THE SUFI BROTHERHOODS

It is reported - and Allah knows best - that Hafiz, a friend of God - may Allah be pleased with him - said, "He whose heart is alive with love, never dies."

Sufism is best described as the "mystical" side of Islam. It consists of organised Brotherhoods of Muslims who are especially devoted to remembrance of God. Each Brotherhood has its own traditions and each traces its spiritual lineage back to the Prophet himself - peace be upon him. The objective of Sufism is to lead the Believer to a state of enlightenment, variously described as annihiliation of self or as unity with God. Some Sufi traditions include music and dance and the inducing of trance-states in this quest for God. Each Brotherhood has its own special form of DHIKR (remembrance) which is usually a ritual done in groups or in Lodges which operate in ways similar to Freemason Lodges.

The fundamentalists take a very dim view of Sufism, as a rule. Wahabism is very hostile to Sufism and drove the Sufi orders from the Arabian peninsula. This has impoverished modern Islam. The decline of Sufism is one of the characteristics of modern Islam. The Sufi orders have never been less integrated into the body of the Muslim Ummah than today. Their vitality is crucial to Islam. Many converts come to Islam through Sufism.

Some people, including many Sufis, imagine that DHIKR, the perpetual prayer, is an exclusively Sufi practise. This is not the case. Any soul can cry out for God by invoking His Name - Allah! Allah! Allah! It is clear from the Koran and from the Hadith literature that the practise of Dhikr as a perpetual prayer of the heart is recommended to all Muslims and not just to a spiritual elite. It is the group ritualized Dhikr that is peculiar and unique to the Sufi Brotherhoods.

For example, the famous Mevlevi Order of Sufis employ the silent, heart-based Dhikr, invoking the Name internally, constantly. But this is not unique to them by any means. What is unique about the Mevlevis is that they intensify the Dhikr by performing a whirling ecstatic dance as a group. The whirling dance drives the Dhikr deeper into the heart, so to speak. Anyone can do the Dhikr, but Mevlevi Sufis apply their whirling dance to it. This is like multiplying the Dhikr a thousandfold and so the Dhikr with these ecstatic dances should only be done under the supervision of a qualified Mevlevi Sheihk or other appointee of the Mevlevi Order. Sufism intensifies the Dhikr, but the Sufi Brotherhoods do not and cannot have a monopoly on the simple remembrance of God.

Today's Sufis are right to say that while the organised Sufi Brotherhoods did not always exist, Sufism did - though it was not called "Sufism" at the time. The proper Arabic name for what the English-speaking world now calls "Sufism" is "tassawuf". This was not originally a "special" part of Islam - it was just a normal extension of "ordinary" Islam. Eventually, Islam "hardened" (so to speak) into a religion with an inside and an outside - an esoteric and an exoteric dimension. This is the model that is now used. The Sufis like to say that Sufism is the kernel of Islam and the legalistic, everyday externalist Islam is the shell.

The division of Islam into a legal exterior with an esoteric core or kernel represents a "hardening" of the religion and a decline away from its original integrity. In early Islam the Dhikr and the Salat were not separate. But then the Ummah "forgot" Allah and the Dhikr of the heart ceased to be integral to Muslims and instead it became isolated as the preserve of organised Brotherhoods. Such Brotherhoods were not needed before that. Externalist Islam became focused on the canonical salat and external observances. This was a falling away from the pristine conditions of early Islam, the Islam of the Prophet and his Companions and of the first few generations.

The great mystical poet, Rumi

The Sufi Brotherhoods did not take shape until three hundred or more years after the time of the Holy Prophet - peace be to him! This marks a moment of decline in Islam, not because the Brotherhoods are deviationists or heretics, but because it signals the separation of DHIKR from mainstream Islamic practise. The SALAT became the hallmark of externalist, legalistic Islam and the DHIKR became the hallmark of the esotericists, the so-called Sufis. Prior to that they were both integral to Islam and tassawuf was merely a matter of degree.

 

Any Muslim can practise the Dhikr - the perpetual prayer of the heart. The Dhikr is nothing but the human heart crying for its Creator!

If you are particularly devout and have an aptitude for spiritual practices and yearn to make fast progress on the path to Allah then you should join one of the Sufi Brotherhoods so as to be tutored by experts and to participate in their group Dhikr.

Please note - the more extreme Sufi practices to intensify the Dhikr can be dangerous if performed outside of proper supervision.

There are many Sufi Orders and many people who call themselves Sufis. In these times it is increasingly difficult to find authentic branches of the Orders uninfected by New Ageism and pop psychology. In some cases various "Sufis" claim to have no connection with Islam at all. There are many spurious outfits, especially in the West where "Sufism" is increasingly popular because it seems like "Islam without rules". In some cases the Sufi groups can degenerate into the worst forms of guru-worship - they focus upon the personalities of particular "Sheihks". If you encounter genuine Sufis you will find that they are sincere, ordinary, non-pretensious God-fearing Muslims who are sober in temperament, constrained in their enthusiasms, and are devout in their remembrance of Allah. This is far more important than any claim to a "chain of transmission".

Here are notes on a few Orders:

Bektashi

The Bektashi are followers of the saint Hajji Bektash. Mainly found in the Turkish world. The Bektashi's overlap between Sunni and Shi'ite Islam having Persian origins but moving into the Turkish world. Also found in Albania and the Balkans.

Shadhili

The Shadhili have been centred in Northern Africa and employ a half-turn style of dance. They are now established in the West.

Dawoodiyya

The Dawoodiyya are a Bektashi-related order with particular reverence for the Prophet David - upon whom be peace. Like the Mevlevi's they practise a whirling dance, but their's is to the singing of the Psalms in Hebrew. They acknowledge the Twelve Imams of the Shia. The modern order is guided by the work of Sheihk Ali Haydar.

Mevlevi

Followers of the poet Mevlana Jallal al Din Rumi. They are famed for their ecstatic whirling dance and are probably the best known of all Sufi Orders. Their centre is in Konya, Turkey.

Naqshabandi

In many ways the Naqshabandi are the central order of all Sufis. They are very widespread and are distinguished by the use of the silent, internal Dhikr by invoking the Name of Allah.

Chisti

The Chisti are mainly found in India and Central Asia, but there are now branches in the USA. They are known for their use of music in Dhikr - and consequently receive the ire of the fundamentalists. The Taliban in Afghanistan tolerated other Sufi groups, but not the Chisti.

The Sufis do not have a monopoly on the remembrance of God! (As if they or anyone ever could!!!) But rememberance of God is their special science and their brotherhoods are devoted to methods for bringing the human heart back to God. Those who want to devote themselves to the deep rememberance of God ought to join the company of the Sufis and seek proper supervision. But the path is treacherous. Beware of bogus teachers and phoney sheihks.

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It is reported - and Allah knows best - that Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi, a friend of God - may Allah be pleased with him - said, "Be with Allah. You will find Allah with you."

It is reported - and Allah knows best - that Al-Junayd, a friend of God - may Allah be pleased with him - said, "Divine unity is the return of man to his origin, so that he will become as he was before he came into being."

It is reported - and Allah knows best - that Muhyidden Ibn Arabi, a friend of God - may Allah be pleased with him - said, "God is your mirror in which you contemplate yourself and you are His mirror in which He contemplates His attributes."

 

It is reported - and Allah knows best - that Jami, a friend of God - may Allah be pleased with him - said, "You may try a hundred things, but love alone will release you from yourself. So never flee from love - not even from love in an earthly guise - for it is a preperation for the supreme Truth. How will you read the Koran without first learning the alphabet?"

It is reported - and Allah knows best - that Al-Ghazzali, a friend of God - may Allah be pleased with him - said, "People count with self-satisfaction the number of times they have recited the name of God on their prayer beads, but they keep no beads for reckoning the number of idle words they speak."

It is reported - and Allah knows best - that Shahbistari, a friend of God - may Allah be pleased with him - said, "Sweep out the chamber of your heart. Make it ready to be the dwelling place of the Beloved. When you depart, He will enter. In you, void of yourself, will He display His beauties."

 

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Unto Him is the real prayer! - Koran 13:14