QURANIC ORIGIN OF SUFISM pt I

QURANIC ORIGIN OF SUFISM (Shariat and Tariqat Coincide)

by Hazrat Shaykh Wahid Bakhsh Rabbani r.a.


There has been a long drawn-out controversy between the esoteric (Sufi) and exoteric (Zahirites) schools of thought in Islam. Both of the schools blame each other for having deviated from the right path. While the externalists are trying to determine the period when Sufism entered into Islam, the Sufis are at pains to find out when exotericism found its way into Islam. The externalists (Zahirites) claim that Sufism is the result of outside influences and has nothing to do with Islam, because it was not in vogue during the Noble Prophet’s time. However, the Sufis maintain that Sufism is real Islam and that exotericism is of later growth. They regard it as the result of carelessness and ease loving tendencies of the later generations who were contented with the bearest minimum of Islamic worship and failed to maintain the full standard of Islamic worship as urged in the Quran and practised by the Prophet(s) and his companions. Therefore they failed to reach the stages of Divine nearness, presence, union and communion with God, reached by the Prophet(s), his companions and companions of the companions, while the Sufis who maintained that standard of Islamic worship, did and still do reach these stages of Divine nearness.



Let us now see in the light of the Quran and Sunnah (practice) of the Noble Prophet, which school of thought is right and which is wrong. It is true that the word Tasawwuf (Sufism) was not in vogue in the Prophet’s time, similarly all the Islamic sciences like Tafsir, Hadith, and Fiqh etc., were also not known by these names during the Noble Prophet’s time. Are then these sciences (Ulum) also alien to Islam? The reality is that Tasawwuf and all these Islamic sciences were very much present during the Prophet’s time but they were there in spirit, not form. They were formulated into regular sciences later on, when the companions of the Prophet(s) were free from Jihad (sacred warfare). Those who pondered upon and provided the meanings of Quran were known as Mufassireen and the branch of their knowledge was called Tafsir. Those who formulated the science of Hadith were known as Muhaddithin and their science was called Ilmul Hadith. Those who worked on the formulation of Muslim Law were known as Fuqaha and the branch of their knowledge was called Fiqh (jurisprudence). Those who specialized in the science of spirituality were called Sufis and their science was called Tasawwuf (Sufism). This did not mean that those who worked on one science were ignorant about others. The fact of the matter is that the companions of the Prophet(s) were proficient in all these sciences. By virtue of his company and teachings they were well versed in the meanings of the Quran, Hadith, Islamic Law, as well as spiritual science without being known by the names of Mufassireen, Mohaddithin, Fuqaha and Sufis.



The word Sufi owes its origin to Soof (wool), which the spiritual seekers of God used to wear. Another derivation of Sufism is the word Safa that means purification. The followers of this school of thought became known as Sufis, because their chief concern was spiritual purification to gain Divine nearness (Qurb), strongly urged in the Quran, and sought by the Noble Prophet and his companions. Yet another derivation of the word Sufi is ‘Suffa’, which is a veranda in the Prophet’s (s) mosque, where some of the most ardent devotees out of the companions known as Ashab-i-Suffa used to stay and pray day and night. Therefore those who emulated the example of Ashab-i-Suffa were known as Sufis. Whatever the etymological derivation of Sufism, the fact remains that the Sufis were the people who tried hard to follow the example of the Prophet (s) and the companions in letter and spirit. They emulated the same vigour, devotion and determination, as we find in the life accounts of the Prophet(s) and his companions, and with precisely the same results in terms of nearness, union and communion with God, and miraculous powers.



Moreover it is not wholly correct to say that the word Tasawwuf was not known in the time of the Noble Prophet and his companions. Syed Ali Hujweri, one of the most prominent Muslim saints and an orthodox scholar who lived in the fifth century of the Islamic era, has quoted a saying of the Prophet(s), in chapter four of his famous book Kashful Mahjub in which the word Sufi has been used. The following saying of Imam Malik, who flourished in the first and the second century and lived in Madina all his life, also shows the word “Tasawwuf’ was in vogue in that early period of Muslim history:



“He who practised Tasawwuf but did not learn Fiqh (law) went astray. He who learnt Fiqh but did not learn Tasawwuf got involved in sin. He who learnt both reached the truth.”



Another allegation against the Sufis levied by the ease-loving exoterics is that they have unnecessarily prolonged the short and simple programme of Islamic worship amounting to self-torture such as night vigils, continuous fasts, starvations, austerities and hardships. It appears that the critics have not come across, or have ignored the following Ayaat (verses) of the Holy Quran in which Allah has admired:



“Those whose bodies do not touch their beds in the nights.”



“Those who stay in the company of their Lord during nights praying, bending and bowing all the time.”



This refers to the practice of the Noble Prophet who prayed so hard during the night that his legs used to get swollen and his beard got wet with tears. The so called orthodox exoterics profess to be the custodians of Shariah and Sunnah, but leave it to the Sufis to imitate the Noble Prophet’s devotion, vigils, fasts and acts of self-abnegation and self-sacrifice. The Prophet slept on the floor because everybody could not afford to sleep on soft beds. His bed consisted of a sheet of cloth, half of which was spread on the ground and with the remaining half he covered his body. His house was a small mud hut without proper door and roof. His food was coarse barely bread which could not be swallowed without the help of water. He kept fasts for several days on end without Sehri and Aftar in the morning and evening. He practised all these austerities for maintaining the standard of equality, love and brotherhood of mankind. He said:

“None of you is a true Muslim unless you like for others what you like for yourself.”



He said his and acted upon it, for his food was the humblest, his dress was the humblest and his abode was the humblest. Iqbal has said:



“The Prophet slept on the floor when the crowns of monarchs were being trampled under the feet of his servants.”



A Western scholar has said:

“From the shepherd boy, merchant of Syria and equal to the Kings, Muhammad never changed.”



It is the life of devotion, vigils, fasts and austerities, frugalities and sacrifices of the Noble Prophet, which the Sufis have been imitating. They wanted to reap almost the same fruits, to gain almost the same results and reach almost the same heights of spiritual perfection in terms of Divine nearness, union and communion. The reader can judge for himself who are the better followers of the Prophet, the Sufis who leave no stone unturned in imitating the brilliant example of the Prophet (s) or the exoterics who are contented with the barest minimum of Islamic worship?



Shaikh Abdul Qadir Jilani (r), Khawaja Mueenuddin Chishti, Imam Abu Hanifa, Imam Shafii and millions of other Sufis have said the Salat-e-Fajir (prayer of morning) with the Wudhu (ablution) of the previous Isha (night prayer) for fifty long years continuously (Muslim ablution gets nullified by only a moment’s nap). Syed Abdul Qadir Jilani finished the whole Quran in a single night for thirty years continuously.



The Sufis are sometimes criticized for renunciation of the world and being responsible for the degeneration and decay of the Muslim community. This allegation negates history. The history of Islam shows that the Sufis have been the most zealous custodians of social welfare, social justice, equality, human rights and service to mankind even at the risk of their lives. It is true that most of them did not take part in such activities as trade, commerce, industry etc. This is because they took to the most important and yet the most difficult task of reforming the masses and turning them into useful and peace loving citizens which is a full time job and an essential service. Unless the hearts of the people are purified no amount of legislation, police and army can eradicate crime from society. The rulers are successful only when the masses are civilized. It is the Sufi Shaikhs who took upon themselves the honour and duty of reforming the masses and turning the beasts into angels, and thus made the work easy for the rulers. Why are the government ordinances not obeyed in modern time’s inspite of the presence of a huge police force and armies? This is because the old machinery of purification called Khanqahi Nizam (spiritual training centres) has almost ceased to exist. It was this Khanqahi Nizam which produced the gems and pearls like Imam Ghazali, Junaid, Bistami, Rumi, Abdul Qadir Jilani, Mueenuddin Chishti, Baba Shaikh Farid and thousands of other Auliya Allah (friends of God) who converted millions to Islam and turned beasts into good and useful citizens. This sort of reclaiming of men and taming of the beasts cannot be accomplished either by force of arms or by mere lectures of exoteric scholars. Only the spiritual teachers can accomplish it. By virtue of constant Zikr, Muraqba, night vigils, fasts and exercises of self-negation, self-purification and self-sacrifices spread over years strictly and squarely in accordance with the Prophet’s methods of constant prayers, Zikr, meditations fasts and vigils etc. Look at the irony of fate, it is the Noble Prophet’s way and method of purification, adopted by the Sufi Shaikhs, which are being subjected to all sorts of taunts, mockery and ridicule by the exoterics. Just because they themselves are incapable of adopting or emulating the Prophet’s methods of purification of hearts, which is the only way to subdue the beastly nature and cultivate the angelic nature.