They call Sufism “the pure essence of all religions” and believe that Sufism has always existed, only its appearance changed in accordance with one or another cultural and historical environment.

Sufis, who often call themselves “people of true existence,” from century to century bring to the world, along with their teachings, their art, which reflects their perception of beauty. Sufi symbolism, images and motifs permeate a significant part of eastern folklore, literature, especially poetry.

This is almost all Persian-Iranian classical poetry that has received a worldwide vocation. The names of Sufi poets have become textbook: Sanai, Rumi, Hafiz, Jami, Nizami. The same, but to a lesser extent, can be said about Arabic and Turkic literature, poetry, and folklore.

What is Sufism?

The root "sufi" means "pure". It corresponds to the essence of Sufi teaching and the spiritual appearance of its best representatives. True masters of Sufism, true Sufis, are truly pure from dogmatism and fanaticism, free from caste, religious, and national prejudices.

The strong desire for ethical purity and impeccability inherent in Sufis contributed to securing another name for them in the Arab world - Knights of Purity (Sahaba-i-Safa).

Due to its great flexibility and openness to external influences, Sufism is now a heterogeneous formation. Its various currents, directions, schools, groups are distinguished by the emphasis on certain aspects of the methodology, the preference for certain practical methods. Among their number, a number of orders known for their ancient traditions are usually distinguished, as well as 12 main (“mother”) brotherhoods, such as Alkadiriyya, Naqshbandiyya, Maulawiyya, etc. In addition, there are many other structural formations of Sufism: smaller brotherhoods, communities , centers, monasteries, circles.

Sufism is based on the idea that the universe consists of 7 “realms of existence.” We are talking about the multidimensionality of space.

The subtlest spatial dimension, which Sufis call Zat, is the Abode of God in the aspect of the Creator. The Creator and all the diversity of His Creation (in Sufi terminology - Sifat) form the Absolute. The Creator permeates the entire Creation with His Love.

The multidimensional human organism, being similar in its structure to the multidimensional structure of the Absolute, can reveal in itself more subtle “types of being.” This is done through the process of self-knowledge and self-improvement.

Thus, only through comprehension of his true essence can a person achieve direct perception of God and gain unity with Him. This is very succinctly expressed by one of the hadiths of the Sunnah, which says: “He who knows himself, knows God.” On final stages such comprehension is individual human consciousness merges with Divine Consciousness.

This ultimate goal is described in the Sufi tradition as the highest state of consciousness Baqi-bi-Allah (Eternity in God). In the Hindu and Buddhist traditions, this term corresponds to Kaivalya, Mahanirvana, Moksha.

The basis of Sufism is love (mahabba, hubb). Sufis even sometimes speak of their teaching as a “hymn of Divine Love” and call it tassa-wuri - “love-vision”. Love is seen in Sufism as the force that leads to a constant strengthening of the feeling of inclusion in God.

This process leads to the understanding that there is nothing in the world except God, Who is both Lover and Beloved.

One of the basic principles of Sufism is “Ishq Allah, Mabut Allah” (“God is Lover and Beloved”).

A truly loving Sufi gradually sinks, drowns and dissolves in the Creator - in his Beloved.

The perception of God as the Beloved comes from direct, immediate experience. Sufis describe it as follows. When a person travels a certain distance along the Path of Love, God begins to help the seeker much more actively, attracting him to His Abode. And then a person begins to feel more and more clearly the reciprocal Divine Love.

Let us trace how such love leading to God develops, based on the ideas of Jalal ad-Din Rumi.

It happens:

1) through the development of emotional, heartfelt love for everything that is most beautiful and harmonious in the world;

2) through active, sacrificial, love-service to people;

3) then - through expanding the circle of this love to all manifestations of the world without distinction; Sufis say about this: “If you make differences between things that come from God, you are not a person of the spiritual Path. If you think that a diamond will exalt you, and a simple stone will humiliate you, then God is not with you”;

4) this developed love for all elements of Creation is redirected to the Creator - and then the person begins to see, in the words of Rumi, that “the Beloved is in everything.”

Obviously, this concept of Love is identical to those presented in the Bhagavad Gita and the New Testament: the same main milestones, the same emphasis. True love is considered in Sufism, as well as in the best spiritual schools of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity, as the only force that can lead to God.

When Christ came, the Sufis were among the first to listen to His Teachings, and in the time of Muhammad, the Sufis from Mount Jafa were the first to respond to his call. It was Muhammad who opened the way for the Sufis to Arabia, where they had numerous followers... From there Sufism penetrated into Persia. However, wherever Sufis expressed their free views, they invariably suffered from attacks from the dominant religion.

The art of Sufism reached perfection in India, which for a very long time was a country of highest spirituality.

Over time, Sufism has been imbued with many religions and has in turn influenced many of them.

In ancient times, the Brotherhood of Purity - Safa - was founded. His main point was this: know yourself and you will know God. These brothers, who knew their nature, were Sufis, because Sufism is the doctrine of self-knowledge.

In every school (of Sufism) the goal is remains the same, only the methods of achieving it change. The highest goal of every Sufi school was and remains the achievement of that Perfection that Jesus Christ taught and about which the Bible says: “...Be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.”

The method of Sufism is always fundamentally one in - getting rid of one's “I”. But what kind of “I”? Not the real, but the false “I”, on which a person depends and on the basis of which he considers himself to be someone different from others. Having abandoned this false “I”, he gives the opportunity to his true “I” to manifest itself in visible world. The Sufi method allows one to reveal... the true “I” - the eternal one, to whom all strength and beauty belong.

Many people say, “We only believe in Moses or Christ.” Others claim that they believe only in the Vedas or other ancient scriptures. But for a Sufi it does not matter who exactly said this or that; the essence of what was said is important.

The Sufi sees the truth in every faith. He will never say that this or that religion is not his.

And yet the true mosque of the Sufi is in his heart, in which the Beloved lives...

Sufism is a religion - if someone wants to learn faith from it; it is philosophy - if someone wants to learn wisdom from it; it is mysticism - for the one who strives to be guided by it in the revelation of his soul. He is Light, he is Life, nourishing every soul and elevating the mortal to immortality. He is a message of Love, Harmony and Beauty. This is a Divine Message. It, however, is not contained in words, but in Divine Light and Energy, which heal souls, giving them peace and the peace of God.

A person’s vulnerable place always lies in the fact that he considers as truth only what is familiar, and what he is not accustomed to hearing or thinking about scares him. But the path to Perfection means rising above limitations, striving to such a height from where the eye can no longer distinguish the borders of individual countries or continents, but sees the whole world as a whole. The higher you rise, the wider the horizon becomes.

What is good for one person may be bad for another. In the East, in a place where respect is to be shown, people cover their heads with a hat or turban, while in the West, in the same cases, they should remove the hat, that is, everything is done exactly the opposite. In the East, before entering a Hindu temple, mosque or other sacred building, you must take off your shoes; in the West it is not allowed to go to church barefoot.

Sufi religion- only Love, therefore other prescriptions of other religions are nothing for him.

The Sufi's task- remove covers. The human soul is so densely hidden by all kinds of vibrations that it cannot see itself under them. Through meditation and special practices, the Sufi first “puts away” the physical body and surveys what he can see without it. He then removes himself from astral plane, on which a person lives in his thoughts and feelings - and he sees that he is aware of himself without this plan.

Humanity can be divided into three main groups. The first group includes animal people, the second - demon people, and the third - human beings.

The human animal thinks only about food and drink, his actions are no different from the actions of an animal limited to satisfying natural needs.

A person endowed with demonic qualities is one in whom the “I”, the ego, has become so strong and powerful and therefore so blind that it has almost completely replaced any sense of nobility, kindness, justice. Such a creature takes pleasure in the suffering of another, responds with evil to good, and experiences pleasure from bad deeds. The number of people belonging to this group is large.

Then there is a reasonable person...

Mahatma is an enlightened soul. He looks at life from a different point of view. He thinks more about others than about himself; his life is devoted to good deeds; he does not expect gratitude or reward for everything he does for others, he does not seek praise and is not afraid of blasphemy. Connected on one side of his being with God and the other with the material world, he lives as harmoniously as possible.

Why is he forced to fight? The answer is: there is always a confrontation between a person, striving upward, and a headwind, carrying him back. The constant resistance of this wind is felt by everyone who takes steps on the path of progress. The wind is a conflict with oneself, a conflict with others, a conflict with surrounding circumstances, a conflict arising from everything until every part of the Mahatma is tested and tried until his patience is completely exhausted and his ego is destroyed. This is the position of a warrior who has embarked on the path of spirituality, because everything is against him: friends, although they do not know about it, enemies, circumstances, environment, his own self.

If words of insult and actions dictated by disgust or hatred are met with a response, then this creates even greater disharmony in the world. By giving way to disharmony, we allow it to grow and multiply. Where did the great divisions, unrest and strife that we now see prevailing in the world come from? It seems to be out of disregard for the fact that disharmony creates disharmony and it will multiply. If a person is insulted, he has a natural need to respond with an even greater insult. As a result, he receives short-term satisfaction that he responded well, but the energy that came from the offender influenced him, and these two forces created even greater disharmony.

“Non-resistance to evil” means not returning the disharmony that has come to you, not being like a person playing tennis and hitting the ball with his racket.

Harmony can be compared to a rock in the sea: in wind and storm it stands firm; the waves violently attack it, but the rock withstands their onslaught, allowing them to beat against itself. By fighting disharmony, we increase it; By refusing to fight it, we are avoiding adding fuel to a fire that would otherwise increase and lead to destruction.

If you train yourself to “fend off” evil, then the desire to contradict will eventually develop in a person into passion - so that he will begin to contradict even his own ideas if they are expressed by another.

He carefully watches his every movement and expression - just like other people, trying to form a consonant chord of harmony between himself and others.

Life in the material world has a constant irritating effect and the subtler we become, the harder it becomes for us. The time comes when the more humble, full of good will, the kinder and more supportive a person becomes, the worse life becomes for him. Discouraged, he will slide down; but if he maintains his courage, he will find in the end that it is not a loss, for his powers have so increased and reached such a level, such a degree, that now his presence, his word and action will control thoughts, feelings and actions others. His own rhythm will become powerful and will set the rhythm for everyone who follows him.

But in order to withstand the onslaught of incoherence coming from without, we must practice resilience against everything that comes from within, from our own self.

To be humble is to find satisfaction in self-denial.

Self-denial cannot be a virtue if it is the result of helplessness and develops into dissatisfaction. The nature of the ego is to resent everything in life, but if a person humbles himself in the face of difficulties and at the same time experiences satisfaction, then even if he does not get what he wants, he rises above it. Therefore, a truly humble soul perceives even such external defeat as success.

Humility is the quality of holy souls.

Whatever position a person occupies in life, whatever power he has, there is always a more powerful will, manifested in one form or another. Truly, this is the Divine Will. By resisting the Divine Will, a person can destroy himself; but humility before the Divine Will reveals the Path before him. Humility has the nature of water: if something blocks the way, it takes a different direction and flows anyway, continuing its path until it meets the ocean. That is why holy souls walked the path of humility and yet kept their will alive. This will has the power to pave its own Path.

To endure the constant pressure of the environment, to be loaded with responsibility, to suffer from hostility - this is much harder and more magnificent than being an ascetic in the jungle.

The greatest and highest goal that every soul must achieve is God. Self-denial is necessary in everything, and this highest Goal requires the highest renunciation of oneself.

Objects and living beings seem to be separated on the surface of existence, but below the surface on each plane they come closer and closer until, finally, on the very last and hidden plane they merge into One.

Every disturbance of peace on the surface of the slightest part of existence inwardly affects the Whole. Therefore, every thought, word or action that disturbs peace is untruth, evil and sin, and those that restore peace are truth, goodness or virtue.

The disturbance of the slightest part of life disturbs the Whole and returns as a curse on the one who caused this disturbance, and any peace produced on the surface comforts the Whole and returns to its source in the form of peace. This philosophy emphasizes the idea of ​​rewarding good deeds and punishing bad deeds. Retribution and punishment are carried out by higher powers.

The sages of all eras tried to learn only one thing - humility before the Will of God. In this way they reached a level where they could perceive things from God's point of view.

Life is a place where you need to move gently. In thoughts, speech or actions, one must keep the rhythm under control; in everything you do, you must observe the law of harmony.

The only way to find satisfaction and peace is to dive into the Ocean of Love, and then it will become obvious that there is nothing unfair in the world; never again will we call anything unfair. This is the level that sages reach. They call it the zenith of wisdom.

Self-pity is the worst of misfortunes. It overwhelms a person, and he sees nothing but his problems and pains; and then it seems to him that he is the most unfortunate, the most unfortunate in the world.

Sometimes we find satisfaction in self-pity. The reason for this lies in our natural desire to seek satisfaction in love, but when we are chained with thoughts only to ourselves, we begin to love only ourselves, and then self-pity grows. But self-love always ends in dissatisfaction, because the self was not created to be loved: it was created to love.

The first condition of love is to forget about yourself. You cannot love someone else and yourself at the same time, and if a person says: “You give me this, and I will give you this in return,” this is a strange love, more like trading.

Man's ego is a false ego. The Ego of God is the true Ego. But what is ego? The ego is part of a line: one end is the Ego of God, and the other is the ego of man, the latter being false because man has shrouded it in illusions, calling it his “I”. Therefore, as soon as this ego is destroyed by love, wisdom or meditation, the clouds enveloping it dissipate and the real Ego - the Ego of God - manifests itself.

Some people notice only the circumstances of their own life, while others look at the lives of many other people - these are different horizons.

We say that this or that makes us unhappy, but the real reason is distance from God; the soul is unhappy in its isolation.

There is a desire to brush aside everything, to isolate yourself from everyone else. But this is not the purpose of birth on Earth. It is about achieving Perfection.

Death is simply the liberation of the soul from limitations and from its greatest captivity. Death is nothing more than the removal of one of its clothes from the soul and the return of this cover to the plane from which it was taken.

Today we must give up our body so that we do not experience the pain of losing what we consider most precious.

The physical body weighs heavily on the soul, and on the day when this burden is removed, the soul experiences relief; her abilities, aspirations, inspiration, strength - everything manifests itself with greater freedom. So death is not a loss.

What brings us to death? Either the body is too weak to properly serve the soul, or the soul has fulfilled its purpose on this plane and no longer needs the body.

Sufism - what is it? Science has not yet created a clear and unified understanding of this most complex and multifaceted direction of Muslim religious thought.

Over the many centuries of its existence, it covered not only the entire Muslim world, but also managed to penetrate into Europe. Echoes of Sufism can be found in Spain, countries and Sicily.

What is Sufism

Sufism is a special mystical-ascetic movement in Islam. His followers believed that direct spiritual communication between a person and a deity, achieved through long-term special practices, was possible. Understanding the essence of deity is the only goal that Sufis strived for throughout their lives. This mystical “path” was expressed in the moral purification and self-improvement of man.

The Sufi's "path" consisted of a constant pursuit of God, called maqamat. With sufficient diligence, maqamat could be accompanied by instant insights that were similar to short-term ecstasies. But it is worth noting that such ecstatic states were not for Sufis an end in themselves to be strived for, but served only as a means for a deeper knowledge of the essence of the deity.

The many faces of Sufism

Initially, Sufism was one of the directions of Islamic asceticism, and only in the 8th-10th centuries the teaching fully developed as an independent movement. At the same time, Sufis had their own religious schools. But even under this condition, Sufism never became a clear and harmonious system of views.

The fact is that at all times of its existence, Sufism greedily absorbed many ideas from ancient mythology, Zoroastrianism, Gnosticism, Christian theosophy and mysticism, subsequently easily combining them with local beliefs and cult traditions.

Sufism - what is it? This concept can be served by the following general name, which unites many movements, schools and branches with various ideas of the “mystical path”, which have only a common final goal- direct communication with God.

The ways to achieve this goal were very diverse - physical exercises, special psychotechnics, auto-training. All of them were built into certain Sufi practices, spread through brotherhoods. Understanding these numerous practices gave rise to a new wave of varieties of mysticism.

Beginning of Sufism

Initially, Sufis were the name given to Muslim ascetics who, as usual, wore a woolen cape “suf”. This is where the term “tasawwuf” comes from. This word appeared only 200 years after the time of the Prophet Muhammad and meant “mysticism.” From this it follows that Sufism appeared much later than many movements in Islam, and subsequently it became a kind of successor to some of them.

The Sufis themselves believed that Muhammad, with his ascetic lifestyle, showed his followers the only true path for spiritual development. Before him, many prophets in Islam were content with little, which earned them great respect from the people.

A significant role in the development of Muslim asceticism was played by “ahl al-suffa” - the so-called “people of the bench”. This is a small group of poor people who gathered in the Medina mosque and spent time in fasting and prayer. The Prophet Muhammad himself treated them with great respect and even sent some to preach Islam among small Arab tribes lost in the desert. Having significantly improved their well-being on such trips, the former ascetics easily got used to a new, more well-fed way of life, which allowed them to easily renounce their ascetic beliefs.

But the tradition of asceticism in Islam did not die; it found successors among itinerant preachers, collectors of hadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad), as well as among former Christians who converted to the Muslim faith.

The first Sufi communities appeared in Syria and Iraq in the 8th century and quickly spread throughout the Arab East. Initially, Sufis fought only to pay more attention to the spiritual aspects of the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad. Over time, their teachings absorbed many other superstitions, and hobbies such as music, dancing, and sometimes the use of hashish became commonplace.

Rivalry with Islam

Relations between Sufis and representatives of orthodox movements of Islam have always been very difficult. And the point here is not only in the fundamental differences in teaching, although they were significant. Sufis prioritized the purely personal experiences and revelations of each believer, in contrast to the orthodox, for whom the main thing was the letter of the Law, and a person had only to strictly obey it.

In the first centuries of the formation of Sufi teachings, official movements in Islam fought with it for power over the hearts of believers. However, with the growth of his popularity, the Sunni orthodox were forced to come to terms with this situation. It often happened that Islam could penetrate into remote pagan tribes only with the help of Sufi preachers, since their teaching was closer and more understandable ordinary people.

No matter how rational Islam may be, Sufism made its rigid postulates more spiritual. He made people remember own soul, preached kindness, justice and brotherhood. In addition, Sufism was very flexible, and therefore absorbed all local beliefs like a sponge, returning them to the people more enriched from a spiritual point of view.

By the 11th century, the ideas of Sufism had spread throughout the Muslim world. It was at this moment that Sufism turned from an intellectual movement into a truly popular one. Sufi teachings about the “perfect man,” where perfection is achieved through asceticism and abstinence, was close and understandable to the poor people. It gave people hope for a heavenly life in the future and said that divine mercy would not bypass them.

Oddly enough, having been born in the depths of Islam, Sufism did not draw much from this religion, but it happily accepted many theosophical constructs of Gnosticism and Christian mysticism. Eastern philosophy also played a major role in the formation of the doctrine; it is almost impossible to briefly describe all the diversity of its ideas. However, the Sufis themselves have always considered their teaching to be an internal, hidden doctrine, a secret underlying the Koran and other messages left by many prophets in Islam before the coming of Muhammad.

Philosophy of Sufism

With the growing number of followers in Sufism, the intellectual side of the teaching gradually began to develop. Deep religious, mystical and philosophical constructs could not be understood by ordinary people, but they satisfied the needs of educated Muslims, among whom there were also many who were interested in Sufism. Philosophy has always been considered the destiny of the chosen few, but without a deep study of its doctrines, not a single religious movement can exist.

The most widespread movement in Sufism is associated with the name of the “Great Sheikh” - the mystic Ibn Arabi. He is the author of two famous works: “The Meccan Revelations”, which is rightfully considered an encyclopedia of Sufi thought, and “Gemmas of Wisdom”.

God in the Arabi system has two essences: one is intangible and unknowable (batin), and the other is a clear form (zahir), expressed in all the diversity of creatures living on earth, created in the divine image and likeness. In other words, everyone living in the world is just a mirror, reflecting the image of the Absolute, the true essence of which remains hidden and unknowable.

Another common teaching of intellectual Sufism was wahdat al-shuhud - the doctrine of the unity of testimony. It was developed in the 14th century by the Persian mystic Ala ad-Dawla al-Simnani. This teaching said that the goal of the mystic is not to attempt to connect with the deity, since this is completely impossible, but only to search for the only the right way exactly how to worship him. This comes only if a person strictly observes all the requirements of the Holy Law, which people received through the revelations of the Prophet Muhammad.

Thus, Sufism, whose philosophy was distinguished by a pronounced mysticism, was still able to find ways to reconcile with orthodox Islam. It is possible that the teachings of al-Simnani and his many followers allowed Sufism to continue its completely peaceful existence within the Muslim world.

Sufi literature

It is difficult to appreciate the diversity of ideas that Sufism brought to the Muslim world. The books of Sufi scholars have rightfully entered the treasury of world literature.

During the period of development and formation of Sufism as a teaching, Sufi literature also appeared. It was very different from what already existed in other Islamic movements. The main idea Many works attempted to prove the kinship of Sufism with orthodox Islam. Their goal was to show that the ideas of the Sufis are fully consistent with the laws of the Koran, and their practices in no way contradict the way of life of a devout Muslim.

Sufi scholars tried to interpret the Koran in their own way, with the main attention being paid to verses - places that were traditionally considered incomprehensible to the mind common man. This caused extreme indignation among orthodox interpreters, who were categorically against any speculative assumptions and allegories when commenting on the Koran.

According to Islamic scholars, the Sufis also treated hadiths (traditions about the deeds and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad) very freely. They were not very concerned about the reliability of this or that evidence; they paid Special attention only their spiritual component.

Sufism never denied Islamic law (fiqh) and regarded it as an immutable aspect of religion. However, among Sufis the Law becomes more spiritual and sublime. It is justified from a moral point of view, and therefore does not allow Islam to completely turn into a rigid system that requires its followers only to strictly fulfill all religious instructions.

Practical Sufism

But in addition to highly intellectual Sufism, which consists of complex philosophical and theological constructs, another direction of teaching also developed - the so-called pragmatic Sufism. What it is, you can guess if you remember how popular various eastern exercises and meditations are these days, aimed at improving one or another aspect of a person’s life.

In pragmatic Sufism, two main schools can be distinguished. They proposed their own, carefully developed practices, the implementation of which should provide direct intuitive communication with the deity.

The first school was founded by the Persian mystic Abu Yazid al-Bistami, who lived in the 9th century. The main postulate of his teaching was the achievement of ecstatic delight (galaba) and “intoxication with the love of God” (sukr). He argued that through long meditation on the unity of the deity, one can gradually achieve a state when a person’s own “I” completely disappears, dissolves in the deity. At this moment, a role reversal occurs when the personality becomes a deity, and the deity becomes a personality.

The founder of the second school was also a mystic from Persia, his name was Abu-l-Qasima Junayd al-Baghdadi. He recognized the possibility of ecstatic union with the deity, but urged his followers to move further, from “intoxication” to “sobriety.” In this case, the deity transformed himself and he returned to the world not only renewed, but also endowed with the rights of the messiah (baka). This new being could fully control his ecstatic states, visions, thoughts and feelings, and therefore serve even more effectively for the benefit of people, enlightening them.

Practices in Sufism

Sufi practices were so diverse that it is not possible to subordinate them to any system. However, among them there are several of the most common ones, which many still use today.

The most famous practice is the so-called Sufi whirling. They make it possible to feel like the center of the world and feel a powerful circulation of energy around. From the outside it looks like a quick spin with your eyes open and your arms raised. This is a kind of meditation that ends only when the exhausted person falls to the ground, thereby completely merging with it.

In addition to whirling, Sufis practiced a variety of methods of cognition of the deity. These could be long meditations, certain silences for several days, dhikr (something similar to meditative recitation of mantras) and much more.

Sufi music has always been an integral part of such practices and was considered one of the most powerful means for bringing a person closer to the deity. This music is still popular in our time; it is rightfully considered one of the most beautiful creations of the culture of the Arab East.

Sufi brotherhoods

Over time, brotherhoods began to arise in the bosom of Sufism, the purpose of which was to give a person certain means and skills for direct communication with God. This is the desire to achieve some freedom of spirit as opposed to the mundane laws of orthodox Islam. And today in Sufism there are many dervish brotherhoods, differing from each other only in the ways of achieving fusion with the deity.

These brotherhoods are called tariqats. Initially, this term was applied to any clear practical method of the “path” of the Sufi, but over time, only those practices that gathered around themselves began to be called this way. greatest number followers.

From the moment the fraternities appeared, a special institution of relations began to take shape within them. Everyone who wanted to follow the path of a Sufi had to choose a spiritual mentor - a Murshid or Sheikh. It is believed that it is impossible to go through the tariqah on your own, since a person without a guide risks losing his health, his mind, and possibly his life itself. On the path, the student must obey his teacher in every detail.

In the era of the heyday of teaching in the Muslim world, there were 12 largest tariqas; later they gave birth to many more side branches.

With the development of the popularity of such associations, their bureaucratization deepened even more. The system of relations “student-teacher” was replaced by a new one - “novice-saint”, and the murid was no longer subject to the will of his teacher, but to the rules established within the framework of the brotherhood.

The most important among the rules was complete and unconditional submission to the head of the tariqa - the bearer of “grace”. It was also important to strictly observe the charter of the brotherhood and strictly carry out all the mental and physical practices prescribed by this charter. Like many other secret orders, the Tariqah developed mysterious initiation rituals.

There are groups that have managed to survive to this day. The largest of them are Shaziri, Qadiri, Nakhshabandi and Tijani.

Sufism today

Today, it is customary to call Sufis all those who believe in the possibility of direct communication with God and are ready to make any effort to achieve the mental state in which this becomes real.

Currently, the followers of Sufism are not only the poor, but also representatives of the middle class. Belonging to this doctrine does not at all prevent them from fulfilling their social functions. Many modern Sufis lead the ordinary lives of city dwellers - they go to work and start families. And belonging to one or another tariqa these days is often inherited.

So, Sufism - what is it? This is a teaching that continues to exist in the Islamic world today. And the most amazing thing is that it’s not only about him. Even Europeans liked Sufi music, and many practices developed within the framework of the teaching are still widely used today by various esoteric schools.

Sufi teachings

1. HISTORY OF THE SUFIS

Sufism does not and never had a beginning, and it never arose as a historical phenomenon, it has always existed, because light has always been the inner essence of man. In its highest manifestations, this light can be called the knowledge of God, divine wisdom - Sufism. Sufism has always been practiced, and its heralds were people of heart; therefore it belonged to the founding masters as much as to everyone else.

Tradition states that Adam was the first prophet, which shows that wisdom was already a characteristic of the first man. There have always been, among the human race, those who desired wisdom! They sought out spiritual beings in their solitude, served them with reverence, devotion, and learned wisdom from them. Only a few could understand these spiritual beings, but many were attracted to such great personalities. They said: “We will follow you, we will serve you, we will believe in you, and we will never follow anyone else,” and the saints answered them: “My children, we bless you. Do this, do that, this is the best way of life.” And they gave their followers commandments and principles, such as could create meekness and humility in them. This is how religions were formed.

But over time, the truth was lost. A tendency towards superiority arose, and with it the patriotism of the community and prejudice against others, and so wisdom was gradually lost. Religion was accepted, albeit with difficulty, but the evolution of the world at that time was not such that the Sufis could understand. They were teased, mistreated and ridiculed: they had to hide themselves from the world in caves, mountains and solitude. In the time of Christ, the Sufis were among the first to care for him; in the time of Muhammad, the Sufis on Mount Zafah were the first to answer his cry. One explanation for the term Sufi is associated with Mount Zafah. Muhammad was the first to open the way for them in Arabia and they had many followers, among whom were Sadiq and Ali.

Sufism then spread to Persia. But whenever the Sufis expressed their free thoughts, they were attacked by the established religions; This is how Sufism found its outlet in poetry and music. It so happened that the great Sufi poets: Hafiz, Rumi, Shams Tabrizi, Saadi, Omar Khayyam, Nizami, Farid, Jami and others brought the wisdom of Sufism to the world. Rumi's work is so great that if anyone reads and understands it, he will see in it the whole essence of philosophy. His poems are sung in sacred Sufi gatherings as part of the service. The lives of Sufis are amazing for their piety and humanity.

It was in India that the art of Sufism was brought to perfection. India has been a spiritual country for a very long time. Mysticism was a science for Indians and their first goal in life. So it was during the time of Mahadev and later during the time of Krishna, when Sufism found this soil in which the seeds could be sown, it reached perfection and many highly talented people became its followers, among whom was Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti. Music played an important role in their lives and learning. In those Sufis, the art of devotion, idealization, reached its highest development, and their consciousness achieved freedom from the external plane.

Translators and readers of Persian poets, while they were highly praised and admired, repeatedly made the mistake of not giving them full credit. They talked about poets, as if they created everything from themselves, inheriting nothing from the traditions of the past. But Persia lay between Greece and Egypt, Arabia and India, and came under the influence of Plato and Socrates, Hinduism and Buddhism, and especially their poetry and philosophy. Everything in the world is in some way influenced by other things, so it cannot be said that Sufism was born in Persia and did not exist before; it is an indisputable fact that Sufis existed in the time of Muhammad and even earlier and that Muhammad loved to talk and consult with them. Thus, over time, Sufism absorbed the influence of many religions, in turn also influencing many other religions. Although very few ancient writings have survived, and those few have lost a lot through misinterpretation, it is still possible to find ancient Sufism to have existed and traces of this ancient Sufism can be found.

In very ancient times, Safa - “Brotherhood of Purity” was founded. His doctrine was this: “Know yourself and then you will know God.” These self-studyers were the Sufis. Because Sufism is about knowing yourself. Sufis and Yogis can respect each other, since the only difference between a Yogi and a Sufi is that a Yogi cares more about spirituality, and a Sufi cares more about humanity. Yogis think it is better to be God, Sufis think it is better to be human, because if one is only spiritual, there is always the danger of falling, our body tends to fall down. The Sufi says since all the needs and desires of this body and its senses exist, man must satisfy them; he says that we should have everything we can have, but if we can't have it, we shouldn't care about it. Although there is no internal difference between a Sufi and a Yogi. In wisdom there is no difference: and if anything can be found, it is only a difference of form.

Joy is not only in one spiritual or material sphere, but in the unity of both. Why do they shake hands? Because when there are two, there is joy in meeting. Two eyes, when they close, it is joy. When the breath flows through both nostrils, the mystic feels ecstasy. Why do people put their hands together, why do they shake them, why do people enjoy hugging? Why do people seek the company of a scientist or a sage? Because the soul is attracted and united with another soul. Happiness does not lie in spirituality alone, but in the unity of the spiritual and material.

To be wholly animal is not good: and to be wholly angelic is equally not good, because we are made with the body of an animal which needs food, drink and sleep and whose senses have a thousand needs. We should retain those animal attributes that are harmless and abandon those that are harmful. Eating is not bad and drinking is not bad, but grabbing food from someone else's plate when we already have food on our own is what is bad.

The central theme of the Sufis' life is freedom of the soul. As the great Persian Sufi poet Rumi says: “The soul on earth is in prison, and it will remain there as long as it lives on earth.” Man may or may not understand it, but there is a deep longing in every soul: to rise above this imprisonment, to escape from this captivity, and the answer to this longing is spiritual achievement.

There are two types of Sufis: one is called Rind and the other is Salik. The type called Rind is very well expressed in Fitzgerald's translations from Khayyam: “O my Beloved! Fill the cup that today will cleanse past regrets and future tears. Therefore, tomorrow I may become myself, with yesterday’s seven thousand years!” Here he means make the best of the present moment and if you live in this moment, right now you can clearly see eternity. But if you hold the world of the past or the world of the future in front of you, you live not in eternity, but in limited world. In other words: live not in the past and not in the future, but in eternity. Now, we must try to discover that happiness which is to be found in a free soul.

This is the central theme of all great poets, which can be called Rind. Their lives are not bound by so-called principles like orthodoxy. They are free from all kinds of prejudices, dogmas and principles that dominate humanity. At the same time, these are people of high ideals and great morals, deep thoughts and greatly advanced in awareness. They live a free life in this world of captivity, where every creature is a prisoner.

Then there are among the Sufis - “Salik”, those who study and meditate, reflect on ethics, and live according to certain principles. Life teaches them and leads them on the right path and they live a life of humility and renunciation. The Salik path is to understand any religion that a person may have, but to follow it from his own point of view. The Salik path uses religious terminology as the orthodox do, and they attend the same ceremonies: but to him they mean something different. So every line