Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2(pesnta.1.2) 9/5/84; site scc.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!vax135!petsd!pesnta!scc!steiny 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 Distribution: net Organization: Don Steiny Software Lines: 215 Xref: watmath net.politics:10517 net.religion:7426 *** "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 (also: hplabs!hpda!hpdsqb!steiny)