Please read LR, pages 399-406 & 429f.
Hadith says: PR announced that his followers would be divided into 73 sects! Both Sunnism and Shi’ism, according to S.H. Nasr (a Shite Muslim), are Islamic orthodoxy. They are different interpretation of the same truth. The differences are to cater to the needs of the varied spiritual temperaments of the different people.
Ali – Muhammad’s uncle Abu Talib’s son later married Fathima, Muhammad’s daughter. Ali, the second convert to Islam, was only 10 years when he accepted Islam – a strong supporter of Muhammad!
Ali’s party were called the Shiites – Islam of Ali – today they make up about 20% of the total Muslim population - and Abu Bakr’s company known as Sunni’s – Islam of Abu Bakr – today they make up about 80% of the total Muslim population! This is somewhat oversimplified!
Abu Bakr, first convert to Islam outside Muhammad’s household, was a closest ally and the father in law of Muhammad through Aisha’s – his favourite wife after Khadijah - marriage to Muhammad.
Both Sunni’s and the Shiites do not differ in the fundamentals – five basic beliefs and five pillars! Sunni’s are those follow the sunna (traditions) of the prophet. Shiites “are those who believe that the right of succession to the Prophet belongs solely to his family of the Prophet (ahl al-bait) as their sources of inspiration and guidance for the understanding of the Quranic revelation brought by the Prophet”.
Sunni Muslims – represent the Sunna, the tradition, of the PR – loosely the main stream! They want to preserve the practices of the early umma (the Muslim community). Two major schools of theology within this group are: Mutazilites – Wasil ibn Ata (d. 749 CE) and Asharites – Ali ibn Ismail al Ashari (d. 935). The celebrated theologian Abu Hamid al Ghazali (d. 1111) later became a supporter of the Asharites. Four law schools – Hanafi, Maliki, Shaffi, and Hanbali – play a major role in Sunni Islam.
Mutazilites: Emphasised the role of reason in matters concerning faith; emphasised on human freedom and responsibility; they rejected predestination as inconsistent with the free will of the humans; used allegorical method for interpreting the Qur’an; argued that the Qur’an is eternal but the words are 7th century human making (?); thrived during the Abbasid regime (750-1258 CE).
Asharites: Emphasised the role of revelation in matters concerning faith; defended God’s khadr, and predestination of God; Qur’an with all its word is eternal; today this represent the main orthodoxy.
Sunni’s are guided by the Ulema – learned scholars, while the Imam leads the Shiites – men of special charism, divinely inspired!
Ali was assassinated in 661 CE triggering a bitter controversy between the two groups. Hasan and Hussain – grandsons of the PR – on one side and Muawiyah and his son Zaid on the other ending in a bitter battle at Karbala eventually providing the visible identity of the Shiites who celebrate through their Muharram festival “redemptive, purifying sacrifice” – the Shiite play of the passion.
The concept of Imam is at the bottom of Shia Islam. “The Imam is, in fact, the sustainer and interpreter par excellence of the revelation. His duty is essentially threefold: to rule over the community of Muslims as the representative of the Prophet, to interpret the religious sciences and the Law to men, especially their inner meaning, and to guide men in spiritual life. All of these functions the Imam is able to perform because of the presence of the ‘Light’ within him.”
Shia Islam with a belief in 12 Imams is further divided into “Seven Imam Shiism - Ismailis” or “Five Imam Shiism – Zaidis”.
Islam of the Caliphate and Islam of the Imamate are at the bottom of Sunni - Shia schism or identity! The two different institutes are due to two different conceptions of who is qualified to succeed and what should be precisely the duty of the successor.
Those interested in this section may read: Nasr, “The Tariqah, the spiritual path and its Quranic roots” in Ideals and Realities of Islam. And in Denny, “Islamic Mysticism and the Disciplines of Esoteric Fellowship” (chapter 10, pp. 211-237) + “Masters and Disciples: The Forms and Functions of Sufi Orders” (chapter 11, pp.238-259). Other useful sources: A.J. Arberry, Sufism: An Account of the Mystics of Islam, Unwin Paperbacks, 1979. Nasr, Living Sufism, Unwin Paperbacks, 1980. To enjoy the poetry of a sufi you may read The Essential Rumi, translations by Coleman Barks with John Moyne, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1995. Another easy reading and easily available book is John Baldock’s The Essence of Sufism, London: Arcturus Publishing Limited, 2004.
Sufism is esoteric Islam. Sufi is a Muslim whose soul is “yearning for God”, a path to “union with God”. Sufism is a way! Sufi is a Muslim with an intense desire after God, or with a passionate love for God, or excessively drunk with awareness of God, like a well known Sufi Al Hallaj”.
Sufism “is to cleanse the heart, to educate, or transform, the self, and to find God”. Essential Sufism, edited by James Fadiman and Robert Frager, 1997, p. 19. Sufis consider this as a “journey” that is “hard”. Junaid (d. 298 AH) once said: “… The journey from the self to God is very hard. And to be able to abide in God is harder still.” (Ibid. p.38)
And the “self”, in Sufi disciplines, is transformed through seven stages (process) – starting from the “egoistic self” to an “egoless self “ where the vision of “tawhid” is seen! Seven stages of the self: The commanding self, the regretful self, the inspired self, the contended self, the pleased self, the self pleasing to God, and the pure self. Rumi said:
If you could get rid
Of yourself just once,
The secret of secrets
Would open to you.
The face of the unknown,
Hidden beyond the universe
Would appear on the
Mirror of your perception. Ibid. p. 23.]
Sufism as a historical movement is very large and had been influenced by, according to scholars, Christian, Jewish, Gnostic, Neoplatonic, Zoroastrian, Hindu and Buddhist examples. Reynold Nicholson and others have tried to show the foreign influence on Sufism.
There are other Muslims who have tried to prove the qur’anic origin of Sufism. For Sufis even the manner in which the Qur’an was revealed – God speaks and humans can listen – humans can be in constant touch with his/her creator like Muhammad – are all providing the basis for Sufism. Nearness of God is the foundation of Sufism.
When Sunni’s and Shi’s were bickering on leadership there were those Muslims who considered Islam as a resignation into God and spent greater part of their life in worship of God! There were those Muslims who protested against the extravagance of the Umayyads (661-750 CE) by adapting “a simple life style”. Sufism is a kind of a “protest” movement! Sufism is a kind of “wanting more Islam” and a “wanting Islam to touch their lives deeper”.
Sufis saw Jesus and Muhammad as great Sufis. There are stories of Jesus’ ascetic life popular among the Sufis: One – Jesus possessing only a cup and a comb; Two - Ghazzali – “The highest asceticism was displayed by Christ when he threw away the brick he used as a pillow after the devil asked him why he kept it if he had renounced the world”. You may note that Jesus said: “Birds have nests … no place to lay his head”.
Muhammad’s experiences –
a. The Qur’anic, and
b. The Miraj are both mystical experiences.
God is nearer than ones jugular vein: “It was We Who created man, and We know what dark suggestions his soul makes to him: for We are nearer to him than (his) jugular vein.” (50:16) Remember Sufis saw God and they saw God seeing them!
Sufism went through different stages of development – ascetical movement – mystical movement – theosophical Sufism – cult of Saints – today a vibrant form of Islam and in other places it remains as a kind of a living in the edge!
Sufi masters established Sufi Orders:
Hadith says: PR announced that his followers would be divided into 73 sects! Both Sunnism and Shi’ism, according to S.H. Nasr (a Shite Muslim), are Islamic orthodoxy. They are different interpretation of the same truth. The differences are to cater to the needs of the varied spiritual temperaments of the different people.
Ali – Muhammad’s uncle Abu Talib’s son later married Fathima, Muhammad’s daughter. Ali, the second convert to Islam, was only 10 years when he accepted Islam – a strong supporter of Muhammad!
Ali’s party were called the Shiites – Islam of Ali – today they make up about 20% of the total Muslim population - and Abu Bakr’s company known as Sunni’s – Islam of Abu Bakr – today they make up about 80% of the total Muslim population! This is somewhat oversimplified!
Abu Bakr, first convert to Islam outside Muhammad’s household, was a closest ally and the father in law of Muhammad through Aisha’s – his favourite wife after Khadijah - marriage to Muhammad.
Both Sunni’s and the Shiites do not differ in the fundamentals – five basic beliefs and five pillars! Sunni’s are those follow the sunna (traditions) of the prophet. Shiites “are those who believe that the right of succession to the Prophet belongs solely to his family of the Prophet (ahl al-bait) as their sources of inspiration and guidance for the understanding of the Quranic revelation brought by the Prophet”.
Sunni Muslims – represent the Sunna, the tradition, of the PR – loosely the main stream! They want to preserve the practices of the early umma (the Muslim community). Two major schools of theology within this group are: Mutazilites – Wasil ibn Ata (d. 749 CE) and Asharites – Ali ibn Ismail al Ashari (d. 935). The celebrated theologian Abu Hamid al Ghazali (d. 1111) later became a supporter of the Asharites. Four law schools – Hanafi, Maliki, Shaffi, and Hanbali – play a major role in Sunni Islam.
Mutazilites: Emphasised the role of reason in matters concerning faith; emphasised on human freedom and responsibility; they rejected predestination as inconsistent with the free will of the humans; used allegorical method for interpreting the Qur’an; argued that the Qur’an is eternal but the words are 7th century human making (?); thrived during the Abbasid regime (750-1258 CE).
Asharites: Emphasised the role of revelation in matters concerning faith; defended God’s khadr, and predestination of God; Qur’an with all its word is eternal; today this represent the main orthodoxy.
Sunni’s are guided by the Ulema – learned scholars, while the Imam leads the Shiites – men of special charism, divinely inspired!
Ali was assassinated in 661 CE triggering a bitter controversy between the two groups. Hasan and Hussain – grandsons of the PR – on one side and Muawiyah and his son Zaid on the other ending in a bitter battle at Karbala eventually providing the visible identity of the Shiites who celebrate through their Muharram festival “redemptive, purifying sacrifice” – the Shiite play of the passion.
The concept of Imam is at the bottom of Shia Islam. “The Imam is, in fact, the sustainer and interpreter par excellence of the revelation. His duty is essentially threefold: to rule over the community of Muslims as the representative of the Prophet, to interpret the religious sciences and the Law to men, especially their inner meaning, and to guide men in spiritual life. All of these functions the Imam is able to perform because of the presence of the ‘Light’ within him.”
Shia Islam with a belief in 12 Imams is further divided into “Seven Imam Shiism - Ismailis” or “Five Imam Shiism – Zaidis”.
Islam of the Caliphate and Islam of the Imamate are at the bottom of Sunni - Shia schism or identity! The two different institutes are due to two different conceptions of who is qualified to succeed and what should be precisely the duty of the successor.
Those interested in this section may read: Nasr, “The Tariqah, the spiritual path and its Quranic roots” in Ideals and Realities of Islam. And in Denny, “Islamic Mysticism and the Disciplines of Esoteric Fellowship” (chapter 10, pp. 211-237) + “Masters and Disciples: The Forms and Functions of Sufi Orders” (chapter 11, pp.238-259). Other useful sources: A.J. Arberry, Sufism: An Account of the Mystics of Islam, Unwin Paperbacks, 1979. Nasr, Living Sufism, Unwin Paperbacks, 1980. To enjoy the poetry of a sufi you may read The Essential Rumi, translations by Coleman Barks with John Moyne, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1995. Another easy reading and easily available book is John Baldock’s The Essence of Sufism, London: Arcturus Publishing Limited, 2004.
Sufism is esoteric Islam. Sufi is a Muslim whose soul is “yearning for God”, a path to “union with God”. Sufism is a way! Sufi is a Muslim with an intense desire after God, or with a passionate love for God, or excessively drunk with awareness of God, like a well known Sufi Al Hallaj”.
Sufism “is to cleanse the heart, to educate, or transform, the self, and to find God”. Essential Sufism, edited by James Fadiman and Robert Frager, 1997, p. 19. Sufis consider this as a “journey” that is “hard”. Junaid (d. 298 AH) once said: “… The journey from the self to God is very hard. And to be able to abide in God is harder still.” (Ibid. p.38)
And the “self”, in Sufi disciplines, is transformed through seven stages (process) – starting from the “egoistic self” to an “egoless self “ where the vision of “tawhid” is seen! Seven stages of the self: The commanding self, the regretful self, the inspired self, the contended self, the pleased self, the self pleasing to God, and the pure self. Rumi said:
If you could get rid
Of yourself just once,
The secret of secrets
Would open to you.
The face of the unknown,
Hidden beyond the universe
Would appear on the
Mirror of your perception. Ibid. p. 23.]
Sufism as a historical movement is very large and had been influenced by, according to scholars, Christian, Jewish, Gnostic, Neoplatonic, Zoroastrian, Hindu and Buddhist examples. Reynold Nicholson and others have tried to show the foreign influence on Sufism.
There are other Muslims who have tried to prove the qur’anic origin of Sufism. For Sufis even the manner in which the Qur’an was revealed – God speaks and humans can listen – humans can be in constant touch with his/her creator like Muhammad – are all providing the basis for Sufism. Nearness of God is the foundation of Sufism.
When Sunni’s and Shi’s were bickering on leadership there were those Muslims who considered Islam as a resignation into God and spent greater part of their life in worship of God! There were those Muslims who protested against the extravagance of the Umayyads (661-750 CE) by adapting “a simple life style”. Sufism is a kind of a “protest” movement! Sufism is a kind of “wanting more Islam” and a “wanting Islam to touch their lives deeper”.
Sufis saw Jesus and Muhammad as great Sufis. There are stories of Jesus’ ascetic life popular among the Sufis: One – Jesus possessing only a cup and a comb; Two - Ghazzali – “The highest asceticism was displayed by Christ when he threw away the brick he used as a pillow after the devil asked him why he kept it if he had renounced the world”. You may note that Jesus said: “Birds have nests … no place to lay his head”.
Muhammad’s experiences –
a. The Qur’anic, and
b. The Miraj are both mystical experiences.
God is nearer than ones jugular vein: “It was We Who created man, and We know what dark suggestions his soul makes to him: for We are nearer to him than (his) jugular vein.” (50:16) Remember Sufis saw God and they saw God seeing them!
Sufism went through different stages of development – ascetical movement – mystical movement – theosophical Sufism – cult of Saints – today a vibrant form of Islam and in other places it remains as a kind of a living in the edge!
Sufi masters established Sufi Orders:
a. Qadiriyah – Abd al Qadir ibn Abd Allah al Jilani (1078-1166).
b. Suhrawadiyah - Shihab al Din Umar ibn Abd Allah al Suhrawardi (1134-1234).
c. Shadhiliya - Nur al Din Ahmad ibn Abd Allah al Shadhili (1196-1258).
d. Maulawiyah - Jalaluddin Rumi (d. 1273) – Whirling dance.
Great Sufis – Hasan al-Basri (d. 728), Rabia al Adawiyah, (d. 801), Ibn al Farid (1181-1235), Ibn Arabi (1165-1240), Jalaluddin Rumi (d. 1273), and so on.
Rabia’s Sufism:
a. Emphasis was on “love” for God, joyful in her communion with God, refusing to marry because she considered herself married to God.
b. Her vivid expression that one should love God for God’s sake not out fear for hell or love for paradise.
Some crucial Sufi terminology:
a. Tasawwuf – One who is pure in heart.
b. Sophia - Lover of wisdom or wearer of the wool (suf).
c. Dhikr - Remembrance or recollection of God.
d. Fana - Passing away from self.
e. Baqa - Continuance or abiding in God.
f. Nafs - Self or Soul – dog, mouse, and snake are some images used for nafs in the Sufi thought.
g. Tawwakul - Trusting God – don’t wish! But this is not against the saying: “Trust in God and tie the camel’s leg”
History of the Sufi’s shows there were many conflicts with orthodox Muslims and Ghazali (d. 1111) is attributed with bringing peace between the two – thereafter at least a sober type of Sufism “was accepted as a Muslim science, and as a reasonable and laudable way of life”.
Sufis are known for the sense of humour! Cf. Essential Sufism pp. 161-170 for Sufi jokes. “… Humor as a catalyst to spiritual awareness is less well understood. Sufi teachers know, and use, the power of spontaneity and laughter, which can be at least as vital and powerful as any formal technique. The tradition of Sufism includes endless funny stories, usually on and about ourselves. For many of us laughing at our faults is the first step in being able to release them.” (P. 161)
Other Notable Islamic Denominations:
a. Ismaili’s – Part of the Shia Group, well known for its “charitable organizations” and the Imam of this group is His Holiness the Prince Agha Khan.
b. Ahamadiya – Followers of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of the Indian Sub Continent, known for their missionary activities and a sense of ecumenism and promoting of inter-religious dialogue.
Questions to Explore:
1. Discuss the two main branches of Islam by describing their similarities and differences.
b. Sophia - Lover of wisdom or wearer of the wool (suf).
c. Dhikr - Remembrance or recollection of God.
d. Fana - Passing away from self.
e. Baqa - Continuance or abiding in God.
f. Nafs - Self or Soul – dog, mouse, and snake are some images used for nafs in the Sufi thought.
g. Tawwakul - Trusting God – don’t wish! But this is not against the saying: “Trust in God and tie the camel’s leg”
History of the Sufi’s shows there were many conflicts with orthodox Muslims and Ghazali (d. 1111) is attributed with bringing peace between the two – thereafter at least a sober type of Sufism “was accepted as a Muslim science, and as a reasonable and laudable way of life”.
Sufis are known for the sense of humour! Cf. Essential Sufism pp. 161-170 for Sufi jokes. “… Humor as a catalyst to spiritual awareness is less well understood. Sufi teachers know, and use, the power of spontaneity and laughter, which can be at least as vital and powerful as any formal technique. The tradition of Sufism includes endless funny stories, usually on and about ourselves. For many of us laughing at our faults is the first step in being able to release them.” (P. 161)
Other Notable Islamic Denominations:
a. Ismaili’s – Part of the Shia Group, well known for its “charitable organizations” and the Imam of this group is His Holiness the Prince Agha Khan.
b. Ahamadiya – Followers of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of the Indian Sub Continent, known for their missionary activities and a sense of ecumenism and promoting of inter-religious dialogue.
Questions to Explore:
1. Discuss the two main branches of Islam by describing their similarities and differences.
2. What unique contributions did the Sufi’s make on the world wide Islam.
