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To: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.islam.sufism,alt.sufi,alt.consciousness.mysticism,talk.religion.misc From: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com (haramullah) Subject: 'Sufi' Etymology (was Re: On "What is Sufism") Date: 3 May 1997 03:30:48 -0700 [technical difficulties enforced delay -- apologies for outdatedness] 49970501 AA1 May Day! the beginning of SUMMER! assalam alaykum, my kin. the curious (!) mohsen said: #It was said that "Sufi" comes from the word "Suf" whick means wool. It #refers to individuals who used to cover themselves with wool, reject #materialistic life and go to the Kaaba in Mecca where they used to #meditate and worship. shorn from the sheep, refined into a sheltering garment of strength, worn by the faithful, enveloping and obscuring the master. #It was also said that it comes form the Arabic word "Safa" which means #"purified himself". Orphic resonances? #A third origin could be the word "Safwah" which means the chosen or #selcted ones. elitism. the nation of those who submit to the divine. the path of the righteous, who enter by the narrow gate into Paradise. the Special Lovers (habibs!) of the Most Compassionate. #Any other ideas or possible origins? As there is no standard appellation for Sufism, the inquirer may turn to the word *Sufi* itself, and discover that it suddenly became current about a thousand years ago, both in Near East and Western Europe; and it is still in general use to describe particularly the best product of certain ideas and practices, by no means confined to what people would conventionally call 'religious'. He will find plenty of definitions for the word, but his problem is now reversed: instead of coming up against a mere label of no great age, he gets so many descriptions of *Sufi* that he might as well have none at all. According to some authors, and they are in the majority, *Sufi* is traceable to the Arabic word, pronounced *soof*, which literally means 'wool', referring to the material from which the simple robes of the early Muslim mystics were made. These, it is further claimed, were made of wool in imitation of the dress of Christian anchorites who abounded in the Syrian and Egyptian deserts and elsewhere in the Near and Middle East. But this definition, plausible though it may appear, will not solve our problems as to name, let alone ideas, in Sufism. Equally important lexicographers, however, stress that 'wool is the garb of animals' and emphasize that the Sufi objective is towards the perfecting or completing of the human mind, not the emulation of the herd; and that the Sufis, always highly conscious of symbolism, would never adopt such a name. Furthermore, there is the awkward fact that the Companions of the Bench -- the *Ashab as-Safa* -- are traditionally supposed to have been the Sufis of the time of Mohammed (who died in A.D. 632). It is said that they formed themselves into an esoteric group in the year 623, and that their name is a derivation from the phrase *Ashab as-Safa*. Although some grammarians have pointed out that the 'wool' origin is more likely -- and more probable than, say, the derivation from *safwa* ('piety'), or eve4n *saff* (contracted from the phrase 'First Rank of the Worthy') -- others have contested such opinions on the grounds that nicknames do not have to abide by the rules of orthography. Now the name is important as an introduction to the ideas, as we shall see in a moment. Meanwhile let us take a look at its associations. The Sufis claim that a certain kind of mental and other activity can produce, under special conditions and with particular efforts, what is termed a higher working of the mind, leading to special perceptions whose apparatus is latent in the ordinary man. Sufism is therefore the transcending of ordinary limitations. Not surprisingly, in consequence, the word *Sufi* has been linked by some with the Greek word for divine wisdom (*sophia*) and also with the Hebrew cabbalistic term *Ain Sof* ('the absolutely infinite'). It would not reduce the problems of the student at this stage to learn that it is said, with all the authority of the *Jewish Encyclopaedia*, that Hebrew experts regard the Cabbala and the Hasidim, the Jewish mystics, as originating with Sufism or a tradition identical with it. Neither would it encourage him to hear that, although the Sufis themselves claim that their knowledge has existed for thousands of years, they deny that it is *derivative*, affirming that it is an equivalence of the Hermetic, Pythagorean and Platonic streams. Our still uninitiated student may by now be thoroughly confused; but he has had a glimpse of the problems of studying Sufi ideas, even if only because he can witness for himself the unproductive struggle of scholastics. A possible refuge would be found if our man could accept the affirmation of a specialist -- such as Professor R. A. Nicholson -- or if he asked a Sufi. Now Nicholson says: 'Some European scholars identified it with Sophos in the sense of "theosophist". But Noldeke... showed conclusively that the name was derived from *suf* (wool) and was originally applied to those Muslim ascetics who, in imitation of Christian hermits, clad themselves in coarse woolen garb as a sign of penitence and renunciation of worldly vanities.' This characteristic, if not venturesome, opinion was published in 1914. Four years earlier, Nicholson himself had offered his translation of the eleventh-century *Revelation*, the earliest available Persian treatment of Sufism, and one of the most authoritative Sufi texts. In its pages the author, the venerable Hujwiri, specifically states -- and this is doggedly translated but ignored by the Professor -- that *Sufi* has no etymology. Nicholson shows no curiosity about this claim, but thinking about it could have led him to an important idea in Sufism. For him, quite clearly, a word *must* have an etymology. Unconsciously assuming that 'no etymology' must be absurd, he looks no further in that direction, but, all undismayed, continues to seek an etymological derivation. Like Noldeke and many others, such a mind will prefer the word 'wool' to the seeming paradox of 'no etymology'. This is surely the reason why, in his recent book on Sufism, the learned Dominican Father Cyprian Rice (an admirer and pupil of Nicholson) says, half a century after the publication of the English translation of Hujwiri's text (a version which he praises): '...from their habit of wearing coarse garments of wool (*suf*) {they} became known as Sufis.' But acquaintanceship with Sufis, let alone almost any degree of access to their practices and oral traditions, could easily have resolved any seeming contradiction between the existence of a word and its having no ready etymological deriviation. The answer is that the Sufis regard the *sounds* of the letters S, U, F (in Arabic, the signs for *Soad*, *Wao*, *Fa*) as significant, in this same order of use, in their effect upon human mentation. The Sufis are therefore, 'the people of SSSUUUFFF'. -------------------------------------------------------------- _The Way of the Sufi_, by Idries Shah, Arkana, 1990; pp. 13-6. ______________________________________________________________ now that I've spoken kind words let me share with you some of my own wrathful poetry, adjusted for your ears: die, die, oh lemming angsters taking up good meatspace born into tragedy, but a prelude end of the line, life give flesh to the worms, who relish the taste heads pressing against the windshield puritanism destroyed, tyrants vanquished peace be with you, my kin. haramullah (tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com) -- see http://www.hollyfeld.org/~tyagi/nagasiva.html and call: 408/2-666-SLUG!!! ---- (emailed replies may be posted) ---- CC public replies to author ---- * * * Asphalta Cementia Metallica Polymera Coyote La Cucaracha Humana * * *
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