 87. Islam |
Islam contains another tradition worth mentioning here: that of the Islamic mystics known as Sufis or Dervishes. Sufism is nearly as old as Islam itself, and, though primarily centered in Persia, the heart of Shi'ism, crosses over all schismatic boundaries. The Sufis emphasize personal mystical experience over temporal power, and can in this way be considered the "Islamic Gnostics." They are generally detested by both the Shi'a and Sunni orthodoxies. Some scholars believe that Sufism developed through the assimilation into Islam of elements of Christianity and Neoplatonism, but such hypotheses are difficult to prove. Sufism has it's own list of philosopher-poet-saints apart from the Caliphs and Imams, some of the greatest of which are Abu Yazid ("Bayazid," died 909 e.v.), Rabi'a al Adawiya (717-801 e.v.), Husayn ibn-Mansur al-Hallaj (d. 922 e.v.), Abu-Hamid Mohammed al-Ghazzali (1058-1111 e.v.), Fariduddin Attar (1110-1220 e.v.), Muhiyuddin Muhammad ibn-'Ali ibn-al-'Arabi (b. 1165 e.v.) and Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi (1207-1273 e.v.).
In Muslim understanding the origins of Islamic mysticism in the form of Sufism lie in the life of Muhammad. His earliest biographies emphasize his habit of meditating in a cave and living a life of material simplicity bordering on asceticism, both of which are seen as prototypes of mystical belief and practice in Islam. As an organized movement, Sufism too owes its official origins to Muhammad and his cousin and son-in-law, 'Ali, who is viewed by the majority of Sufis as the first of their kind. Ali was the first male convert to Islam and the man closest to Mohammed in his private life. As such, he is said to have received levels of spiritual guidance from Muhammad that were not available to anyone else. Part of this was a body of mystical knowledge that was passed down through Ali to future generations. The concept of esoteric or mystical knowledge ('ilm al-batin, al-'ilm al-batini, or simply al-batin) became central to the theology of Shiism, one of the two main sectarian divisions in Islam. It also remains at the center of Sufi understanding.
The historically traceable origins of Sufism begin approximately a century after Ali's death. Very little biographical information is available on some of the earliest Muslim ascetic and mystical figures, but they are important for their impact on the development of Sufism. By the late eighth century, members of the school of a famous mystical ascetic named Hasan al-Basri (d. 728) had established a convent (ribat) at Abadan, and others had composed important treatises on Sufi etiquette. Important mystical figures of this period include Dhu'l-Nun Misri (d.c. 859), an Egyptian figure who is of importance to the development of Sufism in western Asia because later Sufis quote him frequently, seeing him as a Muslim exponent of the Hellenistic tradition. An Iranian Sufi names Bayazid Bistami (d. 874) became famous for ecstatic utterances (shathiuat), which he was the first to use consistently as an expression of Sufi mystical experience. These somewhat scandalous declarations were dramatic statements made to demonstrate the merging of Bistami's individuality with the divine identity. This sense of union with God was the result of a life-long process of self-purification at both aphyscial and a spiritual level. In his practice of prayer and meditation Bayazid showed strong ascetic tendencies while at the same time ridiculing traditional asceticism because he felt that trying to renounce the physical world was to afford the physical realm an existence that it did not actually possess. The theme of asceticism appears frequently in Iranian Sufism in the ninth century even though many Sufis, like Bistami, rejected the outward trappings of an ascetic life.
The end of the tenth century marks a transition in the development of Sufism from the early formative period that was characterized by a high degree of individualism in practice and a central focus on asceticism to a classical age wherein there is greater emphasis on organization and systematization. This is also a time when Sufism in western Asia appears somewhat divided between two schools, the first being the Iraqi one (which was transplanted to Nishapur in Iran) and the second being the Khurasani one, centered in northeastern Iran and Afghanistan. The differences between these two schools are not altogether clear and at times appear to have more to do with t he theological and legal affiliations of Khurasani Sufis than with any major differences over mystical theory and practice.
