PATIENT
Sufism (tasawwuf)
SPAN
c. 700 CE to today
ROOTED IN
Quran and Sunnah
FORM
Poetry, manuals, practice, orders
CHIEF COMPLAINT
Is there a direct, experienced knowledge of God, and what does it take to get it?
HISTORY OF PRESENT ILLNESS
Sufism is the mystical dimension of Islam, focused on direct experiential knowledge of God through the transformation of the heart. It is not a separate religion or a deviation but a depth dimension within Islam, rooted in the Quran and the Hadith of Gabriel's definition of ihsan. The first Sufis (c. 700–800 CE) were ascetics reacting against the wealth of the expanding empire, emphasizing fear of God, renunciation and above all love. The classical period (800–1100) systematized the path. Al-Ghazali (c. 1100) brought Sufism into mainstream Sunni Islam. The later period produced the great orders and the towering figures of Rumi and Ibn Arabi.
REVIEW OF SYSTEMS
MAQAMAT
Stations: permanent acquisitions earned by effort. Typically repentance, detachment, patience, gratitude, fear, hope, reliance on God, acceptance and love. Each must be established before the next.
AHWAL
States: transient experiences given by God that cannot be earned or held. Like a flash of lightning.
FANA AND BAQA
The dissolution of the illusion of a separate self, then the return to ordinary life with what was seen integrated. A mystic who disappears entirely is considered to have failed the path's social dimension.
PRACTICE
Dhikr (remembrance), sama (spiritual listening, including the whirling of Rumi's order), the murshid-murid relationship and the tariqa (the orders).
TODAY
Sufism was the dominant form of popular Islamic practice for most of Islamic history. Its authenticity and adaptation are debated, including in the West.
PHYSICAL EXAM — STYLE & STRUCTURE
- —Rabia al-Adawiyya (c. 714–801) is the first great Sufi poet and the originator of the theology of pure divine love.
- —Al-Hallaj was executed in 922 CE for 'Ana al-Haqq' (I am the Truth). Sympathetic readers say he was speaking in fana, where the 'I' that spoke was God through a transparent Hallaj.
- —Rumi's Masnavi is six books and about 25,000 verses, called the Quran in Persian.
- —Ibn Arabi, 'the Greatest Master', taught Wahdat al-Wujud: one Reality disclosing itself in infinite forms.
- —Dhikr moves from the tongue to the heart to the innermost self, where the whole being remembers without effort.
ASSESSMENT & PLAN
Start with Rabia's prayer, then Rumi's reed flute and the Guest House, then Attar's Conference of the Birds. Read alongside the Quran and Hadith guides for the complete picture of Islamic tradition. Rumi's poetry makes no sense without its Islamic framework, and the guide notes that the popular English versions are adaptations, not translations. It is a non-denominational reference guide.