SUFISM: The Heart and Soul of All Religions

By: Prof. M.S. Tajar, U.P. Diliman

It was the late Philosopher- Jurist- "Sufi", Mohammad
Hosain Tabatabai of Iran, who called "Sufism" the heart and soul of
all religions".
It means whether you are a Buddhist, a Hindu, a Jew, a Christian, a
Muslim, etc , you could still be a Sufi, as long as you fall in love
with God (and that means falling in love with His Creations too,
great or small). When you see yourself constantly in His Presence,
then you are a Sufi, a Yogi, a Mystic, a Hermit, a Dervish, a Fekir a
Zen, and whatever name there is, for this type of a person, in any
region or religion.
One of those blessed men was Sa-ib of Tabriz, (1601-1677
A.D.) a great Persian poet and Mystic, living in India; he once said:
"Live your life so well,
O' Sa-ib of Tabriz
That should you die one day,
And surely you will!
The Muslims wash you in The
"Zam-Zam" of Makkah
And the Hindus burn your body,
In the Holy Varanasi!"
And that is the essence of Sufism, or Sufism in a "Nutshell"
From amongst every people, and in any religion, there are
always some soul-conscious and spiritually inclined individuals or
groups, who are so blessed that they "See, hear, and feel" what the
others (a great majority) of mankind, dont. These "blessed few are
the cream of the crop", so to speak, (although they never claim as
such) and they are the real Sufis (And probably these are those,
whom the Holy Qur'an has termed as' "The warners, among every
people!"/H.Q.35:240 ) of their times.
(A good example of these men, could be "Confucious" in
China/551-479 B.C.)
According to the late Tabatabai, the relationship between
God and His Creations, which includes you and I, is that of (1+0) not
(1+1) or (1x1).
In other words, we dont exist; in fact, nothing else exists,
except Him! (Thats the true Pan-theism or "Wahdat il-wojud" of
Ibnil Arabi Al-Murci of Spain, as well as the "I am the truth" of the
Persian Sufi Mansur Al-Hallaj, and "I am the Way" of the Jesus of
Nazareth, etc.
A Sufi is detached from everything of this world, including
all the relationships, and is solely attached to his Beloved (God), and
thus he has nothing of this world to gain or to lose, anymore.
Shaikh Sa-adi, the renowned poet-educator- Sufi of Persia
described his reality very well:
"I have no camel to ride
"Nor I am under any load,
"Like a donkey!
"I am not a king of the land,
"Nor I am an slave to any king,
"I am free of it all!"
A certain Ayatullah in Iran was asked, one day: "Are you a
Sufi?"He answered:
"Everybody goes to the Ocean (to clean oneself) but some
people stay there and fall in love with the ocean itself" (the cult of
Sufis).
Now, is he or is he not?
A Sufi gets into "Awareness" through
Meditation/Zikr/Chelleh, Trance, etc. an intentional "awakening
experience" after which he doesnt see anything but God, and he
feels God in everything, everywhere, every time! (=you are my
everything).
And everything that he does (and he may be very active, too)
is directed toward One Goal", and that is the "Glory of God!"
Imam Ali (an early saint in Islam) to whom all the Muslim
Sufis relate, as their foremost guru, once said: "I have seen nothing in
my life, unless I have seen also the Almighty Allah, before it, with it,
and after it!"
And Shaikh Sa-adi put the same concept into a classic
Persian couplet, by saying:
"The leaves of the trees
Which dance in every breeze
Each one is a booklet
Of the Knowledge of His!"
And another Sufi said:
"He who came to know You
Won't bother for "self" anymore,
Nor for the family, children,
Or anything, at all!
You make him crazy for You
And you give him both of these worlds!
But he who is crazy, for You
Won't want, anything to do
With the "goods" of
These worlds, thats all!"

Abu Sa-id Abul Khair/Persian Sufi 900 A.D.

Indeed, Sufism is the heart, and soul of all religions!