Bjerregaard CHA - Sufism: Difference between revisions

Silvestre de Sacy gives the following explanation to the above from Jorjani. The five divine presences are (1) the presence of the absolute absence (or mystery); its world is the world of the fixed substances in the scientific presence. To the presence of the absolute mystery is opposed: (2) the presence of the absolute assistance; it is the world of the throne or seat of God, of the four elemental natures. (3) The presence of the relative absence; this is divided into two parts: the one nearer {{Page aside in Path|v=1|n=2|p=45}}of the absolute mystery; the world of which is that of spirits, which belong to what is called intelligences and bare souls; the other: (4) Nearer the presence of the absolute assistance; the world of which is that of models (images). (5) The presence which comprises the four preceding ones, and its world is the world of mankind, a world which reunites all the worlds, and all they contain.

In regard to Hafis it is maintained that by ''wine'' he invariably means ''devotion''; and his admirers have gone so far as to compose a dictionary of words of the language, as they call it, of the Sufis. In that vocabulary ''sleep'' is explained by ''meditation'' on the divine perfections, and ''perfume'' by hope of divine favor; ''gales'' (i. e. Zephyrs) are illapses of grace; ''kisses and embraces'', the raptures of piety; ''idolators'', ''infidels'', and ''libertines'' are men of the purest religion, and their ''idol'' is the creator himself; ''the tavern'' is the cell where the searcher after truth becomes intoxicated with the wine of divine love. Read with this key to the esoteric meaning, Mr. Clouston says, the gazelles of Hafis are no longer anacreontic and bacchanalian effusions, but ecstatic lucubrations on the love of man to his creator. The ''keeper'', or wine seller, the spiritual instructor; ''beauty'' denotes the perfection of the supreme being; ''tresses'' and ''curls'' are the expansion and infiniteness of his glory; ''lips'', the hidden and inscrutable mysteries of his essence; {{Page aside in Path|v=1|n=2|p=50}}''down'' on the cheek, the world of spirits, who encircle the creator's throne; and a ''black mole'' is the point of indivisible unity; lastly, ''wantonness'', ''mirth'' and ''ebriety'', mean religious ardor, ecstacy and abstraction from all worldly things.

What is the beginning of at-Tesavuf? Faith, which has six pillars, namely: (1) Belief in God, (2) in His Angels, (3) in His Books, (4) in His Prophets, (5) in the Last Day, and (6) in His decree of Good and Evil. What is the result of the Tesavuf? It is not only reciting with the tongue of these pillars of faith but also establishing them in the heart. What is the distinction between a Sufi and an ordinary person? The knowledge of an ordinary person is a "counterfeit faith" whereas that of the Sufi is "true faith." What do you mean by "counterfeit faith?" It is that which an ordinary person has derived from his forefathers, or from the teachers and preachers of his own day, without knowing why it is essential that a man should believe in these six articles for his soul's salvation. What is the proof of faith? The proof of faith consists in a search being made for the true origin of each of these six pillars of faith, until the enquirer arrives at "the Truth." The Sufis regard certain things as lawful which are forbidden. For instance, they enjoin the use of wine, wine-shops, the wine-cup, sweethearts; they speak of the curls of their mistresses, and compare the moles on their faces, cheeks, &c., to verses of the Quran. What does this mean? The Sufis often exchange the external features of all things for the internal, the corporeal for the spiritual, and thus give an imaginary signification to outward forms. They behold objects of a precious nature in their natural character and for this reason the greater part of their words have a spiritual and figurative meaning. For instance, when, like Hafis, they mention wine, they mean a knowledge of God, which, figuratively considered, is the love of God. Wine, viewed figuratively, is also love; love and affection are here the same thing. The wine-shop, with them, means "spiritual director," for his heart is said to be the depository of the love of God. The sweetheart means the excellent preceptor, because, when anyone sees his beloved, he admires her perfect proportions; as the lover delights in the presence of his sweetheart, so the Salik rejoices in the company of his beloved preceptor. The sweetheart is the object of a worldly affection, but the preceptor is that of a spiritual attachment. The curls or ringlets of the beloved are the grateful praises of the preceptor, tending to bind the affections of the disciple; the moles on her face signify that when the pupil, at times, {{Page aside in Path|v=1|n=2|p=51}}beholds the total absence of all worldly wants on the part of the preceptor, he also abandons all the desires of both worlds—he perhaps even goes so far as to desire nothing else in life than his preceptor; the furrows on the brow of the beloved one, which they compare to verses of the Quran, mean the light of the heart of the preceptor; they are compared to verses of the Quran, because the attributes of God, in accordance with the injunction of the Prophet, "Be ye endued with divine qualities," are possessed by the preceptor.

—Know, O student of wisdom ! that the body, which is the kingdom of the heart, resembles a great city. The hand, the foot, the mouth and the other members resemble the people of the various trades. Desire is a standard {{Page aside in Path|v=1|n=3|p=70}}bearer ; anger is a superintendent of the city, the heart is its sovereign, and reason is the vizier. The sovereign needs the service of all the inhabitants. But desire, the standard bearer, is a liar, vain and ambitious. He is always ready to do the contrary of what reason, the vizier, commands. He strives to appropriate to himself whatever he sees in the city, which is the body. Anger, the superintendent, is rebellious and corrupt, quick and passionate. He is always ready to be enraged, to spill blood, and to blast one's reputation. If the sovereign, the heart, should invariably consult with reason, his vizier, and, when desire was transgressing, should give to wrath power over him (yet, without giving him full liberty, should make him angry in subjection to reason, so that passing all bounds he should not stretch out his hand upon the kingdom), there would then be an equilibrium in the condition of the kingdom, and all the members would perform the functions for which they were created, their service would be accepted at the mercy seat, and they would obtain eternal felicity.

—If a person calls into exercise, in perfection, holy zeal and austerities, and purifies his heart from the defilement of blamable affections, and then sits down in a retired spot, abandons the use of his external senses, and occupies himself with calling out "O God ! O God !" his heart will come {{Page aside in Path|v=1|n=3|p=71}}into harmony with the visible world, and nothing will be present in his heart but the exalted God. In this revelation of the invisible world, the windows of the heart are opened, and what others may have seen in a dream, he in this state sees in reality. The spirits of angels and prophets are manifested to him and he holds intercourse with them. The hidden things of the earth and heaven are uncovered to him. * * * Probably the knowledge of all the prophets was obtained in this way, for it was not obtained by learning.

—Prayers are of three degrees, of which the first are those that are simply spoken with the lips. Prayers are of the second kind, when with difficulty, and only by a most resolute effort, the soul is able to fix its thoughts on Divine things without being disturbed by evil imaginations; of the third kind, when one finds it difficult to ''turn away'' the mind from dwelling on Divine things. But it is the very marrow of prayer, when He who is invoked takes possession of the soul of the suppliant, and the soul of him who prays is absorbed into God, and his prayer ceasing, all consciousness of self has departed, and to such a degree, that all thought whatsoever of the praying is felt as a veil betwixt the soul and God. This state is called by the Mystics "absorption," for the reason that the man is so absorbed, that he takes no thought of his body, or of anything that happens externally, none of what occurs in his own soul, but, absent as it were from all such matter whatsoever, is first engaged in going ''towards'' his Lord, and finally is wholly ''in'' his Lord. If only the thought occurs that he is absorbed into the Absolute, it is a blemish ; for that absorption only is worthy of the name which is unconscious of itself. And these words of mine, although they {{Page aside in Path|v=1|n=3|p=74}}will be called, as I well know, but foolish babbling by raw theologians, are yet by no means without significance. For consider, the condition of which I speak, resembles that of a person who loves any other object, as wealth, honor, or pleasure. We see such persons so carried away with their love, and others with anger, that they do not hear one who speaks to them, nor see those passing before their eyes; nay, so absorbed are they in their passion, that they do not perceive their absorption. Just so far as you turn your mind upon your absorption, you necessarily turn it away from that which is the object of it."

Who, on the morning of his journey, is still indulging in sweet sleep ; {{Page aside in Path|v=1|n=3|p=78}}—They asked Lockman, the wise, from whence he learnt wisdom. He answered : "From the blind; for till they have tried the ground, they plant not the foot."

Jelal is truly the greatest Sufi saint, for marvelous were his powers. In the ''Menaqibu 'l Afifin'' (the Acts of the Adepts) by ''Shemsu-'d-din Ahmed, el Eflaki'' the following acts are recorded against his name. "When five years old, he used at times to become extremely uneasy and restless, so much so that his attendants used to take him into the midst of themselves. The cause of these perturbations was that spiritual forms and shapes of the absent (invisible world) would arise before his sight, that is, angelic messengers, righteous Genii, and saintly men—the concealed ones of the bowers of the True One (spiritual spouses of God), used to appear to him in bodily shapes: * * * His father used on these occasions to coax and soothe him by saying: "These are the Occult Existences. They come to present themselves to you, to offer unto you gifts and presents from the invisible world." These ecstasies and transports of his began to be publicly known and talked about. The honorific title of Khudavendgar<ref>Khudawand is a Persian word signifying "lord," "prince," "master." A professor: an authority. It is used as a title of the Deity and by Christian missionaries in India it is generally employed as a translation of the Greek Kyrios, "Lord." (Hughes' Dic.)</ref> was conferred upon him at this time by his father, who used to address him as "My Lord."—"It is related that when Jelal was six years old, he one Friday afternoon was taking the air on the terraced roof of the house, and reciting the Quran, when some other children of good families came in and joined him there. After a time, one of these children proposed that they should try and jump from thence on to a neighbouring terrace, and should lay wagers on the result. Jelal smiled at this childish proposal, and remarked: "My brethren, to jump from terrace to terrace is an act well adapted for cats, dogs, and the like, to perform; but is it not degrading to man, whose station is so superior. Come now, if you {{Page aside in Path|v=1|n=4|p=111}}feel disposed, let us spring up to the firmament, and visit the regions of God's realm." As he yet spake, he vanished from there sight. Frightened at Jelal's sudden disappearance, the other children raised a shout of dismay, that some one should come to their assistance, when lo, in an instant, there he was again in their midst; but with an altered expression of countenance and blanched cheeks. They all uncovered before him, fell to the earth in humility, and all declared themselves his disciples. He now told them that, as he was yet speaking to them, a company of visible forms, clad in green raiment, had led him away from them, and had conducted him about the various concentric orbs of the spheres, and through the signs of the Zodiac, showing him the wonders of the world of spirits, and bringing him back to them so soon as their cries had reached his ears.

Whoever's killed pride's demon in his earthly frame, {{Page aside in Path|v=1|n=5|p=142}}The sun and clouds are slaves, to do his bidding, tame.

and when the Sultan came to examine the relative merit of Chinese gorgeousness and Greek simplicity, {{Page aside in Path|v=1|n=5|p=144}}{{Style P-Poem

Even in Mohammed's lifetime an attempt was made to engraft the elements of the contemplative life upon his doctrine. The facts are well known. One evening, after some more vigorous declamations than usual on the prophet's part—he had taken for his theme the flames and tortures of hell—several of his most zealous companions, among whom the names of Omar, Ali, Abou-Dharr, and Abou-Horeirah are conspicuous, retired to pass the night together in a neighbouring dwelling. Here they fell into deep discourses on the terrors of divine justice, and the means to appease or prevent its course. The conclusion they came to was nowise unnatural. They agreed that to this end the surest way was to abandon their wives, to pass their lives in continued fast and abstinence, to wear hair-cloth, and practice other similar austerities: in a word, they laid down for themselves a line of conduct truly ascetic, and leading to whatever can follow in such a course. But they desired first to secure the approbation of Mohammed. Accordingly, at break of day, they presented themselves before him, to acquaint him with the resolution of the night, as well as its motives and purport; but they had reckoned without their host. The prophet rejected their proposition with a sharp rebuke, and declared marriage and war to be far more agreeable to the Divinity than any austereness of life or mortification of the senses whatever, and the well known passage of the Quran: "O true believers, do not abstain from the good things of the earth which God permits you to enjoy," revealed on this very occasion, remains a lasting monument of Mohammed's disgust at this premature outbreak of ascetic feeling. This lesson and many others of a similar character, for the time being, checked any and all appearance of declared forms of asceticism, but could not prevent the ultimate triumph of the truer and better parts of {{Page aside in Path|v=1|n=6|p=181}}human nature. "Fate" would have it, that within his own family, lie hidden the germs, destined in after ages, down to the present day, and probably as long as Islam shall exist, to exert the mightiest influence in the Mohammedan world.

Thus it is that, until a man acquires the sincere devotion of the linnet-{{Page aside in Path|v=1|n=6|p=182}}voiced flute-reed, he cannot hear the mysteries of "The Brethren of Sincerity" in its dulcet notes, or realize the delights thereof; for "faith is altogether a yearning of the heart, and a gratification of the spiritual sense."

On the authority of the famous saint of Bagdad, Aboo-Bekr el Kettanée, E. W. Lane<ref>Arabian Soc. in the Middle Ages.—D'Ohsson describing the Turkish Dervishes gives another account.</ref> states that the orders under the rule of this chief are called Omud (or Owtad), Akhyar, Abdal, Nujaba, and Nukaba, naming them according to their precedence, and remarks that perhaps to these should be {{Page aside in Path|v=1|n=6|p=183}}added an inferior order called Ashab ed-Darak, that is "Watchmen" or "Overseers." The Nukaba are three hundred and reside in El-Gharb (Northern Africa to the West of Egypt); the Nujaba are seventy and reside in Egypt; the Abdal are forty and are found in Syria; the Akhyar are seven and travel about the earth in the corners of the earth; the Omud are four and stand at the four corners of the earth. The members are not known as such to their inferior unenlightened fellow-creatures, and are often invisible to them. This is most frequently the case with the Kothb, who, though generally stationed at Mekka, on the roof of the Kaaba, is never visible there, nor at any of his other favorite stations, yet his voice is often heard at these places.

After the death of Fodheil the supreme direction of the brotherhood was vested in ''Bishar el Hafi'', a native of Meron and inhabitant of Bagdad. When young he had, like Fodheil, led a reckless life, till one day walking in the streets he saw written on a piece of paper, torn and trampled on by the feet of the passers-by, the name of God. He picked it up and, having cleaned it to the best of his ability, took it home and placed it out of the reach of further profanation. The same night he heard a voice saying to him; "Bishar, thou has honoured my name. I will accordingly render {{Page aside in Path|v=1|n=7|p=202}}thy name honourable in this world and in that to come." He awoke from sleep a changed man, and began a new life of penance and virtue. The name Hafi signifies ''barefoot''. He walked barefooted. His greatest trial was from the veneration of man: "O God," he used to say, "save me from this honour, the requital of which may perchance be confusion in another life."

M. D'hosson in his celebrated work on the Ottoman empire traces the origin of the Faquirs to the time of Mohammed in the following manner: In the first year of the Hegira, forty-five citizens of Mecca joined themselves to many others from Medina. They took an oath of fidelity to the doctrines of their Prophet, and formed a sect or fraternity, the object of which was to establish among themselves a community of property, and to perform every day certain religious practices in a spirit of penitence and mortification. To distinguish themselves from other Mohammedans, they took the name of Sufis. This name, which later was attributed to the most zealous partizans of Islam, is the same still in use to indicate any Muselman who retires from the world to study, to lead a life of pious contemplation, and to follow the most painful exercises of an exaggerated devotion. To the name of Sufi they added also that of Faquir, because their maxim was to renounce the goods of the earth, and to live in an entire abnegation of all worldly enjoyments, following thereby the words of the Prophet: "Poverty is my pride." Following their example, ''Abu Bakr and Ali'' established, even during the lifetime of the Prophet and under his own eyes, religious orders, over which each {{Page aside in Path|v=1|n=7|p=204}}presided, with Zikrs or peculiar religious exercises, established by them separately, and a vow taken by each of the voluntary disciples forming them. On his decease, Abu Bakr made over his office of president to one "Salmann l-Farisi," and Ali to "al-Hasann l-Basri," and each of these charges were consecrated under the title of ''Khalifah'', or successor. The two first successors followed the example of the Khalifahs of Islam, and transmitted it to their successors, and these in turn to others, the most aged and venerable of their fraternity. Some among them, led by the delirium of the imagination, wandered away from the primitive rules of their society, and converted, from time to time, these fraternities into a multitude of religious orders. * * * It was about A. H. 49 (A. D. 766) that the Shaikh Alwan, a mystic renowned for his religious fervor, founded the first regular order of the Faquirs, now known as the Alwaniyah.

A student will also readily discover a different character in Arabic and Persian Sufism. The Arabic being nearer to Christianity takes up much from it, and moulds it in its peculiar way; the Persian being nearer the traditions of Zoroaster, and in immediate contact with Manechaism, naturally borrows largely from thence. Thus the "pantheistic" tendencies, such as {{Page aside in Path|v=1|n=7|p=205}}Divine absorption, universal manifestation of the Deity under the seeming appearances of limited forms, the final return of all things to the unity of God, a tendency to regard matter as evil, the reprobation of marriage, etc.—these were ideas that rose from Persian soil, while the ideas of a radiant Divinity mediating between the supreme fountain-head of Being and the created world; of an all-prevading Spirit of love; of detachment from the world; of poverty, humility, etc., were more akin to Christian belief.

"Having been introduced, by means of Akhônd Mollâ Mohammed Say'd into the intimate circle of Mollâ Shah, my heart through frequent intercourse with the Sheikh was filled with a burning desire of reaching the sublime goal [of the mystical science], and I no longer found sleep by night nor rest by day * * * I passed the whole of that night without being able to shut my eyes, and betook myself to reciting a hundred thousand times the one hundred and twelfth chapter of the Qoran. I accomplished this in several days. It is well known that in this chapter of the {{Page aside in Path|v=1|n=7|p=207}}Qoran the great Name of God is contained, and that through the power of that Name, whoever recites it a hundred thousand times may obtain all he desires. I conceived then the wish that the Master should bestow his affection upon me. And, in fact, I convinced myself of the efficacy of this means, for hardly had I finished the hundred thousandth recitation of this chapter of the book of God, when the heart of the Master was filled with sympathy for me, and he gave order to Senghin Mohammed, his vicar, to conduct me on the following night to his presence. During that whole night he concentrated his mind upon me, while I directed my meditation upon my own heart; but the knot of my heart was not unloosed. So passed three nights, during which he made me the object of his spiritual attention, without any result being manifested. On the fourth night Mollâ Shâh said,

'This night Mollâ Senghin and Sâlih Bêg, who are both very susceptible to ecstatic emotions, will direct their whole mind upon the neophyte.' They obeyed this order, while I remained seated the whole night, my face turned towards Mecca, at the same time concentrating all my mental faculties upon my own heart. Towards daybreak, a little light and brightness came into my heart, but I could distinguish neither form nor color. After morning prayer I presented myself, the two persons I have just mentioned, before the Master who saluted me and asked them what they had done to me. They replied: 'Ask him, himself.' Then, addressing me, he told me to relate to him my impressions. I said that I had seen a brightness in my heart; whereupon the Sheikh became animated, and said to me: 'Thy heart contains an infinity of colors, but it is become so dark that the looks of these two crocodiles of the infinite ocean [the mystic science] have not availed to bestow upon it either brightness or clearness; the moment is come when I myself will show thee how it is enlightened.' With these words he made me sit in front of him, while my senses were, so to speak, inebriated. Then, having blindfolded me, he bade me concentrate all my mental faculties upon my heart. I obeyed, and in an instant, by the divine favor and the spiritual assistance of the Sheikh, my heart was opened. I saw within something like a cup, turned upside down; and this object having turned up again, a feeling of illimitable happiness filled my whole being. I said to the Master, 'This cell, where I am sitting before you—I see a faithful reproduction of it within me, and it seems as if another Têwekkul Bêg were seated before another Mollâ Shâh.' He answered, 'It is well; the first vision which presents itself to thy view is the figure of the Master.' * * * He next bade me uncover my eyes, which I did, and I then saw him, by the material organ of vision, seated in front of me. Again he made me bandage them, and I perceived him by my spiritual vision, seated in front of me just the same. Full of wonder I cried out, O my Master, whether I look with my bodily eyes or my spiritual vision, it is always you that I see.' Meanwhile I saw advance towards me a dazzling figure, and upon my telling the Master of it, he bade me ask the apparition its name. In my spirit I put to it that question, and the figure answered me by the voice of the heart, 'My name is Abd Alkâdir Gîlâny.' I heard this answer by my spiritual ear. The Master then advised me to pray the Saint to give me his spiritual help and succor. I made this petition; and the apparition said to me, 'I had already granted to thee my spiritual assistance; hence it is that the knots of thy heart have been loosed.' Full of deep gratitude, I imposed on myself the obligation of reciting every Friday night the whole Qoran in honor of this great Saint, and for two whole years I never neglected this practice. Mollâ Shâh then said, 'The spiritual world {{Page aside in Path|v=1|n=7|p=208}}has been shown to thee in all its beauty: remain there seated, effacing thyself completely in the marvels of this unknown world.'