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From: steiny@scc.UUCP (Don Steiny)
Newsgroups: net.politics,net.religion
Subject: Islamic Mystics - The Sufi
Message-ID: <542@scc.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 17-Aug-85 23:50:31 EDT
Article-I.D.: scc.542
Posted: Sat Aug 17 23:50:31 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 20-Aug-85 22:21:57 EDT
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***

	"People oppose things because they are ignorant of them."

		Imam el-Ghazali
			12th Century Islamic mystic

	I am happy to report that 100% of the mail I have recieved
about my pleas for tolerance and understanding of Islam have supported
this position.   I suggested in one posting that it might be 
worthwhile to try to understand Islam before making statements
about it.  I pointed out that it is a well developed world
religion, and that there are variety of practices and beliefs
that all are Islamic.   I pointed out that the Shiites and
the Sunnites have had wars with each other, so one can
not necessairly quote a Shiite like Khomeni to form
opinions about the Sunnites.  I pointed out that even 
within the Shiites, there must be considerable divirisity,
because the Sufi's originated in Persia from the Shiite
branch of Islam.  It was whole heartedly adopted by
the Sunnites too.

	My knowledge of the Sufi was kind of fuzzy, because
in the books I have read on Islam, Persia, or India (where
modern day Sufi's live), they have not been covered
to throughly.  Following my own advice, I have been reading
about the Sufi.    Sufi are Moslem mystics, and they have
had an important influence on the social and moral fabric
of Islam.    The Sufi master I quote at the beginning of 
this article, Ghazali,  was a Persian.  In the 12th century
the ideas introduced into the Arab world from the
Greek civilization were challenging the Islamic 
world view.  Ghazali's thinking allowed Islamic thought
to prevail, and it part of the fundemental structure of modern
day Islam.  The Sufi are not heretics in any way.   Their ideas
are considered completely compatible with main stream Islam.
Further, Sufi influence has extended into India
and has had considerable influence on some modern day Hindu
practices.   

	I am stunned to the highest degree by the Sufi.  Their
beliefs are so compatible with contemporary thought that 
it is like a mystical revelation to just find out about their
beliefs.   It confronted me with assumptions that I did not
even know I had, and showed me plainly that the world
is far more rich than I will ever know.

	The quote at the beginning is by one of the most well-known
and important Sufi.   It shocked me, because it was exactly
that assumption that got me started reading about Islam in
the first place.   I was concerned about how easy it was for
me to form a negative impression of Islam, a religion practiced
by 500,000,000 people, when the amount I really knew about it
could fit in a thimble.   Was I simply opposing Islam because
I was ignorant about it?  

	The Sufi have beliefs that are startling.  

	"Over seven hundred years ago, Ibn  el-Arabi stated
	that thinking man was forty thousand years old, . . ."

			The Way of the Sufi
			Idries Shah
			p. 23

	Shah says that the Sufi believe in gradual evolution, and
believe that human beings are also evolving.   The Sufi "Way,"
is an evolutionary path, where people can evolve into higher
beings.  There are several poems that put people on an
evolutionary path, from mineral to plant to animal to human to beyond.
The Sufi attach considerable importance to conditioning
and believe that we are conditioned into accepting opinions
as fact.  Whatever the true knowledge of a Sufi master is,
it does not seem to be governed by conditioning as the
rest of us are.    Many of the Sufi masters say things
that bear an uncanny resemblance to Lao Tzu, the great
Taoist.   If you can talk about it it is not the Way.
Sufi masters teach by alegory, exercises, and demonstration.

	The Sufi are masters at identifying and creating "states."
These mental states remind me of the work of William James or
Neuro-Linguistic Programming.  Hypnosis is a special "state."
	
	Much of the written Sufi wisdom is in the form of
aphorisms, like much of Nietzche's writing, Ludwig Wittgenstein's
writing, Zen koans, paraboles, and other familiar styles.

	I will type in several of these items, and I hope
you will take the time to amaze yourself as you recall
that rather than being unusual, these writings reflect
some of the most fundemental principles of the social
and moral fabric of much of the Islamic world.

	I hope that these few items by Sufi masters adds to the
impression that one cannot judge Islam by the likes of Khomeni.

------

	Now I am called the shepherd of the desert gazelles,
	Now a Christian monk,
	Now a Zoroastrian.
	The beloved is three, yet One;
	Just as the three are in reality one.

		Mohiudin ibn el-Arabi
			died in 13th century.
		[I believe that this poem makes a strong
		 case for a pantheist viewpoint is some 
		 parts of Islam].

--------

	Cross and Christian,  end to end, I examined.   He was not
	on the Cross.  I went to the Hindu temple, to the ancient
	pagoda.  In none of them was there any sign.  To
	the uplands of  Herat I went, and to Kandahar. I looked.
	He was not in the heights or the lowlands.  Resolutely,
	I went to the summit of the [fabulous] mountians of Kaf.
	There was only the dwelling of  the [legendary] Anqa bird.
	I went to Kaaba of Mecca.  He was not there.  I asked about
	him from  Avicenna the philosopher.   He was beyond the 
	range of Avicenna ... I looked into my own heart. In that,
	his place,  I saw him.  He was in no other place.

			Jalaludin Rumi
			ibid. p 102
--------

	One day a penurious old man  went  see Fazl-Rabbi to discuss
	some matter or other.

	Because of weakness and nervousness, this ancient stuck
	the iron point of his walking-stick to wound Fazl-Rabbi's
	foot.

	Listening curteously to what the old man had to say, Fal-Rabbi
	said no word, although he went pale and then flushed, from
	the pain of the wound and the iron, for it stayed lodged in
	his foot.
	
	Then, when  the other had finished his business, he took a paper
	from him and put his signature to it.

	When the old man had gone, delighted that he had been sucessful
	in his application,  Fazl-Rabbi allowed himself to collapse.

	One of the attendent nobels said: "My lord, you sat there with
	blood pouring from your foot, with that old man in his
	dotage  piercing it his iron-tipped staff, and you said
	nothing, nothing at all."

	Fazl-Rabbi answered: "I  made no sign of pain because I
	feared that the old man's distress might cause him to
	witdraw in confusion, and that he might abandon his 
	application for my help.  Poor as he was, how could
	I add to his troubles in that manner?"

	Be a real man: learn nobility of that and action, like
	that of Fazl-Rabbi.

			Attar of Nishapur
				[died at the hands of the Mongol
				invaders, 13th century]
			ibid. 63

----------

	A raindrop, dripping from a cloud,
	Was ashamed when he saw the sea.
	"Who am I where there is a sea?"
	When it saw itself with the eye of humility,
	A shell nurtured it in its embrace.

			Saadi of Shiraz
			ibid. p. 83

----------
	
	Ordinary human love is capable of raising man to  
	experience of real love.

			Hakim Jami (1414-1492)
			ibid. p. 95

----------

	Love becomes perfect only when it transcends itself--
	Becoming One with its object;
	Producing Unity of Being.

			Hakim Jami (1414-1492)
			ibid. p. 95

---------
	
	The  jackel thinks that he has feasted well, when he has 
	in fact only eaten the leavings of the lion.

	I transmit the science of producing "states".  This, used 
	alone, causes damage.  He who uses it only will become
	famous, even powerful.   He will lead men to worship
	"states," until they will be unable to return to the Sufi Path.

			Abdul-Qadir of Gilan
			ibid. p. 128

--------
-- 
scc!steiny
Don Steiny @ Don Steiny Software 
109 Torrey Pine Terrace
Santa Cruz, Calif. 95060
(408) 425-0382
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