This article is about two types of comments regarding why I should not be writing about Sufism.
- "Sufism is a fine and a pretty advanced subject. And one has to be qualified to write about it."
- "Sufism is irrelevant and not needed. There are fake mystics taking advantage of innocent people. Should such a subject be promoted in this day and age?"
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Suppose someone is interested in Motorcycles and watches videos about them and follows the news about new models, etc. However he has never been on a Motorcycle and he does not know what it feels like to ride one. So, even if he can talk all day about them, personally, I do not think that such a person can be considered an expert on Motorcycles.
Some people may see themselves bungee jumping or skydiving or scuba diving or driving formula one cars or exploring some deep jungle. But in reality, I think a percentage of such a group of people have never done any of that. It is probably just something that one might be fascinated with. And that is it.
I am not an expert with regards to Sufism or Scientific Philosophy. I am someone who hears and reads about them. If I write notes about such subjects, then they are like notes of someone passing by, and I think my notes can be ignored without missing anything. A tourist is a tourist, he might be able to give an idea about a certain place he visits, but typically, he wouldn't be as knowledgeable about the place as a native person.
- Obviously, having an interest in Sufism need not mean that one is a real Sufi or in anyway an expert in Sufism.
Regarding the writer: (a) He has never belonged to any Sufi group. He is not pretending to be a Sufi. And he is not talking on behalf of Sufis. (b) His background in Sufism is limited and the literature is extensive. There are areas he did not consider. There are Arabic Sufi texts that he did not read, and there are original Sufi texts written in other languages that he knows little about, and only from some recent translations to English. (c) By 'Sufis' he means in most cases a limited number of writers of Arabic Sufi texts. (d) What he writes about Sufism only reflects what he thinks Sufis mean.
Having stated the above points, it might be correct if someone said maybe such a person should not be writing about something that he admits needs a better background than he has. And, maybe the only explanation for writing, that such a person can think of, is that he is interested in the subject and has been reading about it for some time, and has been trying to be careful in summarizing what he reads and thinks he understands in the notes.
Another thing. In such summaries, there are two points to note: -In an attempt to write about something, subjectivity (reflecting the limits of a personal background) may not be easy to get rid of. It may show somehow or to some extent. -There is the normal basic religious background that is shared by average religious people like the writer, and then there are sort of advanced subjects (that are best covered by specialist people), like Deep Theology or Sufism. So, as he writes about Theology and Sufism, personal thoughts and the basic background (i.e. what may show his limits) may be noticed in the notes.
- This site is not about a rigorous academic presentation or a presentation given by a real Sufi master. The writer is an average Muslim, a common person who is interested in the subject. What can be offered on this site is only his understanding and how he sees the subject.
Please note that I have never claimed to be qualified to write about the subjects covered on the site. And I think I have been careful all along that the reader is aware of potential limitations of the articles.
Related information can be found here and here
- I may not be an expert on Sufism, but there is a traditional Arabic saying that goes:
"ما لا يُدْرَكُ جُلُّه لا يُتْرَكُ كُلُّه"
"What cannot be covered (or achieved) sufficiently, need not be abandoned altogether."
I think Man can understand and feel that there is an absolutely perfect knowledge that covers full information about everything in the universe. There is Information and a holder of information, someone knows more than me on a certain topic and someone else knows more than him, etc. A group of scientists, in a certain field, hold more 'credible' information than any single scientist. So, there are sort of circles of information, like subsets of bigger sets, and all man can hope is to be at a level of the best expanded circle or a set, that can never be but a subset of a bigger set, out there. That leads to a question: Who holds the full set of information about everything in the universe?. In other words, Who has absolute all-surrounding knowledge about everything (the real ultimate full set) that exists in the Universe?. A religious person knows that that knowledge is only God's Knowledge. As for man, one is always either at a relatively higher or a relatively lower level of knowledge compared to some other person.
What I would like to say, is that if one does not have the ability to sufficiently cover a field of knowledge, the alternative need not be to quit trying to improve one's knowledge and leave the field altogether.
- The Prophet peace be upon him said, encouraging his companions to spread the Message of Islam, which is basically the same essential Message of God for Humanity since its inception :
"رُبَّ مُبَلَّغٍ أوعَى مِنْ سَامِع"
A person who receives a piece of information might have more capacity to understand it and appreciate its value, than the one who hears and delivers it.
So, I don't think there is anything wrong with carefully summarizing and presenting information that someone else might benefit from, more than the presenter.
- That was an attempt to address the concerns of someone who has a favorable view about Sufism, but might be wondering about the qualifications of the writer. Next, the case when Sufism is not looked at favorably, for any reason, and if it deserves to be written about, at all.
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- Several well-known Sufis, like Al-Ghazali and Al-Sha'arani, wrote about how few were real Mystics and how many were those pretending to be Mystics and know about mysticism, and in some cases take advantage of innocent people. And that was many centuries ago. (More on the point here : Where are the Saints?)
One may or may not meet a real Sufi master, but one thing is for sure, there is an extensive authentic literature that well known historic Sufi personalities left behind, and I feel that it is like a valuable treasure left for all of Humanity. And I think that Sufism is an interesting subject that is worth studying and presenting.
- I was raised in an environment where religion was taken for granted, but no one around me cared much about deeper aspects of religion like Theology or Sufism, or was interested to know about other traditions.
At some point during my twenties I became interested in reading about Islamic schools of thought, different philosophical views and different spiritual traditions of our world.
I found that there are indeed differences between human beings, but there are also many interesting and important similarities that cannot be ignored.
As for Sufism, I realized that the majority of, what I understand are, notable scholars during the Islamic history generally viewed Sufism favorably. And upon further and extended study, it became clear to me that Sufism is about the depth and the essence of the religious Path. (More on the point here : The Balanced View).
- Do we need Sufism in this day and age?
Personally, I found in Sufi literature a noticeable push towards gaining a deep, broad and balanced view of existence. My belief is that we need a deep, broad and balanced view of existence in any day and age, on any planet where there might be any intelligent beings.
A personal interest has always been about seeking an explanation that can cover the modern scientific mindset and the deep spiritual experience, at the same time. Exploring both science and religion was an attempt to understand what is going on. I believe that both modern science and traditional religion, are only aspects of a comprehensive view of existence, or angles to look at the same existence. As for a comprehensive and perfectly consistent overall view that can explain both, briefly, what I feel is a Certainty about such an overall view that can explain both, but not sure how that can be reached or presented. In human history, we can find a kind of sort of hard to resolve relationships between two sufficiently understood areas of knowledge. I think examples can be found in fields like Physics and Social sciences. It appears that, within the capacity of men, even the most intelligent groups, there are limits to what details can be gathered and understood, even when there is a sort of certainty about an overall 'مُجْمَل' view. Anyway, there are many approaches trying to understand both religion and science, but personally, it was with Sufism that I felt there is an interesting ground to rest a position on. "Science and Religion" is a topic that is mentioned in many places on this site. Logic is the indispensible foundation for any scientific endeavor, or generally, any objective attempt to understand an area of knowledge. Mystics have their take on Logic. Here is how a Sufi like Al-Ghazali notes about Logic: Late Teen Philosophy (the second note.)
I also found that Sufism pushes one to closely recognize his own whole being, his own essence, and the path or the inner journey automatically reveals depths about human nature and what humanity is, and to understand that there are always different views, until one realizes that one does not feel like a stranger regardless of what place he might visit or what culture he is noting. I think that we need that today more than ever.
I think that there are good reasons to write about Sufism.
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I may not be a Sufi, but I cannot help being fascinated with Sufism. In Sufism I sense a level of Depth, Purity and Beauty that is worth noting.
If I can get a chance to participate in conveying a glimpse of that beauty, and making our world a little bit better, that would be enough for me to feel comfortable to be talking about Sufism.
Peace and best wishes,
Abduh.
