Sufism
Someone asked me what this Sufism thing is and if I could explain it. Well, the answer is I’m afraid, no - I can’t explain it. But I can give a couple of general outlines of what some people think it is all about.
I suppose the classic perception is that it is ‘Islamic mysticism’, that is to say that is rooted in and inextricably linked to the Islamic faith from which it arises and is essentially an experiential form of religion which is perhaps a reaction to the rigidity of orthodox Islam. I suppose an analagous example to this way of thinking would be the Pentecostal churches in Christianity and their ‘rejection’ of the established church - although of course these latter would not be classed as ‘mystics’.
So on the one hand it is an Islamic sect or movement. More or less. This is not the perspective of the Sufis themselves though as is evident from their literature. Many Sufis quite clearly claim that their practice predates Islam and is quite distinct from religion - at times it may become amalgamated into religion and certainly during specific periods of history where totalitarian religion holds sway, it would need to appear to conform to orthodox religion, but that is not the same thing.
So we have two views: one - that Sufism is an Islamic mystical movement and the other that it is the mystical movement that manifests with differing names, differing techniques and feeds itself into differing religions at various historical points. This last view is particularly interesting in the modern world where religion is in decline as an influence (the fundamentalists notwithstanding) - it begs the question of what other entities that ‘Sufism’ might feed into instead and whether or not it would be recognisable outside of a traditional religious context.
So what is it ? Well, again that depends on which of the two descriptions above one is addressing. The first in many ways, can be indistinguishable from an actual religion. In some cases it can have the attributes of a cult.
The second is really a methodology - a series of techniques that take someone from A to B (or C or D depending on where you get off). The process also allows for the discovery of what A, B and C actually are rather than stating as an article of faith what they are held to be as in the first description.
And that’s it. Any more would necessitate a discussion of what is meant by ‘mysticism’ and I just can’t face that. So forgive me, I could go on but I won’t - comment if you want to, I’m off for my morning coffee and croissant at the Café Lennon.
