Orthodox Islam Has An Aversion To Sufism
By
Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
31 December
2022
One 'ocean
of knowledge' is of the view that Sufis exaggerate. Therefore, their path is
not right. Only the path propounded and propagated by him will lead all Muslims
to Allah.
Obviously,
these are tall claims. Muslims, esp. Sunnis, still suffer from Hallaj Syndrome,
named after Mansur-al- Hallaj, who was excoriated for his ecstatic proclamation
of An-al-Haq ('m the truth).
This
gentleman is unaware that the real Sufism is unstructured. Annihilation in
Allah is not through any fixed process and procedure but through love and
devotion. Shams-e-Tabriz writes, " I've gone beyond Namaz, Roza
and rosary. All these are secondary. I'm merged into Him. " To a
conventional Muslim who has been rubbing his Peshani (forehead) by
offering regular dose of Namaz, this is blasphemous. But to a Sufi, this
is bhakti or devotion. Let them be wrong.
Sublime
Sufis like Rumi, Sanai, Attar, Khaqani among others stopped caring for Allah's
much bandied about wrath for being 'wayward' (Qahez in Persian) and
irregular (Lawaaz in Farsi) in their approach to Allah. But theirs was
the way, may not be cent percent right, that dispensed with the ritualistic
Islam and the orthodoxy of it.
Moreover,
Sufis preached and proclaimed Universal love ( comparable to Agape of
Christianity) and didn't limit themselves to Islamic Allah.
"
Mainstream Islam, esp the Islam of neo-Muslims, has a perpetual issue with the
Sufism because the former will never understand that the Islam of Sufis is so
diametrically and definitely different from its brand of unchangeably hardcore
Islam, " opined Professor Hamilton Gibb, a scholar of Islamic and Arab
Studies.
Sunnis,
therefore, have no right to brand Sufis as heretics or even exaggerators. Do
true Sufis cast aspersions on Sunni or any other way or denomination of Islam?
Let them ( Sufi) get burnt in eternal hellfire. That's their spiritual lookout.
Stop being pejorative.
----
A
regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative
religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the
world's premier publications in several languages including Persian.
URL: https://newageislam.com/the-war-within-islam/orthodox-aversion-sufism/d/128760
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