The Dialogue
within- Part 2
The Sufis and the Salafis
By Professor Nazeer
Ahmed
CA
Extremism is the death knell
of religion. And intolerance is its poison. Both
have crept into the Muslim body politic. Among
the schisms that divide Muslims, the row between
the Sufis and Salafis is a growing one. Islam
in America has the existential potential to heal
this wound.
Islam, as a divine faith preaches moderation.
Increasingly, it is squeezed between extreme positions
taken by interested parties, breeding intolerance
in the process and dividing communities into a
plethora of jama’ts, groups and subgroups.
It is as if the occupants of a house are slugging
it out when the house is burning all around them.
What is astonishing is that the vocabulary, the
debates and the positions taken have their roots
in history rather than faith, reinforcing the
conviction that Muslims are increasingly turning
Islam into a religion based more on (misunderstood)
history rather than revelation.
Every Muslim is both a Sufi and a Salafi. This
may shock some readers. Others may find it offensive.
However, even an elementary scanning of history
would confirm this observation. In the next two
articles we will offer some insights into this
growing feud and provide a basis for reconciliation
so that our young readers, if they so chose to,
may use them to build bridges of mutual understanding.
The term Sufi is of historical origin. We have
it on the authority of Abu Huraira (r) that a
group of Suhaba, called As-hab e Sufa, lived in
the courtyard of the Prophet’s mosque in
Medina. They had no other home or shelter and
their number varied from time to time, increasing
on occasions to as many as seventy. The Prophet
fed them from the meager rations in his house,
and whenever he came out these Suhaba followed
him around, observing, copying, learning and inculcating
in themselves the Sunnah of the Prophet. One possible
explanation for the term Sufi is that it is derived
from As-hab e Sufa.
The word Suf means wool. On occasions, the Prophet
wrapped himself in a blanket of wool. In Urdu
poetry the Prophet is sometimes referred to as
“Kamli Wale” (the person with the
blanket). So, the term Sufi may connote an allusion
to the cloak of the Prophet. Some Sufis associate
it with the person of Fatimat uz Zahra (r), beloved
daughter of the Prophet, who is known to have
knit wool. Just as a weaver takes strands of wool
and knits a woolen robe from it, so does tasawwuf
integrate a holistic worldview from the disjointed
mundane inputs. In Sufi terminology, the “knitting
work of Fatima” connotes molding of the
soul and its integration into a holistic self.
Yet another explanation is that it is derived
from saf, meaning purification. In this explanation,
the term becomes synonymous with tazkiyah or tazkiyat
un nafs (purification of the soul). Tazkiyah is
of Qur’anic origin.
Whatever be the origin of the word, there is no
question that tasawwuf runs like a sub-stream
throughout Islamic history, turning its vast landscape
into a veritable spiritual garden. It grew in
the cradle of Islam and was not imported from
Greek or Buddhist sources as some claim. The Prophet
was the embodiment of spirituality. Most Sufis
trace their spirituality to the Prophet through
a continuous and uninterrupted chain of transmission
to Ali (r) ibn Abu Talib. Some trace it to Abu
Bakr (r). They express their love through constant
remembrance of the Divine Names (dhikr), selfless
service, sublime poetry, ecstatic music, lyrics
replete with their longing for divine presence
and disengagement from worldly attachments.
Similarly, the term Salafi is of historical origin
derived from the term S-l-f which is repeatedly
used in the Qur’an to draw attention to
the deeds or misdeeds of the ancients. In the
current context it refers to the earliest Companions
of the Prophet. Hence Salafi means one who follows
the practices of the earliest Companions. The
Sunni schools of fiqh draw upon the Sunnah of
the Companions, in some schools on their collective
opinions (as in the Maliki school), in other schools
on the opinions of some of them (as in the Hanafi
school). The Shi’a schools draw upon the
Sunnah of Ali (r).
Now, let us ask the question: Were Abu Bakr (r)
and Ali (r) Sufis or Salafis? If the Sufis claim
their knowledge through a chain of transmission
from the Prophet through Abu Bakr (r) or Ali (r)
and the Salafis claim their practices from the
same sources, why this row?
Among the Companions of the Prophet, Abu Dhar
al Ghafari (d 652) had a Sufi disposition. Among
the most notable Sufis of early Islam were Hassan
al Basri (d 728), Imam Ja’afar as Sadiq
(d 765) and Rabiah al Adawiyah (d 802). Imam Ja’afar
as Sadiq is also the source for Hadith including
at least one Hadith e Qudsi. In the modern parlance,
was he not both a Sufi and a Salafi?
The earliest method of instruction in Islam was
through a halqa (a study circle) at the home of
a scholar or in a mosque. The subjects taught
were both exoteric and esoteric and included the
Qur’an, Hadith, Jurisprudence and tasawwuf.
Among the best known of the earliest halqas was
that of Imam Ja’afar as Sadiq which was
attended, among others, by Imam Abu Haneefa (d
768), founder of the Hanafi school of fiqh which
is followed by a great majority of people from
Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Turkey and Central
Asia. Imam Abu Haneefa is reported to have said:
“If it were not for the two years I spent
with Ja’afar as Sadiq, I would still be
wandering”.
In the tenth and the eleventh centuries, the halqa
gave way to the formal madrassah. In earlier articles,
we have covered the historical evolution of the
madrassah (Please refer to the articles titled
The Seven Lives of a Madrassah). The curriculum
became more comprehensive and included philosophy,
astronomy, mathematics and logic in addition to
the Qur’an, Hadith, Jurisprudence and Tasawwuf.
It may surprise some that the best known scientist
of classical Islam, Ibn Sina (Avicenna), was an
active practitioner of tasawwuf. The interested
reader may refer to the classic work by Professor
Seyyed Hussain Nasr, titled Science and Civilization
in Islam. One of the most comprehensive expositions
of tasawwuf, Bayan al-Farq bayn al-Sadr wa al-Qalb
wa-al-Fu’ad wa-al-Lubb (A Treatise on the
Differentiation between the Outer Heart, the Inner
Heart, the Vision and the Intellect) was written
by the well-known muhaddith and mufassir Imam
Al-Tarmidhi (d 912 CE). For the interested reader,
an English translation of this masterpiece by
Nicholas Heer is available from Fons Vitae, Louisville,
KY (published 2003).
It should be clear from this brief discussion
that the antagonism between the modern Sufis and
the Salafis are based on an incorrect understanding
of history. In early Islam, the Sufis were Salafis
and the Salafis were Sufis.
Imam al Gazzali (d 1111) brought tasawwuf within
the mainstream of orthodox Islam. Through the
sheer power of his dialectic he waged a two pronged
battle with the rationalists on the one hand and
the esoteric Ismailies on the other. On both fronts
he was successful.
Notwithstanding the influence of his work, differences
between the Sufis and the Salafis persisted. The
Salafis saw the risks to Tawhid in some of the
beliefs and practices of the Sufis and sought
to curtail them. For instance, the sama’
(literally, rotation or ecstatic dance and music)
of the Chishtiya Sufis was challenged by the Salafis
in the imperial Tughlaq courts of Delhi (1325).
The Emperor decided in favor of the Chishtiya
Sufis, sama’ continued in the Indian subcontinent
and gave birth in later centuries to qawwali,
naat and ghazal. (To be continued).
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