What is Sufism?
Islam is one of the largest religions in the world and is also growing the fastest with a current rate of over X billion people. Muslims are divided into three main branches, including Sunnis, Shiites and Kharijites, which mainly depend on their origin. Muslims believe in one God, angels, the Koran and the Prophet Muhammad. They pray five times a day, give alms, fast during the holy month of Ramadan and make a pilgrimage to the city of Mecca as an act of worship. Another important aspect of Islam is the search for a direct personal experience of God practiced by all branches of Islam. This act of diverting the hearts of everyone except God is known as Sufism in Islam.
Sufism overview
Sufism is an inner mystical dimension of Islam practiced by different turuq, a congregation formed around mawla who trace their teachings to the prophet Muhammad. Turuq meet for spiritual sessions called majlis in places known as Zawiyas or tekke. The Sufi seeks to find a direct connection and a spiritual experience with God by diverting the heart from all things in the world and focusing entirely on God. The Sufi precepts can be traced from Muhammad to Ali who was his cousin and Naqshbandi who originated from Muhammad through the Caliph Rashid. The Sufis followed one of the four madhhabs of the Sunni Muslim and gained prominence among Muslims, attempting to fight worldliness at the start of the Umayyad Caliphate between 660 and 750.
The term Sufism comes from lists in the British East which wanted to separate what they found attractive in Islam from what they thought to be negative. However, Muslims have used the term Tasawwuf or Sufism to refer to the inner character of Islam supported by the external rituals of the religion such as sharia. Therefore, to be a Muslim, he must be a true Sufi. Sufism is not a sect within an Islamic religion, but a part of Islamic practice that focuses on self-purification. He focuses on more spiritual dimensions of religion and strives for direct encounter with God using emotional faculties through regular practices.
History and spread of Sufism
The Sufi orders are anchored on bayah or pledge of allegiance which would have been given to the prophet Muhammad by his companions (Sahabah). The Sahabah is committed to serving God by pledging allegiance to the Prophet. The first manuals containing Sufi doctrines and practices were written towards the end of the first millennium. Notable articles include Kashf al-Mahjub and Risala. Sufism produced a great culture in the Islamic world between the 12th and the 10th century. During this period, several places were endowed through the waqf to provide a suitable meeting place for the Sufi follower and accommodation for those seeking Sufi knowledge. The same endowments were used in constructions such as the famous Suleymaniye mosque in Istanbul. Sufism was essential to the growth and development of Islam and to the creation of several Islamic practices, especially in Africa and Asia. Sufism experts claim that the initial period of development of Sufism was linked to the internalization of Islam directly from the Qur’an, which was regularly recited, meditated and experienced. Sufism played an important role in the contact between Hinduism and Islam in India during the pilgrimage to the shrines of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, founder of the Chishtiyya order. More Hindus than Muslims were converted to Sufi practices during this period. Sufism experts claim that the initial period of development of Sufism was linked to the internalization of Islam directly from the Qur’an, which was regularly recited, meditated and experienced. Sufism played an important role in the contact between Hinduism and Islam in India during the pilgrimage to the shrines of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, founder of the Chishtiyya order. More Hindus than Muslims were converted to Sufi practices during this period. Sufism experts claim that the initial period of development of Sufism was linked to the internalization of Islam directly from the Qur’an, which was regularly recited, meditated and experienced. Sufism played an important role in the contact between Hinduism and Islam in India during the pilgrimage to the shrines of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, founder of the Chishtiyya order. More Hindus than Muslims were converted to Sufi practices during this period.
The conquest of South Asia by the Turks was accompanied by the Sufi mystic of the Chashtiyya order and spread its roots across India. The Suhrawardi order was introduced to India by Baha-Ud-din Zakariya of Multan. Naqshbandiyyah and Qadiriyyah are among the other Sufi orders introduced to India in the 12th and 10th centuries. The modern Sufi order is composed, among others, of the Ba’Alawiyya, Chishti, Khalwati, Naqshbandi and Sarwari Qadiri. Sufism is popular in countries like Morocco and Senegal while it is traditional in Morocco. Sufism is popular in Senegal because it can accommodate local cultures oriented towards the mystical. However, Sufism has suffered a setback in some countries of North Africa and among modernist Muslims who see it as a superstitious practice which hampers the progress of Islam in the field of technology and science. Among the main sufis, we can cite Abul Hasan Ash-Shadhil, who presented dhikr, Bayazid Bastami, Ibn Arabi and Mansur Al-Hallaj among other important sufis.
Sufism Goals
Sufism believes that one can enter the presence of God and embrace the divinity of the present life. The main objectives of Sufism are to seek to please God by constructing in itself the primitive state of the fitra, as the Koran emphasizes. In teaching, the Sufis believe that the passage of divine light passes from a teacher to the student through the heart rather than through material knowledge. Devotion to Muhammad is a specific goal and an exceptional practice among the Sufis. Muhammad is revered because of his spiritual greatness. In fact, the Sufis believe that Islam is the best religion because of the Prophet Muhammad, because he is supreme and master of greatness. Sufis also believe that sharia, tariqa and haqiqa are all independent.
Devotional practices of Sufism
The devotional practices of Sufism vary due to the recognized and authorized ways to reach spirituality. The requirement of the practice includes adherence to the Islamic pillars, while the seekers must also be rooted in the practices of the lifestyle of the Prophet Muhammad. The seeker must have the correct creed and hold his principles and turn away from sin and love for this world and obedience to satanic impulses. Dhikr (remembrance of Allah), Muraqaba (meditation), the Sufi whirlwind (active physical meditation) and visits are other devotional practices.
Persecution of the Sufis
Sufi persecution includes the destruction of their shrines and other places of worship, repression and discrimination in many parts of the Muslim world. In Pakistan, out of 200, Sufis were killed and 500 injured in 2005. Sufi ceremonial practices that accompany their worship were banned and shrines destroyed during the reign of Al-Shabab in Somalia. In 2010, Dhikr rallies were banned in Egypt while several Sufi religious sites in Libya were destroyed during the Libyan civil war. Iranian government considers total ban on Sufism with destruction of several Sufi places of worship
