Sufism and Islamic spirituality

Overview

Recall questions on ihsan, dhikr and tazkiyat al-nafs, fana' and baqa' in drunken and sober Sufism, shatahat, states and stations, wilaya, master and disciple, the tariqa, Rumi's Song of the Reed, whether Sufism is authentic to Islam, and reformist criticism of it.

What you need to know

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Questions from this subtopic

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1. 1

   What is ihsan, and how is it defined in the report of the angel's visit?

   Model answer

   Ihsan means doing what is beautiful or excellent, and in the tradition it names the highest level of religious life. In the well-known report in which a stranger, later identified as the angel Jibril, questions the Prophet in front of his companions, three levels are set out: islam, the outward acts of submission; iman, the beliefs of faith; and ihsan, which is described as serving God as though one could see Him, in the knowledge that He sees the worshipper. Sufis take this last definition as the charter for their whole enterprise, since it makes the quality of inward awareness, not merely correct action, part of what religion requires.

2. 2

   What is dhikr, and what forms does it take?

   Model answer

   Dhikr is the remembrance of God, and it rests on the Qur'anic command to remember God often and the promise that hearts find rest in that remembrance. In practice it means the repeated invocation of God's names or of short formulae, silently or aloud, alone or in gatherings, sometimes with prescribed numbers counted on beads, and in some orders accompanied by breathing, movement, poetry or music. Its purpose is to displace heedlessness and keep the practitioner continuously conscious of God. Sufis regard it as the central practice of the path; some critics regard particular forms, especially musical and ecstatic ones, as unwarranted additions.

3. 3

   What is tazkiyat al-nafs, and what does it involve?

   Model answer

   It is the purification of the self, based on the Qur'anic statement that the one who purifies the soul prospers. Sufi teaching describes the lower self as commanding to evil, then as self-reproaching once conscience awakens, and finally as at peace when it rests in God. The work of purification involves diagnosing and treating diseases of the heart such as pride, envy, anger, greed and love of status, through self-examination, restraint of appetite, extra worship, voluntary hardship and the honest supervision of a teacher. Ghazali's account of the sciences of religion gave this inner discipline a systematic place within mainstream Sunni piety.

4. 4

   What is fana', and why is it associated with drunken Sufism?

   Model answer

   Fana' is annihilation: the passing away of the sense of a separate self, so that the seeker is no longer conscious of anything but God. The strand of Sufism often called drunken emphasises this experience of overwhelming absorption, in which ordinary awareness and self-possession are lost. Its exponents describe intoxication with the divine presence as the goal, and their language is deliberately extravagant. Critics within Sufism itself argued that this state, however real, is a stage rather than the summit.

5. 5

   What are shatahat, and why are they controversial?

   Model answer

   Shatahat are ecstatic utterances: statements made in a state of overwhelming absorption which, taken at face value, sound blasphemous, the most famous being al-Hallaj's declaration identifying himself with the Real, for which he was executed in Baghdad, and comparable sayings attributed to Abu Yazid al-Bistami. They are controversial because they appear to claim divinity for a creature, which is the gravest error in Islam. Sufi defenders argue that in fana' the speaker has lost awareness of himself and God is speaking through a vessel that has ceased to say I, so the words are not a doctrinal claim; sober Sufis nonetheless held that such speech should not be uttered publicly, and jurists have often condemned it outright.

6. 6

   What is baqa', and what does sober Sufism mean by it?

   Model answer

   Baqa' is subsistence or abiding: the state in which the seeker, having passed through annihilation, is restored to a functioning self that now subsists through God rather than through its own ego. Sober Sufism, associated with Junayd of Baghdad, treats this as the true goal, because the servant returns to lucidity, to the obligations of the law and to service of others, carrying the awareness gained in fana' into ordinary life. On this view intoxication is a passage and sobriety the destination, so the mature Sufi is inconspicuous rather than spectacular.

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