SUFISM: The Heart and Soul of All To explain further, we may say: “God is everything,

but not everything is God”! To simplify it even more, we

Religions^ could also add: “Everything that exists, is actually an
By: Prof. M.S. Tajar, U.P. Diliman “Intention of God” and God’s Intention is not separate from
Him!”
It was the late philosopher-Jurist-“Sufi”, That is why the “Sufis’ sufi”, the holy man of God,
Mohammad Hosain Tabatabai (1903 –1981 A.D.) of Iran, Mansur Hallaj (858 – 922 A.D.) openly shouted, “I am the
who called Sufism as “The heart and soul of all religions”. In a Truth! Truth is me!” and he paid the ultimate price, for that
sense whether you are a Buddhist, Hindu, Zoroastrian, Jew, “claim” which the ordinary people could not “understand”. He
Christian, Muslim, or anything else, as long as you fall in was burned alive!
love with God (and that means falling in love with His Later on, another great Sufi, supported that claim, in
Creations, great and small, too) and see yourself constantly in his poem, when Shaikh Mahmood Shabistari (1288-1340
His Presence, then you are a Sufi, a Yogi, a Mystic, a Hermit, A.D.) said, “If a bush could claim that I am God/… Why can’t
a Dervish, a Fekir, a Zen, or a Magi, and whatever other a blessed man also say so?” (The bush in the Sinai desert
names that may exist for this type of persons, in any religion talking to Prophet Moses a.s. / Holy Quran 28:30)
or region. That is why even Jesus Christ (another Sufi?) long
One of those blessed men, named Sa-ib of Tabriz time ago, said, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life!” (John
(1601– 1677 A.D.), a great Persian poet and Mystic, once 14:6)
said: Imam Ali (an early saint in Islam) to whom all the
“Just live, with the ‘good’ and the ‘bad’ Sufis relate, as their foremost role model, after the Holy
In a way, O’ Sa-ib of Tabriz, Prophet Mohammad (P.B.U.H) once said:
That should you die one day, “I never saw anything, unless I saw Allah, before it, with it,
-And certainly you will.- and beyond it!” (see “Nahjul Balagha”/p.82)
The Muslims wash you with the Zamzam Water That is probably the meaning of the Quranic verse that says:
And the Hindus burn you on the Varanasi Fire!” “He (Allah) is the First, the Last, the Apparent and the
And that’s the essence of Sufism. Hidden…! – And He is with you wherever you are…” (Holy
It’s true that among every people, and in any religion, Qur’an 57:3-4). No wonder Hallaj said, in a poem, this way:
there are always some soul-conscious and spiritually inclined “Whenever I drink
individuals or groups, who are so blessed, that they “See, hear, A glass of water
and feel” those things that the others (a great majority of I see your Face O’ Darling
mankind) don’t. Those “blessed few” are the cream of the Shining in my cup!”
crop, so to speak, (although they never claim as such) and they Or again he said:
are the Sufis of their time. (“Every nation has got their own “I have seen my Lord
spiritual warners!” Holy Quran 35:24) With the eyes of my heart
According to the late Tabatabai, the relationship of Anytime I saw
God with His creations, and that includes you and I, is that of The face of a flower.”
(1+0) not (1+1) or (1x1). Another great Sufi, Baba Taher “Oryan”/Hamedani, also
In other words, we don’t exist; in fact, nothing else expressed this view in his “Rubaiyyat” by saying:
exists, except Him! (Pantheism or “Wahdatol Wojud” or Whenever I look at the sea
“Wahdatol Maujud?”) Darling, I see your lovely face!
A Sufi is detached from everything of this world, And when I am in the desert
including all the relationships, and is solely attached to his It’s like your hot embrace!
Beloved (God), and thus he has nothing of this world to lose,
and nothing in this world to gain, either. Whichever direction I set my eyes
Shaikh Sa-di (1210–1291 A.D.), the famous poet- Lo! And behold my sweetheart
educator-Sufi of Persia, has described this situation very well: I see nothing but You,
“I have no camels to ride In each and in every place!
Nor am I under any load,
Like a donkey! And Shaikh Sa-di puts the same concept into a
I am not the king of the land, classic Persian couplet, by saying:
Nor am I slave to any king, “The leaves of the trees
I am free of it all!” Which dance in every breeze
A certain Ayatollah in Iran was once asked: “Are you Are the booklets of wisdom
a Sufi?” and he answered: In the knowledge of His!”
“Everybody goes to the ocean (to cleanse themseleves) but Also Abu Saeed Abul Khayr, the great sufi master,
some people stay there, and they fall in love with the ocean, said:
itself!” (the cults of the Sufis) “He who loves you, O’ Lord!
Now, is he a Sufi or is he not? Won’t bother for “self” anymore,
A Sufi reaches a certain level of awareness, and an Nor for the family, or “friends”,
intentional “awakening experience” after which he doesn’t see Or for anything, great or small;
anything else but God, and he sees God in everything! You make him crazy for you
(You are everything, and everything is You!) And you give him both worlds
But those crazy for you,
Won’t want the worlds, at all!”
Now regarding what is the meaning of “Sufi”? Some
scholars say that it comes from the Arabic word “Suuf”
meaning “wool” i.e. the “sackcloth and ashes” that the “Sufis”
use.
However, some others, believe that “Sufi” in Arabic
and in the Islamic literature, came from the Greek word
“Sophia” meaning “Wisdom” and thus the “Sufi” is a
“Wiseman”/Guru, etc.
Still some others say that it came from “suffah”, a place where
the poor Sahabah (i.e. the companions of the Holy Prophet)
used to stay in the mosque of the Holy Prophet Mohammad
(P.B.U.H) in Madinah.
And another group say that it’s from the “suhufi”, i.e. related
to the books of the ancient prophets, etc.
But a Persian Muslim scholar has combined all those
definitions, by saying:
“A Sufi is a person, who wears the wool on top of wisdom
and purity!”
And that’s probably the best definition that I have
heard, regarding Sufism, so far!