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A Brief Introduction to Sufi Tradition

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A Brief Introduction to Sufi Tradition A brief introduction to Sufi tradition W. Bro. Leo Schuman Who am I? What a provocative question ... Guide, Inayati Sufi lineage (Ruhaniat) Past Master, Friendship Masonic Lodge #160, AF&AM of Oregon What is “Sufism”? ● Western term for “tasawwuf” Safa … purity Suf … wool Sofia … wisdom ● A mystical tradition richly flowering within Islam … and beyond … and before … Sufism in the East ● Islamic fraternal brotherhoods ○ about 1 in 10 Muslims, among 1.6 billion ○ somewhat like Masonic fraternities ● Major tariqats (“orders”) Naqshbandi Chishti Bektashi Muridiyya Inayati Qadiri Sanusiyya Mevlevi Suhrawardi Rifai Shadhili Tijaniyya Major teachers and writings ● Muhayiddin ibn al’Arabi (1165-1240, Andalucia) ○ The Bezels of Wisdom ○ The Meccan Revelations ● Jelaluddin Rumi (1207-1273, Konya) ○ Mathnawi ○ Diwan-e Shems e-Tabrizi ● Fariduddin Attar (1145-1220, Nishapur) ○ The Conference of the Birds Grand themes: metaphysical, moral, and religious “I marveled at an Ocean without shore, and at a Shore that did not have an ocean” ibn al’ Arabi “Out beyond ideas of rightdoing and wrongdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there.” Jelaluddin Rumi “There is no knowledge except that taken from God, for He alone is the Knower… the prophets, in spite of their great number and the long periods of time which separate them, had no disagreement in knowledge of God, since they took it from God.” ibn al’ Arabi Speculative roots of Islamic mystical tradition Pre-Islamic wisdom traditions of the Near and Middle East Jewish kabbalists Christian "desert fathers" Neo-Platonic academies Egyptian mystery schools The Unity of Religious Ideals “[B]eware lest you restrict yourself to a particular tenet concerning Divine Reality and deny any other tenet equally reflecting it, for you would forfeit much good ... be completely and utterly receptive to all doctrinal forms, for God, Most High, is too All-embracing and Great to be confined within one creed rather than another.” ibn al’ Arabi - The Bezels of Wisdom The Unity of Religious Ideals “Belief is the means, and not the end. If a man’s foot is nailed on the ladder, that is not the object. ... Those therefore who believe in a certain creed, in a religion, in God, in the hereafter, in the soul, in a certain dogma, are no doubt blessed by their belief and think they have something, but if they remain there, there is no progress.” Inayat Khan - The Alchemy of Happiness The Unity of Religious Ideals “All thoughts of God are idols, of whom only wonder can inform us.” St. Gregory of Nyssa - The Life of Moses Sufi practice Religious observance … the lamp … “Sufism is a path of experience, Initiation and discipleship not premise.” … not taught, caught … Murshid Samuel L. Lewis Remembrance of God … there is nothing but … Remembrance of God since Abraham “Only in the remembrance of Allah will your heart find peace.” Islamic tradition - Qu’ran 13:28 “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Christian tradition - Thessalonians 5:16-18 “Be still, and know that I am God” Jewish tradition - Psalm 46:10 First Seeds of Sufism in Western Culture Universal Sufism Sophia Perennis Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan Rene Guenon Murshid Samuel L. Lewis Frithjof Schuon Some entry points for the mind ... Philosophical The Heart of Sufism, Essential Writings of Hazrat Inayat Khan H. J. Witteveen, editor Poetic The Essential Rumi Coleman Barks, translator Intellectual Sufism and The Way of Blame, Hidden Sources of a Sacred Psychology Yannis Toussulis, Ph.D., author The entry point of the heart ... La illaha il'Allah Hu .
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