Al-Huda
Foundation, NJ U. S. A
the Message Continues ... 10/127
Newsletter for March 2012
Article 1 - Article 2 - Article 3 - Article 4 - Article 5 - Article 6 - Article 7 - Article 8 - Article 9 - Article 10 - Article 11 - Article 12
(excerpted from the author's article, " Salafism (Wahabism) and Sufism, is there a real conflict ?)
Spiritualism
brings deeper convictions and inner solace and certitude that
Qur’an calls imaan (faith). It needs both the heart and the mind
to believe and hence, according to the Qur’an, those whose
hearts are sealed can never believe. Belief has to be grounded
in deeper spiritual forces and superficial rationality cannot
achieve deeper conviction. The Sufis and mystics spend years
fighting great impediments encountered in themselves and perfect
their nafs through minimizing their desires and removing all
traces of greed controlling acquisitive instincts.
Then they emerge as what we can call as role models for the
masses of people in the society and gather around them large
number of followers. One more social function of religion is to
provide solace to troubled hearts and minds. No amount of
material wealth can buy this inner solace and these Sufis become
the source of inner solace for these troubled souls.
The Sufis and mystics use rich cultural resources to achieve
this purpose. Poetry and its powerful symbolic language on one
hand, and, music, on the other, provide spiritual tools which
have great emotional appeal. Also, Sufis assimilate different
cultural values and express themselves through cultural values
and language of the region they situate themselves in. This
again greatly enhances their appeal to the masses of people.
Thus, many great sufis happened to be from Iran and hence they
wrote in Persian. Persian poetry was greatly enriched by the
Sufis of Iran. They did not hesitate to use symbols like wine, a
cup of wine or a sip bearer of wine
saaqi for spiritual
purposes giving it an entirely new meaning and significance.
Also, the Sufis spoke the language of love, not of power. It is
the language of love which has the emotional appeal, not the
language of power which reflects ambition and exploitation.
Thus, it is rich cultural resources and language of love which
tremendously enhances the appeal of sufi Islam. For example what
Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi could achieve through his
Mathnavia Ma’navi
could not have been achieved through hundreds of toms written by
great scholars in terms of emotional appeal. The Mathnavi was
even called the Qur’an in Pehlavi language (i.e. Persian).
It is also important to note that Jalaluddin Rumi was as great a
scholar of Arabic as of Persian. Arabic was the language of
Islamic learning whereas Persian was the language of culture and
administration and Maulana Rumi chose Persian for writing his
Mathnavi precisely because it was the language of the people and
their cultural expressions were in that language and it was this
powerful cultural tool that made Mathnavi popular over ages.
The Indian Sufis, on the other hand, also wrote either in
Persian or even in regional languages like Brij, Avadhi, Khari
Boli, Bengali, Marathi and in Urdu and used symbolism of local
culture. Also, since they spoke the language of love, there was
no rejection of the other, only acceptance. But ideological
puritans, on the other hand, speak the language of rejection,
one who is not purist, is not acceptable. Thus, they narrow down
their circle of followers. One who does not believe in their
ideology is not a believer and hence a kafir.
Also, the Sufis, through assimilation of local cultural symbols,
even rituals made it easy for the local masses not only to flock
to them but also convert to Islam which became much nearer to
their way of life. In India, the rituals around sufi mausoleums
bear close resemblance to those of a Hindu shrine replacing the
idol with a sufi grave. Conversion should not result in cultural
rupture. Culture is much closer to one's heart than any
intellectual belief.
There is another dimension which one has to take into account
for origin, development and popularity of sufi Islam. Islam did
not remain confined to the Arabian Peninsula with scarce
cultural resources but spread to far and wide with highly
developed cultures and civilizations like those of Iran and
India, besides others. While Islam impacted on these cultures it
was also in turn impacted by them and new composite strains of
cultures developed in these regions. Both Iran and India
developed highly enriched composite cultures due to the entry of
Islam.
It was this composite and enriched culture which using all
native and foreign cultural resources Sufis adopted
unhesitatingly. Thus, it made easier for the people of those
regional composite cultures to identify themselves with Sufis
and their creative endeavors like poetry, music and in some
cases even dancing in trance.
Mehfil-e-samaa’ (the
divine musical session) became an important institution in the
sufi Islam. The ulama opposed it saying music is
haram (prohibited) in
Islam. However, for the masses it was an important means to be
drawn towards the Sufis. Amir Khusro, Nizamuddin Awliya’s
disciple made very rich contributions to the world of sufi
music.
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