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Sufism takes many forms, but it always contains two poles: doctrine and method. Doctrine can be summarized as intellectual discrimination between the Real and the unreal, the basis for this being found essentially in the shahadah: " there is not god but God" or "there is no reality but the Reality". Method can be summarized as concentration upon the Real by the "remembrance of God" (dhikr Allah), the invocation of the Divine Name (dhikr means "remembrance", "mention", "invocation"). Both doctrine and method must, however, be complemented by perfect surrender to God and the maintenance of an equilibrium through the spiritual regime, which is Islam. Invocation, is the quintessential means of actualizing the Divine Presence and passing from intellectual theory to experience and realization. In Scholastic terms this is a movement from potency to act - in effect to "union" with God (ittihad) or the realization of the Oneness of God (tawhid), is the goal of Sufism. The Quran often underlines the importance of invocation in words such as these: "Remember God standing and sitting" (3:191); ".....Those who believe and do good works, and remember God much..." (26:227); and "Surely the Remembrance of God is greatest" (wa ladhikru-Llahi akbar) (29:45). The principle of reciprocity between God and man is expressed by God's revealed words: "Therefore remember Me; I will remember you" (fadhkuruni adhkurkum) (2:152). All spiritual method also necessarily involves the practice of the virtues, summarized in the concept of ihsan, the surpassing of self, which a Sacred Hadith defines thus; "Worship God as if you saw Him, for if you do not see him, nevertheless, He sees you." To this, the Sufis add: "And if there were no you, you would see", and make the summation of mystical virtue the quality of "spiritual poverty" (faqr). By faqr they mean emptying the soul of the ego's false "reality" in order to make way for what God wills for the soul. They seek to transform the soul's natural passivity into re-collected wakefulness in the present, mysteriously active as symbolized by the transformation of Musa (alai)'s hand. Humility and love of one's neighbour cut at the root of the illusion of the ego and remove those faults within the soul that are obstacles to the Divine Presence. "You will not enter paradise", the Prophet said, "until you love one another". The disciple should live in surroundings and in an ambience that are aesthetically and morally compatible with spiritual interiorization, in the sense that "The Kingdom of God is within you". The need of such supports for the spiritual life can be summed up in the Hadith: "God is beautiful and He loves beauty". |
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