NMC103H1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Hadith, Al-Haqq, Theosophy
18 Oct 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
NMC103H-F
Sufis, saints, and mystics: Alternative visions of Islam
Oct 14, 2014
• Uluum al-deen
• Ilm al-awaael (knowledge from classical Greece and rome; philoshopy,
mathematics, medicine etc. professional sciences.)
• Impact of the educational system
• Traditional learning reinforced the power of the ulamaa and that of the scribal
bureaucratic classes; not many people knew how to write so they had to go to
scribers.
• The ulamaa were the repositories.
• These educated classes, ulama were often resistant to new ideas especially
European ideas what we called BID’AH (INNOVATION).
• Iban Taymiyyah was famous for this rejection.
• Printing press
• Exotreic knowledg
• Today: esoteric knowledge – knowledge that is secret/hidden or perhaps not
immdeditaly apparent. You don’t attain it from a scholar or a teacher necessarily
but more by experience; experiental knowledge.
• Zahari .
• Batari – gained by sufi practices.
Sufism
•
• based on esoteric type of knowledge—not ‘ilm but ma‘rifa
• Regarded as an alternative of islam
• Based on the idea that the quran and the hadith have hidden meaning
• Quran 57:3 – Zahir and the Batin – can compare to Jesus.
• Quran 7:172 – sufis interpret this asman’spreteternal covenant (al-mithaq) with
God.
• - refer to it as “the day of alast”
• - Interepret bala (verily) to mean bala (trial).
• First prodigy is Mohammed and connects him to the surah of Light. Second,
Adam was created from the light of Mohammed and 3rd is the prodigy of us today,
created from Adam but created from the light of Mohammed.
• It has an experiental dimension is often referred to as mysticism.
• They interpret their own quran and hadith including hadith Qudsi (not in the
Qur’an but it wasa verse delivered to Mohammed, apart from the Qur’an)
• SUFISM is the most common term used for Islamic mysictiscm.
• Sufi is the adjective; a term for a muslim mystic. The thing itself is
tasawwaf/sufiyyah are terms that aredeemed to derive from the Arabic suff.
• Some scholars feel that the origin of Sufism isn’t really there.
• “A sufi does not ask who a sufi is”
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
• Has its own idolect (pattern of speech or terminology in this case is used by sufis
themselves).
• Wears caps. (woolen)
• They are the “knowers”, “lovers”, “poor”, “the need of god”, “ahl-al haqq”,
“ahl- al-qalb”, “people of illusion”, “masters of the illusion”, “masters of
unity”, “people of trial/testing”, “the people concerned with inner meaning”,
“people with ecstatic extensiality”,
• “qawm;tribe, group of people”,
• Developed its knowledge about god in its own terms and own interpretation.
• represents esoteric interpretation of Islam: Qur’an, prophetic Traditions have hidden
meaning
• an alternative vision of Islam; experiential dimension; often called Islamic mysticism
• meaning of terms Sufism (tasawwuf) and Sufi believed to be from Arabic word for wool
(suf )
• has own idiolect—Sufis are “knowers,” “lovers,” “people of the heart”
• develops own theosophy (=knowledge about God), technical terminology
Development
• Probably originated in kufa or Basra, and takes back to the earliest times of
islam.
• Ascetic refers to someone who practices extreme self discipline. It might also
refers to someone who rejects the material world and who lives in seclusion from
the rest of the world.
• A stress and fear of God of His punishment of sins and the tawakkul in God and
the rejction of material goods in this world.
• Sufis are NOT celibates.
• Often wear special clothes, a cloak;emphasizingwith the poor.
• Goal: to concentrate on the spiritual of self, on one’s interiority. This is the
opposition of the legal aspect of islam and is often emphasized. This poses an
alternative vision of islam, concentration of the spiritual self. The aim is to
destroy the ego, to allow the presence of God within himself.
• origins probably in asceticism, 7th-8th c.—poverty, self-mortification, night vigils; centre
Basra (e.g., Hasan al-Basri, Rabi‘a al-‘Adawiyya); asceticism combines with love
mysticism
• Hasan al Basri – a sufi.
• Ibrahim ibn al-anham?: in the east, had been a Buddhist priest but becamea great
aesthetic once he converted to islam. He has been seen very pious.
• The fear of God was transfomrated into the love of God.
• Love mysticism.
• Labiyya: first great female saint of Islam. Love of God remained the chief future
of Islamic mysticism.
• In 9th century, there was a new trend; referred to as a visionary friend or a
speculative.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Sufis, saints, and mystics: alternative visions of islam. Ilm al-awaael (knowledge from classical greece and rome; philoshopy, mathematics, medicine etc. professional sciences. ) European ideas what we called bid"ah (innovation): iban taymiyyah was famous for this rejection, printing press, exotreic knowledg, today: esoteric knowledge knowledge that is secret/hidden or perhaps not immdeditaly apparent. You don"t attain it from a scholar or a teacher necessarily but more by experience; experiental knowledge: zahari , batari gained by sufi practices. Refer to it as the day of alast . Interepret bala (verily) to mean bala (trial): first prodigy is mohammed and connects him to the surah of light. Adam was created from the light of mohammed and 3rd is the prodigy of us today, created from adam but created from the light of mohammed. It has an experiental dimension is often referred to as mysticism: they interpret their own quran and hadith including hadith qudsi (not in the.
