BismillahirRahmanirRahim
Introduction to the Sufi Path
by Peter Lamborn Wilson
Of all the strands of thought, tradition, and belief that make up the Islamic
universe, Sufism in its doctrinal aspect stands out as the most intact, the
most purely Islamic: the central strand. Opponents of Sufism often charge it
with having originated outside Islam, but a close study of the various schools
of philosophy and theology, and a comparison with "primordial" Islam as
revealed in the Koran and hadith (authentic sayings of the Prophet Muhammad),
will vindicate the Sufis' claim of centrality, of strict adherence to the
original purity of the Revelation.
In the context of the history of thought, in fact, Sufism --always insisting on
a return to the sources of the Tradition -can be seen to have functioned at
times as a positive and healthy reaction to the overly rational activity of the
philosophers and theologians. For the Sufis, the road to spiritual knowledge -
to Certainty - could never be confined to the process of rational or purely
intellectual activity, without sapiential knowledge (zawq, "taste") and the
direct, immediate experience of the Heart. Truth, they believed, can be sought
and found only with one's entire being; nor were they satisfied merely to know
this Truth. They insisted on a total identification with it: a "passing away"
of the knower in the Known, of subject in the Object of knowledge. Thus, when
the fourth/tenth century Sufi Hallaj proclaimed "I am the Truth" (and was
martyred for it by the exoteric authorities), he was not violating the "First
Pillar" of Islam, the belief in Unity (tawhid), but
simply stating the truth from the mouth of the Truth. So the Sufis believe.
This insistence of total involvement in "mystical" realisation, and on a
participative understanding of religious doctrine, sharply distinguished Sufism
from other Islamic schools of thought. In fact, considering themselves the true
core of Islam, Sufis appeared as outsiders not only to the philosophers and
theologians, but even to "ordinary" Moslems. Their peculiarity, their
distinctness, manifested itself in every aspect of their lives: their daily
activities, their worship, social relations, and even style or means of
expression. Like mystics in all Traditions, they tended to remake language and
form for their own purposes, and as in all Traditional civilisations, the
potency and directness of their expression tended to flow out and permeate
other areas not directly related to mysticism in the narrow sense: literature,
the arts and crafts, etc. 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.
Awakening
Imprisoned in the cage of the world (the world in its negative, "worldly"
sense, not in the positive sense of the world-as-icon or Divine Manifestation),
man is exiled and forgetful of his true home. To keep his part of the Covenant,
to be faithful to his promise, he must set out on the Path from sleep to
awakening. It is only the blessed few for whom this Path lasts no longer than a
single step, although in theory all that is needed is to "turn around" or
"inside out" and be what one is. For most seekers the Path is long; one Sufi
speaks of "a thousand and one" different stages.
"Everything perishes save His Face"; the first step on the Path is to begin to
contemplate the futility of the world of dust, the world in which one's lower
self is doomed. The seeker must renounce it all, including his own self, and
seek that which is Everlasting. He must travel from things to Nothing, from
existence to Nonexistence. How does one get lost on purpose? Our present state
is one of forgetfulness toward the Divine - the true Self - and remembrance of
worldly affairs and the lower self. The cure for this is a reversal:
remembrance of the true Self, the Divine within, and forgetfulness toward
everything else.
In Sufism the basic technique for this is invocation or "remembrance" (zikr) of
the Divine Name, which is mysteriously identical with the Divine Being. Through
this discipline the fragments of our directionless minds are regathered, our
outward impulse turned inward and concentrated. This is the act of a lover who
thinks of nothing but his beloved.
posted on the Ismaili.List
reposted on the Donmeh List Wed, 10 Mar 1999
"The thickest veils between man and Allah are the wisdom of the wise,
the worship of the religious, and the piety of the pious."
- As-Shaykh Bayazid Bistami qs
in James Fadiman & Robert Frager Essential Sufism
(Edison, NJ: Castle Books, 1997), p. 111
"When we heal the earth, we heal ourselves."
- David Orr
"Let the beauty of what you love, be what you do."
- As-Shaykh Mawlana Jalal'uddin al-Rumi qs
(selected posting from Ali Basyah Suryo)
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