According to Sufi philosophy, one of the essential conditions for happiness is to be able to sit next to friends or people you love. You just need to sit and do nothing, say nothing. Look at each other or not even look. Delight comes from being surrounded by people with whom you feel good. You no longer need to occupy yourself with something, fill the space with sounds. It is enough to silently feel the presence of friends.
Briefly about Sufism
Sufism has always existed, as soon as the first person stepped on this earth. Tradition says that Adam was the first prophet, which means that the first person on earth already possessed wisdom. Among human race There have always been those who passionately strived for wisdom. People who practiced Sufism wanted to know themselves, to gain spiritual freedom; it takes a lot of time and practice to gain it. Practice is meditation. Sufis and yogis can understand each other, since there is only one difference between them: yogis strive more for spirituality, and Sufis - for humanity.
Sufism is more likely not a religion, but a worldview, a mentality. And in the modern world, every second person is a Sufi without realizing it. After all, almost everyone understands that all thoughts are material, or that the world around us is an illusion, that is, for example, if you think that you are in another place, you will definitely end up there, it’s just a matter of time. In general, you need to strive to be above all people, the so-called “human herd”; this will help you gain freedom.
Sufism is the path of cleansing the soul from bad qualities (nafs) and instilling praiseworthy qualities in the spirit (ruh).
After the era of the Prophet Muhammad, the Islamic heritage was transformed into various sciences: fiqh, hadith studies, and the sciences of the Koran. With the expansion of the caliphate and the concentration of enormous wealth in it, material aspirations prevailed among Muslims. At the same time, works on fiqh became more and more “dry”: they described more details of the performance of rituals, types of punishments and other similar issues. At this time, scientists began to appear who began to urge people to return to a simple lifestyle. They emphasized sincerity, the fight against their nafs, and the eradication of such diseases of the soul as envy, arrogance, and stinginess. This direction was called tasawwuf (Sufism).
This path of the murid (“seeking”, “thirsty”) takes place under the guidance of a murshid (“spiritual mentor”), who has already reached the end of the path and has received permission (ijaz) from his murshid for mentoring, or independently in the presence of developed natural intuition (inner teacher ).
Sufi sheikhs are part of a chain of teaching that, according to the canons, goes back to the Prophet Muhammad. Anyone who does not have an ijaza (“seal of the heart”) from his sheikh to instruct murids is not a true sheikh and does not have the right to teach Sufism (tassawwuf, tariqa) to those who wish.
Theologian al-Ghazali (1058-1111) believed that Sufism is the very essence of Islam. Al-Ghazali's merit lies in the fact that he tried to eliminate the contradictions between Islamic orthodoxy and Sufism. According to Al-Ghazali, the criterion of true Sufism is the absence of contradictions with the Koran and the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad.
DEATH. Sufi philosophy
I am part of the soul that gives birth to souls,
I am part of a country that welcomes souls.
The path is endless. And to get there,
Say goodbye to everything. Taste eternity.
I will melt in the sea of eternity like salt,
Doubts, godlessness, faith in God, pain will go away.
And a star shine will flash in the heart,
And seven heavens will arise in it.
Jalaluddin Rumi, "Rubai"
SUFISM
SUFISM – Muslim asceticism, asceticism and mysticism. The etymology has not been firmly established, although the name is considered to be derived from the word “wool” (the hair shirt of ascetics), or “bench” (ascetics sat on them), or simply a set of sounds. The first Sufis appeared in the 8th century, shortly after the emergence of Islam. Mystical experience begins to receive theoretical understanding from al-Hasan al-Basri, Dhu-n-Nun al-Misri (8th–9th centuries), al-Kharraz (d. 899), philosophical ideas can be traced in Abu-Yazid al-Bistami ( d. 875), Abu Mansur al-Hallaj (executed 922), Abu al-Qasim al-Qushayri (986–1072), etc. In Sufism, moderate and extreme movements are usually distinguished. A kind of “legalization” of moderate Sufism is usually associated with the name of Hamid ad-Din al-Ghazali (1058–1111), a thinker who belonged to the Ash’arite school of kalam and expressed sympathy for the Sufi way of knowing God as the achievement of true knowledge. Al-Hallaj can be considered a prominent representative of extreme Sufism with his famous formula “ana-l-haqq (“I am the Truth”), identifying the “I” of the mystic with God. Although among representatives of strict orthodoxy, aligned with fundamentalism, including modern , Sufism has always aroused suspicion, if not outright hostility, this movement has remained and remains very popular and covers the widest strata of Muslims.
Sufism also created its own philosophy, which raised fundamental questions that faced classical Arab philosophical thought: how the Origin of the universe, God, can be understood strictly as the only one and at the same time generating all the diversity of the world; what is man’s place in the world and his relationship to God and the divine; what are its capabilities and boundaries of knowledge and action. Sufism as a philosophical movement relied on the diversity of experience accumulated by the previous four schools of classical Arab philosophy (Kalam, Arab Peripatetism, Ismailism and Ishraqism), and used the categorical apparatus that had developed by that time philosophical thinking, which was the result of both the development of its own tradition and, to a large extent, the assimilation of the ancient heritage. The philosophy of Sufism enjoyed significant influence during the late Middle Ages, retaining it virtually until our time.
The most outstanding Sufi philosopher is Muhiyi ad-Din (Mohiddin) Ibn Arabi, who received the honorary title of “Great Sheikh.” He was born in 1165 in the city of Murcia (the south of modern Spain), in Andalusia, which was then part of the Arab Caliphate and served as a kind of crossroads civilizations, the center of philosophy and culture. The future mystic received the traditional education of a Muslim scientist. His works contain a lot of evidence of the insights that visited him, often of conversations with mystics of the past or prophets. Ibn "Arabi traveled a lot, and from 1223 he lived in Damascus, where he died in 1240. The great sheikh was familiar with the writings of the outstanding Sufis al-Kharraz, al-Muhasibi, al-Hallaj, al-Isfaraini.
Researchers trace direct and indirect connections and polemics with the ideas of al-Ghazali. Evidence of Ibn "Arabi's contacts with Ibn Rushd and other famous thinkers of that time has been preserved. His influence was experienced to one degree or another not only by almost all famous Sufi thinkers of subsequent generations, but also by representatives of other schools of thought, most of all - late Ishraqism. Sharp criticism and rejection of the idea of Ibn "Arabi was caused by the famous faqih Ibn Taymiyya (1263–1328), which was directly continued in the ideology of Wahhabism, which traces its ideas to this thinker. At the same time, such a famous faqih as al-Suyuti (15th century) came out in defense of Ibn Arabi.
The most important philosophical works of Ibn Arabi are the Meccan Revelations (al-Futuhat al-makkiyya) and the Gems of Wisdom (Fusus al-hikam). His poetry is represented by the collection Exposition of Passion (Tarjuman al-ashwaq). It is believed that more than 100 works belong to his pen. The fame of Ibn Arabi became the reason for the false attribution of many works. Among the apocrypha are the two-volume Interpretation of the Qur'an (Tafsir al-kur'an), the Tree of Being (Shajarat al-kavn), God's word (Kalimat al-lah), and God's wisdom (al-Hikma al-'ilahiyya).
The Meccan revelations have not yet been fully translated into foreign languages due to the volume of the work, which is rightly called the “encyclopedia of Sufism,” containing discussions on almost all issues of the theory and practice of Sufism. In addition to philosophical ones, many other issues relating to cosmology and angelology, Hurufism (the doctrine of the supernatural properties of letters), prophecy and Revelation, etc. are considered. The final chapter of the Meccan Revelations presents instructions to the murdam - students of Sufi mentors, written mainly in the form of maxims, although equipped with philosophical comments. The philosophical views developed by Ibn Arabi in the Meccan revelations are consistent with his concepts, set out in a much more condensed form in the Gems of Wisdom, written at the end of the author’s life. A work with a similar title - The Book of Gems (Kitab al-fusus) - is considered to be from Peru al -Farabi. It expounds the doctrine of the Origin and its relation to its consequence - the world, develops the dialectic of the manifestation and hiddenness of the Origin, proving that one is impossible without the other. Although the ideas of this work are close to those expressed by Ibn Arabi, it is difficult to say with certainty that -beyond this regarding the connection between the two works. The Gems of Wisdom consist of 27 chapters, each of which is associated with one of the messengers or prophets. The presentation is not systematic in the sense that would be true in relation to the Western tradition, but it reveals unconditional internal coherence and consistency both in terminological, conceptual and thematic terms, without departing from the criteria of rational validity and consistency of the provisions presented. Ibn "Arabi argues with the Arabic-speaking Peripatetics on the question of the way of understanding the unity of the First Principle, with al-Ghazali on the question of the possibility of its knowledge outside of connection with the world, with the Mutakallim on the question of the justification of the concept of "substance" in the light of the atomic theory of time. Some non-philosophical issues are also touched upon. issues such as dream symbolism.
The philosophical innovation of Sufism and at the same time the essence of the concept of this school are associated with a radical reworking of the idea of juxtaposition, which served as a kind of guiding principle in understanding the question of the relationship of the First Principle of things to things, eternity to time, the problematic of causality, etc. In Sufism, this exclusion of the Origin from the series it generates is questioned, and at the same time there is a rejection of the concept of absolute linearity and, as a consequence, the possibility of unambiguously fixing the place of a thing in the series defined by the Origin. This means, among other things, that it is impossible to unambiguously define the hierarchical relationship between any two things: each can be considered both superior to the other and superior to the other.
The First Principle and the series of things generated by it are understood in Sufism as conditions of each other. When the relationship between them is described in terms of “explicit - hidden” (zahir - batin) or “root - branch” (asl - far), the linearity characteristic of the previous tradition of Arabic philosophical thinking gives way to mutual precedence: both the Origin and the derivatives of in it, things can be characterized in mutual relation both as obvious and as hidden, and as a basis and as a branch. The own terminology of Sufism, which calls the First Principle “Truth” (al-haqq), a number of things in the world – “Creation” (al-khalq), and their dual unity – “world order” (al-“amr), emphasizes this relationship, calling the latter “Truth -Creation." The concepts of "precedence" (takaddum) and "following" (ta "akhhur) play in classical Arab-Muslim philosophical thought the most important role in the ordering of existence, arranging it in the Neoplatonic spirit in a fixed sequence on the ladder of perfection: the closer to the Origin , the more perfect the existing, surpassing everything that follows it, i.e. is located below it. But in Sufism, these concepts lose their fixed ranking and instead acquire the property of transforming one into another and, moreover, necessarily presupposing the other as its own characteristic: the preceding cannot turn out to be the preceding without being at the same time the subsequent, and vice versa.
The philosophy of Sufism is based on the atomic concept of time, created in Kalam. Since in any moment two events, destruction and creation, are juxtaposed, the world of things in every moment returns to eternity and in the same moment arises as temporary. Time and eternity in such a dual unity are inseparable from each other, and they cannot be imagined without the other. Moreover, it is impossible to unambiguously resolve the issue of their priority, since time turns out to be not just coeternal with eternity, but also a condition and form of its implementation.
The duality of opposites, which is discussed in Sufism, is a characteristic of the completeness of truth and does not imply the need to remove antitheses in some kind of synthesis. Comprehension of the fullness of this truth is the goal and at the same time the content of the method of cognition, which is called “confusion” (khayra) and has nothing to do with the “confusion” that in antiquity was associated with aporia. The duality of opposites revealed in “confusion” can be expressed in the most general form as a dialectic of affirmation and denial of the “otherness” (gairiyya) of things relative to each other. Their ranking, or mutual “superiority” (tafadul) in temporary existence is removed by their eternal hypostasis, due to which any thing turns out to be both different and non-different in relation to any other thing. Although “confused” knowledge is expressed discursively, it is directly related to the act of direct cognition and in no way contradicts the truth of the latter. In this sense, the theory of knowledge of Sufism and its philosophy based on “confused” knowledge can be seen as an attempt to bridge the gap between direct and discursive knowledge, which was tacitly recognized in classical Arab-Muslim philosophy.
The thesis about the dual unity of the world order, in which Truth and Creation (the Origin and the universe, God and the world) posit each other as conditions for themselves and are impossible without each other, is central to Sufi philosophy in that classic look, which she received in the works of Ibn “Arabi. Elaboration of this thesis from the perspective of all central philosophical problems classical period constitutes the content of the philosophy of Sufism. But the significance of this thesis is not limited to philosophy itself. It extends beyond its borders, covering, in particular, issues of ethics, everyday morality and doctrine.
Sufi thinkers generally remain faithful to Islam's position that this teaching is the highest and final expression of the true creed brought to humanity. Expressing the idea that it is the followers of Muhammad who belong to the “highest place” in the universe, Ibn Arabi proves that this exaltation concerns two components of religion - knowledge and action: the general Islamic position on the inseparability of these two sides retains its force, neither of which in isolation does not constitute faith. In the same way, Sufism supports the position of Islam that the purpose of sending down faith is the “benefit” (manfa"a) of people. The equally unconditional rooting of the ethical thought of Sufism in the general Islamic soil is evidenced by the categorical rejection of the ideas and ideals of Christian monasticism, which is all the more eloquent in the mouths of authors as tolerant as the Sufis: the fundamental denial of the attitude towards overcoming the flesh as such (as the source of sinfulness, and not the limitation of carnal excesses, as is characteristic of, say, rigoristic Ismailism) is characteristic of all Islamic authors, with the obvious exception of al-Suhrawardi and some other representatives of Ishraqism, in whom the idea of overcoming corporeality has equally pre-Christian and pre-Islamic, primarily Zoroastrian, roots.
Another important provision of Islamic ethics is the direct connection between action and intention. Intention directly determines the result of an action: everyone gets what they are looking for. However, such unambiguous judgments are possible only in the sphere of adab (moralizing instructions), including Sufi ones, since they directly contradict the main thesis of the philosophy of Sufism - the impossibility of unambiguously fixing one or another statement as final. Therefore, Sufi ethics, to the extent that it forms an organic part of the general philosophical constructions of this school, contains little basis for the traditional classification of intentions and the actions accompanied by them. Moreover, Sufi philosophy in its most subtle constructions deprives ethical reasoning of the real basis on which they are built in traditional theories.
An ethical judgment regarding human action presupposes the fundamental possibility of determining the agent, the one who carries out the action. It, further, is possible only if the action gives a natural result; if the same action can lead to unpredictably different consequences, no unambiguous assessment is possible.
But it is precisely these foundations that are questioned by Sufi philosophy. In Sufism, it is impossible to unambiguously correlate a person’s action with his own or with the divine will. The same applies to the definition of the actor himself: since a person is the embodiment of God, it is impossible to directly correlate an action with a person without simultaneously correlating it with God, which means that the question of a person’s responsibility for his actions cannot have an unambiguous answer. The definition of the true agent for actions performed by a person is connected with issues that were vividly discussed in Kalama. In Sufism, both man and God can be called true agents with equal right, and these points of view are not only not alternative, but are necessary as conditions for one another. This refers to the consideration of the relationship between the temporal and eternity aspects of existence within one atom of time. As for two even neighboring atoms of time, not to mention more distant ones, they are not connected by causality relations, which creates a fundamental difficulty in substantiating ethics. At the same time, Sufism adopted and developed numerous moral maxims that soften this “ethical nihilism” of high philosophy. In addition, in practical Sufism, especially in its mature period associated with the formation of various orders, various practices were developed for improving the adept, leading him along the “path” (ar a, also maslaq) to the highest stages of knowledge. They are based on the idea of the possibility of a graded increment of perfection as a result of the focused efforts of the adept, thereby focusing on the processuality of improvement, although they have little basis in the philosophical system of Sufism itself, where the concept of “perfect person” (ins n k mil, also ins n t mm ) is more metaphysical than ethical in nature.
The same ideas are developed in Sufism using one of the central categories of fiqh (religious and legal thought) - the term “amr (“command”). Expressing the idea of the unfixed content of even such a seemingly uniquely defined concept (a command is directed from God to man and always presupposes submission to him, i.e. obedience as a commendable action), Sufism distinguishes between a “creative command” (“amr taqwiniyy”) and “indirect command” (“amr bi-l-wasita): an indirect command may not be carried out, but a creative command is always fulfilled The command expressed in the Law is mediated, and therefore its implementation depends on whether it coincides or does not coincide with the divine will, expressed as a creative command. In the context of this teaching, the concepts of “praise - blame” (hamd - zamm), as well as “ obedience - disobedience" (ta"a -ma"siya), so important for Islamic ethics, lose their uniqueness, ceasing to express the conformity or non-compliance of human actions with the divine will. In every action, man is guided by God, or rather, by himself through God and in God. For example, “passion” (hawan), one of the most condemned qualities of the human soul by Islamic ethics, turns out to be in fact a passionate desire for God: both in the sense that it is directed in any case towards God, and in the sense that a person overwhelmed by passion expresses the desire of God himself, and not someone else. Classification of states of the soul is also possible on the basis of the idea that the objects of aspiration, what a person strives for, are different and separated from one another, and some of them are beneficial, while others are harmful; precisely because, in the traditional understanding, passion is detrimental to the soul, and modesty is useful, because the first turns away from the useful and brings more harm than good, and the second, on the contrary, contributes to the acquisition of the useful. But since nothing is other than God, since no thing in the world freezes within the boundaries of its unconditional difference from everything else, but at every moment returns to God so that at the same moment it can arise as something else, then passion does not lead astray a person from the only true path leading him to good and happiness, as traditional theories interpret, simply because there is no only true path and every path leads to God. These ideas are directly related to the position of the totality of true religion, which is one of the distinctive features of Sufism.
According to Sufi authors, Islam is certainly the true confession, but equally certainly it is not the exclusively true confession. Islam is knowledge about God and action corresponding to this knowledge. However, no thing in the world is other than the knowledge of God, and therefore no knowledge is other than knowledge about God. The same applies to action: no action is performed for the sake of something other than God, which means that every action is done in the name of the only God. Therefore, an essential consequence of Sufi philosophy is religious tolerance, expressed in the principle “it is impossible to worship anything other than the true God.” Any worship turns out to be essentially the worship of the Truth, but under the obligatory condition that it does not claim exclusive possession of the truth, thus presupposing other confessions (including those that seem to exclude itself, just as “polytheism” excludes “monotheism”) as its own condition. This thesis, which causes extreme hostility among some Muslim traditionalist ideologists, appeals, coupled with the mystical component of Sufism, to modern consciousness, which largely explains the popularity of Sufi ideas.
These general philosophical principles, when applied to specific episodes in the history of the relationship between mankind and a deity or deities, which are told in the Koran, give paradoxical consequences. According to Ibn “Arabi, it is impossible to deny the truth of any of the religions; the idolatry of the ancient Arabs, the religion of the Egyptians (the Koranic Pharaoh appears as an avowed enemy of monotheism and true faith), any Laws and doctrinal codes of any religions are true. On the contrary, those who tried to prove their unconditional falsity, acted to the detriment of the true confession.The only thing that can be untrue in any of the religions is its claim to exclusive truth and rejection of the truth of other religions.
Philosophical Sufism after Ibn "Arabi developed under the decisive influence of his ideas. The views of Ibn "Arabi later became known as the concept of wahdat al-wujud (“unity of existence”), which found supporters in the Sufi environment in the person of such outstanding thinkers as al-Kashani (d. 1329) and al-Jili (1325–1428), and met opposition from al-Simnani (d. 1336), who came up with the alternative theory of wah dat al-shuhud ("unity of witnessing"). Sufism had a great influence on Arab-Muslim philosophical thought, especially during the late Middle Ages, as well as on culture in general. Sufi ideas became more famous thanks to the work of such poets and thinkers as Farid ad-Din al-Attar (d. 1220), Ibn al-Farid (1181–1235), Jalal ad-Din ar-Rumi (1207–1273) and others, based on Sufi symbolism of love, longing for the Beloved, etc.
Smirnov Andrey
Sufism
SUFISM (at-tasawwuf) is a mystical-ascetic movement in Islam. The word "Sufi" comes from the Arabic word "suf" (coarse wool). Sufis were originally Muslim mystics who wore clothes made of coarse wool as a symbol of self-denial and repentance. The main components of S. are considered to be asceticism, asceticism and mysticism.
S. is a broad ideological movement that embraces literature, art, philosophy, history and folk culture. The principle of “universality” was one of the main ones in S. A Sufi could become a representative of almost any religious direction in Islam, a supporter of any legal school, a peasant or artisan, a warrior or scribe, or a representative of the nobility. Therefore, among the Sufis we find such a subtle psychologist as Muhasibi (d. 857); world famous writers and poets: Abdallah Ansari (d. 1089), Sanai (d. about 1190), Farida ad-din Attar (d. about 1220), Jalala ad-din Rumi (d. about 1273); famous representatives of Sunni Islam: al-Ghazali, Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 1328); philosophers: al-Suhrawardi and Ibn Arabi.
However, apparently, it would be a mistake to interpret S. not as a movement as a whole, but as the sum of the biographies of its individual representatives. S. does not always coincide with the personal stories of the Sufis themselves, who turned to S. and then “left”, broke with him, powerless to change the general course of his development.
Undoubtedly, S. is a phenomenon of historical order. Not related exclusively to any one country, but spreading from Gibraltar to the Indus, it ultimately influenced an entire era in the development of literature and philosophy in the countries of the Muslim East. The time when S. began to spread was the first half of the 8th century, its heyday in different regions The Near and Middle East is dated differently. The period of its formation is the VIII-X centuries. - characterized by sharp criticism of existing orders and the dominant ideology. XI century - the period of wide spread of S. from the Nile to the Euphrates, the time of its systematization. One of the first to try to formulate a holistic doctrine was S. al-Qusheyri (d. 1072). During this period, the anti-Abbasid socio-religious orientation of S. received systematized doctrinal formalization. In the 12th century. S. is becoming popular in all spheres of society. There are frequent cases of Sunni authorities turning to S.; Sufi orders begin to form. The famous Sufi Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani (d. 1166) organizes the Qadariyya order. Sufi literature (Sanai) is born. XIII-XV centuries - the heyday of Sufi orders, in particular the Mevleviya order, which was based on the ideas of the famous poet Jalal ad-din Rumi. The beginning of the flowering of Sufi literature is also associated with the name of Rumi. This period is generally characterized by a conciliatory position towards the ruling dynasties. However, a kind of “social alienation” continues to remain, which is especially clearly visible in Sufi literature.
Sufi theory and practice implied a departure from real life, passive attitude towards the world. Sufis believed that worldly life is devoid of beauty and joy, justice and freedom, that human capabilities are extremely limited, therefore one should abandon worldly affairs and embark on the path of asceticism and the search for a “better world.” Sufis, trying to understand the nature of “evil,” elevated it to an ahistorical force. They attached absolute importance to criticism and denial of everything earthly. The interpretation of evil and human suffering as inherent in this earth led to the idea of searching for the “true world of love.” Since the realization of the social ideal of the “dominance of love and goodness” is impossible in real earthly conditions, the “righteous world” was transferred to heaven. Heavenly harmony replaced earthly harmony.
The ambiguity of the social nature of S. is due to at least four important factors. Firstly, the Sufi teaching about the direct communication of the believer with God contributes to the religious zeal of the masses. It is not without reason that “prayer” and “asceticism” are singled out as the fundamental principles of Sufi theory and practice. Apparently, one should not overestimate S.’s disdainful attitude towards a number of Sharia regulations in the early stages of its development, which led to a negative reaction to them from the majority of Sufis. The basis for the rapprochement between S. and Sunni dogmatism was irrationalism. Mysticism, which is integral part any religion, did not separate, but on the contrary, brought S. closer to traditionalism (Salafism). It is not without reason that one of the systematizers of S., the famous poet Abdallah al-Ansari, and such a major theorist as Abd al-Qadir Jilani, were considered as ardent opponents of kalam. As the American Arabist J. Makdisi noted, “... Sufism for a certain time was woven into the very fabric of traditionalism” and was associated before and after al-Ghazali with the most traditional science - hadith studies, and was also associated with fiqh.
Secondly, it should be borne in mind that in Sufi practice, guidance from a Sufi sheikh and following his example in life was mandatory. Therefore, one should not overestimate the so-called denial of intermediaries between God and the believer, attributed to the “heretic” S. It must be taken into account that in Islam there is no institution of the church and therefore the importance of the doctrine of direct communication between the believer and God, i.e. denial of the idea of mediation is not so significant for Islam.
Thirdly, S.'s anti-Abbasid position is largely explained by dissatisfaction with the social order, corruption and money-grubbing of the rulers and their associates. Sufis proceeded from the idealized norms of social life of the Medina state of the time of the prophet. Their teaching about the equality of people before God largely reflected Islamic traditional ideas about mutual assistance of all members of the community, the demand addressed to the wealthy to help the poor, the categorical prohibition of riba - usurious interest, the desire for justice, etc. Sufi social criticism is based on the religious-utopian doctrine of the reorganization of society, which was primarily associated with religious and moral self-improvement. Ultimately, the response to the injustices of this world was asceticism, mysticism and political quietism. The mystical concept of unity with God was aimed at achieving a “better” and “just world”. Focus on the individual existence of a person led to the creation of many psychological systems that offered different ways of human self-improvement.
Fourthly, Sufi mysticism was also fraught with danger for traditionalists. Considering that S. is not something whole, unified and complete, several concepts of unity with God can be distinguished in it, for example, existential-ontological (al-Hallaj), epistemological-theoretical (al-Ghazali), as well as the so-called mystical pantheism - the doctrine of the unity of being (wahdat al-wujud) by Ibn al-Arabi. Of course, religious principles of worldview and worldview could not but dominate in the worldview of the Sufis, but the principles of poetic and psychological worldview also played a major role. The peculiarity of S. is connected, first of all, with the specifics of the method on the basis of which Sufis tried to solve ideological problems. Their method was supposed to make it possible to embrace all of reality in its integrity, and man in his totality. The world, like a person, cannot be divided into parts. They can only be comprehended as a whole with the help of intuition and insight. The originality of the method also predetermined the peculiarities of philosophizing associated with symbolism, allegory, and “secret knowledge.” The method made it possible to encrypt the completeness and specificity of life and was associated with the recognition of the dominance in the world of the irrational principle, comprehended in divine love.
If the Peripatetic philosophers proceeded from the possibility of subordinating practical reason to theoretical reason on the basis of a concept that received the form of the theory of “dual truth” in Europe, then Sufi al-Ghazali asserted the primacy of practical reason, proving that al-Farabi, Ibn Sina and their followers were destroying faith , and thereby the moral foundations of society, and at the same time reveal their inability to give apodictic confirmation of those metaphysical positions to which they sacrifice this faith.
Sufism today
Answering Common Questions
Sufism is the inner dimension of Islam. Spiritual exercises, solitary activities that enhance personality and connection with the Sheikh are part of the path of Sufism, consonant with the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). He who knows himself knows his “Lord” and the Ayah of the Holy Quran: “We will show them our signs in the world and in themselves, so that the right path becomes clear to them.” Below are the sections where you can find answers to most of the questions and questions about Sufism today:
· Sufism and Islam
· Sufi society
· Master and followers
· Practical Sufism
· Men and women
· Path to the Sufi Current
Sufism and Islam
what is Sufism?
Sufism (Arabic "Tasauf") is a mystical view and internal dimension of Islam. But words are powerless to explain the phenomenon of Sufism; outside of speech, those following this path seek the experience and experience of Divine reality. Sufism is an inner journey with the goal of being close to Allah, experiencing his presence and dissolving in his love.
Short description
According to Sufi philosophy, one of the essential conditions for happiness is to be able to sit next to friends or people you love. You just need to sit and do nothing, say nothing. Look at each other or not even look. Delight comes from being surrounded by people with whom you feel good. You no longer need to occupy yourself with something, fill the space with sounds. It is enough to silently feel the presence of friends.
According to Sufi philosophy, one of the essential conditions for happiness is to be able to sit next to friends or people you love. You just need to sit and do nothing, say nothing. Look at each other or not even look. Delight comes from being surrounded by people with whom you feel good. You no longer need to occupy yourself with something, fill the space with sounds. It is enough to silently feel the presence of friends.
This post from one smart woman jogged my memory...
I have girlfriends and boyfriends from 20 to 80. They come (more often when it’s bad). First, we drink tea in silence, remain silent, and after thawing, whoever wants to tell or ask.
I am often asked to tell something interesting about myself in order to drown out my problems in my brain. They probably realize that I’m lying, but they leave calm and cheerful. I can laugh at myself...
And then one day a breathless friend comes running, who has known me for a long time and could sort everything out.
- They told me this about you... I didn’t believe it, although... Tell the truth. I'm dying of curiosity...
- Remind me the point...
- They say you have a new lover..! You're 5 minutes to 70! And the fan, they say, is no older than 40-45. Here, at 50, I shook up all the dating sites and..., making a sad grimace, sighed...
- So what do you need, a story to break your heart from envy or the truth to calm you down...
- Well, clearly, I made it up again...
Only 60% - Olga's eyes widened. She looked like a surprised owl.
- 60% ? Tell us!
Olga automatically turned on the kettle, threw a tea bag and a piece of sugar into the cup and, resting her chin, probably to save her jaw from dropping, prepared to listen.
- Olya, the story will be short, don’t expect a long interview...
- Come on, don't get distracted...
- Everything was quite banal. Before Teacher's Day, the student's father came with flowers and a gift in a bag. I was having problems with my bathroom faucet at the time, and he just decided to help. Ninochka (7th grade), Marinka’s daughter, a neighbor came in with some questions about the lessons. I saw a bouquet, a box of chocolates and a man coming out of the bathroom, embarrassed, and ran away. Already in the evening, you understand, everyone was with me. I didn't disappoint...
- Well, Marinka rang me up.
After a pause, she said with regret: “It would be better if you lied to me too... You lie so beautifully and believably... And you said that it was 60%... It’s not even 10%.”
Well, who was pulling her tongue? I had to write the remaining 50%. Sighing with relief, she drank tea, forgetting to stir the sugar, and listened, sometimes passing the cup past her mouth, burning her beard.
Already in the evening, all mutual acquaintances called to make sure that Olga was telling the truth. I didn't disappoint them...
It's good to live...
I'm going to Kaleidoscope. It's going to be fun there today... I have money for bowling!
What does this have to do with Philosophy, and even Sufi philosophy. It’s better for me to be silent together..., hand in hand...
(en: "The Encyclopedia of Relative and Absolute Knowledge", fr: "L"Encyclopedie Du Savoir Relatif Et Absolu"), 1993
[Build and Contact]
Any form of life does only this: builds and contacts. From the very beginning, these two movements occur in the depths of each cell. DNA builds, RNA contacts.
DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) includes both an identification card, a memory, and a blueprint for building a cell. DNA is made up of a mixture of four chemical elements(four nitrogen-containing bases), which can be symbolized by the initial letters of their names. A (adenine), T (thymine), G (guanine), C (cytosine). ATGC is like a four card game. You can mix hearts, clubs, spades and diamonds in any way you like, you will still get the layout.
But they play with two hands. Any line of combinations of ATGC cards corresponds to a parallel line, subordinate certain rules. A combines only with T, G - only with C.
That is, the upper line GCTTSAATGG corresponds to CGTTTTTACC. Each gene is chemical compound, consisting of many thousands of A, T, G, C. This is its wealth, its code, the library of knowledge that characterizes it. The color of your eyes, whether brown or blue, depends on the combination of ATGC.
All our properties are ATGC. A lot of them. An interesting detail: if you unwind the DNA of one of our cells, you get a thread whose length is equal to the distance from the Earth to the Moon multiplied by 16,000.
The cell becomes complex, it is capable of storing information. But what would be the use of this information if it cannot be conveyed? This is how the ability to “contact” appears. The messages sent by a cell are similar to DNA cells, but they are chemical composition still different. They are called "messenger RNA" (ribonucleic acid). These ribonucleic acid fibers are almost identical to deoxyribonucleic acid (the sugar is ribose, one of the nitrogen-containing bases of the other). Only one letter changes. T is replaced by U (uracil). That is, DNA of the type GCCCAATGG corresponds to RNA GCCCAAUGG.
This ability for DNA to express itself can be illustrated in the silkworm. With the help of DNA, a cell can produce as much RNA as it needs. One DNA gene, for example, is capable of creating 10,000 copies of RNA, each of which is capable of transmitting information for the fabrication of countless numbers of silk thread proteins. This is probably the most striking example of construction and contact. And this miracle gives us the opportunity to bask in light clothing.
In four days, the genes of one cell can produce a billion silk thread proteins.
Life does two things: builds and connects.
[Utopia of Sabbatai Zevi]
Having made thousands of calculations and esoteric interpretations of the Bible and Talmud, the great Polish Kabbalist scholars predicted that the Messiah would definitely come in 1666.
At that time the mood of the Jewish population of Eastern Europe it couldn't have been worse. To put an end to the dominance of large Polish feudal lords, the Cossack hetman Bogdan Khmelnytsky led the peasant army several years earlier. Unable to drive the enemy out of their well-fortified castles, the horde, overwhelmed by a destructive rampage, took out its frustration on small Jewish settlements, accusing their inhabitants of being too loyal to their overlords. When, a few weeks later, the Polish aristocrats began to launch crushing punitive blows, the Jewish villages again fell under hot hand, and the victims numbered in the thousands. “This is a sign of the coming battle of Armageddon,” said the Kabbalists. “This is a harbinger of the coming of the Messiah.”
This moment was chosen by Sabbatai Zevi, a quiet young man with a gaze, to declare himself the Messiah. He spoke well, knew how to encourage, knew how to make you dream. They said he worked miracles. He quickly achieved enormous popularity among the hard-pressed Jewish communities of Eastern Europe. Some rabbis, of course, shouted that he was a usurper and a false prophet. A split occurred between fans and opponents of Sabbatai Zevi, and entire families fell apart. Hundreds of people decided to give up everything, leave their home and follow the new Messiah, who called them to go build a new utopian society in the Holy Land. But the matter ended quickly. One evening, the Sultan's spies kidnapped Sabbatai Zevi. He escaped death by converting to Islam. Some of his most faithful disciples followed his example. The rest chose to forget about him.
[Cerebral cortex era]
Language demonstrates the evolution of our brain.
At first there were few words, and their meaning was clarified by intonation. The limbic system of the brain, the brain of emotions, helped us understand each other. These days, the vocabulary is so rich that we no longer need intonation to express precise nuance. The dictionary is compiled by the cerebral cortex. We use the language of reasoning, logical systems, and automatic speech mechanisms.
Language is just a symptom. Our evolution went from the reptilian brain to the limbic system, and from the limbic system to the cerebral cortex. We now live in the intelligent kingdom of the cerebral cortex. The body is forgotten, everything has become rational. This is why so many psychosomatic diseases appear (the presence of the mind and its absence affect the flesh). In the future, people will increasingly visit psychoanalysts and psychiatrists. They are specialists in the cerebral cortex. That is, doctors of the future.
[Space]
With the best telescopes, we cannot see the outer space around us.
We see only the past of outer space. We are surrounded by the light of the past.
Light has speed, and the radiance of the stars reaching us today is the radiance of the past. These rays sometimes travel millions of kilometers before sparkling in our night. The scope of our observation of space is like a long “radish” extending into the depths of our cosmic roots.
[Be together]
According to Sufi philosophy, one of the essential conditions for happiness is to be able to sit opposite your friends or the people you love. You have to sit down and do nothing, say nothing. Look at each other or not even look. Delight comes from being surrounded by people who make you feel good. The sound space can remain free; you also don’t need to occupy yourself with anything. It is enough to feel silent participation together.
[Dinosaur]
The dinosaurs that inhabited our earth sixty-five million years ago were different sizes and miscellaneous appearance. Among them was one type of dinosaur about our height, they walked on their hind legs, their brain was the same volume as ours: stenonychosaurs.
During the period when our ancestors looked like shrews, stenonychosaurs were already very advanced animals. These bipeds, which resembled a kangaroo in appearance, had lizard skin and saucer-shaped eyes, capable of seeing both in front and behind (you must admit, such a property would not hurt us). Thanks to their extraordinary visual sensitivity, they could hunt even after sunset. They had retractable claws, like those of cats, and long fingers on their limbs had amazing gripping properties. They could, for example, take a pebble and throw it. Canadian professors D. Russell and R. Seguin (Ottawa), who carefully studied stenonychosaurs, believe that the latter had amazing abilities to analyze the surrounding world, surpassing the capabilities of all modern animal species and allowing them, despite their small stature, to become a dominant species.
The skeleton of Stenonychosaurus, found in 1967 in Alberta (Canada), confirms that these reptiles had very different areas of brain activity from other dinosaurs. Like humans, they had abnormally developed cerebellum and medulla oblongata. They could understand, think, and develop a group hunting strategy.
Of course, in general, Stenonychosaurus looked more like a kangaroo than a concierge from the nineteenth arrondissement of Paris, but, according to Russell and Seguin, if dinosaurs had not died, most likely they would have developed social life and technology.
If not for a small environmental incident, this reptile could have driven cars, built skyscrapers and invented television. And we, the unfortunate belated primates, would find ourselves in zoos, laboratories and circuses.
[Sheet]
Sometimes you think, why are sheets of paper made mostly 21 x 29.5 cm in size? In fact, this size is a “canon” (a proportion of many numbers) discovered by Leonardo da Vinci. It has an amazing property: if you fold a sheet of paper 21 x 29.5 cm in half, the length turns into width, and the proportion remains the same. And no matter how many times you fold a piece of paper measuring 21 x 29.5 in this way, the proportion will not be disrupted. And only this proportion has this property.
[Warrior]
A true warrior can be recognized by the fact that he is much more interested in his enemies than in his friends.
[Irrefutable]
If you see three black crows, it does not mean that all crows are black. According to Karl Popper, it is enough to meet one white crow to prove that not all crows are black. Until we see a white crow, we cannot know whether all crows are black or not.
So any scientific position can be refuted. The only thing that is irrefutable is what is not scientific. If someone says, "Ghosts exist," it is irrefutable, since there is no way to prove that such a statement is false.
Conversely, if someone says, “Light always travels in a straight line,” this can be refuted. You just need to put a flashlight in a container of water to see how the light is refracted on the surface of the liquid.
Buy Bernard Werber's book "Encyclopedia of Relative and Absolute Knowledge" in online stores:
All information on the site is provided for informational purposes only. The site is not commercial and does not claim any rights of publication. 2007-2019
According to Sufi philosophy, one of the essential conditions for happiness is to be able to sit next to friends or people you love. You just need to sit and do nothing, say nothing.
According to Sufi philosophy, one of the essential conditions for happiness is to be able to sit next to friends or people you love. You just need to sit and do nothing, say nothing. Look at each other or not even look. Delight comes from being surrounded by people with whom you feel good. You no longer need to occupy yourself with something, fill the space with sounds. It is enough to silently feel the presence of friends.
Briefly about Sufism
Sufism has always existed, as soon as the first man stood on this earth. Tradition says that Adam was the first prophet, which means that the first person on earth already possessed wisdom. Among the human race there have always been those who passionately strived for wisdom. People who practiced Sufism wanted to know themselves, to gain spiritual freedom; it takes a lot of time and practice to gain it. Practice is meditation. Sufis and yogis can understand each other, since there is only one difference between them: yogis strive more for spirituality, and Sufis - for humanity.
Sufism is more likely not a religion, but a worldview, a mentality. And in modern world every second person is a Sufi without realizing it. After all, almost everyone understands that all thoughts are material, or that the world around us is an illusion, that is, for example, if you think that you are in another place, you will definitely end up there, it’s just a matter of time. In general, you need to strive to be above all people, the so-called “human herd”; this will help you gain freedom.