By Kashshaf Ghani
Salam to all readers.
It is always a great pleasure to be able to reflect on experiences that have enriched your life in the past, and continue to present opportunities and ideas thereafter.
The 2018 SUSI program – spread over 6 weeks – was a learning experience driven by intense study, perceptive observation and enlightening interaction. As we traversed, geographically, through the religious landscape of the US, we were drawn into deep engagements in the theory and practice of religious pluralism. The result as expected was overwhelming. Those weeks of travel has been no less than a pilgrimage from which many returned wiser.
What I observed then, and continue to explore even now, as standing out in the enormously diverse American religious landscape are the minor faith traditions who on most occasions draw their inspiration from the Christian Church, the teachings of Jesus, canonical and indigenous religious practices – but they build their own belief systems on a bedrock of what I prefer to call ‘inspired spirituality’.
This ‘parallels’ remarkably with my own work on the Islamic spiritual tradition, popularly known as Sufism. Muslim mystics or Sufis draw their inspiration and spiritual nourishment from the revealed text and the Path of Prophet Muhammad. Sufis engage with the Quran beyond its literal reading, through deep spiritual interpretation, leading to a stronger belief towards an inter-personal relation with God.
In another interesting parallel with Christian spiritual communities in the US, Sufism as a term/category/community/spiritual tradition does not find any direct mention in the Islamic scriptures. However Sufi mystics draw their inspiration/legitimation from the following revelation,
Surely, the friends (awliya) of Allah! They shall have no fear, neither shall they grieve (Q 10:62)
As a result Sufis are also popularly known as wali/awliya.
Historical origins of Sufism date from the 8th – 9th century as an expression of intense repulsion towards the Umayyad Caliphate, symbolised by its deep attachment to power, wealth and material pleasure.
The earliest groups of these world-renouncing ascetics strived to understand the inner truths of faith, striving for proximity with Allah, which ultimately led to the concept of Fana or annihilation of the soul in the essence of the Lord. However, monasticism being forbidden in Islam, early Muslim ascetics faced religious and social criticism which led to a shift in their social conduct.
It would require the intervention of one of Islam’s greatest philosophers Abu Hamid Al Ghazzali (d. 1111) in order to bridge the gulf separating scriptural Islam and its mystical traditions. Henceforth, Sufis became more socially rooted, institutionalising themselves into distinct orders, named after the founding-master, or the place of origin – Chishti, Suhrawardi, Qadiri, Naqshbandi
It would be in the course of the political expansion of Islam between the 8th to the 12th century that Sufis would spread across the eastern lands of Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. And perhaps for the first time they found themselves in lands where Islam was not the dominant religion, and among people whose religion and culture were ancient and deep rooted. This marked the beginning from the 12th century onwards of a long history of Sufi interactions and dialogue with Indic traditions, primarily the Hindu society, but later with Yogis, Sikhs and Buddhists as well. These interactions would be multi layered, along lines of scripture, religious belief, devotional practices, ascetic exercises like breath control, literature and poetry, fine arts and painting, among others.
Sufis divided their spiritual journey into many stages, the four main components of which include Sharia, Tariqa, Marifa and Haqiqa, which finally led to the experience of annihilation in the essence of the Lord. Spiritual union is what Sufis aspired for, based on the religious norms laid down in the Quran – prayers, fasting, charity and pilgrimage.
But Sufis exerted themselves by going beyond these practices, the primary of which included silent meditation/muraqaba, recollection of the names and attributes of God/zikr and listening to Divine poetry accompanied by music in praise of the Lord with the aim to create a deep sense of longing and desire for Him/sama.
While practices of zikr and muraqaba are undertaken in an ambience of soberness, sama as a spiritual exercise involving poetry and music much often led to ecstatic reactions within participants. Such expressions of ecstasy are believed to occur only when Divine grace descended on the assembly or the individual, much like the descent of the spirit in Christian mystical traditions. This stage could only be reached at a certain point of the sama assembly, when Sufis sitting in deep contemplation would gently rise and start doing limb movements/raqs. Many would enter into a state of ecstasy/wajd in a seated position, much like at certain stages of meditation/contemplation, participants in Christian spiritual congregations would experience a union with the Divine spirit which manifest itself through expressive physical movements. Resulting in very functionalist names given to such communities – Quaker.
In both the Christian and Islamic mystical traditions these physical expressions and speeches would be un-programmed. They would occur when there is benefaction from the Divine, or Holy Spirit in the form of an inner light that would enlighten the heart of the meditator or listener. It would be an experience of feeling the Holy Spirit descend that would lead the human body to respond in certain ways – through physical movement and verbal expressions, or a complete silence moving into deeper contemplation.
Historically, these spiritual communities in Christian and Islamic traditions remained mostly unconnected and unacquainted. And yet, they lead us towards a profound realisation of the Divine through similar interpersonal spiritual experiences. While their history of persecution is a recorded fact, so is their quest for the Divine, on their own terms. Importantly, such multifarious experiences create valuable opportunities for cross-religious dialogue not only amongst mainstream faith communities but even the minor spiritual ones.
The SUSI program has been commendable in creating a lively-interactive space for scholars across the globe to know and learn from each other, apart from the primary goal of exploring religious traditions in the US – quite importantly, expanding the scope of such an engagement by bringing within the vision and ambit of the program minor faith practices in the US, as well as participant representations from regions-religions across the globe. The idea has been to explore religion not only within religious spaces/institutions in the US, but through its manifestation in various walks of life and social behaviour – idea of State, immigration, ethnic minorities, slavery, racism, teaching, practices of art, native American religion, and most importantly the avenues for interfaith dialogue.
