SUFISM
Sufism or Islamic mysticism, which becomes prominent in the course
of the 3rd cent. A.H., was partly a product of Hellenistic influences,
and exercised a considerable influence on the philosophers of the time
of Ibn Sina and afterwards. The name _Sufi_ is derived from _suf_
“wool,” and so means “wool-clad,” thus denoting a person who from
choice used clothing of the simplest kind and avoided every form of
luxury or ostentation. That this is the true meaning is proved by the
fact that Persian employs as its equivalent the term _pashmina-push_,
which also means “wool-clad.” By a popular error the Arabic writers on
Sufism often treat the word as derived from _safa_, “purity,” and so
make it something akin to “puritan”; and still more incorrectly certain
Western writers have supposed that it is a transliteration of the Greek
[Greek: sophos σοφός]. The emphasis is laid upon the ascetic avoidance
of luxury and the voluntary adoption of simplicity in clothing on the
part of those to whom the term is applied. If we regard this as a
form of asceticism it will be at once objected that asceticism has no
place in the teaching of the Qur´an and is alien to the character of
early Islam. In a sense this is true, and in a sense untrue according
to the meaning we attach to the term “asceticism.” As it is used in
the history of Christian monasticism, or of the devotees of several
Indian religions, or even of the latter Sufis, it implies a deliberate
avoidance of the normal pleasures and indulgences of human life, and
especially of marriage, as things which entangle the soul and prevent
its spiritual progress. In this sense asceticism is alien to the spirit
of Islam, and appears amongst Muslims only as an exotic. But the term
may be used, not very accurately perhaps, of the puritanical restraint
and simplicity which avoids all luxury and display, and deliberately
tries to retain a primitively simple and self-denying manner of life.
In this latter sense asceticism or puritanism was a distinguishing mark
of the “old believer” as contrasted with the secularised Arab of the
Umayyad type, and this attitude always had its admirers. The historians
constantly refer with commendation to the abstemious lives of the
early Khalifs and the “Companions” of the Prophet, and describe how
they were abstinent not from poverty but in order to put themselves on
an equality with their subjects, and to preserve the traditional mode
of life of the Prophet and his first followers, and very often in the
recognised Traditions we find mention of the bare and simple mode of
life of the first Muslims. Quite early this simplicity appears as the
distinctive mark of the strict Muslim, and emphasizes the difference
between him and the worldly followers of the Umayyads, and similar
instances appear amongst the devout Muslims of the present day. Such
were not Sufis, but they may be regarded as the precursors of the
Sufis. The historian al-Fakhri, describing the abstemious life of the
first Khalifs, says that they endeavoured by this self-restraint to
wean themselves from the lusts of the flesh. This is reading a later
idea into a much earlier practice, which was originally designed simply
as a more accurate following of the Prophet, who was unable to enjoy
any luxury or splendour; but it shows that later generations were
inclined to ascribe a more definitely ascetic motive to the affectedly
simple life of the earlier Muslims, and no doubt that early puritanism,
misunderstood by later ages, contributed to spread asceticism.
Al-Qushayri (cited Browne: _Lit. Hist. of Persia_, i. pp. 297-8),
after referring to the “Companions” and “Followers” of the first age
of Islam, then mentions the “ascetes” or “devotees” as the elect of
a later age, those who were most deeply concerned with matters of
religion, and finally the Sufis as those elect of still later times,
“whose souls were set on God, and who guarded their hearts from the
disasters of heedlessness.” Historically this is an error, for the
saints of early Islam were inspired by a spirit of strict adherence
to the traditional life of their desert ancestors and rejected luxury
as an “innovation,” very much the same spirit as that observed in the
ancient Hebrew prophets; whilst the Sufis were no enthusiasts for
tradition, but eschewed bodily indulgence as an entanglement of the
flesh which hindered the progress of the spirit, so that they were in
no sense the successors of the “Companions,” but were influenced by new
ideas unknown to early Islam. Yet superficially the results were very
much alike, and this caused the two to be connected, and helped the
later custom of connecting the early puritans with the ascetics of a
subsequent age. In its earliest form, also, Islam made a strong appeal
to the motive of fear, an appeal not based on divine severity so much
as on divine justice and on man’s consciousness of his own sinfulness
and unworthiness, and on the fleeting passage of the life lived in
this present world. There was an intense concentration on the Day of
Judgment and on the perils of the sinner, a teaching which is perceived
in the Qur´an even by the most casual reader: but all this was not
altogether congenial to the Arab, although he in poetry certainly
inclined towards a tone of sadness. The inevitable result of this
teaching was asceticism in the puritanical sense, or, perhaps we should
say, a tone of severity in religion.
Jami, one of the greatest Persian authorities on Sufism, tells us that
the name “Sufi” was first applied to Abu Hashim (d. 162), an Arab of
Kufa who spent the greater part of his life in Syria, and is typical of
the early Islamic devotee who followed the simplicity of the Prophet’s
life and was deeply influenced by the Qur´anic teaching about sin,
judgment, and the brief passage of earthly life. Similar devotees,
claimed as Sufis by later Sufi writers, but more properly devotees who
were their precursors, appear in the course of the 2nd century, such
as Ibrahim b. Adham (d. 162), Da´ud of Tayy (d. 165), Fadayl of `Iyad
(d. 188), Ma´ruf of Karkh (d. 200), and others, both men and women.
Amongst these there was gradually evolved the beginnings of an ascetic
theology in traditional sayings and narratives of their lives and
conduct, a hagiology which lays great emphasis upon their penances and
self mortification. Of this material the most important is the recorded
teaching of Ma´ruf of Karkh, from which we may quote the definition of
Sufism as “the apprehension of divine realities,” which, in a slightly
altered sense perhaps, becomes the keynote of later Sufism.
Can we trace the origin of these early recluses? Von Kremer (_Herrsch_,
p. 67) considers this type as a native Arab growth developed from
pre-Islamic Christian influences. Christian monasticism we know was
familiar to the Arabs in the country fringing the Syrian desert and in
the desert of Sinai: of this we have evidence both in Christian writers
like Nilus and in the pre-Islamic poets, as in the words of Imru
l-Qays:--
“Friend, see the lightning--it flashed and is gone, like the flashing
of two hands on a crowned pillar:
Did its blaze flash forth? or was it the lamp of a monk who poured
oil on the twisted wick?”
The hermit’s life was known even in Arabia itself, and tradition
relates that Muhammad received his first call when he had retired
to the cave of Hira and was living as a recluse there, returning
periodically to his home and taking back food with him to the cave (cf.
Bukhari: _Sahih_, i.). It seems likely, indeed, that the early recluses
of Islam were inspired by the example of Christian monasticism, either
directly or through the medium of Muhammad’s traditional retirement.
But these recluses were not numerous, and admittedly neglect the
Qur´anic command to marry (Qur. 24, 32).
Thus the earlier asceticism shows the character of devout quietism,
of a puritanical abstinence from display of wealth and from
self-indulgence, of a strict simplicity of life rather than of a
voluntary poverty and mortification, of occasional retirement from the
world, and only in rare instances of the permanent adoption of the
hermit life. An instance of this type occurs in Abu l-`Abbas as-Sabti
(d. 184), son of the Khalif Harunu r-Rashid, who renounced rank and
fortune for a life of meditation and retirement.
In the latter part of the 3rd cent. we begin to find evidences of a
“new Sufism,” which was inspired by religious ideals other than those
which had been dominant in early Islam, and which developed from those
ideals a theology of its own, which for a long time was not admitted
as orthodox. Asceticism still occurs, but whilst, on the one hand, it
begins to take a more definite character in the deliberate seeking
of poverty and mortification, it is, on the other hand, relegated to
a subordinate place as a merely preparatory stage in the Sufi life,
which is technically described as a “journey.” Poverty, which amongst
the early Muslims was esteemed simply in so far as it reproduced the
modest life of the Prophet and his companions, and was a standing
protest against the secularisation of the Umayyads, now assumed greater
prominence as a devotional exercise, a change which appears definitely
in Da´ud at-Ta´i (d. 165), who limited his possessions to a rush mat, a
brick which he used as a pillow, and a leather water bottle. In later
Sufism poverty takes a position of great prominence: the terms _faqir_,
“poor man,” and _darwish_, “mendicant,” become synonyms for “Sufi.” But
in Sufi teaching religious poverty does not mean absence of possessions
only: it implies the absence of all interest in earthly things, the
giving up of all participation in earthly possessions, and desiring God
as the only aim of desire. So mortification is the subjugation of the
evil part of the animal soul, the _nafs_ which is the seat of the lust
and passions, and so the weaning of the soul from material interests, a
“dying to self and to the world” as a beginning of a living to God.
What was the source of the theology developed in the newer
Sufism? Undoubtedly this was neo-Platonic, as has been proved by Dr.
Nicholson (_Selected Poems from the Diwan of Shams-i-Tabriz_, Camb.,
1898, and _The Mystics of Islam_, Lond. 1914), and by Prof. Browne
(_Literary Hist. of Persia_, Lond., 1902, chap. xiii.), and forms
part of the influence which came into Islam at the introduction of
Greek philosophy under the `Abbasids. But as in philosophy and other
cultural transmissions direct Greek influence was preceded by an
indirect influence brought to bear through Syriac and Persian, so it
was also in neo-platonic theology, for neo-Platonic influences had
already been brought to bear upon the Syrians and Persians in the
pre-Islamic period. In the forefront of the later direct influence
must be placed the so-called _Theology of Aristotle_, which it is
no exaggeration to describe as the most prominent and the widest
circulated manual of neo-Platonism which has ever appeared. It is, as
we have already stated, an abridged translation of the last three books
of Plotinus’ _Enneads_. Now the mysticism of Plotinus is philosophical
and not religious, but it lends itself to a theological interpretation
very easily, just as neo-Platonism as a whole very readily became a
theological system in the hands of Jamblichus, of the pagans of Harran,
and such like; and the Sufis were inclined to make this application,
whilst the _falasifa_ confined themselves to its philosophical side. It
seems probable that the influence of the Pseudo-Dionysius was brought
to bear upon Islam about the same time. The Pseudo-Dionysian writings
consist of four treatises, of which two, a treatise “On Mystical
Theology” in five chapters, and a treatise “On the Names of God” in
thirteen chapters, have been the chief source of Christian mystical
theology. The first reference to these writings occurs in A.D. 532,
when the claim was made that they were the work of Dionysius, the
Areopagite, a pupil of St. Paul, or at least represent his teaching.
In several places the writer cites Hierotheus as his teacher, and this
enables us to identify the source as a Syrian monk named Stephen Bar
Sudaili, who wrote under the name of Hierotheus (cf. Asseman, _Bibl.
Orient._ ii. 290-291). This Bar Sudaili was abbot of a convent at
Edessa, and was involved in controversy with James of Sarugh, so that
we may refer the writings to the latter part of the 5th century A.D.
They were translated into Syriac very soon after their first appearance
in Greek, and, as familiar to Syriac Christians, must have become
indirectly known to the Muslims. We have no direct evidence as to their
translation into Arabic, but Mai gives fragments of other works of
Bar Sudaili which appear in Arabic MSS. in his _Spicilegium Romanum_
(iii. 707). The traditional view of the relations between Sufism and
philosophy is described in the anecdote cited by Prof. Browne (_Lit.
Hist. of Persia_, ii. 261, from _Akhlag-i-Jalali_) of the Sufi Abu
Sa`id b. Abi l-Khayr (d. 441 A.H. = 1049 A.D.), who is said to have met
and conversed with Ibn Sina; when they parted Abu Sa`id said of Ibn
Sina, “What I see, he knows,” whilst Ibn Sina said, “What I know, he
sees.”
But there were other influences of a secondary character at work in
`Iraq and Persia which become important when we remember that it was
the subject population of those parts which had, to a large extent,
replaced the Arabs as the leaders of Islam during the `Abbasid period.
In connection with the Sufis probably we cannot refer any influence
to the Zoroastrian religion proper, which had a non-ascetic and
national character; but the Manichæan and Masdekite religions, the two
“free churches” of Persia, show a definitely ascetic tone, and when
we find, as is the case, that many of the early Sufis were converts
from Zoroastrianism, or the sons of such converts, we are inclined
to suspect that, though professing that recognised religion, they
were in all probability actually _Zindiqs_, that is to say secretly
heretics and initiates of the Manichæan or Masdekite sect making
external profession of the more recognised cult, as was the common
practice of these _Zindiqs_. Note must also be made of the Gnostic
influences transmitted through the Saniya of the fen country between
Wasit and Basra, the Mandæans, as they are called to distinguish them
from the so-called Sabians of Harran. The Sufi Ma´ruf of Karkh was
himself the son of Sabian parents. And again we must not ignore the
probability of Buddhist influences, for Buddhist propaganda had been
active in pre-Islamic times in Eastern Persia and Transoxiana. Buddhist
monasteries existed in Balkh, and it is noteworthy that the ascete
Ibrahim b. Adham (d. 162--cf. supra) is traditionally described as a
prince of Balkh who left his throne to become a darwish. On closer
examination, however, it does not appear that Buddhist influence can
have been very strong, as there are essential differences between Sufi
and Buddhist theories. A superficial resemblance exists between the
Buddhist _nirvana_ and the _fana_ or reabsorption of the soul in the
Divine Spirit of Sufism. But the Buddhist doctrine represents the soul
as losing its individuality in the passionless placidity of absolute
quiescence, whilst the Sufi doctrine, though also teaching a loss of
individuality, regards everlasting life as consisting in the ecstatic
contemplation of the Divine Beauty. There is an Indian parallel to
_fana_, but it is not in Buddhism, but in the Vedantic pantheism.
It is generally accepted that the first exponent of Sufi doctrine
was the Egyptian, or Nubian, _Dhu n-Nun_ (d. 245-246), a pupil of
the jurist Malik b. ´Anas, who lived at the time when there was much
percolation of Hellenistic influence into the Islamic world. He was
indeed nearly contemporary with `Abdullah, the son of Maymum, whose
work we have already noticed. Dhu n-Nun’s teaching was recorded and
systematized by al-Junayd of Baghdad (d. 297), and in it appears
essential doctrine of Sufism, as of all mysticism, in the teaching
of _tawhid_, the final union of the soul with God, a doctrine which
is expressed in a way closely resembling the neo-Platonic teaching,
save that in Sufism the means whereby this union is to be attained
is not by the exercise of the intuitive faculty of reason but by
piety and devotion. Still the two come very close when we find in
the teachings of the later philosophers that the highest exercise of
reason consists in the intuitive apprehension of the eternal verities
rather than in any other activity of the intellect. Al-Junayd is
stated by Jami to have been a Persian, and it is chiefly in Persian
hands that the doctrines of Sufism develop and turn towards pantheism.
Both agnosticism and pantheism are present practically in the later
neo-Platonism; agnosticism as regards the unknowable First Cause, the
God from the Agent Intellect is an emanation, a doctrine which develops
in the teaching of the philosophers and of the Isma`ilians and kindred
sects; but Sufi teaching centres its attention upon the knowable
God, which the philosopher would describe as the Agent Intellect or
Logos, and this develops more usually in a pantheistic direction.
The doctrines thus developed and expressed by al-Junayd were boldly
preached by his pupil, _ash-Shibli_ of Kurasan (d. 335).
_Al-Husayn b. Mansur al-Hallaj_ (d. 309) was a fellow-student of
ash-Shibli, and shows Sufism as allied with extremely unorthodox
elements. He was of Zoroastrian descent and closely in touch with
the Qarmatians, and seems to have held those doctrines which are
usually associated with the _ghulat_ or extreme Shi`ites, such as
transmigration, incarnation, etc. He was put to death as a heretic for
declaring “I am the truth”, thus identifying himself with God. The
accounts given of him show great differences of opinion: for the most
part the earlier historians, approaching the subject from an orthodox
stand-point, represent him as a wily conjurer who by pretended miracles
gained a number of adherents, but later Sufi writers regard him as a
saint and martyr who suffered because he disclosed the great secret of
the union between the soul and God. The doctrine of _hulul_, or the
incarnation of God in the human body, was one of the cardinal tenets of
the _ghulat_. According to al-Hallaj, man is essentially divine because
he was created by God in his own image, and that is why, in Qur. 2,
32, God bids the angels worship Adam. In _hulul_, which is treated as
_tawhid_ taking place in this present life, the deity of God enters
the human soul in the same way that the soul at birth enters the body.
This teaching is a fusion of the old pre-Islamic Persian beliefs as to
incarnation and the philosophical theories of neo-Platonism, of the
Intellect or rational soul or spirit, as it is more commonly called by
English writers, the part added to the animal soul is an emanation from
the Agent Intellect, to which it will ultimately return and with which
it will be united (cf. Massignon: _Kitab al-Tawasin_, Paris, 1913).
This is an extremely interesting illustration of the fusion of oriental
and Hellenistic elements in Sufism, and shows that the theoretical
doctrines of Sufism, whatever they may have borrowed from Persia and
India, receive their interpretative hypotheses from neo-Platonism.
It is interesting also as shewing in the person of al-Hallaj a
meeting-point between the Sufi and the philosopher of the Isma`ilian
school.
Very similar was the teaching of Abu Yazid or Bayazid of Bistam (d.
260), who was also of Zoroastrian descent. The pantheistic element
is very clearly defined: “God,” he said, “is an unfathomable ocean”;
he himself was the throne of God, the preserved Tablet, the Pen, the
Word--all images taken from the Qur´an--Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and
Gabriel, for all who obtain true being are absorbed into God and become
one with God.
Pantheistic views and the doctrine of _hulul_ occur frequently in Sufi
teaching, but they are by no means universal. Indeed, we cannot make
any accurate statement of Sufi doctrine in detail, but only of general
principles and tendencies. The Sufis do not form a sect, but are
simply devotees of mystical tendencies spread through all the branches
of the Muslim community. In the 3rd cent. they are most prominent
amongst the Shi`ites, and so Shi`ite views seem to be incorporated
in Sufism, but they form no integral part of it. Precisely similar
conditions occur in Christianity where mysticism has flourished in the
extremer Protestant sects as well as in the contemplative orders of
the Catholic Church, and, in spite of theological differences, has a
very considerable amount of common material. Only it must be noted that
no basis of mysticism exists unless some such relations between the
human soul and God are pre-supposed, as are suggested by neo-Platonism.
Christian mysticism, in the true sense, does not begin in the West
until the works of the Pseudo-Dionysius were translated into Latin in
the 9th cent. A.D., and Muslim mysticism dates from the translation of
the _Theology of Aristotle_. On the other hand, it must also be noted
that mysticism exercises a strong modifying influence on theology
generally. The tendency of mysticism is towards a latitudinarian type:
it is consequently opposed, consciously or unconsciously, to definite
dogmatic teaching and so to speculative theology and philosophy.
Superficially Muslim mysticism seems to be organised like a sect.
Reference is often made to the various “grades” of Sufis. But these are
not official grades like those of the Isma`ilians and similar bodies,
but denote successive stages on the path of personal holiness: it is
no more than a fanciful terminology, perhaps borrowed from some of the
sects because it seems that Sufism flourished earliest and most freely
in some of the extremer Shi`ite groups. It was, and is, most usual for
the beginner in the path of holiness to put himself under the direction
of some experienced spiritual guide, who acts as his teacher, and is
known as _sheikh_, _murshid_, or _pir_. In many cases this pupilage
involves absolute and blind obedience to the teacher, because the
renunciation of personal wishes and inclinations and all that can be
described as self-will is one of the forms of abnegation required of
those who seek to be weaned from earthly interests. From the grouping
of devotees around some prominent teacher has arisen the foundation of
darwish confraternities, sometimes as sodalities of laymen, who pursue
their secular occupations and meet from time to time for religious
exercises and instruction, and sometimes as permanent communities
living in strict obedience under a sheikh. Traces of such monastic
institutions appear in Damascus about 150 A.H., and in Khurasan some
fifty years later. None of the existing orders of Islam, however, seem
to be of so early a date. We hear of a sheikh Alwan (circ. 149), whose
shrine is at Jedda, and who is the reputed founder of the Alwaniya
community, a body now existing only as a subdivision of the Rifa`ite
order. There are also orders known as the _Adhamiya_, _Bastamiya_, and
_Saqatiya_, which trace their origin to Ibrahim b. Adham (cf. above),
to Bayazid Bastami, and to Sari as-Saqati respectively, but whose real
origin is uncertain.
In the 6th century we are on surer ground. There is no reason to
question the claim of the Rifa`ite order to trace its foundation to
_Abu l-`Abbas Ahmad b. `Ali l-Hasan `Ali ibn Abi l-`Abbas Ahmad Rifa`i_
(d. 578), a native of the village of Umm Abida, near the junction of
the Tigris and Euphrates. In his lifetime he gathered a large body
of disciples, whom he incorporated in an order in 576, the members
living in community under a sheikh, to whom they owed unquestioning
obedience, but having also, like other orders, a number of lay
adherents. Dying without issue the headship of his order passed to
his brother’s family. It exists to-day in two main branches (i.) the
Alwaniya, already mentioned, and (ii.) the Gibawi, who are best known
from their association with the ceremony of the _dawsa_, at which the
sheikh used to ride over the prostrate bodies of his followers. Of
all the orders now flourishing in Egypt it is the one most inclined
to fanatical observances at its _zikr_ or prayer-meeting, the members
cutting themselves, driving sharp skewers and knives into their bodies,
swallowing snakes, etc., and in prayer allowing the name of God
oft-repeated to become at last no more than a half articulate groan.
They are usually distinguished by black-turbans. The Qadariya claim
`Abdu l-Qadir Jilani (d. 561) as their founder. At their _zikr_ there
is none of the fire-eating, serpent-swallowing, or self-mutilation of
the Rifa`ites, but only the name of God is repeated, always clearly
enunciated and followed by a pause. The Badawiya were founded by Abu
l-Fita Ahmad (d. 675), whose shrine is at Tanta, in Lower Egypt. The
_zikr_ is of a sober kind, the Divine name being repeated in a loud
voice without cutting, fire-eating, etc. The Mawlawiya or dancing
darwishes were founded by the Persian mystical poet Jalalu d-Din Rumi,
the author of the poem known as the _Masnawi_. The _Suhrwardiya_ trace
their origin to Shihabu d-Din, a pantheistic Sufi of Baghdad, who was
put to death by Saladin in 587.
In each of these orders a special course of instruction has taken
a more or less conventional form, and there have been certain great
teachers whose writings have come into use as manuals, and so have
impressed their views upon Sufism generally. Yet the fact remains that
Sufi teaching is essentially eclectic, and can be formulated only in
broad principles and tendencies. Of these the following seem to be of
most general application:--
(i.) God alone exists; God is the only reality, all else is illusive.
This is the Sufi rendering of the doctrine of the unity of God.
Strictly speaking “God” here signifies the Agent Intellect, that is
to say, the revelation of God who in Himself is unknowable, but the
Sufi does not make this philosophical distinction clear, or else
deliberately regards the revelation of God as God. But in man there is
a rational soul, which is to God as a mirrored image is to the object
which it reflects, and is capable of approaching the Divine reality.
As other than God is merely illusive it is obvious that a knowledge of
God the Reality cannot be attained by the medium of created things,
and thus the Sufis were led, like the neo-Platonists, to attach
greater value to immediate intuition by the rational soul than to the
use of arguments, and so to place direct revelation above what is
ordinarily described as reason. This is a line of development common
to all forms of mysticism, and results in a preference for ecstasy or
similar spiritual experience above the record of past revelation as
given in the Qur´an. The doctrine of ecstasy (_hal_ or _maqama_) was
first formulated by Dhu n-Nun, and implies _fana_ or “passing away,”
i.e., insensibility to the things of this world, and finally _baqa_ or
“continuance” in God. Usually this experience is accompanied by loss
of sensation, though this is not always the case, and there are many
legends of Sufi saints which represent them as totally unconscious
of violence of wounds; and this is not confined to legend, for
most extraordinary sufferings are endured, apparently with perfect
placidity, by darwishes at the present day, perhaps in accordance with
psychological laws which are imperfectly understood, and this is the
underlying idea in the exercises undergone by the Rifa`i darwishes and
others. The exercise known as _zikr_ (_dhikr_) or “remembering,” in
accordance with the command in Qur. 33, 41, “remember God often,” is an
attempt to make an advance towards the ecstatic state. It was perhaps
under Sufi influence that we find philosophy inclining to prefer
knowledge obtained by immediate intuition; it was certainly under such
influence that ecstasy is treated as a means of obtaining such direct
apprehension of truth in the later philosophers.
(ii.) The Sufi doctrine of God as the only reality has a direct
bearing not only on creation but also on the problem of good and evil.
As a thing can only be known by its opposite, light by darkness, health
by sickness, being by non-being, so God could only be made known to
man as reality contrasted with non-reality, and the mingling of these
two opposites produces the world of phenomena in which light is made
known by a background of darkness, which darkness is itself only the
absence of light: or, as being proceeds by successive emanations from
the First Cause, and becomes weaker or less real in each emanation as
it recedes further from the great Reality, it incidentally becomes
more perceptible as it becomes less real. Thus evil, which is merely
the negation of the moral beauty of the Reality, appears in the latest
emanation as the unreal background which is the inevitable result of a
projection of the emanation from the First Cause, who is entirely good,
into a world of phenomena. Evil is therefore not real, it is merely
the result, the inevitable result, of the mingling of reality with
unreality. In fact, this is implied in the doctrine that all other than
God is unreal.
(iii.) The aim of the soul is union with God. This doctrine of
_tawhid_, as we have seen, received early expression in Muslim mystic
theology. Dr. Nicholson is of opinion that “the Sufi conception of
the passing away (_fana_) of individual self in universal being is
certainly of Indian origin. Its first great exponent was the Persian
mystic Bāyazīd of Bistām, who may have received it of his teacher, Abū
`Alī of Sind (Scinde.)” (Nicholson: _Mystics of Islam_, p. 17.) But
this is only one particular way of presenting a doctrine which has a
much wider range and is present in all mystical teaching, including
that of the neo-Platonists. In the highest sense it is the basis of
Sufi ethics, for the _summum bonum_ is defined as the union of the
individual soul with God, and all is good which helps towards this, all
is evil which retards it, and this is true of Christian and all other
forms of mysticism equally. We cannot say definitely that the doctrine
of the unitive state is borrowed from neo-Platonism, from Buddhism, or
from Gnosticism; it is the common property of all, and is the natural
conclusion from the mystics premises as to the nature of God and of
the human soul. It may well be that certain presentations of this
doctrine show Indian details, but in this as in all other parts of Sufi
speculation it seems that the constructive theory employed in forming a
theological system was neo-Platonic: even in mysticism the Greek mind
exercised its influence in analysing and constructing hypotheses.
At quite an early age the soul’s desire for union with its Divine
source began to be clothed in terms borrowed from the expression of
human love. With some hesitation we may say, perhaps, that this is
distinctly oriental, although it was so only as a means of expressing a
desire which is characteristic of all mysticism. We find the same, at
a later period, though in a much more restrained fashion, in Christian
mysticism, and it is not easy to see the actual line of contact, if
any. Perhaps we must be content to regard it as independently developed
as a means of expressing the soul’s longing.
The rise of Sufi teaching was not without opposition, and this was
mainly on three grounds (i.) the Sufis advocated constant prayer
in the form of unceasing silent intercourse with God, and by this
tended to discard the fixed _salawat_ or five obligatory prayers at
appointed hours, one of the compulsory duties of Islam and one of its
distinctive marks. Ultimately the Sufi position was that these fixed
ritual observances were for the people at large who had not made any
advance in the deeper spiritual knowledge, but might be disregarded
by those who were more mature in grace, a position which is closely
parallel to that attained by the philosophers. (ii.) They introduced
_zikirs_ or religious exercises, consisting in a continuous repetition
of the name of God, a form of devotion unknown to older Islam, and
consequently an innovation. And (iii.) many of them adopted the
practice of _tawakkul_, or complete dependence on God, neglecting all
kinds of labour or trade, refusing medical aid in sickness, and living
on alms begged from the faithful. All these were “innovations,” and as
such met with very definite opposition, mostly, no doubt, because they
were repugnant to the sober tone of traditional Islam, which has always
been suspicious of oriental fanaticism. The more serious objection,
that it really dispensed with the religion of the Qur´an is implied if
not expressed; it introduced an entirely new concept of God and a new
standard of religious values; if Sufi ideas prevailed the practices of
the Muslim religion would be at best the tolerable and harmless usages
of those who were not initiated into vital religion. In fact, however,
the philosophical principles brought forward by the neo-Platonic
Aristotelian works in general circulation were so far influential and
regarded as reconcileable with the Qur´an that Sufism, in so far as it
was neo-Platonic, did not appear to be destructive of Islam, but only
at variance with customary usage.
Nevertheless, Sufism was generally looked upon as heretical, not only
from the “innovations” we have mentioned, but because of the close
alliance between the doctrines of its extremer advocates and those
of the more advanced Shi`ites. It is indeed most significant that it
developed chiefly amongst the same elements which gave the readiest
hearing to philosophy and still adhered to Zoroastrian and Masdekite
ideas. No doubt the ill repute of Sufism was largely due to the bad
company it kept. It was not until the time of al-Ghazali (d. 505) that
Sufism began to take its place in orthodox Islam. Al-Ghazali, left
an orphan at an early age, had been educated by a Sufi friend, and,
after becoming an Ash`arite and as such acting as president of the
Nazimite academy at Baghdad, found himself in spiritual difficulties,
and spent eleven years in retirement and in the practices of devotion,
with the result that when he returned to work as a teacher in 449
his instruction was strongly leavened by mysticism, practically a
return to the principles he had been taught in his early years. As
al-Ghazali became in course of time the dominant influence in Muslim
scholasticism, a modified and orthodox Sufism was introduced into Sunni
theology and has since held its own. At the same time he reduced Sufism
to a scientific form, and gave, or rather supported, a terminology
derived from Plotinus. Such a Sufism may be described as Muslim mystic
theology purged of its Shi`ite accretions. This admission of a modified
Sufism into the orthodox church of Islam took place in the sixth
century A.H.
In the following century Sufism appeared in Spain, but there it arrived
as transmitted through an orthodox medium, and hence differs from
Asiatic mysticism. The first Spanish Sufi seems to have been _Muhyi
d-Din ibn `Arabi_ (d. 638), who travelled in Asia and died at Damascus.
He was a follower of Ibn Hazm, who, as we shall see later, represents
a system of jurisprudence of a type more reactionary even than that
of Ibn Hanbal. In Spain itself the leading Sufi was _`Abdu l-Haqq ibn
Sab`in_ (d. 667), who shows the more characteristic Spanish attitude of
a Sufi who was also a philosopher, for Spanish Sufism was essentially
speculative. Like many other philosophers of the Muwahhid period he
adhered outwardly to the Zahirites, the most reactionary party of the
narrowest orthodoxy.
In the 7th century, also, we have _Jalalu d-Din Rumi_ (d. 672), who
practically completes the golden age of Sufism. Although a Persian he
was an orthodox Sunni. He was a native of Balkh, but his father was
compelled to leave that city and migrate westward, and finally settled
at Qonya (Iconium), where he died. Jalalu d-Din had been educated by
his father, and after his death he sought further instruction at Aleppo
and Damascus, where he came under the influence of Burhanu d-Din of
Tirmidh, who had been one of his father’s pupils, and continued his
training in Sufi doctrines. After this teacher’s death he came in touch
with the eccentric but saintly Shams-i-Tabriz, a man of great spiritual
power but illiterate, who left a great impress on his age by his
tremendous spiritual enthusiasm and the strange crudity of his conduct
and character. It was after the death of Shams-i-Tabriz that Jalalu
d-Din commenced his great mystical poem, the _Masnawi_, a work which
has attained an extraordinary eminence and reverence throughout the
whole of Turkish Islam. As already mentioned, Jalalu d-Din founded an
order of Darwishes known as the Mawlawi order, or “dancing darwishes,”
as they are called by Europeans.
The whole course of doctrinal Sufism begins with Dhu n-Nun and ends
with Jalalu d-Din; later writers do little more than repeat their
teaching in new literary form, and it will be sufficient to select a
few typical examples. In the 8th cent. we have _`Abdu r-Razzaq_ (d.
730), a pantheistic Sufi who wrote a commentary on and defended the
teaching of Muhiyyu d-Din ibnu l-`Arabi. He advocated the doctrine
of free will on the ground that the human soul is an emanation from
God, and so shares the Divine character. This world, he holds, is
the best possible world: differences in condition exist and justice
consists in accepting these and adapting things to their situation;
ultimately all things will cease to exist as they are reabsorbed in
God, the only reality. Men are divided into three classes: the first
contains the men of the world, whose life centres in self and who are
indifferent towards religion; a second class contains the men of the
reason, who discern God intellectually by his external attributes and
manifestations; and as a third class are the men of the spirit, who
perceive God intuitively.
Although Sufism has now taken a recognised place in the life of
Islam, it was not allowed to pass without occasional challenge. The
leading opponent was the Hanbalite reformer, Ibn Taymiya (d. 728), who
represented the reactionary but popular theology. He rejected formal
adherence to any school, dismissed all importance attached to _Ijma_
or “consensus” save that based on the agreement of the Prophet’s
Companions; he denounced the scholastic theology of al-Ash`ari and
al-Ghazali, and defined the Divine attributes on the lines laid down
by Ibn Hazm. At that time the Sufi an-Nasr al-Manbiji was prominent
in Cairo, and to him Ibn Taymiya wrote a letter denouncing the Sufi
doctrine of _ittihad_ as heresy. From this arose a quarrel between the
two rival forces of Islam, traditional orthodoxy and mysticism, in the
course of which Ibn Taymiya suffered persecution and imprisonment.
Towards the end of his life, in 726, he issued a _fatwa_ or declaration
of opinion against the lawfulness of the reverence paid to the tombs of
saints and of the invocation of saints, the Prophet himself included.
In this he was the precursor of the Wahibi reformation of the 18th
cent. A.D. MSS. exist in which the works of Ibn Taymiya are copied out
by the hand of `Abdu l-Wahhab, who was evidently a close student of
that reformer, all of whose theories he reproduces.
_Ash-Sha´rani_ of Cairo (d. 973) is typical of the later orthodox
Sufi. He was a follower of Ibn `Arabi on general lines but without his
pantheism. His writings are a strange mixture of lofty speculation
and lowly superstition, his life was full of intercourse with jinns
and other supernatural beings. The truth, he states, is not to be
reached by the aid of reason, but only by ecstatic vision. The _wali_
is the man who possesses the gift of illumination (_ilham_), or
direct apprehension of the spiritual, but that grace differs from
the inspiration (_wahy_) bestowed upon the prophets, and the wali
must submit to the guidance of prophetic revelations. All walis
are essentially under the _qutb_, but the qutb is inferior to the
companions of Muhammad. Whatever rule (_tariqa_) a darwish follows
he is guided by God, but ash-Sha´rani himself preferred the rule of
al-Junayd. The varying opinions of the canonists are adapted to the
different needs of men. Ash-Sha´rani was the founder of a darwish order
which forms a subdivision of the Badawiya (cf. above). His writings
have considerable influence in modern Islam, and form the programme of
those who advocate a neo-Sufi reformation.