Living Spirit Ministries International
Lesson 1
Why Study Sufism?
Why should a Christian
study Sufism? What is the point if, as
Christians, we know that what Sufism teaches is not what Christ taught? For one thing, many Christians do not know
what Sufism teaches. For example, when
the Sufi mentions the term “God”, he does not wish to convey the God of
Christianity. Sufis do not recognize the
Trinity or the resurrection of Christ.
Also, Sufis mistakenly believe that man can be absorbed into God, that a
Sufi can become God by losing his individuality into God. Christ did not teach this.
Christians also need to
know what Sufism is to fulfill our witness.
We carry Jesus’ light to the world.
We have to be able to carry that light to rebut the darkness of the Sufi
message. Darkness? Yes. If
Christ is the light of the world, and He is, then any teaching that is counter
to that light is a teaching based in darkness.
Christians should be able to expose Sufism for what it is. We are bearers of the light. Where there is light darkness evanesces.
Yes, Sufism is making
inroads into the West mainly because people are not aware exactly what Sufism
teaches. The following is an attempt in
a nutshell to teach what Sufism does profess and to contrast that teaching with
what Christ taught. The contrast will be evident by my comments in bold type. It is my hope that you do not derive the
impression from what I write that Sufism is all bad.
It is not. Some of what Sufis
teach can prick the mind and make one think.
Their writings concerning love and their poetry do have a touch of the
divine; however, intellectually—the doctrines they espouse—are far from the
truth. They are close to Christ but deny
His teaching in its entirety, making them so very far from Him.
To reach the Sufi, a
Christian must show him what is meant by agape love and teach it in patience. The Sufi professes love…yet, he does not know
the depth and breadth of the love of Christ.
Show the Sufi that love and he will fall to his knees and worship
Jesus…he will come to Him with tears in his eyes for he will have found what
his heart truly seeks--God.
Questions for review:
1. Why should a Christian study
Sufism?
2. What can a Christian learn from
Sufism?
3. How should a Christian introduce
Christ to a Sufi?
Email
question answers to for comments to: rlcoleman1@gmail.com
Sufism
The word Sufi is derived
from the Arabic word 'suf' which means ' wool ' and which refers to the
coarse woolen robes that were worn by the Prophet Muhammad and by his close
companions. The goal of a Sufi is none other than God arrived at by mystical
means. There are signs of God everywhere in the universe and in man.
Universal Sufism
Universal Sufism is usually
seen in relation to Islam. There is a major line of Non-Islamic or
offshoot-Islamic Sufi thought that sees Sufism as predating Islam and being in
fact universal and, therefore, independent of the Qur'an and the teachings of
the Prophet Muhammad. This view of
Sufism has been popular in the West and has been always opposed by Traditional
Sufis who practice it in the framework of Islam. Major exponents of this
universal Sufism were Inayat Khan and Idries Shah. (Excerpts of Inayat Khan’s
and Idries Shah’s writing are included in the readings section of these
lessons.) It was Idries Shah who died in 1996 who greatly extended the western
knowledge of the Sufi teachings. His
most famous work is “Sufism”.
There is also an attempt to
reconsider Sufism in contemporary Muslim thought. According to this view,
Sufism represents the core sense of Islam that gives insight to Allah and His
creation. In
Over the centuries, as the
Sufi orders grew, the Sufi masters were generally recognized in the Islamic
world as sages and men of wisdom and grace, enjoying the esteem of the general
populace.
The growing social prestige of the Sufis attracted self-seekers who posed as Sufis and dervishes and embarked upon exploiting the goodwill of the people. These pretenders indulged in superstitious practices, neglected moral order and religious ordinances, and boasted of their ignorance and lack of learning. In order to cover their own lack of discipline and dedication to the goal, some of these charlatans even tried to cut Sufism from its very roots--namely, the Qur'an and the practice of the Prophet.
According to the Sufi, the acts of these pseudo-Sufis never altered the true course of Sufism. The heart of Sufism supposedly has remained pure, well guarded by the traditional practice of the initiation of a seeker into a Sufi order by a Sufi master. The master's authority had properly been passed upon him by a previous master through the investiture of the traditional mantle of authority, symbolized by the presentation of a patched cloth. The Sufi believes that this initiation is supported by the tree of lineage going back through all the previous masters to the Prophet (this is suspect) from whom the authority to instruct in the esoteric doctrine originated. Even today, this is the general practice of all the recognized Sufi orders, those recognized by Islamic Sufis. Islamic Sufis do not recognize Universal Sufism as being true Sufism.
It is Sufi masters such as al-Junayd,
al-Ghazzali, Ibn Arabi, Shaykh Abdul-Karim al-Jili, Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti,
and Jalaluddin Rumi, among others, who devoted their lives to spreading
Sufi philosophy among all men, irrespective of man's geographical, social,
religious and racial origin. Even though Sufis do not recognize what Jesus
taught concerning Himself, they have softened the legalistic and myopic
tendencies of the corpus of Islam. This
is to their credit.
The Qur'anic Roots of Sufism?
Sufis believe that Sufism really has its roots in the Qur'an and in the religious experience of the Prophet Muhammad. But this is not true. Sufism has its roots in the teachings of Plotinus, not the Qur’an. Even though Sufis claim that the kernel of Sufi teaching comes from Mohammad, be assured that this is not the case.
Sufis state that their
knowledge of God comes from the Qur'an directly, but again this is not true.
The claim that their direct experience of God has always been the Qur'an is
dubious. Sufis teach that the Qur'an contains
instructions suitable to man with varying levels of spirituality. It satisfies
those who are content with merely exoteric practices, but also contains the
deepest and most profound esoteric meaning for those who desire a closer, more
mystical relationship with God. According to what Christ taught, there is no esoteric teaching—He taught
his disciples all that enabled them to become one with the Father and one with
Him. The Holy Spirit teaches the
disciple what he/she needed to know.
The Qur'anic verses which are the favorites of the Sufis include:
"We [God] are closer to him [man] than his jugular vein."
"Say, surely we belong to God and to Him do we return."
"He is the First and the Last and the Manifest and the Hidden."
"God is the light of the heavens and the earth."
Sufis believe that such verses are limitless in their depth, scope and meaning, and man may draw from them as much mystical meaning as he has the capacity to understand.
The Sufis claim that God
says in the Qur'an that He sent His Prophet Muhammad first and foremost as a
Mercy unto all peoples. Men of different levels of spiritual understanding,
Sufis maintain, may avail themselves of this Mercy according to their various
capacities. It is surprising though, that no
mention is made of Christ. Was it not
Christ who died as expiation for the sins of Man? Did not Christ forgive man’s sins? Muhammad was only a man who could not forgive
any man’s sin. He even claimed that He
was only a man. Can a man, however pious,
provide even divine mercy to his fellow man, if in essence he cannot obviate
sin? The Prophet is, which Sufis and
Muslims would strongly disagree, not of the same stature as Christ. Christ had the power to forgive sins. Only God can do so. Muhammad did not have that power. He could not and did not forgive anyone.
Make your own conclusion.
The Prophet Mohammed and
his close associates did (as Sufis maintain) keep long night vigils and
practiced voluntary fasts during most days. He never ate barley bread (the
staple food of his day) on three consecutive days, and he never even touched a
loaf of wheat bread -- which was a luxury. One of his favorite sayings was
"Poverty is my pride," and this saying came to be quoted in every
manual of Sufi doctrine, making the rule of poverty a basic characteristic of
Sufi life. But it must be remembered that
poverty in itself will get no one closer to God. To pride oneself for being poor materially is
a sign of foolishness. Piety does not
consist in the amount of or lack of money.
True piety consists in recognizing the Truth and living in the
Truth. The Sufis, since they do not
accept the wholeness of Christ--His teaching in its entirety, the Truth--cannot
make a true claim to Piety.
Questions for review:
1. What is a Sufi?
2. Sufis claim that what they teach
originates in Islam. Why is this not the
case? From where did Sufism originate?
3. Who do the Sufis claim is the Mercy
of God? How do Sufis view Christ?
Email
question answers to for comments to: rlcoleman1@gmail.com
Lesson 3
The Origin and Essence of Man
A Sufi believes that man is the mystery of God. For a mysterious purpose, man was outwardly created of clay and God breathed life into him, and all of the angels were commanded to prostrate themselves before him. As the Qur'an, which the Sufi believes is the highest form of revelation, (but the Christian deems it otherwise) declares:
"And remember when thy Lord said unto the angels: Lo I am creating a mortal out of potter's clay. So when I have made him and shaped him and have breathed into him of My Spirit, do ye fall down prostrating yourself unto him."
The Sufi
believes that it is this Divine Spirit which is the essence of man. The body is
merely the outward physical form which contains the Divine spark. They believe that the body is made of the
material elements fire, earth, air and water, and has five external senses --
sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch; and five internal faculties --
discursive thinking, imagination, doubting, memory and longing. All these
powers, that is, both the external senses and the internal faculties, serve the
heart. By the 'heart' it is not meant the physical organ that pumps blood, and
which is possessed by both man and animals. Rather, 'heart' to the Sufi means
the Divine spark that distinguishes man from the animals. Unlike the physical
heart that dies and decomposes with the rest of the physical body, the Divine
spark or heart is indivisible and transcends death, so the Sufi believes,
because its origin is in the spiritual world.
The Sufi believes that the position of man in the universe is most important. Man is the microcosm, that is, a miniature universe. As such, he comprises in his outward or physical aspect all the elements found in the universe. In his inner aspect, he contains the potential qualities of all creation from the lowest to the highest, that is, animal, satanic and angelic. He shares the qualities of lust and selfishness with the pigs; the qualities of jealousy and anger with the dogs; his cunning and deceit with Satan; his power and his spiritual light with the angels. But, what, as the Sufi believes, is more important is that through love and devotion to God man can rise even higher than the angels, for he is the mystery of God before whom the angels were commanded to fall in prostration. He was given command over the whole universe.
Sufis cite this declaration in The Qur'an to buttress their belief concerning man:
"It is God who created the heavens and the earth and sent down out of heaven water, wherewith He brought forth fruits to be your sustenance, and He subjected to you the ships to run upon the sea at His commandment, and He subjected to you the rivers, and He subjected to you the sun and moon constant upon their courses, and He subjected to you the night and the day and gave you all you asked Him."
Although the universe was created for the service of man, the Sufi holds that man was created for the service of God and for that purpose alone. To the extent that man deviates from that purpose, he becomes unworthy of Divine guidance and favor. (See how this differs from the teaching of Christianity, which teaches that even though man is unworthy of God, God came to man anyway.) Consequently, he is left to his own devices with all his enormous powers, which, under the influence of his animal and satanic qualities, are capable of dragging him to the lowest of the low.
Purpose of Life
Sufis believe that Sufism helps man to be increasingly aware of his purpose of life -- namely, unfailing service to his Lord and Creator. It is a path traveled under the guidance of a Sufi master, who is able to deliver man from the narrow confines of the material world into the limitless reality of a spiritual life, wherein he can experience the Divine spark which eternally shines within him. (The Sufi master is confined to what he himself believes. There are no Sufi masters who recognize what Christ taught about Himself. We must remember this. Christ taught that by and through him ONLY will man come to the Father. There is a reason for this teaching. Christ is the Son of God. In studying Sufism remember this, and you will not be swayed by the Sufi argument.)
It is most important, Sufis believe, to understand that material man acquires his knowledge generally through the five external senses and five inner faculties referred to earlier. The spiritual man, on the other hand, has in addition to these a number of other means of acquiring knowledge, such as prophetic dreams and inspirations from beyond the material world. To the extent that a man adheres to the truth in his waking state, his dreams too disclose a similar degree of certainty. The Prophet Mohammed expressed this in the saying: "The more truthful a man, the more prophetic his dreams."
Although knowledge through dreams comes in a state of sleep, insights through inspirations are gained in a state of wakefulness. The shaykh, or the Sufi teacher, interprets the dreams of a disciple, helps him to understand his inspirations, and resolves his doubts and uncertainties.
(Jesus never taught that it is beneficial to interpret
dreams in order to arrive at ones purpose in life. Some dreams have no meaning whatsoever.
It is true that the purpose of life is to view life in the
context of God; however, it is not true that a man needs a spiritual guide—one
particular teacher—to interpret what life means. The meaning of life is found through faith in
God, through studying the life and teachings of Jesus Christ and congregating
with other Christians.)
Question for review:
1. According to the Sufi, what is man?
2. What is man’s purpose in life,
according to the Sufi? How does this
differ from how a Christian views man’s purpose in life?
3. What is a Shaykh? Does a Christian
need a spiritual guide, a person to whom a Christian needs to submit?
4. What are dreams to the Sufi? What are they to the Christian?
Email
question answers to for comments to: rlcoleman1@gmail.com
The History and Methodology of Sufism
Sufism is an esoteric doctrine transmitted by word of mouth, and sometimes without even a spoken or written word, by an authorized teacher to a disciple, and from disciple to another disciple, in confidence. These secret instructions (Jesus taught openly to all who would hear, making is teaching historically reliable. There is no secret teaching in the message of Christ.) are acted upon by a disciple with perfect faith in the teacher. The disciple gives a report of his condition and experience in confidence to his teacher and receives another set of instructions most suitable to his state.
It is only the writings of the Sufi teachers, who speak from within the tradition, that allow an outsider a glimpse of Sufism. One of the greatest Sufi scholars of all times was al-Ghazzali. He lived in the later eleventh and early twelfth centuries. He wrote his famous work The Revival of the Sciences of Religion in Arabic, with an abridged form, The Alchemy of Happiness, in Persian. These works were followed by the other writings and poetry by such Sufi teachers as Abdul-Karim al-Jili, Ibn Arabi, Suhrawardi, the famous Chishti saints, Hafiz, Sadi, Rumi and so many other Sufi poets.
Whilst the Sufi teachers wrote, there was an immense upsurge of open Sufi activity under the auspices of different Sufi orders in all parts of the Islamic world. Each Sufi order constituted a focal point of activity, from which Sufi teachings were carried to the mass of the population by the representatives of the head of the order. The Sufi organizations constituted the social cement of the society in which they lived. Because of the strength of this social cement, Islamic civilization was able not only to withstand many political upheavals, but it also acted as a civilizing influence on the powers that were responsible for these upheavals.
Sufis believe that a disciple needs to have a shaykh. If a man does not have a shaykh, Satan becomes his shaykh and lures him back into the temptation of his ego and finally destroys him in confusion and error. (This is not true, of course. Christ did not have a shaykh. Who taught Him? Did He not say that God provided Him the teaching? Christ also said to call no man teacher or Rabbi. There is only one teacher, and that is God through the Holy Spirit.) A disciple keeps unwavering faith in the words of his shaykh and receives infinite love and care from him. The relationship is strictly based on the pattern of the Prophet Mohammed’s relations with his companions which, according to Sufis, enjoyed Divine support. To quote the Qur'an:
"Now there has come to you a messenger from among yourselves. Grievous to him is your suffering; anxious is he over you, gentle to the believers, compassionate."
Sufis live with an ever increasing awareness of God. One aspect of this awareness is the practice of zikr. Zikr means 'remembering God,' usually by pronouncing His name or by uttering a number of recognized formulae. The Qur'an repeatedly admonishes Muslims to celebrate the praises of God and to do this often. Remembering the name of God brings satisfaction and comfort to a Muslim’s heart. The following verse of the Qur'an reveals the significance of zikr:
"Recite that which has been revealed to you of the scripture, and observe prayer. For prayer restrains one from lewdness and iniquity, but remembrance of God is the greatest virtue."
In one passage of the Qur'an, the importance of zikr is enhanced to such an extent that a response to it from God is assured:
"Therefore remember Me, and I will remember
you." (We must
pose this question: Does God, who is
omniscient, have the nature of forgetfulness?
Does what God is capable of doing depend upon what man will or will not
do? No.)
The Qur'an warns those who neglect zikr: "Whoso blinds himself to the remembrance of the All Merciful, to him we assign Satan for a comrade and debar them from the way, and yet they think they are guided." Again, "Be not as those who forgot God, and so He caused them to forget their own souls. Those, they are ungodly." The key to human happiness lies in the remembrance of God, as in the Qur'anic verse: "Verily, in the remembrance of God do hearts find peace."
Do not allow this statement above to
deceive. Jesus Christ is Son of God,
God-Man. Remembrance of God is the
remembrance of Christ. Christians
perform this act whenever they pick up the Bible to read, whenever they pray,
whenever the name of Jesus is mentioned, and whenever they celebrate the Lord’s
Supper. True remembrance of God is
remembrance of Christ. What Mohammed
teaches in the Koran is good as far as it goes.
Christians must make remembrance of God top priority. However, Muslims do not equate Christ with
God. Therefore, their remembrance is not
true remembrance. Mohammed did not make
claims to Divinity. Christ, however, did
make such claims. Remembrance of God is
remembrance of Christ--His Life, His Teaching, His Death, His Resurrection, and
His Ascension.
This brings
us to say something about Sufi discipline. According to Sufis, the first and
foremost requirement is the purification of the soul. (Take notice. The Sufi attempts
to purify his soul. In effect, the Sufi
depends upon works—his own effort.
Christians should know that man cannot purify his soul. A man can do nothing save depend on Christ,
which is saying that man cannot do this without divine assistance. Sufi discipline, though it does have merit,
cannot get one any closer to God.
In the first stage, one struggles against the carnal soul or nafs al-ammara as it is called by the Sufis. Nafs al-ammara is the tendency in man to disobey God, and to take pleasure in evil deeds and thought. This inclines man towards gossip, backbiting, vain talk, pride, selfishness, lust, hatred and jealousy. The struggle to overcome nafs al-ammara involves the purifying of the body, tongue, mind and heart.
a) The body is purified by keeping it free from dirt, by preserving its members from harm and by not indulging in sexual license.
b) The tongue must be purified by restraining it from backbiting, malicious gossip and vain talk, or from using it to alter the truth.
c) The mind must be purified by abstaining from suspicion, plotting and thinking ill of others.
d) The heart must be purified by keeping it free from lust, jealousy, greed, selfishness, hatred and pride.
e) In this stage, a Sufi is to constantly examine the motives of his likes and dislikes.
When he has subjugated the carnal soul, nafs al-ammara, the Sufi enters upon the second stage of purification in which he is able to respond readily to the call of the reproaching soul which is called nafs al-lawwama. It is the nafs al-lawwama which reproaches man for his evil deeds and impels him to acts of mercy and generosity.
After this stage has become firmly established in him, the Sufi enters the third stage which is known as the station of the contented soul, nafs al-mutma'inna. In this stage, the Sufi develops to the fullest the tendency to obey God and to act in perfect harmony with His commandments. Here the soul is reconciled with all other stations of the path, such as poverty, patience, gratitude and trust in God. Here the soul finds perfect satisfaction in being governed by the heart, the Divine spark in man. Here the Sufi becomes truly free from fear and grief. As Sufis cite the words stated in the Qur'an, "Lo, indeed, the friends of God have no fear, nor are they grieved." Fear and grief are qualities of man, and, according to the Sufis, friends of God are relieved of the burden of these qualities. Fearlessly, and with the strength of faith, they invite man to God, the source of man's creation and the goal of his life.
The Sufi would say that here
lies the difference between a true teacher and a false one -- the true teacher
invites man to God, and the pretender invites man to himself. [Then again, we must recall the words
of Christ in paraphrase, “We are to call no man teacher.” Christ said this because the Father will draw
a person to Christ, Christ will open this person’s heart to Him, and then the
Holy Spirit will enter this person’s heart and teach this person what he needs
to know. The true teacher, then, is the
Holy Spirit sent by Christ after one recognizes the Son for who He is and
allows Christ to reach him. (Some would
say that this allowing of Christ to enter into one’s life is a form of
work. It is not. It is faith.) The Sufi makes no mention of
the Holy Spirit because they do not accept the teaching of the Trinity.]
In this stage of the
contented soul, a Sufi is said to be filled with love, mercy, kindness, and a
burning zeal to help others. In order to reach this high station, a Sufi must
constantly strive to control his ego, to curb his anger and impatience. He must
eat less, sleep less, talk less, and deny himself the pleasure of other
people's company. Sometimes he withdraws completely from the worldly activities
and occupies himself entirely with the remembrance of God and meditation.
This withdrawal is
counterproductive to spiritual grow, however.
If man is God’s highest creation as can be gleaned from reading the
Koran, why would one wish to withdraw from God’s highest creation? The Sufi practice here appears to be a form
of self-indulgence.
The Sufi believes that as he makes progress spiritually, (One does not make his own progress spiritually. Progress is accorded to man at the will of God. Works very seldom lead to lasting spiritual growth.) he is able to extend the length of his periods of seclusion, culminating in retreats of forty days' duration. In this seclusion, the Sufi fasts during the day, breaking his fast after sunset with only a small piece of bread and some water. During the nights, he keeps constant vigil and chants a selected verse from the Qur'an 125,000 times. The verse usually chanted is: "There is no God but Thou, the Holy Lord. I am indeed one of the evil doers." Or, "Say, He, Allah is One. Allah is Sufficient unto Himself."
(What is to be gained by this seclusion and this chanting,
really? All this does is supposedly
quiet the mind. Buddhists practice this
sort of repetition, too. The source of
Truth, Jesus Christ, never dictated that man should repeat the same words over
and over again in the mind. Is it not
better to give of yourself to the poor, needy; to give of yourself to the rich
who do not know God the teaching of God rather than to sit in a secluded spot
somewhere chanting your heart away hoping that God will count that activity as
righteousness? To seclude from the world
is opposite to what God wants one who knows the Truth to do. We are to be a light to the world. We are to light the way. One does not hide a light in a bushel
basket. One shines the light in the
environs of a darkened humanity. And one
gets that light from Jesus Christ. Sufis
may be in error here, do you not think?)
Meditation, Ecstasy, States, Stations and Ascension
The various stages on the
mystical path are known as maqamat, the “stations” or “stages”, which
can be supposedly be reached by any Sufi by means of prayer, fasting,
meditation, and the hal or “mystical state”, which may be vouchsafed to
the Sufi by the Grace of God but is not attainable by the mystic's own efforts.
(The Sufi performs exercises to attain
to absorption into God yet the mystical state is given to a Sufi by God without
the Sufi’s effort. This is not
logical. Why perform practices to attain
to absorption into God if God will give one the mystical experience without any
effort on a Sufis’ part? If the mystical
state is given by God, would not God give a person the means to absorb into
Him? One can not purchase God nearness
by means of works. This derives from
Grace through faith, a Christian concept.)
A Sufi may be blessed (There is no corroborative evidence that any Sufi has ascended into heaven. However, the Disciples of Christ saw Jesus’ Ascension. There were eye witnesses of Christ’s Ascension.)by an experience which reveals to his soul the reality of the whole universe, from the lowest layer of earth to the highest heaven. This experience is called mi'raj or the “ascension.” In this, a Sufi attests that it is generally accompanied by the spirit of his shaykh, and supposedly comes in contact with the spirits of other sheikhs and prophets. Various stations are also supposedly revealed to him with different colors and lights.
The Sufi
Seven Spiritual Stages to Absorption into God
(The following stages, we
must remember, are what the Sufi believes, which from a Christian viewpoint can
not be accepted as credible. Jesus, the
embodiment of Truth, never taught a solipsistic means to attain absorption into
God. Since this teaching is foreign to
what Christ taught, and Christ Himself said the He was the Way, the Truth, and
the Life, if follows then that what the Sufis teach here is also foreign to the
Truth, does it not?)
The Seven Stages (the three stages were listed previously) with a short explanation are as follows:
1. Talab (yearning). Yearning for union with God, according to the Sufi, involves renunciation of worldly things. This stage comes before a Sufi can commence the second stage which is Ishq (love).
2. Ishq demands an overwhelming desire and love for the goal, which according to the Sufi, is union with God. One must be so in love with God that every other desire must be burned away, including learning or knowledge, hope or even concern for worldly virtue. The Sufi believes this is total sacrifice.
3. Marfat (enlightenment) is the next stage. At this particular stage the Sufi believes that the devotee begins to see God in every particle of the world, of God’s creation. The devotee’s mind is said to be afire with the awareness of the Supreme Immanence in the entire world around him. The devotee does not sleep but passes his days and nights in bewilderment and absorption.
4. The stage after Marfat is Istaghirak, or fana (which will be explained in greater detail of this listing), the annihilation of the egoistic and egotistic self that follows the practice of intense spiritual exercises. Fana has come to mean several things, but in Istaghirak it implies that state of the mind as the “dark night of the soul.” To lose sight of Marfat is to enter a dark night of the soul where a person, according to the Sufi, experiences agony.
5. The next stage is called, by the Sufi, Tawhid (unity consciousness). The Sufi claims to experience God as timeless and permeating Unity amid a world of multiplicity. This state has been described by Sufis as similar to having one’s identity consumed in the fire of Supreme Consciousness.
6. Hairat (amazement) is the next stage. This stage occurs, according to the Sufi, when one is struck dumb by the glorious perception of the divine. The Sufi devotee lives in a dreamy state even though he walks, talks, and otherwise functions in the world about him. This trance state is supposed to evolve into higher spiritual awareness.
7. The last stage is Fuqr Wa Fana (annihilation). This stage purportedly involves the total loss of the earthly self and body consciousness.
Extinction (fana) and subsistence (baqa):
One of the important phases of Sufi experience, as listed above, which is attained by the Grace of God by a traveler on the mystical path as believed by the Sufi is the state of fana fi Allah, 'extinction of the self in God', (the 7th stage above) which is the transition to the state of baqa billah or the 'eternal life in union with God.' By passing away from self, the individual does not cease to exist (If the self is no more, if it is extinct, then how can one experience anything? Who experiences what? Think about it. There is no self to experience anything. If there is absorption in God, the individual is no more. This teaching is not logical. We must always remember that God is a God of logical order.) but is permitted to enjoy the supreme mystical experience in union with God. (Christians should not place credence in this teaching. There can be no union with God…in this union the Sufis teach that man becomes absorbed in God, that man loses his individuality into God. Christ never…and I repeat…never!! taught this. Knowledge of God comes from its source, Jesus Christ. Since Jesus never taught absorption into God, then the teaching of the Sufis has to be held suspect as false. Jesus is Truth, and Truth would teach Truth, would it not?) He is fully absorbed into the Love of God which gives him an everlasting awareness of the all-pervading presence of God. (Again, this cannot be true, if there is extinction of self and absorption into God, there is no one to experience anything. This is basic common sense and founded on logic.)
This Sufi doctrine is further explained in a tradition (which must be oral, because this is not in the Koran) of the Prophet which states that God said:
Nothing
is more pleasing to Me as a means for My slave to draw near unto Me than the
worship I have made binding upon him. And My slave does not cease to draw near
unto Me with added devotions of his free will until I Love him. And when I Love
him, I am the Hearing wherewith he hears, and the Sight wherewith he sees, and
the Hand wherewith he smites, and the Foot whereon he walks.
(Even
this does not sanction what the Sufis teach.
God can experience through what man experiences without man being
absorbed into God. In fact, if man were to be absorbed into God, God could not
experience what man would be experiencing.
God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. He can experience what
man experiences without man even attempting to be absorbed into Him. Sufism is placing a power unto man what God
has not given him. Man cannot determine
through his actions, however pious they may be, whether or not he/she will ever
be given access to God. It is God’s prerogative
to give unto man what He so wills. Sufis
are audacious. They appear to believe
that a person can, through his will and a method devised by him, become
absorbed into God. So, beware! The Sufis do not know what they think they
know.)
Sufis state
that most Sufis who have gone through this experience of the seven stages have
preferred to live eternally in the greatest depth of silence which transcends
all forms and sounds. Yet a few others have produced works of unsurpassed
glory, especially in the fields of literature and music, which have crowned the
culture of the entire Islamic world. Their works have inspired Sufis and
non-Sufis for generations. As the great Persian Sufi poet, Hafiz of
A Christian
should know, however, that this is not the case. Jesus
made eternal life conditional on belief in Him. He is the only religious figure who has the
authority to do this. No matter what the
form of concern a man has for another man, no matter how compassionate a person
may be, if that individual does not believe what Jesus taught about Himself and
attempt to live a life as Jesus taught one to live—that person will die not
only a physical death but a spiritual death, in that the life after death
experienced by that person will not be that as taught by Jesus. One cannot be with God after death if one
rejects God in this life. Eternal life
is to know God and His Son, Jesus Christ.
To know means to accept and follow in His love.
The Sufis
do teach to love one another. This, it
is true, is what Christ taught. But
Eternal Life does not depend on how much one loves his brother. We are to love God with our whole heart, soul
and mind, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. This is the sum of the Law and the
Prophets. However, we do not love God by
frowning on the teaching of His Son.
Remember, Jesus taught that the Father and the Son are one. He wants all mankind to be one with the
Father, Him, and Holy Spirit. But no man
can be one with God if that person rejects the teaching of Christ. God is Love.
Jesus therefore is Love. If a
person rejects Jesus for a Sufi teacher, is not that person rejecting
Love. Can a person truly love if he/she
rejects Love? Sufis teach men to love,
yet they themselves reject the personification of Love in Jesus. Can they really teach man to love if they
reject the source of that love? Sufis
say that they do not reject Christ. Some
of what they say is true—but they do reject that Christ is the Son of God, they
reject His death on the Cross, they reject His resurrection in bodily form, and
they reject His Ascension. (If He did not resurrect in bodily form His body
could not ascend into heaven.) In effect,
the Sufis accept Christ’s moral teachings and his miracles, but make Him to be
a liar in that Jesus predicted his resurrection. What the Sufis attempt to do is make Jesus
appear to be as they are and nothing more.
Christians should know better.
There is now no excuse for not knowing.
Although there is no
consensus with regard to Sufi cosmology, one can disentangle various threads
that led to the bringing together of more or less coherent doctrines. We must
remember that this is what the Sufis believe, and since Sufis do not recognize
what Jesus taught about Himself as being true, should not be taken as truth.
The first thread is based
on purely Qur’anic notions of the Afterworld, the Hidden or Divine Darkness and
seven-storied Universe explicitly referenced in the Qur’an (and cherished in
prophet Mohammad’s “Miraj” or ascent to God’s face -- the powerful spiritual
motif that inspired generations of later Sufis and ordinary believers).
However, these relatively simple Qur’anic concepts that gave basic structure to
the Islamic worldview had soon become exposed to Neo-Platonist and Gnostic
influences, as well as Zoroastrian religious imagery. Because of this, Sufism
developed a jumble of frequently contradictory cosmological doctrines.
Nevertheless, one can point out a few basic features:
The Sufi cosmology is
not a uniform and coherent doctrine and is abstruse—difficult to
understand. (One need not understand it because this cosmology had no practical
spiritual purpose.) Practitioners of Sufism were not much bothered with the
inconsistencies and contradictions that arose due to juxtaposition and
superposition of at least three different cosmographies, but should have been: the
Ishraqi visionary universe, the Neo-Platonist view of the cosmos cherished by
Islamic philosophers and the Hermetic-Ptolemaic view. All these doctrines (and
each one of them claiming to be impeccably orthodox) were freely mixed and
juxtaposed, frequently with confusing results.
This made and still makes Sufism very difficult to comprehend for the
average person. It is as though no
thought was given to common people who lacked philosophic inclinations. Thanks be to God that Christ’s teaching is
simple to understand. Truth is
simple. Man-made ideas fog the truth. If
teaching cannot be conveyed to the average person, then what good is it?
The term "Sufi
psychology" is a deceptive one, because it implies that there is a
relatively homogenous doctrine of the psyche the majority of the Sufis would
subscribe to. This is not the case. However, one can point out the terms most
frequently used and expand on the meanings of these notions. We must remember, again, that this teaching is
peculiar to the Sufi way. It has little
significance for spiritual growth. I say
this because Christ never taught any of this.
Drawing from Qur'anic
verses, virtually all Sufis distinguish between Nafs, Qalb, Sirr and Ruh. These
concepts designate various psycho-spiritual "organs" or, sometimes,
faculties of sensory and supra-sensory perception.
Nafs is usually translated as soul or psyche. Some Sufis
consider under the term "Nafs" the entirety of psychological
processes, encompassing the entire mental, emotional and volitional life; however,
the majority of Islamic-based Sufis are of the opinion that Nafs is a
"lower", egotistical and passionate human nature that, along with Tab
(physical nature), comprises vegetative and animal aspects of human life. Synonyms
for Nafs are devil, passion, greed, avarice, ego-centeredness, etc. The central
aim of the Sufi path is transformation of Nafs from its deplorable state of
ego-centeredness through various spiritual stages to the purity and submission
to the will of God. Although the majority of the Sufi orders have adopted
convenient 7 maqams, listed previously, (maqams are permanent stages on the
voyage towards spiritual transformation), and some still operate with 3 stages
(also listed previously), the picture should be clear: the Sufi’s journey
begins with Nafs-I-Ammare (self-accusing soul) and ends in Nafs-I-Mutma’inna
(satisfied soul)-although some Sufis’ final stage is, in their technical
vocabulary, Nafs-I-Safiya wa Kamila (soul restful and perfected in God’s presence).
The next term, Qalb, stands for heart. In Sufi
terminology, this spiritual heart (not to be confused with the pump in the
chest) is described in several different ways. For some, it is the seat of
beatific vision. Other Sufis consider it the gate of Divine love. For the
majority it is the battleground of two warring parties: those of Nafs and Ruh,
or spirit. In short, cleansing of the heart is a necessary spiritual discipline
for travelers on the Sufi path. The term for this process is Tazkiah-I-Qalb and
the aim is the erasure of everything that stands in the way of God’s purifying
love.
The third faculty is Sirr, or "the secret",
located for the majority of Sufis in the middle of the chest. Emptying of the
Sirr is basically attainted by focusing on God’s names and attributes in
perpetual remembrance (Dhikr), hence diverting one’s attention from the mundane
aspects of human life and fixing it on the spiritual realm. The
"emptying" signifies negation and obliteration of ego-centered human proclivities.
Ruh, or spirit, is the fourth "entity" and the
second contender in the battle for human life. It can be viewed as the dormant
spiritual faculty that needs to be worked upon by constant vigil and prayer in
order to achieve the Illumination of the spirit.
In these four
"organs" or faculties: Nafs, Qalb, Sirr and Ruh, the basic orthodox
Sufi psychology is contained. The purification of elementary passionate nature
followed by cleansing of the spiritual heart so that it may acquire a
mirror-like purity of reflection and become the receptacle of God’s love,
fortified by emptying of self-centered drives and remembrance of God’s
attributes, ending in illumination of the spirit- this is the essential Sufi
spiritual journey. (We must remember,
however, that if one accepts Christ, the purported Sufi spiritual journey is
bootless. Why go through all of this which,
by the way, comes with no guarantee, when acceptance of Christ provides God’s
love and a guarantee of eternal life? God
does not require one to have a mirror-like purity of heart for Him to love us. God loves us in spite of the fact that we do
not have a mirror-like purity of heart.
Acceptance of Christ is the true start on the spiritual journey. There is no need to trek the convoluted Sufi
path. To any thinking man, this is, as
they say, a “no brainer.”)
Sufi development also involves
the purported awakening in a certain order what are known as the spiritual
centers of perception that lie dormant in every person. The term is roughly
translated as "subtlety" or "light". Each center is
associated with a particular color and general area of the body, as well as often
times with a particular prophet. The help of a guide is considered necessary to
help activate these centers. The activation of all these "centers" is
part of the special, inner methodology of the Sufi way or "Work". After undergoing this process, the devotee is
said to reach a certain type of "completion" or becomes the Complete
Man. (How can one become the complete
man when a person does not know Christ, which means no knowledge of God? Sufism assumes a power that it does not
possess.)
The first center, Qalb,
or spiritual heart is variously described. For some, it is the seat of beatific
vision. Others consider it the gate of Divine love. Its location is roughly the
left side of the body, is often associated with yellow and is given the name,
mind. The second center, Ruh, or spirit, is connected with the right side of
the chest and is of the color red.
The third faculty
Sirr, or secret, is located in the solar plexus and is associated with the
color white. The fourth center, Khafi, mysterious or intuition, is situated in
the forehead between the eyes and is black. The fifth center, Ikhfa, or deeply
hidden, indicating a deep perception of consciousness, alternates its location
between the center of the chest and inside the brain. It is associated with the
color green. A preliminary center is located under the navel. A seventh center
is said to exist but is only known to the true sage or one who has developed
all the others. Through these "organs" or faculties: Qalb, Ruh, Sirr,
Khafi, Ikfa and so on, the basic Sufi psychology is outlined. It bears some resemblance to the schema known
as the Kabala in Judaism or to the Chakra system in Hindu mysticism, none of which will lead one to the truth.
There are numerous
orders of Sufism in the world. Below is
a list of the most widely known. The
order in which these Sufi groups are listed is random.
Zahediyeh Order Safaviyeh Order Naqshbandi Order Mevlevi Order Bektashi Order
Chisht Order Halveti Order Jerrahi Order Nimatalahi Order Qadiri Order
Rufi Order
Noori
Order Suhrawardiyya Order
Questions for review:
1. Why do Sufis teach through a
spiritual mentor, a Shaykh? Can you
think of reasons why having a spiritual mentor would not be beneficial to a
person?
2. What is Zikr? Do
Christians practice Zikr? If so,
how? If not, why?
3. Why does
the Sufi meditate? Can meditation lead
to selfishness? Can prayer lead one also
down the road to selfishness?
4. The Sufi
has a delineated path to supposedly reach God, with either three or seven
stages. These ways to God are difficult
to master, so it would appear. Does the
Sufi way bring one to Christ? What is
Christ’s way?
5. Sufi psychology and cosmology are
complex. A child cannot understand
them. Can knowing all this bring one
closer to God? Does the Sufi way lead
one to Christ?
Email
question answers to for comments to: rlcoleman1@gmail.com
Lesson 5
Sufi
Writings
Sufism
is an elaborate form of mysticism, so it is essential that Sufism be studied by
perusing the writings of its adherents since most of what is imparted to a
student is oral or passed in silence (it is claimed). Included below are samples of the writing of
some Sufi masters. Christians can profit
from reading these and other writings.
To be able to reach the Sufi with Christ’s message, the Christian needs
to understand from where the Sufi is coming from.
Excerpts of Sufi Writing: Al
Ghazzali and Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
It is a well-known saying
of the Prophet that "He who knows himself, knows God"; that is, by
contemplation of his own being and attributes man arrives at some knowledge of
God. But since many who contemplate themselves do not find God, it follows that
there must be some special way of doing so. As a matter of fact, there are two
methods of arriving at this knowledge, but one is so abstruse that it is not
adapted to ordinary intelligences, and therefore is better left unexplained.
The other method is as follows: When a man considers himself he knows that
there was a time when he was non-existent, as it is written in the Koran:
"Does it not occur to man that there was a time when he was nothing?"
Further, he know that he was made out of a drop of water in which there was
neither intellect, nor hearing, sight, head, hands, feet, etc. From this it is
obvious that, whatever degree of perfection he may have arrived at, he did not
make himself, nor can he now make a single hair.
How much more helpless,
then, was his condition when he was a mere drop of water! Thus, as we have seen
in the first chapter, he finds in his own being reflected in miniature, so to
speak, the power, wisdom and love of the Creator. If all the sages of the world
were assembled, and their lives prolonged for an indefinite time, they could
not effect any improvement in the construction of a single part of the body.
For instance, in the
adaptation of the front and side-teeth to the mastication of food, and in the
construction of the tongue, salivating glands, and the throat for its
deglutition, we find a contrivance which cannot be improved upon. Similarly,
whoever considers his hand, with its five fingers of unequal lengths, four of
them with three joints and the thumb with only two, and the way in which it can
be used for grasping, or for carrying, or for smiting, will frankly acknowledge
that no amount of human wisdom could better it by altering the number and
arrangement of the fingers, or in any other way.
When a man further considers
how his various wants of food, lodging, etc., are amply supplied from the
storehouse of creation, he becomes aware that God's mercy is as great as His
power and wisdom, as He has Himself said, "My mercy is greater than My
wrath," and according to the Prophet's saying, "God is more tender to
His servants than a mother to her suckling-child." Thus from his own
creation man comes to know God's existence, from the wonders of his bodily
frame God's power and wisdom, and from the ample provision made for his various
needs God's love. In this way the knowledge of oneself becomes a key to the
knowledge of God.
Not only are man's
attributes a reflection of God's attributes, but the mode of existence of man's
soul affords some insight into God's mode of existence. That is to say, both
God and the soul are not invisible, indivisible, unconfined by space and time
and outside the categories of quantity and quality; nor can the ideas of shape,
color, or size attach to them. People find it hard to form a conception of such
realities as are devoid of quality and quantity, etc., but a similar difficulty
attaches to the conception of our everyday feelings, such as anger, pain,
pleasure, or love. They are thought-concepts, and cannot be cognized by the
senses; whereas quality, quantity, etc., are sense-concepts. Just as the ear
cannot take cognizance of color, or the eye of sound, so, in conceiving of the
ultimate realities, God and the soul, we find ourselves in a region in which
sense-concepts can bear no part. So much, however, we can see, that, as God is
Ruler of the universe, and being Himself beyond space and time, quantity and
quality, governs things that are so conditioned, so the soul rules the body and
its members, being itself invisible, indivisible, and unlocated in any special
part. For how can the indivisible be located in that which is divisible? From
all this we see how true is the saying of the Prophet, "God created man in
His own likeness."
And, as we arrive at some
knowledge of God's essence and attributes from the contemplation of the soul's
essence and attributes, so we come to understand God's method of working and
government and delegation of power to angelic forces, etc., by observing how
each of us governs his own little kingdom. To take a simple instance: suppose a
man wishes to write the name of God. First of all the wish is conceived in his
heart, it is then conveyed to the brain by the vital spirits, the form of the
word "God" takes shape in the thought-chambers of the brain, thence
it travels by the nerve-channels, and sets in motion the fingers, which in
their turn set in motion the pen, and thus the name "God" is traced
on paper exactly as it had been conceived in the writer's brain. Similarly,
when God wills a thing it appears in the spiritual plane, which in the Koran is
called "The Throne"[1]; from the throne it passes, by a spiritual
current, to a lower plane called "The Chair"[2]; then the shape of it
appears on the "Tablet of Destiny"[3]; whence, by the mediation of
the forces called "angels," it assumes actuality, and appears on the
earth in the form of plants, trees, and animals, representing the will and
thought of God, as the written letters represent the wish conceived in the
heart and the shape present in the brain of the writer. (This is not taught in the Bible and should be viewed as mere
conjecture.. I do not see why an angel
would have to be involved in the creation of a tree, a plant, or an animal.)
No one can understand a
king but a king; therefore, God has made each of us a king in miniature, so to
speak, over a kingdom which is an infinitely reduced copy of His own. In the
kingdom of man, God's "throne" is represented by the soul, the
As regards the recognition
of God's providence, there are many degrees of Knowledge. The mere physicist is
like an ant who, crawling on a sheet of paper and observing black letters
spreading over it, should refer the cause to the pen alone. The astronomer is
like an ant of somewhat wider vision that should catch sight of the fingers
moving the pen, i.e., he knows that the elements are under the power of
the stars, but he does not know that the stars are under the power of the
angels. (Here again this is
conjecture. Why would God need angels to
help him guide the stars in their appointed paths?) Thus, owing to the different degrees of
perception in people, disputes must arise in tracing effects to causes. Those
whose eyes never see beyond the world of phenomena are like those who mistake
servants of the lowest rank for the king. The laws of phenomena must be
constant, or there could be no such thing as science; but it is a great error
to mistake the slaves for the master.
As long as this difference
in the perceptive faculty of observers exists, disputes must necessarily go on.
It is as if some blind men, hearing that an elephant had come to their town,
should go and examine it. The only knowledge of it which they can obtain comes
through the sense of touch: so one handles the animal's leg, another his tusk,
another his ear, and, according to their several perceptions, pronounce it to
be a column, a thick pole, or a, quilt, each taking a part for the whole. So
the physicist and astronomer confound the laws they perceive with the Lawgiver.
(Man actually makes what is observable
over a period a time into a law. There
is no law geared to repeated observation.
If something different occurs not according to the dictate of man-made
law that particular occurrence, which is itself an observable phenomenon as was
all the other observable phenomena, is held to be false. It does not accord to all other observations
of man concerning such.) A similar
mistake is attributed to Abraham in the Koran, where it is related that he
turned successively to stars, moon, and sun as the objects of his worship, till
grown aware of Him who made all these, he exclaimed, "I love not them that
set."
We have a common instance
of this referring to second causes what ought to be referred to the First Cause
in the case of so-called illness. For instance, if a man ceases to take any
interest in worldly matters, conceives a distaste for common pleasures, and
appears sunk in depression, the doctor will say, "This is a case of
melancholy, and requires such and such a prescription." The physicist will
say, "This is a dryness of the brain caused by hot weather and cannot be
relieved till the air becomes moist." The astrologer will attribute it to
some particular conjunction or opposition of planets. "Thus far their
wisdom reaches," says the Koran. It does not occur to them that what has
really happened is this: that the Almighty has a concern for the welfare of
that man, and has therefore commanded His servants, the planets or the
elements, to produce such a condition in him that he may turn away from the
world to his Maker. (This is not
true. God does not cause sickness in man
so the man will turn to God. However,
many times a man who becomes ill has time to reflect upon his condition and
does turn to God for assistance. This
writer is confusing cause and effect.) The knowledge of this fact (This is not a fact. It is merely the author’s interpretation.)
is a lustrous pearl from the ocean of inspirational knowledge, to which all
other forms of knowledge are as islands in the sea.
The doctor, physicist, and
astrologer are doubtless right each in his particular branch of knowledge, but
they do not see that illness is, so to speak, a cord of love by which God draws
to Himself the saints concerning whom He has: said, "I was sick and ye
visited Me not." (This writer is
exemplifying Christ; however, Sufis do not accept the teaching of Christ in its
entirety. Sufis do this. They bring in
Christ when it serves their purpose, but brush Him aside when Christ does not
serve the Sufis purpose.) Illness itself is one of those forms of
experience by which man arrives at the knowledge of God, (Not in all cases. It can be just
as well a means for one to reject God, as you are aware.)as He says by the
mouth of His Prophet, "Sicknesses themselves are My servants, and are
attached to My chosen." (Not true in its entirety, therefore, not
true in an absolute sense.)
The foregoing remarks may
enable us to enter a little more fully into the meaning of those exclamations
so often on the lips of the Faithful: "God is holy," "Praise be
to God," "There is no God but God," "God is great."
Concerning the last we may say that it does not mean that God is greater than
creation, for creation is His manifestation as light manifests the sun, and it
would not be correct to say that the sun is greater than its own light. It
rather means that God's greatness immeasurably transcends our cognitive
faculties, and that we can only form a very dim and imperfect idea of it. If a
child asks us to explain to him the pleasure which exists in wielding
sovereignty, we may say it is like the pleasure he feels in playing bat and
ball, though in reality the two have nothing in common except that they both
come under the category of pleasure. Thus, the exclamation "God is
great" means that His greatness far exceeds all our powers of
comprehension. Moreover, such imperfect knowledge of God as we can attain to is
not a mere speculative knowledge, but must be accompanied by devotion and
worship. When a man dies he has to do with God alone, and if we have to live
with a person, our happiness entirely depends on the degree of affection we
feel towards him. Love is the seed of happiness, and love to God is fostered
and developed by worship. Such worship and constant remembrance of God implies
a certain degree of austerity and curbing of bodily appetites. Not that a man
is intended altogether to abolish these, for then the human race would perish.
But strict limits must be set to their indulgence, and as a man is not the best
judge in his own case as to what these limits should be, he had better consult
some spiritual guide on the subject. Such spiritual guides are the prophets,
and the laws which they have laid down under divine inspiration prescribe the
limits which must be observed in these matters. He who transgresses these limits
"wrongs his own soul," as it is written in the Koran. (Sufis, Muslims, claim that Jesus is a
prophet and nothing more. You must
realize that when a Sufi says “Prophet” he is claiming that Jesus, Moses,
Abraham, Mohammed are equal. Christians know
that this is not the case. Jesus made
claim to divinity. The other mentioned
men did not do this.)
Notwithstanding this clear
pronouncement of the Koran there are those who, through their ignorance of God, (Who can be more ignorant of God than one
who does not believe what Christ said about Himself? He said, as examples: “…I
am the living bread that came down from heaven; I am the bread of life; I am
the light of the world; I have come into the world as a light; If any man is
thirsty let him come to Me to drink; If you knew the gift of God and who it is
that asks you for a drink you for a drink, you would have asked him and he
would have given you living water; I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved; I am
the gate for the sheep; I am the resurrection and the life; I am the way,
the truth and the life. No one comes to
the Father except through Me; I am the true vine and you are the
branches. Jesus also called himself the
Lord of the Sabbath.” The Koran does not
teach what Christ said about Himself.
Being ignorant of the Koran, therefore, will not do anyone any harm as
far as for growing spiritually. One
needs only to know Christ and grow in His love.) do transgress these
limits, and this ignorance may be due to several different causes: Firstly,
there are some who, failing to find God by observation, conclude that there is
no God and that this world of wonders made itself, or existed from everlasting.
They are like a man who, seeing a beautifully written letter, should suppose
that it had written itself without a writer, or had always existed. People in
this state of mind are so far gone in error that it is of little use to argue
with them. Such are some of the physicists and astronomers to whom we referred
above.
Some, through ignorance of
the real nature of the soul, repudiate the doctrine of a future life, in which
man will be called to account and be rewarded or punished. They regard
themselves as no better than animals or vegetables and equally perishable.
Some, on the other hand, believe in God and a future life but with a weak
belief. They say to themselves, "God is great and independent of us; our
worship or abstinence from worship is a matter of entire indifference to
Him." Their state of mind is like that of a sick man who, when prescribed
a certain regime by his doctor, should say, "Well, if I follow it or don't
follow it, what does it matter to the doctor?" It certainly does not
matter to the doctor, but the patient may destroy himself by his disobedience.
Just as surely as unchecked sickness of body ends in bodily death, so does
uncured disease of the soul end in future misery, according to the saying of
the Koran, "Only those shall be saved who come to God with a sound
heart." (This is not what Christ
taught. He taught that one must come to
Him. Jesus and God are not different.)
A fourth kind of
unbelievers are those who say, "The Law tells us to abstain from anger,
lust, and hypocrisy. This is plainly impossible, for man is created with these
qualities inherent in him. You might as well tell us to make black white."
These foolish people ignore the fact that the law does not tell us to uproot
these passions, but to restrain them within due limits, so that, by avoiding
the greater sins, we may obtain forgiveness of the smaller ones. Even the
Prophet of God said, "I am a man like you, and get angry like
others"; and in the Koran it is written, "God loves those who swallow
down their anger," not those who have no anger at all. (Jesus was without sin, sinless. Only one without sin can forgive sin. Jesus claimed divinity. It is true that Mohammed sinned. He could not forgive the sin of anyone, even
of himself. Jesus can forgive sin
because He is God. Also, all anger is not sin. God’s anger is not sin. His wrath is not sin. There is a righteous anger that originates in
God. Jesus showed this anger at the
money changers and trafficking in the
A fifth class lay stress on
the beneficence of God, and ignore His justice, saying to themselves,
"Well, whatever we do, God is merciful." They do not consider that,
though God is merciful, thousands of human beings perish miserably in hunger
and disease. They know that whosoever wishes for a livelihood, or for wealth,
or learning, must not merely say, "God is merciful," but must exert
himself. Although the Koran says, "Every living creature's support comes
from God," it is also written, "Man obtains nothing except by
striving." (This is not true. Man
cannot strive to get into heaven. Man
cannot strive for God’s favor. Man can
do nothing to get to God because it has been done by Christ’s dying on the
Cross. Christ accepted death on a Cross
to save each and every one of us. All we
need do is turn to Him. Some would say
this turning is an act of works. Not
so. This turning is a nascent act of
faith.) The fact is, such teaching is really from the devil, and such
people only speak with their lips and not with their heart.
A sixth class claim to have
reached such a degree of sanctity that sin cannot affect them. Yet, if you
treat one of them with disrespect, he will bear a grudge against you for years,
and if one of them be deprived of a morsel of food which he thinks his due, the
whole world will appear dark and narrow to him. Even if any of them do really
conquer their passions, they have no right to make such a claim, for the
prophets, the highest of human kind, constantly confessed and bewailed their
sins. Some of them had such a dread of sin that they even abstained from lawful
things; thus, it is related of the Prophet that, one day, when a date had been
brought to him he would not eat it, as he was not sure that it had been
lawfully obtained. Whereas these free-livers will swallow gallons of wine and
claim (I shudder as I write) to be superior to the Prophet whose sanctity was
endangered by a date, while theirs is unaffected by all that wine! Surely they
deserve that the devil should drag them down to perdition. Real saints know
that he who does not master his appetites does not deserve the name of a man,
and that the true Moslem is one who will cheerfully acknowledge the limits imposed
by the Law. He who endeavors, on whatever pretext, to ignore its obligations is
certainly under Satanic influence, and should be talked to, not with a pen, but
with a sword. (This Sufi certainly is
not writing by way of compassion or love.
A Christian could never write something like what was just written. Christians are to love their enemies. Who can be a greater enemy to a Christian
than Satan? However, when one
understands that love drives Satan away, to love Satan is to destroy him.)
These pseudo-mystics sometimes pretend to be drowned in a sea of wonder, but if
you ask them what they are wondering at they do not know. They should be told
to wonder as much as they please, but at the same time to remember that the
Almighty is their Creator and that they are His servants.
(A seventh class claim that Christ is did not resurrect,
that He was only a prophet; that He did not die on the cross. These are the Muslims and Sufis of today and
days past. They too, are in error; they
are blind to the truth of Christ because they close their eyes to what He
taught about Himself. Of all the above,
those who deny what Christ taught about Himself are the worse off. Christ said that if one refuses to accept Him
that person will die in his sin. He will
die a spiritual death.)
The love of God is the
highest of all topics, and is the final aim to which we have been tending
hitherto. We have spoken of spiritual dangers as they hinder the love of God in
a man's heart, and we have spoken of various good qualities as being the
necessary preliminaries to it. Human perfection resides in this, that the love
of God should conquer a man's heart and possess it wholly, and even if it does
not possess it wholly it should predominate in the heart over the love of all
other things. Nevertheless, rightly to understand the love of God is so
difficult a matter that one sect of theologians have altogether denied that man
can love a Being who is not of his own species, and they have defined the love
of God as consisting merely in obedience. Those who hold such views do not know
what real religion is.
All Moslems are agreed that
the love of God is a duty. (Christians
also place high emphasis on Love of God, which is Love of His Son, Jesus.) God
says concerning the believers, "He loves them and they love Him," and
the Prophet (Mohammed) said,
"Till a man loves God and His Prophet more than anything else he has not
the right faith." (We are to love
God with our whole heart, soul and mind and our neighbor as ourselves. Moslems and Sufis do not believe that Jesus
is God’s Son. It appears that they view
Jesus with less respect than a man who sinned.
Mohammed, we must remember, claimed only to be a man; whereas Christ
made claims to divinity. Those who know
the truth see the truth in Christ. They
come to Him and Christ accepts them as coming not only to Him but to the Father. We can say that to come to Christ is to come
to God. But to come to Mohammed is to
come to a man, by Muslim’s admission, who was capable of sinning and did sin.) When the angel of death came to take the soul
of Abraham the latter said, "Have you ever seen a friend take his friend's
life?" God answered him, "Have you ever seen a friend unwilling to
see his friend?" Then Abraham said, "O Azrael! Take my soul!" (There is nothing in the Koran that corroborates
this. Most Sufis, not all though,
embellish their teachings with stories that can not be corroborated even in
their Holy Book.) The following prayer was taught by the Prophet to his
companions, "O God, grant me to love Thee and to love those who love Thee,
and whatsoever brings me nearer to Thy love, and make Thy love more precious to
me than cold water to the thirsty." Hassan Basri used to say, "He who
knows God loves Him, and he who knows the world hates it." (God’s love is Jesus Christ. God is love.
Love is Jesus. Jesus—God with us.
He who knows love loves God and His Son.
He who does not love Jesus does not love God. To love Jesus and to love God is to do what
Jesus commanded. His major commandment
was to accept His teaching. To accept
who He said He was, the Son of Man and the Son of God. To love God is to accept the teaching of His
Son, Jesus. Now, Muslims and Sufis do
not do this. They refuse to accept that Jesus is God’s son. So how can it be said that they love God with
their whole heart, soul and mind, and their neighbor as themselves? Sufis should not write about love because
they don’t recognize Love. They fail to
see that Jesus was the personification of Love and is Love.
We come now to treat of
love in its essential nature. Love may be defined as an inclination to that
which is pleasant. (The highest form of
love is to die for one’s friends. How
can suffering ever be viewed as pleasant?
It cannot. Sacrifice is not
necessarily pleasant. Jesus’ agony on
the Cross certainly was not pleasant.
Yet, His action was the highest form of Love. This Sufi writer does not know love, so how
can he even attempt to write about it in all its veracity?) This is
apparent in the case of the five senses, each of which may be said to love that
which gives it delight; thus the eye loves beautiful forms, the ear music, etc.
This is a kind of love we share with the animals. But there is a sixth sense,
or faculty of perception, implanted in the heart, which animals do not possess,
through which we become aware of spiritual beauty and excellence. Thus, a man
who is only acquainted with sensuous delights cannot understand what the
Prophet meant when he said he loved prayer more than perfumes or women, though
the last two were also pleasant to him. But he whose inner eye is opened to
behold the beauty and perfection of God will despise all outward sights in
comparison, however fair they may be.
The former kind of man will
say that beauty resides in red-and-white complexions, well-proportioned limbs,
and so forth, but he will be blind to moral beauty, such as men refer to when
they speak of such and such a man as possessing a "beautiful"
character. But those possessed of inner perception find it quite possible to
love the departed great, such as the Caliphs Omar and Abu Bakr, on account of
their noble qualities, though their bodies have long been mingled with the
dust. Such love is directed not towards any outward form, but towards the inner
character. Even when we wish to excite love in a child towards any one, we do
not describe their outward beauty of form, etc., but their inner excellences.
When we apply this
principle to the love of God we shall find that He alone is worthy of our love,
and that, if any one loves Him not, it is because he does not know Him.
Whatever we love in any one we love because it is a reflection of Him. It is
for this reason that we love Muhammad, because he is the Prophet and the
Beloved of God, and the love of learned and pious men is really the love of
God. We shall see this more clearly if we consider what the causes which excite
love are. (No mention here of Christ, even though Muslims do count Him as the
first Muslim, even before Mohammed.
Sufis do not wish to recognize Christ.
To do so would be for them a revelation of the grandest measure. They would have to relinquish all what they
think they know about love, God, and place Christ first in their lives. This they cannot do…they will die in their
sins. These are not my words…they are
Christ’s words.)
The first cause is this,
that man loves himself and the perfection of his own nature. (Many do not love themselves and fail to
see the perfection of their own nature. Human
nature has little perfection in it, save that mankind was formed by the perfect
being, God.) This leads him directly to the love of God, for man's very
existence and man's attributes are nothing else but the gift of God, but for
whose grace and kindness man would never have emerged from behind the curtain
of non-existence into the visible world. Man's preservation and eventual attainment
to perfection are also entirely dependent upon the grace of God. It would
indeed be a wonder if one should take refuge from the heat of the sun under the
shadow of a tree and not be grateful to the tree, without which there would be
no shadow. Precisely in the same way, were it not for God, man would have
neither existence nor attributes at all; wherefore, then, should he not love
God, unless he be ignorant of Him? Doubtless fools cannot love Him, for the
lover of Him springs directly from the knowledge of Him, and whence should a
fool have knowledge? (Christ warned not
to call anyone a “fool”. Here this Sufi
is calling those who do not know God fools.
One must show the love of God to those who are ignorant of God. You cannot do this and have a person ignorant
of God accept what is said of God if he has been called a fool by you. It does not work that way. No one likes to be called a fool by anyone.)
The second cause of this
love is that man loves his benefactor, and in truth his only Benefactor is God,
for whatever kindness he receives from any fellow-creature is due to the
immediate instigation of God. Whatever motive may have prompted the kindness he
receives from another, whether the desire to gain religious merit or a good
name, God is the Agent who set that motive to work.
The third cause is the love
that is aroused by contemplation of the attributes of God, His power and
wisdom, of which human power and wisdom are but the feeblest reflections. This
love is akin to that we feel to the great and good men of the past, such as the
Imam Malik and the Imam Shafi, (Christians
could name the late pope of the Catholic Church) though we never expect to
receive any personal benefits from them, and, is therefore a more disinterested
kind of love. God said to the Prophet David, "That servant is dearest to
Me who does not seek Me from fear of punishment or hope of reward, but to pay
the debt due to My Deity." And in the Psalms it is written, "Who is a
greater transgressor than he who worships Me from fear of hell or hope of
heaven? If I had created neither, should I not then have deserved to be
worshipped?"
The fourth cause of this love is the affinity between man and God, which is referred to in the saying of the Prophet, "Verily God created man in His own likeness." Furthermore, God has said, "My servant seeks proximity to Me, that I may make him My friend, and when I have made him My friend I become his ear, his eye, his tongue." Again, God said to Moses, "I was sick, and thou didst not visit Me?" Moses replied, "O God! You are Lord of heaven and earth: how could You be sick?" (Where is the author getting his information here? from the Koran? He