Islamic Studies Essay

What is a Sufi and what do they contribute to our world today? How do they affect people especially the Muslim practices? What contributions did they have to the belief about God? How are they different or how are they the same? Citing 2 of the major Sufi figures, we would be able to learn what how their teachings are the same and how they are different from one another. We would also find out how these two imparted their knowledge on the people and how they contributed to the life of the Muslim believers. â€Å"Sufi† is derived from an Arabic word â€Å"suf† which means wool. This was used to call the Muslim ascetics and mystics because the Sufi’s dress is made out of this material. Sufis are actually human beings who have exceptional devotions to God or to Allah that they forget their very own selves because of the thought that their soul is absorbed into God. They engage themselves in devotional practices that raise them higher until they reached the point that they believe that they are one with God. Their belief and actions are usually subjects of suspicion by Muslim theologians and lawyers because their actions are near blasphemous but the Sufi’s desire is to teach happiness and that we should separate ourselves from the worldly things and discover God in our hearts. They seek illumination and they what they see is harmony. A Sufi’s belief is that there is more to life than just experiencing the physical things. They also consider having a much greater mission why we are alive and that they also believe that one’s own self is not a barrier to the illusions that they were able to see (Khan). Examining the life and teachings of two Major Sufi Figures, we can see how they differ in their teachings and how similar their mystical pronouncements are. Abu Hamid al Ghazali was one of the exceptional scholars and Sufi in Islam. His life and his works are still studied by theologians, of jurisprudence and philosophy and mysticism. Al Ghazali started learning when his father left him and his brother under the care of a Sufi friend before he died. His father left them money with a request that the Sufi must see to it that they will be taught how to read and write. When the funds ran out they were sent to school where Ghazali excelled in Islam studies, he became a teacher but with his decision, he stopped teaching because of a Sufi belief that his motivation for teaching is not for Allah. As he was following a Sufi path which has prerequisites that you should give up everything and loose yourself and do everything for the sake of Allah (Cole). Ghazali spent the rest of his lives going on a spiritual journey for 11 years and went back to Tus, he taught for awhile and then he stayed for another 9 years until his death. What were Al Ghazali’s thoughts that influenced the Muslims? Al Ghazali’s techniques were adopted from the Aristotelian logic and the Neoplatonic procedures. Al Ghazali wants to prove God’s existence from the creation to Ash’arite proof. Ghazali believes that God’s attributes are something different from, yet added to, God’s essence. That he believes that God has attributes like humans that is knowledgeable, has life and his own will, can see, can hear and can talk He also believed that whatever happened from creation until now, with the changes that are happening in this world is just a result of God’s knowledge, His own will and his power (Nakamura). Al Ghazali as well believes that there are two powers affecting human acts, that is of God and the human’s power in him. This belief of Al Ghazali implicates that human action is both God’s will and that it is at the same time acquired by that human from God and this is what Al Ghazali wants to harmonize, God’s Omnipotence and the person’s responsibility for his chosen action (Nakamura). Al Ghazali believes that God can place any obligations that he wishes upon humans, that He gives rewards and punishments according to the person’s faithfulness to God and that God’s acts are beyond human’s judgment. The thought that God created all creatures; he cannot be unjust (Nakamura). Ghazali, as one of the greatest theologians really have a deep and lasting influence. His teachings spread to Europe, influenced the Jewish and the Christian Scholasticism even adopted by St. Thomas Aquinas. With his strong argument in favor of religion, he was accused of damaging the cause of philosophy (Averros). Another Sufi figure is Shayk Ahmad al-Ansa’i who is a native of Eastern Arabia. He is under the protection of the princes of Qajar who were responsible for the restoration of Shi’ism as the state religion of Iran. Little is known about Shayk Ahmad but his usage of the symbolic language and the controversial mystical Shayki order that was established after his name was known only after his death (Cole). What are the teachings and the influences of Shayk Ansa’I to the Muslims and the belief about God? Shayk Ahmad put studied this saying from a prophet: â€Å"God wrote a Text (kitabah) two thousand years before He created the universe, on a myrtle leaf that He caused to grow. He placed it upon the Throne, then called out: `O community of Muhammad–peace be upon him and his House–My compassion transcends My wrath. I have given to you before you even asked, and forgiven you before you sought forgiveness. Whoso among you bears witness that there is no God but Me, and that Muhammad is My servant and messenger, I shall usher him into paradise by reason of my compassion (Cole). † Shayk Ansa’I believes that the text, took form of a Leaf which are made up of lines which then God shaped the world (Cole). He believes that God as the Universal intellect and as the Universal soul. He explains that God called the Muslims before he even created the world. That Muslims even before asking may have the gift that they would ask for. Thus these Muslims would depend on their devotion to God. Shayk Ansa’I compared the human existence to a leaf that like the lines in a leaf, human beings are the embodiments of that pre existing text on earth. Shayk Ahmad quotes, in his mystical and his theological anthology, from â€Å"one of the learned† about how the Tree of Certainty was created by God. The passage says that there is a bloom of Muhammad in a shape of a peacock, which would praise God for seventy thousand years. That this peacock bowed to God five times thus where the 5 daily of Islam originated. From the light from Muhammad, the spirits of the believers were created they then became the Muslims. These two beliefs and teachings from two major Sufi figures display a difference in their teachings. One difference that they have is that the belief of the creation of the world. In the belief of Al Ghazali, that human were created as a result of God’s knowledge, His own will and his power. This implicates that this was the choice of God to create human beings and other creatures. That it is God’s will that human beings be made and not just an accidental circumstance. Unlike the belief of Shayk Ahmad that Muslims were chosen even before the creation of the world and that they are the chosen ones. The belief that through the light of Muhammad the souls of the followers were made is a different belief to what Al Ghazali stated. Another difference that has been cited is that, Al Ghazali believes that a person is responsible for his own action. The reward and punishment given by God depends on the person’s obedience and disobedience. This means that there would be a just distribution of the graces and punishments depending on how one lives his life. This may mean that a person is responsible for his own life. Unlike the belief of Shayk Ahmad, that since Muslims were chosen by God before the creation, they were given the graces before they ask of it. They just depend on their devotional practices in order to praise God and receive the graces that they are longing for. Another difference that these two Sufi figures have is the belief of Al Ghazali that human beings have their own free will and that they are the ones responsible for living their own lives. What would happen to them would be affected by God’s power and the consequence of their own action. Shayk Ahmad’s belief on this one is that Muslims, the chosen ones will be blessed. No matter how they live their lives they will be given the graces they seek. They just have to practice their daily devotions for them to have their graces even before they ask of it. However they are not at all different. They also have the same attributes. One same belief both of these Sufi figures have is that human beings were created by one Supreme Being. They are created by God, however different they may be in presenting how creatures came to life, but they are still from one God. Another is that, they both believe that there is one Supreme Being that they need to look up to and give praise for what we have in this world. They both believe that there is a God that we have to thank for our very own lives and for our everyday existence. Another thing that they are the same is that they both believe God gives us graces. How different their beliefs is on how they are given by God, they are in an agreement that God gives human beings blessings that they need. We can see as we have compared the two major Sufi figures, we were able to see how the same and how different their teachings can be. The teachings that they imparted on the Muslims affected their beliefs and divided them into different sects. It is the person’s choice now of whom to believe in order to live their life following what that Supreme Being expects of His creations. As we can see, no matter whom we follow, no matter what belief we have, the guidance of that one Supreme Being is very important to each one of us. There is neither exact religion nor sect which would say that this is the right one for us, but what is important that we have our own beliefs. We have our own rights to practice what we believe in order for us to have that life that God wanted us to have. All we have to keep in mind now is how to live a life that may be harmonious with others, that we would be decreasing conflicts with other believers. One practice that one may do, help Christians to be good Christians or help Muslims to be good Muslims, no matter what religion you are, you are a creation of God. Works Cited: Cole, Juan R. I. Individualism and the Spiritual Path in Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa’i.Occasional Papers in Shaykhi, Babi and Baha’i Studies No. 4 (September, 1997). http://www. h-net. org/~bahai/bhpapers/ahsaind. htm Cole, Juan R. I. Cosmologies of Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa’i. The World as Text: Cosmologies of Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa’i. (1994) http://www-personal. umich.edu/~jrcole/ahsai2. htm Khan, Hidayat Inayat. What is a Sufi? The International Sufi Movement. (June 2005) http://www. sufimovement. org/whatsufiis. htm http://www. ghazali. org/articles/gz1. htm http://www. h-net. org/~bahai/areprint/ahsai/ahsai. htm.