REFLECTION ON SUFISM

SHARMEEN ALI

Q2) It was exciting for me how Sufis believe in much more than the just the laws and obligations in Islam
and rather than striving for the world, they strive for the love of God and chase His mightiness and
acceptance. The analogy given in class about the ocean and the waves blew my mind, and made me
realize how much depth there is in everything and how the existence of Allah is everywhere. In the
celestial beings, in humans themselves and it is indeed very exciting for me how Sufis try to perfect their
inner soul and purify it from worldly desires to attain the peace and love that Allah has to give. Another
thing that excited me about Sufism is that I already knew that Sufis s opted for a simplistic lifestyle and
essentially the word Sufism is derived from suf in Arabic which was a rough cloth worn by prophets and
pious people in the older times. The idea about only there being one divine entity and nothing else
mattering and the idea that everything else is perishable other than lord himself is again something that
is so captivating for me, the relation that Sufis build with their creator is solely based on love in my
opinion it is devoid of any matristic interest because unfortunately we often pray to god because we
want something from him, or we seek the hereafter but for the first time after analyzing Sufism in depth
I realized that their faith is solely for god, they ache for his glory and mighty "Wherever you turn,
there is the face of God" (2:115) just to attain Allah’s love these people opted for zohud which again is a
very pivotal step, because it is not easy to shun a world that has grabbed everyone by the throat.

Q1)The one thing that I remained unclear about is how do Sufis stand firm on their stance of shunning
the world and staying firm against the perceptions of the world of them. This notion of finding God in
the nature and admiring nature as if they are admiring the God himself is quite fascinating for me.
Moreover, in the lecture we discussed that Sufis are on a mission to attain God’s pleasure by setting the
example of mairaj Infront of them and that if holy prophet could attain God’s mighty pleasure as well as
presence then they might too have a chance at achieving that level of closure with their lord, I find it a
bit perplexing because Holy prophet himself was a not an ordinary person, it was for Him that Allah
created the universe and he was the first soul created also known as noore Muhammadi. The example
of hazrat Khizer A.s was a fascinating one and how he had ‘gayb ka ilm’, this was again one of those
cases where Allah chooses his pious people and bestows them with knowledge but is it possible for us in
this era and century to attain that or become the chosen ones no matter what we do. Tawakkul or this
abstinence from worldly pleasures is required to maintain and achieve that connection with allah, again
I feel that as a person who is so absorbed in existing in a competitive world, can I do that? I do reach to
allah when I am helpless but is it that easy to devote your life barring yourself from every other activity?
And how do Sufis keep their belief firm in this cutthroat competitive world where money is essentially
everything for everyone.

Q3) It was surprising for me how in the mainstream Islamic ideology there is a strict aversion to music,
however Sufis embrace it in such a wholesome manner. Their whole emphasis is upon glorifying their
lord and even while praising him music is incorporated, there are so many medleys and lyrical poetries
by famous poets like hafiz sherazi and rumi that illustrate the glory of Allah. Another quite surprising
factor for me is how Sufism is a path through which one can enrich themselves with the traits of Allah
Almighty. And I absolutely loved the concept of primordial harmony that existed before human being
came down to this world, a perfect harmony between the creator and the creation and their constant
struggle to achieve that perfection again and attain that love from their lord,the ache for establishing
that union is so strong that they look for god in everything that is created by Him. Another surprising
factor that I found in our lecture was that God’s knowledge has been distributed to humanity as well,
and we all carry the ability to understand his signs, understand the beauty and what He expects from us
by gaining knowledge. Lastly, what surprised me the most was how in Sufism there is this belief that the
soul is also in exile and this struggle to attain Sakinah, and maintain that deep connection with god is so
important.

Q4) One thing that I found immensely interesting was the love for prophet and his importance entailed
in sufism, the concept of lover and beloved is very vital in sufism and the fact that Sufis associate this
notion of love and respect with holy prophet is extensively beautiful to me. Moreover the way Sufis look
up to Holy prophet pbuh as a set example in his attributes and manners is again an interesting factor
and what intrigued me the most was the way hazrat ali pbuh ,who is considered the gateway to the city
of knowledge that is holy prophet pbuh, too is given that symbolic stature in sufism. Pondering over the
extensive meanings of the holy quranic verses was another interesting thing about this lecture, the
analogy of ocean and waves actually swept me away because I never looked at it the same way. Sufism
gave me an enlightening perspective, we read the holy quran to memorize it but Sufis read it to get
mesmerized by it which is indeed so captivating. A single verse holds so much of meaning and can be
interrpetd in so many ways because it is a book where allah communicates with his beliver, and another
thing that I realized after the readings as well as the lecture was that this book and these verses are
internal, inifinte, they exist for people of every age and every era then how do we easily look at them
and move on? I love how Sir mentioned that Sufis travel on the ebb of these waves hustling to get back
to the source (eternal) that is Allah, and to try to decipher His existence in everything because this whole
universe is a manifestation of God.