Sufism - what is it? Mystic-ascetic current in Islam. The direction of classical Muslim philosophy

Sufism - what is it? In science, there is still no clear and unified view of this complex and multifaceted trend of Muslim religious thought.

For many centuries of its existence, it embraced not only the entire Muslim world, but managed to penetrate into Europe. Echoes of Sufism can be found in Spain, the Balkans and Sicily.

What is Sufism?

Sufism is a special mystical and ascetic current in Islam. His followers considered it possible for a person to have direct spiritual contact with the deity, achieved through prolonged special practices. The knowledge of the essence of the deity is the only goal to which the Sufis sought throughout their lives. This mystical "way" was expressed in the moral purification and self-improvement of man.

The "path" of the Sufi consisted of a constant striving for God, called the Makamat. With sufficient zeal, mukamat could be accompanied by instantaneous illuminations that were like short-term ecstasies. But it is worth noting that such ecstatic states were not for the Sufis an end in themselves, to which one should strive, but served only as a means for deeper knowledge of the essence of the deity.

Multifaceted Sufism

Initially, Sufism was one of the directions of Islamic asceticism, and only in the 8th-10th centuries did the doctrine fully develop as an independent trend. Then the Sufis had their own religious schools. But even with this condition, Sufism did not become a clear and harmonious system of views.

The fact is that at all times of its existence Sufism greedily absorbed many ideas of ancient mythology, Zoroastrianism, Gnosticism, Christian theosophy and mysticism, subsequently easily connecting them with local beliefs and cult traditions.

Sufism - what is it? This definition can serve as the following definition: it is a common name that unites many currents, schools and branches with different ideas of the "mystical path", which have only a common ultimate goal - direct communication with God.

Ways to achieve this goal were the most diverse - physical exercises, special psychotechnics, auto-training. All of them were built in certain Sufi practices, distributed through brotherhoods. The comprehension of these numerous practices generated a new wave of varieties of mysticism.

The Beginning of Sufism

Initially, the Sufis were called Muslim ascetics, who, as usual, wore a woolen cloak "Suf". Hence the term "tasawwuf". This word appeared only 200 years after the time of the prophet Muhammad and meant "mysticism." From this it follows that Sufism appeared much later than many currents in Islam, and later it became a kind of successor to some of them.

The Sufis themselves believed that Muhammad, in his ascetic way of life, indicated to followers the only sure way for spiritual development. Before him, many prophets in Islam were satisfied with small things, which earned them great respect from the people.

A significant role in the formation of Muslim asceticism was played by "ahl as-suffa" - the so-called "bench people". This is a small group of poor people who gathered in the Medina mosque and spent time in fasting and prayer. The prophet Muhammad himself treated them with great respect and even sent some to preach Islam among small Arab tribes lost in the desert. Having significantly adjusted their welfare in such trips, the former ascetics were easily accustomed to a new, more satiated way of life, which enabled them to easily abandon their ascetic convictions.

But the tradition of asceticism in Islam did not die, it had successors among wandering preachers, collectors of hadith (sayings of the prophet Muhammad), and among former Christians converted to the Muslim faith.

The first Sufi communities appeared in Syria and Iraq in the 8th century and quickly spread throughout the Arab East. Initially, the Sufis struggled only to pay more attention to the spiritual aspects of the teaching of the Prophet Muhammad. Over time, their teaching absorbed a host of other superstitions, and the usual business became such hobbies as music, dancing, and sometimes the use of hashish.

Rivalry with Islam

Sufis' relations with representatives of the orthodox Islamic currents have always been very difficult. And the point here is not only the fundamental differences in the doctrine, although they were significant. Sufis placed at the heart of the purely personal experiences and revelations of every believer, unlike the orthodox, for whom the letter of the Law was the main one, and the man had only to strictly obey him.

In the first centuries of the formation of the Sufi doctrine, official movements in Islam fought with him for power over the hearts of believers. However, with the growth of its popularity, the Sunni orthodoxes were forced to accept this position. It often happened that in remote pagan tribes, Islam could only penetrate with the help of Sufi preachers, because their teachings were more closely understood by ordinary people.

However much Islam was rational, Sufism made its rigid postulates more spiritual. He made people remember his own soul, preached kindness, justice and brotherhood. Moreover, Sufism was very plastic, and so absorbed all the local beliefs as a sponge, returning them to people more enriched from a spiritual point of view.

By the 11th century, the ideas of Sufism had spread throughout the Muslim world. It was at this moment that Sufism from the intellectual current turned into a truly popular one. The Sufi doctrine of the "perfect man", where perfection is achieved through austerity and abstinence, was close and understandable to the impoverished people. It gave people hope for a heavenly life in the future and said that divine grace will not bypass them.

Strangely enough, born in the depths of Islam, Sufism has not so much learned from this religion, but with joy accepted many theosophical constructions of Gnosticism and Christian mysticism. An important role in the formation of the teaching was played by the Eastern philosophy, it is almost impossible to briefly describe all the diversity of ideas. However, the Sufis themselves always considered their doctrine as internal, a hidden doctrine, a secret, underlying Qur'an and other messages that many prophets left in Islam before Muhammad's coming.

Philosophy of Sufism

With the growth of the number of followers in Sufism, the intellectual side of the teaching gradually began to develop. Deep religious and mystical and philosophical constructions could not be understood by ordinary people, but they satisfied the demands of educated Muslims, among whom there were also many who were interested in Sufism. Philosophy at all times was considered the lot of the elect, but without a thorough study of its doctrines, there can not exist any religious movement.

The most common trend in Sufism is associated with the name of the "Great Shaykh" - the mystic Ibn Arabi. His pen belongs to two well-known works: "Meccan revelations", which are rightfully considered an encyclopedia of Sufi thought, and "Gemma of Wisdom".

God in the Arabi system has two entities: one is imperceptible and unknowable (batin), and the other is an explicit form (zahir), expressed in all the diversity of creatures living on earth, created in a divine image and likeness. In other words, all living in the world are only mirrors reflecting the image of the Absolute, the true essence of which remains hidden and unknowable.

Another common teaching of intellectual Sufism was vahdat ash-shuhud - the doctrine of the unity of evidence. It was developed in the XIV century by the Persian mystic Ala ad-Daula al-Simnani. This teaching said that the goal of the mystic is not an attempt to connect with the deity, since it is absolutely impossible, but only the search for the only true way, how exactly it is necessary for him to worship. This true knowledge comes only if a person strictly observes all the precepts of the Holy Law that people have received through the revelations of the prophet Muhammad.

Thus, Sufism, whose philosophy was distinguished by pronounced mysticism, could still find ways to reconcile with orthodox Islam. It is possible that the teachings of As-Simnani and his numerous followers allowed Sufism to continue its quite peaceful existence within the Muslim world.

Sufi literature

It is difficult to assess all the variety of ideas that Sufism brought to the Muslim world. Books of Sufi scholars have rightly entered the treasury of world literature.

In the period of the development and development of Sufism as a teaching, Sufi literature also appeared. It was very different from the one that existed in other Islamic currents. The main idea of many works was an attempt to prove the relationship of Sufism with orthodox Islam. Their goal was to show that the ideas of the Sufis fully correspond to the laws of the Koran, and the practices in no way contradict the way of life of the orthodox Muslim.

Sufi scholars tried to interpret the Qur'an in their own way, with a focus on ayatam - places that were traditionally considered incomprehensible to the mind of the common man. This caused extreme outrage among the orthodox interpreters who were categorically opposed to any speculative assumptions and allegories when commenting on the Quran.

Very freely, according to Islamic scholars, the Sufis also applied to hadiths (legends about the deeds and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad). They were not very worried about the certainty of this or that testimony, they paid special attention only to their spiritual component.

Sufism has never denied Islamic law (fiqh) and regarded it as an immutable aspect of religion. However, in Sufis the Law becomes more spiritual and sublime. He justifies himself from a moral point of view, and therefore does not allow Islam to turn into a rigid system, demanding from his followers only a clear fulfillment of all religious orders.

Practical Sufism

But besides the highly intellectual Sufism, which consisted in complex philosophical and theological constructions, another direction of the doctrine developed, the so-called pragmatic Sufism. What it is, you can guess, if you recall how popular these days, various oriental exercises and meditations aimed at improving this or that aspect of human life.

In pragmatic Sufism, two main schools can be distinguished. They proposed their own carefully elaborated practices, the implementation of which should provide a person with the possibility of direct intuitive communication with the deity.

The first school was founded by the Persian mystic Abu Yazid al-Bistami, who lived in the IX century. The main postulate of his teaching was to achieve ecstatic enthusiasm (galabs) and "intoxication with love of God" (sukra). He argued that through a long reflection on the unity of the deity, one can gradually reach a state where a person's own "I" completely disappears, dissolves in the deity. At this point, roles change, when a person becomes a deity, and a deity becomes a person.

The founder of the second school also became a mystic from Persia, his name was Abu-l-Kashima Junaida al-Baghdadi. He recognized the possibility of ecstatic merging with the deity, but urged his followers to go further, from "intoxication" to "sobriety." In this case, the deity transformed the very essence of man, and he returned to the world not only renewed, but also endowed with the rights of the messiah (the tank). This new being could fully control his ecstatic states, visions, thoughts and feelings, and therefore more effectively serve the good of people, enlightening them.

Practices in Sufism

Sufi practices were so diverse that it was not possible to subordinate them to any system. However, among them one can distinguish several of the most common, which many still use.

The most famous practice is the so-called Sufi Circles. They make it possible to feel like the center of the world and to feel around a powerful energy cycle. From the outside it looks like a quick whirling with your eyes open and your hands up. This is a kind of meditation that ends only when the exhausted person falls to the ground, thereby completely merging with it.

In addition to the circulations, the Sufis practiced a variety of methods of cognition of the deity. These could be long meditations, certain breathing exercises, silence for a few days, dhikr (something like a meditative reading of mantras), and much more.

Sufi music has always been an integral part of these practices and was considered one of the most powerful means for bringing a person closer to the deity. This music is popular in our time, it is rightfully considered one of the finest works of culture of the Arab East.

Sufi Brotherhoods

Over time, in the bosom of Sufism, fraternities began to emerge, whose purpose was to give man certain means and skills for direct communication with God. This is the desire to achieve some freedom of the spirit in opposition to the mundane laws of orthodox Islam. And today in Sufism there are many Dervish brotherhoods, differing only in ways to achieve a fusion with the deity.

These fraternities are called tariqats. Initially, this term was applied to any clear practical method of the "way" of the Sufi, but with the passage of time, only those practices that gathered around themselves the largest number of followers began to be called so.

Since the appearance of the brotherhoods, a special institution of relations has begun to take shape within them. Anyone who wants to follow the path of the Sufi, had to choose a spiritual mentor - Murshid or Shaykh. It is believed that it is impossible to pass the tariqa alone, since a person without a guide risks losing health, reason, and perhaps life itself. On the way, the disciple must obey his teacher in every detail.

In the era of the heyday of the teaching in the Muslim world, there were 12 of the largest tariqahs, later they gave life to very many secondary branches.

With the development of the popularity of such associations, their bureaucratization has deepened. The "pupil-teacher" system of relations was replaced by a new "novice-saint," and the Murid was no longer subordinate to the will of his teacher, but to the rules established in the framework of the brotherhood.

The most important among the rules was complete and unconditional submission to the head of the tariqa - the bearer of "grace." It was also important to strictly observe the charter of the brotherhood and clearly follow all the mental and physical practices prescribed by this statute. As in many other secret orders, mystic initiation rituals were developed in the Tariqah.

There are groups that managed to live up to our days. The largest of them are Shaziri, Kadiri, Nakhshbandi and Tijani.

Sufism today

Sufis today are called all those who believe in the possibility of direct communication with God and are ready to make every effort to achieve that mental state in which it becomes real.

At present, the followers of Sufism are not only the poor, but also the middle class. Belonging to this teaching does not prevent them from fulfilling their social functions. Many modern Sufis lead the ordinary life of urban residents - go to work and have families. And belonging to one or another of the tariqa in our days is often inherited.

So, Sufism - what is it? This is a teaching that continues to exist in the Islamic world. And the most amazing thing is that not only in it. Sufi music suited even Europeans, and many practices developed within the framework of the teaching are still widely used today by various esoteric schools.