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The Heart Of Sufism (Tasawwuf) © 2020 - Matt Sharpe

             "The Sufi sees the truth in every religion."
                                                               - Hazrat Inayat Khan

Sufism has been a path of study recognized primarily within Islam for slightly more than fourteen hundred years. What I want to speak about is the idea that Sufism existed long before Prophet Muhammad was even born, and thereby there have been many who while not being considered Sufis, could easily be seen as having followed the same inner and outer path, despite any differences. My reason for this view is gained partially from the quotes that many Sufi poets, writers, Murshids and Murids have made somewhat obvious and also from my own experience. Sufism cannot be encompassed within any single religion. Many might find this a controversial statement, while many others have insisted similar and worse things all the while claiming that Sufism is heretical in the context of Islam, which has long been the position of Salafists who hold to a very literal and narrow interpretation of the Q'uran thus their opinions about Sufi devotionalism.

This is not a new perception by any means, but it is not within my focus for this piece either. In trying to determine what lies at the heart of Sufism, one cannot possibly neglect looking at the importance of the inner component which can take a number of forms, all of which must exist in non-physical ways of perception. These might range from thoughts and contemplations upon various emotional and psychological aspects, to even dreams and the various things that might be gained from them. One of these things concerned with the spiritual development of the individual are the nafs, translated in a variety of ways, sometimes including the self or Soul. These nufoos (plural of nafs) are things that need to be developed, refined, and at times choices and sacrifices are necessary which goes far in the area of teaching balance. Some Sufi groups also consider a nafs to sometimes be a jinn or demon that must be removed entirely since they cannot be changed though some groups consider jinn to be neither good nor evil. While the nufoos are an important topic within the realm of individual spiritual development, they are still just a part of what other paths might refer to as the lower self and its desires and tendencies including both the positive and the negative, since both exist.

One part of this view that I have attained over the years about Sufism comes from the Muslim notion that Adam was not only the first human, but the first prophet. That being the case, how could he not be a Sufi also? It seems almost natural that he would be if only from occupying that state of being a prophet. Of course it follows that other prophets might as well be called Sufis because of the inner awareness of their path and the realization each piece of thier wisdom can provide. That is one way that the innate spiritual status of a prophet is recognized by humanity. Who is to say that Iesuos (Greek for Yeshua) was not also a Sufi? For that matter why not John the Baptist who it is said baptized Yeshua, but without whom he may not have ever become very well known due to the fact that John already had quite a large following of people that considered him to be the Mosiach (Messiah)? One must not necessarily connect these figures with Christianity being that they both were actually Hebrews and Christianity didn't exist until centuries later. That brings me to the next point, is Sufism necessarily only connected with Islam, or could it have already existed as some have maintained?

In my opinion, these are merely things encountered and requiring effort as one travels toward the inner heart of the Sufi teachings, the nufoos as well as the associations with particular religions that didn't necessarily exist at the time thier founders walked the earth. Definite steps toward that center are made in working with and learning more about these various qualities within the self and other qualities that cause us to associate certain things only with one specific religion. The development and learning that occur are necessary to even begin to approach what lies at the center most region of Sufism. One could easily say the heart, but usually meaning that of themselves rather than simply the path. The two can often seem to merge along the course in varying ways. This is a thing that is also found in nearly every religion around the globe. That inner path that needs to be balanced with its outer counterpart to form an inner and outer whole that one can progress along and learn from. The same can be said of any tribal spiritual system around the world though often the Evenki term shaman is most often used as a general term for all of them, though each group in each area tend to have individual names in their own language. The inner paths of each group are much the same as espoused in Sufism. In fact, one could say that about most religious paths as well.

"I looked for God. I went to a temple and I didn't find him there. Then I went to a church and I didn't find him there. The I went to a mosque and I didn't find him there. Then finally I looked in my heart and there he was."
                                                                         - Jallal Al-Din Rumi
From Rumi's quote above, he intimates something about the heart of Sufism and it is likely quite obvious. He specified buildings used in at least three religions depending on how one interprets the words, though I suspect he was well aware of the fact that in Judaism their temple is known as a synagogue. Interpret it as you will, but his point remains the same regardless of which religions he mentions. True spirituality is an inward thing, and though each building used in the various religions teach a method of attaining a communication with the Divine, the place that actually happens is within the individual. Taking a wider view of that point one can see that it implies a far greater number of things than simply a building housing religious ceremonies and rituals by being a parable for the physical body and the inner realities that one must learn to  become aware of and be able to connect with via experience. That is what I refer to as the heart of Sufism.

This heart of Sufism is an inner thing, several degrees of experience and realization that unfold throughout an entire lifetime.  In fact, it consumes an entire lifetime at the very least, and likely many over all. Spiritual progress and evolution is an ongoing process, and is one without end. The neophyte and Master alike continually learn new things. Murid and Murshid are mere names, stages along the path, no matter which path it might be. Though the differences may appear to be many, the similarities are as well. That is just one reason that the true heart of Sufism cannot be limited to any single religion, it exceeds the boundaries of all of them. The heart of the individual is much the same in this regard, despite that it may appear to be anything but extremely limited. Those apparent limits are simply as yet unrealized opportunities for unfoldment. The unfoldment is often uncomfortable to the point of even being painful, but pain grabs hold of the attention making it impossible to ignore. This is one reason why Sufism has endured though hardly the only one.

“You can study God through everything and everyone in the universe, because God is not confined in a mosque, synagogue or church. But if you are still in need of knowing where exactly His abode is, there is only one place to look for Him: in the heart of a true lover.” 
                                                                             – Shams-i Tabriz

The quote above by a Sufi Murshid who is also known to be an ECK Master, makes an important point about the heart of Sufism, as well as about spirituality in general, and is the same point as the other quote higher up by he who was once a Murid of Shams-i Tabriz. The point is that this method, Sufism, transcends religion and by that I mean all religions. None are exempt. And none are able to encompass the whole of what is Sufism, the inner path, or the Godhead ITSELF. Writings and poetry are things to inspire the heart, things that can be wrought by both love and creativity, but those can often serve a much greater purpose. They open the heart, even if only in stages. It is a process that is ongoing and never ended. States of consciousness are expanded in this way and a true spiritual growth can be accomplished in a single lifetime.

"I have learned so much from God that I can no longer call myself a Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Jew. The Truth has shared so much of Itself with me that I can no longer call myself a man, a woman, an angel, or even a pure Soul. Love has befriended me so completely it has turned to ash and freed me of every concept and image my mind has ever known."      
                                                                            - Hafez

We find in that latest quote the importance of religion greatly reduced in light of the fact that such methodologies are mostly irrelevant and have no bearing on the individual's ability to address, communicate to, pray or interact with God inwardly, and that is the primary point needing to be made regardless of the individual religious perspective one comes to throughout life. It (Sufism) has a means of continually drawing the attention to God, but it in and of itself appears unable to do much of anything regarding attaining that goal, but is that true or is it illusion? The individual must find the way to address this lack and look deeper than religious texts, and with a creative attention. Even that starting point of perception is one that will be refound throughout the journey time and again. It continually needs to be reexamined for changes in degree of understanding that merely change the entirety of the understanding attained thus far. That point reoccurs and recurs endlessly, and while not necessarily well known, both are actually distinct and separate verbs. For clarity, to recur is defined as to happen repeatedly and at regular intervals. It can be conjugated into various tenses by adding -s, or doubling the r and adding -ed and -ing. To reoccur is defined as to happen again. Both are often mistaken for each other but have distinct uses that aren't always stated specifically.

This looking more deeply within religious texts and into the philosophical ideas contained therein is a necessary burden. It is required to liberate one from religious dogma and doctrine that are often found to be as firmly set in stone as to have been originally carved from the mountain itself, but the reality is that while things may appear that way they really are not. God cannot be set in stone in such a strict fashion because how can the Unlimited become needful of limitation? This is one part of the duality found in the lower planes where Maya, illusion is rampantly seeking to draw the attention away from things of truth and make the mind and emotions satisfied with showy distractions and substitutions. Those will always exist but it is the responsibility of the individual Soul to not be bound by these and to become able to discern them and cast them aside while recognizing and cleaving to spiritual truth in all of its forms, even those lower aspects of the self, of the heart and mind. This is the way the difference can be seen and remembered while being worked upon more deeply until one changes themselves into successively new people along the course of their path. In this way one may develop into a new person than they were before. That point is displayed in the next quote:

"It is never late to ask yourself “Am I ready to change my life, am I ready to change myself?”. However old we are, whatever we went through, it is always possible to reborn. If each day is a copy of the last one, what a pity! Every breath is a chance to be reborn. But to be reborn into a new life, you have to die before dying."
                                                                            - Shams-i Tabriz

Here he makes clear that this spiritual development is spiritual growth and experience, and that there need be no limit to either. He also at the very end speaks about leaving the body but returning to it, a thing some passages in the Bible refer to as "dying daily." This is the primary means of developing one's self by receiving instruction from God, that component that has been referred to as the Holy Spirit, the Logos, the Music Of the Spheres among other names. They are as multiple as the many names of God and have always been referred to in various ways though the meaning may not be so obvious at first glance. This again is bringing up the reason for developing that facility within the self of looking more deeply into a thing and even looking at other interpretations. This method can produce many results repeatedly, sometimes bringing different things from the same phrase or piece of writing or speech, where the state of consciousness of that individual suddenly opens further to be able to utilize a greater degree of understanding that had been present before. This is very much related to the nafs as well as the various inner planes and their relation to different states. The ladder must be climbed.

"I am in love with every church
And mosque
And temple
And any kind of shrine
Because I know it is there
That people say the different names
Of the One God."
                                                                           - Hafez

This quote by Hafez reiterates the same point, that the Divine is more important than the language spoken or the type of building that one enters for spiritual benefit. This idea indicates the possibility of a larger, overarching plan going on within the various religions. If one existed, one might expect that to be a thing that God is responsible for, that plan that can reach into vast areas not always easily recognized, but that each have the same significance and ability to tie an individual into a far greater sphere of being than they had previously realized could even possibly exist. He makes no reference to any specific geographic area, any specific culture, race or skin color, because these categories are not truly important. They can cut one off from that deeper well that exists beyond the duality of the mind and emotions, beyond division, beyond category or prejudice regardless of what is used to measure a given standard or to compare one with another. This is the area of Rumi's Field which follows soon.

"Beware of confining yourself to a particular belief and denying all else, for much good would elude you - indeed, the knowledge of reality would elude you. Be in yourself a matter for all forms of belief, for God is too vast and tremendous to be restricted to one belief rather than another."
                                                                      - Ibn Arabi

"There was a time, when I blamed my companion if his religion did not resemble mine. Now, however, my heart accepts every form....Love alone is my religion."
                                                                      - Ibn Arabi

I hate to continue restating the obvious, so that is why I have used so many Sufi quotations here. Together they give a very specific set of ideas about God, religion, and the self in relation to those. These basic truths must be recognized and learned although that is there merest of beginnings on the path to God. But all paths have value in that they serve specific groups of people that are at a particular state within their individual spiritual evolvement and progress. One need not necessarily follow all religions to ever get to the experience of God Realization, but one also need not remain limited by the acceptance of one for themselves. One might be surprised at the similarities that can be found at the core of many religions, but it is noteworthy that those principles are usually not the things that religious groups battle over or begin wars from. 

Now we shall re-examine the full quote by Hazrat Inayat Khan that started this blog, because it extends further into the heart of Sufism and gives reference to how Sufism is within and without the various religions that exist today:

"The Sufi sees the truth in every religion."

'You have nicely said to us, Murshid, how Sufism is one with all religions. Now please tell us, what is the difference between Sufism and other religions.'

Then Murshid said, 'The difference is that it casts away all differences.' "
                                                               -- Hazrat Inayat Khan

That quote again states exactly what I've been proposing, that true Sufism is not merely the inner quality of Islam, although it can certainly be stated as being such, but there is considerably more to it than that, because it can be found within all religions as the heart of each. And that heart is not an emotional or mental thing either because it exceeds the limits of the emotions and the mind and enters a far deeper place than emotional states or mental ones can access. Rumi speaks of that place here,

"Out beyond ideas of wrong doing
and right doing there is a field.
I’ll meet you there.
When the Soul lies down in that grass
the world is too full to talk about."
                                                                     - Jallal Al-Din Rumi

That field that exists beyond the emotions, the mind, and the duality found therein is the home of the Soul, and this is exactly the place where a true Heaven exists beyond all of the dual states of being and the lower inner aspects of self that are made of the mind, the memory and the emotions. Gaining awareness of such states or places, and eventually gaining entry into them is what must occur before the individual can begin to experience life from there. We can find this idea mentioned in many ways among Sufi poetry. Here is a second reference to such a non-dual state:

"The Sea
Will be the Sea
Whatever the drop's philosophy."
                                                                - Farid al-Din Attar
I could go on and on about the various differences that can be found between people, places, religions, ways of perceiving things, and anything else, but only a very few ever bother to notice what things are the same throughout these varieties. Sufis have never been the only group to notice the similarities that exist between religions, but they have made a study of living life from that point where religions become irrelevant because none of them contain what is most necessary for the instruction of human individuals. That thing is an extremely subtle thing that is well worth the care and attention that must be spent to realize it exists. This is why each of the various schools of Sufism and their methods are equally important to the overall movement which has the spiritual advancement of each Soul that participates as its highest goal, though it is not ignored that conforming to God's Will is also of tantamount importance. This is also the point at which some might diverge from others based on their individual understanding, or as it may be a lack thereof.

The religions have told differing stories of the how and why everything was created, but there is a purpose to this and while opinions always will vary and all will never agree to any single thing, the path itself advances through the challenging and testing that is gone through in the various schools as well as among each individual that is involved. Spiritual growth is a thing that none have control over, and while the individual is most often held liable for any perceived wrongs, often there have been individuals who were challenged and called heretics that may have themselves actually been Saints in possession of a greater degree of understanding of God (by whatever name) and ITS Way of working among life and humanity. It is no small subject to understand. All of these things are to be discovered within the Heart of Sufism.

"Nature teaches every soul to worship God in some way or other, and often provides that which is suitable for each. Those who want one law to govern all have lost sight of the spirit of their own religion. And it is in people who have not yet learned their own religion that such ideas are commonly found. Did they but know their own religion, how tolerant they would become, and how free from any grudge against the religion of others!"
                                                             - Hazrat Inayat Khan

It must be mentioned that the Sufis are also quite aware of the inner planes and how those relate to the individual state of consciousness, and in this way is seen a similarity with religions such as Hinduism, despite that it might be hard to see. For thousands of years Sanatana Dharma has taught of multiple planes of existence. This idea was developed further and in surprising ways in India too, and by as unlikely a candidate as Kabir in the 16th century. Born a Muslim he went on to arrange for himself to be initiated by a Hindu which for him would have been impossible. He determined that he wanted to be initiated by Ramananda.  He, therefore, hid on the steps of the Ganges River, where Ramananda came to bathe often; with the result that the master, coming down to the water, trod upon his body unexpectedly, and exclaimed in his astonishment, "Ram! Ram!"—the name of the incarnation under which he worshiped God. Kabir then declared that he had received the mantra of initiation from Ramananda's lips, which admitted him to discipleship. 

He was claimed by the Mughals (Muslims in India) to have been a Sufi Saint due to his birth though he had constant protest from orthodox Muslims as well as orthodox Brahmins, he continued this claim for his entire life. Some have claimed that he studied under Pir Takki of Jhansi but there is no confirmation of this and had never been mentioned by Kabir. He is quoted as having said that he was "at once the child of Allah and of Ram." It is notable that Ramananda sought the universality of the various religious doctrines of the time and was interested in bridging the gap between them. But this was only the beginning of this sort of thing in those areas, and in Eckankar we recognize that both Kabir and Nanak were initiated inwardly by Rebazar Tarzs which brought about significant changes during the lives of these two contemporaries. Kabir had recognized coming face to face inwardly with the realization that names are a mental creation and are objects of the Mental Plane whereas God by whatever name is completely beyond them.

The same realization was had later by Nanak who led a sort of reformation from out of Hinduism being that he was actually a Hindu from birth, but he traveled greatly and met many people from around the Middle East at that time, including traveling to Mecca where he was criticized for not pointing the correct way according to Islam. He responded by asking them to point in a direction where God is not! The criticism ended there as they had no answer. So he was left alone and he taught them a thing about God that they hadn't known previously. It wasn't until later that he formulated his way of seeking after God which he called Sikhism. Another notable fact regarding this is that Kabir is also considered a Guru of Sikhism. Both Nanak and Kabir had acquired the point of view that religion springs from God, but is never followed by God, making one religion as good for its followers as any other.

"To treat every human being as a shrine of God is to fulfill all religion."
                                                               -- Hazrat Inayat Khan

That point about the usefulness and validity of every religion is what I am claiming is the truest heart of Sufism, there is a harmony there. The ability to perceive and to learn, not only from Islam, but from any other scriptures or religions as well. No single religion has the entirety of the direct path to God available within it, and any that have a high amount will over time lose that only to become mere ritualistic repetition that completely misses its goal of communicating with the Godhead, regardless of the name or language used. God cannot be limited in any of those ways or by any of those things. But humans can. And they do more often than not. How often have you ever bothered to not only read all that could be gotten about a path, but then expanded into the various interpretations only to weed through those and discern the truth from them all? That is exactly what Sufism has always been, and it has spread and influenced many religions over the centuries. The inner ways work like that, so often unseen and unexpected, yet when they show themselves there can be little doubt that they are very real. There is a reason for that. This only scratches the surface of all that Sufism teaches and contains, and doesn't even begin to describe the actual experience of it. Those who have an interest can find much more than they ever expected within its teachings for they are expansive to say the least. 

"Love is the essence of all religion, mysticism, and philosophy, and for the one who has learnt this, love fulfills the purpose of religion, ethics, and philosophy, and the lover is raised above all diversities of faiths and beliefs."

                                                              -- Hazrat Inayat Khan

That final quote gives evidence to the point this writing was intended to make, that love is the entirey of Sufism, and being that extends quite beyond all individual religious paths.

                                               

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