Page 27 - Chapter
Two: "...sober expressions of Sufism do not mean that the authors knew
nothing of intoxication. There is a higher sort of sobriety that sees everything in
its proper place and is achieved after intoxication, not before it."
Commentary: All
forms of sobriety arise ‘after’ intoxication and not before encountering the
latter. If one has nothing to disclose, then, the practice of sobriety is empty, if not
pretentious.
In addition, although
there is a form of sobriety in which everything is dealt with in an optimally propitious
manner, the adab of sobriety encompasses the principles of engagement, so to speak, with
respect to the general condition of spiritual intoxication - whatever the particular form
that may pertain in any given instance. This means that what can be expressed - in either
speech or behavior, as well as the circumstances under which such things can be expressed
governs the condition of intoxication.
More often than not, when
certain Sufis voice reprimands with respect to the manner in which someone’s
condition of intoxication spills over into the pubic arena, the objection is not because
the condition of intoxication, in and of itself, is wrong or heretical. The concern is
over the public disclosure of ‘secrets’ - a disclosure which may prove to be
problematic for different people within the general Muslim community who could place their
own interpretations on the meaning or significance of these sorts of Divine disclosure
and, as a result, become misguided about what ramifications someone else’s condition
of spiritual intoxication has for someone who is not on the Path and who does not have
access to the counsel of a Sufi shaykh.
The adab of sobriety is a
way of protecting spiritual secrets, as well as the general community, as well as the
‘reputation’ of those who may experience a condition of intoxication.
Consequently, for all of these reasons, individuals on the Path who become spiritually
inebriated are taught to exercise discipline, as much as possible, in relation to such
conditions.
At the same time, on some
occasions, the force and intensity of the spiritual intoxication may overcome all capacity
for discipline. In such cases, one cannot say there has been a failure to observe proper
adab by the one undergoing the experience.
Sometimes, for unknown
reasons, Divinity wishes for their to be a‘display’ of public, spiritual
drunkenness. Furthermore, in every part of the world - both past and present - there are
those who have been singled out by Divinity for just such displays.
The adab of sobriety does
not apply to such individuals. These people operate under a different set of Divine
principles.
The fact that the author
of Sufism - A Short Introduction acknowledges that some forms of sobriety
(i.e., the "higher sort") follow only upon the experience of intoxication is
good even if the way in which he says this is somewhat misleading. However, what would
have been even better is if he had mentioned this fact at the very beginning of his
discussion on this topic rather than requiring the reader to wade through a lot of
unnecessary and confusing hearsay testimony.
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