Continues from the
previous post –
The
literature of Sufism emphasizes highly subjective matters that resist
outside observation, such as the subtle states of the heart. Often
these resist direct reference or description, with the consequence
that the authors of various Sufi treatises took recourse to
allegorical language. For instance, much Sufi poetry refers to
intoxication, which Islam expressly forbids. This usage of indirect
language and the existence of interpretations by people who had no
training in Islam or Sufism led to doubts cast over the validity of
Sufism as a part of Islam. In addition, some groups emerged that
considered themselves above the Sharia
and discussed Sufism as a method of
bypassing the rules of Islam in order to attain salvation directly.
These, traditional, Muslim scholars disapproved.
For
these and other reasons, the relationship between traditional Islamic
scholars and Sufism is complex and a range of scholarly opinion on
Sufism in Islam has been the norm. Some scholars, such as Al-Ghazali,
helped its propagation while other scholars opposed it. W.
Chittick explains the position
of Sufism and Sufis this way:
In short, Muslim
scholars who focused their energies on understanding the command
guidelines for the body were, called jurists, and those who held that
the most important task was to train the mind in achieving correct
understanding, divided into three main schools of thought: theology,
philosophy and Sufism. This leaves us with the third domain of human
existence, the spirit. Most Muslims who devoted their major efforts
to developing the spiritual dimensions of the human person came to be
known as Sufis.
To accept that,
amounts to acceptance that those devoted Muslims converted to Sufism
and so no more remained Muslim.
This
proposition calls those people who indulged in that exercise as
Muslim scholars. I do not agree to that; instead, we had better call
them as just intellectuals. Since, they were definitely no more
Muslim. To call them Muslim is contradictory to the very concept of
Islam. Muslim and Sufi are not the same as we have seen in the above
observation. In Koran Mohammad has not
given any direction about this third domain of existence. Therefore,
all attempt to find this third domain of existence amounts to
negating the gospel of Mohammad. Any justification by this argument
will not be acceptable to any scholar of Islamic studies. All these
arguments to usher in a place for Sufism within Islam are nothing but
sacrilege.
This topic
continues in next post -
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