Sufism is sometimes associated with Gnosticism, although Sufis are actually independent of any religious affiliation and this movement is far older than historical Islam. However, Sufis themselves emphasize that Sufism developed to its full flowering only after the appearance of the Prophet Muhammad, and that Islam provides the most suitable metaphysical instruments for the spiritual and mental development of man.
Early Sufis
According to Muslim tradition, the first Sufis are said to have existed during the lifetime of the Prophet Mohammed in the 7th century. They are said to have often lived as individual ascetics. The best known of them is Uwais al-Qarani from Yemen, who lived as a hermit in the desert. According to his own claim, the oldest Islamic Sufi monk Maktab Tarighat Oveyssi can be traced back to him.
A very influential early Sufi was the ascetic Hasan al-Basri (642-728). His idea of a spiritual life was: little sleep, not complaining about heat or cold, not having a fixed abode, and always fasting. Also in the city of Basra (in present-day Iraq) lived and worked Rabia al-Adawiyya (714 or 717/718-801), one of the most important female Sufis. She is believed never to have had a teacher, and she is described as a "drunken God-lover" who lived as a strict ascetic: for drinking and for her ritual ablutions she is said to have used a broken jug, an old reed mat for lying on, and a river stone for a pillow.
Sufis of the 9th and 10th centuries
In the 9th century, Dhu'n-Nun al-Misri (d. 859) was one of the first Sufis to develop a theory of "Fana" (Arabic فناء, DMG Fanā' 'dissolution, devolution') and "Baqa" (Arabic بقاء, DMG Baqā' 'existence'), a doctrine of annihilation or dissolution of the self (Arabic نفس, DMG Nafs). He also formulated the theory of 'Ma'rifa' (Arabic معرفة, DMG Ma'rifa '(intuitive) knowledge of God'). Through his poetic prayers he introduced a new style into the serious and ascetic piety of the Sufis of that time. True to the Qur'anic word, he heard the praise of God from all created things and thus influenced the later descriptions of nature by Persian and Turkish Sufis.
Bāyazīd Bistāmī (803-875), from Bistam in present-day Iran, considered love above all else to be the most important means of attaining oneness with God. Moreover, according to his own account, he was the first to attain the state of absolute oneness with the Creator through rigorous self-mortification and austerities. In the later Sufi texts from the 11th century onwards, as an intoxicated Sufi he formed the antithesis to his sober contemporary Junaid.
A rather sober way of Sufism was represented by Junaid (d. 910) from Baghdad, which at that time was considered a religious and spiritual center. He had a great influence on later Sufis through his teachings, emphasizing love, union, and the surrender of the individual will to the will of God. At that time, Islamic orthodoxy already regarded the activities of the Sufis with growing suspicion, for which reason Junaid rejected his disciple Mansur al-Hallaj (858-922), also a Persian, who expounded the secrets of the Sufi path in public. From him comes one of the most famous sayings of a Sufi: "ana al-Haqq". This saying translates as "I am the truth", where Haqq not only means truth, but is also one of the names of God. Thus, the translation can be "I am God". This and his provocative appearance were some of the reasons why al-Hallaj was eventually executed as the first Sufi martyr. Among other Sufis, Rumi probably best expressed that "ana al-Haqq" is the most consistent interpretation of the oneness of God.
al-Ghazālī (1058-1111)
An important representative of Sufism is al-Ghazālī (b. c. 1058, d. 1111), a Persian who was one of the first to organize his ideas into a mystical system. This greatest Sunni theologian incorporated the system of moderate mysticism of Sufism into orthodox Islam. The original jurist realized one day that only by renouncing the world could he truly find God. He therefore gave up his chair at Baghdad University to spend many years in seclusion as a wandering dervish. He left the world numerous religious and spiritual writings and even managed to reconcile Orthodoxy with Sufism for a time, bringing the two systems closer together: By toning down the radical asceticism of the early Sufis, systematizing Sufi thought, and drawing the philosophers for whom he therefore demanded the death penalty to seventeen counts of heresy and three others of unbelief, al-Ghazālī contributed significantly to the general recognition of Sufism by orthodoxy in Islam. He rejected rigid dogmatism and taught the way to a God-consciousness that springs from the heart. A central point in al-Ghazālī's teaching is the work on the "subtle heart." According to al-Ghazālī's teachings, human beings possess a "subtle heart" in their chest that is native to the angelic world. This organ is in the asylum in the physical world and shows people the way back to paradise.
Sheikh Adi (1075-1162)
An important Sufi was Sheikh Adi (Kurdish Şêx Adî, also Şexadi, full name ʿAdī ibn Musāfir, probably 1075-1162), who spread Sufism beyond the borders of the Islamic heartlands. Probably to escape conservative adversaries, he arrived in the Iraqi Kurdish mountains and settled in Lalish, an ancient temple of the sun that had changed several times between Yezidis, Christians, and Muslims. There he learned about the Yazidi faith and introduced Sufi elements into it. Thus, he is now considered a reformer of Yezidism and, although actually a Muslim, is revered as a saint by Yezidis. Lalish, the place where, according to Yazidi belief, the earth became solid, is a Yazidi shrine and the burial place of Şexadi. Since there are practically no written traditions from Yezidism from the time before Şexadi, all that is known is that the Yezidic faith itself is composed of many mystical elements. Şexadi's ideas complemented the older Yezidi religion and still endure.
Ibn al-Arabi (1165-1240)
Equally important as al-Ghazālī is Ibn Arabi (1165-1240), who was born about half a century after al-Ghazālī's death in the Spanish city of Murcia. Ibn Arabi is the author of some 500 important Sufi writings; he is said to have had no spiritual teacher but to have been initiated directly into mystical Islam by the hidden master Chidr. Ibn Arabi is also referred to as the "Shaykh al-akbar" ("the greatest Shaykh"), though his ideas about "wahdat al-wujud," the oneness of being, were part of Sufi metaphysics before him. But he was the first to formulate these ideas in written form, thus preserving them well for posterity and later Sufis. According to him, God created the whole world as a single coherent entity so that it would praise and recognize the supreme Creator. In his work "Fusus Al-Hikam", Ibn-Arabi draws a metaphysical genealogy in which the 28 prophets mentioned by name in the Koran contribute to awakening the mystical consciousness of man. This idea was taken up again in the 19th and 20th centuries by Western esoteric authors such as Madame Blavatsky and Rudolf Steiner. According to them, the important religious figures of mankind are figures of light who shape the consciousness of mankind.
Farid ad-Din Attar (1145/46-1221)
The poetic works of Farid ad-Din Attar (Farīd ad-Dīn ʿAṭṭār) influenced mystics of both Eastern and Western origin for centuries. Attar is considered one of the most important figures in Sufism. He threw new light on the doctrine by describing the path with the art of a storyteller like no one before him.
One of the most famous of his 114 works is the "Bird Talks" (Manṭiq aṭ-ṭair). This epic tells of thirty birds who undertake a journey through seven valleys to the bird king, Simurgh, and finally recognize their own identity in him. Attar uses a play on words here, as Simurgh is not only the name of a mythical creature resembling the phoenix, but si murgh when read means "thirty birds". In this work, for instance, we find the Sufi love story of Sheikh San'an and a Christian girl. San'an, who lives in Mecca, is portrayed as the author of hundreds of theological treatises and a miracle worker, converts to Christianity for a time, and then returns to Islam.
Sufi religious communities
It is now believed by most historians that the first Sufi order (tariqa) was founded in the 12th century by ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī (1088 or 1077-1166), which therefore bears the name Qadiri tariqa. Shortly thereafter, the Yesevi and the Rifai tariqa emerged. Later, other tariqas developed, many of which largely still exist, though some are no longer in the public eye, such as the Shaʿrānī tariqa. The centers or meeting places of the orders are called chanqah (Persian خانگاه chānegāh and خانقاه chāneqāh), dergah (Persian درگاه dargāh "doorstep", "palace"; Ottoman dergâh also dervish convent), tekke (Ottoman تَكَّيَّه tekke, tekye) or zawiya (Arabic زَاوِيَة zāwiya pl. زَوَايَا zawāyā). Sometimes there is also talk of convents or monasteries, a tekke cannot be compared to the Christian idea of a monastery.
One of the most famous tariqas is that of the Mevlevis, which goes back to the Sufi poet Jalal ad-Din Rumi. Most of his works are written in Persian, some in Arabic. The dervishes of this order practice dhikr with religious music while spinning on their own axis. This ritual is known in the West as the "dervish dance" (semā) or "dance of the spinning dervishes".
Other supra-regional Sufi orders besides those already mentioned are Naqshbandi, Bektashi, Kubrawi, Suhrawardi, Chishti or Halveti. These orders are further divided into numerous sub-branches and sometimes have overlaps among themselves (See also: List of Sufi Orders). The Sufi order MTO Shahmaghsoudi, originating from Iran, is widespread in the USA, Great Britain and other Western countries.
In Morocco, the Sufi orders of the Gnawa, Aissawa, Tijaniya and Hamadsa have not only been important forms of expression of popular Islam and spiritual life up to now, but also important social formations. For Moroccan foreign policy, these Sufi brotherhoods play a central role in structuring relations with the neighboring states of Mauritania and Mali, especially in order to stand up to a Salafist Islam of Wahhabi character that is increasingly gaining influence in the Saharan region.
Sufism has always remained alive and dynamic in the eyes of the Sufis because it always adapts to the times and changes accordingly. At the same time, it remains true to the essence of the tradition, which is the inner orientation of the heart towards God and the abandonment of the ego. As societies and cultures constantly evolve and change, Sufism responds externally to these changes.
"Sufism is the ancient wisdom of the heart. It is not limited by form, time or space. It always has been and always will be."
- Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee (* 1953)
