Sufism/ Tasawuf (Islamic mysticism)

[Indos]

I studied for 5 years, then I left and moved to the other things. Shadhili, you can see a brief overview here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadhili

The aim is direct contact with God.

How long do they perform dhikir in private and in group ? And how frequent do they do it every day ?

Are you a Muslim ?

 

[waraich66]

At this thread lets talk and share about Sufism, I will give some recommended Sufi and Sufism books that I like. I believe many young intellectuals Muslim are in this forum now, but by having quite high intellectual, will not make us become extraordinary in this world. There should be another knowledge that we pursuit to unleash our potential emotional strength that is promised by our God, ALLAH, in Quran. Sufism teaching is many, only the ones that doesn't contradict with Quran and Hadist that I recommend here.

(It is a part of Islamic History but it is more specific thread than the previous ones)



First lets us begin with this person:

Al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī (Arabic: الحكيم الترمذي‎), full name Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī al-Ḥanafī (d. ca. 910), not to be confused with the famous hadith master Abū ʿĪsā al-Tirmidhī, was a Sunni jurist (faqih) and traditionist (muhaddith) of Khorasan, but is mostly remembered as one of the great early authors of Sufism. His full name is: Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Ali bin Hasan bin Bashir (in some sources it is 'Bishr') Al Hakim At-Termizi. He is locally known as At-Termizi or Termiz Ota ("Father of Termiz city").

Information about his life and scientific and creative activities can be found in the works by Taj ad-Din Subki (Tabakat Ash-Shafii'yya Al-kubro), Hatiba Baghdad (Tarih Baghdad), Ibn Hajara AskAlani (Lisan Al-Miyzan), Sulami (Tabakat As-Sufiyya) and in a number of other treatises.

Al Hakim At-Termizi speaks about his life in his book Bad'u Shaani Abu Abdullah ("The Beginning of Abu Abdullah's Pursuit"), published in Beirut in 1965 by Yakh'ya Ismail Usman, together with the work of the scientist in Hatm Al-Avliya ("Seal of the Saints").

Life
Tirmidhi was apparently born between 820 and 830 AD in Termez, Khorasan. His father was a scholar of hadith and a jurist; his early education appears to have been very orthodox. He was reared as a scholar of hadith and fiqh (law), more specifically, the Hanafi school of law that was dominant in eastern territories of Islam. The range of Tirmidhi's education did not include the non-Islamic sciences, such as Greek natural science and philosophy. His subsequent reference to learning the use of the astrolabe, implying a knowledge of astronomy and mathematics, has been given different interpretations. "There is no trace of influence from 'natural science' in his writings." However, his general pursuit of knowledge gained him the name of "al-hakim" (the sage). He renounced his use of the astrolabe after being told to do so in a dream to which he attached significance.[1]

Early years
Different dates are used in written sources and present literature to indicate Al Hakim At-Termizi's date of birth and death. Some authors, Khwaja Khalif in particular, in his Kashf as-Zunun, give the year 255 in Hijra / 869 AD as Al Hakim At-Termizi's date of death. The same date was written on Al Hakim At-Termizi's tomb. If we proceed from the fact that Al Hakim At-Termizi lived more than one hundred years, some sources say 112, 116 or 120 years, he was born approximately between 750–760 AD. At the same time, Abdulfattah Abdullah Baraka who wrote his great "Al Hakim At-Termizi and Nazariyyatukhu fil" ("Al Hakim At-Termizi and his theory") thirty years ago, said that Al Hakim At-Termizi, was born in 205 in Hijri / 820 and died in 320 in Hijri / 932 and lived 112 years.

Detailed information about Al Hakim At-Termizi's childhood and youth is not available in the sources. According to his "autobiography", he started learning religious sciences when he was eight, and he made a Hajj to Mecca when he was twenty-eight.

Later life
Returning from Mecca, Al Hakim At-Termizi became a Sufi follower; he withdrew from people and learned treaties. His father Ali bin Hassan was a leading scholar, a Hadith specialist, who, looking for knowledge, went to Baghdad and took an active part in scientific discussions with prominent scholars of the time on various problems of Hadith. His mother and uncle were considered to be experts of Hadith. Consequently Al Hakim At-Termizi grew up in the circle of educated and scientific people, which influenced greatly on his ideology.

Some written sources contain reliable information about Al Hakim At-Termizi's teachers. His teacher was his father Ali bin Al-Hassan At Termizi "History of Baghdad" by Khatib Al-Bagdhadi contains some information. Among his other teachers were Kutaiba bin Sayid as-Sakafi Al- Balkhi (798-888 AD), Salih bin Abdullah At-Termizi of much interesting facts had been written in the book "Books about Famous People" by Ibn Khibbana; Salih bin Muhammad At-Termizi who was former qazi of Termiz for some time, Sufyan bin Vaki (died in 860), Hassan bin Umar bin Shafiq Al- Balkhi (died in 840 AD), Ahmad bin Khadravayh (died in 854 AD), Abu Turab An-Nakhshabi (link), and Yahya bin Maaz Ar-Razi (died in 875 AD).

Based on data given in the written sources characterize Al Hakim At-Termizi's life and his long life can be divided into the following periods:

• The first period includes Al Hakim At-Termizi's childhood up to seven. Unfortunately we do not have exact information about this part of his life. But nevertheless, one can say that unlike the children of his age he displayed ability at this age to various games, as if he prepared himself to the future scientific life, he worked hard with his teachers, obtained knowledge on various sciences (particularly on theology) and got ready to mystic spiritual life.

• The second period embraces Al Hakim At-Termizi's life from eight to twenty eight, when he received knowledge from different teachers (sheikhs). For knowledge he visited other oriental cities, was in Mecca and made a pilgrimage. Some sources pointed to the fact that he paid much attention to learning Hadith and problems of fiqh in this period of his life.

• The third period of his life is related to learning the Qur'an thoroughly. He assimilated by deep God's words, their essence, fasting, praying and pious deeds and so on. The philosophic mystic work by Al-Antahi "Healing of Hearts" had a great influence on him.

Al Hakim At-Termizi had many of students, including: Abu Muhammad Yahya bin Mansur Al-Kadi (died in 960 AD), Abu Ali Mansur bin Abdullah bin Khalid Al-Zuhli Al Hiravi; Abu Ali Al-Hassan bin Ali Al-Jurjani. He also taught Ahmad bin Muhammad bin Isa, Abu Bakr Muhammad Ibn Umar Al-Al Hakim Al-Varrak, Muhammad bin Jaafar bin Muhammad bin Al-Haisam bin Umran bin Buraida, and others.

Al Hakim At-Termizi's scientific and creative activity is closely connected with his travels to other countries and cities. He visited Balkh, Nishapur, and Baghdad, where science and culture reached its zenith, and he met famous scholars and took part in discussions. Nevertheless Termiz, his native city played an important role in his scientific and creative activity, and there he created his basic works. His sermons and as well as some works, first of all, Hatam Al-Avliya (Seal of Saints), Hal Ash-Shari'a (Arguments of the Islamic Law) in which are discussed Muslim rituals, about "love for God" and about various categories of mystics, about "the Seals of Saints", along with existing "Seals of Prophets", had dissatisfied some parts of the falikh and rich. Escaping from his enemies' chase, Al Hakim At-Termizi had to move to Balkh and then to Nishapur, where he was very well accepted and where he obtained a large number of followers later.

Works
According to Radtke and O'Kane, "he is the first and, up until the time of Ibn al-Arabi, the only mystic author whose writings present a broad synthesis of mystic experience, anthropology, cosmology and Islamic theology... Tirmidhi's system of thought is representative of an old Islamic theosophy which had not yet consciously assimilated elements from the Aristotelian-Neoplatonic philosophic tradition."[2]

• Al-bayan al-farq bayn al-ṣadr wa-al-qalb wa-al-fu'ād wa-al-lubb Recent online Arabic edition

Different figures on the number of Al Hakim At-Termizi's works are mentioned in the written sources. Some authors say that the number of his work reaches four hundred. But the majority of authors tend to think that about eighty works belong to him. The famous Egyptian scholar Abdelfattah Abdulla Baraka writes that out of four hundred works by Al Hakim At-Termizi only about sixty had reached us. Though many works were lost, the most important ones that contain the great scholar's basic teachings, which comprise his scientific and spiritual legacy have been preserved (2).

The first work that must be mentioned is Navodir Al-Usul fi Ma'rifat Akhbor Ar-Rasul ("Unique Principles of Learning about RasulAllah - the Messenger of God"). It consists of 291 Hadith, and that to some extent it reflects the author's points of view, his outlook, his understanding the world. One copy of Navadir Al-Usul is kept in Tashkent, in the library of Muslim Board of Uzbekistan.

Other works of the scholar are: Khaqiyqat Al-Odamiyya Sahi btao? ("Book about the Nature of a Man"), Adab an-Nafs ("Bringing up the Soul"). The majority of the works of Al Hakim At-Termizi reached us in the form of manuscripts and they are kept in different manuscript funds of the world. Conditionally they may be divided into five groups: manuscripts that are kept in Paris, Cairo, Damascus, Alexandria, Istanbul and London. The following works by Al Hakim At-Termizi are kept in the National Library of Paris (under ISBN 5018 in the Arab department):

• Kitab as-Salat va Makasidiha (A Book about Prayer and its Aims)
• Kitab Al-Hajj va Asrarihi (A Book about Pilgrimage and its Secrets)
• Kitab Al-Ihtiyatot (A Book about Precautions)
• Kitab Al-Jumal Al-Lazim Ma'rifitiha (A Book about Sentences that Should be Known)

Muhammad ibn `Ali at-Tirmidhi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Good , better follow any of four fiqa Imams . hanafi , malki, hanbali, safi

Sufi Islam has branches , Qadari , Naqashbandi , suharwardi.

Wahabi and Salafi dont follow any fiqa Imam .

 

[KhalaiMakhlooq]

How long do they perform dhikir in private and in group ? And how frequent do they do it every day ?

Are you a Muslim ?

Its one of the strictest disciplines you will find in Islam. The very first step it to learn the Aqeeda perfectly (the 100+ required beliefs of orthodox Islam). You will then go through routines to bring god consciousness to your life. On top of five daily prayers, Koran recitation, you will recite specially formulated prayers in the forms of wirds. These contain the dhikr. In groups it is normally done once every two to three months and a formal private dhikr once a week. This is the outer form of sufism. The inner dimension is measured as a change within yourself.

 

[Indos]

Good , better follow any of four fiqa Imams . hanafi , malki, hanbali, safi

Sufi Islam has branches , Qadari , Naqashbandi , suharwardi.

Wahabi and Salafi dont follow any fiqa Imam .

Actually I just read classic Tasawuf books and not following sufi order. I try to take middle way between Wahabi and Sufism, I follow both.

Its one of the strictest disciplines you will find in Islam. The very first step it to learn the Aqeeda perfectly (the 100+ required beliefs of orthodox Islam). You will then go through routines to bring god consciousness to your life. On top of five daily prayers, Koran recitation, you will recite specially formulated prayers in the forms of wirds. These contain the dhikr. In groups it is normally done once every two to three months and a formal private dhikr once a week. This is the outer form of sufism. The inner dimension is measured as a change within yourself.

Thank for the explanation. It is very interesting to follow this path. The difference between Sufi and mainstream Islam is that Sufi stresses the important of dhikir and spend more time on dhikir than others. When I do dhikir, I do it in my language in order to get better result.

In essence Sufi is trying to reach Muqarrabun state (maqam) or in English means people who are close to God. Muqarrabun state is the highest and is stated in Quran.

 

[Signalian]

 

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[waraich66]

Actually I just read classic Tasawuf books and not following sufi order. I try to take middle way between Wahabi and Sufism, I follow both.

Good , Knowledge is power , you can practice any of four fiqa Imam . 80% muslims follow Imam hanafi. Imam jaffar was teacher of Imam Abu Hanifa . Shia muslim follow Imam Jaffar .
Unity is strength and islam is religion of peace love and tolerance. This world is world of action and reaction , maqafat amal .



Thank for the explanation. It is very interesting to follow this path. The difference between Sufi and mainstream Islam is that Sufi stresses the important of dhikir and spend more time on dhikir than others. When I do dhikir, I do it in my language in order to get better result.

In essence Sufi is trying to reach Muqarrabun state (maqam) or in English means people who are close to God. Muqarrabun state is the highest and is stated in Quran.

 

[saif123]

As per my studies about Tasawuf and best explained by Syyed Abul Ala Maududi, there are three stages of Taswuf - 1st stage was totally Islamic 2nd stage was a mix of Islamic and Un-Islamic & 3rd stage totally Un-Islamic.

 

[El Sidd]

As per my studies about Tasawuf and best explained by Syyed Abul Ala Maududi, there are three stages of Taswuf - 1st stage was totally Islamic 2nd stage was a mix of Islamic and Un-Islamic & 3rd stage totally Un-Islamic.

yes hopefully you can trigger a sectarian debate and we can get this thread finished.

I support your evil.

 

[khawar khurshid]

What is Sufism?
To meet Allah or discover him or intense desire to see him.
What is Sufism?
Desire of human soul to connect with its reality. (Allah)
How is this enthusiasm born in human beings?
Answer to this is, when man hear from Allah that, ' if you loves me, I will love you too', man got assured, that the thing he called 'soul' or 'atman' is not distinct from 'Allah' , but in reality it is adjacent to 'Allah'. In clear words human soul or atman and Allah belongs to same gender or sex, and the law is, every thing return to its origin.
If in reality there is a difference between human soul and God, than God never asked man to love him, therefore it is found that soul or atman comes from him.
Qur'an explain this in following ayat.
"When I have fashioned him (in due proportion) and breathed into him of My spirit, fall ye down in obeisance unto him." ( 15;29)
From this verse we know, man is combination of animal or biological self and divine spirit.
After hearing this , when man consider inwardly in his inner self, he discover that my spirit itself,
1) enthralled by absolute beauty, needs to love person, who is so beautiful that anyone can't be beautiful more than that.
2) To achieve eternity, man got sure enough that his spirit comes from God, because if God loves man's spirit, his spirit also loves him. This is the whole, central point of view (truth of this is clear as daylight to Sufi as he witnessed this through meditation and observation) which is basis of Sufism.
If it is suspected that this truth (that human spirit comes from God and desperate to meet him) doesn't revealed to everyone, than answer to this is that this desire found in every human being's heart, but most humans, so much involved in materialism that they never pay attention to their internal spiritual requirements.
Great Sufi poet Dr Mohammed Iqbal says a Urdu couplet to this situation.
نہ مشرق اس سے بری ہے نہ مغرب اس سے بری
جہاں میں عام ہے قلب و نظر کی رنجوری
It means, man made this world his idol, purpose, desire and beloved, instead of God, his powers of heart and mind got sick by following path of materialism, and if man doesn't take care of heart and mind, according to law of nature, both will die, after dying of these powers ,only animal self remains, man die.
Allama Iqbal further explain in his Persian couplet.
آنکہ ھی لائنوں آدم، حق آست
زیستن باحق، حیات مطلق آست
Allah lit a lamp of his love inside (heart) every human and zikr of God ( mention of God ,prayer to God) is like oil (fuel) to this lamp, if oil ends, than definitely lamp goes out.

 

[El Sidd]

wah

 

[Signalian]

 

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[Signalian]