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To: tariqas@europe.std.com From: nagasiva@luckymojo.com (haramullah) Subject: Are There Sufis? (was are we sufis??) 50000515 IVom assalam alaykum, my kin. a correspondent wrote: >lol silly me i keep thinking that sufis are those who we follow..........we >are just followers and we are known as mureeds........? most organizational sufis seem to be called murids, yes, the leaders are called sheikhs. >My shiekh may Allah raise his status and increase his lights .......said >that all the time he tried to follow his murshid and found he was like >an ant who had broken legs........and could not keep up with him........ >and at that time he was his murshid's khalifa. what does it mean to be someone's khalifa? >this term sufi is used too much? like someone said "I am trying to follow >my sheikh ...i don't even know what "sufi" means........" occasionally discussion of the term comes up in this email list, with a variety of etymological and practical origins offered. the ones that I remember off-hand are 'suf' as related to wool (on account of the robes some sufis wear) and there was a connection to the 'Bench' (followers) of Muhammad, if memory serves. usually, like most esoteric identifiers, the term is projected as an ideal or donned like an enveloping identity. in the former few would claim to be a sufi, in the latter many identify as such, associating sufism with what they experience in relation to their sheikh. aside from proclamations of faith, the location and identity of who are and who are not sufis (or Sufis) depends upon the criteria of those who are making the assessment. not only are CURRENT groups subject to dispute surrounding inclusion (especially those which transcend Muslim theology and incorporate univeralism), but through TIME a question has intermittently arisen as to "whether there are any sufis left". witness: The mystical movement that created Sufism culminated in the ninth and tenth centuries (A.H. third and fourth centuries). By the year 996 (A.H. 386) a Sufi named Talib al-Makki reported that Junayd, who died in 909 (A.H. 297), was the last true representative of Sufism. In his *Risalah* or Essay (1045 C.E.; A.H. 437), al-Qushayri, a student of [Abu 'Abdul-Rahman Muhammad ibn al-Husayn ibn Muhammad ibn Musa ibn Khalid ibn Salim ibn Rawia al-Sulami, the author of the work for which this text forms a part of the Forword] wrote complaining that Sufism and religion were coming to an end. Such complaints, which continue today, seem by their very existence to contradict themselves, although it is true that Sufism reached its peak at about the time of the martyrdom of Hallaj, who made the famous declaration "I am the Truth" in 922 (A.H. 309). His execution epitomizes the violent confrontation between the *shari'ah* (the orthodoxy that dominated Islam) and the *tariqah* (mysticism), but did not end the struggle, although this tragedy helped to bring orthodoxy and mysticism closer together. ------------------------------------------------------- From the Foreword to "The Way of Sufi Chivalry", introduced and interpreted by Tosun Bayrak al-Jerrahi, Inner Traditions International, 1991; pp. 3-5. ______________________________________________________ it is always easiest to have ready-made answers to the persistent and troublesome questions such as "what is sufism?" and "am I a sufi?", still more so for the more important such as "who or what am I?" and "who or what is divinity?". those who cannot stand the harsh road of uncertainty clasp the robe of their guide, seize upon the traditional knowledge, and cling for dear life. those who dwell in uncertainty are an unknown quantity all around, may be mad or saintly, and may never enter into the presence of the Most Compassionate despite their dedication. peace be with you, haramullah
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