is Sufism? can anyone explain, *takes pad and paper out*

[redhand]

Sufism or tasawwuf, as it is called in Arabic, is generally understood by scholars and Sufis to be the inner, mystical, or psycho-spiritual dimension of Islam. Today, however, many Muslims and non-Muslims believe that Sufism is outside the sphere of Islam which is incorrect. It is also said to predate Islam.

The substance of Sufism is the Truth and the meaning of Sufism is the selfless experiencing and actualization of the Truth. The practice of Sufism is the intention to go towards the Truth, by means of love and devotion. This is called the tariqat, the spiritual path or way towards God. The sufi is one who is a lover of Truth, who by means of love and devotion moves towards the Truth, towards the perfection which all are truly seeking. As necessitated by love's jealousy, the sufi is taken away from all except the Truth.

[Harlock]

thanks redhand thats really interesting it peeked my interest off to google :)

[redhand]

My favorite teacher on Sufi and magic is Punditt Maharaj unfortunatly he seems to have gone into Silence. One of his students that has also influenced me is Paul Hughs-Barlow who runs the Super tarot site.

[EtuMalku]

As a musician I have followed the virtuoso and Sufi teacher Hazrat Inyat Khan for a while.
He has written some wonderful books that I cannot recommend enough.

[d&g]

I followed a discussion a while ago where a guy was insisting that one cannot practice Sufism apart from being a Muslim. What do you guys think?

[Harlock]

I followed a discussion a while ago where a guy was insisting that one cannot practice Sufism apart from being a Muslim. What do you guys think?

its probally possible. but i would think that many muslims may grow intolerant of you. its interesting though ill say that.

[redhand]

Well from my understanding Sufism is much older than Islam so? I have met some who were not Muslims who practiced Sufi ways! It seems more philisophic than religion it is a way to live truly peaceful and with ones surroundings.

[Harlock]

true but it may be to them what it is for someone learning the martial arts style but not learning the rest of the traditional teachings.

[chronazon]

As a musician I have followed the virtuoso and Sufi teacher Hazrat Inyat Khan for a while.
He has written some wonderful books that I cannot recommend enough.

oh yes, his work is awesome.
Sufism is like a study group of mystical islam, there are I think 30 something Tariqahs all reconciled by the Quran.
I really love some of the mystical Islamic poetry. The Secret Rose Garden is an exceptional read

[d&g]

true but it may be to them what it is for someone learning the martial arts style but not learning the rest of the traditional teachings.

So it is like the mystical Christianity according to Muravieff - it uses all the attributes and ideas of the religion but only as a means of arriving at something quite different - the Higher Truth.

PS. I understand that dervish whirling dances have a lot to do with Sufism. Can anyone explain what exactly is achieved through the practice? It is clear that they go into an altered state of consciousness, but what is the practical goal?

[redhand]

I am fascinated by the whirling dervishes. The way I understand it twirling meditation aims to reach the perfect state without ego and to become one with God. The aim is to connect with all the planets of the Universe by their twirling. The Sufi's originated it and it is still practiced today.One of my favorite poets is Mawlānā Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Balkhī known to the Western World simply as Rumi. It was through him that the Mevlevi Order was founded. Mevlevi Order also known as the Whirling Dervishes. The Order was founded particularly by Rumi's successor Hüsamettin Çelebi.

The Sema (Sema involves the Whirling) represents a mystical journey of man's spiritual ascent through mind and love to "Perfect". Turning towards the truth, the follower grows through love, deserts his ego, finds the truth and arrives at the "Perfect". He then returns from this spiritual journey as a man who has reached maturity and a greater perfection, so as to love and to be of service to the whole of creation. The Sema was practised in the semahane (ritual hall) according to a precisely prescribed symbolic ritual with the dervishes whirling in a circle around their sheikh, who is the only one circling around his axis. The dervishes wear a white gown (symbol of death), a wide black cloak (symbol of the grave) and a high brown cap, symbol of the tombstone.

[chronazon]

i have a really good book called the fragrance of sufism.
There is a place that says that:
"there are four differant levels that man relates to that comprise the axis of a person's search, thought and being.
first, the mysterious inner level which is the central point of stability of his true character and identity.
second,
the developmental level, which is the locus for the development and interrelationship of the magnetic bodies for mental, sensory, and psychic powers
third, the dependant indignent and impressed cellular level, which is in fact the mechanical nature of man, and
fourth, nature, which is the locus for material manifestation and exchange - the labratory for the examination and experience of man's aptitudes, and the place to satisfy his needs .

[chronazon]

the tariqahs are like differant study groups

[d&g]

The dervishes wear a white gown (symbol of death), a wide black cloak (symbol of the grave) and a high brown cap, symbol of the tombstone.

I have been recently contemplating the idea that death or, rather, cessation of rebirth is the ultimate goal. Most people try to find a way to prolong their existence in the human form through different means - be it magic, alchemy, freezing one's brain in cryogenic capsules and so on. I would like to prolong my existance on this planet too, don't get me wrong. But once in a while I get a feeling that if I could just stop being born on this planet over and over again it would be a sort of a 'level up' for me.

I was watching "American Beauty" with my brother - particularly the episode where the guy shows his newly found girlfriend his new video - a video of a piece of cellophane or paper whirling in the wind. The two of them where sitting in front of the big tv screen whatching the clip and admiring the beauty. And then it struck me that I was watching them as they were watching the clip and that there is something deep within me watching ME WATCHING the movie. In order for me to become that one within me - the observer, I have to stop all the manifestations on this planet. I have to turn off the movie. Do you see what I mean?

In this respect Dervish Dances with their symbolism of death is very telling. It is the cessation of the minor vibrations of individual human lives in order to become the greater vibration that is the goal. In Gurdjieff's terms - it is moving up the cosmic octave to become a being in the context of the whole solar system, not just an individual planet.

[chronazon]

earth is a place where life arose in a strange manner. it is not that you have been reborn countless times, its just that this is when your dna rocked up (modern dna would be very much differant from old dna) and you have the weight of the eons bearing you but you could always have been an imortal alien being somewhere else, if earth is viewed as a moon system on a ring system of stars isolated from the rest of the universe and it is tiresome to have an avatar on earth...wake up feeling refreshed!.
I am much more interested in the Jinn, who were nature elementals and have a bit to do with sufism, or at least some mystical islamic poetry.
here is a book in an alchemy library that I bel;ieve to have to do with the jinn, as they were nature elementals

http://www.alchemywebsite.com/crown1.html

[chronazon]

through the four elements-
water, earth, wind, and fire-

and on the axis of four, five,
seven, nine and six,

behold existances manifestations,
and more magnificent yet

should the one revelation illumine your heart,
then keep the vow of silence dear

-from the fragrance of sufiism

[Strider]

I am fascinated by the whirling dervishes. The way I understand it twirling meditation aims to reach the perfect state without ego and to become one with God. The aim is to connect with all the planets of the Universe by their twirling. The Sufi's originated it and it is still practiced today.
Me to, there is actualy a centre near me that will let in a handfull of observers once a month, but ive been on their list for 2 of them, so not seen any whirling except on the goggle box yet, but look forward to doing so.

[shintashi]

SUFISM (Islamic Sufi tradition rooted in neoplatonism and gnosticism)

"I was a hidden treasure. I desired to be known, so I created the universe "
Quranic verse, Quoted often by Sufis



Leaving This World Behind
Buddha founded his Path on the human fact of suffering. Islam gives the basic situation in which we find ourselves a slightly different interpretation: man in his ordinary state of consciousness is literally
asleep ("and when he dies he wakes," as Mohammad said). He lives in a dream, whether of enjoyment or suffering - a phenomenal, illusory existence. Only his lower self is awake, his "carnal soul." Whether he feels so or not, he is miserable. But potentially the situation can be changed, for ultimately man is not identical with his lower self. (The Prince of Balkh, Ibrahim Adham, lost in the desert while hunting, chased a magic stag, which turned on him and asked, "Were you born for this?") Man's authentic existence is in the Divine; he has a higher Self, which is true; he can attain felicity, even before death ("Die before you die," said the Prophet). The call comes: to flight, migration, a journey beyond the limitations of world and self.


The concept derives from the popular hadith of the Prophet, in which he said to Muslims returning from a battle, "You have returned from the lesser struggle to the greater struggle." And he was asked, "What is the greater struggle?" He answered, "The struggle against one's self (nafs), which is between the two sides of your body."

He refers to the Logos (kalimah) as the Reality of Realities (Haqiqatu'l Haqa'iq - in contrast to this the Sufi Hallaj used the similiar term "Reality of Reality" (Haqiqatu'l Haqiqah) to refer to God Himself [p.68 n.2]), … It is the consciousness of God, the content and substance of divine knowledge. It is the first manifestation or epiphany of God;

the Pole (Qutb, on which all Creation revolves),


Once having entered the Path, those on the planes are guided by intuition, then inspiration, then illumination, on the way to final realization.

So Sufism isn't just an amalgam of various streams of esotericism from Egypt to India, it is the true core of the whole Biblical tradition that comes down from Adam to Seth to Enoch to Noah to Melchezidek to Abraham to Moses to Jesus to Muhammed

3 stages of God

The unfathomable God's Essence; Abyss of the Unmanifest Absolute. The Sufi technical tems are: Ghayb ul-Ghaib ( Mystery of Mysteries ), Amma ( Darkess ), Dhat/Zat ( Essence ).
The corresponding spiritual stage is called Ahadiyyat- Oneness.

The Manifest Absolute/God. The Sufi terms are Ar-Ruh al-Qudsi ( the Supreme Spirit ), Aql-i-Awwal ( First Intellect ) or Aql-i-Kulli ( Universal Intellect ). The corresponding spiritual stage is named Wahdah.

The God's creative energy as manifested through divine names and attributes ( ayan at'-thabita ). The "energy"/creative aspect is clear from identification with Qur'anic notion of Nafas-i-Rahmani ( The Breath of Mercy ). Also, it is termed Nafs-i-Kulliya ( Universal Soul ).
The spiritual stage is Wahdaniyyat.

" I know God by God, and I know that which is not God by the light of God."

3 Stages of Creation

Alam-i-Jabarut/the world of power; also Alam-i-Arwah ( the world of spirits; ruh meaning spirit, arwah being the plural form ). Roughly corresponding to the world of Platonic archetypes, Shaivite Shivaloka ( the world of Shiva ), or causal world of Western occultism.
(roughly speaking, this is either the philosophical world, or the spiritual world. – shin)

Alam-i-Malakut/the world of angels. This somewhat incongruous term is frequently replaced by Alam-i-Mithal/the world of similitudes. This Henry Corbin's famous mundus imaginalis/world of imagination, Tantric Antarloka ( the intermediary world ), or subtle/astro-mental world of Western occultists.
(likewise speaking, this seems to corrospond to either the spiritual astral plane of Pre existence, in general, or to the specific blue print of spiritual existence upon which the world was founded)

Alam-i-Nasut/the world of humanity, better designated as Alam-i-Ajsam/the world of bodies. Tantric tradition speaks of
Bhuloka/the world of earth. In Western occultism, the name is gross or physical world.
(this is obviously the physical world)



“Subtleties" ( latifa, plural – lataif )

3 parts of a person’s mind
(this is a bit confusing) all of these appear to be the mortal’s reflection upon itself, as opposed to the undiluted aspects of the individual (such as Ruh) from the perspective of Sirr, Kafi and Akhfa below. (double check)

Naf – ego; usually translated as soul or psyche.; the lower baser thinking part of a person, their reason, or logical selves, the Eidolon (perhaps) the “I”.

Qalb – the consciousness, possibly emotions, place of love or beauty, the battlefield of the Naf vs. the Ruh

Ruh – the spirit, coeternal with God, this could be constituted at the Intelligence spoken of in the Book of Abraham, or perhaps the Daemon to the Eidolon. In theory, if this is the Daemon, and the Naf is the Eidolon, then the Qalb would have to be the spiritual astral mind, full of emotions and temperment, caught between these two warring factions. If it were indeed the Daemon, it may be akin to the Atman.

Questions:

What is a Jan ? (spirit)
God created the body and committed its life to the spirit (ján), and He created the soul (dil) and committed its life to Himself.


What is the jinn that is spoken of in the Koran ?
God hath said: '' I only created the jinn and mankind that they might serve Me (Koran, 51:56),

Sufi Perfection
According To The Naqshbandi Order
The Sufi system for purification of the instinctual soul is similar to the seven levels of purification which the Napsha soul must pass through in Nazirutha. In the ancient Manichaean expression of our sisterhood (which influenced the origins of Sufism) there was much talk of the Perfect Man, the Column of Glory which every righteous Manichaean had to obtain to in order to transcend the world. This doctrine is preserved in Sufism by the doctrine of the Hidden Iman. According to one Sufi order, to become this Column of Glory, or perfected human being, one must undergo a training at the hands of a spiritual guide, because the Nafs, or Napsha soul, is in need of transformation and purification. They explain these seven stages in the following way:
There are seven levels:
1. Nafs-i-Ammara: On this level the ego is in full power. The lower self always prompts one to disobedieny to Allah and to evil, bad actions and the gratification of animal lust. One is pleased with oneself and full of bad characteristics.
2. Nafs-i-Lavvama: On this level the conscience is awakened and the self accuses one for listening to one’s ego. One repents and asks for forgiveness, but falls back into bad behaviour.
3. Nafs-i-Mulhimma: On this level one becomes more firm in listening to one’s conscience, but is not yet surrendered.
4. Nafs-i-Mutma’inna: On this level one is firm in one’s faith and leaves bad manners. The soul becomes tranquil, at peace.
5. Nafs-i-Radhiya: On this level one is pleased with whatever comes from Allah and doesn’t live in the past or future, but in the moment. One thinks always: ‘Ilahi Anta Maqsudi wa ridhaka matludi’. One always sees oneself as weak and in need of Allah.
6. Nafs-i-Mardiya: On this level the two Ruhs in man have made peace. One is soft and tolerant with people and has good Ahlak, good manners.
7. Nafs-i-Safiya: On this level one is dressed in the attributes of the Insan Kamil, the perfected man, who is completely surrendered and inspired by Allah. One is in full agreement with the Will of Allah.
Then there is five stations of the heart: ‘Qalb’, ‘Sirr’, ‘Sirr-u-Sirr’, ‘Khafi’, ‘Akhfa’. The first station Shaitan can enter. The second station belongs to the Sheikhs of the 4o Tariqats, the third only to the Sheikhs of the Naqshibandi Tariqat, the fourth to Rasulu’llah and the fifth to Allah Almighty.









3 parts of a person’s enlightenment

Sirr – or secret is the centre of inner consciousness where perceptual contact with the Divine is accomplished. this is a faculty whereby one attains union with his/her Higher/Spiritual Self. Semnani attributions place the sirr below ruh/spirit.
(This appears to be the third eye of Hinduism, the window into the Daemon/Atman.)

[shintashi]

Khafi – or the arcane is, according to Jurjani, the seat of apperception of the Manifest Absolute/Lahut. "..In Sufi terminology, the arcane/khafi is a divine subtlety which lies in potential in the spirit/ruh....the arcane becomes the intermediary between the Divine presence and the spirit/ruh in receiving theophany of Divine Attributes and God's emanating grace to the spirit."
(at first I thought this to be an Epiphany, but it looks more like a Revelation of Vision in communion between God and the Daemon, or to say, between the spirit and God. The second half speaks of “the spirit receiving theophany (a personal appearance of God’s) Divine Attributes and God’s emanating grace to the spirit”. This could be construed to represent the Calling and Election being made sure, or the personal appearance of God unto a man (and forgiveness as by grace), or on the completely other end the perfected near apotheosis of that man (divine attributes), which I must research further – shin 11/2003)

Theophany : An appearance of a god to a human; a divine manifestation.

Akhfa – or the most arcane/the innermost consciousness represents immersion in God's Essence of the Unmanifest Absolute. In Ruzbekhan Shirazi's words, "..The innermost consciousness/akhfa is equivalent to the Ultimate Unseen ( Ghayb-ul-Ghaib)
(this seems to remind me of Ishvara form, or the form like unto manifested God, or like, a lesser degree, the glory of Death as revealed to Abraham, which slew 7000 servants. I could be completely wrong about this, and it could represent the Daemon, or perhaps the unknown daemon which knows all when judgement day arrives, and all memories of the Self are become. In some aspects it speaks directly of the Atman.- shin)


Ibn Arabi’s doctrines
The first stage of Creation is described of as the One (Ahadiyyah) or Absolute, which is inconceivable and beyond all attributes, moving towards Oneness (Wahidiyyah) or Absolute possessing characteristics (equivalent perhaps to the Vedantic distinction between nirguna (qualityless) and saguna (possessing qualities) Brahman). For Ibn Arabi, the characteristics of the Absolute are the Divine Names.

The Divine Name is the Essence in one or other of its infinite aspects; a limited and a determinate form of the Essence [p.34]. As the Divine Names are a multiplicity, each possessing unique characteristics in virtue of which it is distinguishable from the other, but essentially they are identical with the One Essence and with each other."

Regarded as a unity and as essentially one with the divine Essence, the Names are said to be "active" in this sense that each Name indicates one or the other of the infinite lines of activity of the One.
As a multiplicity manifested in the external world (for the external world is nothing other than the Divine Names) they are "passive" and receptive."

The a`yan thabita are the "fixed prototypes" or "latent realities of things". Before coming into being, things in the phenomenal world existed as potentialities in the divine Essence of God; as ideas of His future becoming, the content of His eternal knowledge, which is His knowledge of Himself. As summarised by A. E. Affifi: "God revealed Himself to Himself" in His "First Epiphany or Particularisation (al ta`yyun al awwal) in which He saw in Himself and for Himself an infinity of a`yan as determinate "forms" of His own Essence, which reflected and in every detail corresponded to His own eternal ideas of them."

(the first statement speaks of what seems to the be the pre-existant state of all things, or perhaps the potential pre-existence, such as the existence of things in the Causal, intellectual world. The second statement seems to replate that creation itself is an act of the knowledge of the Self, speaking strait to the Enlightement of the Atman/Daemon, speaking as Samadhi and Epiphany)

Ahadiyya
One or Essence or Absolute
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\|/
Wahadiyya
Multiplicity in One;
the Divine Names
|
\|/
a`yan thabita
"fixed archetypes"
|
\|/
Khalq
"appearance


"The a`yan thabita occupy in Ibn Arabi metaphysical system an intermediate position" between the Absolute Reality - the Haqq; "the Real" - and the phenomenal world - Khalq "appearance". He calls them the "keys to the Unseen" (mafatih al ghayb) and the "first keys" (mafatih al uwal), because they were the opening chapter in creation; "the revelation of the One to Himself as the Creator contemplating in Himself the infinity of His creatures."

[shintashi]

Akhfa or the most arcane/the innermost consciousness represents immersion in God's Essence of the Unmanifest Absolute. In Ruzbekhan Shirazi's words, "..The innermost consciousness/akhfa is equivalent to the Ultimate Unseen

The unfathomable God's Essence; Abyss of the Unmanifest Absolute. The Sufi technical tems are: Ghayb ul-Ghaib ( Mystery of Mysteries ), Amma ( Darkess ), Dhat/Zat ( Essence ).
The corresponding spiritual stage is called Ahadiyyat- Oneness.


Although there are always five levels, there is some difference in detail between the different interpretations, and the levels are usually given different names as well; so in fact more than five are referred to [see e.g. Henry Corbin, Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn Arabi, pp.225, 360-61]. These are:

Hadrat al-Dhat - Presence of the Essence, the Absolute Reality; or Hadrat ahadiya, Presence of Absolute Unity..

Hadrat al-Sifat w'al-Asma - Presence of the Divine Names, or Hadrat-al-Uluhiya - Presence of the Godhead; or Hadrat wahidiya, Presence of plural Unity.

Hadrat al-ghayb al-Mutlaq, the Presence of Absolute Mystery, or the eternal prototypes (al-a'yan ath-thabitah), which are the epiphanies of the Divine Names.

Hadrat al-Af`al - Presence of the Divine Acts, operataions, or "Energies", or Hadrat al-Rubuyiya - Presence of the Suzurainty; equivalent to 'alam al-Jabarut - the world of the all powerful (spirits), or 'alam al-arwah - the world of the pure spirits (arwah jabarutiya). This the world closest to the absolute Mystery.

'alam al-Malakut or Arwah malakutiya - the world of im-material souls. The above and the present plane together make up the Presence of relative Mystery (Hadrat al-ghayb al-mudaf) or the Presence or Plane of Spirits (Hadrat al-arwah).

'alam al-mithal - the world of Idea-Images (intermediate between matter and spirit) or simulitudes; or 'alam al-khayal - the world of active imagination; and Hadrat-al-mithal wa'l- Khayal - Presence of the Image and the active imagination.

'alam al-shadadal - the visible world, or 'alam al-Mulkl - the human world; and Hadrat al-Hiss - Presence of the sensible and visible.

The heart of the Perfect Man (as a muslim who becomes logos) is the centre for the manifestation of all of these planes. So the Adept, by concentrating on the form of anything in one of these planes by means of the himmah, the spiritual will or aspiration towards God or creativity of the heart (qalb), aquires perfect control (and preservation) over that thing, which lasts as an image of the active Imagination for as long as the himmah is maintained. This is what Ibn Arabi means by the creative activity of the mystic [Affifi, Mystical Philosophy pp.134-5, and Corbin, Creative Imagination, p.226]. Here we have a precise analogy with the visualisation of and meditation upon archetypal deities in Tibetan Buddhism, and with the hermetic magic of modern (nineteenth and twentieth century) Qabalah.

(excellent understanding of psychokinesis and reality warping, from the Sufi perspective)


cial people in Islamic Faith: The Awliya
One of the beduin Arabs who came from among the most isolated of people twisted his hand at the Prophet and said: "O Messenger of Allah! People from humankind who are neither Prophets nor martyrs and yet the Prophets and the martyrs yearn to be like them due to their seat and proximity in relation to Allah?! Describe them for us!"
The Prophet's face showed delight at the Beduin's question and he said:
"They are of the strangers from this and that place. They frequent this or that tribe without belonging to them. They do not have family connections among themselves. They love one another for Allah's sake. They are of pure intent towards one another. On the Day of Resurrection Allah will place for them pedestals of light upon which He will make them sit, and He will turn their faces and clothes into light. On the Day of Resurrection the people will be terrified but not those. They are Allah's Friends upon whom fear comes not, nor do they grieve."
Another famous description of the characteristics of awliya was given by Sayyidina `Ali, as related by Ibn al-Jawzi in the chapter devoted to him in Sifat al-safwa:
They are the fewest in number, but the greatest in rank before Allah. Through them Allah preserves His proofs until they bequeath it to those like them (before passing on) and plant it firmly in their hearts. By them knowledge has taken by assault the reality of things, so that they found easy what those given to comfort found hard, and found intimacy in what the ignorant found desolate. They accompanied the world with bodies whose spirits were attached to the highest regard (al-mahall al-a`la). Ah, ah! how one yearns to see them!
The knowledge of the awliya' may attain higher levels than that of any other knowledge of humankind and jinn including in certain cases even the knowledge of Prophets. The preternatural knowledge or powers which Allah bestows on some of His friends (awliya') who are not Prophets have a firm basis in the Qur'an: for example, the wali who was with Prophet Sulayman and brought him the throne of Balqis faster than the blink of an eye. He was characterized as "one who had knowledge of the Book" as Allah stated:
One with whom was knowledge of the Scripture said: I will bring it thee (O Sulayman) before thy gaze returneth unto thee... (27:40)
and this is Prophet Sulayman's scribe Asif ibn Barkhya according to the Tafsir Ibn `Abbas and the majority of the scholars, i.e. a non-Prophet human being:
supernatural feats (karamat) – miracles ? Siddhi ? psychic powers ?
Wonders (karamat) of the awliya'
A karamah is an extraordinary event occuring at the hands of a pious person. Not every waliyy need necessarily have a karamah. The best honor or wonder is to
remain on the straight path.


[2.120] And the Jews will not be pleased with you, nor the Christians until you follow their religion. Say: Surely Allah's guidance, that is the (true) guidance. And if you follow their desires after the knowledge that has come to you, you shall have no guardian from Allah, nor any helper.