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Sufism, meaning and institutions
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[quote]Sufism, meaning and institutions Sufism: what is Sufism? It should be taken under consideration that regarding meaning and explanation of Sufism, different Sufis have different claims. The conclusion of all such claims is that, the Sufism means:- 1. Purification of heart at the level of apprehension 2. Knowledge of inner realities of Islamic believes 3. An attempt of individual Muslim to realize in there personal experiences the living presence of Allah. 4. Remaining stand on truth. 5. Renunciation of world. 6. To remove bad things and cultivate good qualities. 7. To be fearful of fearful things (Taqwa) 8. Control on intensions of soul 9. Complete absorption in praying ( ) 10. Doing always good deeds etc etc Any way whatever may be the definition of Sufism, if definition accords with Quran and Hadith of the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) then ti is a part of Islamic Fiq. Institution:- Regarding institution of Sufism there are also different views. Some views have accord with Quran and Hadith of Prophet (s.a.w). But most of them are based on forge Ahadith. This can be explained by following discussion. Each sufi order claims that the doctrines and practices prevalent among the adherents of that order originated in the days of the founder of islam. It is said about prophet (s.a.w) that during the whole period of his Prophet hood which extended over twenty three years He did not take full meals even once.(Bukhari). He entered Makkha as a conqueror and the Makkans were waiting every moment for an order of general massacre, but the first thing that he did was general amnesty to all. He fasted continuously for month together, and slept little at night. It is on these traditions of Prophet (s.a.w) that some sufi's have built their doctrines and practices. It is good but practices must be conformed by Hadith of thr Prophet Muhammad (s.aw) . It is also said that the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) is reported to have defined goodness or Ihsan as a mode of worshipping Allah, a way of complete absorption in praying to him. "Worship your Allah as you are seeing Him if you are not able to see Him He is seeing you". It is on this definition of Ishan that many sufi's have built their theory of devotion. This defition indicates the Prophet's theory of spiritual good and was rightly made a point for spiritual theories by sufi's. it is this defition of prayer that has helped the doctrine of Ecstasy which is so popular among the Muslim sufi's. Most of the sufi's freely quote anecdotes from the life of the Propet and his companions, particularly Ali(r.a) to support the view that doctrine of ecstasy originated in the days of the Prophet and his companions. It is reported about Ali (r.a) that once an arrow struck deep into his body, people tried to get it out but could not succeed, as it was too deep to be extracted without extreme pain. He then began to say his prayers during which it was extracted after a deep operation with a sword. It is said that on account of his complete absorption he did not feel any pain until he had finished his prayers and seen the blood rushing out of the wound. This is good but problems emerges when sufi's did not consider this absorption necessary only at the time of canonical prayers but also at the occasion of Dhikr and meditation which were given an importance equal to the obligatory prayers by many of them. Dhikr literally means remembering Allah. In popular language it means repeating the name of Allah. The Quran says:- "Remember Allah much, that you may be successful". At next place Allah says:- "O you who believe! Remember Allah, remembering frequently". The early followers of the Prophet interpreted this verse about Dhikr in a very broad sense. The idea was thatany thing done in the name of Allah, conforming to his law and order are performing Dhikr. It was considered something equivalent to the ethical conception of performing one's duty or discharinging ones function of life, strickly according to the massage and commands of the almighty Allah. Further later sufi's began to attach greater importance to the popular meaning of the term Dhikr, thus vastly limiting the scope of the above quoted verse of the Quran. It was on account of this limited interpretation that the later sufi's invented so many novel ways of calling out the name of Allah. Howling, singing and dancing dervishes are distinguished according to the different modes of performing their Dhikr. Similarly the term Jihad as its root Jahid, implies, means to make an effort. The Quran used it in the same wide sense of making efforts in the path of Allah. The sufi's limited it to only one kind of effort, that of fighting against one's own evil self, against the satanic elements in human nature. Conclusion:- All these illustrations show that in later days many of the Islamic institutions lost their original meaning though they still retained the same old garb of name or outward appearance. This change took place very slowly and imperceptibly, and was responsible, in no small degree, for undermining the strength and vitality of the Muslim community. Abdul Wasay Bhat E Mail:- abwasay@yahoo.co.in [/quote]
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