Difference between revisions of "On Sufism"
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* Cairo stories | * Cairo stories | ||
* Parable of the elephant | * Parable of the elephant | ||
| − | * Alastu | + | * Alastu (the covenant of pre-eternity and imperative to remember) |
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* Sufism as a return to origins | * Sufism as a return to origins | ||
| − | * Sufism as the mystical | + | * Name and reality ("formerly Sufism was a reality without a name; now it is a name without a reality" - ''Kashf al-Mahjub'', 10th century text of al-Hujwiri) |
| + | * Reason and controlled observation vs. experiential knowledge of reality | ||
| + | * The deep meaning of Monotheism (tawhid): God as the Only True Reality (al-Haqiqa) | ||
| + | * Ineffability of mystical experience and knowledge; futility and necessity of all expression (the great Sufi poet Jalal al-Din Rumi said: "By Allah, I care nothing for poetry. There is nothing worse in my eyes. To me, it is like the cook who plunges his hand into tripe, cleaning it out for the sake of a guest’s appetite.") | ||
| + | * Sufism as transcending Islam (Ibn Arabi, Inayat Khan), or apart from Islam (early Orientalists, modern Muslim reformers), or deeply embedded in Islam, as its mystical dimension (Annemarie Schimmel)... | ||
** Qur'an | ** Qur'an | ||
| − | ** Hadith | + | ** Hadith (Sunna) |
| − | ** Non-sectarian | + | ** Non-sectarian affiliation groups (tariqas) performing supererogatory devotions ''in addition to'' the more usual Islamic ones (prayer, fasting, alms, pilgrimage), not replacing them (ordinarily). |
* Sufism as devotion to saints, intermediaries | * Sufism as devotion to saints, intermediaries | ||
* Sufism as turuq, social orders | * Sufism as turuq, social orders | ||
Revision as of 11:29, 31 January 2011
Contents
Sufism - general
- Cairo stories
- Parable of the elephant
- Alastu (the covenant of pre-eternity and imperative to remember)
- Sufism as a return to origins
- Name and reality ("formerly Sufism was a reality without a name; now it is a name without a reality" - Kashf al-Mahjub, 10th century text of al-Hujwiri)
- Reason and controlled observation vs. experiential knowledge of reality
- The deep meaning of Monotheism (tawhid): God as the Only True Reality (al-Haqiqa)
- Ineffability of mystical experience and knowledge; futility and necessity of all expression (the great Sufi poet Jalal al-Din Rumi said: "By Allah, I care nothing for poetry. There is nothing worse in my eyes. To me, it is like the cook who plunges his hand into tripe, cleaning it out for the sake of a guest’s appetite.")
- Sufism as transcending Islam (Ibn Arabi, Inayat Khan), or apart from Islam (early Orientalists, modern Muslim reformers), or deeply embedded in Islam, as its mystical dimension (Annemarie Schimmel)...
- Qur'an
- Hadith (Sunna)
- Non-sectarian affiliation groups (tariqas) performing supererogatory devotions in addition to the more usual Islamic ones (prayer, fasting, alms, pilgrimage), not replacing them (ordinarily).
- Sufism as devotion to saints, intermediaries
- Sufism as turuq, social orders
What is Sufism?
- What is Sufism? Doctrinal, social, ritual, discursive aspects
- A critical view: Sufism as created, foreign...
- Sufism, Sufi, tasawwuf
- Fundamentalism, Salafism
- Orientalism
- New Age popularity (e.g. Rumi)
- Sufism of...
- Asceticism
- Adab (ethics, humility)
- Devotion & Remembrance
- Love as Submission
- Ecstasy
- Knowledge of Unity (wahdat al-wujud)
- Self-perfection (al-insan al-kamil)
- Islamic core
- Mystical practices, visions and journeys of the Prophet (Hira, Mi`raj)
- The Awliya or saints: holy men and women of Islam
- Non-sectarian nature: supererogatory practices
- Neoplatonic elements
- Christian ascetic elements (monk Buhayra)
- Ancient Middle Eastern religion (Egyptian, Persian...)
- Unity (tawhid)
- Inner unity (reality)
- Outer multiplicity (illusion)
- Division
- Islam - Iman - Ihsan: outer to inner
- Zahir - Batin: symbolism (signifer to signified)
- Sharia - Tariqa - Haqiqa
- The maqamat, as a series of parallel oppositions (fear/hope, contraction/expansion, baqaa/fanaa)
- Order and disorder
- Social: turuq vs. darwish
- Emotional: closeness vs. ecstasy (hal, jadhb, shath)
- Ritual: hadra vs. hal
- Manifestations of the Sacred
- Nature
- Traditional arts
Sufism and the person
- al-`Alam al-Azali and "Alastu"
- Individual experiential understanding, independence
- Social group, tariqa, shaykh, submission to
- Psychology: ruh and nafs
Sufism and Qur'an and Sunna
- Qur'an: God is closer than your jugular vein
- Hadith Qudsi:
Literary expressions of Sufism
- Sacred interpretation of conventional themes:
- praise
- love
- intoxication
Classical Arabic poetry - the ambiguity of spiritual love
Performative expressions of Sufism
- Remembrance (dhikr)
