Dogs of Arabs – 16

Continues from the previous post –

Bayazid Bastami (d. 874 CE), openly speak of the complete merge of the base self in the Divine, whereby the mystic becomes fully absorbed to the point of becoming unaware of himself or the objects around him. Every existing thing seems to vanish, and he feels free of every barrier that could stand in the way of his viewing the inner spirit. In one of these states, Bastami cried out, "Praise to ‘Me’, for ‘My’ greatest Glory!" His belief in the unity of all religions became apparent when he was asked the question: "How does a Sufi view other religions?" His reply was "All true religions are vehicles and a path to Khudaa’s Divine Presence." Bastami's statement of true religion suggests that he did not consider Islam as a true religion.

The conflict between Islam and Sufi religion began while Mohammad was still alive. Mohammad had warned his companions to excuse Sufi but his own fanatic approach had spoiled the situation for Sufi religion as it was against the very first pillar of Islam, "Allah is the only god and Mohammad is the only messiah". Many scholars suggest that had that first pillar been not there Sufi religion would have over cast Islam and that would have been the end of Islam.

Junayd Baghdadi (830-910 CE) ) was one of the great early Sufis, and is a central figure in the golden chain of many Sufi orders. He laid the foundation for sober mysticism in contrast to that of God-intoxicated Sufis like al-Hallaj, Bayazid Bastami and Abu-saeid Abo-Alkheir. During the trial of al-Hallaj, his former disciple, the Caliph of the time demanded his fatwa. In response, he issued this fatwa: "From the outward appearance he is to die and we judge according to the outward appearance and Khudaa knows better". Sufis refer to him as Sayyid-ut Taifa, i.e. the leader of the group. He lived and died in the city of Baghdad. His philosophy clearly indicates that Junayad Baghdadi had begun to understand the rebirth of humans; to which, Islam deny.

Mansur al-Hallaj (d. 922 CE) is renowned for his claim "Ana-l-Haqq" (I am The Truth. Inner spirit is the Truth). His refusal to recant this utterance, which Ulema regarded as apostasy, led to a long trial. Caliph imprisoned him for 11 years in a Baghdad prison, before being tortured and publicly crucified on March 26, 922. All Sufis as yet revered him for his willingness to embrace torture and death rather than recant. The records show that during his prayers, he would say "O Khudaa! You are the guide of those who are passing through the Valley of Bewilderment. If I am a heretic (nonbeliever), enlarge my heresy (make more like me)."

Example of Mansur Al-Hallaj is not solitary, Caliphs, Ulema, and sultans persecuted and killed many Sufis and on seeing that, Sufis began to compromise with the impelling situation and began to say that Mohammad is the first Sufi. Some others, The Naqshbandi order, gave credit to Abu bkra. This strategy saved them from further destruction of their religion at the hands of Muslim rulers and Ulema. However, after that most Sufis preferred to leave Arabia and shift to places like Hind where atmosphere was amenable to their Sufi faith.

Here we should mention of indulgence Ali had amongst the Sufis of his time. Even though Mohammad had no objection to that, other companions had and that is why Ali was continuously refused the power he demanded after death of prophet. Though Sufis were aware of this that they are more near, to Ali than Mohammad they did not mention him and that was because it would create adverse effect and so they always told of Mohammad as their Sufi. Similar explanation goes for Naqshbandi; Abu bkra was the most powerful of the companions of the apostle. Interesting part in this is that these claims Sufis made much after the death of these two people. Therefore, there is no verification for such claims available. This also explains why we see amongst Shia followers, inclination towards Sufism. Particularly when we read Ali's discourses to his followers it becomes clear that Ali, even though was the very first convert to Islam, he was all the while more towards Sufi religion and much less to Islam.

This topic continues in next post -

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