Page 1 - Chapter One:
"More than a thousand years ago, a teacher called Ali, the son of Ahmad, who hailed
from the town of Bushanj in eastern Persia, complained that few people had any idea of
what 'Sufism' was all about. 'Today,' he said, speaking Arabic,
'Sufism is a name without a reality, but it used to be a reality without a
name.'
Commentary: The
observation made by Ali was not just a complaint that "few people had any idea of
what ‘Sufism’ was all about". It was a complaint about the increasing
numbers of people in his time who were appropriating the title of Sufi and mystics to
themselves but who had no commitment to, or understanding of, the truth underlying the
term. Ironically, this state of affairs is not unlike the situation prevailing in our own
times.
In addition, although the
author of Sufism - A Short Introduction does not specify the nature of the
reality to which Ali was alluding in his complaint, the reality was none other than the
inner, esoteric dimensions of the Qur’an and the Sunnah (practice or actions) of the
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Why the author of the aforementioned book chose to
leave this information out is rather mystifying.
The term "Sufi"
did not exist in the time of the Prophet. However, there was a reality reflected in the
life of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), as well as in the life of certain other
close Companions of the Prophet, which, subsequently, became the focus of the spiritual
tradition to which the term "Sufi" came to be applied by various individuals
some time after the Prophet passed away from his physical body.
Some of the individuals
who later referred to themselves as Sufi, had abandoned the practices, teachings, and way
of life which was, and is, at the heart of the reality that was being alluded to by Ali,
son of Ahmad. These were the people who were demonstrative proof that in his time there
were, in all too many cases, people calling themselves by a name which had no reality - at
least not in the original sense that was inherent in the life of the Prophet Muhammad
(peace be upon him), and in the lives of many of his close Companions, as well as in the
lives of many individuals across the centuries - right down to modern times - who sought
out and devoted themselves to this reality.
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