| Dear Komal,
What is so disappointing about your article is not the intention with which it was written but the unspoken messages it gives to the trained eye. First of all, the translation of Rumis verse in the beginning is inaccurate and misleading... but this is nothing, as since you obviously do not know Farsi or Arabi or Turki, and have probably copied this from a book written by either Idries Shah or Carl W Ernst or some other orientalist scholar found cheaper by the dozen in Europe and USA...
As a practising Sufi, a Muslim and professional Semazan and Qawwali musician,and someone who has travelled from Pakistan to Iran, Turkey to Morocco and Egypt to Cyprus, visiting and doing Dhikr and performing mehfil-e-sama at Sufi Thekas and Dargahs, I feel deeply offended by your illiterate views on Sufiyat. The way of the Sufi IS the way of Islam, it is indeed the heart of mard-e-Momin. Allah is not God as you call him, He is one like whom there is none other, this is an important distinction, as God is a very generic term used for all deities. Often non-Muslims who find Sufi mysticism and its rituals attractive and do not want to make any real changes in their life by adopting Islam or even try to study the culture and lannguages of the various parts of the Muslim world, use the silly argument that Sufism pre-dates Islam or that it is separate from Islam ( a common Sikh stance), or that it is just a movement etc; because they feel that Islam is some monolithic and dogmatic faith which espouses violence and religious uniformity! Well let me tell you that Muslims are more culturally and spiritually diverse than any other religious group in the world. Allah likes diversity. Al-Quran e Majeed gives complete freedom to humans, one of the the few Farz or duty for Muslims is ibadat or prayer. That too is excused under certain conditions. Imagine two people from entirly differnt ethnicities who cannot even speak each others language, one a labourer and one a prince, standing together in one saf (row) and praying together under one roof! What more proof of Allahs grace love for diversity could you want!!
Next, Baqa does not mean altered state of being! it stems from an Arabic root that for Sufis means, Original state of existence, thus closest to Allah. Fana is not as simple as non being... it means to die, but for Sufis it means to extinguish the ego or the self and become one with Allah (thus reaching Baqa) You cannot separate Islam from Sufism by just using all these words as simplistic and shallow technical terms and misleading people for whom the word Sufi has become a fashion. You can be an admirer of Sufiyat, but can never be a true Sufi without being a Muslim. It is simply Impossible. Being a Sufi for a day or learning whirling at an Osho dham, is not Sufism, it is a lie! When Osho died they found 300 luxary sedans and millions of dollars at his estate in California, was that his Sufism? You talk about Faqr, it is not inner emptiness! it is a way of life my friend, a Faqir is in Faqr, one who has renounced worldliness, concentrates on Zikr and Fiqr, and depends on the largess of others to make do is a Sadhu or a Faqir. Your con of saying that natural Sufis can be found among sweepers, businessmen and lawyers etc. is utter nonsense. There is a big difference between niyazmands or devotees who visit shrines to pray or ask the Wali or Auliyah to intercede with Allah on their behalf and observe the rituals, and Sufis who take the Baitunder an Ustad or Murshid and become part of a Silsilah. Sufism is not a joke, it is a lifes work... Doing some fake nonsense like Gurdjieff or Osho whirling and convincing others to lighten their wallets for it is Shaitani ie. the work of the devil. How can someone who has never recited the Qalma or read Namaz, ever deconstruct the nuances of Sufism? to become a rejectionist of ritual like Baba Bulleshah, you have first go through the ritual itself... to be able to say Anal Haqq like Mansoor al Hallaj, you first have to read the Quran itself. To be able to understand what fanaa is , you first must submit to the majesty of Allah! How DARE you appropriate our traditions and use them as a business? saying La Ilaha Illallah, without having first accepted the Qalmah or parroting the translated Wird-al-sharif of a Sufi master without first having recited the Quran Sharif is just a parodic form of self deception. You write: Sufis refer to their gatherings as kharabat or temples of ruin—destruction of conditioned and automatic living being the pre-requisite of union with oneself. Before cut-pasting this kind of psychobabble, atleast check to see if even the grammar is correct! Or if the translations you so confidently give are even remotely accurate... Kharabat, which means place of mischiefand can also mean tavern of ruin (khana e kharab)
is allegorically used ( just like sanam-qada, but-khana, mai-qada, dar-e-yaar etc..) to signify a place where Sufis meet and congregate under the direction of their avowed master. Similarly, Sema or Sama does not mean whirling. It means acceptance by tradition In Sufism Sama is a musical or dance Zikr. Only in Iran and Turkey do the Semazen whirl not everywhere. Finally, the majority of Sufis are nor found in Egypt or Sudan! They are found all over the eastern world, from Chinese Ughiyer Muslims to Cypriot Tukey!
I can give you still more examples of your ignorance, but I think you get the message Komal.
Instead of this pseudo existence you lead, why dont you visit some real Dargah or Zikr, or try and learn a classical language like Farsi, Arabi or Turki etc., gain some real and tangible knowledge about Islam, Quran and Tasawwuf.. Perhaps then you will find real Marifat!
Good luck in your endeavours,
may Allah save you from falsehood and deception.
Assalmwalaykum wa rehmatu wa barakatu Hu!
Afiyat Bashe
Evallah Hoo.
Ya Haq, Ya Panj-e-tan, Ya Hazrat-e-Mevlana...Ya Hind-al-Wali Khwaja Gharibnawaz!..
Ya Hayy, Ya Maula, Ya Qarim Ya Rahim...
Allah Hoo. Allah Hoo Allah Hoo
May the blessing of all the Auliyah-Allahbe with you.
Ameen
Syed Bilal Sangari Chishti Mevlevi.
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