Behind Sufism and Politics

‘A Sufi is one who is not’, the concluding sentence of Karl Ernst in his book “Sufism”, signifies the term itself.  This term was unknown in the pre-modern Muslim world prior to the 19th century. Western authors William Jones, John Malcolm, James William Graham, and Tholuk introduced the term Sufism in the 19th century. Before this time, Sufism was a reality without a name, and now its name without reality.

The orientalists introduced the term Sufism alongside Islam to the European language as something different from each other. These scholars, influenced by Persian and Indian sources, attempted to invent the idea of Sufism as something separate from Islam to undermine the significance of the Islamic scripture, its prophet, and the prescribes of its laws and rituals. Pre-modern Muslim societies didn’t know such a distinction.

Various activities that are undertaken under the terms of Sufism and Islam were not spheres of existence separable from religious life in general. The influence of Pantheist Baruch Spinoza’s idea that God and nature are one, theosophy, and the doctrine that humans can attain divine wisdom, derived from Protestant theology, has been profound in the spread of Sufi doctrine.

A group of pious people, during the early caliphate, disgusted by the drift of religious practices, refused to accept the caliphate's religious authority and chose their own path in accordance with the path prescribed by the last prophet.

Open protests by figures such as Hasan Al Basri, Monsur Al Hillaz, and Baizid al Bistan against the Abbasid dynasty's practice of religious control, like that of orthodox Christianity, and its tilt towards a luxurious lifestyle have been termed the beginning of the Sufi movement.

In the 15th century, North African philosopher Ibn Khaldun defined Sufism as a branch of the science of religious law, originating in Islam, as the true path to right guidance. He further said that the Sufis devote to God and avert from false worldly splendour, abstain from pleasure, property, and position, and retire from the world into solitude for divine worship, which is close to the practise of sainthood of orthodox Christianity, Buddhist monks, and Gurus of Hinduism.

There are two lines of Sufism: One that sees no distinction between Sufism and Islam, and the other that rejects following Islamic laws and rituals, treating it as a form of universal spirituality beyond the purview of established religion. One camp even claims that Islam is the symbol of authoritarian oppression of Wahhabi influence, and Sufiism is the way to freedom and universality.

In 1800, Wahabis treated the Sufi practices of worshipping saintly tombs, influenced by Greek pantheistic philosophers, flattering of Sufi masters, and the use of pagan music around religious sites as a revival of medieval superstition and idolatry. The clash began to erupt between the Sufi practices of Persia, Iraq, Egypt, and Central Asia, against the Wahhabis’ above philosophies.

A class of divinely chosen people has the power, endowed by God, to read the esoteric meaning of the Quran and the capacity to guide their own path and that of their followers to connect to the ultimate reality through a mystic journey, which is the foundation of the doctrine of Sufism.

The same philosophy is held by the divinely chosen Imamate of Shiism, which seeks to reveal the inner meaning of the Quran. The book of Al Hasan of Ali Al Qummi narrates that the fourth Caliph, Hazrat Ali, was known as one of the best interpreters of the Quran. The followers of Shias believe that the same skill has been transferred to the son of Ali Hasan, his son Hussain, his son Joinal Abedin, his son Baki, and his son Jafor as Sadiq divinely.

The latter, so-called Sufis, played with the divinely given skill to interpret the Quran and guide their followers along the various lines of the Sufi classes. Many mystic philosophers, familiar as venerated Sufis, attempted to elaborate on the interpretation of some of the verses of the Quran that relate to clear and unclear verses, the light of the creator, the physical creation of human beings, the injection of spirit into them, and the physical presence of the creator in the human body, etc.

The philosophies of different Sufis, if closely examined, will reveal the interplay of the mystical interpretation of these verses, creating followers of each who preach his ideas rather than the guided path of the Quran.

In line with this concept, later period Sufis attempted to develop their own interpretations of the Quran through various books they wrote, which were studied extensively by their followers. Egyptian Sufi Dhun Nun explained the inner meaning of the Quran in his book ‘Sahl al Tastori’ in the 9th century.

In the 10th century, Ibn Atta made a similar attempt in his book ‘Lataif Al Mizan’, Al Hillaj in ‘Kitab Al Tawasin’, 11th century Abdur Rahman Sulami in ‘Haqaiq Al Tafsir’, 12th century Imam Gazzali in ‘Miskat Al Anwar’, 13th century Ibn Arabi in ‘Fusus Al Hikam’, Abdul Karim Al Ibrahim al Jili in ‘Insan Al Kamel’ and Jalal Uddin Rumy in ‘Masnaby’ impacted their followers so much that they sometimes treated them as more than human and considered their books as some sort of divine revelation.

The sayings in some of these books are even cited as authentic Hadith, despite being seriously questioned by scholars. The followers have clung to the belief that this literature is significant, leading some to take extreme ideas so far as to divorce the religion's exoteric practices. This leads many in a direction that is neither desirable for religion nor for humanity, to establish order in society by any method other than what religion suggests.

When religion is studied and compared with life, with the idea of justice and order in society, no clash arises that would lead anyone to choose any path other than an exoterically focused one.

Politics under secular philosophies is considered radical by a section of religiously organized groups, mostly guided by some form of Sufi ideas, which brings politics into religion, often forgetting that religion has played a role in political life, tacitly or explicitly, all around the world. Politics, in the name of religion or any other political philosophy, can only succeed by following the same principles as all religions -- to serve people with social justice.