Sufism

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samabudhi

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I'd like to know what you think of the Sufis?
I'm particularly interested in the opinions of normal Muslims.

Cheers
 
samabudhi said:
I'd like to know what you think of the Sufis?
I'm particularly interested in the opinions of normal Muslims.

Cheers
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Regards Samabudhi

If you want to have opinion on Sufis from me, them I am very sorry as I really do not have good knowledge about this topic. I'll do some research on it and InshAllah(by the will of Allah) will share the information with you.
 
Rather than start another thread...

I was just recently reading the sufi texts I could find online and.. well, first of all they f**king rock. Secondly, I was struck by how the tradition not only pre-dates Islam (which is impossible in Islamic doctrine, but true nonetheless), but goes as far back as Persian mysticism (which is pre-history). What's the chances that it only embraced Islamic tradition out of necessity to survive through assimilation?

I keep picturing a Sufi going through the Koran pointing to this or that passage and saying, 'okay, this is true, but this isn't'. LOL

Time is needed for blood to become milk.
 
I was just recently reading the sufi texts I could find online and.. well, first of all they f**king rock.
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they do, as you say, fecking rock. the thing to be aware of with sufi texts is that they are replete with symbolic levels and if you are unfamiliar with their taught tradition and the languages involved it can seem a bit new-age-happy-clappy. in fact, there are a fair number of people around who call themselves sufis who, imho, really aren't.

Secondly, I was struck by how the tradition not only pre-dates Islam (which is impossible in Islamic doctrine, but true nonetheless), but goes as far back as Persian mysticism (which is pre-history). What's the chances that it only embraced Islamic tradition out of necessity to survive through assimilation?
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there are a number of opinions on this; i know of at least one (persian, i think) sufi school which definitely considers itself pre-islamic, in much the same sense that Truth is Universal and all that sort of thing. but the other ones i'm familiar with were set up post-islam, so obviously they are influenced by the fact that their founders and members were for the most part devoutly religious sunni and shia. i think you're being a teensy bit unfair to islam; they never claimed that Truth was inaccessible to humanity before the Qur'an, only that muhammad was the *last* prophet and that he was specifically sent to the arabs because they were in jahiliyya, a "time of ignorance", as it were. everyone else got their own messengers from G!D.

the sufis have always been a bit on the controversial side and came in and out of fashion in the islamic world, rather like the jewish mystics. but yes, as you say, they're not entirely an islamic phenomenon, but in most cases they are islamic.

b'shalom

bananabrain
 
the thing to be aware of with sufi texts is that they are replete with symbolic levels and if you are unfamiliar with their taught tradition and the languages involved it can seem a bit new-age-happy-clappy. in fact, there are a fair number of people around who call themselves sufis who, imho, really aren't.
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LOL Yeah, I dismissed it before as being probably a lost sect of Islam reimagined by American hippies, ala Kabbalah. Then I read this thing on mysticism that included a chapter on Sufism in passing, and rendered all the levels of significance on just one brief farsi parable, presently all the ways the meaning could be expressed in english. Deep sh*t. The good kind. I don't usually care for mysticism, but I guess the marketing geniuses haven't got their hooks into Sufism yet.

i think you're being a teensy bit unfair to islam; they never claimed that Truth was inaccessible to humanity before the Qur'an, only that muhammad was the *last* prophet and that he was specifically sent to the arabs because they were in jahiliyya, a "time of ignorance", as it were.
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Well, my take on Sufism in relation to Islam, is my understanding of Persian mythology and spirituality pre-arab invasion. But I honestly don't know how one can be fair to every religious ideology without stepping on the toes of another brand of thought. It wasn't my intention to be flip, but rather reflect the Islam I've been shown.
 
no, bona fide sufis are still very much still around. i've come across three tariqas myself, two islamic, one not. then there are famous ones like the mevlevis.

however, like kabbalah, there are plenty of people out for a quick buck rather than anything else.

b'shalom

bananabrain
 
Secondly, I was struck by how the tradition not only pre-dates Islam (which is impossible in Islamic doctrine, but true nonetheless), but goes as far back as Persian mysticism (which is pre-history). What's the chances that it only embraced Islamic tradition out of necessity to survive through assimilation?
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Actually, we consider the place of spirituality in human life to have started with the advent of man as we consider Islam to have started then, with Adam (pbuh) the first muslim.

Sufism, practising of Tassawuf (purification), is an integral part of Islam, contributing to Ihsan, which is one of the three main aims of the religion (along with iman and ihsan).

Articles such as this: http://www.masud.co.uk/ISLAM/ahm/fgtnrevo.htm or this: http://www.masud.co.uk/ISLAM/nuh/sufitlk.htm may be of help.

Of course, some take it a bit far and eschew the other aspects of the religion, but eh, it happens..
 
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