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Sufism is a mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic purification,spirituality,ritualism,asceticism,and esotericism.
Islamic studies refers to the academic study of Islam,which is analogous to related fields such as Jewish studies and Quranic studies. Islamic studies seeks to understand the past and the potential future of the Islamic world. In this multidisciplinary program,scholars from diverse areas participate and exchange ideas pertaining to the particular field of study.
Liberalism and progressivism within Islam involve professed Muslims who have created a considerable body of progressive thought about Islamic understanding and practice. Their work is sometimes characterized as "progressive Islam". Some scholars,such as Omid Safi,differentiate between "Progressive Muslims" versus "Liberal advocates of Islam".
Fakhr al-Din Iraqi was a Persian Sufi poet of the 13th-century. He is principally known for his mixed prose and poetry work,the Lama'at,as well as his divan,most of which were written in the form of a ghazal.
AbūYazīd Ṭayfūr bin ʿĪsābin Surūshān al-Bisṭāmī (al-Basṭāmī),commonly known in the Iranian world as Bāyazīd Bisṭāmī,was a Persian Sufi from north-central Iran. Known to future Sufis as Sultān-ul-Ārifīn,Bisṭāmīis considered to be one of the expositors of the state of fanā,the notion of dying in mystical union with Allah. Bastami was famous for "the boldness of his expression of the mystic’s complete absorption into the mysticism." Many "ecstatic utterances" have been attributed to Bisṭāmī,which lead to him being known as the "drunken" or "ecstatic" school of Islamic mysticism. Such utterance may be argued as,Bisṭāmīdied with mystical union and the deity is speaking through his tongue. Bisṭāmīalso claimed to have ascended through the seven heavens in his dream. His journey,known as the Mi'raj of Bisṭāmī,is clearly patterned on the Mi'raj of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Bisṭāmīis characterized in three different ways:a free thinking radical,a pious Sufi who is deeply concerned with following the sha'ria and engaging in "devotions beyond the obligatory," and a pious individual who is presented as having a dream similar to the Mi'raj of Muhammed. The Mi'raj of Bisṭāmīseems as if Bisṭāmīis going through a self journey;as he ascends through each heaven,Bisṭāmīis gaining knowledge in how he communicates with the angels and the number of angels he encounters increases.
William Clark Chittick is an American philosopher,writer,translator,and interpreter of classical Islamic philosophical and mystical texts. He is best known for his work on Rumi and Ibn 'Arabi,and has written extensively on the school of Ibn 'Arabi,Islamic philosophy,and Islamic cosmology. He is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Asian and Asian American Studies at Stony Brook University.
Sufism is the mystical branch of Islam in which Muslims seek divine love and truth through direct personal experience of God. This mystic tradition within Islam developed in several stages of growth,emerging first in the form of early asceticism,based on the teachings of Hasan al-Basri,before entering the second stage of more classical mysticism of divine love,as promoted by al-Ghazali and Attar of Nishapur,and finally emerging in the institutionalized form of today's network of fraternal Sufi orders,based on Sufis such as Rumi and Yunus Emre. At its core,however,Sufism remains an individual mystic experience,and a Sufi can be characterized as one who seeks the annihilation of the ego in God.
Sufi philosophy includes the schools of thought unique to Sufism,the mystical tradition within Islam,also termed as Tasawwuf or Faqr according to its adherents. Sufism and its philosophical tradition may be associated with both Sunni and Shia branches of Islam. It has been suggested that Sufi thought emerged from the Middle East in the eighth century CE,but adherents are now found around the world.
Sufi literature consists of works in various languages that express and advocate the ideas of Sufism.
A Sheikh or shaykh,of Sufism is a Sufi who is authorized to teach,initiate and guide aspiring dervishes in the Islamic faith. He has laid all his worldly desires to rest thru the one intense desire for knowing the love of God his beloved. The sheik is vital to the path of the novice Sufi,for the sheik has himself travelled the path of mysticism. Viewed as the spiritual master,the sheik forms a formal allegiance (bay'a) to the disciple of Sufism and authorizes the disciple's travels and helps the disciple along the mystical path. Islamic tradition focuses on the importance of chains and legitimization. In Sufism,sheiks are connected by a continuous spiritual chain. This chain links every previous Sufi sheik,and eventually can be traced back to the Successors,and in later times to the Prophet himself. As Sufism grew,influential shayks began to acquire spiritual centers and waypoints known as khanqah,ribat,and zaouia. Sheikhs duplicate the Prophetic realities,and are also expected to perform and act as an intermediary between the Creator and the created,since the sheikh has arrived close to God through his meditations and spiritual travels. There are several types of such sheikh.
Islam:The Straight Path is an Islamic studies book that aims to give an introduction to Islam. The book,authored by John Esposito,was first published in 1988 by the Oxford University Press.
Hajj Muhammad Legenhausen is an American philosopher and professor of philosophy at the Imam Khomeini's Educational and Research Institute.
Sufism has a history in India evolving for over 1,000 years. The presence of Sufism has been a leading entity increasing the reaches of Islam throughout South Asia. Following the entrance of Islam in the early 8th century,Sufi mystic traditions became more visible during the 10th and 11th centuries of the Delhi Sultanate and after it to the rest of India. A conglomeration of four chronologically separate dynasties,the early Delhi Sultanate consisted of rulers from Turkic and Afghan lands. This Persian influence flooded South Asia with Islam,Sufi thought,syncretic values,literature,education,and entertainment that has created an enduring impact on the presence of Islam in India today. Sufi preachers,merchants and missionaries also settled in coastal Gujarat through maritime voyages and trade.
Sahl al-Tustarī or Sahl Shushtarī according to Persian custom,born AbūMuḥammad Sahl ibn ʿAbd Allāh,was a Persian Sunni Muslim scholar and early classical Sufi mystic. He founded the Salimiyah Muslim theological school,which was named after his disciple Muhammad ibn Salim.
Religious liberalism is a conception of religion which emphasizes personal and group liberty and rationality. It is an attitude towards one's own religion which contrasts with a traditionalist or orthodox approach,and it is directly opposed by trends of religious fundamentalism. It is related to religious liberty,which is the tolerance of different religious beliefs and practices,but not all promoters of religious liberty are in favor of religious liberalism,and vice versa.
Richard Foltz is a Canadian historian who specializes in the history of Iranian civilization —sometimes referred to as "Greater Iran". He has also been active in the areas of environmental ethics and animal rights.
Ebrahim Moosa is the Mirza Family Professor of Islamic Thought &Muslim Societies at the University of Notre Dame with appointments in the Department of History and in the Kroc Institute for International Studies in the Keough School of Global Affairs. He is co-director of the Contending Modernities program at Notre Dame. He was previously Professor of Religion and Islamic Studies at Duke University. He is considered a leading scholar of contemporary Muslim thought. Moosa has been named as one of the top 500 Influential Muslims in the World.
Sufism in Bangladesh is more or less similar to that in the whole Indian subcontinent. India,it is claimed,is one of the five great centers of Sufism,the other four being Persia,Baghdad,Syria,and North Africa. Sufi saints flourished in Hindustan (India) preaching the mystic teachings of Sufism that easily reached the common people,especially the spiritual truth seekers in India. Sufism in Bangladesh is also called pirism,after the pirs or teachers in the Sufi tradition.
Nāṣir ad-Dīn ʿUbaydullāh ibn Maḥmūd ibn Shihāb ad-Dīn more popularly known as Khwaja Ahrar was a Hanafi Maturidi member of the Golden Chain of the Naqshbandi Sufi spiritual order of Central Asia. He was born in Samarkand,city in Central Asia,to a Muslim family. He was born to Khwaja Mehmood Shashi bin Khwaja Shihabuddin. His forefathers had migrated from Baghdad,and his lineage was connected to Abu Bakr Siddique from his paternal side and Umar Farooq from the maternal side. Khwaja Ahrar was deeply involved in the social,political and economics activities of Transoxania. He was born into a relatively poor yet highly spiritual family and,at the age of maturity,he was probably the richest person in the kingdom. He was a close associate of all the leading dervishes of the time. Maulana Abdur Rahman Jami was a disciple of his. He learned and practiced the secrets of spirituality under his father and later under Khwaja Yaqub Charkhi.
Sa'diyya Shaikh is a South African scholar of Islam and feminist theory. She is a professor of religion at the University of Cape Town. Shaikh studies Sufism in relation to feminism and feminist theory. Shaikh is known for work on gender in Islam and 'Ibn Arabi.
References
- ↑ Columnist Profile; On Being.org; 2015
- ↑ "Omid safi | Duke University - Academia.edu".
- 1 2 3 Kevin Eckstrom (November 27, 2009). "Islam's warrior prophet shrouded by myth, devotion". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
- 1 2 Edward E. Curtis IV (2 September 2009). Muslims in America : A Short History: A Short History. Oxford University Press. p. 116. ISBN 978-0-19-971014-0 . Retrieved 21 April 2013.
- ↑ Jones, Robert P. (July 25, 2008). Progressive & Religious: How Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and Buddhist Leaders are Moving Beyond the Culture Wars and Transforming American Public Life. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 224. ISBN 978-0-7425-6230-1.
Omid Safi is the most widely recognized leader of the progressive Muslim movement
- ↑ Omid Safi (2003). "What is Progressive Islam?" (PDF). ISIM Newsletter. Retrieved April 21, 2013.
- ↑ Martin Van Bruinessen; Julia Day Howell (15 October 2007). Sufism and the 'Modern' in Islam. I.B.Tauris. p. 5. ISBN 978-1-85043-854-0 . Retrieved 21 April 2013.
