Whats your opinion of Sufi Islam?
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which sufi?
there are many lineages of sufies...Anyway, Ab med Muammad ibn Muammad al-Ghazl (1058?1111 C.E.), called "proof of Islam", who wrote the capital work Ihya' Ulum al-Din or Ihya'u Ulumiddin (The Revival of Religious Sciences), said at the end that only the sufies know the truth! )
peace
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Salam
Salaam mirjamnur,
Me?
mmKhan
No of course not- sorry, had noticed the error )
Sounds like the mind and it's role as the impostor-self in us when we live unconsciously (like most of us do most of the time). When we are unknowing slaves to our own mind, we bring misery and suffering to ourselves and the world. 'Ego' is a term sometimes used for this situation or mental entity. A mind unaware of it's own unconsciousness. It's an impostor since we think that this is us, the mind, the Ego, but it is not. It is not the real us. We are beyond the mind, if we could only see. Our mind should be our tool, not our master. But if we are unaware of and blind to this fact, we think we are the mind, and hence the Ego exists... a false self that brings suffering and separation from Allah. And what is love many times, if not just something that the mind has going for itself, until it gets tired of it?
So, shaytan, Ego or mind.... what's the difference?
yes, really, what's the difference- maybe we sould make a new topic about the question is shaytan = ego=nafs?
Sura 114... Who whisperet in the hearts of mankind,....
Sura 50.16...And We have already created man and know what his soul whispers to him, and We are closer to him than jugular vein
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Sufism is a complicated subject. There is the sunni like sufis like Ghazali and Nawawi which is no different than other sunni school, and there is the more universalist sufis like Rumi and Gilani.
Sufism is not good for the Quranist persuasion. In fact I see it as a disaster for the Quranist persuasion. Precisley because they can conceal many aspects of Sunni Islam unlike the salafis who tell it like it is. I sometimes see sufism like a wolf in sheep clothing. Sufism never questioned Sunni jurisprudence they simply ignored its most legalistic and political aspects but never actually challenged it. For the Quranist persuasion, the more salafis dominate the better. They expose what sufis try to hide.
People don't change because they want to, they change because they have to. Since we are promoting an ALTERNATIVE interpretation of Islam, the worst the situation gets for Muslims the better it is for us. The salafis are our biggest gift.
Some may say its mean to say that. But that is the reality. The more the terror the better. At leats for us it is.
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Peace
Indeed it does! She is a Sufi Kathak dancer.Well, as for me, i was kind of attracted to the whirling of their dances.
Your photo reminds me of Persian Dances, which i used to adore...
Shahrokh Moshkin Ghalam - Sohrab and Gordafarid
http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXumObPQ90w&feature=related -
Peace Youssef, )
Very nice! I watched the entire thing. I've never seen this kind of dance before. I've seen lots of different Persian dances, but never this kind. I love the footwork and chemistry between the two.
This is the kind of kathak that I like to observe ( and attempt though I am too clumsy)
Just the whirling http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cJpDAH4jJM
Now the technical piece that accompanies it (Stuff I have learned from young) http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfZhBN0zH-o&feature=channel&list=UL
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Peace )
Yeah, i used to like dancing, especially Persian Dancing. Shahrokh Moshkin was kind of inspirational to me, and also the sufi whirling dancing. I kind of like how they use whirling/dancing as a form of connection with God .
"Indian whirling dances" were also inspiring, ... I kind of delved into far eastern music/dances, from Tajik, hindi, afghan music etc..
I liked how many used their bodies/arms/hands to dance, which was of course more classy and tolerable than the less classy belly dancing that middle easterners are used too. -
The sufis have deeper insights into Quran than any quranist at present. It would do us a world of good to read their works and use them as stimuli to higher understanding.
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Sure. I love this Sufi Metaphysics and Qur'anic Prophets Ibn Arabi's Thought and Method in the 'Fusus Al-Hikam'
helps us see the function of Quranic personalities )
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Yeah, to me, most of their practices aren't from the Quran. I find their reverence for their shuyukh also to be anti-quranic.
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peace I am ignorant about Sufi's - just wondering, do they follow any man made doctrines or practices outside of Quran?
Thanks.
The majority of Sufies are Sunnis, and from I have seen and read, they differ only in additional methods of worship, but still govern themselves by the Sunni madhabs.
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Another book I highly recommend is Ian Almond's Sufism and Deconstruction. This book shows how Sufis had non-linnear readings of the Quran which enabled them to make conceptual leaps in the same way as Derrida's techniques of deconstruction.
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Thanks for recommendations.
I found it interesting that Saladin was highly influenced by Sufism. His main source al-Ghazali.
P.H. Newby in his book, Saladin in his Time stated
"Had it not for al-Ghazali, Saladin would have been a fundamentalist than in practice he was because al-Ghazali was largely responsible for making mysticism respectable. For al-Ghazali the Sufi (from suf the garment sufis wore) path was one that led out of the despair into which at a crucial period of his life he had fallen. His 'dark night of the soul' came when he was a professor at the Nizamiya University in Baghdad and found that for all his mastery of scholastic theology he was without the spiritual experience necessary for that truly religious life which would ensure bliss in the world to come. His illumination came after years of ascetic contemplation. Al-Ghazali's search for truth tested the limits of human knowledge. As a result of his experience he wrote The Revival of the Religious Sciences which showed that true religion was not achieved merely by rituals or by mastering a lot of information (important though both of these were) but through a living awareness of divine values."Its is important to note that these exquisite values were the traits of Saladin, and the thrust by which he exercised during the course of events with the Crusaders.
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Yeah, I believe Al-Ghaz became as popular as he is because of Saladin's influence. He used him to overcome the Shia influence of the Fatimids of Egypt.
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I think there might actually be more branches of sufism than there is with islam confused
I'm still reading the page, but the Chishti Order (an order in particular known for tolerance and peace) supposedly follow the quran and the hadith rigidly
http//www.chishti.org/sufismquran.htm
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The Chisti order had some elements which made me very uncomfortable. I think quranists should arrive at their own 'sufi path' although sadly most of us are still stuck between traditionalism (like Mohamed Shiekh) and rationalism (Ghulam Ahmed Parwez). To me the Quran cannot fit either approach.