Christian Witness
Lesson 1
Why Study Sufism?
Why should a Christian
study Sufism? What is the point if, as
Christians, we know that what Sufism teaches is not what Christ taught? For one thing, many Christians do not know
what Sufism teaches. For example, when
the Sufi mentions the term “God”, he does not wish to convey the God of
Christianity. Sufis do not recognize the
Trinity or the resurrection of Christ.
Also, Sufis mistakenly believe that man can be absorbed into God, that a
Sufi can become God by losing his individuality into God. Christ did not teach this.
Christians also need to
know what Sufism is to fulfill our witness.
We carry Jesus’ light to the world.
We have to be able to carry that light to rebut the darkness of the Sufi
message. Darkness? Yes. If
Christ is the light of the world, and He is, then any teaching that is counter
to that light is a teaching based in darkness.
Christians should be able to expose Sufism for what it is. We are bearers of the light. Where there is light darkness evanesces.
Yes, Sufism is making
inroads into the West mainly because people are not aware exactly what Sufism
teaches. The following is an attempt in
a nutshell to teach what Sufism does profess and to contrast that teaching with
what Christ taught. The contrast will be evident by my comments in bold type. It is my hope that you do not derive the
impression from what I write that Sufism is all bad.
It is not. Some of what Sufis
teach can prick the mind and make one think.
Their writings concerning love and their poetry do have a touch of the
divine; however, intellectually—the doctrines they espouse—are far from the
truth. They are close to Christ but deny
His teaching in its entirety, making them so very far from Him.
To reach the Sufi, a
Christian must show him what is meant by agape love and teach it in patience. The Sufi professes love…yet, he does not know
the depth and breadth of the love of Christ.
Show the Sufi that love and he will fall to his knees and worship
Jesus…he will come to Him with tears in his eyes for he will have found what
his heart truly seeks--God.
Questions for review:
Why should a Christian study
Sufism?
What can a Christian learn from
Sufism?
How should a Christian introduce
Christ to a Sufi?
Email
question answers to for comments to: rlcoleman1@gmail.com
Sufism
The word Sufi is derived
from the Arabic word 'suf' which means ' wool ' and which refers to the
coarse woolen robes that were worn by the Prophet Muhammad and by his close
companions. The goal of a Sufi is none other than God arrived at by mystical
means. There are signs of God everywhere in the universe and in man.
Universal Sufism
Universal Sufism is usually
seen in relation to Islam. There is a major line of Non-Islamic or
offshoot-Islamic Sufi thought that sees Sufism as predating Islam and being in
fact universal and, therefore, independent of the Qur'an and the teachings of
the Prophet Muhammad. This view of
Sufism has been popular in the West and has been always opposed by Traditional
Sufis who practice it in the framework of Islam. Major exponents of this
universal Sufism were Inayat Khan and Idries Shah. (Excerpts of Inayat Khan’s
and Idries Shah’s writing are included in the readings section of these
lessons.) It was Idries Shah who died in 1996 who greatly extended the western
knowledge of the Sufi teachings. His
most famous work is “Sufism”.
There is also an attempt to
reconsider Sufism in contemporary Muslim thought. According to this view,
Sufism represents the core sense of Islam that gives insight to Allah and His
creation. In
Over the centuries, as the
Sufi orders grew, the Sufi masters were generally recognized in the Islamic
world as sages and men of wisdom and grace, enjoying the esteem of the general
populace.
The growing social prestige of the Sufis attracted self-seekers who posed as Sufis and dervishes and embarked upon exploiting the goodwill of the people. These pretenders indulged in superstitious practices, neglected moral order and religious ordinances, and boasted of their ignorance and lack of learning. In order to cover their own lack of discipline and dedication to the goal, some of these charlatans even tried to cut Sufism from its very roots--namely, the Qur'an and the practice of the Prophet.
According to the Sufi, the acts of these pseudo-Sufis never altered the true course of Sufism. The heart of Sufism supposedly has remained pure, well guarded by the traditional practice of the initiation of a seeker into a Sufi order by a Sufi master. The master's authority had properly been passed upon him by a previous master through the investiture of the traditional mantle of authority, symbolized by the presentation of a patched cloth. The Sufi believes that this initiation is supported by the tree of lineage going back through all the previous masters to the Prophet (this is suspect) from whom the authority to instruct in the esoteric doctrine originated. Even today, this is the general practice of all the recognized Sufi orders, those recognized by Islamic Sufis. Islamic Sufis do not recognize Universal Sufism as being true Sufism.
It is Sufi masters such as al-Junayd,
al-Ghazzali, Ibn Arabi, Shaykh Abdul-Karim al-Jili, Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti,
and Jalaluddin Rumi, among others, who devoted their lives to spreading
Sufi philosophy among all men, irrespective of man's geographical, social,
religious and racial origin. Even though Sufis do not recognize what Jesus
taught concerning Himself, they have softened the legalistic and myopic
tendencies of the corpus of Islam. This
is to their credit.
The Qur'anic Roots of Sufism?
Sufis believe that Sufism really has its roots in the Qur'an and in the religious experience of the Prophet Muhammad. But this is not true. Sufism has its roots in the teachings of Plotinus, not the Qur’an. Even though Sufis claim that the kernel of Sufi teaching comes from Mohammad, be assured that this is not the case.
Sufis state that their
knowledge of God comes from the Qur'an directly, but again this is not true.
The claim that their direct experience of God has always been the Qur'an is
dubious. Sufis teach that the Qur'an contains
instructions suitable to man with varying levels of spirituality. It satisfies
those who are content with merely exoteric practices, but also contains the
deepest and most profound esoteric meaning for those who desire a closer, more
mystical relationship with God. According to what Christ taught, there is no esoteric teaching—He taught
his disciples all that enabled them to become one with the Father and one with
Him. The Holy Spirit teaches the
disciple what he/she needed to know.
The Qur'anic verses which are the favorites of the Sufis include:
"We [God] are closer to him [man] than his jugular vein."
"Say, surely we belong to God and to Him do we return."
"He is the First and the Last and the Manifest and the Hidden."
"God is the light of the heavens and the earth."
Sufis believe that such verses are limitless in their depth, scope and meaning, and man may draw from them as much mystical meaning as he has the capacity to understand.
The Sufis claim that God
says in the Qur'an that He sent His Prophet Muhammad first and foremost as a
Mercy unto all peoples. Men of different levels of spiritual understanding,
Sufis maintain, may avail themselves of this Mercy according to their various
capacities. It is surprising though, that no
mention is made of Christ. Was it not
Christ who died as expiation for the sins of Man? Did not Christ forgive man’s sins? Muhammad was only a man who could not forgive
any man’s sin. He even claimed that He
was only a man. Can a man, however pious,
provide even divine mercy to his fellow man, if in essence he cannot obviate
sin? The Prophet is, which Sufis and
Muslims would strongly disagree, not of the same stature as Christ. Christ had the power to forgive sins. Only God can do so. Muhammad did not have that power. He could not and did not forgive anyone.
Make your own conclusion.
The Prophet Mohammed and
his close associates did (as Sufis maintain) keep long night vigils and
practiced voluntary fasts during most days. He never ate barley bread (the
staple food of his day) on three consecutive days, and he never even touched a
loaf of wheat bread -- which was a luxury. One of his favorite sayings was
"Poverty is my pride," and this saying came to be quoted in every
manual of Sufi doctrine, making the rule of poverty a basic characteristic of
Sufi life. But it must be remembered that
poverty in itself will get no one closer to God. To pride oneself for being poor materially is
a sign of foolishness. Piety does not
consist in the amount of or lack of money.
True piety consists in recognizing the Truth and living in the
Truth. The Sufis, since they do not
accept the wholeness of Christ--His teaching in its entirety, the Truth--cannot
make a true claim to Piety.
Questions for review:
What is a Sufi?
Sufis claim that what they teach
originates in Islam. Why is this not the
case? From where did Sufism originate?
Who do the Sufis claim is the Mercy
of God? How do Sufis view Christ?
Email
question answers to for comments to: rlcoleman1@gmail.com
Lesson 3
The Origin and Essence of Man
A Sufi believes that man is the mystery of God. For a mysterious purpose, man was outwardly created of clay and God breathed life into him, and all of the angels were commanded to prostrate themselves before him. As the Qur'an, which the Sufi believes is the highest form of revelation, (but the Christian deems it otherwise) declares:
"And remember when thy Lord said unto the angels: Lo I am creating a mortal out of potter's clay. So when I have made him and shaped him and have breathed into him of My Spirit, do ye fall down prostrating yourself unto him."
The Sufi
believes that it is this Divine Spirit which is the essence of man. The body is
merely the outward physical form which contains the Divine spark. They believe that the body is made of the
material elements fire, earth, air and water, and has five external senses --
sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch; and five internal faculties --
discursive thinking, imagination, doubting, memory and longing. All these
powers, that is, both the external senses and the internal faculties, serve the
heart. By the 'heart' it is not meant the physical organ that pumps blood, and
which is possessed by both man and animals. Rather, 'heart' to the Sufi means
the Divine spark that distinguishes man from the animals. Unlike the physical
heart that dies and decomposes with the rest of the physical body, the Divine
spark or heart is indivisible and transcends death, so the Sufi believes,
because its origin is in the spiritual world.
The Sufi believes that the position of man in the universe is most important. Man is the microcosm, that is, a miniature universe. As such, he comprises in his outward or physical aspect all the elements found in the universe. In his inner aspect, he contains the potential qualities of all creation from the lowest to the highest, that is, animal, satanic and angelic. He shares the qualities of lust and selfishness with the pigs; the qualities of jealousy and anger with the dogs; his cunning and deceit with Satan; his power and his spiritual light with the angels. But, what, as the Sufi believes, is more important is that through love and devotion to God man can rise even higher than the angels, for he is the mystery of God before whom the angels were commanded to fall in prostration. He was given command over the whole universe.
Sufis cite this declaration in The Qur'an to buttress their belief concerning man:
"It is God who created the heavens and the earth and sent down out of heaven water, wherewith He brought forth fruits to be your sustenance, and He subjected to you the ships to run upon the sea at His commandment, and He subjected to you the rivers, and He subjected to you the sun and moon constant upon their courses, and He subjected to you the night and the day and gave you all you asked Him."
Although the universe was created for the service of man, the Sufi holds that man was created for the service of God and for that purpose alone. To the extent that man deviates from that purpose, he becomes unworthy of Divine guidance and favor. (See how this differs from the teaching of Christianity, which teaches that even though man is unworthy of God, God came to man anyway.) Consequently, he is left to his own devices with all his enormous powers, which, under the influence of his animal and satanic qualities, are capable of dragging him to the lowest of the low.
Purpose of Life
Sufis believe that Sufism helps man to be increasingly aware of his purpose of life -- namely, unfailing service to his Lord and Creator. It is a path traveled under the guidance of a Sufi master, who is able to deliver man from the narrow confines of the material world into the limitless reality of a spiritual life, wherein he can experience the Divine spark which eternally shines within him. (The Sufi master is confined to what he himself believes. There are no Sufi masters who recognize what Christ taught about Himself. We must remember this. Christ taught that by and through him ONLY will man come to the Father. There is a reason for this teaching. Christ is the Son of God. In studying Sufism remember this, and you will not be swayed by the Sufi argument.)
It is most important, Sufis believe, to understand that material man acquires his knowledge generally through the five external senses and five inner faculties referred to earlier. The spiritual man, on the other hand, has in addition to these a number of other means of acquiring knowledge, such as prophetic dreams and inspirations from beyond the material world. To the extent that a man adheres to the truth in his waking state, his dreams too disclose a similar degree of certainty. The Prophet Mohammed expressed this in the saying: "The more truthful a man, the more prophetic his dreams."
Although knowledge through dreams comes in a state of sleep, insights through inspirations are gained in a state of wakefulness. The shaykh, or the Sufi teacher, interprets the dreams of a disciple, helps him to understand his inspirations, and resolves his doubts and uncertainties.
(Jesus never taught that it is beneficial to interpret
dreams in order to arrive at ones purpose in life. Some dreams have no meaning whatsoever.
It is true that the purpose of life is to view life in the
context of God; however, it is not true that a man needs a spiritual guide—one
particular teacher—to interpret what life means. The meaning of life is found through faith in
God, through studying the life and teachings of Jesus Christ and congregating
with other Christians.)
Question for review:
According to the Sufi, what is man?
What is man’s purpose in life,
according to the Sufi? How does this
differ from how a Christian views man’s purpose in life?
What is a Shaykh? Does a Christian
need a spiritual guide, a person to whom a Christian needs to submit?
What are dreams to the Sufi? What are they to the Christian?
Email
question answers to for comments to: rlcoleman1@gmail.com
The History and Methodology of Sufism
Sufism is an esoteric doctrine transmitted by word of mouth, and sometimes without even a spoken or written word, by an authorized teacher to a disciple, and from disciple to another disciple, in confidence. These secret instructions (Jesus taught openly to all who would hear, making is teaching historically reliable. There is no secret teaching in the message of Christ.) are acted upon by a disciple with perfect faith in the teacher. The disciple gives a report of his condition and experience in confidence to his teacher and receives another set of instructions most suitable to his state.
It is only the writings of the Sufi teachers, who speak from within the tradition, that allow an outsider a glimpse of Sufism. One of the greatest Sufi scholars of all times was al-Ghazzali. He lived in the later eleventh and early twelfth centuries. He wrote his famous work The Revival of the Sciences of Religion in Arabic, with an abridged form, The Alchemy of Happiness, in Persian. These works were followed by the other writings and poetry by such Sufi teachers as Abdul-Karim al-Jili, Ibn Arabi, Suhrawardi, the famous Chishti saints, Hafiz, Sadi, Rumi and so many other Sufi poets.
Whilst the Sufi teachers wrote, there was an immense upsurge of open Sufi activity under the auspices of different Sufi orders in all parts of the Islamic world. Each Sufi order constituted a focal point of activity, from which Sufi teachings were carried to the mass of the population by the representatives of the head of the order. The Sufi organizations constituted the social cement of the society in which they lived. Because of the strength of this social cement, Islamic civilization was able not only to withstand many political upheavals, but it also acted as a civilizing influence on the powers that were responsible for these upheavals.
Sufis believe that a disciple needs to have a shaykh. If a man does not have a shaykh, Satan becomes his shaykh and lures him back into the temptation of his ego and finally destroys him in confusion and error. (This is not true, of course. Christ did not have a shaykh. Who taught Him? Did He not say that God provided Him the teaching? Christ also said to call no man teacher or Rabbi. There is only one teacher, and that is God through the Holy Spirit.) A disciple keeps unwavering faith in the words of his shaykh and receives infinite love and care from him. The relationship is strictly based on the pattern of the Prophet Mohammed’s relations with his companions which, according to Sufis, enjoyed Divine support. To quote the Qur'an:
"Now there has come to you a messenger from among yourselves. Grievous to him is your suffering; anxious is he over you, gentle to the believers, compassionate."
Sufis live with an ever increasing awareness of God. One aspect of this awareness is the practice of zikr. Zikr means 'remembering God,' usually by pronouncing His name or by uttering a number of recognized formulae. The Qur'an repeatedly admonishes Muslims to celebrate the praises of God and to do this often. Remembering the name of God brings satisfaction and comfort to a Muslim’s heart. The following verse of the Qur'an reveals the significance of zikr:
"Recite that which has been revealed to you of the scripture, and observe prayer. For prayer restrains one from lewdness and iniquity, but remembrance of God is the greatest virtue."
In one passage of the Qur'an, the importance of zikr is enhanced to such an extent that a response to it from God is assured:
"Therefore remember Me, and I will remember
you." (We must
pose this question: Does God, who is
omniscient, have the nature of forgetfulness?
Does what God is capable of doing depend upon what man will or will not
do? No.)
The Qur'an warns those who neglect zikr: "Whoso blinds himself to the remembrance of the All Merciful, to him we assign Satan for a comrade and debar them from the way, and yet they think they are guided." Again, "Be not as those who forgot God, and so He caused them to forget their own souls. Those, they are ungodly." The key to human happiness lies in the remembrance of God, as in the Qur'anic verse: "Verily, in the remembrance of God do hearts find peace."
Do not allow this statement above to
deceive. Jesus Christ is Son of God,
God-Man. Remembrance of God is the
remembrance of Christ. Christians
perform this act whenever they pick up the Bible to read, whenever they pray,
whenever the name of Jesus is mentioned, and whenever they celebrate the Lord’s
Supper. True remembrance of God is
remembrance of Christ. What Mohammed
teaches in the Koran is good as far as it goes.
Christians must make remembrance of God top priority. However, Muslims do not equate Christ with
God. Therefore, their remembrance is not
true remembrance. Mohammed did not make
claims to Divinity. Christ, however, did
make such claims. Remembrance of God is
remembrance of Christ--His Life, His Teaching, His Death, His Resurrection, and
His Ascension.
This brings
us to say something about Sufi discipline. According to Sufis, the first and
foremost requirement is the purification of the soul. (Take notice. The Sufi attempts
to purify his soul. In effect, the Sufi
depends upon works—his own effort.
Christians should know that man cannot purify his soul. A man can do nothing save depend on Christ,
which is saying that man cannot do this without divine assistance. Sufi discipline, though it does have merit,
cannot get one any closer to God.
In the first stage, one struggles against the carnal soul or nafs al-ammara as it is called by the Sufis. Nafs al-ammara is the tendency in man to disobey God, and to take pleasure in evil deeds and thought. This inclines man towards gossip, backbiting, vain talk, pride, selfishness, lust, hatred and jealousy. The struggle to overcome nafs al-ammara involves the purifying of the body, tongue, mind and heart.
a) The body is purified by keeping it free from dirt, by preserving its members from harm and by not indulging in sexual license.
b) The tongue must be purified by restraining it from backbiting, malicious gossip and vain talk, or from using it to alter the truth.
c) The mind must be purified by abstaining from suspicion, plotting and thinking ill of others.
d) The heart must be purified by keeping it free from lust, jealousy, greed, selfishness, hatred and pride.
e) In this stage, a Sufi is to constantly examine the motives of his likes and dislikes.
When he has subjugated the carnal soul, nafs al-ammara, the Sufi enters upon the second stage of purification in which he is able to respond readily to the call of the reproaching soul which is called nafs al-lawwama. It is the nafs al-lawwama which reproaches man for his evil deeds and impels him to acts of mercy and generosity.
After this stage has become firmly established in him, the Sufi enters the third stage which is known as the station of the contented soul, nafs al-mutma'inna. In this stage, the Sufi develops to the fullest the tendency to obey God and to act in perfect harmony with His commandments. Here the soul is reconciled with all other stations of the path, such as poverty, patience, gratitude and trust in God. Here the soul finds perfect satisfaction in being governed by the heart, the Divine spark in man. Here the Sufi becomes truly free from fear and grief. As Sufis cite the words stated in the Qur'an, "Lo, indeed, the friends of God have no fear, nor are they grieved." Fear and grief are qualities of man, and, according to the Sufis, friends of God are relieved of the burden of these qualities. Fearlessly, and with the strength of faith, they invite man to God, the source of man's creation and the goal of his life.
The Sufi would say that here
lies the difference between a true teacher and a false one -- the true teacher
invites man to God, and the pretender invites man to himself. [Then again, we must recall the words
of Christ in paraphrase, “We are to call no man teacher.” Christ said this because the Father will draw
a person to Christ, Christ will open this person’s heart to Him, and then the
Holy Spirit will enter this person’s heart and teach this person what he needs
to know. The true teacher, then, is the
Holy Spirit sent by Christ after one recognizes the Son for who He is and
allows Christ to reach him. (Some would
say that this allowing of Christ to enter into one’s life is a form of
work. It is not. It is faith.) The Sufi makes no mention of
the Holy Spirit because they do not accept the teaching of the Trinity.]
In this stage of the
contented soul, a Sufi is said to be filled with love, mercy, kindness, and a
burning zeal to help others. In order to reach this high station, a Sufi must
constantly strive to control his ego, to curb his anger and impatience. He must
eat less, sleep less, talk less, and deny himself the pleasure of other
people's company. Sometimes he withdraws completely from the worldly activities
and occupies himself entirely with the remembrance of God and meditation.
This withdrawal is
counterproductive to spiritual grow, however.
If man is God’s highest creation as can be gleaned from reading the
Koran, why would one wish to withdraw from God’s highest creation? The Sufi practice here appears to be a form
of self-indulgence.
The Sufi believes that as he makes progress spiritually, (One does not make his own progress spiritually. Progress is accorded to man at the will of God. Works very seldom lead to lasting spiritual growth.) he is able to extend the length of his periods of seclusion, culminating in retreats of forty days' duration. In this seclusion, the Sufi fasts during the day, breaking his fast after sunset with only a small piece of bread and some water. During the nights, he keeps constant vigil and chants a selected verse from the Qur'an 125,000 times. The verse usually chanted is: "There is no God but Thou, the Holy Lord. I am indeed one of the evil doers." Or, "Say, He, Allah is One. Allah is Sufficient unto Himself."
(What is to be gained by this seclusion and this chanting,
really? All this does is supposedly
quiet the mind. Buddhists practice this
sort of repetition, too. The source of
Truth, Jesus Christ, never dictated that man should repeat the same words over
and over again in the mind. Is it not
better to give of yourself to the poor, needy; to give of yourself to the rich
who do not know God the teaching of God rather than to sit in a secluded spot
somewhere chanting your heart away hoping that God will count that activity as
righteousness? To seclude from the world
is opposite to what God wants one who knows the Truth to do. We are to be a light to the world. We are to light the way. One does not hide a light in a bushel
basket. One shines the light in the
environs of a darkened humanity. And one
gets that light from Jesus Christ. Sufis
may be in error here, do you not think?)
Meditation, Ecstasy, States, Stations and Ascension
The various stages on the
mystical path are known as maqamat, the “stations” or “stages”, which
can be supposedly be reached by any Sufi by means of prayer, fasting,
meditation, and the hal or “mystical state”, which may be vouchsafed to
the Sufi by the Grace of God but is not attainable by the mystic's own efforts.
(The Sufi performs exercises to attain
to absorption into God yet the mystical state is given to a Sufi by God without
the Sufi’s effort. This is not
logical. Why perform practices to attain
to absorption into God if God will give one the mystical experience without any
effort on a Sufis’ part? If the mystical
state is given by God, would not God give a person the means to absorb into
Him? One can not purchase God nearness
by means of works. This derives from
Grace through faith, a Christian concept.)
A Sufi may be blessed (There is no corroborative evidence that any Sufi has ascended into heaven. However, the Disciples of Christ saw Jesus’ Ascension. There were eye witnesses of Christ’s Ascension.)by an experience which reveals to his soul the reality of the whole universe, from the lowest layer of earth to the highest heaven. This experience is called mi'raj or the “ascension.” In this, a Sufi attests that it is generally accompanied by the spirit of his shaykh, and supposedly comes in contact with the spirits of other sheikhs and prophets. Various stations are also supposedly revealed to him with different colors and lights.
The Sufi
Seven Spiritual Stages to Absorption into God
(The following stages, we
must remember, are what the Sufi believes, which from a Christian viewpoint can
not be accepted as credible. Jesus, the
embodiment of Truth, never taught a solipsistic means to attain absorption into
God. Since this teaching is foreign to
what Christ taught, and Christ Himself said the He was the Way, the Truth, and
the Life, if follows then that what the Sufis teach here is also foreign to the
Truth, does it not?)
The Seven Stages (the three stages were listed previously) with a short explanation are as follows:
Talab (yearning). Yearning for union with God, according to the Sufi, involves renunciation of worldly things. This stage comes before a Sufi can commence the second stage which is Ishq (love).
Ishq demands an overwhelming desire and love for the goal, which according to the Sufi, is union with God. One must be so in love with God that every other desire must be burned away, including learning or knowledge, hope or even concern for worldly virtue. The Sufi believes this is total sacrifice.
Marfat (enlightenment) is the next stage. At this particular stage the Sufi believes that the devotee begins to see God in every particle of the world, of God’s creation. The devotee’s mind is said to be afire with the awareness of the Supreme Immanence in the entire world around him. The devotee does not sleep but passes his days and nights in bewilderment and absorption.
The stage after Marfat is Istaghirak, or fana (which will be explained in greater detail of this listing), the annihilation of the egoistic and egotistic self that follows the practice of intense spiritual exercises. Fana has come to mean several things, but in Istaghirak it implies that state of the mind as the “dark night of the soul.” To lose sight of Marfat is to enter a dark night of the soul where a person, according to the Sufi, experiences agony.
The next stage is called, by the Sufi, Tawhid (unity consciousness). The Sufi claims to experience God as timeless and permeating Unity amid a world of multiplicity. This state has been described by Sufis as similar to having one’s identity consumed in the fire of Supreme Consciousness.
Hairat (amazement) is the next stage. This stage occurs, according to the Sufi, when one is struck dumb by the glorious perception of the divine. The Sufi devotee lives in a dreamy state even though he walks, talks, and otherwise functions in the world about him. This trance state is supposed to evolve into higher spiritual awareness.
The last stage is Fuqr Wa Fana (annihilation). This stage purportedly involves the total loss of the earthly self and body consciousness.
Extinction (fana) and subsistence (baqa):
One of the important phases of Sufi experience, as listed above, which is attained by the Grace of God by a traveler on the mystical path as believed by the Sufi is the state of fana fi Allah, 'extinction of the self in God', (the 7th stage above) which is the transition to the state of baqa billah or the 'eternal life in union with God.' By passing away from self, the individual does not cease to exist (If the self is no more, if it is extinct, then how can one experience anything? Who experiences what? Think about it. There is no self to experience anything. If there is absorption in God, the individual is no more. This teaching is not logical. We must always remember that God is a God of logical order.) but is permitted to enjoy the supreme mystical experience in union with God. (Christians should not place credence in this teaching. There can be no union with God…in this union the Sufis teach that man becomes absorbed in God, that man loses his individuality into God. Christ never…and I repeat…never!! taught this. Knowledge of God comes from its source, Jesus Christ. Since Jesus never taught absorption into God, then the teaching of the Sufis has to be held suspect as false. Jesus is Truth, and Truth would teach Truth, would it not?) He is fully absorbed into the Love of God which gives him an everlasting awareness of the all-pervading presence of God. (Again, this cannot be true, if there is extinction of self and absorption into God, there is no one to experience anything. This is basic common sense and founded on logic.)
This Sufi doctrine is further explained in a tradition (which must be oral, because this is not in the Koran) of the Prophet which states that God said:
Nothing
is more pleasing to Me as a means for My slave to draw near unto Me than the
worship I have made binding upon him. And My slave does not cease to draw near
unto Me with added devotions of his free will until I Love him. And when I Love
him, I am the Hearing wherewith he hears, and the Sight wherewith he sees, and
the Hand wherewith he smites, and the Foot whereon he walks.
(Even
this does not sanction what the Sufis teach.
God can experience through what man experiences without man being
absorbed into God. In fact, if man were to be absorbed into God, God could not
experience what man would be experiencing.
God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. He can experience what
man experiences without man even attempting to be absorbed into Him. Sufism is placing a power unto man what God
has not given him. Man cannot determine
through his actions, however pious they may be, whether or not he/she will ever
be given access to God. It is God’s prerogative
to give unto man what He so wills. Sufis
are audacious. They appear to believe
that a person can, through his will and a method devised by him, become
absorbed into God. So, beware! The Sufis do not know what they think they
know.)
Sufis state
that most Sufis who have gone through this experience of the seven stages have
preferred to live eternally in the greatest depth of silence which transcends
all forms and sounds. Yet a few others have produced works of unsurpassed
glory, especially in the fields of literature and music, which have crowned the
culture of the entire Islamic world. Their works have inspired Sufis and
non-Sufis for generations. As the great Persian Sufi poet, Hafiz of
A Christian
should know, however, that this is not the case. Jesus
made eternal life conditional on belief in Him. He is the only religious figure who has the
authority to do this. No matter what the
form of concern a man has for another man, no matter how compassionate a person
may be, if that individual does not believe what Jesus taught about Himself and
attempt to live a life as Jesus taught one to live—that person will die not
only a physical death but a spiritual death, in that the life after death
experienced by that person will not be that as taught by Jesus. One cannot be with God after death if one
rejects God in this life. Eternal life
is to know God and His Son, Jesus Christ.
To know means to accept and follow in His love.
The Sufis
do teach to love one another. This, it
is true, is what Christ taught. But
Eternal Life does not depend on how much one loves his brother. We are to love God with our whole heart, soul
and mind, and to love our neighbors as ourselves. This is the sum of the Law and the
Prophets. However, we do not love God by
frowning on the teaching of His Son.
Remember, Jesus taught that the Father and the Son are one. He wants all mankind to be one with the
Father, Him, and Holy Spirit. But no man
can be one with God if that person rejects the teaching of Christ. God is Love.
Jesus therefore is Love. If a
person rejects Jesus for a Sufi teacher, is not that person rejecting
Love. Can a person truly love if he/she
rejects Love? Sufis teach men to love,
yet they themselves reject the personification of Love in Jesus. Can they really teach man to love if they
reject the source of that love? Sufis
say that they do not reject Christ. Some
of what they say is true—but they do reject that Christ is the Son of God, they
reject His death on the Cross, they reject His resurrection in bodily form, and
they reject His Ascension. (If He did not resurrect in bodily form His body
could not ascend into heaven.) In effect,
the Sufis accept Christ’s moral teachings and his miracles, but make Him to be
a liar in that Jesus predicted his resurrection. What the Sufis attempt to do is make Jesus
appear to be as they are and nothing more.
Christians should know better.
There is now no excuse for not knowing.
Although there is no
consensus with regard to Sufi cosmology, one can disentangle various threads
that led to the bringing together of more or less coherent doctrines. We must
remember that this is what the Sufis believe, and since Sufis do not recognize
what Jesus taught about Himself as being true, should not be taken as truth.
The first thread is based
on purely Qur’anic notions of the Afterworld, the Hidden or Divine Darkness and
seven-storied Universe explicitly referenced in the Qur’an (and cherished in
prophet Mohammad’s “Miraj” or ascent to God’s face -- the powerful spiritual
motif that inspired generations of later Sufis and ordinary believers).
However, these relatively simple Qur’anic concepts that gave basic structure to
the Islamic worldview had soon become exposed to Neo-Platonist and Gnostic
influences, as well as Zoroastrian religious imagery. Because of this, Sufism
developed a jumble of frequently contradictory cosmological doctrines.
Nevertheless, one can point out a few basic features:
The Sufi cosmology is
not a uniform and coherent doctrine and is abstruse—difficult to
understand. (One need not understand it because this cosmology had no practical
spiritual purpose.) Practitioners of Sufism were not much bothered with the
inconsistencies and contradictions that arose due to juxtaposition and
superposition of at least three different cosmographies, but should have been: the
Ishraqi visionary universe, the Neo-Platonist view of the cosmos cherished by
Islamic philosophers and the Hermetic-Ptolemaic view. All these doctrines (and
each one of them claiming to be impeccably orthodox) were freely mixed and
juxtaposed, frequently with confusing results.
This made and still makes Sufism very difficult to comprehend for the
average person. It is as though no
thought was given to common people who lacked philosophic inclinations. Thanks be to God that Christ’s teaching is
simple to understand. Truth is
simple. Man-made ideas fog the truth. If
teaching cannot be conveyed to the average person, then what good is it?
The term "Sufi
psychology" is a deceptive one, because it implies that there is a
relatively homogenous doctrine of the psyche the majority of the Sufis would
subscribe to. This is not the case. However, one can point out the terms most
frequently used and expand on the meanings of these notions. We must remember, again, that this teaching is
peculiar to the Sufi way. It has little
significance for spiritual growth. I say
this because Christ never taught any of this.
Drawing from Qur'anic
verses, virtually all Sufis distinguish between Nafs, Qalb, Sirr and Ruh. These
concepts designate various psycho-spiritual "organs" or, sometimes,
faculties of sensory and supra-sensory perception.
Nafs is usually translated as soul or psyche. Some Sufis
consider under the term "Nafs" the entirety of psychological
processes, encompassing the entire mental, emotional and volitional life; however,
the majority of Islamic-based Sufis are of the opinion that Nafs is a
"lower", egotistical and passionate human nature that, along with Tab
(physical nature), comprises vegetative and animal aspects of human life. Synonyms
for Nafs are devil, passion, greed, avarice, ego-centeredness, etc. The central
aim of the Sufi path is transformation of Nafs from its deplorable state of
ego-centeredness through various spiritual stages to the purity and submission
to the will of God. Although the majority of the Sufi orders have adopted
convenient 7 maqams, listed previously, (maqams are permanent stages on the
voyage towards spiritual transformation), and some still operate with 3 stages
(also listed previously), the picture should be clear: the Sufi’s journey
begins with Nafs-I-Ammare (self-accusing soul) and ends in Nafs-I-Mutma’inna
(satisfied soul)-although some Sufis’ final stage is, in their technical
vocabulary, Nafs-I-Safiya wa Kamila (soul restful and perfected in God’s presence).
The next term, Qalb, stands for heart. In Sufi
terminology, this spiritual heart (not to be confused with the pump in the
chest) is described in several different ways. For some, it is the seat of
beatific vision. Other Sufis consider it the gate of Divine love. For the
majority it is the battleground of two warring parties: those of Nafs and Ruh,
or spirit. In short, cleansing of the heart is a necessary spiritual discipline
for travelers on the Sufi path. The term for this process is Tazkiah-I-Qalb and
the aim is the erasure of everything that stands in the way of God’s purifying
love.
The third faculty is Sirr, or "the secret",
located for the majority of Sufis in the middle of the chest. Emptying of the
Sirr is basically attainted by focusing on God’s names and attributes in
perpetual remembrance (Dhikr), hence diverting one’s attention from the mundane
aspects of human life and fixing it on the spiritual realm. The
"emptying" signifies negation and obliteration of ego-centered human proclivities.
Ruh, or spirit, is the fourth "entity" and the
second contender in the battle for human life. It can be viewed as the dormant
spiritual faculty that needs to be worked upon by constant vigil and prayer in
order to achieve the Illumination of the spirit.
In these four
"organs" or faculties: Nafs, Qalb, Sirr and Ruh, the basic orthodox
Sufi psychology is contained. The purification of elementary passionate nature
followed by cleansing of the spiritual heart so that it may acquire a
mirror-like purity of reflection and become the receptacle of God’s love,
fortified by emptying of self-centered drives and remembrance of God’s
attributes, ending in illumination of the spirit- this is the essential Sufi
spiritual journey. (We must remember,
however, that if one accepts Christ, the purported Sufi spiritual journey is
bootless. Why go through all of this which,
by the way, comes with no guarantee, when acceptance of Christ provides God’s
love and a guarantee of eternal life? God
does not require one to have a mirror-like purity of heart for Him to love us. God loves us in spite of the fact that we do
not have a mirror-like purity of heart.
Acceptance of Christ is the true start on the spiritual journey. There is no need to trek the convoluted Sufi
path. To any thinking man, this is, as
they say, a “no brainer.”)
Sufi development also involves
the purported awakening in a certain order what are known as the spiritual
centers of perception that lie dormant in every person. The term is roughly
translated as "subtlety" or "light". Each center is
associated with a particular color and general area of the body, as well as often
times with a particular prophet. The help of a guide is considered necessary to
help activate these centers. The activation of all these "centers" is
part of the special, inner methodology of the Sufi way or "Work". After undergoing this process, the devotee is
said to reach a certain type of "completion" or becomes the Complete
Man. (How can one become the complete
man when a person does not know Christ, which means no knowledge of God? Sufism assumes a power that it does not
possess.)
The first center, Qalb,
or spiritual heart is variously described. For some, it is the seat of beatific
vision. Others consider it the gate of Divine love. Its location is roughly the
left side of the body, is often associated with yellow and is given the name,
mind. The second center, Ruh, or spirit, is connected with the right side of
the chest and is of the color red.
The third faculty
Sirr, or secret, is located in the solar plexus and is associated with the
color white. The fourth center, Khafi, mysterious or intuition, is situated in
the forehead between the eyes and is black. The fifth center, Ikhfa, or deeply
hidden, indicating a deep perception of consciousness, alternates its location
between the center of the chest and inside the brain. It is associated with the
color green. A preliminary center is located under the navel. A seventh center
is said to exist but is only known to the true sage or one who has developed
all the others. Through these "organs" or faculties: Qalb, Ruh, Sirr,
Khafi, Ikfa and so on, the basic Sufi psychology is outlined. It bears some resemblance to the schema known
as the Kabala in Judaism or to the Chakra system in Hindu mysticism, none of which will lead one to the truth.
There are numerous
orders of Sufism in the world. Below is
a list of the most widely known. The
order in which these Sufi groups are listed is random.
Zahediyeh Order Safaviyeh Order Naqshbandi Order Mevlevi Order Bektashi Order
Chisht Order Halveti Order Jerrahi Order Nimatalahi Order Qadiri Order
Rufi Order
Noori
Order Suhrawardiyya Order
Questions for review:
Why do Sufis teach through a
spiritual mentor, a Shaykh? Can you
think of reasons why having a spiritual mentor would not be beneficial to a
person?
What is Zikr? Do
Christians practice Zikr? If so,
how? If not, why?
Why does
the Sufi meditate? Can meditation lead
to selfishness? Can prayer lead one also
down the road to selfishness?
The Sufi
has a delineated path to supposedly reach God, with either three or seven
stages. These ways to God are difficult
to master, so it would appear. Does the
Sufi way bring one to Christ? What is
Christ’s way?
Sufi psychology and cosmology are
complex. A child cannot understand
them. Can knowing all this bring one
closer to God? Does the Sufi way lead
one to Christ?
Email
question answers to for comments to: rlcoleman1@gmail.com
Lesson 5
Sufi
Writings
Sufism
is an elaborate form of mysticism, so it is essential that Sufism be studied by
perusing the writings of its adherents since most of what is imparted to a
student is oral or passed in silence (it is claimed). Included below are samples of the writing of
some Sufi masters. Christians can profit
from reading these and other writings.
To be able to reach the Sufi with Christ’s message, the Christian needs
to understand from where the Sufi is coming from.
Excerpts of Sufi Writing: Al
Ghazzali and Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
It is a well-known saying
of the Prophet that "He who knows himself, knows God"; that is, by
contemplation of his own being and attributes man arrives at some knowledge of
God. But since many who contemplate themselves do not find God, it follows that
there must be some special way of doing so. As a matter of fact, there are two
methods of arriving at this knowledge, but one is so abstruse that it is not
adapted to ordinary intelligences, and therefore is better left unexplained.
The other method is as follows: When a man considers himself he knows that
there was a time when he was non-existent, as it is written in the Koran:
"Does it not occur to man that there was a time when he was nothing?"
Further, he know that he was made out of a drop of water in which there was
neither intellect, nor hearing, sight, head, hands, feet, etc. From this it is
obvious that, whatever degree of perfection he may have arrived at, he did not
make himself, nor can he now make a single hair.
How much more helpless,
then, was his condition when he was a mere drop of water! Thus, as we have seen
in the first chapter, he finds in his own being reflected in miniature, so to
speak, the power, wisdom and love of the Creator. If all the sages of the world
were assembled, and their lives prolonged for an indefinite time, they could
not effect any improvement in the construction of a single part of the body.
For instance, in the
adaptation of the front and side-teeth to the mastication of food, and in the
construction of the tongue, salivating glands, and the throat for its
deglutition, we find a contrivance which cannot be improved upon. Similarly,
whoever considers his hand, with its five fingers of unequal lengths, four of
them with three joints and the thumb with only two, and the way in which it can
be used for grasping, or for carrying, or for smiting, will frankly acknowledge
that no amount of human wisdom could better it by altering the number and
arrangement of the fingers, or in any other way.
When a man further considers
how his various wants of food, lodging, etc., are amply supplied from the
storehouse of creation, he becomes aware that God's mercy is as great as His
power and wisdom, as He has Himself said, "My mercy is greater than My
wrath," and according to the Prophet's saying, "God is more tender to
His servants than a mother to her suckling-child." Thus from his own
creation man comes to know God's existence, from the wonders of his bodily
frame God's power and wisdom, and from the ample provision made for his various
needs God's love. In this way the knowledge of oneself becomes a key to the
knowledge of God.
Not only are man's
attributes a reflection of God's attributes, but the mode of existence of man's
soul affords some insight into God's mode of existence. That is to say, both
God and the soul are not invisible, indivisible, unconfined by space and time
and outside the categories of quantity and quality; nor can the ideas of shape,
color, or size attach to them. People find it hard to form a conception of such
realities as are devoid of quality and quantity, etc., but a similar difficulty
attaches to the conception of our everyday feelings, such as anger, pain,
pleasure, or love. They are thought-concepts, and cannot be cognized by the
senses; whereas quality, quantity, etc., are sense-concepts. Just as the ear
cannot take cognizance of color, or the eye of sound, so, in conceiving of the
ultimate realities, God and the soul, we find ourselves in a region in which
sense-concepts can bear no part. So much, however, we can see, that, as God is
Ruler of the universe, and being Himself beyond space and time, quantity and
quality, governs things that are so conditioned, so the soul rules the body and
its members, being itself invisible, indivisible, and unlocated in any special
part. For how can the indivisible be located in that which is divisible? From
all this we see how true is the saying of the Prophet, "God created man in
His own likeness."
And, as we arrive at some
knowledge of God's essence and attributes from the contemplation of the soul's
essence and attributes, so we come to understand God's method of working and
government and delegation of power to angelic forces, etc., by observing how
each of us governs his own little kingdom. To take a simple instance: suppose a
man wishes to write the name of God. First of all the wish is conceived in his
heart, it is then conveyed to the brain by the vital spirits, the form of the
word "God" takes shape in the thought-chambers of the brain, thence
it travels by the nerve-channels, and sets in motion the fingers, which in
their turn set in motion the pen, and thus the name "God" is traced
on paper exactly as it had been conceived in the writer's brain. Similarly,
when God wills a thing it appears in the spiritual plane, which in the Koran is
called "The Throne"[1]; from the throne it passes, by a spiritual
current, to a lower plane called "The Chair"[2]; then the shape of it
appears on the "Tablet of Destiny"[3]; whence, by the mediation of
the forces called "angels," it assumes actuality, and appears on the
earth in the form of plants, trees, and animals, representing the will and
thought of God, as the written letters represent the wish conceived in the
heart and the shape present in the brain of the writer. (This is not taught in the Bible and should be viewed as mere
conjecture.. I do not see why an angel
would have to be involved in the creation of a tree, a plant, or an animal.)
No one can understand a
king but a king; therefore, God has made each of us a king in miniature, so to
speak, over a kingdom which is an infinitely reduced copy of His own. In the
kingdom of man, God's "throne" is represented by the soul, the
As regards the recognition
of God's providence, there are many degrees of Knowledge. The mere physicist is
like an ant who, crawling on a sheet of paper and observing black letters
spreading over it, should refer the cause to the pen alone. The astronomer is
like an ant of somewhat wider vision that should catch sight of the fingers
moving the pen, i.e., he knows that the elements are under the power of
the stars, but he does not know that the stars are under the power of the
angels. (Here again this is
conjecture. Why would God need angels to
help him guide the stars in their appointed paths?) Thus, owing to the different degrees of
perception in people, disputes must arise in tracing effects to causes. Those
whose eyes never see beyond the world of phenomena are like those who mistake
servants of the lowest rank for the king. The laws of phenomena must be
constant, or there could be no such thing as science; but it is a great error
to mistake the slaves for the master.
As long as this difference
in the perceptive faculty of observers exists, disputes must necessarily go on.
It is as if some blind men, hearing that an elephant had come to their town,
should go and examine it. The only knowledge of it which they can obtain comes
through the sense of touch: so one handles the animal's leg, another his tusk,
another his ear, and, according to their several perceptions, pronounce it to
be a column, a thick pole, or a, quilt, each taking a part for the whole. So
the physicist and astronomer confound the laws they perceive with the Lawgiver.
(Man actually makes what is observable
over a period a time into a law. There
is no law geared to repeated observation.
If something different occurs not according to the dictate of man-made
law that particular occurrence, which is itself an observable phenomenon as was
all the other observable phenomena, is held to be false. It does not accord to all other observations
of man concerning such.) A similar
mistake is attributed to Abraham in the Koran, where it is related that he
turned successively to stars, moon, and sun as the objects of his worship, till
grown aware of Him who made all these, he exclaimed, "I love not them that
set."
We have a common instance
of this referring to second causes what ought to be referred to the First Cause
in the case of so-called illness. For instance, if a man ceases to take any
interest in worldly matters, conceives a distaste for common pleasures, and
appears sunk in depression, the doctor will say, "This is a case of
melancholy, and requires such and such a prescription." The physicist will
say, "This is a dryness of the brain caused by hot weather and cannot be
relieved till the air becomes moist." The astrologer will attribute it to
some particular conjunction or opposition of planets. "Thus far their
wisdom reaches," says the Koran. It does not occur to them that what has
really happened is this: that the Almighty has a concern for the welfare of
that man, and has therefore commanded His servants, the planets or the
elements, to produce such a condition in him that he may turn away from the
world to his Maker. (This is not
true. God does not cause sickness in man
so the man will turn to God. However,
many times a man who becomes ill has time to reflect upon his condition and
does turn to God for assistance. This
writer is confusing cause and effect.) The knowledge of this fact (This is not a fact. It is merely the author’s interpretation.)
is a lustrous pearl from the ocean of inspirational knowledge, to which all
other forms of knowledge are as islands in the sea.
The doctor, physicist, and
astrologer are doubtless right each in his particular branch of knowledge, but
they do not see that illness is, so to speak, a cord of love by which God draws
to Himself the saints concerning whom He has: said, "I was sick and ye
visited Me not." (This writer is
exemplifying Christ; however, Sufis do not accept the teaching of Christ in its
entirety. Sufis do this. They bring in
Christ when it serves their purpose, but brush Him aside when Christ does not
serve the Sufis purpose.) Illness itself is one of those forms of
experience by which man arrives at the knowledge of God, (Not in all cases. It can be just
as well a means for one to reject God, as you are aware.)as He says by the
mouth of His Prophet, "Sicknesses themselves are My servants, and are
attached to My chosen." (Not true in its entirety, therefore, not
true in an absolute sense.)
The foregoing remarks may
enable us to enter a little more fully into the meaning of those exclamations
so often on the lips of the Faithful: "God is holy," "Praise be
to God," "There is no God but God," "God is great."
Concerning the last we may say that it does not mean that God is greater than
creation, for creation is His manifestation as light manifests the sun, and it
would not be correct to say that the sun is greater than its own light. It
rather means that God's greatness immeasurably transcends our cognitive
faculties, and that we can only form a very dim and imperfect idea of it. If a
child asks us to explain to him the pleasure which exists in wielding
sovereignty, we may say it is like the pleasure he feels in playing bat and
ball, though in reality the two have nothing in common except that they both
come under the category of pleasure. Thus, the exclamation "God is
great" means that His greatness far exceeds all our powers of
comprehension. Moreover, such imperfect knowledge of God as we can attain to is
not a mere speculative knowledge, but must be accompanied by devotion and
worship. When a man dies he has to do with God alone, and if we have to live
with a person, our happiness entirely depends on the degree of affection we
feel towards him. Love is the seed of happiness, and love to God is fostered
and developed by worship. Such worship and constant remembrance of God implies
a certain degree of austerity and curbing of bodily appetites. Not that a man
is intended altogether to abolish these, for then the human race would perish.
But strict limits must be set to their indulgence, and as a man is not the best
judge in his own case as to what these limits should be, he had better consult
some spiritual guide on the subject. Such spiritual guides are the prophets,
and the laws which they have laid down under divine inspiration prescribe the
limits which must be observed in these matters. He who transgresses these limits
"wrongs his own soul," as it is written in the Koran. (Sufis, Muslims, claim that Jesus is a
prophet and nothing more. You must
realize that when a Sufi says “Prophet” he is claiming that Jesus, Moses,
Abraham, Mohammed are equal. Christians know
that this is not the case. Jesus made
claim to divinity. The other mentioned
men did not do this.)
Notwithstanding this clear
pronouncement of the Koran there are those who, through their ignorance of God, (Who can be more ignorant of God than one
who does not believe what Christ said about Himself? He said, as examples: “…I
am the living bread that came down from heaven; I am the bread of life; I am
the light of the world; I have come into the world as a light; If any man is
thirsty let him come to Me to drink; If you knew the gift of God and who it is
that asks you for a drink you for a drink, you would have asked him and he
would have given you living water; I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved; I am
the gate for the sheep; I am the resurrection and the life; I am the way,
the truth and the life. No one comes to
the Father except through Me; I am the true vine and you are the
branches. Jesus also called himself the
Lord of the Sabbath.” The Koran does not
teach what Christ said about Himself.
Being ignorant of the Koran, therefore, will not do anyone any harm as
far as for growing spiritually. One
needs only to know Christ and grow in His love.) do transgress these
limits, and this ignorance may be due to several different causes: Firstly,
there are some who, failing to find God by observation, conclude that there is
no God and that this world of wonders made itself, or existed from everlasting.
They are like a man who, seeing a beautifully written letter, should suppose
that it had written itself without a writer, or had always existed. People in
this state of mind are so far gone in error that it is of little use to argue
with them. Such are some of the physicists and astronomers to whom we referred
above.
Some, through ignorance of
the real nature of the soul, repudiate the doctrine of a future life, in which
man will be called to account and be rewarded or punished. They regard
themselves as no better than animals or vegetables and equally perishable.
Some, on the other hand, believe in God and a future life but with a weak
belief. They say to themselves, "God is great and independent of us; our
worship or abstinence from worship is a matter of entire indifference to
Him." Their state of mind is like that of a sick man who, when prescribed
a certain regime by his doctor, should say, "Well, if I follow it or don't
follow it, what does it matter to the doctor?" It certainly does not
matter to the doctor, but the patient may destroy himself by his disobedience.
Just as surely as unchecked sickness of body ends in bodily death, so does
uncured disease of the soul end in future misery, according to the saying of
the Koran, "Only those shall be saved who come to God with a sound
heart." (This is not what Christ
taught. He taught that one must come to
Him. Jesus and God are not different.)
A fourth kind of
unbelievers are those who say, "The Law tells us to abstain from anger,
lust, and hypocrisy. This is plainly impossible, for man is created with these
qualities inherent in him. You might as well tell us to make black white."
These foolish people ignore the fact that the law does not tell us to uproot
these passions, but to restrain them within due limits, so that, by avoiding
the greater sins, we may obtain forgiveness of the smaller ones. Even the
Prophet of God said, "I am a man like you, and get angry like
others"; and in the Koran it is written, "God loves those who swallow
down their anger," not those who have no anger at all. (Jesus was without sin, sinless. Only one without sin can forgive sin. Jesus claimed divinity. It is true that Mohammed sinned. He could not forgive the sin of anyone, even
of himself. Jesus can forgive sin
because He is God. Also, all anger is not sin. God’s anger is not sin. His wrath is not sin. There is a righteous anger that originates in
God. Jesus showed this anger at the
money changers and trafficking in the
A fifth class lay stress on
the beneficence of God, and ignore His justice, saying to themselves,
"Well, whatever we do, God is merciful." They do not consider that,
though God is merciful, thousands of human beings perish miserably in hunger
and disease. They know that whosoever wishes for a livelihood, or for wealth,
or learning, must not merely say, "God is merciful," but must exert
himself. Although the Koran says, "Every living creature's support comes
from God," it is also written, "Man obtains nothing except by
striving." (This is not true. Man
cannot strive to get into heaven. Man
cannot strive for God’s favor. Man can
do nothing to get to God because it has been done by Christ’s dying on the
Cross. Christ accepted death on a Cross
to save each and every one of us. All we
need do is turn to Him. Some would say
this turning is an act of works. Not
so. This turning is a nascent act of
faith.) The fact is, such teaching is really from the devil, and such
people only speak with their lips and not with their heart.
A sixth class claim to have
reached such a degree of sanctity that sin cannot affect them. Yet, if you
treat one of them with disrespect, he will bear a grudge against you for years,
and if one of them be deprived of a morsel of food which he thinks his due, the
whole world will appear dark and narrow to him. Even if any of them do really
conquer their passions, they have no right to make such a claim, for the
prophets, the highest of human kind, constantly confessed and bewailed their
sins. Some of them had such a dread of sin that they even abstained from lawful
things; thus, it is related of the Prophet that, one day, when a date had been
brought to him he would not eat it, as he was not sure that it had been
lawfully obtained. Whereas these free-livers will swallow gallons of wine and
claim (I shudder as I write) to be superior to the Prophet whose sanctity was
endangered by a date, while theirs is unaffected by all that wine! Surely they
deserve that the devil should drag them down to perdition. Real saints know
that he who does not master his appetites does not deserve the name of a man,
and that the true Moslem is one who will cheerfully acknowledge the limits imposed
by the Law. He who endeavors, on whatever pretext, to ignore its obligations is
certainly under Satanic influence, and should be talked to, not with a pen, but
with a sword. (This Sufi certainly is
not writing by way of compassion or love.
A Christian could never write something like what was just written. Christians are to love their enemies. Who can be a greater enemy to a Christian
than Satan? However, when one
understands that love drives Satan away, to love Satan is to destroy him.)
These pseudo-mystics sometimes pretend to be drowned in a sea of wonder, but if
you ask them what they are wondering at they do not know. They should be told
to wonder as much as they please, but at the same time to remember that the
Almighty is their Creator and that they are His servants.
(A seventh class claim that Christ is did not resurrect,
that He was only a prophet; that He did not die on the cross. These are the Muslims and Sufis of today and
days past. They too, are in error; they
are blind to the truth of Christ because they close their eyes to what He
taught about Himself. Of all the above,
those who deny what Christ taught about Himself are the worse off. Christ said that if one refuses to accept Him
that person will die in his sin. He will
die a spiritual death.)
The love of God is the
highest of all topics, and is the final aim to which we have been tending
hitherto. We have spoken of spiritual dangers as they hinder the love of God in
a man's heart, and we have spoken of various good qualities as being the
necessary preliminaries to it. Human perfection resides in this, that the love
of God should conquer a man's heart and possess it wholly, and even if it does
not possess it wholly it should predominate in the heart over the love of all
other things. Nevertheless, rightly to understand the love of God is so
difficult a matter that one sect of theologians have altogether denied that man
can love a Being who is not of his own species, and they have defined the love
of God as consisting merely in obedience. Those who hold such views do not know
what real religion is.
All Moslems are agreed that
the love of God is a duty. (Christians
also place high emphasis on Love of God, which is Love of His Son, Jesus.) God
says concerning the believers, "He loves them and they love Him," and
the Prophet (Mohammed) said,
"Till a man loves God and His Prophet more than anything else he has not
the right faith." (We are to love
God with our whole heart, soul and mind and our neighbor as ourselves. Moslems and Sufis do not believe that Jesus
is God’s Son. It appears that they view
Jesus with less respect than a man who sinned.
Mohammed, we must remember, claimed only to be a man; whereas Christ
made claims to divinity. Those who know
the truth see the truth in Christ. They
come to Him and Christ accepts them as coming not only to Him but to the Father. We can say that to come to Christ is to come
to God. But to come to Mohammed is to
come to a man, by Muslim’s admission, who was capable of sinning and did sin.) When the angel of death came to take the soul
of Abraham the latter said, "Have you ever seen a friend take his friend's
life?" God answered him, "Have you ever seen a friend unwilling to
see his friend?" Then Abraham said, "O Azrael! Take my soul!" (There is nothing in the Koran that corroborates
this. Most Sufis, not all though,
embellish their teachings with stories that can not be corroborated even in
their Holy Book.) The following prayer was taught by the Prophet to his
companions, "O God, grant me to love Thee and to love those who love Thee,
and whatsoever brings me nearer to Thy love, and make Thy love more precious to
me than cold water to the thirsty." Hassan Basri used to say, "He who
knows God loves Him, and he who knows the world hates it." (God’s love is Jesus Christ. God is love.
Love is Jesus. Jesus—God with us.
He who knows love loves God and His Son.
He who does not love Jesus does not love God. To love Jesus and to love God is to do what
Jesus commanded. His major commandment
was to accept His teaching. To accept
who He said He was, the Son of Man and the Son of God. To love God is to accept the teaching of His
Son, Jesus. Now, Muslims and Sufis do
not do this. They refuse to accept that Jesus is God’s son. So how can it be said that they love God with
their whole heart, soul and mind, and their neighbor as themselves? Sufis should not write about love because
they don’t recognize Love. They fail to
see that Jesus was the personification of Love and is Love.
We come now to treat of
love in its essential nature. Love may be defined as an inclination to that
which is pleasant. (The highest form of
love is to die for one’s friends. How
can suffering ever be viewed as pleasant?
It cannot. Sacrifice is not
necessarily pleasant. Jesus’ agony on
the Cross certainly was not pleasant.
Yet, His action was the highest form of Love. This Sufi writer does not know love, so how
can he even attempt to write about it in all its veracity?) This is
apparent in the case of the five senses, each of which may be said to love that
which gives it delight; thus the eye loves beautiful forms, the ear music, etc.
This is a kind of love we share with the animals. But there is a sixth sense,
or faculty of perception, implanted in the heart, which animals do not possess,
through which we become aware of spiritual beauty and excellence. Thus, a man
who is only acquainted with sensuous delights cannot understand what the
Prophet meant when he said he loved prayer more than perfumes or women, though
the last two were also pleasant to him. But he whose inner eye is opened to
behold the beauty and perfection of God will despise all outward sights in
comparison, however fair they may be.
The former kind of man will
say that beauty resides in red-and-white complexions, well-proportioned limbs,
and so forth, but he will be blind to moral beauty, such as men refer to when
they speak of such and such a man as possessing a "beautiful"
character. But those possessed of inner perception find it quite possible to
love the departed great, such as the Caliphs Omar and Abu Bakr, on account of
their noble qualities, though their bodies have long been mingled with the
dust. Such love is directed not towards any outward form, but towards the inner
character. Even when we wish to excite love in a child towards any one, we do
not describe their outward beauty of form, etc., but their inner excellences.
When we apply this
principle to the love of God we shall find that He alone is worthy of our love,
and that, if any one loves Him not, it is because he does not know Him.
Whatever we love in any one we love because it is a reflection of Him. It is
for this reason that we love Muhammad, because he is the Prophet and the
Beloved of God, and the love of learned and pious men is really the love of
God. We shall see this more clearly if we consider what the causes which excite
love are. (No mention here of Christ, even though Muslims do count Him as the
first Muslim, even before Mohammed.
Sufis do not wish to recognize Christ.
To do so would be for them a revelation of the grandest measure. They would have to relinquish all what they
think they know about love, God, and place Christ first in their lives. This they cannot do…they will die in their
sins. These are not my words…they are
Christ’s words.)
The first cause is this,
that man loves himself and the perfection of his own nature. (Many do not love themselves and fail to
see the perfection of their own nature. Human
nature has little perfection in it, save that mankind was formed by the perfect
being, God.) This leads him directly to the love of God, for man's very
existence and man's attributes are nothing else but the gift of God, but for
whose grace and kindness man would never have emerged from behind the curtain
of non-existence into the visible world. Man's preservation and eventual attainment
to perfection are also entirely dependent upon the grace of God. It would
indeed be a wonder if one should take refuge from the heat of the sun under the
shadow of a tree and not be grateful to the tree, without which there would be
no shadow. Precisely in the same way, were it not for God, man would have
neither existence nor attributes at all; wherefore, then, should he not love
God, unless he be ignorant of Him? Doubtless fools cannot love Him, for the
lover of Him springs directly from the knowledge of Him, and whence should a
fool have knowledge? (Christ warned not
to call anyone a “fool”. Here this Sufi
is calling those who do not know God fools.
One must show the love of God to those who are ignorant of God. You cannot do this and have a person ignorant
of God accept what is said of God if he has been called a fool by you. It does not work that way. No one likes to be called a fool by anyone.)
The second cause of this
love is that man loves his benefactor, and in truth his only Benefactor is God,
for whatever kindness he receives from any fellow-creature is due to the
immediate instigation of God. Whatever motive may have prompted the kindness he
receives from another, whether the desire to gain religious merit or a good
name, God is the Agent who set that motive to work.
The third cause is the love
that is aroused by contemplation of the attributes of God, His power and
wisdom, of which human power and wisdom are but the feeblest reflections. This
love is akin to that we feel to the great and good men of the past, such as the
Imam Malik and the Imam Shafi, (Christians
could name the late pope of the Catholic Church) though we never expect to
receive any personal benefits from them, and, is therefore a more disinterested
kind of love. God said to the Prophet David, "That servant is dearest to
Me who does not seek Me from fear of punishment or hope of reward, but to pay
the debt due to My Deity." And in the Psalms it is written, "Who is a
greater transgressor than he who worships Me from fear of hell or hope of
heaven? If I had created neither, should I not then have deserved to be
worshipped?"
The fourth cause of this
love is the affinity between man and God, which is referred to in the saying of
the Prophet, "Verily God created man in His own likeness."
Furthermore, God has said, "My servant seeks proximity to Me, that I may
make him My friend, and when I have made him My friend I become his ear, his
eye, his tongue." Again, God said to Moses, "I was sick, and thou
didst not visit Me?" Moses replied, "O God! You are Lord of heaven
and earth: how could You be sick?" (Where
is the author getting his information here?
from the Koran? He does not list a reference. The Bible does not relate this conversation,
unless I have overlooked a passage, but I do not think I have. Sufis do, on occasion, state that God said
this and that, but fail to cite any reference so that what they write can be
confirmed.)
God said, "A certain
servant of Mine was sick; had you visited him, you would have visited Me."(I think the author is confusing
what Christ said and attested that to Moses.
I am not aware of any such passage in the Bible whereby God speaks to
Moses in this way. And if God supposedly
spoke to Mohammed, then why did not the author give reference.)
This is a somewhat
dangerous topic to dwell upon, as it is beyond the understanding of common
people, and even intelligent men have stumbled in treating of it, and come to
believe in incarnation and union with God. (This
author is demeaning what Christ taught as is attested in the Bible. Sufis do not believe in the Incarnation.)
Still, the affinity which does exist between man and God disposes of the
objection of those theologians mentioned above, who maintain that man cannot
love a Being who is not of his own species. However great the distance between
them, man can love God because of the affinity indicated in the saying,
"God created man in His own likeness." (This should be, “His own Image”.
The author is stating that this teaching came expressly from the
Koran. However, this was taught by the
Jews long before the Koran. This
teaching is in the Old Testament of the Bible.)
The Vision of God
All Moslems profess to
believe that the Vision of God is the summit of human felicity, because it is
so stated in the Law; but with many this is a mere lip-profession which arouses
no emotion in their hearts. This is quite natural, for how can a man long for a
thing of which he has no knowledge? We will endeavor to show briefly why the
Vision of God is the greatest happiness to which a man can attain. (Christians
have the vision of God in the form of Jesus.
It is true that the vision of God brings to man, once he recognizes it,
the greatest happiness. It is ironic
that this author speaks of the vision of God, yet fails to see God in Jesus
Christ. The Glory and Vision of God is
to be seen in the life and work of Jesus Christ. Sufis fail to see this, so how can they
truthfully speak about “seeing” the vision of God. They deny the vision given to them. Sufis and Muslims have blinders on their
eyes. The Vision of God is Jesus the
Christ.)
In the first place, every one
of man's faculties has its appropriate function which it delights to fulfill.
This holds good of them all, from the lowest bodily appetite to the highest
form of intellectual apprehension. But even a comparatively low form of mental
exertion affords greater pleasure than the satisfaction of bodily appetites. (This is not true for all men. This is a generalization which cannot be
substantiated by observable fact. Some
people do not wish to think.) Thus, if a man happens to be absorbed in a
game of chess, he will not come to his meal, though repeatedly summoned. And
the higher the subject-matter of our knowledge, the greater is our delight in
it; (again a generalization not
substantiated by observable facts.) for instance, we would take more
pleasure in knowing the secrets of a king than the secrets of a vizier. Seeing,
then, that God is the highest possible object of knowledge, the knowledge of
Him must afford more delight than any other. He who knows God, even in this
world, dwells, as it were, in a paradise, "the breadth of which is as the
breadth of the heavens and the earth,"[1] a, paradise the fruits of which
no envy can prevent him plucking, and the extent of which is not narrowed by
the multitude of those who, occupy it.
But the delight of
knowledge still falls short of the delight of vision, just as our pleasure in
thinking of those we love is much less than the pleasure afforded by the actual
sight of them. Our imprisonment in bodies of clay and water, and entanglement
in the things of sense constitute a veil which hides the Vision of God from us,
(Again the Vision of God is in the life
and work of Jesus the Christ. His yoke
is not heavy. All who come to Him see
God. There is no need for an inner
vision of God when there has been sent to man an outer vision of the inner
reality.) although it does not
prevent our attaining to some knowledge of Him. For this reason God said to
Moses on
The truth of the matter is
this, that, just as the seed of man becomes a man, and a buried date stone
becomes a palm-tree, so the knowledge of God acquired on earth will in the next
world change into the Vision of God, (This
is not true. All depends upon acceptance
of what Christ taught about Himself.
Christ is the Vision of God.
Sufis do not know this.) and he who has never learnt the knowledge
will never have the Vision. This Vision will not be shared alike by all who
know, but their discernment of it will vary exactly as their knowledge. God is
one, but He will be seen in many different ways, (This again is not true. It is
true that God is one, but He can be seen only by one way—in Jesus Christ.) just
as one object is reflected in different ways by different mirrors, some showing
it straight, and some distorted, some clearly and some dimly. A mirror may be
so crooked as to make even a beautiful form appear misshapen, and a man may
carry into the next world a heart so dark and distorted that the sight which
will be a source of peace and joy to others will be to him a source of misery. He,
in whose heart the love of God has prevailed over all else, will derive more
joy from this vision than he in whose heart it has not so prevailed; just as in
the case of two men with equally powerful eyesight, gazing on a beautiful face,
he who already loves the possessor of that face will rejoice in beholding it
more than he who does not. For perfect happiness mere knowledge is not enough,
unaccompanied by love, and the love of God cannot take possession of a man's
heart till it be purified from love of the world, which purification can only
be effected by abstinence and austerity. While he is in this world a man's
condition with regard to the Vision of God is like that of a lover who should
see his Beloved's face in the twilight, while his clothes are infested with
hornets and scorpions, which continually torment him. But should the sun arise
and reveal his Beloved's face in all its beauty, and the noxious vermin leave
off molesting him, then the lover's joy will be like that of God's servant, who,
released from the twilight and the tormenting trials of this world, beholds Him
without a veil. Abu Suleiman said, "He who is busy with himself now will
be busy with himself then, and he who is occupied with God now will be occupied
with Him then." (Sufis dwell on the vision of God, the
lover of God, etc. However, they do fail
to see the true Vision of God in Jesus.
Sufis appear to chase a self-made dream (vision) of God. It is self-made. They chase after a dream of their own making,
yet fail to see the reality of the vision of God right before their eyes in the
life, love, and work of Jesus the Christ.
Why chase a dream when reality will get one to the goal so much
faster? If the goal is to know God, to
love Him, then one should turn to Jesus Christ.
He is the vision the Sufis unknowingly chase, He is the goal that the
Sufi aims for. Sufis need to stop
dreaming and come down to earth. Christ,
God, visited earth 2000+ years ago. God
was here…Immanuel--with us God. I am not
belittling the Sufi. His search is
earnest. However, his search for the
vision is superfluous and not needed.
The Vision of God that the Sufi seeks is Jesus in the flesh.)
Yahya Ibn Muaz relates,
"I watched Bayazid Bistami at prayer through one entire night. When he had
finished he stood up and said, 'O Lord! some of Thy servants have asked and
obtained of Thee the power to perform miracles, to walk on the sea, and to fly
in the air, (I ask you, can this be
true? Fly in the air? Has anyone ever seen anyone fly in the air? Is there any corroborating evidence of
this? No.), but this I do not ask;
some have asked and obtained treasures, but these I do not ask.' Then he
turned, and, seeing me, said, 'Are you there, Yahya?' I replied, 'Yes.' He
asked, 'Since when? I answered, 'For a long time.' I then asked him to reveal
to me some of his spiritual experiences. 'I will reveal,' he answered, 'what is
lawful to tell you. The Almighty showed me His kingdom, from its loftiest to
its lowest; He raised me above the throne and the seat and all the seven
heavens. (Again, is there any proof?)
Then He said, "Ask of me whatsoever thing thou desire." I answered,
"Lord! I wish for nothing beside Thee." '"Verily," He said,
"thou art My servant.'"
On another occasion Bayazid
said, "Were God to offer thee the intimacy with Himself of Abraham, the
power in prayer of Moses, the spirituality of Jesus, yet keep thy face directed
to Him only, for He has treasures surpassing even these." One day a friend
said to him, "For thirty years I have fasted by day and prayed by night
and have found none of that spiritual joy of which you speak." Bayazid
answered, "If you fasted and prayed for three hundred years, you would
never find it." "How is that?" asked the other. "Because,"
said Bayazid, "your selfishness is acting as a veil between you and
God." "Tell me, then, the cure." "It is a cure which you
cannot carry out." However, as his friend pressed him to reveal it,
Bayazid said, "Go to the nearest barber and have your beard shaved; strip
yourself of your clothes, with the exception of a girdle round your loins. Take
a horse's nosebag full of walnuts, hang it round your neck, go into the bazaar
and cry out, 'Any boy who gives me a slap on the nape of my neck shall have a
walnut.' Then, in this manner, go where the Cadi and the doctors of the law are
sitting." "Bless my soul!" said his friend, "I really can't
do that; do suggest some other remedy." "This is the indispensable
preliminary to a cure," answered Bayazid, "but, as I told you, you
are incurable."
The reason Bayazid
indicated this method of cure for want of relish in devotion was that his
friend was an ambitious seeker after place and honor. Ambition and pride are
diseases which can only be cured in some such way. God said unto Jesus, "O
Jesus! When I see in My servants' hearts pure love for Myself unmixed with any
selfish desire concerning this world or the next, I act as guardian over that
love."(This was not recorded by the
Apostles, or found in the Bible. Where
is this writer getting his material?) Again, when people asked Jesus
"What is the highest work of all?" he answered, "To love God and
to be resigned to His will." (Jesus
did not say this. This is not recorded
in the Bible. What Jesus did say is, “…love
God with all your heart, your soul and your mind, and your neighbor as yourself….” Sufis tend to fabricate sayings and attribute
some of them to Jesus.)The saint Rabia was once asked whether she loved the
Prophet: "The love of the Creator," she said, "has prevented my
loving the creature." Ibrahim Ben Adham, in his prayers, said, "O
God! In my eyes heaven itself is less than a gnat in comparison with the love
of Thee and the joy of Thy remembrance which thou hast granted me."
He who supposes that it is
possible to enjoy happiness in the next world apart from the love of God is far
gone in error, for the very essence of the future life is to arrive at God as
at an object of desire long aimed at and attained through countless obstacles.
This enjoyment of God is happiness. But if he had no delight in God before, he
will not delight in Him then, and if his joy in God was but slight before it
will be but slight then. In brief, our future happiness will be in strict
proportion to the degree in which we have loved God here. (This is not what Jesus taught.
The criminal who was crucified on a cross along with Jesus, the man who
recognized Jesus as who He said He was, did not delight in God on earth. However, because the man recognized Jesus and
accepted him before he died, Jesus allowed him to enter
But (and may God preserve
us from such a doom!) if in a man's heart there has been growing up a love of
what is opposed to God, the conditions of the next life will be altogether
alien to him, and that which will cause joy to others will to him cause misery.
This may be illustrated by
the following anecdote: A certain scavenger went into the perfume-sellers'
bazaar, and, smelling the sweet scents, fell down unconscious. People came
round him and sprinkled rose-water upon him and held musk to his nose, but he
only became worse. At last one came who had been a scavenger himself; he held a
little filth under the man's nose and he revived instantly, exclaiming, with a
sigh of satisfaction, "Ah! This is perfume indeed!" Thus in the next
life a worldling will no longer find the filthy lucre and the filthy pleasures
of the world; the spiritual joys of that world will be altogether alien to him
and but increase his wretchedness. For the next world is a world of Spirit and
of the manifestation of the Beauty of God; happy is that man who has aimed at
and acquired affinity with it. All austerities, devotions, studies have the
acquirement of that affinity for their aim, and that affinity is love. (These are works. One does not acquire spiritual attainment by
working at it. If this Sufi knew the
Truth, he would know that the working for spirituality is bootless. The message of Christ is the opposite of what
this Sufi is attempting to teach here.
Man can do nothing to attain spiritual insight and spiritual truth. Christ has done this for us. One needs only to come to Christ for
spiritual happiness.)This is the meaning of that saying of the Koran,
"He who has purified his soul is happy." (He who has seen Christ as He is, he is Happy. Why?
When one sees Christ and comes to Him, Christ along with the Holy Spirit
purifies the soul. Again, one can do
nothing to grow spiritually without Christ.
Sufism does not help one come to Christ.
Sufism is a hindrance.) Sins and lusts directly oppose the
attainment of this affinity; therefore the Koran goes on to say, "And he
who has corrupted his soul is miserable." Those who are gifted with
spiritual insight have really grasped this truth as a fact of experience, and
not a merely traditional maxim. Their clear perception of it leads them to the
conviction that he by whom it was spoken was a prophet indeed, just as a man
who has studied medicine knows when he is listening to a physician. This is a
kind of certainty which requires no support from miracles such as the
conversion of a rod into a snake, the credit of which may be shaken by
apparently equally extraordinary miracles performed by magicians.
The Signs of the Love of God
Many claim to love God, but
each should examine himself as to the genuineness of the love which he
professes. The first test is this: he should not dislike the thought of death,
for no friend shrinks from going to see a friend. The Prophet said,
"Whoever wishes to see God, God wishes to see him." It is true a
sincere lover of God may shrink from the thought of death coming before he has
finished his preparation for the next world, but if he is sincere, he
will be diligent in making such preparation.
The second test of
sincerity is that a man should be willing to sacrifice his will to God's,
should cleave to what brings him nearer to God, and should shun what places him
at a distance from God. (This Sufi is
right. One should come to Christ and
learn from Him. His yoke is light. Any one who shrinks from coming to Christ is
not sincere in his desire to come closer to God. Why do not the Sufis understand this? No one can come to God if that person does
not come to Christ. I must say, coming
to Mohammed is not coming to Jesus Christ.
Coming to a Sufi teacher is not coming to Jesus Christ.)The fact of
a man's sinning is no proof that he does not love God at all, but it proves
that he does not love Him with his whole heart. The saint Fudhail said to a
certain man, "If any one asks you whether you love God, keep silent; for
if you say, 'I do not love Him,' you are an infidel; and if you say, 'I do,'
your deeds contradict you."
The third test is that the
remembrance of God should always remain fresh in a man's heart without effort,
for what a man loves he constantly remembers, and if his love is perfect he
never forgets it. It is possible, however, that, while the love of God does not
take the first place in a man's heart, the love of the love of God may, for
love is one thing and the love of love another.
The fourth test is that he
will love the Koran, which is the Word of God, and Muhammad, who is the Prophet
of God; if his love is really strong, he will love all men, for all are God's
servants, nay, his love will embrace the whole creation, for he who loves any
one loves the works he composes and his handwriting. (This
is false! Christ is the Word of
God. One must remember that the Sufi does
not accept the crux of teaching of Jesus.
To love God is to accept the teaching of the Son of God. Not to accept the teaching of the Son of God
is tantamount to not accepting God. If
one does not accept God, the Logos, the Word in Christ, how can one say that he
loves God? He does not love God. Love of God is to love His Son, to accept His
teaching, and to live by that teaching.)
The fifth test is that he
will be covetous of retirement and privacy for purposes of devotion; he will
long for the approach of night, so that he may hold intercourse with his Friend
without let or hindrance. If he prefers conversation by day and sleep at night
to such retirement, then, his love is imperfect. God said to David, "Be
not too intimate with men; for two kinds of persons are excluded from My
presence: those who are earnest in seeking reward and slack when they obtain
it, and those who prefer their own thoughts to the remembrance of Me. The sign
of My displeasure is that I leave such to themselves." (From
where did this Sufi obtain this quote? It is not to be found in the Bible. And I do not recall reading it in the Koran.)
In truth, if the love of
God really takes possession of the heart all other love is excluded. (This is
false. Christ taught that we are to love,
not only God, but our neighbor.)One of the children of
A sixth test is that
worship becomes easy. A certain saint said, "During one space of thirty
years I performed my night-devotions with great difficulty, but during a second
space of thirty years they became a delight." When love to God is complete
no joy is equal to the joy of worship.
The seventh test is that
lovers of God will love those who obey Him and hate the infidels and the
disobedient, (This is false. Christ taught to love those who would
persecute us. We are to love those who
do not believe in Christ. We are not to
hate anyone. We are to lovingly
abide. Muslims and Sufis do not know of
this type of love. It is the love that
Christ imparts.)as the Koran says: "They are strenuous against the
unbelievers and merciful to each other." The Prophet once asked God and
said, "O Lord! who are Thy lovers?" and the answer came, "Those
who cleave to Me as a child to its mother, take refuge in the remembrance of Me
as a bird seeks the shelter of its nest, and are as angry at the sight of sin
as an angry lion who fears nothing."
(Christ’s love surpasses anything
that is portrayed in Sufism and Islam. This
is the Truth.)
Excerpts
from “A SUFI MESSAGE OF SPIRITUAL
Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
GOD
Beloved ones of God,
you may belong to any race, cast, creed, or nation, still you are all
impartially beloved by God. You may be a believer or an unbeliever in the Supreme
Being, but He cares not. His mercy and grace flow through all His powers,
without distinction of friend or foe.
“Every
leaf of tree, Allah's praise displays,
Only the pious mind can hear their sacred lays.'
The
sun, moon, and stars give light; the timely change of seasons promotes health
and cheerfulness; the rain grows corn, fruits, and flowers; and the alternation
of day and night provides the opportunity for work and rest.
'Earth,
water, fire and air,
All work harmoniously.
For thee they always food prepare,
Thou shouldst not eat unthankfully.
For how each day the sun shines and serves,
All praise from thee Allah deserves.”
If you study your own
body, you will find its mechanism to be the original model of the artificial
mechanism of the world. Art and science fail if compared with that of His
nature. The ear, eyes, and all other organs, how perfectly they are adapted in
shape and mechanism to the purpose which they must serve! How liberally the
needs of life, water, air, and food are supplied; even milk is prepared in the
mother's breast for the unborn infant. Should we not appreciate the liberality
of the Creator, and thank him each moment with all humility and gratitude?
'Praise be to Allah, the worship of whom is the means of drawing closer to Him,
and the giving of thanks to whom involves an increase of benefits. Every breath
which is inhaled prolongs life, and when exhaled it quickens the frame. In
every breath, therefore, two blessings are contained, and for every blessing a
separate thanksgiving is due' (Sa'di).
He has fashioned and
molded you after His own image, and made you the highest of all beings and the
pride of the universe, having given you command over all other beings of both
worlds. As is said in the Qur'an, 'Do you not see that Allah has subjected all
things on earth to you?' And at the same time He has given you, by His grace,
the attributes of humanity: kindness, gratitude, faithfulness, justice,
modesty, piety, sympathy, reverence, bravery, patience, love, knowledge, and
wisdom. This is an open proof of your being the real object of creation and the
most beloved of God.
THE SUFIS
The word Sufi is
derived from Safa meaning pure, purified of ignorance, superstition, dogmatism,
egotism, and fanaticism, as well as free from limitations of caste, creed,
race, and nation. The Sufis believe in God as the Absolute, the only Being; and
that all creation is the manifestation of His nature. (Many Sufis also believe that God and nature are not separate, that in a
mystical way nature and God are one.
This is not true.)
There have been Sufis
at all periods of human history. Though they have lived in different parts of
the world, speaking different languages and born into different faiths and
beliefs, they have recognized and sympathized with each other, through the
oneness of their understanding. Yet with their deep knowledge of the world and
of spiritual mysteries, they have concealed their beliefs from the multitude,
and have pursued in secret their way of attainment to the highest bliss.
SUFISM
Sufis, who had
received spiritual training from all previous prophets and leaders, likewise
received training from Mohammed. The openness of Mohammed's essential teachings
paved the way for them to come forward into the world without the interference
they had previously experienced, and a mystic order called the Saheba-e-Safa,
Knights of Purity, was inaugurated by the Prophet, and afterwards was carried
on by Ali and Siddiq. The lives of these knights were extraordinary in their
wisdom, piety, bravery, spirituality, and great charity of heart. This order
was carried on by their successors, who were called Pir-o-Murshid, Shaikh,
etc., one after another, duly connected as links in a chain. (This chain does not include Christ,
however. Since it does not include the
Son of God, the chain has a very weak link.
The absence of the Son of God in this so-called spiritual chain is its
weakest link, so to speak.)
The spiritual bond
between them is a miraculous force of divine illumination, and is experienced
by worthy initiates of the Sufi Order; just as the electric current runs
through all connected lamps and lights them. (Again, divine illumination comes from Christ, who claimed and proved
by His works His divinity. There is not
a Sufi who has made claim to divinity and corroborated that claim by any type
of public showing in the form of, let us say, raising one from the dead, or
even forgiving one his/her sins. Sufis
cannot forgive sin…this rests in the “power” of the Son.)By this means the
higher development is attained without great efforts. Sufism was
unostentatiously practiced in
The sensational Sufi
movements which took place in Persia in the later periods, have won all the
credit of Sufism for the Persians, and Sufism came to be regarded as a Persian
philosophy. Imam al-Ghazali, Juneyd-e Baghdadi, Farid-ud-Din 'Attar had taken
the lead in advancing Sufism in the world at large. Shams-e-Tabré z, Sa'di,
Khagani, Firdausi, Omar Khayyá m,
These works were
originally composed in Persian, but are now translated into many other
languages. They have been a most important source of education for humanity,
and are studied as the most popular treatises on the divine wisdom of the East.
(Divine wisdom would not reject the
teachings of the Son of God. Do not be
hoodwinked. Sufism is not divine
wisdom.)
The spiritual part of
Sufism was most miraculously realized by Abdul Qadir Jilani, Moin-ud-Din
Chishti, Bahaud-Din Naqshband, Shihab-ud-Din Sohrawardi, and others.
Sufism, as a religious
philosophy of love, harmony, and beauty, aims at expanding the soul of man
until the realization of the beauty of all creation enables him to become as
perfect an expression of divine harmony as possible. (What is divine harmony? Is it
not to be at one with God? It is not to
be absorbed into God, but to be at one with Him. And how can one be at one with God if that
person is not at one with Christ? It is
impossible. )It is therefore natural that the Sufi Order should stand
foremost as a spiritual power in the East, and that it is rapidly becoming
recognized in the West. (The western
mind does not know the basis of Sufi thought.
Sufi thought is antithetical to the Christian message. Once the mind of any one realizes the
falsehood on which Sufism is built, that mind will reject Sufism. I, a former student of Sufism, rejected it
flatly when I learned the depth of the message of Christ. Make no mistake, my reader; Sufism will not
bring you closer to God. It cannot
because it rejects the heart of God, Jesus Christ.)
Many Sufi saints have
attained what is known as God-consciousness, which is the most all-inclusive
realization of the meaning of the word 'good' attainable by man. (Sufi saints cannot know God-consciousness
if they reject consciously the teaching of Jesus Christ. The Sufis do this repeatedly. If a person wishes to attain that which is
good, it is best to study Christ’s teachings and the words of His
Apostles. No one knows the Father but
the Son and those to whom the Son wishes the Father to be known. One cannot hope to know God without recognizing
His Son and following Him.) Strictly speaking, Sufism is neither a religion
nor a philosophy; it is neither theism nor atheism, but stands between the two
and fills the gap. Among the religious, Sufis are considered to be
free-thinkers; while among intellectual philosophers they are considered
religious, because they make use of subtler principles in life to elevate the
soul than can readily be followed by material logic. (Sufis are free thinkers. They
believe they are at liberty to reject what the Bible and Christ taught to fit
their so-called spiritual philosophy.
There can be no spirituality without Christ.)
Sufis have in many
cases realized and shown the greatest perfection in humanity. (There is not one Sufi who has not
sinned. There is not one Sufi who has
come to Christ to ask forgiveness of sin.
To come to Christ would mean that what the Sufi thinks is wrong. They cannot do this and remain true to their
so-called spiritual philosophy. I am not
denigrating the Sufi…I am only airing what is the truth.) And among the
lives of the Sufi saints may be found some of the most divine models of human
perfection in all capacities, from a king to a laborer. The idea that Sufism
sprang from Islam or from any other religion, is not necessarily true; yet it
may rightly be called the spirit of Islam, as well as the pure essence of all
religions and philosophies. (It is not
the pure essence of Christianity. What
this Sufi is stating is falsehood. The
pure essence of Christianity is Christ.
Sufism pays short shrift to much of what Christ taught about Himself.)
A true Sufi remains in
the thought of truth continually, sees the truth in all things and never
becomes prejudiced, but cultivates affection for all beings. (This is what the
Sufi wants all to believe. However, it
is not true. The Sufi, as I have written
above, does not see the truth in Christ.
If a Sufi does not see the truth in Christ—and the Sufi does not—then
the Sufi does not see the truth in all things.
A Sufi accomplishes the divine journey (The divine journey starts with Christ.
A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. The spiritual journey begins and ends with
Christ) and reaches the highest grade of Baqa during this life, but people
of all beliefs arrive, eventually, at the same level of understanding and
realization which Sufism represents. (Christians
surpass the understanding and the realization that Sufism affords if Christians
remain steadfast to Christ and to the love that He lived, and practice that
love in their daily walk. Sufism is not
superior to Christianity and Sufis are not superior to Christians. If anything, if we should so claim,
Christians are superior to the Sufis in that Christians recognize the Son of
God and worship Him, whereas Sufis recognize their own philosophy and want
others to worship them—they want students to bow to them. There are no Sufi saints. To be a saint one must be holy, set apart to
God. How can a Sufi, who does not
recognize the teaching of Christ [what He taught about Himself], arrogate to
himself sainthood. This again is
impossible. One cannot reject Christ and
be a saint. It is even difficult not to
reject Christ and still be saint. So
what this Sufi is saying should not be taken seriously.)
Sufism contains all
branches of mysticism, such as psychology, occultism, spiritualism,
clairvoyance, clairaudience, intuition, inspiration, etc., but that which a
Sufi particularly wishes to acquire is not necessarily any of the above-named
powers; because the object of all these powers is towards greater
individuality, and individuality itself is only a hindrance on the Sufi's path
towards the accomplishment of his highest perfection. Therefore the main object
of initiation in the Sufi Order is to cultivate the heart through renunciation
and resignation, that it may be pure enough to sow the seed of divine love and
realize the highest truth and wisdom, theoretically and practically, thereby
attaining the highest attributes of humanity. (The highest truth is that Jesus is the Son of God, and one should
follow Him. Sufis do not teach this, so
how is it possible for them to realize the highest truth and wisdom? Through their austerities and methods the
Sufi may be able to tame his passions; however, he will still not acquire true
wisdom. Wisdom is to know God and his
Son. God is a triune God, which Sufis
deny. They deny what God in essence is,
so they cannot “see” wisdom in its true light.
It is impossible for them to do so.)
Divine perfection is
perfection in all powers and mysteries. All mysteries, powers, and realizations
gradually manifest themselves to the Sufi through his natural development,
without his specially striving for them. (This
statement is not true. The Sufi does not
realize the truth in that the Sufi refuses to recognize the claims of
Christ. Since Sufi fails to realize
this, in effect the Sufi forfeits the possibility that all mysteries, powers
and realization will manifest. The
greatest mystery and realization is that Jesus Christ came from God, was of
God, and was God in the flesh while He visited the earth centuries ago.)
Self-realization is
the highest and most difficult attainment of all; it is impossible to acquire
it in the manner of sciences and arts, and it is not possible to attain it as
health, wealth, honor, and power can be obtained by certain means. For the sake
of self-realization, thousands have renounced family and all worldly
possessions, and kings their kingdoms, and they have retired to desert, jungle,
or mountain fastness, striving to find in asceticism the secret of this bliss. (All useless effort. You see, the Sufis failed to come to
Christ. Their self effort is in
vain. Works gets one nowhere.)
Love
The greatest principle
of Sufism is, 'Ishq Allah, Ma'bud Allah' (God is love, lover, and beloved).
When Ahad, the only
Being, became conscious of his Wahdat, only existence, through His own
consciousness, then' His predisposition of love made Him project Himself to
establish His dual aspect, that He might be able to love someone. This made God
the lover, and manifestation the beloved; the next inversion makes
manifestation the lover, and God the beloved. This force of love has been
working through several evolutions and involutions, which end in man who is the
ultimate aim of God. The dual aspect of God is significant in Zát and Sifat, in
spirit and matter, (God is not in matter.
He created matter but is not in it. This
is a false teaching). and in the mineral, vegetable, animal, and human
kingdoms, wherein the two sexes, male and female, are clearly represented. The
dual aspect of God (God does not have a
dual aspect. He has a triune
aspect. Do not fall for this. Matter is
not an aspect of God. Matter is a
creation of God. The Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit are the nature [aspect] of God) is symbolized by each
form of this wonderful world. This whole universe, internally and externally,
is governed by the source of love, which is sometimes the cause and sometimes
the effect. The producer and the product are one, and that One is nothing but
love. (That one is God, who is more than
love. It is true that John stated God is
love, and the one who does not love does not know God. However, John did not say that God was only
love and none other than love. Justice
and wisdom are attributes of God, among others.
To say that God is nothing but love is false. The Sufi here, by the words he has used, is
reducing God to only love.)
“A
church, a temple or a Ka'ba stone,
Qur'an
or Bible or a martyr's bone,
All
these and more my heart can tolerate,
Since
my religion now is Love alone”(
Sufis take the course
of love and devotion to accomplish their highest aim, because it is love which
has brought man from the world of unity to the world of variety, and the same
force can take him back again to the world of unity from that of variety.
'Love is the reduction
of the universe to the single being, and the expansion of a single being, even
to God' (Balzac). {To reduce the
universe to a single being implies that God is in the material that He has
created. This is false. God is not in His creation any more than an
artist is in his painting. The artist
and his painting are separate. God and
his creation are separate. Sufis do not
understand this. The universe cannot be
reduced to love. It can be said that Love,
one aspect of God, did create the universe because God is love—though much more;
however the universe and love are not one.
If one should contemplate what this Sufi has said, one can see the
absurdity in the comment.}
Love is that state of
mind in which the consciousness of the lover is merged in that of the object of
his love; it produces in the lover all the attributes of humanity, such as
resignation, renunciation, humility, kindness, contentment, patience, virtue,
calmness, gentleness, charity, faithfulness, bravery, by which the devotee
becomes harmonized with the Absolute. As one of God's beloved, a path is opened
for his heavenly journey: at the end he arrives at oneness with God, and his
whole individuality is dissolved in the ocean of eternal bliss where even the
conception of God and man disappears. (This is totally false. Jesus taught to His disciples all that the
Father related to Him. Since Jesus is
God incarnate in the flesh, would Jesus not have taught His disciples what He
knew? Jesus indicated that He held
nothing back from His disciples. Jesus
never taught His disciples any of this, what I will call falderal. Is a Sufi more knowledgeable about God than
God Himself, more knowledgeable than the Son of God? Remember Jesus claimed deity and provided
evidence of that divinity through what He did while on the earth. He also said that if you do not believe what
He says about Himself, refer back to what He has done. In other words, look at the miracles He
performed. He raised men from the dead,
He healed men of leprosy. He gave sight
to men born blind. Sufis have not done this, for if one had, would not students
have proclaimed it? Would not a Sufi
have done this publicly to attest to his spiritual attachment to God, to attest
that the Sufi can teach such teaching with the “backing” of God? It is true that an adulterous generation asks
for a sign. We live in adulterous times
whereby men make false claims concerning truth to lead others to them. Where is the Sufi proof? Sufis make claims that cannot be
substantiated! A Sufi does not have
superior knowledge when compared to Christ.
This teaching of becoming absorbed into God is false.)
“Although
love is a sweet madness,
Yet
all infirmities it heals.
Saints
and sages have passed through it,
Love
both to God and man appeals.”
(We know that love
does not heal all infirmities. What it
does is allow one to bear all infirmities with faith and hope.)
He is One, and number has
no place in Him; He is Absolute, and dependence is far removed from Him; not
that One which reason and understanding can know, not that Absolute which sense
and imagination can recognize. He is not multitude, nor paucity; one multiplied
by one remains one. In duality is only evil and error; in singleness is never
any fault. (This is not true. Duality must be present to know the
difference between good and evil. Good
and evil are not one. What the Sufi here
is in effect saying is that God is good and evil. But we should know that this is not the
case.)
While multitude and
confusion remain in thy heart, say thou 'One' or 'Two,'--what matter, for both
are the same. (They are not the same.)
Thou, the devil's pasture, know for certain what, and how much, and why, and
how! (The Sufi here is calling us the
devil’s pasture. This is not true. We are God’s pasture that happens to have a
few weeds growing that can be eradicated with the aid of Christ and the Holy
Spirit.) Have a care! His greatness comes not from multitude; His essence
is above number and quality; the weak searcher may not ask 'Is it' or 'Who'
concerning Him. No one has uttered the attributes of the Creator,
HE,--quantity, quality, why, or what, who, and where. His hand is power, His
face eternity; 'to come' is His wisdom, 'the descent' His gift; His two feet
are the majesty of vengeance and dignity, His two fingers are the effective
power of His command and will. All existences are subject to His omnipotence;
all are present to Him, all seek Him; the motion of light is towards light-how
can light be separated from the sun? (Unfortunately, all do not seek God. How can anyone write such a thing?)
In comparison with His
existence eternity began but the day before yesterday; it came at dawn, but yet
came late. How can His working be bounded by eternity? Eternity without
beginning is a house-born slave of his; and think not nor imagine that eternity
without end (is more), for eternity without end is like to eternity without
beginning.
How shall He have a place,
in size greater or smaller? for place itself has no place. How shall there be a
place for the Creator of place, a heaven for the Maker of heaven himself? Place
cannot attain to Him, nor time; narration can give no information of Him, nor
observation. Not through columns is His state durable; His nature's being has
its place in no habitation. (This is not
true. The Word in narration can and does
give information concerning God. Also,
Christ stated that He has reserved a place for those who believe in Him. Maybe this Sufi should study the Bible more? It is evident that this Sufi does not know
spiritual truth.)
O thou, who art in bondage
to form and delineation, bound by 'He sat upon the throne'; form exists not
apart from contingencies, and accords not with the majesty of the Eternal.
Inasmuch as He was sculptor, He was not image; 'He sat' was, not throne, nor
earth. Continue calling 'He sat' from thy inmost soul, but think not His
essence is bound by dimensions; for 'He sat' is a verse of the Qur’an, and to
say 'He has no place' is an article of faith. (False. He does have a place. We
do not know what this place is or where it is, but Christ has said that for
those who have believed in Him, a place is reserved for them in Heaven. Christ cannot lie because God cannot
lie. This Sufi, though he may not be
intentional telling a lie, is fabricating a truth that is based on error.) The
throne is like a ring outside a door; it knows not the attributes of Godhead.
The word 'speech' is written in the Book; but shape and voice and form are far
from Him; 'God descends' is written in tradition, but believe not thou that He
comes and goes; the throne is mentioned in order to exalt it, the reference to
the Ka`ba is to glorify it. To say 'He has no place' is the gist of religion;
shake thy head, for it is a fitting opportunity for praise. They pursue Husain
with enmity because 'Alî spoke the word 'He has no place.'
He made an earth for His
creation in this form; behold how He has made a nest for thee! Yesterday the
sky was not, to-day it is; again to-morrow it will not be,--yet He remains. He
will fold up the veil of smoke in front of Him;--'On a day we will fold up the
heavens;' (Qur. 21:103) breathe thou forth a groan. When the knowers of God
live in Him, the Eternal, they cleave 'behold' and 'He' in two through the
middle. (Who is this “we” who will fold up the heavens? If there is no Trinity, what is the Koran
attempting to say? Does this mean that
God would need help from angels to fold up the heavens? But God is omnipotent. He needs no assistance from anyone to do
anything. There are traces in the Koran
suggesting more than one person in the Godhead.
This is something that Muslims and Sufis should contemplate, but they do
not. Even Mohammed said that God is one;
but the Koran is stating here that more than one will fold up the heavens. Could Mohammed be in error here? Muslims think not; however, Mohammed was
merely a man subject to erroneous conclusions like any other man. Mohammed did not claim deity as did Christ.)
The course
of time is not the mould whence issues His eternal duration, nor temperament
the cause of His beneficence; without His word (This does not refer to Christ, the Logos), time and temperament
exist not, as apart from His favor the soul enters not the body. This and that
both are wanting and worthless; that and this both are foolish and impotent.
'Old' and 'new' are words inapplicable to His essence; He is, for He consists
not of any existences except Himself. His kingdom cannot be known to its
limits, His nature cannot be described even to its beginning; His acts and His
nature are beyond instrument and direction, for His Being is above 'Be' and
'He'.
Before thou wert in
existence a greater than thou for thy sake brought together the causes that
went to form thee; in one place under the heavens by the command and act of God
were the four temperaments prepared; I their gathering together is a proof of
His power; His power is the draughtsman of His wisdom. He who laid down the
plan of thee without pen can also complete it without colors; within thee, not
in yellow and white and red and black, God has portrayed His work; and without
thee He has designed the spheres; of what?--of wind and water and fire and
earth. The heavens will not for ever leave to thee thy colors,--yellow and
black and red and white; (Sufis believe
that there are four areas of the body, each area corresponding to a particular
color) the spheres take back again their gifts, but the print of God
remains for ever; He who without colors drew thy outlines will never take back
from thee thy soul. By His creative power He brought thee under an obligation,
for His grace has made thee an instrument I of expression of Himself; He said,
'I was a hidden treasure; creation was created that thou mightest know me; the
eye like to a precious pearl through kâf and nûn He made a mouth filled with Yâ
în.
Sew no purse and tear not
thy veil; lick no plate and buy not blandishment. All things are contraries,
but by the command of God all travel together on the same road; (Christians should know that this is not
so. For example, good and evil do not
travel on the same road.) in the house of non-existence the plan of all is
laid down for all eternity by the command of the Eternal; four essences,
through the exertion of the seven stars, become the means of bodying forth the
plan. Say, The world of evil and of good proceeds not except from Him and to Him,
nay, is Himself. (Evil does not exist in
God. This is pure, I would say,
foolishness.) All objects receive their outline and forms from Him, their
material basis as well as their final shape. Element and material substance,
the form and colors clothing the four elements,--all things know as limited and
finite, as but a ladder for thy ascent to God.
(This Sufi’s writing is
convoluted and hard to understand. He is
not propounding truth. If you had
noticed, He is mixing some truth about God’s nature with is own far-fetched
thinking. If you seek the Truth,
go to Christ and learn from Him. He is the
Way, the Truth, and the Life.)
Many people only parrot what others teach and have
lost their own the ability to think. Some
of what Sufis teach can prick the mind and make one think. This is good.
The writings below are meant to make one think. Think!
The Dance
A disciple had asked permission to take part in the "dance" of the
Sufis. The Sheikh said: "Fast completely for three days. Then have
luscious dishes cooked. If you then prefer the "dance", you may take
part in it."
*
The Five Hundred Gold Pieces.
One of the Junaid's (teacher) followers came to him with a purse containing
five hundred gold pieces.
"Have you any more money than this?" asked the Sufi.
"Yes, I have."
"Do you desire more?"
"Yes, I do."
"Then you must keep it, for you are more in need than I; for I have
nothing and desire nothing. You have a great deal and still want more."
*
A Tree Freshly Rooted
A tree, freshly rooted, may be pulled up by one man on his own. Give it time,
and it will not be moved, even with a crane.
*
The Test
It is related of Shaqiq of Balkh that he once said to his disciples: "I
put my confidence in God and went through the wilderness with only a small coin
in my pocket. I went on the Pilgrimage and came back, and the coin is still
with me." One of the youths stood up and said to Shaqiq: "If you had
a coin in your pocket, how could you say that you relied upon anything higher?"
Shaqiq answered: "There is nothing for me to say, for this young man is
right. When you rely upon the invisible world there is no place for anything,
however small, as a provision!"
*
Efforts
Tie two birds together.
They will not be able to fly, even though they now have four wings.
Question for review:
Why read the writings of Sufi
Masters? Can a Christian profit from
reading what Sufis have written?
Email question answer to for comments to: rlcoleman1@gmail.com
Christian Witness