Sufism-2
SUFISM-2
The Path of Heart
"If you ask for the water of eternal life,
its source is the dust on the doorstep
of the solitary hut of the Sufi".
Hafiz Sirazi
Sufism in its best known forms must be considered to be the philosophy of Mohammedanism and to represent the protest of the human soul against the formalism and barrenness of the letter of the Quran. Still there is much in favor of Schmokler's assertion (Essai sur les ecoles philosophique chez les Arabes) that Sufism is neither a philosophical system nor the creed of a religious sect, but simply a way of living.
The Dabistan maintains the identity of the pure Sufis and that of Platonism and it has popularly been supposed that Sufism has borrowed very much from the Vedanta and from Plato and Aristotle; it has even been confidently asserted that the similarity is so striking to the student, that it is a most easy matter to find identical statements in either of them. We must confess that our study does not prove the assertion. The similarity is to be accounted for by the universality of truth.
The root of the word implies wisdom, the Greek Sophia, purity, spirituality, etc. Some have connected it with suf, wool, on account of the woolen garment worn by the devotees. Graham (1) maintains that, "any person or a person of any religion or sect, may be a Sufi. The mystery lies in this: a total disengagement of the mind from all temporal concerns and worldly pursuits; an entire throwing off not only of every superstition, doubt, or the like, but of the practical mode of worship, ceremonies, etc., laid down in every religion, which the Mohammedans term Sheriat, being the law, or canonical law; and entertaining solely mental abstraction, and contemplation of the soul and Deity, their affinity, etc." In short, Sufism may be termed the religion of the heart, as opposed to formalism and ritualism.
"Traces of the Sufi doctrine exist in some shape or other in every region of the world. It is to be found in the most splendid theogonies of the ancient school of Greece and of the modern philosophers of Europe.
Abu-Said-Abul-Chair, the accredited founder of Sufism, when asked what Sufism was, answered: "What you have in the head, give it up; what you have in the hand, throw it away; whatever may meet you, depart not from it".
The Path of Sufism
The main duty of this life is Meditation on the Unity of Deity (wahdaniyah), the Remembrance of God's Name (Zikr), and Progression in the Tariqat (the Path, the Journey of Life).
Human life is a journey (safar) and the seekers after God are travellers (salik). Perfect knowledge (marifah) of Deity as diffused throughout creation is the purpose of the journey. Sufism is the guide, and the end of the journey, is Union with God. The natural state of every human being is nasut. In this state the disciple cannot yet observe the Law (shariat). This is the lowest form of spiritual existence.
The states in the Tarikat are the following:
1. The first state is called Shariat — the state of law or method. The student's passions are in this degree checked by a rigid observance of ritual, &c., whereby he learns human nature and to respect order and finds out for himself the rudiments of knowledge of God.
2. The second state is Tariqat or the way, or road. This state implies mental or spiritual worship, abstracted totally from the above. The student learns to see the propaedeutic nature of ceremonies and devotes himself to realities. At this stage the ascetic exercises begin and he holds communion with Malkut or the angelic world.
3. The third state, Haqiqat, or the state of truth is the state of inspiration or greater natural knowledge. The Sufi now lives no more in faith but in subjective truth and spiritual power; he has seen the similarity of God's nature and his own; all antinomies are destroyed, even sin disappears from his reflections.
4. The fourth and last state is Marifut or union of spirit and soul with God. "Union (with God) is reality, or the state, truth and perception of things, when there is neither lord nor servant". Still "the man of God is not God; but he is not separate from God".
The Seven Way-Stations of the Path
The first degree consists of penitence, obedience, and meditation, and in this degree the light is, as it were, green.
The second degree is the purity of the Spirit from satanic qualities, violence, and brutality, because as long as the spirit is the slave of satanic qualities, it is subject to concupiscence, and this is the quality of fire. In this state Iblis evinces his strength, and when the spirit is liberated from this, it is distressed with the quality of fierceness, which may be said to be flashing and this is conformable to the property of wind. In the degree of repose, the light is as it were, blue, and the utmost reach of one's progress is the earthly dominion.
The third degree is the manifestation of the heart, by laudable qualities, which is similar to red light, and the utmost reach of its progress is the middle of the upper dominion; and in this station the heart praises God, and sees the light of worship and spiritual qualities.
The fourth degree is the applying of the constitution to nothing else but to God and this is similar to yellow light, and the utmost reach of its progress is the midst of the heavenly Malkat "dominion."
The fifth degree of the soul is that which resembles white light, and the utmost aim of its progress is the extreme heavenly dominion.
The sixth degree is the hidden, which is like a black light, and the utmost reach of its progress is "the world of power".
The seventh degree is "the evanescence of evanescence", which is annihilation (fana) and ''eternal life,'' and is colorless. It is absorption in God, non-existence and effacement of the imaginary in the true being, like the loss of a drop of water in the ocean. It is eternal life as the union of the drop with the sea. "Annihilation" is not to be taken in the common acceptation, but in a higher sense, "annihilation in God".