Mysticism in Islam: Sufism

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Mysticism in Islam Sufism
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Sufism

• Aka the heart of Islam
• Is the name of an old and widespread devotional
  movement
• Or group of movements
• Sufism derives from the Arabic word suf wool
• Because early Sufis wore a simple robe made of
  common wool
• Sufism values simplicity
• Seeks involvement of emotions

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• The core of the Sufi movement is its mysticism
• Believe that the highest experience a person can
  have is a direct experience of God
• An individual can experience God face to face on
  earth
• Experiencing God is the whole purpose of life not
  something that has to wait until after death
• Sufis have spoken about the sense of loss of self
  that occurs in mystical experience
• This sense of loss of self is called fana or
  al-fana meaning extinction
• When the self is gone, all that remains is God

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Sufi practice

• Deep regular breathing during meditation
• Repetition of the 99 names of Allah (dhikr)
• Sometimes counted on a rosary, to enable a
  constant remembrance of God
• Sufi Shaykh
• A teacher
• Leads his disciples through a variety of
  spiritual disciplines to help them achieve union
  with God

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Branches of Islam
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• Muhammad died without a hereditary male successor
• His sons died in infancy
• Muhammad apparently never appointed anyone to
  succeed him
• The result was confusion and an unclear line of
  succession
• This created a division in Islam
• Muhammad had asked Abu Bakr to be the principal
  leader of prayer
• He was his friend and the father of his youngest
  wife
• Abu Bakr was recognized as Muhammads first
  successor
• Caliph means successor
• After the death of the fourth Caliph, Islam was
  taken over by its opponents
• This period marks the division of Islam- which
  broke into two factions 1) Shiite and 2) Sunni

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Shiites

• The division began as a political argument over
  who should succeed Muhammad
• 10-15 of Islam is Shiite
• From shia meaning faction
• The faction/party of Ali, the son-in-law and
  cousin of Muhammad
• Some early Muslims held that Muhammad had
  assigned Ali to be his first successor

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Hereditary succession

• Shiite Islam believes that the legitimate
  succession was hereditary, descending from the
  immediate family of Muhammad
• A God-given hereditary spiritual power called the
  Light of Muhammad
• It is thought to have passed to a total of 12
  successors, or Imams
• The imam is believed to have special spiritual
  insight, and is revered as the true earthly
  authority
• Ali was the first Imam and the line ended with
  the disappearance of the last Imam
• According to traditions, the last Imam (Muhammad
  al-Mahdi) did not die but entered a hidden realm
  from which he works by guiding Shiite scholars
  and leaders
• Shiites believe that he will emerge from this
  state in the future to help restore Shiite Islam
• His reappearance in the world will bring on the
  Day of Judgment

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• For Shiites, their religious leaders possess
  great authority because are guided by the last
  Imam

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Sunnis

• From sunna meaning tradition and example
• It refers to the entire body of traditional
  teachings that are based on the life and
  teachings of Muhammad
• Sunnis follow the established custom, or sunna,
  meaning the Sunna of the prophet
• Sunni Islam developed in response to the claims
  of Shiite Islam
• 85-90 of Islam is Sunni

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Orthodox sect Taliban

• Within Sunni Islam emerged the Taliban
• Means seeker of truth
• Their views are extremely strict
• Prohibit women to work, to uncover when in public
• Men cannot cut their beards
• Nonreligious music is forbidden
• Television and film were banned
• Goal create the purest Islam in the world
• They follow their own strict interpretations of
  the Koran
• Claim attacks to be heroic
• Believers commit suicide

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9/11 Taliban

• Reasons to attack

• U.S. troops in their land
• U.S. soldiers do not respect sacred places and
  their women
• U.S. brings new customs that challenge Islamic
  traditions
• United Nations not helping- did not do anything
  to U.S. while they were in Muslim land
• Bin Laden
• Issued the Fatwa- a religious ruling requiring
  killing Americans and their allies
• Used (misused) the Koran- he proof-text the
  original phrases
• Infidels- non-believer, enemy of faith
• Called on Jihad
• Used believers as scapegoats to attack America

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Jihad

• Literally means struggle
• Referred as the sixth pillar of Islam
• On the personal level (greater jihad), jihad
  refers to the individuals spiritual struggle
  against anything that detracts from venerating
  Allah and from acting in accordance with the
  divine will
• On the social level (lesser jihad), jihad refers
  to the preservation of the order that Allah has
  willed for the word
• Jihad is also used in a more controversial way
• It refers to armed struggle
• It is sometimes thought of as meaning holy war
• The Koran supports armed struggle for the sake of
  Islam only if it is carried out in self-defense
• Become martyrs and go strait to heaven
• JIHAD CRUSADE