The concept of Sufism lies in the mystic devotions of the devotee that traverse from his inner-self to the light of Divinity. A Sufi perceives the wisdom of the unseen Supreme Creator and His divine existence in everything around him through his engrossing ascetic engagement. The Sufi wanders about, then makes his inner journey to the Almighty and derives his pleasure of divine love. This is the arena where the mysticism takes its birth. A Sufi finds the console in the abundance of the Supreme Lord and rejects all illusions of the mundane world. He constantly penetrates the divine wisdom through his innate reasons and intelligence and gains the esoteric knowledge or hikmah. He wants to capture the knowledge lies in the realm of Dominion and within the Dominion or Mulk. He seeks the favour of the Lord of the invisible world and the visible world. He disinters the Irfan or the knowledge of the things that lies within himself. This phenomenon of seeking the Divine light continues in his inner body, it enlightens his soul and increases his zeal in obedience and submission to Almighty.
The mysticism or Sufism or the Arabic word Tasawwuf (the path of the woollen clothed Sufi) derived from the word suf or wool and the word Sufi is also deduced from the root word Suf. In the early stage of Islamic Sufism the ascetics led their life in a humble way devoid of worldly luxury and comforts. They used to cover up their body with loose woollen robes or torn blankets to meditate in a remote place for a longer period of time with dhikr (remembrance) of Allah to connect their ‘inner-self’ with the Divine love while separating themselves from the outwardness of the world. We call it as Ascetic Sufism. The supreme example of Ascetic Sufism is the manner of devotions to Allah that Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) exhibited with the wholeness of his Taqwa, fear and Submission. By virtue of the status of Sufism Ali (ra) was next to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) received the Essence of the highest spiritual knowledge from the Supreme Lord of the universe. Hazarat Ali (ra) achieved the spiritual perfection through dhikrs to glorify Allah during his meditation for hours with enrobed body.
The Ascetic Sufism has been transformed gradually into Poetic Sufism and burgeoned in early eleventh century and vigorously flourished till the end of fourteenth century. But the Poetic Sufism actually sprouted out in the early eighth century when the horizon of mystic world was glowed by the light of a virtuous woman. She was Rabiah al-Adawiyah.
The great Sufi Poets in Persia and India, during eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth century, divulged themselves as the glorious prototypes of Poetic Sufism. They revealed a unique spiritual and intellectual culture throughout the Islamic world that included the culture of writing mystic poems, rubaiyat and ghazals. They introduced the songs of ghazals, qawwalis and whirling dervish dance. The vivid manifestation of the spiritual themes in their poems and ghazal-lyrics attained the virtuosity of classic literature as well as divine philosophy par excellence.
Rabiah al-Adawiyah of Basrah postulated a doctrine of mutual love between Allah and His devotee with no condition therein and the loving devotee in the earth can be bonded with the Beloved, the Lord of the universe. It is a way of attaining the divine love or Ishq-e-Haqeeq. She taught to love Allah devotedly and straight forwardly without the fear of hell and without the desire of paradise. She reached the end of the mystic path by subduing ‘the self’ or denying the self to develop a complete intimacy and unity with Allah that demonstrated her sacred spiritual Ishq with the divine power which manifested itself and spread out gradually among the other mystics.
 Rabia’s mystic love for Allah and her feelings for the Divine Essence are exposed vividly in her sublime transcendental poems. A few of her verses are quoted below:
‘O Lord, if I worship You because of Fear of Hell,
then burn me in Hell;
If I worship You because I desire Paradise,
then exclude me from Paradise;
Al-Ghazali, an eleventh century Sufi-Poet, born in Khorasan, described how to seek true knowledge of Sufism and Sharia that lies deeply in the science of mysticism and its cognition.
Farid ud-Din Attar was another Sufi in twelfth century whose status in Sufism was so high at one point the mystic Persian poet Rumi has mentioned in his poem: ‘Attar has traversed the seven cities of Love, while we are still at the bend of an alley.’
Attar wrote poems with mystical allegories such we find in his books- Man?iq-u?-?ayr [The Conference of the Birds] and Ilahi-Nama [The Book of Allah’s wisdom].
The famous allegorical epic ‘The Conference of the Birds’ has both superb literary and mystic qualities that turned the epic into a masterpiece of Persian literature as well as the literature of the world. He demonstrated the brilliance of spirituality to this world of thinkers through this allegoric wonder someone can contemplate it again and again in a profound way until he gets the inner theme of Sufism.
Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi was a thirteen century Persian poet, an Islamic dervish and a Sufi mystic. He is regarded as one of the greatest spiritual masters and poetical intellects. Born in 1207 AD, he belonged to a family of learned theologians. A teacher and a theologian Rumi slowly delved into a mystic world immediately after his meeting and closeness with a wandering dervish named Shamsuddin Tabrizi. It was 1244 AD Rumi met Shams-e- Tabrizi. The mystic influence of Tabrizi had changed Rumi completely. He was transformed into a mystic Sufi. When Tabrizi vanished suddenly one day Rumi himself went out searching for himand visited Damascus. There, he realised suddenly –
‘Why should I seek? I am the same as
He. His essence speaks through me.
I have been looking for myself!’
For nearly ten years Rumi devoted himself in writing ghazals. He made a compilation of ghazals and named it Diwan-e Shams-e Tabrizi. Rumi spent most of the later years of his life in Anatolia, where he finished six volumes of his masterwork, the Masnavi (Mathnawi).
We could consume a few poems of Rumi that would lead us to perceive him as one the greatest Sufi poets of the world.
With eloquence and wisdom Rumi had attained the level of a Sufi and a Master who dwelled in the spiritual realms that are yet to be visited by the visitors of this world; the heights that he attained are yet to be filled up.
In ‘Divani Shamsi Tabriz’ he expressed his feelings towards Sufi Shamsi Tabriz-
‘O heart, why art thou a captive in the earth that is passing away?
Fly forth from this enclosure, since thou art a bird of the spiritual world.
Thou art a darling bosom-friend, thou art always behind the secret veil:
Why dost thou make thy dwelling-place in this perishable abode?
In his ‘The Songs of Reed’ (in Masnavi) he expressed-
‘(But) I want a heart (which is) torn, torn from separation, so that
I may explain the pain of yearning.’
Amir Khusrau Dehlavi was a renowned Indian Sufi poet, scholar, singer and musician of 14th century. He was an iconic figure in the cultural history of South Asia. He was a mystic and a spiritual disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya of Delhi, India. He wrote poetry primarily in Farsi, but also in Hindavi (Hindi and Urdu). He was known as ‘Parrot of India’ or Tut-i- hind. Khusrau is regarded as the father of qawwali, a devotional music form of the Sufis in the Indian subcontinent. He also introduced ghazal-style songs in India, which still exists widely in India and Pakistan.
Some of his ghazal couplets:
 ‘Oh Khusrau, the river of love runs in strange directions.
One who jumps into it drowns, And one who drowns, gets across.’
‘The creaking of the chain of Majnun is the orchestra of the lovers,
To appreciate its music is quite beyond the ears of the wise.’
Wine, Saki and Sufism
Two great Persian Sufi Poets, Omar Khayyam and Shamsuddin Hafiz in twelfth and fourteenth century respectively produced their rubaiyat and ghazals, the alluring masterpiece works, during their lifetime though they took exit from the traditional course of Poetic Sufism. Their Rubaiyat and ghazals of are now considered as both mystic and romantic with subtle sublimity. The poets found themselves in the tavern or nearby fountain in the wilderness to enjoy the companionship of a Saki (A fair maiden cup bear) while listening to her song and begging her for more wine.
“A book of verses underneath the bough,/A jug of wine, a loaf of bread- /and thou beside me singing in the wilderness/ Oh, wilderness were paradise enow!”- a piece of rubaiyat written by Omar Khayyam.
Some readers support the metaphysics of Hafiz and Omar’s Sufi approaches and explain it in the following manner:
They brought an allegorical explanation to wine and Saki. Wine is the love of God, and Saki is the carrier of devotee’s love to God. Sufis are not the drunkard, but their mystical drunkenness leads them to oblivion, to the highest representation of Divine love. Khayyam and Hafiz elucidated their momentary pleasure and happiness in wine and Saki’s companionship as the pleasure for today only – not to carry it out for tomorrow – their drunkenness was to attainthe cosmic consciousness.
Hafiz asked his Saki ‘Bodeh o saki moe baki!’ ‘O Saki, pour (more wine in my cup), I am empty.’
(Dr. Mustofa Munir, lives in TX. USA, is a researcher and translator of Poet Nazrul’s works. He is engaged in doing comparative analysis of Nazrul’s poetic works with the works of other famous nineteenth and twentieth century English and American poets).
